Vecna's curse

This article is about the curse. For the episode, see Vecna's Curse (episode).

Vecna's Curse
Type	Hallucination Execution method "Curse"
Effects	Severe headaches, nosebleeds, nightmares, hallucinations and death

Vecna's curse refers to Vecna's predominant method of murder and torture. Using his supernatural psychokinetic abilities, Vecna can probe and influence the minds of others. Motivated by a cruel and misanthropic philosophy, Vecna targets particularly traumatized, mentally ill or insecure individuals.

Vecna gradually wears down his victims by inducing involuntary hallucinations, making them see apparitions such as a grandfather clock, black widow spiders and an otherworldly realm with red skies, as well as visions tailored to a victim's specific fears or history. After inflicting protracted suffering, Vecna finally executes the victim, using his powers to put them into a trance and make them levitate before snapping their limbs and gouging out their eyes. Upon each execution, the psychic connection between Vecna and the victim is powerful enough to tear open a gate between Hawkins and the Upside Down, created in the exact location of the murder.

Signs and symptoms

The "curse" begins with the victim having severe headaches, nosebleeds and nightmares regarding any traumatic event in their past.

Eventually, the cursed will have waking hallucinations, often of other people taunting them about their secrets. These hallucinations progress to stronger versions, in which the trauma will be visibly shown by Vecna.

In the hours leading to their deaths, Vecna's victims will see a grandfather clock and black widow spiders superimposed onto the world around them. The clock also has a distorted strike noise, and will sometimes to be directly connected to the visions of black widows (as when Chrissy saw the spiders emerge from within the clock face).

Chrissy sees the clock embedded in a tree

Fred sees the clock embedded inside a coffin

Max sees the clock at Hawkins High

Patrick sees the clock at Chrissy's funeral

In some cases, such as with Max Mayfield, the victim will then hallucinate themselves entering Vecna's mindscape. The deconstructed version of the Creel House present in the mindscape, as well as the grandfather clock and black widow spiders, are all derived from Vecna's former identity as the human Henry Creel.

After a certain period of time, Vecna will finally kill the victim by placing them into a comatose-like state, in which they will be unable to respond to outside stimuli. While in this trance, Vecna will stalk his victim, chasing them through his mind, the victim’s mind, and whatever strange psychic realms lie in-between. If Vecna can overwhelm their victim with fear, and keep them from resisting, their fate is almost certainly sealed. In the real world, he makes the victim levitate while in their trance, before snapping their bones and neck, and crushing their eyes. The murder site then becomes a small gate into the Upside Down, as part of a long term goal to apparently bleed both dimensions into one.

Counter

“

Hatch said that music can reach parts of the brain that words can't. So maybe that's the key, a lifeline. A lifeline back to reality. It's worth a shot. — Robin Buckley

”

After Max Mayfield realised she was being targeted by Vecna, her friends and allies scrambled to find a way to stop Vecna's plans; her older friends Nancy Wheeler and Robin Buckley traveled to Pennhurst Mental Hospital to question the imprisoned Victor Creel, who claimed to have survived an attack by the 'demon' that killed his family. While at the hospital, the warden, Anthony Hatch, led the pair through a music hall, in which the patients could access and enjoy vinyl records. Hatch explained that the room met one of the patients' key emotional needs, as music influences parts of the brain that words cannot alone.

At Victor's cell, Victor informed Nancy and Robin that "a voice of an angel" led him to safety and away from the demon's influence. Later, Robin realised this voice might have been Dream A Little Dream Of Me by Ella Fitzgerald, which she recalled Victor absent-mindedly humming in his cell. Robin also remembered Warden Hatch's words: "music can reach parts of the brain that words can't". Putting the pieces together, the pair speculated that Victor's radio acted as a 'lifeline to reality'. They then surmised that music could protect Max from Vecna's spell.

Robin and Nancy's theory was quickly put to the test, when Vecna launched his final attack on Max, while she visited Billy’s grave at Roane Hill Cemetery. As the curse’s effects took hold on her, Robin and Nancy contacted Dustin over Supercom to share their theory that music could save Max. The group raced to play Max's favorite song over her Walkman and headphones, before watching in horror as she levitated above Billy's grave.

Inside Vecna's mindscape, Max's consciousness struggled to resist against Vecna, but upon hearing music, a mental window to reality appeared on the terrain's horizon; a visible hole in the mindscape, through which Max saw her real body levitate, while her friends panicked on the ground below.

After focusing on positive memories, Max braced herself and pulled at a vine in Vecna's neck, causing him to accidentally release her from the vines' grasp. As Max dashed towards the window, a disgruntled Vecna regained his composure. He sent fragments of the Creel House flying at Max in a last-ditch attempt to stop her, but it was too late: she had returned to reality.

After surviving the attack, Max listened to the song at all times to protect herself from Vecna. However, she would later abstain from listening to the song, in a deliberate attempt to draw Vecna's attention.

Victims

#	Victim info		Status
1		Chrissy Cunningham Head cheerleader at Hawkins High School Verbally abused by her mother about her weight Attacked and killed by Vecna on March 21, 1986	Deceased
	Gate location: Munson trailer
2		Fred Benson Student reporter at Hawkins High School Haunted by survivor's guilt after causing his friend's death Attacked and killed by Vecna on March 22, 1986	Deceased
	Gate location: Unknown road
3		Max Mayfield Student at Hawkins High School Haunted by grief and guilt after wishing for the death of her stepbrother, which she regretted when it later came true Survived an attack by Vecna on March 24, 1986 Attacked, wounded and momentarily killed by Vecna - but later revived - on March 27, 1986	Alive (comatose)
	Gate location: Creel House
4		Patrick McKinney Basketball player at Hawkins High School Subjected to verbal and physical abuse by his father Attacked and killed by Vecna on March 25, 1986	Deceased
	Gate location: Lover's Lake

Trivia

• Vecna's iconic clock wasn't made for the show - set decorator Jess Royal found it at an estate sale. The team modified the clock and made copies of it, explaining how it can turn up "in so many creepy places".

• Vecna suggested that he psychically controlled the Spider Monster that attacked in 1985, making him culpable in Billy Hargrove's possession and death. By extension, this means Max Mayfield was the only curse victim with trauma caused by Vecna himself, and the only clear case where Vecna was responsible for traumatising a person and later targeting them because of that same trauma.

• As part of the Stranger Things 4 promotional campaign, Netflix produced a series of fake Stranger Things-themed advertisements. One of these was a "Holland's" poster, advertising a "striking", "handcrafted" grandfather clock - the same clock owned by the Creel family. In the poster, a young family can be seen cheerfully gathered around the clock, but more disturbing details become apparent on closer inspection: the clock face is shattered, vines are crawling out from within the mechanism, and the silhouette of Vecna's elongated hand is visible on the outside wall. A portait of Heather Holloway hangs on the wall, and the name of the clock-making company, Holland's, appears to be a reference to Barbara Holland.

• The shattered face of the Creel clock - from "The Hellfire Club" and the "Creel House" teaser - is split into four quadrants, and looks eerily similar to the four curse gates.

• Victor Creel's actor, Robert Englund, is known for portraying Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Kreuger's method of attack is extremely similar to Vecna's; even before the inclusion of Vecna, A Nightmare on Elm Street had been a notable influence on Stranger Things.

• In the original teleplay for "The Piggyback", Max looks at her watch while at the Snow Ball, but sees the face has become the Creel grandfather clock; shocked, Max takes off the watch and stomps on it.

• "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash played a somewhat similar role to "Running Up That Hill" in the first season.

• In the season 4 premiere, in honor of her song's use, Winona Ryder wore a Kate Bush badge.
  • Kate Bush herself is stated to be a huge fan of the show, before being approached about her song being used in the show. The song in the real world subsequently charted due to popularity. According to Spotify, streams for "Running Up That Hill" increased by a whopping 9,900% in the US.

• Some of the cast revealed what songs would save them from a hypothetical Vecna attack:
  • Sadie Sink's song would be "August" by Taylor Swift.
  • Noah Schnapp tweeted "W.A.P" by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion would "snap him out of the trance in no time".
  • Jamie Campbell Bower stated it would either be Placebo's cover of "Running Up that Hill" or Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA".
  • David Harbour stated it would either be Tones and I's "Dance Monkey" or Train's "Drops of Jupiter".
  • Answering on behalf of her character at a convention, Grace Van Dien chose Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl".
  • Joseph Quinn jokingly chose "Up & Down" or "We Like To Party!" by Vengaboys.