History Supernatural / TropesAToD

** Season 12 reveals that the Men of Letters' London Chapter are this: they see any and ''all'' supernatural beings on Earth sans those they've made deals with as things to be completely exterminated, regardless of whether or not they're a threat. [[spoiler:They even target and kill ''psychics'' for not being close enough to their idea of human]].

** Season 3: Lilith, with Bela Talbot and Gordon Walker serving as recurring threats.

** Season 6: Raphael, Crowley, and [[spoiler:[[BigBadFriend Castiel]]]]. Samuel Campbell is Crowley's {{Dragon}}, while Eve and Soulles Sam are [[DiscOneFinalBoss Disc-One Final Bosses]].

** Season 10: Rowena, though the [[EnemyWithin Mark of Cain]] is a bigger source of conflict and converts Dean into TheHeavy. The Styne Family and Metatron are {{Big Bad Wannabe}}s.

** Season 14: [[spoiler:Apocalypse World Michael, with Nick and Duma as secondary threats that take prominence after his death. God is revealed to have been the GreaterScopeVillain of the entire series.]]
** Season 15: [[spoiler:God and Billie (the new Death), with Lilith as the former's {{Dragon}} and Belphegor as a DiscOneFinalBoss.]]

** Another episode has Sam & Dean Winchester leading completely different lives as unrelated people [[MeaningfulName Dean Smith and Sam Wesson]], an executive and an IT guy working at the same firm who get sucked into a supernatural mystery. Turns out it's a ploy by some angels.

** "My Heart Will Go On" features a fallen angel going back in time and changing the timeline, preventing the ''Titanic'' from sinking, and causing all sorts of ripple effects. Sam and Dean are blissfully unaware that they're living in an altered timeline until they discover it over the course of the episode.

* CelebrityParadox: Contains numerous examples due to the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and ReferenceOverdosed nature of the show:

* AdultFear: Episodes like "The Kids are Alright," "Home," and others deal with things that would scare the hell out of any parent with a young child.

* DatingCatwoman: Most times where a villain takes an interest in one of the heroes it's just unidirectional FoeYay. There are some cases where the heroic one reciprocates, though.

** Castiel's and Meg's FoeYay attraction spread out over seasons six through eight comes without any mention of the fact that Castiel is possessing Jimmy Novak (who is at this point dead, though this was not clarified for many seasons and, even then, runs into the same ILoveTheDead issue as above). Nor is it ever brought up that Meg is possessing someone, even to give the justification played with Ruby.

* CoolCar: The Impala. So much so it even has its own FanNickname: The Metallicar.

* BackgroundHalo: In a promo pic of Dean.
* BackingIntoDanger: Parodied in an episode where Sam & Dean are TrappedInTVLand, the sitcomesque SpecialEditionTitle shows them walking backwards into each other while hunting. They jump, turn, and then laugh at each other.

* DramaticSitDown: In the Season 4 finale, Sam sits on the floor and stares on in horror after he realized that, by killing Lilith, he [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero set Lucifer free]]]]. Ruby monologues until Dean bursts in and they kill Ruby together.

** It actually is revealed how it's possible. In the past, one dragon deliberately sacrificed itself so Eve, the mother of all monsters, could use its blood to forge a sword after seeing how the powerful and dangerous dragons had an unfair advantage against humans and other monsters.

* CeilingCorpse: This was what became of Sam's girlfriend in Season 1 and her body is revealed when [[DroolHello it drips blood on his face.]] It was a repeat of what happened with his mother.

* {{Asexuality}}: Angels generally don't care about sex or sexual orientation even a tiny bit. Now, ''hypocrisy'' is something else entirely.
-->'''Castiel:''' [[YouAreWhatYouHate Tell your flock where your genitals have been before you speak for me.]]

** Several seasons later, Mary [[DiscussedTrope discusses}} the issue when she cuts her hair to prepare for returning to hunting life:

** Due to the show's AnyoneCanDie status, the deaths of '''named''' queer characters are either downplayed or justified examples, if only because of the sheer amount of straight characters who also suffer awful, unfair, and tragic deaths.

** Happens twice to Sam, once in Season 2 when he's collapsed on the floor next to Dean and a villain lifts his head by the hair, and again in Season 4's "I Know What You Did Last Summer" flashback when Ruby reunites with him and her fellow demon holds Sam upright by his hair.
** Dean isn't spared from this either, despite his shorter style, Abaddon grabs him this way while he's down in Season 9's "Devil May Cry".
** Several seasons later, Mary {{Lampshades}} the issue when she cuts her hair to prepare for returning to hunting life:

* BreakTheCutie: Poor Sam. Poor Castiel. And poor, ''poor'' Dean.
* 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. When he recovers from *that*, he's a cloud-cuckoo-lander who would rather watch insects than fight...especially since he's still guilt-ridden from giving the Leviathans a free ride in the first place.]] The same could be said of the Colt; when first introduced, it could kill ''anything'', but had limited ammunition. They used all the bullets conservatively and only missed once. In Season 3, it got unlimited ammo, making it a gamebreaker, so it was stolen by Bela after a few episodes, and not seen again until Season 5. [[spoiler:Lucifer]] revealed that he was immune to its effects, but it would have sufficed against lesser threats so they lost it, and it hasn't been seen since except in a few time-travel episodes.
* BreatherEpisode: Usually the signal for the ''next'' episode to crank the '''{{Angst}}!''' to the max.

* DeusExitMachina: Having Castiel around and fully angeled-up is basically the Easy Button, so he gets hit with this a lot, usually involving PowerAtAPrice. In Season 5, he's specifically depowered to avoid this, so feats like time travel nearly kill him, and his healing and resurrection powers become limited. Eventually, they begin saddling him with other plots so he's not around Sam and Dean to help him.

