He used his powers to reconstitute the mist-organism into a form that satisfied him: a giant, spider-like entity with a flame-shaped head. In time, this entity would become known as the Mind Flayer. With the Mind Flayer at his side, Vecna's powers greatly expanded.
While falling into the dark dimension, One/Henry is struck by lightning, disfiguring him. He's also weakened, and it takes him a while to fully recover.
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.
Though Vecna's body was destroyed, his spirit lived on. The closest Vecna/Henry/One has to a “worshiper” in the series is Eleven, whom he manipulates and grooms into being his ally. She frees him from the Soteria, unleashing his powers.
Joe Manganiello's character Arkhan fought against Vecna with the adventuring party Vox Machina in the web series Critical Role. He then stole the Hand of Vecna and replaced his own hand with the artifact.
As Vecna, he uses these mental abilities as a way to psychologically weaken and lure in his victims – much in a way that Pennywise, Freddie Kruger, and Pinhead do. (All of which have been cited by show creators the Duffer brothers as inspirations for the villain.) But he does have a surprising weakness: music.
Whenever victims become entranced or possessed by Vecna, their eyes form a milky glaze, until they meet their demise as Vecna plucks their eyeballs out.
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.
This is a reference to the D&D character Vecna, for whom this Vecna is named; the D&D Vecna has a monstrous hand infused with dark magic. The design of Vecna's hand is also a nod to Freddy Krueger, the Nightmare on Elm Street villain who had a huge influence on this season in general.
Vecna prays on those dealing with trauma, which is why Max, who recently lost her brother, Billy, was the perfect victim. While she initially got away from him with help from her friends and her favorite song, she wasn't as lucky at the end of the season when Vecna captured her again.
While intending to get his revenge on Eleven and Brenner, Vecna also goes after victims who have dealt with traumatizing experiences in the past (reminiscent of his childhood and his time at the Hawkins lab).
His first three victims — Chrissy Cunningham, Patrick McKinney, and Fred Benson — are all peers of The Party, people they know from school, which makes Vecna's terror all the more real.
After focusing on positive memories, Max braced herself and pulled at a vine in Vecna's neck, causing him to accidentally release her from the vines' grasp. As Max dashed towards the window, a disgruntled Vecna regained his composure.
Realizing he had tremendous psychic power, he haunted his family with visions before ultimately killing most of them. His father was framed for the murders and locked away in a mental hospital as a disturbed serial killer. Henry then found himself in the care of Brenner, who decided he wanted more kids like the boy.
What was Chrissy's Trauma? Chrissy's life appears to be free from flaws on the surface, but in reality, she is struggling terribly to conceal her depression and self-image stemming. She was struggling with these issues, which resulted in her developing an eating disorder due to her mother's verbally abusive comments.
History. The Hand of Vecna and the Eye of Vecna were the only remnants of the powerful lich Vecna, after he was betrayed and killed by his lieutenant Kas. The two appendages were left with a fragment of the lich's will and attempted to work his deeds wherever they went.
Music evokes strong memories that are both good and bad, so it makes sense that it could open a doorway out of the oppressive alienation of trauma, despair, and guilt that Max found herself in.
His name is Henry Creel and you should not call him Peter. You can, but it's weird." The shock twist in episode 7 of Stranger Things 4 revealed that Eleven and Vecna (aka Henry Creel or 'One') have a long history with each other, which could well come to a head in the plus-sized final episodes next month.
Vecna's obsession with time appears to be linked to his hatred of humanity. He views time as a human imposition on the natural world; an attempt to impose order on nature.
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.
Vecna as a Means for Externalizing Trauma and Depression
Chaiken suggests that while Vecna is a source of horror in Stranger Things, the monster can also serve as a useful vessel for externalizing issues like trauma and depression.
Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) clarifies that Vecna "consumes" his victims, as he isn't interested in simply killing them - meaning Vecna takes everything about and from a person.
Brenner (Matthew Modine) states in the Stranger Things episode "Papa" that Vecna "consumes" everything about his victims, Vecna targets traumatized victims because it builds for him a well of sad and angry memories to draw from. With each victim, he can become gradually more powerful.
She Doesn't Have a Great Aim
After the Hawkins team develops a plan to defeat Vecna, Nancy is in charge to blow his head up with a shotgun. However, either she didn't have a great aim or she was trying to play it safe because she didn't hit him in the face even once, and that may be the reason why Vecna is still alive.
Arkhan grappled the Hand. Percy had considered shooting it off, but it couldn't be done. When the party defeated Vecna and banished him, the Hand once again remained. Arkhan pretended to prepare to destroy the Hand, cut off his own left hand, somehow attuned to the artifact in an instant, and used it to Teleport away.