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    The Winchesters and Campbells 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Winchester_family_tree_6978.png
"All I see in our family tree is a whole lot of dead."
Dean Winchester in "As Time Goes By" (S08, Ep 12)

Most of the members of the Winchester family were involved in the supernatural. John Winchester raised his sons to be hunters, but his father and grandfather had been Men of Letters, a group of preceptors who study and collect information on the supernatural. John Winchester's wife Mary (née Campbell) came from a family of hunters, but she was determined to give her children a normal life.

The Winchester bloodline goes back to Cain and Abel, making them the Winchesters' ancestors.

Tropes Belonging to the Winchester-Campbells

  • Badass Family: Almost everyone in the family is involved in hunting in some way, and is either a badass hunter or Badass Bookworm.
  • Big, Screwed-Up Family: Oh boy. Between demon deals, various forms of abusive, neglectful and missing parents, time travel and pretty much every member being a Cosmic Plaything, this is one messed up family. See the above quote.
  • Brains and Brawn: The Campbells are an old hunting family, while the Winchesters were Men of Letters. Sam and Dean inherited the traits from both sides of the family. Lampshaded by Sam in "As Time Goes By."
    Sam: The Winchesters and the Campbells — the brains and the brawn.
  • Cain and Abel: John's bloodline are descendants of the Trope Namers Cain and Abel themselves. This means that all of their descendants are able to be vessels for Michael and Lucifer, who are prophesied to battle one another during the Apocalypse, during which one will kill the other. Although when it comes to the Winchester's being vessels for Michael and Lucifer, it seems that Henry, John, Dean and Adam can all be vessels for Michael (although Dean is the one true vessel for Michael aka The Michael Sword) and only Sam can be the one true vessel for Lucifer, due to his being fed demon blood as a baby, not the other members of the Winchester bloodline.
  • Deal with the Devil: A running theme in the family. Sam, Dean, John, Mary and Samuel all have made, or attempted to make, deals with demons.
  • Demonic Possession: Both the Winchester and the Campbell bloodlines have the ability to be vessels for Archangels.
  • Family Business: Saving people. Hunting things.
  • Generation Xerox: Each successive generation of the Winchester-Campbells ends up repeating the mistakes of the previous generation. It's rather tragic.
  • Heroic Lineage: Descended from Cain and Abel. Also, the Men of Letters.
  • Lineage Comes from the Father: The Winchesters Men of Letters lineage, which is passed down from father to son. Sam and Dean have both taken up the mantle.
  • Parental Issues: A recurring problem. It's partly due to their heavy involvement in the supernatural, putting them in constant danger and necessitating strict parenting (especially the hunter lifestyle which requires training and discipline).
  • Thicker Than Water: Occasionally played with, but mostly played straight. Members of the family have routinely sacrificed for each other and are each other's greatest weakness.

The Winchesters

    John Winchester 

John Eric Winchester

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/john-1_7225.jpg
First appearance: "Pilot" (1x1)

"After your mother passed, all I saw was evil, everywhere, and all I cared about was keeping you kids alive. I wanted you prepared, ready. Except somewhere along the line, I, uh...I stopped being your father and I became your drill sergeant."

Sam, Dean and Adam's father, John raised his sons to be hunters after his wife died so that they'd be able to take care of themselves. He is a great hunter but a deeply flawed person and father who ends up clashing with others (particularly Sam) a great deal. John Eric Winchester was the only son to Henry and Millicent "Millie" Winchester in 1954, and lived in Normal, Illinois, as a young child. His father Henry disappeared when John was 4 years old. John served as a Marine in the Vietnam War, then returned to Lawrence, Kansas, where he met Mary Campbell, started a family, and became co-owner of a garage.


