In Netflix’s Stranger Things, The Upside Down might not have always been what it seems to be. Everything that the spectators see might have been affected by Vecna.
The origins of Vecna revealed in season four of Netflix’s sci-fi horror hit Stranger Things demonstrate that all previous information concerning the Upside Down was false. The Upside Down is portrayed in the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things universe as a terrifyingly grim location that can only be understood to be the source of all evil from its initial appearance in season 1. However, Vecna refers to the Upside Down as “a place untainted by humans” in the season 4 finale “Chapter Nine: The Piggyback.” Vecna is not believed to have contaminated the Upside Down until after his arrival.
Vecna is introduced as a potential new enemy in Stranger Things’ newest season. Viewers that binge-watch the series learn that Vecna’s history begins with his encounter with a young Eleven in 1979 at the covert Hawkins facility. Eleven is being guided by Vecna, formerly Henry Creel, in this lab while she learns how to handle her telepathic abilities. The audience is ultimately given explanations for how Vecna and the Upside Down came to exist in this sequence of flashbacks. According to him, his secret is that he is also number One and has the capacity to absorb others. It’s also plausible that Vecna’s nature is what tainted the Upside Down in the first place rather than the fact that it was always monstrous.
The Upside Down in Stranger Things was consistently depicted as a bad place
In the first season, when Eleven develops her psychic talents at the Hawkins lab, she unintentionally creates a portal by making touch with a demogorgon from another realm. The Upside Down is the dimension from which the Demogorgon flees. Stranger Things has The Upside Down, an other reality that resembles Hawkins and probably the rest of the world but is a far more dried-up and warped version of it. There are barren wastelands where strange species may be observed roaming, yet there is no true complete explanation for why this planet exists. According to Dustin, the Upside Down could have been around for millions of years. In addition to these unresolved issues, it is clear that the Upside Down is a true hell.
What Vecna’s Origin Reveals About The Upside Down
Perhaps the destruction of the Upside Down is merely a mirror of Vecna’s stay there. As a young child, Henry already shown a repulsive desire to hurt other people, as depicted in “Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab.” Prior to being hospitalized at the Hawkins lab, he killed his sister and mother and blamed his own father for the murders he had committed as a youngster. He had always been a troublemaker and was just made worse by Hawkins lab. Henry’s character was in doubt, as was made obvious by Dr. Brenner’s choice to have a dampening chip that would inhibit Henry’s telepathic talents put in the back of his neck.
The whole realm of the Upside Down is said to function like a hive mind, having a common awareness. It’s possible that Henry’s landing in the Upside Down altered the nature of the realm. It would be reasonable to conclude that Henry’s entrance there had indeed ruined everything if the Upside Down was truly unspoilt by humanity.
Stranger Things viewers watch as Henry kills everyone of the staff and kids save for Dr. Brenner after tricking Eleven into taking out his chip. In a fierce psionic struggle, Eleven defeats Henry by pinning him to the wall and overpowering him to the point where his flesh falls off. Inadvertently tearing open a portal, Eleven’s final act causes Henry, a.k.a. Vecna, to fall into the Upside Down.
Vecna utilizes his powers while inside the Upside Down to shape and connect to the Mind Flayer, which most likely enables him to connect to the hive mind network. Vecna, the embodiment of evil, has the potential to taint the evil realm known as the Upside Down if she can access the collective unconscious.
