The subtext in ST shows Lonnie is more than just a âdead beatâ dad (analysis)
In this analysis Iâll be mentioning things Iâve mentioned in prior posts. But also new details Iâve never discussed (most of which are in relation to Jonathan with Lonnie). Essentially to show a more cohesive picture of WHY i find Lonnie so ⌠âquestionableâ, to say the least. WARNING NOW: the new stuff will be in the âkeep readingâ section and could be very tr**gering-s.a, inc*st subtext, etc. Everything BEFORE the âkeep readingâ section wonât delve into those darker aspects. Ok letâs begin
CHARACTER INTRODUCTION
How heâs introduced and discussed before we ever see him:
The very first thing we hear is: Lonnie being suspected of k*dnapping Will (by Hopper). Joyce in turn says thatâs doubtful given how Lonnie treated Will and mentions how Lonnie  called Will h*mophobic slurs (later she says to himâyou never cared about Willâ) . After this ( in Joyceâs words) we hear her mention Lonnie is dating a âteenagerâ (sheâs in her early 20s/almost 30 years younger).  We then have Jonathan have a flashback of hearing Joyce and Lonnie fighting on the phone-because Lonnie flaked on visiting Will. After this, Jonathan mentions how Lonnie isnât considerate of Willâs interests and tries to force him to like things only Lonnie himself likes. And Jonathan encourages Will to ânot like things people tell you youâre supposed to âŚ. ESPECIALLY NOT HIM.â
his visual introduction :
We first see beer cans everywhere (a probably sign of Lonnieâs substance ab*se issues) and Jonathan rushing through the house trying to avoid even having to see his dad. He wanders down the corridor opening doors calling for Will-a similar parallel to Will wandering through the house hallway calling for Jonathan & joyce (afraid of the demorgorgon) . Later in s2 Jonathan calls for Will and his mom- and right after he discovers the mindflayer drawing. Showing a connection between the creatures and their father.
Then (at Lonnieâs) as Jonathan wanders through the corridor-we see a figure covered in shadow rush from the side- and pin jonathan into wall (simillar to Neil). Jonathan freezes before pushing him off and yelling âget offâ. Than Lonnie tries hugging him and once again Jonathan has to say a 2nd time âget off me⌠MAN.â We then see Jonathan scowl at Lonnie- and between the 2 is a childâs bike. Similar to the bike, Will abandoned after he ran away from the demorgorgan. We have many parallels between Lonnie & the demorgorgon.
The demogorgan in d&d means âdeep father â and nancy says its like aâ lionâ. Lonnieâs name literally means âlionâ/heâs technically a father. He also Low-key pounced on jonathan like a lion. Â The demogorgan hunts a deer / attacks jonathan who was holding a bat (and Lonnie was associated with baseball, and Jonathan mentions bambi when mentioning his dad forcing him to hunt and k*ll a rabbit (similar to Brenner trying to force El to k*ll a cat). And when jonathan went to lonnieâs (before heâs pushed)- even the songs jonathan listens to while going to Lonnie reference the supernatural.Iâll discuss that in more detail in the âkeep readingâ section.
We also have other details. Lonnie being framed next to a single lit light bulb when standing across from jonathan (like the demogorgan standing across from Will, and the lightbulb glowing-as Will uses Lonnieâs gun against the demorgorgan, similar to jonathan using a bat and nancy using lonnieâs gun against the demorgorgan) . A dog barking at Lonnie- like how chester the dog barked at the demogorgon. Even Lonnie talking to people at Willâs funeral-causes Joyce to have a flashback of Will describing lighting âbad guysâ on fire (something Jonathan does to the demorgorgan later in s1).Lonnie hammering into the byers wall (talking about how someone should be held accountable for what happened to Will) and it transitions to Mike stabbing a piece of paper and talking about Will getting trapped in the upsidedown. Â
We also see Jonathan check the trunk for Will (which is sketch on itâs own)-but later we see the mindflayer throw people in trunks too. We also have Lonnie saying he explored around the quarry around the house & later Jonathan mentions the demorgorgan only traveled in a few miles radius around his house.
