I'm so sorry to the Bisexuals but Francesca Bridgerton is a Lesbian. So is Michaela Stirling. Compulsive Heterosexuality is a thing. Y'all watched Fran decline every suitor available until she got to the autistic one like her. There was no romantic spark when they kissed. No rush of pleasure when he touched her. He was her best friend and husband. I adore him for this fact. But she literally forgot her own name the moment she saw his LADY cousin. Like, come on now.
And Michaela literally has No Boys Allowed stamped across her forehead. They're Lesbians.
I promise you, if they gave me any inclination that they liked men then I'd support it but they're not.
Having a queer character believe he won't find love and proving him right is not good writing.
Having a character grow up in solitary confinement and then ripping her away from the only family she's ever known to live a life of solitude once again is not good writing.
Having a character be in love with his best friend and then just compare it to a high school crush is not good writing.
Having Eleven say that Mike has always been the person who truly understood her after showing us in the previous seasons that he only sees her as a superhero IS NOT GOOD WRITING.
I’ve been in the Byler trenches for 8 years and have dealt with a lot of bs. I’m so going to be ‘I told you so’. I’ve waited YEARS for this. 🤣 And even if Byler doesn’t get together tonight (though I think they are), they will in a few days. So either way we are winning. 🤷♀️
Theories for s5 part2 / part 3 of Stranger things:
We see Henry’s backstory in the play appears to be canon (or semi-canon) in the show . Aka he’s been possessed by the mindflayer since he was a kid . Max and the children will probably be used as a way to establish Henry’s backstory (from the play) within the show. As they’re literally stuck in Henry’s nightmarish memories . It’ll be metaphorical time travel. If Henry is indeed possessed; he may be trapped in his own mind similar to Terry who was stuck in what was described as a “dream” that was essentially a time loop of her worst traumas and memories.
The demos may attack the hospital because Vecna (or the m.f .) are worried about Max waking up and having access to the truth of Henry's possession. Maybe Max being in Henry's mind/memories starts interfering with the mindflayer's hold of him? Or Vecna may just not want her to have access to a certain personal memory -so attacks her body that's in the hospital. But , of course, Max will eventually wake up and be ok in the end.
El and Kali working together will be pivotal in saving the day and their friends- as El can go into people’s minds and Kali can cause illusions (like Vecna can do on his own) . Kali has various parallels to Henry but also key differences as a way to allude to her importance in saving the day as well. I know a lot of people think Kali will be a 'traitor' in s5 , but I hope the writers aren't that predictable . Kali is morally gray, but I feel like she won't be an outright villain-she's named after a Hindu goddess who protects kids after all . Aka Kali helping the 12 kids who were kidnapped in the show.
Also her being brought back to just die (would piss me off). Kali will probably challenge El’s world view in some way in s5, like she did in s2 (and El will probably do the same for Kali). I do believe Kali and Jane in the finale leave together . In one of the st novels, Kali fakes an experiment’s death (via an illusion) in front of a gov official , so they could escape the USA and flee the country. I could see the 2 faking their deaths (via an illusion), and going "somewhere beautiful" -finally free of the government. My guess is Sweden since it also has waterfalls (and in s1 they lied and said Jane was Swedish while she was wearing a disguise). The death of the El look alike in s5e1 could be foreshadowing of her faked death. Especially since el has had a fake death in the s1 finale too . (Theoretically) Jane and Kali are the only 2 to really be able to understand each other fully . They’re the only 2 people left who understand what it’s like to be deprived of a childhood , name and reduced to a number, a "monster", an experiment . And they both could be a comfort to one another as they adjust to the normal world. It would be bitter sweet for El to leave the party but certainly better than El sacrificing her life literally .
When most of the team goes into the upside down I do believe vecna or the mindflayer (or whoever the big bad is ) may cause certain members of the party to have nightmares of their worst fears and traumas as a way to prevent the team in succeeding in their plan . Possibly the core 4 boys , Jonathan , Joyce, etc . Maybe Hopper too- we see Kali flash memories of his daughter Sara to try and prevent him from getting physically close to her. So vecna may do something similar to various members of the team (if they get too close to the physical location of the 12 kids). It would be a good distraction if certain segments of the teams are 'out of it' and 'seeing things'. He did something similar in s4.
