Dean Winchester

Dean Winchester (born January 24, 1979) is a human and hunter as well as a member of the Men of Letters with his younger brother Sam. He and his brother are members of the Winchester and Campbell families, and Dean is also the destined vessel of the archangel Michael. He and Sam are also the surrogate sons of Bobby Singer. Dean is best friends with the angel Castiel, close friend to the late prophet Kevin Tran, and reluctant ally of Crowley. Dean has an ex-girlfriend, Lisa Braeden who he lived with for a year when he thought Sam was in Hell. She has a child named Ben, who Dean acted as a father for during that year. Dean is also the former apprentice of Alastair.

Both Dean and Sam were raised in the hunting life by their father, after the demon Azazel killed their mother. Dean's main role in the series is being the self-appointed guardian of Sam and often going to extreme lengths to protect him regardless of personal cost. Often in these occurrences Dean finds himself the center of a much larger picture.

When he was killed by Metatron whilst using the Mark of Cain, Dean returned as a demon and a Knight of Hell loyal only to himself. He was then cured by his brother using purified blood. Eventually, the Mark was removed, but the price was that the Darkness has now been released into the world, something Dean tried to avoid.

Physical Appearance
"I gotta tell ya, every women in this place - they want to eat you up."

- Hooker to Dean Winchester



Dean has green eyes, light freckles on his face and short-cropped Ivy-league hair that is dark blonde. He is 6'1"--ironically making him shorter than his younger brother Sam--and muscular. Dean is noted to be "handsome" or even "pretty" by other characters constantly.

He usually wears a plaid shirt over a T-shirt, jeans, and boots, unless he has to wear a disguise in order to impersonate someone. Until Season 6, Dean often wore his father's leather jacket. He also used to wear a watch and a silver ring. As of Season 4, Dean has a hand-shaped burn scar on his left shoulder from where Castiel pulled him out of Hell. This mark has since disappeared from his body.

For the first four seasons, Dean also wore an amulet around his neck that resembled the head of a bull made of brass, attached to a black cord. This amulet was given to him by Sam as a Christmas gift when they were children. Throughout the first half of Season 5, Castiel attempts to use this amulet to find God, as its claimed power is to burn hot in God's presence. When Castiel is unsuccessful, he declares the amulet "useless," and Dean throws it away.

Sometime before Jus In Bello, Dean got a tattoo on his chest of the anti-possession symbol to protect himself from demons.

Dean mentions to Haley Collins in season 1 that he doesn't wear shorts. However, he is actually wearing shorts while cleaning The Impala in "Baby."

Dean recently received the Mark of Cain, manifesting just below his elbow. Since separating from Sam, his appearance has become more scruffy and unshaven. His hair had also grown out a bit. Dean later briefly possessed a pair of black eyes while he was a demon. The Mark was removed in "Brother's Keeper."

Personality
"What's the matter? You don't think you deserve to be saved?"

- Castiel to Dean

Dean Winchester, from the moment of his debut, was shown to be an understanding, funny, mischievous, and, in contrast to his younger brother, a little immature. Dean's shown countless times to be good with kids and the ladies. At an early age, Dean was trained by his father, John Winchester, to hunt and kill creatures of the supernatural. However, unlike his brother Sam, he did not resent his father for having him "raised like a warrior". He seemed to prefer hunting the supernatural over any normal "apple pie" life, though it was revealed that when he was sixteen, he did in fact desire (or at least hope for) a normal life: He just couldn't leave Sam. This however did not last long, as later on - while still sixteen - following a werewolf hunt, he realized just how unique his life was. However, by Season 7, following all that he has seen and done, Dean admits to Eliot Ness that he no longer wants to be a hunter and would give it up if he could.

Dean is an avid fan of classic rock music. Many of his aliases have included the names of famous rock musicians. He is known to use crude humor, use pop culture references, make sexual innuendos, and indulge in pornography (especially about Busty Asian Beauties). He has even stated once that he does enjoy anime and Japanese animated porn (Hentai).

Dean typically avoids emotional intimacy, preferring to engage with women only as sexual partners. However, he has had a few long-term relationships over the years, with Cassie Robinson, pre-series, and Lisa Braeden, in season 6. After the tragic events that led Dean to ask Castiel to make it as if Lisa and her son Ben had never met him, Dean seemed to give up on ever having a family other than his brother. After his break up with Lisa, Dean was reluctant to get back into his old routine of "new town, new girl." However, the one time he was shown to indulge in a one-night stand in The Slice Girls he ended up fathering an Amazon that tried to kill him. He was reluctant to defend himself against his Amazonian daughter and Sam ended up making the kill. After these events he became even more reluctant to get in a physical relationship let alone an emotional one.

Dean values his family's safety over anything else, even going so far as to kill a demon and its human host in order to save Sam's life, as well as sacrificing his very soul and suffering in hell to resuscitate his brother.

Even though Dean keeps himself in excellent physical shape, he is known to have very bad eating habits. He is often shown enjoying greasy, fattening or otherwise unhealthy food, especially cheeseburgers and pie, and dismisses salads as "rabbit food."

Dean is terrified of flying and claims that is the reason why he drives everywhere.

Despite his working knowledge of the supernatural, Dean is skeptical with regard to the "good aspects of religion." However, he becomes somewhat more open-minded after meeting the angel Castiel, yet the antagonistic behavior of most angels and God's reluctant to openly participate in events prevents him from being a true believer, like Sam.

Dean has also shown on several occasions that he is a great fan of movies, particularly westerns, and was thrilled to be given a chance to go to the old west. He was also overjoyed when he met and was able to work with Eliot Ness, frequently referencing The Untouchables during the episode.

Dean is typically ruthless and aggressive when he is hunting, a task which he approaches enthusiastically, making him the more merciless of the Winchester siblings. But in spite of that, he is capable of acknowledging whenever he's going too far, as seen with his interaction with Lenore and Gordon (Bloodlust). Whereas Sam is at least willing to sympathize with what they hunt, provided that their motives can be counted as morally gray, Dean mostly sees the world as black and white. He passionately despises what he hunts, especially demons, and is prepared to kill without question more often than not, unlike his brother. This has caused him to develop a bigotry against most supernatural creatures and beings.

He dislikes showing his emotions to monsters, and when facing beings like Abaddon or Azazel he acts threatening and determined. When facing the angels, even knowing what they could do to him, Dean is sarcastic, rude, and insulting. The only being he was openly afraid of was Death; on the rare occasions that they met, Dean was nervous and cautious, and when Dean was angry or frustrated enough to talk back, he became visibly scared and backed off the moment Death appeared annoyed.

Despite these traits, Dean is very laid-back and well-disposed when not on the hunt, and he values the safety of his family and innocent civilians above all else, even his own life. Though on occasion he can be somewhat impulsive as well as arrogant, Dean is both extremely intelligent and competent. He is more likely to exhibit irrational behavior when his family is threatened.

Despite being the better hunter, Dean admits he doesn't see himself as anything other than a "grunt." He is constantly called out for feeling this way by Bobby and Sam. But regardless his feelings always return. These feelings can be traced back to his relationship with his father John, who at times treated him as a tool rather than as a son and who held him to unrealistic or unfair standards.

Dean enjoys the uncomplicated things in life, such as good food and television. He almost constantly displays some level of humorous behavior, and frequently makes light of tense situations. He sometimes appears foolish due to this habit, but this seems to be merely his means of dealing with the stress of hunting.

Dean shows on multiple occasions a soft spot for children. He is very good with them, able to talk to them with ease, and he is always very sympathetic; this most likely stems from the fact he practically raised Sam when he was a child. Dean's affection extends to nearly all children, particularly young ones, although he also cares about teenagers. Dean is more willing to put his life in danger for children than he is for nearly any others. Dean's affection even extends to monster children, and despite his ruthless approach to hunting he's usually unwilling to kill monster children unless he has a crucial need.

