Sam Winchester (born May 2, 1983) to John and Mary Winchester in Lawrence, Kansas. He is one of two focal characters of the series. He is the couple's second child, four years younger than his older brother Dean. He is named after his maternal grandfather, Samuel Campbell. When Sam was only six months old, his mother Mary was killed by the demon Azazel, whom his mother walked in on while he was feeding Sam demon blood. Sam is saved from the ensuing fire by his father, who then gives him to a four-year-old Dean to carry outside. Since that moment, Dean has felt responsible for Sam and became Sam's protector, partially due to pressure from their father to keep his brother safe.

Sam and Dean spent their childhood moving from town to town every few weeks while their father hunted supernatural beings and their mother's unknown killer. Until the age of 8, Sam believed that his mother had died in a car accident and his father was a traveling salesman, until Dean revealed to him the existence of the paranormal. Sam apparently started hunting alongside his brother and father around the age of twelve, however, he began wanting a normal life without monsters; years later, a teacher encouraged him to carve out a life away from the "family business" after reading Sam's story about a werewolf hunt. At nineteen, after a heated argument with John, Sam leaves for Stanford University, thus leaving his family and their hunting crusade behind him.


Powers and Abilities
Sam's supernatural abilities are the result of him being fed Azazel's demon blood while he was an infant. Sam exhibits signs of precognition throughout the first season, manifesting as dreams of others' deaths and later as visions. Sam has also shown signs of sensing spirits, once displayed telekinesis, and immunity to certain demonic powers. Sam states that his abilities are connected to Azazel and anything related to his actions, such as the other special children. This argument was further proven after Azazel's death, as Sam stopped having visions of both the demon and the other psychics, however, according to Ruby his powers were simply dormant.

After training with Ruby, Sam develops new abilities, such as exorcising demons with his mind, and his telekinesis becomes more potent. By drinking demon blood Sam's power become stronger, to the point where he can outright kill demons and even torture them while in their human hosts; by drinking at least three gallons of demon blood, he can kill demons just by concentrating and willing it to happen. After being affected by the Horseman Famine, Sam uses his powers to defeat him. Shortly after this, Dean and Bobby lock him in the panic room and force him to detox. In addition, with the training given to him by his father, Sam is a skilled fighter, proficient with firearms, shotguns and melee weapons.

Like his brother Dean, he possesses many abilities that are frowned upon by law, including but not limited to: lock picking, computer hacking, disguised conning, and car jacking. Throughout the series, Sam has shown to be highly intelligent with reading and recalling Latin incantations, which can be used to summon, exorcise, and vanquish demons; typically, when the two brothers are working together, Dean is the superior physical fighter while Sam's expertise lies in carrying out research and recalling information to determine the nature of the threat that they are currently facing. Through Ruby, he knows how to make hex bags to cloak himself from demons and angels. Sam also displays the ability to read one's "poker face" and has a great sense of direction and time, at one point being able to find a vampire's nest while blindfolded by keeping track of the time and the turns of the car.