#billy in the upside down

[dragonflylady77]

hey girl! I have been looking for a fic on ao3 for AGES and I can’t find it so I was hoping that you might know the one I’m talking about… Basically Billy dies but he’s actually just in the upside down and the teens go down like they do in season 4 anyways Billy has pet Demogorgons and they end up killing Vecna. I KNOW THATS LIKE NO INFO but if you know the one I’m talking about please tell me and help a girl out 🙏.

hey you

I haven't forgotten about you.

Started looking but then RL got majorly in the way...

Not giving up just yet.

[grandwretch]

i do think peak comedy is a steve who is absolutely aware of the effect he has on people, but has never felt that way towards anyone else-- the closest he got was with nancy and robin, because he loved them both in different ways, and sometimes he felt like he was going to go insane if he didn't talk to them or touch them right now, but it was never like he had seen other people act about him. robin and nancy made him a better person. they didn't drive him to ridiculous levels of violence and obsession. maybe people in hawkins were just fucking weird.

and then he meets eddie, falls in love with eddie, and he's like... yeah, okay. alright. no, i get it. if anything happened to this guy i would steal the nuclear launch codes.

[orcdaddy]

I spent a whole day, 12+ hours on this, all because you Tumblr hos are encouraging my Billy art so hard, but I also wanted to jump on this art trend. Revamped The Fallen Angel with Flayed Billy Hargrove. The elements were just perfect to replicate with ‘Stranger Things’ scenery and fauna.

Had to make him thiccer in the torso, cuz Billy has the biggest endomorph body ratio I’ve seen and I am HERE for it.

YOU BETTER FUCKING APPRECIATE THIS, I SPENT SO GODDAMN LONG ON IT.

DIDN’T I DO IT

FOR YEW???

[bebx]

I used my last brain cell to make these

[afewproblems]

Season 2 Halloween AU Part Four

Part One, Part Two, Part Three

A very big thank you to @strangersteddierthings for chatting with me today and being such a great sounding board for the next update!

Synopsis: What if Eddie had been at Tina's Halloween Party in Season Two? Featuring Steve!Whump, Stancy Breakup, and Eddie just trying to keep up with all these new revelations about who King-Steve actually is...

***

"So…I have to ask," Eddie blurts out, cutting through the awkward silence that has fallen between them, "how were you gonna pick up your car before you ran into me?"

"I don't think it counts as running into you, if you were waiting for me Munson," Steve side steps the question expertly, flashing him a strange smirk that seems out of place. It falls after a second and twists into something pained.

"I was hoping Nance would take me," Steve says eventually, his voice soft, "which was pretty stupid in hindsight, 'specially cuz she was counting on me to drive her this morning, which--"

Steve cuts himself, snapping his mouth shut with a harsh click of teeth, he shakes his head and lifts his hand to run roughly through his hair.

"Doesn't matter anymore".

Eddie holds his breath, feeling the conversation begin to shift. It's as though he's stepped onto a tightrope and any wrong move could potentially send him over the edge.

He settles for nodding once, turning the key in the ignition.

Steve sighs and lets himself fall back into his seat, "I know you know already, the whole fucking school does, Billy saw to that," Steve gestures to his face, "say what you really want to ask". 

Eddie's fingers tighten around the wheel as he turns them out of the parking lot, fighting the immediate urge to say, 'why did Miss Priss throw it all away?' 

"You think I believe the rumours that come out of that shithole?" Eddie lies, keeping his eyes on the road this time.

He can feel Steve's unimpressed stare as they continue down mainstreet.

"Right, so you had no clue I was in detention?"

Eddie chews the inside of his cheek to fight the sly grin that begins to creep over his face, "Alright smart ass".

He hazards another glance at Steve as they begin to hit the residential area, he looks so different from the night before.

His limbs are loose, tension free, if it weren't for the heavy bags under Steve's eyes and the nervous tap of his fingers on the passenger door, Eddie would think he was finally relaxed.

