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| “ | Once you touch that darkness, it never goes away. | „ |
| ~ Dean Winchester. |
| “ | God or no God, you go to hell! | „ |
| ~ Dean to God. |
Dean Winchester is the overall main protagonist of the Supernatural franchise.
He is the deuteragonist of the hit television series Supernatural, and the overarching protagonist of the prequel spin-off series The Winchesters, which chronicles the origins of John and Mary Winchester prior to the events of Supernatural.
He is a hunter and member of the Winchester Family, and fights against religious and supernatural monsters and creatures.
He is played by Jensen Ackles, Chad Everett when elderly, Brock Kelly and Dylan Everett as a teenagers, Ridge Canipe as a child, Hunter Brochu as a toddler, Nicolai Guistra in Bobby Singer's memory in "Death's Door" and Anthony Bolognese in Mary Winchester's memory in "Who We Are".
In the Japanese dubbed version, he voiced by Hiroki Tōchi.
Personality[]
Dean is shown to be understanding, kind, funny, mischievous, and, in contrast to his younger brother, a little immature. At an early age, Dean was trained by his father, John Winchester, to hunt and kill creatures of the supernatural. However, unlike his brother Sam, he did not resent his father for having him "raised like a warrior". He seemed to prefer hunting the supernatural over any normal "apple pie" life, though it was revealed that when he was sixteen, he did in fact desire (or at least hope for) a normal life: He just couldn't leave Sam. This however did not last long, as later on while still sixteen, following a werewolf hunt he realized just how unique his life was. However, by Season 7, following all that he has seen and done, Dean admits to Eliot Ness that he no longer wants to be a hunter and would give it up if he could.
Dean is an avid fan of classic rock music. Many of his aliases have included the names of famous rock musicians. He is known to use crude humor, make sexual innuendos and indulge in pornography (especially for Busty Asian Beauties). Dean typically avoids emotional intimacy, preferring to engage with women only as sexual partners. However, he has had a few long term relationships over the years, with Cassie Robinson, pre-series, and Lisa Braeden, in Season 6. After the tragic events that led Dean to ask Castiel to make it as if Lisa and her son Ben had never met him, Dean seemed to give up on ever having a family other than his brother.
After his break up with Lisa, Dean was reluctant to get back into his old routine of "new town, new girl". However, the one time he was shown to indulge in a one night stand in "The Slice Girls" he ended up fathering an Amazon that tried to kill him. He was reluctant to defend himself against his Amazonian daughter and Sam ended up making the kill. After these events he became even more reluctant to get in a physical relationship let alone an emotional one.
Dean values his family's safety over 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 sacrificing his very soul and suffering in Hell to resuscitate his brother. When he discovered he had a half-brother named Adam Millagan, he didn't believe that his father had another son until he saw a frame of the two together. He begrudgingly accepted it and helped what he thought to be his brother. When he met the real Adam, Dean didn't want him to suffer as a vessel for him and apologized to him after that failed. When he met his paternal grandfather Henry Winchester, he resented him for leaving his father as a child until he realized it wasn't his fault and apologized for it.
Even though Dean keeps himself in excellent physical shape, he is known to have very bad eating habits. He is often shown enjoying greasy, fattening or otherwise unhealthy food, especially cheeseburgers and pie, and dismisses salads as "rabbit food". Dean is terrified of flying and claims that is the reason why he drives everywhere.
Despite his working knowledge of the supernatural, Dean is skeptical with regard to the "good aspects of religion." However, he becomes somewhat more open-minded after being rescued and meeting the angel Castiel who would become his best friend. Dean was later surprised to actually see God, though was bitter about him leaving earth until the latter told him not to put his abandonment issues with his father on him. Dean has also shown on several occasions that he is a great fan of movies, particularly westerns, and was thrilled to be given a chance to go to the old west. He was also overjoyed when he met and was able to work with Eliot Ness, frequently referencing The Untouchables during the episode.
Dean is typically ruthless and aggressive when he is hunting, a task which he approaches enthusiastically, making him the more merciless of the Winchester siblings. But in spite of that, he is capable of acknowledging whenever he's going too far, as seen with his interaction with Lenore and Gordon. Whereas Sam is at least willing to sympathize with what they hunt, provided that their motives can be counted as morally gray, Dean mostly sees the world as black and white. He passionately despises what he hunts, especially demons, and is prepared to kill without question more often than not, unlike his brother. This has caused him to develop a bigotry against most supernatural creatures and beings.
He dislikes showing his emotions to monsters, and when facing beings like Abaddon or Azazel he acts threatening and determined. When facing the angels, even knowing what they could do to him, Dean is sarcastic, rude, and insulting. The only being he is openly afraid of is Death; on the rare occasions that they meet, Dean is nervous and cautious, and when Dean is angry or frustrated enough to talk back, he becomes visibly scared and backs off the moment Death appears annoyed.
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 as well as arrogant, Dean is both extremely intelligent and competent. He is more likely to exhibit irrational behavior when his family is threatened.
