#rainbowgate

Firstly, look at the colors here. It looks to be a void with oil-spill like patterns that shift color in a gradient. It starts as red on the left, to gray in the center, and lastly, blue to the right. This is clear visual imagery for the UD and our world. The red lightning to the left makes it clear that the UD is represented by the red half. As for the blue, Earth his known as the 'Blue Planet' for our liquid water oceans.

But all that is just at the surface of this one image. If you understand STs visual aethetic, anything black, vascular, or slimey can be assiosiated with the UD, so it's clear that these oil spill patterns across the image represent the UD/MF influence. Therfore, this pattern appearing across the color gradient is visual imagery for that influence extending into our world, beyond just the upside down. The gray in the center of the gradient where the black pattern becomes dencer is like the border between our world and the UD, where the opposite colored energies of each realm are neutral. (This could mirror the black void in els mind, which in some shots its comparative color washes. Though I doubt this since the space between world's we see when Henry is pushed out of ours is much brighter and colorful).

So then, what about those pockets of light?

This excellent post dives imto that: https://www.reddit.com/r/StrangerThings/comments/u2grhk/stranger_things_4_trailer_easter_egg_villain_name/

This is actually part of an old s4 ARG & Easter egg hunt. Four of the light pockets are paired with a timestamps for moments in the trailer this image was found in.

From left to right:

1:46

2:30

:33

:52

The post explains that overlaying the image with these timestamps circles words and letters that spell out the phrase, "HI I AM HELL MASTER." The post explains that this could be the name of our villain, hellmaster. Now, of course, we know that this was One/Henry, but the hint still aligns considering his theming as a demonic wizard and Master of Puppets, which is a reference to a song by Metalica, a metal band that loved to imbue their songs with satanic themes.

My proposition, is that this isn't Vecna. At least, not him only.

For the venca theory to work, we would have to consider the image itself and how it reveals information to us. And look as well to the narrative structure of stranger things season four in relation to its wider plot.

Firstly, what does this image show us exactly? I explained it's visual organization and symbolism, but not exactly what we're supposed to think we're seeing in this image. It could just be the clouds that were there a moment before, as this image appeared in the split-second lighting flashes in the trailer as we follow flying demo-bats. But that would not explain the pockets of light nor the oil spill pattern seen in across it that do not match up with how the clouds are in the UD. This oil spill pattern isn't seen anywhere else. This visual is a separate place with ties to the UD in some way.

This would explain why we see the pockets of light that tell a message and why this image is visually represents both the UD and our world instead of just being the sky of the UD. This of course, could just be a well designed through-away visual that is not its own location. But I dont believe that. They went out of their way to show it to us and align it with the metanarrative through an ARG, so I would take this visual into consideration as a part of a larger, cross-season ARG presented meta-narrative.

So again, what does it show us? More precisely, where? And how does it tell us whether this image is actually tied to Vecna/Henry?

From this unknown place in the visual, we see multiple points in time across s4. One shot is from episode one. Another from four. Some corresponding light points are in the UDs half of the image. Other light sre in the center (border). And another in our half, Earth's. Yet all moments are from our plane, Earth. The perspective does not make much sense for out known figures.

This being, with these moments, is telling us, "I AM HELL MASTER". Reminder that these moments are from *multiple* points in time. And this being is doing this from one place as all these moments are shown to us within the light pockets of this static image.

To summarize, this entity is in one place, can see through one perspective, and can also see multiple points in time while seeing both our home if Earth and the UD.

Does this sound like a power of Vecna's? No. He never shows omniscience. He has heightened awareness through the MF hivemind that gave him his powers, can be in places he's physically not, and see into minds, but he can't see different points of time at once nor from tgis briad of a vantsge point during s4. He possesses the ability to see with one perspective as a human, but not across time. If he could, he would have gloated so. And he would have definitely won with such a power.

So it actually can't be vecna. Which circles back to the question: is this a throw-away visual? If we believe that no - it isn't - we run into not a meta narrative contradiction, but a narrative one. Season 4 is the season where Vecna is revealed to be the master of the upside down. This trailer aligns with the purpose of season 4 as the one that establishes who our big bad actually is and sets the stage for a more human vs human cnflict for the rest of the story. Removing Henry as the figure this image hints toward contradicts the narrative of season 4.

