Has anyone talked about Claire’s tattoo? The one on her wrist? I believe it’s a rose and a lot of star. The rose is a flower, and flowers have obviously been linked to Cas for a while now, but I believe it was you who was keeping track of all the star symbolism? Thought it was relevant! :)

larinah:

I’ve seen several people mention the tattoo, but I haven’t seen much analysis on it. 

The star part does bring to mind all the other stars we’ve seen this season.  I’m thinking they mean more than one thing: shining stars as guiding lights, fallen stars as poorly chosen paths, hope, destiny, the renewal and rebuilding of Heaven and angels, even something to do with the Americana/patriotism/civil war stuff.  As the season progresses, maybe they’ll coalesce into a tighter meaning, but for now I’m keeping all those ideas on the table.  There’s also the very real possibility that they go along with all the sun and moon stuff happening in the last couple of seasons.

The rose part is an interesting addition.  thevioletcaptain wrote a very nice meta about Cas and his connection with flowers (which I can’t find the link for at the moment). 

Roses, in particular though, have shown up several times that I can recall off the top of my head, especially this season.  Rowena had an orange rose near her when we first saw her. 

The guy in the roadhouse in Paper Moon had a red rose on his jacket. 

Colette the maid fell into a bowl of white roses when Olivia killed her.

A couple of times I can remember in past seasons are that Mary had red roses embroidered on her shirt when Dean went back to the past, and Cas used a red rose to cut his hand so he could make a sigil to get rid of Ephraim. 

I honestly don’t know what to make of all these roses showing up all of the sudden in different colors and associated with very different people, victims, friends of victims, and villains.  This is the first time I can recall that the stars and the roses have been presented together.

So….uh….I guess at the moment, I got nothing.  I do think you’re right that they are very relevant to the story, though.  If anyone has any ideas or interpretations they’d like to add, please feel free!!

I guess I’ll butt in here. 

Yeah, so I posted that meta yesterday about how Supernatural has a long history of using flowers to support mysteries and hidden things in the narrative.  Their use waxes and wanes across the seasons, but they’ve come back in a big way with season 10, a season which is all about fronting, lying, and not wanting to peer too deeply at what might be hidden underneath the surface.  

Specifically, in the examples above:  

White is often strongly associated with death in the Supernatural visual lexicon.  Think Death and his white carriage and white stone in his ring, and all the way back to the Woman in White and  Mary and Jess in their white nightgowns.  And so white roses around the murdered Collete visually emphasize her death and the theme of death in the episode.

~*~

Hmm, the guy in the roadhouse with the red rose. I have to admit I had to go back and watch his scene again because I didn’t remember him specifically.  Turns out he’s an interesting one:

Guy: Yeah, Barker and I have been raising hell and chasing tail and riding for a long time.

Sound like a set of brothers that we know?

Guy: Part of him always knew when his clock ran out it wasn’t going to be pretty.

Yeah, that’s sounding a lot like Dean’s pronouncements of it ending “with a gun in [his] hand” or “bloody and sad.”

Guy: To go out like that? By some animal? Just ain’t right.

Okay, ow.  

Red is often associated with demons and danger in Supernatural.  Think way back to Nicki Aycox’s Meg and her red leather jacket.  Here’s a meta from way back in Season 3 on the use of yellow and red in Supernatural by Bowtrunckle. 

So if flowers hint at something hidden and yet to be revealed, and red is commonly associated with demons and danger, and a character who is wearing the flower is talking about a bloody and sad death for a character who parallels Dean…  well, shit.

~*~

Rowena is also interesting.  An orange flower was associated with her.  

Orange has been associated with temptation into evil and/or the monster hunter becoming monstrous in Supernatural.  I first noticed it when orange flowers started showing up around Sam in Season 3 once Ruby started him off on his path.  And the who pops up wearing orange (who has never worn orange before) but Bobby, on the very episode that Ruby shows up and teaches him how to rebuild The Colt.  

Rowena has been manipulating and attempting to tempt people into alliances that would no doubt lead them on a slow slide down into something evil.  I’ve read some speculation that she may target Sam in his vulnerability and desperation to save Dean.  I also find it interesting that the narrative made a point of differentiating witches with “natural abilities” versus those who have sold their souls for power or those who can pick up a few things under guidance.  It reminds me of the speculation way back before we knew about the angelic bloodlines that the YED targeted Sam because of some innate abilities that he had that the demon wanted to enhance.

~*~

And then flowers and Claire:  I did a bit of screencapping of that scene in Randy’s house and boy, once you lighten the images, they are EVERYwhere.

So, yes, here in the room with Claire, there are red/pink roses, but there are yellow roses as well.

That wallpaper in the background has red and yellow roses taking into account how orange the lighting is.  I’m betting those lace curtains have flowers on them too, but I can’t tell from this pic. 

And there are red and yellow flowers on that area rug under Salinger.  

1. Someone noted (I wish I could remember who), that his blood seems to be black where the others’ was dark red. 
2. I find it really interesting that, sure red flowers presage danger, but also demons? 
3. Yellow flowers were initially associated with the psychic children, but have gone on to be associated with supernatural beings more in general. 
4. Then we have the character name “Salinger,” whose most famous work is a story all about someone who loses it in the midst of an identity crisis.
5. And then we have the fact that this all came down because Randy made a deal, which has all kinds of history in Supernatural.

I wonder if this whole thing with Randy and Claire wasn’t a setup, that there isn’t some supernatural element to what happened there. Hmmmmm, I wonder what Crowley has been up to lately?