I've tagged this post for spoilers and thank you, that was helpful! I'll put the picture here for those of you who are interested:

So the Russians are growing demogorgons now...

This is very not good for the characters in Russia! As I said I think Hopper is safe this season and I think Joyce will probably survive because of Jopper (who knows though). This leaves Murray in a tight spot as I can definitely see him sacrificing himself to stop the Russians from growing the demodogs or sacrificing himself to one.

Thanks for clarifying, it was helpful (:

Ok this is going to be quite a tricky one to not give away so if anyone reading this doesn't want leaks or spoilers for S4, please skip this post. I will try keep it as mild, vague and open as possible but it's might be more obvious than I intended.

In terms of the leaker, as your said they could've misinterpreted the information or maybe just lied. There didn't seem to be any evidence (at least not on the Hawkins AV Club subreddit) and it is kind of a combination of popular fan theories. I'm going to be acting as if they did see this and it's what they actually saw.

If 'you know who' is Vecna, then there are a few possibilities to how this could happen. First up, time travel. I don't think they'd do this as it makes stuff very complicated, however this person probably has powers like Eleven so maybe their power is to manipulate time like Eleven manipulates space. Maybe this time travel somehow went wrong and they got stuck in the UD for a few decades? But then how would the Creel stuff go down in that scenario? It would have to introduce some timeline stuff about how it is all set and you can't change the past, like the time turner in Harry Potter. Even then, the motivation doesn't really make sense as this character seems to be kind and anti-violence. The only explanation I could think of is if they're mind flayed when they're stuck in the UD, which could explain the killings.

Also, and correct me if I'm wrong, we have no confirmation that this character exists in the present. Maybe they were with Creel back in the 50s and we see them in flashbacks? But then how would they have gotten to Creel before working there? Those are the two explanations of how I think this could take place although they both have issues which the show would have do address. Like you said, the leaker could've lied or misinterpreted stuff.

I can definitely get behind 001 being Vecna, and it's been my top theory for a while (although it still has flaws). Whilst I believe Brenner didn't know about the Upside Down, maybe he knew about the sort of in between dimension that Eleven goes into. What if all the experiments were a front to the government so he could try and contact 001 who was trapped in the void or in the Upside Down? They've mentioned this season will talk about the origins of the UD, Eleven and more, so I think this would be interesting. It also makes it more emotionally complex for Eleven.

Now onto your nothic theory. In terms of Eleven, this would definitely make the most sense. I don't believe Eleven would mass murder children. Even if it was by accident, I still do not see it. She's certainly prone to snapping, if you look at her past, but she's got control over her powers and is also shown to be empathetic and merciful (like to the man from HNL in S2). Her being possessed would be the only explanation for this. I think that again, this would fit better with Vecna being 001. Brenner could've tried to get Eleven to contact him only for Vecna to pull a Billy (especially if they were mind flayed) and contact her instead. Except 001 is now Vecna, who has their powers and possibly the mind flayer's combined, is a lot more hostile and takes over Eleven. Maybe when Brenner (another spoiler) yells 'what have you done?' he's yelling at 001 and not at Eleven.

I also think this makes sense in the case of 'you know who'. Maybe when the person who found the leak, they only found out that they were possessed by Vecna so they assumed they were Vecna. This could make sense, as he's definitely in a position to kill a lot of people including Creel who's definitely a threat to Vecna if he spills some details to Robin and Nancy.

Thanks for the ask (: I hope this post was helpful, if rambling on a bit.

Can Vecna open gates to the Upside Down?

@pigeonspige0n made a post about a rift in Lover's Lane and it inspired me to analyse one of Vecna's powers in more detail. I recommend checking out their post first if you want more context, although this post will talk a bit about some other stuff. It's quite long and will contain spoilers not included in promo material.

I mentioned this in my previous post about Vecna's powers, but I believe Vecna will eventually be able to open portals. In the first promotional images, the characters are all walking to different portals but in the one in which they all come together, the portal is in the shape of Vecna's eye.

Whilst this could be an eye of the storm metaphor, in the instructions of the monopoly game, it tells you that Vecna is opening portals to the Upside Down and your objective is to get to the portals and close them.

However the thing that stands out most to me about this is Hawkins and beyond. This explains the portals we saw in other places in trailers. Vecna also apparently claims locations as part of the Upside Down in the monopoly and whilst I won't write it off, that could just be a way to introduce real estate into monopoly. However, I seriously doubt they'd build an entire game around Vecna opening portals with a lot of season accurate info for it all to be a game.

This gave me another thought. We were told the Upside Down was leaking out psychologically, but what if that was a slip up? When you listen to the clip in the trailer analysis, one of the Duffers says that it's hard to ignore the Upside Down as it's not just in the UD anymore; it's leaking out and infecting the town. He then stopped himself and saying it was psychological, but it would need like he slipped up. However, we saw a promo photo of Dustin, Max and Erica climbing into what seems to be a portal in the Creel house but later on when Nancy and Steve are in that same room, if you lighten the image, it is covered in vines and looks very Upside Down-esque. This isn't related to @pigeonspige0n's post, but it's an interesting thought.

By the way, I believe the reason that Dustin, Max, Erica, Nancy and Steve are going into the Upside Down is because Vecna is vulnerable to attack in the UD. He guards his lair (the Creel house) with demobats which is why Eddie blasts his guitar to lure them away. He is omnipotent within his dream lair, but when in the real world he is vulnerable to attack like Freddy Krueger, his inspiration. I might explain this in more detail in a later post, so let me know if you're interested.

One thing I'm not sure of it how. Why wouldn't Vecna open more gates to the Upside Down beforehand? I think it's probably for the same reason it didn't attack people whilst it was in the Upside Down; it's trapped in the Creel house. A gate can be opened by an intense amount of energy. Maybe Vecna uses human sacrifices to open portals? This could add fuel to the theory that Vecna is 'number one' who was the first person to be experimented on (I'm still not too sure of this theory, but it's worth looking at). On the other hand, maybe it's just one of his powers. Vecna also doesn't seem to have a reason to build portals if he's trapped in the Creel house, although I believe it is probably part of his end goal; multi-world domination.

I haven't really come up with a solid conclusion on this one, but if any theorists want to add on, please feel free to.

STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4 SPOILERS

Victor Creel's role in S4

In the upcoming season of Stranger Things, one of our newest and most mysterious characters is Victor Creel. Creel is currently in a mental asylum after seemingly snapping out of nowhere and killing his entire family. His house and a grandfather clock seem to have links to the Upside Down and maybe even Vecna, this season's big bad. In this post, I'll be aiming to explain why Victor Creel killed his family, why he gouged his eyes out and his role in the show.

Firstly, and possibly the biggest mystery of this season, why did Victor Creel kill his family? As explained in detail in a previous post, I believe that Vecna will have possession powers of sorts. I think that Vecna is trapped in a parallel dimension and can only harm people in our dimension by going into their dreams or by possessing them. How does he establish this link? The Creel house clock. In D&D lore, Vecna manifested his evil into artifacts which effectively seduced his victims into killing whoever Vecna wanted them to. I think that Creel when moving into this house found the clock and this corrupted him like the victim in the previous story which meant he was vulnerable to Vecna. Vecna then tried to get him to kill so he could bring himself into our world, starting off with rabbits by gouging their eyes out. Creel eventually killed his family and gouged his own eyes out. He was then arrested but claimed that a supernatural force was making him do it by infiltrating his mind, making people believe he was insane and locking him up in an asylum.

