Warning: This article contains spoilers for Stranger Things. Read at your own risk!
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The very first person to go through the Upside Down is none other than Will Byers who vanished in the pilot episode of the series. In the latest trailer of Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2, he talks to Mike about how Vecna would not stop until he took everyone but how would he know this? Are they connected?
Is Will Connected To Vecna In Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2?
It’s not called Stranger Things if not for the strangeness of a lot of things. Season 4 just introduced a new villain in the show, Vecna, who is later revealed to be One and he was cast to the Upside Down by Eleven. He has the same abilities with Eleven, only with a more sinister perspective on how to use it.
Now, Vecna connects back to Hawkins and starts claiming lives of teenagers in town as he opens small doors to the Upside Down. He mercilessly ends the lives of the people by breaking their bones, shattering them into pieces, and popping their eyes out – it’s gruesome.
Now, in the new trailer of Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2, as Vecna walks the halls of the Hawkins National Laboratory once more, Will tells Mike, “He’s not going to stop. Not until he’s taken everyone.” How on Earth can Will possibly know this, unless he's familiar or somehow connected with Vecna?
READ MORE: Is Robin Gay In Stranger Things Season 4?
Is Will Vecna’s First Victim Since He Arrived in the Upside Down in Stranger Things Season 4?
In the very first season of Stranger Things, it was the disappearance of Will Byers that made everyone aware of the existence of the parallel world beneath. His vanishing made it to the local news and his friends and his mother never gave up looking for him until they found Eleven, a girl who could bring Will back.
The Upside Down is much like Hawkins, only dark. In a small town like that, Will could have encountered Vecna from the start aside from the Demogorgons and the Mind Flayer. It is not impossible that Vecna already connected to Will at some point while he was in the Upside Down. It’s subtly hinted during his time there and in Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1: the favorite song.
See, it’s Max’s favorite song that saved her out of Vecna’s curse, just like Victor Creel. There’s something about one’s favorite song that ties them to the normal world and as for Will, he did this, too, in Season 1. When Joyce sang his favorite song, he immediately connected to her with lights. Even Will sang his favorite song to comfort himself whilst being alone there.
Could it be that the reason Will was singing was to keep Vecna away from his mind? Vecna is like a parasite, he latches onto a host like the Mindflayer. Now, Will knows in the trailer that Vecna would not stop until he claims everyone, could it be that their connection is still there?
ALSO READ: Theory: How Can Robin Save Nancy In Stranger Things Season 4 Vol. 1?
Did Will Freeze Time in the Upside Down in Stranger Things Season 4?
In Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1, Episode 7, Nancy, Robin, Eddie, and Steve found out that the Upside Down is stuck in time, on November 6, 1983, the exact date when Will went missing.
Time is an essential part of Vecna’s curse. All of his victims saw a vision of a grandfather’s clock and he would always say that time is running out. This could be another thing that may have brought Vecna’s attention to Will with the time being frozen in the Upside Down upon his arrival.
Will was not supposed to be there; he is no creature of the Upside Down, nor is he a being that belongs to it. Will is from the real world and when he got lost into the Upside Down, his arrival there had an effect on how time works there. He’s a foreign thing to everything happening in the Upside Down, thus, it would be no surprise if Vecna already connected to him in the past.
When Eleven opened the door through incarcerating One, time didn’t freeze because while One came from the real world, he was consumed by the Upside Down the moment he arrived. It was as if One, Eleven, and the other patients of Dr. Brenner was not foreign to the place because somehow, their abilities are connected to the Upside Down.
With Will’s arrival there, he possibly disrupted how time works because he is so foreign to the place that he has no connections to it at all; just an unfortunate child who fell into it and since then, time stopped.
Here’s the theory, with Vecna’s connection to time in his curses, Will may have possibly been his first victim but he was fortunate enough to hear his favorite song when Joyce sang it. Will’s a smart kid, he may have deduced that his favorite song would keep him away from Vecna, thus, singing while alone in the Upside Down.
Is Will Painting Vecna or the Upside Down in Stranger Things Season 4?
In the first episode of Stranger Things Season 4, Eleven narrates that Will is painting something that he does not even share to her, like he's acting weird. She immediately assumed that it is for someone he likes. When Mike asks him what it is, he immediately backs up and gets defensive.
Will carries it around until after the shooting incident in their home when government officials went barging in. Will never let anyone see it but it is worth noting that Will still had visions of the Upside Down in the previous seasons.
As Vecna activates his killing spree, it is possible that what WIll may be painting is a dream of a vision of the Upside Down or possibly Vecna, maybe something related to his curse or the clock itself. It's possible, right? Well, it's something to look forward to in Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2!
Do you think Will is connected to Vecna? Was he the first victim since Vecna’s arrival in the Upside Down?
Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 arrives on Netflix on July 1, 2022.