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This page lists tropes associated with Sam Winchester from Supernatural.

See also the character page for Dean Winchester, and the rest of the Winchester Family.

The main character page for this series is here.


Samuel William "Sam" Winchester

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samwinchester_7.png
"You know me. You know why. I'm not leaving my brother alone out there."

Portrayed By: Jared Padalecki, Colin Ford, Alex Ferris, Dylan Kingwell

Samuel William "Sam" Winchester is the protagonist of Supernatural. Sam was born May 2, 1983, in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. He is the youngest child of John Winchester and Mary Winchester (nee Campbell). He has an older brother, Dean Winchester, who is four years his senior. His mother Mary died on November 2, 1983 when Sam was only six months old. On November 2, 1983, when Sam was exactly six months old, his mother Mary (a retired creature hunter) was engulfed in a massive conflagration by yellow-eyed demon Azazel (one of four Princes of Hell). Her death was not premeditated, but rather a result of her incidental interruption of Azazel's visit to Sam's crib in the night – a contractual option Azazel had acquired with Mary's "consent" years before Sam was born, and which Azazel was now exercising in order to feed Sam his own demon blood to bestow him with psychic powers. Sam was saved from the ensuing house fire by his father, who then gave him to then-four-year-old Dean to carry outside, but Mary tragically died. Since that event, Dean has felt responsible for Sam and became Sam's de facto protector, largely due to their father's absence when he was away tracking Azazel.

Sam, along with Dean, spent his childhood moving from town to town every few weeks while his father hunted supernatural beings, seeking to exact revenge on his mother's killer. Consequently, he and Dean lived frugal childhoods and struggled to form long-term connections with others. Sam believed that his mother had died in a car accident and that his father was a traveling salesman, until the age of 8 (1991), when he read John's meticulous hand-written journal entries, describing intricate details of his hunts (as well as creature-related literature and obsessive cataloguing of demonic omens related to Azazel), compelling Dean to confirm the existence of the paranormal. Soon after, Sam seriously considered fleeing his life, as a runaway, with his imaginary friend, Sully (1991), but ultimately rejected the opportunity to escape and expelled Sully from his life. Sam started hunting alongside his brother and father at the age of 8–12, assuming increased responsibilities around the time that Dean left temporary foster care at Sonny's (1995); however, he began wanting a normal life without monsters again. A couple of years later (1997), a teacher, Mr. Wyatt, took interest in Sam, encouraging him to carve out a life away from the "family business" upon reading his writing assignment: a precocious story about a werewolf hunt, which Wyatt interpreted as an allegory and an in-depth character study about family dynamics. Throughout the rest of his teens, he continued to provide support to John and Dean, including in an advisory capacity for a kitsune hunt (1998) which he stumbled into personally in direct connection to meeting teenaged Amy Pond. At nineteen, after a heated argument with John, Sam matriculated into Stanford University, thus finally splintering from his family and their hunting crusade, until the main story events unfolded in Season 1, pulling him back into a role of saving people. Exactly 22 years after his mother died, on November 2, 2005, Sam's girlfriend Jessica Moore was also killed in the exact same fashion that Mary was killed. Sam is a "Special Child", who are children chosen by Azazel (also known as "Yellow-Eyed Demon") to take part in the coming of the Apocalypse. As a Special Child, Sam developed special abilities at the age of twenty-two. Sam's powers included premonitions, telekinesis, and later on, the ability to exorcise demons back to Hell and kill demons with the use of his mind. Sam discovers that he has a much grander destiny and that he is the one true vessel for Lucifer.