After his extraction from Hell by Castiel, Dean began exhibiting noticeable anxiety and experienced chronic, abominable nightmares of his experience there. He initially lied to Sam that he remembered nothing of his time in Hell, but eventually confessed and told him he remembered every detail. The fact that he tortured souls just to escape torture himself weighed heavily on Dean, leaving him visibly sad and guilt-ridden. Due to this, he believed he was unworthy of rescue. He also explained to his brother that he wished he couldn't feel anything, as the sorrow he felt is so overwhelming. Dean later revealed in Family Remains that it was not just the fact he tortured souls, but the fact he enjoyed it.

Another side of Dean is his utter disgust at Sam for many of his dangerous or foolish actions, such as drinking demon blood, and having a sexual relationship with a demon. While this made him angry, Dean continues to love Sam since he knows their family isn't perfect. His reluctance to completely leave his brother made it difficult for Dean to stay with the Braedens during season 6, and many a times Dean has chosen his brother over others.

Dean also drinks a lot of alcohol, especially during times of stress. This worsened during season 7 when life was becoming too difficult for him to bear. Dean also fell into a period of depression. Following Bobby's death at the hands of Dick Roman, Dean developed a very strong, obsessive revenge streak in him and spent the entirety of the season hunting Dick down to kill him. As part of Bobby's last wishes he tried to let go of his anger and vengeance, and while in the end he succeeded in killing Dick, it was as part of the job and not for vengeance.

The constant life-or-death situations Dean was forced into while in Purgatory created an extreme change in him. While he was stuck there, he became emotionless and paranoid of the fear of getting attacked. He killed monsters of Purgatory with ease and was always fighting for his survival. When returned to Earth, his new outlook on life was clear. He became hardened, emotionless, and at times ruthless; his humor and puns were nonexistent when hunting. That changed with Castiel's return from Purgatory after which he started to show his light-hearted side again.

Having a now haunted sense of self-created in him during that year, he became firmer in his belief of hunting. He had personally seen all the monsters they hunted in Purgatory and in doing so, developed a strong sense of responsibility to the people they saved. Dean now believes that it is their duty to save people and quitting out of the hunting business is permanently out of the question. Despite becoming more ruthless, Dean has developed more faith in monsters managing to recover their humanity, as shown with him willing to let Kate go, presumably developed from his time with Benny. Following Kevin's death, and Gadreel taking complete control of Sam, Dean became desperate to save him. When Sam was freed, Dean's self-loathing seems to have reached a new height: He claims he's poison, and that anyone near him dies. Dean decided to obtain the Mark of Cain, and by doing so, his personality became darker, with extreme levels of aggression and wrath. He also became more distrusting and suspicious, and more hate-filled toward the supernatural.

As a demon, Dean's soul became twisted and he no longer empathized with others. He cared only for himself and what he needed. His change was so drastic that he stalked Sam throughout the Bunker with the intent of killing him using a hammer, only to miss by a few inches. He carried out this task calmly, and coupled it with taunts, giving the impression that he was enjoying himself. This is furthered by the fact that instead of an axe, he decides to use a hammer to break through a door and kill Sam, despite both tasks requiring much more force with a hammer than with an axe. Demon!Dean apparently cared about the natural order, something old Dean despised. He even considered himself, as a demon, a part of the natural order, and that it was all set up in this certain way. Dean did retain a few former traits, such as his love of drinking, playing pool, darts and foosball. He is still more brutal, happily beating people and demons beyond a reasonable point, with limited provocation. He is also colder, and while initially coming across down-to-earth and charismatic, he quickly turned cold and ruthless when others proved to be uncooperative, as shown by him outright shaming and humiliating Ann Marie for sleeping with him the moment she rejected his advances, not caring that he had left her near tears.

Dean's concern for Sam, innocent people and the Impala disappeared while he was a demon. He told Cole that Sam's well-being did not matter to him. He took innocent lives just to satisfy the Mark's lust for blood. He referred to the Impala as "just a car" and didn't bother to tend to its condition. Dean returns completely to normal once Sam cures him through the Demon Curing Ritual.

In Season 11, Dean suffers from the fact that he unleashed The Darkness upon the world. Although he has every intention of defeating The Darkness by whatever means necessary, he soon realizes he himself cannot harm her, and has developed an unwilling attraction towards her. This has caused a banshee to deem him vulnerable and a qareen to take the form of Amara, who has become Dean's darkest desire. These facts leave Dean feeling noticeably sad and down, but he's not yet ready to give up.

With the revelation that Castiel had said "yes" to Lucifer, Dean shows great determination in saving his friend, even going against Sam who believes this to be Castiel's choice. Dean's desperation drives him to use every method possible to free Castiel, and to put Castiel's safety as among his top priorities.

In a bid to stop the Darkness, Dean was shown to be a good strategist, planning the rescue of Lucifer and talking the Darkness out of her anger. This led him to save the world, and regain his mother.

In Season 12, Dean struggles with the changes in his life. Mary is not the woman he remembers, nor is he the son she remembers, leading the two to part ways much to Dean's distress. Dean tries to bury his initial discomfort with being abandoned by Mary, but an eventual reconciliation restores some of Dean's happiness about her return. Another issue is Crowley and Castiel's partnership, which Dean expresses dislike in. Conflicts with Lucifer and the British Men of Letters also become major concerns for Dean.

When a witch curses him to lose his memory, Dean gradually forgets important facts about himself, but a more childlike demeanor, coupled with a fascination in cartoons and a happy, normality-loving personality begins to surface, a likely indication of what kind of person Dean could have been had he not become a hunter. As noted throughout the season, Dean has become more open about his interests and preferences, switching within a day from hating vegetable juice to drinking it without another word. As of recent, Dean may be losing much of his bravado, the tough, sarcastic and careless personality he carried with him for most of his life is slowly slipping away to reveal the true Dean Winchester underneath, whom not even Sam recognizes.

Deaths
Throughout the course of the series, Dean has died many times.


 * In My Time Of Dying - Dean came close to death and almost went with the reaper Tessa when in a coma from the car accident, only saved because Azazel resurrected him as part of his deal with John.
 * Mystery Spot - Dean dies in a multitude of different ways. They are:
 * Shot at the Mystery Spot
 * Run over by a car
 * Crushed by a falling object
 * Chokes on a sausage
 * Slips in the shower
 * Poisoned by a taco
 * Electrocuted by his razor
 * Accidentally killed with an axe by Sam
 * Mauled by a golden retriever
 * Shot by a robber
 * Almost 100 other unknown ways.
 * No Rest for the Wicked - Dean is viciously mauled by Lilith's hellhounds and dragged down to Hell due to a deal with a crossroads demon to resurrect Sam. Resurrected by Castiel.
 * Dark Side of the Moon - Dean is killed alongside Sam by Roy and Watt, who blame them for the Apocalypse. Resurrected by Joshua.
 * Appointment In Samarra - Dean died for seven minutes to contact Death in order to get Sam's soul back. Resurrected by Dr. Robert.
 * Do You Believe In Miracles? - Dean is killed by Metatron. Resurrected by the Mark of Cain and returns as a Knight of Hell.
 * Red Meat - Dean commits suicide with a drug overdose to speak to the Reaper Billie in hopes of getting her to save Sam's life. Billie refuses and reveals that Sam is still alive. Before she can take him to the Empty, Doctor Kessler manages to revive Dean with adrenaline to the heart.
 * First Blood - Dean makes a deal with the Reaper Billie in which she stops his and Sam's hearts then resurrects them a while later to give them a chance to escape Site 94. In exchange, they agree that a Winchester will die permanently at midnight. However, this part of the deal is broken when Castiel kills Billie instead.
 * Advanced Thanatology - Dean injected himself with Dr. Meadows' serum so he could temporarily die and free the ghosts of those killed by Meadows. Once everything is done, Billie (who is now Death) brought him back.

