#henry analysis

henry felt alone in the world, trapped in society’s expectations

will’s entire arc in S3 and the way he didn’t really have anyone to lean on in california and he doesn’t have any friends

mike doesn’t get an arc that quite fits the idea of being alone, mostly because we can’t actually confirm his perspective in S3 or S4

however, there is this

“i was so scared and so alone, but i saw you on the swings and you were alone too.”

the feeling alone, the undeniable romantic vibe of the scene, the way they retell mike’s story under different circumstances in 2x02; it all goes to show how will is the one person who makes him feel like he isn’t alone, despite having other friends and people in his life. there’s something in his life that makes him different from everyone else and ostracizes him, but will makes him feel less alone entirely.

hopper feels like a curse because he’s constantly losing or hurting the people around him. there are two really interesting ways to take this line because there are two parallels at play here; henry and mike.

henry’s is very obvious. he’s the most heavily associated with the word curse because of vecna’s curse being used to describe his process of hunting and eventually killing his victims. it feels very indicative of the fact that henry feels like a curse despite not actually being one in the same way he feels like he’s become the predator he was always born to be despite never having been fated to become anything. curses and fate aren’t things he can physically become, though he attempts to become them. he wants to influence the world around him through intense control, and as such he becomes this sort of theoretical — a looming potential without a physical body. no longer a man, but something greater.

i find that hopper’s inspiration for believing he’s the curse to be especially relevant because henry’s ability to ‘become’ the curse increases as he hurts others. both literally and on a more meta level. the literal version is obvious; he kills and hurts and absorbs to strengthen himself. that isnt the only pain he gains strength from though. he also gains strength from memories that make him sad and angry.

not only were we denied any perspective as to what this memory may be, but the parallel implies henry most likely wasn’t at fault for the harm he witnessed. hopper believes he’s a curse for what has happened to sarah, el, and joyce. he’s tried to save all of them and failed or succeeded, but he’s never been the direct cause of a lot of their pain. obviously, in present day, henry is the direct cause of pain for the people he hurts, but those aren’t the people he’d be ‘cursing’ in this parallel. that would be his family.

in hopper’s situation, he’s lost someone (sarah) because he was unable to save her, been led to believe he lost someone (el), and accidentally put someone in danger (joyce). this is directly reflected in the creel family at the night if the massacre. thanks to @/aemiron’s analyses, we learned that virginia most likely didn’t actually die that night, though henry thought he’d killed her. as such, virginia survives and it also seems like she may have been the one to kill alice. henry never harbored any malice towards alice (lol) and it seems like the reason he tried to kill virginia in the first place was a defensive reaction (from @/laozuspo analyses). victor didn’t die, but by angering virginia henry put him in danger.

henry thought he lost virginia, he did lose alice, and he put victor in danger.

this pattern isn’t limited to henry, though. we also see this pattern arise with mike in s4, which is where this all finally ties together!!

mike is already a pre-established parallel to hopper on levels like no other. they’re very similar in a lot of ways, including feeling guilt for hurting the people around them and needing to feel needed. in s5, mike’s most likely going to complete the pattern he’s set out for himself of destroying his relationships unintentionally by fucking up with dustin regarding eddie’s death. he will have pushed everyone far, far away due to his internal struggles. he didn’t want to push them away necessarily, but it was a product of his self destruction.

furthermore, we already see him holding this value that he’s a burden to other people. it’s most directly stated when he says that he’s just some nerd while el is a superhero and that his lack of ability to love her and be there for here is his downfall. he also calls these feelings stupid and apologized for opening up to will that way. in the book lucas on the line, both lucas and dustin are annoyed by his moody behavior. nancy is constantly annoyed with him and he almost makes them late. perhaps the only person he doesnt feel like a burden to is max

on top of all that, he fulfills this rule of three regarding loss. in s1, he thinks he’s lost will but he hasn’t. he puts el in danger by putting her on a superhero pedestal. in s4, the person he couldn’t save is (ironically) max. his failed monologue is directly tied to the fall of hawkins and max’s death.

“i’m not cursed. i am the curse.” is an oddly uniting line between three unexpected characters, and with the ties being built between hopper and mike, i wonder if they’ll end up working together against one of henry’s forces (im betting the shadow monster).

TLDR; henry 🤝 hopper 🤝 mike

el has also struggled with conformity since she’s escaped the lab. she wanted to be normal so badly, but she’s realized it isn’t what she needs or wants. el is learning that her powers aren’t anything more than a characteristic of who she is. she likes dogs, she can play putt putt, she likes having long hair, she isn’t very good at math, and she has powers. henry could never become his own person in the way that el has. on top of all that, el uses her powers out of love, now. she used to channel anger and hatred just like kali and henry, but she fought to save max out of love. she’s fighting for all the people she loves and she’s found that she’s stronger because of it. el has found that she doesn’t need to conform, just like none of her friends conform. will has never tried to confirm and neither has max. that also plays into the milkvan break up

anyway, i just think it would be a very satisfying ending to watch henry realize he isn’t special and never has been. he’s just desperate for control, desperate for a society where he doesn’t have to be a solitary creature. the path he chose was one of hatred and was entirely self-centered, and that choice should be the reason he dies at the hands of the girl he thought was just like him, but she chose the path of learning how to be herself and how to love. all of her arcs since S2 have been her learning about love; familial love, platonic love, self love.

