As you watch Stranger Things season 4, one thing becomes clear: The boys didn’t just wait for Will to play Dungeons & Dragons. At the end of the third season, it seemed like our core group of friends were keeping that part of their lives sacred, and then the Hellfire Club comes along in season 4, and it seems as if Mike, Lucas, and Dustin are all moving on with their Dungeons & Dragons games without Will.
In fact, it seems like they’re just moving on from Will Byers in a lot of ways, judging by how Will reacts to Mike Wheeler when he gets to California, so the Hellfire Club is an interesting part of the series. For the boys, they join this club that plays Dungeons & Dragons and seems to take it incredibly seriously, which, again, is funny given how they reacted to Will wanting to play seriously again in season 3. But this new club is a lot, and when Lucas has to miss the end of the campaign, both Mike and Dustin are too worried about Eddie to really care that Lucas wants them to come to his game on the Hawkins basketball team.
But they do meet up with Eddie and at least ask If he’ll delay the end of the campaign for Lucas (which forces them to ask Erica to join the Hellfire Club instead). Basically, the club is just the name for their group of people who play D&D together, but it also holds a significance for the boys and especially for the Dungeon Master, Eddie.
Who is Eddie?
Eddie is a senior who just can’t seem to graduate. We don’t know his actual age, but based on clues given throughout the season, he’s definitely at least 19 or 20 years old and just can’t pass his classes. But he’s the Dungeon Master for the Hellfire Club and the man that Mike, Dustin, and even Lucas seem to be afraid of.
But that all flips on its head when Eddie is framed and on the run, and he has to rely on Dustin, Steve, Robin, Erica, and Nancy to help him (which then includes Lucas and Max later in the season). So really, all of the Hellfire Club is set up to explain how the boys know Eddie and why they would really care about helping him in the first place. He’s not particularly great, but he’s at least much better than Max’s abusive stepbrother Billy, and he seemingly wants to help and be a better person throughout the season.
It’s just that initial meeting when he refuses to move the end of the campaign to include Lucas that really sets the tone for Eddie in an interesting way, but as they say, looks can be deceiving, and that’s certainly the case for Eddie’s arc, as well as the Hellfire Club.
(featured image: Netflix)
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