#the thessalhydra

[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 ?)

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The Thessalhydra:

Back To The Future &... The Beginning.

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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.

[http-byler]

☆ CRAZY FOR YOU ☆

[willthewise7]

Imagine how disturbing it’d be if the Thessalhydra had all of the heads of the victims that Vecna took if it appears in Season 5.

[milevenstancyendgame]

Still hoping that a thessalhydra will come out of these eggs and that something like the above D&D scenario will occur in s5.🤞

[madwheelerz]

For the DnD nerds in the fandom. What is that one last figure?

[untitled-byler-blog]

@givehimthemedicine‘s master post has reminded me of something:

if demogorgons start out small/are incubated in living creatures... why did the directors draw attention to a Pretty Large Hatched Egg in the UD?

Mayhaps the egg of a Thessalhydra?

[adndmonsteraday]

Thessalhydras were one of the four known thessalmonsters, a species of crossbred hybrid creatures.

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.

Thessalhydras had a natural immunity to all known acids and poisons with acidic effects. If one of its heads was severed, it grew back over a twelve day period. Once per day, it could spit a large amount of acid at a target, covering an area of 12 feet (3.7 meters) with a range of up to 30 yards (27 meters).

A thessalhydra made for a formidable opponent in battle. Each of its eight heads attacked independently, each bite delivering a potent poison. It used the pincer on the end of it's tail to grab a target, lifting and dragging the unfortunate creature into its mouth.

Thessalhydras were voracious carnivores. They would not hesitate to kill and eat another of their kind.

Thessalhydras were typically found in jungles, swamps, or underground locations.

In Northwest Faerûn, some were known to dwell within the Mere of Dead Men. Beyond Faerûn, some were known to be found in the land of Chult.

Juvenile thessalhydras were sometimes used as guards. They were not trained, attacking anyone who approached them. Thessalhydra eggs were worth up to 7,500 gp and a live juvenile up to 12,000 gp.

Source: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Thessalhydra

[chromaherder]

I’m finally able to share a piece I worked on last year for a byler/stranger things DnD themed zine that unfortunately got cancelled.

Regardless I had a lot of fun with this one, and my dnd/history nerd heart was quite happy while working on this.

I am a sucker for quiet moments so I wanted to make something about prepping for the next big battle (with a Thessalhydra mayhaps?), or something like that.

A lot of artists have made a lot of great pieces for it, so keep an eye out for some really great dnd art popping up in the tag.

[byler-heart]

Will is going to save the party in the final season. Whether he sacrifices himself or survives, we don't know yet. But one thing is certain: Will is set to play a major role in stopping the biggest threat Hawkins has ever faced—“a giant creature with a gaping mouth,” as Nancy described.

The Thessalhydra.

Foreshadowing, season 1?

More foreshadowing, perhaps???

More foreshadowing, season 1??

Even more foreshadowing, season 2?????

Will's tendency to sacrifice himself to help his friends, combined with the focus on him in Season 5, and the show writers mentioning that Season 5 has a lot of vibes similar to Season 1 while recommending a rewatch of Season 2… see where I'm going?

[coniangray]

New action sequence leak outside the radio station

Pretty sure it's Dustin or will yelling Steve to run, but it could also be Jonathan.

One of the paparazzis said this:

And I wanna emphasize on the last one.

So there's actually a high chance this is a new monster, probably very tied to vecna. And since this spieces is one previously human that has bargained for power, than aligns to vecna.

Jamie wasn't filming in that scene so idk if this is actually a new form of vecna or if vecna is now a shape shifter (due to the thessalhydra teasing).

[taeiris]

axel almirón had no idea the butterfly effect his poster art would have on the general public who follows mainstream stranger things news bc every DAY i go on fb and see the thessalhydra poster with the byler handhold and the interactions are CRAZY like atp the GA is slowly getting gaslighted to believe theyre already endgame and we love to see it😭 the impact will be less shocking for them😇

[0aurelion-sol0]

Hi... Hello! Sorry if I've been away again after just coming back, I know I warned that I was still not sure if I was going to be here regularly but still... minus 7 points for the lack of dedication x) but there has been again a lack of motivation for multiple reasons and not just for the blog but IRL stuff as well.

Life has not really been easy lately, I had a hard time doing it but still I was able to work and prepare some of the posts that I'm going to drop at some point on here, here's a sneak peek:

- "The Storylines of Stranger Things 5". This post will be going through what I think will be the main storylines of the season and which characters or groups are going to drive each of them. It's very long and has been actually the post that has took the most time to be put together but we're on the finish line. It's kind of a new & condensed version of the "big theory post" I wanted to make about Stranger Things 5 for a long time but I was unhappy with the way it came out everytime but I think this one is the right one this time around.

