Elmax

Elmax is the femslash ship between Eleven and Max Mayfield from the Stranger Things fandom.

Canon
Since Max was first introduced in Season 2, after Eleven was allegedly sent to the upside down, Max first heard about her from Mike Wheeler when he was refusing to let her join The Party. He explained that they already had a paladin (him), cleric (Will Byers), bard (Dustin Henderson), ranger (Lucas Sinclair), and mage (El). Max is confused, having never heard of El before this. Mike refuses to tell her, so she begins to ask about her role as mage, wondering if she did magic tricks.

El first saw Max during this interaction, who was skating around Mike, attempting to prove she could be in The Party. El assumed that Max was flirting with Mike, and knocked her off of her skateboard.

Later, Lucas tells her the full story of El, including her telepathic abilities. Max tells Mike about this later, to his displeasure. She says that El "sounds like she was really awesome". The two officially meet later, when El returns. Max introduces herself to El and holds out her hand, but El pushes past her without saying a word. Max is left with a hurt expression.

In Season 3, the two meet again while Max is practicing skateboard tricks. Her board suddenly flies out from under feet, and rolls into the hands of El. El hands Max her skateboard back and greets her. Max is visibly confused, but greets her back regardless. El ends up asking Max for relationship advice, as Mike had recently hung up the phone on her. Max tells El that Mike is "treating her like garbage", and that she needs to "dump his ass".

After this, Max takes El to Starcourt Mall to teach her that she is her own person. She helps El try on clothes that she likes and they get ice cream together. When exiting the mall, they encounter Mike, Lucas, and Will (though Will's contribution in this interaction is limited). Mike gets angry at Max for bringing El to the mall, claiming that she wasn't allowed to be outside. Max asks if El is his "little pet", which El mimics. El says that she thought Mike was busy helping with his Nana, who she was told was sick. Mike and Lucas continue to lie about this, so El takes Max's advice and "dumps his ass", which she is shocked though happy about. The two leave on the bus, high-fiving and giggling.

Later at home, El uses her powers to spy on Mike and the others. This leads Max to come up with a spin the bottle game, in which the name El lands on is who she will spy on. The bottle ends up landing on Billy Hargrove, which leads El to see that something is wrong, so the two decide to investigate it. They go to the Hawkins Swimming Pool where Heather Holloway works to see if she's okay. They also go to Heather's house, where they find that everything seems normal apart from the fact that Billy is there.

Quotes
"I'm just saying, El? She sounds like she was really awesome."

- Max about Eleven, The Mind Flayer

"She's her own person, fully capable of making her own decisions."

- Max about Eleven, E Pluribus Unum

"If you touch her again, I will kill you again."

- Eleven protecting Max from Vecna, The Piggyback

"No. You're not going. No."

- Eleven bringing Max back, The Piggyback

Fanon
Though this ship is often overshadowed by Mileven and Lumax, Elmax was, surprisingly, shipped even before Season 3. Though they didn't quite get along, fans were already anticipating a close friendship. After Season 3 began streaming, Elmax grew largely in popularity. They had much more screentime together, and positive interactions at that.

The ship sailed mainly due to the girls' friendship that appeared in Season 3. Fans enjoyed the way that Max helped El grow as a person and realize that she didn't need "stupid boys". Max's interest in El during Season 2 had also helped begin the ship, but it didn't play a large factor in its popularity.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Eleven | Jane Hopper/Maxine "Max" Mayfield
 * Eleven/Max tag on FanFiction.net

TUMBLR

Trivia

 * In a short video, Sadie and Caleb were asked to pick between Lumax and Elmax. They both initially choose Lumax, but Sadie then runs to the Elmax side.