Or rather, why Vecna chose to appear to Holly as "a friend" in Season 5...
...and why this has been foreshadowed from the start.
Theory Overview
Theory Summary
1) Mr. Whatsit is in fact "real"
2) Evidence Vecna disguised himself as Will to Holly
3) But how???
4) The Party found out... but they couldn't save Holly
5) What does Vecna want with Holly and Will? Season 1-2 told us already...
Final summary
Theory Summary
After "stalking" Holly, Vecna disguised himself as Will (someone “gentle and kind”, a "friend”) in order to gain her trust.
Will: “I was him. I was Vecna.”
Mr. Whatsit, AKA "Will", told Holly that “there are monsters in Hawkins”, that they eat kids like her... and that he was attacked by a monster when he was a kid!
Mike and Nancy realised that Holly was a target, and told her that Mr. Whatsit was the monster, thinking they could stop his plan.
But then, on November 3rd, Vecna sent a Demogorgon to attack the Wheelers. Mike and Karen were heavily injured in the attack… but Mr. Whatsit “saved” Holly.
Mr. Whatsit: The monsters, they tried to take you. But I saved you just in time.
He took her to the Wheelers' front door – the Demogorgon’s gate to the Upside Down. He told her it was their exit. A dimension door.
Holly: It doesn’t look like an exit… are you sure you’re not a monster?
Mr. Whatsit: Pretty sure.
He convinced her that he was a hero, not a monster.
And so, when Vecna took Holly into the Upside Down, there wasn’t a struggle – he proved to her that he wasn’t a monster through a staged rescue, which was really a kidnapping in disguise.
This explains...
Why the concept of "Mr. Whatsit" was introduced at all
Why Mr. Whatsit's identity was framed like a huge reveal (it is!)
Why the characters never realised who he was until Holly was already taken (they did realise – they tried to save Holly, not Derek)
Why Holly wonders if Max is a monster, but it never amounts to anything (it was about Mr. Whatsit, not Max)
Why the "we have to save Derek" plotline was so important (it was Holly, who is much closer to the Party)
Why Will is repeatedly said to literally be Vecna
and more!
^ there's evidence for all of this!
Now let's get into that evidence!
First, as always, here's a brief overview of my main theory:
MIKE IN THE RIGHTSIDE UP
Mike is stuck in his own version of Camazotz: the Rightside Up.
In the 8 months after Season 4, the gang prepared for a big battle with Vecna. On November 3rd 1986, the Wheeler house was attacked and Holly was taken; then, on November 6th, Mike was taken – on the anniversary of Will's disappearance.
Every important plot point from Ep 1-8 was an edited version of what really happened in those 8 months. Vecna just changed the order, characters or context to suit his own narrative, keeping Mike trapped in the Rightside Up. That's why Mike's real memories will be crucial to his escape in the upcoming episodes: a reversal of the current episode descriptions.
Evidence!
ORDER OF EVENTS: Part 1 (Reality = reversed), Part 3 (12 Episodes), Part 4 (MWTFDYD), Part 9 (Wheeler attack -> Mike's kidnapping), Part 11 (Mr Whatsit = Will)
SCENE ANALYSIS: Part 2 (Will/Robin), Part 5 (Rainbows), Part 6 (The roof talk), Part 7 ("Where's Dustin right now?"), Part 8 (El is missing), Part 10 (Byler's missed date), Part 12 (Byler saw Rovickie kiss), Part 13 (Will's painting)
1) How do we know Mr. Whatsit is “real”?
First of all, how do we know that Mr. Whatsit even… well, exists in the real story?
As I said: every major plot point is based on something that really happened, and Vecna would have changed as little as possible to make it as believable as possible. So if there's a plot point which has huge ramifications and impacts multiple scenes, it's almost certainly part of the real story.
If Vecna didn't target Holly as Mr. Whatsit…
Three big scenes would not have happened (Mike telling Holly that she doesn’t need Mr Whatsit, “What if Mr. Whatsit is real?”, Mr. Whatsit's big identity reveal)
Will would not have realised the full extent of his powers by seeing through her eyes, and his entire character arc would be impacted
Three MORE big scenes would not have happened (Will’s self-acceptance moment + killing the Demogorgon(s), saving Max and Holly, falling into a trance)
Sounds like a pretty big deal to me!
