Through the window, Max saw her real body levitating above the cemetery, her friends panicking on the ground below. Bracing herself, Max pulled at a vine in Vecna's neck, causing him to writhe in pain and accidentally release her from the vines' grasp.
Just before Max died, Eleven rallied her strength, defeated Vecna and freed Max -- but the damage had already been done. Even though Max was free from Vecna, she died in Lucas' arms. She was dead for over a minute, until Eleven brought he back to life.
“Dear Billy” is a phenomenal episode and in the moment has an air of finality. Max has escaped Vecna, so she is safe from Vecna.
Though Vecna is now more powerful than Eleven, at the time she managed to escape through a psychic joust. Kali's escape was far more subtle, happening before the massacre could even take place. The series implies that Kali was able to escape by using her abilities.
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.
Max was his last casualty before she was partially resurrected by Eleven. Although Max was saved from Vecna temporarily, Eleven couldn't revive Max's soul in the alternate dimension, rendering her body void of full consciousness in the real world.
Even Eleven, who entered Max's mind to face Vecna herself, was not strong enough to keep the monster from completing his ritual. Even though Vecna succeeded at his master plan, El was able to save Max, with mixed results.
Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers explain why it was necessary for a certain character to be Vecna's fourth victim in season 4. Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers explain why Max had to be Vecna's fourth victim in season 4, volume 2.
Patrick was targeted due to his father's abuse of him. Finally, Vecna targets Max for her trauma from witnessing Billy's death and uses Barb's (Shannon Purser) death as a way to use Nancy.
Tragically, Vecna succeeds in killing Max, though she's shortly resurrected by Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) — or is she? Vecna doesn't just kill, he consumes his victims, absorbing the essence of their minds and souls. Max, who lies in a coma, might have a pulse, but, as Eleven discovers, her mind is empty.
Refusing to allow Max to die after their battle with Vecna, Eleven pulls out the stops to save her life. As Lucas begs Max to stay alive, cradling her in his arms, Eleven uses just enough power to get Max's heart beating again.
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.
After serving as bait for Vecna, she becomes his “final sacrifice,” getting her bones broken and losing her vision during a low point.
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).
In simple words, Vecna needs a total of four gates to take over Hawkins and rule it. Now, you must be thinking, why is Vecna killing people if he can take over the complete Hawkins? Well, in one of the previous episodes, it was revealed that with each person Vecna kills, he creates an opening to the real world.
Turns out, he needs exactly four dead kids, like the four chimes of his signature clock, as they are his necessary sacrifices in order to open enough small gates in Hawkins, so that he can create that earth-shattering gate in the final episode.
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.
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".
Using past traumas to break down his victims, Vecna brought Nancy to the pool where Barb was killed by the Demogorgon and revealed her mangled corpse. Vecna then taunted Nancy with her own feelings of guilt - that she was responsible for Barb's death and had forgotten about her.
Ultimately, it is revealed in Stranger Things season 4's finale that the reason why Vecna was killing Hawkins teenagers was to create a massive gate that merges the Right Side Up with the Upside Down - and he specifically needed four bodies to do so.
Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) is another character whom Vecna curses early on in season 4.
Later Max is forced to flee from Chicago after he being an informant is revealed.
Yes, Max is brain dead in Stranger Things. When speaking with Josh Horowitz on his podcast, the Duffer Brothers said that although Max is alive, she is "brain dead, blind, and all of her bones are broken."
Max has touched back down on solid ground in Roswell, New Mexico ... for now. After five (long) episodes, Max (Nathan Dean Parson) is finally out of the pod and fully (we hope?) alive again on Roswell, New Mexico.