Material girl

part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4

Will's actor, Luke Kokotek, said on Instagram that he auditioned for Mike after he had already finished filming young Will. He specifically said after he had filmed for Will, which is crazy because why would they want the same actor to portray both Mike and Will?

And why would they even reveal that information? I think they probably wanted fans to investigate it, especially since the Duffer Brothers are conspiracy theorists themselves.

I honestly believe Luke also filmed Mike's part. He looks much more like Mike and honestly, he doesn't resemble Will that much. It's strange that they would cast an actor who looks so similar to Finn to play young Will.

Even in some moments during Will's flashback, it looks like they intentionally didn't use CGI on the actor's face. This is especially noticeable during the moment when Will is jumping: his side profile looks exactly like Mike's because the actor resembles Finn.

A lot of fans noticed this in the first teaser for the show and started saying that it looked like Mike rather than Will.

Then someone found Luke's character in an official Stranger Things book, where there are several pages featuring the children from the Rainbow Room. Of course, some of the children shown in the book are different from the ones we saw in Season 4, which is already strange. Luke himself also posted it.

But why is Will's actor shown in the Rainbow Room?And most importantly, if this is supposedly Will, why didn't they use CGI to make his face look like Noah's? The actor also has an almost identical wound across his face to the one Mike had in Season 3 after Billy pushed him.

Will calls Mike “my Tammy.” Well, Tammy means “twin.” Then we have Michael Myers being mentioned multiple times throughout the show.

One of the most significant examples occurs when Max is trapped inside Vecna's mind at the graveyard. Moments earlier, she was reading a letter to her brother, Billy, whose full name is William. So what name is written on another headstone Max sees inside Vecna's mind?

Michael Myers.

Why write the name of a fictional serial killer unless we're supposed to connect it to the main characters, with one who shares the name Michael and have similar last names: Myers and Byers?

Connecting Mike's first name to a last name that rhymes with Byers is certainly a deliberate choice, almost as if Mike and Will are the same person.

Another clue is that the letter W is literally an upside-down version of M. Not to mention that Mike's last name begins with W, and Wheeler even sounds like “Will-er.”

In the final episode, they reverse what happened in the first episode. Karen calls Joyce to ask where Mike is, paralleling the scene after Will was taken, when Joyce calls the Wheelers to ask whether her son is there. Why create that parallel? We know Mike wasn't taken or at least, not at that moment. And the funny thing is that when Joyce calls the Wheelers in the first episode, she thinks she hears Will, but it's actually Mike. This is the same Joyce who says she knows her own son's breathing, yet mistakes Mike's voice for Will's.

When it comes to New Coke and Old Coke, I believe it has always been about Mike and Will. Mike is the Classic Coke - the original, classic version while Will is “the New Coke.” Lucas even brings The Thing into the conversation and compares John Carpenter's version to the original. Will is sitting next to Mike while they're arguing about it.

Another obvious “clone” of Mike is Nikki in Tales from ’85. Mike and Nikki are standing in front of a vending machine and the products inside it appear in doubles, almost like twins. So it's interesting that Nikki says, “Same jerk, same letterman jacket,” about the jocks while Mike and Will are standing next to each other. In the cartoon, they both have bowl cuts and almost exactly the same face. She then says, “My theory is they clone them in every school.” Will is Mike's clone. And speaking of clones, Robin and Nancy find an article titled “Elvis Cloned by Aliens” while we see their reflections in a mirror.

The lyrics of “The NeverEnding Story” include:

“In your face, the mirror of your dreams,

Make believe I'm everywhere,

Given in the light,

Written on the pages

Is the answer to a never-ending story.”

The part about the “mirror of your dreams” is sung by Lucas and Max in s3 when they are teasing Dustin. Then the camera moves toward Will, who begins talking to Mike. Will is Mike's mirror, his actual clone.

When Billy is in the Upside Down, he sees his own clone. The clone tells him that he wants Billy to build. Billy asks, “Build what?” and the clone replies, “Build what you see.” And what does Billy see at that moment?His own clone. This clone isn't actually there. He's inside Billy's mind, he doesn't really exist. But Billy can see him and he is told to build that clone. That is exactly what is happening with Mike and Will. Will is Mike's imaginary friend. Because of his trauma, Mike projected everything onto his imaginary friend Will and that's how Will was “built” within the story. El even says that the Flayed Billy is building something and then we see Will standing next to her. Will was something that was built as well.

The lyrics of “The NeverEnding Story” say:

“Dream a dream,

And what you see will be.”

Mike saw Will even though Will wasn't actually there, and then Will became real within Mike's story. In reality, I believe Will is part of Mike's DID system, an alter personality created within his mind.

Then we have Henry/One/Vecna. In his own words, Henry already gives us a clue that he comes from an actual play:

"All while performing in a silly, terrible play.”

He comes from the story The First Shadow, which Mike wrote and then the story came to life. There are also many inconsistencies involving The First Shadow. In the play, Karen and Ted went to high school together, while Nancy herself said that her dad was much older than her mom when they met.

Dustin's parents also went to high school in Hawkins, even though Dustin said that his family moved there when he was in fourth grade.

Meanwhile Joyce and Hopper who attended high school with Henry, don't remember him at all in Season 5. Bob also says that Joyce didn't pay attention to him at all in high school, even though they are close in The First Shadow.

