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episode 4 is called the sorcerer which means Will Byers has had powers all this time, which makes him connected to Vecna and everyone is scared that he will turn evil but then Mike reassures him he’s good and then they almost kiss and then-

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“They won’t have time to build Byler; it’ll be forced, etc.” – S5 will consist of 8 long episodes. Many iconic romances flourish in a 1.5-hour movie, no complaints. 😂 Seeds are planted. There’ll be plenty of time for them to show us the development of Will & Mike’s relationship!

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Stranger Things 5 speculation based on the episode titles and what we know from D&D

Vanishing of Holly Wheeler?

I already shared that I think Episode 2 is Holly Wheeler: "IF this information is accurate, I'm guessing the missing Wheeler is Holly. They have a new actress to play her. I think they're returning to s1 themes and the horror of a child being in danger is one thing they might get back to. The 1st episode would give them time to make her a character we care about. (And probably stabilize the situation at the end of s4.) It would also consume the entire Wheeler family into getting Holly back. Karen will be beside herself. Nancy will be tough and take charge. Will will have to unearth his memories of the Upside Down, and possibly use his connection, to help MIKE and NANCY get back their little sister. One possible road to BYLER is Will having to reexperience his trauma and possibly sacrifice himself to help his best friend."

Camazotz

I see a LOT of interest in episode 6 title "Escape from Camazotz"... I think for ANY speculation we HAVE to go to where our D&D nerds would go, which is the Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks in the 80s. Camazotz was published in Deities & Demigods for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1980). It is the "bat god," so we're probably going to see it tied to the demobats.

We learn from Deities & Demigods that the Aztec and Mayan gods have "inscrutable motives"... which is ON BRAND for the Cthulhu inspirations of Stranger Things. These gods come from a "parallel universe." Clerics "are the elite of the populace," and are able to cast "commune or gate spells" to connect the planes together. ("Will the Wise" has been the cleric of the party... perhaps he is a cleric?)

Also, these gods "unusual nature makes it impossible for them to travel on any planes but the ones that they have worshipers on." Maybe Vecna needed to have a host on the "Right Side Up", to take form here, which is very consistent with the s2 and s3 plotlines.

The clerics perform human sacrifices... maybe another theme in s5??

But perhaps JUST as important, the adventure D&D module Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan (1980) involved an ancient temple dedicated to Camazotz. Odds are that our heroes will be trying to escape from a "temple" within the Upside Down. According to the Wikipedia article about this adventure, it is "full of tricks and traps".

As a "tournament module," meaning for competition purposes, and it was EXPECTED that heroes died in it because it was so deadly. The goal "is to get out of the ruins before time runs out." The lower levels (where the heroes begin) have a poisonous gas that slowly kill them. Also it is very unstable, spells will cause a collapse. If El were caught in it, it might be dangerous to use her powers.

This adventure debuted the gibbering mouther, a very distinct D&D monster that is VERY reminiscent of the s3 Flayer and would be VERY on-theme for Stranger Things:

The Sorcerer

Also, Episode 5 is titled "The Sorcerer." Sorcerer was not a class yet in D&D in the late 1980s. (The idea that Sorcerers have innate arcane power versus Wizards who study magic, was not invented yet until 2000.) Sorcerer was one of the many titles that Magic Users had (next to Wizard). Sorcerers had less power than Wizards. They were 9th level, while Wizards were 11th level:

It is already established that El is "the Wizard." Maybe there's another person with powers in season 5 which are less developed? If so, the most logical choice would be Will. It's confirmed that this season will focus on him. Although he's a "cleric" in their D&D game, maaaaybe he finds out he has new abilities. There was a reason Vecna didn't kill in season 1, and who has had "truesight" since.

That's what I can find for now! There's a lot of interesting traps and puzzles, with illustrations, from the adventure. But it's hard to predict what else (if anything) they might borrow from it! The aspect of escaping, and the poison gas and the timer, are probably what we can most rely on!

P.S. I mainly blog about Byler, but I thought my D&D knowledge would be useful for this one. If interested, follow and read my blog! I have so much to say!

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Omg I didn't even think of this...😭 I would love this tbh

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if the newly released episode titles are real, I think episode 6 is a reference to a wrinkle in time!! ESPECIALLY considering there is LITERALLY a picture of it in this post on ross's instagram:

since this is a classic sci fi novel it makes total sense for it to be referenced in the show!!

if you haven't read the book, camazotz is a planet in the story that houses a mind-controlling entity called IT, that essentially brainwashes/controls all its residents (if this is a very shallow explanation I apologize, I haven't read it in a while). this is very interesting to me as the idea of an entity controlling/haunting/brainwashing people is also used in stranger things as we know with the mind flayer & vecna. to me, it seems likely that at least this title is real! at least I hope it is, because I love this book and it would be a perfect fit

"escape from camazotz" is a very interesting title too, as to me it feels like that would mean escaping some sort of purgatory or hellscape, which likely refers to the upside down in this context

if anybody else has theories relating to this lmk!!!

