What happened to Vecna in Stranger Things season 4? Vecna, aka One, aka Henry, has been one of the highlights of Stranger Things season 4. The Freddy Krueger-inspired villain has given a terrifying face and voice to the threat of the Upside Down and appears to have usurped the Mind Flayer as the Netflix series’ new big bad.
The plot twist in the first part of season 4 that Vecna was, in fact, an experiment like Eleven was mindblowing, as was his horrific origin story. However, the first part of season 4 ended without wrapping up Vecna’s story, and we still have plenty of questions about this corpse-like Stranger Things monster.
Thankfully Stranger Things season 4 part 2 is finally here, so we can confidently answer a lot more about Vecna. Warning spoilers are ahead (obviously), and we’ll be looking at what exactly happened to Vecna in season 4, including what his fiendish plan is, if he survives the series, and what his relationship to the Mind Flayer is.
What happened to Vecna?
In the Stranger Things season 4 part 2 ending, Vecna finds himself assaulted both mentally and physically. Eleven (with a bit of help from a salt bath and Max) attack the former orderly in the mental projection of the Creel House. Unfortunately for our heroes, Vecna’s a powerful telepath, and he manages to push the pair to their limits, nearly killing both.
However, while Vecna’s in this gory mind palace, his real body in the Upside Down is left unprotected. So with a little help with some electric lights, Nancy, Robin, and Steve track him down to the Creel House attic.
There, the trio attack the monster with Molotov Cocktails and pepper him with shotgun rounds, eventually blasting him out of a window, but not before he ominously warns them he’s “already won”.
As the trio make their way outside, they find Vecna’s body has gone. While it seems like The Party has triumphed once again in the closing moments of the episode, Will tells everyone he can feel the hairs on his neck standing up and that Vecna is not truly defeated.
How did Vecna survive?
Honestly, we’re not sure. He looked pretty dead when we last saw him, but to be honest, he’s never been the healthiest-looking chap.
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It seems as though Nancy, Robin, and Steve’s attack merely weakened him, though, and The Party will have to finish the job in Stranger Things season 5.
What’s Vecna’s plan, and is the Mindflayer involved?
We learn in the Stranger Things season 4 part 2 that Vecna was indeed working with the Mind Flayer who helped One/Henry “realise his potential”. After Eleven defeated the Mind Flayer, though, Vecna realised that if he wanted to kickstart the apocalypse, he needed to play like Thanos and do it himself.
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To that end, he set about opening four gates that would allow the Upside Down to merge with our dimension. This will destroy our world and allow Vecna to “pick up the pieces” and build it into something he describes as “beautiful”.
And you know what? It worked. In the final moments of season 4, we see that the Upside Down has merged with our own, with the corruption seemingly spreading across the land, lets hope the Dermogorgons don’t come with it.