(and I could even go even more about the abundance of lamps/lights when we see rose imagery in the creel home).

Victor killed a family in WW2 (albeit on accident), but it still happened. His PTSD is symbolized by the image of a child being harmed. Upon learning that Henry, his own child, has succumbed to his coma, Victor attempts does what he does. He killed a family. Now his own family is gone and he's alone. An eye for an eye.

But also eyes are a window to the soul. Gouging ones eyes out, or ones eyes being masked, is imagery of someone hiding who they are or losing themselves. They use this in particular in Heriditary, when Peter Ballard Graham finally gets "replaced" by Paimon, the demon.

I refuse to believe that the duffers would write a season about the horrors of family trauma and not take inspo for this movie. Originally ari aster was going to have Peter actually stab his own eye(s) out but they took it out for whatever reason and settled for the picture. This symbolized Peter "getting out" (ie his soul being ejected) and Paimon replacing him in his body, Peter's inevitable fate. In fact everything about this movie is pretty inevitable as it's revealed that there is an outside force (Ellen's cult) that was orchestrating the demonic ritual the entire time without them knowing.

Henry's eyes weren't actually gouged out, but this little inaccuracy in the reporting is still telling. "Henry's" soul is dead. A demon has taken over, replacing him. A shadow self perhaps?

But also Victor's strange mention of an "angel" that we see no explanation for in Henry's POV. Someone Victor described as having "saved" him, contrasted to his very liberal use of "demon" all throughout his POV to describe something that has cursed the entire town. Henry doesn't mention this, we don't know where the music in Victor's vision came from. Henry most likely didn't do it as he passes out shortly before Victor wakes up and Henry notoriously can't multitask so it's a wonder how he even vecna-d Victor while killing Alice (Henry is definitely leaving stuff out from his story).

Like the cult in Heriditary, there is an outside force perhaps manipulating events- ie staging a demonic ritual for a desired outcome:

I don't know how canon is going to explain any of that, if its not just a coincidence, but since I'm insane and I love creating patterns and symbolism I've already decided to go a little nuts with it and so here are some more thoughts on that: I'm putting the date the Creel's officially moved into the house in Hawkins as March 2nd, because thats my birthday and I'm allowed. Henry's birthday is March 8th, which is also when Henry had his first "encounter" with "The Shadow" (The Mindflayer.)

March 22nd is Will's birthday and also the day Henry discovered his extreme psychic abilities, *(This would be around the time the scene with the rabbit and Henry moving the hands of the clock occured) and March 29th, which is Billy's birthday, is the day Henry killed his mother and sister. Something else I also mentioned in other posts is the fact that Stranger Things, particularly Season 4, drew a lot of inspo from Western / Christian mythology and its my insane provocative to mirror this and this is no different.

March and April tend to be thought of as significant months therein because of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, March being the preparation for Jesus' resurrection and April being the month in which that took place. I'm mirroring this with Henry in March as the period where Henry encounters the MF and develops his powers and April being the month when Brenner kidnaps Henry and he wakes up from his "coma" in Brenner's care. I also think I mentioned this once before in passing but I wanted to mention it again. In my headcanon, the one and only time Henry was ever actually “diagnosed” with anything despite having a long history of difficulties with school and thus repeated doctor’s consultations, was after moving to Hawkins, fairly late into the month, maybe more around the middle, after Henry's encounter with the MF. They diagnosed him with childhood schizophrenia. Obviously this was a misdiagnosis but it was the 50s and it was common for ASD to be misdiagnosed this way back then. That being said, one of the big factors in Henry’s diagnosis was his “strange thinking” and “unusual perceptions.” If you’ve read my post here you know I have a running theory that the being known as the Mindflayer by the party ( Who I perceive to be the Stranger Things version of The Serpent from DnD ) was able to “commune” with Henry long before he ever got to the Upside Down thanks to Henry’s latent psychic abilities and this was thus what really woke those abilities and certainly amplified them in a way we haven’t seen with any other psychic character in the series. ( Once again, look up DnD Vecna and “The Serpent” from DnD, I promise it all makes perfect sense) In my headcanon Henry kind of... Did try to express to his parents what he was “experiencing” but of course this was extremely difficult for him because unlike Will, Henry’s environment wasn’t a loving, open, accepting one. Henry’s mother didn’t believe him or take him seriously on anything and this was a pre-established thing which made it hard for Henry to actually try to communicate anything with his family in the first place. He was seen as suffering delusions and mental illness.

