Will Byers

birthday: march 22, 1971 Orientation: gay

Will is soft-spoken, amicable, and honest. Like his friends, he is exceedingly intelligent for his age, having an enthusiasm for science and being a member of their school's AV club. He also displays a lot of the same interests as his friends, such as Dungeons & Dragons, comics like the X-men, and films like Ghostbusters. He is also creative, having a passion for art and writing stories. However, his interests and social status resulted in him being bullied. This, along with his father's prior poor treatment of him, most likely led to feelings of alienation.

After his ordeal with the Upside Down, Will became even more alienated due to his peers labeling him "Zombie Boy" (due to the cover story conceived to conceal what actually happened to him). Additionally, he had grown frustrated with everyone's sensitive treatment towards him, especially with his mother and brother's overprotectiveness. Following his possession by the Mind Flayer, Will developed an aversion to heat and became increasingly distressed by his connection with the entity. The connection also caused him to experience physical pain whenever the vines and biological matter originating from the Upside Down were burned. As Will's mind was gradually taken over, he began to experience memory loss and was manipulated into aiding the Mind Flayer. Eventually, the Mind Flayer's influence over Will was so great, he was able to speak through him and control his body. After the Mind Flayer was exorcised from his body, Will seemingly returned to his usual self with no visible adverse effects.

One of Will’s most notable traits is how he often put other people before himself. This was implied by his actions during the Dungeons & Dragons campaign on November 6th, 1983, were he decided to attack the Demogorgon to help the party instead of playing it safe.

Also, Joyce recounted a story of how when he was younger, Will gave away his toy truck to a saddened girl in order to make her feel better, even though they wouldn't be able to afford another one. This side of his personality is also displayed somewhat during the Snow Ball, where he reluctantly accepted a girl's invitation to dance though he clearly had no desire to do so. It's also possible one of the reasons he waited to tell his family and friends about his visions was so he wouldn't worry them.

Will also had a profound sense of responsibility, drawing a picture of Bob as a superhero to commemorate his sacrifice to save everyone. Will is also responsible enough to focus on ways in dealing with the threats from the Upside Down and dealing with personal issues amongst his friends. He has a typical boy mindset when it comes to girls doing boyish activites. When the boys spy on Max (believing her to be the infamous MadMax at the Arcade), Will is skeptical, saying girls don't play video games. When Dustin talks about meeting his girlfriend at Science Camp, Will, bewildered, says, "Girls go to Science Camp?"

In 1985, Will was shown to have the mind and behavior of a child, mostly stemming from the trauma he had endured in the past two years from being trapped in the Upside Down to being possessed by the Mind Flayer. As a result, Will would dress in clothes too young for him, find girls not interesting, or would be interested in playing D&D, despite his friends' disinterest. This is mostly because Will is trying to return to his childhood after being affected by the Upside Down for two years. However, his friends' disinterest and maturity, disheartened Will as he started feeling left out amongst his friends. When Will tried to play to a D&D campaign with Mike and Lucas after they had problems with their girlfriends, their boredom finally caused Will to snap at his friends.

After being told by Mike that they're grown up now, Will broke down in tears as he realized that he can't bring back the childhood he lost while destroying Castle Byers during his breakdown. However, as Will helped his friends when they were all nearly killed by the Mind Flayer's avatar, Will started to become mature and three months later, he finally let go some of his childhood interests by giving D&D manuals to Lucas's little sister, Erica. Will was very upset about leaving Hawkins and cried as he said goodbye to his friends and as Jonathan drove him away.

Psychic abilities:

After his rescue from the Upside Down, Will developed "True Sight", where he began seeing visions of the Upside Down. While originally believed to be episodes related to post-traumatic stress disorder, what Will was experiencing was not only real, but signs of an approaching interdimensional threat. After being taken over by the Mind Flayer, Will also acquired what he called "Now-memories", being able to see what the entity could.

A telling characteristic of these abilities is that Will appeared to have no control over them, with him experiencing visions at seemingly random intervals, and his Now-memories being more of a side effect of the Mind Flayer’s possession. While he lost these abilities once the Mind Flayer was expelled from his body, he was still able to sense the creature's presence.

