Whatever happens tomorrow, DO NOT FEEL STUPID!
People are going to try to make you feel like you were stupid/greedy/annoying for wanting Byler to be canon if it doesn't happen. DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM!
Remember that the foundation of our arguments is made up of things that the Duffers CHOSE to do.
They CHOSE to make Will in love with Mike.
They CHOSE to give Mike and Will a uniquely close friendship compared to the other members of the party.
They CHOSE to make El's story one of independence.
They CHOSE to show us that El is at her happiest when she is away from the men in her life.
They CHOSE to draw parallels between Mike and Dr Brenner in season 4.
They CHOSE to have Mike and El fight in both seasons 3 and 4.
They CHOSE to separate their "main couple" for 3 out of the 5 seasons of the show.
They CHOSE to have Mike need to be needed, and they CHOSE to make Will uniquely able to make Mike feel valued.
They CHOSE to use Will's feelings, disguised as El's, to make Mike feel more secure.
They CHOSE to write Mike's monologue to El so that it is full of inconsistencies and lies that are easy to pick up on.
They CHOSE to have Mike and El act platonic around each other in season 5.
They CHOSE not to have Mike and El kiss since SEASON 4 EPISODE 2.
They CHOSE to drastically change Mike's character between seasons 2 and 3, and they CHOSE not to have him revert back to his old self until AFTER Will gives his 'you're the heart' speech.
They CHOSE to introduce the 'snowball into an avalanche' analogy and have Will ask 'how obvious' with regards to Mike being interested in him.
They CHOSE to make us root for Will by making him suffer EVERY SEASON.
They CHOSE to market the show as 'for the outcasts'
They CHOSE to explicitly tell us that forced conformity is the real monster.
They CHOSE not to shut down theories about Byler, despite doing the same with other fan theories.
I could go on, but the point is that we're not stretching when we theorize about Byler. It isn't just noticing obscure details or believing in "made up" theories like the blue-yellow color theory. The foundation of Byler is woven into the most fundamental aspects of the story.
Mike, Will, and El's stories, as they have been presented, tell us that El does not need to be in a relationship, and that Will wants to love someone and be loved, and that the person who makes Will happiest is Mike and vice versa. Recognizing those facts and extrapolating them to predict where the characters will end up is NOT STUPID.
Assuming that the shift in Mike's character was intentional, rather than poor writing, and drawing the conclusion that he could be dealing with internalized homophobia on a show that is marketed as 'for the outcasts' is NOT STUPID. It's simply us attempting to understand a character and taking the showrunners at their word.
Wanting Will to end up with the boy he loves is NOT STUPID. He's the protagonist, as we've been repeatedly told. We SHOULD be rooting for him to get what he wants and to be happy!
What the Duffers did NOT CHOOSE was for their show to blow up like it did and for their fan base to be flooded with bigots and rampant homophobia. Choosing to believe that the end of their story will make us, the outcasts, happy and NOT the general audience is NOT STUPID OR GREEDY. It's holding the Duffers to what they promised us.
All we've done is notice patterns and use them to predict the outcome of the show. We have done NOTHING wrong. We are not delusional and we are not stupid. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise.
theartofmadeline
snowghoul
baratheonpilled
pixelskylines
