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Dean Winchester
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Dean Winchester is a fictional character on The CW Television Network's Supernatural, portrayed by Jensen Ackles. He hunts demons, spirits and other supernatural creatures with his brother, Sam.
was born on January 24, 1979 to John and Mary Winchester. He is the couple's eldest child, and has one sibling, Sam, who is four years younger. Dean was named after his maternal grandmother Deanna Campbell (and possibly himself), while his brother was named after his maternal grandfather, Samuel Campbell.
Dean drives a black four-door 1967 Chevy Impala (given to him by his father), and is a fan of classic rock music and heavy metal.
Discussion
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Quotations
Molly: Thank God.
Dean: Because I'm older.
Encyclopedia
Dean Winchester is a fictional character on The CW Television Network's Supernatural, portrayed by Jensen Ackles. He hunts demons, spirits and other supernatural creatures with his brother, Sam.
Background
Dean was born on January 24, 1979 to John and Mary Winchester. He is the couple's eldest child, and has one sibling, Sam, who is four years younger. Dean was named after his maternal grandmother Deanna Campbell (and possibly himself), while his brother was named after his maternal grandfather, Samuel Campbell.
Dean drives a black four-door 1967 Chevy Impala (given to him by his father), and is a fan of classic rock music and heavy metal. He always wears a metal amulet, given to him as a gift by his brother, on a long black cloth band necklace. In "A Very Supernatural Christmas," the necklace is revealed to have been a gift from Sam on Christmas Day, 1991. The amulet was originally meant for John, and obtained from Bobby Singer, but after their father failed to come home for Christmas (as often), Sam gave it to Dean instead, saying "Dad lied to me; I want you to have it," and because Dean had tried to give him a good Christmas. In addition to the amulet, Dean always wears a silver ring on his right ring finger. Dean sports a MTM-Special Ops Watch (The Black Patriot Model) and wears it in the fourth season with a Velcro band. He also has a small black tattoo on the upper left side of his chest; it is a protective plated pentagram with rays of the sun surrounding it. The symbol is said to ward off demonic possession.
Dean appears to be a fan of Jack Nicholson, and possibly watches Oprah. He tends to make light of some of his and Sam's adventures, and is known to use crude humor and make sexual innuendos. Dean is terrified of flying, and claims that it is the reason why he drives everywhere. Despite his working knowledge of existence beyond death, he is skeptical towards religion.
Dean values his family and their safety more than anything else, even going so far as to kill a demon and its human host in order to save Sam's life, as well as selling his own soul to save Sam's life.
Season 1
As the season begins, Dean, at the age of 26, is a hunter; he hunts and kills supernatural monsters. Usually he is with his father John, but sometimes goes by himself. Sam, meanwhile, is a senior at Stanford University, and is applying to law school there. Dean shows up to ask for Sam's help in a search for their father, who has gone missing. While searching, Sam's girlfriend Jessica is killed in the same way as their mother had been years earlier, and Sam abandons Stanford in order to travel with Dean to find John and avenge Jessica. Sam is racked with guilt and sorrow after Jessica's death, and he becomes reckless in hunting. Dean begins to fear for his brother's health because it will kill him. Dean gives him advice on what to do as they have a heart-to-heart in "Wendigo" and tells him not to get his hopes up as they have a long way to go.
Early in the season ("Skin"), Dean and Sam battle a shapeshifter responsible for a string of brutal murders in the St. Louis, Missouri area. During the course of the episode, the shapeshifter assumes Dean's form, causing police to believe that Dean is responsible for the murders. However, Dean kills the shapeshifter while it is still in his form, and the authorities officially declare him dead, and pin the murders on him.
John finally contacts the boys—it's clear that Dean desperately seeks his father's approval, while Sam is very resentful of his father despite being his father's favorite. John reveals that he has been away from them because he's tracking the demon that killed their mother, and for the first time has some really good leads. His affection for his sons could be used against him, so he wants them away from him. However, the family unites as they come into possession of a special Colt revolver, which John says can kill "anything," including the demon that killed his wife.
The season finale concludes with Sam, Dean and John escaping from their clash with Azazel, the yellow-eyed demon. While Sam is driving an injured Dean and John to a hospital, a demonically-possessed driver drives his truck into the Impala, causing massive damage to the car and the Winchesters inside.
Season 2
All three of the Winchesters survive the wreck, although Dean is more severely injured than his father or brother. In the season premiere, "In My Time of Dying", Dean is in a coma. A reaper, Tessa, tries to convince him to move on and accept his death as it is his time to die and warns him that if he refuses, he will most likely become one of the vengeful spirits he and his family have so often fought. In order to save him, John makes a deal with Azazel, trading his life for Dean's. When Dean wakes from his coma, virtually injury-free, he has no memory of his time with the reaper; he does, however, comment later that, when he woke up, it felt wrong. John whispers something in Dean's ear which the audience cannot hear, then walks into another room and dies.
Throughout the first half of the second season, Dean struggles with the death of his father, as well as with the knowledge that he was the one who was supposed to have died, and the belief that his father is now in Hell. Furthermore, he is haunted by his father's last words to him. At the midpoint of the season, it is revealed that John told Dean that Azazel intends to turn Sam evil, and if Dean cannot save Sam, Dean must kill his brother.
During an investigation in Baltimore, Maryland in "The Usual Suspects," Dean is arrested in connection with another series of murders. It is revealed that Dean has a rather impressive police record, with charges over the years including credit card fraud, breaking and entering, and grave desecration. Although Sam and Dean are able to prove that the murders were actually committed by one of the detectives on the case, it is unclear whether or not the charges against Dean are ever officially dropped. However, since the authorities now know that Dean is not dead, as they had previously believed, he is again wanted for the murders committed by the shapeshifter in "Skin." In "Nightshifter", a team of FBI agents, led by Special Agent Victor Hendrickson, catches up with Dean and Sam in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where attempted bank robbery and several more murders are added to Dean's list of supposed crimes, thanks to another shapeshifter.
At the end of "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1", just as Dean arrives to rescue his brother, Sam is stabbed by Jake (another of Azazel's 'psychic children') and dies in Dean's arms. Crushed by Sam's death, Dean summons a Crossroads demon and trades his soul for Sam's life, the bill to come due in one year. Bobby Singer berates Dean for making the deal, and Dean's utter lack of a sense of self-worth comes out in the conversation. Shortly thereafter, in a confrontation with Azazel, the demon implies that what Dean had brought back from the dead might not be "pure Sammy," since Sam unhesitatingly kills Jake without any sign of remorse. Dean wants to keep the knowledge of his deal from Sam, but Sam quickly figures it out and vows to get Dean out of the deal, no matter what. As the second season ends, Dean kills Azazel with the Colt, but not before Azazel has a Hell's gate opened, allowing hundreds of demons to escape from Hell as well as a number of non-demonic souls, including that of their father, with whom they share an emotional moment before he disappears in a glow of light. Dean and Sam must now hunt down all of the escaped demons, as well as find a way to save Dean from dying in a year's time.
Season 3
In the third season premiere "The Magnificent Seven," Dean decides to make the best of his final year, indulging in many pleasures and refusing to even think about saving himself, while Sam tries desperately to find a loophole in the Crossroads demon's deal. While searching for escaped demons to send back to Hell, Sam encounters Ruby, a mysterious blonde who assists him but who also informs him that, for some reason, demons are killing all of his mother's old acquaintances. Sam learns that Ruby is a demon, and she promises him help in freeing Dean from his contract. She "fixes" the Colt so that it can again kill "anything," and also shows them a knife in her possession that can kill anything. Later, they learn from her that all demons used to be human, but had their humanity burned away slowly in the fires of Hell. Dean begins to train Sam to fight demons alone once he is gone.
During the course of the season, the brothers meet up with another beautiful woman, Bela Talbot, numerous times. Bela acquires magical objects and sells them for a large profit, and is unscrupulous and seemingly amoral. In "Dream a Little Dream of Me", Bobby falls into a coma, and Sam and Dean investigate the murder of a scientist. In the course of viewing Dean's dreams, it becomes clear that Dean believes that Sam was their father's favorite, but only thought of Dean as a tool. Dean encounters a future, demonic version of himself in a nightmare, which shocks him into starting to fight for his life and to realize he is not worthless. After waking up, Dean admits to Sam that he doesn't want to die. Meanwhile, Bela steals the Colt, meaning they won't have it to fight with when the Hellhounds come for Dean.
