#cool tags

#commissioned - all the Stranger Things art I've commissioned from cool artists. Make sure to reblog and spread the love~

#my content - this is where all my gifsets and personal drawings go! There's a lot of cool stuff in there if I do say so myself

#theory - this is where I store all my brainfarts and theories. You can find theories dating all the way back to 2018!

#headcanon - this is where I store my one off headcanons and thoughts. These are more wishes than theories

#fanfiction - you can find some nice WillEl/Hopper-Byers fam fanfiction here. It's a mix of mine and fics from others!

archive - You can use this link to find super ancient posts or other tags I haven't mentioned here

notes: I do not ship anything, please do not approach me about ships. The only exception is Jopper and Boyce

Remember when Tudum forgot Jonathan existed

Yes, going by that theory, Henry would also have some shine. A lot of it in fact. There's also the possibility that both of his parents had it too.

In the show, Victor mentioned sensing the "evil" close by. Virginia somehow knew it was Henry behind all the deaths and ratted him out.

If I follow the logic through on my theories, this would mean that Henry always had the shine and either by circumstances or by fate, he had that encounter with the Mind Flayer/Dimension X and was changed forever, resulting in his existing shine actually expressing itself? Eh I dunno

I don't know how he ended up in Dimension X. I'm guessing it's something they will explain in season 5 that ties everything together. I haven't seen the play in person, but how he ended up there seem so random

Although I don't think the books are canon, something similar happened in Suspicious Minds. (But to be fair to Suspicious Minds, it has not conflicted with the plot of ST much at all)

There was a character named Ken who decided to volunteer to be experimented on because his "gut" told him he should. He explained his whole family has this ability and they keep it extremely under wraps (it's been years since I read it, but I think it was like, cult level weird and he left his family for that reason. And because he was gay)

The scientists focus so much on Terry and the others that they miss that Ken has literal powers of prediction/weak future-sight. He slides under everyone's radar and just goes through the plot like, "My gut says I should join even though I don't know why. This is totally normal." "My gut says I should buy this because it'll come in handy later. Can't wait to find out when." He even predicts Terry will have a baby girl with 100% certainty (of course, the audience knows this, but they don't. If I remember right, he was so sure it would be a girl that he was shocked how sure he was)

Although the books aren't canon, this character spurred me on to believe there are people in the Stranger Things universe with extremely minor natural abilities that can just get passed off as "gut feelings" or "good luck". Or "having weird dreams". Or "so much empathy you can literally feel what other people feel." etc.

Thing is, powers like that aren't very flashy. Heck, they're aren't even very useful since you can't control it on a whim or use it against people. In that way, it makes sense that the government/Brenner would prioritize more tangible abilities like telepathy, telekinesis, etc.

While I'm sure the overall stated goal was to investigate supernatural abilities, I think we know the true reason now is Brenner wanted to know about other worlds and the two people linked to it (Henry and El). If he reviewed a kidnapping candidate list and saw the Byers have "strong intuition", I think he would skip to the next person.

As a note on Jonathan, like those articles said, some people have a lot of shine and some people only have a little. I'd say he only has a little. There are two instances where I think his strong intuition shines through.

In season 1 episode 8, he could immediately tell it was his mom in the Upside Down and not the Demogorgon even though it'd make sense to assume it was the Demogorgon. It's safe to say anyone could've come to that conclusion with the information he had, but there's just something... special about how the scene is shot. Like Joyce immediately turning around when she heard him whispering and she called back and then it refocuses on his face.

The second instance is in season 2. Jonathan has little reason to believe anything is wrong, but when they're preparing to leave Murray's hideout to go back home, he seems visibly shaken that no one is answering the phone at home. He could've concluded that Joyce was at work and Will was at school so no one would be home to answer, but nah. He looks very concerned/freaked out, as if he knew something was wrong. And he was right, something went very wrong in his absence.

Since then, the writers have forgotten to write Jonathan so we don't get to see much of this. Not for the supernatural plot anyway. Jonathan was seemingly the only one in that van who knew what Will was ACTUALLY saying in season 4, but I think we can all say that's just Jonathan being a good big brother rather than a supernatural intuition.

It's no problem. I haven't discussed most of my theories in years so I'll explain what I mean. Also please note, I am not speaking in absolutes. I have multiple conflicting theories. Any one of them could be right or wrong, they're just fan theories after all. (this is a doozy but I tried to keep it short)

So, for the most part, I believe in two theories surrounding Will's kidnapping.

Scenario A is Vecna scanned the entirety of Hawkins as soon as El ripped open the mother gate and found Will by coincidence and started scheming then.

Scenario B is Vecna/the Demogorgon found Will when they crossed paths on the street that fateful night and Vecna immediately adjusted his plans to include Will.

(I also have Scenario C in which Will was mistaken for El because of some of the reasons below and Vecna didn't know/realize how useful Will was until Will "changed" the Upside Down to look like Hawkins the moment he entered it. But this relies on the "Will 'created' the Upside Down via creation powers by accident" which is a whole nother can of worms)

First, I should explain this relies on a few other theories such as "shiny" people and the idea that the Byers have always had latent abilities, never to be awakened or discovered under normal circumstances.

The Duffers take a lot of inspiration from Stephen King. So much so, I believe they're directing a new movie/tv show adapting one of this books which got a cameo in ST4.

In many of the Stephen King books, there are people who exist that have a certain shine to them. (hence, "The Shining"). Here's Screenrant articles about it. They're short and sweet and get the point across.

