Supernatural Wiki

The Winchesters season 1 is currently streaming on The CW and HBO Max.

READ MORE

Supernatural Wiki
Supernatural Wiki
Supernatural Wiki
5,939
pages
in: Canon

Canon Discrepancies

View source



Deathconjecture What makes you think I can do that?
This page contains conjecture or inductive logic about a subject that is not explicitly mentioned or explained in the canon.

A list of Supernatural inconsistencies that have occurred during its run.

Angels

  • When an angel was killed, burnt wings would appear on the ground next to the body. In Holy Terror this effect is not used, only showing the outline of a body scorched to the floor. However, in Meta Fiction many dead angels can still be seen with their burnt broken wings. This effect wasn't seen again until Season 12 in Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets. It can therefore be surmised that while some angels completely lost their wings, others retained them in a mangled vestigial form.
  • The arrival of angels in 2009 sparked concern for the demons as angels had not officially been on Earth for maybe thousands of years. Anna Milton stated that her own garrison was forced to watch humans and not interact with them. Castiel stated to Dean that angels did not walk among humans for 2,000 years prior to Dean's resurrection. However, in Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets, it is revealed there was an angel garrison permitted to be on Earth only about 100 years ago and Castiel was a member of this garrison before joining Anna's. This was cleared up after Castiel mentioned the special circumstances surrounding the situation, calling it an "anomaly". Nevertheless, in Angel Heart Castiel mentions that the Grigori were stationed on Earth for centuries. The Nephilim Jane also existed on Earth for years without Heaven being aware.
  • In Tombstone, Castiel is not able to resurrect a Security Guard, despite the fact that Seraphim can resurrect humans easily. The explanation can't be the loss of his wings, since Gadreel resurrected both Castiel and Charlie Bradbury, after the Fall, but it could be because he only reattained a fraction of what was left of his grace. Castiel was also unable to resurrect Sam in Beat the Devil , which Castiel himself explained as both Gabriel and he were weak at the time. While he could resurrect Jack in Byzantium, it was stated that he could only bring Jack back for a few moments and could not heal the illness that killed him, possibly because of the nature of it. It took a ritual curing the illness to make the resurrection permanent.
  • During Funeralia, Naomi states to Castiel there are only a angels in Heaven, including him with one or two on Earth. Yet, in The Gamblers, the remaining Grigori are shown being hunted by Jack. It is possible that Heaven remained unaware of their continued existence.
  • In Destiny's Child, Ruby and Anael are shown to know each other and Anael is shown in her current vessel. However it was established in Game Night that Jo had been to earth prior to the Fall, which led to her disenfranchisement.
  • In Season Four episode I Know What You Did Last Summer, the former angel Anna was didn't possess her grace, however, she was able to tap into some, but not all, of her powers, whereas all other opportunities of graceless angels from that point on were completely void of all angelic powers and abilities. This may be because Anna removed hers by choice of will, but on the other hand in the case of Castiel, for example, his was removed against his will.
  • In On The Head Of A Pin, Castiel states that only an angel can kill another angel. However, in The Executioner's Song, Cain claimed he could've "swatted Castiel like a fly" despite having no angel weapons.

Cherubim

  • In Season 5 episode My Bloody Valentine, Castiel makes the statement that cherubim are a lower order of angelic being, specifically classified as third class in the tier system, leveling regular angel between archangel and cherubim, however, it fails to account for seraphim which have been recognised as a high ranking angel, therefore they can't fit into the graphology of fourth place.

Archangels

  • In Hell's Angel, Amara refers to Lucifer as the "first son", which is inconsistent with statements made by Michael and Lucifer throughout season 5, in which Michael is the first son and Lucifer is the second. It is unclear why Amara said this.
  • In Free To Be You and Me, it was explained that after an Archangel leaves his vessel, the vessel becomes paralyzed or worse. This depends on the archangel's strength as Castiel said: "Michael is much more powerful. It'll be far worse for you" to Dean. However, in LOTUS, after Lucifer was exorcised from Jefferson Rooney, the president was alive and healthy though he was only possessed for a few days. However, this may be intentional on the archangels' part, as Michael would later tell Dean that he wouldn't be a "drooling mess" after he's finished using him. During the alternate Michael's possession of Dean, Sam worried that Dean might end up being burned out. When Michael left him, Dean was clearly weak but otherwise ended up being okay. Michael later threatened to leave Dean 'blood and bone' if forced out when he had possessed Dean a second time, once more implying that it was more of an intentional choice for Archangels to leave their vessels in such debilitated states after possession.
  • In Devil's Bargain, a weakened Lucifer stated the angels couldn't kill him if they tried. However, a similarly weakened Gabriel is shown running from Michael's angels in Exodus. Although, Gabriel was in a far weaker state than Lucifer as Asmodeus took grace from Gabriel for years.
  • In Destiny's Child, Jack visits Eden, where he encounters a serpent. However, it was said that Lucifer himself was the serpent.

