Will Byers: a series of connecting theories
this is very long but all interconnected
The Exotic Matter Origin: Will
Will is the creator of the Upside Down (UD) and the exotic matter keeping it stabilised.
based on theoretical research, a basis in case you are unsure how they function. skippable after first paragraph tho
Wormholes in structure have two mouths. One at the top and one at the bottom. The tunnel connecting the two mouths can be referred to as a ‘throat’. The mouths are what connects the entry/exit points at either different points in time or space (time travel, dimension travel, or teleportation)
Within the throat that connects them is the Cauchy Horizon. This is similar to a black hole's Event horizon, but they function differently in terms of escapability.
Event Horizon: The blackhole Boundary line. It Is inescapable once crossed. Passing the event horizon of a black hole is the point of No Return. This is because the required escape velocity exceeds light speed
Cauchy Horizon: The wormhole boundary line, is escapable if negative energy is maintaining the wormhole. Aka keeping it stable
Cauchy Horizons are where determinism & causality breaks down and Proper time contracts.
Determinism is the rule that things within the universe are predetermined. all events are fixed within time by a prior cause
Causality is the rule of cause and effect. Something from the future can't affect the past
Proper time is when time intervals can be measured by a clock at rest. Time flows linearly
Proper time, causality, and determinism don’t function properly near the cauchy horizon.
The closer matter gets to the cauchy horizon, the more of the future they’ll see laid out before them. The more likely it becomes for Closed timelike loops (Timeloops) to form. These are loops where the future affects the past, breaking causality for that offshoot.
Will’s Disappearance: 24 Hours
In season 1, we don’t see or hear anything about what happens to Will for approximately 24 hours after his disappearance.
He communicates with his mom through the phone, but it isn’t until the night after he goes missing. This is the first evidence that Will is likely alive, as this is around the same time the boys encounter eleven in the woods.
So Will first communicated through electricity from the UD 24 hours after going missing.
The audience doesnt actually see the upside down at all either until at least 24 hours after Will disappears. and we know that eleven creates gates specifically to dimension x/the Abyss because of sending Henry there. Using that, the gate she creates in season 1 is originally a wormhole to the Abyss, not the Upside Down.
The demogorgons are now able to wormhole through, because she connected to them through the Void. This connection was a weak basis to hold this gate open, where it closed the last time. Except it’s originally unstable as it has no consistent negative energy/exotic matter feeding it. El is also stronger.
So when the demogorgon in the shed opens a portal, I believe Will jumped through it (incorrectly believing it would just go to outside). He also could have been snatched at this point and gotten away in X/The abyss.
The portal led to the Abyss instead, as that’s where the gates/portals originally lead.
We know from the play that it takes maximum 12 hours for dimension X/The abyss to alter DNA and give abilities because that happened to Henry and dr. brenners father, capt. brenner. Will is unaccounted for for twice as long, 24 hours before we have confirmation he’s alive.
This is because as we saw with Holly, he was likely running from Vecna/A demogorgon in X and lifted up a piece of the ground. If it was a case of just one gate being accessible in X/The Abyss, he reached that. I do believe it is the former though
And that’s because, the location we see Holly fall towards when she goes through the ground in the Abyss towards The UD is exactly where the Exotic Matter is.
Will had his DNA altered by the time he’s jumping through the unstable wormhole, wishing to be home. Except the home that Will remembered was that of Nov. 6th, and through timespace warping and his DNA change (innate abilities, he's a sorcerer) that’s the place he made himself go to and create (he’s a builder).
The issue came from the fact everyone else had moved on in time-space, to Present day.
But Will fell, likely stalling exactly where the Exotic Matter currently is and generated it there from his newfound abilities and wish of being home. This effectively stabilized the wormhole and allowed for Will to communicate with his mother through the copycat version of Hawkins. Because they’re still connected through space, but not time.
Also, we know that Henry and Will’s actual powers don’t come from the Mindflayer, but the DNA alteration. Will isn’t possessed by the MF until season 2, after he was already able to create the UD and have a sense for the Abyssal creatures. His DNA had already been altered, he was just traumatized. There was no way he was going to unlock his abilities when they require accepting himself
Exotic Matter/Negative Energy is likely Will’s soul or something similar.
Will and the Exotic Matter are One
When Will is fighting against Vecna in his mind in order to help Max and Holly, Will is originally winning. He manages to break Vecnas leg in his own mind (Ep 5 time 57:20)
The very next scene is of Jancy finding the Exotic Matter and Nancy shooting it. You can deduce these scenes are most likely happening at the same time or extremely similar times narratively.
So Nancy shoots the Exotic Matter, destabilizing it. At the same time, Will loses to Vecna and gets trapped in his mind.
The Exotic Matter remains destabilized for quite a stretch of time, decaying much more of the lab than originally was destroyed.
Jonathan and Nancy have given up, and are ready to die. Suddenly, without any explanation, the Exotic Matter stabilizes. (Ep6 time 48:28)
The very next scene is El finding and rescuing Will within Vecna’s mindscape.
