Yeah and the cycle thing is kind of how the Masons worked. I mean the real Masons pretended to be an ancient order but were actually founded in the 18th century . Then refounded in the 19th century from scratch based on stories and published records about the 18th century ones. In all fairness, the 20th century Masons legitimately can trace their family tree to the 19th century lodges.

Nobody is going to do reams of work that might never get used. It's also counterintuitive to spend too much on details like that while you're breaking a story. The plot and the current POV characters are way more important.

Your point is well taken, but I still find it a little frustrating when we add weird character notes (Sam really didn't search for Dean, really?), etc. I don't mind some winging it...I guess I'll just have to go with the flow and ignore the contradictions.

Eh, there's hard evidence dating 'em to at least the 16th century, at least in Scotland.

I'm sure if I bothered or cared, I could trace the Lodge Involvement of my Grandfather's paternal line, seeing as they were all mason-masons as well as Masons.

Bless 'em.

My head canon on this is that the "men of letters" (hereafter lettermen)

See, now I'm imagining them in letterman jackets, which doesn't really work for me.

Unless their knowledge of magic made them mega powerful, that level of arrogance when messing with the supernatural is likely to get them all killed.

So you're assuming they're not an ancient unbroken line? Or, say, not as unbroken as the hunters who make it back hundreds of years?

I have an easier time imaging a bunch of chickenshit ivory towerists hiding in their badproof bunker and making up new spells for useless things...or vivisecting demons all day.

I don't feel that a group that actually worked with hunters is usefully characterised by the reaction of one man (the other Man of Letters didn't seem bothered by the idea of them, and he was an initiated Letterer, unlike Henry, who'd never actually graduated).

Yeah, they might be cocky pricks out of touch with the world--but that's remarkably not fatal in literature.

Unless their knowledge of magic made them mega powerful, that level of arrogance when messing with the supernatural is likely to get them all killed.

If you swap "supernatural" for "weaponry", you could say this about most military forces, too, but it's not usually true.

Okay, Annalee's commentary for this episode is enraging me, and I'm only on the third paragraph. I want to get rage at HER in a comment.

See, now I'm imagining them in letterman jackets, which doesn't really work for me.

I think Henry might've been cute in a letterman jacket.

Henry's just cute, period.

I've seen his first inclusion in fic--on a multi-chapter, just a mention as they're searching Hell for Winchesters. He's not there. Irritatingly, it turned into Super!Dean. HATE. I don't want Dean and Cas on an even footing, ship or no ship. That isn't an interesting Winchester, unless you're going to do something like S4 and torture said Winchester too...

However, said fic had this:

“You don't understand. I don't think you can understand.” Sam put a hand through his hair, noticing but not caring that he was fighting back tears. “No offense. I just don't think you can understand. When Dean was gone before – when the Trickster killed him, and then when he went to hell – I lost it, Cas. I just snapped. Looking for him, trying to get him back, it just pushed me into a terrible, terrible place. I set off the apocalypse, Cas! The freaking apocalypse."

You know what? I'm 40% more understanding of his hiatus motivation, thanks to a fic I'm growing away from.

Yay! I sympathized with Sam so much, and I really got it from the season opener, but it's nice to have other people get it, too. Even just a little bit.