WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Stranger Things season 4, vol. 1!
Stranger Things has already teased that the Hawkins gang won’t be able to defeat Vecna in the season 4 finale. While the Stranger Things season 4, volume 1 ending granted the teens the information they required to understand Vecna’s motivations, the Hawkins characters may be in over their heads this time around. The Stranger Things season 4, volume 2 finale hints at a major battle between the town and the Upside Down, but, as Robin mentions, this is shaping up to be the time when it doesn’t work out well for the protagonists.
Stranger Things’ characters are taking on several foes in season 4, but the most dangerous threat comes from Vecna, a being residing in the Upside Down who has already murdered several Hawkins teenagers. While Eleven is unaware of the Upside Down villain’s curses in Hawkins at the end of Stranger Things season 4, volume 1, her recovered memories from the Nina Project reveal Vecna’s true identity. Born Henry Creel, he discovered he had powerful psychokinetic and telepathic abilities, but used them for vile purposes to slaughter innocent people. After murdering his sister and mother, Henry Creel became Number One at Hawkins Lab, where Dr. Brenner attempted to control and recreate One’s powers in other children like Eleven. After murdering everyone in Hawkins Lab in 1979, a young Eleven banished One to the Upside Down, where he grew into Vecna over the course of seven years.
Vecna is now intent on taking over Hawkins with the Upside Down and taking as many victims as possible, proving to be the most daring fight for Stranger Things’ characters yet. While they were able to beat the Demogorgons and Mind Flayer in past installments, Stranger Things season 4’s ending setup suggests the teens will lose this round. As such, Stranger Things has teased that Vecna will survive season 4 and won’t be defeated by Eleven and the Hawkins crew until season 5.
Stranger Things Will Struggle To Top Vecna As The Best Villain
Vecna is far and away the most terrifying villain Stranger Things has presented, especially with the hint that he has been in control of the Mind Flayer and Demogorgons this entire time. Unlike the Mind Flayer and Demogorgons, Vecna can speak, has emotions, and has clear motivations for his terror – he doesn’t require a human host nor does he simply attack and kill. Instead, Vecna tortures his victims by digging at their traumas, feeding on their fear, guilt, and human errors. He’s also the first Upside Down villain to truly have a backstory and purpose other than simple destruction and domination of Hawkins, with a human origin that personally connects to and attacks Stranger Things’ heroes. Moving into season 5, it would be a near-impossible task for Stranger Things to find a figure that could instill the same fear and anxiety in the characters as a more accessible villain.
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Alongside the Upside Down itself as a threatening presence, Vecna appears to be Stranger Things’ endgame villain. If he were to die in Stranger Things’ season 4 finale, the characters would be left with a less personally engaging and emotionally taxing fight in the last season. While Stranger Things is building toward the final destruction of the Upside Down in season 5, Vecna has crafted this location into his hunting ground and personal lair over the last seven years, suggesting the two are a package deal for defeat. Vecna isn’t apt to be killed until the Upside Down has been completely sealed off or demolished, and vice versa. The overarching fight has been between Hawkins and the Upside Down, so it’s highly unlikely that the dimension (and its leader) will be destroyed before Stranger Things’ season 5 ending.
How Stranger Things S4’S Dungeons & Dragons Game Teased Vecna’s Fate
Much like how Stranger Things season 1’s opening Dungeons & Dragons game hinted at Will’s Upside Down abduction, the season 4 premiere’s campaign teases Vecna’s fate. While Mike, Erica, and Dustin were under the impression that Kas the Bloody-Handed had already defeated their major foe, the grueling campaign by Stranger Things‘ Eddie Munson revealed that “Vecna lives.” The weakened Dustin then rolls the die as he tries to take down Vecna for good, but only rolls an 11 and loses. Erica then takes the final roll of the game and manages to achieve a 20, which effectively kills Vecna as the party emerges victorious.
Stranger Things’ D&D game already seems to align with the events of season 4, such as how it was previously believed that Kas the Bloody-Handed killed Vecna. Kas may actually be referring to Eleven banishing Number One to the Upside Down, as her flashbacks depicted her with blood on her hands to symbolize how removing One’s Soteria chip inadvertently aided his massacre of the children in Hawkins Lab. Dustin’s attempt to defeat Vecna again in the game is unsuccessful when he rolls an 11, suggesting Eleven’s powers alone won’t be enough to kill Vecna in Stranger Things’ season 4 finale. When the characters have another attempt to finally defeat Vecna, like Erica’s turn in the D&D game, it seems this won’t be achieved until they gain more power in Stranger Things season 5.
Stranger Things Season 4 Won’t Have A Neat, Happy Ending
Adding to the notion that Vecna won’t die in Stranger Things season 4 is the Duffer brothers’ tease that the installment will not have a happy ending that is neatly “tied up with a bow.” Stranger Things’ season finales typically end with the characters defeating the Upside Down’s villains, followed by an epilogue in which they adjust back to normal life and a teaser that more destruction secretly awaits. The Duffers won’t be repeating this formula in Stranger Things season 4, volume 2, revealing that the tragic ending will see multiple deaths and will not be an occurrence that the characters can simply bounce back from a few months later.
Consequently, Stranger Things season 5’s opening scene will see Eleven and the Hawkins crew still in the middle of the chaos of their fight with the Upside Down. Vecna’s defeat would contribute to at least a partially satisfying ending for Stranger Things season 4, but the Duffers’ tease of an unhappy ending points to the notion that Vecna will be victorious heading into season 5, perhaps having officially destroyed the barrier separating Hawkins and the Upside Down.
What Vecna’s Stranger Things Season 5 Return Would Mean
Considering Jamie Campbell Bower’s portrayal of Vecna/Henry Creel/One isn’t a casting opportunity that is apt to be diminished to just one season, the villain’s Stranger Things season 5 return is more than probable. Vecna surviving Stranger Things season 4, volume 2’s ending suggests that he’ll be back in Hawkins and terrorizing the entire town in season 5, meaning it won’t just be the main characters in this fight any longer. The scope of Stranger Things has continued to grow throughout the course of the series, but it seems everything will come back down to Hawkins against the Upside Down for the final and most climactic fight yet.
Since it’s hinted that Vecna will kill one of Stranger Things’ main characters in the season 4 finale, the protagonists’ motivation to defeat him will be far more personal and vengeful in the next installment. Stranger Things season 5 would thus feature the characters figuring out how to destroy Vecna and the Upside Down as one, finally ridding Hawkins and the rest of the world of their terrors. This will inevitably signal even more deaths of beloved characters, perhaps with the heroic sacrifice by Eleven that had originally been planned for season 1.