Am I still a byler endgame truther after vol 2?
There are two wolves inside me. One still truely believes byler will be canon and that itās the only thing that makes sense, and the other doubts the duffers writing abilities.
But I really just find it hard to believe that after everything, the duffers would suddenly flop in the last four episodes.
I choose to believe in logic, not poor writing, so letās get into some reasons I think byler endgame is the only conclusion that would tie everything up.
The first thing I want to talk about are questions that will be left if byler isnāt canon. Because there will be a lot.
-why did they sideline mikes character if not to withhold his pov on purpose
-why was Mike being weird at the airport
-why go so in depth into byler relationship
-why give Will false hope. I donāt care if itās ārealisticā, no other characters had to go through this even when they had unrequited feelings.
Thereās probably a lot more but Iāll stop for now.
Now I want to mention some things from vol 2 that suggest set up for the last episode.
The first thing Iāll mention is something I havenāt seen anyone else mention.
When Mike and el are talking on the bathtub, el says, this isnāt like one of your campaigns you canāt write the ending
To which Mike responds something like, this is our story and we can write the ending, me, you, Lucas, Will and Dustin.
I think this exchange is significant to the set up of the final episodes.
El directly references dnd and says this is real life and in real life you canāt write what happens,
And who is it that writes what happens in a dnd game?
The dungeon master. Aka. Mike
The players may be the ones to do all the actions along the journey, but in the end, it is still the dungeon master that decides the ending.
I think itās also very significant that the state of milevens relationship is still ambiguous. If they were together, and byler were not going to end up together, then they would have made it clear by now.
The only reason to keep it uncertain is to also make the fate of byler uncertain. Meaning they are either queer baiting us until the end, or they are preserving the plot twist.
One of my biggest proofs for byler endgame are the creelby parallels.
Youāre telling me Henry was taken over by the mind flayer because he was convinced patty turned against him,
And now Will has been shown visions that were apparently terrifying, where everyone left him.
Not showing those visions will saw definitely lessened the emotional impact of them. Which is why I think we are going to see them, but they arenāt going to be exactly what Will described.
Weāve already seen vecna messing with wills memories that involve mike. During sorcerer he showed Will the van scene, only this time Mike didnāt turn to look at him. It was the exact same scene, but Mike didnāt turn his head. I refuse to believe this is a continuity error.
And Mike. There are so many things about Mike which are set up to be addressed. His pov is still being withheld, with his last scenes in vol 2 being him realising that will āhad a crush on himā. Which sets it up still as Mike receiving information but not yet doing anything.
What we know about Mike this season is that he has returned to his role of being a leader, someone people can follow and look up to, just like Will told him he could be. Mike is also using his persona of Mike the brave to keep going even when heās scared.
We havenāt seen Mike actively express any of his fear yet. When his parent got hurt and holly was taken he held it together even when Nancy didnāt. When the kids were taken we didnāt see him actively blaming himself, even though that would be a very Mike thing to do.
Mike comforts others this season over and over again. But thanks to Finnās amazing micro expressions, we can see Mike is holding his own fears and feelings back in order to do this.
He is being Mike the brave, so that he can lead everyone else into battle.
But holly had holly the heroic, and there came a time when holly had to confront the moments she hasnāt lived up to the persona, and to finally fully commit to it.
I think Mike will have a moment like this as well, where his bravery is put into question and he finally does something that makes him truely brave.
And what has Mike not been doing?
Expressing his feelings. To anyone.
Whatās my grand theory?
I think itās actually pretty obvious. Especially when we remember that this season takes inspiration from a wrinkle in time.
Mike will save Will with a love confession.
I think that the exotic matter is in someway tied to will and his trauma, particularly from the day he was taken.
In order to separate from the exotic matter, Will needs to combat it with positive energy. Which is actually a thing in wormhole theory btw.
This part is maybe a bit out there. But I canāt stop thinking about how the door unlatches the night will is being chased by the demogorgon.
I think thereās a chance they will interact with time and realise they will have to set all the events in motion in order to prevent them from happening (kind of like how the time turner works in Harry Potter).
The narrative purpose of this would be Will coming to terms with what has happened to him, and realising he keep on living without having to be define by that trauma.
It would be a very self sacrificial moment, maybe if vecna was trying to convince will he could stop it all from happening to him. But Will has been shown to be a selfless character over and over, and if presented with this choice, knowing it would mean that they win in the end, he would let himself be taken.
I want to make one last mention of a Twitter post from the stranger things writers that has been bothering me for years and still has not been addressed
This. Drives. Me. Insane.
They better bring this up.
But I have a theory for it that is too good to be true.
The thing that confuses me most about this post is the date card they provided. Which is the night Will went missing.
You know what I also canāt stop thinking about. The backpack will was wearing, and how it fell off in the upside down and is likely still wherever he dropped it.
So my theory. Which is too good to be true. Is that the night Will went missing, Mike put this note in wills backpack along with a mixtape. And they will find the backpack in the upside down with these items in it, which will never saw.
This also would explain all the Merch with the tape on it that says for will, coz, what is that.
Maybe the tape isnāt even music, Maybe itās Mike recording the rest of the campaign that they didnāt get to finish that night, who knows.
But this plot line would also provide deeper context into mikes character. And it could even lead to vecna taunting Mike about how if he really had been Mike the brave and just given it to Will that night, then maybe Will would have never been taken.
Thereās a lot of claiming of responsibility in stranger things, will in particular right now feels like all of this is his fault. I think it would be really interesting to expose Mike as also feeling like this is his fault.
Those are just some of my thoughts on byler endgame.
I genuinely do think it still makes the most logical and narrative sense, so even though I am afraid of being crushed, Iām going to hold out hope.
I donāt think I could extinguish it even if I tried at this point.