History Supernatural / TropesAToD

* AffablyEvil: Casey in "Sin City," the old Pagan God couple in "A Very Supernatural Christmas," [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]], Patrick (the card-playing he-witch in "The Curious Case of Dean Winchester") and Crowley. Osiris often comes across as this in "Defending Your Life".

* AllTherapistsAreMuggles: In the episode "Sam, Interrupted", Sam and Dean do go to a therapist and try to explain their problems. Shortly after they start into ''why'' they have these issues they get committed. [[spoilers:(Fortunately, that was the plan.)]]

* AlwaysABiggerFish: When the Winchesters have been taken captive by a dozen pagan gods [[CrossoverCosmology from different pantheons]], they are "rescued" when Lucifer arrives and kills them all.

* BloodyBowelsOfHell: How [[spoiler:Meg-in-Sam]] describes {{Hell}} in "Born Under a Bad Sign." This is later changed [[spoiler: Crowley changes it into eternity of endlessly waiting in line as a CoolAndUnusualPunishment]]

* BeyondTheImpossible: [[spoiler: Normally, unless you are soulmates, you are limited to your own personal sphere of Heaven. Unless your name is ''Ash' however, who managed to discover a means to ''hack'' Heaven and walk between the difference spheres, for the express purpose of partying with famous figures from history.]]

* BigBad:
** Azazel in Seasons 1 and 2, Lilith in Seasons 3 and 4. [[spoiler:Late in Season 4, it turns out that Lucifer has been the true BigBad all along and [[http://www.buddytv.com/slideshows/supernatural-azazels-master-plan-43052.aspx everything in the plot]], going back to decades before it, was [[GambitRoulette according to his plan]].]]
** In Season 6, after [[BigBadEnsemble much]] [[EvilVersusEvil competing]] between Crowley, Eve, Raphael and [[spoiler: Castiel]], the true BigBad turns out to be [[spoiler: Cas, who manipulates everyone else in order to become God]].
** And in the season 7 premiere, [[spoiler: we learn that Cas accidentally released some ancient {{Eldritch Abomination}}s called Leviathans, which take control of Cas's body and (seemingly) kill him, before mass possessing numerous humans. Right now, it seems safe to assume they (specifically, their seeming leader, Dick) are the new BigBad]].
* BigDamnHeroes:

-->'''Dean''': (Panicked) Who are you?\\

** In "All Hell Breaks Loose", Dean lets out one when he just finally found Sam and seen him get stabbed in the back. Helped by the fact that the viewers are probably feeling the same thing and his look of complete panic and devastation at the sight of his little brother getting knifed.

** Sam also lets one out at the end of the pilot episode when Jessica dies.
** This is Gordon's reaction in "Fresh Blood" as he's being [[spoiler:turned into a vampire]].

** Human blood is used by demons to contact other demons, and can be used by Angels to communicate across dimensions.

* {{Adorkable}}: The titular character in "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo" is very plainly this, almost [[{{Anvilicious}} excessively]] so.
* ActorAllusion: In Season 5 Dean tells a pagan forest god, who is disguised as {{Paris Hilton}}, that he hasn't even seen {{House of Wax}}. Dean then gets and aside glance from Sam. Jared Padalecki, who plays Sam, had a supporting role in that movie.

* TheAtoner:

** Anna gets two in "On the Head of a Pin":

* BecauseISaidSo: Dean ''still'' pulls this on Sam [[spoiler:and Castiel once]], and the Dad abused this trope their whole lives.

* BeingGoodSucks: Sam and Dean's job as hunters is dangerous, completely unremunerative and, aside from individual thanks from the people they save, the good they do is largely overlooked. The law is after them for a good portion of the series, both their parents and the great majority of their friends and allies have died in the fight, Dean's [[spoiler:been sent to Hell and back for his efforts]], Sam [[spoiler:goes to hell, too, and when body is pulled out but not his soul, he spends a year and a half being a soulless JerkAss and is now haunted by hallucinations relating to his time in hell]], and all without a roof over their heads. It is a wonder these guys can even get out of bed in the morning.

** In "On the Head of a Pin," [[spoiler:Anna]] saves Castiel just as he is about to be killed by [[spoiler:Uriel]].

** In "All Hell Breaks Loose", Dean lets out one when he just finally found Sam and seen him get stabbed in the back. Helped by the fact that the viewers are probably feeling the same thing and his look of complete panic and devastation at the sight of his little brother getting knifed.

** Sam also lets one out at the end of the pilot episode when Jessica dies.

* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Happens ''twice'' in the ''pilot episode'' for Sam. First, his Dad goes missing and Dean comes to get him. He refuses ''that'' after killing the {{monster of the week}}, but watching his girlfriend burn up on the ceiling like his mother finally forces him to take the call for good.

