Sam the Boy King

For loving and cherishing Sam Winchester, the most heroic and most human character Supernatural has to offer.

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

Popping back in many, many years after the last time I watched this show or posted about it, because I’m suddenly very much missing Sam Winchester. Am I still allowed to be a bitter Sam girl when I didn’t watch the last five or six seasons of the show?

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

Some thoughts on unconditional love - it's not about loving someone no matter what they do and how they act and letting everything they do that's not right slide because you love them. It's about not expecting anything from them and loving them anyway. It's about loving them and believing that they can be better when they mess up and forgiving them for their mistakes. Sometimes the line blurs, and when it blurs too much, it goes from unconditional love to love that's still unconditional, but also unhealthy.

Sam has an unbelievably huge heart, and infinite compassion. He would do anything for other people, for the world, but he doesn't expect anything in return. He's never gotten anything in return, not even recognition. So many of the people he's saved don't even know who he is or what he's done. He loves humanity. Purely, completely, unconditionally. He loves Dean and Cas, too, but his love for them goes beyond unconditional and into the realm of ridiculously unhealthy.

Initially, Sam didn’t have codependency issues. He began the series as fiercely independent. He wanted to avenge Jess, then go back to school. First season Sam called Dean out on his shit regularly. People accuse Sam of being selfish back then, but that wasn't it. He had self respect, and a sense of self worth. He loved Dean, and he wanted what was best for him. But he also wanted what was best for himself. Sam felt a lot of guilt back then, but it hadn’t progressed into complete self loathing. He didn’t let people project onto him, and he valued himself and his life and his happiness.

The problem began with Dean selling his soul. Sam viewed that as entirely his fault. That act was the root of most of Sam’s issues during the entire series. His guilt complex. His codependency with Dean. His obsessiveness. Ruby, demon’s blood. Dean selling his soul changed Sam completely. He felt responsible for Dean going to hell, and so he let him get away with crap he never would have allowed beforehand.

Cas tore down the wall in Sam's head and forced him to remember the cage. He did so many horrible things. Even before his villain arc, he was still terrible to Sam. Sam would have been perfectly justified in not forgiving him. But Sam forgave him anyway. There is no way to argue that this was healthy, because it was immediate. It’s one thing to forgive after taking some time to think it through. But that’s not what this was. Sam never even blamed Cas for what he did.

Sam’s love gets even more unhealthy when you think about everything else Cas did that was not to Sam. He committed angel and human genocide. There are a lot of things that can and should be forgiven. Genocide is not one of them. There is no circumstance in which genocide is forgivable.

Sam’s forgiveness isn't like Dean’s. Dean “forgives” people, but so many seasons later, he still throws all of Sam’s mistakes back in his face. Sam genuinely forgives. He may never forget, but he forgives people, and would never hold their mistakes against them for so long.

I am always amazed by Sam's ability to forgive. It’s sick, it’s unhealthy, but it comes so easily to him. A lot of the time he doesn’t even recognize situations as situations where people should be apologizing to him and he should be forgiving or not forgiving them.

Sam still has this unbelievable purity about him and his motivations and his emotions. The second he makes an emotional bond with someone, however small or faint, he’s willing to sacrifice everything for them. He comes last. Always. He loves the world itself. Completely, purely, unconditionally.

Sam is unbelievably self destructive. This is a man that focuses on a goal with single-minded intensity. He goes without sleep on a regular basis. It seems a lot of the time like the one person in the world Sam doesn’t care about is himself. The only person Sam won’t forgive is himself. So many years after the fact, he still places all the blame of everything that’s ever gone wrong on himself. Jess. Dean. Lucifer.

The thing about unconditional love is, in order for it to not verge into being seriously unhealthy, a person has to recognize when they’re being used and abused and take a step back. They can still love the other party, but they have to come first. Sam took a huge step forward in that regard in season nine, when he found out what Dean had done to him. He refused to feel guilty about something that was in no way his fault. He didn’t stop loving Dean, but he recognized that their relationship was toxic.

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

Sam’s sheer gentleness amazes me so much. He’s huge and deadly and intimidating, but he would never hurt an innocent person and he’s so dedicated to making sure people are safe and not afraid.

He needs someone to be that kind and tender towards him. He doesn’t think he does - he doesn’t want to be coddled and doesn’t think he needs gentleness and he doesn’t think he deserves the same kindness he gives others. But this is a man that’s gone through so much because he wanted to help others, at the hands of everyone from his own brother to the Devil himself.

It’s not a question of coddling him. He doesn’t need people to walk on eggshells around him or address him like he’s a scared animal or a child. It’s about respect and tact and basic kindness.

I have a huge problem with how casually cruel people are to Sam because they’re vicious. They make jokes out of things that should absolutely not be joked about. Charlie once said something that amounted to thanking Dean for saving the world and telling Sam she was sorry he had no luck with relationships. I guess that was supposed to be funny. It wasn’t.

To start off, the “saving the world” thing? That was Sam. Not Dean. People need to stop taking Sam’s accomplishments and giving all the credit to Dean because that’s what Sam himself does, and it’s why he has no sense of self worth.

As for the relationships, these are people that died. People that Sam cared about and loved and grieved. Being tortured for centuries in hell didn’t change his love for Jess. He had to kill Madison. And yet the fact that he lost them, lost all the other women he at one point or another fell for, is mocked. It’s not funny, it’s not cute. It’s beyond tactless. It’s flat out cruel. And Dean’s behaviour about Sam’s relationship with Amelia - faking a distress text? Blaming and making Sam feel guilty for however long about falling in love with her and being somewhat happy again? That was disgusting.

Dean once joked about Sam’s hallucinations of Lucifer, which is so not okay I don’t even know where to start. The cage was a traumatic experience for Sam. He was trapped in there, for what he thought would be eternity, with two angry archangels that blamed him entirely for them being there. He was tortured. And after coming out, Sam still saw Lucifer, couldn’t get away from him. He was questioning what was real and what wasn’t. He was terrified. He was scared to sleep, because seeing Lucifer was better than dreaming about the Cage.

Sam had been possessed by Lucifer, and he managed to regain control of his body and jump into the cage. It was a moment of incredible strength and willpower. But after that moment? Once they were all in that cage, Sam and Lucifer and Adam and Michael? Lucifer and Michael proved to him that he wasn’t in control anymore, that they were stronger than him, that he was at their mercy.

When I say that people should be gentle with Sam, I’m not saying they should tuck him in at night and treat him like a child. I’m saying that both he and his experiences need to be respected and taken seriously. He needs to have his choices be his own.

Something I’ve realized is, despite Sam being good and decent and kind, he doesn’t really understand what kindness is. He can’t distinguish genuine kindness from people fixing mistakes. He thought that Cas taking on his memories was good and heroic, even though Cas was responsible for them in the first place. He’s spent so much time around Dean, that even the thought of someone protecting him is unsettling - Dean’s idea of protecting him is letting an angel possess him. He behaves ethically because that's who he is. Not out of any conscious thought that he needs to be kind and caring and gentle. He feels the need to be good, and he consciously strives to be better, but he doesn’t do that through being nicer to people or more thoughtful. He does it by trying to save even more people.

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

Sam always talks about how he feels unclean and impure, and he goes about trying to fix that in every possible way. The whole thing comes across as very reminiscent of someone with an eating disorder.

Demon's blood is always referred to as something like a drug. It's addictive, it's bad for you, Sam talks about "being clean" after he stops drinking it. But even after everything, he still craved it, and the brief period of time when he was drinking it influenced his decisions for years after the fact.

Eating - Sam's eating habits aren't really brought up that much. They're exaggerated in fandom, but there are really only a few references. Despite that, for the most part, Sam eats very healthily. Salads, fruit, vegetables. We've seen him shopping at a farmer's market. Less drinking than Dean. It could just be a character thing, and for the most part it is, except for one thing - none of that was even brought up in the show until after Sam discovered that Azazel had dripped blood into his infant mouth and that as such, he was unclean.

Sam is a large person with a high amount of muscle. There are exceptions, but for most people that size, it's necessary to eat a lot to maintain that. Sam doesn't. I'm five four and maybe a hundred and fifteen pounds, and even for someone my size, a fast food salad doesn't keep me full for long. Yet we've seen Sam eat just that. He exercises a lot. We've seen him running and doing yoga. The whole impression I get is of someone who feels he has to be healthier and obsesses over that, even though his rational mind knows that what he’s doing isn’t healthy.

Sam is very self destructive. He keeps doing things that are terrible for him, that he knows are terrible for him, because they're for a reason, and he thinks his life is an acceptable sacrifice. He felt that the trials were purifying him, and so he kept at it, despite the fact that they were killing him. It was for the world, but it was also for him, for his peace of mind, because he’d hate himself if he didn’t follow through.

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

http://coltsandquills.tumblr.com/post/103901299051/1x13-route-666-ten-seconds-in-the-place-and-i

A bit of a ficlet/thoughts I wrote up on my writing blog about Sam from the ep Route 666. I recently started rewatching SPN for the first time, and this was one of those moments that really slammed home just how much Sam loves his brother. I see a lot going around about how Sam doesn’t forgive easily, and I couldn’t disagree more. He’s more open with his emotions than Dean, which can give a negative impression at times, but when it comes down to it, I think Sam is amazing at finding love with people even when he finds fault with them. So, yeah. :) That’s it. I don’t mind if you don’t share, but I had to gush.

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

I really like to talk about Sam's experience at Stanford, because even though it ended very badly and he lost Jess and none of his friends know now that he's alive and not a serial killer, Sam still has such fond memories of being there.

Going to Stanford for Sam was about so much more than just going to college and getting an education. More than settling down and maybe starting a family. Yeah, he wanted to have a career and a degree and a life with Jess, but before he got there, before he met Jess, Stanford was already important.

It was him finally striking out on his own and declaring his independence. It was about him having the freedom to make his own choices. He left a toxic environment and built something good, something healthy, something happy. Was it all bad, his childhood? No. It wasn't. He had good memories. But he had a father that tried to emotionally blackmail him into staying by saying that if he left, he shouldn't come back. And it really says something that some of Sam's best memories were of the times he got away from his family. Thanksgiving with a friend. Leaving for Stanford. Running away for a week and adopting a dog.

I'm about the age that Sam was when he left for college right now. I'm seventeen, in my senior year of high school. I'll be going to college in the fall. And I can't imagine the courage Sam must have had to leave.

My parents are degrading and scream constantly at me for no reason and blame me for everything under the sun. I wish I could just up and leave. But I can't, because I'm scared. I'm afraid of failing. Of proving them right. Of so much. The idea of just declaring that enough is enough and leaving is so tempting but so terrifying, and in the end, I can't do it. But Sam Winchester did.

He wanted to go to law school at Stanford. Before college, he moved around every few months. Here, he had a home for three years - maybe, there's a lot of contradicting evidence as to how long he was there, but I'm pretty sure three years makes the most sense - and he enjoyed it enough to want to continue to stay there.

Stanford is a great school, no doubt. But for law specifically? It's still high on the list, but there are better law schools out there, when it comes to employment after, and Sam, with his great grades and awesome LSAT score would have definitely had a good chance of getting into those. But no. He wanted to stay at Stanford, because it became his home. He loved being there. He loved the school, he loved his friends, he loved Jess. It wasn't initially about her and his degree, but they became a huge part of it. Stanford was everything. Freedom, independence, proof that he didn't need John or Dean, friends, stability. For many people, freedom and independence are about being able to do whatever stupid thing they want to. For Sam, it was about a steady, quiet, stable life.

Sam is very much an introvert, but he found his place at Stanford. He made a life there, and it was a good one. I've said before that Jess became Sam's home, and that's true, because Jess represented a huge part of what was good in his life and she was the reason he started hunting again and all that, but it's also more than that.

Sam's initial goal was to find Jessica's killer and avenge her murder. The goal consumed him. He needed to do it, it was all he could focus on. Other hunts? Yeah, of course he'd do them, but what was driving him were thoughts of Jess. But despite how much that goal motivated him, Sam still hoped to one day return to Stanford after avenging Jess, because Stanford was home, even without her. Back then, he believed he could be normal, and Stanford was his normal. Even without Jess, he had a life there. No one would have questioned it. He lost his girlfriend of however long, and needed to get out of there, but came back once the wounds had healed a bit. It makes sense. Sad, but understandable. After a while though, he couldn't go back, because he wasn't that sweet, innocent Sam anymore, not the wide eyed idealist that had left home and fallen so completely in love with his university and his girlfriend and his new life. He didn't belong there anymore.

[boyd-stevens]

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

Another plot hole - in universe, Sam and Dean are real people as well as the lead characters in a supposedly fictional series with the exact same background as the real people. That must have caused a lot of confusion everywhere.

Fans of the books - what happened when they started showing up on the news as a murderer? Didn't they recognize them from the books? I mean, one of them having the same name as a character is one thing, but having a brother with the same name as the character's brother? In Sam's case, having gone to the same school? Did no one think that was the least bit strange?

Police - at one point, they identified a shapeshifter's body as Dean and suspected he was responsible for murder. At another point, they had video evidence of both brothers committing murder. There are probably other occasions that I'm not remembering as well. And the police didn't once come across a copy of the books?

Friends - this is definitely more of a Sam problem than a Dean because Sam had non-hunter friends. But none of them ever found a copy? Never tried to figure out anything more about Sam when he didn't share? Nothing?

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

The more I think about it, the more perplexed I get about Sam's old friends from Stanford. What the hell do they think happened to him?

They all knew him as this quiet, mild mannered guy that loved his girlfriend and let her drag him out to Halloween parties. They knew he was smart and hard working and not close to his family. And the next thing they knew, his apartment caught on fire, Jess was dead, and Sam has left town with the brother none of them had ever met right after the funeral. A few years later, he's on the FBI's most wanted list and his face is all over the news because there's video of him murdering people.

