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This Article Contains Spoilers -
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That is all. |
| “ | You see... humans... are a unique type of pest. Multiplying... and poisoning our world, all while enforcing a structure of their own. A deeply... unnatural structure. Where others saw order, I saw a straitjacket. A cruel, oppressive world dictated by made-up rules. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades! Each life, a faded, lesser copy of the one before! WAKE UP, EAT, WORK, SLEEP, REPRODUCE AND DIE! Everyone... is just... waiting. Waiting... for it all... to be... over. All while performing in a silly, terrible play, day after day. I could not do that. I could not close off my mind and join in the madness, I could not... pretend. Then I realized... I didn't have to. | „ |
| ~ One explaining his misanthropy and nihilism to Eleven. |
| “ | You've... broken... everything. Your time... is almost... at an end. | „ |
| ~ Vecna tormenting Max Mayfield - his most famous quote. |
Henry Creel, also known as One (001), or Vecna, is the secondary antagonist of the Stranger Things franchise.
He is the estranged son of Victor and Virginia Creel, and the younger brother of Alice Creel, who gained psychic powers after traveling to Dimension X. Growing up to be a test subject of Dr. Martin Brenner and become an emissary for the Mind Flayer.
After being banished to the Upside Down, Vecna goes on a murder spree in the town of Hawkins in order to start release his master from the Upside Down and start a full-blown invasion of Earth. He is also the former friend/mentor turned archenemy of Eleven and is Dr. Brenner's first subject.
He is portrayed by Jamie Campbell Bower, who also played a young Gellert Grindelwald in the Harry Potter film series, teenage version of Edward de Vere in Anonymous and Caius in Twilight. As a child, he was portrayed by Raphael Luce. In Smite, he was voiced by Gianni Matragrano. In the stage play, he is portrayed by Louis McCartney.
Appearance
D&D figurine of his namesake on the show
As a human, Henry was a tall and slender individual with pale blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. Although more often combed neatly and short as a child, as an adult it grew past his ears in a wavier style.
As Vecna, he is a towering monster which, from a distance, resembles a man that has been flayed of all skin (much like the original), but on closer inspection, it is revealed his whole muscular body is now at least partially compromised of many writhing tendrils, while his right hand remains fairly normal, the left has become a massive clawed paw capable of fully enveloping a human head. His face is now akin to a skull, lacking a nose or hair, and his eyes now give off an unnatural glow in certain lights.
Personality
Pre-possession
Henry was a sensitive young boy who didn't fit in with other children, who much like Will Byers, suffered hallucinations due to a traumatic incident originated from the Upside Down. However, in Henry’s case, it was an encounter with the essence of the entity known as the Mind Flayer that was inside a box after being obtained by Martin Brenner’s men that he stumbled on in a cave. This changed his blood type and gave him psychic powers while also having the nasty side effect of causing him to slowly fall further into the Mind Flayer’s control.
While not having many friends, he did have a soft spot, however, for a female classmate and love interest named Patty Newby, who would teach him to use his powers for good, continuing even as Martin Brenner would constantly psychologically abuse him to try to let the Mind Flayer take control. As things got worse, he would try resisting it's influence as best he could for a long time (stopping himself from killing Principal Newby.) This would all fall apart, however, after a heavy amount of coaxing by Martin Brenner, leading to Henry letting the Mind Flayer take over his body. During this period, he kills his entire family with the exception of his father, and temporarily regains controls afterward, in which he tries to warn Patty to stay away from him. However, Brenner intercepts them and attempts to convince Henry to kill Patty so he would have nothing holding him back from a moral standpoint. Now almost completely overcome by the Mind Flayer, he knocks Patty off a railing and she ends up in critical condition before he is taken away by Brenner.
