Silver
Dean: Alright, so what do we know about this thing?
Sam: Well, uh, it was fast and it freaked when I cut it with silver.
Sam: A ghoul? A zombie, a shifter, or about a dozen other things.
Dean: Alright, so that narrows it down to...
– Sam and Dean, 6.02 Two and a Half Men
Silver in Supernatural
Dozens of creatures are vulnerable to weapons made of silver.
Silver bullets are used to dispatch:
- Madison and Glen, the werewolves in 2.17 Heart by Dean, as well as a werewolf Sam and Dean hunted as teenagers.
- The shapeshifters in 1.06 Skin, 4.05 Monster Movie and 6.02 Two and a Half Men by Dean, Jamie and Sam.
- Skinwalkers in 6.08 All Dogs Go to Heaven by Sam and Dean. Lucky is shot, but survives.
- Professor Ludensky the werewolf in 8.04 Bitten by Dean.
- Joy Myers the werewolf in 9.12 Sharp Teeth by Dean.
- The shapeshifter Olivia by Dean in 10.06 Ask Jeeves
- Sam and Dean use silver against the nachzehrers they encounter. However, it just slows them down in 11.04 Baby
- Dean uses silver bullets on a qareen, believing it to be a shapeshifter in 11.13 Love Hurts.
- During a fight with two werewolves, Sam is shot with a silver bullet from his own gun. He later uses a silver bullet to kill Corbin Tilghman in 11.17 Red Meat
- Mary uses silver loaded buckshot to kill a werewolf in 12.06 Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox.
- In 12.14 The Raid, Sam reveals that the Colt's new bullets are silver bullets with a tincture of holy oil, sage and myrrh coated over it and then a spell performed over the bullets.
- In 13.04 The Big Empty, Sam uses a silver bullet to kill the shapeshifter, Buddy.
- In 13.10 Wayward Sisters, Claire Novak uses a shotgun loaded with silver buckshot to kill the werewolf Ed and two silver bullets to kill an unnamed female werewolf.
- In 13.20 Unfinished Business, Sam loads his gun with silver bullets while preparing to go after Sleipnir and Loki. During the firefight with Sleipnir and his men, Sam shoots Sleipnir in the right shoulder with a silver bullet, wounding and defeating him.
- In 14.02 Gods and Monsters, Sam, Mary Winchester and Bobby Singer use silver bullets against a group of four werewolves. However, due to Michael's enhancements, the werewolves prove to be immune to silver, forcing the hunters to kill them through decapitation instead.
- In 15.05 Proverbs 17:3, werewolf Andy May shoots and kills his brother Josh with a silver bullet from Sam's gun. Andy then commits suicide by pressing the gun to his chest over his heart and shooting himself with another silver bullet.
Silver blades, even those with a thin layer of silver plate on the exterior, are effective against:
- A shapeshifter that is killed with a silver letter opener in 2.12 Nightshifter by Dean.
- The wraith in 5.11 Sam, Interrupted by Dean with a silver-plated letter opener.
- The djinn in 2.20 What Is and What Should Never Be, 6.01 Exile on Main St. and 8.20 Pac-Man Fever, by Dean, Samuel Campbell and Sam
- Sam and Dean attempt to use it against a lamia in 6.04 Weekend at Bobby's but are not able to secure the necessary blessing.
- Werewolf Michael Wheeler by Brian Wilcox in 8.04 Bitten.
- Werewolves Sheriff Pat, Russ and Joba by Dean in 9.12 Sharp Teeth
- Alonso the pishtaco in 9.13 The Purge by Dean.
- A shapeshifter by Sam in 9.16 Blade Runners
- Irv Sokolowski uses a clawed glove with silver blades to kill the shapeshifter Sal Lassiter as well as other unknown monsters.
- Werewolves Brandon and Travis by Sam and Tasha by Kate in 10.04 Paper Moon
- Two unnamed werewolves and Rose by Sam and one unnamed werewolf by Dean in 11.17 Red Meat.
- A wraith by Dean in 13.03 Patience.
- An unnamed werewolf by Claire Novak in 13.10 Wayward Sisters
- Mary uses a silver blade on a werewolf, which proves ineffective due to Michael's experiments removing their weaknesses in 14.02 Gods and Monsters.
- After learning that a gorgon can only be killed through decapitation with a silver blade, Jack Kline decapitates Noah Ophis with a silver machete in 14.14 Ouroboros.
- Sheriff Mason Romero kills the kohonta with a silver blade to the heart in 14.16 Don't Go in the Woods.
- John Winchester is able to hurt a Loup-Garou with silver shrapnel and then kill it via decapitation by a silver blade.
- Latika Dar is able to harm Joan Hopkins with a silver blade as the monster essences that she's consumed has given her monster weaknesses.
Silver stakes are also used to "kill" zombies in 2.04 Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things and 4.07 It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester; in the former, silver bullets weakened the zombie but did not kill it. Mr. Ketch uses silver stakes to torture a shapeshifter on the whereabouts of it's family.
Silver does not need to kill the monster to have an effect on it. Wraiths burn when silver touches their skin. the skinwalker Lucky in 6.08 All Dogs Go to Heaven is restrained by Sam and Dean using silver chains. When confronted with a new, unknown monster, Dean suggests that silver bullets are their best chance.[1]
Silver is therefore a useful test for hunters that allows them to see if they are dealing with a human. When Dean returns from Hell[2] Dean cuts himself with a silver blade to try and demonstrate his humanity as does Sam on his return from Lucifer's Cage.[3] In 4.19 Jump the Shark, Dean replaces the diner cutlery with silver utensils to test whether Adam Milligan is human. He does not react to the silver, but is not human. He is in fact a ghoul, a being unaffected by silver, pretending to be Adam. The Alpha Shapeshifter also appears to be immune to silver, as are Leviathans. Sam and Dean use what they believe to be silver butter knives to test for a shapeshifter in 10.06 Ask Jeeves, but the knives are really stainless steel so it has no effect.
Mick Davies uses a silver nitrate injection to kill a teenage girl who had just turned into a werewolf in her hospital bed, killing the girl almost instantly.
To protect his vault, Luther Shrike uses silver tipped darts filled with arsenic, holy water, and holy oil.
As a child, a young Mary Campbell killed a young werewolf named Jacob with a silver arrow.
Silver in History and Lore
Silver is a white, elemental metal believed to have been mined as early as 4000 B.C. It has been used for jewelry, tableware, coins, and dentistry. Silver is also valued, both in ancient and modern times, for its antimicrobial properties. Silver coins were sometimes placed in water barrels to prevent fouling, and surgical instruments can have a silver coating.[4][5]
Traditionally, silver is associated with water, the moon, and moon goddesses, such as Selene. Because werewolves are said to change on the moon cycle, this may explain the theory that silver is their weakness.
Silver is appears in several popular sayings, including “Every cloud has a silver lining.” A “silver bullet” is a perfect solution to a problem.
