#snakegate

A.K.A. the “MISSING PUZZLE PIECE” of Stranger Things.

+ a possible chronological timeline of Bychance.

•••••••

It’s VERY unlikely Chance the Jock doesn’t have some kind of relevant role in the finale (even if through flashbacks only).

Because… there’s all these breadcrumbs and Chekhov’s Guns that haven’t fired or gotten any payoff at all yet:

JealousyGate.

Mike’s extremely recurrent possessiveness/jealousy arc throughout all seasons. That’s definitely not just a funny gag.

ChanceGate / LuckGate.

Chance being named after the concept of Luck/Randomness. Mike: “it’s simple dumb luck”.

22Gate + BirthdayGate.

Chance being number #22 in the Tigers basketball team, which is Will’s mysteriously “forgotten” birthday.

TimeJumpGate. ItsBeenAYearGate.

18 full months of Will’s AND Mike’s life (between s4-s5) that we have seen nothing of.

OrangeGate.

Why is there SO much orange in s5, specifically in Vol 2…

… and even WILL is wearing ORANGE too now.

Yellow (Will) + Red (Vecna) = Orange (Chance).

Chance is associated to Orange through Basketball 🏀, Tigers 🐯 and Halloween 🎃.

Orange is also a color that signifies danger, alarm, risk, thrill.

HalloweenGate / RainGate / BasementGate / PossessionGate.

Max & Holly visited memories from Halloween day, when it was RAINING and Holly occupied the basement with a friend.

Meaning, Will had to have slept SOMEWHERE ELSE.

Now, was that “somewhere else” really Mike’s bedroom, like many are theorizing right now?

Or was it… not?

Remember—that was exactly the moment Henry took control of Holly’s mind. And Holly is acting as a bit of a metaphor for Mike and Will’s minds too.

What if Will was somewhat possessed by Henry that night and did something to push Mike away?

SecretsGate.

Will talking about Vecna seeing his “secrets” in Vol 2.

What secrets???

Are we sure it’s just him loving Mike… I don’t think so. We’ve been KNOWN that. I think there’s definitely something else at play.

DustinsLiesGate / PhysicalInvolvementGate / SnakeGate.

Dustin having been PHYSICALLY INVOLVED with the Jocks is still a secret to everyone else (except Steve—his BEST FRIEND—who suspects it).

Dustin’s been LYING about it.

And I firmly believe this is foreshadowing for Will’s own secret PHYSICAL INVOLVEMENT with (one of) the Jocks.

Except… this physical involvement is not really about a “fight” but about something all of us can probably guess…

Plus, the Dustin-Andy conflict implicated a SNAKE 🐍, which is not only a very established type of PHALLIC symbolism, but also BETRAYAL symbolism.

FramingGate.

In all of Chance’s scenes—and specifically in s5e1 when Mike and Will approach the jocks—there’s a very weird focus on Chance’s blocking, behavior and facial expressions.

He even exchanges noticeable looks with both Will and Mike; and Mike and Will exchange deliberate looks at him too!!!

Will and Chance in particular look slightly worried/guilty, but like they’re trying to hide it or act nonchalantly.

There’s even one shot where they’re all framed together in an incredibly suspicious way. You could even say in a love triangle imagery way.

What the hell was THAT all about?

[see more about this in the *** “Bychance Chronological Timeline” section below]

SwingGate.

“Nice swing!”.

This is what s5e5 Will says in a flirty voice towards a bare-chested Lucas (a former Tiger/Jock, and also a man of darker skin lol).

Keep in mind, “Swing” and “Swingers” have a sexual connotation too.

Then, Lucas responds with “You saw it?” -> prompting an immediate & slightly possessive response from Mike: “He didn’t ONLY see it.”

Meaning, Will didn’t ONLY “see” Chance, he DID something about it. He ACTED on it. He got INVOLVED.

HunterRomanillosGate, lol…

Finally, Hunter Romanillos (Chance’s actor) said he—and the jocks—would reappear again after Volume 1. They did not, yet. This means they will play a role in the finale.

And that role will 100% be relevant or even crucial, otherwise the writers wouldn’t even bother wasting time on those “background” characters in the very last episode of the show.

Yes, it will be about the Andy-Dustin conflict, but taking DustinsLiesGate and SnakeGate into account… I fear that’s not going to be the exclusive reason.

•••••••

*** Bychance Chronological Timeline:

My theory of how the Bychance thing went (chronologically) is this:

1986 March

Ending of s4. Will starts trying to get over Mike.

1986 October 31st / November 1st (Halloween)

Will either meets and/or begins his secret affair with Chance.

1987 Uncertain Timeline:

Somewhere along this year, Will cheats on Chance with Mike (Byler development that we will probably see in flashbacks, likely BasementGate).

By this point, Mike still doesn’t know about Chance; at most he simply suspects something.