Considering these ramifications? At the very least, Vecna targeted Holly in a way that allowed Will to see through her eyes – and most likely, he did it as Mr. Whatsit!
We can pretty safely assume Mr. Whatsit exists in the real story.
2) Well, how do we know he’s “Will”?
The two final scenes from The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler are pretty much begging us to come to this conclusion.
When Nancy first brings up Mr. Whatsit's name to Karen, who does the shot immediately cut to?
Will Byers.
Every piece of information that Karen gives about Mr. Whatsit also applies to Will Byers. In fact, I would argue it fits Will MORE.
Watch – Yep. Tall – Compared to Holly.
Vest – Will wears vests famously. That's what he was wearing when Vecna took him. Nancy says that he was wearing a vest twice. They want us to pay attention to that detail.
Gentle and kind – Will is notoriously gentle and kind.
Remember in Season 2, when he came across the slug he threw up after being trapped in the Upside Down for six days (basically a representation of all the worst things that have ever happened to him)… and he treated it with kindness? Gentleness?
That’s Will.
Teacher saw talking to W – Mike: "W" as in "Whatsit"?
No, Mike. “W” as in “Will.”
If you heard this description without visuals (like Nancy did)... would you instantly imagine Henry?
"Quick! Tell me which Stranger Things character wears a watch and a vest, is taller than your average child, is gentle and kind, and has a name starting with "W"?
...Or would you imagine Will?
Without visuals, none of this information actually tells us that Mr. Whatsit is Vecna. The ONLY one that does is his name: Henry. But that's the only detail Nancy doesn't say out loud!
If she never heard that detail, would she have known it was Vecna?
Remember, every word was written intentionally. If the writers were really trying to make it clear to the characters that this was specifically Vecna, then the writers would've made it clear to us, too. They could've mentioned his "001" tattoo, or his neat blonde hair... they wouldn't have given him a totally new costume. It's giving... reverse-engineering a costume based on the description of a different character.
It's not just that one scene, though. Onto the other evidence!
If Max telling Holly, “You are your brother,” wasn’t obvious enough, there are also countless scenes like this:
In which Will is not just compared to Vecna, but it’s said repeatedly that WILL LITERALLY IS VECNA.
Will: I was him. I was Vecna.
Considering that the above quote happens at the exact moment the Wheelers figure out that Vecna is Mr. Whatsit? Considering that these two scenes cut between each other, as though they're related?
Will = Vecna -> Vecna = Mr. Whatsit -> therefore, Will = Mr. Whatsit.
So I guess he's not just Henry/Vecna/001. Now he's Henry/Vecna/001/Mr. Whatsit/William. Oh god. The names are multiplying...
Finally, I'd like to mention one more suspicious cut.
Mary: Holly would never run away. She isn’t like that. You’re lying.
Derek: I’m not lying! A monster tricked her. It’s disguised as a girl with weird clothes and red hair.... she calls herself–
[Cut to Will Byers]
Actually, a monster did trick Holly – but it’s disguised as Will (who was canonically bullied for dressing in weird clothes).
So, we’ve established that Mr. Whatsit is A) part of the real story, and B) that he looks and acts like Will Byers.
But how did he even pull that off? And why?
3) BUT HOW???
Now, the biggest and most gaping hole in this theory (thanks for that awful expression, Dustin) is… how exactly could Vecna have done this without everyone finding out?
Well, that’s the thing. Maybe everyone did find out.
So in order to explore how Vecna did this, we first need to explore why Vecna did this.
And… they told us in The Turnbow Trap!
[CUT TO WILL BYERS]. Lmfao.
Nancy: “We think he was trying to gain her trust.”
Vecna was trying to earn Holly’s trust. And how did he do that? By appearing to her as a "friend"! Why exactly did he do that? He learned from the mistakes he made with Eleven and Will.
Instead of...
Doing a bunch of murders and getting covered in blood (scary)
Chasing Holly and snatching her into the Upside Down (also scary)
He tried to appear as "gentle and kind" as he could. (not scary)
And who is more gentle and kind than Will Byers?
