#max coma theory

[lumaxramblings]

bitches be like 'man i love max mayfield she deserves happiness' and then put her in a coma

[pinkeoni]

I have a personal theory/prediction as to how I think Max’s coma is going to play into next season— I think waking her up is gonna start the Doomsday clock.

During the timeskip Vecna is dormant. He’s been refueling. Will can still feel him, but he’s in the very back of his mind. They can relax— a little bit.

The logical solution to getting Max back is to use Will to get into Vecna’s mind. But it’s too risky. Rousing him before they’re ready could mean the end of the world.

But now they’re running out of time. Now Max has been in a coma for more than a year, and her mom can’t afford the medical bills anymore. Either a miracle happens and she wakes up, or it’s time to unplug her.

Now they have to act. No matter how risky, they can’t lose Max. Even if it means “poking the bear” so to speak. And of course since this is a tv show, the worst case scenario happens. Whether or not they are able to wake Max right away, Vecna has been awakened and the race to save the world has started.

[nances]

sorry to be that person but im still thinking about these vibrantwater leaks…

[theoriginalsapphic]

How DnD foreshadows what happens in the show (and will foreshadow season 5)

At the beginning of season 1, DnD introduces the supernatural villain: the Demogorgon, and it even foreshadows how the monster is attracted by blood. (“Something is coming. Something hungry for blood”).

And also how Will gets captured by it shortly after.

At the beginning of season 2, the Party goes to the arcade. (I know this isn't DnD, but this is the only time the Party plays together before they split in Mike and Will, Lucas and Max, and Dustin and Steve. Also, it's important; believe me). They game ‘Dig Dug’ is mentioned more than once, foreshadowing they are going to end up in the tunnels in the season 2 finale.

The scene also foreshadows how Will is going to be possessed by the Mind Flayer and how Mike is going to be the one to break through that possession.

I’m too dumb to make a connection with the game of DnD organized by Will in season 3.

The most important games of DnD are, however, the one at the beginning of season 4 and the final game at the end of season 1.

The game of DnD played in S4E1 foreshadows two important things that happens in season 4:

The introduction of Vecna,

And that an 11 won’t be enough to defeat Vecna.

However, it also foreshadows two things that haven’t happened yet and will probably happen in season 5:

That a pair of siblings, a brother and sister, will be vital to defeat Vecna,

And that whoever defeats Vecna has been on the bench all year, and that a 20 is needed to defeat Vecna.

The other working theory I have for the ’20 is needed to defeat Vecna’, which I don’t think it’s as strong as the first one but it’s still worth mentioning, is that the key players to defeat Vecna are going to be El (11), Kali (8) and Will (1, because of how him and Henry parallel each other).

Before jumping into the DnD game at the end of season 1, it’s necessary to point out that Mike talks about two different DnD games in which Will sacrifices himself for the Party in both games, once in S1E1 and another time in S2E8.

Mike: I was thinking…Will could’ve cast Protection last night, but he didn’t. He cast Fireball. […] My point is… he could’ve played it safe, but he didn’t. He put himself in danger to help the party.

Mike: And then the party escaped into the sewers, and there were those big insect things, and you guys were still on level one. Then you cast Fog Cloud and you saved us. You saved the whole party.

It’s important to note that, both times, Will came close to death (being taken to the Upside Down and needing CPR and telling them to close the gate even though it was going to kill him) but he survived both times.

Now onto the DnD game at the end of season 1

The game of DnD at the end of season 1 is probably the most interesting one, because it never came to play in the series. We are introduced a supernatural villain we have yet to see in the series: the Thessalhydra.

The thessalhydra resembles an eight-headed hydra. It has a large, reptilian torso and tail measuring 40 feet long (9 feet tall at the shoulder). The thessalhydra has nine heads. Legends suggest that the name thessal referred to a person or organization responsible for the creation of these monstrosities, or the land where they were first encountered.

Will’s painting isn’t just a clue about the supernatural villain they are going to face in season 5, but also, how the whole Party is going to be at the frontlines as well.

