Jonathan Byers ²💤

Hoping to recreate Henry Creel's powers in other individuals, Dr. Martin Brenner, a researcher for the controversial government program "MKUltra", took what he had learned from Henry and adjusted his experimentations.[7][8]

Around 1970, a student named Terry Ives chose to participate in Brenner's experiments.[9] As a test subject, Terry would take psychedelic drugs and be sensorily deprived, in the hopes of "expanding the boundaries of the mind"; Terry also apparently recieved a transfusion of Henry Creel's blood.[10]

Unbeknownst to Terry, she had become pregnant during this period. On June 7, 1971[3], she gave birth to a girl, naming her Jane.[4][9] Due to the experimentation on Terry, Jane was born with various extraordinary psychokinetic abilities.[11] Immediately after her birth, she was abducted by Brenner; the incident was covered up as a miscarriage, meaning there were no birth certificates or medical records of Eleven's existence.[9] While Terry knew she had seen her daughter alive upon giving birth, Terry's sister believed Jane never survived. Terry filed a lawsuit against Brenner and his associates, but was unsuccessful due to a lack of evidence. Jane Hopper (born Jane Ives), also known as Eleven or El, is a main character in Stranger Things. She is portrayed by Millie Bobby Brown.

Jane was born with special psychokinetic abilities; Jane's mother, Terry, was experimented upon in the controversial government program known as "MKUltra", which, by accident or by Dr. Martin Brenner's design, affected Jane in the womb. Upon her birth, Jane was immediately kidnapped by Dr. Brenner, and brought to Hawkins National Laboratory. Jane was designated "Eleven", as one of many in Brenner's series of child test subjects. Throughout her childhood, Brenner tested Eleven and the others' abilities at the lab, all while denying her access to the outside world.

After Hopper's apparent death, Eleven was taken in by the Byers family, who were all relocated to Lenora Hills, California under Dr. Sam Owens's supervision. She struggled to adjust to her new life, especially with living without her powers while being a target for bullies. In 1986, while spending spring break with Mike, Owens informed her of a new evil threatening Hawkins; she agreed to participate in "Nina", an experimental scheme Owens and Brenner created, designed to restore and even boost her abilities. As part of the process, Eleven re-experienced her repressed memories; she learned Creel was responsible for the 1979 massacre and had returned to wreak havoc in Hawkins in the present day. Later, erratic military commander Lt. Col Sullivan led an effort to assassinate Eleven, though she escaped the Nina facility with the help of Mike, Will, Jonathan and Argyle. El then psychically assisted her friends in Hawkins and battled Creel once more; despite El's best efforts, she ultimately failed to stop the Upside Down's invasion of Hawkins.

After finally vanquishing Vecna and the Mind Flayer, Eleven seemingly died in the collapsing Upside Down to prevent the experiments that made her from continuing. While parting ways with Mike, she promised she would always be there to see him and his friends again. Eighteen months later, Mike would theorize that the Eleven who died at the gate was an illusion made by Kali before the latter succumbed to her wounds, theoretically allowing Eleven to run away to a place with three waterfalls and live in peace.

During their time together, she and Mike formed a strong bond and quickly grew to like each other. In an attempt to protect her friends, Eleven eventually destroyed the monster she had unleashed in a showdown at Hawkins Middle School, mysteriously vanishing in the process.

Despite her apparent demise, Eleven had survived, and secretly began living with Jim Hopper at his grandfather's old cabin. Frustrated from being separated from her friends, Eleven decided to defy Hopper's orders, and went on a journey of self-discovery, uncovering her past. Realizing she could not leave her friends behind, she returned to Hawkins, reuniting with her allies to help them neutralize another supernatural threat dubbed "the Mind Flayer". Eleven was then taken in by Hopper as his adopted daughter, her legal name now "Jane Hopper". In December, she attended the Snow Ball school dance with Mike.

By the summer of 1985, Eleven had struck up a friendship with Max, with her romantic relationship with Mike continuing to blossom. Upon learning that the Mind Flayer had returned to wreak havoc in Hawkins, she and her friends began efforts to defeat it. During their fight against the possessed Billy, "the Flayed" and the Mind Flayer's various proxy forms, Eleven suffered a traumatic injury and later lost access to her powers.

Jane Hopper (born Jane Ives), also known as Eleven or El, is a main character in Stranger Things. She is portrayed by Millie Bobby Brown.

Jane was born with special psychokinetic abilities; Jane's mother, Terry, was experimented upon in the controversial government program known as "MKUltra", which, by accident or by Dr. Martin Brenner's design, affected Jane in the womb. Upon her birth, Jane was immediately kidnapped by Dr. Brenner, and brought to Hawkins National Laboratory. Jane was designated "Eleven", as one of many in Brenner's series of child test subjects. Throughout her childhood, Brenner tested Eleven and the others' abilities at the lab, all while denying her access to the outside world.

In 1979Henry Creel, or One, the lab's original psychokinetic test subject, manipulated an eight-year old Eleven into restoring his dormant powers and brutally murdered the other test subjects. Though he attempted to sway Eleven to his cause, she refused and overpowered him, sending him through a temporary gate to another dimension. Following the incident, Eleven suffered a coma and became somewhat amnesiac, with her powers blunted.

Four years later, on November 6, 1983, Brenner pushed Eleven to make contact with a creature from the alternate dimension, accidentally opening a second gateway at the lab. Amongst the chaos, Eleven escaped the lab through a drain pipe; she was soon found by Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. Upon discovering her abilities, Mike believed that she could help find Will, their missing friend.

Max Mayfield was born to Susan and Sam Mayfield in 1971. The family lived in San Diego, California.[1]

Max was close to her father, sharing an interest in science and horror movies. Her mother, on the other hand, tended to be wary of her daughter's uncharacteristic hobbies.[1]

A six-year-old Max befriended a boy named Nate Walker, becoming best friends. The two were field trip buddies and school science partners; they would sometimes play street hockey at Max's house. Nate and his brother introduced Max to skateboarding, leading Max to spend a lot of time at the local skatepark.[1][7]

Some time before 1984, Sam and Susan divorced, with Sam moving from San Diego to Los Angeles. After Susan married Neil Hargrove, he and his son Billy moved in with Max and Susan. Max had a negative relationship with her new stepfather and stepbrother, and she especially resented Billy's bullying. Following an incident where Billy broke Nate's arm, Max's relationships with both Nate and Billy were deeply strained.[1]

Working together, Max and Holly were eventually able to escape and wake up. Max woke up in the laundry room of Hawkins Memorial Hospital, and has a tearful reunion with Lucas, finally back to the material world with her best friends, she was bound to a wheelchair, however, due to the lack of muscular activity in her body. Max played an integral role in the final battle, guiding El and Kali through Henry’s mind and helping the children navigate to safety, before she was subdued by the military. She would then watch with depression as she witnessed Eleven remain in the Upside Down during its collapse.

Eventually, Max would regain feeling in her body and recover fully, being able to skateboard again, and finished her year by graduating. And after a game of D&D, wondered if Eleven did die with Mike theorising she survived but was uncertain and told her and the others that no one knew, and they could never know. As Karen called them all up for dinner, Max and the group left the basement emotional, putting their binders away as symbolism for moving on from The Abyss’s bind on their lives, finally moving on. Max would then go on to live a loving life with Lucas.

After discovering Vecna's plan to use the murders to open four gates, the group came up with a plan of attack; Max would act as bait to distract Vecna, while Nancy, Steve and Robin would attack his real body in the Upside Down. At the abandoned Creel House, Max let herself become possessed again, but to her surprise, Eleven appeared in her visions, via her power of psychic projection. However, Vecna overpowered Eleven, and began killing Max. Due to the actions of Eleven, Nancy, Steve, and Robin, Max initially survived the attack, though she was blinded and her limbs were broken, but she eventually succumbed to her injures. Her death triggered the opening of the fourth and final curse gate, wreaking havoc across Hawkins. However, Eleven used her abilities to restart Max's heart. She was brought back to life, but remained comatose, teetering on the boundary between life and death.

A year later, while her body had fully healed, Max remained comatose, but when Vecna launches his plan to abduct children across Hawkins, and targeted Holly Wheeler, Max revealed herself when her mind was taken. It is then revealed after she died, Vecna was able to claim her mind. But after she was revived, she rematerialized in Vecna's memories. Despite being trapped in Vecna's mind, Max still maintained a connection to the physical world, being able to hear Kate Bush being played by Lucas. Eventually, Max made her way to Henry's house, and hid in a certain cave he was afraid to go in. Eventually, through Will, they discover that Max is still alive, and her body is still in a trance.

By the summer of 1985, Max had befriended Eleven, while going through cycles of dating Lucas, breaking up with him and getting back together again. However, to Max's discomfort, the Party's attention shifted to Billy after he was noted to be acting unusually. The group would later discover that Billy had become possessed by the Mind Flayer, prompting the Party and their allies to band together to defeat them. While the group battled the Spider Monster with fireworks at Starcourt Mall, Eleven reminded Billy of his humanity; her words prompted Billy to sacrifice his life to save Eleven's, which horrified and traumatized Max. Despite her rocky relationship with Billy, Max was deeply affected by her stepbrother's loss and experienced a profound sense of grief, survivor's guilt, and depression. Three months later, Max, along with the rest of the Party, tearfully said goodbye to the Byers and Eleven, who had been relocated to California by Dr. Owens.

Months later, Max still struggled with Billy's loss, suffering from frequent nightmares in which she would relive the moment of his death. She isolated herself from her friends, breaking up for good with Lucas. However, in March 1986, she decided to help her old friends investigate the murder of Chrissy Cunningham. After learning she was experiencing the same disturbing hallucinations and symptoms that Chrissy had, Max and her friends came to the conclusion that she had been "cursed" by a mysterious Upside Down entity dubbed "Vecna", and that she didn't have much time to live. However, when the time came, Max was able to survive Vecna's attacks when her friends played her favorite song over her headphones, giving her the emotional strength to defy Vecna and return to reality.

When Will started experiencing strange 'episodes', Max took notice, and became even more curious after learning of Will's disappearance the previous year. Though her new friends were initially reluctant to explain what had happened to Will, Lucas eventually divulged the whole history of events involving Will, Eleven, the Demogorgon and the Upside Down. Though skeptical at first, Max's convictions would shift after encountering a pack of faceless humanoid predators alongside Lucas, Dustin and their friend Steve Harrington. Max and her friends soon realized Will was possessed by the "Mind Flayer", a malevolent entity serving as the mind and heart of the Upside Down, whose influence in Hawkins was expanding in the form of gigantic, vine-like tunnels burrowing deep beneath the city.

Max grew romantically attached to Lucas, but had an awkward first meeting with Eleven upon her return to Hawkins. After standing up to an erratic and violent Billy after his assault on Steve at the Byers house, Max further proved her worth, stealing Billy's car and transporting the group to the underground tunnels. There, they assisted in the fight against the Mind Flayer by attacking the Upside Down's shared hive mind. After defeating the Mind Flayer, Max attended the Snow Ball with her new group of friends, and after sharing her first kiss with Lucas, would begin a relationship with him.

Maxine "Max" Mayfield,[5] portrayed by Sadie Sink, is a main character in Stranger Things, being introduced in the second season; she is also the protagonist of the novel Stranger Things: Runaway Max. A newcomer to the Party, and the stepsister of Billy Hargrove, she is best friends with Jane "Eleven" Hopper, Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Dustin Henderson, and Lucas Sinclair; she also has an on-and-off romantic relationship with Lucas, but is seen dating him in the finale.[6]

Max was originally from California, and had a keen interest in skateboarding from a young age. Following her mother's divorce and remarriage to Neil Hargrove in 1984, Max and her erratic stepbrother Billy moved to Hawkins, Indiana. Max quickly gained a reputation at the Palace Arcade for topping the game leader boards, her high scores submitted under the player name "MADMAX". Max's high scores captured the attention of arcade regulars Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will, who mistakenly assumed her to be a boy. After Maxine joined the boys' class at Hawkins Middle School, they realised the new girl and the mysterious MADMAX were one and the same. On Halloween, Max crossed paths with the boys while trick-or-treating, and despite being weirded-out by their earlier behavior, had a change of heart, and sought to befriend them. Dustin and Lucas, each secretly pining for her affection, wanted to make Max an official member of the Party, but Mike pushed back against the idea.

