Why does Dean hunt?
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.
(Note: the rest of this focuses on Dean, though Sam’s reasons are discussed also where relevant. Including Sam completely would make this much longer than it already is, and I feel like the same overall conclusion can be drawn.)
There are a number of reasons Dean began hunting, and they can most easily be summarized in one word: John. Like most hunters we’ve come across, the boys got into hunting because of a tragedy. But the tragedy - their mother dying - occurred, really, to John. Because Dean and Sam were both too young to really understand what it meant. Dean may have some vague memories of his mom, but really, he was too young to truly appreciate the loss. It was John’s loss, John’s tragedy. And John’s the one who propelled them into the hunting life.
When John begins hunting, he’s consumed with revenge. And that’s true for the next twenty-odd years of his life. He’s desperate to find Mary’s killer. Along the way, he discovers the entire world of supernatural evil out there, and makes it his mission to kill everything he comes across. This is partly to help him find the thing that killed Mary, but incidentally, it becomes about just hunting evil things.
Sam and Dean are a bit unique among hunters; they got into this because of a tragedy, but the tragedy didn’t occur when they were adults. So they’ve also been raised in the life. It’s more similar to, say, the Campbells, who are some of the only hunters we’ve seen who don’t seem to be in it because of a tragedy. They’re a hunter family, across generations and distant relations. Like Sam and Dean, they’ve been raised with hunting being the only life they know.
So in the beginning, yes, there is Mary’s death. This is something that motivates both the boys, especially when they get old enough to understand it. But also…it’s the only life they’ve ever known.
The boys’ reaction to being raised in the hunting life is, of course, initially very different. For much of his early life, Dean obeys their father blindly; this includes fully embracing the hunter lifestyle. Sam responds by rebelling against it. He doesn’t want the life; he wants to be normal, to not be a “freak.”
For Dean, hunting and family are synonymous. They’re so tied up in each other that he can’t separate the two. He can’t abandon hunting because to him, that means abandoning family. He can’t disobey John because that’s what it’s ingrained in him to do.
When Sam goes to Stanford, he’s not rejecting his family, per se. He’s rejecting the life they live. Sam doesn’t want to walk out on Dean, but he does want to walk out on the life.
When Sam gets back into hunting with Dean, the boys’ reasons for hunting are still widely divergent. Sam gets back into it, initially, because of his second tragedy- Jess’ death. The tragedy of this death is much more immediate for him, as it’s a loss he can fully appreciate as an adult. Just like John (and so many hunters), Sam lets his thirst for vengeance drive his return to hunting. And a quest for vengeance in general is what motivates Sam for a long time after that.
But for Dean, when he comes to get Sam, hunting is about family. It’s “the family business.” Dean’s a person who is, first and foremost, driven by family, that need for togetherness. And for him, that’s what hunting is all about. So he hunts because he wants him, John and Sam to be a family again. In S1, the mantra is clearly “saving people, hunting things.” Saving people first, and hunting does seem much more rewarding then than it does now.
Things soon get much more complicated than that, of course. The first major life-changing event we witness for the boys is John’s death. With it comes a whole host of other issues - Dean’s guilt over his father dying for him, and his burden of John’s last words - that he must “save Sam or kill him.” Coupled with Sam’s psychic visions and the emerging concept of him going “dark side,” we see the issues the boys faced in S1 grow in depth.
As Sam dies, and Dean makes a deal for him, that trend only continues. And throughout this, the reason for hunting changes for the boys. There’s a sense that they have to hunt - to fight Sam’s darkness, to get a way out of Dean’s deal. And as the stakes increase, the “MOTW”, one-off hunts provide a much-needed distraction for the boys. This is a theme that continues as the stakes are upped even further, when the boys are trying to prevent, and then stop, the apocalypse. Their “Big Bad” or whatever their overarching goal is is simply too great to confront immediately, and so they hunt the smaller monsters and such that they come across.
So hunting, then, simultaneously becomes more important - something they can’t escape, because the stakes are too high - as well as a respite, from things they can’t control, to the more simple things that they can.
Through Dean’s return from Hell, and the onslaught of the first apocalypse, hunting seems inescapable for the boys. It starts to be what they have to do to survive. The weekly monsters provide some respite, but the sense that they will get out of this one day starts to erode.
As all this is happening, a couple of other themes emerge. One is Dean’s ever-increasing sense of weariness, despondency and desolation. As early as “Croatoan,” ep. 2.09, Dean says that he’s just “tired of this life.” Things escalate further in 4.16, “On the Head of a Pin,” when Dean breaks down completely and says he just can’t do this anymore. Of course, one of Dean’s weakest moments is in 5.18, “Point of No Return,” when he’s willing to completely throw in the towel and just give up.
Along with this theme, we see the development of the idea that maybe Dean does want out of this life. But who Dean is fundamentally as a person never changes. In the earlier seasons, hunting = family to him. But in S4, Sam and Dean are at their lowest point. As Dean begins to question whether Sam can really be his only family, he starts to think of what else he might want.
It’s only when things begin to crumble with Sam that Dean begins to entertain the idea of a life outside hunting. If Sam’s not his family, then - what? And here we see the reintroduction of Lisa. (Now, I have other problems with why that is, but for now, I’m just going with the show’s assertion that Lisa represents family to Dean.) He begins to want the “apple-pie life.” And, when they beat the devil - but in the process, lose Sam - Dean tries to seek that life out for himself.
There are a number of reasons that didn’t work, in the long run, but they can most neatly be summarized as: that just wasn’t who Dean was. Dean was trying to be someone he’s not. I firmly believe that Dean could have a happy, settled life, but it wasn’t going to be with Lisa. Or anyone, really, that Dean felt like he was “dragging into the life.” It’d have to be with someone who was already in it, who understands. Now that Dean and Sam are much better, that’ll always include Sam. But Dean would always feel guilty about dragging innocents into his life with him, and as hard as they tried, they’d never really get it - unless they too experienced tragedy, which Dean wouldn’t want.
So when Dean leaves Lisa’s, he gets back into hunting again. But this time, it’s with added changed circumstances. The sense of Dean being tired, despondent, never really went away. And, this time, there’s the added idea that Dean just can’t do anything else. He’s a killer. And that’s a bad thing.
For Sam - vengeance is what drives so much of why he hunts. It’s what leads up to his killing Lilith - an unnamable quest for vengeance that even he doesn’t understand anymore. Ruby and her demon blood obviously fuel this, but the underlying motivation comes from Sam. In S5, his motivation switches to seeking redemption. He’s always felt guilty and responsible for uncontrollable events in his life, but he holds himself personally responsible for letting Lucifer out. It’s why he jumps in the cage. And when he comes back, souled, to discover what his soulless self did, he’s again on a path to redeem himself.
In most recent episodes, Sam’s asserted that after his centuries of suffering in Hell - which he now remembers, and is still suffering the consequences of - he thinks he’s redeemed himself. If this is truly the case, then that’s remarkable improvement for Sam, and why I generally worry less about his mental health than Dean’s. Sam has, at least, made some progress.
But Dean on the other hand seems to keep deteriorating. His drinking, which first kicked in after Hell, has only gotten worse and worse. Dean in S1 - before Hell, the apocalypse, losing Sam - called hunting “the family business.” He claimed it was about saving people, first. He saw himself as a hero.
Dean in S7 really doesn’t anymore. In most recent episodes, it appears as though Sam and Dean are just hunting because they have no other choice. They’re on Apocalypse #3 now, and I’m sure those damaged boys still hold themselves accountable for it. They’ve got to stop the leviathans. They don’t have a choice.
And in the mean time…they hunt weekly monsters. Because they don’t know what else to do.
There really isn’t a sense that either Sam or Dean really want to hunt anymore. But the stakes are now so high that there’s no sight of getting out. And, even if they did - what would they do? Hunting is so ingrained in who they are now, it seems like they don’t even know how to get out.
So it seems like there are two options, basically, and it all depends on where the show is going. If the show’s to end this season, bloody and in a blaze of glory, then that’s…that, and this is all more or less moot. In that case everything’s going along right as it should be.
But if it’s not - if we’re trying to continue on - then one of two things needs to happen. If hunting truly makes the boys miserable, they should stop. But the show can’t continue if the boys aren’t hunting. Therefore, if the show is to go on, the boys need to reclaim their love of hunting. They need to see themselves as heroes again. They need to rediscover the positive aspects of hunting, the fact that they do in fact save lives and make a difference.
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.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, either. Maybe the happy medium is a home base, with occasional hunts, like Bobby did - and not constantly being out on the road. It doesn’t seem like that would really fit with the current structure of the show, but who knows. Regardless, it might be the best fit for the boys.
I’m heavily emotionally invested in this show. It hurts me to see the boys hurting. So if this is all leading to some grand payoff where the boys do reaffirm their love of hunting, then this might all be worth it.
I think they’ve lost sight of the reasons they hunt. But if they can reclaim their love of it, then all this might make sense.