Stranger Things ending explained after fans confused over one final detail

Warning: this article contains major spoilers for the Stranger Things finale

It's been two days now since the final episode of the fifth and final season of Stranger Things hit our screens (31 December).

The ending of the hit Netflix programme, which first started way back in 2016, has left fans seriously baffled over one detail, with many rushing to social media to share their confusion.

Now, the final episode throws everyone into one last massive showdown in The Abyss. Eleven and her friends take on Vecna and the Mind Flayer, the two big baddies behind all the chaos.

While the gang fights this giant monster in a twisted nightmare landscape, Jim Hopper and Murray Bauman set up a bomb to wipe the Upside Down out of existence.

They win, but it very clearly costs them. As the Mind Flayer falls and Vecna is finally finished off, thanks to Joyce Byers, and the kidnapped kids are saved.

But, to stop anyone ever reopening the gates, Eleven stays behind as the Upside Down collapses. She says an emotional goodbye to Mike, then vanishes along with the world she’s spent years fighting. Her friends decide to believe she somehow survived, but the truth is that they might never know.

Life slowly moves forward as the characters grow up, find love, careers, new cities, and their friendships shift into adulthood rather than disappear, with the Hawkins crew finally getting peace after years of nightmares.

The eagerly-anticipated Stranger Things finale aired on New Year's Eve (Netflix)

In short, the show closes where it began, in a cosy basement with a Dungeons & Dragons game, only now the original kids finish their final adventure and climb the stairs, leaving childhood behind while a new group takes their place at the table.

And, just to make it that one bit more gut-wrenching, David Bowie’s 'Heroes' plays, offering quite the emotional curtain call.

Fans rushed online to share their speculation surrounding Eleven's fate, with many wondering whether the character, played by Millie Bobby Brown, died or not.

The show closes where it began, in a cosy basement with a Dungeons & Dragons game (Netflix)

This led to a bunch of people highlighting Mike's allegedly 'made-up' theory.

"She's dead. Kali was already dead, but Mike didn't know that, and the story is his way of coping with her death," penned one TikTok user.

A second chimed in: "No, Hopper told Mike to find a way to make it easier for himself or something, so Mike made it up for peace of mind."

Fans were confused over what really happened to protagonist Eleven in the finale (Netflix)

"That wasn't the ending they were talking about it was in the creds when it showed the whole show was just a game being played," theorised another.

And a final TikTok user added: "It's just a theory Mike made up, not confirmed..."

Now, according to Tudum, the Duffer Brothers left it up to viewers to decide what they think happens to Eleven. But for the Hawkins crew, 'she lives on in their hearts, whether that’s real or not,' writer and producer Ross Duffer says.