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this started out as a response to an ask i got, then realized about 16 paragraphs in that it had gotten so long it would better to just put it in its own post.
the question was what mike and el's conversation in the void could mean for will's storyline come the real ending of stranger things. the answer to that, lies in what the conversation means for mike - because this scene is when the pieces truly start falling into place.
you and me both, son. let's figure it out together, shall we?
(that fucking hand💀)
1 understanding mike's pov
the finale/epilogue is a twisted version of the real events. imo, we are seeing what mike is experiencing under vecna's trance; forced to live his fears. this seems like the most likely scenario, because we know that is what vecna did to will; "he showed me what would happen if i did this" = vecna showed him that coming out -> losing everyone. that is will's fear: losing his loved ones when they learn the truth about him. will said "it felt so real", and, while the finale sure feels very off, it is supposed to seem real - at least upon first watch.
now, as for what mike's fear is, st4 told us that mike is scared of losing el. then in st5 el dies, meaning mike is living his worst fear, right? but it isn't that simple, of course, and that's because it was not mike that said he is scared of losing el. will assumed so; "you're scared of losing her", and mike nodded in agreement. but what mike actually did say earlier in the fourth season was, "i felt like i lost you" - and he said this to will.
this is very significant, because it draws a clear parallel between what we hear mike say about how he feels and what will assumes mike fears, and they are both about loss. since we know that will is speaking about his own feelings for mike when he uses el as a front, him saying to mike that "she's scared of losing you, just like you're scared of losing her", implies that el is not only a cover for will's feelings, she is a cover for mike's.
-> which i think is made pretty clear, looking at some of mike's honest words to will side by side will's veiled confession to mike:
"the truth is, the last year has been weird, you know?" "i don't know, maybe i feel like i lost you, or something" - "these past few months, (i've) been so lost without you"
"i felt so alone and so scared, but i saw you on the swings, and you were alone too (..) i asked if you wanted to be my friend, and you said yes. (..) it was the best thing i've ever done" - "but you make (me) feel like (i'm) not a mistake at all, like (i'm) better for being different, and that gives (me) the courage to fight on"
"no, no, you didn't deserve anything" (after treating will badly) - "if (i) was mean to you, or seemed like (i) was pushing you away, it's probably because (i) was scared of losing you"
"max and lucas and dustin, they're great, it's just. it's hawkins, it's not the same without you." - "so yeah, (i) need you, mike, and (i) always will"
now, this stretches far wider than a few paragrafs of analysis can fully explore, but i at least hope i explained it well enough to be able to answer what i think the meaning of the void scene and el's death is.
2 the void conversation
the dialogue between el and mike in the void is indeed ill-fitting for what we know about their relationship. but it is also loaded with very fitting subtext - in regards to byler, that is.
before i delve into that, it's important to know two crucial points to the subtext of stranger things. firstly, the upside down is an allegory for being in the closet. and el, while she's a character in her own right, is also an allegory; she is the personification of mike's feelings for will.
this subtext is present since season 1, and i think that with season 5 explicitly bringing will's struggles with his sexuality onto the page, it's now close to confirmed in the text. as for el's allegory... well, i think that will become clear, too.
so, mike sees el standing right inside the gate to the upside down as it's about to be sucked into the vast darkness. as he gets pulled into the void, he runs up to el (see: his feelings for will) and the first thing he says is "you have to get out of there!". 'there', of course, being the upside down (see: the closet).
el answers "none of this will ever end, not if i'm still here", which is her reason for doing this, but it also reflects something about mike. el says 'if i'm still here', talking about her staying alive. but, if we take her words literally, 'here' is actually the void (where el and mike are) and the upside down (where el is physically) . 'none of this will ever end' is alluding to the cycle of abuse that el came from, and her belief that she must die for it to end. but, in the subtext, this is actually about the cycle of abuse they suffer by vecna/the mindflayer. y'know, the evil force that uses fear and pain against them. does that mean it will never end unless mike's feelings for will... 'die'? no, not die - because that's el in the text. in the subtext, it means: the cycle of abuse from vecna/the mf will never end, not if mike's feelings are still in the closet.
