Vecna in Stranger Things is the main villain introduced in Season 4, a powerful humanoid monster from the Upside Down who psychically targets people’s past traumas before killing them in gruesome ways. He is revealed to be Henry Creel, also known as Number One, the first child experimented on at Hawkins Lab, who was banished to the Upside Down by Eleven and later became the ruler of its creatures.

Identity and Origins

• Vecna was originally Henry Creel, a troubled boy in the 1950s who used his psychic abilities to murder his family and later became Dr. Brenner’s first test subject, designated 001 at Hawkins National Laboratory.

• After manipulating Eleven into restoring his full powers and massacring almost everyone in the lab, he was defeated by her and violently cast into the Upside Down, where his body was warped into the monstrous form known as Vecna.

Role in the Story

• In Season 4, Vecna acts as the “big bad” behind many events in Hawkins, cursing teenagers by invading their minds, showing them visions tied to guilt and trauma, then killing them by levitating them, breaking their bones, and destroying their eyes and skulls.

• It is later revealed that Vecna has been the mastermind guiding the Upside Down’s forces all along, effectively serving as the hive-mind controller of monsters like the Mind Flayer and orchestrating attacks on Hawkins over multiple seasons.

Powers and Goals

• Vecna possesses strong telekinesis and telepathy, allowing him to reach victims from the Upside Down, probe their memories, and open gates between dimensions at the sites of his murders.

• He believes humanity is corrupt and seeks to remake the world by merging the Upside Down with the real world, viewing himself—and Eleven—as “predators” meant to reshape reality, which sets up their ongoing conflict.

On-Screen Portrayal

• The character is portrayed primarily by Jamie Campbell Bower (adult Henry/Vecna) and by Raphael Luce as young Henry Creel, combining heavy prosthetic makeup and visual effects to create his iconic vine-covered, decayed appearance.

• Vecna’s name in the show comes from the Dungeons & Dragons villain of the same name, continuing the series’ tradition of naming Upside Down entities after classic tabletop monsters.