Supernatural (TV series)/Heartwarming

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Season 1

  • In "Skin", when Sam admits he's never fit in at Stanford, Dean calls him a freak. And then he says this. "I'm a freak too. I'm right there with you, all the way."
  • The end of "Nightmare". Dean telling Sam "As long as I'm around, nothing bad is gonna happen to you" killed this Troper.

Season 2

  • He might have screwed it up all again five minutes later but John finally telling Dean that he's proud of him in "My Time Of Dying" and also pleading with Sam for them not to fight for once almost makes this troper wish he didn't die.
  • While most of their heartwarming moments have disturbing or depressing undercurrents and while some are shown to be flat-out lies by later episodes, Sam's "You're my big brother. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you" is certain to make any troper's heart melt a little.
  • The man in "Crossroad Blues" who knows the demon is coming for him and gets his wife to leave the house, simply telling her he'll love her forever. Later you find out that his deal was to save her from cancer.

Season 3

  • There was a moment in "A Very Supernatural Christmas" when Wee!Sam realised what an utter bastard his father was and acknowledged that Dean was the real caregiver, his real father figure, and the most important person in his life. And how did he show it? By giving Dean the amulet that he even wears when he gets dragged down to hell. Say it with me now: Awwww!
    • Not only that scene, but the ending scene where Sam and Dean open each other's ordinary, but thoughtful, gifts was incredibly heartwarming. This troper and her little sister hugged through the entirety of both of those scenes.
  • The two brothers singing together in "No Rest for the Wicked."

Season 4

  • The amulet gets a double whammy in "Lazarus Rising". The first one is realizing Sam wore it under his shirt in the four months Dean was gone and the second one is him giving it back to Dean, who looks just as touched as he looked when he first got it.
    • So this troper was watching the diner scene and is wondering why Dean's shirt and jacket swap affected him so, right? Then it hit him; Dean is wearing Sam's clothes! That's so sweet!
    • The mutual hug was also adorable. You could really tell how much they cared about each other.
    • Call this troper crazy but Dean's reunion with his beloved car was also heartwarming. "Did you miss me, sweetheart?" Oh, Dean, you have no idea. (And, yes, I'm talking about the Impala like she has real feelings. Get used to it.)
  • There was a "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" moment in "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester". Dean nearly gets his heart ripped out by the ghost of Hendricksen, Sam shoots it with rock salt, Dean falls to the floor, Sam asks him if he's okay and the obvious answer is no. And now for the sweet bit: Jared Padalecki's massive hands clasp over Jensen Ackles's relatively tiny hand and pulls him up. In a season where the brotherly love has been so strained lately, you take what you can get.
  • In "In The Beginning", when Dean realises that he didn't change anything and watches Young Mary hug John who almost died, Castiel arrives and lays a hand on Dean's shoulder, looking at him compassionately.
  • Threats of violence can be heartwarming, too! In "Afterschool Special", teenage!Dean finds out that a boy at their new school had beat up Sam, and responds with "That guy is so dead. I'm gonna rip his lungs out!" After the flashback is over, the ghost of the week stabs Sam, and after making sure he's okay, Dean exclaims "That ghost is so dead. I'm gonna rip its lungs out!" May not make much sense, but it's still adorable.
  • In "The Rapture", Jimmy's reunion with his family. And later Castiel's: "Of course we keep our promises. Of course you have our gratitude." While gently running his/her fingers through his hair. And then Jimmy begs him to let his daughter go, because he doesn't want her to suffer as he did.
  • And after all their problems in Season 4 and even though they have a whole new set of problems in the next season, seeing them cling to each other's jackets like two scared little boys as Lucifer is about to rise is somehow very sweet.
    • When Chuck's archangels begin to attack Dean and Castiel: "Go. I'll hold them off." Oh, Castiel.
    • Oh, Castiel indeed. He has another one, IMO, in On the Head of a Pin. "You can't win, Uriel. I still serve God." Possibly doubling as a Crowning Moment of Awesome, YMMV.

Season 5

  • In "Sympathy for the Devil", Demon!Bobby yells at Sam, and basically tells Sam that after all is said and done, he never wants to speak to his again. But after the demon is dead and Bobby (recovering in the hospital) is done giving the doctors and nurses hell (not literally)...

Bobby: I was awake. I know what I said back there. I just want you to know that was the demon talking. I'm not cutting you out, boy. Not ever.

    • This troper and her husband were both in tears over that moment.
  • Castiel's simple reason for refusing to help Anna destroy Sam.

"The answer is still no because Sam is my friend."

  • Admittedly, there wasn't much in "Dark Side of the Moon" that wasn't really angsty, but Dean's re-living of a moment when he got to hug his mom and comfort her was definitely an awww moment for this Troper.
  • In "Point of No Return" Dean is ready to say yes to being Michael's vessel. Bobby and Cas have given up on him but Sam keeps believing that Dean will do the right thing. Even when Dean points out he doesn't have that same sort of faith in Sam, Sam simply says, "You're still my big brother."
    • Later, Dean proves Sam right, even when he was on the verge of saying yes. What made Dean change his mind? He didn't want to let his little brother down who had so much faith in him.
  • It was Gabriel's World of Cardboard Speech in "Hammer of the Gods" that did it for this troper. His decision to fight for the sake of humans, as well as his realization that, despite their flaws, humans do retain their goodness and make an effort to overcome them (which is more than the angels can say) made his death all the more heartbreaking.
  • Many moments from the fifth season finale "Swan Song":
    • Sam quoting Dean from the pilot episode, telling him to go live a "normal, apple-pie life" after Sam's gone.
    • Kind of halfway between heartwarming and heartbreaking, but still: Chuck's narration of the history of the Impala, culminating in Sam overcoming Lucifer's hold over him as he looks at the Impala and remembers all the times he and Dean have spent together.