At first none of them figured he had anything to do with Jess's death. And why would they? He was more devastated than anyone. Everyone figured it was just an accident. Sam was still emailing them in an early episode, and he and Dean went to help out one of them when her brother was accused of murder. Said friend learned that Sam was a hunter. In that same episode, the police found a shapeshifter in Dean's form dead and suspected him of murder.

The fact that the episode in which Sam's friend discovered he was a hunter was one about a shapeshifter is interesting, because if I recall correctly, she saw video of her brother in one place while she knew he was with her. So she might have suspected that Sam wasn't a murderer, despite the video evidence of him shooting people.

Becky promised not to tell anyone, so none of Sam's other friends knew what was going on. So they all just think he's a dead murderer? I'm so confused by all of this.

Also, the situation with Amelia made zero sense. Sure, he omitted major details, but he was still very truthful with her. He told her his real name. Told her that he went to Stanford but dropped out. How is it possible that she didn't figure out that he was wanted by the FBI and a criminal? Not one background check? Not when they started dating or when he adopted Riot? Even if she didn't do it, I'd have figured her dad would - he didn't even like Sam.

Even more confusing is Dean. How many times have the police found his body after suspecting him of some crime? What the hell do they think is going on at this point?

[safiyabat]

Daily Dose of Sam

Hey, do you remember when the substance of Sam’s addiction was literally forced into his mouth and he didn’t swallow?

I’m not sure that I can adequately describe how much strength that took, because I’m not an addict.  I do know a few, and they’ve shared some of their experiences.  This was still fairly early in Sam’s recovery, if you’ll recall.  He separated from Dean because he didn’t trust himself, because Dean didn’t trust him, because of the addiction.  

And to have that substance forced on him, in that way, and to resist - I don’t know if I’d have the strength.  I very much doubt that I would.  I doubt that I know anyone who would.  

But Sam did.  Sam’s strength - of heart, of will, of mind, of spirit - gets me through on my toughest days.  

(Free To Be You And Me, 5.03)

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

Today, I think I’m going to talk about something I’ve kind of brushed on in the past but never really explored: Sam as the saviour.

The first five seasons, the Jesus parallels were impossible to miss. A man that was willing to sacrifice everything for other people and that did. Someone that saw the best in other people and believed in them, even when no one else did. Someone with high moral standards. Someone that forgives unconditionally.

As Sam was preparing to jump into the pit and condemn himself to eternal torture, his instinct was to reassure Dean. He did that, then without hesitating, jumped. Sam doesn’t even come second to himself - he comes, like, eighth. How could this man be anything but the saviour? He would sacrifice himself to protect anyone. His life is unimportant. He’ll sacrifice that if it means saving just one more person.

Sam had followers, like Christ did, followers ready to fight for him. Sam didn’t make his sacrifice for them. They were demons, and Sam sacrificed himself to avoid a war between them and angels. In doing so, he saved countless lives, human and demon and angel, even though his primary motivation was to protect humanity.

Christ died so that humanity’s sins would be forgiven. It’s a story of unconditional love and sacrifice. Sam’s story is just that. He died because he sacrificed himself for others, to atone for his own sins.

Something else very reminiscent of Christ is the fact that Sam never fit in anywhere. He was the white sheep in his family, and even after going to Stanford, he was still the odd one out. We saw in the pilot - he never lost his hunting instinct. Dean broke into his apartment, and woke Sam up. Sam’s reaction to someone in his house wasn’t to say anything but to quietly approach and see who was there.

Sam was so misunderstood. I still don’t believe that him exorcising demons was a bad thing. The only damage the demon’s blood was doing was to him, and he was voluntarily paying that price. Their mission was supposed to be saving people and hunting things, but when they got Ruby’s knife, the “saving people” part seems to have slipped their minds and they completely gave up on exorcisms. Sam was just returning to what they used to do and believe in.

One of the things I find so special about Sam is that, even more than forgiving people for things that he would have every right to consider unforgivable, there are so many horrific things that people have done that he never even considered blaming them for. The two best examples of this are Dean and Mary.

Dean has done many things that Sam has forgiven him for - allowing an angel to possess him, killing Amy, hurting him physically and emotionally again and again, dragging him back into hunting. But Dean also broke the first seal by torturing souls in hell. Sam empathized. He never threw that in Dean’s face. Ever. Even after Dean blamed him for setting Lucifer free, called him a monster, Sam never stooped so low as to bring up the fact that Dean tortured people, most of whom had done nothing wrong other than make a deal with a demon, like he himself had done.

Sam’s story was allegedly foretold, set from the beginning of time. He was the chosen one. Lucifer’s vessel. One of Azazel’s special children. He was the result of the merging of the Winchester and the Campbell bloodlines, the son of John and Mary. He was a pawn in a game of chess between heaven and hell, and he suffered so much because of that. But none of it could have happened had Mary not made a deal with Azazel. John’s life for entry into her home. In fairness, Mary didn’t know what she was agreeing to. But she essentially signed away her unborn son’s life before he was even conceived. When Mary took the deal, she allowed Azazel to feed an infant Sam demon’s blood and gain psychic powers. The deal resulted in John, Dean, and Sam becoming hunters, hellbent on revenge. Resulted in Sam meeting Ruby. Becoming addicted to demon’s blood. Becoming Lucifer’s vessel. Jumping into the cage.

And when Sam learned about what she had done, he never blamed her for a second.

Sam never knew Mary. To him, she was nothing but stories told to him by his father and brother. He knew that his family loved her, but he couldn’t - he had never known her. She was a stranger to him. And yet he didn’t blame her. This is so, so remarkable, because it demonstrates that Sam wouldn’t blame anyone for ruining his life like that.

Sam’s myth arc was completed by the end of season five when he made his sacrifice, but it began anew once he returned from the pit. Even Sam without a soul was a better man than most. He wasn’t nice, he wasn’t polite, he wasn’t Sam, but he was a good person because Sam is inherently good.

We saw other people without their souls, and they were out of control. Violent. Bloodthirsty. Sam? He was calculating, and ruthless, and sarcastic, but he still continued doing what he had always done. Saving people. Hunting things. He did riskier things, but they paid off, because Sam without his empathy and compassion was as close as anyone could get to a perfect hunter.

He was prepared to sacrifice himself again at the end of season eight, so that humans would be safe. He was going to close the gates of hell. Sam has no sense of self preservation because to him, his life is unimportant when it’s a choice between protecting others and protecting himself.

Sam is indisputably a tragic hero. Things happen to him, again and again, through no real fault of his own. His greatest flaw is his desire - his need - to have faith in something or someone. Ruby. Dean. Cas. He trusted all of them, and that trust ended up hurting him.

In the beginning, he was fighting himself just as much as he was fighting any outside force. He is good, he is selfless, he is giving, but he feared himself. Not just the demon’s blood in him, because Sam doesn’t distinguish different parts of himself - he feared and hated himself. His entire being. The struggle became very literal when Lucifer possessed him.

It’s been hammered into everyone’s head that demon’s blood is evil. But Sam? When he was drinking it, he was using the abilities it gave him to exorcise demons and save the host body. Sam took something dark and made good come out of it.

Sam is the saviour, not because of any destiny, but because of his choices. Sam chooses to be good and do good every day, and he saves people again and again because of it. He’s saved individuals, and he’s saved all of humanity, and he’s set captured souls free.

Supernatural has crossed so many lines that probably shouldn’t have been crossed when it comes to religion. At this point, what’s one more? Give me the second coming of Christ in the form of Sam Winchester. Give me the rebirth instead of the return in adult form. Give me Sam, the humble hero with a guilt complex, finding out that he’s not unclean, that he’s not a monster. Finding out that he’s inherently good and always has been.

That would make such a good story, and it might be another thing that could bring me back into the show. Because Sam has always had faith, in God, in angels, in Dean, but never in himself. Finding out that he is the reincarnation of Jesus would help him finally, finally, see himself as the hero he is. He would remain humble, of course, because that’s who Sam is, but he would finally accept that he is good. Sam is one of the few people who wouldn’t become arrogant upon discovering that they were the reincarnation of Christ, which is why he’s one of the only people that could be.

I get weirdly defensive of Sam and his myth arcs and his status as the hero. Someone tried to argue that Dean was more of a Christ-like figure than Sam, and that made me really upset because this. Is. Sam’s. He was the one that sacrificed everything to stop the apocalypse and was willing to do it again to close the gates of hell. He’s the saviour. That’s his and no one can take it away from him.

[herrosesneverfall]

That reaction is exactly why I wrote that post in the first place. There is so much Christ!Dean erasure that most people don’t even think it even can be a possible reading of Dean’s character, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Said reading therefore goes unexamined and we lose something great as a fandom as a result. 

For the record, I do, in fact, think that Sam has a Christ arc to a certain degree. He was certainly intended to have one when the show initially started and he certainly had one during The Trials. The imagery was there, the mythology was there. That I will not deny for a second. I just think that Sam has more of an Antichrist arc given the overall evidence at hand and that there is a stronger case to be made for Dean’sChrist arc given the overall evidence. 

You have to look at things as a whole. The validity of authorial intention, particularly in a show that’s evolved as much as Supernatural has, is up to debate. By claiming that Sam is the only onewith a Christ arc, you are ignoring Sam’s character arcs that are AntiChristological: BoyKing and Lucifer’s Vessel. You are ignoring aliteral wealth of imagery and mythology for Dean’s character that is Christological:

Dean being the first born son of Mary, Dean being an obedientson to absent father who placed the weight of saving people upon his shoulders,Dean willing selling his soul for Sam’s salvation, Dean going to Hell fortyyears and being tortured into breaking the First Seal, Dean getting resurrectedby Heaven to fulfill the destiny of stopping the Apocalypse, Dean’s role as theMichael Sword, Dean’s status as The Righteous Man and a True Servant of Heaven,just to name a few.

I’ve already laid out the mythological and biblical evidence for each of theseexamples, along with some others, here and here so I’m not going to go into them with any more detail. However,I am going to focus briefly on Dean’s breaking of the First Seal since you mentioned it inpassing in your post. Dean breaking TheFirst Seal is literally Dean actingin the role of Christ. How is that Christological? Well, first off, by Kripke’sown admission, seasons four and five are adaptationsof the Book of the Revelation. Dean’s narrative of being The Righteous Man whobreaks the First Seal is specifically an adaption of chapter five, in which a figure known as ‘The Lamb’ breaks the seven seals onthe scroll which will unleash the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. TheLamb being a synonym for and a symbol of Christ. 

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writingon both sides and sealed with seven seals. AndI saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break theseals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earthcould open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because noone was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of theelders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Rootof David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb,looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne,encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven hornsand seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all theearth.  He went and took the scroll fromthe right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the fourliving creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each onehad a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are theprayers of God’s people.  And they sang anew song, saying: “You are worthy totake the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” ( Revelation 5:5-12, NIV )

Dean’s act of breaking the First Seal is not only Christological, it fits the narrative presented in Revelation perfectly. He did it while he was in Hell, after he had been killed, after he had willing sacrificed his life for Sam. He accomplished it because he was a truly righteous man. If you assume that Alastair was lying about John, Dean was the Righteous Man, meaning that he was the only one who could have broken the First Seal. Its fine if you want read Sam as a Christ figure, go right ahead. You have the right to read his character however you want. But you cannot say that he is the only one who has Christ imagery or a Christ narrative, because as I have demonstrated, that is simply not the case. Dean has one as well.

[herrosesneverfall]

samtheboywhowouldbeking:

I just wanted to start off by saying that I’m an Agnostic-Atheist. One that was raised Roman Catholic, but an Agnostic-Atheist none the less. I’m someone that has a lot of interest in Judeo-Christian mythology. Everything that I bring up or mention here is done for the sake of making a mythological point. 

First off, I have no clue what post you’re referring to, I was talking about someone on TV Tropes. And I just said that I got annoyed when people called Dean more of a Christ-figure than Sam, not that I get annoyed when they see those parallels at all.

 I recently made a post here on tumblr, two in fact , about Dean being a Christ figure. I posted them in the supernatural meta tag about a week before you made this post. The timing seemed rather apt. My posts are the only ones on tumblr, as far as I am aware, that talk about the reading of Christ!Dean and given that you were vague posting about someone making the claim of Christ!Dean, I logically assumed that you were talking about me.   Also that is exactly what you are saying. If there is a parallel between Dean and Christ, than Dean has the role of Christ figure to some extent. That’s how literary and especially mythological parallels work. But you very clearly said that the role of Christ figure belongs to Sam and Sam alone which means that Dean can’t have any Christ parallels because Sam already has them. That is an incorrect statement because Dean does have Christ parallels and they mean that he is a Christ figure. 

Secondly, with Dean, he literally may have a Christlike role, but the reasons why he’s done those things are so vastly different from why Christ did. He sacrificed his life willingly, yes, but he did it out of the most twisted kind of love imaginable, not the pure, selfless, unconditional love for the world that Sam and Christ made their sacrifices for. He chose to resurrect Sam, who would otherwise be going to heaven. Sam on the other hand. His sacrifice wasn’t for one person. Similarly to Christ, he died for humanity, so that no one else would be harmed in a war between heaven and hell.

One of Supernaturals most famous lines is from Dean, “I think Dad wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things, the Family Business.” Dean is the one accepted John’s will to be a hunter. To save and protect people from the evils of the world, even if that meant the end of his own life.  

Dean is constantly laying his life on the line. He went in between the fight between Michael and Lucifer and he squared off against Metaron, knowing that he was probably not going to come out of those situations alive. Most recently, he’s given Sam and Castiel the right to kill him should The Mark of Cain take over. It was Dean who was originally going to do The Trails. He had every single intention of doing them, but Sam ended up taking them on instead because of a random twist of fate. Sam had to take on the Trials, Dean chose to do them, but couldn’t.

