Difference between revisions of "Alastair"
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|image= [[File:Alastair1.jpg|350px]][[File:Alastair2.jpg|350px]][[File:Alastair3.jpg|350px]] | |image= [[File:Alastair1.jpg|350px]][[File:Alastair2.jpg|350px]][[File:Alastair3.jpg|350px]] | ||
|name= Alastair | |name= Alastair | ||
| − | |actor= [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001679/ Mark Rolston] ([[4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer|4.09]] & [[4.10 Heaven and Hell|4.10]])<br>[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0923766/ | + | |actor= [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001679/ Mark Rolston] ([[4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer|4.09]] & [[4.10 Heaven and Hell|4.10]])<br>[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0923766/ Andrew Wheeler] ([[4.15 Death Takes a Holiday|4.15]])<br>[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0382216/ Christopher Heyerdahl] ([[4.15 Death Takes a Holiday|4.15]], [[4.16 On the Head of a Pin|4.16]] & [[4.21 When the Levee Breaks|4.21]]) |
|dates= ???? - 2009 (killed by [[Sam Winchester]]) | |dates= ???? - 2009 (killed by [[Sam Winchester]]) | ||
|location= | |location= | ||
| − | |occupation= [[ | + | |occupation= [[Demon]] ([[White-eyed Demon|White-Eyed]])<br>Grand Inquisitor of Hell |
| − | |episodes= [[4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer]]<br>[[4.10 Heaven and Hell]]<br>[[4.15 Death Takes a Holiday]]<br>[[4.16 On the Head of a Pin]] | + | |episodes= [[4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer]]<br>[[4.10 Heaven and Hell]]<br>[[4.15 Death Takes a Holiday]]<br>[[4.16 On the Head of a Pin]]<br>[[4.21 When the Levee Breaks]] (hallucination) |
}} | }} | ||
{{Quotation | {{Quotation | ||
|title= | |title= | ||
| − | |text= You know... I haven't been up here since Poland '43. Truth is, I loathe it. It's chilly. No stink of blood or sizzle of flesh or the wet flap of flayed skin. I don't know how you stand it. | + | |text= You know the problem with your generation? Instant gratification. It's all now, now, now. No patience, no craftsmanship. But I do have to say... This knife of yours... It's an exquisite piece. You must tell me where you found it. You know... I haven't been up here since Poland '43. Truth is, I loathe it. It's chilly. No stink of blood or sizzle of flesh or the wet flap of flayed skin. I don't know how you stand it. So, the sooner you cooperate, the sooner I can finish up with this ghastly angel business and return home to my studies. But no rush. Let's take our time... Relish the moment. Now, I'm going to remove this, but don't you go smoking out of that meat. You won't get very far. |
| − | |author= Alastair | + | |author= Alastair |
|source= [[4.10 Heaven and Hell]] | |source= [[4.10 Heaven and Hell]] | ||
}} | }} | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
==History== | ==History== | ||
| − | Alastair | + | Alastair was a [[Demonology|white-eyed demon]] and possibly the second demon ever made whose past is unknown, but implied to be almost as long as [[Lilith]]'s. He was considered by the centuries-old [[Ruby]] to be "young" and believed that her generation's style of torturing is amateurish compared to his methods. Ruby called him the "Grand Inquisitor",<ref name="four10">[[4.10 Heaven and Hell]]</ref> whether the title was official or not is unknown. He also claimed to be an "old friend" of [[Death]]'s,<ref name="four15">[[4.15 Death Takes a Holiday]]</ref> who had been imprisoned since Biblical times.<ref name="five10">[[5.10 Abandon All Hope...]]</ref> Alastair was present for World War II, at which time he is involved with the concentration camps in Poland. He returned to [[Hell]] after 1943 and does not resurface on Earth again until 2008, as he prefers to spend his time in Hell, torturing [[souls]], only heading topside when it is absolutely necessary.<ref name="four10" /> In Hell, Alastair took [[Meg]] as his apprentice and trained her at some point prior to his demise in 2009.<ref name="six10">[[6.10 Caged Heat]]</ref>. |
| − | Alastair | + | Alastair was charged with breaking the first of [[the 66 Seals]] by forcing "The Righteous Man" to torture other [[soul]]s in Hell. He first attempted to break this seal by torturing [[John Winchester]]'s soul from 2006 to 2007, promising to stop only if John agrees to torture other souls. However, John continually refuses the offer and eventually escaped Alastair's clutches through the [[Devil's Gate in Wyoming]].<ref name="four16">[[4.16 On the Head of a Pin]]</ref><ref name="two22">[[2.22 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part Two]]</ref> A year later, Alastair receives John's son [[Dean Winchester]] from Lilith as a replacement for John.<ref name="four16" /> Although Alastair expected similar resistance from Dean that he got from John, he succeeded in getting Dean to agree to the offer in a third of the time John resisted it. Once Dean breaks the first seal, this allowed the rest of the seals to be broken.<ref name="four16" /> Impressed by Dean's potential, Alastair keeps training him as an apprentice until an army of [[angels]] rescued Dean, including [[Castiel]].<ref name="four09">[[4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer]]</ref> |
