Who is Eleven's father in Stranger Things? Andrew Rich, the father from the novel
Character · Suspicious Minds · 1969-1970
The name exists only in Gwenda Bond's novel, published in 2019. It covers 1969 and 1970 on Terry's side, and it stops before the series begins. Where they differ, the screen wins.
Andrew Rich is Eleven's biological father in the novel “Suspicious Minds”, and the series never names him. Brenner took the child at birth, and Hopper adopts her later.
The essentials
- In the novel: Andrew Rich, Terry's boyfriend, Eleven's biological father in “Suspicious Minds” only
- On screen: No episode names him
- Brenner: He takes the child at birth and raises her under the number 011. He is not the father
- Adoptive father: Hopper. A birth certificate in the name of Jane Hopper, at the end of the second season
- Publication: February 5, 2019, in the United States, including in hardcover. Audiobook read by Kristen Sieh, 8 hours 57 min
- In France: Lumen, March 7, 2019, translation by Céline Morzelle
- Birth: June 1970 in the novel. Around 1971 on screen
Contents
Three answers, one name in a novel
Andrew Rich is Eleven's biological father in “Suspicious Minds”, and in that book only. No episode names him. The wiki page on Andrew says he is not mentioned on screen.
Brenner is not her father. He takes the child from her mother at birth and raises her in the lab under the number 011. Hopper, for his part, becomes the adoptive father: the certificate, then a line spoken in March 1986.
In Lenora Hills, in March 1986, Eleven has to present a hero. She says “I chose my dad.” At the end of the second season, a birth certificate bears the name Jane Hopper. That story is told in Hopper and Eleven.
Buildable figure: white hair, dark three-piece suit, striped tie, badge on the jacket. He holds a tablet showing a sun and a cat.
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What the screen says about the birth
In Chapter Six: The Monster, Hopper says aloud what he read in the files three chapters earlier. Terry says she lost her daughter, Jane, and that she sued. “She sued Brenner, she sued the government…” The suits go nowhere. Joyce listens. The wiki notes that neither of them asks who the father is.
Terry Ives is then at her sister Becky's. During the experiments, “she didn't know she was pregnant”. Becky says “Terry miscarried in the third trimester.” The child's room is kept up “for 12 years”. The daughter was supposedly born with “abilities”. There is no birth certificate, and doctors and nurses confirm the miscarriage. Not a word about a father.
Episode 5 of season 2 shows, inside the mother's mind, the birth and the baby Brenner carries off.
The novel that gives a name
Gwenda Bond, an American novelist born in 1976 in Kentucky, also wrote Fallout, a novel about Lois Lane published in 2015. In the United States, “Suspicious Minds” comes out on February 5, 2019, including in hardcover. The audiobook, read by Kristen Sieh, runs 8 hours 57 min. In the United Kingdom, Century publishes it on February 7, 2019. In France, Lumen publishes it on March 7, 2019, in a translation by Céline Morzelle. Among the tie-in novels, it is a prequel.
The title is that of a song written and first recorded by Mark James in 1968, then recorded by Elvis Presley in 1969. Presley's version is number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of November 1, 1969. In the novel, Terry hears it on her car radio.
In the novel, Terry lives in Bloomington in the summer of 1969. On the day Apollo 11 lands, Terry, Andrew, his friend Dave, her roommate Stacey and her sister Becky are in front of the television. Stacey has already done a session at Hawkins Lab and will not go back. Paid fifteen dollars a session, Terry takes her place. There she meets Gloria and Ken, students, and Alice, a mechanic at her uncle's shop.
The novel opens at the lab, that same month: Brenner arrives there with subject Eight, a child. The novel also calls her Kali.
Andrew Rich, from the cafeteria to Vietnam
In the novel, Andrew is a student, and he is Terry's boyfriend. Stacey introduced them. His well-off parents pay for his studies.
On November 3, 1969, Nixon gives the silent-majority address. In the novel, it is shown in the campus cafeteria, where Andrew and some friends protest. Andrew is arrested for disturbing the peace and trespass. Terry pays the bail, 100 dollars, with the lab's money.
