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I have no idea if anyone else has pointed this out but I just realized something. When Brenner took Henry away and decided to like test on him and everything, he wrote him as “001”, yes. 3 digits…Was he planning to experiment on so many kids that it’d go up to a hundred? I mean think about it.

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Henry Creel and D&D

Do... Do you guys think Henry would have loved d&d. How would it have affected his mental health? Or would it have entered his life too late? Damn do we ever see Eleven play d&d? She deserves it, too

I think... Eleven would start playing & have 0 idea what to do and what character to be because she’s never been let loose to just enjoy silly possibilities, like she’d probably start with a young elf girl (bonus easter egg but in french, El’s nickname “El” is elf instead for some reason lol) with a buzzcut and uhh prob the cursed/psychic background whichever it is where the character is haunted by some supernatural deep sated evil that scars them, if not then a military background I’d say. Or wait it’s the first edition of D&D isn’t it, are there even any backgrounds- ANYWAYS- But then eventually she’d make like, a femme halfling mage that always wears huge dresses and has a speech quirk and is called Buttercup or something. Max plays a no-nonsense but sassy barbarian-warrior and she sticks with the same character for every one shots (she can’t handle anything but one shots bc it gets way too long and convoluted for her taste) and by now she’s like level 10 or smth (which is high in d&d).

But Henry... With Henry I have two thoughts, either he starts off vicariously trying to make the best, most powerful version of himself and it’s very uuuh... True neutral alignment if I’m being generous. In the sense that “the ends justifies the means” and he doesn’t care about pretend people’s lives or fictional morals. He’d play a sorcerer probably, a tiefling or human, and he throws away the main quests to follow the odd tiny details the DM didn’t think twice about, all in a personal mission to gain artefacts and influence, and become the most powerful in the lands. He both arrogant but tense (aka stressed). Very invested in the outcome, but prideful that his choices are the best, missing the point that choices are just that, choices from an infinite pool. His character would eventually die an ungraceful death and Henry is both shocked and enraged, but the DM is wise and Henry has lived a very thought-provoking experience indeed.

Second idea is in en environment where Henry feels more at ease, where he truly sees it as a game, a means of entertainment, and/or thought experiment rather than a way to (subconsciously or not) vicariously have power and control over his life, satiate inner issues & insecurities and plan war strategies. He’d be a druid from an hermit background and probably seeks to unravel the mysteries of the main plot, as well as explore various places and details he takes an interest in. He never has anyone else in his party, a lone guy, but that doesn’t mean he minds npcs. He even gets attached to some, probably even eventually brings one or two alongside him in quests. With that kind of fantasy secluded world from the rest of his life, I think he’d progressively allow himself more self-indulgence. He’d start helping npcs where he can, because why not, break them out of jails in dungeons and going to their rescue against monsters. There’s no reward, but strangely he has found that it can make him feel good to do so, or that it gives him a sour taste in his throat to leave the misfit young boy behind to die. And maybe when that same boy ends up murdering his family, he is silently very pleased with it, but he’s taken aback when others mourn the deaths and violence, and when the boy makes an enemy out of Henry’s character, too, emotions swirl. And he wants to leave it all to go back to his seclusion, but he has something other than himself to fight for now, too. [This prob sounds too on-the-nose for a subplot of a campaign he’d end up playing, but that literal plotline happened in the first d&d campaign I’ve ever played sooo... That wasn’t even my intention lmao] The campaign ends and he’s surprised when the DM closes the book. "That can’t be it."  "Can’t it?" "Can I... Can we play another campaign? Please?"

