(This will be my last post/theories before ST4 finally releases. Hope you enjoy it given little time we have left.

I’ll probably do just one small post right after this one about when (if ) I will watch ST4 & what I’ll do from May 27th to July 1st & beyond. Just to let you know about some things so I don’t worry anyone who follows me.

Keep in mind this is something I see more happening in Vol. 2. Or when Will & El reunites in the later parts of the story. Don’t expect it to be really present in Vol. 1.

Here it is now. Hope you enjoy it.)

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Will and True Sight in S4.

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So in Season 4, we’re going to meet the new and let’s hope, not going to create inconsistencies, monster called Vecna.

We have already talked about the parallels that exist between that character and many other things in ST such as Will, Billy or even El. But one thing that connects it to Will and that I think is important is that they both have “True Sight” or a version of it, at least as the show presents it or may present it for Vecna, and I think this will come into play.

☆Aurelion Sol☆

I’ve noticed not so long ago that Will’s eyes on his poster were very unusual. More brown-ish. Which reminded me of when Will got possessed by the Mind Flayer when his eyes became dark brown and were he had True Sight.

At the time, he described it as “being caught between two slides” which also reminded me about all the character posters where we have all the characters being in the middle of two different version of the same place location they are in, the outside world as we know it and the Upside Down. They are caught between two slides.

☆Aurelion Sol☆

Given the main inspo that is behind this season, Nightmare On Elm Street especially Dream Warriors, plus many others such as the one we’re going to talk about down under this post, Vecna’s powers will be to likely be able to drag people into the Upside Down, enter their minds, manipulate their dreams, nightmares or memories and create visions or illusions. Or something similar to those things.

It’s something that Will, Billy & El have all experienced in some ways. Billy and Will more than anyone but this time it seems that the people who were usually the main victims of the Upside Down will not be at the center of it this season. Instead it’s the other character who most of the time went against the Upside Down who will fall victim to it. And I think that they may be helped and even win because of Will & El when they finally arrive in Hawkins.

We know that Will & El’s storyline this season is going to be mostly about non-supernatural struggles and of course identity related issues. It also has been a long time coming that the two of them shares interactions together and develop a bond given they have a mysterious connection that is yet to be explained.

But at some point they’re going to get back into that plot anyway (El more than anyone in that group it seems) and I think we can bring that non-supernatural arcs they had for most of the season plus that bond they built this season for what awaits them in Hawkins and of course, in Vol. 2.

However both of them, especially El, seems to be targeted by bullies and seems to suffer from severe harassment. Yet Will is unable to really do anything about it and can only just comfort her or help her get through it.

And this is where I think many VSF movies will or might come into play and the “Alan Turing” element too.

*Every movie mentioned or shown under this are on the VSF movies list and are therefore official inspos regardless the way they were used*

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*Already did a first part about Stranger Things & The Matrix but connected to El this time. You can find it in the index post if you’d like to read it.*

Stranger Things,Will&The Matrix. (2/2)

Alan Mathison Turing was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general-purpose computer. He is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. He also was very important during WW2 as he helped intercept transmissions of the enemy.

Yet his ending is quite a tragic one, Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts. He accepted hormone treatment with DES, a procedure commonly referred to as chemical castration, as an alternative to prison. Turing died on 7 June 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined his death as a suicide, but it has been noted that the known evidence is also consistent with accidental poisoning.

So we can see why Alan Turing is something Will would be into given his nerd status and why the Duffers chose that specific historic figure for Will.

Now given what the man did, people assume that what this may hint is that Will will intercept a transmission or message from a group like the Army, probably connected to El so they can get her back which could very well be possible. But I have a feeling there could be another meaning behind that choice, especially since the monsters of the Upside Down have once been compared to the Nazis.

And this is where The Matrix comes in, which depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality and computer generated world, the Matrix, which intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source. When computer programmer Thomas Anderson, under the hacker alias “Neo”, uncovers the truth, he joins a rebellion against the machines along with other people who have been freed from the Matrix.

The Matrix is all about freeing your mind, waking up from a dream and discover your true self and abilities. Which seems to be what our characters this season are going through. Plus The Matrix has an iconic element which is it’s code, green and falling like a rain.

There seems to be some inspiration abour that in the Season 3 teaser which gave us the Russian code as a teaser and was shown looking very similar to this.

(Edit: I just realised, “when blueandyellow meets in the west” blue+yellowmakesgreen just like the Matrix code. *wink wink* )

And of course the first minutes of the movie itself is very reminiscent of what is in this teaser:

When humans go into The Matrix and are awaken, they develop certain abilities that allows them to bend The Matrix and it’s logic to their will.