Someone who Holly already knows and trusts, considering he's been friends with Holly's brother for her entire life. Someone who would surely tell her about the monsters in Hawkins, because he was genuinely attacked by a monster too.
(And if SOME of what Mr Whatsit said is confirmed to be true, then the rest must be true too, right?)
Holly might not trust a random stranger. But she would trust Will Byers. Which is especially convenient for Vecna, considering his plans for Will... but we'll talk about that particular "why" later.
For a moment, let's focus on the "how".
It's almost like Vecna is making Will out to be some kind of secret, powerful hero, fighting back against all the monsters in Hawkins, "protecting" Holly and "saving" her loved ones.
Let's explore that superhero-monster dichotomy a little bit further!
The Superhero-Monster Dichotomy (feat. Max the Monster)
Monsters and superheroes form a sort of dichotomy in Stranger Things. As long as you believe in one, you believe in the other; if someone isn't a hero, then they're a monster, and vice versa.
It's a very black-and-white worldview, and we see it most with Eleven.
For example:
In Season 4, Eleven believes she is either a superhero or a monster, with no in-between.
Vecna plays into her superhero-monster worldview to manipulate her. He tells El that Brenner treats her like "an animal, a monster," but that in reality, she is "better". Stronger. Superior, like him.
Vecna has already used this black-and-white way of thinking to manipulate El in the past, and now, he's doing it again with Holly. His "Mr. Whatsit" persona follows this same dichotomy.
Mr. Whatsit: The monsters, they tried to take you. But I saved you just in time.
Mr. Whatsit: Your loved ones will be saved. And you... you will be heroes.
He’s manipulating her by making himself appear like Will Byers, the secret hero who was once attacked by the "monsters in Hawkins", recruiting Holly on a mission to protect her and her loved ones from the very same monsters.
So what's my point here?
This explains why Holly kept asking Max if she was a monster in the Camazotz plotline!
Isn’t it weird how Holly kept asking if she was a monster, but… Max really wasn’t one? The plotline never really went anywhere interesting. Why did they even write it into the show if they weren't gonna do anything with it? Because we simply haven't seen this plotline in full yet.
Vecna has hidden the truth from Mike (and the audience). Of course he wouldn't allow him to know the full extent of his plan. He can't allow Mike to remember what really happened, or he might escape.
Now, let's get back to Vecna, and how the Party found out about his Will Byers hero persona, his Will-sona if you will.
no, i mike
4) The Party found out, but they still couldn't save Holly...
Heroes keep their true identity a secret, right? So Vecna probably asked Holly to keep it a secret, and pretend that he was just her imaginary friend – assuming (incorrectly) that she would.
But she revealed enough information to her family (explored in section 2) that they were able to find out what was really going on. And so, before the kidnapping even happened...
Mike: [Does] Holly ever talk to you about Mr. Whatsit?
Nancy: Her… imaginary friend from the book?
Mike: Yeah. [...] She said that Mr. Whatsit told her that there were monsters in Hawkins. And he warned her that these monsters, they were coming for her.
Nancy: And your theory is… what, exactly?
Mike: What if Mr. Whatsit isn’t a figment of Holly’s imagination?
Nancy looks at Mike in utter disbelief.
Mike: What if he’s real?
Nancy: Real?
Nancy looks at Mike in disbelief again.
It was a little unbelievable at first, but when Will saw from Holly's eyes?
Nancy: How can you be sure that [Holly]'s the next target?
Will: Because I saw. The first time it happened, I saw through Holly's eyes. And this morning, it happened again.
They knew it had to be Vecna. So they actually told Holly the truth.
Joyce: That’s my son, Will. [...] What people don’t know is that when he went missing, he was taken by a terrible, scary monster. And now that scary monster is after you.
[Holly]: Yeah, I know, Mr. Whatsit told me. [...]
Joyce: No, no. Mr. Whatsit is not who he says he is, okay? He is lying to you. All these monsters, they work for him.
Now – remember, Mike is going to be a key focus, so Holly isn't going to fill in for him with another "Holly the Heroic" plotline. I believe Mike promised Holly that Eleven, with her "divine powers" and ability to open "dimension doors", would protect her.
