Redeemed Henry Creel headcanons !
If you’d like to read the first part, please check it out! —> here
TW: mentions of self harm, suicidal ideation & eating disorders.
• During Henry’s recovery after being “Vecna,” I feel like he’d suffer from tremendously suicidal thoughts. He is beyond broken that he’s gaslit himself that his only purpose existing was to reshape the world, and now that he’s stripped of his powers and literally has no one by his side, he’s convinced he’s better off dead.
• Obviously, this isn’t true because he has Eleven and Kali but even their help isn’t enough. This was before they were truly able to help him fully start his journey to redemption.
• At first, Henry lacks interest when it comes to being redeemed and is against it all together. He’s under the impression all humans are evil and are going to hurt him and he’s even attempted numerous times to escape the hospital he’s in out of fear he’d be imprisoned and abused again.
• It triggers him and reminds him of the laboratory so he goes through these utterly HORRIFIC panic attacks whenever a nurse or a doctor gets to close and tries to help him. He lashes out, cries and screams.
• This behavior is abnormal, and some of the nurses and doctors around him debate whether or not to call someone and have him transported to a psychiatric hospital, which worsens Henry’s distrust towards humanity, resulting in him taking longer to properly redeem himself.
• Of course, he wasn’t sent to one. Eleven, Kali, and Joyce made sure of that. (Along with Hopper, with Joyce’s convincing.) He’s the chief police officer again, so they take his word for it. Just pretend it makes sense.
• Anyway, Henry’s outbursts are so extreme that doctors need to sedate him whenever they’re treating him physically.
• Remember how when Max was in a wheelchair because her muscles and body needed time to re-learn so they could work properly again since she was in a coma for over two years? Yeah, that’s the same case for Henry. (Only temporarily though)
• He’d be instructed to use a wheelchair during his time at the hospital. (Just until his legs work again)
• Also, he’s disabled. Half of his face is still burnt, and he’s blind in one eye. He also permanently lost mobility to use his hand that was once his Vecna hand. He can only use one of his hands now, and this makes it hard for him to do basic activities. But physical therapy helps him immensely.
• As for his body type, you can literally see each and every outline of his ribcage. (He isn’t muscular at all and is actually absurdly weak.) There are gruesome burn marks and deep scars scattered across his entire body. He also has a scar outline of the shock collar Brenner used to put on him engraved around his neck.
• I mentioned in part one of my redeemed Henry headcanons that Henry was in a coma, and during his time in a coma, Eleven and Kali spent the most time with him. Mostly Eleven because they were always closest. She would talk to Henry while he was in a coma or go through his memories like how she did with Billy and Max.
• While awake, Henry struggles to eat; he actually hates it. He isn’t used to eating human food, so whenever he eats it, he will either naturally throw it up or do it by force in an attempt to self-harm. Henry thinks he isn’t deserving of this much care. He isn’t used to it, and it disgusts him.
• Another way he self-harms is that Henry bites his nails until they draw blood as a nervous habit or picks his skin until it scars. He does this to punish himself and because of his major anxiety and also self-loathing. A dark part of him wishes and dreams that Joyce had just decapitated him. It’s something he fantasizes about often. He hates it here, hates the world and everyone else in it, and if he doesn’t have power, he’s better off disappearing, and the one person who thought he’d never lose left him (The entity)
• This was of course around the time when he was still codependent on the Mind Flayer and thought the one place in this world where he belonged was with his abuser because his abuser knew how he felt about the world and validated it. He was too foolish to comprehend how morbid it was at the time.
• Henry refers to the Mind Flayer as “the entity” or “the black thing” and is oh-so confused when Eleven calls it “the Mind Flayer.”
• At first, Henry would suffer from a severe avoidant attachment style. He would push everyone away and try to manipulate the doctors into thinking that he’s well enough now to be alone when it’s obvious he isn’t, so they wouldn’t fall for his sad attempt at a trick.
• Henry is still upset with Eleven for banishing him to the Upside Down and most importantly not joining him. Eleven always reminds him the way he perceives the world isn’t correct and that there are good people out there, not only bad ones and that Henry just had horrible experiences with the bad ones who made him think all of humanity was evil. Henry doesn’t want to admit she’s right so he’s stubborn and upset that no one understands his mindset because even if there are good people out there, Henry still isn’t one to accept the absolute injustice of this world.
• And that’s where Kali rolls in. She understands his hatred for humanity, but it didn’t turn her full-on evil. She sympathizes with him, listens to him, and tells him her own worldviews and experiences to make him feel less alone, but she also reminds him that there’s no reason to be overly close-minded since the proof of good people are standing right in front of him. Even when Kali felt hopeless, she had her friends who were outcasts, and although they’re gone now, Eleven’s friends are the next best thing. It proves there is always good in the world and there are people out there who will understand you no matter what.
