Dart Has A Unique Origin Story On 'Stranger Things'

Warning: Episode 4 spoilers ahead! As to be expected, Season 2 of Stranger Things introduced a couple of new monsters, or otherworldly creatures, that may each have different motives. Will’s visions have shown him the mysterious Shadow Monster multiple times and it’s clear that it’s going to be the big bad of this season. But he’s also interacted with Dustin’s new pet monster D’Artargen, or Dart, for short. So is Dart from the Upside Down on Stranger Things? That’s the only thing that could explain the mysterious creature.

While viewers didn’t see Dart come out of the Upside Down directly, or through a glitch in a wall or tree in the woods, what else could explain Dart’s existence? Will said himself that he remembers seeing Dart before, only when it came out of his mouth at the end of Season 1, it didn’t have a tail.

It seems to have grown and evolved since Will last saw it, but since it came out of Will and he was in the Upside Down for so long, that seems to be the root of Dart's origins. Episode 4 also revealed that, thanks to Dart’s fast growth rate, he’s also starting to acquire a taste for food other than 3 Musketeer bars. Like, you know, flesh and blood, which in this case means Dustin’s cat (R.I.P. Mew).

But upon Dustin’s discovery of Dart’s mouth burrowing into his cat, Dart looked up, hissed, and essentially opened his face to reveal his uncanny resemblance to the Demogorgon of Season 1. And, as we all know, the Demogorgon came from the Upside Down, so it stands to reason that that’s where Dart is from as well, even if he wasn’t a full grown monster when he left through Will’s body.

As of now, though, it’s difficult to say if Dart will repeat the destruction its fellow Demogorgon caused throughout Season 1. When it was small and Dustin took it in, it was fairly neutral in temperament and didn’t attack at the time. In fact, once it got big enough to bust out of Dustin’s fish tank, it didn’t go for his mom, but instead the house cat, which could mean that even if Dart is from the Upside Down, his intentions aren’t nearly as horrifying as those of the Demogorgon of Stranger Things Season 1.

Since Dart is obviously a young Demogorgon or, at the very least, similar to one from the Upside Down, it makes you wonder if it’s presence isn’t also somehow linked to the Shadow Monster and the underground tunnel of rot that’s spreading through Hawkins.

Both events are happening simultaneously and Will is the common denominator here. He’s the one who was actually in the Upside Down and has lived to tell about it. This might all just be poor timing, but Dart growing into a full-sized Demogorgon while the Shadow Monster looms ahead in the near future could have something to do with each other.

Since there’s little that’s known yet about the Shadow Monster, it’s not really clear as to how the two monsters could be connected to one another. But as Will has seen, something bad is looming on the horizon for the people of Hawkins. And now that we all know what Dart truly is, it could very well mean new trouble for our favorite group of kids as Will’s visions continue to become more of a reality.

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