The 5 Greatest Stranger Things Characters

Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 is only a few days away, but that does not mean that I can’t prematurely create a list of the 5 greatest Stranger Things characters. Sure, how Volume 2 ends and the new characters introduced in Season 5 will somehow or another change my list. But, I’m going to do it anyway.

These are, in my opinion, the 5 greatest Stranger Things characters of all time:

Honorable Mention: Mike Wheeler

Stranger Things 4
(Netflix-Stranger Things 4-Official Trailer)

Before Season 4, Mike Wheeler would have been in the Top-5. He’s been one of the stars and main protagonist of the shows since Season 1, being the “defacto” leader of the Wheeler Basement D&D party. What puts him on this list is the bravery, honesty, compassion, and loyalty he showed in those beginning seasons.

He was the first one accepting of Eleven, as Lucas deemed her weird and latter a traitor, while Dustin initially saw her more as a lab experiment than a human. Naturally, it only made sense that viewers gravitated to his character as Eleven also did. Plus, Eleven and Mike’s developing/evolving romance was one of the best aspect Season 3 as both characters were able to put aside their petty disagreements with another for the sake of their relationship.

But the first reason why he dropped out of the Top-5 was because of the of a lack of said character growth. He is relegated to a secondary character in Season 4, tagging along with Will, Jonathan, and Argyle as they try to rescue Eleven. I’m 100% positive he will have a lot more to in Volume 2, so he’ll probably wind back up in the Top-5

That is, if he is not killed off as I predicated here.

Anyway, the second reason why Mike dropped out of the list was that this character’s growth in Season 4 was just too good to not include…

#5: Max Mayfield

Mad Max has undergone a renaissance in Season 4, adding to the growing number of reasons as to why she deserves to be higher on this list. Max Mayfield was the best addition to the cast from Season 2, as her story of overcoming an abusive brother, fitting in with the D&D party, and proving her worth when her, Steve, Dustin, and Lucas fought the Mind Flayer’s “Demodogs” was brilliant.

She would have been the “Honorable Mention” if it was not for this season. Season 4 easily put her on a Top-3 protectory. Coming into Season 4, Max was a free-going, bold, willful girl that would put aside the risks of consequence (aggravating her abusive brother) to help her friends in whatever way she could. Yet, Billy’s death in Season 3 irrevocably changed the Mad Max we once knew.

The Max in Season 4 is a broken, shallow individual, struggling to deal with the PTSD and survivor’s guilt of surviving the Mindflayer’s attack in Season 3 by shutting out her friends and failing school. Now, not every kid has the Mind Flayer killing their brother and attacking their friends, but plenty deal with different, but just as traumatic experiences. And many cope with said experiences in the exact same way Max has done.

By showing her character overcome that horrific memory with the “Running Up That Hill” escape-from-Vecna scene in Episode 4, the writers have given Max one of the greatest character arcs in the show.

Yet, #4 has had just as good of a character arc (in my opinion) that has lasted for a much longer time….

#4: Nancy Wheeler

Stranger Things 4
(Netflix-Stranger Things 4-Volume 2 Trailer)

“Nancy over Max? Really?” I hear some cry out in disbelief. Yes, Nancy has had one of the best character arcs in the entire show. When we originally saw Nancy, she was the typical smart, valedictorian-esque, boy-crazed high school girl that we see in every 80’s movie and TV show. And she was downright annoying at moments in Season 1.

But, that all changed when her best friend, Barbra, went missing. Nancy stopped only focusing on herself and decided to go look for her friend, as she was (partially) responsible for Barbra’s death. Neither Steve Harrington nor his other crony friends bothered themselves to look for Barb, even though they were just as responsible for her fate. And when she stood up for Jonathan and helped him search for Will, in spite of Steve and his friends taunting and bullying them, that was the defining moment of her character.

She stopped wanting to be “cool” and choose to do the right thing, inspiring another (who you will see later on this list) to follow suit. In Season 2, her blooming relationship with Jonathan and her guilt over Barb’s death only further added to Nancy’s amazing character arc.

Finally, portraying Nancy’s sexist struggle within the news media world was only too realistic for many women of the 80’s and now.

Sadly, Nancy has been not featured as prominently in Season 4, but she and Robin did help save Max’s life. Also, I saw her wielding a shotgun in the Upside Down realm in the trailers, so her fighting the Demo-bats and Vecna’s mind warping powers should be awesome to see in Volume 2.

Speaking of awesome…

#3: Jim Hopper

How could I leave Hawkins Chief of Police Jim Hopper off the list? Well, clearly, I couldn’t. He is a great, great character that has not been given enough to do in Season 4 (in my opinion).

Before I get to Season 4, I should talk about his nearly perfect character arc from Seasons 1-3. In Season 1, we see Jim Hopper as a deadbeat, lazy, broken, useless cop that has long been “out of action” as Hawkins Police Chief. Yet, that all changes when Will Byers goes missing.

Hopper is, at first, skeptical that Will has not just runoff. But, as time goes by, we see what really happened to little Will. And so does Hopper. He is the only one to believe Joyce that Will was taken by a monster, and he fights the US government to help bring him back. Season 1 cumulates with Hopper taking Joyce into the Upside Down, finding Will, and rescuing him from the clutches of the Demogorgon.

What makes Hopper such a great character is that we learn he was not a useless, broken man for no reason. We see that he lost his daughter to cancer before the show’s events began, thus leading to his marriage and life being ruined. Yet, he redeems himself for his years of neglect and contempt by saving Will Byers and taking Eleven in as his adoptive daughter.

