Will's Kindness Was The Catalyst.

Will's kindness was the catalyst.

My number 1 biggest headcannon that I have for Season 5 and the overall story is that Will's kindness is what "caused" everything bad that happened to him. (i.e., Vecan being a creep) I know that sounds incredibly bad. Just let me explain!

One of the biggest traits Will has is his kindness. It has been established since the very beginning. The biggest tell is in season 2, when Joyce was trying to get through to a possessed Will, she told him the story of how he gave away his toy truck to a girl who was crying, cause she needed it more than him. We didn't get an age, but from the sounds of it, he was extremely young, maybe 4 or 5ish since he was calling Joyce Mommy. Young kids (toddlers and up to age 6ish) are naturally more selfish or self-centred. On average, 6+ is when they start to develop empathy and more awareness of others around them. With Will already having this awareness of others at such a young age just elaborates Will's kind and empathetic nature.

My headcannon is that Will was Vecna's Target from the beginning, it wasn't the wrong place at the wrong time. The second Jane/El opened the gate in 1983, Vecna wasted no time in grabbing Will. Though, the big question of why can be answered in many different ways. But the majority of them start the same. With a young Will meeting Henry.

I believe from what we saw so far of s5, Will is going to need to remember what happened to him in the upside down, like when Jane had to remember in s4. Memories are fickle things, and trauma can affect that heavily. Fogging up that memory, or completely blocking it, is our brains way to protect us. I am certain that Will doesn't have the best memories of his childhood outside the good ones, like being with Mike and eventually the rest of the party. Him not really remembering the Lego story is a big hint to this. And I'd bet money that a lot of it, if not all of Will's missing memories, is related to Lonnie. A lot of people who've been through child abuse, especially from a very young age, tend to have very little memories of it.

For the sake of this post, I won't go into detail of what I think Will's relationship with his pos father Lonnie was like. But I'm convinced that one summer, Lonnie needed extra cash for drugs or alcohol. He probably saw an ad in the newspaper for Hawkins Lab offering money for testing. Of course, he ain't gonna pick himself for all these tests. Why would he when he has the docile and quiet Will? I imagine Will would be pretty young here, but since he's a kid, Dr. Brenner could use him for some control tests for his super psychic kid army project, and who better to do these control tests on than Will, who has no connection whatsoever to this project. Who's supposed to be completely ordinary. But maybe, just maybe there was something small that showed up during one of these test that shouldn't have. Maybe, out of curiosity, Dr. Brenner offered more money to Lonnie. To bring Will in once a week for further tests.

This is where Will meets Henry. In-between tests, I imagine Will was put in a room, maybe the rainbow room, but Henry would be there and talk to Will. My guess is that, similar to what he did with Jane, he'd try and encourage Will to use his negative emotions during these tests. Maybe he'd give Will example stories from Henry's own childhood. Realising how similar their experiences are. But instead, Will being the sweetie pie that he is, would instead try and comfort Henry, maybe he'd draw him a picture or give Henry something he owned like in the toy truck story, or simply a hug and I'm sorry you went trough this comment. Will's natural kindness and good-heartedness would completely throw Henry off. For someone who's gone through so much pain (by Lonnie) in such a short life shouldn't be as kind as they are. To have a heart still full of love and kindness for others is alien to Henry.

I believe Henry becomes somewhat obsessed with Will. (Not in a romantic sense) Henry isn't used to genuine kindness from anyone, and to have this small child freely give him that, he becomes "protective" of him.

Maybe when Henry (who becomes Vecna) in the upside down, he stalks Will, spies on him. Seeing the abuse Will goes through angers Vecna, makes him more and more sure that the world needs to burn, that he needs to protect Will from the world.

When the gate opens up again, Vecna wasted no time in grabbing Will. But something happened, the upside down changed, Will somehow changed it. It's probably how Will managed to escape from the Demogorgon/Vecna in the upside down. Will's power, a creative kind, activated when he was petrified. Vecna now has an even bigger reason to take Will now. Cause to Vecna, Will is "just like him." And together, they could re-shape the world.

