Among Max's mental health issues, including anxiety and depression, he is also diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. He calls himself an Aspie and goes on to describe the traits he has which fit what others call his "disability".
Max's past experience with trauma — namely, watching the Mind Flayer brutally kill her stepbrother Billy (Dacre Montgomery) in Season 3 — makes her a target for Vecna's manipulation. She's become withdrawn and adrift, pulling away from her friends and sinking deeper into what looks like depression.
Max's depression and grief stay with her all throughout the season. They may not stop her from helping the group when the mystery gets underway, but they do dominate her everyday life. Stranger Things 4: Volume 1.
Meanwhile, on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Duffer brothers added more insult to injury by saying that Max is literally "braindead and blind and all of her bones are broken".
Although the reasons some of the characters are struggling with mental health are the result of fantastical circumstances that spring from the show's horror genre trappings, much of what it depicts in season 4 accurately sheds light on the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, as well as how ...
But new villain Vecna is a reflection of something very real: post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and grief.
Using his supernatural psychokinetic abilities, Vecna can probe and influence the minds of others. Motivated by a cruel and misanthropic philosophy, Vecna targets particularly traumatized, mentally ill or insecure individuals.
In the final moments, Max is in a coma. With that said, if Max were to make a full recovery, would she be blind? Well, based on the injuries she sustained, it's likely Max will be blind going forward.
Is Max alive at the end of Season 4? 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 fan-favorite character ended the season in a coma with her bones broken and eyes blinded at the hands of Vecna. Max technically died for one whole minute before Eleven revived her friend, but Eleven's powers weren't enough to bring Max fully back to life.
In the episodes leading up to his death, Billy was consistently abusive towards Max and her friends. Max says she “wanted him out of her life” and she is undeniably valid in feeling that way because of his actions. The first introduction of Billy showed the brute nature of his character.
Patrick was targeted due to his father's abuse of him. Finally, Vecna targets Max for her trauma from witnessing Billy's death and uses Barb's (Shannon Purser) death as a way to use Nancy.
Vecna draws power from sad and angry memories and that is the main reason he targets traumatized teens. Those teens are a well of power just there to be absorbed. This is not just a theory, Vecna himself told Eleven about the power that angry and sad memories hold.
6 Vecna Takes A Physical Toll
Vecna's power not only takes a mental toll but also a physical one. Much like depression, Vecna's victims experience physical symptoms such as exhaustion, lack of sleep, headaches, and nosebleeds.
Eleven is examined as a child hero of the series who has a potential diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), has significant psychosocial developmental delays that she continues to overcome as the series develops, and is an emblem for the cultural mythology of the 1980s.
She is suffering, but instead of giving in she chooses to fight and, more importantly, to keep fighting. “Dear Billy” is a phenomenal episode and in the moment has an air of finality. Max has escaped Vecna, so she is safe from Vecna.
When Eleven first saw Max, she was skateboarding around Mike in the school's gymnasium. Eleven mistakenly thought that Max had replaced her in Mike's affections. The look of jealousy on Eleven's face said it all. She was livid.
But really, The L Word really went for the gold last night: Max, a.k.a. the F-to-M transgender character who's rarely onscreen and generally loathed by most fans, is pregnant. Yes, that's right: The L Word has officially cribbed the Oprah-approved real-life tale of the now-infamous “pregnant man,” Thomas Beattie.
Sadie Sink confirms that Max Mayfield is gay and in love with Eleven. Source : Variety.
Though they're clouded with cataracts, Vecna in Stranger Things has both of his eyes.
The reason that Eleven couldn't find Max is actually pretty simple -- Max had already died. That means her soul had already been absorbed into Vecna's consciousness. So, while Eleven restarted Max's heart and brought her body back to life, she was trapped inside of Vecna's hive mind.
Once attuned to the Eye of Vecna, a creature changed its worldview towards a neutral evil disposition. The artifact granted truesight to its wearer, as well as an ability to see through solid objects similar to that of a ring of X-ray vision, including the risk of exhaustion in case of repeated activations.
Vecna feeds off his victims' trauma and haunts them with their own darkest thoughts.
While intending to get his revenge on Eleven and Brenner, Vecna also goes after victims who have dealt with traumatizing experiences in the past (reminiscent of his childhood and his time at the Hawkins lab).
Once he takes control of the mind, he traumatizes them by showing the visions of their dark past. He takes them to unknown places and gives them a glimpse of himself. The pain of his victims doesn't end here. Every single one of his victims experiences nose bleeding and severe headaches as well.