the wsqk broadcast is basically 24 hours of songs that are like âfuck iâm so gay and in love with you please love me backâ interrupted by one of the hosts being like âwell that was a banger also remember guys forced conformity is BAD you should make out in the basementâ and i think thatâs beautiful
An analysis and theory on why Henry/Vecna targeted Will first in season 1 and his plans for Will in season 5
âźď¸Contains The First Shadow (TFS) spoilers so please proceed with caution.âźď¸
This is going to be a little long but Iâve tried to give as much context as I can without actually being able to show snippets from the stage play. This is my interpretation of everything that went down as a member of the audience and not as someone who has read up any theories about TFS before. To understand why Henry took Will first in 1983, we have to start with -
Henry and Joyce
From all the times Iâve watched TFS, the one thing that has stuck with me is the final conversation Henry has with Joyce. Itâs just before his last confrontation with Patty Newby and before he joins Brenner for good. Joyce is the last person (who doesnât know about Henryâs powers) that he canonically talks to.
Throughout the entire play Joyce, Hopper, and Bob are investigating the animals dying at the hands of Henry and come to the conclusion that Victor Creel has been the one doing the killing. They get so close to solving the case. In her last conversation with Henry, Joyce tries to comfort him by saying that Victor will pay for his crimes - which makes Henry laugh because sheâs so close yet so far from the truth. He gets a little frustrated and says something along the lines of âYou donât get it. But someday you will.â (edit 28/9: the exact dialogue is [Henry: youâre too nice. that is how theyâll get you. you have to learn to do anything you can to protect the ones you love] [Joyce: I donât understand.] [Henry: You will.]) The next time we see Henry make a reappearance in Joyceâs life is during -
The Vanishing of Will Byers
Will is taken into the Upside Down (UD) by Henry. Itâs not even a question anymore. All of the context clues from 1x1 lead us to believe that Willâs kidnapping was not by a demogorgon. Will - a 12 year old - miraculously survives a week in the upside down with no food or water. Will is even around the demogorgon a few times in the Upside Down. (Joyce communicating with Will through the lights and then the demogorgon coming after her immediately).
Barb dies the night she is taken but Will stays alive and also somehow manages to talk to Joyce through the wall. Joyce is led exactly to where Will was held at the end of s1 and he makes it out alive. Itâs almost as if Henry knew all along that Joyce was the most capable of never giving up on finding her son. Like Henry took Will Byers because he was Joyceâs son. And like he was giving her just enough to know that Will was alive. Even when Joyce and Hopper find him at the end in a state of near death, heâs not injured by a creature. He was being prepared for the next stage of Vecnaâs plan -
The Possession of Will Byers
The origins of Henryâs powers happen as such - As a kid, he is transported into the UD (originally coined Dimension X by the government) for a few hours because he touched something he wasnât meant to touch. During his time in there, he came in contact with the Mind Flayer (MF). According to TFS this is the point in his life when he started getting âcorruptedâ. Brennerâs dad - who was one of the first people to enter dimension X - had mutated blood after but no powers. Henry was the first person to come in contact with the MF and itâs highly likely he got his powers because of this (This would also track considering how most of the party has been in the UD now but show no signs of having powers). The MF controls Henry for the rest of TFS and Henry grows more power hungry the more he kills.
In S2, Henry presumably sends the MF after Will - who has now had a year to heal from the events of 1983. Will is the only other person in all of ST to have had direct contact with the MF and survived it. Henry didnât hesitate to kill Billy in S3, but he always gives everyone just enough to keep Will safe. Will himself tells Owens in S2 that the MF wants to kill everyone except him. Will once again survives the entire ordeal and is given a âbreakâ for the next 2 seasons. Except I donât believe heâs been just given a break. I think Will is -
Henryâs Sleeper Agent.
Ready to awaken in s5. I undoubtedly think that Will is going to have powers. And I donât think theyâre going to be the same as Henry and El. El and the other lab kids get their powers directly from Henry. Willâs powers will be directly from the MF like Henry. I believe this has been Henryâs plan all along and itâs further affirmed by what he tells Will in the recent VR game. That Will will be the key to Henry being able to infiltrate his friendsâ minds. Jamie Campbell-Bower also mentioned during the S4 press that to get in character, he set up a display with all of Henryâs victims and targetsâ faces on his wall(?), and Will was in the center.
Henry is going to use his connection with Will sneakily and midway through S5 heâs going to awaken Willâs powers (maybe in ep4 - which is said to be titled âSorcererâ and has young Will in it). Henry is going to try and manipulate his way into making an ally out of Will, and itâs not going to work because -
Will is the Perfect Character Foil.
Will is everything Henry could have been if he had a better support system. He is the perfect character foil. Unlike Henry, Will has a mother who loves him unconditionally and more importantly, believes him. Unlike Henry, the person who Will loves the most (the Patty to Willâs Henry: Mike) is going to love him back and stay by his side all season. No one is going to force them to be apart the way Henry was told to stay away from Patty. Will is not going to be easily swayed even though Henry has spent years crafting him into the perfect soldier. Sure, Henry has seen him heartbroken and sad, but that comes nowhere near to the amount of love and support Will is going to get from his people next season. And theyâre going to quite literally defeat Vecna with the power of love and friendship. After that, Will Byers is getting the happy ending that Henry could have gotten.
liking stranger things but not in a Chrissy wake up, eggos, friends donât lie, you are like papa, bowlcut, running up that hill, âtheyâre all so old now!â way but in a flickergate/birthdaygate, Byler masterdoc, tender emotional music playing, baseball as a metaphor for forced conformity, âcrazyâ means love, blue meets yellow in the west, One Way, âI donât want things to changeâ, The First I love/Love You, mike has internalized homophobia, âLove, Mikeâ, the upside down is a metaphor for abuse, byler script trending, footballgate way
so fun when mike makes a claim and everyone acts like he's insane but he's really the most correct character on the show. will's alive! there's an alternate dimension! el isn't the monster! we can't just wait around! dart's dangerous! we have to keep max out of the party or she could die! will's a spy! we can't just sit here! will can tell us how to win! el's alive! if we don't get the mind flayer out of will he'll die! if we let el and hopper go into the lab without a distraction they'll die! we have to do the sauna test! this can't be a coincidence! if we throw el at the problem when we know overusing her powers takes a physical toll on her we're being careless and she could die! being spied on is a valid concern! you can get hurt going into someone's mind that's connected to vecna! that's just bullshit media propaganda! why am i the bad guy! we've had the answer this whole time! he's never been wrong. why is no one following him around with a little notepad
was it casual, mike? when you cried the whole way home, completely inconsolable because you believed you'd lost him forever? when you kept all of his drawings in a binder? when you were the only one amongst your friends who believed he was still alive? when you recognized his soft, weak voice through the walkie talkie? when you held him close and said you'd take him home but then took him to your house? was it casual when you told him that if you two were going crazy, then you'd go crazy together? when you used a soft voice you never use with anyone else to tell him he'd not be in danger and held his hand? when you slept by his side in the hospital, when you stood by his side when he was possessed even though you could've just left him for your own safety? when you said asking him to be your friend was the best thing you've ever done with tears in your eyes? when you biked across town under pouring rain to apologize to him because you knew how badly you'd hurt him? when you told him that the hometown you guys share is not the same to you anymore because he's not there, when you missed him so much that you felt like you'd lost him? was it ever casual, mike?
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