#Dean analysis

[dynamightdean]

I had a thought the other day and forgot it, but it just came back to me so I have to post it now before I forget.

People have said this before, but when Dean says “Don’t do this, Cas,” during the confession scene, he’s saying don’t leave me with this, when I won’t be able to say it back now. But here’s where I feel very specifically about this. It’s a little bit of “I can’t say I love you back like this, when it’s lost any meaning, because you’ll be gone.”

But it’s a LOTTA bit of Dean being a man of action. It’s in the micro expressions he makes, and the gifts he gives, and the time he spends thinking of a person. He can’t say I love you, because to Dean, “I love you” is something you SHOW. And he can’t do that if Cas is gone. It means nothing if Cas is gone.

#spn analysis #dean analysis #I already forget what my tag for my own posts was #maybe this has all already been said before #I was half asleep when this came to me so #take that for what you will #mine

[soulonoscopys]

dean growing up isolated from other people, only having john and sammy. sam going to stanford, and dean being left alone. john sends him on hunts alone and even when dean comes back, it’s just him and john. the impact that must have had on dean, like he doesn’t know how to talk to people. he doesn’t have friends, he doesn’t have acquaintances. the “normal” world of interaction must be something strange for him. like yes he knows how to order food, how to chat someone up at the bar, but he doesn’t know how to behave with people he has to interact with again and again. i feel like early seasons dean is a reserved and awkward bean and that’s often forgotten behind his charismatic front

he has an insecure attachment style, and usually with that attachment style the child doesn’t have a secure base, and so they don’t feel safe enough to explore their surroundings. just interesting to think about because his comfort zone in the start of the show is only sam and john

#something something thoughts #deanie #noscopy talks #spn #dean love club #dean winchester #dean analysis #i guess #dean studies #dean and attachment

[makeadealwithdean]

thinking about how love song by yungblud perfectly describes dean. like the lyrics talking about no one teaching him to love himself and having to protect his siblings— i’m crying— and i wish i had the editing skills to make an amv, but i simply do not.

#dean winchester #dean studies #dean analysis

[spn2006]

the fact that eric kripke isn't even christian really adds something to the way christianity is depicted on supernatural. because its really not about being christian at all, but about living in america, a country dominated by christianity, and having to decide for yourself how to handle that. faith is huge in supernatural, and the mythology of the show is very bible-centric, but notably, christ is never there. even sam, who starts out revering the angels, who once said he prays every night, doesn't actually call himself a christian or imply that he believes in jesus--the show is steeped in christianity and biblical lore and yet neither sam nor dean are christians. in fact, over and over again the church itself is depicted as a haunted house that sam and dean will only ever enter as strangers, as outsiders. priests, preachers, faith healers, chapels, crypts, etc. are all just iconography that create an intense sense of unease that sam and dean respond to instantly. as a jew, its very relatable. an essential part of living in america when you're not christian is that exact sense of unease, of knowing that the culture of your country has ensured that you'll get knocked over by christianity no matter where you go, that you'll see hundreds of people truly believing they're good people while doing awful things in the name of their god, and you have no choice but to confront that. kripke gets it

#i could actually write an essay about this #kripke is jewish and so is sera gamble #and when i rly think about it i think the show is very jewish #in that its a rejection of the christian interpretation of god and free will #its all about questioning what's put in front of you and i think that's a big part being jewish to me #anyway! #rambles #spn #supernatural #spn analysis #spn meta #faith #christianity #theology #kripke era #eric kripke #sam winchester #dean winchester #castiel #zachariah spn #uriel spn #anna milton #american gothic #fav #🔪

[destiel-wings]

Dean Winchester & hug dynamic analysis

I was thinking about how whenever Dean hugs someone he's almost always the one hugging the other and how this links to his psychological trauma of always being the caretaker of people, making himself bigger to protect them.

Because that's how Dean sees himself, as a shield for others, and then I thought about how Cas actually is the shield, and he's HIS SHIELD, specifically, the only one who's really there to protect HIM, which is why it hits so much when we see this:

The way Cas wraps his arms around him, trying to protect him with his whole body--that he'd use as a shield and give up in a second if he could spare him from any pain and save him.

(for context: Dean was about to go use the soul bomb on Amara there, it was a suicide mission)

Bobby is another one that hits, he hugs him as the big hugger because he's his father, he loves him and he's actually here to protect him (and Dean LETS him -barely, but he lets him *and Cas* - in a way that he doesn't let Sam)

I watched a compilation of Sam & Dean hugs to check if i was right about it, but it's almost always Dean the big hugger with Sam, except when he's about to die or Sam sees him alive again after losing him.

Even then, Dean mostly tries to hug Sam as the big hugger anyway, with at least one arm, like a way to comfort him, making him feel protected, like his body language is saying "I'm here, I'm okay, I'm still strong, i can still protect you" (because their real father failed and Dean thinks it's his job).

He rarely lets himself be the little one hugged with Sam, unless he's barely conscious. Which is why it kills me so much more now that in this moment (s14, when Dean was going to lock himself in the Ma'lak box cause he was possessed by Michael) and Sam has a desperate breakdown and punches him (to stop him) he forcefully hugs him as the little hugger, the way Dean always kept him, like a way of saying "I still need you to protect me, please don't do this to yourself".

In the scene below he gives Sam his blessing to do a dangerous (possibly suicidal) mission, and one of his arms is down, but the other one tries to stay up--he's forcing himself to do it and he struggles because he still wants to protect him, but (as the seasons progress) he slowly becomes more prone to let go.

So in this view the hug dynamic becomes an indicator of how Dean sees Sam (and himself) and his protector role, how adult and self sufficient he considers Sam, and how much he lets people around him take care of him, lowering his walls and letting himself be hugged.

This is also why i think hugs from characters like Garth or Charlie are so special, because they're just like us: they see Dean and they just know that he needs to be hugged a lot, and that he's not used to it, so they just go for it-- and it's so normal and kind and spontaneous that Dean's just not used to it-- he doesn't know how to respond (especially with Garth, at the beginning, but as the seasons progress, he learns to, and he even initiates the hug eventually).

I love the hugs where they're 50/50 (one arm up, one arm down both), feels like they're equals, both taking care of each other. I feel like with Sam and Dean, this indicates a healthier dynamic, because Dean lets go a little of the role that was imposed to him and manages to see Sam as the strong individual that he is. But the same applies to 50/50 hugs with other characters, like with Cas, where I feel like it testifies how equals they feel in terms of being fighters, there's a show of respect of each other's strength that transpires by the gesture (which is even more astounding considering that Cas is literally a powerful angel).

And just to end on a destiel note, I'd like to note the possessiveness and protectiveness of Dean (rightfully so) whenever he finds Cas after he thought he had lost him, and how that translates into his body/hug language:

#dean winchester #spn #dean winchester character study #spn analysis #dean winchester analysis #dean winchester & hugs #dean studies #destiel #deancas #body language #hugs #dean winchester hugs #castiel #sam winchester #sam & dean #sam & dean dynamics #dean x cas #psychology #my thoughts #my interpretation #my analysis #spn gifs #dean winchester gifs #Youtube #long post #but it's mostly many gifs #no that's not true i also wrote a lot (but it's little paragraphs in between more gifs than the mobile app allows) #(I did it from the website to cheat) #(i hope it doesn't lag too much)

[vendettasfanfictioning]

Ok so. "Why does this sound like a goodbye?" Was fucking heartbreaking, right; we have the full-on uninterrupted eye contact, the head tilt, Dean's already open mouth twitching before the scene cuts to Cas' "I love you," like he had more to say, but Cas beats him to the punch. It's great, we love that. But for the dialogue to be sequenced that way, and to have Dean reply with, "don't do this, Cas."

I'm only just realizing how fucking insane it was. And sure, I might just be coping here, at the end of the day who fucking knows, but look at it. Think about it. Now let yourself feel it all over again.

It's Dean's death knocking on the door behind Cas, and it's Cas' death emerging behind Dean. Like this, they're directly facing their own demise—but they're too stuck on each other, in their moment, to give a damn. And then Dean doesn't say, "I love you too." He says, "don't do this."

