D&D General An Iconic D&D Villain Features In Stranger Things’ New Seasom

Following on from Season 1's Demogorgon, the producers of Stranger Things have confirmed in an IGN interview that the villain in the upcoming 4th season of the show is named after the iconic D&D archlich Vecna!

Perhaps the juiciest part of this very juicy trailer was not one, but two shots of our new big bad, who, as the brothers revealed, is named Vecna. One comes in at the very beginning, with a shot of him opening his eyes as his creepy voiceover reads, “your suffering is almost at an end,” which Matt calls “our Hellraiser line.” Ever since Season 2, the Duffers say, they wanted to do a character that was similar to the horror figures that terrified them growing up, from Freddie Kruger to Pinhead to Pennywise.

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[Alzrius]

So the quest this season is to find the Sword of Kas? Or will the kids just skip right to calling on Iuz to take care of things for them?

 

[Weiley31]

Man, I can't wait for the final episode of the season and we see Vox Machina come in at the last second to save the kids from Vecna. All while Matt Mercer is just chilling in the back, drinking a Starbucks drink, and just bopping his head to Persona 5 music, oblivious to everything happening off to the side.

 

[doctorhook]

Man, I can't wait for the final episode of the season and we see Vox Machina come in at the last second to save the kids from Vecna. All while Matt Mercer is just chilling in the back, drinking a Starbucks drink, and just bopping his head to Persona 5 music, oblivious to everything happening off to the side.

Vecna is the John Munch of D&D. Put him in every single D&D-adjacent franchise. He’s the linchpin that holds them all together

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Is now Vecna the king of the (super)villains in intercompany crossovers? What will be the next, Vecna in Fortnite, Marvel and DC comics?

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

So the quest this season is to find the Sword of Kas? Or will the kids just skip right to calling on Iuz to take care of things for them?

Well, the previous D&D-inspired monsters in the show weren't all that accurate to the source material (the Demogorgon only has a single head, which is flower-shaped, and the creature is roughly human-sized, the Mind Flayer was like a giant shadow spider, and the "gibbering mouther" wasn't a gibbering mouther), so I wouldn't bet on this one being accurate, either. They could have the Sword of Kas and the Eye and Hand of Vecna appear in this season (which honestly would be really cool), but my guess is that they're going to do their own very-different take on Vecna to fit him into the show.

 

[J.Quondam]

Isn't Vecna's head supposed to be off somewhere being a magical paperweight or something, instead of being attached to his shoulders?

 

[darjr]

And it turns out it was Matt’s fault for not knowing he had control over reality

Isn't Vecna's head supposed to be off somewhere being a magical paperweight or something, instead of being attached to his shoulders?

he is working on it!

 

[Umbran]

Well, the previous D&D-inspired monsters in the show ...

Weren't actually D&D inspired. The names were D&D inspired, because when you're a D&D nerd kid, D&D names are ready to mind when you are facing a monster.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Weren't actually D&D inspired. The names were D&D inspired, because when you're a D&D nerd kid, D&D names are ready to mind when you are facing a monster.

Well, I'd say that the main monster of Season 3 was certainly D&D-inspired. It was never called a "Gibbering Mouther," but it was one for all intents and purposes.

Both of the creatures below are red-colored many mouthed and limbed monsters created by the bodies of dead people being absorbed into an ooze-like entity. They had quite a few notable differences, but the inspiration there is pretty obvious.