I made a post with a theory for Season 5 Part 2 fourteen days ago, ahead of the release of Season 5 Episodes 1–4: [https://www.reddit.com/r/StrangerThings/comments/1p5v3ct/final\_theory\_for\_season\_5/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/StrangerThings/comments/1p5v3ct/final_theory_for_season_5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)

Now that I’ve seen Episodes 1–4, I’ve expanded on my theory and what I believe will happen in Episodes 5–7 of Season 5. This theory will emphasize five key areas:

1. Key points from *A Wrinkle in Time*
2. The history of Vecna in DnD
3. The stage play – *The First Shadow*
4. The Stranger Things timeline (Seasons 1–4)
5. Theory for Stranger Things Season 5

If you’ve read *A Wrinkle in Time*, you can skip section 1.  
If you’ve seen the stage play *The First Shadow*, you can skip section 3.  
Section 4 deals with events from Seasons 1–4 that I believe are important.  
Section 5 contains my theory for Season 5 — this includes both spoilers for Episodes 1–4 and predictions for Episodes 5–7.

# 1. A Wrinkle in Time

The Duffer Brothers have mentioned in several interviews that they drew inspiration from *A Wrinkle in Time* for parts of the plot in Season 5, and Ross Duffer has also shared Instagram stories from the set where the book was visible.

I’ve read the book in Norwegian, so I apologize if some of the terminology differs from the American translation. In *A Wrinkle in Time*, we’re introduced to the main characters Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin. The book explores five dimensions:

• The 1st dimension is a linear line that can only move back and forth.  
• The 2nd dimension is two-dimensional.  
• The 3rd dimension is the world we live in.  
• The 4th is time.  
• The 5th dimension is the tesseract — the ability to travel through dimensions.  
• The second picture is taken from the book and explains why the fifth dimension is a tesseract.

In the story, the main characters use the tesseract to travel to other dimensions. Along the way, they must pass through several dimensions before reaching their final destination, Camazotz. Before arriving there, they encounter a large, dark shadow — a monstrous darkness known as “the Black Thing.” The Black Thing is the source of all evil in the universe, but it has no consciousness of its own.

Camazotz is a dystopian society where everything is meant to be perfect — a society created by the man with red eyes, who calls himself IT. IT is an extension of the Black Thing and serves as the main antagonist, manipulating, controlling, and governing everything in Camazotz. IT has gained its abilities from the Black Thing and uses them to possess Charles Wallace. To save the world, the protagonists must defeat IT in order to escape Camazotz.

# 2. Vecna in DnD

Vecna is a lich and spellcaster seeking godhood. To achieve this, he commits genocide against all magic-users during the Battle of a Thousand Eyes, believing that becoming the sole wielder of magic will grant him divinity. The gods Pelor and Boccob punish Vecna for this, stripping him of all the magical power he has accumulated. As a result, Vecna is forced to rebuild himself from scratch.

During this period, he gains many followers, including Kas, one of his most loyal servants. Because Vecna has no access to the divine realm, Elion, he formulates a plan in which he possesses a young girl named Pandora and sends her into Elion to retrieve the Ever Flame — an artifact that could grant him godhood.

However, the death-god Nerull sees through the plan and discovers that Pandora is being controlled by Vecna. In response, Nerull opens Pandora’s soul as punishment, releasing all the evil Vecna has poured into her into the divine realm of Elion, which corrupts Elion forever.

As punishment, the gods give Vecna what he believes is the Ever Flame — but what they actually hand him is a phylactery in which they trap his soul. They then hide the phylactery so he can never find it again.

When Vecna fails to ascend, Kas — his most loyal servant — betrays and kills him. During the battle, Vecna loses his right eye and right hand. But because his soul is trapped inside the phylactery, Vecna cannot die. He wanders endlessly, searching for his soul. His body rots, transforming him into an undead monstrosity. He eventually replaces his missing arm with a magical artificial one.

# 3. The First Shadow

The stage play takes place in 1959, when the Creel family moves to Hawkins. The story begins in 1943, when the United States conducts a secret mission called “Project Rainbow,” attempting to make the ship USS Eldridge invisible so it can be used against the Germans in the war. During the experiment, they accidentally transport the ship to Dimension X. When the crew returns, all are dead except Captain Brenner, who is gravely ill and has developed a new blood type.

