#anyway the worst fate mary could imagine for her kids was to become hunters

[shallowseeker]

theres a cut line from the drafts of ouroboros where jack says "i'm a winchester, i'm the chicken And the snake" and i think about that line a lot.

he gave up something he loved (his soul) to destroy something he hated (michael) and he was too "greedy" (in a sense, he missed his old power a lot and had he not healed cas he mightve had a sliver of his soul left) and it killed him (his soul). i understand why that line was cut (redundancy was probably a factor) but i wish it had been kept. hes the chicken and the snake......

Yes, I do love this line. It's the duality of it all. And I think it's also the horror of the cosmic hierarchy. To the livestock, we are their Leviathan. But the Leviathan treating us as livestock in season 7 is a campy horror show!

I don't think Jack is uniquely dual-natured (because I think everyone in the entire show is), but Jack's symbolic nature is pretty heavy-handed in its symbolism!

Here again we have the word "nothing," that is so often applied to Jack. He is the chicken sacrificing his soul and becoming the snake (angel).

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The grace twists like a snake, as Jack becomes an ouroboros after sacrificing his soul, the snake consuming the snake.

I love this moment because Jack is specifically saving Rowena, the same woman his father murdered:

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I think this has some interesting things in common with Cas's consumption of Theo, way back in season 9. It certainly characterizes Cas's panic. Jack is becoming like Cas here, like Cas's family, specifically. Snakes. Beasts. Burning serpents. Barbarians. Creatures of war. (War, where even Lucifer is happiest, needed. Note: Lucifer was attentive to Kevin Tran, the AU refugees, Jack, and Dean during his stent in Apocalypse-verse. He was happy there, too. Lucifer is happiest as the underdog, not God.)

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CASTIEL: I'll – I'll need a moment to make contact. (THEO waits.) And you have something that I'll need. THEO: Anything. CASTIEL grabs one of the medical implements and slices THEO in the throat, letting his white grace slip out; CASTIEL opens his mouth and swallows it. Mm. (CASTIEL groans; the grace fills him up; his eyes turn blue; THEO stares in dazed recrimination, blood dripping from his neck. CASTIEL looks at him, then puts a hand to his forehead; THEO screams, his angelic white light bursts out of him, and he falls to the ground his eyes burned out. 9x09

CASTIEL: He had me. I, uh, I was tortured. But I got away. DEAN: How? CASTIEL: I... I did what I had to. I became what they've become. A barbarian. ...

CASTIEL: It's better I stay away. They're gonna want me even more now. But I'm gonna be all right. I... I got my Grace back. Well, not mine per se, but it'll do. DEAN: Wait, you're – you're back? You got your mojo? CASTIEL: I'm not sure. But I am an angel. DEAN: And you're okay with that? CASTIEL: If we're going to war, I need to be ready.

You are an angel, once and forever. (Hannah, 10x01)

JACK (to DEAN): I don't think you have a firm grasp on what snakes eat. (14x15)

DEAN: There's no use asking "why me?" 'Cause the angels – they don't care. I think maybe they just don't have the equipment to care. Seems like when they try, it just... breaks them apart. (7x21)

CAS: You understand? I can't. I destroyed...everything, and I will destroy everything again. (7x23)

It's what serpents do. When they enter gardens, all they know how to do is consume and destroy.