Source work and author: Supernatural, Eric Kripke Door: Supernatural Character Journal name: ~ofcain Character Name: Dean Winchester Character Age: 35 Character Played By: Jensen Ackles
Character History and Personality:
Dean Winchester remembers a life before hunting, before monsters and demons and dingy motels, when his father smiled, and his mother was alive.
He was four years old when everything changed. The night his mother died is burned into his memory forever; the searing heat, the fire, his father handing little Sammy to him in a blanket and telling to take him outside and not look back. Before his fifth birthday his father had scooped them up and left their town behind, and from then on, Dean ceased to be a child. John Winchester might have been a good father had his wife not died, but her death changed him, and as the oldest child it was up to Dean to take on the responsibility of protecting his little brother and learning how to defend himself in the big bad world they'd been plunged into. His father taught him to shoot at six years old, and he was a natural; it's one of the fonder memories he has of the man. Their lives had become a never-ending cycle of moving from motel to motel, takeout dinners, and lonely nights when John was off 'working a job' and left the boys on their own. While Sam was protected from the truth, however, Dean knew precisely what it was that their father did, and it was nothing short of terrifying.
John Winchester hunted monsters, all those things that went bump in the dark, stories and legends that weren't made up at all. They were very much real, and one of them had murdered his wife, their mother, that fateful night. Dean was a loyal son, following his father's orders to a T and taking his role as the protector with the utmost seriousness. Despite the fact that John was rarely around, and trained his boys to be soldiers rather than raising them as children should be, in Dean's eyes he could do no wrong, and in those early days he often excused his faults. As Sam grew older, however, he wasn't quite so forgiving, and even when Dean told him the truth (his brother was only eight) it didn't seem to sway his feelings. In their younger years, Dean and Sam were left behind while their father hunted, but as they grew older, they began to take on a more active role in hunts. Dean was always more willing to get involved, less willing to object, and it highlighted the differences between the two brothers, that Sam wanted more while Dean saw a life following in the footsteps of his father as something that just made sense.
Dean loved his brother, and he'd spent his entire life protecting him, but when Sam left for Stanford it hurt, plain and simple. College had never been in his life plans, as he'd always just coasted by during high school, and when Sam announced his plans to attend, well, all hell broke loose between his brother and his father. In the end, Sam left, and Dean stayed with his father to continue hunting. He and Sam didn't speak for years afterward, not until John disappeared on a hunt and Dean went to his brother for help.
Saving people, hunting things. The family business. Maybe destiny couldn't be avoided, because even after Dean and Sam teamed up to unsuccessfully find their father and Sam returned to school, it didn't stick. His girlfriend, Jessica, was killed just like their mother had been, and from then on the two hit the road and went after the one responsible just like their father had done. They worked jobs along the way, hunting monsters that needed to be hunted, and while their relationship was complicated and often tumultuous, they did become closer as a result. Eventually they found their father, but lost him for good when John made a deal with Azazel in order to save Dean's life, and even finally killing the yellow-eyed demon who'd ruined their lives came with a hefty price; Dean's soul. Self-sacrifice ran in the family, you see, and to save his little brother, Dean gave up his soul.
He had a year left to live, a year to find a way to save his soul, but in the end both Sam and Dean's efforts failed and the hellhounds came for him, dragging him into the depths of hell. Four months he spent in hell, but they felt like forty years; an angel named Castiel rescued him, though his motives were not so selfless. A righteous man shedding blood in hell was the first of sixty-six seals which, if broken, would free Lucifer himself from his prison in Hell, and Heaven had attempted to intervene before Dean's will could be broken. It was too late, however. Every day Dean was tortured, and ever day a demon named Alastair approached him with the same offer; he could come down off the rack, if only he would agree to become the torturer rather than the tortured. Dean held out for as long as he could, but as he broke, so did the first seal. Already deeply affected by his time in Hell, the knowledge that he had essentially begun the process of Lucifer's freedom hit him hard. In addition, Sam had gone down a dark, dark road while he was gone, led by a demon named Ruby, and it all came to a head when Dean discovered the angels had never truly wanted to stop Lucifer from becoming free at all.
No, they wanted the Apocalypse, and so through Ruby's manipulation, Sam accidentally broke the final seal and unleashed Lucifer upon the world.
With the help of Castiel, who essentially defected from Heaven, Dean and Sam embarked on a quest to stop Lucifer and the Apocalypse before the world was destroyed. They tried, and they fought, taking on the forces of Heaven and Hell, losing friends along the way... and, in the end, the cost of saving the world was Sam. Lucifer couldn't be killed, but he could be locked back up in his Cage in Hell. So Sam said yes, Sam let Lucifer in, and managed to force him back into Hell before the prophesied battle between Lucifer and Michael could go down.
Dean was left alone. Castiel went back to Heaven to help rebuild, and Dean tried to keep his promise to Sam and live a normal life. But Winchester and normal don't go together very well, and it didn't last.
Sam came back from Hell, but without his soul. They got it back, eventually, but Dean made a deal with Death to create a "wall" that would prevent his brother from remembering his time in Hell and so keep him same. Castiel, the angel he called friend, betrayed them all by working with Crowley to find the location of Purgatory, wanting the souls there to aid in his Heavenly battle against Raphael, but things went south when he absorbed the souls and was corrupted by them. Dean and Sam lost Castiel, they lost Bobby, they were pitted against the Leviathans, monsters from Purgatory that slowly began a global takeover. Castiel came back, but in the process of defeating the Leviathans he and Dean were trapped in Purgatory.
A year passed before Dean returned. The brothers had a new mission, to close the Gates of Hell themselves, but when Dean realized the cost of doing so was (once again) Sam's life, he put a stop to it. Unfortunately, Castiel had been manipulated by an angel named Metatron, who stripped the angel of his grace and proceeded to lock the angels out of Heaven; all of them. They fell, and it was all out war between the angels, not to mention the fact that they all blamed Castiel for being stuck on Earth-- Castiel, who was now human. An angel whom Dean let "possess" Sam to heal him, after the trials of trying to close the Gates of Hell left him near death, proved not to be who he said he was, and he murdered Kevin Tran, a prophet and friend, before Sam managed to expel him. This, combined with the fact that Dean kept it a secret from his brother, split the brothers up for a while. Dean focused on searching for the First Blade, a weapon that would allow him to kill the new ruler of Hell, Abaddon, who was much, much worse than Crowley had ever been.
To wield the blade, however, Dean took on the Mark of Cain-- passed on from Cain himself, the first Knight of Hell. Metatron and his angels went to war with Castiel, and was defeated, and Dean managed to kill Abaddon, but he was killed by Metatron and was brought back as a demon, a Knight of Hell, due to the Mark's influence.
Now demonic, Dean joined up with Crowley, leaving Sam to desperately search for his brother. But Dean wasn't a dog on a leash, he couldn't be controlled, and when Crowley tried to pull his 'King of Hell' spiel Dean wasn't having it and struck out on his own.
Thanks to Sam and Castiel, Dean's demonic days were numbered. He's cured, now, human again, but he still has the Mark and is struggling to cope with the knowledge of the harm he caused as a demon.
Which isn't easy to do alone. With a journal that brings back memories, something he'd chalked up to being a dream. Apparently not, since now, he's wide awake.
Journal/Key: Dean's phone is an Android. The key is to a '67 Chevy Impala.
Storylines;
Sam Winchester: [open] Castiel: [open] Baddies: [open]