John Winchester is one of the key figures in the first seasons of the popular American television series.
John is originally from Normal, Illinois. When he was four, his father Henry Winchester disappeared. John thought that Henry abandoned him and his mother, although in fact Henry had to time travel to the future to escape from the Hell Knight Abaddon and hide the key to the Keepers of Knowledge bunker from her. If Henry had not disappeared, John, like Henry, would have become a Loremaster. John served in Vietnam as a Marine Corporal. After his service, he worked as a mechanic and co-owned a garage with Mike Gunter. He describes himself as “a mechanic from a family of mechanics.”
John Winchester and Mary Campbell initially couldn't stand each other. However, Heaven was pleased to unite the families of hunters and Keepers of Knowledge, and they sent Cherub, as a result of which John and Mary fell in love with each other.
The marriage of John and Mary was not always calm. It is known that on at least one occasion John left home. After Mary's death, he had to raise him alone. Upon learning that Mary was killed supernatural creature, John became a hunter of evil spirits and raised his children the same way, teaching them to hunt. He was obsessed with the idea of revenge. John traveled from town to town hunting evil spirits, often leaving Dean and Sam alone for days or even weeks.
After Dean, Sam and John are involved in an accident caused by a demon, Dean's life is thrown into chaos. mortal danger, because his injuries are very serious. John makes a deal with Azazel for Dean's life in exchange for his soul and the Colt along with the bullet. It is revealed that John knew the truth about Sam from the very beginning. As he dies, he warns Dean that he will have to kill Sam.
Over the course of eight seasons, SPN fans have learned a little about Sam and Dean’s parents, mainly about the Campbells, who are related on their mother’s side. But on Wednesday, episode 8.12 "As Time Goes By," viewers will meet Henry Winchester, their paternal grandfather. Today, after the press screening, executive producer Robert Singer (pictured right) spoke about the choice of actor for this role, intrigued by several upcoming returns and a possible 9th season...
Casting for the role of Grandfather Winchester.
All Winchester men have a certain toughness, but when it came to casting an actor to play Sam and Dean's paternal grandfather, Singer said the show needed an actor who was different from the boys:
“He is a representative of a bygone generation. We were just looking best actor and a guy who would work well with the boys and create a contrast. This guy is more fashionable, more erudite and educated. In fact, we were looking more for contrast than family resemblance."
Indeed, second grandfather Henry (Gil McKinney) has found a way to get to 2013, but he has conflicts with his grandchildren. He's a little embarrassed modern technologies, trouble with Dean's car (ooh boy, that's not good), he doesn't approve of them life choice and disagrees with them on the conduct of affairs.
The return of familiar characters.
Despite the fact that most of the series is dedicated to the two Winchester brothers, Singer confirmed the imminent return of several familiar characters:
“Kevin will be back. Benny will be back. Castiel is back. Maybe Amelia. Or maybe not".
SPN fans know that Castiel is now closely connected with the tablet.
"He really plays decisive role in the history of the tablet,” says Singer. - He will have his own trials. Naomi is very unhappy with him, Crowley is very unhappy with him. And the angel is now in confusion.”
With Benny it's a little more complicated:
“He stubbornly fights his thirst for blood,” Singer intrigues. - To be honest, Benny is having a hard time with Dean ending their relationship. So, we are working on what he will have to go through in the near future. We do not want and have never wanted their story to come to an end. It probably won't be that great drama that ends with a phone call."
Although Felicia Day (Charlie) appeared in last week's episode of "LARP and the Real Girl,” the writers are already making plans for her third return to the show.
“Felicia will be back in an episode,” says Singer. “We love Felicia.”
Unfortunately, the details of the return are not yet known:
“We know she will be back, the plot is in development. I know that she will involve the brothers in the matter - I can’t tell you more.”
Will there be a season 9?
“I've been in this industry long enough to know that you can never be sure of anything,” he admitted.
“If I had to bet, I bet we’d be back.”
In fact, this article should appear somewhere where they write about mysticism or miracles, or about how aliens from the constellation Draco took our form and live among us. But since its topic is directly related to, then, in my opinion, it belongs here. The fact is that there are many people inventing, or trying to invent and design weapons. And some people are good at it. But what then? How do the curses of the people killed by these weapons affect us and our children (if they do?!), and what might they sometimes think about how these curses... affect their fate? The thought, having materialized, is horrible power, even if she is completely delusional. And it’s just one such example that the story will be about here.