Underneath his seeming arrogance and self-righteousness, Dean shows many signs of self-loathing and insecurity. He always blames himself when things go seriously wrong, regardless of whether he's to blame or not. He constantly downplays himself and his achievements. He puts up with abuse from others, simply because he believes he deserves it.
Despite being the better hunter, Dean admits he doesn't see himself as anything other than a "grunt". Likewise he constantly is willing to throw his life away, at least in part because he doesn't value it as worth much. He is constantly called out for feeling this way by Bobby and Sam. But regardless his feelings always return. These feelings can be traced back to his relationship with his father John, who at times treated him as a tool rather than as a son and who held him to unrealistic or unfair standards.
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. He sometimes appears foolish due to this habit, but this seems to be merely his means of dealing with the stress of hunting.
Dean shows on multiple occasions a soft spot for children. He is very good with them, able to talk to them with ease, and he is always very sympathetic; this most likely stems from the fact he practically raised Sam when he was a child. Dean's affection extends to nearly all children, particularly young ones, although he also cares about teenagers. Dean is more willing to put his life in danger for children than he is for nearly any others. Dean's affection even extends to monster children, and despite his ruthless approach to hunting he's usually unwilling to kill monster children unless he has a crucial need.
After his first death and his time in Hell, Dean was horrified as he begged for help from his brother or anyone as he tortured for forty years there (four months on Earth). To gain freedom, he accepted a demon's offer to torture souls and though he felt guilty about his actions; a part of him enjoyed it.
Following his extraction from Hell by Castiel, Dean begins to exhibit noticeable anxiety and experience chronic, abominable nightmares of his horrible experience there. He also seems to have some form of flashback after seeing a collection of masks in the episode "It's the Great Pumpkin", Sam Winchester, when blood is seen around eyes, such as Alistair's first appearance, when a statue's eyes bled. Initially, Dean denies remembering anything of his time in Hell, to mask the trauma he endured but eventually confesses to Sam that he remembers every detail. He rejects any discussion about it, either not wishing to burden his brother with his pain or not wanting to relive the details of the "indescribable things" he saw. He later reveals that he not only saw terrible things, but (in Hell time) was in Hell for around forty years. He confesses that he lasted thirty years without torturing other souls so as to escape the torment himself, but that he finally broke down and tortured for the last ten years.
Dean's experience in Hell left a profound mark on him. He exhibits extreme grief and guilt, both for his own torment and for the fact that he eventually gave in and tormented others. 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 become obsessed with saving people, often going without sleep 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 souls, but the fact he enjoyed it which causes his guilt and shame. Taking up the instruments of torture himself gave him the opportunity to put his pain on other unfortunate souls. It was this act, of a righteous man turning on others, that broke the first seal.
Another side of Dean shown recently is his utter disgust at Sam for many of his dangerous or foolish actions, such as drinking demon blood, and having a sexual relationship with a demon, possibly because he is scared of Sam becoming a demon like the ones he saw in Hell. While he remains angry at Sam, he vows to save his brother and still loves him. Dean also realizes family isn't perfect and there will always be times when they hurt him. In the final episode of Season 4 after the argument with Bobby when he was in the "safe house", he forgave his brother during the final few moments when Lucifer was rising.
As of Season 5 Dean does not trust Sam, and feels as if he is holding himself back and putting the world in jeopardy just to keep Sam safe. He tells Sam that Lucifer will use the fact that they are family and have love for each other against them until he was sent to the future by Zachariah. Once there, he realized that he and Sam kept each other grounded, and when he got back, he immediately called his brother. They were a team again, even though it was difficult for Dean to trust his brother again, as Sam continued to lie to him.
After his time in Hell, Dean slowly started to use alcohol as a crutch. He cut back on his drinking while he was living with the Braedons between Seasons 5 and 6 but after being kicked out of the Braedon household after the events of "Live Free or Twihard" and "You Can't Handle the Truth" his long term depression worsened and he dove back into the bottle. In Season 7 both Bobby and Sam stated that his drinking was becoming a problem that could potentially cost him his life during a hunt.
Following Bobby's death at the hands of Dick Roman, Dean developed a very strong, obsessive revenge streak in him and spent the entirety of Season 7 hunting Dick down to kill him. As part of Bobby's last wishes he tried to let go of his anger and vengeance, and while in the end he succeeded in killing Dick, it was as part of the job and not for vengeance. However, this caused to him be sent to Purgatory in the process, where he resided for a year (possibly much longer, as time moves differently between dimensions).
The constant life-or-death situations Dean was forced into in Purgatory created an extreme change in him. While he was stuck there, he became emotionless and paranoid of the fear of getting attacked. He killed monsters of Purgatory with ease and was always fighting for his survival. When returned back to Earth, his new outlook on life was clear. He became hardened, emotionless, and at times ruthless; his humor and puns were nonexistent when hunting unlike in Season 7. That has changed with Castiel's return from Purgatory after which he started to show his lighthearted side again.
