## Overview
The Reddit thread discusses the stage play **“Stranger Things: The First Shadow”**, focusing on how it connects to the series, expands the lore, and explains the early history behind Eleven’s powers and Vecna. The post and comments mention elements such as the **USS Pegasus / Eldridge experiment**, Henry Creel’s past, and how these events fit into the Stranger Things timeline.
## Setting and Premise
The story is set mainly in **Hawkins, Indiana, in 1959**, where the Creel family, including teenage Henry, moves in hope of a fresh start. Henry struggles with disturbing abilities and visions, while a series of strange crimes and animal killings begins to affect the town.
## Henry Creel and Patty
Henry meets **Patty Newby**, another outsider at school, and their relationship becomes a central emotional thread of the play. Patty believes Henry can use his powers for good and tries to support him, but Henry’s growing connection to a dark presence increases his fear that he will hurt her.
## Origins of the Powers
The play explores the **military experiment** involving a ship during World War II (often referenced with ships like the Eldridge/Pegasus), where attempts to use a force field go catastrophically wrong and open access to another dimension. This experiment and its aftermath are framed as a deep origin point for the supernatural forces and psychic abilities that later appear in Hawkins and in Eleven.
## The Shadowy Presence and Mind Flayer
Henry becomes influenced by a **shadowy entity** connected to an alternate dimension, often associated by fans with the Mind Flayer. Under this influence, he starts killing animals and having visions of a humanoid monster, which foreshadows his transformation into Vecna and clarifies that the entity exploits his emotions and trauma.
## Conflict with Brenner and Hawkins Lab
Dr. **Martin Brenner** appears as a key antagonist, working with Henry at Hawkins Lab and pushing him to use his powers in increasingly violent ways. When Henry resists killing humans, Brenner realizes Henry’s attachment to Patty is his main “weakness” and becomes determined to remove or exploit that bond.
## Tragedy and Consequences
Under the entity’s control, Henry attacks and kills members of his own family, leading to **Victor Creel** being blamed for the murders and later institutionalized. In a climactic moment, Henry loses control during a confrontation involving Patty and Brenner, causing Patty to fall from a height; Brenner then takes Henry back to the lab while the town accepts a false version of events.
## Epilogue and Connections to the Series
Years later, Henry is restrained in Hawkins Lab and uses the Void to watch Patty’s life, learning she survived and now walks with a cane. The play positions these events as the hidden prequel to Vecna’s story in the TV show, reinforcing that the Mind Flayer used Henry while letting him believe he was in control.
## Fan Discussion Highlights
Commenters in the Reddit thread discuss how the play reframes the **power dynamic between Vecna and the Mind Flayer**, suggesting the Mind Flayer allowed Vecna to think he was leading while actually using his powers. Fans also talk about human relationships like **Joyce, Hopper, and Bob**, including romantic tension and personal struggles that echo their later character arcs in the series.
> “From the USS Pegasus to the true origin of Eleven's powers, here is the breakdown of *The First Shadow*.”
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**Author’s summary:** A dark stage prequel, *The First Shadow* ties wartime experiments, Henry Creel’s tragic fall, and Patty’s survival into a coherent backstory that sharpens Vecna’s role and the Mind Flayer’s manipulation.
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Reddit · r/StrangerThings — 2025-11-29