That includes Max, although the move comes a bit too late to fully keep her safe. After serving as bait for Vecna, she becomes his “final sacrifice,” getting her bones broken and losing her vision during a low point.
While restoring Eleven's powers in Stranger Things season 4, Brenner explains that Vecna/Henry does not just kill his victims, he absorbs them and takes on their characteristics. As a result, it appears that Max's consciousness has been absorbed by and resides within Vecna.
This gave Eleven time to piggyback into her mind “from a pizza dough freezer.” Unfortunately, Eleven wasn't strong enough to defeat Vecna and Max didn't escape unscathed the second time around. Vecna broke Max's limbs and blinded her before she heartbreakingly “died” in Lucas' arms.
That means her soul had already been absorbed into Vecna's consciousness. So, while Eleven restarted Max's heart and brought her body back to life, she was trapped inside of Vecna's hive mind. As terrible as that sounds, it offers the perfect segue into Season 5.
The fan-favorite character ended the season in a coma with her bones broken and eyes blinded at the hands of Vecna. Max technically died for one whole minute before Eleven revived her friend, but Eleven's powers weren't enough to bring Max fully back to life.
After serving as bait for Vecna, she becomes his “final sacrifice,” getting her bones broken and losing her vision during a low point. Once the fight is over, she dies in Lucas' arms, unable to see or feel anything as Eleven looks on from her mindspace.
Well, based on the injuries she sustained, it's likely Max will be blind going forward. Additionally, the Duffer Brothers actually confirmed during a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast that Max is blind and brain dead.
Billy's death at the end of season three made Max feel guilty about herself, negatively affecting everyone close to her, causing Vecna to use that to his advantage when trying to break through Hawkins.
So, did Max die? Technically, she did—if only for a moment. According to Lucas, the doctors said Max's heart stopped for over a minute, but then she came back to life. Eleven doesn't say that she's responsible for Max's survival, but Will and Mike flash each other a knowing look to say they've figured it out.
Max's past experience with trauma — namely, watching the Mind Flayer brutally kill her stepbrother Billy (Dacre Montgomery) in Season 3 — makes her a target for Vecna's manipulation.
Max attempts to hold on, telling Lucas that she's "not ready to die" but she succumbs to her injuries and ends up dying in Lucas's arms.
At the same time, Nancy, Steve and Robin reach Vecna's body in the Upside Down and throw multiple Molotov cocktails at him before Nancy shoots him, sending his blazing body flying out the window of the Upside Down's Creel House.
He sent fragments of the Creel House flying at Max in a last-ditch attempt to stop her, but it was too late: she had returned to reality. After surviving the attack, Max listened to the song at all times to protect herself from Vecna.
Curiously, he also seems obsessed with time, projecting strange visions into his victims' minds—including of the grandfather clock from his home in the Creel House. Vecna's obsession with time appears to be linked to his hatred of humanity.
At his empire's height, Vecna was betrayed and destroyed by his most trusted lieutenant, a vampire called Kas the Bloody-Handed, using a magical sword that Vecna himself had crafted for him, now known as the Sword of Kas.
In episode 4 of season 4 of Stranger Things, "Dear Billy," Vecna tries to kill Max. Her friends use the beautiful power of music, specifically "Running Up That Hill," to bring her back.
Max's death was used a device to push Murphy toward killing Josh in the series finale. Max didn't need to die to wrap up the story this way. Sure, Murphy needed to have a complicated place to land.
To keep Max alive, do NOT jump in the water. Walking through the forest guarantees Max's survival. If he tries to swim, he'll get his throat ripped out by Caleb, making all that effort in keeping him alive through other characters for nothing.
Vecna lives in the Upside Down and preys on people's past traumas and guilt. The monster curses its victims, making them relive their trauma in progressively more gruesome ways until it violently kills them. (And we mean, like, really violently.)
In the visions of her trauma induced by Vecna, Chrissy's mother appeared both mentally and emotionally abusive towards her daughter - and it's implied her comments about Chrissy's figure caused her daughter to develop her eating disorder.
Once he takes control of the mind, he traumatizes them by showing the visions of their dark past. He takes them to unknown places and gives them a glimpse of himself. The pain of his victims doesn't end here. Every single one of his victims experiences nose bleeding and severe headaches as well.
Since her limbs were still broken and she's now comatose, it seems Max will still be blind after Stranger Things' season 5 time-jump, as Vecna had already “taken her eyes.”
We can't wait two years without knowing. Meanwhile, on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Duffer brothers added more insult to injury by saying that Max is literally "braindead and blind and all of her bones are broken".
Breakup. After being pushed away by Mike, Eleven breaks up with him and spends some much-needed girl time with her new BFF Max. They later reconcile after Mike reveals that he only avoided Eleven because Hopper had threatened him and tells El he loves her which she reciprocates.