Stranger Things season 4 is currently streaming, and there’s a new big villain hiding in the Upside Down. The evil entity that Eleven and the group must confront this year, like past villains in the series—remember the Demogorgon and Mind Flayer?—takes its name from a famous Dungeons & Dragons monster. Vecna, the wicked arch-lich, has been threatening Hawkins, Indiana for decades, much as Vecna the evil arch-lich has been threatening D&D players.
While the villains in Stranger Things aren’t exact replicas of the D&D creatures they’re based on, the show’s protagonists, like the series’ creators, the Duffer Brothers, are D&D fans. As a consequence, there are various similarities between D&D and Stranger Things, not least the arrival of Vecna in season 4. Before you watch the new Stranger Things episodes, here’s all you need to know about the famous creature.
Who Is Vecan?
According to Chris Perkins, game design architect at D&D, Vecna, a creature from the early days of D&D history, was not a completely realized character when he made his appearance in “The White Box,” the very first edition of D&D issued by inventors Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974.
That’s partly because the original game had a “very rudimentary presentation” compared to the extensive narrative seen in modern D&D, and partly because Vecna was originally just that: bits.
“Originally, Vecna was this mysterious person. Perkins says TIME, “We didn’t know much about him other than something occurred and this strong wizard became an undead wizard and eventually was destroyed, leaving only an eyeball and a left hand.” “In the early days of D&D, they were enormous power artifacts.”
Vecna became a legendary character whose relics may be used by Dungeon Masters (DMs) as prizes for their players. Players must have their characters slice out their own eye or chop off their own arm in order to employ Vecna’s Hand or Eye.
Vecna was a long-vanquished lich—a wizard who used dark forbidden magics to keep themselves effectively immortal but in a perpetual state of undead decay—from the start, and while DMs were free to use their imaginations to flesh him out into a proper villain, his only official appearance in the old D&D books was as two magic items made from his body’s remains.
Read More: Results of The World’s Strongest Man Competition in 2022: Who Is the World’s, Strongest Man?
The Second Edition of The Game.
Vecna, on the other hand, received additional character development in the game’s Second Edition, which was released in 1989. DMs might have their players engage with or battle in adventures with exciting titles like Die Vecna Die! in Second Edition.
Gradually, a motif emerged: in his drive for greater knowledge and power, this once-human man would use evil abilities, ultimately climbing to godhood—and beyond.
“He was a mortal,” Perkins adds, “but he’s constantly seeking for the next great thing.” “For a long time, Godhood was a type of quest for him. That probably didn’t satisfy him when he eventually got it with Fourth Edition. He now aspires to be the greatest of the gods, to vanquish all opponents, and to discover the mysteries of the cosmos itself.”
What Precisely Does Vecna Want?
Vecna is attempting to create additional portals to the Upside Down in order to aid the Mind Flayer, the Upside Down’s main evil, in his attempt to take over the world, as Dustin deduces. Vecna looks to be more powerful than the average Demogorgon.
Vecna leaves a portal to the Upside Down in each location where he murders someone, as seen by the “Watergate” under Lover’s Lake, where basketball star Patrick was abducted, and the gate in the ceiling of Eddie’s trailer, where Chrissy was slain.
When someone from the actual world makes a psychic link with an entity from Upside Down, such as when Eleven used her psychic abilities to contact a Demogorgon, it seems like a gate develops. Vecna is doing just that with his victims, infiltrating their thoughts before killing them.
The gates might also explain why Vecna’s killings cause a rush of energy, such as when the kids’ flashlights exploded in the Creel home after Patrick was slain. These gates, as we’ve seen before, hone immense energy.
How to Play Dungeons & Dragons (d&d).
How future Stranger Things episodes could be influenced by Dungeons & Dragons. With one season remaining, Stranger Things may use the name of another D&D creature for the next bag man.
Perkins, who claims to have no insider knowledge, says he likes Loth, the Demon Queen of Spiders, but that he’d like to see Orcus, a Demon Lord and lord of the undead, appear on the program.
“As the Prince of Undeath, Orcus holds the key of lichdom, he has a relationship to Vecna that few people are aware of,” Perkins explains. “He essentially only offers it to strong wizards who show him respect or honor in some manner.” So it’s conceivable that Vecna pried Orcus’ lichdom secrets from him.” You heard it here first if Orcus appears in Stranger Things 4. To use D&D jargon, it’s called divination magic.
