icarus was on an ego trip. but i have a higher calling.
One of the most important things that my adoptive parents taught me is that we shape our own destiny.
- Clark Kent, Smallville, “Lara” (7x06)
I have issues with the way Supernatural - and its fandom - treat the word “destiny” and a lot of it comes from the fact that I was in Smallville fandom first.
See, in SV, there was this very distinct line between fate and destiny. Fate is what deals you the hand you have. It’s your past and your present. Destiny is the result of the choices only you make. Destiny is yours to own because it is unique to you because it is you. It is your present and future.
Clark didn’t ask to be an alien. Lex didn’t ask to be son of an evil mastermind. But you put infinite children in their situations and they’ll have their infinite destinies none of which will be Clark or Lex’s because none of them are Clark or Lex.
That said, can we use Tess Mercer as SV’s best example of the divide between fate and destiny. Fate made her a Luthor - Lutessa Lena Luthor. Fate made her ruthless and amoral. But destiny, her destiny, is something she created and owned when she decided to commit the show’s ultimate sin - erasing one’s memories thereby erasing one’s self-identity - for the greater good of protecting Superman.
But aside from Tess, the show consistently had characters debating whether to let go of their destiny - which was usually equated with doing nothing and while big! things! happened - vs. embracing their destiny and being pro-active with the here-and-now and the future; and embracing destiny was often equated with accepting oneself.
Contrast that with SPN, destiny is this passive thing that happens to you. It’s in the dialogue and direction whenever the characters show their disdain towards destiny. Destiny is that thing that beings more powerful than you inflict onto you because they can. It’s so jarring to me. Free will should not be incompatible with destiny. Free will should lead one towards their destiny.
There’s genre at work - within the action genre, there’s an expectation of heroes being pro-active whereas within the horror genre, there’s a trope of protagonists having very little if any agency at all; and SV and SPN are true to their genres. And then there’s also the difference between an adaptation vs. an original story - in an adaptation, because the characters are largely pre-destined, it’s a lot of fun to play and mess with what is or isn’t inevitable and why. That said, if SPN is to make the transition from horror to action, then I’d like the show to develop a more pro-active view of destiny.