This is the conversation the Party has at the end of season 1 after Will wins with a 14, which further emphasizes his key role but also the importance of the whole Party in winning at the end of the series.

Mike: Lucas cuts off its seven heads, and Dustin places them into his bag of holding. You [Dustin] carry the heads out of the dungeon, victorious, and you present them to King Tristan. He thanks you for your bravery and service.

Lucas: The campaign was way too short.

Season 5 is going to be 8 episodes long

Mike: It was ten hours!

Season 5 is going to be ten hours long in total

Dustin: What about the lost knight?

Lucas: And the proud princess?

Will: And those weird flowers in the cave?

Conclusion: El, Will, Mike, Dustin and Lucas are going to be vital in defeating the Upside Down, especially El, Will and Mike. Also, Will is going to try to sacrifice himself and come close to dying but won’t. Also, I’m trying to figure out who is the Proud Princess and the Lost Knight.

[freetobeeyouandme]

I didn't like/believe in the timeskip before, but now that we got proof my only theory for why Vecna doesn't do much in the half year/one and a half year (depending on whether they are accurate with dates) is that since the MF is "in charge" it put a leash on Vecna again because Will is back in town. Like in S2 the gate was already open and it was using Will, in S3 the Russians opened a gate for it and its beef with El is a bit ambigious. Could have been Henry, could have been the MF (mad that El closed the gate and wanting to get rid of El as the only one capable of closing gates?). But in S4 Will is not there and there is no gate so first step is letting Henry open gates. Now he's hurt and Will is back so sayonara conventient plot device.

(The question then is what is the MF's goal and since it's not doing much for 6-18 months I doubt world domination is the goal. Not to mention the first gate was open for a year and nothing happened. And in S3 it just used the connection to build a meat monster and go after El....so either it's an Ent or it's got something else going on)

(Alternate theory is the military is just powerful enough to keep the monsters in the gate, but then the question is why they don't just evacuate Hawkins? is it because they're infected/witnesses and they want to keep the whole alien/alternate dimension thing secret? Or maybe the threat isn't that active. Aka an open gate but nothing comes out of it)

[lucascsinclairs]

may i ask what does the finale meaning of st s4 was? is max gonna be alright or is she from the upside down now?

Hi anon! That ending left so many questions about her, huh? I think the Duffers left it purposely vague so that when they start fully writing s5 (apparently the writers room will open at the beginning of August! So exciting!) they'll have plenty of room for different ideas and options they could take her plot in.

One thing I'm pretty confident we can take for certain is that she will survive the rest of the show. If they wanted to fully kill her off, they had their chance. Since they left her alive, it is clear that they are not done with her character or just that they do not intend to kill her off. It would just be repetitive.

Another thing we know is that she is alive by the end of the season. Lucas tells the others how her heart started again after not beating for a minute (thanks to El), and we also see that she is breathing on her own, without an oxygen mask or tubes or anything. I saw someone with more knowledge of medical details on here saying how that is a sign that she is not actually "brain dead" as patients in that state aren't able to breathe on their own (at least that's what I remember that post saying and what a quick Google search turned up). So she is alive, it's just that her mind/consciousness is not present. That is showed to us by El not seeing her inside the Void. El can see dead people inside the Void (Barb) and she also saw her mom whose brain is also damaged. But she wasn't able to see Max, which points to the fact that whatever is going on with her is something different.

Her being in the Upside Down can be ruled out pretty easily, since her physical body is there in the hospital. When people go over to the Upside Down (Will in s1, all of them in s4), their physical bodies are no longer in the regular world, they fully go over there. And she isn't in the Void for El to find. So my best guess right now is that Max is in Vecna's red Mind Lair. Brenner and Vecna himself talked about how he absorbs his victims, their thoughts, their abilities (like he was able to absorb El's powers through the bite in s3). So my guess of what could've happened is that when she technically died, her consciousness was sucked over to the Mind Lair, and then it got stuck there in some way, either because Vecna was injured by the fire or because El was able to bring her back to life. With all of that happening, maybe her mind/consciousness is there but stuck in a way, maybe not in danger (since Vecna is weak after the fight) but not able to get back.

