Sam Winchester

Sam Winchester was born on May 2, 1983 to John and Mary Winchester in Lawrence, Kansas. He is the couple's second child, four years younger than his older brother Dean. When Sam was exactly six months old on November 2, 1983, he is visited in his nursery by the Yellow-Eyed Demon, who drips demon blood into his mouth. When Mary interrupts him, the demon kills her, pinning her to the ceiling and setting the house on fire. John grabs Sam and hands the baby to Dean, who carries him from their burning home, while John tries to save Mary. Unable to do so, John scoops up both Dean and Sam, running across the front lawn, while the nursery on the second floor explodes above them.

When Sam is 6, in a flashback of Something Wicked, he is left in Dean's care in a motel room in Fort Douglas, Wisconsin while John is on a hunt. While a bored Dean leaves briefly, Sam is attacked by a shtriga, but is rescued by John.

When Sam is 8, he and Dean are again on their own in a motel in Broken Bow, Nebraska on Christmas Eve. Until this time Sam believes his mother died in a car accident, and doesn't know John is a hunter. On finding John's journal, Sam confronts Dean, who confirms that supernatural beings exists; that one killed their mother and that their father, who is a superhero, hunts them.

When Sam is 11 or 12, he is sent to live with Bobby for two months while John is on a hunt and Dean has been sent to a boys home.

When Sam is 12, he wins a Division Championship Soccer trophy, which he later finds in John's lock-up.

On July 4, 1996, when Sam was 16, Sam and Dean set off a box full of fireworks in an empty field. As Dean recalls, they "burned the field down."

In the summer 1997, Sam, Dean and John hunt a werewolf.

Sam was a Mathlete in high school, as remembered by Travis.

In 1998, Sam researches kitsune alone in a library and feeds the information to Dean and John, who are hunting one, by cellphone. He wants them to stop bothering him so that he can try to have a normal time. At the library he meets a girl named Amy, and helps her fend off two bullies. She invites him to her house in thanks. They have common ground in that their families are always on the road, and they feel out of place, like freaks. They kiss. Amy's mother returns, and Amy hides Sam in a closet. Amy and her mother are both kitsune, and her mother has seen Dean and John tracking her. Amy tries to sneak Sam out, but her mother finds him and would have killed him, but Amy killed her instead. Sam lets Amy go.

At some point in his teenage years, when living in Flagstaff, Arizona, Sam ran away from home on "Dean's watch"; he was gone for two weeks and adopted a dog, "Bones", and lived on junkfood. Sam and Bones call Six Flags home during this time.

When Sam is 18 or 19, he leaves his family to study at Stanford.

In 1998 or 1999, Dean went on a road trip that was supposed to be "5 states, 5 days" while Sam was "in Orlando with Dad, wrapping up that banshee thing".

When Sam is 20, he starts dating Jessica Moore. He tells Dean in Route 666 he had lied to Jessica for "a year and a half" about what their family did.

Sam is 22 and about to enter law school, when Dean turns up unexpectedly at his apartment in Palo Alto. The two have not spoken for some time (see Canon Discrepancies for how long). However, their father is missing, and Dean asks Sam to help find him. After a weekend of searching, Sam returns to the apartment he shares with Jessica, only to find that she has been killed in the same manner as his mother.

This spurs Sam to embark on a journey with Dean to find their missing father and get vengeance on whatever killed both Jessica and Mom. While John Winchester is missing, he occasionally contacts the boys to leave them new missions to complete. This frustrates Sam, who only has a narrow focus: team up with Dad, and get vengeance. Meanwhile, the boys fend off mystical creatures such as the Woman in White, the wendigo, folklore's Bloody Mary, spirits, the famous Hook Man, a pagan god, and a shapeshifter.

In Bloody Mary, Sam draws her to the mirror by calling her name three times. It only works if there is a secret involved, one that involves a death, so Dean isn't sure if she will show, but Sam has a secret concerning Jessica's death. Dean pushes Sam to share, but he doesn't, claiming he will need the secret to draw Mary. Afterwards, Sam still refuses to share the secret, although he tells Dean later in Home.

In Skin, Sam checks his email, telling Dean that he tells his friends from Stanford that he's on a road trip with his brother, that he needs some time off after Jess. Dean claims Sam's lying; Sam claims he's just not telling them the whole truth. Dean tells Sam he needs to cut out others from his life; Sam tells Dean, "You're anti-social, you know that?" He gets an email from his college friend Rebecca Warren, concerning her brother that had been implemented in his girlfriend's murder. Sam convinces Dean to go help, so Sam and Dean go to investigate. Sam lies to Becky, telling her his brother Dean is a cop (Dean upgrades himself to detective), to let them into the crime scene. Later Becky calls Sam on the lies, before telling him goodbye. When the shape-shifter looks like Dean, it reveals Dean's fear of Sam leaving him, and of his jealousy of Sam's life. Later it also tells Sam that he should appreciate Dean more, before they fight and Sam loses. At the end, Becky realizes exactly what Sam and Dean does, telling him it must be lonely. (He responds with, "It's not so bad.") She tells him everyone misses Sam at Stanford, asking him to call sometime before he leaves. Dean apologizes at the end, wishing Sam could be "Joe College". Sam confesses he's never really fit in at Stanford; Dean half jokes that they are both freaks.

Through these missions, Sam begins experiencing episodes of precognition and once displays telekinesis. In Home, Sam finally confesses the secret of dreaming of Jessica's death for days before it happened. (Jessica, in Sam's dreams after she died, kept asking "Why?" This implied that Sam might have been able to prevent Jessica's death, a weight he keeps tightly to himself.) He confesses it because he has another dream-vision, and needs to go stop it so he won't be haunted as he is haunted by Jessica. Dean is skeptical at first, but by the end of the episode, he seems to believe Sam might have a precognitive power. In Nightmare, Sam has another dream-vision. Dean's not sure it could be real, but they head out to save the man. When they arrive too late, Dean wonders what is up with Sam's visions. Sam starts having these visions while awake - painful, mind-blowing, flashing, someone dying visions - as his precognition grows. He has several during this episode, one being where Dean is killed. (All visions involve someone dying in some manner.) Sam was locked up in a closet during Dean's death vision, and with extreme willpower and desperation, he displays telekinesis to move the dresser so he can escape the closet.

In Asylum, Dr. Ellicott was experimenting on patients, with extreme rage therapy, so his spirit is doing the same thing. He infected Sam, and in his rage Sam pulls a shotgun on Dean. Sam tells Dean he's tired of taking orders, that Dean is a "good little soldier" and that he "follows Dad's orders without question". Sam asks, "Are you that desperate for his approval?" Sam further tells Dean that he's got a mind of his own, that he's not pathetic like Dean. Sam only wants to find Dad. When Dean pushes Sam into taking a gun, that Sam hates him that much to kill Dean. He pulls the trigger, several times, only to find Dean gave him an empty gun. Dean knocks Sam out, then deals with the spirit. Afterwards Sam apologizes, claiming he didn't mean any of it. Dad calls at the end of the episode, which sets Sam off.

Sam is determined to find Dad, and since he called they have a lead on where he is. So in Scarecrow, while Dean follows Dad's orders and heads off to a hunt, they fight and Sam ditches him; Sam heads to California where Dad had called from. The brothers stay in contact over the phone, talking about Dean's case. They kind of apologize to each other about the fight, before Dean tells Sam, "You were right. You gotta do your own thing, you have to live your own life. ... You've always known what you want, and you go after it. You stand up to Dad, and you always have." Dean wishes aloud that he might be able to, and tells Sam that he admires him, and is proud of him, for it. After promising to take care of himself, and call Dean when he finds Dad, they hang up. Later, after not getting Dean on the phone, Sam gives up the hunt for Dad to head back and rescue Dean. While Sam was trying to track down Dad, he runs into a girl named Meg.

In Faith, Dean acquires a fatal heart condition when he is electrocuted during a hunt. Dean tells Sam he has to let Dean die, but Sam vows that he WILL save Dean and finds a faith healer for him.

Sam learns more about Dean this season. In Route 666, Sam finds out about a relationship Dean had previously with Cassie. He gets upset with Dean for telling her "the family secret", when he lied to Jess for a year and a half. After meeting Cassie, Sam wonders if putting everything on hold is worth it. Also, in Something Wicked Sam learns Dean was haunted by the fact he put Sammy in danger. Sam points out that Dean was just a kid, trying to release his guilt.

Later, in Shadow, Sam meets up with Meg once more and suspicious, spies on her. As they prepare to battle Meg, Sam confesses to a surprised and shocked Dean that he will return to Stanford after they kill Azazel, the demon who killed their mother and Sam's girlfriend, Jessica Moore. Meg traps the boys in the hopes of catching John, but she is defeated. John reunites with his sons, but all three are attacked by Daevas. After Sam defeats it, the injured Winchesters escape. Dean supports John when he declares it is too dangerous for them all to be together, much to Sam's chagrin, since he didn't want to split up.

Dean pushes Sam into trying a romantic relationship with Sarah Blake in Provenance, not-so-subtlety trying to help him get over Jessica. Sam acknowledges that Jess would want him to move on, but that was only part of it. Later, in talking with Sarah, Sam tells her that there is something between them, but that he wants to keep her safe. When people are around Sam, they get hurt, and he cites Jess' death. He's afraid he's cursed, and just can't go through the pain again. However, at the end, he does hook up with Sarah, at least temporary.

John reunites with his sons in Dead Man's Blood, and this time they win the argument and convince Dad that the Winchesters are stronger when together. They also retrieve the famed Colt, which can kill anything. This gives them hope to kill the Yellow-Eyed Demon, thereby exacting revenge on Jess and Mom's deaths.

John has found signs from the Yellow-Eyed Demon centering on Salvation, Iowa, and the Winchesters head out for a final confrontation. While searching for clues, Sam's visions start up again. Dean backs Sam, while John gets upset at this revelation. John is lured away, while Sam and Dean stake out the house that Yellow-Eyes will hit. Sam tries to shoot the demon, but it teleports. During the attack, Dean has to physically block Sam from going back in the burning nursery to kill the demon - telling Sam it's burning to the ground, and it's suicide. Sam doesn't care, but Dean does. Dean doesn't want Sam to end it (killing the demon), if it meant ending Sam's life, too. Dean hoped they never find it, if it meant dying over it. Sam's furious - it killed Jess, it killed Mom! - but they are gone, and they aren't coming back, counters Dean. They only have each other, only to find John was captured by Meg.

The boys rescue John in Devil's Trap, only to find that it's the Yellow-Eyed Demon inhabiting Dad. It taunts Sam, trying to get him (while pinned to a wall) to use his psychic powers to kill him with The Colt, but Sam is unable to. Sam demands to know why it killed Mom and Jess, and it tells him they got in the way of it's plans for Sammy, and all the children like him. The demon and Dean exchange words, before the demon starts to kill Dean. Dean begs Dad not to kill him, and John manages to get control for a moment, freeing Sam. Sam grabs The Colt, confronting the demon. The Yellow-Eyed Demon quickly reminds Sam that if he shoots him, he will kill John, too; Sam shoots him in the leg instead, wounding but not killing both the Yellow-Eyed Demon and John. Weakened, the Yellow-Eyed Demon again loses control to John, who urges Sam to kill him and the demon while he can still keep the demon inside. However, Sam hesitates too long and the Yellow-Eyed Demon soon manages to escape both John's body and the Winchesters, sinking through the cabin floor as demon smoke. While Sam is driving the Winchesters to a hospital after Dean and John were hurt, an 18-wheeler truck crashes into them, causing massive damage to Dean's Impala with the Winchesters inside.

In the beginning of the second season In My Time of Dying, Sam threatens the demon with the Colt, to get it to back off and so saves his family. In the hospital, he clashes with Dad over the demon, while Dean is dying. Sam feels Dean's spirit, and is able to talk with him through an ouija board. He tries, but fails, to get Dean help, but Dean wakes on his own. Sam clashes with his dad again, before he goes to get Dad some caffeine. When he returns, Sam finds his father on the floor. He is pronounced dead, shocking both brothers.

Dean and Sam gave their father a hunter's funeral in Everybody Loves a Clown. While the body was burning, Sam asked Dean if Dad had said anything to him before he died. Dean lies, saying no. While trying to deal with his grief, an old message takes the boys to a roadhouse where they meet Dad's friends Ellen and Jo Harvelle, and the computer genius Ash. Ash puts in all the information into his computer, and promises to call them if he gets anything. While working, Sam takes a more active role in the hunting, even telling Dean that this is what their dad would have wanted him to do. Unfortunately, it is with a killer clown, and Sam has coulrophobia, a fear of clowns. At one point Sam pushes Dean to deal with Dad's death, and Dean pushes back by telling Sam he spent his entire life fighting with Dad. That Sam only wants to make it right because Dad is dead. After the case is closed, Sam admits to Dean that he was right, that he misses Dad, and he feels guilty. He pushes back at Dean, pointing out that Dean isn't all right either, before walking away.

In Bloodlust the brothers meet another hunter named Gordon Walker. Dean hits it off with him, but later Sam accuses Dean of trying to fill the hole their Dad left with Gordon, insulting Dad's memory. Dean hits Sam. Sam is kidnapped by vampires, who don't drink human blood, and to prove it they let him go without a mark. Later Sam points out to Dean that they don't kill supernatural, just evil. Dean makes the choice to backing Sam, making Gordon their enemy. Dean, at the end of the hunt, thanks Sam for being his moral compass pain in the ass.

Sam feels the need to say goodbye to Dad, and so asks Dean to swing by Mom's grave to bury Dad's Marine dog tags in Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things. Dean finds a case, but he is erratic and scary so Sam calls him on it. Sam breaks his right wrist fighting a zombie; Dean promises to set him up with a cast on his wrist. Sam wears it in subsequent episodes, up until Nightshifter, when it comes off. Driving out of town, Dean stops to apologize to Sam about his behavior, and to share his feelings that Dad is dead because of him.

In Simon Said, Sam displays immunity to Andy Gallagher's power of mind control. He is also immune to the demonic sulfur virus in Croatoan.

In Hunted, Sam learns what his father told Dean moments before his death: that the Yellow-Eyed Demon plans to cause Sam to become evil and use him and "children like him" as soldiers in an upcoming war. Dean was told that if he could not save Sam, he would have to kill him. Sam is convinced that he must save as many people as he can in order to change his destiny, as he drunkenly states in Playthings. In Houses of the Holy, Sam has a vision of what he thinks is an angel, telling him he has been chosen to kill someone evil. The angel is later revealed to be the spirit of Father Thomas Gregory. We learn in this episode that Sam has faith and prays regularly.

In Born Under a Bad Sign, Sam is possessed by the demon which had previously possessed Meg Masters. While possessed Sam killed Steve Wandell, attacked Jo and shot and beat up Dean. It is initially difficult to exorcise as it has used a spell (signified by a brand on Sam's arm) to bind itself to Sam's body. In What Is and What Should Never Be, Sam and Dean aren't close in the alternate reality created by a djinn. Neither Sam nor Dean had ever hunted, and Jessica is Sam's fiancee.

In All Hell Breaks Loose Part 1, Sam is trapped in a haunted abandoned town in South Dakota with other psychics like him. It was revealed that there is demon's blood in Sam and his mother Mary Winchester knew who the demon was, much to Sam's surprise. He is stabbed by a soldier named Jake and dies in his older brother's arms just as he and fellow hunter Bobby arrive to the rescue. In the second episode of the season finale, Dean made a deal with a crossroads demon to deliver himself to Hell in one year, in exchange for Sam's life. Sam doesn't know of what happened while he was dead, and is in fact unaware he was ever dead in the first place. In the following battle to prevent Jake and the Yellow-Eyed Demon from unleashing a demonic army, Sam shoots and kills Jake, unloading over ten bullets into his body. This is the first time Sam kills a man, or someone that isn't a demon, and he seems to show no remorse. The Yellow-Eyed Demon questions Dean if he is sure that what he brought back 100% pure Sam, but this is never elaborated on. Sam figures out that he was dead, and tells Dean he'll get him out of the deal he made, no matter what.

Throughout season three Sam's quest is to find the loophole in Dean's contract with the crossroads demon in order to save Dean from going to Hell. For a while, Sam is quietly and fondly exasperated about Dean's hedonistic tendencies, but Dean's borderline suicidal behavior is bothering him a lot. Sam tries everything in his power to save Dean, he even goes as far as to summon the crossroad demon and shoot her with the Colt.