Though, there is one thing...

My interpretation of this visual doesn't contradict the narrative PAST season 4. And certainly doesn’t outside of the show itself when we take into account its metanarrative.

My interpretation of the image contradicts the narrative when it is taken as serving s4 alone. But when seen as serving the broader narrative, it aligns. Because we know from s5 and The First Shadow play that Henry might not be in complete control of himself. The MF called to him from the other world and slowly corrupted him. He may claim that he shaped it, but the psychopathic Henry we see in s4 is drastically different from the softer Henry seen in TFS. The title of 'Master' doesn't rest with Vecna/Henry alone.

With this context, we can look back on the narrative of s4 and this image in a different light that aligns with my interpretation of this entity as not Henry.

So, who is this Master?

If you've been following the stranger things theory community from playgate to conformitygate and now, you might be able to tell where I'm going.

I believe the perspective we're seeing from in this image is Tharzidun's, a dark God imprisoned in a lost, decrepit world. Otherwise known as our mandflayer, or at least the darker power behind it. Tharzidun lines up with both the mindflayer and a potential third UD force we haven't explicitly seen yet besides in implications within the metanarrative.

So now, imagine a dark primordial God trapped within a lost realm that can see but never touch the whole of things. In its eyes, many points in time and space are one moment, one image. Yet the only way for its rotten influence to touch any of these scenes from where it is locked away is to use creatures like demogorgans and vessels like Henry.

The god within Dnd's lore that connects most to such a being as the ST community has theorized is Tharzidun, a God of filth that hates our world and wants to spread and assimilate all things into itself, which perfectly matches the hivemind ecology of the UD. Whether he is a third entity that can see both the Upside-down and Earth from a third perspective, or the Mindflayer with the same level of omniscience achieves the purpose of explaining this image's perspective.

Depending on which entity it is, my question of where this is can be asnwered.

If it's the mindflayer, then we are within its mind, seeing how it sees the world. Yet if that is the case, how was it possible for MF to lose its battle with our party of heroes? With omniscience, it shouldn't be possible for it to lose.

This leaves two answers that resolve this contradiction:

1. This whole theory is invalid, or 2. That conformitygate is real and the whole final battle was an illusion as hinted by the meta-narrative.

If tharzidun =/= MF, and is a third entity in an unknown realm, then this would resolve the contradictions my interpretation would spell for the final battle without necessarily invalidating the idea that is is an illusion. It could just be that Tharzidun is an outside observer of the shows plot. Which then again asks the question of what and where exactly this visual is. If it's not within the Mindflayers mind, then where is it?

We'd have to supply that from somewhere else. For this next part, we have to turn the speculations of the brilliant Ode.to.Icarus and their ST-DnD cosmology & Pelorgate theories.

I believe this visual is the Astral sea of phlogiston, a primordial realm between worlds made of a highly flammable ethereal matter. This realm is inhabited by strange, otherworldly entities that pray on its travelers. Many lost gods are trapped in this realm or naturally residing here. And in the deepest parts of the ethereal plane, which the Astral sea is a part of, Tharzidun is sealed.

If we imagine that this is Tharzidun's view of the UD and Earth from the bottom of the Astral sea, then that explains every aspect of this visual. The omniscient perspective, the message, the imagery, and the separation from both the earth and upside down—everything.

And it could go a long way to explain how the mindflayer and dimension x came into being. The Mindflayers could be seen as an extension or some sort of dark vassal of Tharzidun. And explain Dimension X as a world that Tharzidun terraformed through it.

If Tharzidun could manage to reach into the physical realm somehow, it could imbue its power into a vessel that would then spread the God's filth and conqure that world. Otherwise, the MF would be an organism that magically spawned interdeminsional psychic properties far beyond what should be possible in our physical plane considering that Dimension X should be in the same universe as ours – as it is its own planet – and I doubt that organic psychic powers are enough to tear a rift between the space times of not one but TWO SEPARATE UNIVERSES.

