Stranger Things' Vecna Identity, Powers & Origin Fully Explained

Warning: SPOILERS for Vecna's identity & origin in Stranger Things season 4.

Who is Vecna, what is Vecna, and what does Vecna want with the teenagers in Hawkins - these are all questions that drive the central mystery of gate of the Upside Down, but season 2 expanded on that and introduced the series' true big bad: the Mind Flayer. And that was only a new beginning.

Stranger Things season 3 built on all of that and finally brought the Mind Flayer into the real world. The monster's threat was no longer theoretical nor was it limited to just Will Byers. Rather, the physical toll levied by the Mind Flayer resulted in dozens of people dying and Hawkins being fractured as a community. It's also possible that all of these events that have been happening in Hawkins over the years have led to the return of Vecna - Stranger Things season 4's villain.

While the Demogorgon and Mind Flayer go hand in hand, to an extent, Vecna is entirely different. No one's faced a villain like him before because he isn't a random monster who goes after blood or a monster whose sole purpose is to kill Eleven. He's a villain with superpowers of his own and a history that calls into question everything the characters (and viewers) know about the Upside Down.

Henry Creel Is Number One & Vecna In Stranger Things 4

Young Henry Creel in Stranger Things Season 4

In Stranger Things season 4, episode 7, "The Massacre at Hawkins Lab," it's revealed that Henry Creel is, in fact, number One - Dr. Martin Brenner's very first test subject - as well as Vecna. When Victor Creel told Nancy and Robin that his son, Henry, was a sensitive boy, he was being modest. Henry Creel felt a connection to the Creel House and seemingly developed powers of his own without being experimented on. It's implied that Henry Creel harnessed something within the grandfather clock in the Creel House to unlock those powers, but it's unconfirmed exactly how those abilities manifested in the first place.

Timeline-wise, Henry Creel murdered his mother and sister, and attempted to murder his father, Victor, in 1959 - 20 years before he fought Eleven in Hawkins Lab. But because Henry was merely a boy, he wasn't powerful enough to kill everyone - and coupling that with a song by Ella Fitzgerald playing in the background, Victor was able to escape Henry's torment before being killed. According to Victor, Henry slipped into a coma and apparently died a week later; however, unbeknownst to Victor, Dr. Brenner actually took custody of Henry upon him waking up from his coma and faked his death, similar to what the people at Hawkins Lab did with Will Byers and every kid they experimented on.

Over the next few years (an exact amount of time wasn't given), Dr. Brenner worked with Henry to develop the boy's powers, but reached a dead-end. This must've began approximately six years after Project MKUltra began at Hawkins Lab in 1953. Ultimately, Dr. Brenner used his learnings from Henry Creel/One, and the results from Project MKUltra, to launch a new program that experimented on children from birth (or an age younger than Henry Creel); from there, One became an orderly since Dr. Brenner couldn't let him leave the facility. And that eventually led to him attempting to escape with Eleven, but not before killing everyone associated with the experiments as revenge.

Perhaps the most confounding part of Henry Creel's history is how he became Vecna. When Eleven turned on him and fended off his attacks, she sent him into another world in the same way she defeated the Demogorgon at the end of Stranger Things season 1. But because the Upside Down is stuck on the day Will Byers disappeared in 1983, and Henry Creel/One was banished in 1979, the portal she opened couldn't have been the same as a gate - particularly, the mother gate she opened in 1983. Rather, the most logical explanation is that Eleven opened a portal and sent Henry Creel through, whose body succumbed to the environment of the Upside Down and turned into Vecna, but the portal quickly closed. It wasn't a gate like the one she opened in season 1 or the other gates opened by Vecna in season 4; it was merely a window into the Upside Down, instead of a door. This tracks with what happened in season 1; when Eleven sent the Demogorgon back to the Upside Down (along with herself) in one of the school's classrooms, she did so without creating a new gate.

Vecna's D&D Lore Explained

Like everything else in Stranger Things, Vecna is inspired by Dungeons and Dragons. And in D&D lore, Vecna was once a human wizard who studied the dark arts, and who eventually became one of the game's most powerful wizards ever to exist. But his life wasn't enough and he sought to reach godhood. In his quest to attain immortality, Vecna became a lich, an undead creature, which is the form he's most recognizable as for a D&D villain.

