icedpeas

now i need to preface with this; i know hardly anything about dnd! but the conflicting answers from the duffers about will’s powers being innate caused lots of reason to question what that actually meant.

i saw a tiktok of someone going into a deep dive proving that will actually doesn’t fit into the class of sorcerer at all, but rather a warlock. however, i’ve also seen good arguments on why will’s powers could still fit into being a sorcerer. either way will doesn’t exactly fit the bill.

now you could argue the duffers just don’t know or care, but they had a literal dnd expert on set. they did this because they wanted to get everything related to the game correct. (or at least they did at one point)

will is called a sorcerer multiple times, mostly by mike. there’s two soundtracks named after will’s sorcerer status, and they even go as far as to have will try and argue he’s not a sorcerer despite the show shoving it in our faces. i mean, they had to know what they were implying right?

they’re saying they’re not innate “in that sense”… so…in what sense are they innate? mike and erica in ep5 once again reiterate that they’re innate and that’s why he’s a sorcerer. vecna himself tells will there’s great power WITHIN him. it’s all so confusing it makes my brain hurt but there’s a few ways it could make sense, one of the main reasons being mike and his involvement in will’s film reel.

the duffers have also commented on the film reel and mentioned they wanted to use the same memories that broke will out of possession in season 2. what’s interesting about this is there’s one memory here that was never mentioned in the shed, and that’s mike and will discovering dnd for the first time together. something about this memory is integral to will unlocking his powers. its also likely this memory is when they first chose their dnd roles 🥹

& that brings me back to the field scene, where we hear joyce say “sometimes people just need someone to believe in them, then they can do amazing things.” of course, moments later we see mike doing exactly that. their entire conversation is a huge part of why will gains his powers.

will: “you’re trying to say i’m evil and hellbent on destroying the world?”

will is joking here, but on a bit of a deeper level it represents how he actually felt about himself in the moment, especially before he’s fully accepted who he is.

mike: “no, i’m just saying you’re like a wizard, like him”

this is mikes first dnd connection, and it’s establishing will’s initial class in dnd (of which we already knew)

will: “in dnd mike, not real life”

mike: “true, in real life (not dnd) you’re more like a sorcerer. your powers aren’t from a book of spells, they’re innate”

but like the duffers said, they’re not innate. mike isn’t talking about will’s connection to vecna anymore. he believes that will has something innately powerful inside him and is completely disregarding the technicality of will pulling powers from an external source.

will isn’t weak or a crybaby because of his sensitivity to the hive-mind, and it’s essential that mike is one of the first people to tell him this! he’s also the first person to appear in will’s film reel which was very much intentional lol

will is a sorcerer because who of he is at his core. powers or not, mike wholeheartedly believes in him and this belief from “the storyteller” has manifested into real life. that’s why i think the soundtrack “like a sorcerer” sounds so romantic !! the entire scene is.

wether or not will is a sorcerer by dnd class isn’t important because to mike, he’s now a “real life, honest to god sorcerer.” :)

so robin has been a big part of the story, bigger than i actually expected. (don’t get me wrong i was pleasantly surprised) i would argue she’s been used more than once to communicate codes/messages from the writers (wsqk spotify, snowball>avalanche) and i always wondered if there was something about her code in episode one that i needed to figure out. so let’s unpack it.

“the supremes had 10 songs at the top of the charts”

i think this line is talking about volume 1, sorcerer, the second highest rated episode in all of stranger things.

“she tried to make it big in the movies with the wiz which was a colossal floparoonie”

this line is a direct attack on volume 2, the bridge, which is now stranger things’ lowest rated episode of all time. it mentions the movie “the wiz” which was largely controversial, widely hated, and, as robin said, a colossal flop. robin then says she still liked it, and to give it a chance.

here’s where it gets kind of crazy.

“make sure you bring your supersized popcorn, because this movie has a runtime of over two hours.”

yes, that’s right, our stranger things finale that’s just over 2 hours is going to be in theaters where you can watch while eating your supersized popcorn. robin is telling us that you need to give the finale a chance to explain everything. the writers are aware volume 2 isn’t good, but they’re also confident you’ll like the finale.

oh, and one last thing. there is one other character that mentions “wiz” in this very same episode.

yeahhhh… we usually see mike late in his opening scene. this is the one season we don’t, because he’s “gonna take a whizz”. mike is about to screw up the entire story.

hey everyone. i don’t know if this will get any reach but i wanted to make something to collect all my thoughts i’ve been having on volume 2. i may be playing a bit of devil’s advocate here so i wanna preface with that because i don’t want to give anyone false hope. i want you to draw your own conclusions of course, but i think byler still has a chance. it’s small, but it’s there. it’s clear season 5 has many inconsistencies as well as subtextual hints, so i essentially want to point out which ones have led me to have this sliver of hope.

the duffers have said that by the time season 4 was filmed, the script for season 5 was already finished. which leaves me with even more questions because if this is the case how is the writing so drastically different in season 5? i think there could be an answer to this, and it leads to the final, true villain of stranger things. conformity.

in season 4, eddie, a character who tried to be a hero and died for seemingly no reason (as pointed out by steve in s5) literally says in his first appearance that “conformity is killing the kids.” now this entire scene has been watered down and run into the ground as a joke by the fandom but i think it was a pretty crazy choice to have eddie, who was a character doomed to die a hero for a town that hated him, say something like this in his opening scene. becauseeee… walk with me. he was right. that really IS the real monster.

so where am i going with this? well byler shippers, i want you to think about how you feel right now. disappointed? heartbroken? well you definitely should be. and i think that is exactly how the writers want you to feel. this is why they’re coming out in articles and shutting down all these relationships that you love. they have just written their story to conform with what their general audience would accept. that being said… i don’t think mike and will’s story is over.

you see, if the writing is so terrible this season and some of these god awful scenes somehow made it past a group full of the same writers that wrote the earlier seasons of the show we know and love, i can’t help but think it’s purposeful. and i think it’s because there’s another writer involved that the audience is not yet aware has an impact on the story.

michael wheeler, our story’s writer. the dungeon master of stranger things. the boy will is in love with. and you know, when will has a feeling, it matters.

i know the duffers have shut down stranger things being a d&d game, but i think they’re lying, the same way we thought they were lying about forgetting will’s birthday. there’s a good possibility that the writers and the actors are lying to elicit an outburst from the audience and make the finale that much more emotional. in fact, millie even addresses this d&d game theory on the tonight show, and her response is… interesting to say the least.

hm. makes me think.

there are a few theories on mike’s possible manipulation of the narrative and how the plot is connected to his emotions. (mainly from @/connect-dots7 on tiktok, as well as @/achromatic_wh on twitter!) i don’t really want to make this post all about that but i do think these theories could be the only possible way to save the story.

i would first like to focus on the synopsis of s5e2. the cost of secrecy. this episode is the closest we’ve come to seeing what mike is feeling and even then, he’s acting extremely weird. actually, i think it’s safe to say he’s been acting weird the entire season.

i, like a lot of people, sensed a lot of foreshadowing in mike’s conversation with nancy and lucas at the hospital, and i fear it’s no coincidence that mike was adamant that the attack wasn’t their fault. he’s defending his secrets, his lies.

but as said by our good friend argyle (coincidentally with only mike in frame?) his dominoes are going to fall. there’s going to be an avalanche of secrets.

actually… on the topic of mike’s room, what do we think is going on with the m.c. escher relativity poster below the one way sign? me thinks this is also foreshadowing another part of the finale. sarah from the labyrinth has the very same poster in her room. from what i’ve gathered about the movie the ending pretty much perfectly aligns with what i’m trying to say here. she ends the story by realizing she holds the power over it. sound familiar?

i think mike and will are coming of age at the same time, and their stories are total opposites of each other. one shrouded in darkness, secrecy, shame. the other in truth, light, and love. mike and will escape conformity (the way hawkins has treated them as two queer boys in the 1980s) through fantasy and d&d. this is described in the original pitch of the show.

we’ve been watching both of their stories this entire time without even realizing. will can control the supernatural hivemind. he’s a builder, an artist, and a creator. mike controls the narrative, a writer, dungeon master, a creative mind full of fantasy. mike has lost control of his own story and campaign, therefore so has stranger things.

so this leads me to my final main point. the disaster that is will’s coming out scene.

this scene is such a dumpster fire it’s a pain for me to analyze but i’m gonna try my best to prove my point here.

this scene is presented with love and light, an emotional scene for will. it’s set up to be heartwarming but for byler shippers obviously… that wasn’t really the case. it seems forced, rushed. almost heartbreaking. he seems scared even though he says he’s not, and the camera keeps focusing on mike who is sitting next to will while also saying “it was never about mike”. it quite literally seems like byler shippers are being mocked here.

however, it’s interesting to me that while will is panicking about vecna outing his “secrets”, holly is trying to convince the other children that henry is evil and they don’t believe her; they are worried for her. doesn’t will say everyone is worried for him in his vision from vecna? yup.

derek’s fear of henry causes him to conform with the rest of the children and holly is left to fend for herself. her necklace breaks, and she loses her holly the heroic figure that mike made to keep her safe. the entire ending of ep7 is grim and it’s hard to feel happy about will coming out with everything else going on.

“it doesn’t make any sense, it’s like there’s a missing piece of the puzzle.” - hopper, s5

hopper in s3:

let’s hope that’s true hop…

to conclude everything as best as i can, here’s what i theorize might happen with all the characters based on the details we do have:

- el/kali/hopper/max will be sorting through henry’s memories. i can’t tell if they’ll figure out mike is the root of it all, but they still think vecna/henry is the true villain at this point.

- i think holly will be the one to actually understand henry. she feels sympathy for him while she and max are watching his memory in the cave, which leads me to believe henry (not vecna, who is a flayed corpse of henry) will indeed have a redemption arc. or at least they will try and get the audience to sympathize with him the same way holly will.

- i think the rest of the group (steve, dustin, nancy, jon, etc) will be the ones to reveal what the upside down is. i theorize the upside down also has to do with mike which is why this hasn’t been answered yet. it’s his mindscape of what he felt the night will went missing and may have something to do with the symbolism of mandala which is the game robin and will find in the woods by the school. the mandala spiral represents a reflection of the mind’s inner state at the moment of creation, and the ud is shaped in a circle surrounding hawkins lab. the upside down’s moment of creation was november 6th, 1983. not really sure how else to elaborate because i could be totally wrong lol

- and finally like i said earlier, mike and will are they key to ending the never ending story. i think they’ll face the mind flayer.