Speaking of freaking BEARS ... 🧸

"In Paddington 2, the titular bear tries to BUY a POP-UP BOOK for his Aunt Lucy's 100th BIRTHDAY but is framed for STEALING it and sent to prison. While Paddington works to clear his name and win over the hardened prison inmates, the REAL THIEF, a flamboyant ACTOR named Phoenix Buchanan, tries to find a HIDDEN FORTUNE connected to the POP-UP BOOK. The Brown family must help Paddington unmask the true culprit to prove his innocence and save the book."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the only movie I found in the S4 DNA board that features a "BIRTHDAY" storyline. And whereas the birthday in that movie isn't forgotten, it IS the "Object of Desire" and CATALYST for the whole story--much like how WILL'S DISAPPEARANCE ensued the story in S1.

Coincidentally, we also have a very touching and important moment where Paddington believes he is being FORGOTTEN by his family, The Browns, and quite literally sees himself FADE from their family portrait--a MEMORY, as he cries quietly:

But a lot of other things about this movie reminded me of Stranger Things too. For example:

story beats + character moments;

JUDY BROWN was going through a #Bad Break up. ( MILEVEN is that you? lmao )

JONATHAN BROWN was pretending to be someone he was not ( MIKE, and arguably, WILL, you could even say JONATHAN too )

PADDINGTON was framed for a crime he didn't commit: stealing the pop-up book he wanted to gift his aunt. ( us being led to believe ELEVEN had committed the Hawkins Lab massacre ) & being sent to prison and making unexpected friends there that he escaped the prison with. ( like HOPPER and DMITRI + YURI ) He was also even in a coma for a bit. ( like MAX closed S4 )

PHOENIX BUCHANAN, the real thief, was a one-man-show actor who wouldn't work with others + created alts to give off the illusion of a "gang", when really it was just him. ( I see that HENRY/001/VECNA inspiration, Duffers )

MARIE BROWN reminded me of our HEROES COLLECTIVELY. She realized Buchanan was behind everything when he outed himself to her. She matched his freak, being an artist herself lmao, hence why she was able to figure him out ahead of the curve. Gotta love being an ensemble cast. ( like how Henry "outed" himself to NANCY, and HENRY having the whole artist thing in common with WILL )

THE POP-UP BOOK intended as a birthday present was also more important than it seemed, and was actually a solid narrative device on its own. ( like MAX'S DRAWING leading to Vecna's Lair when ensembled appropriately, like a puzzle. And of course, WILL'S PAINTING, which was a coded love confession )

4th wall break moments;

There was also a part I thought was hilarious meta where they referred to Phoenix Buchanan as evil because "ACTORS were the most evil people on the planet. They LIE for a living." ( which reminded me of Stranger Things and their whole WE'RE DERIVATIVE self-aware meta commentary at times. "Actors lie. All. The. Time" Actors/showrunners lying about birthdaygate, mayhaps? )

The movie was set in LONDON ( which is where THE FIRST SHADOW first premiered )

HENRY BROWN represented the well-intended yet skeptical portion of the audience--he rationalized everything Marie said and thought she watched too many adventures movies lmao. There's a scene where Marie wonders where's the cool delulu dude she married. ( he also shares a name withour titular antagonist in S4: HENRY. Does that mean anything? Who knows. )

MARIE BROWN also represented a more inquisitive, curious, creative and "delusional" part of the audience, but it was precisely that intuitive, artistic nature that led her down the path to the truth. She was proven right at the end, just like our heroes + the audience who thinks like her often do. ( She reminded me a lot of characters like JOYCE, who isn't always believed but the narrative continues to prove her right. )

#the formula🎈

GIFT RECEIVER AUNT LUCY / S4 MIKE / S4 ELEVEN pop-up book / painting + "you're the heart" speech / flowers + "I love you" speech

GIFT GIVER PADDINGTON / S4 WILL / S4 MIKE pop-up book / painting + "you're the heart" speech / flowers + "I love you" speech

What do these three gifts have in common?

The phrase "it's not what it looks like" applies to all of them.

That's right. We know that S4 was the season that the writers intended for the heroes to lose. It's no coincidence that the season where they lost is also the season where LIES, SECRETS, MISCOMMUNICATION and ILLUSION were such huge themes.