There really are hundreds of different ways for them to take Max's plotline next season, but that's my guess of what could be going on. The Duffer brothers have said that there is a reason why they decided to have Max in a coma to end the season, and that it will tie into s5. Again, if they wanted to just kill her, they wouldn't go through all the trouble of introducing the whole coma plotline. It will pay off in some way for sure. I've seen theories about the final battle and killing Vecna for good being what frees her and brings her consciousness back to her body. And while that theory is very interesting, I just selfishly don't want it to be true, because I don't want to wait until the very end of the season to see her awake and interacting with everyone again. I don't want them to waste Sadie's acting talents after her shining so much and garnering so much praise this season, and since it's the final season of the show, I want to see as much of my favorite characters as possible.

So tl;dr: Max is alive and her coma will be important going into s5, and my personal theory is that her consciousness got stuck in Vecna's Mind Lair.

[miharuhebinata]

july 1st probably gonna make me look like a total clown for saying this but honestly i just don't think they're planning to kill as many main characters as they've been implying sjxhjsjssjdh

[merevide]

So, the Duffers “confirmed” on a podcast (“Happy Sad Confused” Timestamp: 7:50) that Max is brain dead, blind, and has broken bones. which alright, fine, 2/3 of those things are stuff we explicitly knew from the finale. There’s just one problem:

if Max is truly brain dead, there’s no coming back from it. This is concerning since the finale sets up the idea that Max could be in a coma, with no one having any idea when she’s going to wake up, if she’s even going to wake up at all. Max being brain dead completely kills all possibility that she’ll wake up.

The brain death conformation has an ounce of merit to it though since when El is trying to reach Max through her mind, there’s legitimately nothing. Just void.

Which leads to my question: If Max is truly gone, why have El restart her heart? Was it just to establish El has that ability?

Why not fully kill Max in the Creel house if they’re just gonna render her brain dead? If Max was blind and had broken bones, she’d still be Max, she’d still be herself. But being brain dead just means her body is solely being kept artificially alive, it’s irreversible and permanent.

Hopefully they’ll expand on Max’s fate in s5, or this could be a mix up between actual brain death, a vegetive state, or a coma:

My current guess is the latter, although as stated before, the fact that Max’s consciousness is literal void, at least when El attempted to reach her, the possibility it wasn’t a miswording is 50/50. We’ll have to wait until more information is revealed about s5.

[conflictofthemind]

Lucas knows about Mike and Will

First off, of course the context is needed that Lucas has known the two of them the longest out of any of the kids. He is Mike’s neighbour and joined their party even before Dustin. He also played wingman for Mike previously in S3, trying to help get Mike and Eleven back together. It’s not a stretch of the imagination that Lucas would end up in a role like that again.

So, the hospital scene at the end of Season 4.

There’s a few things within this scene that are a little suspicious, and then one big thing that basically has no explanation other than Lucas suspecting something is going on with Mike. I brightened the scene here- first let’s just acknowledge they held hands on Lucas’ back. This is the only kind of direct hand touch we get this season.

Lucas can’t see that.. but it’s on his back. Of course he would be able to feel it. It’s also another moment that separates Mike and Will as a pair, versus Eleven on her own. Here’s the full clip below. And then just LOOK at the expression Lucas gives Mike after he sees El lingering behind. Your friend just visited as soon as he possibly could to give you support. Why would you look at them like this after he hugs you? Because he knows there’s something weird going on in the relationship between Mike and El. No other explanation.

Lucas is clearly giving Mike a “what the fuck is going on” kind of expression, eye squinted, eyebrows furrowed. There’s also a blink and you’ll miss it moment where Mike’s breath catches after the contact with Will’s hand, and he makes a split second glance to look at their hands (which I captured in the first image).

Then after Lucas hugs El, he clearly parts and steps back to give room for Mike to join beside his girlfriend. But Mike crosses the room to put himself in between El and Will instead. Another thing Lucas would have found weird. Lucas isn’t dumb.

