Angel Lore

Angels
Powers and Abilities	Healing Resurrection Smiting Telekinesis
Vulnerabilities	Angel banishing sigil Angel blades Holy oil Warding
Appearance	Varies; Can appear as a blinding white light or blue-ish white smoke when manifesting on earth outside of a vessel
Episode(s)	Seasons 4–14

Avenging Angels An angel is an ethereal creature who assists and serves God or the gods of many religious traditions. In the Christian bible, angels are portrayed as powerful and dreadful, endowed with wisdom, correct in their judgment, holy, but not infallible. When their duties are not punitive, angels are beneficent to man. When their duties are punitive, they are known as avenging angels and are mentioned inverses such as II Sam. Xxiv. 15, in which an angel annihilates thousands on God's command. These avenging angels are used by God to punish men for their sins. – Pad of Definitions (1.07 Hook Man), Official Website

An angel is a divine being of celestial energy created by God, able to manifest physically on earth by occupying a vessel. During God's long absence, angels became the caretakers and rulers of Heaven.

The Nephilim Jack Kline has shown the ability to forge new angels from the souls of humans.

Culture & Hierarchy

The angels manage and power Heaven, as well as the watch over the souls within it, according to Ash. Angels in Heaven dwell in a very hierarchical community, and are known collectively as the Host of Heaven. Much of angelic hierarchy appears to operate like a military organization, broken down into smaller units and factions called garrisons. While in Heaven, all angels can communicate with one another via Enochian. For two millennia, angels were not allowed to manifest on Earth or take a vessel, though angels had been known to do so on special circumstances, but chose to watch over humanity from afar.

The archangel Michael appeared to have been the leader in Heaven prior to his imprisonment in Lucifer's Cage. Raphael, another archangel, was also a powerful force taking the reigns of power in hopes of freeing Lucifer and Michael and restarting the Apocalypse. The other archangels were not involved in the Host; Gabriel left Heaven soon after Lucifer was cast out. Archangels are the eldest angels, having been God's first creations made from pure primordial creation. They are "fierce", "absolute", and are "Heaven's most terrifying weapon", according to Castiel. Unquestioning obedience is expected of lower members of the Host, and those who question orders may be tortured to force compliance. Disobedience can be punished by death. Angels who rebel and leave Heaven become fallen angels. Anna explained the situation to Dean:

Anna: Dean, do you know how many angels have actually seen God? Seen his face?
Dean: All of you?
Anna: Four angels. Four. And I'm not one of them.
Dean: That's it? Well, then how do you even know that there is a God?
Anna: We have to take it on faith... Which we're killed if we don't have.

Anna and Castiel were both subjected to torture during seasons four and five.

In 2011, the only archangel that remained alive and active was Raphael, as Lucifer supposedly killed Gabriel, and both Lucifer and Michael were restricted to Lucifer's Cage. Heaven would fall into major disarray as a civil war, with Castiel and a number of other angels working to prevent Raphael from becoming the paramount leader of Heaven and restarting the Apocalypse. Castiel managed to defeat Raphael by taking in souls from Purgatory, slaughtering Raphael and his followers. Castiel was not able to contain the power for long, and was forced to return the souls, but not before the Leviathans hijacked his vessel leaving him presumably dead. In Castiel's absence, the leadership of Heaven was divided into factions, though these factions still appeared to have a hierarchy, with some ranking higher than others.

Among the hierarchy is Naomi, who works in intelligence and is clearly a very high-ranking angel. Metatron revealed that she is a major player in fighting over for the right to rule Heaven. After Metatron expelled all angels from Heaven to Earth using a spell, he declared himself to be the sole ruler of Heaven. On Earth, many angel factions formed led by Bartholomew, Malachi, Tyrus, and Rebecca. Both Bartholomew and Malachi wanted to unite all of the angels and retake Heaven under their leadership, while Tyrus and Rebecca led their respective factions with the desire to coexist with humans. Bartholomew killed Rebecca and wiped out her faction while Castiel killed Bartholomew in self-defense. Another faction would form under Castiel's leadership that wanted there to be no more unnecessary bloodshed between angels. Castiel's faction would come into conflict with the one led by Metatron and Gadreel who killed any angel that refused to join them, including Malachi. Metatron eventually managed to unite all the angels under his command and attained God-like power with the help of the angel tablet, though Gadreel recanted after discovering that the angels he recruited were brainwashed into blowing themselves up, a scheme orchestrated by the Scribe of God to pin their actions on Castiel and tricking his followers into joining him in Heaven. With the help of Gadreel, Sam, Dean and Castiel were able to overthrow Metatron soon after he consolidated his power. Metatron would be locked away in Heaven's dungeon while all the angels once again looked to Castiel for leadership. However, Castiel declined the role and a quorum of angels was formed to run Heaven by committee, of which included Hannah in a high ranking position. According to Metatron, under Hannah's leadership, Heaven was running smoother than it had been since God "cut the ribbon on the pearly gates."

After Hannah's death, Heaven's leadership had fallen apart. When the Darkness was released, a lower-ranking angel took command to fight Amara, but was killed in a failed attack on her, though the Angel Smiting was enough to enfeeble her for a time, until she was healed by Rowena. Lucifer subsequently took control for a short time before being captured by Amara. Joshua was known to have taken up a leadership role during the Nephilim crisis and was stated to have the power to pardon Castiel, but was killed by the Prince of Hell, Dagon. Following Joshua's death, the leadership of Heaven was unclear as there were a few angels left in existence, until Lucifer took power once again under the promise that he was able to create more angels and offered to help rebuild their numbers. Lucifer would quickly grow dissatisfied with running Heaven, and abscond the throne. Following Lucifer's departure, Naomi appeared to have taken command of the remaining angels, having faked her death in order to go incognito and slowly regain her memories, but was overthrown by Dumah after an incursion by the Cosmic Entity. Dumah attempted to reshape Heaven to be a more merciless place and manipulates Jack to her own ends, co-opting him into turning devout humans into angels. After Dumah threatens to end Mary and John's peace to force Castiel's cooperation, Castiel swiftly kills her and leaves heaven.

Naomi would reveal to Castiel that the existence of angels is what powers Heaven, and due to the significant loss of angels through the Fall and various civil wars and battles only nine angels, led by Naomi remained in existence to watch over the souls in the Heaven, and that once they were gone, Heaven would fall releasing billions of souls on to the earth. However, this was fixed when Jack Kline, after becoming the New God, revives Castiel and works alongside him to reshape Heaven for the better, allowing the souls to interact with each other in a paradise-like version of Earth and eliminating the need for angels to keep Heaven afloat.

Angel Sub-Classes

Cherubs

Cherubs are an order of angels, and are the only ones known to have differing classes. The description that the angel Zachariah described himself as having in Heaven, "six wings and four faces, one of which is a lion" fits the Biblical description of cherubs. The third class, colloquially known as "cupids", represent a lower order of cherubim. At one time, there were dozens of these cupids stationed on Earth, but after the two angelic civil wars and the Fall, their numbers have likely dropped to extinction. Cupids can manipulate the nature of human attraction, allowing them to make even the most opposite of humans fall in love.

A cherub is first seen in 5.14 My Bloody Valentine, a second appeared in 8.23 Sacrifice where Castiel must acquire a cupid's bow and arrow for what he believes to be the second trial to close off Heaven with all the angels inside. A third cupid appeared in 10.18 Book of the Damned where he attacked Castiel and was killed by Metatron, and a fourth cupid appears in 13.13 Devil's Bargain where his grace is stolen by Lucifer, who then kills the powerless angel.

Seraphim

Seraphim are a higher class of angel than regular angels like Joshua and Inias. The two known seraphim are Akobel and Castiel. Their powers are greater than those of a regular angel, being shown to smite black-eyed demons with ease. They also have been shown to be able to rival the archangels, as when Castiel lead a rebellion against Raphael.

Rit Zien

Rit Zien are a special class of angel, their name translated from Enochian means "hands of mercy." The Rit Zien functioned much like field medics, they honed in on pain and would tend to the wounded and healed the angels strong enough to be healed on the fields of battle. In the case of those who were mortally wounded and beyond saving, the Rit Zien would put them down, and their way of smiting was, according to Castiel "so quick and so total that it rendered death virtually painless."

