WMG / Stranger Things

Series

General

There’s an earlier test subject who mastered all the powers

Considering El and Kali were part of the same experiment, unless their trials were fundamentally different in some way, there’s no real reason for there to be a hard line between their capabilities. Kali learned hallucinations because her personality is pre-disposed to stealth tactics. El took on a more direct approach with her powers, injuring / killing her threats instead of escaping from them.

If this is true, then one of the surviving earlier test subjects had time to manifest their powers across the board. This person will be more like a humanoid abomination, and likely to be either a tragic hero / mentor or one of the big bads.

• As of S4, confirmed, sort of. Vecna aka The Orderly aka Henry Creel was 001, the first test subject. When Eleven blew him up after he murdered most of the other children, he went to the Upside Down and became S4's Big bad.

Not only do psychics exist in the Stranger Things universe, but also mages.

Hear me out on this, we've got a universe which is stated to be right out of a Stephen King novel (the theory above or quoted from Eleven's aunt herself), where often not only psionic powers exist but so do sorcerers and magic. Maybe they just operate on different rules. For example, in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, magic users like Walter O'Dim exist and so do telepathic people like the breakers used by the Crimson king. Both are implied to operate under different rules, but co-exist nonetheless. Maybe we can see this possibility done in future seasons (let's just hope the Duffer Brothers read the TV Tropes pages about their show).

Barb will Come Back Wrong in a bad, bad way.

I owe this WMG to Jimmy Fallon's "Stranger Things" skit, but here goes anyway:

With the implication being that the Demogorgon's targeting of humans is of a reproductive nature, and given that Will was still affected despite the interruption of the process, expect things to get bad if any attempt is made to recover her. Which Nancy might be considering, given that she is shown in mourning during the denouement...

Troy will suffer a Sanity Slippage

Everything he experienced in Season 1, along with Will's unexpected resurrection, will turn him psychotically paranoid. When bad things start happening in Hawkins, he will immediately point fingers at Will.

• He's already pretty psychotic as it his.

Troy and James will be Killed Off for Real in the second season

Let's face it, they're a pair of completely one-note bullies who will never contribute anything to the overall narrative and there's only so many times you can show the kids putting up with their sociopathy. It would be better to have some monster off them to get them out of the way and establish the new threat.

• Jossed. Troy and James aren't even mentioned in Season 2.

Troy and James are in juvie.

Troy and James don't appear in season 2 because they've been sent to Juvie over the altercation at the quarry. The last we see of Troy, his mother brought him to the police station to complain about his arm having been broken by Eleven, but it wouldn't take Hopper long to suss out what actually happened from Mike and Dustin. At the very least he can slap them with assault with a deadly weapon for Troy's threats to cut out Dustin's baby teeth with a switchblade, if not attempted murder for trying to force Mike to jump, which almost certainly would have killed him without Eleven's intervention. James would likely have been put away along with him as an accomplice.

At least one of the main characters (appearing since the first season) will eventually be Killed Off for Real in a future season.

So far, almost everyone important to the story has been protected by sheer dumb luck, Deus ex Machina, Plot Armor, and even Disney Death (in Eleven's case), with only secondary characters and antagonists getting killed off. Just for the dramatic shock value, someone whom we've known since the beginning will probably suffer a premature demise. Bets on who would be most likely to die include:

• Hopper. Given that he's a middle-aged badass action hero with a cynical personality, and somewhat of a mentor figure to the kids. It would be natural for him to die as a motivation for the other characters to avenge him, and defeat whatever it was that killed him.
  • Hopper seems the most likely since David Harbour has been filming Hellboy (2019).
  • Confirmed, at least as reported. However, they Never Found A Body , so it's possibly Hopper is still alive. We hope.
  • The issue has been put to rest. It's jossed, as a Season 4 teaser reveals his survival as a prisoner of the Russians.
• Jane. A ridiculously powerful superhuman kid who was born into miserable circumstances, it would not be too surprising if she suffered a miserable fate (though not without a glorious bang, that's for certain). Or at best she survives, but her mind/body gets broken and she loses her powers.
• Steve. A protector of the party and big brother figure to Dustin, him sacrificing himself to save the kids at some point doesn't seem all that far-fetched.
  • Jossed for Jane and Steve. The other major death in Season 3 was Billy.

Ted Wheeler is a Russian spy.

Ted sometimes insists that he's patriotic (which would be important to pretend to be if you're a Russian spy), and he's among the first to ask if Eleven is Russian. Something done to possibly throw off the fact that he is Russian. He even has a Reagan/Bush sign out in his front yard. Nancy states that her parents' marriage was mostly to satisfy the idea of a "nuclear family" – which would give Ted the perfect cover. Ted goes above and beyond not to be interested in everything going on in Hawkins, which would also make people think there's no way he could be a spy.

Ted Wheeler: Papa Wolf

The detached demeanor Ted presents is merely a show. He's got a slow fuse because he actually has a ferocious temper, and he's deliberately aloof to keep it in check. However someone is eventually going to push him too far by threatening his family, and he's going to unleash holy hell on them to protect his loved ones.

Robin is Murray Bauman's daughter.

Brett Gelman has said that Murray's backstory is that his pursuit of the Barb case estranged him from his family, specifically a daughter, and one of the few new characters this season is a young girl with no given last name, combined with Murray confirmed as teaming up with the other parents, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think he moved to Hawkins after reconnecting with his kid.

• Apparently Jossed. Robin does have a secret, but it's that she's gay. Robin and Murray interact in the "The Battle of Starcourt," but there's no indication they know each other. Also, Robin's last name is Buckley, not Bauman.

The final season will end with a 10+ year Time Skip

To both show how the lives of the surviving characters turn out in the long run and give the show a definitive conclusion.

• Possible futures for the characters could include...
  • Mike and Eleven are happily married with a little girl who may or may not have inherited her mother's powers.
  • Nancy is an award winning investigative reporter and is married to Johnathan.

Murray is an Americanized Soviet defector

He speaks fluent Russian, knows enough about Russian culture to get chummy with the guards, and chugs Vodka like there's no tomorrow. It's pretty clear that this guy either has a fetish for Russian culture, or he's from Russia himself. Him being a Soviet defector would explain why he hates the Soviet Union while still doing stereotypically Russian things. There have been many cases of Soviet defectors in real life who adapt so well to American culture that you won't even notice that they aren't from here, as Captain Disillusion can testify.

• That would also explain how and why he not only speaks fluent Russian, but also seems not to betray himself as a non-native speaker to the guards. Then again, given the multiethnic character of the Soviet Union, perhaps a non-native accent wouldn't be such a red flag, and he could just explain away his accent by claiming, for example, that he's Armenian or Georgian.

Lucas' dad is a Vietnam War veteran.

That's why he manages to acquire some equipment from that war for Operation Mirkwood.

• Confirmed by Lucas's actor in an interview, though it has yet to be addressed in the show.

Dmitri/Enzo's son Mikhail will join the Party

They'll be forced to defect to America with Joyce, Hopper, and Murray in the aftermath of the prison break. From the dialog between Dmitri and Hopper we learn that his son is around the same age and is "top of his class", so could also be a nerd who would fit in with the group. If nothing else Erica interacting with a "dirty Commie" would be hilarious.

Dimitri and Yuri are in protective custody by the United States government.

One can presume that the two got Joyce, Hop, and Murray back to Alaska, but there's no way that two ex-Red Army soldiers are going to be left to their own devices in the United States without a huge background check by the government in the height of the Cold War.

Eddie is still alive

It's a stretch, but - Eddie was one of the most popular characters to come out of the fourth season and there's just enough wiggle room to have him be Not Quite Dead. As far as Dustin knows, Eddie passed just before Vecna's gates tore a hole between the worlds - it's possible he only fell unconscious before the others had to abandon him, assuming he was already gone. Vecna could find and resurrect him in a similar way that Eleven did Max, and his stronger powers mean he could bring his mind back as well - and then immediately seize control of it much like the above WMG. After all, two spies on the hero's side is better than one.

• There's no body, so— fortunately— there's plenty of wiggle room.
• Word of God is that he's legitimately dead.

The upcoming spin-off will be set in the '90s

To connect it to the original show, the central character could be another experiment of Brenner's who displayed psychic powers when they were only a baby. Kali could have helped them escape when she did and she put the baby up for adoption. Years later, Kali will return to that child, now a pre-teen/young teen, to learn how to control their powers properly.

Suzie and her crazy family members are a group of temporally displaced time travellers.

There’s a few hints to this scattered around:

• Something’s wrong with the family computer. There are two blatant hints that this is a device out of time.
  • In the brief screen flash we see in season 4, Suzie’s father is writing what looks like a talk on “Preparing For A Celestial Marriage”, which references “our President Gordon B. Hinckley”, but Hinckley wouldn’t become president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until nearly a decade later in 1995. Her dad is either a prophet or from at least that far in the future.
  • The computer used by Suzie and her father is seen to be an Amiga 1000, and Suzie confirms that this is the computer used by her at the end of season 3. Except that season 3 raps up around Independence Day (4 July) 1985, and the Amiga 1000 wasn’t initially released until 23 July 1985, with production problems delaying its wide availability until later 1986. Using a computer from the future takes time travel, but the fact that it’s only a year or so off suggests that the Bingham family is doing their best to keep their tech “accurate to the time period”.
• Suzie knows WAY too much about the Internet. In 1986, the internet was mostly confined to defence, academic and research facilities. It’s unlikely that a 1986 teen would even know about its existence, let alone understand its inner workings, or that it would eventually “change the world”. Unless of course she’s seen that future for herself. No wonder she told the boys “don’t worry about it” when they asked for more information. You wouldn’t want to tip your hand or change the past too much.
• Suzie’s sister Eden appears to be the only member of the Bingham family with any sense of responsibility towards the family and home. If she’s so conscientious by nature, why then did she turn herself into a clone of Ally Sheedy’s strange rebellious character from The Breakfast Club ? Because she is conscientious, but tried a little too hard to look like one of the locals, pulling her research from popular media of the period.
  • I think Eden resembling an iconic 80s character is meant as a joke for us, the audience, not anything significant.

Terry Ives will play an important role in the final fight.

Many people have forgotten one person who could play an important part of the final fight against Vecna: Eleven's mom, Terry Ives. She was involved with MK Ultra, which helped make El what she was. And though she was lobotomized by Brenner to keep her quiet and to remove her as a problem, she apparently was able to sense El when she reached out to her in the black space and turn the TV with her mind, showing that she has some form of abilities like that of Eleven. Having her come in with a Mama Bear move for the final fight may be something unexpected, and give the character a resolution before the end of the series.

Season 3

Season 3 will show us all the other experiments.

The gate is closed, but Eleven was able to contact the Upside Down before it was created, which means the psychic kids created by the Do E could all potentially create another breach. The Mind Flayer knows this and will draw them towards Hawkins, where it will attempt to possess them or at the very least hold contact long enough to forge another gate.

There will be a Pietà Plagiarism scene in Season 3.

The season likely takes place in 1985. What else occurred then? Crisis on Infinite Earths and the death of Supergirl.

• Well the season 3 finale had possessed Billy carry an unconscious El.

Mr. Clarke will join the main cast in Season 3.

Since Dustin would still want him to look at the dead demodog he stuffed into Joyce's fridge.

• Jossed, although he does appear in one episode to answer Joyce's questions about electromagnetism.

The Season 3 trailer will be set to...

• "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears. Kind of self-explanatory.
• "Weird Science" by Oingo Boingo. Since the Upside Down has been locked down for the time being, the third season is likely going to focus on the other child experiments, who resulted from Brenner's own weird science.
• "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell. It could serve as a bit of an ironic echo due to the use of "Every Breathe You Take" by The Police at the end of the season, as that hinted that the Mind Flayer may be watching and waiting for the right time. Plus, it has the same creepy vibe as "Thriller" did.
• "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by R.E.M. It's a song that goes for "fun", which would fit the Summer setting, but also lends. itself to building up the idea of there being a near apocalyptic event, such as the return of the Mind Flayer.
  • Jossed. We got Mötley Crüe 's "Home Sweet Home," and then "Baba O'Reilly."

Season 3 will show a flashback to what happened to the "Upside Down" dimension.

It's certainly no coincidence that this place looks just like a decayed version of our world, with a very similar counterpart to Hawkins. Presumably, just a few or several years before the series began, the UD version of Hawkins Lab also tore open a portal to some other, even stranger universe. However, they had absolutely no idea what to do when the Mind Flayer and Demogorgons came through and overran Earth, exterminating everyone and everything on the planet.

Season 3 will be set during Christmas time.

It'll break the chain of the epilogue being set during Christmas. Instead, the epilogue will either be set during New Year's or Valentine's Day.

• Jossed. Season 3 has been confirmed to be set in the summer.

Season 3: Hopper and Dustin will be the next victims of something bad...

They got sprayed in the face with something that looks like spores. Whatever it is, it can't be good for them.

Season 3 will primarily feature Steve trying to cope with the loss of his favorite hairspray, or find a new one.

Fabergé Organics, the manufacturer of the Farrah Fawcett hairspray went out of business in 1984- the same year Stranger Things 2 was set. With the portal closed, what else could possibly happen?

• Jossed. A can of the hairspray makes for a one-off gag when Dustin uses it as an Improvised Weapon, but is never mentioned again.
• Faberge Organics changed owners several times in the 1980s and were even advertised in commercial breaks to promote GLOW well into 1989.

In Season 3 we'll find out that Alternate Bob The Brain is the only survivor in the Upside Down

Bob is a fan favorite, he's smart, resourceful, and it'd be a neat call-back to "he's dead, but this other twin him is not dead" thing seen in a lot of old shows and comic books.

• Jossed. We've still yet to meet any actual people from the Upside Down.

Nancy and Jonathan will be the lead plot drivers for season 3

Given what's been said by the creators that Will will be getting a break in season 3, it'd make sense for Nancy to become one of the leaders. It's been seen on set that Nancy has a scene meeting Joyce and Hopper at work in town and talking to them, that might imply that Nancy leads the story more this time. She never has talked to the two adult leads before in the show really.

• Jossed. Billy, who has been taken over by the Mind Flayer, is ultimately the driving force of the season, while the Soviets' attempts to reopen the Gate provide the remainder of the conflict. As in previous seasons, much of the story remains a balanced ensemble piece, with each set of characters following their own piece of the plot which ultimately come together to establish the full context.

In Season 3 the Mind Flayer will find a new host...

• ...in Billy. It may see a kindred spirit in Billy's rage, and perhaps rather than attempting to dominate him as it did with Will, (which led to its expulsion and defeat in season 2) the Mind Flayer will instead insinuate itself by tempting him.
  • Confirmed.
• ...in Kali. Much like Billy, Kali is a woman with a lot of rage and anger, and the Mind Flayer will see that as useful and easy to manipulate. Her connection to Eleven, who it now realizes presents a direct threat to its plans, also makes her a useful means of attacking her.
  • Jossed, it's Billy.
• ...in Terry Ives. With her mind broken, and her sister mostly out of the loop, she would make the ideal host. She would also be a potent weapon against El. First, her powers are similar, allowing the Mind Flayer to combat her directly from a more level playing field. Perhaps that's what actually draws it to Terry in the first place: It's looking for El, and finds Terry instead. That Terry is her mother would be a powerful means of attacking El emotionally.
  • Jossed, new host is Billy.

A Serial Killer will terrorize Hawkins in season 3

Aside from Hopper, Hawkins's police force is rather incompetent. It's a small town with relatively small problems until the beginning of the series. The media circus surrounding Will's disappearance and The Barb Tape would certainly attract a few weirdoes to the say the least, and would be an interesting Outside-Context Problem; instead of an interdimensonal monster or shadowy government agency, it's just a run of the mill mad man with a fondness for violence. Or, even more plausible, (s)he is another subject of Brenner's experiments, driven insane in the process. (S)he escaped, and possibly senses Eleven's presence in Hawkins, and has a connection to The Mind Flayer.

• Jossed...and yet also confirmed in round-about fashion: While Billy doesn't actively kill anyone, he nonetheless kidnaps as many as thirty people to deliver them to the Mind Flayer. The Mind Flayer in turn effectively "kills" its victims by taking over their bodies and overwriting their personalities, and eventually kills them altogether to create its own body.
• Confirmed for Season 4. Hawkins is terrorized by Freddy-esque serial killer who was a former subject of Brenner's experiments — but though Dustin has theorized that he's the Mind Flayer's general, it's not yet confirmed.

The rats seen in the Season 3 trailer will grow to unusual size.

The main characters will be unable to convince the Mayor that they exist.

• Partly Jossed. The rats are the first bits of biological matter the Mind Flayer uses to create its weapon against Eleven, but the Mayor is not connected to this part of the plot.

Chernobyl is coming

It’s 1985 as of season 3, and likely 1986 next season. The Soviets are now involved, and their Upside Down experiments require messing with power plants...maybe we’re about to find out the Stranger Things version of Chernobyl was even worse than in reality...

• Additionally, since the three previous seasons took place in autumn, winter, and summer respectively, that leaves spring for season four. The Chernobyl accident was in late April. They may also reference the Challenger accident, which happened in February.

Nancy and Jonathan's actions in implicating Hawkin Labs in Barb's death ends up biting the town of Hawkins

Though responsible for the events in the show's first season, it did look like the lab was trying to keep the gate at bay, though unaware of how they were making things worse. However, due to Nancy and Jonathan exposing them on a national level for Barb's death, which results in the lab being closed down a month later, when the events of next season comes around and the Upside Down breaks into the world again, there's no one there to help contain it. Nancy and Jonathan's action of getting retribution for Barb may have set up a Nice Job Breaking It, Hero situation for next season.

