#juju speculates

[loveyourownsmiilee]

Eddie has always been a little jealous and possessive of Buck but I’m not quite sure he is fully aware of it. Like we have seen it many times, when other women have been involved. Like the moment he ran into Abby, and he literally spit her name out when he was talking to Bobby in the train was pure jealousy. How dare Buck’s first love come back into his life and now Buck is risking his life for her??? On top of that, every single scene he’s had that’s involved Taylor Kelly, he’s been very jealous. Let’s not forget the infamous “Go team” moment during the treasure hunt episode. Even with Natalia he wasn’t fully on board. Now I don’t think Eddie realizes he’s jealous because he hasn’t put all the pieces together. Because they’ve always been other women…Now if Buck mentions having any sort of attraction to a man, I strongly think a switch is going to immediately flip in Eddie’s mind. It’s going to be obvious as can be because that jealousy he’s always possessed is going to come out to play and he’s going to question why it’s very much prevalent at that moment specifically. Why is Eddie behaving this way and having these strong feelings over his best friend possibly finding another man attractive? Why does he feel so strongly about his best friend possibly wanting to date another man? It’s gonna be so different, and so fucking obvious, that I really do think that’s gonna be the catalyst where he finally connects all these dots and realizes that he may have non-platonic feelings for his best friend after all. 

#buddie #911 spoilers #911 speculation #jujus having thoughts #but like actually this can be soooo reasonable

[sillymille]

All right, everyone! I think I've cracked the code!

Huge thank you to Juju @loveyourownsmiilee for letting me bounce these ideas on her and helping me articulate this.

So, I think it's obvious that both Marisol and Natalia are not love interests for Buck and Eddie, because the writers are using a formula that has been used before. It's a red herring!

Marisol and Natalia are basically the same as Lucy and Lena.

Now, hear me out. Lena and Lucy were the female equivalents of Buck and Eddie, and were suspected to be there love interests initially. However, they're reflections of how Buck and Eddie used to be at work.

Natalia and Marisol are reflections of how Eddie and Buck used to be with their personal lives.

Natalia is the unabashed, enthusiastic person who embodies her job. She's genuinely passionate about one thing and it's death.

Marisol feels like she has expectations from her family and feels responsible for her brother, who is childish. There were moments when she was on the phone with her mom and her mom was pushing her to find a partner.

They've both made those little things their entire personalities. Just like they did with Lucy's recklessness and Lena's anger.

And this is why Buck thinks Natalia gets him. It's because Buck was her.

This show has always been huge on symbolism; whether it's the color theory, the couch theory, down to the meaning of names, etc.! And in the next episode, it is speculated that Kameron and Natalia are going to end up meeting and it has me thinking about Buck's storyline this season.

Buck has been struggling with what will make him feel at ease and dealing with him dying and coming back. So, what does this have to do with them meeting?

Well, here comes the physical metaphors that the writers love to have in the show.

The culmination of Kameron and Natalia meeting, is the duality of life and death which Buck has been struggling with all season.

But, wait there's more!

Lucy is coming back to show that Buck isn't the reckless, impulsive guy anymore. Natalia represents that Buck isn't the guy whose job is his life anymore. Kameron is reappearing because Buck isn't spare parts anymore, especially defective spare parts.

Also, it took him three tries to perfect the lasagna. He has three exes, three couches, and now three different women to show that he's at ease.

So, I'm hopeful that everything will work out because we know this season, specifically the latter half, has been different for Buck and Eddie.

Again! Thank you, Juju @loveyourownsmiilee , for letting me spill this on you!

#911 fox #911 season 6 #911 show #911 buddie #eddie diaz #evan buck buckely #911 speculation #buddie #911 spoilers #buddie 911 #9 1 1 season 6

[the-meat-machine]

On page 5714 of Homestuck, when Jane is bopping a bunch of enemies with the lollipop juju, the cherub-looking dudes turn into Lil Cal looking guys, with the red blood ones looking just like him and the green blood ones having green lipstick and cheeks + white bowtie, instead of red and black respectively. And, Jake's Caliborn-esque symbol turns into a Lil Cal-esque symbol.

I feel like this means SOMETHING about Lil Cal, but I have no idea what. Sending this to you because I consider you the Lil Cal Expert. This is absolutely haunting me.

For those who don't remember, anon is referring to this:

Okay, so, before you sent this ask, I hadn't thought too much about this. I figured this was just reinforcing the conceptual link between cherubs and Lil Cal by implying that Trickster Mode cherubs look like Lil Cal.

But I think we can go deeper. Specifically, I'd like to think about what it would mean for Lil Cal to be a juju that's patterned after a trickster-mode cherub.

Bear with me - I'm not sure how much of this is obvious and how much isn't, so I'm just going to go through everything.

Cherubs are connected with Lil Cal

This one is fairly obvious. From a Doylist perspective, Lord English's design deliberately draws elements from Lil Cal's design, and therefore cherubs in general resemble Lil Cal. And of course, Caliborn's soul becomes entangled with Lil Cal's. Even the name Lil Cal is a clear connection.

Cherubs are connected with Trickster Mode

Again, fairly obvious. It's Calliope and Caliborn's combined jujus that cause Trickster mode. All of the Zillyweapons the tricksters create are tied with ridiculous cherub lore. Et cetera.

In addition… I'm going to quote from Hussie explaining Trickster Mode to Caliborn:

Furthermore, [Trickster Mode] could only be seen as a boon from an asocial species. You never have to deal with other people. So if you lick a magic lollipop that flips a switch in your brain that says "all my problems are solved," I guess maybe that's fine for cherubs, but if you're a human you haven't actually solved anything. By the same logic it's not much of a boon to a human's physical journey either. Using an item that lets them start maniacally powering from point A to point B isn't doing them any favors.

This seems to imply that Trickster Mode would be a better power-up for cherubs, who generally don't have to worry about petty things like "fucking up all your interpersonal relationships in a drug-induced mania". It also implies that cherubs may be physically more able to handle Trickster Mode than humans, who seem to be exhausted once it wears off. Like maybe this is a cherub power-up that isn't really meant to be used on humans.

There's also the matter of the energy that tricksters draw on to fuel their antics… but I'll get to that in a bit.

Lil Cal, specifically, is connected with Trickster Mode

As noted in the ask, Lil Cal motifs show up in several places during the Trickster Mode arc. The cherubs in that one flash turn into Lil Cal lookalikes, Jake's skull symbol turns into Lil Cal's head - plus Dirk's Trickster Mode outfit is based on Lil Cal's outfit.

The implication here is that Trickster Mode cherubs look like Lil Cal. Or to put it another way: Lil Cal looks like a Trickster Mode cherub.

And maybe we could stop there. Cherubs, Trickster Mode, and Lil Cal are all connected, so making the trickster cherubs look like Lil Cal could just be a fun visual way to reinforce those ties in the reader's head.

But on the other hand… Lil Cal could, in a way, be an embodiment of cherub Trickster Mode.

Here's where we get more speculative.

Lil Cal has trickster-like traits

What little we know about Lil Cal's "personality" reinforces the impression of him as somehow trickstery. As Calsprite, he literally does nothing but laugh, all the time, always. As a puppet, he shows up throughout the comic, appearing and disappearing in a way that's almost playful and yet also deeply unsettling. And "unsettling playfulness" is pretty much the essence of Trickster Mode.

So far, so good. This all feels like even more reason why Lil Cal makes sense as a representation of a trickster cherub.

Let's go deeper.

the enigmatic forces presiding over all that is eternal (or, what if ALL the rainbow glowy shit is connected)

Here we're going to take a bit of a detour. Ok, maybe it's more of a full-on dialectical road trip. It starts, as all the best things do, with cherub sex.

Here's a quote from Aranea's explanation of cherub reproduction (typing quirk removed for readability):

While dueling in such a monstrous form, their energy is inexhaustible. The transformation taps into the cherubs' latent connection with the enigmatic forces presiding over all that is eternal, and permeating all those endowed with immortality. Normally this power is only accessible to them during mating. In this form, they are only able to be injured by one another, and are otherwise indestructible.

The important part here is that cherubs have an innate connection to a power that imbues immortality, and this power is visually represented as a flashing rainbow energy.

This force is also almost certainly the power underlying both Caliborn/Lord English's immortality and god tier resurrections.

I'll start with the god tier resurrections, because it ties directly in with where Caliborn gets his immortality.

Here's a comparison between the god tier clock and the stock image that it was based on:

Of note here are two changes that Hussie made: 1) The angels (or should I say cherubs) on top have much larger wings. 2) The animals flanking the clock face have been changed to have crocodile heads that resemble the heads of cherubs when they're in their mating form.

All of this is to say that the god tier clock has very deliberate connections to cherubs. This, combined with its apparent function (resurrecting god tiers who have died, conditional on their death being neither heroic nor just) suggests that god tier resurrections are fueled by the same "enigmatic forces presiding over all that is eternal" as mating cherubs. We also get to see that flashing rainbow energy again when it activates:

Caliborn's reward for defeating Yaldabaoth appears to be the god tier clock itself. When Caliborn destroys it, he absorbs the (rainbow, flashing) energy it emits, rendering him unconditionally immortal. As a cherub, Caliborn is the perfect recipient for this boon - he already has an inherent affinity for this sort of power thanks to his species.

Ok, so what does this all have to do with Trickster Mode?

You know what else is associated with flashing rainbow energy? That's right: Trickster Mode.

I know, this may seem like a stretch, but also bear in mind that the exact pastel rainbow flashing colors that the tricksters talk in (and that show up when Jake, Roxy, and Dirk transform) are also seen both when one of the cherubs transforms into its mating form and when a cherub hatches from its egg (compare the text colors to the colors around the red cherub below). So, we've got more connections to cherub energy here.

My theory is that Trickster Mode taps into the same well of energy that powers cherubs' transformations during mating. In this case, the point is less the immortality and more the "inexhaustible energy" that mating cherubs have.

This would track with Trickster Mode being a power-up that's much better suited to cherubs than humans - cherubs are inherently connected to this energy and are built to withstand it. It also would give an added dimension to the tricksters' obsession with sex and babies - they're imbued with mating energy!

Under this view, Trickster Mode would be "intended" as a power-up that would grant a cherub all the power and energy they normally can only tap into while mating, presumably without needing to transform into a giant snake or waste all that energy on a years-long sex battle.

If this theory was correct, it might imply that someone in Trickster Mode would be unkillable for the duration of the transformation. There's no proof of this, which is the main reason I consider this theory to just be speculation rather than something I think was definitely intended in canon. Still, there's also no proof that tricksters aren't immortal, and would anyone really be surprised if you tried to kill a trickster and they just grinned at you and kept on going? It seems like it would be in keeping with the trickster power set, is all I'm saying.

