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You know, out of all of my brother's friends, you're my favorite. You've always been my favorite. Yeah. Girls this age are ... dumb. But give them a few years, and they'll wise up. You're gonna drive them nuts.
— Nancy to Dustin, December 15, 1984


Nancy Wheeler, portrayed by Natalia Dyer, is a main character in Stranger Things. Nancy is an aspiring journalist, and an ally to "the Party". She is the older sister of Mike Wheeler, the former girlfriend of Steve Harrington, and the current girlfriend of Jonathan Byers.

In the fall of 1983, Nancy was a straightforward teenager with a straightforward life, unsure whether to prioritize spending time with her best friend Barbara Holland, or with her new boyfriend, Steve Harrington. However, everything changed when Barb vanished without a trace, prompting Nancy to team up with loner Jonathan Byers, whose younger brother, Will, had also vanished. Slowly, the two put together the pieces of the puzzle, and realized a monster from another dimension had kidnapped Barb and Will. While Will was lucky enough to escape the creature's full wrath, Nancy was horrified to learn that Barb had been killed, making her more determined than ever to defeat the creature. Nancy and Jonathan set up a booby-trap at the Byers house, and with the unlikely last-minute assistance of Steve, helped to gravely wound the creature.

In the fall of 1984, Nancy's struggle to grieve Barb created a rift between her and Steve, leading her to drunkenly confess that she didn't love him anymore. Seeking revenge on the people responsible for unleashing the creature that killed Barbara, she once again teamed up with Jonathan and a journalist named Murray Bauman to expose Hawkins Lab. In the process, she and Jonathan grew closer together, eventually succumbing to their feelings and becoming romantically involved. Returning to Hawkins, Nancy and Jonathan learned that another entity from the alternate dimension had possessed Will; Nancy assisted Jonathan and his mother in exorcising the creature from Will's body. A month later, Nancy and Murray's exposé succeeded in shutting down Hawkins National Laboratory, with Barb's death attributed to a 'chemical leak'. Nancy attended Barb's funeral, and broke up with Steve to be with Jonathan.

By the summer of 1985, Nancy and Jonathan became interns for The Hawkins Post, where Nancy was frequently disrespected by her boss Tom Holloway and colleagues, including Bruce Lowe. Working late one night, she answered a call about diseased rats in the town and secretly investigated with Jonathan. This eventually caused the pair to be fired, creating a rift between Nancy and Jonathan. But after receiving some encouragement from her mother, Nancy picked the story back up and discovered that the rats were linked to the same entity that possessed Will. After reconciling, Nancy and Jonathan joined forces with Nancy's younger brother and his friends in once again defeating what the kids called "the Mind Flayer". Three months later, the Byers family moved out of Hawkins after being relocated to California by Dr. Sam Owens; Nancy and Jonathan tearfully parted ways, but remained committed to staying together.

In the spring of 1986, Nancy became a reporter and editor for the Hawkins High newspaper, The Weekly Streak, and was accepted into Emerson College in Massachusetts. Despite Nancy and Jonathan's enduring love, neither could get away to meet for spring break, and Nancy grew annoyed over Jonathan's lack of communication.[2] When multiple Hawkins High students were found murdered, Nancy investigated their deaths with Steve, Dustin, Max, and Robin, and drew a link to the Creel murders from the 1950s. The group believed an entity from the Upside Down - dubbed "Vecna" - was using the killings for some grander purpose. Following Nancy, Steve, Robin and Eddie Munson's brief misadventure in the Upside Down, Vecna psychically revealed his identity to Nancy, and shared his plans for the future. The group tried and failed to stop Vecna, with four enormous gates opening and wreaking havoc across Hawkins. Two days later, Nancy reunited with Jonathan upon his return to Hawkins, where the two worked on fixing up Hopper's cabin. Moments later, Nancy and Jonathan, along with their friends, watched in horror as the Upside Down began to merge with Hawkins.

History[]

Photos of Barb and Nancy

Nancy's photos of her and Barb, from her memory wall

Born sometime in 1967, Nancy was the first child of Karen and Ted Wheeler, and she would later be joined by younger siblings Mike (born in 1971) and Holly (born in 1980). Together, the family of five lived at their home in Hawkins, Indiana. Nancy suspected her parents never truly loved one another, and that they married solely to create a "perfect nuclear family". At a young age, Nancy owned a pink dress.[3] For Mike's "Elder Tree" Dungeons & Dragons campaign in 1979, Nancy joined in the fun and dressed up as an elf.[4] As Nancy and Mike grew older, Nancy became distant from Mike and his friends. By the time Nancy attended Hawkins High School, she had become best friends with Barbara Holland. Nancy also had friends named Cathy and Ally, although they weren't as close as Barbara and her. At some point, Nancy began to have a crush on Steve Harrington, one of the most popular boys at Hawkins High.[5]

1983[]

November[]

Dating the popular boy[]

In 1983, Nancy began dating Steve, making out with him "a couple of times".[4] Nancy and Barb went clothes-shopping one weekend to find a cute top, with Nancy seeking to impress Steve.

On the evening of November 6, Nancy was in her room talking over the phone with Barb, discussing Steve. Dustin interrupted, asking if she wanted a slice of pizza; she answered him by slamming the door in his face.

S1E1-Steve & Nancy looking at each other

Nancy having a relationship with Steve Harrington.

After finding a note in her school locker the next morning, she met Steve in the bathroom where they briefly made out before going back to class. Before Nancy left, Steve asked if they could go out that night. She initially declined but eventually agreed to meet him at Dearborn and Maple "to study."

That night at dinner, Nancy lied to her mother, saying she was going to study at Barb's house. However, her mother forbade this, fearing for her safety due to the recent disappearance of Will Byers. When Nancy blamed Will's disappearance for her not being allowed to leave, Mike revealed her relationship with Steve. Outraged, Nancy stormed away from the table, going upstairs to her room. Later, Steve climbed through Nancy's bedroom window, to "help her study" for a test. Steve tried to have sex with her; Nancy, though interested, reminded him her parents were nearby.[4]

The teens in the pool

The teens in the pool

The next day, at school, Nancy was invited to a pool party at Steve's house when he was home alone and decided to drag Barb along. When noticing Jonathan Byers putting up missing posters for his brother, Nancy walked up to him and reassured him that Will's probably okay. At the dinner, Nancy lied to her mom, saying she wanted to go to a "school assembly," honoring Will. Her mom allowed her to go and told her to be back by ten o'clock, which Nancy promised to do so. When her mom offered Nancy to take her brother and his friends with her, both of them were bewildered by their immediate refusal and strange behavior with Nancy giving them a look of annoyance.

Nancy and Barb arrived at Steve's house where Barb was reluctant to come in as Steve only invited Nancy to his party and did not want her to be in the company of Steve's friends, Tommy H and Carol Perkins. However, Nancy convinced Barb to join the party so she can look after her and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid, such as getting drunk. Nancy and Barb showed up to the party where the two spent their time with Steve, Tommy, and Carol in the backyard by Steve's pool. While partying, Nancy opened a beer can with a knife and successfully drank all of the beer where Steve and his friends cheered for her. Nancy urged Barb to do the same where Barb accidentally cut her hand in the process of opening a beer can. Nancy was concerned for Barb, but she was coldly brushed off by her friend, who rushed to the bathroom to tend to her injuries. While Barb went inside, Nancy continued to have fun with Steve and his friends by jumping into the pool.

Later, Nancy eventually went to Steve's room to change into some dry clothes. When confronted by Barb, who told Nancy she was not being true to herself, an exasperated Nancy bluntly told Barb to go home before joining Steve upstairs. At first, Nancy wanted to change her clothes in private, but decided to have sex with Steve where she undressed in front of him. As Nancy lost her virginity to Steve, she was unaware that Barb, who was sitting alone outside by the pool, was abducted by an otherworldly monster.[6]

After having sex with Steve, Nancy told a half-asleep Steve that she'd see him tomorrow. She changed back into her clothes, borrowing a sweatshirt of Steve's, and returned home where she was confronted by her angry, worried mother. Nancy, not wanting her mother to know about the party, made an excuse on why she was late and apologized for it. When her mom assured her that she can tell her anything, Nancy, not wanting to talk about her fight with Barb or her relationship with Steve, told her mom she did not want to talk and went straight to bed.[6]

Searching for Barb[]

The following day, she noticed that Barb was not at school and grew increasingly worried when neither her friends nor Barb's mother had seen her. Nancy went back to Steve's house to look for her and was startled by a creature in the forest.

Jonathan Byers was revealed to have taken pictures of Nancy in her underwear at the party the previous night, so Steve, along with his friends, destroyed the photos and broke his camera. However, Nancy decided to help Jonathan clean up his broken camera and ripped photographs, showing no ill will towards him. As she helped Jonathan, she noticed a photograph of Barb sitting by the pool. When hearing Steve call for her, Nancy took the photograph and departed.[7]

Nancy shared her worry about Barb with Steve, but he was more concerned that a police investigation would lead his parents to find out he had a party. Police officers Callahan and Powell questioned Nancy, and she told them she thought Barb was taken by the creature she saw in the forest. They had already searched the forest and found that Barb's car was gone. They theorized that Barb might have run away because she was jealous of Nancy and Steve, and revealed to Nancy's mother that Nancy had been with Steve.

Fearing something terrible had happened to Barb and nobody was listening to her, Nancy began taking matters into her own hands. She taped together the pieces of one of Jonathan's photographs and saw a creature behind Barb at the pool. She questioned Jonathan about the night he had taken the photographs and told him about the creature, which he recognized from his mothers' description. They went to enlarge the photo, and Nancy was certain it was the same creature she had seen earlier.[8]

At Will Byers' funeral, Nancy and Jonathan decided to return to the forest to look for the creature, and Jonathan took a gun from his father's car. As Nancy was practicing swinging a baseball bat, Steve came by to apologize for his insensitivity and invited Nancy to see a movie, but she had other plans and told him she was busy with the funeral.

She later went to practice shooting with Jonathan and confided to him that she thought her parents married out of convenience, not love. In the forest, Nancy and Jonathan talked about the photo he took and Steve's reaction and ended up lashing out at each other.

Nancy enters the Upside Down

Nancy enters the Upside Down via a tear in space-time

After dark, they found a wounded deer. They agreed to kill it out of mercy, but before they could it was suddenly dragged away. Following the blood trail, Nancy entered a hole in a tree and found herself in a different dimension. She saw the Demogorgon feeding on the deer and ran away as it gave chase.[9] Following Jonathan's voice, Nancy made her way out of the dimension unscathed, just before the portal closed. Traumatized by the experience, she had Jonathan sleepover.

The following day, she theorized about the Demogorgon's nature based on her knowledge about animals, and they bought weapons to face it again. While downtown, she found Steve and his friends tagging slurs about her. She realized that Steve had seen Jonathan in her room last night and tried to explain that he misunderstood. Jonathan and Steve ended up in a fistfight, which had led to Jonathan's arrest.[10]

Reuniting with Mike and Barb's death[]

After Chief Hopper and Jonathan's mother Joyce met Nancy and Jon at the police station, they shared everything they knew about the Demogorgon. After finding Nancy's brother Mike and his friends Lucas, Dustin and Eleven, the group decided to build a makeshift sensory deprivation tank, which Eleven could use to look for Barb and Will in the Upside Down. They broke into Hawkins Middle, using the resources there and creating the bathtub in the gymnasium. Eleven floated in the bathtub, entering her deepened psychic state in which she looked for Will and Barb. Although she found Will (barely) alive, she also discovered that Barb had been killed by the Monster.

