Warning: This article contains depictions of violence and spoilers for season 4 of Stranger Things.
Stranger Things fans were shocked when it was revealed that the creature — possessing young kids in Hawkins, causing them to levitate, and then breaking their bones and gouging out their eyes — was actually the lab’s orderly. He was banished by a younger Eleven when she discovered his evil doings and pushed him into the Upside Down.
This detail wasn’t revealed until the final minutes of season 4’s first volume, leaving fans to spend a month wondering about what might come of Vecna, from whether he will take more victims to what will happen when Eleven inevitably comes face to face with a being as powerful as she is. While many Reddit theories were posited before the official reveal of Vecna’s origin story, more recent ones include ideas of what might happen now that his identity is known.
Vecna Draws Power From His Victims
It was an obvious plot twist from Stranger Things that the orderly was not so friendly, even if he tried to appear as such. In a Reddit thread by u/almighty_smiley, they suggest a very plausible theory to explain Vecna’s reason for killing children.
The Redditor recalls when Vecna, as the orderly, told a young Eleven that one’s traumatic memories hold tremendous power. The reveal led to him getting tortured by Brenner. It would stand to reason that if this information is true (it likely is which would explain the torture since Brenner did not want the others to know how to access such power), Vecna targets kids with traumatic memories because when he kills them, he takes on their consciousness. The Redditor states, “Their minds become his mind, their memories become his memories, and their trauma becomes his trauma. As such, he has more traumatic memories to draw power from.” It’s a solid theory that would also explain how Vecna continues to get more and more powerful.
Vecna And The Mind Flayer Are The Same Entity
In the same thread, Redditor SweetMnemes suggests that rather than Vecna being the Mind Flayer’s “five-star general,” as Dustin theorized, the two might actually be one in the same.
The evidence of this, they suggest, includes Vecna’s ability to control peoples’ minds as well as transform bodies, which are both things the Mind Flayer is able to do as well. They also point to Vecna’s obsession with spiders, noting that the Mind Flayer has a “suspiciously spidery-looking appearance.” This could point to either them being the same or simply be further evidence of the hive mind mentality.
Eleven Created The Upside Down By Banishing Vecna
Building on the theories around Vecna, SweetMnemes continues to theorize that Eleven actually unwittingly created the Upside Down when she banished Vecna, which would explain why it exists in Hawkins. They believe the Upside Down actually exists in Eleven’s mind, manifesting itself whenever she is upset and her trauma “leaks into the world.”
“Both the agents who assume that El is the monster and those who assume that she is the solution are right,” they continue. Thus, Vecna, a.k.a. 001, can only be defeated when Eleven’s trauma is fully healed. They continue to predict that Mike – one of the most underrated characters on Stranger Things, according to Reddit – may declare his love for Eleven and that actually saves the world.
Vecna Preys On Teens Specifically For A Reason
Building on Redditor almighty_smiley’s theory noted above about Vecna gaining power from the trauma of his victims, they continue on to explain why Vecna might not be targeting more obvious victims of trauma; he targets teenagers because they tend to feel things more strongly, which would lead to more power from their consciousnesses.
When teenagers go through something upsetting, it tends to “feel like the world is ending,” they note. They then continue, “Nowadays, it sucks, but you know enough to know that you’ll be just fine in the end…He’s going for those who have relatively weak defenses.”
Eleven Will Absorb His Powers
In the same thread, Redditor zaivartuma predicts that Eleven will realize she can do everything he does as well, if she so chooses. And in the end, she will absorb his powers.
“In D&D lore,” they point out, referencing the iconic game that has a big role on the ’80s-set show, “Vecna’s right-hand man ‘kas the bloody-handed’ betrayed his master and stole his powers.” The theory is that if the show follows a similar plot, Eleven would be that “right-hand man.”
Vecna Kidnapped Will
Looking back at season 1, fans easily forget that Will was gone for much of it, taken to the Upside Down and rescued in the nick of time. The effects of his visit there still remain unseen. Nonetheless, many Redditors, including u/Muscle-Independent, theorize that it was actually Vecna who took him way back when, not the Demogorgon.
In their post, they include a clip from the show noting: “if you re-watch this scene, you can also hear a very loud bell noise that sounds very similar to the grandfather clock.” As fans know, one of Vecna’s signatures is having a grandfather clock appear to his victims right before he kills them. Interestingly, Redditor _Wayfaring-Stranger_ points out that Will kept himself sane in the Upside Down by singing “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” As fans know from season 4, music tends to keep Vecna away and Will singing might have been what kept him alive all along if it was indeed Vecna who took him. These were just a few of many hidden details that predicted Vecna’s reveal on Stranger Things.
Vecna Meant To Kidnap Eleven
In the same Reddit thread, along with the theories about how it was Vecna who captured Will, not the Demogorgon, Redditors continue on to suggest why. The common belief is that he intended to capture Eleven but mixed them up, given that they looked similar. Redditor r0b_b0TT says “She and Will could have been close to each other and Vecna wanted to kidnap her, not Will, but he made a mistake.”
They continue further suggesting that in the moment when Vecna took Will to the Upside Down, Will inadvertently created a version of Hawkins there, along with the Demogorgon. The user posts, “After the game, he thought about his D&D monster, so it appeared.”
Vecna Has Time Travel Abilities
One Redditor fills in some holes regarding Vecna taking Will by accident, believing him to be Eleven, theory. In the same thread, Redditor Muscle-Independent believes that Vecna might have “some sort of time travel abilities,” or even push it backwards. This is evidenced in the flashback scene of him as a child when he does just that, along with his obsession with clocks.
They say this could explain why Will was sent to the Upside Down in 1983 while Eleven actually sent Vecna to the Upside Down four years prior, in 1979. He could have played with time to find Eleven after she had escaped.
Vecna Was Working Through Billy
An interesting theory posited in a Reddit thread by u/bookaaakee by the same Redditor is that Vecna had taken over Billy’s body and was using him to interact with others in Hawkins. It would make sense since it was clear in season 3 that Billy had become possessed by some type of being.
“…Vecna was the one who initially presented himself as Billy, to Billy…that’s when Billy became infected and he ‘worked’ for Vecna,” they guess. It would also make sense as to how Vecna would recognize Max’s tremendous trauma and even be able to show himself as Billy during the time when Max’s mind was being taken over.
The Guidance Counsellor Is Working With Vecna
One of the most-talked-about theories and one of the best hidden details in season 4 volume 1 of Stranger Things is that the guidance counsellor Ms. Kelly isn’t all that she seems. It ties into the earlier point about how Vecna knew which kids to target and who was suffering the most trauma. All his victims had been seeing Ms. Kelly before their deaths and revealed the traumatic experiences that were plaguing them.
In a Reddit thread by u/fratzeskaki, they point out that she wears a necklace in the shape of a grandfather clock, calling that pretty conclusive evidence that there’s more to the character than meets the eye.
