List of Supernatural and The Winchesters characters

Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester (left) and Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester (right)

Supernatural is an American television drama/thriller series created by writer and producer Eric Kripke, and was initially broadcast by The WB. After its first season, The WB and UPN merged to form The CW, which is the current broadcaster for the show in the United States.

The show features two main characters, Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, brothers who travel across the country in a black 1967 Chevrolet Impala to hunt demons, supernatural creatures, and other paranormal entities, many of them based on folklore, myths, and American urban legends. In addition, Supernatural chronicles the relationship between the brothers and their father, John Winchester, as they seek to avenge and understand the murder of their mother at the hands of the demon, Azazel.

Supernatural has featured many other recurring guests that take part in story arcs that span a portion of a season. Occasionally, the recurring guest storylines will span multiple seasons. After the death of their father in the second season, the hunter Bobby Singer becomes a father figure to Sam and Dean. As the series progresses, recurring guests appear at various times to help move the overall storyline of the show such as the demon Ruby, or the angel Castiel. The series also features recurring appearances from other demons, angels, and hunters.

Main characters

Sam Winchester

Main article: Sam Winchester

Dean Winchester

Main article: Dean Winchester

Hunters

Hunters are men and women who spend their lives hunting supernatural creatures, generally to kill them. Most appear to have had some kind of negative encounter with the supernatural, which prompts them to become hunters.

Bobby Singer

Main article: Bobby Singer

John Winchester

Main article: John Winchester (Supernatural)

Ellen Harvelle

Main article: Ellen Harvelle

Joanna Beth "Jo" Harvelle

Main article: Jo Harvelle

Mary Winchester

Mary Winchester, regularly portrayed by Samantha Smith but depicted by Amy Gumenick in the time-travel episode "In the Beginning," is the wife of John Winchester and mother of Dean and Sam. Her parents, Samuel and Deanna Campbell, were hunters, and she was raised into a life of hunting. Dean, who is sent back in time by the angel Castiel, unknowingly brings Mary to Azazel's attention through his actions. Azazel kills her parents and then-boyfriend John Winchester, after which he bargains with Mary for John's life, offering to resurrect John if she allows him to enter her house ten years later. Not knowing Azazel's intentions, she agrees. Eventually marrying John and leaving the life of a hunter, she gives birth to Dean and Sam.

In the pilot episode, it is revealed that, six months after Sam's birth, Mary was awakened by sounds of him crying in his crib. She discovers Azazel there - later revealed to have been feeding Sam his demonic blood - and confronted him, but was pinned to the ceiling by him and slashed across her abdomen, eventually bursting into flames. According to series creator Eric Kripke, her relation to Azazel was supposed to be addressed in the third season, but was pushed back to the fourth season due to the writer's strike.

In the episode "Home", her sons return to their childhood home in Lawrence, Kansas to investigate a recurring dream Sam experiences. Mary's spirit seems to haunt the house, and a poltergeist is in the house with her. After the poltergeist pins Sam to the wall, Mary appears before Sam as a fiery figure and tells him that she is sorry. Her spirit then fights with and neutralizes the poltergeist, forcing both spirits out of the home.

In "The Kids are Alright", it is revealed that all of Mary's friends and acquaintances have been killed off over the years since her death.

Season 1 Appearances

"Pilot", "Home"

Season 2 Appearances

"What Is and What Should Never Be" (alternate reality), "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1" (flashback)

Season 4 Appearances

"In the Beginning", "When the Levee Breaks" (as a hallucination)

Gordon Walker

Gordon Walker, portrayed by Sterling K. Brown, is a vampire hunter whose methods often put him at odds with the Winchester brothers. When he was 18 years old, a vampire broke into his house and abducted his sister. Gordon ran away from home, learned how to fight, hunt, and kill vampires, and tracked down the vampire that had taken his sister. He killed it, and he also killed his sister, who had been turned, marking the beginning of his hatred for the undead. At some point during his career as a hunter, Gordon met John Winchester and Ellen Harvelle.

He is introduced in the episode "Bloodlust", meeting up with Dean and Sam Winchester while hunting a particular nest of vampires. At first Dean bonds with Gordon, but Gordon proves himself to be bloodthirsty and sadistic as he tortures one of the vampires he has captured, even though he knows that these particular vampires feed off cattle blood and do not kill humans. Dean ends up beating Gordon in a fight, leaving him tied to a chair while the vampires escape.

Later, while performing an exorcism, Gordon learns about the coming demonic war, Azazel's special children, and Sam's powers. In "Hunted", he kills Scott Carey, and then tracks Sam down and tries to kill him. However, Dean intervenes. After a scuffle, Gordon knocks Dean out, ties him up, and uses him as bait to catch Sam in his booby trap: grenades set with trip wires. Sam manages to evade the trap and knocks Gordon out. As the brothers leave the damaged house, Gordon regains consciousness and chases them, firing two pistols in their direction. The police arrive to subdue Gordon, and then find the cache of weapons in his car.

In "Bad Day at Black Rock," Gordon is shown to be in prison, where he convinces a visiting fellow hunter to go after Sam Winchester. Gordon eventually escapes from prison, and once again pursues the Winchester brothers in "Fresh Blood." However, he is captured and subsequently turned by a vampire. Gordon, however, turns on his sire, kills two other vampires, and then sets up a trap for the Winchester brothers, still convinced that it is his duty as a hunter to rid the world of Sam Winchester. A fight ensues in a warehouse where Gordon holds a girl he has kidnapped—and turned—to use as bait, ending with Sam decapitating him with a garotte improvised out of barbed wire.

