001, 008, 011: every numbered child of Hawkins Lab
Universe · The laboratory · The numbers
In Hawkins Lab, the children have no first name: they have a number tattooed on the forearm. The show names three, One, Eight and Eleven, and shows a dozen others, all dead on the same day in 1979. Here is who they are, and what their numbers tell.
The essentials
- 001: Henry Creel, first subject, future Vecna
- 008: Kali Prasad, able to create illusions
- 011: Jane Ives, called Eleven, the only survivor of 1979
- The others: numbers Two to Eighteen or so, killed by One in 1979
Contents
Why numbers
Dr. Brenner does not see his subjects as children but as experiments, and he identifies them as such: by order of arrival, with a tattoo on the left forearm. The number replaces the first name, the identity, the family. When Eleven leaves the lab, she knows only that number, and it is Mike who invents a nickname for her, “El.”
The numbering also tells the history of the program: One arrived first, at the end of the 50s or the start of the 60s; Eleven, born in 1971, is one of the last. Between the two, a generation of children the show almost never shows.
The 011 T-shirt, tattoo included.
In the shopEleven portrait tank top36,90 €See the product
001: Henry Creel
The first subject is not a stolen child but a taken-in child: Henry Creel, sole survivor, in 1959, of the massacre of his own family, which he himself caused with his powers. Brenner takes him in, studies him, and finds him too dangerous: he implants a chip that blocks his abilities and makes him a lab orderly.
In 1979, Eleven removes his chip without knowing who he is. Henry massacres all the children and the staff, then offers Eleven to join him. She refuses, faces him, and throws him into the Upside Down, where lightning transforms him into Vecna. His full page is on the site.
008: Kali Prasad
Eight is a little girl of Indian origin, taken from London and brought to the lab in the 70s. Her power is illusion: making others see what is not there. She escapes before 1979, which saves her from the massacre, and grows up in Chicago, where she runs a gang that hunts former lab employees.
Eleven finds her again in season 2, after discovering her existence in her mother's files. Kali offers her revenge; Eleven chooses her friends. The two lab sisters do not see each other again after that.
The visions of Terry IvesIt is by entering her mother's mind, trapped in a loop of memories, that Eleven sees a little girl in the rainbow room and her number: 008. It is the only clue that leads her to Chicago.
011: Jane Ives, called Eleven
Eleven is the daughter of Terry Ives, a test subject herself, whose baby Brenner took by making her believe it was a miscarriage. Raised in the lab, she develops telekinesis and the ability to project her mind. She is the only survivor of 1979 and, four years later, the one who opens the gate.
The 011 tattoo is, with the waffles, the most reproduced symbol of the show. Eleven still looks at it in Season 4, when she goes back to the lab to recover her memories.
The other numbers
| Number | What we know |
|---|---|
| Two | The leader of the group in 1979, who persecutes Eleven; killed by Henry |
| Three to Ten | Children seen in the rainbow room; all killed on September 8, 1979 |
| Eighteen | The highest number glimpsed on screen, in the lab hallways |
| No number | Terry Ives and the other MK-Ultra adults were never tattooed |
The show has never revealed the exact number of subjects: they are estimated at about fifteen living at the lab in 1979. No other survivor than Eleven and Eight is known, which has not stopped fans from imagining, for years, a Nine or a Ten hidden somewhere.
The Eleven figure, gown and shaved head.
In the shopLego Eleven mini figure on a bike14,90 €See the product
The 1979 massacre, scene by scene
The seventh chapter of Season 4 finally shows what happened at the lab on September 8, 1979. Henry, the orderly, has won the trust of little Eleven, tormented by Two and the other children of the rainbow room. He offers to remove the chip that holds back his own powers, implanted by Brenner; she does it. Henry, freed, kills the guards, the scientists, then all the numbered children, one by one, in the hallways.
He asks Eleven to join him. She refuses, faces him, and throws him through a wall into a dimension he did not know: the Upside Down, where the lightning burns him and turns him into Vecna. Brenner finds Eleven alone, among the bodies, and lets the massacre be put on her account for seven years. The opening scene of Season 4, with the children's bodies, is the end of that night.
The known numbers, in one table
| Number | Who | Power | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Henry Creel, born in 1947 | Psychokinesis, telepathy, visions | Exiled in the Upside Down in 1979; killed in 1987 |
| 002 | "Two," the tyrant of the rainbow room | Psychokinesis | Killed by Henry in 1979 |
| 008 | Kali Prasad | Illusions | Escaped before 1979; Dr. Kay's captive; dead in 1987 |
| 010 | "Ten," a little girl | Remote viewing | Killed by Henry in 1979 |
| 011 | Jane Ives, known as Eleven, born in 1971 | Psychokinesis, telepathy, access to minds | Survivor of 1979; open ending in 1987 |
A dozen children lived at the lab in 1979. Only One and Eleven survived the massacre; Kali had escaped earlier. Season 5 reveals that Dr. Kay tried to reproduce those children by injecting Kali's blood into pregnant women.
What it means to be a number
The wrist tattoos, 011, 008, 001, are Brenner's mark: children reduced to a rank, called by their number and not by their first name. The show makes that the heart of its story: Eleven becomes Jane thanks to Hopper, Kali refuses to be Eight and takes the name of her Indian family, Henry stops being One to become Vecna, then, in the last chapter, becomes Henry again under the blows of Will, Eleven, and Joyce.
That is also what distinguishes Eleven from Henry. She was born of an experiment on her mother, Terry Ives; he was born with his powers, or received them from a briefcase, even before meeting Brenner. The numbers say Brenner's attempt to manufacture Henrys; the ending of the show shows there were never more than two children who counted, and that they were the inverse of each other.
The 011 keychain, so you do not forget the number.
In the shop44 mm 011 pin9,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
Who is 001 in Stranger Things?
Henry Creel, Brenner's first subject, who becomes Vecna after being thrown into the Upside Down by Eleven in 1979.
Who is 008?
Kali Prasad, able to create illusions, escaped from the lab before 1979. Eleven finds her again in Chicago in Season 2.
How many children were there at the lab?
About fifteen around 1979. All except Eleven are killed by Henry Creel; Kali had fled earlier.
Why do the children have a tattoo?
To identify them as test subjects, in order of arrival. The number stands in for a name.
How many numbered children survived the 1979 massacre?
Two: One, thrown into the Upside Down, and Eleven, who sent him there. Kali, number 008, had escaped the lab before that night.
Who is Two?
The rainbow-room tyrant, the numbered child who tormented Eleven in 1979. Henry kills him during the massacre.
Where are the numbered children's tattoos?
On the left forearm, near the wrist: 011 for Eleven, 008 for Kali, 001 for Henry, which Eleven discovers in 1979 when he rolls up his sleeve.