Part of his story arc involves attacking the city of Fleeth, primarily as revenge for the city executing his mother for practicing witchcraft. But the parts that apply to his story in Stranger Things may come from his betrayal and subsequent status as a demigod. Vecna was once betrayed and attacked by his lieutenant (Eleven, in this case); all that was left of him, in the end, was his hand and eye - which make up the reason the hand and eye of Vecna became powerful artifacts in D&D.

The Cult of Vecna later attempted to resurrect Vecna as a greater god but failed, though the monster still achieved greater god status sometime thereafter. Ultimately, Vecna was relegated to being a lesser god by the time his story came to an end. Still, he wreaked havoc during his ascension to godhood and his powers were never to be trifled with.

Vecna's Curse & Powers Explained

Vecna's Hand and Max in Stranger Things Season 4

Identifying the specifics of Vecna's curse is complicated because so much of it is dependent on the campaign created by the Dungeon Master in D&D. However, the one element that remains unchanged throughout all campaigns is that Vecna's curse is an affliction that turns wizards into Nothics, lanky monsters who exist entirely to cause pain and suffering. Exactly how the curse turns wizards into Nothics is what remains open.

But in the world of Stranger Things, Vecna uses the curse and preys on people who've suffered through trauma (that is the one marker present in all of Vecna's victims, including Chrissy, Fred, and Patrick), using that to bind them to himself in the Upside Down, retaining their consciousness in his own mind. In a similar fashion to the Vecna from D&D, Stranger Things' Vecna wants the teenagers in Hawkins to him as his own version of Nothics, because as a collective, they enhance his power.

And Vecna's plan is unfolding by him using telepathic powers in Stranger Things, foraging through people's thoughts to identify his next victims and attacking them remotely. From there, he psychically links them to himself, to his own realm (the red smoke area that Max saw), doing harm to their bodies from afar without ever laying a hand on them. In many ways, Henry Creel/Vecna's powers are akin to Eleven's, but exponentially more advanced since he's had much more time to refine his abilities. Moreover, it's all incredibly like Freddy Krueger's style of killing from the Nightmare on Elm Street film series, which has heavily inspired Stranger Things season 4.

Why Vecna Is Killing Teenagers In Hawkins

Vecna's plan in Stranger Things season 4 isn't really about killing teenagers, but rather ing their deaths to bridge the gap between the Upside Down and the real world. Every time Vecna kills someone, he opens a new gate to the Upside Down at the spot the person was murdered. He does this by making a physic link with them through dimensions, just how Eleven made a connection with the Demogorgon inside Hawkins Lab in season 1. And as the kids deduced after speaking to their teacher, Scott Clarke, each gate creates an electromagnetic field stronger than the Earth's natural one, which affect their comes.

By opening more and more gates in Hawkins, Vecna is creating additional electromagnetic fields - smaller in size and scale compared to the one Eleven opened, but still large enough to have an impact, especially when combined. The end goal is to bring the Upside Down and Earth closer together and collide the two dimensions; it's why the Upside Down is already experiencing earthquakes, and judging by the final Stranger Things 4 volume 1 trailer, it's possible there will be an earthquake in Hawkins as well. All in all, Vecna isn't killing teenagers because he simply wants to; their trauma can be easily manipulated and, therefore, they're easier targets than adults. What he wants to do, perhaps as an order from the Mind Flayer, is likely merge the two dimensions, which would cause a catastrophic event.

Who Plays Vecna In Stranger Things?

Number One AKA Henry in the lab in Stranger Things

Jamie Campbell Bower plays Vecna, as well as the adult Henry Creel and number One. Bower was originally cast in an unknown role in Stranger Things season 4, and given the mystery around his character throughout his first few episodes, it only makes sense that eventually he'd be used for the season's big twist. Bower is an English actor primarily known for playing Caius in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. He's also starred as King Arthur in Starz's Camelot and Christopher Marlowe in TNT's Will, among a handful of other films and TV shows.

Next: Is Stranger Things Season 4 The Last One?

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