Bobby Singer

Robert Steven "Bobby" Singer (1950-2012) was the father of Remi Singer and a veteran hunter, an old friend of John and over time evolved into a father-figure for John's sons Sam and Dean.

Biography
Bobby was born in 1950. Bobby grew up in an abusive environment. His father, Ed was an alcoholic who constantly yelled at him and his mother. One day when his father was hitting his mother, Bobby pulled out a rifle and shot Ed. His father's last words stuck with him, "You break everything you touch."[2] Years later he got married to Karen and they had one daughter in 1980.

Bobby became a hunter after he had to kill his wife Karen Singer when she was possessed by a demon. Karen was possessed by a demon on August 12, 1989. Bobby locked Remi in a closet while Karen was possessed.

Rufus Turner is the hunter who exorcised the demon and helped cover up Karen's death. It was Rufus who introduced Bobby to the world of the supernatural, and they hunted together for many years until a hunt went wrong in Omaha around 1993. Bobby met John Winchester and started helping him take care of Sam and Dean some time in late 1990. He took the boys on hunting trips and even played catch with Dean in the park, as well as giving Sam the amulet that Sam gave to Dean for Christmas. The boys would stay with Bobby while John was hunting, getting close to Bobby and his daughter Remi.

While seeking Bobby's refuge from Meg and Azazel, Dean mentioned that the last time he and Sam saw Bobby (it is unknown when), Bobby threatened to shoot Sam's and Dean's dad, John, full of rock-salt. Dean added, "You cocked the shotgun and everything" after John dropped Sam and Dean off at Bobby's house for a month without any contact, leaving Bobby to think that John had died.

Following an argument with Bobby, Dean ran off to find his father, only to return with an angered John who took his sons and were chased off property by Bobby who shot at the Impala as they drove off. Although John "just has that effect on people", Bobby was willing to help the boys get their dad back when they came to him for help, as he said, "None of that matters now. All that matters is that you get him back." We learn that John had found out about Remi's abilities and threatened her.

Bobby taught Remi to hide her abilities as he didn't know what she was and didn't want the Hunters that was in and out of their lives to turn on them or her to be hurt.

Physical Appearance
Bobby has brown graying short hair and a beard. He normally wears a blue cap. He is 6'0" tall and has the typical alcoholic body type, he is a little round and well built.

Personality
He seems to stay fairly stationary. He wears a lot of flannel and is almost always seen in a trucker's hat. He runs an auto salvage yard as his day job, and is a go-to guy for supernatural research.

He seems to have amassed quite a bit of knowledge over the years (being the first to deduce on his own that Meg was in fact possessed), plus his house is full of bookcases and stacks of books about the supernatural world and the things hunters go after.

After John's death, Bobby becomes like a father to Sam and Dean. He was very loyal to them and cared for them deeply like they were his own.

In times of stress, Bobby often drinks and throws brutal, sarcastic remarks at people. He has often been described as a "barely functioning alcoholic." His brutal experiences during childhood have made him often belligerent and judging of others and is very prone to standing up to people and telling them like it is - or at least, how he sees it in his own cynical, maladjusted way - to get them to grow up, something he's often done with Sam and Dean and possibly other hunters, including John. He doesn't enjoy people being lazy and will often complain. Bobby is shown to be very dedicated to his work, willing to sacrifice a lot of his own time and energy to help Sam and Dean and anyone in need.

Unlike Dean or John, Bobby was willing to spare certain monsters if he could be assured they would not cause anybody harm also coming from his daughter not being completely human. Also unlike Dean or John, but like Sam, Bobby wasn't the type to dive head-first into the unknown, preferring to do research or ask questions first; he would only resort to extreme measures like torture or causing disruptions in Heaven during life-and-death situations involving someone he cared about.