"we'll figure something out, we'll fight back, we always do" mike says. in both the text and the subtext, he says they will fight against the cycle of abuse and figure it out. whiiiich makes el's response super interesting; "i need you to talk to the others, (..) thank them for me, for being so kind to me". it sounds like a typical last request from someone who won't get the chance to say this themselves. in the subtext, though, el's words are actually a response to what mike just said: to figure it out and fight back, mike needs to talk to the others. and, idk maybe i'm reaching here but, mike thanking the others for being kind to el (i.e. mike's feelings for will), might mean exactly that: when mike talks to the others about his feelings for will, he'll thank them for being kind.
el then says, "i need you to help them understand my choice". her choice being to sacrifice herself. it's obvious what this means in the text, but in the subtext... i think it could mean mike helps them understand his feelings for will were 'killed'. in response, mike says, "i don't understand". again, the textual meaning is clear - but the subtext is :( :( because, mike doesn't understand himself why his feelings for will have to die :(
but el tells him "i know, but one day you will". i find this odd, bc how can she know whether mike will ever understand why she had to die? okay, so, maybe she's just trying to give him some hope of getting closure, but i honestly think this line isn't meant to be significant in the text - it's written mostly for the subtext, which el's next line can explain:
"you understand me. better than anyone. you always have." and at first glance - hilarious, because mike doesn't understand el. st4 and 3 made that very clear, at the very least, we know that this is how el feels - she does not think mike understands her, and we never see a proper resolution for it, either. so, what is it mike understands? his love for will, of course. and this is where it all becomes sooo familiar and very, very telling ->
"from the day we met, you've seen me. the real me", except it is followed by a montage of the least real el scenes, scenes where mike is helping el conform: putting her in a dress and wig to look like "a normal girl", kissing her when she'd only been out in the world for a few days and just learned what a friend is, dancing at the snowball with the other boy/girl pairings, that heavily symbolic shot where will placed right in the middle. and, the most telling of all, mike's "i love you, i love you for exactly who you are" - the declaration of love that required will's urging (and literally copy/pasted bits from will's veiled love confession in the van, along with things he has previously said to will). the subtext is saying mike has 'seen' his feelings for will since the first day they met, and hey now... (insert season 2 shed scene).
then, mike pleads "please don't leave me, el", subtextually implying that he is losing his feelings for will, but!!!!! it's not in the sense that he is falling out of love with him. no, bc remember - mike's feelings for will are leaving him, it is not mike that is leaving them. and that is very much also supported by what the plot has foreshadowed (see: mike seeing vecna + clock sound, followed by mike no longer being his usual, will-clingy self. hmm).
el's "i will always be with you" is another line that makes little sense, because why is it el telling mike that, when he should be saying it about himself? again, text is pretty clear, but the subtext is telling us mike's love for will is always going to be with him!!! but then, it's made worse by el's next declaration:
"i love you" she says. and mike. doesn't say it back. he said it the year before, so why not now? (well hehe bc will isn't there to urge him to do so. i'm so serious) mike not being able to tell el he loves her here, is a clear indicator that he doesn't and that he can't lie to her about it. but that's not the whole issue. bc sure, he might not love her, but he didn't last time either, so why would he not just say the words to try and save her?
the subtext is vital to understanding that. how can it possibly be a good thing, that mike can't tell his feelings for will that he loves them, because it would be a lie? well, because mike's issue here, is that he isn't honest with el (his feelings for will!!), and then she stays in the upside down (the closet!!!) and gets ripped away into nothingness.
so. as you can tell, there's a lotttt to chew on here. but i rly think it makes perfect sense. i've been gnawing at the st subtext for years on end, so i'll summarize what i think it is telling us in this scene:
what happened so far: mike's love for will is in the closet and about to disappear into the vast empty nothing. mike does not want to lose that love. he doesn't understand why it is happening. but he can't be honest with his feelings, and then he does lose them.
what's coming: one day, mike will understand. he can figure things out by talking to his friends. he'll tell them about his feelings, and they will understand, they'll be kind. and then, mike will be able to face the truth; he understands his feelings for will better than anyone, he always has; he has loved will since the day they first met. only then can mike fight back against the cycle of abuse - mike is how they save will.
3 the allegory of el's fakeout death
alright, so, this is what it comes down to: el died after mike could not be honest with her, and; mike's love for will vanished after mike couldn't face his true feelings.
but the void was far from the last scene of the episode. but also, as it happens, the actual last scene is when mike solves the issue! and i've been thinking this since, like, january 2nd, but it becomes vvvv clear after analyzing the void scene.
bc... do u remember what happens? mike believes el back into existence
and yeah, that is goofy when you isolate it from the greater narrative, but actually.. it is really fucking sweet, and a HUGE moment, because this is the subtext from the above scene coming to life in the plot!!! don't believe me? JUST LOOK!!! ->
"there is one story he can never tell" = mike saying he can never tell the truth about el/his feelings for will
el died, but the mage vanished = much like what the subtext is telling happened to mike's love for will
"but has anyone asked themselves how she cast that spell?" -> "the suppression stone." "she couldn't have used her magic!"
