Creelby is the key to Byler Endgame... just not in the way you're thinking aka #BobGate
PART 1 HERE | PART 3 HERE | PART 4 HERE | PART 5 HERE
PART 6 HERE | PART 7 HERE | PART 8 HERE | PART 9 HERE
PART 10 HERE | PART 11 HERE | PART 12 HERE | PART 13 HERE
PART 14 HERE | PART 15 HERE | PART 16 HERE | PART 17 HERE
PART 18 HERE | PART 19 HERE | PART 20 HERE | PART 21 HERE
PART 22 HERE | PART 23 HERE | PART 24 HERE | PART 25 HERE
PART 26 HERE | PART 27 HERE | PART 28 HERE | PART 29 HERE
PART 30 HERE | PART 31 HERE
Part Two: Um... What About the Play?
This is the second part of my #BobGate theory that it's not Patty, but Bob Newby who Henry fell in love with (and lost) way back in 1959, as well as how this version of Creelby will be key to bringing Mike and Will together the way they were always meant to be.
CW: Suggestions of incest/CSA
**Heads up that if you notice changes, it's because I'm updating/editing things as they come to me!**
As of 1/17/26, I've finally gotten my hands on a TFS transcript from a May 2025 Broadway performance (thanks @whieen for sending it my way), so I'll start adding Bob x Henry proofs from the play in purple, so you know it was something I incorporated later.
And as of 1/24/26, I've *finally* seen the West End version of TFS! I will not disclose my source (you know who you are), but know I am very grateful and look forward to seeing it live when I get the chance. My point being that seeing it has only made me my belief in #Bobgate that much more unshakeable, and I will be updating my posts with the proofs in red.
As of 1/31, I've also watched the Broadway version, but I'll stick to the purple for any more additions I make to distinguish Broadway from West End.
But still, maybe my theory's got holes....Just like Season 5 (so far).
So much so that #PlayGate is making the rounds to explain why the "finale" -- which got a theatrical release and everything -- felt less like the end of the show and more like an elaborate, if not bizarre play being staged by Vecna.
On that note, let's go back to Ep. 7 -- specifically the scene where Max, El, and Kali go into Vecna's memories of the high school play put on in TFS. This is when many fans expected to finally see some of the events of TFS unfold, including meeting Patty Newby in-series.
Instead though, the girls end up in Joyce's trippy, creepy as all hell production of Dark of the Moon, lit with a lovely violet hue.
This Twitter theory tied to #conformitygate does an excellent job connecting Dustin's S5E1 line about violet prismatic spray to the greater conspiracy of #conformitygate and Mike being trapped by Vecna in a seemingly happy ending that is actually Mike's own personal hell.
But in the M/E/K scene above, we also see violet being used in the context of the play -- as if the audience is being blinded to the memories associated with it.
While it could be that Henry's love for Patty is enough of a reveal to hold back for later, why the secrecy at this stage (no pun intended)? Especially when fans know about Patty already? Well, because the writers of the show don't want to do what's expected.
And the truth would completely revolutionize the show and how we've seen it these last ten years.
Like Joyce said in TFS: "If we pull this off, this will change everything [...] This is a revolution."
Even more so because the truth? He's been in plain sight the whole time: Bob Newby.
First, there's the obvious connection to Creelby (as we currently know it): Bob is Patty's brother.
But even then, Patty's origins in the play are unclear. All we know for sure is that Bob's dad, Principal Newby (more on him in a min), adopted her and raised her as his daughter.
How do Henry and Patty first connect?
The West End version does it with Henry psychically connecting to Patty's radio (she hears him). They also share a love for comic books, which she steals from her brother Bob and gets reprimanded by their father for enjoying.
The Broadway version has them bonding over codes and ciphers aka puzzles, which led to Henry winning his Captain Midnight-themed radio as a kid.
As they get to know each other more, they bond over their shared status as outcasts. Patty, again, not knowing her origins, says the following about herself:
Patty: "[...] I hate standing up there with the girls. And they’re all so pretty, and normal, and I’m just some… mystery meat."
Then Henry pivots the conversation:
Henry: "Well maybe you have a superpower too."
Patty: "What?"
Henry: "Clark Kent was an orphan, and, so was Batman and Robin--"
Patty: "And Wonder Woman was sculpted out of clay!"
Henry: "Having no parents is basically a prerequisite to being --"
Henry/Patty: "A SUPERHERO!"
Who is also known to share these interests? Who's best known as a "superhero"?
