#castiels moral compass

[scoobydoodean]

So—Dean is refusing to torture Alistair in the beginning of "On The Head Of A Pin", right? And Uriel is telling him he has to. And you’d think that when Dean asks to speak to Cas alone, it’d be in an effort to bargain or plead (something Uriel isn’t amenable to at all and never has been) or to let Cas give him a more candid and convincing argument on how this is the right thing.

But when Dean gets Cas alone, he just wants to know why Uriel is in charge of Cas now, and then he wants to tell Cas torturing Alistair is going to bring something horrifying out of Dean. Cas doesn’t do any convincing at all. He doesn’t make any further argument for why Dean has to do this—he doesn’t tell Dean it’s for the greater good. Hell—it seems like Cas got demoted because he balked at asking Dean to do this to begin with. Cas doesn’t want Dean to do this and doesn’t try to convince him to! But the scene cuts and Dean is pushing his torture-set-on-wheels into the room where Alistair is being kept! So why? How does that interaction result in Dean suddenly deciding to do something he was refusing to do moments before???

I think it’s because Cas showed Dean sympathy.

The episode opens with Dean trying to tell Sam he’s hurting. He’s grieving Pam (they’re driving from her funeral), he feels like her death is his fault, he feels like they aren’t making any progress on saving the world—they’re just fuck ups who are going to fail.

DEAN I'm tired of burying friends, Sam. SAM Look, we catch a fresh trail— DEAN And we follow it, I know. Like I said, I'm just—I'm just getting tired. SAM Well, get angry!

No sympathy from Sam. Sam wants Dean to nut up—and that's what Sam said last episode too, and it's what he said the episode before that too while under the Siren's spell.

They get into the motel and Uriel and Cas are standing there waiting for them when Dean just wanted to sleep after an awful day, and Uriel says they're needed. Dean says he just got back from needed, and Uriel tells him to mind his tone. Then of course,

CASTIEL Dean, we know this is difficult to understand. URIEL And we— URIEL gives CASTIEL a significant look. URIEL —don't care.

So no one is showing Dean any sympathy, right? Everyone is telling him to shut up and do what needs to be done—except Cas. Cas is sympathizing with him. And when Dean gets Cas alone?

DEAN You ask me to open that door and walk through it, you will not like what walks back out. CASTIEL For what it's worth, I would give anything not to have you do this.

And that's all it takes. That's literally all it takes—is just a single shred of sympathy—someone saying that they care that Dean is in pain—that they care what this will do to him and don't wish this on him. Just someone saying that they understand and that they care is enough and Dean agrees.

Don't ever let anyone tell you Dean "needs tough love".

[miiilowo]

more spn ponies :-) rounding off team free will w/ cas and jack

[rincewinds-hat]

When faced with a dilemma or just general turbulence in my life, i have 0 (none) idea what to do. Or i have too many ideas of what to do, and i get stuck.

So, i always had a sort of system for this (if im capable in the moment, that is) and it always came down to some character or person i like.

I might want to off someone - that's not a very LDShadowlady thing to do (or is it???jk).

Oh, you want to just give up? Bobby would be disappointed if ya did (maybe even call you an idjit and slap the back of your head, telling you to stop being a little whiny princess)

You allow yourself to be late/doing something when you know it leads to nothing good? What would Vimes say? I don't think he would like that one.

Cussing someone out? Carrot wouldn't do that.

Making bad life decisions with good intentions? Oh well, i am a Cas girlie after all.

Not doing something because you're scared? Rincewind did it multiple times, when the stakes were higher.

And it's such a good way of manually making your moral compass. Also, it gives me some sort of pride that I'm more like them.

[witsserviceablesubstitute]

Castiel is a good character because he's almost a Born Sexy Yesterday archetype but he's too proud, bossy, and obstinate to fit it. So while he is naive and selflessly devoted, he's not an obedient ingénue at all. If Dean and Sam tell him to do something he doesn't want to do then he's all ruffled feathers. If they do something he doesn't approve of then he's a silent self-righteous fire. If they tell him not to do something he's set on doing then he'll set his jaw and do it anyway.

He's even strong-willed enough to give Lucifer pause. When Lucifer possesses him he leaves Castiel be in his subconscious. No mental torture at all. Which is as much of a show of fondness as it gets from Lucifer. Even after Castiel stopped him from killing Sam he leaves him alone. Even after he calls Castiel his 'jiminy cricket' (derogatory) that's messing with his moral compass he just... keeps leaving Castiel be.

[pissthena]

Crowley is not a demon

My favourite headcanon is that Crowley isn't a demon, as mentioned in my character post. So I'll expand it a bit and explain more! (Feel free to correct me or add on!) @bending-sickle, a tag just for you <3 I hope it explains it in a way that makes sense haha

