henry-fox-biggest-stan

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

jackie taylor is such a good character because everyone i know irl who watched YJ- including myself- found her mostly irritating, frustrating, and pompous on first watch. it’s easy to relate to the characters who are fighting to survive in the wilderness, watching her complacency and still reaping the benefits of the girls hunting, gathering water, etc. but upon rewatch you realize she didn’t actually do anything wrong. kinda like how the girls must feel, in hindsight. she was a kid stuck in a horrifying reality shift. it was completely natural for her to be despondent and hopeless.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

adhd is so funny it's like being possessed but with myself

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I think it's one of those normal non-corrupted amulets and I'm glowing green for unrelated reasons

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

what do you mean my mutuals don’t look like their icons?!?!!?

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

(gripping the sink) vienna waits for me

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

It’s weird to grow up in a family where you know you’re loved but you don’t feel loved. And then later in adulthood you understand how almost impossible it seems to cross that distance and let yourself experience closeness, how otherworldly love feels now and how love feels unbearable at times. You flinch when someone tries to wholeheartedly love you. And over and over you see so clearly how you cannot be loved unless it's from afar and love is mixed with that familiar sensation of distance and coldness.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

“we need more evil female characters” you guys cant even handle a traumatized teenage girl making a mistake

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

i know clandestinely

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

hunting down this post to find that OP turned of reblogs has me heartbroken.

it's time.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

@goldenliartrash aquí lo tienes 🫡

you can find the musical on spotify btw, here it is in Catalan and in Spanish

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

in 2024 may you have pippin's good humour merry's confidence gimli's audacity and sam and frodo's middle earth shattering gay homosexual romance.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Will Byers & Laura Palmer Pt. 1– Narative Parallels

I wanted to take the time to thoroughly examine the parallels between two of my favorite characters— Will Byers and Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks.

Will Byers in Stranger Things 2 and Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

I wanted to analyze the similarities between both characters to see if it would reveal anything about the potential of Will’s arc moving forward into season 5. Initially, I wanted this to be just one post, but after doing some exploring with @bylrndgm I realized that there is far too much to be condensed into one post, so this post is going to focus on their narrative parallels.

Now, I could not find any direct source that indicate the Duffers took direct inspiration from TP. I’ve found articles comparing the two shows as they are very similar, but from what I can tell that the Duffers have not confirmed that this was a source of inspiration. However, given the popularity of TP and it’s influential power it’s had over television, as well as further research into Laura’s character, I am convinced that Twin Peaks had to have been a direct influence. If this is true, I could see why the Duffers haven’t said anything, as it could potentially spoil parts of the show.

Everything beyond this point will contain heavy spoilers for Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

Narrative Function

Will and Laura share generally the same narrative function. In episode one of ST Will goes missing. In episode one of TP Laura’s body is found. The rest of season one (and part of season two in Laura’s case) is about finding out what happened to them. Despite not being physically there, they still carry large a presence. They are the driving factor behind the major mystery. “What happened to Will Byers?” and “Who killed Laura Palmer?” are the major questions that drive their respective plots forward. (further parallels between their death/dissapearance here)

Will’s “body” is also later found in water similar to how Laura’s body was found on a shore.

It’s revealed a bit later in TP that Laura’s soul is in an alternate dimension called The Black Lodge (also The Red Room), which is essentially TP’s version of the Upside Down (albeit with its own supernatural rules). Similar to Will, Laura finds a way to communicate with the other side when Agent Dale Cooper (who is investigating her murder) is able to contact her in his dreams.

Will communicating with Joyce through the lights and Laura communicating with Agent Cooper in the Black Lodge

Connection to Supernatural Entity

Both Laura and Will have a connection to a supernatural entity. In Twin Peaks, the big bad is revealed to be an evil spirit named Bob. Much like the Mindflayer/One, Bob needs a human host to carry out his evil deeds. Bob also acts as a hivemind of sorts, taking control over many people but still being connected to one spirit. I might make a seperate post going into the parallels between Bob and One, but for now I want to analyze what it means for Laura and Will’s stories.

Bob begins his torment of Laura in 1983 when she’s twelve, much like how Vecna began his torment of Will in 1983 when he was twelve. (Henry also kills his family when he is twelve, thank you @bylrndgm for pointing this out) Bob wanted to take hold of Laura’s body and use her as a host, similar to how the Mindflayer possessed Will and used him as a host. Both Will and Laura are able to fight through their possessions. However, shortly after this, Laura is killed by Bob.

Will and Laura yelling at the evil spirit trying to possess them

Shift of Perspective (FWWM and ST2)

While Will and Laura are both largely absent for their original series, they both get the main focus for the follow-up media, that being season 2 for Will and the feature film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me for Laura. ST2 follows Will a year after he had been taken to the Upside Down and FWWM follows Laura on the days leading up to her death.

Both Will and Laura follow a similar story here as well. Both of them are being haunted by a supernatural entity who wishes to take over their body. I’m gonna link a post that Elz made here for a visual parallel from both of these.

Both of them end similarly as well. In the end of ST2, Will is taken to a cabin where he is tied up as the Mind Flayer is exorcised out of him. At the end of FWWM, Laura Palmer goes to a cabin before she is tied up and taken to a train car where she meets her tragic end.