We know via S2 of ST (thanks to Mike) that Bob was the founder of Hawkins' Middle AV Club. In TFS, Bob spends the play hosting his own radio show 103.5 WBOB (take that WSQK!) and investigating the animal deaths caused by Henry. He eventually is able to trace the radio signal linked to those deaths to the Creel House (any #signalgate truthers out there?).
In fact, per the transcript I read, Bob is *the first person* Henry hears when he turns on his radio in Hawkins (even if Henry quickly turns the dial).
In the West End version, Bob begins to play a love song dedicated to Ted Wheeler right as Henry is introduced in the play. [In both versions, Bob is the host of his own radio show.]
Here's the rest of the TFS "cast" --
Notice the colors for Henry and Bob??? Blue and yellow. Meanwhile, Patty is red (hold onto that).
And Joyce? Placed in between Henry and Bob. Who becomes Bob's love interest later, therefore creating a love triangle?
Let's be honest with ourselves here -- as popular as Byler is as a ship, the GA still views it as a fringe theory, despite the enormous amount of evidence over the seasons to the contrary.
Despite it being 2026 now, depicting a queer love story at the center of a mainstream media giant is pretty much unheard of (though Heated Rivalry just changed that!!)
Why? Homophobia (at worst) and heteronormativity (at best). (Thanks to @thebestofmyrmidons who wrote a great meta re: the latter)
If it'd been revealed via a prequel play that ST's main villain Henry Creel/One/Vecna had a gay high school romance with fucking Bob Newby?? Forget it, it even sounds crazy typed out.
In fact, the play itself wants the audience to think it's crazy to even see Bob Newby as a suitor for anyone, let alone Henry:
Sue (Lucas' mom) introduces Henry to Bob as "poor Bob" who's "hopelessly in love with Joyce," to which Bob responds: "That's not accurate. It's not hopeless." (Is that the detail that's not accurate, Bob?)
There's moments of comic relief at Bob's expense over not being "sexy" or "scary" enough, then is explicitly told, “Whatever you do, don’t be sexy. Don’t be scary.”
When investigating the animal death with Bob, Hopper makes this innuendo: “No one’s going to get your gadget wet, Bob.”
But the story of TFS, and the central question of Joyce's play ("can love defeat fear?") seems pretty damn relevant to the themes of our show and presenting two versions of how the series can potentially end: with a "sad ending" or a "gay ending".
Which is why instead of Bob explicitly playing Henry's love interest in the play, the audience of TFS (like the ST audience) is also being tricked by Vecna the ST creators.
They are merely witnessing the Creelby love story with a more palatable "understudy" -- a sister for Bob. More importantly, a girl.
Someone who could deliver the message and the tragedy of doomed love without spoiling the major twist of the series.
In fact, in the West End version of the play, Bob encourages Patty to play Barbara Allen (under blue lights, fyi). Meanwhile Patty is anxious about the idea due to the play's sensuality:
Patty: "It's all about sex. It's bad."
Bob: "Is this about the play or is this about the boy? [...] It's okay. I saw it. We alllll saw it."
Patty: "It's not about [Henry]. It's about dad."
Bob: "I've got a plan for that. We can cover for each other."
Patty: "Stop saying "we". It's not the same for me."
Note that even though Patty is a girl, she's canonically mixed race -- there is still some taboo and transgressiveness to her interracial relationship with Henry. While it shouldn't be "shocking" for the audience watching now, it definitely would've been a "no-no" within the setting of the play -- 1950s Indiana (it's shown to still be an issue in 1980s Hawkins via Lumax/Billy).
In fact, when Henry and Patty share a kiss at Melvald's (with a bunch of other teen couples dancing intimately on the dance floor, and the Wheelers straight-up making out), Melvald himself calls them out (even though he should be more worried about the power surge that caused the light bulbs to shatter...):
"What the hell? Hey! This is a family establishment! Take that onto the street!"
Why such a rebuke? Why treat a relatively chaste kiss as if it were something more perverse? Especially when other *heterosexual* couples were doing the same thing.
After Henry and Patty are kicked out of Melvald's, Joyce comes to their defense before turning to Bob and telling him he must want to kill Henry for kissing his sister:
Bob: “No, I like to think there is someone out there for everybody.”
Joyce: “Bob, I didn’t know you were such a romantic.” [Again, Bob is ruled as impossible to view in a romantic light.]
Bob: “Maybe I’m just a sucker for good casting.”
