I had a dream last night that conformitygate was confirmed and Netflix dropped 4 more episodes for Stranger Things and I was so excited.
It opened up with Will and Veccy in the upside down library and instead of him saying ‘you are going to spy for me one more time’ he said ‘it’s time to build’ then we got like a sped up montage of the epilogue with flashes of Will and Veccy mixed in similar to the spy scene in ep 6.
In my dream I was literally so excited trying to tell my family and taking pictures of the extra episodes. I was so excited I woke myself up at like 2am and I had to check to see if it was real.
ok atp i'm fully aware that it is very much the unpopular opinion to believe in conformitygate... and to be honest, i'm not here in the business of wanting to convince anyone. i only want to compile what i think is some of the most obvious and compelling evidence we have.
so, you ask, why do i still believe that stranger things is not done with us yet? well, mostly because the story isn't finished.
and i say that for many of the same reasons that others are using to argue the creators ruined their own show, except that i see them as intentional storytelling choices. the most import choice of all, was to give us the perspective of one particular character; mike.
remember him?
yeah, that guy.
this promo poster is our first huge clue. mike's perspective has been withheld from us for so long, and we all hoped (begged) to finally get it in season 5. but, sadly, we were robbed yet again.. for most of the season. because the epilogue? it is, in my belief, told solely from mike's perspective. (he is the only one looking into the camera in these promotional shots. he's breaking the fourth wall - it's supposed to mean something)
the "epilogue"
so, let's start with the end, because it gives us everything we need to be able to tell that this is only a pit stop in the story, and not its final destination.
first of all, the epilogue is largely from mike's pov. if you already believe that the epilogue is mike's camazots, then it becomes easy to see how the whole thing can link back to mike's memories and thoughts. i won't go through much of the evidence that mike is in camazots in this analysis, because it's been thoroughly covered many times. but i want to point out some of the key moments i find most compelling, and connect them to scenes that tell us these moments are, in fact, significant.
mike's parallel to will's disappearance
the epilogue introduces us to mike... going missing. that's a peculiar choice, isn't it? this is the epilogue to the finale of the show, but before we even see mike for ourselves, we're told he's been missing since last night.
and this scene directly parallels a scene from the very first episode of the show - when joyce called karen to ask if will was at their house. as we all know, will was actually missing, and in another dimension (wormhole?) at that. it is a strange parallel to make when we're supposed to believe this is the happy ending.
of course, hopper finds mike alive and (debatably) well in the town square. so, mike is not missing in the upside down, meaning his parallel to will going missing stops here, right? well, not really.
because hopper brings it up, which almost feels like the writers are begging the audience to notice the parallel. mike's mom is freaking out, just like joyce was. and hopper can't say he blames her, because there is good reason to freak out about mike seemingly missing.
mike was missing, but he was found! does that mean he's good? no, i don't believe he is.
the library
now the parallel to will going missing is behind us, surely. nope! because, see, where hopper finds mike, is sitting in front of and looking at the library (under reconstruction, mind). and do you all remember where joyce and hopper found will in the upside down in season 1? inside said library, of course!
and in his conversation with hopper, we're told mike feels unable to walk the stage at graduation because of el's death, saying "it would be like a lie. like i'm okay with moving on. but i'm not." - and okay, survivor's guilt? a staple for mike wheeler. but considering the aforementioned parallels, i don't think that is the full picture here.
mike's inability to move on from el's (apparent) death, actually relates back to will. walk with me.
the big main gate into the upside down goes right through the library, and is the place mike watched el sacrifice herself. you think that's an insignificant coincidence? doubtful! because they made sure to remind us how the library connects back to will right at the beginning of season 5.
(potential TW: CSA similarities, images from s5e1 opening scene)
yeah, this scene. you did not think it was just thrown in there to remind us about will's time in the upside down and why he is able to get powers in ep4, right? because this is telling us so much more.
firstly, a blatant and lingering shot of the upside down library. they want us to remember where this scene takes place.