Okay now onto the really bad stuffâŚ
So before I begin just know some of the stuff mention relates to how I believe Will created with his powers - the upsidedown/creatures, the lab/subjects, the Russians,etc. Although most of this post is about Jonathan. Ok letâs beginâŚ
Cooking up a much bigger and more detailed post about this, but just wanting to get my thoughts out into the ether:
I not only believe there is substantial subtextual evidence that Will suffered serious abuse by Lonnie, but that Mike knows about this abuse, at least to some extent.
Yes, I believe this may have been CSA as well as physical abuse.
Mike's behaviour towards Will (and their relationship dynamic as a whole) is completely recontextualised when we consider this theory:
Mike's definition of a friend involves telling each other things parents don't know about. This immediately resonates with a traumatized and abused El.
Will always tells Mike the truth ("It was a seven."), but Lucas and Dustin don't. The honesty policy isn't really a pact between friends. It's a pact between Mike and Will.
Mike also appears to be adept at noticing the signs of abuse, accurately guessing that El was "in trouble" and afraid of someone when he found her.
When El goes to take off her clothes, he doesn't panic like Lucas and Dustin. He calmly explains the concept of privacy. When El expresses boundaries (don't shut the door, don't touch my tattoo), Mike listens. He's explained privacy before. He's had someone express boundaries to him before (unusual for a 12 year old to not take this personally or get defensive).
Mike says he's the only one who cares about Will in season 1, because he genuinely believes it. I don't think he has a poor opinion of Joyce and Jonathan, but he certainly thinks they don't care enough. He appears to have a low opinion of adults and authority figures in general. I think Lonnie sullied his opinion of adults: turns out, they are NOT always trustworthy.
Mike constantly checks in on Will through-out the series, often double-checking (You okay? Are you sure?). He knows when something is wrong with him, when he's acting "different."
Mike uses a soft voice around Will (the Will voice), and never raises his voice at him. Even when they argue: Will yells at Mike, but Mike doesn't yell back. Will gestures wildly, pokes him (and even shoulder-checks Lucas), but Mike never touches Will when he's angry. Yet, we've seen him slap El's hands away and shove Troy, so we know he can get a little physical when he's very upset.
Can you imagine Mike poking Will in the way Will poked him (even though it wouldn't have hurt)? Personally, I just can't. It's so the opposite of how he treats Will: very gentle, very careful.
Mike is protective of Will in general, and is even possessive after Will's episode while trick-or-treating, not wanting Dustin and Lucas to get involved. What if this behaviour isn't due to affection alone? If Mike had seen Will like that before (panicked, unresponsive, curled into a ball), he might have thought it was about Lonnie. That's a secret between the two of them, that Dustin and Lucas don't know about. Better keep them away, and take Will somewhere safe and private. Don't need them asking questions. Will wouldn't like that. Maybe Will also doesn't like being touched while he's in that state, at least by anyone who isn't Mike. Better make sure Dustin doesn't grab him just in case.
Mike accidentally blurts out "It's not my fault you don't like girls!" and the implication is even worse now. Will associates his abuse with his queerness ("Lonnie used to say he was queer. Called him a f*g.") and it makes him feel like a mistake - he blames himself. Mike knows "what happens" ("He was probably killed by some other queer."). The belief at the time that childhood abuse led to boys becoming queer, the implication of saying Will doesn't like girls, knowing what he knows. Mike not wanting to assume Will's sexual preferences despite the signs, Mike knowing that's a highly sensitive topic beyond typical period-accurate homophobia.
Mike staring at the Byers' home when Will leaves for California. Mike realizing Will is never coming back to Indiana, because why would he return to this wretched place, after everything that's happened? He finally got away. Not just from the Upside Down. From him.
Mike hesitating to hug Will at the airport because his feelings have changed. His attraction has grown. Is he... still allowed to touch Will? Would that be crossing a boundary? Even if Will initiates the hug, maybe it's innapropriate for Mike to hug him back, because Mike likes him as more than a friend. That would probably freak Will out. Will wouldn't like being touched like that, right? Mike doesn't want to push too far, or make Will uncomfortable.
And finally, the implication that Will doesn't really remember what happened with Lonnie, because like Nina and El, the trauma was so great that he buried the memory. The Upside Down being the place where Will lost his memories, because it "changed" him. It represents the subconscious, dissociation, and repression. The Mind Flayer being described as more a "feeling" than an "it." Will still has the feeling (anxiety, repulsion, the thought that he is wrong or a mistake), but not the material explanation for it. Mike remembers. Mike never brings it up explicitly â this is why theyâre adept at speaking in code. Mike doesn't know that Will doesn't remember.