Human

 * Master Hunting Skills: With years of experience as a veteran hunter, Bobby was one of the best hunters in his lifetime, well-known and respected to the point where his skills were acknowledged by the likes of the Winchesters, including John, Sam and Dean, though Sam commented that Dean was still a better hunter than Bobby. Indeed, Krissy Chambers called Bobby when her father went missing.
 * Master Marksman: Bobby is an extremely capable marksman, able to shoot a moving target with his eyes closed, made more notable by the fact that he was in the woods at night when he did it. Even as a child, he already had some decent skill with firearms, as he succesfully used a riffle to kill his father with a shot to the head. He was also able to easily gun down multiple Croatoan Virus zombies during the Raid on Niveus Pharmaceuticals while holding the fort for Sam to rescue the trapped victims and even managed to hit a Leviathan in the head as well as shoot Dick Roman repeatedly with shots from a pistol, with neither of them able to react despite their superhuman reflexes and senses. His marksmanship also extended to being a skilled knife thrower, as he was able to accurately throw a bronze knife to hit the siren Nick Munroe's back, killing him.
 * Master Combatant: Having decades of combat experience as a veteran hunter, despite his old age, Bobby proved himself to be still physically fit enough and considerably proficient in close-combat when needed to. He was able to hold his own against a reluctant Dean when believing he wasn't real with a knife, breaking out of Dean's hold the first time he tried to restrain him and punching him back before eventually getting restrained, and overtake Dean in order to save Sam when they were mind-controlled by the Siren Nick and Dean was off-guard from being in the middle of swinging an axe down, swiftly stabbing Dean in the shoulder with the Demon-Killing Knife before he could react. His skills were presumably much sharper in his youth, but even in his old age, he proved fit and skilled enough to fight and overpower supernatural creatures, as he easily killed two demons with the knife in a matter of moments, single-handedly overpowered and eventually forced an Okami through a wood chipper and even knocked down a Leviathan with a crowbar.
 * High-level Intellect: Bobby has amassed an immense wealth of knowledge in his years as a hunter, frequently seen as an information broker to the supernatural hunting community, as shown in Weekend at Bobby's. Despite his appearance, he is extremely intuitive and cunning. He was able to tell that Sam was possessed by Meg almost at first glance and was able to spike her drink with holy water without her noticing. He was also able to stay one step ahead of "Soulless" Sam during his attempted patricide, even luring him to a trapdoor without him realizing it, despite Sam running on pure logic and even claiming he was smarter than he has ever been. Bobby was also the only person to see through Castiel's lies and deduce that he was working for Crowley from the way he acted when it was revealed Crowley was alive. Sam also explicitly contacted Bobby in Heaven in order to have him help Castiel break Metatron out of Heaven, expressing confidence he was smart enough to pull it off, which he did succesfully, managing to swiftly cause chaos by opening the door to the other Bobby Singers and then causing an uproar by pitting them against the Angels to distract them so he can open the door that activates the Heavenly Portal and he also showed his intuition by easily deducing from Castiel's reluctance when talking about Dean that Dean doesn't actually know about their attempt to save him. Bobby has been shown to be fluent in several languages including Japanese and several dead languages.
 * Indomitable Willpower: Bobby has proven himself to possess incredible willpower: Despite the many horrors he has seen through his years of hunting, unlike his friend Rufus Turner, Bobby remained fully active in hunting to protect innocents from the supernatural. He was able to overpower a demon that was possessing him and injure himself and kill the demon using the Demon-Killing Knife, a feat that very few was able to replicate when possessed by a supernatural creature. Despite being crippled and going through many depressive moods during the Apocalypse, Bobby did not give up, resisting the temptation of committing suicide by drawing strength from his love and loyalty to Sam and Dean. In his final moments, Bobby was able to overcome the pain of his shot wound at the head to say his last words and give Sam and Dean the clue he found from the Leviathans before finally dying.
 * Magical Proficiency: Despite not being a witch or a regular with spells, Bobby proved to be very proficient at using magic. He was especially familiar and skilled with warding spells and magical means capable of countering violent supernatural creatures and objects, as he quickly recognized the mark Meg was using to render Dean's attempts to exorcise him ineffective and knew to burn it to erase the spell and was able to cast a charm on Sam and Dean to ward off possession, provide them with a Cleansing Ritual capable of breaking the curse on cursed objects, teach them a Witch-Killing Spell that would soon become their most preferred method of disposing a witch, and create Curse Boxes for John Winchester, boxes with warding work capable of containing hexed and cursed objects without letting their supernatural effects slip to the outside.[6] He also cast the spell to put the Witnesses back to rest and successfully performed the Colt Bullet Creation Ritual. He is also accomplished in binding and summoning powerful beings, able to summon Gavin MacLeod, summon Crowley, bind Death and in his dream, bind a Reaper (which highly impressed said Reaper).

Ghost
Bobby was a young ghost however, due to necessity, he developed many ghostly powers becoming a very powerful Ghost.
 * Ectoplasm Secretion - Bobby caused a tear of ectoplasm to appear in the corner of the eye of the housekeeper he possessed.
 * Invisibility - As a ghost, Bobby is naturally invisible. However, as he grows stronger, is able to make himself seen and unseen at will.
 * Intangibility - As a ghost, Bobby is naturally intangible. However, as he grows stronger, he is able to make contact with things at will. Originally, he needed to become very calm, but as he grows more vengeful, the ability comes easier.
 * Possession - Bobby was able to overshadow and take control of a housekeeper.
 * Superhuman Strength - Bobby is physically stronger than he was as a human. He was able to knock Dick Roman to the ground and choke Sam with little effort. He also accidentally broke Charlie Bradbury's arm when he threw a Leviathan into her by mistake. He also proved strong enough to push the leviathan leader Dick Roman across the room with ease, a very impressive feat although Bobby didn't do him any lasting harm.
 * Telekinesis - Bobby can impart kinetic energy on an object with his mind.
 * Teleportation - Bobby can travel from place to place without occupying the space in between. However, he is tethered to his flask.
 * Thermokinesis - Bobby was able to drastically lower the temperature in the room, causing a mirror to freeze over. He was also able to freeze the glass in a set of doors just by touching them, causing them to crack.

