Basic Rules For Analysing Fiction, An Incomprehensive List Jotted Down In A Hurry:

Basic rules for analysing fiction, an incomprehensive list jotted down in a hurry:

The protagonist isn’t always right

The protagonist isn’t always good

The protagonist isn’t always written to be relatable or likeable

The narrator isn’t always right

The narrator isn’t always good

The narrator isn’t always telling the truth

The narrator isn’t always the author

The protagonist’s moral compass, the narrator’s moral compass and the author’s moral compass are three entirely different things that only occasionally overlap

Pay attention to what characters do and not just what they say

Pay special attention when what the characters do is at odds with what they say

A lot of the time the curtains are blue for a reason. If they aren’t, you should read better books

good luck babe by chappell l roan is a little bit byler coded in some parts….

his best loserboy moment of season 4 !!

happy birthday to my favorite ‘80s gremlin and his read-them-for-filth judgmental face

Does it… ring any bells?

He’s the one who catches up everything D&D related:

+ he sings “Never Ending Story” which is also the title of the book.

“No Longer Will”

After his experience in the Upside Down, Will is no longer completely Will.

In season two, Mr. Clarke gives a lesson on Phineus Gage who, after a freak accident where a pole went through his brain, became known as “No Longer Gage.” The focus is on Will during this scene.

(I should mention that the camera rack focuses to Max during this scene. What that implies for Max I’m not sure. Possible foreshadowing of being taken by Vecna and becoming “No Longer Max?”)

This is used as a metaphor for how Will’s life forever changed once he came back. His trauma transformed him. He can never go back to the Will he was before.

Will continues to be associated with imagery of rods splitting him in half.

But this is also a show that often explores mental illness and trauma through the lens of the supernatural, so I have a hunch that there might be a more literal interpretation than just that.

We learn from season four that with everyone Vecna kills, he takes everything from them. He keeps their souls in his mind.

This is why El can’t find Max in her mind. Because she momentarily died, her soul is in Vecna’s mind.

Will also died in the Upside Down. And Vecna killed him.

BUT he was brought back to life.

But so was Max, and yet her entire soul is gone while Will’s still seems to be intact.

UNLESS, Will’s entire soul actually is not there, only half of it is. He is “No Longer Will.”

(Maybe this only works with psychic deaths, BUT Vecna did kill him using the hivemind that he is psychically linked to)

We know that Vecna and Will have some sort of connection, but is isn’t made totally clear what exactly that connection is. Pieces of the Mind Flayer still stuck inside Will? Perhaps. But maybe this is the reason why, kinda like a reverse Horcrux. It’s not Vecna who has attached a part of himself to Will, but Will who has a part of him attached to Vecna. Maybe whenever he senses Vecna nearby, he is actually sensing that bit of him thats stuck inside?

Maybe this is his NINA, maybe this part of him has his memories of the Upside Down. Maybe this part of him remembers something else that Will does not. Maybe this part of him possesses power that Will currently does not have.

Maybe this is what his coming of age is about, finding that part of him that was lost in the Upside Down so that he can become whole.