Volume 1 of Stranger Things season 5 ends with a major twist, after a confrontation between Will and Vecna reveals the extent of their strange bond.
Season 5 of Netflix’s Stranger Things has focused heavily on Will (Noah Schnapp), as he learns to embrace his sexuality, and slowly understands that the trauma inflicted on him by Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) also imbued him with power.
Warning—spoilers ahead.
‘Stranger Things’ Season 5—What Happens At The End Of Volume 1?
Volume 1 of Stranger Things season 5, “Sorcerer,” sees the monstrous inhabitants of the Upside Down slaughter the soldiers in the military zone, as Robin (Maya Hawke) and Murray (Brett Gelman) are chased by a pack of Demogorgons.
Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) isn’t around to help, because she and Hopper (David Harbour) are in the base where they believe Vecna is being held—instead, they discover Eleven’s psychic “sister,” Eight (Linnea Berthelsen), who appeared in a controversial episode from season 2.
Back in the military zone, the unfortunate soldiers are being torn apart by Vecna himself, whose body has visibly degraded since we last saw him—he’s more Upside Down than ever.
Will, Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) are powerless to stop Vecna, and can’t fight back as he snatches the children they were trying to save.
Vecna then pulls Will through the air and mocks him, boasting that he targets children because they are weak and easy to shape to his needs. Worse, Vecna explains that Will’s reaction to his Upside Down ordeal is what inspired Vecna to kidnap others.
Vecna infused Will with his essence, and Will not only survived, but formed a psychic bond with Vecna, somewhat similar to the magical connection between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.
Vecna also implies that Will’s quiet, melancholic personality is integral to the bond, proposing that some minds “do not belong in this world. They belong in mine.”
Notably, Vecna does not kill Will. He spares him and walks away, leaving them all to the Demogorgons.
As Mike braces himself for death, Will remembers Robin’s inspiring words about self-love and acceptance, and awakens a power within himself, holding the Demogorgons in the air and snapping them apart, just like Vecna.
The episode ends with blood trickling out of Will’s nose, the Stranger Things sign of psychic power.
Despite the nosebleed, Will’s powers are not the same as Eleven’s.
How Do Will’s Powers Work?
Will is the only character to have developed powers outside of the lab where Eleven and the others were experimented on.
Speaking to Variety, Stranger Things creators Ross and Matt Duffer explained that Will is channeling Vecna’s powers, comparing it to “puppeteering.”
“He taps into the hive mind, and then he can manipulate anything within the hive,” said Matt Duffer. “That’s how he’s able to manipulate the monster. So he can’t open a door, because the door is not part of the hive mind.”
The Duffers went on to clarify that Will’s power is a result of being hooked into the hive mind of the Upside Down, explaining that he cannot use his ability unless he is close to the hive.
What Is Vecna’s Connection To Will?
Like Will, Vecna was spirited away to another world when he was a child, to the yellow-tinted realm known as Dimension X (which is either a primordial form of the Upside Down, or a different universe entirely).
This backstory is explained in The First Shadow, a stage play and official prequel to the Netflix’s Stranger Things, and is likely to come into play in the latter half of season 5.
Henry Creel, the boy who became Vecna, returns from this dimension imbued with the negative energy of the Mind Flayer, which recontextualizes his sociopathic behavior as a child.
Henry was marked from a young age by the Mind Flayer’s poison, and transforms into Vecna after he is banished back to Dimension X by Eleven.
There, he embraces his new life and helps form the hive mind of the Upside Down, linking with the Mind Flayer.
The season 4 reveal that Vecna was the mastermind behind every otherworldly event of Stranger Things was a shocking development that reframed Eleven as the “creator” of Vecna.
The reveal that Vecna has planted powers within Will echoes this twist, but there are signs that Will isn’t the helpless pawn that Vecna wants him to be.
Stranger Things has consistently shown that love and happiness can counter Vecna’s power, and unlike Henry Creel, Will has friends and family that care about him.
It’s unclear if Vecna actually understands the extent of Will’s power, but the fact that he spared Will’s life, leaving him alone to use his abilities against the Demogorgons, implies that Vecna knew, and was perhaps testing him.
Vecna’s plan with the kidnapped children is yet to be fully revealed, but it seems as though he intends to create psychic footsoldiers like Will, and is under the impression he can control them all.
As Vecna told Will, he believes children are weak.
Of course, Stranger Things is very much a story about the inner strength of children, and Vecna’s evil plan is likely to hit a few roadblocks.