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theladyrebecca2 · 1 year

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Flashbackgate [HP x ST]

If we’re right about the direction of Byler in S5 - (my instincts are screaming we are!!!) - then I really do think we’re gonna get the ‘Mike is Not Straight plot-twist’ shown via a series of flashbacks/memories. Why? Well, because we got that with Snape in Harry Potter. That might sound weird, but please hear me out - for those who don’t like seeing discourse about the parallels between Stranger Things and HP, I’ll be sure to tag this post appropriately so it can be blocked/hidden/quickly scrolled past so you can continue on with your day <3

Ok so, we all know that the Duffer Bros take inspiration from (and purposefully mimic) a lot of previous media in their scenes and storylines, especially those from the 1980s and 1990s, which would be most nostalgic and special to them and their generation. The list is pretty gargantuan, but if I had to guess the main ones, it would be: Stephen King’s IT - the aesthetics, supernatural arc, villain, characters, character arcs/relationships, even prop usage (e.g. importance of The Letter/The Painting) - there is so much here.

Harry Potter - the overall theme (the power of love - more on this later), the storyline pacing, supernatural elements, villain, and potentially character arcs/relationships too. Honourable mentions: E.T, Star Wars, Labyrinth, Dawsons Creek

The Duffer Bros have actually admitted a few times that they were heavily inspired by Harry Potter when creating Stranger Things, which is why I think it’s important to analyse it.

Finn, the ‘third, mini-Duffer’ who likely knows major spoilers at this point, has also mentioned HP in a few of his interviews: the most recent and notable of which when asked about the future of Mike and El’s relationship. Finn instead deflected and brought up HP completely independently, comparing the series’ end to how everyone has to leave Hogwarts in the end, and that he’s interested to know who will stay and who will go [from Hawkins]. Exploring potential new parallels from the ending of HP could offer interesting insights into what could happen in ST S5.

Here are some existing parallels that we already know of, which set up similar roles in ST:

Voldemort & Vecna

Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort == Henry Creel/Lord Vecna (Eddie even refers to the DnD character as ‘Lord Vecna’ in his DnD game) Both are sensitive, gifted children with sinister motives and ideologies. Not only do they look physically similar, their ‘final forms’ also both happen to be noseless, lol

Tom Riddle murdered his father at a young age, and Henry did the same with his mother. Neither of them are capable of understanding love (important for later).

The HP books even specifically mention Tom hanging a rabbit from the rafters in the orphanage, and we’re shown Henry killing a rabbit in S4.

Tom has an affinity for snakes; Henry to spiders.

When older, both Tom and Henry are depicted as polite, disarming, intelligent, attractive and even likeable young men - but who are actually master manipulators, viewing people as nothing more than chess pieces they can move around a board to their advantage.

Harry Potter & El / Will Interestingly, both El and Will have narrative parallels with Harry’s role in the overall story, especially in regards to the hero vs villain connections. We’re presented with the idea of a “Chosen one” who is destined to defeat the evil force. El is the more obvious hero in the narrative by being the one who initially takes down Henry, shares his ‘magical’ abilities, and has origin overlaps with him from the lab.

However, Will is also undeniably paralleled with Henry - just look at this post which clearly illustrates how Will is a clear character foil for Henry. Again, this is normally reserved for the hero, just as Harry was Tom Riddle’s character foil.

The power of love, and Harry’s ability to understand and cherish it (unlike Tom) is the ultimate reason for his victory.

Again, I’ll come back to this in a little bit, because it’s super important as we look ahead at S5.

Season 2

Harry’s scar hurt when he sensed Voldemort == Will’s neck prickles when he senses the MF/Vecna

Harry shared a telepathic connection with Voldemort, meaning he could ‘spy’ on him == Will shares a telepathic connect with the MF/Vecna, meaning he can ‘spy’ on him

The telepathic connection was used by Voldemort to his advantage, which lead to a major character death: Sirius, a father figure == The telepathic connection was used in S2 to the MF/Vecna’s advantage, and leads to a major character death: Bob, a father figure

Voldemort exits Professor Quirrel’s body as black smoke before mysteriously escaping == MF exits Will’s body as black smoke before mysteriously escaping

Aragog, a giant monstrous spider == the MF takes the form of a giant monstrous spider

Season 3

“[Wormtail’s] filthy little [rat] friends told him there was a place, deep in an Albanian forest, that they avoided, where small animals like themselves had met their deaths by a dark shadow that possessed them." == the Meatflayer possessing and using rats to create a new form

Season 4 (the parallels really amped up at this point)

Chamber of Secrets starts with a chapter titled ‘The Worst Birthday’, where it seems that everyone completely forgot about Harry’s birthday == if intentional, it also seems that everyone completely forgot Will’s birthday. (This may or may not have a narrative meaning explored in S5)

Victims are mysteriously targeted and found ‘petrified’, one by one

Harry is saved by his mothers love in his first encounter with Voldemort. He prevails, and Voldemort is thought to be defeated, but the reality is that he’s regaining his strength, biding his time, and working to become even more powerful than before == we learn that El is saved by her mothers love in her first encounter with Vecna. She prevails, and Vecna is thought to be defeated, but he was actually regaining his strength, biding his time, and becoming even more powerful than before.

This amazing El/Will/Mike airport scene parallel with the Harry/Ron/Hermione scene in the Chamber of Secrets

Neville slays Nagini with a medieval fantasy style sword == Hopper slays the Demogorgan with a medieval fantasy style sword (random nerd fact: it was the exact same prop used in the 80′s Conan films!). Even the camera angles are similar.

Voldemort holds Harry against his will in a graveyard == Vecna holds El against her will in his personal mindscape ‘graveyard’

Dementors (part of Voldemort’s army) prey on bad memories, but good memories (casting a Patronus) can be used as protection to keep them at bay == Vecna preys on bad memories, but good memories can be used as protection to keep him at bay

The Pensieve: reviews memories to provide perspective on Tom Riddle’s origins == The Nina Project: reviews memories to provide perspective on Henry Creel’s origins.

Season 5

So what can we draw from the final narratives of HP that could give us clues as to how the Duffers will finish up ST? Voldemort was defeated by:

1) The Main Hero (Harry) 2) The Overlooked Hero (Neville) 3) The Brave Couple working together (Ron and Hermione) 4) The collective bravery and loyalty of family, friends, and ordinary people (Hogwarts, Dumbledore’s Army, Hogsmeade villagers, etc) 5) The Unexpected Plot Twist (Snape)

So let’s explore those in the context of Stranger Things.

1) The Main Hero Personally, I believe El is most likely to take Harry’s role in this. She will bring the strength, the courage, the determination, the raw power.

2) The Overlooked Hero

I think Will might take on a role similar to Neville, with maybe some of Harry mixed in. One of the HP plot points that we found out a little later in the series was the importance of Neville Longbottom: a character that had always been sidelined, overlooked, victimised, and kept to the background. But like Neville, Will has something unexpected in his arsenal, something more subtle but just as dangerous, something that Vecna simply won’t see coming.

There’s also something about the Harry/Neville “Chosen One” prophecy parallels... I think this could also be where the Duffer Bros got their inspiration for the Will/El similarites. In a way, Harry sort of accidentally took Neville’s place in the story, taking on a destiny that either of them could have led. Neville wasn’t an obvious hero throughout most of the series - in fact, he often appeared to be a victim - but in the end, his role was just as vital as Harry’s in killing Voldemort.

For this reason, I think both El and Will are going to have crucial (but very different) roles in taking down Vecna in the final season.

3) The Brave Couple working together

Ron and Hermione destroyed one of the last Horcruxes together, before finally sharing a kiss after years of mutual attraction. As much as I would love Lucas and Max being the ones to parallel this dynamic, I’m not sure how it could work with Max in a coma. I think other strong contenders for this potential role are: Nancy and Jonathan (they’re in a cooling off period narratively right now, and this could be a way to reaffirm their relationship) and Joyce and Hopper (it would solidify their bond together in an awesome moment). Both of these especially as they spent most of the last season separated. However, working off the ‘couple’ motive in the last shot of S4, it could also be Will and Mike (especially as they’ve already been paralleled to Ron and Hermione in the airport reunion scene).

4) The collective bravery and loyalty of family, friends, and ordinary people

This is the remaining ensemble cast - Dustin, Erica, Steve, Robin, Argyle, Vickie, etc - and probably Hawkins residents / the government / military, all working together.

5) The Unexpected Plot Twist

Holding on to the main theme of love being more powerful than anything the villain can understand - which hero is going to communicate that message to the audience, like Snape’s role did in HP?

I think it will be Mike.

In one of the most famous segments of the entire franchise, we see Harry quietly step away from the action and witness a completely unexpected plot-twist via flashbacks/ a memory-related plot device.

Someone he thought he knew was actually being guided the entire time by love -a secret love, a love he had felt since childhood, kept hidden from everyone through misplaced shame.

Harry exits the flashback segment in stunned silence - there are no sound effects, no music, nothing. I can still remember how utterly breathless the entire cinema was following on from Snape’s memory montage in the last HP film. It was a very powerful use of cinematography, of carefully threading moments of the past together to depict the truth of a storyline that had been happening the entire time - the audience just hadn’t realised it.

Without that love, Voldemort would not have been defeated.

What if we get something similar to this in S5 with Mike’s feelings for Will? I’m talking a swingset flashback, early childhood flashbacks, cut scenes originally intended for earlier seasons (ahem, Mike crying on his bike after seeing Will’s ‘body’), filmed-but-purposefully-kept-back scenes from over the years, all packaged together in one breathtaking, heartbreaking montage.

I’m just saying... if the Duffers Bros take further inspiration from HP in the last season (which is almost a 100% surety at this point), then the fact we’ve already got flashback and memory-related plot devices at the ready (via Vecna & El) is worthy of some serious side eye.

HP-last-book-things I hope the Duffer Bros don’t take their inspiration from:

The fact the Unexpected Plot Twist character died just prior to the Big Reveal

"Neither can live while the other survives." (El and Will, get behind me)

TL;DR - The Duffer Bros lived through Pottermania in the 90s and 00s and have set up obvious parallels in their work, and I am both excited and afraid of how far they might go with them

#long post #stranger things theory #stranger things analysis #byler #byler parallels #st x hp #hp #harry potter #harry potter tw #tw: harry potter #on a completely random tangent finn wolfhard would make an excellent young snape #were the hp parallels called dobbygate?#I'm tagging it #dobbygate #flashbackgate

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