#codebreakergate

With that, it's especially interesting how season4!Will was focused a lot on his internal struggles, the time and space of his scenes mostly orbited around Mike and the feelings Will has for him - it was on the forefront during most of his scenes, centered, not malicious, not shown in a mocking way, but an honest and important part of him.

He was in the supporting role of trying to get El back to them, and learning that people in Hawkins were in danger again, while him was away from it, at the time.

But come season 5, and we see a bit of different Will, more assured in his abilities to help - already in 5x1 there's a moment that tell us that Will knows how to operate the telemetry track on the Squawk Van because "he helped Dustin set up the antenna", ("It's not just a wheel"). In episode 5x2 Robin compares his abilities of seeing through the demogorgons' eyes as if he is the antenna himself, and if he's close to the hivemind he could gather more information.

In episode 3 he actually does that. In episode 4, it's all building up (with his feelings for Mike still being very present throughout vol. 1) and of course, he becomes the Sorcerer, he's the one in control, he breaks into the code.

Joyce later thinks he could even deal the final blow to Vecna through his mind, with the knowledge and the newly unlocked powers.

He needs to be closer to the hivemind to actually connect to it, but breaking into Vecna's mind or trying to fight him there is not that easy. Not on his own. Not even El, Kali and Max could do that.

But what is the code? What is the secret? Does he try to protect it, or destroy it? Is he still spying as Will, or did Henry managed to 'piggyback' in his mind throughout vol 2 after their connection?

So, who are the heroes?

Are they the kids that Vecna uses while trying to rebuilt the world into what he thinks is something better?

Are they the main protagonist, who, with Mike's bomb, destroyed the Upside Down and with that it took El away, also the military base and the pregnant women there?

Is it the person who's favorite hero is another gay man from history, who was prosecuted and suffered a very tragic end for being a homosexual despite his breakthroughs being crucial in solving the encryptions during the war?

What is actually Henry/Vecna's plan? - He showed Will he was creating the rifts and weakening the Abyss, to merge their worlds. But he also sent demorogons to kill every soldier in the Upside Down that were outside of the military base where the signal supressors, the kryptonite, were possibly active. Humans that brought chaos into another world, as he put it in s4..

"Each life a faded, lesser copy of the one before. Every is just waiting. Waiting for it all to be over. All while performing in a silly, terrible play, day after day. I could not pretend. I could make my own rules. I could restore balance to a broken world. With each life I took, I grew stronger." (Henry to Eleven in 4x7)

He says similar thing in 5x4 to Will:

We know from season 4 that with each kill Vecna targeted his victims, it created also power enough to create the gates to the Upside Down, which weakened Hawkins, preparing it for the merging too. If by killing them and taking their memories, abilities, everything from those people - then merging the worlds could mean he's finding a way to consume all the people as well - yet they're still alive. In his mind.

Possibly feeding him their energy while he has them imprisoned in his own mind, in worlds that might seem similar to reality, but are nothing real.

2. Replacements

What are the replacements?

We see them but we hear something else spoken. We hear them, but we see the opposite or contradictory action of it. [Mike's monologue to El in 4x9]

They carry a truth that should be said, but cannot be perceived. [Will's painting "lie" in 4x8]

The whole of season 5 has a lot of themes playing around with time and possible timeloops, possible time travelling, and a lot of layers related between time and dreams, memories and spying. (Some of the s5 descriptions in trailers and promo were 'A war it coming to Hawkins'. We have not really seen that, though.)

As it was with other seasons, we can go back to the D&D games played in the show, specifically, back to season 4 to explain what's happening:

In 4x1 while they were playing dnd- a campaign ran by Eddie where they found out 'Vecna lives' ("missing not only his hand, but also his eye") the last crucial dice rolls of the game were: 11 and then 20.

The important part is that these scenes had actual dice rolling shots and the numbers matched what we saw:

Unlike in one specific promo that was the countdown to s5 with Mike rolling the die on day 20 before the release; and then the end credits of the whole show - both of those dice have a fake number on top:

Here's how the numbers would appear on real dice:

The nat20 in the countdown promo vid was hiding the actual number 1 - which means critical failure!

The die in the credits from 5x8 does'nt have any correct numbers on any sides of that die, they're on incorrect places - meaning it might just not be a real die at all.

Which means that a different number is behind the visible one, hiding the truth - replacing the facts.

