Supernatural: 10 Things That Make No Sense About Purgatory

Whether in heaven, hell, purgatory, or another universe, Supernatural has placed the Winchester brothers in different forms of reality, somehow always finding ways to bring them back for another season. In fact, neither heaven nor hell or purgatory is a final destination in this cult fantasy drama, and the brothers and their allies have found ways to move between the worlds over and over again.

In season 6, the show introduced the concept of purgatory, which is supposed to contain monsters after they die. Some of the most evil ancient entities like the Leviathans reside in purgatory, the gates of which were opened by Crowley and Castiel’s combined efforts in a bid to harvest as many souls as possible to gain supreme power. However, there are things about purgatory that really make no sense at all–let us find out what they are.

10 Who Wrote The Instruction Manual?

In season 6, the brothers find an ancient manuscript when they go looking for the dragons that were kidnapping virgins all over town. In the dark and stinking sewers, which was the dragon’s lair, they come across an ancient book of sorts which then lands up with Bobby to decipher.

Bobby tells the boys that the manuscript was in ancient Latinate and made from human skin. But as if that wasn’t creepy enough, according to Bobby, it was some sort of instruction manual to bring something from purgatory into the world, possibly to open up a passage of sorts. Now, who would have written such a manual? Probably not God, since it’s unlikely he would use human skin to write a book. But if it was a monster, then why would they suddenly use human skin to write a manual? Simply to freak out any human who laid hands on it, perhaps? The whole thing remains unexplained

9 A Human Portal In Purgatory?

Dean lands in purgatory at the end of season 7, and then makes a come back in season 8 using a human portal that allows humans to pass back onto earth.

It is understandable that the writers had to find a way to bring Dean back for yet another season but to be honest, it makes little sense for God to have created a portal for humans in purgatory. What were the chances of a human getting sucked into that dark, terrifying dimension in the first place? God could hardly have accounted for the busybody Dean Winchester millions of years ago when he would have created purgatory!

8 Why Create Portals At All, Human Or Otherwise?

Not only did God apparently leave an escape hatch for humans in the event of one turning up in purgatory, but he also created ways to open its gates for some reason.

Crowley and Castiel manage to open the door to purgatory when they team up to mine souls. The dragons also open up a passage from purgatory to bring Eve into the earth. Yes, as mentioned above, it is unlikely that God left that manual, but somehow, inexplicably, it existed. Then again, when Castiel was saved by the battalion of angels from heaven, they managed to enter purgatory somehow. But the question is, why did God feel the need to leave portals and passageways to and from this “hell-adjacent” – as Crowley puts it – place? Did he think it would suddenly be necessary one day to let loose all the monsters in purgatory upon earth?

7 The Miraculous Angel Portal

It never quite makes sense how Castiel miraculously returns from purgatory in season 8, after letting Dean go on a guilt trip for months.

It is understood that the angel Naomi sent in a garrison from heaven to get Cas out of purgatory. But how they were able to find a portal that allowed angels to pass through, when nobody in purgatory itself seemed to be aware of it, remained a mystery.

6 Why Do All Portals Open Up In This Universe?

Fun as it is to watch, it is actually ridiculous how everybody makes a beeline for this universe, and that too, for some place in the United States, when they have to return from hell, heaven or purgatory.

Given how many alternate realities the show has thrown at the audience over the years, from the bad place to the apocalypse world, one has to wonder why the portals from purgatory did not open up anywhere else. Surely, there should be some escape hatch that takes an entity, human or otherwise, to a different universe, where they get to meet a different version of their own selves?

5 The Purgatory Blossom

Purgatory is full of blood, bones, unadulterated horror, and impending dread at every corner, where it would seem as if the very air stinks of death. However, in season 15, the archangel Michael tells Dean and Cas about a Leviathan blossom that grows in the soil after a Leviathan dies. The blossom blooms only in purgatory and is one of the ingredients for a spell that might help seal God away.

Now, perhaps one can imagine a flower associated with the death of a Leviathan to be not exactly the ordinary kind, requiring neither sun nor water, because otherwise, given how stifling the environment seems to be in this supernatural dimension, it seems unlikely that flora of any kind would sprout there. After all, although purgatory is a forest, it’s not exactly flourishing.

4 How Did Michael Suddenly Open Up The Rift?

Another thing that makes no sense is how easily Michael, possessing Adam Winchester, in season 15, opened up a rift to purgatory so that Dean and Cas could look for the Leviathan blossom.

After all the cloak and dagger of season 6, where purgatory was still just a notion and not even a real place, it seems odd that the archangel knew how to snap open the rift to this hell-ish realm all along. If that were the case, maybe Sam could have found a way to bring Dean back when the latter vanished for a year, or the brothers might have tried to bring Cas back the same way. All they needed was an archangel, and fans know that in Supernatural, things like archangel grace are child’s play.

3 Could Dean Really Have Survived?

Okay, this is probably a futile point, given the make-believe nature of the show, but does it really make sense for Dean to have survived in purgatory for as long as he did?

Of course, it’s Dean Winchester–an almost invincible hunter. But the keyword here is almost. He is, after all, human, and has died many many times in the course of the series. Nor did he have the Mark of Cain seared on his arm to literally make him unbeatable when he was in purgatory. So it does take a stretch of the imagination to believe that he survived without a scratch.

2 Virgin’s Blood

When the whole purgatory jazz started, the dragons needed virgin’s blood to open purgatory and let Eve, Mother of All, out. In the season 6 finale, Cas and Crowley apparently procure the virgin’s blood to open the doorway themselves.

While that is still acceptable, what makes no sense is how Sam, Dean, and Bobby get hold of the virgin’s blood when they open the same passage to save Cas and send all the monstrous souls back into purgatory. It seems unlikely that they would obtain it by draining an actual virgin.

1 The Human Vessels In Purgatory

A series that has run as long as Supernatural has is bound to have a few loopholes. It seems odd that the souls of the dreaded monsters should appear as human vessels in purgatory.

When Dean and Castiel land in purgatory, they are immediately threatened by what look like deformed humans. Later too, whenever Dean is seen having flashbacks to his time in purgatory, there are creatures that look like humans surrounding him all around. Yet, one would imagine that even if a monster had a human appearance while on earth, they would have been ripped from that once they died, and only their soul would be in purgatory. Aside from vampires and werewolves, who would have been human, to begin with, shouldn’t other monsters appear like, well, monsters?

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