At the end of Stranger Things Season 4, Vecna is badly wounded but wins enough of the fight that the barrier between Hawkins and the Upside Down is torn open, leaving the town partially consumed by the other dimension while the heroes regroup, battered and unsure of what comes next.
Fate of Vecna and Max
- Eleven confronts Vecna through Max’s mind and manages to stop him from fully killing her in the moment, but he still manages to complete his ritual by technically killing Max for about a minute before Eleven revives her. Max survives but ends up in a coma with multiple injuries, and by the finale’s last scenes she remains unconscious and unresponsive in the hospital.
- Vecna’s physical body is attacked by Nancy, Steve, and Robin in the Creel house; he falls out of the window and disappears, clearly badly damaged but not dead, setting him up as the main threat for the final season.
Hawkins and the Upside Down
- Because Vecna successfully claims four victims (with Max’s brief death counting as the fourth), four gates merge in Hawkins, triggering massive earthquakes and fiery fissures that rip through the town and allow the Upside Down to start bleeding into the real world.
- In the closing scenes, the group stands on a hill overlooking Hawkins as ash-like particles fall from the sky and dark clouds gather, showing that the Upside Down is now actively merging with their world and the next battle is imminent.
Hopper, Eleven, and the others
- Joyce and Murray help Hopper escape the Russian prison and destroy the Demogorgon and other creatures there, and Hopper finally reunites with Eleven in Hawkins, giving the season an emotional reunion amid the looming catastrophe.
- The core group—Eleven, Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin, Jonathan, Nancy, and the others—reunite in Hawkins, but Will senses through his lingering connection that Vecna is still out there and that the war for their town has only just reached its most dangerous phase.
