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| “ | Maybe I am a mess, maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm out of my mind ! But, God help me, I will keep these lights up until the day I die, if I think there’s a chance that Will's still out there! | „ |
| ~ Joyce Byers, 11 November 1983(Winona Laura Horowitz, 2016) |
Joyce Byers (nee Maldonado) is the tritagonist of the Stranger Things franchise.
She is a divorced single mother, raising her two sons Jonathan and Will in Hawkins, Indiana, before her youngest mysteriously disappears. Despite everyone believing that she was suffering from a mental breakdown, Joyce was determined that she was communicating to her son, and succeeded in rescuing him with the help of Eleven. In season two, Joyce once again is determined to help her son break free from Vecna's influence, and began a relationship with Bob Newby before his death.
In season three, Joyce discovers that another threat to Hawkins has emerge, uncovering the mayor's secret dealing with the Russians in their attempt to reopen the gate. Following the destruction of the Russian's machine, she decides to move to California with her sons and Eleven after Hopper's supposed death.
She is portrayed by Winona Ryder, who also played Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice, Veronica Sawyer in Heathers, Kim Boggs in Edward Scissorhands, Mina Harker in Bram Stoker's Dracula, and voiced Elsa Van Helsing in Frankenweenie.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Joyce was born in the 1940s, and presumably attended Hawkins High School in the 1950s to the 1960s. She was classmates with Jim Hopper and Bob Newby and would marry Lonnie Byers around the 60s or 70s. Despite their love for each other, their marriage crumbled before the birth of their first son, Jonathan, and later Will. According to Jonathan, Joyce and Lonnie loved each other, but he wasn't around for that part.
During their marriage, Lonnie became the main antagonist towards his youngest son, believing him to be weak, and called him profane names. Joyce slowly began to resent Lonnie, as she hated his unloving and uncaring nature towards their sons. Eventually, Joyce and Lonnie divorced on bad terms, and she never acquired his help with her financial problems. Around 1973, she began working at the Melvald's General Store, working as a retail clerk on holidays to make ends meet. Around 1983, Jonathan began working, and would help his mother with getting more money. It's also noted that Joyce previously suffered from anxiety attacks in the past, and focused so much on her job that she didn't spend enough time with her children.
Stranger Things[]
The First Shadow[]
During her senior year of high school, Joyce dreams of one day leaving Hawkins and pursuing a career in the performing arts. After a bitter argument with her then-boyfriend Lonnie, where he claims Joyce would never be able to leave and make something of herself, the two break up and Joyce swears to prove him wrong.
As an act of rebellion against the tyrannical principal of Hawkins High, who happens to be Bob Newby's father, Joyce set up a school play covering a romantic thriller, hoping it would give her enough recognition to put her foot in the door for her dream career. Upon seeing the chemistry between the new student, Henry Creel, and the principal's daughter, Patty Newby, she casts the two of them as the leads. However, throughout the rehearsals she grows annoyed by her classmate, Jim Hopper, who is investigating several pet murders with Bob Newbie, and upsetting the actors in the process. Despite this, she still sees potential in Hopper's jerkish attitude and casts him as the villain.
Soon Joyce became suspicious of Hopper and Bob's activity, so they looped her into the investigation they were doing on the pet murders. With their combined thinking, they realized that they were all happening in areas with volatile electricity, so they may be able to catch the killer in the act if they follow the electricity. Bob built a machine to track the strange behavior and they followed him to the Creel household, where the activity appeared to be occurring. However, to their horror, they discovered Victor Creel experiencing a manic episode (which, unknowingly to them, was a result of Henry showing him visions from his days in the war) along with a mutilated Principal Newbie and called for help immediately.
Joyce soon joined Hopper to speak to the police chief, Hopper's dad, about their findings but he dismissed what they had to say and got in a fight with his son after demeaning him one too many times. Now knowing that the authorities would be no use to them, they hatched a plan to get Victor Creel to confess to his crimes on tape. It involved Hopper kidnapping him during the school play, pretending to be his dad, and intimidating him into revealing the truth.
When the wheels were in motion, the plan went south and Hopper accidentally interrogated Lonnie instead. Joyce, unaware of this, soon had a run-in with a distressed Henry Creel, slowly being overcome by the Mind Flayer. Believing him to simply be a victim of his father's actions, Jayce attempts to comfort Henry, but he brushes her off. Patty Newman was later severely injured by Henry succumbing to his urges, leading to the play turning into a well-known disaster.