During Seasons 2 and 3, we see Hopper struggle with being a father to Eleven. He still reverts into his old, neglectful ways time and again, which eventually drives a wedge between father and daughter in Season 2. Luckily, that is resolved by the finale as Hopper promises to change his ways and become a better father to Eleven.

However, in Season 3, we see another wedge being driven between the two. Only this time it is from an existential factor: Growing up. Hopper is uncomfortable with Eleven growing up and no longer wanting to participate in the father-daughter activates they did when she was younger. He attributes this on Mike, Eleven’s boyfriend, and tries to forcefully separate them.

But, as the season progresses, he comes to terms with the fact that he cannot stop Eleven growing older and wanting new things. Sadly, he is unable to share his feelings in person as he was “killed” in Season’s 3 finale, leading to the most emotional moment in all of Stranger Things (Eleven reading Hopper’s “Feeling” letter).

Fortunately for all Hopper fans, he was not actually killed in Season 3 and was only taken prisoner by the Russians. And that has been where his character arc has stalled so far. Hopefully, the Duffer Brothers can come up with an even better conclusion for the great Chief of Police in Volume 2 and Season 5.

#2 should be a surprise for most….

#2: Eleven

Shocking, I know. Eleven only ranking in at #2 on my 5 Greatest Stranger Things Characters List. Yes, I had to put her there, for #1 was just too good. But Eleven fans should not be disappointed. She is the second-best character after all.

Anyway, where to begin for such an amazing character? The beginning, I guess.

Okay, Eleven’s story is the greatest, without a doubt, in all of Stranger Things. No other character has a more compelling, driving story than the once lab runaway, now world-saving “superheroine”. (Yet, there is a character with a better story arc)

Eleven is the undoubted hero of Stranger Things, saving her friends time and again from the monsters of the Upside Down. But that would be grossly understating the character of Eleven. She’s the most loyal, brave, honest, and genuinely kind person on the show, which is strange as she is more experiment than person.

Growing up as one of many experiment children of Doctor Brenner, Eleven really has no reason to be as loyal or brave as she demonstrates whenever her friends are concerned. But she is.

When Mike was forced over the edge of the reservoirs by his bullies in Season 1, Eleven was there to save him.

In Season 2, when Will Byers was ensnared by the Mind Flayer and Hopper, Joyce, and Mike were trapped inside Hawkin’s lab, Eleven closed the gate to save them.

Finally, when the Mind Flayer was trying to kill all her friends and Hawkins’ population in Season 3, El protected them, even as her powers were taken from her as a result.

Yet, what has made given Eleven the second-greatest character arc in the show is her struggle in Lenora High School. Without her powers and being moved away from her friends, she no longer considers herself to be a “superhero” anymore. This fact is only exacerbated as the class bully, Angela, relentlessly humiliating Eleven in front of everyone, destroying any chance of her “fitting in”.

By showing Eleven struggling with the same issues as ordinary girls, the Duffer Brothers have only made Eleven an even more likable and relatable character. Thankfully, she seems to have regained her powers for her showdown with Vecna is Volume 2.

So, who could #1 be….

#1: Steve Harrington

Stranger Things 4
(Netflix-Strangers Things 4-Volume 2 Trailer)

The man, the myth, the legend. Steve Harrington himself is the greatest Stranger Things character of all time. There can be no debate (at least, for me) as to why Steve surpasses Eleven, Hopper, Nancy, and Max to top this list.

He tops this list as he has had one of the greatest redemption arcs in recent television history. In Season 1, we see Steve as the stereotypical “cool kid” of Hawkins. He is arrogant, fearless, irresponsible, selfish, and rude to nearly everyone he deems as “uncool” or “beneath him”. This is easily seen with Steve’s early interactions with the school outcast Jonathan Byers, where he smashes Jonathan’s only camera in front of his face.

However, there was hints of Steve’s true character sprinkled throughout his early moments in the show. Not only is he kind and caring with his girlfriend Nancy, but he is also regretful and remorseful immediately after he smashed Jonathan’s camera.

The true moment when his redemptive arc began was when he caught Jonathan in Nancy’s room after Jonathan saved Nancy from the Demogorgon. With Steve believing Nancy cheated on him with Jonathan, he goes around Hawkins with his cronies, spray-painting malicious lies about Nancy and Jonathan.

Eventually, Nancy and Jonathan catch Steve in the act and confront him, which leads to Jonathan and Steve getting into a fight (more like a beatdown, as Jonthan destroys Steve). Nevertheless, Steve becomes incredible remorseful for the way he treated Nancy and Jonthan and leaves his “friends” to go apologize to them both.

This is Stranger Things, so, of course, the Demogorgon attacks again as Steve is trying to apologize for everything he has done. He redeems himself when he helps Nancy and Jonathan fight off the Demogorgon and temporarily send it back to its world. Now, that would have been a great way to end the arc, but the Duffer Brothers go one step further in Seasons 2-4.

Steve takes on a parental/guardian role as he protects the children throughout the deadliest and daring moments of Seasons 2-4. Completely abandoning his “King of Hawkins High” persona, he befriends Dustin Henderson, a certified “nerd”, to create one of the best friendship dynamics in the show. Plus, he also befriends Robin Buckley, a gay, band club member, while the two were working at Scoops-Ahoy.

The old Steve would have ridiculed and belittled Robin, while the redeemed Steve was opening and acceptive of her, especially after he learned of her true orientation.

That is why Steve is the best character on the show. He changed into a better man when it would have been easier to just stay a jerk and a bully. I just hope that Volume 2 is not the last we see of Steve, though I have a terrible feeling he will go out protecting the kids he has grown to enjoy.

Image Sources: Featured Image: (Netflix) (Stranger Things 4 | Official Trailer | Netflix – YouTube)