I also think that this narrative device (of nightmares) may be what officially OUTS Mike to the audience and re-contextualizes past scenes like the snowball ( and shows Mike's past struggles with internalized homophobia to the viewer) . I think Vecna may exploit both Will & Mike's fear of romantic rejection in these nightmares . Mike may also help snap Will out of his nightmare (or vice versa) possibly at the church in the upsidedown. This may be the catalyst for Will admitting the truth of the painting to Mike (if it's not done by El in her talk with Mike). But Will/Mike probably don't get much time to discuss it right then and there (since their friends are currently in danger ). I would be disappointed, but not surprised, if Mike's feelings aren't confirmed until the very last episode. And all the other byler proof in part 2 is sadly left to interpretation until the very last episode . I could see Mike saying "I know"- to Will admitting El didn't commission the painting (and bylers see the romantic star wars ref while m*levens say it's proof byler isn't happening). Mike may suspect Will's feelings (but if Will doesn't say he's in love with mike in the possible painting confession -Mike may still have lingering doubts about Will's feelings and his motivations for the painting which could be later exploited by Vecna in a nightmare). I discussed this whole dream theory in depth here ( this theory is partially based on films said to inspire st plus prior seasons-I get more into it there ).
It appears the original plan was for the 12 kids to be used to create enough energy to make a bridge to merge the dimensions together (similar to the teenagers k*lled to open the 4 portals in s4). But who knows , maybe the kids are partially just a trap to lure Will in: "Do you see them William, the children?" If Vecna is still possessed by the mindflayer - Will trying to get into vecna’s head to puppet him may backfire (possibly leading to the mindflayer repossessing and puppeting Will and using him as a bridge of sorts).
If that’s the case it would mirror x-men 134 which Will name dropped in the first episode of s1 . It was about the dark phoenix saga: where a character is possessed by a cosmic entity (the dark phoenix) and temporarily becomes evil. Also similar to the novel ‘never ending story’ : Bastian is taken over by “the darkness” and temporarily becomes evil. cannon st comic:
If Will’s repossessed I assume Mike and Will's other loved ones will be important to help break the mindflayer’s control of him. In the st play, ‘the first shadow’ , Patty (Henry’s love interest) helped him fight the mindflayers control . And the official play bio compares patty & Henry to Mike & Will. Patty & Henry admitting their love for each other - actually temporarily stopped the mindflayer’s possession of Henry .Finale be like: “I don’t know what’s on the other side of this"/ "and we kiss as though nothing could fall and the shame was on the other side" .
I’m still attached to my old crack theory of Will (subconsciously) creating the mindflayer and upside down creatures because of his childhood trauma involving his dad (old theory here ) . In d&d lore, mindflayers are actually from the future , but time travel into the past (which could be an explanation for all the time-travel /clocks refs in ST) . various books/ films referenced in the show could allude to that plot twist of Will creating everything . Let's look at those:
-Jonathan in s2 hands Will "the twighlight zone" film: A subplot in it involves a boy with a bowl cut, uses his imagination powers to create monsters and warp reality. We see the boy first introduced playing arcade games. Like how at the beginning of s2: Will and Co are first seen at the arcade . The boy gets upset after finding a news paper clipping : where someone writes on it, anonomously saying he is a ‘monster’ . Aka like the newspaper, Will found, where someone wrote and referred to him as a “zombie boy”. And this boy also tells a monster (he created) to ‘go away’. similar to Will saying to the mindflayer to “go away”.
-Dustin and susie sing “never ending story” which is literally about a seemingly normal boy named Sebastian (who is from a single parent home) subconsciously making a fantasy world that's being invaded by "the darkness" . The 'darkness' represented the loss of hope/dreams: that only his imagination powers could fix . Also yes, Sebastian does look like Will (since he also has the signature bowl cut).
-Suzie in s3 is seen reading the novel: 'the wizard of Earthsea' . And starts taking to dustin about "GED FACING THE SHADOW" . The trilogy is about a pre-teen wizard named Ged (who also has a bowl cut). The boy wizard casts a powerful spell, but the spell goes awry and instead he releases a shadow creature! The new Archmage, Gensher, describes the shadow as an ancient evil that wishes to possess Ged (like the mindflayer possessing Will, and dustin describing the mindflayer as a very old creature ) . But geshner was wrong- the boy wizard accidentally created the shadow monster, and it wasn’t ancient at all. Ged had to face his metaphorical demons so he could take control of his shadow.
-Duffers cited the silent hill videogames as inspo as well: And in s1 Hopper named dropped the character Alessa’s last name. “The bad guys faked Alessa’s death and prepared a substitute body of alessa; and performed a fake autopsy (like Will in s1) . Young Alessa’s latent psychic abilities were triggered and she shrouded Silent Hill in fog and monsters. Many of the drastic changes that befall the town in the game, such as the horrific creatures that come to inhabit it, are conjured from her imagination. The monsters in Silent Hill are deeply tied to the psychological trauma and repressed memories relating to Alessa Gillespie's abusive parents."
The demogorgan in d&d also means the “deep father” which could be symbolic of his abusive dad (so some of the mindflayers traits could also be loosely inspired by Lonnie, and d&d monsters ) . The demogorgan in s1 was symbolically paralleled to Lonnie a lot. And in s2, Will lied and said the mindflayer drawing (which was placed next to his baseball mitt-and therefore connected to Lonnie) was "for a story (he) was writing." Not to mention the mindflayer attacked/ first possessed Will in a baseball field. And Will in s3 even says "he's back" after he uses his dad's bat .
This could be why there’s so many time travel references in ST : the story could be a closed unpreventable time loop : “there upon a rainbow is the answer to a never ending story” . Cough like the rainbow ship Will created. Because Will created the mindflayer it caused Henry to gain powers and become part of 'project rainbow' under Brenner. This leads to Henry eventually becoming vecna - leading to Will being taken to the upside down and the current story. And since (in the play) all the numbers were created via getting blood transfusions from Henry. And since Henry’s blood was altered after he interacted with the mindflayer as a child : it could mean a lot of characters are connected through a time paradox . St was also based on 'the montauk project' which is about time paradoxes and a psychic kid creating a monster from his imagination that manifests into the real world. The s5 teaser also had the song "child in time" play. The UD being stopped on the day of Will's dissapearance may be a hint of Will's bigger connection in the narrative and the upside-down . The clock young Henry looks at , literally says "WILLIAMS" on it (and 2 Williams were later flayed by the mindflayer). Dustin in s3, even handed Will a “forever clock”. And in s1-2, when the monsters appeared we could even hear the sound of a clock ticking. Right before Will sees the mindflayer outside his house in s2, there's even a zoom in on a random clock . And "time after time" plays at the snowball, and it's revealed the Mindflayer was watching the entire thing. Lyric: "I hear the clock tick and think of you... the second hand (of a clock) unwinds. I'll be waiting time after time." Even choosing 12 kids could be symbolic -cause it'd be like a clock . The clock goes in a full circular rotation --like a closed stable TIME LOOP would)!
Owens in s2 even described Will's anniversary effect as "neurological flood gates opening" (like El opening the gates to the U.D). Since El in the lab was being taught how to go INTO people's minds to spy, the void she opened in s1 with the demogorgan may have actually been a thought from someone's mind- Will's subconscious mind. Nancy even theorized in s2 "this thing is like a big brain controlling everything." Maybe subconsciously, it's Will's brain?
In most of the books and films the duffers have referenced: a character realizes they subconsciously created the antagonist & the fantasy world. This allows them to face their metaphorical demons by using their 'mind' to alter the reality of the dream-scape and the monsters that reside there. And thus get a happy ending . In s5, it was Will who "stopped the scary movie" (the hive mind) with his thoughts. And he may do something similar in the finale. I think it would make the most narrative sense for the creator to be Will, but they may just make it Henry or El I suppose.
A small part of me also wonders if Will does temporarily die (like how in s1 they had to do cpr to re-start his heart). Will was later dubbed “the boy who came back to life.” Which was a reference to Harry Potter ( “the boy who lived” ) . Like Will, he had a psychic connection to the evil noseless wizard . Harry also temporarily died but was brought back to life in the finale. And Will is called a "zombie boy" too. Harry also defeated the big bad with "love" and the teamwork of his friends/ found family. Which is a consistent motif in ST too . So even if there's no fake out death: love/team work still saves the day. Honestly with the power of illusions there might be a bunch of fake-out deaths/injuries just to mess with certain characters or the audience.
Birthday gate is a bit hard to pinpoint but I'll try. Will’s bday was supposed to be in s4 but seemed to be forgotten. In s4, murray brought up a mother forgetting her kid's bday. The s4 promotion also had the surfer boy van play happy birthday music. And the ST account posted a birthday cake before s4 was released.And In s2 Joyce brought up Will’s birthday. And in s2 Will even talks about the upside-down with Mike : in front of a "happy birthday" mug. And Will in s2 even has a "sorry, I forget your birthday" card in front of a drawing of "WILL THE WISE" as foreshadowing.
And apparently vecna’s birthday is also on the same day as Will’s? We also have a character named victor creel in ST (and since xmen was reffed in ep 1 by Will , it may be a easteregg to victor creed). Victor Creed in xmen had a habit of traumatizing people on their birthdays. Which is reminiscent of Lonnie who forced Jonathan to hunt and kill a rabbit on his 10th birthday (which caused him to "cry for a week"). Lonnie did this to jonathan so he'd "be more of a man". Since Lonnie already called Will homophobic slurs -and Will is a proficient shooter. (Lonnie may have done similar things on Will's birthday as well to the point Will blocked out or forgot some birthday events in the past) . If Will did have powerful reality altering abilities ...it's possible people are forgetting the day of his birthday: because Will himself wants to forget a birthday related trauma. We already see how repressed memories have been used in s4 for El.
But again... it's just a guess. I do think the forgotten b day may be brought up in a nightmare/hallucination induced by vecna. If my crack theory about Will is wrong. My other guess is , it's the mindflayer/Vecna messing with the memories of his loved ones (since Mike, Joyce, and Jonathan recounting positive memories of their times with Will broke Will from his possession in s2 ). The mindflayer already wiped some of Will’s memories in s2 so it’s possible he does some memory-erasing like that again I suppose ? But , i'll be honest I like my crack theory more (go big or go home). XD
I DON’T believe stranger things is a d&d game but I do think the finale may have Mike ( or Will?) write a book about what occurred . Aka everything happened - but he writes a fantasy/scifi novel titled “stranger things.” I only say this because many movies the st writers cited: have a character write a memoir of their life discussing the events that just took place in the film, And the title of the book was the title of the film the viewer just watched (very meta). Aka one of the characters wrote their story (of what literally happened in the past ). Which is why every episode is titled a “chapter.” It’d be like a memoir ( being passed off as fiction). Mike being the dungeon master (writer of campaigns) could be foreshadowing his future career as a fantasy writer . But Will in s2 also said he was "writing a story" about the supernatural, so it could be Will who is the author (which would go with the whole theme of him creating the ud etc). Some theorists recently stated they think Mike is the one with powers who created everything -given the fact he's the 'dungeon master' and his ability to seemingly predict the supernatural . It's a super cool theory. But, it's hard to say what's meta foreshadowing or what should be taken more literally. Him predicting supernatural events could just be foreshadowing for the season - and or a hint he'll be the writer of "stranger things" the book (but it could be deeper ). I still hope it's Will who created the supernatural (sorry, I know I'm biased XD).
ok, that's it for now. This may all change and be updated once part 2 is out. Because it airs on Christmas I'm not sure when I'll be able to analyze part 2 tbh. But I will as soon as I can. Happy Hollidays :)
I also predict that Will will temporarily die and in that moment, Mike would be so heartbroken that he'll confess his feelings to Will while possibly cradling his dead body. Will witnesses Mike's confession from outside his body (because he is dead obviously) and realizes that he has a life worth living that he's not ready to leave behind, a life shared with the love of his life whose feelings he now knows is reciprocated. I predict that a montage of Mike and Wills moments will be played over this scene as Mike confesses to Will and Will watches from beyond his body. Overcome with emotion, either Will used the last of his powers or some other character uses theirs (I imagine this character witnesses Wills longing to be brought back to life and honors his desire, this character could be either El or possibly redeemed Henry) to bring Will back to life. Will then gasps for air as he finds himself in his body again, looking up at Mike's tearful face as Mike is cradling his body. In the moment, nothing else matters besides the fact that they are together again. Before Mike could say a word, Will says "I know" and they share their first kiss, the upside down kiss.
Theories for s5 part2 / part 3 of Stranger things:
We see Henry’s backstory in the play appears to be canon (or semi-canon) in the show . Aka he’s been possessed by the mindflayer since he was a kid . Max and the children will probably be used as a way to establish Henry’s backstory (from the play) within the show. As they’re literally stuck in Henry’s nightmarish memories . It’ll be metaphorical time travel. If Henry is indeed possessed; he may be trapped in his own mind similar to Terry who was stuck in what was described as a “dream” that was essentially a time loop of her worst traumas and memories.
The demos may attack the hospital because Vecna (or the m.f .) are worried about Max waking up and having access to the truth of Henry's possession. Maybe Max being in Henry's mind/memories starts interfering with the mindflayer's hold of him? Or Vecna may just not want her to have access to a certain personal memory -so attacks her body that's in the hospital. But , of course, Max will eventually wake up and be ok in the end.
