SAVE THE BOY! - a Henry Creel Theory
Analyzation surrounding young Henry's character as a consciousness and how he could be important to the ending of season 5
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“Vecna had an obsession with acquiring and maintaining secrets, believing them to be the source of true power”
“Every being in existence had a secret that could be used to bring about its destruction”
( via the Forgotten Realms wiki )
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“Mind Flayer attacked the secret that rots inside Patty’s father”
“Henry tried to stop it and fought back”
“Patty’s father told Patty to save the boy”
( via Henry's wiki page )
Max establishing to Holly that her journey through the memories were like a prison that she couldn’t escape from.
Double entendre to the fact that perhaps Henry is trapped in them as well? As “Henry’s Prison”
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The official Stranger Things twitter account mentioned the concept of a mind/memory palace, which is an imaginary location where you store mnemonic images.
You make a journey through a place you know well. Max made this journey through Henry’s memories.
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In D&D lore, Vecna was cursed by gods who were jealous of his power
(just as Henry was possessed by the Mind Flayer to be used for his powers)
Vecna also trapped his death in a castle on the grey sands of an alien world, where it wails in eternal torment.
( via Forgotten Realms wiki )
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When Vecna kills his victims, he kills their consciousness, which in turn kills the body. He then keeps the deceased consciousnesses as trophies in his mindscape, as we saw with Chrissy and Fred.
HOWEVER, in Max’s case, he was unable to kill her consciousness because she was able to escape at the last moment because of the party's ambush (which for some reason, he had not foreseen to happen despite him claiming he has foresight and knowing they were there).
She simply died because of the severity of her injuries. So when El revived her body, her consciousness was revived but it was trapped in Henry’s memories as he nearly succeeded in capturing her consciousness. But now instead of remaining as a trophy on his walls, she’s stuck in his memories.
The body cannot exist and function properly without the consciousness still existing; the consciousness is what makes a body mortal, which is why when the consciousness is killed, the physical body will be killed along with it.
In a video promoting the visuals of The First Shadow Play, Louis McCartney (Henry's actor) emphasized that this "evil version of Henry" made him "contort and convulse," which sounds rather similar to what happens to the bodies of Vecna's victims after he kills their consciousnesses.
However, after this contorting and convulsing was occurring on the fact that Henry and the Mind Flayer were fighting over the control of his body. Fighting for who would be the consciousness.
If Vecna is truly a puppet and the body's consciousness is hidden away, it would explain why the party was unable to kill him in season 4 and why he was now essentially indestructible in season 5.
He can regenerate himself because of his immortality.
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In D&D lore, the Mind Flayer “controlled the minds of their life forms to use them as obedient thralls” “they consumed their victims’ very personality by extracting and devouring their brains while they were still alive.”
it did this very thing with Will in season 2, where it consumed his memories and was slowly removing his consciousness and personality as its tether to him grew stronger
It was quite literally said that when Henry returned from Dimension X, his personality was significantly altered from what it originally had been
( via Forgotten Realms wiki )
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001/Vecna does not have Henry’s persona.
In the play, Henry was shown to have a very gentle personality while opposing the Mind Flayer and simply wanted to live a happy life full of love. He hated what he was going through. 001, on the other hand, believed he was always different.
That he always hated the human race, when this was not the case at all. He wanted to take part in the human experience, but his supernatural possession prevented him from doing so, where even Patty’s love was not enough to save him.
This is why this line is ironic (all while performing in a silly, terrible play), because we learned Henry’s backstory in the play, where he connected with the very person who was able to weaken his tether to the Mind Flayer.
It is also a double entendre to the fact that this isn’t Henry, as it is likely someone or someTHING acting as Henry.
What does the Mind Flayer do? It consumes their victims’ personality by extracting and devouring their brains while they were still alive.
Which is likely what the Mind Flayer has done with Henry’s, using his body as a vessel for its own use and purpose, while his gentle and whimsy personality was completely eliminated.
The memories we were provided in season 4, weren’t Henry’s. They were instead the Mind Flayer’s, cursing the human society through its experience of possessing Henry’s body.
It removed his happiness, the innocence of the childhood he had prior to his possession.