Chance finds out Will cheated on him. Bychance breaks up.

1987 October 31st / November 1st (Halloween)

One year has passed since Bychance started dating. “It’s been a year, Mike.”

It’s raining. Henry takes control of Holly’s mind (and metaphorically, of Will’s and Mike’s minds). Will isn’t sleeping in the basement.

Something VERY crucial about Byler AND/OR Bychance happens this night. One of the 1987 events in the “uncertain timeline” above; whether it’s:

- the aforementioned Bychance breakup;

- a Byler fight;

- and/or BasementGate (the Byler confession/kiss).

1987 October / early-November

Whereas before he probably didn’t really give much of a fuck, Chance now grows a personal vendetta/resentment against Will, Mike and the entirety of the Hellfire club because of jealousy.

He’s a cowardly pick-me gay, basically lmao.

And that’s why we see him being so collaborative with Andy and therefore violent against Dustin in s5 (November 3rd).

1987[???] November 6th

It’s Nov 6th, but weirdly, there’s no mention of the year. This implies time distortion/warping, which could mean Will’s past [SA] traumas from Nov 6th 1983 are resurfacing.

Mike listens to Will’s “coming out” that he weirdly agrees to do in front of the entire group of ST characters on their team. Will says his feelings for Mike were a “crush” and Mike’s his Tammy because “he’s not [queer] like me”, implying he’s “moved on” from Mike.

Throughout his speech, Will also adds eerie references to the 1950s, activities that we know don’t really belong to his life (or his friends’ lives) and “getting lost in the woods”, which is his childhood core traumatizing SA-coded vanishing event from Nov 6th 1983—and quite literally what set the entire story of the show in motion in the first place. (The details in this paragraph weren’t noticed by me; this is #playgate and #vecnascursegate, theories that aren’t mine.)

Mike remembers their intimate moments of the last year/days (BasementGate?), notices the inconsistencies in Will’s words & attitude—clocking that this isn’t Will speaking. He realizes Will is already being possessed by Henry, who’s putting on a BAD performance of Will (Will is dressed in ORANGE).

However, Mike doesn’t say anything. Because if he does, then Henry will know that HE knows.

So Mike has to equally put on a “performance” to pretend that he doesn’t realize what’s happening. And that’s why he stays silent, acts weirdly distant and looks so conflicted/heartbroken/scared during that scene.

•••••••

Edit: PLEASE also read the reblog I made to this post, because there’s another piece of crucial evidence (related to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is one of the main movie references the Duffers told us to watch before s5).

•••••••

k**ye: i made that bitch famous

Hey, 

I’m really not 100% sure what your question is, I’m going to make the assumption that it is, what is the sn/a/ke and why do we write it with slashes? If it isn’t I’m super sorry, and please drop me a new ask :D

What is the sn/a/ke?

It is a particular non-god entity thingy, that I like to define a little inaccurately as the personification of entropy. It is something that the gods violently fight against everyday. It ‘wants’ uncreation, it hates all of creations and ‘wants’ it gone, but oxymoronically it has no wants, thoughts or emotions, it just does. It doesn’t get tired or sleep or eat. I kinda like to think of it in modern terms as the heat-death of the universe. It battles against Ra to stop the sun from rising, both during the night time when Ra is particularly vulnerable, and at midday when Ra is at the literal height of his power when the sun appears to stop in the sun for a few minutes. 

Another good description is that the sn/a/ke is the personification of isfet (chaos), but sometimes isfet is a good thing. I like to divide the two into necessary and unnecessary chaos to stop my brain hurting, but note that the AEs used the same term without clarification. 

Necessary isfet, is the realm of Set most notably. For example in the myth where Set slays his brother Osiris, it is chaotic because the land is left without a ruler - but it is ultimately necessary so that the Duat gets a ruler, so Horus can become King, etc. It can also be seen for example at harvest time, barley is cut down, which is chaotic for the barley, but necessary to make bread. 

Unnecessary isfet, is the realm of the sn/a/ke. It wants to fight Ra/the sun, so that the universe can become dead, inert and cold. I want to make it absolutely clear that this isn’t a cycle of rebirth, if the sn/a/ke wins, there is no coming back - all life is over. 

Note that the main job of Set is to fight the sn/a/ke on the Night Barque, protecting Ra (the sun) so that life may continue. Set is the chaos necessary in the cycle of rebirth, the sn/a/ke is not. 

Without trying to confuse the issue, I will go on a little bit of a tangent. The opposite of isfet is Ma’at, meaning roughly order. The gods live on Ma’at, Ma’at sustains the gods. So, if the sn/a/ke wins the gods die, so all the gods fight isfet. 

Sounds bad right? 

Kinda, but it isn’t really. It overly isn’t something that should keep you up at night or spend any time worrying about. The gods have been fighting the sn/a/ke for as long as there have been gods. In the simplest terms, to defeat the sn/a/ke, live and worship the gods, this is Ma’at. And the gods live on Ma’at. 