Billy was born on March 29, 1967,[1] in California[3] to Neil Hargrove and an unnamed mother. His father was physically abusive to him and his mother. Billy had a strong passion for surfing as a kid, and his mother was very supportive of him. He has fond memories of her standing on the beach watching him surf. His mother left him sometime later when he was about ten years old, due to Neil's abusive behavior.[4] Neil eventually married Susan Mayfield, the mother of Max Mayfield, who was introduced to Billy as his "new sister" which he did not like. Neil's abuse towards Billy turned him into a childhood bully, and he would beat up other kids[4] and began to extend to the abuse of Max.[5]

In 1984, Billy and his new family moved from California to Hawkins, Indiana, and he began attending Hawkins High School.[6]

William "Billy" Hargrove, portrayed by Dacre Montgomery, was a main character and antagonist in Stranger Things, appearing in the second and third seasons.

Raised in California, Billy moved to Hawkins, Indiana in 1984, after his mother left him and his father married a woman named Susan Hargrove. There, he attended Hawkins High School until his demise.

He was the older step-brother of Max Mayfield, who he often mistreated, among others. He got a job as a lifeguard at the Hawkins Community Pool alongside Heather Holloway, and flirted with Karen Wheeler. Eventually, he came under the possession of the Mind Flayer, who used him as a vessel and as a tool to gather the civilians of Hawkins, to create a larger physical vessel to host the Mind Flayer: the Spider Monster. Unlike the rest of the Flayed, he was never integrated into the Spider Monster's body and was granted a degree of superhuman ability while acting under the Mind Flayer's command.

During the moment in which Billy dragged Eleven toward the Mind Flayer and was about to give her up to it, she was able to reach his humanity by reminding Billy of the boy he was: the boy that existed before his mother's departure, which left him to be raised by his abusive father, eventually turning him into the bully he became. Deciding to make a change, Billy physically held back the Spider Monster, who killed him by impaling him in the chest. In his final words, he apologized to Max. His death was covered up by the government, as part of the Starcourt Mall's fire.

Steve, Robin and Dustin investigated, with the group befriending Eddie Munson in the process. They learned the deaths were possibly linked to an infamous massacre1959, and eventually discovered a gate to the Upside Down at Lover's Lake. After travelling through and getting stranded in the Upside Down, Steve, Robin, Eddie and Nancy eventually escaped and reconvened with their younger allies. After discovering Vecna's true identity and motives, the group made a plan to stop the supernatural threat, with Steve, Robin and Nancy staging an attack on Vecna. Despite their best efforts, the group were unable to prevent Vecna's fourth gate from opening, wreaking havoc across Hawkins.

Two days later, Steve, Robin, and Dustin volunteered to help victims of the "earthquake" caused by the incident, with an amused Steve observing Robin beginning to bond with her crush Vickie; however, Steve and the others' attention soon turned to spores from the Upside Down descending upon Hawkins. Steve Harrington was born between August 1966 and November 1966. His parents, Danny Harrington and Mrs. Harrington, lived in Hawkins, Indiana; his father was a business owner, and the family was relatively wealthy. The Harringtons lived in a large house with a backyard swimming pool. Danny, however, had a poor relationship with his son. While the specifics of their relationship are unknown, Steve refers to his father as a "grade A asshole".

Struggling with direction after graduating from high school, Steve worked at an ice cream shop, Scoops Ahoy, alongside his classmate Robin Buckley, who gave him a hard time when he struck out with the ladies. Feeling self-conscious about not getting into college and working a low-wage job, he was more than willing to help Dustin's call for help decoding a strange radio transmission in July 1985.[5] Eventually, the three discovered that the Soviets had carried out an elaborate scheme; Starcourt Mall was merely a front to conceal an underground Soviet base. With the assistance of Erica Sinclair, the group snuck into the base, where they discovered the Soviets had developed a means to travel to another dimension. During this, Steve formed a close friendship with Robin and learned about her homosexuality. Upon their return to the surface, the group got involved with the fight against the Mind Flayer and the possessed Billy Hargrove. After Starcourt burned down, Robin and Steve would get jobs three months later, at the local Family Video.

By the spring of 1986, Steve was still working at Family Video with Robin, who patiently endured Steve's rants about his complicated love life while harboring a crush of her own. However, their attention was soon captured by more pressing concerns when a string of mysterious murders shocked Hawkins.

Steven "Steve" Harrington,[3] portrayed by Joe Keery, is a main character in Stranger Things, having a recurring role in the first season before being promoted to the main cast from the second season onwards.

A student at Hawkins High School, he was best friends with Tommy H and Carol Perkins and the boyfriend of Nancy Wheeler. When Nancy's best friend, Barbara Holland, disappeared in 1983, she became distant and Steve thought she was cheating with Jonathan Byers. Following a few ignorant actions, Steve had a change of heart, told his friends off, and set out to make things right. By coincidence, he ended up heroically saving the day, helping to fight the Demogorgon before reconciling with Nancy and making amends with Jonathan.

In 1984, following a falling-out with Nancy, Steve became an ally to the Party, especially Dustin Henderson, with whom he formed an unlikely friendship. He became a sort of authority figure for the party and became a major player in the battle against the Mind Flayer.

Despite Nancy and Jonathan's enduring love, neither could get away to meet for spring break, and Nancy grew annoyed over Jonathan's lack of communication.[4] When multiple Hawkins High students were found murdered, Nancy investigated their deaths with Steve, Dustin, Max, and Robin, and drew a link to the Creel murders from the 1950s. The group believed an entity from the Upside Down - dubbed "Vecna" - was using the killings for some grander purpose. Following Nancy, Steve, Robin, and Eddie Munson's brief misadventure in the Upside Down, Vecna psychically revealed his identity to Nancy, and shared his plans for the future. The group tried and failed to stop Vecna, with four enormous gates opening and wreaking havoc across Hawkins. Two days later, Nancy reunited with Jonathan upon his return to Hawkins, where the two worked on fixing up Hopper's cabin. Moments later, Nancy and Jonathan, along with their friends, watched in horror as the Upside Down began to merge with Hawkins. Born in the latter half of 1967[1], Nancy was the first child of Karen and Ted Wheeler, and she would later be joined by younger siblings Mike (born in 1971) and Holly (born in 1980). Together, the family of five lived at their home in Hawkins, Indiana. Nancy suspected her parents never truly loved one another, and that they married solely to create a "perfect nuclear family". At a young age, Nancy owned a pink dress.[5] For Mike's "Elder Tree" Dungeons & Dragons campaign in 1979, Nancy joined in the fun and dressed up as an elf.[6] As Nancy and Mike grew older, Nancy became distant from Mike and his friends. By the time Nancy attended Hawkins High School, she had become best friends with Barbara Holland. Nancy also had friends named Cathy and Ally, although they weren't as close as Barbara and her. At some point, Nancy began to have a crush on Steve Harrington, one of the most popular boys at Hawkins High.[7]

In the process, she and Jonathan grew closer together, eventually succumbing to their feelings and becoming romantically involved. Returning to Hawkins, Nancy and Jonathan learned that another entity from the alternate dimension had possessed Will; Nancy assisted Jonathan and his mother in exorcising the creature from Will's body. A month later, Nancy and Murray's exposé succeeded in shutting down the lab, with Barb's death attributed to a 'chemical leak'. Nancy attended Barb's funeral and broke up with Steve to be with Jonathan.