While Dean might have sold his soul for Sam out of desperation and it might not have been for the whole world, Dean still  willingly sacrificed himself for another human being. It’s still a selfless act. Sam tried to find way to get Dean out of the deal but Dean refused because Sam would die otherwise. Dean spent a year of his life knowing that he was going to die in bloody agony, but he never tried to get out of it because Sam’s life was more important.   Christ’s sacrifice is about Salvation, it’s about the conquering of death and atonement for sins. It’s done out of love, but love is not the point of the act. 

Also, it should be noted that in the scene of Dean in Hell after he’s killed by the hell hounds, he’s hug up by chains in his wrists, feet and side which look an awful lot like the wounds of Christ. 

Dean is a sacrificial lamb. A martyr. Plain and simple. 

Dean’s resurrection was never to fulfill the tole of stopping the Apocalypse. He was fulfilled to be Michael’s vessel and thus start the Apocalypse. He didn’t stop it. It was Sam that regained control of his body and thus stopped Michael and Lucifer from fighting. Threw them all in the cage so that their fight didn’t endanger the planet.

Dean was resurrected because he broke the first Seal, “The First Seal shall break when a Righteous Man sheds blood in Hell.”  We learn from Castiel that Dean was resurrected because, “The Righteous Man who begins it is the only one who can finish it.” Dean was the one who started the Apocalypse and it was Dean who had to stop the Apocalypse. He’s literally the Alpha and Omega. 

And Dean did stop the Apocalypse. Sam’s plan might have been to jump into the Cage as soon as he let Lucifer in, but that plan did not work. Sam couldn’t take control back from Lucifer and Lucifer and Michael were going to fight. That was, until Dean showed up. Dean got in between Michael and Lucifer’s pissing contest, an act that without a doubt would have gotten Dean killed. It was only after Dean’s talking to Sam and admitting his love and care for Sam, while Lucifer was beating the ever-living crap out of him, that Sam was able to break through. If Dean hadn’t gone into that cemetery and put his life on the line, Sam would have never gotten control of himself back and never would have jumped into the Cage. Sam might have jumped into the Cage, but it was Dean who was acting as a Lamb being led to the slaughter. 

I fail to see how Dean’s role as Michael’s vessel in any way demonstrates parallels between him and Christ. I’m pretty sure you’re saying it’s important because of Michael’s destiny to defeat Lucifer in the show, correct me if I’m wrong. Dean may have been the vessel, but Michael never possessed him. He possessed John and Adam at different points, Adam when it came to facing Lucifer, and it wasn’t him that stopped Lucifer anyway. That was all Sam.

Michael is a direct analogue for Christ in the show. When I say ‘Christ’ I mean the divine entity as apposed to the person of Jesus. Michael’s characterization barrows a lot from Christ and he was characterized that way because the show needed a Christ for the Apocalypse arc, but they couldn’t get away with actually using Jesus so Michael subbed in for him. 

Michael is God’s eldest son. Michael is the only being that can destroy Lucifer and he is destined to fight Lucifer in a climatic battle. Christ is God’s only begotten Son and it’s Christ who throws Lucifer, The Antichrist and The False Prophet back into Hell. Also there are some Christian sects who believe that Michael and Christ are the same entity. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Advents for example. The connection between Michael and Christ is there. 

Dean isn’t just Michael’s vessel, He is Michael’s True vessel, the Michael Sword. John and Adam were just Plan B’s and they are stated to be so. Dean is ‘The Chosen One’ and always had been. Dean is the human man that is destined to be the vessel of Michael’s heavenly power and grace. The vessel of the entity that is destined to destroy Satan. 

Michael is intended to be Christ and Dean, as Michael’s vessel, is therefore intended to be Jesus. 

I am looking at this holistically, and I continue to say that Sam is more of a Christ-like figure than an anti-Christ, because he may have been Lucifer’s vessel, he may have had demons prepared to follow him, but he was still unflinchingly good. Christ had followers that were prepared to fight in his name. So did Sam - just because they were demons doesn’t change the fact that he had followers and he didn’t want any bloodshed. The role of the anti-Christ from what I understand - again, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m an atheist - is one that is the opposite of Christ, one with malicious intent that deceived humanity. I don’t think that that’s Sam in any way. All he ever did was good. Being the Boy King is interesting, because Sam was horrified by it. He didn’t want the powers. He didn’t want to have demons fighting for him. And that’s why he wasn’t the Anti-Christ. He denied being good and heroic and a saviour. He was humble about all his virtues. Never once did he claim to be anything he wasn’t. Having dark powers does not negate his Christ arc. Boy King, Lucifer’s vessel, these things do not automatically make it an Anti-Christ arc.

Based on a literal text of the Bible? Yes. An Antichrist is someone who opposes or is threat to Christ. There’s a lot of debate among theologians as to exactly what that means. If that’s just a false messiah in league with Satan or Satan manifest in human form or Satan’s child, etc. The archetype of Antichrist, on the whole, is a dark or demonic savior. Sam being The Boy King and the vessel of Lucifer does qualify him for the role of Antichrist, based on the archetype. 

That said, Sam’s goodness does not disqualify him from the role of Antichrist. He’s still an Antichrist. He is viewed as a demonic savior, he is the literal vessel of Satan. He is the dark half of the light and dark dichotomy he has with Dean. He is even called the Antichrist in text during season three by both Ruby and Gordon (biased opinions aside). Sam is an Antichrist. The fact that Sam is a protagonist just makes him subversion of trope, but it It does not negate it.

Speaking of Sam’s goodness, what about that arc Sam had of drinking demon blood and literally banging a demon, despite being told by both Dean and Castiel that what he was doing was wrong? How about that time he nearly choked his brother to death while on a demon blood high? How about the fact that he spent nearly the whole season lying to Dean about his activities with Ruby? You can argue that Sam did it because he was being manipulated by Ruby, and that’s true, but he was still doing something that he knew was wrong and refused to admit that what he was doing was wrong.  

I repeat - it was Sam that defeated Lucifer and stopped the Apocalypse. Not Michael. Not Dean. Sam.

Which he accomplished because Dean put himself in the line of fire and helped him take control back of his body, thus allowing him to jump into The Cage. Sam did not do that purely on his own. Dean helped him achieve that.

I continued to argue my point for the sake of debate and because you are a lot more articulate and polite than most of the Dean supports that add on to posts, but honestly, I am so done with people taking untagged posts that have nothing to do with Dean, that are all about Sam and praising him and appreciating his character, and making it all about Dean. I didn’t deny or ignore anything or any parallel. I just focused on Sam who I think is far more clearly and meaningfully a Christ figure.

I’m not making it about Dean. Yes, I believe that there is far more evidence that points to Dean being a Christ figure over Sam. Yes, I think Dean fits the role better, based on said evidence. Yes, I’m bothered by the very apparent glossing over or downplaying of bits of Dean’s character which point to him being a Christ figure, things that have direct biblical parallels, in favor of the broad strokes that paint Sam as a Christ figure.   However, my argument here isn’t about that. It’s about the absolute claim that Sam is Supernatural’s defacto Christ figure. That the role of Christ belongs to Sam and to Sam only. He’s not and it doesn’t. Dean has Christ parallels, quite a few in fact and some are very direct. Dean is a Christ figure. Sam is not the only one. 

[herrosesneverfall]

samtheboywhowouldbeking:

That is not what I said. I said that Sam has parallels to Christ that build to the arc of him as a saviour and Dean doesn’t. I never said that Dean doesn’t have parallels to Christ. I said that he doesn’t have the story arc. Those are not the same thing.

Yes they are. Parallel and narrative go hand in hand. That aside, Dean’s Christ parallels do form a cohesive Christ narrative. I have already demonstrated, twice, in detail, using both biblical and dogmatic evidence, to prove that Dean being The Righteous Man and The Michael Sword are both direct Christ parallels that form a Christ narrative for his character. 

You talk about Dean’s selflessness a lot, and I think that that’s something frequently misinterpreted. Dean’s love isn’t selfless. So many of the sacrifices he claims to make for Sam aren’t for Sam but for himself. He makes them because he can’t stand the thought of being alone. When he sold his soul to bring Sam back to life, he never thought about the fact that Sam wouldn’t want it.

Dean tricking Gadreel into Sam so Sam wouldn’t die was selfish act, yes. It was selfish because Dean knew that Sam wanted to die and wouldn’t let him. But not Dean selling his soul for Sam. These are totally separate situations. Dean sold his soul for Sam back at the end of season two. Long before angels and heaven were part of the mythos. As far as Dean knew, Sam was just dead. 

Sam got murdered by the psychic kid, Jake and Dean sold his soul for Sam. Dean did it out of desperation and mourning, but that does not negate that he willingly sold his soul to bring his brother back to life. No one was twisting Dean’s arm. Dean had time to think about his actions as well and he chose to sell his soul for Sam. I fail to see how that is not selfless. Just because Dean saved one person instead of six billion that does not make his sacrifice any less of a sacrifice. 

Sam’s sacrifice was in large part to atone for sins. His own, mostly, but also for those of everyone who at any point played a role in getting them to that point. And there were a lot of those.

Which is not the point of being a messiah. A messiah, according to both Jewish and Christian belief, is supposed to save other people. If Sam did it for his own salvation, that is missing the point. 

On the Anti-Christ and the demonic saviour - Yes, the demons viewed Sam as their saviour, but he chose not to be. He chose to not lead them. He chose to stop a war instead of fight in it. Even before then, he fought for humanity against demons. He spent a season exorcising them with his mind. Sam made a choice in season four, and that was to save as many lives as possible, regardless of cost to himseslf. The drinking of demon’s blood was done after weighing the pros and the cons. He could save the human vessels after two seasons of just killing them, and the only cost would be to himself. Because Sam is a good person that is willing to make huge sacrifices to himself for the greater good, he paid that price. Was it something dark and disturbing? Damn straight it was. But he took that something dark and made something good out of it. He used his powers for good.

But that doesn’t negate that what he was doing was wrong. Castiel told him that it was wrong, Dean told him that it was wrong. And it was proven wrong because it turned out that Ruby was playing him like a fool and that ultimately it was all about getting him primed and ready to be Lucifer’s vessel.  

Nearly choking Dean? Sure, that wasn’t a high point for Sam. But Dean has done much worse to Sam while in full control of his own mind. He’s punched him repeatedly, locked him in a panic room strapped to a bed to detox, invited an angel to possess him. Sam’s lowest, darkest points have been while under the influence of demon’s blood, while Dean’s have been while completely himself.

Any physical violence put on another human being is horrible, even less so when it’s someone that you love and I am not condoning Dean assaulting Sam, but how is nearly choking his brother to death, a brother who is physically smaller than him, less horrific than getting punched? In moments when Dean wasn’t in the best of mental states either. The two times that come to mind  of Dean punching Sam occurred when Dean was mourning John and when he was fresh out of the grave and suffering from Hell PTSD, having just learned that Sam was using his demonic psychic powers to exorcise demons. Not to mention, Sam has punched Dean before in moments of anger too. Both are guilty of that.  And demon blood detox? Considering Sam was addicted to it and had been hiding his addiction from Dean and Bobby for months, that was best course of action they had. That was nothing else all that they could do.

Now you’re doing just what you accuse me of and downplaying Sam’s character and actions. Sure, Dean helped. But that does not mean that it was him that ended the Apocalypse. His presence reminded Sam of what he was fighting for, but it was still Sam that managed to take back control. It was Sam that threw himself, Lucifer, and Michael into the cage.

Which is exactly my point. If Dean hadn’t been there, Sam wouldn’t have taken control. That is not me downplaying Sam’s role, that is me stating a fact. Lucifer was in full possession of Sam. Lucifer and Michael had every intention of fighting each other and had Dean not come along to stop the fight, they would have fought. Dean is why the fight stopped, Dean is why Sam got control back. 

Are you forgetting that the angels didn’t want the Apocalypse averted? They wanted the war. They wanted Dean to be possessed and wanted Michael and Lucifer to fight. Dean was resurrected to end the war by fighting in it. But that didn’t happen. Sure, Dean was Michael’s true vessel and it was in his body that Michael was supposed to defeat Lucifer. But none of that happened. Dean may have been the vessel, but he was replaceable.

Because Dean fought against it. Dean prevented it from occurring. He saw the angels self-righteous pissing contest and said and ‘no’ to it. Dean refused to be used as a pawn in their game. He said ‘no’ to fate and destiny and he changed the order. That is what a messiah does. They bring about new ages and fight oppressive tyranny. That is what Dean did.

[herrosesneverfall]

samtheboywhowouldbeking:

And Sam did save other people! The only salvation or redemption he was getting was in his own eyes. By doing it, he was condemning himself to an eternity of torture, but saving the world. He wanted to help other people and he firmly believed that it was his responsibility. In no way did he do it for his own salvation.

Which means that in part, Sam was doing it for himself. He thought doing it would redeem him. That it would make amends for everything he had done. I’m not denying that he did save everyone else, but a huge part of why he did it, by Sam’s own admission, was inwardly motivated. 

Dean honestly had no room to judge what was right and what was wrong. He made a deal with a demon. He tortured souls in hell.

You said in your first post that Mary making a deal with Azazel for John’s life started Sam on his messianic path. Was that wrong? Was that selfish? Sam trying to get Dean out of his deal and Sam trying to make a deal for Dean after Dean had died, was that wrong? Was that selfish? 

Dean tortured souls in hell after he had endured torture himself, every day for forty years. Every day he was told it would stop, if he’d only get of the rack and do it himself. Dean spent thirty of those forty years saying no. Refusing to torture another soul and he had Hell’s best torturer laying in to him. Every. Single Day. Dean is barely culpable for that, if at all. He was mentally, emotionally and physically not in a position where he had a choice.   Torturing was an act that he felt nothing but guilt and regret over. He was completely and utterly repentant for his actions and he hated himself for having done that.

