Beca😊

Trust in ourselves. Trust in the story. If you don’t trust them, trust in us.

Will was written as gay from the minute stranger things started and planned to be in love with mike the whole time. What cruelty would it be for your main character to spend 5 seasons in unrequited love with his best friend while the love interest initiates most of the intimacy between them?

Jancy breakup for their misunderstandings and shared trauma issues and lies proves that the Duffers know how to write a good relationship and won’t let those threads of plot go unaddressed. They don’t believe in love at first sight and had Mike tell Max “hate you? how could I hate you, I don’t even know you”. Also made fun of love at first sight with Argyle and Eden, and paralleled Mike’s monologue with Robin’s instant feelings for Tammy.

Noah, the biggest byler shipper ever, saying we’ll be hap-satisfied with their ending, that this wasn’t the end of the story, and that he was really happy with how they closed it out. Also has never once straight up said the feelings aren’t requited.

Finn after being very anti milkvan, said he cried multiple times over his ending, it was bigger than he could’ve imagined, and that he walked off of one of the sets thinking “wow, I was a part of that”

Charlie Heaton saying that not even a third into the finale Noah was sobbing incessantly and Finn started crying.

“Mike’s just trying to be as normal as possible, and stay on a normal path, he might be into some new things”

“How obvious?”

The difference between Mike’s s4 monologue to El and his monologue to Will in season 2

“he’ll come crawling back to you, begging for forgiveness”/*biked through a storm* “WILL IM SORRY I WAS BEING A TOTAL ASSHOLE”

interrupted gaze trope in season 4

“You think I’m a monster”/“you make her feel like she’s not a mistake at all”

both the van scene and coming out scene taking 12 hours to film, Finn being told he could improv during milkvam monologue

”It’s his sort of-idea of a first crush” (about s1 milkvan

“If Mike is Elliott, Eleven is ET”

“It’s kind of like finding a dog in the woods and taking care of it” — Finn about s1 milkvan

Mike initiating every physical touch moment in season 2.

Mike’s odd reaction to Max

“They do say it makes you crazy”/“crazy together”/“blank makes you crazy”

stancy/milkvan parallels (so many of them)

David Harbour after s2: “they already know how season 4 or 5 will end, you’ll look back and see Easter eggs all the way back in season 1 and go “we’ve been seeing this story the whole time”, and I think it’s beautiful.

Mike’s entire role for multiple episodes in s2 being Will’s protector/mentioning Will every single line.

“I don’t think my parents have ever loved each other”— the wheelers and forced conformity

“It was the best thing I’ve ever done” and that first meeting actually being shown in flashbacks to give Will powers.

“mom, Dustin, Lucas, everyone”— if things like that were always intentional, Mike’s expression watching Will at the snowball also was.

Mike/Hopper/Brenner parallels and Millie talking about her arc as independence from men, and finding strength in her love for her friends and family because “that’s all she has” while Noah talks of Will finding strength in his love for his family, for Mike, for his friends.

Eyewitness parallel.

“Will said catradora rights” — stranger writers in 2020

“Favorite ship” “Korrasami”

The airport hug and romione/chamber of secrets parallel

The high school musical parallel

“We’re friends” and *in the closet (at rinkomania)*

“I didn’t say it” “you didn’t have to :)”

“It’s Hawkins, it’s not the same without you… i guess maybe I feel like I lost you or something”

“Joyce has this new telemarketer job, Mike won’t stop whining about it”

Mike’s odd reaction to the painting, never asking about the girl.

Milkvan “confession” piggybacking off of Will’s, being made of blatant lies.

Lip glances at the movie theater, sauna scene, roller rink, and van scene, all from Mike wheeler

The way he looks at Will in general during the van scene.

End of s3 kiss, all of the The First Lie/The First I love You parallels.

the painting being unaddressed and the cyrano trope.

Framing at the end of season 4.