By the summer of 1985, Nancy and Jonathan became interns for The Hawkins Post, where Nancy was frequently disrespected by her boss, Tom Holloway , and colleagues, including Bruce Lowe. Working late one night, she answered a call about diseased rats in the town and secretly investigated with Jonathan. This eventually caused the pair to be fired, creating a rift between Nancy and Jonathan. But after receiving some encouragement from her mother, Nancy picked the story back up and discovered that the rats were linked to the same entity that possessed Will. After reconciling, Nancy and Jonathan joined forces with Nancy's younger brother and his friends in once again defeating what the kids called "the Mind Flayer". Three months later, the Byers family moved out of Hawkins after being relocated to California by Dr. Sam Owens; Nancy and Jonathan tearfully parted ways, but remained committed to staying together.

In the spring of 1986, Nancy became a reporter and editor for the Hawkins HighThe Weekly Streak, and was accepted into Emerson College in Massachusetts.

Nancy Wheeler, portrayed by Natalia Dyer, is a main character in Stranger Things. She is also the protagonist of the novel Stranger Things: One Way or Another. Nancy is an aspiring journalist, and an ally to "the Party". She is the older sister of Mike and Holly Wheeler and the ex-girlfriend of both Jonathan Byers and Steve Harrington.

In the fall of 1983, Nancy was a straightforward teenager with a straightforward life, unsure whether to prioritize spending time with her best friend Barbara Holland, or with her new boyfriend, Steve Harrington. However, everything changed when Barb vanished without a trace, prompting Nancy to team up with loner Jonathan Byers, whose younger brother, Will, had also vanished. Slowly, the two put together the pieces of the puzzle, and realized a monster from another dimension had kidnapped Barb and Will. While Will was lucky enough to escape the creature's full wrath, Nancy was horrified to learn that Barb had been killed, making her more determined than ever to defeat the creature. Nancy and Jonathan set up a booby-trap at the Byers' house, and with the unlikely last-minute assistance of Steve, helped to gravely wound the creature.

In the fall of 1984, Nancy's struggle to grieve Barb created a rift between her and Steve, leading her to drunkenly confess that she didn't love him anymore. Seeking revenge on the people responsible for unleashing the creature that killed Barbara, she once again teamed up with Jonathan and a journalist named Murray Bauman to expose Hawkins Lab.

Two days later, the group travelled to Hawkins, and were shocked by the scale of destruction inflicted by a recent "earthquake". Upon their return, Will realized his psychic connection created back in 1984 was not to the Mind Flayer, but Vecna. He worriedly told Mike that he still sensed Vecna's presence, and that for the horrors of the Upside Down to end, Vecna needed to die. After assuring Will that they would kill Vecna once and for all, Mike reunited with a very-much alive Hopper and witnessed the Upside Down beginning to merge into Hawkins.
Born April 7, 1971[1] Michael "Mike" Wheeler was the second child and the only son of Ted and Karen Wheeler. His older sister was Nancy Wheeler, born in 1967. The family lived in a cul-de-sac in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana.

On the first day of kindergarten, around 1976, a lonely Mike saw a boy named Will Byers on the swing-set. Mike asked if he wanted to be his friend, and Will happily agreed. Soon after, Mike's neighbor Lucas Sinclair joined his friend group. At some point the boys began playing Dungeons & Dragons, referring to their games as "campaigns". Nancy participated in their campaigns, dressing up as an elf for their Elder Tree campaign, though this stopped by 1979, most likely due to Nancy getting older.

In 1980, Nancy and Mike got a baby sister named Holly. That same year, the boys befriended Dustin Henderson, who had recently moved to town. The four boys would often gather to play Dungeons & Dragons in Mike's basement. They had a great relationship with their science teacher, Mr. Clarke, and were members of the AV Club which he ran. The boys participated in the annual science fair and won almost every year except 1982. Mr. Clarke said their loss that year was "totally political".[2]

Mike and El were seemingly inseparable until the summer of 1985, when their relationship faced new trials and tribulations. In an attempt to establish boundaries, El's disgruntled adoptive father, Chief Hopper, scared off Mike and jeopardized the teens' relationship; Will also expressed his frustrations with how Mike and Lucas' relationships had disrupted the dynamic in the friend group. Their attention would turn to more pressing concerns, however, when Will alerted them to the presence of the Mind Flayer. After Max's stepbrother Billy Hargrove was noted to be acting unusually, they learned Billy and various Hawkins residents had become possessed by the Mind Flayer, and began efforts to defeat it. Three months later, Mike and his friends had to bid farewell to Eleven, and the Byers who were moving out of Hawkins. Before leaving, Mike and Eleven made plans to visit each other at Thanksgiving and reaffirmed their love for one another.

By the spring of 1986, Mike was a dedicated member of the Hellfire Club, along with Dustin and Lucas. He headed to Lenora Hills, California to spend spring break with Eleven. She had sent Mike letters, telling him that she had adapted well to California; however, upon his arrival, Mike realized that Eleven was struggling more than she let on. When Dr. Owens whisked El away to work on regaining her powers, Mike joined Will, Jonathan, and Argyle in searching for her, all the while evading Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan and his forces, who held Eleven responsible for a murder spree in Hawkins. With help from Dustin's girlfriend, Suzie Bingham, they tracked down Eleven at a secret facility in Nevada, narrowly escaping Colonel Sullivan's forces. Later, Mike and the others helped Eleven fight Vecna from afar by creating a makeshift sensory deprivation tank, allowing her to psychically project her consciousness to Hawkins.

Michael "Mike" Wheeler, portrayed by Finn Wolfhard, is a main character in Stranger Things. The leader of the Party, prior to her disappearance, was the boyfriend of Eleven, the best friend of Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Will Byers, and Max Mayfield, additionally he is the younger brother of Nancy Wheeler, and older brother of Holly Wheeler.