Secondly, why did Creel gouge his eyes out? I believe this may link to the D&D origins of Vecna. Vecna is killed by having his eye gouged out and his hand chopped off. Perhaps since Vecna was possessing Creel, in order to sever Vecna's ties to our world he injured himself and thereby Vecna. Another possibility is that since Creel gouged his eyes out, he couldn't see the clock and was then immune from Vecna's powers or perhaps because he woke up and didn't want to see his dead family. I don't believe he wanted to kill his family so maybe at some point he snapped out of it and then gouged his eyes out for any of the reasons above, which would explain how his eyes have healed to an extent when we see him twenty years later this season. Maybe he also didn't want Vecna to be able to see through him to prevent more attacks which was triggered by the attack on his wife and children.

Another theory I have about this is that Vecna is said to have banished the person who gouged his eye out to another dimension. What if the body Vecna is inhabiting is actually the body of someone Creel tried to attack who gouged Creel's eyes out in self defense who Vecna then banished to the Upside Down just before Creel woke up from his possession? Vecna will be able to make portals so this is definitely possible and it would explain why Vecna wanted Creel to kill (so he could have a physical form like the mind flayer). As well as this, Vecna was in the Upside Down for twenty years as confirmed by a crew member in the SFX magazine and Creel got caught around 20 years ago. This would make total sense but still doesn't explain why the rabbits had their eyes gouged out as well.

So what will Creel's role be in season 4? I think Creel will mainly be an exposition character, like Terry Ives, who perhaps won't be involved in big battles but will be relevant to the mystery of this season. I assume someone will realize how the mystery in Hawkins and beyond is linked to Vecna and then go to investigate the Creel House. That or they first find out about the Creel House's link to the Upside Down and find out about Vecna through that. Either way, Nancy and Robin then head off to Penhurst Asylum in order to find out what Creel went through that no one believes him for. They will disguise to do this so Creel doesn't know their real identity, perhaps because they're worried he still has links to Vecna. He'll then explain what happened which I believe will be shown through a flashback.

Also, it wouldn't surprise me if then there is some sort of reveal that Vecna can still sense them through him which could act as a sort of mini-climax like the hospital scene in S4, but that's just speculation. The scene of them meeting him will probably be in the middle of the season once the audience and characters are beginning to piece together what's going on before they could start showing some intense actions like the scene in the hospital with Ms Driscoll.

To conclude, Victor Creel will be instrumental to the mystery of this season due to his links to Vecna and the history of the monster. I can't wait to see how his character unfolds. If you guys have any ideas about this, feel free to reply to this post or better yet send an ask so I can add to your thoughts. Thanks for reading folks!

STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4 SPOILERS!

Vecna's role in S4

On request from @rockandrollbyler

In the upcoming season of Stranger Things, we will be introduced to our new big bad; Vecna. Vecna, like the previous monsters, is inspired by its DnD counterpart but also Pennywise, Freddy Krueger and Pinhead. Using the evidence provided through interviews, trailer clips and the new spoiler full monopoly game, I'll be aiming to theorise Vecna's powers, their motivation and try to debunk some popular Vecna myths. I'll also be talking about how this will impact characters like Max Mayfield and Victor Creel.

But first of all, who is Vecna? In DnD, Vecna is an undead God. He is loves collecting secrets so he can use them to manipulate people. He believes that the true key to taking over realms isn't entirely through violence but through these secrets. Unlike other villains, he is highly intelligent and calculated. Vecna used to be a human but ascended to godhood after dying, leaving behind only one of his eyes and his left hand. Stranger Things will obviously make liberties in this description as they have done with previous DnD characters, but I believe the main points still stand; Vecna is intelligent and unlike other villains will use psychological manipulation to bring down our (vulnerable and traumatized) characters. Like in DnD, Vecna will be an ex-human although it seems like he started off with good intentions but was warped by the Upside Down. Some people believe Vecna is '001', meaning they were experimented on like Eleven and Kali but got trapped in the Upside Down which sounds cool, but might be a bit of a plot hole since it seemed like Hawkins National Lab wasn't aware of the Upside Down before Eleven. They could still do that, but I don't know if they would as they'd have to explain some stuff away.

