Happy Friday everyone! If you are still on the CG train and you haven't watched the VR walkthrough yet, I highly recommend that you do so if you have the time. It is long but it is full of content that I believe helps to fill in some gaps that the show did not and also to give us some clues as to where this is all going :) I will give a quick summary of each chapter followed by my observations/interpretation of the information we are given. I will be referring to Vecna/Henry interchangeably just fyi.
This analysis will be three parts. Part One will cover chapters 1-3.
Chapter One: The Nightmare
We start off at HNL as Henry while Brenner try's to test Henry's abilities in the void. There is some mention of remote viewing and spying on the Russians. While Henry is remote viewing in the void he is side tracked by the voice of "Shadow Brenner" aka the Mind flayer.
Around 00:09:40 mins into the first chapter the MF senses El in the void and Henry is then pulled into that vision of her with Will in Castle Byers. Then Henry is immediately pulled back into a memory of El and what happened in the Rainbow Room.
Not to many this chapter is quick- there is some Russian's speaking briefly and I would love to know what they are saying but sadly I do not speak Russian. I do think it is worth noting that Henry seems to be hooked up to an EEG here while Brenner does his initial testing on him.
Chapter Two: The Mind Lair
Henry revisits his void/mindscape and finds it destroyed. Henry is quick to blame Shadow Brenner/MF, but the MF tells Henry it is his own fault for lacking focus. The MF taunts Henry. As the chapter goes on it is clear that the MF is working through Henry to corrupt and control the minds of the demodogs and demobats in his mindscape, going through rifts deeper and deeper into Henry's mind.
Shadow Brenner/MF "See how you can enter one mind to exit another? Unique but connected a hivemind"
"The pieces of this world have been arranged. That playground was not there before- that memory must have significance to manifest now when you have become so emotional."
it seems like Henry is weaker here because the Shadow Brenner/MF continuously taunts Henry. Reminding him of his insecurities being weak, being bullied, feeling inferior ect ect
Shadow Brenner/MF "The hivemind only needs a moment of distraction to rebel from your control"
Henry finds a few of his memories/trophies- His mother and his sister. Through these projections of his family, Henry is able to revisit some of his memories. It is unclear if these memories remain uncorrupted by the MF. After replaying the memories of his mother and sister, Henry continues to rebuild his mindscape/void. Shadow Brenner/MF tells Henry that he has an obsession with the past....that its the most human thing about him...compares Henry to a spider in a jar losing air. However, this obsession makes "them" weaker. The MF starts asking Henry to basically hurry up and let it free. Henry tells the MF that it is his obsession with the past that will set it free.
Henry says "I will let you lose on Hawkins to repay her"
Shadow Brenner/MF "So far our experiment has had rules but this is your world. It is time to pull it together Henry. Eleven is getting stronger."
The Mindflayer appears to Henry when they "feel El's voice in our web". Henry asks the MF to take him to El and it does.
Shadow Brenner/MF "We want more....We want to be free Henry. To devour everything."
Henry says "And you will. Through me. She is our gate." <- hold onto that for later :) "this boy is the key we've been waiting for."
Just for funsies here is this same moment in time as it happens in the comics, the show and the VR game. Kinda cool seeing it from all perspectives don't you think?
Afterall we have learned that just because we don't see Vecna/MF doesn't mean they are not there. I think it is extra cute that Will is imaging himself as Will the Wise as a source of comfort and strength...remind you of anyone else?
This is from the comic/graphic novel Stranger Things Vol. 1: The Other Side
This clip is from S1E7: The Bathtub watch it here
and finally this is the clip from the VR game for Henry/Vecna's perspective.
Whew. A lot going on in this chapter. The shadow Brenner thing still confuses me- one one hand I think it is just the MF using Brenner's appearance as an authority figure to manipulate Henry. On the other hand Brenner is very suspicious so who really knows he could totally be a MF host too. There is some imagery used in one of the comics that leads me to believe Brenner could be flayed I will include that at the end of this post.
It is clear to me that "Shadow Brenner"/MF is messing with Henry's memories in some compacity- remember the MF does not have a physical form. It needs a physical body (vessel) to interact with the human world. The MF needs Henry to act on its behalf as a bridge to the UD and Hawkins. The more the MF consumes Henry's mind, the more co-dependent their relationship becomes. Think of Henry as the "host body" and the MF as a parasite.
We hear Henry call Eleven a gate. What he means is she can open gates to other dimensions/worlds (this is also referenced in the comics). The MF was weak when the mothergate opened. That's why it needed Henry....once it took over Henry it started to slowly gather more and more power through him and the creatures under his control. The more minds it controls/absorbs, the stronger it gets. The MF's end goal is to become strong enough to absorb/control the whole town of Hawkins. Once the MF bit Eleven in S3 and absorbed her power they had already lost- that is the moment the MF was powerful enough to devour all of Hawkins. This is why we see Vecna opening gates in S4- to let the MF in. Make sense?
Well.....WTF does Henry mean by Will being "the key" then? I am so pleased you asked. Allow me to explain.
We all remember Vecna calling will a "builder" in S5. We know Will built the tunnels under Hawkins, but what if that's not the only thing he built?
We were all stumped after we saw this "illusionist" title in the end credits for S5. Now, I am no expert on DnD lore. I am simply passing along the research I have done on my own so please correct me if any of this is wrong. Turns out that an illusionist is a D&D wizard subclass that focuses on deception, misdirection, and reality-bending. Hmmm. And we don't believe in coincidences, right?
Will is the key because he is the one spinning the illusions for all of Hawkins. Who better to paint a false reality than my artistically gifted son, Will Byers? I believe this started immediately after the S4 finale.....but that's just my best guess so take it with a grain of salt. I could write an entire post with my evidence on this alone- but I think that will have to be a separate post. I have already rambled to much here.
If you do not know by now, I am forever a Henry apologist. It is very easy to see that he is no longer in control and hasn't been for some time. I do believe he deserves redemption, poor Henry never stood a chance. So please allow us all a moment of silence for Henry and let us all manifest his redemption arc together......amen.....moving on.....
Chapter Three: The Possession of Will Byers
We are now in Will's perspective as he is slowly overcome by the MF. The events in this chapter take place during S2 so I am assuming its the fall of 1984. Will tries desperately to escape the grip of Vecna/MF by using his happiest memories (he mentions Mike first btw) he uses a toy viewfinder to flip between his real memories and the corrupted memories/visions from the MF.
Henry/MF "You can't hide from what's in your head, Will"
As Will cycles through these memories/visions Vecna teases Will and says some awful things about how his friends don't want him around anymore, how they are outgrowing him, ect ect -basically just using his worst fears against him to break him down mentally. But Will knows something is wrong right away.
****Please take note that all of the false/implanted visions/memories are always shrouded in purple. ***
Unfortunately, Will is unsuccessful in warding off Vecna/MF and eventually Vecna and the MF appear to Will while mocking his feelings for Mike(see below).....which eventually breaks Will down and the chapter ends right after Vecna breaks Will's viewfinder.
p.s. this isn't even the first time Will sees the MF....The first time he sees it is in the library November 12th 1983. Something nefarious is going down in that library....I just cant prove it yet....
Well, thank you for reading....this was much longer than I originally anticipated. Hoping to get part 2 out sometime this weekend, among other things. Have a fabulous weekend y'all!!!!!
turnnoffyourmind
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