In 1983, when Mike's best friend, Will, mysteriously went missing, he and his other friends, Lucas and Dustin, made it their mission to find him. However, while searching for Will, they stumbled upon an escaped girl named Eleven instead. Mike soon discovered that she knew something about Will's disappearance and enlisted her help in finding him. During their time together, Mike and Eleven formed a strong bond and quickly grew to like each other. Once Will was found, Mike was happy that he had returned home safely; however, he was greatly devastated by Eleven's sacrifice to defeat the Demogorgon.

Still devastated by Eleven's disappearance one year later, Mike called for her every night while also assisting Will with a new supernatural issue. Eventually, he reunited with Eleven. He, along with his friends and Steve, then worked on burning the sprawling network of another inter-dimensional threat, using it as a distraction for Eleven to close the Gate for good. Mike later attended the Snow Ball dance with Eleven, which he previously promised her.

In or around 1959, an 18-year-old Jim Hopper received an induction letter from the US Military, informing him that he had been conscripted to fight in Vietnam; he saw the war as his opportunity to prove his worth to his father finally. Sometime later, Hopper was sent to Vietnam; after arriving and testing well, Hopper was placed in the Chemical Corps. On some occasions, Jim and his compatriots would have to mix up 55-gallon drums of Agent Orange with kitchen gloves; other times, they were exposed to the toxic gas while cleaning buffalo turbines, "just inhaling the stuff" because they never wore masks. Their superiors told them the chemicals weren't weapons, but tad more than "harmless" herbicide. The health effects of mixing Agent Orange led to the deaths and illnesses of many of Hopper's friends and their children, some of whom were stillborn.
After returning to America, Jim, now a decorated veteran, met a woman named Diane.[2] In April of 1971, a child was born to the couple, whom they named Sara. The couple married in 1972 and moved to New York, where Jim worked in the police force. Jim and Sara were extremely close, playing in the park and reading books together. However, Sara was diagnosed with cancer sometime between 1977-1978. Despite receiving cutting-edge chemotherapy treatment, Sara was unable to recover, passing away at a young age. Hopper, knowing exposure to Agent Orange was the probable cause of Sara's cancer, blamed himself for choosing to have a child, despite being aware of the risks.[3]

After her passing, Jim and Diane divorced. Jim, devastated, wore Sara's hairband around his wrist as a memento and soon moved back to Hawkins in 1979, where he became Police Chief at Hawkins Police Department, a largely carefree occupation due to the town's low crime rate. Hopper started to rely on alcohol and prescription medication to get through his days and began sleeping around with women much younger than himself.

James "Jim" Hopper was born sometime between August 1941 and July 1942 to James Hopper Sr and an unnamed mother.[1] Hopper reveals that he and his father didn't get along when he was a teenager, who was a police chief. His grandfather resided in a cabin in the nearby woods for some time until his death, and the cabin soon became a storage unit. In middle school, Jim developed a distaste for science after having an unpleasant teacher named Ms. Ratliff.

Jim began attending Hawkins High School in 1957, alongside Joyce Maldonado and Bob "The Brain" Newby. Joyce and Hopper were extremely close, ditching class and smoking cigarettes during fifth and sixth period; on one occasion, they were caught smoking by their teacher, Mr. Cooper, prompting them to run away giddily.

Jim was somewhat of a 'ladies' man during his high school years. On one occasion, he lied to his mother about being on the debate team when he was really having sex with a girl named Chrissy Carpenter in the back of his father's Oldsmobile. At some point in ninth grade, which was around 1956-1957, he was stood up by a girl named Alice Gilbert.

At some point, Jim became good friends with Benny Hammond.

By March 1986, Hopper had struck up a complicated friendship with a prison guard Dmitri Antonov, who decided to help him escape. Antonov sent a package containing a hidden message to Joyce, prompting her and Murray to travel to Russia to free him. Hopper and Antonov, punished for Hopper's attempt to escape, were later forced to fight one of the Soviet-captured Demogorgons; Hopper and Dmitri were able to evade the creature's wrath and escape the facility with the help of Joyce and Murray. However, the group later returned to the prison after learning of a new evil from the Upside Down imperiling Hawkins; they hoped to kill the captured Demogorgons and by extension, deal damage to the Upside Down's hive mind. After some time, Hopper, Joyce, and Murray managed to achieve this, with Antonov and Yuri Ismaylov arriving by helicopter to take them back to America. Upon his return to Hawkins, Hopper and Eleven happily reunited before watching in horror as four newly-opened gates spewed plumes of smoke and the Upside Down's spores across Hawkins.

Later, Hopper and Owens were taken off guard when a pack of adolescent Demogorgons called "Demodogs" hailing from the alternate dimension attacked the laboratory, with Hopper and his allies only narrowly surviving. The immediate threat was neutralized when Eleven, accompanied by Hopper, returned to the laboratory; Eleven sealed the Gate with her special abilities, cutting off the connection to what she called "the Upside Down". In the months that followed, Hawkins Lab was shut down, with Hopper watching as cement filled in the last traces of the Gate. With Owens's help, Hopper was able to officially adopt Eleven, her legal name becoming "Jane Hopper".

In June 1985, Hopper and Joyce began investigating a vast conspiracy involving the corrupt mayor, suspicious activity at the local power grid, and the newly-built Starcourt Mall. After taking the Russian scientist Dr. Alexei hostage and meeting the Russian-speaking journalist Murray Bauman, Hopper learned that a secret Soviet base had been built under Starcourt Mall; the base housed an experimental technology which could pry open the already-weakened fabric of reality in Hawkins, Indiana. Hopper, Joyce, and Murray later infiltrated the secret base and set out to disable the Soviet machine. Though they achieved this goal, it came at a high cost; Hopper was captured by the Soviets and was presumed deceased by Joyce and the rest of Hawkins. The Soviets tortured him for information and forced him into servitude at their prison camp in Kamchatka.

James "Jim" Hopper Jr.[1] is a main character in Stranger Things; he is also the protagonist of the novel Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town. He is portrayed by David Harbour.

Hopper was Chief of Police in the small, sleepy town of Hawkins, Indiana, where he used to live out a carefree existence, though forever haunted by his past. After an old friend, Joyce Byers, reported that her son, Will, had mysteriously disappeared, Hopper's life became infinitely more complicated. He began to unravel a conspiracy involving the nearby Hawkins National Laboratory, discovering the lab had conducted experiments that accidentally opened a gate to an alternate dimension. During their investigations, Hopper and Joyce met Eleven, the escaped child test subject who unwittingly opened the gate using special psychokinetic abilities. Eventually, Hopper and Joyce were permitted to travel through the gate and search for Will in the alternate dimension, where they successfully located him, revived him, and rescued him.

Later that year, Hopper discovered that Eleven, presumed to be deceased, was actually alive, fending for herself in the woods. He decided to take her in, providing her with a home in his cabin, and did everything in his power to hide her from the authorities. After local crops began to rot in October 1984, Hopper discovered that mysterious tunnels beneath Hawkins were the source of the decay. Dr. Owens, the new head of Hawkins Lab, reluctantly informed him that the interdimensional gate beneath the facility was actively growing in size and, in turn, corrupting the surrounding environment.

Joyce Maldonado was born in Hawkins, Indiana at some point in the 1940s (between 1940-1947); her surname indicated she was of Hispanic heritage, likely on her father's side.[2][3]

The only family member beyond her sons and ex-husband that has been mentioned is her aunt Darlene, who had mental problems. This has been hinted to be an inherited trait, as Jonathan has mentioned Joyce having problems with anxiety in the past.

Joyce attended Hawkins High School during the late 1950s with James "Jim" Hopper Jr. and Bob "The Brain" Newby, though Bob believed Joyce "didn't know [he] existed".

Joyce and Jim were extremely close, skipping class during the fifth and sixth periods to smoke. On one occasion, the two were caught by their teacher, Mr. Cooper, who yelled, "Hey, assholes!", causing the two to run away giggling.

In early 1959, during her senior year, Joyce was employed at Melvald’s Diner as a waitress. In this same period, Joyce attempted to put on a school production of Dark of the Moon, enlisting various fellow students to play parts including Lonnie Byers, Henry Creel, and Patty Newby.

However, when scores of dead animals were discovered throughout Hawkins, Joyce, Jim, and Bob investigated, believing that Henry's father Victor Creel was responsible. However, their theory would ultimately go unproven.

In March, Jim met with Joyce at Melvald’s, where he shared with her that he was about to begin basic Army training to fight in the Vietnam War.[2]

Despite escaping to Yuri's warehouse in Kyrzran, the group returned to the prison after learning Hopper and Joyce's children were imperilled by a new evil threatening Hawkins. They hoped that by dealing damage to the Upside Down's hive mind, they could assist their friends in need. Returning to the prison, Hopper, Joyce and Murray set out to kill the Demogorgons, fighting for their lives while hoping to inflict pain upon the hive mind. After some time, Hopper, Joyce and Murray managed to execute all the creatures, with Dmitri and Yuri arriving by helicopter to take them back to America. Two days later, Joyce and Hopper returned to Hawkins and reunited with their children before witnessing four gates to the Upside Down beginning to merge with Hawkins.

By the summer of 1985, Joyce was extremely lonely and rebuffed Hopper's romantic interest, despite growing an interest in him. But everything changed when she discovered her magnets losing their magnetism. Believing it had to do with the Upside Down, Joyce convinced a reluctant Hopper to investigate, and they discovered that Russians had infiltrated Hawkins to weaponize the Upside Down's inhabitants. They were using the town's power to open a new gate. Soon, Joyce, Hopper, a Russian scientist named Alexei, and Hopper's acquaintance Murray Bauman raced back to Hawkins and teamed up with their children to close the Gate once more, all while being chased by a Russian assassin, Grigori. Joyce successfully closed the gate, but at the cost of Hopper's life, as he seemingly disintegrated upon the explosion of the machine, which opened the gate.

After Hopper's apparent death, Hopper's daughter Eleven was taken in by the Byers family, who were all relocated to Lenora Hills, California under Dr. Sam Owens's supervision. When Joyce received a strange package in the spring of 1986, she enlisted Murray's help to figure out what it meant. Discovering that Hopper was alive and imprisoned in Kamchatka, Russia, Joyce and Murray went on a perilous journey in an attempt to rescue him. En route to Russia, Joyce and Murray got into a fight with a double-crossing pilot Yuri Ismaylov, with the plane ultimately crashing-landing in Kamchatka, though all three survived. Infiltrating the Soviet prison, Joyce, Murray and Yuri managed to free Hopper and fellow captive Dmitri Antonov, sparing them from a bloody death at the hands of a weaponized Demogorgon.

Joyce Byers (née Maldonado),[2] portrayed by Winona Ryder, is a main character in Stranger Things. She is the financially struggling single mother of Jonathan and Will Byers, the foster mother of Eleven, and the best friend/eventual fiancée of Jim Hopper.

In November 1983, after Will mysteriously disappeared, Joyce was certain that he was communicating with her through the lights in her house. Despite everyone treating her as if she were having a mental breakdown, Joyce refused to believe that Will was dead, even after his alleged corpse was found. Through cooperation with her friend and local police chief Jim Hopper, Will's friends, and Jonathan, she eventually uncovered the circumstances of her son's disappearance. She entered the Upside Down to rescue him.

A year later, in 1984, Joyce struggled to live a normal life with her charming boyfriend, Bob Newby, while also growing overprotective of Will, who had been suffering from visions of the Upside Down. As her son's health declined rapidly, she, Bob, Hopper, and Will's friend Mike discover that Will had become possessed by the Upside Down's most dangerous inhabitant: the Mind Flayer, who summoned an army of adolescent Demogorgons called "Demodogs" to attack Hawkins. After losing Bob to those creatures, Joyce refused to lose her son to the monster, burning it out of Will and saving him once again. However, she struggled to recover following the aftermath of Bob's death.

Around 1976, Will started kindergarten, atending the same class with Mike Wheeler. Mike didn't know anyone and was lonely until he noticed Will alone on the swings. Mike went on a swing next to Will and asked if he wanted to be friends, and Will agreed, so they happily swung together. He eventually met Lucas Sinclair, due to him living close to Mike.

In March of 1979 was also when Will celebrated his 8th birthday. Though he received many Star Wars toys from his friends, he was especially happy to be given a 120 crayon set by his mother. He used every crayon in the box and eventually drew a large, original spaceship he called a "Rainbow Ship". Joyce took it with her to her job at Melvald's, proudly proclaiming that her son drew it to everyone who came into the store, much to Will's embarrassment.[6] In fourth grade, around 1980, Dustin moved into the neighborhood and soon joined the friend group.

Will and his friends would often gather at Mike's house to play Dungeons & Dragons; this hobby was developed as early as 1979. On one occasion while playing the game, the party had escaped into the sewers, where there were insects. The group was still on Level One. Will cast Fog Cloud and saved the whole party. The four boys had a great relationship with their science teacher Mr. Clarke, and they were members of the AV Club he ran. They would take part in the annual science fair, winning first place almost every year. On one occasion when the boys biked together, Will fell off his bike and broke his finger and cried. In 1982, Joyce brought him tickets to see the horror film Poltergeist after changing her mind to let him see it. Will Byers (played by Noah Schnapp) has been an important character in Stranger Things since the first season. He is connected to many of the other characters, being the son and brother of Joyce and Jonathan Byers, respectively.

Born March 22, 1971, Will was the son of Joyce and Lonnie Byers, and the younger brother of Jonathan Byers. As a child, Will was quite compassionate of others, giving a crying little girl in the sandbox at the playground his Tonka Truck, despite him knowing his mother couldn't afford to buy another one for him. He was also very sensitive, having nightmares from scary movies and his mother's impersonation of a witch when he was five. Will was extremely close to his mother and brother, but not to his father. Lonnie would say that he was queer due to Will's sensitivity and interests, while also calling him a 'f**'. Because of this, Jonathan became a much larger role model for him than their father. Around this time, Jonathan introduced Will to "real music", bestowing a mixtape that included the Clash song "Should I Stay or Should I Go", a song Will became quite fond of. Ultimately, Joyce and Lonnie divorced, resulting in Lonnie moving out. Joyce, Jonathan, and Will remained at their home in Hawkins, Indiana, along with the family dog, Chester.

The day their father left, Jonathan and Will spend the rest of the day building a fort for Will called "Castle Byers". They followed Will's drawing of it as their blueprint. It took a long time to build due to Will's incapability to hammer the nails, missing every time. Despite rain beginning to fall, the brothers didn't care and proceeded to build the fort. They later had gotten sick for a week afterward.

Dr. Owens relocated the Byers and Eleven to Lenora Hills, California. Eleven noticed that Will had been acting "weird", and wondered if he had a crush on somebody. Will stood by Eleven's side at their new school, where she endured frequent bullying by Angela and her friends. When Eleven was taken away to participate in a government project, Will and Jonathan began a road trip to find her, with Mike and Jonathan's friend Argyle joining them. During their trip, Will indirectly revealed his romantic feelings for Mike, to which Mike remained oblivious.

After finding Eleven in the Nevada desert, the four helped Eleven by creating a makeshift sensory deprivation tank, allowing her to remotely fight Vecna, a newly surfaced evil from the Upside Down. Two days later, upon returning to Hawkins, the group were shocked by the scale of destruction that Vecna had inflicted on the town. Upon his return, Will sensed Vecna's presence and realized his psychic connection created back in 1984 was not to the Mind Flayer, but Vecna. He worriedly told Mike that for the horrors of the Upside Down to end, they first had to kill Vecna.

In 1987, as Vecna began kidnapping children for a plan to merge the Rightside Up and the Abyss, the Mind Flayer's home dimension, Will began to discover the ability to tap further into the hive mind, allowing him to use Vecna's powers. Overcoming his fears with the help of Robin Buckley, Will came out as gay to his friends and family who expressed their support of him. In a final battle in the Abyss, Will played a crucial role in the defeat of Vecna, using his new powers to restrain Vecna so that Eleven could mortally wound him.

In 1989, Will graduated from high school and moved to New York, where he would finally find acceptance and freedom from the trauma of his past.

By the fall of 1984, Will started going to Hawkins Lab to be examined by Dr. Sam Owens, who dismissed Will's visions as a consequence of trauma. However, Will's visions proved to be of a much more sinister nature, with Will gradually falling under the control of a gigantic spider-like creature that loomed within the skies of the Upside Down. The creature, informally dubbed the "Mind Flayer", exploited its connection to Will to manipulate Owens and the lab, resulting in a deadly massacre.

With the help of Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike's sister, Nancy, the portion of the creature that inhabited Will was driven out of his body, disappearing into the night. Additionally, Eleven, an escaped child test subject from Hawkins Lab with psychokinetic abilities, and a friend to Mike, Lucas and Dustin, used her powers to seal the interdimensional gateway; this cut off the Mind Flayer's psychic link, and for a time, ended the Upside Down's incursion into Hawkins. A month later, a recovered Will attended the Snow Ball at Hawkins Middle School with his friends.

By the summer of 1985, all other members of the Party were romantically involved: Mike with Eleven, Lucas with Max Mayfield, and Dustin with a girl from Utah that he met at summer camp. With the attention of his friends in short supply, Will struggled to feel accepted, or valued. He attempted to organize new Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, but grew upset when he saw his friends were clearly losing interest. To make matters worse, Will sensed the Mind Flayer's presence was still lingering in Hawkins, and discovered that Max's stepbrother Billy was being used as its new puppet. Putting his feelings behind him, Will joined his friends in once again fighting the Mind Flayer. Three months later, Will tearfully said goodbye to his friends before he and his family moved out of Hawkins, taking Eleven with them.

William "Will" Byers,[4][5] portrayed by Noah Schnapp, is a main character in Stranger Things, having a recurring but pivotal role in the first season, before being promoted to the main cast from the second season onward. He is the youngest son of Joyce Byers, the younger brother to Jonathan Byers, the stepbrother of Eleven, and the best friend of Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, and Max Mayfield.

Will was a shy, artistic boy from Hawkins, Indiana who loved to play Dungeons & Dragons with his three best friends, Mike, Lucas and Dustin. However, Will's life turned upside-down on November 6, 1983; on the way home from his friends' latest D&D campaign, Will crossed paths with a humanoid predator. Despite his best efforts to escape, the creature trapped Will in an alternate dimension; a dark reflection of Hawkins covered in vines, spores and fog.

Trapped in the Upside Down, Will evaded the creature. Though he found a way to communicate with his mother Joyce from across dimensions, he was eventually caught and taken to the other dimension's version of the public library, where he was strung up and attached to a mysterious vine. Joyce and police chief Jim Hopper, who found their own way into the Upside Down, managed to locate and resuscitate Will, immediately taking him to hospital where he was reunited with family and friends. Although Will returned to his old life, his time in the Upside Down left a mark on his psyche; he began to experience visions of the two worlds flickering in and out of existence.

