#henry creel had a twin

[will80sbyers]

I have so many different theories for s5 and they all contradict each other obviously as they should lol

[conflictofthemind]

holly wheeler - who/what are you? an informal post about all of the holly oddities I've discovered so far.

where do I even begin with this one? I'm just going to jump into it and show you all the weird connections I've found that mostly relate to holly-el/jane, holly-alice and holly-sarah. I have no real conclusions so far so I invite everyone to take a look and share their thoughts.

oddity one: the hair

All four are blonde girls, and three have pigtails or twin braids, reminiscent of rabbit ears.

oddity two: the rabbits

terry ives' home, inside what should have been jane ives' room:

holly wheeler and her rabbit lite-brite:

alice creel and the dead rabbit:

And why the rabbits? Well, they're all a reference to Alice in Wonderland. The first rabbit in the painting in Jane's room is just literally the rabbit from AIW, fitted with a pocketwatch.

Alice in Wonderland:

Just check out #whiterabbitgate for more on the two above, the song 'White Rabbit' is also connected to El and just general HNL activities.

The Rainbows:

(above is the Terry Ives flashback from season two)

Holly's outfit in Season 5 is incredibly colourful and there are at least 3 different rainbow items inside her room.

The Flowers:

^ Holly even has yellow red and blue flowers on her bicycle basket.

My questions have already been: why is Vecna/Henry seemingly interested in her enough to not only lure her but continue 'playing' with her for multiple scenes? Why is Holly suddenly relevant?

I'm also a BTVS fan, and the idea of a younger sister suddenly introduced had me thinking of Dawn. Dawn was Buffy's younger sister introduced suddenly in Season 5 (literally out of nowhere) - until it turned out that she wasn't a fully real person, but a powerful energy turned into a human that was sent to the Summers' house where they would protect her. She never existed until she was fourteen, but they all believed she had with false memories. Furthermore, she becomes the target of that season's villain which Buffy has to protect.

So then we get to Holly's room:

Most notably for this post are ALF and the 'A Royal Pain' book. Let me just show you the plot summaries for both, starting with ALF:

I initially thought the ALF reference was just a reference to El (and it very much could be a dual thing). But considering the strangeness.... and the parallels that are coming to light between them.

A Royal Pain:

There has already been baby-switch precedent in the show. In fact it's a major theory about Jane Ives and El - that they aren't the same child. But when it's been specifically brought up, it's been in relation to the Wheelers. Karen, was your other daughter swapped in the hospital? Or something even crazier?

I'll get to more when my ideas are less of a mess. But there's also something interesting @bylerposting has brought up - the way that Mike has this whole interesting out of place dialogue with El.

But what if it wasn't about El - what if it was also subtext for Holly? She came into the family even though she wasn't a biological daughter. The Wheelers were like her new parents, and Nancy was like her new sister.

And there's so much more I'm thinking of but can't get to right now, like Holly with the lights and her perception of the supernatural before others sense it. I just want to get this ball rolling for real.

[retrospacejelly]

Henry Creel x Fem! Reader: Where the reader is Jonathan Byers twin and will sister and Henry takes a very strong liking to her. Like if he was still human/not all burned up?

Hi there, of course! I hope you enjoy the read! <3

Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

Pairing: Henry Creel x FemByers!Reader 

Summary: Y/N Byers, her mom, Joyce, and Hopper sneak into Hawkins Lab to look for, and hopefully find Will. However, when Y/N separates from Jim and Joyce, she meets an odd character.

Not proofread

Warnings: Yandere Henry Creel, allusions of murder, dreams of world domination, the usual with Vecna.

PLEASE READ! So, this fic doesn’t follow the exact plotline. And thank you so much for @edb954 for making the request and for helping me with the plot!

Part: 1/?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The stuffy closet felt like it was closing in on Y/N as she pressed her back against the wall. Then running footsteps of the Hawkins Lab guards echoed throughout the hallway, slowly getting softer.

Well, so much for sticking together. She thought to herself, praying that her mom and Hopper weren’t in the same predicament as her. 

They were supposed to stick together to look for Will. But no, one guard noticed them and they had to split off. 

Y/N pressed her ear to the door, sighing when she heard silence. She slowly opened the door, peeking her head out and scanning her surroundings. Stepping out, the Byers sister crept toward the end of the hall, listening for anyone else approaching.

Seeing that the coast is clear, she makes a run for it, hoping to find Hopper and her mom. 

“Umph!” she stumbles back, bracing herself for the hard floor. 

She opens her eyes. Where was the floor? Looking up, she gasps as she sees a blonde man staring back at her. He has a smile on his face, and somehow it’s unsettling.

His arms are wrapped around her shoulders, keeping her steady. Y/N quickly scrambles out of his grasp. 

“I…” she starts.

“You seem lost.” The man says, studying her. 

All she can do is nod dumbly, frozen in place. Oh, was she in for it now? He isn’t dressed like a guard. Maybe he was a higher-up? The all-white outfit suggests it. 

What would he do to her? Is he going to torture her? Kill her? What if he thinks she’s some spy?! 

He chuckles at her stunned silence. He can’t help but find her adorable. 

“Are you meeting someone here, miss?” he asks, his arms now folded behind him.

No, she can’t tell him the truth. But boy is she tempted to. The man is alluring, his gaze pulling her in. 

She takes a breath, standing taller. He doesn’t seem to be armed. Good, she has a taser in her jacket pocket if he tries anything. 

“I’m looking for my younger brother. He went missing, and I have reason to believe he’s here.” she confesses. 

He hums and nods, taking in her words. 

“Why on earth would you think he’s here?” 

“When we organized a search party, I went out on my own.” A lie. “I found his jacket by a hole in the fence surrounding the lab.” Another lie. “I figured he somehow made his way here and is being held hostage for some freaky experiment.” Not a complete lie.

Henry nods again. “I can help you look for him.”

What?

“What?” Y/N asks, not sure if she’s heard him correctly.

“I’ll help you look for your brother, Miss. He must be scared. All alone in a big place like this. If he’s even here.” he continues. 

He supposes it will give him more time with her. To…figure her out.

“Why…?” Y/N asks, uncertainty lacing her tone. 

He shrugs. “I may work here, but it doesn’t mean I’m fond of this place. The man in charge of this lab takes security very seriously. Even if your brother is young, he wouldn’t hesitate to rid of him.” 

Y/N can’t help but gasp at his words. Now she’s hoping that Will isn’t here.

He suddenly motions her to follow him, leading the woman through the maze of halls. 

-------------------------

Somewhere in the upsidedown…

Henry sensed someone in the underground. A child. And the child was scared. He kept calling out to different people.

“Mom…?! Jonathan, Y/N…?!” the boys shouted, curling in on himself.

“Will?! Will!” another voice shouts, catching Henry’s attention. 

The boy perked up, looking around frantically. 

“Y/N! Y/N, I hear you! Where are you?!” he shouts, starting to cry. 

“Will, oh my god! Will, we’re going to save you!” This Y/N person shouted, sounding like she had been crying herself.

He was intrigued. Who was this, Y/N person? 

It didn’t take long for Henry to find out who she was. Will’s older sister, and a college student at Hawkins Community College. And she was…beautiful.

Henry knew right then, that he was going to have her. No matter what. 

-------------------------

“Where are we going?” Y/N asks, trying to keep up with his pace.

He’s silent for a moment, before speaking up. “There is a place called the Rainbow Room. It used to be a place where test subjects had their free time. It’s very appealing to a young child. I suspect he could’ve hidden somewhere in that room.”

She covers her mouth in shock. “So they do experiment on children!”. Y/N can’t help but tear up, praying that Will hasn’t been caught. 

Noticing her frightened behavior, Henry places a hand on her shoulder. “It will be okay, Miss. We will find your brother.” he reassures her, smiling when she calms down.

“Thank you,” she mumbles quietly. “I never got your name…” she says as she looks up at him.

“Peter, Ballard.” He answers. “And your name, Miss?” he asks, as if he didn’t already know. “Y/N Byers. It’s nice to meet you, Peter.”.

“Likewise, Miss Y/N.” He replies, stopping in front of the Rainbow Room. Henry opens the door, a twisted smile making its way onto his face as flashbacks of the massacre run through his mind.

“What…happened here…?” Y/N asks eyes widened at the dried blood painting the walls.

Henry frowns. “A tragedy in the ‘70s. One of the orderlies, Henry, who was in charge of the children had gone mad, killing them in cold blood.”

“That’s horrible…” She says, the hairs on her neck standing on end. 

They look around for Will, more so Y/N than Henry. He knew it would be useless, anyway. As she looked around, he thought to himself.

Y/N didn’t seem like she would go down without a fight, but maybe if he struck up a deal with her…

“He’s not here,” Y/N says dejectedly, running a hand through her hair. “Where could he be?!” she exclaims to herself, pacing back and forth. 

Henry coughs quietly, getting her attention. “Let’s keep looking, surely he’s here somewhere,” he suggests, already leaving the Rainbow Room.

Y/N quickly follows suit, trying to forget about the eerie room. She almost bumps into Henry’s back, when he comes to a stop. He quickly guides her into another closet, shutting the door with a soft, ‘click’.

She looks at him, confused. Henry glances at her, putting a finger to his lips. Only now does she realize their proximity to one another. She can’t help but blush, practically pressed against his chest. 

Her brow furrows. He seemed cold, and on top of that, his heart was beating so slow she was surprised at the amount of energy he had. And that he was alive in general.

Before she could ask any questions, he leaves the room, pulling her with him. He presses his front to her back, not letting her turn around. The turn out of the hall, and unbeknownst to Y/N, left behind the bodies of two guards.

Henry stops again at another door, turning to Y/N. 

“Close your eyes, Miss Y/N” he requests.

“Why-” “Just do so, please,” he says sternly, turning back to face the door. 

Once checking that her eyes are closed, he cracks open the door, making quick work of the scientists and guards inside. 

He takes Y/N’s hand, still making sure her eyes remain shut. 

When he tells her to open them, she is met with a rotting flesh-looking mass. There’s a glow coming from the opening. The only thing separating it from her is a glass wall. 

