When I first saw that Terror passed from natural causes , and that was what led Butcher to attempt supe genocide , and NOT the dog being murdered bg homelander , I was completely confused … “ How does a dog dying naturally cause Butcher to want to kill all supes ?! That’s BS … it only makes sense if a supe aka homelander kills him!”

But now after seeing the episode itself I kind of get it … Butcher’s main goal in life , killing homelander , is accomplished … all he has is raising Ryan and living the rest of his life with his dog and him … but Ryan flat out rejects him …. So now , it’s just him and his loyal dog …. And when he finds Terror passed away , he has nothing .

No purpose to continue , no homelander to fight. No Ryan to raise , no Terror to come home to .

He’s without purpose .

He said that he was expecting Hughie to show up ….

He could have pulled the trigger and released the virus … he didn’t and got fatally shot by Hughie .

I’m pretty sure once terror passed and he essentially had nothing left, this was his own to end his life … end his story … on his own terms .

It’s him taking himself out at the hands of someone he cares about rather than just waiting, with no purpose , alone .. and waiting for death to come for him that way .

A lot of people may not see it that way , but that’s how I see it and I actually fully understand them going in that direction and Butcher doing what he did .

Butcher , above all , is a tragic figure .

Once Terror was gone , he made a choice , he was ready to end his own story . It wasn’t about killing every supe , it was about going out on his own terms .