Will created the Mindflayer (Theory revisited)
After, watching all 3 seasons I believe the upside down/mindflayer is not only an allegory for Will and Elâs (cannon) ptsd/ and trauma but also (because of their powers), has become a physical manifestation (with a life of itâs own). I previously talked about how El made the upside down/demorgorgans and how Will created the mindflayer and demodogs (before s3). However I wanted to add more details to this analysis and  focus on how the Mindflayer represented Willâs darker emotions and thoughts in s3 . So letâs get started.
The original title for Stranger things was âMontaukâ- in reference to the Montauk Project. It was about experiments conducted on psychic children, where the scientists would âbreakâ them psychologically to strengthen their powers and to program them. In one of the stories there was a boy named Duncan who could âopen portals to other dimensions and periods of timeâ . However, one day âDuncan let loose a monster from his subconscious.âÂ
This is where Stranger Things comes in⌠El, opened the portal and created the demorgorgans, which represented Elâs fears. Joyce and Nancy called the demorgorgan a âman without a faceâ, or as El called them repeatedly âthe bad men.â The bad men kill (using guns), while the demorgans are attracted to blood. However, the one time they went after someone who wasnât bleeding- was when it chased after Will, another psychic child. Brenner even says about the demorgorgan âitâs calling to you for a reasonâ. And right before El goes to the sensory deprivation tank, Brenner gives her flowers (resembling the opened face of the demorgorgan which resembles a flower). In the Stranger things novel, Suspicious Minds, a psychic character named Alice, even says â âMonstersâŚof course my brain has them.â As long as they stayed in there, everything would be all right. âWouldnât it?â
The upside down/ opening of the gate/demorgorgan is even described as something that  grows and spreads, âlike a cancerâ. And something that will eventually kill her, if not confronted (and analogy to suicidal thoughts?)
In s1 Dusting even asks, Eleven âDo you have cancer?â In a literal sense no, but the buzzcut ( which makes people assume she has cancer) represents the abuse sheâs been through. And if she doesnât confront her trauma it will slowly eat away at her until it kills her . Â Or the physical manifestation of it will.
The name El is the name of a Canaanite God, which means âgod of creation.â When El said in s1Â âIâm the monsterâ, only for Mike to correct her and disagree. In a way theyâre both right, itâs not her who is in control. But the monsters (who has a life of its own) represents her darker emotions and fears and is affected by her feelings- and this is why they were mirrored to each other visually.
So the fact that the Mindflayer shows up for the first time when Will is experiencing his âanniversary effectâ relating to his ptsd, may not be a coincidence. Donât you find it strange when Willâs dog died between s1-2, the demorgorgans become demo-dogs?  And once again,  the vines ( put inside Will in s1) and the shadow monster/Mindflayer - are also described as spreading, and we are told that it will kill Will. Will even says â the more he spreads the more connected to him I feel.â And if Iâm right about Will becoming number 12, itâs interesting to point out that 12 is a numeral symbol for âGod of creationâ, as well.
The other Drs/scientists are extremely callous and say they need to continue the burn (even if it kills Will). However, Dr Owens even says after this âYouâre putting a bandaid on this.â Â Meaning they arenât addressing the real problem- Will & Elâs trauma.
And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if Iâm right- this also implies Will was m***sted as a kid (probably by Lonnie), who always called him homophobic slurs. The demorogorgan represented âBrenner/ the bad-menâ to El. And the Mindflayer initially represented Lonnie, to Will . Will is even the first to call the Mindflayer a âheâ, instead of an it- even though in d&d cannon Mindflayers are âsexless hermaphoditesâ.Â
Also,Will doesnât initially call the Mindflayer a âheâ but an âitâ.And if you only take out certain pieces of dialogue between Joyce and Will, when they first talk  about the mind flayer, where they only refer to it as an âitâ ⌠and if you put  [âhe/himâ] pronouns there instead⌠then the rest of the discussion about the mind flayer literally sounds⌠questionable.
Will: âIt all just went blank and then you were thereâ
Joyce: âWill I need you to tell me the truth.â
Joyce: âBut ⌠ But I canât help you if I donât know whatâs going on. So you have to talk to me. Please. No more secrets, okay? Okay.â
Will: â [*It] came for me and ⌠and  I tried⌠I tried to make [*it] go away ⌠but [*it] got me momâ.     (*he, * him,* he)
Joyce: What does that mean?â
Will: âI felt [*it] everywhere. everywhere. I- I still feel [*it]. I just want this to be over!â Â Â Â Â (*him, *him)
Joyce: âLOOK AT ME! I Will never let anything bad happen to you ever again!â
And Iâm not sure how seriously I should take the cannon spotify playlists. But, the cannon spotify character playlists  (which netflix and spotify worked on and published together after s2) alluded to this on both Jonathan and Willâs playlists. And the only songs about their dads hint at this fact.