In "Mystery Spot", Sam is forced to relive the same day, a Tuesday, repeatedly. On each new day, Dean dies a different way despite Sam's frantic efforts to save him. Sam realizes that the culprit is the Trickster, a villain from Season 2. It finally becomes Wednesday, but this time, Dean dies and doesn't come back. Sam spends months trying to hunt down the Trickster, who reveals that he's been trying to get Sam to understand that he and Dean can't keep making sacrifices for each other, and that Dean is going to die no matter what Sam does. The Trickster then sends Sam back to Wednesday, despite Sam failing to learn the Trickster's lesson.
In "Jus In Bello", the FBI and Agent Henricksen capture Sam and Dean, thanks to a tip from Bela. While Sam and Dean are in jail, a host of demons come to kill them. Ruby comes to help them, but is furious to learn they have lost the Colt. She says that she knows of a spell that will destroy all the demons nearby, including herself, and that she is willing to die in order to help Sam. However, they will need the heart of a virgin. Sam and the virgin, Nancy, agree to the plan, but Dean refuses to let her die. Dean's plan to exorcise the demons works, but one demon manages to escape and tells Lilith who—taking the form of a little girl—blows the police station up, killing everyone inside. Lilith, it turns out, wants to kill Sam, as she sees him as a rival. According to Azazel's plan, Sam was supposed to lead the demon army, and Ruby was ready to follow Sam. Now, Lilith has stepped into the power vacuum.
Dean continues to search for a means to save himself from his fate, but ultimately is told by Ruby that there is no way to get him out of his deal. Shortly before Dean's contract comes due, he learns from Bela that Lilith, the demon pursuing Sam, holds his contract; Bela had also made a deal with a demon, and she has been taken to Hell. As the brothers search for Lilith with Bobby's help, Dean begins suffering nightmares and hallucinations of his hellish fate. When Lilith is located, the three head to New Harmony, Indiana, and Dean discovers that he now has the ability to see the faces of demons underneath their human hosts.
As Dean and Sam confront Lilith and her demon forces in a last-ditch effort to protect Sam and save Dean's soul, Ruby appears and the three are chased into a room by a hellhound that has come for Dean. Dean quickly recognizes that Ruby's human host is now possessed by Lilith, not Ruby, but it's too late. She sics the hellhound on Dean, killing him, before trying to kill Sam, only to discover that her demonic power has no effect on Sam. Lilith flees, leaving Sam alone with Dean's mutilated corpse. In the last scene of the season, Dean is shown in Hell, suspended in a void by seemingly endless chains and hooks through his flesh, crying out in agony for Sam's help.
Season 4
The fourth season premiere, "Lazarus Rising", begins four months after the third season finale. Dean awakes to find himself in a coffin. He manages to dig himself out and breaks into a nearby gas station where he gets some water, food and cash. Before leaving the store, Dean sees the television and radio flicker on, with static, and a powerful whine that shatters all of the glass and hurts Dean's ears. Dean calls Sam, but finds his number disconnected. He calls Bobby, who hangs up on him, so he hot-wires a parked car and goes to Bobby's house. A fight ensues until Dean is able to prove it is really him. Dean and Bobby track down Sam in a town right near where Dean was buried—he's in a hotel with a girl, but he claims he did nothing to bring Dean back; he's in town because he is searching for a demon. The girl acts puzzled by all of this and leaves, while Dean tells Sam he remembers nothing from Hell. The Winchesters track down whatever force ripped Dean from Hell. By the end of the episode, it is revealed that an angel named Castiel pulled Dean from Hell on God's command; Castiel tells Dean that God has work for him. The girl in Sam's room, it turns out, is Ruby, in a new body, and Sam had lied to Dean when he told him that he didn't know where Ruby was and that he wasn't using his demonic powers. Dean, in turn, was lying to Sam about Hell; in the episode "Wishful Thinking," Dean confesses that he does remember every second of Hell.