Everything keeps pointing toward The First Shadow not being real. Meanwhile, who is the writer in the show who starts narrating the story of the Demogorgon breaking in within the first five minutes of Stranger Things?

Mike Wheeler.

He's the Dungeon Master who controls the world and can certainly create his own self-inserts within the story.

The story is called The First Shadow, and the poster itself reveals Vecna as Henry's mirror, Henry's own shadow. The pattern on the poster resembles the sweater Mike wears for most of Season 5.

Both in the show and in the play, Henry is described as a sensitive, artistic kid, just like Will. But Mike is also sensitive and artistic. While Mike doesn't draw, he is still an artist through his storytelling. Throughout the show, he is noticeably sensitive, even if his parents don't openly acknowledge it.

Some fans have noticed that Henry's personality is very similar to Mike's and that his family resembles the Wheelers.

Virginia is like Karen: both are blonde and unfaithful, and both of their names mean “pure.” Victor is ignorant and oblivious, much like Ted.

Then there's Alice, who I believe is meant to be a combination of Holly and Nancy. Holly literally tries on Alice's clothes in her room at the Creel House and is dressed like Alice in Wonderland.

The Creel family home also resembles the Wheeler house.

Meanwhile, the Tudum trailer showed a Weekly Watcher news article featuring a photo of a bloody bed and describing the event as a “bloodbath.” But we saw the family die at the dinner table, so why would they show a bloody bed? Not to mention that the murder scene we saw didn't even look like a bloodbath.

Mike most likely discovered the story of a family whose father actually killed them and then put his own spin on it, changing the story so that the son was the one who killed his family. Then Mike's story came to life.

How do I know Victor killed his family?

Victor gives himself away when he talks about a demon tormenting his family while his reflection appears in the water. I believe Victor is the demon, the one who abused his family and killed them, not his son. Not to mention that Victor is played by the same actor who portrayed Freddy Krueger.

Ultimately, Mike is the writer. He probably spends much of his time at the library, so it makes sense that he could have eventually discovered this story. There's a reason Will's body was found in the library as well.

All of this leads to an important question: if Henry is Mike's self-insert, what makes us think there isn't another self-insert who has been there since the very beginning of the show and who could be the show's biggest twist?

Also i have to mention Joyce Here. She keeps saying she heard Will,saw him and talked to him. Everyone around her thinks she's insane. And as you know,the DiD theory that i posted right at the beginning suggests all characters are Mike's alters. Joyce is Mike as well, cause Mike also heard Will and talked to him cause Will is Mike's imaginary friend. Ofcourse i think some characters are real,like Joyce for instance is real, but it's still a meta story and outside of it Mike has DiD where he's all of these characters who are part of his system, it's all in his head. For a reason he's called "the heart" 

The most important clue supporting the idea that Will and Mike are ONE is the fact that the show keeps repeating the word “one”

Yes, Henry was One in the lab, but the show repeats this word so often that it feels like there has to be more to it, as if it represents multiple elements becoming one.

The show was especially obvious about this in Season 5, when the characters said that Hawkins and the Abyss were colliding and becoming one. When Mike says this himself, he is looking directly at Will. Then Will says they will merge and points toward Mike.

Because Will is the Abyss, while Mike is Hawkins.

The Abyss is yellow, just like Will's color. Meanwhile, Mike's color is blue, just like the Upside Down version of Hawkins.

That's what “blue meets yellow in the west” is truly about. It's about Mike and Will becoming one at the end of the story.

Will is literally inside the shot of the wormhole Dustin drew and his heart is crossed out. Will also calls Mike “the heart” and says that without him, they would fall apart. Because Mike is literally Will's heart. They are connected because they are one.

If Mike dies, Will dies too.

At the airport, we see Will looking miserable because Mike is ignoring him, while Mike doesn't seem like himself during his date with El. Behind Mike there is a red ONE.

The next scene shifts to Robin and Steve, where Steve says that they are both miserable. Robin says that she has found the perfect girl of her dreams but doesn't have the courage to ask her out, while Steve has gone on a million dates and still doesn't know what he wants. Robin clearly represents Will in this situation, while Steve represents Mike. Robin then says that all of their problems would be solved if they just combined. So yeah, Mike and Will would be less miserable if they just combined and become ONE.

What makes this scene even more perfect is the The Last Dragon movie poster behind them, especially since Will is associated with dragons.

Meanwhile, in the episode “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab,” when we finally find out that the Upside Down is frozen on the day Will disappeared, we see two silver balls crashing into one another inside the Rainbow Room. This is showing us that Will was actually created on the day Mike was abused by his father. In the end, the story is about Will and Mike combining and becoming one. This is also the same Rainbow Room that contains a lot of twin imagery. El is literally staring at two people who represent Mike and Will while two silver balls crash into each other.

In that same episode, Henry gives his speech:

“Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades — each life a faded, lesser copy of the one before. Wake up, eat, work, reproduce, and die. Everyone is just waiting — waiting for it all to be over, all while performing in a silly, terrible play day after day.”

Will's life is a copy of Mike's actual life.

Murray also literally pretends to be Yuri in that same episode. Murray becomes Yuri's copy so that he can get Hopper out of prison.

