[Spoiler Alert] Okay, I know you all saw that bullet wound on Kali’s body, but is it possible that she may have not died from it? Honestly, I am not denying the fact here that Kali is dead. What I am trying to say is, she may have not died from the gunshot, and instead was decimated by the destruction of the wormhole, that is, the Upside Down. I know you might be wondering: does it really matter how she died, because at the end of the day, she’s dead, right? Well, if you ask me, it does matter, because the manner of her death may be directly related to the survival of the show’s protagonist, El. How? Well, allow me to explain further.
In the Stranger Things Season 5 finale, you all saw Lieutenant Robert Akers and his men arriving at the Hawkins Lab inside the Upside Down, where he captured Jim Hopper and Kali and threatened to kill Kali if Hopper didn’t reveal to him where El was hiding. Coincidentally, at the same time, Murray Bauman threw a grenade at the helicopter from the terrace, creating an explosion that shook everyone inside the lab, and on impulse, Akers fired a shot, which the show wanted us to believe hit Kali. But what if it didn’t, and the bullet wound we saw on her body was nothing but an illusion because Kali didn’t want to go back to the human world? The reason? Well, she’s already had enough. She lost her family, her entire childhood, and her innocence because of a depraved experiment. She tried to rebuild her life again, to find new family and friends, but the US military snatched it all again from her. They shot her friends in front of her eyes, and Kali had no strength left to live through it all again. She knew it was a vicious cycle that would never come to an end. And the only way to escape it was to die. But even though Kali had chosen her fate, she didn’t want El to follow in her footsteps. She gave her the gift of choosing her own path in life, just like she chose hers. It could also be possible that El never accompanied the rest of the gang to the human world. Instead the El we saw inside the truck was an illusion created by Kali to make the gang believe that El was with them, but in reality, she was with Kali this whole time figuring out an escape plan.
So at the expense of repeating myself, I believe Kali faked her own death, because she didn’t want Hopper or El’s friends to take her back to Hawkins. But El understood the reason behind her choice and respected it, which was why she left her behind. However, you must ask: how does it all connect to El’s escape or survival? Okay, so you may have heard Mike’s theory in the end, how he believed that the El he saw near the gate wasn’t the real El. Instead, it was an illusion created by Kali to mislead the military into thinking that El sacrificed herself into the void. It could also be possible that the girl we saw near the threshold could be Kali herself, who created an illusion so El could escape the military compound, Mac-Z, and disappear forever. I know you might be wondering why I’m wasting my time making up this crazy theory. The reason is, I think Mike’s theory holds some water, but there are two major flaws in it. Firstly, if Kali had suffered a bullet wound, then I don’t think she would have had enough strength to create an illusion. Secondly, if she was in the Hawkins Lab inside the Upside Down, then it wouldn’t be possible for her to help El from that far away, right? I mean, even her powers have some sort of maximum range. This is also why I want to entertain the possibility that it was Kali standing near the gate who used her powers to make El disappear so she could easily escape the compound. And these are the reasons that make me theorize that Kali may have faked her death inside the Hawkins Lab so she could help El escape the military because, as per their previous conversation, they already knew that the military will try to capture El once she leaves the Upside Down. And you all saw that she wasn’t wrong.
However, if you don’t buy the theory Mike and I are backing, then you can simply accept the fact that El sacrificed her life to end the vicious circle, and with her gone, the military had no business in Hawkins anymore. With El finally dead, they left the town to let people be in peace again. Well, these are my thoughts on Kali’s death, but if you have anything to add, or want to bash me, then the comments are all open for you mate.