Grigori

The Grigori, according to Castiel, were an elite squad composed of hundreds of the first angels, who were stationed on Earth to watch over humanity and given special swords with their names inscribed on the blade, but they went rogue and were subsequently wiped out. However, some survived and continued hunting humans, trapping them in a dream-like state where they were in their ideal Heaven while the Grigori in question fed on their souls. The survival of the Grigori became known in 2015 when Claire Novak's efforts to find her mother led to Tamiel's exposure and death.

In 2020, Grigori hearts would become an integral element in a ritual Adam designed to turn the Nephilim Jack Kline into a living black hole for divine energy. The remaining Grigori, including Sariel and Kabaiel, were the last two killed by Jack and Castiel, leaving their kind extinct.

Fallen Angels

Fallen angels are angels that have been expelled from the Host of Heaven off their leader's command. An angel can become fallen in two ways, the first is to literally "fall" from Heaven by removing their grace, and being reborn human. The second is through the disobeying of Heaven's commands, which can lead to angels being cut-off from the Host. When regular angels are cut off, they can loose certain abilities including, healing, resurrection, and smiting; gradually losing their powers every time they use them until they eventually get rendered human. However, archangels and Seraphim function independently from Heaven and do not loose any known abilities.

Nephilim

The union between an angel and a human can produce offspring known as Nephilim. The Nephilim have the soul of a human infused with angelic grace, and like angels, they have many of the same abilities and characteristics such as wings and are able to perceive angels in their vessels. They are however, seen as abominations by angels and are believed by them to be one of the most dangerous creatures in creation, due to the fact that they grow more powerful than the celestial parent that sired them and have the ability to destroy entire worlds. As the conception of a Nephilim is forbidden by the oldest laws of Heaven, the penalty for breaking their most sacred oath is death to the child and the parents.

History

Angel A supernatural being found in Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Islam. Angel comes from the Latin word angelus, which came from the Greek word, angelos, meaning "messenger". According to these religions Angels typically act as messengers from God. Though superhuman, angels can assume human form and according to the Hebrew Bible, often appeared to people in the shape of humans of extraordinary beauty. They are also described as pure and bright and are said to be formed of fire, and encompassed by light. Angels are thought to possess wings, and are depicted that way in Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian art where they are also commonly depicted with halos. In the Bible, angels are a medium of God's power; they exist to execute God's will. Angels reveal themselves to individuals as well as to the whole nation, to announce events, either good or bad, affecting humans. – Pad of Definitions (2.13 Houses of the Holy), Official Website

Misha Collins plays Castiel

The archangels were created by God in order to help battle his sister the Darkness. After her defeat, God would begin creating in earnest, first making the Leviathans, whom were locked away for being too ravenous. Sometime after, God created the angels and their various classes. With the arrival of humanity, God placed a high value on them. Lucifer refused to accept the position in the divine order apportioned to humanity, and defied God's word. After Michael cast him from Heaven, Lucifer twisted human souls to create the first demons, the first of which was Lilith. For his crimes, Lucifer was imprisoned in a cage locked with the 66 seals. This conflict had lasting repercussions, including Gabriel's descent to Earth and taking on the identity of the trickster god, Loki. At some point, God also departed Heaven, leaving Michael and Raphael in charge.

In 1972, the demon Azazel managed to locate Lucifer's prison and to communicate with him. Azazel then proceeded with an intricate plan to release Lucifer that required decades of work from himself, and the demons Meg, Ruby, and even Lilith. Of special importance was the effort to ensure Sam Winchester's availability as Lucifer's vessel. The plan culminated in the breaking of the 66 seals.

When the highest ranking angels discovered the plan, they decided to allow it to proceed. According to Zachariah, they intended for Lucifer to be freed so that Michael could finally battle and defeat him, bringing about paradise. However, to maintain order, the angelic hierarchy commanded the rank and file angels to descend to earth, and even take vessels to prevent the breaking of the 66 seals. Angels aware of the master plan included Zachariah and the archangels. Even Uriel and his fellow angels, who were kept ignorant of Heaven's plan decided not to oppose the breaking of the seals, wanting to see Lucifer rise so that they could follow him.

Most angels worked to maintain the seals, including Castiel. He was sent to rescue Dean from Hell, but did not reach him before he broke the first of the seals. It is likely that Heaven wanted Dean returned to Earth, not to prevent the first seal from breaking, but so that he would be available to be Michael's vessel. Eventually all of the seals were broken and Lucifer was released. However, the ultimate goal of Michael's followers was not achieved, because the final confrontation between Lucifer and himself was prevented by the combined efforts of Sam, Dean, Castiel, Bobby Singer, Gabriel, and the demon Crowley, among others. In the end, both Lucifer and Michael became imprisoned in Lucifer's Cage.

Following the loss of Michael, Castiel speculated that Heaven would be in chaos, and intended to return to help if he could. When Raphael threatened to restart the Apocalypse, Castiel, at Crowley's urging, started a civil war to stop him. Some of the angels chose sides in the war, while others like Balthazar had abandoned the fight to live on earth. Castiel managed to destroy Raphael, the leader of the traditionalist angels, by taking in souls from Purgatory. After which he then declared himself the new God.

His first act as "God", Castiel killed Raphael and his followers and a variety of humans of whom he disapproved of. However, Castiel found that he could not control the souls indefinitely because they were burning through his vessel, and would find that he is host to Leviathans, who seemed to be making his behavior even more violent. With the Winchesters' help, Castiel gives up the souls, but the Leviathans were able to hold on inside Castiel and take over his vessel, escaping into the world. Castiel would survive the Leviathan's escape, but become an amnesiac, and later mentally unbalanced by taking in Sam's mental torture, after his soul spent 18 months getting tortured by Michael and Lucifer. In his absence, the leadership of Heaven was divided into factions, but Hester was revealed as a ranking member, leading Castiel's old garrison. The angels would continue to perform at least some of their duties, such as the protection of prophets. Some angels resented Castiel, while others seemed willing to move forward. After finding Castiel alive while retrieving the prophet Kevin Tran, two angels were shown to be killed by a Leviathan named Edgar. Castiel later discovered that his entire garrison was wiped out and says that if there are any survivors, they were in hiding.

The angel, Samandriel, attended Plutus' auction to prevent the demon tablet from falling into Crowley's hands, as he wanted to throw open the Gates of Hell. Later, an incursion of angels under the command of Naomi rescued Castiel from Purgatory, at the cost of many lives. At some point, Crowley kidnaped Samandriel to get the names of all seven future prophets, which the other angels didn't even seem to notice since they're not only too busy deciding on a leader, but because Crowley severed his link to angel radio. However, Castiel and the Winchesters helped rescue the prophets, and during a brief stand off against the King of Hell, ends up breaking the demon tablet in half, stopping Crowley from getting away with all of it and forcing him to leave without Kevin. Naomi later orders Castiel to help the Winchesters in whatever they need and report to her periodically on their activities. After Samandriel manages to send a distress call from angel radio, Naomi gets his general location and sends Castiel to rescue him. Though he succeeds with the Winchesters' help, Samandriel has revealed the existence of an angel tablet and Naomi has Castiel kill him as a traitor, out of fear of what destruction this breach of security would bring for angelkind. According to Naomi, the existence of this tablet is something any angel would die to protect as with it, Crowley could cause a lot of trouble for the angels, pointing out that the demon tablet shows how to seal them all up in Hell and could conceivably do the same to the angels in Heaven. After indoctrinating Castiel to her will, Naomi sends him to locate the angel tablet, which he succeeds in doing with the help of the Winchesters and the demon Meg and then tries to force him to kill Dean. Castiel manages to break free of Naomi's control and flees with the tablet, which reset Castiel to his "factory settings" and erased everything Naomi did to his mind, though Naomi says he's protecting the tablet, which is what he was supposed to do from the beginning, though she's visibly irritated that it also includes keeping it from her. Afterwards, Naomi presents herself as an ally to the Winchesters, claiming that she and by extension, Heaven, want the same thing they do: sealing the gates of Hell and bringing Castiel in from the cold. Naomi aids with completing the second trial by releasing Crowley's hold on Bobby Singer's soul and allowing it to ascend into Heaven, despite Crowley's belief that if the Winchesters seal up Hell and all its demons, they will seal up Heaven and all of its angels next, though Naomi, hoping the Winchesters lock the demons away, believes she will figure out the rest when they cross that bridge. Naomi later captures Castiel, but is driven off by Crowley before she can find the angel tablet's location. Castiel teams up with Metatron to seal off Heaven and end the civil war going on there, but Naomi learns that Metatron intends to expel all angels from Heaven forever as revenge for his own expulsion and tries to convince a disbelieving Castiel of this. He refuses to believe her, but she is proven right when Metatron neutralizes her using her own drill and uses a Nephilim's heart, Cupid's bow, and Castiel's grace to expel all the angels (except himself) who are seen falling to Earth.

