Mike Wheeler’s (D&D) Party Rules

The influence of Dungeons & Dragons on the series is profound. The show not only features avid RPG fans as its central characters but also draws inspiration from the game’s legendary monsters and lore. It wasn’t until Mike (Finn Wolfhard) explained the concept of the “party” to Max (Sadie Sink) in Season 2 that it became clear how deeply the characters themselves are molded by these gaming principles.

Mike is not only the group’s preferred DM (or Dungeon Master), plotting the campaigns and employing strategy, but he is the Paladin, a devoted, front-line fighter. “Will the Wise” is the party’s Cleric, which the official D&D site describes as a “miraculous priest of divine power” with the ability to reach out and channel power from the “Outer Planes.” You know, like how Will can literally communicate with the Upside Down?

Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) is the Ranger, a highly-trained and focused fighter, often on reconnaissance. Think of his slingshot and binoculars. Dustin is the Bard, the heart and soul and inspiration of the group. El is the Mage, a super-powered magic-user.

Mike explains to Max that there’s simply no room for her, so she makes up a class called a “Zoomer.” Mike initially scoffs at this, but later in the season, Max is the one who is able to drive their group into battle, thus proving her worth.

Expect these roles to be spot on for what our heroes will be doing in the line of battle in Season 5. Also note that in the Stranger Things 5 trailer, Eleven cautions Mike that this isn’t like one of his campaigns. (Except, it kind of is?)

Could We Find “The Lost Sister” Again?

Back when Stranger Things Season 2 hit Netflix, a lot of viewers complained that Episode 7 “The Lost Sister” was a waste of time. It brought the overarching arc of the season to a screeching halt and featured Eleven hanging out in Chicago for less than 24 hours with Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), or Eight, her “sister” from the Hawkins Research Lab.

However, it is Kali who teaches Eleven how to better harness her powers. It is Kali who tells El that Brenner (Matthew Modine) lives. Most of all, it is Kali, or Eight, whom Victor Creel/Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) name-drops in Season 4 when he’s trying to help a young Eleven learn how to control her powers.

The show could have completely retconned her out of the saga during the Season 4 flashbacks, but making none other than Vecna aware of her feels important. Could Kali be the calvary in Season 5? Coming to help at a key moment of need? (Linnea Berthelsen was spotted on the Stranger Things Season 5 red carpet last week.)

Will Byers is, Like, Super Duper Powerful

Maybe this is just my personal perspective, but early seasons of Stranger Things tended to frame Will Byers as a victim more than a hero. In Season 1, he was kidnapped by an evil cosmic mirror universe. In Season 2, he not only expresses pain at how much he’s babied, but becomes invaded by the Mind Flayer. Like Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), I often want to protect him.

However, if my Stranger Things rewatch has made one thing clear, it’s that Will Byers is hella powerful. His trick with the lights in Season 1 is precisely how Terry Ives (Aimee Mullens) is able to initially reach Eleven in Season 2. He was able to repeatedly evade the Demogorgons in the Upside Down and resist the Mind-Flayer in Season 2. He possess massive psionic powers that maybe haven’t been honed because he was raised in a loving home and not a lab.

Netflix released the first five minutes of Stranger Things 5 last week and they confirm that Vecna purposely wanted Will, and Will alone, to help him with some master plan. Not Eleven, not Eight, but Will the Wise. This echoes the end of the Stranger Things Season 5 trailer, where Vecna needs Will to help him “one last time.” Is Will going to harness these latent powers at all in Season 5?

(Video) Game Theory

Stranger Things Season 2 opens not with a D&D game, but our band of heroes going to the local arcade. There, they play two specific games that both seem to foreshadow the future.

Dustin’s beloved Dig Dug literally inspires one of the episode titles and seems to refer to the ways in which Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) digs into the subterranean tunnels that lead to the Gate. So what about the other game the boys are playing? What does Dragon’s Lair have to do with Stranger Things?

Dragon’s Lair is a game where you play as Dirk the Daring to save the beautiful Princess Daphne from a dragon. Dustin is attempting to beat the game when he strikes out, prompting Lucas to brag that Princess Daphne is still his. The implication is this is Lucas’s best game.

Well, in Stranger Things Season 2, Dustin and Lucas develop crushes on Max, but it is Lucas who gets the girl. Max dies in the Season 4 finale, but it brought back to life by Eleven, only to linger in a comatose state. Max is like this because of the hold that Vecna had on her. In the Stranger Things Season 5 trailer, Lucas is seen carrying and protecting the still unconscious Max. This leads me to believe that Lucas will slay a monster and save Max in the final season.

All That Season 3 and 4 (and 5?) Foreshadowing in Plain Sight…

Stranger Things Season 2 introduces us to investigative journalist Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman), who is hectoring Hopper about his conspiracy theories regarding the disappearance of Barb (Shannon Purser). He believes it’s all connected to a Soviet spy conspiracy, imagining Eleven is a Russian asset and Barb was kidnapped by her handlers. Hop (and the audience) scoff at this because we know the truth.

However, in Stranger Things Season 3, the Russians are operating their own counter investigation into the Upside Down right under the mall. Then, in Season 4, Hopper is a Soviet prisoner, meaning he was kidnapped by the Russians.

What else is Murray right about that we’ve laughed off? Could aliens actually factor into the final season? Or is that a reach?

Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1 debuts on Netflix on Wednesday, November 26 at 8 PM ET.