| − | Alastair is sent to Earth to capture and interrogate [[Anna Milton]] on what she hears other angels saying. However, he | + | Alastair is then sent to Earth to capture and interrogate [[Anna Milton]] on what she hears other angels saying. However, he failed due to the combined efforts of [[Sam]], Dean, Ruby, and Anna herself.<ref name="four10" /> He is sent back up to Earth once again to participate in breaking more seals. His attempt to sacrifice two [[reapers]] during the winter solstice is thwarted by Sam, Dean, and Castiel,<ref name="four15" /> the last of whom captured Alastair to interrogate him on who has been killing members of his [[angel garrison]].<ref name="four16" /> Alastair proved too strong-willed for the angels to break and they call Dean in to torture his old tormentor, but to no avail. Alastair only gives up the information when Sam tortured him with his [[demon blood]]-enhanced powers; after Alastair reveals that he only knows that no demons are behind the murders, he becomes the first demon killed by Sam's growing powers.<ref name="four16" /> |
==Characteristics== | ==Characteristics== | ||
| − | [[File:AlastairKnife416.jpg|thumb| | + | [[File:AlastairKnife416.jpg|thumb|350px|Alastair survives being stabbed with [[Ruby's knife]].]] |
| + | {{Quotation | ||
| + | |title= | ||
| + | |text= Potestas inferna, me confirma. Potestas inferna, me confirma. Potestas inferna, me confirma! | ||
| + | |author= Alastair | ||
| + | |source= [[4.10 Heaven and Hell]] | ||
| + | }} | ||
| + | |||
Alastair has white eyes (including pupils and irises).<ref name="four09" /> He is noted as an expert interrogator and torturer,<ref name="four10" /> and is also incredibly resilient to being tortured himself; according to [[Castiel]], he has an exceptionally strong will, allowing him to withstand extended torture from both [[angels]] and one of his own apprentices.<ref name="four16" /> Alastair possesses an extensive knowledge of the occult as well as [[Enochian]] spells and rituals, including an incantation with an unknown negative effect on [[angel]]s<ref name="four10" /> as well as another incantation that expels an angel from his [[vessel]] and sends him back to [[Heaven]],<ref name="four16" /> and spell-work to incapacitate [[reapers]].<ref name="four15" /> His presence causes statues to weep blood.<ref name="four09" /> | Alastair has white eyes (including pupils and irises).<ref name="four09" /> He is noted as an expert interrogator and torturer,<ref name="four10" /> and is also incredibly resilient to being tortured himself; according to [[Castiel]], he has an exceptionally strong will, allowing him to withstand extended torture from both [[angels]] and one of his own apprentices.<ref name="four16" /> Alastair possesses an extensive knowledge of the occult as well as [[Enochian]] spells and rituals, including an incantation with an unknown negative effect on [[angel]]s<ref name="four10" /> as well as another incantation that expels an angel from his [[vessel]] and sends him back to [[Heaven]],<ref name="four16" /> and spell-work to incapacitate [[reapers]].<ref name="four15" /> His presence causes statues to weep blood.<ref name="four09" /> | ||
===Powers and abilities=== | ===Powers and abilities=== | ||
| − | * | + | * Arcane knowledge - Being a [[white-eyed demon]] and presumably among the first created, Alastair possesses old and powerful knowledge, such as an [[exorcism]] ritual that can eject an angel from its [[vessel]] and send it back to [[Heaven]]. |
| − | * | + | * [[Possession]] - Like all demons, Alastair was capable of possessing any humans not in possession of an [[anti-possession symbol]].<ref name="four09" /><ref name="four15" /> |
| − | + | * [[Telekinesis]]<ref name="four09" /><ref name="four15" /> - Alastair can moves anything with a thought. The power also extends to being able to telekinetically inflict damage onto humans's hearts with a gesture.<ref name="four10" /> | |
| − | * | + | * [[Teleportation]] - As a high-level demon, Alastair has the ability to teleport.<ref name="four10" /> |
| − | * | + | * Superhuman strength and durability.<ref name="four10" /><ref name="four16" /> - Alastiar can overpower [[angels]],<ref name="four10" /> though he does not possess the power to kill them and they can overpower him if he is sufficiently distracted, but had also shown to resistant to the smiting powers of [[angel]]s, though their [[grace]] can destroy his [[meatsuit]].<ref name="four10" />.<ref name="four16" /><ref name="four15" /> His durability also extends to a high resistance to the [[demon-killing knife]].<ref name="four09" /><ref name="four16" /> |
