Main Cast (The Party | Adults | Teens) | Supporting Cast | Hawkins | Hawkins National Laboratory | The Upside Down | Outsiders
Characters in Stranger Things who live outside Hawkins. Beware of spoilers.
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Kali's Gang
In General
A criminal gang of various misfits and outcasts, led by Kali. They were originally based in Pittsburgh before fleeing to Chicago. They get by through robbing stores, and vengefully murdering people who they feel wronged them.
- Anti-Hero Team: They strike back at people who have to varying degrees escaped justice, but are willing to do anything to take revenge.
- Five-Token Band: The group consists of an Indian, two Caucasians, and two African-Americans.
- Flat Character: Aside from Kali, they're all generally one-note archetypes meant to serve as satellite characters to her.
- Plot Detour: Incarnate. The main narrative of Season 2 is essentially paused in episode 7, whilst Eleven takes a trip to Chicago....and encounters these guys.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: They are all outcasts for one reason or another.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After being subject to Hawkins Lab's mistreatment, they seek revenge by hunting down and killing the people responsible for their suffering at Hawkins Lab.
- Shout-Out: Kali's gang looks and acts a hell of a lot like a cell from The Invisibles. Specific logos and phrases from the comic appear as graffiti on the walls of their lair, proving that the similarities aren't accidental.
- Tattooed Crook: Most of Kali's gang are heavily inked.
- True Companions: Kali found them and gave them a purpose, and they all see each other as some sort of found family.
- Wacky Wayside Tribe: Eleven encounters them on her trip to Chicago. They are an eclectic collection of quirky personalities who don't play much of a role in the series' main plot. Nonetheless, the encounter does have significance for El's development as a character, as well as expanding the scope of Hawkins Lab's experiments by confirming there are indeed other subjects out there. Additionally, the encounter lays the groundwork for future story developments in season 3 and beyond.
Kali
Kali Prasad / Eight
Played By: Linnea Berthelsen
Debut: "Chapter One: MADMAX" (2x01)
"If you wanted to show mercy that is your choice. But don't you ever take away mine."
Another one of Dr. Brenner's test subjects, a British girl of Indian descent who became the leader of a nomadic street gang.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: To be fair, she was being as nice as she knows how to be and wasn't entirely all about the ulterior motive. The problem was... unlike Eleven, she's never really experienced genuine niceness, herself. This is where El could teach poor Kali a few tricks. If she ever works out how to let go, and how to let her little sis do that.
- Berserk Button: Having her freedom restricted in any way, as shown when Eleven knocks the gun out of her hand when she is about to shoot a Punch-Clock Villain. This is probably a response to growing up in a very restrictive environment and being used as a test subject.
- Big Sister Instinct: She still remembers Eleven and truly does think of her as a sister. She even cries when Eleven left to help her friends. She isn't even upset at Eleven for choosing not to kill someone who had mistreated them, only upset that El didn't let her choose what to do.
- Big Sister Mentor: During her short time with Eleven, Kali instructs her on how to better control her powers.
- Black-and-White Insanity: Views anyone involved in Hawkins Lab as completely evil, even people who were just following orders or who were unaware of the organization's darker side.
- Broken Bird: Years of being used as a test subject and living on the run from the government has left her emotionally broken and paranoid. She believes that normal humans will always see her as a monster and refuses to trust anyone but her closest friends.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: She completely disappears and is barely brought up again after her brief appearance in Season 2. Not even Season 4 gives a nod to her outside of a single brief mention, despite it giving us many flashbacks to El's time with the other test subjects under Dr. Brenner's care. More egregiously, unlike Kali all the other subjects have a powerset similar to Eleven, which retroactively makes her prior appearance even more of an outlier - it seems that the writers didn't even try to write around her presence (by handwaving her absence from the show), presumably due to her arc being poorly received.
- Cool Big Sis: She thinks of Eleven as her little sister and mentors her in how to control and strengthen her powers.
- The Corrupter: She manipulates Eleven to make her serve the ends of her gang.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Kali was kidnapped by her family and was forced to undergo painful training to heighten her abilities. At some point, she escaped and entered into a life of crime.
- Delinquent Hair: Has an undercut dyed purple on top.
- Evil Feels Good: While she claims to be out for justice, it is pretty clear that she actually hunts down the scientists who hurt her and Eleven in the past because it gives her emotional satisfaction.
- Evil Mentor: "Evil" is probably stretching it, but Kali helps to tutor Eleven in making the most of her powers, while also emotionally manipulating her into helping the gang take vengeance against former members of Hawkins Lab.
- Faux Affably Evil: Again, not "evil", but as "The Lost Sister" progresses it becomes increasingly obvious that Kali's warm and genial personality is largely a front to hide the bitter, angry, manipulative, and violent person hiding underneath, having been twisted into what she is by years of living hell at Hawkins Lab.
- Flawed Prototype: In a sense. Compared to El, her illusionary powers are much less impressive then El's Mind over Matter and long ranged Telepathy. Although she can use her illusion powers on El, El appears to see through them much more easily than others.
- Foil:
- To Eleven — They are both test subjects but while Eleven eventually finds people she loves who accept her, Kali is consumed by her hatred and turns to a life of crime for revenge. Their powers also contrast each other, with Eleven manipulating the physical world while Kali manipulates people's minds.