and secondly, the presenting of the chekov's gun that went missing somewhere in the moving process... strange isn't it, how vecna had will right where he wanted him, all ready to begin the process of his grand plan - but then he just... left? not even thinking to guard the initiation of will's part in this plan, like, could he not even spare a demogorgon at least? or did he stand by and let joyce and hopper save will and bring him back into regular hawkins...? (methinks the latter)
and that is not all, because a mere 6 minutes after they show us what happened to will there, they have robin remind us of the library again:
she's talking about the mac-z base, and her words allude to the fact she does in fact know what is going on in there: the main gate (through which the gang has been helping hopper enter into the upside down regularly for crawls). but again they focus in on the library and the gate going through it, and if we look back at the opening scene from just a few minutes ago, robin's words could so have a double meaning (which words in screenplays often do!).
because the fact is that right now, we still kind of have, like robin said, no idea what was going on in there. henry said he and will were going to do "beautiful things together", but then in ep4 he brushes will off as only being a test-subject, and tried to kill his friends but left him alone? peculiar. especially when considering what we later learn in ep6:
henry lied about will's significance. probably because he wanted will to stay away; he did not want will to know what was going on in the library. but here he tells will that he made him his vessel, his spy, his builder. this further explains what went down during will's possession in season 2 - and i don't know about you, but it also tells me henry did knowingly allow will to be rescued: will became henry's inside man in the outside world.
and interestingly, henry goes on to acknowledge the threat will poses to his plans, but he... still does not kill him? there is no reason for him not to... unless, once again, he is downplaying will's significance - lying, because he does not want him to know what goes on in the library. will's role in this is much bigger than ep8 led us to believe (we're also being lied to!!), but i will have to come back to that later.
because, friends, we have another significant clue telling us not to take the library location as random! and it came in the mail with the finale of season 4:
what's that right there? can't quite tell? it's the library, of course! this is how the mac-z gate came to be, when ritualistic murders of children coincided to form an x-shaped gate cutting through hawkins.
the x
the x, oh how it haunts me. but the x is our most vital clue. let me grab another screenshot from season 4 for you:
the midpoint of the x is at the library, but not because the four gates opened with the murders of chrissy, fred, patrick and max, just so happened to be located at four locations that perfectly placed the library in the middle. nope, because the x-shape is uneven - the four cracks forcibly made their way to the same midpoint. this is not random, the gate was always going to meet with the library in the middle.
i gotta ask again, if you remember what first happened in the library?
in season 1, the library was where will died (excuse the shit screenshot, but i'm sure you get it). and yeah, he was brought back, but so was max and her gate still opened. i don't think there has been a gate at the library in the four years between season 1 and 5, but i do think this is giving us an important clue to the significance of will's part in henry's plan.
this tells us will's death somehow played into opening the x-shaped gate. but when else do we see will's relation to it?
in this scene here! you might have to bring your screen brightness way up to catch it, but the x of the wormhole (the exotic matter) is placed right over will's heart. and this was not accidental - they made sure to place him just so twice, both before and after his conversation with max about fear. (i analyzed the meaning of this between vol2 and 3, if you're interested you can read that here)
ok, ok, so the x is somehow connected to will's... heart?
how fitting, then, that hopper finds mike in another x-shaped location, right next to the library. i won't get too much into it, as we all know will told mike "you're the heart!" in season 4. it was quite telling at the time, but throughout season 5 the extent of what he meant by that is hammered into us: mike is will's heart!
and there are so. many. clues. telling us this. but to pick up on them all, you need to be aware that holly is mike's mirror character in season 5. i have already analyzed her and mike's arc several times, most thoroughly in this post and this post. i won't go through all the same points again here, but i will mention the most obvious ones in relation to the x.
"meet me at the x". we all know the saying "x marks the spot". but then, holly comes up with her own version, and it is hilariously fitting for the situation we have at hand: "m" marks the spot. "m", as in mike.
and most of holly's arc relates to finding the "x"/the "m". she first needs to find the "x" (the cave), and goes because she believes henry (actually max) needs her help. when she finds the "x" (the cave), she meets max (the truth). after discovering the truth (that she is trapped in camazots), she must try to find her way out (a door). and what leads her to find the door is the spyglass marking "m" (the cave) as the spot. and the cave? is a memory henry is too scared to enter.
btw - the cave (the "x"/"m") also looks like the "m" on the cover of mike's dnd binder, which he puts next to will's which proceeds him to him starting to cry
so, from all this we can gather that:
the library connects to will connects to will's heart connects to mike
mike's options
let's go back to mike's conversation with hopper about his guilt over el's death, because it brings us a very poignant parallel to holly's conversation about with max about camazots (or as max puts it, "when you're a prisoner in a messed up prison world")
hopper uses roads, max uses doors, but they are saying the same exact thing here. hopper's first road is to suffer alone, which parallels max's door of taking your own life. the second road is acceptance, paralleling the second door of accepting your fate. while hopper only lays out the two options, max also has a third one: escape. and holly? she thinks that one seems like the best door.
and here is where it gets reallll interesting, because mike does not choose either of hopper's roads.
mike chooses a different road - one where he chooses to believe el is still alive; that she escaped and found happiness. that's the road mike believes is the best one; the unspoken one, the same one max told holly about: escape! and isn't that something, that he chooses the door holly proclaimed as the best one? el isn't mike, sure, but this tells us mike believes the same thing as holly: escape is the best option.
but why does mike need to escape? well, because he's also a prisoner in a messed up prison world!
will's powers and his crucial role
will is completely sidelined in the finale, and by completely i mean they spent the whole season setting up just how deep his connection to henry/the hivemind goes, just for him to get the one conversation with henry that.. changed nothing, and one shot of flexing said powers, doing.. something that's up for interpretation.
but that's the thing, isn't it. it is not up for interpretation, because they kept building up will's importance in the final battle all the way up until the final episode. that is why will came out to everyone in ep7, because if kept secret, his sexuality would be used against him.
in my real finale plot theory, i go over this next point, but i have to bring it up here too:
holly is mike's mirror character. but moreso? henry is will's. in short: just as holly is compared to mike: "you're starting to remind me of your brother" "you are your brother", henry is compared to will: "except, i'm not vecna" "you sorta are", "you're saying i'm evil and hell-bent on destroying the world?" "totally!". these things are not coincidental.
holly's arc is a mirror of mike's: they both need to find the "x", to find their way out of camazots. and henry's arc is a mirror of will's: they are both vessels of the mindflayer, and lose against its control.
that is what went wrong in ep8, but i think it happened before we see will confronting henry in the abyss. there are many points throughout the season telling us something's not quite right with will, that he is slowly losing himself to the mindflayer's control, just like he did in season two (see: not wearing his jacket in the cold, his memories messed with and getting infused with henry's, mike disappearing from his flashbacks when he speaks with joyce).
and this is the real final battle: will is crucial on both sides. to henry/the mindlflayer's great evil plan, but also for our heroic crew to be able to defeat them. but has fallen into the mindlflayer's control just like henry, and someone (gee, i wonder who) needs to save him.
the storyteller
and as if it was not made obvious enough, they needed to give us a little more bone to chew on. the perfect way to do it is by way of the classic stranger things foreshadowing - mike's dnd campaign. this campaign is telling us what really happened:
the whole party has been taken out, except for will the wise. but will the wise has little power left, the suppression stone leaves him unable to use magic, and alone he stands no chance against the evil strahd. summoning the mage saves the party.
this, in short, is telling us exactly what i've explained above; will is the only one who is able to fight henry/the mindflayer, but something is making him unable to do so - he has lost control of his powers. el (the mage) can help will win, but i believe the "suppression stone" must also be dealt with.
and it's after the campaign that they introduce a fun new concept; calling mike "the storyteller". we all know mike as the party's dungeon master, which is sort of like a storyteller.. but i'm not so sure that is what mike is - in the sense of being the narrator of stranger things i mean.
because we need to remember that mike's pov is one we have rarely been privy to since season 2 - so, how could he be the storyteller? well, he is - in the epilogue, that is. and we see this at work: mike tells the party how their happily ever afters look, including el's, and they all accept his endings as truth. now is the perfect moment to bring up a conversation that tells us mike's endings are, in fact, not the truth:
like a warning, in ep6, they told us not to believe mike is the storyteller. and mike agrees - they are all the storytellers.
and the ending of the story starts with getting will back. the ending of the story starts with getting will back. THE ENDING OF THE STORY STARTS WITH GETTING WILL BACK! (hello? can anyone hear me?)
if will has lost control to the mindflayer, they need to get him back to finish the story - just like in mike's campaign and just like the foreshadowing and clues have all been telling us.
to the point
so, a quick summary: the library shows us will played a part in the opening gates. henry's words and lies tell us will's has capabilities we have yet to see play out. henry's avoidance to kill will tells us he is important to his plan. will and henry being the same tells us will also loses control to the mindflayer. and the x's tell us mike is somehow the clue to helping find the solution.
i'm sure most, if not all of this has been pointed out by others already, and i'm not trying to claim i've made any new discoveries here. the point i'm trying to get across is this: to say that the creators of stranger things got lost in their own plot, forgot how to write their characters, changed their ending in a last minute ditch due to unknown reasons, or that it was ruined by a pair of evil twins and attempted to be salvaged by the remaining crew/cast.... does not hold up as an explanation.
and the reason i say that with my full chest, is that the storytelling is there, every step of the way, including the epilogue. if you sit down and analyze this season like that guy with a board full of red strings (i.e. me for the past 22 days), you will find hundreds of pieces of proof that the story always kept building, also in the very last scene.
a certain theme follows the whole season. it's done subtly in the first volume, becomes visible in the second, and culminates in disaster in the eight episode. and the theme is: things aren't making sense - and that's because it's meant to make no sense!
the promo
to avoid this becoming a full length novel series, i have to limit myself here to a few significant interview statements made by the cast.
finn wolfhard on mike wheeler's ending
i want to start here: finn's statement about mike's ending. he said this in his interview with sfx magazine (i own it, read it with my own two eyes). i'm sure we can all agree this seems like far too grand a statement if it's about mike's "stuck in conformity"-ending in ep8. luckily, we have more clues about what mike's ending really entails.
gaten matarazzo on the show's lessons
i wanted to put finn's answer here as well, but the video was too long, so tumblr would not let me (i will link the full interview below w the timestamp!). this statement to me is super telling.
gaten says: "it's about people learning to really love each other beyond any way they knew they possibly could, and fighting for things that you love when it seems like they could be taken from you."
this is a theme the show has continuously displayed, however - i find this an odd answer to give in this context considering ep8 does nothing of the sort and rather goes blatantly it. mike literally does not fight when it seems like el could be taken from him. but if the story building is working right, mike is going to fight for will.
(it's also funny how gaten stares finn down while he's saying this. could be a subconscious choice because he relates his answer to finn's character?)
about the details
something i'm very tired of reading, is that the details in the show mean nothing. because yeah, it might seem like that now, but only because the story isn't over yet! luckily, we have many cases where the cast tell us just how involved the duffers are with the details.
such as this statement from maya hawke, saying how the duffers have "an extraordinary attention to details"
i also remember seeing a video of millie saying "the duffers don't do anything half way", but i can't seem to find it rn. and joe keery, i believe, said the duffers have barely even taken a week off every year since they started the show.
my point is: the duffers are known to be extremely peculiar about their show - they even describe themselves as obsessive perfectionists. they've poured over ten years of their lives into it - this show is their baby.
but more than that, the duffers have many times insisted that this show is as good as it is because of the involvement of other people. they praise everybody on the crew for making the show what it is, while everybody involved all praise the duffers for how much they have poured into it. and i think both things are true.
it's very telling of the duffers' character to see just how much they sing their cast and crew praises - they want everyone to be highlighted for their efforts - and we see this in stranger things promotional material. set designers, costume designers, stunt choreographers, even the guy in the demo suit - if you're willing to watch the content, you might remember all these people by name by now. that is because the duffers don't take all the credit - but you can be sure their crew members will mention how great they are to work with.
slip-ups or deliberate clues
the cast have been making a lot of weird jokes about there being an alternate finale.
finn went on the "last meal" show on yt channel mythical kitchen in april 2025 (over half a year before promo for st5), and said this:
"some people were mad about the last episode of game of thrones, and this is the thing that kind of retcons that. we go back and rewrite history"
could merely have been a joke of course, because the host's question was one - but the game of thrones finale has been mentioned a lot this press tour, and someone pointed out how ep 8 makes fun of got's ending. to me, that makes finn's statement here seem like it could bea truth hidden behind the pretense of a joke.
these subtitles are in italian, but here caleb said "my finale was different, so i don't know" and both finn and gaten seem a little shocked before they joke along... a deliberate slip-up?
the merchandise
there have been several oddball merch pieces related to things that never showed up in the show (for example, the 'for will' mixtape, sold as pillows, bags, bath mat, you name it). but the most interesting merch i just keep thinking about, are these netflix official character standees - sold before ep8 released.
their descriptions, again, do not fit the finale we got.. but they do fit what the foreshadowing and story building tells us we will get.
mike: "the heart that powers the mission! this standee features mike wheeler, the emotional anchor whose conviction will be vital in the final confrontation. his presence is a reminder than in the end, love and friendship are the true weapons against vecna. he is essential for rallying the troops for their last stand."
will: "the key to the darkness. this life-size cutout of will byers represents the character whose intimate, painful connection to the upside down will be the guide to victory. place him where you need a reminder of the personal stakes in the finale - he's the one who will help him finally understand the enemy"
i'll leave you with that to chew on.
end credits
i loved compiling this hunk of evidence and seeing just how well the puzzle pieces actually fit together - everything is pointing in the same direction! if this does not mean anything, i deserve an award for being able to frame everything to fit my own narrative :)
the pink sky moment is one of those rare pieces of visual storytelling that’s doing far more than people realise, and that’s exactly why i keep returning to it. it isn’t just pretty lighting or a stylistic flourish; it’s a deliberate rupture in the show’s visual logic, a moment where stranger things abandons its usual grounded naturalism and slips into pure emotional expressionism. when a series that’s been visually conservative for three seasons suddenly paints the sky an impossible, hyperreal pink, that’s not an accident, that’s the camera telling the truth before the characters can.
pink in film language is loaded: vulnerability, tenderness, emotional exposure, romantic subtext, the softening of defences. it’s the colour of feelings that haven’t been spoken yet but are too big to hide. so when the sky turns that exact shade at the precise moment mike smiles, it’s not just atmospheric, it’s emotional scoring through colour. the world is reacting to his truth. the sky is blushing because they can’t.
and the blocking in that scene is so intentional. will is framed in soft, grounded, natural light, emotionally honest, already living in the truth, while the pink sky only appears in Mike’s frame. that’s not a continuity error; that’s visual subjectivity. the environment shifts when we’re aligned with mike’s emotional perspective, not will’s. the colour appears for the character who is being forced into recognition.
and the wildest part? the sky doesn’t just appear behind mike, it moves with him. when he smiles that tiny, involuntary smile and looks down, the sky shifts colour with him. the palette literally follows his emotional reaction. that’s not how natural light behaves; that’s how expressive cinematography behaves. the sky is synced to mike’s internal state like a visual heartbeat. it’s the show saying: this is where the emotional movement is happening; watch him.
and stranger things has done this before, using the environment as emotional commentary specifically for mike and will. the rain fight at the Wheeler garage is the clearest precedent. they’re standing just inside the open garage, technically sheltered, but the rain is absolutely pouring down outside, intensifying as their argument escalates. the storm becomes a visual extension of their emotional volatility. the environment mirrors the tension between them. so when the sky turns pink in season five, it isn’t a new trick, it’s a continuation of a visual language the show already established for these two characters.
what makes all of this even more striking is that stranger things almost never uses melodramatic environmental reaction. storms don’t break during heartbreak, sunlight doesn’t swell during reconciliation. the show avoids that kind of externalised emotional symbolism, except with mike and will. which means these moments are intentional, singular, and narratively weighted. they’re the clearest examples of the show dropping the mask and letting the visual language speak the truth the dialogue is still avoiding.
and honestly, that’s exactly why the later disregard of byler in volume 2 and the finale feels so bizarre from a craft perspective. you don’t build moments like these, moments that break the show’s visual rules, that use colour and weather as confession, that frame two characters in a romantic cinematic language no one else gets, unless you’re signalling something foundational. cinematography is expensive, deliberate, collaborative. dozens of people have to agree to make a sky pink or to time a storm to an argument. you don’t deploy that level of emotional symbolism for a dynamic you plan to abandon. it makes no narrative sense, and even less cinematic sense. the visuals are telling a story the writers later tries to pretend it didn’t set up.
and that’s why I reference the pink sky so often: it’s not just pretty lighting, it’s the master key to the show’s visual truth, the place where the byler reading stops being subtext and becomes craft. the writers can twist around it, the characters can dodge, the plot can misdirect, but the cinematography doesn’t lie. the colour palette doesn’t lie. the weather doesn’t lie. the sky certainly doesn’t.
the pink sky is the moment the show’s honesty leaks through the cracks, where the internal truth becomes too loud, too emotionally saturated, to hide behind narrative sleight of hand. it’s the visual equivalent of a confession, and the camera signs its name in light.
That pink sky is part of why people who’ve never seen the show before, when shown that scene, immediately go, “Is the dark-haired boy in love with the other one?”
I talked about Will being the kid who's really like Henry, not El, and I'm sure other people have already pointed this out: Will used powers in the middle of a military base and killed a huge monster, that they left there.
There must be cameras that recorded what happened. They told us that they are everywhere, that's why El had to be extra careful.
But even if there weren't cameras, there are a few men who survived the attack, including Sullivan.
He only talks about Vecna, but if reality after 5x04, or since 5x01, has been manipulated, and some important pieces are missing, we can't be sure that Dr Kay hasn't found out about Will, or that Sullivan or someone else hasn't remembered what Will did.
And if Will never woke up in 5x05, they could just take him.
I think that the blood thing is about Will, not El, and if he wasn't raised as a lab kid, maybe now he risks to become like Henry, the new One.
Have lots of people left the conformitygate bus since the documentary?
To me I thought the documentary lends itself to the theory.
It just felt so off the whole thing:
the constant saying the final episode hasn’t been written.
Charlie saying he was behind Noah and Finn for the final table read vs the one we saw in the documentary which didn’t show that.
Saying that they don’t know how it’s going to end, yet knowing that El is going to die and Kali is going to get shot and die (that scene in documentary also felt weird/staged to me)
They only talked about certain scenes from certain episodes - some which had already been spoken about in the YouTube videos (the MacZ scene)
Showing us bts of that one guy saying it would be weird in the abyss without the demos etc and the response being “hmm” from the duffers, then someone bringing up demo fatigue.
The way Jamie talked about Vecna
Finn’s “I know something’s coming” when they were wrapping mirroring what Mike says in the first episode of the show “something’s coming”
The whole chatgpt thing just can’t be real, it has to be a joke, to actually include it in the documentary has to be intentional
Pretty sure near the beginning of the documentary someone says something about vessels NOT in relation to Vecna and the kids
The duffers saying they never wanted to be writers just directors (or something along those lines)
I just feel like there is still more going on, it feels intentional, not sure it’s a whole episode but it just doesn’t make sense. The whole documentary feels fake.
If anyone has other things I missed or any thoughts on the above let me know.
I would have really loved to see a scene with Mike and Nancy sitting down with their parents especially Karen to explain what’s been going on. Then have Karen give her kids like the biggest hug because all she hears is that her babies have been in danger for years and experiencing trauma and she didn’t have a clue.
I can’t imagine the guilt she would feel that all 3 of her children have been hurt by this monster and she only knows about it because one of those monsters came for her child while she was there.
I wonder if she would be angry and Hopper and Joyce for knowing her kids are involved and not telling her or trying to stop them from being involved.
I’m watching the documentary and have about 50 minutes left to watch.
One thing that sticks out to me is how much they mention they don’t have a script for the final episode. Multiple people have mentioned at least 4 or 5 times. One even when they say they are halfway through the days the have for shooting.
They are literally shooting episode 8 and saying it’s not fully written yet. Also calling it ep 8 and not the finale or final episode.
Also they changed the post its to red for ep 8, maybe to signify danger?? Maybe saying it’s not real??
I’m not someone who knows about the film industry but I feel that at this point some sort of a script would have had to be done??
Maybe I’m just reading too much into it but maybe they are saying it’s not over yet. The ending hasn’t been written.
Could be wrong, hopefully we will know by the end of the documentary.
Not sure how much I believe in a secret episode (I want to so badly) but I do think there is something fishy going on.
The ending was lacklustre, the final battle and the epilogue was all predictable but not satisfying at all and just felt off. The attitude of the Duffers in their interviews saying things happened offscreen or that it’s up for interpretation after saying before the season that all questions will be answered.
I am keeping my eyes peeled, will look to see what the documentary is like after the 12th - maybe it is a secret episode, maybe not.
Either way I will look back on this time fondly as we were right or we came up with a way better and compelling story that broke the internet within a week of the finale
Another thing I have been thinking about is the importance of the 6th November.
We know that’s the date vecna took the 12 kids and is also the day Will was taken to the upside down. However Vecna didn’t actually capture Will until the 12th November - the same day he was rescued. So while he tried to start his plan on the 6th, Vecnas initial plan was not fully put into motion until the 12th.
So maybe the 12th is more important than we think??