Then we have the shotlisting post from Ross’ instagram. Shot listing is where they plan out what happens within an episode and what kinds of shots they want. This image is obviously an Easter Egg for fans about who’s interacting with who in the first 2 episodes (ie Stonathan shenanigans of which we already know about). I didn’t see it at first but Lucas is clearly placed in the centre of a triangle between El, Mike, and Will. He’s the centre of the triangle.

This makes sense with what we know about S5 thus far as well. There’s a confirmed plot line that has Dustin trying to isolate himself from the rest of the group (if he hasn’t already been isolated enough from the party in recent seasons). It shows up in the shot list image too of course, with Dustin on the opposite side. For the kids, due to Max being out of commission, the only interactions we are going to get in the first two episodes before the time jump seem to be between El, Will, Mike, and Lucas. We also have confirmation from Millie that El and Lucas will be spending a lot more time together than they had in previous seasons.

Moving onto a bit of cornplating for the last points which just serve as some cherries on top of this theory - we already have imagery of Lucas acting as a bridge between Mike and Will in the party image Ross gave us. This is post time jump most likely because of the new outfits, so it’s interesting that this role could continue throughout the season.

We also have the imagery of Lucas holding a suspiciously coloured blue and yellow shield in Will’s painting of the party. A bit of a stretch, sure. But complied with everything else it is definitely interesting to consider.

Now for the character reasoning, which is always important to consider: why would Lucas end up in this position?

Lucas is going through his girlfriend being in a coma after they had a major distance in their relationship. A coma that Lucas in universe has no clue if she’ll ever wake up from, and realistically (in-universe) hopes are slim that she will recover. And if she does, she may not have all the memories of times spent together still with her. There’s probably so many regrets swirling around his mind of things he could have done or said in the time that they had together. Lucas doesn’t have this luxury - but his friends still do.

Lucas is Mike’s oldest friend outside of Will, and Will/Mike are Lucas’ first friends. They existed as a party even before Dustin.

Out of his pain of ‘losing’ Max and the wisdom he learned from it, I really do think Lucas is going to encourage Mike to seize the day and take control of his life once again. Will and Mike still have the luxury of time and still have chance. If anyone could convince Mike his feelings are reciprocal, it would also be Lucas.

Furthermore, Lucas understands that as a black man in fairly rural 80s Indiana, his relationship with Max is also one that is singled out due to prejudice against interracial couples. Interracial marriage would only have been legalized less than twenty years ago. It’s not quite the same, but again if anyone understood the position Mike would be in (other than say Robin) - it would be Lucas.

[typicalopposite]

So how about that ST ending… right?

Where El overpowers Vecna and between her in Max’s mind, and Nancy with her sawed off shotgun… they kill him.

Max is a little broken but pulls through, and the gangs reunited.

… oh and they totally convince the town the real murderer was Victor Creels kid who never died, and it’s swept under the rug with the help of Dr Owens… like always…

This allows Eddie to come out of hiding, totally alive and just a little beat up from his epic bat battle…

And everyone lives happily ever after. 😃

Yeah me too!

[luckybyler]

It’s PAINFULLY OBVIOUS that Stranger Things was meant to be three seasons long: season 1, 2, and a previous version of what we will now know as season 5.

I’m not saying that seasons 3 and 4 are bad, they’re great. But they very much feel like a detour from the original plan.

We know the show was meant to last more than 1 season because Noah auditioned for Will by reading the “crazy together” scene from season 2. We know it was meant to last more than two seasons because in the original script of the snowball dance they had Will looking longingly at Mike, which implies there was still stuff to be explored (we may be able to find clues in other, monster-related plots). However, they removed Will’s look towards Mike and added an unscripted Mileven kiss. This was a deliberate choice to stretch these storylines further instead of being resolved in the third, originally final season. They also came up with that horrid hidden spin-off pilot that was episode 7.

