Ruby

You don't even know how hard this was! All the demons out for my head. No one knew. I was the best of those sons of bitches! The most loyal! Not even Alastair knew! Only Lilith! Yeah, I'm sure you're a little angry right now, but, I mean, come on, Sam! Even you have to admit – I'm – I'm awesome! – Ruby, 4.22 Lucifer Rising

History

Around the time of the Black Plague in Europe in 1350, Ruby was a human who sold her soul to the demon who would later possess Tammi Benton. In exchange, the demon taught her witchcraft. Upon death Ruby was sent Hell and eventually became a demon herself after centuries of torture, and adopted the demon faith and became a worshiper of Lucifer.

Ruby was meant to serve as a member of the army of demons Azazel had released from the Devil's Gate in Wyoming. However, when Azazel was killed by Dean Winchester, she was tasked with a secret undercover operation by Lilith (the new leader of the demon army) instead, one that would pit her against her fellow soldiers: when 65 of the 66 Seals had been broken, Ruby was to get Sam Winchester to kill Lilith in order to break the last seal and free Lucifer.

Ruby secured an ancient demon-killing knife of the Kurds with which to defend herself and her charge from other demons, and began following Sam Winchester and killing demons who attempted to kill him to neutralize him as a competitor for leadership of the army. She initially presented herself as a fellow hunter, but soon disclosed her true identity as a demon to Sam when he pressed her for the truth. She gets him to stay his hand when she tells him that she can help him save Dean from the deal he made with a crossroads demon. Ruby insisted that she was helping them and fighting on the side of humans against her own kind because she remembers how being human felt. However, Dean largely regarded her and her apparent helpfulness with suspicion. When she began manipulating Sam into tapping into his latent psychic powers, Dean recognized it as proof of her evil intentions and turned against her completely.

While Dean was in Hell, Ruby found Sam at his lowest point. She sets him down the path of going after Lilith for revenge and trains him to practice with his powers and enhances them by drinking her blood, getting him powerful enough to exorcise (and later, kill) demons by thought. She also begins a sexual affair with him. When she comes to save Sam from a trap set by Lilith's minions even after he threatened to kill her if she interfered, she finally earns some measure of his trust. After Castiel brings Dean back from Hell, Sam keeps much of his relationship with Ruby a secret and they continue working together to kill Lilith behind Dean's back and against his wishes. Ruby eventually gets Sam addicted to her blood, which deepens the fall-out between the brothers when Dean finds out and tries to kill Ruby to stop her from hurting and manipulating Sam, only for Sam to continue to defend her. In the ensuing fight, Sam picked Ruby over Dean.

Once 65 of the seals had been broken, Ruby led Sam to St. Mary's Convent to kill Lilith and prevented Dean from telling Sam that Lilith's death is the last seal. Once Sam finally succeeded in killing her, Ruby explained to him what her true mission had been all along, which proved to be her downfall when he turned against her and assists Dean in killing her with her own knife.

Nearly 11 years after her death, the Winchesters, Castiel, and Jack learn that Ruby was in possession of the Occultum at the time of her death, which they need for their plan to kill God. In order to find the Occultum, Castiel has Ruby woken up in the Empty, where the demon gives him the location in exchange for Castiel promising to try to help her escape and resurrect her.

Characteristics

Ruby had black eyes (irises and sclerae). Her true face is not shown, but Dean Winchester was appalled at the sight of it and described her as "one ugly broad." Anna Milton had a similar visceral reaction, even screaming and retreating at the sight of Ruby. In stark contrast to her hideous true form, Ruby tended to possess beautiful young women to use as her meatsuits. Amongst the demons, Ruby appeared to have a reputation as untrustworthy (even by demon standards), once being referred to as always having been a "lying whore" and having Alastair mention he was told that she was a "cowardly, devious slut." She had a great deal of knowledge about witchcraft and spell-work, having been an extraordinarily talented witch when she was human. Her presence could cause failure in automobiles and electrical lights. Despite this, in general she did not display a great deal of power, appearing to be a lower demon who relied more on her martial arts, witchcraft, and knife than her demonic powers. However, Sister Jo called Ruby a powerful demon, suggesting that she may have been more powerful than she demonstrated.

