Billy The Rat King

Billy is the best character in Stranger Things, change my mind. (You Can't)

[billy-theratking]

I will defend Billy to my dying fucking breath and no one can stop me. 🖕

[annabelle--cane]

love when an absolute nightmare of a character is introduced and all you can think is "jesus christ buddy what the hell is your problem" and the narrative gives you a hot minute to stew before explaining Exactly what is Their Problem. and you just sorta sit back in your metaphorical rocking chair and think "huh. yeah okay fair. that would do this to a person, yes."

[stranger-rants]

Forever upset by the lost potential with Billy actually being in the loop and part of the “resistance” so to speak because he would not only have a chance at a proper “redemption,” but as someone who certainly had CPTSD, he would be wired to handle stressful supernatural situations considering his nervous system probably couldn’t tell the difference between being hunted down by upside down creatures and his dad asking him where his sister has been all night. Every day was terrifying and uncomfortable for him so what does it really matter if he’s got to fight a shriveled red skull wannabe and his army of goop… it might as well happen. He would just begrudgingly do what needed to be done and then fuck off to freedom but noooo we can’t let people with CPTSD survive even though they’re already maladaptively equipped to survive horrifying situations. It’s just not realistic.

[gabbia]

bitchin’

[demo-stapelia]

list of bad things billy hargrove has done:

mean to max sometimes (grabbed her arm once)

broke her skateboard

drives recklessly

glared at lucas from a distance

shoved lucas into a shelf and told him to stay away from max

beat up steve

list of bad things that have happened to billy hargrove:

suffered years of (physical) abuse under his father (still ongoing)

abandoned by his mother

gets drugged and threatened with a nail bat by max

gets possessed by the SA allegory monster, losing all control over his body and being forced to watch how the mind flayer kills people with his hands (has no idea what's even happening to him, never wanted this to happen, is sorry)

killed via flesh monster tentacle through the ribcage

and now tell me how that is balanced.

[shieldofiron]

Steve: I think they'd say you're posessed.

[saveme-storybrooke-potc]

You know what’s odd? How Billy antis will DEFEND Neil’s actions towards Billy because they *thought “he was mourning his dead wife” when in reality his wife left him because he was an abusive piece of shit and also abandoned Billy, breaking that kids heart, traumatizing him with abandon and mommy issues. And leaving him with a homophobic, racist piece of shit who would then abuse him verbally and physically until he dies.

but yea NEIL (the grown ass adult) is definitely the poor little victim in this situation, not Billy, (the child).

[godidontevenknowwhat]

Honestly all I have to say about the Jonathan and Billy abuse situation is Jonathan was abused past tense, Billy was still BEING abused

[ang3l-fawn]

call me deranged and crazy but i like billy hargrove guys 💔

it's cus i can understand him

trauma is ugly, it's unpalatable.

trauma isn't always weak victimhood; crying and letting people walk all over you

sometimes it's being angry and taking that anger out onto other people. sometimes it's unchecked aggression. sometimes it's self harm.

everyone says they want characters with complexities and trauma but they can't handle it when that trauma isn't palatable.

they can't handle traumatized characters when that trauma makes them ugly.

broke take: billy hargrove objectifies women and wants nothing more than sex

woke take: billy hargrove uses sex as an outlet (form of self harm) because he seeks validation from women because the woman he needs the most (his mom) abandoned him. hypersexuality is a trauma response.

broke: billy hargrove is abusive towards max

woke: billy hargrove is an angry teen who is grappling with his mother leaving him with an abusive father, this mother he loved so dearly being replaced with another woman he doesn't know, and his entire life being uprooted and moved to bumfuck nowhere indiana and thus leaving behind his home (aka his comfort and safety). additionally, he mirrors the anger that his father takes out on him onto others around him, like most abused children do.

max says so herself. he had always been a dick but since they moved he became angry. we can't fully assume what their relationship was before the move but if i had to guess it must've been mostly distant. they coexisted in the same house but never claimed to be family. the misguided aggression likely came about once they began the move.

billy hargrove was made for those of us with trauma that made us unpalatable.

[arkyporridge]

Oh god, not again…

[thesouththth131]

Sometimes I think about Harrigrove and the sheer amount of potential they had, and I lose my mind a little.

[ray111secretdiary]

The only two places that understand Billy as a character are tumblr and YouTube comments

[elowmojo]

-Billy-

[noakiie]

I was gonna post them individually but they fit together way too perfectly 🩵

+ extra billy 'cause i was messing with the colours and liked the results

[queenladonna]

Oh, I'm listening to "Runnin' Up That Hill" rn, and I remembered reading some people on here saying that Max fixated on that song because of her emotional turmoil about Billy.

[aggressiveviking]

bloody 🩸

[thehitorii]

some tiny Billy doodles with some bonus Steves from the side of my notes (I'm so mad these aren't in my actual sketchbook)