#byler parallel

[love-byers]

mike lying vs mike telling the truth

"You think I'm a monster too."

*high pitched, animated facial expression* "What?!"

vs

"What about us?"

*firm, but quiet. solid eye contact* "What?"

"Yesterday. The way you looked at me. . .you were scared of me."

*head shaking, rapid blinking* "No, no- *scoffs* that's not- that's- that's not true."

vs

"What, you're mad that I didn't talk to you? Seems like you've made it super clear you're not interested in anything I have to say."

*firm, solid eye contact, no stuttering* "That's just not true."

i still can't believe people called finn a bad actor because of this

FINN WOLFHARD??? BAD ACTOR???? PUH LEEZ

MIKE is a bad actor, not finn

[willbyerssupremacist]

jonathan definitely looked at these two and got major deja vu bc wtf😭😭

THE SAME BYERS/WHEELER PLACEMENT AND EVERYTHING??

[sarahivess]

"For the rest of our lives." "Yeah."

[bylerthebros]

These two scenes look so familiar...

[wooneygoblin]

FOR COMPARISON purposes…

your honor… it’s the longing stares…the stolen glances‼️💕

[tryingonametaphor]

Why Will Byers?

An analysis and theory on why Henry/Vecna targeted Will first in season 1 and his plans for Will in season 5

‼️Contains The First Shadow (TFS) spoilers so please proceed with caution.‼️

This is going to be a little long but I’ve tried to give as much context as I can without actually being able to show snippets from the stage play. This is my interpretation of everything that went down as a member of the audience and not as someone who has read up any theories about TFS before. To understand why Henry took Will first in 1983, we have to start with -

Henry and Joyce

From all the times I’ve watched TFS, the one thing that has stuck with me is the final conversation Henry has with Joyce. It’s just before his last confrontation with Patty Newby and before he joins Brenner for good. Joyce is the last person (who doesn’t know about Henry’s powers) that he canonically talks to.

Throughout the entire play Joyce, Hopper, and Bob are investigating the animals dying at the hands of Henry and come to the conclusion that Victor Creel has been the one doing the killing. They get so close to solving the case. In her last conversation with Henry, Joyce tries to comfort him by saying that Victor will pay for his crimes - which makes Henry laugh because she’s so close yet so far from the truth. He gets a little frustrated and says something along the lines of “You don’t get it. But someday you will.” (edit 28/9: the exact dialogue is [Henry: you’re too nice. that is how they’ll get you. you have to learn to do anything you can to protect the ones you love] [Joyce: I don’t understand.] [Henry: You will.]) The next time we see Henry make a reappearance in Joyce’s life is during -

The Vanishing of Will Byers

Will is taken into the Upside Down (UD) by Henry. It’s not even a question anymore. All of the context clues from 1x1 lead us to believe that Will’s kidnapping was not by a demogorgon. Will - a 12 year old - miraculously survives a week in the upside down with no food or water. Will is even around the demogorgon a few times in the Upside Down. (Joyce communicating with Will through the lights and then the demogorgon coming after her immediately).

Barb dies the night she is taken but Will stays alive and also somehow manages to talk to Joyce through the wall. Joyce is led exactly to where Will was held at the end of s1 and he makes it out alive. It’s almost as if Henry knew all along that Joyce was the most capable of never giving up on finding her son. Like Henry took Will Byers because he was Joyce’s son. And like he was giving her just enough to know that Will was alive. Even when Joyce and Hopper find him at the end in a state of near death, he’s not injured by a creature. He was being prepared for the next stage of Vecna’s plan -

The Possession of Will Byers

The origins of Henry’s powers happen as such - As a kid, he is transported into the UD (originally coined Dimension X by the government) for a few hours because he touched something he wasn’t meant to touch. During his time in there, he came in contact with the Mind Flayer (MF). According to TFS this is the point in his life when he started getting “corrupted”. Brenner’s dad - who was one of the first people to enter dimension X - had mutated blood after but no powers. Henry was the first person to come in contact with the MF and it’s highly likely he got his powers because of this (This would also track considering how most of the party has been in the UD now but show no signs of having powers). The MF controls Henry for the rest of TFS and Henry grows more power hungry the more he kills.

