Stranger Things 4 Vol. I ending explained

Season 4 of Stranger Things is by far the show’s most ambitious to date. The series spread our characters across the globe, with Hopper trapped in a prison in Russia, the Byers and Eleven adjusting to life in California, and the Hawkins gang facing both the tribulations of high school and a new, Freddy Kreuger-style villain named Vecna.

And no episode is more packed than the final one in this bunch, Episode 7, “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab.” This episode is so big and epic it almost feels like a season finale in its own right, even though there are two more episodes that will follow in July. It contains a massive reveal that connects several plotlines in one of the best moments of the season.

We’re going to break down that reveal. It should go without saying, but if you haven’t seen all of Stranger Things 4: Volume I, you should absolutely go do that before reading. There will be MAJOR SPOILERS for Stranger Things 4 ahead.

Stranger Things 4: Vecna explained

The fourth season of Stranger Things features one of its most prominent villains yet, Vecna, a mysterious being from the Upside Down who murders teenagers in gruesome fashion. Throughout the season Dustin, Max and the rest of the gang in Hawkins try to figure out Vecna’s motives…but there’s something missing from their various theories. It isn’t until the final stretch of Episode 7 that the show pulls back the curtain on Vecna, and in the process ties events from Eleven’s traumatic past together with the string of murders happening in Hawkins.

Eleven is separated from her friends for most of season 4, reliving memories from her past in order to regain access to her lost powers. It’s strongly hinted throughout season 4 that Eleven killed all the other kids and adults at Hawkins Lab save Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine), but the truth is far twistier. A “friendly orderly” (played by Jamie Campbell Bower) helps Eleven throughout this season, telling her the story of Number One, the first child taken to become part of this program. Dr. Brenner asserts that One never existed, but the orderly says he’s lying.

After Eleven is nearly killed by other students who are envious of her power, the orderly tries to help her escape. He instructs her to sneak down to the lab’s basement where a drainage pipe leads to the outside world. This is the same pipe that Eleven escapes through in season 1…but she doesn’t go through it in this flashback. Instead, she offers to remove the tracker that Dr. Brenner has embedded in the orderly’s neck, which “makes him weaker” and prevents him from escaping the lab.

That’s where things get dicey. The orderly reveals that he is actually Number One, and goes on a killing spree through the lab. Eleven wanders the corridors, horrified at the carnage. When she comes face-to-face with One in the Rainbow Room, he finally relays his tale.

At the same time, Vecna blocks Nancy from escaping the Upside Down by invading her mind. Just like with Max earlier this season, the mental link not only allows Vecna access to Nancy’s memories, but Nancy access to Vecna’s. And since Nancy already spoke to Victor Creel (Robert Englund) about the grisly murder of his family, she knows just what to look for in Vecna’s memories to unravel the villain’s identity.

Meet Henry Creel

As it turns out, the “friendly orderly” is none other than Henry Creel, the son of Victor Creel, who was believed dead. Henry is also One, the “friendly orderly” who Eleven unleashed to go on a killing spree. And he’s Vecna. The details behind this character’s twisty story are one of Stranger Things 4’s biggest twists.

Henry was a sullen child who first discovered he had psychic powers while living in the Creel House in Hawkins. Those dead animals Victor mentioned finding on his lawn? It turns out they were Henry’s first victims.

Henry begins reaching into his parents’ memories and discovers their darkest secrets. For Victor, that includes a memory of World War II where he was responsible for shelling a building that had civilians in it. That burning baby cradle that haunts him is something he found inside the destroyed building.

Somehow, Henry’s mother figures out that he’s causing the family such terror. She calls Doctor Brenner to come examine Henry, and Henry decides he has no choice but to make his move. He psychically murders his mother at dinner, killing her in what will become Vecna’s signature style. Victor, who doesn’t realize his son is behind this, tries to rush him and his sister from the house, but Henry stops them, killing his sister. Before he can kill his father, however, he passes out from the strain. Henry is still young at that point and doesn’t have full command of his powers yet. Remember how exhausted Eleven got after using her powers in earlier seasons of the show?

According to Victor, Henry went into a coma and died. The truth is that the hospital somehow faked Henry’s death and he landed in the care of Doctor Brenner at Hawkins Lab. This is what launches Brenner’s research into psychic children. Brenner tattoos “001” on Henry’s arm and begins studying him.

But Henry is too unpredictable and dangerous. This leads Brenner to insert the tracking chip in his neck, which also seemingly blocks his access to his powers. All this happens before Eleven and the other children are taken to the lab, because none of them remember One. By that time, One/Henry has become Brenner’s unwilling assistant, a caged lion who is always on the lookout for a way to slip out of his bonds.

Eleven provides him that opportunity. Henry seems to genuinely want to help Eleven escape the lab…but he also manipulates her into releasing him so that he can take bloody vengeance.

A showdown in the Rainbow Room

This grand twist is that Eleven didn’t kill any of the people at Hawkins Lab; One did. As young Eleven recoils in horror, One/Henry asks her to join him, saying they can become predators and remake the world as they see fit. It’s all the typical things you’d expect a villain to say, delivered perfectly by Bower.

Eleven refuses and the two fight psychically in the Rainbow Room. Using a memory that “made her sad, but also angry,” as One earlier advised her, Eleven is able to actually go toe-to-toe with him for a minute. But he’s been doing this a lot longer than her. He overpowers Eleven, lifts her into the air, and begins crushing her body to kill her.

Suddenly, a different kind of memory shoots through Eleven’s mind, likely her very first memory of being in her mother’s arms. Her mother whispers she loves her. It’s not clear whether this is something Eleven actually remembers — who remembers coming out of the womb? — or if it’s meant to be a residual memory retained by her subconscious, but either way it does the trick. By drawing on the strength from this loving memory, Eleven is able to regain control and push back. She slams One against the back wall of the Rainbow Room and blasts him into the Upside Down.

One/Henry disintegrates in the same way that the Demogorgon did when Eleven killed it in the season 1 finale. And like that finale, where the act of disintegrating the Demogorgon drew Eleven into the Upside Down, her “killing” of Henry contacts that other reality. The act of obliterating Henry from the real world causes a Gate to appear, as Brenner finally regains consciousness and bursts into the room.

But that isn’t the end of the story for Henry. He flies through the Upside Down, zapped by the energy of that otherworldly plane until it transforms his body in gruesome ways.

The scene shifts to Vecna, tying the last of the pieces together. Henry became One after killing most of his family, and One became Vecna after Eleven blasted him into the Upside Down.

How long has Vecna been in the Upside Down?

After Eleven sends Henry/One to the Upside Down, exposure to the energies of that place transforms him into Vecna. However, there are still a few missing pieces here, namely how long Henry has actually been in the Upside Down and how he got to the Creel House. We can assume that he went back to his favorite place: the attic of the Creel House was his creepy lair as a child, so it makes sense he might be drawn back there.

As far as how long he spent in the Upside Down, this is a question we can’t currently answer from Volume I; undoubtedly it will be addressed when Stranger Things 4: Volume II releases on July 1. When Nancy, Steve, Robin, and Eddie were trapped in the Upside Down they discovered something fishy going on with time there; Nancy’s room still has decorations from three years prior to this season, and her journal entries mysteriously stopped on the day that Will Byers went missing in the season 1 premiere. It’s not clear whether that event, which coincided with Eleven contacting the Demogorgon and opening another Gate, caused time to stop in the Upside Down, or whether time passes much more slowly there.

However, we can at least deduce how much time passed in the real world. It’s important to note that, timeline wise, the gate that Eleven opened when she “killed” Henry is not the same Gate that is open at the beginning of season 1. The VHS recording that Brenner has of Eleven and One’s duel from the lab’s cameras is labeled September 8, 1979, a full four years before Eleven opened the Gate in season 1 on November 6th, 1983. Which means that all of Eleven’s flashbacks in season 1 happen after she defeats One.

Season 4 takes place in the Spring of 1986, which marks the beginning of Henry’s killing spree as Vecna. That means One has spent at least six-and-a-half years in the Upside Down in real-world time, more than enough to turn him into a monster. He may have had contact with the Mind Flayer, but we’re not sure of the details yet.

The reveal of Vecna’s origin is one of the most mind-blowing twists in Stranger Things 4, and a fantastic setup for the climactic events that await in Volume II. How will Vecna and Eleven react when they finally see each other again? Will Nancy be able to get away from Vecna’s psychic attack? We’ll find out when Volume II lands on Netflix on July 1.

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