This is your brain all clear -- transcending the original duality that slices life's analog reality into artificial digital pieces, creating a false belief that the past and future are real. Only NOW is real.
And we just missed it.
But NOW you are free.
You're only puzzled why you didn't see your brain getting dirty in the first place.
I thought it was about time I did an updated/cleaner/clearer version of my “Heroine’s Journey” meta from last season, so here it is. In which I look at the story structure the show seems to have been using for Dean, Sam, and Cas’ character arcs for the past few seasons, and make a few guesses about what we might see in the future. The other post only included the Carver era. This version includes the Carver era and the events of season twelve as well, which is actually fitting right into that same pattern. I wasn’t sure how it would survive the showrunner change, but it looks like Dabb is keeping it going--with a couple of tweaks--so that’s pretty cool. I thought I’d include what we’ve seen of Mary’s character arc so far, too.
The “Heroine’s Journey” story structure, in a nutshell, is about finding balance. It’s the story of a character who rejects half of themselves and then, as they go through each step of the journey—going on a quest for a treasure, finding the treasure, being unsatisfied with the treasure, experiencing a metaphorical death and a descent to the underworld, meeting with a dark god/dess, resurfacing and reuniting with a mother figure, and so on—gradually learns how to accept both sides of themselves and to embrace themselves as a whole person. The “archetypal” version of the heroine’s journey (according to Maureen Murdock, who wrote the book on it [link]) is specifically about a heroine who rejects her own archetypal feminine side and embraces her archetypal masculine side instead, and then learns to accept both. But the heroine’s journey story structure doesn’t have to be about femininity versus masculinity. It can be about anything, just as long as it’s about a union of opposites and the discovery of balance (link). It also doesn’t have to be limited to female characters! Any character can go on a heroine’s journey.
Dean’s heroine’s journey is the closest to the “classic” heroine’s journey, as it is about learning to embrace his inner archetypal “feminine” side; Cas’ journey is about learning how to embrace his inner humanity; and Sam’s and Mary’s journeys are about learning to embrace the presence of the supernatural in their lives. Having found balance and wholeness, they’ll be able to use that to heal the world around them.
Mary is right at the very beginning of her journey but Sam, Dean and Cas have all progressed through almost every single one of the ten stages.
The first half of the heroine’s journey plays out in pretty much the same way a typical Hero’s Journey does, with a “call to adventure” and a quest for a treasure (a la Joseph Campbell). It’s after the heroine finds the goal of her quest that things start to diverge. So here’s a rundown of the ten steps, plus some guesses about where Sam, Dean, Cas and Mary might go from here:
Stage 1 The character hears the call to adventure and rejects half of themselves:
The character views part of themselves as being undesirable and turns away from it. The “call to adventure” is heard when the heroine realizes that her old sense of self no longer fits. Her life has been shaken up a way that makes her realize that “she has no sense of self that she can call her own” (Murdock, “Introduction”).
Dean -season nine. Shaken up by Sam’s illness and near death and by Kevin’s death, Dean starts thinking of himself as “poison” to the people around him and rejects his own caring, community-minded side
Sam -the end of season seven/beginning of season eight. Shaken up by Dean and Cas disappearing into Purgatory, and his being completely alone in the world for the first time, Sam rejects everything about “the family business”
Cas -season nine. Shaken up by the angel fall, the hostility of his angelic family, and Dean’s perceived rejection of him, Cas rejects his human side/his human life
Mary- shaken up by her death and resurrection, desperately wanting a civilian life again, Mary rejects the supernatural
Stage 2 The character embraces the other half of themselves, gathers allies, and prepares for their quest:
Having turned away from one half of themselves, the heroine embraces the other half as being more desirable. She finds guides and allies, and she sets out on the typical “Journey of the Hero”—a quest for a treasure. She thinks that this is her path to success. This quest helps the heroine create her own place in the world as an independent person. However, the character’s imbalanced approach can cause problems (ch.2).
Dean -embraces his identity as a violent killer, and teams up with Crowley and Cain
Sam -grabs onto the hope of creating a world free of demons, and teams up with Kevin
Cas -cannibalizes another angel’s grace, becomes an angel again, devotes himself to his angelic family, and teams up with Hannah, the rest of his angel army and, later, Gadreel
Mary -grabs onto the hope of creating “a world without monsters” for herself and her kids, and teams up with the BMOL—specifically, with Mr. Ketch and Mick Davies
Stage 3 The Road of Trials:
The character crosses into the unknown. “The heroine crosses the threshold, leaves the safety of… home, and goes in search of herself.” She faces obstacles and antagonists. Facing a series of trials (as in the typical Hero’s Journey) enables her to “discover her strengths and abilities and uncover and overcome her weaknesses” (ch.3).