While the characters are at Suzie's house, this poster is positioned between Mike and Will. I'm not an expert, nor am I very familiar with this universe, but the poster reminds me of two dark cosmic spaces overlapping, with other celestial bodies surrounding them. It could evoke the idea of two dimensions connecting.

With Finn Wolfhard's new album,i can't help but notice many similarities when it comes to this theory,even some of other theories when it comes to his album cover being Pink/Blue. 

Finn has two soldiers on his album cover, and they both represent him-his past and his future. Finn even said it himself: he is shooting himself on the cover. The soldier dressed in orange/pink is shooting the soldier wearing blue and yellow.

As we can see, it's winter, and everything is covered in snow. (He likes it cold.) Meanwhile, the forest is shaped like a ship (rainbow ship)

Ultimately, I think the entire image is about Mike killing Will within the story. Will represents Mike's trauma and in order to heal from that trauma, Mike has to say goodbye to Will his other version and accept what happened to him instead of keep coping by imagining it happened to his friend Will who was attacked by monster

Mike even tells Holly in s5e1 that "Mike the Brave" fights sorcerers and Will is the sorcerer. Joyce tells Will that he will stab Vecna with his own sword, yet Will is the one Mike refers to as Vecna. It is Will who will ultimately be stabbed by Mike's sword. 

Another thing I believe killing Will represents for Mike is the destruction of his male version of himself. I truly believe Mike is trans and there is far too much evidence to dismiss this theory.

That's why I mentioned Finn's album cover being pink and blue, which are colors associated with the trans flag. That's also why so much of the show revolves around girlhood, monsters being shaped like female genitalia cause of trans girl going through gender dysphoria and similar themes.

Will himself specifically mentions that he doesn't like girls and calls Mike "his Tammy." Max tells Holly, "You are your brother." Nikki is clearly Mike's self-insert and Patty from The First Shadow is also a self-insert for Mike in many ways.

By killing Will, Mike will essentially kill a part of himself. We will most likely then finally see the real world. The fake timeline in which Will exists will no longer exist and we will see the real world without the supernatural.

Mike will finally accept herself and become the woman she was always meant to be.

part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4

While Will obviously isn't real because the supernatural itself isn't real and the entire story is meta, within the meta-story, Will could still be considered a real entity, but as “the Thing,” almost like an alien.

In the final credits, Will's origins are explained:

“Hailed from beyond the Astral Plane, drawn to the Prime Plane by forces of imaginative power.”

In Dungeons & Dragons, the Prime Plane is Earth. It literally says that Will came from another dimension and was drawn to Earth.

Will is constantly shown next to The Thing poster in Mike's basement. While they're playing Dungeons & Dragons, Will and Mike sit opposite each other, and The Thing poster is positioned directly next to Will. The same idea appears in this poster, where the Demogorgon resembles the Thing while Will stands in front of it, almost making Will and the Thing synonymous. Meanwhile, Mike is positioned beneath Will, which I believe is a hint that Will is the Thing taking on Mike's human form, not in exactly the same way as in the movie, but through a similar concept. Will the Thing swapped places with Mike and is now the boy who disappeared instead of Mike.

We even have a scene where Joyce says about Will's body, “That thing is not my son.” Of course, Joyce and the audience know that the body is a doll, but I think this is also a hint that even the Will we're seeing in the Upside Down isn't the actual boy who disappeared. Instead, he's “the Thing.”

So where did Will actually come from?

I believe he came from the egg Hopper touched, the same egg the Duffer Brothers repeatedly hinted was important. And, of course, it's significant that Hopper is the one who finds it.

The show's official account even posted the egg and said, “It's Will Byers.” Cause Will is inside of that egg.

Will is often associated with dragons. He's either drawing or painting them and he has dragon drawings on his walls. He also has a comic book about dragons inside Castle Byers. I mean, the entire show is literally based on a game called Dungeons & Dragons.

I think Will's association with dragons is connected to the idea that he's actually a dragon's baby or, more accurately, the Demogorgon's.

Meanwhile, if you look closely inside the egg, it almost resembles Castle Byers, the place where Will was hiding. The american flag is way higher than the rest and it makes me believe that the higher thing we see inside of egg is the american flag, So i think Will inside of castle Byers is what was inside of that egg demogorgon was eating which El found and then opened the gate.

Now, I know you might say, “But we saw Will being taken...”

Yeah, we saw Will disappearing, but this is the same show that repeatedly talks about memories being manipulated.

Meanwhile, in the scene where Will is inside Castle Byers, before he is supposedly taken by the Demogorgon, we hear the exact same scream El makes when she touches the Demogorgon, the one that was eating the egg Hopper later finds. Unfortunately i can't post the video of El screaming when she opens the gate after touching the demogorgon cause tumblr allows me to post only one video, but you will hear how her scream in s1e6 sounds very similar to the scream we hear in this clip before Will gets taken to the library. So this was El's scream for sure.

So how is it possible that El opened the gate while Will had already been taken? El opening the gate was supposedly the reason Will was taken in the first place.

They also show us Will inside Castle Byers, hearing the Demogorgon before he is taken to the library, even though El had already been in the Void, talking to Will while trying to find him.

Like I said, everyone's memories are being manipulated in this show—including ours, lol.

All of this makes me believe that Will was inside the egg the Demogorgon was eating. El touched that Demogorgon, which caused the gate to open.

