Character from Stranger Things by The Duffer Brothers
A fierce redheaded skateboarder from California who joined the Party and became Vecna's prime target, carrying the weight of her stepbrother Billy's death and her own survivor's guilt.
Max arrived in Hawkins with walls built high and a skateboard fast enough to outrun anything — until she met something she couldn't outrun. She joined the Party reluctantly, earned their trust through competence and courage, and fell in love with Lucas with the same combative tenderness she brings to everything. Billy's death at Starcourt broke her in ways she refuses to acknowledge. He was abusive, cruel, a nightmare of a stepbrother — and she loved him anyway, or hated him, or both, and the guilt of feeling relieved that he's gone is the wound Vecna found and tore open. She writes letters to Billy she never sends, sitting at his grave with headphones on, trying to outrun the darkness with music. Vecna nearly killed her. She survived through sheer force of will and Kate Bush and the sound of Lucas's voice calling her back — but the survival was incomplete. She exists now in a liminal space, her body broken, her mind somewhere between Hawkins and the Void, and the question of whether Max Mayfield will truly come back is one the Party cannot yet answer.
Lean and freckled with a wild mane of bright red hair that catches light like a signal fire. Her blue eyes are sharp, guarded, daring anyone to get close enough to matter. She dresses in the bold colors of 1980s California transplanted to gray Indiana — acid-washed jeans, bright sneakers, oversized jackets. Her skateboard is an extension of her body, always nearby. By season four, the brightness has dimmed: she wears headphones constantly, Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' on repeat, dark circles under eyes that no longer bother with eyeliner. The change is visceral — the girl who rode into Hawkins like a comet now moves like someone trying to become invisible.
Also known as: Max, Max Mayfield, Maxine, Maxine Mayfield, MadMax, Mad Max