#not to mention sam being the plot protagonist also makes sense if the narrative lives in dean’s head | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cannibology · 6 months ago

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i think about this a lot. because the thing is, i don’t think either of them are truly to blame for the seals they broke. dean was tortured into submission and had no idea that there could be such massive consequences to giving in; sam was manipulated and deceived and honestly thought what he was doing would stop the apocalypse, not set it in stone. neither of them willingly chose to break a seal, and neither of them had any way of knowing what they were really doing. they were key pawns in a game they didn’t even realize was being played, not active participants in it. and i don’t think you can really blame someone for falling victim to that.

but if you are going to blame sam for his part in it, you also have to blame dean for his. either both of them are responsible for accidentally breaking the most important seals, or neither of them are.

didn't...didn't dean break the first seal? why is everyone on sam's case for being manipulated into killing lilith (which he thought was a good thing bc hey demon dead) but not on dean's case for torturing souls and LIKING it? protect sam winchester oml

#this plays into a lot of thoughts i have about their roles in the show #the way i see it sam is the protagonist from a plot perspective (at least at first)#but the narrative lives in dean’s head. the show is filtered through the lens of how he sees things #and the way the show just…forgets about dean’s role in breaking a seal once sam does the same #mirror’s dean’s tendency to latch onto other people’s wrongdoings to escape the guilt he feels about his own #if the story is told through dean’s eyes then of course sam is the only one we’re told to blame in the end #because dean himself is trying desperately to not think about what he did #and projecting those feelings onto sam is the only way he really knows how to do that #but just like dean never really believes it — guilt doesn’t go away just because you repress it and he still winds up hating himself #the show also never really believes it and that’s why the absence of blame placed on dean is so glaring if you’re paying attention #it feels wrong because it is wrong. we know that because the show knows that because dean knows that #but dean can’t admit it so the show can’t admit it #and that makes it easy to ignore. easy to not pay attention to. easy to just pay attention to sam instead #ofc i don’t think they did any of that on purpose #but it’s unintentionally a really interesting framing that exists throughout the entire show #not to mention sam being the plot protagonist also makes sense if the narrative lives in dean’s head #because sam is the most important character in dean’s life #and just like being a protagonist often means you pay for the spotlight by going through the most horrors #sam’s role as the most important person to dean often just causes him more pain #so yeah. in my mind sam is the main character of the story but dean is the one telling it #which actually also puts an interesting spin on the ending post-dean death #that sam’s life montage is all weird and blurry because it’s not real at all #it’s what dean imagines — maybe hopes — sam will have after he’s gone #the nice happy future for sam that he has to believe in so he can let go #ANYWAY i’ll shut up now. this show is eating my brain #spn posting

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