But what if it came down to Sam vs the World.

Maybe he's the only one that gets to kill Sam, there on the last day. If Sam kills himself, he'll just have him brought back at a high price. Maybe the change he undergoes is to realise he has to do it, and the change Sam undergoes is to encourage him.

I'm suddenly very depressed by the idea of only one of them surviving, so I'm going through scenarios in my head...

Well, Sam did make Dean promise to kill him, back in Season two. Maybe he'll finally have to keep the the promise.

Maybe Dean tries to kill Possessed Sam and Possessed Sam kills him and that snaps him out of the possession so he's doomed to walk the earth alone with that knowledge.

Beating Sam in the final bracket (is this how the season will end?)

I was going to say no because it was supposed to be, in theory, Sam on the Hero's journey so Dean goes down in the end. But..

But what if it came down to Sam vs the World.

Maybe he's the only one that gets to kill Sam

I think in Sam v. World, Dean might save the world at this point but he'd go down too. He'd save the world, but he can't live in a world without Sam so he'll die too.

If another Winchester (okay, Sam) goes down in this, I think Dean is going down with them. Sam can survive without Dean. I don't think it goes the other way.

Sam can survive without Dean

"I don't want ten years. I don't want one year. I don't want candy."

You sure about that? Honestly, I don't think he could, again. I'm with ita. Die together or live together, but either of them left alone would just be a countdown to suicide.

You know, in keeping with their emotional reversals and changes, I think it would at this point be worse for Sam to have Dean die, than for Dean to have Sam die.

I'll explain later when I'm not in the middle of rearranging my manicure station. (Which Bev and Cass have both seen, and know is a HUGE freaking task.)

I think, sort of maybe, if Sam died for the right reasons? As in, sacrifice, saving the world, Dean could, at this point, be okay with having him gone. And would keep on keeping on for however long he had, because even if the world gets saved, my bet is there will still be things to hunt and people to save.

Sam ... I think Sam's going to be pretty worn out at the end of this, if he survives. While I'm not sure suicide is something he would do (even if, unlike earlier, living without Dean, when he had a reason not to, i.e. getting Dean back and finding Lilith), I don't think he would live peacefully or well without Dean.

I don't see a reason for Dean to die in service of saving the world, whereas how things are set up, Sam might have to. So Dean might be able to resolve himself to that particular tragedy, but could Dean deal with the reverse?

But I think it would be no easy deal for Dean to move on either, just less impossible, for all possible values of that.

But I think it would be no easy deal for Dean to move on either, just less impossible, for all possible values of that.

Oh, I agree. But I think whereas Sam's been focused so long on the end of the world and the particular demons/hunt, Dean began to grieve a while ago, for everything he's lost, including Sam's innocence and the relationship they used to have.

He also had forty years in hell to be without Sam, or anyone he loved, and I think that might make it a little easier for him to get through the rest of his life without Sam.