Mike Wheeler and Will Byers

William "Will" Byers, portrayed by Noah Schnapp, is a main character in Stranger Things, having a recurring but pivotal role in the first season, before being promoted to the main cast from the second season onward. He is the youngest son of Joyce Byers, the younger brother to Jonathan Byers, the stepbrother of Eleven, and the best friend of Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, and Lucas Sinclair. He was born on March 22nd 1971.

Will was a shy, artistic boy from Hawkins, Indiana who loved to play Dungeons & Dragons with his three best friends, Mike, Lucas and Dustin. However, Will's life turned upside-down on November 6, 1983; on the way home from his friends' latest D&D campaign, Will crossed paths with a humanoid predator. Despite his best efforts to escape, the creature trapped Will in an alternate dimension; a dark reflection of Hawkins covered in vines, spores and fog.

Personality and traits

Will is soft-spoken, amicable, sweet, and honest. Like his friends, he is exceedingly intelligent for his age, having an enthusiasm for science and being a member of their school's AV club. He also displays a lot of the same interests as his friends, such as Dungeons & Dragons, comics like the X-Men, and films like Ghostbusters. He is also creative, having a passion for art and writing stories. However, his interests and social status resulted in him being bullied. This, along with his father's prior poor treatment of him, most likely led to feelings of alienation. After his ordeal with the Upside Down, Will became even more alienated due to his peers labeling him "Zombie Boy" (due to the cover story conceived to conceal what actually happened to him). Additionally, he had grown frustrated with everyone's sensitive treatment towards him, especially with his mother and brother's overprotectiveness. Following his possession by the Mind Flayer, Will developed an aversion to heat and became increasingly distressed by his connection with the entity. The connection also caused him to experience physical pain whenever the vines and biological matter originating from the Upside Down were burned. As Will's mind was gradually taken over, he began to experience memory loss and was manipulated into aiding the Mind Flayer. Eventually, the Mind Flayer's influence over Will was so great, he was able to speak through him and control his body. After the Mind Flayer was exorcised from his body, Will seemingly returned to his usual self with no visible adverse effects. One of Will's most notable traits is how he often put other people before himself. This was implied by his actions during the Dungeons & Dragons campaign on November 6, 1983, were he decided to attack the Demogorgon to help the party instead of playing it safe. Also, Joyce recounted a story of how when he was younger, Will gave away his toy truck to a saddened girl in order to make her feel better, even though they wouldn't be able to afford another one. This side of his personality is also displayed somewhat during the Snow Ball, where he reluctantly accepted a girl's invitation to dance. This is also possibly one of the reasons he waited to tell his family and friends about his visions, so he wouldn't worry them. Will also had a profound sense of responsibility, drawing a picture of Bob as a superhero to commemorate his sacrifice to save everyone. Will is also responsible enough to focus on ways in dealing with the threats from the Upside Down and dealing with personal issues amongst his friends. He has a typical boy mindset when it comes to girls doing boyish activities. When the boys spy on Max (believing her to be the infamous MadMax at the Arcade), Will is skeptical, saying girls don't play video games. When Dustin talks about meeting his girlfriend at Science Camp, Will, bewildered, says, "Girls go to Science Camp?" In 1985, Will was shown to have longed to be with his friends, mostly stemming from the trauma he had endured in the past two years from being trapped in the Upside Down to being possessed by the Mind Flayer. As a result, Will would dress in clothes too young for him or would be interested in playing D&D, despite his friends' disinterest. This is mostly because Will is trying to return to his childhood after being affected by the Upside Down for two years. However, his friends' disinterest and maturity, disheartened Will as he started feeling left out amongst his friends. When Will tried to play to a D&D campaign with Mike and Lucas after they had problems with their girlfriends, their boredom finally caused Will to snap at his friends. After being told by Mike that they're grown up now, Will broke down in tears as he realized that he can't bring back the childhood he lost while destroying Castle Byers during his breakdown. However, as Will helped his friends when they were all nearly killed by the Mind Flayer's avatar, Will started to become mature and three months later, he finally let go some of his childhood interests by giving D&D manuals to Lucas's little sister, Erica. Will was very upset about leaving Hawkins and cried as he said goodbye to his friends and as Jonathan drove him away. In 1986, Will started to act more mature and even said a few curse words like his friends normally do. However, like Eleven, Will struggled to adapt to his new home and school while having trouble making new friends. Will also tried his best to help Eleven as she became a target of bullying. Will had even begun discovering his sexual orientation where he developed romantic feelings for Mike, but had trouble with dealing with them as he knew Mike was in love with Eleven and only saw Will as a friend. Will was even shown to be extremely - and almost unreasonably - selfless, as he managed his love for Mike as well as their friendship, giving Mike advice about his relationship with Eleven. However, Mike's unwavering attention towards Eleven and his scarce attentiveness towards Will still seemed to be an important source of pain and misery for Will in terms of not only their friendship, but also his unrequited feelings for him. In a coded love confession to Mike, he revealed that he feels like a mistake due to his alienation and sexual orientation, but that Mike made him feel better for being different. When Jonathan later comforted him and told him how much he loved him, knowing about his struggle with his sexuality, Will broke down in tears and embraced his brother, happy that someone close to him accepted him for who he was. In 1987, Will was committed to helping his friends and family protect Hawkins from the Upside Down while the entire town was placed under military quarantine. However, Will was constantly frustrated with his mother's overprotectiveness as she did not allow him to help during crawl missions. After Mike's sister, Holly was kidnapped by Vecna, Will was determined to save her as he did not want her to go through the same experiences he went through when he was first taken into the Upside Down four years ago. His determination to rescue Holly caused him to disobey his mother and stand up to her, calling her out on her overly cautious approach towards the threat Vecna posed, declaring they can't afford to "play it safe" anymore. In addition, after discovering Robin Buckley to be a lesbian, Will found a kindred spirit in her, seeking her advice on how to deal with his own sexuality. Due to his friendship with Robin, Will was able to start accepting himself for who he was and not be afraid of his connection to the hive mind, which caused to him unlock psychic powers of his own. Yet, after being kidnapped and tortured by Vecna who revealed his involvement of creating the Hawkins Tunnel System and played on his fears of being rejected because of his sexuality, Will became depressed, scared, and guilt-ridden, blaming himself for all of the horrors his loved ones had endured since his disappearance. However, after a pep talk with Max who revealed Vecna's own fears, Will was inspired to finally reveal his sexuality to his friends and family, along with confessing how scared he is of being alone and rejected just for being different. Upon being reassured and accepted for who he is by all of those close to him, Will gained the courage to confront Vecna, which allowed him to use his powers against him and give El an opening to deliver the killing blow to their adversary. Eighteen months later, after Vecna's death and the Upside Down's destruction, Will had moved on from his tragedies and found peace while graduating high school with his friends. No longer controlled by his fears of rejection and loneliness, Will became confident and happy with himself where he chose to honor El by believing in her survival and remembering everything she did for him.