A week after Barb's disappearance, Nancy knocked on her teacher Mr. Hauser's classroom. Robin Buckley who had been engaged in a discussion with Hauser, quickly vacated the room. Nancy then asked for an extension from Mr. Hauser for her paper.[11]

Fighting the Monster[]

Nancy, angry at the loss of her friend, became more determined than ever to kill the Monster. She and Jonathan lured the Demogorgon to the Byers household with blood; with the aid of Steve, they managed to injure the Demogorgon, which would later be killed by Eleven.

December[]

A month later, Nancy reconciled with Steve, who celebrated Christmas at her house. She gifted Jonathan a camera as a replacement for the one Steve broke out and gave Jonathan a small kiss on the cheek before he leaves with his brother.[12]

1984[]

October[]

Lingering guilt[]

On the evening of October 29, 1984, Nancy entered her room to discover Mike stealing money from her piggy bank. She tried to stop him, but he managed to outrun her.

While in the school parking lot the following morning, Nancy was looking over Steve's college essay when they witnessed Billy Hargrove and Max Mayfield arrive. Later that day, after receiving a flyer for Tina's Halloween party, she tried to convince Jonathan to attend. However, he refused, saying he planned to go trick-or-treating with Will.

FullSizeRender (41)

Nancy still feeling guilty for death of her best friend, Barbara.

That night, Nancy and Steve had dinner with Mrs. and Mr. Holland. When Nancy inquired about the 'For Sale' sign in their yard, they revealed they had hired Murray Bauman, a private investigator, to investigate Barb's "disappearance". Overcome with grief, Nancy excused herself to the bathroom, where she began crying over the loss of her friend.

Breakup with Steve[]

The next day, as Nancy and Steve were studying in the school library, she noticed a person who resembled Barb, reigniting her grief. She then told Steve that they should tell Barb’s parent’s the truth about her death. After reminding her that it would be too dangerous to do so, Steve managed to convince Nancy not to say anything and to go to that night's Halloween party so that they could have a normal night.

FullSizeRender (97)

An intoxicated Nancy blaming Steve and herself for Barb's death; hurting Steve's feelings.

That night at the party, Nancy became intoxicated. Steve tried to get her to stop drinking, accidentally spilling Nancy’s drink on her costume. While attempting to clean herself, Nancy revealed to Steve that she did not really have feelings for him. Upset, Steve left, leaving Nancy to try cleaning her costume again. Nancy was later taken home by Jonathan. As she put to bed by Jonathan, she drunkenly reached out to him before passing out.

S02E03-Nancy trying to justify her words

Nancy talking to Steve the next day, only for the two to breakup.

The next day, Steve did not arrive to take Nancy to school, making her miss her first period class. After she arrived at the school, she found Steve in the gym, losing a basketball to Billy. When they went outside to speak privately, Nancy asked Steve why she had not seen him that morning, only to be met by a cold response from him. When Steve asked what she remembered from the party last night, Nancy told him all she could remember was dancing, getting drunk, and going home where she believed Steve to have taken her, only for Steve to reveal that it was actually Jonathan who took her home. Nancy became confused over why Jonathan took her home, causing Steve recount the other events of the party to her where she blamed him and herself for causing Barb's death, how she felt about their relationship, and revealing she did not love Steve. Though Nancy had no memory of her drunken state, she tried to assure Steve that what she said wasn't true, but when she didn't tell him that she loved upon his request, he left which made Nancy realize how badly she had hurt Steve's feelings.

S02E03-Nancy getting an idea

Nancy formulating a plan to expose Hawkins Lab.

During lunch, Nancy spoke with Jonathan for confirmation of the party's events where he revealed that he did take Nancy home after the party due to Steve asking him to do so when Nancy revealed she did not love him and blamed him and herself for Barb's death while intoxicated. When Jonathan tried to comfort and reassure her that people say and do things they don't mean when getting drunk, Nancy revealed she wondered if she meant what she said to Steve and confided in Jonathan, telling him how hard she pretended to feel like everything was fine while really it was not. When Jonathan expressed he felt the same way, Nancy pointed out it was different for him as Will was able to come back alive while Barb did not. However, Jonathan revealed to her that despite Will being brought home, his brother had changed greatly in personality and behavior, making it difficult to try to help him. Nancy then expressed her anger and how tired she was of the people at Hawkins National Laboratory have gotten away with what they have done. Though Jonathan reassured her the people at the lab were dead, Nancy expressed her doubts and asked Jonathan if he really believed the people were dead, leaving him unable to respond to her question. When Nancy saw a student listening to music on his radio, she remembered Jonathan's mom's boyfriend having a job at RadioShack and got an idea on a way to possibly expose the lab. After telling Jonathan of her idea, they both skipped fourth period and went to RadioShack to buy a Walkman.

After school and buying the Walkman, Nancy went home with Jonathan and had a brief short conversation with her mom where she and Jonathan told her they have to study for a test before they proceeded upstairs to Nancy's bedroom. When they go into her bedroom, both Nancy and Jonathan express their doubts on the plan, but they proceeded to do it anyway. Nancy, although hesitant, called Mrs. Holland, telling her that she had not been honest about Barb and to meet her at Forrest Hills Park the next morning while knowing the lab would be listening to their phone conversation before Nancy ended the chat and hung up the phone.

Exposing the lab[]

The next morning, while eating breakfast with her family, Nancy, needing a cover in order to expose the lab to the authorities, asked her mom if she could spend the night at her friend, Stacey's house which her mom says yes to. After eating breakfast, Nancy left home and met with Jonathan who was waiting for her at the end of Maple Street. When Nancy got into Jonathan's car, she tried to convince him that he did not had to help her with the plan, but Jonathan said he wasn't backing down and that he will stand by her no matter what. With that said, Nancy and Jonathan proceeded to head to Forest Hills Park.

After they arrived at the park, Nancy and Jonathan waited to meet Mrs. Holland, only to find their waiting was taking longer than they expected it to be. As they viewed their surroundings, they had a suspicion of being watched, prompting them to leave. Once they got inside Jonathan's car, Nancy started to panic as Jonathan had trouble starting his engine. They were then approached by government agents, disguised as civilians, who proceeded to take Nancy and Jonathan to Hawkins Lab.

S2E4-Jonathan and Nancy seeing the Gate

Nancy and Jonathan look at the Gate while secretly recording Dr. Owens's confessing the lab's crimes.

After being taken to the lab, Nancy and Jonathan were locked in an interrogation room where they waited for hours to meet with someone. Eventually, they were greeted by Dr. Sam Owens, the new head of scientist of the lab who proceeded to give them a tour of the lab. When Owens admitted his predecessors' nefarious deeds, calling them "mistakes," Nancy countered his predecessors had killed Barb and kept a cold attitude towards the scientist as he further admitted the crimes committed by the lab and how he wanted them to be kept a secret from the public. As Owens showed Jonathan and Nancy the Gate to the Upside Down, Owens admitted he cannot fix his predecessors' mistakes, but he can stop them from spreading, giving off the example of what would happen if the Soviet Union learned about the Upside Down and tried to open a portal to the dimension. Nancy and Jonathan then watched in silence as a worker burned some vines surrounding the Gate while Owens grew confident that he gave the two older teens a valid point in why the Upside Down must be kept a secret before releasing them. Once in the car, Nancy revealed the Walkman, having recorded everything that Owens had said.

Nancy and Jonathan then traveled in the direction of Bauman's location, spending the night in a motel. While there, they showed each other their matching scars, reminiscing about their previous adventure. Nancy asked what happened between them, saying that she waited for Jonathan before ultimately ending up with Steve again. Jonathan retorted by saying she only waited a month and he was busy looking after Will. No more was said and the two went to sleep.

When they arrived at Bauman's residence, they presented the recording of Owens. Bauman claimed it wouldn't be enough evidence to shutdown the lab, as it could easily be destroyed and the details of the story would be too extraordinary for the public to accept. He then proposed to Nancy and Jonathan that they "water down" their story in order to make it more appealing to the public. After altering their story to say that Barb died from a chemical leak originating from the lab, they placed the evidence in several envelopes to be sent to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Maxresdefault-1

Nancy and Jonathan giving in to their romantic feelings for each other.

Murray offered Jonathan and Nancy his guest room, presuming the two were a couple. When they denied this, he easily deduced that there was sexual tension between them. Murray bid them goodnight and left them restless over his statements of their issues withholding them from getting together. Eventually, Nancy and Jonathan gave in and kissed one another before sleeping together in the guest room.

Saving Will Byers[]

The morning after, Murray cooked them breakfast, satisfied that his deductions were true. As they were saying goodbye to Murray, he told them to never return or contact him again.

Upon arriving back in Hawkins, they realized something was wrong upon seeing the Byers' household strewn with Will's drawings of the underground tunnel system. They traveled to Hawkins Lab where they were soon met by Steve, Dustin, Lucas, and Max emerging from the woods after hearing noises from the lab. Nancy also found that the power was turned off because there were no lights turned on and the gate to the lab was not opening.

When the power was restored and the gate unlocked, Nancy and the rest of the group went to the lab’s front entrance were they met up with Hopper, Joyce, Mike, and Will. The group then traveled back to the Byers’ house.

Once it was determined that they'd have to interrogate Will in order to discover the Mind Flayer's weakness, Nancy assisted in turning the Byers' backyard shed unrecognizable. During Will's interrogation, he signaled in Morse code the way to stop the Mind Flayer: closing the Gate. Soon after, the phone in the Byers' kitchen rang, allowing the Mind Flayer to know their location and send a pack of Demodogs their way.

However, Eleven arrived and eradicated them. Together, the group came up with a plan: Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy would exorcise the Mind Flayer from Will's body while Eleven and Hopper would go to the lab and close the gate. After taking Will to Hopper's cabin, Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan restrained him, surrounding him with numerous heaters. This eventually caused the piece of the Mind Flayer possessing Will to be expelled from his body.

Barb's funeral & a new relationship[]
Wv publicity post launch still 37

Nancy attending Barb's funeral.

Sometime later, Nancy attended the funeral for Barbara which was held after the revelations forced Hawkins Lab to acknowledge their involvement in the coverup of Barb's death after Murray revealed the evidence Nancy and Jonathan presented to him.

On December 15, Nancy volunteered at the Snow Ball, serving drinks. She and Jonathan were still together, sharing a smile as Jonathan was taking photographs. When Nancy noticed Dustin sitting on the bleachers alone after being rejected by numerous girls, she offered to dance with him. As they danced, she told him that girls that age are "dumb", and assured him that in a couple of years he'd "drive them nuts."

1984 - 1985[]

Sometime before the summer of 1985, Nancy got a job as an intern at The Hawkins Post. Eager to work, she tried to impress her male colleagues by suggesting possible stories for the paper as well as adding side notes to stories in the process of being written, which usually resulted in her colleagues making cruel comments, often calling her Nancy Drew, which upset Nancy.

1985[]

June - July[]

Working at the Post[]

After a power outage in Hawkins, Nancy who slept the night with Jonathan woke up the next morning, realized that she and Jonathan were going to be late for work. She woke Jonathan and the two hurriedly got dressed, with Nancy sneaking out through Jonathan's bedroom so she won't be seen by his family. Once Jonathan said good-bye to his family, he and Nancy left for The Hawkins Post, managing to arrive to work just in time.

Stranger Things S03E01 37m7s53401f R-PS-068

Nancy receiving a tip on a case.

Later that night, while cleaning up the Post's meeting room, Nancy heard the telephone ring and rushed to answer it. She received a call from an elderly lady named Doris Driscoll who wished to report a case on "diseased" rats. Though Nancy told the woman over the phone that the Post was closed right now, she promised to stop by tomorrow morning to check out her case, writing down Doris's name, address, and case before finishing her call and leaving the Post.

Seeking approval[]

The next morning, while pouring a cup of coffee for Tom, Nancy noticed her note on Doris Driscoll's case before realizing she spotted she accidentally overflowed the cup of coffee. Despite receiving mockery from Bruce again, Nancy proceeded to clean up her mess and deliver Tom his coffee. She then proceeded to ask Tom if one of the female workers at the Post could grab lunch today, claiming she had to go see a doctor as she was having "girl problems". After Tom awkwardly granted her request, Nancy along with Jonathan, visited Doris pretending to be reporters. Nancy took pictures and took notes from Doris and saw a rabid looking rat that Doris had captured and imprisoned.

Upon returning to The Hawkins Post, Nancy told her colleagues the story, only to be laughed at and told that Doris is a nut job. However, Nancy was determined to prove her worth and returned to Doris's place, only to find a flayed Doris eating fertilizer.

The next morning, Nancy and Jonathan sat outside Tom's office at the Post as their investigation at Doris's house had reached word to all of their co-workers. After Officer Callahan finished talking to Tom, Nancy and Jonathan were called into his office and were berated for their actions and disobeying his orders. When Nancy tried to justify her and Jonathan's actions, she was interrupted by Tom who told them that Doris was in a bad state and that her family was furious. After Tom claimed that Doris's family would be suing The Post, he immediately fired Nancy and Jonathan on the spot.

On their way home, Nancy began to suspect Tom was on drugs due to acting strange and sweating heavily, but Jonathan laughed it off and angrily berated his girlfriend for not listening to him and costing him his job and means to support his family. The couple argued in the car, with Nancy accusing him of having the same sexism as The Post's reporters and Jonathan reprimanding her for costing him his job and means to support his family. With both Nancy and Jonathan on the verge of tears, they concluded that they no longer understood each other. After their argument, an upset Nancy returned home, locking herself in her bedroom. However, Karen was able to call her out of her room and encouraged Nancy to keep investigating before sharing a hug and cry with her.

Later that night, Nancy decided to visit Mrs. Driscoll at the Hawkins Memorial Hospital, bringing a bouquet of flowers to see how she was doing. Upon arriving at the hospital, Nancy claimed to be Doris's granddaughter so she can see the old woman as they were only acquaintances. Arriving at Doris's room on the fourth level of the hospital, Nancy found the old woman to be asleep. Noticing a file on top of a table near Doris's bed, Nancy decided to check it to see the symptoms the elderly woman was having, only to find that Doris's body temperatures had been extremely low.

Stranger-Things-season-3-screenshots-Chapter-4-The-Sauna-Test-156

At the hospital, Nancy discovers Doris to be possessed by the Mind Flayer.

Around nine o'clock, as Nancy wrote down some notes, she noticed Doris waking up where she started coughing and her heart rate started to increase rapidly. Suddenly, the lights began to flicker and Doris began screaming in pain, causing Nancy to try pressing the emergency button for help. However, Nancy was horrified to see Doris roar inhumanly and be covered in black veins, discovering she was possessed by the Mind Flayer just like Will was last year. After doctors came and sedated Doris, Nancy waited for more tests to be run on the old woman.

Return of the Mind Flayer[]
Stranger-Things-season-3-screenshots-Chapter-5-The-Flayed-105

Nancy and Jonathan investigating Tom Holloway's house.

Arriving at the Holloway residence, Nancy, Jonathan, and the kids find nobody home, the temperature in the house to be super cold, and destroyed household chemical products that the Holloway family must have eaten. Nancy then listens to her brother, Mike, and Lucas recall a science lesson they learned from their teacher, Mr. Clarke on how chemicals could create new substances when mixed together, leaving Mike to theorize that the Flayed could making a new type of material with the chemical they are eating. When the group investigated further, Nancy and Jonathan discovered a blood stain on a carpet, causing them to remember Tom having a bandage on his forehead when he fired them. They surmised that Heather's parents had been attacked, tied up, and taken to an unknown location where they were flayed. Will then proposed that they use Driscoll to find the source--the location where the flaying was taking place, in order to stop the Mind Flayer.

Nancy, along with Jonathan, Eleven, Mike, Will, Lucas and Max, went to visit Doris at the hospital. However, they were all told by the receptionist that only two visitors at a time could see Doris. This resulted in Nancy and Jonathan volunteering to go see Mrs. Driscoll first while the others waited in the lobby. While going up an elevator, Nancy and Jonathan apologized to each other and reconciled. When they exited the elevator, Nancy and Jonathan arrived at Doris's room, only to find the old woman gone. The teens were then confronted by a Flayed Tom, covered in blood, who began to menacingly approach them. Nancy tried to reason with Tom to no avail, leaving Jonathan to strike him with a flower vase.

S3E5-Nancy & Jonathan running

Nancy and Jonathan running from the Flayed Bruce and Tom.

However, once they exited out of Doris's room, they were confronted by Bruce Lowe who is revealed to also be Flayed, leaving the teens to run as the Flayed Bruce began pursuing them, with the intent of killing them. Nancy and Jonathan ran throughout the hospital, passing by corpses of doctors and patients who were killed by Bruce and Tom. Nancy and Jonathan tried to call for help through a speaker and a phone to no avail before the Flayed Bruce was able to find them. Nancy watched as Jonathan was overpowered by the Flayed Bruce, leaving her to stab Bruce with a pair of scissors before he could kill her boyfriend. This caused the Flayed Bruce to set his eyes on killing Nancy, leaving her to flee once again. Though she was visibly terrified, Nancy grabbed a fire extinguisher and with quick thinking, she was able to surprise attack and kill Bruce with the fire extinguisher.

Just after killing Bruce, Nancy witnessed his corpse melt away where his remains crawled to meet the melted corpse of Tom who had been killed by Jonathan. Nancy and Jonathan watched in horror as the melted remains merged together to create a monster. Nancy fled as the monster began chasing her where she locked herself in a room in order to protect herself. However, the creature was able to ooze under the door and reform itself before attacking Nancy. Just before the monster could kill her, Nancy was saved when Mike, El, Max, Lucas, and Will arrived where El used her powers to fight the monster and push it out of a window. After being saved, Nancy was checked on by Jonathan before they joined the kids in witnessing the wounded monster escape into the sewers.

Battle against the Spider Monster[]

Nancy later accompanies the kids, Jonathan, Steve, Robin, Joyce, Hopper and Murray at the Starcourt Mall on the 4th of July to try and kill the Mind Flayer. Nancy succeeds in saving Eleven by throwing fireworks at The Mind Flayer and evacuates the mall just in time before it is completely destroyed.

October[]

Parting with Jonathan[]

Three months later, Nancy helps Jonathan pack up his house. The two share a passionate kiss in Jonathan’s empty bedroom. As Jonathan and Nancy say goodbye, Nancy cries, upset about Jonathan leaving. She watches Jonathan, Joyce, Will and Eleven leave the Byers house for good with Mike, Dustin, Max and Lucas.

1985-1986[]

College plans[]

As Nancy entered her senior year of high school, she started to take Mike to school with her as he had become a freshman in high school while joining the school newspaper, The Weekly Streak. In addition, despite being in a long-distance relationship, Nancy and Jonathan made plans to go to college together where they both started applying for Emerson College.

1986[]

March[]

A long distance relationship[]

On the last day of school before spring break, Nancy found Mike in his bedroom, in his underwear and scolded him for wasting time as he got distracted by reading a letter from Eleven. She then warned him he had thirty seconds or she was leaving for school without him. Mike was able to get dressed and make a quick breakfast where Nancy urged Mike to hurry up as their parents instructed him to go to bed early as he had planned to spend spring with Eleven and Will at their new home in Lenora Hills, California.

S4E1-He's caring & compassionate

Nancy denying nothing is wrong with her relationship with Jonathan.

While working at The Weekly Streak, Nancy is confronted by her classmate and fellow journalist, Fred Benson about Jonathan who would not be visiting her for spring break. As she worked on putting pieces of a newspaper together, Nancy explained there were a lot of reasons of Jonathan not visiting for spring break as he had to watch over his brother due to his mother now working as a telemarketer and was waiting to receive an acceptance letter from Emerson College. A confused Fred then attempted to break down Nancy's plan which sounded flawed as Jonathan came from a poor background and how he would wait for an acceptance letter rather than spend time with her during spring break. Nancy defended Jonathan, saying that he was caring and compassionate to those he love, which was why she loved him and her relationship with him was perfect, just as she finished putting the newspaper together.

Investigating a serial killer[]

The next day, while at school with the other members of The Weekly Streak, Nancy watched a live news footage on TV, which featured the news that cheerleading captain Chrissy Cunningham had been found dead this morning at a Forest Hills Trailer Park. When a news reporter interviews a woman, Nancy heard her mention how the tragedies happening around Hawkins had all started with the death of Barbara Holland, causing Nancy to remember how her best friend tragically died three years ago. Nancy was then brought out of her trance by Fred who told her nobody would start talking the winning of the championship game now that a student had recently been murdered. Agreeing with Fred, Nancy decided to go investigate the student's death at the trailer park and asked Fred to come with her, which he agreed to. Upon arriving at the trailer park, Nancy was able to get some answers from Eddie's uncle Wayne Munson, who believed the killer to be Victor Creel, a man who apparently murdered his entire family, whose causes of death were exactly the same as of Chrissy's. He insisted Victor could have broken out of Pennhurst Hospital, where he had been incarcerated for the last decades. As sun went down, Nancy noticed Fred had gone missing and tried to find, with no success.

S4E3-Nancy learning about Vecna

Nancy learning about Vecna from her friends.

The next morning, she was distraught upon finding in the news that Fred was found dead in a road, with the same injuries as Chrissy. Joining Steve, Robin, Max, and Dustin at the trailer park, Nancy listened to them explain that an entity from the Upside Down known as "Vecna" was responsible for the deaths of Fred and Chrissy, supporting the fact that Eddie was innocent as he had been selling drugs to Chrissy at the time of her death. After her friends explain their theory of Vecna casting curses to attack his victims, while stating they were unsure of whether he was doing the Mind Flayer's bidding, Nancy began to question why Fred and Chrissy were killed. When her friends noted all of the last locations Fred and Chrissy were before their deaths, including the trailer park, Nancy revealed how Fred immediately began acting scared, nervous, and upset when the two of them arrived at the trailer park yesterday. Nancy then listened to Max and Dustin reveal that Chrissy had also been upset before she died as Max found her crying in the school's bathroom two days ago. Nancy paid attention to Robin as she noted how serial killers usually stalk their prey before killing them and theorized Fred and Chrissy could have seen Vecna before they died. When Steve commented on how he would mention to someone if he had seen a monstrous killer, Nancy heard Max reveal she also had seen Chrissy leaving the office of their school counselor, Ms. Kelley two days before she died, making Nancy and her friends realize Ms. Kelley might had information on Chrissy encountering Vecna before her death.

Nancy and Robin headed to Hawkins Public Library to do some research on Victor Creel and his family's massacre. Though Nancy became increasingly bothered by Robin, she became impressed when the latter found an article detailing the massacre, which occurred in 1959. According to the article, Victor believed a demon was haunting his family and tried to have a priest to exorcise it, only for it to retaliate by murdering his family and leaving him as the sole survivor. Even though the court deemed Victor to be insane, the girls realized Vecna was responsible for the deaths of the Creel family. Upon informing Dustin of their discovery, Robin and Nancy were instructed by him to meet him, Steve and Max in the high school ASAP.

Once Nancy and Robin arrived at the school, they heard Max reveal that she had found a mysterious grandfather clock in one of the hallways, only to reveal she experienced a vision of the clock as she had been under a trance. After Dustin noted how Max's trance was similar to the state Chrissy was in before she died from Eddie's descriptions, Nancy and the others heard Max state that her trance was not the only thing they should be concerned about. When inside Ms. Kelley's office, Nancy heard Max reveal that both Fred and Chrissy consulted in Ms. Kelley for help as they both were suffering both extremely bad headaches, sleep deprivation, nightmares, and night sweats. In addition, Max revealed later on, both Fred and Chrissy started having terrifying visions of any dark secrets and trauma they had experienced which had gotten worse over time before they were eventually killed. Nancy then heard when Fred and Chrissy started suffering from these symptoms before hearing Max confess she too had been having these same symptoms for five days now. This made Nancy and the others realize Max was Vecna's next target and because of Fred and Chrissy dying twenty-four hours after their first vision, Max would likely be killed tomorrow.

