Stranger Things Season 5 Finale: Who kills Vecna? How does the story end?

Stranger Things Season 5 Finale Netflix concluded its much-anticipated show, Stranger Things with the last episode of Season 5. The show went live on the OTT platform earlier today and left fans divided about its ending. Featuring unexpected endings, twists and turns, the show brings the final showdown between the Hawkins group and their most feared opponent, Vecna.

Ahead of the show's release, fans' theories claimed that it might be Eleven (played by Millie Bobby Brown) who ultimately neutralises Vecna after several unsuccessful attempts. Turns out, El sacrifices herself for others.

Who kills Vecna?

So the question remains-- who killed Vecna?

Eleven comes close to killing her brother, Hency, but it is Joyce who actually kills Vecna. In the show, the Mind Flayer dies after its connection to the Upside Down is severed by closing the gate, which shuts down its hive mind control.

Joyce steps up to kill Vecna by beheading him with her axe. She executes her plan with her final words to the nightmare of the Hawkins: “You f***ed with the wrong family.”

Although this isn't the first time that the show has dropped an f-bomb in an episode.

Talking about the killing of Vecna, the co-creators of the show, the Duffer Brothers had shared who among the ensemble should be the one to kill Vecna before picking the Byers family matriarch.

“At the end of the day, it felt like it had to be Joyce because Joyce was the first one [in Season 1] to really take action, to believe that something strange was going on,” Ross Duffer said as per Tudum.

“We were looking for a real moment that would deserve stronger language, and we’ve been saving [it],” Matt Duffer explained Joyce's now-viral dialogue. “We felt if we were going to go there, this was the moment for it. Let’s give it to Winona.”

How did Stranger Things end?

Stranger Things wraps up its last and longest episode with a Dungeons & Dragons, the game where it all began. The show returns to the Wheelers’ basement for the last round of the role-playing adventure before Will (Noah Schnapp), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Max, and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) shelve their D&D books for good. Empty-handed, they are seen leaving the basement one by one with heavy hearts.

As all of them walk up the basement, Mike’s younger sister, Holly (Nell Fisher), and her friends group go down, replacing the OG group in the D&D campaign.

Makers on Stranger Things ending

The scene refers to Mike and his friends “leaving their childhood behind,” Matt Duffer confirmed to Tudum.

“It’s their time to leave it behind and pass the torch to the next group of kids.”

“That was the first thing we ever shot, and it felt appropriate that this would be the last thing we ever shot,” co-creator Ross Duffer added.

Wondering what happened to Eleven? Read here.

Stranger Things was first premiered on Netflix in 2016.