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#i like talking about my byler journey
demadogs · 2 years
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I know, i know 😭 (30% anon here). It's not that i think the idea is absurd at all, like you listed so many good things!! I'm just trying to actively lower my own expectations because i'm the type who gets really invested and then consequently really disappointed (though i guess since this is tumblr most of us are that type lmao). I'm just used to shows not following through with subtext, and i'm not only talking about gay subtext, but all different kinds of plots. I hear you though, trust me!
Since i'm already in your inbox, i have a question: have you been around for a while? What's the history of the byler ship? Was it always popular? Did people always think there might be a serious chance or was it more of a crackship? Were there any popular theories that came true or that were completely false? Since i'm super new to the show myself i'm curious!
yeah i totally get it. my brain is just not wired to be able to have lower expectations for something that his this much evidence for. im either 100% confident in something in a show or i have absolutely no idea whats gonna happen lmao.
i only started being active in this fandom a few months ago but ive shipped byler and followed lots of byler blogs for years. people started shipping byler after s2 came out. i didnt see anything about it during s1 because they literally had two scenes together and there was almost nothing really to work with. but when i watched s2 when it first came out i distinctly remember thinking “….is anybody else seeing this?? am i crazy orrr?” and then i went on here and found a small fandom of people who shipped them too so i was like “ok cool nice”. at this point it was mostly gifsets of their scenes together and maybe some edits and we hadnt established whether we were gonna spell it byeler or byler yet lmao. then i found @kaypeace21 and she was the first person i saw ever actually analyze it and really start to believe that everything might be intentional.
before i followed her, i never even considered that they might actually go through with byler. i think that was the case for most people during s2. i shipped it in the same way i currently ship ronance and steveddie. i thought they were cute and had good chemistry but i never believed it would go anywhere because of mlvn and also just the doubt that an insanely popular 80s scifi show would put their main characters in a gay relationship. i still loved reading kaypeace’s analyses but i wasnt convinced yet. then s3 came out and that changed everything for me and a lot of other people.
i watched s3 the day it came out hoping for some crumbs of byler but again, not at all expecting anything evident of them actually going through with it. it was kinda just in the back of my mind bc i love this show mostly for the supernatural plot. but during their fight scene when mike said “its not my fault you dont like girls” i was shocked. that convinced me that at least will would have a crush on mike but i still wasnt sure about mike until that painfully awkward kiss on the last episode. it wasnt until a few months later i rewatched that season and went back to kaypeace and found SO many things that i missed!! mike not letting el touch him when they kissed, the drastic tone and aesthetic difference between the break up and the byler fight, the frame of mike perfectly in a closet when they kissed!! i was completely sold then and so were a lot of people. i also think it was around this time that finn liked some byler art that had the quote “im not gonna fall in love” on it so that made a lot of people like 👀.
then everything the cast and duffers have said leading up to volume one only increased my confidence. i went into volume one completely expecting more obvious queer coding and i was right to. i was already overly confident but the biggest thing from volume one that made me more confident wasnt even a byler scene, it was mike and el’s fight. im glad they had her explicitly call him out for not saying he loves her. they kinda had to spell it out for the general audience. that was a really good scene and the fact that they played eulogy over it!!!?? insane. i lost my mind when i watched that episode a second time and realized that. that is 10000% intentional and the only explanation could be that that fight was the death of their relationship.
anywho yeah ive shipped them almost since the beginning and its been so fun slowly realizing that theyre actually going to do this and watching it build up and seeing the general audience start to catch on. it added a whole other layer to a show that already would have been my favorite either way just because of the plot alone.
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uselessnbee · 1 year
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okay i don't want to be THAT bitch but if El calls out Mike on his bullshit in s5 how the love confession was shit and untrue i do kinda want Mike to turn around and be like "okay well what do you love me for?" because let's be real girl would not have an answer for that 💀
and maybe it would be good to be the last thing that would make her go oh i've never loved him that way either
like yes she totally should throw everything in Mike's face cause she deserves so much better but let's not pretend like she's a good girlfriend to him and it's just Mike being the problem
this fucker has been depressed and struggling for months and like did she ever even ask how is he doing? not her fault but the fact that Mike has been struggling and never once thought about talking to El because he doesn't feel like he can be vulnerable with her? the fact that he pretends he's someone he's not because he feels like she wouldn't want him for who he is? seriously no hate to El i love her to bits and yes Mike is bigger asshole in this but we really need to stop acting like El is perfect and can do no wrong
and that one time in s4 when Mike actually tried to be vulnerable with her and let her know that he understands because he's been bullied his whole life and she just invalidates his feelings and completely dismisses him? i do understand her pov and what she meant but as someone who's also been bullied and have so many people invalidate my feelings and how it affected me and still affects me to this day all the time it really hurt to hear it. the way Mike's feelings are constantly being invalidated and dismissed by both the characters in the show and this fandom just because "others have it worse" really disgusts me
anyways i really just want to point out that this is a relationship. there are two people in this relationship and it all goes both ways. it's not just Mike being an asshole friend and a shitty boyfriend. El isn't really a great girlfriend either and when they were just hanging out together the whole summer it is on El too. they're both just kids trying to do their best and making mistakes we can acknowledge that both of them make some really questionable things so they both can grow and learn
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starbylers · 7 months
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Rambling about things that’ve been said a million times but like…character’s final scenes in each season foreshadow what will be going on with them in the next season right? We’ve seen this. So by that logic we literally know what’s going to happen in s5. (In terms of character’s journeys, not talking about plot). Like we know for certain. They’re barely even theories to me anymore it’s just canon waiting to happen 😭. A huge amount of my Byler confidence comes from this tbh so if you need a little boost maybe this will help.
Dustin’s scene shows he is going to be grieving Eddie (we’ve already had confirmation of this I think so we know the pattern follows for s4 that final scenes are foreshadowing)
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Lucas’ scene shows he will obviously be doing everything possible to care for and help Max
El’s scene shows she’s going to be focused on 1) saving Max & defeating Henry and 2) her family and having the support of her dad back
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Caleb literally mentioned that Lucas & El’s relationship will be explored and we know Max is the thing that ties them together (the boyfriend and the best friend) so that’s another piece of evidence of s4 final scenes being foreshadowing
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So it has to follow that Will & Mike’s scene shows they are definitely going to be working as a team
And if we take symbolism into account…
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Their final one-on-one in s3 lingered on a shot of a blue telephone on yellow wallpaper & we know all about their s4 communication issues so yeah we’re absolutely taking symbolism into account
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…that red flipped couch? They’re going to be in the upside down. Together. In the season where Will is going to have an emotional arc which will ‘tie the entire series together’. (Although even if the couch stuff was somehow incorrect the team part still stands).
To me the chances of M*leven being endgame in this scenario are so tiny they’re almost nonexistent? If next season was about showing how strong of a couple and how in love they are (which is basically the only place their story could really go atp if the intention was for them to be endgame), they would’ve had their final scene together! El would be sitting in Will’s place on the couch! Mike would be reaching into the light and grabbing El’s shoulder, symbolising that he’s choosing her.
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The meaning behind this shot is so clear it’s almost funny like it literally looks like some magical celestial beam of light from heaven is shining down on where they’re connected
They wouldn’t be spending the season with their stories primarily focused on & tied to other people (“other people” being Mike’s literal other love interest!!!) if the show was trying to tell a story of them being this alleged central power couple working together and growing together in a loving, healthy, mature, supportive relationship. It’s completely illogical.
