The Stranger Things 5 part 1 ending proves Will might just be the show’s most important character

Warning: Spoilers ahead from Stranger Things season 5.

Stranger Things 5 has arrived, and after binge-watching all four episodes of volume 1, our heads are positively spinning. We didn’t think the fight to save Hawkins and all of our heroes could get much more intense than season 4, but the series has somehow managed to up the ante and then some. 

Going into season 5, we had an idea about which main characters would be integral to the final battle with Vecna. (That’s not to say that all of the main characters aren’t important!) Will still felt Vecna’s presence at the end of season 4 with chills on the back of his neck, and Eleven obviously has been the center of the show since day 1.

But the season 5 part 1 ending advanced Will as a character so much that he just might have become the most important character in Stranger Things. Now that he has seemingly come into his power, something that will continue to unravel throughout the rest of the final season, he could hold the key to defeating Vecna. But how?

Will gains Vecna-like powers in Stranger Things 5

It’s unclear right now, but watching him become who he was meant to be (or maybe always was?) was nothing short of epic. In the final moments of season 5 episode 4, all hope seemed lost as Vecna arrived to unleash hell with a massive demogorgon attack taking over Hawkins and appearing to be the end of the road for multiple main characters.

After Vecna throws Joyce to the side and uses his power to hold Will in the air, Vecna tells Will that he chose him and the other children to “reshape the world” and that “some minds don’t belong in this world.” It’s eerie and ominous, but when Vecna drops Will and returns to the Upside Down, Will’s inspired by Robin’s words for him earlier and rises to power.

Watching the demogorgons come for his loved ones, Will’s eyes roll back into his head as his powers surface. He holds the demogorgons in the air, not physically but mentally. He cracks their bodies the same way that Vecna had done to his previous victims, including Max. Will saves everyone’s life and kills all of the demogorgons, even the one hunting Robin miles away. Just like Eleven, he wipes a line of blood from under his nose.

Stranger Things made Will the key to defeating Vecna

I don’t know about you, but I never imagined that Stranger Things 5 would give Will powers, much less powers comparable to those of Vecna. It’s kind of scary, right? Seeing Will’s eyes roll back and him suddenly gain the ability to eliminate multiple demogorgons, in various locations, with only his mind was genuinely shocking. 

Maybe some fans have seen this inevitability coming, but whether you believed Will would become powerful or never even had that thought cross your mind, the season 5 episode 4 ending more than likely had your jaw fall to the floor just like the demogorgons after Will killed them. But it’s crystal clear that after this unbelievable development, Will has gone from the member of the team constantly crying “We need to stop him!” to the leader with the ability to do so.

How did Will get powers? What are the parameters of his powers? Can he become even stronger? How do his powers combine with Eleven’s? All of these questions will surely be explored in volume 2 before what’s inevitably the final battle in the series finale, which is setting up Will to be the one to take on Vecna head-on.

No one should be counting out Will or underestimating what he can do anymore. Even though it’s truly wild that he suddenly has powers, he’s the most important character going into the final episodes of Stranger Things. Just like we’d always presumed, it started with Will and it’s going to end with Will. But who would have thought it would have ended like this?