Who really calls the shots in The Upside Down?
Vecna?
The Mind Flayer?
Who came first?
Let's take a look at how these two otherworldly monsters are tied to each other and what it
means for the heroes of Netflix's "Stranger Things."
"Before…
I kill you…
I want you to watch."
Season 4 serves as the penultimate chapter of "Stranger Things."
With the end on the horizon, the unexplained chaos known as The Upside Down has just started
to make a bit more sense.
As the monstrous, tentacle-wrapped muscle man known as Vecna unleashed a teenage killing
spree across Hawkins, it was up to our favorites, spread across the globe, to figure out his
origins and put a stop to him before he destroyed the world as we know it.
"The Shire is burning…"
"...so Mordor it is."
We learned that Vecna was born Henry Creel, the son of infamous familicide killer Victor
Creel, who was revealed to have been falsely convicted of killing his family.
In reality, it was Henry that killed his family, harnessing his supernatural powers and later
becoming "One" as part of Dr. Brenner's research at Hawkins Laboratory.
After a confrontation with Eleven back at the Lab, One was banished to The Upside Down,
where he became the source of all of the horrors unleashed upon Hawkins over the course of "Stranger Things."
"We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it."
As the group began to figure out the origins of Vecna and the extent of his power, Dustin
Henderson hypothesized that Vecna served as the second-in-command or "five-star general"
to the Mind Flayer they first encountered in season 2.
Unfortunately, Dustin was quite a bit off the mark with his prediction.
He was correct in believing there to be a connection between Vecna and the Mind Flayer,
but how the two relate to another is sure to bring a new level of danger to the community
of Hawkins, and especially, those who try to fight it.
Eleven learned the truth of Vecna's connection to the Mind Flayer during her attempt to save
Max by reaching her through the Void as Vecna targeted her for his fourth and final kill.
After Vecna successfully captured Eleven and pinned her up using his vine-like tentacles,
he delivered a monologue that answered some of the biggest burning questions.
"You're right.
You… and I… We are different."
After Eleven used her powers against One, she inadvertently opened a rift between our
world and The Upside Down, sending him into the nether realm and charring his flesh as
he dropped between worlds.
One believed it to be a form of purgatory, but soon realized he had been dropped into
what he called "a realm unspoiled by mankind."
One came across Demodogs and other sinister creatures, viewing them as small predators
in need of protection, the same way he felt toward household spiders as a human on earth.
Given his supernatural ability to connect and manipulate the minds of others, One approached
a massive, swirling cloud-like mass and ultimately transformed it into the Mind Flayer, an impossibly
large cosmic beast resembling one of his childhood drawings.
As it turns out, Vecna was not here to do the bidding of The Mind Flayer; the Mind Flayer
appeared in season 2 to do the bidding of Vecna by helping him realize his potential
as a multidimensional apex predator.
"It was… it was you."
Henry Creel was fascinated with spiders as a child, viewing the black widow as the ultimate
alpha predator and only looked down upon due to its size.
By coming in contact with the form that would become the Mind Flayer, One was able to manipulate
its power for his own benefit.
By using the Mind Flayer, he could attempt to reset humanity, using the powerful entity
as an extension of his power.
In doing this, Vecna turned all of the inhabitants of the Upside Down into a hive mind.
It's why all of the demobats, demodogs, and demogorgons act in sync, and why they can
be destroyed if the host is incapacitated.
Vecna sent out the Demogorgon, the Mind Flayer, and other assorted Upside Down creatures to
weaken the barrier between the two worlds, eventually making it so America and Russia
could open their own gates, allowing Vecna to walk right through.
He says:
"All I needed was someone to open the door."
By saying this, he's implying that all of this would have been avoided had she not banished
him to the Upside Down, blaming her for all of the death and destruction that has plagued Hawkins.
He knew he couldn't make it through without Eleven's power, and after the Battle of Starcourt
Mall, he got his wish.
Vecna first tried to attack our world by possessing Will Byers, but wasn't strong enough to make it happen.
He again tried with Billy, but his plan was foiled yet again by Eleven.
He attacked her yet again in season 3 through the Mind Flayer, who bit her and implanted
a worm in her leg.
After she removes the worm from her body, she discovers her powers are gone, but unbeknownst
to her, it's because Vecna sucked her power out through the worm.
Now in possession of her power, Vecna was finally strong enough to enter the minds of
his victims, and created the necessary four gates to bring The Upside Down to our world.
Fortunately, whether Vecna knows it or not, Will Byers is still connected to his hive
mind, having felt his presence in the final moments of season 4.
With Max in a coma but still alive, there's a good chance she'll also be connected to
Vecna if/when she finally wakes up.
No matter what Vecna has in store for season 5, we can take solace in knowing Eleven, Will,
and the rest of the gang are going to be ready to take him down once and for all.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more SlashFilm videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.