“What..the hell is that?!” she shrieks, reaching out for Henry’s arm. He smiles at the contact.

“This, Y/N, is a portal to another dimension,” he tells her, holding her arms gently.

“Is Will in there?”

Her question goes unanswered. “Just keep looking at the portal, Y/N,” he says, his head now next to hers, his voice a low whisper.

She does as told when suddenly, her surroundings change. She gasps. It looks just like the room she and Henry are in….but….abandoned. Dark. 

Y/N looks behind her, and Henry is gone.

“Peter?!” she shouts, hoping for a response. Going against her better judgment, she starts walking around, stepping over thick vines. 

The scene changes again, and suddenly she is in a forest, silence enveloping her. 

“Peter?!” she shouts again, frantically looking all around her. Y/N hears a rustling in the bushes and turns her head to the sound.

“Who’s there…?” she shakily asks.

“Y/N…”

A voice says, making her jump.

“Peter!” she exclaims, recognizing the voice. “What is this place? Is Will here?” she asks into the air, still looking around.

“He is, Y/N. This is The Underground,” he answers.

“He’s here!” she exclaims “Where…exactly?”

“I’m right here, Y/N,” Comes Will’s voice from behind her, making the woman quickly turn to face him.

She runs to Will, hugging him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder.

“Oh, Will! God, I thought I lost you forever, Will!” she says, not wanting to let go. Despite her relief, she feels that something is off. Will hasn’t hugged her back.

Pulling away, she sees the terrified expression on his face. He’s focused on something behind her, and she freezes as well.

Y/N slowly turns to look at what Will is staring at, gasping at the sight.

Standing on all fours is a hairless-looking beast. Its mouth slowly opens up to reveal rows and rows of sharp teeth. Y/N quickly stands in front of Will protectively.

Something shoves her out of the way, and the beast lunges for Will.

“No!” Y/N shrieks in horror, trying to run to Will, but tripping over a vine. As she tries to stand, the vine wraps around her ankle, and another comes out of the ground to wrap around her middle.

“Wh-What’s going on?! Will!” She continues to holler but stops when she sees nothing in front of her. 

“You’ve seen what happens to your brother if he stays here, Y/N.” Henry suddenly says, stepping from his spot behind a tree.

“Peter! Peter, what’s happening? Where’s Will?!” she’s crying now, trying to break free of the vines.

He quickly shoes her, kneeling in front of her restrained form. “Don’t cry, my dear. Will is perfectly fine. Or, he will be once you agree to my terms.” 

Her eyes widen. “What?” she says quietly, the color draining from her face.

“Oh dear, you still don’t understand. That’s okay,” he gently caresses her cheek.

“I can bring Will back to your dimension if you become my eternal bride in this one,” he states, giving her an unsettling smile. 

“You’re sick, Peter.” she snaps, hatred seeping its way into her veins. 

“Now, Now,” he tuts, “That’s not my real name, Darling.”

Her heart drops. 

“Henry…?” she lets out, her voice only a whisper.

He nods, “Correct, Darling! Just think, we can make this world our own, I can give you everything you’ve ever wanted. We can enslave your dimension, and rule over it. Or of course, I leave Will here to die, and make you live with the weight of your brother’s death until you too perish.”.

Y/N stays silent, her tears now dried up. Her decision was made.

“I will stay here with you. But you have to bring Will back to our dimension.” She says, glaring at Henry.

“You have my word, Darling.”

______________________________________________________________

Oh my goodness he is just so UGH!

[erikiara80]

March 22nd and all the birthday references in ST

Will's birthday has always been important.

A birthday mug in episode 1

Same mug in Mike's basement. We see it in scenes with El in S1 and Will in S2. Yeah, I think birthdaygate could be about her, too. Will is the only character whose birthday was used to literally save him and the whole town. And we've seen El's birth and birth certificate, but we still don't know when she was born? Strange

The I forgot your birthday card in Will's room in S1

But in S2 we only see it when Joyce looks at the Will the Wise drawing. In all the other shots the card is not there, and the drawing is on another wall. This could be a hint at different timelines (of a timeloop?) More screenshots here

Basically, I have two theories about Will's birthday: either people really forgot it in S4, or the Will who was born on March 22 is the brown-eyed Will in the Missing poster, in the timeline we see in the shed scene, and not the hazel-eyed Will we see in the rest of the show. Maybe they hid the truth in plain sight, they let people believe that his eyes were different because he was possessed. But then in S3 they show that Billy's eye color never changes (here) Can't wait to see what this means

No birthday card in these shots

Lesbianmindflayer found a video posted on the official IG account in August 2017. At the time, they had already filmed S2, they knew there was an important scene about Will's birthday, so why posting the wrong date? Is it actually a mistake, or that's really his birthday in another timeline? We'll see!

The amazing shed scene. One of my favorite! Joyce talks about Will's 8th birthday. That was in 1979, the year of the massacre. She also mentions his rainbowship, a hint at his queerness, but also a reference to the lab. And I think there's a connection to the "rainbow rocket" near Creel House, and the ship of Brenner's father, who was involved with Project Rainbow, and the first man to wind up in Dimension X. This scene is so important!

Will drawing a spaceship could also be a parallel to Olivia Dunham (Fringe), who drew what she saw in another universe. A Zeppelin

Olivia's drawing (Byler-Polivia parallel and Subject 13)

3x03. Happy Birthday and '76 on the poster. The lifeguard is talking to El and Max here. My theory about what this could mean and what might have happened in 1976 here and here

The original title of episode 3x06 was The Birthday. There is no birthday in that episode, but after the intro, the song that plays is Stand up and Meet your brother, and then El meets the Mind Flayer/Vecna (as a lab kid, Henry is kinda her brother), who is possessing a boy named William. A surfer boy.

Episode 3x08, posters of Firestarter and Sixteen Candles. Will is associated with fire, and in Sixteen Candles a girl hopeful thar her 16th birthday is the beginning of a great year, is shocked when her family forgets it because her sister is getting married the next day.

Sixteen Candles and a boy's 16th birthday are also mentioned in S4, and it is likely that S5 is set in 1987, after the time-jump, when Will is 16.

S4. There are so many mentions of birthdays in this season, it's crazy to think that the writers forgot Will's birthday.

Mentions of birthday and stolen thoughts in the opening scene.

Birthday party at Rink-o-mania. I could be wrong, but it looks like a party for two people, to me. And there's a hidden reference to the massacre. The game Asteroids was released in 1979 (here)

The scene that made many people believe that the writers forgot Will's birthday.

March 22. The Rink-o-mania scene is a parallel to the lab scenes, Asteroids was released in 1979, and the day of the massacre El remembered her birth. Maybe a hint that her birthday is also on March 22?

They call her little baby, and two of the bullies are twins.

Murray says that a one-year-old won't remember their birthday

Also, the wallpaper reminds me of these birds we see in his house, when Alexei explains how the two keys open a gate

Murray says that his "son" is almost 16

Mention of Sixteen Candles

Mike's Happy Birthday mug

At Suzie's, Will mentions Dustin's birthday

Yeah, I think something will happen to Will in 1987, when he's 16. And it won't be funny, lol. But he'll get his happy ending.

Happy birthday, Will!

[greenfiend]

will manifesting el is an interesting theory! but i wonder where henry fits into the theory? is the creel plot from an alternative timeline and el is the ant(?) - the metaphor mr clarke used in season one when he stabbed a pencil through a paper plate - that managed to have a connection to both timelines when will willed her into his existence? sorry if this is confusing 😭

Hey anon!

GREAT question. To be honest, I think there is a reason this theory was more prominent pre-s4, because with all the Henry stuff and his backstory… it complicates things. Especially when we think about El and Henry’s history. Because then either 1. They both have false memories (this would be especially strange for Henry/Vecna so I’m doubtful of it) or 2. El had somehow been created prior to Will’s disappearance.

I’m leaning towards 2. It’s likely a timeline thing as you suggested.

Therainscene brought up a plausible explanation that essentially El was created by an alteration of time, possibly caused by Will in the UD. So, in this case it would be less manifesting technically, more time-related stuff.

I’m not sure the whole Creel plot itself is a whole alternative timeline, one major reason for this is because there already seems to be an alternate timeline of the Creels.

Love your mention of the ant metaphor! I think that is a significant scene that does clue us in on what’s going on here.

I have had a hunch that… okay hear me out here… El is essentially Will from an alternate timeline. Now I may be way off base with all of this but the show really has been hitting us on the head with all the parallels and contrasts between those two. Plus all the twin imagery and timeline weirdness.

Also, love the mention of how Will willed El into existence. His name just works on so many levels, doesn’t it? Free Will… willed into existence. Plus the fact that Will’s mom’s maiden name is Maldonado… making his initials WM which happens to be the upside down version of MW aka Mike Wheeler. 🤭

Thanks for the ask! 💕 I love discussing different theories. I’m not “married” to any particular theory, so I love hearing different perspectives and interpretations.

[oreosmama]

In the Black Widow’s Nest (Henry Creel x Reader) 🕷️Chapter 1🕷️

*GIF not mine*

Summary: 

Prince Henry of the Creel Dynasty is finally in search of a wife, and in the spirit of courtship, King Victor has invited young royalty from all neighboring kingdoms to vie for his hand. But with so much royalty introduces the need for many more maids in the castle than usual.

Enter: You.

You're nothing but a servant in his home, an intruder in his prized library, and an utter nuisance in his mind. But then you survive his attack, and in an unexpected way nonetheless. That makes you... interesting. 

You've caught his eye---congratulations! Now, you must deal with the consequences of loving a heartless prince in a world where far worse things lurk in the castle than dirty garderobes.

A/N: All i ask is that u imagine henry creel’s evil face on jace wayland’s body that’s it that’s all u gotta do, the fic will do the rest. this may or may not be a series, i do have a few ideas for it (but let it be known begging will not speed up the process). one final comment: henry creel hot. Hope you enjoy!

Word count: 4328

Amongst the cobwebs, the dust, and the black widows, in the abandoned royal library surrounded by the scent of mildew and what once was and is no longer, a pair of eyes watched your every move. Like two frozen fingers poking into the back of your skull, the gaze ran chills down your spine and tightened the muscles in your shoulder blades.