A flashforward shows Joyce working a job in a Hawkins Cafe where it is revealed she got back together with Lonnie. Hopper, now a police officer, says goodbye to her as he plans on joining the army.
1983[]
Before leaving for work one morning in November, Joyce discovered that she couldn't find Will anywhere. She first looked into Castle Byers, but didn't find him there, and called Karen to see if he was there. Karen informed Joyce that Will left her home around 8 pm, leading Joyce to file a missing person report to the police.
With Chief Hopper brushing off her report, Joyce and Jonathan placed missing posters, but Jonathan continued to do so across the town. At home, Joyce picked up the phone when it rang, but only heard static and growling. Then, she believed that she started hearing Will breathing, but the phone short-circuited, and she was knocked back. She informed Hopper of the call, but he was skeptical, leading her to go the General Store to use the phone. After negotiating with her boss, she used the phone before it short-circuited as well, and she returned home.
Joyce noticed the lights blinking an odd pattern and followed them into Will's room until loud music started playing. Joyce became terrified when something strange was trying to come through the wall, and ran to her car. Convinced that Will was talking to her, she stayed in his room with the lights, only causing Hopper and Jonathan to believe that she was delusional. She bought more Christmas lights and made contact with Will, who revealed that he was alive, but not safe from the monsters. When she started to paint a letter on the wall, Will told her to run before the monster could come through the wall, and ran outside, nearly being run over by Jonathan.
She was informed by Hopper that they found Will's body at a local quarry, but she responded that she was talking to Will in the lights. Hopper consoled Joyce by telling her that he had visions of his late daughter, Sara, but she begged him to believe her. Afterward, she grabbed an axe from her shed and slept with it for protection. The next morning, Joyce and Jonathan went to the coroner, but she refused to sign the paper or believe that it was her son. Jonathan lashed out at her in front of everyone, stating that she was losing her mind and that they had to prepare the funeral.
At home, Will spoke to Joyce that he was somewhere like home, but cold, and Joyce pulled back the wallpaper to find a flesh-like substance. Joyce told him to run when the monster came for Will and proceeded to grab the axe and chop a hole, but it only led to the outside. At the funeral, Lonnie appeared only to get the money from Will's death, causing Joyce to send him away. She also attempted to tell Lonnie that Will was alive, but he was dismissive of these claims. Eventually, Hopper revealed to Joyce that she was right all along, and decided to help find his whereabouts.
Joyce and Hopper tracked down Terry Ives, who sued Dr. Martin Brenner and Hawkins National Laboratory for kidnapping her Jane twelve years prior. They found Terry in a cationic state, but Terry's sister informed them of Terry's accusations. Returning to Hawkins, they found Jonathan and Nancy Wheeler at the police station and asked for their help to find Will. At Hawkins Middle School, they built a makeshift tank so Jane could communicate with Will.
Going to Hawkins National Laboratory, Joyce and Hopper were captured, and were asked for help by Brenner. Hopper negotiated a deal, and the two were able to go to the Upside Down to save Will, who was near death. After administrating CPR, they escaped the Upside Down, and Will was taken to the hospital for him to recover. In December, Joyce and the family had been reunited, and Jonathan took pictures of Joyce.
1984[]
When Will told Joyce that he was suffering visions of the Upside Down, she didn't hesitate to take him to the laboratory. Dr. Owens believed that Will was suffering from PTSD due to them being psychosomatic episodes, and he returned home. At this point, Joyce reunited with Bob Newby, and the two began dating, with Jonathan not liking their relationship.
During another checkup with Dr. Owens at the lab, he believed that Will was suffering from an "Anniversary Effect", and advised her and Hopper to treat Will normally. Joyce's relationship with Bob grew, as he asked her to move to Maine with him, but she hesitated the idea. Around this time, Joyce became suspicious of Will's drawing of a spider-like creature, and eventually realized that something was wrong when watching a tape of the Halloween party.
Going to the middle school, she alongside Will's friend and Max Mayfield witness him have another episode. Joyce begged for Will to wake up, and he eventually snapped out of it and revealed that he was being overwhelmed by the shadow monster. Joyce and Hopper spoke to Will, who revealed that he has "now memories", and drew a bunch of drawings that appeared as a maze pattern. When Hopper was in trouble, Joyce asked for Bob's help, who saw the drawings, and learned that they were a map of Hawkins.
Joyce, Bob, Mike, and Will went to Hopper's location, with the adults going in to get Hopper from the tunnels. After rescuing him, soldiers came in and told them, and returned to find Will convulsing. The group went to the Hawkins lab, where they tested Will, and learned that he had some kind of virus that was connected to the hive mind. Will told the soldiers and scientist where to go but revealed that he had deceived them, and Demodogs attacked the lab. To prevent the shadow monster from getting to their location, Mike tells them to sedate Will, and Bob sacrifices himself to help them escape. Joyce, Mike, Hopper, and Will reunited with Jonathan, Nancy, Steve Harrington, Dustin, Lucas, and Max, and escaped the lab together.
At home, Joyce grieved over Bob's death while the others speculated on how to defeat the shadow monster. When they realized that the monster was similar to the Mind Flayer, who could control monsters, they decided to defeat him by taking Will to a place he didn't recognize. Joyce agreed, and they made the shed unrecognizable as they interrogated Will, who was giving them Morse Code to defeat it. When the phone rang, the creature learned of their location, and the group prepared to fight.
Jane came to their rescue, and Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan decided to go to Hopper's cabin to exorcise Will while Jane and Hopper defeated the Mind Flayer. The group succeeded in exorcising Will, and Jane defeated the monster for good. In December, Joyce taught Will how to dance for the Snow Ball, and was comforted by Hopper over Bob's death.
1985[]
In the summer of 1985, Joyce continued to work at Melvald's and gave Hopper advice on having a heart-to-heart with Jane. She also started to notice that magnets wouldn't function properly, reading several books on the subject before meeting with Scott Clarke on the matter. Fearing that something was still happening at the Hawkins lab, Joyce informs Jim about the matter, but he rebuffs her suggestions since she stood him up on their date. At the lab, Joyce and Hopper encounter a Russian officer named Grigori, who attacks Jim before escaping. Having sustained injuries from the attack, Joyce takes Jim to the cabin and tends to his wounds. The following day, Byers accompanies Hopper him confronting the mayor Larry Kline, learning that he has made secret deals with the Russians.
After finding any information they can at Kline's mansion, Joyce and Hopper kidnap a Russian named Alexi before escaping a house containing a secret base. When their car explodes, the two decide to contact Murray Bauman about the situation, as he can speak to Alexi since he understands Russian. The trio learn from Alexi that the Russians have created a machine to open the gate, which is still in Hawkins despite being closed a year prior. Returning to Hawkins to the fun fair, Joyce meets with Karen to learn the whereabouts of her children and later discovers a dead Alexei with the others. Shaking the Russians at the fair, the group over them speaking of "kids" on a radio and heading to the Starcourt mall to meet with the party.
At the mall, the adults form a plan with the party to stop the Russians from opening the gate underneath Starcourt. Traveling to the underground base with Hopper and Murray, Joyce takes on a disguise to infiltrate the area before needing Dustin to contact his long-distance girlfriend to obtain the keys. When preparing to shut down the machine, Grigori attacks the two, resulting in Hopper having to fight him inside the chamber. After Hopper kills Grigori by throwing him into the machine, electricity flies out, leaving him unable to escape. Given the approval to shut down the machine, Joyce tearfully does so, and after its destruction, mourns Hopper's "death". Months after the Starcourt incident, Joyce decides to take Bob's advice to heart and leave Hawkins to California. Adopting Jane following Jim's supposed demise, Byers gives Jane the heart-to-heart letter that Hopper wrote for her and Mike.
1986[]
In Lenora Hills, Joyce continues to support her sons and Jane as they attend high school, but also remains in contact with Murray. When she receives a strange package, she contacts Murray on how to deal with it since it could be a possible bomb. Guided by Bauman, Joyce tests to see if the package is dangerous by tying it rope and hanging it over a tree. Once it shown to be safe, she opens the package and finds a letter, learning that Hopper is alive. Determined to reunite with him, Joyce convinces Murray to travel to Russia with her to rescue Hopper.
Trivia[]
- The character was originally written to be a "tough Long Island mom" and be aggressive and swore a lot.
- Joyce has had three love interests on the show - Lonnie Byers, Bob Newby and Jim Hopper.
- Joyce's actress's Winona Ryder shares the same name with a character in Edward Scissorhands a movie Ryder had starred in.
External Links[]
- Joyce Byers on the Stranger Things Wiki
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