[SPOILER] Dies in Supernatural’s “Rupture”

A pair of major recurring characters said good-bye to Supernatural tonight, and fans are already struggling to come to terms with how brutal the final season of the beloved CW drama is playing out so far. With some backup at their side, the Winchester brothers fought to prevent the apocalypse from coming (yet again) — and this time, it came at a hell of a cost. No pun intended, although it seems more or less impossible not to talk about Hell given the nature of this season. There’s going to be tears and spoiler warnings coming, folks, so if you don’t want to know, turn back now.

Of course, standard disclaimers apply: since it’s Supernatural (and especially given the nature of one of the two characters), anything could happen and we might see these actors again…but for now, at least, there are a few more losses for the SPN family to bear.

Spoilers for “The Rupture,” tonight’s episode of Supernatural.

Tonight was a bloody and tear-filled episode of the long-running series, with both Arthur Ketch and Rowena MacLeod falling in the ongoing battle with God.

In his hospital bed following the events of previous episode, Ketch found himself face to face with Ardat, who was angry that Ketch had failed to kill Belphegor. In the conflict, Ketch tried to kill Ardat with an angel blade, but it did not work. After realizing and confirming that Ketch is protecting his friends and there is no way to make him give them up, Ardat ripped out Arthur’s heart and crushed it.

That was a bit more brutal than how we saw Rowena get sent off, but not especially more visceral — especially since the witch best known for her charming and mischievous greetings to the Winchesters went out with the final words “Goodbye, boys.”

In the episode, Belphagor (the demon inside of Jack Kline’s body) was trying to suck all of Hell’s souls into himself, making himself essentially omnipotent. He ran up against the power of Castiel and, briefly, tried to save himself by pretending to actually be Jack. Unsurprisingly, that didn’t work, and Cas took the demon down. With all Hell literally ready to break loose, Rowena sacrificed herself in order to cast a spell that would suck up the souls into her body instead. Whether this means she will actually go to Hell or somehow be Hell is anybody’s guess at this point.

After having built a close relationship over the last couple of seasons, Rowena told Sam that “It has to be you who kills me,” which he did, with great reluctance, in the hopes of saving Dean and the world.

Supernatural airs on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.