The First Blade

Name	First Blade
Manufacturer	Cain
Powers	Can kill a Knight of Hell.
Location/Owners	In Dean Winchester's possesion.
Episodes	First Appearance: 9.11 First Born Last Appearance: 9.21 King of the Damned

The mark and the blade work together. Without the mark, the blade is useless. It's just an old bone. – Cain, 9.11 First Born

History

Fashioned from the jaw of a donkey, the First Blade is the weapon used by Cain to kill his brother Abel. He did this as Lucifer was trying to corrupt Abel. So that Abel's soul would go to Heaven, Cain agreed to kill him and become a soldier for Lucifer. Lucifer gave Cain a mark from which the blade draws its power.

Cain formed an elite squad of demonic killers known as the Knights of Hell. The blade is the only thing in existence capable of killing them. After Cain left the Knights for love, they kidnapped the woman and killed her. In retribution Cain killed them all, except Abaddon, who escaped. Cain threw the blade into the ocean.

Searching for a way to kill Abaddon, Dean starts tracking down the Blade with the help of Crowley. After finding Cain, he gives Dean the Mark of Cain and the location of the Blade so that he can kill Abaddon and Cain afterwards. The Blade is eventually tracked to Cuthbert Sinclair, a former Man of Letters, but Crowley takes the Blade after Dean uses it to kill Sinclair. As part of a trap engineered by Abaddon, Crowley reveals where he hid the Blade to Sam and Dean and Dean confronts Abaddon with the Blade. Using power from the Mark of Cain, Dean gains the upper hand and kills Abaddon with the First Blade. Though Sam wants to get rid of it until its needed again due to its effect on Dean, he refuses.

Episodes

9.11 First Born

When Cain's wife Colette was kidnapped by the Knights, Cain used it to slaughter them all except for Abaddon, who kidnapped Colette. When Cain tracked Collete down, he killed all the demons guarding her. However he soon realized that Abaddon had taken possession of her, in an attempt to win back Cain's favor. But when Cain rejects Abaddon the demon beings to break Colette's neck. Wishing to kill Abaddon once and for all he drives the First Blade into Colette, but it is too late as Abaddon fled the body causing Cain to accidentally kill his wife with it. With her dying breathe, Colette asks Cain to finally give up killing, so he disposed of the blade in the deepest ocean, as the blade is indestructible, but told Dean and Crowley where to look for it so they could kill Abaddon.

9.16 Blade Runners

Sam, Dean and Crowley track the First Blade to a rogue Man of Letters named Cuthbert Sinclair, now calling himself Magnus. Sinclair holds Dean captive and makes him hold the blade. As he does so, the Mark of Cain begins to glow, and intense feelings come over Dean. Later during an attempt to rescue Dean, Sam is captured. Dean is released by Crowley, and uses the blade to kill Sinclair. The murderous rage he experiences does not dissipate after the act, and Sam needs to talk Dean out of the state.

After leaving Sinclair's lair Crowley steals the blade, knowing that Dean will use it to kill him. He tells the Winchesters he will keep it from them until such time as they track Abaddon down.

Dean uses the First Blade on Abaddon, finally killing her.

9.21 King of the Damned

Crowley leads Sam and Dean to the First Blade hidden in a corpse in a grave as part of a trap set up by Abaddon to kill them. However, Crowley secretly warns Dean of the trap so he is prepared when he arrives at the hotel where Crowley and Abaddon are.

At the hotel, Dean kills a demon with the First Blade and faces off against Abaddon. She pins him to the wall with telekinesis, but Dean fights through it with the power of the Mark of Cain, and fights his way towards her with the Blade. Abaddon overpowers him and throws him against the wall, causing him to drop the Blade. However, Dean uses telekinesis to pull the Blade back into his hand, breaks completely free of Abaddon's power and charges her with the Blade. Dean stabs Abaddon in the stomach with the First Blade, killing her in a massive burst of red light. He then stabs her corpse several times with the Blade.

In the aftermath, Sam, worried about what the Blade is doing to Dean, suggests hiding it, but Dean refuses.

Trivia

• Writer Robbie Thompson revealed on Twitter that he designed the look of the First Blade, saying:

"When I pitched I thought it'd be helpful to draw The 1st Blade. Despite this artwork they went for it."