I really love the idea of Crowley not being a demon. Is it because I love my favourite characters being special and cool? Yes. But there's a bit more to it, since I always thought he was too odd as a demon. Too much didn't add up. Crowley hates Hell, Demons and everything near that, hate's being there kind of hates talking about it. He almost made Hell less Hell. We are all aware of this and it doesn't necessarily mean he's not a demon, but I like to also bring it into consideration. Reasons he could be something else: -He survives everything, the little cockroach. He even faked being burnt up by Castiel and I have no clue how they visually accomplished that, but it might just have been angel powers. -His smoke is red as the only demon where it isn't black. Even Knights of Hell have black smoke, he's a special baby. -He has more compassion than any other demon (yet he's still not a good guy. Morally dark grey lol). I know the human blood did it to him, but even before that, I think he had just a bit in it. -He can possess animals. I may be wrong, but I believe he's the only one we ever see do that. I think if demons could generally do it, they'd use it to spy way more. But demons are dumb. Which brings me to: -He's not stupid. Not all demons are idiots, but man, most of them are by far. I think Crowley is the smartest (which is why he took over Hell). This is a weak argument, but I like it along with the rest. -When he possessed Linda Tran he used his own voice in her body. Which made me realize two things: 1. I don't think we've seen other demons do so, but I'm very unsure about that. We might have. 2. The voice we hear Crowley use must be Fergus' voice and not his vessels. Unless he can somehow carry over his vessel's voice to another vessel. -Mark Sheppard also had this theory, but apparently people disregard it after we saw his demon eyes. I HAVEN'T LET IT GO. ME AND MARK ARE RIGHT.

Now, what might Crowley be if not a demon? I have no fucking clue. Someone who's real good at mythology might have some cool ideas, but I'm at a loss. The closest I had was a Kitsune, as they're known for sometimes taking form as humans and tricking people. They think highly of themselves and are very powerful. But we do have Kitsunes in the show (I hate how dirty they did them...) and a lot doesn't really fit. So please, if anyone has ideas!

[kerryweaverlesbian]

The thing with Jack in the Box is. This is more headcanon 'how did Sam possibly get here' than fully backed by canon. Btw. The thing is that Sam learns to outsource his moral compass to Dean (or Mary, with the BMoL plotline) if Dean's not doing Plan Kill Myself for big decisions because he doesn't trust that he can make the right decisions based on. His track record.

He trusted Ruby, the Apocalypse started; he thought Adam would be okay against Michael, he wasn't; he lost his soul and was NOT trustworthy; he tried saving Dean by any means necessary in s3'n'10 and gave up in s8, and all times he was told that was deeply wrong of him; he does the trials and it ends up with Dean installing a security guard in Sam's own head; BMoL blows up in his face; it is not god sending him visions, but the devil.

Part of this is narrative repetition. Dean is almost always intuitively right about who they should trust (which must be infuriating lmao) apart from Gadreel and Castiel going godstiel mode. Sam's big mistakes have far reaching consequences, where Dean's often affect himself personally or mostly just their family unit (again apart from trusting Castiel. LOL). Part of it is Sam believing his inherent taintedness is something that he can scrub clean or at least keep hidden if he just tries hard enough. Part of it is that Dean progressively shuts Sam out of his unilateral decision making more and more as the show goes on (mostly to impliment Plan Kill Myself) so Sam doesn't get the reasoning behind Dean's decisions, and then they work out.

Sam says to Charlie - he likes his life as a Hunter but he cannot do it without Dean.

So then - what happens when your outsourced moral compass is getting rusty? When the guy who is Always Right is saying that something you can see and feel is wrong is the correct thing to do? Well. You've felt that way before and you were wrong. So wrong. And it hurt the whole world. You don't have a better plan yet, and you know this plan IS going to be attempted whether you agree or not. It just might get your brother killed if you don't go along with it. And aren't they all kinda trapped in an eternal prison right now anyway? Isn't that what life is? So you go along with it. And you lock up the kid you project on. And you don't give him a nightlight. Because he doesn't deserve it. Because he's made such a horrible mistake.

[jjs-other-other-blog]

It's insane how much supernatural's tptb hated Castiel. At some point during season 6 they must've realised "wait a second, a lot of the fans are starting to get really attached to the side characters instead of focusing on the brothers".

And it kinda makes sense, season 6 was a bit of a mess what with Dean trying to keep his thing with Lisa going, Sam being soulless, the Campbell's running around, civil war in heaven, the Alphas, the mother of all monsters being a thing, Cas plotting with Crowley, ... There was a lot going on, Kripke had just left the show and they were trying to find their footing after finishing the big heaven vs hell - Lucifer vs Michael - apocalypse arc.

So in preparation for season 7 they apparently decided to make some changes. Cas gets a quick moment of redemption and is then promptly killed off, Crowley only really appears in 5 episodes that season, Bobby gets killed off as well. They end up bringing Cas back of course, but he's only in a handful of episode in season 7 while in any other season after his original introduction to the show he appears in well over 10 episodes.

After that they start making Cas "smaller" in other ways. In season 6 he was already seperated from the Winchesters and made an antagonist of theirs, but he was still very present and plenty powerful. He was on the wrong track, not quite unlike Sam wanting to use demon blood for the right reasons, but still a powerful angel. Everything afterwards though seems to be a thinly veiled "Sam and Dean are the main characters here and stronger and more important than Cas" message.

[In season 7 he loses his memory, then his mind. In season 8 he gets brainwashed and tricked by Metatron (which makes him appear slightly naive and gullible, easy to manipulate, even though his core character trait as shown in seasons 4&5 is the exact opposite - he has doubts, he questions his orders and has his own, strong moral compass). In season 9 he loses all his powers, hits a new low, becomes human, defenseless, vulnerable, even dies because of it. Season 10 has him struggling with his powers again, his stolen grace slowly fading and even after getting back his own grace he's not back to full angel power. In season 11 he gets tricked and used as a weapon again first by Rowena then by Lucifer. Season 12 is pretty similar to 6, we see more badass Cas following his own agenda (even if the Winchesters disagree with him), but he's still not back to full power. The last three seasons I didn't watch personally, but as far as I'm aware they're more about interpersonal drama, he still seems to make a bunch of mistakes in the eyes of Sam and Dean, he never gets his full powers back.]

