On Supernatural, brothers Sam and Dean Winchester are the stars of the show, but there would be no Sam and Dean without their parents John and Mary. John and Mary loom large over everything the brothers do, from their dedication to hunting to their commitment to family. Even though they’re gone for major parts of the show, John and Mary maintain a place in the boys’ hearts and minds. They think about what their parents were like and what actions they would take — and they dream about the way things might have been had their family’s lives never become entangled with the supernatural. Sam and Dean were forged in loss and it was the original loss of their mother when they were young that set the foundation for their lives moving forward.