Did you spot these similarities between Stranger Things Season 5 Vol 1 and Harry Potter?

While nothing can match the Harry Potter craze, Stranger Things Season 5 Vol 1 might just have come close for this generation. While the Duffer brothers' creation tries to find its footing in science and logic, and there may not be a magical school teaching young wizards and witches how to control their magical powers, the core of the Netflix blockbuster has many parallels with the story of the boy who lived.

From the emotional center of the show, the group of friends who are family to each other, to the evil villain with childhood trauma who wants to change the world, the similarities have always been there. However, the final showdown in the Netflix fantasy, which premiered with its first four episodes on November 26, has turned out to have more than just similar core values.

Keep reading to find out some of the uncanny similarities between Harry Potter and Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 1.

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These Harry Potter and Stranger Things Season 5 Vol 1 similarities are impossible to miss

The twists and turns in Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 1 have managed to create absolute mayhem. Especially the final few seconds, where Will used his connection to the hivemind to draw Vecna's powers, left the entire fandom too stunned to speak.

Will's transformation, the signs leading up to it, and some of the other dramatic moments in Stranger Things Season 5 Vol 1 have also brought up a lot of comparisons to another franchise that continues to capture minds across several generations.

A 'Chosen One' who was targeted from a young age

The Stranger Things Season 5 Vol 1 finale found Will finally growing into his main character form after harnessing Vecna's powers. This transformation was made possible by the connection between Vecna and Will, which has been at the heart of the entire show. This connection also takes us back to Harry and Voldemort's linked consciousness.

Harry's hurting scar and Will's tingling neck are the perfect representations of this parallel between Stranger Things and Harry Potter.

Both Harry and Will were targeted by evil powers at a young age and have grown up in trauma. Both of them find friends who love them for who they are and find power and hope in this acceptance of themselves.

A mother's love that transcends all evil

This might just be the biggest and most heartwarming parallel between Harry Potter and Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 1. Lily Potter sacrificed her life by throwing herself between Voldemort's killing curse and Harry, triggering an ancient form of magic that protected Harry. A mother's love can transcend any and all boundaries.

Such is the case with the mothers on Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 1. Joyce Byers will stand up to powerful government organizations, the Upside Down, ruthless Demogorgons, and even Vecna himself if it means protecting Will.

Karen Wheeler, facing a literal Demogorgon with just a wine bottle in hand to protect Holly, is cut from the same cloth as Molly Weasley's confrontational duel with Bellatrix Lestrange, and nobody can convince us otherwise.

Visions through the villain's eyes

While the chosen one and a mother's love might be more general parallels that are not enough to group Harry Potter and Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 1, Will seeing through Vecna's eyes is a definitive similarity between the two. Will's connection to Vecna has been slowly strengthening since he was taken into the Upside Down in Season 1.

The second season found him acting as a spy for the Hawkins gang, similar to Harry having visions of what Voldemort was seeing. In the final season, Will finds himself seeing what Vecna was seeing, as well as what Vecna's victims, inside whose minds Vecna was crawling, were seeing.

One particular scene that stands out is Will's visions from the standpoint of the Demogorgon hunting the soldiers in Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 1. This scene is highly reminiscent of Harry's vision of attacking Arthur Weasley through Nagini in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Hope and love defeating fear and evil

Another parallel between Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 1 and Harry Potter is the importance of acceptance, hope, and love in the face of evil. In Harry Potter, this is signified by a particular charm, the Patronus Charm, which is cast with the help of happy and hopeful memories, and helps the wizard or witch combat Dementors, the physical representation of fear.

Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 1 uses this concept as well, where Vecna draws his power by feeding on children struggling with trauma, guilt, and fear. For Will, who has also struggled with his identity all his life, finally accepting himself and embracing the love and hope in his life helped him unlock his full potential and use Vecna's powers against his creatures.

Vecna vs Voldemort

Last but not least, the big bad villains of Stranger Things Season 5 and Harry Potter also share a lot of similarities. They're both villains whose identity was a major reveal in the narratives and who have powers that allow them to look into people's minds and use their deepest, darkest fears against them. Showing Harry a vision of Sirius captured to lure him into the Ministry of Magic is just another example.

Both of these characters had lonely and troublesome childhoods, which they spent alone. Hope and Love were the only powers that survived against Voldemort, and such might be the case for Vecna. Hopefully, Stranger Things Season 5 and Will will also find their way to Vecna's defeat just as Harry did against Voldemort.

Read More: Stranger Things Season 5: Will Byers is basically Harry Potter -- but with Upside Down trauma and a newly found Sorcerer energy

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