No, He didn’t really know how to explain it but most pressingly the knowing that no one would understand or even want to understand or believe him meant Henry was withdrawn, defensive, deflective and standoffish even if he really did want to talk to his family and be “more cooperative” with them, so to speak. On top of this, Henry found himself frustrated by his family's “superstitions” particularly when his own attempts to explain where thought of with such concern. Victor was the only one who kind of gave Henry any heed but even then Henry wasn’t taken very seriously by the family at large and again, a lot of the goings on of the house were blamed on a “demon” which Henry had a lot of contempt for given he knew a lot of the things in the house that were upsetting his family were coming more from him and his anger with them, but he couldn’t really explain how or why he suddenly knew the things he did or could do the things he could do, or could see the things he could see. In his retelling in the show, Victor explicitly confirms that he could see “[Henry] knew something was wrong.” And we also know Victor went to the EXTENT of having an exorcist preformed on the house. When Will is “possessed” by the Mindflayer in season 2, he talks about how he suddenly knows things, things that he didn’t know before but he doesn’t know how he knows them. I imagine Henry encountered a similar phenomenon when he was subconsciously linked to the Mindflayer entity in his childhood. Henry began to know things he couldn’t explain and he did “SEE” the Mindflayer cloud in dreams / visions as well. *( Given I think its clear the MF is a metaphor for the Shadow Self this is another nod to that from me personally, btw) None the less, Henry's “diagnosis” at the back end of all this was the big factor in his mother getting into contact with Brenner, who at the time was labeled a leading “expert” in the “human mind” as back in the 50s, neurodivergence and mental illness was not well understood and due to the societal and political climate, particularly in the US, Virginia saw institutionalizing Henry as the “best option”. WHICH brings me to a post I made last night that I'm going over really quick because I think its relevant. From this point on I'm largely talking about explicit canon rather than my own thoughts / headcanons. There is a lot of supernatural repetition in Vecna's "curse" and his behaviors. He often repeats moments on his trauma, projecting them onto this victims who then live them too, and the scene with Max in the Piggy Back episode seems to be an INCREDIBLY interesting instance of this. (Heres a shitty video I made with my phone for emphasis.)

Why ? Because Vecna says this: ❝ Is that… All true? You wanted Billy to die ? You ever have thoughts like that about me? Normal people don't fantasize about killing other people, Max. You realize that, right? I thought you were getting better - but you're not, are you? You are sick. Maybe it is good he takes you. Maybe its for the best. In fact, I'm glad its going to be you. You will be the chosen one. The Fourth. The final sacrifice! Its going to be you that BREAKS THE WORLD.❞

(*Also because I noted it when I originally mentioned it the other night I just wanna say its very interesting that every time Vecna has done this that we know of, ie when he uses an "illusion" of himself speaking through another character, the prime examples being Billy in this scene from s3 and Lucas here, he's, FOR SOME REASON, always shown speaking through tears. Why? If this is a remorseless, emotionless, monstrous psychopath why does he display it this way? Because this isn't Billy Or Lucas in these scenes, this is HIM. This is an illusion he has complete control over. And I wouldn't say hes displaying it that way just to distress the victim, because Eleven didn't really have any emotional attachment to Billy to be particularly hurt by seeing him in tears/hurt. Just something to think about anyway.) And on the topic of that supernatural repetition, this is displayed CONSTANTLY. For me "Vecna's Curse" is as much about Vecna "being cursed" and the things HE has suffered, (perhaps as a result) as it is about the "curse" he places on others.

