I've felt that it was something like this since the season started. Sam feels emotions but he doesn't quite understand and more importantly grasp what they mean. The soul links the most basic of humanity to the memories, morality and rationale and gives complexity to what someone feels without a soul you're a shell that still feels but doesn't understand. Without his soul Sam cannot understand what it means to have one even if he remembers because he doesn't feel the depth of it. At what point does Sam no longer have consent over what happens to his body and soul? He doesn't want it but Dean knows that without it Sam isn't Sam and not wholly human.
Very interesting indeed. You raise an extremely good theory and until it's Kirpked (or Gambeled) I fully subscribe.
The soul links the most basic of humanity to the memories, morality and rationale and gives complexity to what someone feels without a soul you're a shell that still feels but doesn't understand I love that thought! I was thinking along the lines of the soul having the function of "connecting", or as you said "linking" and that the emotions are actually still around, but can't be connected to the actual memories. However, show was very explicit on the fact that Sam's soul is locked in the cage and that he simply can't feel anything anymore. If all of his emotional capacity was still around, I actually think he'd destroy himself within minutes, since he wouldn't have control over it. But maybe I'm just overthinking it, lol!
Without his soul Sam cannot understand what it means to have one even if he remembers because he doesn't feel the depth of it. I agree! I think it was really great how they pulled that aspect of Sam off during the first few episodes. Sam was trying to act emotional and caring, but anyone could tell that there was
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I think brain physiology is a good analogy. There's a pretty good theory about that "soulless" Sam had one part of his soul left, the animal soul. I like that theory very well, except that Castiel said "he has no soul
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Is the concept of an 'animal soul' part of a certain mythology? It definitely sounds interesting! I've only ever heard of it in relation to Greek philosophy (Aristotle). But if I remember correctly, it's the mind (not sure if I translated this correctly - I learned it in German), or maybe more accurately the "rational" part of the human entity which holds the function of managing the animal soul. In our verse, Sam certainly has access to his mind - if the animal part was still around, he'd be able to control it, I think.
Maybe I am viewing this way too rationally, but even if he did have an animal soul, the amount of fear and anger and emotional instability would have to be enormous. After all, animals experience fear and anger very strongly. Sam doesn't.
I think that Sam was able to stay away from Dean because he hadn't been in the same room with him. Once he "smelled" Dean, that bodily recognition kicked in and he felt the lack he hadn't recognized before. This sounds just perfect! :D my love for these boys is pathetic - just
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I thought the point of HM is that he cannot form new memories due to removal of both of his hippocampus. Old theory had it that new information, so to speak, get processed in hippocampus and sent over to different brain parts for storage.
Yep, that's the main reason neuro scientists are interested in his case, actually. Due to the removal of the hippocampus he suffered from anterograde amnesia - which is what you mentioned. But since the medial temporal lobe is also were long-term memories are stored, he wasn't able to remember anything from his past except for very early memories. My point revolves around the retrograde amnesia part, not the scientifically more interesting anterograde amnesia.
But you know, we only briefly talked his case, so I could definitely be wrong in what I'm saying :)
Interesting theory! Another thing I've wondered about is why RoboSam was a hunter.
It seems his "baseline" personality, sans soul and the great majority of emotions, is the family business.
That is amusing to me, since Sam wanted nothing more than to stop hunting for 23 years. If he were after money, he could have been a mob boss. After sex, he could be a pimp. But he chose hunting, and sought out the Campbells (well that part is not clear - did Samuel find him or the other way around)?
This is why Sam decides to trust Dean. Even if he can’t feel much, or can’t even name or grasp his emotions, he still experiences a small kind of affection for his brother.
Since Dean = hunting, maybe that's why Sam picked it up again after Hell.
