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James "Jim" Hopper Jr.^[1] is a main character in Stranger Things; he is also the protagonist of the novel Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town. He is portrayed by David Harbour.

Hopper was Chief of Police in the small, sleepy town of Hawkins, Indiana, where he used to live out a carefree existence, though forever haunted by his past. After an old friend, Joyce Byers, reported that her son, Will, had mysteriously disappeared, Hopper's life became infinitely more complicated. He began to unravel a conspiracy involving the nearby Hawkins National Laboratory, discovering the lab had conducted experiments that accidentally opened a gate to an alternate dimension. During their investigations, Hopper and Joyce met Eleven, the escaped child test subject who unwittingly opened the gate using special psychokinetic abilities. Eventually, Hopper and Joyce were permitted to travel through the gate and search for Will in the alternate dimension, where they successfully located him, revived him, and rescued him.

Later that year, Hopper discovered that Eleven, presumed to be deceased, was actually alive, fending for herself in the woods. He decided to take her in, providing her with a home in his cabin, and did everything in his power to hide her from the authorities. After local crops began to rot in October 1984, Hopper discovered that mysterious tunnels beneath Hawkins were the source of the decay. Dr. Owens, the new head of Hawkins Lab, reluctantly informed him that the interdimensional gate beneath the facility was actively growing in size and, in turn, corrupting the surrounding environment. Later, Hopper and Owens were taken off guard when a pack of adolescent Demogorgons called "Demodogs" hailing from the alternate dimension attacked the laboratory, with Hopper and his allies only narrowly surviving. The immediate threat was neutralized when Eleven, accompanied by Hopper, returned to the laboratory; Eleven sealed the Gate with her special abilities, cutting off the connection to what she called "the Upside Down". In the months that followed, Hawkins Lab was shut down, with Hopper watching as cement filled in the last traces of the Gate. With Owens's help, Hopper was able to officially adopt Eleven, her legal name becoming "Jane Hopper".

In June 1985, Hopper and Joyce began investigating a vast conspiracy involving the corrupt mayor, suspicious activity at the local power grid, and the newly-built Starcourt Mall. After taking the Russian scientist Dr. Alexei hostage and meeting the Russian-speaking journalist Murray Bauman, Hopper learned that a secret Soviet base had been built under Starcourt Mall; the base housed an experimental technology which could pry open the already-weakened fabric of reality in Hawkins, Indiana. Hopper, Joyce, and Murray later infiltrated the secret base and set out to disable the Soviet machine. Though they achieved this goal, it came at a high cost; Hopper was captured by the Soviets and was presumed deceased by Joyce and the rest of Hawkins. The Soviets tortured him for information and forced him into servitude at their prison camp in Kamchatka.

By March 1986, Hopper had struck up a complicated friendship with a prison guard Dmitri Antonov, who decided to help him escape. Antonov sent a package containing a hidden message to Joyce, prompting her and Murray to travel to Russia to free him. Hopper and Antonov, punished for Hopper's attempt to escape, were later forced to fight one of the Soviet-captured Demogorgons; Hopper and Dmitri were able to evade the creature's wrath and escape the facility with the help of Joyce and Murray. However, the group later returned to the prison after learning of a new evil from the Upside Down imperiling Hawkins; they hoped to kill the captured Demogorgons and by extension, deal damage to the Upside Down's hive mind. After some time, Hopper, Joyce, and Murray managed to achieve this, with Antonov and Yuri Ismaylov arriving by helicopter to take them back to America. Upon his return to Hawkins, Hopper and Eleven happily reunited before watching in horror as four newly-opened gates spewed plumes of smoke and the Upside Down's spores across Hawkins.

Quick Answers

What is the full name of the character known as Jim Hopper in Stranger Things?

The full name of the character known as Jim Hopper in Stranger Things is James Hopper Jr.

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Who portrays the character of Jim Hopper in Stranger Things?

The character of Jim Hopper in Stranger Things is portrayed by actor David Harbour.

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What was Jim Hopper's profession in the town of Hawkins, Indiana?

Jim Hopper, often referred to as Sheriff Hopper in the popular series Stranger Things, served as the chief of police in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana. His role was far from simple, as he found himself entangled in a government conspiracy and facing dangers from this world and beyond.

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Who reported the mysterious disappearance of her son to Jim Hopper in Stranger Things?

In Stranger Things, Joyce Byers reported the mysterious disappearance of her son to Jim Hopper, the Chief of Police in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana.

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What conspiracy does Jim Hopper begin to unravel in Stranger Things?

In the series Stranger Things, Jim Hopper, the sheriff of Hawkins, Indiana, begins to unravel a conspiracy involving the nearby Hawkins National Laboratory after the mysterious disappearance of Joyce Byers' son, Will. This investigation leads him into a world of supernatural occurrences and government secrets, making his once carefree existence infinitely more complicated.

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History

Background

James "Jim" Hopper was born sometime between August 1941 and July 1942 to James Hopper Sr and an unnamed mother.^[1] Hopper reveals that he and his father didn't get along when he was a teenager, who was a police chief. His grandfather resided in a cabin in the nearby woods for some time until his death, and the cabin soon became a storage unit. In middle school, Jim developed a distaste for science after having an unpleasant teacher named Ms. Ratliff.

Jim began attending Hawkins High School in 1956, alongside Joyce Maldonado and Bob "The Brain" Newby. Joyce and Hopper were extremely close, ditching class and smoking cigarettes during fifth and sixth period; on one occasion, they were caught smoking by their teacher, Mr. Cooper, prompting them to run away giddily.

Jim was somewhat of a 'ladies' man during his high school years. On one occasion, he lied to his mother about being on the debate team when he was really having sex with a girl named Chrissy Carpenter in the back of his father's Oldsmobile. At some point in ninth grade, which was around 1956-1957, he was stood up by a girl named Alice Gilbert.

At some point, Jim became good friends with Benny Hammond.

In or around 1959, an 18-year-old Jim Hopper received an induction letter from the US Military, informing him that he had been conscripted to fight in Vietnam; he saw the war as his opportunity to prove his worth to his father finally. Sometime later, Hopper was sent to Vietnam; after arriving and testing well, Hopper was placed in the Chemical Corps. On some occasions, Jim and his compatriots would have to mix up 55-gallon drums of Agent Orange with kitchen gloves; other times, they were exposed to the toxic gas while cleaning buffalo turbines, "just inhaling the stuff" because they never wore masks. Their superiors told them the chemicals weren't weapons, but tad more than "harmless" herbicide. The health effects of mixing Agent Orange led to the deaths and illnesses of many of Hopper's friends and their children, some of whom were stillborn.

After returning to America, Jim, now a decorated veteran, met a woman named Diane.^[2] In April of 1971, a child was born to the couple, whom they named Sara. The couple married in 1972 and moved to New York, where Jim worked in the police force. Jim and Sara were extremely close, playing in the park and reading books together. However, Sara was diagnosed with cancer sometime between 1977-1978. Despite receiving cutting-edge chemotherapy treatment, Sara was unable to recover, passing away at a young age. Hopper, knowing exposure to Agent Orange was the probable cause of Sara's cancer, blamed himself for choosing to have a child, despite being aware of the risks.^[3]

After her passing, Jim and Diane divorced. Jim, devastated, wore Sara's hairband around his wrist as a memento and soon moved back to Hawkins in 1979, where he became Police Chief at Hawkins Police Department, a largely carefree occupation due to the town's low crime rate. Hopper started to rely on alcohol and prescription medication to get through his days and began sleeping around with women much younger than himself.

1983

November

Investigating Will's disappearance

On November 6, 1983, Joyce's son Will Byers disappeared. Joyce came to Hopper the next day to report the case. Initially, Hopper did not take the case too seriously. He suggested Will was probably playing "hookie" when talking to Joyce at the police station; however, he soon realized the situation was much more complicated than it initially appeared and would require a deep and thorough investigation.

Hopper entered Hawkins Middle School and briefly discussed Will with his friends Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. The boys, worried, argued with each other, causing the chief to grow impatient and to make statements one at a time. Mike informed him that Will had taken the road where Cornwallis and Kerley meet on his way home the previous night. Hopper then ordered the boys to return home after school and not go out searching for Will.

Hopper looked along the road with Officers Powell and Callahan, hoping to find evidence, eventually finding Will's bicycle on the side of the road. He theorized that Will had returned home because of the close proximity to the Byers household. Hopper decided to investigate the house, where he found little evidence to support his theory. He investigated further, going into the garden shed where he heard strange noises before Callahan found him and Jim abruptly left, telling him to call Flo and assemble a search party to look for Will. That night, Hopper saw Scott Clarke, and he said that Will was a great student before formally introducing them. When Scott said that he was a teacher at Hawkins Middle and taught Earth and Biology, Hopper said that he had a distaste for science. Scott suggested he may have had a bad teacher, prompting Jim to say that Ms. Ratliff was a "piece of work" and that his daughter knew the galaxy and whatnot. When the teacher asked him if she could be placed in his class, Hopper lied to him, saying that Sara lived in the city with her mother, and thanked him for volunteering to search for Will. The search party walked all the way to Cartersville and back, but found nothing, and the search was called off due to a storm.

The next day, six hours later, Hopper headed over to the Byers' house to check up on Joyce, informing her of the search results and taking a look at her "barbecued" phone, and arguing that the phone call was just a prank. Later that day, Hopper went to Sattler's Quarry. When Callahan got too close to the edge of the cliff, he told him to back up and joked that he needed him alive for the next few days and chatted with him before he was contacted by Flo and was told that she got a call from Benny's Burgers and suggested to him that he get there right away. Jim went to Benny's Burgers and found Benny Hammond found dead inside, appearing to have committed suicide. Hopper then talked to Earl, as he had been present at the diner the day before. Earl told him about an incident involving a kid with a shaved head, who entered the diner and stole food from the kitchen. When pressed on whether this child could've been Will, but with a buzzcut, Earl agreed it could've been.

At night, while searching for Will, Hopper and his co-workers found a torn piece of a hospital gown at the end of a drainpipe near the diner, leading to Hawkins National Laboratory. Later that night, after sleeping with a local woman, an unsettled Hopper stood out on the trailer’s deck and lamented how he felt "cursed".

The next day, Hopper went to the laboratory with Powell and Callahan to investigate. He was allowed to see the security tapes from the night of Will's disappearance, but he noticed there was no storm on the tapes as there had been that night.

Hopper went to the public library with Powell to search newspapers, where he learned that the laboratory and Dr. Brenner had been involved in the experiments known as Project MKUltra. He began to believe that the lab was responsible for Will's disappearance, but Powell thought it was too big a reach. Callahan then notified them to head over to the quarry.

Will's body was discovered in the quarry by State Police officer David O'Bannon. Still, Joyce insisted to him that the body wasn't her son and claimed that she was being hunted by a man with no face. Hopper dismissed these worries as grief-induced delusions, similar to delusions he experienced after the loss of his daughter.

Break-in at Hawkins Lab

Hopper became suspicious after talking to the local morgue's usual coroner, who informed him that state coroners had replaced him when examining the body. Hopper sought out David O'Bannon in a bar and discovered he was lying about the incident at the quarry. He beat him up to get more information about who told him to lie, and saw that a black car was watching them. Hopper broke into the morgue, cutting open Will's body. He found that the body was stuffed with cotton. With his suspicions confirmed, he decided to break into the laboratory compound.

