People Share Fan Theories About 'Stranger Things' That Only Make Sense If You Watched Season 4

From Redditor u/cocoprezzz:

I believe there is still more to be told about Will’s connection to Vecna. When Will was kidnapped in Episode 1, there are so many signing pointing to him being kidnapped by Vecna. There are the clock chimes we hear when Will falls off his bike. We see the lock open from the outside telekinetically (demogorgons can’t do that). And when a gate was opened into the Upside Down from the shed, the light in the shed became extremely bright.

I’m also convinced that Vecna followed Will from Mike’s house in that first episode. The garage lights slightly flicker right after Will says bye to Mike, indicating that Vecna was there. I also believe there is a parallel between Will being a wizard in DnD and Vecna/Eleven being “wizards” in real life. And the way Will has been drawing the Mind Flayer exactly mirrors how Henry drew the Mind Flayer.

Will survived being in the Upside Down because Vecna wanted him to. He is still connected to Vecna for a reason and I think we are still waiting to find out what that connection is and why.

From Redditor u/kreqqie

There is a theory that Vecna has been there since Season 1 [because] in Season 1 when Will crashes his bike, we hear the clock sound that we hear in Season 4.
And if you don't get what I mean, every time someone is about to get killed by Vecna, we hear the clock sound.

The only way that Will survived is because [of] his favorite song ("Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash). And as we know, the only way to survive Vecna is playing the victim's favorite song (as we saw from Max).

From Redditor u/Split_Bananas:

I was recently doing a rewatch of Stranger Things Season 4 and noticed some major foreshadowing in the first episode. I'm convinced the Duffer Brothers have already told us what will happen in Season 5, from events during the first episode of Season 4, as they also foreshadowed the finale in the same episode.

During the intro to episode 1, Eleven is catching the audience up on what has been going on in California. One thing she mentions is that Will has been painting a lot, speculating that it may be for a girl. She then says she thinks there is someone he likes, because he has been acting weird.

I think it's obvious now that he was acting weird because he would be seeing Mike for the first time in eight months and he was struggling with his sexuality and his feelings for his longtime friend. [When he reveals] to Mike this painting, which depicts Mike as the leader of their group of friends, [he uses] it as an analogy to express Eleven's feelings for Mike. The moment after this, as Will looks out the window and is holding back tears, suggests that Will was talking about his feelings for his friend, not Eleven's.

Another event that was foreshadowed was what would happen to Hawkins at the end of this season. As Chrissy was waiting on Eddie Munson in the woods to sell her [drugs], she experienced her second hallucination caused by Vecna. During this hallucination, we are [shown] the grandfather clock. As the clock hits its fourth strike, symbolizing Vecna's fourth kill, the clock splits from each of the four corners and meets in the center. The center of the clock is then split open and spiders come rushing out. This is what happens to Hawkins once Vecna gets his fourth kill and the gates become connected.

This most clear sign to support my theory happens during [the] Hellfire Club's campaign finale. Eddie Munson was delivering the details of their battle with Vecna and says that Vecna's cultists turn to the players and remove their hoods, only to have the players recognize most of them. I believe these will be the people that Vecna has killed. I believe it was Dr. Brenner talking about how Vecna doesn't just kill his victims, he absorbs their power and their soul. Eddie goes on to say that there is one cultist they don't recognize, his skin shriveled and desiccated, but something else too. 

He is missing his left arm and his left eye.

Vecna lives.

All of these characteristics of Vecna's body are results from his battle with Steve, Robin, and Nancy.

Eddie continues the campaign and [the] Hellfire Club agrees to fight Vecna to the death. Vecna goes on the kill the entire party except for two players. With two rolls left, Dustin rolls once and misses, while we also hear the sound of the grandfather clock. Erica rolls and gets a critical hit; the gang wins, but with severe loss.

The Duffer brothers using D&D to foreshadow as they always do.

In summary, Season 5 will consist of Eleven and the gang… having to face Vecna and his army, with the army being familiar faces… possibly Max too? And of course they can't end the series without Will dealing with his conflicted feelings. I chose to mention the event with Will, although there are a few other examples of foreshadowing in the same episode.

From Redditor u/Whittico66:

In the newest season of Stranger Things the Mind Flayer was only shown once and that was in a flashback. Given the fact that the Upside Down was shown numerous times in the present, why wasn't he shown then?

Allow me to explain why. When the demogorgans escape the facility in Russia, the "Shadow" enters them and they form a hivemind (or are at least added to the existing hivemind), leaving none of the particles behind. This leads me to believe:

That the demogorgans, and all the creatures in the Upside Down, aren't naturally part of the hivemind. Only creatures with part of the Mind Flayer in them are part of the hivemind. Like Will in Season 2. Additionally, in the flashback scene to the original Upside Down, the demogorgan Henry sees seems pretty independent. This might be common knowledge that I haven't realised before.

The particles get used up when the Mind Flayer enters a host.

It should also be noted that in the flashback to Henry meeting the Shadow, he essentially said that he saw the Mind Flayer as something he could use (cannot find the clip to get an exact quote).

When Nancy explains what Vecna showed her happens in the future, she mentions an army of monsters in Hawkins. That is where the Mind Flayer is. It's tearing itself apart and inserting its particles into creatures to form a hivemind army for Vecna to use to invade the right side up.

It's not shown in the Upside Down because it's no longer a massive spider monster. It barely has a physical form left, if it even has one at all.