Stranger Things makeup artist designed Eddie Munson's puppet master and bat tattoos before she knew his fate

Emlyn Travis
·3 min read
Stranger Things makeup artist designed Eddie Munson's puppet master and bat tattoos before she knew his fate
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Warning: This story contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 4.

While Eddie Munson has some pretty rockin' tattoos, it turns out they do not predict his future.

The beloved metalhead from Stranger Things, played by Joseph Quinn, sports multiple tats in the hit Netflix series, but it's two in particular that spawned theories online: the puppet master on his forearm, which fans claimed was a reference to his rollicking rendition of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" during the season 4 finale, and the bats on his elbow, which many thought foreshadowed his fate.

In fact, the connection between Eddie's tattoos and his storyline was simply a case of some serious serendipity. Stranger Things lead makeup artist Amy L. Forsythe revealed that the character's ink was designed well before the script featuring his epic musical showdown in the Upside Down was inked.

"The puppet master tattoo was a nod to Vecna — how he controls people and pulls them up from the ground," she told Insider. "I had no idea 'Master of Puppets' was going to be played."

STRANGER THINGS
STRANGER THINGS

Tina Rowden/Netflix Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) in 'Stranger Things'

The same can be said for those deadly bats, which fans not only thought foreshadowed Eddie's ill-fated encounter with the demobats in the finale, but could potentially pave the way for his return in the show's fifth and final season as Kas the Bloody-Handed, who, in Dungeons & Dragons lore, is the vampire lieutenant of Vecna.

In reality, the bats idea was just the makeup team being ahead of the curve again.

"The bats definitely were pulled from 1. heavy metal, and 2. knowing subconsciously that Steve would be getting in this bat fight," Forsythe said. However, she added, "I didn't know what a demobat looked like yet."

In fact, the idea came to the artist without her actually knowing about any of the bat attacks beforehand. "I was like, 'What about bats? Five or six of them, and make them look like the ink is dropping out a little bit,'" she said.

Still, they were a very fitting addition considering that Eddie refers to both Black Sabbath and the band's lead singer, Ozzy Osbourne, biting the head off of a bat in the series.

These little touches — including Eddie's spider and wyvern tattoos, which Forsythe has shared artwork of on her Instagram account — played an integral role in bringing the character to life.

"A lot of what we do in character design is all about details — whether you see them or not," she said. "Eddie is scripted as having tattoos, but we didn't know if we'd ever see them because he's wearing that coat. So we thought, 'What would someone who we know back then have that you might never see in school, but then you meet this person three years later and you see their tattoos finally?'"

Stranger Things season 4 is streaming now on Netflix.

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