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  • Achey Scars: In Season Seven, Sam got a scar on his hand after he cut it with a piece of glass. He got this cut when he started to recall some of his memories from Hell after Castiel had broken his wall at the end of Season 6. Sam used this scar to relieve himself of seeing Lucifer or to get rid of his memories of Hell and his hallucinations of Lucifer. He would have to press on the scar very hard for his hallucinations and his memories to go away.
  • Action Survivor: Sam, with his brother Dean, is heavily involved in a lot of action. They usually are involved in some kind of fight every episode. It involves battling supernatural beings and monsters as a profession. Sam engages in combat, fighting and using weapons to combat or fight the enemy. However, despite that Sam is just as much of an action hero as his brother Dean, Sam is actually more into the research aspect of hunting, as he is often the one who conducts research while on a hunt, He will look up information such as lore and mythology; he almost always has his laptop to help him conduct research. He is also a Man Of Letters, which involves extensive reading, studying literature, and conducting research. Dean, on the other hand, is more of the brawn to Sam's brains; he is the one who loves hunting, fighting and combat much more than Sam. Dean shares his father John's passion for using weapons and combat to battle supernatural beings. In the first season of the series, however, Sam is more of an Action Survivor, as he had left his normal life behind and embraced the hunting world. Sam did begin handling guns and weapons and was exposed to the hunting world at the tender age of eight so he had at least some experience although he did grow rusty over time as he was living his normal life.
  • Action Duo: With Dean, of course. They make a living by hunting supernatural beings and are always fighting alongside each other. The two brothers complement each other, each possessing qualities that the other lacks. Sam, known as a Badass Bookworm, is the intellectual powerhouse of the duo, responsible for conducting research during their hunts. He is responsible for researching and gathering information from various sources such as the internet, books, and literature to determine what needs to be done. He also has a softer demeanor and more effective social skills, allowing him to better gain the trust of witnesses and victims. Dean, on the other hand, is more of the brawn in the duo, embodying the Blood Knight trope. He is the one who is more into the fighting, killing, and kicking ass. They both possess unique skills that complement each other and contribute to their successful partnership.
  • Adventures In Coma Land: In the Season 6 finale, Sam went into a coma as a result of Castiel tearing down the protective wall in his mind, flooding it with the memories of hell and of the year being soulless. He ultimately came out of it by killing and absorbing Soulless Sam and Tortured Sam, at the price of remembering both his time in Lucifer's Cage and the year being soulless. Later, in the Season 9 premiere, Sam's struggle between fighting to live and accepting death is portrayed through an argument between versions of Dean and Bobby and eventually Death in Sam's mind. Bobby represented the side of Sam that wanted to die, with him telling Sam to accept death, to die in peace and to not fight anymore since it was his time. Dean, on the other hand, represented the side of Sam that wanted to live, with Dean telling Sam to not give up on living, to fight to live since it was not his time. In the end, Sam ends up choosing Dean's side, although it does take some coercing and manipulation on Dean's part.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Dean often calls Sam "Sammy". Sometimes John would call Sam "Sammy" as well. According to Sam, Dean is the only one allowed to call him that. Sam initially disliked the diminutive and would try to correct Dean when he used it because it made him sound like he was still a little kid, but he gave up the fight halfway through Season 1. Crowley calls Sam "Moose". It could be assumed that Mark Shepherd chose to have his character call Sam this name because Jared's real-life nickname is Moose.
  • Aloof Younger Brother: Zig-Zagged. Sam is more intelligent, practical, and refined compared to Dean, who is significantly more impulsive and rebellious. Sam is introverted, calm, and collected, while Dean is extroverted, hot-headed, and passionate. Sam excelled academically, earning straight A's and receiving a scholarship to attend Stanford University, an Ivy League school. With aspirations of becoming a lawyer, Sam's future looked promising. In contrast, Dean's path took a different turn. He spent time in a reform school and eventually dropped out of high school. The demanding and stressful life of a hunter led him to obtain a GED. Sam also possessed special powers that occasionally made him significantly stronger and more powerful than Dean, who was a regular human without any superhuman abilities. Sam was able to lead a normal life and escape the hunting lifestyle, unlike Dean who was trapped in it from a young age. Sam was in a serious romantic relationship with Jessica, the love of his life, and they were planning to get married and settle down. In Season 1, a shapeshifter read Dean's mind and had told Sam that Dean resented Sam because of everything that Sam had and he didn't. Dean also felt jealous because their father seemed to favor Sam over him. However, despite that Sam had a lot of things going for him that Dean was jealous of, Sam also found himself jealous of Dean in the sense that Dean is a much more effective leader who can bring people together and that Dean had a childhood which involved knowing their mother Mary unlike Sam himself, who never knew his mother because she had died when he was just a baby.
  • Alternate Self: There are several versions of Sam from alternate realities and potential futures:
    • One where he agrees to be Lucifer's vessel while Dean says no to Michael, resulting in a future where Lucifer eventually kills Dean.
    • One where he and Dean are turned into vampires before being hunted down by their friends.
    • One where he became the leader of a demon army and killed Dean.
    • Another version who said yes to Lucifer and killed Dean though this time it was in the Bunker.
    • One who was killed by Dean after he became a demon.
    • And finally one who was part of a company called Hunter Corp created by John and pays him and Dean to hunt monsters.
  • Always Save the Girl: Tragically deconstructed. Sam has done many very morally dubious things when Dean's life is on the line but often fails to save him. And even when he's succeeded in saving Dean, the destruction and human cost is horrifying.
  • Always Second Best: Sam always felt this way in regards to Dean since childhood. From Sam's perspective, he always believed that John showed favoritism towards Dean, likely because Sam and John never saw things the same way and Dean was always the obedient soldier in John's eyes. Sam also points out that growing up, he never felt like he fit in with the family and that he was the Black Sheep, because Sam had different outlooks and goals than wanting to be a hunter like Dean and John. Sam also feels that Dean connects better with people than he does because Dean has a much more sociable and outgoing personality, while Sam himself is more introverted and shy. Sam believes that Dean has an advantage over him due to being the older brother, which allows Dean to give orders more easily. As the younger brother, Sam feels obligated to obey. Sam occasionally rebels against the parent-child dynamic with Dean and seeks independence by doing his own thing as much as possible.
  • Ambiguously Bi: Unlike Dean, Sam has actually never stated his sexuality. While he has been in several romantic/sexual relationships with women, he also refers to his past partners in gender-neutral terms, two out of the three times he summoned a crossroad demon - who take on a form the summoner finds attractive - the demon was male, and he is perfectly comfortable whenever a man flirts with him.
  • Ambiguously Evil: During the fourth season, Sam's morality became increasingly ambiguous. It was difficult to determine whether Sam was fighting for the side of good or evil. He utilized his demonic powers to protect humans from demonic possession. Sam's powers, although used to save humans by exorcising them from their hosts, were rooted in darkness. Sam was also aligned with the demon Ruby, who manipulated him into killing Lillith. Sam started enhancing his abilities by consuming demon blood. He constantly lied to Dean, keeping his whereabouts a secret and secretly training his abilities with Ruby. Additionally, Sam grew more distant from Dean and began keeping many secrets from him. Sam's character took a dark turn as the season progressed, eventually becoming a demon blood addict and betraying Dean. Although Sam had good intentions, his methods for achieving his goals and agenda were morally ambiguous and immoral.
  • Ambition Is Evil: Sam's desire for the power to stop Lilith is treated as bad only partly because of the way he goes about getting it, meaning through revenge and anger. Plus, the fact that he was resorting to aligning himself with a demon in Ruby to strengthen his abilities which are evil, dark and demonic. It didn't help that Sam was also drinking demon blood to strengthen his powers and lying to Dean about it.
  • And I Must Scream: In the fifth season finale, Sam bravely volunteers to trap Satan by allowing himself to be possessed by Satan and then jumping into an inescapable cage at the bottom of Hell. Because being locked up for all eternity with a very pissed-off fallen angel who has nothing to do but take out his frustration on Sam was the only way they could think of to prevent a global apocalypse. Downplayed because his body gets set free by Castiel not long after, and his soul a year later by Death.
  • And Then John Was a Zombie: During Season 4, Sam starts to turn significantly darker, clearly falling deeper to The Dark Side. He falls rather deeply that his powers become powerful enough to kill strong and powerful demons and by the end of the season, his eyes go black while he is killing Lilith with little to no effort.
  • Annoying Younger Sibling: Averted. Sam is the more mature, practical, logical, and serious one between himself and Dean. Sam is typically more serious and introverted compared to his brother Dean, who is more fun-loving and extroverted. From Dean's perspective, he has always viewed Sam as his own child, someone he must constantly care for and shield to ensure his safety. Dean has always prioritized protecting Sam, regardless of the circumstances. Dean has told Sam that he has always seen him as a "snot-nosed little kid" that he has had to take care of and watch over his entire life. Sam was raised by Dean from a very early age, making Dean both his parent and his older brother. Dean's strong parental and brotherly instincts towards Sam make him extremely possessive and overprotective. He is willing to harm or even kill anyone who poses a threat to Sam, even if it's just a look in the wrong way.
  • Anti Anti Christ: As an infant, Sam was fed demon blood and was given special demon abilities by Azazel (or The Yellow-Eyed Demon). Later on, he discovers that he is the vessel for Lucifer and that he was meant to destroy the world. Sam certainly didn't want to lead a demon army against humankind, but he was intended to and defied that fate despite what most characters expected (meaning that most characters, including Dean and John, his own family, expected Sam to succumb to The Dark Side and do a Face–Heel Turn). Too bad he was a major and key part of an overarching plot since his very own birth where he had been infected with demon blood due to a deal made by his mother Mary before he was born, The Chosen One aeons before to set Lucifer/Satan/The Devil free and to act as his one true destined physical vessel during the End of Days, and set up so that his efforts to prevent the Apocalypse using demon-blood-born powers actually caused the prelude to Apocalypse and released Lucifer from his Cage. Acquiescing to being possessed by Lucifer just so he could gain control of his body long enough to throw both of them into the Cage, Sam managed to avert the Apocalypse and the final battle to defeat Lucifer that would raze the whole world.
  • Anti-Hero: When he first joined Dean hunting monsters because It's Personal, Sam was the most ethically aware of the two. A few cases of demonic influence, possession, death, and soullessness later, and he's at least as pragmatic and ruthless as his brother. Sam is a Classical Anti-Hero or a Knight in Sour Armor in Seasons 1 to 2, a Pragmatic Hero in Season 3, an Unscrupulous Hero in Seasons 4 and 5 and a Nominal Hero in Season 6, especially the early half of Season 6 when he was soulless. He seems to be back to the Pragmatic Hero as of Season 7, Season 8, and Season 9. However, Sam might become an Unscrupulous Hero in the tenth season, as it is said that Sam will resort to some very immoral behaviour and methods in attempts to save Dean from being a demon. By the end of Season 10, he seems to have become an outright Villain Protagonist, before going back to a Knight in Sour Armour in Season 11.
  • The Anti-Nihilist: As of Season 15, he's become this. Despite the reveal that everything they did was part of Chuck's manipulations and for his entertainment, Sam is adamant that the Winchesters still saved people and their choices, and all the good they've done, still mattered.
  • Anti-Villain:
    • In Season 4, Sam becomes a significantly darker character who falls deeper and deeper to The Dark Side. Sam became addicted to demon blood and was using his demonic abilities to save people (and also strengthening them to prepare to kill Lilith). Sam also became obsessed and addicted to using his demonic abilities and became Drunk with Power. His abilities continuously got more and more powerful through demon blood consumption to the point that he was able to exorcise a powerful demon-like Samhain and was able to kill powerful demons such as Alastair and Lilith. In Season 6, Sam was soulless and therefore became extremely ruthless, cold, dark and unsympathetic. However, despite being soulless, Sam was still hunting and kicking ass and saving lives as a hunter.
    • Sam was a Noble Demon in Season 4 specifically. In Season 4, Sam embraced his dark destiny by strengthening his demonic abilities to kill and destroy the enemy (which was Lillith). However, Sam would often question his morally ambiguous actions due to Dean's influence. Because of Dean, he would end up stopping what he was doing, realizing that what he is doing was wrong.
    • Sam was a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds in Season 4 and Season 6. In Season 4, Sam eventually succumbed to the darkness that has always existed inside of him since his birth. Sam has said many times that he didn't want to become evil or become a monster, however, the circumstances surrounding Sam and Dean caused Sam to embrace his dark side to achieve his goal (which had good intentions), which was killing Lillith. In Season 6, Sam was soulless against his will due to being brought back from the cage by Castiel. As a result, he had zero guilt or remorse for any of his immoral actions. Because Sam was without his soul, it caused him to behave and act immorally without really being aware of what he was doing. As soon as Sam got his soul back, Sam had very little to no memories of being soulless and the actions he committed while he was soulless for over a year. So, in conclusion, Sam being soulless was completely out of his control and also, having demon blood pumping through his veins which caused him to develop demonic psychic abilities was also against his will as well. In Season 4 especially, Sam becomes a very tragic character when he becomes addicted to demon blood only because he was trying to achieve his goal which had good intentions and the audience can't help but feel strong sympathy for him, even when he was doing immoral or morally ambiguous deeds and actions in order to achieve that goal.
    • Sam was a Well-Intentioned Extremist in Season 4. Although Sam was resorting to immoral methods to achieve his goal of killing Lillith, he had good intentions and wanted to save the world. Sam also used his demonic abilities for good by using them to save innocent people who were possessed by demons (by using his mind to exorcise the demons out of the human host) without having to use the knife to kill both the demon and the human it is possessing. Sam was drinking demon blood to strengthen his abilities so that he could kill Lillith in the end. So, while Sam was resorting to immoral actions (drinking and becoming addicted to demon blood, lying, keeping secrets, sneaking around behind Dean's back with Ruby and strengthening his demonic abilities), he was doing it for a very good reason: to save the world and protect mankind. Too bad that it ended up being the biggest mistake ever, which only added to Sam's guilty conscience.
  • Apocalypse Maiden: In Seasons 2 to 5, with Dean in the role of The Hero who has to try to protect his loved one while also protecting the world from said loved one. When Sam was a baby, Azazel, also known as The Yellow-Eyed Demon, went into Sam's nursery and fed him his demon blood. He then killed Sam's mother Mary in said nursery by slitting her stomach and pitting her up on the ceiling and setting her on fire. As a result of Azazel feeding Sam demon blood, he would end up developing special psychic abilities. The reason why Azazel did this to Sam and many other kids, who ironically were all born in the year 1983, was because Azazel wanted to build an army of special children who would serve as soldiers during the apocalypse. John and Sam himself tell Dean to kill Sam if necessary if he can't save him from turning evil, and Dean would prefer Sam to die human than turn into the monster Azazel wanted him to be. Sam eventually starts to strengthen his powers through the use of demon blood until he becomes strong enough to kill Lillith. When push comes to shove, Dean just doesn't have it in him to kill Sam and Sam himself turns out to be the one destined to free and host Lucifer.]]
  • Apologises a Lot: Sam tends to always apologize whenever he makes a big mistake or whenever he's in the wrong. Sam even apologizes for things that are not even his fault. This is because unlike Dean, who hates to apologize because he does not like to appear wrong or vulnerable, Sam has no problem admitting when he is wrong and does not fear the word sorry. It's become so frequent in each season, that it is a Running Gag.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: Sam often argues with Dean on which supernatural beings, monsters, and creatures exist. Sam has been skeptical about some creatures and has been certain that other creatures do exist, most notably angels in Season 2 (turns out that Sam was right about the angels existing).
  • Archetype: According to the Word of God, Sam's character is modeled off of Luke Skywalker from Star Wars. Like Luke, Sam is The Hero archetype who had unusual and supernatural events that surrounded his childhood. Sam starts as a normal college student who has a destiny that is much bigger than he knows. Sam just wants to live a normal life away from the world of hunting but his older brother comes to get Sam to tell him that their father is missing. From there, Sam leaves with Dean on a mission. Sam is at first hesitant to go back to the hunting world and leave his normal life behind but when the love of his life is unexpectedly killed, he realizes that he has to leave his normal world behind and embrace the world of hunting. It is from there when Sam goes on a journey and starts to discover what his destiny is and who he is meant to be.
  • Arch-Enemy:
    • Lilith. Probably Sam's biggest enemy next to Lucifer himself. Sam strongly loathes and hated her for her being responsible for Dean's death at the end of Season 3. He spent all of Season 4 trying to get revenge on her by trying to hunt her down and kill her. Because of Lilith killing Dean and having him Dragged Off to Hell by Hellhounds, Sam becomes filled with rage and revenge against her. When Sam is emotionally vulnerable and weak, he and Ruby align and Sam strengthens his demonic abilities with the sole intention of using them to kill Lilith. Even when Dean is brought back from Hell by Castiel, it still does not stop Sam's anger and revenge against Lilith. Sam goes so far that he starts to drink demon blood so that he could make himself more and more powerful so that it is easier for him to kill Lilith. In the end, Sam does end up killing her, although at a very high price. Lilith was the final seal, and by killing her, Lucifer was released upon the world, which started the apocalypse.
    • Brady, who turned out to be Sam's college friend and Jessica's killer. Brady was the one who had introduced Sam to Jessica during his freshmen year but it was all done under Azazel's orders. Azazel had ordered Brady to kill Jessica himself so that it would force Sam to go back to the hunting world and leave his normal life behind. Brady was working for Pestilence, one of the Four Horsemen and he was a key player in spreading around the Croatoan virus through disguising it as a vaccine for swine flu. Brady tried to goad Sam into killing him so that Sam could let off some steam and some anger. Brady let Sam know that it was him that was responsible for Jessica's death, which only enraged and angered Sam even more. Brady continued to taunt Sam about how Sam had let himself be manipulated his entire life. An angered Sam tun stabbed Brady with Ruby's knife, which ended up killing him.
    • Lucifer. Probably Sam's biggest enemy. Interestingly enough, despite Sam hating Lucifer, Lucifer serves as an Evil Counterpart and a Foil to Sam. Lucifer and Sam actually have almost parallel lives. Both Lucifer and Sam are the younger brothers. They both had to deal with being the Black Sheep's of their respective families. They both had an older brother whom they looked up to and whom they were close with (Michael in Lucifer's case and Dean in Sam's case); both Sam and Lucifer had a serious case of Big Brother Worship towards their respective brothers. Both Lucifer and Sam felt betrayed by their brothers because their brothers saw them as monsters and did not support them when they needed them the most. Lucifer then became a Fallen Hero and turned to The Dark Side and Sam also did his own mild version of a Face–Heel Turn and became Ambiguously Evil since Sam has a destiny of darkness. Sam and Lucifer also share the same trait of pride and arrogance. It was because of Lucifer and Sam's pride that caused them to turn to the dark side. After Lucifer is unleashed upon the world due to Sam breaking the final seal by killing Lillith, Lucifer comes to Sam and tells him that he is Lucifer's one true vessel and that it is his destiny as Lucifer's vessel to destroy the world. This also means that Dean, who is Michael's one true vessel or The Michael's Sword, is meant to kill Lucifer in Sam's body. Lucifer wants to bring about the end of the world through the apocalypse, destroying humanity and mankind in the process. Despite being destined to host Lucifer and help bring about the apocalypse, Sam fought with everything in him and ended up being the one to ultimately take him down in the end.
  • Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy:
    • Sam displayed these characteristics in Season 4 and especially in Season 6, when Sam was soulless. In Season 4, Sam would bring up about how powerful he is becoming in regard to his demonic abilities. He used demon blood to help strengthen his abilities and he started to believe that it was him and him alone that was going to stop the apocalypse from happening. Dean started to notice a significant change in Sam's personality, how he had started to lie and keep secrets constantly and that he was starting to fall farther and deeper into The Dark Side. Sam became so prideful and arrogant regarding his powers and how strong he was, that he used them to kill Lilith, which only started the one thing that Sam was trying to prevent or stop in the first place, the rise of Lucifer upon the world.
    • In Season 6 when Sam was soulless, Sam confessed that he was a much better and stronger hunter than he had ever been before. This was probably because with his soul gone, he could kill and hunt without feeling any sense of guilt or remorse. All Sam would care about is his hunter's instinct and he would never have to hold back. Dean, again, noticed the significant change in Sam's personality and how he had come across as cool, cold, distant, arrogant and prideful, especially when it came to hunting.
  • The Atoner: In the fifth season (after the whole freeing-Lucifer-from-Hell business) and in Season 6 (after getting his soul back). In Season 4, Sam embarked on a revenge mission after Dean's death at the end of Season 3. He joined forces with Ruby, a demon, in order to enhance his abilities. Dean discovered what Sam was up to and that he was hanging out with Ruby and Dean was very angry. Dean told Sam to not use his powers but because Sam liked the way using his powers made him feel, he did not listen to Dean and contented to use his powers to exorcise demons out of human hosts. Sam believed he was doing the right thing, despite his powers being derived from darkness and evil. Dean consistently warned Sam throughout Season 4, along with other characters, about Sam's descent into a progressively darker path from which he may not be able to recover. Sam's descent into darkness led him to rely on drinking demon blood to enhance his powers. He even became a junkie, addicted to both blood and his dark, demonic powers. It got so bad, when Sam ended up choosing Ruby over Dean and ultimately, he ended up fighting Dean and going off with Ruby instead. Sam ended up using his powers to kill Lillith, who was the final seal, and as a result of killing Lillith, Sam had started the apocalypse which ultimately released Lucifer upon the world. At the start of Season 5, Dean informed Sam that he could no longer trust him due to his actions, despite Sam's apology. Sam's main focus and storyline in Season 5 revolved around seeking redemption for his actions in Season 4 and undoing the harm he had caused. At the end of Season 5, Sam made the decision to host Lucifer in order to defeat him and put an end to the apocalypse. He accomplished this by heroically sacrificing himself and Michael (in Adam's body) by throwing them into Hell's pit, leaving Sam to suffer in Hell for eternity. Fortunately, Castiel rescued Sam from Hell, although his soul was left behind.
  • Audience Surrogate: According to Eric Kripke, the creator of the show, Sam was originally intended to be this. However, this role seems to belong to Dean, as he is the series' emotional and point of view character, while Sam is the story or myth arc character around whom the series revolves. Sam is the protagonist and Dean is the [[{{Deuteragonist deuteragonist]]. Many fans complain that although much of the storylines and the myth arc revolve around Sam and his journey, Dean ended up being the point of view character and the audience surrogate, leaving Sam without a point of view or emotional perspective. It becomes more difficult for the audience to sympathize with Sam in the same way they do with Dean. Sam's actions are often misunderstood by the audience, leading to unnecessary criticism and causing him to suffer.
  • Author Avatar: It has been mentioned by Eric Kripke, the creator of Supernatural, that Sam is his avatar. Eric has said that between the two brothers, he relates to Sam the most because of his life experience. This is probably why arguably, Eric decided to make the story of Supernatural centre around Sam and his heroic journey which is what Eric's mission was from the beginning.
  • The Baby of the Bunch/Tagalong Kid: Sam is the youngest member of "Team Free Will," which includes himself, Dean, Castiel, Bobby, Crowley, and Mary (as of Season 12). Interestingly, Jared Padalecki is also the youngest cast member of Supernatural. Dean is the older brother and Sam is the younger brother in their Sibling Team. It has been observed that Sam harbors resentment towards being the youngest member of the team, often preferring to work independently and separate himself from Dean and the rest of the team. Dean is the team leader, responsible for overseeing all missions and plans. Sam is also the one who receives constant overprotection and the most attention from the team members. Sam can sometimes come across as a Tagalong Kid and a Distressed Dude. Sam often relies on his team members, including Bobby, Castiel and Dean, to save him despite being a skilled and capable hunter himself.
  • Babies Ever After:He marries after he quits the hunting life and has a son who he named after Dean.
  • Back from the Dead: Like his brother Dean, repeatedly. Every time Sam ends up dying or has faced death, he is always brought back or ends up escaping death.
    • Sam died in 2.21, instigating Dean's deal, and later causing his death at the end of the next season. Sam was stabbed in the back by Jake Talley with a blade and was brutally wounded. Unfortunately, for Dean, he could not stop Jake from stabbing Sam and could only hold a dying Sam in his arms until Sam ends up dying. Luckily, after the deal was finalized, Sam was brought back to life at the cost of Dean's life.
    • Sam is briefly killed after being struck by lightning in 4.08.
    • Sam dies in 5.13 after he is stabbed with a piece of metal by Anna but Michael brings him back to life. Anna had planned on scattering Sam's cells all over the universe so that Sam would be impossible to resurrect under any circumstances.
    • Sam and Dean both die and are subsequently resurrected in 5.16. Sam is shot to death by a hunter. Dean, unable to live with Sam being dead and telling the hunters that he will be pissed when he comes back from the dead, asks the hunters to shoot him as well. Dean ends up getting shot as well.
    • Sam "dies" at the end of Season 5 in the finale when he sacrifices himself by throwing himself as Lucifer and Adam as Michael into the pits of Hell. He is resurrected, albeit without his soul.
  • Badass Normal: Sam is a strong, tough and capable hunter and was raised in the hunting life, despite trying to escape it. He's experienced and talented enough to fight and combat many supernatural beings at least to a standstill, and usually kill them; against normal humans, it usually ends up being a Curb-Stomp Battle if he's not holding back. He starts as a regular human who wanted to escape the hunting world but was then dragged back into it by Dean. Not only is Sam an Action Hero who engages in fighting, combat and is trained in using weapons, Sam is also a Badass Bookworm who is strong at research on the hunt. He also gained superhuman abilities in the earlier seasons which also helped him to combat the enemy during a hunt.
  • Badass Adorable: Sam can be rather quirky and cute while he's hunting. Especially when he's doing research. He is a Bookworm, Cute Bookworm and a Badass Bookworm all rolled into one. Even though Sam is very nerdy and quirky, DO NOT think that Sam cannot kick your ass. He can kick ass just as much as Dean can.
  • Badass Boast: Sam is definitely not above making threats or boasting to get his way. He is not afraid to threaten many supernatural beings, including the likes of demons and angels. Sam has taken down the likes of Lucifer of all people. When Sam demands (not asking for) Castiel's help, he says that he'll force the incredibly powerful angel to help them.
    Castiel: "Will you, boy? How?
    Sam: "I don't know. But I'll find a way. And I don't sleep."
  • Badass Bookworm: Sam is highly intelligent, intellectual, scholarly, and a skilled researcher and bookworm. Sam also attended Stanford and was going to become a lawyer. He is into reading and researching information on the hunt; he is considered to be the Brains to Dean's Brawn. To help him in his research, Sam always has a laptop which helps him to look up information such as lore and mythology. Despite the fact that Dean is still the brains of the operation and his Action Duo between himself and Dean, Sam is still a very strong and capable hunter and fighter and he is almost as effective in hunting as Dean is, although Dean is more of a hunter who loves hunting and killing supernatural beings. Sam could best be considered a Genius Bruiser, someone who is both smart and a capable hunter. As of the eighth season, Sam became a Man-Of-Letters and embraced its legacy, just like his paternal grandfather, Henry. It seemed natural for Sam to be geared towards the Men of Letters legacy since it involves lots of reading and research. It seems as though Sam took after the Winchester side of the family (which is more of the Badass Bookworm side) in comparison to the Campbell side (which is more of the Blood Knight and Hunter of Monsters side, the side that Dean took more after).
  • Badass Family: Sam is descended from Cain and Abel. His ancestor is the most dangerous demon on the planet, Cain. Not to mention that he comes from a family of hunters; his matriarchal side of the family, the Campbells, includes Hunters Of Monsters, the Blood Knights and Genius Bruisers and his patriarchal side, the Winchesters, were scholarly, intelligent Men of Letters who were Badass Bookworms and The Smart Guys. His mother Mary was an Action Girl and a Girly Bruiser to boot who handled weapons and was a hunter herself. His father John originally started as a Shell-Shocked Veteran who was a part of the military but then became a badass hunter later on in his life. His older brother Dean is a very strong and capable hunter who is a Blood Knight and a Genius Bruiser, was the true vessel for The Michael Sword and who took Cain's place as the First Knight Of Hell (as Dean is now a demon). His maternal grandfather, Samuel, was a strong and capable hunter and his paternal grandfather, Henry, was a Man Of Letters, which is a scholarly book club. It's safe to say that everyone in Sam's family is incredibly badass.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: Sam is always seen wearing a suit when he is going undercover while he is on the hunt. This often occurs when Sam is posing as either an FBI agent, a cop or a Homeland Security agent. Often, it is considered to be a form of Fanservice for the audience and the fans when Sam and Dean dress up in a suit.
  • Badass in Distress: Sam sometimes finds himself in trouble and needs a little saving once in a while. In fact, between himself and Dean, Sam is often the one who ends up in the Damsel in Distress role in which Sam is getting either tortured and kidnapped by the supernatural enemy and it is Dean that often has to come and save him. In Season 7, Sam's wall is broken and because of it, he ends up having a severe mental breakdown to the point where he ends up in a psychiatric hospital. In Season 8, Sam gets so sick after he completes the Trials Of God, to the point where he goes into a coma at the end of the season and Dean has to save him by having an angel possess him.
  • Badass Longcoat: Sam got one in the episode Out With The Old. Instead of wearing a shorter jacket like he normally does, he wore a much longer coat. Dean also had one as well.
  • Badass Normal: Before and after getting addicted to demon blood. Even without his special powers, Sam can still kick just as much ass as a regular human. He is still a very capable hunter and is very good at using weapons to combat the enemy. Although Sam is effectively more powerful with his demonic abilities, he is still just as capable without them as he is a Hunter of Monsters and a Badass Bookworm. Sam loses his demonic powers completely by Season 6 and he is completely human. As of the tenth season, Sam is fully human (as he is cleaned of his demon blood, is no longer possessed by an angel).
  • Badass Transplant: A variation of this trope. Sam's demonic abilities were given to him due to Azazel (Yellow-Eyed Demon) feeding him his demon blood at six months of age. This was all a part of Azazel's plan in creating a demon army out of the "Special Children" so that only one would end up becoming Lucifer's vessel. Turns out that Sam was Lucifer's pre-destined true vessel since the beginning, regardless of all of the "Special Children" that Azazel had created.
  • Badass Tyke: Sam began hunting or was aware of the hunting world at the tender age of eight. By twelve years old, he was already handling guns. In flashbacks, he was seen engaging in combat and was skilled in fighting. He also always carried a weapon such as a knife on him as a child. This is because as a child, John had trained Sam (and Dean) to handle weapons and exposed him to the hunting world. For someone that is handling weapons at such a tender age is both disturbing and heartbreaking. See Little Mister Badass.
  • Badass Unintentional: Sam had zero interest in embracing the hunter's lifestyle like his father John and his brother Dean. Sam wanted to live a normal life, however, the circumstances surrounding his life forced him to embrace the hunting life and become the badass and capable hunter that he is. What caused him to leave his normal life behind was the fact that Jessica was unexpectedly killed in the same fashion that his mother Mary was killed. This forced him to leave his normal life behind and become the capable hunter that he is today.
  • Bad Powers, Good People: Sam's powers are demonic in nature, and he uses them to hunt demons. He would think that his powers were good and that he was doing the right thing by using his abilities because he was exorcising demons out of innocent human hosts and saving the human hosts. While he did manage to jump-start the Apocalypse, he was intending to stop it. Sam began drinking demon blood to strengthen his abilities but unfortunately for him, Sam became so addicted to the feeling of being powerful and strong through the use of his abilities that he eventually became demon blood junkie and did everything that he could to have access to demon blood as much as possible. Although Sam was doing morally ambiguous things, Sam still had good intentions behind what he was doing. His addiction to demon-blood has led to some decisions that can charitably be described as "questionable". Sam spent quite some time worrying about "going dark side," and Dean's final wish at the end of Season 3 was that Sam not use his demon powers. But during the time that Dean was suffering in Hell and becoming a torturer, Sam was aligning himself with a demon in Ruby and Ruby was training Sam to use his powers effectively. Knowing Dean would strongly disapprove and be extremely angry, Sam lied about it when Dean came back, and things got worse from there. Sam started to keep secrets from Dean, continued to lie to him, and even chose Ruby over him. Sam slid further and further to The Dark Side under Ruby's influence and he turned against Dean in the process. It was never entirely clear how much of the problem was The Dark Side Will Make You Forget/This Is Your Brain on Evil, how much straight addict behavior from the blood, and how much Sam being an ass of his own free will due to trauma and pride. Still, he was trying to save the world and save people, even at his worst. And he got better.
  • Bash Brothers: With Dean. He and his brother fight and hunt monsters and supernatural creatures side by side for a living. They are an Action Duo who complement each other and each brother has what the other needs or lacks. Sam is the Badass Bookworm who does most of the research on the hunt and Dean is the Blood Knight who does most of the fighting, killing and engages in combat. Sam is also more practical and Dean is more hotheaded, so they balance each other out. Sam and Dean would also do anything to save the other no matter what.
  • Battle Couple: With Ruby during Season 4. Sam was a human with demonic abilities and Ruby was a demon and they would fight other demons together. They also had a shared mission of wanting to kill Lillith, although their agendas were different. Sam wanted to kill Lillith to avenge Dean's death while Ruby wanted to kill Lillith so that Lucifer would be released and the apocalypse would start. Ruby had helped Sam strengthen and learn to control his demonic abilities. Although this is later averted with Sam as Sam became significantly more powerful with time after Ruby had helped to strengthen Sam's abilities. Ruby let Sam do all of the work by exorcising demons from human hosts with his mind, although Ruby would still kill demons with the use of her demon knife.
  • Battle in the Center of the Mind: In the Season 6 finale, the wall around Sam's memories of being in Lucifer's cage is destroyed, shattering his psyche into pieces — "normal Sam", the Sam who spent a year without a soul, and the Sam who remembers Hell. Normal Sam kills and absorbs soulless Sam, but the third Sam has no interest in fighting and begs Sam to stay in the dreamscape and spare himself the memories of what happened. Hell!Sam told Normal!Sam that if he chooses to come back, he would have to endure the horrible memories from Hell. When that fails, he allows Sam to absorb him.
  • Bavarian Fire Drill: In almost every episode, Sam, along with Dean, often poses as FBI, police, and even a priest to gain access to evidence or question witnesses. Sam has a fake ID for everything and is willing to show it to anyone who asks. Sam has fooled patients several times by posing as a hospital orderly/counselor/whatever simply by dressing the part. One of the reasons the writers favor this con is probably related to how Jared Padalecki looks ridiculously excellent in white scrubs. Sam has also posed as a high school janitor in "After School Special". Sam also posed a yoga instructor in "The Purge".
  • Beard of Sorrow: Sam seems to be growing one in Season 9. Understandable considering that Sam's health hasn't been very good. Sam's heavier stubble also emphasizes the toll that the three trials took on Sam throughout Season 8. It also showed how emotionally broken and vulnerable Sam is as not only has physical health not good but since Season 6, his emotional health had not been its best either. The scruff seems to be back in season after his brother ends up dying and then becomes a demon at the end of Season 9. Although, technically speaking, Sam's beard is more of a "Scruff Of Sorrow".
    • At the beginning of Season 14, Sam has a full-on beard, implied to be because Sam's so preoccupied with searching for Possessed!Dean that he's barely remembering to eat or sleep, let alone shave. Dean is unimpressed with the new look when they're reunited.
  • Beauty Is Bad: Especially when Sam was soulless and when Sam was possessed by Lucifer. Averted before Sam began hunting.
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: A Rare Male Example. Sam may get beaten up from time to time but the effects of his beatings, cuts, bruises don't seem to last that long. This is because there is an angel in Castiel who is always there pretty much prettifying Sam and Dean's faces with the use of his angelic mojo. In 6x07, Sam gets beaten up to a bloody pulp by Dean. But it doesn't last when Dean tells Castiel to clean up his face. Although, this is sometimes averted as there have been plenty of times in which Sam has gotten beaten up and has managed to have cuts, bruises, scars, and black eyes for some time.
  • Became Their Own Antithesis: Sam went from a naive and idealistic college boy to someone significantly more ruthless, darker, cynical and jaded. In the second season, Sam swore that he wouldn't let himself go to The Dark Side and succumb to darkness and evil. He feared to become a monster because of his psychic abilities and had constantly referred to himself as a freak or abnormal because of what he can do. But by Season 4, Sam is corrupted by demons (namely Ruby), addicted to demon blood, is obsessed with using his demonic abilities. Sam is borderline Ambiguously Evil and his actions are rather morally grey. Sam became the one thing that he loathes and that he hunts for a living. In Season 5, it gets even worse when Sam discovers that he is the destined vessel for Lucifer. Not to mention that in Season 6, Sam was soulless. When Sam was soulless, he was sociopathic, lacked empathy and was extremely ruthless. He even killed innocent people in the line of duty without feeling anything whatsoever. Talk about not succeeding in not wanting to succumb to the dark side. However, Sam didn't so much succumb to evil and darkness as he was manipulated by it. Ruby manipulated him into believing his demonic abilities were the only way and that the demon blood was the only means to achieve that, and as soon as he realized his mistake he worked tirelessly to rectify it, culminating in his willingly dooming himself to an eternity of torture at the hands of the devil himself, not exactly the actions of a dark side individual.
  • Because Destiny Says So: From the beginning, a very evil (albeit vague) destiny was hinted at for Sam Winchester. Sam was destined to be the vessel for Lucifer, which means that Sam was meant to destroy the world while hosting Lucifer. Everything that happened to Sam and the rest of the Winchester family was for this one reason. Azazel had set this plan in motion back in 1983 when Azazel came into Sam's nursery and bled into his mouth, which would give Sam demonic abilities when he became a young adult. Azazel had created a special army of Special Children, who was meant to be an army that would serve during the apocalypse. Whoever would be the last or sole living Special Child would be the one to host or be the vessel for Lucifer. Although Sam was the last remaining Special Child, it wouldn't have mattered if Sam did survive or not as Lucifer himself revealed that Sam has always been his one true vessel and that it was predestined since the beginning of time.
  • Being Good Sucks: Sam may be a hunter who both risks his own life and saves lives daily, yet Sam has only received much loss and tragedy for his heroic deeds.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Ruby in Season 4. Before Sam and Ruby succumbed to demonic fiery passion and slept together as revealed in 4x09.
  • Beneath the Mask: Sam may be a hunter as a living, but deep down, Sam has always desired and craved a normal life and still believes that after everything that hunting has done to him, he believes that his chance at a normal life is still at reach. Not just for himself but Dean as well. Sam refers to it as "the light at the end of the tunnel."
  • Berserk Button: In early seasons, Sam would fly off the handle at anyone who called him a "freak" or a "monster." In later seasons, he seems to have outgrown this one.
    • If Dean is dead or in danger, Sam basically turns into a psychopath, forgoing food and sleep as much as possible and relentlessly pursuing either rescue (if possible) or revenge (if not). He tends to be fast and loose with his and others' safety at these times, including literally endangering the entire universe at the end of Season 10 in an attempt to save Dean from the MOC.
    • Finally, whenever Sam perceives Dean as rejecting/no longer loving Sam, or even just trusting or valuing others more highly than Sam, he blows a spoke mentally to the point of being Driven to Suicide.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: He's a nice guy, but can be just as ruthless as his brother when trying to protect people.
  • Big Brother Instinct: To Adam. Sam seemed to automatically take on the big brother role after he got to know Adam. Sam immediately bonded to Adam as soon as he met him. It's probably because Sam saw a lot of himself in Adam before Sam has embraced the world of hunting. Sam wanted to make sure that Adam would be able to protect himself against possible dangers so he started to train him. Sam also showed protectiveness towards Adam in Season 5 after he was resurrected by the Angels. Overall it seems that Sam shared a closer bond with Adam than Dean did. Sam is also this to Kevin. Sam has even referred to Kevin as being his responsibility. When Gadreel had used Sam's body to kill Kevin and when Sam found it, it devastated Sam and he ended up feeling immense guilt over Kevin's death; feeling that he failed to protect Kevin from danger in the end.
  • Big Brother Mentor: To Adam, Kevin, and Jessie. He is Birds of a Feather with all of them and he sees his life as similar to theirs. Because of this, he has a strong protectiveness over them. Sam had taught Adam a bit about hunting and had even trained him to protect himself. Sam also taught Kevin to defend himself against other dangers. And Sam taught Jessie, who is The Antichrist, to hold onto his humanity and encouraged him to make the right choices and not agree to Lucifer's plans.
  • Big Brother Worship: As a child, Sam looked up to Dean and strongly admired him. According to Sam, he always looked up to Dean since he (Sam) was four-years-old and tried to be just like his big brother.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Often alongside Dean. They are badass hunters after all and they managed to end the Apocalypse.
  • The Big Guy: Sam is very tall and is listed as 6'6" according to police database records (Jared is also the tallest cast member of Supernatural at 6'5" (some say that he is taller but opinions may vary). Because of Sam's height, many other characters have given him many different nicknames that are associated with his height (e.g. Moose, Big Bird, Sasquatch, Giraffe, The Big W, etc.)
    • Sam can be classified as either Class 1 (primarily during Season 6), Class 2 or Class 5.
    • The Brute: Sam was this when he was soulless in Season 6. He was very ruthless and manipulative and he would use that to his advantage during a hunt.
  • Big Little Brother: Sam was a late bloomer, shown to be almost comically shorter than Dean in their teens. By the time the show starts, he's 6'5" and quite a bit taller than his brother. Lampshaded when a character refers to him as a "Sasquatch" (Dean calls him this one time), and Crowley calls him "Moose" and "Jolly Green Giant". Both were adopted by the fandom pretty quickly. There are occasional other jabs at his size. Another name that was used for Sam in the series is "Big Bird".
    Dean: Isn't this the same Lilith that wants your giant head on a pike?
  • Big Sleep: When Sam is fatally stabbed in the back at the end of Season 2, he is still conscious in Dean's arms, but eventually he closes his eyes slowly as he dies, suggesting that despite being killed brutally, he died a peaceful death.