Powers and abilities

• Electromagnetic interference – Ruby's presence could cause lights to flicker, and she showed the ability to make the Impala lose power and come to a stop.
• Superhuman strength and durability – Ruby typically showed strength exceeding that of normal humans, having bested Sam and Dean Winchester in fights a few times. Ruby was also unaffected by, and could walk on, holy ground, even hiding the Occultum in a church.
• Telekinesis – Ruby was able to move objects with her mind.
• Teleportation – Ruby was able to teleport anywhere she wished.
• Witchcraft – Having been a witch in her human life, Ruby retained all the knowledge she gained. She crafted hex bags for concealment, showed Bobby Singer how to make more bullets for the Colt, and had knowledge of a spell capable of vaporizing demons within a one-mile radius.

Weaknesses

• Angels – Ruby showed fear in the presence of angels.
• Demon-killing knife – The weapon that led to her eventual death at the hands of Dean Winchester.
• Devil's traps – Ruby was vulnerable to devil's traps, though she was able to escape one after being trapped by Dean.
• Exorcism – Like all demons, Ruby could be exorcised from her meatsuit with a simple Latin incantation.
• Iron – Ruby could be injured from simple contact with iron.
• Salt – Ruby was incapable of crossing salt lines.

Episodes

2.22 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part Two

Ruby is later revealed to be among the hundred or more demons seen escaping Hell through the open Devil's Gate in this episode; like the other demons, she appears as demon smoke.

3.01 The Magnificent Seven

Ruby first appears on the scene with an unnamed young blonde as her meatsuit.

Ruby follows Sam and Bobby as they track down the Seven Deadly Sins. Sam senses somebody watching him, but she seemingly vanishes whenever he turns to see who it is. While Bobby, Dean, and Tamara are fighting off Sloth, Lust, and Wrath, the other demons (Pride, Gluttony, and Greed) target Sam. When Pride starts strangling Sam, Ruby steps in and attacks the demons with a knife, killing Gluttony and Greed on her own and killing Pride with Sam's help. Stunned, Sam asks who she is, but she only says that she's "the girl who just saved your ass." She tells Sam that she'll see him around and in the process reveals to Sam that she knows who he is. She walks away and has already disappeared by the time Sam goes to look for her.

3.02 The Kids Are Alright

Ruby drops in on Sam unexpectedly as he researches ways to save Dean's soul. She identifies herself as a fellow hunter and talks with Sam about his past and his destiny; this sets Sam on a path to research more about his mother, Mary Winchester. Disturbed to find out all of his mother's friends are dead, Sam demands to know exactly who Ruby is. Ruby reveals that she is a demon and claims that Sam fascinates her. Ruby tells Sam that she is in the pursuit of knowledge for her own ends and is "on his side." The episode ends with her offering Sam a deal - he works with her to find out more about his destiny and she helps him save Dean's soul from the crossroads demon.

3.03 Bad Day at Black Rock

Sam tells Dean about Ruby turning out to be a demon. Dean is angry that Sam didn't exorcise her as soon as he found out, but Sam defends his sparing her and admits that she offered to help him save Dean from his deal. Dean believes that Ruby is just lying to Sam and using his love for Dean against him, but Sam insists that they can use her to get information on the demons they are battling.

3.04 Sin City

Ruby comes to Bobby while he is working on the Colt. Bobby shoots her with it, but with no effect. Ruby offers to help Bobby make it work, and they succeed. When Bobby brings the Colt to a hunt Dean and Sam are on, Ruby follows and urges Sam to take the gun and take action. Awhile after Sam kills two demons with the Colt, he and Ruby argue - Ruby threatens to take the Colt from Sam and give it to someone else who'll use it; Sam threatens Ruby with the Colt. They come to a truce again when Ruby reminds Sam that if he kills her, she can't help him save Dean's soul. She refers to herself as "the little fallen angel" on Sam's shoulder.

3.05 Bedtime Stories

When Sam threatens the crossroads demon with the Colt, the crossroads demon realizes that Ruby must have fixed it and comments disparagingly on the problems Ruby is causing her.

