Where did Hopper get the sword in Stranger Things?

*WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Season 4 of Stranger Things*

Jim Hopper’s adventure through Stranger Things has been fascinating as he goes from lovable Hawkins police chief to weary prisoner in the heart of Soviet Russia.

In Season 4, Hopper faces the biggest challenges of his journey until he attempts to escape from prison with the help of Joyce, Murray, and newcomer Dimitri “Enzo” Antonov.

Hopper’s ordeal in Season 4 culminates in an epic showdown with a Demogorgon, made even more iconic by the fact that Hopper’s only weapon against the creature is a sword.

However, Stranger Things fans have been left with questions regarding the scene, including – where exactly did Hopper get the sword he used to fight the Demogorgon?

Hopper confronts a Demogorgon with a sword

In the final episode of Stranger Things 4, Hopper, Joyce, and Murray break into the Russian prison where Hopper was being held at the start of the season.

Knowing they can’t get back to Hawkins in time to help the kids, the adults decide to help by clearing out the particles and upside-down creatures that are being held in the prison.

They make it back inside the facility with no problem, but that’s only thanks to the Demogorgon and Demodogs that escaped from their containers and ravaged the inmates and guards.

Arriving in the central courtyard, Hopper and Joyce are overwhelmed by the creatures until Murray uses a flamethrower to kill all but the Demogorgon.

This leaves Hopper to face the monster on his own, and since his weapon is out of ammo, the only weapon available is a sword which he picks up from the ground.

The tense clash ends with Hopper decapitating the Demogorgon in a single bloody strike.

Where did Hopper find the sword?

In episode 9, we see Hopper pick up the sword from the ground, but fans don’t know how she got there.

The answer to this question can be found in episode 7, when the prisoners are forced to fight the Demogorgon and Enzo opens a weapons locker with several ancient weapons inside such as swords, spears and axes .

The sword used by Hopper can also be seen in the weapons locker, and in the image below we can see a prisoner reaching out to grab the weapon.

During the fight with the Demogorgon, several prisoners are brutally killed, including the one who took the sword, which is how it ended up on the ground ready to be picked up by Hopper.

The sword is actually famous

Stranger Things has always been filled with pop culture references and that even includes the sword we see in Episode 9.

The sword in question is the Atlantean from the 1982 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Conan the Barbarian and its 1984 sequel Conan the Destroyer.

In the Conan films, the titular barbarian found the sword in a tomb where it was buried with an ancient king, using it to free himself from his chains and fight off a pack of pursuing wolves.

As one of the most iconic fantasy franchises of all time, the Atlantean has become a hugely famous and beloved sword in its own right, making it an obvious choice to sneak into a years-themed reference. 80 in Stranger Things.

How the sword ended up in the USSR remains a mystery but maybe the Russians managed to get their hands on a replica after setting up a lab under Starcourt Mall in Season 3?

Season 4 of Stranger Things is available for full streaming on Netflix after Volume 2 arrives on July 1, 2022.

In other news, SPOILERS: Does Jason die in Stranger Things and what happens to him?