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hey i just wanted to tell you to be careful, im pretty sure its against the guidelines to produce such amazing and accurate fanart

punished by love

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HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FALL ASLEEP WHEN AO3 IS DOWN

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Lack of Mikes internal conflict (general audience pov) and why this is a sign of byler endgame

Before any byler enthusiasts attack me for the first 5 words of that title, I AM ONE OF YOU. This is about what is visible to the general audience and what’s currently canon, because if we’re going off of what I think, this post wouldn’t be written.

Writers always write everything with a meaning behind it and intentionally show certain things and keep other things hidden. One of these hidden things in Stranger Things is Mikes internal conflict.

Yeah, the fact he was a nerd and was bullied is an internal struggle but it isn’t specific enough to his own personal feelings, thoughts and experiences, because as we all know Will, Lucas and Dustin were all bullied as well for being nerds or not apart of the “norm”. The bullying isn’t an internal struggle but something that can influence it.

And before anyone says “It’s the fear of losing El”, that would be an external conflict because it doesn’t have to do with his feelings or doubts about himself.

So what else is there?…

Um…

Nothing. The writers never show anything that is personal enough to be given the title of “Internal Conflict”. (again i’m talking about anything visible and obvious to the general audience)

And they wouldn’t do this for nothing. This means they’ve been hiding it on purpose, to create a sense of suspense. And writers wouldn’t do this if it weren’t a very big reveal, something the general audience wouldn’t have expected.

This means the reveal of the internal conflict has a big impact on the general audience view on Mike, something that would make the general audience see all the actions Mike has made in another light but also bring all the puzzle pieces together on why he made does actions in the first place.

If this is true and lots of Mikes actions weren’t made for the reasons the general audience thought, a good chunk of this actions will be mileven moments, showing Mikes pov and making some of this moments make sense (because in these moments Mike doesn’t seem to have a reason).

And if i’m wrong about all this, I guess Mike Wheeler was really just an asshole all along🤷‍♀️

reading this back i did waffle a tiny bit at the end but please put some faith in me🙏😭

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Why I believe it makes the most sense for El to end up single (and why she was in a relationship in the first place)

To start off an analysis I like to just take a look at the internal conflict of a character because this explains lots of their actions. An internal conflict is a characters personal struggles with their fears or flaws. This internal conflict is not always resolved, but most of the times it is. Now before I say what I believe Elevens internal conflict is, even if I am accurate the writers might decide to not resolve this conflict for whatever reason, so just keep in mind that this is just a theory 👍

From what I’ve seen since Season 1 to Season 4, Elevens internal conflict has been been isolated from the world and lacking skills she would have and should have learnt at a young age (i’m sure there is an adjective that describes that but i do not remember so i’m sticking with that).

Eleven was thrown in a lab like an experiment ever since she was first born. She was isolated from the real world and stuck in a lab where she wasn’t treated like a real human but like a prisoner or patient. She never learnt how to communicate, read, or anything else a child should be learning, especially when they’re at school age. She had never seen outside.

So when she escaped the lab, that was the first time she saw the real world, and like any child who sees something they’re unfamiliar with, she was scared. All she ever knew was the lab.

So when she stumbles across a trio of boys and one of them takes her into his house for shelter, it’s pretty natural she grows dependent on him. And that just so happened to be Mike.

It was Mike who teaches her how to speak, gives her clothes, you know, treats her like a human being. But the thing is that wasn’t the norm to El, so this behaviour seemed wayyy above the standards. To her, he appeared to be treating her special. Expect Mike was just doing what he thought was right, what he thought was the standard.

Also, little reminder that Eleven never had friends, let alone a boyfriend. In fact, she didn’t even know what a friend was until Mike explained it to her, so I think it’s okay to assume she did not know the difference between platonic feelings and romantic feelings for someone.

And since Mike had helped her so much and because she depended on him so much for knowledge on things, whether that be social or just intelligence, she assumed what she felt was romantic.

I think where we can see this the clearest is in Season 3. In this season Eleven branches out in terms of friendship, creating a bond with Max.

The very moment Max starts to teach her independent thinking like “You make your own rules”, lets her have more freedom to explore on her own, like in the mall, give her comics (reading), she dumps Mike.

She does this because she doesn’t need him anymore, she doesn’t have anything to depend on him for, she can do it herself or get Max to help her.

Now I’m not saying El doesn’t actually love Mike, because you obviously form a bond with the person who saved you in the middle of the forest and took you in, what I’m saying is that it’s not romantic love, it’s platonic love.

This moment where she’s becoming independent could have resolved her internal conflict, but then she had to move states and with unfamiliar environments come old familiar habits, which in this case was getting back together with Mike.

But in Season 4 Eleven starts going to school, finally learning English, Math, etc. (I’d like to point out her struggle with making friends does contribute to what i speculate her internal conflict is). She also still has all the things Max taught her. So I think this is why Eleven was more comfortable fighting with Mike and standing up for herself, because she doesn’t depend on him anymore like she used to.

Now for Season 5, I honestly don’t know how this would play out expect for the fact she would end up single to resolve this internal conflict. How that happens? How she acts towards Mike? I have no clue👍 But I would love to hear other people’s opinions on this