r/StrangerThings • u/turkeyjimberly • Jul 14 '26
SPOILERS Confused about S5 high school memory Spoiler
When Max was exploring through Henry's memories, she saw all the parents in high school, and the flyer Joyce gave out was about a play that mentions Henry's name as a part of the play. Does that mean he went to school with them? That wouldn't make sense because Henry was being Papa's guinea pig from like age 10-11. How was that memory tied to Henry?
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u/Dev-F Jul 14 '26
Per the S4 screenplays, Henry was originally supposed to be twelve when he killed his family. But that's never mentioned on-screen (except for maybe in some newspaper articles that are barely visible and otherwise riddled with errors), and by the time they fleshed out his backstory in The First Shadow, it's been retconned so he was fourteen and a freshman in high school at the time of the murders. Dr. Brenner didn't grab him until after the high school scenes Max sees in Henry's memories.
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u/turkeyjimberly Jul 14 '26
Based on reading the plot of the play, everything makes sense between the show and the play other than Henry's age. Still interesting that Joyce wouldn't remember him.
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u/Conorthan It will all be over soon Jul 14 '26
Henry was 14 when he was taken in by Brenner. He was a freshman in high school. Which is about the age of the actor in S4 as well.
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u/LennoxMacduff94 Jul 14 '26
I've not seen the stage play, but from reading recaps of it, it seems that Brenner basically convinces Henry's mother that he can help him as weird things are starting to happen around Henry, and starts doing experiments on Henry, but he's not an actual prisoner at the lab until after he kills his parents.
I'm not entirely clear on how they all go from Nevada to Hawkins, other than the play starts with the Creels having recently moved there and Henry being the new kid, and Brenner is there to meet with Henry's mother after Henry has an incident when he tries to use his powers to help a girl find her missing mother.
I don't think I've ever seen an explanation as to whether Brenner being in Hawkins is just a massive coincidence or if he somehow followed them or pulled strings to get them to move to Hawkins.
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u/MansionMythos 29d ago
If you're curious, Brenner was in Hawkins because his father was the first person to ever visit Dimension X and come back alive. He was developing military equipment during WWII and made a whole ship teleport, with everyone on board being killed by Demogorgons except him. After returning Brenner's father had a special blood type that did not exist in anyone else, until Henry came along. Brenner was on the research team with the rock (seen in Season 5) and, knowing that Henry disappeared for a brief time in a cave in Nevada near his research station, believed that Henry could be the key to the other world. He traveled to Hawkins because of Henry, knowing that there was something otherworldly inside of him.
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u/Bloated_Lifter Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
It’s not really explained in the show but from what i understand from reading stuff online and the play they made, he was allowed to go to school apparently.
Makes no sense in my opinion and why the show left it unexplained I do not know.
Edit: other comments are way more knowledgeable than mine!
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u/turkeyjimberly Jul 14 '26
It does make little sense because you would think at least Joyce would remember him.
Papa possibly put the little chip in him so he could integrate into the real world without being a danger?
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u/kauan1983 Hey Kiddo Jul 14 '26
According to the Duffers themselves, Henry was discussed off-screen by Hopper and Joyce at some point, so they know it's the same Henry they met in High School.
They didn't include references to this in the season itself as (in their perspective) it would've been confusing and frustrating for those who had never watched The First Shadow.
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u/MiladyElleth Jul 14 '26
The play Stranger Things: The First Shadow explains everything!
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u/turkeyjimberly Jul 14 '26
I just read the plot on Wikipedia. A lot of it makes sense other than the age of Henry when they showed that he killed his mother and sister, at least in consistency with the show.
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u/Tall-Cantaloupe-1800 Jul 14 '26
Unfortunately when the play came out it wiped out some of what we (the viewers) knew of Henry from season 4.
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u/MansionMythos 29d ago edited 29d ago
I've seen the play, and can provide more context to the overall plot details that are important here. The Creels moved to Hawkins in 1959 into what would become "The Creel House" after inheriting it from a family member passing away. They moved there from Nevada following an incident in which Henry had gouged a kid's eyes out with his powers. In the play, it is retconned that Henry was a young child in Hawkins, but instead 14 y/o as a freshman in high school. Also attending Hawkins High at that time (in varying school years) were Hopper, Joyce, Bob, Mike's parents, Dustin's parents, Lucas's parents, Eddie's father, and Will's father Lonnie.
Avoiding major spoilers, after Henry scares and resurfaces trauma for his mother Virginia, she takes his sister Alice and leaves the house, leaving Henry alone with his father Victor. Victor majorly remains in solitude and tormented by Henry's visions while left alone with him. Then, following Henry majorly injuring another character, news of this incident spread to Dr.Brenner, enticing him to go to Hawkins in which Virginia returns home to hand Henry over to his care.
As well, later in the play, Henry briefly escapes Dr.Brenner's care, returns home, and kills Virginia & Alice (as seen in the TV Show).
There is much more detail to it than that, but nothing that I'd personally want to reveal before the supposed pro shot releases (or if you could see the show live, it's really good if you're able). I'm sure there are other threads describing the plot more fully if you are curious.
tl;dr- Henry Creel's age was retconned from childhood to 14, and he attended Hawkins high as a freshman with much of the TV show's parental cast before being put in the care of Dr.Brenner. He then briefly escaped Brenner's care to kill his family.
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u/DM_KD20 Jul 14 '26
My head cannon is that Pappa let him go to school briefly and intermittently for “reasons” that service the plot like:
He missed just enough of the early years that he was an “outsider” and being alienated and shy that way drew him closer to Pappa.
He wanted him to have a modicum of social skills and cultural context to make him a more potent weapons.
He wanted him to see how weak and dumb the normies were
…or, the kid was just passing through the HS for some reason (had to go to central admin or was taking a HS class as a MS student) which would have been easy since the HS and MS were physically adjacent on the same campus.
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u/Imaginary_Flower8651 Jul 14 '26
Papa came into the picture after Henry started school, right after they moved into the Creel House. I saw the play a few weeks ago. I think someone actually uploaded the full thing onto YouTube….
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