In short: He's constantly presented as this guy who's generally trying to help and who used to be strong, too, but now he's physically, mentally and emotionally fragile and often additionally untrustworthy, he needs to be saved from himself before he makes another stupid mistake.

And even inbetween the big plot points he's constantly overpowered in fights where even Sam or Dean come out on top - even though Cas is a seasoned warrior, a military expert and excellent fighter with at least some super strength left. There's no logical explanation for that.

Now lucky for us, us Cas fans we don't automatically assume the Winchesters are right and Cas is at fault for everything that happens, a lot of us are in fact rather critical of Sam and Dean. Also a lot of the above mentioned plots were actually super interesting. Cas becoming human for example was intense. Tptb also miscalculated big time: Making Cas less badass and powerful never made us love him any less. The pattern however remains.

[cleoselene]

in my season 1 rewatch and there's dude and I'm like WHO IS THIS DUDE? HE LOOKS SO FAMILIAR? I mean I remembered the character but had no memory of the actor looking familiar

ACTUAL LOL AT MYSELF FOR NOT RECOGNIZING MISHA COLLINS. To be fair I have never watched a single episode of SPN but I have been on tumblr for over a decade

this is still a very entertaining show, I always thought the politics of it would age poorly and they have, but like, the politics now are so awful in a way even Jack Bauer never anticipated. The presidents on 24 were never anywhere near someone like Trump. Even Logan who was an absolute heel was more of a Mitch McConnell spineless loser who doesn't have morals type than... whatever the fuck Trump is

also the '00s were a weird time for tv because A) it was peak edgelord time period and B) god women were so often written to be the most hateable characters. This is from 2001, I went in expecting with my 2025 lens to have more compassion for, for example, Kim Bauer who was easily the series most hated character. And I did have more empathy and compassion for her... to a point lol like her really choosing to call her first kidnapper to help her escape her second kidnapper? Like the most deeply stupid behavior

but it does not hold a CANDLE to how fucking stupid annoying to watch Teri Bauer is. This woman loses kidnappers in a car chase, parks on the side of a crumbling ravine, decides the best idea is to WALK OUT OF THE CAR TO SEE IF THEY LOST THEIR PURSUER. GIRL YOU ARE IN A FUCKING CAR. WHY WOULD YOU INVESTIGATE ON FOOT? And then the car rolls off the ravine and explodes (Kim of course escapes but her mom doesn't see it) and then we have to watch her have some sort of shock amnesia for a couple episodes and tbh she is less stupid with amnesia.

but you know I am ride or die for Sherri Palmer. not only is she the impeccable Penny Johnson Jerald, but she's so good at reading people for filth that she once bitched out a man so hard for sucking that he dropped dead of a heart attack. Like, goals. I would like to be able to hone my bitchy monologuing skill to a lethal degree

and Chloe O'Brian doesn't show up until S3 I think but I am also ride or die for that flawless queen. She was maybe the best written woman on the show. She was unlikable, weird, definitely presented as being on the spectrum and I was SO ready for them to set us up to hater but she turns out to be the most solid fuckin' person. Like Chloe feels like they learned from how badly they wrote Kim and Teri, or maybe she was a fluke idk lol. I also loved Renee and Michelle Dessler made me like. Feel things. Bisexual things.

but lol at me not recognizing Castiel. I wonder how many guest stars will show up in this rewatch of a show I haven't watched in like 15 years who have gotten famous since? I know my girl Leighton Meester is in one of her earlier roles in S4 I think?

[amaranthhiding]

Hiding Amaranth

SPN Meta Posts Masterlist (mostly Samwena-related)

Specific to One Episode: 10x07: The First Time Sam Reads about Rowena in Girls, Girls, Girls 10x14: Samwena in The Executioner's Song 10x18: Rowena’s Hairstyle for the “Date” in Book of the Damned 10x19: Samwena in The Werther Project 11x01: Samwena in Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire? 11x03: Sam Protecting Rowena’s Head in The Bad Seed 11x10: Samwena in The Devil in the Details 11x21: Sam talking about Rowena in All in the Family 11x22: Rowena vs. The Darkness in We Happy Few 12x10: Sam and Lily Sunder in Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets 12x23: Sam’s Reaction to Rowena’s Death in All Along the Watchtower 13x12: Rowena’s Motivations in Various & Sundry Villains 13x12: You Want That? 13x19: Samwena in Funeralia 13x19: Moral Compass 13x21: The First Person Sam Asks About After His Resurrection in Beat the Devil 15x06: Rowena's Self-Help Books in Golden Time More meta under the cut

Parallels: Cursed - Rowena's and Castiel's Deaths Samwena, Destiel, and Faith Third Wheel? Rowena was the missing link, I’m so blind Mary Knows (Samwena Edition) They Learned from the Best Sam Smiling at Rowena vs. Dean Smiling at Castiel Dean’s Reaction to Castiel’s Death vs. Sam’s Reaction to Rowena’s Death Castiel & Rowena Parallels Rowena and Mary The Mentalists & Funeralia

Other: Winchester Derangement Syndrome Rowena and Being Needed Rowena as Prisoner Rowena uses tea as emotional support? Something Rowena Loves Shield of God and White Spear Samwena acting like residents in each other’s homes? Samwena and Free Will Rowena and Technology The way they look at each other... SUPERNOTCURSED Part 1 SUPERNOTCURSED Part 2: The Reckoning Sam Grimacing over Magic Dean’s Angel Kink and Sam’s Witch Kink (Part 1) Dean’s Angel Kink and Sam’s Witch Kink (Part 2)