This gif from this post for another example. Like the examples of this are absolutely everywhere. Now let me just direct you all back to the scene with Will and Joyce in season 2 when Will begins to explain the thoughts he's having and the things he can see after being "contacted" by the Mindflayer. He begins to talk about killing people and people dying, and the horrible things he's seeing. Joyce reassures him and protects him, like a good mother would - but you know who has been HEAVILY suggested to have NOT had a good mother, and instead, canonly described his mother as hating him and who seemed to just want to blame him? Who just wanted her son "taken away" by a doctor to be "fixed"? And thus would have ultimately sacrificed him to maintain her ideal of normal, happy family? Henry. Who is the one who has actually been "chosen" to "Break the world"? Henry.

right!!!! it's fucked up!!!!

but like, this does also make me wonder if he... doesn't know that they're all related to him?? like i guess if all of the women bearing his offspring were under the influence of drugs, he also could have been?

but i think he's smart enough that he would have figured it out anyway even if Brenner never really made it clear to him, so yeah, even if it was just an unconfirmed hunch on Henry's end, it's sooo gnarly that he was so angry that he not only decided to kill a bunch of kids, but a bunch of kids that are his.

like, his motive for killing everyone at the lab is founded though. not to condone mass murder LOL but this guy just scooped him up out of his potential newfound freedom away from his family, trapped him in this lab-prison for his whole life, and when he didn't obey orders, Brenner decided to steal from him and create new life and new power without his consent.

like, if all of the kids are related to him, it almost makes even more sense that he killed them, bc he'd look at them and see his own freedom being stomped all over. it's his power being ripped away from him and being shared in a way he doesn't approve of.

But anyway in this fandom there has been a lot of discussion about C/SA and the strange vibes and undertones the show seems to give about it. A lot of the fandom has linked this back to Henry with the gross ol take that he's the child rapist. Though this often also comes from them acknowledging that they believe HE is a rape victim too. And I just wanted to say, I think, ultimately, this is the real source of where the rape / csa vibes Venca gives off with his curse comes from IF that is ACTUALLY suppose to be some type of canon factor. Outside of the mindflayer and the alien creatures of the upside down that seem to be the things committing the actual bodily "rape" even if in a metaphorical way through possession and creepy alien tenacles, Vecna does say and do some things that seem allude to some type of rape as well but I don't think its suppose to be a manifestation of him being a rapist or committing actual rape. ( I mean come on, why people think they can say he's literally raping anyone when he never does is wild anyway ) But the thing for me is when Vecna does this he's almost ALWAYS showing or supernaturally "projecting" the emotion of SOMETHING that was done TO HIM so rather than him ACTUALLY doing that exact thing to someone else he does something that invokes a similar feeling of helplessness and fear etc because he seems doomed to repeat this over and over- I've mentioned before but I'll mention again: I think "Vecna's curse" is as much, if not more, in regard to the suffering of Vecna as it is of the "victims" that are marked. When it comes to characters outside of Nancy, these characters were not raped, they were literally killed and Vecna seems to think he's saved or freed them from their own suffering, HOWEVER, the thing with Nancy is interesting because I think its what most highlights this idea of Vecna being a victim of some type of sexual abuse. Vecna shows Nancy a very disturbing vision of him as a child where hes strapped to a chair while Brenner forces the 001 tattoo on him against his will. Child Henry is clearly afraid and in pain but he's forced to undergo this as Brenner creepily reassures him its fine and not so bad, while he casually tattoos his arm, holding Henry's wrist still all the while as Henry squirms and struggles, clearly showing this isn't fine. Vecna then catches Nancy in the chair in a similar away, holding her there and showing her a frightening vision of the "future" of Hawkins which disturbs her. Therefore Nancy is forced to experience a similar scenario of fear and helplessness and perhaps even violation that Henry experienced, but just not entirely in the same way. Vecna doesn't do anything to actually physically harm Nancy. He doesn't cause her pain like that, its just the similar emotional impact. So yeah, I can understand things coming across as SA allogories but its not because Vecna is committing SA, or we're suppose to think he is, I think its more because hes supernaturally bound to repeat and project a similar FEELING of helplessness, pain and violation HE actually suffered in a literal sense. So yeah, if this is true and something the audience was suppose to pick up on it wasn't suppose to be in the sense of representing or suggesting Vecna is the rapist but more to the opposite of suggesting or representing that Vecna has suffered either actual rape or something similar. (We dont have any canon to actually show Henry suffering an actual instance of SA, but we do have him being brutally tortured as a regular occurrence and so therefore suffering from other cruel, oppressive, demeaning and violating situations in the lab would not be out of line and seems to fit perfectly here with the few things we have seen.)