Jonathanâs Playlist- Weâre happy family: âEating refried beans (poverty). Gulpinâ down Thorazines (pills for a mood disorder). We ainât got no friends (s2 ref). Our troubles never end. Daddy likes men. Daddyâs telling lies.â
Enter sandman: âDonât forget my son. Sleep with one eye open. Gripping your pillow tight, Exit light, Enter night. Take my hand, weâre off to never-never land. Somethingâs wrong, shut the light, heavy thoughts tonight. Dreams of liars and of things that will bite, yeah. Hush little baby donât say a word, and never mind that noise you heard. Itâs just the beasts under your bed, in your closet in your head.â
Willâs playlist- Creature comfort: âSome boys hate themselves
spend their lives resenting their fathersâŚSome boys get too much, too much love, too much touch⌠look in the mirror and wait for the feedbackâ
And if the vines and the shadow monster represent his dad the fact it enters violently through his mouth, and the way he describes the Mf first possessing him further reinforces this analogy. Especially since Billy/MF lays on top of his victims, and  right before the monster puts a similar thing in their mouths says (To Heather) âDonât be afraid. Itâll all be over soon. Just stay very stillâ, and (to El) âDonât be afraid . Itâll all be over soon. Just try and stay⌠very still.â (May indicate Will might have have heard his dad say this  to him, and thats why the Mf says it to his victims.)
The entry of the vine, even causes him to spit out a slug, as he looks back in the mirror (like in the song lyric).
The experience of the vine/slug probably brought back traumatic memories, not to mention his time in the upside down invented new ones. The mindflayer first appears during Willâs ptsd âanniversary effectâ. And in s2 when Joyce asked about the mindflayer drawing, Will  lies saying itâs for a story heâs writing . But maybe, unbeknownst to him⌠it wasnât actually a lie ? The 1st time Will senses the Mf again in s3, is when heâs watching a movie about zombies (on a âdateâ with Mike). And in s3, the monster the Mf creates is based âthe thingâ ( by  merging zombies bodies together)⌠and we see Will writing the d&d story right next to this âThe Thingâ poster. The light at itâs head, indicating this whole story may be Willâs idea all along.Â
So âthe thingâ, the zombies, defeating it with fire were all referenced to Will- and later showed to unfold in the Mfâs story. And even though d&d always foreshadows later events in the season, I find it interesting that the one time in the series we see Will write the d&d story⌠is when it matches MFâs plans. The shadow monster stayed in the real world, after the gate closed (and didnât do anything for 6 months)? And specifically choses to attack/possess a guy named William who also was abused by his dad and called homophobic slurs (internalized hate perhaps)? And donât you find it strange that the shadow monster only decides to come out now, in the summer (despite it not liking hot temperatures) when Will is at his lowest point emotionally? Well, itâs because the MF is based on Willâs darker emotions and thoughts.
 S3 was the season that Will was feeling jealous over mileven, and probably coming more to terms with his sexuality - and this is when the mindflayer/shadow monster decides to strike. Whenever the Mf is close and Will touches his neck relates to his romantic feelings for Mike. 1st time itâs on one of their âmovie datesâ, 2nd time when Mike and El walk off together down the hill, 3rd time right after he smashed castle byers after Mike says âitâs not my fault you donât like girlsâ, 4th time when Mike asks him to go away so he can talk to El in the hospital waiting area, and 5th time when Mike says El loves El.Â
And again itâs when Will smashes castle Byers that Will first says âHeâs backâ. Castle byers was built on a rainy night , the same day Willâs dad left, when Will was 5 (the same age he met Mike). And lonnie called him a âqueerâ and a âf*gâ and forced him to do ânormal thingsâ like baseball to have him âbe more of a manâ. And then on a rainy night, after Mike says âItâs not my fault you donât like girlsâ⌠what does Will destroy castle byers with? A bat.Â
Will drew up castle byers before creating it in the real world. Â And the fact Will has a baseball bat (despite not liking baseball) in Castle Byers, surrounded by things he loves: drawings, d&d, art supplies, a microscope, comics- just shows what an impact Lonnieâs problematic conditioning and abandonment had on him. He used a baseball bat to destroy something he loves -castle Byers, and symbolically he was trying to reject his feelings for Mike using Lonnieâs old tactics of fixing him. So regardless of what Lonnie did or didnât do, the correlation between the MF and Lonnie is there. He smashes up castle Byers with a bat (thinking of Lonnie) and then he feels âmore connected to him (the Mf)â again, and says âhe (the Mf) is backâ.
The reason we didnât get Willel, was for a narrative reason. We are shown that Max and El donât know each other. Itâs implied that El almost never leaves the house and just spends her time kissing Mike. So Will never got to have the opportunity to get to know her either. And for Will his resentment of El isnât simply based on the fact he loves Mike. He insults El calling her a âstupid-girlâ just like how Robin said she hated Steve and his âstupid-hairâ because the girl she liked , liked him- and of course a lot of that redirected hate isnât mere jealousy, but projected internalized homophobia. I donât think a straight person could ever really understand how much hate queer people initially have for themselves when initially figuring things out- so his redirected anger is more than simple jealousy, but just hate for himself. He even looks at a picture of Mike after this and says âso stupidâ, 4 times , while at castle Byers.
