It’s time to open a new gate:
#namegate - Why is Will Byers named Will?
All the other Byers-Hopper family members’ names start with the letter J. Except Will’s. And since the writers of the show have said that we should really pay attention to the details, this is the detail I’m paying attention to now.
Will’s full name is William Jacob Byers. So why wasn’t he named Jacob William Byers, to match Joyce, Jonathan, Jim and Jane?
The theories are:
1. Will isn’t a part of the Byers(-Hopper) family
Now ofc Will is a part of that family, but what if he’s not actually Joyce’s child and Jonathan’s brother. I have two options on this, and they both connect to the #twelvegate:
A) Will is a random lab kid (number 012) who’s parents are not Joyce and Lonnie, but who somehow after the massacre ended up living with them
Or
B) Will has a twin, who is 012, and the lab either had to exchange the twins for some reason or 012 was in the UD for some reason and Joyce and Hopper found him (meaning the original Will is dead or somewhere else)
2. Will’s name had to have a meaning, and a connection to Billy
The name William means ”Vehement protector”, and I think that might mean something in s5. What? Well Idk but I’m guessing that Will will be very protective of everyone he loves and hopefully about himself too
The connection to Billy, I think, is for a contrast. In s2 Will was possessed but managed to break out of it to warn and help, to protect, Mike and others. Billy also broke out of the possession and protected El and others.
They were also both abused by their fathers. The difference is, Billy became bad himself, but Will stayed good. (Which is why he won’t die!)
3. M for Mike is upside down W for Will
This is my oldest theory and my favorite one. Take a look at this first:
Above the yellow line is our world and below it is the UD.
We know that Will was in the UD (and still has a connection) and that Mike was the key to get him back to our world (S1 not giving up on him, finding El who could help, S2 pulling him back from those episodes and the possession…).
I read a theory (in @andiwriteordie ’s fic) about Max’s consciousness being stuck in the UD. Her body is in our world, Vecna took his mind, but when Hawkins and Russia groups grilled the shit out of him, Max’s mind got freed, but still stuck in the UD, just floating there kinda like a ghost. Therefore Max is sideways on that figure I made. She’s stuck in between worlds.
El is also in between worlds but not sideways, because she’s not stuck. She can come and go in her mind whenever she likes (maybe not whenever but you get the point). Also she’s opposite from Max, meaning that she’s probably her way to become ’unstuck’.
And those 4 names’ connection to each other would be the reason Will’s first name is William and not Jacob.
Thank you for reading!
Like I said earlier, the last one is my favorite. But I think that if twelvegate is happening, this could tie into it somehow. And if options 1 and 3 are too much of a reach, theory 2 is quite mundane but still nice to notice. 💚