** Subverted in the series' finale [[spoiler:Dean's actual cause of death is very mundane, being shoved onto a piece of rebar while fighting off vampires, but he still spends seven minutes giving his heartwarming FinalSpeech to Sam where he admits his fears from the pilot episode that Sam wouldn't want anything to do with him after he left for Stanford.]]

*** Dean's earliest brush is Season 1 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 5, Dean's even more tired of [[HunterOfMonsters the life]], even willing to be possessed by Michael to stop Lucifer.
*** In Season 1, Sam was willing to die killing Azazel/YED, and in Season 2, he wanted to be killed before his destiny could change him. Sam's entire Season 4 arc was suicidal, as was Season 5, which ended with Sam [[spoiler:jumping into Hell's solitary confinement to take Lucifer with him]].

** Abaddon is a Knight of Hell (possibly the last), one of the first-fallen demons handpicked by Lucifer. As such, she displays abilities not used by any other demon, and can only be killed by an Archangel (who are all conveniently either dead or locked in Hell).
*** In Season 9 [[spoiler:Dean himself becomes a Knight of Hell after the Mark of Cain resurrects him as a demon.]]

** While at the time of Season 2, [[spoiler:Azazel]] was a very major threat, but ultimately made way for Lilith and Lucifer himself.

* DivineInfernalFamily

** Although Dean is NotAfraidToDie, there are only a few circumstances where he deliberately tries to off himself: "Croatoan" where he stays with Sam despite the fact that Sam is infected with the Crotoan virus and will kill him, "What Is And Never Should Be" where he stabs himself on the off-chance it wakes him up from the djinn's LotusEaterMachine world, "Point of No Return" when he writes a goodbye note and prepares to say yes to Michael, "Red Meat" when he believes Sam is dead and kills himself to speak to a reaper and trade his life, and not even three episodes later, Sam has succumbed to a Crotoan-esque situation and Dean tries to die with him, only to find out he's completely immune to the effect.
** Sam in "Playthings", [[ICannotSelfTerminate ''begs'' Dean to kill him if he ever turns dark]]. Two seasons later, while escaping the panic room in "When The Levee Breaks" Bobby stops him at gunpoint, and Sam reacts by grabbing the rifle at pointing the muzzle at his heart, telling Bobby to shoot. In the ensuing finale, Sam doesn't believe he will -- or want to -- survive killing Lilith. In Season 5, upon being told he's Lucifer's vessel, Sam says he'll kill himself first, to which Lucifer nonchalantly says he'll just resurrect Sam, which carries over to the hallucinated version of Lucifer, who suggests Sam kill himself ''three times''.

** Happens twice to Sam, once in Season 2 and again in Season 4's "I Know What You Did Last Summer" flashback.

** Several seasons later, Mary {{Lampshades}} the issue when she cuts her hair to prepare for returning to hunting:

* ByTheHair: Happens twice to Sam, once in Season 2 and again in Season 4's "I Know What You Did Last Summer" flashback. Several seasons later, Mary {{Lampshades}} the issue when she cuts her hair to prepare for returning to hunting:

* AbsoluteXenophobe: Lucifer is the most evil of the archangels, and [[FantasticRacism supremacist]] even by their standards (even the "good" celestials are fundamentalist racists who want to sacrifice half of mankind, in the Apocalyptic showdown). His end goal is to use the Apocalypse to wipe out all of humanity [[ItsAllAboutMe because they became God's favorite children instead of him]]. The demons are minions he created himself to be fiercely loyal to him and further his plans, but he actually despises them even more than humans, and plans to kill them all afterwards. He considers the other gods besides his father abominations and murders most of them personally. The only major group he doesn't ''actively'' plan to exterminate are the monsters, but then he never has any interaction with them, and considering his opinion of God's other creations it's likely not a positive one. (Lucifer may just be indifferent to the monsters because they aren't actually God's creations, they're [[OneBadMother Eve's]] ([[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Mother of All Monsters]]) children.) He wants angels alone to rule and inhabit Creation, and tries to tempt multiple celestials to join him.

** Lilith, the first demon.
** Also Eve, the mother of monsters.
** The Leviathans
** {{God}} himself is often accused of being a NeglectfulPrecursor at the very least. Ironically, the angels (especially Lucifer) are embittered because God supposedly favored humanity over them. But He has subsequently allowed angels, demons and monsters of all kinds to do horrific things to humanity without making more than a token effort to help and possibly (if He is indeed [[spoiler:Chuck]]) deriving personal entertainment from watching it all.

** Also, by his characterization Sam Winchester is this. As is Castiel in the earlier seasons and Kevin Tran.

* ActionGirl: Anna, Bela, and Jo all qualify. Meg, Ruby and Abaddon are [[DarkActionGirl Dark Action Girls]].
* ActionMom: Ellen Harvellle and Sheriff Jody Mills both kicked all kinds of butt. Also, [[spoiler:Mary Winchester, when pregnant with Dean in the episode "The Song Remains the Same".]]

* AerithAndBob: Frequently. Probably best exemplified by the fact that for the first two seasons, their primary enemy was the demon [[spoiler:Azazel]], and his [[TheDragon Dragon]], the demon Meg.
** Meg is the name of the possessed girl, the actual demon's name never being mentioned. The demon comments once that she thinks it's hilarious that the Winchesters still call her "Meg". It seems that she eventually just adopts this as her name.

* AesopAmnesia: All monsters are evil -- if you're not human, you're a "thing", and Winchesters hunt "things"! Only, Dean once learned that a vampire can fight its bloodlust by seeing a vamp do just that, knows that some ghosts are misunderstood, even had a very brief truce with a Leviathan (the beleaguered assistant). Doesn't stop him later refusing to even ''consider'' that werewolves might be able to resist human flesh [[spoiler:even when a friend is one of them]].
* 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 most notably, demon king extraordinaire Crowley. Osiris often comes across as this in "Defending Your Life". Though some of these are just FauxAffablyEvil
* TheAfterafterlife: The Empty is where Angels and Demons go when they die.

