Vecna as Billy tells Max: "[L]ate at night, you have sometimes wished to follow me. Follow me into death. That is why I am here, Max, to end your suffering once and for all" — alluding perhaps to suicidal feelings Max hasn't mentioned.
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.
Why Did Vecna Go After Max? As Vecna continued to go after young victims in order to open more portals, he set his sights on Max Mayfield, since she was investigating the deaths of Chrissy and another student named Fred Benson with help from her friends (including Dustin, Steve, and her boyfriend Lucas).
She is suffering, but instead of giving in she chooses to fight and, more importantly, to keep fighting. “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.
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.
In the Upside Down, Eleven is being restrained by Vecna's vines while he attempts to kill Max, breaking her legs and arms before he begins to take her eyes.
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.
"Vecna seems to be actually intrigued by Nancy being able to figure him out, to be able to get this close to the truth... I think this is more Vecna's narcissistic traits that pull him to Nancy, why he wants to give her this information."
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.
So, Max was nearly murdered like Vecna's three previous victims. 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.
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.
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.)
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.
Did Eleven save Max's life? Two days later, it's revealed that Max is still alive, but she's in a coma and it's unclear if she will ever wake up. Lucas tells El, Mike, Will, Nancy and Jonathan that Max was clinically dead "for over a minute," but she then came back.
Related Stories. But even the Hawkins crew's four-phase plan of attack and Eleven's revived telekinetic blasts are not enough. Vecna holds off Eleven long enough to brutally attack Max in his signature style—she levitates, her eyes go white and bleed, and he snaps her limbs.
What is the significance of 4 for Vecna? The new season shows that the four chimes of the grandfather clock symbolize the four victims Vecna needs to claim in order to enter our dimension and take over humanity.
Next up, the viewers go on to theorise that One/Vecna is actually Eleven's dad. Yep, told you it was wild. The theory claims that Brenner wanted to create a child with stronger powers, so he waited until One was old enough to become a father.
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. Obviously, Nancy was trying to play it safe. She even cut off the muzzle of her shotgun so she could have the best odds.
The Duffer brothers have also confirmed that at the end of Season 4, Max is alive yet "brain dead, blind, and all of her bones are broken." The big mystery is where the redhead is mentally. When Eleven later enters the Void to find Max, all she sees is darkness.
The fight distracts Lucas from holding onto Max, who levitates under Vecna's thrall. And then it happens: her bones break, her eyes bleed, and she collapses, dead. Max is dead for a minute, but Eleven (who has been psychically piggybacking onto her from Nevada) uses her powers to restart Max's heart.
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.