"I knew a fight definitely happened, it's Hargrove," Eddie says slowly, carefully weighing his words, "but I typically prefer to hear the whole sordid story from the source before I pass any judgements, ya know?" 

Steve doesn't say anything as they continue driving through residential  the houses getting progressively bigger as they go.

"Did you," Steve pauses and breathes out slowly before shaking his head and lifting his face to meet Eddie's gaze, "is that offer for something stronger still open?" 

Eddie smiles, "I think that can be arranged". 

***

Eddie pulls over beside Tina Cline's house, wincing as the right front tire rolls over the curb and bounces the van as it lands on the street once more, startling a snort out of Steve. 

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Harrington," Eddie huffs as Steve shoots him a grin.

"Didn't say a word," Steve hums, unbuckling himself from the seat. Eddie watches as he opens the door and hops out. For a moment Eddie worries Steve will pull the same disappearing act from last night but he simply stops beside his car door and motions for Eddie to roll down his window. 

Eddie cracks his door open instead, "window's broken, what?" 

Steve rolls his eyes, "whatever Munson, you know the way? It's north on 5th and--"

"Then two more rights, yeah man," Eddie says with a laugh in his voice, "I dropped you off remember?" 

"Fuck off," Steve huffs out, he's grinning though.

Steve swings the Beemer’s door open and slides in. He turns on the ignition and flinches at the loud burst of music from the stereo, the volume obviously set from the mood of the previous night. 

'I want to know what love is, I want you to show me--'

Steve slams his hand against the console, cutting off the song with a harsh crack. 

The van is parked just behind the Beemer so Eddie can't see Steve's face, but his head drops down onto the wheel for just the briefest moment before he slowly lifts it, turns on his signal and pulls away from the curb. 

***

Steve beats him to the house.

He's getting out of the car, which is parked on the long driveway as Eddie pulls up to the street. 

Eddie hops out of the van, hiking his backpack higher up on his shoulders, not bothering to lock it. Who would even want his shitty van among the BMWs and Mercedes parked down this street --hell, Eddie could have sworn he saw a Jag three houses down.

Eddie stops short of the lawn. The Harrington house is so different in the light of day, the strange emptiness that seemed to ooze out of the dark windows the night before has disappeared, leaving an ordinary house in its wake. 

"Well?" Steve calls out as he pulls a pair of keys from his back pocket and spins them once on his finger, "you coming or what Munson?" 

Eddie rolls his eyes and jogs to catch up to Steve who turns on his heel to stride up the walk. He stuffs the key into the deadbolt and swings one of the double doors inwards before shucking off his sneakers.

No shoes? Fucking rich people man.

Steve must notice Eddie's expression because he blushes and shrugs, "I know, I know, but my parents will be home for Thanksgiving this year so…may as well…"

He gestures around the sterile foyer with a tight smile, as though it explains everything. 

If anything, Eddie has more questions. 

Steve cuts off the thought by clearing his throat, "we should smoke outside, last thing I need is for you to burn a hole in the couch or something".

Eddie steps over the threshold and has to stop himself from whistling, were the ceilings always this high in this place?

He lifts his foot to unlace his left chuck, snorting at the strange little table in the middle of the foyer. A giant vase sits atop it filled with a mixture of what have to be silk flowers --no way they were real. He pulls the shoe off and tosses it to the side before lifting his right foot. 

Eddie never had the greatest balance so he hops back and forth with his right foot in the air before hopping as close as he can to the wall of the foyer and leaning back against it.

He finally gets the knot in his laces undone and throws the sneaker to the floor, dropping his right foot to the hardwood.

Eddie looks up to find Steve staring with a bemused expression on his face, he ignores the wide hazel eyes and removes the backpack from his shoulders -which can't have been helping the balance issue. 

Eddie unzips the top and yanks out the trusty metal lunchbox, sliding a wicked grin into place.

"You said something about outside?"

***

By the time they've settled, facing one another on a couple of pool loungers, the sun has begun to dip low, painting the patio and empty pool a warm glowing copper. It catches Steve's hair, which shines like gold in the dying sunlight, like some Autumnal Fae King--

Eddie wants to slap himself, suddenly thankful for the November wind that cuts through the backyard, forcing him to chillout.

He picks up the grinder from his lunchbox, unscrewing the cap to open it.

"You good with a joint this evening my good King?" 

He pours a handful of a new strain Rick let him try the other day into the grinder and starts twisting. It's not something he would typically share with anyone other than Jeff, but Steve seemed like he could use something a little more special tonight.

Eddie looks up after a beat of silence, "yo, Major Tom, you with me?" 

Steve's face is pinched, tilted towards the empty pool, "please don't call me that," he says quietly.

"Major Tom?"

Steve raises his eyes to meet Eddie's gaze, his mouth cuts a hard line across his face, the typical easy grin it usually houses is gone. 

"King-Steve," he runs a hand through his hair, letting the fingers linger to grip and pull, "I just, that's not who I am anymore, I don't--"

Steve swallows harshly, "that's all anyone could talk about this morning".

He drops his voice and octave, "oh, King Steve is so pussy whipped he let his girl fuck Jonathan Byers before she dumped him".

"Is that what Hargrove said?" Eddie asks quietly as he pours out a portion of weed onto a paper.

Steve shakes his head, "that was Tommy, but that wasn't why I hit him". 

Eddie nods, and lifts the joint to his mouth to run his tongue along the edge of the paper. Steve watches him from the lounger, his eyes follow the movement before he blinks and continues.

"Tommy and I had been best friends since we were five, he uh, he knows a lot about me," Steve lifts his hand to his mouth and chews the nail of his thumb briefly before dropping it back into his lap.

"Stuff I don't tell anyone, stuff he knows will hurt". 

Eddie nods, twisting the joint closed, he can kind of understand that, although the only person in his life that knew him like that was Wayne.  

And Wayne would never hurt him. 

Did Steve really not have anyone else like that in his life, someone he could tell anything to that wouldn't look at him weird or judge him. Someone safe.

"Anyway, Hargrove started in on me after that, but he's been fucking with me for awhile so," Steve shrugs again, "he saw his big opportunity here".

"Hargrove's been messing with you?" Eddie asks sharply as he pours more weed onto another paper. He lifts it and runs his tongue along the edge of the paper before twisting it into shape. When he looks up, Steve's ears have gone slightly pink and he's sitting strangely, slightly hunched and twisted.

"Yeah," Steve says after a moment, he clears his throat and straightens his back, "yeah, it's just been at practice so far, and I thought it was just because he wanted to one up me for my spot but," he shakes his head, "it's getting worse". 

"You know, I have a bit of a reputation around school," Eddie says slowly, carefully, watching as Steve freezes and looks at Eddie with wide eyes.

"The Hellfire club is more than just the game we're playing, it's also kind of a sanctuary for kids that don't have anyone to lean on, we look after each other," Eddie continues, ignoring the way Steve relaxes slightly, "you wouldn't need to play or anything but if you need somewhere to sit at lunch now…" 

Steve looks at Eddie for a long time, his expression blank, guarded, "really? Just like that?" 

"Yeah man, besides I get to use my 'Mean and Scary Guy' persona on these fuckers so it's a win-win for me".

Steve grins, raising one skeptical eyebrow, "mean and scary?"

Eddie bristles a little bit at the questioning tone in Steve's voice and can't quite swallow the urge to snarl, "yeah I mean you looked plenty scared of the town freak yesterday". 

Steve winces and immediately starts to shake his head, inching forward in his seat so he's even closer to Eddie, their knees are almost touching.

"That's not, I wasn't," he stops and takes a deep breath, "I was upset about Nancy and it was so dark outside, the trees--"

"You afraid of the dark Harrington?" Eddie cuts him off, the lingering irritation still simmers in his voice as he coos. 

