Please don't apologize for having commented at length; I enjoy a conversation, at least on the (now admittedly rare!) occasions when I can converse back!
About your point: "... the idea that Bobby hanging around, intending it to be a comfort and help -- actually exacerbating the pain... that is a rather disturbing thought to me. Haven't the Winchesters experienced enough pain and loss? Bobby lingering as a ghost presents quite the conundrum: would it comfort or hurt the boys if he were to not move on but rather anchor himself somehow to them? Best of intentions, road to... well. We've been there before, haven't we?"
I'm definitely betting that if Bobby remained around as a spirit, it wouldn't be all cookies and puppydogs; the writers would manage to turn the knife somehow! But I think the situation is different than the one between Cole and his mother, precisely because Bobby and the brothers understand life and death very differently than any other mortals. They're unique in having gotten a glimpse behind the curtain. Cole's mom, like any normal human, believed death to be final; she hoped her son would be in a better place with no suffering, and being able to sense him still on Earth, feeling unhappy, made her unhappy in her turn, unable to accept his death, leave it behind, and move on.
I dare to think the situation between Bobby and the brothers would be different because their expectations and understanding are different. They know what Heaven is and I don't think any of them would be content there, not as long as any of the rest of them remained alive and engaged in the fight; they'd rather be able to support each other, I think. Were they confined to Heaven, I think they'd be joining with Ash in searching for a means to subvert the system rather than remaining happily in their versions of Winchesterland or Singerland! I think, if they had reason to believe that a friendly spirit was *intentionally* remaining in the vicinity and was happy to be there, still able to affect events, they wouldn't be sad to know he was hanging around and wouldn't be focused on getting past his death to deal with whatever else life had to offer. They would have to get to the point of accepting that he wanted to be there, however.
Would that be healthy? Nope. Not particularly. But it wouldn't be precisely unhealthy, either, because it would simply be recognizing their peculiar reality, one in which death wasn't necessarily either an end or a permanent condition, and one in which Heaven and an afterlife weren't necessarily preferable to being an empowered and self-aware ghost. *grin*
To me, understanding the whole cosmology is the key to succeeding as a ghost: not getting impatient with the time and effort it would take to learn to communicate effectively with the material world; knowing that you could still choose to pass on (as Molly and Father Gregory did) in your own time when you'd either achieved your intended purpose or seen those you loved pass on in their turn and had no more reason to remain Earthbound; and understanding and being comfortable with what you were foregoing by remaining tied to Earth rather than shifting to Heaven (or Hell).
All this blather aside, I'm not predisposed toward any outcome. I'll accept whatever road the story chooses to take and will wait to see what's around the next bend and the one after that. However much I may sometimes choose to speculate, it's not my story to tell, and I'm content with that ... and dying to see where the brothers' story will go!
Really looking forward to January and beyond ...
Thanks for coming by and commenting!! It's been fun!!
About your point: "... the idea that Bobby hanging around, intending it to be a comfort and help -- actually exacerbating the pain... that is a rather disturbing thought to me. Haven't the Winchesters experienced enough pain and loss? Bobby lingering as a ghost presents quite the conundrum: would it comfort or hurt the boys if he were to not move on but rather anchor himself somehow to them? Best of intentions, road to... well. We've been there before, haven't we?"
I'm definitely betting that if Bobby remained around as a spirit, it wouldn't be all cookies and puppydogs; the writers would manage to turn the knife somehow! But I think the situation is different than the one between Cole and his mother, precisely because Bobby and the brothers understand life and death very differently than any other mortals. They're unique in having gotten a glimpse behind the curtain. Cole's mom, like any normal human, believed death to be final; she hoped her son would be in a better place with no suffering, and being able to sense him still on Earth, feeling unhappy, made her unhappy in her turn, unable to accept his death, leave it behind, and move on.
I dare to think the situation between Bobby and the brothers would be different because their expectations and understanding are different. They know what Heaven is and I don't think any of them would be content there, not as long as any of the rest of them remained alive and engaged in the fight; they'd rather be able to support each other, I think. Were they confined to Heaven, I think they'd be joining with Ash in searching for a means to subvert the system rather than remaining happily in their versions of Winchesterland or Singerland! I think, if they had reason to believe that a friendly spirit was *intentionally* remaining in the vicinity and was happy to be there, still able to affect events, they wouldn't be sad to know he was hanging around and wouldn't be focused on getting past his death to deal with whatever else life had to offer. They would have to get to the point of accepting that he wanted to be there, however.
Would that be healthy? Nope. Not particularly. But it wouldn't be precisely unhealthy, either, because it would simply be recognizing their peculiar reality, one in which death wasn't necessarily either an end or a permanent condition, and one in which Heaven and an afterlife weren't necessarily preferable to being an empowered and self-aware ghost. *grin*
To me, understanding the whole cosmology is the key to succeeding as a ghost: not getting impatient with the time and effort it would take to learn to communicate effectively with the material world; knowing that you could still choose to pass on (as Molly and Father Gregory did) in your own time when you'd either achieved your intended purpose or seen those you loved pass on in their turn and had no more reason to remain Earthbound; and understanding and being comfortable with what you were foregoing by remaining tied to Earth rather than shifting to Heaven (or Hell).
All this blather aside, I'm not predisposed toward any outcome. I'll accept whatever road the story chooses to take and will wait to see what's around the next bend and the one after that. However much I may sometimes choose to speculate, it's not my story to tell, and I'm content with that ... and dying to see where the brothers' story will go!
Really looking forward to January and beyond ...
Thanks for coming by and commenting!! It's been fun!!
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