#sam and dean meta

[ambersock]

This is just a silly little idea that wouldn't leave my head, but do you think dean took on the mark of cain as a way to keep sam with him? like maybe he didnt want to apologise because then he'd have to face how much sam was hurt by the gadreel possession, so he does something reckless by taking on the moc from the actual living Cain (i acknowledge it was also to help with the first blade to kill abaddon) so maybe when sam hears that his brother has this dangerous mark on him now, maybe he would stop being angry at him and move past that to be concerned about dean and the consequences of taking a mark from the first murderer. so he comes back to dean and he doesnt have to worry about sam being angry enough to leave him

Thanks for the ask @mostlybbucky!

Because of the timeline of events, I don’t think that was Dean’s motivation for taking the MoC. Remember in 9x10 Road Trip, it was Dean’s decision to leave Sam immediately after he expelled Gadreel: “…But I'll find Gadreel. And I will end that son of a bitch. But I'll do it alone.”

Long meta below.

The first scene in the very next episode, 9x11 First Born, is when Crowley finds Dean feeling sorry for himself in a bar (not going after Gadreel), and he enlists Dean’s help to find the first blade to eliminate Abaddon. This happens before Sam and Dean reunite and Sam tries to establish a new balance of power as equals, and before Sam tells Dean that he would not have forced Dean into something that Dean found unacceptable in order to save him. Given Dean’s track record of making incredibly bad decisions when faced with his own failings (e.g. selling his soul for failing as Sam’s protector), I’m inclined to believe that he made a power grab for the MoC to distract himself from his own guilt as opposed to doing something healthy like, for instance, changing his own behavior and respecting Sam’s boundaries.

That being said, I certainly think that the MoC arc was the writers’ intention to get the audience to forget about Dean’s transgressions against Sam and swing sympathy (and the power dynamic) back in favor of Dean. Sam clearly had the moral high ground and was right to be angry and right to demand a change in their dynamic, and for a hot moment it looked like maybe he was finally going to get that. But the writers just couldn't have it. And I can’t really blame them, because who really wants to watch a Supernatural where Sam and Dean actually have a healthy relationship? I just wish they hadn't gone overboard with the Poor Dean propaganda to the point where they mangled everything Sam said to make him look like a villain for having completely justifiable feelings.

[spn2006]

the fact that eric kripke isn't even christian really adds something to the way christianity is depicted on supernatural. because its really not about being christian at all, but about living in america, a country dominated by christianity, and having to decide for yourself how to handle that. faith is huge in supernatural, and the mythology of the show is very bible-centric, but notably, christ is never there. even sam, who starts out revering the angels, who once said he prays every night, doesn't actually call himself a christian or imply that he believes in jesus--the show is steeped in christianity and biblical lore and yet neither sam nor dean are christians. in fact, over and over again the church itself is depicted as a haunted house that sam and dean will only ever enter as strangers, as outsiders. priests, preachers, faith healers, chapels, crypts, etc. are all just iconography that create an intense sense of unease that sam and dean respond to instantly. as a jew, its very relatable. an essential part of living in america when you're not christian is that exact sense of unease, of knowing that the culture of your country has ensured that you'll get knocked over by christianity no matter where you go, that you'll see hundreds of people truly believing they're good people while doing awful things in the name of their god, and you have no choice but to confront that. kripke gets it

[strawlessandbraless]

That one time Lucifer confirmed Destiel and Dean’s feelings for Cas

[insanesonofabitch]

Kind of funny. SPN was supposed to end in s5, with Sam in Hell, Cas in Heaven, and Dean on Earth, living with a wife and a son. But it ends after ten more season later with Cas in superhell, Dean in Heaven, and Sam on Earth, living with a wife and a son. Like some fucked up game of musical chairs. Except the chairs are never taken, the song remains the same, and they’re just going in circles. Anyways, Happy November 19th.

[thefableddestiel]

Here’s a parallel I noticed that highlights the difference between Cas relationship with Dean and Cas relationship with Sam pretty well. Episodes 10x22 vs 14x15

When MOC Dean is beating up Cas, Cas doesn’t hit back even once. The most he does is try to bear hug him from behind to calm him down. But not a single punch.

When Sam is Justin Smith, Cas says he won’t hurt him, but he actually does pick him up and slam him into the ground. It’s not a big deal, obviously he knows Sam can take it, but it’s something he wouldn’t even do with Dean.

Before the actual fighting, Cas tells dean, “I’m your friend… I’ll be the one that watches you murder the world.” And then when MOC Dean is on top of Cas holding the angel blade to him, Cas holds onto the wrist Dean has on his tie and the only thing he says is, “please”. He doesn’t even try to grab the hand holding the knife. And then Dean stops.

