Stranger Things has always used Dungeons and Dragons terminology to explain the unexplainable. Monsters get names, threats get class descriptions, characters are assigned roles. In Season 5, the show becomes insistent on calling Will Byers a “sorcerer”.
At the end of episode 4, Will taps into his connection to Vecna and the Upside Down’s hive mind. He channels Vecna’s powers and uses them to kill three Demogorgons by snapping their limbs the same way Vecna kills his victims.
The show frames this moment as Will stepping into power. It wants the audience to believe this power is something Will has always had.
That is where the problem starts.
Will Byers Doesn’t Have Innate Power
The series tries to sell Will’s abilities as something that is innate. That’s not true because Will isn’t a sorcerer.
Will doesn’t have natural psychokinetic powers like Eleven does. He’s completely dependent on his connection to Vecna’s hive mind. The minute Will loses that link to Vecna and the Upside Down, his powers are gone.
Will Functions Like a Warlock, Not a Sorcerer
Technically, Will is similar to a warlock.
A sorcerer draws magic from within. Their power comes from their birthright, or some innate connection to magic itself. A warlock gains power through a bond or pact with a greater entity.
Vecna is Will’s patron whether Will wants him to be or not.
He didn’t choose this connection, but he’s still bound to it. Calling Will a sorcerer is mechanically wrong and inconsistent with how his abilities actually work.
So why does Stranger Things insist on using the wrong class?
D&D Classes Didn’t Exist in the 80s Yet Anyway
Stranger Things Season 5 is set in the fall of 1987. At that time, D&D was in its Advanced Dungeons and Dragons era. There were no official sorcerer or warlock class. Those distinctions wouldn’t exist for more than a decade.
Sorcerers were introduced as a full class in D&D 3rd Edition in 2000. Warlocks arrived later in 3.5 Edition supplements. The kids in Hawkins wouldn’t have knowledge of either term.
In 1987, “sorcerer” would have been used to describe a magic-user. That gives the show plausible deniability, but it doesn’t explain why the writers couldn’t find a different term for Will.
Why the Show Chooses Sorcerer Anyway
Stranger Things isn’t actually interested in accuracy. The show tends to use D&D lingo symbolically.
Calling Will a sorcerer reframes his relationship with Vecna. It suggests that Will isn’t a victim anymore. A warlock implies servitude. A sorcerer has ownership over their power.
Also, warlock tends to be associated with evil tropes like having ties to the devil. Sorcerer is a more neutral label, heroic even. It’s a simple way to make it clear to viewers that Will has powers now.
Stranger Things is trying to send a message that Will has some agency in his connection to Vecna. His growing confidence makes him a player in the fight against Vecna.
I still think the writers could have picked a better label for Will, though.