Will being rescued stabilized the Exotic Matter, because he is the exotic matter. It’s either his brain or his soul.
Because Nancy shooting it gave Vecna the win he needed to win against Will and take his mind in order to get Will to be a spy again. (Its deeper than just Maxs location)
We also see Will’s face get placed directly on the Exotic Matter of the whiteboard diagram for the Wormhole
Top: Dimension X/The Abyss
Exotic Matter: UD : Aka Will
In The First Shadow, we see Brenner and the MF work together to destroy Henry's belief in anyone's love. It especially targets Patty's love, as his family is already growing fearful of him/what he brings to the reputation. In the end, Henry isn't able to resist the corruption, and injures Patty pretty severely on Nov 6th. The night of Joyce's play.
He’s pushed into killing his family right beforehand, and attempts to go to Patty and get her help. This occurs at Joyce’s play, in the rafters above the stage. He also informs her that he found her birth mother (Patty is adopted by the Newby family).
Noteworthy; Patty has set wings on that Henry has her take off in the scene. Theres been a lot of mention of flying in relation to freeing yourself. Mike is still very repressed and not allowing himself to exist freely.
Brenner shows up, and goads Henry along with the Mindflayer. He also informs Patty of Henry killing his family, which seems to be across the line for her. When Henry tries to hold her, she shoves him off. This leads directly into the Mindlfayer having Henry push Patty off the rafters. And despite her attempts at begging him not to, it fails because it comes late.
Patty is severely injured, but survives her fall. Henry allows Brenner to take him to the lab for good from this point onward, and Joyce/Jim actions result in Victor getting blamed for the family murders.
Patty ends up moving to Las Vegas to be with her birth mother, and has retained little to no memory of her time with Henry. This is not explained as head trauma, as she seems to sense when he is watching her through The Void. Still, she brushes it off and moves on.
In s4 we see that Henry has become this cycle's version of Brenner (being him in Els memories) by becoming Vecna. And now we also see him with a set of kids designed on using them for something with the Mindflayer (as Brenner was doing). He targeted Will in the same way that he was targeted as a child as well.
Some Creelby parallels to Byler include them sharing secrets, having an interest in codes, both being social outcasts, having the same nerdy hobby (creelby its a radio code group, byler it is d&d), Patty has a belief that Henry is “miracle”, and Mike calls Will a sorcerer and clearly thinks highly of his opinion.
Patty is also used against Henry early on when the Mindflayer makes him see a fake Patty asking him why he can’t “touch her”. Interesting because Mike seems to have an issue touching Will at times, and Will rarely initiates touch.
Through these two points we can surmise that Vecna is doing what Brenner did to him when he was Henry, and corrupting Will's belief in Mike's love for him. The exact same way that Brenner corrupted Henry’s belief in Patty’s love for him, to the point nothing she said mattered.
We see Will go from extremely hopeful to essentially hopeless, with the only thing occurring is him being taken by Vecna. He doesn't witness a particularly affectionate Mike/Eleven moment or have Mike reject him. Vecna needs Will to be hopeless in his romance, believing it has to remain unspoken (because it is reciprocated, Vecna can't have them learn this), while also believing (false belief 2) that he’s shed his fear/secret to face Vecna.
There is also the likelihood that Vecna wants Mike to believe his love is also hopeless, so he doesn’t act later in love to save Will.
Will can't "know" that Mike isnt like him, just based on what Vecna showed him from his own mind. We’ve seen that memories can be suppressed, repressed, and messed with by various different characters. Patty Newby’s for example.
As well as the fact during his speech he says “Biking to Melvalds for milkshakes”. Melvalds is a general store, and not a diner anymore. It was a diner when Henry was young, and this info is in TFS. Melvalds is reiterated to be a general store on the WSQK radio and through the shows canon.
When Vecna was messing with Will’s memories, did Will somehow absorb or transfer some of Vecnas to his? Or did vecna take memories of himself with Patty and turn them into ones of Mike and Will? There’s a lot of different options that could be happening.
But they all point to Will’s memories or mind being messed with more than we’re being let to believe.
Following the parallels so far, the next step is to have Vecna push Will into hurting or killing Mike. However, because Will’s story is different from Henry’s, Byler won’t have a tragic end. Instead, Mike will be able to help Will in overcoming the Mindflayer and Vecnas control.
Interesting note. Charlie, Jonathans actor, said in an interview that Jonathan might help Will get what he wants. With the fact Creelby’s story ends in tragedy because of Patty’s reaction to Henry hurting his family… this might mean Jonathans death or injury is a catalyst for the final Creelby parallel, and where they deviate.
Where Will and Mike “make their own ending”
This may still result in injury to Mike/Will (see Phinneas Gage details)
Joyce’s Play: Dark of the Moon
Premise of Dark of the Moon (DotM): Set in the smokey mountains, John is a witch boy who falls in love with Barbara Allen in a town. He makes a deal to become human and woos her. In order to stay a human, Barbara has to marry and stay faithful to John throughout their marriage. They consummate and she gives birth to a monstrous baby that the townspeople kill in a frenzy. They (town) devolve into doing a religious revival ritual (which is just SA) on Barbara which results in Johns deal being broken. Barbara dies and John returns to being a witch, forgetting her.