Inside the compound, Hopper broke into a high-security area after confiscating a pass from a guard. He found a solitary confinement room containing a child-sized bed and a drawing on the wall. Delving deeper into the laboratory, he found a room overgrown with strange biological matter, unfurling from a Gate to another dimension. He was knocked out by agents in hazmat suits before he could investigate further.

Hopper awoke the next morning in his own house, finding himself surrounded by empty beer cans and some drugs. However, Hopper was not fooled as he remembered last night's events before he was knocked unconscious. Hopper grabbed his gun and went outside, but could not spot any of the agents from the lab. Hopper went to his bathroom, and while examining himself through a mirror, he noticed a prick on his neck, making him realize that he had been sedated. Hopper then searched thoroughly to find any hidden microphones in his house, destroying every piece of furniture in the process. He eventually found one in a light fixture above the ceiling and destroyed it to prevent the lab from spying on him. He went directly to Joyce's house to explain all he knew and to apologize for not initially believing her. He also revealed his theory that he may have unintentionally been tracking down the daughter of Terry Ives the whole time he had been looking for Will.

Saving Will

The next day, arriving at Terry's house, Hopper and Joyce were greeted by her sister, Becky Ives, who recounted Terry's involvement in MKUltra. Hopper was disgusted to hear that Terry had been willingly paid to test drugs while concurrently being pregnant. He learned, to his surprise, that Terry had miscarried, although he was aware that the "miscarriage" may have been a cover-up, as with Will's fake body.

Hopper received notice from Powell that Will's elder brother Jonathan had been arrested for assaulting an officer. At the station, Hopper demanded that Jonathan be released, but later learnt that he and Nancy had accumulated a box full of weapons in the trunk of his car. He worryingly learnt that he and Nancy had been preparing to fight the monster. Now fully aware that government officials were descending on the town, Hopper attempted to contact Will's three friends, and Jonathan suggested using Will's mobile radio. Hopper found the boys and Eleven in an abandoned bus located in a deserted junkyard, encountering and incapacitating several agents who were also looking for them. Hopper took El and the boys to the Byers' house.

Eleven attempted to contact Will and Barbara using her psychic abilities, but she was limited in what she could achieve. Dustin had the idea to create a makeshift sensory deprivation tank in order to amplify Eleven's abilities. The group broke into Hawkins Middle School, with Hopper and Jonathan fetching bags of de-icing salt as Dustin and Lucas set up a kiddie pool. Eleven entered the pool and entered a deep psychic state. Eleven discovered that Barb had been killed, but she had found Will, barely clinging to his life.

In a desperate attempt to save the boy, Hopper traveled to the laboratory with Joyce in the hopes of entering the Upside Down via the Gate. They were apprehended before they entered the building.

Hopper and Joyce were separated and interrogated by Brenner, Agent Connie Frazier, and another agent. Hopper told them he was aware of the experimentation on Eleven and the fact that they had staged Barb's run-away. They threatened to kill Hopper and stage an overdose if he did not cooperate, but he realized they needed him to locate Eleven. He came to an "agreement" with them; they gave him and Joyce access to the Gate and promised the safety of the three boys, and in return, he had to tell them Eleven's location.

As the laboratory officials left to apprehend Eleven, Hopper and Joyce were freed from confinement and allowed to access the Upside Down through the Gate, wearing hazmat suits. They walked through the woods, where Hopper found and briefly studied a mysterious egg. They looked on at the tattered remains of Castle Byers before continuing to the Byers household, where they found a trail of the monster's blood. Hopper and Joyce followed the trail to the town library, where they found Will strung up in webs of strange biologic matter, with a tendril extending down his throat. Hopper pulled out the tendril before shooting and destroying it. He coached Joyce through a combined CPR effort, which revived Will. They returned to their dimension, taking Will to the hospital immediately.

Hopper left through the back door of the hospital. As he began to walk away, a black car pulled up near him. After an agent got out of the car and indicated to him, Hopper entered the vehicle, which drove away to an unknown location.

December

A month later, Hopper left a Christmas party at the police station, taking some leftovers with him to give to Eleven. Driving out to Mirkwood on a snowy night, he placed the food, along with some Eggo waffles, in a concealed box before returning to his car.

1983-1984

Living with Eleven

In December, he was reunited with Eleven after escaping from the Upside Down and finding his box of food. He then took her to a cabin in the woods that would serve as their new home. Together, they cleaned the cabin and rigged nearby trees with trip wire to alert them of any intruders. To communicate safely, Hopper taught Eleven to read and signal Morse code. Hopper created a set of rules for Eleven's safety, requiring her always to have the curtains drawn, the door locked, and never to leave the cabin.

On December 22, Hopper stopped Robin Buckley on the road and offered her a ride home. He then drove off after she turned him down.

1984

Sometime before the summer, Hopper visited Eddie Munson after he was arrested on suspicion of the assault of one of his police officers, Moore, and the fire that burned down the house of his father, Alan Munson. Hopper was more polite than the other officers, even giving him some water. He revealed that Moore was fine after the attack from Toby and CJ, no vital organs were hit, and Moore actually mentioned Eddie trying to save him despite regularly hassling Eddie before then. Moore had also told Hopper that he saw Al running away. Hopper remembered him from his school days.^[1] He revealed to Eddie that no one was pressing charges against him, and he was glad he didn't run away like Al. After Eddie was released, he moved in with his uncle, Wayne Munson, and Hopper visited him twice.^[4]

October

Investigating the pumpkin rot

On October 30, Hopper was met by Murray Bauman, a private investigator, outside the police station. Initially, Hopper tried to brush him off, but when Murray mentioned a hypothetical "Russian girl with psionic abilities", Hopper, believing the child to be Eleven, agreed to give him five minutes to talk. Hopper listened as Murray tried to convince him of a Russian spy presence in Hawkins, eventually concluding that the Russians had taken Barbara Holland. As Murray was speaking, Hopper received a phone call requesting that he investigate Merrill's pumpkin patch, and he had to leave, cutting their time short.

At the pumpkin patch, a strange rot had destroyed all the pumpkins. Merrill told Hopper he believed Eugene had poisoned his field, though Hopper was skeptical. His attention was then drawn to a sound coming from the nearby cornfield. Hopper went to investigate the source of the noise, but was interrupted by a crow.

Later that day, Hopper met Joyce and Will at the lab and accompanied them during Will's medical exam. Will explained his episode that he had experienced at the arcade to Dr. Owens, telling him that an evil force wanted to kill everyone. Owens told Joyce and Hopper that the increase in episodes was due to the "Anniversary Effect". He advised them to treat Will as normally as possible.

That night, Hopper arrived late at the cabin. This frustrated Eleven because Hopper did not signal in advance. After apologizing, the two then ate dinner together.

The next morning, Eleven tried to convince Hopper to let her go trick-or-treating, arguing that the bad men wouldn't see her because of her ghost costume. Hopper refused, as it would have been too big a risk. He then came up with a compromise, telling her he would get out of work early and they'd watch a scary movie together. While not completely happy with the compromise, Eleven agreed to it.

Later, Hopper was called by Joyce to come over to her house, where she showed him a strange drawing of a black monster that Will had drawn earlier. Hopper then began listening to Joyce, who questioned why Will would lie to her and began to believe that Will's visions could be real, given how her son described his episodes to Dr. Owens. When Joyce suggested she take Will to see other doctors to treat him for his episodes, Hopper told her that they would tell her the same thing Owens had been telling her, and she would end up having financial problems. Hopper discussed how he believed Owens was right about having trauma, and even though their lives might not be the same again, like they were before they entered the Upside Down, while reassuring her that everything will be fine. Hopper and Joyce then shared cigarettes together, where they recalled their times in high school together before reminiscing about their shared trauma.

At the police station, Hopper questioned Eugene about poisoning Merrill's pumpkins. He denied any involvement and instead accused Merrill, since his, as well as several other local farmers' crops, had also succumbed to the same rot. At Eugene's field, Hopper discovered that the rot had begun to affect nearby trees. As he was marking the affected area, he lost track of time, resulting in his arriving at the cabin late again. To make up for the candy, he, while driving, asked a girl if he could have some bribe her for some candy, and she said no, causing This angered Eleven, and when Hopper finally arrived at the cabin, she refused to come out of her room.

November

Exploring the tunnels

The following morning, Hopper managed to convince her to come out of her room. At breakfast, Eleven asked Hopper when she would be able to see Mike again. He tried to placate her by saying she'd be able to see him "soon," but Eleven grew impatient. She lashed out at Hopper and stormed away to her room, slamming the door.

Hopper realized that the rot was originating from Hawkins Lab. When he told Owens this, he dismissed Hopper's worries, assuring him that everything was contained. Hopper wasn't satisfied and demanded that Owens convince him otherwise. They, along with a team of scientists, traveled to one of the contaminated pumpkin patches. While there, Hopper received a call from Powell, who had been called by a woman who had witnessed a strange girl manipulate her child's swing. Realizing this to be Eleven, he left the pumpkin patch and headed to the cabin.

When she arrived at the cabin, Eleven discovered Hopper waiting for her. The two got into an argument, with Hopper grounding her and revoking her television privileges. However, Eleven held the television in place with her powers, which caused Hopper to cut the device's cord. Furious, Eleven told Hopper she hated him and went to her room. As Hopper reprimanded her and tried to convince her to open the door, she had a psychic tantrum, breaking all of the cabin's windows.

Before leaving for work the following morning, Hopper told Eleven he'd consider fixing the television if she cleaned up the mess she had made the night before. After heading to his car, Flo informed him that Joyce had been trying to contact him. After arriving at the Byers' house, Will explained to Hopper that he now knew things he hadn't before, through memories that "were happening all at once", which he called "now-memories". When Will couldn't make sense of these now-memories, Joyce asked him to draw what he saw. He began frantically drawing what at first appeared to be random scribbles, but Joyce and Hopper soon realized that the drawings were all connected. After assembling the drawings in the correct order, they discovered that the drawings depicted a strange maze-like pattern. Assuming that the drawings depicted vines, Hopper made the connection to the pumpkin patch and left.

After digging a hole in the pumpkin patch's soil, Hopper descended into a subterranean tunnel overgrown with biological matter originating from the Upside Down. As he was exploring, he encountered a strange growth that sprayed a spore-like substance into his face, causing him to lose consciousness.

When he awoke, he vomited a dark substance. Realizing he was trapped, Hopper continued through the tunnels looking for a way out. He eventually came to a point where several tunnels intersected, filled with animal carcasses.

Discovering that the vines were vulnerable to fire, he fashioned a makeshift torch out of a piece of an animal carcass and one of his sleeves. As he futilely tried to dig a way out, he was overcome by exhaustion and stopped to rest. He was then ensnared in a mass of vines. Eventually, he was found by Joyce and Bob, who had discovered his predicament through Will's connection with the shadow monster. After Hopper was freed, soldiers from the lab arrived and urged them to leave, only to burn the tunnels shortly thereafter. Suddenly, Will, who was waiting above ground with Mike, collapsed and began convulsing on the ground.

Hopper, Joyce, Bob, and Mike were taken to Hawkins Lab, where Will was quickly treated. There, Dr. Owens showed Hopper how far the Gate had grown and been spreading beneath Hawkins as a series of network tunnels. Hopper asked him why they hadn't burned them yet, to which Dr. Owens replied that there was a complication.

