Fans have been drooling over the new villain, the very personification of evil, since the trailer for Stranger Things Season 4 was published. Although the new adversary Vecna is well-known among those who have ever played Dungeons and Dragons, the rest of the fans are unaware of Vecna’s abilities.
So, Vecna was once a human from another realm who chose to avenge his witch mother by becoming an undead sorcerer or lich. He did not stop there, though, and rose through the ranks to become a demi-god and then a greater god.
Vecna will be the most powerful villain in the franchise’s history, far more dangerous than the Demogorgon and Mindflayer. In this video, we will look into Vecna’s origins as well as his artifacts, role in Dungeons and Dragons, and much more. So, do not forget your geek glasses. Let us get started, shall we?
Who Is Vecna?
Although not much is known about Vecna’s past, it can be said beyond doubt that he was once a human king, but fate wanted other things from him. His mother played the greatest role in what became of Vecna as a human and then the undead Arch Lich. She would be an evil woman who often sacrificed animals and didn’t shy away from consorting with monstrous beings.
This constant company of cruelty shaped Vecna for the worse. Vecna belonged to the planet of Oerth, which was in an entirely different realm from ours, which was also called the Greyspace. The strange thing about Greyspace was that unlike our solar system, which has the sun as the central primary celestial object, Greyspace’s central celestial object was Oerth.
Nevertheless, Vecna soon gave up his mortal life to become a lich. Interestingly enough, a lich is a human who chooses eternal existence as an undead over mortal life. Of course, there are several constraints that come with becoming a lich, but one also gains malign magic and intelligence. Like most liches, Vecna was feared by mortals because he was the most powerful of all liches.
Over a long period of his undead existence, Vecna became notorious as the scourge of all mortal worlds. Chronologically speaking, Vecna’s story began as dark artifacts such as a hand and an eye, but with time, these two body parts gained a character of their own. When Vecna would become an important character in Dungeons and Dragons, he was depicted as missing his left Eye and left Hand.
It turns out that Vecna’s motivation came from his obsession with extracting and maintaining the darkest of secrets of both mortals and the undead. He believed that these secrets were a source of power, and used them to manipulate such subjects, often leading them to their own destruction. To sum it up, Vecna would extract one of your dirtiest secrets, and use it to gain dominion over you.
It seems truth does have a lot of power if one knows how to use it. But Vecna wasn’t just a trader of secrets; he possessed other powers such as the ability to paralyze others with simply a touch, he also had a plethora of powerful spells at his disposal, but what really made him a fiendish god was his ability to alter reality. But one of his most underrated powers is the ability to perceive anything that a mortal felt up to a ten-mile radius.
Furthermore, he could sense any secrets as long as these secrets affect the lives of five hundred or more people. And, of course, being the master sorcerer that he was, Vecna was immune to disease, mind-control, and most forms of magic. It must be evident by now that a being hailing from Dungeons and Dragons and a future villain of the Stranger Things franchise, Vecna, came from the multiverse. However, he never really claimed a dominion for himself and tended to roam around the entirety of the multiverse.
With such a huge inventory of skills, Vecna started his journey of becoming the most powerful god there was, and sought to destroy all other gods. To further his plan, he would often join hands with certain warlocks, and serve as their immortal patron. In addition to this, he enjoyed a string of worshippers, who themselves were entirely evil and malevolent.
Vecna In D&D
As far as Dungeons and Dragons are concerned, Vecna has had a rather illustrious career and an extremely busy life of over a thousand years. He started off as a simple wizard and moved on to become a magnificently evil lich, who then became a demi-god before taking the mantle of a god. However, in the end, he stepped down and became a lesser god. His backstory and lore are so rich, that multitudes of people have not only written about him but have done extensive research. Vecna was born to a race of humans known for their expertise in magic and spells.
This race, called the Ur-Flan, existed primarily in the Flan City of Fleeth. However, Vecna was born into a cast that was considered untouchable by the denizens of Flan City. Naturally, life was already difficult for Vecna, but to make things worse, he experienced an event called the Great Migration, in which almost all members of his cast migrated. The few who remained became powerful wizards and witches, and soon they were corrupted by power and became evil.
It wasn’t before long that these bad guys became worse; they were involving themselves in necromancy with the goal of becoming undead. The others showed respect to these selected few, but the respect came out of fear and mortal danger, rather than real emotions. Vecna’s first goal after becoming powerful enough was avenging his mother, Mazzel, who was executed by the government of the City of Fleeth on charges of witchcraft.
Artifacts of Vecna
That would be all about Vecna, but we’d be committing a crime if we didn’t elaborate on Vecna’s various artifacts, and the powers they provide to their users. However, beware, for these artifacts take away more than they give! Without further ado, let’s talk about what these artifacts are and what all they can do.
Eye Of Vecna
After Vecna’s lieutenant, Kas, betrayed him, the only parts left of Vecna were his left Eye and left Hand. Eventually, these two appendages would be filled with Vecna’s willpower, so much so that they would perform his deeds wherever they were, irrespective of who was using them. To use Vecna’s Eye, the user was supposed to gouge out their Eye and place Vecna’s Eye in the socket.
Upon doing this, the Eye would automatically graft itself, and the user would be bestowed with the Truesight, which was the ability to see through magical and normal darkness, in addition to seeing invisible animals and entities. However, once you put on Vecna’s Eye, your worldview changes for the worse, and you become a neutral evil entity. But then the Eye gave its user several other abilities such as clairvoyance, etc. Having said that, using the Eye always ended in the user’s death because the Eye always found a way out of the wearer’s socket, invariably leaving him dead.
Hand of Vecna
The Hand of Vecna was pretty much similar to the Eye of Vecna, at least, this was the case when it came to the procedure of wearing it. But being a hand, it gave its wearer superior physical abilities. For instance, any spell or attack by a weapon that was laid down from the Hand of Vecna invariably added a boost of cold energy. One could even cast the finger of death and teleport using the Hand.
But the evil nature of the Hand of Vecna manifested itself soon after the wearer used a spell. The Hand would force the wearer to commit evil acts, every time a spell was cast. You may be thinking, what would happen if the Hand and Eye of Vecna were being used by the same being? Well, they would gain several superpowers such as clairvoyance, immunity to all diseases and poisoning, the ability to turn the enemy’s bones into jelly, regenerative powers, etc.
Sword of Kas
Well, the Sword of Kas was created by Vecna himself, for Kas, his most trusted and loyal lieutenant and ally. It was supposed to be the most powerful sword ever, but Kas used it against his master. In fact, the sword was sentient and hated Vecna so much that its only goal apart from making the wielder do evil things is to destroy the Hand and Eye of Vecna. That’s some grudge! Over the period of time, the sword has changed significantly and has taken several forms, such as a two-handed blade, a long sword, and a short sword.
So, it can be said without an ounce of doubt that Vecna has been a master of evil, so much so that even his body parts act as vessels of evil and Vecna’s willpower. After the mind flayer and Demogorgon, Vecna seems to be the perfect villain for Eleven and her mighty little friends, although they don’t seem to be little any longer.
From what we gathered from the trailer, Vecna has come to the town of Hawkins and will do just about everything to destroy anything that stands before him. Furthermore, it seems that this Vecna rules over a horde of demo bats if you will. I don’t know about you, but I can not keep calm about the fourth season of Stranger Things.