The angels falling from Heaven.

The angels falling to Earth was believed by many humans just to be a "global meteor shower." Most angels blamed Castiel for what happened and sought revenge for their expulsion. When Dean gets desperate for a way to save Sam, he sends out a prayer to all angels, pleading for one to save Sam, but while it draws in Gadreel, pretending to be Ezekiel, who is willing to help, it also draws three angels who want to know where Castiel is, threatening to kill Sam and Dean if they don't comply. Dean kills one and banishes the other two, but is forced to let "Ezekiel" possess Sam in order for him to heal both Sam and himself, as "Ezekiel" was injured from his fall to Earth. At the same time, an angel named Hael enlists Castiel's help in guiding her on Earth, but after he decides to help Dean instead, she kidnaps him and reveals her true plan to be to possess Castiel to become stronger. Castiel incapacitates Hael by crashing her car and kills her when she threatens to reveal where to find him to all the angels searching for him. While Gadreel allows Sam to remain in control for the majority of the time, he emerges without Sam's knowledge when his presence is needed to protect Sam or aid the Winchesters in some way. A faction of angels quickly emerges led by Bartholomew, Naomi's protégé and one of Castiel's veterans in the first civil war against Raphael, that uses Reverend Buddy Boyle to gain vessels and hunt for Castiel. After killing an angel that locates him, Castiel wards himself against detection with an Enochian tattoo so Bartholomew sends rogue Reapers, Maurice and April, after him. April succeeds in killing Castiel, but Ezekiel resurrects him. While Dean and Castiel deal with the rogue Rit Zien, Ephraim, ultimately killing him when he tries to kill Castiel, Sam and Kevin learn from Crowley that Kevin's translation of the angel tablet's footnotes states that Metatron's spell to expel all angels from Heaven is irreversible. It was also revealed by Malachi, who is now at war with Bartholomew, that a whole host of angels died during the fall, among the dead he names were Azrael, Sophia, and Ezekiel. After stealing Theo's Grace, Castiel becomes an angel once more, though it starts burning out in a matter of months. After Dean learns the truth about "Ezekiel", who had been meeting with Metatron, Gadreel takes full possession of Sam to become his second-in-command in restoring Heaven, murdering Kevin Tran along with stealing the angel and demon tablets and killing whoever Metatron wants dead. Eventually, with the help of Crowley, Sam expels Gadreel who merely returns to his original vessel to continue his work. After being captured by Bartholomew's followers, Castiel discovers that Bartholomew is using Boyle's resources to track Metatron whenever he appears on Earth, but is also eliminating all other factions, even peaceful ones such as the Penitents who coexist with humanity, as he deems them as either threats or potential obstacles that could rise against him down the road. When Castiel refuses to kill Eliah due to wanting no more angel-on-angel bloodshed, Bartholomew attacks him and Castiel is forced to kill Bartholomew in self-defense. However, Castiel's beliefs sway some of Bartholomew's followers who decide to follow Castiel in his way of thinking.

In the years since the Apocalypse, the Host of Heaven's numbers began decreasing. Through the first angelic civil war, Castiel declaring himself God and killing the Raphael loyalists, the angel fall, and second angelic civil war on Earth. By 2017, the number of angels decreased to the point where they are critically endangered, as no angels have been made since God created them at the dawn of time. In an attempt to save their species from going extinct, the remaining angels have decided to try and use the Nephilim Jack Kline to create more angels.

Characteristics

According to Castiel, angels are not omniscient beings, although their knowledge, especially that of archangels, is extensive. Their angelic power exists in the form of grace. Anna voluntarily removed her grace in order to be reborn human. She describes the grace as "pure creation", but this energy is somehow connected to an angel's true form. Anna said that the removal of her grace was very painful. Despite the fact that an angel's power is connected to its grace, Anna still demonstrated telekinesis and superhuman strength. Anna also heard other angels conversing in Heaven but could not respond. The restoration of grace replenishes the angel's powers and abilities.

Angels in their incorporeal form.

The "physical appearance" of an angel's true form varies. For instance, Lucifer's angelic form was said to be beautiful by Uriel. However, Sam and Rowena described their experiences seeing Lucifer's true face as traumatic. Lucifer's eye color is also red, opposed to the traditional blue of his brethren. Zachariah described his angelic form has four faces (one of which is a lion) and six wings, though Sam and Dean are not able to perceive him in this way, even in Heaven, because their level of perception is limited. Castiel states that his true angelic form is the size of the Chrysler Building. Within the show, an angel's true form is often seen as brilliant white light or a blueish-white smoke. Psychic Pamela Barnes' eyes are burnt out when she looks on Castiel's true form. Michael's voice and true form prove fatal to several bar patrons. For these reasons, angels most often communicate with humans through dreams, or through a vessel.

An angel's true voice is often heard as an ear piercing, high-pitched sound which can shatter glass. Castiel attempted to speak to Dean with his true voice and was surprised when Dean could not understand it, even though he is the vessel of Michael. Some humans, in fact, can perceive his true voice and visage with impunity, but to most, it is overwhelming, painful, or sometimes crippling if not fatal to behold.

When angels converse with each other in Heaven, they speak Enochian. Anna, before realizing that she was formerly an angel after living a human life, was able to hear angels speaking without them being physically present ever since September 18, 2008 when Dean was freed from Hell by Castiel. Dean referred to this communication as "angel radio", and it appears to be a common method of relaying information between angels. This might be referred to as a telepathic link; angels also have some ability to read human minds, though certain devices can be honed to tune into angel radio.

Angels occupy a human vessel in order to manifest on Earth. The person they possess require consent to the angel's presence and they're forced to leave if they lose it, as opposed to demonic possession which is non-consensual. Angels and their vessels appear to be matched based on bloodlines, some of which are preserved by the work of "cupids". Though angels can possess human who aren't from a specific angelic bloodline, they risk the vessel deteriorating overtime or even exploding upon possession. It seems that while occupied, the vessel's blood is altered by the angel's presence. Castiel has commented that he cannot use his "own" blood for a ritual, because he is "not human". Angelic blood does appear to hold some special properties, as the demon Belphegor was able to use some of Castiel's blood and graveyard dirt to eject all the escaped souls from Hell that were occupying corpses.

Some angelic powers are innate, and some can be curtailed or enhanced by the hierarchy of the Host of Heaven. Castiel found his abilities limited after he rebelled and helped Dean try to stop Sam from breaking the final seal: "I'm cut off from Heaven and much of Heaven's power. Certain things I can do. Certain things I can't.". Castiel appeared essentially mortal in the alternate future in 5.04 The End, after he reports the angels had abandoned Earth. After he directly acted against Heaven in 5.18 Point of No Return, Castiel returned almost mortal. He received enhanced angelic powers from God in 5.22 Swan Song, after being resurrected as a seraphim. Abilities are also correlated with the rank of the angel. Depending on the rank, angels may not need to be connected to Heaven to use all of their power as while in Purgatory, Castiel displayed a power he lost when cut off from Heaven last time, but was left in a weakened state from the experience when he eventually escaped Purgatory. However, he appeared to quickly recover from this weakness.

Powers and abilities

Angels are extremely powerful beings with a wide range of abilities. Abilities vary with the class of the angel. For example, archangels have all the abilities of a normal angel, but they are enhanced, and they seem to have abilities that average angels do not possess.

Having fallen from Heaven due to the actions of Metatron, the angels have all lost their ability to teleport due to the loss of their wings, although they appear to retain their other abilities and weaknesses, such as being held off by angel-banishing sigils or their ability to heal, as well as still requiring vessels.