I feel like it’s so obvious that Mike and Will are at least going to be working together next season, and it’s incredibly weird to me that people even try and argue us on that point. Is it denial? Is it the fact that deep down, they are actually aware of how foreshadowing and logical story structure work and they’re scared that if they admit Mike and Will are going to be paired up, they’ll have to admit where the story is inevitably leading…?
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silverliing · 8 months
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Mike’s wall art
I love seeing analysis about ST set design because it really spells out so much of the story without verbally telling you, and ive seen much discussion abt the details of mike’s room in s4 (that one way sign haunts me btw). buuut there are two pieces of visible wall art that I don’t really see get talked about on here (that i’ve read) and I just have a few things to say about them and what i think they might be telling us about Mike’s character and upcoming journey (hint: going into the UD)(hint: making plans and leading the party)(hint: byler)
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so idk if this has been pointed out or if it’s common knowledge atp but the two pieces circled above are lithographs by artist MC Escher; Hand with Reflective Sphere (left)
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and Relativity (right)
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(a lil hard to see in this screenshot i’m sorry😢)
The artwork is beautiful as you can see (canon Mike Wheeler has great taste in art). Escher was most known for his intricate “impossible constructions” which are optical illusions of paradoxical space, he was also the inventor of the impossible cube:
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this is some pretty cool nerdy, mathy stuff that I’d expect mike would be into, but looking at it from the context of his character and the direction of where the story is headed, there were 3 immediate possible readings that popped into my head which point toward 3 different (yet coexisting) directions:
He likes the art — It’s true, this art taps into Mike’s interests. Valid but boring. zzzz. snooze. You could argue that these posters should be taken at face value, but I just feel like in a show like ST —where the main cast knows of and is in various ways affected by an evil alternate dimension— having a character with wall art that references perspective/dimensional anomalies doesn’t really tell us much about his specific character or story. We’ve known that the ST set designers use a character’s space to show us who they are as people, these two artworks need to tell us something about Mike and his journey. And maybe Mike’s sensibilities about the world at large are shifting into nihilism with everything that’s happened in hawkins and the art reflects an absurdist outlook of future (teenage stuff, growing up, etc. etc.)
It foreshadows Mike’s s5 arc — I love this one. Mike is one of the few in the main cast who haven’t been in the upside down proper, so this art could reference not only that he’ll go into the UD in s5 but also that there could be dimensional anomalies involved in his travel or journey there. Perhaps this is how they’ll be able to find Max— by bending the laws of physics and using the mechanics of dimensional travel against itself, perhaps to open new doors or travel in different directions (hint: time travel 😏). And i think the reason this art is in Mike’s wall is bc it will be Mike who formulates the plan to find Max and retrieve her with the help of El and Will’s new powers 😏 (g*d knows i want to see leader Mike make a come back)(and Will with powers).
Will Byers — we know Mike and Will are tied together by the narrative and so I think these artworks could be directly pointing to Will with big red arrows. This point is corroborated by simply analyzing the formal qualities of the artwork, both individually and as a set. Hand with Reflective Sphere is about optics and perspective, about seeing, but also about the flattening of space. Relativity is about space, dimension, and paradox, but also about impossible perspective/vantage point. When read together the objective reading of them is about sight and space and paradox, about how the flattening of space helps us see something new and impossible. While Mike hasn’t experienced the dimensional travel into the UD proper, many of those closest to him atp had; El, Will, Nancy… but the reason i think these two posters remind him of Will specifically is because out of everyone else who has been in the UD, only Will experiences the feeling of being stuck there and of seeing into both dimensions at once; the stuck view-master, true sight. Mike associates these things combined (dimensional travel and dimensional sight/perception) with Will.
Also, Mike is a nerdy guy, he seems interested in this kind of stuff for the fun of it so he could’ve had sciency charts that reference the subject of visible light and paradoxes the way Suzie does, but instead he has not one but two fine-art pieces by a pretty big graphic artist that reference the subject of sight and space. Also, Idk what it is about the fact that it’s fine-art and not movie/game/dnd art that makes me also associate it with Will— the self-proclaimed visual artist of the show. The words are all jumbled up in my head rn but; artist. sight. all-encompassing. dimension. paradox. new perspective. -> -> -> -> Will Byers (is this a hint to wills powers??) etc. etc. etc. you get it
Secret 4th option (ties into #2)
Mike gets Vecnaed and this forces him into extensive self-reflection and the labyrinthian trials of finding himself and mastering his fears(maybe he’s already begun his self-searching and that’s why we see this art at the beginning of s4). cue cool musical montage of Mike navigating his own memories and mind-scape to find the answer that will make everything make sense while also hiding from vecna and buying the party time to find a way to end him.
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wheelerboi · 1 year
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I legit think I’m gonna cry.
Imagine how scary it was to play a character who was going to be undeniably gay. Imagine how nervous he was when he realized people might see more of him in the character than he intended. Imagine how fucking cathartic the van scene was. Being able to cry for these scenes and being able to do it surrounded by friends and coworkers knowing that they didn’t judge him for it, that they supported his character’s journey and that they’d probably support his too.
Imagine how heartbreakingly happy he was to see so many Byler fans not just openly accept Will but make him an icon. To genuinely appreciate how much he put into this character, to see how the journey of Will Byers was just as important to us as it might’ve been for him.
Imagine going on interviews and to panels and just experiencing fans and interviewers openly talk about Will’s sexuality. To ask him questions that were genuine and real and not just “Is it weird? Playing a gay character?”
Real questions that he could be and clearly was excited about.
“What’s it like getting to portray such a heavy and struggling journey for a boy who’s already been through so much?”
“What do you see in Will’s future?”
“Are you aware of how good this is? Of how important and appreciated this character—and in turn, you—are?”
To have everyone watch Will Byers get back up and keep on going despite the fear and watching die hard fans go “That’s why he’s an icon. That’s why he’s my fav. That’s why he deserves happiness.”
“That’s why he deserves the boy.”
Do you think that he found a sense of community, the same realization that the rest of us did? The Not only am I just like y’all—But you guys are just like me 🫂moment that we all probably had.
Yeah, I’m crying.
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bylerisrequited · 1 year
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noah: "i think they did a great job with will's character this season, and beautifully addressed everything they needed to."
finn: "and i really want will to have a really happy ending. and i think he will... the duffers are sort of trying to thread this needle of trying to get every character to have their perfect ending."
david: "i know what happens, and it's quite moving and quite beautiful,"
duffers: "we're doing our best to resist [adding new characters] for season 5. we're trying not to do that so we can focus on the OG characters,"
finn: "i think mike's just trying to be as normal as possible and trying to keep on a normal path."
millie: "i feel like it's very important for eleven to stand on her two feet so this is kind of a good scene to let eleven go. if he doesn't love me then he doesn't love me. i'm going to go on my journey."
anything said against byler means nothing because the cast is meant to lie btw!! if noah says he doesn't know about byler...he's lying. there is tons of evidence leaning towards byler endgame so don't worry!! if they weren't meant to be endgame then they wouldn't talk about them so much in these interviews. we still have tons of time before the season airs so don't lose hope :)
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will80sbyers · 8 months
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I cannot believe people are seriously complaining to me about how they don't know how to filter tags when I'm not even the one using other characters only to talk about byler ( in fact if you actually read my blog I have made many and many posts about almost every singular character because I love them all) and just because I pointed out a freaking parallel about my favourite character and Max being intentionally written with the same story because both have suicidal thoughts in the story and it means Will will face Vecna like Max did... That's in the story because the writers of the show are telling Will's journey of his coming out and that's what will happen next season when he will be face to face with Vecna - byler or no byler involved, that's what this story was always about because he's the one that was kidnapped in season 1 and they have been preparing this since before season 1... they wrote he had problems with his sexual identity before writing the rest of the show
Part of the story was always about El and Will facing Henry in the finale + all the other characters that love them all around them and meanwhile we had the privilege to see the other characters stories before the final story!
