Charlie Bradbury

""You know, I haven't been a hunter for very long, but it feels like this is the life. Mostly ends in Sophie's Choices, Death, or tears. Usually all of the above, huh?""

- Charlie

Charlene "Charlie" Bradbury, originally Celeste Middleton, was a hacker-turned-hunter. She helped Sam and Dean Winchester find out what the Leviathan Dick Roman was searching for. Her name was an alias, and had started a new life at least once before. Initially hired by Richard Roman Enterprises, Dick gave her an assignment to hack Frank Deveraux's hard drive. Roman kept her alive since she possessed a certain "spark" that the Leviathans were unable to copy. After killing the Wicked Witch, she decided to join Dorothy in freeing Oz from evil control. She later returned to stop her dark side from killing the man who killed her parents and unable to return to Oz, decided to focus on helping free Dean from the Mark of Cain's influence. Her efforts led her to track down and translate the Book of the Damned, an effort that cost her her life when she refused to give what she'd found to Eldon Frankenstein. However, with her last act, she has given Sam a chance to cure Dean as she cracked the Book of the Damned and sent her findings to Sam. Her death is avenged when Dean kills Eldon.

Physical Appearance
Charlie was a petite red haired woman in her mid 20s. She had a Princess Leia tattoo she got during a comic convention while drunk. She appeared to need glasses, but only wore them when the Winchesters first met her. By the time of her death, she had cut her trademark long red hair shorter.

Personality
Charlie was an I.T. expert who worked for Richard Roman Enterprises before being introduced to the Leviathans. She was a lesbian and she appeared to have the same taste in women as Dean. She had a taste for electro-pop and left politics, and is a keen gamer and fangirl. Her favorite series include Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Star Wars. She described herself as being "completely obsessed" and was highly intelligent. She also admitted to having a problem with authority and as such sometimes hacked websites to express this. Charlie was also shown to be openly flirtatious. Despite being intelligent and very interested in the world of the supernatural, Charlie was somewhat timid, and was easily intimidated when facing opponents who could kill her, as well as anything generally supernatural or dangerous. However, she normally managed to overcome her fears to do what's right or necessary. She also commonly used geek speak and slang. She had a sibling-like relationship with the Winchester brothers, like when Dean called her "the little sister I never wanted." She later tells Rowena that she sees Sam and Dean as her brothers. Charlie described herself as a "nerd" and was proud of the fact. She was very resourceful as shown in her ability to evade the law for 16 years and later the Styne Family. Charlie also displayed her resourcefulness when, before her death, she emails her notes to Sam before she destroys them so the knowledge won't be lost with her death.

Charlie has a dark side that is vicious and shows no remorse or hesitation in torture and killing. According to Charlie's good side, while separated from her, Dark Charlie did a lot of really bad things even before torturing people to find Russell Wellington. Without her dark side, Charlie is pure good, unwilling to hack, drink or even hit on people. However, even without her dark side, Charlie proved willing, albeit with much reluctance, to kill. When the two sides are united, Charlie describes herself as neither good nor bad but "balanced."

Charlie is seen to be extremely smart and very knowledgeable about technology. She was able to hack the Commodore 64 despite it being over 50 years old. She is also extremely good at hacking, having hacked Frank Deveraux's hard drive in about a day despite all the protections Frank put on it and his paranoid nature in protecting his things. She was also able to easily hack Dick Roman's computer, an act that she told Sam and Dean she deserved to get caught at if it took her more than fifteen minutes. Her hacking and decoding abilities are also seen in how she was able to crack the Book of the Damned: after a long time of frustrating work on translating the Book and Nadia's Codex, she finally broke a code that not even Rowena, a centuries-old witch could crack and that she herself had earlier believed was impossible for her to do.

