Fred and Patrick in Stranger Things: Vecna's two other victims, and what haunted them
Characters · Fred and Patrick · Season 4
After Chrissy, Vecna killed two other teenagers in 1986: Fred Benson, Nancy's classmate at the high school paper, and Patrick McKinney, teammate of Jason and Lucas. Each carried a fault, and each opened a gate. Here is who they were, what haunted them, and why Vecna chose them.
The essentials
- Fred Benson: high-school journalist, haunted by a car accident
- Patrick McKinney: basketball player, haunted by a violent father
- Their deaths: Fred on the road, Patrick on Lover's Lake
- What they open: the second and third gates
Contents
Fred Benson
Fred Benson works with Nancy at the high school paper, in glasses, a little in love with her, and agrees to go investigate the trailer park with her after Chrissy's death. On site, he sees a cop ask him why he looks so nervous, and the clock starts. His secret: a car accident the previous year, where he killed a man and fled, without anyone knowing. Vecna knows.
Fred dies on the road, near the trailer park, in a trance, haunted by the man he killed. It is the second death, and the second gate.
The Vecna T-shirt, their tormentor.
In the shopStranger Kittens tank top36,90 €See the product
Patrick McKinney
Patrick McKinney plays on the basketball team, with Jason and Lucas, and follows Jason in his hunt for Eddie. At Lover's Lake, the night the militia hunts Eddie hidden in a cabin, Patrick bleeds from the nose, hears the clock, and freezes. He rises above the water, in front of Jason, limbs broken, before falling back dead. His secret, which the show only hints at: a violent father, bruises hidden under the jersey.
His death convinces Jason that Eddie has powers, and opens the third gate, at the bottom of the lake.
| Victim | What haunted him | Place of death | Gate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chrissy Cunningham | Her mother, her eating disorder | Eddie's trailer | Premiere |
| Fred Benson | A car accident, a man killed, the flight | The road near the trailer park | Second |
| Patrick McKinney | A violent father | Lovers' Lake | Third |
| Max Mayfield | Billy's death | the Creel house | Fourth; she survives |
Why them
Vecna chooses his victims by their pain: a hidden fault, a wound nobody sees. Chrissy had stopped eating, Fred had killed a man, Patrick had a violent father, Max felt guilty for Billy's death. He tells them he is going to free them, and he breaks them. The show makes it a discourse on what teenagers carry in silence, and on what happens when someone guesses it.
The four gatesEach death opens a gate at the exact spot where the victim fell: the trailer, the road, the lake, and the Creel house. It takes four for the town to open; Max's death, even of a few seconds, is the last.
The actors
Fred is played by Logan Riley Bruner, Patrick by Myles Truitt, two young American actors for whom these are the first major roles. Like Grace Van Dien for Chrissy, they have only a few scenes, but scenes every fan cites: the road and the lake are, with the trailer, the three places of the curse.
Why they matter
Because season 4 needed victims with human faces to make Vecna a killer, and because their deaths build the season's plan: four gates, a town cut in two. Fred and Patrick are not extras: they are the foundations of the rift.
The Vecna figure, hand outstretched.
In the shopLego Vecna mini figure and his vines14,90 €See the product
The four deaths of the curse, compared
| Victim | What haunted her | Where she dies | What it opens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chrissy Cunningham | Her mother, her eating disorder | Eddie's trailer, March 21, 1986 | The first gate |
| Fred Benson | A fatal car accident he fled | The road near the trailer park | The second gate |
| Patrick McKinney | A violent father | Above Lover's Lake, in front of Jason | The third gate, underwater |
| Max Mayfield | Billy's death | The cemetery, then the Creel house | The fourth, which splits Hawkins in two |
Fred, minute by minute
Fred Benson is the editor of the high-school paper, Nancy's colleague at the Hawkins Tiger, a nervous boy with round glasses. The day after Chrissy's death, he goes with Nancy to the trailer park to investigate. A cop recognizes him: Fred had an accident a few months earlier, a car, a dead man, and he fled. The guilt he hides is exactly what Vecna feeds on.
His visions start in front of the cop: the blood on his face, the word "murderer" written everywhere, the accident victim calling him. He walks away, follows a voice on the road, and Nancy finds him too late. His death is the only one of the curse that we see almost from the outside, through the headlights of a passing car.
Patrick, and why his death changes everything
Patrick McKinney is one of the players on Jason's basketball team, the one who doubts the hunt for Eddie the most. His headaches and nosebleeds start during the chase. On the lake, the night the team surrounds Reefer Rick's cabin, he rises above the water in front of Jason, Lucas and the others, and dies like Chrissy and Fred.
His death has two consequences. It convinces Jason that Eddie, present on the shore, is a sorcerer, and turns the hunt into a crusade. And it opens a gate under the lake, the one Steve, Nancy, Robin and Eddie discover by diving in episode 6, and through which Steve is sucked into the Upside Down. Patrick barely speaks in the season, and his death is nevertheless the one that moves the whole plot.
The rifts in three places
-
The trailer
Chrissy's, in the trailer park, becomes the teenagers' gate to the Upside Down.
-
The road
Fred's, near the park, lined up with the first.
-
The lake
Patrick's, underwater, through which Steve is sucked.
Four aligned gates were to meet: that is what Nancy understands by reading the map, and what the 1986 finale accomplishes.
The Season 4 poster.
In the shopSilver LED-eye Vecna mask34,90 €See the product
TakeawayFred: the high-school journalist, the hidden accident, the road. Patrick: the basketball player, the violent father, the lake. Each death opens a gate; it takes four. Played by Logan Riley Bruner and Myles Truitt.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Fred in Stranger Things?
Fred Benson, Nancy's colleague on the high-school paper, Vecna's second victim, haunted by a car accident in which he killed a man and fled.
Who is Patrick in Stranger Things?
Patrick McKinney, basketball player with Jason and Lucas, Vecna's third victim, haunted by a violent father, dead at Lover's Lake.
Why Vecna chooses his victims
Through their hidden pain: a fault, a wound, a guilt. He promises to free them and breaks them.
Who play Fred and Patrick?
Logan Riley Bruner and Myles Truitt.
Why does Fred feel guilty?
Because he had, a few months before season 4, a fatal car accident he fled. A cop recognizes him at the trailer park, and the visions begin.
What does Patrick's death cause?
She convinces Jason that Eddie is a wizard, and she opens a gate under Lover's Lake, through which Steve is sucked into the Upside Down.
Did Fred know Chrissy?
They were in the same high school, but the show never has them cross paths. Fred looks into Chrissy's death with Nancy the next day, and dies that same night.
Was Patrick friends with Lucas?
Teammate rather than friend: Patrick is one of Jason's players, and the most reluctant about the hunt for Eddie. Lucas witnesses his death on the lake.