The Best Heroes On Supernatural Ranked

Supernatural might be a show about demons, vampires, and werewolves, but it's also a show about humans. Better yet, a show about two brothers trying to do their best to save the world.

Now that Supernatural is in its final season, there's no better time to rank the heroes who've graced this dark fantasy with their presence. But what makes a hero? Typically, it's someone who saves others and is deemed courageous, brave, and noble. Heroes are also complicated — they don't have to be omni-benevolent creatures who follow all the rules. And, no, not all heroes wear capes — at times, they wear cheap suits or blue jeans. There are few rules, really, beyond doing good, even if it doesn't come naturally.

Heroes come in many shapes. A single act, in fact, can make a character a hero. In honor of the hit TV series coming to a close after 15 magical seasons, here are the best heroes on Supernatural.

Generally speaking, characters who have made it to the final season of Supernatural deserve to be ranked high. Similar to Game of Thrones, many characters die on Supernatural – sticking around makes you worthy of celebration.

Behold these characters, all of whom deserve an honorable mention: Rufus Turner, Mick Davies, Ash, Benny Lafitte, Adam Milligan/Michael, Billie, Samuel Campbell, Tessa, Ellen and Jo Harvelle, Eileen Leahy, and countless others.

Subtly or overtly, these characters help put Sam and Dean on the right path. They play roles in helping the brothers survive and fight bad guys. Some of them even brought them back to life, perhaps the most heroic act of all.

Uniquely, Supernatural often features characters who have different forms and vessels — they can reside in different bodies, be taken over by demons, angels, and magic, and are at times good and bad. Their walks of life are many, but their heroism isn't in doubt.

At times, Garth Fitzgerald IV is the worst hunter in Supernatural. However, Garth has managed to survive and thrive, which is hard to do on a show that routinely kills off its characters. And, sure, he's now a werewolf, but his heart is still beating.

Garth's light-hearted nature is a blessing to a show about monsters and fantasy worlds. Plus, he's just a plain good person. Being a good person doesn't necessarily make Garth a hero, but it certainly helps.

Thanks to his werewolf strength, Garth saves Sam and Dean from an almost-guaranteed death in season 15. The boys find themselves locked up, waiting to be released to fight a massive vampire in a cage match. With their luck depleted, they are hopeless — until Garth comes to the rescue and releases them. This episode is titled "The Heroes' Journey," so, yeah, we can safely say Garth is a hero.

Arthur Ketch kills fellow British Men of Letters member Mick Davies just as the audience was starting to like him. He works with Asmodeus, a Prince of Hell, to find Jack Kline, a Nephilim and son of Lucifer. He kills hunters, making him at times no better than the monsters the hunters hunt. He nearly kills Dean and betrays Mary Winchester, Sam and Dean's beloved mother. He deceives the Winchesters time and time again, typically for his own gain.

But in the end, he's not actually a bad guy — just complicated. After all, Ketch rescues archangel Gabriel and helps Dean rescue Mary and Jack from the Apocalypse World. In time, he even wants to redeem himself.

Arthur Ketch is one of the most talented monster-slayers on Supernatural. He's not the most ethical hero, but he has his moments when it comes to saving the world — or at least aiding the Winchesters when they're the ones doing the world-saving.

His second and apparently final death came on the heels of not giving up the whereabouts of Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Belphegor to a demon. In response, the demon rips out his heart and crushes it. Now that's bloody redemption.

From a moral standpoint, Gabriel isn't always the noblest hero. However, Gabriel is one of the most powerful beings on the show. He is, after all, an archangel, and those types of angels don't grow on trees. In terms of pure power, in fact, Gabriel is one of the most gifted forces on the show. If it weren't for him, the brothers we've all come to know and love wouldn't have stopped the apocalypse from coming. He also told the Winchesters about Lucifer's Cage, a place in hell that's designed to imprison the bad boy angel.

His good deeds don't stop there, as Gabriel eventually kills Asmodeus and confronts Michael, his brother and fellow archangel, in the Apocalypse World. Gabriel nobly dies fighting and aiding the Winchesters. Gabriel isn't a purely moral character, but he ultimately chose Dean and Sam's side over his brothers'. That has "hero" written all over it.

The Wayward Sisters appear in "Wayward Sisters," a season 13 backdoor pilot. They consist of Jody Mills, Donna Hanscum, Alex Jone, Claire Novak, Patience Turner, and Kaia Nieves. Of course, they've all had other appearances on the show — but seeing them brought together as an evil-fighting super group is ludicrously cool. Orphaned girls, under the mentorship of tough-as-nails Jody Mills, fighting the forces of evil? That's a killer premise. The Sisters' unique circumstances are also a fascinating inverse of the Supernatural formula: Like Sam and Dean, the Sisters are a monster-fighting family, but they are siblings of circumstance rather than blood.

Together, this sisterhood could have cracked the top five of all-time heroes on Supernatural, but the creators decided not to pursue a Wayward Sisters series. At the time of this writing, Alex, Jody, Donna, Claire, and Patience are still alive. While Kaia is deceased, her alternate version, Dark Kaia, lives on. It's been a rough road for the Sisters, but fans will never forget their heroism.

John Winchester, in many ways, is one of the best hunters on Supernatural. His legacy lives on long after death: Countless characters have helped Sam and Dean purely because of who their dad was. Moreover, John helped to push them to become uber-talented hunters themselves. And when it comes to acts of heroism, few have him beat. Although one can point to countless instances in which a Supernatural character sacrifices himself or herself to save Dean and Sam, the boys' dad literally sent himself to Hell to bring Dean back to life. Because this is Supernatural and no one's ever really dead, this wasn't John's last appearance, but that's not the kind of act one forgets easily.

Considering how good of a hunter John is (he almost never leaves a monster behind and only dies as a hunter to save his son), it's no surprise his sons turn out to be the greatest hunters of all time.

Many Supernatural characters are heroes because of their monster-hunting, but Kevin Tran is special because of his abilities. Kevin is a prophet, and the Winchesters — and, likely, the whole world — would be doomed if Kevin weren't able to translate the Leviathan tablet. Adding more to his resume, he also translates the Demon tablet and discovers how to close the gates of Hell.

The most heroic aspect Kevin Tran has going for him is that he's not translating tablets to help out a family member — he's doing it because he knows it's the right thing to do. Sure, he's not as strong as hunters like John, but he stays on the path of righteousness anyway. Kevin wasn't raised to become a hero, nor is he being forced into it by others. He simply chooses to be a good person and that in itself is heroic.

Charlie Bradbury is highly intelligent, moral, and basically like a sister to Sam and Dean. But that's not what's most relevant here. Charlie also dies to save Dean, is resurrected, and then dies again while helping the brothers. That's right: Charlie dies twice for Sam and Dean. 

Moreover, she is a computer hacker, hunter, and even manages to kill the Wicked Witch (yes, the one from Oz). The nerd extraordinaire — she's got a Princess Leia tattoo and everything — is a bright spot on a show that sees blood, deception, and death on a regular basis. Charlie does what she thinks is right, and generally speaking, her instincts are correct. Her unceremonious death still stings, but Supernatural aficionados were semi-relieved to see the alternate Charlie from the Apocalypse World.

Charlie Bradbury isn't the strongest and most powerful hero this universe has seen, but she's one of its brightest minds and most steadfast moral guardians.

Okay, we understand your skepticism. Crowley is a demon and King of Hell and Rowena is a witch who has become Queen of Hell. Not to mention, both are, at times, the antagonist of the show. Plus, Crowley and Rowena, on the surface, only do things to benefit themselves. They're not great people, all in all, only really becoming anti-heroes at their absolute best. But they do plenty of heroic acts and use their immense powers to help Sam and Dean save the world time and time again. Before Crowley's demise, he was on Sam and Dean's team, and Rowena transitioned nicely to their side as well.

They, of course, don't have the most moral and heroic backgrounds, but they became fan favorites and when their interests align with the Winchesters, they morph into heroes. Plus, there's a very small list of characters who have more capabilities and powers than Crowley and Rowena. It's a lot of fun to see them help out our heroes, but also flat-out cool.

Although Sam and Dean's mother comes back to life (see: resurrection), Jody Mills is like a second mother to the Winchester boys. She's also a sterling sheriff of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and holds her own in the hunter ring. For good measure, she adopts Claire Novak and Alex Jones. This, along with her compassion and love for others, equates to a superior human being.

