#three waterfalls

[nanas-basement]

Enola Holmes 3…

You have NERVES

Jane was in Italy all along….

[spaceoddity6]

the three waterfalls things is so funny cause he’s not even talking about THEIR future. he’s talking about the party. all of them. and milkcans are like “oh my god he wants to live happily ever after with her” yeah and will and max and lucas and dustin LMAO

[marinthecottage]

The Mage & The Paladin

You can find more art over at my Instagram @mar.s.cottageofdreams

[mike-wheeler-offical]

El, Will, and Kali triple threat call that three waterfalls

[wisefoxluminary]

I'm thinking about the scene where Mike talks to El about how their hypothetical happy ending after saving the world. He said they would move to a peaceful land with three waterfalls because they can't stay in Hawkins after everything they've seen. I'm convinced this will be heavy foreshadowing for how the show is going to end. Mike uses D&D euphemisms throughout this conversation and these have commonly been used to hint at whatever is coming in the show.

I think that even after Hawkins is closed off from The Upside Down and is back to normal, Mike and the whole party and Mike especially won't be able to settle because they have seen too much and are overcome with too much trauma. The cycle of trauma has followed them ever since Will went missing in 1983, they couldn't have a calm in the storm without a new threat coming into town endangering their lives. I think The Upside Down will be closed but in the process, El might sacrifice herself to destroy Dimension X, a loss that will inevitably crush Mike.

He tried to get back to normal but he struggles to adjust back to civilian life after constantly being on edge. I think that set photo from the final episode with Hopper and Mike will detail this as they will discuss their grief over losing El and he will confide that he will be leaving Hawkins as he can never truly be normal here and Hopper is very accepting of that. I think Mike is coming to terms with it here, that he can let go of his trauma and leave Hawkins for good.

I think the show's ending will be Mike leaving with Will and the whole party out of Hawkins after their graduation because Vecna has been defeated and The Upside Down is gone for good, in search of a new life and aspirations. The threat is no longer tethering them there, so they can be free to live their lives and grow up. I think it fits with the themes the show has established about the kids growing up and letting go and moving on from that trauma that has been keeping them around for years.

I think that's what the moral of the finale will be about - letting go and moving on from the past.

The UD will be closed from the Right Side Up for good, ending years of suffering in Hawkins

Hopper will make peace with the loss of Sarah and live life to the fullest

Will loses his powers in the end and gets to live a normal life free from his connection to the UD, in a similar vein to Duncan McLeod at the end of Highlander.

Lumax and Jopper get their dates at the movies and Enzos respectively and we will see them getting ready. Hopper will purpose to Joyce and have their first dance. We might even see Rovickie there 😉

Holly, Derek, Erica and the kids taken by Mr Whatsit step into the party's roles and begin a new D&D group in vein of Hellfire. They will be the lost sheep Dustin promised Eddie he would gather, mentoring a new era of players. Holly will be appointed the new dungeon master. The last scene will be their first campaign but also the last for our heroes with the statue of the Demogorgon toppled on the board, signifying that it is gone for good.

Dustin goes off with Steve to travel the world and go to college.

Henry will sacrifice himself by breaking free of The Mind Flayer's influence and destroying for good, reuniting with Patty in the end.

Robin might come out to all of her friends, not just Steve, fulfilling her acceptance arc.

Will and Mike end up as a couple in the end

Nancy and Jonathan will both move away to pursue their aspirations, but I think Nancy will go off on her own in the end. No idea tbh if marriage is in the cards for them or not as Nancy is opposed to that life.

I think that's what the finale's overall message is going to be coming to terms with our trauma and moving on from the past and passing on the torch to the younger kids. I do think Mike's endgame is leaving Hawkins, even if it's with or without the party, I think it will mirror in a lot of ways to Frodo's ending at the end of Return of the King where he leaves to set sail to the Undying Lands alongside the elves, Gandalf, Galadriel and Bilbo because the emotional toll of being the ring bearer and the wounds he's suffered on his journey has left him unable to find peace in middle earth and the Undying Lands are the only place where he can find healing and catharsis after everything he's seen.

We could have Mike leave somewhere similar, that almost resembles his dream of the three waterfalls and learn to move on from his trauma. I think it would be a bittersweet ending for the show as all of the characters will be leaving their home behind, the place that has defined them for who they are but they will be ready to move and find peace after everything they have witnessed in the UD, passing on the legacy to others to tell the tale of their adventures.

The show began with four boys playing D&D, the show will end with them shepherding a new era of players, honouring Eddie's memory and leaving Hawkins for good. The beginning of a new campaign.

The show is about uplifting the stories of nerds and outcasts and in the end, they can look back at everything they have seen and have changed around them and learn to find peace in themselves in who they are. It shows that once that cycle of violence and pain is over, you can make a new life for yourself and I think that's truly beautiful.

[blueheartbyers]

Some Milkvan shippers have it completely wrong by wanting Mike and El to have a child. S5 exposes the problem that Henry's powers live inside El's blood. And the writers sacrificed El because they decided that the only way to stop the cycle of hunt and exploitation of these powers would be to kill El. How would it be a good idea, in that logic, to :

1) establish that El is still alive, if hiding all of her life didn't work out in the end, she will always be caught again by the evil government.

2) if El gives birth to a child, the child will be the next target because of their blood infused with powers. There is NO WAY canon El would want that, even if she survives and even if by some miracle Mileven reconnects and magically works as an adult couple.

3) let's imagine that we continue to live in the worst timeline possible for Stranger Things canon content, and that one day Netflix release a next season with adult Mileven in Iceland. How would it end, again, in the same logic of S5 ? Their child would have to die because of the curse in the blood (or having a fakeout death). What a message to send. If you really love Mike and El, you don't want them to go through these traumatic events.

Conclusion : for their own safety and happiness, Mike and El are better off NOT as a couple and ABSOLUTELY NOT with a child.

I'm sure Mike and Will would face less danger in their adult life even as a gay couple in the 90s.

[iloverobinbyckley]

Threewaterfallsgate and Localvillagegate being true should have been a bigger red flag than what we made it out to be

[acegarlicbread]

ST SPOILERS

Absolutely real ending scene of season 5

Mike and el are going to move to the local village, get married and have kids. Oh and mike is gonna say "eleven you are my superhero" during his vows

And will who is obviously dead is gonna appear as a ghost only mike can see and urge him to say "i do" to el

We are also obviously going to see them consummating their marriage cause helllooo we need some straight representation. Straightness will finally prevail ( insert the straight flag emoji )