Having a now haunted sense of self created in him during that year, he became firmer in his belief of hunting. He had personally seen all the monsters they hunted in Purgatory and in doing so, developed a strong sense of responsibility to the people they saved. Dean now believes that it is their duty to save people and quitting out of the hunting business is permanently out of the question. Despite becoming more ruthless, Dean has developed more faith in monsters managing to recover their humanity, as shown with him willing to let Kate go, presumably developed from his time with Benny. However following Castiel's return, Dean began to slowly return back to his previous more laid back personality.
Following Kevin's death, and Gadreel taking complete control of Sam, Dean became desperate to save him. When Sam was freed, Dean's self loathing seems to have reached a new height: He claims he's poison, and that anyone near him dies.
Since acquiring the Mark of Cain, Dean's personality began to alter, turning darker. He has since shown extreme levels of aggression and wrath, an example of this is when he fully attacked a good angel and putting an Angel Blade to her throat in Stairway To Heaven. As well as being openly more hostile, even towards his friends and brother. He's also got more distrusting and suspicious, and more hate-filled toward the supernatural.
From what has been seen so far, Dean's transformation into a demon has darkened his personality. As his soul is twisted, he no longer empathizes for others, and only cares for his own needs and wants. He is so far from his former self, that at one point, he stalked Sam through the bunker and attempted to kill him with a hammer, missing only by inches. He also seems to like taking his time with his tasks. While stalking Sam, he talked in a taunting manner, as though he was enjoying himself. This is furthered by the fact that instead of an axe, he decides to use a hammer to break through a door and kill Sam, despite both tasks requiring much more force with a hammer than with an axe. Dean as a demon apparently cares about the natural order, something old Dean despised. He even considered himself, as a demon, a part of the natural order, and that it was all set up in this certain way.
Sure enough, the transformation has turned Dean more selfish and arrogant, acting like a hedonist and only caring about himself, completely in opposition to his former personality. He has kept some familiar traits, such as a love of drinking, roadhouses and games such as pool, darts and foosball. Dean is now noticeably more brutal, happily beating people and demons beyond a reasonable point, with limited provocation. He is also colder, selfish and while initially coming across down-to-earth and charismatic, he quickly turned cold and ruthless when others proved to be uncooperative.
Dean's transformation has also caused him to no longer care for Sam, shown by how he told Cole that he didn't care what he did to Sam, and even threatening Sam himself. He has also shown to no longer care about innocent people, willing to kill a cheating housewife just to sate the Mark's need for a kill and instead killing her husband, as well as calling his beloved Impala 'Just a car' and not bothering to tend to its condition.
In Season 11, Dean suffers from the fact that he unleashed The Darkness upon the world. Although he has every intention of defeating The Darkness by whatever means necessary, he soon realizes he himself cannot harm her, and has developed an unwilling attraction towards her. This has caused a banshee to deem him vulnerable and a qareen to take the form of Amara, who has become Dean's darkest desire. These facts leave Dean feeling noticeably sad and down, but he's not yet ready to give up.
With the revelation that Castiel had said "yes" to Lucifer, Dean shows great determination in saving his friend, even going against Sam who believes this to be Castiel's choice. Dean's desperation drives him to use every method possible to free Castiel, and to put Castiel's safety as among his top priorities.
In a bid to stop the Darkness, Dean was shown to be a good strategist, he talked God out of sacrificing himself, planned the rescue of Lucifer and talking the Darkness out of her anger. This led him to save the world, and regain his mother.
In Season 12, Dean struggles with the changes in his life. Mary is not the woman he remembers, nor is he the son she remembers, leading the two to part ways much to Dean's distress. Dean tries to bury his initial discomfort with being abandoned by Mary, but an eventual reconciliation restores some of Dean's happiness about her return. Another issue is Crowley and Castiel's partnership, which Dean expresses dislike in. Conflicts with Lucifer and the British Men of Letters also become major concerns for Dean.
When a witch curses him to lose his memory, Dean gradually forgets important facts about himself, but a more childlike demeanor, coupled with a fascination in cartoons and a happy, normality-loving personality begins to surface, a likely indication of what kind of person Dean could have been had he not become a hunter. As noted throughout the season, Dean has become more open about his interests and preferences, switching within a day from hating vegetable juice to drinking it without another word. As of recent, Dean may be losing much of his bravado, the tough, sarcastic and careless personality he carried with him for most of his life is slowly slipping away to reveal the true Dean Winchester underneath, whom not even Sam recognizes.
After Castiel's death, Mary's imprisonment in the alternate universe and Jack's birth, Dean was shown to become quite depressed. This depression brought out a much more cynical side in Dean, to the point where he would pray for the return of everyone even Crowley. When that didn't work, he replaced his sadness with anger and it caused him to lash out at Jack, blaming him for what happened to Mary and Cass even though the latter was not at fault for these acts. He also firmly told Sam that their mother was dead as Lucifer presumably killed her.
While he acted like this, there were still glimpses of his old self underneath, as he was willing to check out the alibi of a Mia Vallens (a shapeshifter) rather than kill her and gave Jack praise for saving Sam. He later told Sam to maintain his faith in their mother being alive as him holding faith would balance them out which surprised Sam. Dean's reason as he stated was because he was done with everything.