Mike: She'll protect you. I promise.
But on November 3rd, before Eleven could get there fast enough, Vecna sent a Demogorgon to the Wheelers’ house, severely injuring Karen and Mike.
(And like in the current episodes, Will would've seen through its eyes as it ran towards the Wheeler house...)
Then, Mr Whatsit showed up and “saved” Holly from the monster, taking her through a portal in the Wheelers’ front door. A dimension door – just like what Mike said El can make.
The Wheelers’ front door is where the Demogorgon took Holly through a portal, screaming.
The Wheelers’ front door is also where Max and Holly find the portal to Vecna’s mind.
That's when this exchange happens. Instead of Max, it's Mr. Whatsit.
Holly: What is that?
[Mr. Whatsit]: Our exit.
Holly: It doesn’t look like an exit... you sure you’re not a monster?
[Mr. Whatsit]: Pretty sure.
They both step towards the portal.
And she was gone.
Will: [Holly]. Vecna, he's got [Holly]. We failed.
Why It Makes Sense
In the current version of Season 5, Vecna went to all that effort to seem kind and friendly and disguise himself... only to have a literal monster burst into Holly’s house and kidnap her in the most terrifying way possible. What kind of plan is that?
Even if he knew she would forget it all in Camazotz, it’s still a really stupid idea. What if she didn't?!
This would've been a much more logical plan. For Vecna to start by making himself seem all kind and friendly, in order to convince Holly to go with him willingly.
No big battle. Just – whoosh. Gone.
Because everyone found out, he had to improvise a little, which is at least partially why he staged that monster attack + "heroically" saved Holly "just in time". But he – as Will – still ended up the hero!
This was crucial to Vecna's plan.
5) Okay, but what does Vecna want with Will and Holly?
In this final section, I'll aim to answer these three questions!
“Why was Will – specifically Will, taken in the first place?”
"Why was Holly – specifically Holly, taken too?"
“Why would Vecna disguise himself to Holly as Will?”
"What will Vecna be able to do next?"
As I explored in my analysis of the Wheeler attack, Vecna did indeed take Holly on that day, three days before he took Mike. But why?
Dustin: “Holly… why Holly?”
In that analysis, I said that Holly was “the bait”. Meant to take up everyone’s focus, strength and resources until eventually, Mike was left alone on November 6th, free for Vecna to yoink from the hospital.
I stand by that. But there is another reason Vecna may have taken her. Because... Vecna targeting Holly has been foreshadowed (if not already true) since Season 1.
Remember when she went into Will’s room? She was led there. She followed a trail of blinking lights leading to a circle of lamps (which much resembles the circle of lights in the Lab). Then, a Demo almost burst through the wall above her, before Joyce came in.
Why would Will try to lead only Holly into his room, when there were lights all over the house??? No. To me, this reads as Vecna imitating Will's communication attempts in order to do... something.
All the way back in Season 1!
Also, Holly always seems to notice supernatural stuff, when neither of her parents do.
Season 3
Holly: Mommy, look! The trees are moving!
Karen: Why are you looking at the trees, baby? Look at the fireworks!
Because of this, I think Holly may be “sensitive”, like Will, and like Henry. This would also match up to what Vecna tells the kids in Camazotz.
Vecna: [...] You are not like other children. Like Meg, you are special. You have dormant powers in here. And I believe if we work together, we can awaken those powers...
So is Holly bait, or a vessel with "powers" that Vecna can use to do "beautiful things"?
It’s possible that both are true.
Considering that Mike is a highly important character in Vecna's illusion world, and possibly the only person trapped in it right now, Vecna really did intend to go after Mike… but rather than kidnapping any random kid as bait to distract the Party, Vecna specifically chose a kid that had “latent powers”, like him and Will.
Just like the Party had two plans, Vecna did too. That way, if anything went wrong, he had a backup plan – a little superpowered “friend” who was on his side.
He hit two birds with one stone. Or rather...
Joyce: We do both. We throw two darts and pray for a bullseye.
Having Holly as a backup would be especially useful, considering Vecna's plans for Will Byers.
A quick recap – in Season 2, the Mindflayer tried to completely take over Will’s body and mind.
