Jordan

Sam’s role in Charlie’s death (or lack thereof)

Ok, let’s start off by making this very, explicitly clear. SAM IS NOT TO BLAME FOR CHARLIE’S DEATH. Ok, now we’ve established this point, let’s look at why that is so. 

First and most importantly, the book could NOT have been destroyed either way, even if Sam had attempted to do so. Therefore the Steins would still have come after Charlie, in the hopes that she had the book, regardless of Sam’s decision. 

Second, the Steins came after Charlie, purely because they thought she had the book, NOT because they knew she was working on decoding it, the Steins had NO idea what Sam, Charlie and Rowena were working on. Sam asking Charlie to help decode the book is NOT what made her a target.

Third, since the Steins were looking for Charlie, her being in a secure, hidden location with an angel on hand (also an extremely powerful witch, but I’m not so sure how helpful Rowena would be in a possible attack - though she certain has plenty of self preservation) was probably actually a damn sight safer place for her to be than just about anywhere else. 

Forth, Charlie is an adult women capable of making her own decisions when presented with the facts of a case. Sam gave Charlie, more than enough information when he met with her to allow her to make an informed decision of her own. Was there an emotional component to her decision involved? Absolutely! Was this emotional component the result of manipulation by Sam, absolutely not! Charlie made her decision based on the facts in front of her and her own love for and desire to help Dean. 

Fifth, Charlie later made another series of decisions, these were once again decisions that were made entirely of her own free will and were, in fact, counter to Sam’s advice. Charlie chose to leave the location in which they were decoding the codex and to book into a hotel room, prior to this, the Steins had no fix in her location, Charlie relocating to the motel is what clued the Steins into her whereabouts. Sam had explicitly stated that he thought it was dangerous for Charlie to leave on her own and had advised against her doing so. Charlie also chose to keep working on backing up her decoding and to then destroy the files, despite both Sam and Dean, pleading with her to just hand them over. Now, I am pretty doubtful whether simply handing over the laptop could have saved Charlie, I think it highly likely that she would have been killed regardless, because as the Steins said “they don’t have witnesses”, never the less it was a brave thing to do, not knowing. Charlie made one rather rash and one incredibly brave decision, neither of which makes her responsible for her own death, let alone SAM who had NO part in either decision and who actively argued against both, the only person directly responsible for Charlie’s death was the man who killed her. Charlie’s blood is NOT on Sam’s hands, there was nothing Sam did that resulting in Charlie’s death and there is very little, short of, perhaps, arriving at the motel room those few minutes faster (for which Dean could hold equal responsibility), that Sam could have done to prevent it.

To recap: 

a) Sam did not make Charlie a target for the Steins, Charlie was already a target. 

b) Sam did not lie to or misinform Charlie with regards to what he was doing or what he wanted her to do, nor did he emotionally manipulate her; Charlie was in possession of the full facts and made an informed decision based upon both them and her personal feelings for Dean (and I would like to think also for Sam). 

c) Charlie made decisions which led upto her death, which were not only dependent from but directly contrary to Sam.