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.
Throughout the fourth season of Stranger Things, the audience was made to believe that Jamie Campbell Bower, who portrayed One, a confidante of Eleven inside Doctor Brenner's laboratory, was also a captive. But eventually it turned out that One was indeed Henry Creel, who became a victim 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.
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).
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.
School newspaper reporter Fred Benson (Logan Riley Bruner) fled from a deadly car accident that continues to haunt him. 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.
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.
Vecna is a dark mirror of Eleven herself, sharing all her powers, and potentially others as well. A series of flashbacks revealed Vecna was originally Henry Creel, a boy who grew up possessing strange psychic powers.
Brenner was able to make or alter the other children so that they would also have powers. Because of that, Vecna was inherently more powerful because he had his powers longer and knew the ins and outs of his abilities.
Vecna was not always a hideous beast of the Upside Down. He was once a troubled child in the real world named Henry Creel. Henry's “problems” caused his family to move to Hawkins in 1959.
Connecting to the Mind Flayer's hive mind allowed Henry Creel to become the version of Vecna that audiences see in Stranger Things season 4, controlling the Demobats, Demodogs, and Demogorgons across the Upside Down and the real world.
Remember also that we have evidence that powers can be inherited -- El inherited her powers from Terri Ives, for example. So it stands to reason that Henry inherited his powers from one of his parents.
Vecna held mental control over the monsters of the Upside Down, being able to see through their eyes, feel their emotions and their physical state, and being able to rapidly assume total control over their minds.
Among Vecna's most notable servants are Gusten the Blood-Fiend, Sir Loran, and the death knight calling himself Kas the Bloody-Handed. Vecna learned the ritual of lichdom from Orcus, Demon Prince of the Undead.
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.
"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."
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.
(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.
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).
The Creel family was a family that bought a house in Hawkins, Indiana in 1959. They experienced strange, and supernatural occurrences in their home during their residency. This subsequently resulted in a multiple homicide committed in the home.
The history of the Upside Down remains mysterious. Exactly how and why it came into existence is unclear. Dustin theorised the Upside Down had existed for thousands, if not millions of years.
After the war, Victor married a woman named Virginia and started a family with her. They had a daughter called Alice, and later, a son called Henry. Though Alice was an ordinary and straightforward child, Henry was much more troubled, and struggled to relate to others.
While caught in Vecna's grip, a tear in the dark dimension reveals her friends on the other side, desperately trying to save her from Vecna's curse. Of course, it's "Running Up That Hill," blasted into Max's headphones that breaks Vecna's hold on her.
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.