  • Bio-Augmentation: A variation of this trope. Sam's biology was altered shortly AFTER he was born when Azazel fed Sam demon blood when he was a baby. This gave him special Psychic Powers in his early adulthood.
  • Birds of a Feather:
    • Sam shared a connection, bond or kinship with all of the "Special Children", who like him, possess special psychic abilities (i.e. Max Miller, Andy Gallagher, Ava Wilson, Jake Talley, etc.)
    • Sam also seemed to have seen himself in Jesse Turner, The Antichrist. Like Jesse, Sam was destined for a dark and evil path as Lucifer's one true vessel. Sam bonded with Jesse and had begged Jesse to not succumb to his evil destiny and that he could still be normal and make the right decisions, despite who he is meant to be (with Sam being Lucifer's pre-destined vessel and Jesse being destined to be The Antichrist). Both of them even look alike physically and both possess the signature Puppy-Dog Eyes. Jesse is a mini-Sam.
    • Sam also has many similarities with Castiel. Their journeys parallel or mirror each other. They have allowed their pride and power to cloud their judgment, putting the world at risk due to their misguided actions and choices. Sam's forgiveness towards Castiel, even more than Dean, may stem from the fact that Sam sees himself reflected in Castiel. Sam can relate to and understand Castiel because he has made similar mistakes in the past. Sam, like Castiel, has also attempted to make amends for his wrongdoings.
    • Sam also has many traits and similarities with Kevin Tran. Both Sam and Kevin have had their lives drastically changed because they are The Chosen One. Sam is a Special Child and the vessel for Lucifer, while Kevin is a prophet. They have both experienced the loss of their mothers and girlfriends at the hands of powerful demons. Azazel killed Sam's mother Mary and his girlfriend Jessica, while Crowley harmed Kevin's mother Linda and killed his girlfriend Channing. Additionally, both Sam and Kevin are highly intelligent and skilled individuals, known for their nerdy interests and their ability to handle themselves in dangerous situations. Both have attended ivy league schools (Sam attended Stanford and Kevin wanted to attend Princeton). Both of them also have absent fathers (although John was physically present for Sam at times, he was not emotionally available; Kevin's father's whereabouts are unknown). Both of them longed for a normal and safe life. However, tragedy and the circumstances surrounding their destinies bring down both Sam and Kevin's lives.
    • Sam and his younger paternal half-brother, Adam Milligan, share some common traits. Both individuals are book smart. Both Sam and Adam are academically inclined and have attended university. Sam had aspirations of becoming a lawyer, while Adam aspired to become a doctor. Both Sam and Adam had been leading normal lives, with friends and girlfriends, until their worlds were suddenly disrupted by the supernatural. Both of them were unexpectedly thrust into the world of hunting. Both of them spent their early childhoods unaware of the supernatural and the accompanying dangers. They even share the same physical quality of having Puppy-Dog Eyes. This instant bond and connection between Sam and Adam is likely due to their similarities, which is why Sam felt such a strong connection to Adam after their first meeting. Sam likely saw many similarities between himself and Adam before Sam was introduced to the world of hunting. Adam symbolized the innocence and naivety that Sam had before being corrupted by supernatural forces and the world of hunting. Adam was essentially the equivalent of Season 1 Sam.
    • Sam shares some things in common with Charlie Bradbury. Both nerdy? Check. Both bookworms? Check. Both Techno Wizards? Check. Both love Harry Potter? Check.
    • He also shares many similarities with Jack Kline, the nephilim son of Lucifer and Kelly Kline. This enabled him to empathize with and act as a father figure to him. Both possess dark powers that they struggle to control and share a close connection to Lucifer, causing fear and wariness in others. Both of them have been referred to as an abomination by Castiel, yet they both develop a close relationship with him in the end. Both characters end up souless but eventually regain them. The plan to kill Chuck involved Jack making a Heroic Sacrifice, mirroring Sam's sacrifice in season 5.
  • Bizarre Human Biology: Sam possesses demon blood within his veins because he was fed demon blood by the YED when he was only six months old. This significantly altered his blood composition, leading to the development of special powers during his young adulthood.
  • Black Eyes of Evil: Sam can get these when using his powers to telekinetically drive demons out of their human hosts. Justified since getting the power to do that requires drinking demon blood.
  • Black Sheep: Even considering the dysfunction of the Winchester family, Sam never quite fit in.
  • Blessed with Suck: His premonitions or the fact that he's Lucifer's true vessel? Take your pick.
    • Sam's visions of doom. As one of a group of psychic children, some of whom have powers such as Super-Strength, Mind Control, Telekinesis and the ability to electrocute people with a touch, he gets uncontrollable, painful visions of violent deaths. As one of the other psychics put it: "Dude, [that] sucks."
  • Blood from the Mouth: Sam's Incurable Cough of Death in Season 8 that causes him to cough up blood almost daily.
  • Blood Lust: For demon blood of course. Whenever Sam sees a demon bleeding, Sam gets strongly tempted to drink it. Sam's addiction was so bad that in 5x14, Famine corrupted Sam and made him intensely hungry for demon blood.
  • Book Smart: He is smart enough to have gotten into Stanford despite his transient upbringing and is the brother who is more focused on lore research.
  • Bookworm: Sam reads and researches a lot. He is incredibly book smart, knowledgeable and well-read. Sam conducts most of the research on the hunt.
  • Born Unlucky: Sam gets (and loses) a rabbit's foot, which grants people incredible luck while they possess it, and eventually terminal bad luck when they inevitably lose it. At one point while sitting doing nothing in a hotel room, the radiator caught fire. He managed to knock himself unconscious putting it out. He also lost his shoe.
  • Bound and Gagged: Plenty of times throughout the show. It's becoming a Running Gag.
  • Boy Next Door: Sam was a regular college student with a normal life before he got dragged into the hunting world and life.
  • Brains and Brawn: Sam is the Brains to Dean's Brawn. While Sam is more of a brainiac, bookworm, and researcher, Dean is more of a hunter, warrior, and fighter. It's not that Sam is bad at the Brawn side either, as Sam is a capable fighter, warrior and hunter in his own right. However, Sam takes after the Winchester side of the family, who are referred to as the Brains between the Winchesters and the Campbells and Dean seems to take after more of the Campbell side of the family, who are the Brawns between the Winchesters and Campbells.
  • Break the Cutie: He was a law student, had a social life and a beautiful girlfriend (Jessica) in the Pilot episode. Lasts for about half an episode. Sam's life and circumstances then steadily get worse as the series progresses.
  • Broken Ace: Sam is very intelligent, a good researcher, and a very capable hunter, yet his personal life is an absolute tragedy. Sam has never had one moment of peace and happiness. And whenever he gets happiness, it is always ripped away from him. Aside from the fact that he doesn't fit in with his family and he was forced into a life that he never wanted, Sam has endured so much loss, tragedy, and grief. He has had to suffer his brother repeatedly dying on him, the love of his life Jessica being killed, not knowing his mother Mary because she was killed in his nursery when he was just a baby, having constant problems with his father John, having his normal life ripped away from him repeatedly, having to deal with the fact that he has a destiny of darkness and evil, that he is the vessel for Lucifer, suffering over 200 years in Hell, being saved from Hell by Castiel only to have his soul left in Hell while his soul is being shredded and mutilated by both Lucifer and Michael, having his wall broken so he relives all of his worst memories in Hell and suffering a mental and psychological breakdown, getting extremely sick while completing the Trials Of God to the pint where he ends up in a coma, having an angel possess him without his consent because Dean could not live without him and finally, having his one brother turn into the one thing that he hates and hunts, which is a demon. Sam's life has never been easy, and it has never been happy.
  • Broken Bird: Inverted. Sam has been through such endless pain, tragedy, loss, and trauma that it is questionable how he is still functioning after everything that he has been through since his birth. When Sam was just 6 mos. old, he was already corrupted by demons when Azazel came into his nursery and fed him demon blood, placing a curse upon Sam and the entire Winchester family. Azazel then killed Sam's mother, Mary in his nursery by pinning her to the ceiling, slashing her stomach and setting her on fire, leaving Sam forever motherless. His entire family is pure and utter dysfunction and to make the family dynamics worst, Sam never saw eye to eye with his father John. He was kicked out by John at the age of 18 when Sam decided to attend Stanford instead of continuing the family business of hunting. In Season 1, Sam tragically loses the love of his life, Jessica, when Azazel kills her in the exact same fashion that he killed his mother, Mary. This forever changed Sam's life and dragged him into the world of hunting, which would open the doors for Sam's unknown dark destiny. In Season 2, Sam loses his father, John and feels extreme guilt about his death, believing that his father died thinking that Sam hated him. He also spends a considerable amount of time dealing with Dean's depression and grief over the loss of John. As if it wasn't bad enough, Sam discovers that he is a possible force for evil and that he could turn evil or go to The Dark Side. On top of that, Dean tells Sam that John told Dean that if he couldn't save him from going to the dark side, he would have to kill him. At the end of Season 2, Sam unexpectedly ends up dying, only to be brought back to life after Dean sold his soul to bring him back. In Season 3, Sam discovers that Dean brought him back from the dead by selling his soul for him and getting one year to live before he is dragged off to Hell. Sam loses hope in trying to save Dean from going to Hell and it seems hopeless. At the end of Season 3, Sam hopelessly watches Dean get ripped to death by Hellhounds and sent to Hell afterward. In Season 4, Sam becomes extremely suicidal and depressed after Dean dies and goes to Hell. He is then manipulated and corrupted by Ruby as a result and she manages to get him addicted to demon blood. Sam goes further and further to The Dark Side. At the end of Season 4, Sam kills Lillith, who is the final seal, and ends up starting the Apocalypse. In Season 5, Sam discovers that he is the vessel for Lucifer, the ultimate destroyer of the world. He then has to deal with the fact that Dean has given up on him and has no faith in him or anything; that he will say yes to Michael and will wipe out nearly half the Earth and humanity as a result. Sam feels extremely guilty about starting the Apocalypse so he decides to make a Heroic Sacrifice by saying yes to Lucifer, opening the pit, throwing himself into the pits of Hell and burning in Hell for all eternity while making Dean promise not to bring him back no matter what and to go live an apple pie life with Lisa and Ben. In Season 6, [[spoiler:Sam is brought back, but he's not completely himself. It was discovered that Sam was walking around for an entire year soulless. Therefore, Sam did many immoral deeds, including the killing of innocent people. On the other hand, Sam's soul was being tortured brutally by the likes of Lucifer and Michael in Lucifer's cage. Sam's soul was so extensively damaged that Castiel even said that Sam might not survive if he got his soul back. After Sam received his soul back, Sam had a wall put up in his head by Death to prevent Sam from reliving his worst and most traumatizing memories of his 200 years of suffering in Hell. At the end of Season 6, Castiel breaks Sam's wall and Sam begins to suffer as a result, remembering bits and pieces of his memories of trauma in Hell. In Season 7, Sam begins to suffer from hallucinations of Lucifer and remembering the torture and the suffering that he endured in Hell. Sam loses Castiel, someone whom he considers to be his friend. Sam discovers that his own brother killed his childhood friend and childhood love, Amy, behind his back, betraying his trust. This causes a rift between himself and Dean. Sam also loses Bobby, someone whom he and Dean have considered a father figure since childhood. As a result of the hallucinations, Sam becomes sleepless and starts to go insane. Towards the end of Season 7, Sam has a complete and total mental breakdown and ends up in a psychiatric mental hospital. At the end of Season 7, Sam loses everyone and is completely and alone, after Dean and Cas are zapped into Purgatory and Kevin is missing. In Season 8, Sam gets ripped away from the normal and safe life that he had built for a year with Amelia, his new girlfriend, and Riot, his dog, and dragged back into the dreaded life of hunting when Dean comes back from Purgatory. In the middle of the season, Sam becomes The Chosen One to close the gates of Hell after completing the first trial. However, the trials make him sicker and sicker with time with Sam coughing up blood being one of the symptoms. Sam continues to get weaker and Sam with each passing trial and it is uncertain whether Sam is going to make it out of these trials alive or even human since according to Castiel, he is changing on a significant level that even he can't heal or understand. As of the end of Season 8, Sam still appears to be sick and the audience is not sure of whether or not he will live or die next season. In Season 9, Sam was in a coma and was facing possible death. However, Sam wanted to die, but Dean would not let it happen. So what did Dean end up doing out of desperation to keep Sam alive? Dean gave an angel (Ezekiel a.k.a. Gadreel) permission to possess Sam's body without Sam knowing or Sam giving the angel his true consent. So Sam is walking around with an angel possessing him without his actual consent and unknowingly healing him from the inside because he was so incredibly damaged from the inside. On top of it, Dean is lying through his teeth to Sam about the whole situation and sooner or later, Sam is going to discover what Dean did and it will blow up in Dean's face while Sam ends up feeling hurt, angered and betrayed by his brother. To make the situation worse, Gadreel has completely taken over Sam's mind, body and soul that Sam has become non-existent. On top of it, Gadreeel ends up killing Kevin in Sam's body without Sam having any control over his actions. Sam is also going to likely end up suffering and feeling extreme guilt over killing Kevin out of his control. Sam does find out about what Dean did, by violating his body and his free will and choice. Sam is of course justifiably angry at Dean and has even said that he doesn't really want a brother relationship with Dean as of now. Sam has lost total trust in Dean and his relationship with Dean is currently rather strained. To make matters worse, Sam now has to deal with the fact that Dean has the Mark Of Cain and because of it, might become a cold-blooded murderer and killer. Not to mention that once again, Sam has to witness his brother being killed and dying in front of his very own eyes. Add onto the fact that Dean becomes a demon, the very type of monster that Sam has feared he would turn into due to having a dark destiny and something that he and Dean hunt for a living.
  • Broken Hero: Been through much trauma and tragedy yet Sam keeps fighting and believing that there is hope in the end.
  • Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Sam deliberately breaks his arm punching out Lucifer when he, after inviting the Devil to possess him, somehow manages to throw the both of them back into the Devil's Cage. The upside: the Apocalypse is averted. The downside: His soul is trapped, for the foreseeable future, in an abyss with an enraged and betrayed Satan. The personal kickback is nonexistent.
  • Bully Hunter: His friendships with Barry in "After School Special" and Amy in "The Girl Next Door" as a teenager both start with him standing up to kids bullying them. When words don't do the trick, Sam gives the bullies a taste of their own medicine.
  • Butt-Monkey: In the traditional sense of the trope (the butt of other characters' jokes), Sam faithfully serves as a minor one to Dean, but this is downplayed because Dean's jokes are almost always just light-hearted ribbing and also because Dean himself is a much bigger Butt Monkey to other characters (including Sam himself). Sam turns into a full-fledged Butt Monkey in Season 5, seemingly as karmic punishment for his actions in Season 4: he gets stuck with two different STDs (the clap and genital herpes, if you're curious), hit in the nuts, and turned into a car with a jar of holy oil stuck in his ass/trunk... and that's just in two episodes. Sam also fits the alternate meaning of the trope as a character who's constantly put through hell. It's starting to back-fire, as plenty of fans are getting sick of the constant Limp!Sam and would prefer that the writers focus on giving him Character Development.
  • Byronic Hero: In Season 4, Sam becomes a significantly darker person by nature when he starts to embrace his dark destiny. Sam became much more self-centred and his pride began to get the best of him mostly because he was getting more powerful and Ruby was manipulating him and feeding into his pride that he was the only one who could kill Lilith and stop the apocalypse from happening with the use of his abilities. Sam is also intelligent, educated and capable of being highly manipulative. Sam would lie to Dean with little to no effort about where he was going or what he was up to. Let's not forget that Sam had completely lost his innocence at the time; the innocence that Sam had always possessed in Seasons 1 to 3. Sam also displayed rather passionate behaviour and was seen to be rather impulsive and hot-headed. It also became apparent that Sam became significantly more arrogant, jaded and prideful as Season 4 progressed, but this was only showcasing just how much Sam had changed as a person due to giving into his darkness.
  • Cain and Abel: Over the course of the show, this trope is brought up often in regards to his relationship with Dean. John warns Dean that he might have to kill Sam to prevent him following Azazel's plans, it turns out that he's destined to be Lucifer's vessel while Dean is Michael's and the two will end up fighting each other to the death, the many difficulties in their relationship often lead to conflict between them, Cain himself compares their relationship to his own with Abel and that Dean's story will end with him killing Sam, and finally it turns out that God himself is literally obsessed with this trope, having planned from the start that one of the brothers will kill the other and having made other versions of the Winchesters do this across The Multiverse. Despite being the younger brother and starting out far more nicer than Dean, Sam struggles with his inner darkness and therefore is often the one in the wrong.
  • Call to Adventure: In the Pilot, Dean comes to get Sam from Stanford in order to embark on a journey in finding their missing dad. This is the beginning of Sam being brought into the hunters world and leaving his normal life behind.
  • The Call Knows Where You Live: Happens twice in the pilot episode for Sam. First, his Dad goes missing and Dean comes to get him. He refuses that after killing the Monster of the Week, but watching his girlfriend burn up on the ceiling like his mother finally forces him to take the call for good.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Sam frequently did this with John ever since his childhood. Sam and John have always clashed and never really got along while Sam was growing up.
  • Came Back Wrong: Both at the end of Season 2 and during the beginning of Season 6. At the end of Season 2, Sam is stabbed and killed by Jake Talley. Dean makes a deal with a cross road demon and sells his soul so that Sam can live again. Dean's deal gives him one year to live before he ends up in Hell. As a result of the deal Dean made, Sam comes back alive. However, when Sam, Dean, Bobby and Ellen are attacked by Jake, Sam shoots Jake repeatedly without any sense of guilt or remorse. Sam comes off as cold-blooded and merciless after he shoots and kills Jake. Sam's "strange" behaviour becomes more evident in Season 3, when Sam becomes more cold-hearted and remorseless when he kills demons and the demon hosts. In Season 6, Sam displays distant, cold behaviour towards Dean. It turns out that he was brought back from Hell soulless by Castiel, hence why Sam was distributing cold, remorseless behaviour with a lack of empathy.
    • Azazel/YED taunted Dean with this possibility in the Season 2 finale, after Dean had made the deal by selling his soul to bring back Sam.
    • More than implied in Season 6. It was confirmed in "Family Matters" (no, not the sitcom), when Castiel examines him and discovers that Sam no longer has his soul. He gets better (somewhat) in "Like a Virgin," only for it to get reversed by Castiel in the Season 6 finale.
  • Cannot Talk to Women: In the flashbacks when Sam was a young teen, it was shown that he couldn't talk to girls with any confidence. He even asked Dean to give him some advice on how to talk to girls.
  • Can't Hold His Liquor: Sam gets drunk rather easily and when he drinks too much, "he starts singing karaoke", according to Dean.
  • Can't Stay Normal:
    • Sam tried to live normally before the series started. He went off to Stanford to get away from his family and the hunting life altogether. Unfortunately, in the Pilot episode, he was ripped away from his much desired normal life and dragged back into the much dreaded lifestyle of hunting.
    • Also in the eighth season, Sam attempted to live a normal life for a year with a girl (Amelia) and a dog (Riot). However, Sam is once again forced to give up his sense of normalcy and is reverted back to his hunter lifestyle once Dean returns from Purgatory.
  • Cartwright Curse: Any woman who sleeps with Sam, or even shows any romantic interest at all, has an excellent chance of either dying horribly or turning out to be evil.
    • Ruby survived a whole season after snaring him, but in the finale learned that explaining your plan to your Unwitting Pawn is a bad idea.
    • Played with in "Sex and Violence," when the boys are tracking a shape-shifting siren. When Sam sleeps with a hot doctor, the audience assumes she will turn out to be the siren and will be killed by the boys. She's not. There may be an element of attempting to protect her from this effect in Sam's 'eh, why bother to say goodbye' reaction before they leave town. But mostly he honestly doesn't care much about her, which is a trauma-induced departure from his previous characterization; Dean hooks up, Sam dates. Only he doesn't, much, because it's not terribly compatible with their lifestyle and he's usually in mourning for someone.
    • He seemed to have gotten away from it for a little while. But then made up for it with four women in one episode.
    • In "Season 7, Time For A Wedding!", Dean lampshades this when trying to talk sense into a love-potioned Sam with the line: "have you forgotten the average lifespan of your hookups?"
    • With the deaths of Sarah Blake and Amy Pond, this now seems to extend to every woman Sam's even kissed going back practically to childhood. And in Season 5, it was revealed that even his prom date had been possessed.
    • Sam himself comments in Season 9's "A Rock and a Hard Place" that his relationships tend to "end badly."
  • Cassandra Truth: Gordon was right all along about Sam. Subverted, as while Sam definitely has darkness in him and accidentally started the Apocalypse, he sacrifices himself to save the world instead of siding with the demons or helping Lucifer take over the world.
  • Catapult Nightmare: Averted in most of the Season 1 episodes when Sam was having prophetic nightmares.
  • A Chat with Satan: In Seasons 5 to seven, Sam had similar talks like this with Lucifer, but Sam has been able to resist Lucifer's seductive nature. In Season 5, Sam was communicating with Lucifer in person with Lucifer trying to convince Sam to give him his consent to possess him. Sam as always says that it is not going to happen no matter what. Lucifer ends up guilting Sam by using the "Not So Different" Remark about how he is a younger brother and how like Sam, he had an older brother whom he loved and worshipped (Michael). However, Lucifer felt like he never fit in with his family and when Lucifer wanted support from Michael, Michael did not support him; instead, Lucifer was called a monster and a freak, just like Sam was called. In Season 7, Sam was communicating with Lucifer in a different way, through hallucinations. Sam's wall had broken and therefore, Sam was reliving his worst memories that he had suffered in his over 200 years of Hell.
  • The Chessmaster: Sam is already a smart, strategic guy. But when he was Soulless!Sam, he was extra manipulative, cunning and would use others to further his own agenda or goal without regret, remorse, guilt or hesitation, especially while hunting.
  • Chick Magnet: Sam is very attractive and appealing to the opposite sex. On the other hand, Dean is more of a womanizer and ladies' man. But half of the major female characters or female characters that the brothers meet during the hunt have been attracted to Sam and take him much more seriously as a love interest than Dean. Sam has been seen to be more into serious long term romantic relationships (like with Jessica for example), whereas Dean is more into one night stands and random hook ups (the only serious relationship Dean seemed to really have was with Lisa and his relationship with her started out as a one night stand).
  • Child Prodigy: Sam was always a straight-A student throughout his childhood, despite moving from school to school due to the type of lifestyle he grew up in, which is the hunter's life. Later on in his teen years, he got a free ride to Stanford. Sam, along with Adam, are the only Winchesters who knowingly went to college or university. See Teen Genius and The Smart Guy.
  • Child Soldier: Sam has been trained to be a hunter and was involved in the hunting life since the tender age of 8.
  • The Chosen One:
    • Sam is THE Chosen One of the series. The story of Supernatural originally centred around him, his destiny and his journey. He is also this for being chosen as one of the Special Kids with special, unique powers and abilities.
    • Sam is this for Lucifer.
    • Sam was the Chosen One for closing the Gates of Hell in Season 8.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: Sam suffers from feeling severe guilt if he doesn't manage to save someone or he fails to save someone. This is especially true for his older brother Dean. Sam not saving someone will end up harping on his conscience for on a long term basis to the point that he won't forgive himself if he doesn't save someone the way he should have.
  • Classical Anti-Hero: Especially from Seasons 1 to 3. Eventually, Sam becomes a significantly darker character and he progressively slides down the anti-hero scale.
  • Clingy MacGuffin: Sam's demon blood which was fed to him as a baby, which is the primary source of his special Psychic Powers, cannot ever be gotten rid of and will never go away. Sam even says that he has demon blood pumping through his veins and that he "can't ever rip it out or scrub it clean."
  • Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: Sam becomes addicted to drinking demon blood, and tries to give it up. Well, they hunt demons, and have a magical knife to kill them with. This happens about every other fight. In several episodes, demons know that their blood tempts him, and are all but forcing themselves down his throat.
  • Comatose Canary: Sam in Season 6. After getting his soul back from Death, it is mentioned at the beginning of "Like a Virgin" that Sam has been "asleep" for almost ten days. Also, at the beginning of the last episode of Season 6 "The Man Who Knew Too Much" as the mental wall keeping all of the hell memories at bay has been destroyed by Castiel. Also, in Season 9, Sam was in a coma in the hospital and was very close to the brink of death. That is, until Dean made a decision to have an unknown angel possess Sam without the latter's knowledge or true consent just so that Sam would be alive.
  • Comedic Sociopathy: When Sam was soulless, he would often make many humorous comments to others that would be highly offensive without feeling any guilt or empathy.
  • The Conscience: Sam has always been a Morality Pet or a Morality Chain for Dean since the beginning. Sam has proven to be Dean's anchor and his humanity. Without Sam, Dean has been shown to become a ruthless, heartless, blood thirsty killer. This is played up even more in Season 9 onwards when Dean received the Mark of Cain. The Mark would cause Dean to lose control and gain the urge to kill. Sam was able to stop Dean from going over the edge and help curb his blood thirsty ways. Sam helped Dean to retain his humanity and constantly reminded him that despite what he was doing and what the Mark was doing to him, Dean was still a good person. It was Dean's strong love for Sam and Sam ''himself'' that ultimately saved Dean and his soul from being eternally damned by the MOC.
  • Conflicting Loyalty:
    • In Season 4, Sam faced conflict in regards to his loyalty to Dean and his loyalty to Ruby.
    • Back in Season 1, both brothers have a bit of this between each other and their father, John. While they had been raised to obey their father instantly at all times, Sam occasionally talks Dean around to a different course of action, or will do what Dean wants instead of what John has ordered. At the end of Season 1/start of Season 2, Sam's concern for a severely injured Dean far outweighs John's desire for vengeance, which is infuriating for John.
    • A bit of this again in Season 8, when Sam has to choose between the woman he fell for while Dean was in Purgatory, and continuing to fight alongside Dean. Both Dean and Amelia essentially tell him they need a total commitment to whichever decision he makes. Rather predictably, Sam chose Dean.
  • The Corruptible: To Ruby, to Azazel, to Lillith, to Lucifer and to demons in general.
  • Corrupt the Cutie: Ruby did this with Sam in Season 4, when she got Sam to become addicted to demon blood and use his demon abilities. The reason why Ruby was doing this to Sam was to trick him into killing Lillith in order to break the last seal and release Lucifer.
  • Cosmic Plaything: Sam was a huge plaything for demons and Hell in particular. Sam's entire life has been orchestrated and manipulated in order for him to follow a destiny of darkness. Although, because of his destiny to be Lucifer's vessel, he was also sought after by angels and Heaven as well.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Sam is a hunter after all, so it comes with the territory that he would be highly prepared for anything and everything that comes his way.
  • Creepy Good: When Sam was an infant, Azazel fed baby Sam demon blood. This caused Sam to develop special demonic abilities and powers by the age of 22 years of age. Sam became known as one of the "Special Children", meaning children who were all born in the year 1983 and were fed demon blood when they were 6 months old. All of the Special Children would gain special demonic powers that were different. Sam's abilities were precognition (being able to see into the future, primarily of people being killed or dying before it happens), telekinesis and being able to exorcise demons with the use of his mind. Although Sam's abilities were from an evil source, Sam still managed to use his demonic abilities for good purposes. He often used them during hunts and missions and his powers proved to be useful, despite the fact that his abilities managed to scare both Sam and Dean alike.
  • Crusading Widower: Jessica's unexpected death makes Sam become a hunter obsessed with getting revenge on Jessica's killer. Ironically, his father, John became a hunter obsessed with getting revenge on Azazel, who also killed his wife, Mary.
  • Cultured Badass: Sam is a Badass Bookworm who is scholarly, a skilled researcher, well-read and knowledgeable. He seems to garner knowledge on a wide variety of different topics which include art, literature, mythology, folklore, etc. Between himself and Dean, Sam is actually much more refined and sophisticated as Dean is more roguish and blue collar. Dean, on the other hand, is more of a Pop-Cultured Badass, knowledgeable about pop culture, such as movies, music, and media.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Sam possessed the ability to exorcise demons with his mind without killing the human host. Pretty cool.
  • Cute Bruiser: As young!Sam. Sam was exposed to hunting at the age of 8 and began hunting at 11 years of age. He was also shown to be quite a tough and capable fighter.
  • The Cutie: Especially in the first season, before Sam went through serious trauma and tragedy and succumbed to his dark destiny.
  • Cynicism Catalyst:
    • Sam loses many important people in his life through death, most importantly his mother Mary and the love of his life, Jessica. He loses his father, John, at the beginning of Season 2 and he loses Dean at the end of Season 3 after failing to save him from going to Hell. This triggers Sam's slow turn to The Dark Side in Season 4. Sam feels responsible for all of their deaths in one way or another and therefore, harbours a lot of guilt.
    • Sam's girlfriend Jessica Moore who gets offed in the pilot functions like a less intense variant of this, and the FBI, who believe the boys are serial killers, interpret it as being this straight.
    • The two several-month periods Sam spends attempting to resurrect and/or avenge his big brother, in "Mystery Spot" and the season break before "Lazarus Rising," see him become Darker and Edgier to the point of being a Blood Knight. He never actually makes a full on Face–Heel Turn, but he does start to tolerate a hell of a lot of collateral damage, and then commits the cardinal sin that unmakes any anti-hero: he was wrong.
  • Damaged Soul: Sam in Season 6, once he gets his soul back. While a safeguard is in place to suppress the symptoms of a damaged soul, there's a possibility it might break down; he's already had one episode involving seizures and being overwhelmed with memories of hell, and when his soul was first returned, Castiel thought he might be comatose. It broke down, with nearly two centuries of being tortured in Hell flooding back (later fixed by Castiel).
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Since childhood, Sam's entire life has been nothing but darkness, tragedy and dysfunction. No wonder Sam wanted to get away from his family.
  • Darker and Edgier: As the series progressed, Sam became a much darker character and completely changed from the innocent, puppy-dog eyed, and overly empathetic Sam that we all know and love. Much of this has to do with Sam's dark destiny of being Lucifer's vessel.
  • Dark Messiah: In Season 4, Sam heads this way, fully expecting / intending to die killing Lilith and willing to shoot a few dogs to do so. In his arrogance, he doesn't realize he's played right into Lilith's hands until it's too late.
  • The Dark Side: After spending three seasons trying to avoid "going dark side", a demon blood-addicted Sam skids down the slippery slope after attacking and attempting to choke Dean following a failed intervention in which Dean called him a monster. Sam kills Lilith, therefore (inadvertently) starting the Apocalypse by freeing Lucifer.
  • The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: The demon blood he drinks in Season 4 seems to have an effect on his personality, though it isn't clear how big this effect is exactly.
  • Dating Catwoman: Has a "relationship" with Ruby, a demon, in Season 4. Dean and everyone around Sam strongly disapproved of Sam's relationship with Ruby and Dean repeatedly warned Sam to steer clear of Ruby.
  • Dead Guy Junior: Named for his maternal grandfather, Samuel Campbell, who was killed by the yellow-eyed demon.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Sam has his humorous and witty moments. Often times, Sam can be very sarcastic and can engage in Snark-to-Snark Combat with Dean, making them come off as an old married couple. Sam also seems to become much more witty and sarcastic when he is under the influence of alcohol.
  • Deal with the Devil: Subverted twice. When Sam tries to make a deal with a crossroads demon in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" to save Dean's soul from Hell, even if it meant trading places with him, the demon flat-out refused, since Lilith had things exactly how she wanted them. Then later, when Crowley offers to stop killing the people Sam and Dean have saved if Sam agrees to stop the trials, Sam and Dean reluctantly agree and go to sign the contract, only for it to turn out to be a ruse for them to capture Crowley for the third trial.
  • Death is Cheap: Sam, along with his brother, never stay dead for long.
  • Death Seeker: In Season 1, Sam was willing to die killing YED, and in Season 2, he wanted to be killed before his destiny could change him. Sam's entire Season 4 arc was suicidal, as was Season 5, which ended with Sam jumping into Hell's solitary confinement to take Lucifer with him.
  • Demonic Possession/Symbiotic Possession: Sam was possessed by Meg in Season 2. While possessed by Meg he did many out of character things such as killing an innocent hunter, smoking menthol cigarettes, drinking heavily, abandoning Dean at a motel after knocking him unconscious, attacking and almost raping Jo, attempting to kill Jo, shooting Dean in the shoulder and beating Dean to a bloody pulp. Sam was possessed again in beginning of the ninth season. Dean has Ezekiel, an angel, possess Sam after Sam had fallen into a coma after getting very sick from completing the Trials Of God. the reason for this possession is so that Ezekiel can heal Sam from the inside as according to Castiel, Sam is so internally damaged that it might be beyond repair. Sam is unaware of the fact that he is being possessed by an angel so he ends up being taken over by the angel and he ends up losing track of time and suffers from a loss of memory. Sam does eventually find out about Dean having an angel possess him without his true consent and let's just say that Sam does not take it well at all. Considering that Sam has a history of being possessed by demons and other supernatural beings against his will, it is understandable why Sam would be angry at the prospect of Dean having an angel possess, even though Dean only had good intentions of saving Sam.
  • Demon Slaying: Sam primarily hunts demons for a living. Although he does hunt other supernatural beings and creatures as well.
  • The Descendants of Cain: Sam is descended from Cain and Abel, as the Winchester bloodline is descended from them. Because they are descended from Cain and Abel, the Winchester bloodline is the only bloodline who can be used as true vessels for Archangel Michael and Archangel Lucifer.
  • Destructive Romance: Although it's brotherly love, not romantic love, his relationship with Dean is this. Although Sam and Dean deeply and strongly love each other, it is very clear that they have a very messed up, dysfunctional, and highly codependent relationship. The two simply cannot live, cope or function without each other and are willing to cross moral lines or go to the ultimate extreme in order to keep each other alive. This gets called out occasionally by other characters on the show. Most notably in Sam's case was the Trickster in Season 3 trying to force Sam to accept Dean's death in Mystery Spot. He only succeeded in making Sam more obsessed with saving his brother.
  • Determinator: Sam is very ambitious, driven and determined. When he has a set goal or agenda that he wishes to achieve or complete, he never gives up and will go to extreme lengths to achieve his goals.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: Sam is stabbed in the back, severing his spinal cord, as he and Dean are reunited at the end of the penultimate episode of Season 2. Sam dies in his arms, but Dean makes a deal with a demon to bring Sam back. It actually subverts the usual form of this trope in that Sam doesn't get a chance to say goodbye or really anything at all—he just gets stabbed in the back, falls down, looks vaguely unfocused, and dies. He barely seems to register Dean's presence.
  • Died on Their Birthday: Sam is killed on his 24th birthday when he is literally (and figuratively) stabbed in the back Jake Talley, who Sam was trying to help. However, Sam's brother, Dean, makes a deal with the Crossroads Demon to resurrect Sam.
  • Dirty Business: In Seasons 4 and 5, every time Sam drinks demon blood to fuel his powers he looks at it this way.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: In Season 6, Sam is shown to be far more ruthless than he usually is, which is reveal to be because he is without a soul. As the season progresses, Sam becomes more sociopathic, hinting he could become a villain, which becomes true in Episode 11... only to get his soul back in the same episode and revert back to his old self. It was even stated that getting Sam's soul back was supposed to be the main plot of Season 6, which would've made him the Big Bad of the season. His soulless counterpart makes a reappearance in the finale, but is once again defeated, this time for good, before the confrontation with Raphael, Crowley, and Castiel.
  • Disney Death: In the Season 2 finale, Sam is brought back from the dead after Dean makes a deal with a crossroad demon to bring him back. Also in the Season 5 finale, when Sam apparently dies when he sacrifices himself by jumping into the pit. By the end of the episode, however, God brings Castiel back, Castiel resurrects Bobby and then, right before the credits, we see Sam is back from the dead too... The Soulless without his soul.
  • Distressed Dude: Sam may do his fair share of saving lives including Dean's, but Sam is often the object of being captured, tied up and tortured and someone always has to rescue him as a result, namely Dean.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: When Sam is sick or weakened, Sam's constant response to everyone, most notably Dean, is "I'm fine", even if it's so obvious that he is far from fine.
  • Doom Magnet: Oh boy, Sam never seems to catch a break and trouble never seems to stop following him around. Out of all of the characters on the show, it seems that Sam has or has had the most bad luck. Sam has suffered it all. Sam's mother, Mary, died when he was 6 mos. old due to the YED killing her by cutting her stomach open and setting her on fire above his crib. Sam had parental/abandonment issues with his father, John causing the two to constantly clash. He was fed demon blood by Azazel/YED against his will and given superhuman abilities which at one point, he had zero control over. He was forced into a life of doom and gloom (hunting) by having to abandon his normal life. Sam's true love and girlfriend Jess was killed by YED in the same way his mother, Mary was killed when Sam was six months old (by being cut open in the stomach and being set on fire on the ceiling). He constantly loses Dean when Dean dies repeatedly throughout the series. He feels extreme guilt about his father's death, feeling guilty that he hated him when he died. Sam loses Dean after Sam watches Dean get shredded to death by hellhound dogs and Dean goes to Hell afterwards. He becomes a demon blood junkie in Season 4 in order to strengthen his superhuman abilities. Ruby ends up double crossing, manipulating and tricking Sam at the end of Season 4, with Ruby using Sam to release Lucifer. All of the women that Sam has been romantically involved with end up dying afterwards; Sam discovers that he's the vessel for Lucifer; Sam throws himself in the pit as Lucifer and sacrifices himself to save the world. As a result of throwing himself in the pit, Sam ends up enduring over 120 years of torture in the worst part of Lucifer's cage. When Castiel brings Sam back from the cage, Sam is brought back soulless. When Sam gets his soul back, he has to have a special wall put in his mind in order to prevent him from revisiting severe trauma that he experienced in Hell. Sam's wall eventually starts to crack, but completely breaks when Castiel destroys Sam's wall in his head. As a result of Sam's wall breaking, Sam begins to hallucinate and sees Lucifer as well as remembering his most traumatic experiences of torture in Hell. Sam almost dies as a result of the wall in his head completely deteriorating; he ends up in a mental hospital eventually. Sam loses Dean again at the end of Season 7, when Dean (and Castiel) end up trapped in Purgatory. Sam goes on for a whole year thinking that Dean is dead. In Season 8, Sam becomes extremely ill as he is completing the Trials of God, which would close the gates of Hell forever; Sam gets so sick that he ends up in a coma in the beginning of Season 9; Sam ends up having his free will and his body violated when his own brother tricks him into being possessed by an unknown angel (named Gadreel), just so that Dean could keep Sam alive; Sam is lied to by Dean about being possessed by an angel for months and ends up having zero control over his own body and his own actions when Gadreel takes over. Gadreel ends up killing Kevin in Sam's body against his will. Sam finds out that his brother lied to him for months about Gadreel and developed survivor's guilt over Kevin's death and finally, Dean ends up dying on Sam again and is turned into the one thing he loathes and hunts for a living, which is a demon.
  • Drama-Preserving Handicap: The symptoms, especially the coughing up of blood, of Sam's illness due to the trials.
  • Dramatic Sit-Down: Sam sits on the floor and stares on in horror after he realized that by killing Lilith, he set Lucifer free. Ruby monologues until Dean bursts in and they kill Ruby together.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: Related to his psychic visions and the premonitions he had about the future during the course of the first two seasons.
  • The Drifter: Sam is a hunter for a living, therefore, he never settles in one place for too long and he travels across the country on hunting missions.
  • Driven to Suicide: Like Dean, Sam has had his fair share of suicidal moments throughout the series.
    • Sam in "Salvation" and, in an I Cannot Self-Terminate moment, "Playthings."
    • Another for Sam would be the angst-filled, additional I Cannot Self-Terminate in "When the Levee Breaks." In the finale of Season 4, Sam doesn't believe he will—or want to—survive either.
    • Sam at the end of the fifth season (with Dean and Bobby's reluctant approval!) in "Swan Song" (unless deliberately planning on jumping into Hell is seen as anything other than suicide).
    • In the seventh season, this seems to be where Sam's hallucinations are trying to push him — in "Hello, Cruel World", Lucifer suggests it three times.
    • At the end of Season 8, Sam is ill and worn down by the Trials, but most of all is convinced he's an utter failure to Dean and doesn't want to abandon the Trials, even if they kill him, because he doesn't want to disappoint him again.
    • Briefly in Season 9, after Sam learns of the Gadreel possession and that Kevin died at his hands, he is willing to die as part of a slim-chance procedure to track the now-missing Gadreel, insisting that he shouldn't have lived and that his life isn't worth any more than anyone else's.
  • Drowning My Sorrows:
    • Sam in the episode Playthings. Sam feels guilty for not saving the guy who ended up being murdered and therefore, it drives him to drink and get wasted. A drunken Sam then tells Dean that he should have saved the guy because it could prevented him from going farther and farther to the dark side. Sam also tells Dean and makes Dean promise that if he (Sam) goes too far into darkness, that he (Dean) has to kill him, which was what John had told Dean after John had sold his soul.
    • In Season 4, we see in a flashback that while Dean was in Hell, Sam drank himself almost into a stupor before trying to trade his own soul for Dean's. Later on, booze got switched out for demon blood
    • Again at the end of Season 9, after Dean has died and Sam is preparing to either make a deal with Crowley to bring him back or kill Crowley painfully — it's never made clear.
  • Drunk on the Dark Side: In Season 4, Sam became obsessed with using his demon abilities. Although he originally used them with good intentions (using them to exorcise demons out of human hosts instead of using the knife to kill both the demon and the human), Sam's addiction to using his powers were primarily driven by revenge and anger towards Lilith. As Season 4 progressed, Sam became highly drunk on the power that came along with using his abilities and it ended up costing himself and everyone around him much suffering, pain and tragedy, simply because Sam didn't listen.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: In the epic Season 5 finale, Sam looks at Dean lovingly after he takes back control of his body while being possessed by Lucifer. Sam is then confronted by Michael (in Adam's body) in which Michael tells Sam!Lucifer that it isn't going to end this way and that it is his (Michael) destiny to fight Lucifer. Sam then raises his arms up (which represents the symbolism of Jesus Christ on the cross dying sacrificially for his sins), preparing to take the fall in the hole and sacrifice himself in order to prevent a colossal, catastrophic, world-ending fight from taking place between Lucifer and Michael. Sam as Lucifer then jumps in the pit, bringing Adam as Michael along with him. Talk about the ultimate heroic sacrifice of the series by far.