Other deaths which didn't occur in the present timeline include:
 * Nightmare - Dean died in Sam's vision by Max Miller.
 * The End - Dean died in an alternate timeline, in the year 2014, when Lucifer snapped Future-Dean's neck.
 * "Time After Time - Dean died in an alternate timeline. He was strangled to death by Chronos, but Sam and Jody Mills save him using a spell.
 * Patience - Dean died in Patience Turner's vision by a wraith.

Relationships

 * Dean and Sam - Dean and Sam are brothers.
 * Dean and Castiel - Castiel is Deans best friend and share a “bond” and think of one another as brothers and family.
 * Dean and Crowley - Dean and Crowley were somewhat friends (At the beginning of Season 10, Crowley claimed they were best friends, but it seemed Dean didn't feel the same).
 * Dean and Bobby - Bobby was like a second father to Dean.
 * Dean and Bela - Dean and Bela were enemies/allies, but more often enemies.
 * Dean and John - Dean worshipped his father, but they didn't always get along.
 * Dean and Charlie - Dean and Charlie are good friends, Charlie being the closest Dean has had to a sister.
 * Dean and Lisa - Possibly Dean's longest term romantic relationship - they lived together for at least one year.
 * Minor relationships - People Dean has become acquainted with over the years.

Name

 * Dean is a masculine name of English origin. The meaning of the name is "leader" or "valley". Which is quite fitting, as he normally leads the events of the hunt.
 * "In The Beginning" reveals that Dean was named after his maternal grandmother, Deanna Campbell.

Appearances

 * Dean and Sam are the only characters to appear in every single episode of Supernatural.