A future ep is supposed to give Sam's story of the year Dean thought he was in Hell, kind of like "I Know What You Did Last Summer." I'm looking forward to it!
hahah, Sam as a PIMP! Now I'd kill to see Dean's reaction to that xD
Wow, that's actually a very good point! Why did he pick up hunting again? I've never thought of that before. I actually think that this is more evidence that Sam does have feelings! I mean, the reason he started to "enjoy" hunting back when he still had a soul was only because he felt the need to seek revenge. And revenge is a concept which feeds on anger and hurt and pain. Obviously, Sam can't feel it in the same way anymore, but he definitely remembers all the times he had been wronged by monsters in the past. I think he now feels actual JOY in killing them because in his twisted soulless mind he is the fearless warrior who fights to the death in order to put the world in order again. Not for humanity's sake but for his own. He remembers being the one who set the Apocalypse off in the first place - rationally thinking, it was Lilith's fault. And Lilith is a supernatural being. All of this obviously makes him angry, therefore he punsishes the ones responsible -
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This explanation works pretty well, I have no issues with it. I've been thinking all along that the Sam we've seen is far more like a man with the emotional structure of a newborn child while possessing the mind and memories of an experienced adult per your description. In fact, I have been feeling like Sam was showing signs of an embryonic soul developing... that closer proximity (all day every day!) with Dean has been regenerating something little by little. I was also very disturbed by the last episode and how utterly his wishes were disregarded. It's all well and good to say Dean has to save the soul of his brother that is being tormented in the Cage, that I get, but that "Soulless" Sam has no say in what happens to him strikes me as wrong also somehow. I don't have any idea how this could have been resolved though.
I may be the only one who will miss Soulless Sam, though I'm thrilled to have Sam whole again. If he'd connected to Dean sooner instead of spending the whole year alone, I wonder what might have happened.
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Very interesting indeed. You raise an extremely good theory and until it's Kirpked (or Gambeled) I fully subscribe.
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I love that thought! I was thinking along the lines of the soul having the function of "connecting", or as you said "linking" and that the emotions are actually still around, but can't be connected to the actual memories. However, show was very explicit on the fact that Sam's soul is locked in the cage and that he simply can't feel anything anymore. If all of his emotional capacity was still around, I actually think he'd destroy himself within minutes, since he wouldn't have control over it. But maybe I'm just overthinking it, lol!
Without his soul Sam cannot understand what it means to have one even if he remembers because he doesn't feel the depth of it.
I agree! I think it was really great how they pulled that aspect of Sam off during the first few episodes. Sam was trying to act emotional and caring, but anyone could tell that there was ( ... )
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Maybe I am viewing this way too rationally, but even if he did have an animal soul, the amount of fear and anger and emotional instability would have to be enormous. After all, animals experience fear and anger very strongly. Sam doesn't.
I think that Sam was able to stay away from Dean because he hadn't been in the same room with him. Once he "smelled" Dean, that bodily recognition kicked in and he felt the lack he hadn't recognized before. This sounds just perfect! :D my love for these boys is pathetic - just ( ... )
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But you know, we only briefly talked his case, so I could definitely be wrong in what I'm saying :)
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It seems his "baseline" personality, sans soul and the great majority of emotions, is the family business.
That is amusing to me, since Sam wanted nothing more than to stop hunting for 23 years. If he were after money, he could have been a mob boss. After sex, he could be a pimp. But he chose hunting, and sought out the Campbells (well that part is not clear - did Samuel find him or the other way around)?
This is why Sam decides to trust Dean. Even if he can’t feel much, or can’t even name or grasp his emotions, he still experiences a small kind of affection for his brother.
Since Dean = hunting, maybe that's why Sam picked it up again after Hell.
A future ep is supposed to give Sam's story of the year Dean thought he was in Hell, kind of like "I Know What You Did Last Summer." I'm looking forward to it!
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Wow, that's actually a very good point! Why did he pick up hunting again? I've never thought of that before. I actually think that this is more evidence that Sam does have feelings! I mean, the reason he started to "enjoy" hunting back when he still had a soul was only because he felt the need to seek revenge. And revenge is a concept which feeds on anger and hurt and pain. Obviously, Sam can't feel it in the same way anymore, but he definitely remembers all the times he had been wronged by monsters in the past. I think he now feels actual JOY in killing them because in his twisted soulless mind he is the fearless warrior who fights to the death in order to put the world in order again. Not for humanity's sake but for his own. He remembers being the one who set the Apocalypse off in the first place - rationally thinking, it was Lilith's fault. And Lilith is a supernatural being. All of this obviously makes him angry, therefore he punsishes the ones responsible - ( ... )
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I may be the only one who will miss Soulless Sam, though I'm thrilled to have Sam whole again. If he'd connected to Dean sooner instead of spending the whole year alone, I wonder what might have happened.
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