He receives unlikely help from Ruby, a demon who reveals that not everybody in Hell is opposed to Sam, that in fact, there a demons who are very much behind Sam. Sam also learns, that he holds dubious fame as the "boy-king" or rather "the Antichrist," something that brings fellow hunter Gordon Walker to pick up his trail and hunt him down. In the episode Fresh Blood, Sam kills Gordon using nothing but his own two hands and a wire.

A notable episode is Mystery Spot, in which, after having lived through a groundhog-day like setting for over 100 times in which Dean is killed and Sam can't save him, Sam has to fend for his own with Dean in Hell. The episode shows what will become of Sam when Dean goes to Hell - namely a single-minded, dead-inside hull of a person.

To save Dean, Sam even goes as far as to consider using a questionable scientific method which helps a homicidal doctor, Doc Benton to stay "alive" in a Frankenstein-like body.

Ruby, who claims to know a way to help Sam save Dean - but who revealed to Dean that she was lying in episode Fresh Blood - is trying throughout the season to get Sam to embrace his demonic powers.

In the season finale, No Rest for the Wicked, Sam still hasn't found a way to save Dean, and has to watch, helplessly and powerless, Lilith sic her hellhounds on Dean and tear him to pieces.

Throughout the course of season four, Sam's activities while Dean was in Hell are slowly revealed. Sam was in despair after Dean's death, and tried to make a deal with a crossroads demon, but no demon would deal with him. He drinks to excess and acts recklessly, until Ruby makes contact with him and begins to teach him how to use his demon-given powers.

Ruby possesses the body of a comatose woman whose soul has already fled. In a short time, Sam and Ruby become lovers, and Ruby is able to shake Sam out of his depression to some extent. Together, they hunt demons and Sam exorcises them and sends them back to Hell using his powers. Sam is overwhelmed when Dean returns from Hell, but the two quickly begin fighting. Castiel informs Dean of Sam's use of his powers, leading up to a minor fallout between the brothers, as Dean tries to get him to stop using them and stop hanging out with Ruby.

Sam, who is more religious than Dean, is delighted to find that angels are helping them, but is severely disillusioned in It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester, when he finally meets Castiel and another angel, Uriel, and the angels attempt to destroy an entire town. Also a shock is that Uriel treats Sam with complete disgust, threatening to kill him as soon as Sam is no longer useful. Sam promises Dean to stop using his abilities, but quickly breaks the promise.

Season four shows a colder, less emotional Sam. He blatantly lies to Dean and has also become much more accepting of collateral damage and incidental loss of human life.

Finally, in On the Head of a Pin, we find out that Sam has been drinking demon blood to fuel his powers. In this episode, he has become strong enough to torture Alastair to the point of making him reveal information (though Dean's torturing methods could not make him give any information away), and then subsequently kill Alastair.

In The Rapture, it is easy to see that Sam has become very addicted to demon blood, showing all of the signs of a drug abuser. Apparently, he has not seen Ruby in awhile, which therefore means that he has not had much demon blood. He desperately calls Ruby and drinks the last of his supply. Though previously he was strong enough to kill Alastair, a very powerful demon, now he can't even exorcise a low-ranking demon. Dean is worried about Sam because he recognizes that Sam is strung out and that he cannot use his ability. Later, when Sam and Dean go to save Jimmy Novak and his family from demons, Sam loses control and drinks a demon's blood, right in front of Castiel and Dean. This leads Dean to call Bobby Singer, and together, they lock Sam in Bobby's panic room to help Sam detox.

In When the Levee Breaks, Sam hallucinates while detoxing from demon blood. He thinks he is being tortured by Alastair and then he seems himself as a fourteen year old. He also sees his mother, and then thinks that Dean is taunting him and calling him a monster. Later, Castiel lets Sam out of the panic room on the angels' orders. Sam immediately takes off to find Ruby where he drinks a lot of her blood and learns that there are only a few seals left, and the last seal must be broken by Lilith herself. Dean eventually finds him which results in a major fight where Sam almost strangles Dean. As Sam turns to leave, Dean echoes John Winchester's words, saying that if Sam leaves, he should never come back.

In Lucifer Rising, Sam works with Ruby to reach Lilith before she can break the final seal. When Sam and Ruby finally reach Lilith, he kills her, with his eyes turning black because of the amount of demon blood he had to ingest. Once Lilith is dead, he learns that Ruby had been working to raise Lucifer all along. When Dean bursts into the room, Sam holds Ruby while Dean kills her with her own knife. Sam and Dean then watch in horror as Lucifer's door is finally opened.

Season 5

In Sympathy for the Devil, following Sam's actions and Lucifer's release, Sam tries desperately to redeem himself by trying to stop the devil's plans. However, Dean and Sam temporarily part ways, leaving Sam in a normal life until he is approached by Lucifer, who appears in the form of the deceased Jess. Lucifer tells Sam that he is his true vessel, in conjunction with Dean being the archangel Michael's true vessel.

Dean and Sam reunite shortly after this and Sam does his best to rebuild his relationship with his brother although the brother's are no longer as close as they once were and find it hard to reconnect, a fact emphasized in Dark Side of the Moon when Sam's version of Heaven was completely devoid of his family and involved incidents that meant he was away from the Winchester's which causes Dean to discard the amulet Sam gave to him years prior.

In Point of No Return, Dean admits he doesn't believe in Sam and is convinced Sam will say "Yes" to Lucifer at some point. However, Sam is shown to still have faith and belief in Dean and it is this faith that stops Dean from saying "Yes" to Michael.

It is revealed in The Devil You Know that Sam's good friend from Stanford, Brady, was possessed all that time and Sam has been hounded by demons from even back then. Brady taunts Sam that perhaps the reason he is so angry and so easily manipulated by demons is because of all the demon blood inside of him.

Sam still lives with a craving for demon blood. In My Bloody Valentine, Sam is affected by Famine's ability and he attacks and drinks from Famine's henchmen, becoming strong enough to exorcise five demons at once and eventually defeats Famine although he is soon returned to Bobby's panic room. Sam also admits that he is angry all the time although he is unsure as to why, a trait that Lucifer tells him he will need when Sam finally agrees to be his vessel.

After discovering that Lucifer can he locked back into his Cage using the rings of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Sam considers the enormous task of allowing the Devil to possess him in order for Sam to push him back into Hell.

In Swan Song Sam finally says "Yes" to Lucifer, prior to which he consumes an incredible amount of demon blood to strengthen his body. Lucifer appears to take full control of Sam and starts a number of natural disasters around the globe. He also gathers all the remaining minions of Azazel who have been keeping watch over Sam his entire life (including a grade school teacher and Sam's prom date, Rachel Nave). Lucifer informs Sam that they were always meant to be this way, two parts of the same whole and that Lucifer is Sam's true family.

Lucifer meets Michael in the chosen area for the final battle, during which he kills both Castiel and Bobby and severely injures Dean. However, Dean tells Sam that he's there for him and after glancing into the Impala, Sam's memories return enough for him to take control of his body again. Sam opens the gate to Hell and pulls Michael in with him, effectively stopping their battle.

Dean accepts Sam's final request, to find Lisa Braeden and live a normal life, and sits down with them in their home. However, just outside the window, staring in at them, is Sam.

A year after the events of season five, Sam reveals himself and reunites with Dean in Exile on Main St. after Dean is attacked and poisoned by a djinn. Sam reveals to Dean he has been back practically the entire time and has spent the past year hunting alongside the remaining Campbells.

Dean and Sam begin hunting together again in The Third Man. However, it is immediately apparent that Sam is not the same person he was before. He is shown to be a more cold and calculating person than before and also a more efficient and ruthless hunter, particularly when he doesn't object to torturing a young boy in order to gain information about their case which horrifies Dean.

When Dean confronts Sam about the fact he is acting differently, Sam denies that Hell affected him in the same way that it did Dean and that he is absolutely fine though Dean doesn't buy it.

In Live Free or Twihard when Dean is changed into a vampire, Sam is shown observing the change with a small smile on his face. Samuel Campbell confronts Sam about knowing about the cure for being turned which Sam denies ever having known and suggests that Sam actually allowed Dean to be turned to be used as a bait, something the old Sam would never have considered doing.