It STARTED with Will and he's the one that's gonna make it end and defeat Vecna with all the other characters and that's just what the narrative is telling us
It's a story about the underdog winning against evil
Jamie said once in an interview Will is going to be in the middle of all the connections because his story is the last one that will be told
It doesn't mean he's more important than the other characters but he is connected to everything and he's the one that's gonna put the mirror in front of Henry and make him see that even if they are similar they will never be the same and he's the one ( with El and the others! ) that will make him pay for all the suffering he put his friends and family in these past years through and for what he did to him
Will is going to face his darkest fears next season and he's going to overcome them
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Just say you hate Eleven don’t beat around the bush with listing all the reasons Will deserves a prize. “deserves the boy he loves” right and where does Mikes feelings coming into that exactly? So far I’ve learned there two sets of fans the ones who fancy finn and want to see him kiss boys as some weird fantasy and the others who adore Will and feel he deserves what he wants without thinking of the other party.
Only in the ST fandom can someone take a reasonable sentence like, “After four seasons of trauma, Will deserves a happy ending” and utterly twist it to mean, “I hate El and want her to be alone and miserable grrr.” It’s also wild how you can glean “Will deserves a prize” from my words when that’s not at all what I said. I don’t see Mike as a “prize” for Will. That’d be ridiculous. I see them as equals- because that’s what they are: lifelong best friends who’ve been through so much, consistently put each other first, and have made multiple beautiful promises to each other.
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“But you said, ‘Will has suffered so much and deserves a happy ending with the boy he loves.’ How is that not proving my point?” Yes, I did say that, and I would say it again in a heartbeat. Will has suffered so much. Here’s a refresher on just some of his trauma. Given the context of everything, given the significance of Will’s sexuality to both his coming-of-age journey and the 80s, it would be genuinely cruel to not give him a happy ending. And it’s not Byler shippers on the Internet, but the show itself, that has consistently tied this happy ending to Mike. It’s been reinforced in every season, and the writers and filmmakers doubled-down on it in Season 4 through the van scene and through aggressively inserting Will into every Milkvan scene so that he’s always on your mind. S3 brought up their hypothetical question of the future through the rain fight, and it also had Will very specifically saying, “I’m not gonna fall in love.” This was not placed in the show so he could be proven right in S5 when Mike iNeViTaBlY rejects him. Be serious.
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As I said in my post, this has nothing to do with thinking unreciprocated storylines don’t serve a purpose in media. Obviously they do! Stranger Things has given us a few: Dustin and Max, Steve and Robin, and Steve and Nancy (after they broke up). It is also given us another which I will talk about in a second, although this one comes with a twist. Dustin was crushing on the attractive new girl in school, as was Lucas. Max chose Lucas and fell for him. Dustin was sad about it, sure. The Snowball dance emphasized his general sadness as well as his unluckiness with girls at the time. Narratively, dancing with Nancy was the healing moment he needed to move on. It propelled his character to his Season 3 glow up, where he surprises his friends with news that he is dating Suzie. Dustin liked Max, but he wasn’t in love with Max, built upon a lifelong friendship. The situation is just structurally different.
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Steve and Robin? Well, you know the story. Steve developed feelings for Robin (after Dustin pushed him in that direction, I might add) over the course of S3. But Robin was like, “Psyche! I’m a lesbian. Let’s be best friends,” and platonic Stobin was born. Notice there was no grief on Steve’s part. Steve was shocked, sure, but he wasn’t heartbroken. He bounced back in a heartbeat and fully accepted her sexuality. And then the season ends with their friendship shenanigans at the video store. Again, this was a crush. And it had a very interesting plot twist at the end of it. And it served a very specific purpose in Steve’s journey.
In terms of Steve and Nancy, there was more heartbreak involved, since they were actually dating. And in S4, it’s clear that Steve has never fully gotten over Nancy, or at least he thinks he hasn’t gotten over her. But narratively, this just serves a fundamentally different purpose than the situation between Mike and Will. Steve believes he needs romantic love to be happy, so his arc is accepting that he doesn’t. Also, as a presumed straight character (even though I love the bi Steve HCs), he doesn’t have the same kind of existential crisis that Will, a sad gay boy in the 80s, does.
The fourth unreciprocated storyline is an interesting one cause it’s not actually unreciprocated at all. It just seems that way. And of course, I’m talking about Robin and Vickie. Robin has feelings for Vickie, but when she sees Vickie with her boyfriend Dan, she assumes all hope is lost. But alas, all hope is not lost! Vickie is queer too and has feelings for Robin as well. You just have to take off your heteronormative glasses to recognize it. Sound similar to something else?
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I bring this up because while Byler shares surface-level similarities to these other unrequited storylines, it visually parallels the situation with Robin and Vickie. So don’t be surprised when Mike, like Vickie, turns out not to be straight. And character wise, it’s deeper than all the other examples by miles. Dustin got over Max, Steve got over Robin, Steve is just looking for any girlfriend tbh, and S4 showed Robin getting over Vickie before the plot twist. Will and Mike are lifelong best friends, and a slow-burn rejection arc would not only make no sense, in-universe it would structurally derail Byler’s powerful connection and interrupt key plots already in motion during the apocalypse.
You forget that these aren’t real people. They are characters. In real life, sure, sometimes you don’t get what you want. Sometimes gay kids fall in love with their lifelong straight best friends, get gently rejected, and then life goes on eventually. In real life, saying, “But I have suffered, so you must love me back,” would be insane. And Will agrees. The homewrecker allegations need to stop. In the context of the show, Will doesn’t think that Mike loves him back. He doesn’t think love can be for boys like him. It rips him apart and tears him inside for sure, but all throughout S4 he’s the one trying to repair his bestie’s relationship while being madly in love with him. Will thinks he will be forever alone, and your argument is that he should be proven right?
Of course, I adore Will. He’s my favorite character, and I’m a proud member of the Willuminati. The shoe fits, and I will wear it. But I saw this Tweet today that I had to screenshot, and it applies directly to the subtext of your ask:
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No one should find it strange or delusional or creepy that people ship Will with the boy he’s into. Calling it a “weird fantasy” in any context is inherently homophobic and weird behavior. You simply would not say that about any other ship in the show. Admit that you find queerness icky. Don’t hide behind faux concern for El.
Lastly, I must directly respond to your question,“Where do Mike’s feelings come into that exactly? Why do Bylers feel Will deserves what he wants without thinking of the other party?”
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What are you even saying? Accusing Bylers of not thinking about Mike is the strangest accusation considering there are 50 essays per day posted on this app diving into the psychology of Mike. Mike’s feelings are powerful. Mike’s feelings are important. I could just as easily have written a post that said, “After everything Mike has been through, he deserves a happy ending with the boy he loves” because Mike clearly loves Will. It is overflowing out of him. If you analyze and “think of the other party” as you put it, it becomes crystal-clear where Mike’s feelings come into play and what his happy ending is. Hint: it’s not with the girl he can’t even write ILY to.
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I could have written about Mike, but my post was about Will, who is canonically gay, deeply traumatized, and whose sexuality is not in doubt. Will deserves a happy ending. “But El is also traumatized, and she deserves a happy ending as well.” Agreed, but her happy ending and the overall trajectory of her character arc simply do not center Mike. El’s arc is rooted in her independence, and I could do a deep-dive analysis comparing and contrasting Will and El and explaining why romantic love is central to Will’s endgame but not to El’s. But I’m sure there are fifty of those already on this platform. I want Mike, Will, and El to all have happy endings.