The revelation was cut short when Nancy and her friends hear a noise outside the lobby. When Steve goes out to investigate, Nancy and the others follow him outside the lobby, only to be startled and surprised when Lucas reveals himself. Nancy watched Lucas warn Dustin of his basketball teammates, Jason Carver, Patrick McKinney, and Andy hunting for Eddie before she and the others tell Lucas about Vecna and how Max was now in danger of being murdered by the entity.

The next day, Nancy and Robin decided to infiltrate Pennhurst Hospital to interview Victor Creel, forging new identites as college students looking to interview Victor for their thesis in schyzophrenia. Robin was especially dismayed to have to wear Nancy's feminine garments but she ultimately convinced Dr. Anthony Hatch to allow them to interview Victor with an especially moving speech. As they walked down the cells in the basement of the facility, the girls listened as Hatch explained that each person had its favorite kind of music, which could reach inner parts of the brain that words could not. The girls arrived at Victor's cell and while the latter initially did not want to talk to anyone, they guaranteed that they believed in his side of the story and that they had strong beliefs that the entity that murdered his family had returned. Though initally reluctant to open up on his past, he ultimately relayed in detail his family's life before the events of 1959-- the great-uncle of Victor's wife Virginia had left a small fortune following his passing, which allowed Victor, Virginia, and their children, Alice and Henry, to purchase a manor in Hawkins and start a new life there. Though Victor, Virginia, and Alice found their new home to be wonderful, Henry, who Victor described as a "sensitive" boy, appeared to "sense" something was wrong.

After a month of peace, dozens of animals throughout the neighborhood appeared fatally mutilated and despite the police' beliefs that they were the result of a "wildcat," Victor believed a "spawn of Satan" was responsible. Shortly afterwards, Victor, Virginia and even little Alice began having "waking, living nightmares," with Victor haunted by his indirect role in the death of a family in France during his time as a soldier, which was manifested with a baby crying inside a crib in flames. In a dinner of the family, Virginia was suddenly lifted into the air and was severely mutilated by a mysterious entity, prompting Victor to try to take his children to safety. Unfortunately, he found himself in another memory of his time in war until the "voice of an angel" allowed him to return to reality, where he found Alice's lifeless body and an unconscious Henry. Victor was declared the responsible and incarcerated in Pennhurst, where he unsuccessfully tried to join his family in death by blinding himself, only to be stopped by guards of the facility. He then put himself in a curling position in his bed and began humming a peculiar song, ignoring Nancy's question over the "angel" that saved him.

Before they could get a response, they were confronted by Hatch, who escorted them out and tried to have them arrested upon learning of their fake identities. As they left the facility, Robin recognized the song as "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" by Ella Fitzgerald and remembering Hatch's lesson in regards to music and its effects over the human brain, the girls realized that the song saved Victor from Vecna's spell and music could also be used to save Max from his wrath. Acting quickly, the girls managed to escape from and evade the authorities before driving away. Lucas, Dustin, and Steve ultimately aided Max in escaping Vecna and his curse by playing her favorite song over her Walkman.

Discovering Vecna's identity[]

The next day, Robin joined the others in travelling to the former Creel family house after Nancy identified a fractured version of it in Max's drawings of Vecna's mental lair. Upon arriving at the abandoned Creel house, Nancy and Steve started removing the boarded up door with hammers they had brought. When Steve asked what they are looking for at the house, Nancy responded she wasn't sure, but knew the house hold some significance to Vecna, with Dustin backing her up by pointing out that the house could hold some clues to why Vecna killed the Creel family, why he has returned, and how to stop him before he tries to kill Max again.

S4E5-Finding the grandfather clock

Nancy and her friends investigating the abandoned Creel House.

Though Nancy and Steve were able to remove the board covering the door, they found it locked until Robin suggested they use a brick to get into the house. After throwing the brick at the front door's stained glass window, shattering it, Nancy and her friends to enter the house. When discovering the house's electricity to be dead, Nancy and her friends pulled out flashlights they brought with them to help in their search of the house. Peeking into one of the rooms with Robin, they noticed all of the house's furniture was still intact which caused Robin to guess the horrific deaths of the Creel family left people too scared to consider any of the furniture to possess any value. Nancy and Robin were then called to come into a hallway where they and their friends found an old grandfather clock which Max recognized as the one she saw in her visions. Knowing the answers about Vecna were somewhere in the house, Nancy had everyone split up in groups of two as she partnered up with Robin where the two of them went upstairs to investigate while being followed by Steve and Dustin. The teens eventually all gathered in the mansion's attic and detected strange activity upon noticing the lights flickering on and off. Suddenly, their flashlights exploded one by one before the bulb providing the light to the attic also exploded and plunged the whole space into darkness.

Shortly after hearing news of Patrick McKinney's murder, Nancy joined her friends in the hunt for Eddie, who was once again blamed for a murder that he did not commit. On the way to find Eddie, Robin tried to get Nancy to speak with her over the increasing distance in her relatioship with Jonathan, only for Nancy to repeatedly insist they were fine. Nancy was visibly surprised when Robin stated that she just wanted her friends to find happiness and when Nancy asked if it meant they were officially friends, Robin agreed. Upon finding Eddie at Skull Rock in the woods, he confirmed the time when Patrick was killed, which proved to be the exact same time when the flashlights in the Creel House exploded, allowing the group to realize Vecna was using the Upside Down version of the Creel mansion as his base of operations. With this information, Nancy told her friends they still cannot kill Vecna as they had no way to get into the Upside Down.

When Dustin's compass began going haywire, Nancy heard Dustin strange electromagnetic activity was causing his compass to malfunction, which he revealed the possibility of a new gate being opened somewhere nearby. With this news, Nancy and the others started to venture deeper into the woods to find the gate. Upon arriving at Lover's Lake, later that night, Nancy, Eddie, Robin and Steve hopped onto a canoe to investigate whereas Lucas, Dustin and Max would remain on guard. Nancy, Robin, and Eddie watched Steve volunteer to swim down to find the gate at the bottom of the lake. When he came back up to report his findings, Nancy, Robin, and Eddie suddenly watch Steve get dragged back into the water, prompting her and the others to swim down after him and enter the Upside Down through the underwater gate.

S4E7-The older teens seeing more demobats

Nancy, Steve, Robin, and Eddie in the Upside Down.

Finding Steve attacked by Demobats in the Upside Down, Nancy, Robin, and Eddie rescued him and proceeded to fight off the Demoboats. After killing several Demobats, Nancy checked Steve's wounds that he sustained from the bats and was dumbfounded when Robin asked if the bats had rabies as she was scared of them. Nancy and her friends then noticed a swarm of more bats approaching after a few guarded the gate, forcing her and her friends to retreat into the Upside Down's forest. The four older teens went to the Upside Down version of the Wheeler residence. Much to Nancy's shock, she discovered her house and the whole Upside Down in general to be "frozen" in November 6, 1983, the exact date when Eleven opened the gate at the lab, which meant her guns did not yet exist. The four eventually managed to make contact with Lucas, Erica, Dustin and Max and informed them of the gate in Lover's Lake being guarded by swarms of demonic bats. The younger teens instructed them to head to the Upside Down Munson trailer due to a gate being created in its roof following Chrissy's death. After fully opening the gate, the younger teens created a rope with some tied-up sheets and placed a mattress in the floor. After both Eddie and Robin successfully passed to the other side, Nancy climbed up the rope, only to fall into a mysterious black void instead of the mattress. She soon found herself in an empty pool covered with vines from the Upside Down. In the real world, Steve and the others realized Vecna had placed Nancy under his curse.

While exploring her surroundings, she discovered a mutilated and lifeless corpse in a corner of the pool and upon getting a closer look, she was petrified and began hyperventilating upon seeing it was Barb's lifeless body following her death at the hands of the Demogorgon. Though he did not appear physically, Vecna began to emotionally break Nancy by asking her if she had forgotten the fact that she had left Barb alone to be kidnapped and murdered before insisting that he does not forget a single life that he had already taken. The creature continued to torment Nancy by filling the pool with what was presumed to be Barb's blood, forcing Nancy to climb out of there. She suddenly found herself in Vecna's mental realm, which Max had illustrated to Nancy the previous day with her drawings, and Vecna revealed that he was aware that Nancy and Robin had spoken to "old, blind, dumb" Victor. After discovering Fred's mutilated body attached to one of the spikes of the lair, Nancy found a door exactly like the one in the Creel family house and opened it, allowing her to enter into flashbacks of Victor Creel's life when he and his family had arrived to their home for the first time.

Through these flashbacks, Nancy realized Vecna used to be Victor's young son Henry. She saw the young boy discovering a nest of black widows underneath a vent in the bathroom of his new house before allowing one of them to crawl into his hand. Finding these creatures "endlessly fascinating" and "deeply misunderstood" as he was, Henry spent a large amount of time in the attic of his home, analyzing and studying them. In the hall of the house, Nancy watched in bewilderment as Henry proved to be capable of manipulating the hands of a grandfather clock of the house and forcing them to spin backwards with the power of his mind alone. Henry eventually realized he could gain access to his family's weaknesses and sins and use them to torture them. Nancy's visions took her to the garden, where she witnessed in horror as Henry mutilated an innocent rabbit as part of his intention to explore the scope of his mysterious psychokinetic abilities.

Finally, Nancy witnessed the final dinner of the whole Creel family, in which it was revealed Henry had murdered his mother due to his belief that she hated him for his powers and wanted him to be taken away by a "specialist." A desperate Victor tried to take his children away from the house, only to be taken once more into a memory of his time as a soldier. Eventually, he managed to escape the memory through the music of his radio, only to find his daughter Alice dead in the same way as Virginia and held an unconscious Henry in his arms, which was a result of Henry overexerting his powers in his attempt to kill his father. The authorities arrived to arrest Victor and incarcerated him in Pennhurst, just as Henry had planned.

The flashbacks eventually took Nancy to Hawkins National Laboratory, where she saw a younger Martin Brenner tattoo "001" into Henry's forearm, marking him as his very first test subject and the predecessor of numerous other subsequent subjects, including Eleven. When Brenner spoke to Nancy, she realized it was Vecna wearing Brenner's face and fled as fast as she could. Unfortunately, she found a door barricaded with several wooden boards that was preventing her from leaving. The creature finally made its physical appearance and expressed his desire to show Nancy where he was going with this. Nancy managed to remove the boards and cross to the other side, only to be strapped to a chair by several of Vecna's vines. The creature stared at Nancy for several moments before replying that he wanted her to deliver a message to Eleven. He transmitted this "message" in the form of visions of Hawkins burning and being torn apart by four gigantic gates spreading across the town, much to Nancy's horror. After these visions, the creature released Nancy from the trance and Mike's older sister collapsed in Steve's arms. With everyone safe, the group retreated to the Mayfield family trailer, where they spent the night.

Fighting Vecna[]

In the next morning, the disturbed Nancy shared with her friends Vecna's true identity and origins before revealing the other details of the future that the creature had shown her-- the normally-blue sky occupied by dark clouds, downtown on fire, dozens of dead soldiers and a giant creature with a gaping mouth looming over Hawkins with hundreds of monsters by its side. She continued her description by admitting that he had shown her visions of her mother, Mike and Holly and though she did not finish her sentence, it was evident by her expression filled with horror and the tears rolling down her face that her family was dead in those visions. Steve tried to reassure her that those visions were only a product of the creature's ability to conjure illusions and those events hadn't happened, only for Nancy to correct him, stating they hadn't happened yet. Upon explaining that she had also witnessed four gates expanding and wreacking havoc across Hawkins, Lucas and Max deduced Vecna was communicating his master plan through his grandfather clock and he only needed one more victim for the end of the world to begin.

