‘Stranger Things’ Season 5: What Is the Strange Pit?

The following contains spoilers for Stranger Things Season 5, Episode 2.

“Everything we ever thought about the Upside Down was wrong,” says Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo). Stranger Things Season 5, Episode 2. And how right he is.

This is the latest collection Stranger Things episodes open up a world-building program, revealing what the Upside Down really is. But it doesn’t end there. It also gives us more details about the mysterious dimension where Henry Creel/Vecna ​​(Jamie Campbell Bower) resides, which Dustin refers to as “the abyss.”

So what is working with the abyss, and how is it connected to our world and the Upside Down? Let’s break it down.

What is the Pit?

In the world of Pits & DragonsThe pit is “a place of chaos and pure evil,” as science teacher Mr. Clarke (Randy Havens) explains. That makes it an apt name for some of the features Henry has made his home. Before the release of Season 5, Stranger Things fans have dubbed this world “Dimension X,” a name that does not appear in any dialogue on the show, but does appear in the leaked script for the Season 4 finale.

Separated from the Upside Down, the Abyss is a yellow world filled with dark mountains and floating rock formations. It is also the original home of creatures such as Mind Flayers and Demogorgons. As Holly (Nell Fisher) finds out in Season 5, Volume 2, if you go through one of the cracks in the ground in the Pit, you’ll find yourself falling into the Upside Down.

The Upside Down is a black hole, not the other way around.

Randy Havens in “Stranger Things.”
Credit: Netflix

Because Stranger Things‘ everything, our heroes think that the Upside Down is another way, as an infinite pit appears. However, that could not be further from the truth. Instead, using the notes of Dr. Brenner’s (Matthew Modine) appearance at Hawkins Lab in the Upside Down, Dustin realizes that the Upside Down is actually a wormhole connecting our dimension and the Bend.

Stranger Things he has been showing this revelation throughout Season 5. Look no further than its indications Wrinkles in Timewhich includes wormhole-like tesseracts. Or what about Mr. Clarke teaching a full class on Einstein-Rosen Bridges, also known as wormholes?

Henry, the Mind Flayer, and the Demogorgons were using the Upside Down as a way to get to our world. And if they’re too badly injured in our world or the Upside Down, like Henry was at the end of Season 4, they can always retreat back into the abyss. That explains why none of the crawlers ever found Henry: He was biding his time high in the sky.

How was the Upside Down wormhole created in the first place?

Credit: Netflix

Presumably, the void has always existed parallel to our world, but how did they end up connected? Answer: Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown).

In 1979, following the Hawkins Lab massacre, Eleven banished Henry to the Abyss. He is not the first to be there. Like a game Stranger Things: The First Shadow confirms (and hints at Volume 2), young Henry finds himself sent there while exploring a Nevada cave system.

After Eleven fired Henry, Dr. Brenner is focused on trying to find him to get him mentally. Those experiments led him to connect with the Demogorgon back in space, until the end of Season 1. When he did, it created not only a gateway to the Upside Down, but the Upside Down itself, connecting both worlds.

Great, so what does a strange story have to do with all of this?

Credit: Netflix

Dustin doesn’t just find the Upside Down to be a waste. He also learns that the entire bridge is composed of strange objects, which is a moving ball of energy that he, Steve (Joe Keery), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) find hovering over the Hawkins Lab in Indiana.

Rare matter is the real scientific term. According to BBC Science Focus, “It’s a common name that physicists give to strange things. How strange it is depends on the area of ​​physics.”

For the purposes of Stranger ThingsHowever, strange objects are the source of energy that keeps the walls around the Upside Down wormhole together. When it’s destroyed, the entire bridge comes down – along with anyone on it. The destruction of this bridge will prove crucial to our heroes’ plan to stop the Vecna ​​from joining the abyss on our world.

So now that we’ve gotten that impromptu physics lesson out of the way, the stage is set for what’s shaping up to be a big finale. Here’s hoping everyone makes it out alive.

Volume 1 and 2 of Stranger Things Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix. The series premieres December 31 at 8 pm ET on Netflix and in theaters.