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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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Don’t perceive this post its going to be so rambley and unfocused, literally all over the place because it doesn’t have a point its just me talking shit, but I have a couple of thoughts I wanted to put out there. Basically I’m giving Henry a birthday and instead of being a normal person and just saying the the date and fucking off I’m gonna be a crazy person make it too deep. I decided he’s sharing the same month as Will (March) and I’m pretty sure I’m going to go with the date of the 8th because it is parallel to Will’s birthday of the 22nd. (I know the D*ffer brother’s seem to be planning to change this bc they forgot but idc) It also makes Henry a Pisces which is very sexy to me as both a fellow Pisces and someone who loves filling shit with meta and symbolization because I’m insane like that.

Pisces, a water sign, is the last constellation of the zodiac. It's symbolized by two fish swimming in opposite directions, representing the constant division of Pisces's attention between fantasy and reality. As the final sign, Pisces has absorbed every lesson — the joys and the pains, the hopes and the fears — learned by all of the other signs. This makes these fish the most psychic, empathetic, and compassionate creatures of the astrological wheel. With such immense sensitivity, Pisces can easily become swallowed by emotions and must remember to stay grounded in the material realm. Pisces is ruled by Neptune, the celestial body that governs creativity and dreams, and these ethereal fish adore exploring their boundless imaginations. In its more nefarious form, however, Neptune also oversees illusion and escapism. Neptunian energy is like the energy of the ocean: magical, mysterious, and often scary. When the fog is thick on the water, the horizon is obstructed and there is no differentiation between the sea and the sky. A mutable sign, Pisces effortlessly adapts to their surroundings. These visionary fish have unparalleled access to the collective unconscious through their clairvoyance and make incredible artists and creatives.

In my big fat opinion this all fits who I perceive Henry to have been as a human. and it also works as a very tasty dark mirror of what Henry becomes as Vecna. I’ve always hated the popular depiction of Pieces as people tend to only focus on the preposed sensitive, shy, artistic traits, no one ever focuses on the terrifying depth of a Pisces or the devastation that can be done by having both the most expansive imagination and the most refined ability to perceive and understand other people’s emotions or insecurities. Like I really gotta be out here doing everything myself.

There is a frightening duality of the Pisces and the two fish swimming in opposite directions can also draw parallels to the yin and yang. The Pisces being represented by water is suited in the amount of forms water can take. Most people view water as gentle and healing. However, water can be as fiercely destructive as any other element. The form of a clear stream, an inviting lake, a refreshing shower and gentle waves can easily become a raging river, a dark ocean, a violent storm and a devastating tsunami. We’ve seen this very duality from Henry, and Vecna is his shadow self; the darkest most monstrous version of him. in physical form.

Henry’s status as the first test subject, the oldest and the most powerful also fit well with the Pieces being the last and most mature of the zodiac on different ends of a spectrum, with Henry also being the first and oldest test subject, representing the beginning and end. I’m sure I don’t have to go into all the spicy symbolism of Pisces being alternative dimensions and being a traveler and a link to said dimensions because I think thats damn obvious. Same to be said the representation of dreams and illusions.

I also think its very funny that Venca / Henry had an early design phase where he was heavily based on fish and water. I’ve personally always had the water relations in my portrayal because thats just how he’s hittin me but this further links some things together really nicely.

Lastly the dual fish are often considered to be a symbol to a Pisces soul considered to be in two pieces. We can again draw this back to the yin-yang aesthetic but I’m intending it entirely to represent how Henry is clearly an inverted parallel to Will and how they are “linked.” To me I also draw from the aesthetic of silent hill and Alessa and Cheryl, again with Alessa being the dark mirror of Cheryl and the two being soul-connected. Alessa the dark half and Cheryl the light half.

With Henry and Will I see this linking of “souls” to have taken place through the mind-flayer, who previously to infecting Will had merged with Henry. Since Will’s abduction and apparent “resurrection” he’s shown some type of psychic ability, which seems to have come from whatever “”part”” of Henry was in the mind-flayer and invaded Will creating this weird connection they have. ( We also literally saw human Henry was VERY similar to Will particularly in terms of being sensitive, artistic “loners.” )

Metaphorically, the mind-flayer’s dark influence is suppose to represent hatred, abuse and pain, rejection, isolation and essentially a caution about the perils of someone experiencing trauma without a support network, allowing negative emotions and suffering to corrupt someone’s soul which is very symbolic to Henry, while Will parallels and inverts this as someone who is also a societal outcast and a minority, etc, but unlike Henry he had a support group, this didn’t let the darkness win or rather he wasn’t driven toward it and was instead pulled away from it.

Side note: If the mind-flayer is sentient and I believe it is to an extent, yes, I view it as something that “preyed” on Henry due to being an outcast and yes, it is using him but at this point he’s using it just as much. Their relationship is both parasitic and symbiotic, which seems to be a contradiction but we’re dealing with over-powered psychics, alternative hellish dimensions and eldritch entities here, so far its working out for them but I def wouldn’t say all of this has been most beneficial to Henry. I mean ... look at him.

Anyway, Henry and Will also share the aesthetic of wizardry and ‘returning from death’; Will as the “Zombie boy “ and his Dnd character being a Cleric and Henry as “Vecna” the all-powerful god-lich.

I’ve spoke about Henry’s parallels to DnD’s Vecna before as well as mentioned the likeness of the mind-flayer to both the “elder brain” of the Dnd mind-flayers and the “Serpent” associated to DnD Vecna, but to paste from Dnd beyond in regard to the Cleric:

Clerics are intermediaries between the mortal world and the distant planes of the gods. As varied as the gods they serve, clerics strive to embody the handiwork of their deities. No ordinary priest, a cleric is imbued with divine magic. Divine magic, as the name suggests, is the power of the gods, flowing from them into the world. Clerics are conduits for that power, manifesting it as miraculous effects. The gods don’t grant this power to everyone who seeks it, but only to those chosen to fulfill a high calling. Harnessing divine magic doesn’t rely on study or training. A cleric might learn formulaic prayers and ancient rites, but the ability to cast cleric spells relies on devotion and an intuitive sense of a deity’s wishes. Clerics combine the helpful magic of healing and inspiring their allies with spells that harm and hinder foes. They can provoke awe and dread, lay curses of plague or poison, and even call down flames from heaven to consume their enemies. For those evildoers who will benefit most from a mace to the head, clerics depend on their combat training to let them wade into melee with the power of the gods on their side.

This kinda fits everything about Will and Henry having a soul-link connection through some “divine” other-wordily force. Henry is linked to the mind-flayer entity and so is Will, so Will is also linked to Henry, meaning the three of them are joined in weird psychic soul-bond horror.

Also If Will’s birthday remains the 22nd (and it should!) he is an Aries, the “first” sign of the zodiac which adds further parallels to and is repeatedly symbolic to the “beginning” and “end” (Will being the beginning, everything “starting” with his abduction and Henry being the “end,” introduced last in the recent season and will be what the series ends with, as well as with the last season ending around Will just as the first season began around Will.) Aries is also a fire sign, opposite of Pisces as a water sign. Will is heavily related to fire. Finally, I think its about time the water-element gets to be the mean, “evil” one and the fire-element gets to be the nice, “good” one bc the inverse of that is beat to hell as a trope, evil water-people represent.

Some people might argued that Henry/Vecna/the MF is represented by fire as well but nah bruh, fire, light, heat, they all harm the MF, Henry was set alight with Molotov's for a reason, the MF and by extension Henry are dark, shadowy and MOIST and thats a fact, source: the damp squelching sound effects and the need the ST make up crew had to be constantly redosing Jamie in lube as Vecna.

Basically Henry (As Vecna) is a perilous bog, a shadow, cold and dark while Will is the light and warmth, a torch and a cleansing flame. Henry/Vecna is the curse and Will is the cure.

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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ALONG CAME A SPIDER: AU / Season 4 re-write.

Okay, so, yeah, heres the post detailing some ideas / events from the AU I'm cooking up. In the AU Henry doesn't become Vecna in the same way which means the events of season 4 are changed and this is a rough summary of the things I've changed !

Pre Season 1 : In summary, Henry isn't sent to the Upside Down. Eleven passes out before she can push him through and Henry is left horrified and disorientated, but manages to escape the lab none the less. The basics of this are more detailed here. Season 1 : Things stay largely the same because honestly there isn't much to change here. Given everything was pretty vague in season 1 anyway, particularly concerning the UD and the lab. Unless plotted otherwise canon events basically remain the same.

Season 2 : This is where Kali is officially introduced in canon via Eleven going to find her. I think the concept I'm going with is that Eleven doesn't find Kali, she finds her mother, spends some time with her and then returns. Henry on the other hand does find Kali, and the two go on a little revenge rampage. Things could be subject to change however via plotting. Season 3 : Events largely remain the same, except Billy isn't killed. He is severely wounded and placed in a medically induced coma. His outlook appears grim. Neil essentially abandons him. ( He still pays for Billy's 'treatment' but he doesn't remain in Hawkins. ) He divorces Max's mother but none the less Max and Susan still watch over Billy. Max is riddled by guilt due the state Billy is in. Again, like with the other seasons things here could be subject to change or expansion with plotting. Season 4: Kali, Henry and the gang return to Hawkins. They are paralleled by Eddie's DnD campaign featuring "The cult of Vecna," So even though Henry doesn't become Vecna in the same way as in canon, he's still likened to him as an "evil wizard" even if indirectly, with this further keeping his parallels with El and Will as their "darker" reflection. If you would like to be involved in this verse please let me know because I consider it an open thing for everyone to play with when interacting with me.