There's also an interesting scene in Season 3 where Max asks Will whether he drank chemicals like the Flayed. Will says no, but he doesn't seem entirely honest. Max then says that drinking those chemicals could kill you.

Lucas responds, “Yeah, if you're human.”

Now, why do I believe Mike was the child who was actually taken in the real timeline?

Let's start with the most obvious clue. While Will's fake body is found in the lake, it's Mike we see falling off the cliff. We also see Mike's parents, although I don't believe they are his real parents watching the news, where it says that another body was found in that lake in 1976.

Mike is also in the shot when the characters mention that they have another kidnapping case.

When Owens describes all the PTSD symptoms connected to the one-year anniversary, Mike is the one experiencing them more strongly than Will. Mike is the one who lashes out, get's irritable, not Will. In the same episode he get's scolded by Karen for lashing out at the teacher and doing other bad things like graffitiing the bathroom stall. Owens mentions personality changes which is what this is all about. Mike's personality split cause of what happened to him and created Will Byers.

The only time we hear the bullies make homophobic comments about Will, Will isn't even there. Instead, Mike is the focus of the scene, making it seem as though the insults are actually directed at him.

And ask yourself: isn't it strange that Dustin is insulted because of his disability, Lucas because of his race and Will because of his sexuality, while Mike is simply called “Frogface”?

In a show about outcasts, Mike is clearly the central character of Season 1. So why is he the only one whose insult seems so superficial?

In this poster, Mike and Will are positioned similarly. They're both carrying their bags in the same way and almost look like twins.

Mike is also connected to the number 22. Will's birthday is March 22, and Mike has a birthday cup in his basement.

In S2 Mr Clarke is saying to his class all living things respond to danger, "expose a bacterium to a toxic chemical and it will flee" and while camera is on Mike who's looking at Will's empty chair Clarke says "or deploy some other defense mechanism" It's literally about Mike projecting his trauma on his imaginary friend Will which is his defense mechanism. Then literally next scene is of posessed Will and Clark says "we're very much the same."

Cause Mike and Will ofcourse are the same person. He describes how we feel fear when we encounter danger while Will is looking at the bathtub cause mindflayer "likes it cold". It's Mike's trauma haunting Will as always. Bathtubs in general in the show have SA imagery.  Bathroom is the most intimate place where you could be and the show always shows how privacy is important. But it's clear Mike's privacy was broken in the bathroom and that's why all of this is happening. 

Will tells Mike that he is caught between two slides: one is the Upside Down, and the other is their world. But, of course, I believe the real meaning is that one slide represents Will himself, while the other represents Mike.

Mr. Clarke talks about Phineas Gage and how an iron rod was driven completely through his head. By drawing the iron rod, Mr. Clarke creates imagery of a split, which is emphasized even further through the projector, once again creating double imagery.

While Mr. Clarke says that Phineas Gage survived and appeared to be fine, Mike is positioned in the center of the shot. I believe this is because the scene is actually about Mike, not Will.

The camera then focuses on Will and afterward on Max, who is standing behind him, while Mr. Clarke says, “But his injury resulted in a complete change to his personality.”

Because Will is not only another version of Mike, but Max is as well.

There's a reason Mike and Max are so similar: I believe they are also the same person. As you know, Max's song is “Running Up That Hill,” which is about two people switching places. Of course, I don't think this is only about Mike and Will, I believe it also applies to Mike and Max.

Max isn't real. That's why she stands next to News from Space. Within the story, she is a type of alien, just like Will.

“Running Up That Hill” is about a woman and a man swapping places. Some members of the LGBTQ+ community have described the song as a trans anthem, which is another reason why i believe the show chose it.

Mike isn't gay, she's a trans girl. I've already made a few posts about this here, here, and my reply to another post that noticed how much gender imagery this show has. Brionysea also has posts about trans Mike and thanks to their posts, I realized that Mike is a trans girl rather than a gay boy.

I believe the story is about Mike wanting to switch places with Max, to be a girl, experience girlhood with El instead of dating her and ultimately end up with...Lucas.

Yes, I believe that in reality, Mike wants to be with Lucas, while Max represents what Mike wants to be. The author of the theory I posted at the very beginning of Part 1, the theory that Will and Mike are the same person revealed this.

Just think about it. Why do you think Lucas was so determined to find Will, but later barely interacted with him? It's because Mike is the actual friend Lucas was actually trying to find in the reality.

Lucas consistently seems to be the closest to Mike out of all his friends and the two are almost inseparable throughout Seasons 3 and 5. There is even an entire conflict between them because Lucas is jealous of El cause of Mike and the script confirmed it.

Lucas is Mike's real love interest, not Will.

Then, in Season 2, Mike is jealous of Max. You'll also notice that Karen calls Mike handsome, which Mike clearly dislikes. She then says, “Mike,” and the very next scene shows Lucas reflected in a mirror, saying, “Hey... wanna dance?”

Meanwhile, Erica teases Lucas while wearing a pink, blue, and white sweater, the colors of the trans flag.

While Mike is a trans girl, I believe Lucas was also in love with Mike during their childhood and is bisexual.

Why do you think Lucas is there with Mike and Will when they panic after seeing girls' underwear at the mall? Or when they see half-naked men in the sauna? I believe those scenes are queercoding Lucas as well, not only Mike and Will.

The same applies to the scene where Will and Mike are standing in the fruit section of the store while pineapples are positioned behind Lucas in Season 3.

Erica also tells Jason about Lucas, “Chances are, he's with your cheating boyfriend,” implying that Lucas and Jason may have something going on and that Lucas is cheating on him with another guy. Erica also says that Lucas was hiding something under the bed, which is definitely interesting.

Also, in the Surfer Boy Pizza scene in Season 4, Mike initially refuses to eat pineapple pizza (while Lucas was shown in s3 standing in front of pineapples at the store), but then Mike tries it and ends up liking it.Lucas is also wearing a shirt similar to the one he wore in Season 1. In that scene, Lucas is jealous because Mike skipped school to spend time with El.

You'll notice that during the lyrics in the “Running Up That Hill” scene with Vecna:

“Oh, come on, baby Oh, come on, darlin' Let me steal this moment from you now Oh, come on, angel Come on, come on, darlin' Let's exchange the experience”

Max's memories mainly involve Lucas and experiencing girlhood with El.

And, of course, the line “Let me steal this moment from you now” is repeated twice. During those lyrics, Mike looks at Max while she is skating. I believe this is about Mike wanting to steal Max's moments and become her.

Or, more accurately, Max is stealing Mike's moments because she isn't real. She's part of Mike's mind, a representation of Mike's desire to be a girl.

Although I will say that I'm not claiming Max isn't real in the same way as Will, not with 100% certainty. I do find this whole idea of “exchanging experiences” interesting, especially since both El and Lucas, who are Mike's and Max's love interests, appear in Max's memories. While El may be present in Max's memories because Mike wants to experience girlhood, it's also possible that this is connected to Mike and Max exchanging their love interests. There are some hints that there might be something more between Max and El, so maybe they even end up together. Max is trans coded as well. Since after all Running up that hill is her song, Owens thought she was "he" when El was worried about her and Holly said she was "Meg's dad"

I believe this show has always been more focused on girlhood than homosexuality. That's why there is such a strong focus on Nancy losing her only female friend and losing her virginity. Then there's El, who cries about the girlhood she could never have because she was trapped in the lab.We also see El's friendship with Max, Nancy's friendship with Robin and Nancy's Season 3 storyline involving misogynistic journalists. Then we see Holly enjoying her girlhood in Creel house and her friendship with Max.

Mike wants girlhood more than anything, but she can't allow herself to enjoy it because she keeps repressing who she is and sabotaging herself.

part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4

This incredible theory on Reddit opened my eyes and helped me connect so many dots I had previously missed. The entire theory is built around the idea that Mike has DID and that all the characters we're seeing are his alters.

The most obvious example of DID hints in the show is Henry/One/Vecna. Then there's Billy meeting another version of himself in the Upside Down. There are also a lot of DID-related hints throughout the Nina storyline.

The entire show is meta, and none of the supernatural events we're seeing actually happened. Instead, they are allegories for Mike's trauma, which occurred in the real timeline, a world without anything supernatural.

While I agree with many of the points the author of the theory brings up, there are some aspects where my interpretation differs from theirs. For example, I have a different opinion about who Mike's real father actually is and about which characters are still real outside of the meta story. El, for instance-I honestly believe she's real and I'll explain why later as I continue.

Within the meta-story, I do believe the government is watching the characters and manipulating their memories, making them believe they are someone else. All of the main characters went through MKUltra. Terry's sister, Becky, mentions MKUltra for the first time when Hopper and Joyce are investigating Jane's past.

I believe Joyce, El, Nancy, Hopper, Mike, and the other characters have been brainwashed and aren't living the lives they originally had.

Outside of this meta-story, Mike is most likely going through some kind of Nina-style experiment, similar to El. I think that by the end he will become aware that he's trapped in a dream world or he may already be aware of it by this point in Season 5.

At this point there's a reason Mike is called "the heart." He is what keeps the supernatural world alive. All the monsters are created and controlled by him or more accurately they exist inside his mind. Mike is the system and everything is connected to him.

In Season 1, Dustin says that the Upside Down is right next to you and that you don't even see it. Mike is standing right next to him because the Upside Down is Mike's mindscape.

In Season 2, there's a hub inside the tunnels called "the brain." Mike stands in the middle of the hub drawing and later Steve says "We found your hub Wheeler." Hopper says that getting to Mike is the key and then he spends the entire season 3 looking for keys so he can close the gate.

While Hopper and Joyce are on their way to close the gate, a soldier asks them, "Did Mikhail send for you?" Mikhail is the Russian version of Michael. Michael is the one who rules the Upside Down because he is the Dungeon Master and the Upside Down is his mindscape.

In Season 4, the characters say they need to stab Vecna's heart and Mike is repeatedly called "the heart." Mike is the one controlling everything or more accurately his emotions and trauma are the source of everything happening in the story.

I will now explain why Will isn't real, but was actually Mike's imaginary friend from childhood, created by Mike himself at the moment of his abuse. That's when Mike's personality split, with one of the resulting personalities becoming Will Byers.

While Will was taken by the Demogorgon, there have been theories suggesting that in the original timeline, he was actually taken and abused by his father. Then Will died and Mike reversed time so that Will could live. That's supposedly how the Upside Down was created.

However according to the theory I posted, there is strong evidence suggesting that it was actually Mike who was taken and abused by his father. As a way of coping with his trauma, Mike imagined that the abuse had happened to his imaginary friend, Will. As a child with an extremely vivid imagination, he imagined that Will had been taken and abused by the Demogorgon instead of imagining that it had happened to him at the hands of his own father.

"Running Up That Hill" is especially significant because it isn't only about Max. It connects to multiple characters throughout the show, particularly Mike and Will. As you know, the lyrics say:

"And if I only could, I'd make a deal with God and I'd get Him to swap our places."

Mike swapped places with Will as a way of coping with what his father did to him.

Of course, Mike's real father isn't Ted. Like I said, within the meta-story, I believe some characters have switched places. They are being drugged, have been brainwashed through MKUltra and no longer remember their past lives.

That's why Henry's speech in Season 4 is so important. I believe he revealed what is actually happening within the story we're currently watching:

"A cruel, oppressive world dictated by made-up rules: seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades — each life a faded, lesser copy of the one before. Wake up, eat, work, reproduce, and die. Everyone is just waiting — waiting for it all to be over, all while performing in a silly, terrible play day after day."

This is exactly what I believe is happening with Will and Mike. Will is Mike's copy and Mike projects his trauma onto his imaginary friend as a way of protecting himself. It's his way of coping with what his father did to him. And of course, within the meta-story, the government/HNL is manipulating everyone. The characters are copies of other characters and some like Will aren't even real. Everyone is a puppet in a stupid, silly play orchestrated by the lab, much like Truman was in The Truman Show.

None of them are living their actual lives, and many of them are most likely not even with their real families.

I honestly believe Ted works for the lab, which could explain why he's always at home despite supposedly having a job that earns him a six-figure salary. I also don't think Lonnie we saw in Season 1 is the real Lonnie. The fact that he appeared only a few times and then disappeared as if he had never existed makes me think that he might work for the lab as well. Although Lonnie has been portrayed as a deadbeat father and there are implications that he sexually abused his children, I don't believe he's the real Lonnie-the father who abused his child, who I believe was Mike in reality.

Lonnie is a supplanter: someone who takes on the role of another father in the story, the one who actually abused his child in reality. The same applies to Will, who isn't actually real and has taken Mike's place in the story. I'm also convinced that Jonathan isn't real either and it's possible that he has taken Nancy's place. Nancy, unlike Jonathan, is a real person and I'll explain why.

As we know, mirrors represent the truth in the show: they reveal what is actually happening to the characters. Lonnie tells Jonathan to take down the poster because it's inappropriate. The poster depicts a woman being choked and assaulted by a tree. Then, in the very next scene, we see Mike reflected in a mirror, saying, “Dad, you're choking me.” Mike is represented by this girl, the one being assaulted and choked by her father. Then we see Nancy reflected in a mirror as well, with her parent standing behind her and it's clear that she feels suffocated by them. I honestly believe Nancy is the real Jonathan of the story while Mike is the real Will. The scene then transitions to the dog inside Castle Byers and afterward we see Jonathan without a parent there to fix his tie. While this is obviously meant to show that Lonnie is a deadbeat father, I think there is also a double meaning: Jonathan doesn't actually have a parent because he isn't real.

Like I said, I know all of this sounds insane, but we're watching a show based on a conspiracy theory called Montauk. Immediately after Nancy and Jonathan's first kiss in Season 2, we see Erica holding Barbie and He-Man and using them to imitate the kiss. Lucas then tells Erica that Barbie and He-Man aren't even from the same planet. Nancy also says that her boyfriend is an alien in Tales of '85.

There's a reason Jonathan repeatedly says, “I should have been there,” and why Joyce says that he acts as if he's all alone.

While I do believe Joyce is real, unlike her children, I don't think she is Mike's mother. She is a member of his family and I will explain exactly who she is as well as who Mike's real parents are as I continue explaining the overall story. I will also explain Nancy and Jonathan in more detail along with what is really going on with El.

As we know, Holly keeps seeing Mr. Whatsit, who is her "imaginary friend" at least, that's what everyone around her thinks. She's at the playground, talking to the air and her teacher sees her doing it. Later, Karen argues with Ted at home about Holly's situation.

Now, this is the part that makes me believe this theory might actually be true because the writers couldn't have made these details more obvious. Karen says that Holly having an imaginary friend would be normal if she were five years old.

Didn't Mike also meet a friend whose name starts with W when he was five? They were both at a playground as well. Didn't Max also tell Holly, "You are your brother"? We have a child whose episode is called "The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler," just like Will had "The Vanishing of Will Byers," and later, she's told, "You are your brother." So, another child disappears and is then compared to Mike.

Do you remember when they still didn't want to reveal which Wheeler had been taken, even though everyone already knew it was Holly? The episode title was “The Vanishing of _____ Wheeler.”

Maybe just maybe the entire show is based on the idea that Mike was the child who was actually taken, while he swapped place with Will.

Already back in 2016 they posted that Will wasnt the first missing child nor El is the first experiment. https://x.com/Stranger_Things/status/761696510220259328?s=20

Holly herself stands in front of the mirror when Karen says she was talking into thin air. Cause Holly is Mike's mirror. That's why she had such a huge role in S5.

You'll notice that in Episode 1, the moment Holly sees Mr. Whatsit who is visible only to her, there are blue and yellow swings behind her, as well as a blue and yellow roundabout. When she is talking to him, there are two bikes next to them that represent Mikes and Wills bikes.

Of course, fans said that Karen's scene in the hospital, where she writes down Henry's name, was useless and unnecessary because we already knew that he was Henry. However, the moment Nancy says that his name is Mr. Whatsit, the scene transitions to Will walking through the woods because Will is Mr. Whatsit: Mike's imaginary friend.

Karen also writes, "Teacher saw talking to W. Nobody was there." There's a reason Karen writes only the letter W instead of writing out "Whatsit": it's about Will. On the day Mike met Will, Mike was talking to the air because nobody was actually there. Will isn't real. The teacher saw Mike talking to no one.

Karen then describes W the same way Holly described him to her: "He wears a vest. He's gentle and kind." Does that remind you of anyone?Will said it himself: "I was here." Because, in that moment, he was Mr. Whatsit. He is Vecna, Holly's or rather Mike's imaginary friend.

Just think about it. Why even do this scene at all? Nancy and Mike are smart enough to figure out Holly having some invisible guy as her friend would mean it is Vecna most likely. There was no point of this scene other than to give you a clue that Will is this invisible friend for Mike who doesn't exist in reality. That's also why the camera focuses on Mike during the line "Teacher saw talking to W." Holly is Mike and Will is Mr. Whatsit.

As we know, swings keep appearing throughout the show. There is a major reason they keep appearing and they are hiding the full truth about what Mike and Will's friendship really means.

Another interesting playground scene involving the swings is when El sees a mother pushing her daughter on one swing while the swing beside them is empty. El then thinks about the time she asked Hopper whether she had a mother. Hopper tells her, "You couldn't be born without one."

El's thoughts are interrupted by the woman and El uses her powers to move only one swing while the other remains completely still.

Funnily enough, El's outfit is very similar to Will's outfit in this scene from Season 1. This is also the same scene where Joyce says to Will, “Well, I don't know who's been raising you.” Well, it certainly wasn't you Joyce.

I understand that this could imply that El isn't real either or that she doesn't have a mother. However, I have my own strong reasons for believing that El is real which i will explain later. Right now i am focusing on Will. I honestly think El keeps being given scenes like this because she is the only character with powers or at least, that's what the show has led us to believe. She has also been described as an E.T.-like character by the showrunners from the very beginning. She says she doesn't belong anywhere. Out of all the characters, El would therefore be the most obvious person to assume isn't real.

However, I believe El is being used as a false lead for another important character who doesn't actually exist: Will. And I will explain more suspicious scenes involving Will that provide strong evidence that he isn't actually real.

Fans have theorized that Will is being erased from the memories of the other characters, but maybe the reason is that he was never in those memories to begin with.

Another major clue comes when Max and El are talking about boys while, at the same time, we see the boys talking as well. Max tells El that she's going to act like Mike "doesn't exist," which El then repeats. The very next scene shows Lucas and Mike talking about girls while acting as if Will doesn't exist.

Will says, "Guys, I'm still here," when Lucas and Mike go upstairs and leave him behind. That "Thing" poster next to Will is a major hint for what is going on with him. In general, throughout almost the entire third season, it feels as though Will isn't really there. I believe his friends constantly ignoring him and his tendency to remain behind them almost like an afterthought is a hint that he isn't real.

When Dustin is trying to contact Suzie on the hill, the camera moves from Will to Lucas and Max. Max then says, “Dustin, come on! She’s not there.” Of course, like many Stranger Things scenes, this moment has a double or rather, multiple meanings. On a deeper level, the line may also be implying that Will isn’t there. Will says, "Maybe Cerebro isn't working," while Lucas immediately responds, "Maybe Suzie doesn't exist." This is the same Suzie who was reading The Wizard of Earthsea, which has a purple cover, and had a giant purple Wizard of Oz poster in the background of her room.

What is purple connected to in the show? Illusion. This has become clear after Purple rain scene where i believe El wasn't really at the gate, it was Kali's illusion who i also believe is alive, at least in the story, she is not real in reality. Otherwise El wouldn't be able to use her powers to contact Mike in the void. And yes, i do believe the void scene is real cause Mike himself has powers and this was another evidence. Only people with powers or those who are flayed can see El in the void and can talk to her. Meanwhile, Will's wizard costume is purple and he's also called an "illusionist." Obviously fans immediately assumed this was a hint that Will has illusion powers like Kali, but I think it's actually meant to suggest that Will himself is an illusion.

When the Cali gang is in Suzie's house, Will constantly disappears from the frame and is no longer visible. This happens multiple times throughout the scenes set inside that house. But of course, not only with Will, but Jonathan as well cause Jonathan isn't real either. It's only Mike and Argyle who are always shown. Then Will disappears again when Brenner is lying in the desert, even though the other characters remain visible.

Or take the scene where Dustin comes home: everyone can be seen except Will, who is standing behind Dustin. Dustin is wearing a green shirt that says, "Camp Know Where." Let's not forget the end credits, where Mike and El are skating together while Will is nowhere to be seen behind them. It was always about the fact that Will doesn't exist, not about them erasing him. That's also another evidence that El is real unlike Will. When Dustin is trying to contact everyone in the mall, the camera focuses on Will and Jonathan as Dustin asks, "Is anyone there?"