Mike insisting Will’s a sorcerer and being his biggest fan.

The field scene. Especially Mike’s “Will voice” and the sky changing colors.

The structure of a story/narrative— everything seeming doomed for each character (Holly losing holly the heroic, El and Kali suicide pact, Will thinks Mike is his Tammy)

Theyve made romance an essential part of Will’s story.

mike mentioning Will in every scene he’s in, even in volume 2.

milkvan being the only couple that hasn’t had a clearly romantic scene, Mike continually making their “future talks” about the party and will.

“If Will has a feeling…” “then it means something!”

the butthole surfers

The hug in shock jock.

Mike reaching for Will’s hand and pulling back.

Creelby parallels.

“This show is an anthem for the marginalized and imperfect… the Duffer brothers know from experience that the popular and easy road is never the most interesting.”

“The best kind of plot twists are like the sixth sense… it can’t be “that was so obvious I saw it a mile away” but it also can’t be “there’s no way I could’ve ever guessed that”. The best is when you’re like “how could I not have seen that coming?”

This is all quickly written off the top of my head, we’re not crazy guys. It can’t even be queerbaiting because who would plan their main character to be gay from the beginning and also plan on queerbaiting all the way to the bitter end? they’re losing their homophobic viewers with rovickie and Will’s coming out scene, why would they cater to homophobes NOW and lose their queer viewers too? They’re not stupid. If it goes wrong we’ll have each other, but I know it won’t. I feel like Joyce with the lights right now.

But I’m not alone. Crazy together, til the bitter end 🥹💕

In Episode 5, Mike insists again: the distinction matters. Vecna is a wizard—someone who steals, studies, and bends power through domination. Will is a sorcerer—his power is innate, organic, inseparable from his being. Will does not contradict him. On the contrary, he absorbs this truth, internalizes it, and for the first time acts from it. He attempts to kill Vecna, manages to wound him, and, in doing so, saves Max’s life. Belief becomes action; action becomes proof.

But Episode 6 dismantles this fragile architecture of confidence. Vecna rewrites the narrative. He tells Will that yes, there is power in him—but it is not his. It belongs to Vecna. Will merely carries it, like a parasite carries a disease. Vecna claims authorship over Will’s strength, insisting that everything Will is capable of stems from what was done to him at twelve years old. He calls Will his vessel, his spy, his builder. The revelation about the tunnels—that Will unconsciously created them—shatters him. It forces him to confront the unbearable idea that he has been helping his abuser all along, not by choice, but through coerced intimacy.

Vecna then completes the work of domination through psychological torture. He weaponizes Will’s deepest fears, flooding his mind with visions designed not to kill him, but to break him. By Episode 7, Will wakes up hollowed out—traumatized, exhausted, emptied of hope. He blames himself for everything. He tells Joyce that Vecna chose him because he was weak, because he was easy to control. He reduces himself to nothing more than a tool. When Joyce insists it is not his fault, Will rejects her words. Guilt has calcified into identity. The confidence Mike helped him rebuild has been annihilated.

When Max later calls him a sorcerer, Will denies it. Vecna’s words have taken root. Even though Will still wants to fight, still wants to use his powers for good, he no longer believes they are truly his. He comes out—not as liberation, but as strategy—so Vecna cannot exploit his fears about his identity and his homosexuality against him. Yet even this radical act of truth is not enough. Will still cannot believe that his power is innate, that who he is and what he can do are intrinsically linked, that his abilities were not born from abuse.

What allows Will to access his power, again and again, is self-acceptance and love—the love of his family, and specifically, the love of Mike. And yet there is a crucial fracture. When Will reveals that, during Vecna’s torture, he tried to fight back using happy memories, we see flashbacks of Joyce and Jonathan—but not Mike. Despite the genuine love of his family, Vecna still manages to break through. This reveals a painful truth: self-acceptance alone is not enough. Familial love alone is not enough.