The point of Kali and Henry returning to hawkins is obviously to kill more of the people involved in the hawkins lab. One of these such victims happens to reside at the same trailer park as Max and Eddie. Chrissy arrives to buy drugs from Eddie, she's driven to this because of her mother's abuse and body shaming and she's heard drug use controls weight gain. Due to this being her first time engaging in drug use she stays with Eddie. Chrissy takes the Ketamine entrusting Eddie to watch over her. In her altered state Chrissy begins to trip out and she expereinces being "trapped" in the Upside Down. Meanwhile, Eddie hears a commotion in the trailer over from his and decides to go check it out. He witnesses "The Cult of Vecna" who are disguised with hoods and masks, supernaturally murder his neighbor and freaks out. He returns to Crissy only to find Chrissy has seemingly overdosed further adding to Eddie's freak out. He flees. The police arrive and find Chrissy who isn't dead but isn't in such a good way, on top of the mangled next door and Eddie missing. Chrissy is taken to hospital and the police begin their hunt for Eddie, who they suspect might be responsible. Another minor change here is they think Eddie's neighbor was a drug dealer and Eddie and Chrissy were in a relationship, went to buy drugs from him, got out of their minds on special K and Eddie murdered the neighbor. Max relays the strange light activity that night to Dustin.

Jason finds out about what has happened to Chrissy and the Police's theory on what happened and is naturally enraged. He goes to visit Chrissy in the hospital who is still non-responsive and vows he will find Eddie and make him pay for what he's done. He goes back to the team and spouts his theories of devil worship and so on with Eddie as the cult leader. Nancy and Fred go investigating at the Trailer Park. While Nancy talks to Wayne Munson and learns about the Creels, Fred is "lured" into the woods and goes missing. Eleven has her moments with Angela which also leads to her eventual arrest and Dustin and the gang find Eddie, who just like canon has been hiding after what he witnessed. He learns Chrissy is still alive and explains to the gang what he saw. They begin to liken Henry and Kali and her gang to " Vecna and the cult of Vecna" just like their DnD Campaign earlier. Henry and Kali take their revenge on another Lab associate, bringing the death toll up to two and further weakening the barrier between Hawkins and the Upside Down. Meanwhile, Billy begins having lifelike dreams of being back in the Upside Down. He miraculously wakes up from his Coma and flees from the hospital. Kali and the gang eventually discover him trying to crash in and abandoned factory where they were also hoping to hide out. At first they think he is a crazy homeless drug addict, but this changes when Billy "attacks" Henry and suddenly they're both able to see what the other has seen, ie, Henry can see the upside down and the spider monster proxy and Billy sees the same Upside Down and "The shadow".

Henry calms Billy down and Billy releases he has a kindred spirit here, and maybe he's not crazy. Max takes a call on behalf of Susan that Billy has not only woken but he's fled the hospital. Billy talks to Max on a payphone and assures her he's fine and not to look for him. Henry and Billy talk about the Upside Down and "The Monster". Nancy and Robin talk to Victor. With a lot on his mind, Henry wanders away from the groups squatting place which now includes Billy. He's attacked by a man who thinks he's a drug addict looking to rob his house and land. He shoots at Henry and Henry kills him and flees back to the squatting place. The mans body is found, bringing the death toll up to three, and Eleven is duped into returning to Brenner's care by Owens. The government believes Eleven is responsible for the murders and disappearances around Hawkins but obviously Owens and Dr Brenner know differently. Eleven begins the process of getting her memories back. Meanwhile, Jason and the team try to capture Eddie only for Patrick to be pulled under the water by an unseen force and disappear. The gang snoop around the Creel House and they talk about the "Cult of Vecna", they theorize that this is the Russians again. Eventually they go to the lake and wind up in the Upside Down. The police are back again to investigate Patrick's "disappearance". The gang fight through the Upside Down. Nancy falls into a trance while in the Upside Down and has a vision of Hawkins destruction, at the same time Henry does. Henry's 'vision' however also includes Eleven's capture by Brenner. He informs Kali of what he saw and the two conclude that Henry's dooms day vision must be connected to Brenner's capture of Eleven. Nancy on the other hand simply sees the "terrible fate" of Hawkins and all her friends. Kali, Henry and the gang plan to go rescue Eleven from Brenner and Billy opts to go find Max, however, the gang are attacked by the government before this can happen. Eleven is also attacked by the government, resulting in Brenner's death. She is picked up by Mike and co and they begin returning to Hawkins. Chrissy wakes up and manages to call Eddie. Billy finds Max and the others and begins to explain to them what is going on, meanwhile, Henry, Kali and the gang having killed the government agents decide to interrogate a survivor about Brenner's whereabouts. Eventually Henry kills him, creating a death toll of four and shortly after Hawkins rips apart. Anyway, thats just the rough write up of the changes ! Things may be subject to change based on plotting and as I think more about it because threads can take place at any time here. Events can be changed based on RP etc, but that's yeah the basic outline of how Season 4 went in Henry's escape AU going into Season 5.

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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Good morning, I'm never not out of my mind so I wanted to post some thoughts. When my internet is back, I plan to rewatch season four for the AU and I'm thinking of making a server for folks to come in and chat and plot but anyway, not the point of the post, the point of this post was me thinking about the Mindflayer and Henry as usual and a whole bunch of random crap I wanna share with you all, in particular I want to talk about the UD and what I personally think it is and have been portraying it as because the Duffer brothers made this character specifically for me so now you all have to deal with it. So if you paid attention, which most this fandom didn't so I have to do everything myself, there is a heavy suggestion that the entity we know as the Mindflayer or "The Shadow" was present in Henry's childhood, having some type of specific link to the Creel House which I've mentioned a million times before. I'm insanely confident on my take on this because it lines up near perfectly with all the media the Duffer's took inspiration from. Particularly from Derry/IT/The deadlights which is also obvious inspo in the show. The Creel house is a direct homage to the Neibolt house, and idk how people miss that, BUT MOREOVER, I've also mentioned before that another point of inspo for Vecna's creation and obviously for the Mindflayer is Swamp Thing which the Duffer's did confirm. In particular the concept of "The Green" and "The Rot/Black" simultaneously apply, imo.

( Quick recap if you don't know what none of that shit is and you don't wanna read my other long ass info dumps, the Swamp Thing universe deals with the concept of omnipresent cosmic god-like forces who have some type of dominion over an element, these forces are sentient, highly intelligent and they're described as a "hive mind". Moreover, they tend to choose a "human" avatar to represent them and carry out their will which essentially makes said human a demigod. This is what Swamp Thing is, he's an avatar of "The Green", which is essentially life, particularly taking the form of nature and plants. But as I said the "The Green" has an opposite force called "The Black" or "The Rot", and this is basically the force of death, represented by things that rot, such as plants and even humans / animals, which again kind of links it very closely to The Green as kind of... The dark reflection of it. )

There is repeated imagery in the Creel's house of flowers / plants, most obviously the symbolic front door is the stained glass rose, but we also see floral and rose patterns on other things like cushions and such, and we've already had the Mindflayer and its bizarre physical manifestations ( The vines, the spores, the weird bulbs, etc ) related to plants and "flowers" on more than one occasion. What do I think this means ? Well, I can't say for certain but basically I'll just cut right to it: I think the entire upside down is some kind of living thing and thats what I've been going with.

AND I KNOW THIS SOUNDS CRAZY. But the other thing that is very noticeable about The Upside Down to me is that it has disturbing digestive properties ( Again talked about this in another big info dump before ) and another major source of inspiration for the thing that the Duffer brothers have made sure to reference in just about every fucking season in some way with multiple homages and even having characters talk about it directly is The Thing. ( Not to mention all the obvious HP. Lovecraft inspiration )

If you're not a massive horror fan or big nerd like me you might not know exactly how that's relevant or might just think yeah haha alien monster BUT NO the significance here is "the thing" is a fragment of a cosmic entity who A) Started out life looking like a spider, and spiders / spider webs are another massively symbol ic thing here, B) is suggested to be part of a larger organism and C) assimilates other organisms into itself creating a type of "hivemind", its body is literally a digestive system that disturbingly doubles as a womb which is how its able to 'replicate' its victims.

So we have that.

Now put that with how the UD "rots" whatever it comes in contact with. Almost like its digesting it. Further put that with how much imagery in the Upside Down calls reference to a living organism. ( The capillary-like growths, which can also appears web-like, the weird saliva like slime, the production of spores, etc ) and how often the UD and the mindflayer have been related to things like infection and bacteria more than once. And how a lot of this relates to things like mould. In fact, just about everything in the UD can resemble some type of mould. It also appears to have sporocarp properties would actually explain the ""eggs"" from season one, which could literally be "fruit" from the fruiting body.

Typically, mould is a living thing, its fungi and for a long time fungi was classified as a type of plant due to its behaviors and characteristics. I don't know where the Duffers are going to go with this exactly BUT PERSONALLY this makes the most sense to me and is where I'm going with it, leaning very heavily into the eldritch horror aesthetic. The Shadow, or the mindflayer, is its nucleus, in a bizarre, metaphysical type of way. Now for the demo-creatures ? They could go two ways here. One being they're the natural defense system of the UD, kind of like a freaky immune system, or the other being they were invading 'pests' that were 'tamed' to be used as a defense system. The reason for the second interpretation is that they seem to be hostile toward Vecna in the VR game but this isn't shown in canon so far and we don't know if the VR game is gonna be considered actual canon. That being said, they could have simply perceived Vecna as a threat in the beginning as a "foreign entity" until they realized he was... "Meant" to be there, so to speak. And this does kind of play a part in my canon because it not only explains how the UD came to mirror Hawkins but it also explains why Vecna himself wasn't present for the first 2-3 seasons. We've already had it explained to us that psychics like Eleven and Henry are like batteries and they can exhaust themselves. The VR game seems to show Vecna "shaping" the UD as Hawkins. If Vecna reshaped an entire dimension, which yeah, I'm sorry but no one else could do that and fandom's Will theory is stupid because do I love Will ? Yes ! But do I believe he has powers anywhere near that caliber ? No ! Further, its pretty obvious Will's powers are his perception of the hivemind, moreover, the UD looked like Hawkins when Will got there after Henry yet it didn't look like Hawkins when Henry got there before Will. Like come on, its obvious who influenced the appearance of the UD. But yeah, anyway, after that Vecna probably needed a rest.