Ghost

 * Salt - Ghosts can be repelled by salt and can't cross a line made of salt. Some hunters use rock shot rounds to dissipate ghosts by blasting them with it. Salt is also useful whenever a ghost is possessing a human. Feeding salt in the mouth of the person a ghost is possessing, will cause the ghost great pain and force the ghost out and free the human from the ghost's control. Shooting the person with rock salt will also break a ghost's possession.
 * Iron - Like salt, iron keeps spirits at bay. Some hunters use an iron crowbar or fire poker. Contact with it will dissipate a ghost for a couple of minutes. Touching iron to the skin of a person possessed by a ghost will break their possession as seen with Bobby Singer and Chester Johnson.


 * Magic - Hoodoo has been used to stop ghosts, and keep them under control, as a temporary and preventive measure against poltergeists. A spell has also been used to entrap very large numbers of ghosts inside a crystal.


 * Ghost repelling spell - The Witch Mother was capable of expelling Eileen Leahy's ghost from her presence by reciting the words, Umbra, abi.


 * Cat's Eye Shells -
 * Putting a Ghost to Rest - There are generally four ways to permanently defeat a ghost by putting them to rest:
 * Salting and Burning the Bones - The best and most common method to put a ghost to rest. Digging up a ghost's remains and salting and burning the bones, will help the spirit to cross over to the next life. When a ghost's bones are successfully salted and burned, it will go up in flames. This method is used for violent and vengeful spirits.
 * Destroying the Haunted Object - Salting and burning the object the ghost is using to stay active in the human world, will put a ghost to rest if there are no bones to burn, or if the objects they considered to be extensions or remains of the spirit. Show when they burned Bobby's flask
 * Resolving the ghost's issues - Helping a ghost to resolve its issues can put a ghost to rest. This method is rare but is used to help benevolent spirits find peace, as in the case of Molly McNamara. Sometimes, if a vengeful spirit is not too far gone, a loved one can reach them through this method as seen with Timmy's mother and Andrew Silver.
 * Ghosts - If two ghosts fight each other, they will both destroy each other and will no longer exist. At least one ghost had the ability to destroy other ghosts and make himself stronger through their energy in the process. Francis Tumblety also displayed the ability to absorb other ghosts into himself as a form of torture and execution although he was interrupted the one known time he tried this.
 * Holy Ground - Much like demons, most ghosts can't walk on holy ground, although unlike demons, rather than literally being unable to walk on it, ghosts can't or it will destroy them. Stronger ghosts, such as Jacob Karns and Father Thomas Gregory, are immune to this limitation though.
 * Last Rites -The Last Rites performed by a priest over at least a willing ghost will send that ghost to rest.

Remi Singer
Bobby had a strong relationship with his daughter especially after his wife past and her powers started to develop. Bobby taught her to hide her Nephilim abilities even going as far as to run off John Winchester with a loaded shotgun after he discovered Remi wasn't fully human.

Dean Winchester
Bobby is considered a father-figure to Dean. Like Dean, Bobby is also a hunter. Bobby gives Dean advice to help him personally and on jobs. Whenever John had a case, he would drop the boys at Bobby's and he taught them how to hunt. Bobby is also a hunter and has stacks of books of lore on anything that is huntable. There was one time when Dean was young that Bobby didn't do what John asked and took Dean to the park to play catch instead of practicing with rifles. Bobby is against Dean dating Remi because he doesn't want either of them hunt and doesn't believe they will work out although he comes around to them dating, he also learns of Remi's pregnancy before crossing over, saying the two of them will do good.

Sam Winchester
They two formed a close father-son relationship. Sam used to refer to Bobby as "Uncle Bobby". Sam's father, John, sometimes left Sam and his brother Dean in Bobby's care. Bobby kept a close eye on Sam out of worry about Sam's dark side.

Etymology

 * Robert - Introduced to England by the Normans, Robert is derived from the Old High German Hruodperht, a compound name composed of the elements hruod (fame) and perht (bright)
 * Steven - From the Latin Stephanus, which is from the Greek Stephanos, a name derived from stephanos (a crown, a garland).
 * Singer - English: variant of Sanger 2, in fact a Middle English recoinage from the verb sing(en) ‘to sing’.