can uou yap to me about something (either over dms or from this ask) ur vibes and takes are good
First tysm youre so sweet! Btw you hit the nail on the head for compliments for me personally - i feel so flattered <3 so mega appreciated it and will try to not let it get to my head. Unfortunately, I had to spend time studying for exams rather than thinking about stranger things (my struggles are unparalleled </3). I hope this take is interesting to you because i started writing an my god is it a yapfest.
But second the thing Ive been primarily thinking about is Soldier, Poet, King in reference to El, Mike, and Will, respectively. I was inspired by this tiktok i saw and one thing in particular they did very well and made me think for a while was use quotes from Mike to transition from soldier to poet and from poet to king, and how well the lyrics in the song fit into their archetypes.
(For the uninitiated I will be adding in the lyrics (fitted to the characters))
First they start with El, the Soldier. She is such a clear example of this architect - especially because she's a soldier, not a knight or commander (someone held in high esteem or with dominion over others). Her lot is that of a fighter; a tool for those who trained her (historically, a king) - and her character in the show kind of follow that. She oscillates between the highs of feeling like a hero (pre s4) and the lows of feeling like a monster (since s1) - and in the former, she is the tool following instruction, in the latter, she is sometimes a tool used by "bad men", but most of the time the times she feels like a monster is when she acted on her own and made a mistake (e.g. Mind throwing Lucas s1, tearing Hoppers cabin down s2, socking Angela s4 (deserved btw)). So when you hear the lyrics
There will come a soldier, who carries a mighty sword
[S]he will tear your city down, Oh-lei, oh-lai, oh, Lord
It plays both to the idea that she caries this great ability, but that great ability is one of destruction, and acting like an in-combat soldier when there is no war can look monstrous.
And then we get the poet, who is Mike. Very obviously is Mike, and we'll get into that with the lyrics
There will come a poet, whose weapon is His word
He will slay you with His tongue, oh-lei, oh-lai, oh, Lord
Mike oscillates between knowing the exact right and exact wrong thing to say - I have a whole other post brewing about his strength being surprisingly bard-esque in that he gives people inspiration in literally every season (and i've definitely talked ad nauseam about how he gives people narratives of strength like every season (except for maybe season 3) and El a narrative of normalcy in s1). His weapon is his word. He saved Will with his word, he failed to help El when his word wasn't aligned with his heart, he hurt El's feelings by not offering his word (telling the truth) in season 3, he made Will fully withdraw after saying "it's not my fault you don't like girls" (he felt backed into a corner and attacked with his only weapon)
I've seen people put him down as the king and say that it's because he's the leader of the party (and he is the leader of the party) but imo those people are misinterpreting who the king actually is in the song (and we'll get there) but given who the poet is, Will is really not the poet and Mike really is, and I think this edit illustrates pretty well with the voice over choice (im not gonna go into the visuals of their edit too much bc im not really good at analyzing visuals (im sticking to what i know))
The line that the editor puts between El's and Mike's is the one from the s5 mileven scene
"A peaceful land [...] somewhere beautiful. [...] They all start again."
And then, after Mike's verse, The poet's verse, we get Mike's line(s) to Will
"You’re like a wizard, like him."
"In D&D, Mike, not real life."
"[...] In real life, you're more like a sorcerer."
And all I keep thinking is.
The poet who, to the soldier, promises peace, an ending to the unending fight and, to the king, promises reclamation, empowerment, glory, maybe even prophecy.
Now we get to Will, the king.
There will come a ruler, whose brow is laid in thorn
Smeared with oil like David's boy, oh-lei, oh-lai, oh, Lord
To get the leader part of this out of the way, I don't think that ruler is supposed to be taken literally (in the same way that El isn't literally a soldier and Mike isn't literally a poet (but he's the closest to tbf)).
And the King isn't positioned to be a strong commander archetype. He's depicted as christ-like with the imagery of the thorny crown. And the fact that the song specifies that the crown that the king wears is specifically a thorny crown is on purpose.
If a crown is supposed to represent prestige, dominion, responsibility, and nobility, then a thorny crown represents the weight of that responsibility if a virtuous person takes it on. What's more telling is that the song specifically doesn't even mention the crown.
No, instead the song mentions a ruler, "whose brow is laid in thorn." This choice makes listener have to focus on the weight of the responsibility rather than the prestige of the title. ESPECIALLY because, despite the fact that the song is literally called Soldier, Poet, King, the king is not called in this verse at all.