• Partly confirmed. Due to Hawkins Labs being closed down, the Russians were able to move in, build the Starcourt Mall and attempt to open the gate to the Upside Down again, even raiding the now abandoned lab. If Nancy and Jonathan hadn't gotten justice for Barb, Hawkins Lab could have been there to help in the fight much sooner instead of coming in late to the party.

• The Justice for Barb hits keep coming. Due to the events of the Mall and the Russian's secret lab, which were possible due to the government agents stationed at Hawkins Labs originally. Not only is Hopper taken prisoner, leaving the town of Hawkins without a level-headed sheriff who would have believed Eddie due to the abnormal circumstances, and squashing the Satanic Panic mode that spread through the town. Due to the Russians reopening the gate, it was weakened enough to allow Vecna to reach back into our world, leading to the deaths of not-only for Chrissy, Fred, and Patrick, but the death of Eddie and Max's temporary death and current coma, and allowing for Vecna to be able to open the massive gate that resulted in the destruction of Hawkins and allowing the Upside Down to begin to enter the world. Thanks to Jonathan and Nancy, now the apocalypse is nigh.

Ted and Karen Wheeler will be divorced in season 3.

Karen will be better off, while Ted couldn't really care less.

• Jossed. Karen decides it's not worth throwing her marriage away for a quick thrill, and even seems to make a renewed effort to engage more with Ted as a family throughout the season.

The Mrs. Robinson thing with Karen and Billy will be completely ignored going forward.

Rendering it absolutely pointless. Or you could go off the above theory about the Wheelers divorcing and Karen starts boinking a high school student.

• Jossed. Karen is tempted to have an affair with him in the season 3 opener, but ultimately declines.

The carnival games weren't rigged.

Carnival games almost always being rigged is generally considered common knowledge in real life. And Murray also warns Alexei that the games are rigged. But Alexei still sees people winning, and is himself able to score a jumbo-sized prize with only 15 tickets (quite possibly less).

Knowing how obsessed he was with making sure everyone enjoyed the carnival enough to reelect him, Kline probably slipped the game organizers a bribe or two to make sure the games were winnable enough for everyone to have a good time.

Season 4

The American's Identity

In The Stinger at the end of season 3, the Russians are holding a prisoner whom we never see, and is only referred to as "the American," right before another prisoner is fed to a fully-grown Demogorgon. The American is:

• Jim Hopper. We never see his body after the Gate is closed, since it conveniently vaporizes any human in range, nor do we actually see him hit by the energy discharge. The surviving Russians apparently managed to clear out before Owens arrived with reinforcements, so it's possible they could have captured and removed him in the chaos. And he knows enough about the Upside Down and its inhabitants to be useful.
  • Confirmed in the Season 4 teaser.
• Doctor Brenner. The Soviets had to learn about the Gate from someone to try reopening it again.
• Another of the Hawkins Lab's child subjects.
• Murray Bauman. We never find out what he gets up to at the end of Season 3. And really, what are the chances that Hopper wasn't vapourized by the Gate Key blowing up? So chances are that Murray is the one the Russians captured and are now holding prisoner.
  • This appears to be Jossed as we clearly see Bauman is among the survivors of the battle's aftermath. No, we don't see him after the 3-month time skip, but the Russians had cleared out by the time Owens arrived, and Murray was still accounted for at the time. Also, make of it what you will, but if you dial his phone number given on the show you'll get an machine with a message from after the time skip, which implies he's still around.
  • All of these are jossed; see above.

The Byers and Eleven are only moving a few towns away.

Considering that Mike and Eleven can talk about and arrange monthly visits (a confirmed one for Thanksgiving and early talk of one for Christmas), coupled with the state of the Byers' finances, it is unlikely that the Byers are moving more than two hours away.

• Jossed, Owens moved them to Southern California for their own safety.

The Soviets have their own "Eleven"

Alexei said that the Soviets' previous attempt to open the portal failed because they had to use the "key" in a place where the portal had already been open once. But how was Hawkin's portal opened in the first place? Not by a large machine, but, unwittingly, by Eleven when she was prisoner in the lab and forced to use her powers. So how did the Soviets end up with a Demogorgon in the stinger? Because someone with similar powers managed to open a new portal on soviet's soil.

• This seems to be Jossed by the series already; among the equipment the Soviets have in their base under Starcourt Mall are cages. Big cages. Cages Erica appears to notice would be exactly the right size to capture a fully-grown Demogorgon. So it's most likely they captured their Demogorgon while in Hawkins, probably because the Soviets' Gate was open just enough to capture one.
• It's also possible more than one Demogorgon slipped through the original Gate after Eleven opened it. Maybe there wasn't a fully realized Gate in Russia for the Soviets to exploit, but the fabric was still weak enough for a Demogorgon to break through.

Karen will join the party in season 4

With Hopper presumed dead and Joyce moved away, Karen Wheeler is the only major adult character left who the kids might be able to turn to. Time will tell whether she'll be able to step up to the plate and deal with the supernatural situations as well as the rest of them.

• Jossed in so far as her joining the Party is confirmed. She's around, but not in that large of a capacity.

Alternatively, Mr. Clarke will join the party

He's already an established Ensemble Dark Horse and he has a bond with the boys.

• Jossed. Mr Clarke doesn't appear in Season 4.

Troy will return in season 4

The Word of God explanation for his absence in seasons 2 and 3 was because he was a year older than the Party and moved on to high school. Now, Mike is in high school, and without Eleven to protect him, Troy goes back to tormenting him. He'll become a potential new host for the Mind Flayer, and unlike Billy, he'll willingly embrace his power so that he can get revenge against Eleven for humiliating him.

• As for James, we'll learn that he Took a Level in Kindness and stopped hanging out with Troy after seeing how twisted he got.
  • Jossed. Neither James or Troy appear in Season 4.

Season 4 will be set in 1987, pushing Season 5 to '88-89.

This will be forced on the producers by the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown, but it will mean one or more members of the Party having driver's licenses which could ease the distance issues coming from El and the Byers being in another town.

• Off by one year, it's set in 1986.

Season 4 will be the last season and take place in 1989

With the child actors getting older, their characters will age with them. The Party will be either juniors or seniors in high school at this point. The new season will take place during the holiday break (specifically around New Years), dealing with the end of the decade.

• Jossed on both accounts. The last season will the 5th season and the 4th season takes place in 1986.

The Byer's will move to Bangor, Maine

With plenty of homages to Stephen King's works (and Bob suggesting they move to Maine in season 2), this will be their new home.

• Jossed. They moved to California at the end of S3.

Halley's Comet will be a plot point in season 4

If it still takes place in 1986, Halley's Comet will play a role in the story, possibly as a cosmic way of reopening the Upside Down.

• Jossed - never mentioned.

Victor Creel was captured by and experimented on by the Nazis.

We know that Victor served in the European Theater of World War II. It is possible that he was captured by the Nazis and used as a subject in mind-control experiments. This could explain how 001 got his powers, since Eleven's mother was subjected to similar experiments under Dr. Brenner, which resulted in Eleven gaining her powers.

Season 4 Volume 2 will reference the Chernobyl disaster somehow.

V1 takes place in March 1986 and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred on April 26th. Easy to invoke the idea of the Chernobyl reactor site being another portal to the Upside Down, or monsters from the Upside Down somehow being responsible for the disaster. It will also be interesting to see what effect the disaster and subsequent collapse of the USSR have on Russian/Soviet research into the Upside Down.

• Jossed - never mentioned.

Eddie is doomed

When it comes to the show, it's got a noticeable theme of killing off well-liked characters who basically end up being there for a season. Both Bob from Season 2 and Alexei in Season 3 are clear examples of this, as fans fell in love with them and they didn't survive the seasons they were involved in. Eddie is well liked by the community, and considering that even if Vecna is defeated, there's no way for Eddie to prove his innocence for the death of Chrissy to the local law enforcement, let alone the townsfolk. And even if the government managed to tell local law enforcement that Eddie had nothing to do with it or somehow provided a cover-up, Jason still poses a danger to him because of his belief that Eddie somehow made a deal with the devil for super powers, which Jason would try to kill him in order to stop him. Though this troper hopes it doesn't come to it, but it seems that Eddie is doomed, if not by Vecna and the upside-down, than from the very town he's trying to help save.

• Confirmed. Eddie dies while battling the demobats during the final fight.

Suzie will tag along with Mike and the others

After catching Eden smoking pot with Argyle, Eden bribes her with taking over her babysitting duties in exchange for keeping her mouth shut. She'll use the opportunity to go to Hawkins and see Dustin (possibly to formally break up with him since her father won't let her date somebody of his religious leaning). Argyle will help Eden out as a way to Shoo Out the Clowns.

• Jossed. Suzie stays home, and Argyle sticks around and even helps out in the final confrontation.

Someone in Argyle's family owns Surfer Boy Pizza.

Probably not his parents, but maybe an uncle who has a similar affinity for weed and a laid-back lifestyle. It's why he gets away with so much and is also so hyped to work there.

Season 5

The Season 5 Trailer will be set to "The Final Countdown"

The first verse is very thematically relevant to the party preparing for their last stand.

Alternatively, Season 5's trailer will be set to Mad World by Tears For Fears

The title is appropriate for what's going on in Hawkins, and the lyrics relating to depression could relate to Max, who may become a Death Seeker in her current state.

Season 5 will take place immediately after season 4

With the Upside Down now open, there's no way it'll be contained the usual less-than-a-year time skip between seasons.

• It's possible, considering that the Duffers brothers stated that Season 5 will begin with the characters already knowing what's going on and what they have to do (as opposed to previous seasons' format, where they spend the first couple of episodes becoming aware that something's happening).

• On the other hand, the Duffer brothers have also said there will probably be a longer than usual time skip in between seasons in order to accomodate for the cast's age (they're in their early twenties). If the above WMG about Hawkins being completely abandoned turns out to be true, the final season might start with several years having gone by without any incursions from the Upside Down as Vecna quietly gathers his forces. Max has awoken from her coma but is now living in a mental hospital, seemingly stuck in a vegetative state with no memory or awareness. Meanwhile, life has gone on for most of Hawkins' former residents, who now live in the newly established town of "New Hawkins". Our heroes, on the other hand, know that Vecna is coming but are split as to whether they should just continue watching and waiting, or if they should return to Old Hawkins and launch a preemptive strike.
  • It's possible that what will happen is that there will be a time skip but not right out of the gate to start the season.

The final episode of Season 5 will be one big epilogue that will Time Skip forward.

Possibly to some significant real life historical event, like the dissolution of the Soviet Union or the start of the year 2000.

In the final season, the Wheeler, Henderson, and Sinclair parents will FINALLY learn what their kids have been up to these past few years.

Considering that the forces of the Upside Down are on the verge of launching a full scale invasion of Hawkins, it seems highly unlikely that the kids will be able to keep their activities a secret from their parents for much longer. They'll probably have to explain what's really going on in order to protect their parents.

Mike and Eleven will sleep together in the final season.

It'd actually be surprising if this didn't happen.

• And when it does happen, it's going to result in El losing her powers yet again.
• I'd theorize it would either happen as celebration after beating Vecna or post Time Skip since they are both 14 when Vecna is still out there but when they are not actively fighting him and on their base.

For the final battle, Dustin will wear Eddie's Dio blue jean vest.

Considering that Eddie died in his arms and he handed Eddie's pick to his uncle, when it comes to the final battle against Vecna, Dustin will be wearing Eddie's Dio blue jean vest in honor of his fallen friend. In the end and if he survives it, Dustin will perform a Due to the Dead by setting it on fire on a small funeral pyre he makes, saying that Eddie would have considered it the most metal thing to do.

The Party will read Max's individual letters to them over the course of Season 5, complete with voiceover.

Even if Max is unable to be saved physically or mentally, she still has some words for them that will encourage the Party to take down Vecna for good.

The split plot lines for season 5

The three main plot lines for season 5 will be as follows.

• The party — mainly the kids with either Jonathan, Nancy, Argyle, Steve or Robin in tow, will be focused on tracking down and finding Kali away from Hawkins with Eleven's aid, reasoning that Vecna is too powerful to be overcome by Eleven alone in straight fight without strenuous effort on her behalf, and he won't be letting his guard down against her after two losses due to The Power of Love, thus finding and using the only other remaining psychic's powers agaisnt him will even their odds a little more in their favour. As a bonus, it will keep the kids away from the worsening situation in Hawkins, with the implications that Vecna will be trying to direct the Upside Down monsters to emerge through the massive gate and target the Party to hurt Eleven as retribution. Along the way, they will also have to lay low and contend with Sullivan's manhunt against Eleven, which will also extend to kali when her survival is revealed.
• Whichever teens don't accompany the party will remain in Hawkins and contend with the encroaching apocalyptic merging of the Upside Down and the monsters that come with it, presumably also butting heads with any governmental authorities overseeing the encroachment, like due to Sullivan's influence as well and belief that Eleven is somehow behind the gate's opening, and thus those connected to her are to be suspected as well. This group will have to balance keeping the unstable townspeople calm about the danger whilst also trying to deal with both monsters from the Upside Down and the authorities on the lookout for them. They may also be looking for a means to reverse the gate and seal the breach for good by understanding further how Vecna stole Eleven's powers and what'd been up to on the other side preparing for the massive gate ever since Eleven first threw him into the Upside Down.
• Hopper, Joyce, Murray, and likely also Alexi and Yuri will be involved in working with Owen's aide, their only remaining support within the government after his apprehendment by Sullivan, to find a way back into Russia to track down Stepanov, Ozerov, and whatever Russian forces are involved in the experiments with the Upside Down and find out where the Soviet Demogorgon, Demodogs, and the piece of the Mind Flayer contained within Kamchatka prison came from, reasoning that even if they seal the breach in Hawkins, it's all for naught if there's another gate and entry point somewhere in Russia, with Alexi and Yuri being convinced to aid them under the realisation that if the Hawkins gate is closed, Russia will be invaded by the Upside Down first instead. Additionally, they may be hoping that the Russians' research into the gate might show them a way to reverse the massive breach in Hawkins and thwart Vecna for good.

Both Will and Steve will get haircuts at the end of Season 5.

A lot of people knock on Will's haircut this season, which is meant to represent that he is still emotionally stuck with his trauma that he suffered from being in the Upside Down in Season 1, as well as his unwillingness to grow up (which was pointed out by Mike in Season 3 when Will storms out of Mike's house after the attempt to play D&D). Everyone knows that Steve has maintained his hair style he's had since Season 1, which by this point could easily be seen as him trying to hang onto his glory days of being a high schooler. Towards the end of the final season, both Will and Steve will get haircuts. For Will, it will signify him finally letting go of his trauma and his childhood. For Steve, it will be signifying that he is growing more mature and that he is finally letting go of his glory days and moving on.

Will reveal that Ted Wheeler is actually a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass.

A few fans have noted Ted Wheeler's lack of presence or care in the Wheeler household, as well as in the events of the past seasons. Seeing that the Duffer Brothers have had the series planned out since Season 1, it'd make sense that for the final season, we discover that Ted Wheeler is actually a retired Action Dad and his behavior is him being a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, with him coming in for the final battle against Vecna. And that the reason why he wasn't as active in the past seasons was because trying to keep him and his family safe from his past enemies.

Season Five will take place during the last week of December 1989

The final episode will take place on New Year's Eve and feature a special Stranger Things edit of "On Our Own" by Bobby Brown.

• Alternatively, the song used will be "We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore" by Twisted Sister, which will be the group's main theme. It will represent the party finally taking the offensive and taking the fight to Vecna once and for all.

Joyce, Hopper and possibly Murray will finally encounter Vecna face-to-face.

Given how Vecna has so far only terrorized the kids and teens of Hawkins, it would be very interesting to see some of adult main cast encounter the Big Bad of the series. It would also make it personal for Joyce, given that Vecna was the one responsible for terrorizing her son all those years ago.

Kate Bush will make a cameo in Season 5.

She'll play herself and sing a live rendition of "Running Up That Hill".

People badmouthing Eddie will become a Berserk Button for Dustin.

Of all the people in Hawkins, Dustin's the one who respected Eddie the most. So, chances are, seeing people say terrible things about him and blaming him for the murders and the gateway to the Upside Down opening up in Hawkins will really get under Dustin's skin. Some antagonistic forces may exploit that to try to use it against him. Thus, one of Dustin's objectives in season 5 will be trying to exonerate Eddie, and possibly show him that Vecna and Eddie are two separate entities, as people are likely to assume that Vecna is Eddie.

Jason Carver will turn out to be Not Quite Dead in Season 5.

Specifically, it'll be revealed that Vecna somehow managed to reconstruct him using the tendrils that split him in half, transforming him into him into the Half-Human Hybrid "five star general" that Dustin initially imagined Vecna was to the Mind Flayer. This could lead to Jason chooing to side with Vecna partially out of Undying Loyalty for saving his life, and partly so he can kill Lucas and his friends for destroying his previous body. It would be a neat way to see how a religious fanatic Became Their Own Antithesis.

• If Vecna is a dark wizard, Jason would be an amazing Blackguard/Anti-Paladin.

Erica will kill Vecna in Season 5.

At the very least, she will be the one dealing the killing blow. And it will be a Call-Back to how her D&D character ended up saving the day with a natural 20 in the first episode of Season 4.

Mike and Eleven will break up in Season 5 for good.

Their relationship for the last year has not been healthy (with El lying to Mike in letters, and Mike not being able to tell her he loves her until it was literally life or death) and after the mind fight and almost losing Max, she and Mike are not talking. I think it will be revealed in S5 that her "I have gone to be a superhero, from El" letter to Mike was actually her way of breaking up with him. El has spent almost her entire life in the real world dating Mike - I think in S5 they will learn the strength of their relationship as close friends.As a result, El will get closer to Lucas as they fight to wake Max up, and Mike and Will will become close again and repair their relationship.

