Claire Novak

Name	Claire Novak
Actor	Sydney Imbeau Kathryn Newton
Dates	1997 (born)
Location	Pontiac, Illinois
Occupation	Vessel (briefly) Werewolf (briefly)
Episode(s)	4.20 The Rapture 10.09 The Things We Left Behind 10.10 The Hunter Games 10.20 Angel Heart 11.12 Don't You Forget About Me

You said sometimes death isn't always good-bye, right? So good-byes aren't always forever. – Claire Novak, 10.20 Angel Heart

History

Claire Novak is the daughter of Jimmy and Amelia Novak. She lived in Pontiac, Illinois with her parents. Castiel used Claire as a vessel for a brief period of time. After Jimmy was taken as a vessel for a second time, Claire was left at her grandmother's by Amelia so she could search for Jimmy. After her grandmother's death, Claire was sent to foster homes which she repeatedly left. She started a search for her mother, finally finding her with the help of the Winchesters and Castiel on her 18th birthday, only to lose her permanently when Amelia is killed by the angel Tamiel. It is at this time that she is first drawn to becoming a hunter. Sam and Dean arrange for her to stay with Jody Mills while she recovers. Over time Jody and Alex become her family, and she becomes a hunter in her own right.

Episodes

4.20 The Rapture

After Castiel takes possession of Jimmy Novak's body, Claire goes outside and asks "Daddy?" to which Castiel replies that he is not her father and begins to walk away, as Claire watches him leave. A year later when Castiel is forced out of Jimmy's body, Jimmy is able to return to his family and begins to try and rebuild his life with his family. This is short lived, as demons learn about Jimmy and take his family hostage.

Claire is possessed by Castiel when her parents, Dean, and Sam Winchester are held captive by demons, with her mother having been possessed so that the demons can question/analyse Jimmy to determine his unique qualities as a vessel. Castiel, in Claire's body, expels at least two demons from their hosts during the fight. Castiel intends to let Jimmy die so that he will go to Heaven and be at peace as a reward for his service, but Jimmy begs Castiel to use him as a vessel and free his daughter. Castiel obliges.

10.09 The Things We Left Behind

Inspired to look into Jimmy Novak's old life after recent events with Hannah, Castiel discovers that Claire is in solitary confinement in a juvenile center after attempting the latest of a series of escapes, prompting him to visit and get her out by posing as Jimmy. Claire reveals that her mother vanished after leaving her with her grandmother and she has been in and out of homes since her grandmother's death, blaming Castiel for breaking her family apart by taking her father as a vessel. Castiel helps her escape the center, but Claire steals his wallet and runs away again to rejoin with Dustin and Randy, friends of hers who were expecting her to collect money to help settle Randy's gambling debts.

The Winchesters and Castiel arrive in time to prevent the robbery, but Claire leaves them in disgust, declaring that Dustin and Randy are her family while the three men are just the people who killed her father. However, when Randy's loan shark offers to take Claire to compensate for the debt, Randy hesitantly agrees. The loan shark then attempts to sexually assault Claire. She fights back, and is assisted by Castiel and the Winchesters, who had arrived to check up on her situation. However, Dean is attacked by the loan shark, and the Mark of Cain is triggered. Claire witnesses the aftermath of him having killed all of the men, including Randy, and is horrified by the carnage.

10.10 The Hunter Games

Traumatized by witnessing Dean's mass slaughter, and still mourning her father, Claire makes it clear that she still doesn't trust the Winchesters, and resists Castiel's efforts to help her. Running away from the bunker, she meets a couple who suggest that she kill Dean as the person responsible for her father's death, helping them arrange a trap for Dean. However, she tips Dean off at the last minute, finding herself unable to go through with the plan, and Dean manages to fight them off and spare their lives despite the corrupting influence of the Mark of Cain. Although Claire still intends to leave Castiel and find a new life on her own, she suggests that she would not be against him keeping in touch with her.

10.20 Angel Heart

In the months after leaving her group home, Claire begins a search for her missing mother. Having received postcards from Amelia and her things, including her diary after her final disappearance, Claire is able to track her mother to Tulsa, Oklahoma where she was to meet a man named Ronnie Cartwright. Ronnie claims not to know Amelia, but draws Claire's suspicion when he refers to her as Amelia Novak despite Claire not telling him her last name. Ronnie accidentally knocks Claire out and calls an ambulance which takes her to the hospital. As Castiel is in her emergency contacts on her cell phone, the hospital calls him and he calls in Sam and Dean to help him deal with Claire.

When Sam, Dean and Castiel arrive, Claire is not happy to see them, but tells them of her search before fleeing the hospital when they leave the room. However, she made the mistake of telling them where she was staying as well as checking in under her own name and finds Sam waiting for her while Dean and Castiel interrogate Ronnie. While Claire initially rebuffs Sam's efforts to help her, she finally agrees after he offers to teach her how to hack her mother's credit card records to look for clues. Claire is intrigued by how easy it is and insists on going with Dean and Castiel to investigate Ronnie's murder. When they return to the motel, Sam is able to figure out that the man Amelia was supposed to meet, Peter Holloway, has a farm that Amelia had been spending time around. Sam and Castiel go to investigate, but leave Claire and Dean behind for her own safety and because the Mark of Cain is starting to affect Dean worse.

