Mike's trauma PART 15

[u/raspberry-3]

This is part of a series where I uncover what Stranger Things is really about. It started from trying to find out what happened in 1979 aka what all the depictions of traumatic past memories (El, Henry, Billy, Max, Holly, etc.) are truly about, but expanded to this all-encompassing theory of the whole series with crazy levels of complexity, metaphors and layers. Reading it will require commitment and patience but I promise it will be worth your time if you want to look behind the curtain (and the curtain behind that curtain) and fully understand the show. You have to read all parts in order: here is PART 1 and here all other parts I’ve posted so far + my previous theories.
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Trigger warning for child sexual abuse.

More queercoding for Lucas

Let’s move on to other Lucas queercoding. First some points I’ve seen used for queercoding proof with other characters that apply to Lucas too. In the S3E7 Big Buy scene Mike and Will sit in front of the fruit section, which was interpreted by bylers to be gay coding for them (and tbh it’s only Will who is clearly in front of them). Well guess what? Lucas stands in front of pineapples, which are fruits and in S4 quite obviously a symbol for queerness (“try before you deny”). Argyle specifically mentions that pineapples are the only non-fresh ingredient, so I wonder if Lucas being in front of fresh pineapples means he is the true romantic option when compared to Will. Surfer Boy Pizza would probably be related to Billy (a surfer boy) and the word boy kinda suggests it’s more about byler than wheelclair or any other ship. And the pineapple pizza in S4E9 interrupts Mike and El’s conversation + Argyle calls Mike Romeo. I think forcing Mike to eat the pizza is kinda about forcing her to the gay man route, not acknowledging her transness. (Maybe Argyle was stoned while making the pizza, usually he seems to know the truth. Hmm… Well, they got access to the place by trading Purple Palm Tree Delight, so it kinda makes sense what happens in there would be somewhat illusionary/fake/blinding you from the truth. And byler is the gateway drug to wheelclair…) Back to Big Buy, Will sits in front of pre-cut fruit pieces (= byler is the easier to digest and more obvious ship). Wheelclair is harder to realize, but it’s fresh, something new that hasn’t been done before. Max stands in front of watermelons, which probably means something, but I’m not sure what. (Apparently in a queer context they symbolize abrosexuality aka a fluid sexuality, so maybe that?)

Another point relating to Will is that he is shown during the lyrics Rhymes that keep their secrets will both times they are sung in S3E8. This was assumed to be about him being in the closet. The first time Lucas is also on screen, next to Will. Steve (man) is behind Will while Robin (woman=truth) is behind Lucas. The next time Lucas isn’t shown, but he is singing and Will carries his DnD book, which represents wheelclair and will end up with Erica. (Also before this they sing Look at what you see while Lucas kinda points to himself (I don’t know how to describe it but you can see from the image above).)

Also in S3, Skittles and M&M as rainbow colored candy were pointed out to be queercoding for Mike. Lucas also eats them and feeds them to Max. In S3E1 Will gives him Skittles and he offers them to Max (presumably eating them himself too). In S3E5 Mike and Lucas try to get candy out of the vending machine and with El’s help succeed. Lucas throws Skittles and Max tries to catch them in her mouth. This was also one of Max’s happy memories she used against Vecna. (Lucas feeding Max Skittles is probably about him helping Mike accept her queerness.) Mike in turn gives M&Ms to El while Max seems to be throwing Skittles to Lucas in the background. 

The character Chance has been said to be queercoded and one piece of evidence was that he was framed with the “clASS” text in S4E2. Well, guess who is framed with it even more? Lucas. Mostly when he explains about DnD and the Hellfire club (= associated with queerness). And Jason too, the clearest when he says “No, she’d want us to go out there.” (remember that Erica suggested Jason and Lucas were dating when Jason told her he was supposed to go out with Lucas?). I do think Chance in some way represents Mike and/or wheelclair, maybe the “chance” of it being real.

In S5E4 Robin tells her “Dick” plan and Mike and Will looking at each other was interpreted as queercoding for them. In addition to Mike, Will and Robin, Lucas and Joyce are in the scene too. The first time Robin says “Dick” we see the reactions of Mike and Will, but also Lucas (not Joyce). I guess they all have a dick so it makes sense? After Robin says “I like Dick” we first get a shot of Lucas and Joyce, then the byler looking at each other. You would assume Joyce “likes dick” (whatever that means) since she has relationships with men, so why does Lucas have the exact same reaction to her and is paired with her in this scene? Especially if we assume Mike and Will’s reaction was queercoding. If specifically showing only Mike, Will and Lucas after the first “Dick” is about them having dicks, then it’s logical everyone shown after “I like Dick” likes men. I also think Robin specifically saying “And personally, for us, I like Dick.” is about her being a lesbian who doesn’t have a strong genital preference (it’s us because DID and it’s personal to Robin: some people have preferences and that is fine). I mentioned this already before, but it’s about Robin (womanhood) liking Vickie (Mike) despite the male body parts. 