Escaping Hawkins Lab

When Will awoke, he could not remember Hopper, Owens, or Bob, and could barely remember Mike. In a test involving a severed vine from the Upside Down, Owens asked if Will could feel anything as another scientist used a blowtorch to burn the vine. Through this, they determined that Will had some "virus" that connected him to all other infected hosts in a hive intelligence.

After recovering, Hopper used the radio to apologize to Eleven and acknowledged that he didn't want her to get hurt. However, he was unaware that Eleven had already left the cabin. Back in the infirmary, Will claimed he knew of a way they could possibly stop the shadow monster. Using images that the lab personnel had taken of the map, Will directed the scientists to an area, stating, "he doesn't want me to see there."

As soldiers traversed the tunnels, Hopper and Dr. Owens watched from the control room. Will revealed that the shadow monster had made him deceive the soldiers. Realizing it was a trap, Mike tried to warn the scientists, but it was too late; the soldiers were ambushed and killed by a pack of Demo-dogs. Shortly after, Demo-dogs began invading the lab. Hopper and Dr. Owens came out through the stairs. To prevent the shadow monster from knowing their location, Mike urged them to sedate Will. Once Will was unconscious, the group took refuge in a surveillance room, where they witnessed the lab being overrun by Demo-dogs before the power went out.

To restore power and give them a way out, Bob volunteered to go down to the basement and reset the breakers, but asked Hopper to get the group out of there and not wait for him. Once the power was restored and the doors unlocked, Mike, Joyce, Hopper, and Will made it to safety while Owens stayed behind to guide Bob. Just when it seemed Bob was safe, he was tackled and killed by several Demo-dogs. Joyce cried in terror, but Hopper managed to bring her out of the Lab. Outside, the group met up with Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, Dustin, Lucas, and Max. Together, they escaped the lab.

At the Byers' house, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Max speculated about the shadow monster's weakness. When they realized that the shadow monster controlled everything in a hive mind, they compared it to the Mind Flayer, a Dungeons & Dragons monster that similarly controls its victims' minds. They also speculated that, if they killed the Mind Flayer, they would kill everything it controlled. Mike then proposed that, to discover the Mind Flayer's weakness, they'd have to take Will somewhere he couldn't recognize and try to reach him. After making the backyard shed unrecognizable, they attempt to interrogate Will. While the Mind Flayer had taken over a majority of Will's mind and body, a part of Will managed to signal to them in Morse code subconsciously. Deciphering his message, they discovered the way to stop the Mind Flayer: by closing the Gate. Soon after, the phone in the Byers' kitchen rang, giving away their location.

Closing the Gate

As a pack of Demo-dogs was surrounding the house, the group armed themselves. Before the pack could attack, however, to everyone's surprise, Eleven arrived and eradicated them. After a brief reunion with Eleven, Mike deduced that Hopper had been hiding Eleven for almost a year and forbade her from contacting him, and, as such, Hopper and Mike had an argument, as he blamed Hopper. However, they reconciled quickly and together, the group came up with a plan: Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy would exorcise the Mind Flayer from Will's body while Eleven and Hopper would go to the lab and close the Gate.

While Hopper and Eleven were heading to the lab, Eleven revealed that she had visited her mother but admitted she shouldn't have left. In return, Hopper apologized to Eleven for his misbehavior, telling her it was all his fault and that he was sorry for everything, as he feared he would have lost Eleven just as he'd lost his daughter. They both forgave each other as they held each other's hands.

At the lab, Hopper and Eleven came across Dr. Owens, heavily wounded but still alive. After Hopper patched him up, Hopper revealed that he had been protecting Eleven for almost a year and convinced Owens to help her lead a better, happier life.

After making their way through the complex, they eventually reached the Gate, receiving Jonathan's signal to destroy it. After being lowered down to the Gate's underground entrance, Eleven, frightened, held Hopper's hand. As Hopper assured her, she began closing it. Now aware of her presence, the Mind Flayer attempted to stop Eleven by sending the Demodogs after her, though Hopper managed to keep them at bay with gunfire. The Mind Flayer then resorted to attacking Eleven directly. By channeling her anger, she was able to overcome the Mind Flayer and close the Gate for good. Hopper tearfully embraced Eleven, exhausted after using her powers, and commended her for her bravery as they both returned.

Some time later, lab workers confirmed the Gate had been entirely erased, with only minor cavities remaining in the wall that hosted the Gate's initial entrance. Hopper watched as workers filled the last cavities with cement, convincing him the horrors of the Upside Down were well and truly over.^[5]

Adopting Eleven

December

In December, Hopper met with Owens at the Hideaway. He received a forged birth certificate with the name "Jane Hopper", indicating he had taken her in as an adopted daughter. Though Owens advised Hopper that Eleven should still lie low for another year to ensure their safety, Hopper ultimately convinced him to give Eleven a night out to reunite with her friends at the Snow Ball.

On December 15, after taking Eleven to the Snow Ball, Hopper met Joyce in the school's parking lot. He comforted Joyce, who was still grieving over Bob's death.

On Christmas Day, Eleven and Hopper travelled to the Byers' house to celebrate Christmas, and were gifted a Supercom from Radio Shack. After venturing out into the snow to rescue a rabbit caught in a trap, Hopper, Eleven, Jonathan, Will, Lucas, and Dustin watched various video cassettes of old Christmas specials.^[6]

1985

June

Dad Issues

On June 28, Hopper watched TV in his cabin while El and Mike hung out together in El's bedroom. When Hopper grew curious about what El and Mike were doing, he reclined in his chair and saw them kissing. When El telekinetically closed the door, Hopper objected to a "three-inch minimum." Still, when he managed to open the door, she saw that El and Mike had separated and were in a position of reading some comic books. Despite this, Hopper was not convinced and presumably continued watching TV as Mike departed, promising to see El tomorrow.

When Jim entered Melvald's General Store, where Joyce worked, Hopper complained about how Mike was "corrupting" El, and that they should break up because their kissing is "constant", although Joyce told him to calm down. She suggested that he have a "heart-to-heart" with them rather than ordering them about, and tutors him in what to say.

Hopper tried unsuccessfully to get Joyce, though she was hesitant, as she was still grieving over Bob's death.

Later that night, Hopper tried to take Joyce's advice about having a "heart-to-heart" conversation with Mike and El, but realized they were too obnoxious and not ready to hear his true feelings. Instead, Hopper had a long talk with Mike about "boundaries," so Mike could continue dating Eleven.

In Love and Investigating

On June 30, in Hopper's cabin, El called Mike to ask why he hadn’t come over. Mike hurriedly lied about his nana taking a turn for the worse, despite the original false alarm, which meant he couldn't see El that day, and Hopper was pleased to see that there is now some distance between the pair. Ecstatic, he celebrated with Joyce but did not tell her he had not followed her advice. After pressuring her into going to dinner with him, Hopper was called away to deal with a mob protesting the Starcourt Mall.

The protests at city hall continue, with protesters chanting "Kline's a swine". Larry Kline called Hopper in his office to talk with him, saying that the Starcourt Mall has brought in new stores that Hawkins loves, causing them to shop there instead of their local stores, which he termed "good old-fashioned American capitalism", to which Hopper fired back that they’re just exercising their "good old-fashioned American right to protest". Kline said he agreed, if they had a permit, which they do not, and so ordered Hopper to disperse the crowd. Hopper objected that it would be bad for his re-election campaign, but Kline was unconcerned, saying that the party he intended to throw on Independence Day was all the voters would remember.

Later, Hopper made his way to his dinner with Joyce and ordered an assortment of expensive drinks, but Joyce did not show up. Hopper angrily left the fancy restaurant, feeling hurt that Joyce had not shown up for their date. Drunk, Hopper returned home and, thinking Mike had disobeyed him and was seeing El, he stormed into El's bedroom, only to find her with her friend, Max Mayfield. Despite being confused, Hopper allowed Max to sleep over at El's for the night, left the room to go to bed, and was satisfied with the result of his split.

July

Russians in Hawkins

The next day, Hopper sobered up in the shower until Joyce showed up, trying to explain what was happening with her refrigerator magnets and their electromagnetic fields, but Hopper refused to listen to her. Angry that Joyce did not go out with him, he ranted until he discovered that Joyce had left and intended to head back to the abandoned lab on her own. Although he tried to stop her, he had no choice but to follow.

At the lab, while investigating, Hopper explained that he was often afraid one of the denizens of the Upside Down would be coming after him, and that he was constantly on the lookout so people could feel safe. In addition, Hopper revealed that Joyce is planning to sell her house and leave Hawkins, as he wanted Joyce to consider the town still home. However, they were interrupted by a noise in another part of the lab.

Splitting up from Joyce, Hopper searched the noise he heard, gun at the ready. However, he was attacked and knocked out by a thug who managed to escape, leaving Joyce to find Hopper's unconscious body. Hopper was then taken back to his cabin, where Joyce nursed him back to health.

The next day, Hopper woke up, retching and then getting up only to find that he was not wearing any clothes, much to Joyce’s consternation, as his clothes got super wet from the rain last night when Joyce took Hopper back to his cabin. As Hopper put on some clothes, he and Joyce tried to identify who attacked him, and Joyce noted they did not drive a car, which Hopper picked up on, realizing he could have been the motorcyclist who visited Mayor Kline two days ago.

Arriving at Town Hall, Hopper asked Mayor Kline about the motorcyclist who had visited him. Kline claimed not to remember, trying to convince Hopper that he was only a maintenance plumber, but Hopper responded with his knowledge of Larry passed out on drugs and cheating on his wife in the past, as a threat. Larry fired back with his own threats and knowledge of Hopper’s past actions of getting drunk and taking drugs. When Larry mocked him over Sara's death, Hopper then assaulted him, demanding the information. With Larry uncooperative, Hopper repeatedly threatened to cut off Larry’s finger, and Larry eventually admitted he had been bribed by that person (who worked for Starcourt Mall) to help them expand into East Hawkins. Hopper demanded to see the purchase records and took Larry hostage to find them.

Hopper and Joyce arrived with Larry Kline at his mansion, going to grab the land deeds from a safe within Larry’s bedroom; not for blackmail, but for protection, due to how "scary" his bribers were. Joyce and Hopper figured out that there was likely a powerful machine on one of the properties, and Hopper prevented Larry from escaping out the window, cuffing him to his bed. Hopper and Joyce then leave to investigate the properties over East Hawkins, in the hopes of finding the machine.

Hopper and Joyce continued searching for illicitly obtained properties in East Hawkins until they discovered one with a pulsing sound emanating from below and a hidden staircase leading further down. Descending, they found and bound two Russian scientists before Grigori, another Russian agent, arrived. Hopper pulled a gun on him, but he escaped, and the two grappled and disarmed each other. Joyce threw the gun back to Hopper, but it passed him and landed near Grigori, forcing Joyce and Hopper to flee. They took one of the Russian scientists, Alexei, hostage and then left the area after closing the hidden staircase on Grigori. Though Grigori escaped and fired more bullets at them, they managed to escape, realizing the Russian government had infiltrated Hawkins.