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
===Weaknesses=== | ===Weaknesses=== | ||
| − | * | + | * [[Demon-killing knife]] - While Alastair had survived being stabbed with the knife, it's use still caused him great pain. |
| − | * | + | * [[Devil's traps]] - As powerful as Alastair was, he was still vulnerable to devil's traps.<ref name="four16" /> |
| − | * | + | * [[Holy water]]<ref name="four16" /> - Holy water was shown to burn Alastair like all demons. |
| + | * Psychic powers - Alastiar was killed by [[Sam]]'s powers if Sam has recently consumed [[demon blood]].<ref name="four16" /> | ||
| + | * [[Salt]] - Alastair was incapable of crossing a salt line, ingestion of salt mixed with holy water was able to cause great discomfort. | ||
==Episodes== | ==Episodes== | ||
===[[4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer]]=== | ===[[4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer]]=== | ||
| − | Alastair leaves [[Hell]] and [[Possession|possesses]] a pediatrician to capture and interrogate [[Anna]]. He follows [[Sam]] and [[Dean]] from Anna's house to the church Anna is hiding at. [[Ruby]] tries to get Sam, Dean, and Anna to leave as quickly as possible to avoid Alastair, but realizes that it is too late when signs of his approach break out, including a statue of the virgin Mary weeping blood. Although she convinces Sam to exorcise Alastair with his powers, they have little effect on Alastair, who uses [[telekinesis]] to fling Sam down the staircase before attacking and | + | Alastair leaves [[Hell]] and [[Possession|possesses]] a pediatrician to capture and interrogate [[Anna]]. He follows [[Sam]] and [[Dean]] from Anna's house to the church Anna is hiding at. [[Ruby]] tries to get Sam, Dean, and Anna to leave as quickly as possible to avoid Alastair, but realizes that it is too late when signs of his approach break out, including a statue of the virgin Mary weeping blood. Although she convinces Sam to [[exorcise]] Alastair with his powers, they have little effect on Alastair, who uses [[telekinesis]] to fling Sam down the staircase before attacking and beating Dean. He taunts Dean about their "closeness" in Hell, prompting Dean to finally recognize Alastair, even in his [[meatsuit]]. Sam returns to stab Alastair with [[Ruby's knife]], but much to the Winchesters' horror, the [[demon]] does not die. As Alastair pulls the knife out, Sam and Dean flee from him by jumping out the church window and he allows them to escape so that he can use them to lead him to Anna again. |
===[[4.10 Heaven and Hell]]=== | ===[[4.10 Heaven and Hell]]=== | ||
| − | + | Alastair is described by [[Ruby]] as a master torturer who is "practically the Grand Inquisitor" in [[Hell]], whom she is more scared of him than even the [[angels]]. After her suggestion to abandon [[Anna]] and run from Alastair gets rejected, she tries to get [[Sam]] to resume drinking her [[Demon blood|blood]] so that he can successfully [[exorcise]] Alastair. Sam refuses this as well. Later on, Alastair reappears when Ruby leaves to fulfill her part in Sam's plan, burning her [[hex bag]] and letting Alastair find her at a [[crossroads]]. Alastair derides her, a fellow [[demon]], for protecting Anna, an [[angel]], and rejects her offer to trade him Anna for the safety of herself, Sam, and [[Dean]]. He just insults her again before having his minions capture her and he begins torturing her with [[Ruby's knife|her own knife]] to simply make her to tell him where Anna is. While torturing her, Alastair reveals that he actually vastly prefers Hell to Earth (which he loathes), having only left it because he must deal with "this nasty angel business." Eventually, Ruby agrees to lead him and his minions to Anna - she is unwilling to simply tell him what he wants to know because she knows that he would just kill her afterwards. Alastair and his minions accompany her and find that [[Castiel]] and [[Uriel]] are also at the site, about to execute Anna. Contrary to the terror other [[demons]] showed of angels, Alastair dismisses Castiel's warnings that they will be killed if they do not leave and even trades insults with Uriel before leading his forces to fight the angels and stop them from killing Anna so that he may capture and torture her. Although his minions are quickly killed by Uriel, Alastair proves too powerful for Castiel to smite and overpowers the angel, which shocks the latter. When Dean hits him over the head with a crowbar, Alastair shifts his attentions to him and Sam and launches a [[Telekinesis|telekinetic]] attack on their hearts while chastising Dean about his lost "potential." He tries to intervene when he sees Anna regain her [[grace]], only to get vaporized instead, leaving behind only Ruby's knife. Later, Dean tearfully reveals to Sam that after every day of torture in Hell, Alastair would offer to stop if Dean agreed to torture other souls. Although Dean held out for the first thirty years (three months on Earth), he eventually gave in because he couldn't take it anymore and spent the last ten years of his time there (one month on Earth) torturing other souls under Alastair's instruction.[[File:Alistair with Death's weapon.Jpg|350px|thumb|left|Alastair in his new [[meatsuit]], preparing to break one of [[the 66 Seals]].]] | |