Mike and Will speak in code through-out the series, but particularly in season 4. Mike hears Will say, "Sometimes it's just scary. To say how you really feel. Because what if people don't like the truth?" and doesn't respond. Doesn't follow up to ask what Will's truth is that he thinks people wouldn't like. Not because he isn't curious: because he already knows. At least, he thinks he knows. He just nods despondently.
Yes, Will. I know. I'm so sorry you're scared to tell people about that. My thing is different (I'm in love with you), but thank you for understanding.
Will crying about feeling like a mistake, and Mike being smart enough to know he's not talking about El. Mike thinking Will's referring to him, and how that made Will feel like a mistake. (In a way, it is. That's why Will's homosexuality feels to traumatising to him). Mike doesn't have anything to say then, either. Because they're in a van with Jonathan and Argyle, and those two don't know the secret, so Mike shouldn't bring it up. Mike doesn't physically comfort Will while he cries, because Mike's not sure if physical touch is appropriate anymore. Will turns away because heâs embarrassed. Mike has no reason to suspect Will loves him and is embarrassed. Mike just assumes Will doesn't want to be touched by him. It hurts. Mike respects the percieved boundary, giving Will one more cursory glance.
Later, he hesitates slightly to touch Willâs shoulder in the cabin, but does so after seeing Will hug Dustin and Lucas. Now he knows touch is okay. Mike is always watching and observing him with careful precision and consideration.
According to the summary posted by the VFX company, Season 5 is about the Upside Down merging with the real world, aka the subtext joining the text. Time "unravelling" implies it's convoluted, messy, disorganised. Time is memory. Memories need to be unravelled and processed. Secrets are revealed and past traumas resurface.
Yes, there's a beautiful love story being told between Mike and Will, but it's more than that. It's a story about how abuse can hinder self actualization. It's a story about navigating queer love and sexuality with the nuances of trauma, and balancing the desire for intimacy with sensitivity. It's a story about Will battling with himself because he thinks being queer is wrong, and thinks his abuse was his fault. It's a story about Mike battling with himself because the last thing he'd ever want to do is hurt Will, and he's worried that loving Will would do that.
ORDER OF EVENTS: Part 1 (Mike the storyteller), Part 3 (12 Episodes), Part 4 (MWTFDYD), Part 9 (Wheeler attack -> Mike's kidnapping), Part 11 (Mr Whatsit = Will)
SCENE ANALYSIS: Part 2 (Will/Robin), Part 5 (Rainbows), Part 6 (The roof talk), Part 7 ("Where's Dustin right now?"), Part 8 (El is missing), Part 10 (Byler's missed date), Part 12 (Byler saw Rovickie kiss), Part 13 (Will's painting)
Have you ever wondered why Season 5 is listed in reverse?
These 8 episodes are a fake version of the real story, told out of order; flipped upside down.Â
Mike is the storyteller of Season 5, and heâs a very unreliable narrator. Itâs not his fault though; right now, heâs trapped in a fake world, based on his own memories.Â
"The storyteller keeps telling stories."
EVIDENCE?
Itâs not Holly who was kidnapped into a fake world â it was Mike. All the episodes we experienced are based on things that really happened to him (and some of his friends), but theyâre out of order. Wrong.
Part memory, part story.Â
So, for this theory to make sense, what happened to Holly must be what happened to Mike. Are there any similarities or details that suggest this?
Production:
Holly is aged up, and replaced by a different actor
Hollyâs character arc completely replaced Mikeâs. Most of the time, Mikeâs just watching everyone else do stuff. No personal development.
Holly has more screen time than even Will, let alone Mike. 95 entire minutes â for someone who's usually a side character!
Interesting, but thereâs plausible deniability here. It could all be the result of poor writing. So letâs test that by examining the way Holly is actually written in the show.
In-Show:
Max tells Holly, âYouâre not like your brother, you are your brotherâ.
Holly the Heroic mirrors Mike the Brave. They wish they could become fearless like their characters, but they both feel like theyâre not good enough.
