History Characters / SupernaturalSamWinchester

* InterspeciesRomance: Sam, a human, has had a romance with many supernatural beings including Ruby ([[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]]), Madison ([[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]]), and Amy ([[{{Kitsune}} kitsune]]).

* HollywoodNerd: Both Dean and Ruby have referred to Sam as being a nerd. One of the nicknames that Dean has coined for Sam is "Geek Boy".

* InformedFlaw: Much is made in Season 5 of Sam's "anger issues" and how they contributed to his DarkArc in Season 4 - except that up to that point in the series, Sam had rarely demonstrated any anger out of proportion to his ((TraumaCongaLine 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 VoiceOfReason talking ''Dean'' down from rages), and his RoaringRampageOfRevenge 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.

* DynamicCharacter[=/=]RoundedCharacter: 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.

* LongLostSibling: To Adam. Sam is Adam's older paternal half brother, meaning that he and Adam share the same father (John).
* LoveMakesYouEvil: In Seasons 3 and 4, Sam started turning to TheDarkSide so that he could get revenge on Lillith 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.

* BadassBookworm: 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 ActionDuo 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 [[BloodKnight hunter who loves hunting and killing supernatural beings]]. Sam could best be considered a GeniusBruiser, 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 BadassBookworm side) in comparison to the Campbell side (which is more of the BloodKnight and HunterOfMonsters side, the side that Dean took more after).
* BadassFamily: Sam is descended from CainAndAbel. His ancestor is the most dangerous demon on the planet, [[NameOfCain Cain]]. Not to mention that he comes from a family of hunters; his matriarchal side of the family, the Campbells, includes [[HunterOfMonsters Hunters Of Monsters]], the {{Blood Knight}}s and {{Genius Bruiser}}s and his patriarchal side, the Winchesters, were scholarly, intelligent Men Of Letters who were {{Badass Bookworm}}s and {{The Smart Guy}}s. His mother Mary was an ActionGirl and a GirlyBruiser to boot who handled weapons and was a hunter herself. His father John originally started as a ShellShockedVeteran 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 BloodKnight and a GeniusBruiser, [[spoiler:was the true vessel for [[ArchangelMichael 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.

* LineageComesFromTheFather: 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.

!Sam Winchester

Sam is originally TheProtagonist of ''Supernatural''. Sam Winchester was born May 2nd, 1983 in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. He is the youngest child of John Winchester and Mary Winchester (nee Campbell). He is the younger brother of Dean Winchester and the older paternal half brother of Adam Milligan. His mother Mary died on November 2nd, 1983 when Sam was only 6 months old. Exactly 22 years later on November 2nd, 2005, Sam's girlfriend Jessica was also killed in the 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 22. 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. It is later discovered that Sam is the one true vessel for [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]].

** [[spoiler:Sam was a WellIntentionedExtremist 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 [[GuiltComplex guilty conscience]].]]

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Sam's last name is Winchester. [[CoolGuns/{{Rifles}} "Like the rifle".]] The Winchester rifle, also known as ''"The Gun That Won The West"'', was known to be a quintessential rifle that was seen in many westerns. In today's time, the Winchester rifle is used for hunting. In an alternate universe, Sam's last name is Wesson and Dean's last name is Smith. [[CoolGuns/{{Revolvers}} Like Smith&Wesson.]]

* BavarianFireDrill: 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 Padelecki 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".

* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: 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 TheDarkSide 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. [[spoiler: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 AmbiguouslyEvil and his actions are rather morally grey. Sam became the one thing that he swore he didn't want to become and he 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 [[BigBad 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.]]

** He also has a lot of similarities to Jack, which allowed him to empahtize with him and to act as a FatherFigure. Both have powers of a dark origin that they struggle to control and a close connection to Lucifer, which makes other people afraid and wary of them. Because of that, they've both been called an abomination by Castiel - and they both end up having a close relationship with him regardless. Moreover, they both are at one point soulless but eventually gain back their souls, and the initial plan to kill Chuck involved Jack making a HeroicSacrifice similar to the one Sam made at the end of season 5.

* BrokenAce: 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 [[spoiler: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.

* ChickMagnet: Sam is very attractive and appealing to the opposite sex. On the other hand, Dean is more of a [[TheCasanova 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).

* ComatoseCanary: Sam in Season 6. [[spoiler: 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, [[spoiler: 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, [[spoiler: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 as am's knowledge or true consent just so that Sam would be alive.]]

* CulturedBadass: Sam is a BadassBookworm 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 PopCulturedBadass, knowledgable about pop culture, such as movies, music, and media.

* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler: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 [[DealWithTheDevil makes a deal with a demon]] [[BackFromTheDead to bring Sam back.]] 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.]]

* FatalAttractor: 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 [[spoiler:Suprisingly, Dean is wrong.]]

** In ''Mystery Spot'', [[spoiler: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 fiancee, 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.

* HeroicBuild: Not initialy, but as of Season 4 Sam is built like a brick wall. Or perhaps, more like Clark Kent/Superman.

* HonorBeforeReason: Sam fits this trope in regards to several human enemies and a few monstrous ones. For example, not killing a human Gordon [[spoiler: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 [[CrapsackWorld horribly sad]].

** In Season 10, in order to find his brother Dean [[spoiler: who had been turned into a demon, Sam takes a man named Lester to a crossroad to capture a demon for informations. 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.]]

* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: 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.

* MagneticPlotDevice: 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}} ([[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]]) and {{Heaven}} ([[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]]) due to his dark, demonic destiny and [[spoiler:being TheChosenOne to be the vessel of the destroyer of the world and humanity, [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]].]] Nevermind that Sam is also an attractor of many supernatural beings and creatures, considering that he hunts them for a living.

* MissingMom: Sam's mother Mary, died when Sam was just 6 mos old. Therefore, Sam never knew his mother growing up and never had a mother figure in his life.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: 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 [[spoiler: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 HoYay and/or IncestSubtext in that it became clear that while Sam became somewhat obsessive and driven after Jess' 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.

** 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 [[Recap/{{SupernaturalS03E08AVerySupernaturalChristmas}} 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.

* SelfSacrificeScheme: [[spoiler:At the end of Season 5, Sam goes through with a plan to let [[{{Satan}} 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.]]

