Steve Harrington Is Hands Down My Most Favourite Stranger Things Character Ever.

Steve Harrington is hands down my most favourite Stranger Things character ever.

steve harrington is the best developed character on stranger things and no other character can top him and here’s why.

SPOILER WARNING BABY!! stranger things season 3 is discussed.

this is gonna be pretty long because i am emotional and love steve.

season one: we are introduced to this cocky, typical, upperclassmen high school popular douche bag, steve “the hair” harrington. he is rude and has a big ego. he only cares about himself, and this is shown when he doesn’t want nancy to tell the police about barb. he is worried that he’ll get in trouble for drinking. he is rude to jonathan even though he hasn’t done anything to him, egged on by his friends. nancy is the one who goes up to jonathan and comforts him in a way. steve and his douche bag friends don’t get why she’d do that. later, when steve sees jonathan in the same room as nancy, her bedroom, he calls nancy a slut and gets into a fight with jonathan, getting pretty beat up. this is where we see a change: after the fight.

he thinks about all the shit he’s done (crushing jonathan’s camera, making jokes about him being behind will’s disappearance) and realizes it’s kinda fucked up he did that. he gets in a fight with his friends and calls them out for being bad people. he knows that nancy isn’t a bad person and that jonathan didn’t kill his brother. he goes back to erase the paint off the movie theater because nancy made him happy. it is here he realizes all he really wants is happiness, to be happy. how can he be happy knowing he and the rest of his friends are bad people? he can’t because he is starting to realize he wants more than that. he wants to be a good person, like nancy and jonathan, because that makes him happy, nancy makes him happy. so he goes over and tried to smooth things out with both of them, figures out there’s some kind of monster attacking and leaves. except, he doesn’t. we all expected steve to leave because that’s what we knew his character to do and that’s how his character was set up. so, when he doesn’t leave and swings the bat, helps them beat up the demogorgan, his character takes a shift. this shows how steve, fueled by his desire to be with nancy, changes. now let’s talk about his desire to be with nancy. he associates her with happiness and, as said before, his character truly wants to be happy. and so the season ends with them being together.

his character becomes much more like able and he has a higher chance of this arc changing for the better. which brings us to...

season two: we start this season with steve and nancy being together; going to barbs house and having dinner with her parents. nancy still feels terrible about the whole situation. we transition to their breakup, at the party. nancy calls everything bullshit and we can see steve break. he goes to the wheelers house to patch it up, even though he technically wasn’t in the wrong. he wants to still be with nancy because he wants happiness and he associates it with nancy or being in a relationship.

yet, he doesn’t find nancy but instead finds dustin. this starts their unexpected iconic duo relationship. he talks with dustin about girls after dustin tells him about max and lucas. here we see that steve still loves nancy, even though she kinda ruined their romantic relationship and called it bullshit. he wants to be happy. this is where his arc starts to become what it is today. when he’s with dustin and the other kids, acting like a stressed out father, he realizes he’s kinda happy with them. he bonds with dustin, takes him under his wing. we see him truly realize this at the byer house, when he and nancy are searching the pile for something useful, with the line “it turns out i’m a pretty good babysitter”. he tells nancy it’s okay, they’re okay and can be friends, she can go off and date jonathan. it is here where steve is also shown to truly care and be willing to sacrifice himself for others. he fights billy because he’s threatening to hurt one of his kids. he goes outside of the bus to fight the demodogs because they have the chance of hurting the kids. he truly cares about them. everything gets pulled together at the end of the season, with the scene with dustin and steve outside the snowball.

this scene also shows steve looking on at nancy, which shows that his character still has a lot to go; his arc isn’t completed yet. which brings us to...

season three: here is where steve’s arc becomes even more beautiful and rich. he still has that same father relationship with the kids, including el (“are you even allowed to be here?” that’s iconic, kids) who he didn’t really know about until season two (i believe, i’m not sure). however, we are introduced to a new character: robin. steve and her have a very banter-filled and funny relationship. steve spends most of his time at scoops ahoy trying to get girls than working and robin pokes fun at that. it’s a joke between them. she’ll poke fun at his relationship with the kids, showing how dad he truly is to them.

continuing with the whole “spends most of his time at scoops ahoy trying to get girls than working”, he still associates relationships with happiness. while he has moved on from nancy and knows he doesn’t really love her anymore, he still views being in a relationship as the key to being happy. his whole relationship with robin showcases this. when he confesses his feelings and she tells him that she really likes him but she likes girls, he (like the amazing ally he is) doesn’t storm out and he doesn’t beat her up as most people in the 80s would if they found out anyone was homosexual, he makes a joke about her taste in women and they immediately return to their normal banter-filled relationship. also with this relationship with robin, we get a call back to how much of a douche steve was in high school. robin tells him this story of how she sat behind him during a class for a whole year and he doesn’t even remember her. it shows how far his character has gone. he recognizes that he was rude and a bad person and shows remorse for his actions. during this season is when steve realizes that he doesn’t need a girlfriend to make him happy. he has fun with dustin, the kids, and robin. he has this group of friends that make him happy and support him and love him. he has a lesbian best friend that supports him just as he supports her. steve ends the season trying to get another job after the mall is destroyed by the flayed with robin. he’s happy, truly happy and surrounded by friends.

he ends the season with the knowledge that he can be happy without a girl and that his friends are always gonna be there for him.

in short, steve went from being an asshole who only cared about himself to caring and supporting single father of six (seven including erica) with a lesbian best friend.

and that is why steve will forever be my favorite stranger things character and one of the best characters on the show.