nina

Will is Vecna's vessel, Will is still being Vecna'd.

Why, you may ask?

Well.

A lot of people have noticed things being off, for example, why was Will so easy to save? It was supposed to be almost impossible for el to enter his mind, and yet they easily managed to do it and SAVE him? Doesn't make that much sense. I found that quite weird, and strange. Unless he was supposed to be saved –

In episode 6, Vecna says "You will be my spy" or something like that (I do not have the direct quote), just like in episode 6 of season 2 (The Spy) Will was a spy for the mind flayer and led the demodogs to the party. In season 5, episode 6 – Will was a spy for VECNA. And led the demodogs towards Max. Which is very clear and easily set up in the episode, however. I have some issues.

Why was Will Vecna'd? His eyes bled, which is one of the issues that are caused by being Vecna'd, and being vecna'd doesn't automatically relate to being a spy, as you are sent to a mindscape. A mindscape in which Max "looked for the light".

This reminded me of when Will told Joyce he looked for happiness, the parts of his life which made him feel happy and loved – which is quite similar to the way Max dealt with her vecna–ing. This leads me to believe that maybe all the scenes after Will got Vecna'd aren't real. They're all in his head, and BECAUSE el is in his mindscape when she saves him, she could be trapped in there too, which is why she sees all these scenes as well, because they both believe it's a reality. Which is why many of the scenes were quite hard to follow and felt so rushed at the end of episode 7. And quite a few of the parts didn't necessarily make sense. Melvads general store for milkshakes? That was weird, and what I believe after I've seen many theories online about it too, is the fact when Henry was a child, Melvads was a DINER, a diner in which one could get milkshakes.

Henry's memories are bleeding into Wills and making him think differently, see the world differently. Which would make sense in his mindscape if he WAS being vecna'd, because when NANCY was vecna'd, she saw Henry's history and past. (This is backed up by Holly's mindscape, where some of her memories are altered - e.g. the playground where the middle circle was grey instead of yellow.) And there have been parallels of Nancy and Will being vecna'd because of these two images:

Which would make sense for seeing Henry's memories, and as Will has already been paralleled with Henry MANY times, that makes sense for why his memories would bleed into Wills.

ASWELL as when Robin and Will go to the playground Will says "I was him... I was Vecna."

Which shows that he is able to see through Vecna's eyes (and or demogorgons) already, so if he was vecna'd, Vecna could be living through him and his mindscape which is actually very plausible as I think the fact Vecna is changing between 001, Henry and Vecna he could get lost and accidentally change into will for a while (while affecting his mindscape), as we see Mike isn't talking to Will as much, and a lot of people are acting differently, which I choose to believe is because his mindscape is affected.

OR (and this is the most likely one)

Will is still Vecna's vessel, or is his Vessel AGAIN.

There has been a lot of vessel imagery in the last few episodes. For example, When will is talking to joyce about vessels, there is a painting of a ship (a vessel) on the wall behind him.

And when he is in bed and el finds him, there are wheels (or also steering wheels of a ship) on the bed.

When will is trapped by Vecna, Vecna says "You were my vessel. My spy. The builder." Which is past tense. However, Builder is not. There are no past, present or future for that one, not even my just The Builder. Which is interesting meaning that Will would also still be building the upside down or possibly Dimension X. As well as that he also says "My spy one last time."

The time frame for that line obviously isn't confirmed or shown to be just the scene we saw of Vecna and will. The sentence also plays again AFTER will is saved from vecna by el, when he is sitting on the bed, in front of the painting on his own.

We also get a clip of his hands fidgeting, which is the same position that will has his hands in in a scene from episode 5, shock jock. It's also very similar to the position Henry often has his hands in:

Now that may not seem important, but this standing position is the same position as FLAYED Billy, who also happened to be a spy and a vessel in season 3. While Billy was a spy for the mind flayer, the mind flayer is heavily connected to Vecna, just as Will is connected to both the mindflayer and Vecna, as Billy 'became' part of the mindflayer he started to act strange and position himself like that, which would make sense if Vecna 'became' part of will.

Now, the will easily getting saved can go both ways, he's still vecna'd OR he was supposed to be saved so that vecna can get to know their plan, this is a parallel to season 2, which is where will was let in on the plan and accidentally told vecna and the demodogs where he was, which made it easier for their plans to be foiled.

Another thing that could go both ways is this quote: "I was him... I was Vecna."

Will previously has been possessed by the mind flayer, and not Vecna, but was able to lead the demogorgons and spy on their plans. This season, we learn Vecna is also able to do this, but there isn't any mind flayer in sight, and we certainly haven't seen it possess will. So if Will is able to do this again... The only valid option is that Vecna has possessed him, or he is a vessel again. Which was his titled in season 2.

Going back to the whole Melvad's milkshake thing, again, it's from the 1950s -> 1960s which is when Henry was in school. Another inconsistency in the story and Will's memories. A memory from Henry's time period that Will wouldn't have known about, let alone be able to experience.

If Will WAS a vessel for Vecna again, he would also be a vessel for Henry and 001, as when Holly and Max are trapped at the wheeler house, Vecna is switching between all three forms. Which makes me wonder that when Will fought back - in Vecna's body - part of Henry or 001's existence or memories were pushed back into Will to get him to stop. Which would remain in Will due to the fact Will became Vecna for a while. Which again, the line "I was him... I was Vecna." could be foreshadowing for.

Then there is the high possibility of playgate happening, which would be when Henry was a child around Will's age. As we are shown (thanks to Max), 1959 is part of Henry's memories, if these memories were in Henry's head still, they could be going into Will's which is why he was so confident when he talked about Melvad's.

Not to mention all the times Will and Henry have been paralleled (along with the byler/creelby parallels) which just creates a stronger base for my theory.