[goldrushzukka]

Hey you're the supernatural expert that I follow and I was wondering how true it is that Sam stops being a major part of the show's story after season 5? I've never watched past the first few episodes of season 6

it's not really that Sam stops being part of the story. it's just that all the story that's not about him is so much more interesting.

s6 is the last sam-heavy season iirc? he loses his soul after being pulled from lucifer's cage by castiel who was a little bit distracted fighting the civil war in heaven and left it behind. soulless sam is one of the most interesting concepts they've done on the show bc he does serve as the moral compass throughout the whole run, so seeing him have to be reminded to be The Good Guy is compelling in a way that he doesn't often get to be after that storyline.

in s8 sam does the trials to close hell permanently, which WOULD make s8 a sam season, if not for the fact that his opponent for screentime is the behemoth of post-purgatory dean and cas. for me this is the real turning point, where it stops being a show about two brothers and becomes a show about a man and an angel, and sam is there too.

and maybe that's just me watching with shipper goggles but i truthfully cannot remember what the fuck sam was doing at any point past like s9. he just stops being as interesting as dean and cas, which is especially baffling when you remember that half the writers don't even fucking like dean and cas.

[scoobydoodean]

Castiel’s Motivations [ 5 / ? ] Dean The Narrative Heart [ 13 / ? ]

Supernatural | 4.01, 4.03, 4.07, 4.10, 4.16, 4.18, 4.22

[paarthurnax59]

"Soul Of Liberty"

Chapter 1

Warnings: Jealous Ex, Dean going crazy, swearing, slut shaming,

Two years later….

  Time had passed sense Dean had seen or heard from his ex-wife, (Y/N) at that restaurant, begging him to forgive her for cheating on him with his brother when he was soulless. “As if!”  He thought to himself as he saw her teary eyes and then proceed to brag about his beautiful new girlfriend, Maria, sitting next to his brother and Castiel and having found some stability when they found the Bunker. He made sure to dig the knife into her chest as much as humanly possible, not caring if she cried her eyes out in front of a bunch of strangers. Why would he ever want to have that cheating whore back into his life when he had a beautiful, loyal woman by his side that would never break his heart. He told her before that if she and Sam went behind his back and slept together, he would never forgive her. EVER. 

     She didn’t even give him a good reason as to why she cheated on him with Sam, which made it even worse. Now, Sam was soulless and didn’t even release what he did was wrong. He even told him that (Y/N) tried to blame him for her cheating on him. “Heartless bitch.”  he called her under his breath when they all got home that day.  Trying to blame Sam for betraying her own spouse, when clearly, didn’t have a moral compass to know right from wrong. But her… that was all her. Soul and all.

  When Dean split up from his ex-wife, he went through hell. For months he drank and killed as many monsters as humanly possible. Not caring for his well-being and safety, thinking the world had come to an end. Two people that he loved the most, betrayed him. Of course, she and Sam, well mostly her, had tried to contact him, begging him to hear her out. Sam was still soulless and didn’t care. She acted like she cared, but really, she just wanted to make herself feel better. He felt as if he didn’t even know her anymore. She was selfish, horrible and could care less for other people’s feelings. (Y/N) was the worst person he had ever met and nothing in this world was going to make him change his view of her. Who knew how long she had a stupid crush on his younger brother? How long had then been going behind his back? Didn’t care at all about how it broke him and their marriage? Did she ever really love him? 

    Not that it really matters anymore. Dean had a new girl in his life , home to call his own and couldn’t be happier. Maria was loyal, beautiful, strong, caring and most importantly, she never did anything that caused him to distrust her. She was safe. Yeah, safe. That is what Dean really needed after all what (Y/n) had put him through. He was never going to make that mistake again. She was nothing to him now.

 But, apparently that was easier said than done. 

   In 2015, it had been two years since he had seen (Y/N). When Maria put on the news one day making his morning coffee, he saw the last face he wanted to see on that screen.

“In recent development, The Avengers have enlisted a new recruit to their team. (Name) (Last Name), otherwise known as “Liberty’’ has now become an honorary member of the Avengers initiative after helping Captain America dissolved S.H.E.I.L.D. which has been discovered to have been infiltrated by HYDRA. an Extended branch of the Nazi organization-“ The male news anchor narrated and a picture of Dean’s former love comes onto the screen, making his blood run cold. As he dropped his mug on the floor, He watched a video of her standing next to Captain America as Tony Stark shook her hand and hugged her during the press conference. 

“HER?! ARE THEY FUCKING KIDDING?! IS TONY STARK OUT OF HIS DAMN MIND?! ARE THEY TRYING TO GET MORE PEOPLE KILLED” He shouted looking at the face of his Ex-wife, about to become one of earth’s mightiest heroes. 

“Dean, mi Corazon. Keep it down. Your brother and friends are still asleep!” His brunette girlfriend chastised him as she handed him his coffee. 

“Sorry, baby.” He said trying to calm down his own blood pressure as the news hit him like a tidal wave, now threating him to send him on an emotional roller-coaster. Are the Avengers really that stupid? Out of the eight billion people in the world, they pick the worst possible human being to help fight for the world. 