Hehehe... I have fanfic thoughts. The labs start a new, recurring one-on-one experiment. One for psychological observation, and of intellectual, situational testing. The kids get to play d&d. "As a new play activity", Papa says. Henry knows Papa lies, but games are to be cherished in this prison. For this I imagine him to be younger yeah, more in the midst of the trauma than set in his ways... Adult Henry would def be way too distrustful to even reluctantly engage genuinely imo. In this, he’d def end up hyperfixating on the d&d he plays, aka the 1 good thing in his life. And Papa could use that, too, like "If you can’t do this much, then you won’t be getting your hour in the d&d room." and man, an hour for d&d is already way less than enough. And he always hungers for the new horizons it gives him. (/pos) Henry would end up using his powers to mold/craft d&d figurines! :]  Idk if the DM would get special clearance to bring him materials, or if he’d make them out of staff tools that he’d steal, or if he’d get by by making them from little things like color pencil wood, or the little round things that they move in the exercice-game we see Eleven use in the show. He’d eventually want to make his own figurine for his character, wanting to mold it exactly as he sees him in his mind, which is important to him (the one thing he has control over at that point in his life). And he could turn it into a hobby! Make multiple poses, make higher and higher quality ones. A creative outlet, and a healthier way to hone his powers for sure lol! I’d imagine the labs wouldn’t have gotten the best d&d material out there, so the character and enemy figurines/pawns as well as the maps would be very minimal I think. There are multiple ways you could imagine the DM, a benevolent and wise, truly man who’s unfortunately working for a shady organisation, even if the task he does is harmless/does bring good to the kids’ lives. Or if he’s cold, calculated, emotionally detached/distant, the executioner and observer of the experiment, always thinking of how to challenge the kids in his campaigns and what useful data that could bring. But... I really do enjoy the thought of Henry getting a decent mentor figure. I love the “good and caring, but still ambiguous morally and has to be some level of cold and detached due to his job and how they’re, of course, always monitored” take, and I think since the labs are the one to hire him and all, it couldn’t be much better than that realistically. I think in many ways, Henry could easily connect with that attitude of his (especially since it’d be very similar to Peter Ballard’s vibe and situation), even if at that moment he’s a bit too young to really get it, but still desillusionized and on survival mode enough to understand that the man isn’t as genuine as his friendly facade would like him to believe, and that he has his agenda too, like every other staff in that place. I might develop the lab DM guy as a Stranger Things oc and actually write that fanfic lol... And hey, maybe he could convince Papa to let his d&d sessions with Henry be monitored if he makes reports, because Henry refuses to engage with the game otherwise! So many fun stuff to play with here

Tldr: In the labs, dnd would def be good escapism <3 better than murderous cynicism hah. And once he’s out, it’d be a good way to actually work through things now that he’d have the chance to I think, and also just a nice hobby overall to enjoy of course.

I truly believe that if Henry could have had better coping mechanism like d&d, he’d have been better for it and like, could have seen an alternative. Options. Other choices than becoming the dark overlord of evil. Because that’s the life mission he latched onto when he could find nothing else. Nothing. When no one else would allow him to become anything but. But in a world where he can be anyone, become anything, a world of possibilities, which is the very base of what D&D was made to be, he could find new doors opened, have experiences he could never had had in the labs, or even before in his limited world where everyone shunned him to take as little place as possible. He’s finally allowed to live and let live, and his horizons get expanded upon and he learns lessons that shake his world view to the very core. Possibilities. He has access to endless possibilities.

You know what. Henry deserves to get reincarnated as an average spider and live a life, that is all. I wish that for him. Gghdcbhd no- no I’ve got it. The therapy that Henry needs is farming simulator games. Give him Harvest Moons and Stardew Valleys and Rune factories. I’m a longtime Rune Factory stan, the therapeutic peace is unrivaled, Henry would looove how the game is endless, you can rise to like, level 1000 if you play enough hours I think. He’d get monster barns full of all the spiders and bugs he can find. And he’d spend days fishing and farming, and make friends with all the townsfolks <3 Does he have a waifu or husbando? Maybe perhaps >:] But in general I like the thought of Henry healing without romance, and learning to be at peace by his lonesome, and a relaxing daily routine that is his own. Very cottagecore, lone recluse living on the edge of town and comes by every day to get his bread and greet everyone. Bless.

I think Henry, once he gets past his trauma response of "this world isn’t for the weak and I’m not weak so I will not allow myself to relax and play games and be vulnerable and have fun", could get to play dnd and farm sim games, and learn a type of freedom and way of life from them, because what he desperately wanted and needed was, beyond everything, just to live a peaceful life free of burdens and judgement, where he could be anyone and be liked. Where he could, for once, be accepted and just be. And farming sims & dnd are 100% that  

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byclair + 🔥🧨💥

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001 and eleven be like

Art by me lmao

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Something interesting I haven’t seen commented on yet is that Henry makes the same face with his eyes rolled back and bleeding from powers etc. as his victims do. When he attacks, he looks just like the victims he’s currently attacking.

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Henry Creel

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Let’s also talk about how Henry, after everything — after he was banished to the Upside Down and was (at least) free at last of the lab that held him a prisoner — chose to come home, the alternate version of his home in the Upside Down.

He could choose anywhere to stay at as his shelter/lair, but he chose to come home, where he used to live with his family. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it kind of indicated that he was lost and didn’t know where else to go. His home (despite how Henry hated and killed his family and how he obviously didn’t have any good memories here) was the only place he knew. And it’s kind of bittersweet in my opinion.

This was the attic he used to spend most of his time at when he was a child, where he spent his time with his spiders, before his life changed forever.

This was, in some way, the only place he felt somewhat safe when he was a kid. And he took shelter here as Vecna. Because maybe there’s still a part of him that is still that boy he once was

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I’m going to make a tumblr post just to get this out of my system because I’m going fucking feral over One. Someday I’ll write a fic but hopefully this staves off the energy I’m currently vibrating with. This is going to be extremely unhinged & disorganized. 

