#hannibalgate

We are getting it!!

Remember that “Oklahoma’s” play was a smokescreen for the real play Joyce was preparing “Dark of the Moon”…

My dear friend @strange-anni already did an amazing work in her post here, and I wanted to add to this conversation being key for why they are all trapped, or at least Mike, in this fake reality.

Jonathan’s description of his film “The Consumer” reads as a deliberate parallel to S3.

When he describes a cannibalistic “woman” who lures people into her basement, kills them, and consumes them, the imagery strongly echoes the Mind Flayer, significantly, a presence repeatedly framed as a ”She”.

The victims gathered by the protagonist do not remain individuals, they are absorbed into a single entity. This mirrors the Mind Flayer’s logic in S3, where bodies are reduced to material and merged into one being through Billy, Heather, and the other possessed victims.

This also happens with Henry and the MF.

”We are one”

She manipulates them, she is an unstoppable hunger who wants to consume all and can’t be stopped.

Consumption here is the identity of each person being erased in service of a larger form.

The movie also functions as a meta-warning.

The monster is not gone. It remains close, embedded in the lives of the kids. Jonathan’s movie blurs the boundary between fiction and reality by using ordinary, familiar spaces tied to the characters’ everyday lives and by casting people directly connected to them, such as Robin’s uncle’s flat or Steve’s ex. Now with the documentary and SNL too, is merging with our reality.

The horror does not stay on the screen, it bleeds into the real world. This overlap reinforces the idea that the threat is no longer confined to the Upside Down but is merging into their reality.

This is further strengthened by the explicit inclusion of Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs in Stranger Things’ movie references.

Both stories revolve around consumption, psychological manipulation, and predators who intelligently select their victims.

And we find scenes like this in Red Dragon:

Crucially, Red Dragon occurs before The Silence of the Lambs.

In Red Dragon, Will and Hannibal have their defining conversation about why Hannibal “lost”, why he was caught, and why everyone believed he lost. That moment offers the illusion of closure, yet The Silence of the Lambs later exposes that ending as false.

You can see it more clearly in The Silence of the Lambs. The screaming lambs and the strange sounds of crickets signal that something is wrong, even if you can’t quite tell what. It can also carry a double meaning, representing innocent lives lost and unresolved trauma and guilt, just like in the movie.

I got Hannibal’s transcript from here: https://aliimmam.com/2013/08/11/then-something-woke-you-didnt-it-was-it-a-dream-what-was-it/

Hannibal was never truly defeated. He adapts, waits, and ultimately escapes in the next movie.

For me, the parallel to the Mind Flayer becomes clearer. S3 presents what looks like a victory, but the structure of these references suggests something more behind it.

Defeat and disappearance does not equal death.

Like Hannibal, the monster survives by changing form, by embedding itself into systems and routines, by learning patience.

Jonathan’s movie, then, is not just a student project but an echo of the Mind Flayer’s philosophy, and a quiet reminder that what appears to be an ending may only be an intermission.

“Just because you can't see him doesn't mean he is not there.”

And remember!!

In the same way Mike and St is using Hannibal’s logic about madness, you need a bit of insanity to stay sane in this world.

This is from the series but still works. I highly recommend watching the series and this two movies!!!

This is what the fake ending is really about: hiding the ugly truth. Like Murray said, watering down the truth to make it digestible. This would open the curtain, and reveal the curtain behind that curtain.

Because we don’t actually know what truly happened, it’s possible that everyone is dead or trapped. What is clear is that the Mind Flayer and Vecna won.

Time Travel and the obsession the Duffers have with Back to the Future

That’s why traveling back in time may be necessary. A wormhole isn’t only a way to move between dimensions, but through time as well.

Movies reference:

Matthew posted himself dressed as Brenner walking through the lab hallway and getting inside El’s room. You can find it in his instagram’s page!!

As you can see this one was from December 8, so before any of the Back to the Future theories and the leaked Dustin and Steve’s poster even existed. As pointed out in twitter by @nightphanges

Now this from ep 7, S4:

This is from the scene where she runs to the Rainbow room to get to Henry and behind her in this photo is the door to her own room. Door 11.

El’s door, it is actually her room behind her, is almost closed

Here, it isn’t clear whether the door is reflecting the hallway light or if it is actually open. However, when you watch the scene closely, the “reflection” does not flicker while all the hallway lights do. I take this as evidence that the door is open, with the light coming from inside, possibly from a lamp or another source.

