Who Is Vecna On "Stranger Things 4"? Meet This Season's Terrifying Villain
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*Major spoilers for Stranger Things 4 below!*
The new season of Netflix's smash hit sci-fi series, Stranger Things, has finally arrived, and with it comes new creatures from the Upside Down to creep over Hawkins. In season 4, our favorite heroes are tasked with taking down another powerful Dungeons & Dragons character by the name of Vecna. "Vecna makes a Demogorgon look cuddly," executive producer and director Shawn Levy told Variety at the premiere of Stranger Things 4. Showrunners, The Duffer Brothers have pulled inspiration from D&D lore since the first season of their hit series, starting with Demogorgons. Now, Vecna is the latest creature to infiltrate Hawkins in horrifying ways (seriously, this small town in Indiana can't seem to catch a break and we're four seasons in). So, if you're just as freaked out about Vecna as newcomer Eddie Munson and the rest of our Hawkins crew, we've lined up everything you need to know about Stranger Things 4's main villain.
Who is Vecna?
First things first, let's take a look at D&D, a.k.a the source of inspiration for Vecna and all the other major villains we've met over the course of Stranger Things. According to Dungeons & Dragons lore, Vecna is a lich who formed an army to gain more power and ultimately become a god. GameRant reports that while Vecna first appeared in the beloved fantasy game in 1974, his back story wasn't really fleshed out until 1989. In D&D, Vecna had goals of ascending into a god-like creature — in which he succeeded during his ritual — but was interrupted by Kas, who was once his most trusted lieutenant.
While Vecna's corpse was left behind, GameRant notes that his spirit "began walking the multiverse to gain followers and power" — which we also see in season 4 of Stranger Things when he traps Hawkins' head cheerleader Chrissy, nerdy journalist Fred, and Max under his spell.
What is Vecna's Curse and how do Vecna's powers work?
The second episode of season 4 is titled "Vecna's Curse," which plays a huge role in the central themes of ST4. At the end of the episode, Dustin describes Vecna as "an undead creature of great power" who's also a spellcaster and dark wizard. Like past seasons of the show, he teams up with his crew — this time consisting of Steve, Robin, Max, Nancy, and Eddie — to take down the beast.
On the show, Vecna strategically preys on teens who have trauma or who are currently going through a rough patch and plants his curse on them to suck up their energy and grow more powerful. In Max's case, she's dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder from when her brother, Billy, sacrificed his life to protect her and her friends at the battle of Starcourt.
David Harbour, who plays Hawkins police chief (and Eleven's foster dad) Jim Hopper, says that Vecna is a "psychological horror" that viewers haven't seen in the history of the series. "The Upside Down has been this wild west world where there are creatures running around, there's violence, but we've never seen something as calculatedly psychologically evil as this," David told Variety.
Want to know more about Stranger Things 4, including exclusive cast interviews and fan theories? Stay tuned to Seventeen Watch Club for the latest on the series.
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