Vecna and/or his forces will slaughter at least one of the Party's family units in Season 5.

This would allow him to inflict more pain on the group and establish that Nothing Is the Same Anymore for the show going forward. It also could elicit genuine, personal rage from the group as a whole when it comes to the war against him.

Mike and Eleven will either both survive the season, or both die.

I'd bet on them living, as I think the Duffer brothers like those characters too much to kill either of them off, but I think it's even less likely that either one will die while the other survives. If they do die, I think it will be simultaneous, in a shared Heroic Sacrifice to save the world from Vecna – something along the lines of Pazu and Sheeta's mutual decision at the end of Castle in the Sky to give up their lives in order to prevent an unchallengeable weapon from falling into the hands of a murderous megalomaniac. (In that case they survived, but they clearly weren't expecting to, and considered dying together an acceptable price to pay for stopping Muska.)

The final scene of Season 4 was a vision of the future, not what was taking place at that moment.

If there is a significant time skip, then it will turn out that while the "snow" was perceived by everyone in Hawkins, the scene of the town burning and all the vegetation around it dying was Vecna taunting the heroes by showing them the shape of things to come, the way he did to Nancy when he pulled her into the void.

Characters

Eleven

Eleven is the Demogorgon.

When El first found the Demogorgon, it was in a totally blank space, not the upside down. Also, it has similar powers, and when it vanished, so did El. Not to mention her line "I am the monster." El is too literal to mean this like the boys took it, I.E. "I am A monster."

• The problem is, we clearly see El and the Demogorgon are two completely separate entities, particularly in the finale.
  • On the other hand, El only defeats the Demogorgon by sacrificing herself. They vanish at the same time, mysteriously. Perhaps they are linked in some way?
• Jossed, as Season 2 reveals that there are many other creatures of the same species.

Eleven summoned the Demogorgon in the finale.

She was pinned with no hope. Even after killing several agents, more would just come. She would be willing to do anything to escape. We know she can tap into the Upside Down. Maybe while unconscious, she used a little energy to summon the monster there. Or she passively summoned it by intentionally created a blood bath, knowing that it would attract the monster (she could just as easily have broken all the agents' necks bloodlessly). Either way, she knew the monster would provide the distraction they'd need, and intentionally attracted it.

As to why she would put the boys in danger, she knew they could at least temporarily get away. And from the season two trailer, we know she survives her supposed Heroic Sacrifice, so maybe she knew she could kill it when she needed to.

Eleven will become a free woman by having her story watered down to the public

Just like Barb's death, the story of El's kidnapping, fraudulent miscarriage and overall abuse by the Lab will be made public, just without the parts about the Upside Down and psychic powers.

• Added to this WMG of mine, if we get to see the characters' future, El will write a memoir and become an advocate for victims of abuse and human trafficking, and Nancy (who hoped break the story) will become a Pulitzer-winning journalist. The Upside Down, and the superpowers of the Hawkins Lab patients will become urban legends to the world at large.

Eleven was able to make contact with the Upside Down in the first due to genetic similarities to its inhabitants

People have noted that the Demogorgon in season 1 seemed to have psychic powers like El. Perhaps this is because the mutated portion of El's DNA that give her powers is by sheer coincidence genetically similar to the Demogorgans, Mind Flayer and/or other creatures from the Upside Down. And since the Upside Down and its monsters seem to thrive on negative emotions, El's severe trauma also helped.

Eleven's biological father Andrew Rich served in the Vietnam War alongside Jim Hopper and Mr. Sinclair.

In the prequel novel Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds, it's revealed that Dr. Brenner arranged for Andrew Rich (Terry Ives's boyfriend and El/Jane's biological father) to be sent to Vietnam so he couldn't interfere with Brenner's plans for El/Jane. Andrew died in battle without even knowing he had fathered a child.Additionally, David Harbour has said that not only will Season 4 reveal more about Hopper's backstory (including his time in 'Nam), but we'll learn something about Hop's past that the Duffers told him back when they started filming Season 1, and which he has constantly pestered them to address but haven't given in until now.With Hopper and possibly Brenner both returning to El's life in Season 4, it would be thematically appropriate for her to learn who her true father was. Hopper might not have previously realized who Andrew was because Terry's lawsuit against the Lab never mentioned the identity of her child's father, Becky simply neglected to mention Andrew to our heroes from Hawkins, and/or his own memories of Andrew from 'Nam are a bit fuzzy.

• Possibly Jossed in season 4; the big revelation about Hopper's backstory was that he was heavily exposed to Agent Orange, and believes that was the cause of the cancer that killed Sarah. There was no mention of Andrew Rich, and the unit to which Hopper was assigned may never have seen frontline service, as their job was mixing the Agent Orange and loading it onto aircraft for deployment.

Theories on how Eleven will get her powers back

• She will go to Kali to see if she knows anything about it.
• Brenner will return and offer her a way to restore them.
  • Confirmed — Owens and Brenner team up to restore her powers.
• She will spend most of Season 4 without them only for a situation to arise that pushes her beyond her limits (possibly Mike being in imminent mortal danger) causing them to return with a vengeance.
  • El might never get her powers back, or only briefly get them back and then lose (at least seemingly) for good by the end of the series.
• She's just suffering Psychosomatic Superpower Outage, brought out initially by the trauma from the bite infection and then made worse with the supposed death of Hopper and will eventually recover, possibly as seen above, possibly under different circumstances.
• She's been subconsciously "buffing" Hopper all along. The show uses a lot of D&D metaphor and Eleven has been portrayed as the "Mage" of the party as well as a clear case of Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards but her power also works on a more instinctive basis than learned spells, kinda like Wild Magic… So it would make sense that her worries about her adopted father led her to instinctively "cast buffing spells" on him, which might explain how he managed to eventually get the upper hand against the far stronger and more skilled Grigori and survived the Key blowing up. Once Hopper reunites with the rest of the crew or she learns about his survival, all the power she's been unconsciously pouring into Hopper will be once again directly available to her.

El is inadvertently reasonable for the Upside Down being the way it is currently.

She sends Henry Creel into a dimension that seemingly was filled with nothing. By being the only living thing there, he begins modeling it after Hawkins, hence the Upside Down. When El makes contact with the demogorgon in 1983, she creates another gateway to the parallel dimension, allowing Vecna to see how Hawkins has grown and giving him access to victims years later. It would also explain why when the teens are trapped in the Upside Down, it resembles Hawkins in 1983 instead of 1986.

• Partly confirmed - Eleven's banishment of Creel was first contact with the Upside Down, and it "locked in" a copy of Hawkins at that moment as a Reality Bleed

Eleven takes control of the Mind Flayer from Vecna and reshapes it into a benevolent entity.

Newly revealed concept art shows One creating the Mind Flayer by extracting particles from the floating boulders in the original Upside Down. This would seem to indicate that there's nothing inherently malevolent about the Mind Flayer's particles themselves. It's all about the driving force behind those particles. Currently, Vecna is the driving force. However Eleven could potentially use her powers to contest him for control of the Mind Flayer particles, seizing some if not all of the particles and reshaping them into a friendly being under her control.

Will

Season Two Will be a metaphor for the AIDS crisis of the '80s.

At the end of season one, Will coughs up some strange, alien slug creature into the sink and it presumably goes into the sewers. What if it sees the sewers as a means to nest and asexually reproduce? Now, with more and more of the alien slugs forming and possibly taking up to infecting people (maybe being inside a human is suitable to nest before moving to a new environment to raise its young?). With the town noticing the monsters, they might find the infection started with the Byers' home.

Since there has been some hints that Will is Ambiguously Gay the metaphor will be given more credibility due to how people perceived AIDS as a "gay person's disease," and since he'd be patient zero, the town would be out for his blood for "infecting them", not to mention how the Demogorgon seems to be Alien-inspired, and look at all the sexual undertones in that creature.

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• Arguable: As Will's actor pointed out, all mention of Will being gay comes from the two bullies, which makes it something to take with a pinch of salt.
  • Don't forget his father. "Lonnie used to say he was queer. Called him a fag."
    • Still not anything like reliable testimony, since Will's dad is effectively just a third bully, and likely considers anyone gay who'd rather play D&D than go hunting.
• Jossed. While Will does cough up an entire swarm of Demogorgon larva that eventually mature into dangerous monsters, they don't infect anyone else, and nobody aside from the main characters (and others involved in The Masquerade) even know about them. That being said, Will being ill from a virus and receiving inadequate at best care from a Reagan-funded medical system is one hell of a parallel.

Will has been "possessed" by the Demogorgon.

The Demogorgon "dies" a few seconds before Will is reanimated by Hopper and Joyce. In the epilogue, Will is seen having visions of the Upside Down, vomiting an alien slug and, perhaps most importantly, lying to his family about "just having to wash his hands". Note that Will's defining trait, established as early as Episode 1, is his honesty. What if the Demogorgon, who has the ability to move through dimensions, escaped to Will's body and took control of it?

• Additionally, the lyrics from the song by The Clash that Will used to communicate from the Upside Down may be foreshadowing: If I go there will be trouble, if I stay there will be double.
• Will ends up being possessed by the Mind Flayer, not the Demogorgon, though considering that the Demogorgon was apparently controlled by the Mind Flayer...

Will was supposed to be Experiment #012.

We don't know a lot about Joyce's past, though it's clear that the Byers family has always had money struggles. It's possible that she participated in the same or similar experiments as Terry Ives for money. However, she showed little to no potential, and thus Will's birth was brushed off by the Do E. However, he had enough latent psionic ability to draw the Demogorgon to him. Think about it – after escaping, it doesn't linger around the lab but goes out into the woods and specifically targets Will. These psionic abilities may also have been what enabled the Mind Flayer to hunt down and eventually control him.

• There's a problem with that theory: at the beginning of the series, Joyce didn't seem to really know or care much about the Laboratory until Will disappeared. You'd think if they really did experiment on her, she would be asking them some more questions about that experience.

Will is gay, and his sexuality will be addressed further in season 4.

In season 1 his father and kids at school bully him for being "different" in some way he doesn't really understand. In season 2 he's clearly internalized it, sadly calling himself a freak. It's in season 3 he realizes why he's different. When he tells his mom he's never going to fall in love his tone wasn't self-pitying or angry, like someone complaining all his friends have girlfriends and he still hasn't found one yet. It wasn't casual or matter-of-fact, like someone who doesn't care. It was curt, brusque, the way you speak when you badly need to talk about something but don't feel like you can.

And then, of course, the famous garage scene with Mike. The look of complete despair and quiet horror on Will's face is worth a thousand words. He's practically screaming "oh god, not you too." It's when the one person you thought wouldn't judge you, who might accept you, who you might be able to tell someday betrays you without even knowing it. Whether he had a crush on Mike or not is irrelevant, he's just had his heart broken.

He then destroys Castle Byers, the one place he can be himself, and rips up the pictures of his friends. Why? Because he thinks he's been fooling himself, that he has no real friends and that he'll never really be able to be himself anywhere. The crushing weight of what is, to Will, a shameful secret has isolated him so much in his own head that he can't see that he's not actually alone at all. His friends and family would all be completely supportive of him and accept and love him no matter what. They fought a monster and went to an alternate dimension for him!

• While not quite fully "addressed", the topic was further alluded to and developed further; including that the person Will is secretly interested in is Mike.
• Will being gay is confirmed by both the actor and the directors

Will is asexual and aromantic

In one scene, he says that "he's not going to fall in love", and he thinks that all forms of PDA are disgusting. When he says the first quote, it's much more matter-of-fact rather than in heartache.

• Jossed - Will is gay and in love with Mike, confirmed by Word of God

Will Gains Powers

Will's experiences in the Upside Down and with the Mind Flayer will lead to him actually developing powers of his own.

• Confirmed: Will is able to sense the presence of the Mind Flayer even when no one else can.

Will will be estranged from the Party in season 4, which will be one of the main conflicts.

Despite their best efforts to keep in touch (and like most middle school friend groups, especially long distance ones), life and high school gets in the way.

• Neither Jossed nor fully confirmed. As of S4, Will and Eleven are in California. When Mike comes to visit, he and Will have some difficult discussions and it's clear Will feels their friendship is on the rocks.

Will will develop some kind of unhealthy coping mechanism between seasons 3 and 4

Considering we never actually got to see him cope with all of his trauma, this wouldn't be too far fetched. He will either turn to self-harm or will develop an eating disorder to try and control things. During the middle of season 4 whatever mechanism he uses will be revealed to the Party/Joyce.

• Jossed. He's been painting, which is about as good as a coping mechanism gets.

Will was originally supposed to die from being possessed in season 2.

This makes so much sense because in season 3, the writers didn't seem to know what to do with him since he wasn't a Distressed Dude this season.

Will's painting for Mike will hold a clue to stop Vecna.

We know Will has been connected to the Mind Flayer back in Season 2, which let to him be able to sense something was wrong in Season 3 to the point where he realized it was back. Considering that the Mind Flayer and Vecna may be tied together, Will's painting may hold an important clue on how to stop Vecna. This is part of the reason why we haven't gotten a chance to see the painting on screen.

• Confirmed in a way. Will shows Mike the painting (of The Party fighting a dragon) and lies that Eleven asked him to draw it for Mike to inspire him to not give up on his relationship with El. This gives Mike the courage to talk El through her fight with Vecna, which works.

Will will come out as gay and that he has feelings for Mike, who will react badly to it (at least initially)

Over the seasons, the show has repeatedly touched on the issue of not being accepted for being gay; with prejudices being even worse back in the 80s. However, the reactions thus far have been consistently heartwarming, with the various characters who are being confided to immediately accepting them for who they are. It makes sense that the show will, at some point, touch on the opposite end of the spectrum - where someone has trouble accepting this, at least initially - to show where all the anxiety is coming from.

• In this respect, it would make sense for Mike to fill this role. Both sides could end up feeling betrayed. For Will, it's that Mike is supposed to be his best friend and so should be supportive of him. Meanwhile, for Mike, it's that Will is supposed to be his best friend while the revelation of Will's attraction to him changes the nature of their relationship.
• Another point is that because he's been more or less joined in the hip with Eleven from the beginning, Mike has never experienced a one-sided, unrequited crush - be it being the one with the crush or being on the receiving end of it - to provide him a frame of reference of what that is like.

Will will confront Vecna and have a full conversation with him.

Remember, if Vecna controlling the Mind Flayer is correct, than he'll obviously have some history with Will. Vecna, possibly after Will hits the Despair Event Horizon, attacks him and tries to kill him, preying on his insecurities and taunting him with the possibility of his friends turning against him when they learn about his sexuality. However, Will ends up receiving a Heroic Second Wind (most likely some music) and turns the tables on Vecna. He tears into him about how he's pathetic (like It: Chapter Two) and, now that he knows who's really behind the Mind Flayer, he doesn't scare him anymore. He then escapes, also possibly delivering a blow to Vecna in the process.

Max

Neil will start abusing Max if he hasn't already

With the implication that he moved his family to Hawkins because he didn't like how much time she was spending with her biological father, it's not hard to believe that he's that kind of stepfather. This could potentially lead to a Redemption Arc for Billy when he finds out, prompting him to finally stand up to him.

• Jossed with the Redemption Arc, but it still possible he'll start abusing Max, especially with Billy gone.
  • Presumably jossed in full by Neil's leaving Max's mom.

Max will recover in Season 5, and she will have her date with Lucas in the finale.

The show has used the same plot thread twice. In Season 1, it built up the Mike/Eleven pairing, having Mike ask El to the Snow Ball, only for El to apparently disintegrate and the two to be separated until the next season, with the Snow Ball date taking place in the Season 2 finale. Similarly, Hopper/Joyce is built up in Season 3, with Jim asking Joyce out toward the end, only for Hopper to apparently sacrifice himself and the two to be separated, with their date deferred until after the next season. In the Season 4 finale, Lucas asked Max out and she accepted, only for her to be put in a coma. This foreshadows that, whether by removing Vecna’s influence, help from Dr. Owens or his colleagues, or El developing her powers; somehow, Max is going to get better by the season 5 finale, so she and Lucas can keep their date.

Max will be a villain in season 5, possessed by Vecna/One as his human vessel in the normal world.

When Eleven looked inside Max's mind in the hospital, she found it empty. Max's body is still alive, but her mind/soul is gone, still locked in One's grip. One will figure this out quickly, and once Max's body is healed, he will wake her from her coma and use her the way the Mind Flayer used Billy, possessing her body in order to accomplish his goals.

Some added stretch-goal predictions:

• The Party will try to use Kate Bush once again to bring Max back, but since it's One, not Max, in the driver's seat, it will have no effect — and in fact, a twisted, moody cover of "Running Up That Hill" will become One!Max's leitmotif.

• One will take the idea of the "Hellfire Club" as a Hollywood Satanism cult and make it real by using Max to lead an actual cult as part of his plan.
  • Alternatively he'll use Max to turn the people of Hawkins against her friends by forcing her to publicly repeat all of Jason's various accusations about them being a Satanic Cult. Vecna might even use his powers to heal Max's body and then make her claim that she was healed by "God" so she could come back and warn everyone about the "evil" of the Hellfire Club.

• One will torture Max by forcing her to watch everything he's doing in her body, in addition to reminding her of her stepbrother's fate and alluding to the possibility that her friends might similarly be forced to kill her to stop him.

• One!Max will attempt to kill one of our heroes, most likely Nancy, who shot him previously.

• Vecna will give Max a bitchin' Evil Makeover.

