What happens on Supernatural if (when) Jack overuses the soul-sucking magic?

Everyone was excited to have Jack back to life on Supernatural after his adventure in Heaven. But are we too quick to think the problem is solved? What could go wrong when you’re drawing on your soul to stay alive?

We know Jack is still without his powers because Michael specifically mentioned it in the mid-season finale of Supernatural, “The Spear.” We also know that Jack’s life is being sustained by angel magic through a spell generously donated by Lily Sunder in the episode before, titled “Byzantium.”

Lily gave her last breath of life to transfer the spell for her “soul-sucking” angel magic, as Dean called it. As Castiel pulled Jack’s soul back into his expired body for an instant, Jack read the words and anchored his soul in place, while restoring his body enough to contain it.

Lily gently warned everyone, claiming it should be taken with a grain of salt that Jack could use a mere pinch of his soul to stay in place and be cured of the destruction that was being done to his human body by the loss of his nephilim grace. I picked up on something Lily said during the initial suggestion to the guys. She marketed this plan on the basis that as long as he’s only using the magic to sustain his body, he’d never miss the little sliver of his soul needed to make it work.

Why would he?

As I mentioned at the time, this seemed like an open door to me, since Supernatural rarely, if ever (sparing the dangling storylines we still think about) leaves in an irrelevant detail such as that. She just didn’t need to say it. To me, it’s a clue for things to come.

Everyone was very concerned when they first heard the offer. Souls are pretty serious on Supernatural. They didn’t like that idea at all, thinking of Jack using up any smidge his soul.

After all, we’ve seen what not having a soul can do, haven’t we? It’s certainly not pretty and they know it’s probably not worth the trade to come back to life and potentially destroy the soul in the process.

But they agree, Jack agrees, and there he is. Lily gets to go to Heaven after all and will finally reunite with her daughter because of the final, selfless act of saving Jack. Good times.

So what happens when Jack realizes he can use this magic in other ways? Lily did it for revenge and justice. Jack is such a sweet soul I just know the moment will come when he realizes he can do something.

Jack battled some very serious depression in the Supernatural storyline after the Lucifer incident. Dean got hijacked by Michael, Lucifer (his father) burned up in a dramatic death after having stolen Jack’s grace and pitting him against one of his surrogate fathers.

It was a real mess, enough to get anyone down. Jack completely blamed himself because there was nothing he could do to stop or change any of it. We know he’ll stop at nothing for anyone, especially family. And consistently from the beginning, he wants to help when he can’t.

Now we are faced with a few obvious possibilities, and surely some we can’t yet see coming. Dean has been recaptured by Michael, dang it. Castiel has struck a deal with The Empty to trade his eternity for Jack’s life and the safety of Heaven (at the moment). And surely other issues will arise soon enough.

So is it just me, or can you see Jack wanting to step in at one point or another and try to fix something that might turn out otherwise pretty crushing? I mean, Jack will easily be able to blame himself for both of these things.

He was captured by Michael’s bad guys, leading Castiel, Sam, and Dean to Kansas City where Michael jumped back into Dean. Castiel absolutely made the deal with The Empty to save Jack’s life. While no one will blame him for either thing, he certainly may.

When he does

So down to brass tacks, let’s say there’s a case of “I’m going to sacrifice myself for them, for once.” However it happens, what will become of Jack when he makes this trade? Is his soul being traded to someone, something, or some force when he draws on the angel magic to do tricks, or is it just being used up?

Lily sustained her youth and used it to do momentary acts of magical intervention. When she stopped using it, she began to age at what appeared to be an accelerated rate. When she did use it, it caused her damage.

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And how long will it take Jack to figure out that he has the ability to tap into it at will? He read the spell when he awoke from his death and that got the thing going.

We saw a little glimmer in his eyes, and he asked with that child-like amazement I’ve really come to adore from Jack on Supernatural, “was that my soul?”

In true Supernatural tradition, surely this was not an unnecessary detail. We knew what would be happening, so to show it to us and have him address it seems to be a first detail in what will become a “thing.” Eventually, he will realize it and find the best, first chance to go against what’s best for his soul.

So once he makes this decision to use the magic, will it take some time before anyone notices the changes it will cause to his sensitivities? Will he suffer new health problems? Or worse, will he get kinda wicked? I remember Soulless Sam having that little smirk when he saw Dean getting attacked in the alley.

Who will be the one to figure it out, knowing that, as an adopted but true Winchester, he will try to hide it? And more importantly, who will fix it once it happens? Will he use it to accelerate the restoration of his grace? Will he resurrect someone? Will he save one of his family?

If he does start losing his compassion though, he will make some turns that may eventually cause him (or others) to notice he’s maybe starting to take after his real dad. That’s going to have a lot of folks getting very concerned.

And in the process of this madness, will the Supernatural geniuses take it as an opportunity to use Jack’s borrowed power to solve one of the many current or developing crisis situations we are all watching unfold with no apparent solution?

I am sure it will take a little time to see this play out, but I am also pretty sure it will. Until then, I will be watching for little references and clues in the episodes to come.

Do you think Jack will find a reason and the ability to tap into the angel magic? What would drive him to it? What will be the outcome? Let us know in the comments below or send us a tweet with your theories!

Supernatural returns to The CW on Jan. 17, 2019 at 8/7c. Follow SPN Hunters on Facebook for more theories, news, and events!