Martin Brenner wants to uncover what happened to his father and therefore attempts to recreate the experiment in order to reach Dimension X through the Nevada Experiment. A rogue doctor involved in the project turns out to be a Soviet spy, who steals essential equipment from Brenner and hides it in a nearby cave system.

The Creel family lived close to this cave, and one day, while Henry was playing outside, he found it. Henry was eight years old at the time, and when he came across the equipment, he was transported to Dimension X for 12 hours. When he returned, he was a different boy — troubled and mentally unstable. Henry repressed what happened in the cave; the experience was so traumatic that he suppressed the memories of his visit to Dimension X. In an attempt to give Henry a fresh start, the family moved from Nevada to Hawkins in 1959.

Henry attended Hawkins High School with Joyce Maldonado, Bob and Patty Newby, Karen Childress, and Jim Hopper. In the play, Joyce leads a theater group performing *Dark of the Moon*, a story about a witch boy trying to become human after falling in love with a Baptist girl — paralleling Henry and Patty’s relationship. Patty Newby is the adopted daughter of Principal Newby, who is also the pastor of Hawkins Baptist Church. He disapproves of Patty’s friendship with Henry, believing it makes her “unclean.”

Patty wants Henry to use his abilities to find her biological mother. Henry succeeds, but becomes overstimulated and ends up injuring Principal Newby, who had come to take Patty away from Henry. Virginia reveals that this was not the first time Henry had harmed someone — he had previously blinded a boy in Nevada, which is why the family relocated.

Virginia contacts Martin Brenner, who has followed the family to Hawkins from Nevada, and Virginia hands Henry over to him for “treatment.” But Brenner wishes to exploit Henry’s powers to contact the shadow creature from Dimension X. He wants to use Henry as a weapon and instructs him to kill a prisoner brought to the lab. When Henry realizes he is being used and refuses to kill, he escapes and goes home. His parents welcome him, pretending nothing is wrong — but Henry reads his mother’s mind and learns she plans to bring him back to Brenner. After reading her thoughts, Henry kills his mother Virginia and his sister Alice.

Through the Void, Henry discovers that Martin intends to take Patty, believing she is the one preventing Henry from giving in to the darkness. Henry goes to the school during the performance of *Dark of the Moon* to protect Patty. Brenner finds Henry and Patty backstage. Henry loses control of his powers and accidentally injures Patty. Afterwards, Patty leaves for Las Vegas to reunite with her mother, and Brenner takes Henry back to the lab.

In the final scene of *The First Shadow*, we learn that Henry’s blood changed after his childhood visit to Dimension X. Brenner injects ten pregnant women with Henry’s blood. The experiment is successful, resulting in ten children with telekinetic abilities.

# 4. Stranger Things Timeline (Seasons 1–4)

Season 1, Episode 1: Eleven touches the Demogorgon via the Void and opens a rift in time between Dimension X — where Vecna is — and Hawkins. This rift becomes the Upside Down, frozen in time on November 6, 1983. We know Vecna sends a Demogorgon after Eleven, and I believe Eleven crossed paths with Will and hid in the shed. This explains how she recognized Will in the photo, why the light was on in the shed, why the door opened via telekinesis, and why Will was taken. The Demogorgon originally intended to take Eleven but mistook Will for her.

Season 1, Episode 7: Eleven uses the Void and finds Will inside Castle Byers, singing *Should I Stay or Should I Go*.

Season 1, Episode 8: Joyce and Hopper enter the Upside Down to rescue Will. They encounter no Demogorgons or obstacles, hinting that Vecna wanted them to retrieve Will and bring him back to Hawkins.

Season 2, Episode 3: Will takes Bob’s advice and stops running from the Mind Flayer. Vecna uses the Mind Flayer to possess Will, just as IT uses the Black Thing to possess Charles Wallace in *A Wrinkle in Time*. I believe it’s a red herring that Will is a "spy," because in Season 4 we learn Vecna can see everything through the Void — meaning he doesn’t need a spy.

Season 2, Episode 7: We are introduced to Kali, whose power is illusion, unlike Eleven’s telekinesis.

Season 2, Episode 9: Joyce and the others use heat therapy to drive the Mind Flayer out of Will. Vecna must now find a new host to continue his plan.

