Sam Winchester Hero's Journey

In the Pilot episode of Supernatural, Sam Winchester acts as the hero, goes through the hero’s journey, and gains knowledge in the end.

Sam Winchester, whom is intelligent and selfless, represents the hero in the episode ‘Pilot’ of Supernatural. In the first act Sam mentions that he scored a 174 on his LSAT. His high LSAT score shows that he is fairly intelligent. Furthermore, after being confronted by Dean, Sam proceeds to courageously jump back into hunting, despite having not hunted in years, in order to assist Dean in finding their father. Sam helping Dean, even though he has not hunted for years, shows that he puts the wellbeing of others before his own. Because of his heroic qualities, it is fairly easy to see that Sam Winchester is

the hero.
During the course of the Pilot episode of season one of Supernatural, Sam Winchester completes the entirety of the Hero’s Journey. In the beginning of act one, Sam is shown against a background of a college Halloween party; he is surrounded by friends and his girlfriend, Jess, celebrating his LSAT score.

Sam at a normal college party represents the first stage of the hero’s journey, the ordinary world, as it is a fairly relatable situation that allows the audience to connect with him. Following the first scene, Sam, now back in his apartment, is confronted and pinned by a man, whom is revealed to be his brother Dean; Dean then tells Sam that their dad is on a hunting trip and he hasn’t been home in a few days. By telling Sam about their father, Dean acts as a herald, presenting Sam with the call to adventure. After the call is presented, Sam tells Dean that he cannot go with him and that Dean can handle it himself. Sam’s blatant denial brings the story right into the refusal of the call. Despite his aforementioned refusal, Sam ends up leaving his apartment to go with Dean anyways. By leaving the ordinary world that is his college apartment, Sam effectively goes through the stage of crossing the threshold. After crossing the threshold, Sam and Dean pretend to be federal marshals in order to get more information on the recent string of deaths, gather information from the locals and researching; at one point during this stage they even

encounter the spirit responsible for the deaths and are forced to dive off of a bridge in order to get away.

Impersonating officers, gathering information, and facing the spirit all add together to make up the stage of tests, allies, and enemies; It is a test for Sam to have to impersonate an officer, as he is a law student and it is against his personal morals, allies come in the form of both Dean and the locals whom supply them with information, and the enemy found in this stage is the, currently unknown, spirt. Once he has gathered information and figured out that the spirit is actually a woman in white, Sam goes to talk to Welch, who was the woman in white’s husband prior to her death, then heads up to the bridge where the woman has been frequently seen. These steps are all part of the approach. As Sam is driving, Constance, the Woman in White, appears in his back seat and tries to make him unfaithful so she will be able to kill him and in doing so burns five holes into his chest; Sam continues driving until he reaches the house in which Constance resided in in life and then crashes the car through the side of the house. By facing Constance and, subsequently, death Sam consequently goes through the stage of the ordeal. Once he has crashed the car through the house, Sam forces Constance to reunite with the

spirits of her dead children, causing her to melt into a puddle. Defeating Constance acts as the reward, in addition to having found their father’s journal. After Constance has been defeated, Sam tells Dean that he will not accompany him to where the coordinates lead; Following Sam’s refusal, Dean drives him back to his apartment. Dean driving Sam back to his home is the equivalent of the road back in the hero’s journey. Following his return to the apartment, Sam goes to his room and lays down on his and Jess’s bed; Blood drips down on him from above, causing him to open his eyes to Jess bleeding out on the ceiling, then bursting into flames. Jess’s death enacts the resurrection stage of the hero’s journey; from death comes new life and/or realization. In the final scene, Sam is ¬¬seen cleaning a shotgun, then placing it back into the impala’s trunk, he then turns to Dean, saying that they have work to do, then getting into the car and driving away. Although somewhat unconventional, Sam’s actions act as the final stage, the return with the elixir.
At the end of the episode, Sam gains the knowledge that he cannot escape the family business (saving people, hunting things). When Dean first confronts him, Sam tells him that he is done with hunting, and does not plan on getting back in ever. Sam’s reaction is just him trying to deny the facts in order to act as if they aren’t actually true. In the end, Sam succumbs to the knowledge that no matter what he does, he cannot evade being part of the family business forever.