Thinking Thinky Thoughts (My First Meta)
Only If He's Wearing A Loincloth...
Or, Why Dean Winchester Should Have A God Complex
I’ll just start off by saying that I don’t meta. I write fanfic. But this… this hit me in the bathroom this morning (remember the episode of Scrubs where everyone had epiphanies on the toilet? That’s the story of my life), and I had to race back to my dorm room to write down my stunning realization before Psych class.
Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking about this. I was thinking about how much insight into Hell watching Super can bring when my Lit class starts reading Dante’s Inferno. I was thinking about how Hell is what you make it, and how Dean made it an eternity of being alone and helpless, with chains digging into his shoulder, wrists, ankles, and side.
And then it hit me.
Longer explanation is required. See, I want to get the Supernatural tattoo, but my dad doesn’t think a pentagram will look too good permanently etched in ink on a good little Catholic girl’s back, so I did some research. In early Christian belief, the pentagram symbolized the five wounds of Jesus Christ- one nail in each foot, one in each wrist (they would have torn out of His palms), and a spear in His side. Sound familiar?
Click. Thank you Epipha-toilet.
I spent the entirety of my Intro to Psych class scribbling on post-it notes about the similarities I could find between Dean and Christ. I realize this may be a touchy subject with most (in fact, I wrote an essay in my English class last year bashing a book that heralded one of it’s characters, Owen Meany, as the Second Coming), but I think that it fits within the context of this season.
That being said, SPOILER ALERT! There’s stuff from 4.01 and 4.02 buried in here, as well as stuff from past seasons, so beware. You have been warned.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get down to business, huh? First, the obvious: his mom’s name is Mary. Yay! This is a common name, though, so I don’t put much stock in it as the sole reason that Dean is going to rise from the dead and redeem the world.
There may not be significance in her name, but I do still think that Mommy plays an important role. In the early seasons, Supernatural had a trinity. It was Sam, Dean, and John. Sam is the Anti-Christ, though, so he doesn’t count. We’re left with Father and Son. Mary is the Spirit, the ghost, the one that both father and son look up to, place on a pedestal. She’s the one they fight for, the one that gives them faith. To them, she is holy.
That being said, I’d like to go back to season 1. I know, I’m showing my age in fandom here, but just think back. There was a theory going around that Dean (not Sam) was the Anti-Christ (or just plain evil) because his was the only name in the Winchester family not mentioned in the Bible (someone has since told me that the name Dean pops up in the Koran, I believe…). There is a John, a Samuel, and a Mary. Now, we can debate the true origin of Sam’s name (be it Samael or Samyaza- look it up- or whatever) until we’re all blue in the face, but this meta, much like season 4, doesn’t seem to be about Sam. It’s about Dean.
Now we know that Dean’s probably not evil, otherwise God wouldn’t have mandated that he be saved (although I have a theory on that, too), so let’s jump forward to post-Dean-is-the-AC-and-will-destroy-us-all times. By that, I mean season 2.
The story arc in season 2 revolved around Sam and his powers, but also around Dean possibly having to kill Sam. I love the fact that John is the one that told him to do this. “If you can’t save him, you’re going to have to kill him,” or however he may have worded it.
By that time, John probably knew that Sam had been tainted by demon blood, and was therefore impure. He knew that Sam could possibly become a monster, could kill. “Thou shalt not kill.” It’s a sin.
In the end of season 2, Dean decided to die in order to save his brother, to give Sam a chance to truly have a normal life and do something good. Perhaps, in his mind, the finale covered both of John’s warnings. Not only had Sam been killed, he had also been saved. It was time for him to start over. By giving him new life, Dean had redeemed him, resolved him of his sins, be they future (unimaginable to Dean, I’m sure), or imagined (planted in his mind by John’s warning of danger and death).
That season also brought into play the overarching Cain and Abel motif we’ve been seeing a lot of lately. Brother v. Brother. We saw it in BUABS, heard whispers of it in Hunted, got a taste early on in Asylum, and got to see it from another perspective later on, in RSAM. I have a feeling we’re going to be beaten over the head with it in season 4.
What does this have to do with Christ, you ask? Just about everything. How many times since season 2 have we heard Sam called the Anti-Christ (AC here because I’m just lazy)? I know Gordon and Ruby dropped it a couple of times, and with the introduction of Lilith (Satan’s wife/grandmother/concubine) and Azazel (Lucifer’s herald) it seems more and more possible.
Ever since the very first episode of Supernatural, Sam and Dean have balanced each other out. When one zigged, the other zagged. We’re all fans here, so I don’t think I need to go into too much detail, right? As one brother changes and grows, the other does so right along with him. It’s what makes the show interesting instead of stagnant.