Anyway, Byler endgame.
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erikiara80 · 1 year
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ST will end like The Return of the King
I was thinking about the things the Duffers have said about the ending so far...
S5 will be similar to S1 in terms of dynamics and setting (edit: AND to S2 in terms of some big ideas they couldn’t include at the time)
No open ending 
The ending is like the epilogue of TROTK and they know what happens in the last 20-30 mins (TROTK epilogue is 20 min long)
Eight endings? 
Then there’s David, the only member of the cast who knows the ending. He said that it’s quite beautiful. Also a bit bittersweet. And in this interview with Finn, Wynona and Caleb, when they were talking about Will, he said that Will is not interested in El (like some fans suggested -sigh) but in another member of the party, and that “he wants to play D&D in Mike’s basement for the rest of his life” He said that with this smirk. And Finn laughed and said: “Yeah, Will said that”. Yeah. I’d say Byler is safe, lol. A sad, tragic ending for Will and Mike? Not possible : ) 
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Yes. They do, lol So. How will ST end? 
1. S5 will more like S1 and S2, but bigger
This is just a theory, but I love good parallels and the Duffers have never disappointed me in that regard. So, in 1x08 both Will and El almost die, while the others try to help them. El kills the Demogorgon but disappears, and Will is physically connected to the UD and, well, he’s technically dead. He’s not breathing, and Joyce and Hopper have to revive him. I hope that in S5 Will and El will fight together to defeat Vecna and stop the spreading of the spores in our world. And I think they will both almost die, again. Will is a lot like Frodo, so I expect a lot of pain and torment for him in S5. But he’s also Radagast, the wizard who can communicate with the creatures of Mirkwood. So my theory is that in the last episode of S5 he’ll connect himself to the UD to destroy the spores, the vines, whatever. And since he’s always been associated with fire, in both the campaigns in 1x01 and 1x08 (not to mention the Will the Wise drawing in S2), maybe he will use fire to destroy the spores. Maybe he and El will connect their powers to do it together! 
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Oh, and if he almost dies again, this time I think it is possible it’ll be Mike who saves him. Plus, if they really include many ideas they wanted to use in S2, well, Will’s connection to the UD and Henry/Mind Flayer was the most important part of the story, so it totally makes sense that he’ll be central in S5.
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As for El, she needs to end her journey feeling that she finally belongs. That she’s found her place in the world, her home. She’s happy with Hopper and with the Byers, but I think that finding out that Will, her brother, someone so good and who loves her, is like her, would be the most important thing for El. It just feels so right. But yeah, in S1 she disappears. And she’s been compared to E.T. a lot throughout the show (mostly visually and by the Duffers). So maybe in S5 she will leave again. But she won’t be trapped in the UD. I have a theory about her mom. Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking. Watching El reliving all her memories, finding herself stuck in a loop and having to find the answers she needed to regain her powers, make me hope that maybe she can do the same for Terry, whose mind is also trapped in a loop. She could still feel her daughter and communicate with her. That means that her brain still works, maybe because she has powers too. Who knows? El saw her mom in her memory in S4, and was also able to revive Max. She’s much more powerful now than in S2. So yeah, I kinda hope she can heal her mother and go home. Like E.T. But it would be a happy ending. We’ll see.
2. No open ending
Yep. They will kill Vecna and close the gates once and for all. No more threats from the UD.  
3-4. The last 20-30 minutes will probably be an epilogue, a bit like the ending of TROTK (the Duffers joked about this in a podcast)
I think Will (or maybe him and Mike) is the one who will tell what happens to all the characters. Like Frodo. There’s going to be another time skip, but I hope it’s just a few years, like them in college, starting a new life and not 52 year old Will telling us what happened in these 30 years. But it is very possible. And if they do that, we could see some of the main characters die. Like Hopper and Joyce, who would be in their 80s now. The bittersweet part. Life goes on and at some point you’re going to lose your loved ones. But they’ll never really leave you. The love and the friendships that made you who you are, are real, are part of you, and sometimes they can literally save the world. (Sorry, I’m already crying)
The possible 8 endings
Joyce and Hopper
El
Jonathan and Nancy
Steve and Dustin (yes, I think they’ll leave Hawkins together)
The Sinclairs + Max (so, Lumax and Erica)
Robin and Vickie
Argyle 
and of course, Will and Mike
This is what I hope to see. If I’m wrong, maybe we won’t see Jancy but two separate endings for Jonathan and Nancy, or for Steve and Dustin  (maybe we’ll see Dustin and Suzie?)
Anyways, I’m sure season 5 will be both epic and very emotional. I will definitely cry. But whatever happens, I will always love this beautiful story about family and love, and all its wonderful characters.
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spicybylerpolls · 1 month
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yeah, like what of close connections between the actor and THEIR CHARACTER’S fictional beloved? 
I love the idea of Noah harbouring a soft spot for Mike - how could he not, knowing what that character means to his Will? And likewise, how Finn interprets Will, the sympathy and respect he would have for him. This is how actors are able to get lost in their character and become them, and feel the trust to lose theirselves while performing and trust they are safe with their scene partner who hopefully is also just… gone in the moment. You both are and aren’t your character; it’s physically you, but not psychologically. This is the paradox of acting and it’s quite understandable that many outside the business wouldn’t be able to wrap their head around two opposite things existing at once!
there's been stuff in press (though vague) about this, like that buzz quiz where finn got will and noah got mike as who theyre most like. just a silly quiz but still it was interesting
considering the age of the stranger things younger cast, they are cornerstones of each others formative years, and Noah especially (as far as we know) seems to have connected to Will and been able to self-actualise partly due to playing that role. It is one that will undoubtedly remain important for the rest of his life. It also means that the character of Mike is surely very influential for him. It’s even possible that his first ever kiss with a boy, with someone of his preferred gender, will have been on set while acting. This isn’t all too uncommon for young actors - see Finn and Millie in the same show - but for someone who was on a journey of self-realisation and sexuality, it’s very important indeed. 
And of course we do not know about Finn seeing as he hasn’t, and may never, label himself, as is his right. 
but i for one would love an in depth behind the scenes or documentary (or reunion documentary can you imagine! when theyre older and more secure about everything) talking about the experience.
so i guess my question was that i'd like to see polls/answers about whether people think noah and finn respectively might have little crushes or soft spots on each other's character.
it seemed like an interesting thing instead of only shipping characters or only shipping actors
Please note that the purpose of this blog is not to be creepy or to make anyone uncomfortable. That's why I created the #spicy byler tag (I will tag all polls with this). If you don't want to see this blog or anything related to it on your feed, please block that tag. Not everyone is comfortable with this sorta stuff, and that's okay.
