Every season of Stranger Things is packed with meaningful Easter eggs, waiting to be uncovered by sharp-eyed fans. There are references to iconic ’80s movies, hints about the characters’ fates, and nods to the actors’ real-life interests. But no single item perhaps carries as much emotional significance as that blue hair tie. 

PHOTO BY SPENCER LOWELL

Worn throughout the series by Jim Hopper (David Harbour) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), this simple accessory originally belonged to Hopper’s late daughter, Sara (Elle Graham), who died tragically at the age of 7, a few years before the series begins. Across Seasons 1–4, the braided blue hair tie is passed from Sara to Hopper to Eleven, becoming a symbol of the unconditional and indestructible love a parent has for their child, a central theme of Stranger Things. 

Below, revisit key scenes that trace Hopper and Eleven’s evolving bond over the course of the series, all through the revelatory journey of one blue hair tie.

Season 1, Episode 8: The introduction of Sara Hopper

Though Hopper is seen wearing the blue hair tie on his wrist in the very first episode of Stranger Things, its significance isn’t revealed until the Season 1 finale. After giving up Eleven’s location to Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine), Hopper and Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) are allowed to enter the Upside Down to rescue her son Will (Noah Schnapp), who has been trapped there since the start of the season. As they walk through the unknown dimension, Joyce — quite understandably — begins to panic, and Hopper tries to calm her, coaching her to slow her breathing. That’s when Hopper’s daughter, Sara, her blonde hair pulled up in pigtails with the now-iconic blue hair tie, is introduced. In a flashback, Hopper playfully chases Sara through a park, when she begins to hyperventilate. Just as he does with Joyce years later in the present, Hopper gently tells his daughter to breathe slowly, in and out. It’s the first hint that Sara is sick.

Season 1, Episode 8: Hopper reads to a sick Sara

As Hopper and Joyce move through the Upside Down, Hopper comes across a tattered stuffed animal, which triggers a memory of a similar toy that belonged to Sara. The scene flashes back again: Clutching a well-loved stuffed tiger, Sara is cuddled up in a hospital bed with her father, who reads to her. On the wrist of the arm Hopper drapes around his daughter is the blue hair tie. Because of her cancer treatment, Sara no longer has hair, but Hopper keeps the tie anyway, in hopes that she might one day wear it again. Keeping the braided hair tie on his arm is Hopper’s way of staying close to his sick child, even when he’s not physically near her. Immediately after the scene in which he’s reading to her, Hopper is shown crumpled and crying in the hospital’s stairwell. His head is in his hands, and the hair tie is visible as he lets the composed facade he’s put on for his family collapse.

Season 1, Episode 8: Sara’s death

When Joyce and Hopper find Will in the Upside Down, he isn’t breathing, so together, they begin to perform CPR. As a desperate Joyce begs Will to breathe and tells him that, as his mother, she loves him more than anything in the world, Hopper’s mind once again drifts to his own child, back to a moment when Sara lies intubated in the hospital bed as doctors and nurses try in vain to revive her. Her parents stand by helplessly, and as their daughter slips away, Hopper cradles his devastated wife, in a shot revealing that he’s still wearing the hair tie on his right wrist. Jolted back into the present after this heartbreaking flashback, Hopper pushes even harder to get Will breathing again. Eventually, he’s able to bring the boy back to his mother, something he could not do for his own family.

Season 2, Episode 2: Hopper and Joyce talk trauma

Season 2 picks up nearly one year after Will’s disappearance, and he begins to experience frightening visions that pull him back into the Upside Down. After Joyce discovers a drawing Will makes of the monster haunting his visions, she confides in Hopper, concerned for her son’s well-being. In an emotional conversation between two longtime friends bonded by parental grief, Hopper explains that Will is likely experiencing PTSD flashbacks. With the anniversary of last year’s traumatic events approaching, Hopper notes they’re all struggling, especially Will. With the wisdom of someone who has experienced his own great trauma, Hopper suggests that their lives will never return to how they were, but with time, things will get better. He comforts Joyce, holding a lit cigarette in one hand, his wrist is exposed and again adorned with the blue hair tie — a physical reminder of the tragedy he endured in losing his young daughter, Sara.

Season 2, Episode 3: Hopper brings Eleven home

After finding Eleven in the woods, Hopper brings her to a secluded rundown cabin that once belonged to his grandfather. He tells her, “This is your new home.” Then, in a montage set to “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim” by Jim Croce — a song on a record Hopper selects from a dusty stack — the two fix up the cabin together. With care, Hopper teaches Eleven some practical skills, like sweeping, using Morse code on the CB radio. He stocks the freezer with her favorite food, Eggo Waffles, and sets up a TV. He surrounds the cabin with trip wire and gives Eleven a strict set of “Don’t Be Stupid Rules,” to keep her safe from the “bad men” at Hawkins Lab who are still hunting her. By providing her with comfort and protection, Hopper steps fully into the role of father figure for El. As he lovingly performs these acts, we glimpse the hair tie still around Hopper’s wrist — a reminder that he’s filled this role before.

Season 2, Episode 6: Hopper’s apology

One of Hopper’s “Don’t Be Stupid Rules” is “don’t ever go out alone,” but unsurprisingly — since she’s a teenager — it doesn’t take Eleven long to disobey. In Episode 4, when she returns home from an unaccompanied outing to find Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Hopper is furious, not just because she defied his orders, but because she was spotted by a woman who reported the sighting to the police, putting them both in danger. The two have a massive fight, and Hopper grounds her. 