Sarah Winchester's house.
“It seems, what else does a person need from fate, if, in general, you have become from the poor and the hungry famous person in the country? When you worked as a laborer on farms from your youth, then counted coppers, as a bellhop at a hotel, worked as a construction worker, but then you got so much money that you can count it not even in tens, or even hundreds of thousands, but in millions of dollars. ! However, at first there was at least some prosperity. Your own enterprise, your own company “Winchester and Davis” - simple and solid. And it was only later that he invested part of the money in a stake in the Volcanic Repairing Arms company and, as it turned out, he was absolutely right. Because in this country, producing men's shirts is, of course, a good thing, but still making rifles and pistols is much more profitable.
Henry rifle (top) and Winchester musket (bottom).
And Henry’s gun, this “devil’s rifle,” also came in very handy, although he, Oliver, set the price for it at $42, plus money for the cartridges! In a word, a soldier’s three-month salary in years Civil War in the USA you had to give it away in order to buy it for yourself, and they bought it, no matter what, and even in whole shelves. Well, then, when the war ended, he was again lucky in that Nelson King came up with his “royal innovation”, and most importantly, agreed to sell him a patent for it!
Carbine 1873.
Because everyone liked Henry’s old carbine, but it was just too inconvenient to load it. By the time you push all fifteen rounds of ammunition into it - again, it was best to do it standing, because you had to push them into the magazine from the barrel - then, you see, they’ve already killed you. Well, now in his new carbines, thanks to King’s patent, everything has become completely different. There is a small cap with a spring on the side, you press on it and, cartridge by cartridge, fill the magazine. And at the same time, whether you lie in a ditch or sit on horseback, it makes no difference to you. And yet, for some reason, everything goes wrong, some inexplicable misfortunes happen around... No, not a single person can be truly happy, not even me, although, to tell the truth, everything is much better for me than many!”
One way or another, Oliver Fisher Winchester, the head and founder of the Winchester Repairing Arms company, thought so or not, now you probably can’t even say. But he definitely had to think about something like that, because in his old age he couldn’t help but look back at his past and think about his life path. However, in 1880, the year of his death, he, of course, did not yet know that his son William, who was supposed to inherit his father's fortune, William, who had married himself beautiful girl from Connecticut, Sarah Pardee, who knew four languages and played the violin and piano, suddenly fell ill with tuberculosis in 1881 and died. However, already in 1866, immediately after Sarah gave birth to her daughter Annie, numerous misfortunes began to haunt his family. So, little Annie became seriously ill and died two weeks later. And the mother’s grief was so great that for seven days she could neither eat nor sleep, did not speak to anyone, and kept sitting over the body of her dead girl.
Sarah Pardee, colorized photo 1865
Of course, they still managed to bury her, but Sarah ended up in a hospital, where she spent several years, and all this time she stubbornly remained silent. But before she had time to return to normal life, how William fell ill and died, and Sarah became the heir to a fortune of 20 million dollars, simply fabulous at that time. In addition, she owned 50 percent of the company's shares, which her father-in-law left her, and which gave her an income of approximately a thousand dollars a day!
But there is wealth - there is no happiness! Sarah Winchester was feeling very bad, and one of her friends advised her to go to a medium who was said to be able to communicate with other world and summon the souls of the dead. What if he manages to summon the spirit of her husband and he will be able to cheer her up and calm her down?! Since Sarah was very pious, she at first flatly refused to engage in such things, considering it a sin, but in the end she decided to do so. And during the session, the medium said, “Your husband is here,” and described her William’s appearance to her very accurately, although she had never seen him before and could not, of course, know what he looked like during his lifetime. Sarah believed him unconditionally. And the medium told her that the spirit told him that there was a curse on their entire family, and it caused the death of Annie and her husband. The curse is the result of Oliver Winchester being the maker of a deadly weapon that has killed thousands of people whose souls seek vengeance. Then the spirit of her husband told Sarah to sell all her real estate in Connecticut and go to the West. The husband said that he would guide her on this journey, and as soon as she found a suitable shelter, he would let her know. There she will need to build a house where she and the spirit of her husband William will live. The spirit also warned her that the construction of this house should under no circumstances be completed. If this happens, then she, Sarah, will die immediately!