Seasons 3 and 4 feel like a forced detour from the original plan: the whole dealing with a lot of summer tween/early teenager angst, “killing” Hopper then immediately showing us that he’s not dead, retrofitting Vecna into the story, which meant giving El the soap opera-esque “stroke” as a justification for why she could barely talk when there were other kids there; “killing” Brenner then bringing him back *again* just to kill him *again*, making El lose her powers for a minute yet get them back *again*. Making the Byers move to California just to bring them back *again*, having El learning about fashion just to regress *again*, breaking up Mileven twice just to get them back together *again*. And made Byler fall out then reconnect *again*, then Will look at Mike longingly while he gave his speech to El, a heightened version of what was supposed to happen at the Snowball dance. They even rehashed Steve’s feelings for Nancy *again*.

Trim the fat from Seasons 3 and 4, and all the main characters are in a place where they would have been a couple of episodes or maybe halfway into a hypothetical 3rd and final season: Jopper are together; Jancy are together but have the college thing to talk about, Mileven are together but there’s doubt that Mike loves her, Byler are full of romantic tension but getting interrupted, Max has just been attacked and is the one in a coma this time while Lucas suffers, Dustin just experienced the loss of a big brother figure (clearly a placeholder for Steve), Hawkins is destroyed by the Upside Down, etc.

My theory is that the Duffers were working on Season 2 when Netflix addressed Stranger Things’ sudden massive popularity, sat them down, asked them to make it five season instead at least, and they said “fine”, so they tweaked the middle in order to get back to (more of less) their original idea for the ending.

[kadextra]

Recap of q!Max lore - Qsmp Day 154

q!Max woke up from his days long coma in the hospital (after a very cool cinematic opener) with Cucurucho, who said the surgery worked, the parasite was gone and he’s free to go!

Max was really happy to be alive and well, until he went home and discovered HIS LEG WAS BEING EATEN AWAY AND TURNING INTO CODE ??????

(The QsmpES account conveniently left this rather important detail out of all their updates too…)

He was too nervous to tell anyone and just put on iron pants to hide it, acting like nothing was wrong. :( The whole q!Quackity chase situation happened where he tried to ask Q questions, got nicknamed “glasses” and was sad that he friend could no longer remember him.

Max returned back home and Cucurucho came to speak with him. While crying, he showed what happened to his leg and asked for an explanation, but Cucurucho just laughed at him and started jumping around

Max: “I thought you removed the parasite??”

Cucurucho: Yes.

Max: “So what is this?!”

Cucurucho: “Classified.”

Max then tried to make peace with Cucurucho, saying they know he hates the Federation but after all this, he will stop. he wants help from the Federation to finally enjoy the island and be happy. all he needs is his dear Sofia back.

Cucurucho put down a TV and radio with a sign that said “SOFIA” which made Max start crying again because that’s not his daughter. Cucurucho kept putting down random tech objects calling them Sofia and Max got angry, screaming “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!”

Cucurucho handed him a book:

“I am not in possession of any object. :)”

Then Cucurucho said enjoy the island and ran away. q!Max shouted that he’d kill them.

And without a word Max went to his theory room, put this super weird image on the wall and logged out…

the text at the bottom reads “BOMB NOT TO SCALE” …….

[taeiris]

okay guys here’s my crazy unsupported st5 theory that is mostly just me projecting my need for madwheeler bonding and drama and angst also byler duh

disclaimers: i never make theories so this is extremely messy probably, i know jack dookie abt writing shows i think of this as my own little version of what i would think would be very cool to happen, if this has loop holes dont ask me anything bc idk either

OKAY LETS GET ON IT

so first things first here is what i am taking into consideration for the theory to happen:

• mike pov, self reflection and introspection (he is gay and in love with will byers okay)

• madwheeler bonding, theyre both complex n misunderstood

• the upside down isnt just one dimension, i came up with this bc of how different the ud looks now

compared to when henry arrived.

to me theres like an umbrella dimension (yellow one) and others under it (blue one/hawkins ud, the void, etc)

this is also lowkey supported by the silly boobie diagram the writers posted abt

OKAY PREPARE FOR THE WORD VOMIT

in this silly theory of mine, a new dimension variant of the ud will be revealed in season 5, serving as a parallel to the void. this is where max is

OKAY another thing is this is also heavily based on those “leaks” that were going around twitter (for me at least) earlier when the strike first started. i remember a few of them claiming that we would get a deeper insight into mike and his own things, so this is my interpretation

this would serve as another vanishing, not really bc its shorter, but this time mike will be getting stuck in this other dimension, eventually finding max BOOM madwheeler serve

i mean look at them. the potential is insane

ANYWAYS

this dimension is like a combo of all the other ones, picture it like the hawkins ud, with the void’s wet floor maybe

lets go back to the fact max is here, this is her coma nightmare, its like this purgatory dimension vecna put her soul in

in this dimension inhabit your ghosts

this overwhelming, haunting, tormenting realm in your mind where you are constantly confronting all your bad memories, maybe this is kind of how vecna keeps max under his grasp, no happy memories allowed

okay so, mike gets there. how? when? i dont fucking know this is honestly just word vomit fanfiction to me

at first hes confused, scared but mostly confused, picture him screaming for wills name (the parallels) at first it’s empty and eerily quiet, but as he accepts it, the ghosts start coming in.

he gets BOMBARDED with these bad memories, some of them he cant even remember because come on, bro is always neglecting his internalized feelings/monologue in fear of what they say about him

this is where we get his pov on the whole will and eleven situation, amongst other things (like the way he’s constantly stressed thinking about the safety of the people he loves)

for a moment we see him break, bc these ghosts are LOUD and MANY

but it stops

max is here, she’s like “MIKE?”

“MAX?”

shes been here for a fat minute, she knows how to handle these ghosts in fact shes been going thru them one by one ever since, because shes done hiding. and she suspects that the only way to get out is by confronting them.

max saves mike from his ghosts, explains that this place is seemingly a purgatory with levels of memories and ghosts to overcome

this is how we get our madwheeler bonding we so graciously need, as they are part of eachother ghosts since theyre so similar it makes the other mad

this is how our complex misunderstood characters are broken down, explained to the audience, while also discovering the mystery that is this new dimension where at the finish line they might just figure out how to defeat vecna.

because they will

after overcoming the ghosts they find the place that vecna didnt think they would reach as he was so sure they would break and collapse on their own madness

think of it as how el found the source in season 3

or how max found vecnas lair after running away in dear billy

except this place is vecnas actual mind, they can see hear and feel what vecna is thinking, his plans and everything

mike wonders how will feels being able to feel this all the time

will feels this all the time

will is always connected to this piece of vecnas mind, to this source

he can always hear vecna

until he suddenly hears max… and mike and theyre calling for help

theyve figured out key clues on how to defeat vecna, and they have an idea on how to get out. this is how will’s connection comes in handy

mind walkie-talkie

maybe thats what this theory should be called, idk

-

so thats how we get our byler confirmation, madwheeler bonding like never before, mike focus, and the key to defeat vecna

at least in my head

i know this was messy and all over the place but it was very fun to explain and drop all my thoughts ive been vomiting on the gc for months now

let me know what you think, what you would add, if theres anything you think will support this theory?

its all just a theory, for fun! pls keep that in mind

thank you if you’ve read this far🫶

[purpleangelsele]

Okay let’s get some things clear….

Some people *COUGH* B*lers *COUGH* are completely missing the whole point of El crying in that season 5 leak. No it’s not because Mileven is “breaking up” ffs.

I can think of several reasons why El could be crying in that scene:

Max is literally in the hospital still in a coma I believe. El is still carrying that guilt and I’m not sure how long the timeskip is, maybe two or three years? But during that time she would most likely be visiting max everyday with Lucas and just break down about Max when she’s alone with Mike. Idk just a theory but atleast it’s more believable than a breakup.

El has hopper back and is feeling so much emotions. She’s happy because he’s alive but also she’s terrified of losing him for good when Vecna comes back again. Idk just a theory

Literally anything else.

I know this isn’t a super analytical post but I just needed to get this out. The fact people seem to have forgot that El has a major reason to cry is baffling to me.

CUZ WDYM THE ONLY EXPLANATION YOU JUMP TO…IS HER AND MIKE BREAKING UP?

[alcalystrasz]

Here's the list of all my theories about Stranger Things 5 (not in order):

-Robin dies -> either to sacrifice herself (for Vickie or Steve) or she gets killed by Vecna.

