6 Biggest Stranger Things Reveals NOT From The Main Netflix Show

Despite Stranger Things’ story having come to an end, multiple other projects expand the lore of the franchise, with some pretty huge reveals that add important layers to the story. It’s fair to say that the end of Stranger Things was a divisive moment that somewhat tarnished the show’s reputation for many fans who had been following the perilous story of Eleven and her friends since the show debuted on Netflix in 2016.

Over almost 10 years and five seasons, the series introduced concepts such as the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer, and Vecna, while also exposing terrible experiments being conducted on children by the US government and Dr. Brenner to try and tap into a psychic power that lay dormant in the majority of humans.

And while all of this played out, the audience was introduced to some extraordinary young people who called themselves The Party, and through their adventures, they recruited others to aid in their mission and ultimately took down the nightmarish being called Vecna, who was previously a human by the name of Henry Creel.

But, despite exploring this story over 42 episodes, the series seems to have left out a lot of details that were instead portrayed in one of the various canonical connected projects. From a stage play titled The First Shadow, to comics and novels, the world of Stranger Things is much bigger than ever appeared on-screen, and some contained pretty important details that the show left out.

Henry Creel Was Exposed To Dimension X Long Before Eleven Exiled Him There

Image via Netflix

Much of Stranger Things revolves around the presence of a twisted mirror reality that appears to be identical and inverted from reality, with the caveat that things are much darker, this reality is populated by monsters, and it is constantly bombarded with a terrible storm. However, season 5 revealed that there is another dimension beyond the Upside Down.

Dimension X, or the Abyss, is the reality that The Party manages to break through to for their final conflict with Vecna, and where they ultimately defeat him. And as such, the timeline for when the Upside Down came into existence, and where Henry Creel became Vecna, has been a little confusing at times. But, from the show’s perspective, it seemed pretty clear that Eleven sending Creel to that dimension was the catalyst for many other events.

As much as that moment defines the series and creates an anchor point for everything to tie back to, the stage show, The First Shadow, which takes a closer look at Henry Creel’s childhood, reveals a significant detail by having a young Henry come into contact with Dimension X through a cave in Nevada. Due to Henry’s father working at this site, Henry managed to access the site, where he got his first glimpse and connection to Dimension X.

This is an especially important moment for the franchise, because it provides a concrete origin for where Henry gained powers, as he had been an ordinary young boy before that moment, and it means that canonically speaking, the Mind Flayer is the root of all these spectacular powers that were expressed by both Henry and Eleven.

The Mind Flayer Created Vecna, Not The Other Way Around

Image via Netflix

On that note, it’s worth highlighting that this revelation also clarifies that Vecna was not the one who created Dimension X, beyond shaping things to his will, and he did not create the Mind Flayer, as much as he worked with these powerful extra-dimensional monsters. In this way, Creel was also a victim, being controlled by this monster before becoming a monster himself.

As far as the show explores these characters, it’s left ambiguous and unclear whether Vecna created these creatures, but the stage play explicitly confirms that the Mind Flayer is an ancient being that existed for a long time before ever interacting with Henry or the people of Hawkins.

While this doesn’t absolve Henry of his part in doing terrible and evil things, such as kidnapping children or attempting to destroy the world he came from, it does add important context that would have been worth showcasing in some way during the final season of Stranger Things.

Dr. Brenner’s Breakthrough Was Henry Creel’s Blood

In Stranger Things season 4, the show introduces characters like Henry Creel, though he was initially identified simply as Number One. This finally established a clearer origin for Eleven, as both she and One possessed similar abilities, and it seemed that they were much more successful than the majority of their peers in the Hawkins lab.

However, it’s never clarified how these experiments yielded their results, and why Dr. Brenner managed to successfully imbue One with powers before a long period of relative failures, who had much weaker psychic abilities. But again, the stage show, The First Shadow, offers important insight here. In fact, Dr. Brenner didn’t have anything to do with granting One powers, but One became the originator for others as Brenner took blood to transfuse with the other test subjects.

This explains why the process had to be refined, and ultimately, after 10 additional tries, Brenner managed to find great success with replicating the abilities One possessed and giving them to young Eleven. This creates a deeper bond between Eleven and Henry, as she literally has his blood in her veins, and it adds to the corruption and monstrousness of someone like Dr. Brenner, who went to such lengths to achieve his desired results.

Will Byers Was Never A Coward

In the final season of Stranger Things, we finally saw Will Byers come out of his shell, both in terms of establishing his self-identity and actually fighting back against the monsters who had haunted him for years at this point. And after seeing how scared and fragile he seemed after being abducted back at the start of the show, this was a major moment in the character’s arc.

However, the Stranger Things: The Other Side comic, a four-issue miniseries that ties into the original show, finally exposes the nightmarish week when Will was trapped in the Upside Down, painting a different picture of young Will the Wise.

While hiding out in Castle Byers, Will managed to find a shotgun, which he then loaded with ammunition, and shot at an approaching Demogorgon. He also shouts “Fireball” before shooting, which further adds to the D&D aesthetic of the series and Will’s position as a wizard among the team. But it also makes Will a more active character than he is ever given credit for in those early seasons.

Eleven’s Mother Volunteered Herself For Brenner’s Experiment, But Not Her Baby

In the tie-in novel, Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds, Terry Ives, the woman who gave birth to Eleven, has her story finally explored after being largely absent from the main show. In the book, we learn about how Ives, as a young and naive college student, volunteered to take part in the MKUltra experiments being conducted by Dr. Brenner and the US Government.

Evidently, as a young college kid, Ives potentially placed far too great a trust in the hands of Dr. Brenner, which was then used against her, as Brenner decided to take things ever further. While running tests and diagnostics on Ives, Brenner learned about her pregnancy, but he chose to hide that truth from Ives as he got greedy and hoped to steal the child for his other experiment.

Brenner lied to Ives, kidnapped her child, and used private and confidential medical information to manipulate and play god as he saw fit. Ultimately, this led to even greater horrors down the line, but it’s an important detail that helps to shape the narrative around Brenner and reaffirm that he is unforgivable.

More Of Eleven’s Peers Possessed Meaningful Powers

Clearly, One and Eleven are the standout successes of Dr. Brenner’s experiment, though his credit and contribution is considerably weaker than the show establishes. In addition, Kali, aka Number Eight, was powerful enough to massively aid the rest of the gang in ultimately bringing down creatures like Vecna and the Mind Flayer.

However, inherently, there are at least another eight children who could have powers to varying degrees in the world of Stranger Things. And despite the show’s silence on these others, there is a comic book tie-in that gives a much more in-depth look at Number Six.

In Stranger Things: SIX, another test subject is shown to have powerful but uncontrollable visions of the future. This is obviously extremely challenging, and the young woman is disturbed by visions of a horrific tragedy that will one day occur during a test.

All of this occurred before Eleven ever arrived at the lab, but as is the case with several elements on this list, some of the lore and canon of the Stranger Things universe continued to be altered in subsequent seasons. To some extent, all of this could add to the wider story, but given how vague the show leaves many things, there is no clear confirmation of many of these other tie-in narratives.

Release Date

2016 – 2025-00-00

Network

Netflix

Showrunner

Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer

•