* AfterTheEnd: There are two different worlds where the Apocalypse took place and the Winchesters were powerless to stop it. The first was a BadFuture where Lucifer was victorious, creating an Earth inhabitated by zombies and demons. The other is an AlternateUniverse where the archangel Michael was victorious, but his version turns out to be an eternal battlefield where angels stomp on humans and demons alike. They're both bastards.

* 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. [[spoiler:(Fortunately, that was the plan.)]]
** This trope is the primary reason why Sam and Dean (and all other hunters) will never be able to adequately resolve the psychological issues they've accumulated over the years.

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: [[spoiler:Bobby's house]] is destroyed by the Leviathans near the beginning of Season 7.

* AllianceWithAnAbomination: The Winchesters have teamed up with cosmic beings on occasion to deal with other cosmic beings, most notably [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Castiel]] and even [[TheGrimReaper Death himself]].

* AlternateSelf: Several of these have been introduced with the introduction of TheMultiverse, including mainly an alternate ArchangelMichael, Bobby Singer, Kevin Tran and others from [[Characters/SupernaturalApocalypseWorld Apocalypse World]], the alternate Kaia from the Bad Place, and even an alternate Sam and Dean who are RichKids. There's also Dean's trip into a BadFuture in "[[Recap/SupernaturalS05E04TheEnd The End]]" where he meets his Bad Future self.
* AmbiguousDisorder: The angel Castiel has a lot of vaguely Aspergers-like traits (Literalmindedness , limited interpersonal skills and NoSenseOfHumor) and [[{{CloudCuckoolander}} schizoidal tendencies ]] which he attributes to not having spent much time on Earth, even though none of the other angels (including a number who have spent ''less'' time) have any of his problems. Before the civil war, he seems to have been fairly well-liked and to have had a good relationship with his angelic siblings, so his quirkiness probably hasn't caused him any real problems. Ultimately, Cas is most likely just socially awkward, and it has nothing to do with him being an angel.
** [[spoiler:One reason that Castiel has a problem with understanding Pop Culture as opposed to his angelic counterparts such as Anna, Uriel, Zachariah, etc, (who have all been able to understand and even make pop culture references of their own) may be due to Naomi's brainwashing, as it is revealed in Season 8 that she has been wiping his memory over and over again due to his multiple rebellions against Heaven. Because she's been wiping his memory indiscriminately, she'll erase what he's learned about pop culture along with everything else, whereas other angels will recall what they've learned about humanity.]]
** As the series has progressed several more angels, all relatively new to earth[[note]]read a few hundred-thousand years spent watching humanity[[/note]], have been shown to have similar issues to Cas, albeit usually a lot less noticeable. It usually becomes apparent when Cas uses an expression he learnt from Sam, Dean or Bobby and the new Angel doesn't understand, mirroring Cas's behavior with Sam and Dean

* AmnesiacsAreInnocent: Dean discovers a NotQuiteDead Castiel living as a faith healer named Emmanuel with no memory of his previous dark actions. Emmanuel is a peaceful and kind man who shows great empathy toward Dean even as he senses Dean is an unhappy and violent man. Naturally, Dean helps him get his memory back and he is immediately tormented by guilt.

** The episode "The Rapture", in a slight subversion, has the good guys bestow this kind of fate upon another good person. [[spoiler:Jimmy, the vessel for angel Castiel, begs Castiel to possess him to save his daughter from having a similar fate.]] It's essentially the fate for every human possessed by an angel or a demon, the angel deal being arguably worst since the human host can be killed when possessed by a demon but ''can't'' when possessed by an angel due to them having a built-in HealingFactor.

** In the fifth season finale, [[spoiler:Sam actually volunteers to trap Satan by allowing himself to be possessed by Satan and then jumping into an inescapable cage at the bottom of Hell. Because being locked up for all eternity with a very pissed-off fallen angel who has nothing to do but take out his frustration on Sam]] was the only way they could think of to prevent a global apocalypse. [[spoiler:Downplayed because his body gets set free by Castiel not long after, and his soul a year later by Death.]]
** Played for very dark comedy with a teddy bear brought to life by a child's wish, which finds it can't even commit suicide.

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: Used with many different characters throughout the series.

* AnimalWrongsGroup: Surprisingly, the Devil and his followers. He actually wants to turn Earth into a massive nature preserve...but he also wants to murder most of humanity and zombify most of the survivors.

* AngelicTransformation: The show zig zags this trope. Angels have human vessels, basically extra-devout humans who allow angels to use their bodies to become corporeal on Earth. But sometimes angels lose their grace, and become fully human; yet they continue to consider themselves as their angel self rather than their human self. For example, the human Jimmy Novak allowed the angel Castiel to use his body, but when Castiel becomes human he doesn't think of himself as Jimmy, he's still Castiel.
** Though, as Castiel himself states, Jimmy Novak had long since died by that point, having been obliterated by Lucifer (possessing Sam at the time). When he reappears after being rebuilt -- presumably by God -- in Season 6, it's more a case of AFormYouAreComfortableWith; giving Castiel a copy of Jimmy's body for his corporeal form so Sam and Dean would recognise him.
** Anna is an angel who chose to fall and become human, but when she retrieves and restores her grace, she undergoes an intense transformation back into an angel that involves a blinding white light. Later, Castiel undergoes a similar, if not as visually dramatic transformation when he restores his grace.

