Everything on Stranger Things leads back to One, a.k.a. Henry Creel, a.k.a. Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
One powerful reveal shows that Vecna was a boy called Henry Creel, who discovered he had powers such as telekinesis and a form of mind control, which he used to kill his family. His father, Victor Creel (played by horror icon Robert Englund), was blamed. He was then treated by Dr.
In Dungeons & Dragons circles, Vecna is a powerful lich, a spellcaster who defies death by magical means. The name Vecna is actually an anagram for Vance, an ode to fantasy author Jack Vance, whose works were the inspiration behind the magic system used in Dungeons & Dragons.
Vecna Looks For a Way Back
One, whose human form completely transformed into Vecna over the years, hasn't been attacking Eleven and Hawkins simply out of revenge. In some ways he is grateful to her, because she gave him what he wanted. He exists in a world without time or order as he wished.
Vecna could have just been another monster that Eleven and her friends needed to deal with to save Hawkins, but it turned out that he was something even more sinister. Vecna was 001 and by extension, Henry Creel. He was the "friendly orderly" Eleven had met in the Hawkins lab as a child.
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.
Vecna's Hand
This is a reference to the D&D character Vecna, for whom this Vecna is named; the D&D Vecna has a monstrous hand infused with dark magic. The design of Vecna's hand is also a nod to Freddy Krueger, the Nightmare on Elm Street villain who had a huge influence on this season in general.
At his empire's height, Vecna was betrayed and destroyed by his most trusted lieutenant, a vampire called Kas the Bloody-Handed, using a magical sword that Vecna himself had crafted for him, now known as the Sword of Kas.
In his twisted mind, Vecna believes that he his helping the world by wiping out humans, as a "predator, but for good." When Vecna asks for El to join him, it's because he also sees her as a predator, "better" than humans. He offers her his path as a sort of freedom, as they reshaped the world in their image.
What is Vecna's origin story on Stranger Things? In episode 7, Vecna is revealed to be Henry Creel (played as a youngster by Raphael Luce), the son of Victor Creel (Robert Englund) and his wife Virginia (Tyner Rushing) shown in the 1950s flashbacks.
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).
Netflix Vecna has plans for world domination. Essentially, Vecna hates humanity, and wants to take over their world. He had hoped that Eleven would help him achieve this goal. But when he realised she wouldn't, Vecna instead used her.
Vecna is different, in that it is actually a he. Who is Vecna? In short, it's actor Jamie Campbell Bower. Bower's character originally appears in flashbacks as an orderly at Hawkins Lab who tells a young Eleven that she wasn't the first child to be experimented on by her “Papa,” Dr.
This is because his trusted accomplice, Kas the Bloody-Handed, betrayed him and used the sword Vecna created himself to chop off his left hand and remove his left eye. This ultimately destroyed Vecna. Though they're clouded with cataracts, Vecna in Stranger Things has both of his eyes. For now, at least.
For all his power, Vecna couldn't escape his own mortality. He began to fear death and take steps to prevent his end from ever coming about.
His first victim was Chrissy Cunningham. Vecna targeted Chrissy by using her depression and eating disorder against her in his visions. Chrissy was killed in Eddie Munson's trailer, and the first gate was opened on the ceiling.
Yeah, Bower says Brown was crying real tears during that scene. “She was terrified and freaked out. And Caleb [Heymann], our DP, was very smart and saw that she was having this reaction in the beginning of rehearsal and decided to shoot her first. It's so pure and beautiful,” Bower said.
"Vecna seems to be actually intrigued by Nancy being able to figure him out, to be able to get this close to the truth... I think this is more Vecna's narcissistic traits that pull him to Nancy, why he wants to give her this information."
Millie Bobby Brown spoke about this in an interview with Variety in 2022. When the actress was asked if the Duffer Brothers explained that Eleven creates the Upside Down when she interacts with 001, she said, "They did tell me. She does. She opens the rift."
Stranger Things season 4 already showed audiences how Eleven can defeat Vecna in the Netflix series' final season. When season 4 ended, the town of Hawkins was left reeling from an earthquake-like fracture between reality and the Upside Down caused by Vecna.
Then there were the three poor teens of Season 4. Vecna's first big credited kill was Chrissy Cunningham (Grace Van Dien). He followed that murder with canonically terrible driver Fred Benson (Logan Riley Bruner) and basketball star Patrick McKinney (Myles Truitt).
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.
Now we know that Will's connection has always been to Vecna (not the Mind Flayer). That's why he can sense that he's still alive at the end of Stranger Things Season 4. So the connection between Will and Vec — Can I call Vecna/Henry/One just “Vec”? — is one of sheer chance.
Played by Jamie Campbell Bower, each prosthetic was glued to his skin with medical adhesive by prosthetics designer Barrie Gower and his team. For the finishing touch, Vecna was covered in "glossy slime to make him really, really glossy and wet looking," according to Gower.