Sam Winchester

	When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45!
	— Himself

Sam Winchester is the younger brother of Dean Winchester. Like Dean, albeit more reluctantly, Sam is also a demon hunter. He considers himself more on the "brains" side of the operation even though his brawn tends to come in handy in a pinch. Sam is good-natured, kind, and tends to wear his heart on his sleeve.

Personality

Sam is different from his older brother in that he is sensitive, rational, more innocent, and seemingly more concerned with living a "normal life" than his brother; in spite of this, it is obvious that he would do anything for Dean. He rebelled against his father's attempts to raise him as a demon hunter and enrolled in Stanford University after having a harsh fight with his father. Sam likes to talk things out when there is trouble. He attempts to find out both sides of the story and then decide what could be done to prevent as much collateral damage, like human lives, as possible. Sam often asks others to share what they think and feel and it is seen that he has a knack for getting people to trust him.

Background

When Sam Winchester was an infant and his brother Dean was four years old, their mother, Mary, was murdered. Her husband, John, saw blood dripping onto Sam's cradle, looked up, and found his wife pinned to the ceiling, her midsection sliced open. A moment later she burst into flames. John told Dean to take baby Sam outside and made a desperate and futile attempt to save his wife while the house was consumed by flames.

After a psychic told John that a demon was responsible for Mary's death, he became obsessed with finding the thing. He trained his sons to recognize and defend themselves against paranormal entities. Sam and Dean became resourceful sleuths and competent fighters in order to assist their father in his quest to destroy dangerous creatures and find the demon that had killed Mary.

Sam eventually had a falling-out with his father and left to live a "normal" life. He attended prestigious Stanford University on a full scholarship and lived with a girlfriend, Jessica, in an apartment near campus. Then one autumn night in Sam's senior year, Dean appeared, bearing the news that their father had gone missing while on a "hunting trip." Sam reluctantly agreed to help Dean look for their father.

The brothers traced John to Jericho, California, where they found more clues about their father's location and helped solve a murder mystery. But Sam declined his brother's invitation to continue the search and conduct more hunts, opting instead to return to his life with Jessica. Unfortunately, shortly after arriving in his apartment he found her pinned to the bedroom ceiling and bleeding from the abdomen. As Sam watched helplessly, she burst into flames.

Dean rescued his brother from the burning apartment, and the bereaved Sam decided to resume the search for the demon who killed his mother and his girlfriend. The Winchester boys then picked up the trail of clues leading to the whereabouts of their missing father.

SKILLS

Academics - Competent Level

Sam was a student at Stanford University and was on the verge of beginning law school when Dean sucked him back into the life of a Hunter. He'd won a full scholarship to Stanford for academic excellence.

Combat - Competent Level

Having been trained to use a variety of weapons by his father, as well as unarmed, Sam is proficient with firearms, bladed weapons, blunt weapons, and bare fists. He has the foundation, so it's not difficult for him to adapt to new weaponry fairly quickly and be generally assured of being able to use it at least decently well.

Investigation - Competent Level

Sam is surprisingly good at investigation, putting clues and evidence together to figure out what happened or what's going on. While he's not the best at using all of the technology and resources at his disposal, he manages as best he can when necessary. Sam is good at noticing things others might not, putting together things that others might miss, and generally a fairly good detective.

Lore - Competent Level

Due to his training during his youth, Sam is familiar with a wide range of supernatural lore. Although some may be apocryphal, there's a great deal that is accurate and which he has, additionally, experienced firsthand. What he doesn't know offhand, he stands a good chance of being able to find out or extrapolate from context.

Research - Expert Level

As a college student, Sam learned the value of spending hours in a library, researching everything. These days, much of his research is conducted on the internet, but things like local history are still better found in a brick-and-mortar library, and Sam is right at home among the dusty tomes.

Survival - Competent Level

Throughout his life, Sam has had to learn to survive in the face of overwhelming opposition. From when he was very young, Sam was taught to scrape through a terrible situation; any disaster you can walk away from is a victory of some kind. Because of this, he is generally able to find a way to get through, if possible, even when most everyone else gives up.