So what will his powers be? I don't doubt Vecna will be highly physically powered, but what really makes him special is his dream warfare, his possession powers and his ability to open portals. First of all, his psychological powers. Vecna will be able to force people to re-experience traumatic events in the form of a trance or nightmare, such as forcing Max to experience the events at Hawkins mall. It is clear where the Pennywise influence comes in here as he used to feed off of people's imagination and fear. However, I think they are especially close to Freddy Krueger because I think if they die in the trance they will also die in real life as evidenced by the monopoly cards. This is like their DnD role of using secrets and fears to manipulate, but also serves as an interesting plot device to explore our traumatized characters.

Next up, possession. There's a lot less proof for this theory but I think it would make sense. I believe Vecna himself was possessed in a sort but not by an actual creature but more by the Upside Down warping him. Victor Creel snapped and killed his family members after seeing an odd clock. In DnD, if you take one of Vecna's possessions, it corrupts you so I think that somehow seeing this clock means Vecna can infiltrate your mind and control you. This could manifest as literal possession or internal psychological warfare which could explain why Creel had to go to a mental asylum after killing his family. We already know they can control the demobats and their DnD counterpart uses secrets to control people. I think this would make sense, especially considering that the Duffer brothers said that the Upside Down was psychologically leaking out and they also mentioned how seeing the clock is a really bad sign. If this is true, then Max is in even more danger than we thought. Could she be possessed when she's floating?

Finally, portal opening. In the promotional material, we have seen the portals repeatedly showing up. At the end of every path in the individual posters, there was a portal. In the trailer, there was a frame of several portals. And biggest of all, in the poster with all four groups walking down a path, it is leading to a portal in the shape of Vecna's eye. I believe that this season Vecna will be opening portals near the characters we know and love. Not only is this foreshadowed with every location having a portal in it, but in the monopoly rules booklet it says that you need to stop Vecna from opening portals. It says 'Vecna is opening Gates to the Upside Down in Hawkins and beyond!' meaning I believe the Upside Down will come to the characters and not the other way around.

Now we've established some of Vecna's powers, what are his motivations? I think Vecna's motivation is quite simple; power. But apart from wanting power, as mentioned earlier, he wants secrets in order to blackmail and manipulate people into doing his bidding. I believe that by the start of the season he will have taken over the Upside Down but was not content with only ruling over one domain especially since there are no humans to psychologically manipulate meaning now he is going to start targeting our world, essentially using Creel as a kind of trial.

But before, I finish this post, I want to debunk a few theories. Firstly, is Victor Creel Vecna? I think all signs point to him being manipulated or possessed instead of the big bad himself. What I believe happened to him was that after finding the clock, he got corrupted by Vecna and then killed his family under this negative possession. However it is of note that Vecna went into the Upside Down in the 1960s which is when Creel snapped so whilst I don't believe in this theory, it is possible. As well as this, I highly doubt Brenner is Vecna as well as if he is in the Upside Down then he has only been there for 3 years and his crew tried to kill the demogorgon so if he was from the Upside Down then that would be an odd move.

TLDR: Vecna is a highly intelligent villain who will use a mixture of traumatic dreams, possession and portals to take over our realm and take down the cast.

STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4 SPOILERS!

Chrissy's role in S4

TW: mentions of overdose, drugs, and abusive parenting

One of the new characters this season who I am especially looking forward to is Chrissy, who's described as a popular cheerleader with a dark secret. Due to a mixture of official releases and leaks, we know that she will be dating Jason this season (another new character), will have a poor relationship with her abusive mother and will get drugs from Eddie. But what will her plotline be this season? There will be spoilers ahead that aren't from the trailer so read on at your own risk.

I believe that Chrissy's main purpose in this series is unfortunately to die. I think she'll most likely die in Episode 2 or at the end of Episode 1 in order to kickstart the mystery of the season. This would be a good beginning to the episode Vecna's Curse as perhaps Chrissy could be the victim of this curse or maybe even a sacrifice to Vecna possibly like Victor Creel's family before her. In my opinion, Chrissy will die in a Vecna-induced trance.