Which would also explain why Vecna literally tells Eleven that basically the reason he's around and could open his own gates is because of her power being absorbed by the mindflayer proxy in season 3, which was apparently transferred to Vecna, restrengthening him or awakening him or whatever you want to say. And this also calls back to Will explaining that mindflayer only "activates" its "victims" when it "needs" them.

PUTTING ALL THAT SLIGHTLY ASIDE THOUGH, I also have something I think about a lot and this is going back to the heavy suggestion the mindflayer entity was always present somehow in the Creel house and somehow connected with Henry. My thoughts are... Was Henry ever actually "flayed" ? In the same way characters like Will and Billy were or is Henry's link merely a subconscious / psychic one ? I've been going with the latter personally, at least until Henry becomes Vecna but its VERY INTERESTING because of the fact that "the source" Eleven encounters in season 3 is identical to Vecna's mindscape.

So lemme explain real quick: In season 3 Eleven goes inside of Billy's mind and finds the fragment of the mindflayer that is "controlling" him. Its represented as a raging storm that encompasses all of Billy's worst / most traumatic memories, seemingly feeding off them. Eleven wanders inside of the storm and comes to its eye, which again, this is an identical place to Vecna's mindscape. Eleven refers to this as "the source", the significance of this "place's" visual appearance seemingly being the place where the victim was first "contacted", so to speak, by the mindflayer. With Billy this is the Brimborn steelworks. With Vecna, again, his mindscape is identical but obviously rather than being the Brimborn steelworks its the inside of the Creel house. The only difference being the Vecna's mindscape is covered with the mindflayer's vines and is also floating around in pieces. For me this is kind of a manifestation of Vecna's unlife, the fact he's been "living with" the mindflayer for longer than anyone else; eg its kind of a representation of the corrosion of time / longer 'corruption' + obviously his 'fractured' mental state. SO THIS LEAVES ME TO WONDER.... Was Henry ever actually flayed ? Like as a child, like Will was, or again is the Creel house just showing up as Vecna's mindscape because its kind of symbolic to when Henry was first "discovered" by the mindflyer. I guess when I think about this Henry's "flaying" was probably different to Will and Billy's just based on the fact he did seemingly already possess some type of psychic ability, which meant the MF had a different avenue into Henry's mind / soul without actually physically possessing or assaulting him to forcefully insert that part of its presence within him as the case was with Will and Billy was. In my canon, child Henry has dreams / nightmares about it frequently, but nothing ever happens in the physical world. But this could change bc Idk if canon is planning in season 5, I just know the Duffers have said we're gonna be seeing a lot more of Henry / Vecna and the lore surrounding him.

Anyways, yeah, thats all the thoughts for today, more surely to come eventually.

#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Headcanons ⊱#headcanons #if this format is fucked i apologize i did my best LOL

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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Another little headcanon dump because I'm in the mood. To start off I'm sure I've mentioned it a million times before but March is a "special" month in Hawkins according to me. Not only is it the month of Henry's birthday, but its the month the Creel's moved to Hawkins. This is how I'm explaining the repeating theme of March in the Stranger things canon. (Including Will's birthday, Billy's birthday, and the entirety of Season 4 beginning in March) I don't know how canon is going to explain any of that, if its not just a coincidence, but since I'm insane and I love creating patterns and symbolism I've already decided to go a little nuts with it and so here are some more thoughts on that:

I'm putting the date the Creel's officially moved into the house in Hawkins as March 2nd, because thats my birthday and I'm allowed. Henry's birthday is March 8th, which is also when Henry had his first "encounter" with "The Shadow" (The Mindflayer.) March 22nd is Will's birthday and also the day Henry discovered his extreme psychic abilities, and March 29th, which is Billy's birthday, is the day Henry killed his mother and sister.

Something else I'm also mentioned in another post is the fact that Stranger Things, particularly Season 4, drew a lot of inspo from Western / Christian mythology and its my insane proactive to mirror this and this is no different. March and April tend to be thought of as significant months therein because of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, March being the preparation for Jesus' resurrection and April being the month in which that took place. I'm mirroring this with Henry in March as the period where Henry encounters the MF and develops his powers and April being the month when Brenner kidnaps Henry and he wakes up from his "coma" in Brenner's care. NEXTLY, I want to be fr with everyone and make sure you all know Henry's still out here murdering people and preforming supernatural psychic cannibalism even if he's not actually Vecna in the escape verses.

One of the concepts for my escape AU which was mentioned briefly in one of my threads recently is that once Henry "returns" to Hawkins, he starts to target anyone involved in the Lab that has remained in the town. 3 murders of people who were somehow involved with the Hawkins lab would have taken place, replacing the murders of Chrissy, Fred and Patrick in season 4's canon.

The news papers have been trying to report on it but the government has been doing its best to keep things quiet, however, most of the town has become "aware" there is a "serial killer" on the loose and this is extra troubling because this serial killer seems to be "copying" The Creel Family murderers of 1959. The Hawkins Demon, Hawkins Angel of Death and The Boogieman are popular monikers for "the killer" around the town.

I would also kind of like to keep the element in canon that the murders are weakening the barrier between the Upside Down and Hawkins, in fact I think it would be interesting and fun plot wise if Henry killed a 4th person and, just like in canon, Hawkins suddenly rips apart like big oopsie.

BUT TBH, I have kind of been leaving things vague because even though I have a lot of ideas I haven't been bothered to sit and write them all down specifically yet but I know they would make for a pretty fun group AU where characters like Chrissy and Eddie get to live on but yeah whenever I get more brain power I might sit down and map out all the events of my AU and my ideas / concepts through season 1 to 4.

#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Headcanons ⊱#headcanons

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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Finally here to post some in-depth AU nonsense created with @memxriaxx for my escape AU for Henry featuring Ellie’s OC, Melanie. This AU is probably going to be considered the main AU verse on this blog for here on out. A lot of this is also relevant to my canon verses and to my portrayal of Brenner on my multi, so yeah. Notes: This post, this post, this post and this post are important to this AU as with my canon verse. Further, hopefully everyone is aware that the Stranger things universe delves into some very potentially uncomfortable real life events and things, particularly surrounding project MK Ultra and its history. As a warning, this post will briefly touch on things the WW2, the N*zi party, ableism, human experimentation and child abuse.

Stranger Things also likes to take a lot of inspiration from popular horror movies particularly those from the 70s and 80s. This verse is the same, drawing from similar places, such as IT, The Shining, Carrie, Fire Starter, Flowers in the Attic, Natural Born Killers etc. We also have inspo going on from things like Silent Hill, The Ring, Evil Dead, Made in Abyss, F.E.A.R, Resident Evil, etc. As mentioned in one of my previous posts, and drawing directly from canon, “The Shadow” entity known as the Mindflayer by the party is an ancient god-like being with a malevolent disposition and has perhaps been interfering with the affairs of man for as long as mankind as walked the Earth. It has likely been recorded in mythology, perhaps under different names and aliases which Brenner was able to decipher and connect, particularly after working with psychiatric patients who had described ‘encounters’ with eerily similar beings. Needless to say, in this verse there is no “Vecna”, but the Mindflayer still very much exists and is at large. Under the cut is a basic overview of the verse that includes the addition of Melanie Doscher.

Overview:

In 1921 a man we would come to know as Dr Martin Brenner was born; a curious young soul, Brenner would grow up to become a physicist by 1941. Through a young Brenner's work with physics, he began to look toward popular mythology and cultural depictions of different universes and godly beings. As a result, Brenner starts to take an interest in parapsychology as he develops theories linking his fields of study and interest. Then, in 1945, World War Two ended, and the US government employs various N*zi scientists into their service along with their more "interesting" research.

A still young Brenner overhears "rumors" surrounding various N*zi experiments and the deep influences of occultism within the N*zi party. Brenner begins to familiarize himself with these aspects and becomes quite the believer in certain phenomena, hence solidifying his interest in parapsychology and its relations to cosmology. ( Intentionally leaving certain things here vague because again this all references some very real stuff that could be considered triggering / upsetting.

By 1947 Brenner had built a name for himself as a brilliant young psychologist; he is also known for his other scientific theories and writings surrounding suggestions of parapsychology and cosmology, particularly going back to his roots in physics. Come 1959, Brenner had become very highly esteemed in his fields of research and theory and had become involved in the US government, taking part in a top-secret initiative known as MK Ultra, which started in 1953.

"Subject Zero"

While working as a psychiatrist in 1947, Dr Brenner took a particular interest in the birth of a young girl, having taken place within the psychiatric facility he oversaw. The child's mother believed the girl to have powers. While written off as delusional ramblings by other staff members, Brenner decided to personally adopt the girl as his own rather than allow her to be shipped off to an orphanage in the area. Hoping to use the girl to prove the existence of psychic phenomena, Brenner kept her as his own daughter. By the time Melanie was six, Brenner was able to initiate her into project UK Ultra, hoping to display, harness and study Melanie's telepathic powers. The girl is affectionately nicknamed "Zero" by her father.

"The Mysterious Boy"

According to Victor Creel, in 1959, the Creel family came into a small fortune upon the death of Virginia Creel's exceptionally wealthy great uncle. The family purchased an old mansion in the quiet town of Hawkins, Indiana and moved in, bringing their young son Henry along with them. Henry was considered an odd boy, shy and sensitive; he was often recognized as "different" by those who knew him. The truth was that from birth, Henry had possessed clairvoyant abilities.

The Creel's decision to move from their old home was primarily attributed to Henry's problems with school, his selective engagement and his inability to fit in with other children, but this was more likely an example of Henry's parents allowing him to be a scapegoat for their issues. The real reason for moving had little to do with Henry. This was more attributed to Virginia's affair, which Henry's older sister Alice had resulted from.

Over the month of living in Hawkins, The Creel's dream life swiftly veers into a "waking nightmare." During this time, strange, frightening things happen in the Creel house. Dead, mutilated animals appear around the yard, and the family's horrible nightmares soon manifest themselves even while they are awake.