Also, Dean being tortured in Hell for forty years is a Christ parallel. Specifically to Jesus’ fasting the desert where he is tempted by Satan as recounted in the Synoptic gospels. Just throwing that out there. 

I stand by what I said before. Drinking demon’s blood is disgusting and twisted, but not wrong, because Sam did it to do good. He and Dean spent the previous seasons stabbing demons and killing not only them but their vessels, too. Exorcising the demons allowed the humans to be saved. The source of the powers was something dark, but if the choice is drinking demon’s blood to save humans or killing humans and demons both, I’d go for the demon’s blood. What was the quote? “Saving people, hunting things”? Saving people comes first. And that’s exactly what Sam was doing. 

It’s  still a disgusting and twisted thing. It was still wrong. Just because you are doing something bad for the good reasons, that does not make the act good. Like I said before, it was proven to ultimately be a bad thing because while Sam was saving people, it was ultimately all about getting Sam trained up so he could kill Lilith and hence have her break the last seal (all be it without Sam’s knowledge) and getting him drunk on demon blood so Lucifer could wear him to prom.   

But it was Sam’s actions that stopped it. This is an argument of hypotheticals. We can’t argue what would have happened had Dean not been there. Anything could have happened. Sam could have seen someone else that reminded him of something and gained control from that. We don’t know. We know that it was Sam’s idea to allow Lucifer to possess him and to jump into the cage. We know that Sam regained control. We know that it was Dean that gave Sam the strength to fight. What Dean did was remind Sam why Sam needed to take back control and give him the strength to stop the Apocalypse. He himself did not stop the Apocalypse.

Yes, it was Sam’s actions that stopped it, but he managed to stop it because of Dean. It’s not an argument from hypotheticals. Lucifer was in control of Sam’s body and Sam could do nothing about it. Lucifer literally said that Sam was ‘in here’ and ‘that he was going hear the snap of Dean’s bones.’ Lucifer was in the pilot seat. Dean helped coax Sam back into the driver’s seat which is why he could jump into the Cage. With out Dean being there, Sam would not have been able to do that therefor Dean, ultimately, is responsible for Sam jumping into The Cage. 

Also, I really like that you completely negated Dean’s involvement in the whole situation by saying that anyone or anything could have accomplished the same thing, therefor making Dean utterly and completely irrelevant. At least I’m willing to admit what Sam accomplished was required of him and that he was still important to the situation.  

If we’re talking about Dean’s impact on helping Sam regain control over his body, we also have to talk about how Dean was going to say yes. It was Sam that motivated him to keep fighting.

Alright, lets. Dean was going to say ‘yes’ to Michael because he was mentally and emotionally and spiritually exhausted. Because, as far as Dean could see, there was no other option he had. The angels weren’t giving up on him, the Colt didn’t work. Jo and Ellen got killed in the cross fire. But Dean wasn’t actually possessed by anything. Dean could still make choices. Sam, however, could not. 

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

Sam's only goal throughout the season was to stop the Apocalypse because it would put innocent people in danger. He felt responsible for it, but it really wasn't any more his fault than it was Dean's. He broke the last seal, Dean broke the first. Dean wanted to kill Lilith as well. Neither of them knew that she was the last seal. A desire to redeem himself does not negate Sam's messianic qualities, because his goals are always about doing what can save the most people.

That is kind of exactly my point. Dean should understand temptation. He should understand that morality isn't black and white, and that what Sam was doing was no more wrong than when they were both killing demons. When he admitted to Sam what he'd done, Sam immediately saw things from his perspective. Dean didn't make any effort to do so when he found out Sam was drinking demon's blood. He reacted angrily and violently instead of trying to calmly convince Sam it was a bad plan, when the latter definitely would have worked better.

Ruby's goals are not important here. What came about as a result of demon's blood isn't important when it comes to deciding whether or not it was wrong. What makes something wrong, immoral? People getting harmed in anyway as a result of it. And with demon's blood, the only person Sam was harming was himself, and that is his right and his choice to make.

I'm not downplaying Dean's role, I'm saying that Sam was actually the central player in the situation. The entire plan to stop the Apocalypse revolved around him jumping into the cage. I'm not saying that anything or anyone could have had the same effect as Dean, I'm saying that we can't argue about what would have happened because what would have happened didn't.

We know Sam was indispensable because Lucifer was possessing him. Dean was important in helping Sam regain control, but it was still Sam that did it. It took a huge amount of willpower on his part. He was fighting off an archangel. Dean is absolutely not ultimately responsible for Sam jumping into the cage, because that was Sam's sacrifice and Sam's choice. He helped Sam regain control, and then Sam made his decision. He allowed for Sam to be in a position to stop the Apocalypse, he himself didn't do it. By saying that Dean stopped the Apocalypse, you're ignoring Sam's very real free will.

Sam couldn't make choices? But he did. It wasn't an easy choice because he was possessed, but he still managed to regain control. Dean didn't make Sam's choice for him. Sam made the choice to allow Lucifer to possess him. He made the choice to fight. He regained control over his body and made the choice to jump into the pit and condemn himself to an eternity of torture at the hands of two archangels that blamed him entirely for what happened to them.

Dean nearly gave up out of his own free will. Sam was still fighting while possessed. Sam motivated Dean to not give up, and Dean gave Sam the inspiration to finally break through.

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

Today, I think I’m going to talk about something I’ve kind of brushed on in the past but never really explored: Sam as the saviour.

The first five seasons, the Jesus parallels were impossible to miss. A man that was willing to sacrifice everything for other people and that did. Someone that saw the best in other people and believed in them, even when no one else did. Someone with high moral standards. Someone that forgives unconditionally.

As Sam was preparing to jump into the pit and condemn himself to eternal torture, his instinct was to reassure Dean. He did that, then without hesitating, jumped. Sam doesn’t even come second to himself - he comes, like, eighth. How could this man be anything but the saviour? He would sacrifice himself to protect anyone. His life is unimportant. He’ll sacrifice that if it means saving just one more person.

Sam had followers, like Christ did, followers ready to fight for him. Sam didn’t make his sacrifice for them. They were demons, and Sam sacrificed himself to avoid a war between them and angels. In doing so, he saved countless lives, human and demon and angel, even though his primary motivation was to protect humanity.

Christ died so that humanity’s sins would be forgiven. It’s a story of unconditional love and sacrifice. Sam’s story is just that. He died because he sacrificed himself for others, to atone for his own sins.

Something else very reminiscent of Christ is the fact that Sam never fit in anywhere. He was the white sheep in his family, and even after going to Stanford, he was still the odd one out. We saw in the pilot - he never lost his hunting instinct. Dean broke into his apartment, and woke Sam up. Sam’s reaction to someone in his house wasn’t to say anything but to quietly approach and see who was there.

Sam was so misunderstood. I still don’t believe that him exorcising demons was a bad thing. The only damage the demon’s blood was doing was to him, and he was voluntarily paying that price. Their mission was supposed to be saving people and hunting things, but when they got Ruby’s knife, the “saving people” part seems to have slipped their minds and they completely gave up on exorcisms. Sam was just returning to what they used to do and believe in.

One of the things I find so special about Sam is that, even more than forgiving people for things that he would have every right to consider unforgivable, there are so many horrific things that people have done that he never even considered blaming them for. The two best examples of this are Dean and Mary.

Dean has done many things that Sam has forgiven him for - allowing an angel to possess him, killing Amy, hurting him physically and emotionally again and again, dragging him back into hunting. But Dean also broke the first seal by torturing souls in hell. Sam empathized. He never threw that in Dean’s face. Ever. Even after Dean blamed him for setting Lucifer free, called him a monster, Sam never stooped so low as to bring up the fact that Dean tortured people, most of whom had done nothing wrong other than make a deal with a demon, like he himself had done.

Sam’s story was allegedly foretold, set from the beginning of time. He was the chosen one. Lucifer’s vessel. One of Azazel’s special children. He was the result of the merging of the Winchester and the Campbell bloodlines, the son of John and Mary. He was a pawn in a game of chess between heaven and hell, and he suffered so much because of that. But none of it could have happened had Mary not made a deal with Azazel. John’s life for entry into her home. In fairness, Mary didn’t know what she was agreeing to. But she essentially signed away her unborn son’s life before he was even conceived. When Mary took the deal, she allowed Azazel to feed an infant Sam demon’s blood and gain psychic powers. The deal resulted in John, Dean, and Sam becoming hunters, hellbent on revenge. Resulted in Sam meeting Ruby. Becoming addicted to demon’s blood. Becoming Lucifer’s vessel. Jumping into the cage.

And when Sam learned about what she had done, he never blamed her for a second.

Sam never knew Mary. To him, she was nothing but stories told to him by his father and brother. He knew that his family loved her, but he couldn’t - he had never known her. She was a stranger to him. And yet he didn’t blame her. This is so, so remarkable, because it demonstrates that Sam wouldn’t blame anyone for ruining his life like that.

Sam’s myth arc was completed by the end of season five when he made his sacrifice, but it began anew once he returned from the pit. Even Sam without a soul was a better man than most. He wasn’t nice, he wasn’t polite, he wasn’t Sam, but he was a good person because Sam is inherently good.

We saw other people without their souls, and they were out of control. Violent. Bloodthirsty. Sam? He was calculating, and ruthless, and sarcastic, but he still continued doing what he had always done. Saving people. Hunting things. He did riskier things, but they paid off, because Sam without his empathy and compassion was as close as anyone could get to a perfect hunter.

He was prepared to sacrifice himself again at the end of season eight, so that humans would be safe. He was going to close the gates of hell. Sam has no sense of self preservation because to him, his life is unimportant when it’s a choice between protecting others and protecting himself.

Sam is indisputably a tragic hero. Things happen to him, again and again, through no real fault of his own. His greatest flaw is his desire - his need - to have faith in something or someone. Ruby. Dean. Cas. He trusted all of them, and that trust ended up hurting him.

In the beginning, he was fighting himself just as much as he was fighting any outside force. He is good, he is selfless, he is giving, but he feared himself. Not just the demon’s blood in him, because Sam doesn’t distinguish different parts of himself - he feared and hated himself. His entire being. The struggle became very literal when Lucifer possessed him.

It’s been hammered into everyone’s head that demon’s blood is evil. But Sam? When he was drinking it, he was using the abilities it gave him to exorcise demons and save the host body. Sam took something dark and made good come out of it.

Sam is the saviour, not because of any destiny, but because of his choices. Sam chooses to be good and do good every day, and he saves people again and again because of it. He’s saved individuals, and he’s saved all of humanity, and he’s set captured souls free.

Supernatural has crossed so many lines that probably shouldn’t have been crossed when it comes to religion. At this point, what’s one more? Give me the second coming of Christ in the form of Sam Winchester. Give me the rebirth instead of the return in adult form. Give me Sam, the humble hero with a guilt complex, finding out that he’s not unclean, that he’s not a monster. Finding out that he’s inherently good and always has been.

That would make such a good story, and it might be another thing that could bring me back into the show. Because Sam has always had faith, in God, in angels, in Dean, but never in himself. Finding out that he is the reincarnation of Jesus would help him finally, finally, see himself as the hero he is. He would remain humble, of course, because that’s who Sam is, but he would finally accept that he is good. Sam is one of the few people who wouldn’t become arrogant upon discovering that they were the reincarnation of Christ, which is why he’s one of the only people that could be.

I get weirdly defensive of Sam and his myth arcs and his status as the hero. Someone tried to argue that Dean was more of a Christ-like figure than Sam, and that made me really upset because this. Is. Sam’s. He was the one that sacrificed everything to stop the apocalypse and was willing to do it again to close the gates of hell. He’s the saviour. That’s his and no one can take it away from him.

[herrosesneverfall]

That reaction is exactly why I wrote that post in the first place. There is so much Christ!Dean erasure that most people don’t even think it even can be a possible reading of Dean’s character, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Said reading therefore goes unexamined and we lose something great as a fandom as a result. 

For the record, I do, in fact, think that Sam has a Christ arc to a certain degree. He was certainly intended to have one when the show initially started and he certainly had one during The Trials. The imagery was there, the mythology was there. That I will not deny for a second. I just think that Sam has more of an Antichrist arc given the overall evidence at hand and that there is a stronger case to be made for Dean’sChrist arc given the overall evidence. 

You have to look at things as a whole. The validity of authorial intention, particularly in a show that’s evolved as much as Supernatural has, is up to debate. By claiming that Sam is the only onewith a Christ arc, you are ignoring Sam’s character arcs that are AntiChristological: BoyKing and Lucifer’s Vessel. You are ignoring aliteral wealth of imagery and mythology for Dean’s character that is Christological:

Dean being the first born son of Mary, Dean being an obedientson to absent father who placed the weight of saving people upon his shoulders,Dean willing selling his soul for Sam’s salvation, Dean going to Hell fortyyears and being tortured into breaking the First Seal, Dean getting resurrectedby Heaven to fulfill the destiny of stopping the Apocalypse, Dean’s role as theMichael Sword, Dean’s status as The Righteous Man and a True Servant of Heaven,just to name a few.

I’ve already laid out the mythological and biblical evidence for each of theseexamples, along with some others, here and here so I’m not going to go into them with any more detail. However,I am going to focus briefly on Dean’s breaking of the First Seal since you mentioned it inpassing in your post. Dean breaking TheFirst Seal is literally Dean actingin the role of Christ. How is that Christological? Well, first off, by Kripke’sown admission, seasons four and five are adaptationsof the Book of the Revelation. Dean’s narrative of being The Righteous Man whobreaks the First Seal is specifically an adaption of chapter five, in which a figure known as ‘The Lamb’ breaks the seven seals onthe scroll which will unleash the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. TheLamb being a synonym for and a symbol of Christ. 

