Editor’s Note: Warning, this list contains spoilers
With “Stranger Things” finishing up its 10th year of filming with the fifth and final season, fans were sad to say goodbye to the characters many watched grow up.
Let’s bring the “Stranger Things” cast to campus and see which locations at NIU embody the characters.
Founders Memorial Library
Dustin Henderson
Dustin is one of the original four main characters, throughout the series he is often shown with his nose in a book, whether it’s for a science class at Hawkins Middle School or to uncover an innovative solution to defeat the terrors of the Upside Down.
By the end of the series, Mike compares Dustin to a bard, a “Dungeons and Dragons” character known to be knowledgeable and resourceful. Dustin mirrored these traits repeatedly when he figured out that the upside down functions like a wormhole, understood the evolution of the Demogorgon, and uncovered theories about the third dimension “X” or the Abyss in Season 5.
Just like the party relies on Dustin for answers, Huskies rely on the library for access to more than 2.3 million volumes of books and journals as well as countless academic resources.
East Lagoon
Eleven
Throughout the series Eleven finds new depths to her telekinetic and psychic powers. She often saves the day by “finding” people in dream-like states where she can see their surroundings.
Often, to access these dreams Eleven must float in a body of water, and what better body of water to choose than the East Lagoon where Eleven could have seven acres of water to float on. Although, it might be hard to focus with all the geese honking.
If Eleven was to choose a spot on campus, chances are that she would pick the East Lagoon which was built in 1907 by Gardener Frank K. Balthis and landscape architect Walter Burley Griffin.
Holmes Student Center
Vecna
Vecna manipulates minds and seeks to control people to gain more power. By Season 5 Vecna has connected the Mindflayer, Demogorgons, various people and tunnels to a hive mind to broaden his terror.
To collect his victims, Vecna sends out Demogorgons to bring them back to him. Similarly the Huskie Bus will go to and from the Holmes Student Center bringing new students in.
Vecna’s domain is filled with twisted tunnels and other dimensions, similarly the HSC can feel like a long twisted corridor on a late night, where study rooms, restaurants and offices can be found in every direction.
With so much variety and the Huskie Buses on hand Vecna would eagerly call the HSC his own.
Gabel Hall
Steve Harrington
At the beginning of the series Steve is a stereotypical 80s jock who is immature and cocky. Fans can cringe at the memory of Steve jealousy breaking Jonathan’s camera back in Season 1.
But this all subverts to Steve’s redemption when he decides to stay and help Jonathan and Nancy fight a Demogorgon. When he has to spend more time with the young main characters he slowly molds into a relatable and empathetic babysitter.
As Steve chose to stay in Hawkins and coach a baseball team, the NIU location to embody his affinity for childcare and education is Gabel Hall, where the Child Development and Family Center can be found.
Visual Art Building
Will Byers
Within the different chapters of the show Will struggles to communicate everything he’s seeing and feeling as someone connected to the main villain of the series, Vecna and the hive mind, who are using him as a spy to capture his friends.
In Season 2 Will is being haunted by the Mind Flayer, which shows him various visions or “now memories” of the Flayers agendas, spreading underground vine-like tunnels underneath Hawkins.
In a nerve-racking attempt to communicate this to the others Will is able to frantically draw what he sees. What initially are chaotic scribbles become a map that helps the party save Jim Hopper. Art is a recurring way for Will to break away from the monsters taking over his mind, therefore, Jack Arends Hall or the Visual Arts Building naturally embodies Will.
Wirtz Hall
Murray Bauman
Murray was initially hired by the Holland family to investigate Barbara Holland’s mysterious death and uncovers a lot of what the party, Joyce and Hopper have already been battling.
Murray comes back to the plot when Nancy and Jonathan seek him out to help them expose Hawkin’s Lab for Barbara’s death. While at his home Murray can sense some tension between the two and insists that they share a bed that night, suggesting it to “water down” their story, which led to Jonathan and Nancy sleeping together that night.
Murray later pulled similar tricks in Season 3 when he tells Joyce and Hopper to “get it on,” speeding up the long awaited union of the two parents.
Because of Murray’s knack for setting couples up, Wirtz Hall’s Family Family and Relationships Counseling office is surely a place where Murray can shine.
University Police and Public Safety
Jim Hopper
After Joyce Byers reports Will missing, Chief Jim Hopper is one of the only people helping her and taking the situation seriously. This happens time again, like when the Demogorgons are traveling through the farms of Hawkins and ruining the crops, no one takes the issue seriously except for Hopper.
The NIU Police Department is connected to student life through different initiatives like the Ride Along Program and training sessions for CPR and A.L.I.C.E. certifications.
With how involved Hopper is in his work, it’s hard not to imagine him going far at NIU’s campus police department.
Peters Campus Life Building
Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers
In Season 3 Nancy and Jonathan work at The Hawkins Post. Here Nancy is a struggling intern and Jonathan works as a photographer.
Even before their pursuit of professional journalism, Nancy and Jonathan had been solving the mysteries of Hawkins for a few years.
With so much experience in reporting, these two would be sure to find the scoop in DeKalb, all from the Peters Campus Life Building, where the Northern Star’s office can be found.
