What if Vecna isn't really the big bad of Stranger Things and Henry Creel is a victim and not a villain? We're going to talk about that theory and what we think is about to happen at the end of this season.
Now, we are going to be talking about the Broadway play Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which shows Vecna's origin story. The Duffer brothers have said that it's not essential viewing for the show, but the series has already used many references to the play and we think that this finale is going to draw heavily from its story.
In Stranger Things season 4, we learned that even before he was Vecna, Henry Creel was a creepy, violent kid. He killed his mom and sister, murders that his father, Victor Creel, was framed for. And even before that, he was torturing and killing animals. Stranger Things 4 made it seem like Henry was a sociopath all along, and the Vecna was just the form he took after El sent him into Dimension X. But the First Shadow revealed that Henry's story was a little more complicated than that. And season 5 is doubling down on that complication.
The first Shadow showed us that Henry wasn't actually evil until after the Mind Flayer got a hold of him. Then he killed his mom and his sister and wound up in Hawkins Lab with Dr. Brenner, his new papa. Henry being corrupted by the Mind Flayer instead of just plain evil has led to theories that Vecna and Henry or Mr. What's It might actually be separate characters in this new season. Vecna, the fully Mind Flayer controlled villain, and Henry, the part of him that wasn't corrupted and is trapped inside of his own memories. That seems like a bit of a stretch. I know it sounds that way, but listen, between the play and the first four episodes of season 5 and some hints that the actors have dropped, it doesn't seem that far-fetched to me. This might even explain why Henry gave Holly music. Maybe he was trying to protect her.
There are theories that this season involves time travel and that Henry's plan might involve going back in time to undo his encounter with the Mind Flayer. Characters like Holly call the prison of memories they're trapped in "Camzots," a reference to A Wrinkle in Time, and the Duffer brothers have layered in hints about time manipulation throughout the season, including suggestions that time travel could be the next logical step for the series. Could the events around Vecna be part of a larger narrative involving time travel?
One of the most compelling pieces of evidence for time manipulation is the recurring emphasis on clocks and time inconsistency throughout the show. The orchestration of these elements hints at an impending twist that could redefine the character dynamics in Stranger Things.