Characters are the vital element to making any story work. If your characters are off, it doesn't matter how good the rest of the show is because it is going to fail. If the audience can't get invested in the characters, then they're really not going to care whether or not the good guys succeed or die.
And one of the key parts of getting the audience invested in the characters is the introduction you give to them. Any good character will usually have an intro that makes the audience sit up and take notice. Where would we be without Gandalf's introduction from The Hobbit? Would Hagrid have had the same impact on us if he hadn't come speeding in on that flying motorbike? No. Probably not. Introductions are SO important!
Here be spoilers...
10: Jo & Ellen Harvelle (Season 2 "Everybody Loves A Clown")
I'll admit that I warmed to Ellen long before I fell in love with Jo, but these two tough ladies definitely had a memorable entrance what with the Winchesters breaking into their bar around noon and both girls managing to get the drop on our boys and hold them at gunpoint for an interrogation. Not only does it cement the Harvelles as tough, no-nonsense women of action who can hold their own in the hunter world of dudes, but it's also funny as all get out! Not often does someone manage to outsmart both Sam and Dean, so I laughed and laughed whenever this happened.
9: John Winchester (Season 1 "Shadow")
John's introduction is certainly memorable. For most of the first season the story is all about Sam and Dean searching for their elusive father and running into hunts along the way. We had heard so much about John, whether through Sam's rants or Dean's hints, that the character was built up HUGE. It could easily have been a huge let-down whenever we met the man himself, but no. Not only did he just pop in for a hug and a fight with the shadow demons at the end of the episode, but John Winchester also managed to live up to expectations and show us that he honestly does love his kids at the same time.
8: Charlie (Season 7 "The Girl With The Dungeons & Dragons Tattoo")
Okay. So I think Charlie may be my favorite SPN character? Maybe. I'm still deciding between her, Gabriel, and Jody...but she definitely is close to beating the other two out simply by the fact that she's still around and only becomes more wonderful with each episode. But it was her introduction that really got my attention - dancing in through the door of Roman Industries to 'I'm Walking On Sunshine' and wearing a Princess Leia tee that I am so coveting! Charlie showed herself to be smart, resourceful, geeky, and very brave - all within her introductory episode. She's just awesome.
7: Lucifer (Season 5 "Sympathy for the Devil")
Out of all depictions of the Devil I have seen in media, literature, and music...this is probably the closest to what we can imagine he'd be like if we should ever meet him. He's actually portrayed very sympathetically...a liar with honey on his tongue who professes to be more honest than the good guys and is willing to tell just enough truth to either make his lies stronger or to trick you into thinking the opposite of the truth. He acts very gentle and understanding and behaves as though he's just the neglected son (the victim) in this whole Heavenly muck-up. His introduction is no different as, like a shark, he chooses his prey carefully. He goes after Nick, a man who has just lost his wife and newborn baby to a burglary/murder, and starts gently integrating himself into the man's thoughts and mind. He slowly sinks in the tentacles of doubt and anger until he has his hooks into Nick and the poor man doesn't know which way is up and which way is down. Then he goes in for the kill by reminding Nick of the age-old question of "How can you say God is loving if he allows such terrible things to happen? Let me in. I can give you what you want, what you need." Deep stuff, absolutely wonderful and thought-provoking, and a perfect introduction to this version of the Father of Lies.
7: Dean Winchester (Season 1 "Pilot/The Woman In White")
No I'm not talking about the scene where he breaks into Sam's apartment and wrestles him to the ground with a couple witty quips. That's not our introduction to Dean Winchester. No, our introduction comes much earlier in the pilot whenever a young boy kisses his baby brother goodnight and runs over to hug mummy and daddy. Then, mere hours later for him and mere moments later for us, that same baby brother is thrust into his arms and he's instructed to "Take your brother outside as fast as you can and don't look back. Now, Dean, GO!". Four years old, he doesn't question it, he just takes Sam and runs. That right there cements Dean's character to us as well as showing us his life's mission above saving people, above hunting things, above everything: Take Care Of Sammy.
