"Don't you leave him, Michael Wheeler." And he doesn't mean to. He doesn't mean to.
Or how that potential scene on Lover's Lake might be a rewriting of Samwise Gamgee's promise.
Yeah, so, I dug out this old account of mine to post one (1) byler theory, and then dip for another 2 to 3 years. Enjoy!
More under the cut.
Anyways, I was scrolling through the ST tag and it seems that many of y'all are expecting a powerful byler moment on Lover's Lake at some point. Probably Will, on a boat (what's he doing on a boat you may ask - and, frankly? no idea. If it turns out that he does indeed have powers similar to El's, then maybe water helps channeling them? or water protects him from a certain monster, which would also explain that one Holly & Karen shot underwater... but I digress), getting Vecna'd or doing anything that would basically lead him to pass out and sink.
This has been inferred from that specific frame, with the wet hair, wet face, and what looks like the gunwale of a boat behind Will:
(To be fair, my honest opinion is that he's a sweaty boy BUT I'll play along for this one).
The thing though is that Will wouldn't be alone on that boat - at least Mike would be with him. And when shit hits the fan, it's him who'd dive and save Will from drowning. That theory essentially comes from that shot of soaked-hair Mike, blah blah blah you all know the song at this point:
And, you know, I don't really have an opinion on this apart from "yeah, cute theory, and circumstantial as well" so why not. Then I just started picturing Will on his silly boat, all determined and wet and miserable, and I thought "he's just like Frodo at the end of TFotR fr hahaha".
Hahaha -- wait.
Wait.
BUT WHAT IF THOUGH???
What if this is ep. 4 (volume 1 finale basically) and for some reason Will has decided to go on a suicide mission. Maybe people have died and he feels guilty. Maybe he's felt guilty ever since he came back from the UD. Maybe he thinks the only way to end it all is by taking on Vecna alone or sacrificing himself or -- I have no fucking clue I suck at this, you folks figure it out.
My point is. He hops on a boat, paddles towards... a gate mayhaps? And then Mike, who's been biking like crazy to catch up with Will, just thows himself into the lake because there is no way on Earth Will is doing anything crazy on his own.
But Will has had enough of people dying and suffering and living in fear.
Plus, it's a long way to swim, and Mike isn't that good of a swimmer, so it's all a bit of a struggle, really. Eventually he reaches the boat, and Will, all wide-eyed and on the verge of breaking down, helps him up.
And just - bear with me. This dialogue in LOTR, but make it byler:
'Of all the confounded nuisances you are the worst, Sam!' he said.
'Oh, Mr. Frodo, that's hard!' said Sam shivering. 'That's hard, trying to go without me and all. If I hadn't a guessed right, where would you be now?'
'Safely on my way.'
`Safely!' said Sam. 'All alone and without me to help you? I couldn't have a borne it, it'd have been the death of me.'
'It would be the death of you to come with me, Sam,' said Frodo, “and I could not have borne that.'
'Not as certain as being left behind,' said Sam.
'But I am going to Mordor.'
'I know that well enough, Mr. Frodo. Of course, you are. And I'm coming with you.'
It's just. The certainty? The relentless loyalty? The heart?
Of course I wouldn't put it past Duffers & Co to make another (very obvious) LOTR reference. And regardless of whether it reads as romantic or platonic, it would FOR SURE bring back the vibes of S1-S2 byler, and we would go full circle.
After all, Michael Wheeler made a promise to Will Byers, all those years ago. He said "if we're both going crazy, we'll go crazy together." He intends to keep that promise, here, at the end of all things.
