Vecna chose Max because she was the "perfect victim" due to her deep, repressed trauma, guilt, and grief over her stepbrother Billy's death, which made her vulnerable and isolated, fitting his pattern of preying on deep emotional pain to feed his power and open gates to the Upside Down. He exploited her feelings of responsibility for Billy's demise, manifesting visions of past wrongs to break her will, making her an ideal target for his ritualistic murders that fueled the Upside Down.
So it was pretty obvious that Vecna was going to target Max, because of her unresolved trauma with billy, but after she realizes she's being targeted she's basically just like ``whelp, time to die'' like what?
A year later, while her body had fully healed, Max remained comatose, but when Vecna launches his plan to abduct children across Hawkins, and targeted Holly Wheeler, Max revealed herself when her mind was taken. It is then revealed after she died, Vecna was able to claim her mind.
But more importantly, as she states in one or more of her monologues, much of the depression she was feeling was a result of knowing that she wanted him gone. She would fantasize about him dying in a car crash, etc. So, when he was killed, she was consumed with grief from her dark desires that ended up coming true.
Chrissy, Fred, Patrick and Max were selected on the basis of their past traumas and subsequently suffered nightmares, headaches and nosebleeds.
Ms. Kelley's clock necklace is a probable reference to her interactions with victims of Vecna's curse, who see visions of grandfather clocks. Due to her connection to the curse victims, some speculated she was secretly connected to Vecna.
Vecna targets Will Byers because Will shares deep psychic similarities, being a sensitive outsider, and became a crucial anchor or "phylactery" for Vecna's power after being connected to the Mind Flayer; Vecna sees Will as a vessel, a mirror of himself, and potentially a key to his immortality, needing him alive to maintain his own strength while also wanting to corrupt and use him.
Before they embark into the Upside Down, Will comes out as gay to his family and close friends, explaining that Vecna showed him visions of his failed and distant relationships with his loved ones after they learnt the truth.
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Billy Hargrove
Upon remarrying Susan and becoming step-siblings with Max, Neil forced Billy to address Max as his sister instead of step-sister. The abuse Neil endured on Billy resulted in his son secretly taking out his anger on Max.
When Billy died after being killed by the Mind Flayer's avatar, Susan started getting into arguments with Neil who eventually divorced her before leaving Hawkins. According to Max, Neil could not get over his son's death and eventually decided to leave her and her mother.
Yes, according to the show's creators, Mike did realize that Will's "crush" in his coming-out speech referred to him, even though it wasn't explicitly stated in dialogue; his reaction shots and subsequent apology scene were designed to show he understood the depth of Will's feelings, though the payoff for their storyline was minimal in the finale.
The Mind Flayer repeated the same process on a larger and more complex scale with human beings, possessing Billy Hargrove and others; these possessed humans came to be known as "the Flayed". They were led by Billy and Heather Holloway, and had their minds hijacked by the Upside Down's hive mind.
Billy Hargrove and Max Mayfield from Stranger Things are step-siblings. Billy is Max's stepbrother, a relationship that came about when Billy's father, Neil Hargrove, married Max's mother, Susan Hargrove. This makes them a part of the same family, despite not being related by blood.
In Stranger Things, several characters say the F-word, including Will Byers, Billy Hargrove, and most notably, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) in a significant Season 4 moment when confronting Vecna, delivering a rare and impactful "You f***ed with the wrong family". Other instances come from characters like Billy (often possessed), and even faint or muffled uses have been noted from others like Jonathan.
Max had kept running away because she wasn't happy about the marriage. Which is why Billy gets so upset when she says it's "his" fault that they moved into Hawkins. Although even though it's supposed to be before the events of season 2 and leading into that.
Yes, Dr. Martin Brenner died at the end of Stranger Things Season 4, shot by a helicopter sniper in the Nevada desert after his plan to help Eleven failed, seemingly marking a definitive end to his character, despite previous instances where his survival was hinted at.
The "worst" Stranger Things episode is subjective, but Season 2's "The Lost Sister" (Chapter Seven) and Season 5's "The Bridge" (Chapter Seven) are consistently cited as the lowest-rated by fans and critics, with "The Lost Sister" often criticized for its slow pace and spinoff potential, while "The Bridge" drew mixed reactions for its pacing and Will's storyline.
Mark Withers, 'Dynasty' & 'Stranger Things' Actor, Dies at 77 - IMDb. Mark Withers, an actor who appeared on TV shows including Dynasty and Stranger Things, has died at age 77.
Yes, Billy Hargrove from Stranger Things is widely considered a queer-coded character due to his hypermasculine facade, antagonistic focus on Steve, homoerotic subtext in scenes (like staring/lip-licking), and underlying vulnerability stemming from abuse, leading many fans to interpret his aggressive behavior as a defense mechanism for repressed sexuality or identity struggles. His character arc, ending in a redemptive sacrifice against the Mind Flayer, is seen by some as a tragic example of the "Bury Your Gays" trope in media, where queer-coded characters are eliminated.
The Duffer Brothers, confirm that in the coming-out scene, Mike realized he was Will Byers' crush. I liked this scene, Will putting his biggest fear — rejection of self — on the line before (most of) the people he cares about.
It was later revealed by Dustin Henderson that the Upside Down was not another dimension at all, but rather a wormhole connecting Earth and the Abyss, the true home of the Demogorgons, Mind Flayer and the vines.
While Nancy Wheeler loses her virginity to Steve Harrington, Barb Holland awakens in a waterless, dark version of Steve's pool, every surface covered in fleshy black vines.
Yes, the Demogorgon did essentially "impregnate" Will in Stranger Things Season 1 by implanting a slug-like larva into him, using his body as a host to grow and produce more creatures for the hive mind, a process that was later revealed to be part of Vecna's larger plan. Will coughed up this larva, which then hatched into a polywog (stage two of the Demogorgon life cycle), demonstrating how the Upside Down creatures reproduce and spread, as seen with Barb Holland as well.
When attempting to open gates through this method, Vecna would strategically prey on teenagers with trauma, or experiencing mental health issues. He would go out of his way to psychologically torture his victims, making them experience disturbing and disorienting hallucinations, before ultimately killing them.