I believe Chrissy will be put into a trance and killed, which will be one of Vecna's powers, proven by the Monopoly cards and the Nightmare on Elm Street themes of S4. Chrissy will be cursed by Vecna either at the end of Episode 1 or in the episode Vecna's Curse and then mysteriously die in her sleep because Vecna can kill you in your nightmares. The nightmare will possibly consist of her traumatic memories with her mother, as Vecna forces people to relive upsetting moments such as Max reliving the events at Hawkins mall. At the end of this nightmare, Chrissy would get attacked and die and there will be no trace of monster interference as she was asleep. The shot of her will likely be at the end of the dream.

How will her death impact the plot? Because it appears she randomly died in her sleep, I believe it will look like she overdosed. Considering she buys drugs from Eddie, he will appear very guilty meaning Eddie is forced to go into hiding from the police and from Chrissy's boyfriend. There's also the possibility that Chrissy's cruel mother who already knows she's drinking/doing drugs (based on her audition tape) may try push the blame onto him for her own dignity, ie. by saying he poisoned her with drugs. That or Vecna kills her in her dream like in Nightmare on Elm Street and you see the impact of the killing. Either way, Jason (her boyfriend) and his friends will then aim to hunt down Eddie as an act of vengeance. I explain this in a lot more detail in a previous post which I recommend reading to learn more about Eddie's plotline. The gang will then be thrust into the mystery not only to stop Vecna but to prove Eddie, their friend, innocent.

TLDR: Chrissy will die early on in the show to showcase Vecna's powers and be a catalyst for the mystery of S4.

STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4 SPOILERS!

Will Eleven have her head shaved in S4?

In the new Stranger Things 4 trailers, people have noticed de-aged shots of Eleven with a shaved head. However, many people are beginning to doubt whether all of these shots are actually flashbacks or if Eleven has had her head shaved in the current day. I believe that she has, and I'll be looking at shots from the trailer and the new spoiler full Monopoly game to prove this theory.

First of all, there's a shot of Eleven in the trailer with her head shaved that is certainly not de-aged. In the scene, Eleven is in the Upside Down and has a shaved head. The reason we know it isn't de-aged is because she is wearing the same clothes as the shot above. Whilst it isn't exactly the same, if you look at the floral shirt Eleven has under her flannel and v-neck, they are the same. It can't be a flashback because Eleven never wore this outfit as she only wore two outfits at Hawkins Lab (hospital gown, sensory deprivation tank suit).

Next up, I think that the shot used as the thumbnail of the trailer isn't actually using de-aging technology. In the shot, Eleven is blowing away soldiers whilst wearing her suit from the sensory deprivation tank. Whilst I and many others believed this was a flashback, I'm not too sure of this now. Not only does Eleven look less young than she did in other de-aged shots, but the colour of her suit is different as it was a lot more beige in S1. This could be a costuming issue, but I'm inclined to believe this is taking place in S4 due to all of the other evidence that she's had her head shaved.

Update: Duffer brothers have confirmed this is NOT a flashback, so the theory is correct

Finally, the board for the new Monopoly game features Eleven with a shaved head. There will be spoilers from this point onwards, so skip to the end if you don't want to see that. However, she is wearing the same outfit as when she was taken away by the people from Hawkins Lab (see first photo) which in my opinion confirms that they shaved her head. It could be a promotional trick but considering there's a shot of her later on in that same outfit with layers removed, I think there's too much evidence for it to be not true.

She also has her head shaved on other promotional material. This is also clearly not a flashback as it shows Mike and Will from S4.

