#vecna'd

These are two parallels from EP7 of S4 and S5. I just realized that Will’s coming out scene happens on a checkered floor, which makes all the characters look like players on a chess board.

One, aka Henry, aka Vecna, aka Mr. Whats It, manipulates Eleven to conduct the massacre at Hawkins Lab during a game of chess. The piece he steals from her is a knight on A6, just like the 6th of November, the day of Vecna’s plan to collide worlds. Mike’s D&D character is a paladin, aka a holy knight.

This sets up that Vecna’s grand plan involves stealing Mike, the brave knight, from Will in order to manipulate him, and everyone else, so he can win. Mike is so getting Vecna’d or targeted (again), and to hint it here during Will’s coming out scene? It has to be about Byler and toying with Will’s love for Mike.

By the way, “endgame” is originally a chess term, as in checkmate. Lucas says “that’s endgame” when he, Robin, and Mike talk about Will being trapped in Vecna’s mind, knowing his secrets, and Mike saying he’ll “stay with Will,” in the same location, on the same checkered floor.

THE WHOLE SET IS A "BYLER ENDGAME" JOKE. OMFG.

Cuz what if when will is getting vecnad mike syas smth like "Will please! You can't leave! I need you! I.. I love you!!"

And then dustin goes like "Yeah man we all love you!" And complete ruins the intimate moment byler was having (mike would have to most "are u fr rn?" Face on)

memory

turn your face to the moonlight

let the memory lead you

open up enter in

He writes “Hi” and flips it around to Steve who smiles and rolls his eyes fondly before writing “Hi” back. 

Then Steve scribbles on the next page, “You’re different than I thought.”

Eddie shrugs and writes, “You too.”

“Can I tell you a secret?” Eddie writes, hands trembling a little.

Steve pretends to be thinking hard and then smiles and nods.

Swallowing around the fear in his throat, Eddie puts his pencil to paper. He can’t believe he’s going to do this but he’s facing down a murderer in the murderer’s own house and he walked through a Hell dimension. And there’s just something about Steve. A peaceful acceptance. Eddie thinks it might be okay. To tell him. 

If Steve can be brave enough to put himself in danger again and again, Eddie can be brave enough to do this. 

“I’m gay.” He writes, letting out a long breath and staring at it for a few seconds before holding it up and showing Steve. Eddie probably looks as terrified as he feels. God, he hopes he’s not fucking this up.

Steve blinks several times, expression dazed and Eddie’s stomach clenches. Then Steve bends over his notepad, scribbling and brings it up to show Eddie, “Thank you for trusting me with that.”

Eddie lets out the breath he’d been holding very slowly, his relief must be obvious because Steve smiles encouragingly and then flips the page quietly, writing on the next. Then he flips it and writes on the next as well. When he holds it up, he flips the first page back, “I like girls.”

Nodding, Eddie doesn’t let his disappointment show. Of course Steve is straight. He’s the Hawkins High heartthrob. He was in love with Nancy Wheeler and whatever he has going on with Robin is obviously strong enough to pull him back from literal Hell.

Still holding up the notepad, Steve flips the second page, it reads, “...and sometimes boys.”

He looks nervous but also kind of…hopeful, maybe? Eddie has to cover his mouth to keep silent but then he writes, “Cool” and shows Steve who rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

Eddie’s just gathering the courage - or stupidity depending on how it was gonna go - to ask Steve on a date when Erica’s light flashes from across the street. He fumbles the flashlight for a moment and then flashes back.

It’s time.

Mike Wheeler is a character who was always associated with a blue color palette. When he isn't in his usual garb, he's going through a major emotional shift or it's an intended indicator the setting has changed. In S5, he wears "more serious tones" and as costumer designer Amy Parris puts it, "He's there to help his friends and I feel like the outfit reflects that."

During a S4 interview, Parris said how her color choices are tied to location, "I was able to kind of compartmentalize it and develop color palettes and specifics within each location so that it would be a quick way for the audience to know where…they were when we'd see these people in different areas." This is interesting because Mike is still supposedly at Hawkins, which associates Mike with muted cool tones. He's not supposed to be in a different area. Yet, the new reddish purple choice indicates he's somewhere else. Where red hues in the show have typically been associated with red flashes of lightning in the Upside Down and Vecna's mind, or a figurative representative of adoration/love.

Mike's outfits supposedly reflect he's there to be in service to his friends, be the party leader—the "heart" of the party, as Will dubbed him in S4. With all the American flag imagery around him, it's likely the epilogue takes places around Memorial Day, an American holiday which honors U.S. military personnel who died in service. He's first seen in front of a memorial. Often times fallen service members are awarded purple hearts for their acts of bravery or sacrifice in the line of duty. So this idea of dressing Mike the Brave in this color to be a metaphorical purple heart indicates he's made a great sacrifice.

This purple outfit indicates he's made the ultimate sacrifice associated with the Upside Down, perhaps he's stayed, gone missing, or became stuck during the final battle as the physical location he's in on that bench mirrors the heart of the wormhole, and there are many other allusions to Vecna's curse in this scene. Just beforehand, Karen called Hopper about not being able to find Mike, then exchanges dialogue about how this "town" has a history of "children going missing." Children go missing in the Upside Down, not Hawkins.