According to Victor, Henry always knew something was wrong with the house; however, whatever Henry knew or tried to warn his family of was overshadowed by the family's initial wonderment with the beautiful gothic home. At some point, Henry, again becoming the focus of "blame" for his mother, was taken to a general practitioner who very heavily suspected Henry was suffering from childhood-onset schizophrenia. As a result, Virginia sought out psychiatric treatment for Henry and made plans to hand him over to a psychiatric facility. Brenner was the doctor who answered this call upon learning the details of Henry's "delusions", including the presence of a shadowy, cloud-like being.

Between all this, a continually isolated and disbelieved young Henry is driven closer to the "entity," "making friends" with the "spiders" in the house. As a result, Henry's powers are mysteriously enhanced, causing Henry to develop advanced psionics and a form of telepathy, allowing him to read others' minds and specifically see their darkest thoughts/secrets.

Henry attempted to use his "new: powers to show his family their "true selves", specifically in the hopes of showing his family they were not perfect people themselves and, therefore, their expectations of him were unfair. This resulted in the family's encounters with horrifying visions, as if nightmares taking place while they were still awake.

However, Henry is unsuccessful and soon discovers his mother's plans to abandon him to a psychiatric facility and a doctor that could "fix him". Henry lashes out, killing his mother and sister, leaving his father to take the blame, who is swiftly arrested for the murders and committed himself. Unfortunately for Henry, however, he falls into a coma, allowing Dr Brenner to put his plans into motion and kidnap the troubled boy, falsifying his death to the public.

"Subject One"

Henry is initiated into Project MK Ultra, labelled "001", with Brenner hoping to study Henry's powers and eventually harness them for himself and his own goals. From 1960 to 1965, over a five-year period, as Brenner continues his experiments on Henry and his attempts to try and use Henry to gather answers toward the "entity" and the possibility of another dimension sitting parallel to Hawkins, Henry proves himself difficult and compromises the project, resulting in Brenner being forced to "neutralize" Henry.

After Henry's outburst, the US government grew concerned about the potential danger of keeping subjects like Henry. However, Brenner is able to argue for Henry's life, desperate not to lose his most valuable test subject completely, resulting in the creation of the "Soteria" chip that was forcefully implanted into Henry to keep him subdued and harmless.

"Determined, Aren't We?"

To continue his research, Brenner works with broke college student Terry Ives as the last official test subject of Project MK Ultra. However, it becomes known that Terry is pregnant, which results in her departure from the project. Undeterred, Brenner abducts Terry's daughter during her birth and prepares to begin his own project, with MK Ultra coming to an "official" close in 1973.

Brenner attempts to recreate Henry's powers in other test subjects, one's younger and far more malleable, supposedly lessening their risk factor and contributing to ongoing research into controlling human minds stemming from the previous work with MK Ultra. The government allows Brenner to continue his work within another top-secret project.

Brenner begins his search for children across the globe, said to possess supernatural abilities and collects them, preparing them to be integrated into the project. One of these subjects was Kali, renamed '008', a young Indian girl kidnapped from Britain. Soon, Brenner picks up from his work surrounding subjects such as Henry and Melanie with a new batch of children, numbered two to eighteen.

By now a stranger to giving up, Brenner instates Henry, renamed "Peter Ballard", as an orderly within the lab starting in 1973 upon the official end of project MK Ultra, intending to have him help attend to the lab and the new children test subjects introduced to it.

Hoping to learn the things from Henry he was denied back while Henry was still one of his active test subjects, Brenner again finds a use for his "daughter", Melanie; he decides to have Melanie, too, work as an orderly with the intention of having Melanie use her powers to see into Henry's mind and perhaps drag out any secrets he might have been keeping.

Melanie, however, had become pretty tired of Brenner's antics herself at this point and decided instead to inform Henry of Brenner's plans. The two play a double agent game against Brenner, hoping to trick Brenner into removing the chip in Henry's neck, allowing them both to escape.

"Curiosity And The Cat"

In the meantime, Brenner focuses on subject Eleven, who has displayed substantial abilities in her one-on-one sessions. Beginning a new experiment, Brenner hopes to pit young Eleven against his most powerful subject, Two. The intention is to create a massive power surge, one strong enough to tare the theorized dimensional fabric between Hawkins and "another world" and study the resulting phenomenon. The safety and welfare of the test subjects involved, secondary to the scientific marvel their 'sacrifice' might pave the way toward.

Learning that Brenner intended to force Eleven into a dangerous situation, apparently to accurately gauge her power, Henry begins to interfere, striking up a friendship with Eleven to mentor her and help her harness her powers and display them less dangerously, hoping to satisfy Brenner. However, when Henry realizes Brenner remains undeterred, he escalates his efforts and begins a plan to break Eleven out of the facility altogether.

He provides her with a keycard and instructions on how to get down to the basement of the facility, where he will be waiting for her. Once in the basement, Henry opens a vent, explaining to Eleven that it leads outside the lab and that she will have to crawl through it to escape. Eleven notes that Henry is too big to fit into the vent, having believed Henry would flee with her upon witnessing his torture at the hands of the other orderlies and Brenner. Henry explains that he can't leave the facility due to the Soteria chip in his neck that tracks his movements and reports them to Brenner, and Eleven realizes she can use her powers to remove it.

With the chip removed, Henry and Eleven are confronted by the guards who have come looking for Henry. The two run but are soon cornered, with Henry using his powers to kill the guards. He takes Eleven to a store room within the facility and tells her to wait for him while he finds a way out.

In the process, Henry begins to kill the other guards and orderlies who have arrived to apprehend him and soon turns his destructive powers onto the other test subjects, killing them as well. Eleven grows impatient and leaves the storeroom to look for Henry, only to find a horrifying trail of gore and carnage throughout the facility. This leads her to the rainbow room, where she reencounters Henry and realizes he has used his powers to kill everyone.

Henry explains his motives to Eleven. However, Eleven is unable to understand and attacks Henry, locking the two in a psychic duel in which Eleven gets the upper hand. Finally, she is able to throw Henry through the two-way glass and pin him to a wall, where she begins to focus her power on him. Helpless, Henry can only watch in horror as Eleven begins using her powers to do something previously unseen. Henry's body begins to be enveloped by a bright light that starts disintegrating his body into the wall behind him, although this doesn't last long as Eleven starts to lose power.

Henry is dropped to the floor as Eleven collapses into a comatose state. Horrified and confused, Henry bolts for the door within the mirror room and exits swiftly. Running through the corridors, he comes across a terrified Melanie, who has just walked into the carnage and tells her they must leave. The two make their way to the exit as chaos breaks throughout the facility.

#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Headcanons ⊱#headcanons #⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Verse Info ⊱

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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Name: Ire Pronouns: They/them or He/him. Preference of communication: Wherever you can catch me ( Good luck ) Most active muse: This special fella right here. Experience / how many years: Tbh, I’ve been rping online since I was 13, but since 2010 on tumblr in particular. Platforms you use: Tumblr. Best experience: I’ll always fondly remember rp pre-2016. A lot of my fandoms were very, very fun and interacting back then and no one took anything too seriously. We could often get together and do silly group verses and funny crack rps and stuff, people were a lot more open to cross-overs and just goofing around and I do miss that about RP a lot because its not something I encounter often anymore. Rp pet peeves: As a villain writer ? People who only want whump out of your muse and who don’t really consider characterization or plot. Many of my muses, even though they’re antagonists, wont just attack or hurt others for no reason and those who DO have the proclivity for that ? Well you’re not gonna get whumped you’re gonna get dead. Some people get into very fetish mining territory with their want for your muse to be part of some hurt/comfort crap. My other big pet peeve is folks who try to interact but never respond to any of the starters, memes, etc, you just write for them. Like- I am not here to solo our character’s journey together. Rp is a collaborative experience ! Fluff, angst, or smut: All the above. I don’t usually get to do fluff or smut tbh with the type of muses I usually play though lol. Plots or memes: Probably memes. I’m just shit at plotting honestly. Long or short replies: Long because I always end up writing long stuff. Best time to write: Whenever the mood strikes but usually late night or early morning.

Are you like your muses: I honestly relate to Henry a lot and I share some similarities with him but obviously for most and important parts, no, lol.

Tagged by: @pcrfectstorms ❤️ Tagging: @familybyerstm, @fcntasyadvcnturc, @eddie, @kinghaargrove, @shatterxdsouls, @cleryc, @008tm !

#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Dash Games ⊱#Sorry if I tagged anyone who has already been tagged / did it !! 😭

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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Because @//strcngergirls reminded me of this, I wanted to mention that Henry does not call or think of the entity the party refers to as the “mindflayer” as the mindflayer. I’ve been meaning to write a proper headcanon post about this, and maybe I’ll talk more about it later or maybe I’ll just give you this so you know I’m so insane but so free, but essentially what he more likens it to is a god. Basically, no matter what verse, Henry tends to have a special reverence for this “thing” that he originally perceived as a child. Frankly, pre-Vecna he doesn’t fully know what it is, half the time he doesn’t even know if its real or a figment of some illness he has, but he has semi-vivid memories of something from his childhood.

These memories are of the dreams or “visions” of a “higher” being that contacted him in his childhood, which he depicted as a dark stormy void with a vaguely spider shape, as was seemingly communicated to him. Again, in pre-Vecna verses, he teeters on thinking he imagined it to knowing its “real” and he somehow communicated with it as a child. He doesn’t talk about it because he’s aware it makes him seem utterly insane, and again sometimes hes a little worried that maybe that is true, which would have made his mother right about him, and thats not something he wants to think about so this is really hard to talk about and describe for him.

