Max is the only character who never physically entered the Upside Down in Stranger Things. Across five seasons, the only time she ever stepped into that world was inside Vecna's mind, which somehow makes her story even more haunting, because she faced the darkness without ever truly crossing over into it.
Martin Brenner explained this in Episode 8: when Henry kills, he consumes his victims, and they become part of him. Therefore, Max became part of him as well, which explains why she ended up inside Vecna's mind lair.
Max retreated from the cemetery, running towards a scarlet haze in the distance; suddenly, she found herself in the surreal expanses of Vecna's mind: a blood-red psychic terrain, with a fractured version of the Creel House at its center.
Max was clinically dead for i think 4 minutes and her heart stopped which allowed the gate to open. El only restored her heartbeat, not her full consciousness, which remained lost in the mind lair. Vecna consumed the souls of his victims to become stronger, which is why Max's consciousness was with him.
Max had kept running away because she wasn't happy about the marriage. Which is why Billy gets so upset when she says it's "his" fault that they moved into Hawkins. Although even though it's supposed to be before the events of season 2 and leading into that.
Before they embark into the Upside Down, Will comes out as gay to his family and close friends, explaining that Vecna showed him visions of his failed and distant relationships with his loved ones after they learnt the truth.
Billy Hargrove
Upon remarrying Susan and becoming step-siblings with Max, Neil forced Billy to address Max as his sister instead of step-sister. The abuse Neil endured on Billy resulted in his son secretly taking out his anger on Max.
However, after he revealed his true nature as a misanthropic, nihilistic, and genocidal psychopath, Eleven overpowered Henry and sent him to the Upside Down, where he was gradually disfigured by its abnormal lightning and toxic atmosphere, transforming him into the being known as Vecna.
10 Most Heartbreaking 'Stranger Things' Deaths That Still Have Fans Crying—From Eleven to Eddie
"Once Will is talking about Tammy and all that and his experience, yeah, it's Mike — and his friends — all realizing and understanding now for the first time, even if Mike has been somewhat oblivious over these years, what his friend is saying," Ross says.
Outside, Henry tells Holly that he will leave for the day, but not to go into the woods because monsters live there. Henry leaves Holly her favorite song, "I Think We're Alone Now" - accompanied with a radio.
Soteria is a miniature device that, when implanted into the neck of an individual with psychokinetic abilities, inhibits that person's abilities. Henry Creel had such a device inserted into his neck by Dr. Brenner, who probably created the technology.
In 4th edition, Vecna's main foes in the realm of death and undeath are Kas, Orcus and the Raven Queen (though he would rather she rule the dead than Orcus). Among the gods, Ioun is something of Vecna's antithesis, for she would share with the world all the knowledge he would keep secret.
Billy Hargrove and Max Mayfield from Stranger Things are step-siblings. Billy is Max's stepbrother, a relationship that came about when Billy's father, Neil Hargrove, married Max's mother, Susan Hargrove. This makes them a part of the same family, despite not being related by blood.
A month after returning home, Will coughed up a larva and washed it down his bathroom sink drain. The tendril seemed to essentially 'impregnate' Will, using his body as a means to grow slugs.
Max Isn't Blind, But She's Not Completely Healed Either. It's not yet clear if Vecna's curse has done permanent damage to Max. When she first wakes up, Max can't see well or really move her muscles. As Vickie explains, that's to be expected since Max was in a curse-coma-trance for so many months.
(Not Vecna, the other thing.) And when Robin realizes this, that Will isn't horrified by what he saw — in fact, just the opposite — she takes him under his wing. She tells him about how it felt to realize she was gay, and then accepting that part of herself instead of fighting it.
Brenner survived the monster's attack and sustained only minor injuries, but was unable to return Eleven to the lab. Following the events of November 1983, Brenner was ousted as the lab's director, and replaced by Dr. Sam Owens.
Stranger Things S5E7: "The Bridge" is now the worst rated episode of the entire show. What, the gay confession scene? It just felt a bit silly and out of place. Not even about being a bigot, realistically it should not have been a surprise to anyone there that he was gay.
Joyce and Chief Hopper found an unconscious Will Byers strung up in the Upside Down version of the public library; he had a tendril in his mouth, extending through his trachea, and into his lungs. Hopper pulled it out of his throat before shooting and destroying it.
The Mind Flayer repeated the same process on a larger and more complex scale with human beings, possessing Billy Hargrove and others; these possessed humans came to be known as "the Flayed". They were led by Billy and Heather Holloway, and had their minds hijacked by the Upside Down's hive mind.
The Piggyback script reveals Vecna/Henry took control of the Mind Flayer while in Dimension X. The Mind Flayer existed already and is a separate entity.
The first use of the F-bomb in Stranger Things comes from one of the most unlikely characters, Will Byers. Quiet, shy, and generally courteous and soft-spoken, Will changes the status quo during one moment in Stranger Things, season 3, episode 3.
According to Max, Neil could not get over his son's death and eventually decided to leave her and her mother.
Dr. Martin Brenner, also referred to as Papa by his test subjects, is the overarching antagonist of the Stranger Things franchise.