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writingon both sides and sealed with seven seals. AndI saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break theseals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earthcould open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because noone was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of theelders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Rootof David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb,looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth.  He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.  And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” ( Revelation 5:5-12, NIV )

Dean’s act of breaking the First Seal is not only Christological, it fits the narrative presented in Revelation perfectly. He did it while he was in Hell, after he had been killed, after he had willing sacrificed his life for Sam. He accomplished it because he was a truly righteous man. If you assume that Alastair was lying about John, Dean was the Righteous Man, meaning that he was the only one who could have broken the First Seal. Its fine if you want read Sam as a Christ figure, go right ahead. You have the right to read his character however you want. But you cannot say that he is the only one who has Christ imagery or a Christ narrative, because as I have demonstrated, that is simply not the case. Dean has one as well.

[herrosesneverfall]

samtheboywhowouldbeking:

I just wanted to start off by saying that I’m an Agnostic-Atheist. One that was raised Roman Catholic, but an Agnostic-Atheist none the less. I’m someone that has a lot of interest in Judeo-Christian mythology. Everything that I bring up or mention here is done for the sake of making a mythological point. 

First off, I have no clue what post you’re referring to, I was talking about someone on TV Tropes. And I just said that I got annoyed when people called Dean more of a Christ-figure than Sam, not that I get annoyed when they see those parallels at all.

 I recently made a post here on tumblr, two in fact , about Dean being a Christ figure. I posted them in the supernatural meta tag about a week before you made this post. The timing seemed rather apt. My posts are the only ones on tumblr, as far as I am aware, that talk about the reading of Christ!Dean and given that you were vague posting about someone making the claim of Christ!Dean, I logically assumed that you were talking about me.   Also that is exactly what you are saying. If there is a parallel between Dean and Christ, than Dean has the role of Christ figure to some extent. That’s how literary and especially mythological parallels work. But you very clearly said that the role of Christ figure belongs to Sam and Sam alone which means that Dean can’t have any Christ parallels because Sam already has them. That is an incorrect statement because Dean does have Christ parallels and they mean that he is a Christ figure. 

Secondly, with Dean, he literally may have a Christlike role, but the reasons why he’s done those things are so vastly different from why Christ did. He sacrificed his life willingly, yes, but he did it out of the most twisted kind of love imaginable, not the pure, selfless, unconditional love for the world that Sam and Christ made their sacrifices for. He chose to resurrect Sam, who would otherwise be going to heaven. Sam on the other hand. His sacrifice wasn’t for one person. Similarly to Christ, he died for humanity, so that no one else would be harmed in a war between heaven and hell.

One of Supernaturals most famous lines is from Dean, “I think Dad wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things, the Family Business.” Dean is the one accepted John’s will to be a hunter. To save and protect people from the evils of the world, even if that meant the end of his own life.  

Dean is constantly laying his life on the line. He went in between the fight between Michael and Lucifer and he squared off against Metaron, knowing that he was probably not going to come out of those situations alive. Most recently, he’s given Sam and Castiel the right to kill him should The Mark of Cain take over. It was Dean who was originally going to do The Trails. He had every single intention of doing them, but Sam ended up taking them on instead because of a random twist of fate. Sam had to take on the Trials, Dean chose to do them, but couldn’t.

While Dean might have sold his soul for Sam out of desperation and it might not have been for the whole world, Dean still  willingly sacrificed himself for another human being. It’s still a selfless act. Sam tried to find way to get Dean out of the deal but Dean refused because Sam would die otherwise. Dean spent a year of his life knowing that he was going to die in bloody agony, but he never tried to get out of it because Sam’s life was more important.   Christ’s sacrifice is about Salvation, it’s about the conquering of death and atonement for sins. It’s done out of love, but love is not the point of the act. 

Also, it should be noted that in the scene of Dean in Hell after he’s killed by the hell hounds, he’s hug up by chains in his wrists, feet and side which look an awful lot like the wounds of Christ. 

Dean is a sacrificial lamb. A martyr. Plain and simple. 

Dean’s resurrection was never to fulfill the tole of stopping the Apocalypse. He was fulfilled to be Michael’s vessel and thus start the Apocalypse. He didn’t stop it. It was Sam that regained control of his body and thus stopped Michael and Lucifer from fighting. Threw them all in the cage so that their fight didn’t endanger the planet.

Dean was resurrected because he broke the first Seal, “The First Seal shall break when a Righteous Man sheds blood in Hell.”  We learn from Castiel that Dean was resurrected because, “The Righteous Man who begins it is the only one who can finish it.” Dean was the one who started the Apocalypse and it was Dean who had to stop the Apocalypse. He’s literally the Alpha and Omega. 

And Dean did stop the Apocalypse. Sam’s plan might have been to jump into the Cage as soon as he let Lucifer in, but that plan did not work. Sam couldn’t take control back from Lucifer and Lucifer and Michael were going to fight. That was, until Dean showed up. Dean got in between Michael and Lucifer’s pissing contest, an act that without a doubt would have gotten Dean killed. It was only after Dean’s talking to Sam and admitting his love and care for Sam, while Lucifer was beating the ever-living crap out of him, that Sam was able to break through. If Dean hadn’t gone into that cemetery and put his life on the line, Sam would have never gotten control of himself back and never would have jumped into the Cage. Sam might have jumped into the Cage, but it was Dean who was acting as a Lamb being led to the slaughter. 

I fail to see how Dean’s role as Michael’s vessel in any way demonstrates parallels between him and Christ. I’m pretty sure you’re saying it’s important because of Michael’s destiny to defeat Lucifer in the show, correct me if I’m wrong. Dean may have been the vessel, but Michael never possessed him. He possessed John and Adam at different points, Adam when it came to facing Lucifer, and it wasn’t him that stopped Lucifer anyway. That was all Sam.

Michael is a direct analogue for Christ in the show. When I say ‘Christ’ I mean the divine entity as apposed to the person of Jesus. Michael’s characterization barrows a lot from Christ and he was characterized that way because the show needed a Christ for the Apocalypse arc, but they couldn’t get away with actually using Jesus so Michael subbed in for him. 

Michael is God’s eldest son. Michael is the only being that can destroy Lucifer and he is destined to fight Lucifer in a climatic battle. Christ is God’s only begotten Son and it’s Christ who throws Lucifer, The Antichrist and The False Prophet back into Hell. Also there are some Christian sects who believe that Michael and Christ are the same entity. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Advents for example. The connection between Michael and Christ is there. 

Dean isn’t just Michael’s vessel, He is Michael’s True vessel, the Michael Sword. John and Adam were just Plan B’s and they are stated to be so. Dean is ‘The Chosen One’ and always had been. Dean is the human man that is destined to be the vessel of Michael’s heavenly power and grace. The vessel of the entity that is destined to destroy Satan. 

Michael is intended to be Christ and Dean, as Michael’s vessel, is therefore intended to be Jesus. 

I am looking at this holistically, and I continue to say that Sam is more of a Christ-like figure than an anti-Christ, because he may have been Lucifer’s vessel, he may have had demons prepared to follow him, but he was still unflinchingly good. Christ had followers that were prepared to fight in his name. So did Sam - just because they were demons doesn’t change the fact that he had followers and he didn’t want any bloodshed. The role of the anti-Christ from what I understand - again, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m an atheist - is one that is the opposite of Christ, one with malicious intent that deceived humanity. I don’t think that that’s Sam in any way. All he ever did was good. Being the Boy King is interesting, because Sam was horrified by it. He didn’t want the powers. He didn’t want to have demons fighting for him. And that’s why he wasn’t the Anti-Christ. He denied being good and heroic and a saviour. He was humble about all his virtues. Never once did he claim to be anything he wasn’t. Having dark powers does not negate his Christ arc. Boy King, Lucifer’s vessel, these things do not automatically make it an Anti-Christ arc.

Based on a literal text of the Bible? Yes. An Antichrist is someone who opposes or is threat to Christ. There’s a lot of debate among theologians as to exactly what that means. If that’s just a false messiah in league with Satan or Satan manifest in human form or Satan’s child, etc. The archetype of Antichrist, on the whole, is a dark or demonic savior. Sam being The Boy King and the vessel of Lucifer does qualify him for the role of Antichrist, based on the archetype. 

That said, Sam’s goodness does not disqualify him from the role of Antichrist. He’s still an Antichrist. He is viewed as a demonic savior, he is the literal vessel of Satan. He is the dark half of the light and dark dichotomy he has with Dean. He is even called the Antichrist in text during season three by both Ruby and Gordon (biased opinions aside). Sam is an Antichrist. The fact that Sam is a protagonist just makes him subversion of trope, but it It does not negate it.

Speaking of Sam’s goodness, what about that arc Sam had of drinking demon blood and literally banging a demon, despite being told by both Dean and Castiel that what he was doing was wrong? How about that time he nearly choked his brother to death while on a demon blood high? How about the fact that he spent nearly the whole season lying to Dean about his activities with Ruby? You can argue that Sam did it because he was being manipulated by Ruby, and that’s true, but he was still doing something that he knew was wrong and refused to admit that what he was doing was wrong.  

I repeat - it was Sam that defeated Lucifer and stopped the Apocalypse. Not Michael. Not Dean. Sam.

Which he accomplished because Dean put himself in the line of fire and helped him take control back of his body, thus allowing him to jump into The Cage. Sam did not do that purely on his own. Dean helped him achieve that.

I continued to argue my point for the sake of debate and because you are a lot more articulate and polite than most of the Dean supports that add on to posts, but honestly, I am so done with people taking untagged posts that have nothing to do with Dean, that are all about Sam and praising him and appreciating his character, and making it all about Dean. I didn’t deny or ignore anything or any parallel. I just focused on Sam who I think is far more clearly and meaningfully a Christ figure.

I’m not making it about Dean. Yes, I believe that there is far more evidence that points to Dean being a Christ figure over Sam. Yes, I think Dean fits the role better, based on said evidence. Yes, I’m bothered by the very apparent glossing over or downplaying of bits of Dean’s character which point to him being a Christ figure, things that have direct biblical parallels, in favor of the broad strokes that paint Sam as a Christ figure.   However, my argument here isn’t about that. It’s about the absolute claim that Sam is Supernatural’s defacto Christ figure. That the role of Christ belongs to Sam and to Sam only. He’s not and it doesn’t. Dean has Christ parallels, quite a few in fact and some are very direct. Dean is a Christ figure. Sam is not the only one. 

[herrosesneverfall]

samtheboywhowouldbeking:

That is not what I said. I said that Sam has parallels to Christ that build to the arc of him as a saviour and Dean doesn’t. I never said that Dean doesn’t have parallels to Christ. I said that he doesn’t have the story arc. Those are not the same thing.

Yes they are. Parallel and narrative go hand in hand. That aside, Dean’s Christ parallels do form a cohesive Christ narrative. I have already demonstrated, twice, in detail, using both biblical and dogmatic evidence, to prove that Dean being The Righteous Man and The Michael Sword are both direct Christ parallels that form a Christ narrative for his character. 

You talk about Dean’s selflessness a lot, and I think that that’s something frequently misinterpreted. Dean’s love isn’t selfless. So many of the sacrifices he claims to make for Sam aren’t for Sam but for himself. He makes them because he can’t stand the thought of being alone. When he sold his soul to bring Sam back to life, he never thought about the fact that Sam wouldn’t want it.

Dean tricking Gadreel into Sam so Sam wouldn’t die was selfish act, yes. It was selfish because Dean knew that Sam wanted to die and wouldn’t let him. But not Dean selling his soul for Sam. These are totally separate situations. Dean sold his soul for Sam back at the end of season two. Long before angels and heaven were part of the mythos. As far as Dean knew, Sam was just dead. 

Sam got murdered by the psychic kid, Jake and Dean sold his soul for Sam. Dean did it out of desperation and mourning, but that does not negate that he willingly sold his soul to bring his brother back to life. No one was twisting Dean’s arm. Dean had time to think about his actions as well and he chose to sell his soul for Sam. I fail to see how that is not selfless. Just because Dean saved one person instead of six billion that does not make his sacrifice any less of a sacrifice. 

Sam’s sacrifice was in large part to atone for sins. His own, mostly, but also for those of everyone who at any point played a role in getting them to that point. And there were a lot of those.

Which is not the point of being a messiah. A messiah, according to both Jewish and Christian belief, is supposed to save other people. If Sam did it for his own salvation, that is missing the point. 

On the Anti-Christ and the demonic saviour - Yes, the demons viewed Sam as their saviour, but he chose not to be. He chose to not lead them. He chose to stop a war instead of fight in it. Even before then, he fought for humanity against demons. He spent a season exorcising them with his mind. Sam made a choice in season four, and that was to save as many lives as possible, regardless of cost to himseslf. The drinking of demon’s blood was done after weighing the pros and the cons. He could save the human vessels after two seasons of just killing them, and the only cost would be to himself. Because Sam is a good person that is willing to make huge sacrifices to himself for the greater good, he paid that price. Was it something dark and disturbing? Damn straight it was. But he took that something dark and made something good out of it. He used his powers for good.

But that doesn’t negate that what he was doing was wrong. Castiel told him that it was wrong, Dean told him that it was wrong. And it was proven wrong because it turned out that Ruby was playing him like a fool and that ultimately it was all about getting him primed and ready to be Lucifer’s vessel.  

Nearly choking Dean? Sure, that wasn’t a high point for Sam. But Dean has done much worse to Sam while in full control of his own mind. He’s punched him repeatedly, locked him in a panic room strapped to a bed to detox, invited an angel to possess him. Sam’s lowest, darkest points have been while under the influence of demon’s blood, while Dean’s have been while completely himself.

Any physical violence put on another human being is horrible, even less so when it’s someone that you love and I am not condoning Dean assaulting Sam, but how is nearly choking his brother to death, a brother who is physically smaller than him, less horrific than getting punched? In moments when Dean wasn’t in the best of mental states either. The two times that come to mind  of Dean punching Sam occurred when Dean was mourning John and when he was fresh out of the grave and suffering from Hell PTSD, having just learned that Sam was using his demonic psychic powers to exorcise demons. Not to mention, Sam has punched Dean before in moments of anger too. Both are guilty of that.  And demon blood detox? Considering Sam was addicted to it and had been hiding his addiction from Dean and Bobby for months, that was best course of action they had. That was nothing else all that they could do.

Now you’re doing just what you accuse me of and downplaying Sam’s character and actions. Sure, Dean helped. But that does not mean that it was him that ended the Apocalypse. His presence reminded Sam of what he was fighting for, but it was still Sam that managed to take back control. It was Sam that threw himself, Lucifer, and Michael into the cage.

Which is exactly my point. If Dean hadn’t been there, Sam wouldn’t have taken control. That is not me downplaying Sam’s role, that is me stating a fact. Lucifer was in full possession of Sam. Lucifer and Michael had every intention of fighting each other and had Dean not come along to stop the fight, they would have fought. Dean is why the fight stopped, Dean is why Sam got control back. 

Are you forgetting that the angels didn’t want the Apocalypse averted? They wanted the war. They wanted Dean to be possessed and wanted Michael and Lucifer to fight. Dean was resurrected to end the war by fighting in it. But that didn’t happen. Sure, Dean was Michael’s true vessel and it was in his body that Michael was supposed to defeat Lucifer. But none of that happened. Dean may have been the vessel, but he was replaceable.

Because Dean fought against it. Dean prevented it from occurring. He saw the angels self-righteous pissing contest and said and ‘no’ to it. Dean refused to be used as a pawn in their game. He said ‘no’ to fate and destiny and he changed the order. That is what a messiah does. They bring about new ages and fight oppressive tyranny. That is what Dean did.

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

I wasn't talking about Gadreel, I was talking about Dean selling his soul. Sam did not want people to die for him, but Dean sold his soul because he couldn't stomach the thought of Sam being gone. Yeah, Dean chose to willingly sell his soul to bring back Sam, but that does not make it selfless. He didn't think about the impact that action would have on Sam, how much guilt it would make him feel. About the fact that Sam would be alone then, and have to feel exactly what Dean refused to, with the added burden of considering it his own fault.

And Sam did save other people! The only salvation or redemption he was getting was in his own eyes. By doing it, he was condemning himself to an eternity of torture, but saving the world. He wanted to help other people and he firmly believed that it was his responsibility. In no way did he do it for his own salvation.

Dean flies off the handle at the slightest provocation and takes out his anger on Sam, to the point where Sam is hesitant to voice his opinion. Sam suggested that Mary wouldn't have wanted them to hunt? Dean hit him. That's the most stable Dean has ever been, and he still hit Sam. In season nine, Sam's mental image of Dean is someone that would punch him repeatedly to try to get him to want to live.

In the scene where Sam left with Ruby after fighting with Dean, Dean did the one thing that makes Sam angrier than anything else - he called him a monster. I'm not saying that it was right for Sam to attack Dean, but he was high on demon's blood. Dean was dehumanizing him. He was refusing to accept that Sam was trying to do the right thing and for the most part, succeeding.

Dean honestly had no room to judge what was right and what was wrong. He made a deal with a demon. He tortured souls in hell.

I stand by what I said before. Drinking demon's blood is disgusting and twisted, but not wrong, because Sam did it to do good. He and Dean spent the previous seasons stabbing demons and killing not only them but their vessels, too. Exorcising the demons allowed the humans to be saved. The source of the powers was something dark, but if the choice is drinking demon's blood to save humans or killing humans and demons both, I'd go for the demon's blood. What was the quote? "Saving people, hunting things"? Saving people comes first. And that's exactly what Sam was doing.

Did Sam need to detox? Probably, yeah. That's not the part I'm objecting to. It's the fact that it was done with no compassion whatsoever. He was alone with his hallucinations, in pain, scared. The detox was killing him and Dean didn't care because he never thought about Sam's perspective on the matter and thought that he was a monster because of what he was doing.

But it was Sam's actions that stopped it. This is an argument of hypotheticals. We can't argue what would have happened had Dean not been there. Anything could have happened. Sam could have seen someone else that reminded him of something and gained control from that. We don't know. We know that it was Sam's idea to allow Lucifer to possess him and to jump into the cage. We know that Sam regained control. We know that it was Dean that gave Sam the strength to fight. What Dean did was remind Sam why Sam needed to take back control and give him the strength to stop the Apocalypse. He himself did not stop the Apocalypse.

If we're talking about Dean's impact on helping Sam regain control over his body, we also have to talk about how Dean was going to say yes. It was Sam that motivated him to keep fighting.

Sam takes things that everyone perceives as evil and makes good come of it. Demon's blood - enhancing his psychic powers so that he could exorcise demons and save the vessels. Being Lucifer's vessel - stopping the Apocalypse. What did you say a messiah does? Change destiny? Yeah. Sam took things that everyone considered evil, things that destiny claimed was evil and history claimed was evil, and made good come of it.

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

 I think two of the most important people to Sam in terms of shaping him and shaping his life were Amy Pond and Jessica Moore.

Jess is obvious. She was the love of his life, his home, his family. He built a life with her. Sam was in love with her and wanted to marry her. Losing her was the catalyst to him becoming a hunter again. So many of his choices were tied back to her.

Amy, on the other hand, is more subtle, and in some ways, deeper. She was pretty much Sam's first friend, and she was the person that sparked Sam's rebellious spirit. It's fascinating to me, because Sam barely knew her, yet he came to care about her so quickly. Sam sees good everywhere and in everyone.

He thought about going away with her. Leaving John and Dean and starting afresh. He didn't, of course, because he felt responsibilities and ties to his family.

Amy rebelled against her mother for Sam. She was dubbed a monster, but she wasn't violent, she didn't hurt people. In fact, she protected Sam. And I think that played a huge role in creating Sam's understanding of the fact that it's perfectly acceptable to choose someone or something apart from your blood relatives.

All those years later, Sam listened to her.

I think it was Amy that sparked so much of Sam's compassion. It was because of her that he tried to see the best in those who most people dubbed monsters. She had a huge impact on him, and Sam never forgot.

Amy Pond was so important to Sam and to shaping him as a person. It makes me so happy. It's just so Sam.

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

Today, I think I’m going to talk about something I’ve kind of brushed on in the past but never really explored: Sam as the saviour.

The first five seasons, the Jesus parallels were impossible to miss. A man that was willing to sacrifice everything for other people and that did. Someone that saw the best in other people and believed in them, even when no one else did. Someone with high moral standards. Someone that forgives unconditionally.

As Sam was preparing to jump into the pit and condemn himself to eternal torture, his instinct was to reassure Dean. He did that, then without hesitating, jumped. Sam doesn’t even come second to himself - he comes, like, eighth. How could this man be anything but the saviour? He would sacrifice himself to protect anyone. His life is unimportant. He’ll sacrifice that if it means saving just one more person.

Sam had followers, like Christ did, followers ready to fight for him. Sam didn’t make his sacrifice for them. They were demons, and Sam sacrificed himself to avoid a war between them and angels. In doing so, he saved countless lives, human and demon and angel, even though his primary motivation was to protect humanity.

Christ died so that humanity’s sins would be forgiven. It’s a story of unconditional love and sacrifice. Sam’s story is just that. He died because he sacrificed himself for others, to atone for his own sins.

Something else very reminiscent of Christ is the fact that Sam never fit in anywhere. He was the white sheep in his family, and even after going to Stanford, he was still the odd one out. We saw in the pilot - he never lost his hunting instinct. Dean broke into his apartment, and woke Sam up. Sam’s reaction to someone in his house wasn’t to say anything but to quietly approach and see who was there.

Sam was so misunderstood. I still don’t believe that him exorcising demons was a bad thing. The only damage the demon’s blood was doing was to him, and he was voluntarily paying that price. Their mission was supposed to be saving people and hunting things, but when they got Ruby’s knife, the “saving people” part seems to have slipped their minds and they completely gave up on exorcisms. Sam was just returning to what they used to do and believe in.

One of the things I find so special about Sam is that, even more than forgiving people for things that he would have every right to consider unforgivable, there are so many horrific things that people have done that he never even considered blaming them for. The two best examples of this are Dean and Mary.

Dean has done many things that Sam has forgiven him for - allowing an angel to possess him, killing Amy, hurting him physically and emotionally again and again, dragging him back into hunting. But Dean also broke the first seal by torturing souls in hell. Sam empathized. He never threw that in Dean’s face. Ever. Even after Dean blamed him for setting Lucifer free, called him a monster, Sam never stooped so low as to bring up the fact that Dean tortured people, most of whom had done nothing wrong other than make a deal with a demon, like he himself had done.

Sam’s story was allegedly foretold, set from the beginning of time. He was the chosen one. Lucifer’s vessel. One of Azazel’s special children. He was the result of the merging of the Winchester and the Campbell bloodlines, the son of John and Mary. He was a pawn in a game of chess between heaven and hell, and he suffered so much because of that. But none of it could have happened had Mary not made a deal with Azazel. John’s life for entry into her home. In fairness, Mary didn’t know what she was agreeing to. But she essentially signed away her unborn son’s life before he was even conceived. When Mary took the deal, she allowed Azazel to feed an infant Sam demon’s blood and gain psychic powers. The deal resulted in John, Dean, and Sam becoming hunters, hellbent on revenge. Resulted in Sam meeting Ruby. Becoming addicted to demon’s blood. Becoming Lucifer’s vessel. Jumping into the cage.

And when Sam learned about what she had done, he never blamed her for a second.

Sam never knew Mary. To him, she was nothing but stories told to him by his father and brother. He knew that his family loved her, but he couldn’t - he had never known her. She was a stranger to him. And yet he didn’t blame her. This is so, so remarkable, because it demonstrates that Sam wouldn’t blame anyone for ruining his life like that.

Sam’s myth arc was completed by the end of season five when he made his sacrifice, but it began anew once he returned from the pit. Even Sam without a soul was a better man than most. He wasn’t nice, he wasn’t polite, he wasn’t Sam, but he was a good person because Sam is inherently good.

We saw other people without their souls, and they were out of control. Violent. Bloodthirsty. Sam? He was calculating, and ruthless, and sarcastic, but he still continued doing what he had always done. Saving people. Hunting things. He did riskier things, but they paid off, because Sam without his empathy and compassion was as close as anyone could get to a perfect hunter.

He was prepared to sacrifice himself again at the end of season eight, so that humans would be safe. He was going to close the gates of hell. Sam has no sense of self preservation because to him, his life is unimportant when it’s a choice between protecting others and protecting himself.

Sam is indisputably a tragic hero. Things happen to him, again and again, through no real fault of his own. His greatest flaw is his desire - his need - to have faith in something or someone. Ruby. Dean. Cas. He trusted all of them, and that trust ended up hurting him.

In the beginning, he was fighting himself just as much as he was fighting any outside force. He is good, he is selfless, he is giving, but he feared himself. Not just the demon’s blood in him, because Sam doesn’t distinguish different parts of himself - he feared and hated himself. His entire being. The struggle became very literal when Lucifer possessed him.

It’s been hammered into everyone’s head that demon’s blood is evil. But Sam? When he was drinking it, he was using the abilities it gave him to exorcise demons and save the host body. Sam took something dark and made good come out of it.

Sam is the saviour, not because of any destiny, but because of his choices. Sam chooses to be good and do good every day, and he saves people again and again because of it. He’s saved individuals, and he’s saved all of humanity, and he’s set captured souls free.

Supernatural has crossed so many lines that probably shouldn’t have been crossed when it comes to religion. At this point, what’s one more? Give me the second coming of Christ in the form of Sam Winchester. Give me the rebirth instead of the return in adult form. Give me Sam, the humble hero with a guilt complex, finding out that he’s not unclean, that he’s not a monster. Finding out that he’s inherently good and always has been.

That would make such a good story, and it might be another thing that could bring me back into the show. Because Sam has always had faith, in God, in angels, in Dean, but never in himself. Finding out that he is the reincarnation of Jesus would help him finally, finally, see himself as the hero he is. He would remain humble, of course, because that’s who Sam is, but he would finally accept that he is good. Sam is one of the few people who wouldn’t become arrogant upon discovering that they were the reincarnation of Christ, which is why he’s one of the only people that could be.

I get weirdly defensive of Sam and his myth arcs and his status as the hero. Someone tried to argue that Dean was more of a Christ-like figure than Sam, and that made me really upset because this. Is. Sam’s. He was the one that sacrificed everything to stop the apocalypse and was willing to do it again to close the gates of hell. He’s the saviour. That’s his and no one can take it away from him.

[herrosesneverfall]

That reaction is exactly why I wrote that post in the first place. There is so much Christ!Dean erasure that most people don’t even think it even can be a possible reading of Dean’s character, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Said reading therefore goes unexamined and we lose something great as a fandom as a result. 

For the record, I do, in fact, think that Sam has a Christ arc to a certain degree. He was certainly intended to have one when the show initially started and he certainly had one during The Trials. The imagery was there, the mythology was there. That I will not deny for a second. I just think that Sam has more of an Antichrist arc given the overall evidence at hand and that there is a stronger case to be made for Dean’sChrist arc given the overall evidence. 

You have to look at things as a whole. The validity of authorial intention, particularly in a show that’s evolved as much as Supernatural has, is up to debate. By claiming that Sam is the only onewith a Christ arc, you are ignoring Sam’s character arcs that are AntiChristological: BoyKing and Lucifer’s Vessel. You are ignoring aliteral wealth of imagery and mythology for Dean’s character that is Christological:

Dean being the first born son of Mary, Dean being an obedientson to absent father who placed the weight of saving people upon his shoulders,Dean willing selling his soul for Sam’s salvation, Dean going to Hell fortyyears and being tortured into breaking the First Seal, Dean getting resurrectedby Heaven to fulfill the destiny of stopping the Apocalypse, Dean’s role as theMichael Sword, Dean’s status as The Righteous Man and a True Servant of Heaven,just to name a few.