Speaking of good casting, when it's opening night for Joyce's play and Henry is a no-show, Bob has to understudy for Henry, only further affirming the idea that within the context of TFS it's very easy for parts to be recast at a moment's notice.
However, that means Bob has to play the romantic lead opposite his own sister. The potential incest is played off for humor, but could the creators of the show be suggesting that (in the eyes of the GA) the notion of opposite-sex siblings kissing has the same shock value as two non-related boys kissing?
The incestuous vibes don't cease though. Meet "Father" Newby.
That was the original name for Robert Newby aka Bob and Patty's father, to indicate that he was a pastor.
Per the ST Wiki, some rewrites of the play led to Father Newby going from pastor to high school principal, although he's shown to be heavily involved with the local church.
Being the high school principal definitely makes more sense in the context of the play, given the setting. But had "Principal Newby" stayed a pastor, perhaps the religious implications of "Patty" and Henry's relationship would've been more obvious.
In either case, Bob's dad symbolizes a figure of authority not just within the home, but also within their community. Someone both untouchable, but highly prone to scrutiny in a small town.
When it comes to Patty and her father's relationship, the central conflict between them is the scandal attached to her presence in the home due to her uncertain origins (multiple theories are presented including her being found in a dumpster, the "girl from nowhere"). And there is also disapproval over Patty's relationship with Henry -- any relationship with boys for that matter.
Principal Newby: "There can be no gossip. Not about boys. Not with you." He eventually grabs her by the arm rather roughly.
Now, if you substitute Patty for Bob, do you see why "gossip about boys" might cause a scandal for the Newbys?
Here's another moment, when Victor Creel announces Patty and Henry's relationship during a town meeting:
Victor: "[...] Henry's a good kid. And he's changed so much since they got together. It's Virginia... What?"
Principal Newby: "Since who got together?"
Victor: "My son... and your daughter."
The room reacts to this information: Some with shock, others amused.
Newby: "My daughter? You're confused, Mr. Creel."
When Sue Anderson (Lucas' mom) shows Henry around, she divides the school into three categories of people: "You've got your creeps, you've got your children, and you've got your morons."
Which camp do we think Principal Newby falls into?
In the Broadway version of TFS, our introduction of Principal Newby is him simultaneously scolding and sexualizing his daughter for wearing lipstick. He tells Bob to "clean up [his] sister so she isn't photographed looking like a streetwalker."
In the West End version it's when Patty is caught with Bob's comics. Principal Newby calls it "degenerate trash" and deems her consumption of them something she'll need to pray over... She ends up praying to Wonder Woman (more on this in Part Thirteen).
In this same production, after Patty calls out Walter Henderson for bullying Henry, Principal Newby sends his daughter to his office... I'll let you read between the lines there.
What else could there be to the dynamic Bob has with the authoritative father he shares a name with?
This is Bob, when his Directional Antenna Device (D.A.D.) goes haywire:
Bob: "I'm having D.A.D. issues back here! Is anyone having dad issues over there?"
And then later, when Bob and Patty are in the hospital after Henry's attack on Principal Newby:
Patty: "Robert, give me your burger."
Bob: "Don't call me Robert."
This in addition to the more explicit suggestions of incest in the Newby family (albeit between Patty and Bob) also makes @aemiron-main's reading of Bob and his father's relationship as abusive and incestuous that much more legitimate, but horrifying if true.
(Skip to Parts Four and Ten if you want the full reading)
"You're not a mistake, you're a miracle."
Found another parallel that was brought to my attention thanks to @dearest-loveliest-elizabeth (and @miwiheroes once again!)
At the end of TFS, Bob delivers this message to his audience:
OP then goes on to compare this lovely moment to these moments featuring our canonically queer characters on the show:
Who says something near-identical to Henry in TFS???
Now, circling back to the play -- the one being put on by Vecna the show's creators -- well if we really want to get meta about it, if #BobGate is correct, then it means the story of TFS is not just the Duffers' way of tricking the audience, it's Vecna's way of tricking himself -- of obscuring more truths about himself than the ones hidden in the cave...
Stay tuned for Part 3 (now up!) where I finally get to the Byler of it all and how Bob and Mike aren't all that different.
Disclaimer:
I'm going to break my evidence for this theory into different posts under #BobGate (also #PuzzleGate), but if possible, let's keep this contained to Tumblr because I think there are folks who might care about being spoiled for what I think is going to be an amazing twist (if #conformitygate is in fact real)
**I haven't come across a theory like it, but in case someone else also had the thought -- lmk!