* UnscrupulousHero: [[spoiler: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 dong was anger and revenge, two negative emotions.]]

* WeirdnessMagnet: Sam is a hunter and therefore, is the target of many supernatural beings. Also, Sam is often sought after by demons's due to his destiny which was set out for him by Azazel.

* BeautyMark: Sam has a distinctive and noticeable mole on the left side of his face underneath his eye and near his nose. He also has some other beauty marks on his face that are also noticeable in close up shots. Dean, on the other hand, has many freckles on his face that are particularly noticeable on his nose and cheeks.

* {{Seer}}: Sam was a psychic, notably in Seasons 1 and 2. He got premonitions and visions of future deaths.

Sam is originally TheProtagonist of ''Supernatural''. Sam Winchester was born May 2nd, 1983 in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. He is the youngest child of John Winchester and Mary Winchester (nee Campbell). He is the younger brother of Dean Winchester and the older paternal half brother of Adam Milligan. His mother Mary died on November 2nd, 1983 when Sam was only 6 months old. Exactly 22 years later on November 2nd, 2005, Sam's girlfriend Jessica was also killed in the 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 22. 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. It is later discovered that [[spoiler: Sam is the one true vessel for [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]].]]

[[quoteright:294:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samwinchester_581.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:294:''"You know me. You know why. I'm not leaving my brother alone out there."'']]

* AChatWithSatan: In Season[[spoiler:s]] 5 [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler: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 NotSoDifferent speech 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. [[spoiler: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.]]

* NotSoDifferent: 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 [[spoiler: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 HoYay and/or IncestSubtext in that it became clear that while Sam became somewhat obsessive and driven after Jess' 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.

* InTheBlood:
** Sam develops psychic powers slightly before the start of the show, which eventually turn out to come from their family's demonic nemesis having fed Sam his own demonic blood in the cradle. Fear about destiny and inevitability increase as more and more of the other children so marked go 'darkside,' or in one case kill their psychotic brother who had, and their father's final words to Dean are that if he can't save Sam, he may have to kill him. Sam resists the original 'destiny' associated with this status by not killing during the demon's little DeadlyGame, but the other survivor opens the gate to Hell anyway. Later, after [[spoiler:he developed his powers further by drinking more [[PsychoSerum demon blood]] to exorcise demons so he could prevent the Apocalypse and became addicted, it turned out that he'd been being prepped for years to open a different door , the one to Lucifer's cage.]] This gets treated as InTheBlood despite it just being a few drops of ingested liquid rather than actual heredity. Once it turned out [[spoiler:their mother Mary sold Azazel the right to take 'something' from her house in ten years, and that in cases where he wasn't interrupted no one was killed or kidnapped, it seemed the demon did in fact have the rights of a parent over the kids he'd bought, and the blood thing was claiming that and preparing them to open the doors and enable the endgame.]] Presumably he was only in charge of opening doors, given that Sam was the favorite but not necessary to his understanding of the endgame, and chance or destiny or Lilith arranged the rest.
** Destiny also grabbed the Winchesters by the veins in that they are apparently descended on both sides from a line of [[spoiler: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, TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive.]]

* PstandardPsychicPstance: 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.

* SmugSmiler: [[spoiler:As Soulless!Sam, especially when he watched as Dean was turned into a vampire. Creepy.]]

* {{Bookworm}}[=/=]CuteBookworm: Sam reads and researches a lot. He is incredibly book smart, knowledgeable and well-read. Sam conducts most of the research on the hunt.

* BadassNormal: Sam is a strong, tough and capable hunter and was raised in the hunting life, despite trying to escape it. He can fight and combat many supernatural beings. 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 ActionHero who engages in fighting, combat and is trained in using weapons, Sam is also a BadassBookworm who is strong at research on the hunt. He also gained [[EmpoweredBadassNormal superhuman abilities]] in the earlier seasons which also helped him to combat the enemy during a hunt.

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* AntiVillain: In Season 4, [[spoiler:Sam became a significantly darker character who fell deeper and deeper to TheDarkSide. 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 DrunkWithPower. 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 [[TheSoulless 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.

* [[AloofBigBrother Aloof Younger Brother]]: Zig-zagged in regards to Sam. Sam is smarter, more practical and more refined than Dean, who is much more impulsive and rogue. Sam is also more introverted, calm, cool and collected while Dean is more extroverted, hot-headed and passionate. Sam gets straight A's, received a scholarship or free ride and attended an UsefulNotes/IvyLeague school (Stanford University), and was an aspiring lawyer, while Dean spent time in a reform school and eventually dropped out of high school and got a GED due to the time-consuming and stressful double life as a hunter. Sam also developed special powers which made him at times, significantly stronger and more powerful than Dean, who was a regular human who had no superhuman abilities. Plus, Sam had a normal life and got away from the hunting life, unlike Dean, who was ultimately trapped in it from a young age. Sam was also in a serious romantic relationship with the love of his life Jessica whom he was going to marry and settle down with. In season one, 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 was also jealous of the fact that their father seemed to pay more attention to Sam than he did to 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.

* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: In the Season 6 finale, [[spoiler: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.]]

* BerserkButton: 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.

* {{Bookworm}}[=/=]CuteBookworm: Sam reads and researches a lot. He is incredibly book smart, knowledgable and well-read. Sam conducts most of the research on the hunt.

* CulturedBadass: Sam is a BadassBookworm who is scholarly, a skilled researcher, well-read and knowledgable. 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 PopCulturedBadass, knowledgable about pop culture, such as movies, music, and media.

** In the seventh season, this seems to be where [[spoiler:Sam's hallucinations]] are trying to push him - in ''"Hello, Cruel World"'', [[spoiler:Lucifer]] suggests it three times.

* HeroicSacrifice: Sam's Season 4 HeroicSacrifice which is averted when his own attempt to sacrifice his soul to save Dean is ''rejected''. [[spoiler:His resulting decision to [[DrivenToSuicide damn himself slowly]] by [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil using his powers]] ''seems'' like a noble act - until you get to the end and realize that Sam's efforts have been fueled by [[PsychoSerum demon blood]] that intensifies pride in his own abilities and a sense of superiority to the point where he believes he is TheOnlyOne 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 [[IDidWhatIHadToDo in a very destructive]] [[HeroicRROD (especially]] [[SuicideMission self-]][[TheDarkSide destructive)]] [[DeathEqualsRedemption way]]. He can't know that killing [[ApocalypseMaiden Lilith]] starts the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Apocalypse]]; the angels hid that so he would [[SignsOfTheEndTimes 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 [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of this trope that everything turns out so badly.

** 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.

* MessianicArchetype: 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 [[DarkMessiah his demonic destiny]] that's alluded to throughout the seasons -- [[spoiler:to be the vessel for [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]], he's also set up as the [[TheAntiChrist Anti Christ]].]]

* PsychicPowers: Only in early seasons. He has none at the moment. By season four, he's developed more control and skill over his abilities, to the point that he can [[spoiler:exorcise, and later kill, demons]] with his mind.

* PsychoSerum: [[spoiler:Sam spent half the season break between three and four, and all of season four, 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:

* RapeAsDrama: First implied by Balthazar, who says that [[spoiler:Lucifer and Michael are probably "hate-banging" Sam's soul in the Cage]], in Season 6. It's confirmed by [[spoiler: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 [[TheWoobie Sam]]. Sam confirms it to Dean in Season 11.

* RedemptionQuest: Much of season five is about Sam trying to make up for his mistakes in season four, after [[spoiler: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.]]

* RedOniBlueOni: 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 four when Sam starts to embrace his [[TheDarkSide dark destiny]].

* RescuedFromTheUnderworld: [[spoiler:Sam jumped into the pit at the end of season five after he made a HeroicSacrifice. 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.]]

* TheResenter: 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 [[spoiler:killing Dean and sending him to Hell]]. Because of this, Sam wanted revenge on Lillith and was hell bent on killing Lillith during season four. [[spoiler: 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.]]

* RevengeBeforeReason: Sam always bases most of his major hunting missions on revenge. First, after Jessica was unexpectedly killed by YED in season one and during season four, after [[spoiler:Dean died and was sent to Hell]] because of Lillith. In season one, Sam started hunting and set out to find the YED and kill him as revenge for Jessica's death. Throughout season four, Sam made it his mission to become powerful enough (including [[spoiler:drinking and becoming addicted on [[PsychoSerum demon blood]] to strengthen his demon abilities]]) in order to kill Lillith, the White-Eyed Demon.

* TheRunaway: 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 five episode, Sam used to frequently run away from home, only showcasing that Sam wanted to get away from his highly [[DysfunctionalFamily dysfunctional]] and [[BigScrewedUpFamily troubled]] family.

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:In the season five finale, Sam willingly sacrificed himself in order to stop the [[ApocalypseHow Apocalypse]], put [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]] (along with [[ArchangelMichael Michael]]) back in his Cage, save the world and save humanity.]]

* SaveTheWorld: [[spoiler:Sam did this at the end of season five when he became the vessel for Lucifer and threw himself and his brother [[ArchangelMichael Adam]] into the pit, sacrificing himself in order to save the world and save humanity.]]

* ScrewDestiny: Sam may have done some evil things (by accident), but that doesn't mean he wants to [[spoiler:be the vessel for the goddamn ''Devil himself''. That is, until he decides to say "Yes" to Lucifer at the end of season five, but only so he can [[FightingFromTheInside re-take control]] long enough to jump into Lucifer's cage.]]
%%* ScrewTheRulesItsTheApocalypse

* {{Seer}}: Sam was a psychic, notably in seasons one and two. He got premonitions and visions of future deaths.

* SelfSacrificeScheme: [[spoiler:At the end of season five, Sam goes through with a plan to let [[{{Satan}} 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 six ends with Sam faltering under the memories of his time without a soul and the debilitating and possibly-deadly memories of hell. In season seven, 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.]]

* ShootTheHostage: [[spoiler:Season six reveals that soulless!Sam once shot a woman being used as a HumanShield by a monster he was hunting. Once she falls over dead, he then kills the monster.]]

* TheSmartGuy: 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.

* SoullessShell: [[spoiler:Sam during season six 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.]]

* StarcrossedLovers: Sam and anyone. But especially Jessica. Specifically because season five shows us that his entire life had been watched, planned and manipulated by Azazel to prepare him for being [[spoiler:the Lucifer's vessel.]]

* TheStrategist: Sam is one of the most strategic characters on the show. It was magnified in season six as Soulless!Sam.

* StrongFamilyResemblance: 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.

* SurvivorGuilt: Sam has felt the guilt of Jessica's death, his mother Mary's death and [[spoiler:Dean's death at the end of season three.]]

* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Sam manages to take himself, Lucifer, Michael and Adam all into a cage of Hell to avert the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Apocalypse]] in the climax of the season five finale.]]

* TheseHandsHaveKilled: [[spoiler:In season six, 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.]]

* ThrowingOffTheDisability: In both the seventh and eighth seasons, [[spoiler:Sam was ill, with Sam having a mental breakdown in season seven and Sam becoming extremely ill due to completing the Trials of God. However, Sam's Hell pain in season seven 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.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: Sam was already badass as it is before, with him being a very strong and capable hunter who is also a BadassBookworm and is skilled in handling weapons and guns. But Sam became significantly more badass and a much stronger hunter after [[spoiler:he came back from Hell albeit without [[TheSoulless his soul]] in the 6th season.]]

** In the fourth and sixth season. Oh so very much in season six. (But only in the first half of season six, and that's because he was [[spoiler:TheSoulless]] at the time.)

* TragicHero: Sam is so desperate to [[IJustWantToBeNormal not]] be the [[BlackSheep failure and freak]] he always felt like and avert BadPowersBadPeople that [[spoiler:he [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter believes]] demon Ruby when she tells him he's TheOnlyOne who can save the world. He allies with and has romantic liaisons with Ruby, getting addicted to the consumption of the [[PsychoSerum demon blood]] that fuels his ability to do [[BadPowersGoodPeople something seemingly good]], exorcising demons with his mind and without hurting the hosts. It also makes him feel in control and ([[{{Pride}} overly]]) confident. He lies to his brother repeatedly, and after Dean [[YouMonster calls him a monster]] while he's high on demon blood, nearly kills Dean in their fight before leaving with Ruby to kill BigBad Lilith. Sam [[HeroicBSOD doesn't take it well]] when he finds out he was being [[UnwittingPawn manipulated]] into [[NiceJobBreakingItHero starting the Apocalypse]], and his [[SelfSacrificeScheme plan]] to [[HeroicWillpower put Lucifer back in his Cage]] with a HeroicSacrifice at the end of season 5 is the classic response of a [[AntiAntiChrist tragic hero]] who realizes [[MustMakeAmends how badly he's screwed up]]. Not to mention Sam's troubled youth and his dysfunctional family and background.]]

