Camazotz

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Camazotz
Type	Mental space, memories
Inhabitants	Vecna † (19??-1987) Max Mayfield (1986-1987) Holly Wheeler (1987) Benji (1987) Valerie (1987) Roger Ames (1987) Derek Turnbow (1987) Mary (1987) Debbie Miller (1987) Thomas Hall (1987) Joshua Gunn (1987) Glenn (1987) Rebecca (1987) Wendy (1987)

The mind and memories of Henry Creel existed in one form as "a world of a thousand memories." This memory-world functioned as a prison for the minds of Vecna's victims, including Holly Wheeler and Max Mayfield. Unique among the memory-world's many areas and memories was the Mind Lair, a place which apparently functioned as the "hive mind's central command".

After Holly Wheeler's consciousness was sent to the memory-world, Holly nicknamed the world "Camazotz" after a similar location from the novel A Wrinkle in Time.

History

1986

On March 24, 1986, Vecna possessed Max Mayfield and attempted to kill her, but Max ran and found a way into Vecna's mind.

On March 27, 1986, after Vecna killed Max and opened the curse gates, she was dead for over a minute before hearing something calling to her. She awoke on the floor of the Rainbow Room on September 8, 1979, after the Hawkins Lab massacre. She freaked out upon seeing all the dead bodies around her before seeing a wooden door and a school bell ringing. As Max moved towards the door, she was transported to Hawkins High School not realizing she was in 1959 until finding Joyce Byers' flyer for her play Oklahoma. Max saw that Henry was in the play and realized that she was observing his memories as she was trapped inside of them.

1986-1987

She tried to escape, moving from memory to memory but she became lost, ending up right back in the Rainbow Room. Before leaving the room, she heard something in the distance. She approached the covered mirror as "Running Up That Hill" played faintly. She realized Lucas Sinclair hadn't given up on her so she ripped through the mirror, ending up on March 18 - the day that Vecna cursed Max. She still had the music to guide her, so she followed it but she found new memories - Vecna taking her mom's place, running through Vecna's mind lair, Billy Hargrove speaking to her at the Roane Hill Cemetery and her time being attacked by Vecna.

Eventually, the memories ended and she arrived at the Creel House on the same day he took her and she ended up in 1987. She entered the attic of the house, ending up in Vecna's mind lair once more, but this time she saw an opening where Lucas was playing music for her in the hospital. She was close enough to freedom that she felt Lucas' hand on her, but when she began running toward the opening her heart rate rose in the real world, but the tape stopped. She called for Lucas before Henry showed his face causing her to run from the house, through the woods and into a cave, where Henry transformed his hand into the claw that kills his victims. Max ran into a cave and stopped as Henry didn't enter the cave. He was terrified of the cave and left Max alone. She realized she was safe there, before making it her home and accepting her fate.

1987

On November 3, 1987, Holly Wheeler was in her bedroom before a Demo opened a rift in her ceiling, attacking her. She escaped before running to her mom Karen Wheeler in her bathroom. A battle ensues with the Demo attacking her father, Ted Wheeler, before injuring Karen and taking Holly into the Upside Down. The Demo dragged Holly all the way to a wall, where her boot was left behind. Somewhere in the other dimension, Holly was transported to 1959, where she and Henry - as Mr. Whatsit - entered the Creel House. There, Henry made Holly a grandiose breakfast before telling her that her parents are in the best hands and improving with each other that passes and when they heal, they will join her with him. He says that she is safe from the monsters before telling her that he'll make Derek Turnbow's favorite pancakes. Holly says she doesn't like him and Mr. Whatsit tells her that if Derek is mean to her, he'll send Derek back to the Monsters. Outside, Henry tells Holly that he will leave for the day, but not to go into the woods because monsters live there. Henry leaves Holly her favorite song, "I Think We're Alone Now" - accompanied with a radio. In the woods, someone watches Holly and she clutches her "Holly the Heroic" necklace before reentering the house, alone.

A while later, she plays the song and sings along as she bakes cakes, watches television and tries on Alice Creel's old dresses, before landing on a blue one. Holly rummages through the house and finds a photo of Henry wearing a boy scouts outfit. She finds his bedroom and takes a telescope and his ascot, putting it on. While upstairs, she hears the doorbell being run frantically. As she speaks out calling to Henry and Derek, the person leaves but not before placing a note in the mailbox, telling Holly to meet them at the "X" as Henry. Holly hesitates, telling Tiffany that Henry told her to never go into the woods. She takes off her necklace, asking "Holly the Heroic" what she would do, before grabbing a fire poker and a hooded cape heading off into the woods. She follows the map before passing dirt rocks with scorpions on them and ending up at a rock formation that has a cave inside. As she approaches the cave, she calls out to Henry and sees movement making her run back through the woods. The figure peruses Holly through the woods where she falls and scrapes her knee before hiding under some rocks. The figure slowly approaches and kneels before Holly revealing themself to be Max Mayfield.

At the creek, Max apologizes for scaring Holly stating she was excited to see someone after not seeing anyone in a long time. Holly doesn't break until Max asks if she remembers her as she was always at her house. Holly remembers Max as a skateboarder who never takes off her walkman. The question of how Max is there when she's in a coma at Hawkins General was raised before Max takes Holly to her cave, which is now her home. As Holly spirals, Max told her that Henry wasn't in trouble with the monsters and that she wrote the note. Max tells Holly that she didn't want to lie but Holly thinks that Max is a monster and Max tells her that Mike Wheeler tried to get a "hot orange" mohawk before Nancy Wheeler stopped him prompting Holly to believe and follow Max into the cave. There, Max tells Holly everything that happened in the past 18 months, before telling her that she needed to make sure Henry didn't know she had left the house because Max had a plan to get both of them back to Hawkins.

Vecna arrives with the other kidnapped children and reveals his plan to merge the Rightside Up with another world. However, Vecna also reveals that he plans to remain in Camazotz permanently, meaning that Max and Holly won't have a chance to escape. Learning that Derek is working with the Party, the girls send him to serve as a distraction so they can make their way through Holly's memories to an exit. However, as they find a door to the Mind Lair in the memory of Holly's abduction, Max and Holly are attacked by Vecna who tries to kill Max. Having connected to the hive mind in an attempt to kill Vecna, Will Byers restrains Vecna and buys Max and Holly time to escape. However, Will is overpowered by Vecna and trapped within his mind.

Vecna traps Will within a memory of his imprisonment four years earlier at the Hawkins Public Library. Vecna extracts the location of Max's physical body in the real world from his mind before Will is rescued by Eleven.

The two girls return to the cave and at Holly's insistance, explore the area for a potential escape route through Vecna's traumatic memory. They eventually find a mining tunnel that contains a memory of young Henry attacking a man with a rock and opening a mysterious briefcase.

On the other end of the tunnel, as Lucas plays "Running Up That Hill" for Max after learning of her escape attempt from Will, the girls find an exit into the Mind Lair. In the Mind Lair, Max finally discovers a gateway back to the real world, where her friends have been fighting off the Demos to protect her body. Max explains that the music serves as a powerful connection to the real world — to home — and that Holly must find something equally significant to her. This proves to be "Holly the Heroic", with Max pointing out how truly heroic Holly has been. A gateway appears for Holly as well, but Max warns the younger girl that her journey will be more difficult: Holly will awaken wherever Vecna has hidden her physical body, likely somewhere in the Upside Down. Max instructs Holly to hide in the Wheeler house in the Upside Down, where the Party will eventually find her. Both girls run toward their gateways, and Max awakens in Lucas' arms at the hospital.

However, Holly doesn't wake up in the Upside Down but rather the Abyss. Holly briefly manages to escape through a gate to the Upside Down, but she is recaptured by Vecna and reinserted into the creature.

As Vecna begins to merge the two worlds, Eleven, Max and Kali Prasad enter Camazotz to stop him. The two manage to find Vecna just in time to stop the merger, exposing the truth about Vecna to the kids. Learning the Party's plan from Eleven's mind, Vecna returns to body in the Abyss before Kali can kill him. Eleven, Max, Kali and Holly lead the kids to the cave for safety until Vecna can be defeated. However, the three vanish from Camazotz after Vecna tricks Jim Hopper into waking up Eleven.

As Vecna reconnects himself to the creature and returns to Camazotz, Holly leads the kids into cave, but Vecna follows them in despite his terror at what's contained within the cave. Inside, Vecna is confronted with the memory of his first encounter with the Mind Flayer as a child and his corruption by the entity. Witnessing this, Will Byers realizes that the Mind Flayer was keeping Vecna from seeing the truth, that he was originally a victim as much as Will and the others, but Vecna refuses to turn on the Mind Flayer. During the final battle, Eleven tears Vecna from his connection to the creature, returning him to the real world.

After killing the Mind Flayer's physical form, the Party removes the tendrils from Holly and the other kids, returning them to the real world. Camazotz is presumably destroyed when Vecna is subsequently killed by Joyce Byers.

Description

to be added

Sublocations

Memories

• Creel House
  • 1959
  • March 27, 1986 - the night Max died and the curse gates opened.
• Rainbow Room, Hawkins National Laboratory
  • September 8, 1979 - aftermath of the Hawkins Lab massacre.
• Hawkins High School
  • School corridor, 1959
  • School theater stage, 1959
  • Math classroom, March 18, 1986 - the day Henry cursed Max.
• Hawkins Public Library
  • November 12, 1983 - the day Will was imprisoned in the Upside Down version of the library by Vecna and the Demogorgon.
• Rachel cave system
  • 1950s - the day Henry was first exposed to the Mind Flayer.
• Wheeler House
  • The basement, October 31, 1987 - the night Henry started stalking Holly.
  • November 3, 1987 - the night Holly got kidnapped.
• Hawkins Elementary School
  • Library, November 1, 1987 - the day Holly first met "Mr. Whatsit".
  • Playground, November 3, 1987 - the last time Holly saw "Mr. Whatsit".

Other areas

• Mind Lair

Known visitors

• Vecna
• Max Mayfield
• Benji
• Valerie
• Roger
• Holly Wheeler
• Derek Turnbow
• Mary
• Debbie Miller
• Thomas
• Joshua
• Glenn
• Rebecca
• Wendy
• Will Byers
• Eleven
• Kali Prasad

Behind the scenes

to be added.

Gallery

The Creel House in Camazotz.

The Rainbow Room in Camazotz.

Hawkins National Laboratory in Camazotz.

Hawkins High School in Camazotz.

The cave in Camazotz.

Trivia

Cover of A Wrinkle in Time posted to Instagram by Ross Duffer

• The nickname "Camazotz" was conceived by Holly Wheeler, inspired by a planet controlled by the entity IT in the novel A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.
  • The name "Camazotz" has various meanings and associations:
    • "Camazotz" originates from Mayan mythology; Camazotz are bat-like spirits or demons that serve the lords of the underworld. In the Kʼicheʼ language, Camazotz means "death bat".
    • In Madeleine L'Engle's science fantasy novel A Wrinkle in Time, "Camazotz" is the name of a dark planet ensnared by a malevolent presence. During the filming of Season 5, Ross Duffer made an early hint to the novel's significance by posting a picture of the novel's cover on Instagram.
    • This location is the main plot point of episode six, titled "Escape From Camazotz".