The next day, Hopper's car broke down due to bullet holes through the engine. Joyce tried to communicate with Alexei while Hopper tried to fix the car, but when it started smoking, Alexei yelled "stop!" before the engine exploded. With no other options, Hopper, Joyce, and Alexei walked through the forest and decided to make their way to Illinois and seek help from Murray as Hopper knew he could speak Russian.

While Hopper and Joyce argued, Alexei found a gas station, and there Hopper bought them drinks and a Slurpee to quench their thirst. They then commandeer a car and head out, finding a faster route to Illinois.

Arriving at Murray's warehouse, Hopper urged Murray to let him, Joyce, and Alexei stay because they were exhausted from traveling all day. Murray came out of the door with a shotgun pointed at Alexei, who responded in Russian, "Get that out of my face, you bald American pig, to which Murray replied in Russian, "I may be bald, but you’re the one in handcuffs, Soviet scum." This shocked the three of them, who then greeted Hopper. Once inside, Murray began scanning Alexei, which made Joyce doubt whether Murray could help, but Hopper reassured her. After Joyce harangued Murray, explaining the dangers she and Hopper had faced and how they had sought his help, Hopper silently walked with Alexei as Murray decided to help them.

The New Gate

The next day, Hopper went to Burger King and 7-Eleven, as Alexei had requested some food in exchange for giving him and Joyce answers about the machine he was working on. Returning to Murray's warehouse, Hopper gave Alexei his food and Slurpee. However, as Hopper, Joyce, and Murray began interrogating Alexei, the Russian scientist became upset when he discovered Hopper had given him a strawberry Slurpee instead of a cherry-flavored one. When Alexei demanded a cherry Slurpee, Hopper refused to grant his request. When Alexei refused to talk, Hopper dragged him and threw him out the door with the keys to his cuffs and the car on the assumption that Alexei was more scared of his Russian comrades than of Hopper, leaving Hopper confident that Alexei would return to him. Though Joyce and Murray were doubtful, Hopper was proven right when Alexei uncuffed himself, started the car, and began to drive away. Still, he stopped and brought the car back, gave the keys to Hopper, and said he liked strawberries, too, which made Hopper satisfied.

With Alexei now cooperating and with Murray translating for him, Alexei explained that the ray the Russians were using to open a Gate into the Upside Down, "a doorway between worlds", was called the Key, which emitted large amounts of energy. It consequently required a large amount of energy to function, and so the Russians had purchased properties all around East Hawkins near transformers, using them to siphon energy from the town’s power grid.

Infiltrating the Russian Base

Murray, Joyce, and Hopper descended into the underground base, killed the guards, and stole their clothes before proceeding. Murray continued to damage the Key's power supply while Joyce and Hopper waited, with Joyce arranging another dinner date at Enzo's with Hopper after all the events were over. Murray succeeded, raising an alarm and allowing Joyce and Hopper to steal the physical shut-off keys to the Key (albeit with Dustin and Suzie providing password help). They then raided the command room, forcing the scientists to leave via gunfire. Still, just as they were about to turn the keys to disable the Key, Grigori arrived and attacked Hopper, leaving the two to battle outside in the main chamber while Joyce reinserted the keys, intending to turn them alone using a bungee cord. Hopper eventually defeated Grigori, throwing him into the Key and causing a wall of electricity to strike out, cutting off Hopper's escape just as Joyce got a solid grip on both keys. With Dustin screaming over the radio to close the Gate now, and Hopper trapped, Joyce and Hopper shared a final glance at each other, with Hopper nodding his acceptance and smiling at her. Joyce closed her eyes and cried, then pulled the keys. Hopper dived for cover and landed on a lower platform as electricity flooded the facility. Though he had survived, Hopper was soon captured by the Soviets.

1985-1986

Captured by Russians

After being tortured by the Soviet Union and refusing to give up any information on Joyce, Hopper was sentenced and imprisoned at a prison in Kamchatka, Russia, where his hair and mustache had been shaved off.

1986

Attempting to Escape

On March 23, while working on a railroad with the other inmates at the prison's labor camp, Hopper stopped to catch his breath and was approached by prison guard Dmitri Antonov, who asked whether he was tired. Knowing Antonov wanted to speak to him, Hopper started cursing at him in Russian, prompting the guard to drag Him to piles of wooden beams. Once they were alone, Antonov praised Hopper for his fluency in Russian and acting skills before revealing he received word from Joyce and Murray that they were on their way to Alaska with the bribery money. As they went over their plan, Hopper asked Antonov if he trusted the pilot who would be taking him back to the United States, only to be dismayed when Antonov revealed that the pilot, Yuri Ismaylov, was a smuggler. When Antonov began passionately describing his talk with Joyce, Hopper was on the verge of threatening him until Antonov assured him that Joyce would be safe, just as he promised. Right as Antonov told Hopper to start thinking about how he planned to escape, a guard informed Antonov that Hopper was needed to work back on the railroad, causing Hopper and Antonov to set up an impression that Antonov beat Hopper up into submission, where Hopper allowed the guard to punch him in the face, to give off the impression.

The next morning, Hopper woke up and left his cell, following the protocol of marching with the other prisoners to return to work on the railroad as their hands and ankles were chained together. While marching with the other prisoners, Hopper was approached by Antonov, who instructed him to go to a town called Kyrzran and wait inside a building with a gray roof for Yuri to meet with him. Hopper also heard from Antonov that Joyce had arrived in Alaska last night with the ransom money and was now waiting for him. After Hopper denied to Antonov that Joyce was his girlfriend, they noticed the same guard they encountered yesterday was checking the prisoners' shackles. This left Antonov to knock Hopper to the ground, force him back to his feet, and pretend to intimidate him. Once Hopper had his shackles on his feet checked, he was escorted to work back on the railroad with the other prisoners.

Fighting to Survive

When Antonov attempted to bribe one of the guards, Ivan, Hopper, who was too depressed, said nothing to support Antonov's attempts. Antonov attempted to cheer Hopper up by theorizing that Joyce was most likely captured, and there would be a chance to rescue her, but he shrugged off the possibility. Hopper then revealed his backstory to Antonov on how he was drafted into the Vietnam War, and his exposure to Agent Orange led Sara to develop cancer. His time as a broken man, where he revealed that once he let Joyce and Eleven into his life, he believed they needed him, but now understood it was he who needed them. And believing now he had got Joyce killed due to sending her the ransom note, Hopper started to come to the conclusion he was a curse, rather than feeling cursed. His talk with Antonov was interrupted when the two men heard the roars of a demogorgon, making Antonov realize that they were likely going to die in the prison just like Hopper predicted.

The next day, Hopper, Antonov, and other prisoners were released from their cells and escorted to the detention pit, thinking they were to be sacrificed to the Demogorgon. However, they were ordered to another section of the prison where they saw a large feast prepared. Hopper, knowing the Warden's intention to fatten up the prisoners before they were to be sacrificed to the Demogorgon, did not eat any of the food with the other prisoners and instead drank only liquor to get drunk. Once he was drunk heard one prisoner, Oleg talking to Antonov and the others how a week ago, six convicted men also ate a big meal and were slaughtered by the Demogorgon once they were in thrown into the pit. Hearing the men promise to stand together and believing they had a chance to survive, Hopper asked about the Demogorgon's physical features, which shocked Oleg when Antonov translated for him. Hopper then told the prisoners his encounter with Demogorgons in the past and revealed that the meal they were eating was intended to fatten them up so the Demogorgon could eat them and grow, horrifying the other prisoners and prompting them to stop eating their meals.

Escape

Later that night, Hopper and Antonov discussed the odds of surviving the Demogorgon and escaping the prison. Antonov believed they would be shot on site if they escaped the Demogorgon, which caused Hopper to say they would die as monster slayers positively. When Antonov said he would still be regarded as a traitor, Hopper tried to cheer him up by saying that being a monster slayer would make others forget him being a traitor, and his son would be proud of him. Once Antonov remarked that he cannot seem to do anything right with his son, Hopper realized that his son is a teenager and remarked that children grow up so fast that they start to become distant from their parents. When Antonov asked what his relationship with El was like, Hopper explained that the last time he was with her, she barely wanted anything to do with him and told Antonov that what El had dealt with in life was not natural. Not knowing a Demogorgon to be alive, Hopper realized the monsters and threats from the Upside Down were still active, and he told a vaguely confused Antonov that if they wished to survive and escape, they needed a miracle.

Killing the Demogorgons

After his call with the female associate, Hopper and Joyce called Murray and Antonov inside to inform them of what the woman told him. When Murray asked if the woman referring to was El, Hopper said it had to be before revealing that Joyce's sons were also with El, fighting an evil in Hawkins. When Murray started to assume Hopper's caller was KGB, Joyce insisted the caller was not and was telling the truth, as they had seen the Mind Flayer's particles being animated, which meant a Gate was being opened in Hawkins. Realizing Joyce was right, Hopper insisted on returning to Hawkins immediately and grew impatient with Yuri, whom Murray and Antonov suspected of tricking them again. Once Murray pointed out they would not be able to get to Hawkins in time to save the kids, Hopper, Murray, and Antonov heard Joyce propose instead of returning to Hawkins right now, they destroy the Mind Flayer's particles back at the prison to give the children an upper hand in their fight against their enemy, as it is connected to the Upside Down's hive mind. Hopper immediately agreed to this and began preparing to return to the prison, grabbing weapons and a flamethrower while ordering Antonov to stay behind and have Yuri fly his helicopter to rescue him, Joyce, and Murray once they destroyed the particles.

Driving past a guard gate at the prison, Joyce, Hopper, and Murray noticed there were no guards.

After crawling through the hole back into the prison, they found that the containers had been broken and emptied. Armed with a flamethrower, the trio entered the security room, finding it strewn with dead bodies and a barely breathing general. Murray asked the general what happened, and he (with Murray’s translation) explained to the trio that the Demogorgon got into the building and that the guards accidentally shattered the containers while trying to ward it off by gunfire, breaking out the Demodogs and the particles (referred by the general as "The Shadow") which went into "them", but succumbs to his wounds before explaining who "them" is. However, upon reviewing the security camera footage, the crew realized that the particles had possessed the creatures roaming the halls.

In the arena, the crew came up with a plan to bait the creatures into the arena and set it on fire to help El and the kids. Murray was given the flamethrower while Joyce monitored the security system. Hopper planned to lead a Demodog out from the prison laundry room, but Joyce was haunted by Bob Newby's death at the hands of the Demodogs. Hopper reassures her that he'll die someday, but not today, departing with a kiss.

Hopper approached the laundry room and managed to bait the Demodog to follow him and fled through the halls, but was tackled as he neared the arena. Joyce ran to Hopper and used a taser to incapacitate or kill the Demodog. As they embraced, Hopper and Joyce noticed the Demogorgon and Demodogs charging towards them and fled to the courtyard, where the monsters cornered the couple. However, Murray torched the monsters with the flamethrower, killing most of them as Hopper and Joyce took cover from the fire. Despite their relief, the adult Demogorgon revealed itself to be alive, although injured. It approached Hopper, who fired at it several times before running out of ammo. As the Demogorgon roared, Hopper picked up a sword and prepared to face the monster. As it charged, Hopper ran forward and dropped to his knees, slicing its arm off as he slid. Despite the injury, the Demogorgon tried to attack Hopper, who dodged its swings and then decapitated it with his sword, killing it. Joyce and Hopper then embraced as Dmitri and Yuri arrived inside a functioning Katinka to Murray's cheers.