Charlie is very brave as seen with her willingness to brave returning to Richard Roman Enterprises to help get information on Dick Roman, her actions in confronting the Wicked Witch and going to Oz to help free it from evil and how she fought so hard to keep the Book of the Damned from the Styne Family. Her biggest act of bravery was when, even though she knew it was likely to cost her her life, she refused to give her notes on the Book of the Damned to Eldon Frankenstein as his family would use it for evil, destroying her Surface tablet to that extent. Though she was killed and was clearly scared, she faced Eldon down with her blade rather than cowering in fear, though it didn't do her any good. She also made sure that what she'd learned wasn't lost so her sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. This bravery seems to have been developed over the course of her adventures with Sam and Dean as during LARP and the Real Girl, she was more than willing to run from her new life rather than face danger at first, but after helping, she decided to stop running and settle into a life.

Season 7
Charlie is an employee of Richard Roman Enterprises. During her free time, she exploits her hacking skills and makes donations to charities in the names of big companies. Dick Roman knows of her computer prowess, and seeks her out to hack into Frank Deveraux's hard drive. She completes the job in under twenty-four hours. When she sees a file labeled "Richard Roman Enterprises" her curiosity gets the better of her, and she opens it to see all of Frank's data on Dick. She thinks she has "hacked her way into a loony bin" until she sees her boss get eaten by a Leviathan.

She goes home and is about to flee when Sam and Dean appear. They convince her they aren't Leviathan, and enlist her help in keeping the contents of the hard drive safe from Dick and have her read his emails to find out what he's looking for on his archaeological digs. She bravely returns to the company, flirts her way through a male guard to Dick's computer, despite the difficulty that entails, as she is a lesbian, and retrieves the emails before returning to her desk to wipe Frank's drive. She soon discovers while reading his emails that whatever Dick was looking for in the digs has been found and is due to arrive at the airport that day. Sam and Dean, masquerading as workers, switch the package for an identical one containing a borax bomb. Charlie almost gets out of the building, but Dick realizes what she's been doing when the bomb goes off, and locks the building down. Sam, Dean, and Bobby's ghost save the day, though Charlie does break her arm. When Bobby's ghost threw Charlie to safety, he unintentionally broke her arm on the impact, as his spirit was starting to turn vengeful and he did not know his own strength.

At the end, she leaves on a coach, promises to disappear, not for the first time, apparently, and lightheartedly tells the boys never to contact her again.

Season 8
After Richard Roman Enterprises is taken down, Charlie returns to the country. She lives normally for a year as she becomes more and more popular on the land of Moondoor, a Live-Action Role-Playing, or LARP, game, and eventually she is named the in-game Queen of Moondoor. Everything fares well until two of her subjects go missing, and are later found dead by the police. Sam and Dean look into both deaths, and upon discovering Charlie was in the game, they decide to seek her help on the case.

Charlie is initially quite reluctant to go anywhere near the Winchester brothers again, claiming she wants to keep on living; however, when they reveal that her missing friends died, she decides to help them to prevent any more deaths. Charlie and Dean ask around about the strange mark on the victims, while Sam does computer research.

Eventually, they discover that the deaths were due to a fairy that was bound by a LARPer named Gerry, using a spell from the Book of Spells. Gilda, the fairy, and Charlie had bonded with each other while both were in captivity, and even started to make out as they liked each other before the Winchesters showed up to stop Gerry. With the help of the Winchesters, Charlie destroyed the book, freeing Gilda the fairy, and prevented Gerry from harming more people as Gilda took Gerry back to her world to face justice.

