#swapping places

[erikiara80]

This is so sweet

The red ink for 1976 though... The year Jon killed a rabbit. Yeah, I consider it another hint that something bad happened to their family that year. Too many references at this point

[diagk]

Dragon Age: Rook vs Solas

checkmate

Rook vs Solas

rook and king

is that what the fade prison move was about? swapping places and all that?

[strange-anni]

Swapping places: Mike and Will

Part 2: Mike Wheeler

Read Part 1: Will Byers here

We have never been given as much inside into Mikes mind as we have with Will so this part will be a lot shorter than the first on. There is still some ground to cover though, so let's get started.

If Vecna or Vecman as Robin mistakenly calls him here holds the core of Wills deeply buried memories, there has to be something similar for Mike as well. I'm not sure if Mike remembers at all what happened to him or if he only has a vague sense that something isn't right. Or if his memories are as deeply buried as Wills and only appear like vivid images from a dream he can't shake off but there is one thing Mike is very sure of.

There can only be one Venkman and that's Mike!

The concept of two people existing at the same time who might hold the same role even if it's just a costume or a fictional character is not a thing Mike agrees with. There can only be one Venkman because there is only one Venkman in real life. Venkman could never be anyone else but him. Not Lucas or anyone else.

It's also very interesting to me that it's Will who brings up the concept of the two Venkman who could co-exist together. Will seems to be the one who is okay with it but Mike isn't. This indicates that Mike is trying to hold on to his identity and is not yet ready to face the truth.

However there is also the fact that when Will really needed Mike in S2 he was ready to help to bring Will home into his own basement. Mike's home which is apparently also Wills home. We see this contrasted with Jonathan who in the same season also brings Nancy home but to her own home and not to the Byers house where he lives.

Mike does the opposite and gets Will home into his basement. This could indicate a number of things and I would not put it past Mike to have picked up on the fact that Will has more reasons to be at ease in the Wheelers house than in his own home at the Byers house even if he doesn't know the reason why. Will who at home constantly had to be on the lookout for Lonnie would not feel safe there and feel a lot safer at the Wheelers simply because there is no Lonnie.

Yet there could still be more to it. Like Mike feeling that this place and this home belong to Will just as much if not more (Mike is very insecure) than to him. For it has originally been Will that lived there and not Mike so Mike get's Will home to a place he belongs.

This speech from Mike in the van is not about El. It's about Will.

Like Will does just a few moments later in the same scene I think Mike is also using El as a shield to convey his own feelings to Will and it talks volumes of how he really feels.

He's contrasting himself with another person who was born special unlike him and assumes that he may be the first person to realize that. Mike though wasn't the first person to realize El was special. There were a multitude of people before him like Brenner and the lab people, Owens and the ones who El is currently with who realized it way before he did and Mike knows this. They are currently on their way to rescue her from these people, so why would he word it like that?

It's not about El but Will instead. It's Will who was born special and Mike was one of the first people to realize that back when they were still five years old. He's insecure because he's afraid that Will might one day no longer need him once he realizes who Mike thinks he really is. Just some random person. Just some random person who met Will by pure chance when he needed someone. I'll come back to that in a bit because we have already seen what this is about.

It's after that that Mike suddenly seems to change topics because now it is no longer about Will but him instead. It's Mike who after that moment got lucky that Superman landed on his doorstep and saved him.

Lucky. Being there by pure chance. Coincidence. Mike is completely discarding all the small and big choices both of them made along the way which really got them together and made them fall in love with each other. He's reducing it all to pure chance which it is not although it did play a role in how they first met.

These are two people who are said to be explorers. Holly wo is a Wheeler and then there is Henry who is also 001 and Wills persecutor alter. Both saw something they should not have seen. Holly saw the Demogorgon, the representation of Lonnie in the wall and Henry found out the secrets of the parents.

Maybe Superman came to Mikes doorstep, explored a little too much and then saw what what his father Lonnie was about to do and couldn't bear to see Mike get hurt like that so he swapped their places. He became the Will we know him to be and Mike became the Mike we know him to be. This also means that for the next few years it was Will who had to endure all the ab*se Lonnie inflicted on him. Ab*se Mike would have suffered if it wasn't for this one moment of chance that got them together.

So now he's afraid he'll lose Will when he realizes what happened and might come to the conclusion that Mike wasn't worth all of what Will did for him and to an extent he's right. Henry is full of hatred for them both and resents them for having to endure all of the pain he had to go through because they swapped places. If this hadn't happened, Will would still be Wheeler after all.

Yet Henry is not Will. He's only part of Will and part of the reason why he is so full of hatred is because he's been alone with all this pain he had to absorb for so long that it twisted his mind. Will will have to face Henry and come face to face with this truth as well and then he'll realize that in the end, he still loves Mike even if there was a part of him that resented Mike for what happened. That's what Will is all about. He doesn't want to let the bad guys win but for that he needs to face his darker side as well and then overcome it.

What happened wasn't Mikes fault and it wasn't Wills fault either. There is no one to blame but Lonnie.

Mike will have to realize this too. For him it's his fear of losing Will and his own insecurities he needs to face. He needs to realize that Will did what he did because he wanted to. It's a decision Will for the most part doesn't regret and would probably do all over again if he had too. Most of all though Mike needs to understand that to Will he was in fact worth it.

Then they'll be ready to deal with the past, face their trauma and the lives they've lived prior to 1976. They'll be able to set things right.

This is the moment when Mike - that random person - was there for Will when he needed him. On on random lucky day on his first day of kindergarten he met Will on a swing and then made the decision to ask if he wanted to be his friend because they were both alone. It was a decision he's never regretted. In fact he believes it to be the best thing he's ever done.

It's a real memory from way back before they swapped places I think. As to why Will was alone or why he needed someone in that moment I have no idea. But Mike was there and it changed both their lives forever.

[darkfictionjude]

When I saw the answer about the Percy ask I sent (the long one about how he is the one who is paid no attention), I got curious. Because you say Percy would like, just to get some attention, to swap places with MC. And while we have presented body swap scenarios before... Well, I was wondering if Percy found a witch and, after she was able to prove she was capable of doing real magic (which is easier to believe for people who live in Croun, and that must include Percy), she offered to make a wish of his to come true. Would Percy actually wish to swap places with MC? Or would he just consider it, but then choose something more practical (money)? Or something more selfless (help for his mother in particular, or for the whole family as a whole)?

And if he did swap places with MC, would he regret it? I mean, more than body swapping with MC, is more of a role switch. So, he's still Percy, and looks mostly the same, he just now is the youngest sibling and has MC's life. While MC is now in Percy's place. Would Percy enjoy this? To some extent or for a little while?

Hmm. Fascinating. Because he would only switch if that option is given and none other. Because it’s better than what he has.

But if he could wish for anything? He’d wish he were loved and remembered not even an insane amount, normal, what you would get in a loving family. So I guess in a way he would wish good for the family

If he swapped places with mc I don’t think he’d regret. The depth of people’s loneliness can reach such heights that they would take the bad if it meant a good they’ve been searching for since they were a child.

[writingsofwesteros]

A really weird au but like imagine aegon, aemond and helaena were rhaenyra children and jacaerys, the reader and lucerys were alicent. (dark!aegon and dark!aemond with their aunt 🤭)

the reader being a mix of canon aegon, being the oldest daughter of alicent making her a disappointment she wasn’t born a male

Could you imagine !!

Hopefully Alicent would be calm with having sons next

[strange-anni]

This airplane is also an Antonov. Antonov An-2 to be exact. It was first manufactured in 1947 and was designed by Oleg Antonov.

Source

It is the airplane which brings Joyce and Murray into the Soviet-Union but since Yuri betrays them and they have to defend themselves the plane crashes so it can't get them out.

It's kind of funny that one Jim tells another Jim that he's not the father of Michael, isn't it?

The Antonov An-2 airplane is also type 22.

Like ...

Mike is arriving with flight 623 from Gate 2. We get this message two times.

Chance who can be considered Mikes Upside Down version also has the number 22.

Then there is Billy who's almost about to say something important when the temperature is at 220.

Jim/Dimitri/Antonov who's also Enzo/Henry and the (Not-)Father of Michael?

Nevertheless it's the plane which got them stuck and can't get them out again because it's been destroyed.

In the end it's Katinka who gets all of them unstuck. Katinka which is a nickname for Katerina/Catherine. This name is also the origin of the name Karen.

Catherine means pure but only Katinka the helicopter is pure. Yuris ex-girlfriend Katinka who the helicopter is named after isn't.

Maybe they're asking the wrong person? If the father won't get them the permission, maybe they should ask the mother instead?

Hopper is stuck, and Enzo can get him unstuck.

Hopper = basically another name for rabbit.

Enzo = Italian for "Henry" [father of Hawkins]/short for Lorenzo/Lawrence/Lonnie

"Enzo" is actually Dmitri Antonov. [Dmitri = follower of Demeter/mother Earth/motherland] [Antonov = derived from the Antonius root name, like the name Anthony].

