Styne (family)

The Styne family crest.

The real family tree. The name was altered out of necessity. You have chanced upon a lineage with a long and proud tradition... And some unwanted notoriety. One of Europe's oldest families. The house of... Frankenstein. – Eldon Styne, 10.21 Dark Dynasty

Family Members

• Monroe Styne - Family patriarch, father of Jacob, Eldon, and Cyrus, Uncle of Eli and Roscoe
• Jacob Styne - Oldest son of Monroe, brother to Eldon and Cyrus. Cousin of Eli and Roscoe
• Eldon Styne - Middle son of Monroe, brother to Jacob and Cyrus. Cousin of Eli and Roscoe.
• Cyrus Styne - Youngest Son of Monroe, brother to Jacob and Eldon. Cousin of Eli and Roscoe.
• Eli Styne - Nephew of Monroe, cousin to Jacob, Eldon, and Cyrus, brother to Roscoe.
• Roscoe Styne - Nephew of Monroe, cousin to Jacob, Eldon, and Cyrus, brother to Eli.

History

Causing murder and mayhem for over a thousand years, the Stynes are one of Europe's oldest families, known then as Frankenstein. They were forced to change their family name out of necessity and go underground after a family acquaintance, Mary Shelley, spent a few nights in Castle Frankenstein and stumbled upon their secrets, and wrote the novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, however no one believed it to be a true account and thought it was pure science fiction. Because of the name change post-publication, the Men of Letters' files on them only date as far back as the early 1800's.

The Styne family believe that through chaos and desperation, there is always profit to be made in the cleanup. Through the use of the Book of the Damned the Styne family spent centuries using spells to create diseases such as the Black Death, starting the Hundred Years' War, destabilizing markets and recessions. For the last eighty years, the Styne family has been without the Book of the Damned, though it has not diminished their influence in world events, as the family helped the Nazis and possibly the Thule Society rise to power, the Arab Spring and even the attacks of 9/11 without the book. Claiming the Book of the Damned merely facilitates, and the true source of the family's power comes from their intelligence and will. The family is vastly spread throughout the world, and Eldon Styne explained that even he doesn't know how many there are or the identity of their primary leader or the location of the family's main base of operations, stating that there are secrets.

However, the family specialty is in bioengineering and surgical enhancement. Each member of the Stynes has had some form of enhancement done to their bodies, making them more durable as was seen when Jacob Styne was able to take five shots to the chest and keep attacking Sam, and Eldon Styne being able to rip off his own arm and not succumb to the blood loss or slip into shock. However, a shot to the head will kill them instantly as they only have one brain.

Episodes

10.18 Book of the Damned

Jacob Styne is seen tracking Charlie through the location of the Book of the Damned. He uses a magical compass to detect her location in an alley in Des Moines, Iowa. Charlie burst out of a dumpster and uses a sword to stab one of Jacob's associates and slices his hand. When she demands him to reveal why he's following her, he tells her that he's tracking the book and that his people will never stop looking for her, stating that it will only end with her dying. He reveals that he has been tracking her throughout Russia and Alaska and attacks her when she gets distracted by his tattoo of his family's crest. When she runs away, Jacob shoots her left side, injuring her as she escapes.

She is able to go into hiding in one of Bobby's old hunting cabins after she calls Sam and Dean to tell them about her retrieval of the Book of the Damned and the crusade resulting in its recovery by the book's previous owners. She is able to draw a copy of Jacob's tattoo so Dean can search for it while combing through the Men of Letters' files on occult families and Sam attempts to translate the book. Jacob arrives at a gas station and tries to use his compass to locate the book, but it was hidden in a warded lead-lined box, rendering it hidden from the compass. He them proceeds to interrogate everyone at all the truck stops and gas stations to locate her. Dean is able to identify the tattoo as the crest of the Styne Family who used spells from the Book of the Damned to create disease, destabilize markets, and even help the Nazis before they came into power, profiting from everything afterwards. However he discovers that the book, which they lost nearly a hundred years ago, causes a negative reaction of biblical proportions when they utilize its abilities. Realising that it's too risky to use the book to remove the Mark of Cain, Dean tells Sam to burn it before they find it.

