True origins of Vecna’s powers revealed in a Stranger Things spin-off, details explored in-depth

Max and Holly walked through the ultimate line of fire in Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 2 to escape Camazotz. Apart from going through their own traumatic memories, the duo also went through Henry Creel, aka Vecna, when he was a kid's traumatic memory as well.

When Max's plan of going through Holly's memories of Vecna to get out of Camazotz does not go as planned, Holly suggests going through Henry's memories in order to escape Camazotz.

While this seems to work out for the duo, and they do make it out of Camazotz, albeit to completely different locations, this journey revealed an interesting detail about the narrative and Vecna's past, which makes the Stranger Things stage play titled The First Shadow canon to the main narrative of the show.

Keep reading to find out more.

Stranger Things Season 5 connects to The First Shadow stage play in Max's sanctuary in Camazotz

Jamie Bower, who plays Henry Creel on Stranger Things Season 5, has always said that his character is "misunderstood" and fans of the show have not been able to comprehend why this was so because most of Vecna's backstory had already been revealed by the fourth season and it painted him as a serial killer who killed his own family as a child, was experimented on by Dr. Brenner, and then went on to kill several little kids to escape.

Stranger Things Season 5 finally reveals that there's more to Henry's backstory than what the audience knows at this point. This became obvious in the first volume when Henry would not enter the cave, making it Max's sanctuary. The second volume dives deeper into Henry's aversion to the cave, revealing that it holds traumatic memories for him as well.

As Holly and Max make their way through Henry's memory, they discover him finding a wounded scientist with a gun as a kid. When Henry tries to help the scientist, he shoots at him, after which Henry ends up hitting the scientist with a rock in self-defense. Holly finds Henry opening the scientist's briefcase to a bright speck of light just before Max takes her away.

How is Stranger Things Season 5 linked to The First Shadow

This scene links back to Stranger Things: The First Shadow stage play, which goes deep into Henry Creel's backstory, making it canon to the Netflix blockbuster. The stage play premiered in 2023, almost two years before Season 5 ever premiered on Netflix, making this an extremely bold step on Netflix and the Duffer brothers' parts.

The stage play reveals exactly how Henry Creel, the little boy of the Creel family, turned into the Henry Creel who killed his entire family and left his father blind and suffering. The stag play opens with a prologue that finds scientists trying to make submarines invisible, but instead discovers an alternate Dimension X (which we now know as the Abyss). Dimension X is home to the Mind Flayer and the Demogorgons and all sorts of creatures, and only one of the scientists makes it out alive: Dr. Brenner's father.

Dr. Brenner makes it his mission to discover more about the alternate dimension that his father had been to. One of his crew scientists steals some equipment from his lab and hides out in the cave when Henry Creel, a little kid exploring the caves, finds him. As we see in Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 6, Henry opens the scientist's briefcase, and per the play, they're transported to Dimension X, where Henry's blood is genetically altered forever, and his mind has been affected by the Mind Flayer.

So, the First Shadow has some very major reveals about Henry Creel's backstory, how he got his powers, and why Hawkins has been home to the Upside Down bridge for so long, just waiting for the audience to connect these dots. It isn't clear if the Stranger Things Season 5 finale will also address this part of Henry's story, but introducing the cave and the scientist in the second volume does mean that Henry's backstory might be explored, making The First Shadow canon.

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