#stranger things 4 speculation

[bymarara]

Ross Duffer has posted a couple of new images. In one of them, we see Disney's 1951 CANONIC Alice.

For those who don't remember or have forgotten what I said about this.

In some of the videos, we see Holly wearing something resembling very strongly, the original Alice dress.

I think that Henry has put Holly in a trance for his own purposes (which are not clear to me, personally, only speculation) and befriended her. He placates her by sending her, perhaps, to her favorite fairy tale.

It is at this point that Holly will probably get lost and the search for her will begin.

Holly Wheeler, will become the Alice in her own mind, in Henry's fairy tale.

[romainlettusdinnerparty]

judgy bylerism <3

[love-byers]

we need to talk about the very real possibility that vecna has been messing with people's memories of will, even his own memories

AND that vecna was messing with the phone so mike and will couldn't talk

they didn't forget will's birthday. they aren't changing his birthday and they aren't changing the dates in s4. they've ackowledged will's birthday on march 22nd 2 years in a row. which means it WAS wills birthday the day mike got to california. which leaves no other option than vecna messing with people's memories so will's birthday is forgotten and he grows lonelier and lonelier and eventually vecna can use him.

if you aren't aware, harry potter and the chamber of secrets is on the s4 inspo board. but to back up a bit, will is very similar to harry potter's character. will and harry can both see what the villain is seeing and feel what the villain is feeling because a piece of the villain is stuck with them, it's a part of them. both of them end up using this against the villain. will and harry both experience bursts of pain associated with the villain. will is connected to the hive mind so when the vines/ud/vecna is burned, he feels like he's being burned too. harry's scar feels like it's on fire when he has a vision of voldemorts pov and when he is near. in s3 after will is sure he's feeling the mind flayer again and he's drawing pictures to explain how it left a mark on him, that's essentially what happen to harry when he was a baby and voldemort tried to kill him.

also vecna...voldemort...yeah

in chamber of secrets harry went the whole summer thinking ron and hermione didn't care about him anymore because he never got a single letter or call. not even on his birthday. the first chapter of chamber of secrets is called the worst birthday.

but harry finds out that ron and hermione had been sending him letters, but dobby the elf had been intercepting them and hiding them. he did it because he knew voldemorts plan of getting into hogwarts and to harry, so he wanted harry to think no one cared about him at hogwarts so he wouldn't go back, because if he did go back he'd be in great danger.

this could mean so many things for what happened between s3 and 4, in s4 and what'll happen in s5

el and mike couldn't talk on the phone because it would put el at risk. he makes sure she has her walker before she leaves and says he'll steal cerebro to talk to her. and in s4 you can see el's walkie in her mike shrine clear as day. mike and el cannot talk on the phone. they communicate through walkies and letters.

but dustin still says, "joyce has this telemarketer job she's always on the phone, mike won't stop whining about it."

he's not whining because he can't talk to el. he's whining because he can't talk to will. undebatable.

but after dustin says that, the hawkins gang start to think it can't just be joyce's job because the phone is ringing and ringing for hours. i bring this up because the writers have already introduced one instance of the phone being busy, but not because of joyce's job.

so what if that's happened before too? clearly it's not out of the realm of possibility.

what if vecna was intercepting the phone line when mike tried to call? so he thought the phone was busy and it never even rung for will? and it went the other way around too, so they could never talk? so will would think his favorite person doesn't care about him?

or, what if it's true that henry's good conscience is alive and he's really just under the control of the mind flayer like people theorize, and he's intercepting the phone line because he doesn't want will to go back to hawkins, because if he does, he'll be in danger just like harry was?

OR, what if the phone interception isn't to hurt will, but to hurt mike? there's piles of theories about why mike is a good candidate to be vecnad in s5, so what if it was an attempt to make mike think his favorite person has moved on and doesn't care about him anymore, making him sad easier to target? but mike left for california, so vecna wasnt able to get him.

the possibilities here are endless. i'm so excited for s5!!!!!!

edit: after i posted this i started thinking more about the fact that will doesn't act nearly sad enough for someone who's birthday was forgotten by everyone. he acts like he doesn't even know it's his birthday.

in response to the birthdaygate theory, the duffers said something along the lines of, "we aren't that cruel". now we all know how sneaky the duffers are. so i think this is a way of them saying "oh don't worry, will isn't hurt by everyone forgetting his birthday because he doesn't even know it's his birthday."

remember what joyce said in s2 when will was posessed?