MAJOR Stranger Things 4 spoilers on this post for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. 

Keep reading

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Introducing to his friends

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An unpolished review of Stranger Things 4′s Henry Creel and ableism. Eleven vs Henry, the good neurodivergent vs the dangerous mentally ill. Character analysis

Tldr, Stranger Things made some wild (insensitive) choices.

Umm so I watched the ep 7 of Stranger Things S4 and I have… Mixed feelings. I started writing this before volume 2 was out, and I’m finishing it in the end of july. I’ve had plenty of time to let it marinate, think and debate with others on it. It took this long for me to sort out my feelings and build up the courage to make any post in support of Henry Creel’s experiences and humanity, but I’ve gotten there, kind of.

I guess I should mention this too, kinda important, but I’m autistic. I was diagnosed at 18 and got all sorts of messed up and some internalized ableism I’ve worked through. The way I see it, currently in Stranger Things, the characters of Henry Creel, Eleven, Robin and even Will all have significant back-up to support them being autistic. Here what matters most is Henry’s, because his is the most overt and less masked, and Eleven’s due to the topic, but Henry having autism is the only actual diagnosis one I’m determined on defending. Regardless, canonically stated or not, much like being diagnosed or undiagnosed, it isn’t because you don’t have a label for it that you aren’t, and that the symptoms and experiences you have because of your autism don’t exist and don’t manifest. A character can have a mental illness or disorder without authorial intent, because things don’t exist in a vacuum. 

A few important things to keep in mind before we start, well summarized by the following posts. I’ll still be reiterating these things as I go though bc people have no chill:

https://nemevex.tumblr.com/post/676815383203840001/mental-illnesses-can-increase-the-chance-of-being

https://psychonarc.tumblr.com/post/664768075380441089/its-interesting-to-watch-neurotypicals-grapple

https://theegosystem.tumblr.com/post/657136958513037312/id-title-of-picture-says-how-can-someone-have-so

Tldr:  https://mibasai.tumblr.com/post/669402579694993408/reminder-that-if-your-horror-is-reliant-on  note: regardless of how many decent neurodivergent portrayals you have in your show, if one of them is an actively ableist portrayal, your show is still ableist. Being an ally to neurodivergent people isn’t about picking and choosing who is too scary to empathize with and not just “these few misfit kids were good and deserving of acceptance despite being a bit quirky all along”

shortest tldr: https://aeon-of-neon.tumblr.com/post/685452896681230336/also-can-i-just-say-the-autistic-child-is-evil

My tldr: The way Henry Creel was handled is literally autism & aspd fearmongering lol.

It may sound like I’m excusing Henry in this post, and I want to be clear that my goal isn’t to defend Henry’s actions, my goal is to defend Henry’s humanity and complexity as a full human with emotions and thoughts for whose whole identity isn’t the innate want to cause harm and be evil, since everyone is so set on strictly seeing him as such. Perhaps, you could use your empathy, which you condemn him for not having, to not deem him an irredeemable heartless monster whose abuse is justified.

Warnings for spoilers and discussion of heavy themes such as ableism, abuse, animal torture and the targeted ableist killing by the nazi Hans Asperger.

Disclaimer: This is not a clean essay. I was and am hurt and very defensive of these experiences and feelings which I identify and sympathize with, and I am confused. There are ways you can interpret the canon text in good faith, where everything is aligned in a way that lessens the ableist damage, but you have to dig and theorize so much that it doesn’t feel genuine to say that in this one case the narrative wouldn’t be ableist. I find it very hard to contain all my thoughts in one essay, especially since there’s so much analysis to set up before you can even attempt to humanize Henry’s mentality and choices, so I’ve chosen to reduce this as a casual review rather than an essay, and explain Henry Creel’s various ideologies and actions in other, later posts. I might come back to polish this one at some point later though, yet once again. I have written and rewritten the same points as below in so many ways scattered on multiple private platforms. To “polish” this for posting, I’ve spent literally 8 hours nonstop today. God. Anyways, let’s move onto the thing. 

Part of this essay was written before volume two and it’ll be apparent in the language and chronological order most times, but I did go back and organize ideas better and add in a few paragraphs so it might jump back and forth a bit.

Keep reading

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When Henry says “you can’t hurt me more than they already have” to Eleven I’m just like OUCH :((

Like tf else did they do to my boy.

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GUYS

The creature

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love how henry decided that showing nancy him collecting spiders as a kid was more important/threatening than actually showing himself slaughtering an entire floor of hawkins lab

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Henry Creel: “I’m neurodivergent”

-horror music starts playing in the background-