According to series creator Eric Kripke, Gordon was originally going to learn about the hunter that Sam killed while possessed and use it to convince more hunters to turn against Sam. This was intended to be a story arc stretching over multiple episodes. However, Sterling K. Brown was contracted for the Lifetime Television series Army Wives, and Lifetime would only allow him to return to Supernatural for two more episodes.

Season 2 Appearances

"Bloodlust", "Hunted"

Season 3 Appearances

"Bad Day at Black Rock", "Fresh Blood"

Ash

Ash, portrayed by Chad Lindberg, is a mullet-wearing hunter that works and lives at the Roadhouse Saloon with Jo and Ellen Harvelle. He attended MIT, but was kicked out for "fighting". He owns a homemade laptop, which he uses to track the paranormal, particularly Azazel, with the information that John Winchester and his sons, Sam and Dean, have gathered. In the episode "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1", he calls Dean to tell him he has discovered something important, but by the time Dean arrives at the Roadhouse to talk, the Roadhouse has been burned to the ground, and Dean finds the corpse of someone wearing the same distinctive watch as Ash.

Series creator Eric Kripke stated that Ash's apparent death "had to do with how much I hated the actual Roadhouse itself rather than anyone in it." As for the character's return, Kripke replied, "Ash is a possibility."

Season 2 Appearances

"Everybody Loves a Clown", "Simon Said", "Hunted", "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1"

Angels

The following characters are angels of God, making them extremely powerful beings. Merely perceiving their form - even psychically - typically results in blindness, as the appearance of their natural "visage" is so overwhelming that it is capable of burning an individual's eyes from their sockets, although certain "special people" are able to withstand their true appearances and voices. Angels are apparently immortal, and are invulnerable to mortal harm, though they can be harmed, but can only be killed by other angels. As well, special symbols written in blood are capable of temporarily sending an angel away, and there is at least one incantation that can banish an angel back to Heaven. Because their true appearances can't be safely perceived by humans, they often take on humans as vessels, though only with the hosts' consent. Angels require a particular vessel to reach their full potential, people being "chosen" to be their hosts. With arch angels, the vessel suffers debilitating consequences for holding such a powerful being, leaving them brain dead or worse.

While in possession of human hosts, angels have shown a wide range of powers. In addition to telekinesis, they possess the ability to kill or exorcise most demons simply by touching their palm to the forehead of the hosts, and can cause instant unconsciousness in humans through a similar action. In addition to being able to seemingly vanish and materialize from thin air, they can also bend time, allowing for the teleportation of themselves and others through time; however, although they can change events of time, said changed events will have the same results as the original timeline, as they can't change destiny. More powerful angels have been shown to even be able to manipulate reality.

Angels can become human, but doing so is the most serious crime of Heaven. By removing his or her Grace, which is a very painful process, the angel falls to Earth from space and is then born to human parents. All abilities and memories of his or her angelic life are suppressed, although small amounts can be recalled instinctively in times of need, with full memory recovery requiring methods such as hypnosis. When the Grace is first removed, it also falls to Earth. In Anna Milton's case, her Grace caused the formation of a giant oak tree. If the fallen angel retrieves his or her Grace, he or she will be restored to angelic form.

Creator Eric Kripke originally did not want angels to be featured in the series, believing that God worked through hunters rather than angels. However, with so many demonic villains, he and the writers changed their minds when they realized that the show needed angels to create a "cosmic battle". As Kripke put it, "We had the empire, but we didn't really have the rebellion." They had always wanted to have a storyline with a few central characters but having massive battles in the background, comparable to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, and the addition of angels allowed for this. Kripke has found that it has opened up many new storylines.

Most angels are portrayed as emotionless, authoritarian beings with a complete disdain for humanity. However, they consider themselves family—each being brothers and sisters—and refer to God as their father. The angels do not act with God's permission, as He is said to have disappeared and left the angels to protect humanity in his place.

Castiel

Main article: Castiel (Supernatural)

Lucifer

Lucifer, portrayed by Mark Pellegrino and Jared Padalecki (in the episode "The End"), is the first fallen angel, recently freed from his imprisonment with the breaking of the last seal. In the episode Sin City, he was described as the god of the demons, the one who gave them their form and purpose. Azazel reinforced this by referring to him as "my Father" while possessing a priest before slaughtering a convent of nuns. However, in "Abandon All Hope...", it is shown that he sees demons only as his servants and will destroy them once he has eliminated humanity.

He does not like how humans have changed the planet from its original state, and hopes to purify it. In the episode "The End" he states that his fall was the result of refusing God's decree to love humans more then God. As a result God had Michael cast him into hell. Ruby also reveals in "When the Levee Breaks" that as a punishment to God, he turned Lilith into the first demon. Creator Eric Kripke has jokingly compared him to a "raging psychotic" version of environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr., with "unlimited power".

Due to his angelic nature, Lucifer needs of a human vessel in order to take a physical form and interact directly with the world. Lucifer seeks out a man named Nick, whose wife and baby had recently been murdered. Tormenting Nick about the tragedy, he casts illusions such as a baby crying and blood pouring from the crib, eventually appearing to Nick in the form of his late wife Sarah. Openly admitting his identity to Nick, he tries to gain sympathy by telling Nick that he was punished for loving God too much. He then convinces Nick to be his vessel by promising to get vengeance against God for allowing his family to be murdered. However, Lucifer later reveals to Sam that he is the true intended vessel.

