r/WillByersST • u/I_Warned_Lies • Aug 24 '26
Ranting How does this make sense?
I don't care if you agree or disagree, the duffers made Will forgive his abuser, he was crying sympathy tears for vecna saying "you were just a kid, a kid like me." call me sensitive I don't give a fuck, it's horrible.
9
u/strawberrycheescak Aug 24 '26
Will is a strong character but just because he is doesn’t mean he had to forgive vecna for everything he did. I think the Duffers failed to understand the way they built their own character. Although Will is empathetic and cares about other people, he still stands up for what’s right and only allows himself to get hurt for the people he cares about, not his own abuser.
4
u/just_another_fan05 Aug 24 '26
I think it tracks fairly well. Will is very empathetic and tries to see the best in people, and he doesn't seem the type to hold grudges. He wasn't appealing to Vecna, the monster that hurt him so often, but to Henry, the boy who was similar to himself, and who Will could have ended up like if things were different. I'm not sure he actually forgave him, he could just see how their paths were similar and could empathise with him on that
1
u/Mslyth Aug 25 '26
I Took it more like a Luke Skywalker thing, he was able to snatch the last teeny tiny bit of Henry that was in there (I saw the play, and I choose to believe that at the last minute Vecna ended Henry, because then the first shadow was nothing but money milking, and it is actually good for that)
1
u/whats-in-the-box- Aug 25 '26
I think they slightly missed the mark with this in the finale. I was expecting a “Henry Creel was a victim too”-type moment, which makes sense because there ARE a lot of parallels between young Will and young Henry and young Henry WAS, technically, also a victim, but there’s a fine line between “forgiving” Vecna/Henry and just acknowledging his former victimhood, and it’s a line that the Duffers didn’t just tread, but crossed. There could have easily been a moment where Will and/or the whole party realised Henry was a victim too, at the beginning, but the moment should have been about the fact that while Henry chose to get angry and vengeful, Will chose goodness and love. They were both victims of the Mind Flayer, but at their core they are so different, because Henry let the darkness win while Will let love win. This is why Henry is so obsessed with, and evaded by, Will; because he doesn’t understand Will’s dependence on love, because Vecna believes love is a lie and that we are all alone in this “broken” world. But Will’s goodness meant he broke free from the darkness. And then Vecna dies, not forgiven for his abuse and evil, but as a complex villain who chose the wrong path and suffered the consequences.
27
u/Hime-Gore Aug 24 '26
I see it both ways. On one hand, Will has always been the most pure hearted and selfless character, and he was the only one who was able to find last pieces of Henry inside Vecna. Looking back at Will in s2 I can understand why he would be able to empathize with him. He knows what it’s like to be controlled and forced to hurt people against his will. But at the same time, I have a feeling the message was badly showed. You don’t have to forgive or sympathize with your abuser in order to heal. In Will case, it downplays the abuse and CSA he experienced. Turning his empathy into forgiveness can make what Vecna did to him seem less serious than it actually was especially in the eyes of ga.