First, because the Mind Flayer had not experienced it firsthand and second, because it hates these kind of memories. We know it feeds off of fear.
Just like Vecna took advantage of sensitive situations in the show and creeped into the mind of his victims, the Mind Flayer did the same with Henry in the play.
Without even realizing, it got into his head and made him fear that he would hurt Patty, that he "would kill a lot of things" "they want the same thing" "to let me in." while she said that everyone in his life is right, contorting her face into its skull in a nightmarish display.
These aren’t Henry’s abilities;
they are the Mind Flayer’s. Patty herself said to Henry, “you’re definitely not the devil. You’re just a weirdo.” EMPHASIZING that Henry isn’t some evil monster.
He’s just a weirdo and a nerd, just like her. Just like all our characters. Those abilities of the Mind Flayer’s have been transferred to Vecna, because it is using Henry’s body as a vessel for its own use.
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Now we bring back this point.
It’s safe to conclude that the Henry we know in the play, is not the 001/Vecna we come to see in the show. Henry's consciousness that has been removed while the Mind Flayer uses his body as its own vessel is the trapped death imprisoned on a castle of grey sands of an alien world where it wails in eternal torment.
But exactly where is this?
─────────────────────────────────────────────Dimension X is very much an alien world of grey sands.
But how could Henry be trapped here if simply a consciousness at this point? Where is the “castle?”
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We bring back the memory/mind palace.
Henry’s “castle” is the mind palace of the memory of him being sent to Dimension X. The Mind Flayer is holding him captive in this memory, where he lives in fear and wails in eternal torment.
It explains why that figment of 001 was so terrified to come into the cave. In that cave, originates the memory where he comes into contact with the Mind Flayer and his ultimate possession, destroying the childhood this child once had.
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And now we come back to secrets.
If Vecna looks for the secrets that will destroy others, he most definitely has one that will destroy him. And what could it possibly be? Henry being trapped in that memory. Because if he is recovered, he can finally kill the Mind Flayer.
We constantly have this reiterated in the show:
“I had a feeling he didn’t want me to see.” Max has not come across this memory of Henry’s prison, because it is quite literally where henry is trapped. If he is saved, his body becomes mortal and the Mind Flayer can be killed.
Patty's father emphasized to her, to save Henry, to save the boy. And yet, she was unable to, he succumbed to the Mind Flayer. He insisted that he is the key to destroying this shadow.
He must be saved and recovered in season 5 to make the body mortal again, which will finally give him the full possibility to defeat the Mind Flayer once and for all. But how can this happen?
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We come back to a close square 1.
In this poster, we can see a faded eye and a human eye, with one eye likely representing the Mind Flayer and the other representing Henry's humanness, as we know Vecna does not have eyes like these. They are the two sides to Vecna.
Lately, the cast has emphasized his past and his humanness. That he was once a good kid, that we have to question WHY he went from this gentle, quiet kid who just wanted to live a happy life to the evil monster he is now. What if this eye is young Henry's eye?
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and then we have this somewhat out of place shot of lightning just above the human eye, which somewhat resembles the figure of a child as though it remains in the backdrop of vecna's mind.
And I mention it out of place BECAUSE it is only on this particular side of Vecna's face with an oddly humanoid shape, where not another shot of lightning is any where on the poster.
which is INCREDIBLY ironic, because that SAME SHOT of lightning was on the official mural for The First Shadow Play on Broadway. (found by amazing oomf tysm)
zooming on it a little bit more, we see the shape is the EXACT same shape. Just simply reflected towards the Mind Flayer, with the rays of lightning that are protruding from it appearing as though they are attached to this interdimensional deity.
and of course, while it may simply just be a ray of lightning, why reuse the same shot? one that resembles a human? why use it on a poster where it is so eye catching on the image?
knowing their story in The First Shadow, when Henry and Patty had their first kiss, the lights went haywire and the electricity surged (flickergate? 🤭) further representing this lighting as young Henry's consciousness trapped in Vecna's mind
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now this piece is a bit of a nothingburger, but when we zoom in on the lightning figure, we can see one of the rays vaguely resembles an h / H / or the roman numeral for 1
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a bit more of a nothing burger, but the lightning figure also somewhat resembles Henry in his boy scout outfit, which may have been what he was wearing when he was transported to Dimension X
this just further emphasizes the concept of Henry being trapped as a consciousness - the question that remains is how can Henry be saved?