An homage to John Milton's Paradise Lost, Lucifer will be portrayed as "gentle, almost sympathetic". Kripke reasoned, "He was essentially betrayed, so in some ways he can be viewed sympathetically ... if we can make the angels dicks, Lucifer can be sympathetic." Kripke further characterized him as a "Devil who has doubt" and "a lot of affection for God and the angels", and who "speaks really tenderly and gently and...doesn't lie".

Pellegrino was the second choice to play the angel Castiel, losing the role to Misha Collins, which Kripke found as "nearly poetic".

Season 5 Appearances

"Sympathy for the Devil", "Free to be You and Me", "The End", "Abandon All Hope..."

Gabriel

Gabriel, also referred to as "the trickster", is an archangel portrayed by Richard Speight, Jr. Having grown tired of watching his brothers fight each other in Heaven, he fled to Earth thousands of years prior to the series, assuming the role of a Pagan trickster. For his first appearance in the second season episode "Tall Tales", the writers decided not to put their own spin on trickster lore—as is usually done with other villains—keeping the "deadly sense of humor" and decision to go after the "high and mighty to bring them down a notch", with Gabriel causing several violent urban legends to come to life on a college campus and punish those residing there. Sam and Dean Winchester investigate and eventually figure out his identity, though the trickster is waiting for them and offers a peaceful resolution so long as they let him leave to terrorize another town. The Winchesters refuse and attack him with the help of fellow hunter Bobby Singer, and the trickster fakes his own death.

He later reappears in "Mystery Spot", trapping Sam in a seemingly infinite time loop, where Dean continually dies in increasingly strange ways. After a countless number of repeats, Sam eventually realizes that a trickster must be at work, and manages to locate the culprit. He threatens their tormentor with a blood covered stake, causing the trickster to reveal himself and agree to break the loop. However, when Sam then considers killing him anyways, the trickster restarts the loop. Dean once again dies, but this time there is no loop to revive him. Throughout the next several months, Sam becomes a far colder and more calculated person as he attempts to track down the trickster, killing whatever threat he can along the way. Eventually, it is the trickster who calls the younger Winchester to him, where he tries to drive in a point: that the two brothers continually sacrificing themselves for one another would bring no good, and when people die, they just have to learn to accept it and live with it. Nonetheless, Sam pleads with him to turn back time so that he can save Dean. Reluctantly, the trickster agrees, lamenting that the whole situation had become boring months ago for him anyway.

In the episode "Changing Channels", Dean and Sam become trapped in a TV world, where they a part of variations of real TV shows. This time, the brothers find out soon it's the Trickster who's behind it, but they have difficulties tracking him and killing him. Eventually, Dean, with help of Castiel, realizes the Trickster is in fact a much more powerful creature than they thought, and they trap him in a burning circle of holy oil. The Trickster applauds them, and tells them the reason he trapped them is because he wanted both of them to say yes to becoming Michael and Lucifer's vessel so that the Apocalypse can finally end. It is then that Dean confronts the trickster with his true identity, and he admits his origins. Gabriel tells them they were always meant to fight each other because the lives of the brothers mirrors the lives of Michael and Lucifer. Dean and Sam still refuse, but before they leave, Dean frees Gabriel from his trap and accuses him of giving up because he's simply too afraid to stand up to his own family. Gabriel is left behind, wondering what to do next.

Season 2 Appearances

"Tall Tales"

Season 3 Appearances

"Mystery Spot"

Season 5 Appearances

"Changing Channels"

Zachariah

Zachariah, portrayed by Kurt Fuller, is Castiel's superior. He is a bit wary of humans, describing them as "smelly things". Despite this he has proven himself to know a great more about humanity than his inferiors, and even acts much more human, with a sharp wit and cheerful exterior.

After Dean tells Castiel that the task set to him is too much, Zachariah teaches Dean a lesson by giving him and his brother new, separate lives. Despite this, the brothers find one another and team up to deal with a haunting. This experience proves to Dean that he is a hunter in his heart. Realizing that the chance to make a difference is something most people never get, Dean embraces his role.

In "The Monster at the End of the Book", Zachariah contacts Chuck after the latter has an unknown but dark prophecy concerning the Winchesters, warning Chuck against alerting the brothers. When Lilith nears breaking the final seal in "Lucifer Rising", Zachariah and Castiel imprison Dean in an idyllic room in order to keep him safe. After repeated questioning by Dean, Zachariah admits that Heaven is allowing the demons to break the seals. Confident in their ability to defeat the forces of Hell once Lucifer is unleashed, they see this as a means of finally attaining paradise.

When Lucifer is freed, Zachariah attempts to convince Dean to become the vessel of the archangel Michael, going as far as torturing Sam and Dean, threatening their lives. However, Zachariah is shocked when Castiel, who had been killed by the archangel Raphael, appears. To Zachariah's horror, Castiel hints at his belief that God has been interfering. Castiel then orders him away, and Zachariah acquiesces. In "The End", he reappears to Dean and drags him to a dark future, where Sam has become Lucifer's vessel five years into the Apocalypse. Zachariah tries to convince Dean to take his role as Michael's vessel as the future Dean had refused in the past, but this backfires; Dean instead joins up with Sam again in order not to let his brother lose his way.

