User blog comment:Malthael Archangel of Death/"The end" timeline/@comment-35855283-20180613122954

1. Yes. Assuming it was time travel, which I am not convinced it was, that timeline was based on Sam and Dean splitting apart after the capture of War´s ring and not speaking for 5 years. That timeline was thus predicated on Sam and Dean´s struggling separately and Sam giving in. Dean avoided that timeline since he went back and reached out to Sam. That is what changed the timeline.

Now, time travel is a tricky beast and gets handled differently in all types of shows and stories. It seems to me that your question is really how time travel works. My take is that the future is not set in stone--there are many possible futures that exist extending from any point in time. Your choices determine your future. In other words, the future is fluid.

Therefore, that future could have happened, but it didn´t because of the brothers´ reconciliation and re-commitment to attempt to stop the Apocalypse together. However, if Dean had not seen that he had another choice than to become Michael´s vessel and had still said no AND still didn´t forgive Sam and reconcile, those events would have occurred. (In that timeline there had been no battle--the angels had simply left.  Lucifer didn´t win per se, he just stuck around.)

Recent seasons do not obviate the fact that, in 2009, had the brothers not worked together, the Croatoan virus would have been wiping out humanity in 2014.

I agree that it wasn´t another reality.

2. Can Darkness really die? I´m not even sure Death really died. That manifestation of Death died, but now there´s Billie as Death. People still died between Deaths, so death existed without Death. So Death as a concept or primordial force exists even if Death as a manifestation doesn´t. So let´s assume that sure, Darkness can die by the scythe, but I bet it just shows up again in a different manifestation.