Every move you made was stiff. Despite the season outside being spring, winter had found perpetuity within the four towering walls. There were no windows nor any lit chandeliers; the only light was provided by the brass candlestick that had been forced into your hand before you were thrown into the library, with the promise of being released after ten hours or at the the sight of one hundred spotless, unblemished bookshelves—whichever came first. 

Decidedly, you had three hours left. 

The candle was almost completely diminished to a pool of wax, and the flame on its wick had long weakened and begun flickering. You suspected one last breeze would leave you in complete darkness and at the mercy of whomever was watching you from the shadows. No matter how many times you weaved in and out of the bookshelves that stood at twice your height, five parallel rows of grimy mahogany stacked with fading leather spines, you could not escape the unmistakable feeling. 

This person had not made a sound when they had entered the room. There were no new footsteps tracked in the dust layered on the floor aside from yours, and you had not even heard the twin doors creak open as they had when you entered. You couldn’t hear them over your own breathing and certainly not over the pounding of your heart. 

With every precarious flick of your feather duster over the worn titles, the clouds of your efforts mingled with those of your own exhales. You kept your gaze low, eyes focused on only the task in front of you with the hope—artificial hope—that if you did not disturb them with your own attention, they would eventually remove theirs from you. 

Time trudged by as you shifted from bookshelf to bookshelf, the clogs on your feet scraping the hardwood floors. You kept a wooden chair in tow, collected from one of the tables arranged in the center of the room, and dragged it in closer to the nearest bookshelf, clambering atop the seat and lifting onto your toes to dust the top row of books. The cobwebs were thickest here, spiders having been left to their lonesome far too long and creating their own colony. 

You could barely reach and dusted blindly, allowing the length of the feathers to do most of the work as you ignored the cramps festering throughout your calves. A soft gust of wind floated past and tousled the flyaways at your brow, and as you purse your lips to blow them back and out of your lashes, the room flickered and fell into darkness. 

The candle had finally gone out. 

You squinted and hissed a curse under your breath, your gaze snapping to the outline of the table, where you could barely make out the bowl of wax and nothing more. Just my luck, you thought as you withdrew your feather duster from the bookshelf top. You would have to retrieve a new taper from one of the maids’ closets, though you sincerely doubted the head maid would be all too pleased with your explanation.

Excuses, excuses, you could imagine her barking at you, ire swirling in her small, black eyes. Candles don’t just go out on their own.

“She’ll probably just set my hand on fire and lock me back in here,” you grumbled, huffing as you grabbed the backing of your chair to dismount. A faint tickle on the back of your hand drew your attention. “Hell will freeze over before she—”

Spider.

You yelped, a blasphemy falling from your lips as your clogs slipped on the polished wood seat. Your back hit the ground first, a pained shock shooting from your tailbone up to where your head smacked against the ground with the whiplash of your fall. 

White sparkles lit up your vision, and you sputtered out a cough, not bothering to blink them away. An ache throbbed at your lower back, pulsing at the same wavelength as the ringing in your ears and drawing a groan from your lips. An odd smarting festered up your spine, not unlike a chill. 

Carefully, you slumped back, your head resting against the hard floor and your legs straightening out. You didn’t want to get back up; you didn’t want to move. For a few moments, you let the pain overcome you while you wheezed for breath, choking on the dust that had become unsettled by your fall. It rose and hung in the dark air around you, blurred and wavering with your heartbeat. 

For a few moments, you forgot that someone had been watching you. 

And you certainly didn’t want to know where the spider had wound up. 

The smallest vibration of light footsteps trembled underneath your fingertips, and a sharp pain shot through your skull. Light, blinding and bright and excruciatingly insistent, is all you can see when the vibration stops and some glowing form hinges over you. 

“Not dead,” are the words you think you hear, husked in a monotonous, low gravel and feeding into the loud hum in your head. It’s muffled between the blood pounding in your ears and the hazy confusion that had begun to fog over your mind. 

“Not yet, at least.”

You licked your lips, eyes fluttering closed, then open, then closed again. “What?” you mumbled breathlessly. 

The glowing form dims, gradually painted by an orange hue. When metal thuds on wood, you guess it must be a candle joining your pool of wax on the table, and before long the presence hovers over you again. Tree sap swarms where the scent of mildewed books had been lingering, and, in a cruel twist of fate, you hazard a guess that this is one of the courtiers the head maid had shrilled about avoiding at all costs. 

Or worse—a member of the royal family. 

But how? And why? None of them would ever idle about in a damp, endlessly cold library. The smell bordered on revolting, half of the volumes were wrinkled and illegible, and you couldn’t walk two steps inside without grime caking your face and clothes. Not to mention, the spiders. Disgusting, horrid spiders. 

Black widows, if the head maid was to be believed. 

The wintry library would never be home to festivities of the upper class, not even the occasional unsolicited rendezvous. There were dining rooms and bedrooms and poor, innocent gardens for all the horrific things they did to one another; entire wings dedicated to the sybaritic tendencies of royalty. 

But this man before you—oh, how otherworldly he was. 

You could believe that he had been the one watching you with how his eyes pierced you in this moment, a being such as him the only one capable of having a tangible effect with a single glance. 

You took in his sharp cheekbones, the soft slope of his nose, his slate blue eyes. His face was haloed by mussed, golden hair, and two pale pink lips set against each other as a look of disinterest with ease. His entire appearance, from his lithe figure to the way his eyes dragged over you, exuded a superiority that had been trained to perfection. 

Staring at him felt like drinking a sweet wine, far too indulgent and alluring to ever be truly satiated, and yet you know all too well it would be condemning to keep on as you are. You know this man has a rank heavens above yours; his skin, tanned and unblemished, has never felt the dust and dirt that encompasses you every day, and his body has never held your scars.

In your muddled daze, you imagined barreling headfirst into damnation for acquainting with this handsome being. Whether he be a marquess or a lord or, God forbid, even a duke, being seen in such close quarters with him was strictly forbidden, especially with the royal prince’s season for courting beginning in a week. 

And then you felt yourself spiraling—you imagined him curling over you, his deft fingers sliding underneath your nape, tracing the curve of your scalp and feeling for injury. You imagined his eyes warming pleasantly as he found you safe and unharmed. You imagined he gave a damn. 

But he didn’t. He never would. 

His hands fell to his hips, the loosely fitted, half-unbuttoned white tunic he donned exposing more toned skin while he glowered down at you.

He certainly wasn’t going to wax poetic about your welfare. 

“No blood.” His head tilted to one side slightly, blond tufts of hair following suit. “And thankfully no mess. I’d have hated to invite yet another servant in here, even if it was to drag your body out.”

A shiver tore through your spine, and you had the most horrible feeling that if you died somehow in this moment, no one would bat an eye—especially not the man before you.

His voice had that regal lilt, the one you could have never gained in your small village outside of the castle. You’d only ever heard it on a few of the higher-ranking maids—certainly none of the girls you had been hired with had such accents either—as well as some passing royalty on your first few days of traipsing the castle with a guide. His voice was deep and raspy, as though he spent his days either growling out orders or not speaking at all. You wonder if that was how he found it so easy to watch you mutely.

Feeling entirely too vulnerable, supine as you were, you brace your hands against the floor and writhe your way into a sitting position, head swimming with vertigo. Bile rises in your throat, and you press your eyes closed, tight, waiting out the wave. The idea that dragging your gaze away from him had played a part in the nausea tickles the back of your mind. 

He watches, seeming somewhat interested, as you struggle.

Once, in your small village, a wolf had snuck into the farmer’s fields. You remember watching from your doorway that morning, the sun barely risen, as the wolf tackled a single lamb and began eating it alive. 

The blood coated its paws and muzzle. Bones crackled with the snapping jaws. Even after the lamb had stopped squealing, the hunger in the wolf’s eyes never quite seemed satiated. 

Something in the man’s and the wolf’s gazes made them indistinguishable to you in that moment. 

The cruel sneers and jeering laughs of the royals you’d seen so far could only contain so much antagonism. This man was cut from a different cloth. 

His body, all relaxed muscles and agile limbs, had a vigorous, agitated thing running within the veins of his arms, sleeves rolled to the elbows; the cruelty in his mien was something you had only ever encountered in wild animals. 

Panic chills the sweat on your brow. Laboriously, you wrench one hand on a bookshelf, hoisting yourself up despite the blaring pain climbing up your spine, and onto your feet. You can feel the weakness in your knees the second you try to take another step, the defiant outcry of your mind and body as you try to move, but the man is so close. The warning sirens in your mind wail. 

A hand grapples around your free wrist, insistent and rigid. 

“Stop.”

You flinch, and your first instinct is to twist away and run. His grip is iron-tight, though, and without much resistance, he spins you back to face him. Frantically, your eyes once more swallow up his bronze, toned skin in the shadows of his candle, waiting for a strike. 

In return, the weight of his gaze bows your shoulders, fostering an urge to find a corner and curl up until you can’t anymore. Something you can scarcely identify flickers through his blue eyes. He’s staring at your wrist, locked in his, and then he’s staring at you, his lips tight and his face hard as stone. Like before, you can feel him searching you, taking note of your every move. 

He’s scrutinizing you like a bug, uncertain of just how and in what way to crush you under his heel. It’s the way he had when his gaze was all you knew about him, and you have no trouble imagining yourself splatting underneath his boot. 

But a sound rings in the distance, drawing your attention away from him entirely. 

Ringing. Ringing like church bells. Ringing like the clang of the metal clapper striking tarnished ocher and rust. The kingdom’s clock tower made the same sound. 

A chime, maybe.

Or a knell. 

But you were almost positive that sound couldn’t be heard so far away, crammed deeply within the towering castle walls. Especially at its volume. 

It chimes again, and you slam both hands to your ears, heart pounding. It’s deafening. You can’t breathe, and you can barely see, still tangled up in the man’s eyes. They’ve grown so cold and strike you so much harder your teeth begin to chatter. 

“No,” you whisper, though you’re not quite sure what you’re protesting. “Please.”

His pale lips turn red as he smirks, and every angle of his face sharpens into focus. The room fades into black and white. Musty bindings and rotting pages no longer invade your nostrils. It’s like your brain is shutting off each sense one by one so you can take in more of him. 

