Stranger Things Season 3: What Does The Ending Really Mean?

6. But The Real One Is Not

Having spent the whole of Season 2 wondering what the Mind Flayer actually looked like when it wasn't a shadow, only to get no answers whatsoever, it was admittedly nice (though highly-grotesque) to finally see what it could look like in person when it manifested in the form of that gigantic spider monster. However, as we have since learned, it has no physical form... and that creature wasn't actually it - it was simply a physical extension of it.

Remember, before it was known as the Mind Flayer, it was called the Shadow Monster and that's because it's an abstract specimen, a collective-consciousness if you will, that has the ability to control the creatures that exist within its realm.

While a portion of it did remain in the real world and eventually created that creature, it was all controlled by the shadowy being, who was still in the Upside Down (and has been since Eleven sent him back there in the Season 2 finale).

Yes, the Mind Flayer's physical specimen and its control over Hawkins once again died when The Gate was closed, but as far as the creature itself goes, it is still very much alive...