Castiel

  • In My Bloody Valentine, Castiel consumes hundreds of hamburgers and a tray of raw meat due to the influence of Famine. He tells Dean that the burgers make him "very happy" and his facial expressions imply that he finds they taste delicious. However, in First Born, Castiel complains that by becoming an angel again, he has lost the ability to taste food like a human, and a sandwich tastes like "molecules" to him. On a side note, if angels could not taste food like humans, then every drink and snack would taste like molecules, in other words, "disgusting", yet Gabriel and Balthazar are shown consuming human foods with no trouble in the taste as did Alternate Michael, who has consumed cognac without problem in Gods and Monsters. Castiel would later be shown consuming food and drink somewhat regularly, sharing beers with the Winchesters and being shown to have food in front of him before.

Book of the Damned

  • It was stated before in the series that only Nadia's Codex could break the code from the Book of the Damned, however, in the episode Absence, Jack Kline was able to read the book and cast the spell "Necromantiorum" without the codex.
    • It is possible that Jack's tremednous power somehow allowed him to understand the code of the book, as he was stated to be "full of timeless knowledge".

Demons

Weak Will

  • In Phantom Traveler, Sam advised that Dean to maintain his composure, because otherwise he was opening himself to possession, however, as the series progressed, demons seemed to possess strong willed people with no notable difference, even angelically possessed individuals.

Body Materialization

  • In Salvation, John stated the Meg is a demon or possessed by one, implying they assume human form without possession. In addition this is mentioned in a separate event where a distinction is made between possessing and taking human form. Acheris should be discounted as his justification, seeing as Meg wasn't a little girl.
    • The demon using a possession as a torment mechanism is insufficient and incompatible as an explanation, given the fact that in King of the Damned, Crowley stated demons use vessels to "traffic with the living".

Abaddon, Josie Sands, and the the destruction of the Men of Letters

  • In the course of the series, two different versions of how Abaddon came to possess Josie Sands, her main vessel during the series, are provided. In the first, reported in Season 8's episode Clip Show, Abaddon tells the Winchesters that she learned of Sands while torturing Father Max Thompson, one of the Men of Letters, who told her "all about" his female colleague. From then on, Abaddon "found her, and rode her into the Men of Letters," suggesting that Abaddon went in pursuit of Sands with the intention of using her to study the Men of Letters and destroy them from within. The second version, shown in a series of long flashbacks in Season 9's Mother's Little Helper, portrays a very different story: in it, Abaddon initially possesses the Mother Superior of a convent investigated by Sands and Henry Winchester. Instead of Abaddon actively pursuing Sands, it is Sands who (unknowingly) happens upon her. Moreover, there is no hint during the interaction between Sands and Abaddon that the latter knew anything of the former and, in fact, upon learning that Sands is a female "Man of Letters", Abaddon reacts with surprise and amusement, which contradicts the earlier version that the priest had told her "all about" Sands before Abaddon had met her.
  • Finally, Abaddon is described by Larry Ganem, in Season 8, as "a hired gun", strongly implying that she was working on someone else's orders when she struck against the Men of Letters; in the aforementioned episode of Season 9, on the contrary, Abaddon is shown to have taken the initiative to infiltrate the Men of Letters on her own.