And you can’t seem to look away. 

No. 

By the third chime, you can barely feel the pain that had been radiating through your body, and the release is almost blissful. Beckoning. You’re swathed up in the tranquility, ears stuffed with cotton and head buzzing in the silence. When your whole body starts rocking back and forth, waiting for another agonizing chime, your knees begin to feel like rubber, suddenly too malleable to stand upon.

A fourth chime, earsplitting. 

They buckle. 

You snap your hands forward in a panic, yelping when you stumble.

All your senses return as fast as the pinch of a needle. Blood roars in your ears, and soreness floods your every limb. It’s like trying to squeeze into clothes that have become too small and completely ripping the seams—all the sights, the smells, the feelings overload your brain too quickly, causing it to swell and split open. 

Your only lifeline is a radiating source of heat, and you cling to it so hard you're half afraid you might smother it. But when your embrace tightens, so too does your grip on reality. You can almost unscramble your own thoughts again—all the curse words you’ve ever known combined with prayers to the heavens above. Giving yourself into refuge becomes second nature, and you burrow further into the cradle of warmth.

A jolt runs up and down your back, and your skull feels cracked in two. 

But the eerie quiet of the library registers anyway. The chiming is gone. 

Blissful silence remains, only occasionally pierced by your gasping breaths. You want to nuzzle deeper, the warmth firm and solid, as the simmering underneath your skin wanes, yet there seems to be no space left that your form hasn’t already curled into.

“What just happened?” Your voice wavers, and it echoes back so loudly that you flinch. 

You can’t see a thing. The dim outlines of the room fuzz and blend, and if you weren’t standing on your own two feet, you wouldn’t have been able to tell up from down. But the chill still nips at your skin. The library hasn’t changed. Nothing’s changed but you. 

But there’s no explanation for the bell-ringing, the sensory overload. It must have all been in your head; it feels like any second now, your ears are going to pop and reality will flood back in. You’re alive. But whatever had just happened was as close to death as you could have imagined—

A breath away from becoming nothing. 

So what stopped it?

Even more—what started it?

The questions slipped your mind the second you heard the library door creak. The pitiful sound allowed the entrance of sunlight directed by the hallway’s window, and the stiffness of your bones crackled at the thought of even more warmth. You felt half-thawed and left for dead, save for the fount of heat caught in your white-knuckled grasp. 

You went still. 

Heat. 

Heat in the library. 

That had to have been one of the most preposterous realities you had imagined since you had first stepped foot in here seven hours ago—and you had raked through your mental fantasies quite thoroughly in that time. 

Carefully, as though jaws might snap at you from the darkness, you withdrew your arms from the motionless frame and craned your head upward. 

Dear God. 

The man was even more beautiful when washed in distant sunlight. Heart-wrenchingly so. More alluring when his hair glowed golden, combed back waves ending neatly at his nape. More potent when his gaze speared yours, his arms limp at his sides, elbows brushing the backs of your hands at his waist. 

Terribly heady.

Five seconds passed before you caught on to your ill deed, and his white tunic fluttered from the speed at which you pulled away from him. When his slender fingers twitched in tandem, you could only assume that, had you waited another second, he would have grasped your wrists so tightly the bones would have snapped. 

How could you? Oh God, this was it. It’s all over. 

You’re seized under his watchful eye, his face washed over with rage, or vexation, or downright disgust at your entirely-too-close, worthy-of-execution contact. 

Certainly, it could not be the wonder you had initially thought it was. 

That was just not possible. 

Impossible. 

Maybe. 

“YN!” 

You jump when the library’s twin doors slammed open, a crotchety, accented voice rattling against the shelves. The clomping of two clogs no different than yours—though, possibly better polished—thunder towards the pair of you, located by your and his candlesticks, stained brass and glossy gold sitting side by side on the oak center table. 

The head maid—Miss Miriam Swinebottom, which, in your humble opinion, was evidence that fate did in fact understand the concept of justice—was a woman of an angular, acidic countenance. Two beady eyes sunk deep into her skull like snakes nestled within a tumbleweed, and she had the capacity for two emotions: disappointment and fury. With a distaste for all things insouciant, the skeletal woman wielded the newly hired maids like an army of rats; she sent all of you scuttling over every inch of the castle and cleaning until your bodies were slow and stiff as though submerged in deep water. 

And you had no doubt that, the second that gaze fell upon you, she was out for blood. The terror that began pulsing in every nerve was no different than when you had first noticed the foreboding air around the blond man. You were not going to get out of this without a scratch. 

Miss Miriam took in you first, but not for long. Soon enough, both of you, as one incriminating sight, were being ascertained. 

You knew what she saw. 

One of her new maids, no better than the grime beneath her shoe, inches away from a royal. 

Unseasoned in the ways of the castle, naive to the new problem you’ve just sprouted, a true simpleton for what you’ve done. You. 

You, with unsteady eyes and flushed cheeks, his shirt unbuttoned, blond hair tousled. 

Fresh meat. 

Dead meat. 

And you hadn’t even done anything. 

You stumble back another step and hesitate to make an excuse. Words, you’d learned, were no better than handing Miss Miriam a switch. Best stay silent and pray for mercy.

Or, rather, for a quick recovery. 

Curiosity slips out of your hands, and you sneak a glance at the man. 

He’s wicked all over again. Somewhat unimpressed by the turn of events, he appears, but the emotion mingles with a strong sense of antagonism no nobility can seem to restrain. You’re only half-glad looks can’t kill. Miss Miriam would be worse off than six feet deep by now. 

To your surprise, she does not snatch you away with promises of a beating. She doesn’t get a step closer. 

Instead, the head maid folds into a low curtsy, then rises back up, bowing her head. “Your Highness.”

You tense at her actions, mind falling blank. 

No. He couldn’t be. 

Your Highness? Your Highness?

But as his gaze trails away from her and back to you, his face abruptly void, you can only stagger back another step, knees giving way into a curtsy as you copy Miss Miriam.

Waiting.

He is.

His Royal Highness, Crown Prince of the Creel Dynasty.

And here you had been, none the wiser, completely ignorant to the danger you’d just placed yourself in. 

For a long, excruciating moment, nothing happens. He does not touch you, nor does he move. The only sound filling the room is bated breath and whispering winds. 

Prince Henry. The prized catch of all the kingdoms. Aristocracy who’d never even scoff at a servant like you were here to court him. 

And you’d been so close—you could still feel the ghost of his warmth under your fingertips. 

A huff perks your ears, but you bite your tongue, waiting. He moves, one slow footstep at a time, nearing you with his polished, leather boots. You watch them as they grow closer. 

You watch them as they hesitate in front of you.

And then you watch them as they pass, each thump of leather against hardwood further and further away until there’s no doubt he has left the library. 

The older maid hitches a second longer before she rises, spitting your name like bile. “YN.” Her footsteps thunder toward you, and you barely have time to straighten before she has an iron grip on your upper arm, hauling you out of the room. 

“You had such a simple task. Clean the library and get out.” She grits her teeth, eyes flaring. “No one has used it in a decade, and yet what do I find but a dusty library and you. You, whoring yourself around the prince. And you said you weren’t a wench before I hired you.”

  She leads you down the castle’s marble hallways, dim from the setting sun yet well-lit by the sconces lining the walls. No matter how much you stumble and grunt, she drags you after her into the servants’ wing, swiftly finding the maids’ hall and barging you through the doorway. 

The room falls silent when the door slams shut, and while no crowd gathers, you are certainly the center of attention to the maids awaiting attending dinner. Stomachs are rumbling, but you have no doubt they would rather feast their eyes on this spectacle first. 

Tears pinch at the bridge of your nose. You can’t cry; you didn’t want to be one of the maids that cried. Those that did were in the latter half of the new hires who were younger than you. And you weren’t a little girl anymore. 

No crying. 

But, oh, you were scared when Miss Miriam paraded you in front of the others, hissing warnings and threats of punishment for girls who did what you had done. 

“-traipsing herself around in front of a most respected royal.” Black, burning eyes latch back onto you. “Tell me, YN, what did you think would happen?”

You flinch. 

There’s no point in looking to others for help. You don’t know them well enough to have friends. It’s been three days, and only one name has stuck. 

But you know it’s a sea of pity, disappointment, and nervous movement flowing back and forth. 

“It,” your voice cracks, and you pause, blinking rapidly. Another older maid, same regal accent, same strict demeanor, same gaze hissing you deserve this you deserve this you deserve this, approaches from behind. “It was an accident—”

You reel back into her waiting arms with a yelp. A stinging burn lances at your cheek, and if you hadn’t seen Miss Miriam’s bony hand fall back to her side, you would have thought she’d slashed open your cheek with an average kitchen knife. 

A seasoned backhand. Was there anything worse?

Miss Miriam stepped back, her appearance leaning more towards irate than strictly furious. She turned away from you, searching the walls of the dormitory. Though you had never seen it before, it hung on the wall with a single nail and a small, looped string on the handle.

A riding crop, yet you had the distinct feeling it had never been used on horses before. 

“No,” you plead when swift fingers begin untying your garment backing. “Please, it—it was an accident!” You try to yank away, but the crop swings at your head. When you lurch back, the fingers resume and Miss Miriam simply tilts her head. 

Dread claws up your throat. The edges of your vision begin contracting with your heart beat, while a shrill voice in your head begins screaming to run, to get out, to escape. Cold air assaults your bare back, and when you feel the tears begin to fall, the maid spins you around, presenting the stripped canvas of flesh to the others. 

“Let this be a lesson to you all, girls,” Miss Miriam announces. “This is not a whorehouse. You are not here to prostitute yourselves to royalty. You will not even look at them.” Her voice directs towards you, “They will certainly not look at you.”

You scream when the crop comes down, the white walls blurring, and the skin of your back wails at the betrayal. 

The tears don’t stop for hours.

Masterlist    Next

[aemiron-main]

Elvis Cloned By Aliens: Was Anyone Gonna Tell Me That Elvis Had A Twin? ft. Kissing Cousins and TFS (And Henward Are So Absolutely Real)

So, Elvis had a twin brother- a stillborn twin brother.