  • Abusive Parents: Though much more sympathetic than most, John is still responsible for much of Dean's plethora of emotional issues, most notably his devastatingly low self-esteem and tendency to blame himself for everything that goes wrong. And John pretty much disowned Sam because Sam hated hunting and wanted to live a normal life. They were soldiers first and John never ever let them forget it. John once told an officer to "let Dean rot in prison" and left Dean simply because Dean had been caught stealing what was most likely food for his brother at 16 (and although Dean did also lose the money that John had given him for food for him and Sam while gambling, he was still a kid). In "Dark Side of the Moon" when Dean tells Sam what happened when John found out that Dean hadn't taken proper care of his brother, he doesn't finish the sentence ("And when Dad came home...") but he has an absolutely terrified face from the recollection, implying the abuse was physical as well.
  • Action Dad: John is a skilled and strong hunter who is always involved in the action. He was originally in the military and did not seem to show any particular interest in hunting. In fact, flashbacks suggest that John was creeped out by the hunting world when he actually discovered what Mary and her family did for a living. Young!John had even told Sam that he was disgusted that his father (John himself) had raised Sam and Dean to be hunters. This all changes when Mary dies. John embraces the hunting world as a way of revenge and coping with Mary's unexpected death.
  • Action Survivor: Before John fully embraced the world of hunting. Although, his then-girlfriend Mary was more of an Action Girl and Girly Bruiser was who was very experienced in fighting and hunting supernatural beings for a living, because it was part of the family business. Despite John not having any experience in regards to the hunting world, John seemed like he was still capable of defending himself. John was in the military, which suggests that he is capable of fighting when he has to since he has been a part of battle during the earlier parts of his life. Later on, after Mary had died, John becomes more of an Action Hero and Action Dad, and he becomes one of the strongest and most experienced hunters. John become so strong, experienced and knowledgeable about the world of hunting, that he even trains Sam and Dean to be hunters as children. He eventually makes sure that his sons become Action Survivor's as children so that they can always be prepared to protect themselves when it is necessary.
  • Aggressive Categorism: John hates all monsters and supernatural beings, especially demons. The biggest reason for his strong hatred of demons in particular is because of the pain and suffering that demons overall have caused his family. The demon that he loathes and hates the most is Azazel (aka The Yellow-Eyed Demon). The major reason why he hates Azazel is because he was the demon that was responsible for the death of his wife Mary and for the destruction of his family (including leaving his sons motherless for the rest of their lives, and inflicting darkness onto Sam during his babyhood and childhood, paving the way for a dark destiny or future for Sam). Because of what Azazel did to Mary and his family, John went on a revenge mission to find Azazel and kill him once and for all, which Dean ended up doing at the end of Season 2, ending John's 20+ year old mission.
  • The Alcoholic: It has been implied in the show that John had a drinking problem, although his heavy drinking is never really seen on-screen and is only strongly implied. However, his inclination to alcoholism could be believable considering Dean seems to pick up the same trait or habit as John. It could be assumed that John used alcohol or drinking as a coping mechanism for his long-term grief over losing Mary and for all of the constant family issues that he had to deal with. Dean, on the other hand, is actually seen on-screen using alcohol to cope with his problems.
  • The All-American Boy: When John was a little boy, he had model airplanes, a baseball and mitts, and a toy gun in his room.
  • Anti-Hero: Type III or Type IV; see Abusive Parents and Aggressive Categorism.
  • Arch-Nemesis: Azazel/YED. John has been hunting down the YED since his wife tragically died back in 1983.
  • Archnemesis Dad: Subverted and averted in regards to Sam. Although Sam and John were not brutal enemies who sought to destroy each other at all costs, Sam never saw eye-to-eye with John growing up; therefore, their relationship was rather tension-filled and antagonistic, especially in regards to Sam's feelings towards John. Sam even admitted at one point that he had hated John. However they managed to somewhat patch up there relationship after meeting up again. And sure enough, now that he's dead, while still quick to call him out for his mistakes, Sam does foster fond memories of his father.
  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: At the end of Season 2, when John escapes Hell and his soul finds peace in Heaven.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: He doesn't show the depths of his affection for his sons too much, but when he does.
  • Badass in Distress: Despite being a Memetic Badass In-Universe, John is often captured by bad guys or otherwise endered a Distressed Dude so that Sam and Dean can go be the Big Damn Heroes who save his bacon.
  • Badass Longcoat: In the anime.
  • Badass Normal: John is a regular human who possesses no superhuman abilities.
  • Battle Couple: Averted with him and Mary; although both were warriors, they never fought alongside each other. They were preparing to in "The Song Remains the Same" against Anna, but John gotten taken out of the battle before they could do much "fighting."
  • Beard of Sorrow: Considering all of the tragedy John has been through.
  • Became Their Own Antithesis: John went from being a kind, naive and caring civilian to a cynical, jaded and corrupted individual who became surrounded by nothing but pain, tragedy and evil.
  • Break the Cutie: John had his father abandon him when he was six, served in the Vietnam War, was killed and then brought back by Azazel to manipulate Mary and witnesses the love of his life burn to death in their baby's (Sam's) nursery, losing his wife and his home in one fell swoop.
  • Broken Pedestal: Starting in Season 2, Dean goes from thinking his dad is a superhero to showing open resentment over how John treated him. Dean still loves, admires and respects his father, he just is no longer blinded to John's shortcomings.
  • Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Post-Mary's death, John became the Brooding Boy to the boys' image of her as a motherly Gentle Girl. When the couple's time together is actually shown, however, John is revealed to have been closer to a Gentle Boy.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Sam did this to John on the regular, with Dean getting the occasional one as well. Averted, however, in Season 5, when Sam defends John's harsh parenting to Young!John who hadn't yet become a hunter and thought that Sam and Dean must have had an abomination of a father.
  • Control Freak: John was very controlling and domineering by nature, especially towards his own sons. This initially stemmed from wanting to keep them safe, but eventually got out of control as they got older and became capable hunters in their own right. Years later he admits to Sam that somewhere along the lines he stopped being their father and started being their drill sergeant.
  • Crusading Widower: John became a widower when Mary died and spent the rest of his life hunting down her killer Azazel, training his sons into the human weapons that make such fascinating television. He died first, but his spirit helped his eldest son off the yellow-eyed bastard a season later.
  • The Cynic: Became one especially after his wife Mary tragically died.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: Mary's death forces John to get revenge against Azazel. He even raises his sons to become hunters in order to avenge Mary's death.
  • Dad the Veteran: He served in the Vietnam War and treated his sons like soldiers, leaving both with serious issues.
  • Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: John lived his entire life believing that his father had walked out on him. Sam and Dean learn that their grandfather had actually traveled to the future in order to keep a valuable artifact out of demonic hands and died before he could return home.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: John has nothing but an angst ridden past. It wasn't too pleasant before (such as parental abandonment and serving in Vietnam), but it got much worse when John was killed by Azazel and Mary had traded their future son's life (Sam) in order to have John come back alive in return.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: John wears a lot of darker clothing, but although flawed and somewhat immoral, he still dedicated his life to fighting evil and saving the innocent.
  • Deadpan Snarker: John is capable of dry sarcasm and wit. It's not hard to see where his sons got it from.
  • Deal with the Devil: He makes one with Azazel in the Season 2 premiere to save Dean.
  • Deceptive Legacy: John never told Sam about the hunting world; therefore, he lied to Sam about what he and Dean do for the first 8 years of Sam's life. He did this to protect Sam; however, this did not stop John from forcing Dean to become a hunter at the very tender age of 6.
  • Demon Slaying: John hunts all supernatural beings, but his primary targets are demons.
  • Despair Event Horizon: John never recovered from Mary's death.
  • Determinator: First, he devotes his life to hunting down and killing Azazel, the demon responsible for Mary's death. Then, he manages to regain control of his body while Azazel's possessing him, when he sees how much pain Dean is in from Azazel torturing him. Off-screen, he allegedly spent a hundred years being tortured in Hell without accepting Alastair's offer to torture other souls.
  • Detrimental Determination: His single-minded focus on the end-goal of avenging Mary's death by killing Azazel has taken a lot out of his potential as a parent, to put it lightly; something which the series does not gloss over when characters talk about John. In the Season 1 finale, John goes so far as to order Sam, his own son, to kill him while he's possessed if it'll take Azazel down with him, an act which would surely have scarred both Sam and a watching Dean for life if Sam had gone through with it. Ultimately subverted in the next episode, when Sam thinks John is putting getting another potshot at Azazel ahead of Dean being in critical condition, but John instead surrenders his own life and the Winchesters' only means of killing Azazel in exchange for Azazel saving Dean.
  • Dirty Coward: Downplayed; as while John himself never backed down from facing any Demons, he never bothered to even try to confront Sam when the latter wanted to have a normal life. Instead, he just practically disowned him and never bothered to reach out to him for years in spite of the face he knew all along where Sam was and pushed him away rather than reach out to him. Bobby Singer even calls him one, pointing out that for all of John's actions, he never bothered to try to reconnect to Sam or answer either his or Dean's messages whenever they reached out to him, basically running away from his problems rather than face them head on.
  • Disappeared Dad:
    • Often left his children alone to go hunt, so Dean had to take on an almost parental role and help raise Sam. In fact, his absence actually kicks off the plot, as it's why Dean goes seeking Sam out at Stanford; this particular case proves to be more sympathetic however (he left Dean because he had gotten close to the creature that killed his wife and was afraid it might take his sons too if they were there). Not to mention Adam, who John rarely saw, although in this case it's more forgivable since John didn't know he existed until Adam was 12.
    • John himself has one due to Time Travel shenanigans leading to Henry vanishing mysteriously from the past and dying in the distant future in the arms of his grandchildren. John absolutely hated his father for abandoning him.
  • Escaped from Hell: Climbs out of the gates of Hell in the second season finale.
  • Fantastic Racism: John despises demons, which is understandable considering that demons ruined his life and are responsible for his wife Mary dying and for his entire family suffering.
  • Follow in My Footsteps: John expects both his sons to follow in the family business, and Sam really doesn't want to. It doesn't end well. Subverted slightly, as John later admits he would rather that they had their own lives, it's just that he believes it's simply not possible due to all that's happened.
  • Generation Xerox: John turned out like his father Henry in regards to their lack of good parenting skills. Henry (unintentionally) abandoned John when he was a child; John repeated the same mistake with Dean, Sam and Adam.
  • Genius Bruiser: John is both smart and a capable hunter. John also comes from a legacy called the Men of Letters, which was a Genius Book Club that his father, Henry, was a member of.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Though the "good" part seems to fade a little with each passing season.
  • Good Is Not Soft: John may have generally good intentions, but do not mess with him. He will kick your ass big time.