    E-I 
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: After fifteen years of pain, torture, and fighting supernatural beings, he ultimately gets a happy ending. Following Dean's death, Sam retires as a hunter and lives a normal life, starting a family before dying peacefully of old age and reuniting with his beloved brother in Heaven.
  • Emotions vs. Stoicism: Sam spends half of the sixth season without his soul, which basically means that he's cold, logical, rational and highly efficient as a hunter without any nasty emotions to hamper him on the job. Oh and he also shoots innocent hostages, tries to kill Bobby and lets his brother be turned into a vampire.
  • Empowered Badass Normal: After drinking tons of demon blood and again after he loses his soul. Sam shifts into this in Seasons 4 and 5 when he starts gaining direct control over his psychic abilities. Sam had powerful psychic abilities in the earlier seasons which caused him to have premonitions. In Season 4, he is able to exorcise demons out of human hosts with the use of his mind and at the end of the season, he is strong enough to be able to kill demons with his mind. However, Sam eventually abandons his powers and returns to being a Badass Normal.
  • Enemy Mine: Despite Sam's distrust of Benny, he keeps Bobby from stabbing Benny and acknowledges Benny has been a good friend to Dean.
  • Erotic Dream: Sam has one of these featuring Bela, and is very flustered when he figures out who he's been dreaming about (after waking up with an extremely dopey grin on his face). His face wasn't the only thing grinning. No joke, this is actually referenced when Dean calls him over as he's waking up. Sam starts to rise, then glances down and hesitates, using a stretch to cover for his... awkwardness. He's even more flustered and awkward when Bela shows up shortly after to talk with him and Dean.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: Sam's hair or hairstyle has changed rather dramatically over the course of the series. The evolvement of Sam's hair is often a hot topic within fandom.
  • Expy: According to the Word of God (Eric Kripke), Sam was modelled after Luke Skywalker of Star Wars.
  • Face Death with Dignity: In the Season 9 premiere, Sam faces Death, basically ready to die and go to The Other Side with him. Sam tells Death that if he goes with him, he would like his death to be final meaning stay dead for good, that he doesn't ever want to be brought back, that nobody can reverse his death, or that nobody will get hurt by trying to bring him back. It is evident that while exploring through Sam's mind throughout the episode, Sam seems to not fear death in any way but he actually seemed to be both accepting and fine with it. Considering all of the trauma, pain, loss, and tragedy that Sam has been through and endured for years, his feelings regarding the matter are completely justifiable and understandable even though it strongly goes against what Dean wants.
  • Face–Monster Turn: Subverted and inverted. Sam was born human, but the fact that Sam was fed demon blood when he was 6 months old by Azazel made Sam turn out sort of monstrous later on in his life. Also, Azazel was manipulating Sam's entire life towards a destiny of darkness.
  • Failure-to-Save Murder: Sam fits this trope frequently throughout the series on various different occasions. The most notable one is when San failed to prevent Dean from going to Hell at the end of Season 3. Because of this, Sam ended up feeling like he failed and ended up harbouring guilt as a result.
  • Fallen Hero: Sam went from being an idealistic, naive, heroic and hopeful individual to a significantly darker, ruthless and cynical person overcome with a dark path or destiny (including being fed demon blood by YED, developing demonic psychic abilities, being manipulated by the demons, becoming addicted to demon blood, and being the destined one true vessel for Lucifer.
  • Fatal Attractor: Sam's love interests have included a kitsune, a werewolf, and a demon, and those are just the ones confirmed to be supernatural. Dean uses this trope to deduce that the girl Sam is sexing up is the siren making people kill their loved ones in 4.14 Surprisingly, Dean is wrong.
  • Fate Worse than Death: The end of Season 5 had Sam stuck in hell's solitary confinement with vengeful archangels Fallen Angel Lucifer and Michael torturing him creatively for five thousand years or so.
  • The Fettered: Although Sam has been morally gray or morally ambiguous in the past, Sam still has a strong conscience and morals and tries to do the right thing as much as possible.
  • Fighting from the Inside: At the end of Season 5 when Lucifer had overtaken Sam as a vessel, Sam used this trope to overcome and take control of Lucifer inside of him in order to prevent him from killing Dean and destroying the world. Because Sam was able to take control of Lucifer, he was able to open the pit, jump in and sacrifice himself to save the world.
  • Food Chain of Evil: Sam gains his power by feeding on demon blood.
  • Forced to Watch: During the third Season Finale, Sam was telekinetically restrained by Lilith, who planted a "Take That!" Kiss on him before siccing her Hellhound on Dean and making Sam watch Dean get ripped to shreds and Dragged Off to Hell.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Melancholic (also Choleric)
  • From Bad to Worse: In Season 7, Sam suffered from severe mental illness including hallucinations and insomnia. Eventually, Sam had a complete mental breakdown and ended up in a psychiatric hospital. In Season 8, Sam has become increasingly ill due to him performing the Trials for closing the gates of Hell. Some of the symptoms which Sam has been experiencing include coughing up blood, shakiness, weakness, loss of appetite, exhaustion, headaches, etc.
  • Functional Addict: Sam was highly addicted to demon blood, and the detox from it it is not fun at all. In fact, it's downright torture.
  • Future Badass: Sam is the one true vessel of Lucifer. It is therefore Sam's destiny to destroy the world and bring about the apocalypse.
  • Geek: Sam is frequently referred to as "Geek Boy".
  • Generation Xerox:
    • In Mystery Spot, Dean died, and Sam became a ruthless hunter, bent on revenge against Dean's killer. As you would recall, their mother died (she didn't get better) and their father became a ruthless hunter, bent on revenge against her killer. Sam is John 2.0, period. He did a less extreme version of this back in Season 1 after Azazel killed his fiancĂ©e, but between having Dean to help him through it and it already being his father's quest, it just wasn't as all-consuming. John appears to have been orphaned even before he married. It explains why they didn't get on most of the time, they were just too damn similar.
    • Sammy's I Just Want to Be Normal also goes back to his mom, Mary, who like Sam, absolutely hated the hunting life and wanted to get out. The demon deals thing is just a family tradition at this point. They even spread it to the adopted members, and back to people who died before they were born.'
  • Genius Bruiser: He was a straight-A student, a Mathlete, attended Stanford University on a full scholarship before the show started, and is often involved in the research part of hunting. This has never stopped him from kicking demon ass repeatedly. This is exhibited by the entire freaking family, but especially Sam and Dean. As we find out in the eighth season, this is because the Winchester line actually were Men of Letters, who do research on monsters full-time, and the Campbells were hunters, bringing together "the brains and the brawn" to make what are two of the world's most badass hunters.
  • Gentle Giant: Sam is a big, tall guy who can appear intimidating to others, but he is such a giant puppy who is generally kind, nice, and empathetic with puppy-dog eyes.
  • Godzilla Threshold: By the end of Season 5, everything has gone so far to hell that risking giving Lucifer a total win by having Sam say 'yes' to Lucifer is the only option. While this option guaranteed a fight between Michael and Lucifer that would destroy most of the world unless Sam could overcome the possessing influence of Lucifer long enough to throw them both into Lucifer's Cage, the apocalypse that would kill or zombify most of humanity would happen if they did nothing. Of course, at the end of Season 4, they'd all pretty much realised that they were screwed.
  • Going Cold Turkey: In Season 4, Dean and Bobby hold an intervention to try and break Sam's addiction to demon blood this way. Due to the nature of his addiction it involves him hallucinating numerous people as they harangue, torture, or make excuses for him, spasms, hallucinating dark marks appearing on his skin, and actually being telekinetically hurled about the room.
  • Good Girl Gone Bad: Sam went from being a caring, empathetic, normal boy next door in the earlier seasons to a significantly darker, edgier, revenge driven, addictive individual in Season 4.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Sam is generally nice, but don't mess with or cross him or the people he cares about.
  • Go Mad from the Revelation: Sam was being driven mad by memories of his time tortured by Lucifer in the Cage during the course of the seventh season. It eventually causes Sam to have a mental and psychotic break to the point, where he becomes a severe insomniac and has to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
  • Grand Theft Me: In "Swap Meat", a teenage boy changes bodies with Sam.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: In Season 8, while he's understandably dubious about Benny's reformation, part of his hatred towards him seems to outright jealously more than anything else; noticeably sporting a Death Glare when Dean refers to Benny as the only person who has never let him down.
  • Guile Hero: Sam is very strategic and manipulative when he wants to be. He relies more on his smarts and brain and he will often conduct more strategic ways of defeating and outwitting his enemies.
  • Guilt Complex: Every time Sam makes a mistake, he ends up suffering from extreme guilt afterwards. His brother Dean seems to suffer from the same thing, except to more extremes.
  • The Gunslinger: Sam is highly skilled with guns, firearms and other weaponry. Sam is a hunter after all, whose job requires the frequent use of guns and firearms. He uses them to hunt and kill monsters and other supernatural beings. It is a common misconception that Sam uses a chromed Beretta 92FS loaded with silver rounds. However, it has been officially stated by Christopher Cooper that it is a Taurus Model 99 (though it appears in most shots to be a Model 92, which is a bit thicker around the trigger guard than the Beretta). It is a standard 9mm with a 10-round magazine. Sam (and Dean) do own a blue steel Beretta 92, but it is predominantly used by Dean in the series. Sam also uses a pistol grip 4-shelled 12 gauge shotgun loaded with rock salt.
  • Handicapped Badass: In Season 7, Sam still managed to be a very effective hunter despite having his wall broken and suffering a mental breakdown. Sam was having hallucinations about Lucifer and about his time in Hell. Sam was even able to help a girl be relieved of her ghost brother haunting her while he was in a mental hospital himself. And in Season 8, Sam was still capable of hunting despite being worn out to an extensive level due to the Trials of God. Castiel had revealed to Sam that he was so internally damaged that he might be damaged beyond repair. Dean was very concerned for Sam in both situations and had tried to stop Sam from hunting because he was not in good health. In both situations, Sam repeatedly told Dean "I'm fine" (even though he clearly was not).
  • He Who Fights Monsters:
    • Sam may fight monsters and supernatural beings for a living, but at times, Sam can become so vengeful and driven by revenge to stop the bad guy or the bad monster, that he even starts to become a monster himself. This happened to Sam in Season 4, when he became vengeful against Lilith over Dean dying and going to Hell, became a demon blood junkie to help increase his demon abilities in order to stop Lilith. Turns out that Sam killing Lilith only helped the apocalypse happen and helped to release Lucifer.
    • Also, in Season 6, when Sam was soulless. When Sam was soulless, he resorted to immoral acts, even killing innocent people in the line of duty and not feeling any emotion, most importantly guilt. He often put the people closest to him in absolute danger, even using Dean as bait by letting him get turned into a vampire in order to find a vampires nest.
    • Sam was this after Dean died in Mystery Spot and the Season 3 finale. While he thinks killing Lilith is the only way to prevent the Apocalypse and feeding demon-blood-fueled powers also lets him save the hosts when exorcising demons, his obsession with killing Lilith leads him to break the final seal, releasing Lucifer from Hell.
  • The Heart: Sam often switches this role with Dean and he was originally the actual moral compass of the show. However, Sam was more of this in the first and second seasons, until Sam became a significantly darker character as the series progressed. As of Season 10, Sam was definitely this role and had taken over this role from Dean, as Dean was now a demon. Not only this, but Sam was the sole human lead on the show and is therefore, the only human aspect of the show.
  • Heartbroken Badass: Lost the love of his life Jessica. She was murdered in the exact same way as his mother Mary and both deaths were indirectly because of him. Not to mention that almost every single female that Sam has been romantically involved with has died. Sam has also endured much heartache in regards to his family and his brother Dean. Dean has died repeatedly throughout the series and Sam has had to suffer because of it. Sam's heartbreak over Dean's death came to a head in Season 4 when Sam became significantly darker and darker to the point where he started to fall to The Dark Side under Ruby's influence. Sam's life in general is just one giant tragedy, to the point that it is surprising that he is still in one piece functioning after everything that he has been though.
  • Heel–Face Revolving Door: Especially during Season 4. Sam couldn't seem to pick a side, whether it was the good side or the dark side. Most of it had to do with the individuals whom he was most influenced by such as Dean (representing the moral, good side) and Ruby (representing the immoral, bad side). Sam having close relationships with both Dean and Ruby led to him having a Conflicting Loyalty between the two, which led to Sam's moral status constantly being in question.
  • Heel Realization: The moment at the end of Season 4 after Sam has killed Lilith and Ruby revealed that Lilith was the final seal, not the one who was going to break the final seal, is Sam's moment when he realizes he's just an Unwitting Pawn who screwed up big time and brought about the apocalypse. His face conveys complete devastation and he's barely even paying attention when he and Dean kill Ruby.
  • The Hero or Hero Protagonist: In the beginning, Sam was the original protagonist of Supernatural and essentially, Supernatural centred on Sam's heroic journey and development. See The Protagonist. See The Hero's Journey, in which Eric Kripke, the Word of God, admits to using as a premise for Supernatural (and hence, Kripke modelling Sam's character off of a Luke Skywalker from Star Wars).
  • Hero Ball: Sam may be the hero but he makes a lot of bad decisions. Some of his actions over the course of the series have been very questionable to both the characters in the series as well as to the audience. At times, much of the audience questions "What the hell are you doing, Sam?"
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: Sam, along with Dean, has repeatedly made the FBI's most wanted list.
  • The Hero's Journey: Sam's purpose in Supernatural is essentially this trope. Sam starts out as a regular person, who leaves his familiar world behind and embarks on an adventure of the hunting world. During the process, Sam does some self-discovery and finds out that his destiny is so much greater than just being the aspiring lawyer who wants to have a wife, kids, and a white picket fence.
  • Heroes Love Dogs: Sam seems to love dogs and have an affinity with them. Bones and Riot anyone?
  • Heroic BSoD:
    • Sam had his after his girlfriend died, causing him to be just as obsessive as John was about hunting this demon. In fact, when he witnesses Jess' death, Sam completely loses it.
    • Sam has this briefly after realizing that killing Lilith actually set Lucifer free. He can do nothing but sit on the floor and stare in horror as Ruby monologues until Dean bursts in and they kill Ruby together.
    • Pretty well any time Dean dies/is dying/appears to be dead from Season 1 onwards. In various ways, this generally leads to Sam completely blanking on whatever the current mission was (no matter how urgent) and vacillating between being Driven to Suicide or obsessively trying to save/avenge Dean with no regard for anything else.
  • Heroic Build: Not initially, but as of Season 4 Sam is built like a brick wall. Or perhaps, more like Clark Kent/Superman.
  • Heroic Resolve: While possessed by Lucifer in the Season 5 finale, Sam was able to take back control of his body from Lucifer's possession while he was violently beating Dean.
  • Heroic RRoD: Sam collapses from the transformations he has undergone by completing the trials.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Sam's Season 4 Heroic Sacrifice which is averted when his own attempt to sacrifice his soul to save Dean is rejected. His resulting decision to damn himself slowly by using his powers seems like a noble act — until you get to the end and realize that Sam's efforts have been fueled by demon blood that intensifies pride in his own abilities and a sense of superiority to the point where he believes he is The Only One who can stop the Apocalypse. While Sam is genuine in his desire to help his brother and save the world (see "When The Levee Breaks" for his huge inner conflict), he goes about it in a very destructive (especially self-destructive) way. He can't know that killing Lilith starts the Apocalypse; the angels hid that so he would kickstart the Apocalypse by doing what he thought would prevent it. The goal is noble, even with the horrible outcome. It's part of the show's deconstruction of this trope that everything turns out so badly.
    • Sam in the Season 5 finale Swan Song: He throws himself (and more to the point, Satan, who's possessing him) into hell's solitary confinement in order to prevent the planet from being razed, with certain knowledge that Lucifer's going to spend eternity torturing him.
  • Heroic Spirit: Sam is very determined. When he wants to accomplish something, he doesn't give up. Sam is known to be very strong, tough and a fighter.
  • Heroic Suicide: In the fifth season finale, Sam's plan to defeat The Devil is to allow Lucifer to possess him and then wrest back control of his body long enough to jump into Hell and take Lucifer with him before the gates seal behind them. He initially fails, but after Lucifer kills two of Sam's close friends and starts to beat Sam's brother Dean to death, he manages to take control long enough to make the jump.
  • Heroic Willpower: Sam has gone through this quite a lot throughout the course of the series.
    • Sam, in Season 5 finale Swan Song, took control of his body while the devil was riding it just so he could throw himself and the devil into hell's solitary confinement.
    • Sam in Season 6 finale. He manages to overcome his "inner demons" such as his past guilt and facing all sides of himself, including Soulless Sam and Hell-Tortured Sam and drag himself to assist Dean and Bobby in the battle against Castiel and Crowley despite obviously suffering under the strain of his "hell memories".
  • Heroism Won't Pay the Bills: He and Dean have saved hundreds of lives, averted the Apocalypse numerous times, and literally survived Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. And they do all this while surviving on fraudulent credit cards, money hustled from pool games, renting low-rent motel rooms, sleeping in their car, and squatting in abandoned homes.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Made increasingly explicit with Dean in the later seasons, including the two of them making vows and embracing in a church in Season 8, raising a "child" starting in Season 12, and various side characters and even Dean referring to them as if they're together/married.
  • Hidden Badass: Only in the beginning of the series, in particular in Season 1. But this is to be expected considering that Sam had just left his normal world behind and embraced the world of hunting. Nobody would have expected sweet, quirky, nerdy Sam to be tough, strong and badass and be brave enough to face the hinting world and fight supernatural beings just as well as Dean.
  • Hidden Depths: Sam is a deeply complex character. He may appear to be the sweet, boy next door, but underneath is an ocean of complexities, which include pain, guilt, and darkness. With Sam, what you see is definitely not what you get.
  • Home Sweet Home: Sam is a hunter for a living but there has never been a moment where he hasn't thought of living a completely normal life one day, free of hunting and the hunting life.
  • Honor Before Reason: Sam fits this trope in regard to several human enemies and a few monstrous ones. For example, not killing a human Gordon before he turns into a vampire leads to being hunted by him yet again, but not killing vampire Lenore turns out to be useful. Yet still horribly sad.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Sam is very trusting and naive. Hence, he doesn't realize when he is being used, manipulated and corrupted (i.e. Ruby in Season 4).
  • Horror Hunger: Sam suffered from this in regards to his desire and thirst for demon blood throughout Season 4 and Season 5 while he was a certified demon blood junkie. Sam's addiction to the demon blood was so extreme that he would often go to extreme measures in order to obtain demon blood.
  • Hot-Blooded: Sam can be just as hot headed as Dean, if not at times even more.
  • How Do I Shot Web?: In Season 4, Ruby taught Sam how to control his abilities and how to exorcise demons with his mind. Sam admitted at first that he was a crappy student for Ruby.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl:
    • Sam and Ruby in Season 4. Sam is a whole foot taller than Ruby.
    • How about Sam and any female character that's ever been on the show? He seems to tower over pretty much all of them, with the exception of Jessica (who was 5-foot-11, by the way). Hell, he even towers over the majority of the male characters including Garth, Bobby, Castiel and even Dean.
  • Humanoid Abomination: Sam has been frequently ben called this by other characters. In the anime, a hunter named Anderson told John that Sam was no ordinary human. Sam has also frequently referenced himself as a freak or a monster.
  • Hunk: Sam is very physically attractive and appealing to the female audience.
  • Hunter of Monsters: Sam hunts supernatural creatures for a living.
  • I Cannot Self-Terminate:
    • Subverted twice for Sam. In Season 2 episode "Born Under A Bad Sign" Sam pleads with Dean (who obviously can't) to kill him after he kills another hunter while possessed. At the end of Season 4 in "When the Levee Breaks", while suffering withdrawal from demon blood, Sam tells Bobby to shoot him if he wants to help.
    • Played straight in "Heart." Sam's one-night stand was a werewolf, but they cured her... except not. There's no cure and she'd already killed a few people, so she asks Sam to shoot her instead. Ouch.
  • I Can Still Fight!: Despite Sam being seriously ill and weakened in Season 8 due to the intensity of the Trials for closing the gates of Hell, Sam still refuses to stay home and lay in bed as Dean strongly advises him to do and wants him to do. Instead, Sam would rather be hunting and "fighting through the pain".
  • Ideal Hero: At the start of the series, in the first season, Sam starts off as a highly moral, noble, idealistic, empathetic and compassionate individual. This was in contrast to Dean, who was more anti-heroic in nature; impulsive, hot headed, roguish, cynical, edgy and sarcastic.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: At the end of the fifth season, Sam says yes to Lucifer, inhabits Lucifer as his vessel and sacrifices himself by throwing himself (and Lucifer) into the pit in order to save the world.
    • In Season 10, in order to find his brother Dean who had been turned into a demon, Sam takes a man named Lester to a crossroad to capture a demon for information. Although Sam intended to stop Lester from making the deal, he came too late to intervene. When Dean calls out Sam on this, he just replies that he's not proud but doesn't regret.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Sam has always yearned to have a normal life and never wanted to become a hunter, and be surrounded with all of the abnormality and dangers that come along with hunting. Though by early Season 2, he drops this attitude and decides to devote his life to hunting in the wake of John's death. Sam ran away to college, where his girlfriend was killed, and spent the first season wanting to go back after they defeated the Big Bad. Then he found out he had demonic powers and after getting a taste of The Dark Side, decided he was too much of a freak to ever have a normal life.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Sam, at the end of Season 5, when he is possessed by Lucifer, except Dean doesn't fight Sam when Sam as Lucifer beats Dean to a bloody pulp.
  • I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Sam's girlfriend died the same way Sam and Dean's mother did. This gives Sam the incentive to leave his old life behind and hunt demons with Dean. Sam feels responsible for her death because he wasn't there to save her and he saw her die in prescient visions but didn't believe them.
  • Impostor-Exposing Test: When Sam comes Back from the Dead in Season 6, he ties Dean up so that he won't attack him, then cuts himself with a silver knife and swigs a mouthful of salty holy water to prove he's really himself. Dean had the same set of tests run on him when he got back from Hell.
  • Informed Flaw: Much is made in Season 5 of Sam's "anger issues" and how they contributed to his walk on The Dark Side in Season 4 - except that up to that point in the series, Sam had rarely demonstrated any anger out of proportion to his life circumstances, John, Bobby, and Dean were all also shown to be explosively angry on a regular basis (Sam's usual role was in fact to be the Voice of Reason talking Dean down from rages), and his Roaring Rampage of Revenge in the previous season had been presented as rooted in grief, despair, fear, and guilt as much as anger. After Season 5, Sam's "anger problems" were never mentioned again.
  • It's All About Me: Arrogance can be one of Sam's biggest flaws, although it's amplified in Season 4 once the demon blood-induced power trip starts.
  • It's Personal: If anyone that Sam loves and cares about is hurt in any way, Sam will get revenge and he won't stop until he's achieved revenge.
  • It Sucks to Be the Chosen One:
    • Sam felt this way in regards to being one of the Special Children, being Azazel's favourite Special Child, being the Chosen One out of all of the Special Children, and being the vessel for Lucifer.
    • In the eighth season, it's discovered that Sam has been damaged in so many ways that Castiel can not even heal because of his completion of the first trial in the quest to close the Hellgates.
  • I Am a Monster: Sam often thought of himself as a freak due to his demon blood curse and his demon abilities, especially during the earlier seasons.
  • The Idealist: Especially in the first few seasons. This changed when Sam started to go through a lot.
  • Idiot Ball: Sam may be highly intelligent but my God, he's made some idiotic choices throughout the series.
    • An example is Sam in Long Distance Caller. Leaving your unstable, few-seconds-away-from-losing-it brother alone in the hotel room, just telling him not to go anywhere and expecting him to actually stay? I thought you would have known better by now, Sammy.
    • For such a smart boy, Sam has grabbed a lot of idiot balls. The most glaring was in Nightshifter. He might be acting even colder/bitchier than normal and he certainly has all his attention on the job but telling Dean to get the guard outside where the news and police are waiting? Here's an idea, Sam, why don't you (y'know, considering you aren't the one being wanted for murder) do it while Dean takes care of the shifter. That would have made a lot more sense.
  • Imaginary Enemy: In the seventh season, Sam begins hallucinating that Lucifer (the Big Bad of Season 5) is tormenting him as a result of having his soul mangled in Hell. Even though this Lucifer is a hallucination, and Sam knows he's a hallucination, he still manages to cause quite a bit of trouble, including invoking Schrödinger's Butterfly and nearly tricking Sam into shooting his brother Dean. The hallucinations get worse as the season progresses, until finally Sam has a mental breakdown and can't even manage basic functions like eating and sleeping. Castiel saves Sam by transferring the hallucination to his own mind. Being an angel, he eventually recovers.
  • Incest Subtext: After 14 seasons, specific incidents of "uh, that's pretty intense for two brothers to say/feel/do" and "... do adult brothers normally touch each other that much/in that way?" are probably numerous enough to justify their own page. To try to sum it up more briefly: the brothers have always been weirdly close and insular in a lot of different ways, and ever since the "Church scene" at the end of Season 8 in particular (though it happened before that too), they tend to behave, perceive themselves, and be treated by friends and enemies alike as essentially a married couple. As of Season 12 they're even raising a "child" (Jack, the Nephilim) together. Crowley has jokingly referred to Sam as Dean's "wife" in the past, and Jody once commented to Sam that he and Dean "had something special".
  • The Ingenue: Especially when he was young. Sam has always been naive, idealistic and empathetic. However, ironically, Sam is also cursed with darkness.
  • The Insomniac: Sam starts staying up all night in the first season when he's having nightmares about Jessica. For several days in the seventh season, Sam is unable to sleep at all because of the constant hallucinations of Lucifer. This time, however, he ends up in the hospital because of it, which conveniently places him for the case of the week.
  • Incurable Cough of Death: Sam is supposed to be the one to perform all of the trials. But as a result from performing these trials, Sam develops tuberculosis type symptoms, including coughing up blood.
  • Internal Reveal: The fact that Sam was drinking demonic blood to power his psychic exorcism powers was revealed to the audience in 4x16, "On the Head of a Pin." Dean didn't find out until 4x20, "The Rapture." He wasn't happy.
  • Internalized Categorism: Sam has suffered from this since he was a young child due to the fact that he has demon blood in his veins. Therefore, Sam has always felt like a freak or abnormal. Sam even mentions to Dean, that as child and even when he was completely unaware of the fact that he had demon blood, he still felt "unpure".
  • Interspecies Romance: Sam, a human, has had a romance with many supernatural beings including Ruby (demon), Madison (werewolf), and Amy (kitsune).
  • In-Series Nickname:
    • Sam's nickname is Sammy, which is often used as an nickname that Dean has for Sam. Dean frequently calls Sam by this. Dean has also called Sam "Ginormo" and "Sasquatch", which is actually a nickname that Kim Manners coined for Jared off-screen.
    • Crowley has given Sam the nicknames "Moose", "Jolly Green Giant", "Gigantor", "Giraffe", and the most recent "Winchester Jumbo-Size".
  • In the Blood: Destiny also grabbed the Winchesters by the veins in that they are apparently descended on both sides from a line of archangel vessels, and were born to house Lucifer and Michael for their final apocalyptic battle on earth. Lucifer says, "It had to be you, Sam. It always had to be you." Presumably, the Campbell line were Lucifer's vessels and the Winchesters were Michael's, and the reason they had to bring the two together in John and Mary was that the final vessels needed to be brothers. Lucifer's lack of interest in Adam and Michael's in Mary might point this way, but it's not conclusive. The idea of destiny is thrown about a lot here, but given how hard Heaven and Hell both had to work to make it happen, Destiny may just mean 'the plan.' See also, The Call Knows Where You Live.