Which is particularly interesting to me because of all of the twin imagery with Henward and all of the stillborn references in ST- specifically, Hopper’s dialogue about stillborns when he’s in prison:

Smthn smthn Henward’s line RE: Brenner about “he TRIED” to recreate me, smthn smthn “tried,” implies that there were failures… stillborns, maybe. Failed clones. Failed twins.

And also, that Hopper dialogue is EXTRA interesting to me because that whole Hopper scene is a total parallel to Victor’s prison scene:

Hell, in ST, when Nancy and Robin are reading the newspapers about the Creel murders, there’s a whole article that pops up in the Weekly Watcher about Elvis being cloned by aliens, and “Jailhouse Rock,” plays in TFS- point is, mentions of Elvis in ST are tied to the Creels, and so are references to stillborns, which makes the fact that Elvis had a stillborn twin brother particularly interesting re: Henward (Henward were you supposed to be twin brothers in each timeline but one of you was a stillborn in diff timelines/Edward being the stillborn in Henry’s timeline and vice versa??)

But now, setting aside Elvis’ actual twin, let’s take a look at an example of fake double Elvises, from one of Elvis’ movies:

Which, this picture has me staring DIRECTLY at how young Henry, (and later, adult Henry), are both definitely BLONDE in the show:

Versus the TFS flashback scenes to 7 year old Henry with BLACK hair:

It’s JUST like that Elvis screenshot- they’re identical, except for the hair colours.

And you might be thinking “oh, well Em, that’s a stretch, just because ST mentions ‘Elvis cloned by aliens,’and TFS has Jailhouse Rock playing during it doesn’t mean that this specific Elvis movie is being intentionally referenced re: Henward & the different hair colours are probably for another reason or something.”

To which I say: the name of that Elvis movie with the blonde vs black haired Elvis is “Kissing Cousins”- yknow, like Walter Henderson in TFS, who has a whole scene about how he was kissing his cousin:

That’s a TOTAL nod to the Elvis “Kissing Cousins” movie. Is it not just a LITTLE suspicious that they have a whole scene in TFS about “kissing cousins,” PLUS having a black haired young Henry vs a blonde young Henry, who are otherwise basically identical, JUST like the two Elvises from Kissing Cousins???

The footage I have isnt great, so 7 year old TFS Henry’s face gets a little warped because of the angle of the screen + also if 7 year old Henry’s hair looks slightly lighter in that pic, it’s just because there were these sudden bright spots when they did a flash of light as an old film effect, so rest assured, his hair is BLACK/VERY dark brown/ in-show Henry’s blonde hair in dark lighting still doesnt get nearly as dark as 7 year old Henry’s hair in very bright light.

Also, they look slightly different because in-show Henry is 12 vs 7 year old TFS henry, but they’re still damn near identical face-wise/would be identical except for the hair colours if they were shown at the the same age.

Hell, massacre Henward’s weird Brenner-esque hair is even styled like the blonde Elvis from Kissing Cousins:

And it gets even better. In “Kissing Cousins,” Elvis’ blonde, identical cousin is described as a “hillbilly”- the EXACT same thing that Brenner calls Henry during TFS:

There is SOMETHING HERE. HENWARD IS SO REAL, EDWARD IS SO REAL!!!

And there’s also something about the two Elvises in the movie being third cousins/the whole “kissing cousins” thing vs the dead Great Uncle that Virginia mentions in the show & the whole “Uncle Sam” vs Sam Owens thing in ST & how TFS Victor looks and acts suspiciously like Owens.. I’m not sure how it all connects, but there’s SOMETHING here!!

[henrysglock]

Sorry not meant to be hostile I love your theories.It’s just that they managed to make a realistic fake Will corpse, El recognized him somehow. That could mean he was in the lab and that El has a link with him as his twin that makes sense to me atleast. And Henry-Will parallels they shown like how they both are quiet, sensitive, draw, and how Henry is probably gay too he doesn’t seem eager to kiss Patty and pressured to say he loves her.Makes sense he could be his father, they do these things like with Ted-Mike they’re similiar clothes and his behaviors, they do this with Henry-El too. Many moments that point to Willel being related. Mike and El are in love sorry, they have nothing familiar-seeming past season 1. They only had the cousin thing and 'will you be like my brother' came from El’s lack of knowledge on love, relationships. She had no idea you cant be siblings with your crush probably, she only knew about kissing and Mike had to teach her everything about love, he was 12 he had no way to explain it coherently to a girl so new to this in mere seconds. Those two familial references all stopped never went anywhere past season 1 when we knew their love it shifted to purely romantic. Willel is still going and never stopped. I think those cousin-brother things were there to make us as audience and Mike think it’s gross and make Mike have revelations he is in love because he is oblivious and bad at feelings.He himself admitted he never felt this way with anyone before. That’s my take. Maybe they were going somewhere with this but it’s abandoned plotline atp.

and pressured to say he loves her

Well that one was a Mindflayer vision, so there's a bit of a difference there.

Also, TFS Henry/hentty is far more paralleled to Mike and mileven. Like overwhelmingly so. Something something, Mike is gay and trying to be normal...like Finn has said about Mike trying to be normal...and like Henry constantly insisting on being normal...and him being gay...thus Mike being gay (on top of the mountain of other gay Mike subtext).

Makes sense he could be his father, they do these things like with Ted-Mike they’re similiar clothes and his behaviors, they do this with Henry-El too.

By that you mean Henry could be Will's father? And also just to confirm...you think Henry and El are related because of their subtext? As in El is a Creel?

[Mike and El] have nothing familiar-seeming past season 1

me staring back at all the Wheeler-Creel subtext like:

Girl (gender neutral) if El is a Creel by subtext, and the Wheelers have Creel subtext, then...El and Mike are related...Because they're both related to the Creels..........I'm sorry to say you've disproven your own argument, Anon.

Those two familial references all stopped never went anywhere past season 1 when we knew their love it shifted to purely romantic. Willel is still going and never stopped.

Oh there it is. MiIeven. Makes sense.

Willel being family doesn't come up until st4, though. Just because El recognized Will doesn't mean they're literal siblings, or that they were in the lab together, either. For example, in st1 Brenner looks at the original gate and says "she can't have gone far", implying El may have gone into the UD at some point before Mike met her...meaning she may have seen Will there...thus being a possible explanation for how she also knows Will is in the UD in the first place...

Maybe they were going somewhere with this but it’s abandoned plotline atp.

Meanwhile the Wheeler-Creel subtext gets ever-stronger with each passing season...

That’s my take.

One suggestion, and I mean this kindly: Invest in a beta reader.

[lavenderstobins]

who's who in the dragon age au?????

Bear with, this might get long, so I’ll try and break it down by game.

Dragon Age: Origins

Chrissy is the Warden / the Hero of Ferelden, recruited by senior Grey Warden Ser Robert Buckley. I haven’t yet decided her class. Jason had been one of the recruits too but he either didn’t survive the Joining or was killed when trying to back out of it.

Jeff is the other Grey Warden, essentially filling Alistair’s role. Haven’t yet decided whether to incorporate more of Alistair’s plot for him yet! He’s a warrior.

Eddie and Wayne live in the Wilds. Eddie fills Morrigan’s role initially, with Wayne able to save Chrissy and Jeff at Ostagar—not as Flemeth, but as a passerby. Eddie’s a mage!

Nancy fills Leliana’s role. She’s a former chantry sister and a bard. She and Mike are fleeing from Lothering when they meet the trio. Nancy’s a rogue, Mike is a warrior.

Freak joins them at Redcliffe, where Jeff was raised. I’m thinking Freak is a warrior.

Gareth is a Crow (assassin) sent by Brenner to take out Chrissy. Nancy takes him out with ease and he offers to join them on their journey. He’s a rogue.

Barb also lived in Lothering, but she died in the darkspawn attack. She’d been a chantry sister same as Nancy.

Chrissy makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to end the Blight, leaving Jeff as the only Ferelden Grey Warden. He’s the one who goes to find the cure. The group separate after Chrissy’s death, which brings us to:

Dragon Age 2

Steve and Robin are both simultaneously Varric and Hawke. Steve finds his passion in storytelling and writes about their adventures and Robin ends up with the title Champion of Kirkwall. Steve’s the one with the family estate, Robin’s the one with the blood connection to seal away Henry Creel.

Vickie fills the role of the surviving twin, having escaped Lothering with Robin back when the Blight broke out. She contracts the Taint during the Deep Roads expedition and is saved by Jeff and recruited to be a Grey Warden.

Tommy and Carol fill Bartrand’s role, being behind the Deep Roads expedition. Tommy finds the lyrium idol and it eventually drives him mad, which prompts Carol to seek Steve and Robin out years later (after she and Tommy had abandoned them in the Deep Roads prior).

The Byers run the Darktown clinic. Will’s the apostate healer, with Jonathan and Joyce running the clinic with him and keeping him secret.

Max stole a Qunari relic and is trapped in Kirkwall, just like Isabela.

Lucas and Erica are two rogues who live in Kirkwall, friends with the Byers. Dustin’s also friends with them and has far too much of an interest in runes and magic despite not being a mage.

El’s a former circle mage, now apostate, who escaped the circle with the help of a Templar named Benny. Lucas, Erica, Dustin and El imprint on Steve and Robin like ducklings; I think they’d be getting into trouble in the city and Steve & Robin would intervene once and they’d immediately latch on.

Billy would be Meredith I think, I haven’t thought too much about it. I also don’t have anyone specifically behind the chantry incident at the end of the game yet.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Nancy’s a nightingale now, still filling Leliana’s role.

Eddie’s the Inquisitor rather than Morrigan, having been at the wrong place at the wrong time. He has the rift anchor in his hand.

Steve, Dustin, Lucas, Erica, Max, El, Jonathan and Joyce come to Skyhold once Skyhold is established. Steve claims to have no clue of Robin’s whereabouts, intending to keep her safe.

Hopper I think would have Cullen’s role, being a templar and an advisor. The other advisors are Mr Clarke, Nancy and Murray.

Briefly mentioned prior, I’ve got Henry Creel/Vecna as Corypheus. Robin’s father (Ser Robert Buckley) sealed him away years ago and Steve & Robin accidentally unleashed him while ironically trying to prevent his release.