  • Go Out with a Smile: The final time he sees his sons in his spirit form, he smiles at both Sam and Dean before he tells them goodbye forever. John may have been smiling but Sam and Dean (and the audience) were crying bucket loads.
  • Guile Hero: John can actually be a tactical genius when he wants to be and resorts to the use of manipulation tactics in order to defeat his enemy.
  • Happily Married: Played straight earlier on, but averted by Season 5, when a flashback shows John and Mary fighting badly and actually splitting up briefly when Dean was small. Dean commented that their marriage was only perfect "after Mom died." Since we also know that Heaven manipulated John and Mary's getting together to produce Sam and Dean, it's implied that they may not have been a great match and may not have gotten together if not for (unknowingly for them) angelic manipulation. On the other hand they did seem pretty happy together before Dean was born and they did clearly manage to patch it up enough to have another son, so who knows.
  • Heartbroken Badass: John has faced much tragedy, pain and loss, starting with the unexpected death of his wife Mary.
  • Heroic BSoD: Had a huge one when his wife Mary unexpectedly died.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Gives up his life (and the Colt) in exchange for Dean's. Dean, however, is not grateful.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: John embraced the hunting world after Mary's tragic death. This is ironic, considering that young!John in the flashbacks said that hunting was absolutely dangerous and ridiculous.
  • Hot-Blooded: John is passionate, aggressive, hot headed and reckless at times. He also has a Hair-Trigger Temper and also has Unstoppable Rage. It seems that both his sons inherited John's temperament.
  • Hunk: As young!John.
  • Hunter of Monsters: John hunts supernatural creatures for a living.
  • The Idealist: Even after getting shipped off to war, he was this, which Mary loved about him. After her death and his getting entrenched in hunting, however, he is anything but.
  • I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Mary was tragically killed by Azazel before John could do anything about it.
  • Informed Ability: John is always spoken about-even by his enemies-as a legendary hunter, yet the several times that the viewer sees him in Season 1, he's screwed up or somehow gotten into trouble and Sam and Dean need to save him. Partially Justified in that he has said that worrying about Sam and Dean's safety distracts him and gets him into trouble, and more often than not him getting captured isn't out of lack of skill but rather simply being too outmatched, and even then he always went down fighting.
  • In the Blood: According to Michael, Cain and Abel are John's ancestors and the paternal Winchester bloodline are Cain and Abel's descendants. John's bloodline are also able to be vessels for Michael and Lucifer. Also, the Men of Letters club is passed down through the paternal line of the Winchester bloodline, which means that Henry, John, Dean, Sam and Adam are all Men of Letters.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: John can be an Olympic level jerk at times but much of it is built around making sure his sons know full well the kind of stuff they're up against and having the skills to survive fighting them when he isn't around anymore.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He snaps at Sam and Dean for doing so much as asking too many questions and has been known to take his frustrations out on them, but he genuinely wants to protect them and regrets what he's put them through. Likewise, as much as he was after revenge, he did dedicate a lot of his life to saving and protecting innocents.
  • Killed Off for Real: Though he came back from the dead once before, when he made a Deal with the Devil in "In My Time of Dying", he died for real.
  • Knight Templar: John can be very ruthless especially when it is something that he believes is the right thing to do.
  • Knight Templar Parent: Inverted with his last words, in which he warns Dean that Dean will have to kill Sam if he can't save him from turning evil.
  • Like Father, Like Son:
    • John believed that Henry abandoned him when he was young; he himself frequently abandoned Sam and Dean.
    • Dean used to wear John's jacket, listens to John's music, drives John's car, imagines himself as a mechanic like John was, and generally tried to emulate his father in every way when younger, but by Season 4 began thinking that Sam was more like their dad than he ever was. In a deleted scene from "As Time Goes By", Sam and John are again compared by Henry. They do share some noticeable personality traits and life experiences...
  • Lineage Comes from the Father: John's father Henry was a part of the Men of Letters legacy. Because he was a Winchester, the legacy was passed down to John from Henry. John's sons are also a part of the Men of Letters legacy, since Sam and Dean are descendants on the Winchester side.
  • The Lost Lenore: To Mary, after her resurrection. While she tries to look composed, she eventually breaks down after a while and temporarily keeps a distance with her children, a fact that the British Men of Letters gleefully exploit. She has mostly moved on by the end of Season 12, although it is clear that her longing will not go away completely.
  • Love Hurts: Tragically lost Mary when Azazel killed her.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Word of God is that John was killed off because he already knew too much about Azazel's Evil Plan (in fact, Word of God is that John knew all of it) and he was diverting Sam and Dean from the front-lines of the battle against Hell.
  • Mercy Kill: Meg suggests that he did this to a badly injured Bill Harvelle, and that guilt over doing so is why he never visited the Roadhouse again or mentioned the Harvelles to Sam and Dean.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Especially young!John. Not that older John doesn't also count.
  • Mr Fix It: John is a mechanical person and likes to fix cars. He also comes from a family of mechanics.
  • My Greatest Failure: Not saving or being able to protect Mary and prevent her death. Also, failing to be a good father to his children, especially to Dean; he dedicates his last moments on earth to tell Dean he's sorry for not being a better father to him.
  • Never Speak Ill of the Dead: An aversion in- and out-of-universe. John has become an increasingly unsympathetic figure with more and more emotional trauma leveled against Sam and especially Dean being seen and the multiple references to his simply abandoning both boys and moving them around constantly, more so in comparison to Bobby's becoming a better paternal figure to the boys.
  • Not Too Dead to Save the Day: In "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2". Subverted in "Long-Distance Call" — it was a monster pretending to be him.
  • Older and Wiser: When we meet John in Season 1, its clear he's changed from he was when the boys are growing up. While still possessing several of his flaws, he nevertheless acknowledges that he has made mistakes during his life and tries to move past them. Both sides of John are notably different to the man he was when in his twenties (as shown in Seasons 4 and 5).
  • Older Than They Look: He was 51 in season 1, while his actor was 39, so he had to be (unconvincingly) aged up. It's inverted in the flashbacks in "Pilot", which used the same actor playing 29 years old John.
  • Papa Wolf: Messing with his boys on his watch guarantees you a bullet in the head.
  • Parental Abandonment: John faced this with his father Henry as a child. Ironically, he ended up repeating what Henry did to him to his own sons.
  • Parental Issues: It's revealed in Season 8 that John had many issues with Parental Abandonment and Parental Neglect. His father Henry abandoned him when he was young, but this was because Henry had a duty to being a Man of Letters.
  • Parental Neglect: When Sam and Dean were growing up, often John focused more on being a hunter to his sons than being a father. As an older man he admits he regrets this and it occurred out of not dealing with his own problems and his desire to keep them safe progressing out of control.
  • Parents as People: While he clearly loved his sons, and was very protective of them, John wasn't the best father; he made mistakes, had trouble dealing with own problems and brought a lot of it on his sons who he admits he treated more like soldiers than his kids. As an older man he reveals he regrets many of the bad choices he's made, but then still repeats several of his mistakes despite his best efforts.
  • The Patriarch: Of the Winchester family.
  • Pop-Cultured Badass: John loves classic rock and loves a variety of different classic rock bands. Dean seemed to pick up the same trait.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: John embraced the hunting world and expected his sons to embrace it as well.
  • Redemption Equals Death: A heroic example. After being totally emotionally unavailable throughout his sons' lives, he makes a Heroic Sacrifice to save Dean's life.
  • Revenge Before Reason: The major driving force behind why John began hunting. He shares this same trait with his second son Sam.
  • Semper Fi: He was in the Marine Corps and lives up to both the positive and negative elements of this trope in full, being very tough, resourceful and determined but also stubborn, controlling and terrible at expressing his emotions.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Young John is an aversion, being a pretty idealistic young man despite having seen some awful stuff in Vietnam. His older self not so much.
  • Starcrossed Lovers: With Mary. His romance with her was orchestrated in order for them to have Sam and Dean, according to Cupid. It ended in tragedy when Mary died in a fire in Sam's nursery.
  • The Stoic: John doesn't show that much emotion in general, but when he does, it's normally regarding his family.
  • Take Up My Sword: He raised Sam and Dean to do this from childhood, eventually putting the burden on them when he dies.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: After he got involved in hunting. It appears that the tragedy got to him as he got older, and was unable to deal with his problems it led to him getting worse. Only an example In-Universe, as the change happened prior to the show.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: See Older and Wiser. While still possessing many of the same flaws as before, it is clear by the first season that John's grown from the man he was when Sam and Dean were children, and has come to realise and feel guilty for many of mistakes he made during that time. Its best demonstrated in "Salvation" when he gets called out by Dean and his response is to admit that Dean's right and tell he's sorry.
  • Tragic Hero: John's life was one long display of pain and misery; nearly every good thing he had was taken away from him, and many of the skills that made him a great hunter severely damaged his life and relationship with his sons.
  • Tragic Keepsake: The journal he always used to keep records and everything? It was supposed to be his Disappeared Dad's (Henry).
  • Trauma Conga Line: Every one of his appearances puts him through the ringer. In pilot alone, his house burns down, his wife dies before his eyes, his understanding of the world is destroyed, and he has two sons (one of whom is an infant) to look after.
  • Turn Out Like His Father: John seemed to have picked up or inherited the Parental Neglect and Parental Abandonment trait from his own father before him, Henry Winchester. Henry and John were both committed to their missions. Henry was a legacy and committed to being a Man of Letters while John was committed to being a hunter and killing monsters. This led to both of them abandoning their children. The difference between the two however is that Henry accidentally abandoned John because he got stuck in Time Travel while John chose to abandon his children. The funny thing is that like his son Sam, who resented him for being a bad father and abandoning Dean and him as children, John also strongly resented and hated Henry for essentially doing the same thing by abandoning him as a child.
  • The Unfavorite: All of his children feel like they're this to him.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: John's not a villain, but it's still depressing to see how happy and innocent he was in the teaser of the pilot before Mary died and in the episodes where his sons travel into the past.
  • The Vietnam Vet: He served in the Vietnam War, giving him a considerable advantage when he started hunting demons. Funnily enough, he actually seems to have come out of Vietnam more or less mentally in good shape. It was his time as a hunter that did the damage.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: With Dean, although later on Dean realizes how flawed John is and loses a lot of his hero worship towards him.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Everything John did through his entire life, he did with good intentions, but it often didn't work out.
  • When You Coming Home, Dad?: Due to hunting John was often away for several days (occasionally weeks), when Sam was eight he even missed being there for his sons on Christmas.
  • Younger Than They Look: An inverse of his present day case, John in 1973 was 19, so technically still a teen. His actor was 25 and, though a Pretty Boy, did not look like a teen. Averted in "The Song Remains the Same", where they are roughly the same age.