He isn't disgusted or ashamed or put off in the slightest by Cas' confession, because if he is then why is he on the verge of tears? In what world would it make sense for him to want to cry after his best friend confessed to him, if the confession was something he did not want. He says don't do this here, don't do this to me now.

Even if, and that's the most unlikely if to ever exist, Dean did not reciprocate Cas' feelings—don't do this is still so fucking powerful. Because Dean's connected the dots, happiness [...] is in just saying it, and Cas said it, so where does that lead Dean? That's right, with Cas dead again, trying to save him again.

Don't do this. Don't die for me, don't love me only to die for me, don't love me at all, just stay with me.

Don't let me watch you die again and not even let me follow you—because, at the very least, that was a consolation. She's gonna kill you, which Dean knows that Billie knows will hurt him more than his own death, and then she's gonna kill me.

"Don't do this," was actually so fucking powerful, I don't know how it slipped past me until now...

#MORE destiel fuckery #supernatural #spn #destiel #castiel #dean winchester #deancas #15x18 #spn 15x18 #spn despair #dean studies #spn castiel #spn dean #spn meta #spn analysis #destiel angst

[creatorofarcadia]

It's been a while since I watched Supernatural, so don't take my opinions as gospel or anything. But I think Dean is self-hating to the point of narcissism in some ways. Don't get me wrong, I empathise with Dean and understand why fans largely do too. But his self-loathing warps his perception and becomes the centre of EVERYTHING and at times that really has ripple effects on those around him - particularly Sam.

Take their childhood, Sam has a right to mourn the fact that he didn't get a normal childhood. He's allowed to be angry that he didn't get a home, a present father, a stable community, and consistent education. But whenever Sam attempts to express his complicated feelings about his childhood, Dean immediately interprets it as ' oh I was supposed to look out for you. Are you saying I failed? Are you confirming I'm worthless?' which grinds the conversation to a complete halt. Because of Dean's intense self-criticism, Sam can never really be 100% honest with him or ask for support with his own issues, especially regarding their childhood. As anything outside of 100% gratitude just becomes another stick for Dean to beat himself with, and the conversation is immediately derailed.

Not only does Deans self-hatred mean that Sam's expression of his own experiences are pretty consistently shut down. In some ways, I think Dean strips Sam of his autonomy - he's so self-loathing, he sees every decision Sam makes as being about/a reaction to him. A good example of this is Stanford. Rather than understanding Stanford for what it was, an attempt by Sam to carve out a better life from himself and escape hunting. Dean views it as betrayal or abandonment, some re-affirmation of his own belief that he's not worth caring about. Rather than understanding it's a rejection of hunting, he sees it as Sam rejecting him. To Dean, Sam isn't attempting to find a better life, he's punishing the family.

Overall, it's interesting that people largely and rightfully sympathise with Dean due to his self-hatred. However, I don't see as much discussion about how his self-hatred doesn't just hurt him, it hurts those he's close to, as it colours his interpretation of their every action. Dean's self-loathing is always the biggest thing in the room and that has consequences.

#dean winchester #dean critical #spn meta #spn analysis #sam meta #spn #supernatural #sam winchester

[wrenwinchester]

Don’t think about malnourished baby Sammy. Don’t think about little four year old Dean begging his Dad to buy formula instead of ammunition, of four year old Dean burning himself trying to warm up Sammy’s milk. Don’t think about Dean waking up every couple hours after crawling into Sammy’s crib to make sure he was still breathing. Don’t think of little four year old Dean who used to beg to feed his little brother his bottle, now not having another option. Don’t think about baby Sammy getting sick and Dean begging John to make him a doctors appointment to make sure he’s okay. Don’t think of baby Sammy learning to walk with his older brother holding his hands, of baby Sammy crying when he sees John because he doesn’t recognize his own dad. Don’t think of baby Sammy calling Dean dad, or the fact that Sam’s first steps were towards Dean. Don’t think about the fact that the doctors were worried about Sam’s weight at that doctors appointment, and ever since, Dean has made sure that Sammy always had enough to eat, even at the cost to his own health.