Lord English as a perma-Trickster?

Now, as I mentioned above, as of the end of Homestuck Caliborn already has forged a permanent connection to "the enigmatic forces presiding over all that is eternal", making him unconditionally immortal and also giving him some really annoying-to-look-at eyeballs. But that in itself still doesn't grant him all the power Lord English has. He doesn't seem to, for example, have limitless energy or the ability to shoot rainbow laser beams out of his mouth.

So here's where my theorizing becomes even more improbable. I don't really think this next part is an "intended" reading, but I still think it's an interesting possibility to consider.

Lord English inherits traits from most of the souls inhabiting Lil Cal - Caliborn most obviously, but also Equius's muscles, Gamzee's honking, etc. But here's the thing: Lil Cal - as in, the juju itself - is also an ectobiological component of Lord English. It's not unthinkable that Lord English could inherit traits from Lil-Cal-the-juju - which, remember, is patterned off of a Trickster Mode cherub.

So my theory here is that Lord English is basically in a permanent Trickster Mode-like state, thanks to inheriting traits from Lil Cal. This state could be what grants him his absurdly massive amounts of power and the aforementioned rainbow-mouth-laser abilities.

After all, what does Trickster Mode do? It flips a switch in your brain that tells you that all your problems are solved and grants you huge amounts of energy to go do whatever your id desires most. And what would Caliborn do if he had unlimited energy and no obstacles left to stand in his way? I think the answer is obvious: Fuck. Shit. Up.

Lord English is basically Caliborn's id writ large and given limitless power to spend fucking shit up for all eternity. And really, what more could a cherub dream of?

#flashing images under the cut #homestuck meta #lil cal #trickster mode #meatmeta #flashing #REDOING THIS WHOLE DAMN POST BECAUSE FUCK TUMBLR

[lime-bloods]

I believe you had once noted that sopor slime resembled cartoonish nuclear waste -- since the slime's an apparent avenue of Lord English influencing the population (or just damaging it), do think that might relate to Scratch's "seeds" being nuclear bombs?

i gave this ask some thought offline and mostly came up with lines to draw between the cue balls and recuperacoons more broadly, not necessarily along the nuke line, so this is a bit of stream of consciousness...

sleeping and crystal balls are both methods of fortune telling? the cue ball and recuperacoons are both computers of a sort (was Scratch's method of helping with Kanaya's "daywalking" at all similar to Jake's computerised remedy for Jade's "sleepwalking")? the cue ball seed is also seemingly filled with some kind of slime - dark water, sloshing about the cavity in [Scratch's] head - and in fact the biggest nuke of all, the Tumor, famously turned two giant vials of 8ball slime into a giant radioactive sun... perhaps that's your in? (if I'm not mistaken, Hiveswap also makes some reference to radioactive mind honey "runoff" - literally equating the slime in Alternian computers to irradiated slag)

in a tangentially similar vein, we can think of the seed itself as a cocoon... I think it was BKEW who forwarded that the cue ball that English's head breaks out of was like a chrysalis stage that filtered out the unneeded parts of Dirk and Equius that he didn't need..? does anyone have that post?

when we pit cue ball and recuperacoon against each other, though, what my instinct immediately says is that if the cocoon is a part of the pool table, it's a pocket... specifically, if the slime serves the purpose of "relaxing ooze [that] helps assuage the terrible visions of blood and carnage that plague the dark subconscious of your species", then can we see the cocoon as one of the "dark pockets" one can retreat into to avoid English's omnipresent glare? keeping in mind, of course, that dark pockets are, in and of themselves, English's tools. cocoons as voyeur-bots/beds also puts a different spin on the idea that "no information can escape" a dark pocket.

some of my earliest speculation into the function of the recuperacoon was in response to some analysis of the Evangelion film series, in which slime (LCL here) and black holes are both functionally gateways to the same womb dimension. in this scenario, the sopor slime is one method of making sure Alternia remains a planet of preteens who never grow up, by forcing them to return to their cocoons and dissolve bodily in order to be reborn again as children every day and night. but is this not also literally the fate Caliborn is condemned to? struggling every night to be born as a world-eating monster, only to be pulled into a black hole and have to live it all over again, ad infinitum?

I mused recently that Caliborn's session acts as a purgatory, presumably holding him prisoner on a desertified earth until he can brute force his way into maturity and break free. so in the same way that Caliborn's house juju acts as a physical stand-in for Homestuck itself - four kids trapped within and forced to grow strong enough to break out - maybe the cueball is the very same thing for Caliborn, an eggshell containing the very essence of his journey, which can only be 8r8ken out of when the weakest parts of him have been dissolved away by radioactive acid? again - the seed as a cocoon. (and the cocoon as a bomb?)

I'm not sure any of this really answers your question, beyond the vague notion that maybe radioactive sludge is an anti maturing agent? (sterilisation via radiation?) but to cap things off, thinking of the cue ball seed as a bomb did make me think back to Problem Sleuth's jawbreaker bomb, which was literally just a candy shell around a highly volatile infinite recursion of realities. that's all I've got!

#homestuck #analysis #mmmmalo #black holes #computers #doc scratch #caliborn #is there some other theory umbrella i should tag this under. #long post. do people still like that to be tagged

[nyxnephilim]

🖤 I just wanted to say thank you to all those who read through my huge newbie lore speculation of ARR 😅.

Everyone was so supportive and positive. I don’t get to play FFXIV often due to IRL obligations, but when I do I love every minute. I’m trying to work in some more time . Maybe even actually stream it if I can figure out a set up. Who knows?!

At any rate BIG THANKS to everyone. I really appreciate all the good juju ✨☺️✨

And I’m SUPER excited to continue to newbie guess or speculate on the story I’ve experienced this far and what MAY happen as I continue.

Until the next time I get to sit down and actually play again for any duration of time , I’ll make some fun characters cards of my WOLs. 😁

#ffxiv #🌱sprout #ffxiv screenies #a realm reborn #ff14 ffxiv #newgamer #viera #ffxiv lore #ffxiv lore speculation

[l3rking]

Random Exotic Buffs that I Would Implement Day 1 if Bungie Hired Me:

Symmetry's alt fire Blinds at 10 stacks of Dynamic Charge and Jolts at max(20 w/catalyst) stacks

Crown of Tempest gains stacks of Conduction Tines for ability kills AND killing Arc-Debuffed targets

Bad Juju gets max stacks of String of Curses after casting super

YAS nerf reverted

Stormdancer's Brace buffs Chaos Reach's damage based on number of kills and refunds CR super energy depending on kills if you do not deactivate early

Blight Ranger's reflected projectiles track. Killing enemies with deflected projectiles extends super duration

Crest of Alpha Lupi grants cure x2 on Barricade cast and Restoration x2 on Super cast (in addition to bonus orbs)

Gemini Jesters applies Arc-Blind to PvE enemies in Line-of-Sight within 20m for 5s on top of Misdirection

The Prospector is now Solar and applies scorch on hit. Targets killed by scorch, ignite. Remove full auto. Remote detonate sticky bombs with [special reload]

Hierarchy of Needs: Guided Arrows apply scorch

Eriana's Vow gets Dragonfly

Whisper of the Worm damage buff

Wormhusk changed to Cure x2 and also heals nearby allies a la Precious Scars

Wicked Implement is changed to a Rapid-Fire frame and deals bonus damage to slowed and frozen targets

Chaperone catalyst: Icarus

Ticcu's Divination: Sacred Flames detonation spread scorch and stun unstoppable champions

Lorentz Driver: Target's damaged by EM Anomaly become volatile. Defeating volatile/void debuffed enemies drops Telemetry Patterns for Langrangian Sights. No longer randomly marks

Wavesplitter: High powered mode after picking up an Orb lasts longer. Multikills with high powered mode grant Devour

Wardcliff Coil: 2 rockets in the mag

Ursa Furiosa: Void weapons shot through Banner Shield gain Surge x4 and Volatile Rounds. You and Allies behind the Shield receive an Overshield if Bastion is selected. Remove the current super regen penalty with Overshields

Lucky Raspberry refund Arcbolts if 4+ enemies are tagged. Increase Arcbolt damage and jolts

Dragon's Shadow: UI Timer

Orpheus Rig: Void Breahces grant bonus super energy

Lunafaction: Dramatically increase weapon reload/animation

Dawn Chorus allows Scorch to kill/"burnout" in PvP

These were off the top of my head. Pure wishful thinking. I'm sure more than a couple of these would break the sandbox somehow. Still fun to speculate tho.

I WANNA HEAR MORE

#destiny 2 #destiny #lightfall #destiny weapons #bungie #text post #destiny exotics

[wheeler-things]

Mike Wheeler, the Hand and Eye of Vecna, and D&D as Foreshadowing

I'm about to say something unhinged.

It's going to take a fair amount of words to unpack (sorry about that) because I need to give context before I just come out and say it. And I'm fully aware that it's just one of hundreds of possible options for s5, so I'm really not trying to convince anybody of anything just... I was thinking about foreshadowing and analogies again, and something occurred to me and then it snowballed and.... hm.

Okay, so, I talked about it a lot more in this post, but the key point for what I'm talking about here is my belief that the Party's first D&D game in s1 actually foreshadows all of the main Upside Down antagonists from seasons 1-4, with the D&D Demogorgon actually representing Henry. Essentially, my breakdown came down to this:

"Something is coming. Something hungry for blood." -> s1 -> the Demogorgon. "A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness." -> s2 -> the shadow monster. "An army of troglodytes charge into the chamber!" -> s3 -> the Mind Flayer and the Flayed. "The Demogorgon!" -> s4 -> Henry Creel.

So, the remaining unaccounted for villains (assuming that the way the characters use D&D enemies as analogies is not necessarily representative of/accurate to what they actually foreshadow within the narrative) are:

Mike's Thessalhydra

Will's Juju hoard

Eddie's Vecna

I have some speculation on the first two, but it's the third that I'm going to do a deep dive into my thoughts on.

Since this is pretty long and it takes a bit of time to get through the contextualizing, let me clarify up front that this ties into the "Mike has a connection to the Upside Down" theories which I love, but which I know are not to everyone's tastes.

Who IS Vecna (in Stranger Things)?

From the campaign in s4e1, we learn:

Vecna is hiding in plain sight among his own cultists

"His skin is shrivelled. Desiccated. And [...] he is not only missing his left arm, but his left eye"

Vecna was believed to be dead/killed by Kas

An 11 isn't enough to defeat him, but a 20 is (notably, we don't actually hear what Dustin and Erica were trying to roll to do-- based on the context of the scene, we assume that it was combat-based, but it is not explicitly laid out)

Later, in s4e2, Vecna is described (in terms that the characters start to tie to the entity we later learn is Henry, in an effort to theorize about what's going on) as:

An undead creature of great power

A spellcaster

A dark wizard

Note: In the context of Eddie's description of what happened to Chrissy, the term "Vecna's curse" is brought up. This leads into the description of Vecna's characteristics listed above, but no further details (as far as I can find or remember) are given about what Vecna's curse is like in Eddie's game. Which leads me to...

Who IS Vecna (in D&D)?

Alright, I have to admit-- I've played D&D before, but my friends have a tendency to prefer MotW/PbtA-based games, and even when we HAVE done D&D, the storylines and characters have been entirely from the DM's mind/not from anything official. As a result, everything I'm about to say here is based on what Google can tell me (I'm aware others have talked about this before, but I think it gives some useful context for where I'm going to go in this analysis, if I make sure we’re all on the same page about the background D&D lore).

The main websites that I used to get information for this part can be found here, here, and here.

So! The long and short of it seems to be that in life, Vecna was a wizard who built a "terrible empire". In order to avoid death, he turned himself into a lich, and in undeath, he continued to grow his empire. He had a lieutenant named Kas, who Vecna gifted a sword to. For unknown (though the speculation does not paint him in a positive light) reasons, Kas murdered Vecna, leaving behind only Vecna's eye and left hand along with a pile of ash. However, his spirit survived the attack and he spent "eons" regaining his former power. In the meantime, his artifacts, cults, and "dark secrets" continued corrupting others/pushing them towards evil.

It may also be notable that Vecna was known to have a "formidable and hideous" temper.

And... that's the short version of everything that I could find about Vecna in D&D.

Henry Creel as Vecna

So, this is the obvious conclusion, because the characters call Henry "Vecna", which seems to have largely lead to the audience assumption that the Vecna in Eddie's campaign definitely foreshadows Henry. And I want to start out by acknowledging that I do think this is absolutely a possibility! I could 100% be wrong about the Demogorgon in Mike's campaign representing Henry, and even if I'm not, there's nothing that says there can't be two moments of foreshadowing for the same antagonist.

If Henry is Vecna, I know there are a lot of theories about who Kas is, and I'm not interested in getting too deep into the weeds on that particular debate. With that being said, I will say that when I first watched s4 I personally thought it was obvious that, if Henry was actually the person foreshadowed by Eddie's Vecna, then El was clearly Kas and had already fulfilled her part in that role?

I mean, Henry didn't have any real power in the lab so obviously El wasn't his lieutenant. But she was clearly his favourite (or, depending on how you read his character, he at least did a good job of pretending that she was his favourite). He gave her a weapon (in that he taught her to use her anger to weaponize her powers). At first she helped him with things (ie. getting Soteria out of his neck), but later she turned against him and used the "weapon" he "gave" her in order to, as far as she understood at the time, kill him (literally turned him to ash, and he appears when we see him next in the Upside Down). But, of course, he wasn't actually dead, and in line with Eddie's campaign, he came back. El tried to face him alone, but it failed/missed just like the eleven roll.

You may or may not agree with me on that, but I personally think it's the most likely scenario. I just... can't see them recreating everyone thinking Henry has been killed for a THIRD time only to bring him back AGAIN. And in my opinion, El-as-Kas (but she's already fulfilled the role) does fit very well with what we know about Vecna from Eddie's campaign/with a number of the details from D&D.

I will also concede that you could make the case that Henry was hiding in plain sight among his cultists during the time when he was interacting with baby!El (as in, he was disguised as a lab assistant, and obviously the whole Lab is dedicated to, essentially, recreating Henry's powers so that's sort of like a cult to him, I suppose), and that he is certainly, as of the present timeline in s4, something like an undead creature as well was being very powerful and functionally a dark wizard. His flesh is even shrivelled and desiccated after his time in the Upside Down.

All of which is to say, without speculating heavily about the potential events of s5, Henry does look incredibly appealing as the thing foreshadowed by Eddie's campaign.

But…

The Case for Someone Else as Vecna

There are a few main reasons why I think that Henry is a red herring as the thing Vecna was foreshadowing.

Firstly, and least compellingly (I have to mention it, but it's not evidence that stands on its own), if Mike's Demogorgon foreshadows Henry, but the Party mis-used its name for the UD's Demogorgon because it was the monster they happened to be fighting at the time, then it stands to reason that it's possible that they may have mis-used Vecna's name to apply it to Henry for the same reason-- it was the most recent/most superficially relevant enemy the Party had fought in D&D and, as such, made for a decent enough analogy to the current situation.

Secondly, just on a narrative scale, if El has already played the Kas role in the s4 flashbacks and then has also already made her failed roll in present day s4... then literally all that's left is to roll a 20 and win? It's too smooth/too easy to take up a whole season. Obviously, the writers can throw in extra drama and struggle and tension, but if we're already past the failed 11 roll, then... it can't be too intense or else the foreshadowing loses its tight 1:1 dynamic with what's happening in the plot. And “not too intense” is very rarely what people are going for when they write a finale season.

Thirdly... despite how well Henry aligns with almost all of the descriptions of Eddie's Vecna, he does not align with what I would argue are the two most emphasized descriptors (the two that Eddie puts the most passion and physicality into describing, and the two which seem to actually make it clear to the Club that the unknown cultist is Vecna). Namely: Henry very much is not missing an eye or an arm. His left arm is odd looking, but that's not because he ever lost it and had to replace it. It appears to just be part of whatever the Upside down is doing to him/turning him into (God, I hope he's turning into a Demogorgon-- I saw someone suggest that at one point and I wish I could find the post to link it here, because I think it would be the funniest and most fitting option). And Henry's eyes both look kind of odd/cloudy now, but not only does he have both of them, but the flashback to him wandering the Upside Down after El threw him in there make it explicitly clear that his injured/initially damaged eye was his right eye. It would have been just as easy, and changed nothing about the overall narrative, if they had made Henry’s left eye blind instead/to subtly align with the Vecna analogy, so the fact that they so pointedly didn’t suggests to me that, in terms of foreshadowing, Henry may not actually be Vecna at all. In fact, there is nothing at all that I can remember connecting Henry to the idea of left eyes, except that the characters call him Vecna, and Eddie's Vecna is described as being devoid of one.

Also (and this is just a small point), I do think that it's interesting that in D&D, Vecna's backstory includes him creating a dark empire, and there are a lot of theories abounding about the idea that someone in the main cast created or significantly altered the Upside Down (I've mostly seen them about Will and Mike, but I imagine there are other similar theories for other characters). Because what we know for sure is that Henry absolutely did not create it, and likely did not significantly alter it either (at least not until he met the shadow monster), I do think that it's worth noting that this is another way in which Henry's character diverges from at least the D&D version of Vecna.

Detour: How do Superpowers Work in Stranger Things?

I may or may not have driven myself mad trying to figure this out. And I also may or may not have spent a long time resigned to the idea that Kali had been retconned by s4 showing that all the other numbers seem to have basically the same powers as Henry and El (with the possible exception of El's ability to open portals into the UD-- unless Henry had this ability as well before the Mind Flayer took a chunk out of El in s3... we simply don't know yet).

I feel like I maybe heard something, at one point, that suggested that all of the kids in the lab had telekinesis and then also at least one other power. However, I can't find a source on that? Also, I don't believe there's any direct evidence of this shown in s4 (and Kali's powers outright contradict it), given that the only non-telekinetic power that we were shown by anybody but Henry and El was 010 who was able to see what others were doing in his mind (which seemed to be very similar to El's mind void abilities, if maybe a little stronger or more well-practised).

Either way, I think the evidence given in the show suggests that there are three possible ways to develop or obtain supernatural abilities in the Stranger Things universe.

Via experimentation. This was the case for El, and very likely also most of the other kids in the Lab. It also seems to have been the case for El's mother, who we see being able to flicker the lights and change the channels on her television with her mind.

Through infiltration by and/or extended exposure to the Upside Down. I'm a little more tentative on this one, because my main example of this is Will, and we all know that there are a LOT of theories about Will's abilities. And I want to stress that I cannot definitively say they're wrong. All I can say is that, as the show exists right now, one of many possible readings is that Will's abilities, such as sensing the Mind Flayer, seem to be a result of his experiences with the Upside Down. If this is accurate, then it represents a method of obtaining powers that is distinct from how El got hers. I’m not at all trying to discount the possibility that Will could have other powers that he was born with or developed due to experimentation (I love a good Will-born-with-powers theory!), I just want to consider the possibility that Will’s powers could be a result of his experiences with the Upside Down.

Being born with them/developing them spontaneously. Henry is the obvious example of this, but I also believe that Kali is another example. Her powers are completely different than those of the other numbers. Moreover, Kali was abducted when she was five, unlike El who was abducted as an infant. To me, this suggests that Kali was likely not the result of Brenner's experimentation, but rather, more similar to Henry in that she spontaneously developed powers, and Brenner took advantage of that fact. If this is the case, it would explain why Kali's powers are so different from those of everybody else that we've seen-- because it is likely that Brenner used Henry Creel as the basis upon which his experiments were developed, explaining why they largely seem to have powers very similar to Henry.

If this assessment is correct (and I cannot stress enough how speculative I am being here because this is still a huge mystery in the show itself), then I do think it's interesting that Henry (who is almost certainly going to be the main/active antagonist for the vast majority of s4, even if he doesn't turn out to be "Vecna" from Eddie's campaign in the end) represents 3/3 of these points (he was experimented on by Brenner, he has been changed by the Upside Down, and he developed his powers spontaneously), and yet, out of our protagonists, only 2/3 of those points are currently represented (El who developed her powers via experimentation, and Will who likely/possibly-- I know everyone has their own strong opinions on this developed them via exposure to the Upside Down)?

In reality, I think that if my interpretation of how getting superpowers works in this universe is accurate, then it seems to me that we will very likely have a character with powers that developed naturally to complement El and Will.

However, both for narrative reasons (it would feel too shoehorned in/too Deus ex Machina) and for fitting in with the other established characters who seem to have spontaneously developed powers reasons, it would not make sense for any of our protagonists to all of a sudden start moving things with their minds. Narratively, it would just seem like it was being added in at the last minute and, anyway, it seems like Kali developed her powers/showed clear signs of them before the age of five, and Henry developed his around the age of twelve, so it’s likely that if any of our characters were going to develop powers, it would start before their teenage years.

So, assuming we're not getting Erica (God, I wish) or Holly (...I mean, I wouldn't complain) suddenly developing powers of their own, it seems likely that if any of our characters are going to have spontaneous powers, they likely already have them/are already using them. However, I don't think any of our beloved ensemble cast would know they have powers and not share that with the class. They all want to beat the Upside Down, and El and Will have already more than shown how useful superpowers are in that effort.

And... on a narrative level, let's be real. If this is the direction things are going, the reveal of these powers/abilities cannot be a joyous occasion. It has to hurt. Because if it doesn't hurt, we're back to the Deus ex Machina issue. But if it hurts-- if the reveal causes severe conflict for the character in question and with the people around them, if it breaks them down and reveals new things about them, if the reveal feels like a loss, in the moment when it comes about, rather than a win for the cast... then it might work.

For that to happen, the repressed/extant but unknown powers have to connect to the Upside Down. They have to have had a significant hand in all the pain that our characters have gone through. Possibly via either creating the Upside Down or the shadow monster, or else through some other connection. But the connection has to be there, because the reveal needs to cause fear, pain, and conflict for the characters.

Detour Cont'd: So... Who Is It?

So... if my wild speculation above is in any way accurate, I think it's worth taking a look at our established characters to see who could have done it.

So, Henry was wandering the Upside Down from 1979 onwards, El opened her first gate in that same year, so I suspect that if any of our characters did accidentally create/influence the Upside Down it likely happened starting around this time. In '79 (dangerously assuming my math is correct), Nancy (also Jonathan and Robin) would have been 11-12, and the Party would have been 7-8, making them the primary possibilities. - I think it's fair to assume that if they're doing this, it would be a major character that we've known since s1, so that discounts Robin and Max. - Additionally, given the composition of the final shot of s4, I think it's reasonable to assume that this character would be in that final shot, because they would have a significant role to play in s5. That cuts out Lucas and Dustin as well. - I'll also say that we can cut out El and Will, since their powers are (under this specific interpretation) already accounted for. - That leaves the remaining options as: Nancy, Jonathan, and Mike. - And, I mean... Mike's the one who's in the middle of that final shot, just as much as Will is. Mike's the one who always knows weird random stuff about the Upside Down and about El's powers. Mike's the one whose plans always work out. Mike's the only one who has never managed to land a punch/at least not managed to land a punch in the A plot of a season climax. Mike's the one whose emotions are a total mystery to the audience (outside of those who engage in intense rewatching and analysis to pick it apart lol). And… Mike’s the one who’s always depicted in a trio with El and Will (I know this is love triangle imagery, but it could potentially have a double meaning). - My point being-- if all of my previous reasoning/interpreting is accurate, then Mike is the only character who makes any sense in this role.

Also, just talking about logistics here-- in order to be comprehensible to audience members who are not about to sit down and rewatch the show a million times in order to pick up on subtle clues and hints, there are a few issues that are going to require a decent amount of screen time in order to explain/develop in s5. To my mind, (outside of ship dynamics) those are:

Where is Max? Why can't El find her?

What is Will's connection to the Upside Down? Did the Demogorgon really take Will in s1? Why is Henry/the Mind Flayer so focused on him?

Why is the Upside Down stuck in time/why and how did it start looking like Hawkins?

What the hell is going on in Mike Wheeler's head?

How will everybody react to the Upside Down and its monsters now that they're bound to start becoming common knowledge around Hawkins?

How are they going to deal with the military? What is going to happen to El if her location is compromised? How will this impact the fight against Henry/the Upside Down?

What is the relationship between Henry and the shadow monster/Mind Flayer? Is it possible for the gang to kill/destroy/incapacitate both? How will they do that?

My point is, there's one question on this list that doesn't seem to be connected into the Upside Down plot in any way-- and that's point 4. The question about Mike. Because realistically speaking, Stranger Things has a Mike Wheeler-shaped problem. He's a protagonist every season, and he's literally equally sharing the centre of the screen with Will in the final shot of s4, so if we're getting a Will Byers protagonist moment in s5, I think it's safe to suggest that we're also getting a Mike Wheeler protagonist moment.

But generally speaking, people don't want a Mike Wheeler protagonist moment, because people don't like him. And obviously that's because the underlying issues that he's going through have been hidden from plain view, but, like... you don't do that for no reason. Narratively speaking, you only do that if you're amping up for a big reveal.

And, yes. Mike and Will getting together would absolutely be a massive reveal and I can fully understand why they wouldn't want to spoil it... but. To get people to care about Mike again, and to believe that he "deserves" Will, they need to devote time and narrative space to explaining Mike's emotional state, both regarding his sexuality, and regarding whatever mental health issues he's struggling with. And they could have put more of this in s4! Mike and Will had FOUR heart to hearts, discounting the van scene. They very much could have had Mike express some of his (likely) experiences with depression and/or PTSD, without having to show their hand about his sexuality/feelings for Will. Doing so would have helped the audience have more sympathy for/understanding of Mike, AND would have significantly cut down on the ground they have to cover with his character in s5.

Because... they're going to need to take up a fair amount of time in s5 to show all of the stuff they need to cover with Mike if they actually are intending to follow through with him being queer and also, like, not beloathed by a large swath of the audience, they're going to need to connect his emotional issues to the Upside Down/A plot somehow. Which they can absolutely do! Henry's whole thing is perfect for that. And it worked with Max-- but there's a difference.

Because, with Max, her experiences with Henry/Vecna's curse were used to give the audience new information to help solve the mystery of the season. But we don't need that again. And... sure, Mike could get cursed/attacked and learn something useful in the fight against Henry, in addition to showcasing all the stuff that's going on inside his head, but given that Will's back in town and is already psychically linked with Henry/the Mind Flayer... I mean, it seems more natural to have that dynamic fall to Will?

This is a lot of talking, but my POINT is... they did not have to hold Mike's emotional state so close to their chests. Let's be real-- they could have at least started to outline the idea that Mike might be struggling with mental health issues, and nobody who isn't already reading the writing on the wall for Mike/Will would be jumping to assume it meant he was struggling with any gay feelings. Like, let's be absolutely real here: they could have had Mike outright say "I don't know, it's like you left and all of a sudden I didn't have the energy to do anything all I could do was sit around and miss you" to Will and people would have understood it as "ohhhh he was depressed because he missed El/has trauma about El disappearing on him/leaving him".

So, if we're reading Mike correctly-- if he's struggling with mental health issues and they're putting in all the little clues and hints to it that we're picking up on/that will be obvious on a rewatch after some huge reveal... then whatever he's going through has to tie into the supernatural plot in a big way. And, more than that, it needs to be linked to it in a way that is surprising enough/enough of a twist to warrant all this secrecy about it.

AND (and this is a hill I am prepared to die on)... Will and El are both main characters, but so is Mike. The plot would not have started without Will. The plot would not have started without El. But also... the plot would not have started without Mike. Without Mike things are totally different, because whoever found El instead would not have been the exact combination of nurturing and feral that made s1 Mike hide her in his basement/believe her the instant she implied she even maybe knew how to find Will. And that's just the first thing that he did which unquestionably pushed the plot in the direction it's going. There's a reason he shares centre screen with Will at the end of s4 (after El had her extended closeup because I'm sure she's going to continue having her protagonist moment in s5, AS SHE SHOULD). Mike isn't just a love interest. He's a protagonist in his own right-- this is his coming of age story, just as much as it is Will's and El's. And, while it's entirely possible that they might have a plan that includes him being the only one of the trio without any particular personal connection to the supernatural plot, I do think it's worth considering that, just as is the case for Will and El, it's at least possible that Mike might have a plotline outside of his romantic relationships, and that, as the third protagonist/third leg of the protagonist trio... it's at least possible that said plotline might have direct ties to the supernatural A plot.

(Also, yes, the ending shot does also suggest that Hop, Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan are also protagonists for s5-- I feel like this tracks with their roles in s1, and I fully expect them to play major roles in s5, but if this is actually a coming of age story, then it's the Party who are, really, the ones spending this whole time coming of age. That's why I'm making the distinction.)

I bring all of this up, because I believe that it lends context to why I think it is possible that Eddie's Vecna actually references/foreshadows Mike, in particular's, s5 role.

Mike as Vecna

So, here's the thing. If Mike did create the Upside Down, or at least the shadow monster, then he (or at least his repressed emotions and/or dark thoughts) is an antagonistic force in the show. That doesn't mean he's bad or evil (Will was an antagonistic force in s2, and he's sort of the exact opposite of bad or evil). Meaning that it would make sense to foreshadow him as an antagonist, even if ultimately he is a protagonist/on the side of the rest of the gang.

Returning to what we know about Vecna from the show, I'd like to combine it with some of the common theories/ideas that I've seen floating around regarding Mike's potential plot/future in s5.

First of all, Eddie's Vecna is shown hiding among the cultists. Mike obviously doesn't have a cult, although, if he is (unintentionally) the cause of all the Upside Down business, he is hiding in plain sight, both to the other characters and to the audience.

^ Bringing back this screenshot for absolutely no reason at all

I would also point out that Mike is the only character, of the viable list (even expanded back out to include Will and El) of those who could even maybe have played the role in creating/influencing the Upside Down, who is also a member of the Hellfire Club. By which I mean, Mike might not actually be in a cult, but Hawkins at large sure thinks he is.

Now, obviously, Mike isn't dead/hasn't been killed by anybody. But everybody is always talking about all of he death flags around Mike coming into s5, and I, at least, am of the opinion that he can't die permanently (for the same reason that Will and El can't perma-die-- all of them are way too self-sacrificial and willing to throw their lives away for everyone else, so killing them would literally just be them... doing what they always do, which is not ideal for a death scene, especially in a show where the death of major characters is used as infrequently as it is in Stranger Things). If he dies and then comes back to life, or at least seems to have died, this might fulfill the "undead" requirement.

Obviously, how the issue of Kas would come up in this storyline, would be much more questionable than in Henry's. If I'm on the right track here, though, I wouldn't really expect us to know at this point, because it would likely come up in s5 anyway. What I will say is that, if I were to speculate about s5... since Mike is the leader of the Party, and Kas was Vecna's lieutenant, if this is the direction they're going, then I would expect one of the Party members (probably not Will or El because I have some... thoughts about them in the context of the Vecna analogy) to play the role. However, I really can't see any of them intentionally killing/betraying Mike, so my best guess is that if this is happening, it's going to be more a thing of Mike self-sacrificing/endangering himself in order to protect one of the Party members, rather than them intentionally/personally striking the blow. That's SUPER speculative, though, and not founded in very much except... Mike's character as a whole. Also, in D&D's lore, all that was left of Vecna after Kas had killed him, besides the Hand and the Eye, was a pile of ashes-- which fits really seamlessly into Mike's narration of his D&D character dying a fiery, self-sacrificial death at the end of Will's campaign.