    Mary Winchester née Campbell 

Mary Sandra Winchester (née Campbell)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mary-1_5408.jpg
First appearance: Pilot" (1x1)

"Dean... Sam... I'm sorry."

Mary is the wife of John Winchester and mother of Dean and Sam Winchester. Mary Sandra Campbell is the only child born to Deanna and Samuel Campbell on December 5,1954. Mary's parents raised her as a hunter, but she gave up hunting after she met John and both her parents were killed by Azazel. She herself was killed by Azazel on November 2, 1983, when Sam was six months old and she went into his nursery to check on him and witnessed Azazel feeding baby Sam his demon blood. She never told John about the supernatural world or her former life as a hunter. Dean and Sam didn't learn about her hunter origins until Castiel sent Dean back in time, where he met younger versions of John and Mary in "In the Beginning." She comes back from the dead as a gift from Amara to Dean in the finale of Season 11.


  • Action Girl: Comes with being a hunter. Also, despite 10 years of not utilizing them, and a further 33 years of being dead, she still retains those hunter reflexes, as Dean finds out during their reunion badly.
  • Action Girlfriend: While John was still a sweet, kind, and innocent person who was a military soldier and came from a family of mechanics, Mary was busy kicking monster ass as a hunter.
  • Action Mom: Averted at first, since Mary had already quit the hunting life when she became a mom. However, this is played straight when she is resurrected in Season 11 and proceeds to kick ass with her grownup children, now that there's no more masquerade to hold. "Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox" further muddles this by revealing that Mary secretly went to hunt at least once (in 1980 to be specific) after starting a family, with John and Dean being none the wiser.
  • Back from the Dead: The Darkness brings her back as thanks for Dean in helping her at the end of Season 11. It is very, very unexpected, even those who have grown to accept the show's cheap outlook of death, since Mary has never been brought to life before, unlike her husband and sons.
  • Badass Normal: Mary was a normal human, yet she was an Action Girl who kicked ass.
  • Battle Couple: Averted with her and John; although both were warriors, they never fought alongside each other. They were preparing to in "The Song Remains the Same" against Anna, but John got taken out of the battle before they could do much "fighting."
  • Beauty Equals Goodness: Mary is shown to be a good, kind and caring individual.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Mary is a nice lady most of the time, but don't mess with her. She is not to be underestimated.
  • Braids of Action: She wore her hair like this when she saved Asa Fox's life during a secret hunting trip in 1980.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: By Toni, who uses her guilt, her longing for family and John, and others. In this state, she kills many American hunters and almost kills Jody before Dean is able to talk her out of it.
  • Break the Cutie: A big part of her tragic backstory.
  • Broken Bird:
    • From growing up in a life she hates (the hunting world), to having Azazel murder both of her parents, to having Azazel kill John only for Mary to have to make a deal and sell her future son's life (Sam) away in return of bringing John back from the dead and eventually suffering a very tragic fate when Azazel kills her by pinning her up to the ceiling and slitting her stomach open in her own son's nursery, Mary's life being considered tragic is an UNDERSTATEMENT. Mary's tragic life and fate ended up extending to her husband and her sons. This is somewhat relieved when she is resurrected in Season 11, though that doesn't mean her second life is all rainbows either, being a Winchester and all.
    • Her Apocalypse World counterpart is just as broken, if not more. Because she didn't make the deal with Azazel, she lived to the age of 53 uninterrupted, but John wasn't there for her, and by extension Dean and Sam. Neither were her parents, as they were not part of the deal that Azazel offered. She never moved on all the way to her death.
  • Broken Pedestal: Upon being resurrected, this is Dean's general impression of her, all the perfect memories he had of her are gradually stripped away. It is slightly justified by the fact that she was brought back 33 years after her death, and with it she has to deal with the fact that: the world has changed so much, her husband is dead, and her boys, Dean and Sam, who were a four year old and a six month old respectively, are now 30 something year olds, and not only that, but after her own death, John brought them up as hunters, something she never wanted for them. It turns out in a conversation with Amara that causing this in Dean was one of Amara's intentions for bringing her back.
  • Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: After Mary's death, John became the Brooding Boy to the boys' image of her as a motherly Gentle Girl. When the couple's time together is actually shown, however, John is revealed to have been closer to a Gentle Boy, while Mary is too goal-oriented and fierce to be labeled simply a Brooding Girl or a Gentle one.
  • Child Soldier: Mary was raised as a hunter growing up.
  • The Cutie: As young!Mary. She was very lovable.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: Mary's unexpected and tragic death caused John, Dean, and Sam to become hunters to avenge her death.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: See Broken Bird.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Primarily in the flashbacks. Played to it full glory when we see her post-resurrection.
  • Deal with the Devil: Azazel manipulated her into making one to save John, as revealed in "In the Beginning". Her deal, though, wasn't fulfilled with her soul - instead, it allowed Azazel to feed his blood to Sam ten years later. Obviously, he didn't tell Mary that part.
  • Death by Origin Story: Mary's death was the major motivator for John, Dean and later on, Sam, to begin hunting.
  • Death Glare: When time-traveling Dean and Sam come knocking on former hunter Mary's door, she gives them quite a deadly glare. It is very obvious where Sam gets his annoyed expression from.
  • The Determinator: Mary wasn't the type to give up on wanting something. Something that Mary had always craved was to get away from the hunting life in which she was raised in and to live a normal life. Mary managed to get her wish, albeit with a tragic price and fate.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: She punches Lucifer with Enochian brass knuckles, enough said. As she says herself, she has always wanted to punch the Devil. And she does it again in "Exodus", as a way to say hello. In both times, she manages to survive his wrath.
  • Disposable Woman: Mary is already deceased prior to the Pilot episode. Which just makes her resurrection in Season 11 all the more surprising.
  • Doomed by Canon: This was expected since according to a flashback in Season 4, Mary had basically sold her soul, her life, and her son (Sam) to Azazel all so she could bring John back from the dead and live the normal life that she had craved. A decade after she made that deal, it was game over for Mary.
  • Ethereal White Dress: In her scenes of the first some episodes afterward, she is seen wearing a white nightgown. It is the same nightgown that she was killed in. It's also the nightgown that she's seen when she's resurrected.
  • Everyone Loves Blondes: At least John did. Dean also thought his own mom was hot when she was younger.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: When Mary is brought back to life in Season 11, she does not know how any of the technology works and struggles to relate to her now adult children.
  • For Want Of A Nail: As the Winchester brothers are the main protagonists, the world and its plot would have gone to an extremely different direction if Mary did not accept Azazel's offer to resurrect their future father in 1973. A big part of Season 13 in fact dedicates its time exploring what would happen if that option was taken by Mary.
  • Girly Bruiser: When Mary was younger. She was feminine but also knew how to kick ass and take names when she had to. She was involved in the rather male-dominated line of work of hunting for basically her whole life.
  • Girly Girl: Although Mary was a hunter, she was really feminine and girly.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Mary was a nice girl, but she could kick ass and was not to be underestimated.
  • Guardian Entity: After her death, her spirit stays behind in her old house and becomes this.
  • The Gwen Stacy: Mary was tragically killed at the hands of Azazel aka Yellow Eyed Demon.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Mary was a good-hearted, kind, and caring woman.
  • Happily Married: Played straight earlier on, but averted by Season 5, when a flashback shows John and Mary fighting badly and actually splitting up briefly when Dean was small. Dean commented that their marriage was only perfect "after Mom died." Since we also know that Heaven manipulated John and Mary's getting together to produce Sam and Dean, it's implied that they may not have been a great match and may not have gotten together if not for (unknowingly for them) angelic manipulation. On the other hand, they did seem pretty happy together before Dean was born and they did clearly manage to patch it up enough to have another son, so who knows.
  • Her Heart Will Go On: She takes news of John's death hard following her resurrection and takes the wrong help from the wrong people, shunning her sons in favor of the Big Bad. Her role in Season 12 is to show her attempts to properly move on.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Her spirit destroys itself in "Home" to banish the poltergeist attacking people in her old house.
  • Hidden Depths: Although Mary was brought up as a hunter, it is discovered that she actually hated hunting and wanted to live a normal, apple pie life. She ironically shares this trait in common with her youngest son, Sam.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Thanks to her still unstable state, she decides to cooperate with the British Men of Letters, which has been shown thus far as a Knight Templar organization who can't tolerate a single breach of law and has absolutely no mercy. She's even charmed into sleeping with Ketch for the sake of it. By the time she's questioning her involvement, it's already too late, and Ketch orders Toni to turn her into his puppet.
  • Hot-Blooded: Not as much as John (who has serious anger issues) but Mary is very feisty, spunky and opinionated. Not to mention she is a Blood Knight and an Action Girl. Azazel even commented on Mary's feistiness, saying that "she had spunk " and because of it, Mary was his favorite. Both of her sons seem to have picked up this hotheaded impulsive trait from her.
  • Hunter of Monsters: Mary was brought up in the hunting life and was therefore a hunter herself.
  • I Choose to Stay: Half a year with the Resistance members in the Apocalypse World has made her reluctant to leave when Dean and Sam come to rescue her. This gives Sam an idea to evacuate everyone.
  • The Idealist: Very much like her youngest son Sam, she was very much an idealistic and naive person who desired normal.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Like her youngest son Sam, Mary hated hunting and wanted to have a safe, happy, apple pie life. Well, she got one... for a while.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Dean subjects her to this in "Who We Are" to break her out of the mental wall built by brainwashing, with a fuzzy/tearjerking speech about how he would not ignore and instead accept her flaws. It works.
