I would like to introduce some Stranger Things ideas based off the (oldish) video game Final Fantasy 8 (hereby referred to as FF8). Fun fact, this game came out in 1999, which would have been the Duffer’s teen years (I checked their year of birth which is 1984). Knowing the nerds they are and how big Final Fantasy was at the time, it would not surprise me at all if they had played it.
The below is more fanfiction than theories, but are fun ideas to think about. This is not meant to be high-brow.
So, three ideas I would like to explore: Sorcerer and Knight, a time loop in which powers are sent back by the game’s main villain to create the game’s main villain, and also how that main villain wants to create a reality in which only they can exist.
Sorcerer and Knight - Byler
In FF8 there is a concept of a sorceress and their knight, where a knight must protect and ground the sorceress, ultimately keeping them from becoming evil. This is treated as a romantic ideal, with a movie in-game being about this concept, as well as one of the game’s minor villains (the main character’s primary antagonist) wanting to fulfill this role for that romantic ideal.
This is fun to explore with Byler. Mike (Knight = Paladin) is Will’s (Sorcerer) grounding support that empowers him and keeps him good as the Mindflayer/Hivemind would otherwise corrupt him. (Mike also tries to force himself into this role for El, and we know that doesn’t work out, though I would argue we have seen no hint of El being corrupted by her powers, and she does not fit the sorcerer bill exactly).
We can see an example of a sorcerer (Henry) not having the love and support of a “knight” leading to his downfall and corruption. We see him get very close with Patty in the play, but it never finalizes that bond as Patty is lost to him. (Note I only have basic knowledge of The First Shadow).
We could also bring in ideas of family and the society we exist in and how we are raised, determinism, fate, all that stuff. But the romantic ideal is having the one person who makes you want to be your best self, which is why we love Byler, right?
In FF8 there is a timeloop in which the main villain reaches out into the past and passes her powers on to a woman. These powers allow the villain to control the woman in the past. And these powers eventually reach the main villain at the end of the time loop.
I like the idea of the Mindflayer being the main villain (and the power source itself that must be passed) and Will having to pass these powers on to Henry as a child in the past. This allows the Mindflayer to control Henry and ensure everything comes to pass, such that the Mindflayer then possesses Henry in the past in a loop. The Mindflayer exists only to perpetuate its existence.
I have entertained ideas such as what creates (timeline A) the time loop (timeline B) in the first place, and then breaking the time loop, creating the final timeline (C).
Timeline A - Theoretical timeline that may have created the Time Loop
Timeline C - theoretical timeline should timeloop be broken
Addressing the creation of the time loop, it is either created by some event in timeline A starting a loop (timeline B)
OR it's what is called a bootstrap paradox, where the time loop just exists. Meaning the Mindflayer has no origin and just exists. Will travels back to give the Mindflayer to Henry, Henry ensures the Mindflayer is created and gets to Will, who then sends the Mindflayer back. But there is no true origin of the Mindflayer without some introduction from a theoretical timeline A, which this paradox does not consider. Dimension X would likley need to be outside time for this to work (not necessary outside the loop, but outside the linear time within the loop).
And then lastly, timeline C is where Will decides he CANNOT allow the Mindflayer to be passed on to Henry (foreshadowed by him not allowing Holly and the other kids to be harmed by the Upside Down and the Mindflayer), which breaks the timeloop and creates a new timeline. What actually happens here can get confusing. It can happen where the story proceeds into timeline C, but also it can just erase the time loop altogether and none of the events ever happened anyway. Or, the very action of preventing the start of the time loop means the end of the time loop can never happen, so the beginning can never have been broken, meaning the time loop cannot be broken and repeats. The fun thing about time travel is that there are no rules other than stick to your guns and be consistent.
Lastly, to compare the main villains of FF8 and Stranger Things. Vecna wants a new world. What that means exactly is unknown. And is it him who wants this, or the Mindflayer? In FF8, the villain was an evil sorceress who wanted to create a reality in which only she could exist. Like Henry, it is implied she is only this way due to how society treated her (in her case, the timeloop was known so she was persecuted before she was even born, but isn’t that how being different in real life is, and what Henry experienced in some way?). The villain in FF8 wants to compress time - past, present, future, all in a single moment, a world only she can exist in. We know that Vecnussy hates time and wants to create a new world - perhaps one in which only he can exist.
Anyway, that’s some fun thoughts on these Strange Things ideas, and fun to think the Duffers may have encountered this sometime in their youth. Again, fun weirdo fanfic ideas. None of this will be relevant in the show, except maybe the Sorcerer and Knight concept.
