Stranger Things Season 5 theory exposes Eleven’s “real” father

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As the release of Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1 on Netflix approaches, fans are buzzing with theories – and one suggests Eleven’s biological father might be someone completely unexpected.

Eleven, born Jane Ives on June 7, 1971, is the daughter of Teresa Ives. Her mother was part of secretive and controversial experiments led by Dr. Martin Brenner. As the Netflix series reveals, Brenner took Jane from her mother shortly after birth and raised her at Hawkins National Laboratory.

The show hasn’t revealed who Eleven’s biological father is, but the novel Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds suggests it’s Andrew Rich. He’s described as a college student born in 1951 who was Eleven’s mother’s boyfriend.

Brenner manipulates the draft system to send Andrew to fight in the Vietnam War, and Andrew tragically dies there. However, since the novels aren’t considered official parts of the show’s story, there’s still a lot of speculation and new ideas about who Eleven’s father really is.

Stranger Things Season 5 theory on Eleven’s father

I saw this wild theory online – apparently, a TikTok creator named Tanner Schroering thinks Vecna, who we know as Henry Creel and also ‘One,’ could actually be Eleven’s biological father! It’s a crazy idea, but it definitely got me thinking.

I stumbled across this crazy Stranger Things theory, and honestly, it all clicks. The weird thing is, nobody seems to want to talk about it! Apparently, it hits a little too close to home – it reminds people of something that happened in Star Wars, and that’s a touchy subject for a lot of fans.

According to Schroering, the story begins with Henry as Dr. Brenner’s initial test subject, undergoing numerous experiments.

Henry was taken by Dr. Brenner for experiments in 1959. Twelve years later, in 1971, Eleven was born, and Terry was already 20 years old. Considering Henry was born in 1947, he would have been 24 at that time.

When Terry was around twenty and pregnant, she participated in experiments at Hawkins Lab as part of the Montauk Project. Dr. Brenner compensated people to undergo testing, including with the drug LSD.

Terry Ives didn’t realize Dr. Brenner was intentionally seeking out pregnant women to use in his experiments. Some believe Dr. Brenner used Henry’s DNA – as he was the very first test subject – to create all the other children with powers.

So, it turns out Terry Ives wasn’t just Eleven’s mom – her body was basically used to create Eleven, making her Vecna’s actual daughter. It’s wild to think about, but that’s what the show’s implying, right?

Okay, so Schroering explained it’s not exactly how babies are usually made, but because they used Henry’s DNA to create these kids, it basically means he’s Eleven’s dad. It’s kinda weird, but that’s what it boils down to!

So, how does this relate to the final season of Stranger Things? It makes the already huge showdown between Eleven and Vecna even more complicated and intense.

Schroering hinted that season five will likely feature a dramatic showdown between a father and daughter, with the possibility of the daughter ultimately defeating—or even killing—her father.

The idea has generated a lot of debate, with one person questioning how anyone would know Eleven had powers as an infant. They speculated that her father, Henry, might have been part of an experiment to see if he could pass on his abilities to his children, resulting in Eleven’s powers.

Someone wondered if there was any truth to the theory, calling it the wildest they’d heard. They thought it explained why Dr. Brenner referred to everyone as ‘brothers and sisters’.

As others have noted, the Stranger Things play revealed that the pregnant women involved in the experiments were given blood transfusions containing Henry’s blood.

One source revealed that Henry’s DNA is present in Eleven, and all the other children with powers. Apparently, Dr. Brenner used Henry’s blood to alter the developing babies, either during pregnancy or shortly after birth. This idea was hinted at in Season 4 of the show, and is explicitly shown in the stage play.

I’ve been diving deep into fan theories online, and some are really out there! One Redditor made a point that’s stuck with me – they think Martin Brenner is actually the biological father of all the kids in the program, except for 001. It’s a pretty dark take, but it definitely makes you think!

The first season of the show reveals that the children with powers were born to parents involved in the MK Ultra program. Eleven’s mother, for example, had a past connection with Dr. Brenner. It seems Brenner intentionally fathered these children to create ideal subjects for his experiments with powered kids.

Even if the new theory is correct, most fans believe Eleven’s true father figure is, and always will be, Jim Hopper.

The first part of Stranger Things Season 5 will be available on Netflix starting November 26th. While you wait, you can explore fan theories about Barb, predictions on which characters might not survive, and a list of the best episodes from the series.

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2025-11-13 14:21