In Family Matters, with the help of Castiel, Dean discovers the reason for Sam's cold, relentless behavior is because his soul is missing. It is confirmed by Crowley that he was barely able to bring Sam's body back from the cage and his soul is still in there with Michael and Lucifer. Is suggested by Castiel, Crowley and even Death that Sam's soul is "mutilated" and "flayed to the raw nerve" and even if they're able to retrieve it, Sam may die from the damage done.

In Appointment in Samarra, Dean makes a bet with Death that if he could be him for a day, Death will bring Sam's soul back. Sam does not want his soul back and goes to extreme lengths to prevent this from happening, even almost killing Bobby. However, even though Dean loses the bet, Death does bring Sam's soul back and creates a mental wall within Sam's mind to deal with the memories of Hell before he forces it back into Sam's screaming body.

Sam remains unconscious for ten days after the return of his soul. When Castiel exams his soul at the beginning of Like a Virgin, he says that it feels as though it was "skinned alive," and doubts Sam's survival. Nonetheless, Sam does regain consciousness, and has no memory of the past year and a half, either from Hell or from Earth. He is overjoyed to see Dean and Bobby alive and well, and eagerly hugs them both. He is hungry, and curious to know how he has been saved. Dean chooses not to tell him what has actually happened, and Bobby reluctantly follows his lead. Sam is ready to start hunting at once, and joins Dean to investigate the disappearances of some girls under strange circumstances. Sam suspects that Dean never went back to Lisa after the Apocalypse was stopped, and when Dean tells him briefly that after a year, his relationship with Lisa did not work out, Sam is sympathetic. As the interrogate witnesses, Sam's empathy and consideration provide a stark contrast to RoboSam's methods. Sam is quick to realize that Dean is not giving him the whole truth, and prays to Castiel. The angel appears, glad to see Sam intact. Sam hides his memory loss, and from Castiel's questions realizes that he was on Earth without his soul. He hides his surprise, and asks the angel to help him remember some of the details that are fuzzy. Dean and Sam rescue the girls and defeat a dragon, and when they return to Bobby's, Sam apologizes to Dean for what he did while soulless. He feels that he needs to make amends where he can, even if he is not entirely responsible.

As they investigate a case in Unforgiven in a town Sam visited while soulless, he begins to remember flashes of the missing year. He discovers the brutal way in which he dealt with the victims of an arachne, one of whom was turned and drew him back to the town. At the end of the investigation, he drops to the floor convulsing as he recalls some of the torment he endured in Lucifer's Cage. He awakes after a few minutes, remembering about a week of his experiences in the pit. Sam is sufficiently recovered to run the next case himself, and encourages Dean to follow up on a call he received from Ben. In The French Mistake, Sam and Dean are thrown into an alternate world where Sam is an actor married to the actress who played Ruby. He lives in a mansion decorated with art of himself and owns an alpaca. In spite of the wealth he has in this world and his enjoyment of his alternate universe wife, he wants to return to his own world, where his life matters.

Eve remains a focus for the brothers, and they track her during ...And Then There Were None. They find themselves the victim of her new creation, the Khan worm, which possesses Samuel Campbell. Sam is forced to kill him, and in spite of everything, regrets that his grandfather has died. The brothers lose Rufus, but manage to save Bobby. The brothers also deal with repercussions from the angelic civil war, including Balthazar's saving of the Titanic, and the attempts by Fate to kill off the survivors. Sam and Dean agree to act as bait for her, and she is stopped when Castiel agrees to re-sink the Titanic.

Eventually, Sam remembers that there is a hunter's library in the Campbell Compound, and leads Dean and Bobby there in search of a way to kill Eve. They discover that phoenix ash is her weakness, and that Samuel Colt reported the death of a phoenix in 1861. They arrange for Castiel to send them back in time. Dean tracks the phoenix while Sam goes to find Samuel Colt. He proves he is from the future using his Blackberry, and impresses Colt with his knowledge, but the older hunter is not interested in helping, as he is 'retired'. Sam reminds him that hunters cannot retire, and persuades him to give up the Colt so that Dean can use it to kill the phoenix. They do not get the ashes, but Samuel Colt manages to send a package to Bobby's house in the present day using the information from Sam's Blackberry.

Sam, Dean, Bobby, and Castiel go in pursuit of Eve armed with the ashes. The find a city that Eve has peopled with monsters in Mommy Dearest. Together they manage to defeat Eve after she drinks the phoenix ashes when she bites Dean, but discover that Crowley is alive. Sam and Bobby both suspect that this can only have been because Castiel is in league with Crowley. They are proved right in The Man Who Would Be King. Sam, Dean, and Bobby try to find Crowley on their own, but are blocked by Castiel, who has, as they discover been spying on them. They trap him in a flaming ring of holy oil to interrogate him. Castiel tries to defend himself, revealing that he resurrected Sam. Sam is shocked, and suspects Castiel of having deliberately left his soul behind.

Crowley strikes at the brothers in Let It Bleed, kidnapping Lisa and Ben. Dean tortures demons to find them, and Sam tries to keep him calm. He offers to take over, but Dean refuses. Sam, though Dean suspects Castiel's complicity in the kidnapping, prays for Castiel's help. Castiel listens invisibly. The brothers later summon Balthazar, telling him about Castiel's involvement with Crowley. The angel is surprised, though he lies to cover it. He later gives them Lisa and Ben's location. The brothers go to rescue them, but Sam is caught, and Dean must complete the mission alone. They rush an injured Lisa to the hospital, where she is expected to die, until Castiel appears and heals her. Dean then has him take away all their memories of the Winchesters. Sam disagrees with his decision, and thinks it is a low thing to do.

In The Man Who Knew Too Much, Sam finds himself fleeing from the police near John's lock-up. He hides in a bar, and tells the bartender Robin he does not know who he is. After a few flashes of memory surface, she drives him to his hotel, and he finds Bobby's address. They head for South Dakota, and it suddenly switches from night to day. Sam also smells whiskey and old spice. And a soulless version of himself tries to kill him. Sam realizes that he is trapped in his own mind. He manages to kill his soulless counterpart, and absorbs him. He then remembers the last year, including Robin, a woman a crossroads demon was using as a human shield, that Sam shots. He makes his way on his own to his mental version of Bobby's place, and finds the version of himself that remembers Hell. They talk, and though it may kill him, Sam decides to face the memories so that he can wake up and help Dean against Cas. He awakes and goes after Dean and Bobby. He finds them in the aftermath of the Purgatory opening ritual that Castiel performed. The angel has killed Raphael, and is not willing to give up the power of the souls that he has taken in. Sam stabs him from behind with an angel sword, but the weapon does not kill him. He welcomes Sam, and tells Dean, Sam, and Bobby that he is a new god, a better god and tells them to worship him.

In Meet the New Boss, after his unsuccessful attempt to kill Castiel, Sam's condition begins to deteriorate. Because the brothers continue to oppose him, Castiel chooses not to repair Sam's wall. He leaves, and Dean and Bobby take Sam back to Bobby's place. Sam begins to experience hallucinations, seeing Hell, but does not reveal his problems. Castiel is killing people, Dean has given in to despair, and even Death will only provide a way to reopen Purgatory. When Castiel's very public actions become more erratic, it is Sam that prays for him to let them help him before it is too late. Castiel responds, and they return to Crowley's lab to reopen Purgatory. Sam goes after the jar of blood they need, but is stopped by a vision of Lucifer.

The souls in Castiel are returned, but he is taken over by Leviathans, who use him to disappear into a reservoir. The Winchesters and Bobby regroup in the aftermath during Hello, Cruel World, and Dean and Bobby confront Sam about his obvious troubles. Sam admits that he is seeing the Devil, who tells him that he is still in Hell, being tormented. His hallucination tries to convince him that killing himself is the only solution. Sam is tricked into going alone to an empty warehouse. Dean finds him, and convinces him that he is back on Earth by helping him see the difference between real physical pain and pain in Hell.

When they return to the salvage yard, they find Bobby's house destroyed, and no sign of the hunter. The brothers are attacked by Edgar the Leviathan, and are so badly injured that they are taken to the Sioux Falls hospital, which is also infested with leviathans. Bobby appears in The Girl Next Door, and manages to get Dean and Sam, with an additional head injury, away to hide at Rufus's cabin. As they heal, Sam insists to both Dean and Bobby that he is well. Sam soon spots a familiar killing pattern in local papers, and leaves Dean behind while he tracks it. He knows the kitsune responsible, Amy Pond; her met her when they were kids, before finding out what she was, and even asked her out. Sam leaves her alive now because she was hunting for her sick son, and swears she is finished. Dean pretends to accept Sam's decision, but secretly goes after Amy and kills her.

Sam knows something is wrong with his brother. Sam uses his long abandoned legal training in an attempt to defend Dean from Osiris's judgment, but his brother gives in without explanation, and Sam must defeat Osiris in a more traditional way. Sam tries to get Dean to open up, while also attacking Dean's alcohol use. Matters are complicated when two leviathans masquerade as Sam and Dean in Slash Fiction and go on a killing spree in hopes of exposing the brothers. Bobby sends them to Frank Devereaux, who gives them new fake IDs and destroys Sam's computer, and charges him for another one. Sam and Dean are eventually caught by police, and the Leviathans come after them. Dean manages to behead them with an axe, but not before the one pretending to be Dean reveals the truth about Amy to Sam.

The brothers separate for a time, but reunite to investigate a series of murders in The Mentalists. They discuss their viewpoints on Amy, and though Sam remains unhappy about it, they agree to move on. On their annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas in Season 7, Time for a Wedding!, Sam summons Dean to a Little White Chapel, where Sam eagerly marries Becky Rosen. She has drugged him with a demon love potion, and as it becomes less effective Becky resorts to tying up Sam to keep him around. In spite of his drugged state and Becky's other obstacles, Sam is able to help with the case to defeat the demons who want Becky's soul.

Investigating murders in New Jersey during How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters, Sam, Dean, and Bobby, run across the Leviathans again. They are tampering with the food supply through the Biggerson's Restaurant chain, and Sam and Bobby take the lead after Dean ends up drugged. After Dean recovers, they go after the leviathan test facility, but during their escape Bobby is shot in the head by Dick Roman. The boys rush him to the hospital, where Sam sits in the waiting room, continually massaging his scarred hand to keep the monsters in his head at bay. Bobby awakes briefly, gives the brothers a series of numbers, and dies.

The brothers retreat to Rufus's cabin to mourn. Sam suggests that they notify Bobby's old contacts about what happened, but Dean is uninterested. Sam receives a surprise call from one of them, Krissy Chambers, and investigates the disappearance of her father on his own in Adventures in Babysitting while Dean is with Frank Devereaux. Sam comes to Dean's rescue in Time After Time, when Dean is pulled back in time, managing with the help of Sheriff Jody Mills to get him back. He protects Dean again in The Slice Girls, this time from Dean's Amazon offspring. Sam feared that Dean would not be able to kill the girl, and might have died; the prospect of losing his brother again deeply disturbed Sam.

In Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie, Sam must once again confront his fear of clowns when two monstrous specimens are sent after him with magic. He survives, despite being covered in glitter. His situation takes a turn for the worse during Repo Man, when the brothers try to protect Jeffrey from the demon that once possessed him. In fact, Jeffrey is trying to bring back his demon, and kidnaps Dean, leaving Sam alone with his Lucifer hallucination. He has been ignoring Lucifer diligently for months, but when the vision starts taunting him about Dean, then offering useful advice, Sam acknowledges him. Dean is rescued, but now that Sam has given in to the taunting, he can no longer escape it. By Out with the Old Sam is unable to sleep, and in The Born-Again Identity he buys sleeping pills off of a drug dealer in an attempt to help himself, but is institutionalized after being hit by a car. Lucifer continues to torment him in the hospital, and he is eventually reduced to a catatonic state. He is saved when Castiel takes on his suffering, enabling Sam to continue his life.

The brothers re-team with Garth in Party On, Garth, and Garth suggests that Bobby may still be with them as a ghost, tied to the flask. The same idea has occurred to the brothers, and they are finally able to see Bobby in Of Grave Importance. Sam is willing to attempt working with Bobby to bring down the leviathans, and they do manage to steal a tablet that is the Word of God from Dick Roman, and have a prophet named Kevin Tran translates it for them. Uncovering the tablet wakes Castiel.

The brothers work on a weapon to defeat the Leviathans based on the tablet, and secure blood from the Alpha Vampire, Castiel, and Crowley for it. Bobby meanwhile becomes vengeful, and asks the brothers to burn the flask, and send him away. They agree. Then Sam, Cas, and Dean enter the leviathan headquarters, and Cas and Dean manage to find and stab Dick. There is a strange explosion of black ooze, and Sam is left alone in the laboratory, with no sign of his brother or the angel.

Throughout the first half of season 8, Sam's time with Amelia during the year that Dean was in Purgatory is slowly revealed. After the events of Survival of the Fittest, Sam fixes up the Impala and drifts across the country. When he accidentally hits a dog with the Impala, he rushes it to a nearby veterinary hospital where he meets Amelia, the veterinarian who tends to the injured animal. She has Sam adopt the dog because he has no owner and Sam later names him Riot. Sam finds a job at a nearby motel as a repairman and runs into Amelia, who happens to be living there, when she walks into him fixing her garbage disposal. They soon start dating and end up living together in the same house. When it is revealed that Don, Amelia's husband who was thought to have been killed in Afghanistan, is actually alive, Sam decides to leave so that Amelia can get back together with her husband.

We Need to Talk About Kevin picks up just as Sam is leaving Amelia and heading back to Rufus's cabin in Montana. There he reunites with Dean, who soon becomes angry after Sam reveals that he did not go looking for Dean following his disappearance into the explosion of black ooze. This is compounded when Dean finds out that Sam had also abandoned Kevin, the one person they were responsible for protecting, and didn't even answer the phone whenever he called. Despite this, they team back up and soon find Kevin in an abandoned church in Iowa and find out that there is a way to close the Gates of Hell, thus sealing all demons in Hell forever. When Crowley arrives looking for Kevin and the demon tablet, Sam, Dean, and Kevin manage to escape but are unable to prevent Crowley from killing Kevin's girlfriend, Channing.

In What's Up, Tiger Mommy?, Kevin has Sam and Dean take him to his mother, Linda Tran. When they find out that she is being monitored by demons, they rescue her and go to where Kevin hid the demon tablet only to find out that it is missing. They are soon invited to an auction, hosted by the Roman god Plutus, where the demon tablet is being sold off. Linda Tran bids her soul so that they can get the demon tablet and Kevin, who had been added to the deal, back. However, Crowley takes back the tablet after possessing Linda, and Kevin and his mother disappear because Kevin is no longer needed by the brothers and knows that anyone they no longer need ends up dead.

The brothers then get back on the road and do what they do best, hunting, while also searching for Kevin and the demon tablet.

Sam reveals in Heartache that he no longer takes joy from hunting and just wants a normal life. He tells Dean that after they find Kevin and the demon tablet and close the Gates of Hell he is done hunting for good.

After Sam meets Benny in Blood Brother and realizes he is a vampire, he questions Dean as to why he didn't tell him about Benny and why he is letting him live. Sam admits to Dean that he may have to kill Benny one day, with Dean telling him that they will deal with it when the time comes.

In A Little Slice of Kevin, Sam and Dean investigate a series of mysterious disappearances that have been occurring across the globe, when Castiel suddenly returns after Dean sees him several times. Castiel reveals that the people that have gone missing are all future prophets. Sam and Dean realize that Crowley must be holding them while he searches for Kevin. Sam is then contacted by Linda Tran, who tells him that Kevin has been kidnapped by Crowley and she needs his and Dean's help in getting him back. They find out where Kevin and the future prophets are being held after interrogating a demon and head on there to rescue them. They successfully rescue Kevin, however Crowley escapes with half of the demon tablet after Castiel smashes it into two pieces. Sam has Kevin and Linda go stay with Garth while they go searching for the other half of the demon tablet.

In Citizen Fang, Sam reveals to Dean that he had Martin Creaser, who had been discharged from the psychiatric hospital not that long ago, track Benny for him to make sure he didn't kill anyone. Dean is upset by this, but decides to go and investigate Benny anyway once he learns Martin told Sam that Benny killed someone. When they find out that Martin didn't actually see Benny kill anyone, Sam allows Dean to go investigate on his own for a few hours while he keeps Martin at bay. When Dean comes back and tries to convince Sam and Martin that Benny is innocent, Sam doesn't believe him and believes he isn't thinking clearly. Martin knocks Dean unconscious which doesn't make Sam happy, but he goes off with Martin anyway to go kill Benny. However, he soon gets a distressing text from Amelia and heads off to Kermit, Texas on his own. When he finds out that Dean tricked him so that he could deal with Benny, Sam is mad at Dean for trusting Benny and making him think that Amelia was in danger when she wasn't.

Sam runs into Amelia again and explains why he came to her house to check on her. He still cares about her and she reveals that she still cares about him as well. She makes an ultimatum with him, that if they wanted to get back together they would show up at the motel Sam is staying at in two days and commit to each other. In the meantime Sam gets back together with Dean to help Castiel rescue Samandiriel from Crowley, who is doing experiments on him. After Castiel kills Samandiriel to put him out of his misery, Sam and Dean have to decide whether they want to stick together or separate again. Dean decides to give up Benny and Sam decides to not get back together with Amelia and chooses to continue hunting with Dean instead.

With the brothers back together for good, Sam and Dean go off investigating several cases. In As Time Goes By, Sam and Dean learn about the Men of Letters when their grandfather, Henry Winchester, suddenly emerges in their motel room after time traveling from 1958. He is soon followed by the demon Abaddon, the last remaining Knight of Hell, who wants to find a box that had been given to Henry. Sam soon discover from a surviving Man of Letters that the box is actually the key to the Men of Letters secret bunker. Unfortunately, Abaddon was possessing his wife and captures Sam, forcing Dean to trade Henry and the key for him. They are able to trick Abaddon and incapacitate her, however, not before she fatally wounds Henry. Sam and Dean bury their grandfather and head off to the Men of Letters' secret bunker.

After settling into the Bunker, Kevin soon contacts Sam and Dean in Trial and Error and informs them that there are three trials that need to be performed in order to close the Gates of Hell. The first one requires bathing in the blood of a hellhound. Sam and Dean manage to track one down, and Dean tells Sam that he wants to perform the trials so that Sam can go on to live a normal life. Despite his protestations, Sam agrees to let Dean do this. However, Sam ends up killing the hellhound and being covered in its blood when he protects Dean from it. Dean begrudgingly agrees to let Sam perform the trials. Sam recites the Enochian spell for the first one and his arm glows red while he is saying it.

Sam's condition begins to deteriorate in Man's Best Friend with Benefits when he coughs blood into his hand. In Remember the Titans he spits out blood into a sink and Dean begins to suspect that the trials are hurting Sam. In Goodbye Stranger Sam coughs blood into a napkin and Dean's suspicion that the trials are having a negative effect on Sam grows.

Kevin deciphers the second trial in Taxi Driver and summons Sam and Dean to Garth's safe-boat. He tells them that the second trial involves rescuing an innocent soul from Hell and delivering it to Heaven. Sam and Dean learn from the rogue reaper Ajay that he had taken Bobby to Hell under Crowley's orders. Sam goes alone with Ajay to Purgatory in order to use a back door to access Hell. Sam is able to get Bobby out of Hell and through Purgatory with the help of Benny, who sacrifices himself so that Sam can get out with Bobby's soul. When Sam releases Bobby's soul, it is stopped by Crowley who tries to bring it back to Hell. With the help of the angel Naomi, Bobby's soul is delivered to Heaven where it should be and Sam completes the second trial. Sam and Dean return to Garth's safe-boat only to find Kevin missing.

Sam's condition gets worse after completing the second trial. He sleeps for a day in Pac-Man Fever and is visibly unwell, he is even unable to shoot a target. Despite this - and against Dean's wishes - he goes on the case anyway. He was able to help Dean rescue Charlie from the nightmare the djinn puts her into, killing the second djinn.

In The Great Escapist Dean is worried about Sam's worsening health while Sam insists that the trials are not only making him sick but are also transforming him in some way. When reading the translations that Kevin sent to Sam and Dean in his email, Sam sees a recurring symbol which appears to be Metatron's signature. He then remembers a similar symbol used by a tribe in Colorado. Sam and Dean then head to Colorado and check in at a hotel. There Sam begins to hear noises, develops a high fever, and has vivid flashbacks to his childhood. Dean is forced to submerge Sam in a tub full of ice after he finds him passed out on the floor of the hotel with a high temperature. They then discover Metatron, the angel who wrote the Word of God, who reveals that Sam is now beginning to resonate with the tablets and with Metatron himself, so Sam can sense both when he is in close proximity. Metatron rescues Kevin from Crowley, who had taken Kevin and fooled him into thinking that he was still on the safe-boat. Before Kevin can reveal it, Metatron tells Sam and Dean that the third trial involves curing a demon.

In Clip Show, Sam and Dean discover an old film reel showing two priests, Father Simon and Father Max Thompson, unsuccessfully attempting to cure a demon by having it drink Father Thompson's blood. After speaking with Father Simon, they go back to the Bunker and watch the reel of the last test, in which Father Thompson successfully cures a demon after injecting it with his blood several, which had been purified through confession. Sam and Dean plan to recreate this using Abaddon; however, she escapes while Crowley informs them to go to an address in Indiana, which turns out to be Jenny Klein, the woman they saved in Shut Up, Dr. Phil, who was burned in her oven. After unsuccessfully trying to save Sarah Blake, the girl from Provenance, Crowley tells them he will keep killing everyone they have saved one by one if they don't stop the trials. Sam and Dean contemplate whether to accept the ultimatum.

In Sacrifice, Sam and Dean decide to take the ultimatum before Crowley can kill Sheriff Jody Mills. After reviewing the deal, Dean handcuffs Crowley with special handcuffs etched with binding magic. They then take Crowley to a small abandoned church, where they plan to cure Crowley and complete the third and last trial. Sam confesses his sins and then begins to inject Crowley with his blood while Dean goes off with Castiel to help him complete the trials necessary to close the Gates of Heaven. Crowley manages to send out a message to any nearby demons to get them to rescue him. Unfortunately, it is Abaddon who comes, but Sam douses her meatsuit with holy oil and set Abaddon aflame, forcing her to leave her vessel. Sam continues injecting Crowley and prepares to recite the spell for the last trial when Dean comes back. He begs for Sam to stop the last trial because it will kill him. Sam is not phased and tells Dean that he is worried that Dean will turn to someone else if he lets him down again. Dean tells him he wouldn't put anyone else in front of Sam and tells him to let it go. Sam is then struck by pain and collapses. Dean helps Sam out of the church and they collapse right beside the Impala just as the angels begin to fall from Heaven.

At the start of season 9, Sam is in a coma as a result of the trials. In his mind, he is starting to give up and considers letting himself die. His desire to live and his desire to die manifest themselves as images of Dean and Bobby, respectively, and they fight amongst each other in his head. Sam finally agrees with Bobby and apologizes to the vision of Dean in his head, saying goodbye. He comes face to face with Death, who tells Sam that he has come to collect him personally, and Sam asks him to make sure that his death is permanent this time. Meanwhile, in the real world Dean has asked an angel named "Ezekiel" to help him cure Sam. Ezekiel tells Dean that the only way he can save Sam's life is if Sam allows him to possess his body. Dean realizes that Sam would never agree to such a thing, and in a moment of desperation agrees to help Ezekiel trick Sam into saying yes. Ezekiel shows up in Sam's head, disguised as Dean, and begs Sam to live so they can stay together. Sam agrees, and Ezekiel possesses his body. He promises Dean that Sam will never know he's hiding inside him, and that as soon as he's healed Sam he'll leave.

In Devil May Care, Sam is still unaware that he's harboring an angel, and is surprised to find out that Dean left Crowley alive. Dean argues that Crowley can help them track down all the demons on Earth, and him and Sam lock him up in the bunker's dungeon. They receive word that Abaddon is still alive and is kidnapping hunters, so they go on a rescue mission. During the hunt, Sam is overpowered by three demons and Ezekiel takes over, destroying all of the demons and causing Abaddon to flee. Ezekiel stabs all three of the corpses with Ruby's knife, so that he and Dean can maintain the illusion that there aren't any angels involved. When Sam wakes up, Dean tells his brother that he was the one who defeated all the demons. And Sam relays how impressed he is at Dean's skill. Later on, Sam recovers at the bunker and reveals to a guilty Dean that he feels a lot better about his life now than he has in a long time.

In I'm No Angel, Ezekiel takes over Sam halfway through a conversation to reveal to Dean that angels are chasing Castiel. Dean tells Ezekiel that he doesn't want him popping up without any warning and that he'd rather handle things with his brother. Sam and Dean try to reach Castiel before the angels can get their hands on him, but run into a dead end. Worried for Castiel's safety, Dean asks Ezekiel to locate him, and they manage to find him just as a rogue reaper stabs him through the chest. Dean kills the reaper, and Ezekiel uses his powers to bring Castiel back to life. Sam and Dean bring Castiel back to the bunker with them, and Sam wonders how Dean was able to find their friend in time. Dean comes up with an excuse to pacify his brother's curiosity, but Ezekiel takes over and admits that he can't stay in the same place as Castiel since he's a target for dangerous angels. He tells Dean that if he doesn't kick Castiel out of the bunker, he'll have to leave and Sam will die. And Dean is forced to send Castiel away in order to save his brother's life.

In the following episodes, Dean continues to hide Ezekiel's presence from Sam, coming up with cover stories to explain away the discrepancies that Sam is starting to notice more and more. Ezekiel also heals Sam a number of times, saving his life from fatal injuries and healing Dean's friends whenever they are in danger. But after every use of his power, he tells Dean that each time means longer that he'll have to stay inside of Sam to recharge.

In Rock and A Hard Place, after encountering the goddess Vesta, she tells Sam that his organs are completely burned and that he's nothing but "duct tape and safety pins inside." Sam is worried by her statements and tells Dean that he feels like something has been wrong with him lately. He says he feels like he can't recharge his batteries and that he's always tired. Dean tries to pass the symptoms of Ezekiel's presence off as a lingering effect of the trials, but Sam admits that he thinks something is just wrong with him and that he'll never be normal. Dean can't stand Sam thinking about himself that way, so he decides to tell him the truth. But Ezekiel takes over before he can say anything and warns Dean to not even try.

In Holy Terror, Sam and Dean go on a case to investigate multiple angel slaughters. They meet Castiel, who is attempting to help his angel brethren, even as a human. After this encounter, Ezekiel takes over and reminds Dean that he can't be near Castiel, so Dean sends Castiel away again. Ezekiel walks outside and runs into Metatron, who reveals that he knows that "Ezekiel" is actually Gadreel, the angel who let Lucifer into the Garden of Eden, and was locked up for thousands of years. Metatron offers him a role in the rebuilding of Heaven and Gadreel is so desperate to clear his name that he accepts, so Metatron gives him a piece of paper with an assassination target for him to take care of. Meanwhile, Dean starts to worry that "Ezekiel" hasn't been telling him the truth. He and Kevin plan a spell that can knock the angel out of control so he can talk to Sam, but Gadreel overhears the conversation and changes the symbol, tricking Dean into believing he's Sam and knocking him out. Gadreel kills Kevin (the assassination target) and steals Sam's body, leaving Dean crying over Kevin's corpse.

In Road Trip, it's revealed that Gadreel has trapped Sam in a fantasy world inside his own head, where he believes he is working on cases with Dean. Dean, Castiel and Crowley capture Gadreel and attempt to separate his mind from Sam's so that Sam can expel the rogue angel, but fail, so Crowley possesses Sam and explains the situation. Sam fights Gadreel and manages to overpower him, expelling the angel from his body. Castiel heals some of the effects from the trials that Gadreel wasn't able to and promises to stay and keep healing Sam until he's better. Sam is furious at Dean's deception over the last few months, and when Dean decides to leave, Sam lets him.

While Dean is off on his own in First Born, Castiel discovers that Sam still has some of Gadreel's grace within him, and they try to use it to locate the angel. And even though Sam is willing to sacrifice himself for it to work, Castiel is not and he completely heals Sam, telling him that he wouldn't want to lose him and eliminating the last of the grace.

In Sharp Teeth, Sam and Dean reunite on a case while looking for Garth. And although the brothers work the job together, Sam tells Dean that he's still angry and that they obviously aren't on the same page anymore. He says that they can't be brothers anymore, only hunting partners. And in The Purge, after Dean refuses to apologize, Sam tells him that he wouldn't have done the same thing if their situations were reversed.

In Blade Runners, Sam, Dean and Crowley team up to locate The First Blade, the only weapon that can kill Abaddon. Working together, they locate former Man of Letters Cuthbert Sinclair who has the Blade. Revealing themselves to be Henry Winchester's grandsons, Sam and Dean are able to get into Cuthbert, aka Magnus's lair. However, when Magnus learns that Dean possesses the Mark of Cain, he teleports Sam outside as he plans to add Dean to his collection. With Crowley's help, Sam gets back inside, but is captured by Magnus who plans to torture Sam to make Dean willing to do what he wants. Crowley frees Dean who decapitates Magnus with the First Blade and Sam has to talk him out of the uncontrollable rage he experiences as a result. In the aftermath, Sam suggests killing Crowley now that they have what they want, but Crowley steals the Blade from them, only intending to give it back once they've found Abaddon.

In Mother's Little Helper, Sam is forced to take a case by himself because Dean insists that he's too focused on finding Abaddon. Sam travels to Milton, Illinois where normally good people suddenly become violent murderers. Sam stops one of the murders and finds out that the affected people are similar to what happened to him when he was soulless. Hearing Julia Wilkinson, an ex-nun, mention demons, Sam asks her what happened and learns that Henry and Josie Sands (Abaddon's vessel) traveled to the town in 1958 to investigate similar happenings. Julia reveals that Henry and Josie exorcised two of the demons creating soulless soldiers for a demon army. But one was Abaddon who possessed Josie and had the other demon continue her work in secret. Sam travels to the convent and finds the demon and the victims' souls captured in jars. Sam uses a recorded exorcism to distract the demon, then kills her and releases the souls back to their owners. After thanking Julia for her help, Sam returns to the bunker and tells Dean what he learned.

Sam and Dean finally manage to capture Gadreel in Meta Fiction, but Sam chooses to return him to Metatron to trade for Castiel's life. They plan on trapping Metatron at the exchange, but Metatron reveals that he's been using the angel tablet to charge himself up, and now he has powers equal to God.

The Winchesters help Castiel with an interrogation in King of the Damned and learn that Metatron has a secret door to Heaven. Crowley calls them with Abaddon's whereabouts, so they travel to his location in order to kill her. Dean tells Sam that Crowley warned him about some demons in the basement of the hotel, so Sam goes down to check. But when the room is empty, Sam realizes that Dean lied to him in order to get him out of the way. He arrives just in time to see Dean kill Abaddon with the First Blade, but he won't stop brutalizing the corpse and Sam struggles to get Dean to finally drop the blade. They spare Crowley's life and tell him to return his son (that Abaddon plucked out of the time stream as a bargaining chip) to his proper time, but Crowley refuses and disappears. On the drive home, Sam tells Dean that he's concerned about his worrisome attachment to the blade and asks that they get rid of it now that they don't need it anymore. Dean refuses.

In Stairway to Heaven, Sam continues to worry about Dean's growing dependence on the First Blade. He asks Dean to leave it at the bunker while they go to help Castiel, and his brother agrees. They find that some of Castiel's angel followers are attacking others in suicide bombings. Dean stays behind to interrogate the group while Sam and Castiel search for Metatron's doorway to Heaven. They find a warehouse full of traps, but once they get past them, the whole thing turns out to be a fake. Sam and Castiel return to find that Dean lied about keeping the blade, and that he's killed Tessa the reaper with it. Castiel's army ask him to kill Dean for his crimes, but Castiel refuses and the rest of his angels leave. Sam tries to bring up the blade again, but Dean tells him that he's the only one who can kill Metatron and that Sam doesn't have a say in anything they do until that's done. Gadreel shows up at the bunker, telling the three of them that he's defecting from Metatron's side after finding out that he secretly orchestrated all of the angel bombings. He asks for their forgiveness, but Dean attacks him with the First Blade.