After their attempts to reach the Byers' home in California were unsuccessful, Nancy seemed to understand that the Byers' lack of communication was somehow linked to Vecna's activities there in Hawkins and insisted in returning to the Upside Down to destroy the creature. Now aware that both Vecna and Eleven used to be test subjects in Hawkins Lab, Dustin and Lucas deduced that the dark wizard's true body was vulnerable whenever he was chasing his victims in their minds and decided to attack him when he had possessed his final victim. Though Robin pointed out they do not know when Vecna will attack or who will be his next victim, Max offered to lure his attention back to her by removing her Walkman, given that she was still marked by the creature's curse. Lucas immediately disagreed with this plan but Max insisted that she would be alright as long as the others killed Vecna before he could kill her. Everyone looked uncomfortable with this plan but ultimately agreed to it as they had no alternatives.

Knowing they would need weapons against Vecna and all of his minions, such as the Demobats, the gang travelled to War Zone, a store that contained the equipment necessary for their mission. Unfortunately, Nancy and the others ran into the increasingly-unhinged Jason Carver and his basketball teammates, who were also purchasing weapons with the goal of killing Eddie. Right as she was about to pay for her shotgun, she found Jason, who decided to purchase a revolver, right next to her and tried to offer her condolences for Chrissy's loss. However, Jason realized Nancy was Mike's older sister and proceeded to interrogate her if he and his friends from Hellfire Club were with her, roughly grabbing her shotgun in the process. After sternly warning Jason to back off, she and the others managed to get everything they needed and drove away before Jason and his friends grew too suspicious.

The team temporarily settled down in an open field to prepare their weapons. Max witnessed Nancy sawing off the barrel of her gun, with Nancy reassuring her younger friend that the weapon would not miss when they killed Vecna. Dustin and Eddie were covering trash can covers with spikes, Lucas and Erica bonded as they prepared spears, and Steve and Robin prepared Molotov cocktails. Hours later, during the sunset, all teens drove back to the Creel mansion, where Erica, Lucas and Max were dropped off. Dustin, Eddie, Nancy, Robin and Steve then drove to the Munson trailer and returned to the Upside Down through the gate there. Dustin and Eddie would remain behind in the Munson trailer to prepare their part of the plan, with Nancy, Steve and Robin heading towards the sinister woods to find the Upside Down's Creel House.

In the middle of their way to the mansion, a concerned Nancy pleaded with Robin to slow down and reminded her not to step on any vine, which would definitely warn Vecna and the rest of the dimension's hive mind of their presence. Nancy and Steve had another moment alone and the latter thanked the former for turning him from the cocky and popular jock he used to be into the person that he is today before admitting that he had pictured Nancy as the mother of his six "little nuggets." The moment was interrupted by Robin, who warned them that they had found the house, and the trio soon noticed Erica's light in the playground. After receiving Erica's signal, Lucas and Max warned that they would begin the second phase, which involved Max baiting Vecna into her mind. As they remained hidden underneath the playground, Nancy urged the creature to take the bait. Though Vecna did not infiltrate Max's mind right away, she eventually succeeded in tricking him into possessing her once more upon admitting that Vecna was right about there being a part of her that wished to join her stepbrother Billy in death.

Once Lucas signaled to Erica that Max was under Vecna's curse, Erica told the trio that it was time to begin Phase Three, which involved Dustin and Eddie playing heavy metal to lure the swarms of Demobats away from the Creel mansion. Once all of the bats were driven away from the house, Nancy, Steve and Robin saw it as their opportunity to infiltrate the house, only to find the majority of the staircase and floor covered with vines. The trio managed to carefully evade all vines and reach the door that would lead them to the attic but before they could cross to the other side, they momentarily lost their balance as a result of an earthquake that died down a few moments later.

Unfortunately, they accidentally made contact with some vines, causing them to spring into action and pin Robin to the wall. Steve and Nancy tried to cut the vines with their weapons but Vecna summoned more vines to disarm them and pin them to the wall behind them. The vines began strangling the three teenagers to death and Vecna used this to torment not only Max, but also Eleven, who had learned of her friends' plan to kill Vecna and was trying to assist them despite being miles away from Hawkins.

After a great length of time, the trio was suddenly released from the vines' grasp and watched as the vines withered away and withdrew into the walls from which they had come from. Robin remarked that what had just happened was a miracle, causing Nancy to rise to her feet and insist they should not waste it. The trio broke into the attic and soon found an unresponsive Vecna suspending in the air and with his back attached to several vines as part of his meditative state.

Robin lighted up Steve's Molotov cocktail and the boy threw it at the creature's body, setting him ablaze and severing his connection to his mindscape, which began dissolving around Eleven. The creature collapsed on the ground and ultimately found himself too weakened to attack the trio, injured from his battle against Eleven, the cocktail and through the hive mind after Murray Bauman burned several Demogorgons to death with a flamethrower in Kamchatka, Russia. Robin took advantage of Vecna's weakened state to fling her own Molotov at the creature, inflicting even more damage. Nancy finally joined the fray with the shotgun that she had bought, shooting Vecna several times in the chest and shoulders. When a still-alive Hopper decapitated the adult Russian Demogorgon in Kamchatka's prison, Vecna became even more weak to the point of being thrown out of the window by Nancy's fifth gunshot to his stomach. The trio rushed outside to ensure their enemy's demise, only to find his body gone, much to their confusion, shock and horror.

A few minutes later, they went back inside the house upon hearing the grandfather clock chime four times, which allowed them to realize that Vecna had managed to kill Max after all. The three did not have much time to grieve Max's loss due to an earthquake occurring in the Upside Down as well as Hawkins. Max's death created Vecna's fourth and final gate, which quickly expanded throughout Hawkins along with the other three gates, creating the exact catastrophe seen in Nancy's visions. The four gates inflicted damage towards several residences and killed dozens of innocent civilians before converging into Hawkins town square, creating a powerful shockwave. All teens managed to return to the real world shortly afterwards.

The beginning of the end[]

Nearly 48 hours since the "earthquake", a good portion of Hawkins' population left the town after having had enough of the constant tragedies and destruction, with the "earthquake" having taken the lives of twenty-two innocents, leaving hundreds of others homeless or missing. Nancy was seen helping her mother in gathering many of her old toys, including Mr. Rabbit, for donation, with Nancy believing Mr. Rabbit would find a home where it would be more loved. Their work was interrupted by a van approaching their home and Argyle, Eleven, Mike, Jonathan and Will revealed themselves. While Dustin reunited with Mike, Will, and Eleven, Nancy and Jonathan embraced and apologized for ther lack of communication lately, with Jonathan arguing that they could not risk contact, which surprised and confused Nancy, only for Jonathan to reassure her that he would tell her everything.

Dustin led Nancy, Jonathan, Mike, Will and Eleven to Hawkins Memorial Hospital, where they visited Lucas and Erica, who were watching over a comatose Max, who, unbeknownst to any of them but Mike, Jonathan and Will, had been brought back to life by Eleven, who used her abilities to restart her heart. Lucas deemed Max's resurrection a miracle but warned that the doctors were not sure if she would ever awaken.

Shortly afterwards, Argyle, Jonathan, Mike, Nancy, Eleven, and Will travelled to Hopper's abandoned and damaged cabin in the woods. When the boys complained about the state of the cabin, Nancy reassured them that she had seen Mike's room in an even worst state before declaring that they would clean it up. Eleven went to clean her bedroom whereas Jonathan and Nancy tried to cover the windows. During their task, Nancy asked Jonathan about his college letter, to which Jonathan lied, stating it had not arrived yet, before both of them saw Jonathan's best friend Argyle collecting some mushrooms.

Minutes later, they heard the honking of a van approaching the cabin. Joyce and Hopper revealed themselves and reunited with their children and their allies. However, the reunion was interrupted when all of them witnessed dark clouds and unusual white spores descending the sky, prompting them to head to Weathertrop hill, where they witnessed a field of flowers slowly dying. The causes behind this were smoke and a supernatural storm with red lightning that had emerged from the intersection point of Vecna's gates. The Party and their allies realized to their horror that despite their best efforts, the Upside Down's invasion that Vecna had planned was just commencing.

Personality[]

Because she's not miserable like you two! She actually cares about other people.
Steve to Tommy and Carol, November, 1983

Nancy is hyper-intelligent and studious, having a high GPA and studying vigorously for tests. However, after entering a relationship with Steve she became more rebellious, lying and participating in activities she most likely wouldn't have done otherwise. While her actions were being influenced by her new "friends", she still remained kind, sympathetic, and studious. Her genius-level of intellect led to finding the truth behind Barb’s disappearance even though she still felt guilty.

She was also shown to have a tremendous amount of bravery, resolve, and conviction, going to great lengths for those she cared for. When she was looking for the missing Barb, she boldly entered a portal to another dimension in an attempt to save her friend. Later, determined to kill the Monster, she willingly used her and Jonathan's blood to lure it out.

In 1984, after the death of her best friend, Nancy still carried a tremendous amount of guilt and even blamed herself for causing Barb's demise. Nancy barely revealed her sadness and guilt to anyone but Steve and Jonathan. However, after getting intoxicated at a Halloween party, Nancy vented her sadness, anger, and guilt out on Steve which caused her to reveal that she no longer loved him. Although Nancy had no memory of her drunken state the following day, she felt guilty for saying those harsh words to Steve and wondered if she actually meant what she said. After keeping the truth behind Barb's death for a year, Nancy decided to avenge her friend by exposing Hawkins Lab where Barb was finally given a funeral, along with Barb's parents finally getting closure.

When Nancy started working at The Hawkins Post, she strove to work hard and do her best. However, surrounded by misogynistic co-workers, Nancy was belittled and mocked despite her treating her co-workers kindly. Because of the ridicule she received from her co-workers, Nancy was determined to receive the approval and recognition from her co-workers by going through such lengths to be treated equally and respectfully. Nancy's determination to gain her co-workers' respect led her to making decisions without thinking thoroughly; this, in turn, resulted in her and Jonathan getting fired and put a strain on their relationship. After a talk with her mother, Nancy overcame the cruelty she endured from the journalists at the Hawkins Post and reconciled with Jonathan.

In 1986, Nancy continued pursuing journalism by working for her school's newspaper. However, she struggled with inner frustration over her relationship with Jonathan as he had moved away to California and barely kept in touch with her where neither of them decided to visit each other during spring break. Nancy even showed annoyance when someone spoke about her relationship with Jonathan and insisted everything was fine between the two of them. When she reunited with Jonathan, Nancy was happy to see him, but denied that there were problems in their relationship. Once fellow student Chrissy Cunningham was mysteriously murdered, Nancy sought to investigate and unlike her former co-workers from the Hawkins Post, she approached individuals kindly and sought only to write truthful stories, instead of gossip. As Nancy investigated and searched for Vecna with the Party, her guilt and trauma over Barb's death began to resurface which Vecna used to torment Nancy when he enthralled her under a curse. Yet, despite being traumatized by her encounter with Vecna who also showed her visions of her family dying, Nancy's will did not break as she grew determined to kill Vecna.

Abilities[]

  • Skilled Detective: Like her namesake, Nancy is a skilled detective. Upon seeing Jonathan's photos of Barb, she quickly deduced he was the last person to see her alive and sought his help in finding her. Upon looking closely at the drawings of Vecna's mental realm made by Max Mayfield, Nancy was able to put them together and deduce that a fragmented version of the Creel family house was part of Vecna's mindscape, giving the Party and their allies another clue that led them closer to discovering Vecna's true identity as Henry Creel.
  • Skilled Marksman: Nancy demonstrated proficiency with firearms such as a shotgun and handgun. She landed a few good shots on the Mind Flayer with Hopper's shotgun while protecting the kids from the creature, then later shot at Billy with a stolen Russian handgun, albeit with little success. After buying a shotgun in War Zone, Nancy used it to shoot Vecna four times in the chest and shoulders. Eventually, Nancy's fifth shot struck Vecna's stomach and threw him out of the attic.
  • Improvised Weapon Proficiency: She is also capable of utilizing objects for improvised weaponry. As she used a fire extinguisher to brutally swing at flayed Bruce first in the face which shattered his teeth, uppercuts his nose, before finally bashing him with a strike hard enough in killing him. When entering the Upside Down to save Steve, Nancy uses a boat paddle as melee weapon to fight Demobats by bashing them to the ground before impaling their heads off.

Relationships[]

Familial[]

Nancy and Mike were hinted to having been closer as kids, when Dustin mentioned that Nancy once dressed up as an elf for Mike's D&D Elder Tree campaign. As they grew older, however, the two drifted apart, likely due to their age gap and different interests.

In November of 1983, Nancy commented on Mike pouring maple syrup on his scrambled eggs, saying it was disgusting. In retaliation, Mike called her disgusting and poured syrup on her eggs while smirking, causing Nancy to curse at him. This caused Nancy to be scolded by Ted for swearing, much to Nancy's frustration. That night, after Karen forbade Nancy or Mike from leaving the house after dark, Nancy belittled this rule because "Mike's friend" got lost on his way home. Mike grew angry at her insinuation that it was Will's fault he was missing, and Karen told her to take her statement back. When Nancy refused, Mike retaliated by revealing that Nancy was "pissed off" because she couldn't meet with Steve Harrington, causing Nancy to glare at him. When their parents asked who Steve was, Mike stated that he was her new boyfriend, causing Nancy to call him a douchebag. She stormed off to her room as Mike smirked. The next morning at breakfast, Nancy told Mike to slow down with his breakfast and called him disgusting once again. Mike sarcastically asked if she did a lot of studying last night. When Nancy said she did, Mike asked if her subject was "human anatomy", since he spotted Steve sneaking into Nancy's window the night prior. Realizing what he meant, Nancy and Mike began to kick each other underneath the table, until Karen asked what was going on, and the siblings simply said it was nothing. That night, when Nancy lied to her mother and said she and Barb were going to a candlelight vigil for Will at Hawkins High, Karen suggested taking Mike and his friends. Nancy herself was confused when the boys immediately said no. When Nancy discovered that her home was being raided by government agents, she attempted to run to them, but was stopped by Hopper, who told her that the last thing her parents needed was to discover she was involved in what was going on. Nancy protested by saying Mike was over there, but Hopper pointed to a helicopter and said that they haven't found him yet. Inside Hopper's car, he and Joyce pressed Nancy on where Mike would be, and Nancy admitted that they haven't been communicating for a while. That night, upon Hopper returning to the Byers' home with Mike and his friends, Nancy ran out and hugged Mike, saying she was worried about him. Mike, confused, said that he was too. When making a sensory deprivation tank at Hawkins Middle, Mike was impressed when Nancy broke the lock to the school shed to get supplies. While carting them back inside, Nancy asked Mike what Eleven had been eating while she hid in their basement. Nancy admitted that she thought Mike was acting weird because of Will's disappearance, while Mike admitted that he thought Nancy was acting weird because of her relationship with Steve. Nancy put down the wheelbarrow and made her and Mike promise to not hide secrets anymore. But Nancy immediately lied when Mike asked her if she liked Jonathan romantically, and Mike lied immediately when Nancy asked him if he liked Eleven romantically.

By the fall of 1984, Nancy and Mike's relationship had reverted to the typical love-hate relationship, like many siblings. Nancy caught her brother stealing coins out of her piggy bank one evening for the arcade, causing her to chase Mike out of the house and calling him an "asshole" as he rode off on his bike. Later, when Mike's friends asked him to set Nancy up with Keith in exchange for info on Mad-Max's identity, Mike refused, saying he wouldn't "prostitute" his sister. When Nancy and Jonathan returned to the Byers from Illinois to find the home a wreck, Nancy grew worried for Mike's safety and traveled to Hawkins Lab, rescuing him, Joyce, Hopper, and Will. The two worked together in helping Will become unpossessed, with Nancy thanking Steve for protecting Mike.

By the summer of 1985, Nancy grouped up with Mike and his friends upon discovering the Mind Flayer's return to Hawkins, with Nancy explaining to Mike how Mrs. Driscoll, a client she interviewed, shared the exact symptoms Will had the year prior. When Max revealed El dumped Mike, Nancy was surprised, and took Max's side by saying El was her own person that was risking everything to save the world. She immediately backed down and was shocked when Mike blurted out that he loved El. At the Starcourt Mall, when Mike and Max realized that the Mind Flayer was on top of the mall, he screamed for Nancy to warn her as the group split up to hide.

In March of 1986, Mike, now a freshmen, carpooled with Nancy, now a senior, to Hawkins High. On the last day before Spring Break, Nancy stormed into Mike's bedroom to find him underdressed and reading a letter from El. She ordered him that he had thirty seconds before she left without him, causing Mike to scramble and run downstairs to get breakfast. As his parents pressed him to arrive home from Hellfire Club early, Nancy yelled his name and for him to hurry up. Mike sarcastically remarked how hard it would be to be away from them all during his trip to California. That afternoon, Mike barged into the newspaper room where Nancy was working, disrupting the quietness and causing everyone - including an embarrassed Nancy - to look at him. Mike, not skipping a beat, asked if she wanted to fill in for Hellfire that night, and Nancy only glared at him. Due to Mike visiting in California, Nancy didn't have immediate contact with Mike once Vecna's killings began, and it proved to be frustrating when the Byers' house phone keeps going dead. When Vecna revealed visions of the future to Nancy, she was horrified and broke down in tears telling her friends how she saw Mike, her mother, and her sister being killed by creatures from the Upside Down. She pieced together that whatever was going on with Mike and the others in California were linked to Vecna, and became dead-set on returning to the Upside Down and kill Vecna to protect her family. At the War Zone, when an unhinged Jason asked if Mike was with her, Nancy kept her cool and told him no. Jason began interrogating her and asked if he was apart of Hellfire, to which Nancy lied by saying he didn't know what he was talking about. Two days after Vecna's disappearance, Mike arrived to Hawkins alongside the Byers and Argyle. Nancy tagged along with the California crew to repair Hopper's cabin and joked the cabin's condition was better than Mike's bedroom.

Nancy seemed to have a good but sometimes strained relationship with her mother. Nancy believed her parents never loved each other and only married each other because her mom was young and her dad had a good job. She also disobeyed and lied to her mother, telling Karen that she and Barbara were going to help look for Will Byers, when they were in fact going to a party at Steve Harrington's house. When Barbara was found missing and Nancy grew concerned for her, Nancy confessed her worries to her mother. She later admitted to having slept with Steve after being questioned by the police. When she later found their house being searched by government agents, Nancy became concerned for her mom and dad.

A year later, Nancy's relationship with her mom seemed to have improved a little. However, Nancy still lied to her when she told her mom that she was going to sleep over at a friend's house, and was really planning to expose Hawkins Lab with Jonathan Byers.

After getting fired from The Hawkins Post in 1985, Nancy turned to her mother for comfort and advice. Karen agreed with her daughter that her co-workers were misogynistic, but assured her that it didn't matter as Nancy was and would always be a fighter. When her mother wistfully wondered aloud where her daughter had gotten her fighting spirit, Nancy in turn assured her that it was her mother's spirit. Touched, Karen encouraged Nancy to finish her story if she still believed in it, and Nancy, feeling emotional at her mother's support, gave her a hug.

In 1986, when Vecna possessed Nancy and gave her visions of the possible future, Nancy was horrified to see visions of creatures from the Upside Down attacking her mom, and was visibly shaken by it. Knowing her mom and family were in possible danger, she opted to go back into the Upside Down to kill Vecna.

Nancy and her father did not appear to have a strong relationship. Nancy believed her parents never loved each other as her mom was young and her dad had a good job. However, when her house was being searched by government agents, Nancy was concerned for her mom and dad. In 1986, when Vecna possessed Nancy and showed her visions of the possible future, she did not mention any creatures from the Upside Down attacking her dad, suggesting that Nancy doesn't share a close relationship with her father.

Holly is Nancy's younger sister. Though they don't appear to interact much, possibly due to the age gap between them, Nancy does care about Holly. In 1986, when Vecna possessed Nancy and showed her visions of the possible future, she was horrified to see visions of creatures from the Upside Down attacking Holly, and was visibly shaken by it. Knowing her sister and family were in danger as long as Vecna was alive, Nancy opted into returning to the Upside Down to kill him.

Non-Familial[]

Barbara "Barb" Holland was Nancy's best friend. They did everything together, going clothes shopping when Nancy started dating Steve Harrington. However, when Nancy started dating him, Barb became concerned for Nancy as Steve and his friends started to influence her. When Barb told Nancy she wasn't being herself, Nancy told Barb to go home, inadvertently hurting Barb's feelings. Later, when Nancy realized Barb was missing, she became concerned, teaming up with Jonathan Byers to look for her, while distancing herself from Steve. When Eleven used her powers to look for Barb and Will, she found Barb's corpse and sadly told Nancy that Barb was dead, devastating Nancy.

A year later, Nancy was still shown to carry guilt and deep remorse for Barb while eating dinner with Barb's parents. Eventually, Nancy decided to avenge Barb's death by exposing Hawkins Lab. With Jonathan's help, she delivered a recording of Dr. Owens's confession to Murray Bauman and offered an explanation for Barb's death -- chemical exposure -- as a way to keep the truth of the Upside Down a secret. With part of the truth exposed, Hawkins Lab shut down and Barb was finally given a funeral which Nancy attended with Barb's parents.

Despite having somewhat avenged the death of her best friend, Nancy continued to carry grief and guilt towards having left Barb vulnerable to the Demogorgon for the next two years, which was first shown when flashbacks of Barb's last moments of life flooded through Nancy's head when she was watching news of Chrissy Cunningham. Her fellow journalist, Fred Benson even resembled Barb and when he was killed, Nancy was devastated. When Vecna briefly pulled Nancy into his "curse," she was brought to the Upside Down version of the Harringtons' pool and showing Barb's lifeless and decomposing body following her death. Vecna proceeded to taunt Nancy, reprimanding her for leaving Barbara alone to be killed and eventually forgetting about her. Instead of killing her like he did with his previous victims, the creature showed Nancy through visions that he planned to burn Hawkins to the ground and asked her to deliver his message to Eleven before freeing her from the trance.

Steve and Nancy first began seeing each other shortly sometime around 1983. Though Nancy was enamored with Steve, she accused Steve at first of just wanting to get another "notch on his belt", but Steve denied this. In truth, Steve had fallen in love with Nancy, saying she wasn't like the previous girls he dated. Upon losing her virginity to Steve at his party, the couple officially entered a relationship, despite Nancy feeling subconscious. Steve was angered at Jonathan for taking pictures of Nancy changing, destroying his pictures and camera, though Nancy didn't condone it. Soon, the disappearance of Nancy's best friend Barb put a strain on their blooming relationship, with Nancy naturally concerned about her friend. Things were strained further when Steve at first was more concerned that his parents would ground him for having the party Barb disappeared from without their permission, much to Nancy's anger. Despite Steve apologizing, he noticed Nancy was still acting strange, spying in her window and witnessing her being comforted by Jonathan Byers. Believing her to be cheating on him, he joined his friends in writing slurs of Nancy on the town's movie theatre marquee. Nancy confronted him by slapping him in the face, but was told by Steve to go to hell as she failed to answer what she was up to with Jonathan, due to the extraordinary nature of the events. After being beat up by Jonathan, Steve realized the errors of his ways, arriving at the Byers to apologize, only to find himself roped into the fight of the monster from another dimension dubbed the Demogorgon. Though Nancy shooed him away, Steve returned to save her at the last minute, helping her and Jonathan injure it and chase it away. A month later, Nancy and Steve had gotten back together, with Steve spending Christmas Eve with her and her family.

By the fall of 1984, Nancy and Steve continued to date, with Nancy assisting Steve with his attempts of getting ready to graduate as a senior. However, their relationship was once again put in jeopardy; no longer being able to bear the guilt of Barb's death, Nancy told Steve they should tell Barb's parents the truth. Steve rejected this idea, reminding her that doing so would put them and their families in danger. At a Halloween party, Nancy became intoxicated, leading her to reveal that she did not have feelings for him, which emotionally crushed Steve. When Nancy confronted Steve the following day of shunning her, she had no memory of her drunken state, reassuring Steve what she said wasn't true. Steve tried to get Nancy to prove it by telling him she truly loves him, but Nancy couldn't find the words to say it, leading the two to break up. When Nancy recounted her drunken state with Jonathan, she felt guilty for hurting Steve's feelings and wondered if she really meant what she said to him. At Murray Bauman's house, Murray analyzed Nancy's personality and noted that her fear of being herself caused her to stay with Steve, noting that she liked him but not loved him. Nancy stumbled through her words to defend Steve, but only ended up showing it was the truth. When Nancy meets with Steve again, she thanked him for watching over the kids and Steve told her that she should be with Jonathan, having come to accept her love towards him by admitting he wasn't a good boyfriend. Nancy tried to apologize to Steve for hurting his feelings, but Steve just calmly assured her it was okay before departing. A month later, after dropping Dustin off at the Snow Ball, Steve sadly watched Nancy through the school windows serving punch, before driving away.

Nancy and Jonathan spoke to each other when Will went missing, with Nancy reassuring him that Will's going to be fine. Prior to this, it seems the two rarely interacted, mostly because Johnathan avoided talking to people. When she finds out that Jonathan took pictures of Nancy and her friends at Steve's party, she did not show resentment towards him and later asks for his help when her friend, Barb goes missing which he accepted. They form a bond over their mutual goal of finding their brother and friend respectively and become close. After discovering Barbara had been killed, Nancy was comforted by Jonathan and the two worked together in trying to kill the Demogorgon. A month later, after Will's rescue, Nancy gave Jonathan a Christmas present and reassured him it didn't matter that he got her anything for Christmas before she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

In 1984, Nancy continues to have a bond with Jonathan as she invited him to Tina's Halloween Party. After Nancy got drunk and hurt Steve's feelings, Jonathan took Nancy home and Nancy, in a drunken state, reached out to Jonathan before passing out. When Nancy found out Jonathan took her home after the party, Nancy spoke to Jonathan about this. When Nancy decided to expose Hawkins Lab, she was helped by Jonathan in presenting the evidence to investigator Murray Bauman and the two give into the sexual tension after being pressured by Murray and ultimately kiss (and are hinted at doing more). They later work together in burning the Mind Flayer out of Will. While at the Snow Ball a month later, Nancy and Jonathan started a relationship.

In 1985, Nancy and Jonathan are shown to have become an official couple, sleeping together at Jonathan's house one day. The two also work together at The Hawkins Post. Whenever Nancy was abused and humiliated by the male employees, she was always comforted by Jonathan. When Nancy picked up a story from Doris Driscoll, she grabbed Jonathan along to investigate and present the story to the Post. However, after the story was rejected which left Nancy cruelly insulted, she ignored Jonathan's attempts to comfort her. Nancy eventually decided to get more evidence of the story and convinced a reluctant Jonathan to come with her where they discovered Mrs. Driscoll consuming fertilizer. This lead to them getting fired from the Post and straining their relationship, with Jonathan angry over losing his means to support his family and Nancy accusing Jonathan of being like her abusers. Nevertheless, Nancy later revealed to her mom that she felt guilty for causing Jonathan to lose his job as she wasn't thinking about him, but only herself. When Nancy discovered that the Mind Flayer returned due to possessing Mrs. Driscoll, Nancy immediately called Jonathan, informed him of the predicament, and rushed to work with the kids on stopping the Mind Flayer. Later, while going to get Mrs. Driscoll at the Hawkins Memorial Hospital so she can lead them to the Mind Flayer's hideout, Nancy reconciled with Jonathan. When they were attacked by a Flayed Tom and Bruce, Nancy and Jonathan did their best to protect each other. After Nancy was saved from the hospital monster, Nancy was checked upon by a relieved Jonathan. Once the Mind Flayer's plot was unraveled, Nancy and Jonathan worked together in protecting the children from the Mind Flayer's avatar until its defeat. Three months later, Nancy sadly said goodbye to Jonathan, sharing a kiss and embrace with him before he left Hawkins with his family.

By 1986, Nancy and Jonathan’s relationship has become somewhat strained. The two of them are now thousands of miles apart and Nancy would not be visiting the Byers' residence for spring break alongside Mike, which only causes further tension. Though she planned to attend college with Jonathan, Nancy would often express her frustrations over her relationship with Jonathan with those closest to her such as Fred Benson and Robin Buckley, but remained positive that she and Jonathan would work things out between them. When Nancy and Jonathan reunite, they lovingly embrace and apologize to one another, both of them explaining valid reasons for their absence and silence. However while rebuilding Hopper’s cabin, Jonathan was worried for his relationship with Nancy due to her fondness with Steve and how he matured as a person. When asking if they were okay, Nancy insisted with their relationship saying "yes" while being unaware that Jonathan was lying to her about his college acceptance letters.

In 1983, Nancy and Robin interact briefly at the movie theater where Nancy is on a date with Steve. Nancy is unaware of the close relationship of Robin once shared with her Barbara Holland and how poorly thinks of her, due Nancy being Barbara's best friend. Due to being upset over Barbara's disappearance, Nancy is consoled by Robin and explains to her why she is upset over Barbara's disappearance.

In July of 1985, Nancy meets with Robin again, and not remembering who she is, Nancy questions who her and Robin introduces herself. When the Mind Flayer invades the Starcourt Mall, Nancy tells Steve and Robin to get into the station wagon after totaling the Todd-Father. The two assist the gang in defeating the Mind Flayer using Lucas' fireworks.

In the spring of 1986, after discovering and informing Nancy of an entity called Vecna who was murdering young teenagers around Hawkins, Robin joined Nancy in investigating Victor Creel at the Hawkins Public Library as she could not drive the kids to see Ms. Kelley, due to not having a driver's license. As they did their research, Robin unintentionally began to annoy Nancy and made her feel awkward when she told her that she was not dating Steve, due being aware of the former's relationship with him. However, Robin was able to find key information on the murders on the Creel family possibly being connected to Vecna through archived tabloids, which started to change Nancy's opinion on Robin.

Later, Nancy and Robin hatch a plan to pose as psychology students in order to sneak into Pennhurst Asylum to speak to Victor Creel. Nancy had Robin dress her clothes, much to her dismay, but became impressed when Robin successfully convinced Dr. Anthony Hatch to let them speak to Creel. They then discover Creel's backstory and realize that music is the key to saving someone from Vecna's clutches. When the Hawkins gang goes to investigate the Creel house in person, Nancy chooses Robin to be her partner in searching the house for clues.

While going to meet Eddie with supplies at Skull Rock, Nancy and Robin walk alongside each other in the woods. They discuss Nancy's relationships with Jonathan and Steve, Robin stating that she "wants happiness for her friends". Nancy asks if that makes them friends officially, and Robin agrees, thereby cementing their bond.

When Nancy jumps into Lover's Lake after Steve is pulled down into Watergate, Robin pleads with her not to go. Inevitably, Nancy jumps in and Robin jumps in after her. Once they are inside the Upside Down, Nancy and Robin battle two Demobats together. When one of them grabs Nancy, Robin pulls it off of her, thus saving her life. When the trio of Robin, Steve, and Nancy return to the Upside Down, Nancy is concerned that Robin will accidentally step on the vines. She tells Steve as much. When they reach the Upside Down version of the Creel house and see that it is riddled with vines, Robin becomes scared and holds Nancy's hand. Nancy reassures her, saying "It's okay. You got this." Nancy and Robin would go to temporarily defeat Vecna before they managed to escape from the Upside Down together.

Nancy only has occasional interactions with Dustin. The first exchange we see them having is when Dustin offers Nancy a slice of pizza while she is on the phone, only for her to slam the door in his face. Dustin claims that Nancy "used to be cool."

On December 15, 1984, at the Snow Ball, after seeing Dustin being rejected and ridiculed by girls, Nancy takes pity on him and brings him to dance with her, attracting the attention of the girls who rejected him. Nancy tells Dustin that he is her favorite out of all of her brother's friends. She also tells him that girls at his age are 'dumb', but he'll "drive them nuts" in a few years. They share a touching moment together, having a friendly slow dance.

In 1985, Nancy came to Dustin's rescue before he, Steve, Robin Buckley, and Erica Sinclair were killed by Russian soldiers. They then worked together, along with their friends, in defeating the Mind Flayer's avatar.

In 1986, Nancy met up with Dustin again where he, along with Steve, Robin, and Max Mayfield, informed of an entity from the Upside Down known as Vecna was responsible for committing a murder spree in Hawkins. They, along with their friends, worked together in investigating and trying to search for Vecna. After Nancy, Steve, Robin, and Eddie get trapped in the Upside Down due to entering a gate at Lover's Lake, the four older teens manage to communicate with Dustin, Lucas, and Erica through Holly's Lite Brite and the kids were able to rescue them from the Upside Down.

After discovering Vecna's true identity and plans, Nancy and Dustin worked out a plan to kill Vecna. They, along with Steve, Robin, and Eddie entered the Upside Down where Dustin and Eddie distracted the Demobats while Nancy, Steve, and Robin snuck into the Creel House to kill Vecna as he invaded Max's mind. After temporarily defeating Vecna, Nancy and Dustin were able to escape from the Upside Down.

In 1984, Max and Nancy first met when they both arrived at Hawkins National Laboratory as Nancy and Jonathan arrived to look for their brothers while Max arrived to help Dustin, Lucas, and Steve catch D'Artagnan. The became allies as they helped their friends work together in freeing Will from the Mind Flayer and closing the Gate.

In 1985, Max wrote Nancy's name to potentially spy on her using El's powers when making a spin-the-bottle type game on who to spy on. Nancy and Max reunited when they, Mike, Eleven, Lucas, Will, and Jonathan searched for the Flayed. When Max and Mike argued over who should decide what Eleven should do, Nancy took Max's side, reiterating her points that El wasn't stupid and knew her abilities better than anyone, with Max thanking her for proving her point. When hiding out at the Starcourt mall, Max became worried that Nancy would kill Billy as she saw her load a gun, but Nancy assured her that the gun was only a precaution.

In 1986, Nancy was kept at a distance by Max as she was still grieving for Billy's death. When investigating Chrissy Cunningham's death, Nancy addressed herself as Max's friend to Wayne Munson, Max's neighbor and the uncle of Eddie Munson, the suspect of Chrissy's murder. After her colleague Fred Benson's death, Max reunited with a frightened Nancy and she, Dustin, Steve, and Robin informed her of the real perpetrator of the murders, a new entity from the Upside Down named Vecna. After Max escaped Vecna's grasp, she was originally kept on close watch by the group. Nancy awoke to find Dustin, who was supposed to watch Max, passed out. She asked in a panic where Max was, and she and Dustin ran upstairs to find Max sitting at the kitchen table drawing with Holly. Nancy sat down with a smile and asked if Max was alright, to which Max confirmed while admitting she couldn't sleep since everyone kept blasting music in her ears. Nancy took notice of her drawings of a broken house, and pieced them together to realize that she saw Victor Creel's house in Vecna's mindscape. When Nancy was cursed by Vecna, Max attempted to assist the group find music to play, but informed Erica that they could not find anything. After discovering Vecna's true identity, Nancy was reluctant to have Max use herself as a bait to draw out Vecna in order to kill him, but went along with the plan. When Vecna's clock chimed four times, Nancy was visibly horrified to discover Max was gone. After Eleven revived Max, Nancy visited her comatose friend at the hospital.

In 1983, Nancy was unaware that Eleven was being kept in her basement by her brother. When nobody was home, Eleven roamed through Nancy's bedroom, enamored with her possessions and her life in photographs on her corkboard. Nancy formally met Eleven when Chief Jim Hopper rescued her, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas from the Department of Energy agents. After reuniting with Mike, Nancy paused and asked if Eleven was wearing her old dress. When the boys explained how the Demogorgon took Will and Barb, Nancy asked if El could locate the latter. After breaking into Hawkins Middle and creating a sensory deprivation tank, El located Barb's corpse in the Upside Down, saying the word "Gone" repeatedly, much to Nancy's horror.

In 1984, Nancy was shocked upon Eleven's return to the Byers' home, saving her and the others from Demodogs. During the Snow Ball, Nancy had allegedly assisted Hopper in supplying him with makeup for Eleven's wardrobe.[13]

In 1985, Nancy reunited with Eleven after discovering the return of the Mind Flayer. When visiting a flayed Mrs. Driscoll at the hospital, El and Will sensed that Nancy and Jonathan were in danger. El and her friends came to Nancy's rescue. El launched a melted piece of the Mind Flayer who was ready to kill Nancy throughout the room before sending it out the window, saving Nancy. At the cabin, El saved Nancy once again when the Mind Flayer, now larger, launched its tentacles towards Nancy as she ran out of ammunition, but El stopped it and snapped it off of its core body. Nancy then reloaded her gun and helped the Mind Flayer let go of El before it can kill her, driving off with the others as they escaped. At Bradley's Big Buy, Nancy and Jonathan rounded up first aid supplies to help fix El's wound. The temporary fix proved to be unsuccessful, as El collapsed from exhaustion at the Starcourt Mall, with the group discovering her leg has grown painfully infected. Nancy assisted keeping El's leg in place as Jonathan attempted to make an incision, and yelled Jonathan's name as she noticed how much pain El was in. Nancy would soon assist in saving El from the Mind Flayer by pelting their enemy with Lucas' fireworks. Three months later, when assisting El and the Byers pack, Nancy joked that Jonathan could hide in a tent in her basement the way El did.

In 1986, El and Nancy's communication was limited due to being on opposite sides of the country. After being placed under Vecna's curse, Vecna dictated Nancy to tell Eleven the visions he continued to show her - the destruction of Hawkins and the end of the world. Waking up and realizing that El and her friends' lack of communication stemmed from Vecna, Nancy said that they needed to protect them by going back to the Upside Down to kill Vecna. Two days later, El reunited with Nancy where the two began fixing the old cabin Hopper and El lived in. Nancy then watches El reunite with Joyce, being visibly moved, and the two also witness together the invasion of the Upside Down.

Nancy and Joyce are shown to have been on friendly terms. In the fall of 1983, when Joyce and Hopper arrived at the Hawkins Police Department to find Jonathan arrested, they are shown by him and Nancy that they've been planning on hunting the creature that took Will. Joyce scolded Jonathan for risking both his and Nancy's lives to fight the creature. When Joyce and Hopper left to find Will at Hawkins Lab, Nancy told Jonathan they'd have to kill the creature to protect them while they explore in the Upside Down. In the fall of 1984, Nancy assisted Joyce in helping decode Will's messages to close the Gate and stop the Mind Flayer. She later traveled with Joyce and Jonathan to Hopper's cabin and exorcise the Mind Flayer out of his body through heating up the cabin with heat fans. When a possessed Will began to choke Joyce, Nancy grabbed a fire poker and burnt Will to save her. By the summer of 1985, Joyce was shown not to care that Nancy had spent the night, wiping the kiss mark off of Jonathan's cheek as Nancy snuck out of the house. Three months later, following the battle at the Starcourt Mall, Nancy assisted the Byers family in moving out, with Joyce tightly hugging Nancy as they departed. In the spring of 1986, Nancy watched Joyce reuniting with Will and Jonathan, before witnessing the invasion of the Upside Down as spores fell from the sky.

In 1984, a year after Barbara's death, Nancy decided to meet Murray Bauman, who was hired by Barbara's parents to investigate her disappearance, and confess that Hawkins Lab was responsible for the death of her friends. Although Murray believed Nancy everything about the lab and the Upside Down, he told her that her evidence could easily be destroyed or brushed off by the public. So, they worked together in making the evidence sound like that Barbara was killed by a chemical spill caused by the lab. Afterwards, Murray was able to notice Nancy's feelings for Jonathan and encouraged her to embrace them. Nancy thanked Murray for his help and he returned the gesture, telling her not to seek him out again.

However, in 1985, Nancy was shown to still be on good terms with Murray, as he gave her and Jonathan the keys to his house so they and the kids can be safe from the Mind Flayer.

In 1985, Nancy started working for Tom Holloway at The Hawkins Post. However, Tom treated her with disdain as she was a female, wanting to be a journalist, despite her being the same age as his daughter Heather. Nancy treated Tom with respect and tried to earn his approval despite his and the rest of the male employees' constant abuse. When Nancy picked up Mrs. Driscoll's rat story and presented it to Tom, he dismissed it and ordered Nancy to not pursue it. However, Nancy, still wanting to be treated with respect by her co-workers, disobeyed Tom's orders and went to look for evidence, only to find Mrs. Driscoll eat fertilizer after she became possessed by the Mind Flayer. When confronted by Tom in his office, Nancy tried to settle an argument, only for Tom to fire both her and Jonathan. When Nancy learned of Heather's predicament at the hands of Billy Hargrove, Nancy drove Jonathan and the kids to the Holloway house to check on both Tom and Heather and investigate. When confronted by a possessed Tom at the hospital, Nancy actually tried reasoning with Tom as she knew, despite his previous animosity, he was only trying to kill her because of the Mind Flayer's influence.

Nancy and Bruce Lowe became co-workers after Nancy started working for the The Hawkins Post in 1985. However, Bruce made fun of Nancy because of her gender and wanting to be a journalist; thus was her main tormentor at the Post with Bruce mocking and calling Nancy, "Nancy Drew." After Nancy discovered a mystery of "diseased rats," Bruce pranked Nancy with a toy rat, pushing Nancy over the edge to get some evidence so she can be treated with respect. However, after finding Mrs. Driscoll eating fertilizer, Bruce mocked Nancy before she was fired by Tom Holloway. At the Hawkins Memorial Hospital, Nancy and Jonathan were confronted by both a possessed Tom and Bruce who attempted to kill both Nancy and Jonathan. Bruce showed a strong desire to kill Nancy as he pursued and confronted her at the hospital. However, Nancy was able to outsmart Bruce by attacking him with a fire extinguisher. She tells Bruce to "go to hell," revealing her hatred for him, before killing him. After Bruce's corpse melted and merged with Tom's, forming a monster, it nearly killed Nancy until Eleven saved her.

Appearances[]

Season One appearances
The Vanishing of Will Byers The Weirdo on Maple Street Holly, Jolly The Body
The Flea and the Acrobat The Monster The Bathtub The Upside Down
Season Two appearances
MADMAX Trick or Treat, Freak The Pollywog
Will the Wise Dig Dug The Spy
The Lost Sister The Mind Flayer The Gate
Season Three appearances
Suzie, Do You Copy? The Mall Rats The Case of the Missing Lifeguard The Sauna Test
The Flayed E Pluribus Unum The Bite The Battle of Starcourt
Season Four appearances
The Hellfire Club Vecna's Curse The Monster and the Superhero
Dear Billy The Nina Project The Dive
The Massacre at Hawkins Lab Papa The Piggyback

Comics[]

The Other Side appearances
Issue 1 Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 4

Video games[]

Video game appearances
Stranger Things: The Game Stranger Things 3: The Game Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales Stranger Things: The VR Experience
Dead by Daylight Fortnite Smite Roblox

Family tree[]

note: family trees are only visible on desktop.

 
 
 
Ted Wheeler Family Tree icon
Ted Wheeler
 
Karen Wheeler in Season 4
Karen Wheeler
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nancy Wheeler Family Tree icon 002
Nancy Wheeler
 
 
Mike Wheeler Season 4
Mike Wheeler
 
 
Holly Season 4 icon
Holly Wheeler


Memorable Quotes[]

  • "It's not like that..."/"It wasn't like that..." —On her and Jonathan's relationship.
  • "My mom was young. My dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So they bought a nice house at the end of the culdesac and started their nuclear family." — On her parents' marriage.
  • "I wanna finish what we started. I want to kill it."
  • "You're pretending like everything's okay, you know, like, like we didn't kill Barb. Like it's great, like we're in love and we're partying, yeah let's party, party, we're partying. This, this bullshit." - On her and Steve's relationship.[14]
  • "You said, 'the happiness of your friends'. So does that make us friends?" - On her budding friendship with Robin.

Gallery[]

View Gallery For this subject's gallery, see Nancy Wheeler/Gallery.


Trivia[]

  • Her character and namesake appears to be derived from Nancy Thompson, the main character in the 1984 film, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and its third installment, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). Like Nancy Wheeler, Nancy Thompson is a stereotypical popular girl whose life is changed when her best friend is murdered by a supernatural monster, and is forced to join her fellow teenagers in defeating the demon.
  • In the original Montauk script, Nancy would grapple with trauma after being sexually assaulted by Steve. However, Joe Keery's casting threw a wrench in these plans; Keery's charming demeanor conflicted with the notion of Steve as an abuser, leading to the character's arc being rewritten.
  • In the original pilot script for "The Vanishing of Will Byers", Nancy was the first character to use the word "fuck" during the Wheeler dinner argument. This was changed, with the first use of "fuck" instead given to Will Byers.
  • Prior to about 1979, Nancy used to cosplay for Mike's old D&D campaigns.
  • The pink dress Eleven wears throughout the first season originally belonged to Nancy.
  • In the Hawkins Middle School Yearbook/Hawkins High School Yearbook, she mentions wanting to become a journalist.
  • By the third season, Nancy has obtained her driver's license, with Karen buying a new car for her.
  • In "The Spy", when Murray drops his eggs on the plate and says "Oops" with a grin, Nancy is notably holding back her laughter. The line was improvised by Brett Gelman, and a behind-the-scenes clip shows Natalia Dyer immediately bursting out laughing after the scene cut.
  • Nancy's nickname throughout the third season, "Nancy Drew," is the name of a girl detective in a series of books of the same name written by Carolyn Keene.
  • Throughout the series, Nancy's hair is shown to get more and more frizzier and stereotypically "80's-like", particularly in the third and fourth seasons.
  • Nancy appears as a playable character alongside Steve Harrington in a chapter for Dead by Daylight, which was released in September 2019.
  • Nancy is the only "victim" of Vecna's to be left unscathed, with the others' deaths being used to create gates.
  • Her only absence was in "The Lost Sister", making Mike the only member of the Wheeler family to appear in every episode until his first absence in "The Massacre at Hawkins Lab".
  • Nancy is the only character who we've seen enter and exit the Upside Down in more than one season; Seasons 1 and 4.
    • Eleven was shown entering it in Seasons 1 and 2 (the latter being a flashback of the first), but we only see her exit in season 2.
    • Henry Creel has technically been there since before Season 1, but we've never seen him exit.

References

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