Joyce: “What happens when he can’t remember anything? When there’s nothing else there? What happens when my boy is gone?”
Vecna, that’s what happens.
But his body is deteriorating. Perhaps the Mindflayer wants a new host.
It was going to fully take over Will's body, but too bad! His loved ones made Will’s body so uninhabitable that the Mindflayer was unable to complete the job. They burned it out of him, and it escaped. Chose Billy as a backup host for a backup plan – build a monster, stop Eleven.
But remember…
Will: “I don’t think the connection was ever truly severed.”
Now, I am not the first to point out that all throughout Season 5, Will Byers had been showing signs that he was being possessed yet again.
Darkened eyes
Taking off his jacket; “He likes it cold”
Mixed-up memories (Melvald’s only had milkshakes in the 50’s, when Henry was his age)
Speaking eerily similar to Vecna – calling children “weak”, “vessels”, etc.
Being very adamant that he was apparently only siphoning Vecna’s powers (way to be humble, Vecna)
Not just that, but in Season 4, Will doesn’t even remember his own birthday, and only “vaguely” remembers a childhood moment with Jonathan, who remembers it well. Will’s loved ones don’t seem to remember his birthday either.
All signs are pointing to the following conclusion: something is very wrong with Will Byers, and it has been for a while.
By connecting directly with Vecna’s mind in Season 5, and with Vecna choosing to let him in? Will just unknowingly made it so much worse.
So what’s going to happen to him? We can look to the reversed episode descriptions for clues.
The reversed episode descriptions...
A quick recap – my theory (rightsideupgate) is primarily based on the idea that when you flip the Season 5 episode descriptions upside down, you’re actually putting the story in the right order.
I’ve only included the parts that are relevant to this analysis. If you wanna read the whole thing, go here!
One group searched the Upside Down's Hawkins Lab, while another group hatched a plan to connect Will to the hive mind.
Will fell into a trance, and Mike got taken.
[In terms of the timeline, this is where Mike experiences the Season 5 we all saw – the fake story based on real events.]
El must now find a way into Will’s mind.
El comes face-to-face with the enemy [probably in Will’s mind].
My best guess – Eleven will come face-to-face with Vecna in Will’s mind, and like the "fake" episodes, she'll be able to rescue Will surprisingly easily...
Because Vecna will let her believe she rescued Will. In reality, he has already wormed himself into Will's mind, and is beginning to take over Will's body.
Will wakes up, and the crew gets the opportunity to set a trap after he gains unique insight into Vecna’s next move.
Whenever someone (usually Will) has a “unique insight” about Vecna, especially if they say “he didn’t want me to see it”, it’s usually something that Vecna absolutely wanted them to see.
That's what Will said before leading a whole group of soldiers to their deaths in Season 2, after all.
The gang evades the military to scour the Upside Down for Vecna – but fails to notice a threat lurking closer to home…
(My interpretation – Something is wrong with Will. Who was his trap really for?)
El and Hopper must go on a rescue mission.
All signs are pointing to: Will becomes possessed, and El + Hopper's rescue mission might be for him.
[Mike escapes the Rightside Up. Will is saved.]
Epilogue, one year later – November, 1987.
In summation...
Vecna is going to use Will as a spy/vessel/builder again, just like he said he would.
Will is an unknowing double-agent, playing for both sides, until Vecna tries to fully take him over. His memory will likely be slowly erased/replaced (Melvald's milkshakes...), and Vecna will begin to have more and more control over him, like in Season 2.
But this time it will be WORSE, because at the very least, Will can use Vecna’s powers… meaning that most likely, VECNA CAN USE HIS POWERS THROUGH WILL. Not to mention Will's own "innate powers" that he most likely also possesses!!!
Best-case scenario for Vecna:
Spending all that time convincing Holly that he is Will enables Vecna to convince everyone else that he is Will, too. Unlike last time, they'll have no idea that he is possessed – until it's too late.
Working with his “friend” Holly, and her friend "Will", Vecna would be able to use both their latent powers for... well, whatever he wanted. The "beautiful" world he wants to build, presumably.
Vecna would be able to turn Will and therefore Holly against their own families and friends, destroying his enemies with their combined power.