- "A Memento through Dimensions". This post will explore a deeper part of Will's storyline in S5 and how it will structure itself + parallel past seasons. Can't really go into details about this one because I think I've found something about his storyline that I'm sure is going to happen that way, not necessarily the content of it but the way it's going to be done. People have noticed the patterns of what I'm going to talk about here but I'm not sure they've guessed how it's going to be done with Will this season because I think there's going to be a twist about it. But you'll see.

- "The Case of The Russia Storyline". Now this is going to be me going to point out a very difficult storyline to digest & some really weird decisions made by the Duffers regarding that storyline. What was the purpose of it ? Will we continue that storyline again ? I have already talked about it before but this storyline that has been here since the beginning has been difficult to get by I think pretty much everyone in the fandom, even the general audience. So I think we need to talk about it.

- "What is The Hellscape AND Dimension X ?". Pretty straight forward. X) I said in my post about the Thessalhydra that I was going to elaborate more on what these new places are and why they exist or existed the way they are, and what is their "true nature", let's put it that way.

- "Zombie People". A post about the many... "dead" characters we have in Stranger Things, characters who have faced death or are in a state that could be considered the closest to death. It's a weird one. We are more on the theory side with this one than something really plausible to happen in Stranger Things 5 but I want to see what they are going to do with that aspect of the story. Can't really describe much more about it.

Voila! A little tease to keep those still interested and with that I leave you with a playlist that I've made recently about Stranger Things that only contains music from Stranger Things Season 1 soundtrack for the moment. But it helps me sleep, relax and de-stress when I'm not feeling good and if it can help any one that might be in the same situation as me, why not share it ? :)

The track listing is & was definitely very much intended to be that way, xD and it does describe it's own story & where my thoughts are in my life and with the series so enjoy!

[will80sbyers]

Something is coming.

Something angry.

Hungry for your blood.

It is almost here.

What is it?

It's the thessalhydra, I'm telling you.

It's not the thessalhydra.

I'm telling you, it's the thessalhydra.

The Thessalhydra!

Damn it.

It roars in anger!

Will, your action!

What should I do? I-

Fireball him!

Fireball the son of a bitch.

Fourteen!

Direct hit. Will the Wise's fireball hits the thessalhydra!

It makes a painful… roawwwwrrr... and then… it crumbles to the ground.

Its clawed hand reaches for you one last time… and… and… and…and... he dies!

WILL BYERS IS DEFEATING VECNA, BITCHES!

Lucas cuts off its seven heads,

and Dustin places them into his bag of holding.

You carry the heads out of the dungeon,

Victorious!!! and you present them to King Tristan.

He thanks you for your bravery and service.

Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's not it, is it?

No, there's a medal ceremony--

Oh, a medal ceremony?

What are you talking about?

Yeah, man, the tv show was way too short.

Yeah!

It was 5 seasons!

But it doesn't make any sense!!! ( But there are things we haven't decided yet! )

It makes sense. ( we'll figure it out! )

Uh, no, what about the lost knight?

(the lost knight could also be Hopper lost in the tunnels in s2 tbh I think that actually could fit better than Eddie)

And the proud princess?

And those weird flowers in the cave?

I don't know, it's...

There's time to decide because we're still in season 1!

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

Mock Season 5 Episode Titles w/ Descriptions

I got bored, so I decided to try my hand at coming up with what I think season 5 might look like. For fun, I did it in the format of episode titles and descriptions. If I had the skill to do so, I would even have done a fake episode title reveal.

The Crawl:

Hawkins is in chaos after multiple Gates opened at once. With Vecna weakened and the military closing in, Hopper organizes a mission into the Upside Down to assess the situation and, hopefully, recover a lost body.

Letters:

Max remains in a coma. Her friends read the letters she left behind. Unbeknowst to all but Will, Vecna is watching. In town, Chief Powell meets Col. Sullivan.

Never Split the Party:

Vecna plays mind games with the emotionally vulnerable heroes. Chaos erupts and tempers flare as fears are made manifest and secrets are revealed.

The Thessalhydra:

The emergence of a new monstrosity prompts Sullivan to lock down Hawkins. Lucas and El, having made amends, try to find a way to reach Max. Mike tries to convince Will he isn't a spy.

Code Red:

Col. Sullivan goes to extreme measures to eliminate the supernatural threat once and for all. A mysterious signal picked up by Dustin may be the key to stopping him.

Highway to Hell:

With Sullivan neutralized, the gang turns its attention to the Upside Down. While Hopper plans to draw the monstrous horde back where it came from, Mike, Joyce, and Jonathan go off in search of Will.

November 6, 1983:

In a shadowy reflection of the past, the gang finds out the secrets to Vecna's apparent immortality. Meanwhile, Vecna makes Will an offer he may not be able to refuse.

The Return of Will the Wise:

The fate of two dimensions hangs in the balance. Will confronts the Mindflayer at Castle Byers. Max leads El and Lucas through Vecna's mind maze, unaware that he is waiting for them.

Writing descriptions is tougher than I thought. You can't give everything away, but you have to hit the big parts. I feel bad for not name dropping enough of the characters, but I tried to be consistent with certain groupings.

Any thoughts?

[tickettoanywhere]

I said I would feed Will directly into the mouth of the thessalhydra to get screen time and I’m glad the Duffers listened

[hypezombies]

SEASON ONE POSSIBLY FORESHADOWED THE ENTIRE SHOW

I don't know if this has been talked about before, sorry if it has.

I believe the whole story was potentially foreshadowed in the first season, in the form of D&D campaigns and fireballs.

Specifically we see fireballs being mentioned three times over the course of the season:

1.In episode one when the party is playing D&D.

Will has to take action against the Demogorgon but he’s indecisive on what to do, so he asks for advice.

Lucas and Dustin have different opinions on what to do: Lucas says “fireball him!” while Dustin says “Cast protection”. The party isn’t united on what to do. Will chooses the risky option in a hurry, knowing he would have to roll thirteen or higher to win. He rolls a seven and ends up losing. 

As we already know, after that Will got transported to the Upside Down by the Demogorgon and remained stuck there for a week.

This loss marked the beginning of everything.

2. In episode five, when we see a flashback of Joyce and Will having a conversation in the kitchen.

Will is drawing the party in the middle of a fight, with Will the Wise in the front, shooting fireballs from his cane. 

The conversation between Joyce and Will goes like this:

J: What’s that shooting out of his cane?

W: Fireballs. I couldn’t find the red crayon, so that’s why it’s green.

J: If he’s so wise why does he need fireballs? Why can’t he just outsmart the bad guys?

W: Most of the time, yeah, totally. But sometimes the bad guys are smart too.

This in my opinion was foreshadowing of Vecna. 

Over the course of seasons two and three, we were able to see that the evils that were tormenting Will weren’t just some weird interdimensional animals who just wanted to feed and happened to stumble upon him, they had a plan far more complex. And in season four, Henry was revealed as the big bad guy behind everything, confirming that yes, sometimes the bad guys are smart too. 

So just like in the drawing, the party has to fight against an enemy whose intelligence is alike theirs, because Henry is human too and not some unknown entity.

3. In episode eight, after Will is back from the Upside Down and the party reunite to play D&D again. 

It’s once more Will’s turn to take action, this time against the Thessalhydra, which I believe to be a new enemy (maybe a weapon for Henry?) that will be revealed in season five and will play a big role, due to the many many times it has been hinted at. 

Will is once again indecisive on what to do and asks advice. This time Lucas and Dustin agree on what the right move is, the party is united on one decision. Will follows their advice, chooses to fireball him, rolls a thirteen and defeats the Thessalhydra, rendering the party finally victorious, after losing the previous time.

As we all know, the show focuses heavily on people coming together, whether that is to fight against evil or to find love, comfort and safety in each other. The main characters are outcasts and people who have found themselves lonely and struggling to conform and fit in throughout their lives. 

Unity, friendships and found families are core elements of the story, that’s why each season ends with everyone coming together in order to defeat the enemies.

That’s why in season four they weren’t able to succeed. Aside from not being all reunited in the same place, which isn’t necessarily the problem, many of them weren’t united emotionally either. 

Furthermore the plan they had come up with wasn’t something they had all agreed on. Two of the three groups found themselves helping from a distance without having a say on what the right thing to do was. And as we’ve seen in the D&D campaigns in season one, it is fundamental that all of them are united in the battle, physically and emotionally. All of them need to be on the same page in order to succeed. 

Let’s go back to fireballs for a moment. 

Since season one, we see fire is the optimal weapon against the Upside Down’s hive mind, and it’s used multiple times, like with flamethrowers, fireworks etc. 

In season four Nancy, Robin and Steve use Molotovs to fight against Vecna, which look a lot like fireballs.

Yet they aren’t able to defeat him, for the reasons said above and because the key is missing: Will. The one who had to take the final action in the campaigns, the one with whom everything started and the one with whom everything will come to an end.