On the other hand, when Sam is on top of Cas trying to stab him, Cas uses an entirely different approach. He’s forcibly holding back Sam’s arm that’s holding the angel blade. He tells him he understands that he wants to be happy, but that if he does this he fails the people they lost. He says “if you do this you fail Jack. Sam, you fail Dean.” And that makes Sam stop.

The difference that’s so stark is that Cas has to appeal to Sam through talking about Dean. But Cas can appeal to Dean through his own relationship to him. He doesn’t need to bring up what it will do to Sam or anyone else, because their own relationship is powerful enough and he knows it.

[ilovejohnwinchester]

Thinking about early days on the road before John started leaving Sam with Dean and was still going around and talking to hunters trying to learn everything he could. Imagine you’re some hunter and you get a call that the new guy in town wants to meet at the roadhouse and talk demons or werewolves or witches or whatever, then he shows up with a 4-year-old and a baby. He’s real serious and writes down everything you say in his journal but he also has to get up halfway through to sing and bounce a cranky baby to sleep on his shoulder while the kid stares at you with a mouth full of French fries. No wonder every hunter in John’s generation seems to remember Dean and Sam whether Dean and Sam know them or not.

[vendettasfanfictioning]

you can't convince me dean wasn't already in love with castiel by s11 like. what do you mean on the episode where dean is hung up, nay, borderline desperate to find a way to get castiel back, the case they land just so happens to be handled by a hunter couple (a romantic! mlm! couple!!!!!)

dean dead ass asks them how it's like to settle down with these big green eyes just so full of longing and understanding.

LIKE TELL ME THIS ISN'T HOW DEAN STARES AT CAS !!!!!!!

and this ending, don't even get me started on this ending

THEY GET TO RETIRE!!!! THIS IS DEAN FINALLY SEEING A HAPPY ENDING FOR HUNTERS!!!!! THIS IS DEAN REALIZING AND ACCEPTING THAT IT'S POSSIBLE!!!!!!

they got me in the first half, not gonna lie, with jesse's "they killed my brother" revenge story and cesar's ride-or-die support but then. this sealed the deal.

horses???? hello mr. dean cowboy fetish winchester????? and emt???? when castiel's a whole ass healer mage with his angel mojo???? TELL ME I'M NOT DELUSIONAL

The narrative is giving, "see? this can happen. happiness does exist in this universe, but only from a far enough distance that dean and sam can yearn for it without really getting it."

[creatorofarcadia]

It's been a while since I watched Supernatural, so don't take my opinions as gospel or anything. But I think Dean is self-hating to the point of narcissism in some ways. Don't get me wrong, I empathise with Dean and understand why fans largely do too. But his self-loathing warps his perception and becomes the centre of EVERYTHING and at times that really has ripple effects on those around him - particularly Sam.

Take their childhood, Sam has a right to mourn the fact that he didn't get a normal childhood. He's allowed to be angry that he didn't get a home, a present father, a stable community, and consistent education. But whenever Sam attempts to express his complicated feelings about his childhood, Dean immediately interprets it as ' oh I was supposed to look out for you. Are you saying I failed? Are you confirming I'm worthless?' which grinds the conversation to a complete halt. Because of Dean's intense self-criticism, Sam can never really be 100% honest with him or ask for support with his own issues, especially regarding their childhood. As anything outside of 100% gratitude just becomes another stick for Dean to beat himself with, and the conversation is immediately derailed.

Not only does Deans self-hatred mean that Sam's expression of his own experiences are pretty consistently shut down. In some ways, I think Dean strips Sam of his autonomy - he's so self-loathing, he sees every decision Sam makes as being about/a reaction to him. A good example of this is Stanford. Rather than understanding Stanford for what it was, an attempt by Sam to carve out a better life from himself and escape hunting. Dean views it as betrayal or abandonment, some re-affirmation of his own belief that he's not worth caring about. Rather than understanding it's a rejection of hunting, he sees it as Sam rejecting him. To Dean, Sam isn't attempting to find a better life, he's punishing the family.

Overall, it's interesting that people largely and rightfully sympathise with Dean due to his self-hatred. However, I don't see as much discussion about how his self-hatred doesn't just hurt him, it hurts those he's close to, as it colours his interpretation of their every action. Dean's self-loathing is always the biggest thing in the room and that has consequences.

[t00muchheart]

you ever think about how john winchester had three sons who were alive and needed someone to look after them and yet he neglected them all in different ways to chase after revenge

[ambersock]

Hello! I'm back to bother you again with a question about dean this time: what do you think about the spn meta I've seen recently that says dean is a secret romantic and wants a normal family life?

Thanks for the ask @mostlybbucky!