In S2, Henry presumably sends the MF after Will - who has now had a year to heal from the events of 1983. Will is the only other person in all of ST to have had direct contact with the MF and survived it. Henry didn’t hesitate to kill Billy in S3, but he always gives everyone just enough to keep Will safe. Will himself tells Owens in S2 that the MF wants to kill everyone except him. Will once again survives the entire ordeal and is given a “break” for the next 2 seasons. Except I don’t believe he’s been just given a break. I think Will is -

Henry’s Sleeper Agent.

Ready to awaken in s5. I undoubtedly think that Will is going to have powers. And I don’t think they’re going to be the same as Henry and El. El and the other lab kids get their powers directly from Henry. Will’s powers will be directly from the MF like Henry. I believe this has been Henry’s plan all along and it’s further affirmed by what he tells Will in the recent VR game. That Will will be the key to Henry being able to infiltrate his friends’ minds. Jamie Campbell-Bower also mentioned during the S4 press that to get in character, he set up a display with all of Henry’s victims and targets’ faces on his wall(?), and Will was in the center.

Henry is going to use his connection with Will sneakily and midway through S5 he’s going to awaken Will’s powers (maybe in ep4 - which is said to be titled ‘Sorcerer’ and has young Will in it). Henry is going to try and manipulate his way into making an ally out of Will, and it’s not going to work because -

Will is the Perfect Character Foil.

Will is everything Henry could have been if he had a better support system. He is the perfect character foil. Unlike Henry, Will has a mother who loves him unconditionally and more importantly, believes him. Unlike Henry, the person who Will loves the most (the Patty to Will’s Henry: Mike) is going to love him back and stay by his side all season. No one is going to force them to be apart the way Henry was told to stay away from Patty. Will is not going to be easily swayed even though Henry has spent years crafting him into the perfect soldier. Sure, Henry has seen him heartbroken and sad, but that comes nowhere near to the amount of love and support Will is going to get from his people next season. And they’re going to quite literally defeat Vecna with the power of love and friendship. After that, Will Byers is getting the happy ending that Henry could have gotten.

[another-trans-nerd]

On my millionth rewatch of stranger things and how the actual FUCK did I miss this parallel????

(And it’s all the season before they get together lmao)

[evilbookworm]

This has probably been pointed out already but

SAME SCENE

[gayofthefae]

Will never get over this btw

[love-byers]

we, as a society, should talk about this WAAAAAAAY more

[alcalystrasz]

Just realized that Lumax and Byler have the same scene...

Lucas: You should fine something you care about too!

Max: What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Will: What about us?

Mike: What?

Both duos fight for something similar.

Lucas and Max broke up at that time because Max was feeling too depressed about Billy's death, while Lucas started to play basketball, joined the school team, to be popular and to stop being bullied.

The reason they fight is because Lucas feels like Max is "not here anymore", she's like a "ghost." Which means she's been off, ignoring him, and everything else around her. She's going through a hard time, and Lucas is trying to be there for her, and tries to talk to her, even if it means being ignored.

Will has been off to California for almost a year, and him and Mike have been separated. The only way they communicated with is through phone calls. Later in that arguing, Will tells Mike he's been calling "a couple times" while El has "a book of letters" from him. Mike was arguing with Will because he's been ignoring him all day, that's the main reason before Will mentions something else.

Will feels like Mike is ignoring him, only caring about El. He's off, been calling just a few times (although we know it's not true), but overall, he feels like Mike isn't being himself. Mike on the other hand, feels like Will is ignoring him, probably because he likes a girl too (Angela + the painting which he doesn't know it's for him yet).

Lucas is mad at Max for not being here. Will is mad at Mike for not being here. Max is mad at Lucas because she's going through a hard time. Mike is mad at Will because he's going through trying to be the typical boyfriend for El, and a hard time of admitting his sexuality.

Obviously, these two couples have a lot in common already. Because they have other parallels.

And Max/Will usually blame themselves but Lucas/Mike are here to blame them instead of their lover.

Overall they just share similar scenes.

[greenfiend]

Mike not noticing vs Mike noticing

[pixidivine]

We need to talk about this more because omg

This. This is my roman empire.

[will80sbyers]

+ rovickie

[stranger-chichka]

The jackets, HELLO????? I already can smell the parallel

@greenfiend already wrote a while ago how that scene from s1 may foreshadow Mike coming out to El and I think that’s maybe it! Or they’re having a heart-to-heart after just to clear things up/open up about Will

I mean, look at him!!! It’s the same Mike who feels understood and accepted for who he is

[willthewiz]

El: "I love you too."

Mike's reaction:

Mike: "I love you."

El's reaction:

This is supposed to be romantic...?