Season 4 Appearances

"It's a Terrible Life", "The Monster At the End of This Book", "Lucifer Rising"

Season 5 Appearances

"Sympathy for the Devil", "The End"

Anna Milton

Anna Milton, portrayed by Julie McNiven, is a fallen angel who was reborn on Earth. She gained the ability to hear the conversations of angels after Dean's resurrection, and because of the voices, she was involuntarily committed to a mental institution with the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Demons have a great interest in her because of this, so Ruby alerts Sam and Dean Winchester, who find and rescue her. However, Castiel and Uriel appear and explain that they have to kill her. The brothers try unsuccessfully to hold them off, but Anna creates a powerful magic spell that sends the angels "far away". Anna claims to have no knowledge of how she knew how to do it. Under hypnosis administered by Pamela Barnes, Anna remembers that she is a fallen angel, having become human because her existence as an angel was dismal due to a lack of emotions and free will. She implies that when she was an angel, she was somewhat the "boss" of Castiel and Uriel. After falling, she was born to human parents, with her angelic memories suppressed. Anna attempts, with the Winchesters and Ruby, to recover her Grace so that she will be safe from both sides. Unfortunately, her Grace had already been taken by Uriel. Later, she forgives Dean for his actions in Hell, and then they share an intimate night in the Impala. In the morning, Dean reveals to the angels their location, and Ruby does the same for the demons, as they hope to pit the two groups against each other. In the confusion of the fight between the angels and the demons, Anna is able to grab back her Grace from Uriel. It flows into her body, emitting a bright light, and she vanishes from the room. She makes a return in "On the Head of a Pin" with her human form, having "called in favors" to have her human body restored in order to use it as a host. She tries to convince Castiel that forcing Dean to torture Alastair is wrong, but he blows her off as he states it is "God's will". She shows up again after he calls to her for advice as he is having doubts for the first time, but then she vanishes, telling Castiel that he has to learn to think for himself. She shows up one more time to save him from Uriel, after learning of his betrayal, killing him by stabbing him through the neck. She informs the Winchesters that Castiel was recalled to heaven for discipline. Later when Castiel frees Sam from the Demon Panic Room, she confronts him on his actions. Castiel then has two angels take her away.

Season 4 Appearances

"I Know What You Did Last Summer", "Heaven and Hell", "On the Head of a Pin", "The Rapture", "When the Levee Breaks"

Uriel

Uriel, portrayed by Robert Wisdom, is a coworker of Castiel. He is termed a "specialist" by Castiel, and is brought in to prevent one of the 66 seals from being broken. He is a much more aggressive angel than Castiel, and they often argue about their orders; despite this the two are shown to be close. Uriel seemingly has no patience with humans, placing no great value on human lives, and describing humans with disgust as "mud monkeys". At one point, he urges Castiel to kill an entire town in order to prevent the seals from being broken. He refers to the demon Ruby as a "stain". Uriel frequently clashes with Dean and Sam, and threatens to kill them on several occasions.

He goes with Castiel to kill Anna Milton, a fallen angel who used to be their angelic superior. It is revealed that he has Anna's Grace, which would restore her to her angelic form. Much to his chagrin, she manages to get it back from him and returns to her true form before he can follow through with his mission. He is later revealed to be angry that God places humans above angels; he supports Lucifer, and has been killing angels who refused to join him in freeing Lucifer. When Castiel refuses to join him, the two battle, but Anna eventually saves Castiel by killing Uriel.

Season 4 Appearances

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester", "I Know What You Did Last Summer", "Heaven and Hell", "On the Head of a Pin"

Demons

Main article: Demon (Supernatural)

As demons, the following characters come in varying forms due to their ability to enter the bodies of humans, either living or dead, and gain full control.

Azazel

Main article: Azazel (Supernatural)

Ruby

Main article: Ruby (Supernatural)

Lilith

Lilith is introduced in the final moments of "Jus in Bello", appearing as a little girl portrayed by Rachel Pattee, searching for the Winchesters. She then proceeds to torture everyone in the station for 45 minutes, eventually destroying the station in a massive explosion. After it is later revealed by Bela Talbot that Lilith holds Dean's contract, Sam and Dean track her down in New Harmony, Indiana, where she is on "shore leave". For fun, she has taken over the body of another little girl, portrayed by Sierra McCormick, and is holding the girl's family hostage, forcing them to act as if she is their daughter. After stealing Ruby's demon-killing knife, Sam and Dean head there and manage to get into the house. However, Lilith secretly expels Ruby, who followed Sam and Dean there, and takes over her host. Dean figures out the truth too late, and Lilith holds Sam at bay as a hellhound kills Dean. Lilith then tries to kill Sam, but finds that she is powerless against him. As Sam goes to kill her with Ruby's knife, Lilith flees from the host and escapes.

It is later revealed to Dean by the angel Castiel that Lilith is trying to release Lucifer. To break one of the 66 seals to free him, she casts a powerful spell in "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester" to cause the Rising of the Witnesses, souls of those who had died violent deaths as a result of the supernatural, who then attack the hunters who couldn't save them. Lilith returns in "The Monster at the End Of This Book", possessing a dental hygienist's body portrayed by Katherine Boecher. Having learned that she is destined to die in the apocalypse, she tries to persuade Sam into making a deal with her to stop breaking the seals and to allow things to go back to the way they were before. Sam feigns agreement and then tries to kill her with Ruby's knife, but he fails. Dean and the prophet Chuck show up just in time, and, after being warned that the archangel protecting Chuck is coming to destroy her, Lilith flees from the body. In "Lucifer Rising", Castiel reveals to Dean that killing Lilith is the final seal. Dean attempts to stop Sam, who believes that killing Lilith will prevent Lucifer's release, but Ruby and Lilith herself goad Sam into going through with it. After her death, blood pouring from Lilith's mouth forms the gateway for Lucifer.

