Ouroboros
So, I just found out that 14x14 (which was written by Steve Yockey) is called “Ouroboros” and it has a interesting meaning: “It’s an ancient symbol frequently used in alchemical illustrations to symbolize the circular nature of the alchemist’s opus. Often represents self-reflexitivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly recreating itself thus illustrating the Nietzschean concept of eternal recurrence.” [x] or “ The alchemists, who in their own way knew more about the nature of the individuation process than we moderns do, expressed this paradox through the symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail. The Ouroboros has been said to have a meaning of infinity or wholeness.” [x]
In an episode where Rowena returns to help the Winchesters, it has an ominous presence (and title!) that is going to be interesting to watch when it airs.
Very interesting. I wonder if we’re going to be looking at a “history repeats itself” sort of scenario.
Yeah, it has that look and seeing all the callbacks this season had put on, the possibility has increasing extensively 🤔🤔
It is SPN though and Yockey is the writer for this one I believe, so you can bet they’re going to put their own little spin on the idea. Like history repeating itself but also by history repeating itself, it creates a new circle of life, a new path to take our characters on.
Oh yes, it’s Yockey’s. I’m really interested of how he’ll handle the theme of repeating actions and how will affect this to the characters and plots 🤔
reblogging to take note – ouroboros is a huge hermetic symbol and one of my specialties so I shall enjoy gorging on this in the next day or two, but my net went out at like 8 PM so here I am, about to go to bed.
Okay if this turns out to be the title of the ep…holy crap.
Did those who are a fan of the tv series 12 Monkeys and spn just have all their hair stand on end or is it just me? No spoilers on the end-game reveal twists on 12 Monkeys here. I’m just waving my arms around wildly and throwing some stuff on the table for possible motifs SPN might pick up on, although I don’t mean that it will be heavy or direct plot correlations. Just…fun with parallels.
Yes, what they said, about what the ouroboros symbol means. Intriguing in itself, but spn also is a pop culture genre text that enjoys nodding to other pop culture genre texts. It’s having its MCU season right now with echoes to Infinity War–the countless possible outcomes, the finger snap, the arrogant merciless villain who wants to remake the universe.
12 Monkeys heavily used the Ouroborous as key imagery and as a plot device. It is premised on countless possible outcomes (involving time travel) and is all about the consequences of saving the ones you love or lost and found family and the struggle between do you save the one or save the many and a small rag-tag band of heroes working out of an abandoned industrial space preventing an apocalypse.
It happens a main cast member from 12 Monkeys guest starred in Advanced Thanatology which was written by Yockey, where he introduced the concept of countless possible outcomes into SPN, and had a visual easter egg for 12 Monkeys in it. (More than one regular or recurring 12 Monkeys cast member has appeared on SPN btw.)
12 Monkeys (which was based on the movie but went its own directions) aired on syfy channel and has a neat, tightly plotted, fast-paced, 4-season canon, with short seasons. The whole thing is still streaming on the syfy channel website.
If I see red leaves on SPN any time soon imma hit the ceiling.
I’ll just leave off here with part of the poem/puzzle/prophecy that was often repeated on 12 Monkeys:
There once was a serpent Who only traveled one direction: always forward, never backward. Until one day the serpent came upon a demon. The demon cursed the serpent, driving him insane— Causing him to eat his own tail.
Oooh alll great stuff - in addition, SPN is in the very privileged position (from a writers’ point of view it’s just catnip gold) of having such a long tail now that it can turn around and deconstruct itself, i.e. fold back on its own tail, like an ouroboros.
And it has been doing just that, ever since Amara “unfridged” Mary Winchester at the end of S11. Because Mary’s fridging was the orign point of the narrative.
Take me back to the start…
Examples of this ouroboros-like structure are:
1. The many, many mirrors for the ghost of John Winchester in S12 haunting the narrative (“monsters of the week” that season frequently explored, in refracted mirror form, the residues of psychic trauma that particular ghost has left on the Winchesters).
Lots on this in my S12 meta masterpost below, as well as on the new circular narrative structure of the Dabb era:
2. The return of the Michael vs Lucifer storyline - using refraction to disinter the original narrative and hold it up to the light differently, via the device of an AU universe version of the conflict, now bleeding into this one.
3. Jack the Nephilim, who is used as a mirror to refract elements of all three main characters’ past struggles e.g. Castiel’s struggle re losing his powers, Sam’s belief that he could harness dark magic, i.e. the demon blood addiction, for a positive purpose, which the soul-destroying magic Jack now posesses thanks to Lily Sunder is clearly going to test all over again.
Jack also gives the narrative the opportunity to explore the impact of Sam and Dean’s childhoods on their choices as surrogate parents. Dean was initially hostile, resentful, punishing and angry - yes, understandably because of his grief over Cas - but also, unconsciously, perhaps because he had to parent Sam when he was himself a kid, he’s initially claustrophobic about the responsibility of parenting again. Additionally, we know John was a hard-ass to his kids and so we can see, in his intitial treatement of Jack, that Dean has internalised some of that (which he eventually manages to overcome, partly thanks to Jack - see their emotional bonding fishing trip just before Jack’s death).
So, in addition to all the previous posters spec, I’d expect some meta-narrative (commentary on the SPN narrative itself) re circular narrative in Yockey’s upcoming ep.
It’s really interesting to me, because not only am I obsessed with the spiral narrative of the series, but the ouroborous itself was something we were discussing back in s10 when Metatron made the “river ends at its source” comment, and after 10.23 when we were speculating on the darkness.
So the meta-narrative has already begun, just from the title. :D
It’s also ironic that we’re talking about ouroborouses when we’ve literally just ended an episode on a mirror of this:
where they’ve given Michael the ole Doc Benton. Of course his book had one on the cover because he dealt in alchemy and eternal life.
The other one that springs instantly to mind is Charlie’s armour in 8x11:
Claire had one on her hunting wall back in 11.12, too: