Ali_Lover_Hero

Alright, I've tried not to post a lot about Byler because once I start, I can't stop, but I just read something that made Stranger Things click for me. -And another reason why the finale is bullshit, and they did both Mike and Will dirty, shit, all of them dirty.-

In the show, they use the parallelism with DnD to indicate two things:

1. The nerdiness and the imagination of children (just for narrative purposes, DnD and imagination and being an outcast, nerd, etc., are ageless)

2. Understanding the Upside Down, naming the monsters, and explaining dynamics is a way for them as children to cope with a break in their reality and for us, as an audience, to connect better with the world-building.

I think that by linking those two things to DnD, they accidentally made Byler canon. And here's how.

So, Mike is a Paladin on DnD, we all know that. Will is a Cleric; we all know that too. And they are undoubtedly interlinked classes in the game. Paladins are like knights, with a few more layers of complexity, and Clerics are like wizard-sorcerer-healers. And their synergy works amazingly. I'm putting this in the most basic and superficial terms (If someone reading this is a DnD player, please forgive me if I reduce this way too much; the post would be eternal if I didn't.)

Here it is when I think the parallels or symbolism between DnD and Stranger Things went out of hand and ended up being a second narrative.

Just the same as the Upside Down monsters are linked to DnD monsters, Mike and Will are linked to a Paladin and a Cleric. They are parallel because, talking about narrative and storytelling, you can use their DnD personas to represent traits, flaws, personalities, wishes, and dreams they have as individuals. The pep talk Mike gave Holly, with all the 'Holly the Heroic' thing, is the blatant evidence of that. But that is not the breakthrough.

So yeah, the DnD character parallels the individual, so what?

Reading about Clerics and Paladins made me notice that the parallelism doesn't end there; it reflects their core character arcs, development, and evolution. And with it, the proper finale, the full closure, should have been Byler.

So let's talk about that. Paladins are knights who make an oath. An 'unbreakable' oath. This oath is the materialization of their will; it's the devotion to an ideal, to a cause, it's the ultimate manifestation of their conviction. And it is the fuel, the source, of their powers. The Paladin's Oath is sacred, which is what differentiates Paladins from other classes. Breaking their oath means losing strength, losing conviction, losing everything. Do you see where I'm going with this? This class is dictated by their own will, the congruence with their morals, beliefs, and words.

Mike, as himself, not his DnD reflection, did make an oath. An oath to Will. It was not even when they began playing, when they were kids. No. It was the moment he found out Will was missing; he made the oath to find him. When Will was back, it was an oath to protect him, and it was reinforced with what he said when they were trying to get the Mind Flyer out of him. He literally said the best decision he's ever made was to ask Will to be his friend, that memory, that certainty, being his conviction. It was what made him powerful enough to go against everything to find him, and then being so attentive and truly see Will when he was back, when he was silent, when things were normal but still dangerous. It was always Will, his oath to him, his conviction being him. And then season three came, and Mike broke his oath every single time. Mike literally emotionally lost Will, pushing him aside to be with Jane, pushing DnD aside, making fun of him for wanting to play, ignoring him, and acting like he was annoying him. And of course, the infamous "It's not my fault you don't like girls." Everything Mike did towards Will in season three was him breaking his oath. And so far, it seems obvious, but I found it so tragically beautiful how Mike's development after breaking his oath is literally, word by word, what happens to a Paladin in DnD when they break their oath.

Breaking the oath for Paladins is literally losing their magic, powers, or strength because they lose their conviction. If a Paladin not just deviates from the path of their oath but goes right against it, they can end up completely de-powered. And that is exactly what happened to Mike after season three. In season four, he was an asshole, a bad boyfriend, a bad friend, and completely clueless, I'd dare to say lost. And we all attribute it to "real life" adversities, internalized homophobia, fear of saying 'I love you', avoidance, all the things we all have pointed out and showed not as a writing mistake, but a growth opportunity. He lost all of his conviction; he lost his magic. And in season 5, it went worse; he had a few moments, yes, but his character couldn't be more on the sidelines. And his finale is the representation of losing all magic, spark, and power you once had. Mike's character arc was a literal visualization of a Paladin losing all his strength by breaking their oath.

And how does it connect to Byler? Here it is, the last straw for me to become an absolute radical Byler shipper.

A Paladin can seek absolution for their rupture, to restore their conviction and re-align their soul with the ideal. They can do that with a Cleric of the same faith. And who is Mike's Cleric?

And it doesn't end up there! The thing with Clerics is that, unlike Paladins, their powers come from their faith and devotion to a deity or concept/ideal. It's not internal; it's external. They lose their faith, they lose their powers, just like that. They do not generate their strength. And Will, just as Mike, lost his faith in season three.

And what was Will's faith?

Love.

He is a character full of pain, but full of love. And, in the first two seasons, it is what makes him pull through everything. His love for his family and friends kept him going, resisting in the Upside Down after being explicitly abused. Then, when he comes back, there are the constant reminders from his friends, family, and Mike that they care for him. They love him. Again, when they are getting the Mind flyer out of him, it's Mike's words of love that get him fully back. And I don't mean only in a romantic way. I mean all types of love.

And again, then season three happens. And there it goes: "I'm not gonna fall in love". All the reassurance he had completely vanished. Their friends are showing him they don't care, leaving him behind, the destruction of Castle Byers -it being the manifestation of Jonathan's love for him-. And the infamous "It's not my fault you don't like girls."

So what happens? The Cleric lost his faith, and it continued that way through all of season four. And it finally got to a breaking point in vol. 1 of season five with the Sorcerer episode. What awakens Will's powers? LOVE. It's copy-paste from DnD mechanics and dynamics; it's not even funny.

And right there is where the show had the road to the best character arc development, and they fumbled it with that shit of "Friends? No thanks, best friends." Because you know what?

The Paladin never sought the Cleric's guidance to restore his oath. Never searched for his conviction or absolution for him to restore his strength, to regain himself. And in the process, he ripped the Cleric's faith apart. Again.

They could have closed their inner dynamics, their parallelisms with DnD so beautifully, their character arcs and evolution, and ended up killing whatever was left of their own selves. They were structurally, fundamentally destined to be together. With the Duffers' writing level, I doubt this had ever crossed their minds, but it fits so perfectly it looks planned. The problem was not the Paladin breaking his oath and the Cleric losing his faith, but that they never became stronger after that. They made them lose all their powers, magic, and themselves, instead of making them learn, talk, and love. Not even romantically, it also applies platonically (but I, of course, believe it is romantic)

DnD and the parallels with Stranger Things confirm this:

Byler is canon.

Byler was meant to be.

Losing their powers is losing the campaign. So if they lost the campaign, it could hint that the finale was, in fact, Vecna's manipulation. Mike and Will would never, ever, ever let it stay that way, when they always thrived on being magic, special, extraordinary, and themselves, even if it meant they'd be outcasts.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Now I'm gonna write that fing fanfic after I finish the Tsukiyama one I'm working on.