But here are some descriptions of “Azathoth” from the world of HPL as I take HEAVY inspo from this being for the MF:

For example Ronald Shea enters a temple after visiting the forest near Goatswood and discovers a twenty-foot idol that "represented the god Azathoth--Azathoth as he had been before his exile. Outside, It consisted of a bivalvular shell supported on many pairs of flexible legs. From the half-open shell rose several jointed cylinders, tipped with polypous appendages; and in the darkness inside the shell I thought I saw a horrible bestial, mouthless face, with deep-sunk eyes and covered with glistening black hair." Later Shae sees "something ooze into the corridor--a pale grey shape, expanding and crinkling, which glistened and shook gelatinously as still-moving particles dropped free; but it was only a glimpse"

... ancient legends of Ultimate Chaos, at whose center sprawls the blind idiot god Azathoth, Lord of All Things, encircled by his flopping horde of mindless and amorphous dancers, and lulled by the thin monotonous piping of a demoniac flute held in nameless paws.

Outside the ordered universe is that amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity—the boundless daemon sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time and space amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes.

August Derleth portrayed Azathoth as being similar to Lucifer from Christian theology, warring against the Elder Gods and being rendered blind and witless by them before being banished from creation by their magic. At some point in the future after the second coming of Nyarlathotep, Azathoth and his armies will return and all of the entire creation will be destroyed. Despite being mindless, Azathoth does have a will of his own and commands his messenger and avatar, Nyarlathotep.

This matches a lot of “themes” and “aesthetics” I have for this blog and Henry’s connection to the mindflayer, particularly his symbiosis with it as Vecna. This also relates to the title of this blog, which comes from Annihilator’s song of the same name: Wicked Mystic.

All through out the centuries, existing year to year Lives on the powerful entity to thrive on pain and fear A derelict of heavenly gods, a feeling from within Weakened minds are perfect prey, corrosion will begin Some won't fight, the battle is forsaken Show no might, the dark side has awakened Even in the holiest the curious can be found Their wonderment is dangerous as virtue is but bound Moral codes broken What's the sin that lurks within, the burning emotion of hatred Some won't fight, the battle is forsaken Show no might, the dark side has awakened Wicked Mystic Hatred lurks in all of us, no one is exempt It's proof of evil in our souls, is this the tempter's intent A derelict of heavenly gods, a feeling from within Weak minds are perfect prey for corrosion to begin Some won't fight, the battle is forsaken Show no might, the dark side has awakened Wicked Mystic (Mystic) Wicked Mystic (Mystic) (Mystic)

Like I said, I plan to go over this again in the future and talk about it a little more in depth but yeah FOR NOW, heres the spicy preview of the bullshit I’m on.

#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Headcanons ⊱#headcanons

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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Top 5 song associations : share the top songs in your playlist that most inspire / represent your muses the most. bonus points if you include lyrics to go along with it.

( Natrually, I did more than five songs and I've already posted my whole playlist but today is just a reminder to everyone that I'm insane but I'm free so here we go )

Violence and Spiders ━ Every night when I fall asleep My mind plays tricks, and I wonder what it means - When I'm pullin' out my teeth, I can barely breathe - And the blood runs cold from my head to my feet - So I start to believe that I'm six feet deep - Locked in a box, having psychopathic dreams - Now I'm trapped in a web, wishing I was dead - With a noose around my neck - Talk about silence, and violence - And deadmen, and spiders - Monster under my bed - Can't get them out of my head. Henry coded :

Tired ━ I'm alive in here, so alive in here, pulling down a little peace - I'm open wide in here, slow to rise in here - Saving grace and killing me - You say this only makes me incomplete, I'm canceled out and rendered obsolete- Tell the mad chameleon he's not welcome anymore, I know what I'm looking for... Somewhere close, somewhere safe, Somewhere I know—I know I'll never live in chains- The one is now aware - So stay away from me—I'm just too young to care. I can see in here; I can feel in here- Comatose with common sense - I take my time in here; somebody get me out of here - What am I so against? I just want to watch the whole world burn - lost a million times and I won't learn, Show me someone innocent, I'll show you there's no proof - I may be gone, but I'm no fool...! I am the weapon ━ Who would I be if I never met, a teacher, a priest, or a prophet? What do I need? Tell me, what does it mean? Am I living or dying the dream? Youth is broken, half of it was stolen by a world I can't unsee - Youth is broken, half of it was stolen, look what you've done to me - I was a target, I was the mission, you had the power, your ammunition - Now I'm the message, this is a lesson, here in the present, I am the weapon- Now I'm the message, this is a lesson, here in the present, I am the weapon - Your concept of love and your hunger for war, tell me, which one should I die for?- 'Cause I am a product of how I was brought up, this cycle spins out of control! Carnivore ━ All my life, they let me know, how far I would not go- But inside the beast still grows, waiting, chewing through the ropes- Who are you to change this world? Silly boy, no one needs to hear your words- Let it go - Carnivore, carnivore, won't you come digest me? Take away everything I am, Bring it to an end! Carnivore, carnivore, could you come and change me? Take away everything I am, everything I am - I will hide myself below, I'll be what you wanted, kept inside, I won't let go 'til I burn beyond control!

Vecna coded: Triple Six Revolution ━ Thats enough the chains are broken, theres a hope for this change, to get out of this endless cage - Step by step this world will burn, its so close now, you're reborn - Waiting so long my power had grown, invoking and decrying your return - RISE till the world will see your eyes - You cant ask, you cant tell, so you motherfuckers better prepare - Ready for destruction, it begins the revolution - Cleanse the world corruption, triple six revolution!

Dead Ended ━ So many many names but only one is real - Lost in our madness dreaming blood and steel - I see a mirror or does it see me? Can you hear the panicked wings above? Coming from somewhere else - Is this my own end they tell me of? - Where did we go, wrong did we know that we were dead ending? - Ending dead Destroy and create, create and destroy - Our story's dead ending -Dead ended - My running nightmare is to face myself, my view of Heaven looks like someone's Hell - I see it clearer in my violent dream- Can you hear he manic screams above, coming from somewhere else? Watch this. I pretend that we're rid all this. I will end what they all love!

Alpha and Omega ━ Welcome to the truth - god made me in his image, who the fuck made you? You want my voice from me? You can have it just know, I sound like this because the devil has my throat! I make your insides shift, that is my gift the sea parts and then comes the flood - And men have died to make this, you can't imitate, shit the talent I have, I paid for in blood - I can tell you about things you'll die never having known and I can take you places you could never ever go - And I've been there so just know that death comes slow and life goes fast before you know it its through with your ass!

Human Insecticide ━ Psychotic tendencies have put me here for life - Dreams of smashing little things before they ruin my life, find means capable of smothering a flea - extermination is their end, escaping not from me - Re-ta-li-ate, de-ca-pi-tate--I love to see them bleed - A-nni-hi-late - I am human insecticide! Creepy black mass, I see one down below - Prepare to strike, act quickly now, strike the fatal blow - Extinguishing the menace, they will know my name - Destroying these, the lives of waste, delivered now to pain - Re-ta-li-ate, de-ca-pi-tate--I love to see them bleed - A-nni-hi-late - I am human insecticide! Asphyxiate the flame of life, from hatred they will die- Power kept in my control, their souls are caged with mine! Phantasmagoria ━ I have chosen you my friend, you're mine! Locked inside this frightening dream, nowhere to hide - Every night my demons you will see, an apparition festival, through hell you'll ride - Phantasmagoria! Sleep well! Phantasmagoria! In hell! Someone here is calling out your name, look out, I play inside your brain- Fleeing from my shadows, you'll never pass my test - Don't you know that ghosts never rest? Phantasmagoria! Sleep well! Phantasmagoria! In hell! Approaching you writhe, we take control unholy inquisition, sentence very cold - My servants, demons, take you down the hole -Your mind destroyed now I want your soul! Bonus, bonus for the entire aesthetic: Die Alone ━ We buried it well, no revealing tell, where the horns above impale the sky - Forsaken born thorn in our side - Warn no one, no warning - Our memory just fades away, and the worn wears away - We'll keep it all for us, imagine every answer, with no one in our way, dividing as we conquer and end up far away from, Dies irae, dies illa solvet ( "The day of wrath, that day. will disssolve the world in ashes." ) Cycle on, saeclum ,cyclone, circling, Circuit down - In river we drown, by storm we are bound, shut down, DOWN, STOP! Running from becoming one, you carve it out of stone - your mystery to live and die - You are alone! - You are alone! Become the one, and find someone to end the waiting The Gift ━ Up in the sky - Down-wind another light goes dim, and I know it's him reigning like a storm again deep inside of me- Light of my life, find my shadow wandering in my mind now all the threads will unwind when all the stars are aligned - And I need time to break all the mirrors - But my mind is in pieces and not ready to make it clearer - Upon a time, down in a little room made just for me I heard them - Whispering my name - And taking you away - Pain isn't the only gift I'll give you slowly, but I'll give it wholly and solely to you -I've come to find mind and matter wandering without time - Then all the flowers combined with all the souls that went blind to see again - Time to make it all clearer, and if time never ceases I'll be ready to break the mirror One-one-five ━ No one can see me and I've lost all feeling and I know I won't die alone - I'll stop you from breathing and all your deceiving and this house is not my home - No more forgiveness - No! And the reason is I know I wont die alone - I have returned! And everyone dies and everyone lies, they're waiting for the second coming again - Everyone tries to hold onto their lives - when no one's alive - bring me 115 - You stand for nothing and overlooked something, I'll bring you down all on my own - I'm the end I can taste it, I'll justify hatred - I am the chosen one, left hand of all that's sacred- No more forgiveness- No! I'll bring you death and pestilence, I'll bring you down on my own. I have returned! And everything dies Look to the skies to see the end of all creation again - See with your eyes, my army of flies, when no one's alive

Tagged by: No one, I stole it! Tagging: Everyone :)

#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Dash Games ⊱#ofc my henry/vecna playlist goes way too hard but I'm not here to be casual #this is my fav bangers on it :)

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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✨🧡🌙SEND THIS TO TEN OTHER BLOGGERS YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THE GAME GOING ✨

Tysm, anon !