At the end of it all, Vecna could take over Will's body, replacing his current burnt, viney, old body with a younger human one.
Ew. That's pretty bleak.
But, as always – love and memories are the key to defeating Vecna, and they will save the day.
“Yeah Will faces SA allegories but Henry isn’t an allegory for a sxual abser!”
Stfu
Henry’s story is the victim who became the perpetrator. Whether the mind-flayer is controlling him or not, it’s clear that that evil is an allegory for trauma consuming his soul so he turns it back on others.
bringing back this conversation just before the finale to prove the volume two was a disaster bc will is a spy theory once and for all
max: idk he looks pretty normal to me
lucas: normal? how many times have you seen him with a shirt on?
max: i mean, it’s a little weird
mike: more than a little. he was in a tub with ice, the mf likes it cold, plus everything else—
max: but he’s lounging in the pool, which is, like, the least mf thing ever
will: not necessarily. the mf likes to hide. he only used me when he needed me. it’s like you’re dormant, and then, when he needs you, you’re activated.
Now we will finally talk about Will, as I promised.
After I got swallowed by the dnd wiki page on the mind flayer, I read this
How long was Will unconcious in episode 6? Well with all the time shenanigangs happening that is very unclear.
So either Vecna was turning Will into a thrall here, or
Making him into a new mind flayer? Where have I seen these tadpoles before ...
(Also interesting how Mike is so fascinated with it ... we will come back to you at another time)
What is confusing to me is the timing of it, it doesn't add up with what it says on the website. Was Will infected with a tadpole when he was captured in S1, or in S5?
The eggs hatch after one month ... Will threw that slug up around one month after he got back from the upside down. But it's still confusing, because the tadpoles are supposed to grow in the tank of the elder brain. Not everything is quite adding up.
Oh no. But alas, there is hope!
Now, why would Vecna turn Will into another mind flayer? In the second part I mentioned the possibility of Vecna being a renegade illithid (illithid is what a mind flayer is also called) and well, would you look at that
(After all the pictures of Will being tortured have some field flirting as a treat)
So Vecna needs Will specificially because he wants to shield himself from the elder brain? Which leads me to: who or where the fuck is the elder brain?
And why does it feel like Mike is also connected to all of this? What is your secret Wheeler, I am going to find it out.
(And no, it's not that you're in love with Will, everybody with eyes can see that)
At this point, I like to think that they all actually lost the battle and are currently trapped in Vecna's mind. Ever since Will was possessed by Vecna, things started to make less and less sense. But the colors in the final episode are literally the same to the colors in Henry's mind when he had captured the children.
I prefer to think they all lost rather than accept the ending the Duffers decided to give them. Why keep the kids alive when you were going to give half of them a miserable end anyway?
🕳️ “Henry didn’t kill the kids because he’s evil — he did it because… SCIENCE NIGHTMARE BLOOD ABYSS???”
Henry Creel wasn’t just going full murder-spree-in-the-rainbow-room for kicks — he was allegedly trying to stop the lab from experimenting on his blood, because it was “infected by The Abyss™,” and he thought the only way to prevent a bigger disaster was to… uh… kill literally everyone. Including himself probably.
Which is… a choice.
Like yes king, we love a morally complicated villain, but also: sir, therapy exists.
⸻
🧪 Canon Facts Check™ (because we do research in this house)
From Season 4 canon:
• Henry → child sociopath, talks to spiders like they’re his LinkedIn network
• Brenner slaps a shock collar on him and turns him into Lab Employee #1 (unpaid internship)
• Eleven removes his chip → Henry goes God Mode → everyone dies → he becomes Vecna via Upside Down baptism
What the show actually tells us:
• There’s no explicit mention of his blood being “infected by an abyss”
• The lab is constantly messing with extradimensional horrors, because of course it is
• Henry truly believes humans are pests and he’s the “correction” (sir you are not a Roomba)
So the theory adds:
👉 “What if Henry knew the lab was going to use his powers/blood in worse ways — and decided to burn the whole place down to prevent it?”
Which honestly… feels VERY:
“I caused the problem, but also I am the solution, and also I am the problem again.”
