The Hand and Eye of Vecna were all that remained of the arch-lich Vecna after his betrayal at the hands of his trusted vampire lieutanant, Kas the Bloody-Handed. Using a sword crafted by Vecna himself, Kas manage to cut off Vecna's left hand and left eye before in turn being destroyed.
Originally appearing in the Greyhawk campaign setting, Vecna was described as a powerful wizard who became a lich. He was eventually destroyed, and his left hand and left eye were the only parts of his body to survive.
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.
In the D&D realm, a defining feature of Vecna is that he's missing his left hand and left eye. 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.
He uses his left hand for his powers, and in actual DnD, Vecna's left hand is cut off and becomes a powerful magic item. The hand of Vecna is a big deal in DnD and if you look him up he is almost always portrayed with a glowing skeletal left hand."
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.
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.
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.
Music evokes strong memories that are both good and bad, so it makes sense that it could open a doorway out of the oppressive alienation of trauma, despair, and guilt that Max found herself in.
Curiously, he also seems obsessed with time, projecting strange visions into his victims' minds—including of the grandfather clock from his home in the Creel House. Vecna's obsession with time appears to be linked to his hatred of humanity.
As Vecna continued to go after young victims in order to open more portals, he set his sights on Max Mayfield, since she was investigating the deaths of Chrissy and another student named Fred Benson with help from her friends (including Dustin, Steve, and her boyfriend Lucas).
Brenner (Matthew Modine) states in the Stranger Things episode "Papa" that Vecna "consumes" everything about his victims, Vecna targets traumatized victims because it builds for him a well of sad and angry memories to draw from. With each victim, he can become gradually more powerful.
There are still a few details we don't know, but it's clear that Brenner secretly kept Henry around as an orderly and the chip in his neck was some kind of power suppressant. Without it, Henry is able to unleash his powers on those in the lab, slaughtering nearly everyone, including the children.
Vecna, unlike the other creatures, is a human who has mutated into a monster from overexposure to the Upside Down. He's been subjected to the toxic environment for around 20 years and has become a part of it.
In a fit of rage, Henry used his restored powers to brutally murder the other test subjects and workers, and attempted to do the same to Eleven. However, Eleven stood her ground and ultimately overpowered him, sending him through a gate to the Upside Down; there, he gradually transformed into the being known as Vecna.
Vecna's curse refers to Vecna's predominant method of murder and torture. Using his supernatural psychokinetic abilities, Vecna can probe and influence the minds of others. Motivated by a cruel and misanthropic philosophy, Vecna targets particularly traumatized, mentally ill or insecure individuals.
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.
The Duffer Brothers had Vecna planned from the start, which is how they were able to tie his character into earlier seasons. Stranger Things revealed Vecna was also behind the Mind Flayer that appeared in season 2.
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 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.
Jamie Campbell Bower wore a costume and prosthetics to transform into Vecna in "Stranger Things." The actor said that his suit had a "flap" that went over his crotch.
One of the most important sequences in this episode featured Vecna showing Nancy the real circumstances of the “eyeball murders” in the 1950s, with flashbacks indicating that young Henry Creel murdered his family when his mother tried to get him psychological help and he intentionally framed his father Victor for the ...
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). But wait, there's more. You could add Max to this list since Vecna does actually kill her.
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.