• Henry doesn’t want to believe it nor does he want to accept it, but he cannot deny their logic any longer, and all of this influence makes him remember Patty and Henry remembering Patty being there for him is sheer proof that not everyone is evil because, despite how alienated he was in high school, she was there for him and understood him. Just like how Eleven and Kali are doing in his honor right now. If everyone were truly evil, then why are so many people trying to help him? Why didn’t they kill him immediately when they had the opportunity? No, instead, they realized it was never his fault, took him in, and despite how resistant he was at first, they never abandoned him. It just all begins to click naturally in the end.
• Speaking of Patty, Henry asks Joyce about her ALL. THE. TIME.
• Is heartbroken when Joyce confesses she moved away awhile ago.
• Henry tells himself that when he’s better, he’s going to try and search for her and see if Eleven will help him look since he can’t use his own powers anymore.
• This man is a YEARNERRRR, I’m telling you.
• Fast forwarding to after Henry is better, he would find solace in Hopper’s cabin. Officially becoming Eleven and Kali’s older brother. (And also Will and Johnathan’s since Joyce and Hopper are married now)
• Henry is a major insomniac. He rarely sleeps because every time he does, he’ll suffer the most vivid nightmares you can possibly imagine.
• This scares the ever-living hell out of Henry, and he’ll always wake up crying his eyes out until his head pounds. Luckily, Eleven is there to check up on him, but it’s not enough.
• Okay, now hear me out. I feel like Henry would age regress.
• Not in some weird fetishized way, but because the Mind Flayer took hold of him at such a young age, I feel like Henry has temporary moments where his mindset alters to his 8-12-year-old self.
• Like, he curls up into a ball and sucks his thumb (this is just canon). Henry’s whole personality will do a complete 180. His tone of voice will shift to a more quiet, child-like one. But not in a cute fashion sense. He’s more like a traumatized puppy.
• Henry would also sleep with plushies. He has one spider plushie that he sleeps with and cuddles every night because he feels like it “keeps the darkness away.” :(
• Hopper thinks he’s creepy when he regresses. Hopper is one of the ones who’s more stubborn when it comes to accepting Henry because of how protective he is of his loved ones. Like, he thinks Henry looks like a quiet psychopath when he does that, which realistically he does if you witnessed it out of context, but it’s not in a bad way, and Eleven and Joyce try so hard to tell him that. (He understands eventually)
• Henry’s avoidant attachment style would begin to morph into an anxious one. Deep down, Henry has always desired a connection and for someone to understand him, so he will cling to people like Eleven and Kali since he views them as his true family.
• But a deep part of him longs to be held. I feel like he would imagine being embraced by someone every night so he wouldn’t have nightmares anymore. He just wants to be held and comforted. All the poor boy needs is to be treated gently because so many people weren’t gentle with him. They’d force, they’d push, they’d yell.
• Henry is touch-starved, but because of his trauma from physical abuse in the laboratory, he flinches violently whenever anyone tries to touch him at first. It’s like a reflex.
• It takes him forever to get used to physical touch. He has a love/hate relationship with it.
• Eleven, Kali, and possibly Joyce are the only ones who are allowed to touch him. Kali rarely does it because she just doesn’t come across as a very physically affectionate person to me but expresses her affection towards those who she cares about through words and a listening ear instead.
• Kali is the best listener as she is incredibly emotionally intelligent, especially when it comes to Henry’s worldviews. She understands him in that department a little bit more than Eleven. But Eleven also understands and listens to Henry just as much as Kali does. It’s something they do as a team!
• As for Eleven, she is a big hugger, so she always hugs Henry! Henry isn’t used to it at first, so the first time she hugs him, his body freezes up until he caves in and begins to weep.
• Did I mention that Henry is a giant fucking crybaby?
• Henry and Eleven also like to do sibling cuddles! Sometimes when Henry is feeling depressed and lonely him and Eleven will watch a movie on the couch. Eleven introduces so many new movies to Henry! Eleven will sometimes lay her head on his shoulder. This makes Henry feel like he’s more part of the family! Joyce also would often let Henry lay his head on her lap. (not a ship btw)
• Ever since then, Henry always asks Eleven (or Joyce) for hugs or hugs her after school. For context, Eleven is homeschooled in Hawkins, and she does all her work in the cabin. Hopper and Joyce usually mentor her, but mostly Joyce because she’s home more often than Hopper. Henry is smart (he’s a nerd still) and will often help Eleven with her schoolwork.
• Henry refuses to step foot outside for the longest time. He’s like a professional bed rotter. He absolutely loathes going outside, and he gets chronic migraines from the heat. He has to suffer through them because it triggers him to take any form of medication (he can’t swallow pills anymore), nor can the poor man get a wink of sleep, so he will sit there in agony. His body has been flayed for so long that he naturally likes the cold now. Henry will often sit in a fetal position in the tub, under the shower head while letting the freezing cold water pool down his body.
