(Credits: Netflix)

Holly Wheeler undeniably took centre stage in Stranger Things’ fifth and final season when it premiered last week on Netflix. But alongside the youngest Wheeler sibling, it was her imaginary friend, Mr Whatsit, who caught the eyes and raised just as many eyebrows.

Viewers first learn about Mr Whatsit halfway through the first episode of volume one when Holly stood to his defence, saying to Mike, “He’s only trying to help. He says there are monsters in Hawkins, and they like to eat kids like me.” But who actually is Mr Whatsit?

Well, Mr Whatsit is none other than Vecna, who adopted the name from Madeleine L’Engle’s classic science fantasy novel, A Wrinkle in Time, which turns out to be Holly’s favourite book this season.

“We discover that Henry has been watching Holly for some time, and he’s chosen her. I think Holy, for Henry, is probably the hardest to break. She’s the smartest. She would see through the lie before anyone else, and if he can break her, then the others fall into line really easily for him,” Jamie Campbell Bower tells Tudum.

In the second episode, ‘The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler,’ a Demogorgon ultimately kidnaps Holly, defying every defensive tactic by the Wheeler parents. But the next time we see her, she’s in Henry Creel’s mansion, completely clueless about how she reached there after that horrific showdown at the Wheeler house. However, the mansion looks as mint and palatial as the day the Creel family moved in. Yet, as we come to learn, the house is actually Henry’s mental prison.

He’s made the prison of memories a warm haven for Holly, who trusts Mr Whatsit entirely to save her from the monsters wreaking havoc in Hawkins. “Mr Whatsit strikes her as a little odd and a little off, but she’s kind of more blindsided by Henry being this marvellous saviour figure,” Nell Fisher, who portrays Holly Wheeler in Stranger Things, explains.

Although Vecna doesn’t appear like his usual self, with his skull-like, grotesque face and form, this alter ego victimises children throughout Hawkins in season five, including Dipshit Derek. He is seen sporting suits and trousers paired with a chic glass and a hat. According to Netflix, the inspiration behind Mr Whatsit’s look came from a mix of Dr Brenner and Mr Rogers from Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood.

“Brenner was in brown, warm tonal suits early on when he was training all of his numbers, and number One was obviously around him the most, so I would think that – even subliminally – Henry would reach for something that was a friendly warm colour,” costume designer Amy Parris adds. So, in reference to Mr Rogers’ red sweaters, she included a red tie to the character’s ensemble. And since Mr Rogers is a friendly person from the neighbourhood, the presentation feels like “wrapped in this gift box.”

Vecna ultimately sheds his Mr Whatsit façade in the final moments of the fourth episode when he emerges as his monstrous self to take the kids of Hawkins. While Will Byers didn’t exactly make the process easy for the big bad, all that remains is to see whether Mr Whatsit will be back or it’s only Vecna from now on.