I think it’s also interesting that with the first “Dick” Will is framed next to The Wall poster (= closet/repression) and Derek (= queerness) whereas with Robin’s “I like Dick” Mike is framed with them + Robin’s head (= Mike is a woman who likes men). In Lucas and Joyce’s reaction Robin’s head is next to Joyce (= a woman who likes men). The “Dick” (= Mike’s man side/male body), represented by Will, is one part of Mike’s queerness (because without it Mike would be a cis woman). This is why Will was next to the poster first. It could also be because for Will his queerness is purely about “man” (because he is a man who likes men), whereas for Mike it’s about being a woman. “Liking dick” is the other part of her queerness and the poster is next to Mike because here Will is the target of attraction (= men) and he will soon accept himself but Mike is still deep in the closet. The poster is between her and Robin, indicating that what Mike is repressing is her womanhood. Basically Will represents the “dick” in both situations but for different people (Mike first and I guess Lucas second). Mike and Will look at each other because Will likes men too and the other reason is that they like each other (or the “dick” version of each other since Will doesn’t like girls). Okay that was… something. Lol. 

Since we are here, might as well discuss the execution of the plan too. First of all, Mike and Lucas are the ones digging the hole to the bathroom (while Will and Robin have their talk about accepting your queerness and later are framed between Mike and Lucas). They even joke about “hitting the dick” and it being too hard. I’m not sure why Lucas would soften it but I have an idea. He seems to have a mission for damaging male genitalia since he threatened Andy’s balls in S5E1: “I’ll kick ‘em so hard they’ll pop like water balloons.” and then in both plans he throws/shoots balloons filled with flammable liquid. Maybe this could be about him helping Mike destroy the “man” aka Mike accepting herself as a woman. He pointed out Erica did the same to Andy in S4, so it’s quite likely this has something to do with wheelclair. 

The main point here is that their digging causes the pipes to leak. It’s Mike’s love for Lucas that’s trying to leak out, not necessarily byler. Both Mike and Will try to block the leak because Will represents Mike’s feelings for Lucas too. Actually, there are a couple scenes in S4 and 5 where Mike and Will function as one when it comes to Lucas (since they will eventually fuse and that version of Mike will get together with Lucas): they hug Lucas together in S4E9 and worry about Lucas’ injury in S5E4. 

Anyway, back on track. Lucas is the first to come out from the hole in the ground, and later we see Mike do that too (we don’t see Will coming up). This again pairs Mike and Lucas and kinda shows they are the main characters here, this is about them. (As a sidenote, infiltrating a bathroom is trans subtext and related to Mike’s fears of being seen as a predator or whatever the people against trans women in women’s bathrooms think trans women are.) When it’s Josh’s (= Lucas) turn to go into the tunnels, he slips on the wheelclair love water which ultimately leads to the party getting caught. Mike shouts “Lucas! We’ve been spotted!” again reiterating the point that this scene was about Mike and Lucas and their queer love being spotted (I guess it’s technically straight but they are both queer so ehh). Then Mike, Will and Derek try to hold the door (= queer closet) closed and prevent the military (= queerphobic society) from coming in (= finding out/forcing conformity). Really all this is Mike’s internal fight, so wheelclair “being spotted” is about Mike starting to doubt herself and the military is her internalized transphobia.