Argyle saying small woman in the desert would be hard to see.

Is Mike "the invisible woman"?

Unlike Lucas and Dustin in S1, Mike immediately warms up to a girl who looks like a boy and is clearly different so he can relate to her. He showed her his house happily before he even knew she knew about Will. El's arc in S1 is very much trans coded and in many ways i believe it's analogy for Mike being trans. Mike gives a girl who looks like a boy his clothes,hides her in his closet and then his mom tells him he doesn't have to hide anything from her. Mike knows how to do make up and has sisters clothes in his basement. He gives Pink dress to El and does her make up, projecting what he wishes to be. This is even more obvious when Mike in blue clothes stands behind El in pink dress in the mirror who is experiencing girlhood for the first time. If a girl is experiencing girlhood for the first time,why putting boy behind her? Unless he's experiencing it as well and wishes to look like her. Compare this to him being rude towards Max and immediately disliking her when he meets her. Max who has a beautiful long hair and has all the boys going crazy for her and he wishes he could be her. Meanwhile Max's main song in S4 is running up that hill which is about woman and a man swapping places, queer people for years have been saying this song is trans coded. They knew what they were doing while picking that song

Mike is looking for dart in the gym and finds Max and says to her : "This is the boys room."

Max: "Yeah,so?"

Mike: " So it means you should go home"

Why even speciffically saying she should go home cause it's the "boys room"? What does this have to do with him mentioning her gender now and getting so defensive.

Demogorgon looks like a vagina,the gate looks like vagina and El going through it looks like birth. Mindflayer in S3 as well looks like vagina and in S5 as well. I doubt that monsters look like female genitalia cause of the creator being gay and scared of it. Makes more sense it's trans girl experiencing gender dysphoria and we see her POV through supernatural. Even Vecna doesn't have penis and is connected to the vines like black widow.

And Mike goes to girls toilet at rinkomania looking for El and the girls tell him to get out while they're wearing pink,white and Blue(colors of trans Flag)

S3 focused heavily on gender roles like Nancy's journalist plot, Joyce does it with Hopper as well and Max&El talk about boys being terrible while they're experiencing girlhood. Mike who goes through internalized transphobia and is trying this whole season being this masculine straight dude says "women act on emotions and not logic". Meanwhile Mike says "screw logic" to Dustin in S1. Mike then get's attacked for being too emotional instead of using logic while discussing about El's powers.

S4 again shows how important hair is,they focus on Hopper being shaved while El get's buzzcut again. Meanwhile in S4 Mike has long hair,but at the beginning of S5 the party says they have to blend in and Mike is back to wearing clothes his mother buys (which looks like his dads clothes) and has short hair

Max says Holly is her brother Mike and Holly has tons of parallels with her brother. We see Holly enjoying herself in Creel house, experiencing girlhood,trying on dresses and the first dress we see in the closet is a pink dress that had the same shade as the dress El wore in S1. Why was that so important to show? Her doing this by herself and song about being alone is playing. Almost like that's what little Mike was doing while his family was away,trying on his old sisters clothes and having fun. That's why we see a scene of Mike in S1 getting scared when Karen comes and has to hide his symbol of femininity (El) in the closet. Cause Mike would try on his sisters clothes and immediately had to hide when his mother arrives. Meanwhile while El is alone in the house, wearing Mike's clothes,she goes to Nancy's room and wanting girlhood she was never allowed to experience. She represents Mike in that moment, even if their reasons for not having girlhood are different.

Since we're talking about Pink,this color is so important in the show, especially Pink/blue combination. Nancy in S1 wears light pastel colors, especially Pink and has a light pink room that screams girlhood. Meanwhile Mike's room is blue and dark, almost feels suffocating just like the masculinity that is forced on him,Mike even says "dad you're choking me" while Ted is putting a tie on him. Nancy again wears light pink colors in S5 and Jonathan somehow has to mention he threw her pink sweater cause it was Pink. Why? It was so out of Jonathans character, but i think this was a hint for Will being disappointed that Mike is trans. Vickie is dressed in pink uniform and Robin plays for her "pretty in pink" ,lyrics goes "she loves to be one of the girls"

Mr Whatsit in Stranger things is a man while in Wrinkle of time is a woman and Mike speciffically mentions that(Mike always at the scene of the crime)

In The first shadow Henry looks like he's trying on mothers dress. A vision also appears to him and mindflayer is a woman disguised as Patty who's ripping of her hair. Cast members call mindflayer "Mindy" which is similar to Mike and mindflayer is called Mindy on WSQK as well . Patty also often get's compared to Mike and is meant to be his parallel. Just like Nikki in Tales of 85.

I think femininity is even bigger part of Stranger things than homosexuality,but we confuse those things cause of the AIDS metaphors and Will being bullied for being gay. But even bigger part we see in the show is girlhood,huge focus on Nancy losing her virginity and losing her best friend,El herself experiencing girlhood and being friends with Max. Chrissy who was a first victim and had ED directly parallels Mike,they both have abusive mothers(that's a whole other theory i have,Karen is way worse than people think)and eating disorders. So much food mentions around Mike and him being called a twig cause he's a trans girl struggling with her body. Women in general had bigger roles in the show, the only male role that was big every season is Hopper who's definition of toxic masculinity.