Will Byers

William "Will" Byers 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 onward. He is the youngest son of **Joyce Byers**, the brother to **Jonathan Byers**, and the best friend of **Mike Wheeler**, **Dustin Henderson**, **Lucas Sinclair**, **Eleven** and **Max Mayfield**. He is portrayed by **Noah Schnapp**.

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 would turn upside-down on November 6, 1983; while cycling home from his friends' latest *D&D* campaign, Will crossed paths with a humanoid predator hailing from an alternate dimension. Will tried his best to escape, but the creature cornered him, transporting him to its home dimension. For a week, Will evaded the creature while his family and friends desperately searched for him; he found a way to communicate with his mother **Joyce** across dimensions by manipulating electricity. Will was eventually captured by the creature and taken to the other dimension's version of the public library, where he was strung up and attached to a mysterious alien vine. **Joyce** and the local chief of police, **Jim Hopper**, travelled into the alternate dimension via an interdimensional gateway at Hawkins National Laboratory, and finally managed to locate Will. He was taken to hospital to recover, where he reunited with his family and friends. Although Will returned to his old life in Hawkins, his time in what his friends called "The Upside Down" had left a mark on his psyche; he began to experience visions of the two worlds flickering in and out of existence.

By the fall of 1984, **Joyce** had started taking Will to Hawkins Lab to be examined by **Dr. Sam Owens**, who dismissed Will's visions as a consequence of trauma. However, his visions proved to be of a much stranger and more sinister nature. Will began to see a gigantic spider-like creature looming in the skies of the Upside Down, and despite his best efforts to resist, became possessed by the entity. The creature, which Will's friends dubbed the "Mind Flayer", exploited its connection to Will to manipulate **Owens** and the scientists at Hawkins Lab, resulting in many deaths and casualties at the facility. 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, many members of the Party were in romantic relationships. **Mike** had become involved with **Eleven**, **Lucas** with **Max Mayfield**, and **Dustin** with a girl from Utah that he met at summer camp. Will was the only member of the Party to not be in a romantic relationship, and with the attention of his friends in short supply, he struggled to feel accepted, or valued. He attempted to organise new *Dungeons & Dragons* campaigns, but grew upset and angry when he saw his friends were clearly losing interest. To make matters worse, Will sensed that the Mind Flayer's presence still lingered in Hawkins, and discovered that **Max**'s stepbrother **Billy** was being used at its new puppet. Putting his feelings behind him, he 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.

**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. **Mike** flew out to Lenora to spend spring break with **Eleven** and Will, but during his visit, **Eleven** got involved in a minor incident involving **Angela** at the local roller-skating rink. **Eleven** ultimately got taken away by police, but later, two mysterious agents arrived at the Byers house to protect and supervise Will, **Jonathan** and **Mike**. The house would later be attacked by the military; one of the agents was wounded in the attack, telling the boys to find 'Nina' before succumbing to his wounds. The three set out on a road trip to find **Eleven**, with **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 in the kitchen of a nearby pizza restaurant; this allowed her to use psychic projection to fight **Vecna**, a newly surfaced evil from the Upside Down. Two days later, the group returned to Hawkins, and were shocked by the scale of destruction inflicted by a recent "earthquake". Upon his return to Hawkins, Will realised the "he" he had formed a psychic connection to 1984 was not 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** has to be killed.