Mike and Holly both tell the kids, âEyes on me.â
Hollyâs head wound in Camazotz mirrors Mikeâs head wound from MAC-Z.
Holly the Heroic wields a fire poker, like Mike the Brave wields a sword.
Holly and her best friend Mary in the basement on Halloween while Vecna was watching mirrors Mike and his best friend Will in the basement on Halloween while Vecna was watching.
Holly and her friends replace Mike and his friends in the final D&D scene.
Okay, so not only are they written with a TON of similarities, but Max literally tells us straight-up that they are the same character. This doesnât point to bad writing, it points to very intentional writing! The Holly/Mike switch has evidence, and lots of it!
Taking all of this into account, I can only conclude that Mike is literally Holly. He tells the tale of Camazotz from Hollyâs perspective, but really, he is stuck in a fake world.
Why it Makes Sense
We all agree here that at least part of Season 5 is an illusion. But which parts? When does it start? Who is in the illusion? The exact details are extraordinarily hard to figure out, because there is evidence for both.Â
Thereâs loads of dream imagery and signs of Vecnaâs influence since Episode 1. This points to none of the episodes being real before 8. However, there are also moments from the characters and plot that just donât make sense if theyâre completely fake; for example, Robin giving gay relationship advice to Will. WHY AND HOW WOULD VECNA DO THAT??? LMAO??? This points to all of the episodes being real before 8.
That's the problem with the illusion theory â how can we possibly tell what is real? Well, this theory solves that problem.
ALL of it is real, and NONE of it is real. it's nerf or nothing
These episodes are a fake version of the real story, flipped upside down. Act 1.
C'mon, I'll show you Act 2!
THE REAL STORY OF SEASON 5
I noticed that the episode descriptions for Season 5 are pretty vague. So vague, in fact, that the first and last episodes could pretty much be swapped. Hey, wait a minuteâ
If you reverse the order of every episode, as they're listed on Google, they tell a very different story. This story makes genuine, logical sense. This is what's really going on.
The Overview
My explanation, evidence, original episode descriptions, the reversed order, the titles, etc are all below this overview!!!
It's 1986. After Vecna took over Hawkins in Season 4, the party planned to defeat him on November 6th.
They split into two groups. One group would go into the Upside Down to search for Holly, who was kidnapped in the Wheeler attack on November 3rd. The other group would connect Will back to the hivemind. Together, they hoped their efforts would defeat Vecna.
But on November 6th, something went wrong. Vecna used Holly as a distraction to take his real target, Mike, into a fake world.
Now connected to the hivemind, Will saw what Vecna was doing, and tried to help Mike. "If you can hear me, you need to run! Run!" But Will was knocked into a trance.
[This is where Mike experiences the Season 5 we all saw â the "upside-down" story of Vecna's defeat, based on his memories of what happened in real-world Hawkins... now scrambled out-of-order.]
[Since Season 4 took a long time to film, and was written in tandem with Season 5, it's possible that some of the "real" scenes were already filmed back then!]
The military tighten their grip on Hawkins. While Mike explores his new surroundings, Joyce wrestles with guilt*, and Jonathan + Nancy reach a turning point*. After Mike's disappearance and Will's trance, they are deeply struggling â and they need to defeat Vecna more than ever.
Now, El must find a way into Will's mind.
Mike plans his escape from the fake world with Max, while Lucas and Robin plan an escape from the military, and El comes face-to-face with the enemy (in Will's mind?).
Will is brought back from his trance. Because of his connection to the hivemind, he claims to know Vecna's next move, so they set a trap... but who is the trap really for?
Meanwhile, Mike fights to escape Vecna's mind â with Max! He confronts his secrets, leading him on the road to escape. Nancy confronts a secret of her own.
Near the end of his memory trail, Mike must confront his memory of what really happened on November 3rd, during the vicious attack on the Wheeler home.
El and Hopper go on a rescue mission (Probably Will, but could be for Kali or Mike â or Holly if they failed to find her initially).
The gang evade the military to scour for Vecna in the Upside Down, but fail to notice a threat closer to home. Something is happening to Will, and Vecna may not only be in the Upside Down.
Timeskip! It's now November, 1987. This is the real epilogue; not sunshine and rainbows, but honest and real.