And this is where the pattern becomes undeniable.

In Season 2, during his possession, Will reaches Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike through his memories—and manages to resist. In Episode 4, Will uses memories of Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike—and successfully activates his powers. In Episode 6, he relies only on Joyce and Jonathan—and Vecna reaches him.

The difference is not subtle. Mike is missing.

Mike—the same boy who named Will a sorcerer. Mike—the one who insisted that the distinction matters. Mike—the one Will emotionally distances himself from immediately after Vecna’s torture, precisely when he decides to bury his love.

If Vecna has partially possessed Will—psychologically, emotionally, by shattering his sense of self—then defeating him will require a weapon that has not yet been fully used. Will has already tried self-acceptance alone. It was not enough. He has relied on his family’s love. Not enough. He has come out and secured the support of those around him. Still not enough.

What remains is the one constant present in every moment where Will reclaimed control: the words, the faith, and the love of Mike Wheeler.

Whether the Duffers intend this as queerbaiting or not—and one hopes they do not—this is, narratively and thematically, the only coherent resolution. Vecna’s power is rooted in abuse, shame, and isolation. The only force capable of dismantling that hold is not abstract courage, but relational truth. Love that names you. Love that believes in you. Love that tells you your power was never borrowed, never given, never stolen—but always yours.

Mike wheeler always at the crime scene

They addressed that bonding over shared trauma is not a healthy basis of relationship, saying that it only creates a feeling of closeness for a few years before it feels stifling. I had NO expectation that they would say this about them. Wonderful job. The unproposal together instead of just Jonathan realizing he shouldn't and never telling her he was going to was so sweet, I loved that scene.

I expected them to address Dustin's grief and the parallel between Steve and Eddie in his life, but I did NOT expect them to directly address Steve's jealousy in season 4 and how it affected his relationship with Dustin and Eddie's death! That was AMAZING! I was very impressed.

Honestly, overrall, that whole group's season 4 plotline and my analyses of it I did not expect to be so brought to light. I said that Nancy wasn't interested in Steve just, finding ways to distance from Jonathan, and she SAID that. I said it wasn't about Nancy for Steve, it was about feeling rejected by Dustin and he SAID that. Both those topics were only really clued into by one or two lines in the whole of season 4 but they came back to them very directly!

Max directly telling Holly that not acting in a situation where you could not have helped and only would have endangered yourself too is not the same as cowardice is what I've been saying about Will's plot and the themes of the character deaths - including Eddie's, which was MENTIONED in this context - for YEARS! And they had her directly address it to Holly. That not stabbing Vecna with a fire poker because you know it won't help and standing by at the sight of violence are not the same thing. Sometimes your body paralyzes you because it knows there is a reason for your fear, and you should NOT overpower it out of some moral self-berating. That is a LIFE-SAVING message I have praised in this show for YEARS but never have they said it explicitly like that and they DID.

I also really liked that they came back to El's anger at Hopper for planning to sacrifice himself. That was a smaller, side one for me but I didn't expect them to, I kind of expected it to be swept under the rug and them move on in their fight, but it wasn't. She did lose him for almost a year and she was hurt by his decision to risk that again. It makes total sense and I think it was very strong for them to address that.

And actually TO talk about Will's queerness, let's do it.

They started that coming out strong out of the gate. With his fear not just being rejection, but change. Even in allyship, that his loved ones would treat him as some fragile thing again and their relationship would change. That they wouldn't leave him on purpose but that it would just naturally cause them to drift over time. Those are very real and common fears that are extremely under-talked about. The grief over connection in adolescence he mentions, that he's saddened by the fact that they have always shared so much that it felt strange when he couldn't relate to them on something. It isn't always that he wanted to be straight but that he wanted to continue to be the same as them.

