#it doesn't make shield straightforwardly bad

[raisengen]

Getting back into Elden Ring after all the side dungeons burned me out, and turns out I wasn’t that far from Malenia.

Hoo boy this is a funny boss design. I only ever saw the shadows of discourse, but her being divisive is extremely unsurprising. Fortunately, I’m enjoying it, and it’s really interesting to see how they’re messing around with boss fight design.

Current favourite design choice is having the boss heal every time she lands a hit, even if you block with a shield, then giving her a superblender with a billion hits that you can very easily block with a shield.

[mikhardwheat]

Mike Wheeler Theory. DM to Paladin pipeline.

People here were talking about the reason why Vecna attacked only when Mike left the Hawkins. And how he was straightforwardly called "a heart" by Will later in the season.

He's the one holding the shield here, while everyone else backs him up. And while we have Lucas on the right, who was and is a Knight (warrior) too, Mike chose to be a Paladin (knight of honor).

Which is interesting, because:

He was DM before, right? He practically wrote the whole story while it was happening. (Also, it's worth mentioning that he canonically wants to be a writer).

And what happens after is: Will goes missing and Mike totally loses his mind, trying to find him. And then there's El, and he wants her to bring Will back, but the whole thing just keeps going down. Mike doesn't have control over the situation and it freaks him out

They, obviously, do not play DnD while Will is somewhere missing.

But when they get him back, and by the end of the s1 Mike's is DMing again (he is writing the story).

This got me thinking (I came up with this theory in September, so correct me if I'm wrong):

In s2 he's not constantly freaking out, despite El going missing. He's got his usual life back. Notably, he isn't playing, he DMs.

Now, we know Wheeler siblings are control freaks, right. They like when things go the way they want them to and hate the change, especially if it's an uncomfortable or/and an unexpected one.

Skipping 2nd season, in the 3rd season Mike isn't the one hosting the game, which, considering the two seasons and his personality, is weird.

Will does it instead, and Mike not only doesn't want to play, he makes a show out of how much he isn't interested in participating. 3rd season Mike doesn't have a leading position for the first time in the show, and we're just ignoring it somehow??

Or y'all figured it out and I'm just being slow. In any case...

4rd season Mike is the first one we get as a full-time player, and he choses a "Trusted Leader" (ref. the picture above). Safe option for his pride, if you ask me.

1st season again: Will throws the dice and gets 7 (meaning, Demogorgon takes him), and Lucas offers him to cheat, because Mike didn't see the number, but Will decides he'd tell him the truth.

Lucas said, Will could've lie and Mike wouldn't possibly know he did. This lie would've saved Will's life. And it doesn't have to do anything with Mike, who supposedly is in the lead. Because if Mike doesn't know, it didn't happen. Mike's influence goes as far as his knowledge goes.

Off-top: I also think, the dice scene was foreshadowing Will's fake death, because Mike didn't believe Will is dead even after he saw the body. Mike didn't witness Will die = Will is alive. Simple as that.

Finn said Mike's role was passive in s4 and he is right! Mike wasn't the one to initiate anything since s3 where he lost/abandoned his hosting privilege.

However, as I mentioned before, in s4 Mike is a player (both in ell Fire and in real life). As soon as El gets taken away - she was the reason he stopped playing, keep that in mind - he starts doing conscious decisions again. He plays the game.

El's "From El" letter hit him hard not only because it was his own medicine shoved down his throat. He is forced to "look at the table".

He has been clearly avoiding his responsibilities before, but this makes him realize his mistake. It reminds him of how bad he actually is at losing control and how damaging it appears to be. Not only for him, but for the others too.

Side note, literally nothing happened when Byhop siblings left Hawkins. The only two people in the show who are connected to the Upside Down and were proved to be capable of surviving it. Why Vecna didn't attack as soon as the worthy opponents weren't here anymore?

Instead, he waited for Mike to leave, before he took the first shot. (On the afterthought, Vecna's victims were experiencing the symptoms while he was still in the town).

And now we can go back to the painting, after all of my points were made:

Mike Wheeler is the Shield of Hawkins. He protects the town as well as his companions. The way he holds his sword - upright and forward, causing the beast to stay away, can easily mean that he's one of the few things that keep Upside Down hidden from others.

It's his little world that he was slowly loosing control of ever since s1. And now he's forced to fight to get it back.

This theory has no conclusions, only observations, but I know that there are smart people over here, who can make something out of it.

If you've read it all... Thanks.