El and Kali working together will be pivotal in saving the day and their friends- as El can go into people’s minds and Kali can cause illusions (like Vecna can do on his own) . Kali has various parallels to Henry but also key differences as a way to allude to her importance in saving the day as well. I know a lot of people think Kali will be a 'traitor' in s5 , but I hope the writers aren't that predictable . Kali is morally gray, but I feel like she won't be an outright villain-she's named after a Hindu goddess who protects kids after all . Aka Kali helping the 12 kids who were kidnapped in the show.
Also her being brought back to just die (would piss me off). Kali will probably challenge El’s world view in some way in s5, like she did in s2 (and El will probably do the same for Kali). I do believe Kali and Jane in the finale leave together . In one of the st novels, Kali fakes an experiment’s death (via an illusion) in front of a gov official , so they could escape the USA and flee the country. I could see the 2 faking their deaths (via an illusion), and going "somewhere beautiful" -finally free of the government. My guess is Sweden since it also has waterfalls (and in s1 they lied and said Jane was Swedish while she was wearing a disguise). The death of the El look alike in s5e1 could be foreshadowing of her faked death. Especially since el has had a fake death in the s1 finale too . (Theoretically) Jane and Kali are the only 2 to really be able to understand each other fully . They’re the only 2 people left who understand what it’s like to be deprived of a childhood , name and reduced to a number, a "monster", an experiment . And they both could be a comfort to one another as they adjust to the normal world. It would be bitter sweet for El to leave the party but certainly better than El sacrificing her life literally .
When most of the team goes into the upside down I do believe vecna or the mindflayer (or whoever the big bad is ) may cause certain members of the party to have nightmares of their worst fears and traumas as a way to prevent the team in succeeding in their plan . Possibly the core 4 boys , Jonathan , Joyce, etc . Maybe Hopper too- we see Kali flash memories of his daughter Sara to try and prevent him from getting physically close to her. So vecna may do something similar to various members of the team (if they get too close to the physical location of the 12 kids). It would be a good distraction if certain segments of the teams are 'out of it' and 'seeing things'. He did something similar in s4.
I also think that this narrative device (of nightmares) may be what officially OUTS Mike to the audience and re-contextualizes past scenes like the snowball ( and shows Mike's past struggles with internalized homophobia to the viewer) . I think Vecna may exploit both Will & Mike's fear of romantic rejection in these nightmares . Mike may also help snap Will out of his nightmare (or vice versa) possibly at the church in the upsidedown. This may be the catalyst for Will admitting the truth of the painting to Mike (if it's not done by El in her talk with Mike). But Will/Mike probably don't get much time to discuss it right then and there (since their friends are currently in danger ). I would be disappointed, but not surprised, if Mike's feelings aren't confirmed until the very last episode. And all the other byler proof in part 2 is sadly left to interpretation until the very last episode . I could see Mike saying "I know"- to Will admitting El didn't commission the painting (and bylers see the romantic star wars ref while m*levens say it's proof byler isn't happening). Mike may suspect Will's feelings (but if Will doesn't say he's in love with mike in the possible painting confession -Mike may still have lingering doubts about Will's feelings and his motivations for the painting which could be later exploited by Vecna in a nightmare). I discussed this whole dream theory in depth here ( this theory is partially based on films said to inspire st plus prior seasons-I get more into it there ).
It appears the original plan was for the 12 kids to be used to create enough energy to make a bridge to merge the dimensions together (similar to the teenagers k*lled to open the 4 portals in s4). But who knows , maybe the kids are partially just a trap to lure Will in: "Do you see them William, the children?" If Vecna is still possessed by the mindflayer - Will trying to get into vecna’s head to puppet him may backfire (possibly leading to the mindflayer repossessing and puppeting Will and using him as a bridge of sorts).
If that’s the case it would mirror x-men 134 which Will name dropped in the first episode of s1 . It was about the dark phoenix saga: where a character is possessed by a cosmic entity (the dark phoenix) and temporarily becomes evil. Also similar to the novel ‘never ending story’ : Bastian is taken over by “the darkness” and temporarily becomes evil. cannon st comic:
If Will’s repossessed I assume Mike and Will's other loved ones will be important to help break the mindflayer’s control of him. In the st play, ‘the first shadow’ , Patty (Henry’s love interest) helped him fight the mindflayers control . And the official play bio compares patty & Henry to Mike & Will. Patty & Henry admitting their love for each other - actually temporarily stopped the mindflayer’s possession of Henry .Finale be like: “I don’t know what’s on the other side of this"/ "and we kiss as though nothing could fall and the shame was on the other side" .
