Top 10 Times Sam Winchester Was the WORST

The Winchesters, Sam included, have a number of character flaws that make them less than sympathetic. While both are guilty of using others for their own benefit without repaying them, we think it’s their lies that cause more harm. Sam and Dean frequently lie and keep secrets from one another, which is a detriment not only to their relationship with each other, but also the world, given how often they have to save it. Their lies can also result in the deaths of others, such as Sam’s secret attempt to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean leading to the death of an immortal, but otherwise perfectly innocent, barista. If the brothers were more communicative, maybe fewer people would die on the show.

The relationship between any parent and child can be complicated, but the one between John and Sam Winchester is an unfortunately acrimonious one. Despite being raised to hunt the supernatural by his father, Sam has always rebelled against and questioned John, even leaving for Stanford and not speaking to him for years. It also would’ve been nice if Sam hadn’t berated his dad and tried to guilt him about the death of his wife. While there’s certainly blame enough for John too, we’ll acknowledge, as Sam eventually does, that the man did the best he could under impossible circumstances. We just wish they could’ve come to an understanding before John died. Luckily, he got a second chance...

Speaking of daddy Winchester, John tells Dean before he dies that if Dean is unable to save Sam from “turning to the dark side” that Dean may have to kill his brother. Dean naturally struggles with his request, and Sam is also quite rattled when Dean tells him. After getting drunk, Sam pressures his brother into promising to follow through and kill him if the worst should happen. We grant him some leeway, given that he wasn’t sober, but that’s still a terrible thing to ask a loved one to do. We’d almost say it serves Sam right that Dean’s almost gone through with it on at least one occasion…

The Winchesters have been to Hell and back – literally. So when Dean disappears into Purgatory, you’d think Sam would move Heaven and Earth to get his brother back… except, he doesn’t. Not only does Sam make barely any effort to locate Dean, he seemingly retires from hunting altogether. While we can’t blame him for wanting a bit of normalcy with all the traumatic things he’s experienced over the years, you’d think after everything he and Dean have gone through that Sam wouldn’t have just abandoned his brother like this. It won’t be the last time, but more on that later.

By this point, you’d think Sam would know he should always be wary of any supernatural creatures, especially when it comes to, oh, you know, demons. Not only has he witnessed their devilish works in action, but his own mother perished at the hands of a yellow-eyed Prince of Hell! Sam may have been vulnerable, grieving and in denial about Dean being in Hell, but that still doesn’t excuse his lack of total common sense when he drank Ruby’s blood. That’s right, he drank DEMON BLOOD. Sure, Sam was pressured... at first. But his subsequent addiction to it and his relationship with Ruby, along with the fact that Sam promised Dean that he wouldn’t give in to the darkness, really makes this already grossly bad decision that much more awful.

While “Supernatural” might focus on Sam and Dean, the duo have a third brother, their half-sibling, Adam Milligan. Unfortunately, their literally undying loyalty to family doesn’t extend quite as far to Adam, as the pair of them both abandon their half-brother repeatedly. When the pair try to rescue Adam from angels, they instead save each other and leave him there to be possessed by the archangel Michael. Then, after trapping Michael/Adam and Lucifer in the latter’s cage in Hell to stop the Apocalypse, the Winchesters leave Adam to languish there for a decade! And when he finally did get out, Sam and Dean were mostly concerned with what Adam, or Michael, could do for them. Granted, there’s no good way to make amends for damnation.

Sam and Dean’s maternal grandfather, Samuel Campbell, is a real piece of… work. The guy sells out his grandchildren in an attempt to resurrect his daughter, their mother. While the Winchesters are all about family bonds, they’re also not very forgiving. When the brothers and Samuel both encounter a parasitic monster that can control its hosts, it soon becomes apparent that the Khan worm has taken over Samuel. After chasing him down, Sam has a gun on the creature in Samuel’s body. It tries to make a deal with Sam, only for Sam to shoot his grandfather in the head. And while we’ll grant that this doesn’t kill it, or Samuel, entirely… Sam still didn’t know that when he shot his namesake in the face.

Sam may have gotten out of Lucifer’s cage, but not all of him made it out. As it turns out, a pretty important piece got left behind – his soul. Without a soul, Sam becomes devoid of emotions and while his ruthlessness helps him be a more effective Hunter, it also means he has less compunction about using more extreme measures to accomplish his goals. This includes being okay with child torture and killing innocent people. He even allows Dean to be turned into a vampire since it’s beneficial for what they’re after. While soulless Sam can be entertaining, he’s still not the man at his best.

While investigating a spate of strange killings, Sam and Dean encounter Amazons, a race of demi-humans composed entirely of women who mature rapidly. Unknowingly, Dean has a one night stand with one of them, resulting in a daughter, Emma. When she turns up on Dean’s doorstep, she claims to not want to be like her mother and the other Amazons, but she’s really there to kill him as part of an initiation. A tense standoff ensues, which Sam interrupts when he kills Emma. Admittedly, Emma was planning to kill Dean, but she hadn’t done it yet, or killed anyone else for that matter. And she was still only like a day old or something! So Sam killed Dean’s glorified infant daughter and they’re still speaking to each other?!

Now we know what you’re thinking “Supernatural” fans – which apocalypse? While there are world ending events practically every season on the show, this is the big boy – the Biblical Apocalypse. Hopped up on demon blood, under Ruby’s influence, and desperate to kill the demon Lilith, Sam pursues his goal with single-mindedness; completely unaware of what succeeding will mean. As it happens, Lilith being killed ends up being the final seal to break Lucifer free, whose release means the beginning of the End of Days. Of course, the Winchesters end up stopping it, but they wouldn’t have had to if Sam hadn’t made all the bad decisions that led up to killing Lilith.