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.
A fearsome entity aligned with the Upside Down, Vecna had humble origins as the human Henry Creel. After moving to a new home in Hawkins in 1959, the young Henry discovered he had remarkable psychokinetic abilities and could manipulate the perceptions of others.
As D&D lore goes, Vecna was born over a hundred thousand years ago in the Greyhawk world of Oerth, the son of a hedge witch who was exiled for practising necromancy. Over time, he learned that and other kinds of dark magic for himself.
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.
Then Eleven—who in this future moment discovers that she in fact does not have the blood of her siblings on her hands—defeats Henry Creel, sending him to the Upside Down where he gets blasted by lightening and burnt to a crisp and, thus, becomes Vecna.
In 4th edition, the Open Grave book shows the leader of the cult of Vecna is a lich named Mauthereign.
Vecna's obsession with time appears to be linked to his hatred of humanity. He views time as a human imposition on the natural world; an attempt to impose order on nature.
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).
In simple words, Vecna needs a total of four gates to take over Hawkins and rule it. Now, you must be thinking, why is Vecna killing people if he can take over the complete Hawkins? Well, in one of the previous episodes, it was revealed that with each person Vecna kills, he creates an opening to the real world.
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.
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.
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.
His method of killing is ritualized. Vecna started twisting bodies and removing eyes before imprisonment in the UD to fuel its own individual power. It takes the eyes to help hold the souls in darkness and because it did not wish to be observed.
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.
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.
Mike, on the other side tries to give strength to Eleven, who is at risk as she is captured by Vecna. Eleven gathers her strength and overpowers Vecna, who's just about to kill Max.
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.
Vecna isn't as terrifying in the bathroom. Actor Jamie Campbell Bower, who played the complicated villain in “Stranger Things 4,” revealed that his terrifying Freddy Krueger-esque full-body prosthetics included a “flap” for him to use the restroom without getting out of costume.
So the gang hatches a complex plan to bait Vecna with Max, while Nancy, Steve (Joe Keery), Robin (Maya Hawke), Eddie (Joseph Quinn), and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) go into the Upside Down to kill Vecna while he's “weak.” The good news is Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) has figured out a way to help from across the country ...
After a certain period of time, Vecna will finally kill the victim by placing them into a comatose-like state, in which they will be unable to respond to outside stimuli.
Then, as he was falling through the Upside Down, One became the creature Vecna after lightning struck him in such a way that it changed his skin and made him into the monster he is now.
If the eyes and the right hand weren't enough to convince you already, it's confirmed that Vecna was once human – and he has a very strong connection to Eleven and the Hawkins Lab.
According to Henry Creel, he was brought to Dr. Brenner when his mother caught on to his mysterious psychic powers.
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.
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.