⸻
💀 Henry Creel: Most Misunderstood Blorbo or Walking Red Flag?
On one hand:
• He literally says he hates humanity
• He monologues like a Philosophy Major who just discovered Nietzsche
• He has The Vibes™ (and they are sexy but suspicious)
On the other hand:
• The lab DID exploit kids
• Brenner’s whole brand is “gaslight, gatekeep, government funding”
• Every child in that facility deserved freedom, not trauma exams and electroshock Tuesdays
So when people say he’s “misunderstood,” I get it. He is a product of abuse.
But he is also the product who kept the receipt and chose violence anyway.
Two things can be true.
⸻
🤡 The Funny Part Because I Am Suffering
Imagine Henry like:
“If I don’t stop them from using my blood for evil experimentation, things could get bad.”
proceeds to commit the most evil thing possible
Sir. Buddy. Pal. That’s like burning down the kitchen because you left a spoon in the microwave.
Also, if Eleven hadn’t yeeted him into Dimension X?
We’d have:
• No demogorgons
• No vines that look like they smell like hot pennies
• No Vecna clock jumpscares interrupting everyone’s playlists
Like imagine Hawkins in peace. Karen Wheeler starts a book club. Steve gets a normal job at a hardware store. Dustin invents a Roomba. Byler is canon.
Henry really said:
“Let me fix the system… by becoming a cosmic hate tree.”
…and okay, real talk, we cannot ignore the sacred canon moment when Noah Schnapp himself (yes, Will Byers, our literal precious cinnamon roll) once said in an interview that Henry/Vecna is “the most misunderstood villain in the whole show.” 💀
And then Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven IRL) literally shushed him mid-sentence like:
“Noah. No. That’s enough. We are not giving Vecna a redemption arc. End of discussion.”
🫶 Final Thought
Henry Creel isn’t just evil.
He isn’t just misunderstood.
He’s what happens when:
• trauma isn’t healed
• power goes unchecked
• a kid who feels alienated decides the world deserves punishment instead of compassion
And that doesn’t make him justified.
It makes him tragic in the most uncomfortable way possible.
Which is exactly why he’s such a compelling villain.
And why we are all here on tumblr, writing essays at unholy hours with crumbs in our keyboards and tears in our nachos.
idk if this is stupid or just new information for me but fuck it. as much i absolutely love henry, mr. whatsit, 001/ peter fics, i just came to the realization that if he had someone — even as a romantic love interest — he wouldn't turn into vecna. my theory here is that you need to have a saving grace to save yourself from the mindflayer just like how will had his family & friends. henry had patty, but as per the play — correct me if i'm wrong because i js know the plot of the play and i've never seen it — dr. brenner tries to convince henry that patty was his weakness because — i'm assuming — by reveling henry's weakness the shadowy entity might manifest itself through henry in order to kill henry's weakness .i.e. patty so that it's vessel's ( minflayer's vessel .i.e. henry ) final and the only saving grace would be eliminated, making sure henry would be so alone and intoxicated by the powers he would have no choice but to join the mindflayer. this could also explaim why henry believe that he chose the mindflayer, why he thinks that he and the mindflayer are one while completely disregarding that in the Nevada's cave his accidental transport to dimension X altered his soul and blood on the command of mindflayer not henry's and how right after that the mindflayer immediately possessed his body to kill that doctor in the cave. all of that unbeknownst to young henry who had no idea where he was for 12 hrs, what happened with his soul and blood.
with all that in mind, had henry had a gf — which i'm doubting he'd even have one after patty because not only it would remind him of the horrible incident but he seems the type of guy who believes that the price of loving someone is never loving again — or even a friend, a genuine friend not like eleven who he groomed so that he can escape the lab, or just someone who could’ve been his saving grace, he wouldn't have turned into Vecna. Peter ballard would've escaped without that monologue, without the need of wanting to merge two different dimensions, and without killing half of the people.
Why is no one talking about the fact that it looks like Vecna is the demigorgon?????? In that scene where he attacks Mike and Will and company at that base???? LIKE WHY IS HE CHANGING SHAPE WHEN IT SHOWS HIS HAND? WAS HE THE DEMIGORGON
