The Party in Stranger Things: who belongs to the gang, its law, its code and its crises

“Party”: a role-playing word, taken literally

According to a note in the wiki, “Party” is the term in role-playing manuals for the group of allied player characters. The gang uses the game's vocabulary to name what happens in town. Here it means a group of friends, not a celebration: the word has nothing to do with a Stranger Things party.

On the evening of November 7, 1983, over the Supercom, Mike reminds Lucas of Will's choice the day before: the fireball rather than a protection spell. “He put himself in danger to help the party.” Lucas understands, and arranges to meet him in ten minutes, in the rain. It is the night they will find Eleven. The game on November 6 was played in the Wheelers' basement. The following year, Mike calls himself the Party's paladin, with a ranger and a bard: classes from Dungeons & Dragons.

Before 1983: the swing, the house next door, Nancy's elf

According to the wiki, Will and Mike meet in kindergarten, in 1976. In the shed, Mike tells Will about their meeting on the swing, the evening Should I Stay or Should I Go plays. The same night, Will is reminded of an old game. The Party was fleeing through the sewers, still at level 1, facing large insects. Will cast Fog Cloud, and he saved the Party.

According to the wiki, Lucas, Mike's neighbor, joins later. Dustin arrives in the autumn of 1980, again according to the wiki. In November 1983 he tells Mike about it, while they look for Eleven. He only arrived in fourth grade. Lucas had the advantage of living next door. According to Dustin, Lucas is jealous of the place Eleven has taken. Mike says Lucas is his best friend, and that Dustin and Will are too. Dustin objects that you can have only one, in the name of logic. Mike rejects that logic: “You're my best friend, too.”

On the evening of November 6, 1983, Dustin recalls that Nancy was dressed as an elf for their Elder Tree campaign. Mike points out that it was four years earlier. The wiki dates this game to 1979. Nancy is not a member of the Party: the wiki places her among its allies.

The law: first blood, handshake, banishment

In the basement, in the sixth episode of season 1, Dustin judges the fight at the junkyard. All three were wrong, but Mike shoved first. Whoever draws first blood shakes hands. “This is the rule of law.” Whoever does not obey is banished. “Obey or be banished from the party.” Mike does not want to be.

At Lucas's door, Mike admits he drew first blood. Lucas agrees to shake hands on one condition: forget Eleven and go straight to the gate between the two worlds. Mike turns down the deal. Dustin brings up Bloodstone Pass. They did not agree on the path. They split the group. The trolls took them out one by one. So they have to stay together. Someone adds that the Party is here, in this room. Another voice says Eleven is one of them. Lucas refuses to accept it. He leaves alone to look for the gate.

The handshake does not come. In the street, in the seventh episode of season 1, the gang comes back together through apologies. In November 1984, Lucas explains to Max that the Party has many rules, and that the most important is “Friends don't lie”. He says it in the fifth chapter of season 2.

In November 1984, the law comes back. Dustin hid the creature, Lucas told Max everything. The argument breaks out in the eighth chapter of season 2. Lucas blames Dustin for putting the Party in danger. Dustin answers that they both broke the law, and that they are even. Lucas refuses to accept it. Later, at Will's, Dustin offers Max his place. The threat of banishment hits no one.

The code: the spit, the truth, the rule they throw back at each other

In November 1983, in the second chapter, Eleven asks what a friend is. The boys explain it to her, taking turns. Someone you would do anything for. Someone you lend your comics and cards to. Someone who keeps a promise, especially one sealed with spit: a spit swear, a bond. Someone you tell what your parents do not know.

The truth rule passes from mouth to mouth. Eleven says it to Mike in the next chapter. Mike picks it up in the chapter after that, and he reproaches her for lying to him. Eleven says it again to Lucas after the apologies. This rule runs through the story of Eleven in 1983.

The rule turns against the ones who set it. In November 1984, Hopper throws it back at Eleven like a refrain. In early July 1985, at the cabin, in the argument over Eleven's limits, someone quips that girlfriends do not lie, they spy. In March 1986, in California, after Eleven's failed presentation, Will tells her it was not so bad. She throws the rule back at him. He answers that he is not lying.

Joining the Party: the vote for Max, Mike's veto

In 1983, Eleven joins through Mike, over Lucas's objections. In late October 1984, Mike switches the radio off. Dustin and Lucas stick to their plan to invite the new girl. One of them says the Party is not a dictatorship, but a democracy.