Steve just looks at him, there's something strange about the haunted expression on his face that makes the hair on the back of Eddie's arms stand on end. 

"Things happen in the dark, in the woods," Steve says softly, his eyes drift to the empty pool again. 

Eddie opens his mouth to ask Steve what the hell he means by that, when a voice shouts across the yard.

"Steve? STEVE?!" 

The sound of someone running through the grass has them both of their feet, the joints forgotten on the pool loungers. 

"Dustin?" 

A kid, he can't be more than twelve or thirteen, skids into the porchlight that has replaced the last copper rays of evening light, the sun fully set by now. The kid's blue eyes are wide underneath a mop of curly hair and hat, he's breathing hard.

"I need your help".

Tag List: @eriquin @luvinthefreaks @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @goodolefashionedloverboi @ellietheasexylibrarian @bambibiest @sadboislovebeans @howincrediblysapphicofyou @coleys-a-nerd @whycantiuseunderscore @airconditioning123 @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @corrodedbisexual @starman-jpg @ilovecupcakesandtea @yoriposts @clumsiluni @pelinelin @phantomcat94 @lololol-1234 @anaibis @airconditioning123 @steveshairspray @hellfireone @sunswathe @eddielives1986 @tentativeghost @robin-not-batman @estrellami-1 @manda-panda-monium @tinyplanet95 @perseus-notjackson

Part Five

and for some peeps that I think may be interested! @steddierthings @steddie-there @steves-strapcollection @outpastthebrakers @henderdads @stevesbipanic

[calicheer-cove]

Lonnie Byers, Neil Hargrove, and Laura Cunningham: *still canonically alive*

Stranger Things rp blogs, shippers, artists, and fanfic/headcanon writers:

[dame-zoom-a-lot]

A Jolt of Water

Prompt fill for @harringrovewinterbingo - Square A1: Water Powers in the Winter mean Snow Powers Rating: T WC: 1.3k

Steve takes a deep breath.

Wait, shit. No. That's stupid. He tries and fails to hack out the giant wad of Upside Down dust he just inhaled. He kind of wishes Robin was here so she could make fun of him. No. It's a good thing she's not here. Supergirl is going to get him out of here soon. Her, Max, and Robin all saw him get sucked into the monster when he stupidly (and hopefully heroically) tried to pull Billy's body out of its many arms. The due was an asshole but he deserved to get buried. At least that was the thought then.

Steve picks some lingering Upside Dust off his tongue and looks around. If he dies trying to recover Billy Hargrove's body he'll never get over it. Well, he'll be dead so that kind of means he did get over it. Anyway. Robin is rubbing off on him and she's not even here. He needs to stop panicking. Supergirl will get him out in no time.

Steve waits around in the same area for as long as he can bear. He's pretty sure that he'd be easier to find if he stayed put. But the thirst is getting to him. Besides, it doesn't look like he actually got dropped into the area that used to be the mall. He doesn't recognize this part of town at all honestly, which is kind of alarming. He gets up with a wince. His face is still bleeding in multiple places, and there's a ringing in his ears. He needs water and food. The popcorn he had with Robin sits heavy and uncomfortable in his stomach.

After what feels like forever, he finally stumbles across some puddle on the ground, the first and only source of water he's seen. He swallows. His mouth is so dry. But is he thirsty enough to lap up Upside Down puddle from the ground?

Yes, yes he is.

Steve kneels down and puts his mouth by the water, ready to suck.

It bubbles.

Steve falls back with a shriek. The water bubbles and fizzes more intensely.

"Err... is this... are you alive?" Steve asks, feeling very stupid.

The puddle spits at him. Steve stares, shocked, as the water drips off his face and tinkle across the ground to re-join the main puddle.

"O...k... so you are alive. Do you... speak English?" Steve asks, struggling to form the words through his dry mouth.

