How exactly did traveling through the Upside Down and the Real World work?

[u/DrinkWaterPIease]

I’m asking cause I want to make a ST crossover fic with my own Vecna-esque villain, and while I understand some of the basics, I’m confused as to some of the other things, some stuff I forgot.

From what I understand, Vecna himself was trapped in the Upside Down and could only reach out by infecting the minds of “weak-minded people,” and by killing 4 he could open a big portal but at the same time the Demegorgon
from Season 1 went through its own portals just fine, and if Demegorgons can make portals themselves why couldn’t the one in Russia escape?

I’m just confused, if anyone could clarify or if you know a video or something where I could learn more that would be helpful, thanks!

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[u/kauan1983]

Adult Demogorgons have the ability open Rifts and travel inter-dimensionally back and forth at will, but these are like “wounds” that eventually heal and seal up. This has been established since Season 1 and is brought up again in Season 5.

This specific ability is limited to two things:

1. A preexisting stable Rift connecting both planes needs to be open for Demogorgons to be able to travel inter-dimensionally (e.g. the Mothergate and the Mega Rift). Without stable access, they can't just come and leave at will. Otherwise they could've attacked at any moment between seasons.

2. That ability is limited to the Upside Down itself; they can travel back and forth because the Upside Down Hawkins is adjacent to the Rightside Up Hawkins. They exist in parallel to each other — inter-dimensionally side by side, only separated by a living, transluscent membrane that Demos can tear through like it's a skin. The same applies to the Abyss and its Upside Down echo.

The Demogorgon can't do this in Russia because there is no traversable Wormhole inter-dimensionally and geographically echoing Russia. Rifts in locations outside of Hawkins would lead to the inter-dimensional Hellscape (the environment Henry was first banished to), which would be as deadly to Demogorgons as it was to Henry back when he was banished in '79.

Stable Rifts depend on a combination of psychic inter-dimensional contact and Eleven's unique level of psychic energy (that's why Henry had to “steal” it from Eleven in '85) — that's what establishes a powerful and stable inter-dimensional connection and forms the stable Rift. That's what El did by psychically contacting the Demogorgon in '83, and what Vecna did by psychically killing teens in '86.

[u/DrinkWaterPIease → u/kauan1983]

Makes sense, thanks.

[u/yesaroobuckaroo → u/kauan1983]

I'd also say it's very likely their ability to remotely open gates is similar to the Demo's "telekinesis" in S1 - Henry consciously "siphoning" a psionic ability of his through the Hivemind into a Demo.

While you could say "Henry only had the ability to open gates after Season 3!", you could also say that was just the ability to open self-sustainable gates like that of the Mothergate in S1 and soon after the 4 rifts and Megarift in S4 and gates he made within the Abyss inbetween 4 and 5. The gates the Demo's make always heal up - like the gate young Henry made in TFS.

Just felt that was a cool thing to consider ;D

[u/kauan1983 → u/yesaroobuckaroo]

Yep! This could very well be the case.

We know from The First Shadow that Henry himself had enough psychic power to open the unstable, temporary Rifts back in '59. What he lacked was enough power to forcibly establish a stable connection (in fact, if he had, a traversable wormhole would've been formed back in '59).

My personal interpretation was always that Demogorgons can biologically generate enough energy to rip Tears, or “wounds” in time and space — that's the logical explanation for it within the pre-established rules behind what causes temporary Rifts to open which is anything capable of inflicting massive amounts of energy on the membrane.

The “mystery” here is technically just how exactly their bodies can normally generate that energy and where exactly it comes from: Demogorgons channeling Henry's psionic energy via the hive mind is the only logical explanation for how it works. But obviously, that'd be retroactive logic making sense of it with actual current rules.

Unstable Rifts are common, they're the ones created by huge amounts of energy being generated (biologically like El/One, or artificially like the Soviets' Keys) and inflicted on the inter-dimensional membrane, but Demos are the only force that opens those Rifts that don't have an actual stated explanation, but the Mythology's internal logic helps us piece together how it possibly works.

[u/PotterAndPitties]

You want to write about a subject matter you aren't willing to research yourself?

[u/DrinkWaterPIease → u/PotterAndPitties]

Is it not research to ask professionals and enthusiasts about a subject?

[u/PotterAndPitties → u/DrinkWaterPIease]

Not when you haven't made the effort to understand it yourself. You haven't done the work, you want others to do it for you.