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bylertruther · 1 year
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Hello hai I’m messaging you because you seem knowledgeable about the fanfic sphere and also seem to be one of the few people that actually understand Will and stuff so I was wondering if you have any fic recs that characterize him well. Obviously ur a byler person so stuff like that but if you have any others you think are good (like Will interacting with Jonathan or something) that would also be cool. Don’t answer if you don’t want to but if you do it would be much appreciated <3
ooooh, fun! i love talking about fan fiction, so thank you for giving me the opportunity to gush. :) i haven't read everything out there, but i'll try my best to share what i have come across. i'm very sick right now so i'm most definitely leaving authors out, but here are some that i found myself really enjoying and that resonated with me:
anything by wiseatom and boygirl. their will always reads as really balanced to me, and that same gentleness and whimsy that will has and represents in canon is threaded through and highlighted in their works in such a fantastic, reverent way. they allow will to be as he is, to exist in his every shade, and it's so lovely to read. i always come away from their works feeling like they really love him and don't want or need him to be anyone other than who he is.
belonging to your dreams. it's a series featuring richie and will! the first part focuses on their friendship, and the second part is an in-progress season four continuation that is admittedly more of an ensemble piece, but the will scenes are still fantastic. honestly, this feels like the biggest love letter to will byers ever. they don't make him out to be anyone that he isn't and they really capture his values in such a lovely way. it has so much heart and so much love—for the source material, for will, and for those that see themselves in him. i post screenshots from these fics all the time and reread them over and over again, because they just make me so happy and fill me with so much love for him lol.
anything by byliever. they write married adult byler with kids and i really, really enjoy it! i feel that their writing and characterization is really unique in this fandom—it provides a perspective that i've yet to see in any other works. it feels really true to character, too, and i love the depth they've given them. so, so, so much love in their writing.
anything by pseudologia. it's unfortunately rare to see people break out of that "hyper-repressed will (re: everything, but especially his sexuality)" characterization that's common in all types of fandom works, and this author's work feels like one of the most accurate representations of what an older will could be like. it just feels like a natural progression for him and the journey that he's on now in the show, and i'm so glad that someone sees the vision, too. their will sounds like will, thinks like will, and has little details that i love and personally agree with. another really balanced portrayal, i feel—he's allowed to be so many things and it all just feels so natural and so human.
be the boy. it's mostly mike pov, but my god... it's just so beautiful, fun, and full of love and life. i reread it while grabbing the link and i got all emotional again. it's just... beautiful. that's the only word i can think to describe it. they capture his essence so wonderfully in this lighthearted context—that unwillingness to love anything other than what he loves with his entire heart and his commitment to that, that mischievousness and razor-sharp awareness that he has, his capacity for mercy and hope, the strength that he draws from mike and his love for him—and it really pulls at your heartstrings. the ending scene is perfection. the jonwill is jonwilling. the willel is willeling. a feel-good fic for sure.
an ode to hope (and other funny things). i think about this fic whenever i eat ziti now <3 hehe. yet another fic that i felt captured will's heart, his hope, his love, and his merciful nature so, so beautifully, and with such care, too. it's such a treat to read and it leaves you feeling held.
The Breath That Passed From You To Me. mermaid!will au, who cheered? another author that you can tell really loves will. beautiful world- and character-building. this author captures will perfectly in every single way, i feel. he's brave, sincere, loving, and adaptable. he's just... will. their writing is so dear to me. a must read for sure.
anything by smoosnoom (moonsooms). they're well-known for a reason! i particularly love that they're not afraid to shine a light on and bring out every side of the characters they write about. their characters and the stories they tell are always very human, very layered, and treated with such care.
blackdeathmamba you will always be famous! another fantastic writer with such vision, such creativity, and so much heart. their characters are layered, complex, and so human-like.
I'll Be Waiting, Time After Time. the byler fluff of all time to ever and that will ever. so good, so sweet, and so full of love. will's reactions are so very will and i love his relationships with everyone else here.
Wrathful Wishing Star and Poisoned Apple Tree. a tribute!will x victor!mike hunger games au! so riveting and so beautiful. fantastic writing, world-meshing, and characterization. will is so balanced here, too. he's tenderhearted, brave, strong, scared, smart, determined, loving, sweet, and so much more. this fic really doesn't get the attention it deserves, i feel!
anything by lilacline! oh... my god. whatever i say won't be enough. if you haven't read lilac's work, then don't even look at me. literally click away right now and get to reading! chop chop! seriously just fucking superb all around in every way. no words can do it justice—it's just something you feel. even when will is a bat, he's still will. i just. no words! only an immense sense of love for their writing!
it goes without saying that this is not an all-encompassing list! i've only read a small fraction of all that's out there, and i'm relying on sick-brain memory right now to boot, too.
also, as flattered as i am, i want to reiterate that the king understanders and knowers are ultimately the duffers themselves. these are just the works that i, personally, felt captured will's canon essence in such a brilliant and scratched-an-itch-in-my-brain way that i came away from them feeling... changed? they touched something in my heart in a way that i struggle to put into words (clearly).
anyway, i hope there's something in here that's new to you and that you'll like. happy reading! 💙💛
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queerxqueen · 2 years
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I am worried that the writers gave us so much Byler in vol 1 so that they could resolve whatever tension was remaining between Mike and Will, before moving on to mileven in vol 2.
I hv seen people from both ships give reasons as to why Mike hasn't been able to say ily yet to El. But haven't really seen an argument from a Narrative pov. That is, the writers are *saving* his ily to give El the strength to fight Vecna, the way her mom did. That is, when characters say stuff like "a fight we can't come back from", they usually *do* come back from it and get back together.
I really don't want this to happen but this is most probably what's gonna happen- they (the writers) have it all set up. (I m highly pessimistic but still hoping against hope considering i m writing this ask).
What are your thoughts on this?
If the writers' intention was to resolve the tension between Mike and Will in volume 1 to focus more on Mileven in volume 2, they've horrifically and hilariously failed.
The only tension Mike and Will resolved is that they've agreed they're friends and they're a team, which is great, but I definitely don't think it's neatly tied up with a bow for volume 2. There's still so much tension remaining for both of them. For Will, we still have his painting and his feelings for Mike unresolved; for Mike, we still haven't gotten into his head to understand his actions this season. There is still so much between them that is unsaid that I truly do think they will still be a focus for volume 2.
Let's ignore all the evidence that Mike doesn't love El or isn't going to say it to her, let's ignore that Byler makes more sense than Mileven. Let's think through this theoretical plotline of what Mileven could look like if that's what they were going for.
Mike is emotionally repressed, or something, so he doesn't know how to say he loves El. He's more about actions than words, or something like that. Okay, fine.
I understand the appeal of Mike being unable to say he loves El as a setup for him being able to say it at a peak climactic moment. It's setup and payoff. Right? It seems to make sense, it's the logical conclusion to resolve the El and Mike fight.
But an important element of this narratively that we have to address is that there needs to be some element of change. Storytelling is inherently about cause and effect, about actions having consequences and making things change, so what forces Mike to change? Mike needs to repeatedly confront his inner conflict to gradually change, pushing him to be able to say he loves El when he couldn't say it before.
In other words, if Mike's journey this season is about learning to express his love for El, we have seen very little in act two so far to push that along, to prepare him better to be able to say it in the climactic moment. Maybe El's absence is meant to push him to think about his feelings for her, and we get some of that with him talking to Will about El. Maybe him opening up to Will about his Totally Platonic Best Friend feelings is the first step in him being able to open up to El about his Romantic feelings for her.
But none of what happened in volume 1 quite fits right into this supposed Mileven narrative. Instead, we see Mike not knowing what to say or not knowing how to "explain" himself, implying that whatever he needs to say to El, it's not the romantic I Love You as we're expecting. We see Mike confronting his relationship with Will just as much as we see him confronting his relationship with Eleven.
But most of all, if Mike does somehow come through with a dramatic, romantic, I love you speech for Eleven, so what? What does that change? What does that impact? How does Mike grow or change from that? How does Eleven grow or change from that? and why tf did they drag poor will's feelings into this if they weren't going to impact anything whatsoever!!!
My hope is that any I love you monologue from Mike to El is about platonic and familial love and how that matters just as much as romantic love. Because the arc we are seeing Mike prepared for is leading to him being honest about not loving El; it's not about expressing feelings but about being true to yourself and not pretending to be someone you're not. It's about conformity--that's what's killing the kids.
