When the war is over...

[coyotesuspect]

I had some (very, very) brief musings about the Winchester Chain of Sacrifice (and Sam's role in it).

No, this is not another rant about Last Night. That's gonna be up this evening. (You think I'm kidding)

Okay, regarding sacrifice. It's pretty typical of the whole epic, hero's journey that secondary characters sacrifice themselves for the hero, so that the hero may eventually sacrifice himself for everybody. (See: Harry Potter).

On Supernatural, we have all kinds of sacrifices, but I'm mainly interested in the Winchester ones. John sacrifices himself for Dean. Dean sacrifices himself for Sam. And poor Sam, try as he might, isn't given the chance to sacrifice himself for Dean. Apparently sacrifice is a one way street.

So, this wouldn't bode well for Sam's future- obviously all these sacrifices happened so Sam could eventually sacrifice himself! Except, what about Mary?

Mary's was the original sacrifice; she sacrificed to save John. But she didn't sacrifice her life; she sacrificed Sam.

Obviously, she didn't do it in so many words. That YED was gonna be coming back to collect her child was more understood than explicit (if I recall correctly; it's been some time since I've seen the episode). And it's always seemed to me to be something of a Rumpelstiltskin type deal.

So what does this mean? If Sam is a sacrifice, is he capable of sacrificing himself? Is Kripke gonna do some horrible "balance" shit like have Sam sacrifice himself for selfless reasons, as opposed to Mary sacrificing Sam for selfish (albeit completely understandable) reasons? I don't think Show will kill off Sam and not Dean, but I am worried that Sam will be called upon to make some kind of final, ultimate sacrifice.

What think you guys?

Mary--(Sam)-->John--(life)-->Dean--(life)-->Sam--(???)-->(???)

ETA: Help me with my homework! What's your favorite artist's rendering of a Greek/Roman myth? (Can be sculpture, photography, painting, etc.) *bats eyelashes at* Nevermind. *g*

Comments

[cormallen.livejournal.com]

on Mary's deal--She also didn't *actaully* know what she was agreeeing to. He said she had to let him into the house, he didn't say anything abut her having children at the time

I hope you don't mind me butting in, but this is similar to a very common fairy tale trope. Man is away from home, man gets attacked by monster, man begs for his life, monster cuts man a deal. "1 (or 5 or 10 or whatever number) year later, bring me what's in your house now that wasn't there when you left" (sorry, I don't have the exact phrasing, and this is my approximation of a translation from a Russian sentence). Man agrees, because it's probably something of value his wife's bought in his absence, or maybe a cow that's calved, or whatnot. What he, of course, never guesses at is that his wife was pregnant when he left and has given birth. Cue (usually exceptional) child setting off to be raised by the monster and eventually slay it.

[cherie-morte.livejournal.com]

And as any good fangirl knows, Show just loves getting all up in our mythologies/folktales, etc. :D