Warning: Spoilers ahead for Stranger Things season 5, Volume 1.
Although it seems strange for Hopper to call Eleven “Jane” at a pivotal moment in Stranger Things season 5, volume 1, a look back at season 2 explains the meaning and significance of this scene. After over three years of waiting, Stranger Things season 5, volume 1 has finally arrived. What’s more, the show’s final chapter was worth the wait.
According to fans and critics alike, Stranger Things season 5, volume 1 is one of the Netflix sci-fi show’s best outings ever. Now that Vecna’s full Stranger Things plan has been revealed, and Will has discovered that he seemingly shares some of the villain’s powers, there is nothing left for the show to do but wrap up its sprawling story.
However, that is easier said than done, and it seemed for a long time like Stranger Things would struggle to tie together all of its disparate plot strands in the show’s final outing. That was until the ending of season 5, episode 4, “Sorcerer,” when the series proved that it hadn’t forgotten its most underrated season after all.
Eleven’s Real Name Is Jane Ives
Shortly before Will faced off against Vecna and killed three of the villain’s Demogorgons with his mind, Stranger Things heroine Eleven broke into the lab that the army maintained inside the Upside-Down. With Hopper’s help, she immobilized Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay for long enough to get inside the lab’s containment unit, which she was convinced would contain Vecna.
When the containment unit finally opened, it was Hopper who stepped inside wearing a vest covered in explosives. To Eleven’s horror, she realized that Hopper had always planned to sacrifice his own life to ensure her safety and, since her powers were immobilized by the military’s klaxons, there was no way she could stop him.
Fortunately for both characters, Hopper didn’t end up needing to sacrifice himself at all. While he and Eleven believed that the military was keeping Vecna in their containment unit, the truth was something else entirely. However, before the duo realized that Hopper was safe, he said a final goodbye to Eleven and called her “Jane.”
This might have seemed strange when the rest of the Stranger Things cast always called her “Eleven” or “El,” but there’s a reason for this poignant moment. In season 2 of the series, Eleven discovered that her powers were the result of experiments that the US government conducted on her mother, which left her in a catatonic state.
Hopper Using Eleven’s Real Name Highlights Their Bond
El visited her mother, but the traumatized Terry Ives was unable to recognize her daughter. Eleven had hoped to be reunited with her birth mother and left bitterly disappointed, but she soon returned to Hawkins and to Hopper, recognizing him as her adopted father. Hopper embraced this role in seasons 3–5 after his early struggles in season 2.
Since Hopper was Eleven’s guardian when she finally found out the truth about what happened to her mother in season 2, it makes sense that he would say goodbye to her by using her birth name. For El, it is a reminder that Hopper knows her entire story and still loves her, even if he did almost need to leave her.
For Hopper, the comment is a reminder of where El comes from and the reality that she had a life before him and will have a life after he eventually does. Eleven had already faced the reality of Hopper’s death when she, Hopper’s Stranger Things love interest Joyce, and the rest of the show’s heroes thought he died in season 3’s finale.
Hopper’s Season 2 Reference Sets Up Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 4’s Biggest Twist
Thus, Hopper calling Eleven “Jane” was a way for the two characters to address the long history between them and the reason they were fighting against the military, the remnants of Hawkins Lab, and Vecna in the first place. However, it was also a more practical piece of foreshadowing.
Viewers who did recognize this callback to El’s birth name would immediately recall Eleven’s ill-fated trip to meet her mother in season 2. It was around this time that Eleven left Hawkins and visited the city in a standalone episode that earned mixed reviews while meeting other escaped Hawkins Lab test subjects.
Among them was Eleven’s “lost sister” Kali, who gave this episode its name. Due to mixed reception for this outing, Stranger Things didn’t mention Eleven’s lost sister for three seasons and eight years after this episode aired. Thus, mentioning Eleven’s real name “Jane” served as subtle foreshadowing to remind viewers of season 2.
This meant that the surprise hit even harder when Stranger Things season 5 brought back Kali, revealing that the containment unit housed Eleven’s lost sister instead of Vecna. This reveal proved that there had always been a plan for Kali’s character all along but made stronger by referencing events from season 2 beforehand.