Later, Hopper helps Joyce decode Will’s frantic drawings. Realizing the drawings are vines, he goes to a pumpkin patch — and when he digs through the rotting pumpkins, Hopper falls into a tunnel that leads to the Upside Down and becomes trapped. After he’s rescued and recovering at Hawkins Lab, Hopper radios Eleven at the cabin, though she’s not there. Pouring his heart out over the airwaves, Hopper acknowledges that he’s been gone a long time but reassures El that it’s not because of her or their fight. As he holds a microphone, the hair tie is visible on Hopper’s arm. He says, “I don’t want you to get hurt at all, and I don’t wanna lose you.” He signs off by telling El to eat some real food, unlocking a new level of dad mode.

Season 2, Episode 9: Eleven’s first dance

After banishing the Mind Flayer that possessed Will and fighting off packs of Demodogs with the rest of the Hawkins crew, Hopper and Eleven make their family official. Dr. Sam Owens (Paul Reiser) gives Hopper a birth certificate declaring Eleven — now Jane Hopper — his daughter. At the start of Season 2, Hopper worked overtime to protect Eleven by keeping her safely under his roof, but in his first formal act as her dad, he makes sure she can spread her wings and enjoy a very typical teenage experience: attending the middle school’s winter dance. 

Outside the school, Hopper waits with Joyce, who’s attempting to give Will some space; he reassures her that every day gets easier. But as he hugs his old friend, we see the blue hair tie is no longer on his wrist. Entering the decked-out gymnasium, Eleven is asked to dance by an enchanted Mike. When she puts her arms around his shoulders to the sound of “Every Breath You Take” by The Police, the braided blue hair tie is visible on her wrist — it’s apparently now hers to wear. The two share their first kiss, a major milestone in her journey of growing up.

Season 3, Episode 2: El at the mall

As the seasons progress, Eleven continues moving through adolescence, and Hopper is forced to evolve his parenting style as his teenager matures and becomes more independent. At the start of Season 3, El grows closer to Mike, and Hopper struggles to set clear boundaries for his daughter and her boyfriend — specifically, no kissing with the bedroom door closed. After Hopper loses his temper, Mike begins avoiding El and lying about why he’s acting distant, putting a strain on their relationship. Instead of turning to her dad for advice, El confides in Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink). After a pep talk, Max sets out to show Eleven that “there’s more to life than stupid boys,” and the two head to the mall to blow off some steam. Once inside, Max explains that shopping is all about experimentation and figuring out your own style. The outing — which ends with El dramatically dumping Mike outside the mall — illustrates her self-discovery and growth. As she tries on clothes, eats ice cream, and enjoys her girlhood, the blue hair tie remains securely on her wrist — still part of her story.

Season 3, Episode 8: Eleven loses her powers

After battling the Mind Flayer inside the Starcourt Mall, Eleven is left wounded, exhausted, and in pain. Hopper, Joyce, and Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman) arrive at the mall and quickly make a plan: get the kids to safety and close the gate to the Upside Down by destroying the Soviets’ machines. El has done her part protecting her friends and Hawkins, but now it’s the adults’ turn to fight. Sitting beside Hopper in the deserted mall, an injured and powerless El tells him, “My battery’s low, but it will recharge.” Hopper reassures his daughter that her strength will be restored, but for now, he needs to protect her. “Right now,” he says, “I need you safe.” Father and daughter hold hands as they talk, and with Hopper’s thumb entangled in the blue hair tie on Eleven’s wrist, their close bond is as strong as ever.

Season 3, Episode 8: Hopper’s speech

While fighting a Russian soldier, Hopper becomes trapped in the Soviet machine that opened the Upside Down, forcing Joyce to trigger the explosion while he’s still inside. A few months later, the Byers family and Eleven, who believe Hopper is dead, pack up to move out of Hawkins. In the process, Joyce discovers a speech Hopper wrote at the start of the season in preparation for the conversation he never had with El and Mike about boundaries. She gives it to Eleven, who reads what she believes is the last message from her father. 

In the speech, Hopper reminisces about his early days with Eleven and reflects on how his beloved daughter opened him up to real emotions. “ ‘Keep on growing up, kid,’ ” Eleven reads through tears. “ ‘Don’t let me stop you. Make mistakes, learn from them, and when life hurts you — because it will — remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you’re out of that cave.’ ” We see her holding her dad’s message tightly; the letter links her to him, and so does his blue hair tie around her wrist.

Season 4, Episode 1: Eleven on her own

At the start of Season 4, Eleven has relocated to California with the Byers family. We find her working on school projects and trying — unsuccessfully — to make friends, while a letter she sends Mike paints a much sunnier picture of her new life. In the letter, she writes about how nice everyone at her new school is; cut to reality, where she wipes a spitball (courtesy of one of the cool kids) off her cheek. She’s far away from everything familiar and her father, Hopper — who she still believes is dead. 

But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed. The braided blue hair tie — a reminder of the only home she’s ever known — is still close at hand.

Need a refresher before returning to Hawkins one last time? Check out our Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, and Season 4 recaps.

Tune in for the first four episodes of Stranger Things 5 on Nov. 26, followed by three episodes
on Christmas, and The Finale
on New Year’s Eve. Find out when new episodes arrive in your part of the world here.