Will the Wise is like Vecna- but who is Eleven?
I’ve seen a few theories about Will’s possible connection to Vecna- so I decided to look into it myself. I consider Will connected Vecna for the reasons stated here, which I recommend viewing first, but I will also summarize below (credit to beepboop358).
Will the Wise Is Evil
Will gets possessed in s2.ep3, and the episode following that (where his possession storyline beings) is called ‘Will the Wise’. This is quite clearly telling us something- that Will the Wise is bad news.
Will and Will the Wise can also be paralleled to Star Wars, since in the lore people have a good side and bad side.
In Will’s comic, “The Other”, there is the line “I’m just looking out for Will the Wise. I want him to live forever”. Vecna also wants to live forever.
The cast members of Stranger Things all posted a picture of a clock, captioned, “Meanwhile, in the upside-down...” Finn (Mike), on the other hand, posted it captioned “In the upside-down, meanwhile…”, and did not change this (hinting that Mike may get trapped in the upside-down).
Meaning, there could be a parallel to Star Wars where Will (Anakin) goes to the bad side (in Will’s case- Will the Wise) trying to achieve the power to make Mike (Padawan) immortal/save him.
(Again, these are beepboop358 ‘s points/theories, not mine. I give complete credit to them, I just summarized them for convenience).
Something I noticed when researching Vecna was the statement “Once a mortal being who had become knowledgeable of the secrets of life and death over so many lifetimes”. Will, through the upside-down, discovered the secrets of the Mind Flayer; it’s control over the demodogs, it spying through him, how it was stuck in their world, etc.
I also discovered something which I found very interesting.
“Vecna was a sworn enemy of the Raven Queen, whom he envied for her unique abilities to tap into the flow of souls and to harvest knowledge.”
Eleven has the ability to cross into ‘The Void’, a mental space in her mind that uses ‘extrasensory perception’ (a communication between minds without contact) to locate and view (spy) on other entities. She uses this to gain knowledge on the Mind Flayer, Billy, etc. (She also uses it to ‘awaken?’ the Demogorgon, which isn’t relevant at the moment).
Eleven’s mother could show El her memories through ‘The Void’ (which they both had the ability to harness). One of the Raven Queen’s realms, the Shadowfell castle, is a place of “overwhelming sorrow, overflowing with memories taken from mortals and fragments of dead dieties”. Which sounds quite similar to The Void.
Terry could show El her memories (memories taken from mortals), and memories/information about Dr. Brenner (fragments of dead dieties) through The Void, which concludes that in this metaphor, Shadowfell Castle is The Void/El’s mind.
“The whole existence of the Raven Queen was focused on collecting memories and strong emotions, typically associated with loss and tragedy” Eleven’s powers are powered/fuelled by her emotions, and she uses her powers to collect memories/information about; Will (in season 1), Mike (in season 2), and the Mind Flayer (in season 3). All of these situations could be described as losses or tragedies. Without Eleven in the show, we wouldn’t have known all the information that we do, in fact, most of the characters would be dead.
Eleven exists in the show to use her powers (fuelled by her emotions), to save everyone from loss and tragedy.
“Another account of her origin states that she was originally a sorceress who led a rebellion against the former god of death Pluton.”
Eleven could be considered a sorceress who led a rebellion against the Mind Flayer/World of the Upside Down.
“In order to prevent her from becoming a tyrant in the same fashion as the defeated god, other dieties elevated her to the status of goddess of death, but with no power over the dead themselves.”
In order to prevent Eleven from being killed by the Mind Flayer (when she was fighting it), Billy stepped in and sacrificed himself. Eleven can defeat the Demogorgons/Mind Flayer/etc, but she cannot control them.
If Will is paralleled to Vecna, and Eleven is paralleled to the Raven Queen, then this next statement could be hinting at a future complication.
“One of his (Vecna’s) goals was to overthrow the queen and rule the entire Shadowfell from her fortress of memories.”
Once Billy was possessed by the Mind Flayer, his goal was to capture/kill (it’s not made clear which) Eleven. There are a few similarities between Will and Billy:
-The extended name for Will is William, and Billy is another shortened way of saying William.
-Both had bad father figures
-Billy and Will were both hosts for the Mind Flayer
-Both say, “He made me do it”
This leads me to wonder if Will’s powers are going to consume him, and he will target Eleven.
‘…overthrow the queen and rule the entire Shadowfell from her fortress of memories’ could imply that Will is not only going to try to ‘overthrow’ Eleven, but he may attempt to harness her power over ‘The Void’ and somehow, from there, rule over the Upside Down.
Just to clarify:
-The Void parallels Raven Queen’s ‘fortress of memories’
-Shadowfell parallels The Upside Down.
This means Will the Wise may end up overthrowing/attacking Eleven to the point where he can access her mind (The Void). Through this, he may try to rule the Upside Down.
So, that’s pretty much my theory.
Anyways, hope you’re having a great day, and happy stranger things watching :)