I’ve already laid out the mythological and biblical evidence for each of theseexamples, along with some others, here and here so I’m not going to go into them with any more detail. However,I am going to focus briefly on Dean’s breaking of the First Seal since you mentioned it inpassing in your post. Dean breaking TheFirst Seal is literally Dean actingin the role of Christ. How is that Christological? Well, first off, by Kripke’sown admission, seasons four and five are adaptationsof the Book of the Revelation. Dean’s narrative of being The Righteous Man whobreaks the First Seal is specifically an adaption of chapter five, in which a figure known as ‘The Lamb’ breaks the seven seals onthe scroll which will unleash the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. TheLamb being a synonym for and a symbol of Christ. 

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writingon both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth.  He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.  And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” ( Revelation 5:5-12, NIV )

Dean’s act of breaking the First Seal is not only Christological, it fits the narrative presented in Revelation perfectly. He did it while he was in Hell, after he had been killed, after he had willing sacrificed his life for Sam. He accomplished it because he was a truly righteous man. If you assume that Alastair was lying about John, Dean was the Righteous Man, meaning that he was the only one who could have broken the First Seal. Its fine if you want read Sam as a Christ figure, go right ahead. You have the right to read his character however you want. But you cannot say that he is the only one who has Christ imagery or a Christ narrative, because as I have demonstrated, that is simply not the case. Dean has one as well.

[herrosesneverfall]

samtheboywhowouldbeking:

I just wanted to start off by saying that I’m an Agnostic-Atheist. One that was raised Roman Catholic, but an Agnostic-Atheist none the less. I’m someone that has a lot of interest in Judeo-Christian mythology. Everything that I bring up or mention here is done for the sake of making a mythological point. 

First off, I have no clue what post you’re referring to, I was talking about someone on TV Tropes. And I just said that I got annoyed when people called Dean more of a Christ-figure than Sam, not that I get annoyed when they see those parallels at all.

 I recently made a post here on tumblr, two in fact , about Dean being a Christ figure. I posted them in the supernatural meta tag about a week before you made this post. The timing seemed rather apt. My posts are the only ones on tumblr, as far as I am aware, that talk about the reading of Christ!Dean and given that you were vague posting about someone making the claim of Christ!Dean, I logically assumed that you were talking about me.   Also that is exactly what you are saying. If there is a parallel between Dean and Christ, than Dean has the role of Christ figure to some extent. That’s how literary and especially mythological parallels work. But you very clearly said that the role of Christ figure belongs to Sam and Sam alone which means that Dean can’t have any Christ parallels because Sam already has them. That is an incorrect statement because Dean does have Christ parallels and they mean that he is a Christ figure. 

Secondly, with Dean, he literally may have a Christlike role, but the reasons why he’s done those things are so vastly different from why Christ did. He sacrificed his life willingly, yes, but he did it out of the most twisted kind of love imaginable, not the pure, selfless, unconditional love for the world that Sam and Christ made their sacrifices for. He chose to resurrect Sam, who would otherwise be going to heaven. Sam on the other hand. His sacrifice wasn’t for one person. Similarly to Christ, he died for humanity, so that no one else would be harmed in a war between heaven and hell.

One of Supernaturals most famous lines is from Dean, “I think Dad wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things, the Family Business.” Dean is the one accepted John’s will to be a hunter. To save and protect people from the evils of the world, even if that meant the end of his own life.  

Dean is constantly laying his life on the line. He went in between the fight between Michael and Lucifer and he squared off against Metaron, knowing that he was probably not going to come out of those situations alive. Most recently, he’s given Sam and Castiel the right to kill him should The Mark of Cain take over. It was Dean who was originally going to do The Trails. He had every single intention of doing them, but Sam ended up taking them on instead because of a random twist of fate. Sam had to take on the Trials, Dean chose to do them, but couldn’t.

While Dean might have sold his soul for Sam out of desperation and it might not have been for the whole world, Dean still  willingly sacrificed himself for another human being. It’s still a selfless act. Sam tried to find way to get Dean out of the deal but Dean refused because Sam would die otherwise. Dean spent a year of his life knowing that he was going to die in bloody agony, but he never tried to get out of it because Sam’s life was more important.   Christ’s sacrifice is about Salvation, it’s about the conquering of death and atonement for sins. It’s done out of love, but love is not the point of the act. 

Also, it should be noted that in the scene of Dean in Hell after he’s killed by the hell hounds, he’s hug up by chains in his wrists, feet and side which look an awful lot like the wounds of Christ. 

Dean is a sacrificial lamb. A martyr. Plain and simple. 

Dean’s resurrection was never to fulfill the tole of stopping the Apocalypse. He was fulfilled to be Michael’s vessel and thus start the Apocalypse. He didn’t stop it. It was Sam that regained control of his body and thus stopped Michael and Lucifer from fighting. Threw them all in the cage so that their fight didn’t endanger the planet.

Dean was resurrected because he broke the first Seal, “The First Seal shall break when a Righteous Man sheds blood in Hell.”  We learn from Castiel that Dean was resurrected because, “The Righteous Man who begins it is the only one who can finish it.” Dean was the one who started the Apocalypse and it was Dean who had to stop the Apocalypse. He’s literally the Alpha and Omega. 

And Dean did stop the Apocalypse. Sam’s plan might have been to jump into the Cage as soon as he let Lucifer in, but that plan did not work. Sam couldn’t take control back from Lucifer and Lucifer and Michael were going to fight. That was, until Dean showed up. Dean got in between Michael and Lucifer’s pissing contest, an act that without a doubt would have gotten Dean killed. It was only after Dean’s talking to Sam and admitting his love and care for Sam, while Lucifer was beating the ever-living crap out of him, that Sam was able to break through. If Dean hadn’t gone into that cemetery and put his life on the line, Sam would have never gotten control of himself back and never would have jumped into the Cage. Sam might have jumped into the Cage, but it was Dean who was acting as a Lamb being led to the slaughter. 

I fail to see how Dean’s role as Michael’s vessel in any way demonstrates parallels between him and Christ. I’m pretty sure you’re saying it’s important because of Michael’s destiny to defeat Lucifer in the show, correct me if I’m wrong. Dean may have been the vessel, but Michael never possessed him. He possessed John and Adam at different points, Adam when it came to facing Lucifer, and it wasn’t him that stopped Lucifer anyway. That was all Sam.

Michael is a direct analogue for Christ in the show. When I say ‘Christ’ I mean the divine entity as apposed to the person of Jesus. Michael’s characterization barrows a lot from Christ and he was characterized that way because the show needed a Christ for the Apocalypse arc, but they couldn’t get away with actually using Jesus so Michael subbed in for him. 

Michael is God’s eldest son. Michael is the only being that can destroy Lucifer and he is destined to fight Lucifer in a climatic battle. Christ is God’s only begotten Son and it’s Christ who throws Lucifer, The Antichrist and The False Prophet back into Hell. Also there are some Christian sects who believe that Michael and Christ are the same entity. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Advents for example. The connection between Michael and Christ is there. 

Dean isn’t just Michael’s vessel, He is Michael’s True vessel, the Michael Sword. John and Adam were just Plan B’s and they are stated to be so. Dean is ‘The Chosen One’ and always had been. Dean is the human man that is destined to be the vessel of Michael’s heavenly power and grace. The vessel of the entity that is destined to destroy Satan. 

Michael is intended to be Christ and Dean, as Michael’s vessel, is therefore intended to be Jesus. 

I am looking at this holistically, and I continue to say that Sam is more of a Christ-like figure than an anti-Christ, because he may have been Lucifer’s vessel, he may have had demons prepared to follow him, but he was still unflinchingly good. Christ had followers that were prepared to fight in his name. So did Sam - just because they were demons doesn’t change the fact that he had followers and he didn’t want any bloodshed. The role of the anti-Christ from what I understand - again, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m an atheist - is one that is the opposite of Christ, one with malicious intent that deceived humanity. I don’t think that that’s Sam in any way. All he ever did was good. Being the Boy King is interesting, because Sam was horrified by it. He didn’t want the powers. He didn’t want to have demons fighting for him. And that’s why he wasn’t the Anti-Christ. He denied being good and heroic and a saviour. He was humble about all his virtues. Never once did he claim to be anything he wasn’t. Having dark powers does not negate his Christ arc. Boy King, Lucifer’s vessel, these things do not automatically make it an Anti-Christ arc.

Based on a literal text of the Bible? Yes. An Antichrist is someone who opposes or is threat to Christ. There’s a lot of debate among theologians as to exactly what that means. If that’s just a false messiah in league with Satan or Satan manifest in human form or Satan’s child, etc. The archetype of Antichrist, on the whole, is a dark or demonic savior. Sam being The Boy King and the vessel of Lucifer does qualify him for the role of Antichrist, based on the archetype. 

That said, Sam’s goodness does not disqualify him from the role of Antichrist. He’s still an Antichrist. He is viewed as a demonic savior, he is the literal vessel of Satan. He is the dark half of the light and dark dichotomy he has with Dean. He is even called the Antichrist in text during season three by both Ruby and Gordon (biased opinions aside). Sam is an Antichrist. The fact that Sam is a protagonist just makes him subversion of trope, but it It does not negate it.

Speaking of Sam’s goodness, what about that arc Sam had of drinking demon blood and literally banging a demon, despite being told by both Dean and Castiel that what he was doing was wrong? How about that time he nearly choked his brother to death while on a demon blood high? How about the fact that he spent nearly the whole season lying to Dean about his activities with Ruby? You can argue that Sam did it because he was being manipulated by Ruby, and that’s true, but he was still doing something that he knew was wrong and refused to admit that what he was doing was wrong.  

I repeat - it was Sam that defeated Lucifer and stopped the Apocalypse. Not Michael. Not Dean. Sam.

Which he accomplished because Dean put himself in the line of fire and helped him take control back of his body, thus allowing him to jump into The Cage. Sam did not do that purely on his own. Dean helped him achieve that.

I continued to argue my point for the sake of debate and because you are a lot more articulate and polite than most of the Dean supports that add on to posts, but honestly, I am so done with people taking untagged posts that have nothing to do with Dean, that are all about Sam and praising him and appreciating his character, and making it all about Dean. I didn’t deny or ignore anything or any parallel. I just focused on Sam who I think is far more clearly and meaningfully a Christ figure.

I’m not making it about Dean. Yes, I believe that there is far more evidence that points to Dean being a Christ figure over Sam. Yes, I think Dean fits the role better, based on said evidence. Yes, I’m bothered by the very apparent glossing over or downplaying of bits of Dean’s character which point to him being a Christ figure, things that have direct biblical parallels, in favor of the broad strokes that paint Sam as a Christ figure.   However, my argument here isn’t about that. It’s about the absolute claim that Sam is Supernatural’s defacto Christ figure. That the role of Christ belongs to Sam and to Sam only. He’s not and it doesn’t. Dean has Christ parallels, quite a few in fact and some are very direct. Dean is a Christ figure. Sam is not the only one. 

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

That is not what I said. I said that Sam has parallels to Christ that build to the arc of him as a saviour and Dean doesn't. I never said that Dean doesn't have parallels to Christ. I said that he doesn't have the story arc. Those are not the same thing.

You talk about Dean's selflessness a lot, and I think that that's something frequently misinterpreted.

Dean's love isn't selfless. So many of the sacrifices he claims to make for Sam aren't for Sam but for himself. He makes them because he can't stand the thought of being alone. When he sold his soul to bring Sam back to life, he never thought about the fact that Sam wouldn't want it.

Sam's sacrifice was in large part to atone for sins. His own, mostly, but also for those of everyone who at any point played a role in getting them to that point. And there were a lot of those.

On the Anti-Christ and the demonic saviour - Yes, the demons viewed Sam as their saviour, but he chose not to be. He chose to not lead them. He chose to stop a war instead of fight in it. Even before then, he fought for humanity against demons. He spent a season exorcising them with his mind.

Sam made a choice in season four, and that was to save as many lives as possible, regardless of cost to himseslf. The drinking of demon's blood was done after weighing the pros and the cons. He could save the human vessels after two seasons of just killing them, and the only cost would be to himself. Because Sam is a good person that is willing to make huge sacrifices to himself for the greater good, he paid that price. Was it something dark and disturbing? Damn straight it was. But he took that something dark and made something good out of it. He used his powers for good.

Nearly choking Dean? Sure, that wasn't a high point for Sam. But Dean has done much worse to Sam while in full control of his own mind. He's punched him repeatedly, locked him in a panic room strapped to a bed to detox, invited an angel to possess him. Sam's lowest, darkest points have been while under the influence of demon's blood, while Dean's have been while completely himself.

Now you're doing just what you accuse me of and downplaying Sam's character and actions. Sure, Dean helped. But that does not mean that it was him that ended the Apocalypse. His presence reminded Sam of what he was fighting for, but it was still Sam that managed to take back control. It was Sam that threw himself, Lucifer, and Michael into the cage.

Are you forgetting that the angels didn't want the Apocalypse averted? They wanted the war. They wanted Dean to be possessed and wanted Michael and Lucifer to fight. Dean was resurrected to end the war by fighting in it. But that didn't happen.

Sure, Dean was Michael's true vessel and it was in his body that Michael was supposed to defeat Lucifer. But none of that happened. Dean may have been the vessel, but he was replaceable.

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

Today, I think I’m going to talk about something I’ve kind of brushed on in the past but never really explored: Sam as the saviour.

The first five seasons, the Jesus parallels were impossible to miss. A man that was willing to sacrifice everything for other people and that did. Someone that saw the best in other people and believed in them, even when no one else did. Someone with high moral standards. Someone that forgives unconditionally.

