Why does Dean hunt?

[morganlucas41]

Elliot Ness’ comments to Dean in the last ep got me thinking. Why are the boys hunting, anymore? It seems like they (and the audience) once knew, but I’m not so sure anymore. And the more I think about it, the more important the answer to that question seems for the series as a whole.

Comments

[sgmajorshipper]

I think you really explained why I think Sam's made a lot more progress than Dean, and in the end, he's the only one with a full and complete-feeling cycle, from revenge, to redemption, to recognizing he's atoned for his sins. Dean, on the other hand, has just gotten worse. He's gone from being the hero of the story to the villain, the hunter to the monster. In his mind, he's fallen beyond far. And that's what they need to try to rectify to bring the show full circle; they need to bring Dean out of the dark and into the light, and they need to give Sam and him a heroic purpose in life, bigger(in a personal impact sense) and smaller(in the whole-world-is-resting-on-our-shoulders way) than the apocalypse.
Bring it back home, guys. Two dudes saving people, hunting things, family.

And maybe…that’s where the show’s going. Maybe the point of all this isolation, desolation, taking everything away from the boys, is leading there. It kind of makes sense. If that IS the point, then all this pain might be worth it.
This is where I've thought the show has been going, weather they want it or not. At this point, the odds of a S8 are extremely high; ratings are still good, there's plenty of goodwill towards SPN in the CW higher ups, etc. As much as J2 tend to think that Sam and Dean are gonna end bloody and violent(and, hey, they can still die bloody and violent and as heros), I think the writers to plan on bringing them out of this dark night. I have read some fantastic meta on the subject over here, which you might enjoy.

[morganlucas41]

Agreed completely. If this season is about "going back to the beginning," then that really is the beginning - saving people first, and family. I love Sam's arc and would really hope for Dean to get something similar - a notion in his own head, at least, that he's a hero again. That would be nice. And, if the show does end with the boys dying (still perfectly plausible), it would be a lot more satisfying for ME if, when they did that, they believed themselves to be heroes, and not just hopeless.

I'd like an S8, if for no other reason than that I don't want to say goodbye to the boys. But because I'm analytical me I have to figure out what that's going to look like now, lol. Hence all the pondering :)

I read the meta you linked to and it definitely got me thinking, too - thanks for pointing it out to me!