Season 5 starts almost immeditely with the whole group knowing how Robin tells them codes about the military's plans going to the Upside Down, so they can accordingly plan their crawls:

and that's not the only clues we've seen about something being disguised as something else- even just substituting colors means something is wrong, or at least, different, changed. ("You are your brother")

Already in season 1 Will was somehow able to communicate with Joyce via the lights, and then with the lights above the alphabet he could give her a warning message,

Which slowly brings me back to the codebreaking and connection to Will (and Alan Turing), because of the Enigma machine:

very simplified, but just the similarity here - we have an alphabet that's connected with lightbulbs that when pressed (from the other side) they light up and show the letters forming a message, (along with other aspects to the machine - more on that further down), and it's more than one person job.

now we know about the existence of the Exotic matter, which could be connected to this, even for its unique position in the Upside Down - it's anchored there right above the Department of Energy (in the Upside Down version of the building) - which the same building in Hawkins was also doing all kinds of spying for Brenner and his experiments (even besides El and the super-powered kids, but telephone and communication recording), since s1:

Besides that, in season 2 we learn that Will is basically fluent in morse code, and has it memorized better than the other kids, who all are making the note together to find out what's he trying to say, deciphering his message.

And it's also a perfect way to show that Will can still communicate with them while the Mind Flayer's possessing him,

(Again - truths hidden by a code)

Now in s5 in the UD version of the lab we have Brenner's journal, that shows genetic codes, RNA, DNA and other biology stuff that people smarter than me were already pointing out and explaining in other posts and theories.

I just want to point out that Alan Turing was also studying/interested in mathematical biology.

When Turing was 39 years old in 1951, he turned to mathematical biology, finally publishing his masterpiece "The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis" in January 1952. He was interested in morphogenesis, the development of patterns and shapes in biological organisms. He suggested that a system of chemicals reacting with each other and diffusing across space, termed a reaction–diffusion system, could account for "the main phenomena of morphogenesis" (...) Although published before the structure and role of DNA was understood, Turing's work on morphogenesis remains relevant today and is considered a seminal piece of work in mathematical biology. [x]

and in this particular shot there's even more papers behind Brenner's journal, that I can't help but think it looks more like a code of sorts, not just a sequence of biology terms:

then it touches on the 'Electro magnetic fields interact with the fabric of space-time.' and 'This exotic matter could create a repulsive gravitational effect, necessary to keep the wormhole stabilized and open.' (again, a page with some different letters is just directly out of the focus during these shots)

and it connects that these journals to the wormhole that possibly holds the whole Upside Down together, because of the Exotic matter - which is also something specifically hidden on the roof of the lab, invisible and quiet, until it was disturbed.

If we bring this connection back to Will in season 5 - it was around the same time that Nancy shot the exotic matter in 5x5, that Will tried to actively, for the first time, connect into the demogorgon's mind and the hivemind (to help Max, he made a connection in Henry's mind). When Nancy shot the Exotic matter, the red 'radio waves' (signals?) went off from the lab to the wall that circles around the Upside Down.

3. The wheels

They're an endless, infinite cycle, a loop, and sometimes they need to break to see why something has to change. To find a new path.

And just like Dustin realized the wall was a circle around the Upside Down he needed at least three (3!) points on the map to know the location - the finalize the clue on the map. and it seems for these codes encryption also worked in 3s - trigrams (at least in the first versions of the Enigma machine), modified letters with which they could understand the configuration of the correct letters the message was about.

^ the same map that Brenner had later in the UD laboratory.

Dustin reminded Jonathan that he heard an inteference at one of these points - and later that made sense it was coming from the Wall itself.

Was that why the lab was set up with so many satellietes and listening devices to figure out these interferences as well? Were they visible/picked up even in real Hawkins? Was that how/why Brenner started these journals and experiments?

or is this another misdirection and whatever Brenner calculated in the real Hawkins wasn't actually the wall in the Upside Down but something else? Not a wormhole but a distraction, a lie, an illusion? And instead the Exotic matter being something completely else?

With Dustin mentioning three points to connect the dots to create the circle, and Max talking about 3 doors to choose what to do with your fate, with lot of patterns speaking about trigrams, or needing 3 letters to hide the code.

And with Will, using specifically 3 important people in his happy memories to tap into the hivemind and kill those demos in 5x4, the number 3 is definitely very important.

And still it wasn't enough, because Vecna found a way past Will's defenses,

the thing is, Will understood Vecna's plan as wanting to merge the worlds (understood or was that was Henry/Vecna wanted him to think?), to bring the Abyss into the Hawkins,

and that Vecna needed his help be his spy again - possibly finding Max but possibly something else we've not seen.

But Vecna noted Will being his builder, and then we see Will's eye move in the same way as he was in s2 "building the tunnels". What would Vecna want him to built this time? A door to escape his own prison (Shadowfell / Curse of Strahd dnd campaing references)

A bridge to manage merging the world?

A made up world that looks like Hawkins that no one would recognize it's fake? (If he made the Upside Down version, why not try him do that again? "You showed me what was possible.")