(also sorry if this has already been said)

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About the Turbow trap I also found this so maybe they invent a type of bow and arrow to fight and that's also why that TurNbow sign is hit by like a fire arrow or something like that idk

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No because I believe this leak...we already have parallels between byler and eyewitness so this is possible 🤭

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Season 1: The Vanishing of Will Byers

Season 5: The Vanishing of ***** Wheeler

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thinking about the fact that mike is in enough of will’s memories to the point where henry didnt have much trouble searching for who he is

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If the show is truly for the freaks as they say then Will and Mike will have their love story otherwise you can just toss the whole show because that's just a lot of talk with no substance if you only give the bare minimum of being accepted to him - plus boring as fuck because we all already know every single one of the people that love Will are going to accept him so that's just completely pointless as a story - byler is the only story that makes full sense, is surprising and heartwarming

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It breaks my heart to think about how Will thought that Mike, his bestest friend, did not try to talk to him because he's been too busy with his life and it breaks my broken heart once more to think about how Mike thought that Will, his bestest friend, did not try to talk to him because he's been too busy with his own life like guys, you guys have been best friends since you were infants, please don't do that to yourselves and me

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if this is true……….

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They literally know how to do an "I'm sorry I couldn't say 'I love you' plotline" well because they did it with Mike in season 4.

"Best friends". They created a contrast AGAIN. Simple, casual, sweet. 'I'm sorry, here's why, best friends'. It's yet another reused but made to be dramatic with El. The first time was perfect: low stakes, earnest, not needed but he wanted to say it anyways. The second time was an attempt that didn't fill it's shoes: high stakes, necessitated, dramatic and incentivized.

Not just her life but we don't talk enough about how he thought he would lose her if he didn't say it but he didn't think he would lose Will. Will had already forgiven him at the top of their conversation but he kept talking. They had Will forgive him from the get-go to establish that the goal for Mike was never just to get Will back, it was to make him feel loved and wanted. It was to say "you forgive me and we are going to work together because everything is crazy but I want you to know that we aren't reuniting because everything is crazy, we're reuniting because I miss you and I want you back; we're reuniting because I want you here."

Mike and El had a nice moment but they didn't state security like they did with Mike and Will, in fact, they interrupted a suddenly serious moment. They could have just had the pizza thing. They could have had her say she forgives him even though he hadn't said it yet. But they didn't. He didn't have full reason to believe there wasn't still threat and their nice moment wasn't fleeting/outweighed by his actions. He had reason to believe he still needed to redeem himself. He didn't have that with Will.

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Going back to the most basic barebones pattern recognition fact that Mike and Will are endgame because they have more one on one scenes than Mike and El.

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The fact that Mike and Will were singled out from their friend group from the beginning, not just in comparison to Mike and El shows me that this is a love story not a love triangle. As the seasons progress, El is worked more and more into their friend group and town, making more relationships with people other than Mike to secure her place of normalcy and status in their friend group. Season 2, Hopper, season 3, Max, season 4, Will (, Jonathan, Joyce). Her screentime is spent integrating her into being just like everybody else in Mike's life as a permanent fixture that has other ties and therefore would not disappear if they weren't connected anymore. Will spends his seasons spending alone time with Mike, having individual plots and being emphasized and singled out even when they're in a group setting like in season 3 - they still had Mike chase after him and not Will so they had a moment alone.

If Will was going to just retreat back into blending in with the friend group, they would have spent more time on his relationships with Lucas, Dustin, Max, and El, but they didn't. They spent all their time making sure you knew that they're a friend group and they're "all best friends" but especially Mike and Will. If there's no romance, what's the point of "especially". Will having feelings for Mike does the "especially" that would be necessary for him being the most important to come out to on its own, you didn't need to point it out throughout the series.

Mike and Will were singled out before Mike even met El and that's why it's a love story and not a love triangle. Because it was already there. And because they were emphasized for years completely disconnected from onscreen or marketing idea of competition. If it was a love triangle, it would have only come up to threaten Elmike's relationship like how Steve and Nancy don't have moments between their breakup and season 3. Their stories aren't about each other so they don't need each other narratively when it isn't in relation to Jonathan. Mike and Will exist outside of Mike and El and have from the beginning. It can't be a love triangle if the second relationship has no bearing on the first.

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Thinking about the person who said "All of Mike and El's problems are because of Mike and El, all of Mike and Will's problems are because of Mike and El."

That's it. That's it right there. That's all you need. They established a conflict that needs resolution and that conflict is Mike and El consistently that has yet to have a solution that applies to everything it affects. It seems complicated but it's actually very simple because they made sure that there was only one issue present to solve - hard to solve, yes, but singular. You can't have contradictory conflicts if you only have one conflict.

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can Lucas talk some sense into Mike. Husband, go consult that frog and tell him to get his shit together so he can get himself a man