  • Innocent Blue Eyes: Along with her Hair of Gold.
  • In Spite of a Nail: Whether she accepted Azazel's deal or not, she would eventually get killed by him.
  • In the Blood: Her entire family are hunters and Mary was raised a hunter. The Campbells are the Brawn to the Winchester's Brains.
  • Irony: In Season 13, she is the person most trusting of Jack when he is courted by Lucifer and never considers that he is capable of being a villain. In Season 14, a soulless Jack ends up killing her during his violent episode.
  • Killed Offscreen: "Game Night" ends with her trying to snap Jack out of his violent episode. "Absence" opens with Dean and Sam learning from Rowena that their mother has died. Dean later finds her ashes and Jack materializes her dead body, but her death itself is never shown in the episode.
  • Kill It with Fire:
    Not!Mary: The worst was the smell. The pain, well, what can you say about your skin bubbling off? But the smell was so… You know, for a second I thought I’d left a pot roast burning in the oven. But… it was my meat.
  • Knight of Cerebus:
    • Though not evil, when she showed up in Season 1's "Home", everything started going downhill.
    • After Alternate Michael is killed, Season 14 seems to be a lighter fare compared to before, except for Jack's issue about his soul. Then Mary is accidentally killed by Jack. The rest of the season has Dean and Sam resorting to drastic measures to contain Jack, creating a rift between them and Castiel. Jack himself becomes guilty of what happened and actually becomes evil for a time. Her death is also the first clue that something is deliberately preventing the Winchesters from earning a happy ending, due to how anticlimactic it is.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: In "The Song Remains the Same", a past version of Mary learned about what will happen to her and her family, but before she could act on it, her memories were erased by Michael.
  • Light Is Good: Mary is often seen wearing white clothing.
  • Like a Son to Me: In "Stuck in the Middle (With You)", she includes Castiel as one of her boys while lashing out at Ketch. Later, in "Unfinished Business", she explicitly calls Jack her boy, too.
  • Like Father, Like Son:
    • Mary desired safety in the form of a normal life, the same reason that Sam, her youngest son, had in wanting a normal life. Also, Mary's relationship with her father Samuel parallels Sam's relationship with his father John regarding hunting.
    • In a tragic, twisted example: with his having to take care of both Sam and John as a child, Dean was effectively groomed to take Mary's position in the family as the maternal figure.
  • The Lost Lenore:
    • To John. After she died, John's life was never the same again.
    • She becomes one to Team Free Will after she is killed by Jack, as revealed in "Absence". They consider her death to be their greatest failure.
  • Love Hurts: Azazel had killed John back in '73 and Mary made a deal with Azazel to bring him back from the dead. She didn't realize that she had sold her future son, Sam's life to Azazel all so that she could have John back, or that it would ultimately get her killed. Her love for John is played up again in Season 12 by the British Men of Letters, who use it to send her to the deep end.
  • Mama Bear:
  • Meaningful Name: She shares her name with Jesus's mother. While Jesus has never appeared and is suggested to have been just a man in this universe, her eldest son, Dean, is destined to be Michael's true vessel with which to kill Lucifer and bring salvation (though Heaven's idea of salvation is different from human salvation).
  • Missing Mom: To Sam and Dean. She was killed when Sam was six months old and Dean four years old. She's back for them in Season 12...only to become separated again in the finale when she's trapped in the alternate universe. They reunite near the end of season 13 and she may finally get back to her children for good...then Michael possesses Dean. He gets out of that possession in Season 14...only for Jack to accidentally kill her.
  • Morality Chain:
    • To her husband John and to her father Samuel.
    • After she is accidentally killed by Jack in Season 14, Dean and Sam make up their mind to stop Jack by any means. Up to this point, the two had not considered the option, even as the effects of Jack's soullessness became worse.
  • Morton's Fork: The deal with Azazel to resurrect John. As Season 12 reveals, no matter her decision, tragedy ensues.
    • If she says yes, John is resurrected. He and Mary have two children and a happy life for 10 years. Then Azazel comes, kills Mary, and marks Sam as a Special Child and vessel for Lucifer, while Dean is in turn made a vessel for Michael. On a positive note, this allows the Apocalypse to be won by the Forces of Good because Dean and Sam's brotherly love causes the latter to Take a Third Option. On the flipside, Mary does not see the light of the world again until 33 years later, when Dean's actions lead to her revival, but by then John is dead prematurely, rendering her sacrifice pointless, and the Winchester family is in shambles.
    • If she says no, hoo boy. John stays dead and Mary lives 24 years longer. However, this means that Mary has basically screwed the world over by not begetting sons who would become potential vessels for Lucifer and Michael. As a result, another vessels are presumably designated, someone who do not have the same brotherly love as the Winchesters do. Michael kills Lucifer and becomes drunk with power, starting a war against humanity that sees the Earth becoming desolate wasteland, what remains of its human population now living in abject terror. As for Mary's fate? Azazel eventually kills her.
  • Nice Girl: See Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold.
  • Not Too Dead to Save the Day: Her ghost intervenes and saves her sons from the poltergeist haunting their old home in "Home".
  • Official Couple: With John.
  • Older Than They Look: A complicated example when she is resurrected in Season 11. By then, she is chronologically in her early 60s. However, she died in her late 20s so it makes since that she doesn't look like a sixty year old. However, the show used the same actress from Season 1 and she is now in her mid-40s and does not look like a 20-something year old. This makes Mary both older and younger than she looks.
  • Parental Abandonment: Both of her parents, Samuel and Deanna, were killed at the hands of Azazel.
  • Parental Substitute: She outright tells Jack that he is like another son to her.
  • Parents as People: In Season 12. She tries to take care of her children, but she's still dealing with the painful loss of John and her guilt over her family becoming screwed up, not to mention the fact that Sam and Dean are now adults. Eventually, she goes to drastic measures when she makes a deal with the British Men of Letters, which just makes things worse for everybody involved.
  • Posthumous Character: She dies in the first episode, but due to ghosts, Time Travel, and other shenanigans, she still makes a number of appearances. She graduates from posthumous to alive as of Season 11. Then she gets killed again in Season 14.
  • Pregnant Badass: In "The Song Remains the Same", she was pregnant with Dean but still put up a better fight against an angel than either John or Dean.
  • Retired Badass: Mary gave up the hunting lifestyle after she married John. She returns to duty 43 years later (though from her perspective, it has only been 10 years).
  • Spirit Advisor: To Sam in "When the Levee Breaks," although it was a hallucination of Mary that Sam was seeing.
  • Stacy's Mom: Dean himself makes note of how attractive his mother was in "In the Beginning."
    "Sammy, wherever you are, Mom is a babe. (Beat) I'm going to Hell. Again."
  • Starcrossed Lovers: With John.
  • Supernaturally Young Parent: In-universe, she is physically four years younger than Sam and eight years younger than Dean upon resurrection.
  • Team Mom: Post-resurrection, she willingly mothers not only her children, but every member of Team Free Will, including Castiel and Jack.
  • Together in Death: In "Absence", Castiel finds out that Mary is living happily with John in their shared Heaven. This discourages him from trying to resurrect her.
  • Too Good for This Sinful Earth: She never expects for a moment that Jack is capable of being malevolent after he is rendered soulless, unlike her children and even Castiel (who suspects that something is wrong with Jack, if not something evil). She pays a heavy price for it.
  • Trapped in Another World: In the Season 12 finale, Mary is trapped in the post-apocalyptic alternate universe. With a pissed off Lucifer for company.
  • Tragic Keepsake: From Season 12 onward, she always wears John's wedding ring around her neck. The only time she is shown without it is when she has sex with Ketch, something that is lampshaded.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Oh dear. Mary has endured so much pain, loss, and tragedy in her life.
  • Unwanted Revival: Mary implies that she was in Heaven and her version of heaven included her husband, her kids, 4-years-old and 6-months-old, and no hunting. She's not happy to be back topside and actually seems traumatized by the resurrection which pitches her headlong back into the world she made a demon deal to escape.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: Wife by that point, actually. Mary was not happy when Anna tried to kill John (along with Mary herself) to erase her sons' existence. Viewers got to see a nice fight between Anna and an angel-blade-wielding Mary.
  • Walking Spoiler: Just about every one of her appearances outside of her death in the first scene of the series is a spoiler. Scenes featuring her as hallucinations, flashbacks, and the like are less spoileriffic now, but after the Season 11 finale, forget about it.
  • Women Are Wiser: When Lucifer starts going too much touchy feely with Jack, everyone — even Gabriel — disagrees and tries to convince Jack not to listen to him, which only makes him that more curious of his father. That is, everyone except Mary, who prefers leaving them on their own, noting that Jack will inevitably learn about Lou's true nature by himself. Sure enough, he learns the ugly truth an episode later through his angelic lie detector.
  • Wreathed in Flames: As a ghost, this was how she first appeared to people, before she appeared to Sam and Dean and briefly reverted to pre-cooked self.
  • Younger Than They Look:
    • Samantha Smith portrayed Mary in the flashback of her death in 1983, where she was canonically 29. Smith was 35 in 2005. By extension, this applies to every appearances as a spirit/hallucination she made afterwards, since she is forever 29. Her most recent appearance in this state is "Mommy Dearest", where Smith was 41. This carries over when she is resurrected in Season 11, since in-story she starts aging again at 29, not 46.
    • Her 1973 incarnation is this to a lesser extent. She was 19, but Amy Gumenick was 22. Inverted when Gumenick returned in "The Song Remains the Same", where she was 23, while Mary was 25.
    • The opening flashback of "Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox" has 46-year-old Smith portraying a 26-year-old Mary. The Braids of Action are probably there to make her look younger.