Crowley

  • In Goodbye Stranger, Crowley says to Naomi "If you remember our time in Mesopotamia the way I do, you know I'm a lover, not a fighter." Which implies that they spent time together in ancient Mesopotamia. Based on information from a demon in Weekend at Bobby's, Rufus discovers Crowley to be "17th century Scottish tailor named Fergus MacLeod from Canisbay" and it was supposedly the ghost of his son who leads Bobby Singer and the Winchesters to locate his burial site and bones in Scotland. However, that area of the Middle East was known as Mesopotamia by the west up until the 1920 Iraqi Revolt, at which point it became known as the Kingdom of Iraq. Robbie Thompson, the writer of the episode, explained that the line was either going to reference "Mesopotamia" or "Belize," and decided to go with Mesopotamia because he thought it "sounded funny," only later realizing the mistake.

Lilith and Ruby

  • Lilith's plan for Season 3 and most of Season 4 seems to contradict her end plan to free Lucifer. For the entirety of Season 3 and most of Season 4, Lilith's plan was to kill Sam Winchester in order to rid herself of any opposition so she could claim the throne of Hell. She sent a number demons after Sam and personally attempts to kill him in the Season 3 finale, only to become scared when Sam proves immune to her powers. By the Season 4 episode The Monster at the End of This Book Lilith wants to make a deal with Sam and obtain his soul in exchange for escaping her fate as the final seal to Lucifer's Cage. Again, she makes an attempt to kill Sam, indicating she was pretending to offer a deal. By the Season 4's finale, she has submitted to her fate and lets Sam kill her as he was pre-destined to do. This behavior is odd since Lilith had, pre-Season 3, ordered Ruby to act as a double agent and feed Sam demon blood so he would become powerful enough to kill Lilith anyway. Her motive for killing Sam appears inconsistent with her endgame. Killing Sam would prevent Sam from fulfilling his role as Lucifer's vessel. Even worse, once Lilith took control over Hell, all demons Sam encountered from then on sought out to kill him.
    • In The Monster at the End of This Book it's stated that Lilith had faltered after learning that she wouldn't survive, explaining her sudden desire to stop her plan. At the end of Season 3, Sam is immune to not only her white light but her telekinesis as well which is something that is not seen again on the show. It's likely that Lilith was faking being scared to further manipulate Sam, especially since it's unlikely that the Demon-Killing Knife could kill her. Her return in season 15 showed that Sam no longer had any immunity to her powers, as her White Light worked to blast him into a wall and she could freeze him with her telekinesis, indicating that she faked his immunities to her power before he had started drinking demon blood.
    • When she returned in season 15, Lilith made it clear to Dean that she had understood she had to die to cause the Apocalypse, and later revealed that the only reason Sam could kill her was because she let him. This contradicts the fact that she seemed to briefly falter when learning of her fate to die as the Last Seal.

Reapers

Materialization

  • In Season 2 episode In In My Time of Dying, it was implied Tessa manipulated Dean's perception in order to take on the appearance of a woman as means to communicate with him, without relying on a vessel. However, in Season 4 episode Death Takes A Holiday, when Jacob is slain by the scythe, they body doesn't disappear, indicating it wasn't an extension of the reaper's power. In addition, in Season 9 episode Stairway to Heaven, when Tessa pulls the First Blade into herself, the remnants are left behind.

Species

  • Prior to Season 9, Reapers were understood to be their own respective species, however, in an occurence following conflicted with that described them as a class of angel. This is an evaluation based two presentations: 1) Dean called Tessa an angel, and 2) when she died, blue light erupted from her, similar to angels when they're killed.

Afterlife

  • It was established that the absence or death of reapers prevents souls from movement into the afterlife, however, in the case of Season 5 episode Dark Side of the Moon, there was no reaper involved in Dean and Sam's transportation to Heaven, given the fact that they didn't know where they were. Also, reflective of this, spirits have demostrated the absorbtion of souls or forcing souls to the afterlife as a power, without the requirement of a reaper.

Death and Resurrection

  • In Season 6 episode Appointment In Samarra, Death expressed his annoyance for the brothers' constant resurrections, as it disrupts the natural order, forcing him to clean up after them. However, in Season 11, Billie says that Death was amused by their resurrections.

God

  • During The Big Empty, The Shadow stated God had no power over the Empty but Castiel has been rebuilt several times by him. In Proverbs 17:3, Lilith was also resurrected by God, leaving this into question.
    • In Unity The Shadow reveals that God having no power over the Empty was how things were meant to be, but it was really just "lies, sweet lies".
  • In Byzantium, Anubis states God has no say where souls go after death. Yet, in Dark Side of the Moon, Joshua explicitly states God allowed Sam and Dean into Heaven. Later on, he cast Kevin's soul in Hell during All in the Family.
  • In Season 4 episode Heaven and Hell, Anna said no angel has seen God let alone His face except for the four Archangels, and said they have to take it on faith that there is one. However, in Season 11 episode Don't Call Me Shurley, Metatron said when God walked into the room to choose His scribe, all the other angels were terrified (implying they at least felt His presence).

Gorgons

  • In The Scorpion and The Frog, Sam was able to recognize immediately the fossilized tooth as being that of a Gorgon. However in "Ouroboros", neither he nor anyone else were able to recognize the creature that they were after before Rowena told them.

Grand Canyon

  • In the Season 8 episode The Great Escapist, Sam recalls a visit to the Grand Canyon when he was four-years-old. However, Dean mentions in Season 2 episode Croatoan that they have never been to the Grand Canyon. Writer Ben Edlund admits this to be a mistake on his part.

Grand Coven

Heaven

  • In Slumber Party, Charlie Bradbury goes to Heaven after being killed by the Wicked Witch of the West. However, it is revealed in Captives that Metatron's spell not only closed off Heaven to angels but also to souls as well. Charlie should have been stuck in the Veil like Kevin Tran was rather than going to Heaven.
  • In Funeralia, Naomi reveals that the presence of angels is necessary to empower the Heaven, which contradicts Season 9. After the Fall, only Metatron was left in Heaven, and although he still had his wings, he was just a regular angel (though somewhat enhanced by the Angel Tablet) and yet Heaven didn't collapse.

Lucifer's Cage

  • There seems to be an inconsistent statement regarding how Lucifer was cast into Hell and subsequently the Cage. It is initially said that God had been the one to banish Lucifer into his prison, though Season 5 reveals that Michael did it on God's orders following the conclusion of the First Heaven Civil War. Dean tells Rowena in O Brother, Where Art Thou? that God dumped Lucifer into the Cage himself, which is untrue.

Purgatory

  • In Season 6 episode The Man Who Knew Too Much, and throughout the sixth season in general, it was accepted that a spell was mandated to open Purgatory, however, Naomi expressed confidence in angels to have the ability to enter and exit Purgatory to rescue Castiel. This would put the concept behind the plotline in doubt. There is an argument that the spell was to siphon the souls and not open the portal itself, but there was no performance by Crowley and Castiel to use spells comparable to that to absorb souls from Hell and Heaven.

Men of Letters

Monsters

Eve and the Leviathans

  • In season 7, it was said that God had created the Leviathan. In season 15, however, a Leviathan refers to Eve as "mother".  And in Meet the New Boss, Death specifically stated that God is the one that created the Leviathans. As someone whose age is comparable to God's, he is a reliable source. Furthermore, in the dialogue between Alpha Vampire and Edgar, the former tells the latter that "we come from you", which could only mean that Eve, as the mother of the vampires, was a Leviathan or a descendant of that race. However, as a Leviathan in the last season calls Eve "mother", they and Leviathans and vampires can now be considered sister-races and, therefore, it makes no sense to say that one comes from the other.
  • If Eve is the mother of the Leviathans, it remains unexplained why the Leviathan Edgar referred to her as a "whore" to taunt the Alpha Vampire. In addition, in season 15 some Leviathans are portrayed as working for Eve and holding her in high regard, which contradicts Edgar's attitude toward her — that she was a "pathetic mutt" who did not belong with the Leviathan. (Some believe that the pathetic mutt comment was directed at the Alpha Vampire).
    • However, It is however possible that the Leviathans regarding Eve as "mother" is simply a title, as she holds great regard for her being the "Mother of All". Eve, even if only part Leviathan, is clearly more powerful than them, making it likely that the Leviathans have answered to her all along; if true, it is possible that Dick Roman simply rebelled against Eve, taking advantage on her being trapped in Purgatory while he and the other Leviathans were on Earth.