And the next line finally makes the message clear.
Smeared with oil like David's boy, oh-lei, oh-lai, oh, Lord
The king, is a reluctant but predestined ruler. He was anointed (christened, since we're adding to the Christ imagery and Christ literary means anointed). His "christening" (taken by vecna, anointed with the upside down) sealed his predestined fate to carry his responsibility to the children who were taken by vecna, like him.
And if Will is set up as a christ-like figure just warped for the upside down, is Vecna also a king? ( this is why i mentioned a king usually commanding their soldier (not literally but he absolutely influenced her world view by being pivotal in her upbringing)). I know this is a stretch dw its just been on my mind taking up space that i should have had for amphibian evolution.
I think if we’re going with a trinitarian imagery then vecna is probably the holy spirit/ruach hakodesh, as he acts as the mindflayer’s conduit. he appears to the various victims in s4 (max, chrissy et al) and in s5 (the kids), bearing messages. he also is the one to “anoint” will in the first place, analogous to the role of the holy spirit in the virgin birth. this is further substantiated by the idea that vecna needs to use will as a physical form (the word made flesh). the mindflayer on the other hand is god the father for pretty straightforward reasons, being the big dog of it all but not really interacting super directly with the physical world. sticking to this, both will and the mindflayer have the king role, (christ the king for will, pretty unchanged from the original post, and melech hakadosh for the mindflayer), perhaps vecna is then the poet, as he acts as a messenger.
I think a lot of people in the stranger things fandom, including bylers, draw the line of what an "acceptable" freak is right behind them, and anyone over that line/less societally acceptable is labeled as some form of bad person.
You see this with the byler lawyer who, because he pointed out that a gay character's costuming might be a referring to queer flagging, got called a p-do and a weirdo because that character wasn't always an adult, even though he would be in the epilogue.
You see it in the derision they use when talking about people who want outlandish things in the show for their own personal favourite characters/ships - or even just headcanons they disagree with - to the point that they police it within the community so that nobody feels like they can publicly enjoy things. You can see people post screenshots of rarepairs on ao3 that they consider weird to tumblr to talk about how weird and deranged it is on tumblr
Its not everyone, of course, but the people who do do this like to larp that they're the real freaks that the show is for when they're as puritanical as some members of the GA they just hide their distaste for those they consider weird (i.e. freaks) by using the language of harm and insinuating that the person is morally bad and therefore should be outcasted when what is really true is that they are uncomfortable by the deviation from what they consider normal, what crosses the line for their "acceptable" level of freak.
Fandom is made by the freaks for the freaks. You will run into things that make you uncomfortable - I do to this day - but if you do, consider why it makes you uncomfortable. Not "why its problematic and shouldn't exist", what about this specific thing causes discomfort in you - try "I feel" statements and the like. And if you never want to see it again? Block the person or the tag or mute the author. Your experience within a fandom is your responsibility, not the responsibility of the people around you, and if you can't deal with that you might not be ready to participate in fandom.
There's a epilogue image of Mike floating out there, and he is facing the camera where a gray line is present at his neck. Its hard to tell if its just a shadow of his neck or a necklace or something.
Sure - honestly, if its supposed to be something they wear as part of their relationship, I'd prefer it if Mike was also a lock rather than a key because I like to see them as equals in their relationship.
And (barring it being explicitly a negotiated kink thing) one partner wearing a lock and the other wearing a key signifies ownership that isnt healthy in a relationship
(Again, if it is a kink thing, thats honestly better than the alternative because at least it is explicitly being acknowledged as a power dynamic in the relationship, but personally I still think its far cuter if its both locks because that moves it more into the realm of "they belong to each other" and further from the "lock that is only opened by one key" imagery that marred with sexist undertones)
Also no hate to you anon whatsoever - ty for sending this in I just have a lot of thoughts on the situation because of my own hangups on autonomy
Can I say that acknowledging the "Lock and Key" necklaces as part of kink (if they are indeed representative of their relationship, which I hope it isn't for my own personal reasons) is healthier then pretending that an imbalanced power dynamic between the two is vanilla/completely normal as an unacknowledged dynamic
(Especially because a lot of you like to conflate femininity with subservience/submissiveness, which is a whole topic in itself)
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