November 2, 1983, in Lawrence, Kansas sounds like an innocuous date and place. Yet for fans of Supernatural, the aforementioned date and place are the beginning of the story of Dean and his brother Sam Winchester. On this day, their mother died and shortly after her death, their father, John, began his search for how and why she died. The story of Dean and Sam is a conglomerate of greasy diner food, loads of flannel, and the roar of a 1967 Chevy Impala engine. In the series, the brothers face monsters and deal with the loss of their parents at the hands of demons and angels. Yet the loss of their mother overshadows the entire series.
Dean and Sam run into plenty unbelievable creatures as hunters, but the one creature they face the most is the mother figure. Their mother makes plenty of appearances in the first 11 seasons, sometimes as herself or a monster disguised as her. But the form of a mother isn’t one size fits all. Mothers like Rowena MacLeod, Lilith, and Eve are some powerful frenemies. Meanwhile, mothers like Jody Mills or fellow hunter Ellen Harvelle take in Dean and Sam as their own sons. Supernatural may center on men who save the day, but it’s the mother’s love that guides and aggravates them.
15 Mary Winchester
For most of the series, the Winchesters’ mother, Mary, is either a projection from angels or monsters trying to manipulate Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean. Yet when Amara brings her back, everything Mary does is out of love. She fights with the Men of Letters, so her boys can have a normal life. When a rift is opened to Apocalypse World, she fights Lucifer to save her boys, hoping she can lock him into the other world.
14 Deanna Campbell
When Dean was sent back in time by Castiel, he met his parents and maternal grandparents. His grandmother, Deanna, doesn’t know him, but immediately welcomes him into her home for a home-cooked meal. She might be hospitable and a loving person, but she’s a hell of a hunter. There’s no doubt that the fighting skills she acquired were passed onto her daughter, Mary. When Mary comes back from the dead, she chops off her hair, so monsters don’t have an advantage over her when hunting, which is possibly something she learned from her mother.
13 Rowena MacLeod
One of the most formidable witches, and foe turned friend, to the Winchesters was Rowena MacLeod, Crowley’s mother. While she might’ve abandoned her first son, she was taken in by a family with a little boy whom she loved as her own. Oskar got more than all her love, she gave him the ability to live forever. Eventually, Rowena comes around to love her firstborn and begins killing reapers in order to strike a deal with Death. The deal she tried to make was to bring her firstborn back to life.
12 Jody Mills
When zombies take over Sioux Falls, the brothers meet the Sheriff who tries to shoo them away in order to protect her son, who is one of the zombies. Jody does everything she can to protect her son until he becomes a full zombie. Years later when helping Dean on a vampire case, she takes in Alex, a human girl adopted by a vampire nest. She also takes in Claire and Patience a couple of years later. Jody’s home becomes a safe haven for all hunters, especially Dean and Sam who are like her surrogate sons.
11 Lisa Braeden
Dean has a couple of great loves on Supernatural, which are listed by Screen Rant. Lisa Braeden was a wild fling of Dean’s before he and Sam rejoined forces. They reconnect when Dean and Sam are on a case. She has a son named Ben who is her number one priority. Lisa doesn’t let anyone near her son who doesn’t meet her standards.
10 Ellen Harvelle
Before the brothers met Jody, they had Ellen. She owned a bar called the Harvelle Roadhouse, also referred to as The Roadhouse. The bar was a pit stop for hunters and a home base for Dean and Sam. Ellen is a straightforward person who took in the boys as her own almost immediately. She has a daughter named Jo, whom she tries to protect from the world of hunting.
9 Kelly Kline
According to Christianity, the term “nephilim” is translated one of two ways from Hebrew as giants or fallen ones. In the former translation, nephilim are considered the offspring of fallen angels. Kelly Kline, the President’s secretary, and lover, becomes pregnant with Lucifer’s child when he uses the President’s body. The child Kelly is carrying is a nephilim whom she names Jack. After she discovers that she won’t be around to raise her child, she spends each day singing, reading, and talking to her baby.
8 Lady Toni Bevell
The first British Men of Letters member audiences meet is Lady Toni Bevell. She has a live-in nanny who cares for her son while she’s on missions for the Men of Letters. Toni’s methods are archaic and unpleasant to witness, but she does everything for her son. At one point she teams up with Dean to save his mother and her only request is for him to let her safely return home to see her son one more time.
7 Becky Rosen
Fans meet Becky the same day they meet Chuck, aka God. Becky is a super-fan of Chuck’s books and even uses a powerful love spell on Sam. After spending years undoing her obsessive ways, she meets someone with whom she can have children. But when Chuck returns to her life, he sends her family away. She agrees to help him only if he brings her kids back.
6 Linda Tran
The second prophet introduced in Supernatural is Kevin Tran, a high school senior on track for any Ivy League of his choosing. He goes into hiding, but the person who never gives up searching for him is his mother, Linda. She fights tooth and nail for her son, even selling her soul in exchange for her son’s life at an auction. If there’s one mom Dean and Sam are afraid of, it’s Linda Tran.
5 Eve
In most interpretations of Eve, she is portrayed as Adam’s wife. But shows like Lucifer and Supernatural read between the lines. Dean and Sam stumble upon plenty of monsters and their makers, but the mother of all monsters is Eve. All the monsters the brother’s face were made by Eve. When she possesses a human’s body, thanks to dragons, she wreaks havoc on Earth and tries to bargain with Dean and Sam. Yet her way of striking a deal meant she transformed into their mother.
4 Lilith
One of the many allies of Lucifer is the first human he corrupted: Lilith. After pledging allegiance to Lucifer’s mission, she begins making demons to fill Hell. These demons would one day take over the Earth under Lucifer’s guidance. Although it should be noted that Lilith wasn’t the most affectionate mother as she had no regard for her children dying so long as she survived.
3 Missouri
One of the first psychics Dean and Sam encounter is named Missouri. She helped their dad when he first became a hunter and took the boys under her wing when they visited their home due to a haunting. Later in the series, Missouri is revealed to be estranged from her son and grandmother, Patience. Even though she’s estranged from her family, she sends Dean to protect her son and granddaughter.
2 Amelia Novak
Jimmy Novak was a faithful man who was chosen to be Castiel’s vessel. He is married to a woman named Amelia with whom he has a daughter named Claire. When Castiel takes over Jimmy’s body, Amelia is left to raise their daughter alone. After a year, Jimmy returns home asking if he can see his daughter. His wife denies him access on the grounds that she doesn’t think their daughter would be safe around him.
1 Amy Pond
One of Sam’s first solo cases as a teenager introduced him to a girl named Amy, who just so happened to be a kitsune. He let her go after she saved him from her mother. As an adult, she became a mother and killed some humans to save her son. Though this wasn’t normal for her as she is a coroner and would take what she needed from the cadavers.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