Stranger Things *Beyond*: The Duffer Brothers explain that the Mind Flayer was originally called the Shadow Monster in the script. The kids on set found a DnD handbook and jokingly referred to it as the Mind Flayer because of the similarities, and the name stuck. But the Duffer Brothers state explicitly that the creature is **not** based on the Mind Flayer from DnD.

Season 3: Vecna uses Billy as his new host to feed the Mind Flayer and Hive Mind more souls. Brenner explains to Eleven in Season 4 that Vecna becomes stronger with every kill. Billy’s purpose was to strengthen Vecna enough to use a spell from DnD called *illusory memory* — an illusion so strong it becomes real.

Season 4, Episode 1: Vecna has now become strong enough due to Billy continuing the task Will was originally supposed to fulfill. Vecna can now use illusions to kill teens in Hawkins.

In Eddie’s DnD campaign, they face Vecna. Dustin rolls an 11 and they lose the first battle — foreshadowing Eleven facing Vecna alone and losing in Season 4. Lucas wins as number 8, and Erika rolls a natural 20, landing a crit and defeating Vecna. I believe this foreshadows the ending of Season 5. In interviews, the Duffer Brothers have stated they wrote the last 30–40 minutes of the series finale **seven years ago**, using it as a “north star.”

Season 4, Episode 8: Vecna gives Nancy a vision of what is to come — her entire family murdered, Hawkins engulfed in flames, and monsters everywhere.

# 5. Theory for Stranger Things Season 5

Season 4, Episode 9: Eleven and the group are at a gas station when she gets the idea to piggyback on Max to reach Vecna. She looks at a sign — a foreshadowing of the Creel family. In ***image 4*** we see what appears to be Victor Creel with blurred eyes, Virginia, and the children Alice and Henry overlooking the Grand Canyon — the same place Max is trapped in Episode 4 ***image 5***.

Season 5, Episode 2: In this episode, we see the prophecy Vecna showed Nancy start to come true. Karen and Ted are injured, and Nancy begins to realize that this might not just be a theory.

Season 5, Episode 3: Max tells Holly that she is trapped inside Henry Creel’s memories because she is trapped inside his mind. She explains that she has traveled through Henry’s memories — including the Hawkins Lab massacre, his time in school with Joyce and the others, and the night he killed her. Max says something stopped Henry when she reached the cave — that he looked afraid ***image 6***. I believe this works the same way as Eleven suppressing her memory of the massacre. Max is safe in the cave because this memory is traumatic for Henry — one he has repressed. Henry therefore cannot reach Max there. Kali may be the key to unlocking this repressed memory and revealing what happened the day Henry first entered Dimension X.

In this episode, Dustin has a map of the Upside Down showing the outer wall surrounding it ***image 7***. I made an illustration of the three dimensions and Vecna’s plan ***image 8***. The red square symbolizes the barrier between the Upside Down and Hawkins, and the four murders Vecna committed to break this barrier in Season 4. The yellow circle symbolizes the barrier between Dimension X and the Upside Down. Will receives and draw a vision showing Vecna plans to fill 12 vessels — the children Henry kidnaps and brings to Camazotz.

The circle-with-square motif is therefore a reference to the tesseract, which we see Derek has built in ***image 9***. Just like in *A Wrinkle in Time*, where the tesseract allows travel to Camazotz — a perfect world controlled by IT — Vecna is building a massive tesseract to create an artificial world perfect in his eyes. The tesseract consists of the four victims from Season 4 and the 12 children connected to the Hive Mind in Season 5. The world he creates is Camazotz — the place where Max and Holly are trapped, controlled by Henry.

In the book *A Wrinkle in Time*, the tesseract is explained as time travel, allowing someone to move to another dimension by jumping across time. I have a theory that Dimension X has a different timeline than our own. In our world, time is linear, but I believe you can travel both backward and forward in time from Dimension X. This would mean that Vecna can travel through time from Dimension X, which suggests that the vision Nancy received from Vecna in Season 4 may not just be a prophecy—it could be a glimpse of what the future will look like if they fail to stop him.