Trivia

 * Dean has killed the most main antagonists in the series, with three. He killed Azazel, Dick Roman and Abaddon. He's also killed secondary antagonists, Ruby, Zachariah, Eve, Cain, and the Styne Family. According to Rowena MacLeod in Regarding Dean, his kill count numbers in the scores.
 * As a demon, he was the secondary antagonist for Season 10.
 * Dean is the first human to kill an angel on the series.
 * Dean has killed four angels on the series: Zachariah, a Rogue Angel and two Reapers: Maurice and April Kelly.
 * Dean's leather jacket, that he inherited from John, is nearly identical to the one worn by the title character of the movie Taffin (Played by Pierce Brosnan).
 * Dean has time traveled more than any other character. Going back in time 5 times (To the 1800s, the 1940s and the 1970s twice) and going forward once (to an Alternate 2014). Counting return trips, Dean has time traveled twelve times.
 * Dean has both been aged both forward into an old man and aged back into a teenager on different occasions.
 * Dean seems to be rather clueless about Pop culture, evidenced by him not knowing what an Xbox is, and believing MySpace to be a porn site. However, he seems to have gotten better over time as he now has a phone with apps, something that shocked Sam.
 * Dean is a big movie buff. Sam stated that Dean knows all of Clint Eastwood's movies line for line, especially the "the monkey movies." He is also a huge fan of Chuck Norris. He also claims "Untouchables" is one of his favorite movies.
 * Dean suffers from pteromerhanophobia (fear of flying).
 * Dean is very good at flirting, proven in notable episodes. He also coached a lesbian, i.e., Charlie Bradbury into flirting with a male security guard.
 * Dean has been to the most number of different realms out of all the characters: Heaven, Hell, Avalon and Purgatory.
 * Dean is descended from one of the biblical brothers Cain or Abel, the latter who is the first murder victim who died at the hand of his brother.
 * During his time in Purgatory, Dean seems to have adopted a new, slightly unstable personality. He’s ruthless, volatile at times, and seems to have developed an underlying blood-lust that bubbles to the surface occasionally. Not unlike his time in hell, he immersed himself in the darker aspects of his being in Purgatory. Whereas in hell, Dean gave into his darker thoughts and enjoyed torturing, in Purgatory, he appears to have given into his darker instincts and embraced the warrior lifestyle that he’d basically been raised for his entire life.
 * When playing Rock, Paper, Scissors, Dean almost always loses because he picks scissors. However, he beat Sam twice, once in "My Heart Will Go On", and again in "Love Hurts."
 * Dean's Impala was a gift from John, which is why he's so protective of it.
 * He is allergic to cats as evidenced in the episode "Man's Best Friend With Benefits." He also strongly dislikes dogs for some unknown reason though he develops a bond with the Colonel due to the human/animal mind meld he underwent to talk to him. He also briefly had some dog-like mannerisms as a result of the ritual for about a day.
 * He is into hentai (anime porn).
 * A running gag on the show is that Dean never gets his pie. Although he seems to have gotten some in "Hammer of the Gods" and "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid." However, in the former it came from a group of pagan deities and in the latter it came from a zombie. He later gets one from his mother in "Mamma Mia."
 * Dean unknowingly admits to watching Oprah, something that surprised Sam.
 * Dean's favorite food (with the exception of pie) is a bacon cheeseburger which, in his heart, believes to be as good as sex.
 * One of his favorite weapons seems to be a two shot sawed-off shotgun.
 * Dean, unlike Sam, Bobby, and John, has never been possessed by a demon or angel. However, he came close to transforming into a demon while in Hell, and later became one due to the Mark of Cain.
 * Dean has also shown he is quite good at cooking as seen in Trial And Error. In Brother's Keeper, his food is shown to be so good that even Death enjoyed it.
 * In "Changing Channels", Dean reveals that he hates procedural cop shows because say how they are all the same. He also thinks that only "no talent douchebags" wear sunglasses at night. He later tells Sam that he thinks that only blind people and douchebags wear sunglasses inside.
 * Of all the supernatural beings and creatures that he has met and hunted, Death is the only being that Dean was afraid of.
 * Dean is considered an "honorary dog" by at least the Colonel. As a result, the Colonel tried to tell him what a dog's true role is as its not man's best friend. The spell he was using wore off before Dean could find out however.
 * So far, Dean, along with Cain and Lilith, is one of the three known characters to become a demon without going through hundreds of years of torture in Hell.
 * Dean's favorite song is a tie between Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On" and "Traveling Riverside Blues."
 * Dean is one of only two people known to be cured of being a demon.
 * Through his behavior in the early episodes of Season 10, it is evident that Dean considers himself to be superior to Crowley, who is the King of Hell, and may thus have been the strongest demon.
 * Even though he has a stronger connection with angels throughout the series, he's the Winchester to eventually becomes a demon, specifically a Knight of Hell.
 * Dean has proven to be a skilled vampire hunter whenever the Winchesters encounter the species, once killing five vampires single-handedly out of a nest of ten, three of the others having been killed before the hunt during Blood Brother. While briefly a vampire himself, Dean single-handedly slaughtered a massive nest, including a powerful vampire who had easily overpowered him only minutes before. When he was trying to "take the edge off" of the Mark of Cain, Dean single-handedly killed six vampires before Sam even arrived, something he regarded as a new personal best. While Sam has killed a number of vampires himself, he doesn't seem to be as skilled at it as Dean.
 * After being turned into a teenager, Dean gained an appreciation for Taylor Swift despite it being far from his usual taste in music. To Sam's surprise, this like of Taylor Swift seems to have stayed with him even after the spell was reversed.
 * Dean has been transformed into the most supernatural creatures on the show: a vampire, a Jefferson Starship (however the process was not complete) and a demon.
 * Dean has killed some of the strongest creatures of their species. So far, he has killed Azazel, Eve, Cain, and Dick Roman. He has also just recently killed one of the most powerful beings in existence, Death.
 * Before Dean killed Death, while he helped Sam defeat War, he never actually stopped a Horseman on his own unlike Sam and Castiel who stopped Famine and Pestilence respectively.
 * As Dean was born in 1979, he is physically 36 years old, but since time is different in Hell than it is on Earth, he is spiritually 76 years old.
 * While Sam has used more types of magic than Dean to more effects, the magic Dean has used has generally had stronger effects including resurrection, molecular combustion, soul absorption, binding and animal communication.

Gallery
→ see also Dean Winchester/Gallery and Category:Images of Dean Winchester