    Adam Milligan 

Adam Milligan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adam-1_8067.jpg
Played By: Jake Abel
First appearance: "Jump the Shark" (4x19)

Adam is the youngest son of John Winchester and the younger half brother of Sam and Dean Winchester.


  • Annoying Younger Sibling: To both Sam and Dean.
  • Back for the Dead: Adam is brought back from the dead, only for him to end up locked in Lucifer's cage in Hell for eternity.
    • Returns in season 15 many years later, only to get wipe out along with everyone else by Chuck, leaving his body for Michael, who got destroyed in the climax of the season, again by Chuck
  • Back from the Dead: Well, he IS a Winchester. It's what they do.
  • Birds of a Feather: Adam seemed to have a very similar life to his older half-brother Sam before Sam embraced hunting.
  • Break the Cutie: He and his mother were horribly murdered, then he was resurrected and tricked into being part of the apocalypse, then ended up in hell, where he still is. Until Season 15 that is.
  • Butt-Monkey: The guy had literally the worst luck ever, even by the Winchester's standards. Killed by a ghoul, resurrected just to end being possessed by Michael, trapped in the Cage for over a millennia, killed again when Chuck erased all humankind save for Sam, Dean and Jack. Dean even lampshaded this.
    Dean: Poor bastard, never caught a break.
  • Cain and Abel and Seth: After over twenty years, Sam and Dean find out that Adam is their paternal half-brother. Their father had Adam several years after their mother died, whom he kept from the hunter's life to protect him. The brothers immediately argue about whether to train him or to spare him from their life. It turns out he's already been killed in revenge against their father, and they've been dealing with a ghoul. When Adam eventually makes another appearance in Season 5 as himself, after he's been brought back from the dead as bait or a possible alternative for Michael, he doesn't get along with either of the brothers that never knew about him. In Season 6, when Dean's given the option to either save Sam's soul from eternal torment in Lucifer's cage or rescue Adam's from the same place, Dean unsurprisingly doesn't even hesitate in choosing Sam.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: We met him briefly in Season 4. He turns out to be a lot more important later on.
  • The Chew Toy: Even being half a Winchester gets the kid killed and sent to Hell. He eventually gets out, though.
  • Dead All Along: In "Jump the Shark," the "Adam" the Winchesters meet is a Ghoul using his form. How did he get into that form? By eating the real Adam.
  • Deadpan Snarker:
    Sam: You may not believe it, but Dad was trying to protect you.
    Adam: Well, I guess the monster that ate me didn't get that memo.
  • Deus Angst Machina: For someone who appeared in only three episodes, Adam has had a ridiculous amount of horrific things happen to him in each one. He's eaten alive by Ghouls, pulled out of Heaven, brought back from the dead, forced to claw his way out of his own grave, told (falsely) that he is The Chosen One, kidnapped, held hostage against Dean, tortured, rescued (only NOT), possessed by an archangel, incinerated, disintegrated, regenerated and, finally, dragged into the worst possible pit of Hell alongside Lucifer and Michael. He remains there until Season 15, over 9 years later. Note that Adam was an Ordinary College Student prior to this and that the only reason any of it happened to him is because he is John Winchester's son and a vessel for Michael.
  • Distressed Dude: In both Seasons 4 and 5. In neither case is he saved.
  • Easily Forgiven: After he gets out of Hell in "Our Father, Who Aren't in Heaven", he is angry at Dean and Sam, to say the least. However, he never becomes vindictive and decides to simply stay away from them, which is a saintlike thing considering what they did to him.
  • Fate Worse than Death: Ultimately, Adam ends up locked in Hell with Satan and Satan's big brother, Michael with no hope of escape, seeing as how any of the characters who could free him either don't care about him or are dead. Keep in mind that time in Hell flows 120 times faster compared to Earth. He gets out in 2019, which is nine years later, so he has spent 600 years in hell with Lucifer and Michael, and a further 480 years with Michael only, as his bunkmates. At least he is revealed to have reached a common ground with Michael during those years, keeping each other company, but holy hell.
  • Forgotten Fallen Friend: Played for Laughs in "Fan Fiction", where Sam and Dean uncomfortably are reminded that he’s still in Lucifer's Cage. Played for drama after he gets out in "Our Father, Who Aren't in Heaven", as Dean and Sam are confronted with the horrible truth that they basically let their brother to rot in hell.
  • In the Blood: Adam is a descendant of Cain and Abel due to being John's son. Therefore, like Sam and Dean, he is able to be the vessel for Michael.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Zachariah warned Adam that Sam and Dean would always save each other before ever taking a second glance at him. Zachariah was trying to sway Adam towards working with the angels as opposed to with the brothers, but he was quite prescient on this point: Adam failed to make it out of the angelic confrontation later in the episode because Dean was hauling Sam out first, Dean actively chose to rescue Sam's soul out of Hell while leaving Adam in there (he could only choose one), and neither brother seems particularly bothered by the fact that Adam is still in Hell with Michael and Lucifer.
  • Long-Lost Relative: To Sam and Dean. He is their paternal half-brother. They all share the same father, John Winchester.
  • Morality Pet: By Season 15 it is revealed that, during their time in the Cage, Adam and Michael came to an understanding and decided to work with each other to stay sane. When they finally escape from the Cage Michael willingly switches places with Adam so he can enjoy a meal and seems to like his company. Adam is also the only one who Michael listens to when he learns about God's betrayal and he takes his advice to work with Sam and Dean to trap his father. It's rather telling that, shortly after God kills all life on Earth except for Sam, Dean and Jack, Michael reverts back to his Dutiful Son personality without Adam's grounding presence.
  • Ordinary High-School Student: Prior to being killed in "Jump the Shark".
  • Pretty Boy: Being a Winchester most certainly grants a win in the genetic lottery.
  • Refused by the Call: Yeah, poor Adam was willing but he was just bait to lure Dean in.
  • The Smart Guy: Adam is a pre-med student.
  • Split Personality: In Season 15, it is revealed that during all those years in Hell, Adam and Michael opted to share the former's body, taking turns to become the dominant personality.
  • Thicker Than Water: Averted with Adam, notable because all the Winchesters generally subscribe to a "family is everything" mindset. But Sam and Dean are complete strangers to him, he resents them for having the father he never had (such as he was), Zachariah has warned Adam about Sam and Dean's crazy co-dependency issues, and overall, Adam wants precisely nothing to do with the Winchesters' "dewy-eyed bromance." Though he does just start to warm up to Dean before Michael gets to him. On the other hand, he's apparently quite loyal to his mother, and Michael's big selling point for using Adam as a vessel was that Adam would be able to see her again.
  • The Unchosen One: Unintentionally. By saying "Yes" to Michael and being the vessel in Dean's place, he effectively proves that Michael's speech to Dean in "The Song Remains The Same" about how Destiny cannot be screwed was basically Michael talking out of his ass.
  • The Unfavorite: Dean spends the first half of Season 6 trying to get Sam's soul back, because it's left in the cage with Michael and Lucifer after Castiel removed Sam's mind and body almost immediately. When Dean first makes his deal with Death to get Sam's soul back, he tries to get Adam out as well. Death, however, refuses and forces Dean to choose between the two; Dean chooses Sam.
  • Walking Spoiler: He is related to Sam and Dean through John. Expect this whenever he shows up.
  • Younger Than They Look: He's supposed to still be physically in his late teens in season fifteen because he's spent the past ten seasons as Michael's vessel, but his actor is human. However, he's also mentally thousands of years old at that point, so it goes both ways.

    Henry Winchester 

Henry Winchester

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/henry-1_3616.jpg
Played By: Gil McKinney
First appearance: "As Time Goes By" (8x12)

"I'm sorry I judged you two so harshly for being hunters. I should've known better. You're also Winchesters. As long as we're alive, there's always hope."

