Vecna (Stranger Things)
Henry Creel, better known as Vecna, One, or Mr. Whatsit, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Netflix science fiction horror television series Stranger Things. He is portrayed by Jamie Campbell Bower. The character was introduced in the fourth season as a malevolent being from the Upside Down, a mirroring alternate dimension, that haunts his victims with horrifying visions of their past traumas before killing them in a sadistic, brutal manner. As the fourth season progresses, he is ultimately revealed to be the alpha of the Upside Down and the mastermind behind all of the events that previously terrorized the town of Hawkins, beginning with the disappearance of Will Byers, revealing himself to be a vengeful misanthrope bent on bringing on human extinction, by aiding the Mind Flayer in its goals.
Before becoming known by the main characters as "Vecna", his name was Henry Creel. He was the son of Victor and Virginia Creel and had a sister named Alice. After moving with his family to Hawkins, Henry discovered that he possessed telepathic powers and used them to kill his mother and sister, which caused him to fall into a coma due to the exertion of his energy. Shortly after, his father Victor was arrested because the police believed he was the one who had killed the family, including Henry. After Henry woke, he was taken by and experimented on by Dr. Martin Brenner, who injected his blood into pregnant mothers to birth more children with the same telepathic abilities, and designated him as subject 001. As the years passed, Henry became a supervisor to the other children and befriended Eleven. Eleven did not realize his background and abilities, so she unknowingly set him free from Brenner's restraining device. Henry then went to brutally and ruthlessly murder the children and other individuals within the facility. However, after Eleven realized his true nature as a misanthropic, nihilistic, and genocidal psychopath, she overpowered Henry, exiling him to the Abyss, where he was gradually disfigured by its abnormal lightning and toxic atmosphere, transforming his physical appearance to become covered in the Abyss's vines. In the Abyss, he eventually used his powers to control the monsters and became the ruler of the Upside Down, serving as the general and hive mind to all the creatures of the dimension. Since then, Henry has orchestrated the actions of the Mind Flayer and the other lifeforms of the Upside Down in previous seasons, with his role in Will's connection to the Upside Down eventually coming to light.
Since his first appearance, the character has been well received by both critics and audiences, with strong praise for Bower's performance, makeup design, and the character's backstory. For his performance, Bower received a nomination for the Best Villain in a Series award at the Critics' Choice Super Awards. The character is portrayed by Louis McCartney in the prequel play Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which explores Henry's backstory prior to the events of the series.
Concept and development
Sharing the same name, Vecna is loosely based on the Dungeons & Dragons character much like the other antagonists of the series including the Demogorgons and Mind Flayer. Bower was cast on November 20, 2020, under the original name of "Peter Ballard,” a friendly orderly at a psychiatric hospital. In a 2022 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bower said this about his role: The Duffer Brothers have stated that they have planned to introduce Vecna since the development of the first season. They were offered the chance to introduce the character in spin-off comics or books, but they refused as they needed time to develop the character and figure out what role he would play in the series. For the creation of the character, the brothers were inspired by iconic villains such as Pinhead, Pennywise and Freddy Krueger. This was with the intention of creating a meaner, darker, and more menacing villain for the show, having the ability to traumatize its victims before killing them in a horrifying way by breaking their bones and gouging their eyes out.Jamie Campbell Bower said that among influences on his performance and character he used Pinhead from Hellraiser franchise, Christopher Lee's Dracula, Gary Oldman's Dracula, his other references also include The Shining, Funny Games '', Dark City, Alone''.
Suit design
Make-up artist Barrie Gower provided the look for Vecna and other Upside Down creatures. Bower had to wear a prosthetic suit for over 7–10 hours every filming session. The suit was designed with "anemic" skin whose integration with the toxic environment of the Upside Down was apparent through the inclusion of "lot of roots and vines and very organic shapes and fibrous muscle tissue." To achieve this look using mostly practical effects, Gower disclosed that he and his team took a full body cast of Bower, to later sculpt to meet their design needs:Fictional character biography
Early life
Life in Nevada
Henry Creel was born in Nevada in 1947 to Victor, a World War II veteran, and Virginia Creel, and had a younger sister, Alice. Throughout his childhood, Henry was treated as an outcast, and the majority of his cohorts considered him "broken" beyond repair. Henry felt misunderstood and separated from his family.At some point, Henry visited a mineshaft in some caves near Rachel, Nevada, where he encountered a scientist who shot him in the hand despite his asking if he needed help before Henry bludgeoned the man with a rock. Opening a case in the scientist's possession, Henry touched a stone made of the Mind Flayer's particles. Henry was transported to another dimension where the entity told him to "find me" and infected the young boy through his hand wound. The scientist tried to warn Henry to resist the Mind Flayer, or it would consume all, but Henry killed him with his newfound powers. This memory would subsequently be blocked by the Mind Flayer to keep Henry from discovering the truth, manifesting as a cave in his mind that the adult Henry was too afraid to enter.
