One of the most devastating moments of Stranger Things 4 is the death of Eddie Munson. It’s brutal and it’s unfair. Eddie dies as an outcast, blamed for the murders Vecna was committing. He was hunted by his town Hawkins, and never had the chance to clear his name. That injustice is why so many viewers struggle with his ending.
There’s a lot of debate on whether Eddie’s sacrifice was truly necessary. Some fans feel it was a foolish, senseless death due to Eddie’s desire to prove he could be a hero.
That argument misses what was actually happening in the finale.
The Distraction
In “The Piggyback,” Eddie and Dustin are tasked with luring the Demobats away from the Upside Down version of the Creel House. Nancy, Steve, and Robin need a clear path to Vecna. The bats are the biggest obstacle.
Their plan initially works. Eddie draws the Demobats away to his trailer by playing an incredible guitar cover of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”.
For a brief moment, everything is going according to plan. Until the bats break into the trailer through the vents.
Eddie decides to stay in the Upside Down to draw the bats away. It works but he’s overwhelmed by sheer numbers until he’s brutally mauled to death.
This is where the arguing kicks in. Eddie could have escaped. He could have climbed back through the gate and lived.
One thing that gets ignored is that Eddie’s decision to stall the Demobats wasn’t completely in vain.
The Problem No One Talks About
Back at the Creel House, Nancy, Steve, and Robin don’t even get the chance to reach Vecna. They’re restrained by tentacles wrapped around the house’s interior.
The tentacles strangle the trio until they’re damaged by the combination of Eleven attacking Vecna and Murray burning the Demogorgons in Russia. Remember that the Demogorgons/bats, Vecna and the Mind Flayer are all connected via a hive mind.
Buying Some Time Was the Point
Eddie’s decision was about buying the Party time.
If the Demobats made it back to the Creel House while Nancy, Steve, and Robin were still trapped, they would have died.
Even if the bats arrived after the trio freed themselves, they’d be outnumbered.
Worse, they would have blown through all their Molotov Cocktails and bullets. That would leave them with nothing to use as an effective weapon when they finally reach Vecna. Yes, Steve had his axe but that wouldn’t have done him any good against a telekinetic as powerful as Vecna.
Eddie staying behind prevents all of that from happening.
Eddie’s Death is Still Unfair Though
The reason why Eddie’s death feels wrong is because he doesn’t get vindicated. Hawkins never learns the truth about Vecna. Years later, he’s still remembered as a monstrous cult leader who died before he could be brought to justice.
Stranger Things 4 was an exploration of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. The season didn’t sugarcoat how ignorance, prejudice and grief can morph regular people into unhinged vigilantes.
Even if Eddie survived, he was doomed in the court of public opinion. The odds of graduating high school, getting a good job, or scrounging up the money so he could move somewhere else would’ve been difficult for him.
Maybe he could’ve had a happier ending once Vecna was killed in the final season, but we’ll never know for sure. That’s the real tragedy of Eddie’s death, the what ifs, the lack of justice. It’s senseless because he deserves better, but his death did buy some time that saved his friends. Both things can be true at the same time.