"Do you know what March 22nd is? It's your birthday."

i think this is foreshadowing that vecna is messing with will, because the last time will didn't know what his birthday was, he was possessed.

and in s4, will doesn't know what march 22nd is.

VECNA STAY AWAY FROM HIM I SWEAR TO GOD

ps

i made a whole post about the harry potter parallel here

also a post about mike and el only communicating through the walkies and letters here

[kurtkankle]

Eddie coming back for season 5 be like:

[smalltownrobin]

I've been absolutely obsessing over Maya and Amybeth's con appearance yesterday and all the info and hints we got about rovickie so I'll just quickly summarise everything I know here:

before filming the marching band stuff Amybeth was told Vickie would play the drums so she learned how to look believable playing the drums, until it came to filming and they gave her a clarinet instead

the pb&j scene was Amybeth's first day and she was absolutely shaking with nerves

both Maya and Amybeth said the pb&j scene was one of their favourites

Amybeth also said her favourite scenes are yet to come

Amybeth's favourite thing about playing Vickie is getting to work with Maya because they have great scenes and a lot of fun on set (and Maya agreed)

if they weren't playing their characters Amybeth would want to play Hopper and Maya would want to play Dustin, Joyce or Eleven (Maya's answer changes every time tho she's said Nancy she's said Steve she's said Vecna like)

someone told Amybeth they were jealous she gets to kiss Maya and she just replied laughing and said "I love my job"

another person told Maya they're rooting for rovickie and she just smiled and said "aren't we all"

I think that's everything, of course we've still got loads more of the panel to come but I guess all the interesting stuff would come out immediately so

[will80sbyers]

Thinking about this again, he's for sure gonna get hurt 🤕

SIKE! HE'S ALIVE 😤

[eddiemunsonbrainrot]

what if Mike’s love confession to El and to be honest the entire plot line of Mike not being able to say I love you only serves to set up a byler parallel in season 5

Ultimately, Mike telling El he moved her was futile - they lost for the first time and their relationship is still broken. But what if he finally works up the courage to tell Will he loves him when Will is in a near death situation and it saves both him and the rest of Hawkins. Mike being truthful and byler finally being shown to be requited is what saves them because FORCED CONFORMITY IS KILLING THE KIDS!!!

[skeletal-butterflyy]

OH MY FUCK WILL IS A WIZARD!

Stay with me now, I made a post a month-ish ago analyzing D&D in stranger things (which I recommend you read *winkity wink*), specifically addressing the party’s characters. We all know that Mike said that Will is a cleric in s2 to Max. BUT, it can be confusing because will’s character is named “Will the Wise” and he is dressed like a wizard. One might be able to argue, “well his name and clothes don’t mean that much to his class” well yeah you’d be right. But one thing that DOES showcase the class of a character is the moves they are able to make.

Clerics are able to cast spells based on the domain they occupy/the god they serve. To my knowledge, wizards don’t really have this problem of needing to be in a certain domain to cast a certain spell.

In s1 ep 01 Will casts fireball, a spell that can be cast by a Wizard or a Cleric, if they occupy the light domain. Recently I saw a post that showed this screenshot from s2

And I noticed the spell that Mike was talking about in his story. Fog Cloud is a spell that can be cast by multiple classes but most notably by Wizards and Clerics in the Water Domain.

It’s not very practical for a Cleric to occupy multiple domains for storytelling aspects but also, it makes the Cleric’s gameplay just a little overpowered.

So basically, Will probably isn’t occupying two domains and is more likely a Wizard. Which begs the question, why did Mike say he was a cleric?

TLDR; Two spells specifically mentioned in the show to be casted by Will can only be casted by him if he is a Wizard or Cleric occupying multiple domains, which doesn’t really make sense.

[atrink-o-mania]

ATTENTION STRANGER THINGS FANS:

ive been trying to find a way to revive my account (and this fandom) and maybe this might do lol

i honestly think the last season should be released this way, given that it is the last season, and not really wanting it to be another binge watching session. this amazing show deserves a great send off, with 8 weeks of anticipation and excitement, as if we’re all watching it together, at the same time, for the last time . *cue emotional music*

SO LETS GET THE HASHTAG #strangerweekly TO TREND! to get netflix’s attention, @strangerthingstv to know and FAST because production is halfway done and we need enough time to get enough traction for a chance to make this happen ! it might be a long shot, but let’s believe it is actually possible, and so it WILL happen.

