Warning: SPOILERS for Stranger Things season 4.
A possible twist in Stranger Things season 5, based on the theory that Vecna's story told to Eleven is full of lies, could change the show's villain completely. The end of season 4 of Stranger Things left the Hawkins gang in a precarious position. Vecna, Stranger Things' main villain, managed to destroy much of the town by opening four gates to the Upside Down. Though Eleven was able to get her powers back, she was unable to defeat Vecna, and Max almost died as a result.
Vecna's presence in the story provided some shocking twists for the entirety of the Stranger Things saga. Though it was initially believed that the Mind Flayer was behind everything in the Upside Down, Vecna's role in the show completely changed the audience's understanding of the other dimension. According to Vecna, he's been behind everything all along, after a young Eleven banished him to the Upside Down following his massacre at Hawkins Lab. He is apparently in control of the hive mind, he gave the Mind Flayer its spider-like shape, and he sent the Mind Flayer to Hawkins in season 3 of Stranger Things to steal Eleven's powers.
Vecna explains all this to Eleven while they're in Max's mind. He tells Eleven that she's the reason he became this monster, even though she tries to convince him it was Dr. Brenner. The Upside Down gave him the chance to rule over a realm that had been untouched by humans’ selfish and cyclical desires and he was able to exercise and grow his powers there. But one question remains: where's the proof? While certain parts of Vecna/Henry/One's story are evidently true, others parts are sheer conjecture, and some might even prove to be a total fabrication, depending on if the theory holds that Stranger Things season 5 will lean into the idea of Vecna being an unreliable narrator and full of lies.
What Vecna Lying Could Mean For Stranger Things
The narrator of a story guides the audience through the narrative, recounting plots, characters, and settings to weave together a cohesive tale. The concept of an unreliable narrator in fiction is the idea that not every narrator tells the truth. Some narrators are deliberately deceptive and lie, and others might merely be misguided. If a story has an unreliable narrator, it means that the information provided might be inaccurate, misleading, or conflicting. So how can an audience know if the story they are following has an unreliable narrator, and if so, how can they ascertain which parts of the story are true? In Stranger Things season 4, Vecna is the one who explains his time in the Upside Down to Eleven. There was no one there to corroborate his story, and no one to refute it either. His word is all the audience and the characters in Stranger Things have to go on.
The flashbacks to Vecna's time as an orderly in Hawkins Lab are likely true; these are told not only from the perspective of Eleven's memories but from Dr. Brenner's CCTV footage as well. But how can anyone know what happened once Vecna reached the Upside Down? There is no irrefutable proof. One of Dustin's theories is that Vecna is the Mind Flayer's "five-star general," and who is to say that might not still be true? Vecna might not be lying and is simply a misguided unreliable narrator – the Mind Flayer might be allowing Vecna to think he’s in charge. All the audience and the Hawkins gang have to go on is the word of a murderous villain who always viewed himself as better than humanity, and Vecna’s tale might very well be a story born from his feelings of superiority.
Revealing that Vecna has been behind the horrors all along is certainly an effective twist and one that has completely upended the lives of all characters involved in the show. But with one more season to go, Stranger Things may still have some surprises up its sleeve. Hopefully, season 5 of Stranger Things unveils all of what truly happened in the darkness of the Upside Down, including whether or not Vecna lied to Eleven.
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