The Hellfire Club of Stranger Things: Eddie's D&D club, its members, and its witch hunt
Universe · Season 4 · The D&D club
The Hellfire Club is the Dungeons & Dragons club of Hawkins High, presided over by Eddie Munson: a band of outsiders in black T-shirts who play in a classroom at night, and whom the town, in March 1986, takes for a satanic cult. Here are its members, its last campaign, and why its name became a symbol.
The essentials
- President: Eddie Munson, “Dungeon Master”
- Known members: Dustin, Mike, Erica (“Lady Applejack”), Gareth, Jeff
- The campaign: “Vecna's Curse”, the night of Chrissy's death
- The name: borrowed from a real D&D club… and an old English secret society
Contents
A D&D club in a 1986 high school
When Mike, Dustin and Lucas enter high school, they look for a place to keep playing Dungeons & Dragons. The Hellfire Club is there, with its president: Eddie Munson, a repeater, a guitarist, an occasional dealer, who rules the table like a tribe chief. The club meets in a classroom, plays campaigns that last weeks, and makes it a duty to provoke the jocks in the cafeteria.
Lucas picks the basketball team, which creates Season 4's first split: on championship night, he is not at the table. His sister Erica takes his place, as Lady Applejack, and saves the campaign.
The club T-shirt, the real one, black with white sleeves.
In the shopMen's long-sleeve Hellfire Club T-shirt47,90 €See the product
The members, one by one
| Member | Role | What he becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Eddie Munson | President and Dungeon Master | Accused of Chrissy's murder, dead in the Upside Down |
| Dustin Henderson | Most invested player | The closest to Eddie until the end |
| Mike Wheeler | Player, former Dungeon Master of the group | Is on vacation at Eleven's, far from the crisis |
| Erica Sinclair | Lady Applejack, last-minute recruit | Kills Vecna... in the campaign |
| Gareth and Jeff | Eddie's "sheep," founding members | Defend Eddie when the town hunts him |
Lady ApplejackErica's character, a level-14 “chaotic good” rogue, lands the killing blow on Vecna in the March 21, 1986 campaign. An irony the show underlines: at the table, the monster dies the same night he starts killing for real.
The witch hunt: when the town turns
Chrissy Cunningham dies in Eddie's trailer, on the night of March 21, 1986, in a way no human can explain. Eddie runs, and Jason Carver, Chrissy's boyfriend, the basketball captain, raises a militia to find him. In front of the town council, he accuses the Hellfire Club of being a satanic cult and its role-playing game of being a ritual.
The show reproduces a real episode in American history: the “Satanic Panic” of the 80s, when parents, journalists, and pastors accused Dungeons & Dragons of pushing teenagers to suicide and the occult. The Hellfire Club becomes the scapegoat of a town that does not understand what is hitting it.
Where the name “Hellfire Club” comes from
Hellfire Clubs were, in the eighteenth century, secret societies of the British and Irish upper class, known for their orgies and their parodies of religious rituals. The name was taken up by the X-Men comics for a circle of wealthy enemies. For a 1986 D&D club, naming itself that way is an adolescent provocation perfectly in Eddie's spirit.
The logo, a horned demon holding a mace and dice, was drawn for the show. The black T-shirt with white sleeves that bears it became, as soon as Season 4 came out, the most copied object in the whole show.
What is left of the club
Eddie dies in the Upside Down, killed by the demobats, believing at last he is no longer fleeing. Hawkins keeps taking him for a murderer. Dustin goes to find his uncle Wayne to tell him the truth: Eddie died a hero. The club, for its part, survives in its way: Dustin wears the T-shirt in season 5, and the game continues, with one dungeon master fewer.
The Eddie figure, Dungeon Master.
In the shopLego Dustin Hellfire Club mini figure14,90 €See the product
The T-shirt, from the cafeteria to 1989
The club's black T-shirt with white sleeves, with its horned demon, became the most copied object on the show as soon as Season 4 came out. In the story, it has a history of its own. Eddie wears it in the cafeteria, needling the basketball team; Dustin, Mike, and Erica wear it at the table on March 21, 1986. In 1987, Dustin still wears it, alone, in tribute to Eddie, and is harassed for it at high school from the first episode of Season 5.
In spring 1989, in the epilogue, Dustin is valedictorian and pays tribute to Eddie in his graduation speech. The T-shirt, which the town took for a cult uniform, has become the flag of those who knew the truth. Few objects in the show have changed meaning so much in three years of fiction.
The March 21, 1986 campaign, in detail
The club's last campaign is called “Vecna's Curse,” and it has been running for weeks when the season starts. On championship-game night, Lucas absent, Erica takes his place under the name Lady Applejack, a level 14 thief, chaotic good. Eddie, the Dungeon Master, throws the wizard Vecna onto the table, a lich from the game; the group hesitates between fleeing and attacking, and it is Erica who rolls the decisive die: a natural 20, and Vecna dies.
The irony is built in: the monster dies on the board the same night that, in Eddie's trailer, Chrissy Cunningham becomes Vecna's first real victim. Nancy, Robin, Dustin, Max, and Steve will then give the killer the name the club had chosen for its game, the way the 1983 group had named the Demogorgon.
What becomes of the members
| Member | In 1987 | In spring 1989 |
|---|---|---|
| Dustin | Bullied for his T-shirt, in mourning, fallen out then reconciled with Steve | Valedictorian, a speech for Eddie, a full-time student |
| Mike | Become the leader of the party again, he leads the crawls and apologizes to Will | He writes the group's adventures and watches Holly launch her campaign |
| Erica | The Turnbow-trap pie, the tunnels, the opening of the base with Mr. Clarke | At the table of the last game |
| Lucas | At Max's bedside, then the antenna idea | At the movies with Max, at last |
| Gareth and Jeff | Absent from the story | Absent |
| Eddie | Dead since March 1986; his grave is defiled, his uncle Wayne keeps watch | Named in front of the whole high school by Dustin |
The whole Hellfire Club is in the shop, dice included.
In the shop44 mm Hellfire Club Fireball pin9,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
What is the Hellfire Club in Stranger Things?
The Dungeons & Dragons club of Hawkins High, presided over by Eddie Munson in Season 4. Dustin, Mike, then Erica are part of it.
Why is the Hellfire Club accused?
Because Chrissy Cunningham dies in Eddie's trailer, her president, and Jason Carver convinces the town that the club practices satanic rituals.
Who is Lady Applejack?
The Erica Sinclair character in the “Vecna's Curse” campaign: a level 14 thief who deals the final blow to the monster, on the board.
Does the Hellfire Club really exist?
The name comes from eighteenth-century English secret societies, taken up by the X-Men comics. The Hawkins club is fictional.
What does Erica throw to kill Vecna at the table?
A natural 20, the best possible result on a twenty-sided die, which gives the fatal blow to Vecna in the "Curse of Vecna" campaign.
Why does Dustin still wear the T-shirt in 1987?
In tribute to Eddie, dead in the Upside Down in March 1986 and still held as a murderer by the town. He is bullied for it from the first episode of season 5.