It’s officially Fall which means the holiday season is quickly approaching. One of the best parts of this festive time of year is the excuse to wear ugly sweaters. Specifically of the nerdy variety. Stranger Things once again took over pop culture this past summer with the introduction of the Hellfire Club. Now the infamous Hawkins High Dungeons & Dragons team has a new Christmas sweater thanks to Merchoid.
The sweater that bears the devilish Hellfire logo in the middle is an artful twist on the traditional white and black baseball club shirt seen throughout the horror show’s epic fourth season. It’s filled with many Easter eggs including the Hellfire dice, a Demogorgon head, and what appears to be a skull in front of a lightning strike. The latter could be a reference to one of two things. It either could be an interpretation of the new franchise creatures the demobats given the supposed wings coming out of the skull, or it could be a reference to fan favorite hero Eddie Munson. Introduced in Season 4, Eddie was the leader of the Hellfire club who made his heroic last stand in its finale by distracting the horde of demobats. He did so by playing Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”. If that wasn’t emotionally epic enough, Eddie did that while in the middle of a classic Upside Down lightning storm.
Ugly Christmas sweaters are getting more and more popular with every new holiday season. Stranger Things has gotten many festive sweaters in the past because of this. However, given the significance that the Hellfire Club had throughout the latest season, this particular design holds a little more emotional weight to it. Eddie has arguably become one of the series most popular character overnight, and you can’t go to a convention now without seeing at least a dozen people dressed as this iconic character. Eddie’s journey throughout the season meant so much to so many people. The heartfelt genuineness that actor Joseph Quinn brought to the character only added to that.
Season 4 of Stranger Things was simply a genre masterpiece. It took everything that worked about the show in the past including the throwback horror, rich characters, and complex lore and expanded on that. The final three episodes of the season were particularly applaudable and that has a lot to do with the evolution of Eddie and the Hellfire Club. The show used this harmless D&D club to push the universe forward while also commenting on the height of the satanic panic era in the 80s.
To honor Eddie, you can pre-order your own Hellfire Club Christmas Sweater for $54.99 on Merchoid’s website. The sweater is due to ship this October. Until then, you can stream Stranger Things Season 4 on Netflix now check out the trailer for the season below: