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Will Byers character study and what bothers me about his common mischaracterization

I hate when people are talking about Will as if he is this fragile kid whose personality is 100% based on being completely selfless, quiet and figuring out who is.

In my opinion this couldn’t be furthest from the truth.

Will is a good person which will often make him very selfless, but he also isn’t afraid to call out people when he is being treated badly. He is very honest and his honesty can be a little harsh sometimes, but that harshness will never come out of nowhere.

Will might be quiet with people he doesn’t feel comfortable with and that’s a result of a lot of trauma from the way he was treated over the years, but Will Byers is not quiet. When you take a look at A LOT of his scenes he's quite reactive and will always jump into a conversation to make a point if he feels necessary, he'll never stay quiet.

Yes, he is an introvert and he won’t really be the chattiest person with everyone around him and won’t be the first one to talk and lead conversations in a group setting, but that doesn’t make him a fragile quiet kid who won’t speak up. As the seasons go on you can notice him relaxing a bit and showing his personality more comfortably.

And don’t come to me with “ummmm but Lucas said he’s always quiet in s2”. Yes, a kid who’s been through a horrible traumatic experience recently and is currently being possessed and having horrifying visions is going to be this happy, chatty, cheery guy who is going to act himself? Yeah I don’t think so.

Another thing that honestly bothers me is when people say that Will’s main character arc is figuring out who he is. I personally don’t think that’s true at all, maybe just a small part of it.

Will out of all characters is maybe most aware of who he is and what he wants. His arc is more about realizing that he is allowed to have all of that. If you look back at the show we’ve never seen Will being uncertain about his interests or pretending to be someone he is not, he’s always been pretty true to himself and was never really ashamed to show it.

Even when he destroyed castle Byers and called it all “stupid”, that wasn’t him giving up or getting discouraged from continuing being himself. It was just a completely valid hard emotional moment after a reminder that yes he is different, yes half of his childhood has been taken away from him, and yes his best friend, one of the rare people who never questioned him and was always by his side, just hit him where it truly hurt.

Did he give up after that and tried to be “normal”?

Absolutely not, he continued and was even more sure of himself in s4.

Him refusing to adapt to the norm even tho he was aware from the very beginning that he was different is part of his journey. That’s why I wholeheartedly believe that his arc in the show was never even shown as the process of figuring himself out.

Will realizing he is gay happened off screen and s4 literally started with him carrying a project about Alan Turning. Trust me, he is already very well aware of who he is and what he wants. If you catapulted him into 2020s he'd be unashamedly waving that pride flag since he was like 13. He just happens to live in the 80s and believes that who he is and what he wants isnt possible and he is convinced he’ll never have what others do.

Accepting that he deserves happiness and has a bright future in front of him is what his final arc is going to be about. Realizing that he is surrounded with people that love him no matter what and is indeed capable of proving wrong all those people who treated him horribly over the years and is allowed to have his voice heard is what is going to make him fully grow into his own.

Will Byers is a complex, mentally strong character that never gives up and exactly that is his biggest strength.