  • Action Dad: Henry was a Man of Letters. He was a very intelligent man who could and the paternal grandfather of Sam and Dean (and Adam).
  • Action Survivor: Henry is not a skilled fighter, warrior and hunter like his son John or his grandsons Sam and Dean but he can still defend himself when he has to. He seemed to hold his own against Abaddon and even Dean had commented that for someone who was not a hunter and had no skill or experience when it comes to hunting and fighting, Henry had shown he was a capable fighter. Henry was forced to fend for himself; after all, he was facing Abaddon, one of the most powerful demons ever.
  • The Atoner: When sent to the present through Time Travel, Henry is determined to go back to the son that he abandoned because he felt guilty after reading his sons journal. He feels that if he went back, he could fix things with his son and also the possible outcome of the events of the future. He ends up sacrificing himself to Abaddon to save Sam and tragically dies.
  • Badass Bookworm: Henry was a Man of Letters and was highly knowledgeable, intelligent, well-spoken, and well-read.
  • Badass Normal: He's completely human and has no abilities whatsoever but he's pretty badass in his own right. After all Henry is a Man of Letters and is The Smart Guy and a Badass Bookworm, someone who uses his brains and his intelligence over his strength. Ironically his grandson Sam shares the same qualities, only Sam did have powers in the beginning (although Sam's powers do end up going away eventually).
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: Henry dressed rather sophisticatedly. Guess it's a requirement of being a Man of Letters.
  • Badass Pacifist: Henry is a Man of Letters and is only used to experiences of a literary nature. He is not a warrior or a skilled fighter by any means. However, he found a way to temporarily defeat Abaddon without resorting to the use of violence. Unfortunately for Henry, it ended up costing him his life. Still, the bravery that Henry showed in facing Abaddon was nothing short of admirable and this was even noted by his grandson Dean.
  • Bad Present: From Henry's perspective. His son and mentors are dead, the legacy of the Men of Letters seems lost, and his son grew up alone and believed himself abandoned by his father.
  • Bookworm: Comes with being a Badass Bookworm and a Man of Letters. His grandson Sam seems to share the same trait or quality.
  • Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Henry shoots Abaddon, a Knight of Hell only killable by Archangels, in the head with a bullet engraved with a devil's trap, thus preventing her from ever escaping her host, using her powers or even moving her body. He dies shortly afterward from an injury she dealt him when he was getting close enough to do the deed.
  • Captain Obvious: After telling Sam and Dean that Abaddon is a demon and they ask Henry where she came from, he replies, "She's from Hell."
  • Chekhov's Gun: Henry's pin with the Star of Aquarius, which John asks him about.
  • Chekhov's Skill/Escape Artist: Henry's ability to escape handcuffs.
  • Clueless Chick-Magnet: Downplayed since he was (presumably) Happily Married anyway, but Josie was in love with him and Abaddon commented on his good looks. Henry's an old-fashioned guy though so he was rather oblivious.
  • Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Which is a Justified Trope, considering Henry is from 1958.
  • Cool Old Guy: Subverted Trope. Technically speaking Henry is supposed to be an old man, but Time Travel messed that up, so he has the appearance of a young man in his 30s. Lucky for Henry, time travel also kept him physically attractive as well as youthful.
  • Crazy-Prepared: He carved a devil's trap into a bullet. Nice!
  • Cultured Badass: Well, Henry is a Man of Letters.
  • Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: It doesn't get much better than being thrown through time. Tragically, he's unable to go back and learns that not only is his son dead, but he died hating him. Then he dies too.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Every bit as sarcastic as John, Sam, Dean and Adam. Seems to be a Winchester personality trait. Only difference is that Henry comes off as very polite and sophisticated when delivering snark and sarcasm. See Gentleman Snarker.
    Henry: "2013. Guess the Mayans were wrong."
  • Determinator: Henry is very persistent and determined when he wants something. It seems to be a Winchester trait or quality.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dies in his grandsons' Sam and Dean's arms.
  • Disappeared Dad: To John. Ironically, John ended up abandoning his sons as well.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: Unlike Abaddon, Henry is very out of his league in 2013.
  • Follow in My Footsteps: Henry expected his son John to follow the Winchester legacy of being a Man of Letters. Henry seemed to advocate the legacy to his grandsons Sam and Dean.
  • Generation Xerox: It seems as though John followed in Henry's footsteps in regards to their parenting skills. Both Henry and John had issues with Parental Abandonment (Henry with John and John with both Sam and Dean).
  • Genius Book Club: Part of the Men of Letters club.
  • Gentleman and a Scholar: Henry was a Man of Letters, which means that he was a bookworm and intelligent.
  • Gentleman Snarker: He's very much the Deadpan Snarker that his grandsons Sam and Dean are yet he's way more polite and sophisticated in how he comes across even when being snarky and sarcastic.
  • Good Parents: Henry took John to see Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy and it scared the boy enough that his father bought him a music box that plays, "As Time Goes By" to calm him down. John loved it so much that he would sometimes whistle the tune as an adult. Henry even kept a picture they took together in his wallet. Unfortunately, John grew up believing Henry abandoned him, rendering their relationship moot.
  • Guile Hero: Henry is very smart and strategic.
  • Heartbroken Badass: His wife is most likely dead and he's tragically ripped away from his young son John, who grew up to think that he abandoned him and ended up resenting him because of it. Henry was also stuck in Time Travel for decades and even when he does enter the present times, life doesn't get better for him. He meets his grandsons only to be found by Abaddon and killed when he sacrifices himself and ends up dying.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: He dies so Abaddon can be defeated.
  • Jumped at the Call: He really wanted to be a member of the Men of Letters and is very proud at being accepted.
  • Killed Off for Real: He is killed by Abaddon and dies at the end of his debut episode. He hasn't appeared since.
  • Knight Templar Parent: Henry tries to change the past, knowing full-well it could have unforeseen consequences for the future, because he can't bear to let his son suffer and die as he did in this future.
  • Like Brother and Sister: With Josie Sands, though the latter was actually in love with him.
  • Like Father, Like Son: Parental Abandonment seems to run in the Winchester genes. Henry abandoned John when he was a child and John repeated Henry's mistake with Sam and Dean.
  • Lineage Comes from the Father: Henry was a Man of Letters and, therefore, the legacy was passed down from him to his son John and also to John's children, Sam and Dean. Henry's father and grandfather were also Man of Letters, proving that the Men of Letters legacy was in the Winchester men's lineage.
  • Long-Lost Relative: Henry is John's long lost father and Sam, Dean and Adam's grandfather.
  • Memento MacGuffin: John's journal is revealed to be a keepsake from Henry's with the initials "H.W." on the inner cover.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Yeah, model good looks is definitely an inheritance in the Winchester family. For three generations at least.
  • Only the Knowledgable May Pass: He's a Man of Letters, which is an exclusive club.
  • Papa Wolf: Despite his issues with Parental Neglect and Parental Abandonment in regards to John it is still evident that he was very protective of John and loved him. Besides, him abandoning John was something that was not his fault and was out of his control due to time travel. John seemed to have picked up the overprotective father trait from Henry (not to mention the Parental Abandonment trait as well).
  • Parental Abandonment: Unintentionally abandoned John when he was a child. John ended up picking up the same trait.
  • The Patriarch: Technically, Henry is the actual patriarch of the Winchester family, as he is the oldest known Winchester and was John's father.
  • Proud Scholar Race Guy: He's a Man of Letters.
  • Purple Prose: Henry's dialogue often sounds like something we would expect from Captain Patriotic in The Golden Age of Comic Books.
  • Secret Legacy: Henry was a member of a secret book club called the Men of Letters.
  • Self-Made Man: He's a Man of Letters and it was a legacy that as passed down to him through his paternal side of the family.
  • Senseless Sacrifice: He dies defeating Abaddon, only for her to be brought back to life towards the end of Season 8.
  • Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Had intended to time travel back to 1958 because he could not bear what happened to his son John in the future after reading his journal.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: While Henry has appeared in only a single episode, he ends up revealing his grandsons' paternal heritage as members of the Men of Letters. This allows Sam and Dean to use their resources, including their main bunker in Lebanon, Kansas, which serves as Team Free Will's base camp from Season 8 onward. It also attracts the attention of the British branch of the organization, who are the main villain of Season 12.
  • The Smart Guy: Highly intelligent, scholarly, a bookworm and a Man of Letters. His grandson Sam seems to share the same quality.
  • Soul Power: Henry uses this to make the blood sigil work.
  • So Proud of You: As he is dying in his grandson Sam's arms after being stabbed by Abaddon, Henry tells both Sam and Dean that he was sorry for being so judgmental about them for being hunters. He says that he may not have known his son John as a man but seeing and knowing how his grandsons turned out, he would be proud and is proud of John. He also said that Sam and Dean are Winchesters and as long as they are alive, there is always hope.
  • Standard '50s Father: Justified, since he is from 1958. Apart from the long coat and fedora, the first thing we see him do is check up on his sleeping son.
  • The Strategist: Along with being The Smart Guy and a Badass Bookworm Henry is very brilliant strategically. As a Man of Letters, he takes what hunters give him and finds ways of defeating the enemy. His son John and his grandsons Dean, Sam, and Adam are all strategic like him.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: With his grandson, Sam. Their resemblance is actually quite strong.
  • Supernaturally Young Parent: It's understandable considering that Henry is from The '50s. His son is not only much older than he is, but already deceased (though not of old age) by the time Henry shows up from the time portal.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Very much like his son John and his grandson Sam. In fact there is a Strong Family Resemblance between Henry and Sam which is a dead giveaway that they are related. Even Abaddon calls him "Mr. Dreamboat" unironically when she sees him (though he's unconscious at the time). Must be a Winchester thing.
  • Team Dad: Henry is The Patriarch of the Winchester family as he is the father of John as well as grandfather to Sam, Dean and Adam.
  • Vomit Indiscretion Shot: After riding in the Impala with Dean and Sam, Henry is so overwhelmed by a combination of being time travelled into the future, being confronted by Abaddon, and not understanding adventures that are not of a literary nature that he ends up puking his guts out.
  • Vomiting Cop: The aforementioned Vomit Indiscretion Shot by Henry after a narrow escape from Abaddon illustrates how inexperienced he is with hunter-type activities, despite all his knowledge; it also highlights how frightening Abaddon is.

    Dean Winchester II 

Dean Winchester II

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dean_winchester_jr.png
Played By: Spencer Borgeson
First appearance: "Carry On" (15x20)

Sam Winchester's son. He appeared in the last episode of Supernatural.


  • Ambiguously Absent Parent: His mother is never mentioned or clearly seen.
  • Dead Guy Junior: He is named after his uncle, Dean Winchester, who died before he was born (in the same episode).
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: He holds his father's hand on his deathbed until his last breath.
  • How Dare You Die on Me!: Averted. In fact, Dean assures his father that it's okay and he can finally rest.
  • Last Episode, New Character: He appeared in the last episode of the series, spending time with his father until he dies.
  • Like Father, Like Son: It seems that he is good at studying, based on how Sam proudly smiling and rubbing his head while Dean is doing his homework.
  • Like Father, Unlike Son: Apparently, Sam doesn't raise him to be a badass like he and Dean were, but instead he is shown to live a normal life, studying and playing with his Dad. Then again, he does have an anti-possession tattoo on his arm.
  • Last of His Kind: After his father dies, Dean is the only remaining Winchester left, though it's unknown if he has any children of his own.
  • Manly Tears: Although we didn't see it, he can be clearly be heard sobbing when his father dies.
  • Nice Guy: What little scenes we have of him, clearly tell that his heart is in the right place.
  • Power Tattoo: He bears the same anti-possession tattoo that his father and uncle did. However, it's not clear if this is because he's following on their footsteps as a Hunter or if it is merely a preventive measure applied by Sam.
  • Pretty Boy: Probably runs in the family, considering who his father is.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: He has both his uncle's facial features and his father's hair.


The Campbells

    Samuel Campbell 

Samuel Campbell

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samuel-1_2443.jpg
Played By: Mitch Pileggi
First appearance: "In the Beginning" (4x3)

"I don't trust other hunters, Dean. Don't want their help, don't want them around my family."

Samuel is the husband of Deanna, father of Mary, father-in-law of John and the maternal grandfather of Dean and Sam. His grandson Sam was named after him. Samuel and Deanna were both hunters, and raised Mary to be one as well. Samuel was killed by Azazel (who possessed him temporarily). He was brought back to life along with Sam at the end of fifth season by Crowley, who forced him to look for Purgatory. He tried to sell Sam and Dean out to Crowley. Sam killed him when Samuel became possessed by the Khan Worm.


