Who dies in Stranger Things 4?

It’s no secret that someone in Stranger Things 4 dies. Many fans waited with bated breath — would it be fan-favorite Steve? Or would Hopper actually die-die this time? Would the power of Kate Bush be enough to save Max from Vecna’s clutches?

Well, we know the answer now, and before you read on, make sure that you’re totally OK with reading some big ol’ spoilers.

[Ed. note: This post contains major spoilers for Stranger Things season 4 volume 2]

Robin, steve, and nancy in the upside down

It is metal-rocker and Dungeon Master Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) who perishes in this season of Stranger Things. Long live Eddie Munson and his glorious hair!

Much like Barb Holland and Bob Newby before him, Eddie follows the trend of being introduced this season just to die. And much like Billy last season, he also witnesses the first grisly death, which torments him the rest of the episodes, ultimately leading to his untimely demise. As leader of the Hellfire Club, Eddie was prime suspect number one in the murders and spent his final days hiding away from the angry mob of basketball jocks. But despite his edgy exterior, Eddie was a fun-loving and pretty nice guy who took in the outcast kids as his own and apparently ran a pretty sick Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

He was roguishly charming, even though he was a bit off-putting. But he genuinely cared about his gang of misfit kids and showed kindness to Chrissy when she wanted to buy some drugs. As Dustin says later on in the final episode, Eddie never got mad and always stayed true to himself. Eddie thought that this year would be his year — the year everything changed and he finally graduated. But he didn’t make it up to the stage to accept a diploma.

eddie in between dustin and mike, all wearing matching hellfire club shirts

How does Eddie die?

In the depths of the Upside Down, Eddie and Dustin team up to distract some of the creepy bat monsters. Eddie plays a sick guitar solo, and they end up hunkering down in the Upside Down version of his trailer. While Dustin is able to make an escape, Eddie decides to buy them all more time and heads back to fight off some monsters. The battle grows more intense, and there is a moment when Eddie decides to just run off — but then he remembers how, when Chrissy died, he didn’t do anything and just ran away.

So, Eddie turns back around and makes a last stand, fighting off enough bat monsters so that the rest of the Hawkins gang can pull off their grand heist. When they finally defeat Vecna, Dustin runs back to find Eddie. He tries to get Eddie up so they can go to a hospital, but Eddie says he just needs a second to rest, which basically means he’s about to die. With his dying breaths, Eddie makes Dustin promise him that he’ll take care of “those little sheep” for him because he’s actually gonna graduate. And then he tells Dustin he loves him and dies.

While Eddie dies a hero, only our lead characters know anything about it. The rest of the town simply thinks he’s missing in the ruckus of the “earthquake,” and he’s still wanted for the murders. Dustin does manage to find Eddie’s uncle and gives him Eddie’s guitar pick necklace, explaining as best as he can that Eddie died protecting the town, even though the town hated him. Eddie’s death is already really sad, but the fact that most of Hawkins still thinks he’s a bloodthirsty cult leader makes it all the more devastating.

I know Max survived, so is there a chance Eddie could come back?

Probably not! The key difference is that Max’s death was largely done by Vecna’s mind control, and Eleven was able to kinda reverse that and bring Max back to life. She is, however, still deep in a coma, so there’s no word on whether she’ll wake up (she probably will, though). Meanwhile, Eddie was repeatedly slashed and stabbed by those bat thingies and definitely died of physical wounds. Stranger things have happened on Stranger Things, but it does seem like Eddie is indeed deadie.

But I wanted him to kiss Steve and/or Chrissy!

Didn’t we all? The good (???) news is that now both he and Chrissy are dead, so if you’re a Chrissy/Eddie shipper (like Chrissy actress Grace Van Dien is), they’re now reunited in the Stranger Things afterlife, wherever that may be.