Dean and Mary

Dean Winchester and Mary Winchester have a mother-and-son relationship. Although their relationship got cut short, Dean always carries the memories of her in his heart no matter where he goes.

Background
Dean is Mary's first born child, so unlike Sam, Dean had the luxury of having Mary around and caring for him. When Mary and John had tough times, Dean would cheer her up. When Dean was about 2-3 years old, John moved out for a couple of days due to a fight. After talking to him on the phone, Mary would get upset and Dean went and hugged her to tell Mary that John still loved her. Dean last saw her alive when he was four, when John brought him in to Sam's nursery to say goodnight to Sam. Mary was then killed by Azazel. Dean later joins his father on a crusade to find the thing that killed her.

Season 1
It's been 22 years since her death, and Dean is still hunting for the thing that killed her. In Pilot, Sam mentions how finding the Yellow-Eyed demon won't bring Mary back. These words anger Dean. Dean still holds his mother's memory dear and will protect it like he protects his family.

Sam later gets a vision about their old house and makes Dean go back to Lawrence, Kansas. Dean had promised himself that he would never go back there, ever since their mother died because of the bad memories (presumably), but agrees to go. When Sam gets trapped by a spirit, Dean rushes into the house to save Sam. When he finds Sam, he see a figure on fire coming towards them and points a gun at it. When Sam stops him, the flames go out and it is revealed the flaming figure was in fact Mary Winchester. Dean is shocked to see her, and Mary smiles at her boy. She moves towards the poltergeist and tells it to leave. She and the poltergeist cancel each other out.

Season 2
"Going to visit Mom's grave? She doesn't even have a grave. There was no body left after the fire. She has a headstone. Yeah, put up by her uncle, a man we've never even met. So you wanna go pay your respects to a slab of granite put up by a stranger? Come on."

- Dean and Sam

Now having lost both his parents, Dean is trying to pull it together. When Sam wants to visit Mary's grave, Dean is against the idea. It's mostly because he doesn't see any value in talking to a place where his mother isn't, plus a reminder on how she really died. How there isn't a body left to be buried. After battling Angela the zombie, they head back to the Impala, and Dean looks back at Mary's grave, before heading off.

In All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 2, Dean finally avenges Mary when he kills Azazel with the last of the original Colt bullets. While Sam is at a loss for words, Dean knows just what to say to the dead demon: "that was for our mom, you son of a bitch."

Season 4
"Sammy, wherever you are... Mom is a babe! I'm going to hell. Again."

- Dean Thanks to the heavenly intervention of Castiel, Dean is sent back in time and sees a young Mary Campbell. Dean spies on her while she is on a date with John. However, he is noticed by Mary, who comes out and attacks Dean. She almost takes Dean down, but he overpowers her. Then he notices her bracelet and realizes she is a hunter. Dean is shocked with this new information, and would have never thought his mother a hunter. Knowing Dean is also a hunter, she brings him back to meet her parents, Samuel and Deanna Campbell.

Upon confirming that Dean is a hunter, he is invited to dinner. At dinner, Samuel makes comments at Dean but Mary defends him. Later, as Dean is leaving, he talks to Mary. He tells Mary that he likes John, and that they are meant to be (John and Mary). Mary tells Dean that John for her is normal, and everything a hunter isn't. She continues on by saying that she wants out of the hunter lifestyle and she doesn't want to raise her children in this lifestyle. Mary finishes by saying she won't allow her children to become hunters. Dean, knowing she can't do anything about it, feels sorry for her. His mother didn't want this kind of life for him, but her death drove his family into it.



Wanting to save her life, Dean asks Mary for a favor. He asks her to stay in bed on November 2nd, 1983. This way, she won't die and her wish of her children never knowing the hunter lifestyle will come true. Later on, at Liddy's, when Mary is overpowered by Azazel, Dean comes to her rescue, but is shocked to hear Azazel's liking to her. Desperate to save Mary, Dean tries to make a plan to kill Yellow Eyes. When that plan fails, he goes after Mary. Unfortunately, he is too late and arrives just as Mary makes a deal. Dean looks in horror, and knows that he couldn't have stopped her death from coming.

Season 5
"There’s a big difference between dying and never being born! And trust me, we’re okay with it. I promise you that! Well I’m not!"

- Dean and Mary When Dean hears that Anna has gone back in time to kill their parents, Dean convinces Castiel to send them back to help. Once back in 1978, Sam and Dean head toward their old family home. Mary is surprised to see Dean again, but isn't happy either. She is now living a normal life with John and doesn't want her past to be found out. When John invites them inside, Mary is obviously angry at Dean's presence. When John later leaves, Mary asks Dean what he is doing here. Dean responds by saying something is after her and John. Noticing John is gone, they rush to save John, and Mary's hunting past thus comes to light.

Mary takes them all to a safe house where they prepare for Anna to come at them again. Mary asks Dean to tell her the truth. Dean tries to avoid it but Mary insists. Dean tells her that he is her son, and Mary is shocked by this. She is more horrified that she raised her children in this lifestyle. Dean tells her that she died and it was John who raised them as hunters. He continues by telling her to take Sam and run. Realizing it wouldn't be enough, he then tells Mary to leave John. Mary is shocked by this, and tells Dean she can't, because she is pregnant with him. Dean is shocked at the news. Although Mary will never remember this due to Michael erasing her memory. Dean is not too happy about it due to the fact she will still walk into the nursery and die. Michael tells Dean that Dean knew it was always going happen anyway.

In Dark Side of the Moon, Zachariah uses the memory of Mary to torture Dean. This version of Mary tells Dean that when she died she was glad she could get away from Dean. She also describes how she died to Dean, which pains him. Then Zachariah shows up and touches Mary to anger Dean (which works).

Season 6
In Mommy Dearest, in order to torture Sam and Dean, Eve turns into Mary. Dean is shocked to see this. Eve tries to use her new form to get them to work for her, but Dean, knowing who his mother really is, refuses. Dean refuses to let Eve get under his skin and kills her while she's in Mary's form, though she turns back into herself as she dies.

Season 11
Dean is shown to keep a photograph of him and Mary in his room in the Men of Letters bunker. In We Happy Few, The Darkness finds this photograph stashed in a chest, and after Dean helps her reconcile with God, she decides to give Dean back his mother as a gift.

After The Darkness and God depart, Dean enters a wooded area and discovers Mary Winchester, alive and confused, and still wearing the white dress she wore when she died. Shocked, Dean's only response is "Mom?".

Alternative Reality
In What Is And What Should Never Be, Dean wishes that Mary never died. Upon an encounter with a Djinn, Dean gets pushed into a world where Mary never died, and as a result, Sam and Dean never became hunters. When Dean discovers she is alive in this world, he rushes over to the house and gives her a big hug. Mary is concerned for her son's strange actions, but lets him stay when he asks. Dean is very happy to spend time with his mother, and even mows the lawn. Unfortunately, Dean realizes that he can't stay here and heads back to reality.