3.09 Malleus Maleficarum

Ruby warns Sam and Dean away from the town where they are investigating a coven of witches. She tells them a demon is present that will come after Sam. Dean tries to shoot her with the Colt, but Sam intervenes. When Dean is attacked by a force that causes him to bled internally, Ruby saves him with a witch's potion. When Tammi is about to kill Sam and Dean, Ruby appears and at first acts as if she is on Tammi's side, but then tries to kill Tammi with her knife. Tammi reveals Ruby was once a witch who sold her soul to her. After Dean manages to kill Tammi with Ruby's knife, she tells him all demons were originally human, but during their time in hell they lose all trace of their humanity, but she has retained some of hers and wants to help humans. Ruby reveals to Dean that she can't save him from hell, but that she needs his help to prepare Sam to fight the demons after he is gone.

3.12 Jus in Bello

While the boys are under siege from demons while in a police station, Ruby shows up, able to get in through a salt line damaged unwittingly by the deputy. She tells them that demons are from Lilith, Sam's demonic rival from "the west," and tries to convince Sam that the solution is a spell she knows that will "vaporize" all demons within radius - including herself. However the spell requires the sacrifice of a virgin. Nancy volunteers but Dean is vehemently against the plan, instead he convinces Sam that they need to just open the doors and fight off the horde themselves. Exasperated, Ruby leaves. After the boys have escaped, seemingly victorious over the demons, Ruby turns up at their motel room and tells them to turn on the television, where they find out that everyone left in the police station was killed by Lilith.

3.14 Long-Distance Call

When Dean says that they have tried and failed everything to get him out of his deal, Sam says that they haven't tried taking Ruby up on her offer to help them save Dean and suggests that they summon her to hear what she has to say. His hopes are dashed when Dean reveals that Ruby had told him in private that she cannot actually save him. They do not summon her and she does not appear in the episode.

3.16 No Rest for the Wicked

In a last-ditch attempt to save Dean from his deal, Sam summons Ruby against Dean's wishes in order to attain her knife to use to kill Lilith. Ruby admits that she has known all along that Dean's contract is held by Lilith and that she had meant to keep this information from Sam until she was sure that he was desperate enough to listen to her plan; she tells him that she has never actually lied to him. Advising him not to go up against Lilith with her knife alone, Ruby tells Sam that he contains the power necessary to defeat Lilith and in doing so save Dean, and tries to convince him to accept her help so that she can teach him how to use this power in time to save Dean. However, she gets embroiled in a heated argument with Dean, who believes that she is tricking Sam and trying to get him to turn evil, culminating in Dean hitting her. An enraged Ruby then attacks both him and Sam, but during the struggle, is lured into a devil's trap by Dean, who also steals her knife. Ruby becomes increasingly furious as she is left in the devil's trap, and screams that since Dean is apparently too stupid to live for not listening to her, he deserves to go to Hell and that she wishes she could be there to see him be tortured and hear him scream. Ruby eventually escapes the devil's trap through unknown means and tracks the boys to the house where Lilith is tormenting a family. Ruby wants to take her knife and leave with Sam to cut her losses, insisting that it is too late and there is no hope for Dean now, but is forced to join them in fleeing into the house when Lilith's demons appear and give chase. On entering the house, Ruby, Sam, and Dean find the little girl Lilith was possessing is human again. Sam turns to Ruby for help again, but she says it is too late to master his powers in time to save Dean. As the hellhounds come for Dean, the boys barricade themselves in a room. Dean, who is able to see the true face of demons, realizes that the woman formerly possessed by Ruby is now possessed by Lilith, who says that she has sent Ruby "far, far away." After Lilith leaves Ruby's host, the latter falls to the floor beside Dean, lifeless.

4.01 Lazarus Rising

Ruby takes the comatose body of a brain-dead Jane Doe to get closer to Sam.

