Why Eleven Forgot Her Memories Of Number 1 & Hawkins Lab

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This article contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 4, volume 1.

Eleven’s memories of her original nemesis, Number One, and the massacre at Hawkins Lab were finally revealed in Stranger Things season 4, volume 1, but there were good reasons why she had forgotten them. From the beginning of Stranger Things, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) has been a significant part of the story. This was due to both her psychic powers and growth from being an isolated and traumatized child to a young woman with friends, family, and people who loved and cared for her.

Stranger Things season 4 presented Eleven with the need to regain her powers to face a new threat from the Upside Down. Her former mentor, Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine), used previously forgotten memories of her time at Hawkins National Laboratory to unlock her dormant powers. These memories revealed that Eleven was not the only child with psychic gifts experimented on in Hawkins Lab. In fact, Stranger Things season 4, episode 7, “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab,” also revealed that it was Dr. Brenner’s first test subject, Henry Creel/Number One (Jamie Campbell Bower), and not Eleven who committed the massacre. He had killed the other children before Eleven could resist, overpower, and send him into the Upside Down, where he was transformed into Vecna.

Related: Why Eleven Goes By Jane Now In Stranger Things Season 4

Of course, it was not altogether surprising that it took so long for the precise nature of Eleven’s memories to surface. On a psychological level, such trauma, combined with Eleven’s young age, would have had a detrimental effect on her mental health — meaning the suppression of these horrific memories was a completely natural reaction. Nevertheless, Stranger