So now I've shown that Eleven will have her head shaved, why does this happen? To me, the answer is clear; she's being experimented on by the scientists from Hawkins Lab again. I believe this is in order to get her powers back as she admitted previously to Dr Owens (from Hawkins Lab) she didn't have her powers back yet, which I believe she was telling the truth about. She was then taken to Hawkins Lab later (she's wearing the same outfit) and that's when I believe her head was shaved in order for them to try and do experiments that trigger her powers. They are obviously desperate for her powers to come back since Dr Owens said they needed her to win the war so it would make complete sense for them to shave her head. On the other hand, she could've got back her powers earlier, blown up the car transporting her and then got caught which would also explain why they are doing experiments on her.

I did consider whether this could be a part of a Vecna-induced trance. One of his powers this season will be putting people into nightmares which I explained in more detail on a previous post. This is relevant as it looks like Eleven may be at the Snow Ball in the first shot of her I analyzed and Vecna sends people back to events that affected them, such as sending Max back to the events at the mall. However, I still think that she will have her head shaved externally to a dream because of the fact it makes so much sense for Hawkins Lab to have done that.

TLDR: Eleven will have a shaved head in S4 in order to let the scientists from Hawkins Lab do experiments on her. This is because they need to use her powers which she mysteriously lost at the end of S3.

STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4 SPOILERS!

Eddie in Season 4

One of several new characters introduced this upcoming season is Eddie Munson, an electric guitarist and leader of the Hellfire Club. However, his plotline this season is still relatively unknown. Today I'm going to answer a few questions using evidence from the monopoly cards which contain big spoilers so read at your own risk. I'll be discussing why Eddie plays guitar in the Upside Down, why Steve and Robin are looking in a computer in a promo and, biggest of all, how Eddie is blamed for a character's death.

Firstly, why does Eddie play guitar in the Upside Down? I explain this in detail in a previous post (see here). Basically, he is luring away Demobats from Vecna's lair so Vecna is more vulnerable for attack. This is described in the monopoly cards.

Next, how is Eddie framed for murder? As explained in a previous post, the season takes heavy influences from 'A Nightmare on Elm Street', a film in which characters are killed in their nightmares by a monster. As discussed in the post, this will be one of Vecna's powers. When a character dies from this, who I think will be Chrissy, Eddie is blamed for their death and is forced to go into hiding. He is then chased by Jason, who is Chrissy's boyfriend, which is why I believe the person who dies is Chrissy. As well as this, Eddie deals Chrissy drugs (audition tape) so maybe they could also go down the route of Chrissy 'overdosing' and Eddie getting blamed.

This brings me on to my next point. The gang at the video store will need to hunt down Eddie in order to get his help in the Upside Down. This explains the promo shot in the trailer of Robin, Steve, Dustin and Max looking up at a computer screen, as they are in fact searching for Eddie on the customer database as stated in a monopoly card. Dustin might possibly even tap into police communications to find out why he is missing. I believe Eddie will be hiding out in a trailer because it is mentioned as a mode of transport in the game and on a card about finding Eddie.

TLDR: Apart from being hunted down and luring away Demobats, Eddie will spend the season trying to hide from police and others. Whilst we were told Eddie was going to be at the 'terrifying epicenter of the mystery of this season's mystery', what we didn't expect is that he was being blamed for a murder.

STRANGER THINGS 4 SPOILERS

Nightmare on Elm Street and Season 4 of Stranger Things

In an interview about Season 4, the Duffer brothers spoke on the influence Nightmare on Elm Street had on the upcoming season. Whilst originally this sounded like a mere vibe it was aiming for (like the Goonies in earlier seasons), I personally believe that the season is a lot closer to the films than we thought, with even the Duffer brothers saying the season was 'deeply inspired' by Nightmare on Elm Street. Here's another spoiler warning as the upcoming content is NOT from the trailer.

Firstly, and this is quite an obvious connection, but the actor of Victor Creel, Robert Englund, played Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare movies (up until the reboot). The Duffer brothers when talking about his casting mentioned that the season is deeply inspired by his performance of Freddy Krueger. This could foreshadow a link to Vecna through Creel or serve as a little Easter egg for horror fans. Either way, it shows the Nightmare on Elm Street themes are very deliberate.