ABILITIES

Power: Mentalism - Basic Level

While this ability remains largely untested, Sam carries the potential to exert mental influence over others akin to simple compulsion or hypnosis. This can be resisted by those of moderate to strong willpower. It also grants him defense against such influences. With an effort, he is capable of telepathy with a willing or unshielded subject at close range or via a strong personal connection.

Power: Premonitions - Enhanced Level

Six months before Jessica's death, Sam began to experience precognitive nightmares. Sometime after he began hunting again, he began to have visions when awake, always accompanied by intense headaches.

Power: Telekinesis - Basic Level

With great mental focus, Sam is able to exert physical telekinetic force up to "Basic" level (the equivalent of normal human strength or simple weapons), whether lifting or attacking. In a pinch, especially when his adrenaline is up, he can create shields that will withstand Basic-level impacts and partially resist Enhanced impacts.

ADVANTAGES

Arsenal

In the trunk of the Impala, Sam keeps an arsenal of weapons and handy items that can be used against any number of foes who might stand against them. Guns, stakes, salt, lighter fluid, and even more obscure and rare items can be found here and are kept safe with a special lock. Sam's weapon of choice is a chromed Taurus PT92 .9mm pistol with mother-of-pearl grips.

False Ids

Sam has a variety of false credentials for different identities, including badges, when necessary. Some of these identities include FBI Special Agent Hamill, police Detective McCreedy, Father Frehley, and Deputy Marshall Frank Beard.

Family Legacy

Sam's family are renowned not only as hunters, but back a generation or two as being associated with the Watchers' Council. These family connections have come with a high cost in his personal life, but now and then they certainly prove surprisingly useful.

Journal

Filled with John Winchester's experiences, battles, and information he discovered, the journal is an invaluable resource to those in need of data regarding the supernatural. Naturally, it's limited by his personal experiences, but it still contains information from practical experience that is rarely assembled in one place.

Laptop

Sam's laptop is his primary portal to supernatural lore. The laptop has also been enchanted to connect with the demonic underbelly of the internet.

Spellbook

Sam keeps a personal spellbook where he makes notes on incantations, potions, and charms that have been useful with successful hunts.

Willpower

Sam possesses stronger willpower than the average. It is much more difficult to influence him, even under duress, and he is able to comprehend, or at least endure, things beyond the typical human experience without any serious detriment. He has successfully pushed through numerous situations that would cause others simply to break.

WEAKNESSES

Brother

Sam and his brother are remarkably, profoundly connected. It could even be said, and accurately, that they are dependent upon each other. If one is threatened, the other one will move heaven and earth to save him. If one is harmed, the result from the other may be violent and irrational. Reason is cast aside where Dean is concerned. Sam will stop at nothing to save his brother, to protect him, to ensure his safety, including putting his own life in danger. Sam would stop at nothing, sacrifice anything, and pay any price to save his brother. Any of their enemies who are aware of this could exploit it, as it is accurate to say that Dean is Sam's greatest and surest weakness.

Clowns

Sam has an irrational fear of clowns.

Compassion

Compared to his brother, Sam tends to be a bit more compassionate, especially where humans are concerned. No matter what atrocities a human may have committed, Sam wants to find a way to solve the problem without resorting to simply killing.

Damaged

As much as he would like to gloss over it and pretend he's perfectly well-adjusted, Sam is the product of profound childhood trauma and an extremely unhealthy upbringing. Sam has a vast array of issues with his father and his brother, and while he's fiercely loyal to both, deep down he blames them for his lack of a normal life.

The following logs feature Sam Winchester:

• 2021.05.28 - Two Brothers, A Werewolf, And A Dumpster Fire
• 2021.05.03 - Nice Night for a Fire
• 2021.05.23 - Council of Three
• 2020.05.20 - Into the Woods Finale - Part 1
• 2020.04.15 - Not Those Kind of Brownies
• 2020.02.05 - T.M.I.

Faction Memberships

Character Connections Dean Winchester Dean Winchester is an associate.

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