Is Max Blind In Stranger Things Season 4? Explained

One of the most exciting yet somewhat tragic parts of Stranger Things Season 4, Volume 2, was the fact that Max had to act as the bait for Vecna/Henry/One so that the others could kill him. However, things didn’t go exactly as planned as she ended up dead and then alive after the encounter with Vecna/Henry/One. She ended up in a coma in hospital as the heroes were visibly sad about what happened to their friend. But was Max blinded after the encounter?

Unfortunately, it did look like Max was blinded after surviving her encounter with Vecna/Henry/One. She was dead for about a minute before Eleven was able to revive her from certain death. But she was left blind and with broken limbs while in a state of comatose in the hospital.

Although the heroes did indeed defeat Vecna/Henry/One and forced him to retreat, the victory came at a cost because Max ended up paying for their failure to completely defeat their enemy. In that regard, she was left in a state where she probably won’t be able to contribute much in the final season. Then again, Max’s injury might become the catalyst for Eleven to unlock new powers in season 5.

Was Max Blinded In Stranger Things Season 4?

As early as volume 1 of Stranger Things season 4, what became clear was the fact that Max was going to be an incredibly important character in the series due in large part to the fact that she was still recovering from the death of her brother, Billy, and how she still believed that she could have done something about what happened to him.

In that regard, Vecna/Henry/One took advantage of her trauma by utilizing her as one of his targets in his attempt to open gates from the Upside Down to the real world. His first attempt was a failure because Max was able to find help in the form of her favorite song by Kate Bush, entitled “Running Up That Hill.” But when we thought that she was already safe from Vecna/Henry/One, that wasn’t the case in volume 2.

After the quick excursion by Steve, Nancy, Robin, and Eddie in the Upside Down, they found out that Vecna was trying to unleash the Upside Down in the real world by opening four gates. He only needed one gate to fulfill his plan as it was clear that the gang needed to find a way to stop him. Then when they realized that Vecna was actually like Eleven because he was actually One, that was when they realized that he also had the same weaknesses. So, whenever he was invading the minds of other people, he had to leave his physical body behind.

In that regard, Vecna/Henry/One was vulnerable to attacks whenever he was in the mind of someone else. Max had to be the one to volunteer because she already had experience dealing with Vecna/Henry/One and because she believed that she had a way to keep the monster at bay long enough for the others to kill his physical body.

It was indeed true that she was once again able to allow Vecna/Henry/One to invade her mind, but the problem was that he was too powerful this time around. Not even her best memories could keep him at bay as Eleven had to invade Max’s mind as well so that she could fight One on par. But One proved to be more powerful than Eleven as he pinned her down to force her to watch as he murdered Max.

Vecna was now about to kill Max and was in the middle of his ritual. However, Eleven found the strength to defeat him in the form of Mike’s love. This allowed her to break free from her binding and push One back before he could completely kill Max.

In the real world, Lucas was able to catch Max’s floating body before Vecna/Henry/One could complete his ritual. However, at that time, Max was already halfway through death as her limbs were now broken, and her eyes were already bleeding. So, does that mean that Max was blinded in season 4?

Max was not only blinded in season 4 but was also killed. In fact, the doctors said that she was actually dead for a while, and it was actually her death that triggered the fourth gate to open. The four gates opened rifts throughout Hawkins. But thanks to the fact that Eleven was able to revive Max, the gates stopped in time before they could swallow Hawkins whole.

Two days later, Lucas was seen reading a story to Max, who was asleep on a hospital bed. When the others came, they learned that she was in a state of comatose as the doctors said that there was no guarantee that she would wake up from it. Eleven tried to enter her mind but only saw darkness in it. So, not only was Max blind, but she was also in a death-like state.

How Was Max Blinded?

The reason why Max was blinded is that this seems to be a part of Vecna/Henry/One’s death ritual. In all of the cases where he killed his victims, he had their bodies floating in the air before he broke all of their limbs. Before killing them, Vecna/Henry/One bleeds their eyes out as he seemingly sucks the air right out of them to force their bodies to collapse from the inside. 

However, when Vecna/Henry/One was about to kill Max, he was just one step away from completely killing her as he had already broken her limbs and bled her eyes out. But Eleven was able to stop him in time before he could completely kill her.

Still, the damage to Max’s physical body had already been done. Her limbs were already broken, and her eyes had already bled out. She told Lucas that she could not feel or see anything and that she was not yet ready to die. Eleven was only there in time to stop One from killing her, but the monster had already done enough damage to her.

Will Max Get Her Sight Back?

As mentioned, the end of volume 2 of season 4 allowed us to see that Max was in the hospital in a state of comatose as there was no guarantee whether or not she would ever wake up. Meanwhile, we did understand right at the end of the episode that the heroes are now up against something even bigger when they saw that the rifts all over Hawkins were once again active.

In that regard, there is a good possibility that the fifth season will move on without Max, who is probably still in a state of comatose in the hospital. But it is also quite possible that Eleven, due to her emotional attachment to her best friend, would be able to find a way to get her back from her coma while also restoring her sight.

As we after defeating One, Eleven was able to revive Max from certain death by using her powers. It might be possible that she would end up unlocking new powers in season 5, depending on how the story proceeds from season 4. And she might be able to find a way to heal Max and allow her to be whole once more.