Return to America

After escaping the Russian prison and defeating the Demogorgon with the help of Joyce and Murray, Hopper and Joyce make their way back to the United States. In the final scenes, Hopper is reunited with Eleven at the cabin in Hawkins. This moment is deeply emotional as Eleven believed Hopper was dead for a long time. Their reunion is filled with warmth and relief, with Hopper telling her how much he missed her and how proud he is of her strength. The cabin, previously damaged, is being restored by Eleven and her friends. At the end Hopper, Joyce, Eleven, Mike, Nancy, Will, and Jonathan overlook the now destroyed Hawkins.

1987

November

Being an overprotecting father and training Eleven

Nineteen months had passed since his return to America and the opening of Vecna's curse gates. Since Lieutenant Colonel Jack Sullivan is still pursuing Eleven due to his belief that she is responsible for all the murders in Hawkins, Hopper sees himself forced to hide alongside her. Still, he's been training Eleven for her rematch against Vecna through a series of exercises and obstacle courses. Though she sets a new record by using her amplified telekinetic powers to jump over an old city bus, she rejects Hopper and Joyce's requests to take a break. She is adamant about setting a new record to prove she's ready to face the military led by Sullivan and Vecna. The next crawl of the Party and their allies to search for Vecna was approaching. Despite Eleven's pleas for Hopper to let her come with him, he repeatedly refused because the military had also established a base of operations in the Upside Down to study the biology of the alternate dimension. He was not going to put Eleven's life at risk, much to her outrage.

The Crawl

On November 3, 1987, Murray informs the party of the military's new and unexpected burn taking place that night, giving them a chance to set up another crawl and allowing Hopper to enter the Upside Down to search for where Vecna is hiding. The information is broadcast to the party through The Squawk radio station, which Robin uses as cover to give the party intel as she summarizes the life of Diana Ross to avoid raising suspicion from the military.

The plan involves Hopper entering the tunnels at 9:00, exiting into the abandoned Radio Shack, which is on the military's main base in Hawkins, across from the MAC-Z Gate. Mike and Lucas communicate with Hopper via their walkies as they watch from the Church tower for the incoming Humvee's. After giving the all clear to Hopper, he exits Radio Shack and stows away in the back of the last Humvee, and infiltrates the Upside Down through the MAC-Z Gate right under their noses.

In the Rightside Up, Steve and Jonathan drive the WSQK van to coordinate their Telemetry trackers with Hopper's to maintain a stable radio signal and communicate across dimensions. The plan goes well until the Humvee crashes with Hopper inside. A Demogorgon lunges from the darkness of the Upside Down and slaughters the soldiers, leaving Hopper alone, injured, and communication with the party being severed. After attempting to contact Joyce one last time, he heads off into the woods towards the sound of the Demogorgon.

Finding the wall

Travelling alone in the woods, Hopper eventually is mistakenly thrown through the air by Eleven, who entered the Upside Down through the Demogorgon's gate it created in the Wheeler's home after the creature had attacked and badly injured Ted & Karen Wheeler, kidnapping Holly and taking her into the Upside Down. Hopper is stunned and confused about how Eleven got into the Upside Down, but eventually follows her to search for Holly, following a trail of the Demogorgon's blood from injuries sustained when Karen Wheeler attacked it with a broken wine bottle.

An argument breaks out between Hopper and El as he questions her about how she got to the Wheelers' house, learning that she didn't use the tunnels but was instead driven there by Nancy, putting herself at risk of being caught on the military's surveillance cameras. Eleven defends her decision as she needed to get there as quickly as possible to save the Wheelers, telling Hopper that using the tunnels would've been slow, and she continues her search for Holly.

While travelling on the train tracks, following the Demogorgon's blood trail, Hopper stops and has to rest, only for Eleven to discover his bleeding wound on his side, which is preventing him from walking any further. As he rests, Eleven applies bandages to Hop's wound, noting that she had learned this technique from Max. During this, Hopper opens up to Eleven about his time in the military, his friends who died in war, and his daughter Sara, who he says was the bravest person he ever knew. He becomes emotional when he talks about her and tells Eleven he can't lose her like he did Sara.

Eleven hears the Demogorgon's screeches and begins following the trail again, with Hopper frantically following her as they travel further into the Upside Down. Eventually, they come across a slimy, pulsing wall that looks like a living organism, stretching in both directions, with one of Holly's boots being left at its base, Holly seemingly having been taken to the other side by the Demogorgon.

Confrontations with the military

While investigating the mysterious wall to find a way to reach Holly on the other side, Hopper tries to cut through the fleshy surface with his knife, and Eleven uses her powers, but neither succeeds in opening a path. The sound of military Humvees alerts them, but Eleven is mysteriously unable to move, being weakened by something unfamiliar to both of them.

Hopper hides Eleven behind a Turnbow Realty billboard as Lieutenant Akers and his soldiers investigate the disturbance at the wall, leading Akers to discover Hopper's knife impaled into the face of it. The soldier manning the sonic emitters, which act like "Kryptonite" to Eleven, is pointed at them, weakening Eleven and making her ache in pain, revealing their location to the soldiers. Hopper gets into a gunfight with the soldiers through the billboard before tossing two grenades over it to kill more of them. After taking out the sonic emitter and the soldier aiming it, Eleven comes out from hiding and slams Akers into the Humvee, knocking him unconscious.

Interrogating Akers

Having taken Akers hostage in the junkyard, Hopper plans to return with Eleven back to the others in the Rightside Up and devise a new plan to get through the wall and save Holly. Eleven disagrees, as it will get them nowhere, and successfully persuades Hopper into letting her go into Aker's mind to find out what he knows about the wall and how to get through it. Hopper confronts a tied-up Akers, exposing him as one of Sullivan's attack dogs and one of the soldiers involved in massacring the scientists working on the Nina Project while in pursuit of Eleven a year prior.

As Hopper interrogates him in the physical world, Eleven enters Akers' mind, feeding Hopper intel through his earpiece, and there she learns about the Gable Ridge Road Base in the Upside Down and where Dr. Kay is currently. Investigating further, Eleven follows the memory of Dr. Kay through a mysterious metal door, into a hallway with a locked door at the end. Her attempt to break through this door to reveal what's on the other side fails, knocking Akers unconscious and pulling Eleven back into reality. She tells Hopper that she heard the same sonic emitters used on her through this door, except much louder, and being used on someone with abilities like hers, and she concludes that the military has Vecna restrained in their lab, weak and powerless.

Infiltrating The Gable Ridge Road Base

Stopping Vecna

Hopper accompanied the Party on their mission to stop Vecna from merging the two worlds, watching out for Eleven as she used the tank to enter Vecna's mind with Max and Kali Prasad. However, Vecna entered Hopper's mind and showed him a conversation between Eleven and Kali in which Kali proposed that they die with the Upside Down when Vecna was dead. Vecna tricked Hopper into awakening Eleven and he confronted her and Kali about their plan.

Shortly thereafter, Hopper and Kali were captured by soldiers led by Lieutenant Robert Akers and tortured for information about Eleven. Eleven rescued the two after a distraction created by Murray Bauman, but Kali was fatally shot in the process. Hopper reluctantly said goodbye to Eleven as she made her way into the Abyss. Eventually, Dustin contacted Hopper to tell him that Vecna was dead and the kids were rescued. On Dustin's signal, Hopper and Murray activated the C4 to destroy the Upside Down and made their escape in a Humvee left behind by Akers.

Losing Eleven

After the party defeats Vecna, they return to Hawkins through the MAC-Z Gate, which they originally entered, only to be stopped and apprehended at gunpoint by Dr. Kay and the military. As Hopper and the others were detained, a scuffle broke out, and sometime during it, Eleven returned to the gate, standing inside the Upside Down as the detonator was about to destroy the dimension entirely, with her inside.

To prevent Dr. Kay from using her blood, Eleven sacrificed herself by being destroyed with the Upside Down. Hopper and the others yelled out to her as he was held against a truck by two soldiers, a strong gust of wind exited the gate and hit them before the gates closed forever, and Eleven was gone, presumed dead.

1989

Attending Will's Graduation

On May 6, 1989, 18 months after the final battle against Vecna, Jim Hopper is fully reinstated in Hawkins, which is finally at peace after the military ends the quarantine and leaves for good. Now, having become the chief of police again, he's back to doing what he knows best, putting the loss and tragedy behind him. The Class of 1989's Graduation Ceremony has arrived, and Jim spends time with Joyce, Jonathan, and Will for Will's graduation, taking pictures at his cabin. After Joyce receives a phone call from Karen Wheeler, she says she hasn't seen Mike and doesn't know where he is. Hopper heads off, knowing exactly where he is.

Outside the newly rebuilt Library, which was once the military's main entry point into the Upside Down, known as the MAC-Z, Hopper finds Mike sitting on a bench, pondering the memorial to those who died during the merging of the gates in 1986. Mike is still grieving the loss of Eleven, who sacrificed herself by staying behind in the Upside Down as it collapsed, preventing the military and Dr. Kay from ever using her to restart Dr. Brenner's experiments again.

Hopper tells Mike that it wasn't his fault, that Eleven made her choice and that it doesn't mean he has to like the choice she made but that he now has two roads ahead of him: a road where he blames himself for what happened to Eleven and have that burden on him for the rest of his life, or a road where he accepts it no matter how much it hurts and move on from it. Hopper uses his own experiences with the loss of his first daughter, Sara, as a way to relate to Mike, telling him that he's been on the first road before and not being able to move on made his life miserable, but after accepting her death is when he finally was able to move on and be where he is today, happy with his new family.

After his and Mike's talk, he drives him to his graduation ceremony and joins Joyce in the bleachers to watch Will, Lucas, Mike, Dustin, and Max graduate.

Date Night at Enzo's

Hopper takes Joyce out for dinner at Enzo's after Will's graduation, ordering a special bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, caviar, and two filet specials. Joyce is impressed and Hopper tells her she should be proud that she raised two boys into men, and that now it's going to be quiet with both of them away at college. Hopper notes that nothing is tying them down to Hawkins anymore, and hints at a future with seagulls and waves lapping on the beach, to which he finally reveals to Joyce that an old buddy from his time working in New York contacted him about Montauk looking for a new chief of police. He'd be making 20% more than he would as the Hawkins Chief, but it would let them be much closer to Jonathan and Will in the city.

Hopper gestures to the live band at Enzo's, and a female singer begins singing "At Last" by Etta Jones as Hopper kneels and proposes to Joyce in the restaurant. He wants to start a fresh life with Joyce in Montauk, away from Hawkins, and after she accepts his proposal, they dance together with the promise of this new future ahead of them.

Personality and traits

Sometime after reaching the age of 18, Hopper was conscripted into the US Army Chemical Corps through a letter of induction to fight in the Vietnam War. He was exposed to dangerous chemicals like Agent Orange, an herbicide that was used to damage vegetation that the NVA and Viet Cong were using for cover. Alongside his friends who served, they all tried to return to their normal lives after the war, but their exposure to Agent Orange led to numerous health complications for their spouses, and as a result, they could not safely have healthy children. Hopper's wife, Diane, was able to luckily give birth to their daughter, Sara. However, this would be short-lived as Sara developed cancer at a young age. The loss of his daughter and family life left Hopper emotionally reserved and cynical. To manage his pain, he regularly drank alcohol, smoked several cigarettes a day, and developed an addiction to anti-anxiety drugs. Instead of making real connections with people, he slept around with several women whom he never contacted again.

