Nancy Wheeler

Character portrayed by: sinfulsin. A main character in Stranger Things: The Fall of Hawkins.

## History

### Background

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. 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 Hawkins National Laboratory, 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, though remaining committed to staying together.

In the spring of 1986, Nancy became a reporter and editor for the Hawkins High newspaper, The Weekly Streak. Despite Nancy and Jonathan's enduring love for each other, neither could get away to meet for spring break. When a high school student named Nicole Mayer, Chrissy Cunningham friend, was mysteriously murdered, Nancy investigated her death with her classmate, Fred Benson. However, after Fred was killed, Nancy met up with Steve, Dustin, Max, and Robin and learned an entity called "Vecna" was responsible for killing Nicole and Fred. With Robin's help, Nancy soon discovered a connection between Vecna and the deaths of the Creel family in the 1950s. Later, Nancy, Steve, Robin and Eddie Munson got trapped in the Upside Down; though they managed to escape, Vecna made Nancy hallucinate just as she was leaving. He took her into his mindscape, where she learned of Vecna's true identity, and of his plans for the future. The four later returned to fight Vecna at the Upside Down's Creel House as part of a larger plan involving Max, but were unable to kill him, nor stop his plan to open four enormous gates, 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. Though happy to see each other, the pair struggled to discuss the strain that starting college was putting upon their relationship. Moments later, Nancy and Jonathan, along with their friends, watched in horror from Weathertop as the Upside Down began to merge with Hawkins.

## Personality and Traits

Nancy is hyper-intelligent and studious, having a high GPA and studying vigorously for tests. However, after entering a relationship with Steve she became more rebellious, lying and participating in activities she most likely wouldn't have done otherwise. While her actions were being influenced by her new “friends”, she still remained kind, sympathetic, and studious. Her genius-level of intellect led to finding the truth behind Barb’s disappearance even though she still felt guilty.

She was also shown to have a tremendous amount of bravery, resolve, and conviction, going to great lengths for those she cared for. When she was looking for the missing Barb, she boldly entered a portal to another dimension in an attempt to save her friend. Later, determined to kill the Monster, she willingly used her and Jonathan's blood to lure it out.

## Skills

* **Skilled Detective**: Like her namesake, Nancy is a skilled detective. Upon seeing Jonathan's photos of Barb, she quickly deduced he was the last person to see her alive and sought his help in finding her. Upon looking closely at the drawings of Vecna's mental realm made by Max Mayfield, Nancy was able to put them together and deduce that a fragmented version of the Creel family house was part of Vecna's mindscape, giving the Party and their allies another clue that led them closer to discovering Vecna's true identity as Henry Creel.
* **Skilled Marksman**: Nancy demonstrated proficiency with firearms such as a shotgun and handgun. She landed a few good shots on the Mind Flayer with Hopper's shotgun while protecting the kids from the creature, then later shot at Billy with a stolen Russian handgun, albeit with little success. After buying a shotgun in War Zone, Nancy used it to shoot Vecna four times in the chest and shoulders. Eventually, Nancy's fifth shot struck Vecna's stomach and threw him out of the attic.
* **Improvised Weapon Proficiency**: She is also capable of utilizing objects for improvised weaponry. As she used a fire extinguisher to brutally swing at flayed Bruce first in the face which shattered his teeth, uppercuts his nose, before finally bashing him with a strike hard enough in killing him. When entering the Upside Down to save Steve, Nancy uses a boat paddle as melee weapon to fight Demobats by bashing them to the ground before impaling their heads off.

## Relationships

### Familial

**Mike Wheeler**

Nancy and Mike were hinted to having been closer as kids, when Dustin mentioned that Nancy once dressed up as an elf for Mike's D&D Elder Tree campaign. As they grew older, however, the two drifted apart, likely due to their age gap and different interests.

**Karen Wheeler**

Nancy seemed to have a good but sometimes strained relationship with her mother. Nancy believed her parents never loved each other and only married each other because her mom was young and her dad had a good job. She also disobeyed and lied to her mother, telling Karen that she and Barbara were going to help look for Will Byers, when they were in fact going to a party at Steve Harrington's house. When Barbara was found missing and Nancy grew concerned for her, Nancy confessed her worries to her mother. She later admitted to having slept with Steve after being questioned by the police. When she later found their house being searched by government agents, Nancy became concerned for her mom and dad.

Ted Wheeler

Nancy and her father did not appear to have a strong relationship. Nancy believed her parents never loved each other as her mom was young and her dad had a good job. However, when her house was being searched by government agents, Nancy was concerned for her mom and dad. In 1986, when Vecna possessed Nancy and showed her visions of the possible future, she did not mention any creatures from the Upside Down attacking her dad, suggesting that Nancy doesn't share a close relationship with her father.

**Holly Wheeler**

Holly is Nancy's younger sister. Though they don't appear to interact much, possibly due to the age gap between them, Nancy does care about Holly. In 1986, when Vecna possessed Nancy and showed her visions of the possible future, she was horrified to see visions of creatures from the Upside Down attacking Holly, and was visibly shaken by it. Knowing her sister and family were in danger as long as Vecna was alive, Nancy opted into returning to the Upside Down to kill him.

### Non-Familial

**Template**

WIP