HBO's Euphoria: Is Zendaya's character Rue actually dead? New fan theories border on bizarre genius
Ever since its release, HBO's teen drama 'Euphoria' has been earning rave reviews for its intense portrayal of today's American teens whose lives know only sex, drugs, and violence. But while the aura of nihilism is rampant among the show's young adult characters, a certain fan theory has emerged about the central protagonist and narrator, Rue (Zendaya), which predicts she may actually be dead from the overdose during her summer before the current events of the show kick-off.
Started on Twitter, the theory has been backed by crazy amounts of proof, most of them implying that Rue had died from the overdose that was narrated as part of her backstory in episode one, and the rest of the episodes are being narrated by her from the grave.
And a lot of this has to do with the fact that when she went back to school after the summer, in what was the pilot episode, there were people in her school who said "I thought you died" on the very first day of school. Was that a hint? Twitter thinks so.
Also, fans have pointed out how Rue seems to know everything about everyone. Now that is a classic narration trope where the narrator is omnipresent and a know-it-all even for conversations and incidents they weren't a part of. For example, she knows how the characters are feeling at all times, including Nate (Jacob Elordi) and Maddy (Alexa Demie) who are in no way on communication terms with her. Familiar, yes, but definitely not friends close enough to spill their darkest, innermost thoughts.
Also Entertainment Weekly has pointed out that Rue is, in fact, a self-admitted unreliable narrator. In the first episode, she talks about the night of her overdose, claiming: "There are a couple of versions of what happened that night. It all depends on who you ask, and to be honest, I’m not always the most reliable narrator," she said. Recalling the night of one's overdose purely from memory would be a pretty difficult thing to accomplish, but Rue does it effortlessly, following the all-knowing narration style she has exhibited on the show so far.
just a theory, don’t come at me - but in the pilot everyone kept saying
— 𝐄🕊|| Feznation (@_xandaya) June 22, 2019
“isn’t rue dead?”
“i thought you were dead”
“didn’t she die?”
what if Rue really died from her overdose and is just telling the story of when she was alive and maybe what led up to her death 😳 #euphoria
Talking about her own childhood, especially birth, Rue had said: "I was once happy, content, sloshing around in my own private, primordial pool. Then one day, for reasons beyond my control, I was repeatedly crushed by the cruel cervix of my mother, Leslie. I put up a good fight, but I lost, for the first time, but not the last." And this loss for the last time could be a reference to her own death.
And let's not forget how several people have already told Rue something akin to them not going to help her to kill herself. But on a happier note, certain fans also believe that all of this narration could just be Rue spilling her guts to her potential sponsor, Ali, the beginning of which was the diner scene from the latest episode, so let's hope for that!