As Sam was preparing to jump into the pit and condemn himself to eternal torture, his instinct was to reassure Dean. He did that, then without hesitating, jumped. Sam doesn’t even come second to himself - he comes, like, eighth. How could this man be anything but the saviour? He would sacrifice himself to protect anyone. His life is unimportant. He’ll sacrifice that if it means saving just one more person.

Sam had followers, like Christ did, followers ready to fight for him. Sam didn’t make his sacrifice for them. They were demons, and Sam sacrificed himself to avoid a war between them and angels. In doing so, he saved countless lives, human and demon and angel, even though his primary motivation was to protect humanity.

Christ died so that humanity’s sins would be forgiven. It’s a story of unconditional love and sacrifice. Sam’s story is just that. He died because he sacrificed himself for others, to atone for his own sins.

Something else very reminiscent of Christ is the fact that Sam never fit in anywhere. He was the white sheep in his family, and even after going to Stanford, he was still the odd one out. We saw in the pilot - he never lost his hunting instinct. Dean broke into his apartment, and woke Sam up. Sam’s reaction to someone in his house wasn’t to say anything but to quietly approach and see who was there.

Sam was so misunderstood. I still don’t believe that him exorcising demons was a bad thing. The only damage the demon’s blood was doing was to him, and he was voluntarily paying that price. Their mission was supposed to be saving people and hunting things, but when they got Ruby’s knife, the “saving people” part seems to have slipped their minds and they completely gave up on exorcisms. Sam was just returning to what they used to do and believe in.

One of the things I find so special about Sam is that, even more than forgiving people for things that he would have every right to consider unforgivable, there are so many horrific things that people have done that he never even considered blaming them for. The two best examples of this are Dean and Mary.

Dean has done many things that Sam has forgiven him for - allowing an angel to possess him, killing Amy, hurting him physically and emotionally again and again, dragging him back into hunting. But Dean also broke the first seal by torturing souls in hell. Sam empathized. He never threw that in Dean’s face. Ever. Even after Dean blamed him for setting Lucifer free, called him a monster, Sam never stooped so low as to bring up the fact that Dean tortured people, most of whom had done nothing wrong other than make a deal with a demon, like he himself had done.

Sam’s story was allegedly foretold, set from the beginning of time. He was the chosen one. Lucifer’s vessel. One of Azazel’s special children. He was the result of the merging of the Winchester and the Campbell bloodlines, the son of John and Mary. He was a pawn in a game of chess between heaven and hell, and he suffered so much because of that. But none of it could have happened had Mary not made a deal with Azazel. John’s life for entry into her home. In fairness, Mary didn’t know what she was agreeing to. But she essentially signed away her unborn son’s life before he was even conceived. When Mary took the deal, she allowed Azazel to feed an infant Sam demon’s blood and gain psychic powers. The deal resulted in John, Dean, and Sam becoming hunters, hellbent on revenge. Resulted in Sam meeting Ruby. Becoming addicted to demon’s blood. Becoming Lucifer’s vessel. Jumping into the cage.

And when Sam learned about what she had done, he never blamed her for a second.

Sam never knew Mary. To him, she was nothing but stories told to him by his father and brother. He knew that his family loved her, but he couldn’t - he had never known her. She was a stranger to him. And yet he didn’t blame her. This is so, so remarkable, because it demonstrates that Sam wouldn’t blame anyone for ruining his life like that.

Sam’s myth arc was completed by the end of season five when he made his sacrifice, but it began anew once he returned from the pit. Even Sam without a soul was a better man than most. He wasn’t nice, he wasn’t polite, he wasn’t Sam, but he was a good person because Sam is inherently good.

We saw other people without their souls, and they were out of control. Violent. Bloodthirsty. Sam? He was calculating, and ruthless, and sarcastic, but he still continued doing what he had always done. Saving people. Hunting things. He did riskier things, but they paid off, because Sam without his empathy and compassion was as close as anyone could get to a perfect hunter.

He was prepared to sacrifice himself again at the end of season eight, so that humans would be safe. He was going to close the gates of hell. Sam has no sense of self preservation because to him, his life is unimportant when it’s a choice between protecting others and protecting himself.

Sam is indisputably a tragic hero. Things happen to him, again and again, through no real fault of his own. His greatest flaw is his desire - his need - to have faith in something or someone. Ruby. Dean. Cas. He trusted all of them, and that trust ended up hurting him.

In the beginning, he was fighting himself just as much as he was fighting any outside force. He is good, he is selfless, he is giving, but he feared himself. Not just the demon’s blood in him, because Sam doesn’t distinguish different parts of himself - he feared and hated himself. His entire being. The struggle became very literal when Lucifer possessed him.

It’s been hammered into everyone’s head that demon’s blood is evil. But Sam? When he was drinking it, he was using the abilities it gave him to exorcise demons and save the host body. Sam took something dark and made good come out of it.

Sam is the saviour, not because of any destiny, but because of his choices. Sam chooses to be good and do good every day, and he saves people again and again because of it. He’s saved individuals, and he’s saved all of humanity, and he’s set captured souls free.

Supernatural has crossed so many lines that probably shouldn’t have been crossed when it comes to religion. At this point, what’s one more? Give me the second coming of Christ in the form of Sam Winchester. Give me the rebirth instead of the return in adult form. Give me Sam, the humble hero with a guilt complex, finding out that he’s not unclean, that he’s not a monster. Finding out that he’s inherently good and always has been.

That would make such a good story, and it might be another thing that could bring me back into the show. Because Sam has always had faith, in God, in angels, in Dean, but never in himself. Finding out that he is the reincarnation of Jesus would help him finally, finally, see himself as the hero he is. He would remain humble, of course, because that’s who Sam is, but he would finally accept that he is good. Sam is one of the few people who wouldn’t become arrogant upon discovering that they were the reincarnation of Christ, which is why he’s one of the only people that could be.

I get weirdly defensive of Sam and his myth arcs and his status as the hero. Someone tried to argue that Dean was more of a Christ-like figure than Sam, and that made me really upset because this. Is. Sam’s. He was the one that sacrificed everything to stop the apocalypse and was willing to do it again to close the gates of hell. He’s the saviour. That’s his and no one can take it away from him.

[herrosesneverfall]

That reaction is exactly why I wrote that post in the first place. There is so much Christ!Dean erasure that most people don’t even think it even can be a possible reading of Dean’s character, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Said reading therefore goes unexamined and we lose something great as a fandom as a result. 

For the record, I do, in fact, think that Sam has a Christ arc to a certain degree. He was certainly intended to have one when the show initially started and he certainly had one during The Trials. The imagery was there, the mythology was there. That I will not deny for a second. I just think that Sam has more of an Antichrist arc given the overall evidence at hand and that there is a stronger case to be made for Dean’sChrist arc given the overall evidence. 

You have to look at things as a whole. The validity of authorial intention, particularly in a show that’s evolved as much as Supernatural has, is up to debate. By claiming that Sam is the only onewith a Christ arc, you are ignoring Sam’s character arcs that are AntiChristological: BoyKing and Lucifer’s Vessel. You are ignoring aliteral wealth of imagery and mythology for Dean’s character that is Christological:

Dean being the first born son of Mary, Dean being an obedientson to absent father who placed the weight of saving people upon his shoulders,Dean willing selling his soul for Sam’s salvation, Dean going to Hell forty years and being tortured into breaking the First Seal, Dean getting resurrected by Heaven to fulfill the destiny of stopping the Apocalypse, Dean’s role as the Michael Sword, Dean’s status as The Righteous Man and a True Servant of Heaven, just to name a few.

I’ve already laid out the mythological and biblical evidence for each of these examples, along with some others, here and here so I’m not going to go into them with any more detail. However, I am going to focus briefly on Dean’s breaking of the First Seal since you mentioned it in passing in your post. Dean breaking The First Seal is literally Dean acting in the role of Christ. How is that Christological? Well, first off, by Kripke’s own admission, seasons four and five are adaptations of the Book of the Revelation. Dean’s narrative of being The Righteous Man who breaks the First Seal is specifically an adaption of chapter five, in which a figure known as ‘The Lamb’ breaks the seven seals on the scroll which will unleash the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Lamb being a synonym for and a symbol of Christ. 

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth.  He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.  And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” ( Revelation 5:5-12, NIV )

Dean’s act of breaking the First Seal is not only Christological, it fits the narrative presented in Revelation perfectly. He did it while he was in Hell, after he had been killed, after he had willing sacrificed his life for Sam. He accomplished it because he was a truly righteous man. If you assume that Alastair was lying about John, Dean was the Righteous Man, meaning that he was the only one who could have broken the First Seal. Its fine if you want read Sam as a Christ figure, go right ahead. You have the right to read his character however you want. But you cannot say that he is the only one who has Christ imagery or a Christ narrative, because as I have demonstrated, that is simply not the case. Dean has one as well.

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

First off, I have no clue what post you’re referring to, I was talking about someone on TV Tropes. And I just said that I got annoyed when people called Dean more of a Christ-figure than Sam, not that I get annoyed when they see those parallels at all.

Secondly, with Dean, he literally may have a Christlike role, but the reasons why he’s done those things are so vastly different from why Christ did. He sacrificed his life willingly, yes, but he did it out of the most twisted kind of love imaginable, not the pure, selfless, unconditional love for the world that Sam and Christ made their sacrifices for. He chose to resurrect Sam, who would otherwise be going to heaven. Sam on the other hand. His sacrifice wasn’t for one person. Similarly to Christ, he died for humanity, so that no one else would be harmed in a war between heaven and hell.

Dean’s resurrection was never to fulfill the tole of stopping the Apocalypse. He was fulfilled to be Michael’s vessel and thus start the Apocalypse. He didn’t stop it. It was Sam that regained control of his body and thus stopped Michael and Lucifer from fighting. Threw them all in the cage so that their fight didn’t endanger the planet.

I fail to see how Dean’s role as Michael’s vessel in any way demonstrates parallels between him and Christ. I’m pretty sure you’re saying it’s important because of Michael’s destiny to defeat Lucifer in the show, correct me if I’m wrong. Dean may have been the vessel, but Michael never possessed him. He possessed John and Adam at different points, Adam when it came to facing Lucifer, and it wasn’t him that stopped Lucifer anyway. That was all Sam.

I am looking at this holistically, and I continue to say that Sam is more of a Christ-like figure than an anti-Christ, because he may have been Lucifer’s vessel, he may have had demons prepared to follow him, but he was still unflinchingly good. Christ had followers that were prepared to fight in his name. So did Sam - just because they were demons doesn’t change the fact that he had followers and he didn’t want any bloodshed.

The role of the anti-Christ from what I understand - again, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m an atheist - is one that is the opposite of Christ, one with malicious intent that deceived humanity. I don’t think that that’s Sam in any way. All he ever did was good.

Being the Boy King is interesting, because Sam was horrified by it. He didn’t want the powers. He didn’t want to have demons fighting for him. And that's why he wasn't the Anti-Christ. He denied being good and heroic and a saviour. He was humble about all his virtues. Never once did he claim to be anything he wasn't. Having dark powers does not negate his Christ arc. Boy King, Lucifer's vessel, these things do not automatically make it an Anti-Christ arc.

I repeat - it was Sam that defeated Lucifer and stopped the Apocalypse. Not Michael. Not Dean. Sam.

I continued to argue my point for the sake of debate and because you are a lot more articulate and polite than most of the Dean supports that add on to posts, but honestly, I am so done with people taking untagged posts that have nothing to do with Dean, that are all about Sam and praising him and appreciating his character, and making it all about Dean. I didn’t deny or ignore anything or any parallel. I just focused on Sam who I think is far more clearly and meaningfully a Christ figure.

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

But can we seriously talk one more time about how Death, the most powerful entity in the world, the one thing that outlasts everything else, respects Sam more than anyone else does?

Death held Sam's soul, and so he knows better than anyone just how remarkable Sam Winchester really is. His soul after centuries of torture, a soul somehow still recognizably Sam's.

That scene is actually amazing to me, in that tiny room in Sam's head, because it was so quiet, so calm, so gentle. Death, all the other times we've seen him, has projected a certain arrogance, one that can only by a being that will outlast everyone and everything. But here - Death addressed Sam as something close to an equal. They sat together like old friends. To quote Harry Potter, "And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life". So much of this scene brings to mind that quote.

Sam wanted answers and Death provided them. He had one final wish, and Death promised that it would be granted. No one else has ever respected Sam's wishes like that. Death respected Sam and respected his choices. He didn't pressure him one way or the other. 

[samtheboywhowouldbeking]

Yet another thing I love about Sam: how much good he sees in people.

This is a man that's seen so much bad. He's lost so much and been the victim of so much cruelty. And yet, part of him is still that wide eyed idealist, the all loving hero, that believes in the best of people, and has faith that they can be better and can choose to be good.

I think Sam falls a little bit in love with everyone he meets and spends some time getting to know, as cheesy as that sounds. He sees beauty in everyone and everything. It's not in the romantic sense, just in the sense that he loves humanity and sees the good in everyone and can find something to love about everyone, from Jesse Turner, the innocent child who had done no wrong but was allegedly destined for evil, to Castiel, a genocidal egomaniac that had called him an abomination and had always favoured his brother.

When Sam falls in love, he falls fast and he falls hard. He doesn't need time to fall in love, he just does. The best example, of course, is Madison. They barely knew each other. But she was smart, strong, brave, selfless, funny. She inspired Sam. He barely knew her, but she was the first woman he loved romantically since Jess. All Sam Winchester needs to love someone is to see good in them.

Sam has such a huge heart, because he doesn't just love his family and friends. He loves the world, humanity. It's the purest kind of unconditional love. He doesn't expect anything from people. They can hurt him, they can hate him - it doesn't matter because Sam still sees something worth loving and loves them no matter what.