Max Is Alive Inside Vecna: Dark Stranger Things Theory Sets Up Season 5

While Max is technically alive after Stranger Things season 4, there's a chance her true situation may be a fate worse than death. Played by Sadie Sink, who also starred in Netflix's popular Fear Street movie trilogy, Max became a fan favorite fairly quickly following her introduction in Stranger Things season 2. Max won viewers over with her sharp wit, tough and resilient nature, and willingness to put her life on the line alongside her friends.

After watching her brother Billy die at the end of Stranger Things season 3 though, season 4 saw Max behave differently, spending most of her time in a depressed and brooding state. Max partially blamed herself for Billy's death at the hands of The Mind Flayer, believing for some reason that she could have done something to help him. In reality, without Billy's intervention, it is likely Max would have been killed—but grieving is usually not a process that operates on logic.

By the end of Stranger Things season 4, Max's trusty Kate Bush song did not win the day, and she wound up being killed by Vecna as the final sacrifice he intended to use to open a massive rift to The Upside Down. While Max did briefly die, Eleven used her powers to somehow resurrect Max—but with a catch. The resurrected Max remains in a coma; one that El seemingly cannot wake her from. Things seem grim, but there is still hope Stranger Things season 5 will rescue Max and at least partially restore her to pre-Vecna condition. The catch is that actually doing that will likely involve playing a dangerous game with One himself.

What Happened To Max In Stranger Things Season 4

Sadie Sink in Stranger Things season 4 finale

Vecna's first few victims during Stranger Things season 4 are characters the audience is just meeting, and thus does not have much invested in. That all changes when Max begins seeing Vecna's grandfather clock hallucination, followed by glimpses of Billy that show him blaming her for his death. Her guilt allows Vecna a doorway into Max's mind on which to seize. She is able to stave him off for a long time with the use of her favorite song, "Running Up That Hill", the Stranger Things season 4 hit by Kate Bush, but is eventually forced to abandon that tactic.

Unfortunately, for the group's unlikely plan to take out Vecna to work, Max needs to offer herself up as bait—which of course goes horribly, horribly wrong. Max rises into the sky, her limbs begin to snap, and she goes blind. Max briefly dies and the portal begins to open to The Upside Down, but Eleven throws a monkey wrench in Vecna's plan by bringing Max back to life. Once she reaches the hospital, El enters Max's mind clearly hoping she will be able to find and retrieve her. Instead, she is met with a black void, one which offers a terrifying implication.

Why Max Isn't There When Eleven Enters Her Mind

Eleven in Max's California memory, Stranger Things season 4, volume 2

Max not being present in her own mind when Eleven enters could be considered a representation of her being brain dead after her ordeal, but there is another altogether more upsetting implication to consider. As much as Stranger Things deals with the supernatural, the concept of religion or the afterlife is not something it has really broached. However, if Max does indeed have a soul, for lack of a better term, it may have left her body when she died. Whether it's her soul, life essence, mind, consciousness—however Stranger Things wants to depict the concept, it is likely under the thumb of Vecna, aka Henry Creel.

When Dr. Brenner insists to El that she is not ready to fight Vecna he tells her that One does not just kill people, he consumes them. He takes everything from his victims. In this case, the "everything" Vecna took was what makes Max the person her friends know and love. The moment she died, Max's essence left her body and became the property of Vecna, explaining why Max is not there to greet Eleven inside her own mind. Sadly, Max could be trapped in a state arguably worse than death, as it's unlikely that Vecna/One/Henry is making her stay a pleasant one.

How Eleven Could Save Max From Vecna In Stranger Things 5

If this particular Stranger Things season 4 theory pans out, Max is trapped inside Vecna somehow. The physics of that are hard to contemplate, but clearly, anything can happen in the town of Hawkins, Indiana. What matters is that Max is in trouble, and she needs to be rescued during Stranger Things season 5. The only one suited for the job is again Eleven, her powers hopefully honed further during whatever time jump period has been teased by the Duffer Brothers. El will need to enter the most twisted mind of all and explore through it until she is able to locate Max and bring her back across the mental plane to her own body.

Stranger Things' former Henry Creel will of course not make that an easy task, and will certainly try to claim Eleven for himself while she is visiting. It may also take convincing to get through to Max, as whatever time she has spent in Vecna's clutches may have rendered her a bit mad. If Eleven does succeed in bringing back Max to her body during Stranger Things season 5 though, there is still the question of her physical state. While broken limbs can heal, Max's blindness will likely require a remedy of the supernatural sort, provided there is a remedy at all. After spending time in a coma, Max will also likely need to undergo months of physical rehab to get back to normal, if she ever truly can. Still, it beats being Vecna's prisoner any longer than necessary.

More: Did Stranger Things Get Its Will Byers Gay Scene Right? It's Complicated

Want more Stranger Things season 4 articles? Check out our essential content below...