>>>1

>>>2

These people have varying powers and abilities and ST has been referencing them from the beginning. For example, El's story is very similar to Firestarter in some ways. They even released an official poster referencing it.

Taking in all of the above, I believe the Byers, namely Joyce's family, could very well have some "shine" too. Not as much as El or Vecna or Kali or any of them. I believe the Byers just have a supernatural like intuition. I don't think it's a mistake that Joyce has been right every single season when she feels something is wrong. She might not know exactly WHAT is wrong and even starts to focus on the wrong things, but deep down, it's as if she can sense something is not right.

After everything Will went through, which was not natural and normally would not happen the average person (being kidnapped to an alternate dimension, having a tube shoved down his throat and having to be resuscitated. Later getting possessed and then exorcised), I think this intuition has evolved into something more tangible. It's no longer a just a gut feeling. Will literally feels when something is off in the form of goosebumps down his neck.

As one of the screenrant articles said, some people only have a little "shine" (Joyce. And Terry.) while others end up with a lot (El. And Will, by my theories) I feel having powers it's a natural occurrence in their world that usually goes unnoticed until crazy shit happens (like the plot of ST). It's usually something small. As examples of this:

Strong Intuition // Detecting unnatural evil things

Strong Intuition // Future-sight and predictions

Strong Empathy // Telepathy

Strong Empathy // whatever the hell Henry can do by absorbing peoples bad feelings to get stronger

etc etc. Essentially, the concept of normal real life stuff spiraling into something powerful.

Scenario A came about due to the light flickering at Mike's house the night Will was taken. I don't think I was the first person to point t his out three years ago, but I see a lot more people have noticed this strangeness these days and incorporate it into their theories.

The fact that signs of someone or something being on the other side appeared at Mike's house prior to Will going missing lead me to speculate that meeting on the street wasn't when Will was "chosen". Maybe in the time between El opening the gate and Will going home, Will had already been hand picked by Vecna and he was just waiting on his opportunity to take Will. If the "shine" is real, then surely Will would stick out while Vecna was scrying the town.

For Scenario B, it's the same concept as Scenario A and I think it's the most likely option.

In Scenario B, Vecna didn't see Will until the Demogorgon saw him on the street, but that's all he needed. If people with "shine" can detect others with it, then Will would immediately stick out to him.

Yes, the Demogorgon might've been out there looking for El, but if another opportunity literally crashes into you, why pass it up? Even if the moment they crossed paths was a random coincidence, nothing following that was an accident or coincidence. In my opinion, Will almost instantly became part of his plans and worth chasing on the street that night.

CONCLUSIONS

With all that explained, is my perspective easier to understand? I truly don't believe Will or the Byers need prior connections to the lab or Henry/Vecna for this to make sense. Trying to make too many connections between the Byers and the lab prior to November 1983 is good writing because it isn't necessary and is just a bit overkill.

All of Henry's scheming could've happened the day the gate opened. Any of his plans could've changed on a whim at any time for any reason (like for example, finding another kid with potential just sitting there out in the open)

While I think Vecna has a big plan he's been working on for years and years, I don't think he's planned out every single detail or possibility. He's made mistakes too or had to adjust because something changed.

A big example of this is El closing the original mothergate, causing Vecna/The Mind Flayer to find a new way to open gates. Or heck, I'm sure he didn't plan for them to figure out how to exorcise Will (maybe he didn't even know that was possible) so whatever plans he had for Will in season 2 and beyond had to be adjusted as well.

Henry finding Will and deciding to use him the day El opened the gate, whether he found Will at Mike's house or on the street, makes plenty of sense to me.

I don't think he was taken randomly, but I don't personally think that means a relationship with the lab was preestablished

I am under the impression that house has probably been in the family for a while. In fact, it might be the only asset worth money in their family actually (since cars don't typically count. Joyce's car has no value anyway since the Ford Pinto was well known to explode on the smallest impact in the rear and Jonathan's car is officially junk)

In the real world, if your house is located near industry related buildings like power plants and whatnot, usually that means the property is of lower value. Why? Because if anything happens nearby your house is instantly worth even less and could become inhabitable should disaster strike.

Being that the Byers are poor and seemingly have always been poor, it makes sense the property they have is in an undesirable place.

I'm still of the opinion that the Byers had little to do with the lab before the day Will went missing.

I imagine it this way. El's backstory is sci-fi. Will's backstory is supernatural.

El grew up in this mess, had countless experiments done on her, was created to be a lab rat. Her plot becomes a fish out of water story, going from totally strange to very normal.

Will's is the opposite. He was a normal kid living a pretty normal life, but suddenly one fateful day, he's throw into the supernatural/sci-fi plot against his will. He's also a fish out of water, but in the opposite direction.

It all plays into the "Will and El are two sides of the same coin." Or how in the first few seasons they kept trading places (literally).

To me, it doesn't work if Will is also part of the sci-fi/supernatural plot from the beginning.

Unfortunately, this happens a lot in fandoms. Especially during droughts. Sometimes, there's only so much main plot people can talk about before they spend their time on something else.

Shipping is usually the go-to when all the main plot theories are out there and discussed. Then people spend free time having fun shipping. And when the fun stops and the shipping wars begin, the main plot just becomes a vehicle for shipping an the main plot gets buried.

The only thing you can do is avoid shipping discussion and just talk about the characters like you want to. It may not get a lot of attention, but someone out there will be reading it and appreciating your thoughts outside of the romantic subplot.