Supernatural: 5 Times Sam Did Something Evil Against His Will (& 5 Times He Did It All On His Own)

Sam and Dean Winchester both made their fair share of mistakes on Supernatural that made them seem like villains rather than heroes, even if they did these things with good intentions. Sam, especially in the early seasons, with getting hooked on demon blood, did things that made him seem like an antagonist on the show, and even if he was being manipulated, they were still done by choice.

Moreso than Dean, though, Sam was thrust into doing evil things by way of possession and by way of circumstances that were way out of his control. He cannot be blamed for doing such villainous things against his will, but they continued to haunt Sam after the fact.

10 Blowing Up Castiel & Nearly Killing Dean Was Against His Will

In arguably Supernatural’s best episode, “Swan Song,” Sam tries his best to fend off Lucifer in his mind. While he eventually does so, shockingly and saddeningly jumping in the pit, Lucifer does quite a bit of damage while inside Sam’s body.

Not only does Lucifer destroy Castiel with a single click of the fingers, he nearly beats Dean to death. Sam cannot be blamed for any of this, obviously. He cannot be blamed for any evil he does while possessed or against his will, but temporarily killing Cas and nearly killing Dean, as well as the people from Sam’s past earlier in the episode, is quite the evil move from Lucifer.

9 Getting Hooked On Demon Blood Was His Own Doing

To say Sam getting hooked on demon blood was his own doing might be debatable. After all, he was seduced and manipulated by Ruby the entire way, who quenched any doubts and promised him Lilith’s head after Lilith killed Dean.

As Ruby points out in “Lucifer Rising,” though it was all Sammy, Ruby just gave him a push. Sam may not have been in the right state of mind, to begin with, but he really should have realized sucking the blood of another being, especially a being like a demon, was not a good idea.

8 Kidnapping Jo Was Against His Will

Meg Masters is a recurring character in the show who changes face and changes allegiances throughout, dying as an anti-hero and friend of the Winchesters/potential lover of Castiel.

Back in season 2, she was very much a villain, and in “Born Under A Bad Sign,” she possesses Sam and does some evil stuff. One thing she does while riding Sam’s body around the Earth was kidnapping Jo Harvelle. Meg (as Sam) first attempts to seduce Jo and then moves on to emotional torment, telling her Dean does not like her and that their father shot Jo’s dad in the head after using him as bait. Jo eventually realizes it is not the real Sam, thankfully, and when Meg is exorcized, Sam feels immense guilt.

7 Constant Lying & Choosing Ruby Was His Own Doing

Going back to the early days when Sam was draining demons as if he were a vampire before he even began doing so, he got with Ruby. This was not so evil and villainous, just a mistake; however, it led to Sam being plainly unlikable.

Trusting a demon and sleeping with a demon at that point was bad enough, but then Sam began trusting her more than Dean and Bobby, his family. He was so blinded by a hatred of Lilith and by his awful relationship with Ruby – as well as an eventual addiction to demon blood – that he put her over them. That goes hand in hand with the constant lying to Dean, a typical Supernatural storyline, whether it be about Ruby or the Book of the Damned, lying rarely ends well for either of the brothers.

6 Murdering Hunters Was Against His Will

Kidnapping beloved ally of Sam and Dean’s, Jo Harvelle, was not the evilest thing Meg Masters did while possessing Sam, and was not the only thing she left him feeling painfully guilty about when “Born Under A Bad Sign” ended.

Meg’s entire motivation throughout the episode was killing hunters as well as trying to get Dean to kill Sam. She succeeded on the former. Sam and Dean both find footage of Sam mercilessly slitting the throat of a hunter, Steve Wandell. What makes it even worse is that Sam admits to being conscious of Meg murdering the hunter, meaning he was obviously in serious distress when Meg was controlling him.

5 Sucking Blood From A Conscious Nurse Was His Own Doing

It is obvious Sam does some evil stuff when hooked on demon blood, but there is no act of his more sickening than when he drains the blood of a demon who has relinquished control of his vessel’s body.

That means the nurse the demon was possessing was awake, conscious, and in control when Sam was drinking her blood. Her screams and pleas were shocking and showed just how far off the deep end Sam had gone as if it was not obvious already. Sam does not do much evil after the Kripke-era on his own, mistakes yes, bad things, sure, but not much pure evil like this through his own free will.

4 Everything He Did While Soulless Was Against His Will

This is another event that could be debated. On the one hand, Sam was not possessed; nobody was manipulating him; he was Sam, just soulless. On the other hand, though, there is no doubt Sam would not have done any of the abhorrent things soulless Sam did.

Season 6 clearly shows how crucial souls are in Supernatural, how they make a person who they are. Sam’s carelessness, ruthlessness, and the way he treated people, from murdering an innocent bartender to nearly killing Bobby, were all appalling. Sam feels guilty upon remembering it, and it is easy to see why. Soulless Sam was arguably more unlikable than demon-blood drinking Sam.

3 Killing Emma Was His Own Doing

Emma was an Amazon and the daughter of Dean Winchester, who Sam shot and killed when it looked as though she would kill Dean, as per Amazonian tradition.

It may be harsh to call Sam evil for doing such a thing, but it certainly was one of his coldest moments on the show. Emma was planning to kill Dean, but the boys have encountered monsters that have changed their ways before, and while Emma would have been hard work, it was not impossible to help her.

2 Killing Kevin Tran Was Against His Will

This was as much Dean’s fault as it was anyone else’s, certainly more so than it was Sam’s. However, it was Sam’s body being used by Gadreel when he killed Kevin Tran at the orders of Metatron.

Kevin was such a great character who got dealt a rough hand in life, and this was just the icing on the cake. Sam had to live with the fact it was his hand that killed one of the brother’s closest friends, whether Gadreel was possessing him or not. It was another heartbreaking instance of a character dying because of their association with Sam and Dean.

1 Letting Lucifer Out Was His Own Doing

So often in Supernatural, Sam and Dean do their best to rectify their mistakes, whether it be seeking forgiveness from the other brother, helping those they hurt or jumping in the pit of hell to make up for the fact one of them released Lucifer from hell.

This was undoubtedly the worst thing to come out of Sam’s relationship with Ruby as it nearly brought about the Apocolypse. Sam was, of course, helped along by Ruby, by the angels, and by Lilith, but that does not excuse the fact he wanted to go through with killing Lilith and therefore breaking the final seal. Sam’s eventual jump in the pit, one of the show’s saddest moments, was enough to make up for these mistakes.