Argyle is the potions master. I think Jonathan would become the stable master.

Vickie reappears as the Grey Warden contact for Here Lies the Abyss.

They don’t all fit the characters 1:1, more their roles in the plot, and as you can tell there’s a lot of overall changes! It’s SO fun though I’m having a blast

[t-horn-n]

— he who wears the crown of thorns

PAIRING: peter ballard/henry creel x reader (female) 

GENRE: angst, h.end

WARNINGS: canon-level violence, allusions to substance (mis)use 

Stranger Things S4 spoilers.

SUMMARY: when you are injured in the lab, peter must finally admit what your relationship is.

NOTE: I have exhausted the well of Peter Ballard fanfiction, so I decided to write my own.

If you were one for poetics, you would craft the story of Hawkin’s Lab into a drama, or more likely, a tragedy.  Peter Ballard Henry Creel the hero, a fallen king who wears a crown of thorns around his neck.  And Martin Brenner, the arrogant mortal who tries to wield a god’s power.  

What does that make you?  Once, you may have simply been the narrator.  An outsider who felt obliged to tell the story of those who could not tell it themselves.  But now?  As time has passed, are you the fallen king’s guardian angel?  His pawn, a subject made to be ruled?  His friend?  Or his lover?  

It is not yet clear. 

What is certain is that you are entangled with him as though you have been ensnared by invisible threads, as unnoticeable as fishermen’s line, but as strong as spiders’ silk.  To Henry your presence in the lab has been as permanent as the white-tiled walls.  Though you are his age, you have been there since the beginning—to lend some normalcy into his life, Brenner had claimed.  Though, surely, you are not so ignorant as to believe anything about Henry is normal.  

Nonetheless, you are a constant in Peter Ballard’s life.  A rock that has stood even as Martin Brenner’s forest grew.  Peter became taller, older, more deceitful.  Together you raised the doctor’s saplings, fostered them with sunlight in the form of smiles.  

And now, your relationship?

Well, it’s simple in its complexity.  It’s peculiar in its secretiveness.  Your private grins and unspoken jokes and the strange way you store a piece of your weird, mangled souls in each other.  

But Brenner gets high off control.  If not, what need does he have for the collars?  The cameras?  The rules?  And when he loses his grip he suffers from withdrawal.  And he can be so very cruel when he does not get his fix.  

For a while, he pretended that that attraction did not exist.  He chose not to see the proximity because with all of the power Brenner tells himself he possesses comes laziness.  

“Don’t you think that if we all lined up on a checkerboard we would look like oversized chess pieces?” you murmur to Peter one afternoon—or at least that is what the clock claims—in the Rainbow Room.  

The two of you stand against the wall with the twin doors, facing the mirror with its reflection of your white uniforms and a dozen shaved heads.  

He chuckles quietly in amusement, the kind only you can earn.  “If that’s the case, that would make us the King and Queen.” 

You smile and your hands inch together.  A fingernail brushes against a fingernail, but a pinprick of red light bores into your forehead and you do not dare to do anything more than whisper.  

Brenner may be lazy, but he can also be sly and sneaky.

Two of the younger children colour on pristine sheets of paper.  Flowers and suns, things they have never seen for themselves, are conjured from the coloured wax of the crayons they hold.  Eleven drops a red disk into a numbered peg board, again and again.  Two, Three, and Four toss a bean bag between them.  Anything to cure their boredom. 

Suddenly, the door is pushed open.  It is not Martin Brenner, so the children do not rise.  They continue their puttering and only the oldest look to see who caused the disturbance.  Another Orderly addresses Peter.  

“Your shift is over.  I am here to take your place.”   

Peter smiles, his beautiful lips stretched thin.  

“I’ve been assigned a double shift today.  Don’t worry about me, Ballard,” you say to his hesitance.  

He smiles again and now his eyes crinkle too.  Then he leaves and you are left to stand with this Orderly on opposite sides of the steel door as though the lab is the prison Brenner tries so hard to deny.  You avoid staring at your own reflection because you have found that if you look at yourself for too long your reflection will become unrecognisable.  And then the person across from you is alien, and will certainly drive you mad.

Before your thoughts can run around your head in dizzying loops, the children start yelling.  Two and Three have stalked over to where Ten kneels surrounded by a fortress of blocks.  Wooden walls will not protect him from entitlement.  

“Move,” Two demands.  

For a moment, Ten does not reply and you think he will ignore Two—that he will weather this onslaught.  The silence permeates and is only broken by a soft whirring as the camera stationed in the corner of the room angles to watch the performance unfold.  

For that same moment, you do not know what to do.  Brenner has never liked Orderly interference in his children’s matters, always eager to see the extent of their capabilities, and of their rage.  But then again, he will be undoubtedly upset if one of his assets is damaged.

“No,” Ten says.

In a swift movement Two kicks his block towers and they go sprawling on the floor.  You and the other Orderly rush forward as Two takes Ten by his collar, yanking him up so quickly that he is not allowed time to yell, and his toes barely brush the tile.  

“Say again?” Two snarls.

“Two, your behaviour is—” you start.  

Two thrusts an arm outwards and the other Orderly flies backwards and into several chairs.  You do not move.  A rock. 

Perhaps Two would have been surprised if he were not so busy spitting in the other boy’s face.  “When I tell you to do something, you do it.” 

Ten’s face hardens defiantly and you are almost envious.  Where was this courage when you were a child?  Did you lack Ten’s bravery or the fodder of the other children?  

Two swings hard and his fist meets Ten’s cheek because in a deranged rage he must have forgotten that he is always being watched—or is the true reason more sinister?—and Ten is on the floor.  Blood runs down his face and stains his teeth.  Two appears drunk from adrenaline. 

A grin is spreading across his face, arrogant and smug.  But from the ground Ten throws a wooden block at his face.  It cuts his eyebrow, its point digging into his skin and now he too is bleeding.  Again, Two lunges forward like he is about to commit murder, but you are there, holding his shoulders and trying to push him against the wall.  His hands fly up, your face stings as Two drags his fingernails across your skin.  

Your fellow Orderly has since recovered and is holding Ten’s arms behind his back as though in the past three minutes the child has been traded for a criminal.  

“Let go of me!” Two yells.  

Your lips press together. 

Startlingly, the doors fling open, Martin Brenner has arrived.  Now, the children all jolt and stand in their lines.  

“Hello, Papa,” they greet. 

Even Two’s anger has waned in the presence of the doctor.

He speaks to the other Orderly first.  “Please escort Two and Ten to the infirmary.  I will have a chat with them later.”  

Then he looks directly at you and juvenile fear seizes you, the kind you should have grown out of.  “Come.” 

You release Two.  Approaching Brenner you do not look at the children, you try to relax your shoulders and raise your chin.  Peter would not be afraid, you remind yourself.  Brenner grasps your wrist in a handcuff not made of metal but flesh.  Roughly, he pulls you from the Rainbow Room and down the hallway.  

“You are here to protect them, Y/N, and today, you have failed to do that.” 

There is no point in protesting nor is there a reason to sputter apologies.  Simply, you allow him to drag you through the corridors of Hawkin’s Lab. 

A collar of metal and wires is fixed around your neck, a bite guard in your mouth.  You sit in a chair and an electrical shock races through your veins.  Your nerves alight and already perspiration beads at your hairline.  

Humiliation as you slide from the chair because your muscles spasm and you see Peter watching behind glass with an expression that discloses nothing.  But in his eyes, you see horror.  You tell yourself that you are not crying, and that the water that turns your vision bleary is the natural reaction to your situation.  

Pain as your legs commit treason and kick in odd directions.  

You count to yourself the seconds that pass.  It is all manageable if the time you suffer is compartmentalised.  When it is over and Brenner has left and Orderlies have taken the collar from your neck, Peter gathers you into his arms.  He tucks his head into your neck and whispers into your ear.  He does not tell you that you are okay because obviously you are not.  

“I’m sorry.” 

Still, your fingers twitch.  Your head jerks periodically while your feet tingle. 

He does not apologise again.  He does not need to.  Now it is certain that what you are extends past labels.

“They will not control us forever,” he promises.  “Soon we will rule them all.” 

Perhaps Henry Creel still wears barbs like a necklace, but his pledges to you are like a crown of thorns placed over your brow.  Those who wear the crown of thorns will not be caged for long.

— m. list

[madwheelerz]

Okay, so more on what happened with Will. Will is dressed like Marty McFly in the very first episode right?

Marty traveled to the past and had to get back to the future before he accidentally erased himself from existence, and the upside-down seems to be able to suck out your time at least up until the point where Will got taken, as evident by Eddie's poster.

So Lonnie kills Will in timeline 1 -> Mike tries to reset the timeline but isn't able to fully eradicate the timeline due to him not being powerful enough partially because of age -> Mike ends up damaging his mind and losing the memories of timeline 1 and releasing beings/monsters/locations/plots from his subconscious since the energy release weakened the barrier between his mind and the real world

Hence why Mike just makes things up, and they happen. Lucas suggests that El escaped from a mental facility, the same facility Victor Creel is in later. El happens to be right on time to save Mike at the Quarry, despite her being nowhere in sight prior, and when Flayed! Billy tries to end him the first time.

All those Mike & El parental parallels, but also they've been paralleled to twins and the writers account suggesting that El might be Mike's long lost sister from the upside-down.

I think the Creels are something of a mirror/reflection of the Wheelers, hence all the Creeler parallels. Like the way that Henry views himself and his family may shed light on how Mike views himself and his family.

An attic vs. a basement, the only son, a mother who just knows (all those conversations that Karen has with Mike, like she's trying to feel him out or like she knows something), "that's my friend, Mike", constant stalker shots of Mike, Henry for some reason constantly sparing the Wheelers - both Karen and Nancy, the choice to have Nancy as a messenger.

Alice might be meant to represent both of Mike's sisters as like a shared role (Holly's appearance + Nancy's age).

[will80sbyers]

What if Henry had a twin brother that he killed for a mistake and he was the first one he used his powers on without realizing and absorbed his mind into his own mind...

what if that's the memory that makes him sad and angry... what if the twins imagery was always about this story in his background!