Those are all very specific details not usually addressed or acknowledged. It's usually simplified to "fear of homophobia", because that's about all that straight people understand of why people don't come out. But "I'm afraid you'll try your best to keep me in your life and support and accept me but we will ultimately drift apart because we won't be able to relate to each other in the same way anymore" brought back VIVID memories for me.

And the actual framing of the coming out itself. I already felt great when we started with that conversation between Will and Robin. Coming out was not described as a goal. It was described as a step. That made me very happy. It is rarely done. But queer stories should not center straight people finding out. Straight people patting themselves on the back for simply not rejecting you. As if straight people provided you your happy ending in choosing not to harm you. It is a step TOWARDS your actual personal desires. Coming out is an important step TOWARDS the romance that is actually your goal. The want you realized that started this all. It is a checkbox, not a finale. It is a jumping off point.

Everything but Mike hit the nail on the head for me. Honestly. That's what confuses me. Because it is the same values they just demonstrated so beautifully that would save his character in this finale.

will's head positioned perfectly inside the circle illustrating the bridge's exotic matter. as dustin explains:

the exotic matter is what holds the bridge (the upside down) together.

so how could will be connected to this?

we all know will was the first to be taken into the upside down. i dare say will was the first human to go in there at all. vecna said that when he took will, he realized the potential for what he could do using the minds of more children. will's mind is somehow directly linked to whatever is holding the bridge/UD together.

space . com explains exotic matter as referring to theoretical or rare forms of matter that don’t follow everyday physical rules. one type of exotic matter that could be related to wormholes is matter with negative mass. all matter we know has a positive mass and is attracted to other matter due to gravity, but matter with a negative mass would push other matter away from it.

the writers are giving us the most on the nose metaphor - exotic matter literally explains will. since season 3, they have pushed the narrative that will feels like an outsider, like he is an outlier even amongst his friends. this is reflected in how his character has been "neglected" and seemingly pushed to the side. and now it is confirmed; despite having most things in common, he is different from them in one way, and this one difference has defined the past years of his life.

slight paraphrasing here, but in the coming out scene will says vecna showed him it is going to lead to negativity that makes him push people away and drift apart from them:

this fear and this feeling is somehow intrinsically linked to the entire structure holding the bridge together. because this is the show that uses sci fi metaphors to explain the horrors of growing up, i think we can assume this connection goes farther than just this direct mirroring, but sadly i am not smart enough to think of a way this can play out in the scifi plot. but i have no doubt that it will.

but, we have now seen that (literally) all of will's friends and family accept and love him despite this difference. they're pulling him back in, proving his fears wrong.

but the one thing they leave open, unanswered, ambiguous.... is mike's part in all this. because despite will saying he "had a crush" on mike, and likening mike to "his tammy" - we already know from the previous episodes in season five that this is not the case. will is in love with mike; he is hopeful that they could be something more to the point of asking robin how you know if someone wants to date, and righttttt after his 'coming of powers' moment, he asks robin just how soon after her epiphany did she get together w vickie😭

will is not over mike! mike is not will's tammy, guys, obviously he is not. and that is the missing piece; mike revealing that will's feelings are reciprocated is essential, because it is the final step to will not feeling like an outlier amongst his loved ones. because if mike is like him and also loves him, it gives will someone he does not feel different from.

and as will said in season 4: mike makes him feel like he's not a mistake. like he is better for being different.

mike reciprocating will's feelings has always been the full circle moment we are coming back to. will and mike's arcs have been directly intertwined since always but was solidified in the "crazy together" scene, and just about everything in their arc since has drawn lines back to that moment.

Miwi ✨

Let’s compile a list of questions I need the writers and Duffers to answer immediately if Byler isn’t established as canon by the end of the finale:

Why did they sabotage mileven in s3 and s4 to establish the byler side of the canonical love triangle?

Why was Mike unable to tell his canonical girlfriend he loved her, or even write it?

Why did Mike not kiss El back at the end of s3?

Why did he not say he loved her when she said it then?

Why were his eyes wide open?