Long winded answer after the cut:

I’ve seen people make claims like that before, but I’d say that canon not only doesn’t really support it. From 3x08 A Very Supernatural Christmas and 4x13 After School Special, we know that Dean grows up idolizing John and the hunting life, further bolstered by this scene in 2x03 Bloodlust:

DEAN: ... So. I pick up this crossbow. And I hit that ugly sucker with a silver-tipped arrow right in his heart. Sammy's waiting in the car, and uh, me and my dad take the thing into the woods, burn it to a crisp. I'm sitting there and looking into the fire, and I'm thinking to myself, I'm sixteen years old. Most kids my age are worried about pimples, prom dates. I'm seeing things that they'll never even know. Never even dream of. So right then, I just sort of -

GORDON: Embraced the life?

DEAN: Yeah.

And there’s this observation from Lisa in 6x02 Two and a Half Men:

LISA: Dean, can I be honest? Maybe we're safer with you here, maybe gone. I don't know. The one thing that I do know is that you're not a construction worker. You're a hunter.

She then suggests that Dean take a shot at both having a family and being a hunter, and the final shot of the episode is Dean alone in the garage, grinning as he uncovers Baby. It’s clear that he missed hunting and that he couldn’t wait to get back out there.

3x10 Dream a Little Dream of Me reveals that there was a time when Dean genuinely thought he wanted to settle down and have a family, but he tried it with Lisa and Ben, and it simply wasn’t in him to leave hunting altogether. He came to file domestic life under, “nice place to visit, wouldn’t want to live there”.

Finally, after Dean and Sam defeated Chuck, there was absolutely no reason they couldn’t have passed the baton to other hunters and stepped back, and yet they kept hunting. We know from 12x02 Mama Mia that Sam stayed in the life to be with Dean, not because he had his own desire to hunt:

MARY: Dean said you got out of hunting.

SAM: Yeah.

MARY: And yet here you are.

SAM: Well, this is my family. My family hunts, you know? It's what we do.

So it was Dean’s will, not Sam’s, that kept them in the life. Had Dean at any point expressed a desire to quit, Sam would have been right there with him.

I think a lot of the insistence that Dean wanted out comes from people who are in denial about the fact that Sam is the central character of the series. The finale concludes Sam’s Hero’s Journey with him attaining the life he sought all along and reveals that Dean’s role was to be the catalyst for Sam’s story.

[supernaturalsidepiece]

Credit to: @sodiumfreak @breha @stepdaddean @sundryvillains @autisticandroids @omniscientoranges

Metanatural part eight of ?

[ananke-xiii]

dude, sam winchester has been addicted to demon blood, possessed by lucifer, in the cage in hell, soulless, mentally abused by satan, possessed by a psycho angel, tortured by the MoL and yet

If asked what's the worst he had to go through

I'm 100% positive his answer would be:

"Living in a secret bunker with my closeted brother and his not-so-secret-husband angel and having to be the peacemaker in all their stupid quarrels"

I tell you, this man is DONE, i can't understand why the writers didn't give him a scene where he just screams at them. I would.

[ilovejohnwinchester]

Underrated exchange from 1x10. I think it really adds something to John’s character that for all he’s a hyper-competent hunter with a badass reputation, does what no one else can do, never backs down, never gives up, etc etc, the toaster wins every time.

I want to see more of John being just awful at technology. Can’t make a piece of toast without burning thirty slices of bread and his fingers in the process. Can’t ever figure out the TV remote in a new motel room. Picks at library computer keyboards with his index fingers. Hates to make counterfeit badges because he has to fight with the copy machine. Refuses to use email. Only ever bangs on things to try to fix them. Dean tells Sam their dad’s a superhero and Sam looks at John cursing at the toaster again and thinks, hm, maybe not.

[vendettasfanfictioning]

It just hit me.

The older brother dies on a hunt like any other, believing he did not deserved to be saved. The younger brother burns him on a pyre and tries to live his life, going through the motions without finding any fulfillment in it. He dies too. The angel is back, serving in Heaven. The nephilim is out of the picture. This is exactly how Chuck would've written the ending—right back to where they started

The Chuck won truthing is hitting hard.

[anassemblageofpassions]

So fascinating how sam drinks demon blood and dean narratively has the right to kill him. And dean turns into a literal demon and sam and the narrative never even consider it

[creatorofarcadia]

Literally replace hunting with any other risky profession and the idea Sam is selfish for not wanting to hunt kind of collapses. No one would ever suggest someone who doesn't want follow the family tradition of joining the military is selfish because hypothetically, them joining could result in someone not dying. It's absurd.

Season 1 John and Dean are really like, you don't want to die painfully in your 20s/30s after a life of constant fighting with no outside connections? Is this? The height of selfishness?