* AntiAntiChrist: [[spoiler:Sam, Jesse.]]
* TheAntichrist: [[spoiler:Jesse]]
* TheAntiGod: Death is portrayed as God's equal and antithesis, with God as the creator, and Death as the ender. As the AnthropomorphicPersonification of all death in the cosmos, he is far more significant than most of the Pagan gods in the series, who are more regular monsters with fancy titles. TheGrimReaper and God have both existed for so long that [[TimeAbyss they can't even remember anymore which of the two came first]], but Death thinks he will have to reap even God when creation ends. However unlike other examples of this trope he is neither evil, particularly destructive (aside from his "reaping") and is in fact one of the more benign entities in the show and possesses a dislike of the natural order being thrown into chaos.
* AntiHero: Though the protagonists work for the greater good, they support themselves financially through gambling, hustling pool and credit card fraud.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Despite making a career out of hunting supernatural menaces and retaining enough experience to fill an aircraft carrier, Sam and Dean Winchester almost inevitably have an argument over whether or not the MonsterOfTheWeek could be the real thing or not. Most of this is justified, because presumably the brothers get a lot of dud cases where it's nothing supernatural at all. We never see those cases because an episode consisting of Sam and Dean rolling into town, poking around for a while, concluding "Oh, some guy just got spooked by a barking dog," and rolling out again would be really boring. It's therefore always a legitimate question whether there's actually anything weird going on. Another arbitrary element of this is that the role of the [[AgentScully hard-line skeptic]] switches every time between Sam and Dean.
** Subverted in a first season episode where the MOTW turns out to be only [[{{Mundanger}} an ordinary human serial killer.]]

* ArchNemesis: Azazel for John, and to a slightly lesser extent Sam and Dean. Raphael for Castiel. Crowley for Meg.

* AscendedDemon: "Clip Show" reveals that a modified exorcism and purified human blood can turn a demon into a human.

* BackdoorPilot: Episode 20 of Season 9 and 'Wayward Sisters' were supposed to be this but the spinoff show didn't get picked up.

* BackingIntoDanger: In an episode where Sam & Dean are TrappedInTVLand, the sitcomesque SpecialEditionTitle shows them walking backwards into each other while hunting. They jump, turn, and then laugh at each other.

* BadassFamily: The Winchesters, the Campbells and the Harvelles.

** Dean does not have Sam's PsychicPowers to work with, but he holds his own pretty damn well against the MonsterOfTheWeek with a shotgun, some Latin, holy water and kick-ass fighting skills.

** Sam too. He only really uses his powers during Seasons 4 and some of 5.
** Hunters in general. It's kind of in the job description.

* BadBadActing: [[ItMakesSenseInContext Sam and Dean playing Jared and Jensen playing Sam and Dean]]
** Averted, of course, by the amazing acting from Jared and Jensen ''playing'' Sam and Dean playing meta!Jared and meta!Jensen playing Sam and Dean.
* BadFuture: "The End", with JerkAss Dean, zombie apocalypse, junkie-sex-guru Cas, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Sarah Palin as President]].

* BallisticDiscount: A [[MindControl mind-controlled]] man pulls this off [[spoiler:in one of Sam’s visions]], finishing by shooting himself.

* BavarianFireDrill: In order to find clues about the MonsterOfTheWeek, the boys regularly pose as police, FBI, priests, Forestry Service rangers, Homeland Security agents, Center for Disease Control officers, Health Department inspectors, state police troopers -- once they even pulled out badges to convince a little girl that they were teddy bear doctors.

* BeingGoodSucks: Sam and Dean's job as hunters is dangerous and 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 his body is pulled out but not his soul, he spends a year and a half being a soulless Jerk Ass and spends a season haunted by hallucinations relating to his time in hell]], and all without a roof over their heads. It's a wonder these guys can even get out of bed in the morning.

** It's implied that [[spoiler:Anna's Face Heel Turn is a result of her being tortured in Heaven]].

** Season 6 takes it even further, featuring four separate {{Big Bad}}s. Early on in the season, to start with, we have [[MagnificentBastard Crowley]] -- the new King of Hell -- who wants to find Purgatory and take control of its souls, and the ArchangelRaphael, who is trying to take control of Heaven and restart the Apocalypse. Then, midway through the season, we meet [[EldritchAbomination Eve]], the [[MotherOfAThousandYoung "Mother of All"]], who wants to [[KillAllHumans overrun the world with her "children"]]. And ''then'', a few episodes before the season finale, we find out that [[spoiler:Castiel]] has been in a [[EnemyMine tentative alliance]] with Crowley to find Purgatory so that he can [[spoiler:defeat Raphael and prevent his plans from coming to fruition]].\\
\\
[[spoiler:Eve is killed about the same time we find out about Castiel and Crowley's alliance, so that knocks her out of the competition.]] This all comes to a head in the season finale, where [[spoiler:Castiel cuts Crowley out of the deal; Crowley retaliates by teaming up with Raphael, only for Castiel to Out Gambit them both. He absorbs the souls of Purgatory, kills Raphael, and sends Crowley running, all before proclaiming himself the new God]].

* BigDamnHeroes: Happens often when one brother has barge in to save [[BadassInDistress another]] at the last minute.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Winchesters and Campbells. The Host of Heaven is probably even worse.

* ''Series/SweetHome'': Infected people's eyes turn black when they come close to becoming monsters.

** Best summed up by Dean in ''All HellBreaks Loose Part 1'' when Sam manages to ''send'' a vision.

* BookEnds: Season 4's first episode is named 'Lazarus Rising.' The last episode of the same season is 'Lucifer Rising.'

* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Krissy from "Adventures in Babysitting."

* BrickJoke: In [[Recap/SupernaturalS05E20TheDevilYouKnow The Devil You Know]], Crowley angrily shouts that demons are rampaging around the Earth, causing death and destruction [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and also "ate [his] tailor!!"]] Six episodes later, in [[Recap/SupernaturalS06E04WeekendAtBobbys Weekend at Bobby's]], it's revealed that Crowley ''was'' a tailor when he was human.

* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: In the Season 5 finale, Sam invokes this trope to stop the apocalypse. He [[spoiler:invites Lucifer to possess him, then throws the both of them back into the Devil's Cage.]]

* BrokenAngel: Castiel, more and more as Season 5 progresses, and to an extreme in the future timeline of episode 4 "The End".
** As of Season 7, completely broken. And insane.
** Season 8 took completely broken and insane Castiel, put him back together, just to break him even more fully as the season goes on, until by the finale [[spoiler:he's managed to drag the entire Heavenly Host down with him too. The writers must hate the poor guy.]]
* BrokenHero: Both Sam and Dean qualify, though their optimism has been somewhat drained by circumstance.

* BroughtDownToNormal: Happens to Castiel several times over the series. In a BadFuture, he becomes human after the angels leave Earth for good and is a complete mess, indulging in drugs, booze, and orgies. Near the end of Season 5, he gradually loses his powers as he's cut off from Heaven and becomes much weaker, even needing to rest and sleep, although he regains his powers after God brings him back to life after Lucifer's defeat. For the first half of Season 9, [[spoiler:he is reduced to human after his Grace is stolen by Metatron, forcing him to kill enemy angels to take their Grace for himself as a temporary measure until Metatron returns Castiel's own Grace to him]].

** Also [[spoiler:Charlie in Season 10]]
** In 15x18, [[spoiler: Castiel [[DyingDeclarationOfLove confesses]] his love for Dean in a moment of [[HeroicSacrifice self-sacrifice]] that finally brings Castiel happiness, leading to the Empty fulfilling his promise and taking Castiel away]].

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: A child whose father Dean killed grows up to confront Dean, and Evil!Dean taunts him that his father wasn't the first and won't be the last, even dropping the famous MyNameIsInigoMontoya line from ''Film/ThePrincessBride''.
** Averted in a later episode. Turns out Dean does remember.

* CainAndAbel: Hinted from day one. Season 5 tells us that [[spoiler:Dean is supposed to be the vessel for the Archangel Michael, while Sam is supposed to be the vessel for Lucifer, and the older is supposed to kill the younger]].
* 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 MonsterOfTheWeek, but watching his girlfriend burn up on the ceiling like his mother finally forces him to take the call for good.

* CallingTheOldManOut: When Gabriel and Lucifer come [[Recap/SupernaturalS05E19HammerOfTheGods face to face]], this is the first thing Gabriel proceeds to do with his arrogant brother. "Lucifer, you're my brother, and I love you; but you are a great. Big. ''Bag o'dicks!''" As Gabriel goes on, he insists that humans are not only better than Lucifer thinks, but deep down Lucifer is just jealous of 'Dad's' new creation. Lucifer does ''NOT'' take this well.

** Heavily implied/outright stated for [[spoiler:Sam and Dean after Seasons 2 and 3, respectively]].
** In Season 6, Dean's suspicions that [[spoiler:Sam is different since returning from Hell are confirmed by Castiel, who reveals that Sam has no soul. This is remedied by midseason.]]

%%* CartwrightCurse: Poor Sam. Lampshaded in "Season Seven, Time for a Wedding!

* ChekhovsGunman: Hey, remember how throughout Season 5, the angels want Dean to be the vessel for [[spoiler:Michael]] but he keeps rejecting them? Remember how the ability to be a vessel is a bloodline trait? Remember the Winchesters' [[LongLostRelative half-brother Adam]] from a few seasons back who turned out to have been killed by a [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghoul]]? [[spoiler:Remember how the angels can bring people back from the dead?]]

* 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.

** [[spoiler:Dean Winchester]] as of Season 4. Unfortunately, the guy's gone through so much BreakTheCutie trauma by this point, that it's doubtful if he can actually fulfill this role. In Season 5, it's revealed that he's the intended vessel of the Archangel Michael, which he [[ScrewDestiny doesn't agree to]].
** Kevin Tran in Season 7 is this, and Dean informs him that it sucks.

* CoinsForTheDead: In the Season 11 episode "Baby" of Supernatural, the way to defeat the Monster of the Week is to place a coin in his mouth. This reminds the undead creature that he is in fact dead and sends him back to his resting state.
* ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere: Sam may have kicked the demon blood habit, but shanking demons for a living is doing nothing for his self-control.

* ConspiracyTheorist: At least two such characters show up:

* ContinuityDrift: In the first season, vampires were shown to require blood in much smaller amounts than in other shows and movies (it took weeks for an entire coven to drink enough blood to kill two people). This is very difficult to reconcile with later appearances (i.e., they were somehow unable to drink cow blood without slaughtering the cows, despite having a huge supply and being easily able to go from cow to cow?).

* CrazyPrepared: Most hunters, but ''especially'' Bobby. Let's recap, shall we? The guy blesses the beers he has in his fridge, making detecting a demon hiding in a friend as easy as offering him a beer. He built a demon- and ghost-proof panic room made out of solid iron coated in salt covered in devil's traps in his basement -- because he had a weekend off. He apparently has weaponry and ingredients all over his house in case he gets ambushed or needs to work a spell. He has a bank of telephones in his kitchen so if an undercover hunter needs to have someone phone their "superior" for verification, he can pose as anyone from the FBI to the CDC to the Federal Marshalls. And if the hunters can't use regular phones, he has a satellite phone link and a radio. When being chased through his house by a soulless Sam, he hides in the closet...and when found, activates a lever inside that drops Sam into the basement. He has hundreds of books of lore (some going back thousands of years) on monsters of all kinds scattered around his house, and copies secreted in lock-ups scattered around the country, and apparently around his own house as well, in case his already-extensive knowledge of the supernatural comes up short or something is stolen or destroyed. In his own words: "Hi, glad to meet you. Bobby Singer. Paranoid bastard."