This is already highly questionable. It could be explained as paramnesia, and El’s memories, distorted by trauma, are not entirely reliable, containing gaps and inconsistencies. However, the details are so specific that it is difficult to believe this is only a memory distortion. That raises the real question, who was actually there, and how did Henry not notice??

This is something that happens with Henry as well. I believe that, because of the MF’s manipulation and his trauma, or even because different alternative timelines are colliding into a single ONE, he suffers from paramnesia. This would explain why the Duffers describe him as an “unreliable narrator.”

There are two types of paramnesia: confabulation and the other one that you could describe as Déjà vu.

I believe Henry suffers from confabulation, a type of paramnesia (as I said before) involving the unintentional production of fabricated, distorted, or misinterpreted memories used to fill memory gaps, without any intent to deceive.

This is probably the reason behind Henry’s age being so vague and also why we have two versions of the first shadow, the Broadway and the West plays are significantly different.

But them we have a lot of inconsistencies:

Based in an interview from the Duffers. They estimated Henry to be in his late 20s in 1979, with Matt specifically saying he believed him to be 29, suggesting he was born in 1949-1950.

We have S4 newspaper that suggested that Henry was 12 in 1959, and his little sister was 15, making her older. The actors that played Alice and Henry at that time were 12 and 14 respectively, so we could take it as an error from the newspaper. Making him 32 in 1979, suggesting he was born in 1946-47.

Then we have the first shadow play, where he is supposed to be around 14 years old in 1959, making him 34-35 in 1979. Suggesting he was born in 1944-45.

Then we have Kali’s illusion of young Henry giving his blood to a pregnant Terry, (HOW THE HELL DOES SHE KNOW HOW HE LOOKED??? She is so suspicious…) basically they chose Raphael Luce to play the role instead of choosing an older actor or even Jamie himself. I say this because if we follow the first shadow canonical age Henry should be 25 in 1970 when Terry was pregnant. Instead, Raphael was 17-18 at the time, making him 19 when El was born in 1971, making him 27 in 1979. Suggesting he was born in 1952-53.

The biggest difference is the one suggested between Kali’s illusion and the first shadow age.

34 - 27= 7 years

It is actually a consistent difference but the main problem is that there are so many versions. So which one should we take?? I suppose I will take Matt’s answer of him being 29 because I don’t trust Henry’s memories.

Was he really 14 in the first shadow, did the first shadow even happened or his fractured memories trying to make sense of it all??

So what is Henry’s real age?? And why does it look like he didn’t age since 1979??

I started to think that maybe, since we didn’t see his face because of Vecna, we really couldn’t tell. Or perhaps it’s because the actors in St, like the teens and the Party, are naturally older than their canonical ages due to the passing years. Another possibility is that he looks the same as Mr. Whatsit because his mind is full of trauma, and he is literally stuck, manifesting a “frozen” image from 1979. Ultimately, it might not have been that important to the scene.

To add to this, when Holly meets Mr. Whatsit for the first time in Henry’s “mind palace”, it plays “Mr. Sandman” by The Chordettes. The Chordettes released "Mr. Sandman" in 1954, and it was a massive hit throughout the late 50s.

If Henry is "frozen" in his 1959 trauma (the first shadow), it makes sense that the music in HIS "perfect world" is stuck in that decade.

I really think he is meant to remain frozen to show that not only the UD, but also time in Dimension X, works differently, and that the fusion of different timelines is directly affecting him.

Then we have “X a lie”

So what is the X referring to??? To Dimension X, the finale, since the Hawkin’s memorial where Mike is sitting makes an X, or something else??

Since X sounds like “it’s”. It could literally stand for “It’s a lie”, implying that everything that happened in the finale, or even since S5 ep 4 when Mike spotted Vecna and we could hear the clock, is not real.

X could stand literally for kiss, meaning that the Mileven kiss didn’t happened and was all in Mike’s head as later stated by the Duffers.

X could stand for the number 10, which might suggest that he is more important than people realize. Isn’t it strange that he was the other kid from the lab who was given significance, only to be killed shortly after??

Then we see the X + Mike’s M. X and M indicating the place in a map. Like Holly said and also noticed that the upper part of the M in the picture looks like Henry’s cave and the lid shape.

Or maybe it is the X + Will’s W, which, upside down, looks like an M. Indicating that he is a lie. Will’s DnD book is also the one to change positions from the original series ep 8.

Maybe who Joyce killed is Vecna with Will’s subconscious. I have said this before in other posts, but isn’t it strange that “Vecna” chooses to look at Joyce instead of El or Will to try to tell her something?? We don’t know exactly how the connection between Henry’s and Will’s minds worked, but we could see that their connection was getting stronger, and got stronger the closer they got, like an ANTENNA. This suggests that their minds were mixing and merging into ONE. I really think Will’s “We’re not afraid of you.” when fighting Henry, is really hominous. The first time I heard it, it felt so off for him to say that in the moment. Yes, he is not afraid because he confessed to his loved ones (though I believe it was Henry).

But the ONE who truly just accepted his deepest fear and MERGED with the MF is Henry, the “We are One”, not Will. Remember the consumergate theory I did before.

So I take this as Henry speaking through Will’s body.

Now the poster based in Btf 2 and Dustin’s suitcase:

As I said before Dustin and Steve’s poster mirrors Btf 2.

I’ve commented on this in other posts, but based on Einstein’s theory of relativity, it’s hard for them to travel to the past, not impossible, but much safer to travel to the future. I believe they’ll use the UD’s thunders as the energy to travel through time, similar to what happened at the end of Btf. And since this mirrors Btf 2 poster, where they travel to the future to fix things, which later caused another problem with Biff and required traveling back, here, the focus is mainly on the future.

Another thing I wanted to comment is that Dustin is holding a suitcase. It is obviously not the same as the Russian spy in the Henry’s cave. But what if they actually try to change and prevent all events by stealing MF’s rock???

That would sadly lead to almost no one meeting and bonding in the future, each one living their lives separately. Truly a bittersweet ending which is what the Duffers and Shawn said about it, a perfect and bittersweet finale. But who knows, maybe even if that happens their destiny, the good one (I did many posts of Vol1 explaining how destiny and fate is something bad in St world as Max explained with the 3 doors and how was related to Jonathan and Nancy possibly breaking up in the future, which actually ended happening. I love Ronance and Stonathan too much!!), is for all of them to meet and find each other in the future (like that special ep, I think from S3 from the TV series “Lucifer”)

Maybe they travel through different alternative time lines considering “Into the Spider-Verse” was in the St Movie board, who knows??

I’m not entirely sure what their plan is, but I really feel that Dustin and Steve’s dynamic is so much like Doc and Marty!! They make such a great duo, I hope we get to see more of it!!

To add to the fake ending I am bringing back “Mr. Sandman” again.

In folklore, Sandman sprinkles sand in eyes to bring dreams, but in darker interpretations, he can also be a figure that traps people in illusions.  

So the ending is a "dream" , which is actually a trap. If the epilogue is a "dream", then Henry is the Sandman who has put the entire town of Hawkins to sleep.

And maybe the sand is the MF particles.

So they need to travel in time to fix everything because it can’t be fix any other way. And probably almost everyone is death or trap.

Either way, if a character dies in the new eps, it may not ultimately matter because if they succeed in changing events and preventing Patient Zero/Henry, there will be a version of them that survives.

It’s still bittersweet, though, because they wouldn’t develop the same special bonds they had before. Or maybe they would, who knows.

Destiny has a funny way of playing, as I’ve said before.

Bonus

Longlegs

Jamie’s new comment on twitter today and “Longlegs” reference from January 7:

If Henry has "come back" multiple times to try and get his "perfect world", each attempt leaves a "ghost" of a different timeline. This is why the dates (of his birthdays) don't match. (Also could be related to the birthdaygate theory, I am still not sure how.)

We are looking at the remains of several failed "replays."

“Be kind, please rewind”

After @provodniktepla-blog increadible analysis about Exotic Matter and Schrödinger‘s cat, here. I decided to also add into the science analysis!!

Einstein showed that time is complex. In Special Relativity, moving close to the speed of light makes time slow down, so travelers age less than people who stay behind, basically, time travel to the future is real.

In General Relativity, gravity also affects time, since there is stronger gravity that slows it down, which is why astronauts age a tiny bit slower than people on Earth. There is no single “now”, the past, present, and future depend on your perspective. This means that time isn’t a straight line, we can imagine it as roads and we all move through differently.

Traveling to the past is much trickier following this theory thought. The math allows it with things like wormholes or loops in spacetime (which we already have with the UD), but they require Exotic Matter (Nancy already destabilized it!!) with negative energy or negative mass to exist and stay stable.

Alter it, and the loop collapses, this is why, we can really get time travel, or maybe the past line of this universe is fusing into the present line, or the time lines of other alternatives universes are colliding in ONE and that is why the…

“The more she eats, the hungrier she gets” - Jonathan about his movie “The Consumer” “We are One.” - Henry “You must resist it. It will consume you. It will consume all.” - Russian spy/ Man at the cave

How the MF wants to consume everyone and everything!!

And the consumergate theory I did before, here.

And this theory supports another theory I found on twitter:

View on Twitter

For those who don’t have twitter I uploaded @bedrot_barbie, @ChrismasLu and @byleriousxjules theory plus my own thoughts (sorry I connect it to Naruto since I love it and I for real see a lot of similarities), here.

With this it seems is more plausible that we get multiple timelines colliding into one since it fits the consumergate theory I did, and this one I found on twitter.

We can’t forget either the movie references:

Into the Spider-Verse

Movies references:

And we also have this from the documentary:

It seems the St poster is inspired by Back to the Future 2.

In Btf 2, Doc and Marty go to the future instead of the past, as it happened in the first movie.

On October 26, 1985, Doc takes Marty and Jennifer to 2015 to prevent trouble for their future children. Marty stops his son from joining a robbery, but he secretly buys a sports almanac, which Biff steals, using it to create a corrupt alternate 1985. Marty and Doc travel back to 1955 to stop Biff from giving his younger self the almanac. After a hoverboard chase and careful maneuvering around past events, Marty recovers the almanac and destroys it, restoring the timeline. The movie ends with Doc being accidentally sent to 1885, setting up for Btf 3.

So past Steve and Dustin (judging by the clothes these are Vol1 outfits and Steve wore McFly’s famous shoes from the first movie. Probably bough them since it is his fave movie) will travel to this future we get in ep 8 finale??

Marty McFly’s shoes

And Steve’s shoes, multiple seasons, at first is not exactly the same but similar, in S4 it is exactly the same model as McFly’s.

In WSQK radio the Squak, Vance says at some point:

Vance: “Hey there friends!! This is WSQK the Sqwak! (Chicken toy funny noise) yeah,that chicken is long for the ride just as much as you are. This is being broadcast across all of Hawkins, and do you know how I like to describe my soldier (I think he said soldier sorry I am not native😭) on the Sqwak, “upandready-Hawkins” (he is making fun of Dustin and the others with that name, it is like waking up) really good put this. “We are on a curiosity voyage (bell sound), and you need your petals… to travel…” (this is something Dustin said before, and the emphasis he did in travel???) that hits hard, right?? Just as much as this song guys. On WSQK.”

The paddles are books!!

Dustin might use Dr. Brenner’s father's and Brenner's research book to find the answers to time travel!! Maybe he already did it by accident, which is why his watch shows a different time in the S5, ep 1 poster (a lot of people already pointed the poster incoherences out). It could be another callback to Back to the Future (Btf)!!

Will has 12:2x and Dustin has xx:16

I believe Dr. Brenner’s dad did research on dimensional travel to get to Dimension X, but Dustin will accidentally discover time travel instead, since both are linked as Mr. Clarke pointed out with his Einstein-Rosen bridge/wormhole. It would be just like when Marty accidentally traveled back in time in Btf!!

If you’re interested, I also talked about this here and here.

Bonus

Recommendation

If you like time travel movies, a classic and must watch, I highly recommend “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” by Mamoru Hosoda. It's one of my favorite anime movies ever and an underrated masterpiece. Also, prepare your tissues!!🤧

⚠️I have to add that the anime version of this movie is very tricky and is a sequel of the original book and live-action in 1983. Pay attention to detail, it has more than one interpretation!!

You will absolutely love it!! Here the summary:

From left to right:

Henry. He looks exactly like Jamie.

El. She is the most upset, this is when Hopper was trapped at the end of S3, so makes sense

2 or 10. I think they are actually the kids from the lab honestly.