Michael "Mike" Wheeler, portrayed by Finn Wolfhard, is a main character in Stranger Things. The leader of the Party, Mike was the boyfriend of Eleven, prior to her disappearance, the best friend of Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Will Byers, and Max Mayfield. Additionally, he is the younger brother of Nancy Wheeler, and older brother of Holly Wheeler.

Personality and Traits

Mike is shown to be optimistic, morally compassionate, and highly committed to his friends, usually going to great lengths to help them. His D&D role as Dungeon Master suggests that he, like Will, is a creative thinker. Out of the four boys, he is the most emotionally open and open-minded, willing to accept fantastical explanations behind complex situations. After Will disappeared, he quickly drew a parallel to Will's defeat at the hands of the Demogorgon. After witnessing Eleven's psychic powers, Mike became faithful to the idea that she could help find Will. While his friends were initially skeptical about Eleven, Mike wholeheartedly trusted her to guide them and even developed a close relationship with her. Mike's slightly unorthodox approach led him to connect some of the dots explaining the mysterious Upside Down.

Mike has a high level of selflessness, especially when he was unquestioningly willing to jump off a cliff to protect Dustin (before Eleven came to rescue him). Additionally, Mike displayed strong morale and courage when he confronted Troy about his joke of Will's presumed death, showing just how much he cares for his friends. Even after Will was saved, Mike perceived that Will was struggling due to his connection with the Upside Down and tried to help him. Mike was also the only one out of his friends to stay with Will in the lab when he was suffering from memory loss and was manipulated by the Mind Flayer, proving that he was always ready to put himself in harm's way to protect his friends.

Moreover, when Eleven disintegrated the Demogorgon and vanished, Mike was severely traumatized by her disappearance and struggled. His mother even pointed out that he had begun acting out in school, which stemmed from his depression regarding Eleven. Yet he still believed that she was alive and continued to try contacting her for 353 consecutive days, until his determination was rewarded when he finally reunited with Eleven after almost a year. His undying love and care for her were also obvious when he convinced the group to distract the Demodogs from Eleven, defying Steve's orders, as well as keeping his promise to her by attending the Snow Ball.

As he started dating Eleven, Mike showed a more romantic side to his personality. He was protective of Eleven as he feared losing her again, but he eventually shed his overprotectiveness of Eleven after reconciling with her. Mike was also shown to be more mature as he admitted that he was being too overprotective of Eleven and apologized to her for it. Despite Mike's initial comments to her and even when El dumped him, he still loved her and cared for her, even if she did not realize it.

In 1986, after Eleven moved away from Hawkins with the Byers family, Mike kept his relationship with her strong by keeping in touch with her. However, because of his parents' loveless marriage and his fear of losing Eleven, Mike had difficulty in telling Eleven how much he loves her, which puts a strain on their relationship. In addition, Mike struggled to keep his friends together as they started drifting apart with Will no longer living in Hawkins, Lucas joining the high school basketball team in order to gain popularity, and Max growing reclusive over her stepbrother's death. Yet, after hearing of a new evil terrorizing Hawkins, Mike was determined to return to his home to save his family and friends, along with searching for Eleven who had gone to regain her powers. After Will told a downhearted Mike how he always acted as the "heart" of the Party by keeping their friends together, Mike's spirits were lifted, and he was able to help Eleven fight Vecna by finally confessing his love for her, which in return saved their friends.

In 1987, Mike grew closer to Holly, and he was determined to stop Vecna. He also hoped to escape with Eleven to a remote place with three waterfalls and live in peace, knowing they would continue to hunt her. Even when Eleven revealed her doubts about that dream, following the discovery of her intention to harvest his blood to create new individuals with psionic powers, Mike remained optimistic and hoped he could pursue that dream, but he was more devastated than anyone else and speechless by Eleven's apparent sacrifice.

Eighteen months after Vecna's death and the destruction of the Upside Down, Mike continued to mourn Eleven's supposed death, unwilling to move on or graduate. After Hopper's encouragement to reluctantly accept Eleven's choice, Mike agreed, later having a illumination during his graduation ceremony according to which Eleven had staged her death, later honoring her with his friends, believing in her survival.