Although Enzo initially is successful, he is found out and fails at getting Hopper "unstuck". He isn't the real "Enzo" [father]. To add to this, "Enzo" is not really "Mikhail"'s [Mike's] father... or is he?

This is absolutely what connects Henry [Enzo] Creel and Edward Creel I feel like- because Edward = Ted. It's all about the fathers.

This is definitely connected to:

Robin and Nancy -> finding the truth of Victor Creel [the father].

Robin and Nancy claimed they have received a recommendation letter from Larry [Larry/Lawrence/Lonnie] Brantley ["sword" or "fiery torch"].

Anthony [connected to Antonov] Hatch [opening a door/hatching an egg] allows them to enter, thinking they have permission.

Robin mistakenly says "Bradley" [the store where El stole Eggos from] instead of "Brantley".

Hatch finds out- realizing they were there under false pretenses. They did not receive permission from the real "Larry" [Father].

Now this is also connected to:

Suzie's father confiscating her computer and access to the computer's memory/data.

They need permission from the father to access the computer but there's no way he'll provide that.

Cornelius [horn] yells and turns off the power and distracts the father to allow them to access the computer data/memory. So yet again, they override permission from father.

This is ALSO connected to:

Bob overriding the security codes in ST2. In order to unlock the doors = the computer system needs to be rebooted. Bob manages to access the computer and manually override the code. Yet again, Bob is not the real father, there is no permission from the father [or rather the MF].

Are you still with me?

I know I'm missing some things here but damn.

When I tell you that father is super important to the story, I'm not exaggerating.

Father is guarding the truth, and has been this whole time.

[zeldareference]

bro thought he had rizz 😭😭💀

silly :3

also!! a crappier doodle thing too 🔥 bc tbh id say theyre both freaky……. except one is much more obvious abt it than the other……..

fell sans belongs to underfella

swap sans belongs to popcornpr1nce

[deathberi]

*ੈ✩⋆˙༄˖°..ೃ࿔*:･-ˋˏ┈˚⟡˖⋆౨ৎ ⋆｡

[tawnysoup]

the fritter (frin critter)

[heartorbit]

find another role, carry on the show

[erikiara80]

[zaana]

I finished up an old sketch meant to be an AU, but it's rather fitting now

[strange-anni]

Swapping places: Will and Mike

Part 1: Will Byers

A curious thing both the Wheelers and the Byers have in common is that in the places where they present their family photos one child is missing. For the Wheelers we see big photos of two little girls. One of which Mike identifies as Holly, the other behind the portrait of Nancy is presumably also Nancy. There is no baby photo of Mike.

Well you might say there is one baby photo in black and white and it could be Mike but that one stands out like a sore thumb. Not only is it black and white like none of the other photos are, it's also notably smaller than them and you can barely make out who this is even supposed to be. It could be Mike but it could also be someone else entirely.

The same can be said about the Byers. There is only one photo of a young boy to be seen who is presumably Jonathan. Will is missing here too.

This for both families makes no sense whatsoever. Why would they not include them? Joyce loves both her children just as the Wheelers love all three of their children. So why won't they display baby photos of Mike and Will?

Then we have the fact that both Joyce and Lonnie seem to be a bit confused as to who their youngest son is. Joyce mentioned once that she doesn't know who raised Will and Lonnie needed a reminder of what Will looks like.

Maybe Will is not the son Joyce raised. Maybe Will is not the son Lonnie remembers.

Maybe Will swapped places with their son.

This is where it starts. This line is probably the most important one in the entire show. On a surface level this is about the D&D game they were playing just shortly before but I do believe it has another meaning as well. After all, the lights begin to flicker or the first time after this line is said.

Will reveals an important truth here. It's the Demogorgeon that got him and it happened 7 years ago.

The Demogorgeon = Deep Father = Lonnie

1983 - 7 = 1976

Lonnie got Will and in turn had to give up his son Mike.

For Mike Wills words hold no meaning here. He doesn't know he received an important message and that's why he looks confused.

For Will though, this is the moment where all hell breaks lose. It's what leads him to get a reminder that he's gonna get killed (via Dustin) and then sees the Demogorgeon for the first time in the woods shortly before he gets transported into the Upside Down in the shed.

As Mike points out here Will could have played it safe. He could have lied in 1983 or he could have kept being the person he was but he didn't. He put himself in danger to help the party. To save his dear friend Mike from suffering a horrible life.

Will prevented Mike from becoming prey but in turn Will became prey himself.

Quarry is another word for prey. Prey for the lion. Lonnie.

