How Powerful Will Byers Is Compared To Vecna & Eleven After Stranger Things’ Big Twist

The first volume of Stranger Things season 5 is out, and fans are still buzzing while waiting for the already confirmed continuation coming at Christmas. And one of the most talked-about topics is still Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), especially because the ending of Episode 4 revealed him taking control of the Demogorgons and destroying them with nothing but his mind in one of the season’s biggest twists. He was always treated as “the kid who went through the worst,” but now the show makes it clear he’s no longer just a symbol of trauma — he finally has an active role in the main conflict. The moment basically works as a response to previous seasons: if everyone assumed he’d forever be the group’s “Upside Down radar,” the truth is that he might be way more dangerous than that.

Naturally, fans are left with a lot of questions about how his powers work, how he was able to access them in that tense moment, how strong his connection to Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) actually is, and just how powerful he really is when compared to the villain and even to Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown).

How Do Will’s Powers Work?

The first thing to understand is that Will didn’t suddenly turn into a new version of Eleven. What he does doesn’t come from his own mental strength — he channels what already exists within the hive mind (the collective consciousness that links every creature and structure in the Upside Down). In other words, it’s like he has partial access to Vecna’s operating system, but can’t open every menu. Eleven generates power on her own; Vecna shapes and controls the Upside Down; and Will simply redirects what’s already there. But that doesn’t make what he does any less impressive; it just defines the scope. He’s not pulling cars into the air, closing gates, or rearranging human memories. He works inside a very specific box, and that box belongs to the show’s main villain.

Will is able to affect creatures connected to the hive mind because he’s part of that structure himself. That explains why he can wipe out Demogorgons so naturally — they’re tied to the same mental network he’s been sensing since Season 1. But that same connection also limits him. He can’t use these abilities anywhere that isn’t linked to the hive mind. He doesn’t “create” powers; he reacts to whatever flows through him. His ability is reactive, not active.

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And when you compare him to Vecna, the contrast becomes even clearer. Vecna is the creator of the system, so everything in the Upside Down functions under his direct control. He invades memories, distorts reality inside people’s minds, and commands creatures as if they were extensions of his own body. Will isn’t anywhere near that level. What he has is an accidental entry point — and it’s worth remembering that Vecna definitely didn’t plan for that access to be used against him. Will is essentially a glitch in the code, a vulnerability that appeared and is now out of the creator’s hands (which is exactly why fans are eager to see how the villain reacts when he finally realizes it).

The interesting part is that this “glitch” also makes Will uniquely valuable. He senses danger before anyone else, feels Vecna’s movements almost in real time, and has an internal sensitivity to the hive mind that no other character has. That makes him more than just a weapon — it makes him a breach in the system. Eleven can attack from the outside, but she’ll never understand the network the way Will does. Vecna has full internal control, but he underestimated how deep Will’s connection went. Will sits right between them, and neither of the other two can replicate that.

There’s also the emotional factor, which Stranger Things has always treated as part of Will’s conflict with the Upside Down. He’s never been emotionally stable, and his powers depend way more on his psychological state than the other characters. Eleven grows when she finds her sense of identity, and Vecna grows when he has absolute control. Will grows only when he confronts his pain head-on, which makes his power a lot more unpredictable. He can fail completely in one moment and become crucial the next. Narratively, that puts him in a space where absolutely anything can happen.

Is Will More Powerful Than Vecna and Eleven?

So after looking at everything, the short answer to that is no. But the full answer is way more interesting. Will doesn’t surpass Eleven in range of abilities, and he’s nowhere near Vecna’s total command of the Upside Down. He doesn’t have autonomy, and he doesn’t generate anything on his own. But that doesn’t mean he’s less important, because he operates in a space where Eleven can’t reach and where Vecna doesn’t have full control. That’s what makes him the kind of character who can shift the game strategically. Eleven has raw power. Vecna has structure. Will has access — and sometimes, access matters more than brute force.

So how can Will change everything? He can interfere with the hive mind from the inside, block commands sent to the creatures, or even create “noise” that disrupts Vecna’s communication with his army. That doesn’t make him the strongest, but it absolutely makes him the most inconvenient for the villain (and therefore the most valuable to the group when it comes to stopping him). Stranger Things has been building Will into this unpredictable piece from the very beginning, someone who can flip the battle at key moments. Not through force, but through the internal flaw he represents within Vecna’s system.

On the other hand, there’s a very real limitation: as long as Will can’t use this connection without relying emotionally on it (or relying on Vecna himself), he remains a tool, not a power source. If the show decides to eventually break that dependency and allow Will to take control for himself, then yes — he could evolve in a way that changes the entire dynamic, and the comparison between him, Eleven, and Vecna would look completely different. But so far, that’s not where the story is pointing. Eleven is still the biggest physical and psychic powerhouse, and Vecna is still the master of the mental battleground, with Will only able to interfere because he’s in the right place, connected to the right system.

So, in short, Will’s position is very clear: he’s not the strongest, but he might be the most dangerous under the right circumstances. He won’t win the fight alone, but he can be the reason Vecna loses (putting all the theories about his death aside). Without him, the group probably wouldn’t stand a chance relying only on Eleven. Will isn’t the strongest piece on the board, but he’s the one who can flip the table when it matters.

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