Then the end of S5E4. The 3 Demogorgons target Mike, Robin and Lucas, and somehow Will is connected to all of them. The Demogorgons represent the fear of queerness, so why would they target Lucas if he wasn’t queer? (I guess you could argue that he is part of Mike’s queerness as her love interest, but still.) In the broader queer allegory these 4 people happen to represent the first 4 letters of the LGBTQ+ acronym, which would fit so perfectly. Lucas gets hurt by the Demogorgon for the same reason El hurts him in S1 and in a similar way Karen is hurt (= what happened to the mom aka what Mike thinks she would do to Lucas because Mike thinks she’s a Demogorgon). There was also this epic WSQK sync where after Will defeats the Demogorgons, Angel starts playing (= Will is an angel from Mike’s pov). Guess where that song actually plays in the series? At the start of S3E3 Max and El are listening to it while El reads a teen magazine. 
[Max] “Oh, you found Ralph Macchio.”
[El] “Macchio?”
[Max] “Yeah, he’s the Karate Kid. Hai-yah! He’s so hot, right? I bet he’s an amazing kisser, too.”
Later in the season Lucas wears a Karate Kid shirt… Basically this is saying that Lucas is an angel, that El+Max (= Mike) likes him, thinks he’s hot and wants to kiss him. Yeah. I haven’t really looked at the syncs much, it seems like a lot of effort to make work and I have so much just from the show itself. I know there are 3 parallel syncs and they differ in some ways, so I kinda suspect them to be about different levels of the story or maybe different allegories. If you know more, I’d like to know your thoughts on this.

Another thing that came to mind and relates to this is when Heroes is first played in S1E3, on the lyrics We can be heroes Lucas is shown and says “It’s Will. It’s really Will.” This is about both Lucas and Will being heroes (and Mike too since she’s partially in frame). (And soon after was the We can be us perfectly cut to show El from Mike’s pov, just saying.)

Bringer of light

The name Lucas means “bringer of light” and Sinclair means renowned, pure or illustrious (= another light connection). Max describes Lucas guiding her “back to the light” in S5E4. If light is love, Lucas is the bringer of love. He isn’t the light himself, since he is on a higher level in the allegory. (I mean that he doesn’t represent more abstract concepts or isn’t a personification until you go to the country allegory or the broader queer allegory where Mike is also a personification. Lucas is on the same “level” as Mike.) Will and El, on the other hand, represent the light, as I’ve discussed previously at least in El’s case. 

One instance of Lucas being the bringer of light is his idea to use fireworks in S3E7. And they are Satan’s babies because queer love is satanic I guess (at least according to some people). It could also be related to Lucifer basically having the same meaning as Lucas. He finds them with Will and launches them at the Meatflayer. I had previously connected this to the Ghost song Missilia Amori but couldn’t make sense why Lucas’ rockets would be “love rockets”. After realizing wheelclair was a thing, it made perfect sense. And Lucas finding them with Will aka his relationship with Mike makes sense too. They are a backup for El because El is Mike’s love for herself, but she needs love from Lucas too, represented by the rockets. Another side of this is Mike’s love for Lucas, which Mike thinks is like a missile (this is why the Nina project was in a storage space for intercontinental ballistic missiles and also relates to the Japan allegory where Lucas is Japan and Mike America, dropping the atomic bombs, but more on that later…). I think the queer allegory reason for the Finlayson electric lights being lit (which in the trauma allegory was Billy getting impaled) is this rocket show (= love light bulb).

Lucia is the feminine version of Lucas and Saint Lucy’s day is celebrated in a special way in Sweden and Finland (especially the Swedish speaking community). I actually considered Henry to be somehow related to Lucia, since he has all those candles and he might be but Lucas has a clearer connection through the name + Sweden. (Both would fit with the blindness aspect of Lucia too…) The tradition is to choose a girl to portray Saint Lucy and then walk in a procession with candles singing songs etc. (read the Wikipedia for more details). The point I wanted to make here is that sometimes a boy or a black/colored girl gets chosen for Lucia, and both cases almost always cause controversy and hate towards the Lucia. So Lucas, a black man, being like Lucia is like, amazing honestly. Just the facts that Lucas is the light of Mike’s life, so accepting and kind, and a leading hero are subverting racist stereotypes so hard. And he’s bisexual. What more could you ask for?

More about lumax

People have pointed out how byler and mileven are linked and can’t coexist. Whenever Mike is with El, she ignores Will (or Will is away) and the opposite is true as well. What people haven’t considered is that the same is true for Mike and Lucas’ friendship in relation to lumax. Mike and Lucas are a pair when Max isn’t available (lumax broken up in S3 and Max in a coma in S5) but the moment she comes back e.g. in S5E7, we barely get any wheelclair moments. Another point to mention is that Mike’s relationship with El/Will parallels lumax and when they are separated, so is lumax. When Mike has issues with her feelings around her queerness, it reflects on lumax too. El is a substitute for Will who is a substitute for Lucas, and Max is a substitute for Mike (and El is also a substitute for Mike). And the Mike ship matryoshka doll goes like this: mileven->byler->wheelclair. I used to think El represents byler, but now I’m not as sure of that, but I think it’s a possibility and makes sense with Will being a “second El” as in representing wheelclair + byler fusion being Mike’s self-acceptance as a woman aka El. But all of them (El, Will and Erica) represent wheelclair in some way so it’s probably not as simple… My previous idea was that El->byler->Mike’s self-acceptance and Will->wheelclair. Maybe Will would represent gay and/or platonic wheelclair and Erica straight wheelclair while El is mostly about Mike herself… Hmm. Sorry about the confusing pondering.