    J-N 
  • Jade-Colored Glasses: Sam originally starts out as a naive, optimistic, hopeful Wide-Eyed Idealist. However, after everything that he goes through throughout the course of the series, Sam loses his innocence and eventually begins to become much more pragmatic and realistic in his thinking.
  • Jekyll & Hyde: Kind!Gentle!Empathetic!Human!Sam (Jekyll) VS. Arrogant!Violent!Cold!Demonic!Sam (Hyde). And then there is Soulless!Robo!Sammy, who is a completely different category of his own.
  • Jerkass: Oh boy, when Sam was soulless in Season 6, he was far from the empathetic, kind, and sensitive Sammy that we all know and love.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Cares deeply about Dean and his family. Also, wants to save people and acts as the morality of the Dean and Sam duo. Mostly.
  • The Jinx: Sam is a living and walking embodiment of bad luck, doom and tragedy. Everyone around him seems to get hurt or dies.
  • Journey to the Center of the Mind:
    • In the sixth season's finale, Castiel breaks down Sam's wall and he has to find his way back to Dean and Bobby by finding and killing Robo!Sam and Hell!Sam, which the wall was making sure he never remembered.
    • Invoked again in the eighth season, when Castiel takes Sam inside the mind of Fred Jones, a reality warping psychic, to talk him into regaining control over his powers since the latter buried himself too deep within his own subconscious to engage him in a more conventional manor.
    • Done again in Season 9, when Sam has to evict the angel Gadreel, who is possessing him. Gadreel has planted Sam in a false world inside his own head to distract him, so Crowley has to also possess Sam, storm in, and tell him what's going on. Sam and Gadreel then fight it out before Sam kicks him out.
  • Keeping Secrets Sucks: The few times Sam keeps a secret from Dean that isn't too personal.
  • Kick the Morality Pet: Throughout Season 4, Sam follows Ruby's advice and drinks demon blood in order to become stronger and use his abilities to save the demon hosts. Sam continues to listen to Ruby and use his powers, even though the people closest to him, including Dean, Bobby, and Castiel have repeatedly told him not to drink demon blood and use his abilities. Because Sam doesn't listen and continues to rebel against Dean and everyone else, Sam ends up becoming addicted to demon blood and eventually become a junkie. Sam continues down a downward spiral until he is completely out of control. Sam doesn't realize the error of his ways and how much his actions have consequences until it is too late. (At the end of Season 4, Sam breaks the final seal by using his abilities to kill Lillith, which results in starting the apocalypse and freeing Lucifer afterwards.)
  • Kill the Cutie: At the end of Season 2, when Sam is stabbed to death in the back by Jake Talley. That was his first death of many.
  • Knight Errant: Sam travels all across the country and is always saving a Damsel in Distress during the process. Sometimes, the damsel becomes a romantic interest for Sam.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: Sam originally started out as the optimistic, hopeful one but after all of the tragedy he goes through, he eventually starts to become darker and more cynical.
  • Knight Templar Big Brother: Sam is protective of Dean and would go to extreme lengths for him. This is displayed in 3x11, when he did anything and everything to get Dean back and also in the flashbacks of Season 4, when Sam became very vengeful and determined to bring Dean back and kill Lillith for taking his elder brother away from him.
  • Lack of Empathy: Sam lacked empathy during the time period when he was soulless. He didn't care about anything or anyone, including Dean. Dean could get hurt or go missing and he wouldn't start to panic. Sam could shoot and kill anyone without feeling guilt or remorse about it. Even Samuel Campbell mentioned to Sam during the time that Sam was soulless that he was starting to creep him out because Sam came off as so cold and remorseless.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: After Ezekiel possesses Sam, Ezekiel erases Sam's memories of what happened between collapsing outside of the church after not finishing the trials and from when Sam gets possessed by Ezekiel.
  • Last of His Kind: Sam was the last survivor of the Special Children. Therefore, Sam was The Chosen One by Azazel.
  • Like an Old Married Couple: With Dean. Observers and even people who know them (i.e., Bobby and Charlie) comment on how Dean and Sam's interactions are like that of a married couple.
  • Like Father, Like Son: Dean has mentioned that Sam and John are a lot more alike than they realize.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Sam's wardrobe doesn't seem to change all that much. Most of that could have to do with the fact that he is a hunter.
  • Lineage Comes from the Father: The Men of Letters legacy that Sam is following and is currently a part of, comes from the Winchester side of the family. His paternal grandfather, Henry, was a Man of Letters, which means that John was also a part of the Man of Letters legacy as well. However, it was Mary's family, the Campbells, who were hunters for generations.
  • Literal Split Personality: In the Season 6 finale, Sam is stuck in a Mental World where his identity has split into three personalities: Sam, Soulless Sam, and the Sam who's been tortured in the Cage. Finding his way out of there requires the other two to merge back into him.
  • Little Miss Badass: Sam was hunting and began handling guns and weapons starting at the age of 8. His father had trained him and Dean to the hunting world and had trained him to use weapons in order to protect himself from supernatural beings. Sam was raised in the hunting world since childhood so handling weapons such as guns and knives was considered normal to Sam growing up. Outside of the Winchester family, it's not normal at all.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: To Dean. It has been proven over and over again throughout the series that Dean cannot live or function without Sam in his life.
  • Living MacGuffin: Inverted and gender-flipped. Sam was sought after by both angels and demons, mostly because he was the true vessel for Lucifer.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Sam's hair has always been longer than average, especially in comparison to Dean's hair, which has always been very short. Sam's hair gets to its longest in Season 8, where it is almost shoulder length.
  • Long Lost Sibling: To Adam. Sam is Adam's older paternal half-brother, meaning that he and Adam share the same father (John).
  • Love Makes You Evil: In Seasons 3 and 4, Sam started turning to The Dark Side so that he could get revenge on Lilith for killing Dean and for him going to Hell at the end of Season 3. Again in Season 10, Sam does some very morally dubious things trying to save Dean from the effects of the MOC, right up to releasing a force that could literally destroy the entire universe. At which point, even Sam realized that things had gone a bit far.
  • Lost Aesop: Sam seems to have gotten over the get over Dean's death lesson pretty quickly. Even Dean calls him on it. Of course, since the lesson never stuck in the first hundred times the Trickster tried it, he didn't exactly get over it.
  • Loveable Rogue: Sam may be a hunter who is rough around the edges and is also rugged, but he is also very emotional sensitive and empathetic, which makes you want to root for him.
  • Love Hurts: Every single love interest of Sam has died. His most notable one being Jessica. To add, his relationship with Dean has been more than chaotic and heartbreaking.
  • Love Makes You Crazy: Lampshaded by the Trickster in Season 3; Sam seems like the saner/more put together/more independent/less clingy brother between him and Dean, take Dean out of the picture or convince Sam that Dean's rejected him, and Sam completely loses it, often in ways that are violent, destructive, or borderline monstrous. Both brothers have had repeated incidents of completely losing perspective and compromising their own morals when the other is in danger, until Season 11 when Sam finally said they had to get a grip and stop putting the world in danger or letting other people (including close friends) get killed in order to save each other.
  • Love Martyr: Sam hunted for most of his childhood because his family pushed him due to the death of his mother, and he hated every minute of it. As an adult, he re-entered hunting to avenge his murdered girlfriend Jessica. After avenging her, he stayed hunting in an attempt to save Dean's life. By Season 8, Sam finally thought he'd left hunting for good and could have the normal life he had always craved since childhood, but then he realized retiring for good would mean leaving Dean alone to fight the forces of Heaven and Hell and the forces of evil. Oh, and at one point Sam fought his way out of a coma and pretty well guaranteed himself a heaping dose of insanity because he knew Dean needed his help.
  • MacGuffin: Sam's soul in Season 6. Sam's soul was the focal point of the entire season as Sam came back soulless after Castiel saved him from Lucifer's cage. Rescuing Sam's soul became priority number one for all of the main characters involved.
  • Made of Iron: Sam has suffered many illnesses and ailments, such as addiction, PTSD, soullessness, a total mental breakdown and currently extreme sickness due to completing the trials to close the gates of Hell. Yet, he still manages to hunt and save lives regardless.
  • Magnetic Plot Device: Sam, who originally starts out as an ordinary college boy who thinks he's completely normal and human, eventually finds himself dragged into the hunters life of tragedy and darkness, is sought out by the opposing sides of both Hell (demons) and Heaven (angels) due to his dark, demonic destiny and being The Chosen One to be the vessel of the destroyer of the world and humanity, Lucifer. Never mind that Sam is also an attractor of many supernatural beings and creatures, considering that he hunts them for a living.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Sam fit this trope in the sixth season as Soulless!Sam. He was very cold, cunning, manipulative and he lacked empathy.
  • Manly Men Can Hunt: Sam hunts supernatural beings for a living.
  • Man of Wealth and Taste: Sam as Lucifer in 2014. He's sporting a pristine white suit with white shoes.
  • Martyr Without a Cause: Like Dean, Sam is always willing to sacrifice himself in order to save others and especially to save Dean.
  • Meaningful Name: Sam or Samuel means "Name of God" or "God Has Heard", which is rather ironic considering that he was Lucifer's vessel.
  • The Mentally Disturbed: In Season 7, Sam had a complete and total mental and psychotic breakdown due to the wall (which Death built for Sam in order to prevent him from reliving and remembering his worst memories, torture and suffering in Hell after Sam got his soul back) crumbling in his mind. Because of Sam's wall breaking down, Sam ended up hallucinating Lucifer and images of Hell, suffered from severe insomnia and would remember some of his worst memories in the Cage. Sam's mental breakdown got progressively worse over the course of the seventh season, that towards the end of the season, Sam ends up in a mental or psychiatric hospital after being hit by a car.
  • Messianic Archetype: Sam has a fair share of Messianic imagery — repetitive wounding of his hands and wrists, his destiny as a prophesied leader and savior for the demons (the Boy King), giving the Eucharist in the form of his own blood to Crowley in the Season 8 finale, and sacrificing himself to seal away both Lucifer and Michael who were to bring about the Apocalypse, complete with a crucifixion pose. This becomes even more ironic as thanks to his demonic destiny that's alluded to throughout the seasons — to be the vessel for Lucifer, he's also set up as the Anti Christ.
  • Middle Child Syndrome: Averted Trope, as Sam is technically between this and Youngest Child Wins. Sam is the youngest child of John and Mary, but Sam is technically John's middle child. The reason for this is because it was revealed in Season 4, that John had another son named Adam, who was seven years younger than Sam. Although Sam definitely has most of the qualities and traits of the youngest child, Sam also displays some middle child qualities as well. Like most middle children, Sam felt like he was ignored or didn't belong in his family. Sam also felt that Dean was John's favorite (although that is primarily from Sam's perspective) because he was The Dutiful Son who always obeyed what John asked of him. Sam is also the Black Sheep of the family, a classic middle child syndrome trait in most cases.
  • Mind over Matter: When under extreme situations, Sam displayed minor feats of telekinesis. His power grew considerably the more demon blood he consumed to the point where could throw around and restrain top-level demons such as Alastair and Lilith by using his mind with minimal focus.
  • Missing Mom: Sam's mother, Mary, died when Sam was just 6 months old. Therefore, Sam never knew his mother growing up and never had a mother figure in his life.
  • Mistaken for Gay: Constantly with Dean. So much that it has become a Running Gag of the series. See Incest Subtext.
    • In one episode they pretend to be interested in buying a house, and two realtors, on separate occasions, mention that "we accept homeowners of any race, religion, color, or sexual orientation."
    • Also happens in the one with the little girl at the old hotel: when they go to check into the hotel, the owner mentions that "We get a lot of gay couples down here because of the great antiques shop."
    • Happens again in the fourth season premiere: when Dean comes back from the dead and proves to Sam it's really him they embrace tearfully and the girl Sam was with earlier says "So you guys are..." before Dean interrupts her with "Brothers."
    • And of course the lovely episode when Dean asks for "two queens" at the motel and the lippy kid, Michael, behind the counter mutters "I bet."
    • In a recent fifth-season episode, Sam and Dean do some ghost-busting at a Supernatural convention with two guys who dressed up like them... At the end of the episode, it's revealed that the duo was gay. It's no wonder, since much of the in-show fanbase are constantly exploring homoerotic subtexts between the brothers.
    • In the Season 8 episode "Bitten", the college students the episode focuses on assume that Sam and Dean (who they think are FBI agents) have a "workplace romance" going on.
  • Morality Chain: For Dean. Sam often stops Dean from going over the edge and talks him down when Dean is about to commit an immoral deed or act. And most of the time after Sam talks to Dean, Dean ends up listening to Sam and taking what he says to heart. Taken up several notches as of Season 9, especially now that Dean has the Mark Of Cain and The First Blade.
  • Morality Pet: For Ruby in Seasons 3 and 4.
  • Moral Sociopathy: When he's soulless in Season 6, this is what lacking his soul turns Sam into. He still derives a sense of purpose from committing himself to hunting and killing supernatural creatures that threaten innocent people, he just doesn't mind the collateral damage if a person's life comes between him and permanently stopping the creature, nor can he bring himself to feel any empathy or emotional attachments towards the victims or his souled self's loved ones.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Sam is appealing to the female viewing audience.
  • Mr. Vice Guy: Sam is a good person who has good intentions, but he has some major flaws. Some of them include his pride/arrogance, selfishness and his prone to being corrupted and manipulated.
  • Must Make Amends: After Sam became a demon blood junkie and broke final seal, starting the apocalypse and freeing Lucifer, Sam realized that everything that he did in Season 4 (drinking demon blood in order to strengthen his abilities so that he could stop Lillith), although he had good intentions, turned out to be a huge catastrophe for not just himself and Dean but for the entire world. As a result of all of his mistakes in Season 4, Sam made it his mission to undo all of the mistakes and damage that he had done and caused by willing to make a deal with Lucifer by saying "yes" to him so that he could sacrifice himself and save the world by putting Lucifer (with Sam being the vessel for him) back into his cage for good, ultimately reversing the error he made at the end of Season 4 when he released Lucifer.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: This happens so frequently for Sam in the series. Most notably after he breaks the last seal and starts the apocalypse by freeing Lucifer.
  • My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Initially, Sam's powers manifested solely as a form of heightened senses and occasionally as confusing premonitions of the future.
  • NaĂŻve Newcomer: To the hunters' world and life in the very beginning.
  • Nerds Are Sexy: Well, Dean has called Sam a nerd and a geek on a few occasions.
  • Nerves of Steel: Sam is known to be incredibly stoic. He is very practical, pragmatic and has a very high tolerance for pain and suffering.
  • Neurodiversity Is Supernatural: Sam's body living without a soul is treated like sociopathy.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In his mission to kill Lilith for vengeance in Dean's death and trip to Hell, as well as to stop her from freeing Lucifer, he pretty much turns into a monster himself and ends up unwittingly breaking the final seal binding Lucifer to Hell by killing her.
  • Nice Guy: In the beginning, Sam is a generally nice, kind, caring and sensitive guy who cares for everyone. This changes as his dark destiny starts to overtake him as the series progresses.
  • Nominal Hero: In Season 6. Sam was hunting and battling the bad guy alongside Dean, however, he was still rather unsympathetic, due to the fact that he was soulless, and therefore, cold, unfeeling, and sociopathic.
  • Not Afraid to Die: It seems as though Sam does not fear the thought of dying and this is especially evident in both the Season 8 finale and in the Season 9 premiere.
  • Not Himself:
    • In the first half of Season 6, due to no longer having a soul.
    • Sam gets hit with this trope more than any other character (except possibly Castiel) in Supernatural. He's been possessed by demons, possessed by angels, body-swapped with a witch, actually a shapeshifter, the list goes on.
  • The Not-Love Interest: To Dean.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: In Season 1, Sam admits to his Dad (John) that he and John are not that different anymore and that they probably have a lot more in common currently than they did back then. Especially since they both lost the loves of their life (Jessica for Sam and Mary for John) and were hell bent on revenge in destroying the demon that killed Jess and Mary. Even more pronounced in Season 5, when Sam had just gone on a yearlong revenge tear resulting in accidentally triggering the Apocalypse, and made a spiel about finally completely understanding and forgiving John. Even more Ho Yay and/or Incest Subtext in that it became clear that while Sam became somewhat obsessive and driven after Jessica's death, he hadn't reached John's level of obsession or vengeance in Season 1. It was really Dean dying that triggered the same reaction in him that John had had to his wife and the mother of his children being killed.

