Dean Winchester's Mark of Cain Situation | Supernatural

With everything that’s set to be spoken about in the midseason finale and the whole idea of how exactly is Dean going to overcome the Mark or how he is going to get rid of it, I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately (in part because of writing and in part because I’ve honestly had pure curiosity). 

I can’t remember the exact episode, but if I remember correctly there was an episode where Crowley asks if Dean wants him to take away the Mark, taking away any chance they have at killing Abaddon and Metatron. Dean had refused, and as a result, opening the door for it to become worse until he died and became a demon due to it. With Dean as a demon, Crowley had a new buddy, a person to do his work. Also, this Mark was an experiment for Crowley in a way. In the finale scene of the Season 9 finale, Crowley speaks about hearing stories about the Mark, but not knowing if they were true. He wanted to know if they were, so I don’t think he would be inclined to offer to take the Mark away from Dean if 1) he knew Dean would be inclined to refuse, and 2) he knew that even if Dean wanted to, it couldn’t be done. 

Now, there’s the whole thing that follows where Sam cures him and he seems to be back to Dean, but he’s not. He’s still struggling with the mark. So the question is, exactly how do the effects of it stop? I’ve had this feeling that there isn’t going to be a way to truly get rid of the Mark, due to what I spoke about above and also from pure feeling. (Of course I can be completely wrong, but hey, it’s a theory, just thought I’d put it out there.) Sam had looked for a way to rid Dean of the demon he had become and in turn only found, and hoped, that curing him would do the job. Obviously, it didn’t rid him of it completely. This time around, Dean feels the effects of the Mark, but they don’t seem to be as strong as they were previously. I think what it’s going to come down to is something similar to Cain. Cain, although the originator of the Mark, accepted what he was. At first, he did act as a demon, as a true Knight of Hell, but then he accepted that this darkness was a part of him, after the course of other events had occurred. He still loved Abel dearly; he still held many of the qualities of a human being. In a similar way, I think Dean is going to have to accept that the Mark is now a part of him. I don’t necessarily think he’s going to have the ‘Knight of Hell’ qualities; he hasn’t expressed them after being cured, but I definitely think that tinge of darkness is still within him and always will be. We’ve seen Dean over the years constantly feeling shame and guilt for things he’s done in the past, but he’s consistently either tried to push it away or dwelled on it, beating himself up inside because of it. I don’t think we’ve ever seen him truly overcome it. I think he’s going to have to realize he’s stronger than that pull towards the darkness, than the pull of the Mark, and although it’ll always be a part of him, he can overcome it and live his life, alike to how Cain did. A major theme of this season is the importance of family, and I think that both Sam and Cas, the two people who love Dean, are going to play a huge role in helping him to overcome it, as they should. 

I'm excited to see what direction they took take in the storyline and dealing with that Mark, and of course looking forward to the mid-season finale!