According to series creator Eric Kripke, Lilith is "a combination of all myths concerning Lilith." Noting that the mythological Lilith's two main roles appear to be "destroyer of children and seducer of men," Kripke also stated that the show would explore those two roles, with the former already being displayed in the character's choice of hosts. In addition, Kripke stated that Lilith is higher in the demonic hierarchy than Azazel, and that "you don’t get much higher than her until you start digging into Lucifer territory." This is addressed in the fourth season episode "When the Levee Breaks", where it is revealed by Ruby that Lilith is "Lucifer's First", the first human transformed into a demon by Lucifer as a punishment to God, who apparently holds humans in a higher regard than his angels.

Season 3 Appearances

"Jus In Bello", "No Rest For The Wicked"

Season 4 Appearances

"Yellow Fever" (as a hallucination), "The Monster at the End of This Book", "Lucifer Rising"

Meg Masters demon

See also: Meg Masters

The demon possessing Meg Masters, portrayed by Nicki Aycox, first appears in "Scarecrow", briefly meeting Sam while hitchhiking. The two meet again at a bus station, and Meg claims to be heading for California to get away from her family. She encourages Sam to be angry at Dean. After Sam leaves to help Dean, Meg kills a man in a van and "makes a call" to her father by slitting the man’s throat and draining his blood into a silver bowl.

Returning in the episode "Shadow," the demon meets Sam once again—this time in a bar in Chicago, where she quickly sows dissent between Sam and Dean. They decide to meet up later. However, Sam follows her to a warehouse where he finds her talking to something in a mystical fashion, and he tells Dean what he saw. They arrive at the conclusion that she was the one who summoned the Daeva (the evil of that episode) and that she might have been talking with Azazel. Meg captures the brothers and reveals that they have fallen for a trap designed to ensnare their father. However, the brothers manage to break free and destroy Meg's altar, thereby freeing the Daevas, which throw Meg out of a seven-story window to her apparent death. To the Winchesters' surprise, she quickly recovers and uses an amulet to regain control of the Daevas, which she sends after them. However, they manage to escape the attack.

She later resurfaces once again at a church, being immune to hallowed ground since she is beyond the "minor leagues," and kills long-time Winchester ally Pastor Jim Murphy. She later calls John, and, while on the phone, kills a friend of his. She threatens to kill more of his friends if he does not deliver the Colt to her. John agrees to the deal, but gives her and her demonic brother, Tom, a fake gun. Tom shoots Meg, which reveals that the gun is a fake, so they take John hostage. Both furious and anxious to obtain the Colt, she goes to Bobby Singer's auto shop, where she confronts Dean, Sam, and Bobby. After breaking in, however, she unknowingly walks into a Key of Solomon, a magical circle that traps any demon who enters. They perform an exorcism on her, and she is sent to Hell.

However, the demon manages to escape Hell, and in "Born Under a Bad Sign" takes possession of Sam's body. Not caring any longer about the grand war, she is looking for revenge for the pain and suffering she was put through in Hell after Dean and Sam sent her there. While possessing Sam, she makes Dean think that Sam has become evil, trying to goad Dean into killing Sam. She taunts Jo about her feelings for Dean, sows dissent between Jo and the Winchesters, tries to kill Bobby, and successfully kills at least one other hunter. However, the demon is once again trapped inside the Key of Solomon symbol at Bobby's house, and Bobby and Dean attempt another exorcism. However, having "picked up a few tricks" in Hell, she has locked herself inside Sam's body with a "binding mark" carved into Sam's arm. She begins chanting a spell during the exorcism, showing no signs of the pain she suffered before. The ground shakes violently, and the Key of Solomon is broken. The demon attacks Dean, but Bobby burns off the binding mark, expelling her from Sam's body. She escapes through the fireplace.

After the demon's disappearance, creator Eric Kripke repeatedly asked the writers what she was up to. Considering her "a really formidable adversary" for the Winchesters, Kripke eventually gave up on the other writers and wrote her into the fifth season premiere, "Sympathy for the Devil". In this appearance, she is played by Rachel Miner. She has one of her minions possess Bobby, who works with the brothers to try to find the sword that the archangel Michael used to banish Lucifer to Hell. After Dean believes that he has discovered the sword's location, she and her minions attack him. Sam, however, arrives and saves Dean, forcing the demon to flee from her host.

Season 1 Appearances

"Scarecrow," "Shadow," "Salvation," "Devil's Trap"

Season 2 Appearances

"Born Under a Bad Sign"

Season 5 Appearances

"Sympathy for the Devil", "Abandon All Hope..."

Alastair

Alastair, portrayed by Mark Rolston in the first two appearances and by Christopher Heyerdahl in the latter three, is the white-eyed head torturer of souls that come into Hell; he is described by Ruby as "Picasso with a razor". When Dean was sent to Hell, he was tortured by Alastair every day. Alastair would then offer to take Dean off the torture rack in exchange for Dean agreeing to torture new souls. Dean refused for about three months (equivalent to thirty years in Hell), but gave in for the last month.