Things between Dean and Claire are awkward at first, so Dean takes Claire to play mini-golf which they bond over. When Claire puts her putter in the last hole to demonstrate how the ball gets taken there, Dean realizes that the angel who has her mother used an angel sword instead of an angel blade and he and Claire research angels. Claire finds information on the Grigori, a class of angels that preys on humanity and when they are unable to reach Sam or Castiel, expects Dean to leave her behind while he goes to rescue them. However, Dean instead gives her a gun and instructions on how to use it and takes her with him.

Arriving at the farm, Dean and Claire investigate the barn and Claire is finally, tearfully, reunited with her mother. As Claire tries to help her weak mother out of the barn, Tamiel, the angel that had been feeding off of her arrives and tells Claire that Amelia is beyond saving. Claire tries to kill Tamiel with her gun, but he proves immune and tries to kill her with his sword. Amelia sacrifices herself to save Claire, leaving her devastated. Sam, Dean and Castiel engage Tamiel who proves stronger than all of them so Claire kills him with his own sword before embracing her mother's body.

The next day, Sam and Dean decide to send Claire to Jody Mills until she can get on her feet. Claire finally forgives Castiel for his role in her father's death, hugging him goodbye and asking Dean to look after him. She also keeps a stuffed animal Castiel got her for her 18th birthday. Before saying goodbye, Dean gives her a copy of Caddyshack and a lore book, having noticed her keeping Tamiel's sword. He advises her against becoming a hunter, telling her how dangerous it is and that she got her revenge when she killed Tamiel. Claire jokingly tells him he's pretty old when he tells her about how hunters don't live long and leaves in a taxi.

11.12 Don’t You Forget About Me

Claire attacks a young couple making out at night, holding her angel sword to the boy's throat and demanding to know what he is. She later calls Dean for help as she believes there are monsters in Sioux Falls and Jody refuses to believe her.

At dinner, Claire explains that three people have disappeared and other people are reporting animals they have never seen before and things stalking their front yards. Alex tells the Winchesters that Claire has previously thought there were monsters when there weren't and Jody tells them the only reason she's not in jail for all the assaults she's committed is Jody is the sheriff. Annoyed with Alex, Claire reveals that Alex and Henry are planning to sneak off to Jody's cabin to have sex to everyone's embarrassment.

Jody privately tells Dean that the boy Claire assaulted is hell-bent on pressing charges and though Claire has started college, she doesn't go to classes in weeks, has no friends and instead spends all of her time looking for cases and reading lore. After Jody expresses worry that Claire is burying herself in hunting as she feels she has nothing else, Sam talks to her and Claire admits she feels like she's not really apart of Jody and Alex's family since she arrived so much later. Claire suggests that she leave and become a full-time hunter, but Sam tells her that monsters will always be out there, but a chance at a normal life won't be.

The next day, after Mr. Phelps' body is found hanging from the school flagpole, Claire asks Jody about what happened. Dean pulls her aside and tells her off for her behavior, particularly her rudeness towards Jody who has done everything she can to give Claire a normal life.

Later, Claire works with Sam on trying to figure out what's going on. Dean tells them that the weird fiber found at the crime scene was asbestos while Jody tells them that the janitor's alibi checks out. Sam finds that the janitor has a false social security number and a smug Claire informs them that the janitor started working at the school just before the disappearances that Jody didn't believe were weird started. As Sam and Dean go to investigate the janitor, Jody takes Claire to beg the registrar of her school to allow her to reenroll. The two are attacked by the janitor who turns out to be a vampire and Claire and Jody are kidnapped.

In the vampire nest, Jody and Claire note the drained corpses nearby and Jody realizes Claire was right about the disappearances. Claire watches as the janitor, Richard Beesome explains to the captured Alex that the whole thing is revenge for Alex feeding him to her nest three years earlier. Richard takes Claire to feed on her as part of his plan to destroy everything Alex loves and Alex offers herself in exchange for Claire and Jody if Richard lets them go. Richard starts to feed on Claire, but stops when he senses Sam coming and he and Henry go to confront him. As Sam fights the vampires, Claire retrieves a box cutter from a nearby toolbox and cuts herself free. As Richard goes to kill Alex, Claire stabs him in the back with a crowbar, distracting him long enough for Dean to kill him. Claire watches as Alex confronts Henry and punches him in the face before Claire cuts his head off.

The next morning, Claire and Alex attempt to make breakfast for Jody and Claire reassures Alex that what happened to them wasn't her fault. As Sam and Dean leave, Claire tells Sam she realizes what she has in Jody and Alex and isn't going to take off. She promises not to "hunt like a dumbass" and as she doesn't intend on stopping, Jody is going to teach her to hunt properly. Claire is surprised that Alex is planning to leave once she gets her life together and tells Alex she doesn't have to leave to protect them. Alex tells them she isn't, she just can't be around the monsters they hunt. Claire then watches with Jody and Alex as the Winchesters leave.

Trivia

• In the spin-off novel Supernatural: War of the Sons, Dean and Sam discover a scroll that lists the bloodlines of all angelic vessels, which states that Jimmy and Claire are of the line of Ishmael, and Claire's grandfather was named Gregory.

See also

• Clairestiel

Claire Novak in Fandom

• vesselprey - Indie RP blog for Claire Novak