Dean -defeating the demons in Cain’s house and proving himself to Cain; getting the Mark; tracking down the Blade and taking possession of it; killing Magnus; finding Abaddon
Sam -the literal three Trials to close the Gates of Hell
Cas –building his angel army, finding Metatron
Mary -getting the Colt from Ramiel; taking out the vampire nest; going on hunts with Ketch
Stage 4 “Finding the Boon of Success”:
The character finds the goal of their quest, or something close to it.
Dean -killing Abaddon
Sam -the third Trial
Cas -opening Heaven and getting his angelic brethren home; defeating Metatron
Mary- Still to come. My guess is that she will somehow get a glimpse of the BMOL’s “world without monsters” and it won’t be what she was hoping for
Stage 5 Metaphorical Death:
The character succeeded in her quest and found her treasure but it isn’t giving her what she wanted. She feels a “sense of betrayal” over that. Something is missing (ch.5). She sacrificed half of herself and the reward she got for it isn’t enough. She hasn’t let herself become a whole person (“Introduction”). The heroine might cycle back to a previous stage on her journey, trying to solve the problem by going on yet more quests for yet more “treasures,” but it doesn’t work (ch.4). “She may experience a physical illness or accident” that represents her internal state (“Introduction”).
Dean -his horror over the Mark turning him into something he doesn’t want to be; the Mark of Cain taking over his body and making it start to break down when he doesn’t kill; his failed attempt to kill Metatron; his literal death and transformation into a demon; his fight with the Mark over the following season
Sam -his despair during the Third Trial; the Trial sickness and his near death immediately after the Third Trial; his failure to complete the Third Trial; his chat with Death in 9x01 and his determination to die; his continued illness over the next several episodes
Cas -his belief that stealing another angel’s grace makes him “a barbarian”; the stolen grace burning him up inside and nearly killing him, more than once; his failure to save Dean from Metatron and his despair over that.
Unlike Sam and Dean, Cas doesn’t immediately progress to the next step on his journey. Instead, he circles back around to stage 3 and goes on more quests. He and Hannah team up to round up the rogue angels, and then he and Sam team up to save Dean from the Mark of Cain. Those quests don’t totally work out either (Hannah abandons him to return to Heaven; Dean, overcome by the Mark despite Cas’ attempts to snap him out of it, viciously attacks Cas). Cas doesn’t move onto the next stage of his journey until end of season ten/the beginning of season eleven.
Mary -sill to come. For the other three characters, this was a supernaturally-induced physical illness and a near-death experience. Mary might experience something similar. Or maybe she’ll have some other kind of metaphorical death. Or maybe she’ll literally, permanently die :( but for the sake of this meta/spec, I’m assuming that she won’t die and that her story arc won’t end here. Fingers crossed.
Stage 6 Descent to the underworld and meeting with the personification of the character’s repressed and rejected side: “Initiation and descent to the Goddess”
The heroine makes her journey to the underworld (ch.6). The journey may be kicked off by the character being offered another quest/task and choosing not to take it (ch.5). Another stage in her life has come to a close. “An initiation process has begun. During this part of the journey, the [heroine] begins her decent. It may involve a seemingly endless period of wandering, grief, and rage; of dethroning kings; of looking for the lost pieces of herself and meeting the dark feminine” (“Introduction”). The heroine “confronts her own dark side, the rage and fury left unexpressed….” This stage can also be associated with depression. The heroine descends into the dark and meets the dark feminine goddess who is being held captive there. The heroine must free her. Only when the dark goddess “feels heard” can they—both the dark goddess and the heroine—begin the ascent and be reborn. “[T]his woman of the depths is only frightening when her energy is shackled, contained, and denied expression” (ch.6).
Dean -his supernatural bond with the manifestation of his repressed side, who is furious at being denied expression for so long: Amara, the Goddess of Darkness. He saves the world and himself by approaching her with an open mind, listening to her, asking her, “What do you want?” and helping her achieve it in a healthy, non-destructive way. He sets her free and sets part of himself free, too. And finally he is able to admit to liking chick flicks ;)
Sam -his feelings of worthlessness and his possession by Gadreel, who manifests Sam’s own feelings of intense guilt and horror at everything he’s done and everything the supernatural world has subjected him to. Sam ultimately extends the hand of friendship and understanding towards Gadreel, and accepts his help in return. In doing so, he starts to accept the side of himself that he’s been rejecting.
Cas -This is an interesting one, because s11 did one version of it and I think s12 has been doing another. S11 had Cas’ depression and his descent into possession by Lucifer. S12 has Cas’ continued depression and feelings of disconnection from the people he loves, culminating in his being influenced by the Nephilim. Lucifer is the ultimate rebel against Heaven, and the Nephilim is a half-human, half-angel being. They both represent parts of Cas that he has been rejecting: his desire to reject Heaven, and his desire to have a life on earth and embrace a human life. I don’t think this’ll be fully resolved until the Nephilim plot is resolved--maybe at the end of next season? The Nephilim’s direct influence over Cas doesn’t necessarily need to last very long, but I’d expect their storylines to remain linked and for Cas to eventually have a moment of connection and/or understanding with the Nephilim which would represent him coming to fully understand and accept his own human side.
(As a side note, I can see why the show might have wanted to tinker with this storyline and redo it with the Nephilim, if that is indeed what they’re doing. Lucifer has so many associations and relationships with so many characters other than just Cas—like Sam, Crowley, Chuck, Michael, etc. Making him all about Cas and Cas’ storyline would be difficult to do, as well as not being quite fair to all of those other associations. The Nephilim, on the other hand, can “belong” to Cas’ storyline with no big complications.)
Mary -still to come. IF the pattern holds, she might become possessed or otherwise controlled by some force beyond her full control. This force will metaphorically represent the part of her that she’s been rejecting/running away from.
Stage 7 Embracing the half of themselves they once rejected:
“There is a desire to develop those parts of herself that have gone underground while on the heroic quest” and to develop positive connections with other people who are associated with that (ch.7).
Dean – the end of season eleven and the beginning of season twelve, in which he desperately tries to recreate the relationship he remembers having with Mary when he was four years old.
Sam – pretty much all of season ten—his desperate need to find and save Dean, even if it means throwing himself into the supernatural and into dark magic with Rowena, and getting other people killed. Instead of running away from his family, he’s made his family into his whole world, and he’s willing to devote himself to dangerous magic to protect it.
Cas – still to come, I think, although there are elements of it happening right now, with his desire to be a part of the Winchester family. I assume that would be Cas throwing himself fully into life on earth—more so than he’s already been doing, I mean. Human!Cas might be a possibility. Even though I tend to assume that human!Cas would be an end-of-show scenario, I don’t want to rule out the possibility that it could happen earlier. Or it might be something else—it’s hard to tell. But yeah, if human!Cas does happen at any point before the end of the show, I would expect it to follow right on the heels of the Nephilim/Lucifer story.
Mary -still to come
Stage 8 The character deals with the issue that caused them to reject half of themselves: “Healing the mother/daughter split”
They form connections and become part of a community (ch.8). “After the period of descent our heroine begins to slowly heal the mother/daughter split, the wound that occurred with the initial rejection of the feminine. This may or may not involve an actual healing of the relationship between a woman and her own mother. A healing does occur, however, within the woman herself” (“Introduction”). If the heroine’s mother is dead or otherwise unavailable--if she’s a wicked witch or an evil stepmother, for instance--the heroine will find other ways to heal, through making other relationships and forming community or through looking inward (ch.8).
(I am forever kicking myself for not being more on the ball and predicting Mary’s return at the end of last season—I totally could have! If I’d only been paying more attention! :p)
Dean -healing his relationship with Mary, of course. Healing the wound that Mary’s absence left in his life. That’s still a work in progress. He’s also rebuilding his relationship with Cas, the one that got shattered during the Mark of Cain arc; and he’s feeling his way into a healthier relationship with Sam. But his relationship with Mary is the big one. That’s going to need to come to a climax soon.
Sam -Sam is showing wonderful amounts of self-acceptance when it comes to talking about his psychic powers and so on. He’s let go of enough of the guilt and the feelings of impurity that he’s able to say that his powers never made him bad. He’s forming connections with other people in the supernatural world like Eileen, Alicia and Max, and even people like Rowena and, unexpectedly, Crowley (sort of). But it all comes down to the original event—Azazel, his demon blood/powers arc—and that has yet to be discussed. However, Mary’s already brought the subject up to Dean, so I’m optimistic that we’ll get to that before too long. As with Dean’s arc, Mary is sure to play a major role in this.
Cas – Still to come? Cas is kind of getting this, currently, though. He knows that his human family loves him and considers him to be one of their own. I think that wound is healing, although he’s still got a lot of self-worth issues that he’s struggling with. He might get another big moment relating to this, later.
Mary – still to come. Healing the inner wound that caused her to reject the supernatural.
Stage 9 The character creates a healthier, more balanced relationship with the side of themselves that they embraced to the point of illness
“Healing the Wounded Masculine”
The heroine faces down a dark, tyrannical male figure. She may need to accept or heal this figure, or she may need to let go of his influence over her. “The masculine is an archetypal force; it is not a gender. Like the feminine, it is a creative force that lives within all women and men. When it becomes unbalanced… it becomes combative, critical, and destructive” (ch.9).
Dean – still to come. Mr. Ketch is coming across as a manifestation of Dean’s inner tyrant figure—the worst, most unbalanced, unhealthy, violent, psychopathic, sexist parts of himself. His MoC-influenced self, basically. I’m guessing that Ketch’s defeat will metaphorically represent Dean dealing with this. And speaking of significant male figures with influence over the characters, we’re getting a lot of father figures in this season, too. I’d love it if John was discussed, and/or Dean’s lost childhood as a hunter-in-training. Maybe that’ll be more of a season thirteen thing, since fatherhood is likely to be a big theme after the birth of the Nephilim.
Sam -still to come. I’m expecting Sam to take on the BMOL--maybe he’ll be the one to deal with the higher-ranking members--and to have a hand in reforming their tyrannical regime and reshaping it into something better. This will give Sam a healthier relationship with the world outside of “traditional” hunting while still allowing him to remain connected to the supernatural world.
Cas -still to come. For him, this would mean making peace with his angelic side/his angelic origins/his angelic family. If he’s human at this point, it wouldn’t necessarily mean becoming an angel again, but it would mean having a final confrontation with an angel or angels. If he is still an angel himself at this point—well, it would still probably mean having a final confrontation with another angel—but it might also be the time when he decides to let his angelic side go, and to become human, if he hasn’t done so already. Not because he’d think there’s anything inherently bad about being an angel, but just because it wouldn’t be the right fit for him and he had made peace with that.
Mary -Still to come. It’s hard to know where any of these plot points would fall, for her. Is her character arc all going to be stuffed into the end of this season? Is it going to be spread out over the next season(s)? It makes it hard to guess the specifics. She might also have a hand in reforming the BMOL, for instance. Or not.
Stage 10 The character integrates both sides of themselves and finds balance and peace
PEACE?!
This is very much an endgame/final season/final few episodes scenario, clearly :p It’s when the characters resolve their issues, make peace with themselves, and use what they have learned to bring lasting peace and harmony to the world around them.
This is probably when the successful romances—if there are any—would happen. A happy and healthy union of two people represents, on a metaphorical level, the successful, healthy union of two separate forces into a balanced whole (ch.9). The show has been flirting with the idea of its characters “settling down with someone involved in the life”/“settling down with another hunter” and, if the show commits to that, I imagine it would occur at this point in the story, as part of the harmonious conclusion.
Alternatively, maybe there would be babies (although, as things stand, I’m more doubtful about that one). The birth of a baby is another way of metaphorically representing harmonious unions and “rebirths” (ch.9). Maybe Mary will settle down and have another kid, who knows?
At any rate…
The characters have been reborn as whole, unified beings. Balance, harmony, and health have been restored. “The heroine becomes the Mistress of Both Worlds; she can navigate the waters of daily life and listen to the teachings of the depths. She is the Mistress of Heaven and Earth and of the Underworld. She has gained wisdom from her experiences: she no longer needs to blame the other; she is the other. She brings that wisdom back to share with the world” (ch.9).
Murdock, Maureen. The Heroine’s Journey : Woman’s Quest for Wholeness. Boston: Shambala Publications, Inc., 1990. eBook Edition.
Love sharpens the eye, the ear, the touch; it quickens the feet, it steadies the hand, it arms against the wet and the cold.
What we love to do, that we do well.
To know is not all; it is only half.
To love is the other half.