Post-possession
| “ | My nephew, he may look dangerous, but he didn't do this. It just... ain't in his nature. No matter what anyone says, and they will say things, believe me, but... this... wasn't Eddie. The man who did this... who killed that poor girl, he's... pure evil. | „ |
| ~ Wayne Munson assuring Nancy Wheeler that his nephew didn't commit Vecna's crimes. |
Becoming imbued with the Mind Flayer, Henry grew to hate human civilization, most specifically its structure of time and evolution. Henry did not want to be a part of society doing a "mindless play" of eating, sleeping, working, reproducing, and dying, but realized he didn't have to, thus bringing Henry into a nihilistic view of the world. So after watching a Grandfather Clock, he could draw out his power to torture rabbits, dogs, rats, and other animals to test his abilities, but he went too far using his abilities by killing his mother and sister and attempting to kill his father, as well, but failed due to falling into a coma from exceeding his powers too much.
Henry is no longer capable of feeling anything other than rage and sadness, which he later advised Eleven to use to fuel her powers. Due to this, Henry (even as Vecna) is unable to comprehend positive human values, which can be a weakness for him.
Henry both idolizes and feels a deep rapport with spiders because, like spiders, he is a superbly adapted killing machine and does not depend on others, being quite solitary. On top of this, a world without spiders would be flooded with flies, and likewise, Henry sees humans as being like flies who, until now, did not have a predator to keep them in check. Seeking to rectify this, he believes it is his destiny to become Earth's apex predator and devote his powers to hunting and culling humanity's numbers.
He also believes it is an inevitability that the strong will always prey upon the weak and that such predatory social Darwinism purges the world of inferior lifeforms, keeping it pure. Vecna does understand notions of good and evil, but in his rationalization, morality is meaningless, the simplest form of insanity ever devised, and so Vecna chooses to be a cold-blooded serial killer because at the end of the day, it's all he wants to be, and no reasoning can divert him from his dream.
After being transported to Hawkins National Laboratory, being experimented on by Dr. Martin Brenner, and growing up to adulthood, he met other children with the same abilities but took interest in one child, a girl named Jane Ives, which he was kind and caring to at first, but after she witnessed him murdering the other children, he became dangerously deranged and even offered Eleven to join him so they can "reshape" the world. After she refused, he attempted to kill her but she fought back and transported him into the Upside Down.
By the time he was eventually transported to the Upside Down and thus reborn as Vecna, he became extremely malevolent, delighting in the torment that he brings to those that he curses, just like Max. In his mind space, the corpses of his victims are displayed in a horrific fashion similar to how a spider keeps its prey in its own web, showing that Vecna is proud of the unspeakable crimes that he has committed. Even when Eleven tried to sympathize with him, he rejected her and considered himself as always being superior to humanity before trying to kill Max in front of her.
Sadistic, cruel and with a complete lack of empathy toward others, he prefers to use subtle and painful ways to help his allies and reach his goals, like sending monsters from the Upside Down or possessing people to connect them to other monsters of the Upside Down, or to massacre them and form a powerful monster, not caring if they are men, women, children or elderly and brutally torturing and killing whoever he needs if this can help him to reach his goals, like kidnapping, hurting, possessing and killing dozens of people to form a monster so it could kill children and conquer Earth.
Vecna held mental control over the monsters of the Upside Down, being able to see through their eyes, feel their emotions and their physical state, and being able to rapidly assume total control over their minds. However, he seems not to care about their state, sending them in quantity to affront his enemies from his dimension and doesn't care if they die or get hurt.
Besides all, he is extremely intelligent, capable of manipulating and tricking other people using accurate strategies and rules to orchestrate many horrible crimes without being directly noticed. Despite his intelligence, like most antagonists, Vecna is very arrogant as he believes he is superior and powerful over the Party and their allies, which proves to be his downfall no matter how many times they thwart his plans. While he is aware of the Party's capabilities, he does not directly attack them, but allows them to decipher his plans before attacking them through the creatures he controls or doing it himself. Yet, he underestimates them and their friendships, and thinks ahead they already lost when they haven’t which led to each defeat of himself, the Mind Flayer and the Demogorgon that kidnapped Will.