In the course of fighting off some ghosts, Dean is told by Castiel of Lilith's plan to break the 66 seals and free Lucifer. Later, in "In the Beginning," Dean is transported back in time to Lawrence, Kansas in 1973. There, he meets his father and mother, as well as his grandparents, and learns of a connection between Azazel and Mary, which explains why Mary seemed to recognize the demon hovering over Sam's crib (as seen in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part I") and why her ghost apologized to Sam (in "Home"). A causal loop is revealed in that the time-traveling Dean, by trying to stop Azazel in the past and change his future, actually made the demon aware of his family in the first place, setting in motion the events leading to the death of his parents, the corruption of his brother and the life he tried to change, therefore setting up a predestination paradox (though it is implied by Castiel that the events would have happened anyway without him being there as they were already destined. Indeed, Mary meets Castiel while Dean is at a friend of Mary's, trying to save her from Azazel. It is therefore possible Mary would have gone to see her friend, anyway). Upon returning to the present, Dean is informed by Castiel that Sam is "going down a very dark road," and that if Dean doesn't stop him, the angels will.
Dean follows Castiel's directions and encounters Sam using his powers to exorcise a demon, and also learns of Ruby's return. He conveys the warning of the angels. After he and Sam stop a rugaru in Missouri, Sam decides to stop using his powers, which seems to satisfy Dean.
In "Heaven and Hell," Dean reveals to Sam what happened to him in Hell: time flows differently there, so 4 months on Earth was 40 years in Hell. During that time, he was put on the rack and "cut, carved, and torn" apart until there was nothing left of him, only to be made whole again just so the demons could start over on him. Dean reveals that, at the end of every day, the demon Alastair would offer to take him off the rack if Dean would put souls on it and torture them. Dean resisted for 30 years, then gave in and spent 10 years torturing people in Hell to escape being tortured himself.
In "Family Remains", Dean confesses to Sam that he enjoyed torturing souls, as he finally had the chance to dish out the same pain and torture that he'd endured for the past thirty years.
Later on in this season, an episode aired with flashbacks of a teenage Dean and a pre-teen Sam while they are going to a high school. In this episode, we learned that Dean was as promiscuous as ever when he was younger. The girl he was currently dating told him that he acted cool when, in reality, he was a little boy who played with people's feelings to make himself feel better. Dean took the comment to heart and from then on, hated the school.
Equipment
The Impala
Dean's trademark black 1967 Chevrolet Impala bears a Sedgwick County, Kansas (even though they are from Lawrence, Kansas) license plate KAZ 2Y5, a reference to Kansas, the Winchesters' home state, and 2005, the year the show premiered, was passed down to him by his father, though it is revealed in the episode "In the Beginning" that Dean picked the car out after he was sent back to 1973 by Castiel. It has been prominently featured on the series, beginning with the teaser of the pilot which shows John holding his two sons as he sits on the car and watches his house burn. Dean protects and cares for the Impala with almost the same devotion he shows to his family, and often talks to it as though it were human ("Bloodlust" and "Simon Said"). However, despite his great love for the car, Dean attacked the back end of the car halfway through fixing it in "Everybody Loves a Clown" due to stress from his father's secret about Sam. The Impala is nicknamed the "Metallicar" after the metal band Metallica, which featured prominently in the fan-favorite, 'driver picks the music/shotgun shuts his cake hole' scene, from the pilot. The actual song and band played in the opening scene is AC/DC's song "Back In Black."
In the episode "What Is And What Should Never Be", the number plate was changed from KAZ 2Y5 to CNK 80Q3 as the boys were hiding from the FBI. Dean loves his car to death, possibly even more than he cares about his own safety.
Attributes
Personality
Dean is typically a ruthless and aggressive individual, especially when he is hunting, a task which he approaches euphorically. He passionately despises what he hunts, especially demons, and is prepared to kill without question more often than not, unlike his brother. However, despite these traits, Dean is very laid-back and well-disposed when not on the hunt, and he values the safety of his family and innocent civilians above all else, even his own life. Though on occasion he can be somewhat impulsive and/or arrogant, Dean is both extremely intelligent and competent, and the only situations in which he exhibits irrational behavior is when his family is threatened.
Dean enjoys the uncomplicated things in life, such as good food and television. He almost constantly displays some level of humorous behavior, and frequently makes light of tense situations, often making inappropriate jokes or using sexual innuendo. He sometimes appears foolish due to this habit, but it has been entailed that this is merely his means of dealing with the stress of hunting.
Dean attempts to be something of a womanizer, but has been in love with at least one woman. He has the capacity to become close with a woman, however, and it has been suggested on occasion throughout the series that this is what Dean truly desires, a normal life, with a wife, children and a regular job.