Don’t think about twelve year old Dean collapsing on the first night of a hunt because he hadn’t eaten in four or five days, because Sammy needed the food. Don’t think about John yelling at Dean asking what the hell is wrong with him etc. and Dean just shrugs it off. Because he’s fine. And he ignores it. He shoves the aching for food way down and ignores it. So, when they go back into town because they hit a dead end, and get food at a diner, Dean gorges on the food, and eats half of John’s too. Don’t think about John seeing this, having a flash of worry but ignoring it because “it’s Dean he’s always fine.” Don’t think about Dean worrying the first time Sammy called him Dad because “no, no, no, Sammy, I’m your big brother Dean.” Because he’s worried that his Dad is going to freak out if he hears Sammy calling Dean dad.

Don’t think about the fact that Sam probably didn’t learn the word Mom until he was at school because it wasn’t something his dad and Dean said. Don’t think about Sam driving alone for the first time and hitting a dear and calling Dean because he didn’t trust that his dad would answer. Don’t think about Dean, sitting in some motel at 23 years old after a fight with his dad who stormed off debating calling Sam because he’s the only one who would get it.

Don’t think about the Winchester brothers as little kids left alone in motel rooms for too long, underfed, and unsure of when their Dad was going to be back.

#supernatural #dean winchester #sam winchester #spn #the winchesters #weechesters #teenchesters #the winchester brothers #supernatural thoughts #supernatural brainrot #analysis of supernatural

[roeiswriting]

Roman Reigns has never truly let go of his past.

The pain of losing that brotherhood has never left him, no matter if there were half hearted reunions, moments of hope, or even if time saw them standing together once again. That moment in 2014 time stopped, a chair to the back, and a bond lost. To him, the Seth he knew was gone.

A broken, beaten down Rollins who puts his heart and soul into every detail when he steps in that ring adorns the shield gear once again, steel chair in hand, a reminder of the moment that has stuck with Roman despite everything.

To Seth it doesn’t matter if he’s hurt, that he’s lost the championship which he has carried so dearly, because he knows that putting Roman right back into that moment has the opportunity to change history.

To give Cody that moment he needs to finally finish the story in the midst of this chaos.

For Seth and Roman their story is far from over, it’s a series of novels in a library build for three, an echo of their fellow shield brother in arms, it’s a string of fate that ties them together in ways we could never comprehend, a story of soulmates in the wrestling sense which never truly ends.

For Roman, living in his past caused the downfall of his present

#roman reigns #the shield #seth rollins #wwe #wrestlemania #wrestling analysis #wrestlemania 40 #dean ambrose #jon moxley #the tribal chief #the bloodline #cody rhodes

[rosedark88]

No personal Space between Sam& Dean

#supernatural #dean winchester #sam and dean #sam winchester #deansam #samdean #the winchester brothers #spn meta #classic spn #spn analysis #DeanSamtouch #spn #spn rp #spn fanart #spnedit #spnfandom #wincest

[audhd-nightwing]

i love when characters that are always the one protecting others, staying strong for them, putting others first- get to be taken care of. get to fall apart, get to be soft and vulnerable, get to be protected and loved just as fiercely as they protect and love the people they care about

#eldest child #eldest sibling #dick grayson #dean winchester #character tropes #eldest daughter #character analysis #iykyk #eldest daughter syndrome #steve harrington #tropes #fictional characters #fictional tropes #fanfic tropes #fic tropes

[soulonoscopys]

i’ve always associated the “making our own choices against destiny” theme with dean. of course sam made his own choices pre-series, but dean didn’t believe in destiny, and he had the give-them-hell-attitude. he refused to trust and play along with heaven, he refused to believe he was supposed to kill sam

but upon rewatch, it’s always been sam. sam has always believed in making his own choices, that his choices matter, that’s it not who he is but who he chooses to be. when dean believes there is no other way, sam insists that they always have a choice

and it just makes my brain crawl with worms because when it comes to hunting, dean never had a choice. when it comes to john, dean never had a choice. when you’re raised with no choices, you’re trained to not expect more from the world or for yourself.

(which in later seasons he starts to believe he can, and so when chuck taunts that he never had choices, dean goes back to his initial traumatic response)

#no conclusions no insights just thoughtsss #making an emotional soup in my brain #me rambling #dean winchester #sam winchester #sam and choices #dean and hunting #supernatural #spn #winchester brothers #supernatural meta #ish #spn meta #dean analysis #dean love club #dean studies

[ladyriot]

Once upon a time, I used to believe that the reason I read Rizzoli and Isles' Dean arc as queer was the way he came up in the fight that Maura and Jane have in the first episode of season 3, wherein Maura directs specific vitriol at Jane's "boyfriend" in her anger at feeling betrayed when Jane shoots Paddy. I've realized recently that it all starts much earlier. As in... the literal first episode. And it's actually, subconsciously, been one of the major reasons I ever interpreted Jane and Maura as potentially queer for each other.

In Jane and Maura's first scene on screen together, Dean makes an appearance that reveals a tension between the two women and plays off of their earlier intimacy.

First, Maura and Jane display their close, intimate relationship as they survey the crime scene. Both Maura's immediate defence of Jane as she chastizes Korsak for not warning her it was a Hoyt-like crime, and Maura setting Jane's broken nose present them as intimate.

This is placed almost immediately next to their meeting Dean for the first time, reinforcing him as a stranger, even an interloper onto that scene of intimacy. Maura indicates her interest in Dean non-verbally (which reads as intimate too), and further, she reads the potential for Jane's territorial behaviour to emerge and both gives a little warning and phsyically steps between them.

Because of Maura's displays of intimacy and knowledge of Jane, Jane's response of outright aggression becomes more meaningful. Her posture shift does not only indicate a desire to threaten Dean's intrusion onto her crime scene but also Dean's intrusion into her intimate connection with Maura. Jane slants herself as if she's offended she's not an option.

Um... what is that thing about how you point your feet at the person you're most engaged with in a social situation? There has to be some meaning about where you point your pelvis...

Anyway, later scenes show us what Jane looks like when she's inviting romantic attention from men, and that involves her making herself smaller, making herself look less sure and aggressive, and leaning into traditional femininity. It's quite the opposite of what she's doing here, which I read as laying a claim... on the crime scene but also on Maura.

This is fascinating because, at first, I'd mistakenly believed it was Maura's queer jealousy that cropped up first, but this reading actually presents the opposite scenario.

This kind of framing comes up again, in this same episode, when Jane flees her apartment to stay at Maura's for the night. In Maura's guest room, Jane spies to see who Maura's nighttime visitor is, and then they have that exchange on the bed. The question of Maura's potential attraction to Jane comes up in the same brief span as the question of whether or not Maura has ever had a crush on the same guy as her best friend, intermixing these two potential attractions in such an interesting way.

It's almost like Jane is giving mixed signals here. She's asking Maura if she's attracted to her only in joking terms... because for some reason she doesn't feel like she can ask it seriously. But as their conversation turns towards Dean, and their supposedly shared attraction to him, I'm instantly reminded of the concept of some of Eve Sedgwick's work on homosociality and erotic triangles and how those theories have impacted my own understandings of love triangles in media. I'm going to way oversimplify it here, but essentially when two people of the same gender are vying for the attention of the same different gendered love interest, I'm more interested in the bonds presented between the two of the same gender — whether it's rivalry, intimacy, potential sexual attraction (especially when it's wrapped up in taboos, social norm violations, and repression), or some complex mix of the three. And just, wow, this connection between Jane and Maura is ripe for that kind of reading. It becomes really easy to read Jane's "pursuit" of Dean as a way of attaining conventionality through a connection that also engages her potentially unconventional attraction to Maura (and a resistance to admit that) by being with someone Maura finds attractive. Jane isn't really showing attraction to Dean, but she is very much going for the closest conventional relationship she can that partly expresses her repressed, "taboo" attraction. (I wonder now if this contributed to my reading Jane specifically as a lesbian, rather than bisexual, through most of the series, but that's a bit besides the point).

Doesn't this just make it so interesting how Maura had physically insinuated herself between Jane and Dean?

It's also significant for me that when Jane does pretty herself up with lipstick to go see Dean, she rebuffs him and is consistently iffy about him despite the so-called attraction she admits to Maura. It's also very much giving that repressed queer experience of having a crush on a girl and being so jealous of her relationship, but not being able to conceive of yourself as queer, so mistaking that for a crush on her boyfriend. You know?!

Later on in the show, when Jane is with Dean, there is still so much to this dynamic. Maura calls Jane on a date with Dean and she immediately runs to meet her, choosing her, prioritizing her. It's what makes it so sick-inducing when, after Maura reveals that she doesn't know if she wants Jane to catch Paddy, Jane goes on to tell Dean the FBI agent with a hard-on for catching criminals at all costs about his presence in Boston in a specifically romantic scene. You know, which then causes a chaotic scene that requires Jane to shoot Paddy after feeling up his daughter to set her up on a sting... There was so much wrong with that, I'm honestly surprised there was a moment in Maura's tirade for her queer jealousy to slip in, but it does.

Hell if they're not in big fat queer love with each other, whether they admit it or not.

#rizzoli and isles #rizzles #jane rizzoli #maura isles #character analysis #they are literally gay from episode ONE #p.s. the draft title of this post was quite literally: why is the dean arc so queer jealousy?! #i just removed like TEN typos from this... i get away with too much

[ananke-xiii]

So... I don't think I'm feeling well...

I was rewatching spn 4x16 "On The Head of a Pin" as one does and...

Alastair tried to kill Cas by impaling him on... a rebar!

It can't be real, this show is soooo cruel... I won't post nor mention a certain death that happens during 15x20 because in my universe it didn't happen...

But I am flabbergasted.

Also, are we supposed to make the correlation "angel on the head of a pin" with "angel impaled on a rebar"? 'Cause my mind just did and now I'm forever changed.

#castiel #spn #spn meta #supernatural #destiel #dean winchester #dean x castiel #this frigging show #i can't #i hate it #spn analysis #spn season 4 #on the head of a pin #s4x16 #spn s4x16 #supernatural meta #spn edit #spncreatorsdaildail

[destiel-wings]

dean cursing freely and constantly in the ghostfacers episode shows clearly how chuck is censoring him, that's literal proof that he can't say what he wants (and once he could, it didn't matter anymore)

#spn #supernatural #destiel #dean winchester #deancas #spn headcanon #spn analysis #ghostfacers #dean x castiel #dean loves him back #dean winchester has always been silenced #chuck is the cw #no guys chuck is literally the cw #that's why we got that shitty finale #dean and cas #supernatural headcanon #spn 15x18 #cw spn finale #spn finale #cas and dean

[vendettasfanfictioning]

See, it's the cinematic choices like these that convince me destiel wasn't an accident or something added last minute, it had build up and it was sprinkled all over the narrative.

It's Dean grieving so much, in a way he never grieved for familial figures like Bobby or John—there is enough pain inside him that it shattered his belief that what he and Sam did was right, as hunters protecting the common folk. When, in times of multiple Armageddon-level crises and then some, that belief is what held him together. Because hey, we may have lost people (so, so, so many people) but at least it was for the greater good.

None of that, absolutely none of that, because this loss made him feel that the job wasn't worth it anymore. This was where he drew the line.

It's Dean, literally gaining back that light in his life when Castiel called.

And, at the end of the episode, there are slow, dramatic close-ups between Dean and Castiel. Because Sam's grief wasn't the same as Dean's, so Sam's relief at finally having Cas again is different from Dean's.

This moment belongs to them. To Dean, who's finally finding his faith again.

#THEY'RE SO IN LOVE I'M ACTUALLY SCREECHING UNHOLY SOUNDS #watching spn #supernatural #spn meta #spn analysis #13x05 #dean winchester #dean #spn dean #spn castiel #spn cas #castiel #destiel #deancas #dean x castiel #holy shit 1k