Like the twins being focused on in these parts specifically...

Vecna and Henry always having "mirror" shots where there are two of him - maybe this is also why we have the Mindflayer using "we" as a pronoun and why it seems almost like there could be a "DID metaphor" in a way of him wanting to become One by integrating all of these different people he's taking in because his mind was split when he absorbed the mind of his twin brother...

And maybe his interest for Will is also about Will being so similar to him that it reminds him of his twin brother and he sort of wanted that, or maybe he wanted a host for the mind of his brother and Will was the perfect candidate? 😨

[chirpsythismorning]

a little nervous here bc while there are sus clues in the show that could be telling us abt willel being biological twins, there's also some stuff that could hint at mike and el being related too..☠️with all the strange creel x wheeler similarities and theories abt henry possibly being el's biological father.☠️ the latter is less luckily imo and personally i don't like the theory of willel being biological siblings very much either but i cant deny there's something really sus going on

Henry is definitely NOT El’s biological father, nor Will's. So you don't have to worry about that being a possibility. And so even if the Wheelers ended up being related to the Creels somehow, El nor Will are related to Henry by blood.

Joyce is 100% Will’s mom, and so because of all the twin imagery being associated with Will and El, I’m fairly confident that means Joyce has gotta be El’s mom too.

My theory relies on time trickery/false memories/memory stealing in general, which is why Joyce and Hopper don't know Will/El are their biological twins.

But also just to be clear, in 1959, Henry was 12 and Joyce and Hopper were 17… So yeah, he’s not El nor Will's dad.

I also think the play The First Shadow being added to canon as a prequel of sorts, supports this theory. The fact that it's set in 1959, and is going to focus on young Joyce and Hopper, dealing with 'the shadows of the past'...

It's likely that once Henry 'figured out' that he could turn back the clock (important to note that the clock in the Creel house little Henry watched turn back, was on the same time as the clock in Hawkins Lab...), then it would make A LOT of sense for him to go back to 1959, a time when Joyce and Hopper were together, to ensure they still had Jon/Will/El, but to change the events surrounding it so that they would essentially have no idea.

It's very much giving Back to the Future Part II, where Biff goes back to the past and messes up the trajectory of the future timeline, leading to George McFly dying, essentially leaving the kids with an absolute shit stain of a father whose not actually their father, aka Lonnie...

I'm still not certain about how it would all work and that's bc the implications of time trickery complicate things, making it near impossible to navigate. Not only are we dealing with turning back the clock, we're also potentially dealing with time-loops, where time could be getting turned back over and over and over again, without the character's knowledge that they've done this before.

And so if this is their 5th, 6th, 7th, or thousandth time going through this, they apparently aren't aware of it (at least not fully), which means their understanding of their past/present is pretty shaky as it is.

Though tbh I think where I get most confused about how all of this works is when it comes to the Hawkins Lab's stake in what's going on? Do they know about Henry's plans? Do they know there is time trickery going on? Are they playing a big part in orchestrating certain things?

Technically, in s4, Brenner and Owens admitted that they're keeping part of the truth from El. They literally showed her the 'true' events of the lab massacre in 4x07, only to reveal that wasn't even the full truth privately without her around? And so clearly, they know about something that is being hidden from us that we still haven't been clued in on, meaning it's being saved for s5. And so, what is it?

For now I'm not certain about everything, but there's a lot of evidence supporting this as a series long revelation.

And the fact that David Harbour has been saying for years that there are Easter Eggs in s1 that are going to lead to a really beautiful ending, makes it sort of click for me that he was probably talking about this...

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things SIX Review

Warning: The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS from Stranger Things Six, as well as Stranger Things Season 4.

Out of all the tie-in comics, this is the one that caught my attention just by the cover and premise. When it comes to Stranger Things, I’ve always been invested in its mythology (i.e. the Upside Down, the monsters, the secret lab, the kids with special abilities, etc). So a comic like this, which centers around Hawkins Lab and Dr. Brenner (who’s one of my favorite villains from the show) was something I was looking forward to.

And the results have been..............mixed.

The story focuses on a girl named Francine/Six who came from an abusive home where she was exploited by her parents for her gift of seeing into the future. One day, she meets a boy named Ricky (AKA Number 3) whom she ends up developing a friendship with. After finding out about Francine's situation and how her dad beats her, Ricky introduces her to Dr. Brenner, who encourages both Ricky and Francine to come to Hawkins Lab under the guise that their gifts could help countless people if they were given an environment to develop their powers. However, during their time at the Lab, they realize Brenner and the people working under him don’t have their best interests in mind, and are attempting to weaponize them and the other kids. Meanwhile, Six/Francine begins having visions of a monster (AKA the Demogorgon) from the Upside Down. While she doesn’t understand what the monster is, she fears it’s part of a dark future for her, which only motivates her desire to break out of the lab before it’s too late.

Observations:

As far as comics go, it’s adequate. The artwork is decent, and the plot moves at a brisk pace. It should be a fast read for most people.

The characters aren’t as fleshed-out as they could be, but it’s still cool to see other psychokinetic kids get expanded upon besides El, Kali, and Henry/One/Vecna. Ricky/Three is the boyfriend of Francine/Six and has the ability to emotionally manipulate others into doing what he wants them to do. Jamie/Nine is gifted in pyrokinesis/heat generation. Jamie also has a twin sister named Marcy, who isn’t gifted but was brought to the lab since she and Jamie are orphans and as another way for Brenner to keep control over Jamie.

Francine/Six’s visions about the Demogorgon turn out to be a red herring. She never physically encounters the monster, nor does she ever discover the mystery behind it or the Upside Down. It’s mostly there to serve as a call-back to the show, and as one more motivator for Six to escape the lab.

There’s an implication that Six’s powers, as well as the powers of other psychokinetic kids, may be connected to the Upside Down. This is something that’s also explored in the novel Stranger Things Suspicious Minds where Alice Johnson (one of Terry Ives’s friends) was being experimented on at Hawkins Lab and began having similar visions of the Upside Down and the Demogorgon. I’ve had a theory for a while that the Upside Down is somehow linked to the powers that individuals like El, Kali, and Henry/One/Vecna harness. I especially think it could be true in Henry’s case when he moved into the Creel House with his family and began developing his abilities. I don’t know if there was some sort of crack between the Creel House and the Upside Down (not big enough that anything like a Demogorgon could get through, but small enough that a malicious presence on the other side could have influence a young Henry) but I believe something happened that activated Henry when he was near the clock, which allowed him to start using his powers.

I also find it convenient how El later banished Henry/One/Vecna to the Upside Down of all places once she tapped into her full strength.

I don’t know whether or not the Upside Down is directly responsible for these kids having gifts, but I believe there's a link between them. I wonder if season 5 will expand on this, or if it’s just a theory that won’t come to fruition.

The comic itself takes place in 1978, about a year before Vecna’s massacre. It's mentioned in an interview by the Duffer Brothers that when they first began writing the show, they already had the idea that all of the kids with special abilities (with the exceptions of El and Kali) were dead prior to the start of season 1:

MATT DUFFER: We always knew that the other kids with the exception of Eight were dead. We always wanted to explore that and exactly what happened. It became a challenge because we knew we wanted to tell that story but it’s basically an origin flashback story. How do you keep that feeling relevant to what’s happening in the season, so when you cut to it, you feel like there’s some sort of forward progression and a connection? We knew it was going to connect ultimately to One.

There was also this tidbit regarding the comics and Henry/One/Vecna:

ROSS DUFFER: It’s funny, because there are various comic books and side merchandise and whenever they come to us with those ideas, we would say, you can take any number but you cannot take One. One is ours. So, that’s been ongoing for the seven years we’ve been working on it, that just don’t do anything with One. We’ve been protecting that [revelation]. It is a relief to finally get him out into the world.

Based on this, I assume the Duffer Brothers told Jody Houser and Dark Horse Comics that if they were going to do a story focusing on the psychokinetic kids at the lab, it had to be set before 1979.

This remark from Jamie/Nine caught my attention when I was reading:

The implication I took from her "babies" comment is there were different generations of gifted people at the lab........which makes sense. It's been mentioned Brenner founded the MK Ultra program in 1953. Henry Creel would later fall into Dr. Brenner's care in 1959, Terry Ives and her friends wouldn't be experimented on until 1969, and El wouldn't be born until a year or two later. I'm assuming there were separate age groups in the 25+ years since MK Ultra was started, and that the "babies" Jamie/Nine was referring to were a group of special kids younger than them.

On top of that, the comic presents the idea that not all of the kids at the lab were kidnapped the same way El and Kali were. Ricky was initially a willing participant in the program, Francine was persuaded by Dr. Brenner to join them, and both Jamie and Marcy were taken in after a fire destroyed their home and killed their parents.

Brenner also claims that the United States isn’t the only country developing programs like the one at Hawkins Lab:

I'm assuming Brenner was thinking about the Russians when he said this, and (incorrectly) believed they also had kids with dangerous powers who were being weaponized against the U.S. It adds another layer to his motivations for pushing the kids at Hawkins Lab beyond their limits.

There is a major continuity error that bugs me: At the end of the comic, Francine, Ricky, and Marcy attempt to escape the lab. The reason they're able to is because Terry Ives (El's mom) breaks into the lab on the same day to rescue El:

The problem is that people who’ve worked on the show, such as makeup artist Amy L. Forsythe, have confirmed that Terry's failed attempt to rescue El took place in 1974. This is also supported by the twin actresses who played El in the season 2 flashback being about 3-4 years old when they filmed that scene (which canonically lines up with how old El should have been during that year). I can't tell if this was a screw up from the comic book writers, or if it's a retcon that came from the show. Regardless, it’s still a glaring plot-hole.

There’s also the fact that in season 4, all the kids (with the exception of Kali/Eight) are accounted for. Numbers 3, 6, and 9 are different from the ones presented in the comic. This is Six from Season 4:

And these are what the other test subjects on the show look like:

So unless Brenner somehow replaced Ricky, Francine, and Jamie with other kids who would take the positions of Numbers 3, 6, and 9 within a year before Vecna’s massacre of the lab, the implication is the events in this comic (as well as its sequel Into the Fire) never happened.

