I did mean 200, but… you’re right that it gets complicated.
As you said, one earth month is about 10 Hell years. Sam was in hell for over a year and a half. 18 months x 10 years per month = close-ish to 180 years, give or take, or “around 200 years.”
Unfortunately, the show hasn’t really nailed down whether time dilation works differently in the Cage than it does in regular Hell, but regardless, it was Bad™. Dean spent an unimaginable 40 years in Hell and came back with PTSD that rendered him unable to sleep much (if at all).
Sam… well. Sam’s literal soul was “flayed to the raw nerve” and could not be returned to his body without the oldest being in the known universe building a psychic wall thatstill wasn’t strong enough to entirely suppress the damage.
So 180 years and change is certainly bad enough, but it could be worse:
Because of course there’s also that scene in season 6 where Sam’s wall is crumbling and he has a seizure and experiences Hell memories. The show makes a point of having Dean say that Sam was out for 2 or 3 minutes and then asking how long it felt like to Sam. He says it felt like “a week, give or take.”
(And knowing how Sam treats his own pain, I’m gonna guess it was leaning closer to give than take, so it could very well have been longer than the numbers we end up with, but for the sake of convenience, we’ll say a week.)
There are a lot of problems with accepting it as an accurate measurement of Sam’s hell time, but it’s certainly possible.
Let’s entertain the idea, for a moment, that Sam was right, and three minutes on earth is a week in the Cage.
This is where it gets scary. Thornshrike posted an excellent breakdown of what it would be if Sam experienced Hell with that sort of time dilation, but to summarize:
3 minutes = 1 week.
One day (1440 minutes) = 480 weeks
One year = 52 weeks. 480/52 = 9.2 years
One day topside is 9.2 years in the cage.
9.2 years per day x 548 days (1.5 years) =
Over 5000 years.
But let’s try again. Dean said it was two or three minutes, right? Well, what if it was two?
2 minutes = 1 week
One day (1440 minutes) = 720 weeks
One year = 52 weeks. 720/52 = 13.8 years
One day topside is 13.8 years in the cage.
13.8 years/day x 548 days (1.5 years) =
7,587 years
I did a very painful thought exercise many moons ago when I was new to the fandom and liked to hurt myself. If you want to suffer, you can check it out. It is aptly titled, I accidentally crushed my soul.
But I mean… even if Sam’s estimation of his experience of Hell isn’t right and we just go with Dean’s, Sam was tortured in the Cage more than five times as long as he has been alive.
oh mY GOD THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH. Sam being all “I don’t even care if we die as long as we do it together” because he lOVES DEAN SO MUCH. ANd Dean’s little smirk at the end like “I’d sacrifice myself a thousand times before I ever let anything happen to you no matter how much you’ll hate me for it” becausE HE LOVES SAM SO MUCH
So Gabriel, an archangel, who was tortured by a prince of hell became catatonic afterwards. But Sam, a human, was tortured for years by the actual devil came out the other side trying to reassure everyone around him that he wa fine???
No,
He got helped by Castiel, who then got helped again
It’s how a team works
Supporting each other not blaming each other
Wait, how did Cas help Sam when Sam came back from hell? Cas broke his wall. That’s the opposite of helping.
Fixing that sacrificing himself taking Sam’s pain in exchanging place
Cas “sacrificed” himself because he was the one who broke Sam in the first place. In addition, when Cas (an angel) took over Sam’s pain he was immediately incapacitated, while Sam was still talking (albeit very confusingly) and at least semi-aware of what was happening around him
That wall was crumbling anyway sooner or later, Sam even convulsed losing consciousness. True that, Sam was incredibly strong, but as they talk later, besides Cass takes it all at once, Castiel didn’t just began to see Lucifer, this was at first, then he saw… everything, and thinking of how much he smcan see and feel as angel or how easily,blind Sam, he feels guilty or bad when he can’t change things in better, it was quite an amount of stuff that makes you crumble.
Castiel is there, he’s the one trying to help, even messing up as they all do sometimes, but caring and really trying to help because he loves Sam and Dean
If you are trying to blame Castiel, the only one to blame for Sam’s pain is Lucifer
Um. Cas also dove into hell and grabbed Sam out of the cage in the first place. So there’s that. And yeah. It was a rough arc for everyone. Cas exploded into black goo. Sam went around without his soul, then had it shoved back in against his will. Dean lost his will to fight. Bobby had to put up with these jackasses, then got shot by a monster. Seriously. Shot. By a monster. After everything he had been through. Shot. By a monster.
They each did things around that time which were unforgivable. Sam’s actions while soulless. Cas breaking the wall. Dean ignoring Castiel’s warnings about how bad the war in heaven was going. (See: Castiel: A Season Six Summary on AO3 for more.) And Bobby was shot. By a monster.
My point is just this. If these friends can forgive one another and fight at each other’s backs, I’m not going to try to overrule their Free Will. Because…that’s the point of the Team.
Also…Shot. By a monster. The show and its characters will make some weird choices. Just sit back and watch, guys. The hate or worship of any one character is only going to make you resentful. Love them, dislike them, then watch their story play out. And then go read yourself some fanfic if you need a different ending. Maybe one where Bobby wasn’t shot. By a monster.
~Posing
Exactly, my point is that each of them have made choices and they do care of what happens worrying about ACH other and also forgiving. Sam is incredibly badass, Gabriel or Castiel aren’t to blame for his pain, there’s just no point on hating and pulling a character down. Just like people, we do mistakes and we make decisions that sometimes work sometimes don’t and if things gets screwed up isn’t always or entirely our fault it’s just how things go and all you can do is trying to do something about it.
The bond between them, the understanding, belonging, the fights…this is what makes it really deep and important, not to point the finger. So stop hating
I never said Gabriel was to blame for anything….I just find it impressive how strong and selfless Sam is. And how often his storyline gets ignored with other characters. And I mean I can blame Cas for at least some of Sam’s pain, if I want, since he had a big hand in causing it. Thankfully he fixed it, but since all the characters have taken responbity for the messes they cause it’s not something I’m going to view as incredible. Especially since the reason he broke his wall was for his own personal gain and to blackmail Dean….not really friend or bond stuff if you ask me.
So Gabriel, an archangel, who was tortured by a prince of hell became catatonic afterwards. But Sam, a human, was tortured for years by the actual devil came out the other side trying to reassure everyone around him that he wa fine???
No,
He got helped by Castiel, who then got helped again
It’s how a team works
Supporting each other not blaming each other
Wait, how did Cas help Sam when Sam came back from hell? Cas broke his wall. That’s the opposite of helping.
Fixing that sacrificing himself taking Sam’s pain in exchanging place
Cas “sacrificed” himself because he was the one who broke Sam in the first place. In addition, when Cas (an angel) took over Sam’s pain he was immediately incapacitated, while Sam was still talking (albeit very confusingly) and at least semi-aware of what was happening around him
Backup bloh 