Librarygate addition from the time-unrelated side
Richie's joking. But I'm not.
We know that the Duffers are huge Stephen King fans.
There are three significant library arcs in Stephen King's works which I can remember (add if you can, please): the novella "The Library Policeman" (1990, one of the FOUR HOUR STRIKES (the third) in "FOUR past midnight" collection); and two belong to "It": Mike Hanlon was a librarian, but also Ben Hanscom has a big arc with the Derry Library.
I will start with Ben (he is a part of our love triangle parallel after all). Ben's ties to the Derry Library are shown both in miniseries and in recent movies, but to know the full story you of course need to read the book. I've read it two times and the last one was about 15 years ago, so forgive me for any wrong memories (pun intended).
1.. Ben loved the Derry Library. Not only because he was lonely and it was a place he could spend time. He liked to learn, he had good relationship with the librarian. But most of all he liked the bridge part between the two library buildings (idk how to call it in English, that part joins the children library and the grown'ups one with well-lit warm hall with glass sides and roof, probably?). When Ben grew up, he built a building based on that hall and got an architect award for it. He liked the hall because you could use it to go from one library to another even in the winter and be warm and dry and look at all the cold and snow outside. It is probably a metaphor for that tween period of life King loves so much that most of his kid characters end up being eaten by monsters about 11-12.
Ben had bad things happen to him there as well. I don't really remember the accident with the boy and easter eggs in the book, but Ben was really scared of that photograph and the story of Kitcheners' blow up and killing a hundred of kids. Also when he was staying late helping the librarian one winter night, he saw Pennywise on the ice when Ben was crossing the river by the bridge. Yeah, that same bridge Adrian Mellon was thrown from years after Ben's encounter.
But also Ben wrote that poem about Beverly's hair in the library :)
2.. Mike Hanlon. Mike was a fellow loser to Ben. He was interested in Derry history as a kid and figured out that awful things happen in Derry every 27 years for centuries. He grew up and became a librarian in Derry Library. He was the one with his memories intact and called all the Losers when It came back 27 years later.
3.. Library Policeman. It is a hard story. I've read it when I was a kid myself, maybe 12, 13? Years later I remembered the chill and re-read it. It was still years from now so yeah, I'll do what I can with Wikipedia not helping much.
The protagonist of the novella is Sam. When Sam was a child, he was r*ped in the bushes outside of his hometown library by a man who called himself the Library Policeman who punish children who don't return their books on time. At another place, where grown-up Sam lives, he needs some books from the local library for the first time since his childhood. He accidentaly destroys the books after he uses them and then supernatural stuff start to happen. The entity calling itself the Library Policeman is terrorizing him, and the old librarian who gave him the books is long dead. That woman was not human. It is a monster who is feeding on childrens' fear.
Sam, his friend with whom he falls in love with, and a former lover of the librarian are on the mission to defeat the monster, who wants a NEW HOST to attach itself to, like a parasite. The former lover DIES while helping Sam and his friend, the monster manages to attach itself to the friend's neck and Sam saves her by pulling it off of HER NECK and throwing it under the wheels of upcoming train where it is smashed out of existence. It is a heartbreaking moment: he makes her to look forward and recite a poem or count, I don't remember, while standing behind her he lifts her hair and sees this thing on her neck (which causes some personality changes in her or just a headache I don't remember sorry), and he takes it off when the train is almost there and throws... This monster was compared to a spider too (the flesh form of It was a spider). I like the idea that it is a soteria in Will's neck, but I'm afraid it can be a part of the Mind Flayer.
So we have Hopper and Joyce go into the Upside Down through the Lab gate to find Will. S01 was heavily influenced by Alien and the Duffers don't just do an homage, they use easter eggs and parallels in the plot.
The first thing Hopper finds in the UD (the first thing Ben Hanscom had found in the sewers… was an orange Pennywise pom-pom when he was a child and red Audra Denbrough's purse as an adult) is a busted-out-of egg which is of course an egg a facehugger is grown in.
Who was born from that egg in the Stranger Things is unclear. Could be a demogorgon. Dragons lay eggs btw.
Then Joyce and Hopper inspect the Castle Byers remnants, go to Byers' house where amazed Jonathan recognizes his mother in the lights and Joyce hear him calling her gently. It is irrelevant here but fascinating. Then they follow the trace of blood into the Hawkins Public Library.
There is some kind of lair. It is similar to both the egg lair in the Alien and in the Aliens.
The difference is that in Aliens Momma is still around. Also we have cocooned corpses in the Aliens too:
It's all of course from the Aliens and It: Hopper and Joyce parallel the couple from Aliens who found the ship with the eggs, the death of the father points to Hopper's future death.
Joyce finds Will like Ripley finds Newt in the lair, cocooned:
Bill Denbrough finds his wife Audra in the lair, cocooned.
Vecna had his lair in his old house, where he was being charged in a dock like an electronic toy...
Flesh form of It (the Spider) layed eggs in its lair which Losers destroyed (sadly, not on screen in both the miniseries and the movies) by stepping on them.
Alien Queen layed eggs in its lair which Ripley destroyed (by fire!)
Who lays those eggs (we saw one) in the UD? Whose lair is in the library???
And just what else I have on the place: Will was FOUND in the library on Nov 12th, but the sign says (Vote here) Nov. 6th when he was taken walked willingly disappeared. So can library be a part of his dissapearance too? Or even in the first place.
Dragons steal princesses and keep them in their lairs too...
King's prototype of It was a troll from a fairytale, who lives under the bridge and eats children. Do trolls eat princesses? I'm not that familiar with foreign folklore...
And the last but not least:
Team Tigers vs team Falcons:
(the shots of the library with pigeons and then pigeons were followed by shots of Joyce in her car arriving at Melvalds s01e02)
Many noticed the stalker shots and Vecna's parallels to birds.
Birds were absolutely the spies in the Duma Key by Stephen King.
