| This article is about the entity that appears in the third season. For the entity's main form, see The Mind Flayer. |
In the summer of 1985, a proxy form of the Mind Flayer, known as the Spider Monster, emerged from Brimborn Steel Works to terrorize Hawkins, Indiana.
The fragment of the Mind Flayer that was forced from Will Byers' mind and body laid dormant at Brimborn Steel Works following the closure of the Mothergate. After a new gate was opened in Hawkins, the fragment regained its psychic link to the Upside Down's hive mind. It immediately set out to create a more corporeal form through which it could operate, creating the Spider Monster: a creature entirely composed of stolen bone, cartilage and flesh.
It was originally a relatively small creature, composed entirely of infected rodents that gathered at Brimborn Steel Works. However, the monster, working in tandem with various other flesh-thralls under the Mind Flayer's control, was then able to possess dozens of Hawkins residents; these unfortunate individuals were forced to consume toxic chemical products, triggering a strange biological conversion within their bodies. Eventually, the possessed people - and the other flesh-thralls - were summoned to the steel mill, where they were melted down and absorbed into the creature.
The creature was then let loose throughout Hawkins, and attempted to hunt down Eleven and the Party; however, after the gate beneath Starcourt was closed, the psychic link between the monster and the Upside Down was broken, rendering the Spider Monster a empty, lifeless vessel.
Quick Answers
What is the relationship between the Spider Monster and the Mind Flayer in Stranger Things?
How did the Spider Monster emerge in the summer of 1985 in Stranger Things Season 3?
What role does Brimborn Steel Works play in the creation of the Spider Monster in Stranger Things?
How does the Spider Monster regain its psychic link to the Upside Down's hive mind?
What is the significance of the new gate opened in Hawkins in relation to the Spider Monster?
History
1984
A year following Will Byers' rescue from the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer - an entity under the control of Vecna - began stalking him in a series of visions. This culminated in the entity possessing Will by attaching a part of itself to the boy. This fragment served as a link between the Mind Flayer and Will, making him a part of the entity's hive mind. Vecna then began using Will as a means to spy on Hawkins National Laboratory in order to eradicate the scientists who were keeping the Upside Down's biological growth at bay.
However, this connection also allowed Will to learn the entity's weakness. When it was discovered the Mind Flayer was vulnerable to heat, Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy strapped Will down and surrounded him with numerous space heaters, exorcising the fragment from Will's body which subsequently flew up into the sky. When Eleven closed the Gate, the fragment did not die like the Demodogs and other hosts, but rather entered a dormant state.
1985
In the summer of 1985, a secret Soviet operation located beneath Hawkins' newly-built Starcourt Mall successfully re-opened the Gate into the Upside Down using the Key. The fragment's link with the hive mind, Vecna and the Mind Flayer was re-established, reviving in Brimborn Steel Works where it immediately began to possess a horde of rats. The Mind Flayer then began constructing a physical body for itself out of the rats' remains, with the ultimate goal to kill Eleven as revenge for closing the Gate the year prior. To achieve this, it began to target humans. The first human host was Billy Hargrove, whom was then used to kidnap Heather Holloway, possessing her as well. Over the span of three days, several more Hawkins residents became hosts to the Mind Flayer, among them being Heather’s parents, Tom and Janet Holloway, as well as Doris Driscoll and Bruce Lowe. These hosts would later be dubbed "the Flayed".
After discovering that the Mind Flayer had returned, the Party along with Nancy and Jonathan decided to use Doris as a way to find the location where the creature’s victims were being flayed. Nancy and Jonathan went to see Doris at the hospital but were instead met by Tom and Bruce, who proceeded to attack them. Tom and Bruce were killed in the ensuing fight, but their bodies then melted and combined to form a grotesque monster. After Eleven threw the creature out of a window, it escaped into the sewers where it was absorbed into the Spider Monster's body.
On July 4, Vecna finally enacted his plan; after learning the Party's location by using Billy as a decoy, Vecna summoned all of the Flayed to the steel mill where they were melted and absorbed into the proxy body, allowing it to grow to a massive size. Once complete, the creature made its way to Hopper's cabin and proceeded to attack the residence. In its assault, the creature managed to grab El by the leg with one of its tentacles, injuring her in the process. Once the tentacle had been severed, El split the Spider Monster’s head in half, temporarily incapacitating it and allowing the group to escape.
Due to a small piece of the creature still lodged under El's skin, the Spider Monster was able to pursue the Party to the Starcourt Mall. The Spider Monster was distracted and lured away from the mall as El, Mike, and Max evaded the creature by escaping through the mall’s back entrance. However, they were intercepted by Billy, alerting the Spider Monster to their location. Once he returned to the mall, Billy brought El to the creature to be killed. Just before he could do so, the creature was pelted with fireworks. When the fireworks were depleted, the Spider Monster tried again, only to be stopped by Billy, who had returned to his real self. The Spider Monster retaliated by stabbing Billy with tentacles, mortally wounding him.
Immediately after, the Key machine was disabled, thus closing the Gate and severing the Spider Monster's psychic link to Vecna and the Mind Flayer. The Spider Monster collapsed on the mall floor, lifeless.
It is not clear what happened to the creature's corpse following the closure of the gate. The body may have been recovered by the American or Russian government; alternatively, it may have burned up during the "mall fire".
Description
The Spider Monster was a 30-foot tall amalgamation of human and rodent remains. The creature loosely resembled the Mind Flayer’s 'shadow monster' form, possessing an elongated flame-shaped head, and six branching spider-like legs.
It had a highly irregular surface, with bones belonging to the creature's victims jutting out from various parts of its body. The creature was equipped with several prehensile tentacles used for offensive attacks, one of which extended from the monster’s mouth. The maw of the creature was filled with circular rows of jagged "teeth".
Despite posing a formidable threat, the creature was clumsily designed and thrown-together by Vecna, with some of its limbs being completely dysfunctional.[2]
Appearances
| 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* | The Monster and the Superhero* | ||
| Papa* | |||
Behind the scenes
According to the Duffer Brothers and VFX supervisor Paul Graff, the Spider Monster was inspired by David Cronenberg films and Hellraiser, and was conceived as a kind of "Frankenstein's dinosaur":
| “ | It's not a well-designed creature; it's a thrown-together, nasty, weird body-parts creature, so it should be limping. Maybe some of those limbs that you see are completely dysfunctional, and it's just dragging them behind him.
— Paul Graff[2]
|
” |
Gallery
|
For this subject's gallery, see The Mind Flayer/Gallery#Season Three. |
Trivia
- Concept art by Michael Maher, Jr. refers to the creature as the "Meat Flayer".[1]
- The tentacle that protrudes from the Spider Monster's mouth is similar to the inner jaw of the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise.
- According to Kate Trefry, the writers considered having the kids defeat the Spider Monster in a very different way; they would load up Karen Wheeler's station wagon with fireworks and drive it off the mall balcony, making the Mind Flayer explode - a "literal suburban icon crashing into this Lovecraftian monster".[2]
References
 | |
|---|---|
| Locations | |
| Entities | D'Artagnan • Demobats • The Demogorgon • Demogorgon (species) • The Flayed • Flesh Thralls • Hospital Monster • The Mind Flayer • Russian Demogorgon • The Spider Monster • Hawkins Tunnel System • Vecna • Vines |
| The Flayed | |
| Visitors | |
| Miscellaneous | |