#blame this on all the script analysis and literary theory I've been reading

[captain-sodapop]

Lately I've been thinking about the difference between protagonists and main characters, and the place of each in the story, and of course I've applied this to everyone's favorite silly show, Supernatural.

Basically, a work can have several main characters. SPN has four: Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Jack. Each of them are important to the story and the protagonist, they get considerable screen time, and they have their own storylines and personalities. But, as I've said before, a character like Dean - while a main character - is not the protagonist. He's the deuteragonist, meaning he's second in importance to the protagonist. Castiel and Jack also became deuteragonists after initially being more tertiary.

But what is the difference between their function as main characters/deuteragonists, and Sam's position as main character/protagonist? Like I said, just because Dean, Cas, and Jack aren't protagonists doesn't mean that they aren't important to the story, don't have their own storylines, and don't have their own personalities; they have all of that. Ultimately, though, everything they do is going to end up being in service of the protagonist, who is the character whose wants and goals drive us from beginning to end. Think about Hamilton: Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton are main characters, and Burr is the one who narrates the entire show and gives us his perspective, but Hamilton is still the protagonist because his desires are what pushes the story.

So, whether you like it or not, whether he's your favorite character or not, Sam Winchester is the protagonist of Supernatural, and everything that happens in the show is in service to his story. But what is the story? I'll admit, this one took some puzzling out on my part, until it hit me squarely in the face while I was in the shower, making me feel like a complete idiot. Because for as much as we like to joke and for as unevenly executed a show as it may be, Supernatural is not a show about nothing, and it's not even really a show about brothers like the people associated with the show like to say - not from a character/plot perspective, anyway.

At its core, Supernatural is a show about the fifteen-year journey Sam takes to getting a life that is his own. And that's it. That's the bare bones. Everything that happens in those fifteen years either helps or hinders (mostly hinder) him in that search for a life he feels comfortable with. When Dean makes a decision for him, when Cas breaks a wall or takes on his trauma, when Jack grapples with his powers...that is all in the service of Sam's story. From the pilot, we know that Sam doesn't necessarily want normal, but he wants safe. In the finale, we see a Sam that is married with a son, with a home: safe - but not normal. He's been through too much to be normal, and he keeps reminders of that life around him as well as seeming to teach his son about the supernatural so that he can be safe as well. Which means, that since Sam got exactly what he wanted, that the story arc is ultimately successful. In episode one we learn what he wanted, and he gets it in episode 327.

But, since Sam is our protagonist, that means - as I said - that everything happens in service of his storyline, which means that every other storyline and character has to aide in that somehow, which means their own separate story arcs are never going to be quite as important overall as Sam's. Dean wants freedom; he gets it. Once he gets that, his story is essentially wrapped, and his death is in service of Sam getting his safer life because Sam never wanted to hunt unless it was with Dean, and since Dean isn't around...well, you get the picture. With Cas, he wanted purpose and love, and he claims he found that in being Jack's father. Story wrapped. For Jack, he wanted to be good and not evil, and by becoming God, he achieved that. Story wrapped. I get that it's frustrating not to see these characters anymore because we care about them, but once they have achieved their (not necessarily thematically smaller, just less central) goals, the story sheds them one by one until we are left with just our protagonist. First Cas, then Jack, then Dean.

And then Sam.

The nature of Supernatural means that two out of three of those deuteragonists die, and all three of them find their so-called "peace" in the afterlife (Jack as God, Cas seemingly as his right hand, and Dean left with no responsibilities). Death can be a lazy plot device, but since it's so expected with this show...well, what did you expect? And since Dean edges out Castiel and Jack in importance to the protagonist, that means that especially with COVID, he's the one we have to see again. The other two would have been great to see again because, again, the story demanded we care about them, but they are off serving their own purpose now, with their own stories - just one that isn't directly important to the story of the protagonist at the time.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that I get why it hurts when you don't get to see Cas and Jack in the finale, and that it hurts like hell to watch Dean die, but there are reasons for this. The show does lose focus, but Sam is the protagonist from day one, and his desires are what drive the story. How many times does he express a want to be out of the hunting life? And when he resigns himself to hunting, it feels like a letdown, like he's lost hope, and the other characters take note of it because that's not what Sam wants. And if he's not going after what he wants, then there's no story, and if there's no story, the other characters certainly don't serve any purpose because they don't have anything to push Sam towards anymore. In seasons 9 and 10, when the writers tried to push Dean into Sam's position, it flopped. That is not Dean's function in the story, and it distracts us from the protagonist - and therefore the entire show's - goal.

So you can hate it all you want, but without Sam, there is no story, and everything that happens is in service to him trying to meet his goals. Doesn't mean you shouldn't care about the others, doesn't mean they aren't important and don't carry weight as individual, unique characters, it just means that at the end of it all, Sam's goals are what drives everything, and that's something the finale - while not perfectly executed - got very, very right.