Edit: (26/2/2026) â Now that I've analysed more scenes, I realised that the gang being "split into two groups" occurs before the illusion world, not after, and the Wheeler attack is a flashback, not a real attack that occurs later.
So, how exactly did we get here?
RIGHTSIDE UP ORDER â ST5, Act 1
Well, here are the normal episode descriptions, for context. I haven't messed with these at all.
THE CRAWL â November, 1987. The gang evades the military to scour the Upside Down for Vecna â but fails to notice a threat lurking closer to home.
THE VANISHING OF HOLLY WHEELER â After a vicious attack at the Wheeler home, Mike and Nancy confront the cost of secrecy, while El and Hopper embark on a rescue mission.Â
THE TURNBOW TRAP â Will gains unique insight into Vecnaâs next move, giving the crew an opportunity to set a trap. Holly explores her new surroundings.Â
SORCERER â The military tightens its grip on the town. Mike, Lucas and Robin orchestrate a daring escape. El comes face-to-face with the enemy.
SHOCK JOCK â The gang hatches an electrifying plan to connect Will to the hive mind. Tensions flare during a search of the Upside Downâs Hawkins Lab.Â
ESCAPE FROM CAMAZOTZ â As Holly and Max fight to escape Vecnaâs mind, El must find a way into Willâs. Joyce wrestles with guilt. Jonathan and Nancy face a turning point.Â
THE BRIDGE â On the anniversary of Willâs disappearance, the party reunites to prepare for a battle with world-altering complications.Â
THE RIGHTSIDE UP â As Vecna prepares to destroy the world as we know it, the party must put everything on the line to defeat him once and for all.Â
Doesnât that sound vague to you? Almost like they would make sense in a different order?
UPSIDE DOWN ORDER â ST5, Act 2
Well, here are those same descriptions â flipped. I actually think there will be 12 Episodes total, but for clarity, I kept them separate here.
I reversed the order of everything, except for the lines about Holly â because her story is what actually happened to Mike, so it's already in the right order. I then replaced Holly's name with Mike's.
I also changed every episode title except The Crawl, which Iâve fully explained below!
THE CRAWL - As Vecna prepares to destroy the world as we know it, the party must put everything on the line to defeat him once and for all.Â
THE VANISHING OF MIKE WHEELER â On the anniversary of Willâs disappearance, the party reunites to prepare for a battle with world-altering complications.Â
*THE RIGHTSIDE UP â Jonathan and Nancy face a turning point. Joyce wrestles with guilt. As Mike explores his new surroundings, El must find a way into Willâs mind.
*SHOCK JOCK â The gang hatches an electrifying plan to connect Will to the hive mind. Tensions flare during a search of the Upside Downâs Hawkins Lab.Â
*SORCERER â El comes face-to-face with the enemy. Mike, Lucas and Robin orchestrate a daring escape. The military tightens its grip on the town.
ESCAPE FROM THE RIGHTSIDE UP â Will gains unique insight into Vecnaâs next move, giving the crew an opportunity to set a trap. Mike and Max fight to escape Vecnaâs mind.Â
THE PALADIN AND THE CLERIC â Preceding a vicious attack at the Wheeler home, Mike and Nancy confront the cost of secrecy, while El and Hopper embark on a rescue mission.Â
*THE RAINBOW SHIP â The gang evades the military to scour the Upside Down for Vecna â but fails to notice a threat lurking closer to home. November, 1987.
* = switched, blue = replaced, all other text is simply in reverse order
Don't these descriptions work suspiciously well in their reversed order? Perhaps their vagueness was intentional.
I believe that in their new order, and with Mike swapped for Holly, these descriptions tell the real story.
Although, I think it's more likely they'll condense it into four longer episodes, rather than putting out eight more one-hour episodes. This will result in 12 episodes, as I explore in Part 3.
Why these titles?
Below is an explanation of the new titles I chose for each revised description. You can skip this, but it provides some extra context.
The Crawl = The Crawl. Only The Crawl has been registered for copyright, so Iâve changed every title EXCEPT this episode. Also... when baby Steve got knocked on the head, he stopped CRAWLING in reverse, and started CRAWLING forwards instead. The episodes are now in the correct order.