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bringing back this poster, we can see all of the party is looking forwards EXCEPT for Eleven.
She is looking to the back, behind the party. And why does this matter? Because Eleven could be the very one to find young Henry's consciousness.
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Henry had romantic love. But he had no familial/platonic love.
As soon as he came back from Dimension X after his exposure to the Mind Flayer, his personality was significantly altered and he was supernaturally tortuered and tormented. He begged his family for help and none of them cared, they made his possession worse, speaking bad of him when he wasn't in their presence and refused to comfort and show him love when he really needed it.
When he finally met Brenner, instead of helping him through what he was going through, he made Henry's possession significantly worse.
Instead, it was Patty's love who helped him fight off the Mind Flayer until he was no longer able to.
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Will and Henry are very clearly narrative foils. They are two very similar characters who could have the same ending, but they will have opposite outcomes. It only makes narrative sense.
Adding onto this, Will didn't have romantic love, but he had familial/platonic love. The exact opposite of what Henry had. The memories of the familial/platonic love that were provided to Will in season 2 were the memories that allowed Will to accept himself and harness his powers and use them against Vecna.
Just as Patty's love for Henry pushed him to harness and use his powers for good against the Mind Flayer, to save her father.
However, Patty's love was not enough to keep Henry against his tether to the deity. When Brenner made him unsure of Patty's love for him, that it was a weakness, it left him uncertain and it made him easier to give into the Mind Flayer, in a moment in which he was completely lost against it.
The same will likely be used for Will, if birthdaygate is true and currently in plan by Vecna. Leading to uncertainty in Will, making it easier for him to give into Vecna.
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And in the way they serve their narrative foil goodness:
Will will need the romantic love for the ultimate shield against the Mind Flayer.
Henry needed the familial/platonic love for the ultimate shield against the Mind Flayer.
And how will this work for the both of them?
If Mike reciprocates Will's feelings
If Eleven finds Henry's consciousness
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If Eleven finds Henry's consciousness, he'll meet a sister he likely knew he never had, and she'll let him know that:
that what happened to him wasn't deserved
that ultimately that she sees him and that he is loved and that he is not some evil monster
In the show, 001 had her reach into memories that made her angry. Eleven will reach into memories that made Henry happy.
In a parallel to to Billy sacrificing himself in season 3
But instead, it will end in the successful killing of the Mind Flayer
Eleven will provide Henry the familial love that he had always desired and craved, the love that would have saved him had he had it before the Mind Flayer completely took over his body and trapped his consciousness
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As we mentioned prior, Henry and Will are narrative foils
Two very similar characters who will have opposite endings
Henry was always doomed, everything that ever happened to him was never planned out or premeditated, he simply was in the wrong place at the wrong time
"It started with Will, it ends with Will." — No, it started with Henry, it ends with Henry.
They both will have their self acceptance, their familial love, and their romantic love. But only one of them can live on.
The Duffers say that characters like Eddie were always doomed for a tragic ending
We believe Henry falls into that category
He'll finally gain back control of himself and his powers after being reminded and reassured that he is loved and important
Where, in the end, in a bittersweet parallel to Star Wars (Anakin — Sidious), Henry will sacrifice himself against the Mind Flayer, ultimately killing it, but himself as well along with it.
Which we believe this official art by @ _james_martin_ on instagram portrays
Which will finally release him from the eternal prison and let him know peace after so long
And in that case, we believe that Will will experience a fakeout death, similarly to that in Harry Potter
As he is possibly the Eye of Vecna, he may remove his eye, which will kill him
However, once Henry succeeds with his ultimate sacrifice, Will is revived, as that connection that killed him no longer holds any tether to him
Sealing the beautiful stories of two characters whose arcs are fulfilled in similar, yet opposite ways
in receiving the love they had always desired
succeeding against the evil that had tormented them for us.
Two sides of the same coin —
The doomed versus the blessed.