** Heavily implied/outright stated for [[spoiler: Sam and Dean after Seasons Two and Three, respectively]].

* CartwrightCurse: Poor Sam.

* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: Implied in an episode, although when two male characters who are not having sex spend all their time together, it is to be expected.

* ChessWithDeath: Dean has one of these with Death: in exchange for bringing Sam's soul back to his body Dean has to do his job for a day. Dean ends up failing the test, but Death returns the soul anyway. Firstly because his real reason for the task was to show Dean what forces he was messing with by constantly resurrecting, and also because Sam and Dean's current investigation suited his purposes. He may have wanted a day off too.

* ConspiracyTheorist: At least two such characters show up:

* CrystalDragonJesus: Teetering on the precipice of this trope. While pretty much all of the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Apocalypse]] storyline contains heavy use of individual elements and characters from Christian eschatology, the actual usage of God, Lucifer, the angels and the demons, to say nothing of the complete and utter absence of Jesus, really ends up presenting a pseudo-Christian world where most of the [[TheBible Biblical]] characters are really CaptainErsatz versions of the ones from the source material and their link to the religion overall is essentially as a [[ReimaginingTheArtifact fantasy remake]] of the original with updated, modernized, characters cherry-picked for dramatic convenience.
* CurbStompBattle: The Winchesters, especially, get their asses handed to them by the BigBad all the time.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Crowley. He correctly deduces Lucifer’s inherent hatred of Demons, while his Demonic compatriots are all blind to this. In season 6 he takes the Winchesters very seriously as a threat and takes appropriate steps to foil them (including [[spoiler:faking his own death]]), even [[LampshadeHanging pointing out]] all the {{Big Bad}}s who were killed or defeated by failing to do just that.

--> '''Misha Collins''': (Typing into his phone) Ever. Get. The. Feeling. That. There's. Someone. In. The. Back. Seat? Frowny-face.
* DarkAndTroubledPast / DysfunctionJunction: if you haven't realised already that this show '''is this trope incarnate'', then you obviously have not seen the first episode. Or any episode. Or were severely inebriated or high while watching... Or some combination of the above.

* DarkMessiah: in Season 4, [[spoiler:Sam heads this way, fully [[DrivenToSuicide expecting]]/[[DeathSeeker intending]] to die killing Lilith and willing to [[ShootTheDog shoot a few dogs]] to do so. In his [[{{Pride}} arrogance]], he doesn't realize he's [[UnwittingPawn played right into Lilith's hands]] until [[NiceJobBreakingItHero it's too late]].]]

** Played straight with many other deaths, most notably those of [[spoiler:Jo and Ellen]] and [[spoiler:Bobby Singer]].

* DeathSeeker: The brothers live here.
** Dean's earliest brush is season one episode "Faith" when he learns that a faith healer saving him caused the death of a young man. After his Dad dies for him, he becomes tired of this life, selling his soul to get Sam back when ''he'' dies. By season five, Dean's even more tired of [[TheHunter the life]], even willing to be possessed by Michael to stop Lucifer.

* DevilButNoGod: Basically assumed true until Season 4, where angels of the Lord started showing up. God is confirmed to exist in Season 5, but he [[spoiler: refuses to do anything]].

* DidYouJustScamCthulhu:

** "The Man Who Would Be King": [[spoiler: With Castiel subsequently "betraying" the Winchesters and Dean begging Castiel to reconsider. To finish off your already distraught heart, they end with Castiel pleading with god to tell him if he's "traveling the wrong path" only to get no answer from god.]]
** "The Man Who Knew Too Much" [[spoiler: where Castiel's betrayal of the Winchesters is further cemented with him absorbing the souls of Purgatory and commanding the Winchesters and Bobby to bow down before him or face the consequences]]

** Dean slips into suicidal DeathSeeker mode quite often given the opportunity. He will sacrifice himself in a heart-beat to save someone and his complete lack of self-worth adds some very disturbing implications to his actions.

** In "Tall Tales" the janitor turns out to be a Trickster, a demigod that can create things out of thin air in order to [[ForTheEvulz cause chaos and mess with people]]. Later it is discovered that [[spoiler:he is actually the ArchangelGabriel]].

* AndYourLittleDogToo: People do this to Dean pretty often (in the form of "I'll kill your brother" or "[[ShameIfSomethingHappened Sam doesn't need legs]]), and [[BerserkButton it's always a bad idea]].

* AllWebbedUp: The victims of the Arachne in "Unforgiven".
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The Roadhouse is destroyed by demons in the Season 2 finale, and [[spoiler: Bobby's house]] is destroyed by the Leviathans near the beginning of Season 7.

* AnalProbing:
** In "Tall Tales," in which the Trickster forges ''lots'' of strange happenings in a college town, one of them involves a guy who has been abducted by "aliens." The victim's experience involved [[BlackComedyRape being repeatedly probed]] (a total of eight times according to the dialogue). This ordeal apparently paled in comparison to being forced to slow-dance with one of the aliens to "Lady in Red."
** In "Clap Your Hands If you Believe" Dean is on his cell phone with Sam when what appears to be a UFO's search light starts chasing him. Figuring that Dean is having a close encounter of the third kind, Sam advises "Third kind already? You better run, man. I think the fourth kind is the butt thing."
* AndIMustScream:
** Season 2's "No Exit" had Dean, Sam and Jo trap H. H. Holmes (the United States' first recognized serial killer) spirit in a ring of salt, in the middle of an iron barred sewer, because they could not salt his bones since they were encased in tons of concrete. To make sure that his spirit never got out, they encased ''it'' in tons of concrete.
** In Season 3's "Time Is On My Side", Dean and Sam face the immortal Dr. Benton. Unable to kill him, they bury him alive to be trapped underground forever.

* BadGuyBar: Shows up in "The Magnificent Seven" and ends with a hunter chugging drain cleaner while his wife watches.

* TheBigBadWolf: In "BedtimeStories", a young man with a Wile E. Coyote tattoo gets [[MindControl hypnotised]] into being this.

* BlackComedyRape: What happens to the frat boy in Tall Tales.

** The daughter in the Season 3 episode "Bedtime Stories," who somehow makes the people in her town re-enact the fairy tales read to her by her father.

** The opening of "Clap Your Hands if you Believe", which was itself a ShoutOut to ''TheXFiles'', was put together from clips of previous episodes - including the slow-dancing alien from the first Trickster episode.

* DeadExMachina: [[spoiler:John Winchester]] in the second half of "All Hell Breaks Loose."

** In several episodes, including "In My Time of Dying", "Crossroad Blues", "All Hell Breaks Loose Part II", and a major plot point in Season 3.

** An in-universe example during the first half of "Tall Tales."

** "Metamorphosis" [[spoiler:ends with the boys both on a whole new level of fucked-up and their relationship at an all-time low]], "Time Is On My Side", "Red Sky At Morning", "Jus in Bello" ([[spoiler:demons kill nearly everyone]]), "Crossroad Blues", "What Is and What Should Never Be" ([[spoiler:the bit where Dean decides to get back to reality is more of a weak and mewling 'yay' moment and Sam can't even convince him that what they do is worth it]]), "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part I" ([[spoiler:Sam dies, but he recovers)]], "Heart" ([[spoiler:Sam kills Madison, see {{Wangst}}]]), "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" ([[spoiler:Dean's crying over John's death and there's nothing Sam can say to make it alright]]), "Everybody Loves A Clown" ([[spoiler:Dean shows how violently not okay he is by smashing his beloved car seventeen times]]), "In My Time of Dying" ([[spoiler:John sells his soul to save Dean]]), and...this is too depressing. There are a lot of downer endings for this show. ''A lot''.

** In "Tall Tales," in which the Trickster forges LOTS of strange happenings in a college town, one of them involves a guy who has been abducted by "aliens." The victim's experience involved [[RapeAsComedy being repeatedly probed]] (a total of eight times according to the dialogue). This ordeal apparently paled in comparison to being forced to slow-dance with one of the aliens to "Lady in Red."

* DoNotPassGo: Said by the demon Alistair during Dean's ColdBloodedTorture of him.

* DisposableWoman: There are already two by the first episode. In fact, one wonders if there were any women on the writing team. Well, except for all the FetishFuel. (Although, to be fair, those two women were not forgotten. The men who loved them basically declared war on the forces of hell over them. Also, almost ''everyone'' who appears on the show dies.)

*** Although it looks decidedly less badass when [[spoiler:worn over a patient uniform.]]

* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: In the season five finale of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Sam invokes this trope to stop the apocalypse. He [[spoiler:invites Lucifer to possess him, then [[HeroicWillpower throws the both of them]] back into the Devil's Cage.]]

** Season 7 Finale: Castiel and Dean [[spoiler:just killed Dick Roman and the Leviathans, but are dragged along with his soul into the dimensional realm of Purgatory, where the soul of every monster that ever lived hunt for all eternity. Sam is left completely alone back on Earth.]]

* BreakTheGamebreaker: Any time Castiel was killed or sent away by sigil; basically the whole of his depowering in five. In season 7, [[spoiler: As soon as Castiel gets his memories and full angelic power back, he becomes insane since he takes Lucifer into his mind.]]

** Season 7 Finale: Castiel and Dean [[spoiler:just killed Dick Roman and the Leviathans, but are dragged along with his soul into the dimensional realm of Purgatory, where the soul of every monster that ever lived hunt for all eternity. Sam is left completely alone back on Earth.]]

** He might have meant well, but John Winchester was a neglectful bastard who messed up his sons incredibly badly. Even Dean, who began to series utterly devoted to John, eventually admitted that he was an "obsessed bastard."