Life in Hawkins
The family moved to Hawkins, Indiana, in 1959 after Virginia's great-uncle died, leaving a small fortune that allowed them to buy a new house. Henry discovered black widow spiders in the attic and became fascinated with them. He realized he could enter the minds of animals, or even kill them, with his psychic abilities. As Henry practiced using his powers more and more, he gave his family terrifying visions and nightmares. His father was convinced the house was haunted, but his mother discovered it was Henry's doing. After speaking with Martin Brenner, she decided to give him up for experimentation. After telepathically reading his mother's mind and learning of her intentions, he killed Virginia and Alice and attempted to kill Victor, causing Henry to fall into a coma from exhausting his powers. The murders were blamed on Victor, and Henry was publicly declared dead. In reality, he was taken into custody by Dr. Brenner.At Hawkins National Lab, Henry became Brenner's first test subject and was given the name of Subject 001 "One". After numerous attempts to keep Henry under control, Brenner implanted a chip in his neck to suppress his powers, and transplanted Henry's blood into pregnant women so that their babies could have Henry's abilities. Henry became an orderly and assisted Dr. Brenner in his experiments, where he met Subject 011.
Subject 001 "One" and becoming Vecna
Over time, One oversaw the activities and progress of seventeen children with psychic abilities, though none appeared as powerful as he was. He took a liking to and befriended Eleven. After witnessing Eleven being bullied by the other subjects, One believed they were alike and sensed that the world would never understand them. One helped Eleven hone her powers and later offered her a chance to escape the lab. One gave Eleven a key card and instructed her to meet him in the basement. There, after explaining that a chip in his neck prevented him from leaving, Eleven removed it and learned that One was Henry. Upon being caught by the guards, One dispatched them and told Eleven to wait for him in a closet. One would then massacre everyone in the facility, with the exception of Brenner. After explaining his origins and crimes to a horrified young Eleven, she rejected his offer to join forces with him in order to take over the world. Thanks to the positive memories of her mother, she ultimately overpowered One and banished him to an alien parallel dimension, later named “The Upside Down”, where the hostile environment transformed into a mutilated, burned creature, later dubbed "Vecna". Over the next four years, Vecna gained control over the dimension’s lifeforms through a shared hive mind. Central to this control was his connection to a powerful entity, later called the Mind Flayer, which used him as a vessel to exert influence over the human world.Manipulating events
In 1983, after Eleven unwittingly opened the Mothergate and created the Upside Down, Vecna chose not to act directly, instead allowing a lone Demogorgon to explore Hawkins and acquire a human host, that being Will Byers. Although Will managed to avoid him for a week in the Upside Down, he was eventually captured by the Demogorgon, and was brought to Vecna in the Hawkins Library. He tells Will that they will do "such beautiful things" together, and infects him with a tentacle, establishing Will's connection to the hive mind. Although Will was later rescued by his friends and family, he was changed by the ordeal, beginning to see flashes of the Upside Down.In 1984, Vecna and the Mind Flayer launched their first attempt to invade Earth. Harnessing Will's connection to the hive mind, he has the Mind Flayer possess him, using him to both telekinetically build a series of tunnels from the Mothergate under Hawkins, and to spy on his enemies, having him trick the soldiers of Hawkins Lab into entering the tunnels and getting killed by adolescent Demogorgons. However, the plan fails when Eleven intervenes and closes the Mothergate, killing all life from the Upside Down that entered Earth, with Joyce Byers burning the piece of the Mind Flayer out of Will's body.
In 1985, the Soviets opened a gate of their own, allowing for the piece of the Mind Flayer that was burned out Will to become active again. Vecna has several residents of Hawkins "flayed" and put under his control, using their bodies to form a giant flesh monster to kill Eleven. Although the monster was killed when the Soviet gate was closed, it managed to injure Eleven, allowing for Vecna to drain her powers.