Despite being the Police Chief, he didn't care about his job, regularly slept in and showed up late, and had an overall laid-back attitude in the office, even before the Byers case, and showed indifference to the cases brought to his attention. Only when Will Byers went missing, and it turned out to be a government cover-up, did he start caring about doing his job properly, as he had a personal interest in the case.

After discovering Eleven and taking her into his cabin as her new home, Hopper grew to be highly sympathetic and responsible, which was why they quickly formed a father-daughter bond. To ensure her safety and to avoid losing her like his daughter, Hopper placed tripwires around their location and had no choice but to prohibit Eleven from leaving the cabin at all. His care for her was so fierce that one day, he got mad at her for putting herself in jeopardy, an act he regretted. He later acknowledged this and asked her forgiveness. His sense of duty also didn't waver during their time together, as he would often go to check out Will's condition and help him out as well as scrutinize the reason behind the abnormal incidents of Hawkins.

Hopper's empathy for Eleven was the reason he later adopted her with the help of Dr. Owens. He also grew overprotective of Eleven and began believing Mike Wheeler was a bad influence on her, as he did not want Eleven to grow up too quickly. Hopper began to develop romantic feelings for Joyce, but had trouble confessing them to her, despite asking her out on a date. Yet, Hopper was willing to risk his life to protect Joyce and the kids to turn off the key that was opening a portal to the Upside Down.

After eight months of imprisonment in Russia, Hopper was desperate to escape and allied with a corrupt prison guard, Dmitri Antonov. Hopper's time in prison also led him to reflect on his actions and his relationships with those closest to him, including Sara, Joyce, and Eleven. When he discovered a Demogorgon being kept in the prison he was being held at, Hopper was determined to fight it to survive and escape. When reunited with Joyce, Hopper made amends and began a romantic relationship with her as they attempted to leave Russia. However, when discovering that the Party was in danger, Hopper was willing to return to the Russian prison where he had been imprisoned and kill the Demogorgons inhabiting it to save the kids. After successfully killing the Demogorgons and returning to the United States, Hopper was happily reunited with Eleven and Mike while officially started sealing his romance with Joyce.

In 1987, after learning about Vecna and being forced into hiding during the military takeover of Hawkins, Hopper became increasingly overprotective of El. His fear of losing her, paralleling the loss of his daughter, Sara, led him to become overbearing and controlling. He refused to let her join him on crawls, even though he was impressed by her growing abilities. While Hopper trusted El and believed in her capabilities, he had self-sacrificial tendencies, mostly stemming from his grief and guilt over Sara's death, where he was willing to sacrifice himself to kill Vecna so El could survive. After meeting Kali Prasad, Hopper did not trust her, believing her to be a corrupting influence towards El, but was willing to put aside his differences with her as they worked together, given that they both cared about El and her well-being.

When Vecna taunted him over his grief and guilt over Sara's death, along with revealing El's thoughts of sacrificing herself, Hopper confessed that he wished for her to have a happy life, believing she deserved it after all of the trauma she had suffered while growing up. Later, during a heartfelt conversation with El, Hopper came to realize how much El had grown up and that she was not a replacement for his deceased daughter, acknowledging she had to make her own decisions no matter how difficult they were. This allowed him to fully trust El during the final battle even though it devastated him to see El possibly sacrifice herself to prevent Dr. Kay and the government from making more test subjects like Vecna with her blood.

Eighteen months later, after Vecna's death and the Upside Down's destruction, Hopper was shown to be at peace with himself and his tragedies. Though he was still sad over El's uncertain fate, Hopper accepted her choice and chose to honor her by continuing to live his life. He also advised Mike to do the same, as Hopper now possessed the wisdom of how holding onto grief and guilt can only bring more pain and misery the longer they are held onto. As a result of his acceptance and maturity, Hopper was able to keep his relationship with Joyce and become a part of her family where he eventually proposed to her, feeling confident to start a new life with her without looking back at their traumatic experiences.

Abilities

• Expert Combatant: As an Army veteran and the present Police Chief, Hopper is highly trained in both boxing and kickboxing hand-to-hand combat. He beat up David O'Bannon, defeated M.P. guards, he was able to easily fight against and knock out a Russian spy, and even hold his own against Grigori and managed to win the fight in the end, though with extreme effort.
• Expert Marksman: As an Army veteran and the present Police Chief, Hopper is noteworthy for his experience with a variety of firearms, ranging from handguns, shotguns, and rifles. While he mostly carried his revolver around with him during investigations and settling minor disputes, he was shown to be remarkably proficient in handling rifles and shotguns when he fought side by side with Eleven and protected her from the Demodogs by shooting a substantial number of them without much difficulty, and later, when he shot Russians while holding a rifle with one hand. Hopper is also skilled in throwing weapons, as he accurately threw a spear into the Russian Demogorgon's mouth in "The Massacre at Hawkins Lab". When Murray Bauman gave him a pistol in "Papa", he executed a Demodog with a single round.
• Survival Instincts: Hopper's basic surviving skills helped him considerably when he was trapped in the tunnels corrupted by the Upside Down, such as placing cigars to leave a trail to follow, cutting off a part of his shirt to cover his face, and crafting a makeshift torch from a branch. Being a natural survivalist, he escaped terrifying and supernatural locations known as the Upside Down, endured inhuman cruelty in a Russian prison, and has even fought Demogorgons with melee weapons.
• Skilled Craftsman: His military life led him to be familiarized with some crafting skills too, as displayed in "The Pollywog" when he constructed trip-wires around Eleven's location. During his imprisonment, he rips off a piece of his jacket to wrap around a spear and dunks liquor on it to use as a torch against a Demogorgan.
• Multilingualism: Hopper also had some knowledge regarding radio operation and its mechanisms, as he taught Eleven how to communicate over the radio using Morse code during their time together, and he was very quick to infer the Morse code signals that Will was trying to signal. Hopper later learned some Russian while imprisoned.

Equipment

• Smith & Wesson Model 66: Hopper carried a revolver as his service sidearm, as seen in "The Flea and the Acrobat". He replaced it with a different model revolver after he lost it, but resumed carrying it in "The Case of the Missing Lifeguard", "The Sauna Test", and "The Flayed", but it was taken by Grigori.
• Colt Python: Hopper began using a new revolver, as seen in "MADMAX". He later gave it to Dr. Sam Owens in "The Gate".
• Tokarev TT-33: Hopper took a suppressed pistol from a Russian soldier in "The Bite"
• Heckler & Koch MP5K: Hopper used a submachine gun while rescuing Will at the end of "The Upside Down".

• Bushmaster HBAR Carbine: Hopper used a rifle against Demodogs in "The Mind Flayer" and brought it to Hawkins National Laboratory in "The Gate".
• Mossberg 144 LS: Hopper gave Will's rifle to Nancy in "The Mind Flayer".
• AKMSU: Hopper obtained a rifle to kill Russians in "The Battle of Starcourt".
• Ithaca 37: Hopper brought a shotgun to Hawkins National Laboratory in "The Gate".
• Remington 870: Hopper had another shotgun in his shed in "The Bite".
• AKM: Hopper took another rifle from Yuri Ismaylov's stockpile in "The Piggyback".
• Sword: Hopper used a sword to kill a Demogorgon in "The Piggyback".

Relationships

Familial

Sara was born in April of 1971 and was the apple of Jim's eye. The two would often read together, study science, and play in the park. One day, however, Sara began to hyperventilate in the park while she and Jim were playing, and was soon diagnosed with cancer. While undergoing chemotherapy, Jim often lay in her hospital bed and happily read to her, but would often sit alone in the stairwells of the hospital crying hysterically. By the end, Sara could not be saved and sadly passed on, right in front of her devastated parents. Hopper told Joyce that his mind would distort reality and cause him to see and hear Sara, until he had to decide to pack the memories away, or else he would "fall down a hole [he] couldn't get out of". Despite this, one thing Hopper kept was the memory of Sara alive, taping an old drawing in his trailer, mentioning her fascination with science to others, and wearing her old blue hair tie around his wrist. When Hopper is skeptical of Joyce hearing Will's voice on the phone, she berates him and angrily asks if he wouldn't recognize his own daughter's voice, surprising him and soon motivating him to find Will, not wanting to lose another child.

After adopting Eleven, Hopper sees a lot of Sara in her. When driving to Hawkins Lab to close the Gate, Hopper explains to El what a black hole is and that Sara had a picture book about it that she loved. El asks who Sara is, causing Hopper to say that she's "his little girl". When El asks where is she, Hopper states that "the black hole got her", and that he's afraid that it'll take her away to, which causes Hopper to apologize for being so strict on her. A month later, when Hopper allows El to attend the Snow Ball with the Party, he gifts her with Sara's hair tie.

Diane is Hopper's ex-wife and Sara's mother. The two married in 1972 and had a child they both loved dearly. But upon Sara's diagnosis of cancer and ultimate death, Diane and Jim divorced in 1979, causing Jim to move back to his hometown in Hawkins, Indiana, while Diane met a man named Bill and had another child. In "The Flea and the Acrobat", Hopper calls her after ripping his trailer apart. It's hinted that Hopper has called her in the past, hoping to get her back, as Diane annoyingly states that she's told him not to call. Hopper tells her that he doesn't regret any of their marriage. Diane then asks if he's been drinking, to which Jim initially says no, but soon admits he has. Diane tearfully tells him she can't do this right now, and Jim tells her to say hello to her husband, Bill, for him before cutting her off by hanging up. As he prepares to leave, Diane attempts to call back, only for Jim to rip the cord out of the socket.

After her defeat of the Demogorgon in 1983, Eleven is revealed to be alive and returns through a Gate to escape the school. Hiding in the woods, Hopper had been leaving eggos for her in a lock box until she one day arrived during one of his drops. Hiding her for almost a year in his grandfather's old cabin, for what he believed to be her own safety, the two form a father-daughter bond.

While Hopper thoroughly cared for Eleven, his decision to prohibit her from leaving the cabin ultimately infuriated her as she became enraged for being promised to see Mike, even though it had been almost a year. They argue one night, which causes Eleven to shatter all the windows. The next day, she leaves the cabin to visit her mother. Hopper, who was taken to Hawkins Lab for his injuries, regretted his actions, apologized to Eleven for his misbehavior, and admitted that he only wanted to protect her. However, he was unaware that she had already left.

After passing through many hardships and challenges, they reunite again to forgive each other and finally close the Mind Flayer's Gate together. At the end of the events of Season 2, Hopper officially adopts Eleven as his daughter, "Jane".

In 1985, Hopper is very jealous and protective of Eleven, due to the events of the past year and a half they have lived together. Eleven and Mike are now a couple, with Mike frequently visiting the cabin to spend time with her, much to Hopper's annoyance. Also, whilst he now allows Eleven to leave the cabin, Hopper gave her a set of rules to stick to, including a curfew, and doesn't allow her to visit places with too many people, such as the Starcourt Mall.

