note: a significant part of this meta is actually spec.
In Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire, Sam made a passionate speech about the need for both Winchesters to change. As has been the topic of fandom meta almost from the moment Carver took over the reigns and deliberately started setting it up, the brothers’ bond as it currently exists will need to be broken and cleansed into a healthier one. Since then the bonds with Crowley and Castiel have been explored as extensively, particularly their links with humanity, for both mainly in the form of Dean. There too, the ties that bound them were unhealthily balanced and in dire need of a redefinition. And by the looks of it, season 11 might finally do this. Breaking the bonds that exist, bonds that have become chains tying people down, looks to be season 11′s emotional and plot arc.
What stood out more than anything for me visually was the sheer number of times we saw people literally bound in chains, and figuratively bound to the Darkness. And while certainly part of this meta should be considered spec, there is little doubt in my mind why we were presented with this sheer volume of chain symbolism representing the unhealthy bonds between characters, and how these chains need to be broken if, like Sam said in the previous episode, they truly want to change.
Firstly, there is Sam, who is most heavily associated with chains this episode. Form and Void begins with him desperately searching for a means to bind one possessed by the Darkness yet bonded to him through what courses through his veins. Symbolically, it isn’t a big leap to see this as a parallel to his and Dean’s predicament.
It was Sam who spent the entirety of last season desperately trying to hold on to his brother. So, when we track through the store with Sam now, we see his hands first clutch wires that he can cut. From bonds that can be broken to those less easily severed but simultaneously are associated with captivity. He discards the first option for heavy duty chains to tie up a rabid whose words are eerily reminiscent of Dean’s in Brother’s Keeper:
Hearseeno 