Dean knew (Y/n) and she was no way a good fighter or had any special powers.  She couldn’t even shoot a gun properly. She wasn’t raised in the life like he was. She always needed him to save her when they went on a hunt, and it didn’t really bother him that much because he loved her. Now, he was glad she wasn’t a burden to him anymore. Not to mention that she was a self-serving bitch. ‘That didn’t care about any other person than her own self-gain. She wouldn’t put her life on the life for anyone unless she knew for sure she would come out alive.  She was a coward and putting her on the Avengers would the biggest mistake in history. 

 ‘She must have fucked Tony Stark into that position. What a whore.’  He thought.

How wrong he was.

    Dean sees more news about how (Name) was a true asset to the Avengers was had been wherever they went. He has seen her in action on the news time and time again. Shooting at aliens, taking out Hydra agents, and gunning down flying robots. She handled that gun of hers like it was second nature.  She even had a beautiful sword with eagle wings on the guard of the hilt. The woman was slicing and dicing her way in one battle after another. She was even seen being able to tear an entire robot with her own hands. ‘How did she get that strong? She was never that fast before either. Where did she get that sword?’  It was almost nonstop for him to hear about the woman that was once the love of his life that betrayed him. Seeing her becoming more relevant, seeing her on occasional TV interviews, on Magazine covers. Even so far as having hunters that knew they were married say to him “Man, you let a good one go.”  Or “Your ex-wife is a badass hottie.”  Even while he was with Maria, is current girlfriend. 

  He couldn’t escape it and it made his blood boil.

   The very same people that took his side and sympathize with him after (Name) cheated on him. Calling her a “bitch” and a “Whore”, now are admiring her for the work her and the Avengers have done. She was like an idol to many of them now, a goddess and a hero.

    Not to mention, she was spending an awful lot of time with America’s golden boy, Steve Rogers. They were inspirable in the eyes of the world, connected at the hip. Hanging out together, doing interviews, fighting, going on missions, and always seen traveling the world with one another. It was almost like they were conjoined. 

      He remembered in high school and how many girls had such huge crush on him during history class. Ogling at his pictures and daydreaming about being his “Mrs. America” and Dean just scoffing at the idea. None of those girls even stood a chance of getting someone like him. Never in a million years had he thought his ex-wife would be the one to date him. Are they dating? Are they in love? How long have they been together? Doesn’t he know how much of a snake she was?

  It didn’t make any sense to him, but then again nothing in his life ever did.

  The next year, Him, Sam, Maria and Castiel were at a diner when the owner put on the news, saying something was going on with the Avengers in eastern Europe. 

   Dean saw her evacuating people from the city of Sokovia and placed herself in the thick of danger, to save the entire world from extinction from a mad A.I. gone rouge. even nearly had entire building collapsing on her trying to save a crippled boy and his mother while robots were shooting at them.

“God, is that really (Y/N)?”  Sam said as he watched his former sister-in-law hit and bash flying robots left and right. “The (Y/N) we know wasn’t this good at combat, nor was she this brave and selfless.”

“It’s clearly her, Sam. But I am still having trouble believing it is her as well.” Castiel said as the angel’s eyes fixated on his ex-friend fighting for people’s lives. 

   Dean was speechless, stunned by his ex’s actions and how fast, strong, and agile she was. Even after all the news clips of her doing these things, he still could believe that was the same woman he fell in love with. ‘How was she able to train to use a gun? Did the Avengers train her?’ All that while wearing a skin-tight, white and dark blue catsuit that resembled Black Widow’s with a golden eagle across her collar. Once more, he saw that look in her eyes. It was a look he had never seen before. It was a look of fire, the fire of fortitude. Of purpose.

“Dude, that Liberty woman is not kidding around. It’s like watching an action movie star. She’s freaking unreal!!” One young guy behind Dean said as their eyes glued to the Television by the counter, along with the whole diner watching with fear as the possibility of global annihilation. 

“She looks like a movie star, too. She’s hot as hell!” Said the other guy next to the first man said, ogling at his ex-wife while she is jumping around, with every single one of her curves showing as she fought Ultron’s robot army. That was one detail that Dean could not possibly ignore. He remembered on how he used to place his head on her chest on calm nights, sitting on Bobby’s patio looking up at the stars as she run her hand through his hair-

‘Stop it, you idiot! She’s your ex-wife for a good reason! you shouldn’t even be thinking about her while you are with-‘

“Mi Corazon?”  Said his beautiful Latin girlfriend said as she looked at her boyfriend that seemed to be in distress as they news continued to showcase the intense battle in Sokovia.

“I’m alright, baby.” He responded with a sweet smile to her and she returned the smile. All patrons at the diner waited with bated breath, worrying that it may be their last if the Earth’s mightiest heroes fail. As the Avengers took out not only all the robots, but the asteroid as well. Everyone in the diner cheered as the Avengers defeated Ultron, relieved and happy that they will live to see the sun rise tomorrow. 

“Cheers for The Avengers and for Liberty!” exclaimed the owner of the diner as the patrons join in the celebrations.

    Dean on the other hand, had his mouth dropped as he sees the crowd of people applauded (Y/N).  (Y/N). The last person that anyone should be cheering for. The ex-wife that broke his heart in two and shattered his trust forever. The woman that had never fought her own battles and had others do it for her. The Harlot that was too cowardly to even tell him straight to his face that she was cheating on him with his brother. 

    Dean’s blood boiled so badly, he excused himself from his seat and left out of the crowd away from the cheering that angered him so much. Sam, Maria and Castiel left their table to go check on Dean, who seemed to be fuming.

“Dean, what has gotten into you?” Sam asked walking to his brother to pat him on the shoulder, but Dean shook it off as soon as he tried to touch him.

“They are cheering for her.” He gritted his teeth while taking deep breaths to calm down. 

“Who? (Y/N)?” Sam inquired as he looked at his older brother.

“Yes! (Y/N)! They are cheering for her just saving the world one time! How many times did we save the world, Sam?! How many times?!” Dean yelled so angerly that one would be able to see a blood vessel pooping from the sides of his forehead.  

“I know Dean, maybe like five times? Maybe more?” Sam answered sheepishly trying not to let his brother’s temper get the best of him. He was always terrible at handling his anger when something trigged him.

“Exactly!!! We saved the world countless times!! And where are our cheers! Where are our congratulations!? Huh?! None! We get nothing! Nothing but becoming FBI most wanted, having fellow hunters chase us down, being thrown in prison and end up getting killed and brought back over and over again! Our lives our miserable compared that!” He shouted pointing at the loud crowd in the diner, which by now was causing a scene and drawing some attention by the people outside. It was even beginning to scare Sam, Maria and even Castiel. 

“Dean, you never cared about getting that kind of attention when you save people?  Why now?” Sam was right. Dean, despite his flaws, was always humble about saving people. Something has changed and he thinks he knows why. “It’s because of (Y/N) right? Your angry they are cheering for her, right?”

    Dean didn’t say anything, which only confirms what Sam said was true. Sam sighed running his hand through his head. He could not believe that Dean was letting you get to him like this. Yes, he understood that she hurt him immensely and that he would never forgive her, but the fact that this was getting to Dean like shows that he really has not moved on. Castiel, to try and calm his friend down, chimes in his two cents. 

“Dean, I can understand seeing your unfaithful ex-wife thrive like this must hurt, but I don’t believe that this is healthy that every time we see (Y/n) on the news, you get flustered, and it makes you look crazy. Don’t think we don’t see your mood change.” Said the angel as he stepped closer to Dean. “But whether you like it or not, she is an Avenger now and people all over the world rely on her as well as the rest her team. Would you rather see her fail and let the world be destroyed?”  He asked the green-eyed hunter as Dean hangs his head low. Would he want the world to be destroyed because he wanted to see his ex-wife fail? Had he become this petty over the years?

  Dean decided to give up for the time being and get back to the Bunker for a beer and spend some time in bed with his girlfriend. Maybe having sex will get (Y/N) and the Avengers out of his head.

“Yeah, let’s go. We can eat at home.”  The three entered the Chevy Impala and drove off to the Bunker and away from the large crowd of people.

[humandisorderincarnatedean]

And even when he was going to sacrifice jack, it wasn't just for himself, it was supposed to be the only way to save the world which Chuck was very much planning to destroy!! But it was reframed to make Sam's argument make sense when it didn't. It was either destroy Chuck (and Amara) or let him destroy the world. There's no "save our friends" without saving the world first. Power sucker jack was a fluke and not a perceivable option at that point.

I appreciate this add-on to my rambling bunch of thoughts defending dean’s actions in later seasons. I wanna give it a longer response

when I said that 15x17 unity is the only episode in which I see dean acting entirely, 100% in his own self-interest, (meaning every other decision he makes and action he takes in the show, even if it's a selfish one, he's doing at least in part for someone else) i’m referring really only specifically to that last scene, where he’s racing to have jack sacrifice himself and has a gun trained on sam when he tries to stop him.

throughout the episode, leading up to this moment, dean’s motivations steadily get a more narrow focus. first he insists it’s a duty to the world. then later, in the car, he narrows it down to just him and sam, thanking jack for how what he is willing to do can give them a chance at a real life with real freedom. then in the scene in the bunker, he’s finally whittled it down to just himself: he doesn’t care about what happens to amara, to their friends, to jack, to sam even, almost pulling the trigger on him when he tries to stop dean. there’s one moment where he’s only thinking about himself, what he wants, what he needs. he wants to not be a puppet anymore, and if this is what he needs to do (hurt others, let others be hurt) then… well, it’s not what he wants, but so be it.

it’s all very un-dean-like behaviour. but there is one instance from his past that does resemble this situation very closely: dean saying ‘yes’ to alastair in hell and picking up the razor himself. that was a selfish act: it was choosing to hurt others to protect himself, but I don’t think it’s fair to see this as dean making a selfish decision here because he was not in a position to make real, autonomous decisions. when you’re driven to do something after years of unbearable torture, like dean was, that isn't actually a real autonomous decision that you're making and that culpability does not lie with you.

something similar is happening in 15x17: dean is driven, after literally more than a lifetime of trauma and hardship, to be willing to facilitate harm coming to someone else in order for him to be free; in other words to act in a manner so counter to his regular personality and moral compass that the audience watching can’t help but notice it. the differences here, of course, are that dean does have choices in this situation, he is not bound to the laws of hell, and that this time he is not alone, he has his family around him to give him other options he really didn't have access to on the rack.

all that aside, i’m saying I do think dean is ultimately coming at this problem from an emotional point of view, instead of a rational or moral one. and, we are to presume by the framing of the episode, that sam and castiel are acting from a rational or moral perspective. but, like you said, anon, it isn’t actually as clear cut as that.

sam and cas have, in the later seasons, pivoted almost entirely to the idea of ‘letting someone sacrifice themselves to save the world is not acceptable, there must be another way’ which is noble enough when you look at it on a surface-level. granted, they do crucially let go of this ideal in the season 11 finale when they let dean go to sacrifice himself, but I'd say that's the exception. in s10 and s14, for example, they're firmly against killing dean or locking him up or whatever to save the world from what damage he could inflict, and then in s15 of course they're not sold on the plan of letting jack sacrifice himself to put a stop to chuck's control of everything. they try to find a different plan first- and don't actually succeed, but sam does end up discovering yet another reason why he doesn't want jack to destroy chuck.