• While on the topic of showering, Henry will take one every single day. He bathes almost all the time and thinks if he cleans himself thoroughly enough, then he’ll stop feeling so dirty after what Brenner and the Mind Flayer did to him. He thinks if he scrubs hard enough for hours on end and attempts to cleanse himself that he’ll feel less evil and disgusting.
• Henry keeps his hair messy/fluffy like how it was back in the Lab, but if he was ever going out, he’d style it like how his Mr. Whatsit persona is presented. He freaks out when someone touches his freshly styled and gelled hair. It’s like a sensory thing for him. (The reason he is so uptight about it is because some of his hair was unfortunately burnt off. However, he found a way to style it which makes him feel less insecure so it’s why he’s so uptight and strict about people messing with it.)
• Henry oddly possesses a morbid sense of humor, so whenever something pisses him off or rubs him the wrong way, or if someone is bothering Eleven or Kali, he will admit to wanting to kill them. Eleven says it’s not funny, but Kali catches his drift.
• Yes, Henry would hate, and I mean HAAATEEE Mike Wheeler! I don’t care. He’s a Mike hater 100% and wants to lowkey kill him like how Hopper did in season 3. That’s one thing Hopper and Henry can both relate to each other on: they both think Eleven deserves better than Mike.
- Henry: “Why the fuck are you dating him?”
- Henry: “He can’t even say ‘I love you’ back”
• Yeah, Henry is quite judgmental of Eleven’s love interest. He’ll always be overly observant and blunt.
• Speaking of the party, the first one to accept Henry would be no other than Dustin Henderson! The last people to accept him would be Lucas and Mike. You’ve seen firsthand how stubborn they are, so it only makes sense.
• Mike doesn’t trust him for what he did to Will, and Lucas doesn’t trust him yet for what he did to Max despite Henry being completely different now and the Mind Flayer no longer having a hold of him. They’re just the more skeptical of the group.
• Anyway, the moment Dustin finds out Henry used to like comic books, he lends Henry a BUNCHHH of his, and Henry is fan-boying over all the new colorful comics!
• They’re also both extremely smart. Just two nerds bonding.
• The more Henry grows accustomed to his new friend group, the more comfortable the party gets around him completely.
• Henry was also a Will Byers hater, but they started to somewhat tolerate each other. Henry only really dislikes him because he sees his younger self in Will, and Henry definitely has a complicated relationship with his past. He viewed himself as weak and pathetic and was overcome with overwhelming thoughts of blaming himself for what happened to him. To which, Eleven always reminds him that it wasn’t his fault at all. Even if he did terrible things as he grew older, it wasn’t his fault after everything he went through.
• Remember when I said in my first one that Henry would find D&D stupid? Well.. he ended up playing it. After Dustin practically begged him to. Declaring it was only the greatest game in the world.
• And what do you know? He actually enjoyed it. Even though it confused him a bit. The part that made him most happy was people actually wanting to be around him and not fear him. He realizes that Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Will are fellow outcasts like him, and that there isn’t anything wrong with that, nor do you have to turn evil over it.
• I feel like Henry is a really classy guy who likes dressing up still, and he most definitely accidentally admitted this about himself in a passing conversation with Eleven, to which Eleven told Max, and Max had the grand idea of taking Henry shopping. He’s been trapped all his life, so he most definitely isn’t familiar with all the new outfits and places to visit now that it’s the 80s.
• Eleven and Max would take Henry to the mall. He’d never really experienced the joys of the outside world before. Maybe as a kid when he used to be a Boy Scout, but he barely remembered any of it. Henry was flayed longer than he was a joyous child enjoying the great outdoors.
• Henry finds he gets overstimulated by the large crowds of people and detests it.
• He hates it even more when he realizes other people give him dirty looks over his appearance.
• He wishes it were only El, Max, and himself at the mall because he’s so very reserved and hates socializing with anyone other than his family and friends. 
• However, during his time spent at the mall and going out to eat (because Max and Eleven took him out to get milkshakes), he realizes how fun it actually is and what he missed out on—witnessing all the new colorings of the world. He can’t believe he desired to destroy it all without a second thought. He felt the world was more colorful when you had people by your side and less colorful when you had no one.
• Henry reminisces back to his teenage years and, despite being tormented by the entity, he remembered his life being more colorful with her in it. His Patty newby.
• Back to Patty and Henry’s past relationship. Henry thinks a lot about it and remembers every little detail about her, and through the help of Eleven, he finds out she’s a small performer located in Vegas, the place they always fantasized about running away to. This man wastes no time and travels by bus and foot to reunite with his most beloved one.
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I hope you guys enjoyed part two of my headcanons. Be sure to read the first one so these make more sense, and do let me know if you want a third part or not! (this isn’t beta-read so I apologize if there are any typos)