In the same season, El's disguised name is Elenor (not Elle)

Is there any owl imagery in the show/ who's an ST imagery expert who might know?

there’s a ton of owl imagery, and i haven’t personally looked into it but it’s been heavily associated with will, mike, and el. mostly will. however, it’s also associated with argyle so . idk but it makes me think of this conversation from bram stoker’s dracula

RM renfield describes a food chain that goes like this

fly -> spider -> sparrow -> big cat -> Master

i’ve talked about this a little bit before, but this is a pattern we see starting all the way back in S2!! scott clarke gives his fly and the acrobat metaphor, and the only person to ever actually fulfill that metaphor is will. many people go upside down on the tightrope, but will is the only one to ever go to the in between, making him the only one eligible to be the fly

will becomes the fly in S2, for reasons unknown (though definitely theorized about. glances at my docs.), and the mind flayer is introduced. the fly and the spider. the spider eats the fly, as the mind flayer possesses will

but then, a sparrow comes and eat the spider. iirc, will becomes the sparrow in S3, seeing as he’s the one actually hunting the mind flayer while the others help. he’s the one who can sense it. mike is the one who knows how to stop it. el is the one who fights it and may have been able to kill it. they work together as the sparrow, destroying the spider

but, in S3, we’re also introduced to the silver cat. the lynx. the big cat. as we know, vecna is the silver cat in the blue meets yellow in the west code

in S4, vecna beats el. mike and will are out of commission for this fight. althought not necessarily done by his hand, the owl is ineffective in S4

but, if we go by this pattern, henry is the one who ultimately loses. the one who owns this cat will give him up to the Master. we’ve seen noah talk about the idea that it started with will; it’ll end with will.

will was the fly. it started with him. if we trail the logic, follow the pattern, it’s pretty obvious that will is the Master.

now, henry is the one who parallels dracula and will parallels mina, but what renfield describes is not something that’s relevant in the movie. it’s a separate concept, and as such we can assume that this food chain can be applied outside of the character parallels

Also it is not much of a theory anymore, it is clear that Henry is the one who targeted and captured Will to the Upside Down too. You can make the argument that all of Will's trauma starts from that point. Because Henry just keeps coming for Will and traumatize him.

All of Will's trauma is because of Henry and it starts with Henry. If anything, Will should be the key player to take him down alongside El. But for El, at least you can make the argument that all of her trauma starts because of Brenner. It is Brenner who stole and kidnapped her, stripped her off of her childhood, it is Brenner that made El's mother lose her mind. It is Brenner who experimented on El and it is Brenner who started all that lab mess in the first place. Henry plays a role in that too, but for El her problems start because of Brenner.

For Will, it all starts because of Henry. It is Henry who targeted and kidnapped him to the Upside Down. It is Henry who used the MF to target Will again, specifically because he is the one to kidnap Will in the first place for reasons that have not fully revealed. It is Henry who possessed Will because again-- if it was just the MF possessing Will, then he only would have sensed MF. He doesnt though. Now it is revealed that he has a direct link to Henry.

What I mean is that all of Will's trauma starts because of Henry and it continues because of Henry. It is important to address because people keep downplaying it by saying it was just the demogorgon or the mind flayer that targeted him when it is clear now that it wasnt.

i see what you’re saying, but we actually never see will being linked to henry. his episodes are triggered by the mind flayer. those memories are the mind flayer’s, because they show us that when we see will mentally searching the tunnels. i agree that henry was the one who led to his initial kidnapping, but beyond that there hasn’t been a direct connection made between henry and will beyond the parallels. i think henry did target will, but the mind flayer is the one actually causing all the horrible things will goes through with being possessed and never being freed from that feeling whenever it’s near.

also, we don’t have confirmation that henry is controlling the mind flayer. that scene of henry shaping the mind flayer was entirely from henry’s perspective, one which is very skewed. unreliable narration happens constantly in this show, so we’re only being led to believe that henry controls the mind flayer because henry believes he controls the mind flayer. the mind flayer itself is a being of great power, but it isn’t able to open gates: it gave henry more strength in order for them to achieve a common goal. what we are told about the mind flayer, based on the comparison given by dustin, is that it does have a consciousness and that it seeks to conquer other worlds. that lines up with the mind flayer doing more than just targeting will, but also trying to extend itself into hawkins over and over again.

henry didn’t possess will. the mind flayer did. henry doesn’t trigger will’s episodes. the mind flayer does. henry may have started the process, but the mind flayer has continuously gone after will and affected him.

also, comparing brenner to henry doesn’t make much sense. brenner abused el for 12 straight years, manipulated her, and hid the world from her. he was the source of a vast majority of her trauma; henry is not the source of will’s trauma, simply the person who set it in motion.

and, i literally said i don’t want el to be the one to kill henry because it pushes her story, but rather because it pushes henry’s. henry needs an ending that will not just kill him, but one that makes him realize that everything he’s done has been for nothing and that he’ll never be able to achieve his goal because of his choices. anyone could kill henry, but i think el would be the one who makes the most sense for henry’s story. other antagonists are given an ending in a way that makes sense, and that needs to apply to henry too.

el got her peace with brenner, and that was a fantastic choice because brenner’s death was necessary for el’s arc. henry’s death is important for both will and el, but henry just doesn’t have that personal connection with will that he has with el.