• Celestial energy – Similar to Lilith's ability in depiction, however comes with the blue tinge that represents angelic presence, suggesting this is an extension of the angel's true form. When Castiel used this power, he ordered the humans to "Shut your eyes!" as Anna Milton did when she regained her true form, destroying Alastair's host inadvertently. The light is powerful enough to kill a diner full of Eve's "perfect creations". This may have been what Deputy Framingham witnessed Raphael using on demons at a gas station in Maine. Notably, Castiel did this again in Kevin's presence without warning when he split the angel tablet in two, though it's possible that Kevin was able to witness him displaying his celestial energy with impunity because he's a prophet. Naomi later used this to try to smite Crowley forcing him to flee before she could. Metatron also displayed this when he rescued Kevin Tran from Crowley.
• Clairsentience – Angels have the ability to sense the energies other angels radiate from their vessels, allowing them to recognize each other. This ability also extends to being able to see the true faces of demons possessing humans.
• Dreamwalking – Angels can enter human dreams in order to communicate with them, regardless of whether or not they know where the person is or if their body has been warded.
• Enhanced senses – An angel's senses are heightened to a superhuman level. They have the ability to identify people from simply smelling their bones or blood, see a person's molecular make-up, and hear people from vast distances. Their sense of taste allows them to taste each individual atom that makes up a piece of food. Castiel was also able to tell a victim suffered from a recent bladder infection by thoroughly sniffing his corpse.
• Healing – Angels have the ability to heal humans. When angels are disconnected from Heaven, they lose this power, as shown during Castiel's defection from Heaven and his inability to cure Bobby Singer of his paralysis.
  • Angels are able to maintain their vessels without food, water, or sleep, and to heal them after they are injured. Lucifer healed Nick's body after he was shot by the Colt, though the gun's effects temporarily left him in pain. Castiel has healed his vessel, Jimmy Novak, from his countless fatal injuries. Their vessels also appear resistant to disease. However, when Castiel is on the verge of becoming mortal, Pestilence is able to infect him. Possessed vessels will also not age as long as they are possessed by an angel. Also, weakened angels in vessels can become drunk, but it takes an extremely large amount of alcohol. An angel's ability to maintain and heal its vessel can be used to repair fatal damage that would normally kill a human.
• Invisibility – Angels, even while occupying vessels, can hide within the Veil rendering themselves unseen by the human eye.
• Invulnerability – An angel's durability far exceeds that of humans. Prior to the Fall, an angel could take great amounts of physical damage, causing little to no harm to them.
• Knowledge of all prophets – Castiel claims that Leah, the Whore of Babylon, is not a prophet because he has every prophet's name "seared" into his brain, and it is likely that all angels do as well. Samandriel displayed this ability as well. Metatron once stated he wrote Donatello Redield's name on the inside of the angel's eyelids.
• Lie detection – Angels have the ability to sense if someone is lying. However, due to the truth sometimes being situational, it makes the accuracy of this ability murky at best.
• Matchmaking – Certain types of angels in the cherub class, e.g. cupids, can bring couples together by marking their hearts with Enochian symbols.
• Memory manipulation – Angels have the ability to take away and restore a human's memories. Angels can also implant fake memories. Displayed by Zachariah, Michael, & Castiel.
• Power removal – Castiel has displayed the power to remove psychic abilities from humans, but the procedure is extremely painful and leaves the subject mentally-damaged to some varying extent.
• Prayer – Angels are capable hearing the prayers of humans. The prayer does not need to be formal, as angels can pick up on a sense of longing in a person, whether they are aware of it or not.
• Reality warping – Gabriel had shown the ability to create living beings, creatures, objects and imaginary realities out of nothing. He also showed the ability to reshape objects and human bodies, including his own vessel, and he was able to create an exact copy of himself as well.
• Resurrection – Some angels are sufficiently powerful to resurrect humans, even from Hell.
• Revelation – Angels can implant visions into a prophet’s mind, as demonstrated when Zachariah uses Chuck to lure Dean to one of John's storage lock-ups.
• Sedation – As displayed by multiple angels, they have the ability to render humans unconscious by tapping two fingers on their foreheads.
• Smiting – Angels have the ability to kill demons by placing a hand on the forehead of a possessed individual. High-level demons are immune to the smiting power of lower-level angels, e.g. Alastair. This ability also works on monsters and humans alike. A special class of angels called the Rit Zien, like Ephraim, can use this to kill mortally wounded angels and humans, but when they do, the being it is used on near-instantly explodes in a virtually painless death. The collective Host of Heaven can pool their powers together and perform mass-smitings, which can produce fallout within the radius of the blast site, causing smiting sickness in humans.
• Soul-reading – By reaching into a human's chest, an angel can read marks left on the souls of humans who sold them to find the name of whoever laid claim. This procedure is very painful for the human, but leaves little physical damage. Thus far, this ability has only been used by Castiel.
• Soul-channeling – Angels can use the energy from souls to empower themselves. Castiel siphons some energy from Bobby's soul to pull Sam and Dean forward in time. He absorbs fifty thousand damned souls to declare war on Raphael. He manages to destroy Raphael by taking in the souls of Purgatory.
• Super strength – The physical strength of an angel in a vessel is unknown, it's possible that their strength is unlimited as it doesn't come from the vessels muscles but instead their angelic power. They also have an extreme control on their strength as they have been shown to punch through walls but also non-fatally punch humans. Castiel has been shown to be able to lift a one-ton anvil with ease.
• Supernatural perception – Angels are able to see objects and beings that are invisible to humans; reapers, hellhounds and Enochian sigils written in demon invisible ink, which can only be seen in the Veil.
• Telekinesis – Angels have the ability to move and influence objects with their minds. Other forms of telekinesis include:
  • Biokinesis – Zachariah gives Dean stomach cancer and removes Sam's lungs. He also injures Adam, causing him to cough up blood.
  • Cryokinesis – Lucifer proved capable of freezing objects by breathing on them; this occurred while he was manifesting in his vessel, Nick.
  • Electrokinesis – Raphael can manipulate and control electricity. When Raphael first appeared before Dean and Castiel, electricity arcs away from him while he was manifesting in his vessel for the second time as well as causing a blackout across the Eastern Seaboard.
  • Pyrokinesis – Michael has shown the ability to kill another angel by setting her ablaze. Gabriel also demonstrated this when he lighted some candles. and incinerated the Prince of Hell Asmodeus. Castiel uses this ability on Lenore to kill her, though notably, the process was much slower. Castiel ignited and burnt what he claimed were Crowley's bones with ease.
• Telepathy – Angels have the ability to communicate using their minds.
• Teleportation – With their wings, angels have the ability to teleport anywhere in the world as long as the area is not protected by Enochian sigils. They can teleport themselves and other beings with relative ease. Due to angels using their wings to teleport, when the Fall occurred, all run-of-the-mill angels had their wings destroyed, preventing them from teleporting. The process of teleportation can be uncomfortable for humans, according to Dean, who was left constipated for a week. Teleportation may involve:
  • Creating sudden wind, shattering lights (Castiel), and causing an Eastern Seaboard blackout (Raphael) when manifesting.
  • Covert arrival, i.e. when Anna Milton attacked Uriel, or when Castiel attacked Zachariah's henchmen.
• Time travel – Angels have the ability to go backward and forward through time, though this is difficult, even with Heaven's assistance. According to Castiel, "Time is fluid, Dean. It's not easy, but we can bend it on occasion." Angels can become aware if there is a significant change to the timeline, however they cannot discern how a change happened. After the Fall destroyed the wings of all angels, it was revealed that the ability to travel through time was also connected to their wings.
• Vessel connection – Castiel revealed to Dean that angels and their vessels share a connection, likening it to an "open phone line." Through this connection, Castiel was able to send a message to Raphael through his catatonic vessel Donnie Finnerman. The Michael of Apocalypse World was able to use a similar connection to Dean Winchester to "leave the door open just a crack", leaving Dean ripe for repossession. Nick unknowingly used this connection while praying to Lucifer, who was killed and sent to the Empty.
• Voice mimicry – Angels have the ability to sound like any human they choose.
• Weather manipulation – The presence to Raphael, Michael, and Lucifer manipulated the weather at will.