• True Sight: Will began seeing visions of the Upside Down following his rescue from the dimension. Mike compared this ability to "True Sight" from Dungeons & Dragons, described by Dustin as “the power to see into the Ethereal Plane." During an episode, Will would essentially be in both the regular world and the alternate dimension simultaneously, allowing the Upside Down to seep into the regular world through his mind. Will could not control these visions, experiencing them against his will unpredictably. The visions happened more and more frequently until the Mind Flayer took control of Will’s body.

• Now-memories: Following his possession by the Mind Flayer, Will acquired the ability to see what the creature could see, as well as feel what he could feel. Will was able to use this ability to spy on the Mind Flayer, allowing him to know of the tunnels beneath Hawkins and even the Mind Flayer's weakness. However, this ability was a double-edged sword, also allowing the Mind Flayer to spy through Will.

• Superhuman strength: At the last stages of his possession, Will was briefly granted superhuman strength by the Mind Flayer, much like the Flayed. This was apparent when he was able to break out of Joyce's restraints and choke her while she was using high level of heat to get him out of the Mind Flayer's influence. This bout of strength was accompanied by an unknown black substance coursing through his body, making his veins appear black under the skin.

• Creature Sense: As a side-effect of being rescued from the Mind Flayer, Will could sense the monster's influence, even after being exorcised from him. This usually manifested as a strange sensation on the back of his neck, whenever the monster was active or in close proximity. He described the sensation as though he were in a rollercoaster drop, only much more colder and scarier. As he was not possessed, he was able to use this ability to great extent in 1985 to stop the fragmented Mind Flayer in his new form.

Regular abilities:

• Artistic ability: Will's drawings were exceedingly detailed and remarkable, especially considering his age. Will could explain many complex events by his drawings which he couldn't verbally. When Will was overwhelmed by the shadow monster, his drawing skills were very useful to inform Joyce and Hopper about the growing corruption of the Upside Down beneath Hawkins and also determine Hopper's location when he was trapped.

• Evasion: As noted by his brother, Will is talented at hiding and is likely the reason why he survived in the Upside Down for so long. Gunmanship: As displayed in "The Vanishing of Will Byers", Will appeared to have knowledge of how to load and use a gun, a skill he most likely learned from his father. However, his proficiency in using it is unclear. Morse code: Will knew Morse code, as shown in "The Mind Flayer" where he managed to signal the Mind Flayer’s weakness.

Miscellaneous abilities:

• Electrical manipulation: While trapped in the Upside Down, Will could manipulate electricity in the regular world to a small degree, as shown when attempting to communicate with the Christmas lights in Holly, Jolly. However, it seems Will only possessed this ability while he was in the Upside Down and has not been seen doing it since then.

On the night of November 6th, 1983, Will was abducted by the Demogorgon and taken into an alternate dimension dubbed the Upside Down. For a week, Will evaded the creature while his family and friends desperately searched for him. Although he was eventually rescued and returned to normal life, his time in the Upside Down left him with a mysterious connection to the alternate realm.

A year later, Will became possessed by the Mind Flayer, becoming a part of his hive mind. Through this connection, Will was able to understand the creature's motives and weaknesses. However, the Mind Flayer exploited Will's connection to use him to massacre the scientists at Hawkins National Laboratory. Finally, with the help of his mother and brother as well as Nancy, the monster's possession over Will was alleviated and he returned safe and sound. A month later, after being free from the Mind Flayer, Will attended the Snow Ball with his friends but his mom still kept an eye on him to see if he was safe.

In 1985, Will struggled to accept he and his friends were growing up, as he tried to recapture the childhood that was taken from him in the past two years. When Will sensed the Mind Flayer had returned, he teamed up with his friends to stop the entity. In the process, Will came to terms with all the changes occurring in his life. Three months after defeating the Mind Flayer, the Byers family, Will included, moved out of Hawkins, Indiana after Will says goodbye to his friends.