🗣️🗣️🗣️

INTERACT W THIS POST AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, SHARE it on your STORIES, USE the HASHTAG ^^ on your posts and TAG NETFLIX AND ST TV to share your thoughts!!

we will use other methods such as:

using netflix’s help center and the suggestion box at the SAME time on the SAME day (we’ll orchestrate this properly once we get this off the ground)

+ a petition! (we must get enough momentum on here first) 🙏🙏

WE GOT THIS!! make this the #GotToGoFast but for stranger things ( #strangerweekly !)

[x-azier]

I’m still confused about Wills birthday, cause what do you mean everyone forgot??? His own family? Mike? El has a whole thing with days and dates but I don’t blame her if she forgot🤷

It genuinely confuses me and I’m hoping birthdaygate is real (I think it’s that gate) cause idk what other explanation there could be other than the writers forgot themselves (which would be insane).

[ivesbot]

thinking about how useful kali would be for season 4, specifically episode 7

1. she'd be a great addition to the lab plot, since there are a lot of loose ends about her, such as how she escaped from the lab (it's kind of obvious to all of us that Henry helped her, but it would be interesting if there were flashbacks)

there's also the fact that she's looking for people from the lab and then Brenner is back and it's her big chance even more so since Brenner "kidnapped" Eleven imagine a scene where Kali arrives performing various illusions for Brenner and the rest of the team and she and Eleven escape

2. flashbacks, they need to explain why kali ran away and how exactly Henry helped her because it's clear that he did help her but how, she was having the same problems as el?

It's interesting how Henry mentions her in episode 7

if she comes back I hope to see her talking about her time at the lab and more about her relationship with Brenner and Henry.

[bymarara]

Will and the Boys Don't Cry.

Remember the picture when we were first shown Will on his birthday? In case anyone hasn't noticed, there were headphones in the picture and let's think, who else was wearing headphones and under what circumstances? Uh, Max! Max wore them so that she wouldn't fall under the full influence of Vecna and become his victim, music helped her so called survival.

Now let's get to why Will carries them around. I have two suggestions.

Everyone on the team has headphones now just in case Vecna decides to face someone.

Will is scared. Will himself realizes that he can feel Vecna's presence, in addition he will probably hear him, his voice and his thoughts, which will be very frightening to Byers. Because of the fear, he may choose his favorite song and walk around with headphones on at all times, so that if anything happens, he won't be influenced by Vekna and Vekna won't take over Will's mind. I also think that there will be a similar situation as with Lumax, that Mike will have to turn on these headphones in case of anything, I think Will will warn him alone about it all, thus trusting Mike.

Now something I've been thinking about very, very hard. Most people, and I think or thought that Will's song would be “Should I Stay or Should I Go”, but if you notice the details, you can see the poster in Will's room! “Boys don't cry”, this song references Will in a lot of ways, and if it's in season 5 in his headphones, it will be very symbolic, and will show the meaning of everything we've seen.

Let's take Max as an example. She has “Running Up That Hill” in her headphones. The lines from the song literally refer to what Max is feeling and it also shows how she feels about Billy and how she regrets what happened at the end of season 3 and how she would take it all back. The chorus from her song, literally speaks to Max's morale and what she wants. -And if I only could, I'd make a deal with God, And I'd get him to swap our places, Be running up that road, Be running up that hill, Be running up that building. If I only could, oh These lines literally refer to the fact that if Max had known what would happen, she would not have stood still, but would have tried to help her half-brother. She would have been ready even for the same death as her brother, as long as he did not die. Also, there are very interesting lines like.

“You don't want to hurt me,but see how deep the bullet lies.” which refers to their relationship while Billy was alive. The guy hurt his sister, which she hasn't forgotten, and that deep down inside of her, she wished him dead inside of her, which she now regrets.

What about Will? I know most people have already figured this out, but for those who haven't and don't know the context - this song is about the inner thoughts that guys have when they're going through an unpleasant/transitional moment in their lives. It's also popular in the LGBT+ community. Let's go through the parts that I find most interesting and start from the beginning. -I would say I'm sorry, If I thought that it would change your mind. But I know that this time, I have said too much. Somehow it reminds me a lot of Will helping Mike with his relationship with Al, while ignoring his feelings and even confessing his feelings while hiding under his sisters name. Also, I think there's a season five reference here. I mean, Will could talk about the painting and the speech, but not say what he meant about his feelings! And the lines “I would say I'm sorry if I thought that it would change your mind.” show that Mike could have left with some anger and it left a mark on Will and that he can't even apologize now, and that apologizing won't change anything. (Yes, I know I sound creepy, please.) Now let's get to the chorus. -I tried to laugh about it,