Vulnerabilities

• Ancient beings – Certain beings that predate the angel's creation, such as Eve, can inhibit an angel from using their powers. It is not known if this applies to higher tiered angels, such as the archangels. Eve existed before angels, and suggested that she has knowledge that angels lack. Leviathan's have been shown to be able to overpower and kill angels with little effort.
• Angel banishing sigil – Drawn in blood, when a hand is placed on the sigil, angels are temporarily banished from the area. It can be used by humans and angels, and the angel who uses it does not disappear with the others. Castiel uses an extreme form of this when he carves the sigil into his vessel's chest; on this occasion, he vanished with the other angels, and returned near mortal. It is powerful enough to banish an archangel as strong as Lucifer as well.
• Angel blade – A short blade carried around by angels, can be wielded by humans and used to kill them.
• Angel sword – A sword carried by the Grigori, a rogue class of angels, has the same effect as the angel blade.
• Angel trap – Much like how a devil's trap works for demons, painting a special sigil can trap an angel within it's confines.
• Archangels – Can easily overpower angels, often killing or banishing them by snapping their fingers.
• Archangel blade – A short blade once carried by the archangels that is the only known weapon capable of killing one, but only when wielded by another archangel or a vessel powered by an archangel inside them. The archangel blades were thought to be lost forever until one was unearthed by Asmodeus and another one brought over from Apocalypse World by their version of Michael.
• Cambion – Jesse Turner has the power to transform Castiel into a toy. Castiel tells the Winchesters that Jesse could "destroy the Host of Heaven with a word."
• The Colt – The gun's power against angels is uncertain. It was ineffective against Lucifer, but he stated that only five things could not be killed with this weapon, so it is possible that the Colt may work on angels, but not archangels.
• Death's scythe – Crowley stated that it can kill angels.
• Demons – In certain situations, if there are a significant number of demons, an angel can be overpowered by a horde. Even at full strength, angels travelling into Hell was deemed a dangerous endeavor. The demon Alastair was shown on occasions to be able to hold his own one-on-one against an angel.
• Enochian warding – They can be used to disguise the location of those bearing the symbols. Castiel carved the symbols into Sam and Dean's and later Adam's ribs. Enochian sigils can also be used to keep angels from entering a building.
• Exorcism chant – There is an exorcism chant to expel angels from their human vessels. It seems that the chant is not well known as only one demon, Alastair, has ever used it.
• The Fall – After the angels fell from Heaven due to Metatron's spell, all angels had become more susceptible to physical damage as well as having lost the ability to teleport and time travel. Apart from Metatron, who cast the spell in the first place, only archangels were shown to maintain these abilities after the fall.
• Holy oil – This can be used to trap or kill an angel. Castiel used a Molotov cocktail of holy oil to temporarily banish Michael at Stull Cemetery.
• Naomi's drill – Naomi's drill can be used to torture and bend an angel to another angel's will by removing or replacing memories and implanting orders.
• Pieces of Heaven – Any physical piece of Heaven's foundation can be used to kill an angel as shown when Gadreel uses a piece of rock from the wall of Heaven's dungeon to commit suicide.
• Salt crystal – A crystal from the smiting of Sodom and Gomorrah has the ability to render an angel's vessel into a pillar of salt, forcing the angel to seek a new one.
• Spells – Angels are susceptible to certain powerful spells and forms of blood magic, some of which can be theoretically lethal to them according to Castiel.
• Staff of Moses – The staff has control over the 10 Plagues of Egypt, and appears to be effective against angels.
• Unsuitable vessels – If an angel takes a vessel that cannot contain their power, it will begin to burn out unless they find a more suitable one. In extreme cases, the vessel will explode upon possession.
• Vessel expulsion – If an vessel does not want the angel in them any longer, and they are aware of the possession and have sufficient will power to exert control, they can expel the angel possessing them, though it seems to cause no harm besides rendering the angel bodiless and leaving the vessel in its current state.

The Winchesters' Beliefs

Never say never, (…) but in my mind, angels as supernatural beings do not exist. In my opinion there are forces of evil, but the forces of good are human. There might very well be a God, but if there is, he's working in mysterious ways through a band of very imperfect humans. – Eric Kripke, Supernatural: The Official Companion Season 2, page. 75

Prior to the introduction of angels on the show, Dean believed angels did not exist. Sam on the other hand believed in both angels and God, and prayed every day. Mary is also revealed to have been a woman of faith; the last words Mary ever spoke to Dean were "Angels were watching over us." When Dean first sees Mary during a djinn-induced hallucination, he checks to see if she is real by asking her what she would always say when she tucked him in at night. She answers, "I told you angels were watching over you." Mary is shown saying this to an unborn Dean in the aftermath of a visit to Lawrence, Kansas in 1978, not long after Michael wiped her and John's memories of meeting the future versions of their sons.

It is not until season four that angels actually appear, when Castiel arrives and proclaims himself "an angel of the Lord," and reveals that he saved Dean from Hell.

Major Angels

"The following named angels have prominent roles in the series; for information on the archangels Michael, Lucifer, Raphael and Gabriel see the article on Archangels."

Castiel

Castiel in his first appearance.

Season 4

Multiple angels laid siege to Hell in attempt to rescue Dean Winchester from its pits, but it was Castiel who eventually saved him. During the process of raising Dean, a hand print is burnt into his left shoulder. As a result of his interactions with Dean, Castiel begins to develop empathy for humans. This leads to his demotion because his superiors view this as dangerous. At one point, Castiel is forcibly removed from his vessel, Jimmy Novak, and sent back to Heaven where it is impressed on him, under torture, that he must follow angelic orders. Ultimately, he disobeys and acts to help Dean escape Zachariah in order to try and stop Sam from unknowingly freeing Lucifer from the Cage, but his change of heart came too late as his previous work in freeing Sam from Bobby's Panic Room did all to assure it.

Season 5

As a result of this action Castiel is killed by Raphael, but becomes resurrected by God. He next embarks on a mission to find God in order to stop Lucifer, though his angelic powers start to the fade the more he uses them as he became cut off from Heaven and its power for disobedience. Despite interrogating Raphael, borrowing Dean's Amulet, and sending Sam and Dean to find Joshua in Heaven's garden, he becomes disillusioned after Joshua reveals that God will not intervene to stop the Apocalypse. After he uses an angel banishing sigil to send a group of angels away along with himself in 5.18 Point of No Return, Castiel awakens in a hospital with his angelic powers all but gone, after doctors initially believed to be brain-dead. After being killed by Lucifer in the confrontation at Stull Cemetery, he is resurrected by God a second time with his angelic status upgraded to that of a Seraph, giving him enhanced powers which he uses to heal Dean's injuries and resurrect Bobby Singer effortlessly. Castiel then tells Dean that he intends to return to Heaven and take command, believing that it's total anarchy upstairs with Michael in the Cage.

Season 6

Castiel returns to Heaven following the imprisonment of Michael to help restore order, fighting a civil war against Raphael to prevent him from restarting the Apocalypse. He makes a desperate deal with Crowley to locate Purgatory and use the souls in order to win the war. All the while, Castiel searches for Angelic Weapons that were stolen by Balthazar, who faked his death and plundered Heaven's armory to sell his treasures for human souls. When Raphael starts targeting everyone who knows Castiel, Balthazar sends Virgil, one of Raphael's nastiest loyalists and the Weapons Keeper of Heaven on a wild goose chase after Sam and Dean in an alternate reality while he takes Castiel to where he hid the weapons and happily provides them to rally his forces and ensure his own safety. Eventually, after imbuing himself with the souls of Purgatory, Castiel rises in power, dispatches Raphael with a snap of his fingers, and claims to be the new "God".

Season 7

His reign obliterates Raphael's followers and an assortment of humans of whom Castiel disapproves. He also heals those he finds faithful. However, he becomes increasingly influenced by another group of creatures he took in along with the souls: Leviathans. They drive him to increasingly bloody acts, while the souls begin to destroy Castiel's vessel. At a prompt from the Winchesters, he accepts their help to get rid of the souls, but the leviathans remain, and seize control of Cas. They use him for his knowledge, and as a way to escape into the world.

Castiel is resurrected by God once more but as an amnesiac, and is eventually found by Dean, who is searching for someone to heal Sam of his hell-madness. Castiel remembers who he is, and takes Sam's illness on himself. His sanity is doubtful, but he remains willing to help the Winchesters. He chooses not to return to Heaven. He later helps kill Leviathan leader Dick Roman and gets pulled into Purgatory with Dean as a result.

Season 8

Castiel is eventually rescued by angels working for Naomi despite not wanting to leave and is now working with Sam and Dean to find the second half of demon tablet to close the Gates of Hell forever and banish all demons from the face of the Earth. After retrieving the angel tablet and nearly killing Dean, Castiel is now on the run with the tablet, protecting it from all threats. After the tablet is stolen from him by Crowley, Castiel teams up with Metatron to do the Trials to seal off Heaven in an effort to end the civil war there. Its eventually revealed that Metatron is using him to get revenge on the angels by expelling them all from Heaven and he steals Castiel's grace to do it, making him human and depositing him on Earth.