  • Action Dad: Samuel was Mary's father, and hunted the supernatural for a living.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Deanna calls him "Sam."
  • All for Nothing: His attempts to bring Mary back from the dead only results in him being killed after being possessed by a Khan Worm. Worse, Season 11 ends with Mary being brought back anyway.
  • Anti-Villain: Type II in Season 6; he is working with Crowley, but only to get Mary Back from the Dead.
    Samuel: You know, the one difference between us: you know how to live without her.
    Dean: Look, I know how you feel—
    Samuel: No, you don't. She's my daughter, and she's dead, and I can do something about it.
  • Asshole Victim: In Season 6, Samuel works to help Crowley take over Purgatory and kill Sam and Dean in order to bring Mary Back from the Dead. Consequently, nobody is particularly sad when he dies in "...And Then There Were None."
  • Back from the Dead: He's brought back by Crowley in Season 6. For a while, anyway.
  • Badass Normal: Doesn't have any superhuman abilities yet can still kick major ass. He's an experienced hunter after all.
  • Battle Couple: With Deanna. They were both hunters.
  • Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: The Brooding Boy to Deanna's Gentle Girl.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Oh so much. Samuel could qualify as the king of snark and sarcasm.
  • Deal with the Devil: Turns out he made one with Crowley to bring Mary back if Samuel could get Purgatory's location out of the monsters he captured. Nothing ever comes out of it, since Samuel dies (again) in "And Then There Were None".
  • Dragon with an Agenda: Is revealed to be working for Crowley in Season 6, but only because Crowley promised to bring back his daughter, Mary, from the dead.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: "You're a hell of a hunter, Sam, but... the truth is, sometimes you scare me."
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: "'Soccer mom', huh? Well, I'll have to look that up on the 'intranet'."
  • Forced into Evil: He grudgingly does what Crowley tells him to out of desperation to have his daughter, Mary returned to him.
  • Genius Bruiser: Has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, like the cures for djinn poison and vampirism, by virtue of having been born into a long line of hunters who took notes.
  • Grand Theft Me: His possession by Azazel and the Khan worm in both of the episodes where he dies.
  • In the Blood: Samuel was a hunter and he raised his daughter Mary to be one as well. Mary, on the other hand, hated the hunting life and wanted to escape. Ironically, Mary's attitude and relationship with Samuel parallel her future son, Sam's attitude towards hunting and his relationship with John.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: When Samuel meets Dean, Dean unwittingly gets Samuel and his wife killed. Then he spends a year with the not so charismatic Soulless Sam. From Samuel's point of view, his grandsons are not trustworthy family members.
  • Killed Off for Real: He came back from the dead once, but when he got lethally electrocuted in "And Then There Were None...", he died for real.
  • Knight Templar: He considers himself fully justified in trying to kill Sam and Dean if it will bring Mary Back from the Dead.
  • Knight Templar Parent: He is really protective of his daughter, not wanting her to leave the family and viewing any potential love interests suspiciously.
  • The Mole: In Season 6, he betrays Sam and Dean and it's revealed that he was planning with Crowley to kill them the whole time.
  • Morality Chain: His wife, Deanna and his daughter, Mary. When they're both gone, he sees nothing wrong in killing his own grandchildren to bring Mary back.
  • Old Master: He may be Sam and Dean's grandfather but that doesn't stop him from kicking ass. He's got decades of experience over them.
  • Supernaturally Young Parent: Grandfather in this case. Samuel's age is not actually known, but he seems to be in his fifties at death. When he is resurrected by Crowley, he is the same age as when he died. His actor was born in 1952, just two years older than his son-in-law John's actor.
  • Thicker Than Water: To Samuel, not so much. When he tries to pull this excuse on Sam and Dean, they tell him exactly how full of crap he is. And yet, he does have a point, having met Dean once before he died (the first time), got possessed by Azazel, and forced to kill himself and his wife, all because of Dean's attempt to intervene and change the past. Samuel spent a year hunting with a soulless, amoral version of Sam whose cold-blooded actions apparently disturbed Samuel, if "Live Free or Twihard" and the flashbacks in "Unforgiven" are an indication. Even so, Samuel apparently did care about his grandsons since he did make attempts to help them in Season 6 as long as it didn't interfere with his deal with Crowley like when he gave Dean the cure for vampirism. When it came down to it, though, he loved Mary, his daughter, more than he was willing to help Dean and Sam, grandsons he barely knew and were admittedly kind of dickish themselves at that point.
  • Walking Spoiler: The fact that he's even in Season 6 at all is a spoiler.

    Deanna Campbell 

Deanna Campbell

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deanna_campbell.png
Played By: Allison Hossack
First appearance: "In the Beginning" (4x3)

Deanna was the wife of Samuel, mother of Mary, mother-in-law of John and maternal grandmother of Dean and Sam. Her grandson Dean was named after her. She and Samuel were both hunters and raised Mary to be one as well. Deanna was killed by Azazel.


  • Action Mom: She was involved in the hunting life all along with her husband Samuel and her daughter Mary.
  • Almighty Mom: To date Deanna is the only person to successfully tell off Mary and Samuel.
  • Battle Couple: With Samuel.
  • Big Eater: All but one of her scenes involve food in some way – the first she is making dinner, second she’s eating the dinner, third she’s making a fruit salad, fourth she’s about to start eating an apple. The only exception is the scene where Samuel is possessed and, at that, she’s coming out of the kitchen.
  • Big "NO!": After Azazel stabs himself and fatally wounds his host – her husband Samuel.
  • Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: The Gentle Girl to Samuel's Brooding Boy. With her and Mary dead, a resurrected Samuel goes Jumping Off the Slippery Slope.
  • Chef of Iron: In one scene, Deanna multitasks whipping up a fruit salad and also discussing a case with Samuel and Dean.
  • Comfort Food: Whenever Mary was ill as a child, Deanna would make her tomato rice soup. Mary would later do this for Dean whenever he was ill.
  • Dead Guy Junior: She’s the ‘Dead Guy’ half, being the namesake of her first grandson Dean who was born several years after her death.
  • The Determinator: She is forced to watch as her husband is made to fatally stab himself, is thrown across a room, hits a table and chair along the way, crashes to the floor, is implied to have broken several bones and still finds the strength to crawl away from Azazel in the hopes of stopping him. Unfortunately, the mentally distressed, physically injured Deanna can only get so far before Azazel catches up and snaps her neck.
  • Dies Wide Open: When Azazel snaps her neck.
  • Facial Dialogue: Does this with Samuel a lot. When they are discussing the case with Dean, they are having a concurrent conversation with just their eyes.
  • Forced to Watch: While Azazel is purposefully does this to Dean by stabbing himself while possessing Samuel, he unknowingly inflicts this on Deanna who had been spying on the conversation from the doorway. The shock of it causes her to blow her cover.
  • Forgotten Fallen Friend: Subverted. At first it seems that Samuel only cares about/wants to talk about Mary after his resurrection. Then "Unforgiven" showed that not only does he talk about Deanna but thinks their life together before Mary was “great.”
  • Funny Background Event: When Dean says, “I know you guys think I’m crazy,” Deanna can be seen making a face that says, “Well… yeah.”
  • Her Boyfriend's Jacket: Her first outfit on screen is made up of a pair of jeans and one of Samuel’s shirts.
  • Killed Off for Real: Her neck is broken by Azazel in "In the Beginning". She never comes back.
  • Neck Snap: After throwing her with telekinesis, Azazel stalks up to her and breaks her neck with his own hands. Excuse us, with her husband's own hands.
  • Non-Action Guy: She noticeably doesn’t take part in any of the field work during the Whiltshire/Walsh case with no on-screen explanation given for why she doesn't. It is especially noticeable as Mary complains that she has to go to the farm with Samuel, and Deanna is later in the room when Mary insists that they help the Walshes.
  • One-Shot Character: Unlike her husband, Deanna only appeared in one episode and was mentioned only a handful of times after.
  • So Much for Stealth: She was doing a very good job of sneaking up on Azazel and was even looking to see if she could make a dash for the colt. Then he stabs himself, fatally wounding Samuel and she screams in horror, ruining any chance of a surprise attack.
  • Surprise Pregnancy: “Unforgiven” reveals that her getting pregnant with Mary was this.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: She died in the same episode we met her in.

    Christian Campbell 

Christian Campbell

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/christian_campbell_character.png
Played By: Corin Nemec
First appearance: "Exile on Main St." (6x1)

Christian is Sam and Dean's third cousin. He is a calm and skilled hunter working with Samuel Campbell. Christian is revealed to be possessed in "Family Matters." In "Caged Heat," Dean stabs him with Ruby's Knife, killing both him and the demon.


  • Demonic Possession: We never meet the real Christian Campbell, who had been possessed by a demon for a year when he is introduced.
  • Jerkass: Rude and antagonistic in all of his appearances.
  • Killed Off for Real: In "Caged Heat."
    Christian: What are you laughing at?
    {Dean kills Christian with Ruby's knife.}
    Meg: Dean Winchester's behind you, meatsack.
  • Long-Lost Relative: To Dean and Sam.
  • The Mole: For Crowley.
  • Torture Technician: Although, according to Meg, he isn't very good at it.

    Gwen Campbell 

Gwen Campbell

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dac1d4c7945bb29d8e4ba637a9ff1f0c.jpg
Played By: Jessica Heafey
First appearance: "Exile on Main St." (6x1)

"Just, uh, get sick of getting left behind. Think it's probably 'cause I remind him of his daughter or something."

Gwen is Sam and Dean's maternal third cousin, and a hunter working with Samuel Campbell. She tells Dean that she had no idea Samuel sold them out to Crowley, and is the only Campbell who is friendly to Sam and Dean. Dean kills her when he is possessed by the Khan Worm. Appears in "Exile on Main Street" (S06, E01), "Two And A Half Men" (S06, E02), "Family Matters" (S06, E07), and "...And Then There Were None" (S06, E16).


    Mark Campbell 

Mark Campbell

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mark_campbell.png
Played By: David Paetkau
First appearance: "Exile on Main St." (6x1)

Mark is Sam and Dean's distant cousin. He is a hunter working with Samuel Campbell. The Alpha Shapeshifter snaps his neck in "Two and a Half Men."


  • We Hardly Knew Ye: Two appearances before the Alpha Shifter kills him, and he barely talks in either.


Others

    Emma 

Emma

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/emma_7.png
Played By: Alexia Fast
First appearance: "The Slice Girls" (7x13)

Emma is an Amazon and Dean's daughter, conceived during a one-night stand Dean had with her mother Lydia. Lydia, being an Amazon herself, became pregnant and gave birth to Emma within 24 hours following her night with Dean. Emma grew from a newborn to a toddler to a teenager within a short amount of time. She was killed by her uncle Sam while attempting to carry out the ritualistic killing of her father.


  • Rapid Aging: She becomes a teenager within a few days of her birth.
  • Tyke Bomb: Only a teenager and already trying to commit murder.


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