WARNING: Spoilers ahead. Like, major spoilers. Also, if you’re not a Stranger Things fan, prepare to be confused.

The season four finale of Stranger Things has come and gone, leaving quite a bit for fans to unpack. Throughout the finale, the Duffer Brothers, the show’s creators, scattered hints for what viewers can expect in the fifth and final season. 

While fans spend the next two years recovering from the events of season four — and speculating what season five will bring — it seems appropriate to examine the villain directing the plotline: Vecna.

Inspiration for Vecna’s eyes

Season four’s villain boasts more than a few characteristics to give the other characters, not to mention the audience, nightmares. The tentacles along his neck that constantly slither and pulsate, the fact that he always looks slimy, and let’s not overlook his giant claw hand *shudders*. 

But perhaps one of the most prominent characteristics of Vecna is his spooky, milky eyes. 

The milky, blue-tinted eyes are a recurring theme throughout season four. Whenever victims become entranced or possessed by Vecna, their eyes form a milky glaze, until they meet their demise as Vecna plucks their eyeballs out. 

Also, when Vecna’s victims hallucinate — an early indicator they’ve been targeted by Vecna — the people in their hallucinations have milky eyes. 

While it’s not totally clear why the Duffer Brothers envisioned Vecna and his victims with these creepy stares, there is a potential medical explanation.

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Vecna’s cataracts

Based on his appearance, Vecna’s milky eyes resemble eyes affected by cataracts. While cataracts are extremely common, especially in older adults, they rarely develop quickly as they did for Vecna. 

We know the cataract appeared rapidly because his eyes didn’t always look that way. Before he was king of the Upside Down, Vecna was Henry Creel. When the audience is first introduced to Henry, both of his eyes are clear blue and bright. (But still creepy, right? Anyone else as creeped out by Henry as they were by Vecna?)

It isn’t until after the showdown between Henry and Eleven, during which she pulverizes him into fiery confetti and banishes him to the Upside Down, that his eyes become clouded by cataracts. 

At one point in the final episode of season four, as Vecna tells the story of how he turned the Upside Down into his lair, we see him walking around with burns over half his body and one eye clouded by a cataract. 

It’s entirely possible that the Duffer Brothers just thought eyes with cataracts would add an extra level of eeriness. But there’s actually an explanation for what could have caused Vecna’s cataracts.

They’re called traumatic cataracts. Traumatic cataracts occur when the eye’s lens becomes cloudy after an eye injury. They can happen at any age and may develop immediately after the injury occurs. Sometimes they even appear years later.