-Max dies -> she doesn't wake up of her coma (episode 6 or 7, preferably after Robin's death).

=> After everyone starts to lose hope, they all get the courage to read her letters and they get determined to avenge her and the other deaths (even from previous seasons, such as Barbara for Nancy).

-Jonathan dies -> by saving Nancy or Will.

=> causes an emotional damage to Will, losing his big brother, the only one who knew about who he was.

-Mike and Eleven break up because Mike wants them to be just friends.

-Mike finally tells Will he's in love with him (episode 6 or 7, preferably after Max's death).

-Mike and Will go in the Upside Down (no reason in my mind right now, except it could be to find something).

=> They find Eddie alive (not dead because or the following reason: it's impossible to get killed in the Upside Down if you're not killed by Vecna himself -> Barb was killed by Vecna in the Upside Down since we see her in the pool she died, trapped like Chrissy, Vecna's mother etc. This could explain why Vecna didn't die when Nancy, Steve and Robin tried in S4). ((This theory is the least possible one in my mind, just so you know)) => he really dies though in the end.

Then, mostly everyone becomes a target of Vecna. Here's the list and the causes (why are they a target) and the characters that saves them (in order):

-Dustin is a target -> cause: Eddie's death, as he feels guilt for letting him go back in the Upside Down without him -> Steve or Lucas saves him because of their strong friendship.

-Lucas is a target -> cause: He feels guilt for not saving Max before Vecna takes her -> Max (if she doesn't die) or Erica saves him.

*Robin dies at this moment before the others gets targeted*

-Steve is a target -> cause: He feels guilt because he couldn't save Robin from the hands of Vecna -> Nancy saves him.

-Nancy is a target -> cause: She feels guilt because of Barbara and Steve being a target, but mostly of Barb -> Jonathan saves her by dying = she feels a second guilt and Steve feels guilt too.

*Jonathan dies at this moment*

-Will is a target -> cause: Vecna shows him his old memories (with his mom, Jonathan, Mike and the Party), but mostly bad memories to show him how his life is miserable. He asks Will to join him but refuses -> The music "Should I Stay or Should I Go" gets a door to open (just like Max when "Running up That Hill" started), and Mike's voice gets Will to escape Vecna's lair. He crushes his left eye before escaping (foreshadowing from Eddie during the DnD campaign in S4).

-Mike is a target (endgame, mostly end of episode 7 or beginning of episode 8) -> El saves him by fighting with Vecna but she still doesn't kill him. She gets hurt because he got stronger.

Now, the most crazy theory:

-Everyone finds a plan: Time travel.

=> They think, if the time in the Upside Down stopped the day Will got into the U.D, maybe he's the key of the U.D. Why? Maybe Vecna gave him this "power" because they're alike (sensitive, lonely, and good drawer). So they think if Will goes back inside, they can come back to the day he got kidnapped by Vecna and kill him when he was less strong.

And the Endgame theories (so episode 8 or end of episode 7):

-The Party finally gets back together and are going to be the leaders of the last episode.

-Eleven saves Hawkins by killing Vecna.

=> Parallel with the first season: Eleven gets Vecna on the wall, being ready to kill him but before that, she turns her head to Mike or the Party and says "Goodbye" one last time just like in the final of season 1. She then kills Vecna inside of the U.D creating a sort of supernova (because she erases him like the Demogorgon in s1, but since she did that outside of the U.D and she teleported them in it, and this time she's inside, this world can't support it and it makes a sort of supernova). This causes the U.D to get closed forever and Eleven dies, closing the possibility of interacting with the U.D from the real world.

That's it!! Tell me what you guys think about this, it's the main theories in big lines, some things a more precise obviously.

[will80sbyers]

Soooo new theory based on this... I guess?

At the start of season 5 there's a battle and somehow Max gets out of her coma and wakes up and Will takes her place, the reason we're not seeing him is that he's in a coma... And we're still seeing him in the show but while he's inside Vecna's mind having visions

I hate this I hope I'm so freaking wrong!!!!!!! Please someone tell me I'm wrong I beg you