While anything can happen in Supernatural and no one is safe from death, unceremonious or otherwise, Jody is one of the very few characters on the show who has yet to die. Making it this far in the game of Supernatural, Jody has been through a lot, including the death of her husband, child, and countless other loved ones. She's not as powerful or arguably heroic as the characters to come, but she's always there when Sam and Dean need her as all good surrogate mothers are.

Bobby Singer is a well-known hunter in his own right, but his heroism truly shines when he's seen showing Sam and Dean the ropes and sharing stories about their dad . Bobby becomes a father figure to the boys and, like so many others along the way, helps them get out of unlikely jams and kill monsters.

Bobby is straightforward yet sarcastic and crass, and never the sort to sugarcoat information given to Dean and Sam. He's also been known to save the world, which hits high moral scales by itself. He's a big reason why Sam and Dean act the way they do and although a version of him still walks the Supernatural universe, his death hits hard — but Sam Dean carry on his legacy, lessons, and toughness. Sam and Dean are world-class hunters for many reasons, but Bobby plays a big role in their craft and excellence.

Bobby dies at the hands of leviathan leader Dick Roman. Similar to others, an alternate version of Bobby exists in the Apocalypse World and now resides on Earth.

John Winchester gets a lot of credit for his hunting abilities, but Mary Winchester is easily a top-10 hunter on the show. Even her death in the series pilot ends up becoming a blow to the forces of evil: It's the reason John becomes a hunter and the main motivation for Sam and Dean becoming full-time monster killers. She's a moral character whose main focus is to keep her kids and makeshift family safe by stopping the evils of the world, and she's darn good at it to boot.

She is resurrected by The Darkness/Amara as a thank-you gift to Dean and goes on to hone her skills with the British Men of Letters. From there, she helps save the world and kills beings with fangs, claws, and other terrifying characteristics, as all great hunters do. Arthur tells Mary she's one of the best hunters he's ever seen, which is saying a lot since Arthur is one of the best human fighters of the series.

If Jack Kline were to reach his full potential, he'd be capable of being the most powerful entity on Supernatural. Even God is afraid of him — his dad is, after all, Lucifer. Unsurprisingly, Jack struggles with good, evil, and containing his angel powers.

Deep down, he wants to prove he's good. He wants to make Castiel, Sam, and Dean proud. He wants to defeat the darkness inside him and spread world peace with the snap of his fingers — something he might actually be capable of. Even when he loses his powers, he still tries to prove his worth by being an adequate hunter.

Unfortunately, he kills Mary Winchester, in addition to a number of other innocent souls. But one has to remember that Jack hasn't been alive all that long, and is still learning. His commitment to good is hard-fought and inconstant, but it's one he solidifies with every heroic act.

Castiel might as well be a Winchester. He routinely undermines people (often literal angels like himself) and makes choices that go against his stated beliefs and desires, all to help the Winchesters. In the end, that's what he'll be remembered for.

Cas, for starters, saves Dean from Hell and is known to heal the Winchester's battle wounds with his angelic powers. He's been killed what feels like 100 times, but continues to get resurrected and fight by Sam and Dean's side. Without him, the brothers would have failed many times and the world likely would have been overtaken by a multitude of monsters, demons, and ne'er-do-wells. Cas, Dean, and Sam have seen it all, from vampires and demons to gods and monsters. Yet against all odds, they continue to do what they think is morally right. That's what heroes do, and Cas is one of the best — only trailing the two main characters of the show.

Could it be any other way? Dean and Sam are humans, yet still manage to take down far superior beings over and over again. Of course, there are times when the brothers get power upgrades, such as when Dean gets the Mark of Cain or when Sam drinks demon blood. But at the end of the day, they always return to simple humanity. For them, it's enough.

In case you haven't been keeping score over the years, Dean and Sam have taken down virtually every monster ever created, the FBI, the British Men of Letters, a Scooby-Doo universe, the Mother of All Monsters, gods, angels, archangels, demons, Lucifer, leviathans, death (the state of being and the entity), possession, The Darkness, witchery, curses, and countless other evils.

The bad guy might change every season, but the Winchesters defy all odds and win against them every single time. What's a hero? It's Sam. It's Dean. It's the Winchesters.