There were similar themes in Paddington, but in the end everything turned out well: Phoenix was sent to prison while Paddington's name was cleared and he reunited with his family.

But there was a catch.

Spoiler alert: I lied up there about Aunt Lucy getting the pop-up book, and I lied about Paddington having been the one to gift it to her I didn't want to spoil y'all lmao.

Because he was in a coma for three days, Paddington couldn't send her a present for her to have on her birthday.

Neither Paddington nor Buchanan get the perfect birthday present/hidden treasure they both worked so hard to get for the entire movie.

On top of that, the pop-up book was taken in for evidence, so it wasn't like he'd be able to send it later. The writers made it very clear this way that they never intended for neither the antagonist nor the hero to obtain what they originally set out to look for. It was always going to be unattainable to both.

( @cypherheartnokey something about "rainbows not having a physical “end,” which is why the treasure is never found." )

If you care about Paddington, you might be as disappointed as he is. However, where Buchanan's motivation was self-gain, Paddington's was selflessness. So, of course ...

There's a subversion here and the writers DID have something good in store for Paddington:

Something even better than what he originally set out looking for.

Thanks to the power of familial love and community, which were inspired by Paddington's kind nature, Paddington received a way more satisfying closure.

Man what a cute movie like if you're craving something cozy and found family dynamics, 10/10 recommend it. I might even just go watch the other films too.

This reminded me of these hugs too, which healed something in me tbh:

Familial love and community are huge themes across the seasons--and will undoubtedly be VITAL and CENTRAL in resolving the whole story.

And I would leave it here had it not been for the fact that someone's birthday WAS forgotten in S4. And he should've been at the receiving end of at least one gift.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

#birthdaygate🎈

So what could the writers have in store for him? Well, I believe that much like the writers of Paddington brought AUNT LUCY 's life-long dream to life in the end,

So will the writers of ST when it comes to WILL BYERS' dream at the end of the story.

and coca-cola once again makes an appearance… interesting how there’s only one coke can and it’s on will’s tray but technically it’s also right in between mike and will. and it looks like dustin has a juice or milk carton and i’m assuming the drink lucas has is a dr. pepper

holly’s walls decorated in flowers, meanwhile mike gave el flowers that she’s actually disappointed about because it says “from:mike” and season 4 ends with el touching the same type of flowers but they’re dead. not to mention, in el’s letter to mike she mentions that she likes the flowers in california, but she returns to hawkins and now the flowers there are dead.

also flowers have been used as easter eggs before. look at how the flowers look like demogorgons from these stills

and as you see there’s a rainbow in erica’s room just like holly has rainbows in her room and in the still of lucas, mike, and el there’s a rainbow heart all the way to the far left on the wall lol… like do we even need to go into details about the symbolism of rainbows?? they’re EVERYWHERE in stranger things. i swear i wrote a post about the usage of rainbows and what they symbolize to el, but i can’t find it. but basically what i said in it was how it’s interesting el would put a rainbow on the letter to mike or have rainbows in her room when technically rainbows have a negative connotation for her because of the rainbow room at the lab. this is the only post of mine i can find where i talk about rainbows. but let’s look at the fact BOTH el and holly have multicolored hearts in their rooms. (also!! el has little pink flowers on her shirt)

Joyce didn't know that she had two kids during Will's birth, but Lonnie did and he sold him (and Will) to a secret study conducted by Hawkins Lab.

The twins were separated and placed in different environments to compare the development of their powers, to see if the one who had a "normal" life would be more stronger than the brother who was at the Lab.

This study would be inspired by the Neubauer twin experiment that was conducted during the 1960's and purposely separated adopted twins and triplets into different families with different socioenomic status.

Here is an article about the study.

uhhh so watching this episode and in the little argyle-driving interlude between the dramatic ronance @ pennhurst scene and the byler scene above, there are multiple shots of the dashboard where there’s a) a constant rainbow reflection of a box or something and b) he’s wearing a rainbow bracelet.

they didn’t need to shoot only the dashboard / steering wheel to show argyle tapping along to the music, there are many different shots they could have used. they just want to rub it in that the next scene is gonna be GAY AS HELL