Dean's new attitude of being "done" had reached the point that he was willing to let Billie (the new Death) ensure his death would be permanent in exchange for one last favor, a stark contrast to the way Dean usually dealt with Billie in the past. This cynicism and depression was pointed out to him by Billie who told him he should keep living. Dean later stated he just needed one victory to cheer him up.
Dean got his victory in the form of Castiel being resurrected (due to Jack), after Castiel reunited with the brothers, Dean's depression faded, though his cynicism as remained to an extent. This has also led to him being less hard on Jack, even seeing him as a part of Team Free Will and no longer seeing him as a monster or evil as he even stated he was wrong about him. When he discovered his mother was still alive from Jack, he apologized to Sam for doubting his beliefs and became determined to rescue her. Dean even smiled after Jack stated that he considers him and Sam as family rather than his biological family Lucifer and the angels. Afterwards, Dean has shown that he has moved past his depression as he tried to comfort Sam over his own anger at the loss of both Mary and Jack.
However, some of Dean's anger remained as he was still upset God didn't intervene even voicing the latter didn't care at all. It was not until Father Luca Camilleri explained to Dean that miracles are not supposed to just happen but are good acts from God's work, that causes Dean to let go some of his old resentment. He even told Sam to have faith that no matter what threat occurred in the future that they will handle it.
While Dean was originally unwilling to become the vessel for Michael in Season 5, he later changed his mind in Season 13's Let the Good Times Roll with the alternate Michael due to the grave threat posed by Lucifer. In this instance, Dean appeared to see it as embracing a necessary evil as only he and Michael together had any chance of defeating the super-charged Lucifer. Before saying "yes," Dean was smart enough to put conditions on it to ensure that he remained in control of the situation.
After Michael took full control of him, he described how Dean struggled to regain control and when manifesting in a mirror ordered him out but was refused. When Dean was released, he told Sam of how he suffered in his possession. Dean also wanted to get revenge on the Archangel for using him while being angry when Alternate Kaia compared him to the latter. He also locked himself in his room, since he felt guilt at letting Michael loose. Despite assurances from Jack and Sam that this wasn't his fault, Dean was unsure and only gain a semblance of hope after seeing Maggie wanting to hunt after being kidnapped on a hunt. Dean later showed this side again, as he was determined to bring Jack back while calling him his son. After Michael possessed him again, Dean was locked away in a limbo like state where he owned a bar with Pamela Barnes and seemed happy but was able to tell that something was amiss. Once Sam and Castiel helped him see the truth, he broke free of the state and fought with Michael. After Michael gave him a hint, Dean resolved to lock him up as Michael did to him. Dean's ability to keep Michael contained is a testament to his incredible willpower as Castiel stated at one point that he couldn't even imagine the strength it took to keep Michael under control.
After it was revealed that God was the one behind all his ordeals, Dean's self-depression and cynicism reached new levels: He initially tries to hide it behind his usual calm and confident demeanor, but the changes was evident from the beginning. He's mostly serious, with much of his sarcasm lost, and quite capable of lashing out in an uncharacteristic way to Sam and Castiel over the fact that God has been manipulating him from the start. He admits freely that the revelation shook Dean's faith in Free Will, after having been completely manipulated and outsmarted by God along with his brother into going through their ordeals, starting to consider that it wasn't him and Sam who saved the world but God who lead them into winning. Rowena's death and the revelation of God's ending only serves to make Dean more cynical, angry and bitter, resulting in him lashing out and severing his friendship with Castiel and later on admitting his belief to Sam that they only got that far because God allowed it and he's pessimistic of their chances of winning a fight with God.
Although Rowena's words and his subsequent experience in Purgatory over Castiel has allowed Dean to start regaining his optimistic spirit and reconcile with Castiel, and he has also come to forgive Jack for murdering Mary, being friendly and warm with him despite still being angry a bit, unfortunately Dean's cynicism had advanced too far to be completely supressed and once it's revealed that Jack has to die to kill Chuck and Amara, he agrees to sacrifice Jack for his, Sam and Castiel's freedom. In process, Dean displays a completely different level of brutality, cynicism, and rage, showing how tired and broken he is over playing God's game, to the point of being willing to sacrifice the man he considered a son, even trying to deny the fact that he saw him as family, just to get rid of Chuck and even being willing to allow Billie to take over and do whatever she wants including killing the ones they had saved. Although Sam eventually snapped Dean out of it, Dean still maintained his anger and tried to take it out on Billie over her betrayal, which had devastating consequences as not only did he fail to kill her, she subsequently attacked him and Castiel and ultimately forced Castiel to sacrifice himself for Dean, leaving Dean to lament and regret over how his rage-driven passion for the freedom to decide his life had lead him and Sam to lose more.
Appearance[]
Dean has green eyes, freckles on his face and short-cropped hair that is dark blonde. He is 6'1"--ironically making him shorter than his younger brother Sam—and muscular. Dean is noted to be "handsome" or even "pretty" by other characters on multiple occasions.