Photo of the Winchester house from the early 20th century.
What would you do in her place? Ten to one that everyone would have done the same as she did: sold everything and gone to California. In 1884, she stopped in Santa Clara, where she purchased a small six-room house located on a 166-acre tract owned by Dr. Caldwell. He was not going to sell anything, but Sarah offered him such a sum that the doctor could not refuse it. Then she hired workers, ordered an old house demolish and start building a new one. And although construction did not stop for a single minute, and the twenty-two carpenters she hired worked all year round from morning to night, this house was never built, as she was told!
Every day, Sarah gave instructions to the engineer who was in charge of the construction and said what would need to be done that day. Moreover, there was no trace of any plan to build a house, as is usually the case. All work was carried out in a completely chaotic manner. One room was attached to another, a staircase led from it to a third, then all this was connected to other parts of the house, which was replete with doors, behind which there were often blank walls, and countless staircases simply led “to nowhere.” In addition, there were long curved corridors and endless suites of rooms, one after another. Some bedrooms had fireplaces (and some didn't for some reason?!), and there were 47 of them in total. There were also hatches on the roof of the house that opened directly from the rooms, and there were also a great many false chimneys. Sarah, you see, believed that in this way she could deceive the ghosts if, according to legend, they decided to enter her house through the pipes. Dozens of fire escapes were placed against the walls outside to provide escape in the event of a fire.
This is how the construction proceeded, one floor was built on top of another, one wing was attached to another, and in different parts At home, the number of floors was also different, from one to seven. At the same time, the poor woman was simply obsessed with the number 13. The colored windows had 13 glass inserted, the parquet floors had 13 sections, the rooms had 13 panels on the walls, the staircases had 13 steps, and there were 13 domes on the roof of the building. The widow believed that in this way she could scare away the spirits of evil and deprive the power of those people who intended to harm her. All day long she wandered completely alone around her strange house, where it was easy to get lost, and at night she played the piano. It seemed that in all this she had found peace again, even if the meaning of her life was the construction of this ridiculous house. However, in 1906, a strong earthquake struck San Francisco, and Winchester House was almost completely destroyed. The top three floors of the seven-story wing collapsed and were never rebuilt.
The door to nowhere
And... the construction work began again! Sarah got down to business as if nothing had happened. Now many mirrors were installed in the house and even outside, since the owner decided that for some reason ghosts and spirits of evil were afraid of their reflection. Secret passages were built from one room to another; one could disappear in one room and suddenly appear unexpectedly in another. Sarah herself made a habit of wearing several dresses at once, one on top of another, in order to change her appearance in a matter of moments. All this was supposed to deceive the forces of evil, which, as Sarah believed, were constantly pursuing her.
Sarah Winchester's house: top view.
However, Sarah was not as crazy in everything as she seemed. For example, she donated two million dollars to a hospital in Connecticut, and with this money a tuberculosis department was built there, which is still operating there. On her forty-hectare plot, she began growing plums and apricots, which she then dried and shipped to Europe (in the Santa Clara telephone directory she was listed as “fruit merchant Sarah Winchester” No. M15). She brought gas into her house, then electricity, installed steam heating and sewerage, and even three elevators, the only one in the United States with a horizontal drive. Although Sarah invested five and a half million dollars in this house, after the death of the owner it went under the hammer for only 135 thousand dollars and not a cent more. But the furniture was removed from it for six whole weeks, with six trucks every day!
The interior of one of the rooms.
Sarah died on September 4, 1922, at 83 years old. She left all her property to her niece Frances Marriott, and she believed that a safe with the Winchester family’s gold was hidden in the house, but this safe was never found. There was also less money than expected, since Sarah spent a lot on building her mansion and improving it.
A staircase that reaches the ceiling.
Over time, the heirs of the Winchester family sold the house to a group of entrepreneurs who turned it into a tourist attraction. When we decided to draw up a house plan, it turned out that it was not so simple. At first, 148 rooms were counted in it, but every time they were counted, their number turned out to be different. They say that the arrangement of stairs and rooms is so confusing that even the people who participated in the construction sometimes got lost in them, as if in a labyrinth, and could only find a way out with difficulty.
The interior of one of the bedrooms.
Now the Winchester manor is a historical relic, and the prospectuses about it say that the exact number of rooms in it is unknown. Many people believe, or pretend to believe, that it is haunted. Well, many people saw Sarah’s ghost there more than once. Two servants who worked in this house swore that they saw in it the ghost of a man in a suit according to the fashion of the 19th century. Naturally, tourists flock to this house, so the estate brings in a good income. Now Winchester House is a three-story mansion with about 160 rooms, 13 bathrooms, 6 kitchens, 40 staircases, as well as 2,000 doors, 450 doorways, 10,000 windows, and as many as 47 fireplaces.
There is only one photograph of Sarah Winchester, as she has always studiously avoided being photographed, which, in her opinion, only attracts the forces of evil. A servant hiding in the bushes took a photo of her as she went for a walk in her carriage. It is unknown whether Mrs. Winchester herself saw this photograph.
Sarah Winchester in a stroller.
One way or another, she was absolutely sure of the existence of a curse that had struck her family, and this was certain. But whether this was really revenge on the creator of deadly weapons or whether it ricocheted on the innocent is completely impossible to say. How, however, can we find out who cast this conspiracy or what resulted from it? Was it the action of many or just one? Well, who, pray tell, is capable of finding out the truth, which is never known for certain?! But hard drives very similar to the ones that made it all begin are still produced in the USA today, and their old models are extremely highly valued by collectors as memories...
First appearance: 8.12 As Time Goes By
Occupation: Enlightened
Date of death: 2013
Killed: Teleported in time from 1958 to 2013, where he was killed by the demon Abaddon
Affiliation: Winchesters
Actor: Gil McKinney
Henry Winchester(eng. Henry Winchester) - enlightened, father of John Winchester, grandfather of Sam and Dean Winchester.
Character
Henry is a fairly intelligent and disciplined man, but Dean calls him a "bookworm". According to Dean, John hated Henry for abandoning him as a child, but in reality this is not the case. He doesn’t treat hunters very well, considers them savages who shoot first and ask questions later. They, the enlightened ones, need answers.
Story
Nothing is known about the history of Henry Winchester before 1958. He, like his father, was a member of an organization consisting of the so-called “enlightened”, and he himself belonged to them.
Season Eight
In 1958, Abaddon disguised herself as a girl at the initiation ceremony and killed almost all the members (she only blinded one) in order to take an unknown thing to her - a box. Henry, fleeing Abaddon, teleported to 2013 using the sign of blood and soul power. He appears in Sam and Dean's closet, after which he asks them about John Winchester. But Abaddon also comes out of Dean and Sam's closet, saying that Henry "forgot to close the door behind him." Dean stabs Ruby with a knife, but it does not reproduce the effect, only immobilizes her for some time. This was enough to escape her. At first, Henry is very skeptical of his grandchildren. Sam goes to the surviving Enlightened One to ask about the box, but Abaddon captures Sam and offers Dean an exchange: the box and Henry in exchange for his brother. Henry, after re-reading his son's diary, decides to go back in time to prevent the incident with Abaddon. Dean stops him and takes him to Abaddon for an exchange. They arrived, Abaddon was already waiting for them. Dean, threatening Henry, sent him to Abaddon with the box and receives his brother in return. Henry receives a fatal blow from Abaddon and she locks the door with telekinesis. Dean says they didn't agree that way, but she deceived them. At this time, Henry shoots Abaddon in the head, but she laughs. Taking Henry's hand to pick up the box, she saw a deck there playing cards and gets angry. She tries to find out the location of the box by reading Henry's memories, but she doesn't succeed. She is deprived of strength and immobilized. It turned out that before coming here, Henry carved a pentagram on the bullet and Dean sent him to Abaddon with untied hands, one of which contained a pistol with this bullet. Before his death, Henry admits that he was wrong about his grandchildren and is proud of them.
Season nine
He is mentioned when the nun told Sam about him.
From the episode “Time Flies,” we learned that Sam and Dean are not only the heirs of several generations of hunters on their mother’s side, but also that their ancestors on their father’s side were also related to the world of the supernatural.
After previewing "Time Flies" earlier this week, series executive producer Robert Singer revealed the significance of Sam and Dean learning about their heritage and secret location.
The boys will have a new home base.