| − | [[Ruby]] | ||
===[[4.15 Death Takes a Holiday]]=== | ===[[4.15 Death Takes a Holiday]]=== | ||
| − | + | Alastair is once again made to leave [[Hell]] and assist in the [[Apocalypse]], much to his dissatisfaction. Now in a new [[meatsuit]], he is attempting to break one of [[the 66 Seals]] by killing two [[reaper]]s under a solstice moon. He confronts [[Dean]] and [[Sam]] in a cemetery, revealing that he had survived his encounter with [[Anna]], though the pediatrician he had been [[possessing]] did not, and gloating that the latter's wife is still looking for her husband and unaware he is dead. Trying again to kill them, Alastair telekinetically throws Dean into a gravestone and injures him, but finds that Sam is now immune to his powers. He flees when Sam tries to [[exorcise]] him with his powers, and later returns in yet another meatsuit. When the boys become non-corporeal to better find the demons holding the reapers hostage, they track Alastair down at a funeral home warded in [[Enochian]] against [[angels]]. As they have made themselves subject to [[ghost]]ly weaknesses in their spiritual state, Alastair traps them with an [[iron]] chain and toys with them by shooting them with [[salt]] as he sends a minion to kill their unconscious bodies. While their ally [[Pamela Barnes]] is able to hold off Alastair's servant for a time and thwart this aspect of Alastair's plan, she is fatally wounded by Alastair's servant in the process and later dies. Meanwhile, Alastair begins breaking the seal and succeeds in killing one [[reaper]] with [[Death's scythe]], though the boys help [[Tessa]] escape and ultimately save the seal before fleeing. Alastair later tracks Dean down alone as Sam is fighting off Alastair's minion in attempt to save Pamela. As he begins closing in on Dean, Alastair vanishes again as he is captured by [[Castiel]]. | |
| − | |||
===[[4.16 On the Head of a Pin]]=== | ===[[4.16 On the Head of a Pin]]=== | ||
| − | Alastair is | + | [[File:AlastairKilled.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Alastair is killed by [[Sam]].]] |
| + | Alastair has held captive by [[Castiel]] and [[Uriel]] and imprisoned in a [[devil's trap]] since the previous episode, but he refuses to tell them anything about the slain [[angel]]s. [[Dean]] is recruited as an interrogator because he was formerly Alastair's student during his time in [[Hell]]. Amused by the idea, Alastair taunts him over the course of the torture session, though he concedes that reality is "too concrete" compared to Hell for Dean to adequately torture him. Dean instead tortures Alastair with [[holy water]] injected into his veins, [[salt]] poured down his mouth, and mutilation from [[Ruby's knife]], as he admits to an unnerved Alastair he'd dreamed of doing in Hell. Instead of giving Dean the information he asks for regarding the angel murders, Alastair messes with Dean by claiming that he tortured Dean's father [[John]] in Hell and even made him the same offer he'd made Dean, but that unlike his son, John was a "hero" who steadfastly refused and ultimately escaped after 100 years (one year on Earth) of Alastair's torture. Alastair gloats that when Dean accepted the offer and began torturing souls, he broke the first of [[the 66 Seals]] and enabled [[demons]] to begin breaking the rest of them. Having kept an eye on the devil's trap he's caught in being compromised - later revealed to be Uriel's doing, to let Alastair kill Dean and escape to make the angels keep thinking the demons are responsible for the angel murders when it is really Uriel himself - Alastair escapes when a devastated Dean turns his back, then begins savagely beating Dean again. He is about to finish Dean off and send him back to Hell, telling him he has a lot to learn, when he becomes distracted by Castiel intervening. Castiel throws Ruby's knife and embeds it in Alastair's chest, but Alastair simply pulls the knife out and fights Castiel. He again overpowers Castiel and while he is unable to kill the angel as he admits he wishes he could, he reveals that he can send him back to [[Heaven]]. Alastair begins an angel [[exorcism]], but he is stopped by [[Sam]], who has become strong enough through his consumption of [[Ruby]]'s [[demon blood]] to overpower even him with ease. Agonized by Sam's psychic torture, Alastair finally reveals that he knows none of the demons, including himself and [[Lilith]], are responsible for the angel deaths. Knowing that Sam can psychically [[exorcise]] demons, he challenges Sam to exorcise him back to Hell, where he wants to be, but is shocked when Sam instead uses his enhanced power to kill him. | ||
