Stranger Things‘ fifth season delivered an epic conclusion to one of Netflix’s most popular shows. In the process, the Duffer brothers, creators and showrunners, communicated a libertarian message about moral responsibility.
The protagonists learn that the show’s archvillain, Vecna, was traumatized as a little boy: While exploring a mine, he was shot by and felt compelled to kill a paranoid man carrying a piece of the Mind Flayer, an extraterrestrial evil. In light of this revelation, the characters entertain the possibility that Vecna isn’t really evil but was simply enslaved by the Mind Flayer. They urge Vecna to resist the being’s influence. But he balks at the suggestion he’s enthralled. He shares the Mind Flayer’s will and goals, he insists.
If Vecna truly lacked agency, he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions. But circumstance didn’t create Vecna; he did so himself by willfully embracing evil. Accordingly, the heroes mercilessly dispatch the evildoer, bringing peace to their beleaguered hometown of Hawkins once and for all.
