A timeline of the major events in 'Stranger Things' shows how Vecna, the Upside Down, and Eleven are all connected

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Kim RenfroJun 11, 2022, 19:34 IST
A timeline of the major events in 'Stranger Things' shows how Vecna, the Upside Down, and Eleven are all connected

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in "Stranger Things."Netflix

  • Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "Stranger Things" season four.
  • The new season of Netflix's show includes flashbacks to events, spanning from 1959 to 1986.
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The first season of "Stranger Things" told the story of secret government experiments on children gone wrong. Various kids were born with supernatural abilities, and imprisoned in the Hawkins National Lab (HNL) for testing.

When Eleven, an 11-year-old girl with "011" tattooed on her wrist, escaped the HNL in 1983, she encountered a group of boys who were looking for their friend Will, a fellow preteen who had been taken into an alternate dimension known as the Upside Down.

But now, in season four of the Netflix series, the timeline of events has been expanded all the way back to the 1950s. New scenes explained at last how and why Eleven accessed the Upside Down while inside the HNL.

With the following timeline, we break down exactly how the new villain in the Upside Down (Vecna) was created — and why he's been haunting Eleven and Hawkins since 1979. 

Note: Events marked with an asterisk (*) have been estimated based on context clues within the show.

*1947: Henry Creel is born shortly after his father, Victor, returned from fighting in World War II.

*1947: Henry Creel is born shortly after his father, Victor, returned from fighting in World War II.
The Creel Family in "Stranger Things."Netflix

We know from newspaper articles that Nancy and Robin found that Henry Creel was 12 years old when he killed his mother and sister, framing his dad for the gruesome murders in 1959.

That means he must have been born sometime around 1947, a couple years after WWII. Victor Creel was a soldier, haunted by a bombing he ordered on a family's house somewhere in Europe.

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1959: Twelve-year-old Henry Creel murders his mother and sister. Henry's father Victor is imprisoned for the crimes.

1959: Twelve-year-old Henry Creel murders his mother and sister. Henry's father Victor is imprisoned for the crimes.
Henry's nose bleeds when he uses his powers, just like Eleven.Netflix

As he later confessed to Eleven, Henry (AKA "One" or "Vecna") realized he had psionic powers (telekinesis, mind-control, the ability to make people see visions) when he was a young boy.

By the time he was 12, his mother had decided to call Dr. Martin Brenner to help figure out her son's strangeness. This enraged Henry, who later murdered his mother and sister using his supernatural abilities.

The effort Henry spent using his powers to kill his family left him in a coma. His dad, Victor, was taken away to Pennhurst and convicted for the death of his family.

But Henry hadn't died. Instead he had been secretly taken into Hawkins National Lab.

1959: Henry wakes up inside Hawkins National Lab under the care of Dr. Martin Brenner, who begins his experiments.

1959: Henry wakes up inside Hawkins National Lab under the care of Dr. Martin Brenner, who begins his experiments.
Dr. Martin Brenner tattooing Henry Creel with the numbers 001.Netflix

Henry told Eleven that Brenner didn't want to simply study his power — the doctor wanted to replicate them.

So far "Stranger Things" hasn't revealed exactly how Henry gained his powers. One plausible theory is that something Victor did during the war (perhaps involving nuclear weapons or chemicals) led to his child's genetic anomaly.

We know Brenner's team at the Department of Energy was trying to replicate Henry's powers by giving pregnant women drugs like LSD and leaving them in sensory deprivation tanks for long periods of time.

Brenner started tattooing the children he held in captivity, beginning with Henry as patient 001 — or "One."

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*1972: Terry Ives gives birth to her daughter inside Hawkins National Lab, and Brenner "abducts" the baby.

*1972: Terry Ives gives birth to her daughter inside Hawkins National Lab, and Brenner "abducts" the baby.
A shot of a newspaper article covering Terry Ives' lawsuit against the Department of Energy.Netflix

Sometime in the early '70s, Terry Ives gave birth to her daughter, Jane.

According to Terry, she woke up without a baby and was told she had miscarried. But Terry suspected the truth and went public with accusations that Dr. Brenner had "abducted" her child and was using her superpowers to fight the Russians.

When Terry successfully broke into the Hawkins National Lab to try and find Jane, she was captured by Brenner's team and electrocuted until her brain function was all but destroyed.

Jane was raised, along with the other children, by Brenner as number 011 — or "Eleven."

*1976: Kali Prasad, or "008," escapes the lab.

*1976: Kali Prasad, or "008," escapes the lab.
Baby Eleven/Jane and Eight/Kali.Netflix

As revealed in season two of "Stranger Things," only one child managed to escape Hawkins National Lab alive.