Vecna has a deadpan, sarcastic, and dark sense of humor, best seen when he is antagonizing his victims. While Max sees his previous victims in his mindscape, Vecna sarcastically asks if she likes what she sees. He also refers to his father as "old, blind, dumb Victor", before sadistically saying that he's been meaning to "check back in", possibly meaning he wants to kill Victor.
Powers and Abilities
Harnessing psychic abilities, Vecna can detect humans in Hawkins, and just like Eleven, he can use telekinesis to kill his opponents. Unlike Eleven however, he can also use advanced telepathy and create false visions in his victims, which makes him even more dangerous. He appears to target humans who are suffering from some buried emotional trauma, suggesting his powers work more strongly on them. Humans who are more confident and well-adjusted may be more resistant to his powers. Also, music is an effective disruptor of his power, as it can guide one of his victims away from his influence and allow them to retake control of their own minds.
- Mind Reading: As one of the most powerful psychics introduced in Stranger Things, Henry Creel is able to see into the minds of others and search their memories as a means to obtain personal and private information that he might later use to terrorize his victims. It appears that Henry has recently learned to connect himself to the Mind Flayer, which seems to enhance his abilities so greatly that he is now able to telepathically reach across time and space in order to haunt the residents of Hawkins, Indiana, in spite of existing within a completely separate dimension.
- Mental Realm Creation: Vecna has the power to create mindscapes. Vecna's Mindscape, or the Mind Lair, is an imaginary location existing in Vecna's mind. Via his 'curse' power, Vecna could make other conscious beings hallucinate and bring them into the mindscape. Vecna's mindscape is enveloped in distinctive crimson fog and mist. Thunder and lightning rage in the skies above, which visually recall the storms that accompany the presence of the Mind Flayer. The ground consists of hardened black sludge, and is pocketed with scattered pools and puddles of unknown fluid; black widows could occasionally be seen scuttling across the surface. Organic black structures with a spike or spire-like appearance are prevalent throughout the realm. A deconstructed and fragmented version of the Creel House lies at the realm's center.
- Mind Control: Henry has demonstrated a limited variation of mind control. Whilst he does not appear to exhibit any influence over the actions or behaviors of his victims, he is perfectly capable of manipulating their perceptions and causing them to hallucinate. Furthermore, once he has frightened his victims to the point of complete vulnerability, he is able to entrance them within their own minds which physically manifests as the victim being paralyzed with their eyes glazed over and retreated towards the back of their heads. Mentally, the victim will experience the most vivid and powerful nightmare that is often set in a place of terror that personally holds much pain and trauma for the individual.
- Psychic Projection: Henry is able to cast his consciousness from outside of his physical body to explore the private lives of the people living in Hawkins. It is currently unknown if Henry can project his consciousness beyond the borders of this one city, however, it is more than likely that he can given the numerous times that Jane Hopper has astral projected across state lines and Henry is believed to be equally as powerful, if not more so, than his "sister" Eleven. Henry has the ability to develop a deep and powerful psychic connection with his victims. It is through this connection that Henry is able to open multiple wormholes between the Upside Down and Hawkins, Indiana due to the powerful expulsion of energy that is released through the ritualistic murders of his victims. As demonstrated in Jane Hopper's memories, psychics can resist each other's influence if their will is powerful enough. However, this resistance can be overwhelmed by whichever psychic has the stronger willpower.
- Pain Inducement: Henry is able to inflict minor forms of physical injuries on his victims such as nosebleeds and severe headaches. Whether he is inflicting this pain intentionally or if this is merely a side effect of linking his mind to another remains unknown. However, because Henry seems to require a certain level of vulnerability from his victims in order to fully possess them, it is possible that this pain inducement is the first step to weakening his target in order to gain more and more power over them.
- Matter Manipulation: Henry has the ability to telekinetically control and manipulate solid matter. At first, this power was limited to lightweight materials, such as small animals and the hands on a grandfather clock, but through practice and training, Henry is now powerful enough to influence objects as heavy as fully grown adults and solid steel doors. Henry famously uses this power to levitate his victims in midair before breaking all of the bones in their body and crushing their eyes into the back of their skull.
