And while his usual modus operandi is to embody his victims' negative self-talk (another very real psychological phenomenon), this time he is telling Nancy his plans and then releasing her so she can report back to everybody—Eleven included—that the end is nigh, with the goal of discouraging and disempowering them.
By targeting Nancy, Vecna would demonstrate that he's more frightening, intelligent and powerful than anyone initially assumed. She's easily the character who knows the most about him and understands fragments of how his mind works.
However, Nancy is freed by Vecna within the first five minutes of volume 2, with instructions for her to tell Eleven what he has planned for Hawkins.
Instead of escaping Vecna's Mind Lair by hearing her favorite song, Nancy is actually released by Vecna himself. Her freedom comes with a price: He gives her a vision of his plans for Hawkins and tells her to pass that message on to Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown).
Nancy then led the Hawkins crew in their investigation of Creel House and in finding a new gate to the Upside Down through which they could get to Vecna and kill him, and when they tried to return to the human world, Nancy was caught by Vecna, who placed her under his curse and gave her a series of horrible visions, ...
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.
While his usual strategy is to mimic his victims' self-deprecating thoughts (again, a very real psychological phenomenon), this time he is telling Nancy his plans and then releasing her so she can inform everyone—including Eleven—that the end is near, with the intention of demoralising and disempowering them.
The theory is that Karen Wheeler might be Vecna's sister, Alice Creel. As we know, Vecna is actually a man of many names, including 001, Peter Ballard and Henry Creel. We saw Henry and Alice together as children briefly in a flashback and it is believed that Henry killed his sister along with his mother.
Fred Benson, a friend of Nancy's who was similar to Barb, was cursed and killed by Vecna. His death brought back Nancy's trauma, guilt, and grief over Barb's death.
One explanation for why time in the Upside Down is frozen, rather than flowing ahead to 1986 like in the real world, could be the impact of Eleven opening that first gate. The outburst of power she used and the deep emotions that were running through her were enough to shock the Upside Down into time standing still.
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).
The theory predicts that Vecna wants to regain his human form, and he will use Will to do so in Season 5. Knowing that Vecna singled out Will in Season 1, it's a reasonable theory, but it might go too far. After all, Vecna already has a human form, and he has vowed to eliminate humanity.
Vecna nabs Eleven and Max. Nancy, Robin and Steve, who were tasked to destroy Vecna's body when his soul is inside Mind Lair, also get trapped by his tentacles.
The group believed an entity from the Upside Down - dubbed "Vecna" - was using the killings for some grander purpose. Following Nancy, Steve, Robin and Eddie Munson's brief misadventure in the Upside Down, Vecna psychically revealed his identity to Nancy, and shared his plans for the future.
Clocks represent a passing of time, which can represent the fact that Vecna's victims' time has nearly run out — it is no coincidence that many of the clocks are set to midnight. Throughout the series, we learn that Vecna is a human who found himself trapped in the Upside Down for years thanks to our girl, Eleven.
If Vecna can overwhelm their victim with fear, and keep them from resisting, their fate is almost certainly sealed. In the real world, he makes the victim levitate while in their trance, before snapping their bones and neck, and crushing their eyes.
His first victim was Chrissy Cunningham. Vecna targeted Chrissy by using her depression and eating disorder against her in his visions. Chrissy was killed in Eddie Munson's trailer, and the first gate was opened on the ceiling.
Eleven defeats Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) in a psychic battle, Steve and Nancy light his body on fire, and Nancy shoots him several times with a sawed-off shotgun. But it's not enough. Vecna's body goes flying out the window of the Upside Down Creel house and he lands with a thud.
Vecna gradually wears down his victims by inducing involuntary hallucinations, making them see apparitions such as a grandfather clock, black widow spiders and an otherworldly realm with red skies, as well as visions tailored to a victim's specific fears or history.
Vecna doesn't kill Nancy (Natalia Dyer), but he does leave her with a vision: a dark cloud, dead soldiers, and armies of monsters. This is Hawkins' future if Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) wins.
Nancy is also cursed by Vecna, although she is able to escape.
One of the most important sequences in this episode featured Vecna showing Nancy the real circumstances of the “eyeball murders” in the 1950s, with flashbacks indicating that young Henry Creel murdered his family when his mother tried to get him psychological help and he intentionally framed his father Victor for the ...
He explained that Brown was put in a position where she was tied up before meeting Vecna for the first time, leading to an "electric" response. "I walked up to her [as Vecna] and she burst into tears. She wouldn't look at me and she was visibly just disgusted by the whole thing," Bower said.
He's a kid with a lot of emotions that he never learned how to express with words or say something as vulnerable as "I love you", and thus expresses his feelings with actions instead. The difference between Eleven and Mike is clear.
Vecna successfully stole Eleven's powers when controlling the Mind Flayer in Stranger Things' season 3 ending, which finally allowed him to emerge stronger than Eleven and enact his plan to take over Hawkins with the Upside Down.