Stranger Things: Who Actually Kidnapped Will Byers in Season One? (2023)

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Stranger Things: Who Actually Kidnapped Will Byers in Season One? ›

Will Is Abducted By A Demogorgon Riding Home From A D&D Game (Season 1) The life that Will Byers lived prior to his journey getting started in Stranger Things is only briefly explored in the opening minutes of the show's Season 1 debut.

Vecna was the one who originally kidnapped Will in season 1.

The Demogorgon is a very animalistic creature, typically maneuvering around on all four legs, similar to a dog. This faceless creature will hunt and stalk its prey, before devouring it, which is why we find it hard to believe that the demogorgon kidnapped Will, instead of eating the boy on the spot.

On November 6, 1983 in Hawkins, Indiana, a scientist is attacked by an unseen creature at a U.S. government laboratory. 12-year-old Will Byers encounters the creature and mysteriously vanishes while cycling home from a Dungeons & Dragons session with his friends Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson and Lucas Sinclair.

The friends and family of Will Byers, one of the Demogorgon's victims, slowly began to uncover the truth about the creature, with the help of the escaped Eleven. The creature was finally defeated in a showdown with Eleven at Hawkins Middle School.

Through the Gate, the Demogorgon traveled into Hawkins. There, it abducted Will Byers and killed Barbara Holland. At Hawkins Middle School, the Demogorgon killed several Department of Energy officials and attacked the Director of Hawkins Lab, Dr. Martin Brenner.

Will's mom and police chief Jim Hopper managed to enter the Upside Down and found Will unconscious in the membrane with a creepy tentacle in his mouth. They cut him free and brought him back to the real world while Eleven fought the monster.

One of the theories could be that Will has some supernatural powers that caused the monster to be lured to him even though he wasn't injured. That could also be the reason he could communicate with his mother using the lights.

Even though Will was rescued, it seemed the time he spent in the Upside Down forever linked him to his captor. This manifested itself in some terrifying ways in Season 2. Now we know that Will's connection has always been to Vecna (not the Mind Flayer).

And watching earlier seasons back, TikToker Mark Byers discovered signs of Vecna since the show's first season. A major moment of note happens all the way back in Season 1, Episode 1, when Will is biking home just before he's trapped in the Upside Down.

Who is Will Byers boyfriend? ›

Noah Schnapp CONFIRMS his Stranger Things character Will Byers 'is gay and he does love Mike Wheeler' | PINKVILLA.

Using past traumas to break down his victims, Vecna brought Nancy to the pool where Barb was killed by the Demogorgon and revealed her mangled corpse. Vecna then taunted Nancy with her own feelings of guilt - that she was responsible for Barb's death and had forgotten about her.

In a fit of rage, Henry used his restored powers to brutally murder the other test subjects and workers, and attempted to do the same to Eleven. However, Eleven stood her ground and ultimately overpowered him, sending him through a gate to the Upside Down; there, he gradually transformed into the being known as Vecna.

As season one clearly sets out: Will was specifically chosen and taken by the Demogorgon with the creature pursuing him into his shed to take him rather than just a random kidnapping.

So, how did Will Byers get there? It seems that Will was abducted by a Demogorgon on his late-night bike ride back home from Mike's house. Inside the Upside Down, Will tried to evade the creature that kidnapped him by hiding in familiar places, like the Upside Down version of his fort, Castle Byers.

In 1986, Will finally discovered the Mind Flayer to be Vecna's puppet and it was he who possessed him through the Mind Flayer.

At his empire's height, Vecna was betrayed and destroyed by his most trusted lieutenant, a vampire called Kas the Bloody-Handed, using a magical sword that Vecna himself had crafted for him, now known as the Sword of Kas.

Then, as he was falling through the Upside Down, One became the creature Vecna after lightning struck him in such a way that it changed his skin and made him into the monster he is now.

What Was That Repulsive Slug Will Coughed Up? When Joyce and Hopper found Will in the Upside Down, he'd basically been intubated with a tentacle that kept him alive in a suspended state. Hopper had to yank that thing out of Will's throat and then provide some (questionably rough) CPR to get him breathing again.

In Stranger Things season 1, Will is attacked and captured by the Demogorgon. His vanishing kicks off the plot of the whole show and he survives for a long, lonely week in the mysterious Upside-Down after being snatched by the toothy-mawed monster.

What did Vecna eat in the upside down? ›

Vecna, who absorbs beings' consciousnesses and resultantly feeds off their power, knew he had stumbled upon exactly what he needed to exact his revenge on the world: I saw so many things, then one day I found the most extraordinary thing of all. Something that would change everything.

We still don't know why Vecna waited seven years after being banished to the Upside Down before starting his murderous rampage. At this point, I'm not sure we ever will. However, it's not like Vecna was twiddling his tentacle-y thumbs for seven years.

It uses Will because of the connection Will has to Eleven, who would be able to open further gateways to parallel universes so the Mind Flayer would be able to continue this cycle nearly indefinitely. As the Redditor continues, it becomes clear why Will could be the Demogorgon.

Will Byers miraculously survived a week stuck in the Upside Down during Stranger Things season 1. Here's how based on the Dark Horse comics series. One of the biggest lingering mysteries surrounding Stranger Things is how Will Byers managed to survive while being stuck in the Upside Down.

In an interview with IndieWire, the two showrunners were asked how long Vecna had been part of the show's master plan. Ross Duffer revealed that the character had been conceived during the show's early seasons.

It's revealed that Vecna is actually Victor Creel's son, Henry. After realizing he has powers while feeling alone in his own home, Henry decides to attack his own family and kill them to test his power.