Leviathans

  • In season 7, it is reiterated that Leviathans "beat Angels" and are immune to at least some of their powers, such as telekinesis. In fact, Castiel reports that this is the reason why God decided to lock them up in Purgatory. In season 8, this is proven again, when the growing proximity of a group of Leviathans is shown to rob Castiel of his ability to teleport in Purgatory. In season 15, however, Castiel, along with Dean, returns to Purgatory and easily throws a Leviathan away using telekinesis, when he attempts an ambush against the pair.

Rugarus

  • In Metamorphosis Dean and Sam first discover what a rugaru is from the hunter Travis. However, in Bad Boys a fourteen year old Dean, mentions his father is busy hunting a rugaru. Also in The Chitters, Sam comments to Dean that he was always afraid that Dean and John would be killed by a Rugaru.

Shapeshifters

  • In the past all shapeshifter transformations (excluding the alpha) involved the shapeshifter's skin getting peeled/ripped off. However, in Blade Runners, a shifter is shown to seamlessly transform without shedding its skin. This ability was seen again in Bloodlines. VFX I/O Coordinator Adam Williams revealed he was puzzled at why this was. "No idea.. I kinda wondered the same myself. Originally I assumed there were "skinwalkers" and "shapeshifters" and the skinwalkers shed their skin - then I read the superwiki and realized the Alpha can transform without a skin shed but they are all the same monster. I guess sometimes legacy changes." [1]

Vampires

  • In The Chitters, Sam comments to Dean that he was always afraid that Dean and John would be killed by a vampire when they left him when they were kids. However, the Winchesters didn't know vampires existed until Dead Man's Blood in season 1.

Wendigos

  • In episode 20 of Season 6, it is reported that Wendigos are among the creatures hunted by Crowley's demons, who are looking for access to Purgatory. The fact that Wendigos go to Purgatory after death indicates that they are one of the many monster races that came from Eve. However, that contradicts the original version of their origins, given in the second episode of season 1 — that they are generated by a spontaneous process, whereby normal human beings mutate and gain superhuman powers after practicing cannibalism.

Souls

  • In Mommy Dearest, Eve said that: "Each soul a beautiful little nuclear reactor. Put 'em together, you have the sun." Nonetheless, Castiel said in Season 11 that each soul has the power of one hundred stars. However, this could be a general comparison on Eve's part and Castiel could have been more literal.
  • In Appointment In Samarra, Death states that not even he can split or destroy souls. However, in There's No Place Like Home, Charlie Bradbury's soul is split by the Key to Oz.
  • In Alpha and Omega, the Soul Bomb, which is made of two hundred thousand souls is enough to possibly kill The Darkness. However, in Meet the New Boss, Castiel with fourty million souls is far weaker than Death or God who are both weaker than The Darkness. This is potentially explained by the fact that Castiel was actually being powered by the Leviathans which are distinctly different from Souls, or that the soul bomb wouldn't have actually worked on the Darkness.
  • In Unfinished Business, Apocalypse World Kevin states that his Michael will allow him into Heaven. However, it is revealed Byzantium that not even God has say where souls go after death. It is most likely that Michael was deceiving Kevin into making him go through with his plan.
  • In Raising Hell, Belphegor states that a soul that has been in Hell cannot go in Heaven. However this statement is in contrast with the second trial to close the Gates of Hell: "An innocent soul must be rescued from Hell and delivered to Heaven". Though, it is possible that Belphegor didn't know about that trial and as he later commented, God was on the side of Sam and Dean at the time, implying that the trial would only work if God himself allowed the soul to reach Heaven.
    • Furthermore, in Dark Side of the Moon, Dean's soul entered Heaven after he was killed, but he had been in Hell previously before this. It's possible that once more, God let him into Heaven.

The Mark of Cain

  • While Cain transferred the Mark to Dean, he still bore copy version of it, enabling use of the First Blade and being unkillable as long he isn't killed with the blade himself, however, Lucifer didn't likewise retain it after transferring it to Cain, and could still be killed by angelic and supernatural means. However, it is possible that God removed it after Lucifer was cast into Hell or the Cage, due to Cain bearing the Mark.

