What happens to the most important character on 'Stranger Things' is totally unclear

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Warning: spoilers below if you haven't watched "Stranger Things."

Eleven, or Elle, is the catalyst for everything that happens in "Stranger Things" season one. And at the end of the season, as we anxiously await season two of the Netflix hit, we still don't know what's up with her.

The girl with psychokinetic abilities and a shaved head wanders into the lives of the kids in "Stranger Things" when their friend, 12-year-old Will Byers, goes missing. Soon we find out that she's escaped the Hawkins Laboratory where scientists experimented on her and where she entered the Upside Down.

The Upside Down, of course, is the dimension that contains the monster that trapped Will there.

Eleven is the key to getting back Will Byers and defeating the monster, as she does - or seems to do - in the season finale. But she disappears along with the monster.

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So what's going to happen to Eleven?

One would imagine we'll see her again in season two, given the sledgehammer-subtle hint provided near the end of the finale, when police chief Hopper leaves some tenderly wrapped Eggos in the snow, presumably for an Elle who's caught in some other world.

And we know fans are desperate to hang out with Eleven again. "Breaking Bad" star Aaron Paul even asked to adopt her.

But those facts don't add up to a clear return of the character. In fact, Elle's future on "Stranger Things" is murky at best.

"We don't know about Eleven," one of the Duffer broters who created the show, Ross, told Entertainment Weekly in a new interview. "We leave that up in the air." 

Eleven really did seem gone when she vanished along with that monster, and fans even theorize the two are deeply connected. If the monster is dead, what if Eleven is, too? Could Hopper's Eggos have been simply a sentimental gesture for the deceased? (Though he doesn't really seem like the type.)

Or, what if neither the monster nor Eleven is dead, but rather both are doing battle in some other world - and the other kids have to get there to right things again? That holds a lot of possibility for a second season.

We still think there's a good shot at more Eleven based on fan passion alone, but we'll have to wait and see how the Duffers handle her uncertain future. Hopefully it's with as much care and sincerity as they've brought to the show so far.

We don't want to say goodbye to Eleven, but we definitely don't want another season of "Stranger Things" that jumps the shark - in the Upside Down, or anywhere else.