The Stranger Things demobats: the bats of the Upside Down, and Eddie's death
Creatures · Season 4 · The demobats
The demobats are the flying creatures of the Upside Down: cat-sized bats, with a miniature Demogorgon mouth and a prehensile tail, that fly in swarms above the Creel house. They are responsible for two of the most violent scenes of season 4.
The essentials
- Appearance: Season 4, in the Upside Down
- Look: bat with a petal mouth and a tail that coils
- Role: hold the Creel house, obey Vecna
- Victims: Eddie Munson (killed), Steve Harrington (injured)
Contents
First meeting: Steve in the lake
The group discovers the demobats by going through the Lover's Lake gate. Steve, first in the water, lands alone in the Upside Down and is attacked: the creatures wrap around his neck, bite his sides, and he only gets out by killing several with his bare hands, before Nancy, Robin and Eddie join him. The bites leave scars that never quite heal.
The scene sets the rules: the demobats attack in a group, react to noise, and are deadly in numbers. It also gives Eddie the idea that will kill him: noise draws them.
Eddie's T-shirt, for those who have not forgotten him.
In the shopMen's Eddie Munson The Banished T-shirt39,90 €See the product
Anatomy of a demobat
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Size | That of a large cat, a wingspan of about a meter |
| Mouth | Four toothed petals, like the Demogorgon |
| Tail | Prehensile, able to strangle |
| Behavior | Swarms, reaction to sound, guard of the Creel house |
| Link | Hive mind: they obey Vecna and weaken when he is hit |
Like the demodogs of season 2, the demobats are not an independent species: they are extensions of the same organism, commanded from the Creel house. That is why they guard that place and not another, and why they stop flying when their master is burned.
A Season 4 designThe creatures were designed to be credible in a swarm: production used CGI models for the flocks, and a puppet for the close-ups, including the scene of Steve in the Upside Down.
Eddie's death
The finale's plan is to draw the demobats away from the Creel house to let Nancy, Steve, and Robin through. Eddie and Dustin handle that from the roof of Eddie's trailer, in the Upside Down, by playing Master of Puppets at full volume. The creatures pour in by the hundreds. The two boys fall back inside, then Eddie goes back out alone and cuts the rope that lets you climb back into the real world, to buy time.
He runs, gets caught, fights, falls. The demobats tear him apart. Dustin reaches him and holds him until the end. A few minutes later, Vecna is hit in the Creel house and the swarms collapse: Eddie died a few seconds from the end of the battle.
How the group fights them
There is no miracle weapon. Nancy makes Molotov cocktails and saws down a shotgun; Steve keeps his nail bat; Robin and Eddie cut spears from the trailer rungs. Against a swarm, all of that only buys time. The real move is the diversion: noise draws them, so you draw them somewhere else. That is the logic of the solo on the roof, and that is what leaves the field open for the assault on the Creel house.
What the demobats leave
Steve's scars, Eddie's death, and a lesson the group keeps for Season 5: the creatures of the Upside Down are not fought one by one, they are fought by striking their master. When Hawkins is invaded in the fall of 1987, the demobats are part of the siege, and the strategy does not change.
For fans, they remain the most hated monsters of the show, for a simple reason: they killed the most loved character of the season.
The Eddie figure, guitar and heart intact.
In the shopLego Eddie Munson mini figure14,90 €See the product
The demobats against the other creatures
| Creature | Season | Hunting mode | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demogorgon | 1, then 4 and 5 | Solitary, drawn by blood, goes through walls | Eleven's powers, the fire, the traps |
| demodogs | 2, then 5 | In a pack, piloted by the hive | The closing of the gate, the heat, the explosion |
| Flesh monster | 3 | Assembles possessed bodies | The fireworks, the closing of the Russian gate |
| Demobats | 4 | In a swarm, they guard the Creel house of the Upside Down | The fire, the blades, and the defeat of their master |
| The spider of the Abyss | 5 | The physical form of the entity, in the Abyss | The fire and the explosives, then the bomb |
All these creatures obey the same will, which season 4 reveals by making Henry Creel their master, and which the last chapter confirms by showing their common origin. The Demobats are the only ones to appear in only one season.
The lake scene, in detail
The first meeting with the demobats is also the first time the show shows a character sucked into the Upside Down in the middle of an episode. In the sixth chapter of Season 4, Steve dives into Lover's Lake to find the gate opened by Patrick's death, and is pulled under. On the other side, he is attacked by a swarm, bitten in the belly, and owes his survival only to Nancy, Robin, and Eddie, who dive in turn.
Steve's bite becomes a thread of the season: Nancy dresses it with a scrap of her shirt, and it is wounded that he talks to her, in the Upside Down, about his dreams of a van and six kids. The demobats therefore serve two things: to show that the Upside Down has guardians, and to bring two characters the show had separated closer.
Why bats
The demobats are the first flying creature of the Upside Down, and that choice answers a staging need: Season 4 happens a lot on the other side, and they needed a threat able to cover the sky, cross the woods, and lock down a house. A swarm, rather than one monster, also lets the fights last, at Eddie's trailer as on the roof.
Their design mixes the bat, with the membranous wings, and the stingray tail, with which they strangle and whip. Like the Demogorgon, they have no visible eyes; like the demodogs, they hunt in numbers. They were made entirely in CGI, unlike the Demogorgon of 1983, performed in a suit.
The Demogorgon keychain, pocket version.
In the shopEddie Munson's bandana19,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
What is a demobat?
A bat from the Upside Down, with a petal mouth like the Demogorgon and a prehensile tail. They appear in season 4 and guard the Creel house.
Who dies because of the demobats?
Eddie Munson, in the last episode of season 4, after creating a diversion with his guitar. Steve is badly bitten but survives.
Why the demobats guard the Creel house
Because Vecna, their master, has his body there, in the Upside Down. They are part of the same organism and protect him.
How do the demobats die?
They collapse when Vecna is wounded, at the end of season 4: the whole hive mind is affected at the same time.
Where is Steve bitten by the demobats?
On the belly and the side, in the Upside Down, after being sucked through the Lover's Lake gate, in the sixth chapter of season 4. Nancy bandages him with a piece of her shirt.
Do the demobats come back in Season 5?
The creatures of the Upside Down are all settled by the last chapter, but it is the Demogorgons, the demodogs, and the spider of the Abyss that occupy Season 5; the demobats remain a one-season creature.
How does Eddie fight the demobats?
With a shield made from a trash-can lid and an improvised spear, in the trailer, after drawing the swarm with his guitar solo on the roof.
Do the demobats have eyes?
No, like the Demogorgon: the show gives them membranous wings, a mouth and a stingray tail, but no visible eye.