• One!Max will taunt Eleven for yet again unknowingly helping him and points out that if she had just let Max stay dead, he wouldn't have been able to possess Max's body.

• The Party will neutralize One's control over Max by injecting her with the same type of implant that Dr. Brenner used to suppress One's powers when he was still human.

• In Season 1, when Eleven sabotaged the Party's attempts to find the Gate to the Upside Down, Lucas accused her of being a traitor, causing the Party to fall apart with him going to find the Gate by himself. In Season 5, with Max being possessed by Vecna, a reversal of roles occurs: This time, it's Lucas who undermines the Party's plans to destroy Vecna because there's a good chance they'll end up killing Max as well. Eleven, who already believes that she made a mistake by resurrecting Max in the first place, subsequently accuses Lucas of being a "traitor" and angrily leaves the Party to stop Vecna on her own.

Max will be taken off life support sometime in Season 5.

Eleven's attempt to bring Max back only stalled the inevitable, since it's likely that Max is braindead. The Party will realize that bringing her back to how she was is not an option, and so will likely mourn her when the doctors pull the plug.

Even if she manages to emerge from her comatose state without any mental problems, Max likely wouldn't be able to bear living the rest of her life without her sight or use of her limbs, and so will request a lethal injection or other way to have a peaceful death.

• Alternatively, she slowly regains the usage of her limbs and learns to live without her sight. Or Eleven or someone uses their powers to heal Max's body entirely.
• In fan works written since the end of S4 it's become a very popular trope to write Max as blind or using a wheelchair or even both

Max's mind is trapped inside Vecna

Max is comatose as there really is no one home. Eleven will have to go in side Vecna's mind to free her.

Max is not brain dead.

Word of God says that Max is brain dead. However, she is shown breathing without a ventilator, which would be impossible. It is however possible that she will wake up from her coma in a persistent vegetative state. It's also very much possible that the Duffer Brothers don't know the intricacies of what "brain dead" means, and this could go in either direction- she might actually be brain dead in-universe, or she might wake up from being brain dead, because the show's creators don't know that brain death is always permanent.

• Or the "brain dead"/not using a ventilator is a throwback to 1980s works where medicine and the medical field wasn't properly portrayed in fiction (one such example is The Philadelphia Experiment, which features a scene where a character is getting her wrist x-rayed while being questioned by a police officer standing in the x-ray room with her, which is against procedure).

Steve

Steve got Nancy pregnant.

And that's why she's still with Steve at Season 1's end – she'd just found out that their tryst led to a pregnancy, subverting yet another '80s movie convention (the one about sex happening without consequences), and further motivating her to stay with Steve. Season 2, which will take place in October the following year, will show them living together and taking care of their infant.

• Not only is this jossed, but Nancy breaks off with Steve and gets with Jonathan in the new season. That's gotta sting.

Steve will date either Kali or one of her female friends.

If Kali's gang returns in Season 3, it'll be a good way to end the love triangle between him, Nancy, and Jonathan.

• That would be rather weird and cheesy.
  • I could see this working with Kali if it's executed well. Whether it's friendship or something romantic, Steve and Kali interacting would definitely be interesting, and could lead to some funny (and awesome) scenes.

Steve will grow up to be a Cool Teacher.

He seems pretty lost and without purpose at the beginning of Season 2, and as his severely compensating behavior suggests, he's very aware that he's in danger of becoming a Future Loser. However, after discovering he's "a pretty good baby-sitter" and developing an Odd Friendship with Dustin, he'll be inspired to become a teacher and/or basketball coach and continue mentoring awkward pre-teens.

• Jossed, at least as of Season 3. Steve didn't make the grades to get into college (kind of a requirement to be a teacher) and is spending his summer scooping ice cream at the mall.

Steve gets a badge

Season 2 makes it clear that Steve is worrying over (and possibly lacks) college prospects. After his Character Development and surge in popularity during Season 2, it wouldn't make sense for him to get sent away for college. But, as Season 2 has also shown, he is "a pretty good babysitter" and is not afraid to get his hands dirty to protect the kids. Furthermore, Hopper has probably been feeling isolated within the department over not being able to share the truth of Hawkins Labs and the Upside Down with his officers; why not bring on someone already in the know? It could provide for some great interactions between Steve and Hopper, with the latter being able to give Steve some much needed direction in his life, while Steve could potentially become the surrogate son to Hopper to complement his surrogate daughter El.This works on so many levels because:

• It keeps Steve in Hawkins with something to do,
• It allows for new character interactions between Steve and presumably El, and
• It will give him an expanded role in Season 3, compared to the previous 2.
• Jossed. Steve is working for an ice cream parlor throughout much of season 3.

Steve will try to be Robin's wingman.

To compensate for the fact that Robin seems shy about actively pursuing other girls, and Steve still considers himself a casanova, he'll decide Robin could use his help in this particular field. And he will be both A. extremely enthusiastic and B. absolutely, hilariously terrible at it.

• Somewhat confirmed, Steve tries his best to encourage Robin to go for the girls she's interested in.

Steve will die in volume 2 of season 4

As much as this would be a huge gut punch it makes a lot of sense. If Steve dies it will give a ton of characters who need motivation something to do in the last season. Dustan for example in seasons 3 and 4 has not had a ton of motivation besides his love for his friends, which is great but Steve dying would give him a very emotional and interesting last season like Max did with Billy this season. This would also clear the whole romance/love triangle with Nancy this season. Nancy and Johnathan's issues don't seem big enough to make them break up, its just an issue they need to deal with. Therefore it is hard to see Nancy and Steve getting back together. But if Steve dies it would make it so he could have a final romantic moment, confessing his love, but once he's gone Nancy and Johnathan would still be together. They could take a break, Nancy needing to prosses the loss of Steve, but it is probable by the end of season 5 Nancy and Johnathan will be end game. This would also let Robin really become her own character in the final season. The final point is that season 4 has been giving a lot of focus on how much people love Steve, feeling like foreshadowing for all of their mourning and sadness when he's gone.

• Jossed, he lives.

Hopper

Sheriff Hopper is Will's real dad.

Both he and Joyce probably had an affair some time ago. Depending on this, if we find out it was around the same time as when Will was conceived, well... That puts Hopper's actions in a whole new light.

• It's stated in series that Hopper has been chief for four years and that he used to be a police officer in the city, and he is shown to have been happily married at that time. It is implied that before this he was unfamiliar with Hawkins.
  • While true that Hopper has been away from Hawkins too long to be Will's dad, he actually was from there. He went to school alongside Joyce and her generation of Hawkinsites. He just left after high school, and only came back once his marriage fell apart and his life went down the drain.
  • In the season 2 opener, Will's doctor address Hopper as Will's "Dad," so you're not the only one who gets that vibe, likely due to his and Joyce's shared history.
• Season 4 fleshing out Hopper's time in Vietnam makes this highly unlikely since he worked in close contact with the components of Agent Orange to the point it's near certain his exposure is what led to his own daughter's childhood cancer. Since he was apparently directly involved in the mixing for a sustained period of time, it's likely any of his biological offspring would have similar health issues.

Jim Hopper might be Jonathan's biological father

When Joyce's marriage to Lonnie was falling apart, she might have cheated on him with Hopper. This could help explain the bad blood between the three of them in Season 1. And Jonathan looks like he could be Hop's son. Though, Joyce having an affair might be considered out of character for her.

• Season 4 suggests this is Jossed given that Hopper worked with Agent Orange in the Vietnam War and saw his fellow veterans' children affected by birth defects down the line. He states he was extremely reluctant to have Sarah and clearly believes it to be the cause of her early death.

Hopper is a Vietnam War veteran.

He seems to be about the right age, and it would further establish his character as a grizzled badass with a traumatic past.

• He does have a box in the cellar of his father's cabin marked "Vietnam", doesn't he?
• Interestingly, Hopper has never once mentioned serving in the military. Though it's very understandable if he doesn't have any pleasant memories about that experience.
• The way he handled his assault rifle in the Season 2 finale (i.e. keeping it in semi-auto at all times, as the early-model M16s were notoriously jam-prone) also seems to imply this.
• After the first time we see Will see Dr. Owens, Hopper says something about PTSD being real, in a tone that suggests he's either known people with it or experienced it. It would make sense also for him to have been diagnosed with it from his daughter's death, but having been in the military is plausible too.
• Confirmed in Season 4 and explained further that his unit prepared Agent Orange and he blames his exposure for his daughter's childhood cancer.

Brenner

Dr. Brenner is Eleven's biological father.

The odds are strong that he knew her mother back in the day. El's conception was an unorthodox side effect of the two of them becoming acquainted in a scientific context, producing one more test subject than they'd initially planned on being exposed to experimental material. (Even worse, it's possible it was on purpose, without the woman's knowledge.) It's possible Brenner wanted a test subject who was completely accessible to his experiments from birth, as well as receiving influences from the project while in utero. And it'd be a nice capstone to all the first season's Star Wars references.

• Some arguments against this:
  • Brenner, as we see throughout the series so far, seems to be all about science. Screwing a doped-up test subject (with or without her consent) is something he would probably regard as beneath him; worse, it could adversely affect the experiment by compromising his objectivity as a researcher.
    • He is arguably already compromising his objectivity and the experiment by having his subject refer to him as a father.
  • Additionally, given that this is part of a Government Conspiracy, the CIA is no doubt keeping Brenner and his colleagues under surveillance, if anything, making sure none of them grow a conscience and blow the whistle on the operation. If the CIA had any idea that Brenner was having sex with his test subjects, they would have shut his lab down immediately. After all, they aren't funding his lab so he can slake his lusts, and the presence of a relationship (sexual or blood) between the lead scientist of an experiment and his test subjects would automatically lead to the presumption that any data that was collected was fake.
    • In fact, the presence of so much fake data is why the government cut funding for even ethical paranormal research in Real Life.
  • Thus, assuming Brenner has a sex life, he probably keeps it strictly separate from his work. The whole idea of having a child he can control completely is already accomplished by kidnapping the newborn child of said doped-up test subject, since legally, the child doesn't exist, and any claims to the contrary are dismissed as the ravings of a lunatic with a history of drug use.
    • Being the father of a legally existing child would give him less rights, since the then-prevalent Tender Years doctrine favored the mother in custody disputes, and in any case, the courts would retain jurisdiction over the child until she reached majority.
  • Moreover, even leaving the scientifically problematic nature of such a liaison aside, the scenario outlined could have played out three ways:
    • If Eleven's mother was knowingly physically involved with Dr. Brenner, she could have argued that he took advantage of her to bolster her case. This allegation was not mentioned in the newspaper articles, and on the show, and it is unlikely that it would have been left out.
    • If she wasn't aware of the sex, and was not otherwise sexually active, she might well question how she could have become pregnant and used that in her case. Again, such a thing should have been mentioned on the show, and wasn't.
    • Finally, if she was unaware of the sex and was otherwise sexually active, Brenner might have no guarantee that the child would be his, especially in an era before DNA testing.
  • I wouldn't be surprised if Brenner just considered himself to be superior to most people, therefore obviously (in his mind) any child with powers would have to share his DNA. Even supposing that he doesn't have a sex life, he could arrange for women of interest to be artificially inseminated without their knowledge. (He is an evil conspiracy guy, after all.)
    • Jossed by the tie-in novel, Suspicious Minds. Eleven's mother Terry has a boyfriend, Andrew, who is Eleven's father. Brenner does, however, get him drafted into Vietnam, where he's killed in battle to make sure he can't corroborate Terry's account or make any attempt to claim custody of Jane/Eleven.

The Mind Flayer is Martin Brenner transformed

.Considering Ray said Brenner was still alive, it's possible that, after being dragged to the Upside Down, its power turned him into a monster spawned out of his own malice and hunger for power. Plus, Will referred to the Mind Flayer as a "he" when it appeared to have no determinant gender.

• When Brenner interacts with Mike's mom, we get the sense that he has some level of influence over people, whether by charisma or something else. It wouldn't seem out of character for him to have sampled some of the results of MKULTRA, winding up with a few powers of his own. This might then explain why he was trusted to keep a subject as powerful as Eleven under control, and why he was so interested in the project to begin with. (Perhaps he even got the idea for the research proposal after having run initial tests on himself?) Brenner having psychic influence would make it easier to believe that he became a miasma of evil psychic mind control after passing through the Upside Down. (And it would also mean the people Kali wants to kill are likely all innocent.)
  • Additionally, the thing is called the Mind Flayer. What have we seen Brenner do in nearly every scene he's been in? Shred people's psyches. He even quite literally flayed Terry Ives' mind with electricity. One could even argue that his entire research project was an attempt to flay human minds using drugs, hoping to rebuild them into weapons.
    • Presumably jossed by Brenner's return in Season 4, where he's not shown to be linked to the Mind Flayer in any way.

Martin Brenner is planning on building an army.

An army of psychics like Eleven. He plans to ignite World War III. It turns out he's an Ozymandias-like Well-Intentioned Extremist who realizes war is inevitable, so he intends to make sure America wins.

• One thing is certain, the Russians are also trying to open a portal to the Upside Down in Season 3.
• Jossed in the present tense, anyway; season 4 reveals that one of his orderlies had gone rogue and slaughtered all of his test subjects except Eleven; after that, Dr. Brenner had no interest in testing anyone except Eleven.

Martin Brenner will return in season 3 as The Corruptor.

He'll easily sway some of the most unpleasant characters to his advantage, like Billy Hargrove, Lonnie Byers, and Troy. He'll also try to break the Party, since it's beginning to fall apart at the end of season 2, one of the reasons being Max's inclusion of the Party (Mike doesn't want her in, and Eleven still doesn't like her even if she knows she wasn't stealing him). During the middle of the season, The Fellowship Has Ended, but will come back together near the end of the season.

• Jossed. Brenner isn't even mentioned. Additionally, Max and El mend their differences, and she's fully welcomed into the Party in season 3.

Brenner will return in Season 3, but he'll be heavily crippled, à la Davros

Given that he was last seen being attacked by the Demogorgon, and that he's been confirmed to be alive, it's obvious that he wouldn't get out of the fiasco with the Demogorgon unscathed.

• Jossed, he doesn't appear nor mentioned at all in Season 3. But there's a possibility that he's the American prisoner (see below).
• He does appear in Season 4, but with only a small bit of scarring.

Doctor Brenner has a Nazi scientist past.

I was surprised I couldn't find it in the discussion on this site, but it jumped on me when I saw the drawing of 11 and "Papa". Now Wikipedia claims that while Papa is in some circles fashionable in the US nowadays, it probably wasn't so in the 1980s unless you had a Central European family connection.Additionally, Martin Brenner would make a perfectly normal German name (Brenner meaning Burner, but also being an Austrian/Italian border town). Matthew Modine was about 56 during production of season 1, so this would set Brenner's year of birth to the mid 1920s. Too young to be a target of Operation Paperclip, but perhaps being brought along by a mentor shortly after the war. Besides not being one for long speeches, having spent most of his adult life in the US would have allowed him to not talk with a strong accent any more.So this would be a case of "Herr Doktor".

• Absolutely makes sense, though I believe Brenner is meant to be much older than Modine. His shaky voice especially feels far more elderly than late 50s.
• While Brenner himself may be too young to have been a former Nazi, it is possible that he may have worked under, and was possibly trained by former Nazi scientists early on in his scientific career.

Brenner will return, as an avatar for the Mind Flayer

It seems unlikely Brenner would survive his mauling, but it's possible his corpse was dragged into the Upside down, where the Mind Flayer reanimated it to serve as a backup proxy it'll finally use in season 4.

Alternatively, the Mind Flayer will improve on it's existing ability to reshape it's flayed to the point that it can make them look like other people. If we assume that it read El when she read Billy then it's a reasonable presumption that the Flayer would use Brenner's form, knowing the effect seeing him would have on El.

• Somewhat confirmed. Brenner is still alive as of S4, but the big bad is Vecna, not the Mind Flayer.

Vecna

Henry Creel is The Upside Down

We see in the final episode of Season 4 Vol.1 that El tried to completely obliterate Henry Creel. But Henry survived. Perhaps it is because she was unable to destroy his mind, instead leaving Henry as a malignant consciousness held together by his psychic powers. The Upside Down therefore is the subconscious, emotions, and base instincts of Henry Creel's mind.

This explains why The Upside Down is a world that reflects Henry Creel's personality and personal philosophy so well. At first it was just a world of formless rage and hate, reflecting his mind immediately after the massacre. But it eventually coalesced into the cold, bleak, merciless and alien world we know. Chaotic, filled with monstrous predators and totally under Henry's control, it is what he believes the world is meant to be. This is also why The Upside Down and all its denizens are a hive mind.

However, despite his powerful psychic abilities Henry could not escape his demiplane prison. That is until El accidentally psychically touched a part of Henry, the Demogorgon, in 1983. This created the necessary corridor to reality which allowed Hawkins to enter his consciousness. This caused Hawkins to manifest in the The Upside Down as it existed at that very moment.

Vecna and the Mind Flayer are related somehow.

It seems like there was nothing in the Upside Down until Henry Creel is sent there. They both have similar goals of world domination and the Mind Flayer does resemble a spider too.

• Confirmed in "Papa", where it is revealed that Vecna and the Mind Flayer are one and the same.

Vecna's murders will be pinned on Jason

In his drive to bring Chrissy's so-called killer to justice, he'll go berserk and either try to or successfully kill somebody from the Party, likely Eddie. But he'll do so just as the rest of his mob catches up and, catching him literally red-handed, will blame him for everything instead.

