User blog comment:Rafe Adler/"The Raid" Discussion/@comment-34326521-20170303194743/@comment-1031724-20170303212248

What about Death? He gave Dean his scythe and told him to kill his brother with it, because Sam would continue to look for him even if it meant dooming the world. If Death wanted Sam dead so he couldn't do that, didn't it cross his mind that Dean would be unwilling to kill Sam once it got down to it? They basically condemned Ellie to eventual damnation so Sam wouldn't die closing the gates to hell. And Death could have given Dean ANY other weapon, like a gun or a knife, but he gave him the one weapon that could actually kill him. Did he have a deathwish or what?

That was just a cheap way of killing another fan-favorite. I'm amazed they even draw a line (Castiel and Crowley, though it sounds like they've run their course with the audience)