Season 9

Following becoming human, Castiel began trying to fit into a human life, but after being captured by Malachi and Theo, he regained his angel status and at least some of his powers by stealing Theo's grace and he starts looking for Metatron to reverse his spell. After killing Bartholomew, Castiel begins leading a faction of angels who want no more angel on angel violence. With his grace burning out, Castiel defeats Metatron with the help of the Winchesters, Gadreel and Hannah and the angels regain control of Heaven. However, Castiel's grace is close to burning out and he will die if he doesn't replenish it.

Season 10

With his grace rapidly burning out, Castiel aids in the search for the now-demonic Dean. Near death, Castiel is saved by Crowley who gives him the grace of Adina, enabling Castiel to help return Dean to being human. After an encounter with the husband of Hannah's vessel, Castiel takes an interest in the Novak family, leading him to become involved in the life of Claire Novak. Castiel eventually aids Claire in rescuing her mother and killing the Grigori Tamiel. Following the Mark of Cain starting to affect Dean badly, Castiel begins working on finding a cure, searching for Cain and participating in the final battle with him. Castiel later works with Sam and Bobby Singer in a failed attempt to get a cure from Metatron. Though Metatron escapes, Castiel renders him human and regains his own grace and with it his status and power. After the Mark of Cain is removed by Rowena, Castiel is placed under a spell that causes him to attack Crowley uncontrollably.

Season 11

Castiel begins to go into uncontrollable rages due to the effect of Rowena's spell and draws the ire of the angels once more due to Metatron escaping on his watch. The Winchesters force Rowena to break the spell Castiel is under and he locates Metatron who tells him that the Darkness is in fact God's sister. Seeing Metatron as no longer a threat, Castiel lets him go. During an encounter with Lucifer, Lucifer insists that he can beat the Darkness and Castiel agrees to become his vessel in order to give Lucifer form on Earth. Lucifer poses as Castiel to the Winchesters, but he is eventually found out by Sam. Castiel briefly resurfaces long enough to save Sam's life and explain the situation, but is unable to get rid of Lucifer. The Winchesters later make a failed attempt to free Castiel from Lucifer's control, but he refuses to expel the archangel and the attempt fails, leading to both being captured by Amara. After Lucifer and Castiel's rescue from Amara, Castiel briefly resumes control to aid Lucifer in convincing the angels to join in their plan to attack Amara. During the final confrontation with Amara, Lucifer is expelled from Castiel's body, leaving Castiel in control once more. After the threat of Amara is over, Sam and Castiel return to the Bunker only to have Castiel banished by Lady Toni Bevell.

Uriel, a specialist.

Uriel

Season 4

Uriel comes to Earth, manifests inside a vessel, and stands with Castiel in trying to prevent the breaking of a seal in 4.07 It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester. He is introduced to the Winchesters as a "specialist", and appears to have been sent to follow Castiel, being placed under his authority. He exhibits disdain for both humanity and demons, calling them "savages" and "stains", but Dean returns the sentiment by nicknaming him "Junkless". Uriel and Castiel were sent to kill Anna Milton, who used to be an angel until she disobeyed and ripped out her grace. Uriel managed to get her location after visiting Dean in a dream, but it all turns out to be a ruse cooked up by Sam to make the angels and demons fight each other and distract Uriel long enough for Anna to retrieve her grace and restore her angelic powers. By 4.16 On the Head of a Pin, he briefly became Castiel's commander. He clandestinely breaks the devil's trap holding Alastair, intending for him to kill Dean. Uriel secretly supports the release of Lucifer, so that the archangel can return to power by bringing on the Apocalypse, as one of a group of rebellious angels with this goal, and he has been trying to recruit other angels to the cause; only killing those who refuse. He eventually reveals his plans to Castiel in an unsuccessful attempt to recruit the other angel, and they fight. Uriel gets the upper hand over Castiel, but Anna kills him with his own blade, saving Castiel as they watch Uriel explode in a blast of white light, burning his wings onto the floor.

Season 5

Uriel is also seen in 5.13 The Song Remains the Same when Anna travels to 1973 and recruits a younger Uriel to help in her attempt to kill Mary and John Winchester and prevent Sam's birth as her way of stopping the Apocalypse by preventing Lucifer's true vessel from being concieved. While he came close to strangling Dean to death, Michael intervenes and kills Anna after taking John as a temporary vessel. Uriel tries to tell Michael he didn't know, but Michael lets him off with a slap on the wrist and teleports him away.

Anna, the fallen angel.

Anna Milton

Season 4

Anna was originally Castiel and Uriel's superior, but she chose to remove her grace and become human. When Dean is saved from Hell on September 18, 2008, she begins to hear the angels speaking. Alastair wants to capture her in order to torture her and find out what the angels are doing via angel radio, but Dean and Sam rescue her, and Pamela Barnes helps her regain her memories of having been an angel. Anna is under a death sentence for disobedience, but after Sam comes up with a plan to lure the angels and demons to fight each other, she is able to regain her grace from Uriel and becomes an angel again.

Later, Anna was able to restore her human body as a vessel. She tries to get Castiel to join her and stop following orders, telling him that torture is not God's work and that the orders he receives are wrong, but he refuses, looking down on her for falling. Aftyer Sam kills Alastair, Castiel considers disobedience and contacts Anna, but she refuses to help knowing that he still holds the same opinions about her, but she later kills the traitor Uriel to save Cass and agrees to help him on his journey. After the events of 4.21 When the Levee Breaks, Anna meets with Castiel by a dockyard, and a group of angels take her back to Heaven for "reprogramming".

Season 5

When Anna returns in 5.13 The Song Remains the Same, claiming to have escaped Heaven's dungeon, she travels back in time to kill Sam's parents and prevent his birth. She believes this will prevent Lucifer from possessing him and end the Apocalypse. However, Michael disintegrates Anna with a touch for interfering with Heaven's plan.

Zachariah - Castiel's superior.

Zachariah

Zachariah is a powerful celestial that was under Michael's command. In his true angelic form, has four faces (one of which is a lion) and six wings; the biblical description of a cherub.

Season 4

Upon Uriel's death and the revelation of his betrayal, Zachariah is deployed from Heaven and manifests on Earth in a vessel. He has significant authority over the other angels, a direct superior of Castiel, and personally oversees the angels' efforts to stop the Apocalypse, calling them "grunts on the ground". However, it's ultimately revealed that Zachariah plays a major role in the plan to allow Lucifer to be released so that Michael can kill him, believing that Michael will bring paradise on Earth once he wins. He even holds Dean captive in the Green Room to prepare him for Michael and prevent him from interfering when Sam goes to kill Lilith, but Castiel draws an angel banishing sigil on the wall and sends Zachariah away when he tries to intervene.

Season 5

Once Lucifer is freed, Zachariah takes increasingly aggressive actions to force Dean to consent to being Michael's Vessel. His failures on this score embitter him. According to Zachariah, he was greatly respected by all of his angel colleagues before being assigned Dean's case because he delivered consistent successes. His reputation is damaged by Dean's constant refusal to consent, and he's fired by his superiors while his subordinates start ridiculing him. Michael then gives Zachariah one more chance at the task of recruiting a disillusioned Dean with a plot involving the resurrection of Adam Milligan, Sam and Dean's half-brother. Ultimately even this effort fails when Dean regains hope, and impales Zachariah's head with an angel blade in 5.18 Point of No Return and Michael is forced to take Adam as his vessel, leaving Zachariah's vessel on the floor of the Green Room with his wings burned onto the floor and walls.

Balthazar

Season 6

Balthazar is an honorable angel who fought alongside Castiel, presumed to have been killed during the Apocalypse. In fact, Balthazar faked his death, taking a number of powerful artifacts, including the Staff of Moses and Lot's Salt, with him. He's been on Earth enjoying a rather hedonistic lifestyle, and has bought at least one human soul, until he's forced to return it upon threat of death by Sam and Dean. He becomes something of an ally to Castiel, providing him with all the weapons he stole to rally his forces against Raphael and his loyalists, but is unaware of Castiel's deal with Crowley until the Winchesters tell him about it. While Castiel recruits him to help, Balthazar decides to clandestinely support their efforts to stop Castiel, who kills him with an angel blade after he alerts them to Castiel's location in 6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Samandriel

Samandriel

Season 8

Samandriel attends the auction held by Plutus in order to protect the Word of God. His vessel is a young man named Alfie. He asks Dean about Castiel's whereabouts, and Dean tells him how they ended up in Purgatory. Samandriel tells Dean that Castiel still has supporters in Heaven and indicates that he is one, though he believes that "too much heart" was Castiel's problem. He also decides to go by the name of his vessel; Alfie.