- To Nancy — Both are teenage girls with a Sugar-and-Ice Personality who are out for revenge against Hawkins Lab, but while Nancy just wants to publicly expose their crimes Kali is out to murder each and every person involved in the organization.
- Heel Realization: Kali is shown to be deeply upset when Eleven leaves her crew to return to Hawkins and save her friends. According to actress Linnea Berthelsen, El's choice to protect those she loves makes her realize how empty her vengeance has been, and that as broken as she is El has found something meaningful in her life that Kali herself is missing.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Kali is fueled solely by a desire for vengeance and The Power of Hate. She's determined to kill everyone from Hawkins Lab who was in any way connected to what happened to her. To the point she was prepared to murder a Punch-Clock Villain who was Just Following Orders while his children were therenote in cold blood.
- Invisibility: She can make herself and others invisible using her powers, but it's notably a lot more challenging to produce and maintain than some of the other illusions she creates.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: As much as many of the people at Hawkins Lab (especially Brenner) might have it coming, Kali has become utterly ruthless in her pursuit of vengeance, and isn't much better now than those who tormented her.
- The Leader: Despite her youth, she's clearly in charge and is the main decision-maker.
- Manipulative Bitch: As much as she cares for Eleven, that does not put her above using Eleven as a tool to hunt down the people who worked at Hawkins Lab. She also repeatedly uses her powers to conjure illusions of people from her victim's past to Break Them by Talking.
- Master of Illusion: She can cause powerful visual and auditory hallucinations in her victims.
- Never Hurt an Innocent: At least for a given definition of innocent. She notably avoids hurting bystanders if at all possible, trying to talk down a gas station attendant with a gun and warding off the police with illusions.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: A mild example, as Linnea Berthelsen's Danish accent isn't very strong, but she makes no attempt to cover it. The article that has her photo (that Eleven used to track her) mentions that she was abducted in London, which could say something about the reach of the conspiracy behind the Hawkins Lab.
- The Power of Hate: What she uses to fuel her powers.
- Psychic Nosebleed: Not as badly as Eleven but she gets these if she uses her powers extensively.
- Psychic Powers: She can project powerful illusions into other people's minds. She also appears to have some degree of clairvoyance or precognition, as she was able to predict where to turn the van during the chase scene in "MADMAX".
- Psychological Torment Zone: Kali can summon very convincing illusions to psychologically torment people.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: In Hindu Mythology, Kali
is a fierce, terrifying goddess who focuses her power on destroying evil forces. Likewise, this Kali uses her psychic powers to kill the government agents who are responsible for the suffering she, Eleven, and countless others endured. - Seers: The car chase in "MADMAX" implies that she possesses something in the flavor of this trope, knowing exactly where to turn to evade the cops, though it's handled in a Show, Don't Tell fashion compared to her other powers.
- Shadow Archetype: Like Eleven, she's a psychic embittered by her experimentation at the hands of Hawkins, but unlike Eleven, she gave in to that bitterness and now only lives for revenge.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She genuinely cares for her sister and wants what's best for her, and she is also very protective of the members of her gang. However, she also has a cold and calculating side and has no sympathy for anyone involved with Hawkins Lab, no matter how minor their role in the organization was.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Again, not quite "evil," but Kali decided not long after her escape that normal people were never going to accept someone with extraordinary abilities like her, so she decided to become the "monster" they feared she'd be. . . channeled into specifically targeting people she believes deserves it.
- Toxic Friend Influence: She manipulates Eleven into committing morally ambiguous deeds.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: According to Word of God, El's departure to save her loved ones has made Kali realize how little she truly has.
- Weak, but Skilled: Her illusions can't match the raw power of Eleven's telekinesis, but she is skilled and savvy enough to use them effectively.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Like the heroes, she wants to take down the organization responsible for the atrocities committed at Hawkins Lab. Unfortunately, she intends to do this by hunting down and killing everyone involved with the organization, no matter how minor their role.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite having been a test subject of Dr. Brenner's in the past, Kali fails to show up in any future seasons after El leaves Illinois. It's particularly egregious in Season 4, where Brenner's other test subjects are shown alongside a young Eleven in flashbacks, but Kali herself is nowhere to be seen.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: She was a young girl who was ruthlessly experimented by Brenner. Despite her ruthless, vindictive behavior, Kali is nothing but the result of pain, anger and desolation consumed.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: She chastises Axel for threatening Eleven, a young girl, with a knife.
- You Are Number 6: Eight, in her case, as indicated by the tattoo on her wrist.
Axel
Axel
Played By: James Landry HĂ©bert
Debut: "Chapter One: MADMAX" (2x01)
One of Kali's gang.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite working for Kali and knowing full well about her powers, he initially refuses to believe Kali when she says Eleven is also psychic.
- Ax-Crazy: The most violent of the gang.
- Blood Knight: Seems to enjoy a good fight, particularly near the end of "The Lost Sister" during his shootout with the cops.
- The Lancer: Axel often disagrees with Kali, but still shows enthusiasm to her cause (perhaps more so than the others.)
- Lean and Mean: He's a veritable beanpole, and the most antagonistic of Kali's gang.
- Mind Rape: Kali fills his head with images of spiders when he threatens Eleven and his dialogue implies it's a regular occurrence.
- Tattooed Crook: He sports ink across most of his visible skin.
- The Quincy Punk: A textbook example, complete with wild mohawk, bad attitude, anarchic leanings, and a vigilante modus-operandi. He looks like a standard Mook from a late eighties / early nineties Beat 'em Up videogame.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He is arachnophobic.
- Would Hurt a Child: He had no problem threatening Eleven with a knife, and would've probably followed through had Kali not stopped him.
Dottie
Dottie
Played By: Anna Jacoby-Heron
Debut: "Chapter One: MADMAX" (2x01)
The newest member of Kali's gang.
- Beware the Nice Ones: She supports Kali and is decently friendly to Eleven but she is a member of a somewhat dangerous group.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: She was in a mental institution until recently, and she is... off.
- Meaningful Name: "Dottie" is a slang term for crazy, and she was in a mental hospital until recently.
- Signature Headgear: Often wears a ribbon in her hair.
Funshine
Funshine
Played By: Kai L. Greene
Debut: "Chapter One: MADMAX" (2x01)
One of Kali's gang.
- The Big Guy: He's a huge guy who fills a door-frame and acts as the team muscle.
- Fluffy the Terrible: He's a rugged, intimidating gangster who serves as the gang's muscle. He's also named after a Care Bear.
- Gentle Giant: He is a soft-spoken, personable guy (when not on the job), open with his gratitude towards Kali and calls Eleven "Miss Jane".
- Scary Black Man: Downplayed. He's the largest and strongest member of the gang and is quite intimidating when on the job, but is otherwise very friendly and laid back.
Mick
Mick
Played By: Gabrielle Maiden
Debut: "Chapter One: MADMAX" (2x01)
One of Kali's gang.
- Everyone Has Standards: She told Axel not to hurt Eleven, stating that she's just a kid.
- Gender-Blender Name: Mick is typically a man's nickname, yet she is a woman.
- Getaway Driver: Serves as the gang's wheelman.
- The Smart Guy: She is practical and too smart to play cards with Dottie and Funshine. Also, she's generally less "wacky" than the others and acts as the team's watcher and getaway driver.
The Soviets
In General
- Big Bad Ensemble: With The Mind Flayer in Season 3. While technically their plan to open a gate means they're fulfilling its goals, the USSR never has any indication of being aware of its existence and the two plot lines don't really intersect until the finale. The season finale's mid-credits scene however reveal that they are at the very least aware of creatures from the Upside-Down, having kept a full-grown Demogorgon captive in their Kamchatka facility.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Subject Steve and Robin to beatings and injections of truth serum. When neither tactic gives the Soviets any answers, the interrogator just ups the ante and attempts to pull out Steve's fingernails. Same thing happens to Hopper in season 4: The Russians repeatedly beat him for information, and then put Hopper in a gas mask where the cut off the oxygen in order to get him to talk.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: In spite of operating with similar goals regarding the Upside-Down, the Soviet Starcourt laboratory is pretty much the reverse of Hawkins Labs. They're a more overtly military operation relying more thoroughly on Refuge in Audacity to conceal their operations, and can come off as much sloppier and louder than Hawkins Labs. The fact that Dustin, Steve, and Robin uncover their conspiracy is rather revealing to how poor their concealment was.
- In particular, their leadership and enforcement is starkly different from the Hawkins lab. General Stepanov has a very Dr. Brenner-esque older scientist killed for failing in an initial breach attempt, taking charge of the operation himself. Meanwhile, Grigori is just as ruthless and trigger-happy as Connie Frazier, but doesn't even attempt her kind of subterfuge.
- Dirty Communists: The show paints a rather unflattering portrayal of the Soviet Union, with many Russians being depicted as evil brutes, Torture Technicians, or Mooks who carry out the order of their superiors. Russia itself is depicted in season 4 as a hellish, wintry wasteland. Worse, it's shown that the Russians have begun to tame and weaponize the inhabitants of the Upside Down for their own nefarious plans.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: We never find out for sure just why they're attempting to open the Gate to the Upside-Down throughout Season 3. Season 4 shows they've begun weaponizing the inhabitants of the Upside-Down, starting with a captive Demogorgon that they let loose on prisoners so it can hunt (because predators don't like to get bored) and feed on them.
- Loose Lips: While in US soil they communicate on open radio channels that anyone with a sufficiently powerful receiver can pick up, in Russian, in a pathetically transparent code that three teenagers who don't speak the language manage to break in a day. Truth in Television as by the end of the Cold War the USSR was filled with inept yes-men who were unqualified for their positions or higher-ups who didn't like being questioned or admitting mistakes.
- Red Scare: In full effect. The establishing shot showing the Soviet flag is depicted in the most ominous way possible and they've hidden their base beneath a shopping mall likely to exploit the consumer habits of Capitalist America. That's not getting into the fact that one of them is likened to a literal machine to further illustrate how dehumanized they are.
- Weird Historical War: The third season's Sequel Hook showcases that they have started to capture monsters from the Upside-Down with the full implication they will be used as a secret weapon in the Cold War.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: They only kept Alexei alive long enough for him to complete the key to the Gate. Once he's abducted by Joyce and Hopper, none of them think twice about killing him.
- Unwitting Pawn: To the Mind Flayer. While we don't know why they chose to attempt to open a portal to the Upside Down, it's clear they don't know of the Mind Flayer existence. Yet just by trying to open a Gate, they're helping it achieve its goals.
- We Have Reserves: Don't see a problem with losing half a dozen scientists rather then a test failing.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: In an odd display of chivalry, during interrogation they don't lay a finger on Robin, while they beat Steve to within an inch of his life. They do use the much less violent Truth Serum on her though.
- Would Hurt a Child: Their mooks have no problem hunting down a party of four people where the oldest is 18 and the youngest is 10, and they were in the process of killing the Scoops Troop before El and the others showed up to save them.
Stepanov
General Stepanov
Played By: John Vodka
Debut: "Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?" (3x01)
A Soviet General in charge of the Gate project.
- Bad Boss: Season 3 begins with a number of techs being vaporized by the device used to open a gate. Stepanov registers no interest or concern about it, beyond executing the head scientist for failure and warning his replacement that he has one year to succeed before he suffers the same fate.
- Bald of Evil: A murderous, bald-headed officer behind some unethical experiments.
- Greater-Scope Villain: While ultimately being the mastermind behind the Russians' actions in Season 3 he only appears briefly in the first episode, with Grigori carrying the weight throughout the season. As The Stinger shows, the destruction of the Hawkins Gate ultimately did little to disrupt his plans.
- Karma Houdini: Alongside the rest of the Russians he somehow manages to evacuate from Hawkins before he can be apprehended by the military.
- Minor Major Character: Though he is the head of the Soviet project, he only appears briefly in one episode, with his right-hand brute Grigori as the main Soviet threat to our heroes.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: After the Gate generator is destroyed and the US military starts moving in on the secret base, he vanishes into thin air along with all the surviving Soviet personnel.
- You Have Failed Me: He has Grigori kill the head scientist in the opening of the season for a half-successful test to open the Upside Down.
Ozerov
Colonel Ozerov
Played By: Misha Kuznetsov
Debut: "Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum" (3x06)
"Who are you working for?"
A Soviet Colonel overseeing the Gate project in the field in the US.
- Actually Pretty Funny: When his interrogation of Steve achieves little outside of making Steve try to bribe him with ice-cream, Ozerov cracks up.
- All There in the Script: His name is never mentioned in the show proper, being only known from promotional materials.
- Karma Houdini: Alongside the rest of the Russians he somehow manages to evacuate from Hawkins before he can be apprehended by the military.
- Orcus on His Throne: He's not a particularly active villain and only has a handful of scenes as an interrogator.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: After the Gate generator is destroyed and the US military starts moving in on the secret base, he vanishes into thin air along with all the surviving Soviet personnel.
Grigori
Grigori
"изменник." (Traitor)
Played By: Andrey Ivchenko
Debut: "Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?" (3x01)
- "You won't shoot.""Why's that?""Because you are policeman. Policemen have rules."
The leader of a group of Soviet assassins.
- All There in the Script: His name is only given in the subtitles/transcript.
- Arc Villain: He's the most prominent villain of the Soviet plotline in Season 3, as their enforcer assigned to kill Hopper and Joyce when the pair get too close to their operation.
- Badass Normal: Given whom he's based on, it should come as no surprise that he's incredibly dangerous, regardless of what his bones are made of.
- The Brute: A lumbering ogre of a man, he acts as the Soviets' main muscle out and about in Hawkins.
- The Dragon: Appears to be Ozerov's primary enforcer, charged with overseeing the secrecy of the Soviet project.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Appears much more frequently than his superior and serves as The Heavy for the Soviets.
- Deadly Rotary Fan: Technically not a fan, but the machine he was thrown into by Hopper was rotating so fast it still mulched him instantly.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Not only is his voice deep, but he only talks a handful of times.
- Expy: Grigori is basically a human, Soviet T-800. He not only physically looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger (a fact that has been aknowledged by Ivchenko himself), his body language and cold, merciless nature definitely bring the Terminator to mind. As mentioned in Terminator Impersonator below, this is even lampshaded In-Universe.
- Flat Character: He's defined by the immediate physical threat he poses to the heroes, but close to nothing is divulged about his character.
- The Heavy: He doesn't hold a position of power in the Soviet conspiracy, but he's the most active and dangerous villain from this particular plot.
- Implacable Man: Hopper shoots him repeatedly in the chest and he just gets back up, since he's wearing a kevlar vest.
- Ludicrous Gibs: In the end, the only thing capable of killing him is machinery rotating at such a speed as to literally vaporize him instantaneously.
- Neck Lift: Does this to the head scientist of the Soviet research program in the opening of the season.
- Obviously Evil: In contrast to Dr. Brenner's chief enforcer Connie Frazier, who specialized in concealing her intent behind a harmless- and even helpful-seeming facade, Grigori cuts such an immediately intimidating and threatening figure (as do the rest of his men) that they can be immediately identified by anyone who is even remotely on the lookout.
