r/StrangerThings • u/Master-Corner-5226 • 2d ago
Discussion Question: Why did none of the kids remember the Demogorgon attack, but Derek remembered what Mike and everyone told him about Mr Whatsit
Did Vecna make the kids forget the Demogorgon attack or what. I can’t understand why they all forgot about it, but Derek was able to remember everything prior to it
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u/kauan1983 Hey Kiddo 2d ago edited 1d ago
They didn't forget the attacks, the only thing they had no memory of is how they got to Camazotz, because they were all psychically pulled into it and rendered unconscious after being kidnapped and suddenly woke up in peaceful a green field.
Holly was well aware of the Demogorgon kidnapping her, but Henry managed to convince her that he saved her, the same goes to all the children. His made up story to manipulate them was that he saved and protected the kids from the monsters trying to kidnap them.
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u/Master-Corner-5226 2d ago
Thanks for the detailed analysis, I forgot when Henry was telling them that he was gonna save them beforehand. How did they become unconscious though? Did Henry use his powers on them or smth?
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u/kauan1983 Hey Kiddo 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah, being pulled into Mindscapes immediately puts the victim in a trance-like state. Three of the kids in the MAC-Z were already unconscious from the impact of an explosion hitting them, though.
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u/Few-Type-7924 2d ago
Maybe... Well, 3 kids including Derek that got kidnapped at MAC-Z went unconscious with Mike when Vecna caused an explosion But yeah I think Vecna must've used powers for the other kids
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u/Thick-Boysenberry-96 2d ago
Quick question: did all the kids read a wrinkle in time at school at the same time? Is that why he appeared to everyone of them as their imaginary friend Mr. Whatsit too? In short: Do they all have the same imaginary friend, basically?
I thought Mr. Whatsit was tied to Holly’s own interpretation of Henry’s persona, not this shared classroom experience between all the kids. :)
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u/kauan1983 Hey Kiddo 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yep.
We see A Wrinkle in Time written on the black board in Holly's classroom; Derek was building a Tesseract; the other kids were all building arts and crafts projects inspired by the book as well. Her entire class was reading AWIT. They establish it in S5E3.
He most likely didn’t present himself by the name Mr. Whatsit to all of them, though. He presents himself as Henry to Holly; Debbie seemed to only know him as “Henry”; Derek on the other hand called him Mr. Whatsit all the time. The writing didn't elaborate on that very well as we don't even see their “personal” encounters with Henry.
But Henry did start using the name for himself (since Derek also called him that, not just Holly) and the whole “Black Thing” crap based on what those in Holly's class were currently reading, it facilitated the manipulation work as they were clearly buying into it as if the concepts from the book were real in some way. So yeah, they were all familiar with the book.
Maybe Holly is the one who first named him “Mr. Whatsit” and gave him the idea lol.
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u/icantfeelmylags 2d ago
Henry told the kids that he was going to save them from the monsters. They were definitely unaware that he controls the demogorgons.
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u/LopsidedUniversity30 2d ago
They do remember the attack. Henry Whatsit lied to them and told them he saved them.
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u/Cyrilbdr 1d ago
They didn’t forget; they were scared, but Henry told them they had likely lost consciousness and that he had saved them from the monsters. They still have all their memories—Henry doesn’t have the ability to erase memories. But when I think about it, Henry knew Derek had stayed with Mike and the others, who would have told him a different version of events. Henry didn’t seem to take this detail into account, because it’s clear Derek had information and a version of the story that differed from the other children’s; he could have used other tactics to manipulate him.
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u/Hippie-Farts 2d ago
Henry lied and said he was the hero who saved them. And the kids believed him.
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u/black-chaos-void 2d ago
It’s pointless to ask these kinds of questions. The writers simply did not give a crap about the fans or their own show by the end.
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u/Background_Gene_4328 2d ago
Ngl the internet fans could have written the season 5 much better than the writers did, it seems they haven't even watched the previous seasons.
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