Next up, Vecna's powers. One of Vecna's powers this season will be putting people into trances and nightmares. We know this because of the monopoly cards (see previous post). Now why does this matter? In Nightmare on Elm Street, Krueger kills his victims in their nightmares which in turn kills them in real life. I'm almost certain this is Vecna's power as well, as the monopoly card mentions almost dying in a nightmare. Another link between Vecna and Krueger is that it is mentioned that Vecna has gnarled hands, and Freddy is known for his iconic knife fingers. In fact, the Duffer brothers explicitly said they wanted their own Freddy Krueger this season in reference to Vecna so these parallels are being done on purpose.

As well as this, these powers will likely harm or even kill Max. I've discussed this in a lot of detail on a previous post, but to put simply Max will be put in a trance by Vecna. In this trance she will see the events at the mall last season, the clock, a 'portal' to escape which is fake and likely herself levitating. She could possibly die in this trance as said before, although maybe she is pulled out of it by music as she is frequently seen with a cassette.

Finally, these powers will affect Eddie. How? A character, not yet known, will die as a result of one of these nightmares. I personally believe this character is Chrissy, but I don't have too much evidence. Eddie will seem to be the culprit of these murders (like the character of Rod in Nightmare on Elm Street), forcing him into hiding. This is based off of the monopoly cards. This links to his character bio which said he will be at the 'terrifying epicenter of this season's mystery'. This plotline is very clearly showing it's influences just like the other ones and is backed up by the monopoly cards.

TLDR: the events of this season are very clearly inspired by Nightmare on Elm Street and this will affect several major plotlines.

STRANGER THINGS 4 SPOILER!

Max in Season 4

Many people are worried for the character of Max after the scene in the trailer in which she is being chased and one in which she's levitating. The new monopoly cards explain why. I got the screenshots of the cards from @michael.ish on TikTok and again, here's a heavy spoiler warning this content is NOT in the trailer! This post talks a lot about death so if that's something you don't want to hear at the moment then you might want to skip this one.

Spoilers begin here! In one scene in the trailer, Max was levitating. Not only was this abnormal because Max can't fly but also because Billy's grave had changed. This is because Max is in a trance in this scene. Firstly, the monopoly cards confirm that trances will be one of Vecna's powers in this season.

But what will her trance consist of? Her trance will likely include her being forced to relive the death of Billy and the events of Hawkins Lab as stated on one of the monopoly cards. I also believe the scene of her being chased to her own levitating body will be part of the trance, namely her trying to escape the dream world. This fits in with the last card which says you 'think you're going through a portal' which it looks like Max is about to do in the shot of her being chased. The clock could also easily be part of her trance which explains why she's in the same outfit in all of these scenes and why the halls are so empty. Either that, or the clock is a calling card of sorts to signal that Vecna has began to corrupt you/your world. She goes into this dream in the cemetery. It will take place in the episode Dear Billy as people have traced the promo photo files of her to episode 4 (which is Dear Billy). I believe the scene of her levitating could also take place in the real world because Vecna could lift her up in the dream world and it would appear to everyone else that she was levitating.

The Duffer Brothers told us season 4 has Nightmare on Elm Street influences, a movie in which if the characters are killed in their dreams, they also die in real life. They even went so far as to cast the actor of Freddy Krueger as Victor Creel which is fitting. This means that if Max doesn't snap out of her trance she will die. The boardgame confirms this.

I still have hope though due to the shot of the crew cradling someone who I think is Max. However, whether they are helping a distressed Max who has escaped a trance or holding the body of a sleeping or maybe even dead Max is up for debate. The fact it takes place in the cemetery links it to the earlier cards as well. The game uses cassette tapes to get you out of trances so I wonder if Max's cassette player she's always seen with could save her.

So overall, Max is in danger! Will she survive this trance? We'll just have to wait and see.