For five seasons, Stranger Things has told us almost everything about Eleven’s tragic origin story—her mother Terry Ives, the brutal MKUltra experiments, Dr. Brenner’s abduction of baby Jane—but one crucial detail has remained conspicuously absent from the screen. Who is Eleven’s biological father? Why has the show never mentioned him? And could Season 5 finally reveal his identity before the series concludes? The answer is more heartbreaking than you might expect, and it’s been hiding in plain sight for years.
TL;DR
Eleven's biological father is Andrew Rich, Terry Ives's boyfriend who was drafted to the Vietnam War before Eleven was born and died in combat in 1970. This information comes from the prequel novel Suspicious Minds but has never been confirmed in the show itself, leaving the door open for fan theories—including the disturbing possibility that Vecna or Dr. Brenner could be her real father.
What the Show Actually Tells Us
Let’s start with what Stranger Things has officially established. Eleven, born Jane Ives on June 7, 1971, is the biological daughter of Teresa “Terry” Ives. Between 1969 and 1971, Terry participated in MKUltra-inspired experiments at Hawkins National Laboratory under Dr. Martin Brenner’s supervision—experiments involving LSD, sensory deprivation, and attempts to enhance psychic abilities.
Here’s the disturbing part: Terry was unknowingly pregnant during these experiments. Brenner deliberately targeted pregnant women, believing their unborn children would develop enhanced abilities from in-utero exposure to his experimental procedures. When baby Jane was born showing extraordinary telekinetic powers, Brenner kidnapped her from the hospital, telling Terry her daughter had died during childbirth.
Terry spent years trying to get her daughter back, eventually storming Hawkins Lab with a lawyer. Brenner’s response was monstrous: he ordered electroshock therapy that destroyed Terry’s mind, leaving her in a permanent catatonic state, trapped in a mental loop reliving the moment her daughter was stolen.
But throughout this entire tragic backstory—revealed primarily in Season 2, Episode 7—the show never once mentions who got Terry pregnant. Not a name, not a reference, not even a photograph. For a series that loves diving into character histories and family connections, this omission feels deliberate. So who was he?
The Official Answer: Andrew Rich
The answer exists, but you won’t find it in the Netflix series. It comes from Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds, a 2019 prequel novel by Gwenda Bond that explores Terry Ives’s time in the MKUltra program before Eleven’s birth.
According to the novel, Eleven’s biological father is Andrew Rich, a college student and Terry’s boyfriend during the late 1960s. Born September 14, 1951, Andrew came from a relatively well-off family who supported him financially while he attended college. He and Terry were in love, planning a future together.
Then Vietnam happened. Andrew was drafted into the war in 1969, right around the time Terry discovered she was pregnant. The couple had one last moment together before he shipped out, neither knowing that Terry was already carrying his child. The timeline checks out perfectly: Terry and Andrew were together in 1970, and Eleven was born in June 1971.
Tragically, Andrew died in combat in May 1970—months before his daughter was born. He never knew Terry was pregnant. He never got to meet Jane. And according to the novel’s darker implications, Dr. Brenner may have deliberately orchestrated Andrew’s conscription, removing him from Terry’s life so he could better control her participation in his experiments.
Andrew Rich’s story is devastating in its simplicity: a young man who loved a woman, got drafted into an unpopular war, and died before ever knowing he’d become a father. His daughter would grow up believing a monster named “Papa” was the only parent she’d ever known.
The Problem: Is It Canon?
Here’s where things get complicated. Suspicious Minds is officially licensed Stranger Things material, but the prequel novels sometimes contradict details established in the show, making their canonical status questionable at best. The Duffer Brothers have never confirmed whether Andrew Rich exists in their version of the story, and five seasons later, the show has never mentioned him.
This silence has fueled years of speculation and increasingly wild fan theories. If the show’s creators intended Andrew Rich to be Eleven’s father, why not mention him even once? Why not show Terry a photograph during her flashbacks? Why not have Aunt Becky tell Eleven about her father when she explained what happened to Terry?
The absence feels intentional, as if the Duffer Brothers are either saving the reveal for Season 5’s final episodes or have a completely different answer in mind.
The Vecna Theory: A Disturbing Possibility
In November 2025, social media influencer Tanner Schroering posted a TikTok theory that sent the fandom into chaos: what if Vecna (Henry Creel/Number One) is actually Eleven’s biological father?
Before you dismiss this as clickbait nonsense, hear out the timeline. Henry Creel was taken by Dr. Brenner for experimentation in 1959 after murdering his family with his psychic powers. He became Brenner’s first test subject, undergoing brutal experiments for over a decade. Eleven was born in 1971, twelve years later.
When Terry entered the MKUltra program around 1969-1970 at age 20, she was brought to Hawkins Lab—the same facility where Henry was being held. Henry, born in 1947, would have been around 23-24 years old when Eleven was conceived.
Here’s where the theory gets dark: what if Brenner specifically brought pregnant women like Terry into his program not just to experiment on their unborn children, but to use Henry’s DNA to create more psychic children? Terry’s body would have served as a “vessel,” artificially inseminated with Henry’s genetic material to produce offspring with enhanced abilities.
This would explain several disturbing facts:
- Why Eleven’s powers are so similar to Henry’s (both have telekinesis, telepathy, and reality manipulation abilities)
- Why Brenner was so obsessed with creating other numbered children after Henry
- Why the show has deliberately avoided identifying Eleven’s father
- Why Eleven was able to overpower Henry in their 1979 confrontation—she inherited his abilities
The theory mirrors the Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker revelation from Star Wars, which Schroering admits makes fans hesitant to discuss it. But the pieces fit uncomfortably well.
The Brenner Theory: Could “Papa” Be Literal?
An even darker possibility: Dr. Martin Brenner himself could be Eleven’s biological father.
We know Brenner conducted unethical experiments on Terry. We know she doesn’t remember how she got pregnant. We know Brenner had access to her during vulnerable periods when she was sedated or undergoing procedures. The horrifying implication is that Terry was either artificially inseminated or assaulted while unconscious, making Brenner both Eleven’s kidnapper and her biological father.
This theory has been circulating since Season 1, with fans pointing to Brenner’s obsessive attachment to Eleven as potentially revealing something deeper than his usual possessiveness over his test subjects. When he calls himself “Papa,” is it psychological manipulation—or literal truth?
The show has deliberately framed Brenner as irredeemably evil, capable of destroying Terry’s mind with electroshock and locking children in solitary confinement. Would he be above impregnating an experimental subject to create a psychic child? Given everything else Brenner has done, it’s disturbingly plausible.
Will Season 5 Finally Answer This?
As Stranger Things enters its final episodes, the question remains: will the show ever address Eleven’s biological father?
The Duffer Brothers have promised that Season 5 will answer remaining mysteries and provide closure to character arcs. Eleven’s journey has always centered on identity and family—discovering her mother, finding a real father figure in Hopper, connecting with her “sister” Kali (Number Eight). But her biological father remains a gap in that story.
If Andrew Rich is the true answer, revealing him in Season 5 would add poignant tragedy to Eleven’s story: she’s the daughter of a war casualty and a woman destroyed by government experiments, making her survival and strength even more remarkable.
If the Vecna theory is true, it would fundamentally recontextualize Eleven’s entire journey and her connection to the Upside Down, suggesting she’s been fighting her own father all along.
If the Brenner theory holds, it would make Eleven’s rejection of “Papa” in his dying moments even more powerful—she would be literally refusing to call her abuser “father” even if it’s biologically true.
The Truth We Deserve
After five seasons, fans deserve to know who Eleven’s biological father is. Whether it’s Andrew Rich, Henry Creel, Martin Brenner, or someone else entirely, the answer matters because Eleven’s identity has always been central to Stranger Things.
She’s not just Number Eleven. She’s not just the girl with powers. She’s Jane Hopper—daughter, friend, hero. And every piece of her origin story matters, including the father she never knew.
The final episodes will air soon. Maybe then, we’ll finally learn the truth about the man whose DNA helped create the most powerful character in the Stranger Things universe.
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