Netflix

Goodbye to the biggest mystery of Stranger Things 5: What is the Upside Down? “Everything we assumed of the Upside Down has been dead wrong”

Although episode 8 will bring the story to a close, we already know the truth about the most important element of the Netflix series.

Roberto Barragán

Update: Dec 26th, 2025 15:41 CET

By now, many people have seen volume 2 of season 5 of ‘Stranger Things’ on Netflix. And most of them are discussing the main topic of debate: what is the Upside Down? Everything was revealed in the final moments of episode 5 of ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5. For obvious reasons, spoilers for the series are included below.

The Upside-Down World is not a parallel dimension

For ten years, we have taken it for granted that the Upside Down is a parallel dimension; a kind of dark version of Hawkins. However, episode 5 of ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 has confirmed that this was never the case. The so-called Upside Down is defined as a “bridge” during the episode. In other words, the Upside Down is a wormhole. A bridge between two points in time and space. It is a place that connects two worlds: the one we all know and an unknown one called the Abyss.

The two worlds of Stranger Things: what is the Abyss?

Once we accept that the Upside Down is neither another world nor a parallel dimension, we must ask ourselves the following question: what is this other world called the Abyss? The first thing to know is that Dustin gave this name as a nod to Dungeons & Dragons, but where is it? The Upside Down is in another dimension, and it is not beneath Hawkins, but above, beyond the sky. When Eleven defeated Henry Creel in the Lab, she did not open a breach to the Upside Down, but to this strange world where Henry wandered for a long time until he became Vecna.