I can't stress enough how little any of their arcs make sense this season if it really is ending with Mileven. They would be doing Mike, Will, and Eleven all so dirty and I have to believe that's not what's going to happen. I have to believe the Duffers are better than that, because if they were leading to Mike and Eleven ending up together, they simply wouldn't have done it like this.
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This might be an unpopular opinion but I'm a little tired of all the Byler fics where they get together and then immediately the entire party makes fun of them for being in love. Or, when they aren't being made fun of together, the party just pokes fun at Mike about it.
Like, am I the only one that thinks they wouldn't do that? I'm pretty sure they ALL would understand how difficult it must have been for them in the journey of getting together and therefore they wouldn't mock them about it? And the ones where it's just Mike is almost worse to me because Mike is not the butt of the group. We don't actually have evidence in the show of Mike being the least respected or something. In my opinion the only one in the group allowed to make jokes about it is Max. That's just her relationship with Mike and we've seen how comfortable Mike is with that.
I get that a lot of those fics do it because they don't know how else to show the party accepting them but surely we can have more fics where they just respect it and keep treating them like normal? Surely that's the desired outcome?
I know that there's varying degrees of this in fics. It's most outrageous when it's meant to be canon compliant and it's the 80s and it's less agravating when it's a modern au and the party is in college but my goodness where are the fics where by whatever series of events, the group finds out Byler is in love and then Dustin says "Well, stranger things have happened." And then they move on with trying to kill Vecna or something without stopping to tell Mike and Will to get a room.
Separately, a little rabbit trail from this line of thinking is these fics also all include them getting together and then neither of them ever talking to another member of the party again. Some fics have that built in, where it's most just Mike and Will anyway. But other fics are trying to be Byler focused season 5 fics but after they get together, the rest of the party ceases to exist. Literally one of the evidences that Midleven won't last is that they have tunnel vision for each other, but then we consistently write Byler the same way?
I'm just scratching my brain over here, that's all. But let me say that I know fanfic is free, and all of you guys are fantastic writers. This is not a post to say any one fic is bad for having these things, I'm talking about the overarching trends I've been noticing in the fics I've been reading recently. I love the fanfic in this fandom because it's all so well written and thought out and thats a big reason of why I keep reading them. I just wanted to yell this into the void and see what happens. I'm not trying to die on this hill, but if someone sees this another way I'd love to hear it
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aurorabyler · 2 years
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one thing i saw a lot from the GA after vol2 dropped was people saying stuff along the lines of
“what did finn wolfhard do to the duffer brothers for them to go from making him the lead of the show and one or the best characters to one of the absolute worst in the show with no development!! they kill someone like eddie but not mike who literally makes no sense anymore??? what did finn wolfhard do???”
and like…. i just need to stop you right there lol.
i understand the whole thing about mike going from having the lead to minimal screen time. i get it. however, blaming finn wolfhard and thinking HE has something to do with all this?
if anything, finn wolfhard is probably one of the actors who is closest to the duffers. i’m saying this as someone who was here from season 1. finn and the duffers have a lot in common; they are very similar in their interests about film and other stuff.
the duffers have always talked about how intelligent he is and how much they admire him. finn is literally a workaholic, he’s probably come out with the most movies/music and other media since st1 because he truly loves this profession more than anything and never stops working. the guy REALLY loves what he does and he’s super serious about it. recently the duffers talked about how he easily guessed their spin off idea, how good his short film is, how talented he is, how he’s directing his first feature film at age NINETEEN…the duffers are literally finn wolfhard stan’s lmaooo
this is why he’s one of the people out of the cast who i have utmost trust in when it comes to his character and understanding the overall narrative of the show. in the few interviews he’s done since st4 about mike’s journey and his relationships it is CLEAR that he knows what’s going on beneath the surface and just isn’t allowed to talk about it. things like:
post vol2: “it’s hard to tell with mike and eleven’s relationship…i just hope they find happiness.”
pre vol2: “you find out slowly throughout the season, will’s love towards mike, and i think it’s a really beautiful thing. [regarding mike’s feelings] i don’t think he knows. he’s pretty clueless. but there’s a mu- probably a mutual understanding and acceptance.” 
post vol2, when asked about filming mike’s monologue: they let me improvise and add in whatever i wanted (you’re my superhero line)
what i’m trying to get at here is that finn understands film and storytelling well, being a writer and director himself. he definitely has a lot of conversations with the duffers about his character and the show, seeing how close they are and how much they have in common. if you can trust anyone with mikes character it’s finn lol
also as a side note finn’s comments about the shows future line up with noah’s thought about byler in s5, he’s said things like “whoever will ends up with, whether it’s byler or someone else,” or “they can’t just stop there, they have to keep going,” etc etc
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fruitydemogorgon · 2 years
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Character Arc Timeee
Okay I'm gonna be honest with u idk if i've posted this already. Also, I don't usually talk about these characters so ig this is me just compiling my thoughts. not entirely related to byler, but the last 3 character bits are
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Dustin: The Duffer's explained that more people would be grieving Eddie in season 5 (i'm pretty sure they said this but i can't find a link sorry), and I think this will largely impact Dustin's character. Over the series, I believe his arc has really been focused on independence and self-love/pride. His intelligence and confidence have been established clearly throughout every season, and I think, though it was painful, someone close to him dying was a reasonable way to begin the end of his journey. In season 2, it's highlighted how much he hides his emotions if he's uncomfortable or excluded (lonely). So, giving him someone who could reassure him, and tell him that they loved him, was a beautiful thing. Taking that away gives Dustin the opportunity to build himself up higher, now knowing that someone loved him for who he was (not saying that his friends didn't, just pointing out that most people tease him for his personality, rather than tell him they love him for it). I think, as a way to end his storyline, he needs to share his internal struggles with people he loves, and to reinforce his bonds. In other words, he needs to communicate with someone close about his grief for Eddie (Steve, Mike, Lucas). He deserves to have a major accomplishment. Something that he can take pride in and share with the people he loves. In fact, we've gotten this multiple times before (with Dustin's inventions and the way he succeeds in understanding the supernatural occurences).
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Lucas: Over the season's, he's proved time and time again his untarnished loyalty to his friends. Always being there for them when necessary and putting himself in danger to do so. His selflessness is extremely significant to his character. Over the seasons, we've seen him face maturing and growing up head-on, embracing new opportunities and changes. However, this becomes a conflict for him in season 4 when he desires to join the basketball team. He wants to stay loyal to his friends, but he also wants to move on and "not be a nerd". We see this aspiration of his falter as the Upside Down resurfaces in his life. And, by the end of the season, his maturity has rooted from grief and trauma rather than physically growing up. In the final season, I think it would be important to let him move onto something new. Let him have that individual growth that we saw begin in season 4, while maintaining the beautiful bonds he has with his friends and family.
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Max (TW-mention of suicidal thoughts): Though we've had her for only three seasons, as viewers we have been given a significant amount of insight into her character. As stated by Sadie and the Duffer's multiple times, in season 4 Max reverts back to her original ways from season 2. Closed-in yet brave and wilful. False guilt enforced into her by Billy (for 'being the reason' her father left. 'Being the reason' her mother met Billy's father. 'Being the reason' they had to move across the country) making her more hesitant to make friends. In season 3, we saw her adapt, become more comfortable with her friends and herself. Though, when Billy dies, she becomes afraid again. And, as Vecna begins to 'curse' her, he brings out her guilt. This is what leads to her becoming more isolated and quiet. It also brings to the surface suicidal feelings and depressive thoughts. The 'Running Up That Hill' scene symbolised her escaping these thoughts, breaking out of that depressive episode with the help of people she loves. After all this, though, she's almost killed at the end of the season. This put her back in a place of suffering, rather than tying up her arc like it could have. In season 5, though, her recovery will almost force her to open up about how she's feeling with both her friends and doctors (assuming doctors would be monitoring her). To finalise her arc, I think we just need to see her in a place where she is happy, as overcoming being unhappy has been a major part of her character.
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Eleven: Like Max, her character arc was a huge focus of this season. At the beginning of the show, her powers define her. That's what she's been told her whole life, and it's practically all she knows. Then, she meets Mike, who teaches her about love and family and the real meaning of home. However, rather than letting her experience the world for all it is, he tells her about it. Hopper does, too, in season 2. Both of them confine her to a situation where she is forced to pretend to be 'normal', whilst being treated like she is not. In season 3, Max finally gives her the chance to move on from that lifestyle, and to discover herself in the real world. At the end of season 3, though, she's forced to become the superhero again, and defeat the Mind Flayer. Here, she also loses Hopper. This has a huge toll on her, as the grief and trauma of it all forces her to revert back to Mike for support (and, his character is only grateful for this). Finally, season 4 gives El the opportunity to break away from everything that has been holding her down, only, we discover that there's even more holding her down. Her past, her relations with Vecna, the other test subjects, conflict of feeling like a monster- it all builds up until she attacks Angela. Then, Mike, the first person to make her feel human (though also the person who fails to treat her like one the most), treats her as she is nothing without her powers (at least that's how she interprets it). Then, she goes on a huge journey of turmoil and danger and reconnecting with her past- only to end up back in the same situation she was in at the end of season 3. Powerful and ready to fight. Then, it's portrayed as if Mike's monologue is the only thing that can make her strong enough to fight (I say this, but I think Mike is the only one who really believed that. He thought that saying all these things was the only way he could save her, he wasn't actually speaking from his heart). And, at the end of volume 2 we still don't know how El feels. In the end, it was memories of Max that helped her regain her powers, not her love with Mike (which wasn't resolved in volume 2 either- they haven't spoken about it yet). El's character needs to finalise her independence, and that very likely means ending her relationship with Mike.
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Mike: I have analysed the hell out of this boy. So, bear with me on the complexity of this one. Mike's character progression has been the least clear of them all. His motives and pursuits differ throughout the show, and aren't always sensical. To entertain the confusion, his character has a dramatic change between seasons 2 and 3. Before that, though, let's look at season 1. His main goal is to find Will. He's passionate, determined, and stubborn. Qualities that are shown quite clearly through his actions and other clues. It is shown to the audience that Will's disappearance is affecting him greatly, however, when El arrives, his focus turns to her. But, it's fairly deductible that this is only because she "knows about Will". Keep in mind that, before she noticed Will, Mike was indifferent to her. She was an obstacle in his way of achieving his goal. On the same day he loses Will, he finds her. On the night Will is rescued, El disappears. In season 2, El is gone. And, in a way, Will replaces her. I could keep talking about him forever, but I'll try to wrap it up. Mike's relationship with El is very similar to his parent's relationship. This has been painted in a negative light throughout the show. Mike is complicated, because though he is a 'main character', his arc and personality are written into the subtext. In everything, he's scared. Scared of bullies and conflict and himself. Scared of himself because he knows he feels, he feels so much more than what he pretends to feel. And what he's feeling is an overwhelming amount of love. Love for his friends and sister and El and Will. His best friend. And he's so scared of this deep, sturdy web of love that he succumbs to the normal. The normal his parents have shown him, raised him to. Normal for El, Troy, himself. To beat this, he needs to be brave. He needs to reach for that compassion that roots inside of him, and use it. Use it to tell the truth and share the love. Share it with his friends and El and Will. Because, he is Will's heart, and in season 5 he'll start showing it.
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bitch be gay, your honour.
yes i did put a lot of effort into this and yes i did put a lot of effort into analysing will i just did it all in my brain and yes you just have to telepathically communicate with me if u wanna hear it 😤. max and el are my favs to write about i think. and dusty bun. and lucas. and, of course, will and mike.
please excuse all the tags lol
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foundmywei · 1 year
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Stranger Things Fanfic Recs
Here are my favorite stranger things fics, mostly byler and Will-centric fics bc I don’t hide who my favorite character is... I will probably add more as I read. Enjoy!
(last updated: 19/02/23)
Masterpost
Byler
THE DARK MIRROR by sevensided (stonedlennon)
(122,539 words | Teen And Up Audiences + Mature | Series - 2 works)
From Indiana to Anaidni, and across different times and dimensions, Mike and Will find each other.
yesterFriday by nbfutureboy
(19,284 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 6/6)
Will Byers wakes up as usual one Friday morning - he worries about his family, his History test, and telling the people he loves that he doesn’t Like Girls in that way.
Then he does it again.
[Groundhog Day AU where Will gets stuck in a time loop.]
Me & You by CicatriceEllipsis
(15,468 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 2/2)
"It has been two hours.
Two hours since Will had heard a clock ticking, since his head began throbbing. It had seemed so real. One moment he was standing in the bathroom of Hoppers cabin, the next he was in the Upside Down. Even then, It hadn’t seemed that strange until a voice whispered in his ear.
That sound, that voice. Will’s entire body reacted to it, shaking so violently that he stumbled.
“I’ve been waiting for you,��� it had said and Will screamed
—————
Will is spirally out of control and Vecna takes advantage of that. Mike is there to bring him back.
Heaven Knows (it's got to be this time) by frankiewaters
(98,101 words | Not Rated | Chapters: 51/51)
As Vecna's reign of terror plunges Hawkins into darkness, our characters find themselves regrouping, recuperating, and planning their next moves carefully as they navigate the chaos together. Eleven guides Will through his journey towards integrating his psychic powers, believing him to be the key to restoring order as loyalties within the group are challenged. Mike vows to bring him home, no matter the cost. Even at the edge of the world, love continues to grow forever.
the boyfriend problem by RomeoWrites
(15,032 words | General Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)
The first time his dad calls Will his boyfriend, Mike thinks he’s hallucinating. But then it happens again. And again. And again, after that. And as heteronormativity continues to elude Ted Wheeler, Mike thinks that maybe he should just take the hint.
OR
Ted Wheeler thinks Mike has been dating Will since they were twelve-years-old. And Mike doesn’t know quite what to do with that information. Until he does.
"or at least until the afternoon" by TheWrongKindOfPC
(28,790 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 3/3)
Will asks, "What if you were talking to a friend who was a girl?" but he doesn't mean Max, Mike’s actual friend who is a girl. No, Will’s asking what would you tell me if I were a girl? and the answer to that is something entirely different.
Because if Will were a girl, they wouldn’t be having this conversation at all. If Will were a girl, he wouldn’t be asking questions about how to ask a guy out, because he and Mike would already be dating.
In which Mike has kind of a rough time in college, and talks on the phone about it a lot.
What do you do now, Will the Wise? by RainbowNixie
(11,534 words | General Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)
The party is playing D&D together and Mike, as the dungeon master, won’t stop trying to make the Paladin and the Cleric flirt. He’s basically making moves on Will through the game. Will is caught off guard by this, and doesn’t know how to respond to the following question:
What do you do now, Will the Wise?
Everything comes down to a simple roll of dice.
More Than a Metaphor by Nikocat
(95,844 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 16/16)
Will Byers returns home from college for the first time for Christmas break and he's a bundle of nerves. He's reckoned with some deep truths while away at school, finally coming to accept that he's gay. While he can be open and honest in his new city of New York, Hawkins is an entirely different story.
Or Will Byers comes out to the people he loves and gets more than he bargained for.
you can hear it in the silence by astrobi
(36,965 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)
Will moves back to an upright position, wiping his hair out of his eyes, head and shoulders peeking above the water. “Mike,” he says, pulling Mike up with him, their fingers still intertwined.
“Yeah?” Mike says, tilting his head so the water trickles out of his ears, wincing slightly. “What is it?”
Will’s eyes dart back and forth between his, and then Mike feels his hand squeeze his own. “I don’t want you to, like, think I moved back for you,” he starts, which in and of itself would be enough to get Mike’s soul soaring straight out of his own body, if it weren’t for Will’s thumb pressed against his pulse point like some kind of mortal tether. “Because it’s not like that, I promise. But I think– I think I realized there’s a difference between things you want and things you need, you know?”
mike wheeler on losing people and having them again, the difference between wanting and needing, and finally letting go.
ft. robin buckley, will byers, and the mortifying ordeal of working in the food service industry
eyecatcher by smoosnoom (moonsooms)
(9,336 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)
“Nah, man,” Lucas shakes his head, leaning back as he snacks on an apple, “he got, like, buff. Do you see his arms?”
Mike does, in fact, see Will’s arms. He has not stopped seeing his arms.
“She definitely sees his arms,” Dustin very unhelpfully points out, waggling his eyebrows, and Mike gets the overwhelming urge to bash his own head in.
While volunteering at the Hawkins' help center, it seems like every girl around has a newfound interest in Will Byers, and Mike doesn't know why he feels the way he does.
i know, i know, i know by aude_sapere
(32,823 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)
“We are more similar than you realize, Will. Both of us were...sensitive children. We were different. Seen as freaks. But we are special. You are special.”
Will takes a shallow breath, tries to swallow his nerves. He speaks flatly. “And?”
Henry blinks, seemingly surprised by Will’s coldness. “I chose you that day, you know.”
And Will sees himself, small and alone, riding his bike through the dark. He sees the silhouette of something tall and dark. He sees himself crashing his bike. Running home. But the creature unlocks the door. It follows him into the shed. It gets him.
“It was you,” Will whispers, a hand coming up to the back of his neck. The monster that took him. The possession. The visions. “It’s always been you.”
(or the one where will’s connection to the upside down is a crucial part of season 4 instead of him getting sidelined, and how it changes everything)
who am i (to ask for more) by bookinit
(20,537 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)
Will’s eyes sting with tears, and his nose prickles with heat. He feels like he’s burning, like he’s on fire. But Mom’s right—he doesn’t have to be afraid. She knows, and she loves him, and she’s not leaving. All that’s left is the words. And he shouldn’t be scared of words. After all he’s been through, if what takes him down is the English alphabet, then the world has a really fucked up sense of humor.
He just needs to rip off the bandaid.
Alternatively: Five times Will Byers came out, and the one time someone came out to him.
cause i've built my life around you by andiwriteordie
(145,017 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Series - 2 works)
Well, I've been afraid of changin'
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I'm getting older too
Oh, I'm getting older too.
- Landslide, Fleetwood Mac
Or:
Seasons 4 and 5, but make it Mike and Will's coming of age story.
Going Too Far Just to Have You Near by borealisaurora
(11,531 words | Not Rated | Chapters: 7/7)
Mike Wheeler always seems to gravitate toward Will Byers, like they’re connected by an invisible string; Will could be on the opposite end of any room and Mike would somehow find his way over to stand next to him. When Robin points this out to Will, Will thinks she’s crazy, and they strike a deal; if Will stays away from Mike for a week and notices how Mike will always find him, Will has to consider that maybe, just maybe, Mike has a crush on him too.
A deal which Will agrees to because, why not? There’s no way this can be true.
Can it?
More
I Didn't Know There Were Wizards in California by spotlightonmringenue
(104,163 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 18/18 | ST + IT crossover)
Will ignores a timid reply from his classmate, his focus fully on this strange interloper that could be his best friend’s twin.
Evil twin, as Dustin would say, his voice low and incriminating. Ultraman type shit. Will considers relaying the situation on their upcoming weekly call to make the current situation less unsettling.
The guy is cautiously smiling back now – a reflection of Will’s unconscious expression at the thought of Dustin’s clarification – and it doesn’t falter, even once Will loses his amusement. Instead, the grin widens, almost too big for his face and definitely too big for Mike’s usual range of expression. His eyebrows rise above the rim of his lenses.
PB&J, Heatstroke, Vomit, and David Bowie by krb
(55,923 words | Explicit | Chapters: 19/19 | ST + IT crossover, will/richie)
Will Byers thinks it would be better if he just vanishes from the face of the earth, so he does…kind of. He meets a lost soul on his journey to disappearance, an awkward but somehow extrovertedly obnoxious, free-spirited character with dark secrets to rival his own.
without a flashlight in the dark by jurassicqueer (kukurosaki)
(8,435 words | Mature | Chapters: 4/4)
The lights go out. Steve keeps his eyes fixed just left of the thing, can just barely make out a shoulder and sort-of head in the light of the moon, and tries to swallow back the sickening feeling of being hunted. He wants to run for his house but he can’t. He can’t, because if he takes his eyes off the thing for even a second, he won’t know where it is, and that’s scarier than seeing it.
But then- then Steve’s vision blurs for just a moment too long, and when he blinks away the tears and looks, it’s gone.
Steve lunges for the house doors. When the patio lights flicker back on, the poolside is empty, and Steve Harrington is missing. No one notices.
Or: Steve Harrington gets dragged into the Upside Down instead of Barb Holland. Someone else comes out.
The Dad Who Stepped Up by MagikMask
(7,829 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)
Hopper’s many attempts at bonding with his youngest unofficial stepson over the course of their first year in Hawkins.
Sometimes it goes well, other times he’s trying to see if he’s unlocked his daughter’s ability to glare someone (Michael Wheeler) to death.
november and july by fireflywitch
(11,071 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 2/2)
She took a mint, flicked it between her tongue and teeth, and leaned against the sink. Will had gone back into the living room—cleaning glass and replacing it—before coming back into the bathroom and sitting beside her, resting his own face against the toilet seat.
They were both crying. It wasn’t the harsh kind—more that the four eyes between them decided that this was the moment to expel everything that had been building up. And Will wasn’t watching her and Max wasn’t watching him, but she could feel it, nonetheless. That strange solidarity.
//
Max and Will: two sides of the same shitty coin.
i think there is someone (you love) by fireflywitch
(22,262 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 4/4)
“Do people act crazy when they are in love?”
“Oh,” said Will. “I—I don’t know.” He shrugged his shoulders, and El realized she had no idea if Will had ever been in love. If he’d ever looked at the girls in Lenora—El knew they looked at him, but that was a different question—or if he felt crazy. “I think—I mean, people say that you act different.” His voice was halting, stilted.
The cassette tape stopped. “Different,” he said again. “Crazy. Weird.”
“Weird,” repeated El, and Will nodded, closing his eyes against Madonna’s syrupy sweetness. They sat there, the two of them, two weirdos, and something filed itself away in El’s brain, something she wouldn’t make sense of until later. Much later.
--
El thinks Will’s been acting weird. But he’s not the only one. Featuring excessive 80s pop synth, secret dance parties, the sick, ruinous embarrassment of existence, blue paint spills, motel room realizations, dictionary definitions, and that four letter word.
all the bad dreams that you hide (show me yours, i'll show you mine) by vissers
(31,826 | Teen And Up Audiences | Series - 5 works)
deep conversations and coming outs between will byers and his party
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