Will Byers (2024)

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Hero Overview

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Will was born on March 22nd, 1971 in as the second son of Joyce Byers and Lonnie Byers, and the younger brother of Jonathan Byers. On his birth, his mother cried tears of joy, while his brother Jonathan Byers carried him and said hello to him. His father Lonnie resented him as he grew up as he believed his second born son was weak, often calling him gay and a fa*g. Despite that, Will was close with his mother and brother who became a large role model to him. The night of his parents' divorce, Will and Jonathan built the Castle Byers fort, despite them getting sick because of the rain.

Will would befriend Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, and Dustin Henderson during his youth, and they became close friends. The group would play Dungeons & Dragons at the Wheeler residence, where Mike's sister Nancy would play them as well.

Season One[]

After playing Dungeons & Dragons with his friends, Will returned home and encountered a strange creature while riding his bike. Racing home and finding no one there, he ran into the shed and armed himself with a rifle, but the creature used its powers to abduct Will to the Upside Down. Awaking there, Will attempted to find his mother and brother, but soon realized that he wasn't in the real world and was forced to evade the creature. He learned that he could communicate through electrical devices, and attempted to contact his mother in their household. The creature, referred to as the Demogorgon, found him in Castle Byers after his conversation with Eleven, and placed the child in the library with a tendril placed on his mouth.

Joyce and Jim Hopper would soon find Will and saved him from the Upside Down, and was taken to the Hawkins hospital where he reunited with his family and friends. A month after his disappearance, Will threw up a slug-like creature before seeing the Upside Down, but decided to lie to his mother to maintain normalcy. Despite being happily reunited with his family and friends, Will was named an outcast by his school, who referred to him as "zombie boy". He also developed a psychic connection to the Upside Down's ruler the Mind Flayer, but his doctor believed that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Season Two[]

Will's vision of the Upside Down increased during his return to school, but he attempted to find normalcy despite being an outcast and going through routines at the Hawkins laboratory. Will and his friends also met their new classmate Max Mayfield, whom considered them creeps when they started to follow her. During Halloween night, Will admitted to Mike about his visions, but asked him to not tell anyone of this. The following day, Dustin reveals a creature he found to the group, but Will deduces that it was from the Upside Down when it started to make noises he once heard in one of his visions. Will then decides to tell his friends about his visions, and they deduce that he can see the plane of the dimension. When searching for the creature named "D'Artagnan" by Dustin, Will is scared by it when it screeches and has another vision, where the Mind Flayer possesses him.

After his vision, Will tells his mother about the shadow monster he has seen, but the Mind Flayer's influence starts to take over Byers. Suffering from memory loss, it was deduced by Dr. Owens that Will is connected to shadow monster's hive mind with the other hosts, as he was hurt when a tendril was burned. Despite being taken over by the Mind Flayer, Will was able to use morse code to tell his allies how to defeat it - close the gate that connects it to their world. The group were able to save Will by burning the part of the Mind Flayer out of his body, and Eleven successfully closed the portal. After the incident, Will attended the snow ball with his friends, where he danced with girl after being urged to by Mike.

Season Three[]

Despite having returned to normalcy with his family and friends, Will felt distant from them due to the others growing up and him having loss a part of this. While dealing with this, Will started to feel a similar sensation when he was connected to the Mind Flayer, and realized that it the creature had returned in some capacity. Telling the party of this, they deduce that the Flayer has found a new host, which they deduce is Max's stepbrother Billy. The group proceeded to trap him in a sauna, but he managed to escape after Eleven threw him through a wall. The following day, the party learned from Jonathan and Nancy that a woman named Doris Driscoll showed signs behavior that Will exhibited previously, and deduce that she and possibly others have become the Mind Flayer's host.

Will proposed that they use Driscoll to find the Flayer's source, but they were forced to leave the hospital after Jonathan and Nancy evaded a creature from the bodies of Bruce Lowe and Tom Holloway. Traveling to Hopper's cabin, Eleven managed to learn of Billy's location at the cost of the Mind Flayer learning their own and attacking them. Going to Starcourt mall, Will and the group battled the spider-monster until was stopped once the gate was closed by Joyce and Hopper. After the incident, the Byers decided to move to California with Eleven for safety, and Will said his farewells to his friends before departing.

Season Four[]

Living in Lenora Hills, Will is still quiet, but Eleven notices that he's been acting weird, believing that he has a crush on an unidentified person (heavily implied to be Mike Wheeler). At high school, Will remains at Eleven's side when she is bullied by their fellow classmates Angela, Jake and their friends.

Powers and Abilities[]

Neck-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. Will normally felt a strange sensation on the back of his neck, whenever the monster was active or close. He described the sensation as though he were in a rollercoaster drop, only much colder and scarier. Will was able to use this ability in 1985 to detect the fragmented Mind Flayer in his new form. In 1986, when he returns to Hawkins, this ability is immediately accessed again. He informs Mike that now that he is back in Hawkins, he can feel Vecna and his physical pain as well as understand his plans to wipe out all of humanity. This also reveals there is a distance factor in Will's abilities.

Abilities[]

Expert Artist: Will's drawings were exceedingly detailed and remarkable, especially considering his age. Will could explain complex events (which he could not describe verbally) through his drawings. When Will was overwhelmed by the shadow monster, his drawing skills were used to show Joyce and Hopper about the growing tunnel network beneath Hawkins and also determine to Hopper's location when he was trapped in the tunnels.
Intelligence/Evasion: As noted by his brother, Will is talented at hiding. This is possibly the reason why he survived in the Upside Down for so long.
Gunmanship: As shown in "The Vanishing of Will Byers", Will appeared to have know how to load and use a gun, a skill he most likely learned from his father. 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 weaknesses.

Trivia[]

In early development, Will's original name was Benny.
Will's "True Sight" ability in season two is similar to Danny Torrance's power from Stephen King's The Shining.
- The character is also similar to Regan MacNeil from The Exorcist, as both are children who were possessed by an otherworldly force.
Will is confirmed to be gay by his actor, Noah Schnapp.
Will is the first member of the Party to die and be brought back to life.