Hopper's irritation at how much time Eleven is spending with Mike, whom he thinks is bad for her, causes him to try to have a heart-to-heart with the two of them. When this fails because Mike is being obnoxious, Hopper forces him to intentionally avoid Eleven with false excuses, believing it's in her best interest. Before leaving Hawkins with the Byers family, El received a last letter from Hopper, who made clear that he missed spending time with his adopted daughter because she was spending more time with Mike, but also said he knew Eleven was growing older and more mature. She was more than capable of making her own choices. He ended the letter with a final request-- keep the door open three inches.

Unbeknownst to El, Hopper had actually been taken to the prison of Kamchatka in Russia, where he spent the next eight months of his life. He eventually found an ally, who sent Joyce and Murray Bauman a letter to meet with him in exchange for Hopper's freedom. Once Vecna had been temporarily defeated, Hopper and Joyce finally returned to the U. S. A., and Eleven tearfully reunited with her adoptive father, telling him that she had never stopped believing he was alive.

Non-Familial

Hopper and Joyce have known each other since high school. They were fairly close, often skipping class to smoke together, even being caught by a teacher on at least one occasion. Their friendship continued well into adulthood and remained even after Hopper returned to Hawkins after living in another city for several years. Hopper aids Joyce in looking for her son, Will, in the Upside Down, and together they manage to revive him through CPR. They grew closer when Hopper began accompanying Will to his appointments at Hawkins Lab, and Hopper carried Will to safety when Demodogs attacked the institution.

In 1985, Hopper confessed to Joyce how uncomfortable he was with Eleven's relationship with Mike. However, Joyce did not see a problem with that at all, believing it to be simply part of becoming a teenager. She attempted to help him create a speech with the intention of creating "limits" between El and Mike, but he was unable to perform it well. Instead, he resorted to threatening Mike, who became scared and agreed to stay away from Eleven, leaving Hopper glad. Hopper invited Joyce to dinner at Enzo's, but she never showed up, hurting Hopper's feelings.

However, he quickly recovered from that blow and aided Joyce in uncovering the Russians' plan to open a Gate to the Upside Down. Throughout the trip, they argued and made snarky comments about one another until Murray Bauman stepped in and asked them to admit their feelings for one another. Hopper, Joyce, and Murray infiltrated the Russians' base of operations and succeeded in destroying the machine that was opening the Gate, only for Hopper to be caught in the explosion, leaving Joyce in deep grief and with the thought that he had died. Shortly afterwards, Joyce took Eleven in, and she moved the two of them, Will and Jonathan, out of Hawkins.

Eight months later, Joyce came across a letter from "Enzo", revealing that Hopper had survived. She and Murray decided to travel to Kamchatka to rescue him, and after several obstacles, they managed to reunite with one another. Joyce was horrified by the scars Hopper had acquired, but he assured her that he "needed to lose weight anyway". He revealed how he had been imagining his romantic dinner with her before the two finally gave in to their feelings for one another and made out for the first time.

Joyce was concerned when Hopper proposed being the bait to the Demogorgon in prison, only for him to reassure her that he would not die. Joyce saved Hopper from being mauled by a "Demodog" by tasering it to death, and witnessed Hopper fighting the Demogorgon, with the creature ultimately decapitated once and for all.

While Bob and Hopper had known each other since high school and had been friends ever since, Hopper always teased Bob for his passive nature, calling him "Bob the Brain". However, Jim developed a sense of respect for Bob when he put himself in danger to help the group escape the lab, which ultimately led to Bob's tragic demise.

Hopper and Mike did not get off to a good start. When questioning Mike about Will's whereabouts, Hopper ordered Mike and his friends not to search for Will, but Mike secretly disobeyed him and started searching for Will. When Hopper realized that Mike was in danger for sheltering Eleven, he did not hesitate to find him and come to his rescue at the junkyard. When interrogated by Martin Brenner, Hopper was forced to reveal Mike and the rest of the kids' location, which he regretted.

In 1984, Hopper still showed some concern for Mike, asking Eleven if she wanted him to check on him, but she refused. However, when Mike found out that Hopper had been hiding Eleven for nearly a year, he became furious with Hopper, blaming him for hiding her as he tried to justify his own actions. When Mike took all of his anger out, Hopper stopped and comforted a sobbing Mike, apologizing to him as he realized how wrong he was to keep Eleven hidden.

However, in 1985, Hopper and Mike weren't on good terms again, especially after Hopper became irritated by how much time his adopted daughter, Eleven, spent with Mike. Eventually, it boils over when Mike becomes too arrogant, and Hopper forces Mike to be distant from Eleven, resulting in Eleven not hanging out with Mike, and eventually breaking up, much to Hopper's satisfaction. Before the battle, Jim saw Mike helping an injured Eleven walk and realized, despite their breakup, they still cared for and loved each other very much, prompting Jim to tell Mike to be careful and to start supporting his daughter's relationship with Mike.

Mike was devastated upon learning of Hopper's apparent death while closing the Gate to the Upside Down. Still, the police chief had actually survived the explosion and became a prisoner in the prison of Kamchatka for the next eight months. Once Hopper was rescued, he reunited with both Eleven and Mike, telling the latter that he had grown, before they embraced, revealing that despite their past disagreements, they cared for each other.

In May of 1989, Hopper went in search of Mike after his mother called Joyce in a panic that she couldn't find him, and feared he would miss his graduation. Hopper, having already realized where Mike would be, finds him in the town square, admitting that his survivor’s guilt and pain of losing Eleven has kept him from wanting to walk on stage. He mourns the future plans he had with El, and believes that if only he had a more concrete plan she wouldn't have needed to sacrificed herself. However, Hopper comforts him that it wasn’t his fault. and relates to him his own grief of losing his daughter Sara. He tells him that he has a choice: to wallow in self-loathing and depression and bring pain on himself because he believes that is what he deserves, or accept what El chose and rebuild his life, and live it as best he can for himself and for her. This talk gives Mike the motivation he desperately needs in order to attend graduation.

Hopper had two police officers who were loyal enough to work with him, Phil Callahan and Calvin Powell. Hopper was often annoyed with their antics and foolishness, but still allowed them to help him investigate the disappearance of Will Byers and the rotting of the pumpkin fields. Both Callahan and Powell respect Hopper and follow his orders, and even worry about his well-being.

Hopper was friends with and an acquaintance of Murray Bauman, although the two were sometimes annoyed with each other. In 1984, as Murray investigated the disappearance of Barbara Holland, he tried to explain his clues and theories about a girl with psychic powers and about the possibility of Russians in Hawkins. However, Hopper, knowing the truth about Eleven and what really happened to Barbara, dismissed Murray's claims and told him to go home.

In 1985, Hopper sought Murray's help when he and Joyce captured a Russian scientist, Alexei, because Hopper knew Murray could speak Russian. Through Alexei, Murray, Joyce, and Hopper realized that the Russians had been opening a Gate to the Upside Down and rushed to meet with the Party members to devise a plan to destroy the Gate. Murray was saddened when Hopper chose to stay behind to ensure the Gate was closed, only to be apparently vaporized.

The next year, Murray accepted Joyce's invitation to join her on a trip to Kamchatka to rescue Hopper from prison after receiving a letter revealing Hopper's survival. Once they reunited, Murray showed disapproval towards Hopper's plan to return to prison and kill the Demogorgon, believing it to be suicide. However, Murray ultimately agreed and used a flamethrower to weaken the Demogorgon long enough for Hopper to slice off one of its arms, then its head.

The connection with his boss, Larry Kline, wasn't well-known in 1983 and 1984. However, Hopper was manipulated by him and felt threatened due to being fired. When a protest group came over to the Town Hall to yell at Kline for building the Starcourt Mall - which caused them to lose their jobs - Kline said to Hopper that he had to arrest these people, claiming none of the people were given permission to protest. Hopper later noticed that Kline was in cahoots with a man in black, and thought it would be good to point out all the other sneaky things his boss did. Kline says he also knows Hopper did sneaky things, too, and threatens to ruin his life by calling Tom Holloway, who ran the newspaper. He also scoffs at Hopper to show he didn't care about the "dead daughter sob story", which enraged Hopper as he tried to leave the office, before Hopper threw the man into the door, breaking his nose. Hopper threatens to break his boss's finger, until he hears that the visiting criminal came from Starcourt Mall. Hopper, Kline, and Joyce head to Kline's mansion, and Hopper teases Kline for being so wealthy by asking him if he shot the zebra, which made the rug, before nearly exclaiming, "No shit" when he is told it is not real. Kline later cooperates with Hopper before being released, though he chooses his safety over Hopper's when Grigori threatens him.

Hopper met and discovered Alexei when investigating the Hess Farm. When Grigori arrived and tried to kill Hopper and Joyce, Hopper decided to kidnap Alexei so he could reveal the Russians' plan. Hopper was quite hostile towards Alexei for most of their time together, often manhandling him and occasionally physically assaulting him, and mockingly referring to him as "Smirnoff" rather than his actual name. Hopper would also avoid talking to Alexei until they reached Murray Bauman's residence, often berating Joyce for trying to communicate with him despite the language barrier. Eventually, the tension between Alexei and Hopper culminated in Hopper beating Alexei after Alexei refused to help them because his Slurpee was a different flavor than the one he asked for. After this interaction, Alexei was much more cooperative with Hopper and didn't try to provoke him again. After Alexei was killed at the Fun Fair, Hopper realized his death when asking Joyce where he was and looked depressed, despite being hostile towards him.

Jim Hopper and Grigori were enemies. Hopper first noticed him at Town Hall while waiting to be met by Mayor Kline. They engaged in combat with each other on multiple occasions, with Grigori gaining the upper hand most of the time. After his first fight with Grigori, Hopper realized that his attacker was driving a motorcycle, which matched Grigori's appearance, whom he had seen earlier at Town Hall. This caused Hopper to investigate Grigori's identity. When confronting him again at the Hess Farm, Hopper threatened to shoot Grigori, but the Russian hitman did not believe Hopper would do it, as he was a policeman. However, Hopper proved him wrong, but Grigori managed to dodge Hopper's gunshot and fought him.

Later, Hopper shot Grigori multiple times in a fight at the Fun Fair, but Grigori survived. When Hopper and Joyce tried to shut off the Key to the Upside Down at Starcourt Mall, Grigori intervened. Grigori knocked out Joyce and then went after Hopper, with the two engaging in a full-out brawl. Both got close to the gateway machine, with Grigori seemingly on the verge of killing Hopper. However, Hopper was able to recover, stabbing Grigori's injured shoulder with his thumb. When Grigori tried to retaliate, Hopper told him he would "see him in hell" before he threw Grigori into the machine, ripping him to shreds and killing him, thus avenging Alexei.

While working as a guard in Kamchatka, Dmitri noticed Hopper's high profile as an American prisoner and offered to help him escape for a fee. Desperate to leave, Hopper agreed. The first step in their loose alliance was for Dmitri to contact Joyce by sending her a package containing a letter and a doll, informing her that Hopper was alive. Making contact with him through a payphone, Joyce was told to travel to Alaska with several tens of thousands in cash to meet a man named Yuri, who would fly her to Russia and retrieve Hopper. Eventually finding an opportunity, Hopper blows up several guards and escapes on a snowmobile to the rendezvous point. When Joyce and Murray arrive in Alaska, they are unexpectedly drugged and brought along as prisoners by Yuri, who has also informed the warden of the prison of Dmitri's treason, completely deviating from the plan to maximize profits for himself.