During the auction, Samandriel bids the Mona Lisa, and then Vatican City. However, the bidding turns to souls, and he says that angels "guard the souls in Heaven, we don't horse trade them." He later offers angelic protection to Linda Tran for her son Kevin, but she refuses it, a wish he respects.

Later, Crowley captures and tortures him for information on the future prophets who are next in line after Kevin, which Samandriel gives him. Crowley then orders him to be "put on ice" for future torture in case there's anything more to squeeze out of him. Eventually, in 8.10 Torn and Frayed, his torture under Viggo causes him to revert to his "factory settings", which Crowley knew how to navigate through, using spikes to penetrate his brain while twisting to get the information he wants. While hacking into his brain, Samandriel reveals the existence of the angel tablet to the King of Hell. While Sam and Dean went after the demons, Castiel removes the spikes from his head, which makes him go back to normal. Samandriel reveals that Crowley got into his coding and forced him to reveal secrets he didn't even know the angels had. While trying to warn Castiel that the angels in Heaven's intelligence division are controlling them against their will, Naomi labels him as a traitor and forces Castiel to kill him with his angel blade, planning to examine his remains to discover just how badly he broke.

Naomi

Naomi

Season 8

A high-ranking angel, leading Heaven's intelligence division, which exists in a part of Heaven not many have visited. According to Metatron, she leads one of the many factions fighting for control over Heaven after Raphael's death. She ordered the rescue of Castiel from Purgatory at the sacrifice of many angels' lives. She was able to order around Castiel, a seraph, by completely brainwashing him, making him deceive the Winchesters, and commanding him to kill Dean when he finds the angel tablet. After Castiel breaks free of her control, he flees with the angel tablet, which reset him to his factory settings and erases what Naomi did to his mind, saying he must protect it from everyone, including both Heaven and the Winchesters. Later, she introduces herself to Dean as an ally, appearing to save them from Crowley and helping them complete the second trial by granting Bobby's spirit safe passage to Heaven. She briefly manages to capture Castiel, but she's forced to flee when Crowley arrives armed with a gun with bullets cast from melted angel blades. Naomi captures Metatron and learns of his plans to expel all angels from Heaven. This causes her to rethink her decisions and even express remorse for angelkind's actions against humanity. She warns Castiel of the situation and reveals to Dean what she saw in Metatron's head; that Sam will die if he completes the trials. Castiel refuses to believe her while Dean forces the angel to take him back to Sam. Naomi returns to Heaven where Metatron neutralizes her in 8.23 Sacrifice and later subdues Castiel upon arrival, telling him that she was telling the truth about his plans while taking his grace, the last ingredient for the spell that instigates The Fall.

Season 13

In 13.19 Funeralia Naomi is revealed to have survived Metatron's attempt to kill her, since her drill was designed to allow her to invade, read, and rewrite an angel's mind, while it was also incapable of killing angels. However, she suffered from amnesia as a result, leading her to fake her death and spend five years to recover, and while there's still a few holes in her memory, what she recovered up to that point was enough to be "mostly here." With less than a dozen angels left in all of Creation, Naomi is leading the surviving angels in trying to keep Heaven active for as long as possible.

Season 14

Naomi reappears in 14.08 Byzantium when she finds Castiel searching for Jack in his Heaven, but she reveals that the Cosmic Entity that rules over the Empty has invaded Heaven. She intended to give it Jack, since the entity considers all angels and demons who die its property, including a nephilim like Jack. While Castiel refuses to give into its demands, the entity attempts to possess Naomi and she warns him and Dumah to run. Later, when Jack was revived after Castiel made his deal with the Entity, Naomi rewards him for saving Heaven by providing Michael's location on Earth.

Later, it's revealed that Dumah unjustly blamed Naomi for the Cosmic Entity invading Heaven and locked her up in Heaven's dungeon, taking control over Heaven herself. However, this ended when Castiel kills Dumah after she threatened John and Mary Winchester.

Metatron

Metatron

Season 8

Metatron was an angel who worked in the secretarial pool until he was enlisted by God to write the three tablets. After God left, the archangels started conspiring to take over the universe themselves as an act of defiance against Go's departure, leading Metatron to hide out on Earth for millenia. He gifted a Native American tribe with longevity in exchange for stories and books which he believes to be the true flower of free will. However, he completely cut himself off from Heaven and severed all ties, leaving him to the point where he was completely unaware of recent events that occurred since he left, such as the imprisonment of Michael and Lucifer in the Cage, and the deaths of Raphael and Gabriel. Sam and Dean locate him in Colorado and convince Metatron to join their efforts by rescuing Kevin Tran and retrieve half of the demon tablet from Crowley. He then begins with working with Castiel to seal off Heaven in an effort to force the angels to stop fighting and also to keep their latest civil war from spilling over onto Earth. Upon examining Metatron's mind, Naomi learns that he wants to expel all angels from Heaven in an act of revenge for his own self-exile, and after neutralizing her with her own drill, he uses the items he had Castiel gather, even removing his grace to successfully enact his plan.

Season 9

While Castiel wants to help the angels return home, its eventually discovered that Metatron's spell is built to withstand any attempt to reverse it. At first, Metatron enjoys the solitude in Heaven as the one on top, but it eventually overwhelms him as Heaven's "a big place". He recruits Gadreel, who was posing as Ezekiel and possessing Sam to keep him alive and heal his body after the trials almost killed him. He sends Gadreel to kill Kevin Tran and retrieve the angel and demon tablet from the Winchesters' Bunker. Using the angel tablet, Metatron gains massive God-like power. After gathering a massive following to him under the command of himself and Gadreel, Metatron is defeated when Castiel shatters the angel tablet, stripping him of his extra power and causes Metatron to broadcast his true feelings on humanity and angels over angel radio. Metatron is overthrown and imprisoned in Heaven's dungeon, but not before he briefly kills Dean who returns as a Knight of Hell.

Season 10

In Heaven's dungeon, he's later interrogated for information on Castiel's grace, though he reveals that when he cast the spell, there are traces of his grace left. he offers it to Castiel in exchange for his freedom, but he refuses. He later gets escorted to the Men of Letters Bunker and interrogated on how to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean's arm, but he refuses to reveal anything, even while under torture by Dean. Metatron eventually gets broken out of prison with the help of Sam, Castiel, and Bobby Singer. After having his grace removed and being rendered human, he's forced to reveal that he doesn't actually know how to remove the Mark, stating that it's God-level magic or Lucifer-level, though he's imprisoned in the Cage. While Sam wants to shoot him, Metatron offers to lead Castiel to the remainder of his grace in exchange for his life. However, while Castiel gets his grace back, Metatron weakens him with a series of blood sigils and escapes the library with the demon tablet.

Season 11

Castiel later locates him working as a videographer and captures Metatron once more for information on the Darkness. Following getting the information he needs, Castiel lets Metatron go, seeing him as no longer a threat and pitiable instead, seeing that his time on Earth as a human has been less than ideal. Metatron is later brought in by God to help edit and finish his autobiography. In an attempt to stop God's suicidal attack on the Darkness, Metatron helps to rescue Lucifer and sacrifices himself to buy Sam, Lucifer and Donatello Redfield time to escape. While his attempt to banish Amara fails, she implodes into nothingness.

A silhouette of the angel Gadreel's damaged wings after his fall from Heaven.

Gadreel aka Ezekiel

Season 9

Gadreel is an angel who, according to Metatron, was God's most trusted, which lead to him being chosen to protect the Garden of Eden, and keep evil from entering it. Gadreel somehow failed in his task, and allowed the Earth to be cursed with evil by Lucifer, for which he was blamed and locked-up for thousands of years in Heaven's darkest dungeon. He was freed from his imprisonment by Metatron when he expelled all the angels from Heaven, including the imprisoned ones, in an act of revenge.

Though injured by the fall, he proceeded to take a vessel, and when Dean prays for any angel that hears him for help, Gadreel comes under the guise of "Ezekiel," who according to Castiel, was a good soldier and is trustworthy, which is why Gadreel took his identity as a way of atoning for and escaping his past. The real Ezekiel died as a result of the fall from Heaven along with a host of other angels. As "Ezekiel" he was unable to heal Sam, due to both of their weakened states, but with Dean's help, he is able to take possession of Sam so he can heal him from the inside while also healing himself. "Ezekiel" allows Sam to remain in control of his body and hides inside him, but he erases his memory of his near-death experience so that he won't realize he's possessed and reject Ezekiel, which would be fatal to Sam until he's ready. "Ezekiel" later takes control to protect Sam from three demons, but stages it so it looks like Dean killed the demons and leave Sam unaware of his presence.

Gadreel's first vessel.

When the angels start hunting Castiel, he lets Dean know about it along with the fact that Sam is slowly healing. He aids Dean in finding Castiel by tracking the rogue reaper April, and resurrects Castiel when she killed him, but warns that either he or "Ezekiel" must leave because Castiel is too dangerous for him to be around, with all of the angels looking for him. When Charlie Bradbury gets killed by the Wicked Witch of the West, Dean calls upon Ezekiel to resurrect her. "Ezekiel" reluctantly does so, but warns Dean that he can't always be there to help, stating that every time he does so, it weakens him since he's barely back to half-strength. After Metatron recruits him, Gadreel later takes full control of Sam, murdering Kevin Tran and everyone else on his hit-list in order to become his second-in-command. With the help of Crowley, Sam eventually manages to expel him and Gadreel is forced to return to his original vessel.

Gadreel began working with Metatron to rebuild Heaven, killing any angel who wouldn't join Metatron and commanding his followers for him. However, Gadreel still had honor and when Metatron's unscrupulous methods got to be too much for him, Gadreel defected to Sam, Dean and Castiel, trying to break Metatron's power by infiltrating Heaven and shattering the angel tablet. Gadreel commits suicide in order to blow open Heaven's dungeon and free Castiel, sacrificing himself to redeem his actions and fulfill what he recognizes is the angels true mission: protect humanity at any cost. His sacrifice ultimately allows Castiel to shatter the angel tablet, reveal the truth about Metatron to his followers and retake Heaven, leaving the Scribe of God imprisoned in Heaven's dungeon by Hannah.

Bartholomew

Season 9

Bartholomew was an angel who was both a protégé of Naomi's and old friend and subordinate of Castiel's who fought alongside him against Raphael and his loyalists. He gathered a faction after the fall, using Reverend Buddy Boyle to get vessels for his angelic followers and initially hunted for Castiel for revenge for causing the fall, with Bartholomew calling on two rogue Reapers, Maurice and April, to help when Castiel warded himself against angelic detection. After Malachi gathered a faction of his own to oppose him, Bartholomew started an angelic civil war between the two factions, even hunting down the more peaceful factions such as the Penitents, who chose to live humbly amongst humanity, seeing them as a potential threat to his growing power. Bartholomew later tried to recruit Castiel in 9.14 Captives, believing that with the ultimate rebel at his side, he would be able to unite all of the angels, but after Castiel refused to join Bartholomew due to his savage methods, Bartholomew tried to kill him and Castiel was forced to kill Bartholomew in self-defense. Following Bartholomew's death, a few angels from his faction decided to follow Castiel in a less violent way of living.

Malachi

Season 9

An anarchist angel who led a faction of angels that rivals Bartholomew, trying to unite all of the angels under his command and retake Heaven from Metatron, something that Castiel and Muriel said would be like Hell. Malachi is brutal, as even his own henchman Theo described him as insane and violent, murdering anyone who gets in his way and going to war with the opposition. But after Bartholomew is killed by Castiel, he presumably gains ground, but he's killed by Gadreel in his efforts to unite all the angels under Metatron. Castiel reported him dead to the Winchesters in 9.21 King of the Damned

Dumah

Dumah

Season 13

One of the eleven angels remaining in Heaven, Dumah's contacted by Castiel for help in 13.07 War of the Worlds to find Jack Kline. Dumah reveals that Heaven doesn't have him and reveals that after the Fall and the war against metatron along with the usual infighting between the angels, their kind is going extinct. The remaining angels intend to enslave Jack when they find him to force the young nephilim to help create new angels. With the help of two other angels, Dumah attacks Castiel, only to be driven off by the sudden appearance of Lucifer. She later meets with Lucifer and Anael in 13.13 Devil's Bargain, who take over Heaven in exchange for helping in creating new angels and give the existing ones their wings back, and reluctantly carries out his orders in 13.18 Bring 'em Back Alive, though the fallen archangel doesn't even know how. When Castiel returns to Heaven for help in 13.19 Funeralia, Dumah brings in Naomi to explain the situation.

Season 14

In 14.08 Byzantium, Castiel returns to Heaven to find Jack's soul so that he can resurrect him, only to find that Heaven has been invaded by the Cosmic Entity. Castiel finds Dumah alive and she accompanies him on his search for Jack's soul, only for her to eventually get possessed by the Entity, using her as its vessel in a confrontation with Castiel before leaving her body to return to the Empty, leaving Dumah unharmed. She appears when Castiel calls for Naomi in 14.18 Absence and tells him that Mary Winchester is at peace, existing in a shared Heaven with John Winchester. In 14.19 Jack in the Box, Dumah is revealed to have taken over Heaven by usurping and imprisoning Naomi, plotting to reshape it to be a more merciless place and manipulates a soulless Jack to her own ends. She also co-opts Jack into turning devout humans into angels, which he is shown to do by forging their souls into angelic grace. After Dumah threatens to end Mary and John's peace to force Castiel's cooperation, Castiel kills Dumah with his angel blade in the hallways of Heaven.

A soldier of Raphael engages in battle with Castiel.

Angel Henchmen

These anonymous angels appear to serve the executive members of the Host like Zachariah and Raphael. They often accompany higher angels when a specific task must be completed. They are primarily silent.

Their first appearance may be in 4.21 When the Levee Breaks, when they come to capture and escort the fugitive Anna Milton back to Heaven. Castiel kills two angel henchmen in 5.01 Sympathy for the Devil, and in the same episode Dean banishes them along with Zachariah. In 5.18 Point of No Return, Castiel kills two more at the site of Adam Milligan's resurrection, and a fifth in the subsequent attempt to rescue Adam. In the same episode, he banishes four others with an angel banishing sigil carved into his vessel.

Angel henchmen taking Anna.

In season six, a group of henchmen act as soldiers for Raphael in his attempts to gain control of Heaven. During 6.03 The Third Man, a henchman spying on Castiel speaks for the first time. Of the three soldiers in the episode, Balthazar dispatches one, Sam and Dean banish a second, and Castiel kills the third. Two later appear with Hester and Inias to capture the prophet Kevin Tran, but don't intervene in the confrontation that takes place. They are later assigned to protect Kevin at his home, but are killed by Edgar.

The henchmen appear in the following episodes: 4.21 When The Levee Breaks, 5.01 Sympathy for the Devil, 5.16 Dark Side of the Moon, 5.18 Point of No Return, 6.03 The Third Man, 6.20 The Man Who Would Be King, 6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much, 7.01 Meet the New Boss, 7.21 Reading Is Fundamental‎, 8.17 Goodbye Stranger, 8.21 The Great Escapist and 8.23 Sacrifice

Angels in Lore

Angels or divine beings described as messengers of God, or guardians of souls occur in many religious traditions.

• Angels on Wikipedia
• Angels in Roman Catholicism
• Angels in Islam
• Angels in Judaism
• Reported encounters with angels

External links

Meta

• Why Angels on SPN are essentially Monsters by fannishliss (October 2009); archive link
• The Tragedy of Angels by jkateel (March 2013); archive link
• Quantum Mechanic Angels by messier51 (May 2013); archive link
• “Grace in the Machine” -- The Problem With Angels by neven-ebrez
  • Part 1 (March 2013); archive link
  • Part 2 (May 2013); archive link
  • Part 3 (May 2013); archive link
  • Part 4 (May 2013); archive link
• Angels, Vessels, and Quantum Mechanics by defilerwyrm (2013: January, May, June); AO3 link
• Thoughts About God, Angels, and Humans by plannersandfairytales (July 2013); archive link
• Calling All Angels by bardicvoice (July 2013); archive link
• Supernatural's Archangels Gabriel and Lucifer - Heaven’s Most Terrifying Weapons - Fan Vids and Trivia Tribute by LK for The Winchester Family Business, Jan 19, 2021.
• Supernatural's Archangels Michael and Raphael - Heaven’s Most Terrifying Weapons - Fan Vids and Trivia Tribute by LK for The Winchester Family Business, April 7, 2021.
• The Heavenly Host: Supernatural's Most Memorable Angels - Top 10 Tribute by Nightsky for The Winchester Family Business, April 14, 2021.