Stranger Things Just Revealed Eddie Munson's Tragic Past (Be Prepared To Cry)

"Stranger Things" Season 4 took the world by storm when it arrived on Netflix in May 2022, dominating social media and pop culture as a whole for months on end. One of the standout elements of the season proved to be series newcomer Eddie Munson, portrayed by actor Joseph Quinn. The guitar-strumming, Dungeons & Dragons-playing Hawkins High School student joins the fray when his friend, Chrissy Cunningham (Grace Van Dien), is mysteriously killed right in front of him. He makes it his mission to understand and defeat whatever supernatural forces took her life — even if it means sacrificing his.

Between the death of Chrissy, his status as a social outcast, and his upsetting demise, Eddie is undoubtedly a tragic character. Unfortunately, his life before his "Stranger Things" introduction wasn't much happier. The upcoming book "Stranger Things: Flight of Icarus" by Caitlin Schneiderhan reveals that his love of music came from his mother. Throughout his childhood, she shared with him all of her favorite records as his father, Al, taught him how to play guitar. He describes music as a way to explore new worlds and go on incredible adventures, and he owes that experience to her. Sadly, Eddie's mother died of an unspecified illness when he was just 6 years old.

As if that information isn't enough to get you teary-eyed, in "Flight of Icarus," Eddie also unintentionally foreshadows his demise while talking about his upbringing and his connection to music.

After joining forces with the heroes of "Stranger Things," Eddie Munson learns the truth of Chrissy Cunningham's death. An evil creature known as Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) is responsible and seeks to continue its grand plan of destroying humanity. Thus, the team launches an attack on Vecna's lair in the Upside Down, with Eddie distracting the entity's horde of Demobats. He does so by embracing his love of heavy metal and playing an epic rendition of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" before giving up his life to protect his friends. 

Little did he realize, during the events of "Stranger Things: Flight of Icarus," he foreshadowed this exact moment. When Eddie recalls his childhood, he's doing so to a record producer named Paige, who has decided to give his band, Corroded Coffin, a shot at the big time. "This music takes you on an adventure, to another world where you're, like, facing down demons. Traveling into the depths of Hell," he tells her, unaware that in the very near future, he'll enter a hellish dimension and bravely use the musical passion his mother instilled in him years before to save the day.

Given his apparent death, it stands to reason the tragic yet heroic Eddie Munson will be absent from "Stranger Things" Season 5. We'll have to see how the show's living characters honor his noble sacrifice.