When Dean leaves to pick up snacks, he runs into Jacob Styne and is apprehended by one of his family members. Jacob notices that Dean has the Mark on his arm, hence their desire to keep the book. He confirms that the book is capable but he warns Dean that removing it will do far more harm than good. Dean is able to headbutt Jacob and empty a clip into his associate, but jacob escapes to round up more of his family members to take the book back. Following Dean back to the cabin, the Stynes attack the trio and they all end up dead. Jacob enters and is shot five times by Dean, but he still manages to make his way to Sam who burns the book. He starts to choke Sam, but he stabs his heart with a silver knife, killing him.

It is later revealed that Sam only pretended to burn the book by replacing it with a lore book, needing it to remove the Mark from Dean's arm. Jacob's last words to Sam: "My family will never stop looking for that book." Sam takes the book to his only hope of translating it and removing the Mark -- Rowena.

10.21 Dark Dynasty

Eldon Styne is seen posing as an optometrist in Omaha, Nebraska taking student volunteers on a research study on eyesight. He tries to kiss one of the students, Eileen, but she tries to push him away and he retaliates with slicing her throat. He harvests her eyes as the janitor bangs on the door. He opens the door just in time to see Eldon jump out of the three story window. At the family estate in Shreveport, Louisiana, the Patriarch, Monroe Styne, belittles Eldon with leaving a witness to the harvest and trying to kiss her before doing so. Eldon tries to explain that he hasn't been himself since Jacob died to excuse himself, but Monroe tells him not to cheapen Jacob's memory by using him to excuse his foolishness and threatens to banish him to the lower echelons of the family where he will replace his title as son and heir with "lab rat," stressing that discipline holds the family together and it will destroy the family if it unravels. Monroe tells Eldon to clean up his mess, track down the Winchesters who killed Jacob, and retrieve the Book of the Damned to redeem himself in his eyes. Eldon accepts and leaves. His cousin, Eli later questions Eldon's judgement, but Monroe also questions Eli for failing to locate Charlie in case the Winchesters don't have the book. He tells Eli to back Eldon's efforts by assisting him in retrieving the book.

While Sam was checking in on Rowena, Dean is researching more on the Stynes and realize that they have no idea how the family surfaced since their files only date as far back as 200 years. Dean is also able to pick up on Eldon's trail after finding the article on the death of Eileen and taking her eyes before jumping out the window. Before heading out with Dean, Sam recruits Charlie and Castiel to expedite the process of translating the Book of the Damned and Nadya's Codex. Upon arrival at the crime scene, they observe a video of Eldon's jump into the alley and Dean notices the Styne family crest tattooed on his forearm. After they leave, Eldon arrives and kills the office manager and begins to cover his tracks. He is later seen following Sam and Dean as they drive in the Impala talking about the case. When Dean leaves the Bunker to pick up some pizza, he is interrupted by Eldon and another Styne. Dean is able to kill the Styne by stabbing his throat and capture Eldon.