• Considering how he assaulted a couple of members of the Hellfire Club, they could be considered as witnesses to Jason's "unhinged" state of mind. None of his other friends witnessed the death of their friend who was killed by Vecna, so they would have their doubts in believing him and suspect that he killed him in addition to whomever he inadvertently kills that leads to his arrest.
• Jason may be a dick and definitely deserves to be arrested for assaulting innocent people, him getting arrested for a series of murders he didn't commit would be Karmic Overkill.
• Jossed. Jason gets an even worse fate than being blamed for Vecna's crimes.

The relationship between Vecna and the Mind Flayer

Essentially, this is an involuntary symbiosis. Back in 1959, Henry Creel got infected with the Mind Flayer during the flashback we perceive as him picking up the spiders. He either already had powers, or he had the potential for powers (I think the former, and I think that was why he was "sensitive" and deemed "broken"). The Mind Flayer was still small at that point, similar to the fragment we had invading Will in S2 and Billy in S3. It used Henry to get to know its environment, and train their powers.

The Mind Flayer is so different from humans, it hardly understands their emotions, and it doesn't understand loving bonds. It comes from a species of solitary predators and constructs like families or friends are absurd to it. It also despises the relationship humans have with their environment, and for some reason, it blames humans for the power time has over every living being on Earth. Humans themselves seem deeply hypocritical to the Mind Flayer, which is why it decided at some point to teach Henry's family a lesson by reflecting their most horrible deeds to them. When that threatened to cause specialists to look at Henry, the Mind Flayer killed Henry's mother, who had alerted the specialists, and his sister, who meant nothing to him. He also tried to kill Victor Creel, despite what he tells Nancy later, but due to the emotional bond between Victor and Henry being very strong, Henry managed to avert that, despite being largely unable to stop the Mind Flayer from what it is doing.

Instead of breaking free, like the Mind Flayer had hoped, Henry ends up in Brenner's care, and Brenner knows what is going on with him. Owens mentioned to Eleven that a war is going on in 4.03, and I suspect this war is one between humans and the Mind Flayer's species, and that that plays into Brenner's knowledge. All the stuff about trying to control the Mind Flayer in Henry and afterwards trying to replicate Henry's condition are true, but at least in part Brenner is also trying to either get the Mind Flayer out of Henry or at least contain it. That means he gets this chip to suppress the Mind Flayer.

This works for a few years, enough for Henry/One to become an adult, and start working as an orderly at the lab - that way he could work with the powered kids, but Brenner could keep an eye on him. And then something goes wrong. Maybe the chip isn't working anymore, maybe the Mind Flayer is growing stronger, but at some point he manages to overpower Henry enough to start manipulating Eleven into setting him free. When Eleven takes out the chip, the Mind Flayer manages to take over and murders almost everyone in the lab - except for Brenner, since Henry cares enough for him that he can resist that, and Eleven, who manages to overpower him.

When they land in the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer has grown far stronger, because he has just murdered a dozen people or more, and he is pissed, because he has been stopped by Eleven (and Henry, somewhat) from seeing through his plan. So he is forming the Upside Down, to work more to his convenience, and he is also forming Henry's body, which is how we get Vecna. In short: Vecna is Henry Creel under the complete control of the Mind Flayer, who was stuck in his body for 20 years. Henry manages to sometimes subvert the Mind Flayer's plans, when he has a deep emotional connection to someone, which is likely how Brenner survived getting jumped by a Demogorgon in Season 1 (and maybe also how Will, who is a lot like Young Henry before all the spider stuff, survived staying in the Upside Down for such a long time), but mostly he's an unwilling passenger/host on the Mind Flayer's trip to take over the human world.

• As the season four finale reveals, Vecna actually created the Mind Flayer.

Vecna didn't create the Mind Flayer, and it is still the real big bad.

As shown in the flashbacks in the Season 4 finale and as stated by Vecna himself, he discovered the Mind Flayer in the state of a whirling tornado, reached his arm out and the Mind Flayer formed into its current shape. However, this doesn't automatically mean Vecna created it. The Mind Flayer could've tapped into Vecna's mind and saw his memories, including that of the time he drew what would become the iconic form of the Mind Flayer. Seeing this, the Mind Flayer could've shaped itself to appeal to Vecna and show him that it wished to form an alliance, as he also would've seen that Henry had similar, misanthropic goals.

Alternatively, the Mind Flayer has always had this spider-form and had infected Henry in the past prior to his murder of his family, which is why he drew imagery of the Mind Flayer as a child: it was in his head and playing Henry like a puppet, implanting its own misanthropic desires in the young boy to further manipulate him. Even if Henry gave the Mind Flayer its form, it doesn't mean the Mind Flayer didn't have the same personality and goals as it showed in 1984/5 before meeting Henry. Henry simply giving it a form doesn't mean he now controls it.

In this theory, the Mind Flayer is the same intelligent, misanthropic entity it's always been even before meeting Henry and the relationship between the two is more co-worker-ish, but with Vecna serving slightly under the Mind Flayer due to it being the ruler and hive mind of the Upside Down and its inhabitants, his "five-star general" as hypothesized by Dutin. It is his superior and not working for Vecna as a henchman. Plus, as shown prior Henry/One's banishment, he tried to make himself appear more heroic and superior to humanity, making it possible that when confronting Eleven years later, he tried to paint himself as the one behind the Mind Flayer to further establish a sense of superiority and make Eleven feel more helpless. He's an Unreliable Narrator who makes himself seem above everyone else to satisfy his delusions.

In short, Vecna isn't pulling all the strings and he didn't create the Mind Flayer, the Mind Flayer merely took a liking to Henry, took a new form to appeal to him and began working alongside him. And with his defeat in Season 4, the Mind Flayer likely won't be pleased to find out that his co-worker and right-hand man failed to kill the Party.

Henry wanted to keep El around for breeding purposes.

Okay, so One needed El to use her powers to unseal his own, but afterward, he told her We Can Rule Together as opposed to You Have Outlived Your Usefulness. Why? Well, particularly elsewhere on this site, he has often been compared to a child predator, with his friendliness to El being likened to child-grooming. Maybe it wasn't just like child-grooming, but was actual child-grooming. Maybe, after killing off all the regular humans, he wanted to keep a pliant, carefully-groomed El around to breed a race of trans-humans.

Related to the above WMG, the Mind Flayer has Vecna as its Unwitting Pawn

This theory suggests that the Mind Flayer is only pretending to be subservient to Vecna, starting from when they met in the Upside Down. Depending on the interpretation, it either allowed him to sculpt its form or willingly took a new form to appeal to Vecna and make him think he's in control, all while secretly manipulating him. It lets Vecna work with it and puts on the facade of being his ally so that it can further its own plans. In season 4, it let him open up more gates so that it could spread, along with hopefully killing its enemies. If this theory does turn out true, the Mind Flayer will throw him to the side in Season 5, while possibly mocking him for thinking he had any control over it.

• It also delivers a brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Vecna, telling him that he's no better than the humans he despises and that, if anything, he's chosen to embrace some of the worst aspects of Mankind.
  • After which, it will have him killed and cement itself as the one behind everything once more.
• The Party subsequently gives the Mind Flayer a new D&D name to better reflect its true nature, possibly Tiamat or Asmodeus.
• It might also reveal the real relationship between the two antagonists, that of a bitter, toxic relationship masked by professionalism. Whereas their relationship is strictly professional and more akin to that of co-workers, while also featuring some submission from Vecna as he serves slightly under the Mind Flayer, in reality, they secretly despise each other. The Mind Flayer isn't controlled by Vecna, and sees him as a pawn it's manipulated for many years, possibly since he was just a child, and deeply hates him as he's still human. The Mind Flayer will reveal that he only kept the facade of being Vecna's ally in order to further use him to advance its own agenda. Vecna, on the other hand, sees the Mind Flayer as an old, ancient dust puppet he deserves to control in order to realize his full potential, not just settling for a powerful psychic link between it and him, and believes himself to be the superior being, wanting to overthrow the Mind Flayer in order to become the ruler of the Upside Down.

The key to finally destroying Vecna for good is freeing the minds he's consumed and turning them against him.

The show makes a big deal of establishing that the consciousnesses of all the people he's killed are stored in him and that they make him stronger. It's much like how a spider keeps its prey wrapped up in its web and feeds off of them. Considering that Vecna is a homage to (among other things) Freddy Krueger, the final battle may be end up being reminiscent to A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, where Alice defeats Freddy by freeing the souls of his victims who then proceed to tear him apart. In this case, Eleven will liberate Vecna's victims (specifically the other test subjects at the lab) and turn them against him.

The military will detonate a nuke inside the Upside Down in an attempt to either seal the gates or wipe out Vecna's forces before they can invade.

However, the nuke only ends up making things worse.

Henry is El's Shadow Archetype

In the Season 3 finale, Suzie mentions that she is reading Earthsea, and has just reached the part where Ged confronts the Shadow - which turns out to be his own darkness that he accidentally released on the world and whom he can't defeat, but has to reintegrate.

In Season 4, El struggles both with feeling like a lesser person without her powers and thinking she is a monster because she angrily lashes out at her bullies in California and injures one of them. In her lab flashbacks, her younger self is unable to master her powers and she's being mistreated by some of the older children. Enter Henry, who has a lot of similarities with her, but also voices truths she is unable to admit - Brenner isn't always telling the truth, her mother tried to save her, but failed - and ruthlessly kills the people who tormented her and/or kept her imprisoned - except for Brenner, whom she still loves at that point. He also offers her to join him on his self-appointed mission to reshape the world, which upsets her so much, she banishes him into a liminal dimension. There he proceeds to seethe and plot and generally grow stronger, until she accidentally opens the Upside Down again years later, and draws his attention back to her, just like Ged's Shadow kept attacking him in A Wizard Of Earthsea.

To defeat Henry, El will essentially have to reach out and assimilate him, accepting her own potential for darkness, but not letting it overwhelm her. Trying to kill him, on the other hand, will likely only make him stronger, and lead to him eventually destroying the world.

Vecna was using Jason for a wider-scale plan.

It seems odd that two of Vecna's victims happens to be people Jason knows in addition to being victims of trauma. Yet, it's Chrissy's death that starts Jason off down his path of causing more problems than helping in the situation, it eventually leading to him inadvertently destroying Max's headphones and tapeplayer, her only lifeline, when she needed it the most. But, when you think about it, it's after Jason speech after the death of the third victim, his friend, that leads the town of Hawkins to go into mass hysteria of Satanic Panic. It may be possible that the reason for doing so may have been to keep the townsfolk distracted by something else while he tried to complete opening the gates, or may be necessary for whatever will be the next phase of his plan to enter our world. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Vecna was using Jason as a tool for his plan. And it could even tie back into Stephen King's works (which the show has referenced a lot), as there have been stories where average people inadventantly become tools of the big bad (one such example is Harold Lauder in The Stand, who is seduced by Nadine (under Randall Flagg's orders) and is pushed by Randall Flagg to make a bomb to destroy the Committee members of the Free Zone). Jason's actions, as well as him being slowly unhinged, make more sense if Vecna was using him in the same way. But the real question is if Vecna was just using Jason to throw off the townsfolk to allow for the gate to open, or was he using Jason to spread fear (which was something that Vecna clearly enjoyed) to feed him for the next phase of his plan.

One/Henry's sister, Alice Creel, will be a major plot point in the final season.

During his Motive Rant to Eleven, Henry/One has a lot to say about how awful his parents supposedly were, but he barely mentions his sister. In fact, very little is said at all about her or what her relationship with her brother was like. It could be that she's ultimately nothing more than a random throwaway character who exists just to flesh out One's backstory; on the other hand, the writers could be saving certain revelations about her for the fifth and final season: Maybe she was also born with powers and Henry convinced her to keep her powers (as well as his own) a secret from their parents. Maybe the two were actually very close, until Henry started using his powers for evil. In the flashback of Alice finding the dead rabbit, she looks more angry than scared - like she already knows who did this and how. When he started torturing their mother, maybe she confronted him and threatened to tell their parents, causing him to turn his wrath on her in order to intimidate her into silence. Maybe she used her powers to subtly tip their mother off to Henry's misdeeds which is how - as Henry/One himself put it - their mother "somehow" knew he was the one responsible for everything going on. Maybe Alice was also the one who saved Victor Creel from the memory Henry trapped him in, using her powers to project the song into his mind, an act of "betrayal" that ultimately caused Henry to kill her. Maybe the reason why Henry/One befriended and tried to recruit Eleven in the first place is because he sees his sister in her and deep down, he still cares about her.

After Vecna's forces wipe out the military in Hawkins, it's up to Hopper, Joyce, and Murray to rally the remaining civilians to fight back the invasion - or at least distract the monsters long enough for the Party to take out Vecna himself. Hopper also makes it clear to everyone that there is no Satanic cult in town.

In order to avoid having to talk about Vecna and the Upside Down (which they figure is way too complicated to explain fully), they tell everyone that the monsters are "Soviet weapons" - which isn't a total lie since the Soviets were actually trying to weaponize the creatures.

In the end, Vecna will suffer a Karmic Death.

Two ways that this could happen are, while suffering a Villainous Breakdown (possibly also physically), he ends up inflicting his usual killing method on himself thanks to Power Incontinence, or he loses his powers and, having no more control over the Upside Down beasts, gets swarmed and devoured by them.

Vecna cannot survive outside the Upside Down

It's greatly implied that Vecna was involved in Will's abduction back in Season 1, with the opening of the Bryers' front door lock from the inside being done by psychic powers, which the Demogorgons don't possess. However for the rest of the season and the series up to season 4, he makes no further appearances on earth and instead directs the native beings of the Upside Down to invade Hawkins instead, usually using them to forcibly bring others into the Upside Down where he kills them (as is greatly implied to have been the case for Barb) or using the Mind Flayer as an avatar to widen the breach underneath the Hawkins lab and assimilate earth and the Upside Down together. Eleven sealing the breach forces him to use the piece of the Flayer trapped behind in Hawkins to create the Avatar as a means of stealing her powers, specifically her ability to open the gates in the first place, and then presumably spending the intervening time between seasons 3 and 4 mastering this new ability and preparing his ritual to open the massive Hawkins gate with his four sacrifices. However, even when he's doing this, he never makes an appearance on earth to do the deed, instead enacting a complex setup to Mind Rape 4 chosen teenagers whom as specifically vulnerable to his tactics, with Vecna having apparently chosen them all well in advance of his brutal executions of them because of their troubled mind states, which he understands well how to manipulate them to his advantage with. Even when breaches are opened because of their deaths and Vecna is capable of traveling back to Hawkins, he never does, and enacts the same tactics again and again despite it leaving him massively vulnerable in the physical world whilst he trances. All that is required is that they die brutally at his chosen locations, something Vecna could do himself in person if he wanted to, but he never does, and all his physical appearances occur within the Upside Down environment. It was stated in earlier seasons that prolonged time in the Upside Down would have negative effects on the human body from the potentially-toxic particles they're breathing in, meaning that it's entirely possible that all the years Henry spent in the Upside Down mutated him to such an extent that he can no longer survive in his 'native' environment on earth, having adapted too much to the Upside Down and no longer being capable of living outside it for long. The night Will was kidnapped, it's likely Henry was back on Earth for literally the first time, using the demogorgons as an attack dog whilst he explored the changed world of Hawkins. After cornering Will between himself and the Demogorgon, the negative effects of being in the healthy Earth environment started to catch up to him, forcing him to command the Demogorgon to use it's ability to shift between planes to drag them all back to the Upside Down for him to recover, enabling the confused and terrified Will to escape whilst he 'caught his breath'. This forced him to recognise that if he wanted to go back to earth, he's need to bring the Upside Down with him, forcing him to send the Demogorgon out as a scout instead of going himself. He only turns his attention back to the child that got caught up in his return when Eleven contacts him and he realises she has a connection/interest in finding Will, leading him to have the Demogorgon attack Will once more whilst he remains out of sight, presumably still trying to understand how to better widen the breach without exposing himself to potential danger.

• As a result of this physical weakness, born of his 'ascension' into the 'predator he was always meant to be' Vecna/Henry's Karmic Death will come about simply from everybody managing to close the massive Hawkins gate during his planned invasion, with him on the 'earth' side of the breach, resulting in the environment he's become dependant on for survival evaporating and himself suffocating as the consequence of the strange and somewhat wondrous world of the Upside Down being sealed away for good, with Henry having become too dependant upon the 'world of fantasy' to live without it. This will serve as a parallel for the rest of the party having to say goodbye to their childhood and the memories they had together of growing up, with the series ending with each of them going their separate ways and moving on with their lives as normal people, unlike Henry, who is so convinced that he's 'special' and different to others that he'll die once the Upside Down is gone and The Magic Goes Away.

Henry is not a 'natural' psychic

There's a difference drawn between Henry, the first psychic child Brenner worked with, and the other test subjects of the Hawkins lab, whom Henry explicitly states were Brenner's attempts to replicate his own powers in more compliant minds after he realised Henry himself was simply too uncontrollable with his abilities, all of whom where inferior until Eleven. However, there is no explanation ever provided for the source of Henry's powers, and he appears to have been born with them naturally without any external factors influencing his abilities like the rest. However, an important factor of his father's backstory that Henry would later use as the focal point to Mind Rape him was that he fought in WWII, and made a bad judgement call on the frontlines that haunted him later in life. In a thematic parallel to Hopper, a Vietnam Vet exposed to Agent Orange and accidentally passing that along to his daughter, causing her eventual death due to complications, it's possible that Victor himself was accidentally expossed to some kind of experimental chemical weapon or substance when fighting, and this had lingering effects that later got passed down to his children, resulting in Henry's powers. This would explain Brenner's apparent certainty that Henry's powers could be duplicated and recreated in others, and Henry's antagonism towards the test subjects for being 'inferior' versions of himself — because they were walking proof that he wasn't as special and all-important as he believed himself to be, and nothing but an 'accident'. Compounding this is Henry's murder of his sister as well in the Creel House massacre. His mother correctly suspected that he was using his abilities to torture them, even if she didn't understand the logic behind it, and Henry believed that his father deserved 'punishment' for his past sins, but his sister's murder is barely remarked upon, and occurs off-screen whilst Victor is in his dream state, with Henry never explaining why he included her amongst his targets without any prior justification — in fact, he barely mentions her all, almost to the point of near-omission from his otherwise proud boasting of his past actions. If Henry was rendered psychic from Victor's accidental exposure, then it's likely his sister was too, and also had psychic abilities, albeit weaker and understated due to not being as interested in using her powers to influence and command the world around her like Henry was, and just wanting to have fun as a 'normal' girl, never training with her abilities and ignoring any strange phenomena she experienced because of them. However, Like Henry would later slaughter the test subjects to prove he was 'superior', he couldn't stand his sister also having the same powers, proving indirectly that he wasn't unique or as special as he wanted to be, and so he also turned on her whilst their father was trapped in his nightmares. Indeed, Henry admits that he 'didn't know his limits', and almost died from the of killing her and mentally destroying Victor, so its possible that he and his sister has an impromptu duel with their psychic abilities, and his sister's ability to resist forced Henry to exert himself more than he realised, causing him to pass out once he won. The experience of being challenged for the first time by a young female psychic might have influenced his later interest in the young Eleven, once he recognised her strength and saw her as a suitable 'replacement' for his own sister he could mould into his own image.

Victor isn't responsible for Henry's powers, Virginia is.

As has been discussed above, how Henry developed his powers remains a mystery. Above speculation suggests that, assuming it isn't that case that Henry is a natural Psychic, above theories suggest that it was something Henry was exposed to in WWII, as a parallel to Hopper in Veitnam with Agent Orange. Perhaps instead however Virginia is responsible; maybe she participated in medical experiments during the war. In his Motive Rant Henry claims that his parents did terrible things, implying that both Creel parents have something horrible in their past. In addition it would capitalize on Virginia's existing status as Unwitting Instigator of Doom.

Vecna was responsible for Will's disappearance in Season 1.

Season 4 indicates the Demogorgons don't have psychic powers like Vecna does, and it's also implied in that season that he was responsible for Barb's death (which was telekinetic in nature) in some regard. Since Will's disappearance is also psychic, and seemingly happens without the Demogorgon chasing him actually breaching the shed he was in, it's possible Vecna managed to pull him into the Upside Down. As for what Vecna would want with Will...that's up in the air.

Vecna will set his sights on Mike in Season 5.

Mike has suffered the least of The Party, and Vecna's connection to Will implies that he might know of Mike's status of The Heart of the group. Thus, targeting him will make it much easier for Vecna to break The Party as a whole, Eleven especially, due to her and Mike's bond.

• As a bonus, him going out of his way to target Mike might be a good way to showcase how both characters contrast against each other, with Mike reminding the party of the better times they'd had together, as a way of fighting back against Vecna's Mind Rape dredging up their worst moments.
• To add weight to your theory - Mike is consistently one of the reasons Vecna's plans haven't worked. His determination to find Will in S1 and to use El's powers to find him, then in S2 he's the one who encourages Will to be a double-agent spy. In S3 he is a big part of fighting the Flayed monster, and in S4 he's in El's head encouraging her to fight. Vecna knows Mike means a lot to both Will and El, I think that's going to result in Mike getting targeted next season for sure.

Henry was another rare male contractee.

As shown in some of the spinoff materials, not all Kyubey contractees made their wishes for innocent or altruistic reasons and some didn't mind the prospect of becoming a Witch (or Warlock, in Henry's case) once they learned that Awful Truth. Needless to say, Vecna is Henry's Warlock name, the Upside Down is his barrier, and the Demogorgons, Demodogs, Mind Flayer, etc. are his Familiars.

• On top of that, Puellae are essentially Liches. The original Vecna from Dungeons And Dragons was one of the prototypes for the current conception of liches, and his picture is actually the illustration on TV Tropes's article on them.

Kali

Kali is Jane Ives

.Since season two opens on her, it made me expect she'd have a bigger role in the season than she ended up having, but I think the Duffer brothers are playing a long game.In episode five, when Eleven communicates with Terry Ives, Eleven addresses her as "Mama" and refers to herself as "Jane", and Terry replies "No." She then shows her memories, and the actual birth scene is so oversaturated it's hard to make out the baby's skin tone, especially since she's covered in blood, and the scene where Terry tracks Jane down to the rainbow room has her see two kids, but it's shot in a way that makes it impossible to tell which one she actually reaches for. At best, we know that one of the two of them is Jane, but it's never actually confirmed that it's Eleven; Joyce and Hopper track down Terry because they suspect the lab have something to do with Will's disappearance and she claimed that her daughter was taken, and everyone just connects Eleven to the story with no actual proof, and I feel like a woman who could finally communicate with the daughter she got her brain fried trying to save would have more to say to her than "No" before sending them to track down an unconnected girl.

• Except that Kali is clearly several years older than El. Terry's sister would have noticed if "Jane" was significantly younger than she should have been. Plus, Kali's article◊ reveals she was taken from London as a small child while Jane was kidnapped as a newborn.
• The flashbacks show that while there is an age gap between Kali and Eleven, it's nothing too crazy – I thought it was a year or two. Eleven's going through adolescence, and it isn't unusual for people at that age to mature at different rates. Add to that the fact that Eleven turned up out of the blue, promptly insisted that she was Jane, and then showed off her powers, Becky'd be in no place to dispute her claims. As for Kali disappearing from London, she makes it clear in "The Lost Sister" that she escaped from the lab after Eleven disappeared from there and ended up far away. Everyone assumes that London is where she was taken from in the first place, but for that to happen her parents must have had British citizenship, planning to emigrate, or actively running from the government after the MKUltra experiments, before they recaptured her and took her back to the states as a young kid to continue the experiments where she'd go on to escape again. Morton's Fork says that it's more likely that she ended up in London after escaping the first time and finding a foster family there.
  • Some points to consider:
    • Who says all of the kids being experimented on were children of MKUltra volunteers? Ain't No Rule saying they couldn't have kidnapped potential subjects who weren't even connected to the original project, as Terry's baby is the only one clearly established in the series to have been the child of a former subject.
    • Also, for your theory to work it would have to mean that Kali vanished or disappeared three times: Once when taken from Terry, the second time when she escaped from Hawkins lab, and a third time when she wound up in London. Occam's Razor says the simplest explanation is that Kali was indeed kidnapped from London for Brenner's experiments as a young girl.
    • And as noted in the point above, that Kali was kidnapped from London is corroborated by the article◊ shown in Terry's files. Remember that not quite a year (353 days between the destruction of the first Demogorgon, and El and Mike's reunion) has passed since the end of season 1, which means if Kali escaped after El, she hasn't been on the run that long. The photo attached to the article is of a much younger girl than who we see in the series. There's simply not enough time for her to have escaped, gone to London to be placed in foster care, ran away again, and aged enough from the girl in the picture to the one that appears in the present.
    • Kali's escape can be taken as "They took Jane to experiment on her because she showed powers earlier so Kali escaped" and not just after the first season.
    • As a final point, Linnea Berthelson is 24. For Kali to be only a year or two older than El would require Dawson Casting to a ridiculous extent from a series that largely averts it.^note Millie Bobby Brown is 13, which is a rough estimate of El's age in season 2.
  • I don't really have an answer for the first part outside of a hunch; how would you track down the kids capable of these things if you didn't have something to go by, like the fact that their parents were all MKUltra volunteers to narrow it down.
    • I meant escaped from the lab, not vanished. It makes more sense to me that she escaped from the lab and ended up in London, especially when you consider the logistics of finding a psychic child who is, presumably, a citizen foreign country, then kidnapping her. If the scientists were caught, that'd cause an international scandal. However, if her foster home was in London while she originally came from the States, it'd be a much simpler situation. Unfortunately, since we don't know where Kali's foster home was, it's hard to give a definitive answer one way or the other.
    • Given that Eleven didn't remember Kali, that implies that they were separated long before Eleven escaped from the lab. We don't know the exact circumstances of their separation, but I don't think it's feasible for Eleven to completely forget someone she referred to as her sister in the space of under a year; it's more likely in my opinion that they were separated at a younger age, easily giving enough time for Kali to escape, get to London, then return to carry out her mission, as well as giving Eleven time to forget about her.
    • Yes, Linnea Berthelsen is over ten years older than Millie Bobby Brown, but the fact that there's nowhere near ten years between the children we see as rainbow room implies one of two things: either Dawson Casting is, indeed, in effect, and Kali is meant to be in her mid-to-late teens, or the other girl in the Rainbow Room wasn't Eleven, which would disqualify her from being Jane Ives anyway. I think it's just a case of they found a talented actor outside the age range who they thought would work for the part, especially when you consider that Linnea is a little over five foot, and a little shorter than Millie.
  • You're still ignoring the context of the article in the files. That snippet was collected by Terry. Which means it dates to the time she was hunting for Jane, before her mind was destroyed. It could not have been printed after Terry broke into the Rainbow Room and tried to rescue her daughter. For Kali to be Jane would require Kali to be taken from Terry, somehow ending up in London, and then recaptured again for someone to run an article about her disappearing from there. That's infinitely more complex than Kali being kidnapped in London and put into the project with no connection to Terry at all. This is Jossed.
  • Jossed as of S2. Eleven is Jane Ives. Kali is another child, and she's at least four or five years older than Eleven.

Kali will be Dustin's love interest.

He's the only one in the Party without one.

• That would be even more weird and cheesy.
• That would be probably illegal and definitely abusive and super creepy. Gaten Matarazzo is sixteen. Linnea Berthelsen is twenty-five.
  • Jossed. Dustin met a girl at camp.

Kali gets vindicated

I propose that she was more than a plot device/distraction for El in Season 2 – she was helping set up the Big Bad of Season 3. So far in the series we have seen exactly two former Hawkins National Lab test subjects – El and Kali – and both have been set up as tragic figures for us to empathize with because of the horrors they experienced. In a series that thrives on deconstructing tropes, we haven't seen the darkest, most tragic version of this kind of story – someone so utterly broken by such an experience that they have lost their ability to empathize with other people and care only about themselves (Kali doesn't count because she still has affection for her crew and for El).

• Possibility One: Kali will be the Big Bad. Her experiences at the Hawkins National Lab have left her a broken woman with a burning desire for revenge against those she deems responsible, and after having El walk out on her in "The Lost Sister" she possibly has lost all hope and believes Humans Are Bastards through and through. So, she and her crew will come to Hawkins under the pretense of lying low until the heat on them back in Chicago dies down, and she will ask El to help them find a place to hide. El will take them to the now-abandoned Hawkins National Lab, which is exactly what Kali wanted – because she wants to reopen the Gate and let the Mind Flayer into our world and destroy it, because humanity wasn't worth saving in the first place.
• Possibility Two: One of the other former test subjects (possibly 001?) is looking to reopen the Gate because of the same reasons as Kali above, except they never had someone like El to act as their Morality Pet. They come to Hawkins under the pretense of connecting with El and play the same emotional cards as Kali ("we're the same", "Papa hurt us both"), but they won't actually care about El at all.
• Jossed. Kali neither appears nor is she mentioned in Season 3.

Kali will be back for season 4 and will have at least some kind of Ship Tease with Robin.

I could see it happening.

• Jossed - Kali did not appear.

Kali will finally return in season 5

Once she learns about what's going on in Hawkins, she decides to help Eleven.

Kali and her gang will get involved in Season 5's endgame.

Seeing Season 5 is going to be the finale, and they have been absent since Season 2, it's not far fetch to think that Eleven will contact Kali in order to get some extra backup. Eleven will tell her about Brenner's death and will also tell her about One, his massacre of the other test subjects at Hawkins Lab and the Upside Down. Her and her friends will end up aiding the Party in their final fight against Vecna and result in closing the doorway to the Upside Down for good.

• Alternate theory: Kali thinks Vecna is right about humans and sides with him against Eleven and the Party (at least initially).

Kali will return in Season 5 to help stop Vecna.

Seeing as though she has illusionary powers that rival Vecna's, Kali would be a powerful ally against Vecna, if the Party can convince her that Vecna is worth fighting against. Given his Omnicidal Maniac tendencies, it seems likely that she'll be convinced to join the heroes.

Kali's power can reach Max's mind where El's can't find her.

Kali's abilities deal much more directly with others' minds than El's – there's an application of her clairvoyance that can tap into memories, but she isn't able to do anything like Kali's projection of phantasmal sounds and images. That ability might be able to awaken Max's psyche, or even find her inside Vecna's mind and pull her free if it turns out he did absorb her consciousness.

Billy

Billy is Jason from Power Rangers (2017)

After when Jason loses his teammates to the demodog invasion in 2017. Zordon and Alpha 5 send him back to 1984 to destroy the demodogs before the invasion starts. Jason chose to go under the alias of Billy to honor his friend's memory.

• What turned him into a racist asshole?
• And what turned him into someone who'd try to run down some kids in his car?
• And how'd he get a sister?
  • Max is only his stepsister. In which case, where did he get an abusive father...?
  • Jason does have a little sister in Power Rangers (2017), though she's mainly seen in deleted scenes.
  • Wait... are we seriously debating this? For one, that was Jason's biological sister, who wasn't a redhead and likely wouldn't have survived something that four superheroes with giant robots couldn't.
• Was their anything in that movie that suggested they had a time machine? And why wouldn't Zordon revive the Rangers like he did with their Billy?

Billy is in the closet.

Despite having good looks that can only be described as "Steve-ier than Steve", he never actually pursues any girls during Season 2. Near the end there's a long bit where he's looking in the mirror and obsessing over his appearance, which fits the stereotype of gay men caring a lot about their looks (as seen in the show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy). Then his abusive father shows up and specifically berates him for "looking at yourself in the mirror like a fag." It's easy to imagine that Billy is gay but he's in the closet because of his homophobic father, and also because society at large was pretty homophobic back then.

• Two counterpoints. One, Steve is apparently straight, but he still cares about his appearance. Two, Billy does kinda flirt with Mike's mom in the final episode (though maybe he just flirts once in a while to keep up appearances).
• Further WMG: Billy has a secret crush on Steve. He goes out of his way to treat Steve like dirt because he doesn't want anyone to suspect his true feelings.
  • Steve is secretly bi, and at the end of Season 2, he's single. This will come up in Season 3.
    • Realistically, if any of this did come up, it would only be hinted at.
• As pointed out with the speculation about Will above, a character having a homophobic insult thrown at them does not make them gay. Bullies and abusers say these things to demean and humiliate their victims, not because they can somehow 'sense' homosexuality.

Billy gets a heart

Steve will use his newfound position with Hawkins PD and flex his beige-sleeved muscles to let Billy know that he won't let him terrorize Max or the gang anymore. While keeping an eye on Billy, Steve will witness some of the abuse he suffers at the hands of his asshole father, and start to understand why Billy is the way he is. Steve will decide to take the high road and offer to let bygones be bygones, but Billy won't have any of it because he's Billy Hargrove and the only friends he needs are his Camaro and mullet.

Building off the post above this one, as Season 3 goes on, we may start to see Mr. Hargrove start to throw unwelcome glances in Max's direction which do not escape Billy. And because Even Evil Has Standards, Billy will reflect and truly realize what a douche he's been and ask Steve if his offer still stands. They'll stand up to Mr. Hargrove together, and maybe a fight breaks out wherein the boys end up beating his ass (and Steve finally wins a fight!)

• Partly Jossed. Eleven witnesses Billy's memories of abuse, and reminding him of the times when he was actually happy does lead Billy to a Jerkass Realization, and leads to his Heroic Sacrifice to hold back the Mind Flayer.

Others

Creatures

MKUltra already knew of the Demogorgon's existence.

Brenner and the others seem eager and unconcerned about making contact with it, apparently after Eleven just saw it once, without trying to have her study it before. However, there have been ten others before her, so possibly they already got information from those, and used Eleven for the first actual contact.

The Demogorgon is not originally from the Upside Down.

The Upside Down is supposed to be a dead version of our world – nothing lives there. The Demogorgon shows an innate ability to move between worlds, so it seems likely that it came to the Upside Down from another, third, world.

• While not exactly jossed, the Demorgogon has been shown to be a proxy of the Mind Flayer, an alien hive mind that seems completely linked to the upside down. However, it is possible the Demogorgons were a race from another world the Mind Flayer enslaved.
  • It also seems possible (and not altogether unlikely, given how different the Mind Flayer appears from pretty much everything in the Upside Down) that the Demogorgon is from the Upside Down while the Mind Flayer is not. The roots, the Demogorgons, and all of the other things in that Universe look like corrupted swamp animals, while the Mind Flayer has a different aesthetic to it altogether. It's smoother, less organic, and seems to be made up of a swarm of tiny viral particles like nothing else in the dimension. The comparison to a creature from Dungeons & Dragons that travels from world to world conquering each one makes that seem even more likely.

There was always more than one Demogorgon.

The creature Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan fought and wounded was a different entity from the one which attacked the school. Thus why the creature in the climax was apparently uninjured. The injured one is still out there, perhaps having lost its mate.

• The monster looked pretty burnt to me.

The Thessalhydra partly explains the upside down.

The monster briefly glimpsed in the season 2 trailer is huge and the multiple appendages lend credence to the theory that the game they played at the end of season 1 was about season 2 with the Thessalhydra being the monster. It's been establish that the ash/fog in the upside down is spores with some kind of growth covering the whole world. Possibly we'll find out that the upside-down is an alternate reality like earth until something happened and likely that huge creature from will's vision has something to do with it as implied by the lines from the trailer "the world is turning upside-down" implying the same thing could happen to the "right side-up" world.

• While not exactly jossed, the "Thessalhydra" (actually called the Mind Flayer) is shown to be an immaterial, hive mind–creating virus-like being that wants to take over multiple worlds. The spores appear to simply be another bioweapon in its employ, and possibly part of how it spreads tunnels throughout worlds it invades.

The Thessalhydra shown in the season 2 trailer is the result of killing the Demogorgon.

The Demogorgon was described by Nancy and Dr. Brenner as a predator, which begs the question of what it ate before it came out of the upside down. In nature, when a prey species has no predator to keep it in check it will continue to multiple until either it runs out of food or it finds something else to eat. Therefore, since there is no Demogorgon to keep the Thessalhydra in check anymore, it will come out of the upside down in search of new food once it has multiplied to the point where it ran out of its original food source.

• Jossed. The Demogorgon was a slave to the insidious, intelligent Mind Flayer, the true nickname of the "Thessalhydra" seen in the trailers.

The Demogorgon Was Once a Man.

The Monster formerly being human could be why it apparently needs a human host to reproduce.

• Jossed, see the next theory below.

The Demogorgon is a former test subject of Hawkins Lab that became trapped in the Upside Down, mutating into the monster it is now.

The Demogorgon is shown to have telekinetic powers like Eleven. It doesn't have eyes anymore because it doesn't need them, instead using its powers to see with its mind. Brenner doesn't seem very surprised when Eleven finds the monster. He just assigns Eleven to make contact with it, possibly because he was hoping to find the monster all along.

• Jossed. Demogorgons are alien creatures native to the Upside Down (or another world altogether), used as soldiers for the Mind Flayer.
• Not the Demogorgon, but it turns out that this is Vecna's backstory in Season 4

The Demogorgon is a member of Species 8472.

An extremely dangerous, telepathic being from an alternate dimension accessible by punching a hole in space that shrugs off traditional weapons and starts killing people whenever the home dimension is violated. Which did I just describe, the demogorgon or Species 8472? The only issue is that Species 8472, despite being very aesthetically similar, is tripedal. However, Species 8472 seems to evolve quickly, makes heavy use of biotech and would have 300 years to gain a third limb. If they can perfectly mimic humans, then they can probably give themselves a third leg. If the Upside Down is Fluidic Space, then this may also tie into some of the theories that the Upside Down is a post-apocalyptic world, though not necessarily one that was originally dominated by humans. If their world is in such a state, it would explain why their reaction to human incursion is less overwhelming than their later one to the Borg.

• While obviously not that serious a theory, this is pretty much jossed by how the Demogorgons have been revealed to be the hive mind–enslaved servants of the Mind Flayer.

The Mind Flayer wants to use El as his next vessel.

In the final shot of Season 2, we see the Mind Flayer (or Shadow Monster) looming darkly over the middle school, implying that we're not done with him yet and that he probably even has other ways of spying on Earth. Other than an It's Personal approach, it's possible that he's going to be very interested in El's powers, which he personally witnessed in the climax. Considering that It Can Think and more than once showed that's he's actually a surprisingly cunning mastermind, using a kid with supernatural abilities as a direct vessel (even more than Will) to personally get rid of those puny humans who already thwarted his plans once would kinda make sense.

• If not El, then maybe Dustin. That dude did get a face full of Upside Down spores. And, Dart may not have just let him go for the chocolate and fond memories alone (although his and Dart's interaction might have got MF interested, amid all the chaos).
• While not confirmed, the Duffer Brothers have stated that the Mind Flayer is now aware of Eleven's existence, and recognizes her as a threat to its goals. So at the very least it's now factoring her into its next move.

The Mind Flayer's next target will be Mike.

In an effort to get revenge on Eleven and so the writers can give Will a break.

• Jossed, at least for Season 3.

The Demogorgon species are not as controlled by the Mind Flayer as we think.

Considering how Dart apparently formed a bond with Dustin, I think it's safe to say that the species isn't purely mindless drones but more akin to attack dogs. Loyal to their master, but not incapable of forming other bonds, possibly even ones that conflict with their master's desires. And that could be the Mind Flayer's weakness.

• Dustin’s bond from Dart likely stemmed from the fact that Dart was too weak to do much but sit and eat.
  • And? That doesn't disprove anything above. Many instances of wild animals becoming friendly to humans happen due to being taken care of when they are weak and vulnerable.

The Demogorgon from Season 1 was birthed from a native species to the Upside Down, or a Hawkins lab test subject.

The quadruped Demogorgons were birthed from humans, in an inverse of Xenomorphs being bipedal if the host is bipedal and vice versa. The thing is, if the quadrupeds are only born from humans, what was the demogorgon from Season 1 birthed from? The eggs from the Upside Down MAY have been the source, OR it was a test subject who mutated and gave birth to a bipedal demogorgon.

The Demogorgons are the result of a failed experiment by the Upside Down's humanity.

Humanity wanted to get rid of war and hatred, so they altered human genetics to get rid of free will and sense of self. Unfortunately, this turned all humans into mindless animals (i.e. Demogorgons), and made them susceptible to being controlled by the Mind Flayer.

The Demogorgons were once sentient

The Demogorgon species used to have a society parallel to humanity (thus explaining all those abandoned vehicles and buildings in the upside-down) before the Mind Flayer came and enslaved them all. Generations under the Mind Flayer's Demonic Possession caused the Demogorgon race to eventually degrade into mindless beasts.

In order to stop the Mind Flayer, our heroes will have to find the other experiment subjects

El is Eleven and Kali is Eight, so there had to have at least been a Nine and Ten between them, not to mention the seven who must of preceded Kali. Granted, it would be pretty unbelievable if the lab managed to lose all of the others before the series began, so some may of just died in various ways. But it would be a missed opportunity if all of them were gone.

The Demogorgon(s) and Demodogs will not feature in Season 3, except in flashbacks.

Because that would make things far too formulaic. Instead, the fragment of The Mind Flayer that left Will is trapped in our world with no access to its main body or its army of monsters, and must seek new ways to bring the hell that is the Upside Down to our world. Suggestions anyone?

• Confirmed. We only see the Demodogs in a few flashbacks. As for the Demogorgon, we don't see much of the first one, however The Stinger reveals the Soviets have managed to capture one.

The Mind Flayer hasn't been banished entirely

The part of the Mind Flayer that was inhabiting Will escaped, but we never saw what ultimately became of it as it fled. We didn't see it rejoining its main body, and it wasn't confirmed whether it was destroyed when the Gate was closed. So that part of it may still be out there...waiting.

• Confirmed in Season 3.

The Mind Flayer Still Isn't Dead

This may not be a "wild" guess, but the part of the Mind Flayer we see in Season 3 is the surviving fragment expelled from Will in Season 2, and we already know that only that fragment appears to have made it into our world. The rest of the Mind Flayer is still in the Upside Down, and is now even madder.

The Soviets' Demogorgon is an adolescent.

It looks like the Duffers brought a picture of the Party in their Season 3 '80s summer clothes to the creature shop and said; "Make it like this, but with a Demogorgon face".

The demogorgon seen in the mid-credits scene is actually Billy.

We already know that the Mind Flayer has some sort of hive-mind control over the demodogs, and this is likely true for demogorgons as well (assuming the former isn't just the adolescent version of the latter), and in season 3 we see the Mind Flayer is able to shape and reform multicellular life into a variety of things. Maybe, as it impaled Billy, it implanted something in him that transformed him or his corpse into a demogorgon. It could have multiple reasons for doing this; maybe he was too powerful an asset to waste and this would make him easier to control, or maybe it's just what the Mind Flayer does when it can't use humans for as meat puppets, but regardless, this could explain why the Russians were able to find a demogorgon despite the gate being closed: they came across the body/corpse mid transformation and brought it back to Mother Russia for further analysis. In addition, this could explain what the nasty slug thing it implanted into Eleven's leg was meant to do, and what would have happened to her if it wasn't removed.

• Bonus points if the Demogorgon somehow retained shards of Billy's personality and memories and whatever remains of him dimly but apprehensively remembers what he has become.

The Soviet's Demogorgon is D'Artagnan.

It is possible that Dart did not die at the end of season 2. And, assuming that the Demodogs are juvenile Demogorgons, this means he could grow up to become the Demogorgon that the Soviets capture. This might be Nightmare Fuel as it might mean that others Demodogs survive as well. Or, Leads to some Fridge Logic about were they were durning Season 3. But, it is possible. He might be reunited with Dustin and him turn on the Soviets and/or the Mind Flayer, if he is use against or overwise run in to the Party in season 4. Wither the soviet found him wondering around the woods outside hawkins or even if he make it back in to the upside down, is still a matter of debate.

• This is Jossed already, as we clearly see Dart lying dead with the other Demodogs after the Gate is sealed.

The Mind Flayer hates Vecna.

Before meeting Vecna, the Shadow Monster was a formless being of Blue-and-Orange Morality. It was not malevolent-granted, it would probably have tried to assimilate Earth anyway, but only to reproduce and spread, and not out of a desire for conquest. But Vecna gave it a mind and form-and taught it human things like hatred and conquest. Now, the Mind Flayer hates that it's bound to a human-and hates that humans "tainted" it with their influence. It works with Vecna only because it has to: the instant the leash is let go of, it's killing Vecna and taking back control.

Hawkins

Hawkins will become a Ghost Town in Season 5

Considering the fact that the entire town was struck by a massive earthquake caused by the master gate that Vecna created, the beginning of Season 5 will show that Hawkins will be completely abandoned. Especially since that most of the townsfolk left in droves, at least 22 people died, and most of the town starting to show massive signs of decay due to Hawkins beginning to merge with the Upside Down.

• Hawkins will become America's very own Chernobyl, with the military forcibly evacuating the remaining civilian population, while a team of scientists stays behind to monitor the gates. The government creates a cover story saying that "Commie terrorists" detonated a Dirty Bomb underneath the town (hence the "earthquake").

Hawkins is in northeastern Indiana, around Fort Wayne.

Steve is playing Trooper's "Raise a Little Hell" which was a Canadian hit from a band that never had much exposure in the US. The Fort Wayne area can pick up CKLW but in places much farther south and west it's drowned out by other high-powered "border blaster" stations based in Mexico.

• Having grown up around there (specifically in Columbia City, about 20 miles west of Fort Wayne), I'm not so sure. The climate is wrong, especially in season 2 - the winter of 1984-85 was exceptionally cold in the area. I've never seen a 7-11 in the area. The nearest big city is implied to be Indianapolis. And a trip to southern Illinois (Murray has a 618 area code) would take the better part of a day from there. My guess would be that it's in the southern half of the state, maybe in Brown or Monroe County.

Hawkins is actually Silent Hill.

A town with a dark mirror background with Eldritch Abominations living in it and something that looks like ash falling from the sky.

• Considering the state of the Otherworld, Hawkins may have just been close enough to Silent Hill to have been corrupted by it.
  • Well the writers did say SH was an inspiration.

Hawkins is a sister city of Twin Peaks, Gravity Falls, Night Vale, etc.

Do you have any evidence that disproves my claims?

• On the contrary, as Night Vale itself reveals that broken versions of Night Vale exist in countless universes thanks to Huntokar. Hawkins and the other towns mentioned may actually BE Night Vale in other dimensions. Especially given that Huntokar broke reality in November 1983 - the same month the Gate appears in Hawkins.
• As supporting evidence, the Mind Flayer's return in season 3 is backed by We'll Meet Again, which is already connected to Bill Cipher.
• It could be a twin town of Winden, Germany (Series/Dark). Extrapolating on that, what if Winden is Dr Brenner's birthplace?
• Dustin is related to the Pines family. His boyhood fashion style influenced his younger cousin Dipper. Dipper once came across drawings of what looked like the Demogorgon and Mind Flayer in one of the Journals, and was reminded of stories Dustin once told him.

Hawkins Lab was responsible for Sarah Hopper's illness or death.

Sharp-eyed viewers noticed that the stairwell where Hopper encountered a wounded Owens while en route to the Gate in the season 2 finale was the stairwell where Hopper broke down in tears while his daughter was being treated. David Harbour has apparently confirmed the location was the same, or at least connected, suggesting that the lab was treating Sarah. It will eventually be revealed that either Sarah fell ill as a result of the experiments happening there, or perhaps that she even died as a result of something the lab did and it covered up.

• One possibility: Sarah didn't die. They faked her death like they tried to do with Will's, and she ended up as one of their subjects. Hopper only didn't Spot the Thread with her as he did Will, because he was so distraught and had no reason to be suspicious. She will return in a later season, possibly as a villain under the control of Brenner (who may not be dead based on "The Lost Sister"), leading to a confrontation with Eleven.
• Pretty well Jossed by Hopper's back story in season 4 where he blames his exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War as the genetic cause of Sarah's cancer.

Angela and her friends will come to Hawkins.

Specifically, she and her class will be taking part in a relief effort to help the people of Hawkins after Vecna opened up the doorway to the Upside Down and devestated the town. Chances are Angela may be taking part in it for the sake of earning kiss-ass points. In her return, she'll also be shown to have a scar from where El hit her in the face with a roller skate, and will probably be bitter at El about it. Chances are, here's what she may get up to.

• If she finds out El lives in Hawkins now, she may see it as a prime chance to get back at her for scarring her. If El sees Angela, she will not be happy that her old bully has arrived in Hawkins, and/or may still feel guilty about hurting her (even if she did deserve it).

• The Hellfire Club will probably be working on relief efforts as well. So chances are, they will come into conflict with Angela's posse, who will be quick to mock them for their appearances, such as Fat Shaming Dustin, or making fun of other members' quirk/appearances. If they hear about Eddie Munsen and how the town thinks he's responsible for Vecna's actions, they could probably push that partiuclar Berserk Button, seeing as they had no qualms about mocking El for Hopper supposedly being dead.

• Angela and her friends may decide to isolate El from her friends so they can do something really cruel to her. If they get that chance, it could be interrupted by an attack from a Demogorgon. They'll freak out, and then El will use her regained powers to get rid of it, to the group's shock. It will also make them realize who it was they've picked on back home.

• If they find out about Robin and Vickie are a couple, chances are they'll start to target them as well. They may even decide to threaten to out them to the town if they don't do what they say... and then just do it anyway to see them get lynched by the people of Hawkins.

Of course, by now, they're in Hawkins, so they would have to deal with the group backing up their victims.

• I doubt it. When you get right down to it, Angela and her mates weren't even small fry. They were bumps on the road for El and Mike, nothing more. Even if they do show up, they will barely have any screentime.

Upside Down

The Upside Down isn't a completely independent dimension

We’ve seen it has the exact same structures, and it appears to be easier to communicate from it, than communicate to it. The shadow monster appears to be cognizant of this and is able to follow the main characters despite not being physically there.

This suggests its closer to a layer on top of reality. All the building structures are built by humans. The creatures can see the structures being built, but not any of the life doing the building.

This would also suggests the recent human experiments didn’t actually create the creatures and their world. It just created bridges.

Another possibility is that the Upside Down is an alternate timeline, explaining why some things are the same while others are different.

The Upside Down races are specifically like locusts, specialized in going from reality to reality.

All the gates are biological. The demogorgon can create small temporary gates. They only recently overtook Upside Down, which explains why the locations are so similar. The universe itself was similar to normal Earth, and without any significant points of diversions. The real point of diversion is contact with the demogorgon. At which time, the reality was taken over, and presumably, all the humans were harvested. At the time of the story, the demogorgons need to move on to their next reality, with fresh hosts for procreating.

It can be amped up further as a cosmic horror story, if a new reality is created each time the demogorgons take over the initial reality. This suggests there’s always a reality where humanity lost its fight against the invaders.

The Upside Down is a hellish, nuclear-apocalyptic, parallel universe.

In the show, Mr. Clarke (and later Mike) refer to the multiverse when describing The Upside Down. The world itself is shown as a "dark mirror" of the world the characters know, with familiar structures like Byer's house/Castle mostly intact, just covered in meat moss. But it isn't really a mirror version of the world, since objects (like the Christmas lights and traps) don't magically appear in The Upside Down when placed in the real world. Considering the world seems devoid of people, full of weird, mutant-like monsters, is relatively up-to-date as far as houses/structures are concerned, and the "air is toxic" (according to Hawkins Lab scientists), it's possible that the world of The Upside Down had recently ended, and considering The Cuban Missile crisis had just occurred a year before the events of the show, it's possible we were looking into a world where the crisis went the other way and the world is coated in a layer of fallout.

• This would certainly explain the constant "ashfall" seen in The Upside Down, as well as the aforementioned toxic atmosphere. Although, the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred during JFK's administration, which was over a decade before the setting of this series.
  • More like two decades since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Although 1983 did have the Able Archer scare, in fact right as the show's events are playing out.
  • An interview has revealed that the "ashfall" is actually spores.
  • The immaterial and virus-like entity, the "Mind Flayer," makes nuclear radiation being the explanation unlikely.
    • Since when is the Mind Flayer immaterial? Isn't "Mind Flayer" just another name for the Shadow Monster? Doesn't the Shadow Monster have a material form (in the upside-down, at least)? But yeah, point taken.
    • Its "physical form" in the upside down is a fast-moving cloud of darkness that can't possibly be a gas according to conventional physics, and the evil affecting will is described as anomalies in his brain activity, not actual damage to his brain (otherwise he couldn't be cured, of course), meaning it's not even physically noticeable in him until it tries to leave. If it is physical in some way, it's definitely not physical in any conventional sense of physics. Still adds to the point about it being unlikely it's just born of nuclear radiation.

Alternatively, the Upside Down is the aftermath of an Alien Invasion.

And now the alien species that took over the planet in that universe has been alerted to the existence of our world...

• Season 2 heavily implies that the Mind Flayer, the demonic alien creature which rules the Upside Down, actively seeks to take over as many dimensions as possible.
• The Fridge Horror of this WMG, of course, is that a parallel version of Earth recently suffered an Apocalypse How event. Everyone is dead. A duplicate world, with all the main characters from Season 1 and 2, and more, they are all gone.

The Upside Down was a regular universe before.

The Upside Down is taken by The Corruption, the same kind that grows in the lab, and seems to keep growing.So, the upside down could be a universe where the same things happened and months/years later is in that Silent Hill style.One can conclude that this universe is doomed if nothing is made or there is no season 2.

• Season 2 definitely doesn't seem to do much to Joss this theory. The enormous, shadowy monster that attempts to spread The Corruption is nicknamed the Mind Flayer, after a dimension-hopping monster from Dungeons & Dragons. The creature that it's named for goes from world to world, conquering one after another and building its army. It also looks alien to the Upside Down, with a very different appearance from the Meat Moss and Demogorgons, and a red color pallet associated with it in some of its appearances (in contrast to the cool colors more common in that dimension). It isn't hard to reach the conclusion that someone in the Upside Down might have made the mistake, decades or centuries ago, of opening up a gate to another world that the Mind Flayer had already taken, or even to whatever frozen hell its home really is.

The Upside Down is the mental construct of Subjects 1–10.

And the Demogorgon is the embodiment of their pain and fear from the experimentation they were subjected to. (Think the Clown from "The Thaw" on Star Trek: Voyager.) This would explain the existence of structures in the Upside Down despite it being a nightmarish unpopulated world and Eleven's connection to the monster.

• Structures are still unexplained, but the Demogorgon has been revealed to be a slave to the insidious Mind Flayer.
• Partially confirmed by Season 4: the Upside Down already existed, but its present form and that of the Mind Flayer are mental constructs imposed on them by One/Vecna/Henry Creel after he massacred the other test subjects (apart from Eight, who had already escaped the lab) and Eleven banished him there. It's not so much the embodiment of his pain and fear as of his hatred of humanity.

The Upside Down is an alternate The Mist!Earth in which the portal wasn't closed and the eponymous mist covers the world

.Dark and eerie atmosphere? Eldritch creatures out for blood? Accessible through a portal? It is possible that Upside Down is what happens when the mist manages to completely cover a world for long periods of time. Stranger Things pays a great many homages and references to Stephen King already so it is not a stretch that it was at the very least a concept in the writers' minds when it was conceived.

The Upside Down will start releasing an airborne spore in season 4

In a form of Real Life Writes the Plot, this will allow the characters to wear face-coverings. The spore itself will cause people to hatch a new type of monster in their stomachs, much like the Xenomorph. The creature will be round in shape and have many eyes, which earns it the name "Beholder" from the Party.

• Partially Jossed, partially confirmed. Season 4 wasn't filmed until Covid vaccines were available and the pandemic was receding, so there was no need for masking on set or an in-story justification for it. However, at the very end of season 4 we did see spores from the UD falling like snow all over Hawkins. What effect they will have remains to be seen in Season 5.

The Upside Down is also magical.

This is how it can constantly update itself whenever someone enters it.

• Jossed - it hasn't updated itself since the night Will went missing in 1983. This is a plot point in S4 when Nancy's guns aren't in the Upside-Down Wheeler House.

People killed in the Upside Down get reborn as monsters

Getting thrown in the Upside Down actually killed Henry, but because of his powers, he was able to maintain his sentience. Eddie and Barb, on the other hand, were reborn as Demogorgons, but still subconsciously remember their friends and refuse to attack them. Eleven can use her powers to help them regain their lost memories. This will allow Nancy to have closure for Barb and Dustin for Eddie.

Meta

Stranger Things and Eerie, Indiana take place in the same universe.

The latter takes place in 1991 but in the same state. It's a little goofier, but it could be the after effect of the Mind Flayer's grasp on a section of the state itself.

Stranger Things is set in the same universe as Warhammer 40k

There are a great many parallels

• Eleven and Kali are psykers; telekinesis, telepathy, and mental manipulation are all key abilities of human psykers, and latent psykers are frequently come into their powers in response to stress, such as the experiments at Hawkins Laboratories
• The Upside Down is the Warp, a dark psychic reflection of reality where the laws of physics don't apply and inhabited by malevolent beings that seek to spread their corrupting influence and destroy the material world
• The Demogorgon is a lesser Daemon, some form of Warpspawn
• The Mind Flayer is really one of the Gods of Chaos, Tzeench, Lord of secrets and plots. Hope also falls under his domain, which is why he was able to corrupt Will just as he attempted to stand and resist
• Or... The Mind Flayer is a Greater Daemon of Nurgle, with the "Upside Down" being a part of Nurgle's realm in the warp (given the 'ick factor' and the generalized sense of slimy decay of everything associated with both). Nurgle and his realm are simply a bit less "evolved" here than in the era of 40k, due to the smaller size of the human race, and the comparative rarity of 20th Century psykers.
• Both the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer are drawn to psykers and in the case of Will, those who have been tainted by the warp. Additionally, while normal guns are ineffective against them, extreme physical trauma (Steve's bat, Hopper with a shotgun) and the holy, cleansing touch of fire can drive them back.

The show takes place in Stephen King's multiverse.

The story shares a lot of elements that Stephen King himself has used in novels in the 1980s. As we know from The Dark Tower series, most, if not all, of his stories takes place in multiple universes that ties into the DT universe. This show could very easily be a part of the same universe as Firestarter, as Hawkins Research Labs and their experiments with Eleven were born of MKUltra, much like The Shop and the Lot 6 experiments were. Hawkins Labs may even be a project of The Shop. People may say, "We see someone reading a Stephen King novel in one episode. This WMG is false." However, what those who make that claim may not realize that in the DT novels, Stephen King himself is a character involved with the events, being someone who is able to write stories about the multiple universes, including the DT universe itself. Even his novels are critical to the DT universe within the novels themselves. Will, his friends, family, the Sherriff, and Eleven all can easily fit into the ka'tet model (as its showed up in many of King's stories such as The Stand and It), which each having their own roles.

The Upside Down is the Nevernever from The Dresden Files.

It actually makes sense when you think about EL is a young mage with a penchant for telekinesis. She unknowingly opens a portal to the nevernever but because they involved science something that was never done before it became an open wound anything could use.

The show takes place in the Cthulhu Mythos, and the Demogorgon is a Dimensional Shambler.

The story shares a lot of elements in common with HP Lovecraft's more "weird fiction"-y stories. Many of Lovecraft's stories dealt with dimensional travel and strange, otherworldly beings crossing over into our reality. The Demogorgon is almost identical the Dimensional Shambler creature first described by Lovecraft in his story "The Horror in the Museum." A Dimensional Shambler is described as a gaunt, humanoid with crouching gait, long arms with huge claws and gray, mummy-like skin. Dimensional Shamblers come from a parallel universe and attack by dragging their victims back to their home dimension, a place described as "a long, gray, oozing plain, beneath skies where the fumes of Hell were writhing like a million ghostly and distorted dragons." Stop me if this is all starting to sound familiar. The only difference is that Dimensional Shamblers are described as having a canine snout with hooked fangs rather than the Demogorgon's lamprey-like mouth.

Keep in mind that this WMG is not mutually exclusive with the Stephen King verse WMG. Recall that Leland Gaunt, proprietor of the eponymous Needful Things, was heavily implied to be Nyarlathotep.

• The Mind Flayer is a deviously intelligent entity with a passing resemblance to Nyarlathotep's Bloody Tongue form, making this even more fitting as a WMG.

The Island from Lost is a gate to the Upside Down.

We learn from Elouise in the Lamp Post that there are many spots with electro-magnetic anomalies in the world, which may not necessarily be indicative of a gate being there, but could hint to the veil between the real world and the Upside Down being particularly thin in those locations. Maybe it broke in one of those spots, for reasons unknown, and whatever magical progenitor civilization/entity used the properties of the Upside Down to create a plug to seal the rift. Jacob describes the Island as a cork that keeps evil in a bottle, and, assuming there's more, different weird shit over there, the Upside Down and its inhabitants may be exactly what he's talking about. The Island's time- and location travel capabilities might be a result of its closeness to another dimension, or functions built into it because they are necessary to keep the rift sealed. Also, following the theory that Smokey isn't what people turn into when they're thrown into the Hole, but an entity that absorbs and assumes their identities and personalities, it might be something native to the Upside Down, like the Demogorgon.

• After season 2, this WMG can be expanded: Esau/Abel/MiB/Smokey from Lost is an entity similar to the Mind Flayer that requires a human host to escape through The Source. It appears to adopt memories and personality traits of the people it takes over, which is not exactly the same as the Mind Flayer, but it can also manifest in its pure form in the physical world, so we know the two are at most related, not identical. Both have a desire to take over the world, both are trapped (though MiB is trapped in a slice of the real world), and both are beings made of black smoke. Additionally, it is not unlikely that Desmond is a person with special abilities like 011 and 008. While their powers were barrier-crossing and telekinesis, and telepathy respectively, Desmond can see the future. It is never explained how exactly people acquire these abilities, and it seems as though they can be acquired later in life such as with Elle's mum. This is also supported by Miles, who, born on the island and exposed to the same electromagnetism, can communicate with echoes of the dead. Said electromagnetism might be the ancient technology used to keep the breach into the Upside Down sealed, and could also be the medium on which The Island "hovers" through space and time. Exposure to the electromagnetism means one becomes temporarily part of the medium that is in contact with the Upside Down, a time during which contact and infusion with powers can occur. Will certainly seems to have acquired the power to enter the place, though he is not in control of it.

The Uncanny X-Men Issue #134... a foreshadow.

Will Byers tells Dustin he wants his X-Men #134. Anyone who is familiar with the comic is the first appearance of Dark Phoenix. Now, the comic does include a scene where Jean uses her powers to pin a villain against a wall (foreshadowing the event in the show). However, Jean Gray has died and resurrected multiple times throughout the comics. However, the inclusion of this reference to the comic suggests that maybe Eleven will be back, but she won't be the cute and cuddly El we knew in Season 1, but a Dark Eleven, making her a potentially dangerous enemy for one of the upcoming seasons for the group.

• Jossed for Season 2.
  • Eleven doesn't really go dark, but for what it's worth, her scene where she closes the gate can bring Jean-Grey-as-Phoenix to mind.

There will be an homage to Back to the Future

Season 3 will very likely take place in 1985.

• Confirmed, it takes place in 1985 and the Starcourt Mall theater is showing Back to the Future in one episode.

The Starcourt Mall opening is the Back to the Future tie-in.

Many people have noticed in the trailers shots of people appearing to protest what looks to be the Mayor of the town. However, what they are really protesting is the opening of the Starcourt Mall. This is the tie-in for Back to the Future. For those that don't get it, here it is: in the Hill Valley courthouse square in 1985, you can see a lot of stores and buildings are closed up. When Marty goes back to the 1950s, we can see these places used to be active back before the Twin Pines/Lone Pone Mall opened. In an interview, Bob Gale stated that the downtown area looks the way it does is that a lot of the shops had to close up because of the opening of the Mall. Now, putting it in context of the show, we've seen a lot of the stores in downtown Hawkins, including Joyce's place of work, are typical of small towns. With the opening of Starcourt Mall, the community fears that it will lead to the smalltown shops close up.

• Confirmed. One of the films being played at the mall is Back to the Future.

Scoops Ahoy's entire theme, branding, decor and even their business was designed starting with the sailor suits and working backwards.

Another meta-guess here; the thought process was probably "what's the most humiliating costume we can put on Steve, that won't be too restrictive of his movement (so, mascot costumes are out)?" It's clearly not well-thought out as a business model, someone looking at it from across the mall (or, assuming it's a chain, a storefront location from the street) the nautical theming could lead people to mistake it for a seafood restaurant.

Season 4 will have at least one Shout-Out to Dead by Daylight

It could by a passing reference to the Entity, the mention of Dwight Fairfield or the Legion, comparing a place to Autohaven Wreckers, Nancy or Steve throwing a large pallet down on someone, or the two of them suddenly being uneasy around large hooks.

Rick Sanchez and possibly Ford Pines have been to the Upside Down

Rick learned everything about the Upside Down there is to learn about. He easily could have saved the Stranger Things-verse from the Flayer without the help of some crazy girl, but of course, he's a selfish asshole. He may have used DNA from its inhabitants as part of the DNA cocktail that help create the Cronenberging. One of Ford's journals included drawings resembling the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer.

• Not really, but there is a reference to Rick Sanchez in Season 4.

The Upside Down is the way it is because all the Youkai were exorcised.

Whoever did it didn't realize that Youkai are nature spirits and have to exist in order for the world to not die. Either all the Youkai were destroyed or there were some survivors, but the point is enough Youkai disappeared to make the Upside Down decay like that. The Mind Flayer might be the exorcist who did it, cursed because of what they did. The Demogorgons were either created by the Mind Flayer or they used to be regular humans and animals but because they weren't enough Youkai, they were corrupted.

Season 5 will have a nod to Hellraiser.

It will presumably take place in 1987 (when the film came out). Given the obvious parallels the series has already demonstrated (interdimensional portals and demons, magical powers that can have gory results, Dr. Brenner's similarity to Dr. Channard from the second film as a ruthless, overweening scientist, etc.), there's a lot to work with to make the nod, such that it would almost seem like a missed opportunity not to do it.

Possible 1980s actors to show up in later seasons...

Considering that we've had Winona Ryder, Matthew Modine, Paul Reiser, Sean Astin and Cary Elwes in the show, whom all were widely known for some of their performances in the 1980s, it's pretty much clear that there is a running gag of bring back actors and actresses for roles in the show. Here are a few possible ones:

• Helen Slater (best known for The Legend of Billie Jean)
• Michael Biehn (best known for The Terminator and Aliens. And his character will more than likely die)
• Kevin Bacon (best known for Friday the 13th (1980), Footloose and She's Having a Baby)
• Clancy Brown (best known for The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension and Highlander)
• Christian Slater (best known for Gleaming the Cube and Heathers. Will at least have one scene with Winona Ryder)
• Michael Pare (best known for Eddie and the Cruisers, The Philadelphia Experiment and Streets of Fire)
• Jennifer Connelly (best known for Labyrinth and The Rocketeer)
• As of Season 4, we have another one; Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund, as Victor Creel.

Stranger Things takes place in the same universe as the Resident Evil games.

Umbrella had been keeping their zombie experiments relatively secret in the 80’s and the government in universe was a major backer of their bio weapons (at least until Raccoon City) so maybe someone/a group in stranger things find out about Umbrella’s experiments and are once again forced into silence.

The series takes place in the universe of the Chronicles of Darkness.

• El and Kali are Deviants, specifically Genotypal Cephalists.
• The Upside Down is actually the Shadow.
  • The Demogorgons are Hunger spirits, and the Mind Flayer is probably a spirit of Control, or maybe something like Spite, which is so powerful it can Urge or Claim several people at the same time.
• Hawkins Lab is run by members of Task Force: VALKYRIE.
• Someome is probably on the verge of Awakening after all the weird shit they’ve gone through.

There’s probably more, but I can’t think of anything, please add!

The last shot of the series will be the main cast watching Beetlejuice

The Duffer Brothers have stated that they won't have the series go past Winona Ryder's rise to fame with the release of the film in 1988, joking about the Celebrity Paradox it would bring up. But, they could cheekily reference it by having the Party and their allies head into the theatre in the final moments of the final episode, implying with a poster or the date (March 30, 1988) which film they're seeing.

The Upside-down is apart of the Dreaming from The Sandman (2022).

Or at least a part of it. Vecna managed to get sent to a little inhabited portion and was able to set up somewhere where no one can find him. And with Dream/Morpheus being trapped in both the show and comics at this time he wouldn’t be able to stop Vecna from doing this. And maybe he was far enough away from where Lucien/Lucienne that they had no idea they were there, kind of like how Carter and Lyta were able to hide.

The Duffers and/or some of the writing staff are fans of Neon Genesis Evangelion and Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Both anime series involve adolescents with latent powers being turned into lab rats by sinister government/societal conspiracies. Madoka involves a near miss with the world itself being destroyed when The Bad Guys Wins (at least for the moment), as does Evangelion (at least until the Rebuilds.) And of course Madoka is often called a Spiritual Successor of Evangelion.

• It is certain that one of the Duffers' influences was the anime Elfen Lied, another series about an adolescent girl with telekinetic powers being horribly exploited in a laboratory from which she escapes. To those of you who don't watch much anime, this may say something about certain popular plot ideas and themes in Japanese media.

The series's finale will incorporate the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The younger characters started high school in the 1985-86 school year, so 1989 will likely be the year they graduate high school and start college.

Despite all the horror and sadness in the series, Stranger Things could still be called a Spiritual Successor of sorts to That '70s Show in that it's also a celebration of '80s movies, music, fashion, and pop culture as That '70s Show was for The '70s. T 7 S ended right at the end of the decade on New Year's Eve 1979, and the fall of the Berlin Wall occurred on November 9, 1989, so it would dovetail nicely with that scheduling, especially since the Soviet Union and the Cold War have become drawn into the show's reach.

One of the announced spinoffs will be a sequel series set in both The '90s and the Turn of the Millennium

By the time the spinoff could come out, it would be close to or even within the 2030's, and thus the eras will be as distant from eacher other as the 2010's were to the 80's, and it's likely the nostalgic boom for both the 1990's and 2000's will be in full swing. This would be a a perfect time to write a story based around the Y2K period, no doubt involving the Millennium Bug in some way.