Top Ten Winchester Deaths
The Winchester family really gets put through the ringer on this show, don’t they? I can’t think of another program on television that kills off it’s series leads so regularly and so gruesomely. Of course, this is part of what makes Supernatural so amazing: they are willing to really go there. Because Dean died so many times in “Mystery Spot,” he has a lot of entries on this list. That’s a dubious honor if there ever was one. Sam just hasn’t died as often, thankfully. This a list you really don’t want to make! In honor of the ultimate sacrifice all the Winchesters have made, on numerous occasions, I present to you the Top 10 Winchester Deaths.
Honorable Mention – All of Dean’s Deaths in “Mystery Spot” that aren’t in the rest of this list – “Mystery Spot”
All of these Dean deaths are all played for humor, and man, does it work. If you had told me in season 1 or 2 that there would be an episode revolving around Dean dying in lots of zany ways and it wouldn’t turn me into a blubbering mess, I would not have believed you. Of course, Sam may have a vastly differing opinion of the experience, but it certainly was entertaining to watch Dean get killed over and over again in such random and mundane ways. Those deaths include: being mauled by a golden retriever who definitely did not need a friend, slipping in the shower, getting run down by a car, getting electrocuted by his razor, choking on a bite of sausage, getting food poisoning from some bad tacos, getting crushed by a desk, and the death I most wish we could have seen, being shot with one or more arrows by Doris, a waitress with poor aim.
#10 – Dean vs. the axe – “Mystery Spot”
Axe 1, Dean 0. My absolute favorite part of this scene is the little wheezing laugh Dean gives the mystery spot owner before he goes over and tries to stop Sam from tearing down the place. It’s an “I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m sure I can stop it because I’m Dean, and I’m awesome” moment. And then he goes over and splat! That blood spray is brutal, and then you hear Dean’s body thud to the ground over Sam’s words of disbelief. And Sam killed him! Sure, it was an accident, but Sam killed Dean! With an axe!
I would have but Sam’s death first. But then again, would anyone be surprised by that? 😀 Thanks, great list.
You putting Sam’s death first? I’m shocked! 😉 Thanks for posting this, Alice!
Great list, as usual 🙂 I agree with what you said about being pleased that the show didn’t back down, and actually went there. And yes, I was hoping and wishing desperately that they’d find a way to stop it, and was pretty confident about it for a while too. And had it been any other show on television, Dean WOULD have gotten off the hook too. But this is Supernatural, and they dare to “go there”, and they’ll be damned if they don’t. And that’s why we’re still watching.
So what we’re saying is that season five IS going to end bloody? Heh heh. Fantastic list and one can’t go wrong with either of your top two at the pinnacle. I’d probably shift #2 up, but the clincher for #1 might be seeing Dean hooked up, that visage of pure, visceral fright on his face.
Awesome list, dear flaming thorn (hehehe, forgive me I couldn’t resist), I’m gonna have to go with Alice here, I would have also put Sam’s death at #1, well…(that killed me the moment I watched that episode, you’re talking to a ghost – don’t hunt me)
I might be just channelling Sera Gamble, eh? The woman likes to torture the man, and well, don’t we love her for it?
Ah, deep down I’m a sadistic, gory-thinking, fan-of-vicarious-tormenting of handsome guys kind of gal. Your therapist from hell, thank you very much. I can drop being nice now….
😆
Go on with your lists, Ardeospina, give them to your ever hungry lions…
Hi Ardeospina. Love this list.
My fave MS’s Dean -death is the axe one. I love every bit of it, the beginning when Dean is being all “what the hell is happening??” and trying to calm the owner (his tone when talking to Sam is so funny!) and then the end when the blood spatters all over the owner and he screams, hilarious. My husbands fave is “Does these Tacos taste funny to you?” with the Heat of the moment blaring the next second, that’s the close second for me. LOL
I gotta admit, the #1 and #2 are both equally horrific for me. I can’t choose which one is first ’cause they are both so beutifully made and so terribly heartbreakingly sad.
I gotta say that Sams death does have more of a soft spot, but only since, watching that eppie got me really hooked on this show. I mean, I was SO sure that Sam was gonna be saved, that they would not kill the main character…. And then they did! My jaw dropped to the floor. And Dean, he was so devastated. I always cry (and rewind, rewind, rewind) when he rushes to Sam and tries to convince (himself) Sam that he’s going to be fine. And poor Sam, doesn’t get a goodbye, doesn’t even know what’s happening and then he’s gone. That scene is shot perfectly, one of the most brilliantly made scenes ever for sure. I still remember the week of wait ’till the last eppie of S2. I thought I was gonna go mad!!
And then there’s Dean in NRFTW. He actually gets to say goodbye, but that doesn’t make it any better really. You can see how much he HOPES that Sams gonna be ok but you can tell that he’s doubting it, perhaps remembering his own predicament a year before. He gets to say goodbye but then he gets to see Lilith holding Sam, Sam having to see him ripped to pieces, and then going to hell and suffering for ever (no angels in the picture yet), all the while knowing that Sam might allready be dead, that he didn’t save him after all (and well that did happen to Sam, emotionally). And Sam coming to his brother, his grief so palpable and gripping. I always cry when he does, it’s so utterly broken, so final.