Other Parallels

Both Laura and Will are very giving and charitable— Laura works for Meals on Wheels and tutors for many of the townspeaple

Laura and Will’s mothers both begin to “see” things after the death/dissapearance of their child. However, they both are proven to be seeing the truth

Both their death and dissapearance were not discovered until the morning after it happened

Both Laura and Will were abused by their fathers

Both Laura and Will had companion books that were “secret diaries” of theirs— Will Byers: Secret Files and The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Theory: The Upside Down is Will’s Original Hiding Spot

“He’s good at hiding.”

In season one, One (either through himself physically or through a demogorgon he controlled) destroyed Castle Byers, which was Will’s final hiding spot and last safe space.

Symbolically, this is meant to show how this experience has literally destroyed his childhood, he no longer has a safe space because no space will ever feel safe again.

However, I think this instance of One destroying Will’s hiding spot might be indicative of a more literal meaning as well.

So atp I’m fairly confident that Will has been connected to the Upside Down since way before One ever kidnapped him, which is why he went after him in the first place.

The Upside Down was Will’s original hiding spot, and One took it over in the same way he destroyed Castle Byers.

I’ll explain:

So in season one Jonathan keeps repeating that Will is good at hiding. And he was hiding— in the Upside Down.

It’s implied that the reason Will is so good at hiding was because of his dad. But once he left, Will no longer needed to hide and Castle Byers became his new safe space. Jonathan even tells Hopper that Will used to hide in Castle Byers.

Now this kinda contradicts what I just said, but it’s also important to note that Castle Byers didn’t go up until after Lonnie left. Before that, Will would have lacked a safe space for himself to go.

So what I’m proposing is that Will had a safe space before Castle Byers, and that space was the Upside Down.

I’m not saying that Will would go through a gate every time he needed to hide from his dad, rather this would work in a similar way to his true sight ability in season two. Will’s physical body would be in the in the Rightside Up, but he would physically manifest in the Upside Down as well. While the real world was dangerous, his consciousness would take him somewhere safe. We know that Will was physically in the Upside Down since the Mind Flayer was able to physically enter his body. We didn’t see the particles in the field where he was possessed, it was able to enter his body because he was actually there too.

So let’s say, for example, Lonnie would come home drunk and start getting violent. Will might find somewhere actually in the house to hide, for example a cabinet, but then as an extra protective measure his powers would bring him to the Upside Down and away from danger.

I think this would be akin to some kind of short-term dissacociation, which is basically a defense mechanism for traumatic situations that are hard to get away from.

This article also attributes dissociating to the freeze response, which is stated in the show to be Will’s fear response.

I don’t think Will was ever conscious of doing this, and he was probably so small when it was happening that he didn’t process what was really going on. Rather, I think this ability is triggered by extreme fear, more specifically fear of his father. In fact, I think this ability might be how Will actually went into the Upside Down in episode one. One was able to trigger a fear response so powerful that Will teleported into the Upside Down. And since the gate was open, all of Will went inside. I think this might be why he brought an impression of Hawkins with him. Kinda like a pinhole in a camera obscura, the moment that Will phased into the UD he brought with him an image of the town at that exact moment.

Now, in season two, Will does not go completely into the UD, despite the gate being open. This is because the Soteria is likely in his neck at this point, greatly supressing his powers. Furthermore, One had some control over when this was happening, although I do think he was amplifying it using Will’s emotions. I think there’s a reason he decided to do this during the anniversary of Will’s trauma.

An important part of this theory is Castle Byers, more specifically when and why it was built. Jonathan says in s2 that they built it the night dad left. As I hypothesized before, Will was phasing into the Upside Down because of his dad specifically, but then Castle Byers became his new safe space. As such, he wouldn’t need to phase into the UD, leaving an opening for someone to take it over.

We never get an exact date for when Lonnie left, but we know that it was some time before the events of s1. Furthermore, we don’t know how much time One was wandering around in the UD before he took it over, but it looks like he had been there for quite a while. I’m willing to bet that Lonnie left either before One took over the UD, meaning that Will wouldn’t have been occupying it and leaving a space for One to easily take it over.

This echoes exactly what One did to Castle Byers at the end of season one: He destroyed Will’s safe space.

Another important facet is how Will was able to hear his mom through the Upside Down, but Joyce was not able to hear him. If you wanted to hide from someone, it’s important they not hear you. However, it would be important to listen for when the coast is clear. Maybe whenever Will hid, it was always temporary, because eventually his mother would always reassure him that everything was okay and make him feel safe.

When Will is in the Upside Down in season one, the fear never goes away. Now that One is in charge, the creatures there are after him, and no amount of hiding will allow him to feel safe. This is why he can’t teleport back, because he doesn’t feel safe. But still, he is able to harness the love he has for his mother and find a way to communicate through the lights.

I know this post is already very long but I’ll write out the timeline here:

When Will is younger Lonnie is an abusive shit. Whenever Will gets scared and hide his consciousness takes him to the Upside Down for safety. When Lonnie leaves Will no longer needs to do this and Castle Byers becomes his new safe spot. At some point between Lonnie leaving and the start of season 5, One takes over the Upside Down, effectively destroying Will’s sense of security both figuratively and literally. Will hides in the UD Castle Byers has his last safe spot and it’s After the events of season one, Will has a Soteria placed in his neck (either by One or by Owens) which filters his teleporting abilities and comes through as True Sight.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

In s1 they lose El but then they get her back. In s3 they lose Hopper but then they get him back. In s4 they lose Max but then they'll get her back. In s2 they lose... no one? I don't buy it.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Where’s that one post about how Mike calls Will a cleric because that’s how he sees Will smth smth byler

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

99% of liars quit before everyone absolutely believes whatever they say forever keep going king

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]