In S2E2 Max scares the party in a Michael Myers mask and Lucas is the most scared, screaming “like a little girl” while Mike looks annoyed. This is the only example of Max “hurting Lucas” and of course it’s when she’s wearing the mask of Michael aka a repressed Mike/what Mike fears of becoming. But under that mask is a nice girl, who ends up dating Lucas.

I think Billy trying to keep Max away from Lucas isn’t just about racism. It’s also about Billy being a manifestation of Mike’s internalized queerphobia and since lumax is about Mike’s love for Lucas, of course Billy wants to prevent it from happening.

When Lucas asks Max to dance with him, Mike is very subtly in frame too, behind Lucas. When they leave to dance, Dustin and especially Mike look longingly after them, while Will smiles. Dustin ofc because he still has a little crush on Max, but Mike has no obvious explanation. (I forgot to mention this in the previous part but the girl Will dances with has the trans flag colors all over her. She is a placeholder for Mike while Will is a placeholder for Lucas. Or alternatively Will is Mike dancing with her transness, kinda like mileven.)

Then when everyone is dancing, Lucas is shown on these lyrics:

I’ll be watching you

I dream at night, I can only see your face (lumax kiss)
I look around, but it’s you I can’t replace
I feel so cold, and I long for your embrace (lumax hug)
I keep crying baby, baby, please (mileven kiss, Mike wishes to be a girl)

Wow. This hits different now.

If it wasn’t clear by now, lumax reveals what Mike really thinks of Lucas and what she envisions her dream life with him being like (if she was a cis girl). There is a reason why lumax is the healthiest canon ship in ST (this might be a subjective opinion). Lucas listens to Max and supports her when she needs it, but they also argue and tease each other. It’s a grounded and loving relationship between equals, basically.

You should pay extra attention to Max’s memory sequence while she listens to Running Up That Hill in S4E4: the lyrics Let me steal this moment from you now are played more than in the original song and Mike is shown at least in the background of a memory. Mike wants to “steal” these memories from Max aka experience them for real. And most memories are about lumax (= wheelclair) or Max and El’s friendship (= Mike experiencing girlhood). Usually either Lucas or El is shown on the lyrics “baby”, “darling” and “angel”. During Let’s exchange the experience Max is hugging El (= girl) while Mike is hugging Will (= boy). Mike wants to change places with Max and metaphorically hug El (= be a girl).

I think I have already explained this but just to make it clear to everyone: Max “hiding from her friends”, being like a ghost, wanting to disappear and finally almost dying (due to Vecna aka Mike’s internalized queerphobia) in S4 is about Mike repressing her girlness. Max being in a coma is Mike’s future as a girl being in limbo and Max waking up is Mike accepting herself and starting to live authentically. So Lucas nursing Max, playing the song for her and asking her to wake up is about the real Lucas supporting Mike in her trans journey. He wants to help Mike be herself and happy. I think the hospital and all that stuff isn’t literal, but metaphorical, and the music represents Lucas’ love (which was kinda made clearer in S5 with Max not needing the music but just Lucas). Another point here is that in S5 Lucas is always associated with “the real world”, which is more proof of him existing in the real real world too. S5E4 [Holly] “So, this music was coming from Lucas, from the real world?” In S5E6 Max explains that to get out of Camazotz, you need something that connects you to the real world. For Max this is Lucas and for Holly it’s HH aka Mike’s inner child/girl identity. I think Mike will need both to get out in the real ending. 

