Billy Hargrove

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Base Breaking Character
Full Name	William Hargrove
Alias	Billy Hargrove Mr. Hargrove
Origin	Stranger Things
Powers/Skills	Brute Strength Fighting Skills Charisma Intimidation Hive mind powers: Superhuman Strength Superhuman Speed Superhuman Durability
Family	Max Mayfield (stepsister) Neil Hargrove (father) Susan Hargrove (stepmother) Unnamed mother
Allies	The Mind Flayer (formerly) Heather Holloway (turned by the Mind flayer)
Enemies	Max Mayfield Lucas Sinclair Mike Wheeler Steve Harrington Dustin Henderson Eleven
Goals	Control and abuse Max (succeeded then failed) Harass Steve Harrington and replace him as the new popular boy in school Drive Lucas out of Max's life (all failed) Help Eleven kill the Mind Flayer in order to free himself from it's control (succeeded)
Why Do Some People Hate The Character?	Many people find his backstory as a random excuse for his horrendous actions in season 2 including his abuse towards Max and racism towards Lucas. Almost killing the Party and Steve. Being a racist bully.
Why Do Some People Love The Character?	Fans find his backstory sympathetic and felt his father is to blame for Billy's behavior. He redeems himself at the end of season 3 while aplogizing to his sister for his actions.
Type of Base Breaking Character	Derailed Bully

“	This is serious s--t, okay? I'm older than you. And something you learn is that there's a certain type of people in this world, that you stay away from. And that kid Max - that kid is one of them. You stay away from that kid you hear? Stay away.	„
	~ Billy telling Max to stay away from Lucas.

Billy Hargrove is one of the major antagonist of the Stranger Things series. He marks his first apperance in season 2 where is introduce as an aggressive bully, who is very abusive towards his stepsister, Max Mayfield. Billy was raised by his abusive father Neil, who tormented his son for many years and also abusive to Billy's mother. Like some abuse victims, he started to imitate Neil's traits including his racism and homophobia.

In season 3, he gains a more significant role, where he is controlled by the Mind Flayer and force to obey it's commands. Billy starts taking people to the being so it can force it's will on them. While all of this is going on Billy struggles on getting the control of his own mind and ask for help from Max in one moment. Later on, he dies by sacrificing himself to help the main characters kill the Mind Flayer for good.

Billy is played by Darce Montgomery.

What Makes Him a Base Breaking Character?

What Do People Like About Him?

• Throughout season 2, he was seen as a good threatening bully, who is hateable due to his hostile and aggressive behavior to the main characters like Steve and Lucas. They felt he served as a good human villain when compared to others, where some are just monsters from the Upside Down.
• Billy has a tragic backstory of being a victim of his father's abuse. His mother divorce his father and was left all alone with him, which lead to years of physical and psychological torment from Neil. Due to the abuse, Billy became a product of Neil's toxic behavior.
• His sacrifice for the group is seen as a form of redemption and his apology towards Max shows that he is capable of change and regretting for what he put her through. In this way, the scene reveals that he does care about her.
• He did spare Mrs. Wheeler by not choosing her as a sacrifice to the Mind Flayer and did not pursue on having a relationship with her.

What Do People Hate About Him?

• Many fans deeply hate Billy for his abusive treatment towards Max and his horrible actions like harassing Steve and consistently antagonizing him in order to earn popularity in the school, later on almost killing him in a brutal fight as Steve was trying to protect Lucas. It doesn't help that he was willing to run over Max's friends as a way to force her to admit he was in the right during one of their arguments they were having.
• His backstory is seen as a poor excuse for his horrible actions towards everyone. Detractors and fans alike feel that no matter how tragic Billy is, nothing will ever excuse what he put people through.
• Despite the debated scene, Billy telling Max to stay away from people like Lucas holds very racist undertones in the way he said it. He eventually targeted Lucas specifically at the Byers house, shoving him against a wall and trying to beat him before Steve intervened. This gave off the vibe that Billy is a racist and did not want Lucas to be in Max's life, which shows his controlling behavior towards her. In spite of this debate, the Duffer Brothers and Caleb McLaughlin, Lucas's actor, confirmed that Billy is a racist.
  • Besides his racism, Billy is revealed to be a misogynist as he has a low opinion on women and views the high school girls as cows.
• Many of his detractors don't view Billy's sacrifice as a redeeming factor towards his character, arguing that he was just resisting the Mind Flayer's control over him. To make matters worse, Billy's apology towards Max is deeply viewed as out of character and absurd due his unapologetic abuse towards her. It got to that point where Max mention that a piece of her wished death on him, which shows how bad the abuse was.
• The fact he tried to hit on Mrs. Wheeler made his detractors very uncomfortable due to Mrs. Wheeler being married (something Billy was fully aware of and didn’t care about), and Billy is the same age as Nancy, Mrs. Wheeler’s oldest daughter.

External Links

• Billy Hargrove on the Villains Wiki
• Billy Hargrove on the Villainous Benchmark Wiki
• Billy Hargrove on the Stranger Things Wiki