They start to question Eldon about everything concerning the Stynes, which he freely confesses because of his expendability. He notices the Mark of Cain on Dean's arm and realizes that they wanted the book to remove it. Sam told him that they are going to put his family out of business, but Eldon explains that their family does their best to profit from desperation and their abilities come from their intelligence and will, passing the book off as a mere facilitator in their professional matters. He reveals that his family is responsible for multiple recent events such as the stock market dive, recession, 9/11, and Arab Spring without breaking a sweat. The reason they took the eyes from his victim is because of the family specialty -- bioengineering and surgical enhancement. He reveals a long scar on his chest where he has two hearts and a bunch of extra muscles, especially in the legs. He reveals that the real identity of their family tree, which was altered out of necessity, is one of Europe's oldest families, the House of Frankenstein. Dean passes it off, but Eldon explains how the family had to undergo a name change and go underground because of some unwanted notoriety caused by Mary Shelley who wrote a book about her experiences in Castle Frankenstein where she spent a few nights and stumbled upon their secrets. When Dean asks him about "Big Daddy Frankenstein" and their main base of operations, Eldon tells him that even he doesn't know and offers to have a talk in exchange for the book. Dean tells him that the book was burned, and Eldon responds to an unknowing Dean that the book is protected by a spell which rendered it eternal and that it can't be destroyed. When Dean goes to question Sam, Eldon rips his arm off and escapes the Bunker. Later, Dean tells Sam about what Eldon Styne told him and Sam confirms his accounts when he discovered that the Frankensteins caused and ended the Black Plague and started the Hundred Years War. Dean also interrogates Sam about how he was able to destroy the book since he found out that it can't be destroyed. After getting a call from Castiel who tells Sam that Charlie, who was getting into heated arguments with Rowena, disappeared to get some peace and quiet to focus on translating the book and the codex, Sam is forced to tell Dean the truth about taking the book to find the cure for the Mark of Cain.

After seeking refuge in an alley, Eldon gets a call from Eli, who locates Charlie at the Black Bird Motel under the name Carrie Asimov. He offers to kill her for Eldon, but he tells Eli that he needs to handle it himself. Upon arrival, Charlie is able to discover how to completely translate the Book of the Damned and Nadya's Codex. She hides in the bathroom and sends the code breaker to Sam's e-mail when Eldon tries to break in. Sam and Dean tell her to give him the book or her notes, but she refuses to do so. After sending Sam the code breaker, she smashes her computer which alerts Eldon of her presence. Eldon tells her to give him the book back, but Charlie takes out her dagger and proceeds to attack Eldon, but he is able to get the upper hand and kill her, leaving her mutilated body in a bathtub for a horrified Sam and Dean to find upon arrival.

10.22 The Prisoner

Cyrus Styne is leaving "Styne Hall" while he is intervened by a group of bullies. After he stands up to the leader of the gang, he pushes Cyrus on the floor, threatening to beat him up when Eli drives up and asks if there's a problem. The bully tells him no, but he asks Cyrus, who tells him that nothing is happening and asks him to leave. Eli obliges, giving a dirty look at the bully. Later, the bully is being followed by Eli and suffocated by Roscoe Styne in an alley.

Later while Sam and Dean build a hunter's funeral pyre for Charlie, Dean tells Sam to stop trying to cure the Mark before someone else gets hurt. He also states that he will destroy the Stynes for Charlie's death, leaving Eldon's death for last. While Cyrus is playing video games with his internet friend, Eli comes into the room to send him to the lab. Monroe later scolds Eldon's failure to retrieve the book, but he told his father about retrieving everything he saw in the Bunker to make the Styne Family's biggest score. Monroe agrees and decides to give Eldon a new arm to do so. When Cyrus enters, Monroe decides to teach Cyrus more about the family business by killing the restrained bully and harvesting his parts for the first time. At first, Cyrus doesn't want to, but Monroe tells him to do it or he will and do the same thing to Cyrus. He hands Cyrus a scalpel blade and he uses it to cut open the bully's chest as he screams in agony. Later, Cyrus is seen crouching on a stool while looking at the bully's corpse with wet eyes. Monroe finishes using the bully's tattooed arm to replace Eldon's missing arm. Eldon decides to take Cyrus and Roscoe to break into the Bunker to raid its contents.

Dean, after following Eldon's trail, heads over to Shreveport, Louisiana, he is later arrested by two corrupt cops who work for Monroe Styne. They raid his trunk and one goes over the weapons and fake IDs. Dean is later able to take the handcuffs off his wrist by tricking one of the officers. The other is in his office reporting back to Monroe while Dean enters the room with his gun. He attacks the cop for the police brutality and vandalism of his car and threatens to shoot him if the sheriff doesn't explain himself. He reveals everything about the Stynes, including their status as the owners of Shreveport and the location of their estate.

Dean is able to kill three Stynes on his way to the mansion where he is held at gunpoint by over a dozen or so Stynes. He is welcomed by Monroe before he is suffocated and lead into their lab. He later wakes up strapped onto an operating table where Monroe stands next to him with the intention of harvesting Dean's body for the organs. Dean tells them not to kill him because of the Mark of Cain on his arm, which will revive him as a Knight of Hell and compel him to kill everyone in the house, as opposed to leaving the house human, only leaving a few of the Stynes alive, probably. Monroe decides to harvest him anyway, calling Dean, who cannot die, "the perfect lab rat." Eli ties a cloth around Dean's mouth before Monroe starts to cut into his chest. Dean is able to rip his arm off the leather restraints, headbutt Monroe, and use a surgical saw to free his other arm and slice Eli's throat, killing him. A nurse tries to inject something into Dean, but he slams her on the table and injects the syringe's contents into the nurse's neck, killing her. Monroe tries to crawl out of the room while Dean bangs his head on the door and begins to strangle him. Dean tells him that he will take everything from the Stynes for Charlie's death, but Monroe tries to tell him that his home and family will be destroyed as well before he succumbs to the deprivation of air and Dean snaps his neck for good measure. He takes Monroe's gun and proceeds to kill all the other Stynes in the house. Castiel, sent by Sam to keep an eye on Dean, arrives at the Styne estate and reports that Dean brutally killed all the Stynes in the house and is heading back to Lebanon, Kansas.

Eldon blasts his way into the Bunker with Cyrus and Roscoe and holds a gun with the intention to shoot anyone in the Bunker. After realising that the Bunker's occupants are absent, he tells them to take everything interesting and burn the rest. Cyrus looks through one of the Bunker's books A Practitioner's Guide to Exorcism with awe, but Roscoe takes the book and tosses it in a pile of books that they intend to burn. He leaves to infiltrate their dungeon when Cyrus looks at a picture of Sam and Dean with Bobby. He hides the picture when Eldon enters and throws Dean's clothes, albums, and pictures in the pile. Cyrus tries to stop him, but Eldon splashes the pile with gasoline and is about to light it on fire when Roscoe limps into the room with a knife protruding from his back and falls on the ground, dead. A blood splattered Dean enters the room to confront Eldon, who says that "Chucky" got what she deserved. He proceeds to tell Dean about how he killed her and show off his new arm, but Dean tells him that the Stynes in Louisiana are all dead and to save the speech on his body. He tells him about how despite the improvements on their bodies, they still only have one brain. Eldon responds with "so," and Dean shoots him in the head, killing him and avenging Charlie's death. He then proceeds to kill Cyrus, who tells him that he hates his family and shows him that he is not like them by revealing his chest which is void of stitches, but Dean insists that there is evil in Cyrus's blood which will take over one day no matter how much he denies it before shooting him in the head, killing him and wiping out all the known Stynes residing in the United States. Castiel witnesses the murder and tells Dean that Mark is changing him since the Dean he knew would never have murdered Cyrus, but Dean passes it off.

Trivia

• A clue to the Styne's true identity as the House of Frankenstein can be spotted in the family crest, first seen in 10.18 Book of the Damned which bares a striking resemblance to the Frankenstein family crest seen in Young Frankenstein.
  

• There have been rumors that Mary Shelley had been influenced to write Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus because of a visit to Castle Frankenstein as well as rumors regarding the castle's history and connection with the supernatural, including one where Mary Shelley witnessed Johann Conrad Dippel; an alchemist and anatomist, performing medical experiments on exhumed corpses and was believed to have created a monster which was brought to life by a bolt of lightning.