Later, Charlie came to Dean and Sam's place after finding a "case" for them. Later it is implied that it was actually a lie, and that she needed an excuse to be in town. Charlie helped distract Dr. O'Brien at the morgue, while Dean and Sam later looked at the victim's body. After finding out that the thing that was liquefying victims was a type of djinn, she was kidnapped by one of the djinns while donating money to help a woman named Gertrude Middleton. Charlie was duct taped to a chair when the djinn touched her, putting her in a coma, while her insides were liquefying. Dean entered her dreams via dream root, where she was trying to kill vampires. Later, during this point, it is revealed that the mystery woman is her mother, and that the real reason she's in town is because of her. Charlie is told by Dean to let her mother go, so that they can return to the real world. After Dean saves her life, she read to her mother for the last time, and leaves, finally letting her go. She then tells Sam and Dean goodbye, in her goodbye to Dean she says "I love you;" he replies "I know." Quoting directly the interaction between Princess Leia and Han Solo in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Season 9
By Slumber Party, Charlie had become a full-fledged hunter, having completed cases of her own but only as a hobby. Her cases included those involving a ghost and a teenage vampire. Despite being a part-time hunter, she felt her life was incomplete and wanted to find a quest of her own. Charlie was called in by Sam and Dean to use an ancient computer they found in an effort to find all of the angels in the world. Charlie hacked the computer and downloaded all of the Men of Letters files, but later came into conflict with The Wicked Witch when she was accidentally released by Dean. Charlie worked with Dorothy to hunt the witch, interested in Dorothy from the Oz books she read as a child. Charlie is killed by the Witch, but Dean has Gadreel (in the guise of Ezekiel) resurrect her which Charlie later agrees to keep secret. Dorothy claims that Charlie went to Heaven, however this is not possible, since Heaven is closed for all souls. The Wicked Witch could have possibly put Charlie in a deep sleep like state, where she would dream she was spending Christmas with her family. Charlie comes up with the idea to use poppy extract bullets to stun the Witch and realizes that the books were written by L. Frank Baum to give Dorothy clues on how to deal with the Witch. Thanks to Charlie's revelation, Dorothy realizes that the Ruby Slippers can be used to kill the Witch. While Dorothy holds off a possessed Sam and Dean, Charlie goes after the Witch and kills her with the Slippers as she summons her army to Earth. Charlie manages to shut the door to Oz just in time and later joins Dorothy in going back to Oz to free it as it gives her the chance to experience all that she has ever wanted to. However, while she agrees to keep her resurrection a secret from Sam, she demands that Dean give her an explanation later.

Season 10
In There's No Place Like Home, Sam and Dean find that Charlie has returned from Oz and is going after the person who killed her parents in a drunk driving accident, something that was covered up. Charlie proves to be violent and goes as far as torturing people and slashing the Impala's tires to keep the Winchesters from following her.

However, it turns out there are two Charlie's: Good Charlie and Dark Charlie. Good Charlie explains that in Oz, she and Dorothy fought a war to free the land from evil and were losing so Charlie made a deal with the Wizard of Oz in which the Wizard used the Inner Key of Oz to split Charlie into her two halves and Dark Charlie single-handedly won the war, though she did a lot of bad things in the process. Afterwards, Dorothy and the Wizard became the new leaders of Oz and Good Charlie followed her dark self to Earth to stop her from doing more bad things and to lock her up forever.

Sam and Dean convince Good Charlie to reunite with her dark half who can't be killed without killing Good Charlie so Sam and Good Charlie travel to the Bunker to research the Key to Oz in hopes of repairing it as Dark Charlie broke it. Their research leads them to former Man of Letters Clive Dylan who had discovered the Key and been trapped in Oz. Clive is unable to help them repair the Key, but he reveals himself to be the good side of the Wizard who is evil and power hungry, the two having been split by a coven of witches in Oz. In order to stop the Wizard and Dark Charlie, Clive shoots himself to force the Wizard to come to Earth to heal Clive and himself. At the same time, Dark Charlie visits Russell Wellington, the man who killed her parents and convinces Dean to let her talk to Russell. Dark Charlie claims to forgive Russell, then kills him and flees.

After visiting Dean in a bar, she steals the Impala and follows Dean to Clive's house where the two fight and Dean breaks her arm and brutally beats her. The Wizard of Oz arrives and chokes Sam while Good Charlie feels the pain of every hit Dean lays on Dark Charlie. In order to stop the Wizard and at Clive's insistence, Good Charlie reluctantly shoots Clive, killing him and the Wizard. Sam stops Dean from beating Dark Charlie to death and he is able to use the Inner Key of Oz, taken from the Wizard's body to reunite the two Charlie's. Two days later, Charlie, unable to return to Oz, decides to help Sam and Dean find a way to remove the Mark of Cain and forgives Dean's actions even though he refuses to forgive himself.

Following There's No Place Like Home, Charlie treks across Europe to find the Book of the Damned, a book which Sam believes may hold a way to remove the Mark. Charlie eventually finds it in the ruins of a monastery in Spain, but is then chased by the Styne Family for the Book across Europe. After using her blade to kill a member of the family and escape, wounded by a gun shot, Charlie calls Sam and Dean and meets them in an old hunting cabin of Bobby's to discuss the Book and the men who were after her. The Winchesters and Charlie discover that the Book is not only in an obscure Sumerian dialect, it is in code and they set out to translate it. However, Dean insists on destroying it after learning from the Men of Letters files that the Stynes only want to use it for evil and because the Mark is calling out to him to use it for evil himself. After Dean leaves on a supply run, Charlie reflects on the hunting lifestyle causing Sam to tell her what had happened with Gadreel and how while he once wanted a normal life, now all he wants is to hunt with Dean. Dean returns with the Stynes chasing him and in the fight that follows, Charlie kills one of the Stynes with her blade while Sam pretends to burn the Book.

Returning to the bunker with Sam and Dean, Charlie finally meets Castiel who has been restored to full power. Charlie is excited to meet him, having read about him in the Supernatural books and jokingly asks him to heal her carpal tunnel. Taking Charlie seriously, Castiel heals both her carpal tunnel and her bullet wound from the Stynes, causing her to declare that they are best friends. She then celebrates Castiel's full return with her friends.

In Dark Dynasty, Sam calls Charlie in for help in translating the Book of the Damned. Charlie isn't happy to lie to Dean and work with Rowena and neither is Castiel when Sam calls him in, but both ultimately agree for the sake of Dean. Rowena is unimpressed when Charlie tells her that she is a nerd instead of a witch and denies a connection between them. However, Rowena tells her they both possess a similar background. Even working together, Charlie and Rowena are unable to translate the Book of the Damned or Nadia's Codex and Charlie, unable to take Rowena anymore, asks Castiel to take her away for some peace and quiet. As Castiel locks Rowena in a back room as he can't leave her, Charlie leaves for a motel with her notes on the Book.

Charlie finally manages to figure out how to translate the Book, but Eldon Frankenstein arrives for the Book itself which she doesn't have. Charlie quickly calls Sam and Dean who tell her to give Eldon what she has, but unwilling to betray them or give the Styne Family the power of the Book of the Damned, Charlie locks herself in the bathroom where she uploads her translated notes into a message to Sam and Dean and sends the notes to them. She then smashes her Surface Tablet just before Eldon breaks in. Charlie bravely faces him down with a knife, but Eldon wins the fight and stabs her repeatedly, killing her. A devastated Sam and Dean later find her body.

In The Prisoner, a devastated Sam and Dean give Charlie a hunter's funeral and Dean decides to go after the Styne's for revenge. Sam initially stops the research into the Book of the Damned, but decides to continue after getting Charlie's email. Dean slaughters the Styne family for revenge in what Castiel describes as a "brutal" manner and avenges Charlie when he kills Eldon.

Powers and Abilities

 * Genius-Level Intellect - Charlie has a genius-level intellect that aids her greatly in situations.
 * Expert Hacker - Charlie is an expert hacker who has been able to hack the hard drive of Frank Devereaux in about a day, a man who was known for his paranoia.
 * Adept Fighter - Charlie has shown herself to be an adept fighter, able to survive the war in Oz and fight and kill a Styne Family henchman in Book of the Damned.
 * Expert Hunting Skills - Over time, Charlie developed expert hunting skills, becoming good enough to hunt on her own and survive.
 * Code Cracking - Charlie has displayed the ability to crack extremely difficult codes, such as the one protecting Nadia's Codex which Rowena, a centuries-old witch with experience in the magic they were dealing with and the author in question couldn't crack.

Appearances

 * Season 7
 * The Girl With The Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo
 * Survival of the Fittest (mentioned only)


 * Season 8
 * LARP and the Real Girl
 * Pac-Man Fever


 * Season 9
 * Slumber Party


 * Season 10
 * There's No Place Like Home
 * Inside Man (mentioned only)
 * Book of the Damned
 * Dark Dynasty
 * The Prisoner (corpse)


 * Season 11
 * The Bad Seed  (mentioned only)
 * O Brother, Where Art Thou? (mentioned only)

Trivia

 * She has a close relationship with Sam and Dean. Dean has jokingly said that Charlie is "The sister I never wanted". She later tells Rowena she sees the Winchesters as her brothers. She also says that Dean's her buddy.
 * She is 28 years old as of the episode Pac-Man Fever, where it states that she was 12 when her parents were involved in a car accident, and her mother has been on life-support for the past 16 years.
 * She tells the brothers that Charlie Bradbury is not really her name. The first name comes from Charlene McGee, the major character in the novel Firestarter, while the surname "Bradbury" comes from Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles among others.
 * According to writer Robbie Thompson, Charlie's aliases are made up of the name of a Stephen King character for her first name and the surname of a famous science fiction writer.
 * She later uses the alias "Carrie Heinlein". The first name comes from Carrie White, the title character and protagonist of the novel Carrie, while the surname comes from Robert A. Heinlein, author of Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land.
 * She also has the alias "Annie Tolkien". The first name comes from Annie Wilkes, a character in the novel Misery. The surname comes from J. R. R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit.
 * Another alias of hers is "Christine K. Le Guin". The first name Christine, the title character of the novel Christine, and the surname comes from Ursula K. Le Guin, author of the Earthsea fantasy series and the Hainish science fiction series.
 * Yet another alias of hers is "Susan Asimov". The surname comes from Isaac Asimov, author of the Foundation series, the Galactic Empire trilogy, and the Robot series.
 * Her real name is eventually revealed to be Celeste Middleton.
 * She is avid fan of many things in pop culture.
 * Charlie's aliases give insight into what she likes to read like Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Issac Asimov, J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert A. Heinlein, and Ursula K. Le Guin. Many of these are science fiction or fantasy writers.
 * She is a Lord of the Rings fan, as she refers Dick Roman giving her an assignment as having "the Eye of Sauron" as watching her. She also said that her mother read her The Hobbit when she was young.
 * She is also a Star Wars fan and has a tattoo, which she got at Comic Con while drunk, of Princess Leia in a slave girl bikini astride a 20-sided die. (Which became a popular Google search after the episode aired.)
 * She also seems to be a Star Trek fan as she gives the Vulcan Salute to Sam and Dean often when she is leaving.
 * She has a collection of figurines and posters, both at home and had at her work at Roman Enterprises. Her favorite seems to be one of Hermione Granger, her favorite Harry Potter character, which she refers to as "H". When she was scared to help Sam and Dean the time they met, Sam asked her what would Hermione do and this helped Charlie overcome her fear.
 * She is the fourth character in the series and second female character to be named Charlie.
 * Charlie is a lesbian. She and Dean seem to have a similar taste in women.
 * Charlie said that she went to a convention in Topeka, Kansas. The showdown between Michael and Lucifer was between there and Lawrence.
 * She was revealed to be a good marksman in Pac-Man Fever, as she landed two shots squarely to a targets head when Dean was trying to test whether she would be good in the field. It is unknown where she learned to handle firearms. She later used one reluctantly to kill Clive Dylan and The Wizard of Oz.
 * Actress Felicia Day previously portrayed Violet, a Vampire Slayer in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the series' mythology, Slayers share a similar role to the hunters, with the difference that they are mystically called and gifted with supernatural strength and skills. In "Slumber Party" Charlie says she killed a teenage vampire as one of her hunts, a possible reference to Violet.
 * Jim Michaels said, "Charlie Bradbury is the one character that I know if I killed her, you'd all kill ME."
 * Charlie had Carpal-Tunnel syndrome, until it was cured by Castiel.
 * Charlie's body was burned in a similar manner to how Karen Singer's body was burned in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.