Following social convention, I will not reveal a lot of sensitive details regarding Stranger Things and its season and series finale because not everyone has a chance to watch it yet. I began watching the series because parishioners told me about it, especially its unique and nostalgic setting of a small town named Hawkins in the 80s. It was good at first, but it was not my favorite series because I think it began to drag on a little bit. I gave up on watching it for a while, but decided to finish it when Netflix said it was going to end the series with Season 5. For the purpose of this reflection, I would like to solely focus on one character, Henry Creel, highlighting the corruption that made him into Vecna, the main antagonist of the series.
Before becoming known by the main characters as Vecna, he was simply Henry Creel. He was born to Victor and Virginia and had a sister named Alice. After moving with his family to Hawkins, Henry discovered that he possessed telepathic powers and used them to kill his mother and sister, which caused him to fall into a coma because he exhausted his power. After Henry woke, he was taken by the evil Dr. Brenner and experimented on by him and his team. As the years progressed, Henry became a supervisor for the other children, slowly revealing his true nature as a psychopath. He was gradually disfigured by its abnormal lightning and toxic atmosphere in the Abyss, which transformed him into the being known as Vecna. As Vecna, he eventually used his powers to control the monsters and became the ruler of the Upside Down, serving as the general and hive mind to all the creatures of the dimension.
Throughout his childhood, Henry was treated as an outcast, and the majority of people around him considered him “broken” beyond repair. Henry felt misunderstood and separated from his family. At some point, Henry visited a mineshaft in some caves at Rachel, Nevada, where he encountered a scientist who shot him in the hand. He bludgeoned the man with a rock. Opening a case in the scientist’s possession, Henry touched a stone made of the Mind Flayer‘s particles. He was transported to another dimension where the entity told him to “find me” and infected the young boy through his hand wound. The scientist tried to warn Henry to resist the Mind Flayer, or it would consume all, but he killed him with his newfound powers.
This memory would subsequently be blocked by the Mind Flayer to keep Henry from discovering the truth, manifesting as a cave in his mind that the adult Henry was too afraid to enter. In the last episode, the telepathic conversation between him and Will revealed the real reason and his ultimate corruption:
Will: It wasn’t you. It was never you.
Henry: Leave me alone.
Will: That’s why the Mind Flayer didn’t want you in the cave. It didn’t want you to remember.
Henry: I said leave me alone.
Will: You were just a kid, a kid like me. And it used you. It used you to bring it here. You’re just like me, Henry. A vessel. But you can resist it. Help us fight it. Don’t let it win, Henry, please. Don’t let it win.
Henry: No. It showed me the truth. It showed me that this world is broken.
Will: Don’t listen to it, Henry. It is controlling you right now.
Henry: It has never controlled me. And I never controlled it. Don’t you see, William? I could have resisted it. But I chose to join it. It needs… me. And I need it. We…are… one.
You see? It was his thirst for power that gave him (false) “permission” to do evil. He lets go and lets it drive him into doing the unimaginable things. He thinks he is in control, but he is consumed by the evil that controls him deep from within. He might appear cordial and nice to others (Mr. Whatsit to the children), but he manipulates them to become his instruments to secure control. He is never happy. He is always miserable because he is consumed by his own thirst for power. The paradox is that evil is able to consume and control him because he allows himself to be consumed in order to be in control. He thought he was fixing and saving the world in his own way, but he ultimately acts like a psychopathic dictator, false savior and redeemer, only using others to get what he wants because of his thirst for power.
I focused on Henry Creel and his becoming as Vecna because it highlights the corruption of sin. The desire to be in control and to be the most powerful is very attractive at first, but it pulls one in, keeps one trapped, and destroys the person deep from within — as if there is no escape. The poison of power and its numerous sins are so addictive that it often slowly choke and destroys the person without him or her knowing it.
Similarly, we can see the corruption of sin from my favorite movie series of all time, The Lord of the Rings. We see this sad reality within the character of Gollum himself, which creates an internal conflict for the creature. The weak hobbit is often suppressed and controlled by the more powerful alter-ego that wants the ring at all costs! He lusts for the ring but also, at the same time, wants to be free from it. J.R.R. Tolkien, the famous Catholic writer of the series, said that he “loved and hated [the Ring], just as he loved and hated himself.” This poor, pitiful creature constantly lusts and chases after it, to the point that he forgets who he really is!
The ring brings him hellish enslavement and dependency on it, but once he lost it to Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit series, he miserably spent centuries looking for it. When he finds it again with Bilbo‘s nephew, Frodo Baggins, he becomes so distraught and wants it for himself again. He ultimately goes to his own demise when he tries — his last time — to get the ring from Frodo. He falls to the Cracks of Doom itself and dies with his most loved and hated object.
We see a lot of similarities in the characters of Henry Creel, who turned to Vecna, and Smeagol, who is controlled by his alter ego Gollum, because both of their thirst and lust for power, evil, and attachment to sin. We must let go of our own little self-centered desire for control, pride, power, or whatever lesser goods for the most precious prize in the world, which is God and His infinite wisdom and goodness. This letting go of our insecurities, false comforts, and lesser goods, even the people we love at times, will seem like a cross — heavy and hard — to bear, but we must continually do so if we want to be Christians.
The Almighty has to be our first, foremost, and greatest good, and nothing else — no one else — can compare to Him! The cost of genuine discipleship will be hard and heavy to bear at times, but the Lord has to be the One we love more than anything and everything else. Hence, only when we personally know and embrace our first and foremost important priority — God and our eternal salvation — can we love everyone else as He loves us. This is what separates goodness from evil, lying to make ourselves into false heroes instead of seeking a virtuous, heroic, and theocentric life that seeks the greater good for all instead of our own pathetic goods.
As believers, we are invited to put God first and to do everything out of love for Him instead of chasing after human possessions or building things for ourselves. Once we love Him above all things, we can then really love Him in all things and everyone around us. Each and every moment, we are called to let go of our lesser and egoistical desires to love and embrace the One who is truly precious and worthy of our love above all things. Only in His love can we embrace all out of genuine, theocentric love for others!
As we wrap up the Christmas season and transition into Ordinary Time, we are reminded that the Lord Jesus Christ had everything at His command and could choose to live as whatever He wanted, but He chose to be poor, to be near the forgotten, ignored, and abandoned. The Savior chose simplicity because He wanted our love, not just some pretentious titles, riches, wealth, or achievements. He just wants our genuine heart, love, and devotion! Therefore, let us ask ourselves… What are we looking for in life? What are we expecting or wanting from God and others? What are we going to share with others through the ordinary seasons and moments of life? Furthermore, how will you and I rise above evil and let faith be permeated and integrated into our everyday living? Will our faith and worship become a regular part of life, sometimes, or only once in a while?
Evil corrupts. It destroys. Its powerful tools, sin, controls us. It enslaves us. Both evil and its sins consume us deep from within. They turn us against one another as we objectify, manipulate, and hurt others.
It is easy to become Vecna or Gollum if we allow sin to consume us! We will lose our true humanity if we give in to our fragile egoistical thirst for power and control, and want to keep it at all costs. We will hurt others and ourselves if we do not turn to God, rely on Him, and learn to be humble, genuine, and self-giving like Him. The Son of God emptied Himself to become and live like us in all things but sin because the Savior of the world really loves us. I pray that each and every one of us, too, will be able to live and share that love with others so we can all know the true freedom and joy to be able to live beyond ourselves, and to become more Christ-like in our lives and faith journey.
— (The picture of the character “Henry Creel” is taken from the Stranger Things series by 21 Laps Entertainment) —