Why Vecna does not kill Will? The bond between the two explained
Universe · Confirmed theory · Will and Vecna
Will Byers is the character the Upside Down came closest to: taken in 1983, possessed in 1984, connected to the shadow since. Yet he is never killed. The question has come back for years among fans. Here is what the show answers, from season 2 to season 5.
The essentials
- 1983: Will survives a week in the Upside Down, hidden
- 1984: Possessed by the Mind Flayer, he becomes an unwilling spy
- 1986: He senses Vecna, without being the target
- 1987: Season 5 makes this bond the central stake
Contents
1983: the boy who hid
The Demogorgon takes Will on November 6, 1983, but does not eat him. For a week, Will hides in the upside-down version of his house and of Castle Byers, communicates through the lights, escapes the monster. When Joyce and Hopper find him, he has a vine in his throat and another in his lung: the Upside Down has started to colonize him, without killing him.
It is the first clue: Will is not prey like Barb. Something, on the other side, is keeping him.
The Will T-shirt, for those who waited for him.
In the shopMen's Will Byers T-shirt39,90 €See the product
1984: possessed, not eaten
A year later, the Mind Flayer enters him. Will becomes a spy: what the shadow sees, he sees, and the other way around. Sam Owens compares the possession to a virus, and the party understands that the monster keeps him alive because he is useful to it. He is expelled by heat, but the bond remains: Will feels the shadow, the nape that shivers, every time it approaches.
The show does not yet reveal who commands the shadow. It does, however, set a rule: the Mind Flayer, and therefore the one who directs it, knows Will from the inside.
The nape shiverSince Season 2, Will puts his hand to the nape of his neck when the Upside Down is close. That discreet gesture is the character's only “power” before Season 5. That is the link that then lets the party know where Vecna is.
1986: he is not the target
Vecna chooses his victims among Hawkins's traumatized teenagers: Chrissy, Fred, Patrick, Max. Will has the profile, and yet he is not on the list. He is in California, far from Hawkins, and he receives neither clock nor visions. He feels Vecna, he describes him to Mike as a presence that never left, but he is not attacked.
Two explanations coexist in the show: Vecna kills to open gates, and he needs victims on the spot, in Hawkins; and Will is not a victim for him but a channel, an instrument he has no interest in breaking.
1987: Season 5's answer
The last season makes the link explicit. Vecna hunts Will, not to kill him, but because he needs him: the boy stays connected to the hive mind, and that connection can be used both ways. Will, for his part, ends up turning the link against his enemy, by taking control of what had been controlling him. The character who had spent four seasons enduring becomes the one who acts.
The answer to the question therefore sits in one sentence: Vecna does not kill Will because he never saw him as prey, but as a gate. And a gate, you keep open.
| Season | What happens to Will | Why he survives |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abducted into the Upside Down | He hides; the monster does not find him in time |
| 2 | Possessed by the shadow | He is useful as a spy |
| 4 | Feels Vecna, is not attacked | He is not in Hawkins; he is a channel, not a target |
| 5 | Hunted then an actor in the ending | The link turns against Vecna |
The Will figure, 1983 version.
In the shopLego Will Byers mini figure and his blue bike14,90 €See the product
The last season's prologue, scene by scene
The first chapter of Season 5 opens on November 12, 1983, during the week Will is a prisoner of the Upside Down. An eleven-year-old child, with Noah Schnapp's face applied digitally, hides in a cabin, shoots at the Demogorgon, climbs a tree, falls, and loses consciousness. The creature does not devour him: it carries him to the Hawkins library, Upside Down version, where Henry Creel is waiting.
Henry tells him that his plan can finally begin, that they will do “beautiful things together,” and infects him with a tentacle. That is why Will survived a week where Barb died in a night: he was not prey, he was a tool. The slug he coughs back up at Christmas 1983 is the trace of it.
What Henry wanted from Will, year by year
| Year | What Henry does with Will | What Will knows about it |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | He infects him to keep a link with the real world | Nothing: he thinks he simply survived |
| 1984 | He possesses him through the shadow, and makes him dig the tunnels under Hawkins | He remembers the possession, not the tunnels |
| 1985 | Nothing visible: Will feels the shadow coming back, on the back of his neck | He knows the link is not broken |
| 1986 | He spares him: Will is not a victim of the curse | He feels Vecna alive, at the end, on the hill |
| 1987 | He uses him to locate Max, then binds him in his lair | Everything: Henry explains to her that children are "vessels" |
The turn: Will against his creator
The last season turns the link around. Since Will is plugged into the hive, he can see through Vecna's eyes, which makes it possible to anticipate his targets, Derek first; then, in episode 4, he discovers he can command what belongs to the hive, and freezes three Demogorgons in mid-flight. The Duffers spelled out the rule: Will has no powers of his own, he draws on the hive because Vecna is closer than ever. He could not open a gate; he can stop a monster.
In episode 5, plugged back into the hive thanks to a revived Demogorgon, he enters Henry's mind, wounds him, and speaks through him to tell Max to run. In the finale, inside the spider, he tears off Henry's arm before Eleven pierces him. The boy Vecna had chosen as a vessel in 1983 is the one who stops him getting back up in 1987.
A detour through the shop before closing the door.
In the shopWill Byers hoodie59,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
Why does Vecna not kill Will in season 4?
Because Will is in California, out of reach of the gates Vecna is trying to open in Hawkins, and because he is not a target for him but a link with the hive mind.
Is Will connected to Vecna?
Yes, since his possession in 1984. He feels its presence (the shiver on the back of the neck) and season 5 makes that connection the stake of the ending.
Does Will have powers?
Not in Eleven's sense. His only gift is that bond with the Upside Down, which becomes a weapon in season 5.
Does Will die in Stranger Things?
No. He survives all five seasons.
Where does Henry meet Will in 1983?
In the Hawkins library, Upside Down version, where the Demogorgon carries the unconscious Will. The season 5 prologue shows the scene.
Can Will open a door by thought?
No, according to the Duffers: he draws on the hive and only commands what is part of it, the Demogorgons for example. He has no powers of his own like Eleven.
Why does Will faint when a Demogorgon attacks?
Because he sees the scene through the creature's eyes, through the hive: that is what happens during the attack on Hopper's convoy, in the first episode of season 5.