6: Kevin Tran (Season 7 "Reading Is Fundamental")
Getting struck by lighting and having the Word of God start resonating in your mind...it doesn't get much more dramatic than that! Kevin is only the second prophet we've seen on the show (the other one was Chuck, and the jury's still out on him) and we'd never seen one actually be activated before. Kevin is first introduced as the stereotypical over-achiever. He plays cello for exactly an hour every day, has his day planned out down to the second as to how he is going to study, practice, study, and drink a soda. That is all shook up, though, whenever the Tablet is recovered from the vault of the Earth and Kevin is irreparably drawn into the world of Heavenly War.
5: Famine (Season 5 "My Bloody Valentine")
While normally I am annoyed or disgusted whenever films or shows try to delve into Biblical mythology (or mythology in general) because they tend to either over-simplify it, do it for cheap laughs or gimmicks, or just unapologetically get it wrong and mangle it beyond all recognition, I actually really like the way that Supernatural handled these elements. Obviously not everything was done right, but the stuff that they got right was a lot and was done REALLY right. The entrance of Famine was no difference. I think that Castiel's voice-over is even quoting directly from the Book of Revelations. Everything from the lighting to the text to the ominous music just serves to send chills up your spine and the feeling that there is an unstoppable menace coming settling in your heart.
4: The Trickster/Loki/Gabriel (Season 2 "Tall Tales")
No I didn't just put him on this list because he's my favorite angel (Stop SMIRKING, Jessica!) No, ol' Gabe is on my list because of his introduction. At the time of his character's creation, I don't really think that Kipke and the rest even had the idea for the angels yet...he was just an ambiguous demi-god with a fondness for sweets and pranks. We first get a glimpse of him whenever an adulterous professor is flung from a second-story window to his death and, at the time, we have no idea that this janitor is the one responsible. The mystery only grows from there...
3: The Ghostfacers (Season 1 "Hell House")
I did a Google Images search for 'Harry and Ed' which was really dumb, apparently, because all I got were a bunch of pictures of 1 Direction and Ed Sheeran. Why, God, why?! Not that there is anything wrong with Ed and Harry, it's just unbelievably frustrating whenever you're looking for one picture and instead you get myriads of others. Anyway. Rant over...on to Harry and Ed, co-leaders of the Ghostfacers. They were introduced all the way back in Season 1 during the truly epic prank war between Sam and Dean. They are supernerds, aspiring internet stars, and the co-runners/founders of the Ghostfacers.
2: Death (Season 5 "Two Minutes To Midnight")
Can we say E.P.I.C.?! Yes. Few things can top the entrance of the Horseman, Death, on this show. Not only is the music and lighting and slow-motion and shots beautifully meshed together to create great atmosphere...but it's also Death. You know, that thing that the other three Horsemen bring about but don't control? Yeah. Super chilling!
1: Castiel (Season 4 "Lazarus Rising")
I put this one above Death for one very simple reason: Castiel was built up better. Allow me to take you back five seasons to when we had no idea that angels existed in the SPN universe. I'll be the first to admit that I binge-watched this show and so haven't followed it from the very start (Gimme a break..I was barely in double digits when it started!) but I actually managed to avoid spoilers rather well. Here is what I knew about the show: It's about two brothers, the fandom has a gif for everything, they fight Lucifer at some point, and there's some dude named 'Cas' that everyone seems to love but who I think looks like Columbo in his younger days. That was it. So I was wholly unprepared for the TREMENDOUS build-up that Cas' introduction was given. So Dean went to Hell at the end of Season 3 and then wakes up in his coffin in this episode. The ground is nuked, grass scorched, trees knocked down, and Dean himself is sporting a branded handprint on his shoulder. Even the demons are afraid of this creature whose voice breaks glass and whose true form burns out a woman's eyes. It's cosmic and the writers spend the entire episode building up the reveal carefully so that tensions and expectations were high. And they did not disappoint!
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