Chuck: "It never occurred to them that, sure, maybe they never really had a roof and four walls but they were never, in fact, homeless."

    • After being told that there's nothing he can do to save Sam, Dean replies, "Well then I ain't gonna let him die alone." Also a bit of a Tear Jerker.

Season 6

  • Sam and Dean choosing a name for the shifter baby in "The Third Man". Sam chooses John, showing that he's forgiven his father while Dean picks Bobby, cementing Bobby as his father figure.
  • "All Dogs go to Heaven". Someone has been planting skinwalkers with various families, so they can all turn their families into 'walkers at a given signal, forming an army. The guy who's been killing people? A 'walker who's come to care about his family. Just like a real dog.
  • "Like a Virgin" is full of them.
    • Sam and Dean hugging, and then Sam and Bobby.
    • Castiel, who used to call Sam an abomination and 'the boy with the demon blood' wanting to hug him, paricularly when you consider that Castiel doesn't show very much emotion.
  • A behind-the-scenes one, in "Frontierland", Dean makes a reference to Star Trek IV the Voyage Home and Bobby says that he only watched Star Trek Deep Space Nine. The line was originally for TNG, but because Jim Beaver's late wife had portrayed the recurring character of Ishka, Quark's mother, on DS9, he asked that it be changed.
  • In "The French Mistake," Sam and Dean are catapulted into our world, where Supernatural is just a TV series, there are no monsters, and they're living the lives of the actors who portray them on television. Throughout the episode, they constantly try to return to their own world. But at one point, Dean wonders if Sam even wants to go back to their old lives, seeing as this life is pretty good in comparison. Sam's response is that this life isn't appealing at all, because in this world they don't mean anything. Even worse? Sam and Dean aren't even BROTHERS! That's right- the thought of spending the rest of their lives as celebrities holds no appeal to them because they wouldn't even related anymore.

Season 7

  • In the season seven premiere, after he seemingly dies and comes back to life, Castiel repeatedly tells Dean that he will prove that he can be trusted, and he will do anything to make up for his recent behavior. It is clear that Dean is touched, even if he tries to cover it up. Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other!
    • Then came "The Born Again Identity", where Cas makes good on that promise by taking on Sam's madness in order to save his life. Doubles as a major Tear Jerker.
  • Ellen's message to Dean from beyond in "The Mentalists": If he doesn't tell someone how bad things are, she will kick his ass from beyond. Gone two years and still watching out for the boys. Is there any question that she's their surrogate mother figure?
  • "Death's Door" - "As fate would have it, I adopted two boys and they grew up great. They grew up heroes!"
    • Hell almost all of Bobby's flashbacks that weren't Tearjerkers were these. Including playing catch with Dean when John wanted him to practice shooting. Later calling John out on his behavior around the boys saying that they are kids.
    • And the revelation that his happiest memory is actually simply sitting and drinking beer, while they childishly argue what movie to watch.
  • Consider Sam's situation in "The Born Again Identity": he's sleep-deprived, slowly going insane, trapped in a psych ward and dying. Yet he still takes the time to help a girl he's only just met. Someone hug the man, please.
  • In "The Girl With The Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo," a scared Felicia Day character psyches herself before a dangerous mission by saying she's gonna "Kick it in the ass." This was Kim Manners, departed producer and director's, catchphrase.

Supernatural Anime

  • In "Three Years Ago," the episode takes place during Sam's time in college and one of the targets was Jessica, Sam's girlfriend. When John Winchester finds this out, he becomes even more concerned about the case and obviously is motivated by Sam's involvement more than anything. This also goes for Dean, when he also finds out. The episode ends with them watching Sam and Jessica happily walk off, unaware that John and Dean had just saved their lives, and looking very proud at how much Sam's grown.

Other

  • Hugs always tend to be heartwarming/heartbreaking in Supernatural. In "Shadow", you've got Dean striding over to his daddy and hugging him with no embarrassment and then Sam (the disowned one, remember?) doing the same. In "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2" (Dean for Sam)/"Mystery Spot" (Sam for Dean), you've got a crushingly tight (albeit, one-sided) "I'm really glad you're not dead anymore hug" and in "Lazarus Rising", when Bobby finally realizes that Dean is really Dean, you get another tight hug. Excuse this troper, he has something in his eye.
  • A bit of a meta-example here. One Big Name Fan of the Supernatural fandom, known as Sashi, was diagnosed with endometriosis. Her friends, unable to take her not asking others for help and hating to see her suffering any more, started a donation fund on Tumblr to help called "Donate For Sashi". It was rotated around Tumblr and after a day they managed to collect over $7000 in Sashi's paypal account. One person in particular asked Supernatural star Kim Rhodes to rotate the donation fund and spread the news about it, but Kim Rhodes did one better and actually asked for her information so that she could refer Sashi to a doctor in California who would actually work with her on the money issues. Crowning Moment of Heartwarming for the fandom and Kim Rhodes.