When asked about the super-secret, secret-filled location they now have the key to, Singer said, “We built an amazing set for this base. There are many secrets there. And it will become the main base for the guys. We are all delighted with her. For eight years, the Winchesters had no place to return to, but now they would have a place to lay their heads, and for a while this place would serve as their home. I think you'll like the decorations, they're cool."
This new location holds a lot of information for the Winchesters.
When asked what Sam and Dean would find in their new location, Singer replied: “Keepers of knowledge. Take your father's diary and multiply it by one hundred, then you will get the correct answer. There are all kinds of sources of information that are of interest to the guys.”
And he continued: “All the Keepers of Knowledge died. The last surviving old man was also gone. Warning, SPOILERS: when the guys go inside, everything is untouched, as if the place was hermetically sealed. Everything remained as it was, it was completely clean and the only sign that they left there in a hurry was a chessboard with an unfinished game and an ashtray with cigarette butts.”
But the brothers will not rush to share secrets. When asked if the brothers would share their secrets with the rest of the hunting community, Singer replied, “I think they will treat this information as secret. It is unlikely that they will convene a hunters' convention to show the world what they have. It's not really their style. But I’ll be surprised if Garth doesn’t show up and break the expensive globe.”
The new base will be used as a place where they can be alone and have a heart-to-heart talk.
Singer said about the new house: “Sam and Dean will do their best to hide it. In addition, this place is practically inaccessible. We have were there before houses, such as Rufus's cabin. They need a place not only for us to have a set for filming, but also for the guys to relax and where they can strengthen their brotherly relationships. Our previous scenery has never been so global. When you see them, you'll realize that there's plenty of space and that there's a lot of cool stuff in there. Adam came up with the idea (to Glass), and we immediately grabbed onto it with a death grip. The decorations were very expensive and we are going to use them more than once.”
Sam and Dean look at new house differently.
How do the guys feel about their new home? “Of course, Sam plunged headlong into new world, and Dean is just happy to have his own room. He hung posters in it and told Sam: “You can be as nerdy as you want about everything that’s here, but this is what makes me crazy,” Singer said.
Singer went into more detail about the differences in the brothers' personalities, and how this affects their attitude towards their new home: “At the root, Sam is mostly brains, and Dean is mostly strength. In that episode, I don’t remember whether it was shown already or not, Sam spoke in this spirit: “You are the greatest hunter I have ever met, you are better than father.” And that's all Dean. In some ways, Dean is more soulful than Sam. But when it comes to emotions, Sam is often the catalyst. These are the characters we created. Dean likes it helpful information, which can be put into action. “So what do we need? A first century AD scimitar to chop that guy's head off? Great, let's get to work." This is what Dean is all about.”
The secret bunker will play a role in the history of the tablets.
When asked how the new mythology fits into the current storyline season eight, Singer responded: “This will all play a role in the tablet case. If, for example, Crowley gets to the angelic tablet and is able to decipher it, it’s a bad thing. The information stored in the bunker of the Keepers of Knowledge, in the wrong hands, will be a powerful weapon against the brothers, which means it must be carefully guarded. There's going to be a lot of drama going on there throughout this season and hopefully the next one because it's such an important place."
The idea of the Keepers of Knowledge will start a new storyline from the next episode.
Talking about the history of the Winchesters' paternal ancestors, Singer revealed to us that: "Until Adam came along, we didn't really look at that part of the family and Winchester's grandfather. But, remembering what Cupid said about the importance of the union of Mary and John, how much of a priority the task was for heaven, it was right to complete the full cycle, which gave us a huge layer of information leading to new stories. You will see the beginning of them in the next episode, it will be cool.”
An actor was chosen for the role of Henry Winchester in contrast to the boys.
About how Gil McKinley came to be cast as Henry, Singer said: “He came in to audition and we immediately thought he was right for the role. We were not looking for a portrait resemblance, especially since a whole generation lies between them. We were looking for an actor who would work best with the guys. In addition, we played on contrasts: he was elegant, educated, sophisticated, and our guys were rude guys. When he first said "hunter", he was shocked, but eventually he warmed up and changed his mind. So we were looking for contrast rather than family resemblance.”
What do you think of the brothers' new home and the whole idea of legacy now that you've learned more about the Lorekeepers? Did that change your opinion of the latest episode? Are you excited about this new element of the Supernatural mythology?
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