Eddie's Vecna is a spellcaster/dark wizard, which are terms that would fit anyone, Mike included, in the scenario where they created/significantly influenced the Upside Down/shadow monster.

In terms of Mike's appearance, obviously he does not appear shrivelled and desiccated (though we'll have to see what s5 brings on that front), but I will note that there are a LOT of theories about Mike losing an arm and possibly an eye as well. Additionally, Mike's left eye, in particular, is often shrouded in shadow. I've already written a different post about that, so I won't go too into detail, but you can look at it here.

^ A sample of some of the left eye shadows

If the theories about Mike creating the Upside Down or at least the shadow monster are accurate, then that fulfills the D&D Vecna's backstory of having built a dark empire before his undeath.

In the context of Mike, I also think it's interesting that one of the things D&D's Vecna is known for is his "dark secrets". Like... I mean, we all know Mike is full of secrets. And it's very likely that they're "dark"-- not necessarily in the way that D&D Vecna's secrets are dark, but more so in the way of, like, mental health issues can be very dark when you're living through them. I mean... Max had "dark secrets" this season, too (though, obviously, totally different in nature and context than Mike's), but the narrative difference (outside of all the cool character stuff they were doing with Max-- this is not a Max post so I won't get too into it, but I just want to make it super clear that Max has a LOT of interesting stuff going on in s4 in her own right) is that those came to light, while Mike's stayed hidden.

Also... okay let me just put this here:

(Link to the site I got that from is in the Vecna in D&D section)

"The godlike supremacy they crave". Does that... not sound like Henry? I mentioned Henry turning into a Demogorgon back in the Henry as Vecna section of this post, but... I think I'm just saying that it could legitimately be happening? I don't know. Maybe I'm just being overly enticed by the idea of Henry's hubris making him believe that he's the one in control of the Upside Down/the shadow monster/Mind Flayer when, in reality, the truth is that he's simply blinded to what's happening to him by his own arrogance and ambition.

Anyway... finally, I'll point out that D&D's Vecna is also known for his "formidable temper". And, like... I just... okay, so a lot of characters in Stranger Things have tempers and anger issues. But the thing with Mike's is that it's portrayed... kind of differently? Like, if you push Jonathan or Steve hard enough on the right pressure points, they'll snap and physically fight you (we've seen it), and El's basically the same except that she generally has the psychic force to skip the fight and simply toss you aside like a ragdoll. If you push Will or Nancy or Hopper hard enough on the right pressure points, they'll get sarcastic and frustrated and snippy (and depending on who you are, Hopper and maybe also Nancy might also punch you lbr-- here's hoping for Nancy punching someone out in s5). But Mike?

a) Mike's kind of constantly on the verge of getting mad (except, typically, when he's alone with Will and usually also El pre-s4). He's annoyed by everything, prickly towards basically everyone unless he knows them very well, and easily upset if he doesn't get his way/doesn't feel consulted about what's happening. None of which erases his positive qualities, and all of which are explainable, but it's undeniable that there's an angry element to his character.

b) When Mike does actually get properly mad, he shoots to kill. "What is WRONG with you?" "It's not MY fault you don't like girls!" "She didn't LOOK fine...", like. Every season, he says something so harsh it leaves the other person/people speechless. And that's NOT to say that Mike's a bad kid. He's a child who has suffered a lot of trauma, and who was already prone to fits of annoyance before all the bad stuff started happening. Of course he lashes out. AND it does seem like he's making an attempt to improve especially as of s4 (probably because the rain fight really scared him tbh). I'm not saying he's bad, I'm just saying that one of his flaws, which he does seem to be working on, is that he has a tendency to get angry and say things that he might mean in the moment, but which are more hurtful than he wants them to be.

c) I find the scene where Mike breaks down in Hopper's arms in s2 incredibly telling. Obviously, this was Mike under extreme circumstances. I'm not suggesting that level of rage and pain is Mike's typical baseline level. But what I am saying is... that breakdown did not develop overnight. That was something Mike was building towards since s1e1. And then he lets it out with fists and screams and sobs. And then he boxes it away and gets back to plotting how to stop the Mind Flayer and save Will like nothing happened. And nobody brings it up ever again (I mean... let's be honest... the only person who WOULD 100% have brought it up later was passed out in a drug-induced nap at the time, so it's very likely that Will doesn't know about that breakdown... just like he probably doesn't know about the quarry). And just like every other character, Mike keeps getting traumatized on top of all the pain that caused that original breakdown. And...

I don't know. I guess I'm just saying that it's undeniable that Mike has a temper, though he's not the only character who does. And that Mike's inevitable s5 breakdown will probably involve rage as well as tears. Does Mike have a "formidable and hideous temper"? I don't know. I think that sort of depends on who is judging. I am pretty sure that Mike thinks he does, though.

And... lastly... this is just a parallel that I thought was interesting, which probably doesn't mean anything, probably it's just a coincidence, but I'm already deep enough into this analysis that I've lost my mind so...

^ s1 Mike covers his left eye while indicating/faking a headache

^ s4 Eddie covers his left eye with an upside down hand to mimic being Vecna

The Eye and Hand of Vecna in This Context

Something that has been bothering me is this:

Mike, Will, and El are obviously paralleled to two trios from other franchises, with Will and El, respectively, as the "head"/primary character in the trio.

They're paralleled to Harry/Ron/Hermione (no, I don't like talking about HP parallels very much because //gestures at everything about JKR with my very trans hands, but I don't think that discomfort on my end negates the obvious parallels), with Will generally functioning as Harry (although I'm aware that Will and Mike get the Ron/Hermione treatment in the airport), with everything to do with his connection with Henry.

They're also paralleled to Luke/Leia/Han, with El generally functioning as Luke.

So, the thing that has been bothering me is: if Mike is just as much a protagonist as Will and El are, and not just a romantic interest for the two of them, why isn't there also a trio in which Mike gets to play the leading role? And, uh... so... I have a thought about that, but it requires me to dig a bit deeper into the lore behind the artifacts left after Kas (nominally) killed Vecna in D&D lore: the Hand and the Eye.

The Hand of Vecna:

The Eye of Vecna:

(link to the site where I took these screenshots from is included in the section about Vecna in D&D)

So... if (and I'm very aware that it's a big if) Mike is going to turn out to have been foreshadowed by Eddie's Vecna, then I believe that this is the trio he's at the head of. Vecna/Eye of Vecna/Hand of Vecna, with El as the Hand and Will as the Eye.

I mean, the Hand's thing is strength (El's telekinesis lends strength to her/anybody she is helping use it for-- ie. flipping the car in s3, where flipping it back over requires multiple people and Mike's lever system). It improves attacks during combat (again... El's telekinesis sort of makes her the gang's heavy hitter). It can apparently also freeze creatures (we see El do this at least twice in s1-- she freezes Troy in place after he tries to attack Mike, and freezes the Demogorgon in place when it's trying to attack the Party). And it can be used to cast a number of different spells including Teleport (El can't exactly teleport, but she can use the mind void to travel anywhere a given person is in her mind) and some necromantic spells.

Interestingly, although they're not spells the Hand can provide according to screenshot above, bringing back the dead, like El does to Max at the end of s4, can be done using a necromantic spell in D&D.

And the Eye... I mean. Truesight is right there. But in general, it's a lot about being able to see through just about everything (including time, which is pretty interesting), with fits pretty well with Will as the spy/Will as the sensor of all things Upside Down. The spells it can cast are pretty interesting as well, and do make me wonder if the fact that Will was (or possibly still ever so slightly is?) part of the hivemind might give him some ability to control what the hivemind does? I don't know, but it's a thought.

Also, the effect of using the Eye is really interesting, given the fact that Will was infected by the shadow monster/Mind Flayer right at the moment when he tried to order it to "go away" (failed Dominate Monster?), and then the whole possession got worse/his soul was almost consumed leaving him essentially a puppet under the control of the shadow monster/Mind Flayer after he attempted to spy back (possibly failed Clairvoyance?). Also, fun fact: Disintegrate causes a "thin green ray" to "spring from your finger" in order to turn a target to dust. I can't help but think about Will the Wise's green fireballs.

I don't know… I just think the parallels are worth thinking about.

To be 100% clear, I'm not saying that Will and El's powers/abilities come from Mike (just like in the HP parallel, Will paralleling Harry/the Chosen One doesn't take away from El or Mike's positions as co-protagonists with him, or in the SW parallel, El paralleling Luke doesn't mean that she's the only protagonist/Chosen One in ST). Nor am I suggesting that Mike in any way owns Will or El. I'm only pointing out that there are some striking similarities between their powers/experiences and the effects of Hand and Eye in D&D, so if the theories about Mike creating the Upside Down/shadow monster are correct, then... those similarities are interesting.

(But, hey, I mean, fun fact-- if this is actually the intended read, then all three are paralleling powerful wizards in popular culture, which is fun.)

Also also... something I've always found super weird is that Will's eyes go brown when he's possessed, never black. Which... is odd, because black is traditional for possessions, and it would look more unnatural, it would align more with the shadow monster's colours, and it would be a really clear signal to the audience that there's something wrong with the colour of his eyes because as it stands, unless you already know that Will has hazel eyes, nothing seems off (especially because the characters never mention the change either). I mean, the shadow monster is black/dark grey. Henry's eyes are blue and never go darker than that. But Mike's eyes are just about that same shade of brown that Will's were when they were at their darkest...

I mean, if nothing else, Mike as Vecna and Will and El as the Eye and Hand would explain why Mike keeps losing (being cut off from) both of them.

And, I mean... we all know Will tends to hang out on Mike's left, but so does El (it's just less obvious with El, because she also has a motif of facing Mike head on). Largely (though not always-- if there's a true pattern, I can't tell what it is), when they're not in this alignment is when they're disagreeing/not on the same page/not pretending to be on the same page with Mike. I mean... you know. Something something, Vecna's left hand and left eye?

No, Seriously, Will and El are So Often on Mike's Left

^ Just a sample of the relevant shots

The Good News

Now that I've gotten through all of this, I do want to say that, even if Eddie's Vecna is foreshadowing something about Mike's role in the supernatural plot of s5, I don't believe they're setting him up to be a true villain. Like... if Mike did actually create the Upside Down/the shadow monster/in some way impact them, I very much do not believe that he is aware of it as of s4, nor do I believe that he would ever intentionally hurt any of the people that the Upside Down has tormented all these years. Well, except himself [gunshot]

Obviously he would be absolutely ripped open if he learned any of what happened was in any way his fault. He'd be absolutely gutted. If you're a "Mike needs to have a sobbing, screaming breakdown in s5" kind of person, man would you get your wish and then some.