The Vanishing of Mike Wheeler, because⌠duh. Also, "The Vanishing Of..." only reveals that it's Holly Wheeler after you watch the episode. Perhaps they did that for a reason... ;)
I swapped The Turnbow Trap with The Rightside Up, because this is the episode in which Mike finds himself trapped in his version of Camazotz. Except Mike wouldnât name it after a book he hasnât read. He would be much more likely to compare the fake world to the Upside Down. Therefore, itâs the Rightside Up! Hereâs my theory that the Rightside Up is a place.
Similarly, I replaced Escape from Camazotz with Escape from the Rightside Up, because⌠duh.Â
I simply swapped Shock Jock and Sorcerer. They both start with âSâ and theyâre both right next to each other. Interestingly, the official art for Sorcerer uses a frame from Shock Jock, and the official art from Shock Jock uses a frame from Sorcerer. Hmmm.
The Season 5 titles were leaked before they were announced, and the only incorrect leak was Episode 7 â The Paladin and the Cleric. So, thatâs what I chose. Similar titles have been used throughout the series (The Flea and the Acrobat, The Monster and the Superhero) so itâs plausible. It matches Mike and Will's D&D characters... but it ALSO fits El and Hopper, who are a duo in this episode. Why? Mike's campaign from the epilogue. El is the mage of Saint Markovia, but in D&D lore, Saint Markovia is a cleric. Mike called Hopper a paladin in that same campaign.
Now, the final episode. I have literally no out-of-show evidence for the final episodeâs title could be, so hereâs my idea. As a replacement for The Turnbow Trap, I chose The Rainbow Ship, because of the strong rainbow themes throughout the show. The rainbow room from the lab, "rainbow, sunflower" etc, Hollyâs association with rainbows, the rainbow El sees between the two waterfalls, and crucially, Willâs rainbow ship drawing. His drawing of Castle Byers became real, his drawings of Will the Wise became real, his drawings of the tunnels... and presumably, the rainbow ship, too.
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY! âThere upon a rainbow is the answer to a never-ending story.â
ALSO IMPORTANTLY! As @persistentmimicgrail pointed out, the USS Eldridge ship was part of project rainbow. RAINBOW SHIPPPPPPP~
Easter egg â a rainbow forms when water and light combine. Will is associated with light, while both Will and Mike are associated with water.
Also, I think it would be hilarious if the episode where Will + Mike get together is called The Rainbow Ship. COME ON!!! THAT WOULD BE SO FUNNY!!! If the Duffers donât do this, itâs going straight to my ao3 account, thatâs for sure.
MIKE WHEELER: the storyteller, or the Dungeon Master?
As well as being Mike the Brave, Mike used to be the Dungeon Master. The one in control of the story. Now, heâs merely the storyteller of Season 5, telling fake stories, trapped in a fake world built from memories, with no control at all.Â
âThe storyteller keeps telling stories. Stories inspired by his friends.â He hopes âall can know of their great bravery.âÂ
Isnât that sad? Mikeâs friends get to be brave, but the only thing Mike The Brave gets to do is tell their stories. Not his own.Â
This reminds me heavily of Owen from I Saw The TV Glow (2024).
[SPOILERS!!!]
Owen is a heavily queercoded character trapped in a fake world, while the real world is presented as a TV show Owen and their friend are obsessed with.
Throughout the film, timeskips get larger and larger, and Owen slowly loses control of the narrative, going from the protagonist to a background character in their own life, no longer in the center of the frame. Owen's friend from the real world tries to help them escape, telling Owen that they must choose to give up their fake self to get back to reality. But Owen isnât brave enough. Instead of choosing to escape, Owen runs away. Chooses conformity instead.
âThereâs still timeâ for Owen to accept reality, but that time is quickly running out.
This is what Mike is going through. Being trapped in a fake world with altered memories. Starting as the protagonist, but fading into the background. Timeskips and time distortion. An ambiguous ending. Queerness. Repression. Conformity. Bravery.Â
Why is it that the way Mike is written is incredibly similar to the main character of an explicitly queer film? A film about the difficult choice to end your ânormalâ self in order to keep your true, authentic self alive â and the deep, dreadful horror of living in queer repression after failing to do so?
This film isnât even listed as inspiration for Stranger Things, yet Mikeâs story mirrors Owenâs near-perfectly. How is that even possible? Because theyâre about the same thing. Queerness and conformity.
âThere is a story he can never tell. The story of the mage.â Cut to Will. âOr at least, not the real story.â
Mike is going to escape his own doomed narrative. He is going to take back control, confront his secrets, become the protagonist of his life again â the Dungeon Master of his own, personal game of D&D.
Why does it need to be Mike â not Holly?
Thanks for the question, @poisongardens!!
From a character perspective, I think it relates to how Mike sees himself. Mike sees his fears as childish and silly, so it makes sense he projected them onto a more "acceptable" replacement â his little sister. It's okay for Holly to be scared, but not Mike, right? He also thinks he's not important or brave enough to be the hero of his story, so he replaces his character with a different one.
From a writing perspective, I think the "bad ending" happened because the characters succumbed to their fears and insecurities; the "good ending" will be the result of bravery, love, non-conformity etc. So, Mike needs to be in control of his own story to achieve this, not Holly⌠meaning Mike must have something Holly doesn't.
This analysis gave a great explanation!!
Even though Holly and Mike live in the same house, their experiences are different. They both see their parents argue, but Holly sees them argue about her. They both have close best friends who are under Vecna's control (Will, Mary) but while Will is able to remember Mike, Mary doesn't, and even attacks her. Holly befriends Derek, but he's too scared to defend her when she's in trouble. Holly can talk to Mike, but he doesn't tell the full truth, and he's stuck in Camazotz too.
Holly is like Mike, but with less support/accessible love (similar to Henry vs. Will). Believing in herself unfortunately wasn't enough â because when she fell, no-one was there to catch her.
Mike's different though. He has people there to support him, who aren't stuck in conformity â and he has love that is accessible to him, but only if he's brave enough to seek it out.
How's it going to end?
Well, to reference the Truman Show â a film that is on the Stranger Things inspiration board â it starts with Mike walking up the stairs, and out that basement door.
The ending has already begun.
Thanks to @astrangerthingsblog, @warmglowhc, @atsadi, @thatgirlalt, @thebestofmyrmidons, @whispering-goat, @vecnapilled⌠and a bunch of other peeps Iâve probably left out by accident. Your theories and analyses inspired this one!
i yearn for the confidence and security in byler post volume one. the music was loud, the sky was blue, the world was saturated. i then got shot 57 times
Whenever I see Mike stans getting mad at other Will ships' (esp bychance) headcanons I'm just not surprised anymore. Y'all really take it from him, getting mad over an imaginary Will Byers's love interest
âI mean what did you think, really? That a show about nerds and outcasts was gonna have a well-written queer romance? That, in the end, queer love could help save the world?â
Guys! I've been thinking about Jancy as Byler's mirror couple the last few days and I decided to check the Substack article that I've been obsessed with for the last couple of months, and I'm so excited to read about the subtext of seasons 1-2 Jancy in relation to what seems to be happening with WILL in season 5! Byler is happening!
This part is about Jonathan and Nancy's fight in the forest in season 1 after Nancy gets defensive that Jonathan clocked her; Nancy mirrors Mike and Jonathan mirrors Will:
Will is figuring Mike out! Signals are coming in!
Will has just self-activated in volume 1, which means he really might be confident about that avalanche and he's going for Byler endgame - Mike just needs to follow Will now. Will can pull Mike out of his repression.
Note: The author of this article is pessimistic about Byler being revealed in the text because it's so disappointingly rare. But this really sounds like the subtext is becoming text! Will is clocking Mike, CANON. Will has self-activated, CANON. If Will's seeing the signals from Mike, then the subtext we've seen in earlier seasons could be paying off right now with Byler reveal and endgame.
But... There's more. The scene where Nancy and Jonathan finally get together:
Will is making the first move, guys. He's getting his man.
Mike will just need to... open the door.
And Will will be waiting.
Bonus:
So, so much water everywhere... pipegate you are so very real and dear.
It really is that deep, the biggest TV show of the last decade had a lesbian character inspire a gay character to love and accept himself as a queer person, literally giving him the strength and power to save the day. Supernatural elements aside, this how you do it. No subtext. Not just queer representation, but queer pride, queer love, queer power
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