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For five seasons, Stranger Things let a few blunt questions bruise at the show’s edges. Why the Upside Down keeps coming for children, what Vecna actually wants, and how Will Byers fits into all of it. Season 5 Volume 1 finally hands fans the answer they’ve been waiting for, and then pulls the floor out from under them with a cliffhanger that changes everything.
The payoff is equal parts catharsis and chaos. Volume 1 finally answers a core mystery before ending on a cliffhanger that leaves the final showdown wide open. Fans are already spiraling into theories while waiting for the next drop and dealing with all this newfound information about Will Byers.
Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1 ends exactly where Season 1 started
You might remember The Vanishing of Will Byers as the first episode of Stranger Things that truly established the horrors of whatever creature lurks in Hawkins, and started it all for everyone else on the show. Will Byers heads home late at night after spending ten intense hours playing Dungeons and Dragons with Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, and Dustin Henderson. He pedals past the stretch of woods the group jokingly calls Mirkwood, only to freeze when a humanoid figure blocks the road. His bike hits the ground, and panic sends him sprinting through the trees toward home. The creature trails him. Hiding in the shed, Will grabs a .22 caliber bolt action rifle, but the bulb flares, something materialises behind him, and he disappears, terrified and silent.
Although fans will remember it as the first horrifying event of Stranger Things, one question has continued to haunt them for the years to come. Why was Will the first one to be chosen by Vecna? And the answer lies in the finale of Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1's finale.
What happens to Will Byers in Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1?
The final episode of the first volume of Stranger Things Season 5 sees Vecna stepping out of the Upside Down, brushing past soldiers and tossing aside Joyce, Mike, and Will without breaking a sweat. Their weapons twist in midair under his control. He lifts Will toward him and mocks both the boy and the friends he tried to protect. While demogorgons pull the kids into the dark world below and right when everything seems done for, Will digs through his memories of love and friendship and somehow taps into abilities no one knew he possessed. Through the hive mind, he freezes the demogorgons, looks through their eyes, and destroys them. Bloodied but determined, he stands tall as volume 1 closes, revealing something new burning inside him.
Episodes 1 through 4 of Stranger Things paint a chaotic Hawkins. Eleven’s fight with Vecna tore open the barrier between worlds, so the military locked down the town and started hunting her. Dr. Kay leads the pursuit. Eleven trains with Jim Hopper and Joyce Byers while preparing for a rematch with Vecna, who vanished after the season four showdown. Their friends Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers, Robin Buckley, and Murray Bauman operate undercover, sneaking into military spaces to search for Vecna.
Outside the barracks, chaos erupts when demogorgons clash with soldiers and Vecna captures Will. His psychic link to Vecna has existed since the day a tentacle forced itself into his mouth during his first disappearance. The connection lets him sense every vibration of Vecna’s presence.
Everything culminates when Vecna drags Will into a confrontation. He channels memories of love and loyalty, taps into the hive mind, and mirrors Vecna’s power. His eyes turn white as he halts three Demogorgons, kills them, and bleeds from the strain. Volume 1 closes with Will, shaken but determined, staring ahead with the knowledge that something within him has finally awakened.
And then, right as Will collapses under Vecna’s power in the present day, the villain finally reveals why he chose Will first...
So why did Vecna choose Will and not anyone else?
As Will Byers finally comes face to face with Vecna, the creature sheds any remaining pretense and lays out his philosophy with chilling clarity. He explains that his fascination with children has nothing to do with innocence. Instead, he views them as raw material. In his words, they are fragile in body and mind, easy to fracture and even easier to bend toward his will, which makes them ideal instruments for the world he intends to forge.
Facing Will, Vecna says,
“It’s because they are weak—weak in body and mind, easily broken, easily reshaped, controlled. The perfect vessels. You were the first, and you broke so easily. You showed me what was possible, what I could achieve. Some minds, it turns out, simply do not belong in this world. They belong in mine.”
This confession hits a deep nerve. Will has spent years feeling out of place, long before the Upside Down marked him. Vecna knows this and exploits it, sensing a similarity between them. Henry Creel has always felt incompatible with the world around him, and he sees Will’s alienation as a mirror of his own experience. Across five seasons of Stranger Things, Will has fought that pull with the help of his family and friends, but the weight of Vecna’s connection has never fully left him.
However, as the battle intensifies and Demogorgons close in on Mike, Lucas, and Robin, Will draws on the warmth of the memories that shaped him. He remembers the love that held him together and the friendships that kept him grounded.
In that moment, he discovers a power he never knew he possessed. His telekinetic ability erupts, raw and overwhelming, and he uses it to tear through the Demogorgons before they can strike. The scene becomes a turning point, revealing Will not as Vecna’s victim but as someone capable of rewriting the narrative that has haunted him. We will certainly see more of it in the coming episodes of Stranger Things.
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The first volume of Stranger Things Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix. The second volume will come out on December 25, with the finale dropping on New Year's Eve.
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