    O-R 
  • Obliviously Superpowered: Season 15 reveals that him and Dean have actually always had Plot Armor their entire lives and lose it for an episode, with them being downgraded from main characters to normal people. This means that they lose all the little things that make their lives convenient and a little easier to handle. Sam finds that his Puppy-Dog Eyes don't work anymore, he can't actually pick locks, that leaving a room while food is cooking means it just gets burned, becomes far more clumsy and is shocked when he almost trips, gets sick, and can't fight a vampire that he should normally be able to beat.
  • Oblivious Younger Sibling: Even though Dean defines "morally shady," Sam is emphatic that he's more than a killer or a grunt and that he has looked up to Dean his entire life. He lets Dean take the lead in most aspects of their lives, trusts him absolutely (up until Season 9...) and craves Dean's approval. Sam's been shown to go a bit unhinged when he believes Dean has rejected him or that he's disappointed Dean, even though Sam is often Dean's Morality Chain and keeps Dean's most destructive tendencies at bay. Bear in mind that other characters' descriptions of Dean include "two steps away from being a serial killer."
    • It's been noticed that the normally intelligent and perceptive Sam has been remarkably slow on the uptake as to how the MOC/First Blade are affecting his brother through Season 9, mostly just glancing worriedly at Dean and gently broaching the topic on a few occasions. Word of God has suggested that when Sam found out about the MOC, he just kind of assumed Dean knew what he was doing and could handle it, and it's taken quite some time for Sam to fully grasp that neither of those things are true. There have been other factors at play as well, including a major rift between the brothers, but part of the issue seems to be that it hadn't occurred to Sam (who has often fought internal supernatural forces throughout the series) that Dean could be vulnerable to similar internal forces.
    • As children, Dean went to great lengths to keep the younger Sam from feeling the rough effects of their unconventional childhood. Dean would often give his own food to Sam to keep Sam from knowing they were running low on supplies, pretend to have heard from John to keep Sam from knowing that their dad had been gone longer than originally plan, and steal to make sure Sam had everything he needed. In a flashback in A Very Supernatural Christmas, it is shown that Sam didn't even know the family was hunting monsters until he was eight, which is significant given that they started when he was barely six months old.
  • The Only One: According to Death, Sam was the only one who could stop Lucifer and successfully put him back in his cage in Hell where he belongs. Sam succeeds at this by throwing himself (with Lucifer possessing him) and Michael (who was possessing Adam) into the pit in the Season 5 finale.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Inverted; Sam seems to become more and more Southern as the series goes on. While Jared is a Texan, Sam's earlier accent is closer to Jared's.
  • The Ophelia: Sam deconstructs very badly on a mental basis during the course of the seventh season. To the point where Sam ends up in a mental hospital after having a complete and total breakdown.
  • Opposed Mentors: In Season 4, Sam faced Conflicting Loyalty and choosing between his loyalty to Dean and his loyalty to Ruby. At the end of Season 4, Sam does end up choosing Ruby over Dean, his own brother, which shows just how far to The Dark Side Sam had fallen.
  • Our Hero Is Dead:
    • Subverted in Supernatural Season 2 episode "All Hell Breaks Loose Part 1", in that Sam really does die at the end of the episode. Played straight, however, in that he is brought back the next episode when his brother Dean sells his soul for him.
    • Also subverted at the end of Season 5, when Sam dies by sacrificing himself to an eternity in Hell. However, Sam is resurrected when Castiel pulls him out of Hell without his soul though.
  • Parental Abandonment: Growing up, Sam never had a solid father figure in his life. John was always out on a hunting job and therefore, never really had time to be a real father to Sam (and Dean). Because of this, Sam has serious parental abandonment issues and has always held a grudge against his father for never being there for Sam and Dean growing up. Also, Sam's mother, Mary, died when he was only 6 mos. old so Sam never knew his mother.
  • Parental Issues: See Parental Abandonment. Sam grew up without a mother and his father was never there for him growing up.
  • Parental Neglect: Sam was often neglected by John as a child. Dean was the one who took over parental role to Sam during his childhood.
  • Perma-Stubble: Sam seems to be sporting a permanent five o'clock shadow in the recent seasons.
  • Plot Armor: Season 15 reveals that he literally has this in one episode and when he loses it, he accidentally burns himself when he grabbed food out of the oven without gloves, trips much to his and Dean's shock, gets sick for what might be the first time in his life, and discovers that neither he or Dean actually know how to pick a lock for real. Dean at first thinks that he and Sam were cursed, but Garth instead explains they were simply downgraded from main characters to normal people.
  • The Pollyanna/Plucky Girl: Sam always goes through extreme trauma, tragedy and pain yet he still remains rather optimistic and hopeful that things will get better eventually.
  • Poor Communication Kills: A lot of problems and issues could have been avoided if Sam just opened up to Dean and confided in him more often. The final seal keeping Lucifer imprisoned could have remained intact if certain parties who wanted the Apocalypse to happen didn't do their best to make sure the Winchesters don't learn until it's too late that Lilith's purpose isn't to break the final seal, she is the seal and her purpose is to be slain by Sam, Lucifer's true vessel. It also doesn't help that Sam made the spectacularly poor decision to trust a demon and that Dean all but disowned Sam when he found out instead of reaching out to him. Bobby called Dean out on that.
  • Pop-Cultured Badass: Although Sam is more of a Cultured Badass who has a lot of knowledge about art, literature, folklore and mythology, Sam also has a his fair share of knowledge regarding music, movies, television shows and novels. Sam openly admits that he loves Star Wars, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones.
  • The Power of Love:
  • Powers via Possession: As of the ninth season, Sam possesses angelic abilities and powers due to being possessed by the angel Ezekiel.
  • Pragmatic Hero: Sam is actually very practical by nature. However, in the beginning, Sam was much more of an idealist. As the series progresses, he becomes kore of a realist and maybe even a little cynical and jaded. Part of the reason why Sam becomes much more pragmatic and realistic in his thinking and in his approach is because of all that he had gone through throughout the course of the series and all of the events that have occurred and changed his life.
  • Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: See Badass Boast.
    Sam to Gadreel in 9.10: GET THE HELL OUT. *Sam casts both Gadreel and Crowley out of his body*
  • Pro-Human Transhuman: Although Sam possesses demonic abilities, Sam tries to remain as human as possible. In Season 2, Sam even said that if he becomes a monster or something that he is not, that Dean has to kill him.
  • The Protagonist: Originally, Supernatural was centred around Sam and his heroic journey.
  • Protagonist Journey to Villain: Sam goes from a normal, well-intentioned, heroic character in the beginning of the series, to a character overcome with and meant for darkness and a dark destiny (this includes developing special demon abilities, becoming addicted to demon blood, becoming addicted to the greed and power of using his abilities, and discovering that he is ultimately the vessel for the the destroyer of Earth, Lucifer.
  • Protectorate: For Dean. Dean has been protecting Sam since he was a baby. He even refers to it as his job. Aside from that, Sam is also a protector of innocent civilians.
  • Proud Scholar Race Guy: Sam has fully embraced the Men Of Letters legacy and has accepted being a Man Of Letters.
  • Pstandard Psychic Pstance: Sam often puts his hands on his head on when he is using his psychic powers, mostly because he develops severe pain and headaches when he is using them.
  • Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Averted. Sam's psychic powers begin as harmless visions that help them save people in peril, but still cause all main characters to completely freak out because they must be evil. Turns out, they are.
  • Psychic Nosebleed: Sam suffers severe nosebleeds whenever he used his psychic exorcism powers against particularly difficult demons (such as Samhain, for example).
  • Psychic Powers: Only in early seasons. He has none at the moment. By Season 4, he's developed more control and skill over his abilities, to the point that he can exorcise, and later kill, demons with his mind.
  • Psycho Serum: Sam spent half the season break between three and four, and all of Season 4, using demon blood to enhance psychic powers conferred upon him by feeding him demon blood as a baby. This allows him to kill demons without necessarily killing their hosts, a power no one else in the setting except angels ever demonstrates, and angels rarely bother. There turn out to be three definite problems with the system:
    • One, the woman providing him with it is engaged in a long-term manipulation to help the current Big Bad with her Thanatos Gambit to free Lucifer.
    • Two, most definitely an unavoidable problem: The stuff is incredibly addictive, and his growing addict behaviors are not good for any other part of his emotional life.
    • Three, it apparently is, to some degree, slowly turning him into something other than human. To what degree his bad behavior stems from this instead of straightforward addiction is impossible to determine; he never seems to approach outright Transhuman Treachery, and he demonstrated a capacity for being dangerously obsessive before he started on the stuff. A majority of his choices were actually pragmatic logic for the greater good, but they sure wrecked his relationship with his brother, who has this weird power to be right about everything even when it's for the wrong reasons.
    • At any rate, a Sam willing to make sacrifices was a major change in his character, and it was one way or another down to the combination of Toxic Friend Influence Ruby and Psycho Serum.
  • Psychotic Smirk: As Soulless!Sam, especially when he watched as Dean was turned into a vampire. Creepy.
  • Puberty Superpower: Sam started developing his psychic abilities much after puberty at the age of 22, like all of the other Special Children like him.
  • Puppy-Dog Eyes: When Sam wants to have his way or wants you to understand where he is coming from, Sam will pull off the innocent puppy dog eyes and nobody, NOBODY can resist Sam's puppy dog eyes of persuasion, especially Dean and not even Castiel. Sam will also pull off his puppy dog eyes when he is feeling sympathetic towards someone else.
  • Rape as Drama: First implied by Balthazar, who says that Lucifer and Michael are probably "hate-banging" Sam's soul in the Cage, in Season 6. It's confirmed by Hallucifer in Season 7, unless you can think of any other way to take him joking about having made Sam his bitch "in every sense of the word" and his missing "real interaction" with Sam — "the rapier wit, the wittier rape!" Poor Sam. Sam confirms it to Dean in Season 11.
  • Really Gets Around: When Sam was soulless, he slept with a lot of women. Hell, Sam even paid for sex with prostitutes, a complete 180 from Sam with a soul, who insisted that he NEVER paid for sex.
  • Rebellious Spirit: Sam never liked to listen to authority, especially his father's orders.
  • Redemption Quest: Much of Season 5 is about Sam trying to make up for his mistakes in Season 4, after becoming a demon blood addicted junkie and using his demon powers to break the last seal and starting the apocalypse by releasing Lucifer. Sam decides to make all the wrongs that he committed right by saying yes to Lucifer and sacrificing himself in order to save the world. The fifth season is often seen as Sam's redemption journey.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Originally, Sam is the Blue Oni (practical, logical, intellectual, rational and calm) to Dean's Red Oni (impulsive, passionate, reckless, hot headed, overconfident, brash). However, Sam and Dean have managed to switch places a few times throughout the series, especially during and after Season 4 when Sam starts to embrace his dark destiny.
  • Rescued from the Underworld: Sam jumped into the pit at the end of Season 5 after he made a Heroic Sacrifice. Castiel pulled Sam out of Hell but he pulled him out without his soul intact. Sam became a much stronger and better hunter than when he had his soul. Unfortunately, because he was soulless, Sam was incapable of feeling emotion and compassion for others.
  • The Resenter: In the first season, Sam resented Azazel (the Yellow Eyed Demon) for killing Jessica and his mother, Mary. During the first few seasons, Sam was determined to destroy and kill the Yellow Eyed Demon at any cost, even by putting his life on the line. In the fourth season, Sam strongly loathed and resented Lillith for killing Dean and sending him to Hell. Because of this, Sam wanted revenge on Lillith and was hell bent on killing Lillith during Season 4. Turns out that Sam wanting revenge on Lillith by killing her at the end of the season was a huge mistake and resulted in the beginning of the end of the world.
  • Restoration of Sanity: After his time spent with Cage in season 6, Sam begins to suffer from hallucinations and has trouble distinguishing illusion from reality. He gets cured, however, when Castiel transfers the pain of the memories from Sam onto himself. While this cures Sam, it causes Castiel to go insane instead.
  • Revenge Before Reason: Sam always bases most of his major hunting missions on revenge. First, after Jessica was unexpectedly killed by YED in Season 1 and during Season 4, after Dean died and was sent to Hell because of Lillith. In Season 1, Sam started hunting and set out to find the YED and kill him as revenge for Jessica's death. Throughout Season 4, Sam made it his mission to become powerful enough (including drinking and becoming addicted on demon blood to strengthen his demon abilities) in order to kill Lillith, the White-Eyed Demon.
  • A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma: When Sam takes a 10-Minute Retirement and tries to live a "normal" life in the episode Free To Be You And Me, a girl curious to learn about Sam's past but at a loss of words to describe his peculiarity gives Sam the opportunity to quip that he's "a riddle wrapped inside an enigma wrapped inside a taco."
  • Rounded Character: Sam goes from a naive, idealistic and optimistic person to a much darker, edgier, tougher and stronger individual who becomes more pragmatic and realistic in his thinking. This is due to all of the significant ups and downs that Sam has gone through over the series that has managed to change Sam as an individual from who he originally was at the very start of the series in The Pilot episode.
  • The Runaway: Sam ran away or left home for Stanford. John told Sam not to ever come back if he left. According to Dean in a Season 5 episode, Sam used to frequently run away from home, only showcasing that Sam wanted to get away from his highly dysfunctional and troubled family.

    S-Z 
  • Sacrificial Lion: In the Season 5 finale, Sam willingly sacrificed himself in order to stop the Apocalypse, put Lucifer (along with Michael) back in his Cage, save the world and save humanity.
  • Save the World: Sam did this at the end of Season 5 when he became the vessel for Lucifer and threw himself and his brother Adam into the pit, sacrificing himself in order to save the world and save humanity.
  • Screw Destiny: Sam may have done some evil things (by accident), but that doesn't mean he wants to be the vessel for the goddamn Devil himself. That is, until he decides to say "Yes" to Lucifer at the end of Season 5, but only so he can re-take control long enough to jump into Lucifer's cage.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!: Sam possessed demonic abilities which made Sam feel powerful. Because of this, Sam's ability to do what he does made him rather prideful, self-absorbed and arrogant.
  • The Scully: According to Dean, Sam is more of the Scully and Dean is the Mulder of their Sibling Team. However, Sam doesn't agree at all. This is Zigzagged. Dean is a more shrewd judge of character, which allows him to pinpoint which person is a supernatural being and not a normal human, even when Sam won’t believe this. On the other hand, Sam is much more open about the existence of the different kind of monster and mystical beings, going by the mantra than All Myths Are True, while Dean still believes some monsters are merely legend.
  • Sealed Evil in a Duel: In the fifth season finale, Sam combines this with Sealed Evil in a Can by inviting Lucifer to possess him, then trying to keep control of his body long enough to jump into the Can they have no chance of getting Lucifer into otherwise. Sam does end up jumping into the cage, with Michael (In Adam) falling in with him.
  • Seers: Sam was a psychic, notably in Seasons 1 and 2. He got premonitions and visions of future deaths.
  • Self-Sacrifice Scheme: At the end of Season 5, Sam goes through with a plan to let Lucifer possess him so he can take the Devil back into his prison. Lucifer spends over 120 years getting revenge on Sam's soul in hell while a soulless Sam spends a year being a Jerkass on Earth. And after Sam gets his soul back midway through the season, Season 6 ends with Sam faltering under the memories of his time without a soul and the debilitating (and possibly deadly) memories of hell. In Season 7, those memories are driving him crazy and overwhelming him while he and his brother are facing a new enemy they can't kill and losing nearly all their allies and bolt holes.
  • Semi-Divine: Sam is technically part demon because he was fed demon blood when he was a baby by Azazel, the Yellow Eyed Demon. He gained special abilities and powers because of this
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness/Spock Speak: Sometimes. There are times when Dean tells Sam to "speak English" when he's explaining things to him. It is understandable, considering that Sam is highly book smart, reads a lot, and went to Stanford.
  • Sex Signals Death: A running gag is that every woman that has sex with Sam must, by rule, die. Began with the Pilot, confirmed with Heart in which Sam is forced to kill the first woman he has brought himself to sleep with since his girlfriend's flaming death and in recent episodes seemingly subverted until we find out that it is actually a demon in a dead body, so she was already dead! Ruby should still be added to Sam's sex hit list, now that she's been skewered with her own knife. That leaves Sam's track record at three out of four! Subverted later in the season, when the next woman Sam has sex with experiences no karmic retribution whatsoever we are led to believe that she is the demon they're after, until it is discovered the real demon is the guy Dean is cosying up with.
  • Shadow Archetype: Sam without a soul (Soulless!Sam) is seen to be the darkest, evil and sociopathic side of Sam.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Sam has been to Hell and suffered. Not to mention that Sam has suffered from mental illness, PTSD and hallucinations as a result of suffering in the worst part of Lucifer's cage.
  • Shirtless Scene: Sam has had plenty of these throughout out the series. Much more than any other character, including Dean. The female audience isn't complaining either.
  • Shoot the Hostage: Season 6 reveals that soulless!Sam once shot a woman being used as a Human Shield by a monster he was hunting. Once she falls over dead, he then kills the monster.
  • Sibling Team: With Dean. He is hunting partners with Dean and they hunt and kill monsters together.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: With Dean. Sam is rather different in terms of personality in comparison to Dean. Whereas Sam is more empathic and sensitive, Dean is more macho and tough as nails.
  • The Sleepless: In the sixth season, Sam no longer sleeps due to his lack of a soul. It doesn't seem to have had any particular effect on him; his behavior has changed, but it's attributed to the soullessness rather than the permanent wakefulness.
  • The Smart Guy: Sam is very intelligent and is known to conduct most of the research while he and Dean are on a hunting case. He also attended Standford (Pre-Law). Sam is very well-spoken, intellectual, and highly book smart.
  • Smoldering Shoes: In Hunted, Sam walks into a grenade trap set by fellow hunter Gordon Walker. After the explosion, Gordon sees Sam's Smoldering Shoe on the floor. The trope is subverted when Sam walks up behind Gordon and holds a gun to his head. It helps that Sam had recently met a fellow psychic who had foreseen his death.
  • Sociopathic Hero: During the sixth season when Sam was soulless. He committed many immoral acts during the time when he was soulless without feeling any guilt or remorse. Sam didn't feel any empathy for anyone either. This included the time when Sam let Dean get turned into a vampire by standing there with a smirk watching and not doing anything to stop the vampire from turning Dean.
  • The Soulless: In the first half of Season 6. Sam came back soulless after Castiel brought him back from Lucifer's cage.
  • Soulless Shell: Sam during Season 6 when he was soulless. Whether or not Sam technically died is debatable, but when he was pulled from Hell, Castiel accidentally left Sam's soul behind in Lucifer's cage.
  • Soul Jar: As a part of the trials, Sam has to use his arms to trap souls in it and release them. Sam rescued Bobby from Hell and transferred his soul to Heaven through his arm.
  • The Soulsaver: As part of the second trial, Sam, with the help of Dean, Ajay, Benny and Naomi, saved Bobby's soul from Hell and transferred it to Heaven.
  • Spear Counterpart/Good Counterpart: For Meg. Both are headstrong, determined, have serious daddy issues, both are driven by revenge, both have had sheer determination to bring down a higher demon (Lilith for Sam, Crowley for Meg) to avenge the "death" of someone they love (Dean for Sam, Lucifer for Meg), both are frequently subjected to being tortured and both admit to desiring a "normal life". Meg also admits to Sam that Castiel is to her what Amelia was to Sam. Both continue to fight in their own way for those they care about (Dean in Sam's case, Castiel in Meg's case).
  • Starcrossed Lovers: Sam and anyone. But especially Jessica. Specifically because Season 5 shows us that his entire life had been watched, planned and manipulated by Azazel to prepare him for being the Lucifer's vessel.
  • Start of Darkness: Sam's dark destiny started as soon as Azazel/YED bled into Sam's mouth when he was 6 mos. old. Before then, Sam was just a normal baby but Azazel had some special plans for Sam. During Sam's adulthood, he began to develop special abilities. These abilities were a testament to Sam's inner darkness and were foreshadowing Sam's dark destiny or future.
  • STD Immunity: Averted in the fifth season as Sam is shown contracting gonorrhea, syphilis and herpes, though this may be due to Sam being "evil". Since Sam is also repeatedly shown swallowing total strangers' bodily fluids, this is yet another reason why one should avoid having sex with Sam Winchester. It should be noted that none of the STD's are ever acquired due to sex OR due to demonic blood drinking. In both cases, it was due to Sam aggravating a supernatural entity and being cursed.
  • The Stoic: He was like this when he was soulless.
  • The Strategist: Sam is one of the most strategic characters on the show. It was magnified in Season 6 as Soulless!Sam.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: To his grandfather, Henry, though largely in terms of their preferred professions — they're both intellectuals with a knack for research and scholarship, and are Men of Letters through and through. In terms of physical appearance, however, this is actually inverted with Sam — thanks to his actor's slightly unique features, he doesn't look like he could be related to Dean, or really anybody in either the Winchester or the Campbell sides of his family.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: In later seasons.
  • Supernatural Aid: The demon blood pumping through Sam's veins. The demon blood gave him his special, unique powers and abilities during his young adulthood. When Sam was 6 mos. old, YED/Azazel had bled into Sam's mouth. As a result of this, the demon blood within Sam's system manifested into the development of special powers later on in Sam's life. These powers included premonitions, demon exorcism, telepathy, and telekinesis.
  • Superpowered Evil Side: When Sam taps into the demonic "special child" aspect, he is extremely powerful (telekinesis, exorcism, torturing/killing of demons, immunity to attacks by demons) but loses all his humanity and morality and becomes arrogant, prideful, selfish, violent and cold. His eyes turn yellow or black (like that of a demon) on a couple of occasions when he uses his demon abilities.
  • Super-Strength: The demon blood also increased Sam's physical strength, allowing him to overpower low-level demons and even his older brother Dean with relative ease.
  • Survivor Guilt: Sam has felt the guilt of Jessica's death, his mother Mary's death and Dean's death at the end of Season 3.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Fans have noted that anytime Dean dies/goes missing, Sam seems to latch onto women that share characteristics with him. Most notable was Ruby, who is widely speculated to have deliberately dressed and talked like Dean, and drove her own car (putting Sam in the familiar shotgun seat) as a ploy to get Sam to trust her.
  • Taking You with Me: Sam manages to take himself, Lucifer, Michael and Adam all into a cage of Hell to avert the Apocalypse in the climax of the Season 5 finale.
  • Techno Wizard: Sam is very handy with computers and often used a laptop computer for research during hunting missions.
  • Teen Genius: Since he was a child, Sam has always been highly intelligent, incredibly book smart and he got straight A's in school. Sam got a free ride to Stanford at the age of 18.
  • 10-Minute Retirement: In 5x03, Dean and Sam split up and Sam takes a job as a bartender. Some other hunters find him and try to talk him into helping on their current job, but he says he's retired, to get his head together. One of the other hunters says, "What is so important that you can't come back to prevent the apocalypse!?". They then proceed to force-feed him demon blood (of which Sam was staying clean) in a misguided attempt at getting him to fight demons. What actually ends his 'retirement' is the revelation that he is Lucifer's chosen vessel.
  • These Hands Have Killed: In Season 6, Soulless!Sam admitted to Dean that during the year after he had come back from Hell, he had killed innocent people in the line of duty or while hunting. Implying that Sam did some very immoral and terrible things when he was without his soul.
  • Thicker Than Water: With his brother Dean, to obsessive and co-dependent levels.
  • This Is Your Brain on Evil: Sam becoming addicted to demon blood to stop the Apocalypse; he knows he's damning himself, but doesn't expect to survive stopping the Apocalypse anyway. Sam Lampshades it: "So you're trying to treat this like some drug intervention?"
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill Muggles: In early seasons, Sam refused to kill humans, though he came to accept that it was sometimes necessary to as the series went on.
  • Throwing Off the Disability: In both the seventh and eighth seasons, Sam was ill, with Sam having a mental breakdown in Season 7 and Sam becoming extremely ill due to completing the Trials of God. However, Sam's Hell pain in Season 7 is cured when Castiel takes it on by absorbing it from him. In the eighth season, Sam's illness is cured when in the ninth season, after Sam falls into a coma and is "near-death", Dean allows an unknown angel named Gadreel to possess Sam in attempts to heal him internally.
  • To Hell and Back: Sam travels to Purgatory to rescue Bobby from Hell and to make sure that he is sent to Heaven instead. Sam does this as the second trial he needs to complete.
  • Token Human: Sam was the sole human character for the first three episodes of Season 10, as Dean had transformed into a demon.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: During the course of the year after Sam came back from Hell and in the beginning of the sixth season, Sam was completely unaware that there was something very wrong with him and that he was soulless until Castiel diagnosed him and confirmed that Sam was indeed soulless.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Sam was already badass as it is before, with him being a very strong and capable hunter who is also a Badass Bookworm and is skilled in handling weapons and guns. But Sam became significantly more badass and a much stronger hunter after he came back from Hell albeit without his soul in the sixth season.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass:
    • In the fourth and sixth season. Oh so very much in Season 6. (But only in the first half of Season 6, and that's because he was The Soulless at the time.)
    • In the beginning of the eighth season, Sam doesn't seem to grasp why Dean is so angry that he took the year off from hunting? Sam, your brother just spent every second of that year trapped in Purgatory, fighting for his life! Why do you think he's so pissed off that you didn't try to rescue him?! To be fair on Sam, he didn't know where Dean was at the time, and had no leads or help due to everyone he knew being captured, missing or dead.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Sam loves his salad.
  • Tragic Bromance: Has this with Dean. Sam has watched Dean die over and over again right in front of his eyes and each time, there was nothing that Sam could have done to save Dean or to stop him from dying.
  • Tragic Hero: Sam is so desperate to not be the failure and freak he always felt like and avert Bad Powers, Bad People that he believes demon Ruby when she tells him he's The Only One who can save the world. He allies with and has romantic liaisons with Ruby, getting addicted to the consumption of the demon blood that fuels his ability to do something seemingly good, exorcising demons with his mind and without hurting the hosts. It also makes him feel in control and (overly) confident. He lies to his brother repeatedly, and after Dean calls him a monster while he's high on demon blood, nearly kills Dean in their fight before leaving with Ruby to kill Big Bad Lilith. Sam doesn't take it well when he finds out he was being manipulated into starting the Apocalypse, and his plan to put Lucifer back in his Cage with a Heroic Sacrifice at the end of Season 5 is the classic response of a tragic hero who realizes how badly he's screwed up. Not to mention Sam's troubled youth and his dysfunctional family and background.
  • Tragic Mistake: Sam starting the Apocalypse at the end of Season 4. In Season 4, Dean demands Sam dissolve his alliance with the demon Ruby and giving up drinking demon blood to gain the power to defeat Lilith, as per the angels' requests/warnings, or walk out and "not be brothers anymore". Since Dean calls him a monster and "closes that door" on him just like their father did, and Sam believes what he's doing is the only way to prevent the Apocalypse, it's more believable how Ruby, the demons and the angels deceive Sam. He becomes Lilith's/Ruby's Unwitting Pawn and, in his efforts to stop the Apocalypse, unintentionally busts Lucifer out of Hell to start The End of the World as We Know It.
  • Trauma Conga Line: After everything that Sam has gone through throughout the course of his life since birth, many wonder how Sam is still alive and in one piece.
  • Two Roads Before You:
    • In the fourth season, Sam struggled with his loyalty to Dean (the good side) or Ruby (the bad side). Unfortunately, Sam ended up choosing the wrong road, which ultimately lead to the beginning of the end of the world.
    • Again in Season 8, Sam's ex-girlfriend Amelia invites him to rekindle their relationship, allowing him to resume the normal life he had forged in Dean's absence. Unfortunately, doing so would leave Dean fighting the forces of Heaven and Hell on his own (additionally, Amelia is married, and Sam returning would undoubtedly have destroyed that). Sam ultimately chose to stick with Dean and hunting.
  • Tyke Bomb: Sam was trained to be a hunter and was introduced into the hunter's life during his childhood by his father John.
  • The Unfettered: When Sam was soulless, he had zero guilt, remorse or conscience. He had no morals and would constantly break the law.
  • Unkempt Beauty: Sam has always had a rugged look in comparison to Dean's clean-cut look.
  • Unscrupulous Hero: In Season 4. In Season 4, it became obvious that Sam lost his innocence and became significantly more calculating and ruthless. This was because Sam's major motivator behind everything that's he was doing was anger and revenge, two negative emotions.
  • Unspoken Plan Guarantee: In 4x10, Sam came up with the idea of Dean and Ruby giving away Anna's location to angels and demons so that the two sides would be too busy fighting each other to zero in on them. Of course, since the audience didn't see him telling them that, it just looks like they both betrayed Anna up until aforementioned plan is actually brought up on-screen.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Accidentally starts the apocalypse while trying to prevent it.
  • Villain Protagonist: In Season 6, due to Sam being soulless. Although Sam was technically still a hero, he was also highly unsympathetic and immoral at the same time.
  • Viral Transformation: Sam was fed demon blood by Azazel/YED as a baby. Because of this, Sam has demon blood pumping through his veins and as a result, he developed special demon abilities later on in his young adulthood. Castiel refers to Sam as "the Boy with the Demon Blood".
  • Was It Really Worth It?: Sam asks this question during the course of Season 5. He questions whether becoming addicted to demon blood was really worth all of the pain and tragedy that came along with it.
  • Weirdness Magnet: Sam is a hunter and therefore, is the target of many supernatural beings. Also, Sam is often sought after by demons due to the destiny laid out for him by Azazel.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Sam feels the same need for his father's approval as Dean does, though he isn't as obvious about it as Dean because he acts out against his father's wishes instead of trying to act as the perfect son Dean struggles to be. Mainly because Sam feels like his flaw is what he is, and not something he can change, whereas Dean thinks that if he just does enough, he can earn approval. In later seasons, this seems to have transferred to Dean, as Sam thinks he's frequently let Dean down and disappointed him, and that Dean trusts others more than him as a result. In the Season 8 finale, Sam plans to complete the Trials even if they kill him, because he can't stand the idea of disappointing Dean again.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Sam had a few shades of it in Seasons 3 and 4 where he was reluctantly willing to sacrifice one for the good of the many.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • Sam starts using his demon-blood-born powers to exorcise demons between Seasons 3 and 4, and in Season 4, the prophet Chuck is the first to call him on the way he fuels those powers.
    • Dean finds out when Sam, jonesing for a fix, cuts a demon's throat to drink her blood so he can pull the demon out of Castiel's vessel's wife without killing her. Dean locks Sam up so he can detox from the demon blood. This is followed by Sam leaving to kill Lilith, thinking that's the only way to stop the Apocalypse (too bad that's actually what starts it) after they fight when Dean calls him a monster.
    • In Season 6, soulless Sam gets plenty of these. In Live Free or Twihard, Sam lets Dean get bitten and turned into a vampire. Not some BS "Oh it's all my fault" Wangst, he straight up waited until it was too late before he started to help, because it would help track down the other vampires.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: Especially in the first season. This was a contrast to Dean's cynicism. It doesn't last long though and any last remnants of it are crushed forever after Dean's deal.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: As the series progressed, Sam's demon abilities became stronger and stronger. Eventually, Sam became addicted to using his powers and loved the power that came along with it. Because of Sam's addiction to the power of using his special abilities, Sam began to abuse demon blood and became a demon blood junkie in order to strengthen his powers. The power only got to Sam's head and caused Sam to take a downward spiral out of control. His addiction to his power eventually caused a catastrophe of starting the apocalypse.
  • White Sheep: Sam has a rebellious personality and has never wanted to follow in the footsteps of John and Dean to becoming a hunter. Sam Winchester grew up in a family of con-artists and violent vigilantes, living on the road. It was his dream to settle down as a normal person and not fight anymore. Considering that his family consisted of warriors fighting monsters (although they didn't always look into whether those monsters were actually evil or even dangerous), he rebelled to go to school so he could become a lawyer, and his entire life has involved demonic influence; unsurprisingly, he's the Black Sheep as well.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Sam has had a life long fear of clowns since childhood.
  • Wound That Will Not Heal:
    • The transformations that Sam underwent after completing the first and second trial. As of the end of Season 8, he still hasn't fully healed from whatever the trials have been doing to him.
    • Also, the scar on Sam's hand in Season 7, which he used to get rid of his hallucinations of Lucifer by pressing on it hard.
  • You Are Worth Hell: Sam makes the ultimate sacrifice and throws himself into the Cage with Lucifer to save Dean (and the world). And finally, two years later, Sam chooses to remember his time in the Cage (almost two centuries of being tortured by Lucifer) and risks serious psychic damage so as not to leave his brother alone. He nearly dies from the psychological fallout.
  • Youngest Child Wins: Sam is the youngest child of the Winchester family, and therefore, he was doted on and overprotected by John and Dean growing up. In the beginning of the series, Sam was also the "special one" between himself and Dean, as he was The Chosen One who had special powers and abilities, while Dean was just a regular human with no special powers.

Alternate Versions

    Sam Wesson 

Sam Wesson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samwesson.jpg

Portrayed By: Jared Padalecki

A tech support employee at Sandover Bridge & Iron Inc. who appears in "It's A Terrible Life", having moved there to get over his break up from his fiancée Madison. He ends up teaming up with the director of sales Dean Smith to deal with a ghost haunting.


  • Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Sam is completely unfulfilled with his life as a tech support employee and deeply wishes that his dreams of being a monster hunter were true.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Becomes this with Dean, with the two not really knowing each other but finding that they work well together while fighting the ghost.
  • Jumped at the Call: After beating the ghost, Sam tries to convince Dean that they should quit their jobs and become real hunters. Despite Dean refusing and Sam initially trying to return to work, he ends up destroying his phone and quitting so he can become a hunter.
  • Meaningful Name: His surname Wesson is a reference to Smith & Wesson, though apparently Sam doesn't like his name that much.
  • Swapped Roles: With his Identity Amnesia, Sam is very different from how he usually is which creates a different dynamic between him and Dean. While Sam grew up hating the hunting life and wanting to be normal, as Sam Wesson he hates living a normal life and dreams of being an actual hunter.
  • Visions of Another Self: For some reason Sam has visions of the adventures of Sam and Dean Winchester. These are actually his real memories.

    Lucifer's Vessel 

Sam Winchester / Lucifer

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theendsam.jpg

Portrayed By: Jared Padalecki

Appearing in the Bad Future of "The End", because he never reunited with Dean Sam ended up saying yes to Lucifer and becoming his vessel. In 2014 the world is pretty much his as his plans for the apocalypse have all come to pass, and he ends up killing Dean before meeting the time travelling Dean from 2009.


  • Faux Affably Evil: He's unfailingly polite to Dean when they meet, despite having just killed his future self.
  • Point of Divergence: In this Bad Future, Sam never saw Dean again and ended up saying yes to Lucifer.
  • In Spite of a Nail: As it turns out, Sam killing Dean is a common occurrence across many universes. Not only does Demon Sam kill his brother, but Lucifer Sam's fate was the same as this version: saying yes to Lucifer, who ends up killing Dean after the Colt failed to kill him.

    Jared Padalecki 

    Anime Sam 

Sam Winchester

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/animesam.jpg

Voiced By: Jared Padalecki

Following the death of his girlfriend, Sam travels the country with his brother in search of their father while dealing with strange premonitions.


  • Adaptational Badass: Because of Rule of Cool, this Sam is far more impressive than his live-action counterpart when it comes to combat. The episode "Rising Son" reveals that Sam's abilities first manifested when he was a child in order to save Dean and in "Loser" showed very powerful telekinesis when angered, while in the live-action show Sam's initially only had premonitions which appeared when he was an adult. In "All Hell Breaks Loose" Part 1 he briefly manifests a sort of energy force field to protect himself from Jake while in Part 2 he shows super strength.
  • Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed, but this Sam is slightly more ruthless than live-action Sam was during seasons 1 and 2, and he's far more focused on getting revenge on the Yellow Eyed Demon.
  • Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: While there are still issues between them, Sam's relationship with his father is far less antagonistic than it was in the actual show. This is partly because John is far nicer than the live-action version and is generally shown to treat his sons better, so it makes sense for Sam to be less angry. Their only real argument is when Dean is dying in the hospital, unlike in the main show where they have several.
  • The Antichrist: Like his live-action equivalent, he apparently destined to lead a demon army which caused a hunter named Anderson to try and kill him when he was a kid.
  • Came Back Wrong: After being killed by Jake and brought back by Dean through a demon deal, Sam becomes far more violent. He shows super strength and rips off Jake's arm before beating him to death, showing no hesitation or regret.

    HunterCorp Sam 

Sam Winchester

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/huntercorpsam.jpg

Portrayed By: Jared Padalecki

A version of Sam from a reality where his dad created HunterCorp, a company where he and Dean are paid to hunt monsters. Due to their universe being destroyed by Chuck, Sam and Dean escape to the main universe.


  • Aborted Arc: An In-Universe example. Presumably it was planned that Sam or his brother would end up killing the other according to Chuck's plan, but because of the main universe versions defying Chuck he ended up destroying universes and changing his mind about what happens with the HunterCorp Winchesters.
  • Alternate Self: A version of Sam who is wealthy due to his dad's company allowing him to be paid for hunting monsters.
  • Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: Subverted. He might be paid to hunt monsters and be ridiculously wealthy, but HunterCorp was created by John and this Sam has been spoiled by his wealth.
  • Point of Divergence: John choosing to turn hunting monsters into a literal family business turns Sam into a pampered and slightly spoilt Upper-Class Twit. It's also caused him to have a far closer relationship with John and be much happier.
  • Sole Survivor: Of his universe along with Dean.
  • Upper-Class Twit: Even more so than his brother, as he expresses distaste at the lives the main universe Winchesters lead and clearly doesn't know how to live without HunterCorp.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: It's never explained what happened to Sam and his brother after they left the Bunker.

    Alternate Sams (Spoilers

Sam Winchester

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alternatesam.png
Clockwise: Vampire Sam, Proverbs Sam, Dead Sam and Lucifer Sam

Portrayed By: Jared Padalecki

Alternate versions of Sam who were created by Chuck and ended up going through his planned endings where him or Dean ended up killing the other.


  • Alternate Self: While Vampire Sam is from a Bad Future that Chuck claims would happen if they tried to imprison him, the others are from actual alternate realities.
  • The Antichrist: Unlike the main universe Sam who is the Anti Anti Christ, Demon Sam ended up leading a demon army just like Azazel wanted while Lucifer Sam said yes to Lucifer.
  • Cain and Abel: Except for Vampire Sam who died fighting against his friends along with Vampire Dean, the other versions of Sam either killed or were killed by Dean. Despite being the younger brother, it appears that Sam is usually the Cain: both Demon and Lucifer Sam ended up killing their versions of Dean, while only one was killed by Demon Dead.
  • Fallen Hero: Demon and Lucifer Sam were both hunters who saved lives and, if their lives were at all similar to their main universe counterpart, saved the world on several occasions. They both ended up becoming the very evil they spent their lives fighting against.
  • In Spite of a Nail:
    • It appears that Sam killing Dean is the most common ending to the Winchester story, with Lucifer and Demon Sam killing their brother.
    • Demon, Proverbs and Lucifer Sam all ended up living in the Bunker with Dean.
    • Vampire Sam lived the exact same life as the main Sam up until the events of "The Trap".
    • Just like Lucifer's Vessel from "The End", Lucifer Sam ended up saying yes to Lucifer and killing his brother.
    • Both Demon and Vampire Sam ended up killing Jody.
  • Nice Mean And In Between: Proverbs Sam is the nice, trying to save his brother despite Dean trying to kill him, Lucifer Sam is the in-between, as while he said yes to Lucifer he had no control over Dean's death, and Demon Sam is the mean, having fully given in to the demon blood and knowingly killing Dean himself.
  • Point of Divergence:
    • The sole difference between the main Sam and Vampire Sam is that in the latter God was successfully trapped.
    • Demon Sam had completely embraced demon blood and now leads an army of demons before killing Dean. He's also implied to have killed Bobby and Jody, while his demon army caused the death of Benny.
    • Lucifer Sam said yes to Lucifer and ended up killing Dean.
    • Proverbs Sam was killed by Dean who had become a Knight of Hell.
  • Killed Offscreen: Demon and Lucifer Sam were last shown alive, but they were presumably killed when Chuck started wiping out universes. It's possible that they were resurrected by Jack when he brought back the multiverse.
  • Noodle Incident: It's implied that Demon Sam killed Bobby and Jody in Sioux Falls.

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