He usually wears a plaid shirt over a T-shirt, jeans, and boots, unless he has to wear a disguise in order to impersonate someone. Until Season 6, Dean often wore his father's leather jacket. He also used to wear a watch and a silver ring. As of Season 4, Dean has a hand-shaped burn scar on his left shoulder from where Castiel pulled him out of Hell. This mark has since disappeared from his body.
For the first four seasons, Dean also wore an amulet around his neck that resembled the head of a bull made of brass, attached to a black cord. This amulet was given to him by Sam as a Christmas gift when they were children. Throughout the first half of Season 5, Castiel attempts to use this amulet to find God, as its claimed power is to burn hot in God's presence. When Castiel is unsuccessful, he declares the amulet "useless," and Dean throws it away. It is later returned to him by God but Dean is not shown wearing it.
Dean mentions to Haley Collins in Season 1 that he doesn't wear shorts.
Dean has recently received the Mark of Cain, manifesting just below his elbow. Since separating from Sam his appearance has become more scruffy and unshaven.
Dean briefly possessed a pair of black eyes while he was a demon but they are gone now that he's human again.
After becoming Alternate Michael's vessel, Dean's attire changes into old fashioned suits and his eyes change into blue since they reflect his possession.
Abilities[]
- Master Hunting Skills: Trained by his father from early childhood, Dean possesses excellent combat and hunting abilities; 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, vampires and leviathans. Due to his time with his brother and grandfather after the Apocalypse, he is knowledgeable in curing those of monster sickness. He is skilled in memorizing the weaknesses of monsters and uses them to help in his hunts. By Trial and Error, Sam lists Dean as the best hunter he knows of beyond more experienced hunters such as Bobby Singer and their own father.
- Peak of Human Physical Condition: As such an accomplished hunter, Dean is in exceptional physical condition. He is strong enough to fight and overpower low-tier demons and creatures and has tremendous levels of durability and endurance, even if his level of strength and resistance is inferior to his brother, able to withstand incredible beatings from the likes of Alastair, Seraph Castiel, Lucifer and recover with no permanent injuries. He also was able to withstand the pain of being inflicted with cancer by Zachariah and after getting shot with a poisonous bullet Dean was able to keep moving despite its effects before collapsing. After getting healed of the poison, Dean was still able to keep moving despite the gunshot not being healed.
- Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Dean is exceptionally skilled 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. Dean is also more skilled than Sam and in all occasions that Sam won, it was due to Dean's fighting being clouded by his emotions but even then Sam would not win without a difficult fight and whenever they fight with Dean at full fighting capability, he always triumphs over Sam despite Sam's greater strength. Dean even went as far as to confidently challenge Sam when he voiced he would have to stop him by force from saying Yes to Michael, stating that without Sam empowered with demon blood, they both know that he won't be able to defeat Dean this time and Sam himself not only admitted this but didn't even try to fight Dean, instead enlisting Castiel to forcibly teleport Dean away. Dean also proved capable of overpowering other accomplished hunters: he was able to defeat Gordon Walker with less effort than Sam did in their first fight and despite Gordon using a gun, Dean briefly managed to pummel him before getting captured. He beat Rufus Turner and a younger version of his mother while not fighting to kill. When briefly turned into a Vampire, Dean managed to easily defeat 2 vampires in hand-to-hand combat before using a single blade to slaughter the entire nest. Due to his year-long stay in Purgatory and the realm's animal-like survival of the fittest environment, Dean greatly honed his hunting skills and instincts. Even when up against three demons, Dean was able to take them down single-handedly using only his hand-to-hand experience and the demon killing knife, something which impressed the powerful demon, and his ancestor, Cain greatly. Dean also effortlessly defeated 3 men under the influence of the Attack Dog Spell cast by Rowena. While a Knight of Hell, Dean soundly defeated Cole Trenton, a highly proficient fighter with both self-training and military training, and later won a fight with him again as a human while holding back to not tap upon the Mark and kill him, although not without considerable effort. Dean even held his own against Cain, the trainer of the Knights of Hell with millennia worth of experience, and although he was ultimately no match for Cain, he was still able to land some blows on the Father of Murder, albeit granted Cain was not at full power due to being inside a Devil Trap but it must be noted Dean was not fighting as best as he could due to not willing to tap upon the Mark. While empowered by the Mark of Cain, Dean displayed his superior hand-to-hand combat skills over Sam and Castiel, as he was able to quite easily defeat, disarm and almost kill Castiel despite Castiel's seraphim strength and own fighting ability, although it should be noted that Castiel held back somewhat as he was not trying to harm Dean but only restrain him, and give Sam a rather sound beating due to now being no longer weaker than his brother, as well as being the only one among them who managed to land any blows on the Grigori Tamiel. Even while not tapping on the Mark, he was able to break out of the superhumanly strong Eldon Frankenstein's chokehold and after being tossed aside, was able to easily dodge his strike and restrain him. Upon tapping on the Mark, Dean