Heka

Heka is roughly describes as Ancient Egyptian magic, which focuses heavily on sympathetic magic. As the act of writing is a form of Heka, writing the name can give it power, which is why most Kemetics will have some form of naming taboo. I personally try to never write the name at all if I can help it. I also use a slashing hand gesture if I think/speak it. 

In Ancient Egypt, if the name needed to written, it would be written with little daggers stabbing the characters or with spears jabbing through the word to damage the name=damage the sn/a/ke. That is mimicked by adding the slashes which take the place of little daggers. 

More info;

https://starsandepithets.tumblr.com/post/173104333932/theres-a-bunch-of-worship-of-the-snek-and

Why I use the term sn/a/ke rather than anything else;

https://starsandepithets.tumblr.com/post/182847154912/think-we-could-stop-calling-apep-a-snake-yknow

Extra resources 

http://bigbadjackal.tumblr.com/post/141563121825/ive-never-heard-of-apep-may-i-know-whom-he-is

http://thetwistedrope.tumblr.com/post/66876342925/what-is-an-apep-or-apep-as-ive-seen-you-write

https://starsandepithets.tumblr.com/post/173133106244/on-worshiping-destructive-entities-the-difference

Hey,

Since you’re on anon, I honestly don’t know if you’re a part of the community or not, but you’ve got a few misconceptions in your ask, which I’m going to try to address. See if I can’t clear a few things up. Feel free to message again if you don’t understand anything I’ve said or if you’d like more clarification :D

So, first off, I would start with saying I do in part understand your discomfort around using the term. Here are some things I’ve written about this exact issue in the past and if you have a read through them you can see not only my, but other Kemetics reaction to this topic:

☀️ https://starsandepithets.tumblr.com/post/173131110332/is-it-wrong-as-a-kemetic-to-want-to-own-a-pet

☀️ https://starsandepithets.tumblr.com/post/177578998432/so-im-new-to-kemeticism-and-im-worried-about

☀️ https://starsandepithets.tumblr.com/post/173141862486/is-it-wrong-as-a-kemetic-to-want-to-own-a-pet

I disagree strongly, with your statement that ‘minds are too impressionable’ to understand the difference. We often use words with opposite meanings, for example ‘wicked’ or ‘literally’. And it isn’t even a true antonym because snake and sn/a/ke are written differently. I should hope that it is abundantly clear which each reference and if not I should hope that the context gives it away. Plus it’s pretty rude to assume that the community is too dumb to understand the difference. 

Plus, the sn/a/ke or variations on that spelling are so common that everyone in the community knows exactly to what we’re referring - the usage of the term is readily understood and many of us mimic the name taboo (see below).

- So why do we use the term sn/a/ke? -

The ancient Egyptians depicted visually and textually the wo/rm as a snake. For example,  Esna 206 specifically describes it as a serpent of 120 cubits. Or here you can see it depicted as a snake with Ra stabbing it as a tom-cat; 

☀️ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apep#/media/File:Apep_2.jpg

[but then I hear you say that worms are just as innocent, which is fair, do you have a suggestion for what we should call it? Plus, wo/rm is less historically attested...]

- Name taboo - 

The sn/a/ke is not a metaphor, it is a thing, probably best described as entropy or the eventual heat death of the universe. In Ancient Egyptian belief and so mimicked in modern Kemetic belief, writing has power. Writing the names of the nTrw has power, and so writing the name of the sn/a/ke has power. Often you will see the name speared or struck out, and this has come into modern belief in the form of a name taboo. I am simply uncomfortable writing the name. 

For example, an ancient depiction of Atum spearing the sn/a/ke. Notice that the spear goes straight through the name. Which shows visually how much more important cutting the name was. 

☀️ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apep#/media/File:Apep_1.jpg

What I’m trying to say, is that it isn’t a metaphor. It is a part of our practises and beliefs that comes directly from ancient sources. 

- But snake deities?? -

And now for the biggie, how do I think using the term sn/a/ke makes Wadjet or Renenunet feel?

I honestly don’t think they have a problem with it. 

I don’t have the spell reference to hand, but a spell from the Coffin Texts describes the Eye of Ra (Wadjet is an eye of Ra goddess) as transforming into a snake (cobra specifically) which spits fire at the sn/a/ke. 

And while I don’t have that kind of reference from Renenunet specifically fighting it, I can only assume that she would be fine with it. For a start I’ve worked with her and she’s never told me otherwise, and for that matter none of the nTrw have ever told me that they have a problem with it. 

In some semblance of a conclusion, I would say that the term isn’t one that we’ve made up because we hate snakes. It is an adaption of historically attested material. It is a term that the community knows and understands and we all know that there is a difference between snake and sn/a/ke.