The Stranger Things script provided evidence for the theory that Max is alive inside Vecna in the sinister Upside Down dimension.
Max has escaped Vecna, so she is safe from Vecna.
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.
How is Vecna and the Mind Flayer connected? Vecna revealed in season four, he was the one who created the Mind Flayer after Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) banished him to the Upside Down. All this time, the Mind Flayer was Vecna, who was using the entity to carry out his orders and speaking through the creature.
Vecna's Victim Choices Explained
It's only by coincidence that Vecna targets Stranger Things' Max for a future purpose.
Through the window, Max saw her real body levitating above the cemetery, her friends panicking on the ground below. Bracing herself, Max pulled at a vine in Vecna's neck, causing him to writhe in pain and accidentally release her from the vines' grasp.
She breaks free, momentarily incapacitates Vecna, and runs with the determination to live toward her friends, dodging debris that Vecna throws in her path. Max hurls herself through the portal, awakes from the trance, and is held by Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin).
Vecna was trained in the art of sorcery by his mother Mazzel, who was eventually executed by the government of Fleeth for practicing witchcraft.
They found it in Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), a terrifying creature crafted by prosthetics and makeup designer Barrie Gower, who also worked on the Night King for “Game of Thrones.” Here, he takes us through the making of the Upside Down's newest (and scariest) nightmare.
In 4th edition, the Open Grave book shows the leader of the cult of Vecna is a lich named Mauthereign.
Tragically, Vecna succeeds in killing Max, though she's shortly resurrected by Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) — or is she? Vecna doesn't just kill, he consumes his victims, absorbing the essence of their minds and souls. Max, who lies in a coma, might have a pulse, but, as Eleven discovers, her mind is empty.
Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) is another character whom Vecna curses early on in season 4.
Eleven saves Max's life, but it comes at a price. Max is brain-dead and would be undergoing severe medical trauma.
In what essentially amounts to a straightforward revenge thriller, Murphy (Perry Mattfeld) vows vengeance at Max (Casey Deidrick)'s funeral. She finds out that it was Josh (Theodore Bhat) who called off the deal and caused Max's death.
Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers explain why it was necessary for a certain character to be Vecna's fourth victim in season 4. Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers explain why Max had to be Vecna's fourth victim in season 4, volume 2.
Is Max actually dead? Max attempts to hold on, telling Lucas that she's "not ready to die" but she succumbs to her injuries and ends up dying in Lucas's arms. Max's death allows Vecna to open the fourth gate, and rip a huge hole in the middle of Hawkins.
Realizing he had tremendous psychic power, he haunted his family with visions before ultimately killing most of them. His father was framed for the murders and locked away in a mental hospital as a disturbed serial killer. Henry then found himself in the care of Brenner, who decided he wanted more kids like the boy.
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).
I saw a means to realize my potential, to transcend my human form, to become the predator I was always born to be. Vecna reached out to the Mind Flayer, seemingly using his powers to reshape it into the spider-legged monster he had doodled as a child.
Based on the flashback in “The Hellfire Club”, he killed an estimated 21 people: 13 lab subjects, two orderlies, two guards, Ten, Alec, Dr. Ellis, and Six. A flashback during “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab” later reveals that Vecna killed even more people in Hawkins Lab than we thought.
At the height of his empire Vecna was betrayed by Kas. Kas managed to destroy the Archlich before his own death, with the Sword of Kas, a lethal blade of the Undying King's own make, leaving only Vecna's left hand and left eye behind. Vecna eventually returned and by 581, had risen to godhood.
Before coming to the Hawkins National Lab, Venca had a classic villain origin story — he became obsessed with black widows, tortured his family, and brutally killed his mother and sister pinning it on his father.
As Vecna, he uses these mental abilities as a way to psychologically weaken and lure in his victims – much in a way that Pennywise, Freddie Kruger, and Pinhead do. (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.
Vecna holds off Eleven long enough to brutally attack Max in his signature style—she levitates, her eyes go white and bleed, and he snaps her limbs. Eleven regains her strength and pushes Vecna off before he can complete the job, but the damage is already done.
After serving as bait for Vecna, she becomes his “final sacrifice,” getting her bones broken and losing her vision during a low point.