The puddle puffs up into a half-sphere and rolls a little for a moment before collapsing back into its flat shape.

"Was that you trying to nod?" Steve asks laughing. It's not that funny, but it's not like he's got any other source of entertainment.

The puddle spits at him again. This time it gets him right under the eye. He was ready though. He catches the droplet and flicks it back. The puddle rears up to form something that looks like a palm to catch the piece of itself again. It calms back down into its flat, mirror like surface. It's just an apparently sentient puddle of water, but Steve could have sworn it feels impressed.

Or maybe he's just starved for affection after having a shit summer then nearly dying in his stupid Scoops Ahoy getup but whatever.

"I'm looking for some water," Steve says. The puddle shudders. "No, like real water that's not going to try to punch itself back out of my throat," he clarifies. "Want to come with?"

The puddle shimmers and fizzes. Steve's pretty sure that means a yes... he takes off the stupid scoops ahoy hat and offers it. It's got so much polyester in it he's pretty sure the thing would be basically waterproof. The puddle schlurps into his hat with a horrible sound. It sloshes around, trying to avoid... something.

"Something wrong?" Steve asks. The water swirls about, trying its best to not touch the brim. "Wait, are you trying to say the hat smells bad or something?"

The fucking puddle makes another half sphere to make that nodding motion.

"Well excuse me for sweating while the Russians beat my face in," Steve mutters as he starts his journey for water again. The puddle stills a bit. "Sorry," Steve mutters, "you had no way of knowing."

The puddle makes one ripple that Steve decides to interpret as a shrug. He trudges on, glad to have company, even if that company is a hatful of bitchy, sentient water. Fortunately, he finds a house before too long. There's a decrepit fridge in the kitchen that's well-stocked with jolt cola. Steve takes the can and sniffs. Yep. Not even the Upside Down microbes wanted this garbage. He takes a sip and winces. It's as horrible as he remembers, but fluid is fluid. The puddle in his hat sits quietly.

"You want some?" Steve asks, not sure if this thing would...drink. The puddle fizzes, so he tries dripping a few drops down it. Of course he slips and pours about a cupful in by accident. The puddle immediately spits out the entire canful of the atrocious shit right back in Steve's cut up face. He yowls and falls back. When he stands back up, the puddle is bubbling and fizzing as if it's laughing hysterically. Steve grins and shakes his hat a little bit.

"You know, you remind me of someone," Steve muses once they calm down. The puddle makes a gentle swirl. He'll take that as sign it's listening. It's a captive audience anyway. "Another asshole," Steve continues. "The name was Billy Hargrove and he was a fucking pain in my ass. But you know the worst thing he did?"

The water swirls again.

"Fucker threw himself in front of this giant spider flesh monster to save the kids I was in charge of. Fucking asshole spent all his time and life making their lives hell. Then he fucking died for them in front of them. What the fuck are they supposed to do with that? What am I supposed to do with that? It's like..." Steve takes a deep breath and another swig of Jolt fucking Cola to calm himself. "Fuck. It's like there should have been more after. He showed he's capable of... protecting, not just bullying the shit out of people. Like, for a minute, it felt like I could have one more person I could rely on to get between this shit and the kids. Then he fucking died. And now I'll never fucking know!"

Tears flow in spite of himself. He puts his tender forehead to the table, embarrassed that this water was seeing him in hysterics. At least when it was with Robin, he had the excuse of Russian Truth Serum. He's got no reason to be crying his heart out about a boy he hated in front of a hatful of water that may or may not understand what he's saying.

The water schlops out of Steve's hat and slowly inches across the table to his face. It envelopes his forehead where it was touching the table and a bit of his nose. Steve shudders at the feeling. It's... warmer than he expected. Soft. The water feels like gentle caresses against his cheeks. Steve tries to lean into the touch and ends up nuzzling into the table like some sort of crazy person. But then, given the situation, he could have been a lot crazier.