- Regeneration: It appears that since his banishment to the Upside Down, Henry has developed the ability to rapidly regenerate his cells at will. This enables him to quickly heal from any and all non-fatal injuries as proven when his tentacles were shown to fully recover mere seconds after Max slashed him. Therefore, minor damages like cuts and flesh wounds will rejuvenate almost immediately, whilst greater injuries like broken bones or gunshot wounds will presumably take longer to heal but will still recover significantly faster than it does most humans. Even more so, his healing powers have apparently made him immune to most, if not all, forms of toxins and disease due to the fact that he has survived several years in the Upside Down in spite of the atmosphere becoming toxic to humans after prolonged exposure. The most impressive demonstration of this healing factor was when Vecna managed to survive being severely immolated by two Molotov cocktails and sustaining numerous gunshot wounds at the hands of Nancy, Steve, and Robin. Even though he had been thrown out of the attic and collapsed on the ground of the exterior of the Creel House, he managed to summon enough strength to vanish before the teens could finish killing him. Nearly 48 hours later, Will confirmed that Vecna was still experiencing immeasurable pain from his wounds and guaranteed that nothing would stop Vecna from achieving his dark goals.
Notable Victims
- Peter - 1979
- Thacher - 1979
- Blackmon - 1979
- Selee - 1979
- Miller - 1979
- Six - 1979
- Dr. Ellis - 1979
- Alec - 1979
- Ten - 1979
- Seven - 1979
- Five - 1979
- Two, remaining other test subjects (excluding Eleven/Jane)
- Barbara Holland - 1983
- Shepard - 1983
- Bob Newby - 1984
- Chrissy Cunningham - 1986
- Fred Benson - 1986
- Max Mayfield (but revived by Jane "Eleven” Hopper) - 1986
- Patrick McKinney - 1986
- Jason Carver - 1986
Relationships
Friends/allies
- Patty Newby (childhood friend and love Interest)
- Billy Hargrove (formerly)
- The Mind Flayer (boss)
- Eleven (formerly)
- Demogorgons (allies)
- Demobats (allies)
Enemies
- Eleven (archenemy, attempted killer and attempted victim)
- Max Mayfield (second archenemy and former victim)
- Lucas Sinclair
- Will Byers (former host)
- Mike Wheeler
- Erica Sinclair
- Jim Hopper
- Dustin Henderson
- Jonathan Byers
- Nancy Wheeler ("messenger", attempted victim and attemped killer)
- Steve Harrington (attempted victim and attempted killer)
- Joyce Byers
- Billy Hargrove (former host and indirect victim; murder carried out by the Mind Flayer's proxy form)
- Robin Buckley (attempted victim and attempted killer)
- Eddie Munson (indirect victim; murder carried out by Demobats)
- Bob Newby (indirect victim; murder carried out by Demodogs)
- Murray Bauman
- Karen Wheeler (possible future victim)
- Holly Wheeler (possible future victim)
- Jason Carver (indirect victim; murder carried out by his curse gates)
- Virginia Creel (abuser and victim)
- Dr. Brenner (abuser and kidnapper)
- Hawkins Laboratory Child Test Subjects - victims
- The Hawkins Townspeople
Quotes
| “ | Well well, look who decided to join us. Someone's a sleepyhead. | „ |
| ~ Henry on Eleven. |
| “ | Don't cry, Chrissy. It's time... for your suffering to end. | „ |
| ~ Vecna to Chrissy before killing her. |
| “ | Who knew something so small could cause so much trouble. | „ |
| ~ Henry after his restraining chip is removed by Eleven. |
| “ | The truth is just the opposite. You are better than they are. Superior. It is why you frighten them. | „ |
| ~ Henry to Eleven. |
| “ | At first, I believed you had sent me to my death, to Purgatory. But I was wrong, I was somewhere new. I became an explorer. An explorer of a realm unspoiled by mankind. I saw so many things. And one day, I found the most extraordinary thing of all. Something that would change everything. I saw a means to realize my potential, to transcend my human form, to become the predator I was always born to be. | „ |
| ~ Vecna explaining his years in the Upside Down while revealing to Eleven that he is the Mind Flayer. |
