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Randy Havens, the actor playing mr. Clarke, in a recent interview stated that Stranger Things did not queerbait the audience by saying this: "Stranger Things has never even teased the possibility of a relationship beyond friendship between Mike and Will"

Dear Randy, do you know the guy with this pinned post on X, still today?

You better tell him that...

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It has been a painful finale. From post to post, sadness alternated with rage. I was so obsessed with Mike and Will's bond... Then I chose to rewatch the last scene, the one where Mike implies that El is still alive. The meaning is obvious, but stay with me until the end. "One day, he hopes their tales of grand adventure will spread far and wide across the land so all can know of their great bravery." "But there is a story he can never tell."

We understand that the true story about El wasn't shown. "But has anyone ask themselves how she cast that spell?" "She couldn't have used her magic."

Mike points out a contradiction, something that makes no sense and disproves the story initially told. "A plan to protect the mage from the Order of the Black Hand."

The illusion was necessary, since their enemies would never stop haunting El. "The mage you saw die was not real. She was an illusion."

We believed in what we saw, but it wasn't real. "She finds a small town to call home. Safe from the danger of the Black Hand. And it is here, at last, that she finds peace."

Even if her story isn't known, she can be truly herself. "How do we know it' true?" "We don't, not for sure." "But I chose to believe that it is."

We cannot be sure of this story, but we can believe in it. Ok, but... why state something so obvious?? Maybe we can read something more, hear me out: THERE IS AN UNTOLD STORY

MANY CLUES CONTRADDICT THE STORY THEY TOLD US

SOME PEOPLE WOULD ACT BADLY IF THEY KNEW THE STORY

WE GOT TRICKED BY ILLUSIONS

THIS STORY FOUND A SAFE PLACE TO THRIVE

WE CHOSE TO BELIEVE

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Fellow byler shippers, how would you write the last scene of the show?

Here I want to share with you how I imagined it. I considered some leaked images so, if you don't want spoilers, don't read further. In particular I'm referring to the bar location, the lock pendant and the RandomEpilogueBoyfriend™. I expect that Mike and Will's relationship, shown as deep and true, relevant during the main battle, is going to be kept ambiguous until the very end: we are not supposed to understand if it's romantic or not. All the young main characters are spending time in a bar, but Mike is not shown. A random guy approaches Will, starts scouting for signals of his sexuality and tries to flirt. (We are lead to believe that he is going to be his boyfriend) Will is embarrassed and politely declines. W: "You are super cute, but I'm already... locked" showing his pendant REB: "And who's the lucky boy?" W: "He's about to go on stage!" The camera moves to Mike, holding his guitar, with a hot orange mohawk. (Remember what Max said: Mike wanted it but avoided it because he was scared of the reaction of other people. Now he's able to be himself. It also refers to David Bowie, famous queer icon) He starts playing and singing "Heroes", a song that we already heard twice in the show. Steve and Robin are impressed by the amazing performance. S: "Woah, what a great singer!" R: "Definitely not like Tammy Thompson!" Robin shares a deep smile with Will. (Obvious double meaning) While Mike is singing we watch a lot of flashbacks of Mike and Will, showing how their love slowly grew in all these years. Then we reach the lines: And we kissed as though nothing could fall Camera focuses on Will, smiling proud and about to shed a tear And the shame.... The camera focuses on Mike, the music stops. THE SHAME WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE Black screen Credits

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I need to know how are you feeling about volume 2 right now, thinking of byler

It has confirmed to be the most cruel example of queerbaiting ever written

It was bad, didn't address a lot of stuff and byler is very unlikely

It was confusing, byler could still happen, but even so it could be unsatisfying

It was a good enough setup for a realistic byler finale, which is likely

It build up the perfect setup for byler to happen and you are confident in it

Voting ended onDec 29, 2025

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I can't believe that most of the byler shippers appear to be under Vecna's curse, just like Will.

Let's recall what we know from the show: - Vecna knows that strong positive emotions gave Will the power of fighting him back, and that it's risky for his plan. - Vecna tortured Will with visions that made him feel weak, an unlovable mistake, doomed to be alone. - We haven't seen these visions (yet). - Will managed to say that Mike is just a silly crush only after such visions.

What did Will say before and during his coming out? "He showed me the most awful things." "What he showed me, it didn't come from him, it came from me." "I had this crush on someone, even though I know they're not like me." "Today Vecna showed me what would happen if I told you guys the truth. [...] It just makes me feel like something's wrong with me, so I just push you away and, for the rest of us we just drift apart more and more and more and more and more until I'm alone." Everyone then proved him wrong in these last statements, showing how Vecna tricked him into believing something untrue. Why should we believe the previous statement then?

Will already made a very similar speech in season two, complaining about the fact that his family and friends were treating him differently. "Stop treating me like that, like everyone else does, like there's something wrong with me. Mom, Dustin, Lucas, everyone! They all treat me like I'm gonna break! [...]" Notably Mike is not mentioned. The thing that is going on with Mike is different, and has to be handled in a different way, in a different place, at a different time. Will's coming out happened because he was scared by Vecna. His next personal, intimate, deep, emotional moment has to be led by love, not by fear. Some people say that now it's too late, Mike and Will's relationship would be rushed up, moreover Will would be considered some kind of second choice after El's sacrifice. Wait, what? This El?

"I do not belong. Anywhere." Do you really think that her arc is just realizing that, yes, of course she is not supposed to be part of this world and she needs to die to make everyone else be safe and happy? Really??? Vecna tormented all his victims by convincing them that death would be the best way to end their suffering: look at Chrissy, Fred, Max. Is Vecna suddenly right? El's main arc is learning to love life, and I would say, to some extent, most of the characters share this arc, in a way or another. If you let me talk briefly about the cast and the producers, they made several statements, like "Finn Wolfard is carrying a lot of emotional weight", "Everyone cried reading the script of episode 8, especially Noah", and so on. Something big has to be happening in the last episode, and I'm not talking bout the supernatural stuff. Don't forget what has been building up for 41 episodes, don't forget what we watched and read during all these years. Believing in byler during volume one was the easy part. In conclusion, I may be wrong, all these thoughts can be like one of Kali's foggy illusions, but now I think that byler endgame has never been more real.

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I noticed that many people here on Tumblr don't want Will to end up with a random guy we never saw before. I agree, it would be much more meaningful to give him a boyfriend he has known for a long time. But who can he be? I thought deeply and I ended up with three possibilities:

Option 1: James, Troy's friend We can assume that he and Will have known each other since childhood, it would be a wonderful story of two boys growing up together and slowly realizing their friendship is something more than what they expected. We all know that he mocked Will for his sexuality alongside Troy, but this could just a wonderful representation of him being in the closet and struggling with a deep internalized homophobia.

Option 2: Chance, Jason and Andy's teammate We are likely thinking about him hurting Dustin, but we need to realize that he's just protecting the legacy of his friends Patrick and Jason, who were killed because of the Hellfire club. He's just acting like a paladin protecting his loved ones. Andy may be the arm of the group, but Chance is the heart, and without heart we all fall apart.

Option 3: Jake, Angela's boyfriend (not the corn snake) If we pay attention at the Rink-O-Mania setting we can realize that everything there was deeply queer-coded, likely not just for Will. That's why we can safely assume that the writers want us to acknowledge the fact that Jake is queer too. He has a girlfriend, but this would be a very realistic representation of a gay boy who is forcing himself into a straight relationship just to feel normal and keep on a normal path. Showing his journey would be very emotional and meaningful.

So, who is the best option?

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What if "Escape from Camasotz" shows us both Max escaping from the prison in Vecna's mind and Mike escaping from the prison in his own mind? Camasotz represents forced conformity after all...

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How it feels to ship byler after season 5 volume 1:

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Totally normal about this

🫠

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Lucas told us that events on the same date are not coincidental.

Do you know what march 22nd is?

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"As far as crazy theories go, I've had crazier"

And we all know what "crazy" means...

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Did Finn really say this??? What does it mean??

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"Byler would come out of nowhere" Mike and Will, in the middle of nowhere:

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I just watched the first minutes of season 5 and I noticed a disturbing detail. The way Will is tortured is identical to the way people were flyed in season 3, with the same pulsing:

This led me to think about the possible parallels between Will and Billy (by the way, the only two important characters who share their name). Billy was controlled by the Mind Flyer in season 3 and he managed to fight back its powers exactly three times. Starting from the end, he took back control thanks to the memories of his mother, even though she left him lone with his abusive father.

The second time was during the sauna test, where he managed to briefly regain consciousness thanks to the presence of his sister, even though their relationship was terrible.

Still there is another instance where Billy resisted the Mind Flyer, maybe many of you don't remember it but it was at the pool. The Mind Flyer clearly ordered to attack Karen and make her one of the flyed, but Billy walked away, asking her to stay away from him, just to keep her safe. It can look a bit disturbing, but Billy really had a crush on Karen Wheeler, and this was enough to resist the eerie shadows, even if she clearly stated that she will never reciprocate his feelings.

Now focus on Will: he is the opposite of Billy in many ways, starting from the fact that he always has been a good person we are supposed to empathize with. But what's Will situation on the three aspects which were able to hinder the Mind Flyer's powers? Will has a loving mom, who always protected him from his terrible father and from any sort of threat.

He has a wonderful brother caring and supporting him when he's in need.

If only he had someone who would love him back...

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No El, Mike doesn't get to write the ending of his campaigns. Will casting fireballs does.

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