But honestly, thatâs nothing compared to the hate he has/ how he blames her for ruining his life! El might have saved him twice (and it might of been an accident/ dr Brenner whoâs really to blame). But Will knows she opened the gate . So to him, he spent a week in a place with no sunlight, food, or breathable air , having to experience that vine, dying, getting ptsd, being ostracized by everyone at school and being called âzombie boyâ and a âfreakâ- being possessed by the MF, getting burned alive, killing Bob (the closest thing to a real father figure) and all those men (making him a murderer), and strangling his mom.Because of her!
And then thatâs when s3 starts to make a lot more sense. Will might not want anything bad to actually happen to El but heâs probably had these dark thoughts before. Will even says about the MF.
He says the real Mf is still in the upside down, but âthe part that was still in him⌠was still in their world.â And it flashes to Elâs face as he says it. Essentially the Mf is motivated by his fictionalized story, thoughts/memories of Lonnie, and any dark intrusive thought Will has ever had about El , much to Willâs horror.Â
He said in s3 that âIâm not worried about me, mom. Iâm worried about you.â So the fact that he strangled her and almost killed her in s2, probably haunts him to this day- and he might of thought, âwish I strangled her insteadâ. And who does Billy/Mf look at right before grabbing her throat, and who is the first reaction shot we see when he starts choking her - Willâs horrified expression!
Maybe the Mf thought El was the most important, and that Will was nothing ( despite all the foreshadowing indicating the Mf held special intentions for Will), because he feels like heâs nothing compared to El? Will even says in s2 it wanted to kill everyone, but him, but now itâs saying that to El only? Maybe because Will wanted her to experience having such an entity say it to her too, and experience the same fear and isolation it caused him? In s2, why did the Mf chase Will and possess him at the school, when El (at the same time) was at the school as well (if it was always after her)? Itâs because the Mfâs motivations are linked to Willâs feelings/emotions.
He probably also thought, how would you like a slug crawling/invading your body, huh?And although it doesnât go to her mouth (probably because he could never wish that on anyone- if it symbolizes what I think it does). She still has a similar experience. And everyone is worried/horrified but Will is the only one sobbing (probably because he thought of this happening to her before).
After this he doesnât even help move the car, he just stays glued at Elâs side as if trying to protect her. And interestingly, this is when El loses her powers. Will may have even thought. If she never had her powers, none of this would have ever happened! Or âyou guys wouldnât think sheâs so great without her powers.â So did Will accidentally steal her powers?!!!! Maybe. Will has always been associated with bears (along with 3 other animal symbols that El also has).  We see a zoom in shot of Willâs bear drawing right before the demorgorgan takes him from the upside down version of castle byers in s1. Bears symbolically represent  âwisdomâ like âWill the wiseâ and were associated with the demorgorgan/upside down in s1 and 2 as well . Max and Nancy both compared demorrgorgans to bears- and Nancy and Jonathan used a bear-trap to capture the demorgorgan in s1. So when El tries to grab Willâs teddy bear (it was shown to be his in s1) with her powers. And Mike says âtheyâll come backâ. They might actually come back, because Will and ELâs relationship improves. Mike even tried to give El a golden bear as a gift (so maybe that signifies the giving back of her powers in s4 ?)
Will was always hinted to have powers from the very beginning, so it would be incredibly stupid to just drop this plot point, despite all the foreshadowing. In the 1st episode, Will wins Dustinâs xmen comic in a bet- and Dustin later asks the gang âDo you think Eleven was born with powers like the xmen?â And also before he was sent to the upside down his password for Castle Byers was âRhadagastâ a wizard character from Lord of the Rings. And in the ST prequel novel âSuspicious Mindsâ Â the adult psychics were referenced to both the xmen and lord of the Rings characters. And in the comic, he keeps on saying âwhat would Will- the Wise doâ (his d&d wizard character). Also Dustin straight up called El a âwizardâ in the last ep of s1, at Willâs bedside. Not to mention Mike in s2 called Will a âclericâ - and clerics get their powers from a god (cough the mindflayer), and in d&d the wiser the cleric the more powerful they are. And Willâs nickname is âWill the wiseâ? The fact that Will in s1 drew his character with lightning and fire powers- and the fact he barbecued 2 phones in s1 (just like El did to the radio at the school). In s1 was said he could âshadow walkâ a wizard d&d power. Â The fact he could control lights and manipulate electronics to communicate to his mom from another dimension (and in s1 only El could do that). The fact he literally created a portal through the wall of his house (just like El did at the school in s2). And just the many other hints in s1! The fact that he drew himself in s2 with a crystal ball (which is associated with the powers of scrying and clairvoyance) before being possessed, but just so happen to have those abilities in s2. Dustin also said the only way to defeat the MF is an undead army and Willâs nickname is âzombie boyâ. So frankly, his fight with the MF (who is still in the upside down) may not be over. And that new demorgagan in Russia might be a symbol of Elâs grief over Hopperâs (perceived) death.
This would honestly, be the only explanation that would allow me to forgive the Duffers . Like you can steal this idea from me! Please! XD
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