===[[4.18 The Monster at the End of This Book]]=== | ===[[4.18 The Monster at the End of This Book]]=== | ||
| − | [[Dean]] reveals that [[Castiel]] has told him about [[Sam]] | + | Alastair's death is brought up by [[Dean]], who reveals that [[Castiel]] has told him about [[Sam]] using his powers to torture and kill Alastair with ease. Dean thinks that Sam being able to do so is another sign that he is going dark-side. |
===[[4.20 The Rapture]]=== | ===[[4.20 The Rapture]]=== | ||
| − | [[Dean]] | + | Alastair is again mentioned by [[Dean]], who is in disbelief that [[Sam]]'s powers were strong enough to kill Alastair but are now not even strong enough to kill a low-level [[demon]]. The reason, unknown to Dean at the time, is that Sam has not recently fed on [[demon blood]] due to a prolonged absence from [[Ruby]]. |
===[[4.21 When the Levee Breaks]]=== | ===[[4.21 When the Levee Breaks]]=== | ||
| − | While undergoing forced withdrawal from [[demon blood]], [[Sam]] has several hallucinations, the first of which is Alastair inexplicably returning. Sam | + | While undergoing forced withdrawal from [[demon blood]], [[Sam]] has several hallucinations, the first of which is Alastair inexplicably returning in his last meatsuit. Finding Sam locked in [[Bobby's Panic Room]] alone with him, Alastair tortures him with a knife. Eventually Alastair disappears and Sam realizes that he had hallucinating both Alastair and the torture. |
===[[4.22 Lucifer Rising]]=== | ===[[4.22 Lucifer Rising]]=== | ||
| − | [[Ruby]] | + | Alastair is the only [[demon]] explicitly mentioned by [[Ruby]] when she is explaining that none of the others besides herself and [[Lilith]] had known of her undercover mission for [[Lucifer]] and Lilith. |
===[[6.10 Caged Heat]]=== | ===[[6.10 Caged Heat]]=== | ||
| − | To prove that she is capable of making [[Crowley]] give into her demands, [[Meg]] reveals that she had apprenticed under Alastair in [[Hell]] like [[Dean]] had, and Dean grudgingly concedes that this means she can make Crowley do whatever she wants. Meg doesn't reveal when she undertook this apprenticeship, but it must have been before Alastair's capture in [[4.15 Death Takes a Holiday]], as he was killed in [[4.16 On the Head of a Pin|the following episode]]. | + | To prove that she is capable of making [[Crowley]] give into her demands, [[Meg]] reveals that she had apprenticed under Alastair in [[Hell]] like [[Dean]] had, and Dean grudgingly concedes that this means she can make Crowley do whatever she wants. Meg doesn't reveal when she undertook this apprenticeship, but it must have been before Alastair's capture in [[4.15 Death Takes a Holiday]], as he was killed in [[4.16 On the Head of a Pin|the following episode]]. She is known to have been in Hell in the time between her [[exorcism]] in [[1.22 Devil's Trap]] and her return for revenge against the Winchesters in [[2.14 Born Under a Bad Sign]]; if his words in [[4.16 On the Head of a Pin]] were true, he would have also been working on torturing and trying to tempt [[John]]'s [[soul]] at the time. Alternately, Alastair may have taught her previously in Hell at some point [[pre-series]]. |
===[[6.20 The Man Who Would Be King]]=== | ===[[6.20 The Man Who Would Be King]]=== | ||
| − | [[Crowley]] | + | Alastair is mentioned by [[Crowley]] when listing off those who underestimated the threat the Winchesters pose and paid the price for it, along with [[Lucifer]], [[Michael]], [[Lilith]], and [[Azazel]]. |
==Alastair in Lore== | ==Alastair in Lore== | ||
Revision as of 12:25, 17 November 2018
  
| |
| Name | Alastair |
| Actor | Mark Rolston (4.09 & 4.10) Andrew Wheeler (4.15) Christopher Heyerdahl (4.15, 4.16 & 4.21) |
| Dates | ???? - 2009 (killed by Sam Winchester) |
| Location | |
| Occupation | Demon (White-Eyed) Grand Inquisitor of Hell |
| Episode(s) | 4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer 4.10 Heaven and Hell 4.15 Death Takes a Holiday 4.16 On the Head of a Pin 4.21 When the Levee Breaks (hallucination) |
You know the problem with your generation? Instant gratification. It's all now, now, now. No patience, no craftsmanship. But I do have to say... This knife of yours... It's an exquisite piece. You must tell me where you found it. You know... I haven't been up here since Poland '43. Truth is, I loathe it. It's chilly. No stink of blood or sizzle of flesh or the wet flap of flayed skin. I don't know how you stand it. So, the sooner you cooperate, the sooner I can finish up with this ghastly angel business and return home to my studies. But no rush. Let's take our time... Relish the moment. Now, I'm going to remove this, but don't you go smoking out of that meat. You won't get very far.