What this means for Dean as the Christ figure is exactly what it says. If Sam is the AC, then Dean must be the opposite of that, a force of good in the world. The Abel to Sam’s Cain. The God to Sam’s Satan. The Castiel to Sam’s Ruby. The Christ to Sam’s Anti-Christ.
I actually wrote a fic about it over the summer, called Libra. It was five pages of a demon talking about the balance between good and evil in the world, and the balance between the brothers, ending with the line, “Don’t you want to know? If Sam is the Anti-Christ, what does that make you?” It’s a damn good question.
Moving on, we come to season 3, and Dean’s journey into Hell. As I said before, the hooks in his ankles, wrists, and side could symbolize the five wounds of Christ on the cross. The slashes the hellhounds made across his body before taking him to Hell looked a lot like the marks left by the whip in The Passion of the Christ, as well. The bruised and bloody eye from his fight with Ruby? Reminiscent of the Crown of Thorns, perhaps?
But what about the hook that always got to me, the one that made me cringe? What about the one in his shoulder? I gave it a lot of thought, and realized that it’s symbolic for the weight of the cross. Dean has six wounds where Christ had five because Dean didn’t have to carry a corporeal cross. His burdens were in his mind, weighing down on him throughout his entire life, and now that he’s in Hell, they’ll all too real, ripping him apart.
Now for the reason I’m even having these deep thoughts in the first place (and keep your eyes open for another long meta from me coming soon- this one on Revelations, which I’ll be reading per Misha Collins’ and Castiel’s advice): season 4. Oh, season 4. With the angels. That Kripke said we’d never see *lying liar that lies*.
We start out with Dean waking up in the dark, in his coffin, under a cross. He digs his way out of the ground, pushing himself up out of the earth. It almost reminded me of rolling the rock away from the tomb where Jesus had been laid, only instead of having angels do it for him, Dean had to get his own hands dirty.
Then there were the trees. Something natural that caused shock. Like the large stone not being set over the mouth of the tomb. It caused awe and panic. And a WTF moment, but I’m pretty sure that’s not the wording used in the Bible.
And Castiel. Oh, Thursday. I wish you would cometh over to me…
I mean… get all up in Dean’s face again because that… is hot. And totally beside the point. I really like the addition of ass-kicking angels to the show to even the playing field a bit. Good and gutsy move on Kripke’s part. And the guy gets some awesome lines. I know there’s some meta out there about colors in the show relating to Castiel specifically, and about the use of the word “perdition” instead of “Hell,” but I want to touch on something that jumped out at me from 4.02.
Maybe it’s because Dean/Castiel is my OTP that lines like “I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition,” and this next little gem stick out in my mind (somehow, they just sound kinky to me). But maybe, just maybe, there’s actual meaning to them (like I said before, there’s a meta somewhere on the former). Because the more I thought about this next one, the more I loved it.
“Three days ago you thought there was no such thing as me.”
In context, Dean and Cass are having a conversation about the breaking of the seals and Lucifer returning to wreak havoc and blah blah blah. He lost me at three days. I really didn’t like the fact that Dean was dead for four months. I thought the originally-planned six months would have been better (The Greek myth of the Rape of Persephone- although sometimes it can be four months instead of six- involves a goddess refusing to work, killing things in nature (Sam using his abilities?) when her daughter is kidnapped and married to Hades), or three months (equitable to three days before rising).
So I like this quote. It reminds me of Christ coming back and showing himself to his followers, revealing his wounds (tattoos, hand-prints, cutting with a silver knife) to prove who he really is. It’s been three days (roughly) since Dean was brought back. Three since he met Castiel and learned that he has work to do. Three days before the seal was broken and the Witnesses rose again.
Creepy stuff, man.
So, that’s the show so far, and the connection I found between Dean and Christ. Do I necessarily think he is the Second Coming? I don’t think Kripke’s that obvious. Honestly, my theory is that he’ll lead us to believe all season that Dean is good and Sam is evil before releasing Lucifer. When that happens, we’ll find that the Devil needed a body to possess, and the reason that God dragged Dean out of Hell was because he is that body. The longer he stayed in, the harder it would be for him to fight the evil inside of himself.
Temptation, baby. Forty days in the desert.
From that, I’m sure we’ll get some heroic self-sacrifice, the mental fighting off of Lucifer, if not at the end of season 4, then at the end of season 5. He’ll join his mother and his father, completing the trinity, and leaving Sam alive in the light he left behind, having accepted his abilities and resolved him of his sins.
Does that make Dean Jesus? Only if he’s wearing a loincloth.