Ellen Harvelle

Owner of Harvelle's Roadhouse and Jo's mother.

Ellen Harvelle is a character in the drama and horror series Supernatural, played by Samantha Ferris, the mother of Jo Harvelle and owner of Harvelle's Roadhouse, a bar frequented by hunters of supernatural creatures.

Quick Facts

Series: Supernatural
First: "Everybody Loves a Clown" (2006)
Last: "My Heart Will Go On" (2011)
Creator: Eric Kripke; John Shiban
Portrayed by: Samantha Ferris
Occupation: Proprietor; Hunter
Spouse: William Anthony Harvelle (husband)
Children: Jo Harvelle (daughter)

Facts from the source article.

Background

An old friend of John Winchester and the wife of the hunter William Anthony Harvelle, she holds Sam and Dean at gunpoint when they first arrive at the Roadhouse in "Everybody Loves a Clown", until she learns that they are John's sons. In "No Exit" she says she believes her husband died because of a mistake John made on a hunt, but in "Hunted" she admits to Sam that it was not John's fault and that she had forgiven him long ago.

Demons destroy the Roadhouse in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One" while she is out running errands. In the second part she, the Winchesters and Bobby Singer track Azazel to a cemetery ringed by a giant devil's trap made of railroad tracks. They cannot stop a gateway to Hell from being opened, but after the brothers kill Azazel, Ellen and Bobby close it.

In the fifth season she helps the hunter Rufus in a small town where War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, makes the townspeople see each other as demons. In "Abandon All Hope..." she and Jo join the brothers to find and kill Lucifer, are attacked by the demon Meg and a pack of hellhounds, and after Jo dies in her arms Ellen blows up the building, killing the hellhounds and herself.

Her appearances in the third season were dropped because of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Series creator Eric Kripke said she brought a maternal energy to the series, and critics were happy to see her return.