Jonathan Byers, a character from the Stranger Things universe, is the epitome of an introverted and self-confident teenager who slowly discovers his courage and strength. Jonathan is a passionate photographer with an eclectic taste in music and often finds solace in solitude. His unwavering love for his family, especially his younger brother Will, defines him to the core. Hardened by life's adversities, his resilience and tenacity shines through his quiet demeanor. Courageous, empathetic and strong, Jonathan risks everything to protect his loved ones and fight the dark forces of the upside down. His character develops wonderfully, showing an inspiring transformation from a shy recluse to a determined fighter, a true hero.
Jonathan Byers is one of the most divisive characters in Netflix's Stranger Things. He's the loving, protective older brother of Will, but he's also partly responsible for his disappearance in that he wasn't properly looking after him that night. He also becomes romantically involved with Nancy, but he first stalks her and takes inappropriate photos of her.

Jonathan was born to Lonnie and Joyce Byers in Hawkins, Indiana, in 1967[2]. Jonathan has mentioned that although Joyce and Lonnie "loved each other at some point, [he] wasn't around for it", meaning his parent's marriage was already a mess to begin with.

On March 22, 1971, Jonathan's younger brother, William "Will" Byers, was born. By 1973, six-year-old Jonathan desired to go NYU to study photography. Although Jonathan and Will were close to both each other and their mother, Lonnie was extremely unsupportive of both of his sons' interests.

On Jonathan's tenth birthday, around 1977, Lonnie made Jonathan go hunting with him, forcing his son to kill a rabbit and making him cry for a week, mentioning to Nancy that he was "a fan of Thumper" from the movie, Bambi.

By 1979, Lonnie abandoned his family and moved to Indianapolis. The day he left, Jonathan and Will spent the day building Castle Byers in the woods, using Will's drawing as a blueprint. The fort took time to build due to Will struggling to use the hammer. Despite it beginning to rain, the boys managed to finish the fort and the two eventually got sick for a week afterward.[4]

S1E2-Jonathan and Will liking Clash
One day in 1982, after Lonnie skipped out taking Will to a baseball game, Jonathan played a mixtape he made for him, including the Clash single, "Should I Stay or Should I Go". Hearing their mother arguing on the phone with Lonnie, Jonathan shuts the door. When Will asks if Lonnie is coming, Jonathan asks if he even likes baseball. Will says no, but explains that sometimes it's fun to go with his father. But Jonathan asks if he ever lets Will do what he wants to do, like the Arcade. Jonathan then tells him that he shouldn't be forced to do things because people want him to, especially not their father. Jonathan asks if he likes the Clash, to which Will happily says yes. Jonathan cranks up the volume, and the two jam out together on his bed.[5]

In the spring of 1986, Jonathan resided in Lenora Hills, California, where he began to smoke weed alongside his new best friend, Argyle, due to stress about college. He and Nancy agreed to both attend Emerson College in Massachusetts despite his acceptance putting him in financial debt. Jonathan reveals to Argyle he got accepted to Lenora Hills Community College and is struggling to break the news to Nancy, saying he doesn't want her to follow him and ruin her life while also not wanting to go to Emerson to chase a dream that isn't his. When Eleven is taken to get her powers back to fight a new threat that's killing people in Hawkins, Jonathan hails a ride from Argyle and escapes a military raid of his home alongside Mike and Will. The quartet make a cross-country road trip to Utah and Nevada to locate El. While traveling, Jonathan takes notice of his brother Will struggling emotionally to show his feelings towards Mike. He eventually apologizes to his brother for being absent in his life and telling him he'll always be his supporter no matter what. After creating a sensory deprivation tank at a Surfer Boy Pizza in Nevada, El temporarily defeats Vecna, and the crew returns to Hawkins. Reuniting with Nancy, the two are happy yet seem in denial that their relationship doesn't have any problems, with Jonathan fibbing to Nancy that his acceptance letter has yet to arrive. After reuniting with his mother and Hopper, he witnesses along with his family the beginning of the Upside Down invading Hawkins.

In the fall of 1984, Jonathan struggled to both see the appeal in his mother's boyfriend, Bob Newby, and comfort his traumatized brother. After seeing Nancy struggling to keep quiet about the government agents responsible for Barbara's death, Jonathan teams up with her to expose Hawkins Lab alongside journalist Murray Bauman. In the process, the two slowly begin to embrace their romantic feelings for another. Returning home, Jonathan assists his mother and Nancy in freeing a possessed Will from another entity from the Upside Down known as the Mind Flayer. A month later, Jonathan and Nancy became an official couple.

In the summer of 1985, Jonathan and Nancy have gotten summer jobs as interns for The Hawkins Post. Jonathan tried his best to comfort Nancy, who was subject to sexism by their coworkers, but believed that pursuing a story about "diseased rats" wouldn't prove anything and would only get them in trouble. Despite this, he reluctantly joined his girlfriend in investigating Mrs. Driscoll's claims that sick rats are eating fertilizer, only to get fired by their boss, Tom Holloway. This puts a strain on Nancy and Jonathan's relationship, as Jonathan angrily tells her that she doesn't understand how important a job is to his family compared to Nancy, who is very privileged. The next day, however, Nancy calls Jonathan to tell him that the rats are connected to the Mind Flayer, causing him to join her, their siblings and friends to defeat the Mind Flayer once again. During this, Jonathan profusely apologizes to Nancy, and they reconcile. Three months after killing the Mind Flayer, Jonathan moves out of Hawkins with his family, and tearfully says goodbye to Nancy.

Jonathan Byers, portrayed by Charlie Heaton, is a main character in Stranger Things. He is the oldest son of Joyce Byers, the older brother of Will Byers, Ex-boyfriend of Nancy Wheeler, and the best friend of Argyle.

In the fall of 1983, Jonathan's younger brother, Will, vanished without a trace due to Jonathan working late. Will's disappearance made Jonathan guilt-ridden for not being there and would soon take a toll on his relationship with his mother, who insisted Will was trapped in the walls and taken by a monster with no face. Jonathan dismissed Joyce's claims as a sign of a mental breakdown and took it upon himself to take care of the funeral arrangements upon Will's "body" being recovered from the town quarry. However, he realizes his mother was telling the truth after his classmate, Nancy Wheeler, began claiming her best friend was also taken by said monster. After reconciling with his mother, Nancy and Jonathan turned the Byers home into a booby trap to lure and kill the monster. With the help of Jonathan's former bully and Nancy's boyfriend, Steve Harrington, the trio lit the monster on fire until it vanished. Soon after, Will was rescued from the dimension and was reunited with his brother and mother.