Dean and Bobby find Ruby with Sam in his motel room but don't recognize her, as she is now possessing a different girl. She pretends not to recognize them either, first acting as though they are delivering a pizza she ordered and then asking if Sam and Dean are "together" after Sam pulls Dean into a hug. She gets dressed and leaves after telling Sam to call her; when he calls her Kathy to keep Dean and Bobby from finding out who she is, she feigns disappointment and "corrects" him, saying that her name is Kristy. The state of Sam and Ruby's dress (or lack thereof) and the bra Dean finds left behind in the room hints that they have started up a sexual relationship while Dean was gone. However, Sam lies to Dean by telling him that Ruby hasn't come back since Dean's death. Ruby turns up again at the diner where Sam discovers a number of dead demons and one blinded survivor. After Sam exorcises the survivor through sheer concentration, Ruby walks up to him and comments that he is getting more adept at using his psychic powers. She tells him that she has no idea what's going on with the other demons nor with Dean's miraculous return. She rejects his suggestion that a demon pulled Dean out of Hell, telling him that no demon—not even Lilith—is powerful enough to pull a soul from Hell and return it to its body so easily; it must be something she has never seen before. Ruby asks if Sam is going to tell Dean about what they've been doing. She is unimpressed with his reply when he says he just needs time, and warns him that Dean will find out soon and he'll be angry if Sam doesn't tell him himself. Although she personally dislikes Dean, she acknowledges how important the brothers' bond is to Sam and suggests that she step back so that she doesn't get in-between them. Sam, however, insists that they keep going, even though he still isn't completely certain of Ruby's trustworthiness.

4.02 Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester

Ruby appears to Sam when he is off on his own to get Dean food. Since the previous episode, she has heard rumors that Dean was saved by an angel. She asks Sam if that's true. He thinks so, and Ruby suddenly decides to leave. Sam stops her and asks what's wrong and she explains that angels will kill her just for being a demon, even though she's helping them in the war against Lilith. She tells Sam that she doesn't know much else about angels; she's never met one and she's never wanted to, seeing as how she's terrified of them. Ruby warns Sam to watch out and then takes her leave.

4.03 In the Beginning

Ruby appears briefly at the beginning of the episode when she drives up to Sam and Dean's motel room at night and lets Sam into her car for a secret rendezvous while Dean is asleep. She asks if he is ready, which he confirms.

4.04 Metamorphosis

Ruby oversees Sam using his demonic powers to exorcise a demon they captured when he refuses to divulge Lilith's location and taunts Sam about the shady things he is doing with Ruby. As Sam is untying the demon's still-living meatsuit, Ruby is pleased to learn that Sam's powers have advanced further so that he can now exorcise demons without headaches. When Dean confronts the couple on having witnessed Sam using his powers, he demands to know who she (Ruby) is, prompting Ruby to greet him in a familiar manner and making Dean realize who she is. Ruby is almost killed by Dean with her own knife, but Sam saves her life when he intervenes and takes her knife from Dean. She takes advantage of Dean's being distracted by seizing him by the neck and slamming him up against a wall, only reluctantly releasing him when Sam demands that she does. Sam then has her leave to help the meatsuit from earlier out to the car and take him to a hospital. Later, Dean is angry enough at Sam for using his powers that he tells him to go fight demons with Ruby instead of with him. When he tells Sam that she has tricked him into using his powers, Sam defends his choice by saying that he has saved more people's lives with them than he and Dean could in a year; Dean isn't so sure that this isn't just what Ruby wants Sam to think. At the end of the episode, having seen what the rugaru Jack Montgomery went through, Sam chooses to stop with "everything" he has been doing with Ruby, seeing that his powers are like playing with fire.

Ruby, fresh out of Hell, temporarily possesses a secretary.

4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer

In flashbacks set after 3.16 No Rest for the Wicked but before 4.01 Lazarus Rising, Ruby, now possessing a secretary, is shown meeting Sam again for the first time since Dean's death. She and another demon overpower him when he walks into his motel room, drunk. She reclaims her knife from Sam and tells him that she had been in a particularly "nasty" part of Hell before Lilith released her on the condition that she find and kill Sam. Ruby goes back on her deal by killing the demon with her instead. Frustrated by Sam's unresponsive behavior, she describes how she has been tortured by an angry Lilith for helping him and all the risks and sacrifices she has made just to get back to him. However, he is unmoved; once she admits she can't save Dean's soul from Hell, he orders her to get out of the woman she is possessing and leave him alone. She depossesses the secretary, but then possesses a coma patient—a Jane Doe whose soul has already left her body and crossed-over—who has just been taken off life-support and returns to Sam in this more acceptable meatsuit.

Ruby tells Sam that she heard Lilith planning something "apocalyptic-big" in Hell and offers to teach him everything she knows—including how to use his powers—so that he can take revenge on Lilith, but only if he promises to be both patient and sober; he readily accepts. He is unsuccessful at first in exorcising demons, and becomes even more despairing. Ruby tells him that she remembers how it feels to lose a loved one and that the pain of losing Dean will get better with time, then seduces him. Soon afterward, Sam finds omens that he believes will lead him to Lilith. Ruby tries to stop him, warning him that Lilith will kill him instead of the other way around and telling him that this isn't what Dean would want, but he threatens to kill her own knife to stop her from interfering anymore. Sam walks into a trap and is attacked by two of Lilith's minions. Luckily, Ruby has followed him there and she rescues him by killing one demon with her knife. She is overpowered by the second demon, who taunts her about the torments she will go through once she's taken back to Hell. Much to Ruby's surprise, Sam saves her by successfully using his powers for the first time in exorcising the second demon.

Ruby slips into Sam and Dean's motel room in the form of a maid to pass on critical information.

In the present, Ruby informs Sam and Dean that a woman called Anna Milton is being pursued by demons. Once they find her, she returns to tell them that they have to go immediately because a powerful demon (Alastair) has followed them, but her arguing with Dean delays them until it is too late to flee. She tells Sam to use his powers to exorcise Alastair right away before he kills them all, and is horrified when they have no effect. While Dean fights Alastair, Ruby takes Anna and the two of them vanish, causing Dean to suspect that she used them to find Anna and then kidnapped her for nefarious purposes. Sam doesn't believe it and Dean asks him why he trusts her, leading Sam to explain how she helped him while Dean was in Hell. After he finishes, Ruby turns up in person, possessing a maid at the motel where Sam and Dean are, to convey the address Anna is as well as a warning that demons are closing in on them. She then leaves and rejoins Anna, possessing the Jane Doe once more. Ruby receives a hesitant thank-you from Dean (for keeping Sam safe while he was dead) with ill grace. Believing that more demons are on their way for Anna, Ruby is annoyed when she realizes that Sam and Dean lost her knife to Alastair, only for her irritation to turn into shock and fear when they are confronted by Castiel and Uriel instead. Uriel shows intense disgust at Ruby's presence, confirming her fear that angels wouldn't care that she is on their side.

4.10 Heaven and Hell

Uriel takes Ruby out of the fight at the beginning of the episode before it even starts. When Anna repels him and Castiel with an angel banishing sigil drawn in her own blood, Dean helps Ruby up and she goes to check on Sam, who has been knocked unconscious by Castiel. Afterward, Ruby can be seen patching up Anna's slit wrists, and the group leaves the cabin to take refuge at Bobby's house, though Ruby is unable to enter the panic room because it is demon-proofed. She gives everyone hex bags that will hide them from both demons and angels. After Anna remembers that she is an angel who had torn out her own grace, Ruby appears to Sam when he is researching where Anna's grace is now. She apologizes to him for getting him and Dean involved in a confrontation that can only end in their deaths, telling him that it's like getting between Mothra and Godzilla. She also admits that she is more scared that Alastair is involved in hunting Anna than that the angels are. Since Sam won't agree to just leave Anna to fend for herself as Ruby suggests, she urges him to use his powers to get rid of Alastair, telling him that he could get exorcise Alastair easily if he hadn't let his abilities get "flabby." However, Sam refuses to "tone up" and says that he's not doing that anymore, which frustrates Ruby. She still joins him, Dean, Sam, and Anna in traveling to Union, Kentucky to retrieve Anna's grace, but when they find out that it is already gone, Ruby is further frustrated, as Anna can't regain her powers and protect them now and they still have to deal with both angels and demons coming after them. Ruby goes to a crossroads, where she burns her own hex bag, letting Alastair find her. Faced with his disdain about her protecting an angel, she tells him that even though she is a traitor to Hell, she never wanted to be in this situation. She offers to make a deal with him: she will trade him Anna if he will let her and the Winchesters go. She is taken prisoner by his minions instead, and he spends the rest of the night torturing her with her own knife. When he finally lets her speak to tell him where Anna is, she tells him that she won't tell him because then he would just kill her; however, she is willing to lead him and his minions directly to Anna if he lets her off the torture rack. When they get there to find Castiel and Uriel already there, Alastair's side gets into a fight with the angels and the still badly-injured Ruby is left to crawl out of the way. After the fight ends with Anna an angel again and both her and Alastair gone, it is revealed that Ruby had gone to Alastair with the Winchesters' approval to bring him and his demons to Anna as part of Sam's plan to bring the demons and angels together to get them to fight each other; it is implied that Ruby had actually unknowingly given Sam the idea for this plan with her "Godzilla vs. Mothra" comment. It had taken Ruby longer than any of them had expected to get Alastair there because of how long Alastair had spent torturing her, and so she almost got the demons there too late for the plan to work.

4.12 Criss Angel Is a Douchebag

Ruby accuses Sam of wasting time - thirty-four of the seals have been broken. Sam says that he doesn't know where the seals are or how to stop them from being broken. Ruby counters that he needs to go after the source of the problem - Lilith. Sam refuses and Ruby leaves. Later, Sam has a conversation with Dean in which Dean says he doesn't see that he and Sam could have a happy future. This leads Sam to rejoining Ruby and the hunt for Lilith.

4.14 Sex and Violence

Ruby does not appear physically, but Dean redials the last number on Sam's phone and her voice is heard first greeting Sam, then asking if he's there when "Sam" doesn't answer her. Dean hangs up without saying anything. Earlier in the episode, Sam was discussing a lack of demonic omens with Ruby on the phone, ending with both promising to keep looking and Sam telling her would be calling her soon.

4.16 On the Head of a Pin

Sam and Dean are heading to meet Ruby, who has some leads on Lilith, when Castiel and Uriel kidnap Dean so he can interrogate Alastair. When Ruby arrives, she is displeased with the prospect of getting involved with angels again, especially because she sees no reason for them to interfere with Dean interrogating Alastair when it seems that Sam is only concerned about Dean's psychological well-being. After he reveals that his real problem with it is that Dean wouldn't be strong enough to get the necessary information from Alastair, however, Ruby goes along with it and casts a spell to locate Dean. She reassures Sam that he can have "it" and that it's okay, kissing him before she cuts her inner-arm open with a knife from her ankle sheath and has him drink her blood—the source of his growing powers and abilities. While Sam is too busy feeding to look at her expression, Ruby smirks to herself, still petting his hair and telling him that it's okay.

4.20 The Rapture

Sam calls Ruby, desperate for more demon blood but she doesn't answer his calls.

4.21 When the Levee Breaks

Ruby meets up with Sam after he escapes from Bobby's panic room. After letting him feed on her, Ruby tells Sam there are only two or three seals left to be broken. She says only "Lucifer's first" can break the final seal - and that is Lilith. This renews Sam's desire to kill Lilith. She says she has a lead on a demon close to Lilith who is nearby. As they prepare to leave, Dean arrives and tries to kill Ruby, but Sam stops him. Ruby leaves as the brothers start to argue.

4.22 Lucifer Rising

Ruby meets her demise when Dean kills her using her own knife.

Following Sam and Dean's fight in the preceding episode, Ruby tries to reassure Sam, but he insists that they concentrate on killing Lilith as quickly as possible. Ruby takes him to the demon possessing Cindy McClellan and helps him capture her. The demon reveals that Lilith will be at St. Mary's Convent at midnight the following day and begs for death, but Ruby stops Sam from killing the other demon, as Ruby says that they need her alive to harvest her blood for Sam to drink (in addition to Ruby's own blood) so that he will become powerful enough to kill Lilith. When the demon relinquishes control to her meatsuit (or at least pretends to) and makes Sam hesitant to go through with it, Ruby pressures Sam to do it anyway, but it is only when Sam listens to a hurtful voicemail left by Dean and altered by Zachariah that he agrees to it at the last minute. With Sam's permission, Ruby bleeds Cindy dry, kills both her and the demon, and supplies Sam with all the blood she drained from Cindy.

Ruby accompanies Sam as he kills Lilith's minions and then confronts Lilith herself. When Dean arrives, Ruby smirks at him and telekinetically locks him out to prevent him from interfering. When Dean starts to get through to Sam with his yells, Ruby screams at Sam to hurry up and kill Lilith, which he eventually does. At first, Ruby is stunned that Sam actually managed to kill Lilith, then grows jubilant because—as she reveals to an appalled Sam—Lilith's death was the last seal and they have just set Lucifer free. She explains that she has secretly been working for Lilith all along to free Lucifer (something only Lilith herself knew), and basks in her success after all that she has gone through in bringing this about, declaring herself the best, most loyal demon. Her exuberance fades when Sam tries to kill her for her treachery with his powers. Sam accuses her of "poisoning" him with demon blood, but she tells him that the choices he has made all year have been all him; she only laid out the possibilities and he chose the "right" way each time. She tries to convince Sam that Lucifer's freedom is a good thing and they will be rewarded. She also starts to tell Sam why he was the only one who could bring this about but is interrupted when Dean finally breaks in and charges towards her. Ruby turns to confront him, taunting him that it's too late, only to get caught off-guard when Sam grabs her from behind and holds her in place as Dean stabs her with her own knife. She chokes in pain as a vengeful Dean twists the knife and carves into her body, prolonging her agony before he finally removes the knife and she dies.

5.01 Sympathy for the Devil

Ruby's corpse is briefly visible on the floor of St. Mary's Convent before Lucifer's light grows too bright to see anything else. Later, Sam reveals that Ruby had taught him how to make hex bags, which he and Dean use to hide themselves from angels and demons. He apologizes to Bobby for not listening to him and Dean about Ruby. When Meg appears in her new meatsuit, Dean initially assumes that she is Ruby returned before Meg encourages him to think further back. At the end of the episode, the rift Ruby caused between the brothers continues when Dean admits that, because of how Sam betrayed him in favor of Ruby, he doesn't feel that he can trust Sam anymore.

5.05 Fallen Idols

Sam reveals that one of the reasons he worked with Ruby was to get away from Dean because it made him feel strong and independent.

5.08 Changing Channels

When Gabriel places Sam and Dean in the Japanese game show, the question the show's host asks Sam is what the name of the demon he chose over his own brother is. Sam doesn't understand the question because he doesn't speak Japanese. After he fails to answer in time, the host reveals that the answer was Ruby.

5.09 The Real Ghostbusters

Sam and Dean are tricked into attending the first fan convention based on a series of books written about their lives. They spend part of their time there watching the author, Chuck Shurley, field questions from fans, one of which is, "Why can't Sam and Dean be telling that Ruby is evil? I mean, she is clearly manipulating Sam into some kind of moral lapse. It's obvious, nein?" Dean looks at Sam to see his reaction and finds that the blunt question about Ruby has instantly soured the mood of both Sam and his fangirl Becky Rosen.

5.11 Sam, Interrupted

At the end of the episode, Sam admits that he used to blame Ruby for making him feel angry at everyone all the time, but now believes that it's something wrong with him rather than something that she did to him.

5.18 Point of No Return

Dean references Ruby when telling Sam that he thinks Sam will give in to Lucifer, saying that it might be demon blood or "some other demon chick" that will corrupt Sam in the end.

5.20 The Devil You Know

Angry that Dean is willing to work with Crowley, Sam brings Ruby up and compares how he had trusted her to how he had trusted Brady. Right before Sam kills him, Brady taunts Sam about how he had always been so easily manipulated by demons like Ruby and suggests that it is because he is just like them, which Sam seems to dismiss.

6.15 The French Mistake

Sam and Dean initially mistake Genevieve Padalecki for Ruby before realizing that she is the actress who played Ruby in Season 4. When Dean first realizes that Sam's actor is married to Genevieve, he is upset with Sam for marrying "fake Ruby" and Sam gets flustered.

7.21 Reading Is Fundamental

When Hester catches Sam and Meg working together, she incorrectly assumes that they are lovers just as Sam and Ruby were; Hester even references Ruby, saying, "A demon whore and a Winchester. Again."

8.06 Southern Comfort

When Dean is under the influence of a spectre, he mentions several of Sam's bad choices over the years, such as working with Ruby and drinking her blood.

8.12 As Time Goes By

After her knife fails to kill Abaddon, Henry tells Sam and Dean that they would need an "ancient demon-killing knife of the Kurds" to kill a demon and asks where they got one when Dean shows him the knife. Dean tells him that it was from a demon, but doesn't elaborate on the Winchester history with Ruby.

8.23 Sacrifice

When Sam is thinking of what sins of his to confess to purify his blood, Dean again brings up Ruby to suggest that Sam should include everything he did in connection to her (including killing Lilith and letting Lucifer out) in his confessions. Sam becomes distraught with his list of mistakes and the reminder of how he keeps letting Dean down.

12.02 Mamma Mia

Toni Bevell demands that Sam reveal the names and locations of every hunter in America, the passcodes to every Men of Letters database in the bunker, and everything about his relationship with Ruby.

Ruby is awakened in the Empty.

15.13 Destiny's Child

While looking for the Occultum, the Winchesters learn from Sister Jo that she gave it to Ruby, leading to a flashback revealing that the two sometimes worked together. Jo claims that she gave the Occultum to Ruby to sell and that the demon hid it in Hell before her own death as she didn't have enough time to sell it before Dean killed her. However, this turns out to be a trap and Jo attempts to have them killed by demons.

Suspicious of the holes in Jo's story, Castiel decides to visit the Empty to ask Ruby herself about the Occultum. The Cosmic Entity reluctantly directs Castiel to a pulsating mass of red energy that transforms into Ruby, taking the form she had when she died, only with a different set of clothing. Though surprised, Ruby reveals the truth about her deal with Jo which was that they would use the Occultum to hide if necessary when the Apocalypse went down and it didn't go their way. Ruby requests that Castiel get her out of the Empty in exchange for her help in finding it and accepts his promise to at least try. Ruby reveals to Castiel where she hid the Occultum in a church, but fails to mention the hellhounds that she left to guard it.

Trivia

• Casting Side for Ruby from June, 2007. This is an early draft of the final scene from 3.04 Sin City between Ruby and Sam which was used to cast the role of Ruby.
• When Genevieve Cortese auditioned for the role of Ruby, the sides suggested it was to be a waitress who would be a love interest for Sam. At Comic Con 2009, Kripke admitted he did this to stir up fans.
• While there is no demon in real-world lore named Ruby, there is a demon with a similar-sounding name in Dante's Inferno: Rubicante, one of thirteen members of the Malebranche who guard the eighth and second-deepest circle of Hell. Ironically in terms of Ruby from Supernatural, this is the circle in which the sins of fraud and witchcraft are punished.
• In a deleted scene from 13.08 The Scorpion and the Frog, Luther Shrike asks Sam where he got Ruby's Knife and Sam claims he got it from his "great-aunt Ruby."

See also

• Annaby
• Bela/Ruby
• Demonology
• Lilith/Ruby
• Meg/Ruby
• New Ruby
• Old Ruby
• Rubella
• Ruby's Knife
• Ruby's Car
• Sam/Ruby

External links

• Did it ever occur to anyone that Ruby is acting the way that she is because it's the best way to get Sam to do what she wants? (Untitled) by static-pixie (January 2009); archive link
• Better the devil you know: illustrated meta on Ruby: Part One by missyjack (June 2009); archive link
• Better the devil you know: illustrated meta on Ruby: Part Two by missyjack (June 2009); archive link
• No Sympathy For A Devil Part I: A Closer Look at Ruby by Naismith for The Winchester Family Business (Dec 17, 2011).
• No Sympathy For A Devil Part II: A Closer Look at Ruby by Naismith for The Winchester Family Business (Dec 17, 2011).