* TragicMistake: [[spoiler:Sam starting the Apocalypse at the end of season four. In season four, 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 [[ParentalAbandonment 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 [[LightIsNotGood angels]] deceive Sam. He becomes Lilith's/Ruby's UnwittingPawn and, in his efforts to stop the Apocalypse, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero unintentionally busts Lucifer out of Hell]] to start The EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]

%%* TroubledButCute
%%* TrueCompanions: With Dean.
%%* {{Tsundere}}:

** In the 4th season, Sam struggled with his loyalty to Dean ([[spoiler:the good side]]) or Ruby ([[spoiler:the bad side]]). Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Sam ended up choosing the wrong road, which ultimately lead to [[TheEndofTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the beginning]] [[ApocalypseHow of the end of the world]].]]

* UnscrupulousHero: [[spoiler:In season four. In season four, 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 dong was anger and revenge, two negative emotions.]]

* VillainProtagonist: [[spoiler:In season six, due to Sam being soulless. Although Sam was technically still a hero, he was also highly unsympathetic and immoral at the same time.]]

* WasItReallyWorthIt: Sam asks this question during the course of season five. He questions whether [[spoiler:becoming addicted to demon blood was really worth all of the pain and tragedy that came along with it.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: 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.

** Sam [[spoiler:starts using his demon-blood-born powers to exorcise demons between seasons three and four]], and in season four, the prophet Chuck is the first to call him on the way he fuels those powers.

** In season 6, [[spoiler:[[TheSoulless soulless Sam]] gets plenty of these. In Live Free or Twihard, Sam lets Dean get bitten and turned into a vampire. Not some BS [[ItsAllMyFault "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.]]

%%* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Especially during the course of season four.

** 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 seven, [[spoiler:which he used to get rid of his hallucinations of Lucifer by pressing on it hard.]]

* AcheyScars: 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 [[spoiler:recall some of his memories from Hell after Castiel had broken his wall]] at the end of season six. Sam used this scar to relieve himself of [[spoiler: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.]]

* AdventuresInComaLand: In the season six finale, [[spoiler: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 nine premiere, [[spoiler: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.]]

* AffectionateNickname: 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 one. 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.

* AmbiguousDisorder: During Season 6 and Season 7. In season six, Sam's behavior and attitude were so bizarre, strange and out there. He seemed to lack social skills, compassion and had a severe LackOfEmpathy for others. It became obvious that something was wrong with Sam when [[spoiler: he let Dean be turned by a vampire and did nothing to stop the vampire from doing so]]. He also said that he is a better and stronger hunter than he had ever been before and that he gets a thrill out of hunting and killing. [[spoiler:Veritas, the Goddess Of Truth, had sensed Sam while trying to get him to tell her the truth and she had said that Sam was not normal, that he wasn't even "human". Sam then told Dean himself that he couldn't feel anything and that he had no emotion. Sam confessed that he never slept although Castiel had diagnosed that Sam was in perfect physical health]]. This was all unusual behavior for Sam, as he is someone who is normally very warm, compassionate, empathetic and has a huge moral and guilty conscience. [[spoiler: It turns out that Sam was [[TheSoulless soulless]] for an entire year after being brought back from Lucifer's Cage/Hell by Castiel. The soul makes one human, in the sense that it makes a human feel emotion, compassion, empathy and guilt and because Sam's soul was missing, Sam was basically a walking robot who was dead and empty inside, incapable of feeling anything that a human is supposed to feel. In season seven, after Castiel had broken the wall in Sam's head, Sam went crazy and had a mental breakdown. Sam was hallucinating Lucifer as well as his worst memories from his 2 centuries or more in Hell. To get rid of Lucifer and his Hell memories, he would have to resort to pressing hard on a scar that he obtained after he started to remember some memories of him burning in Hell and he fell to the ground in suffering, cutting his hand on a piece of glass in the process. Sam's condition got so bad that he became an insomniac and eventually ended up in a mental or psychiatric hospital.]]

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: During season four, [[spoiler:Sam starts to turn significantly darker, clearly falling deeper to TheDarkSide. 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.]]

* AntiHero: When he first joined Dean hunting monsters because ItsPersonal, Sam was the most ethically aware of the two. A few cases of [[spoiler:demonic influence, possession, death, and soullessness]] later, and he's at least as pragmatic and ruthless as his brother. Sam is a ClassicalAntiHero or a KnightInSourArmor in seasons one to two, a PragmaticHero in season three, an UnscrupulousHero in seasons four and five and a NominalHero in season six, especially the early half of season six when [[spoiler: he was [[TheSoulless soulless]].]] He seems to be back to the PragmaticHero as of season seven, season eight and season nine. However, Sam might become an UnscrupulousHero 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 [[spoiler:being a demon. By the end of Season 10, he seems to have become an outright VillainProtagonist,]] before going back to a KnightInSourArmour in Season 11.

* TheAntiNihilist: As of season fifteen, he's become this. [[spoiler: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.]]

* AntiVillain: In season four, [[spoiler:Sam became a significantly darker character who fell deeper and deeper to TheDarkSide. 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 DrunkWithPower. 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 six, Sam was [[TheSoulless 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.
** [[spoiler:Sam was a NobleDemon in season four specifically. In season four, 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 [[MoralityPet Dean's influence]]. Because of Dean, he would end up stopping what he was doing, realizing that what he is doing was wrong.]]
** [[spoiler:Sam was a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds in season four and season six. In season four, 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 six, Sam was soulless against his will due to being brought back from the cage by Castiel. As a result, he had [[LackOfEmpathy 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 four 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.]]
** [[spoiler:Sam was a WellIntentionedExtremist in season four. 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 [[GuiltComplex guilty conscience]].]]