SAM: Jack, don't! CAS: Sam, why not? SAM: Because if Billie takes over, then everyone goes back to where they belong. That means everybody from apocalypse world, Bobby, Charlie, they get sent back to a place that doesn't exist anymore. And everyone we saved. Eileen, she... she just dies again. And that's just the beginning.

note cas asking sam "why" he shouldn't lead jack to chuck and amara to destroy them, as if he sees that as a perfectly reasonable choice of action now that they haven't found an alternative plan.

anyway, sam's statement here is... a bit selfish, isn't it? I mean, of course it would be sad to lose those people, but the only alternatives they know of right now would be that chuck either continues exacting his control over their world or destroys it, which would mean the death of everyone including the people sam names. but it's about sam's personal emotional investment, his feeling that the people he cares about should get to escape a bad fate no matter at what cost to others that could come.

there is over the seasons a subtle reoccurring theme of dean being more willing to sacrifice people he knows and cares about for strangers/the world at large (in meet the new boss, in brother's keeper, in moriah, in unity). even if he never goes through with it, he's willing to consider it as the morally right decision. in the same vein, he is often unwilling to sacrifice strangers for himself or for his loved ones (jus in bello, appointment in samarra, brother's keeper). sacrifice in season 8 is basically an exception to this, though I'd say those circumstances are different since sam is actively suicidal. anyway on the other side to this coin, sam (sometimes allied with cas) is consistently unwilling to sacrifice people they care about (again, brother's keeper, prophet and loss, unity) and is conversely often more okay with sacrificing strangers to save himself and/or his loved ones (there's like 3 examples of this in s10 only).

all this to say that supernatural is truly inconsistent on its standpoint regarding whether or not it is morally correct to sacrifice the one/the few, whether loved ones or strangers, to save the many. not that any of that technically even matters in the situation in 15x17, because it was canonically all a con mapped out by chuck to push on all their pressure points and get them where he wanted them. billie's hidden intentions, sam and cas' doubts, amara's feeling of betrayal, dean's blind desperation, sam's obstruction and their stand-off. billie's plan was never going to work, it was never going to happen, it wasn't supposed to!

unfortunately for him what else was never supposed to happen was dean being convinced by sam's words and remembering himself as a person who isn't capable of killing his brother or letting someone sacrifice themselves for him, who cares about finding a different way and who does make his own choices, uncocking and lowering his gun. foiling plans by going against what is expected of him is what dean does, after all.

[deancodedcastielenby]

Someone asked me the other day why I love this stupid show so much. And before I could think I just said: “Because they are human.” To which I got: “Uh… they are fictional characters.”

And Yeah I get that, but my point still stands. They are human. Even our gay little angel, he’s so very human it hurts. In a world full of Kardashians and reality TV I take SPN every time, because unlike those reality tv shows I can connect to these characters on a very personal level.

Dean is selectively mute, follows his fathers orders almost to a fault as a child, and takes care of a younger sibling. Take out the motels and the minute amount of money and you could be talking about me. Dean did whatever it took to keep his brother safe, I did the same for my brother when my parents were fighting. Different battles, but I can identify with this character. The first person Dean tells who he is and that he is in love with that person, they drop him like a dead weight. The way he thinks he doesn’t deserve to be happy! The way he thinks that all he has “earned” in life is scorn… its like looking in a fucking mirror.

Sam was always the “new kid” the “weird kid” and the “nerdy kid”. Well fuck if that wasn’t me in school. I excelled, to a point where teachers asked me to take a course again, to be their assistant teacher. Sam has this sense of needing to fit in, and wanting to just be normal. What teen doesn’t? He did after school activities to give Dean a break and also not be at the motel because he butted heads with John. When I tell you I used to drive around for HOURS when I got my license and be out of the house as much as humanly possible its no fucking joke. Sam wanted to be a lawyer because he has this sense of Justice, he has seen the world beat the hell out of his brother and him, he has seen all the dark things and he wants to make things safe with what he thinks is the only “gift” he’s got, and that’s his head. For the longest time everyone told me I should be a lawyer because I would stand up for what I believed in, and I had a strong moral compass… Sam fell for the “wrong” people, and even the people put in his path because he just wanted to be loved for who he was and… well I cannot count the number of shit relationships I have been in.

Castiel was angel, and he had purpose! He knew exactly what he was meant to do and didn’t ask questions… until this immovable force blocked that path and let him see for the first time. He saw these flawed people that he was working with and he *felt*. Like, that is fucking special. Dean was able to let him see the moment Cas touched his soul, and because of Dean he was able to create free will. Sure I don’t have the best relation to this one, but I can tell you that growing up in a conservative household where I was told things were to be a certain way or else, finding out that there was more to the picture was like a punch in the gut. I made bad choices, and I chose the wrong people, and i believed the lies I was fed… until I didn’t any more. Until my amazing friends called me on my BS and they showed me that I was missing a helluva lot. I’m still fucking learning, and so yeah I could understand Cas quite a bit.