(Another point I feel could be the military base in the Upside Down that has its own satellites, radars and a radome protecting the antenna and Dr. Kay is keeping their her own experiments, along with strangling vines. The military base has the kryptonite, and there's a theory I have that Vecna either wanted to see what was happening there, but he couldn't cross there, so he used Will to do that. But that's for a different post.)

Now this is starting to get more into the Inception building of the story - what is real, what is fake, what is made up and who built the dream?

Will, being Vecna's builder, his spy, his vessel. (Back to the light!), where something is tying him to the Exotic matter - a highly volatile substance that could blow any moment, but holds that whole tunnel that is Upside Down together. Someone who hides his real feelings behind another's name, and protects his friends with his superpowers. Someone who thinks of himself as weak and doesn't really see his own full potential.

and

Mike, the one who built the bomb meant to destroy the Upside Down - to purposely disturb the Exotic matter. But also Will's best friend, someone who thinks about asking Will to be his friend as the best day of his life. Someone who clearly recognized the moment in season 2 where Will wasn't Will anymore ("He's the spy! He's the spy!") And one of the 3 people who helped to communicate when Will was posessed.

(^ Mike's reaction to this sentence from Will in this scene was at first nodding along until he registered what he was actulaly saying and then he frowned.)

It goes to say that to crack the code, the true meaning of the message, there's needed multiple factors into of the whole process.

("It's not just a wheel")

This is a replacement music Mike picked in the end. Purple Rain by Prince -

side note - there's an interesting fact about some of this album's configurations, specifically note the dates! Nov 7th and March 23rd!

And it did the job, but if that shouldn't have happened at all? Because that was Vecna's plan all along. And due to every truth being replaced and hidden, they failed to notice the real intentions. Mike failed that - Mike was the one throwing the die in the promo - we though it was a 20, but it was 1! Mike failed to notice that Will wasn't actually Will anymore, at least, not wholly himself.

Its like a game's bad ending (Dragon's Lair 2x1 reference here), you failed, you didn't figure out the right combo - code combination, you didn't pick up the sword on time, the bomb went off, and either we won't see the heroes (the actual ones, the main group) wake up from the illusion, or they have to try again and again and again, to find the right key.

and lastly,

4. The Illusion itself

How about first - what is the truth we've watched:

Is El dead or alive? (up to the interpretation, apparently)

Is the Mind Flayer truly gone if we saw those shadow particles fly up from all the kids? and before circling the signal (radio) tower in 5x5? (unanswered)

Was Will connected to the hivemind when Joyce cut off Vecna's head? ("We just wanted to focus on the final battle with our heroes." - The Duffer Brothers)

Is Vecna himself truly dead?

Is Hawkins the same if Robin says she barely recognizes the town?

Are the core four boys still nerds and outcasts if the popular girl likes Dustin now and he never mentions his girlfriend Suzie, someone capable of saving the world twice?

Is Mike still clingling on his childhood with playing d&d, or did he realize how different things have been for Will in s3, and he himself suddenly can't move past it?

Is Mike 'sending' Will into the Vallaki village a test if Will knows what it means? To test if the Will in the epilogue is real?

The illusion is built on the truths that have been hidden, replaced -

The three door choice was taken away from Mike. Now he can only be stuck in the one place, or move on - either way - accept the fate. There's no third door, no escape.

18 months timeloop / time skip - rinse & repeat. This time stuck in an illusion - disguising itself as the reality.

and until the truths are uncovered ...then we can be heroes.

(I'll be the king, and you will be the queen)

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There's more things I've wanted to connect - especially the fact some parts of the cryptography and codebreaking are called Clock. Then there's the Index of coincidence tied all into analysing the ciphers, and through that I got to the Birthday problem in the probability theory.

Which, of course, could mean nothing - except... Will actually sharing the same day as Henry Creel. March 22nd - a birthday, that's somehow forgotten within the show, but little bits of details reminds us viewers of them too much not to notice. ("I don't believe in coincidences")

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In the end, the finale feels more and more like a puzzle pieced together by illusions and replacements, of characters contradicting their actions set up in and up to season 4 (or even s5 vol. 1).

If, with Mind Flayer's powers ("the more she feeds, the more hungry she gets") they are trapped in a story with no escape - unless all the truths are told. Until then, it's all about infinite cycle of timeloops and redoing the past mistakes and accepting their fates, with third door (escape) being removed from the narrative.

Lost without a signal to decipher the code that'd break the cycle, and they're missing the key to the puzzle.

And the key has always been Mike and Will being honest with each other.

- something that has been purposefully reduced - by narrative, by their respective sturggles, by Vecna playing in Will's (and possibly in Mike's) mind, altered feelings and memories that left them feeling less of what they actually mean to each other (They lost the knowledge - it's been erased, they lost the war. "A war is coming to Hawkins"),

thus leaving the story incomplete, unsatisfactory, and weakened for the villains to see themselves as the heroes. Full circle.