On October 31, at school, Dustin and Lucas are in costume. They invite Max. One of them tells her the Party is a democracy, and that the majority voted for her to come, in the second chapter of season 2. In the evening, while trick-or-treating, Mike asks Will whether he accepted this invitation without talking to him. Will answers that it is just for Halloween: “It's just for Halloween.” Mike says he should have been asked.

Mike tells Max the group does not need another member, and he recites the classes to her. The scene is in the third chapter of season 2.

In November, Mike gathers the Party in the AV room. “Party members only.” No discussion. Max asks Lucas whether she is being left out because she is a girl, then she leaves. She does not want their Party anymore. This is the fourth chapter of season 2. Lucas then tells her the truth. Later, at Will's, Mike reminds her that knowing the truth does not make her a member. She calls herself a zoomer, the role she had offered to play in front of Mike. No ceremony on screen. The wiki counts her among the members. In July 1985, she is part of the group. The article comes back to this at the end.

Members, allies, other tables, from 1983 to 1986

In the broad sense, the gang gathers everyone who fights together, Erica included from 1986. The Party is the game table. Steve is the babysitter, an ally. The wiki places him among the allies, but its section devoted to 1984 says he joined the Party. In July 1985, the team of Dustin, Steve, Robin and Erica has its own call sign, Scoops Troop. Mike calls them for help. When Dustin reaches Hopper, Hopper must answer under the call sign Bald Eagle. It is a parallel team, not the Party.

In March 1986, Mike, Dustin and Lucas have already joined a second table: the Hellfire Club, led by Eddie. Lucas chooses basketball, and Erica takes his place at the table. Nikki Baxter exists only in the animated series. The eighth chapter of that series is titled The Party. According to its synopsis, the gang gets ready to go underground, just in time for Nikki's birthday. The wiki enters her on the Party's member list, on the strength of that series alone.

1. 1976, according to the wiki The swing

   Mike goes up to Will, alone on a swing, on the first day of kindergarten.

2. 1979, according to the wiki Nancy as an elf

   Nancy is dressed as an elf for the Elder Tree campaign.

3. Autumn 1980, according to the wiki The fourth

   Dustin arrives in town, in fourth grade.

4. November 1983 The runaway

   Mike lets Eleven in; Lucas refuses to accept it.

5. October 1984 The vote

   The majority invites Max; Mike was not consulted.

6. Summer 1985 Two call signs

   Scoops Troop for Dustin's team, Bald Eagle for Hopper.

7. March 1986 Two tables

   Lucas chooses basketball; Erica takes his place at Hellfire.

The crises: the compasses, the rejected campaign, the Party cut in two

In 1983, the compasses split the gang: this is the fifth episode of season 1.

In early July 1985, after the rejected campaign, Will blames Mike for ruining their Party. “You're ruining our party.” He asks him where Dustin is, then goes off to destroy Castle Byers. Three months later, during the move, Will puts his game things in the donation box. He is asked whether he will join another Party there. He answers that it is impossible.

In March 1986, the Party is cut in two, between California and Hawkins. In Will's painting, Mike bears the heart that holds the group together. Fans of Byler read Will's feelings in it.

Season 5: the Party to the end

Warning: this section covers season 5, through the epilogue. In November 1987, Mike says they will not stop, then he asks who is in. Dustin says “For Eddie.” Mike repeats it, then everyone does. Lucas counts to three, and their shared cry promises the enemy's death. Later, before they head out that evening, Mike tells Eleven what a victorious Party does. It does not go back to the village. It sets off for a far, peaceful land, with three waterfalls, and they start over together. Eleven asks whether that could be true for them. Mike says yes, except the three waterfalls.

At the bedside of Max, who is in a coma, Lucas talks to her about Eleven: “She's going to need the party, the full party.” For Max, that is the answer: the whole Party. Later, Mike asks Eleven a question, and she answers that it is nothing. He throws the rule back at her, then says she is dodging, and that it is cheating.

In Henry's mind, Mary says she has been Holly's best friend since kindergarten, like Mike and Will since the swing. After the victory, Dustin radios Hopper, the police chief. He tells him the Party has suffered, but that it is all right. When Hopper asks for news of Eleven, Dustin answers that the whole Party is fine. In the spring of 1989, Mike talks to Hopper about the three waterfalls. “It was a fantasy plan.” “I should've had a real one.” The last game, then Holly's table, are played in the final episode of season 5. One chapter earlier, Will had told the group his truth.

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