However, before Vecna could damage Max's brain,
Eleven demonstrated the ability to overpower Vecna when she piggybacked into Max's memory and again after Vecna took her hostage in the Upside Down. Eleven was the one who first opened the gate to the Upside Down, a skill at which Vecna was less adept.
Vecna's powers allow him to form psychic connections with people in reality, especially teenagers dealing with trauma and mental health issues. Vecna develops these connections with young and vulnerable teens so that he can get out of the Upside Down and gain access to the real world by opening four gates or portals.
Nancy, Steve, and Robin torch and shoot Vecna's physical body to smithereens. Before he dies, Vecna taunts Eleven, telling her that although she believes she and her friends have won, “This is only the beginning.” As it happens, Vecna was able to do enough damage to Max that she does die.
Brenner (Matthew Modine) states in the Stranger Things episode "Papa" that Vecna "consumes" everything about his victims, Vecna targets traumatized victims because it builds for him a well of sad and angry memories to draw from. With each victim, he can become gradually more powerful.
Hawkins has suffered a lot of trauma over the years - not all of which is connected to Hawkins Lab and the Upside Down - and Vecna's curse takes advantage of that. Vecna appears to carefully choose people who feel a strong sense of guilt or shame, particularly if those emotions are repressed.
And while his usual modus operandi is to embody his victims' negative self-talk (another very real psychological phenomenon), this time he is telling Nancy his plans and then releasing her so she can report back to everybody—Eleven included—that the end is nigh, with the goal of discouraging and disempowering them.
Physically, yes. Lucas tells his friends that Max is in a coma, and we see her wearing casts on her arms and legs. The Duffer brothers have also confirmed that at the end of Season 4, Max is alive yet "brain dead, blind, and all of her bones are broken." The big mystery is where the redhead is mentally.
However, within the red smoke of Vecna's Mind Lair, it wasn't the song itself that saved her, but the memories it conjured up. What broke through to Max was the happy, loving memories of her friends, particularly Lucas and Eleven, and these were what truly allowed her to break free of Vecna's grasp and escape.
2! Despite being able to escape his hold, Eleven couldn't kill Vecna in Stranger Things' season 4 finale. Eleven spent the majority of Stranger Things season 4 at the Nina Project, where she not only brought back her powers but became even stronger than before.
Eleven has a memory during this episode and realizes that 001/Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower) wants her to join him on his evil journey, and she banished him to the Upside Down. 001 then transformed into Vecna, the horrifying Stranger Things villain.
In the visions of her trauma induced by Vecna, Chrissy's mother appeared both mentally and emotionally abusive towards her daughter - and it's implied her comments about Chrissy's figure caused her daughter to develop her eating disorder.
It seems that the reason why Vecna wasn't killing for the seven years after the Hawkins Lab massacre was because he was waiting to become more powerful as the Mind Flayer and Demogorgons took more victims, as he was likely weakened after being thrown into the dimension.
[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for the end of Stranger Things 4 part 2.] In the battle against Vecna, Max dies. But Eleven — and the power of love — brings her back.
One Steals Eleven's Powers
Just as Henry could see into the minds of others, from the Upside Down Vecna can still see into people. The vines of the dark dimension, which have made their way to the real world, connect directly into his body.
Kas the Bloody-Handed was the most trusted lieutenant of the despotic lich Vecna, and wielder of the Sword of Kas . After many years of loyal service to Vecna, Kas eventually betrayed his master. It is said that the sword itself whispered to Kas, convincing him to slay his master and usurp his power.
(All of which have been cited by show creators the Duffer brothers as inspirations for the villain.) But he does have a surprising weakness: music.
Upon each execution, the psychic connection between Vecna and the victim is powerful enough to tear open a gate between Hawkins and the Upside Down, created in the exact location of the murder.
Since he's been the puppet master behind this entire series, it's not insane to at least partially blame him for the deaths caused by various Demogorgons, Upside Down bats, and the Mind Flayer. Basically, if you only count direct deaths that have stood the test of time, Vecna is up to 40.
Well, based on the injuries she sustained, it's likely Max will be blind going forward. Additionally, the Duffer Brothers actually confirmed during a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast that Max is blind and brain dead.
Since her limbs were still broken and she's now comatose, it seems Max will still be blind after Stranger Things' season 5 time-jump, as Vecna had already “taken her eyes.”
“Stranger Things 4” put Sadie Sink's Max Mayfield through hell. The fan-favorite character ended the season in a coma with her bones broken and eyes blinded at the hands of Vecna.
Next up, the viewers go on to theorise that One/Vecna is actually Eleven's dad. Yep, told you it was wild. The theory claims that Brenner wanted to create a child with stronger powers, so he waited until One was old enough to become a father.
What is the significance of 4 for Vecna? The new season shows that the four chimes of the grandfather clock symbolize the four victims Vecna needs to claim in order to enter our dimension and take over humanity.
The theory predicts that Vecna wants to regain his human form, and he will use Will to do so in Season 5. Knowing that Vecna singled out Will in Season 1, it's a reasonable theory, but it might go too far. After all, Vecna already has a human form, and he has vowed to eliminate humanity.