* ApocalypseMaiden: [[spoiler:In seasons two to five, with Dean in the role of TheHero 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 [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]]]].]]

* ArbitrarySkepticism: 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 two (turns out that Sam was right about the angels existing).

** Myth/{{Lilith}}. Probably Sam's biggest enemy next to Lucifer himself. Sam strongly loathes and hated her for her being responsible for [[spoiler:Dean's death]] at the end of season three. He spent all of season four trying to get revenge on her by trying to hunt her down and kill her. Because of Lilith [[spoiler:killing Dean and having him DraggedOffToHell by {{Hellhound}}s]], Sam becomes filled with rage and revenge against her. When Sam is emotionally vulnerable and weak, he and Ruby align and [[spoiler:Sam strengthens his demonic abilities]] with the sole intention of using them to kill Lilith. Even when [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler: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, [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero Sam does end up killing her]], [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt 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.]]

** Sam displayed these characteristics in season four and especially in season six, when [[spoiler:Sam was soulless]]. In season four, Sam would bring up about how powerful he is becoming in regard to [[spoiler:his demonic abilities. He used demon blood to help strengthen his abilities and he started to believe that it was [[TheOnlyOne 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 TheDarkSide. Sam became so prideful and arrogant regarding his powers and how strong he was, that he used them to kill Lilith, which [[NiceJobBreakingItHero 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 six when [[spoiler:Sam was soulless]], Sam confessed that he was a much better and stronger hunter than he had ever been before. This was probably because [[spoiler: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.

* TheAtoner: In the fifth season (after the whole [[spoiler:freeing-Lucifer-from-Hell]] business) and in season six ([[spoiler:after getting his soul back]]). In season four, Sam had gone an a RevengeBeforeReason mission after [[spoiler:Dean was killed by Lillith]] at the end of season three. Sam then aligned with Ruby, a demon, so that he could strengthen 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 [[spoiler: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. While doing this, Sam felt that [[KnightTemplar he was doing the right thing, even though his powers were based on darkness and evil]]. Dean continuously warned Sam throughout season four, as well as many other characters, that Sam was falling down a darker and darker path that he might not be able to come back from. Sam became so dark that he started to resort to drinking demon blood to strengthen his powers. He even became a junkie and became addicted to the blood as well as addicted to using 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 beginning of season five, Dean told Sam that because of what he did, he could no longer trust him, even though Sam had apologized. Sam's entire purpose and arc in season five was ultimately about atoning for his actions in season four and basically undoing the damage that he had done. At the end of season five, [[spoiler:Sam decided to host Lucifer so that he could take him down and end the apocalypse. He did this by [[HeroicSacrifice throwing himself and Michael (in Adam's body) into Hell's pit]], leaving Sam down in Hell to suffer for eternity. Fortunately for Sam, Castiel ended up rescuing Sam and pulling him out of Hell, albeit without his soul.]]

** [[spoiler:Sam "dies" at the end of season five 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.]]

* BadassInDistress: 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 DamselInDistress 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 seven, [[spoiler: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 eight, [[spoiler: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.]]

* BadassNormal: Before and after [[spoiler: 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 HunterOfMonsters and a BadassBookworm. Sam loses his demonic powers completely by season six 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 [[spoiler:possessed by an angel]]).

* BadPowersGoodPeople: 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. [[spoiler:While he did manage to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero 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 [[TheDarkSide "going dark side,"]] and Dean's final wish at the end of season three 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 [[DeathIsCheap 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 TheDarkSide under Ruby's influence and he turned against Dean in the process. It was never entirely clear how much of the problem was TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget[=/=]ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil, how much straight addict behavior from the [[PsychoSerum blood]], and how much Sam being an ass of his own free will due to [[BreakTheCutie trauma]] and pride. Still, he ''was'' trying to save the world and save people, even at his worst. And he [[MustMakeAmends got]] [[HeroicSacrifice better]].]]

* BattleCouple: With Ruby during season four. 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 [[spoiler:Dean's]] death while [[spoiler: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.]]

* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: In the season six finale, [[spoiler: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.]]

* BeardOfSorrow: Sam seems to be growing one in season nine. 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 eight. It also showed how emotionally broken and vulnerable Sam is as not only has physical health not good but since season six, 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 nine. Although, technically speaking, Sam's beard is more of a "Scruff Of Sorrow".

* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: 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 TheDarkSide 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. [[spoiler:But by season four, Sam is corrupted by demons (namely Ruby), addicted to demon blood, is obsessed with using his demonic abilities. Sam is borderline AmbiguouslyEvil and his actions are rather morally grey. Sam became the one thing that he swore he didn't want to become and he became the one thing that he loathes and that he hunts for a living. In season five, it gets even worse when Sam discovers that he is the destined vessel for [[BigBad Lucifer]]. Not to mention that in season six, 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.]]

* BelligerentSexualTension: With Ruby in season four. [[spoiler: Before Sam and Ruby succumbed to demonic fiery passion and slept together as revealed in 4x09.]]

* BigBrotherWorship: 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.

** Sam can be classified as either '''Class 1''' (primarily during season six), '''Class 2''' or '''Class 5'''.
** TheBrute: [[spoiler:Sam was this when he was soulless in season six. He was very ruthless and manipulative and he would use that to his advantage during a hunt.]]

* BigSleep: [[spoiler: When Sam is fatally stabbed in the back at the end of season two, 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.]]

* BloodFromTheMouth: Sam's IncurableCoughOfDeath in season 8 that causes him to cough up blood almost daily.

* BrokenAce: 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 [[spoiler: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.

* BrokenBird: [[InvertedTrope 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 one, Sam tragically loses the love of his life, [[TheLostLenore 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 two, Sam [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: 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 TheDarkSide. On top of that, Dean tells Sam that John told Dean that [[spoiler:if he couldn't save him from going to the dark side, he would have to kill him]]. At the end of season two, [[spoiler:Sam unexpectedly ends up dying, only to be brought [[BackFromTheDead back to life]] after Dean [[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul to bring him back]].]] In season three, Sam discovers that [[spoiler: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 three, Sam hopelessly watches Dean get ripped to death by Hellhounds and sent to Hell afterward.]] In season four, Sam becomes extremely suicidal and depressed after [[spoiler: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 TheDarkSide. At the end of season four, Sam kills Lillith, who is the final seal, and ends up starting the Apocalypse.]] In season five, Sam discovers that [[spoiler: he is the vessel for [[{{Satan}} 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 [[ArchangelMichael Michael]] and will [[spoiler: wipe out nearly half the Earth and humanity as a result]]. Sam feels extremely guilty about [[spoiler: starting the Apocalypse so he decides to make a HeroicSacrifice 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 [[spoiler:not to bring him back no matter what and to go live an apple pie life with Lisa and Ben. In season six, [[spoiler:Sam is brought back, but he's [[CameBackWrong not completely himself]]. It was discovered that Sam was walking around for an entire year [[TheSoulless 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 [[DamagedSoul 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 six, 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 seven, [[spoiler: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 [[TheInsomniac sleepless]] and starts to go insane. Towards the end of season seven, Sam has [[TheMentallyDisturbed a complete and total mental breakdown]] and ends up in a psychiatric mental hospital. At the end of season seven, Sam loses everyone and is completely and alone, after Dean and Cas are zapped into Purgatory and Kevin is missing.]] In season eight, 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 [[spoiler:Dean comes back from Purgatory]]. In the middle of the season, Sam becomes TheChosenOne to close the gates of Hell after completing the first trial. However, the trials make him sicker and sicker with time with Sam [[IncurableCoughOfDeath 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 eight, Sam still appears to be sick and [[spoiler:the audience is not sure of whether or not he will live or die next season.]] In season nine, [[spoiler: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.]]

* ByronicHero: In season four, 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 season one to three. 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 four progressed, but this was only showcasing just how much Sam had changed as a person due to [[spoiler:giving into his darkness.]]

* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler:Both at the end of season two and during the beginning of season six. At the end of season two, 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 three, when Sam becomes more cold-hearted and remorseless when he kills demons and the demon hosts.]] In season six, Sam displays distant, cold behaviour towards Dean. It turns out that [[spoiler: he was brought back from Hell [[TheSoulless soulless]] by Castiel, hence why Sam was distributing cold, remorseless behaviour with a lack of empathy.]]
** [[spoiler:Azazel/YED taunted Dean with this possibility in the season two finale, after Dean had made the deal by selling his soul to bring back Sam.]]
** [[spoiler:More than implied in season six. It was confirmed in "Family Matters" (no, not the [[Series/FamilyMatters 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.]]

* CatapultNightmare: Averted in most of the season one episodes when Sam was having prophetic nightmares.

* AChatWithSatan: In season[[spoiler:s]] five [[spoiler:to seven]], Sam had similar talks like this with Lucifer, but Sam has been able to resist Lucifer's seductive nature. In season five, Sam was communicating with Lucifer in person with Lucifer trying to [[spoiler: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 NotSoDifferent speech 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. [[spoiler:In season seven, 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.]]

** [[spoiler: Sam was the Chosen One for closing the Gates of Hell in season eight.]]

* ClassicalAntiHero: Especially from seasons one to three. Eventually, Sam becomes a significantly darker character and he progressively slides down the anti-hero scale.

* ComatoseCanary: Sam in season six. [[spoiler: 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, [[spoiler: at the beginning of the last episode of season six "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 nine, [[spoiler: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 as am's knowledge or true consent just so that Sam would be alive.]]

* TheConscience: Sam has always been a MoralityPet or a MoralityChain 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 [[KnightTemplar ruthless]], [[{{Jerkass}} heartless]], [[BloodKnight blood thirsty]] [[TheBerserker killer]]. This is played up even more in season 9 onwards when Dean received [[spoiler: 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 [[ThePowerOfLove Dean's strong love for Sam]] [[LoveRedeems and Sam ''himself'' that ultimately saved Dean and his soul from being eternally damned by the MOC]].]]

** In season four, Sam faced conflict in regards to his loyalty to Dean and his loyalty to Ruby.

* CorruptTheCutie: [[spoiler:Ruby did this with Sam in season four, 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.]]

** Sam loses many important people in his life through death, most importantly his mother Mary and the love of his life, Jessica. He loses [[spoiler:his father, John,]] at the beginning of season two and he loses [[spoiler:Dean]] at the end of season three after failing to [[spoiler:save him from going to Hell. This triggers Sam's slow turn to TheDarkSide]] in season four. Sam feels responsible for all of their deaths in one way or another and therefore, harbours a lot of guilt.

* DamagedSoul: [[spoiler:Sam in season six, 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).]]

* DarkMessiah: In season four, [[spoiler: 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 [[UnwittingPawn right into Lilith's hands]] until it's too late.]]

* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: The [[spoiler: demon blood he drinks]] in season four seems to have an effect on his personality, though it isn't clear how big this effect is exactly.

* DeathSeeker: In season one, Sam was willing to die killing YED, and in season two, he wanted to be killed before his destiny could change him. Sam's entire season four arc was suicidal, as was season five, which ended with Sam [[spoiler: jumping into Hell's solitary confinement to take Lucifer with him.]]

* DemonicPossession[=/=]SymbioticPossession: [[spoiler: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.

* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler: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 [[DealWithTheDevil makes a deal with a demon]] [[BackFromTheDead to bring Sam back.]] 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.]]

* DirtyBusiness: In seasons four and five, every time [[spoiler:Sam drinks demon blood to fuel his powers]] he looks at it this way.

* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler: In season six, 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. [[WhatCouldveBeen It was even stated that getting Sam's soul back was supposed to be the main plot of season six]], which would've made him the BigBad of the season. His souless counterpart makes a reappearance in the finale, but is once again defeated, this time for good, before the confrontation with Raphael, Crowley, and Castiel]].

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:In the season two 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 five 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... TheSoulless without his soul.]]

* DoomMagnet: 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 [[spoiler: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 four, 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 [[{{Satan}} 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 [[TheSoulless 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 seven, when Dean (and Castiel) end up trapped in Purgatory. Sam goes on for a whole year thinking that Dean is dead. In season eight, 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 nine; 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.]]

** Another for Sam would be the angst-filled, additional ICannotSelfTerminate in "When the Levee Breaks." In the finale of Season Four, Sam doesn't believe he will—or want to—survive either.

** [[spoiler: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.]]

* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: [[spoiler:In season four, 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 four 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.]]

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:In the epic season five 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.]]

* EmpoweredBadassNormal: [[spoiler:After drinking tons of demon blood]] and again [[spoiler:after he [[TheSoulless 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 four, [[spoiler: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 BadassNormal.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: In the season nine premiere, Sam faces [[TheGrimReaper 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.]]

* FailureToSaveMurder: Sam fits this trope frequently throughout the series on various different occasions. The most notable one is when San failed to [[spoiler:prevent Dean from going to Hell]] at the end of season three. Because of this, Sam ended up feeling like he failed and ended up harbouring guilt as a result.

* FateWorseThanDeath: The end of season five had Sam [[spoiler: stuck in hell's solitary confinement with vengeful archangels FallenAngel [[ArchangelLucifer Lucifer]] and [[ArchangelMichael Michael]] torturing him creatively for five thousand years or so.]]

* FightingFromTheInside: At the end of season five [[spoiler: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.]]

** In ''Mystery Spot'', [[spoiler: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 one after Azazel killed his fiancee, 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.

* GodzillaThreshold: By the end of season five, [[spoiler: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 [[ArchangelMichael 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 four, they'd all pretty much realised that they were [[OhCrap screwed]].]]

* GoingColdTurkey: In season four, [[spoiler: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.]]

* GoodGirlGoneBad: 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 four.

* HandicappedBadass: In season seven, Sam still managed to be a very effective hunter despite [[spoiler: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 eight, 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).]]

** 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 four, when he became vengeful against Lilith over [[spoiler: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, [[spoiler:in season six, when Sam was [[TheSoulless 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 [[spoiler:Dean died in ''Mystery Spot'' and the season three finale. While he thinks killing Lilith is the only way to prevent the Apocalypse and feeding [[PsychoSerum 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.]]

* TheHeart: 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 1st and 2nd 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 [[spoiler: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.]]

* HeartbrokenBadass: 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 four when Sam became significantly darker and darker to the point where [[spoiler:he started to fall to TheDarkSide 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.

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Especially during season four. 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 ConflictingLoyalty between the two, which led to Sam's moral status constantly being in question.

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:The moment at the end of season four 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 [[DownplayedTrope moment]] when he realizes he's just an UnwittingPawn who [[NiceJobBreakingItHero screwed up big time]] and brought about the apocalypse. [[HeroicBSOD His face]] conveys complete devastation and he's barely even paying attention when he and Dean kill Ruby.]]

* HeroicBuild: Not initialy, but as of season 4 Sam is built like a brick wall. Or perhaps, more like Clark Kent/Superman.

* HeroicResolve: While possessed by Lucifer in the season five finale, Sam was able to take back control of his body from Lucifer's possession while he was violently beating Dean.

* HeroicSacrifice: Sam's season 4 HeroicSacrifice which is averted when his own attempt to sacrifice his soul to save Dean is ''rejected''. [[spoiler:His resulting decision to [[DrivenToSuicide damn himself slowly]] by [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil using his powers]] ''seems'' like a noble act - until you get to the end and realize that Sam's efforts have been fueled by [[PsychoSerum demon blood]] that intensifies pride in his own abilities and a sense of superiority to the point where he believes he is TheOnlyOne 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 [[IDidWhatIHadToDo in a very destructive]] [[HeroicRROD (especially]] [[SuicideMission self-]][[TheDarkSide destructive)]] [[DeathEqualsRedemption way]]. He can't know that killing [[ApocalypseMaiden Lilith]] starts the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Apocalypse]]; the angels hid that so he would [[SignsOfTheEndTimes 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 [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of this trope that everything turns out so badly.
** [[MustMakeAmends Sam]] [[spoiler:in the season five 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.]]

** Sam, in season five finale ''Swan Song'', [[spoiler: 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 six finale. He manages to [[spoiler: overcome his "inner demons" such as his past guilt and facing all sides of himself, including [[TheSoulless Soulless Sam]] and Hell-Tortured Sam]] and drag himself to assist Dean and Bobby in the battle [[spoiler: against Castiel and Crowley despite obviously suffering under the strain of his "hell memories".]]

* HiddenBadass: Only in the beginning of the series, in particular in season one. 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.

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Sam is very trusting and naive. Hence, he doesn't realize when he is being used, manipulated and corrupted (i.e. [[spoiler:Ruby in season four]]).

* HorrorHunger: [[spoiler:Sam suffered from this in regards to his desire and thirst for demon blood throughout season four and season five 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.]]

* HowDoIShotWeb: In season four, Ruby [[spoiler: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.

** Sam and Ruby in season 4. Sam is a whole foot taller than Ruby.

** Subverted twice for Sam. In season two episode "Born Under A Bad Sign" Sam pleads with Dean (who [[BigBrotherInstinct obviously]] can't) to kill him after he kills another hunter while possessed. At the end of season four in "When the Levee Breaks", while suffering [[spoiler: withdrawal from demon blood, Sam tells Bobby to shoot him if he wants to help.]]

* ICanStillFight: [[spoiler:Despite Sam being seriously ill and weakened in season eight 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".]]

* IdealHero: At the start of the series, in the 1st 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.

** In season 10, in order to find his brother Dean [[spoiler: who had been turned into a demon, Sam takes a man named Lester to a crossroad to capture a demon for informations. 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.]]

* IJustWantToBeNormal: 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 two, he drops this attitude and decides to devote his life to hunting in the wake of [[spoiler: 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 BigBad. Then he found out he had demonic powers and after getting a taste of TheDarkSide, decided he was too much of a freak to ever have a normal life.

* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: [[spoiler: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.]]

* ImpostorExposingTest: When Sam comes BackFromTheDead in season six, 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 [[spoiler:got back from Hell.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Arrogance can be one of Sam's biggest flaws, although it's amplified in season four once [[spoiler:the demon blood-induced power trip starts.]]

* IllBoy: Sam is this quite often. In season seven, [[spoiler: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 eight, 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.]]

* ImaginaryEnemy: In the seventh season, Sam begins [[spoiler:hallucinating that Lucifer (the BigBad of season five) 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 SchrodingersButterfly 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.]]

* TheInsomniac: Sam starts staying up all night in the first season when he's having nightmares about Jessica. In a much creepier example, he also stops sleeping entirely in season six, when he's [[spoiler: [[TheSoulless lost his soul]].]] And for several days in season seven, [[spoiler: to the point where he nearly dies, after the hallucination of Lucifer left over from his time in Hell becomes unbearable.]]

* {{Jerkass}}: Oh boy, [[spoiler:when Sam was soulless in season six, he was far from the empathetic, kind, and sensitive Sammy that we all know and love.]]

** In the 6th season's finale, [[spoiler: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 8th 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.

* KickTheMoralityPet: Throughout season four, Sam [[spoiler: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 four, Sam breaks the final seal by using his abilities to kill Lillith, which results in starting the apocalypse and freeing Lucifer afterwards.]])

* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:At the end of season two, when Sam is stabbed to death in the back by Jake Talley.]] That was his first death of many.

* KnightTemplarBigBrother: 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 four, when Sam became very vengeful and determined to bring Dean back and kill Lillith for taking his elder brother away from him.

* LiteralSplitPersonality: In the season 6 finale of Supernatural, Sam is stuck in a MentalWorld where his identity has split into three personalities: Sam, [[spoiler: Soulless Sam, and the Sam who's been tortured in the Cage]]. Finding his way out of there requires the other two to [[SplitPersonalityMerge merge back into him]].

* LoveMakesYouEvil: In season three and four, Sam started turning to TheDarkSide so that he could get revenge on Lillith for killing Dean and for him going to Hell at the end of season three. 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.

* TheMentallyDisturbed: [[spoiler:In season seven, 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.]]

* MessianicArchetype: 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 eight 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 [[DarkMessiah his demonic destiny]] that's alluded to throughout the seasons - [[spoiler:to be the vessel for [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]], he's also set up as the [[TheAntiChrist Anti Christ]].]]

** 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.

* MoralityChain: 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 [[spoiler: Dean has the Mark Of Cain ''and'' The First Blade.]]

* MoralityPet: For Ruby in seasons three and four.

* MustMakeAmends: 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 four (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 four, Sam made it his mission to undo all of the mistakes and damage that he had done and caused by willing to make a [[HeroicSacrifice deal]] with [[{{Satan}} 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 four when he released Lucifer.

* NominalHero: [[spoiler:In season six. 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.]]

* NotAfraidToDie: It seems as though Sam does not fear the thought of dying and this is especially evident in both the season eight finale and in the season nine premiere.

** In the first half of season six, due to [[spoiler:[[TheSoulless no longer having a soul]]]].

* NotSoDifferent: In season one, 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 [[spoiler: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 HoYay and/or IncestSubtext in that it became clear that while Sam became somewhat obsessive and driven after Jess' 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.

%%* OddCouple: With Dean.

* TheOnlyOne: 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. [[spoiler:Sam succeeds at this by throwing himself (with Lucifer possessing him) and [[ArchangelMichael Michael]] (who was possessing Adam) into the pit in the season five finale.]]

* OpposedMentors: In season four, Sam faced ConflictingLoyalty and choosing between his loyalty to Dean and his loyalty to Ruby. At the end of season four, [[spoiler:Sam does end up choosing Ruby over Dean, his own brother, which shows just how far to TheDarkSide Sam had fallen.]]

** [[spoiler:Also subverted at the end of season five, when Sam dies by sacrificing himself to an eternity in Hell. However, Sam is resurrected when Castiel pulls him out of Hell [[TheSoulless without his soul though.]]]]

** Played straight at the end of season five. [[spoiler:In Sam's [[SelfSacrificeScheme plan]] to prevent both [[KillAllHumans Lucifer's Apocalypse]] and Michael's killing of Lucifer [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans that will destroy half the world]], [[ThickerThanWater the power of love]] does save the day. Dean's presence gives Sam the [[HeroicWillPower strength]] to [[FightingFromTheInside beat Lucifer]] and throw himself (with Lucifer inside) into Hell's solitary confinement.]]

* ProHumanTranshuman: Although Sam possesses demonic abilities, Sam tries to remain as human as possible. In season two, Sam even said that if he becomes a monster or something that he is not, that Dean has to kill him.

* [[AloofBigBrother Aloof Younger Brother]]: Zig-zagged in regards to Sam. Sam is smarter, more practical and more refined than Dean, who is much more impulsive and rogue. Sam is also more introverted, calm, cool and collected while Dean is more extroverted, hot-headed and passionate. Sam gets straight A's, received a scholarship or free ride and attended an UsefulNotes/IvyLeague school (Stanford University), and was an aspiring lawyer. Sam also developed special powers which made him at times, significantly stronger and more powerful than Dean, who was a regular human who had no superhuman abilities. Plus, Sam had a normal life and got away from the hunting life, unlike Dean, who was ultimately trapped in it from a young age. Sam was also in a serious romantic relationship with the love of his life Jessica whom he was going to marry and settle down with. In season one, 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 was also jealous of the fact that their father seemed to pay more attention to Sam than he did to 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.

* ActionDuo: With Dean of course. They hunt supernatural beings for a living and are constantly engaged in battle together. The two brothers compliment each other and each has what the other is lacking. For example, Sam is the BadassBookworm, who is the brains of the duo, the one who researches the hunt. He is the one who looks up what needs to be done through the use of the internet, books, literature, etc. Dean, on the other hand, is more of the BloodKnight who is the brawn in the duo. He is the one who is more into the fighting, killing and kicking ass. They both have different skills that contribute to their duo and complements them as a pair.

* BadDreams: Sam experienced psychic visions, usually of premonitions of people in danger or people who are going to die in the future. These dreams occurred during the first and second seasons. Although these dreams would often help Sam and Dean during a hunt, they would also be incredibly scary and traumatic for Sam as quite a few of them would occur at night when Sam was sleeping. It's also incredibly disturbing for Sam as Sam continuously sees morbid thoughts and visions of people constantly dying and there is nothing that Sam can do to prevent it or stop it from happening. However, there were some cases in which Sam and Dean were able to prevent or stop the premonitions from coming true.