In Supernatural, it doesn’t matter if a a character has a physical disability, is in the LGBT+ community, is a person of color, or a woman/AFAB. They will consistently and overwhelmingly be treated unfairly or dismissed by the writers, other characters on the show, and/or by the fandom, all the while heading towards a quick death. I’m sure that some people would object, and point to the more normative characters within the show to say there’s a counterpart for every minority character killed within the show. But minority characters die more often then not while normative characters are allowed to finish their one episode relevance or story arc before leaving the show.

Queer Characters within Supernatural

The first queer characters the audience was introduced to was Lily, a lesbian who was also one of the “Special Children”. What’s interesting is that the eight characters in this category all receive different supernatural abilities as a result of the demon blood they were fed. What’s not so interesting is the ability Lily has: she’s able to stop people’s hearts after physical contact with them. Sam is allowed premonitions, telekensis, and demon smiting. Max is telekinetic. Ava is also telekinetic and has control over demons. Jake, a man of color, has super strength and mind control. Scott has electricity manipulation. There are two minorities in this group, and between the two of them, it’s Lily who receives the subtly insidious characterization.

The problem with Lily’s characterization is that you don’t learn about her gift until she makes a bitter remark to the other seven adults. All of them start sharing their abilities, and she snarks that she would love to have premonitions, revealing her own deadly gift. She says that she can “barely leave” her house (All Hell Breaks Loose: Part 1). Later on, the characters are struggling to formulate a game plan and understand why they’re in a deserted, haunted town. It’s revealed then that Lily accidentally killed her girlfriend when her power started manifesting.

Sam explains to a reluctant and bitter Lily that the eight of them need to stick together so that they can all figure things out. Even Jake, who initially seemed less then thrilled with the teamwork idea, agrees with Sam. She gives in to the plan - until she’s able to sneak away. Ironically enough, Lily is also the first person to die. Her character is hung, and the symbolism feels heavy to me. She’s strung up, dead, in public. None of the other characters who die within the last two episodes of season two are given that kind of death.

Charlie is shoved out of the show in much the same manner. She’s introduced in season 7, and her sexuality isn’t brought up until she needs to flirt her way past a security guard, which is treated more or less like a joke - the audience is clearly meant to go “Oh, haha, she’s a lesbian!”. This wouldn’t normally be a problem, but no straight character would ever be treated like this. If they were ever put into the position of defining their sexuality to another character, it would not be met with comical writing. This begs the question of whether the writers were trying to show more of Charlie’s quirky personality or if they wish to treat homosexuality as a joke.

From then on, she makes another six appearances in seasons nine and ten. Prior to her death in ‘Dark Dynasty’, she was in an episode for the full forty-five minutes. Much like Lily, Charlie’s introduction to the show had little to do with her sexuality, in the sense that her short arcs weren’t defined by the fact that she was a lesbian. Because she was a skilled IT expert, Charlie was introduced in ‘The Girl With the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo’ and show up ‘Slumber Party’ where those skills were put to use as the result of her job, and, later, the request of Sam and Dean. The distinguishing factor with Charlie is that her character is a nerdy fangirl who’s smart, and is also gay. Her sexuality is rarely referenced in the show. She’s treated well, up until ‘Dark Dynasty’.

The problem with Charlie’s characterization is that, I suspect, in the writers’s eyes, she became too useful, as Brown puts it in ‘Failed Expectations: Supernatural Season 10’. “The writers always do that to every great character who gets too useful, and it’s frustrating as all hell. It smacks of them not knowing what to do with the characters or the actors. I still don’t believe Charlie would ever go along with Sam’s machinations; the writers forced that on her only because they wanted to have her killed by the Steins—another act that was anti-Charlie. She died because the writers couldn’t figure out how to use her properly.”

Her death makes no sense because time and time again, Charlie has been shown to be a resourceful person. She was able to help Rowena translate the entirety of the Book of the Damned despite the fact that it was in code and written in another (archaic) language. She’s been on the run for sixteen years after getting arrested. And it’s implied that she never went to college but was educated enough (presumably through self-teaching) to land a job at Google (though she turned it down in favor of working for Dick Roman). Charlie is capable of making a relatively comfortable life for herself even if she’s given the bare minimums.

When presented with this, it’s hard to believe that she would run off to a motel to translate a book in peace, knowing that there is a powerful, evil family looking for her. Charlie knew the risks of helping the Winchesters, but she chose to do it anyway. The issue is that there was literally no reason for her to leave the nice, safe bunker where she was staying with Sam, Dean, and Rowena. Charlie could have easily gone and had a break in a lounge area, or taken a section of the book to translate in one of the spare rooms in the bunker.

Charlie was one of the more prominent GLBT+ characters on Supernatural. She was a huge fan favorite. Sam and Dean’s interactions/scenes with Charlie took the show to new heights because she was a lesbian whose character wasn’t defined by her sexuality. She was so much more then that, but because of her non-normative identities (a woman and lesbian), the way she interacted with the world and the way people interacted with her made for lively episodes. It gets to the point where Sam and Dean treat her like an equal. Charlie isn’t demoted to being just a love interest or daughter, despite the fact that one episodes shows her being interested in Gilda and another episode delves into her childhood.

Naturally, she had to die. The writers don’t know how to handle characters like Charlie because they’re seen as equals (and god forbid that happens). The only other reason why she was killed and dumped in a bathtub was to further the tension and arguing between Sam and Dean.

When it comes to characters like Lily, the pain of LGBT+ people are even more pronounced in a subtle, insidiously homophobic way. Why is it that the first queer character is one who inherently kills others? None of the other “special children” displayed any kind of overtly deadly talent - because, in the end, it always has to be all about the tension and plot surrounding the male leads, never mind the fact the audience of Supernatural is comprised of women, of LGBT+ folk, of people who have disabilities, of people that Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Crowley in no way represent over an eleven season show.