After some time though, despite the gentleness of the water, the hard surface of the table does start to grate on his torn-up forehead. Steve sits back up to look at the water fondly. The water which is... no longer water. It's all white and fluffy now, kind of like snow.

"Err... you ok?" Steve asks frowning. He lifts a shaking finger to the flaky surface, terrified he might have killed it.

The water, now snow, forms itself into a crude shape of a stick standing out of a circle.

"Are you... flipping me off dude? You changed forms and the first thing you can think of is to flip me off?"

Y...E...S... the snow forms slowly, one letter at a time.

Steve grins and strokes it. "You know what? just for that, I'm going to call you Billy, at least until you come up with something better," he whispers. Billy doesn't object.

[69hertz]

Day 11 // inktober: Wander // whumptober: "All the things going dark and my hope's destroyed" // whumptober: "No one will find you"

Billy is alive and fighting in the Upside down. Season 4? I don't know her.

[leporinelou]

steve: go fuck yourself, hargrove. seriously

billy:

billy’s upside down doppelgänger slash evil twin: y’know, it’s a funny story

robin: oh absolutely not

[elowmojo]

-SEE YOU IN THE UPSIDE DOWN-

Alt one

[miwiromantics]

bringing these theory back:

i've seen someone mention the dnd game in season 3 might be foreshadowing and i don't think we talk about it enough.

so it starts off with a town getting attacked; (e.g Hawkins)

and then Will starts off with saying "do you guys here that, it sounds like thunder...but no wait, that's not thunder; that's a hoard of juju zombies"

so the scene shows will planning out a dnd game where they are being attacked by zombies. this sounds really familiar with the plot of season 3, with heather and billy being possessed by the mind flayer and basically acting like mindless zombies.

if billy and heather (and the rest who were 'flayed') are considered zombies and the mind flayer is basically made up of all of them, then it's true that the whole game in season 3 is foreshadowing to the later events (the whole starcourt battle scene)

behind flayed!billy in this scene, we see a lot of other characters here. this very obviously takes place in the upside down

[screenshots from 'Billy gets possessed' by AceWolfBoy on youtube]

and in season 4, nancy says that there isn't anybody in the upside down and then she adds “as far as i understand yeah" but it definitely could be foreshadowing as well.

[screenshots from 'the mind flayer speaks' by Nerd Clips HD on youtube]

he tells el that "i can see you, we all can see you" someone said that this was henry talking through billy and i completely agree. he's referring to the flayed (zombies) as 'we'.

so theory: the mind flayer could possibly come back in season 5 and hoards and hoards of people could be possessed to basically break down hawkins. maybe the return of billy and heather as well

we also get this scene:

[screenshots from 'Mike and Will fight' by Gin Freecs on youtube]

looks like a scene where mike's just making fun of the game. but if the first part of the game was foreshadowing, could this also be?

could we possibly maybe get a scene in season 5 where mike is fighting the mind flayer and loses an arm?

and then this scene right here;

potential sacrificing???

also the whole 'not thunder, but zombies' thing in the dnd game made me think a lot about how in the upside down the only sounds you here other than the creatures themselves is thunder. could be, again, foreshadowing of (possessed) people in the upside down.

i know it's not much but i feel like we don't talk much about these scenes and how season 3 had a lot of potential spoilers. these were all theories made back in 2022 and i'm really tryna bring them back to relevance again. could be fun to think about a potential fight scene with mike and the mindflayer/ the flayed and losing an arm (since we were robbed of the possible scar he could've gotten from the fight with billy) and maybe some potential sacrificing from the characters (either mike or lucas), and the idea of actual people fighting against them instead of just monsters.

[harringroveera]

Here he comes Steve, your knight in shining…tiddies?

[0aurelion-sol0]

(So before we start with this theory & new post of mine for a long time since my semi-hiatus, I want to repeat that I do not want any new informations about season 5 or anything related to it whether true or not, same for any leaks, set photos whether true not. I ESPECIALLY DO NOT WANT THOSE!!!!! or interviews that are the slightest bit too revealing UNLESS I haven't looked at it myself and even then, easy on any of these. I know something minor about this season & have seen two things about it but that's it, nothing more.

