Who is Number One in Stranger Things and where did he come from? (Spoilers)

Stranger Things season 4 part 1 has finally arrived after fans have been waiting for nearly three years to have their questions answered. Well, those questions have been (mostly) answered and so many new questions have been asked in their place.

Eleven’s story takes an unexpected turn in the new season of Stranger Things, and her origins as a child are explored. We learned little bits and pieces about Eleven in the first three seasons, but this might just be one of the biggest developments The Duffer Brothers have dropped yet.

In Stranger Things season 4 part 1, fans will at long last learn about Number One, a person whose existence had been theorized and has now been confirmed. Who is the elusive One, how did he become 001, and what’s his connection to Eleven?

Warning: Major spoilers from Stranger Things season 4 part 1 ahead!

Who is Number One in Stranger Things season 4?

After Eleven gets arrested for attacking her bully Angela and is then intercepted by Dr. Owens, she ends up back in a lab with Dr. Brenner. She’s placed inside an isolation tank called Nina, where she’s forced to relive memories from her past, including encounters with an orderly.

Within the memories Eleven relives, she reaches a particularly intense one involving the orderly attempting to help her break out of the lab. Of course, that involves the orderly asking Eleven to remove the tracker Brenner placed in his neck. Since she trusts him, she uses her powers to pull the pill-sized tracker from his neck.

Unfortunately, Eleven comes to realize that the orderly has tricked her. She walks through the lab to find that he’s killed everyone, and she sees the same situation in the Rainbow Room. As Eleven realizes, the tracker wasn’t a tracker at all; it was a device to subdue his powers. He’s Number One, and he has the 001 tattoo on his wrist to prove it.

As Number One explains to Eleven, he was Victor Creel’s son, and he was the one responsible for killing his mother and sister. He used his powers to kill them, and overusing his powers at such a young age was what made him pass out on the night of the murders.

After Number One finishes explaining all of this to Eleven, she uses her powers to defeat him, and that opens up a gate to the Upside Down in the Rainbow Room. Number One gets sucked into the Upside Down and is burned by powerful lightning, turning him into Vecna.

So, there you have it: Number One is both Victor Creel’s son and Vecna. Did you see this twist coming in Stranger Things season 4 part 1?

Stay tuned for more Stranger Things news, updates, and spoilers from Netflix Life!