I’m still attached to my old crack theory of Will (subconsciously) creating the mindflayer and upside down creatures because of his childhood trauma involving his dad (old theory here ) . In d&d lore, mindflayers are actually from the future , but time travel into the past (which could be an explanation for all the time-travel /clocks refs in ST) . various books/ films referenced in the show could allude to that plot twist of Will creating everything . Let's look at those:
-Jonathan in s2 hands Will "the twighlight zone" film: A subplot in it involves a boy with a bowl cut, uses his imagination powers to create monsters and warp reality. We see the boy first introduced playing arcade games. Like how at the beginning of s2: Will and Co are first seen at the arcade . The boy gets upset after finding a news paper clipping : where someone writes on it, anonomously saying he is a ‘monster’ . Aka like the newspaper, Will found, where someone wrote and referred to him as a “zombie boy”. And this boy also tells a monster (he created) to ‘go away’. similar to Will saying to the mindflayer to “go away”.
-Dustin and susie sing “never ending story” which is literally about a seemingly normal boy named Sebastian (who is from a single parent home) subconsciously making a fantasy world that's being invaded by "the darkness" . The 'darkness' represented the loss of hope/dreams: that only his imagination powers could fix . Also yes, Sebastian does look like Will (since he also has the signature bowl cut).
-Suzie in s3 is seen reading the novel: 'the wizard of Earthsea' . And starts taking to dustin about "GED FACING THE SHADOW" . The trilogy is about a pre-teen wizard named Ged (who also has a bowl cut). The boy wizard casts a powerful spell, but the spell goes awry and instead he releases a shadow creature! The new Archmage, Gensher, describes the shadow as an ancient evil that wishes to possess Ged (like the mindflayer possessing Will, and dustin describing the mindflayer as a very old creature ) . But geshner was wrong- the boy wizard accidentally created the shadow monster, and it wasn’t ancient at all. Ged had to face his metaphorical demons so he could take control of his shadow.
-Duffers cited the silent hill videogames as inspo as well: And in s1 Hopper named dropped the character Alessa’s last name. “The bad guys faked Alessa’s death and prepared a substitute body of alessa; and performed a fake autopsy (like Will in s1) . Young Alessa’s latent psychic abilities were triggered and she shrouded Silent Hill in fog and monsters. Many of the drastic changes that befall the town in the game, such as the horrific creatures that come to inhabit it, are conjured from her imagination. The monsters in Silent Hill are deeply tied to the psychological trauma and repressed memories relating to Alessa Gillespie's abusive parents."
The demogorgan in d&d also means the “deep father” which could be symbolic of his abusive dad (so some of the mindflayers traits could also be loosely inspired by Lonnie, and d&d monsters ) . The demogorgan in s1 was symbolically paralleled to Lonnie a lot. And in s2, Will lied and said the mindflayer drawing (which was placed next to his baseball mitt-and therefore connected to Lonnie) was "for a story (he) was writing." Not to mention the mindflayer attacked/ first possessed Will in a baseball field. And Will in s3 even says "he's back" after he uses his dad's bat .
This could be why there’s so many time travel references in ST : the story could be a closed unpreventable time loop : “there upon a rainbow is the answer to a never ending story” . Cough like the rainbow ship Will created. Because Will created the mindflayer it caused Henry to gain powers and become part of 'project rainbow' under Brenner. This leads to Henry eventually becoming vecna - leading to Will being taken to the upside down and the current story. And since (in the play) all the numbers were created via getting blood transfusions from Henry. And since Henry’s blood was altered after he interacted with the mindflayer as a child : it could mean a lot of characters are connected through a time paradox . St was also based on 'the montauk project' which is about time paradoxes and a psychic kid creating a monster from his imagination that manifests into the real world. The s5 teaser also had the song "child in time" play. The UD being stopped on the day of Will's dissapearance may be a hint of Will's bigger connection in the narrative and the upside-down . The clock young Henry looks at , literally says "WILLIAMS" on it (and 2 Williams were later flayed by the mindflayer). Dustin in s3, even handed Will a “forever clock”. And in s1-2, when the monsters appeared we could even hear the sound of a clock ticking. Right before Will sees the mindflayer outside his house in s2, there's even a zoom in on a random clock . And "time after time" plays at the snowball, and it's revealed the Mindflayer was watching the entire thing. Lyric: "I hear the clock tick and think of you... the second hand (of a clock) unwinds. I'll be waiting time after time." Even choosing 12 kids could be symbolic -cause it'd be like a clock . The clock goes in a full circular rotation --like a closed stable TIME LOOP would)!