Season 5, Episode 4: Vecnas monoluge to Will, ***image 10***:  
*“Can you see them… William? Can you see the children? Do you know why? Why I chose them to reshape the world? It’s because they are weak. Weak in body and mind. Easily broken. Easily reshaped. Controlled. The perfect vessels. And you… Will. You were the first. And you broke so easily. You showed me what was possible, what I could achieve. Some minds, it turns out, simply do not belong in this world. They belong in mine.”*

Combined with his monologue to Eleven in Season 4, we see his plan clearly:  
*“There is nothing… nothing you can do to stop this now. Hawkins will burn and fall. And the rest of this senseless, broken world. And I will be there. I will be there to pick up the pieces when it does. And remake it into something… beautiful.”*

Vecna wants to erase the boundaries between Dimension X, the Upside Down, and Hawkins. Upside Down and Hawkins are already connected. By linking 12 children to the Hive Mind as vessels, the barrier between all dimensions will collapse. Vecna will then destroy our world, gather the pieces, and create a new world with the 12 children — a new world with Camazotz.

**Here is the most controversial part of my theory:**  
I do **not** believe Will has gained powers.  
This would undermine Eleven’s and Kali’s roles in the narrative. If Will had inherited Vecna’s powers, there would be no purpose in bringing Kali back. The key detail is what happens before Will kills the Demogorgons: Vecna leaves MAC-Z and enters the Upside Down after demonstrating inhuman strength. If he wanted to kill Joyce and Mike, he would have done it immediately.

In Vecna’s monologue to Will, there is a line from the trailer that is missing:  
*“William, you are going to help me… one last time.”*

When Will kills the Demogorgons, his eyes turn white — just like Vecna’s do when he kills — and the Demogorgons die exactly the same way Vecna killed in Season 4. Eleven never gets white eyes, nor has she performed ritualistic kills like Vecna. What happens at the end of Episode 4 is that Vecna uses Will to kill the Demogorgons.

This is strategic — it builds trust between Will and his friends. Vecna senses a connection between them and knows he can exploit Will. Therefore, it is in Vecna’s interest to keep Will protected. The Duffers want us to believe Will has powers when in reality Vecna is in control. This also explains why Vecna leaves MAC-Z before the Demogorgons die. William helped Vecna in the MAC-Z battle, and later tells William to help him one last time.

Season 5, Episode 5: The definition of “shock jock” is: *A radio personality who says outrageous, offensive, or provocative things to get attention, boost ratings, or stir controversy.*

In the first episode we learn Robin is being held back because the military is monitoring WSQK. Now that the military is dead, she is free to reveal what is truly happening in Hawkins. I believe they use the radio stations to warn the citizens of Hawkins and urge them to evacuate. To stop the evacuation, Vecna sends the Shadow Monster toward WSQK to sabotage the broadcast **image 11**.

Season 5, Episode 6: Because Max is inside Henry’s memories, I believe she has already seen Henry’s plan to capture 12 children as vessels in the Creel house. Max sends Holly Wheeler back to the Creel house to warn the other children about who Henry truly is, giving them an advantage so Max can escape Camazotz and warn the others.

Season 5, Episode 7: Based on the episode title, I believe Vecna completes his circle in this episode and breaks the barrier between Dimension X and the Upside Down. 

In Season 4, Henry refers to spiders as the gods of our world, which I believe symbolizes that the Shadow Monster (the Mind Flayer) is the “god” of *Stranger Things*, similar to Nerull in DnD. Just like in *A Wrinkle in Time* and in DnD, the Shadow Monster grants Vecna the powers he has, while also taking Henry’s soul, much like the god Nerull does in DnD. Vecna is unaware of this, and when he possesses Will using the Mind Flayer, his soul—his phylactery—is already inside the Mind Flayer. So when Will becomes possessed, Henry’s soul enters Will as well. When they drive the Mind Flayer out of Will, Henry’s soul remains in him. This explains why Will can still feel and sense Vecna.

To get a critical hit — a 20 — the heroes must match Vecna’s components:  
• Telekinesis (011)  
• Illusion (008)  
• A phylactery / Will (001)

Add them together and you get the roll Erika wins with.

In the finale, I believe Kali (***image 12***)must use her powers to unlock the trauma Henry experienced in the cave, giving Eleven an advantage in their fight. Will must make the ultimate sacrifice — whether that means Will dies or only the part of him tied to Henry dies is unclear — but he must sacrifice something. Finally, Eleven must deliver the finishing blow. Together, this forms the critical hit 20 that Erika rolled in Eddie’s campaign in Season 4 — meaning Eddie’s DnD campaign foreshadowed how both of the final seasons would end.

Final Theory for Season 5 Part 2