According to the wiki page on Andrew, Brenner pulls strings to have him expelled and sent to war, in order to frighten Terry. In the novel, he listened to calls in which she talks about Andrew, then contacts Washington for a favor. Andrew loses his student status. Students had a deferment, status 2-S, which they lost if they left their studies. His parents throw him out.
The draft lottery took place on December 1, 1969. In the novel, in December, Andrew is drawn among the first to be called up, a “first-round draft pick”. At Christmas he is at Becky's. In February 1970, the medical exam. In April, a postcard: she should live her life and think of him. In May, Terry calls Andrew's parents and learns he was killed in combat, in Vietnam. He dies without having learned of the pregnancy.
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July 1969 Apollo 11
In the novel, Terry takes Stacey's place at the lab.
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November 3, 1969 The address
Andrew is arrested after Nixon's address.
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November 1969 Washington
In the novel, Brenner calls a contact in Washington to ask a favor.
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December 1969 The lottery
In the novel, Andrew is among the first called.
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April 1970 The card
Andrew writes before he leaves.
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May 1970 The news
Terry learns of his death in Vietnam.
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June 1970 Jane
In the novel, the child is born and taken away.
Round white badge. “011” is drawn in black, with a brush. It is the number that closes the novel, on the photo.
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Jane, the birth in the novel
Brenner finds out before Terry does. In December 1969, an employee tells him she is pregnant. He tightens the protocols and keeps the secret.
In May 1970, at Stacey's doctor's office, Terry learns she is in the third trimester, at seven months. On screen, Becky says “third trimester”. The first name comes from Jane Goodall: in the waiting room, Terry read a National Geographic article.
In June 1970, at the last appointment, Brenner gives an injection that starts labor. Becky drives Terry to the hospital. Jane Ives is born. Terry loses consciousness. Becky tells her the doctors could not save the baby. Terry saw something else: the doctors hand the child to a man.
In the novel, Brenner brings the baby to the lab and introduces her to Eight. Terry has lost the powers she had discovered in herself. The book closes on a photo of Jane, marked “Subject 011”, obtained through Ken's new partner, who works at the lab. In December 1969, Eight showed Terry an illusion of sunflowers and a rainbow: two words from her loop, nothing more.
June 1970 or 1971: which one counts
The novel places the birth in June 1970. Fandom infers that Eleven would be thirteen in November 1983. On screen, Becky says “for 12 years”. The wiki also cites the script of the first episode, which gives her twelve, and it settles on 1971. The novel is ranked third, after the episodes and the production documents. Where they differ, the screen wins.
Andrew's death in May 1970 and the birth in June 1970 belong to the novel's timeline. They do not carry over to the date used on screen.
Warning: what follows concerns season 5. A “Missing” poster in the name of Jane Hopper, published on January 30, 2025 and then seen in the first episode of this season according to the wiki, gives June 7, 1971. In the fifth episode, Kali shows Eleven pregnant women and says “It was not drugs that gave us our powers, Jane.” Then: “It was Henry.” According to the wiki, Brenner had mixed Henry's blood with Terry's during the pregnancy, which does not make Henry the father, and that chapter is Shock Jock.
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Frequently asked questions
Who is Eleven's biological father?
Andrew Rich, in the novel “Suspicious Minds”. No episode names him.
Is Brenner Eleven's father?
No. He takes the child at birth and raises her in the lab under the number 011.
What is “Suspicious Minds”?
A novel by Gwenda Bond. In the United States it comes out on February 5, 2019. In France, Lumen publishes it on March 7, 2019, translated by Céline Morzelle.
Who publishes the novel in France?
Lumen, on March 7, 2019. The translation is by Céline Morzelle. The title stays “Suspicious Minds”.
Did Andrew Rich know Terry was pregnant?
No. He dies in combat without having learned of the pregnancy, according to the wiki page on him.
In what year was Eleven born?
In June 1970 in the novel. Around 1971 on screen, where Becky says “for 12 years”.
Where does the name Jane come from?
In the novel, from a National Geographic article on Jane Goodall, read in the waiting room in May 1970.