The Darkness

  • Up until Season 11 finale Alpha and Omega, killing Amara has never been stated to cause any side effects. Prior to this, attempts have been made by Dean and the angels, though both have failed due to the power difference. It is mentioned that during the First War against the Darkness, God and the archangels did not destroy Amara simply because they were not powerful enough, and had to resort to tricking her and then imprisoning her. It appears that everyone simply was unaware of the effects that killing Amara would have as God had to explain it to them.
  • After God is weakened by Amara, the sun and plants begin to show signs of decay revealing that God and Amara must both co-exist or cease to exist in order to allow Creation to remain. Rob Benedict, who portrays God, revealed that this change in script was due to the network which airs Supernatural the CW, an early script draft revealed God was originally intended to die at the end of the season until CW intervened.
  • During Two Minutes to Midnight, Death states he is as old as God or older. However, in Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire, The Darkness stated she did not know Death, making it likely that God is older.
  • During Nihilism Apocalypse World Michael's stated that his world has its own version of Death and that he imprisoned him. This is likely inaccurate or a lie because Death is known to predate the Multiverse and there aren't multiple versions of God.
    • Since the position of Death has a failsafe that the next Reaper to die after the death of Death becomes the next Death, it is feasible that Death could have alternate universe counterparts.

Date

The Missing Year Between Seasons 5 and 6

  • The first five seasons take place in the current time, matching with the year the season was aired in. Season 5 concludes around May 2010. Between Seasons 5 and 6, a year has gone by during which Dean has been living with Lisa and Ben Braeden, and by the time Sam gets his soul back in Season 6 episode Like A Virgin, a year and a half has gone by since the Season 5 finale. This would put the date around November 2011. However, the Supernatural crew decided to resume their tradition of giving each season the same year it was aired in, leading season 6 to be marked with the year 2010. Assistant Director Kevin Parks explains this decision: "They decided to do 'soap opera time', because they didn't want to have to push the year forward for the rest of the show's run. So, just like in soap operas when people's kids are toddlers and then suddenly teenagers, so too can Sam and Dean spend a year apart while no time has actually passed in reality." The timing went back to normal after this with season 8 being both aired and set in 2012-2013, as proven by Henry Winchester travelling to 2013 in an episode that aired in January of that year.

Тhe Year of Dean's Death

Destiny's Child

  • In the past, Ruby and Anael agreed to hide in the Occultum in case Michael and Lucifer destroy everything during the Apocalypse. However, it is unclear how they agreed if this item is designed for one person, since "in order to be in the Occultum, the Occultum must be in you."
  • It was said that God hid his perfect garden from everyone. However, when Jack Kline gets there, he meets a mysterious girl and a snake. It was never explained who it could be. In addition, the snake that Jack met is a reference to the serpent of Eden, however, it was revealed in Road Trip that this snake was Lucifer, who could not possibly be in the Garden of Eden since he was dead from Let the Good Times Roll.

The Winchesters

  • The series shows that Dean appears in this world in bodily form. In Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye, it turns out that he traveled on his Impala to different worlds where there are other John and Mary. All this was happening at the very moment when Dean was driving through Heaven between the conversation with Bobby near the cabin and the death of old Sam in Carry On. It is unclear how Dean was able to learn about the Akrida on this happy trip, and escape from Heaven to other worlds and times in bodily form.
  • The very existence of the Akrida and the reasons for their creation are extremely doubtful because throughout the entire Season 15 up to Inherit the Earth, God was completely confident in his victory over the Winchesters. In addition, it is easy enough to kill the Akrida if their queen died or if they were harmed by objects from other worlds, because it is unclear how they were going to make their way to other worlds if literally any weapon there could kill them. Even though. It should be noted that what eventually killed the akrida queen was actually the Impala. An object from heaven with the ability to travel the multiverse .something even the archangels can't do .as well as Dean who is already dead and thus can not be harmed was a threat to them which implies not anything from other worlds can harm them or they get stronger at every world they eat.

Trivia

  • These inconsistencies are based only on the original TV series, therefore any contradictory information in the non-canon books don't qualify as canon discrepancies, for example.
    • A nonrepresentive of contradiction in the authority of the show: In Season Seven The Official Companion Guide, it's stated the Leviathans evolved from the waters to possess people, however, in Season Seven episode Meet The New Boss, Death said Leviathans were older than angels, even though angels predate abiogenesis.
    • While there seemed to be discrepencies within The Winchesters, the season finale revealed that the events of the series took place in an alternate universe.

References

  1. ↑ Was their a specific reason that shapeshifter
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms