Eleven in Stranger Things season 1: one week out of the lab, 246 words and a final fight
Eleven · November 1983 · Season 1
The wiki places these scenes between November 6 and 13. The figure of 246 words in the original dialogue, according to a viewer's count, was reported on September 23, 2016. Five memories of the lab come back between chapter 2 and chapter 6.
In November 1983, Eleven spends a week out of the lab, from the pipe to the classroom. She is about twelve, she speaks very little, and on the last night she disappears with the creature.
The essentials
- Age: About twelve. Becky says Terry has kept the room “for 12 years”. The script of the first chapter says she is 12
- Escape: Night of November 6, 1983, through a pipe
- Found: The evening of November 7, in the rain. The escape, Benny and the woods fit in one day
- Words: 246 in the original dialogue, over eight chapters, according to the count reported on September 23, 2016
- Memories: Five, from chapter 2 to chapter 6
- Last fight: During the night of November 12 to 13, at the school
- Creature: The Demogorgon
- Return: Shown in chapter 2 of the season after: she wakes in the Upside Down and comes out through a passage at the school
Contents
Five memories of the lab
Five memories take Eleven back to the Hawkins lab, from chapter 2 to chapter 6. The first catches her in Mike's closet: she sees the cell again, she bangs on the door, she shouts “Papa!” The numbered children share that place.
In chapter 3, she crushes a can with her mind. Her nose bleeds. Brenner is satisfied. Then comes a cat: she refuses to touch it. Two guards drag her toward the cell. She throws one against the wall and breaks the other's neck. Brenner carries her in his arms.
In chapter 4, she makes a speaker carry the words of a man placed elsewhere in the lab. In chapter 5, in a bath, she spies on a Soviet agent and meets a creature. In chapter 6, Brenner orders her to make contact again. She touches the creature. The wall splits.
Blonde wig, wavy, shoulder-length, set on a white mannequin. A black choker is visible at the neck of the bust.
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One day to find shelter
On the night of November 6, in the confusion of the contact, she escapes through a pipe. Will disappears that same night. On the 7th, at Benny Hammond's, she steals some fries, is given a meal, answers “Eleven.” when asked her name, then flees after Connie Frazier has killed Benny and she herself has killed two agents.
That same evening, Mike, Dustin and Lucas, out looking for Will, find her in the woods, in the rain. The escape, the diner and this meeting fit in one day. The pillow fort and the nickname El arrive together, in the basement chapter.
On the morning of the 8th, an Eggo waffle at breakfast. Mike would like her to ring the doorbell so his mother would take her in. She refuses: bad people are looking for her. Hidden in the closet when Mrs. Wheeler comes home unexpectedly, she panics. The wiki ties this fear of closed places to the cell of the first memory.
After school, she slams the door in Lucas's face with her mind and a “no”. In the evening, the gesture changes: it is the board flipped over.
246 words over eight chapters
According to that count, she speaks 246 words in the original dialogue over the eight chapters, about thirty per chapter. The longest sentence is seven words. She talks the most in chapter 7. The count comes from a viewer, ValdemarSt. Erin Donnelly picks it up on Refinery29 on September 23, 2016, after Hello Giggles. Mimed gestures do not count: a slit throat, a finger gun.
The transcripts show one-word answers. “Eleven.”, at Benny's, is one of them. In chapter 2, she asks: “What is ‘friend’?” She also repeats words exactly as she has heard them. “Mouth breather”: Mike explains it about Troy, “a dumb person”. She says it when Troy jeers, at the assembly, then to the supermarket manager.
The rule follows the same path. In the woods, she says to Mike: “Friends tell the truth.” After the escape, when Lucas apologizes (“I was wrong. I'm sorry.”), she answers: “Friends… friends don't lie.” She repeats it to Mike at the middle school, on the last evening. The lines already gathered are on another page.
On the evening of the 8th, she flips the Dungeons & Dragons board to show where Will is. She sets Will's piece on it, then the monster figure next to it.
Four days, from the quarry to the supermarket
On the 9th, a Coca-Cola ad, then a cat in the street, bring back the memory of the can and the cat from the lab. She leads the boys to the Byers house. She cannot say that Will is there, in the Upside Down. The fake body is pulled from the quarry, and Mike calls her a liar. Back in the basement, that evening, Mike's Supercom carries Will's voice.
On the 10th, the disguise fits in two details: a blonde wig, an old pink dress of Nancy's. Mike says: “You look pretty good.” She answers: “Pretty.” During the assembly, Troy mocks Will and she lets out “Mouth breather.” After the assembly, Mike confronts him, she freezes him in place, and Troy wets himself in front of the students. Then the club's Heathkit radio catches fire. The voice on the school radio, just before, was Will's.
On the 11th, she throws off the compasses to keep the boys away from the lab. The compass chapter says how the children go about it. Lucas is thrown, he faints, she runs. On the 12th, alone in the woods, she takes off the wig in front of a puddle, she screams, and the water trembles.
The supermarket, the same day, fits in one image: waffles, the glass door, “Mouth breather.” for the manager. Also that day, Hopper and Joyce work out who she is at Terry Ives's sister's.
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November 6, at night The escape
The contact, then the pipe.
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November 7 The woods
The diner, then the rain.
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November 8 The basement
The door slammed after school, the board in the evening.
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November 9 The quarry
The fake body.
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November 10 The school
The wig, then the radio on fire.
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November 11 The compasses
Lucas thrown, then the escape.
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November 12 Three places
The cliff, the van, the pool.
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Night of November 12 to 13 The classroom
The last fight.
Smocked pink dress, long sleeves, white Peter Pan collar, with white knee socks striped in blue and pink.
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“I'm the monster”
On the 12th, at the cliff, she saves Mike, and Troy's arm snaps. The cliff scene ends with these lines. “Mike… I'm sorry.” Then: “The gate… I opened it.” Then: “I'm the monster.” Mike answers: “No, El, you're not the monster. You saved me.”
The day before, Lucas had said to Mike: “maybe she's the monster?” The 1983 creature, the one from this week, is the Demogorgon. The chapter is titled “The Monster”. What these gifts cost her that week can be seen scene by scene.
Her nose bleeds. She wears herself out. The van is flipped. At the Byers', she reaches neither Will nor Barb. Later, in the bath, she will find Barb dead (“Gone!”), then Will alive, hidden in Castle Byers.
She is the one who thinks of the bath, seeing the bathtub. In the gym, a saltwater kiddie pool opens the Void. The salt and all the rest of that scene fit in the account of the pool.
The night of the 12th to the 13th, at the school
Alone with Mike at the middle school, she asks: “Will you be like my brother?” He says no, invites her to the Snow Ball, and kisses her.
Hopper has revealed where she was, in exchange for a passage to the Upside Down. The details of that deal, the waffles that will come much later, and the rest of their pact fit in the story of the two of them.
The agents arrive. She kills them with her mind, then collapses. Brenner leans in. She says: “Papa?” He answers: “Yes, yes, it's your papa.” The creature comes out of the wall, drawn by the blood, then finds the children in a classroom. Eleven pins it to the blackboard, says “Goodbye, Mike.”, and disappears with it. The classroom tells what this last gesture costs her. The end of season 1 gives the outcome.
The next season shows that she woke in the Upside Down and came out through a passage at the school. That return is shown as early as its chapter 2.
Two sheets: “Friends don't lie”, 011, a waffle, the alphabet in string lights, bikes, Castle Byers, and the creature with its head open.
In the shopSeason 1 sticker sheets16,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
How old is Eleven in this season?
About twelve. Becky says Terry has kept the child's room “for 12 years”, and the script of the first chapter says she is 12.
How many words does she speak?
246 in the original dialogue, over eight chapters, according to a viewer's count reported by Refinery29 on September 23, 2016. The longest sentence is seven words. She talks the most in chapter 7. Mimed gestures are not counted.
Why is her head shaved?
At the lab, her head is shaved. Millie Bobby Brown had her head shaved for the role.
Where does the pink dress come from?
From an old dress of Nancy's, on the day of the disguise, with a blonde wig. Mike tells her she looks pretty.
Who finds her in the woods?
Mike, Dustin and Lucas, on the evening of November 7, in the rain. The wiki places this meeting on the same day as Benny.
Why is she called El?
It is the nickname Mike gives her on the first evening, with the pillow fort, in the basement.
Does she die at the end of this season?
No. The next season shows her coming out of the Upside Down, through a passage at the school. The fight at the school takes place during the night of November 12 to 13.