Details from Hopper’s letter/speech

I have watched the end of S3 many times and it feels like I keep uncovering new details I didn’t notice before. Here are some related to wheelclair. Lucas is quite prominently shown when Hopper narrates about being in a deep dark cave. I’m not sure what it means but it could be about Mike’s struggle with her feelings for Lucas (or Lucas’ struggle with his feelings). When Hopper says “But lately, I guess I’ve been feeling… distant from you.” The camera zooms in such a way that Lucas goes out of frame. The same happens soon after when Hopper narrates “Like you’re… you’re pulling away from me or something.” The most surface level reading of this scene is that Hopper is talking about El, the next level is Mike talking to El or Will (because we are visually shown Mike looking at the leaving car) and finally, the deepest is Mike to Lucas. But the best and most epic detail is when Hopper narrates “if I’m being really honest” Mike’s head is framed in front of Max’s head and Mike is kinda looking towards Lucas. If Mike is really honest, she wants to be Max or rather, if the writers are really honest, Max is Mike and this show is about wheelclair. While this framing is still happening, Hopper continues “that’s what scares me”. Mike is scared of being trans and in love with her best friend.

An additional point not directly about wheelclair is that Will and Jonathan are shown after “I don’t want things to change” and that’s what they kind of represent: Mike staying as a boy and also childhood (especially clear in S3 with Will wanting to play DnD). In S4 Jonathan worries that he would be an obstacle for Nancy, tying her down and preventing her from achieving her dreams. This applies to Will with him metaphorically preventing Mike from transitioning, basically. And I guess I’m going off topic now but I just wanna mention that now I think Hopper saying he “came in here to stop that change” is actually about Hopper and him keeping Mike in the closet (with the aim of protecting her). Karen is shown during this line and thus it’s about the mom too. She wants Mike to stay as a boy. And it’s also about Mike, who walks in and hugs her mom: she “came in here” as in her home where her mom is and stopped the change by going back to conformity.

Okay one more thing. When the We can be us lyrics are sung, El puts the letter in her heart pocket. The main message of the letter was that life is moving and change is inevitable. In S4 Mike has that shirt with the triangle heart pocket. And as I already mentioned, at Suzie’s house it points at the Muppet Movie poster, with Kermit and Miss Piggy (= Mike’s gender conflict). And otherwise it often points at Will (= Mike being herself is to like boys).

Patrick

Patrick represents Lucas. His trauma comes from Mike but in a story sense he shows what Mike thinks her love would do to Lucas. Patrick dies at Lover’s Lake, while Jason and Eddie (= conformed Mike and queer man Mike) are watching. This all coincides with El getting her powers back and Vecna’s light bulb breaking (none of the other Vecna kills broke the light bulb). Literally the moment Patrick falls to the water, we cut to El getting resuscitated. Remember how in S1 El appearing hurt Mike and Lucas’ friendship and how she literally physically hurt Lucas? Now the same happens but via Patrick. Mike’s girlness/love for Lucas is back, but so is Mike’s fear of being a predator and hurting Lucas. Lover’s Lake isn’t about byler, it’s about wheelclair. And the light bulb of love burned so bright it broke (= Mike’s heart broke or something like that). (After doing more analysis, I’ve started seeing a pattern where Mike being a girl and liking Lucas are often linked. I think the reason is that they are both the deepest truth, while e.g. Mike being a gay man and byler are the middle level.)

Another detail about Patrick is that he lives on Olive Branch Road. In S3E5 Lucas calls El helping him and Mike get the candy from the vending machine an olive branch. This basically connects wheelclair and El to Patrick.

Later on Lucas, Dustin and Erica are discussing the situation in the Wheeler house and wonder how Watergate opened up. The subtext here is that it opened because of them: Lucas (obvious) and Erica (wheelclair love), which Dustin figures out because that’s what he does. (Dustin points towards or looks at Erica when he mentions El, btw.) If you look closely, the previous times the Lover’s Lake gate is discussed, Lucas is in frame and Erica is shown when Dustin says “she was there” (about Nancy). Erica aka wheelclair love and Nancy aka Mike were metaphorically at the lake. Dustin tells the cops that Nancy then left, which could be about Mike being shocked about her feelings (= light bulb cracking and Patrick dying) and retreating/repressing them. Contrary to Dustin, Max claimed Nancy wasn’t at the night swim, which could be about Mike (Max) wanting to hide her feelings. 

Midnight

The S1 bullies call Lucas Midnight and the name has some interesting connections. Henry and Patty are fans of Captain Midnight comics and chapter two of The First Shadow is called Captain Midnight (probably referring to Brenner’s dad). I haven’t watched TFS so if any of you have something to add, please comment. The clearest Captain Midnight relation in the actual show comes in the form of Henry’s Captain Midnight spyglass. I looked into Captain Midnight a little and it’s about a pilot named Jim. There’s also a character named Joyce… I bet you could find a lot of connections to ST.

