How did Chief Hopper and Joyce Byers decide where to go when seeking Will?

Question

In the final episode of Stranger Things, Chief Hopper and Joyce Byers enter the upside down to rescue young Will Byers.

They find that his last known shelter has been destroyed and proceed to the upside-down version of the Byers home, where they discover signs that the demigorgon has been wounded. Then they follow its blood to the library, where they find Will.

I can formulate theories as to why they might have done these things -- the house was nearby and Will had been known to hide there in the past, and they may have supposed that the monster had physically carried Will to some kind of nest, and that it might have returned to that nest after being wounded but this is mostly supposition. Is it explained anywhere in the story why they went to the house and why they followed the blood trail?

Answer 1

It's not explained explicitly in the sense that nobody outright says why they did these things, but it seems like the most logical course of action to me.

Think like Joyce and Hopper would be thinking. Will is not in the last known place they were told he was, so where else would he have gone in this strange, dark echo of reality? Where else would he feel any modicum of safety? His house is the next-most logical place to look, not to mention the next closest, so that's where they go.

Upon arriving, they find no sign of Will himself, but they do find:

Signs of a struggle, and a trail of blood. It might be the monster's blood, or it might be Will's. Either way, it's a direction to go looking. The presence of blood also indicates some urgency, so they'd want to prioritize this lead over looking in other people's houses.

As it happens, they found Will by following that lead. If they had found the monster (with no sign of Will) they might've fought it or they might've run away and gone to look somewhere else, but that's irrelevant because they did, in fact, find Will.

This particular part of the story is not intended to be particularly mysterious or complicated, so it follows the most obvious and logical sequence.