Vecna was hidden in the very first episode of Stranger Things

[shelbyvillerules]

Everyone always asks "Where's Vecna?" but nobody ever asks "How's Vecna?"

[noahbolt]

"It got me... the Demogorgon." - Will Byers, Stranger Things 1, Episode 8

[redANDrouge]

Also, one of the reasons will might have survived, is because he was singing “should I stay or should I go” in the upside down

[zxdith]

Fun fact: when billy was saying it was all for eleven, that was vecna talking about the upside down. They even showed the clip of Billy saying it. Eleven said it was always him. Vecna truly has been around since the beginning. So that was not vecna. But he was the one who brought that demogorgon into hawkins.

[flakygaming]

If it was vecna, that means he had access to a gate, if he wanted to leave the upside down and enter the real world why would he go back to the upside down

[derekbrown]

The Season 1 demogorgon had access to portals and took its prey into the Upside-Down to feed on them later. The ones at the Russian prison presumably didn't have access a portal and were probably not acting normally. Those were desperate, maybe even driven to madness. We can't use them as the reference.

[SavouryGalette]

Literally disproven with a single sentence: "It got me.. the *Demogorgon."*

[jbirdpr]

It was literally just the demogorgon with its mouth closed

[bazookabonsai]

"Why didnt the Demogorgon devour Will right away?"- two words: Hive Mind

[this_is_an_outrage]

When someone asks my man the time, he checks his bike.

[ryanstauffer]

A comic book was released about Will’s perspective being in the Upside Down. It confirmed that it really was the Demogorgon instead of Vecna. The reason why it didn’t eat Will after bringing him into the Upside Down is because immediately when they arrived, Will fired the gun he was holding at it causing the Demogorgon to disappear to somewhere else. The comic shows that whenever the Demogorgon showed up looking for Will in the Upside Down version of their house, Will would hide under his bed. And he would still use that gun to defend himself. The comic says that Will lost consciousness when the Demogorgon found him at Castle Byers. So maybe at that point, Vecna probably made the Demogorgon put Will in those vines at the library. And since there were other victims there at the library, maybe the Demogorgon only puts victims in there when they are unconscious and only eats people that are still alive and trying to resist.

[mrmindtrick]

“Clock noise” precedes to show a bike wheel spinning.. stretching a bit

[gnelfpmeh]

It's a demogorgon, everything else can be explained by inconsistent writing.

[tocaliv]

“It’s *just* the demogorgan.”
JUST?!?

[cosmicblue]

And the very popular scene in Season 4 with Max running in the Upside Down, Max survived because of her favourite song and Noah was singing ‘Should I stay or should I go’ in the Upside Down.

[JudyBeeGaming]

I appreciate the theory, but it's only a theory. Season 1 demogorgon has not been acting consistently to the ones later in the series, considering it took Will to the upside down without killing him.

[isrulius]

“We can even hear clock noises”

It’s the bike wheel spinning, it literally shows it.

[DayneHamilton]

Pause it right when the shadow figure appears, and you can tell it's the demogorgan . Both of its arms and hands/claws are really slender and long, and vecna has one big ass forearm, rist, and hand/claw and one regular arm

[staceytate]

It's the Demogorgon. If you look at Vecna, he has a normal length arm on the right and then his left one is longer with the claws on it. The Demogorgon has both long arms. Which is how Joyce describes him to Hopper in S1 " It was almost human, but it wasn't. It has long arms and it's like he has no face" When she said "Long arms" she motioned her arms to show it was both too. If you look back at the Demogorgon, his head has always been like that when it's mouth was closed.

Side note: You gotta remember, they always had the whole plot planned, the timeline or storyline they wanted. Which means they wanted 001 or Vecna to be a twist for a later season as they had to introduce this world and the characters, while keeping it creepy/scary. To build up to the finale, bc the show had to go with the flow. If that makes any sense lol

[shadowagent]

Still breaks my heart to see Max in that condition in the hospital, her words about "being afraid and not ready to die" it's always in my head everytime I see something related to Stranger Things, she didn't deserve all that suffering.