Important Notes about parallels made within The First Shadow to the plot and characters of DotM. I will also add the further parallels third that can be assumed by the knowledge of parallels between Creelby and Byler.
Barbara Allen : Henry Creel : Will Byers
John : Patty Newby : Mike Wheeler
Within the narrative story of TFS, the plot follows a similar beat by beat progression that DotM does. In TFS Henry had multiple “suitors” that were vying for his attention. He had Brenner, the Mindflayer, and Patty Newby. In DotM Barbara had multiple suitors that are attempting to wed/sleep with her. John is one of these suitors. Both Henry and Barbaras attentions are split between multiple “people” in a sense.
There are scenes in the Allan house within DotM, and in TFS there are scenes in the Creel House. Barbara is infected and impregnated by a monstrosity, the same thing that the Mindflayer is doing to Henry at the time. Barbaras parents fear what her reputation will do to them and her, and the same goes for Henry’s parents because he has mental health issues.
DotM ends with Barbara dying due to giving birth to a monstrosity and the assault from the townfolk. John moves back to being a witch and forgets about Barbara.
TFS ends with Henry giving into the Mindflayer (dying) and giving birth to Vecna. Patty moves on with her life to her original home (birthmom) and forgets about Henry.
So while you would assume hearing that John is a witch, he’s Henry’s parallel. But narratively he is the Barbara Allan.
The lines from the play that are important and spoken within TFS are here. The Ballad of Barbara Allan, the song the play DotM is based off of, is considered a sad song and a tragedy. This is why Barbara isn’t a fan of it.
She notes however that she likes “the gay ones best” and that they could always try to make their ending a “gay one, and sing our own ending”.
This is using the definition of “happy, light hearted, carefree”. So Barbara prefers stories and songs with happy endings. But also… the gay ones!
With the running parallels between Creelby and Byler, this indicates the gay story will be the one with the happy ending. If these specific lines of dialogue (from DotM) weren’t within TFS, then this wouldn’t inherently be true. But because these lines are there, they are important.
Mike and Will have to make their own ending, in order to have a happy one.
No coincidences, as Lucas said.
Mike’s song choice: Butthole Surfers? Well yeah
The song "Human Cannonball" by the Butthole Surfers may well be a Mike spoiler song. He puts it on at the WSQK two to three scenes before Wills coming out. (WSQK scenes)
It was released in March of 1987, on their album titled Locust Abortion Specialist.
This is a fake job that doesn't exist. But Locust refers to a grasshopper that often migrates in swarms. The term "abortion specialist" implies this job is to destroy swarms of infesting pests.
in my opinion, the creatures from the Abyss and UD can be considered a swarm of invading pests.
Will and Henry's birthdays are in March, they’ve been established as parallels.
"Pardon me l'm only bleeding, but you cut me to the bone"
This is a romance song, with the creator being cited to say this is someone he is in a relationship with and who has wounded him.
This goes back to the Creelby parallels. Henry injured Patty, and we may very well see Will injure Mike. However, this could also relate to Mike being able to change the ending of his and Will’s story from Patty’s.
“My imperfections have reduced you to a lowly animal”
The singers own actions have resulted in the aforementioned wounding.
Patty pushing Henry away from her physically (after learning about his family) is a huge reason why the Mindflayer is able to take over and force him to injure her.
“It used to be that loving you, was easy, unrestrained”
Mike and Wills relationship used to be a lot easier. it functioned so much better. Thats changed in the past few years but theyve seemed to have made progress. We see in Will's coming out he feels like they did in fact grow distant and could continue to.
Mike’s face in this scene makes me feel like he feels like Will is pulling away. Mike is dealing with a lot of processing during Will’s coming out. But a huge aspect of Mike&Will is that Will always (always) tells Mike stuff first. Except this time he didnt.
What will happen to Mike and Will?
“Human Cannonball” is the trigger for the bomb intended to explode the Exotic Matter. Which, this has established is Will in some sense.
So the song about a couple wounding each other back and forth, with one being turned into a wild animal in levels of hostility, is what is being planned to be the song Will is killed to. Interestingly, this plan also requires a metal wire to electrocute a warrior D&D model.
At this time in 1987, the 2nd edition of Dungeons & Dragons had just been released. This reorganized the classes offered to the players, taking Fighter away as the primary class and making it a subclass to a new class. The Warrior Class. This also introduced a new subclass into the game.
Pg. 26 of the Dungeons and Dragons Player Handbook, 2nd Edition
So, the bomb will trigger to explode and destroy the Exotic Mattee when the warrior is electrocuted.
The bomb will trigger to explode and kill Will when Mike is electrocuted? Perhaps?
This is where I’ll end this one because it’s too long. I have different routes the parallels between Creelby and Byler can be interwoven into the finale but I’ll hold off.