- The Stoic: He shows no fear, no remorse, no pain or even anger. He hunts, kills and maims with the deadpan demeanor of someone doing their taxes.
- Terminator Impersonator: He is very Terminator-esque, being a stiff, implacable killer relentlessly pursuing the protagonists. Lampshaded when Kline jokingly refers to him as Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- Villains Out Shopping: At one point he buys some Twinkies from a 7-Eleven, likely a reassurance that he's human. Then he violently interrogates the cashier.
- Virtue Is Weakness: Believes that Hopper's moral code would keep him from killing someone, not realising that Hopper's level of compassion is at an all-time low.
- Would Hit a Girl: Has no problem throwing Joyce around like a rag doll.
Melnikov
Warden Melnikov
Played By: Vaidotas Martinaitis
Debut: "Chapter Two: Vecna's Curse" (4x02)
The warden of the Kamchatka prison, within which Hopper finds himself locked up in Season 4.
- All There in the Script: His name is never spoken in the show itself. He's only ever named in the credits.
- Arc Villain: For Hopper and Joyce's storyline in Season 4. He has no connection to the Vecna conflict at all, save for the revelation he's been experimenting with the Upside Down and he has a gate of his own.
- Asshole Victim: He's brutally mauled by the Demodogs, but considering everything he put his prisoners through, it's unlikely the viewer will shed any tears for him.
- Big Bad Wannabe: From his treatment of his prisoners to the experiments he runs on the creatures of the Upside Down, Melnikov seems to believe himself to be more powerful and in control than he actually is. In reality, he's small potatoes compared to Vecna and the Mind Flayer, and his experiments on the latter end up costing him dearly.
- Faux Affably Evil: Invites his prisoners for banquets... only to fatten them up for the Demogorgon.
- Hate Sink: A sadistic Soviet warden who gleefully feeds his prisoners to Demogorgons and allows experiments on them that are so horrific that even Hopper ends up feeling more pity for the creatures than Melnikov himself.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Despite being a mere human and prison warden, Melnikov is among the most monstrous characters in the series, and makes the Demogorgons look sympathetic by comparison.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He forces his prisoners to partake in hopeless gladiator games against a Demogorgon. In the end, he himself is killed by one.
- Sadist: It takes a special kind of crazy to use a captive Demogorgon for gladiator games. He even spiels on at one point about how he loves seeing the hope being ripped from his prisoners' faces, shortly before they're ripped to actual shreds.
- Wardens Are Evil: The warden of the Kamchatka prison, and one of the vilest characters in the series.
Lenora Hills
Angela
Angela
Played By: Elodie Grace Orkin
Debut: "Chapter One: The Hellfire Club" (4x01)
The high school's resident alpha bitch introduced in Season 4.
- '80s Hair: She sports a high ponytail held in place with a scrunchie and heavy bangs.
- Alpha Bitch: The resident popular girl at El's new school who constantly bullies her over her outsider status.
- Beauty Is Bad: She's very pretty and a deeply unpleasant person.
- Bullying a Dragon: She constantly insults and belittles Eleven/Jane for no apparent reason other than her outsider status. This eventually earns her a well-deserved bludgeoning via a roller skate to the face when she finally pushes El too far.
- Dirty Coward: She has no issue harassing and humiliating El when she thinks she can get away with it, but gets upset when she's dragged to the principal's office for her behavior. She also collapses in a puddle of tears (and blood) when El finally has enough of her bullying and smashes her face in with a roller skate (though in total fairness, the latter is somewhat justified considering, well, she gets her face smashed in with a roller skate).
- Evil Is Petty: She makes fun of Eleven because she sees her as a weirdo.
- Expy: She's basically a slightly less coldblooded Chris Hargensen from Carrie...she dumps a milkshake instead of pig blood on Eleven at any rate.
- Facial Horror: Her nose explodes with blood after Eleven attacks her with a roller skate.
- For the Evulz: She abuses Eleven merely for her own sadistic amusement.
- Gang of Bullies: She leads one, which includes her own boyfriend, Jake.
- Hate Sink: Like most of the bullies in Stranger Things, Angela is a she-devil in human skin who goes out of her way to humiliate El when she can. What she chooses to do to El in front of an entire rolling rink will surely get her under your skin. That's not even getting into how she cruelly mocks El over Hopper's supposed death. It's undoubtedly satisfying when Eleven smacks her with a roller skate.
- "Hey, You!" Haymaker: El, having had enough of Angela's shit, walks up behind her, quips "Hey, Angela" to get her to turn round, and promptly smashes a roller skate into her face, wheels-first. We last see her with her nose badly split open at the bridge and heavily bleeding, likely leaving a sizeable scar.
- Hypocrite: For a class assignment, she does a report on Helen Keller, praising her specifically for how she showed disabled people shouldn't be dismissed and insulted. This is despite her bullying Eleven, who, while not actually mentally disabled, at least appears to have a social disorder of some sort thanks to her raised-in-a-lab-induced lack of social development.
- Ironic Name: Angela (literally meaning "angel") sure doesn't display any angelic qualities.
- Irony: Much of her and her gang's bullying of El consists of them insinuating or outright saying that El is a pathetic crybaby who can't handle the pressure of social life. Yet Angela herself ends up crumbling into a wailing, blubbering mess upon a single blow to the face given to her by El as retribution for her torment, showing she cannot take what she can dish out. Though in total fairness, the "single blow to the face" is with the wheeled-end of a roller skate, leaving her nose split open and her face covered in blood.
- Kick the Dog: Subjecting El to an elaborate humiliation in the roller rink already qualifies, but the straw that breaks the camel's back (and Angela's nose) is mocking El on her (supposedly) dead father.
- Jerkass: This is the kindest word you can use to describe her. She's a relentless and sadistic bully who makes El's school life a living Hell, mocks Hopper's supposed death, ruins her date with Mike, and is completely shocked when El understandably retaliates.
- Lack of Empathy: She makes fun of Eleven (and possibly Will by extension), remorselessly driving her to tears by having the entire roller rink laugh at her, and mocking the death of Hopper.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The karma gods are not mocked by her bullying of Eleven/Jane, so she gets her comeuppance at least twice. First, the principal sends her to her office for a dressing down, and then Eleven herself bludgeons her head with a roller skate, and thanks to her allies and importance to saving the day, El avoids any real consequences for the assault.
- Mirror Character: Both her and Two are similar to each other in terms of their attitudes when they get caught for bullying Eleven, having a group of friends who help them humiliate her at her lowest point, and get punished for their horrible behavior rather graphically. The difference is Angela gets a grade-2 concussion, and has to go to the hospital, whereas Two is brutally killed by a far worse monster.
- Moral Myopia: In her mind, El/Jane deserves what happens in the roller ring because she's a "snitch", as Angela got in trouble for bullying her to the point of tears and publicly humiliating her. Except El didn't actually snitch on her — in fact she denied the bullying, but the teacher saw through it and punished Angela because it was very obvious what had happened. Apparently Angela getting in trouble for her own actions towards El is actually El's fault, somehow.
- Never My Fault: Both times she runs afoul of Eleven, she refuses to acknowledge that she could have avoided her comeuppance by just leaving the poor girl alone.
- Paper Tiger: She's a vicious, acerbic bully who gets her rocks off on the relentless torment of El, but can't take what she dishes out. When El has enough and smashes her face in with a roller skate, Angela's smug demeanor falls and she collapses into hysterical tears.
- Sadist: Like so many other characters of this type, she clearly takes joy in making Eleven miserable.
- Small Role, Big Impact: She's pushed out of the picture immediately after El bludgeons her, but driving El to committing a public assault gets the attention of Owens and Brenner.
- Villains Want Mercy: Downplayed, as she's just a bully rather than a full-fledged villain, but when she's being dragged off to the principal's office for destroying El's diorama, she claims she didn't do anything and practically begs El to back her up. (Granted, it was one of her friends that actually destroyed the diorama, but she still tripped El and instigated the whole thing.)
Jake
Jake
Played By: Logan Allen
Debut: "Chapter One: The Hellfire Club" (4x01)
Angela’s equally horrible boyfriend.
- Expy: While Angela is a Lighter and Softer Chris Hargensen from Carrie, he seems to be a Lighter and Softer Billy Noland....again, no more friendly, but he and Angela's prank is only dumping a milkshake on Eleven instead of pig blood and he never makes an attempt to murder Eleven.
- Hate Sink: As with Angela, he has absolutely zero redeeming qualities and is, by far, the loosest definition of a human being.
- Oh, Crap!: His reaction when El attacks Angela with the roller skate. It's probably the only time he looks visibly upset.
Others
Lonnie Byers
Lonnie Byers
Played By: Ross Partridge
Debut: "Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers" (1x01)
Joyce's ex-husband and Jonathan and Will's estranged father who lives in Indianapolis. A deeply selfish man and womanizer.
- Abusive Parent: Of the emotionally abusive variety. It's clear he's been chipping away at both his sons' egos over the years. But, has focused mainly on Will. His comment about Jonathan having gotten stronger when the latter shoves Lonnie off of him also seems to imply that he may have pushed Jonathan around when he was younger as well.note
- Bait the Dog: In episode 5, he comes back to Hawkins for Will's funeral. It seems like he really cares and is willing to make things right with his family. Then it's revealed that he is putting on an act, because he plans to cash in off of Will's death by suing for money.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Jonathan refers to him as "Lonnie".
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He's never brought up or heard from again after Season 1. Given how shitty a father and husband he was though, it's not too surprising that Joyce nor her kids would ever mention him in future seasons.
- Coattail-Riding Relative: He couldn't care less about Will's disappearance until he sees a legal angle to it that he can exploit for money when the boy's body is found. He then tries to get all lovey-dovey with Joyce until she finds him out.
- Disappeared Dad: To Will and Jonathan, who have given up on him.
- Domestic Abuse: Mental, fiscal and emotional. He tries gaslighting both Joyce and Jonathan with a view to controlling their lives to hit an insurance jackpot. He also does almost the opposite of what anybody asks him to do. Joyce eventually kicked him out, with hints that he once tried calling her mad for suspecting he was sleeping around. Jonathan is always defensively confrontational when they meet..
- Establishing Character Moment: Joyce and Jonathan have nothing good to say about him prior to his introduction, and when we finally meet him, he proves even worse than they'd made him out to be. When Jonathan goes to his house to check for Will, Lonnie "greets" him by suddenly forcing him against the wall and then laughing about it. He tries to hug Jonathan, only for the latter to force him off. He treats all of Jonathan's concerns with either tasteless jokes or snipes at Joyce's parenting; he didn't even care enough to call Joyce back about Will not being at his house. The entire meeting, Jonathan is very cold with him, capping it off with giving him a poster of Will, "in case you forgot what he looks like".
- Gaslighting: OK, so he doesn't have to do an awful lot to make Joyce seem nuts. But, ask yourself this: if she hadn't already been as frazzled as much as she was... what would he have done to get her to that point (and/or convince others she was there)? Because her being seen as out of it as an official excuse to take the reins was a rather important part of his hustle, particularly with Jonathan.
- Gold Digger: His reason for coming back for Will's funeral is to cash in on Will's disappearance. Joyce catches on immediately.
- Happy Marriage Charade: He attempts to mend his relationship with Joyce so that if there's litigation made in regards to Will having been found at the gorge, he can be at the very least included in the lawsuit and cash in.
- Hate Sink: He shows very little interest in either Jonathan or Will, except when it comes to making them do things they don't want to do (like forcing Jonathan to go hunting when he was younger) and only feigns concern when his son goes missing, not even bothering to return a panicked Joyce's calls. He does turn up in time for Will's funeral, playing the role of a grieving father and helping Joyce through her grief, but it's discovered rather quickly that he's only trying to get back in Joyce's good graces to inherit the money from the wrongful death lawsuit he is planning to file to pay off his debts.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: The idiot brings lawsuit documents and advertising for litigation for wrongful death to Joyce's home. So he's not only an asshole, he's stupid too.
- It's All About Me: Lonnie cares only about himself; he doesn't seem interested at all when his son goes missing. When it appears that Will is dead, he reappears in Hawkins for the funeral, but it soon transpires that he only turned up so he could get in on the ground floor of a wrongful death lawsuit, so he could pay his debts. What a prick.
- Jerkass: He's deceitful, lazy, selfish, and neglectful. It's not only that he doesn't give a rat's ass about his sons, but he also tries to capitalize on Will's presumed death.
- Jock Dad, Nerd Son: It's implied that he disapproved of Will's nerdier habits and never engaged in activities with Will that his son would actually enjoy.
- Manipulative Bastard: Oh, he tries. Rather hard. Given Joyce's frustration and despair with and over him, on top of Jonathan's adamant obstruction of anything that comes out of his mouth... It's rather clear both have been burned by his schemes before. He comes back and tries to convince Joyce that he's willing to help out, since he knows how stressful Will's death is, as well as for old time's sake, since he does care. He simultaneously tries to convince Jonathan that his mother is very definitely going around the twist and that the two of them need to stick together, even if they cannot stand it, for her sake. It's all to manipulate both into letting him call the shots so he can nick off with an insurance pay-out. It only fails because 1) he has played this game before, so they are both on different levels of alert and 2) because both are sure that Will isn't dead and that the spooky crap going on does actually exist.
- May–December Romance: His current girlfriend is closer in age to his eldest son than to him. Joyce's dialogue implies he makes a habit of this.
- Mirror Character: To Neil Hargrove. Both of them are abusive, self-absorbed parents who treat their spouses like garbage, and try to force their children to be more masculine than they truly are. They also both make very few appearances before disappearing from the story altogether, due to a Lack of Empathy for their respective wives. The only real differences are that Neil did care about his son and adopted daughter to some extent, to the point where he shows concern and anger over Billy letting her wander around unsupervised. By contrast, Lonnie wasn't the slightest bit invested in his kids, with even Will's disappearance and presumed death barely affecting him (outside of him trying to cash in on it through a lawsuit).
- Never My Fault: Lonnie refuses to accept any responsibility for any of his actions, past or present.
- Pet the Dog: It certainly doesn't even come close to making up for what he's done, but while the majority of his sympathy regarding Will's apparent death is fake, he does go out of his way to board back up the hole in the wall Joyce busted.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: One of the first things we learn about him is that he used to call Will homophobic slurs. Crossed with Deliberate Values Dissonance, as this wouldn't have been considered politically incorrect in 1980s Indiana, but is extremely so to the modern-day audience watching the show.
- A Real Man Is a Killer: Thinks his boys should be hunting, shooting and fishing as part and parcel of becoming Real Men. Jonathan tolerated it (with emotional fallout) when it happened to him, but decided to not simply let him do this to Will without challenging this mind-set.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Joyce hands him one before throwing him out of her house.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He had a girlfriend he was living with (or, was living with her — whichever). Did he just dump her to try getting back with Joyce? Or, did he get kicked out? Or, is she in on the scheme? Dunno.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: He thought swooping in and picking up where he left the various family relationships off in his daytime, cut-price heist drama would just... work. Unfortunately, the genre changed on him in a few critical ways.
Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan
Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan
Played By: Sherman Augustus
Debut: "Chapter Two: Vecna's Curse" (4x02)
An army officer who oversaw Brenner's experiments, and is charged with covering them up. When Vecna's murders start, he believes Eleven is responsible and begins a quiet man-hunt for her.
- Cowboy Cop: The military version, as his uniform indicates he's in the US Army military police corps, and he's leading an investigation and decides the best way to go about it is to shoot up a civilian's home, tear it apart, then torture the only person they capture.
- Evil Counterpart: An eviler counterpart anyways, to Jason. Both are trying to find the person responsible for the Hawkins killings but are dead wrong with their suspects. The difference is Jason is a young adult who is a case of Jerkass Has a Point, with the evidence that he has always pointing to Eddie, Lucas or someone else being responsible for the murders, especially since they're usually right there at the scene of the crime. Meanwhile, Sullivan is middle aged man and a case of Insane Troll Logic, insisting Eleven did the killings despite her being on an entirely different side of the country.
- General Ripper: Utterly loathes the Russians and deems Eleven a tool for their own purposes. He will do whatever it takes to destroy them.
- Hate Sink: A corrupt, hypocritical, and paranoid military official who uses Insane Troll Logic to think Eleven is doing the Hawkins murders. He sends agents into the Byers house to kill protagonists (who are minors) and then tortures a man for information. Despite Dr. Owens attempting to reason with him, he orders for Eleven to be killed off anyways and never even considers the possibility of being wrong.
- Hypocrite: He's opposed to Doctor Brenner, but the things he's willing to do are pretty on-par with what Brenner and his people did (torture, kill, even against children).
- Insane Troll Logic: Some Hawkins teenagers are being killed in a manner that would be possible with Eleven's powers, so he decides that she's alive and Owens is hiding her, and is having her murder these random kids in a small Midwest town to...sell her to the Russians? Bonus points for the fact he's searching for her in an area far away from Hawkins, raising the question as to how it could be her if she's anywhere near where he suspects she is (long-range assassination was the eventual goal of the program, but they never actually achieved it, and he should have access to records that show this).
- Inspector Javert: He thinks Eleven is the one killing teens in Hawkins, and so begins hunting her. Suspecting Owens is hiding her, he goes after Owens' people, as well as the Byers family upon figuring out she was with them.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: A huge fan of it, so much so he even uses it on his own country's people, and members of his own government.
- Mirroring Factions: After a season showing the Russians as being big torture fans who will brutalise innocents under the false belief they're enemy agents and stomp all over human rights, this guy comes in to remind viewers that the American government was just as fond of it and just as happy to do it. Bonus points for the fact he believes Owens is selling Eleven to the Russians, and using the cold war as a pretense for his cowboy antics.
- He and his people are one to Jason's group. Like Jason, he goes after someone due to circumstantial evidence, runs on internal logic that is flawed and nonsensical, and is clearly motivated significantly by preexisting biases and enmity that he engages in with self-righteous gusto.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Despite how bullshit his other theories are, he's right on the money when he says the kind of assassinations happening in Hawkins were something Brenner was training Eleven to do. Sure enough, the culprit is not Eleven, but it is one of Brenner's other apprentices.
- Right Place, Right Time, Wrong Reason: As noted above, he's 100% certain that the murders in Hawkins are the result of Brenner's training a psychic kid. Except there are a few flaws in his rationale: One, the murderer isn't Eleven but Henry Creel, who was already a murderer before Brenner got ahold of him; two, even Creel doesn't seem to be able to exert his powers over great distances like Sullivan believes Eleven is doing (that seems to have been Brenner's endgame, but he never got there), much less the thousands of miles between Hawkins and California; and three, even when Eleven has killed, she's never been sadistic about it with the exception of Frazier and her two mooks that were holding The Party at gunpoint.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: He ultimately fails to capture or kill Eleven, as Mike, the Byers brothers and Argyle come to her rescue while Dr Brenner takes a bullet for her.
- Smug Snake: He seems to be pretty confident in his initial assessment, and seems to enjoy torturing the poor agent he captured far too much. He's completely wrong in his assessment on about every count, which makes his actions all the more horrific.
- The Sociopath: Definitely a high-functioning example, and a creepily accurate one. He has zero empathy, shallow affect, oversees the torture of US citizens, appears unsettlingly calm at all times, and can't possibly think that he's wrong in his very limited assessment of the situation.
- Stupid Evil: Related to above and below, his actions are sloppy, undisciplined, and create problems for himself and his team. Instead of acting covertly, he shoots up a house in a California suburb leaving a lot of his men dead and loses his leads, tortures the agent he captures which leads to him clamming up, thus wasting time, and his conclusions as to the motivations of Owens and Eleven are completely off the mark.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: For real. He thinks the Byers might either be hiding Eleven or know where she is, so his solution is to have the house shot up.
- Torture First, Ask Questions Later: He really doesn't give the poor agent he's captured any time to answer before deciding to continue torturing him. The guy is clearly traumatised from the experience and clammed up in response, and rather then let him recover enough to talk he decides that he needs more torture.
- Torture Is Ineffective: The agent he's torturing has still not given up any information, despite days of non-stop torture. It's not that he doesn't know anything, his partner knew of the Nina Project so surely he does too, nor is it because he's too tough to crack as he's clearly a broken mess from it. But the experience is so traumatic it's caused him to clam up and be unable to answer any basic questions, let alone a complex one like where Eleven is.