My point is, even if they're setting up a twist where Mike('s repressed emotions) have been an antagonistic force all along, I very much do not believe that Mike is being set up as an antagonist, in his own right.

This is where I'm going to bring it back to the fact that we don't actually know what Dustin or Erica were rolling to do. Most likely, in the game itself, they were rolling for various attacks. But we don't hear that. And we don't actually hear Eddie ever say that Vecna was killed, it's just implied from the context of the scene. Which to me means that the ending is not set in even analogous stone. If Vecna does foreshadow Mike's role in the supernatural plot, then all we know is that an Eleven alone can't defeat/solve whatever's going wrong with him, but a twenty (whatever is defined as a twenty) can.

By which I mean, I don't think Mike has to die in the end in order to fit with the analogy.

Also! I think it's really important that Eddie's D&D session is the only one that we see Mike participating in, where he doesn't do any active narrating. Obviously he narrates for the Demogorgon and Thessalhydra campaigns. However, he also takes over narrating for Will's campaign, when he decides to light a fire and sacrifice himself to destroy the Juju hoard.

In Eddie's campaign, though, he follows along. His PC 0's out (which could reference a future physical injury, or an inability on his part to keep fighting for some other reason), and they call a time out to discuss. During that conversation, Dustin specifically asks Mike for his opinion on what they should do (which I have some Thoughts about in the broader context of Dustin's characterization in s4, but those are so wildly outside the bounds of this post-- I'll make a different post later), and Mike really does act like a good leader. He asks Dustin and Erica for context on their HP, and assesses that if they keep fighting it will be difficult, but in the end he tells them that the call is up to them, because their characters are the only ones left on the battle field. That's all he says about the game. And I think the fact that all he says is that the fight will be "difficult" is really good news, because it means that the ending is more open.

Finally, it's possible that if Mike is actually the person being foreshadowed by the use of Vecna in Eddie's campaign, and if Will and El are intentionally paralleled to the Eye and the Hand respectively, then Mike's lost hand/eye signals may not necessarily literally mean that he's going to lose his body parts, but rather that he's going to lose or feel like he's lost both Will and El one more time before everything is over.

The Bad News

IF any of this is correct-- specifically, IF Mike did create the shadow monster or the Upside Down or even just influenced it in some way... even if Henry was somehow exercising power over it to make it more dangerous than necessary... I'm just not convinced that everybody would be able to forgive him.

I mean... Will, obviously would. That's kind of a foregone conclusion, especially since at least in the scenario I'm speculating about, none of what happened would be anything Mike knew he was in any way complicit in until after the fact.

I also think El would probably be able to understand pretty quickly given that she knows what it's like to do something without knowing you can do it, and to have to come to terms with the fact that others have suffered as a result. That being said, if we DO get Mike in the scenario I've been outlining, and then we DON'T get a parallel to the s1 "I'm the monster" "no you're not the monster-- you saved me" scene, except with Mike saying that he's the monster, and El assuring him that he's not because there's no such thing as being a monster or a superhero, but he was her first ever friend so she could never consider him a monster? I'll sue.

A lot of the others I'm way more up in the air about, because I really think it would come down to a lot of context in how it was portrayed, whether the others could manage to get into a somewhat normal groove with him ever again (though I highly doubt they'd have the Party end the show broken up, so I suspect they, at least, would find a way to come to terms with what happened).

But really... it's Nancy that concerns me? In literally any scenario where Mike might have had ANYTHING to do with the Upside Down in any capacity outside of what we've explicitly seen in the show. Whether he knew what he was doing or not. Whether Henry was the one orchestrating things in s1-s4/presumably at least early s5 or not. I just...

I can see a path where she could forgive him, right? Though I'm really worried that's a path where she would forgive him and take all that blame and put it onto herself because he was he little brother and she didn't notice.

But I just... I don't know.

I just know how horribly she's raked herself over the coals over Barb's death ever since s1, and I just worry about whether she would be able to accept that, in the scenario I've been outlining, Mike didn't actually mean to do anything/couldn't actually have stopped it because he didn't know it was happening. Because I suspect that in order for Nancy to get to that place, she'd have to confront the fact that SHE isn't at fault for what happened to Barb, either. That she did not do anything wrong (at least, not wrong enough that she deserves to be still agonizing over it four years later) by telling Barb to go home that night. That there was no way Nancy could have known that something bad was happening to Barb, and that the fact that she didn't stop what was happening BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS ANYTHING FOR HER TO STOP, doesn't mean she's in any way at fault.

And... I REALLY hope we're going to get to see Nancy confronting that head on in s5. But it just.... concerns me in the context of these theories about Mike's potential supernatural role.

#mike wheeler #byler #my analysis #I feel like there HAS to be a tag for all this Mike-and-the-Upside-Down stuff? #but I legitimately don't know what it is #long post #<- as always //sigh #I don't know what brevity is I guess #also #if Mike DOES have literally any sort of supernatural abilities #I fully believe that Karen knows/suspects somehow #100% because of that super coded “I never want you to feel like you have to hide anything from me” conversation #which YEAH does read like she's encouraging him that he can tell her if he's queer #but like #I've always thought she picked a SUPER weird time to have that conversation?? #“oh your best friend who I suspect you might have feelings for is missing? Okay well just so you know it's okay if you're gay” #like #just a really weird time when Mike isn't even a little volunteering that info #but if she knew somehow that Mike had supernatural abilities + knew somehow that something supernaturally fishy had gone down with Will #I feel like yeah no that would be the exact RIGHT time to try and assure him he could tell her “anything” lol #which now I'm thinking about this the context of Troy's “killed by some other queer” comment #idk idk idk I'm just thinking thoughts at this point

[dailyskullgirls]

Juju PlayStyle Speculation and Gameplay Inspiration

#skullgirls #juju

[obsessed-aqualo]

Time fan aspects!

Yee haw.

Time is probably one of the most important aspects out there, specially since you can't really win the game without one, unless you manage to pretty much pull a perfect run of the session.

This aspect represents the passage of time, death and decay, different possibilities, creativity, rhythm and also the time from a narrative point of view.

The fan aspects that fall under this category are:

Waves

Heat

Force

Art

Loops

Clockwork

Rot

Garf

And now, a more thorough explanation.

The waves aspects is tied to reaction, resonance, consequences and literal water. A seer of waves would be usually very skilled at figuring cause and effect, knowing the consequences of their actions on the short or the long run, whereas more offensive classes might just be capable of "water go WOOSHHH". It depends, but generally, a wavesbound will have an overall calm personality.

The Heat aspect is representative of actual heat, energy or ideas. Being tied to everything that has an effect on the world around it, but can't be directly sensed. A heatbound will be usually be well versed in art, science or both, and they can be pretty powerful if paired with the right class.

Force has to do with activity, creation and power in both the literal and metaphorical sense. It might be confused with the Heat aspect, and to that I say... Uh, yeah... It does get confusing... Just try to think of it this way, Force represents the capability to change your surroundings, while Heat represents the actual change. You could technically say Force causes Heat, and you'd even be scientifically correct!

The Art aspect has to do with creation, chaos, as well as color and paint. This aspect shares a lot of similarities with the Sketch aspect, since both of them represent creativity, the difference being similar to the one between Heat and Force. While sketch represents creative freedom, Art in a way represents the result, hence why the Sketch precedes the Art.

Loops has to do with cycles, patterns and recursion, while also managing to have a connection with Jujus. A player that starts with a lot of Loops will be someone used to follow the exact same routine, either finding the familiarity pleasurable, or completely hating the monotony of their schedule.

Clockwork also has to do with patterns, but this time being more on the form of rules, reliability and predictability. They excel in figuring out the probability of something happening based on known rules, albeit rules of physics, math, board games, whatever they're familiar with enough, really. They are also pretty good mechanics.

Rot represents decay, obfuscation, and is often associated with moss, illness and tumors. It's tied with the slow but steady disappearance of information, life or thought, which itself was a pretty integral part of the Time aspect.

The aspect of Garf has to do with corruption, destruction, betrayal and dark magic. In a way, Garf is like Rot's weird twin, since they both deal with the same kind of subject, but Rot is more about the cause that the repercussions, and viceversa. Garfbounds are usually reluctant to trust others, since to them, every friend will become a foe when enough time has passed.

(The Garf aspect also seems to be tied to the concept of daily comic strips. We do not know why that might be, but our researchers speculated that the daily recurrence and renovation might have to do with time in a way.)

#homestuck #fan classpects #fan aspects #time aspect #sburb #mspaintadventures

[loveyourownsmiilee]

Something I think a lot of people are overlooking is the Christopher of it all for this season. Gavin is being promoted alongside the rest of the main cast. He’s in all the interviews, big moments and promotional material. And from what we know courtesy of Ryan and Oliver, we know he’s going to be dating this season. So instead of us focusing on Eddie and/or Buck’s respective romantic relationships (or lack thereof), maybe we should be focusing on Christopher’s and what that can mean for them all.

We know Eddie will list Buck’s help when it comes to Chris dating since Buck “knows women”. Now here’s a thought, what if Buck and Eddie spend a lot of their time and energy worrying about the avenue of Christopher dating and being in a relationship that they completely disregard their own love lives.

Ryan mentioned that Eddie is still “figuring out who Marisol is” which means they’re in no way far enough into their “relationship” for it to be anything serious. What if his focus shifts to his son and he neglects the need to pursue anything further with this woman he had a flirtation with once upon a time. Maybe he’s kinda focused on other things and doesn’t really allow her to get to know him and vice versa, so things die down and they end whatever was attempting to bloom between the two so he can focus on his son.

Same goes for Buck. Maybe while he’s helping Christopher with all this dating stuff, he uncovers certain things about himself. He considers his previous relationships and why they weren’t successful and what aspects of those relationships were somewhat successful. Maybe he even looks at his most long lasting successful relationship with Eddie and compares it to everyone he dated, and comes to some realizations himself.

What I’m trying to say is, Buck and Eddie spending some time together and essentially being co-parents to Chris while he embarks on this new journey, can bring them closer in a way they haven’t yet experienced. They will be focusing on their son, worrying about him and trying to be on top of everything to make sure his dating goes smoothly and successfully. We can even assume there’ll be some comedy at play courtesy to what Tim hinted at. I believe both men will be using their shared braincell to make sure he doesn’t fail like his fathers in any way they can.

All this to say, they will get closer in an intimate way and maybe even realize they don’t need anyone else because they have everything they need right in front of them. This shared experience will be significant especially since they are doing it as a family unit. It just would make sense that their focus on Chris and them being together constantly, being each other’s support system while he dates will inevitably shift things. And when they see Chris possibly having a successful go at dating, which maybe he even mentions a thing or two about their own relationship, it can be the thing that really opens their eyes and sets things into motion.

I guess what I’m trying to say is I think Christopher’s storyline will be very important and he will inevitably be the thing that gets his two dads together.

#buddie #evan buckley #eddie diaz #christopher diaz #the buckley diaz family #911 spoilers #911 speculation #jujus having thoughts #sorry this is long but thank you if you choose to read it 💜

[davekat-sucks]

Wait, how did Vriaka got to the Alpha kid's to prototype the sprite's? Because I think Gamzee is meant to be a plot contrivance. How did Vriaka do whatever Gamzee dose? Well that's what you get when nothing is explained how he did it in the first place.

Yeah, it's only up to speculation and guessing. Some could argue it's her mind powers, but it's more of mind control she has, not reading. Are people gonna say when Vriska controls someone, she could also briefly see a person's thoughts and memories? Do all ceruleanbloods have this? Will someone think it was John who told Vriska or Terezi during his Retcon arc after his hand stuck out during Act 6, that he would have context and info because he stuck his hand out in the juju?

Then couldn't he had just done retcon certain parts of Homestuck without Terezi's meddling? As an Heir of Breath, it's about freedom. Freedom of what he chooses? Guess it's never about freedom after all. Why did it have to be Vriska of all people too? Why couldn't it be someone like Kanaya, Rose, or Dave? Was Vriska that important? I get she likes the main character and fan favorite that she has to be the center of attention in her own VRISKAGRAM flash, but that raises more questions about the relevance of the others involved. ESPECIALLY KARKAT. You know, the troll leader of all this. Everything about Post Retcon is just stressful to think about.

#Post Retcon #Homestuck #HOM3STUCK #John Egbert #Vriska Serket #Homestuck fandom

[callmebrycelee]

THE ROOKIE REACTION

Today's reaction is to the season 5, third episode titled "Dye Hard" which originally aired on October 9, 2022. The episode was written by Natalie Callaghan and directed by Bethany Rooney. Spoilers ahead!

We start the episode one month later catching on what's happened in the interim for our characters. Lucy attended and graduated from the undercover agent training class she was reluctant to enroll in. Now, let me pause here. I know absolutely nothing about how things work in law enforcement, but it seems to me one month in class learning how to be an undercover agent is not a lot of time. I know this show is all about moving the plot along but for some reason, that detail stuck out to me. Also, Nyla is back from maternity leave which doesn't surprise me. One of my coworkers spent a few months on maternity leave when she had her first child, but Nyla strikes me as someone who was itching to get back to work. P.S., I love her friendship with Angela. Last on the list, we have Nolan who is officially a training officer - something he has wanted to be since he became a rookie four seasons ago. Now that we are caught up, let's jump into the episode.

One month later, Lucy is still with her lawyer boyfriend Chris (Kanoa Goo). He informs Lucy that he got invited to join an anonymous online group who are dedicated to tracking down the whereabouts of notorious serial killer Rosalind Dyer. They call themselves Dye Hards. Chris further explains that these group members have done extensive research. They scour message boards, social media and subreddits for tips and take the credible tips and place them into a document they have dubbed the Mother Doc. Lucy rightfully is concerned about Chris's mental and emotional well-being now that he has fully recovered from his near-fatal injuries. She tells him that it's not healthy for him to spend his waking hours researching Rosalind. Chris asks Lucy to take a look at the document and Lucy reluctantly acquiesces.

Meanwhile, at the station, Nolan begins his first day as a training officer. He admits to Grey that he is nervous about messing up and the sergeant assures him that he will. Grey reminds Nolan that he is a good cop who knows how to do the job so he should stop being so concerned with being perfect. Then Grey reminds Nolan that since he is new to being a training officer, that technically makes him a rookie again. I love that four seasons later, the title of this show is still showing relevance.

Nolan is introduced to his rookie, a young woman named Celina Juarez. Right off the bat, I started to speculate as to what kind of rookie Celina would be. Would she be a legacy like our dearly departed Jackson West (Titus Makin Jr.), following in her parent's footsteps? Would you be a know-it-all, eager to impress type like Lucy? Would she be timid or rough around the edges? Take orders easily or go off half-cocked. Nothing could have prepared me for what we actually got in the episode. Of course, Nolan would get someone who is a bit new-agey, someone who feels the need to cleanse their "shop" of bad spirits and juju with sage prior to them leaving the station. Of course, she would be someone to pull over an old lady because she saw a dark aura around the trunk of her car. Of course, she would prioritize her intuition over logic. Of course! You know what, Talia Bishop (Afton Williamson) and Nyla had their hands full dealing with Nolan when he was a rookie. Turnabout's fair play!

Celina is reprimanded by Tim for making an illegal stop which could land the LAPD in hot water and Nolan struggles to be an authority figure to her while also trying to see things the way she does. Nolan knows that he had a unique approach to the job that wasn't always appreciated or valued. He wants to make sure that he isn't dismissive of Celina as others were dismissive of him.

Meanwhile, Tim is paired with Thorsen who seems to be way too preoccupied with whatever is on his phone, much to Tim's annoyance. Tim calls him out on it and Thorsen admits that he is being blackmailed. Tim asks for details and Thorsen tells him that someone took one of his thirst trap photos and doctored it to look pornographic. The two of them track down the person who happens to be a teenage boy. Tim chastises the kid but obviously his threats of taking away his computer and other tech falls on deaf ears because the kid takes a photo of Tim and Photoshops it into something very provocative which is mocked by their coworkers. Tim and Thorsen return to the kid's apartment, again, and tell him that he is going to start volunteering at the youth center that James (Arjay Smith) runs. Rather than take the kid's computer and tech away, Thorsen believes he should have a second chance like he was given.

Back at the station, Nyla and Angela are investigating the disappearance of a young woman. I called it immediately when I said that their storyline was going to collide with Nolan and Celina's. As it turns out, the old lady that Celina pulled over, there was blood found in the trunk of her car. The old lady tells Celina and Nolan that her grandson sometimes uses the car. Because there was no probable cause to pull her over, Nyla is very upset at Nolan because the blood found in the car matches the missing woman but since the stop was made illegally then that further complicates things. Celina feels bad for her screw up but insists that she had a legitimate reason for pulling the woman over.

We then head over to Lucy who is out on patrol alone. She notices a squatter going into an abandoned building and she follows him inside. She walks around in what used to be a restaurant and for some reason decides to step inside an old walk-in freezer. The squatter locks her inside and honestly I thought this story line was going in a completely different direction that where it ultimately went. I assumed that being in a locked freezer would remind Lucy of being trapped underground in the barrel, but Lucy actually takes advantage of being trapped without cell reception to read over the Mother Doc Chris asked her to take a look at. She discovers that one of the individuals in Chris's online group used a phrase that Rosalind said to Nolan. Lucy believes that Rosalind has infiltrated the group. When Tim and Thorsen finally figure out that she's missing, they track her down and free her from the freezer.

Lucy reports her findings to Chris who is freaked out because he's divulged details surrounding the case to an online person who is actually Rosalind Dyer. This part of the episode kind of threw me. I get that Chris wanted to gain intel on Rosalind Dyer, but he was super sloppy about it. It seems like there should be some severe consequences for his actions. Anywho, the IP address attached to Rosalind's online persona is tracked to Washington but by the time Lucy and crew get there, there are more dead bodies. Rosalind Dyer is playing chess while the LAPD and FBI are playing checkers. I cannot wait for them to take her down.

We head back over to Nolan and Celina. Celina tells Nolan all about her missing sister and how it wasn't logic and rules that helped find her, it was a psychic. Nolan tries to find a way to blend his pragmatism with her intuition and they are able to track down the missing woman. While Nolan is clearing the house, Celina spots the kidnapper and abandons the victim in favor of going after him alone which is against protocol. Nolan waits for the paramedics to arrive and then he heads off after Celina. Celina chases after the kidnapper and eventually gets the drop on her. The two of them go back and forth and let's just say that Celina can hold her own in a fight. Unfortunately, the perp gains the upper hand and tries strangling her. This scene was pretty dark because he came really close to taking her out. Nolan swoops in to tackle him and they are able to subdue him.

Perhaps my favorite moment of the episode is when Nolan sits down to talk with Celina. They recap their first day of being a training officer and a rookie. Nolan is going to be a great training officer because he has the ability to empathize in a way that Nyla, Angela, and Tim cannot. Nolan has spent most of his life being a civilian so that brings a certain level of understanding of how people work that not even a seasoned law enforcement agent would have. What I didn't particularly care for is how he rationalized away Celina's intuition. He tells her that she more than likely saw the blood on the trunk of the old lady's car, but her brain processed it as a dark aura and rather than having a premonition about the whereabouts of the perpetrator, she simply dreamed about it because she'd spent so much time reviewing details of the case. I would much rather she be this cop who has premonitions and vibes and sees auras and her challenge is learning how to balance that with fact and reason rather than having to ignore those things in favor of doing the job the traditional way.

I really did enjoy this episode. I liked the whole caper with the missing girl and Nolan learning how to adjust to his new rookie. I even liked the Tim and Thorsen stuff. I liked seeing that dynamic. The Rosalind Dyer storyline is starting to drag for me mostly because I don't get her motivation. She is just killing folks for no rhyme or reason while the FBI and LAPD bumble around after her. Seriously, how long is this going to last? To mid-season? Season finale? Will she finally be brought to justice, or will she just escape again? I reckon I'll have to wait to see what happens. Until next time ...

#tv reaction #blw reactions #the rookie reaction #abc the rookie #john nolan #lucy chen #tim bradford #nyla harper #wade grey #angela lopez #wesley evers #celina juarez #aaron thorsen #rosalind dyer #the rookie season 5

[causesciencethatswhy]

As nasty as many tkkrs are, I don’t think most of them would be violent to Jimin if the opportunity presented itself. Spewing bs on the internet anonymously from your home is a huge jump from physically harming someone. Not over a ship. It’s not impossible though, it just takes one person.

JK, I would worry about him getting harmed by one of his own fans a la Christina grimmie or John Lennon. Like those desperate fans who mob JK at the airport because that want any chance to be close to JK with no regard to JK’s health or their own.

Yes of course all insane sasaeng fans pose a threat to them but hey let's not put this down in words, I'm not one for superstition most of the time but let's not speculate on potential ways any member can be harmed , it's just bad juju to me.

[lime-bloods]

Small detail in favor of the frog-from-each-planet idea that I didn't see you mention (sorry if I missed it) is that the mystery frog's eyes flash green-red-blue-purple, ie the kids' colors

I don't know if it was a "common" theory, but one line of speculation regarding that used to be that the frog was somehow connected to the house juju with the four kids trapped inside (like a kind of anti-English). I guess we shouldn't dismiss the connection outright, since the house and the frog both seem to be keys to escaping the canon? but you're certainly right that the eye colours emphasise the final frog as a culmination of all four heroes' contributions..

#theory #sburb #mmmmalo

[joe-moi]

there was a gossip bling on tumblr that ppl started talking about on Twitter and they doxxed her cause she was speculating about how and m and accidentally posted some info about Joe thag was available to the public which is wrong but doxxing a tumblr blog doesn’t make you any different than her even tho they’re trying to act all high and mighty about it

This is the negative juju we don’t want! We love you all and have fun!

#anonymous asks #🛼answers

[wheeler-things]

Alright, I previously alluded to the fact that I have some opinions regarding the OTHER two unaccounted for D&D antagonists as foreshadowing, so here it is (this is sort of just me rambling at 2 AM but I needed to get these stray thoughts out of my head before I could sleep):

(Note: this is a spin off from this post where I was speculating about the possibility that Vecna foreshadows something other than Henry Creel, and I'll be referencing my conclusions from that in this post as well because that post inspired/brought about this one.)

So, in terms of the Thessalhydra, I highly suspect that it's foreshadowing for the creature with the gaping mouth that Nancy saw in her vision. Like, we're definitely seeing whatever that creature was in s5, because they wouldn't have brought it up otherwise, and Will's painting makes the Thessalhydra relevant again so... yeah, I'm pretty confident about this one.

Regarding the Juju hoard... well.

Okay, so, I'm of two minds on this.

Because it's introduced in s3 and it's a hoard of basically zombies which are attacking a town, which Mike's PC self sacrifices in a fiery explosion to destroy. And in s3, we have the Flayed who are basically a hoard of zombies attacking Hawkins, which Hopper (who has so many narrative ties to Mike I swear to God, Hop is literally just Mike, but straight, a more bitter adult, and good at sports rather than science) self sacrifices in a fiery explosion to destroy. Of course, Hopper improbably survives, but imo that also makes sense, because what does Mike do when Will shows his frustration? Offers to walk it back and "finish the campaign for real". It all fits.

But...

Okay, so here's the thing.

We all know there's something up with the spores.

I've seen lots of people expressing irritation about them, as well, because they used to be treated as very serious/dangerous when the Lab was sending people into the Upside Down in s1-2, and the characters (especially the Party) took precautions when they went into the tunnels in s2, but as of s4, that seems to have gone out the window.

However, I actually don't think this is inconsistent at all. Because what happened in s1-2? Nancy went into the Upside Down without a mask and came out fine. Will certainly didn't have a mask all s1, and he might not have been totally fine but there was never any implication that the spores did anything particularly harmful to him. Hopper went into the tunnels without a proper mask and came out fine. Joyce and Bob went in without masks and came out fine. Mike went in with a mask but it fell down (I believe? Sorry, I'm not going back to 100% confirm this right now), and he was fine. Dustin's mask fell down and he got sprayed directly in the mouth with a bunch of spores, and he was fine.

Why would the characters bother to waste time with figuring out masks on top of everything else in s4 when they have never seemed to be necessary?

Sure, the government insisted on its agents wearing full protective gear when walking into the UD, but that's easy enough to rationalize, given that the local Hawkins monster hunters arguably have the most experience with the UD at this point, and... government rules are not always put into place because they're necessary. Sometimes, there are added precautions just in case.

I think it would be really easy for the protagonists to have come to the consensus that all the masking and protective gear was there because the government didn't yet know what they were dealing with/because it helped cover the butts of whoever was calling the shots, on the off chance it turned out the spores WERE dangerous. But our crew knows better! They may not have a massive sample size, but they do have a sample size that consists of most of their group, which seems to suggest that breathing in the spores is harmless. So, why bother with protective gear if it's just going to get in the way while you're running/fighting/if it's just going to slow you down while you're prepping for a fight, when you "know" there's no benefit to it?

...However. I've been thinking about Hopper's story about his exposure to Agent Orange, and...

"I used to think I was cursed. Ever since I was eighteen. Got some letter of induction in the mail. Uncle Sam wants me to go fight some war in the jungle. Charlie's moving South like a plague because of commie bastards like you, and... You know, I'm happy enough to go. Prove to my old man I'm not the piece of shit he thinks I am. I get over there, I must test well, and they put me in the Chemical Corps. There I am. I'm just a kid, you know? I'm eighteen years old, eight thousand miles away, and I'm mixing up these fifty-five gallon drums of Agent Orange. With just these kitchen gloves, you know? We used to clean out these buffalo turbines after a run, and just be inhaling the stuff. No masks, nothing. 'It's not chemical warfare; it's just herbicide to kill plants.' Harmless. That's what they told us."

Except, of course, Agent Orange was not harmless. Not in real life, and not in the show.

And the writers/producers connect it implicitly/narratively to the Upside Down, because Enzo (I cannot remember his real name to save my life rn) listens to this story, and then immediately starts talking about the Demogorgon. And then the scene cuts, and the next thing we see is the government agents inspecting Wayne Munson's trailer and deciding, upon realizing that a Gate has begun to open in his ceiling.

And what I find really interesting is that Hopper's description of their protective gear ranges from makeshift (like the masks and goggles the Party and Steve use in the tunnels in s2-- an attempt at safety and better than nothing, but nowhere near the level of protection they should have) to nothing at all (like all of s4 and many of the instances in s1 and s2 when the Lab isn't physically forcing someone into properly protective gear).

And now the spores are falling over all of Hawkins. Everybody in that town has been exposed.

And I'm just saying... "apocalypse scenario where if you've been exposed to the spores and you die in the UD/near an open UD gate, you come back as part of the UD's army/transform into something mindless and hungry and tied into the hivemind"? It seems like we could be going there.

Which would potentially build something of equivalence to Will's Juju hoard.

And... look, it's me. I can't not link this back to my developing Mike-as-Vecna theory. Excuse me while I take a break from theorizing and write a mini bullet point fic about this concept, I guess:

I can so clearly see a hypothetical scenario in my head, where Mike throws himself in front of a deadly blow that was meant for Lucas, and he's lying there dying with the Party all around him absolutely horrified, presumably gathered up in Will's arms lbr, and, like.

Essentially (unknowingly) trying to recreate his sacrifice in the s3 campaign just, like, ever the strategist, begging them to burn his body as soon as he's dead (I assume they'd have fuel and lighters on them if they're neck deep in an UD-based apocalypse scenario), because he can't come back to hurt them if his body is burned to ash.

And, like, Lucas having to steel his jaw to try and follow through on just that (because I can't imagine Dustin doing anything but freaking out/possibly having Eddie flashbacks, and Will... yeah, no, that's not happening, so it's really just up to Lucas to follow through).

But Will's having none of it.

I say, while my brain wildly chants "s2 Halloween parallel! Will's grasping onto Mike's corpse and desperately calling for him, begging him to wake up and just hold on until help gets there, until Will can take him home! Lucas reaching out to touch Will's shoulder, to take Mike's body out of his grip, and Will shoving him away and clinging tighter to Mike! Lucas trying to gently but urgently talk Will into letting Mike go, and Will absolutely refusing, maybe even suggesting that Lucas and Dustin should get out of there just in case, but this is Mike and Will's staying."

And then there's movement from Mike-- who was definitely dead a moment ago-- in Will's arms. Movement, and everyone's flinching back/Lucas and Dustin are hauling Will back. But, somehow, Mike's coming back to life without any of the usual changes most corpses go through before they become part of the hivemind. Maybe not 100% healed, maybe still very much in need of medical attention and lots of rest, maybe still in pain, but alive again.

Somehow, impossibly, he's still Mike, and the instant that's obvious, Will's ripping out of Lucas and Dustin's grip to go back to him, while Lucas and Dustin are left looking hesitantly between each other and Mike, because this isn't how it's supposed to go, and they're glad Mike's alive, somehow, but also, this can't bode well.

Spoiler: it does not bode well, because the only reason he wasn't turned into anything is because Mike is already tied to the UD, and at least his repressed emotions in the shadow monster are already hooked into the hivemind so he's needed alive but not as a drone, and it's the weirdness of him being Fine that pushes everyone (or maybe just a select few at first) to start to understand what's going on with Mike and how it connects to the UD.

ANYWAY, with that mini fic-adjacent detour out of the way...

I also think if the spores have the ability to turn people into hivemind-linked monsters, then this could link to the idea that Henry is actually slowly being turned into a Demogorgon or something similar (my beloved-- I love that theory so much you don't understand). AND might actually be able to explain a bit about how Will ended up developing his powers (assuming, as this theory tends to do, that Will developed his powers, in whatever capacity they end up existing in s5, from exposure to the UD rather than via experimentation or spontaneous development).

Bringing this back from my previous post...

^ link to the source site

I'm just saying... it says some wizards who want to gain "godlike supremacy" (it's Henry it's Henry it's Henryit'sHenry) are turned into these monsters. Some. Not all.

I'm just saying... Henry as a "wizard" wandering the UD, seeking to control it, being hooked into the hivemind and slowly (so slowly he doesn't notice what's wrong) being turned into yet another piece on the Mind Flayer/shadow monster's chess board vs. Will as a "wizard" (I mean, it's what he plays in D&D) wandering the UD, just wanting to go home, being hooked into the hivemind, but through that being gifted abilities he has yet to fully understand/utilize. Idk I can see it, that's all I'm saying. Plus, s2 Mike, who may be connected to the UD, identifies Will as a cleric when he actually plays a wizard... I don't know, something something Will was given the tools/the power to "fix"/"heal" the UD all the way back in s1, but simply hasn't realized his potential yet? I don't know. That's probably a Bit Much to actually happen in canon, but I find it so interesting to consider.

Anyway, that's all the rambling I have in me for the evening. Glad I got it out of my head, even if it's maybe-incomprehensible.

#my analysis #<- barely coherent analysis but yeah I guess #mike as vecna theory #I don't know how else to tag this lol so that's all it's getting I guess #no but seriously I really love this theory because like #Mike as the Paladin who unintentionally “strayed from the path” of righteous and light expected of his class #breaking down in front of Will because it's all his fault-- everything that happened to everyone it's ALL on Mike #everything that happened to WILL is all on Mike #and Will forgiving him because of course he does because Mike didn't know and didn't mean to #Will as the cleric giving Mike that first breath of “absolution”