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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I think I mentioned this once before in passing but I wanted to mention it again. The one and only time Henry was ever actually “diagnosed” with anything despite having a long history of difficulties with school and thus repeated doctor’s consultations, was after moving to Hawkins, fairly late into the month. They diagnosed him with childhood schizophrenia. Obviously this was a misdiagnosis but it was the 50s and it was common for ASD to be misdiagnosed this way back then. That being said, one of the big factors in Henry’s diagnosis was his “strange thinking” and “unusual perceptions.” If you’ve read my post here, you know I have a running theory that the being known as the Mindflayer by the party ( Who I perceive to be the Stranger Things version of The Serpent from DnD ) was able to “commune” with Henry long before he ever got to the Upside Down thanks to Henry’s latent psychic abilities and this was thus what really woke those abilities and certainly amplified them in a way we haven’t seen with any other psychic character in the series. ( Once again, look up DnD Vecna and “The Serpent” from DnD, I promise it all makes perfect sense )

Henry kind of. . . Did try to express to his parents what he was “experiencing” but of course this was extremely difficult for him because unlike Will, Henry’s environment wasn’t a loving, open, accepting one. Henry’s mother didn’t believe him or take him seriously on anything and this was a pre-established thing which made it hard for Henry to actually try to communicate anything with his family in the first place. No, He didn’t really know how to explain it but most pressingly the knowing that no one would understand or even want to understand or believe him meant Henry was withdrawn, defensive, deflective and standoffish even if he really did want to talk to his family and be “more cooperative” with them, so to speak. On top of this, Henry found himself frustrated by his family's “superstitions” particularly when his own attempts to explain where thought of with such concern.

Victor was the only one who kind of gave Henry any heed but even then Henry wasn’t taken very seriously by the family at large and again, a lot of the goings on of the house were blamed on a “demon” which Henry had a lot of contempt for given he knew a lot of the things in the house that were upsetting his family were coming more from him and his anger with them, but he couldn’t really explain how or why he suddenly knew the things he did or could do the things he could do, or could see the things he could see. In his retelling in the show, Victor explicitly confirms that he could see “[Henry] knew something was wrong.”

When Will is “possessed” by the Mindflayer in season 2, he talks about how he suddenly knows things, things that he didn’t know before but he doesn’t know how he knows them. I imagine Henry encountered a similar phenomenon when he was subconsciously linked to the Mindflayer entity in his childhood. Henry began to know things he couldn’t explain and he did “SEE” the Mindflayer cloud in dreams / visions as well.

None the less, Henry's “diagnosis” at the back end of all this was the big factor in his mother deciding to contact Brenner, who at the time was labeled a leading “expert” in the “human mind” as back in the 50s, neurodivergence and mental illness was not well understood and due to the societal and political climate, particularly in the US, Virginia saw institutionalizing Henry as the “best option”.

#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Headcanons ⊱#headcanons #ableism cw

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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Omg ? This is so sweet, ily2 ! I hope you're having a great holidays ❤️

#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Keepsakes ⊱#❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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Anyway this post this post this post this post going mad about this post because YES this is so, so close to the mark for me but to add something and something I often think about from my own analysis / hc particularly on Henry:

Also think there is definitely something to be said about how Vecna preys on his victims shown in S4. Yes, he targets those with trauma and he “hurts” them but there is this weird, freaky "soothing” quality about it. On more than one occasion he’s shown comforting them. He tortures them but he’s telling them he's going to free them, he's going to take their pain away. I’m not sure how to completely explain, I’m not smart, but its very reminiscent to me of the way Dr. Brenner manipulates the children, he makes them think their suffering is their fault but he has this creepy ass mother gothel esque quality to all of it that serves to manipulate the victim into thinking that he cares about them and what he’s doing has some kind of love / kindness behind it. That he's only hurting them because he has to. Because they’ve forced his hand. Keeping in mind Brenner was a psychiatrist. He was VERY good at fucking with people’s heads.

Vecna’s attack methods seem to mimic this in how he tortures them mentally and emotionally. He starts with making the victim question reality, then he emotionally abuses the victim, exaggerates their feelings of guilt and self loathing, breaks them down. He traps them and finally the physical assault and torture begins. When the victim “gives in” and dies, its over, they’re “free.” They’re no longer trapped waiting to end it. That also mirrors Henry’s experiences. He spent all his time trapped. Suffering. Waiting. Waiting for it to end. Freedom came for him in the form of death or ... Unlife.

and through all this he’s ‘comforting’ them in various ways, he tells them he’s going to take their pain away, he’s ending their suffering. Speeding up the inevitable. He’s “helping” them somehow. Like somehow this is a kindness. I don’t think it would be a stretch of the imagination to think that this pattern comes from Henry’s own abuse. It starts with the gaslighting, making the subject question their reality, then the emotional abuse, judgement, blame, belittlement and finally the physical assault / agony > then freedom.

So suffice it to say Vecna’s personal attack ritual probably goes like this because its a super twisted projection of the pattern Henry internalized from his own life experiences, particularly with Brenner while he was human.

and honestly I think El’s confrontation with Benner in “Papa” shows Benner gaslighting and emotionally abusing El in a way VERY reminiscent of the middle stage of a Vecna attack so this seems to be right on the mark. Moreover, we also know Vecna has psychic power so great he can APPERENTLY see the future. He’s shown it to Nancy and on a related note during this scene we see another moment of Henry’s own suffering. He straps her to a chair and we see then that this is another twisted protection of something Henry experienced himself. In the same scenes we see Vecna as Henry when he was a little boy, he's strapped in a chair and Brenner is tattooing his arm putting the number “001″ on it. Henry is visibly scared and in pain, he's been strapped to a chair to hold him still while this is going on so we know its all entirely against his will. All the while what is Brenner doing ? Kindly assuring him everything is okay and there is nothing to be afraid of and this isn’t so bad. Again this seems to link back to Vecna’s attacks on his victims where, despite brining them pain, he’s “kindly comforting” them as well as if the suffering he’s inflicting on them is ultimately for a “good” reason.

So I have a bit of a theory if Henry/Vecna can see the future somehow and he only started attacking these very particular victims at this very particular time maybe we can think that the reason he chose them to “end their suffering” in particular is because he sees suicide in their future. The whole “Vena’s curse” thing is def an analogy to falling mental health, isolation and suicide outside of canon but its possible that this was going to be the ‘future’ of these characters IN canon, which I can FULLY believe. It would explain why those particular victims were chosen.

NEXTLY, because I’m out here throwing my insane theories around I want to mention this too: I think there is something “important” in how Henry and Vecna claims his victims aren't really gone. This pre-dates Henry’s time as Vecna so its not a Vecna-only quality. Henry tells Eleven that all the other test subjects aren't really gone. They’re still with him “in here”, pointing to his head. He never gets to explain what he means by this and maybe we should take it as just he means he wont forget them but I’m not sure that is the case.

I’ve mentioned this before but I have a theory that he means this more literally. This ties into Vecna/Henry’s method of killing. The way the characters theorize Vecna’s not just killing he's “absorbing” his victims. The aesthetic is to draw parallels to a spider dissolving and consuming the insides of a meal, leaving nothing but a empty husk but I think its deeper because freaky supernatural psychic mind fantasy horror stuff. Vecna ( and Henry ) leaves his victims body as mangled husks after “sucking” out what's inside them and assimilates it into himself, meaning, in some way, they're psychically connected to him. They’re not really gone, as he literally says, their physical bodies are dead but it might indicate that their mental / spiritual selves, THEIR SOULS if you will, still exist within some kind of pocket realm within Vecna / Henry somewhere.

Which may also be why Vecna, in particular, assures his victims he’s freeing them, viewing himself as their savior. Why the whole thing is kind of portrayed to be some kind of twisted mercy by him. Like he’s doing them a service. He’s killing them, at least in our very physical plane of existence but is he ? Is he if he’s keeping their spiritual forms in some other realm ? It would make sense if you think that Vecna hates the physical world as we know it. He views it as a broken, cruel, oppressive place that needs to be torn down and reset. It would make sense that he must see what he’s doing as a mercy, he’s destroying the physical body but perhaps “rescuing” the soul from crossing into oblivion or whatever other world a soul might drift away to upon the loss of the body and putting them somewhere he deems “better” ?

I mean it might not be the case but it seems it might not be a completely insane theory either if you consider how we last see Max. Elven was able to psychically interfere with this process and stop her body from dying but Max “slips” into a “coma.” Later, when Eleven tries to reach into Max’s mind she can’t find her. Max’s mind is completely empty. Its just Eleven standing in an empty space. This could indicate that Max’s coma was brought on by the fact her spiritual / soul self has been “captured/stolen” by Vecna. The one difference between her and Vecna’s other victims being Eleven was able to stop him from completely destroying Max’s body thus killing her in the physical world, at least, giving her a vessel to come back to from wherever she might be if this theory holds any truth.

( Also side note: I don’t think Henry/Vecna collects the “”Souls”” of all his victims. There are some he just outright kills. But the children from the lab and his main victims throughout s4 like Chrissy and Max were definitely “soul snatch” moments if any of this is true. )

LASTLY. Since I’ve finally discovered the like handful of smart people in the fandom and I’ve seen some good posts talking about inspos in ST things like starwars, the nightmare on elms street, IT, and Harry potter in dealing with some of ST’s themes and dynamics I would like to offer some personal points of reference of my own. I’m not saying these are what canon was going for but they’re def places I draw from so:

Silent hill : Alessa > Cheryl > the “otherworld” Henry > William > the upside down ( I actually need to unleash my unhinged thoughts about this but I think these parallels sum it up without me doing that just yet BUT I WILL PROB DO IT IN TIME )

Carrie. Self explanatory.

Xmen : Gene Grey > Phoenix force / Dark phoenix Henry > the entity / mind-flayer

and VERY VAUGELY Elfen Lied. Look it up, I’m not going into it in this post. SJJFKDF.

#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Headcanons ⊱#headcanons

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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Its headcanons day so first up:

Henry had a lot of books as a child which I don’t think should come as any surprise. He liked comic strips too. His most favrioutes were the crime / detective genre and ofc the horror ones, which his mother was very against so he would just hide them from her or else she would throw them out and rant about how they’re bad for him. Henry’s taste in books was similar, he particularly had a lot of books involving the paranormal and supernatural, though most of these books were ‘suppose’ to be of a more serious nature and more non-fictional, unlike his comics.

The lure of these books for Henry were not just a sympathy toward and appreciation toward the darkness but the fact was Henry was a little boy who realized he could do things that other people couldn’t. Things that were “frowned” upon and made people “afraid” of him. Henry learned very early on in discovering his “powers’ that it was better to mostly keep them a secret. None the less, he actively searched for things like himself and things that might explain why he was the way he was. The closest Henry found to this were books that talked about the paranormal and supernatural, particularly those regarding witches and witch craft.

Another book Henry is very fond of is a book called the Children of the Atom. It tells the story of a group of children who were given psychic powers after their parents were caught in an explosion at an atomic weapons factory. In the early years this book was actually how Henry tried to understand and at least “coped” with Dr. Brenner’s imprisonment of him until he began to realize very clearly that Brenner was not as well meaning as Dr. Welles from the book, but none the less the existence of this book was a potent tool in keeping Henry “susceptible” for some years after his ‘kidnapping’ by Brenner.

A running theme in Henry’s life was his family’s disapproval of the things he found comfort in which is hugely why Henry was so ‘disconnected’ from his family and always, ALWAYS felt the need to “hide” things from them. Almost everything personal to himself Henry tended to hide or refused to really talk about with them. Henry never really kept the spider’s as pets, per se, but he did keep them sometimes to use them as visual references for his drawings of them. Much to the bane of his parents who thought that was just insane behaviour. Typically Henry would keep his spiders for a couple days so he could draw them and then he would release them and find more, rinse and repeat. He also had the knowing that if his spiders were found his mother would probably enlist his father to kill them so actually keeping them as pets was dangerous for the spiders.

Henry was never a fan of things like Halloween or Christmas. He wasn’t big on crowds of people, he didn’t have any friends to spend Halloween with and he didn’t really like a lot of the candy. Henry was a woefully picky and difficult eater. There were some candies and foods Henry would try but others he would take one look out and flat out refuse to touch. Trying to make him eat them wouldn’t work, you simply could not convince him.

He hates having his hair done too. Big source of strife for Henry as a child. Every day Virginia considered herself gods strongest solider because she managed to hold Henry still and get that pomade into his hair and slick it down while he hated and opposed almost every moment of it, thus making him look like a proper and presentable child which was super important because the 50s sure was a time.

Needless to say Henry rarely ever went trick-or-treating as a kid. A few times he went with Alice and his parents when they were younger but as Alice got older and more independent, and less interested in baby sitting her weird little brother, and Henry failed to really make friends of his own he just wound up preferring to stay at home.

After moving to Hawkins Henry spent a lot of time in the attic. This part of the house was generally considered “creepy” and thus Alice never ventured up there, nor did his mother. Henry wasn’t suppose to go up there either but given it was a space nearly guaranteed to be devoid of his other family member’s that's where Henry migrated to spend most of his time rather than being in his room as had once been the case.

He basically treated it as his own little cubby house where he would keep his spiders, books, comics, art-projects, sketch books, pencils etc and other things he liked, particularly if he wanted to keep them away from his mother and sister. He also kept matches and multiple candles and hurricane lamps so he could be up there during the night when it was very dark. He found this was a good place to practise his powers as well because it was free of distractions.

#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Headcanons ⊱#headcanons

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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Okay so TBH I wanted to try write a better response to this but I feel like if I don’t try to write it now it’ll never get done and I ALREADY FEEL BAD for putting this on the backburner, omg, I’m so sorry anon. Anyway, I’m not saying this is canon or what canon intended, this is just my personal take on what the clocks are all about. Remember, I’m not smart so if this doesn’t make any sense I’m really sorry lol.

My interpretation of the clocks is BASCIALLY that Henry is very much not a fan of social constructs. Keeping in mind that Henry’s time of living was 50s-80s. If you think the world is an oppressive shit hole now boy do I have news for you; it was a thousand times worse in Henry’s time. Its largely due to social constructs that Henry suffered as he did, as someone who was an outcast to social norms and was unable to completely conform to societies ridged view of right and normal because ists and phobes are still a thing now, they were a lot worse then.

“Time” represents humanities greatest social construct of all and clocks symbolize time. Moreover, Henry would practice his psionic abilities on the grandfather clock that existed in his childhood home. He would use his mind to wind the hands back and forth as he wanted. This was a big moment for Henry in my HC because it was the first time he was able to consciously and purposely manipulate a “physical” thing with his powers and also it came with the realization that he could essentially check out of societies expectations of him because he had powers unlike anything else in society.

GOING DEEPER AGAIN, I view the clocks as also symbolic of Henry’s imprisonment. He was trapped the Hawkins Lab for 20 years. He spent 20 years of his life just waiting for that nightmare to end. He didn’t know how the end would come, he didn’t know if he would grow old and die or if he would be killed, or if something miraculous would happen and he would be freed somehow. MY personal interpretation that I’ve got going on until canon tells me something different says Henry was trapped in a place where clocks and lights were a conduit to reality, to the real world, the world outside of the lab. In that lab, time was all Henry had. Both things have become symbolic to Henry as a result.

The same remains true of his time as Vecna, in the upside down. He spent years wandering the upside down, evolving, learning, honing his powers and chipping away at the barrier between Hawkins and the upside down, with the goal of eventually breaking though.

Merging Hawkins with the upside down kind of represents a sort of a “propaganda of the deed,” but in a way that seems true to the horror genre with the aesthetic kind of being that's he’s become an agent of doom, he’s heralding in the “end” of the world (as it currently is) in which an “end” is considered the furthest part to the flow of time and therefore can also be represented by a clock. Each victim brings him closer, each victim is symbolized by the chiming of the clock. Four being the magic number might also be symbolic of the four points of time/day: Morning, afternoon, evening and night.

I mentioned before, in my POV, a lot of Henry’s manifestations as Vecna are symbolic to him on a very personal level. He’s walking psychological horror, and he very much represents PSTD, depression and trauma, abuse, suicidal tendencies, etc and these were intentional themes outside of canon and most of are things Henry suffered himself in canon. Things that had an emotional/mental/physical impact on Henry as a human are repeated and projected outwardly through Vecna and Vecna’s “curse”.

Like you said the spiders are obvious but THIS is how the clocks factor into him in my opinion. Like the spiders they mean something to him on a personal level but everything that meant something to Henry has become very twisted and ominous as Vecna.

ANYWAY I hope that made sense! I’m not saying its COMPLETELY canon but its what I’ve been reading from canon so far. In conclusion: Henry/Vecna is not just a senseless monster, he’s the radical leftist activist that turns to terrorism to make the centric protagonists look good: Horror genre edition. Literally he’s the horror genre’s version of M*gneto or Erik Killm*nger. Its a hill I guess I’m gonna have to die on but at least I know JCB is ready to die on it with me:

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firstcurse-moved · 1 year

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ANOTHER messy headcanons post because I wanted to mention a couple little things I’ve had on my mind. Some of these are more "solid" for me in terms of headcanons and things that will possibly come up in Henry's background, but others are kind of just work in progress, headcanons that could possibly be changed as I think more and explore more of him. Firstly, I was honestly going to try to write a little drabble about Henry’s powers as a child but I realize I’m too busy and scatter brained to do that as of late so I’m just going to summarize a few things:

For Henry it started out with lights. He was about 6 or 7 when he realized he could manipulate his bedside lamp, causing it to flicker in or out. Henry’s powers didn't seem to be crazy remarkable at this point and interfering with lights was the only thing Henry thought he could do but he didn’t think much about it. Next, Its been implied by canon that the Creels moved to Hawkins because something happened with Henry.

Henry had always struggled at school from both being socially ostracize and just not really clicking with a lot the school's curriculum. He had a few issues with executive function and so he was considered a difficult, oversensitive child by his teachers who didn’t have much more understanding or empathy for Henry’s differences than his peers who just thought he was too weird or off-putting.

Henry was the quiet, slightly stubborn ( although not intending to be malicious ) child who preferred to send his time drawing, colouring or reading since he found everything else ( Studies, social interaction ) difficult and stressful. Henry always used his art as a type of escapism and he tended to go everywhere with a sketch book and coloring books so he could just draw or color whenever he was bored or needed something to “distract” himself with. Henry’s persistence to just do these particular activities helped cause issues with his teachers and interfered with his schooling as well.

Despite the fact that Henry was an extremely smart kid on the occasions and subjects he was able to apply himself to. His problem was that his application and engagement with school was sporadic at best. and it was obviously this intelligence and the things that Henry COULD do that made his teachers think he was just inherently difficult and liked to be troublesome on purpose.

One day some other children decided they would be particularly mean to him, which Henry wasn’t any stranger to, but trying to take his books and pencils from him set off a scuffle between Henry and the other children involved. Henry doesn’t remember exactly what happened, he ‘blacked out’ but whatever it was it resulted in the relatively minor eye injury of another boy and the other children present fearing him from whatever they witnessed. Which was really just an upset Henry's powers doing psychical damage to someone for the first time.

None of the other children could explain what Henry did. The principal and teachers decided Henry must have given the other kid a mighty hard slog in the eye. Henry continually told them he didn't remember but they didn't believe him, which, along with the "fear" from the other children made the entire situation a real mess. He was in trouble not just for the "violent act" but also the fact they thought he was lying about not remembering / knowing what exactly he did.

This, coupled with other factors surrounding Virginia and Victor, made the Creels decide the best cause of action was to move their asses to Hawkins and everything seemed to line up to make the "Fresh start" in Hawkins happen as if it was all just meant to be.

Henry didn't want to move, particularly because this caused a serious strain in his already tenuous relationship with his sister, Alice, because, as a 13 year old girl at the time who was the polar opposite of Henry ( Outgoing, extroverted, popular ), she was furious she had to leave all her friends and other things she loved and she interpreted this as all Henry's fault and was very resentful to him over it.

A couple of interesting things here are that, as far as canon goes, it seems Victor was kind of oblivious to Henry's powers, while Virginia somehow knew of them but I’m not sure what way to come at that just yet. My idea of Victor is that he really did love his son, he was probably on Henry's side more than anyone's. But I'm just not sure if he was aware Henry had powers, but whatever the case I think he had the most empathy for Henry. The problem with Victor though was that he was literally a war-vet with extreme, unmanaged PTSD which caused "other" issues that the children like Henry and Alice didn't know of. For example, I HC Victor had trouble holding down a job which probably caused some strain in the family that was blamed on Henry and his powers. On top of this its been suggested Virginia was not faithful in their marriage. For some reason Alice’s birthday is a year before Victor came back from the war which makes things a little weird. This going along with Henry’s admission that his parents were both bad people somehow. We know with Victor this was in reference to his actions during the war. What Virginia did isn’t quite as clear.

None the less, both Henry and Victor were dealing with "invisible disabilities" at the end of the day that were completely misunderstood and demonized by society particularly at this point in time. It was just easier to blame the child that was always a little “different” than it was to blame the husband that was seemingly normal until he got mad traumatized, as a very basic outline here. ( Like its complicated but thats the basics, Henry wasn't the only person contributing to issues in the Creel house, he was just the easiest target for blame. Moreover, neither of them deserved any kind of blame because no one was at fault here. Henry couldn’t help being autistic and Victor couldn’t help having PTSD. )

I also imagine probably due to his PSTD and just generally being a well-meaning dude, Virginia was the one wearing the pants in their relationship and she was a little domineering, and I get this read from the fact it seemed that even though it was important for Virginia to keep up the perfect 50s house wife façade, that's exactly what this was. A facade. Social constructs be wildin like that sometimes. Victor was kind of non-confrontational with his wife and tended to just check out of conflict. He supported Henry as best he could but ultimately he was a "peace keeper" between his wife and daughter, and Henry, and so Henry often ended up feeling like his father was on their side even if that wasn't really the case.

There was probably a clear case of favoritism going on in the Creel house between Henry and Alice.

Not to say that I feel like Virginia's intentions were entirely bad in her treatment of Henry and her desire to “fix him.” This was just how it was in the 50s. I think she thought she was doing the best thing for Henry each time. Conformity was enforced and important not so much to be cruel but more because thats where she thought safety for Henry and the rest of her family was. Something she wouldn't have been entirely wrong about.

This all obviously coming to the WORST possible conclusion after moving to Hawkins and Henry's powers drastically increasing. Henry was always kind of out of sorts about his family and knowing he was the "black sheep." The one who struggled to hide his differences while his family all seemed to be completely normal which he truly believed for a time. So he always felt terrible and believed he was the root of their problems. While Henry had a sense of self and an idea that maybe he wasn't the bad guy, and really just wished he could be more accepted, he always felt that he was somehow bad also and that felt to be role he was always given, emphasized by his failure to thrive socially and his doctor's and teachers negative opinions on him, along with his mother's apparent growing aversion, his sister's contempt and his father's occasional distance and frequent inconsistency.

But after he was able to develop the ability to read minds Henry sees into his families memories and their innermost thoughts. He discovers his mother hates him, which is an even more extreme betrayal than he felt before (Its also possible Henry discovered his mother’s suggested infidelity). He gets his little ass traumatized by witnessing the war in all its horrific glory through his father's memories, and he basically ends up discovering his perfect family that have been kind of happy to criticize him are not even entirely the people they're pretending to be either. They just hid their flaws better than he could. Which only increased all his negative feelings on them.

and I think the implication is Victor didn't know that Virginia was in contact with Brenner either. And that if the cheating is canon he either didn’t know or refused to believe it. Though I don't think Henry would know his father didn’t know about Brenner so he probably assumed his father was complicit in all that. I have a sneaking suspicion that Henry "spared" his father due to the fact that while he never knew that his father WAS his true ally, he kind of got the impression his father was better to him than his mother or sister. As a child who wasn't actually a criminal mastermind and probably wouldn't know a single thing about the prison system, let alone the asylum Victor actually ended up in, he probably thought Victor going to jail wasn't really going to be the horrendous thing it turned out to be. THIS or oppositely Henry’s anger toward his father was greater than his mother and sister for similar reasons.

Which on that thought, its also interesting that Henry ( As Vecna at least ) is aware of his father's fate. Makes me wonder if Henry discovered it as Vecna or if he was made aware of it before that. Which is gonna bring me to Brenner. I think its possible and highly likely that Brenner could have informed Henry somewhere down the line of his father's "condition". Why we don't know, but given Brenner is the king of gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss it was probably not done out of kindness.

and on the topic of Brenner another curious thing is that he knows not just about Henry's powers but that Henry was the real murderer of his mother and sister. He also knows that Henry's developed some kind of demonic soul-eating ability through his powers. These aren't things Brenner should just know, or things I think he would be able to deduce if Henry didn't either attempt to explain it to him or if he didn't possibly witness it at some point, although I’m leaning more toward the former.

We have no idea what Henry's time as a child test subject looked like. Its implied however that Brenner didn't trust him and had some difficulty "controlling" him. I personally interpret a lot of that as Henry naturally having some executive function issues and just generally, he wasn't as easy to manipulate as Brenner would have liked. I’m getting this from Henry telling Eleven he found using his powers very hard as a test subject and had difficulties just like she was having.

It seemed to me more that Henry DID try to follow Brenner's "rules" and he did possibly even trust Brenner at some point when he was younger but learned differently. Which resulted in Brenner deeming him a failure and thus attempting to "recreate" him in younger, more malleable subjects.

I headcanon that due to the life full of various abuses by Brenner and his colleagues, Henry has some very complicated feelings on Brenner. Some part of him, even as he grew older, wanted to impress him. At the very least Henry never stopped feeling like he had something to prove to Brenner.

I mean, Henry was the one, pun intended. He had the power to do whatever Brenner wanted and then some. There is a deep sense of anger and betrayal Henry felt to be thought of as a failure just because Brenner wanted those powers to himself without regard for Henry’s personal feelings or autonomy, and its also deeply troubling for Henry to have to witness as Brenner constantly tries to replicate him in other children that, with the exception of maybe Eleven, didn't hold a candle to him.

So far my personal headcanon is kind of a long the lines that Henry was in a very similar situation as El. After he woke up from his coma he was having a bit of trouble with his powers, which is why Brenner's ass didn't get crumbled the moment Henry woke up and realized where he was. So Brenner presented himself as someone who would help Henry, coaxed him along with this idea that he was a protector and ally, which Henry initially brought, because no one had ever acted so accepting toward Henry before. Henry did try to help Brenner at least for a while believing he was being helped in return. We saw with Eleven that Brenner was very good at convincing people he was helping them even while actively doing them harm.

But it seems Henry realized how to control his powers on his own and that emotions were a key part of it. And it seems Brenner probably betrayed Henry somewhere along this line by somehow subduing him and having the soteria chip implanted in his neck to keep him contained. Its almost hard to imagine how Brenner would have been able to subdue someone with Henry's level of power if Henry didn't have some kind of trust in Brenner and this trust wasn't used against him in a very similar way to how we see Brenner treat El in "Papa".

Even though El could snap this man in half he’s able to get the jump on her and restrain her thought gaslighting her and presenting himself as a caring ally until he’s able to get close enough to her to physically subdue her with with a tranquilizer.

Basically, I think Henry and Brenner did have a really weird, but complex and toxic father-son type relationship just like it was shown Brenner and El had a complicated, toxic, Father-daughter relationship. There was trust there. Trust that was routinely broken but even still these violations of trust were presented as "for ones own good". So Henry expereinces some "symptoms" of Stockholm syndrome on occasion when it comes to Brenner as well. Henry thinks he understands Brenner, he sympathizes with him on some levels, even if sometimes the sympathy Henry feels is probably more “pity” than anything.

He knows Brenner is bad, of course, just like Eleven learned it in the end. But this kind of abuse is very insidious because it bonds the victim and the abuser and sometimes no matter how well the victim begins to understand or recognize the abuse its not uncommon that they still accidently fall back into the abusers clutches. Even though Henry was placed under soteria and given the "privilege" of being able to work at the lab as an orderly, he was also routinely subjected to abuse and humiliation by the guards and other orderlies, often under Brenner's direct approval. Being in the constant position of being gaslit into believing this was a good thing and a privilege while also facing the reality that you're less than dirt will have that effect, basically.

Basically, I think Brenner knew all the things he knew about Henry because there was a point where Henry, as a child and perhaps a teenager, did have some trust for Brenner and probably shared his goals and "powers" with Brenner and things he had done / could do. Which may also explain how Brenner was able to “learn” so much previous to the lab massacre. Because I mean. Brenner’s not the expert here, his whole point was he was trying to learn things. Things Henry knew and had experienced.

As as a side note this could also explain why Brenner specifically advises the test subjects against using their emotions along side their powers, which is the contradicting advice Henry gives to Eleven and what gave her the edge over Two. Brenner wanted them to get “stronger” but only strong enough for him to use them for his own means. Not strong enough for them to ever be able to resist him. As soon as Brenner realized Henry was strong enough to resist him he had him neutralized, rendering him “useless”, despite him having all the power Brenner wanted to study and more. Moreover, even after Henry was “naturalized” he was kept under strict supervision and control at all times.

Just like El, Henry has spent more years of his life imprisoned and abused by Brenner and the facility than he spent free. But unlike El, Henry never found friends, or acceptance, or support or people to love, protect and help him, which is the major difference between Henry and everyone else. Henry just got himself, his weird state of unlife, his profound rage and a big ol malevolent entity from another dimension that hes gonna use to take revenge on the world for all the cruelty it gave him and all the good it denied him.

#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Out Of Character ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: 🕸️ * ● 𝐈 ° ━◞ Headcanons ⊱#headcanons

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