These theories & analyses might be proven wrong or false already or in the future but I don't care, I do this for fun & as a way to explore different possibilities about the story that can be interesting or could have been at least. I hope everyone understands this & will not be a party pooper towards me just to have a "GOTCHA!!!" moment... With that said, let's get into it, shall we ?)

_________________________________________

The Thessalhydra:

Back To The Future &... The Beginning.

_________________________________________

For this first post, I wanted to go back to season 1 as I found it was fitting to explore one of the earliest major fandom theories of Stranger Things since it's final season is on it's way.

"The Thessalhydra as the final threat from the Upside Down."

And while at first everyone at the end of Season 1 thought, obviously, that this creature would be the next threat in it's second season, the Mind Flayer poked it's head and said "not yet!", "I need to experiment with my minions first!" with a Vecna also slowly planning his own armageddon as well. And as much as I don't like him (& his season... 😒), he's here and he proves to be useful from time to time when it comes to theories or analyses because he still part of the show & can help up in terms of parallels, themes & plot.

But now, let's remember the last episode of season 1! The boys playing their new campaign about the Thessalhydra taking a similar turn to the one they did at the beginning of the first season (*wink wink*) & this time Will does a 14 (*wink wink*) & kills the Thessalhydra with a fireball. (*wink wink*)

Now if this wasn't a tv show with multiple seasons, I would tell you that the boys obviously staged the whole thing for Will to win so that he can be happy and because they're all very nice friends & also not repeat the same game at risk of making him vanish again especially if the monster this time is the size of the Empire State Building, (sorry with the luck these characters have, I simply can't believe they can have a happy ending such as this one. WILL HAD UD SLUGS INSIDE HIS BODY, WTF GUYS???!!!) but this is a tv show with multiple seasons. And now, it has definitely become foreshadowing for what's to come.

Especially since in it's fourth season now, we basically have Nancy having an apocalyptic vision of Hawkins with a large creature which is describe by having a "gaping mouth".

And if you look at her face here, she definitely did not find that thing beautiful in the slightest, though she is probably more terrified about the fact that she saw most of her family dead. 🤭

But would you look at that ?! What creature in ST fits that description ? Quite a lot actually but obviously you know which one I'm talking about, yes The Thessalhydra! And oh my god, look at what I've found on the Forgotten Realms Wiki:

"Thessalhydras were hideous and terrifying creatures. They had a large, reptilian body with a long tail, 18 feet (5.5 meters) in length, which ended in a pair of large, sharp pincers. It had no head, instead eight hydra-like heads, each about 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length, surrounded a gaping mouth filled with teeth and acidic saliva."

Well well, after that, it's difficult to argue what else could that large creature be!

End of theory! Bye guys! Thank you for reading!

...

Except I also can do that... 😅 Because I have reason to believe that this future Thessalhydra is a creature we have seen before. One whose campaign mirrors another campaign from the same season.

Yes. I have reasons to believe that the Thessalhydra and The Demogorgon from Season 1 are one and the same.

Do you remember this ?

Of you course you remember this, what a stupid question. It's part of a series of trauma that affected us deeply as a fandom, for different reasons (at least for me) but it proves to be an even more important parallel than we originally thought.

I don't need to tell you about the thematic importance of the parallel or what it means for the characters, we've all already gone through that already, I am more interested in it's significance for the plot.

So El kills The Demogorgon & Henry the same way. By disintegrating them. But that action doesn't seem to end the same way for the both of them & El herself.

What is interesting is that the three of them dissapear in some form, Henry into an Upside Down gate but ends up falling forever through the Hellscape (a different dimension than Dimension X/The Upside Down though likely connected, the same way that Dimension X & The Upside Down probably are the same thing but it's not fully confirmed yet.) before ending into Dimension X/The Upside Down in some way. And we all know what happens from here on out, at least what we know of it since Season 4.