And this brings me to my biggest problem with Stranger Things SIX: Because it’s likely not canon given the direction the show went in season 4 (as well as the continuity errors present in the comic itself), it makes it hard to get invested in the story. Characters like Ricky, Jamie, Marcy, and Francine aren’t going to play any important roles in the show, and it’s doubtful they’ll appear in season 5. It’s possible to view this story as some sort of existing legend surrounding the lab if you’re looking for a way to tie this comic into the overall franchise (similar to the folklore stories present in the novel Hawkins Horrors) but that’s about it.

I do think it’s important to view this comic more through the lens of what it tells us about the ideas the writers had surrounding Hawkins Lab, Dr. Brenner’s treatment of the kids at the lab (which is just as abusive in the comics as it is on the show), and whatever connection supposedly exists between the psychokinetic kids and the Upside Down. On top of that, the Duffer Brothers have stated they plan to give more insight into the MK Ultra program under Brenner in season 5:

DEADLINE: Did Dr. Martin Brenner not know that this kid killed his family and framed his father, or did this kid’s sociopathic potential offer Brenner an opportunity to really mold a weapon without a conscience?

MATT DUFFER: The second, really. He knew what this kid did and also what he was capable of when he was young. Brenner’s going, how can I mold this character, but not just into a weapon? That’s really how he sold it to the government, but for him as a scientist, it’s like, what other worlds can this kid show me about how our universe works? So, he’s really just that scientist who’s not really thinking about the consequences. He just keeps pushing, pushing, pushing, and he’s using the government’s money by saying hey we can fight the Soviets with this kid. It’s something we will get into in Season 5. What happened to that program once Henry became involved and how Brenner evolved it into including multiple kids. We’re going to go back and see some of that in Season 5.

I am definitely looking forward to that.

Overall, I’m glad I read this comic (though I wish I’d gotten it for a cheaper price), but it’s not my favorite.

[erikiara80]

Analysis of the Hawkins Post article in S3: twelvegate, Willel, gates and more

I just love analyzing the newspapers.

Finalmoondragon pointed out that in the article Larry is reading in S3, the name of the Mayor is different: Brian Williams. This is like when Hopper says that Martin Brenner runs the lab (1x03), but the name in the article is Richard Brenner. Like the different articles in 1x08 and 2x01, or when Robin reads Vengeful demon killed family, but the title is "Ancient demon", after she and Nancy mention Elvis cloned by aliens. Imo, another hint at different timelines/time loop. Like Henry's line: 'Each life a lesser copy of the one before'. Or the Horoscope in 4x01: 'in the year following your birthday, sending your copy...'

When Steve, Dustin and Lucas talk about Vecna, they even show both the titles. That's why I think these are hints, not errors.

Ok. So, there are so many interesting things in the S3 article. Many mentions of 11 and 12, doors (gates), heat and water, the elements associated with Will and El. Nancy, and even Clarke.

First line: the country's 209th birthday. Birthday, 209= 11

Then the Mayor's name: Brian Williams, not Larry Kline. Plural, like the name engraved on the grandfather clock. Williams is the judge of the competitive Float Contest, and the winners will be announced around 12 noon. So, the article starts with a mention of 11, then Williams and 12. This is really about Willel.

And there are other possible connections. The other judges are: Sherry Milbourne and Robert Franklin. Milbourne-> "mill near a stream" -> the Forever Clock that Dustin gives to Will looks like a mill. And Franklin is also mentioned along with a man named Martin.

Williams, twelve, a mill (Forever Clock), Martin (Brenner), (Upside) Down. And re-elected Judge Franklin might also be a hint at both time loop and powers. Franklin-> Benjamin Franklin-> lighting, electricity, powers. The lifeguard in 3x03: "No one in the pool until 30 minutes after the last strike. You wanna get electrocuted, go climb a tree."

Secretive task... had to move the location... creating new locations for the launch point... Hint at the new gate beneath the Mall?

This is even more interesting. There are two people with the same last name, Fuchs. They must be related, and they both mention kids. I think they represent Joyce, Hopper and their kids, Will and El. Nancy(*) Fuchs and the frequent pool-goer Jeff Fuchs, who says about the pool: 'The pool water did look a little murky, but I figured it was just from kids tracking dirt into the water.'

Fuchs is a german last name that means fox. EDIT: This could be a reference to Michael J. Fox, who plays Marty in Back to the future. Will wears Marty outfit in S1-> so the Fuchs could really represent Willel's parents, Joyce and Hopper. But the fact that it's a german name could be a reference to BTTF as well. Doc's family immigrated from Germany in 1908 and changed their name from Von Braun to Brown in WWI.

(*) If Nancy and her family are related to the Creels... another connection to time.

Also, possible reference to the experiments conducted by Nazi doctors on twins, and a connection to Dr Brenner? There's a mention of a german name connected to him in S1. Interestingly, the english variant of that name is Shepard, the guy killed in the UD that Brenner calls son. I don't think he was really his son, but it's an interesting detail, and that scene in a flashback in 4x08, when El and Brenner talk about Henry.

Anyway, sometimes the name Fuchs is used to describe someone with red hair. A possible connection to Barb, Nancy's friend, who has many parallels with El. Barb died in a pool, El is associated with water. And there are many hints throughout the show that something bad might have happened to her in a lake in the past (my car crash theory)

Nancy Fuchs works for Parks and Recreation. Here a mention of 11 and family. I really think the Fuchs represent the Hoppers, and their life is really an Obstacle Course, lol

But back to the pool, the owners are also related, and one of them is named Steve. In S3, Steve and Robin are the "twins", Tweedledee and Tweedledum. They're too connected to water (the sailor outfits), they're the ones who talk about Back to the future and time travels, and they get stuck beneath the town (the UD). Here some hints at the UD and One, and mentions of doors and leaks.

I'm also intrigued by these mentions of 1-2 (1-2 days, 1-2 surprises) because Murray seems confused about how many keys they need to close the gate. One, no, sorry, two keys. I think this could mean that everybody knows about El's powers but Will is the big surprise. The other key to save the world. Also, firework? Willel are associated with fireworks. They are the Satan's babies...

Mother of two, hm

Other 11 and 12 mentions: 39 still in Beirut... 6:15 am and 11 am... Precautions should be taken to prevent heat stroke among people over the age of 65 and under 12...

...Take time to partecipate in indoor or outdoor activities, like the pool and the Riverforest Zoo (UD?)... Explore your backyard (like the shed? Or is it a reference to the past?) Remember your Hawkins pride...

There is a mention of Lover's Lake and the library, which I'm sure will be important in S5.

And a mention of a girl, Stacey Clarke. S. Clarke. Interestingly, she's 13, like Georgie, the kid mentioned in 3x01 (I'm thinking about Henry "George Smith" Creel) S. Clarke has her whole routine planned out to audition for one of the fifteen spots...

Talent show, kids who have to prove their skills, 15 spots. This reminds me of the lab kids. Yeah, I have some thought about Mr Clarke and his role in the story...

So much to think about

[lillie98]

Using the new Casting Announcement and website, I compiled Family Trees for the Stranger Things families. Some things I noticed:

1) Bob Newby’s sister is Black. His mother is not mentioned, but his father is white. Maybe she was adopted? Why is she never brought up in the show? Was there a contentious relationship between Patty and Bob?

2) Bob Newby’s father was a Priest. They call him Father Newby. We know religion plays a huge part in this story, so I’m interested to see how this storyline plays out. Makes Joyce and Bob’s relationship that much more interesting. There’s a promo shot of a little girl seemingly trapped inside a church, placing her hand on a window. Maybe it’s Patty (Bob’s sister) or Alice Creel? Did Father Newby have something to do with the Upside Down? Did he know Brenner? What happened to him? I had no idea they were going to focus so much on this family. Makes me so angry they killed off Bob!

3) Eddie’s father’s name was Allen, but his mother is not mentioned. How did an abusive, neglectful man end up alone with his son? Did Eddie’s mother die or leave them? Was Eddie trafficked across state lines? We know Allen is incarcerated, but Eddie doesn’t elaborate on why. Did he kill his wife, leaving Eddie and him on the run until he was eventually found and charged? Is that when Wayne stepped up?We know Wayne is not fond of his brother so, whatever Allen did must have been awful.

4) Claudia Henderson and Virginia Creel are both listed with their married names, whereas Sue (Anderson) Sinclair, Karen (Childress) Wheeler, and Joyce (Maldonado) Byers are listed with their maiden names. Did the church (Father Newby) not approve of their marriages. What does it mean?!

5) Hopper is a Junior and his father was also Police Chief. Was he killed in the line of duty? We know from Hopper’s monologue in Russia that his father was verbally abusive and made Hopper feel he had to prove himself, thus he ended up in Vietnam. Is that why Hopper took over the Chief position, to continue his father’s legacy? Maybe if he became Chief, his father would be proud? Also, his wife, Diane, is not mentioned. They had Sarah together before she died. We don’t know what happened to Diane or where she went/came from. Sarah’s life and death are such crucial parts of Hopper’s life, it would make sense to include them. Unless Diane and Sarah never existed—another case of falsified memories. This is getting trippy.

6) Alice Creel is not mentioned in the cast, but I added her because she’s a part of Henry’s story. Did she not exist? Is Karen Wheeler the actual Alice Creel as some have speculated? Is that why she had her own Season 4 poster?

7) Steve’s parents are not mentioned, though I really wish they were! I want to know more about this boy and his family. Is his father really a loser? Did he abuse Steve? What do they do for a living? Tell me!!!

8) Terry Ives (Eleven’s supposed birth mother) is not mentioned. She and Becky (Terry’s sister) were always an interesting duo to me. Why not include her if she birthed one of the most important people to our story…unless she didn’t. I’ve always said Terry is not El’s mother, but I won’t get into all that right now. This only solidified my theory that El and Will were twins separated at birth, but the memories were changed. They look too much alike. If that’s true, it adds a whole new layer to the story. The real Wonder Twins.

Overall, I think these small findings will have major implications for the story, especially Bob’s family. I’m excited to finish out this incredible story and learn the truth about Hawkins!