effortlessly and single-handedly slaughtered every single Frankenstein on Monroe Frankenstein's house, killing them in what Castiel described as being a very brutal manner. He also proved his superiority as a martial artist over Sam and also his mother when they engaged the Prince of Hell Ramiel, in which he was the only one able to last against and inflict any blows in a direct fight. At one point, despite being far weaker than Magog, Dean's superior skills allowed him to overpower and get a grip on his opponent and after being forced away, he was able to knock down Magog by tripping him and use Magog's sword to kill him. He also held his own against and eventually came out on top over the specialist Arthur Ketch in hand-to-hand combat despite his knee being injured and he was distracted in the fight. When fighting against several particularly strong demons, Dean was able to hold his own against multiple enemies for awhile, throwing one across the room and killing another before being overpowered. After Arthur Ketch shows up and creates a distraction by attacking another demon, Dean is quick to break free and kill the demon that was holding him. Dean was able to defeat Bernard, a highly-trained military operative, something that the Reaper Jessica found to be impressive. When facing a super-charged Lucifer, with Michael powering him, Dean was able to go toe-to-toe with the archangel for a reasonable amount of time before being ultimately overpowered, with Lucifer himself even, although mockingly, praising Dean's skills, noting he "gave it a good try." Although he got soundly defeated by Dark Kaia, it was only because he was surprised and in their second encounter, he proved able to prevent her from using her spear against him while Sam and Jody were easily defeated, only being knocked out when he saw her face. Dean also briefly held his own against the Castiel of the reality where John was alive, landing solid hits with a vase and even stopping an attack from Castiel and attacking him multiple times in return, but was no match due to Castiel's superior strength. Dean was also able to briefly struggle against Noah Ophis, whereas Sam was effortlessly overpowered by him, before soon being defeated. Later, Dean was able to fight off and kill zombies that God unleashed on him, Sam and Castiel, using not only a fence post as a weapon but also employing more hand-to-hand combat than Sam, knocking down the zombies with both kicks and takedowns. In addition, Dean beat and killed Lee Webb in a fight despite John commenting Lee was the best fighter he ever saw. While fighting two demons in Hell itself, Dean handled himself with ease, swiftly knocking down one and soon taking control over the other's hand that held an angel blade before driving it into her side, killing the demon with her own weapon. Dean then effortlessly killed her companion.
- Master Marksman - Dean is well-versed with multiple types of firearms and is an expert marksman, he seldom misses his intended target and can efficiently put down anything vulnerable to bullets. He is able to shoot right of left handed with the same level of dexterity and accuracy, although he prefers his right hand. During an old-fashioned duel with Elias Finch, Dean won, killing Finch without being harmed in the process despite Finch getting a shot off. The same also happened in an impromptu duel with werewolf Joy. Dean is also a skilled knife thrower. He was able to throw a silver knife at Pat's heart from several feet away within seconds. Four seasons later, Dean flung an angel blade like a throwing knife at Harrington to save the life of Donatello Redfield. The blade ended up in Harrington's neck. Dean's throw left Sam and Donatello highly impressed.
- Master Swordsman - Dean is exceptionally skilled in swordsmanship, masterfully capable of wielding bladed weapons even those like knives to successfully kill numerous counts of supernatural enemies. These include the Demon-Killing Knife, Angel Blades, machetes, and The First Blade. Among the most impressive displays of his swordsmanship skills is shown by how he effortlessly slayed an entire nest of vampires with a single blade, used a broken blunt piece of an Angel Blade to overwhelm and land blunt blows on Magog, disarming him of his sword, which he proceeded to use to kill Magog and managed to trade blows with Ramiel wielding the Lance of Michael using a hatchet. He also managed to easily stab the leg of a Frankenstein that restrained him and then kill him with a stab to the neck in a single motion. When armed with the spear, Dean wielded the weapon with outstanding skill despite never having used it before. Simply to show off, Dean was able to twirl the spear with the same kind of proficiency that the alternate Kaia used and when wielding the spear against Michael, he displayed greater skills with the weapon than the alternate Kaia, with him successfully using the weapon to trade blows with the Archangel and giving Michael a harder time in countering his attacks with it and even managing to, once Michael had lowered his guard, successfully slash him with it in an instant after moments of having the spear returned to him by Sam after being disarmed. Dean also managed to skillfully use a fence post as a makeshift sword to kill off several of the souls unleashed upon him by God. On both occasions Dean got to wield Death's Scythe, he was able to make effective use of it against the very being who held the position of Death, impaling the original Death without him being able to react and later on easily cutting Billie in the shoulder moments after she turned to his direction, precisely only hitting a non-lethal spot as he didn't want to kill her, though it was later revealed it still mortally wounded her anyway, and managing to swiftly overpower and nearly kill her to save Castiel after he got close to her, nicking her in the shoulder and putting her neck on scythe-hold, with Billie having to catch him off-guard to disarm him.
- High Level Intelligence- Although Dean himself admits that Sam is the more clever one, he is still extremely intelligent, as Sam himself acknowledged Dean is much smarter than he gives himself credit for. He possesses extensive knowledge of supernatural mythology, to the point where Sam describes Dean as a genius in lore, more so than their father and Sam himself, and has proven himself capable of swift and accurate deduction of supernatural creatures even against those he didn't knew before, showing his sharp and keen mind. With just a little clue from Castiel, he realized that a Prophet is protected by an Archangel. He also realized to save Sam from Purgatory, he had to kill Benny for the latter to guide Sam and Bobby out the realm as he got out. After a golf game, he compared the club and stab wound from an angel sword, allowing him to correctly deduce Peter Holloway was actually a Grigori, something that impressed Claire Novak. He was able to deduce that using dehydration could save Cole Trenton from a Khan Worm, which worked. He is well-versed in how police, fire departments and various government agencies (FBI, CDC) typically operate and conduct investigations. He also knows how to both impersonate and evade them effectively. Dean is a virtuoso of escape, evasion, silent movement, and when the situation requires, subtlety 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 on Sam), car jacking and gaining an 'advantageous purchase' comes naturally to him. When being stalked by a demon at a wake Dean came up with the idea of seeking refuge inside a devil's trap in order to tell who was possessed and who wasn't. From experience and watching him fight, Dean saw through Arthur Ketch's disguise as Alexander Ketch. After a taunt by Michael, Dean decided to lock the latter in his mind like that of Lucifer's Cage, since he knew that he could control it. This both allowed him to stay in control of his body and prevent Michael's monster army from invading. He also had a contingency plan to use the Ma'lak Box after Billie gave him the means to make one. Dean also came to the conclusion that the Demon Tablet was the best way of finding God's weakness.
- Master Tactician & Strategist - Dean is an extremely proficient strategist and tactician and possesses prudent tactical skills. Highly resourceful, he frequently utilizes improvised weapons and explosive devices; in Croatoan, he demonstrated in constructing Molotov cocktails and improvised explosive devices. Dean has also displayed the ability to quickly come up with strategies on fly that has succesfully overcame his opponents: He knew for a fact that his amazon daughter Emma was deceiving him, giving her the illusion of dropping his guard and aiming a gun at her after she attempted to stab him. His feat left his daughter impressed with his skill. When fighting Cain and on the verge of defeat, Dean was able to turn the tables on his ancestor through a move come up with in seconds by using Cain's own knife to cut off his hand as he moved to kill Dean. While fighting Lucifer, Dean was smart enough to use the moment of distraction caused by Lucifer's failed smiting to stab Lucifer with an archangel blade while he was distracted and kill Lucifer. He is also shown to be able to plan several steps ahead and develop many quite clever and unorthodox methods of defeating more powerful foes: He defeated Eve, by swallowing Phoenix Ashes (her only weakness) and tricking her in to biting him, causing her to swallow the ashes. He also devised a way to trick Dick Roman so he, Sam and Castiel could not only sneak in, but so that he could catch Dick off-guard and kill him. This was quite a feat as Dick himself was a master strategist capable of developing very complex and long-term plans. Another show of his strategic abilities is when he manages to capture Crowley by luring him in with a deal and then slapping handcuffs on him when he least expects it painted with a Devil's Trap. Crowley, who is shown to be a cunning strategist himself, is caught completely off-guard by this and doesn't even realize what Dean has fully done until he tells him. When faced with the threat of a super-charged Lucifer, Dean came up with a strategy where he would become the vessel of the Apocalypse World Michael in a situation where he'd remain in control, but Michael would give him the power to battle Lucifer after remembering how Zachariah and Gabriel had told him that he was Michael's one true vessel, the Michael Sword. Dean's brilliant strategy, which put him into an alliance with Michael who had been trying to kill him only minutes before, gave him the abilities he needed to finally defeat and kill Lucifer, a previously impossible task, particularly in Lucifer's super-charged state that Michael believed him to be unstoppable in.
- Leadership qualities - Dean has shown on several occasions to be a natural leader, when operating in groups, he commonly takes command, unless the group includes someone who he himself sees as a leader, such as his father or Bobby. Between him and Sam (and Castiel), he nearly always calls the shots, and acts as de facto leader. Dean also has a skill for motivation, and is a capable orator, being able to motivate others to remain strong and carry on, even in darkest moments, with mere words. This skill also allows him to inspire trust in others, something which comes in handy, when he has to explain the existence of the supernatural to non-believers.
- Survival Expert - Dean is also a highly capable survivalist, as he was able to survive a year in Purgatory with limited resources while continuously being hunted by monsters. He showed this side again while he and Sam were trapped in The Bad Place.
- Electronics and Mechanical Expert - An accomplished mechanic, he maintains his Impala in tip-top condition (and once rebuilt the vehicle entirely from being severely disfigured) and has maintained an intimate knowledge of automobiles and engines since childhood. He is also very talented at making electronic devices, most notably his EMF meter which he made using an old Walkman and an electromagnet powerful to wipe out an entire room full of computers in Ghostfacers. Despite Sam being better at computers than Dean, Dean himself has been shown to be adept at hacking into traffic cameras and databases. He demonstrated these hacking abilities in Season 7 after a torrial from Frank Devereaux and used them in numerous epsiodes including: Time after Time, Keep Calm and Carry On, and Patience. Following instructions given by Billie, Dean was capable of building a Ma'lak Box which could contain even an archangel and in an alternate timeline, built a second one to hold Castiel.
- Cooking - As shown in Trial and Error, Dean is an adept cook. He makes burgers and they are apparently (according to Sam) delicious. Death also has shown to be a fan of Dean's cooking.
- Expert Pool Player - Due to a lifetime of hustling, Dean has become an expert pool player, something required for hustling to survive. As seen in The Gamblers, this talent is not linked to the extra luck granted by God to Dean as one of the heroes of his story with Dean showing himself to be capable of pulling impressive trick shots even after being "downgraded" to a normal person. Sam, who was good enough to defeat Fortuna in a game, states that he learned his own skill from Dean.
- Medical Knowledge - Dean demonstrated medical knowledge in the epiode Red Meat. He was able to tell that Michelle Tilghman's wounds were infected and was able to dig a bullet out of Sam's abdomen. Additionally, he knew that it was easier to find a vein when a person was lying on their back. He also had knowledge of barbiturates, since he used these sedative and sleep-inducing drugs to almost commit suicide.
- Master of Torture - Due to his time spent in Hell as Alastair's "student," Dean has an in-depth knowledge of torture, able to inflict the maximum amount of pain and agony on a victim while keeping them alive as long as possible. Even Belphegor, another torturer of Hell, was deeply impressed and admired Dean's skills in torturing the souls in Hell. Likewise, Alastair commented that he was impressed with how Dean tortured the souls in Hell and called him his favorite student, suggesting that Dean was one of the best, if not, the best student Alastair had in torture. In On The Head Of A Pin, the angels believed Dean's skills to be good enough to break Alastair himself who held up under angelic torture, although despite Alastair's previous acknowledgement of Dean's skills, he proved incapable of doing so, with Alastair remaining calm and gloating and able to effortlessly withstand Dean's torture and even noting that Dean still needs to learn a lot from him. He tortured various monsters in Purgatory to learn Castiel's location and soon found it. Dean also tortured Gadreel but the latter was resilient until Dean realized that he could get to him by leaving him trapped, as a reminder of how Gadreel was imprisoned for millennia.
- Charisma: Dean is an extremely handsome man, and is very good with words and smooth talking. Every time he goes out to a bar or to get food, the waitresses flirt with him and give him their number in an attempt to sleep with him. Dean also knows how to use his good looks to his advantage, such as in order to make a deal with someone, even a demon.
- Indomitable Will - Dean's will is enormously strong and while still inferior to Sam, he is not much weaker than his also extraordinarily strong-willed brother, with even Sam acknowledging the strength of Dean's will, stating that despite all the trauma he has been through, Dean has not only managed to rise above it despite the experience never fully leaving him but has been able to instead use the trauma to fuel his determination, with Castiel expressing amazement at how Dean's mind was still intact despite all the trauma he could feel in his mind. Dean also refused to torture other souls in Hell for 30 years despite being extensively tortured by Alastair in return before ultimately caving in. Despite the tortures of Zachariah and seeing so many good people die, Dean absolutely refused to break into the angels' demands of consenting to Michael. Despite briefly succumbing, with help from Sam, Dean was able to eventually overcome the temptation of saying yes to Michael and ending the Apocalypse at the cost of many people dying. Dean's indomitable will is also shown by him not fearing at all beings as powerful as Lucifer, Michael and even able to fearlessly challenge God and The Darkness, the two most powerful beings in the universe, themselves. When possessed by the Alternate Michael, Dean was able to struggle so hard to regain control over his body that it eventually hindered Michael enough that he decided to leave his body, with Dean at one point being able to manifest in a mirror and try to expel Michael before Michael broke the mirror. Dean was later able to successfully keep Michael, the strongest Archangel, locked away in his subconscious to prevent him from taking control of him again, doing so successfully for months up until he was knocked out by Noah Ophis which allowed Michael to escape, a feat that Castiel said would take unimaginable mental strength, though by the end, it took all of his concentration to do so.
Quotes[]
| “ | It doesn't matter if we die Scooby-Doo could die and that's not happening not on my watch. I would take a bullet for that dog. | „ |
| ~ Dean Winchester from Soobynatural |
| “ | A Night of Fright is No Delight. | „ |
| ~ Dean Winchester in the crossover episode Scoobynatural |
| “ | Alright knock it off come on Scooby Gang does not have nervous breakdowns. | „ |
| ~ Dean Winchester in Scoobynatural |
| “ | Sam are you crazy they can't use this stuff that's a Scooby-Don't. | „ |
| ~ Dean after Sam tries to hand Mystery Inc. some of their weapons in Scoobynatural. |
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- Dean has killed the most main antagonists in the series, as he killed Azazel, Dick Roman, Abaddon and Lucifer.
External Links[]
- Dean Winchester on the Villains Wiki
- Dean Winchester on the Supernatural Wiki
- Dean Winchester on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki