Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2: 5 finale fan predictions you wouldn't want to come true

Stranger Things Season 5 is finally here, and it already feels like the end of something huge.

This show has been with us for years. We grew up with it. We argued about it. We cried over it at 3 am. And now, as Stranger Things Season 5 moves toward its final episodes in Volume 2, fans are stuck with one big scary question. How does this end without breaking our hearts?

The show started as a simple mystery in a small town. Kids on bikes. A missing boy. Some flickering lights. Then it slowly turned into this massive emotional universe full of monsters, trauma, love, and friendship. Stranger Things Season 5 carries the weight of all that history. Every season added pain, stakes, and loss. Every character feels like someone we know.

Fans are terrified the ending will hurt in ways we cannot undo. The predictions floating around are not silly or wild. They come from years of clues, patterns, and deep emotional attachment.

Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 is where everything collides. Vecna. Eleven. Will. Time. Memory. Sacrifice. And when fans look ahead, five endings keep popping up again and again. These are the ones people really hope never happen. Let’s discuss each of these fan theories in detail.

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Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2: 5 finale fan predictions you wouldn't want to come true

Theory #1. What if none of this was real and it was just a game all along

This is the oldest and most hated theory connected to Stranger Things Season 5. The idea is simple but painful. What if everything we watched was never real? What if Hawkins, the Upside Down, Vecna, and all the deaths were just part of a Dungeons and Dragons game the kids were playing in the very first episode?

Fans have pointed out how much the show uses D and D language. Monsters are named after game creatures. The kids often split into neat little groups. The Upside Down being frozen in time lines up with when the game first started. On paper, it sounds clever. In reality, it feels like betrayal.

One Reddit user named @hopeylad explained their theory in a long post shared on the Stranger Things subreddit. They wrote,

“What if the entire show is actually a Dungeons & Dragons campaign being imagined by the boys? This would explain why characters always seem to split up into groups of four, why they're so quick to accept the names given to monsters by the kids, and even why the Upside Down seems frozen in time.”

They went on to connect characters to classic game roles, saying Eleven fits the mage type, Hopper feels like a fighter, and Steve works as a rogue or bard. It is detailed and thoughtful but fans still hate it.

The reason is emotional. Stranger Things Season 5 cannot end by telling us none of this mattered. The trauma is too real. Will’s suffering. Max’s pain. Hopper’s losses. Eleven’s entire childhood. Turning that into a pretend story would feel like pulling the rug out from under everyone.

Even fans who enjoy theory crafting admit this would be the worst possible move. It is the kind of ending people joke about because they are scared it might happen.

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Theory #2. Vecna bends time and breaks reality forever

Another terrifying prediction for Stranger Things Season 5 is that time itself gets broken beyond repair. This theory leans heavily into clocks, wormholes, and science lessons sprinkled throughout the season.

Fans noticed Mr. Clarke explaining the Einstein-Rosen Bridge in class. A wormhole that connects different points in time and space. That one scene alone sent Reddit into chaos. People started connecting it to Vecna’s obsession with clocks and the Upside Down being stuck on a specific date.

One fan posted a massive theory explaining that Will’s kidnapping fractured time itself. According to them, the Upside Down is not a parallel world but a broken piece of Hawkins frozen in a loop. Vecna is trapped inside that fracture and wants out.

They wrote,

“I think Will being taken created a temporal echo of Hawkins. Not an alternate timeline, but a fracture of a timeline, and Vecna is stuck in it.”

The same post suggested Will might actually be the bridge between worlds. Not a metaphorical one. A literal one. If that is true, closing the gate might mean destroying the bridge completely.

Fans do not like this ending because it risks turning Stranger Things Season 5 into a time reset story. If time gets rewritten, memories might disappear. Relationships could vanish. Sacrifices could be erased or made meaningless.

People fear an ending where Hawkins survives but nothing feels earned. Where time fixes everything without consequences. Stranger Things has always been about pain leaving scars. A clean reset would feel wrong.

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Theory #3. Steve Harrington dies right at the end

If Stranger Things Season 5 kills Steve, the internet might actually collapse. Like literally.

This fear exploded after the Duffer Brothers appeared on a late-night show and played around with Funko Pop figures. During the segment, Steve’s figure was pushed off the table. It looked like a joke but fans did not take it that way.

Internet threads filled up within minutes. Clips spread everywhere. The timing made it worse because Netflix dropped a new teaser the same day.

One Reddit user wrote, “They are trolling us.” Other fans believed that Steve dying to save the kids would destroy them but it also feels like something he would actually do.

Steve’s journey is why this theory hurts so much. He started as a selfish jerk but gradually became the heart of the group.

Fans worry Stranger Things Season 5 might use Steve’s death as a heroic final punch. A noble sacrifice. A moment designed to make people cry forever.

The problem is that fans feel he has already paid his dues. Killing him feels cruel. Not meaningful or necessary. It is one of those endings people brace for even while begging the writers not to go there.

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Theory #4. Eleven sacrifices herself and never returns

This might be the most painful prediction tied to Stranger Things Season 5. The theory says Eleven will be the one to end everything. She opened the first gate. She might have to close the last one. Permanently.

Some fans believe this means death. Others think it means she becomes trapped in the Upside Down forever.

People point to emotional scenes involving Hopper and Mike. Moments that feel like goodbye energy. The idea scares fans because Eleven has never had a normal life. Not once.

One Reddit user says,

Fans on the internet also discuss how losing Eleven would break Hopper completely. Another said Mike’s biggest fear is losing her again and Stranger Things Season 5 doing that permanently would be devastating.

The show has always been inspired by stories where the special kid leaves at the end. But fans want better for her. They want her to live, to grow up, to exist without the burden of saving the world.

An ending where Eleven disappears forever might be poetic, but many feel it would be too dark. Too heavy. Too unfair after everything she survived.

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Theory #5. Kali turns against Eleven and chooses the wrong side

This theory feels messy, complicated, and very uncomfortable. That is why fans fear it. Kali, also known as Eight, was introduced back in season 2. She taught Eleven how to focus her anger. She showed her a different way to survive. And then she disappeared.

Stranger Things Season 5, bringing her back, opens the door to betrayal theories. Some fans think Kali could side with Vecna, not fully understanding his cruelty. Others think she could be manipulated by the military.

One fan wrote,

“If she does betray them, I predict it will be that she sides with Vecna cause he helped her escape the lab, and he plays on the idea they are just punishing those who abused them.”

Another fan pushed back hard, saying Kali betraying Eleven would lack emotional weight because they barely had time together. Others argue the opposite. That shared trauma makes betrayal hurt more.

What scares fans is the emotional damage. Eleven already struggles with trust. Stranger Things Season 5 turning her only biological sister into an enemy would reopen every wound she has.

Many fans hope Kali returns not as a villain but as someone choosing healing over anger. A betrayal ending feels like the show leaning into pain for shock value.

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As Stranger Things Season 5 heads into its final stretch with Volume 2, the fear around these predictions says a lot about how deeply people care about this show. Fans are not scared because they expect shock value. They are scared because Stranger Things Season 5 carries years of emotional investment, and one wrong move could undo all of it.

These predictions are not about twists being bad. They are about endings that feel empty, cruel, or unfair to characters who have already been through too much.

Stranger Things has always worked best when it balances horror with heart. The monsters matter, but the friendships matter more. The Upside Down is terrifying, but losing each other is the real fear. That is why fans are nervous about endings involving fake realities, erased timelines, or sacrifices that leave characters alone forever.

Stranger Things Season 5 does not need to be clever or shocking to be remembered. It needs to be honest. It needs to respect the pain, the growth, and the love that built this story from the very beginning. Fans are ready to cry. They are ready to say goodbye. They just hope the ending feels earned, human, and true to the show they grew up with.

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Stay tuned to Soap Central for more updates on Stranger Things Season 5.