But given the Alan Turing connection Will has, I think it’s interesting to point out the parallel between the two.

They both their own self-given nicknames, “Neo” for Thomas and Will The Wise for Will. Both are into computer stuff and both are outcast in their world. They both experience weird dreams or visions in their world that are extremely real and are mysteriously connected to the surreal world they have experienced. Both also “died” at some point within their story but came back to life shortly after.

There’s also the element of The Matrix being a trans allegory given the fact it’s two creators are trans which fits with Will’s sexual identity issues and how discovering and accepting yourself allows you to explore of your own self.

One striking similarity is how Will in the last episode of Season 1 has a vine going inside him similar to how Neo has some sort of tube going inside. The similarities doesn’t stop there since the world in which these two events happen are extremly similar, a desolate, cold and dark work. Few differences seperate the two as for Neo it is the real world while for Will it is the Upside Down.

At the end of the movie, Neo discover or realises of if you will that he is the chosen one. Someone who is supposed to free the people trapped in The Matrix and show them the truth. It is then that he is able to see the code of the Matrix in any location and is able to surpass all the other people, machines and programs are awaken with abilities that none of the other have.

He does so via his love for Trinity or should I say Trinity accepting that she loves him and giving him a sign that she does indeed love him. (*wink wink* Make of that what you want but I think you know what I am implying for Will here. No it’s not El, it’s… someone else as David Harbour said. “when blueandyellow meets in the west”…)

In the context of Will having True Sight or some version of that, I think it is interesting to consider the possibility of Will being able, just like when he senses the Mind Flayer, to see through or be unaffected by Vecna’s abilities.

It is one of the effect of True Sight in D&D. Seeing through illusions and other weird abilities changing the perception.

Or if he does get affected he may be able to see through it and how it works, cracking a code and maybe work around them or even manipulate part of Vecna’s illusions or visions. Using his powers against him even. Defeating the Nazis in some ways.

This is where he could come in and try to help the others who suffer from it, as in Max, Nancy, Robin, Steve or even El since she seems to be in bad shape in the trailer during some UD encounter. (Plus if we take the new D&D campaign for what it is, as @kaypeace21 pointed out, the dice landing on an 11 might not be good for her nor our heroes because perhaps she won’t be able to win or go toe to toe with the threat this season as it works differently.)

Since he experienced it himself and knows how it works better than anyone else, he could help her and the others defeat Vecna by making them learn how True Sight works.

In that way, we may change the dynamic that’s been established before where everyone saves Will. This time it’s him who saves or help them go against the threat.

This is where perhaps the Luke and Leia dynamic could come between El and Will, if El gained also a similar connection to the UD. We could have a similar dialogue to Return of The Jedi that I pointed out not so long ago where Luke reveals to Leia they are twins and that she has a connection to the Force too. Put True Sight instead of the Force and it works perfectly, well… I don’t know about the twin part but you never know.

But that would mean that Will would have to put himself in danger and actually face the enemy for real this time which didn’t go so well for him last time.

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Given the fact El gets bullied and faces a lot of challenges this season and Will is there to witness most of the time, he may try to step in and protect her at some point to help her unlike the other times when he didn’t do it. Will has never been one to take action on it’s own unless he is pushed into a corner. It would be some nice development for him if that’s the case.

If he feels guilty to not have been able to do more for El and the others, he may try to face Vecna to protect El which could put him in grave danger. We know the Byers can take after one another’s characteristics, it wouldn’t surprise if Will is El’s Jonathan. If something really bad happens at the Roller Rink, I could see him trying to avoid that for El once again.

One movie points to that, it’s called Willow. To make it short, Willow, a farmer, is entrusted with the task of delivering Elora *wink wink*, a princess who is destined to defeat the evil Queen Bavmorda, to the humans to keep her safe. However, he faces a lot of obstacles.

Willow is an aspiring sorcerer and even gets a magic wand (who can throw lightning) to help him through his journey. During the final battle, he helps many of his companions & allies through magic and even defeats the evil Queen because of it, who almost sacrificed Elora by using her rituals. She ends up banished because of Willow who tricks her into using her rituals by attacking him after making her think Elora has dissapeared.

He then gains a magic book because of him saving the world. Again I could see that happening for Will if he tries to help El and tricks Vecna by using his powers against him.

There’s also Dream Warriors, the obvious inspiration for Stranger Things 4 where teens are trying to fight Freddy in their dreams by using some form of supernatural abilities. One character is probably like the most obvious inspo for Will, since he is also called Will and is into board games. (It’s also implied just like Will at the end of season 2 who almost killed himself by suggesting to close the gate, he may have almost taken his life because of Freddy which made him lose his ability to walk.)