I have a theory for why he ended up there, what is the nature of that place and did not simply disintegrate like The Demogorgon who I also do not think simply disintegrated but we will not go fully through that in this post.

El though ends up in the Upside Down after being taken by the disintegrated part of the Demogorgon or by disintetrating herself (though it didn't really seem that way to me) which I think is probably because the Demogorgon used it's powers on her since he could open gates or send anyone to the UD in season 1. (We will also get into that but not in this post, same for why he was so different in Season 1, both physically and in the way he behaved.)

But the Demogorgon, from what we saw simply disintegrated and we never heard or saw any significant clue of it's existence again. Which again leads me to believe, if we follow the logic of what happened to Henry & to El in some way, it is still alive, somewhere.

And I believe personally that it is in the Hellscape right now, and in the same way that Henry got electrocuted while free falling in that place which marked the start of it's transformation as Vecna, I think the same is happening to The Demogorgon and is slowly being transformed into the Thessalhydra.

I think that El when she disintegrate something, she sends them into the Hellscape which is connected to Dimension X/The Upside Down as some sort of passage for someone who didn't enter via a gate the "original" or "right" way per say. Because being launched into Dimension X/The Upside Down in a state or in a way such as this one could be fatal so it's some sort of transition in a way.

And while Henry technically went through a gate, he was disintegrated before it's opening & that gate couldn't last more than a few seconds which I think is a result of the barrier between the worlds not being thin enough. Plus I think El gave way more strength into Henry than she did the Demogorgon with her powers which in turn also opened a gate behind him.

So as a result, he went into the Hellscape as some sort of "safer" transition between the two dimensions since as we know, and I hope, no gate before that has been opened in Hawkins before.

And as for the Demogorgon, again I think it's a point of it fighting back against El & using it's own powers against her plus again El didn't seem to launch the same type of strength of her power as she did onto Henry since she was standing much closer to the Demogorgon than she did Henry while also using an important memory of hers to defeat him.

Now as to why we haven't seen that Demogorgon or Thessalhydra in ST again, I think it's because the Hellscape was connected to the original version of The Upside Down, Dimension X in a way that it's not anymore with The Upside Down because what happened November 6th, 1983 changed more than just the environment but also the workings of those dimensions since the barriers between the dimensions are now thinner.

So I see 3 possibilities for the Demogorgon, to me it is still free falling through the Hellscape being slowly turned into the Thessalhydra or somehow ended up in Dimension X instead which is still connected to The Upside Down but is seperate it's own plane in some way since The Mind Flayer still come from there or is in a version of The Upside Down that is still Dimension X outside of UD Hawkins.

But still, some things are still up for speculation for how exactly it all works out in the end.

As I said at the beginning of the post, you take Nancy's description and apply to other creatures in ST like the Meat Flayer/Spider Monster (whatever you wanna call it) of Season 3, a gaping mouth with multiple hydra-like heads who in a way also gets defeated by fireballs via Lucas and it's fireworks which we see Will throw with him but the Demogorgon also fits that description with it's own gaping mouth blooming like a flower whose petals could look like different mouths coming from it.

And in a way, it would be ironic for The Demorgorn from season 1 to be The Thessalhydra because if we follow the boys' campaign, the very thing that took Will back then, that he couldn't defeat would also be the same thing he will defeat in it's final season as some sort of karmic consequence for The Demogorgon & The UD as a whole but also as a way to tie it's final season with it's first season in a more concrete way.

It started with Will and it will end with Will.

[ihni]

For @mungroveweek, day 1: "Stuck in the Upside Down" (which Eddie kinda is, here) or "Getting out of the Upside Down together" (which I'm still kinda hoping for, honestly.

[curiositysavesthecat]

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[kazhan-draws]

Retrouvailles, page 1-2/?