Curse gates

Talk about it here.

* Intersection
* Trailer gate
* Road gate
* "Watergate"
* Creel House gate

The **curse gates** were four specific gates opened by Vecna in March 1986. Through his "curse" power, Vecna began tormenting and killing various Hawkins residents; with every murder, a new gate would open at the site of the victim's death.

Vecna took the lives of Chrissy Cunningham, Fred Benson, Patrick McKinney and Max Mayfield. Despite Max's revival, her temporary death still triggered the creation of a fourth and final gate at the Creel House; the four gates then rapidly expanded and converged on the town square, creating an earthquake-like effect killing dozens of residents.

## History

In March 1986, Vecna took a more direct approach in his attempts to destroy humanity. By this time, he had figured out a way to open gates from within the Upside Down; in the same way that the “powerful psychic connection” between Eleven and the Demogorgon of 1983 triggered the opening of the Mothergate, Vecna could form similar psychic connections with human beings in the regular world, exercising these connections to open new gates. Vecna possibly gained the ability to influence minds from across dimensions after a piece of the Spider Monster bit Eleven in July 1985, a being that the possessed Billy Hargrove said was “made” for her.

When attempting to open gates through this method, Vecna would strategically prey on teenagers with trauma, or experiencing mental health issues. He would go out of his way to psychologically torture his victims, making them experience disturbing and disorienting hallucinations, before ultimately killing them. The victim’s suffering, panic and eventual death seemed to be key to Vecna’s ability to open gates, likely maximizing the strength of the psychic connection. Vecna’s ultimate goal was to open four gates.

Vecna's first known target was Chrissy Cunningham, a popular student and head cheerleader at Hawkins High School. Despite Chrissy's popularity and outward cheerfulness, she was secretly suffering at home; Chrissy's mother would frequently verbally abuse her and make hurtful comments about her weight. After choosing to target Chrissy, Vecna started to make Chrissy experience severe headaches, nosebleeds, and nightmares. On March 14, Chrissy first reported these symptoms to the school guidance counselor, Ms. Kelley.

On March 21, Chrissy's condition worsened; she hallucinated a version of her mother standing outside the girl's toilets. Later, she saw a mysterious grandfather clock while walking in the woods; she watched in horror as countless black widows appeared from within the clock and shattered the clock face, before Eddie Munson unknowingly snapped her out of the vision.

Later that night, Chrissy started hallucinating again while at Eddie's trailer; she suddenly saw herself in a bizarre version of her own house. Chrissy attempted to escape, but found herself face-to-face with the monstrous Vecna. Chrissy became overwhelmed with fear, exactly as Vecna intended. In the real world, Eddie tried to wake Chrissy from her trance, but it was too late; she started to levitate, bewildering Eddie. Finally, Vecna struck the killing blow; he used his powers to snap Chrissy's limbs and gouge out her eyes, horrifying Eddie and prompting him to flee. **A gate** then began to slowly open up in the trailer's roof.

Fred Benson, another Hawkins High student, was Vecna's next target. The previous year, Fred had crashed a car and accidentally caused his friend's death; Fred was haunted by survivor's guilt ever since, making him a perfect target for Vecna. Fred, like Chrissy, reported the curse's symptoms to Ms. Kelley; he first reported the symptoms the day after Chrissy first did, on March 15. The day after Chrissy's death, Fred saw hallucinations of his friend's grieving family, and was forced to relive his memory of the car crash. While the afflicted Fred stood where the accident had happened, Vecna struck the killing blow, killing Fred and opening **a second gate** beneath the cement.

After an unsuccessful attempt to kill Max Mayfield on March 24, Vecna shifted his attention back to Patrick McKinney the next day. While at Chrissy's funeral, Vecna made Patrick see the Creel's grandfather clock in the corner of the church hall. After the funeral, Jason, Patrick and Andy looked for Eddie Munson at the abandoned home of "Reefer Rick" near Lover's Lake, believing Eddie to be Chrissy’s killer. Eventually, they spotted Eddie desperately trying to escape in a motorboat. Jason and Patrick chased after Eddie, swimming furiously as Eddie struggled to paddle further away. The pair had almost caught up, when suddenly, Patrick plunged beneath the water, before being launched into the air. Striking the killing blow, Vecna used his powers to twist Patrick's limbs and dislocate his jaw, horrifying both Jason and Eddie. As Vecna launched the attack, the teens at the Creel House noticed their flashlights surge with energy, indicating that Vecna was inside the version of the house in the Upside Down.

Jason retrieved Patrick's body and brought him to shore, while Eddie rowed away and out of sight. While talking with the police, Jason became more convinced than ever that Eddie was the murderer. Meanwhile, Vecna's **third gate** opened at the bottom of Lover's Lake, directly below the spot where Patrick was killed.

The next day, Nancy, Robin, Eddie and Steve entered the Upside Down by swimming through the gate at Lover's Lake, fending off swarms of attacking Demobats. One Demobat spotted the group as they travelled to the trailer park, alerting Vecna to their presence. He decided to target Nancy as she attempted to leave the Upside Down via the gate at Eddie's trailer. Momentarily falling through a black void, Nancy suddenly found herself viewing Henry Creel’s memories.

