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.
Vecna did not just kill his victims he haunted them with their traumatic past before completing the deed but his 1986 victims were the only ones who were not tortured before their death. The main reason could be that Vecna was powerless during that period and killing them was the only way he could escape.
What Does Vecna Want? Vecna's goal is to open as many gates to the Upside Down as he can, in order to help the Mind Flayer. The Mind Flayer, is, of course, the ULTIMATE big bad, and he's looking to take over the world.
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.
In her rage, Eleven looks to disintegrate One, but instead sends him through to the Upside Down, opening her first gate to that other dimension. One bursts into flames as he is struck by beams of crackling energy, and ultimately becomes Vecna.
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).
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.
Brenner. The episode culminates in Eleven unknowingly freeing One from Brenner's control, allowing him to unleash his true power on the staff and children in the lab, killing everyone except for Eleven and Dr. Brenner, who is only knocked unconscious.
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.
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.
Turns out, he needs exactly four dead kids, like the four chimes of his signature clock, as they are his necessary sacrifices in order to open enough small gates in Hawkins, so that he can create that earth-shattering gate in the final episode.
What does Vecna want with El? 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.
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.
Nancy, Steve and Robin get freed too. They rush to find Vecna's body and burn it down. With this Vecna's soul turns to ash in front of Eleven. Max's dies in Lucas' arms, thus getting Vecna his fourth kill.
In the real world, he makes the victim levitate while in their trance, before snapping their bones and neck, and crushing their eyes. The murder site then becomes a small gate into the Upside Down, as part of a long term goal to apparently bleed both dimensions into one.
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.
Eleven has a memory during this episode and realizes that 001/Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower) wants her to join him on his evil journey, and she banished him to the Upside Down. 001 then transformed into Vecna, the horrifying Stranger Things villain.
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.
She opened a portal to the Upside Down, which sucked Henry Creel in. There the dark mirror world ripped apart his skin as it began to remake him into something sinister and twisted. But it was a transformation Henry Creel welcomed.
As well as befriending Eleven in order to gain her trust so she would remove his Soteria implant, we learn in the final episode that 001 initially spared El because he wanted her to join him. He viewed her as an ally rather than an enemy because they were "alike".
The orderly, who befriended Eleven because she was the most powerful subject, tricks her into removing a chip in his skin. It turns out that the orderly is the mysterious Number One, a man named Henry Creel who came under Brenner's care after killing his parents.
There's been debate as to whether or not this scene implies that Eleven created the Upside Down or merely opened the first gate to it. But according to Millie Bobby Brown, the Upside Down existed before El ever meddled with it. “I don't think that she created the Upside Down,” Brown told Variety in June.
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.
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.