Bobby Singer was the father I WISH I FUCKING HAD. Someone who took the time to just know ME who I was and not force shit on me so that I learned “marketable skills”. Watching that scene where he is wandering around with Rufus and seeing little Dean and him at the fucking park? I CRIED LIKE A FUCKING BABY.

But its that, that connection that makes them human. Its that reason that i keep going back. Its the flaws that I see in these people that I can see in myself and just having that where i can see it is extraordinary. Sure I love the story itself, but just a muscle car and classic rock wouldn’t have kept my attention for 15 seasons. It was the Characters that did. Do I have the biggest love for Sam? No, and I admit that. Sure there are a lot of similarities in flaws, but i just never could get behind Sam. I felt a loser kinship to Dean, because I am an eldest child, and I do know the weight of the world on my shoulders even though I am an adult now I still feel it. Like Dean I would never abandon my siblings if they needed me, no matter what we were going through, and I think when Sam didn’t look for Dean it kinda killed that for me. Because we weren’t the “same anymore”. Not to say he’s a bad character, I just don’t like some of the choices that the writers went with, and that’s okay because I still love the show.

I tried to convey all of this in my haphazard way, and some of the people I was talking to get it, I think. But it still comes down to “they are fictional characters”. So? Maybe to you, but to me? They are a reflection of the shit I am dealing with. They are reflections of battles I have within myself every damn day. They are important to me, because I can see myself in those positions doing the same stupid shit with the hand I was dealt and for a moment I can say: “Well see someone else would do it too. I’m not alone.” And that’s the greatest part about fandom because you can share these same type of experiences with people all over the globe. We all have our reasons for loving this silly little show with all the issues in the world, but it’s OURS.

Sorry for the rant…. I just needed to talk about it.

[kerryweaverlesbian]

No offense to people who interpret Cas as a great tactician. but I dont think that's true. Certainly not past Godstiel at the very least. He acts decisively but often reactively. His time 'leading' the angels on Earth he was clearly a figurehead for Hannah to actually get shit done. He takes command because no one else will not because he is good at it. He ruled those angels with fear - Hannah insists that only Castiel is allowed to "punish" angels, and then she tells him he should "punish" Dean by murdering him as proof of his devotion to the cause - and even before that with the civil war, none of even his closest allies knew his real plans and he kept pretending he was off with the Winchesters to meet with Crowley, so most of them resented his friends, his plan was just to amass personal power until he can brute force destroy Raphael, which is almost always his plan.

Whenever literally any character suggests to Cas "we should take any sort of action towards solving this problem" even if they are DEEPLY untrustworthy and Cas KNOWS this, he will take them up on it. Crowley. Metatron. Lucifer. Many, many more smaller characters who change Castiel's course of action over pretty much a single conversation as long as they don't actively murder someone right in front of him.

This is a writing convenience for plot to happen. As is Castiel's "I need to leave immediately to solve this problem offscreen 👋 ", but they both happen so frequently that it is unassailably part of his core character. Castiel believes firmly that he should be able to solve this stuff on his own, and he can't, and if he was good at tactics he would rely on the strengths and expertise of his team members. But he doesn't.

This isn't a diss on Cas, I think it's a charming character trait to run headfirst into the fray with no plan because he knows that not taking action when you know something bad is happening is Wrong, but he's often at a loss as to what the Right action would be, so when someone makes a suggestion he's like yes!! Action!!! Good!!!!

(PS Hannah was the ONLY angel to successfully stabilise Heaven's factions as a ruler. Because she rocks. Cast Hannah as your tactics guy and Castiel as her puppet ruler whom she easily (and earnestly) manipulates towards good causes. Cas is a...I was going to say good moral compass but I also don't think that's true. He's an okay moral compass that sometimes wildly spins around to point at south west instead of north. He is a good moral compass for angels, at least. Baby's first moral compass.)

[hellceo]

I want to expand briefly on some of my thoughts surrounding the summer o' demon-dean.

crowley was at a point of being the king of hell where he was starting to get entirely disenchanted with it all. part of this was because it directly followed sam's attempt at curing him. while no, he's not fully human, it pulled him into the world of mortality just a little, and gave him things like feelings of guilt, dissatisfaction, all sorts of pain. for the first time, his ambition kind of fizzled into an uncertain pit of not being entirely sure what he actually wanted.

he already had quite a bit of disdain and distrust towards his own kind, but at least he was reasonably driven — after all, his big thing about not wanting lucifer back was because he was all too aware that lucifer would squash the demons once he got all his use out of him. but during that, and seeing how damned fast the demons were to turn on him, it just — made him lose whatever tenuous grip on it he did have.

and so: dean became a demon. it became something for him to latch on to. a success story! and damn, did he have fun. it was like decades, centuries of all this — crawling, grasping, fighting for any tiny amount of respect — had been nothing. it was like — in a fucked up way, having some kind of friend. there was something in that, despite all the fucked-up nature of it, that made some tiny little part of him want to do just a little better.

of course, it came to an end. but just as he'd been addicted to blood to get that fix of feelings, he'd found another way to get it, and he — sort of actually liked it? of course, getting others to accept his help was like pulling teeth. it was in the little things — saving castiel. stepping in with ramiel. helping with amara. helping with lucifer, even though his petty need for revenge bit him in the ass.

he's not ... benevolent. he's not even good. but he does, maybe, grow past evil. his moral compass is wildly skewed, but he's — weirdly attached in his own fucked-up way, in his own desperately fucked up way of defining friendships, to the Winchesters and Cas. one could say he even cares.

not that he'll ever admit it.