While Nancy witnessed Henry's memories at Hawkins Lab, a version of Dr. Brenner suddenly turned to her and addressed her by name. Realizing it was Vecna speaking to her, she ran out of the room and into the lab corridor, but got trapped down a dead-end with a barricaded door. Vecna slowly approached, telling her he now wished to show her the future. Suddenly, Nancy found herself bound to a chair, with Vecna standing before her. Instead of killing her, he instead told her to tell Eleven what she sees, before out-stretching his clawed left hand above her face; Nancy's mind was flooded with cataclysmic images of Hawkins being torn apart by **four gates**, and of a "giant creature with a gaping mouth" looming over the town. After Nancy started screaming in pain, Vecna finally let her go, releasing her from the trance.

Max, Nancy, Eddie and the others geared up to fight Vecna, hoping to eliminate the threat he posed to humanity. Max, Lucas and Erica returned to the Creel house, where Max would act as bait to draw Vecna's attention. Meanwhile, Nancy, Steve and Robin ventured back into the Upside Down, intending to attack while Vecna was distracted; additionally, Eddie and Dustin sought to distract the Demobats, and further disrupt Vecna's concentration. Elsewhere, in Nevada, Eleven learned of her friends’ plan of attack against Vecna, and grew worried for Max after she offered to act as bait. Using a makeshift sensory deprivation tank, Eleven psychically projected her consciousness within Max’s mind, and began navigating her memories.

At the Creel house, Max made herself vulnerable to Vecna's influence, turning off her cassette player. With Lucas watching over her, she began hallucinating again, and Vecna stalked her through her mind once more. For a moment, Max escaped into her memory of the 1984 Snow Ball at Hawkins Middle, but Vecna eventually broke through and cornered her. Vecna started the gate-death ritual, only to be interrupted by Eleven, who had found her way inside the same memory. Eleven and Vecna became engaged in conflict, using their powers to throw objects at each other. Vecna managed to incapacitate both Eleven and Max, taking them into his mindscape and using vines to bind them to the fractured house.

Back in real-world Hawkins, the teens' plans were derailed when Jason Carver arrived at the Creel house to investigate what they were doing. Upon seeing Max in her trance, he assumed Lucas was committing a ritualistic sacrifice to Satan, and refused to listen when Lucas desperately tried to explain what was going on. Jason threatened Lucas with his gun, and the two ultimately ended up in a fistfight. Jason accidentally crushed Max's cassette player during the scuffle, leaving Max's fate solely in Eleven's hands.

Vecna prepared to kill Max, attaching her unconscious mental avatar to a pillar with his vines. Eleven spoke up in a last-ditch attempt to save Max, but was unable to hold his attention for long, with him quickly turning back to face Max.

Back in the Creel attic, Lucas had ended up restrained and choked by Jason; unable to move, he watched in fear as Max started to rise above the floor. In a fit of rage, Lucas took Jason by surprise and smashed his face into a window, knocking him unconscious. Lucas turned back to face Max, but was horrified to watch as Vecna broke her limbs, one by one. Upon finally being released from the vines, Eleven unleashed her full power, pushing Vecna up against a pillar before he could finish killing Max.

Meanwhile, in the Upside Down, Nancy, Steve and Robin reached the alternate version of the attic. There, they finally witnessed Vecna in the flesh, his body eerily suspended above the floorboards.

Steve threw a Molotov cocktail, setting Vecna ablaze; Robin then threw another, and Nancy shot at him with a shotgun. Instantly after being set on fire, the vines disconnected from his back, breaking Vecna's concentration and causing the mindscape to dissolve around Eleven. Vecna had no time to gather his bearings and fight back, having been weakened by Eleven, Murray and the Molotovs all at once. Nancy's last gunshot sent Vecna flying through the boarded window, his body crashing to the hard ground below. The trio rushed outside to make sure of his death, but found he had disappeared.

Following Nancy, Steve and Robin's attack, Eleven's consciousness returned to the mental void through which she entered Max's memories, and for a moment, Max's consciousness returned to her body in the attic. Although Vecna's attack on Max had not gone to plan, she nevertheless succumbed to her injuries, and her heart stopped. Nancy, Steve and Robin heard the grandfather clock chime eerily from within the house; moments later, **a fourth and final gate** ripped open in the attic, bisecting and killing Jason in the process. All four curse gates then rapidly expanded, creating the cataclysm Nancy saw in her vision; the gates converged upon the Hawkins town square, creating an earthquake-like effect killing dozens of residents. Eleven used her abilities from afar to restart Max's heart, reviving her, albeit in a comatose state.

Two days later, Eleven, Will and the others arrived in Hawkins, and were shocked to discover the scale of destruction that Vecna had inflicted on the town. While visiting Max in hospital, Eleven reached into her mind, but could not find her consciousness. Meanwhile, Will, who possessed a lingering psychic connection to the Upside Down, sensed Vecna was alive upon returning to Hawkins, and insisted to Mike that Vecna must be killed. Not long after, the Upside Down's spores began to fall from the sky. Walking to a nearby hill, Eleven, Will and their allies watched in fear as plumes of smoke and spores emerged from the four gates; Vecna's plan was coming to fruition after all.

## Gallery

### Concept art

Art by Michael Maher Jr.Art by Michael Maher Jr.
## Trivia

* The shattered face of the Creel clock - from "The Hellfire Club" and the 'Creel House' teaser - is split into four quadrants, and looks eerily similar to the four curse gates.
* Concept art by Michael Maher, Jr. calls the gate intersection "the mega rift".

## References

1. ↑ Portals are called "gates" in *Stranger Things: The Game*, and in most of the show.
2. ↑ "The Hellfire Club"
3. ↑ "Papa"
4. ↑ MEGA RIFT CONCEPT - MICHAEL MAHER JR