"I saw a means to realize my potential to transcend my human form, to become the predator I was always born to be," Vecna tells El. We then see One use his powers to mold the cloud into the spindly shape of the Mind Flayer. Vecna did say he had a fondness for spiders, particularly Black Widows.

Next up, the viewers go on to theorise that One/Vecna is actually Eleven's dad. Yep, told you it was wild. The theory claims that Brenner wanted to create a child with stronger powers, so he waited until One was old enough to become a father.

While intending to get his revenge on Eleven and Brenner, Vecna also goes after victims who have dealt with traumatizing experiences in the past (reminiscent of his childhood and his time at the Hawkins lab).

Henry spends years trapped in the Upside Down, which changes him into the monster that is now terrorizing Hawkins in the present: Vecna.

Who did Vecna killed first? ›

Vecna's first big credited kill was Chrissy Cunningham (Grace Van Dien). He followed that murder with canonically terrible driver Fred Benson (Logan Riley Bruner) and basketball star Patrick McKinney (Myles Truitt).

And in season 4, it became apparent to many that Will was struggling with a secret. Now actor Noah Schnapp, who plays Will, revealed to Variety that his character is indeed gay, and secretly has feelings for his best friend, Mike, who's in a relationship with Eleven.

Lonnie Byers is a supporting antagonist in the first season of Stranger Things. He is Joyce Byers' ex-husband, as well as the estranged and neglectful father of their two sons, Jonathan and Will. He was portrayed by Ross Partridge.

Vecna kills Chrissy, Fred, and Patric, three characters we were just beginning to know. The villain also almost takes our beloved Max, but she is saved by the power of music! Finally, episode 7, titled “Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab,” left audiences with a pretty big cliffhanger: Vecna enters Nancy's mind.

Nancy is Vecna's latest victim, targeted for her guilt over Barb's death. She falls under his spell just as she, Robin, Eddie, and Steve are escaping the Upside Down.

Demogorgon is first mentioned in the commentary on Statius's Thebaid often attributed in manuscripts to a Lactantius Placidus, (c. 350–400 AD). The Lactantius Placidus commentary became the most common medieval commentary on the poem by Statius and is transmitted in most early editions up to 1600.

What Does Vecna Want? Vecna's goal is to open as many gates to the Upside Down as he can, in order to help the Mind Flayer.

You know, the part where Eleven is crying and trying to get out of Vecna's tentacle clutches in the last episode of Season 4? Yeah, Bower says Brown was crying real tears during that scene. “She was terrified and freaked out.

His first three victims — Chrissy Cunningham, Patrick McKinney, and Fred Benson — are all peers of The Party, people they know from school, which makes Vecna's terror all the more real.

The theory predicts that Vecna wants to regain his human form, and he will use Will to do so in Season 5. Knowing that Vecna singled out Will in Season 1, it's a reasonable theory, but it might go too far. After all, Vecna already has a human form, and he has vowed to eliminate humanity.

Is Will In Love With Mike? ›

Now that Stranger Things season 4 has confirmed not only Will's queerness, but also his unrequited love for Mike, it's certainly interesting to look at their relationship in retrospect.

Barb sits outside near the pool and the Demogorgon grabs her, and before she knows it, in episode 3 "Holly, Jolly," she's in the Upside Down. The Demogorgon then kills her brutally.

Susan: Will is the spy into the Shadow Monster's motives, but it appears like he's a double agent. As his hippocampus abnormalities grow, his own memories of people are being replaced by not only the “now memories” but he's a slave to the evil's bidding.

The monster wants revenge after Eleven stopped its spread into our world. It was clearly displayed in season 2 that the Upside Down and its inhabitants harbor a grudge against Will for escaping in season 1.

- Vecna was the one who originally kidnapped Will in season 1.

Vecna's burned, corpse-like look draws heavy inspiration from the iconic “Nightmare on Elm Street” slasher Freddy Kruger, with the films in general serving as a lodestar for the season.

Lonnie is also homophobic, and in the past, harassed Will about his sexuality, calling him weak and a waste of a son, due to his sensitive nature. All in all, Lonnie was an emotionally abusive father, and is unloved by both his ex-wife and his sons.

In Stranger Things season 1, episode 1, Will Byers disappears and is presumed dead by the Hawkins police after finding a dupe body dumped by Hawkins Lab in the lake; his faux-death marking the major conflict for season 1.

When Eleven went looking for both the missing kids in the Upside Down she found Will alive and hiding, but came across Barb's decaying corpse with a slug-like creature crawling out of her mouth.

Why was Barb killed but not Will? ›

Barb's death implied that whatever the slug does didn't take, so the Mind Flayer reached out to Will instead. It could be that the Mind Flayer needed a younger host, or Barb may have simply died while the Demogorgon was attempting to infect her.

From the looks of it, Will is trapped in the Upside Down for just a week, even if it felt much longer. Additionally, season one sees a time jump after Will is rescued with the series closing a week or so before Christmas, which again seemed to suggest it was a matter of days he had been gone for.

In the Stranger Things Season 1 finale, Will Byers was rescued from the Upside Down by his mom, Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hawkins Police Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) in one of the show's most emotional scenes (the flashbacks to Hopper's daughter dying is still just as heartbreaking six years later).

Abduction by the Monster

Mike, acting as Dungeon Master, summoned a Demogorgon, which ultimately defeated Will's character.

"The Upside Down" - Eleven provides proof of Will being alive.

Now that Stranger Things season 4 has confirmed not only Will's queerness, but also his unrequited love for Mike, it's certainly interesting to look at their relationship in retrospect.

"When It's Cold I'd Like to Die" by Moby - Will is brought back to life in the Upside Down.

Amongst the chaos, Eleven escaped the lab through a drain pipe; she was soon found by Mike, Lucas, and Dustin.