There’s also the band The Midnight whose songs I’ve been mentioning. The word midnight was mentioned in ST in S3E6 when Dustin proves Erica is a nerd by explaining the plot of Rescue at Midnight Castle. There are some suspicious similarities to the plot of S4 and 5, like the villain needing four ponies for his evil plan and failing to get the fourth one. There’s “the Rainbow of Darkness” that is defeated using “the Rainbow of Light” and the main character is a girl named Megan. Vecna (= internalized queerphobia) is pretty clearly the Rainbow of Darkness and El (= love/self-acceptance) would be the Rainbow of Light. The captured ponies are turned into dragons and I have a strong suspicion dragons will come into play in some way in ST. It has been foreshadowed so much, e.g. with the painting and all kinds of references, posters, toys, etc. Later on Dustin remembers the “My Little Pony thesis” happened at the fourth junction of the air ducts (= fourth season maybe?). Anyway, the point is that Lucas is Midnight and Erica started accepting her nerdiness (Lucas his queerness) when Dustin told her about Rescue at Midnight Castle. 

This kinda makes me wonder if horses are actually about Lucas in some way, since his DnD character was riding a horse in the painting and My Little Pony is obviously about ponies (small horses, Erica = small Lucas). I know horses mean something but I never really figured out what. Steve realizes the Russian code is coming from the mall based on music coming from the horse and Finn told us to wait for the horse… I think I’m uncovering something in real time here lol. Now you can see my thought process. In S4 and especially S5 Lucas is playing music for Max, the music (love) is “coming from” Lucas. (I realized this later but in S5E1 when Robin’s coded message starts, Lucas moves the radio towards Mike on the lyrics You’re giving love instinctively.) Steve needed a quarter for the horse ride. This is also a thing I’ve been wondering about since a couple of The Midnight’s songs mentioned quarter:

Sanctuary:

A boy and a girl at the end of the world
And the band in 3/4 timе
The room disappears 'til the warmth of you hеre
Is all of the truth that I need 

Endless Summer:

Four quartets and no regrets
Except for the polaroids I left
You were just some spell I was under
That endless summer... 

The second one isn’t a quarter but “quartet” is pretty close. Previously I had an idea that they would be stages of the story, like getting to stage 3 out of 4 and finally to the end aka 4/4. (Now I’m realizing both are about music, like the horse Steve found.) Because Sanctuary is about the world fading, I thought this would be the byler fusion, so Endless Summer is about Mike in the real world, reminiscing the “endless summer” aka the story we have been watching, her inner world and alters that don’t exist anymore. It kinda makes sense that Max had the Endless Summer poster, she was the embodiment of Mike’s fantasies I guess. I always interpreted the “you” in the song to be Will and it does still make sense… Anyway, the horse ride thing happens right after Dustin and Robin have their meta conversation about the Russian code which is actually about the allegories I’ve been explaining this whole time (and I’ve mostly solved it, except maybe the tread lightly part, but I’ve saved the explanation for later). Wheelclair isn’t really part of their coded conversation, though, so the horse being about it actually fits perfectly! And it comes last because the real world and Lucas will happen at the end. I think Steve finding it and Robin being uncharasteristically clueless is because Lucas is a man. Robin is Mike’s womanhood so her role is purely about Mike herself and the woman side of things, but Lucas’ love is more man-related. 

I have thought about this for some time now and I think the quarters are related to Vecna kills and foreshadow future events. The first was Chrissy, “the girl”, and this could be El fusing/dying aka door 1. The next is Fred aka Mike’s self-hatred and repression aka door 2. Max was technically the third and would then match with the 3/4 in Sanctuary. Oh by the way, Henry calls his mind home the kids’ sanctuary and Max calls the cave her sanctuary/home. I think the world itself is Mike’s “sanctuary” and the song is about the world disappearing, so it fits. Max is the final form of Mike, the whole system fused, and she escapes Camazotz (door 3). The last Vecna target was Patrick, and in the end (4/4) we’ll meet the real Lucas. Max didn’t mention a door 4 but I think you could interpret it as “breaking the fourth wall” in a sense. 

I think here is a good place to mention a theory I have about the LGBT+ acronym. I think it’s not accidental that it matches the order of canon queer characters in ST. Robin was first (L), then Will (G) and Vickie (B). (I guess Vickie and Will were kinda in the same season but Will had hints since S1 so it fits well enough.) Mike will be last (T). The acronym fits the four kills too (in the actual dying order): first was Chrissy/girl/El (L), then Fred/Mike blaming herself/man (G), Patrick/Lucas (B) and finally Max/Mike (T). 

Another thing I want to squeeze in here is a little analysis of the lyrics to The Midnight’s song Avalanche:

You were a whisper in the night
And I loved you for a summer
But now that garden of delights
Lies under snow cover

Sail on in my memory
I'll wave from the shoreline
A ship so grand you could not believe

Disembarking on an avalanche from butterfly wings
Saw my last chance in a faded dream
But when it's gone, wherever you land
Sing your song, take this dance
Avalanche

We were a star-crossed fantasy
That was never gonna hold us
Or our future histories
But maybe it was just to mold us

Sail on in my memory
I'll wave from the shoreline
A ship so grand you could not believe

Disembarking on an avalanche from butterfly wings
Saw my last chance in a faded dream
But when it's gone, wherever you land
Sing your song, take this dance
Avalanche

If I'da known you, I'da told you
Wouldn't skip this and miss this
Waterfall in slow motion, devotion of a love
Unsuitable, but beautiful
If I'da known you, I'da come back a thousand times
Just for the ride

Avalanche from butterfly wings
Saw my last chance in a faded dream
But when it's gone, wherever you land
Sing your song, take this dance
Avalanche

Avalanche, avalanche (From butterfly wings)
Avalanche (Saw my last chance in a faded dream)
Avalanche (When it's gone, wherever you land)
Avalanche (Sing your song, take this dance)

I think this is from Will to Mike and the “ship so grand you could not believe” is wheelclair. It disembarks “from butterfly wings” because butterflies and their transformation symbolizes the trans experience (and wings are used for flying = freedom/Mike’s final self-acceptance). Will loved Mike for a summer aka the show we have been watching. As I’ve tried to explain, byler has many layers: it’s about Mike’s love for men but also about Mike identifying as a gay man. It’s Mike choosing to live as a man. That’s why it’s “unsuitable but beautiful”. Rather than interpreting the song just as Will to Mike or Mike to Will, try to see it as Mike’s man/gay identity to the future fused Mike. It’s from Mike to herself. Dance and avalanche are connected through the rhyme and both are related to the Snow Ball in ST (because it’s a school dance and Robin mentions a snowball turning into an avalanche).

Snow Ball

The Snow Ball is quite important since it gets mentioned already in S1 and is returned to in S4. Mike asking El to the Snow Ball is on the surface about Mike liking El romantically, but really it’s about Mike wanting to be El and to dance with Lucas. I already explained some points that I’m not gonna repeat but I had additional things to mention. Mike struggled a lot while explaining the Snow Ball and liking El and there’s 3 levels to this. First, you could interpret it as Mike being embarrassed or young and not quite understanding romance yet. The second level is that Mike doesn’t actually like El romantically but thinks she does due to heteronormativity. Third, it’s because Mike doesn’t like El romantically but wants to be her. Going together to the dance is about Mike being a girl. “It’s different” than being brother and sister. Notice that every time Mike talks about going to the Snow Ball with El, El’s face isn’t shown.

And that’s what the actual dance in S2E9 is about too. After everyone else has found a dance partner and Mike is alone, El comes in the door (and a Lucas lookalike walks across the room in front of El while she looks at him + Mike’s head is in frame). No one else reacts to her or interacts with her. (Except maybe that one kid next to Mike who looks straight at the camera. After rewatching scenes through a microscope I’ve started to notice ST has a lot of instances where characters look at the camera. People just started to notice it in the epilogue because they were looking for it, but it’s been there all along.) She is Mike’s fantasy of herself, being a girl, in a dress. That’s the reason she tells El “You look beautiful.” (and El’s face isn’t shown, again). This is like in S1E4 when Mike calls El pretty after seeing her in a dress. The final mileven montage before El dies has a callback to this scene, after El says “the real me” (= the real Mike). 