Cover it all up with lies. I tried to laugh about it, Hiding the tears in my eyes. Cause boys don't cry. Boys don't cry. Sounds like Will's confession to Mike to me. He's not showing his real feelings, he's hiding everything under the “Al” mask. and underneath the mask, he keeps his feelings hidden, not showing them. He himself, quietly crying, quietly suffering, realizing for himself that his feelings will never be reciprocated, that he will have to live with it and come to terms with it, and he buries it all by himself and tries to cope with it all by himself. -I would tell you, That I loved you, If I thought that you would stay. But I know that it's no use, That you've already, Gone away… Again he says that he has buried all his hopes and feelings, he sees Mike pulling away from him and as if he is walking away from him, so talking about feelings, about declarations of love is useless in his opinion. Literally the whole song shows Will, shows a guy who in his opinion has already missed his chance, he realizes that he can't change anything and hides himself and his feelings only deeper into himself.

I hope that Will will have this song in season 5, but I will also say that there is a possibility that in case of anything, Mike can play this song, so much in this song refers to Mike.

[evilbookworm]

My biggest byler proof is that Milkvan has never had a heart to heart. In season 1? Mike was either using her to find Will, or calling her a freak. Season 2? They’re mostly separated, and see each other very briefly throughout the season. Season 3? Makeout sessions or broken up and fighting. Even at the end, El says she loves Mike but he doesn’t even say it back, so is it really even an important conversation? Season 4? They fight, a lot. Mikes monologue was never talked about between the two of them, so that doesn’t count either.

Then we have Mike and Will.

Their first heart to heart is as early as season 2, during the crazy together moment. This is, possibly, one of the most beautiful ones. In season 3, they also fight, but Mike apologizes to Will as soon as possible, while it takes him days to do it with El. Not to mention the moment they shared at the end of season 3 was arguably more meaningful than El saying I love you. Then we have season 4, the first heart to heart being where Mike apologizes to Will (again, before he apologizes to El) and they share a flirty moment. Then there’s on top of the car, where Will (secretly) expresses his feelings over how sometimes people don’t like the truth. Then there’s the van scene, which is definitely an important one. Mike talks about how he feels like he’s useless to El, and how he’s just “lucky Superman landed on his doorstep”, and Will then proceeds to make a coded confession using Els name, and gives him the painting, all while comforting Mike. This one heart to heart easily tops any that milkvan could’ve had (which is still zero). Then Mikes monologue to El happens, and afterwards, at Hopper’s Cabin, you’d think the two would finally have the heart to heart convo that milkvans have been praying for, but nope, because, surprise surprise, it’s another one between Mike and Will. Here the roles are switched, with Mike comforting Will over Vecna and Henry. But it’s also the last important conversation in the season. Mike and El don’t even talk after his love confession.

So, which of them do you think is going to be endgame? The couple who’s had next to no meaningful conversations and hasn’t even resolved the issues they’ve been having for the last two seasons? Or the “best friends” who’ve had multiple heart to hearts and have always talked about their problems in a good way?

*jeopardy music*

Anyways

BYLER ENDGAME!!!

[love-byers]

so since will is 100% getting vecnad in the beginning of s5 (there is 0 other reason why he'd be in his yellow outfit at the roller rink)

i have a theory

what if this isn't just a callback scene to further the plot, but it's the start of will being vecnad. it's a flashback. and once the flashback is over, we cut back here:

and will grabs his head in pain, and his nose is bleeding

then of course cue s2 mike rising from the dead WILL! WILL?! WHATS WRONG ARE YIU OKAY ARE YIOU OKAY ARE YOY OKAY WILL WILL

[anthonysst5predictions]

New leaks + My thoughts

New leaks show Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna) on set playing Henry at the Creel house with once again, Nell Fisher (Holly)

Why is he in a brown suit, red tie and a fedora? He was in the lab until he was brought into another dimension by Eleven in 1979.

Simply, he isn’t. Not unless you are Holly. Remember how he can reach into minds? He is reaching in to Holly’s mind and luring her - to what? We don’t know.

My thought is, he is appearing like a friendly gentleman, kids in the 80’s were very unsupervised. He’s not ACTUALLY in his adult HUMAN form. He is still in the (now growing) upside down, simply reaching into Holly’s mind and making her hallucinate. He can make people hallucinate and see things that aren’t actually there as shown when he terrorised his family back in the 50’s.

Vecna is still in his monstrous form. Let me know what questions you would like me to answer, and your thoughts on this. X