Why was he in Will’s bedroom in front of Will’s open closet with the light on?

Better yet why did they queercode Mike at all?

Why is it that every time girls are mentioned, Mike makes disgusted expressions?

Why did Mike pull El’s hands off him when they were making out at the start of s3?

Why was Finn Wolfhard constantly staring at Noah, his coworker’s, lips every time they had scenes together from s2-s4?

Why did Mike look directly at Will’s ass in the bedroom scene in s4 and then bite his lip?

Why did Mike not say he loved El in their bedroom fight scene in s4 when she was sobbing and begging for him to say it?

Why did Mike’s monologue to El result in Max dying and the start of the end of the world?

Why did Mike lie in the monologue as the show very clearly proves?

Why was Mike’s monologue to Will in the shed in s2 in comparison successful in saving the day?

Why were Mike and Will written to have a tonally special relationship unlike the other boys?

Why was Will even made to be in love with Mike at all? He could have been gay without this addition as it serves nothing to the plot if unrequited and also fundamentally changes Mike and Will’s bond forever and in a negative way if not reciprocated, so why do it?

Why did you torture Will Byers, your only gay male character, for 5 seasons and then add unrequited love on top of it?

Why did you make Mike insecure by being with El but then make him feel loved and needed via Will’s words and feelings?

Why was Will forced into the mileven relationship?

Why was Will forced to play Bob the builder to repair a relationship he isn’t involved in?

Why do Mike and El never bond over anything or simply enjoy each others company/only makeout and argue in s3?

Why is Mike constantly paralleled to the controlling male figures in El’s life?

Why do all of the characters actively hate Mike and El’s romantic relationship except for Will?

Why was Will used as a plot device to save mileven? Is a gay character this meaningless to you? Do you believe they are only good for propping up straight couples?

Why did the show focus so much on Will’s misery and write mileven to be disliked for it?

Why have Mike and El barely spoken since the monologue?

Why were you ambiguous about mileven all of s5?

Why was Mike in Will’s film reel?

Why was Mike crucial to Will activating his powers?

Why couldn’t Mike hug Will at the airport?

Why did Mike say “we’re friends” twice to Will in s4 when Will didn’t imply they were ever more than friends?

Why did Mike say “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” to Will when the argument had nothing to do with Will’s sexuality?

Why did you make Mike seem like a homophobe toward his best friend since kindergarten when in season 1, Mike defended Will against homophobes?

Why did you refuse to show us Mike’s pov for 3 whole seasons in a row?

Why did Mike’s personality suddenly change between s2 and s3 when dealing with Will?

Why did Mike say “we’re a team” to Will in s4 the same way Hopper said to Joyce that they made a good team?

Better yet, why were you constantly paralleling byler with canon couples in the show?

Why did you drag out an unrequited love story for 5 whole seasons?

Why didn’t you end Will’s supposed “crush” on Mike in the same season it was textualised, like you did for Dustin, Steve, etc?

Why did you bait your LGBTQ fans into believing byler could happen by refusing to answer a strict yes or no years before the end of the show when you absolutely could have?

Why did you make Mike a terrible boyfriend to El if we’re meant to ship them?

Why did you give every other character a love interest and the ability to experience reciprocal love at one point or another EXCEPT for your only gay male character?

Why did you make Will believe he would never experience romantic love and then PROVE that belief true?!

Why did you not introduce another male character in s3 or s4 and then make him Will’s future boyfriend?

Why did you make Will suddenly hopeful in s5 that Mike might love him back when in s4 he had no hope with NO EXPLANATION AS TO WHY HE WOULD BELIEVE THAT?

Why did you make Robin say that “the snowball became an avalanche” and then do nothing with that?

Why did Robin tell Will specific “signals” to look for to tell of someone wants to date you that Mike then does on screen?

Why can Mike not juggle both a romantic relationship with El and a friendship with Will?

Why are you homophobic assholes?