* CreatorProvincialism: It is...interesting...how the vast majority of the important events of the apocalypse take place in the continental United States. [[Myth/HinduMythology Kali]] is actually rather upset over this fact, and laments that "Westerners" are trying to take away her rightful spot in her own Apocalypse. If you wanted to be generous, you could grant that at least the Judeo-Christian Apocalypse is taking place in America because that's where Sam and Dean are, but it only gets worse in subsequent seasons. By this time Sam and Dean are peripheral to events and yet celestial wars, fallen Angels, Roman Gods, Scandinavian god cults, and even freaking Cain all just happen to be in America. And mid-western America at that.

* CrossoverCosmology: Just like AllMythsAreTrue, so do all gods exist. Though they are apparently not all equal [[spoiler:given how easily Lucifer mows down a dozen of them in "Hammer of the Gods."]]

* CurbStompBattle: The Winchesters, especially, get their asses handed to them by the BigBad all the time.

* CurseRelay: In ''[[Recap/SupernaturalS03E03BadDayAtBlackRock Bad Day At Black Rock]]'', the lucky rabbit's foot will cause its owner good luck, until it is removed from their possession (which is inevitable). It then causes bad luck which will eventually kill the previous owner. The foot will continue killing its owners until it's destroyed.
* CustomBuiltHost: Angels require a vessel to be able to walk the earth, as their [[AngelicAbomination true forms are to eldritch]], but not all humans are capable of acting as a vessel for them (with unsuitable one's literally exploding upon attempting it). As such Angels have long practiced using Cherubs to ensure certain bloodlines continue or combine, so that they have more hosts. [[spoiler: One specifically brought John and Mary together, to ensure Sam and Dean were born to act as Michael and Lucifer's one true hosts]].

* TheCutie: Dean, before the issues came through thick and fast.
** Possibly subverted too, seeing as how whenever the boys act all cutesy and 'normal' (Sam in the beginning of Season 3 was quipping loads but falling apart trying to save Dean, and in the comedy episodes "Hollywood Babylon"/"Folsom Prison Blues", fans thinking that Dean was somehow really off were proven right in "What Is And What Should Never Be" when it was revealed that he had only been getting worse and more suicidal), something is usually very wrong with them.
* CynicismCatalyst: Played straight in Sam and Dean's case. Sam's death is the final straw for Dean and he makes a desperate and suicidal DealWithTheDevil to bring him BackFromTheDead.

* DarkMessiah: In Season 4, [[spoiler:Sam heads this way, fully expecting/intending to die killing Lilith and willing to 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]].]]

** Castiel, with good intentions, teeters on the dark side through most of Season 6. [[spoiler: When he absorbs all the souls from Purgatory, however, he goes fully dark side. ]]

* DeadpanSnarker: Both of the brothers. Especially Dean.

** Hell, Dean established himself as one of these within the first episode of the first season.
--->'''Sheriff:''' You boys are in a lot of trouble.\\
'''Dean:''' Are we talking misdemeanor trouble, or squeal like a pig trouble?

* DeusExitMachina: Having Castiel around and fully angeled-up is basically the Easy Button, so he gets hit with this a lot.
** The first time, he {{time travel}}s back to when the Winchesters' parents were still alive, and the effort alone nearly kills him.
** The second time, he brands an anti-angel sigil on his chest to send a bunch of angelic {{Mooks}} to God-knows-where. This had the nasty side effect of sending ''him'' to God-knows-where, as well as stripping him of his remaining powers.
** The third time, Castiel is busy fighting an off-screen civil war in Heaven [[spoiler:and being one of the BigBadEnsemble of the season]].
** The fourth time, after he absorbs every soul in Purgatory, he is soon "killed" by the Leviathans inside of him. He later [[UnexplainedRecovery reappears]] as a normal human without any memory of being an angel, and gets his powers back just in time for...
** The fifth time, where he absorbs Sam's memory of being in Hell, which drives him crazy and has him committed in a hospital.
** The sixth time, he gets stuck in Purgatory with Dean but stays behind when Dean manages to escape. He is saved by Naomi, who makes him her ManchurianAgent and prevents him from helping the Winchesters any more than necessary.
** Finally, [[spoiler:he gets BroughtDownToBadass because of Metatron]].

* DeathByPragmatism: Subverted by [[spoiler:Ruby]].

* DeathIsCheap: Played straight. Sam and Dean have died multiple times. Castiel has been dead at least three. One episode even had Sam and Dean killed by a couple of {{mooks}} trying to prevent the Apocalypse; Dean even tells them he will be back and he will be pissed when he comes back. Bobby was even killed once or twice and got better ([[spoiler:until Season 7, when he was KilledOffForReal]]).

* DeathMontage: Courtesy of the GroundhogDayLoop episode.
* TheDeathOfDeath: Death himself met his demise at Dean's hands after [[TooDumbToLive handing him the only thing in existence that could kill him]], his scythe. Although the personification of death cease to exist, the concept of death did not and another (more friendly) reaper takes up the mantle.

* DeathSeeker: The brothers live here.
** Dean's earliest brush is Season 1 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 5, Dean's even more tired of [[HunterOfMonsters the life]], even willing to be possessed by Michael to stop Lucifer.
** In Season 1, Sam was willing to die killing Azazel/YED, and in Season 2, he wanted to be killed before his destiny could change him. Sam's entire Season 4 arc was suicidal, as was Season 5, which ended with Sam [[spoiler:jumping into Hell's solitary confinement to take Lucifer with him]].
** Castiel, once he rebels against Heaven, is regularly seen sacrificing himself for the Winchesters or being willing to sacrifice himself for them. He dies and is resurrected at the end of Seasons 4 and 5 and dies again early in Season 7, only to be resurrected. After that, he comes to see his resurrections as a punishment, with God expecting him to atone for his many mistakes.

** While demonic possession features heavily, particularly in later seasons, only one of the brothers has ever been possessed, and that was only once. This is explained through the use of protective charms and, later, through magical protective tattoos.

** Season 4 introduces the concept of angelic possession, as seeing the true form of an angel can [[EyeScream burn out your eyes]]. See BlindSeer.
** Season 6 also introduces [[spoiler:ghosts possessing inanimate objects, or dolls to be more specific]].

* DemonSlaying: In the early seasons, the brothers have no known way of killing demons and can only exorcise them. Later, Ruby gives them a demon-killing knife and later still Sam develops demon-killing psychic powers.
* DenOfIniquity

* DependingOnTheWriter:
** Sam's bitchiness and self-absorption, along with Dean's ditziness, go up and down like a bloody yo-yo.
** Dean's sexuality comes off as AmbiguouslyBi or straight-as-an-arrow, depending on the writer.
** Castiel's social skills or lack thereof vary wildly from episode to episode, depending on the writer and situation.
** Castiel's actions in Season 6 and early Season 7 are sometimes portrayed as inexcusably terrible and sometimes portrayed as highly sympathetic.
** Castiel and Dean's relationship is alternatively written as the deep but platonic friendship of war buddies, Cas having an unrequited crush on/love for Dean or in later seasons, the two being in some sort of [[HomoeroticSubtext unspoken love relationship]].
** John Winchester is written either as a well-meaning father who tried to do right in an ugly situation or a straight-up abuser who cared more about his revenge than his own sons.
** Whether or not Dean considers Jack to be family. It's quite frustrating to hear him say he doesn't when he affirmed that he did just a few episodes ago.
%%* DepletedPhlebotinumShells

* DepravedBisexual / DepravedHomosexual: Crowley, the King of Hell, is noted for a consistent attraction to men and is also a manipulative, cruel, [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] bastard. There's also Jeffrey from Season 7, Episode 15, "Repo Man", who is revealed to be an AxCrazy serial killer attempting to re-summon the sadistic (male) demon he describes as "the love of his life" and dances romantically with. In both cases it's unclear if the moments where they are shown courting women are meant to be acts.
* DepthOfField:
** This show seems to LOVE having Dean and Castiel in the background/foreground of one another's scenes. Seriously, [[http://caps.oxoniensis.org/caps/spn/416/spn416-0194.jpg they]] [[http://caps.oxoniensis.org/caps/spn/504/spn504-1103.jpg do]] [[http://i38.tinypic.com/257k9sm.png it]] [[http://caps.oxoniensis.org/caps/spn/403/spn403-1474.jpg all]] [[http://caps.oxoniensis.org/caps/spn/401/spn401-1585.jpg the]] [[http://i37.tinypic.com/oi89at.png freaking]] [[http://i37.tinypic.com/2j2yiif.png time]]. [[{{Yaoi}} Some]] [[{{Fangirl}} fans]] find this very useful for [[{{Squee}} making LJ icons]] and so forth.
** The shallow depth of field in most close shots is starting to work against them with the advent of HD; seeing Dean's stubble or Bobby's whiskers slip in and out of focus through the course of a scene as the cameraman fails to hold it just right is a common occurrence.

** Dean crosses this in "On the Head of a Pin," and it takes angelic intervention to snap him out of it.
** Bobby, Dean and Castiel all crash through this over the course of two consecutive episodes in Season 5. Sam probably crossed over at the end of Season 3.
** Dean appears to have crossed it again in Season 7, to the point that he [[spoiler:seems resigned to being blown up by Jo in "Defending Your Life."]]

** There are many grim reapers who take souls. However, Death himself is one of the Four HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, and says that it's his job to [[BeyondTheImpossible reap God himself]]. [[spoiler:Though it might not necessarily be him personally, since it turns out that being Death is a GodJob and he gets replaced by one of his Reapers, Billy, after Dean kills Death first.]]

* DinerBrawl: Happens frequently, especially towards the end of Season 8.
* DirtyBusiness: The first season finale has the first instance of the Winchesters being able to kill a demon... if they're willing to ice the innocent, possessed human too.

** In Season 5, [[spoiler:Bobby]].

** While at the time of Season 2, [[spoiler:Azazel]] was a very major threat, compared to what we've seen in the rest of the series, but he could certainly be considered this now.

* DisposableWoman: There are already two by the first episode. So basically, the show's entire plot was fueled by this trope. In fact, one wonders if there were any women on the writing team. (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, really, anyone who's not actually Sam or Dean dies, regardless of sex.)
** One of the reasons women get treated the way they do is the fanbase and their "Keep those sluts away from our boys" mentality that pops up whenever strong (or even merely decent) female characters appear in the show.
* DistractedByTheSexy: "Don't objectify me!" cries Dean to Bela, after she proposes they have angry sex.

* DistressedDude: So they might be big, tough men, but they've got nabbed enough times for this trope to apply. Sam is more often the one in peril, but when Dean is captured, he is usually captured for longer (for instance, in "Hunted"). Notable instances are when Sam is taken in "The Benders" (and then it was subverted by him getting out and Dean winding up being captured instead), in "Bloodlust" (although the vampires just wanted to talk with him and they release him afterwards), in "Home," "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1," "Long Distance Call," "Time Is On My Side" and "Ghostfacers." Dean is captured in "Hunted," "Wendigo," "What Is And What Should Never Be," "Monster Movie" and "Scarecrow." Both are captured in "Skin" (Dean gets them out), "A Very Supernatural Christmas" (they somehow managed to get out off-screen) and "Shadow" (Sam gets them out, though Dean was pretty close). To list all the times one has been helpless/at the mercy of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek MOTW]] so that the other can save him would be far too long especially in the case of Sam, Season 1 (and Dean managed to catch up in Seasons 2 and 3) -- it's more than half the episodes. Not to mention that every episode there is at least one person (usually female) who needs to be rescued.
** How can you tell a monster is about to die in a messy, probably painful fashion? Easy: It has Dean tied up and helpless...

** Initially Death was considered The AntiGod to God/Chuck, however Season 11 reveals the true anti-god is God's older sister Amara, who's the DestroyerDeity to Chuck's creator deity. She serves as the ArcVillain but unlike most anti-gods [[HeelFaceTurn she ends up reconciling with her counterpart and brother]]. The aforementioned angels refer to her as their aunt.
* DoesSheHaveASister: In "Tall Tales," Sam recounts how the past days went by to Bobby. When talking about the past night, he plays up his brother Dean's drunken sluttiness; Dean, well-intoxicated, is all over a random girl he picked up in the bar and uses the inversion when he proudly declares to Sam that the girl has a sister and gives his own brother an obvious wink in case he didn't catch on yet. Sam isn't interested.

* {{Doppelganger}}: Shows up in "Skin," "Nightshifter," "The End" (to an extent) and "Slash Fiction".

* DoubleStandardRapeSciFi: In general, as people-possessors such as demons and angels become more common in the show, their characters begin to overtake careful consideration of the people they must possess to function.
** Narrowly averted, probably by AuthorsSavingThrow, when Sam is implied to have had sex with the demon Ruby, but it has been established that demons possess the bodies of living people, so Sam would be a rapist. Fan backlash was immediate and soon a flashback scene was written showing that Sam refused to have sex with Ruby until she explained that her body had just flat-lined in the hospital when she took it over and there was nobody else in it...which of course has UnfortunateImplications in itself. If the body is technically dead, and Sam has sex with it, [[ILoveTheDead doesn't that mean]]...[[note]]Based on how demonic possession works, the answer is "sort of". Since the only thing wrong with Coma Girl appears to be the lack of brain activity, and she's ''so'' freshly dead, you could interpret Ruby's role as life support--forcing the lungs and heart, etc, to work the way Demon Meg forced Human Meg's body to work despite falling off a building. Of course, this depends on how alive you consider a brain-dead body with no autonomic nervous function.[[/note]]

** The episodes "Wishful Thinking" and "Trial and Error" both have a man making a woman fall in love with him with magic (a magic coin and a DealWithTheDevil). In both cases, the word "rape" isn't mentioned, and the situation's only treated as "How did this guy ended up with ''that'' girl?".

* TheDragon: Meg for Azazel and then Lucifer. [[spoiler:Though she outlives them both.]]

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Sam, for the first two seasons.

** In Sam's version, Dean's flirting and drunken antics are exaggerated as well.

* DressUpEpisode: Quite a few, given the number of different officials Sam and Dean end up posing as. "Frontierland" and "Time After Time After Time" are two of the most notable.

** Dean in "What Is And Never Should Be." Sort of. Damn [[AlternateUniverse alternate universes]] make these things confusing.
** Another two for Dean would be "Croatoan" where he stays with his possibly psychotic-due-to-being-infected brother and "Faith" where he accepts his pending death and doesn't even run away when the Reaper is after him. My God, that kid is screwed up.
** Sam in "Salvation" and, in an ICannotSelfTerminate moment, "Playthings."
** Another for Sam would be the angst-filled, additional ICannotSelfTerminate in "When the Levee Breaks." In the finale of Season 4, Sam doesn't believe he will -- or want to -- survive, either.
** Almost happens to Dean in "Point of No Return," also arguably Castiel.
** Sam at the end of Season 5 [[spoiler:(with Dean and Bobby's reluctant approval!)]] in "Swan Song" (unless [[spoiler:deliberately planning on jumping into Hell is seen as [[FateWorseThanDeath anything other than suicide]]]]).
** Dean slips into suicidal DeathSeeker mode quite often given the opportunity. He will sacrifice himself in a heartbeat to save someone and his complete lack of self-worth adds some very disturbing implications to his actions.
** In Season 7, [[spoiler:this seems to be where Sam's hallucinations are trying to push him; in "Hello, Cruel World," Lucifer suggests it ''three times''.]]
** Dean seems to have backslid into this again in the Season 7 episode "Defending Your Life," where he is way too calm at the prospect of [[spoiler:Jo killing him by gas explosion]].

** Dean obeys his father without question and berates Sam for questioning his orders. He is just as capable of being a [[BigBrotherInstinct dutiful brother]] and as shown by "What Is and What Should Never Be," he tends to idolize Sam. But it was revealed by the shifter in "Skin" that he/Dean does resent Sam for getting to leave. Dean also manages to combine this with TroubledButCute.
** [[ArchangelMichael Michael]] continues to follow his absent father God's orders millennia after God suddenly abandoned his sons and is determined to murder Lucifer not because of his plan to {{kill all humans}}, but because he thinks it's what God would have wanted. Dean's relationship with John and Sam mirrors the relationship between Michael, Lucifer and God. As it is in Heaven, so it shall be on Earth and all that.

* DyingDeclarationOfLove: He may not be actively dying, but at the moment of their imminent demise, [[spoiler:Castiel [[ManlyTears tearfully]] [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove tells Dean]] that it was through him that he learned to love. When [[EmotionallyTongueTied a shellshocked Dean]] asks him why that sounds like a goodbye, Castiel confirms that it is. "I love you. Goodbye, Dean" – and [[HeroicSacrifice shoves him out of the way]] as the Shadow swallows both him and Death, trapping them in The Empty forever.]]

* BadassBeard: Quite a few characters have this, most notably the protagonists' father figure hunter Bobby Singer. Others include the boys' father John (note that he only gains this in his older years), the particularly-powerful demon Cain, and one-time character Sheriff Barrett Bishop Jr..

** Castiel as part of his regular outfit.
*** Although it looks decidedly less badass when [[spoiler:worn over a mental patient's scrubs.]]