– Alastair, 4.10 Heaven and Hell
Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Characteristics
- 3 Episodes
- 3.1 4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer
- 3.2 4.10 Heaven and Hell
- 3.3 4.15 Death Takes a Holiday
- 3.4 4.16 On the Head of a Pin
- 3.5 4.18 The Monster at the End of This Book
- 3.6 4.20 The Rapture
- 3.7 4.21 When the Levee Breaks
- 3.8 4.22 Lucifer Rising
- 3.9 6.10 Caged Heat
- 3.10 6.20 The Man Who Would Be King
- 4 Alastair in Lore
- 5 Trivia
- 6 External links
- 7 References
History
Alastair was a white-eyed demon and possibly the second demon ever made whose past is unknown, but implied to be almost as long as Lilith's. He was considered by the centuries-old Ruby to be "young" and believed that her generation's style of torturing is amateurish compared to his methods. Ruby called him the "Grand Inquisitor",[1] whether the title was official or not is unknown. He also claimed to be an "old friend" of Death's,[2] who had been imprisoned since Biblical times.[3] Alastair was present for World War II, at which time he is involved with the concentration camps in Poland. He returned to Hell after 1943 and does not resurface on Earth again until 2008, as he prefers to spend his time in Hell, torturing souls, only heading topside when it is absolutely necessary.[1] In Hell, Alastair took Meg as his apprentice and trained her at some point prior to his demise in 2009.[4].
Alastair was charged with breaking the first of the 66 Seals by forcing "The Righteous Man" to torture other souls in Hell. He first attempted to break this seal by torturing John Winchester's soul from 2006 to 2007, promising to stop only if John agrees to torture other souls. However, John continually refuses the offer and eventually escaped Alastair's clutches through the Devil's Gate in Wyoming.[5][6] A year later, Alastair receives John's son Dean Winchester from Lilith as a replacement for John.[5] Although Alastair expected similar resistance from Dean that he got from John, he succeeded in getting Dean to agree to the offer in a third of the time John resisted it. Once Dean breaks the first seal, this allowed the rest of the seals to be broken.[5] Impressed by Dean's potential, Alastair keeps training him as an apprentice until an army of angels rescued Dean, including Castiel.[7]
Alastair is then sent to Earth to capture and interrogate Anna Milton on what she hears other angels saying. However, he failed due to the combined efforts of Sam, Dean, Ruby, and Anna herself.[1] He is sent back up to Earth once again to participate in breaking more seals. His attempt to sacrifice two reapers during the winter solstice is thwarted by Sam, Dean, and Castiel,[2] the last of whom captured Alastair to interrogate him on who has been killing members of his angel garrison.[5] Alastair proved too strong-willed for the angels to break and they call Dean in to torture his old tormentor, but to no avail. Alastair only gives up the information when Sam tortured him with his demon blood-enhanced powers; after Alastair reveals that he only knows that no demons are behind the murders, he becomes the first demon killed by Sam's growing powers.[5]
Characteristics
Potestas inferna, me confirma. Potestas inferna, me confirma. Potestas inferna, me confirma!
– Alastair, 4.10 Heaven and Hell
Alastair has white eyes (including pupils and irises).[7] He is noted as an expert interrogator and torturer,[1] and is also incredibly resilient to being tortured himself; according to Castiel, he has an exceptionally strong will, allowing him to withstand extended torture from both angels and one of his own apprentices.[5] Alastair possesses an extensive knowledge of the occult as well as Enochian spells and rituals, including an incantation with an unknown negative effect on angels[1] as well as another incantation that expels an angel from his vessel and sends him back to Heaven,[5] and spell-work to incapacitate reapers.[2] His presence causes statues to weep blood.[7]
Powers and abilities
- Arcane knowledge - Being a white-eyed demon and presumably among the first created, Alastair possesses old and powerful knowledge, such as an exorcism ritual that can eject an angel from its vessel and send it back to Heaven.
- Possession - Like all demons, Alastair was capable of possessing any humans not in possession of an anti-possession symbol.[7][2]
- Telekinesis[7][2] - Alastair can moves anything with a thought. The power also extends to being able to telekinetically inflict damage onto humans's hearts with a gesture.[1]
- Teleportation - As a high-level demon, Alastair has the ability to teleport.[1]
- Superhuman strength and durability.[1][5] - Alastiar can overpower angels,[1] though he does not possess the power to kill them and they can overpower him if he is sufficiently distracted, but had also shown to resistant to the smiting powers of angels, though their grace can destroy his meatsuit.[1].[5][2] His durability also extends to a high resistance to the demon-killing knife.[7][5]
Weaknesses
- Demon-killing knife - While Alastair had survived being stabbed with the knife, it's use still caused him great pain.
- Devil's traps - As powerful as Alastair was, he was still vulnerable to devil's traps.[5]
- Holy water[5] - Holy water was shown to burn Alastair like all demons.
- Psychic powers - Alastiar was killed by Sam's powers if Sam has recently consumed demon blood.[5]
- Salt - Alastair was incapable of crossing a salt line, ingestion of salt mixed with holy water was able to cause great discomfort.