Owens in s2 even described Will's anniversary effect as "neurological flood gates opening" (like El opening the gates to the U.D). Since El in the lab was being taught how to go INTO people's minds to spy, the void she opened in s1 with the demogorgan may have actually been a thought from someone's mind- Will's subconscious mind. Nancy even theorized in s2 "this thing is like a big brain controlling everything." Maybe subconsciously, it's Will's brain?
In most of the books and films the duffers have referenced: a character realizes they subconsciously created the antagonist & the fantasy world. This allows them to face their metaphorical demons by using their 'mind' to alter the reality of the dream-scape and the monsters that reside there. And thus get a happy ending . In s5, it was Will who "stopped the scary movie" (the hive mind) with his thoughts. And he may do something similar in the finale. I think it would make the most narrative sense for the creator to be Will, but they may just make it Henry or El I suppose.
A small part of me also wonders if Will does temporarily die (like how in s1 they had to do cpr to re-start his heart). Will was later dubbed “the boy who came back to life.” Which was a reference to Harry Potter ( “the boy who lived” ) . Like Will, he had a psychic connection to the evil noseless wizard . Harry also temporarily died but was brought back to life in the finale. And Will is called a "zombie boy" too. Harry also defeated the big bad with "love" and the teamwork of his friends/ found family. Which is a consistent motif in ST too . So even if there's no fake out death: love/team work still saves the day. Honestly with the power of illusions there might be a bunch of fake-out deaths/injuries just to mess with certain characters or the audience.
Birthday gate is a bit hard to pinpoint but I'll try. Will’s bday was supposed to be in s4 but seemed to be forgotten. In s4, murray brought up a mother forgetting her kid's bday. The s4 promotion also had the surfer boy van play happy birthday music. And the ST account posted a birthday cake before s4 was released.And In s2 Joyce brought up Will’s birthday. And in s2 Will even talks about the upside-down with Mike : in front of a "happy birthday" mug. And Will in s2 even has a "sorry, I forget your birthday" card in front of a drawing of "WILL THE WISE" as foreshadowing.
And apparently vecna’s birthday is also on the same day as Will’s? We also have a character named victor creel in ST (and since xmen was reffed in ep 1 by Will , it may be a easteregg to victor creed). Victor Creed in xmen had a habit of traumatizing people on their birthdays. Which is reminiscent of Lonnie who forced Jonathan to hunt and kill a rabbit on his 10th birthday (which caused him to "cry for a week"). Lonnie did this to jonathan so he'd "be more of a man". Since Lonnie already called Will homophobic slurs -and Will is a proficient shooter. (Lonnie may have done similar things on Will's birthday as well to the point Will blocked out or forgot some birthday events in the past) . If Will did have powerful reality altering abilities ...it's possible people are forgetting the day of his birthday: because Will himself wants to forget a birthday related trauma. We already see how repressed memories have been used in s4 for El.
But again... it's just a guess. I do think the forgotten b day may be brought up in a nightmare/hallucination induced by vecna. If my crack theory about Will is wrong. My other guess is , it's the mindflayer/Vecna messing with the memories of his loved ones (since Mike, Joyce, and Jonathan recounting positive memories of their times with Will broke Will from his possession in s2 ). The mindflayer already wiped some of Will’s memories in s2 so it’s possible he does some memory-erasing like that again I suppose ? But , i'll be honest I like my crack theory more (go big or go home). XD
I DON’T believe stranger things is a d&d game but I do think the finale may have Mike ( or Will?) write a book about what occurred . Aka everything happened - but he writes a fantasy/scifi novel titled “stranger things.” I only say this because many movies the st writers cited: have a character write a memoir of their life discussing the events that just took place in the film, And the title of the book was the title of the film the viewer just watched (very meta). Aka one of the characters wrote their story (of what literally happened in the past ). Which is why every episode is titled a “chapter.” It’d be like a memoir ( being passed off as fiction). Mike being the dungeon master (writer of campaigns) could be foreshadowing his future career as a fantasy writer . But Will in s2 also said he was "writing a story" about the supernatural, so it could be Will who is the author (which would go with the whole theme of him creating the ud etc). Some theorists recently stated they think Mike is the one with powers who created everything -given the fact he's the 'dungeon master' and his ability to seemingly predict the supernatural . It's a super cool theory. But, it's hard to say what's meta foreshadowing or what should be taken more literally. Him predicting supernatural events could just be foreshadowing for the season - and or a hint he'll be the writer of "stranger things" the book (but it could be deeper ). I still hope it's Will who created the supernatural (sorry, I know I'm biased XD).