| “ | All I needed was someone to open the door. And you did that for me… without even realizing it… didn’t you? And when you did realized, you chose to resist. So I sought a means to open my own doors. I sought… your power (Billy: All this time we’ve been building it… for you.). So don’t you see? Once again… you have freed me. | „ |
| ~ Vecna explaining his involvement in the last 7 years since his banishment in the Upside Down. |
| “ | I want you to join me. | „ |
| ~ Vecna to Fred Benson. |
| “ | Nothing will happen to you... Nothing that you don't deserve! | „ |
| ~ Vecna to Max. |
| “ | They can't help you Max. There's a reason you hide from them. | „ |
| ~ Vecna to Max on her friends trying to save her. |
| “ | You think I don't see what you're doing? You think I don't see everything? You thought you could trick me? You thought your friends could stop me? I see them. | „ |
| ~ Vecna to Max, revealing he knows about the Party's plans. |
| “ | You are brave, Maxine, much braver than your brother, but in the end, you are weak and fragile, just like him, like all the rest of them, and you... will... break. | „ |
| ~ Vecna to Max before he attempts to kill her again, right before being thwarted by Eleven. |
| “ | You and your friends believe you have won... don't you? But this is only the beginning: the beginning... of the end. You have already lost. | „ |
| ~ Vecna's last words to Eleven before she corrects him and he evaporates from his mindscape and faces his second defeat at the hands of Nancy. |
Trivia
- Up until the release of Season 4, a fan theory stated that the Mind Flayer was Experiment 001 (Hawkins National Lab's very first experiment), despite it not being human. The theory proved to be half-right throughout the events of Season 4 as Mind Flayer is, for all its intents and purposes, the monstrous avatar of 001 aka Vecna/Henry Creel's will all along, shaped from cloud particles he found in Upside Down following his banishment in courtesy of Eleven.
- This would end up being reversed in the First Shadow play, however, where it is revealed that Henry was the Mind Flayer's Flayed victim all along, meaning the form Henry took control of was likely another part of the Mind Flayer.
- Despite the reveals in the First Shadow play, the Duffers brothers confirmed that Henry is the main villain of the show and the being control everything, which mean it still unclear who leading the hive mind of the upside down in the present time of show.
Vecna from Dungeons & Dragons, his namesake.
- Like the Demogorgon, Vecna himself is named after an entity from Dungeons & Dragons, in his case, the archlich and demigod Vecna. His Mind Flayer form is named after another Dungeons and Dragons monster, the Illithids.
- Ironically, Eddie, Dustin, Erica and Mike were playing a Dungeons and Dragons campaign title "The Cult of Vecna".
- He was titled as Peter Ballard before the release of Season 4 to avoid spoilers. This name, however, was never actually used in the show.
- He is largely implied to be inspired by the villains, It/Pennywise, Pinhead and Freddy Krueger, who all use nightmares and horrifying visions to attack and kill their victims.
- Ironically, his father, Victor, is portrayed by Robert Englund, who famously portrayed Freddy in the Nightmare on Elm Street films.
- In addition, Freddy Krueger was also mentioned by Dustin Henderson.
- The Duffer Brothers said they took heavy inspiration and tribute from pop-culture villains Freddy Krueger, Pennywise, Darth Vader, and Voldemort. And it clearly worked, as Vecna was upvoted as best villain of 2022.
- The ending of the First Shadow Play, where Patty experiences an electomagnetic break could mean the Vecna still watches over her. However, other interpreters believe this to be Patty gaining psychic abilities herself.
- There are arguably continuity errors in his character that stem from the play as most of his classmates were aware of how he mutilated Principal Newby, yet none of their adult selves ever draw that comparison in the show.
External Links
- Vecna on the Stranger Things Wiki
 Villains
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Upside Down Hawkins National Laboratory Hawkins High Tigers Hargrove Family Soviet Union Others | ||