That was Kali, known in the lab as "Eight." Her powers were centered on creative illusions, a skill that likely came in handy when she made it out of the lab. She fled to Chicago and started life as an outcast who hunted down former HNL workers and killed them for revenge.

Though we don't know the exact year Kali escaped, we do know that she was no longer in the lab on the day Henry killed all the other children except Eleven.

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September 8, 1979: Henry plots the Massacre at Hawkins National Lab, and Eleven sends him into the Upside Down.

September 8, 1979: Henry plots the Massacre at Hawkins National Lab, and Eleven sends him into the Upside Down.
Eleven and 001 in the Hawkins National Lab.Netflix

Henry, now in his early 30s, was forced to work as an orderly at HNL, assisting in the experiments and overseeing the other supernatural children.

For whatever reason, he identified Eleven as the likeliest target for his manipulations and got her to remove a device Brenner had implanted in his neck. The device (called a "soteria," which we explained in our analysis here) had prevented Henry from using his powers or escaping the lab.

Once the device was out, Henry set out to kill every last person inside the lab — including over a dozen children.

When Eleven realized what Henry had done, she summoned an enormous amount of power and defeated the older man. Her psionic abilities were so advanced (even at the age of about 7 years old) that she opened a gateway between dimensions and banished Henry into the Upside Down.

*1981: Eleven, now the only child left in HNL, tests her powers on soda cans, a cat, and in the Void where she spies on a Russian man.

*1981: Eleven, now the only child left in HNL, tests her powers on soda cans, a cat, and in the Void where she spies on a Russian man.
Eleven in a flashback shown in "Stranger Things" season one.Netflix

As the Duffer Brothers explained in an interview with Variety, the Massacre at Hawkins Lab was so traumatic for Eleven that she effectively blocked out all memories from 1979 and earlier. That's why her grammar was so limited again, and we saw in flashbacks that she had to be re-trained to use basic powers.

Brenner stopped trying to replicate the supernatural abilities on other children, making Eleven the sole test subject in the lab.

She was able to enter into some sort of subconscious Void and listen to people speak and see some of their surroundings. The Department of Energy seemed to be planning on using Eleven to spy on Russians (and maybe even remotely assassinate them).

But while she was in the Void one day, Eleven encountered a Demogorgon — one of the creatures who live in the Upside Down.

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November 6, 1983: Eleven escapes HNL and a Demogorgon begins hunting in Hawkins. Will Byers disappears into the Upside Down.

November 6, 1983: Eleven escapes HNL and a Demogorgon begins hunting in Hawkins. Will Byers disappears into the Upside Down.
Noah Schnapp plays Will Byers.Netflix

The first season of "Stranger Things" begins in 1983.

Eleven was told by Dr. Brenner to "make contact" with the Demogorgon, likely because he didn't realize it was a creature linked to the dimension where Eleven had banished Henry.

When Eleven touched the Demogorgon inside the Void, she became so terrified that her powers burst out of her, and a Gate to the Upside Down was opened inside the lab. Somewhere among the chaos of the Gate opening, Eleven escaped HNL through the drain pipe Henry had shown her years ago.

Meanwhile, the Demogorgon entered Hawkins and chased little Will Byers home. Will vanished into the Upside Down, and the Demogorgon continued hunting people in Hawkins.

November 1983: Eleven befriends Mike, Dustin, and Lucas. In order to save them from the Demogorgon, she once again banishes the creature (and herself) into the Upside Down.

November 1983: Eleven befriends Mike, Dustin, and Lucas. In order to save them from the Demogorgon, she once again banishes the creature (and herself) into the Upside Down.
Eleven and the Demogorgon facing off in the season one finale of "Stranger Things."Netflix

Eleven, who is now 11 years old in 1983, experienced life outside HNL for the first time when Mike took her in.

After defeating the Demogorgon (which may have been acting on Henry's orders), Eleven vanished inside the Upside Down and then escaped — eventually going to live with Hopper in a secret cabin in the woods.

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June 28, 1984: The Russians test their prototype gate-opener.

June 28, 1984: The Russians test their prototype gate-opener.
The third season of "Stranger Things" opens with a scene, which takes place before the events of season two.Neflix

The third season of "Stranger Things" starts off with a scene in Russia. This sequence happened in the summer of 1984 — it was a flashback to what was happening before the main events in season two, which took place in the fall of 1984.

This machine test fails, but we know the team of scientists continued working on their secret project and moved to Hawkins to set up a new laboratory while all the events of "Stranger Things" season two were taking place.

The Russians likely learned about the possibility of opening inter-dimensional gates during their spying on the US Government as the Cold War was underway.

October 1984: Henry begins haunting Will Byers, this time with a creature called the Mind Flayer.

October 1984: Henry begins haunting Will Byers, this time with a creature called the Mind Flayer.
The Mind Flayer in season two.Netflix

Since we know all the creatures in the Upside Down are connected, like a "hive mind," the logic follows that Henry (who by now has transformed into "Vecna") is controlling the Upside Down in an attempt to exact revenge on Eleven and re-enter (or take over) the real world.

Throughout season two, we see the Mind Flayer target Will for possession. Henry wants the Gate to stay open and expand, so he can send more and more creatures (like demodogs and Demogorgons) into the dimension where Eleven is now hiding at Hopper's cabin.

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November 1984: Eleven uses her superior powers to once again defeat Henry and close the now-enormous Gate located at HNL.

November 1984: Eleven uses her superior powers to once again defeat Henry and close the now-enormous Gate located at HNL.
Eleven beating the Mind Flayer in the season two finale.Netflix

After reuniting with her sister Kali and learning how to expand her powers, Eleven returned to Hawkins to save her new friends and family from the Mind Flayer.

She seals the Gate, though a small part of the Mind Flayer was trapped in her dimension (the piece that had possessed Will throughout the season).

December 1984: Eleven and the other kids attend the Snow Ball, but Henry is keeping a watch on them through the Mind Flayer in the Upside Down.

December 1984: Eleven and the other kids attend the Snow Ball, but Henry is keeping a watch on them through the Mind Flayer in the Upside Down.
The season two finale shot.Netflix

As the season of "Stranger Things" closes with a winter dance at Hawkins Middle School, we saw that the Mind Flayer (and therefore Henry) is still watching Eleven through dimensions.

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July 1985: Henry once again terrorizes Hawkins using the Mind Flayer, and "bites" Eleven (causing her to lose her powers).

July 1985: Henry once again terrorizes Hawkins using the Mind Flayer, and "bites" Eleven (causing her to lose her powers).
The Mind Flayer used exploded bodies to take this form inside Hawkins.Netflix

The small piece of the Mind Flayer that was left in Eleven's dimension managed to accumulate a physical body made out of exploded rats and humans.

Henry (again, through the Mind Flayer) possessed Billy Hargrove and terrorized Eleven and her friends as he's determined to find and kill her.

A Gate had been opened once again in Hawkins, this time by the Russians who had infiltrated the town and built a secret lab. Hopper and Joyce figured out how to close the Gate by shutting down the Russian machine.

Meanwhile, the Mind Flayer had managed to injure Eleven by "biting" her leg and leaving some of itself behind. She used her powers to get the piece of the Mind Flayer out of her skin, but for some reason, this painful experience created a mental block around her powers.

The Mind Flayer was only defeated when the Gate was once again closed, cutting Henry off from his physical form in the real world.

October 1985: Eleven and the Byers go into hiding in California.

October 1985: Eleven and the Byers go into hiding in California.
Lucas and Will hug goodbye.Netflix

Determined to get a fresh start for Eleven and the rest of the Byers family, Joyce moves out to California.

Eleven starts living as "Jane Hopper" — taking the first name her mother gave her and the last name of her adopted dad, Jim Hopper.

There Eleven starts high school and improves her grammar. But her powers were still frustratingly gone.

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March 21, 1986: Henry kills Chrissy and begins hunting other teens in Hawkins.

March 21, 1986: Henry kills Chrissy and begins hunting other teens in Hawkins.
Vecna is the villain of "Stranger Things 4."Netflix

At the start of season four, "Stranger Things" brings us to the spring of 1986 — nearly seven years after Eleven banished Henry into the Upside Down.

Once again plotting a way to get to Eleven and take over her dimension, Henry begins haunting and murdering select teenagers in Hawkins (Chrissy, Fred, and Max to start). Perhaps he thinks the attacks will draw Eleven out of hiding, or maybe there's a bigger plan at hand that we haven't seen yet.

Either way, this is the first time we see what Henry looks like after so many years inside the Upside Down. He can physically tether himself to the "hive mind" of the Upside Down, and use his telepathic powers to make victims see visions and transport their subconscious into the Upside Down where he rules.

March 1986: Eleven undergoes a special procedure to help her recall her memory of Henry so she can re-access her powers.

March 1986: Eleven undergoes a special procedure to help her recall her memory of Henry so she can re-access her powers.
Eleven inside the NINA Project tank in "Stranger Things" season four.Netflix

Once again under the guidance of Dr. Brenner, Eleven (now about 14 years old) uses the NINA system to re-live her memories of HNL. She's finally able to remember being a younger girl and how she fought and defeated Henry.

In the final episode of season four, part one, Eleven seems to have regained her supernatural abilities as she re-experiences the memory of opening the first Gate to the Upside Down.

Will she be able to defeat Henry once again?

Fans will have to wait and see how her future unfolds in the final two episodes of "Stranger Things" season four, which premieres on July 1.

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