ok, that's it for now. This may all change and be updated once part 2 is out. Because it airs on Christmas I'm not sure when I'll be able to analyze part 2 tbh. But I will as soon as I can. Happy Hollidays :)
I'm so happy that I got to go on this journey with you other bylers. The Byler community is so strong and smart. It's inspiring. I don't feel delusional, I have no doubt. You guys have made me so happy and proud to be a fan of byler.
There's gonna be people in the GA who will say they knew it all along and switch up once byler becomes canon, but you guys are really the ones who have been theorizing and truly knowing all along. WE knew byler was gonna be canon. We stood together for years. I'm so grateful to be part of such a strong community. We've fought together for a long time. We fought against thousands upon thousands of homophobes together. I'm so glad to fight alongside you guys.
So, yeah. I guess I just want to say thank you. For everything. Thank you bylers!! Thank you for making me feel validated!!! Thank you for analyzing every scene to the point of zero doubt!!! Thank you for showing the world it IS that deep!!!!! Thank you!!! Thank you for being such a good community!!!!!
Our battle against the byler-antis isn't over, and probably won't be over for a long time. Especially after byler becomes canon. Still, I want it to be known that I cherish you all and our years of sticking together.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I can't wait to fangirl over volume 1 of ST5 with you all in a couple days!! WOOO!!!
I’m a 21 year old trans man. I’ve known who I am since I was 7. I learned the language to describe it when I was 12. I’ve been openly trans since I was 13.
I have diagnosed gender dysphoria—the kind that wrecks your brain and your body, the kind that makes living in the wrong skin unbearable, and the kind that’s been at the core of what being transgender actually means for decades
So let me be blunt:
You need gender dysphoria to be transgender.
Otherwise, you’re not trans. You’re something else—and that’s fine, but don’t water down what this word means.
Trans isn’t a vibe. It’s not a trend. It’s not an aesthetic or a game of pronoun dress-up.
It’s a painful, often dangerous path of confronting your body, your past, your identity, and society just to be seen as who you are.
I’ve been discriminated against, mocked, misgendered, physically assaulted and called “it” to my face like I was some kind of creature. That word was never cute or quirky—it was used to dehumanize me. So when I see people online choosing it/its as pronouns and saying it’s empowering or “nonbinary,” I genuinely can’t wrap my head around it.
You’re free to use whatever language feels right to you, but let’s not pretend it doesn’t come with history. For those of us who were called “it” not by choice, but out of hate—it’s not gender-neutral. It’s erasure.
We fight for hormones. We fight for surgery. We fight to be taken seriously—and when you tell the world that “you don’t need dysphoria to be trans,” you erase everything we went through to survive.
You don’t get to rewrite the definition and then shame people like me for calling it out.
This isn’t gatekeeping—it’s protecting the meaning of a word that saved my life.
And while we’re at it, I don’t care if people want to use "neopronouns" like ze/zir or bun/bunself as nicknames, an OC, or personal flair. Go for it.
But let’s stop pretending these are real, gendered pronouns tied to an actual identity the way he/him, she/her and they/them are. They aren’t.
The more you push made-up pronouns as valid genders, the more fuel you give to transphobes who already don’t take any of us seriously.
You’re not helping the community—you’re making it harder for people who actually need to transition to survive to be seen, heard, and respected.
You can identify however you want.
But stop hijacking “transgender” and stop acting like criticism is oppression. We’ve earned the right to speak up.
We're being too hard on a girl who carries the hope of humanity on her shoulders, lost maybe her entire family because of it and chose her own kind over a group of apes she met 3 days ago. We're always on the side of the apes because "evil humans" but at this point the saga shows us several times that both species can be good or bad, and apes are also bad, selfish and treacherous, and they could also destroy the world just like humans did.
She chose his kind over everything, IT IS THE SAME THING that many people say Caesar should have done even if it meant sacrificing innocent people
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