Vecna never wanted to kill Will, unlike the other. He could have killed Will and taken his powers like Vecna did to the other psychic kids. Like he planned to do to Jane in season 3. But no, he wants Will to work with him, to have him be by his side. In S2, Will mentioned how the MF wanted everyone dead, but Will. Venca's anger towards Jane grows due to her saving Will, not once but twice. Vecna knows that Jane will always get in the way of his plan. So he changed his focus. Take out the powerful "dragon" that protects the treasure. (Season 3)

In Season 5, Vecnas is going to really push Will to "willingly" go to him. While our party is distracted with everything that is going on. I have a feeling that Vecna is going to show/torment Will with all the bad things that have happened. Exaggerated versions of events, like the Rink O'Mania. (The behind the scenes shot of Will in the Rink wearing the wrong outfit).

The sad thing is, Vecna's going to "win." (At least by the end of act 2) Will has a habit of not wanting to burden his family and friends with what's happening with/to him. That's the downside of Will's kindness. He doesn't believe he deserves the same kindness/love back. He believes he's being selfish just for asking for help. That's how Vecna's going to get Will at last, cause Will going to feel like he'll need to suffer alone, that it'll be selfish of him to ask or reach out for help.

But in season 2, we do see him reaching out to Mike. Mike makes him believe he's worthy of some of that love back. But, slowly, that belief is fading. In Season 3, he was a lot slower to "ask for help." Before he would have gone straight to Mike about what he's feeling, even if it's just about his mental health. But in S3, he took longer to tell Mike what's wrong. It wasn't until he knew for sure that it wasn't in his head and that it was, in fact, upside down related that he spoke out.

S4 was the first time we saw Will "lie" to Mike. Especially when it comes to how Will feels. All because Will wanted to help Mike. He wanted to make Mike happy again, even if it broke his own heart. Will gave up his own heart to give Mike some happiness by mending his relationship with Jane.

Will feels like a burden, a mistake, the problem in the group, and I have no doubt that Will is going to want to "be better" for the people he loves in S5. To Will, he needs to close himself off from the one "selfish" thing he gave himself, which was opening up to Mike, putting some of that burden he carried onto Mike's shoulders. He's going to feel like he needs to "man" up and take care of it on his own. But that is how he's going to "lose." Vecna is going to chisel away at Will's fears, traumas, and mind. Get Will weak enough to take over his body and mind. To finally make Will his once and for all.

But the turning point in this season is going to be Mike.

Cause Mike isn't going to back down. Will's going to try and push away from the special closeness he has with Mike. To try and burry the love and "selfish" need he has for Mike so far underground that it'll never see the light of day. But Mike is going to come running at Will with a shovel. He's going to ask and probe Will with questions. He's going to glue himself to Will's side. Will's going to get frustrated about it. He's going to snap at others cause Mike isn't going to leave him alone all the while dealing with Vecna tormenting him at the same time. And eventually, when Vecna finally takes over Wills body, Mike isn't moving. He's not leaving Will. Mike's going to run into the upside down for Will without hesitant.

It's only when Will finally accepts that yes, it's not selfish to rely on others. That it's okay to ask and / or accept help. That he isn't being selfish for needing Mike cause lo and behold, Mike needs Will too. Its only when he finally accepts himself that he'll be able to stop Vecna.

Season 5 is no doubt going to be brutal and emotional. I'm not sure how exactly they're going to defeat Vecna once and for all, but I know Will's going to most likely give the final blow. But not without some sort of sacrifice, but one thing I know for sure is that Mike is going to be there for Will in the aftermath, and Will is finally going to be selfish for once and accept and take that love wholeheartedly.

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(It's 3:47 am, and I have work at 9 am. So I apologise for rambling and any grammar/spelling mistakes. I'll correct them later. I just needed to write it down to get it out of my head.) ((I'll do a Mike season 5 take at a later date that correlates to this theory))