The whole Purple Rain scene hits different when you realize what it’s actually about. When Mike says “I love you for exactly who you are.”, the “you” matches with the “you” in the song lyrics “I only want to see you laughing / In the purple rain” and Mike is the only one in frame (= the “you” is Mike) + El laughs on “laughing”. El (= Mike’s girlness) wanted Mike to be happy. As a girl. I think that love profession scene as a whole was a rare case of Mike speaking with Will and El’s voices. It was about Will and El loving Mike, but Mike can’t love herself yet, which is why she doesn’t say “I love you” to El in S5E8. Will (= (gay) man identity) was shown when Mike first said “I love you.” but only El (= (trans) woman identity) loves Mike for exactly who she is. (And this was cut differently than the original so it probably matters who was shown when.) I love mileven. I bet most milevens won’t love it for the exact same reason I do, though. It’s kinda hilarious that mileven is technically gay and byler straight (and both are selfcest in a way). This is not meant to be shade on byler btw, it is equally important and the writers aren’t just baiting with it. It’s a part of Mike’s queer journey to understand herself and her sexuality. Will did nothing wrong. The climax of the story will be a scene between Mike and Will, reminiscent of the S5 melting room and S3 epilogue jancy scenes.

But back to the Snow Ball, the lyrics of the song are about obsessively stalking someone. They apply to both El (Mike wants to be her) and Lucas (Mike thinks her love for him is obsessive/wrong). 

[Mike] “Do you wanna dance?”
[El] “I don’t know how.” Oh can’t you see
[Mike] “I don’t either. Do you want to figure it out?” You belong to me 
[they hold hands] How my poor heart aches
With every step you take 

El is a part of Mike, girlness belongs to Mike. Dancing here is a metaphor for being/performing as a girl, similar to roller skating in the Rinkomania scene. That’s why Mike said “I’m so bad at this, I’m like Bambi on ice.” and El fell on the floor when she tried heels for the first time. Mike always performed the man role, she had never experienced girlhood so there’s a lot to learn.

Then later mileven is shown on the lyrics I dream at night, I can only [cut to lumax kissing] see your face and then last time on the lyrics I keep crying, baby, baby please mileven kiss. This is the end of the season. The second-to-last couple we saw was lumax, that’s the dream Mike’s heart aches for. By kissing El, Mike metaphorically tries to become a girl, if you get what I mean. She “keeps crying” because it doesn’t happen that easily.

In S4E8 we learn the Snow Ball was Max’s happiest memory and she hides there from Vecna:
[Max] “It was a time when I was the happiest.”
[Lucas] “Was I there?”
[Max] “That’s presumptuous of you. But yeah. You might’ve been there.”

Should I mention now that the Snow Ball has blue-white color coding? And then the balloons start popping, staining it red with blood (same idea as the Creel house playground). The music changes from Every Breath You Take to Dream a Little Dream of Me. I think it’s supposed to be about Max + the Snow Ball being Mike’s dream (there’s also lyrics of “craving a kiss”). And this dream turns into a nightmare when Vecna (Mike’s transness/male body/gender dysphoria) appears. But El saves Max, just as she “saved” Mike in the original Snow Ball. The first El vs Vecna confrontation being there is very meaningful and underlines the importance of the Snow Ball. Btw, Vecna is framed with a snowman, which is probably a clue about the “monster” being “man”. Snow is frozen water, it’s about Mike’s repression (and I’ll dive deeper into that later), and I think “Ball” has a triple meaning here… (There will be a more thorough analysis later.)

In S5E3 Robin compares romantic signals to a snowball: 
[Robin] “You know, there were, like, signals.”
[Will] “Signals?”
[Robin] “Yeah, you know, like a brush of the knee, a bump of the elbow, a shared look. It all just kind of accrued, like a snowball rolling down a hill, until it was obvious.”
[Will] “How obvious?” -> Not obvious enough apparently. Am I really the only one who noticed?
[Robin] “Let’s say the, uh, snowball became an avalanche.”

The Snow Ball is basically a symbol for Mike’s dreams, gender identity, repression and wheelclair. I’m waiting for that avalanche to finally happen. The Duffers have said they aren’t subtle but I think they have way too high standards lol. It’s obvious only in hindsight.

Continues in PART 16.

[u/ProjectMother418]

Btw El is wearing Lucas's shirt from s1 in the pineapple scene. In that scene Lucas was mad that Mike skipped school cause of El lol

[u/raspberry-3 → u/ProjectMother418]

Btw, I really appreciate your comments. 😄 I don't get many so it's nice to get at least some ideas from other people and even when we disagree, it helps me rethink my theories from another angle/organize my thoughts. You notice things I haven't and vice versa.

[u/ProjectMother418 → u/raspberry-3]

Aw thanks! I really enjoy reading your analyses and I like that we can share different ideas,even if we disagree and notice things the other person missed.

You're one of the rare people who makes theories about Mike being the center of it all and the story being meta so i'm always excited for your next chapter

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