In the season finale, Do You Believe in Miracles?, Sam and Castiel try to restrain Dean from killing Gadreel and manage to lock him up in the bunker's dungeon. They find Gadreel and (after some reluctance on Sam's part) all decide that Dean is their best bet at defeating Metatron. They return to the bunker to find that Dean has escaped, and while Castiel and Gadreel try to sneak into Heaven, Sam goes after his brother. He finds Dean working with Crowley and tells him that they have to do this together, Dean agrees and they go after Metatron. Dean starts to apologize about letting Gadreel possess Sam and Sam forgives him, then Dean knocks Sam out, telling him that it isn't his fight. Sam wakes up and goes after Dean, but arrives too late to stop Metatron from stabbing him through the heart. Metatron teleports back to Heaven and Sam tells Dean that he lied about being okay with killing Metatron no matter the consequences. Dean dies in his arms and he cries over his brother's body. He takes Dean's corpse back to the bunker and tries to summon Crowley for a demon deal in order to save Dean. Not knowing that Crowley shows up on his own to place the First Blade in Dean's hands. Crowley places the First Blade into the apparently dead Dean's hands, and Dean' eyes open. They are all black, revealing him to have become a demon.

In Black, Sam is shown to have been desperately searching for Dean for the past 6 weeks, and has a sling on his arm. Sam and Castiel have a conversation over the phone about Dean and Castiel reveals that Sam's shoulder was injured by a demon. Later on, Sam is captured by Cole, who is looking for Dean in revenge. Cole wants Sam to tell him where Dean is, so he threatens to torture him. Through Cole, Sam and Dean have their first interaction, with Cole calling Dean on Sam's phone. Dean says that Sam's problem is his own problem, abandoning him. The episode ends with Sam tied up and Cole pacing around him. Same also discovers that Dean is a demon through video surveillance of a store. Sam calls a phone left be a demon and reached Crowley, who then tells Sam about what's happened. Sam then threatens to kill Crowley and tracks him down. Crowley and Dean also talk about Sam multiple times in the episode.

In Reichenbach, Sam is shown being tortured by Cole, and then escapes. He finds a strip club that Demon Dean went to and proceeds to track him down. Crowley also visits him outside his motel and tells Sam where Dean is. Once he finds Dean, Sam tried to reason with him, but Demon Dean just mocks and threatens him. Sam says he doesn't care what Dean has done, and that 'you're my brother, and I'm here to take you home'. Later, Cole throws a smoke bomb in the bar and has a fight with Dean, which ends with Sam capturing Dean and letting Crowley go.

In Soul Survivor, Sam brings a demon Dean into the dungeon to cure him from being a demon. While Sam gives him purified blood treatments, Dean taunts him on how far he went to find Dean. A flashback shows Sam using Lester to summon a crossroads demon, but before Sam could stop him, Lester sold his soul. Sam regrets that. Later Dean taunts Sam on how much better his life would be without Sam in it. Sam still continues the purified blood treatments. However, at one point, Dean breaks free and stalks Sam through the bunker with a hammer. When Dean tried to swing at Sam, Sam ducked and put his demon knife to Dean's throat. In the end, he was not willing to kill him. He stepped back, and Castiel stepped in, grabbing Dean. Sam finishes the ritual, curing Dean.

In Paper Moon, Sam and Dean hunt werewolves, who turn out to be Kate from Season 8 Bitten and her sister. The episode starts with Sam and Dean sitting on deck chairs drinking beer, before deciding to go on the hunt.

In Fan Fiction, the 200th episode of Supernatural, Sam and Dean stumble across an all-girls school that is putting on a musical of the Supernatural books. Sam reveals that he was a theatre kid, and it is all very jarring for the boys, but in the end, Sam kills the god behind the kidnappings. In the episode, the lead girl that plays Sam, hands Dean a makeshift Samulet, which Dean later hangs on the mirror of the Impala, after telling her 'I don't need a symbol to remind me how I feel about my brother'. The episode ends with the boys driving off into the sunset in the Impala.

In Ask Jeeves, Sam and Dean go to collect Bobby's inheritance, and begin hunting a shapeshifter. There are multiple girls that hit on Sam in the episode, older women.

In Girls, Girls, Girls, Sam and Dean hunt a witch who turns out to be Crowley's mother, Rowena. Sam sees Cole again when Dean and him have another fight, but they don't fight.

In Hibbing 911, Jody Mills calls Sam to tell the boys she found a case. Sam and Dean go to meet her and help with her on the case of werewolves. Sam and Jody are shown to have a close relationship in the episode, and 'passing notes during class'. Sam confided in her about Dean becoming a demon. In the end, Dean tells Sam that killing the werewolves made him feel like himself again. The boys also cross paths with Sheriff Donna from The Purge.

In The Things We Left Behind, Sam and Dean go help Castiel reach out to Claire Novak. At a scene at a bar, Sam and Dean talk about their father John Winchester and how he raised them right. The boys tell Castiel that it wasn't always easy, but they loved their father. At the end of the episode, Dean gives in to the mark and slaughters many people in a room which Sam then comes in to discover. Sam holds Dean's face and begs him to tell him that he had to do it, very concerned for him.

Sam first displays telekinesis during a moment of desperation, allowing him to move a heavy cabinet blocking his path to Dean. Sam tried to repeat this ability afterward but was unable to do so. In fact, his telekinesis did not manifest again until after he began training with Ruby and drinking her blood. By the time he wields his power again, Sam is shown to be highly adept at hurling a demon as powerful as Alastair across a graveyard with little effort. He can also maintain a grip on demons, preventing them from moving or using their powers.

• In Nightmare, Sam moves a cabinet trapping him in order to save Dean's life.
• In Death Takes a Holiday, Sam throws Alastair with telekinesis after he proves immune to Alastair's own telekinesis. He seems to be able to simultaneously hold a demon telekinetically and use his exorcism powers on it.
• In Lucifer Rising, Sam uses his telekinesis to throw Lilith across a room.
• In My Bloody Valentine, Sam uses his telekinesis to throw a demon across the room after he gives in to his demon blood cravings.

Sam can force a demon to leave its host through sheer force of will. Initially, using this ability caused Sam a great deal of stress and would often result in severe headaches and nosebleeds, but with time and practice he was able to exorcise a demon without these side-effects. Once removed, the demon "smoke" falls to the ground and burns a black circle as it descends back to Hell. Unless the host is already dead, the vessel will survive this process. He does admit to unintentionally killing a few during training.

• In Lazarus Rising we learn that Sam is now able to exorcise a demon by holding out his hand and forcing the demon to leave the possessed body and return to Hell. He was taught that skill by Ruby.
• In Metamorphosis, Dean finds Sam practicing his exorcism powers and brings him to promise him that he will never use them again.
• Sam breaks that promise in It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester when he exorcises Samhain.
• In The Rapture, Sam attempts to exorcise a demon who is attacking Jimmy Novak's family. However, he is unable to do it. Later, in the warehouse where demons are holding Amelia and Claire Novak, Sam exorcises a demon from Jimmy's wife Amelia, after drinking blood from the neck of a demon possessed human.
• In My Bloody Valentine, after Sam gives into his craving for demon blood, Famine offers his demons to Sam so he can drain them of their blood. Sam refuses and instead exorcises all five demons at once before exorcising the demons that Famine has consumed and effectively defeating him.

Sam has immunities to demonic attacks that steadily expand over time. At first, Sam was vulnerable to all forms of demon powers, being easily overpowered by telekinesis from both YED and lesser demons. However, his first bout of immunity manifests after being exposed to the Croatoan virus. Sam proves immune, and is later able to survive Lilith's "light" without any harm. Though still susceptible to the telekinetic attacks of other demons (like Alastair, for example) and possession by the Demon, Meg, Sam eventually reaches a point where no demon can harm him so long as he's high on demon blood. To this end, Lilith is practically defenseless against Sam during their final confrontation.

• In Simon Said, Sam is immune to both Andy Gallagher and his twin brother Ansem Weems mind controlling powers.
• In Croatoan, Sam is immune to the demonic virus that was spreading in the town through blood-to-blood contact.
• In No Rest for the Wicked. Lilith turns her power on Sam after killing Dean (in the same manner she used in "Jus in Bello") Sam shields himself with his arm, and after the light dies down, he is shown to be completely unharmed, and apparently immune to Lilith's power.
• In It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester, he is also able to withstand Samhain.
• In Death Takes a Holiday, Sam proves immune to Alastair's telekinesis.
• In The Monster at the End of This Book, Lilith herself says that Sam is immune to her power.