In 1983 it was El who saved Mike as he jumped into the quarry, preventing him from jumping to his death. In 1976 it was Will who saved Mike by taking his place and then consequentially endured the suffering Mike was supposed to endure from his father Lonnie.

From then on Mike could live a relatively happy normal life while Will had to through hell.

Read here and here as to why Lonnie is the worst father.

Read here, here and here as to why I believe Will had developed DID because of this. Among others he created Eleven who became his gatekeeper alter and Vecna who became his prosecutor alter.

Many many thanks to @greenfiend and @/kaypeace21 for finding all of this out.

So alters, let's talk about them for a second.

It's Henry or Vecna who is One and Billy who shares the same name as Will who is Two. This would not make much sense unless Will wasn't someone else before he became Will Byers.

Described as a sensitive child who doesn't fit in with the other children, Henry does fit Will in a twisted way but his family does not. Will as we know him has never lived in a big and beautiful fairytale-like home. Lonnie and Joyce also weren't rich. Joyce had to work all day in a supermarket while Lonnie did whatever he did. We don't even know what. This isn't about conforming or presenting themselves as good and normal people to the outside world. The Byers simply never lived a life like the Creels did.

The Wheelers came fairly close though. They have a nice home. Ted earns a lot of money which allows his wife Karen to stay home and take care of the children and household chores. They are conforming and present themselves as good and normal people.

It's like Will injected Henry into the Wheelers family life. Or like he lived it himself and Henry and the Creels are representative of this.

Then there is Billy who is also everything Will is not. Billy is muscular, violent, conventionally good-looking, straight and a ladies man, does sports and embraces a type of masculinity Lonnie absolutely encouraged in Will. He's the perfect son for Lonnie. Everything Lonnie has always wanted in Will, he gets in Billy and yet even all of that doesn't save Billy from the Mind Flayer. Even he can't be perfect enough for the father to escape him.

So to sum this up. We have Henry who is like Will but his family life is not and we have Billy who is not like Will but his family life is.

One and Two

One who still remembers the life from before and Two who has to deal with the life he's living now.

Mike who became Will Will who became Mike

Please enjoy my sh*tty graphic

So Vecna holds the truth of past memories behind the gates. Gates which if not opened by Vecna himself like in S4 via absorbing he suffering of others - like Will did for Mike - should only be opened and closed with the appropriate key.

In Season 2 it's Mike who knows of the computer programming language to access the original Hawkins lab.

In Season 4 Mike had the number for the lab ever since he got it from the agent who died.

Season 3 is special because access to the gate is behind a super tight tripple lock system

Let's look at it a little more closely.

Step 1: You must be send for by Mikhail

This obviously refers to a Michael but the wording makes me think it's actually Will before 1976 or the Mike he has been before. The only way go further is if Will pre 1976 wants you to come to him deep into the core of the base. Or more simply put, it's Will who must be okay with granting access to these buried memories.

Step 2: You must have the correct code

The correct code is Planck's Constant. It's a number only a true nerd knows. Dustin and Erica don't know this number. Murrays code has already been proven wrong and that under normal circumstances leaves us with Mike who can't be reached because his Walkie Talkie got destroyed by the Mind Flayer. So Suzie has to help out.

Step 3: You need two people to operate two keys

Even if you've already made it this far there is supposed to be no way to close or open the gate without there being two people present as the keyholes are too far apart for only one person to operate both keys at the same time.

Yet Joyce, Hopper and Murray manage to go all the way deep into the Russian base to close the gate. That's because they don't want to operate or control it. They want to destroy it instead and make it explode so that no one can ever access the gate ever again. They cheat their way all the way through the system to forever bury the memories that lie deep inside the Upside Down.

They're turning what is supposed to be a Two-Man operation into a Three-Man operation and that's wrong!

Oh the irony! Murray telling the lovebirds that they're almost up to bat when they are the wrong lovebirds who never ever want to reach the bat. And just for good measure he rips out the cables of the power sources 1 (Henry) and 2 (Billy) for the machine.

The lovebirds here are supposed to be Mike and Will who together as a team can either deactivate the machine or open the gate to reach the deepest memories of the bat aka the father aka Lonnie.

And just to hit it home how wrong their approach was and how it was never meant to be three-man-operation but a two-man-operation instead, it's the exact moment when Hopper wants to count to three that he gets attacked by Grigori and ultimately has to fight a battle that leads to his death. Had he stopped at two, this wouldn't have happened.

