Supernatural Season 6 Speculation

We're winding down to the end of season 6 and my mind is reeling. There are still so many things I'm confused about and some loose ends that need tightening. So I thought I'd take a minute to lay it all out there. Here is what I know, what I think I know (may be one in the same) and what I have no freaking clue about! Feel free to speculate right along with me. But please keep the comment section spoiler-free. I have been avoiding spoilers like the plague and I really want these last few episodes to remain a mystery!

This season is all about souls, so let's start with that motherload-of-a-topic first.  

Here's what we know about souls:

• Souls = Power = Fuel for the war machine
• Everybody wants them; Heaven, Hell and Purgatory.
• Sam lost his soul and Death was able to get it back inside him. 
• At the beginning of season 6, at least one Angel (Balthazar) began exchanging Heaven's weapons for ownership of their soul. We were told that this is unusual angel behavior.

Here's what I think we know:

• Castiel is doing very bad things to collect these souls; putting innocent people in danger. Perhaps he learned a little something from Balthazar?
• It doesn't seem to matter what "team" the soul's owner is on. Even monster's souls can be collected by Angels and used as fuel.

Here's what we don't know:

• How is this power/fuel extracted from the soul's owner? Can it be done without their knowledge?
• Does the person/monster/whoever generally die when their soul is collected? We saw Cas touch Bobby's soul for strength and he warned Bobby just how dangerous even that would be.
• Can soul's be taken if the person/monster/whatever is dead already? Or does their soul automatically go to whatever "team" they were on? i.e. When good, human, non-demon, non-monster's die, does their soul automatically go to Heaven?

Who pulled Sam up from Hell and Samuel down from Heaven?

Here's what we know:

• Angels have the power to retrieve someone from Hell so I would assume the same goes for Heaven. 
• Castiel and Crowley are working together (more on that later) and Crowley is King of Hell so there's some obvious power that goes along with that. 

Here's what I think I know:

• Samuel was in Heaven, right? What kind of a world is it where someone like Sam goes to Hell while someone like Samuel is living it up in Heaven?!
• Samuel was willing to work for Crowley because he promised to bring Mary back to life. 
• Whoever brought Sam back from Hell left a piece behind.
• Sam also came back without a hand print like the one Dean had which leads me to believe it was Crowley who released him.

Here's what we don't know:

• Did Samuel know who brought him back from Heaven? If so, was he given a choice or just yanked back down to Earth?
• Whoever saved Sam from Hell brought him back without a crucial piece, perhaps on purpose? Did Crowley intend to keep Sam's soul for his own war machine? Was Cas in on that decision?

 

Castiel and Crowley are working together.

Here's what we know:

• That they are, in fact, working together. 
• That it's been going on for a while. "How many times am I going to have to clean up your messes?"
• Sam and Dean are not going to be happy about this, especially Dean. 
• Crowley wants Castiel to kill Sam and Dean. 

Here's what I think I know:

• Castiel is not the angel we once knew. Something has changed him. Maybe the war? Maybe this partnership?
• Crowley is still a bad guy; There has been no change of heart. He is clearly getting something out of this partnership. 
• Castiel can't kill Sam and Dean and he won't let Crowley do it either. No matter how lost Castiel seems to be, Sam and Dean are his favorite "hairless apes".  Wishful thinking? Maybe.

Here's what we don't know:

• What is the arrangement between these two. They certainly aren't fighting for the same team and I doubt that they can share the souls they collect, so there must be some way that this arrangement is benefiting them both equally.
• How long has this been going on? Thinking back through the season I can't find a difinitive moment where I think Castiel began to lie. Did he know he wasn't killing Crowley when he burned what we thought was Crowley's bones? Did their partnership start even before that?
• Why would Castiel and Crowley poke the beast (Eve) by harvesting the souls of her "children"? Don't they have enough enemies as it is?
• What would killing Sam and Dean accomplish? They would be up against and angel and the King of Hell. I would think they'd be a little outnumbered. 
• If all goes well and Cas finds his way out of this, will the Winchesters ever be able to put this betrayal behind them?

The Mother of All

Here's what we know:

• Eve is the mother of all monsters and until recently resided in Purgatory.
• She is burned by the ashes of a Phoenix. 
• She is concerned with natural order and only began her "beta testing" after her children were threatened by Crowley and possibly probably Castiel.
• She's really not all that scary or intimidating. (I guess that's more of a personal fact)

Here's what I think I know:

• She's not dead. The lore said the ashes would burn the mother, they said nothing about killing her. That was entirely too easy of a kill and leads me to believe it was a quick way to change her vessel. (The actress playing Eve was just not very good. )
• I have a feeling she'll be back in the mix. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. I think it depends on the new actress they choose to play her. Samantha Smith was awesome in this last episode and took the overall under-developed character to a new level.

Here's what we don't know:

• We don't know for sure that Eve will be back, but if she does make another appearance, what will her role be? Will it be this season or will she be next season's big bad?

Great Wall of Sam

Here's what we know:

• Sam's wall has already begun to crack and he seems to be remembering more and more from his soulless year. 
• Sam could die if the wall crumbles completely.

Here's what I think I know:

• Something is going to happen to the Great Wall of Sam before the season is over. I don't know if it will fall down for good, or if he'll experience another crack like he had in "Unforgiven". Again, this storyline could very well extend into season 7.
• I've been thinking that maybe Sam will recall something about Cas and Crowley's partnership? Of course this is pure speculation. Castiel was so opposed to the idea of Sam getting his soul back. At the time, I thought it was out of pure concern for his health and safety, but now I'm not so sure that was his only motivation. Sam also seemed to recall something about Castiel at the end of "Mommy Dearest" but he never really voiced it. I'll be interested to see what that was.

Here's what we don't know:

• If Sam's wall does crumble, will he able to withstand whatever flood of memories he has? 
• Did Sam have a role in the Castiel and Crowley partnership while he was soulless? If so, will that memory come back to him before the end of the season?
• Will we see Death again? He seems so closely tied to this storyline, I'd think if something happened to Sam, Dean would summon Death immediately.

Thanks for letting me organize my thoughts! There really is a LOT going on this season and sometimes it's nice to take a step back and look at the big picture. Now I want to hear what you think. Did I miss any plot points of importance? Are there any holes in my theories? Feel free to point them out in a spoiler-free fashion! Can you tell that I really like the element of surprise?