25 Days of Sam-mas Day #15: A spotlight on Sam Winchester’s bond with his family members

Day #15 of Sam-mas is a chance to look at Sam’s bond with his family members on Supernatural. For the purpose of this, it’s a look at direct blood family members just to keep things simple.

While I know family don’t end with blood in the SPN Family, trying to detail Sam Winchester’s bond with everyone he considers as family would take forever. And yes, he deserves it, but it would take you forever to read, too. So, instead, I’m looking at the immediate blood family members on Supernatural.

This means Dean (obviously), John and Mary, and Adam Milligan. Yes, I wanted to include Adam because he’s forgotten about far too much. (Hint, hint, Supernatural, you need to bring him back!)

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It’s Day #15 of the 25 Days of Sam-mas and here’s a spotlight on the bond with the four family members. I’ll look at the past all the way up to the bond now.

Dean: That co-dependent relationship

When it comes to Dean Winchester, there’s one main way to describe the bond. Sam and Dean share this co-dependent relationship. One can’t live without the others.

Sam’s bond isn’t as co-dependent as Dean’s is. We’ve seen Sam live without Dean around. While I always say that the start of Season 8 was slightly out of character, there were elements that were natural for him. He could have moved on if he needed to, but it wouldn’t have happened as quickly considering Dean went missing and hadn’t died. It wouldn’t have been easy and we’ve seen him go full hunter, but he would have been able to do it.

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However, Sam is fiercely loyal to his brother and vice versa. They won’t sacrifice one another or allow each other to be sacrificed to save the world. Look at the Season 8 or the Season 10 finale for examples.

This is a bond that stands the test of time. They may have found themselves on opposite sides of a battle, but they’ve come together to attempt to win a war.

John: More alive than they’d like to admit

In Supernatural Season 4, Dean finally saw something that we’d seen for a while. John and Sam Winchester were almost the same person. Sam has gained more personality traits from his dad than he would like to admit.

In the first season, we saw Sam lose Jessica in the way John had lost Mary. The two men were on a mission of revenge against the demon that did it. However, Sam was able to take a step back when it came to it in the end, refusing to kill his father just to kill the demon.

They would routinely argue, never seeing eye to eye. That’s because of their similarities. When they had a viewpoint, they would argue that viewpoint. Both as stubborn as each other, it was clear why Sam left and didn’t end up calling.

Mary: Similarities in hunting

Mary Winchester didn’t want the life of a hunter for her children. Sam would be the one to try to get out, but not manage it successfully. That wasn’t just because Dean pulled him back into the game. Sam partially knew that he would never be able to get out.

Since getting Mary back, we’ve seen flashes of her in the past. We’ve seen her interact with other hunters. There’s still that hunter spirit within her. She couldn’t get herself out of the hunting game, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to live with the loss of those who could die because of her.

This is something Sam knows, too. While it took Dean to pull him back in, I bet that Sam would have eventually stepped back into the hunting world. He knows now that there is no out. Hunting isn’t a job but a way of life.

Adam: A bond that could have been

While it was the ghoul, Sam and Adam had the chance to bond in Supernatural Season 4’s “Jump the Shark.” It’s a hint of what could have been had Adam been alive and allowed the chance to bond with his older half-brothers.

There were signs that Sam was jealous Adam got a normal life, but at the same time, he wanted Adam to be protected. We got to see what Sam could have been like as an older brother — protective and fierce just like Dean is towards Sam.

The two had this shared love of knowledge. While Sam was pre-law and Adam was pre-med, they were both still focused on their studies and would have found a likeminded nature with that knowledge. I do think Adam and Sam would have been closer than Adam and Dean with that in mind.

What do you think the bonds between Sam and his family members was like? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Supernatural returns on Jan. 17 with all-new episodes at 8/7c on The CW.