Billy Hargrove

Personality

Billy initially comes across as a classic "bad boy" type but with more sinister, violent undertones. He portrays himself as charming, irresistible, and the new King of Hawkins High with a "devil may care" attitude. Hes nice but hes a bitchhh

Traits

However due to the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, he has a violent and unpredictable nature. Much like how Neil Hargrove treats his son, Billy reveals his violence only to those closest to him, especially those he's more likely to win in a fight against. He acts antagonistic to Steve and sees him as a rival to overcome. He quickly falls into homicidal outbursts of violence, nearly running over Lucas Sinclair, Mike Wheeler, and Dustin Henderson out of sheer annoyance with Max and later almost beating Steve to death. Billy is shown to be a misogynist who has no respect for women, calling them "cows" and "bitches". Some of his actions and words had racist undertones; after Billy saw Max interact with Lucas, he demanded that she stay away from "certain types of people"; he later threatened and physically attacked Lucas (but not Mike or Dustin) just for standing near Max. Billy drives a blue Camaro and is a drinking-game pro, immediately becoming keg king in Hawkins. Despite being popular at school, Billy is never shown having any meaningful connection with another person. Billy had a dysfunctional relationship with his abusive father, Neil Hargrove, who physically abused his mother to the point that she left Billy with Neil. Neil then took out his violent tendencies onto his son, as well as calling him a "faggot". Susan was a horrified witness to this abuse, but made no move to protect Billy (other than one verbal comment). Billy did have a few humanizing moments. When the Mind Flayer tried to force him to kill Karen Wheeler, he instead warned her to stay away from him. He later broke down into tears of remorse in the sauna for what the Mind Flayer forced him to do. He also shed a tear when talking to Eleven about the Mind Flayer’s plans to end humanity. But in 1985, when Eleven enters Billy's mind to find out the location of The Mind Flayer it is seen that when he was younger, he was a friendly and happy child. He only became violent after his mother left; when she divorced his father, starting to reflect the abuse his father dealt out onto him from a young age. Despite having been abandoned by his mother to endure Neil's abuse, he still deeply loves her and desperately misses her, and the strength of that emotion is enough for him to overcome the Mind Flayer's thrall and eventually save the Party.

Born

March 29, 1967

Residence

California (1967 – 1984) Hawkins, Indiana (1984 – 1985)

Height

5'10" (178cm)

Eye Color

Blue

Hair Color

Dirty blond

Powers

Billy gained inhuman powers after becoming one of the Mind Flayer's Flayed. Though most of these are typical powers gained from being a flayed, he is shown to possess higher powers then most other flayed seen in the show, becoming a sort of "general" for the Flayed.

Powers/Abilities

Hive Mind: As one of the Flayed, Billy was connected to a hive mind where he was able to communicate to and share the pain of other Flayed. Enhanced Strength: After being activated by the Mind Flayer, Billy was able to bust out of the sauna room that he was trapped in with pure force. He was also able to temporarily resist Eleven's telekinesis and throw a heavy weighted barbell at her with ease. It's possible this allowed him to hold his own against the Monster's tentacles temporarily. Additionally, Billy was able to effortlessly lift Eleven off the ground. Enhanced Durability: Another ability he had gained after becoming one of the Flayed was that he was able to take hits and blows that a normal human would not be able to. He was able to recover from getting hit in the head with a metal barbell in seconds and was able to escape even after being thrown through a brick wall with considerable force, caused by Eleven. Perception: While being controlled by the hive mind, Billy was able to sense Eleven's presence while she was using her mental remote viewing ability. This is something that most other Flayed in the series hasn't shown, suggesting that he may be the only Flayed that possesses this ability.

Trivia

Will and Billy are the only main characters to share the same first name, though they both use different forms of abbreviations. For the third season, Dacre adopted a "beefier" physique for the role; instead of a lean, cut figure, he put on additional muscle to fit in with the season's time period and Billy's job position as a lifeguard. Billy's car has a Californian license plate that says "PCE 235." In regards to Billy's treatment of Lucas being racist, actors Dacre Montgomery and Caleb McLaughlin initially stated that they believed Billy's hatred of Lucas had more to due with Max wanting to spend time with boys rather than being racially motivated. The pair eventually would change their minds and agree with the Duffer Brothers' original intention, with Billy being racist and was meant to represent how an interracial couple would face challenges during the time period, even if Billy's prejudice stemmed from his father. It has been stated Billy was originally going to call Lucas a racist slur, but Dacre refused to use it, and thus it was ultimately removed. Billy was the second character to drop the F-bomb; though Will dropped it in "The Case of the Missing Lifeguard", the subtitles didn't pick it up. For Billy, it was featured in "The Sauna Test", with Billy saying, "I'll fucking gut you!". Billy was the third teenager to die in Stranger Things; the first being Barbara Holland and the second being Heather Holloway. In the trailer for the fourth season, the name upon the character’s tombstone alternated between “Billy” and the more formal “William” - which inadvertently led to fan theories regarding alternate timelines and universes. Ultimately, Sadie Sink confirmed that the inconsistency was simply a production error.[12] It was fixed by the release of the season. In "Dear Billy", actor Dacre Montgomery was unable to travel to film remotely due to the restrictions of the covid pandemic in Australia, so his scene in Max's vision was filmed remotely via an Internet connection and merged with Sadie Sink's performance in post-production. When asked what song would wake Billy if he was possessed by Vecna, Dacre Montgomery speculated that it would be "anything by Jimi Hendrix."[13] On October 25, 2017, streaming music service Spotify created playlists based on main characters, coinciding with the premiere of Season Two. Billy's playlist is Billy's Pedal to the Metal, described as "80s hair metal and aggro rock paired best with after-school beatdowns, road rage, and mullets." Like Will Byers, season 3 is the only season where he appears in every episode. However, he only appeared in a flashback for one episode.