Vecna

Vecna, born Henry Creel and later revealed as Subject 001, is a fictional character created by the Duffer Brothers for the Netflix television series Stranger Things. Portrayed by Jamie Campbell Bower and Raphael Luce as Henry Creel / Subject 001, the character made his debut in the fourth season, as a diabolic being from the Upside Down that haunts his victims with horrifying visions of their past traumas before killing them in a very brutal way. As the fourth season progresses, he is ultimately to be revealed the ruler of the Upside Down as well as the mastermind behind all of the events of the series that have terrorized the town of Hawkins, beginning with the disappearance of Will Byers. Before becoming Vecna, he was known by his real name Henry. He was born to Victor and Virginia Creel and had an older sister named Alice. After moving with his family to Hawkins, Henry discovered that he possessed telepathic powers and used them to kill his mother and sister, which caused him to fall into coma. Henry was taken by Dr. Brenner where the latter began to experiment on him, causing more children to get the same telepathic abilities. As the years progressed, he became the supervisor for the other children, where he befriended Eleven. However, after revealing his true nature as a misanthropic and nihilistic sociopath to Eleven, the latter succeeded to overpower him and sent him to the Upside Down, where he was gradually disfigured by its abnormal lightning and toxic atmosphere, triggering his transformation into the being known as Vecna. As Vecna, he eventually used his powers in order to control the monsters and became the ruler of the Upside Down, serving as the general and hive mind to all the creatures of the dimension. Since then, Vecna has pulled the strings behind the events and actions of the Mind Flayer and the other Upside Down's lifeforms during the previous seasons, with his role in Will Byers's connection to the Upside Down eventually coming to light. Since his first appearance the character has been well received by both critics and audiences, with strong praise to Bower's performance, make-up design, and the character's backstory reveal in the seventh and ninth episodes.