= mike's friends are realizing there's something that's not adding up about el's death/the mage's vanishing/mike's love for will vanishing
= mike's love for will "will always be with him", but was made invisible
= but mike's love for will dying/disappearing wasn't real, it's an illusion. you know, like.... a trance, or the effects of an evil memory stealing villain, perhaps?
which would explains why mike won't touch will and turns into a paper cutout version of himself post ep 5 :)
"where did she go?" -> somewhere safe from the danger of the black hand. and the black hand? is an lawful evil greater deity of tyranny, fear, and hatred, often worshiped by tyrants, elite mercenaries, and authoritarian regimes.
yeah, that doesn't sound so nice. tbh it seems much better that mike imagines his love for will ends up somewhere w a rainbow:
like???? lmao. and, of course: "and it is here, at last, that she finds peace." ->
and that does sound like a good ending for mike's love for will, but...
can believing be enough to make it true? no - or, not if mike has to believe alone. thankfully, he's not alone.
and this is him doing what el asked him to; talk to the party for her. and remember that in subtext, mike needs to talk to his friends to figure it out and fight back!!!
and ho, ho, ho, boy, does he figure it out when he hears that will believes in el/mike's love for him, too:
screenshots don't do his micro expressions justice at all - this is something that needs to be seen in action to feel the gravity of. even so, i still think you see the realization happening in his eyes here. WILD
and this is where mike finally faces the truth; looking at his and will's names side by side, caressing them with his thumb.
mike leaving their dnd binders behind here then seems like it means he's letting go. but. i dont think so, considering what mike said to hopper earlier about his plan for el and him: "it was a fantasy plan, i should've had a real one"
leaving dnd behind is symbolic, not literal: mike is leaving the fantasy, i.e. his relationship with el, to face the real world, i.e. the truth, which is that he's in love with will. and this time, he won't cause it to end in tragedy, like it did with el.
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Jonathan and Joyce are the only people who drive out of Hawkins in S1-3. Hawkins is cursed like Storybrooke. Hawkins is a mindscape?
I've always wondered how Jonathan left. In S1 he insists that he goes to see Lonnie instead of Hopper. He is denied, but goes anyway
Lonnie calls Hawkins a hellhole and says people in the city are more real. I wonder if they stay in the hellhole for Will, like maybe that's the only place they can be with him.
Lonnie calls Jonathan his eldest, but he tells Jonathan that his mom has gotta get HIM out of that hellhole. Not him and Will, just him.
Maybe the day Will died is like the day Jonathan’s innocence died. More on that later. And I think this would be in regards to Lonnie’s abuse.
He's holding himself and those headphones look like they would block out noise. Will is the baby, but he never really gets to be a kid because he's constantly suffering at the hand of the supernatural. It's a nicer story than suffering at the hands of your family.
In S2, we see him driving out of Hawkins with Nancy to go to Illinois. I've also wondered for a long time how they even got to Murrays, but then I noticed that Jonathan was the one driving.
BOOM. BADA...BADA...BOOM
Robin says that next time they will leave a note, and they did. Did Jonathan take Will with him when he went to Illinois? In S1, I pointed out that Will was looking through Jonathan's eyes when Joyce had her axe. I think that Will is tied to Jonathan. Remember in S1 when he looked in Lonnie's trunk for Will.
This refers to their mind. Nancy has a stick in her mind. Basically he called her insane, or maybe it’s something else. Like she is out of her mind in the literal sense. Her mind is elsewhere.
Jonathan tells Hopper that Will might have gone to Lonnie's to hide, but then Jonathan acts like Lonnie might have kidnapped Will. Lonnie kidnapped Jonathan’s childhood.
So maybe Will is like that piece of Jonathan, his inner child. Jonathan said that Will would hide if he saw cops, and I feel like Jonathan probably used to hide from Lonnie when he was young.
In S3, Hopper and Joyce leave but Joyce is the one who drives. Remember the whole JOYCE DRIVE JOYCE DRIVVVEEEE.
Of course you remember how could anyone forget. They made it memorable. They wanted us to remember that Joyce was driving. This makes two members of the Byers family who can drive out of Hawkins.
At the end of S3, we see Joyce and Jonathan driving to leave Hawkins again. They go to California which is a dream world. And I think Will went back to the real world when he vanished. So, Will can leave as well. All 3 of the Byers can leave Hawkins. (I know it's a lot of links, you can either take my word for it or read them).
Jonathan is driving again. And Joyce is driving El.
I'm sorry, is that a truck? Is that a BIG TRUCK?
You bet it is! Who else drives a big truck?
Yep. Murray gave her a ride. He's under a fake alias.
We see in S5 how Hawkins is literally quarantined so people can't leave. But, I don't think they could leave before. Until the earth split open.
Now the sign is RED. It was clearly brown in S1.
Anyways. Why can the Byers leave? Lol this is Vecna’s family.
