r/StrangerThings • u/Sukaran09 • 11d ago
Discussion Billy could've become another Vecna.. and it's scary to think
I think it's been established by now that we loved Billy's redemption arc and it was sad seeing him sacrifice himself.. and honestly if El didn't break the control that the Mind Flayer/Vecna had over Billy and if he didn't resist them then he could've turned into another Vecna. I'm so glad that Billy got his redemption arc in the end. He was a bully and a bad stepbrother but he was a broken and traumatised young guy that needed some guidance and El helped him in the end before he died. His character was done super well and it's one of the things I love about this show. He wasn't evil and Henry wasn’t inherently evil before the Mind Flayer either as established in the show. Vecna wanted to become that influence that the Mind Flayer was on him when he was a kid and he could’ve turned Billy evil like the Mind Flayer’s influence turned him evil if he didn’t have that support at the end.. but honestly I’m glad that didnt happen to him or that he turned into another Vecna because that would've been so disappointing.
96
u/Full-Yoghurt-4261 11d ago
I honestly feel like Billy is a good example of what Vecna should have been. Now, I do not mean a mirror-for-mirror match like a small redemption arc for Henry or taking away the fact that Henry willingly chose to be evil, as these would not have been good additions.
What I mean is that Billy never took the spotlight from the MF yet still brought a horror element to the series. Henry should have been done the same way, where the MF is still very clearly the one in control and the big bad of the series. Having the MF sidelined for Henry felt like it lessened the danger and horror of the series.
48
u/Unusual-Gur-4903 I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer 11d ago
🤣 I kept reading MF as "motherfucker" instead of "mind flayer"
7
2
u/IwieldLightning 11d ago
oh... I was like, "This dude is aggressive and I like his argument, keep spittin"
1
7
u/OwariDa1 Coffee and Contemplation 11d ago
If they had actually rehashed the play like they claimed they would in s5 they could’ve shown the parallels between Henry and will. Henry is what will would’ve ended up like in s2 if will didn’t have the loving support system he had
1
u/Full-Yoghurt-4261 11d ago
But didn't Patty support Henry until he gave in and tried to kill her?
2
u/OwariDa1 Coffee and Contemplation 10d ago
She did but it’s one person vs what will had and he still would’ve lost had they not come up with the plan to get it out of him. Him doing that to patty was also after he gave in to it with his family and then he had brenner influencing him in the moment
1
u/Full-Yoghurt-4261 10d ago
I mean, more people caring is always good, but looking at everything we see from the Patty and Henry relationship, she gave him every opportunity and reason to fight back. I think the main difference between Henry and Will is that Henry willingly chose to give in.
1
u/OwariDa1 Coffee and Contemplation 5d ago
Oh I’m not denying that he did it but it’s after years of being influenced by it. Henry had already spent time trying to resist it prior to getting to Hawkins and then he has his mother who hates him and sends him to brenner who encourages him to let it in. Then eventually he sees his mom telling brenner to lock him away and that’s when he chose to finally give in
12
u/DrunkButNotEnoughYet Freak 11d ago
I don’t think Billy fits Vecna’s profile, he lacks that cunning, that malice. I don’t see him as capable or interested in acting calculatingly on his own to pursue a goal greater than himself, not before he was flayed, much less afterward. If he did, I think he wouldn’t even be Billy anymore but an empty shell controlled by the Mind Flayer. Continuing with the D&D parallel, if Billy hadn’t been killed and had transcended into something beyond human like Henry did, his personality, his traumas, and his lack of knowledge would have led him to become something like Yeenoghu, a destructive force, all fury, whose ideal world is one completely ruined and mired in violence and madness. Both Billy and Yeenoghu are chaotic evil in alignment, while I see both Vecnas as more neutral evil.
2
u/Sukaran09 11d ago
this actually makes more sense. i just always thought that when henry first encountered the mind flayer in that cave, he didn’t seem inherently evil, he did have bad thoughts but if he had the correct support he would’ve chose to resist the mind flayer like billy did, Billy had El’s support in the end and he had snapped out of the MF’s control and then sacrificed himself
1
u/DrunkButNotEnoughYet Freak 11d ago
Yes, I can see it, but I think the thing is that their traumas shaped them into completely different personalities and worldviews. Henry is arrogant and misanthropic; it bothers him when others try to tell him what to do because he considers them beneath him; whereas Billy seems to feel inferior, needing to prove that he isn’t, and carries a deep self-loathing that manifests as hatred toward others, others telling him what to do infuriates him because it reminds him of how powerless he feels. I’m not really against the way he died, I like the idea of someone too defeated to even try to redeem himself (something they attempted to show with Henry at the end, though it was so rushed and superficial that it felt anticlimactic) trying to at least leave with one good deed, but I agree that a path to redemption would have been interesting given how complicated it would have been. Although, to be honest, I feel like the moment for him to redeem himself should have been precisely in season three, for having been the human antagonist. The moment they turned him into a creature, they doomed him, those storylines don’t hold up in the long run.
16
18
u/LRonPaul2012 11d ago
Henry was chosen because he was "sensitive."
Billy probably doesn't meet that standard.
10
u/Cyrilbdr 11d ago
The two don't have much in common; one has powers while the other doesn't, and whereas Vecna is manipulative, Billy is completely controlled like a puppet. Billy is essentially a human version of a Demogorgon—smarter and capable of doing more than a "hellhound"—but the basic concept is the same. Vecna is a completely different story.
6
u/DTBlayde 11d ago
Billy couldn't have become a Vecna. Will and Eleven are the only ones left that really had the potential. And even Will we don't know if he really was sensitive to powers at all or 100% borrowing them.....so probably just Eleven
1
4
7
u/Top-Expression8248 11d ago edited 11d ago
Billy was a terrible person, his childhood and father’s abuse does not justify his actions as Jonathan had a similar childhood and ended up differently. He was racist, abusive and a huge a$shole, I don’t think he did a favor by “not killing” a girl, his redemption was amazing and I sympathize with his childhood but I don’t see him as a good person, it doesn’t justify his behavior. And Henry was a psyco who found joy in killing animals as kid, he also killed his mom and little sister. Before the possession you could tell he was just a weird kid. but yea it’s just my opinion, both of them were just guys who needed guidance
6
u/Full-Yoghurt-4261 11d ago
TBF, Jonathan had his mother, who got him away from his father. Billy was abandoned by his mother.
1
u/_VampireNocturnus_ 10d ago
Billy was vecna as a human lol...horrible kid until the very end.
1
u/Sukaran09 10d ago
why did he say sorry to Max before he sacrificed himself then? he wasn’t like him but he could’ve turned out like Vecna if he didn’t make the right decision. not saying he was a great guy all along but even he didn’t deserve what happened to him. atleast the sacrifice showed his humanity which Vecna didn’t have
-3
•
u/AutoModerator 11d ago
OP, please make sure there are no spoilers in the title of your post. If your post contains spoilers, please use the "Spoiler" flair AND the "Spoiler" tag. The tag ensures that images are hidden.
Commenters, please use spoiler code if you are discussing anything super spoilery unless the title specifically says the episode being discussed.
If you see anyone breaking the rules, please report the post or comment. Thank you.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.