re: Stranger Things Season 4 official discussion thread. (Spoilers)

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If the Mind Flayer is the shape of a spider and uses psychic/telekinetic powers, wouldn't you say it's just as likely that the Mind Flayer has been controlling Vecna all along? I think it's more likely that Vecna took a liking to spiders because of the Mind Flayer and the Mind Flayer basically recruited Vecna from a young age due to the latter's psychic/telekinetic powers.

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This theory can hold water but feels unlikely based on what we’ve been presented in the narrative this season. I think it’s fair to say a little retconning has taken place in the grand narrative of the series (albeit retconning done pretty well) which has shifted the importance toward Vecna and away from the mystery of the mind flayer.

Still much to be explained but the emphasis placed on Vecna’s backstory within the narrative (compared to little of any backstory for the mind flayer, other than what Dustin has supposed based on familiar D&D lore) and his direct relation to El and Hawkins suggests he is the true big bad of the series.

By comparison, we saw the Hellraiser lore (an 80s series from which I think it’s fair to say some inspiration has been drawn) expanded in sequels wherein Leviathan more or less ruled the hell dimension and the cenobites acted as sort of untethered minions. Difference, though, is it was revealed that the cenobites were all once human with no apparent connection to the series protagonists. They just opened the box, we’re tortured and co-opted into the dimension, and now doggedly pursued to do the same to others. Not a whole lot of personal motivation as given in this season of Stranger Things.

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Also, I think the Mind Flayer being the ultimate antagonist makes sense because next season you can have 01, 008, and 011 unite to destroy it and that ties to the theory of 1 + 8 + 11 adding up to a perfect roll of 20 in DND.

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I would find some kind of redemption arc for 01 to be very convoluted at this point. Vecna himself delivered his story and motivation, signaling he is bought in completely to that vision of the world. Too, he didn’t just murder innocent teenagers in gruesome fashion but his mom and sister as well redeeming villains in a story requires a certain level of asking the audience to suspend disbelief and Vecna feels pretty far gone from that.
You could try to make a narrative case for next season explaining how he was corrupted early on by a dark force like the mind flayer but I think it would stand as pretty weak compared to other creative directions.