Now an inmate in the prison he once guarded, Dmitri and Hopper are forced to work together to find a new means of escape. The two are eventually selected, along with many other prisoners, to take part in a battle against the prison's captured Demogorgon. Hopper, believing his time is running short, vents to Dmitri, explaining that he believes he himself is a curse to everybody he loves and that he believes he indirectly caused the death of his own daughter despite knowing the risks. Dmitri shares that he is also a father. The night before the Demogorgon battle, during the group's final meal, Dmitri urges the rest of the group to stick together to defeat the monster. The following day, as the battle commences, Dmitri and Hopper are the only surviving prisoners, having worked together to escape the cage and eventually join Murray and Joyce in beginning a siege on the prison.

While not totally close to each other, Hopper and Al Munson were good acquittances. They went to high school together and were even in the same club. Even years after Al moved away, or rather, got arrested, Hopper remembered him.

Appearances

*Can be seen in The Void and via flashbacks in The Lost Sister

Video games

Family tree

^{note: family trees are only visible on desktop.}

James Hopper Sr

Unknown

Bill

Diane

Jim Hopper

Diane's second child

Sara Hopper †

Jane Hopper Jim's Adopted Daughter

Memorable Quotes

• (Slurring) "Oh, hey, morning Flo. Morning, everybody."
• "Mornings are for coffee and contemplation."
• "You wanna know the worst thing that’s ever happened here in the four years I’ve been working here? You wanna know the worst thing, was when an owl attacked Eleanor Gillespie's head because it thought that her hair was a nest."
• "Bike like this is like a Cadillac to these kids."
• "You know what I would give? For a chance? You know what I would give?"
• "I know you do experiments on kidnapped little kids, whose parents' brains you've turned to mush. And I know you went a little too far this time and you messed up in a big way."
• "I know that story. Did you hear the one about the fat man with the beard who climbs down chimneys?"
• "Listen, you know what? I liked your alien theory a lot better. And you want my advice? Why don't you stop bleeding those people dry and go home? All right? Go home!"
• "Now this, this is music."
• "Good right? You know the great thing about it? It's only 8,000 calories."
• "Maybe when this is all said and done, maybe you could help her out too, you know? Maybe you could help her lead, like, a normal life. One where she's not poked and prodded and treated like some kind of lab rat, you know?"
• "Hey! Three inches minimum! Leave the door open three inches!"
• "Maybe I’ll just kill Mike. I’m the chief of police, I could cover it up."
• "No, I don't think so. It's your grandma."
• "Nothing! There's nothing wrong with Nana!"
• "What is up with you and noises?"
• "So you know what? Keep on growing up, kid. 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. But please, if you don't mind, for the sake of your poor, old dad, keep the door open three inches."
• "She's not my woman."
• "The last time I was with El, she wanted just about nothing to do with me ... I think it must be hardwired into us to reject our fathers."
• "I was wrong this whole time. I wasn't cursed. I am the curse."
• "I thought I was put here to pay for what I've done, but I might've been put here for some other reason. Maybe I can, maybe I can still help El, even if it's the last thing I do."
• "Who needs imagination?"
• "Yeah. I kind of stole your look, kid."
• "You're not the only one who didn't stop believing."
• "You've grown."

Gallery

For this subject's gallery, see Jim Hopper/Gallery.

Trivia

Hopper's age

Jim Hopper's exact age and date of birth are points of contention:

• In the teleplay for "The Vanishing of Will Byers", Hopper is described as being in his early 40s, suggesting he was born between 1940 and 1943.
• Also in this teleplay, Hopper tells Scott Clarke that he graduated from Hawkins High School in 1958, suggesting he was born in 1939 or 1940.
• In Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town, Hopper is said to be 35 years old during his time in New York in July 1977, suggesting he was born between July 1941 and July 1942.
• In Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Hopper is in his senior year in October 1959, suggesting he was born in either 1941 or 1942.
• A TikTok from the official Stranger Things: The First Shadow account showed a trend were the characters were asked what year they were born and Hopper's actor said he was born in 1942.

General

• As the series progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that Hopper is a veteran of the Vietnam War:
  • In "Dig Dug", Eleven finds various cardboard boxes at the Hopper cabin, with one displaying "Vietnam" on its side.
  • In the news report shown in "The Battle of Starcourt", a newspaper states that Jim was a decorated Vietnam veteran.
  • Finally, in "The Dive", Hopper talks to Dmitri Antonov about his experience in the Vietnam War. He mentions being part of the Chemical Corps, and that as a result, he became exposed to Agent Orange: Hopper suspects this exposure inadventedly led to the death of his daughter, Sara.
    • Hopper was likely stationed in Fort McClellan in Anniston, Alabama, due to being in the Chemical Corps.
• The name "Gillespie" (from Hopper's quote about the owl) could be a possible reference to the famous Silent Hill franchise (a series that largely focuses on many things - among which: deformed human-like creatures, other worlds and dimensions, as well as a town seemingly in the middle of nowhere and in which strange things happen. Also, the plot in the first game revolved around a father trying to find his missing daughter - as opposed to a mother looking for her missing son).
• In the 1987 movie Predator, the first man ever killed by a Predator was named Jim Hopper.
• The pills Hopper takes in the beginning of the series are Tuinal, a popular sedative/anti-anxiety drug that was discontinued in 1991.^[7]
• The blue bracelets around his right wrist are his daughter's hair ribbons--every time he wakes, he looks at them before he does anything else.^[8] After adopting Eleven as his daughter, he passes the bracelets to her, as seen during the Snow Ball.^[9]
• When Hopper approaches the guard at the morgue in "The Body", the guard is reading Cujo by Stephen King. Hopper's line "That's a nasty mutt" is a reference to the book being about a rabid dog.
• Hopper drinks Schlitz beer in "The Vanishing of Will Byers".
• He takes his coffee black.
• Not only does he rearrange Powell's cards when he arrives at the station, but he also has a box of gambling chips on his kitchen table, leading the audience to believe he may have a gambling habit.
• The typewriter in the first scene between Hopper and Joyce is an IBM Selectric III.
• Hopper drives a Chevrolet K5 Blazer in the first three seasons. His license plate number is 98Y5, with the state shield displayed next to the number.
• His character and look is loosely based on Harrison Ford's roles as Indiana Jones and Han Solo.
• Jim Hopper and Mike Wheeler are the only characters to appear in all episodes of season 1, season 2, and season 3.
• Hopper enjoys the holiday movie, It's A Wonderful Life.^[10]
• The Season 3 finale's mid-credits scene infamously hint towards Hopper's survival, with a Kamchaktan guard saying "Not the American".
  • When at the Kamchatkan prison camp, his uniform nametag reads "Американец", Russian for "American".
• Jim Hopper has only been absent in one episode, "The Hellfire Club". Thus except for season 4, he had appeared in every episode of a season.
• During the eight months as a prisoner in Kamchatka, Hopper learns some basic Russian.

References

Canon hierarchy

Characters in Stranger Things Main "The Party" Will Byers • Eleven • Dustin Henderson • Max Mayfield • Lucas Sinclair • Mike Wheeler Hawkins High/Hawkins Middle/Hawkins Elementary Robin Buckley • Jonathan Byers • Vickie Dunne • Billy Hargrove • Steve Harrington • Eddie Munson • Erica Sinclair • Derek Turnbow • Holly Wheeler • Nancy Wheeler Adults Robert Akers • Murray Bauman • Martin Brenner • Joyce Byers • Jim Hopper • Dr. Kay • Bob Newby • Sam Owens • Vecna • Karen Wheeler Other Argyle • Eight/Kali Prasad Non-main See also: Minor Characters Hawkins High/Hawkins Middle/Hawkins Elementary Stacey Albright • Benji • Fred Benson • Scott Clarke • Russell Coleman • Jason Carver • Chance • Chrissy Cunningham • James Dante • Freak 1 • Gareth • Glenn • Joshua Gunn • Tommy H • Thomas Hall • Andy Harper • Jennifer Hayes • Jeremy Higgins • Barbara Holland • Heather Holloway • Jeff • Marsha Kelley • Ashley Klein • Mary • Patrick McKinney • Debbie Miller • Nicole • Carol Perkins • Rebecca • Roger • Doug Teague • Tammy Thompson • Tina Turnbow • Troy Walsh • Valerie • Wendy Hawkins P.D. Phil Callahan • Glenn Daniels • Florence • Calvin Powell Hawkins Lab Dr. Ellis • Connie Frazier • Shepard • Elevator Scientist • Lead Scientist • Lead Agent • Nerdy Tech • Agent Repairman • Hawkins Head of Security Two • Three • Four • Five • Six • Ten • Test Subjects Hawkins Alice Creel • Virginia Creel • Laura Cunningham • Phillip Cunningham • Doris Driscoll • Benny Hammond • Neil Hargrove • Susan Hargrove • Claudia Henderson • Dale • Earl • Gary • Marsha Holland • Mr. Holland • Henry • Janet Holloway • Tom Holloway • Keith • Larry Kline • Bruce Lowe • Marissa • Eugene McCorkle • Mews • Donald Melvald • Wayne Munson • David O'Bannon • Charles Sinclair • Sue Sinclair • Ken Turnbow • Mrs. Turnbow • Mrs. Walsh • Brenda Wood • Ted Wheeler • Merrill Wright California Angela • Billy's mother • Jake USA Axel • Eden Bingham • Mr. Bingham • Bingham Siblings • Lonnie Byers • Victor Creel • Cynthia • Diane • Dottie • Funshine • Anthony Hatch • Sara Hopper • Becky Ives • Terry Ives • Mick • Cathy Owens • Luis Ramirez • Jack Sullivan Soviet Union Alexei • Dmitri Antonov • Grigori • Yuri Ismaylov • Ivan • Warden Melnikov • Oleg • Ozerov • Russian Agent • Russian Scientist • Stepanov • Dr. Zharkov Locations The Upside Down • Creel House • Curse gates • Gable Ridge Road Base • Gates • Hawkins • Hawkins National Laboratory • Lover's Lake • Hawkins Public Library • Hawkins Middle School • Hawkins Tunnel System • Mothergate • Forest Hills Trailer Park • Wall Entities D'Artagnan • Demobats • The Demogorgon • Demogorgon (species) • The Flayed • Flesh Thralls • Hospital Monster • The Mind Flayer • Russian Demogorgon • The Spider Monster • Hawkins Tunnel System • Vecna • Vines The Flayed Billy Hargrove • Heather Holloway • Bruce Lowe • Tom Holloway • Janet Holloway • Doris Driscoll Visitors Robert Akers • Murray Bauman • Robin Buckley • Joyce Byers • Will Byers • Scott Clarke • Vickie Dunne • Eleven • Steve Harrington • Dustin Henderson • Barbara Holland • Jim Hopper • Dr. Kay • Max Mayfield • Eddie Munson • Bob Newby• Eight/Kali Prasad • Shepard • Lucas Sinclair • Mike Wheeler • Nancy Wheeler Miscellaneous The Abyss • Camazotz • Cyborg Demodogs • Dungeons & Dragons • Exotic matter • Fabric of space-time • Hellscape • MAC-Z • Mind Lair • Pain Tree • The Keys • The Void • Upside Down Egg • The Upside Down (episode) • The Upside Down (track) • Vecna's curse