Alastair eventually leaves Hell, and attempts to capture Anna Milton, a fallen angel who can hear the conversations of other angels. Sam and Dean interfere, and, although Alastair is shown to be superior to Sam's abilities and highly resistant to Ruby's demon-killing knife, the brothers escape with Anna. Alastair is later tricked into capturing Ruby, whom he then tortures to get her to "reveal" where Anna is. When he goes to collect her, he is stopped by Castiel and Uriel. Alastair and his demon minions face off against the angels, and he proves to be more powerful. However, Alastair vanishes in the flash generated by Anna being restored to her angelic true form. However, he returns in "Death Takes a Holiday" in a new body, kidnapping Reapers in order to break another seal. He is stopped by Sam and Dean, and is eventually captured by Castiel. Tortured for information by Dean on Castiel's orders in "On The Head Of A Pin", he refuses to break. Escaping from the Devil's Trap with assistance from Uriel, he attempts to kill Dean and send Castiel back to heaven, but Sam stops him. Using his abilities, he tortures Alastair for the information about the angel slayings, learning that the demon has no knowledge about whom is doing it, and eventually kills Alastair. In "When the Levee Breaks," Alistair appears to Sam as a hallucination caused by withdrawal from demon blood.

Season 4 Appearances

"I Know What You Did Last Summer", "Heaven and Hell", "Death Takes a Holiday", "On The Head Of A Pin", "When the Levee Breaks" (as a hallucination)

Crossroads Demon

While multiple Crossroads Demons make appearances throughout the series, the one seen most often first appears to Dean when he tries to save a condemned man's life in "Crossroad Blues". It takes on the form of a beautiful young woman, portrayed by Jeannette Sousa, and taunts him with remarks about his father's last moments, and how he too made a deal with a demon. Dean manages to trick the demon into walking into a Devil's Trap, and offers to trade the demon its freedom if it lets the man go. When the demon hesitates, Dean begins an exorcism ritual, causing the demon to yield and break the contract. It kisses Dean to seal the deal, and departs from the woman's body. The demon returns again in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2", now in possession of a woman portrayed by Ona Grauer, having been summoned by Dean to resurrect Sam. It refuses at first, but finally bargains Dean down to restoring Sam's life in exchange for collecting Dean's soul in one year. It also adds stipulations, telling Dean that if he tries to do anything to get out of it, the deal will be off and Sam will die instantly. It makes another appearance in "Bedtime Stories", now portrayed by Sandra McCoy. Sam calls upon it and then threatens it with the Colt, demanding that it break its deal with Dean in exchange for its life. It claims it doesn't hold the contract, being just an employee with a boss - later revealed to be Lilith - to answer to. Out of frustration, Sam shoots and kills the demon.

Season 2 Appearances

"Crossroad Blues", "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2"

Season 3 Appearances

"Bedtime Stories", "Time Is On My Side" (flashback)

Azazel's special children

The following characters were chosen by the demon Azazel for a purpose he has never fully revealed. It is referenced near the end of the first and second season that there are many generations of special children, but that Azazel was focused on Sam's generation. At times, he has said it was to create an army of soldiers, and at another time, he said he only needed one soldier. There is evidence that he has created cohorts of these children at least three separate times. Needing permission from their parents to transform them, he made demonic deals with the parents in exchange for allowing him to enter their house (but never telling them the reason why) ten years later. Once the ten years were up, Azazel would feed his blood to the infants on the six-month anniversary of their birth, granting (or possibly just activating) supernatural abilities beginning to them at the age of 23. Those still alive years later were all brought to an abandoned town by Azazel, who ordered that they fight to the death in order to determine who would be the leader of his army. Originally it was said that the destiny of the special children would be to lead the demon army from the Devil's gate but it was revealed that it was just another part of Azazel's plan to release Lilith. In the last episode of the fourth season it was revealed that Azazel wanted to find a member of the generation who would be powerful enough to kill Lillith, the final seal keeping Lucifer imprisoned, therefore releasing him.

Originally the creators were going to keep the psychic children around longer, into season three, but they decided that they weren't as interesting as demons and monsters and decided to kill the characters.

Jake Talley

US Army member Jake Talley (Aldis Hodge) is plucked by Azazel from Afghanistan and placed in Cold Oak to compete with Azazel's other special children in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1". After Ava Wilson's true intentions are revealed, he kills her with his superhuman strength to protect Sam, though he later kills Sam to save himself. As the only surviving contestant, he is then congratulated by Azazel in "Part 2". The demon orders him to take the Colt to a cemetery that is inside a gigantic devil's trap—which prevents a demon from entering—in order to open the gate to Hell hidden within. Jake refuses at first, though he reluctantly gives in when Azazel threatens to kill his family.

Jake's personality then begins to become much darker as he gives in to his demonic side. Like Ava, this allows him to access other demonic abilities, and he enjoys using them against others. When he is later confronted by Sam, Dean, Bobby, and Ellen, he uses mind control to force Ellen to put a gun to her head and threatens to kill her if the others don't drop their weapons. They do so, allowing Jake to unlock the gate. However, after he completes the mission, he is shot dead by Sam.

Season 2 Appearances

"All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1", "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2"

Andrew Gallagher

Andrew "Andy" Gallagher, portrayed by Gabriel Tigerman, was given up for adoption as a baby, and thus never learned of the existence of a fraternal twin brother, Ansem Weems. His adoptive mother died in a house fire when he was six months old, just as Sam Winchester's mother did. When he turned 23, he developed the ability to control people by suggestion, using it to attain anything that he desired. However, he used it only for minor desires, never anything sinister. He is at first only able to use this ability vocally, but later is able to do so mentally. However, his ability is useless against others of Azazel's special children.

In "Simon Said", Sam and Dean learn of Andy after Sam has a vision of a doctor receiving a phone call and then killing a man, quickly followed by suicide. They have Ash cross-reference the town with house fires in 1983, leading them to Andy. As Sam tries to stop his vision from coming true, Dean goes to confront Andy, but instead, at Andy's request, gives him the Impala. Sam and Dean later track him down, but Andy forces Dean to tell him everything. Sam tells Andy that he believes they are connected, then quickly has another vision, this time of a woman getting a phone call and then killing herself by dousing her body in gasoline and lighting herself on fire. When it turns out that the events depicted in the vision occurred while they were talking with Andy, the brothers realize that Andy is innocent. They investigate the death, and learn that the woman is Andy's biological mother and that the dead doctor was her obstetrician. This leads them to the discovery of the existence of Ansem Weems (Andy's non-identical twin brother), who has been working at the same diner that Andy works at, and has been going by the name Webber. Andy's wouldbe girlfriend Tracy is a manager at the restaurant, and Sam has a vision of her jumping off of a dam. They try to stop Ansem from forcing her to commit suicide, and when Ansem orders Dean to kill himself, Andy shoots and kills Ansem first.

Andy later returns in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1", having been summoned to Cold Oak by Azazel. By this point, his powers have grown so that he is able to project images into people's heads, and he manages to help Dean find their location. However, when Sam later has him and Ava seal themselves up in a house in the town, Ava kills him.

Season 2 Appearances

"Simon Said", "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1"

Scott Carey

Played by Richard DeKlerk, Scott Carey appears in the Season 2 episode "Hunted." He is introduced during a session with a psychiatrist, explaining how he has been dreaming of a demon who has plans for him. He also speaks of his ability to electrocute anything that he makes physical contact with. He is later stabbed to death by Gordon Walker, who views him and others like him as monsters.

Lily

Lily, portrayed by Jessica Harmon, has a very dangerous and uncontrollable ability, which she very much hates. When she comes into physical contact with another being, she triggers a heart attack. This led to the accidental death of her girlfriend. Appearing in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1", Lily is summoned to Cold Oak by Azazel to battle to the death with others like herself. However, she refuses to participate and tries to leave. Ava Wilson responds by secretly summoning a demon and sending it after her. Lily is later found dead, hanging from a windmill.

The character was originally two roles: a girl named Alex who could kill with a touch, and Lily, a girl with psychic powers. The episode's creators decided there were too many characters, and combined the two into one. The character's motivation was that she was Ally Sheedy from The Breakfast Club.

Max Miller

Max Miller, portrayed by Brendan Fletcher, had a very rough childhood. Like with Sam and Dean, his mother died in a nursery fire, pinned to the ceiling, although his father tells everyone that she died in a car accident. His father blamed him for his mother's death, and, as he grew up, Max was frequently beaten by his father and uncle, turning him into a very troubled youth. He eventually gained the ability of telekinesis, and, due to much practice, has gained great control over it.

Sam and Dean encounter Max in "Nightmare" when Sam receives a psychic vision of Max's father being locked in the garage by some force, and dying from carbon monoxide poisoning. They arrive too late to save him, and it appears to the public that Max's father committed suicide. The brothers, believing that the culprit is a spirit, investigate. Sam soon receives a vision of Max's uncle dying, but once again, they are unable to prevent his death. After Sam and Dean learn of the beatings Max received, Sam has yet another vision, this time of Max telekinetically killing his stepmother with a knife because she never prevented his father and uncle from abusing him. This time, the brothers arrive in time to stop the murder. They calm Max down. Sam talks to him, realizing that they are connected after learning the truth about Max's mother. However, Max once again gets out of control and locks Sam in a closet. Sam has a vision of Max confronting Dean and his stepmother, and killing Dean when he tries to stop him. Believing that Max is like him but has developed his abilities further, Sam manages to telekinetically break out of the closet and stop his vision from coming true. Realizing that he has been thwarted, Max takes his own life by shooting himself in the head.

Ansem Weems

Ansem Weems, portrayed by Elias Toufexis, has the psychic ability of mind control. Because he has had much practice, he no longer finds it necessary to make vocal commands. It is unknown if his ability had also grown in other aspects like that of his twin brother, Andrew "Andy" Gallagher, eventually does. As with Andy, his ability is useless against others like him. Upon finding out from Azazel that he was adopted as a baby and thus separated from his brother, Ansem uses his powers to seek revenge and to reunite with Andy. He gets a job at the diner that Andy works at and then befriends him, going by the name "Webber". In the meantime, he uses his ability to have his real mother and her doctor kill themselves.

These murders trigger visions for Sam, leading Sam and Dean to the town in "Simon Said". They at first think that Andy is responsible, but eventually learn of Ansem's identity. Ansem then kidnaps Tracy, Andy's sometime girlfriend, and plans to kill her so that she cannot get between him and his brother. He orders her to jump off of a dam, but Andy and Sam interfere. When Ansem regains control of the situation, he notices Dean, who had been watching from a distance with a rifle. Dean prepares to shoot Ansem, but Ansem discovers him and orders him to kill himself. However, Andy shoots and kills Ansem first.

Ava Wilson

Ava Wilson, portrayed by Katharine Isabelle, is a young woman who starts off with a regular life, working as a secretary. She is easily worried and is sarcastic about even the most dangerous of situations. She is also engaged and looking forward to a quiet married life. However, she is plagued with nightmares and visions of bad things happening to people, and, in one of those dreams, Ava sees Sam killed. She tracks him down and informs him of her dream in "Hunted". However, Sam tells her about his own abilities and the demon Azazel. Ava sticks with Sam and helps him out until they are shot at by Gordon Walker, a hunter pursuing Sam. She follows Sam's urgings and returns home. However, when Sam and Dean later go to her house, they discover her fiancé dead with a slit throat, demonic sulfur by the windows, and Ava's bloody engagement ring on the floor by her bed.

Ava reappears in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1", when she, Sam, and three other special children find themselves in the abandoned town of Cold Oak, and are told that they must fight each other. Ava is seemingly all right, but tells Sam only two days have passed since she'd last seen him, even though she has been missing for five months. Ava later disappears, and as a worried Sam and Jake go to look for her, she returns to the building in which they were all hiding. To the surprise of Andy, she breaks the barrier of salt on the windowsill and summons a demon through the window, using the demon to violently tear him apart. Ava screams and brings Sam back into the room, but he does not buy her act, forcing her to reveal her deception. She abruptly shifts from her old innocent, damsel-in-distress personality, wipes away her tears, tells Sam about her change to the dark side, telling him to accept the power he has. He realizes that she is not a recent arrival like the others, but has been in the town since her disappearance and has killed all the others like themselves who had been summoned for previous rounds of combat. Declaring herself the winner, she uses a new ability that she gained when she gave in to her demonic side, and summons the demon to kill Sam. However, Jake appears behind her and breaks her neck.

Other recurring characters

Bela Talbot

Main article: Bela Talbot

Meg Masters

See also: Meg Masters demon

Meg Masters, portrayed by Nicki Aycox, was born in Andover, Massachusetts, and she attended a local college. Walking alone one night, she was taken over by a demon. After it is exorcised from her, the true Meg reveals before she dies that the demon had possessed her for a year and that she was awake through some of it, referring to it as a nightmare. She then feels all of the pain that her body went through when the demon was possessing her, including the broken bones from her seven story fall and the gunshot wound to her abdomen. Slowly dying, she reveals to Sam and Dean where their father is in a cryptic message. Her last word is "sunrise", directing the brothers to the Sunrise apartments, where their father is held captive by demons.

The ghost of the real Meg appears in "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester" as one of the Witnesses raised by Lilith's spell to attack the hunters who failed to save them. She reveals to Dean that she had a younger sister who killed herself after her own dead body was found, and denounces Sam for working with Ruby, a demon who possesses helpless victims just like Meg herself. The ghost is enraged that the brothers didn't figure out sooner that she was a host and exorcise the demon before her body had sustained lethal damage. Her soul is eventually put to rest along with those of the other Witnesses.

Season 1 Appearances

"Scarecrow", "Shadow", "Salvation", "Devil's Trap"

Season 4 Appearances

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

Pamela Barnes

Pamela Barnes, portrayed by Traci Dinwiddie, is a friend of Bobby Singer. A skilled psychic, she is bold and aggressive. Bobby calls upon her assistance in discovering what pulled Dean Winchester out of Hell. She holds a seance and discovers it is a being named Castiel. In attempting to get a glimpse of Castiel, her eyes are burnt out and she becomes permanently blind. However, her psychic abilities appear to enable her to perceive her surroundings. The Winchesters again seek her assistance in finding out why Anna Milton is able to hear angels speak. She expresses an interest in "dicking over" angels because one caused the loss of her sight. She places Anna under hypnosis, which restores to Anna her memories of being an angel. She is called upon one more time by the Winchesters, to help them perform astral projections of themselves. While doing so, she is mortally wounded by a demon, but as her dying act, whispers a warning to Sam to stop using the demonic forces within him.

Season 4 Appearances

"Lazarus Rising", "Heaven and Hell", "Death Takes a Holiday"

Chuck Shurley

Chuck Shurley, also known by the pseudonym Carver Edlund, is an author of a marginalized book series Supernatural, which recounts everything that the Winchester brothers have experienced during the show's run. After confronting him about his seemingly omniscient knowledge of their escapades, it is revealed by the angel Castiel that he is a Prophet of the Lord, and that his works will become a new gospels. He is also protected by an archangel powerful enough to force even Lilith to flee from its presence. Between the fourth season finale "Lucifer Rising" and the fifth season premiere "Sympathy for the Devil", he witnesses the death of Castiel at the hands of the archangel Raphael. Being the author of the Supernatural series, he attends the first Supernatural convention that Sam and Dean were tricked into attending; when it turns out the hotel is actually haunted he is forced to occupy the guests and the hotel staff while the Winchesters and a pair of cosplayers destroys the ghosts. When the hotel manager leaves and breaks the salt line, he dissapates the ghost with an iron post, while unintentionally gaining the affections of Becky.

Season 4 Appearances

"The Monster At The End Of This Book", "Lucifer Rising"

Season 5 Appearances

"Sympathy for the Devil", "The End", "The Real Ghostbusters"

Jessica Lee Moore

Jessica Lee Moore, portrayed by Adrianne Palicki, is Sam's girlfriend for two years. Despite this, she is unaware of his family's strange occupation. Sam planned to ask her to marry him, but she is killed by the demon Azazel in the same manner that he killed Sam's mother Mary and others, slashing her stomach and burning her to death on the ceiling, which prompts Sam to join Dean on his quest to find their missing father and avenge her death. In the days preceding her murder, Sam had received premonitions about it, which he ignored, believing them to be random nightmares. Afterward, he feels much guilt that he did nothing to prevent her murder.

Season 1 Appearances

"Pilot", "Bloody Mary"

Season 2 Appearances

"What is and What Should Never Be"

Season 5 Appearances

"Free to be You and Me" (as an illusion)