In his dreams, he becomes the Wizard Master and uses lightning to fight Freddy. Unfortunately he dies but he was able to hold his own for a moment as he destroyed one of Freddy’s illusions which mocked him for having lost his ability to walk.

Now it made me think about Will’s strange actions in the Upside Down in Season 1 where he was able to manipulate the lights in a way that’s very different from the others. He was able to be extremely precise in his usage of the objects to communicate with Joyce.

He was even able to put some music on the radio which is like extremely weird for just a normal boy. It fits with the theory he has been some sort of psychic way before the events of Season 1. Electrokinesis would be an interesting power to have and it would be very different from El’s powers.

However just like Neo who can only really use his abilities in The Matrix, I could see Will’s powers only being able to manifest fully when he is in the Upside Down. This would allow some form of balance to not make him too OP compared to the other characters. (Plus it may question even more the connection he has with the UD and that they keep marketing into ST4. *wink* NeverEnding Story *wink*, @ghostgirlinsatin will surely approve. (Well we gotta have some sort of chosen one trope in there just like with The Matrix. ))

I mean electrokinesis is not something you can miss on the VSF movies list anyway. (I like Thor: Ragnarok and Gandalf being there, surely doesn’t seem to hint at anything especially when both gain and awaken new powers by facing an evil threat.)

Thinking about it Avengers: Age Of Ultron also comes to mind, Wanda who got her powers from the Mind Stone tries to get into Hawkeye’s mind but he stops her by electrocuting her. (And her twin comes to save her after that. Funny…)

Hawkeye had previously been possessed by Loki via the same Mind Stone. Nice to subvert that again and ST Twitter did associate Will with Hawkeye so it’s a win win situation for us. Maybe Will could do that to Vecna if he tries to get into too much personal stuff inside his head…

Now this could happen in many ways as I have said above but regardless of whether Will faces Vecna or not or his abilities work on him, I don’t think Will will leave ST4 without any scars or reveal about his character.

But reversing his previous role into the story by using the same ability that once scared him to help others and stand against the monster would be a good development for him especially going into the final season. Especially if the Willel relationship comes into play and serves to something. And perhaps more if there is more.

Well… whatever that may look like for him.

But using the lightbulb and red bike from Season 1 seems really interesting for what his arc might be about this season, I can only hope for some good stuff. Especially when it’s so cryptic and that it seems to want to take us back to the beginning.

I am craving for some answers but I’ll have to wait a bit more longer for that I think.

Hmmmmmmm…

I know Noah’s eyes are hazel, which can appear different under certain circumstances but they really do seem light brown on this poster.

Just like when Will was possessed by The Mind Flayer in S2.

Which became darker and darker as time passed by.

What do you think ?

If it is the case it connects to two things and another theory, that I don’t remember who made it so if you see this post, let yourself know.

The eyes changing color(s) or changing period is something we’ve seen with two other people, El whose eyes become red when her abilities are pushed to her absolute limits or beyond her powers; and Billy, whose pupils dilated when the MF had a reaction.

Now I think there’s a reason why Billy’s eyes didn’t change colors like El or Will for that matter (which might also confirm something about Will): And that’s theory time, Billy isn’t a psychic like El since I think when psychics seems to use their powers to their full potential at the particular moment they are used or beyond their abilities, their eyes change colors for whatever reason.

Billy’s eye thing was probably something else (that, with his weird other abilities, I think are different in their nature compared to Will’s and El’s abilities).

If we follow this theory, it confirms that Will is indeed a psychic and perhaps was one before he encountered the Upside Down or the Mind Flayer (which to this day has elements that is weird and unexplained about those encounters Will had with anything related to the UD.). The most of what that encounter could have done is enhance those abilities or change them into something else. (Plus the new first 8 minutes for Season 4 heavily hints at that in many weird ways…)

Which brings me to my final point, True Sight. Which Will had or is supposed to have, or at least a power or version similar to it. Vecna and his eye,has/grantsTrue Sight. If I am right about this I have an idea about how that connection could work and how it could serve a purpose in the second half of Season 4 or Vol. 2.

But I just wanted to point out in this post that Will’s eyes in his poster for Season 4 always seemed a bit weird to me. Especially when he had similar eyes and an ability supposedly similar to the main threat of this season. At least in D&D lore.

The True Sight theory will come soon enough. At least I hope if I continue like this. X)

You know Will…?