Had they stopped at Two, none of it wouldn't have happened. (But that's what Season 5 is for as both Mike and Will were not yet ready for any of this in Season 3)

So to sum up the way to correctly use the machine and access the gate with the buried memories:

Will must want it

Mike must have given his permission via a code only he knows

There must be two people to activate or deactivate the machine: Mike AND Will

It's all about consent, understanding each other and a will to look for the truth and face the trauma they both suffered (to different extends) that leads the way to open the gates. Without any of that, it's not possible. Both Mike and Will are needed.

I think it's obvious now how Mike specifically is the key to all of those gates and Wills memories.

My point here in going into so much detail as to how to open the gate in S3 in particular is that that this lock system really makes it super clear that one person is simply not enough. It needs two people which at first glance doesn't make a lot of sense.

This is Wills mindscape and it's about his memories and I get how it's hard to face your demons and how encouragement is needed but in the end you would have to face your own trauma yourself. With the help of friends and family and the people you love for sure but it's still your pain though and no one else can face it for you if you want to overcome it and no longer let it control you.

I can see how Mike could fit into that as the support Will needs and the inspiration and motivation to face his demons. What I can't see is why Mike would be the one able to grant access to Wills past in the first place. Will would not need permission from Mike to face his own past trauma like this. He should be able to do it on his own when he's ready.

Yet he puts so much responsibility on Mike and I think he does it for a reason. It's not only the number Will gave him at the start of the series. "It was seven" he had said and with that gave Mike a coded message of what had happened to him in the past. The only thing Mike needs to do is to decode it which he will for sure but that still doesn't explain why Mike is needed on so many levels to his deepest buried truths. If decoding the message was enough all Mike had to do was talk to Will about it so he can finally open up about his past to a trusted friend. That's part of it for sure but it's not everything either.

I think the reason why there is so much emphasis on Mike and the things only he should know is that whatever is past the gates affects him just as much as Will. So for Will to be ready to open up, he needs Mikes permission as well because he needs Mike to be willing to accept and deal with whatever truth is behind the gates. A truth he may not like.

Like the possibility that he and Will at one point in their life after they've first met in 1976 have swapped places. That it was was Mike who almost fell prey to Lonnie the lion and it was Will who saved him from that by taking his place.

But there is also a flipside to this: If Mike is the key to Wills memories and his past, Will must also be thee key to Mikes hidden past.

So what about Mike?

Read Part 2: Mike Wheeler here

Last but not least I also want to thank @threemanoperation who greatly inspired me with this post in particular.

[posting-my-random-drawings-here]

I've been meaning to draw this guy for a while but kept losing motivation halfway through

But after 2-3 failed attempts, here is the final product:D

Here's a piece of chalk in the middle of em' to show just how big it is ↓

Was overall really fun to do

:D

@akanemnon

[makiswirl]

in reference to my last reblog. what do you call this subgenre of 70s-80s manga protag

[strange-anni]

That's a good catch! I think Joyce is probably right. It's Will just not the one who's been living with her for the last couple of years.

Joyce also mentioned once that Will has a birthmark on his right arm but I don't think we've ever seen it.

The one with Nancy and Jonathan is also quite interesting. If it's a mix-up I think it's quite a sloppy one so that means it's probably intentional. Maybe to confuse us as to who is actually the parent couple with the age difference. Lonnie is also greying a little so it could mean that it's truly Lonnie and Joyce. Considering that it's Nancy who says it is also interesting. I don't think she was swapped as well, so maybe she's just delivering the message?

Making a cut here for metaphors of CSA under the cut.

At Rink-O-Mania we also get this shot. The word rentals is directly above Mike and El while Will walking besides them. Could this mean that Mike should rent the Als? (El and Will) Or is this about Mike and El being rentals? Or all three of them?

Then there is this at the Pizza parlor and all I can think about is what you've recently told me about the meaning of pies as well as Pizzas which are also pies.

Here we have Mike who is totally in the dark and behind him is a lamp shaped like a slice of pizza. Is he in the dark about himself being a pie or El being a pie or possibly both?

I think it's entirely possible that the day Mike has swapped places with Will was not the first one he was (or was about to be) ab*sed. It probably happened before as well. He's experienced it but most likely doesn't remember which could in turn be another reason why Will doesn't want the truth to come out. I'd mean that Mike would have to remember as well and Will doesn't want Mike to go trough this.

Thinking about @strange-anni 's theory on Mike and Will swapping places...

Joyce mistakes Mike for Will... or was she correct?

Then we have this possible intentional mix up or continuity error?

Nancy states that her mom was young and her dad was older... but in The First Shadow... Ted and Karen are about the same age.

BUT...

While we aren't given knowledge about Lonnie and Joyce's age different within the show... in The First Shadow, it's Lonnie who was older and Joyce was young.

What's going on here?