After he was extracted from Hell by Castiel, Dean began to exhibit noticeable anxiety and experience chronic, abominable nightmares of his experience there, apparently every time he closes his eyes. He also seemed to have some form of flashback after seeing a collection of masks in the episode "It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester." He at first denied remembering anything of his time in Hell, but eventually he confessed to Sam that he did in fact remember every detail, but rejected any discussion about it, either not wishing to burden his brother with his pain or not wanting to live over the details of the "indescribable things" he saw. It is later revealed he not only saw terrible things, but was tortured (in Hell time) for around forty years. However, he also states, despite his strength to last thirty years without torturing other souls so as to escape the torment himself, he finally broke down and took on the role of torturer himself, torturing countless souls, before he was resurrected by Castiel. Dean's experience in Hell left a profound mark on him. He exhibits extreme grief and guilt, both for his actions and for the fact that he eventually gave in. Due to this, he believes he was unworthy of rescue. He has also explained to his brother that he wishes he couldn't feel anything, as the sorrow he feels is so overwhelming. He has also become obsessed with saving people, almost not sleeping in order to save as many as he can. In the episode "Family Remains", however, Dean states it is not just the fact he tortured, but the fact he enjoyed it which causes his sorrow, as he could finally put his pain on other tortured souls.
Abilities and skills
Dean possesses excellent combat and hunting prowess; comprehensively trained by his father from early childhood as a paranormal investigator and hunter of the supernatural, he is established throughout the series as an extremely dangerous individual, and he is more than capable of taking a stand against even the most formidable of opponents, such as demons and vampires.
Dean is well-versed with multiple types of firearms; he prefers his Colt 1911 and sawed-off shotgun, but is proficient with most other weapons he might acquire. An expert marksman, he seldom misses his intended target and can efficiently put down anything vulnerable to bullets.
Dean is adept with martial arts and knife fighting as well; he has subdued several human assailants with ease in multiple episodes and bested physically more powerful creatures, often unarmed or equipped with only a blade. In "Nightshifter", he killed a shapeshifter armed with a simple silver letter opener. In "Fresh Blood," he managed to subdue a vampire long enough to inject her with a shot of 'dead man's blood.' In "The Magnificent Seven", he fought and held off several demons by himself, armed only with a flask of holy water.
Dean is also a proficient tracker and possesses prudent tactical skills and an instinctive ability to 'read' behavioral characteristics and manipulate people. Highly resourceful, he frequently utilizes improvised weapons and explosive devices; in "Croatoan," he demonstrated knowledge in chemistry, constructing Molotov cocktails and improvised explosive devices, and in "Phantom Traveler", he revealed knowledge of electronics and reverse engineering, having built an electromagnetic field detector from an old Walkman radio.
Dean also possesses extensive knowledge of the supernatural and mythology. He is versed with how police, fire departments and various government agencies (FBI, CDC) typically operate and conduct investigations, and knows how to both impersonate and evade them effectively. An accomplished mechanic, he maintains his Impala in tip top condition and has maintained an intimate knowledge of automobiles and engines since childhood.
Dean is a virtuoso of escape, evasion and silent movement, when the situation requires subtly and stealth. Lastly, he is also alarmingly skillful in many areas frowned upon by the law; lock picking, breaking into security systems (not so much computers, which often falls to Sam), car jacking and gaining an 'advantageous purchase' comes naturally to him.
Weaponry
Dean tends to use a chromed Colt 1911 with ivory grips, which John is seen using in a flashback, and also uses a sawed-off double barrel shotgun when he needs extra firepower. He has also been seen with an MSG3 sniper rifle in "Simon Said". Dean is shown to possess a large machete in "Dead Man's Blood", and has used a knife in several episodes. He also is shown to possess a Desert Eagle loaded with wrought iron in the episode "Something Wicked". He also possesses tazers which he and Sam used in the start of "Faith", when he electrocuted himself. When weapons are scarce and Dean is in a dangerous situation, he uses hand-to-hand combat or whatever is available as a weapon.
Appearances
As one of the stars of the series, Dean has appeared in all of the episodes. However, most episodes are focused on one of the two brothers.
Notable episodes about Dean
External links
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