Episodes
4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer
Alastair leaves Hell and possesses a pediatrician to capture and interrogate Anna. He follows Sam and Dean from Anna's house to the church Anna is hiding at. Ruby tries to get Sam, Dean, and Anna to leave as quickly as possible to avoid Alastair, but realizes that it is too late when signs of his approach break out, including a statue of the virgin Mary weeping blood. Although she convinces Sam to exorcise Alastair with his powers, they have little effect on Alastair, who uses telekinesis to fling Sam down the staircase before attacking and beating Dean. He taunts Dean about their "closeness" in Hell, prompting Dean to finally recognize Alastair, even in his meatsuit. Sam returns to stab Alastair with Ruby's knife, but much to the Winchesters' horror, the demon does not die. As Alastair pulls the knife out, Sam and Dean flee from him by jumping out the church window and he allows them to escape so that he can use them to lead him to Anna again.
4.10 Heaven and Hell
Alastair is described by Ruby as a master torturer who is "practically the Grand Inquisitor" in Hell, whom she is more scared of him than even the angels. After her suggestion to abandon Anna and run from Alastair gets rejected, she tries to get Sam to resume drinking her blood so that he can successfully exorcise Alastair. Sam refuses this as well. Later on, Alastair reappears when Ruby leaves to fulfill her part in Sam's plan, burning her hex bag and letting Alastair find her at a crossroads. Alastair derides her, a fellow demon, for protecting Anna, an angel, and rejects her offer to trade him Anna for the safety of herself, Sam, and Dean. He just insults her again before having his minions capture her and he begins torturing her with her own knife to simply make her to tell him where Anna is. While torturing her, Alastair reveals that he actually vastly prefers Hell to Earth (which he loathes), having only left it because he must deal with "this nasty angel business." Eventually, Ruby agrees to lead him and his minions to Anna - she is unwilling to simply tell him what he wants to know because she knows that he would just kill her afterwards. Alastair and his minions accompany her and find that Castiel and Uriel are also at the site, about to execute Anna. Contrary to the terror other demons showed of angels, Alastair dismisses Castiel's warnings that they will be killed if they do not leave and even trades insults with Uriel before leading his forces to fight the angels and stop them from killing Anna so that he may capture and torture her. Although his minions are quickly killed by Uriel, Alastair proves too powerful for Castiel to smite and overpowers the angel, which shocks the latter. When Dean hits him over the head with a crowbar, Alastair shifts his attentions to him and Sam and launches a telekinetic attack on their hearts while chastising Dean about his lost "potential." He tries to intervene when he sees Anna regain her grace, only to get vaporized instead, leaving behind only Ruby's knife. Later, Dean tearfully reveals to Sam that after every day of torture in Hell, Alastair would offer to stop if Dean agreed to torture other souls. Although Dean held out for the first thirty years (three months on Earth), he eventually gave in because he couldn't take it anymore and spent the last ten years of his time there (one month on Earth) torturing other souls under Alastair's instruction.
4.15 Death Takes a Holiday
Alastair is once again made to leave Hell and assist in the Apocalypse, much to his dissatisfaction. Now in a new meatsuit, he is attempting to break one of the 66 Seals by killing two reapers under a solstice moon. He confronts Dean and Sam in a cemetery, revealing that he had survived his encounter with Anna, though the pediatrician he had been possessing did not, and gloating that the latter's wife is still looking for her husband and unaware he is dead. Trying again to kill them, Alastair telekinetically throws Dean into a gravestone and injures him, but finds that Sam is now immune to his powers. He flees when Sam tries to exorcise him with his powers, and later returns in yet another meatsuit. When the boys become non-corporeal to better find the demons holding the reapers hostage, they track Alastair down at a funeral home warded in Enochian against angels. As they have made themselves subject to ghostly weaknesses in their spiritual state, Alastair traps them with an iron chain and toys with them by shooting them with salt as he sends a minion to kill their unconscious bodies. While their ally Pamela Barnes is able to hold off Alastair's servant for a time and thwart this aspect of Alastair's plan, she is fatally wounded by Alastair's servant in the process and later dies. Meanwhile, Alastair begins breaking the seal and succeeds in killing one reaper with Death's scythe, though the boys help Tessa escape and ultimately save the seal before fleeing. Alastair later tracks Dean down alone as Sam is fighting off Alastair's minion in attempt to save Pamela. As he begins closing in on Dean, Alastair vanishes again as he is captured by Castiel.
4.16 On the Head of a Pin
Alastair has held captive by Castiel and Uriel and imprisoned in a devil's trap since the previous episode, but he refuses to tell them anything about the slain angels. Dean is recruited as an interrogator because he was formerly Alastair's student during his time in Hell. Amused by the idea, Alastair taunts him over the course of the torture session, though he concedes that reality is "too concrete" compared to Hell for Dean to adequately torture him. Dean instead tortures Alastair with holy water injected into his veins, salt poured down his mouth, and mutilation from Ruby's knife, as he admits to an unnerved Alastair he'd dreamed of doing in Hell. Instead of giving Dean the information he asks for regarding the angel murders, Alastair messes with Dean by claiming that he tortured Dean's father John in Hell and even made him the same offer he'd made Dean, but that unlike his son, John was a "hero" who steadfastly refused and ultimately escaped after 100 years (one year on Earth) of Alastair's torture. Alastair gloats that when Dean accepted the offer and began torturing souls, he broke the first of the 66 Seals and enabled demons to begin breaking the rest of them. Having kept an eye on the devil's trap he's caught in being compromised - later revealed to be Uriel's doing, to let Alastair kill Dean and escape to make the angels keep thinking the demons are responsible for the angel murders when it is really Uriel himself - Alastair escapes when a devastated Dean turns his back, then begins savagely beating Dean again. He is about to finish Dean off and send him back to Hell, telling him he has a lot to learn, when he becomes distracted by Castiel intervening. Castiel throws Ruby's knife and embeds it in Alastair's chest, but Alastair simply pulls the knife out and fights Castiel. He again overpowers Castiel and while he is unable to kill the angel as he admits he wishes he could, he reveals that he can send him back to Heaven. Alastair begins an angel exorcism, but he is stopped by Sam, who has become strong enough through his consumption of Ruby's demon blood to overpower even him with ease. Agonized by Sam's psychic torture, Alastair finally reveals that he knows none of the demons, including himself and Lilith, are responsible for the angel deaths. Knowing that Sam can psychically exorcise demons, he challenges Sam to exorcise him back to Hell, where he wants to be, but is shocked when Sam instead uses his enhanced power to kill him.
4.18 The Monster at the End of This Book
Alastair's death is brought up by Dean, who reveals that Castiel has told him about Sam using his powers to torture and kill Alastair with ease. Dean thinks that Sam being able to do so is another sign that he is going dark-side.
4.20 The Rapture
Alastair is again mentioned by Dean, who is in disbelief that Sam's powers were strong enough to kill Alastair but are now not even strong enough to kill a low-level demon. The reason, unknown to Dean at the time, is that Sam has not recently fed on demon blood due to a prolonged absence from Ruby.
4.21 When the Levee Breaks
While undergoing forced withdrawal from demon blood, Sam has several hallucinations, the first of which is Alastair inexplicably returning in his last meatsuit. Finding Sam locked in Bobby's Panic Room alone with him, Alastair tortures him with a knife. Eventually Alastair disappears and Sam realizes that he had hallucinating both Alastair and the torture.
4.22 Lucifer Rising
Alastair is the only demon explicitly mentioned by Ruby when she is explaining that none of the others besides herself and Lilith had known of her undercover mission for Lucifer and Lilith.
6.10 Caged Heat
To prove that she is capable of making Crowley give into her demands, Meg reveals that she had apprenticed under Alastair in Hell like Dean had, and Dean grudgingly concedes that this means she can make Crowley do whatever she wants. Meg doesn't reveal when she undertook this apprenticeship, but it must have been before Alastair's capture in 4.15 Death Takes a Holiday, as he was killed in the following episode. She is known to have been in Hell in the time between her exorcism in 1.22 Devil's Trap and her return for revenge against the Winchesters in 2.14 Born Under a Bad Sign; if his words in 4.16 On the Head of a Pin were true, he would have also been working on torturing and trying to tempt John's soul at the time. Alternately, Alastair may have taught her previously in Hell at some point pre-series.
6.20 The Man Who Would Be King
Alastair is mentioned by Crowley when listing off those who underestimated the threat the Winchesters pose and paid the price for it, along with Lucifer, Michael, Lilith, and Azazel.
Alastair in Lore
The character Alastair may be a reference to the demon Alastor in Christian demonology. Alastor is the chief executioner and torturer for the monarch of Hell. He is an exceptionally cruel demon. The name "Alastor" became a common place term in reference to evil spirits or foul tempered individuals.
Trivia
- The name "Alastair" is the anglicized form of the Scottish Alasdair, which is the Scottish (Gaelic) version of Alexander. The latter is the English form of the ancient Greek name Alexandros, which has the meaning "protector of men" in Greek.
- The character may be a reference to British occultist Aleister Crowley, who during his day was dubbed "the wickedest man in the world" by the press. At one point, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page developed an interest in Crowley. Page once owned Boleskine House, Crowley's estate on the shores of Loch Ness.
- In addition, another demon named Crowley later appears.
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 4.10 Heaven and Hell
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 4.15 Death Takes a Holiday
- ↑ 5.10 Abandon All Hope...
- ↑ 6.10 Caged Heat
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 4.16 On the Head of a Pin
- ↑ 2.22 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part Two
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer
