Vecna steps back into Stranger Things season 5 with a plan that proves to be more detrimental than anything he has attempted before. His return is no surprise, and yet the method behind his move feels heavier and sharper. The highly anticipated Volume 1 wastes no time, bringing the Hawkins gang together again after three long years. Eleven and Hopper ground the story, while Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Will, Robin, Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy each push the plot forward without feeling scattered as they did in season 4.
Will’s Season 1 Abduction Becomes The Blueprint
The season opens with a sharp look backwards, dragging viewers back to the moment in season 1 when the Demogorgon pulled Will into the Upside Down. That scene now plays differently as we learn that Vecna infused Will with a strange substance that strengthened a psychic bond between them. It was not random horror but rather the start of a blueprint.
Vecna intends to repeat that method with new victims. His eyes land on Holly Wheeler first, when a Demogorgon rises from the roof of her bedroom and fights her parents before dragging her into the dark. Inside the Upside Down, Holly sees an idyllic home and her imaginary friend, Mr Whatsit, guiding her. The reveal comes with a major twist because Mr Whatsit is actually Vecna in disguise, smiling inside the memory of the Creel House. He even promises that her classmate Derek will be joining them, along with the rest of Hawkins’ children.
Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler in ‘Stranger Things 5’ dir. Duffer Brothers pic.twitter.com/vnc6ql4xDr
— 𝐀𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐲 (@asocialboy_) November 27, 2025
Vecna Targets Hawkins Children For Three Specific Reasons
Vecna calls children weak in body and mind, useful as vessels and perfect tools for what he wants to reshape. Vecna, born as Henry Creel, also known as 001, is treating them the same way he treated Will. He pumps them full of the same unknown substance to create psychic links, turning them into batteries that keep him strong. The adults mean nothing to him, but children are things he draws power from.
You see, Vecna’s strategy runs on three steps. Children are easy to control, and they serve as conduits for the mysterious substance he uses to build psychic bonds. They make him stronger, but the plan brings a crack he does not expect as Will carries a reservoir of power that he discovers at the worst moment for Vecna.
Will Turns Vecna’s Power Against Him
Vecna takes one child the night he grabs Holly, three the next night, and eight the night after. Will mentions seeing 12 places in Vecna’s lair, meaning Vecna now has a full set for his design. But by the end of episode 4, Will turns the connection inside out. The link that once weakened him becomes a weapon. He channels it and wipes out multiple Demogorgons the way Vecna once killed soldiers and civilians.
Vecna long believed Will was weak. He called him the first, the boy who showed him what could be achieved. It echoed the arrogance that once led him to slaughter children in Hawkins Lab during his escape attempt, and that arrogance led to Eleven beating him then, and it edges him toward defeat again.
Will gathers himself during the final moments of episode 4. He thinks through the pieces that built him, which are his friends, family, and his own stubborn will to survive. With that clarity, he breaks Vecna’s hold and destroys the Demogorgons tied to him. Vecna built his entire plan on the idea that children crumble under pressure, but Will proves him wrong, and that shift becomes the first true crack in Vecna’s final strategy.
‘STRANGER THINGS 5’ spoilers 🚨
The Duffer Brothers explain how Will’s powers differ from Eleven’s.
“The powers aren’t within him. He’s able to channel these powers from Vecna and use it, sort of puppeteering. He taps into the hive mind.” pic.twitter.com/VA3gLY9Irf
— Cinema Solace (@SolaceCinema) November 27, 2025
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