Damn you, now I’m crying! I hate this… And I love it to pieces 🙂 Thanks.
Thanks Ardeospina…loved the list! Oddly, outside of Mystery Spot…I would have thought the boys died more often. Sam did died in Wishful Thinking ala lighting and in Lucifer Rising ala no lungs. There was also future Dean’s death in The End. Few more I think but can’t remember right now. 🙁
Great List !!! Look forward to more!
I fine with the order 1 and 2 are in. While Sam’s death was a shock and heart breaking especially with what Dean went through, it doesn’t top the horror we had to witness a year later with those hellhounds.
Awesome list, happy to see that Mary, John, and Adam also made the list as well.
Also shocked to see ‘Anna kills Sam’ on the list. But is position on the list makes sense. Anna stabbed him with a pipe that was ripped from the wall not wood. When he falls blood immediately starts to pour out from inside the pipe. It sucked so bad to see her catch him by surprise and stab him.
Great list Ardeospina, thanks! Yes, the #1 and #2 deaths definitely are and have been the most jarring deaths in this series and in any TV series that I’ve watched. To have the main characters die like they did, OMG. Truly heartbreaking. Just thinking about them and reading comments here gets me a little teary eyed. 😳
About Dean’s death in S3, I recall reading somewhere in an interview from Kripke (I could be wrong, please correct me one way or other if anyone else remembers this), that they were originally going to save Dean and not have him go to hell, but because of the writers’ strike and a shortened season they changed their plans and had him go to hell, which ended up being much more dramatic and better for the series in the long run. Ah, poor Dean-o. 🙁
I remember when I was a kid, and we would watch a movie, my parents would say ‘The lead character won’t die. It’s the lead! They can’t kill him/her’, most probably to ‘keep me safe’ :-). Well, may I define Supernatural as revolutionary? Just think of it: the lead characters die, more than ones, and they come back to life in a, well, kinda plausible way. Or, at least, unpredictable. I can’t recall any show that does that (but then again, I don’t watch many tv shows, maybe I’m mistaken?).
Good choice, Ardeospina! Every Winchester death left a big effect on me, from laughter to tears to horror. #1 and #2 I’d put on the same position: #1.
Interesting enough, my number one Winchester death has got to be the Impala from the season 1 finale Devil’s Trap. The shock value of that scene, coupled with the season ending still gives me the shivers. Especially since I didn’t know if there would be a season 2!
Number two on my list would be Dean getting shot the first time in Mystery Spot. I wasn’t expecting it at all. It had the element of surprise that made me get up and shout “NO” at my television.
Third is Sam’s death by crowbar, cause I didn’t think Anna was going to get him.
I love lists, they are so much fun. Good job Ardeospina.
Yes, Tigershire, the Impala death!!! How could I forget about that? Totally awsomely shocking!
This is a really good list, I gotta agree, but I too would of put Sam’s death at number 1. That one was the most surprising and jaw dropping and PERFECTLY acted one. Dean’s death was bad, but we kind of saw it coming. 😉
Love your lists!!! Loved that you included John’s death from ITB, the one that pushed Mary into making that first deal, and round and round the Winchesters go… I don’t think it necessarily earns a Top Ten spot, but Sam’s death in Wishful Thinking is a personal favorite, just because Dean had so many hilariously macabre deaths in Mystery Spot, now Sam gets one too. The smoking shoes–loved it!
Seriously, I don’t know how all you folks who watched S3 live got through the summer with the image of Dean strung up on meat hooks burning on your retinas… Have you seen this cartoon? Thought it was hysterically funny: http://community.livejournal.com/encycl_of_weird/7574.html. When I first saw SPN after many years, I saw this dude crawling out of his grave and thought, hey, isn’t that one of those boys who were looking for their dad? Clearly, bad things have happened to him… Understatement!
Thanks for the comments, everyone! I like that everyone has their own take on #1 and #2. That’s just as it should be, I think.
And thanks for the link to that cartoon, ElenaM! I went through and read all of them. So fun!
Hi Ardeospina
Congrats and Welcome to the gang.
The top 2 were both very powerful and heartbreaking. They get to me every time.
Seeing Dean trying to will life back into Sam and the realization on his face that Sam was gone.
Then there’s Dean screaming in agony as he’s being torn to shreds, while Sam is forced to watch and unable to help.
Kripke definitely knows how to torture us.
I know that Ellen and Jo aren’t Winchesters but can they at least have to have some sort of honorary status because they died for the Sam and Dean?
Wow. I think all of the Winchesters are doomed to die at least once and then come back. Actually, that has happend to all of them except for Mary. Even Samuel died and came back!
I think my favorite MS deaths were
1) “Do these taste funny to you?
2) The axe death. The Dean was just like “What the heck is going on?”
3)Electrocution
4)Choking on Sausage.
I wish we could have seen what a bad aim that waitress had. 😉