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 portrayed by Misha Collins. The series also features recurring appearances from other demons, angels, and hunters.

Main Characters

• Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester, a hunter partnered with his older brother Dean as they hunter supernatural forces, such as ghosts, monsters (like vampires, werewolves, etc.), demons, and sometimes even angels, across the country. Like with his brother Dean, Sam was trained by his father to be a hunter after their mother's death, but eventually, Sam got "tossed out of the house" or ran away, as he was "the rebellious son", and went to college to have a normal life. But when the same thing that killed Sam's mother kills his girlfriend Jessica, he returns to the life as a hunter.
• Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, another hunter and Sam's older brother. Dean was trained to be a hunter by his father like Sam was. However, unlike Sam, Dean always followed his father and did what he was told, calling himself "the good son."
• Misha Collins as Castiel, a powerful angel of God who was responsible for pulling Dean Winchester out of Hell. After convincing him to help them stop the Apocalypse, Castiel appoints himself as the Winchesters guardian angel and, since then, has become their greatest friend and ally and helps them with a variety of supernatural hunts, even if its his own kind. He is generally called "Cas".
• Jim Beaver as Bobby Singer, another hunter and an old and close family friend of the Winchester brother who helps them with various hunts and adopted them as his own, acting as a father figure to the boys.
• Mark Sheppard as Crowley, a powerful, red-eyed crossroads demon who was originally the king of the crossroads, but since Lilith's defeat and Lucifer's re-imprisonment, he has become the King of Hell and an on-and-off enemy and ally of the Winchesters.

Angels

The following characters are angels of God, making them extremely powerful spiritual beings. Merely perceiving their true form - even psychically - typically results in blindness, as the appearance of their natural "visage" is overwhelming; 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 (which sounds like a high-pitched ringing). An angel's wings can be seen through their shadows. Angels are immortal and can heal from any wound they receive as well as being unaffected by disease, but they can be harmed by more powerful beings (e.g. Castiel was harmed by the demon Alastair). However, they can be killed by archangels and the sword of an angel, which can be used by anyone. Upon an angel's death, an enormous release of energy ensues and light which seemingly burns the mark of the angel's wings into the ground.

Enochian sigils and symbols written in blood can be used to repel or banish them from a place temporarily. Enochian magic can also be used to render humans invisible to angelic senses requiring them to use only their vessel's dull human senses to locate their target. There is also at least one incantation which can banish an angel back to Heaven which even demons can use.

Because their true appearances cannot be safely perceived by humans and because they are spirits with no physical being, they often take on humans as vessels in order to exist in and interact with the physical world, though only with the hosts' consent. Angels require a particular vessel to reach their full potential, people being "chosen" to be their hosts or "true vessels". Vessels run in blood lines, and although only one person can be a "true" vessel, others in a particular bloodline have potential to be temporary vessels without suffering any ill affects. With archangels, the vessel suffers debilitating consequences for holding such a powerful being, leaving them brain dead or worse. The only exception to this is Michael, who in "The Song Remains the Same" tells Dean his father John will be "better than new" when he leaves his body and that Dean would receive no damage when he was done "wearing" him. If an archangel possesses someone who is not a "true" vessel or a blood-relative of one, the vessel will slowly decompose and eventually burst into flames, as shown with Lucifer. This process can be slowed by consuming large quantities of demon blood. A vessel has the ability to expel an angel if they are aware of their presence and don't want them there, but they have to be both aware and strong-willed enough to do it.

While in possession of human hosts, angels have shown a wide range of powers. In addition to telekinesis and superhuman strength superior to that of most monsters and lesser demons, they possess the ability to kill or exorcise most demons and monsters simply by touching their palm to their targets' foreheads, and can cause instant unconsciousness in humans through a similar action. They can heal humans or their wounds just by touching them. In addition to being able to vanish and materialize from thin air, they can also bend time and transportt 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 cannot change destiny. More powerful angels have been shown to even be able to raise the dead, manipulate physical reality, and create solid things out of thin air. Angels who are cut off from Heaven gradually lose most of their abilities, although the archangels Gabriel and Lucifer appeared to remain unaffected. This may be true of all high-ranking angels as Castiel retained all of his powers the second time he was cut off, even in Purgatory, though the experience weakened him for a time.

Angels can become essentially human, but doing so is the most serious crime of Heaven. By removing his or her 'Grace', the celestial energy that allows them to use their powers in human form, which is a very painful process akin to "cutting one's own kidney out with a butter knife," the angel and its grace falls to Earth from Heaven in the form of a meteorite 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. 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. Angels can also steal another's Grace which will turn them back into an angel if human, but it is unknown if it grants them the other angel's powers or their own back.

Most angels are portrayed as emotionless, arrogant, jealous, authoritarian beings with a complete disdain and contempt for humanity whom, they believe, are flawed and inferior creations unworthy of God's special favor and unfit to rule the Earth. However, while fallen angels, such as Lucifer, openly refused to kneel before humans the remainder obeyed God's will, though apparently grudgingly. All angels, fallen or not, consider themselves family, each being brothers and sisters and refer to God as their Father. However, most angels have not actually met God. 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. Indeed, only four angels have seen God; the keeper of 'The Garden' Joshua speaks with God, or mostly He speaks to him, but has never actually seen Him in person. Joshua claims God is on Earth, hiding from others and is indifferent to the actions of His angels or the Apocalypse.

Creator Eric Kripke originally did not want angels to be featured in the series, believing 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.

Balthazar

Balthazar, portrayed by Sebastian Roché, is an angel who had fought alongside Castiel during the last angelic war. Believed dead, this was merely a cover as he left Heaven, taking a number of the weapons with him. Since faking his own death, he has been on Earth enjoying a rather hedonistic lifestyle. In "The Third Man", the Winchesters discover that three corrupt cops were murdered by the young brother of one of their victims in possession of The Staff of Moses. Balthazar is revealed to have sold it to the boy in return for his soul. During a conflict with Raphael and his henchmen, Balthazar destroys the archangel's vessel with Lot's Salt. Dean then traps Balthazar in a ring of Holy Fire and forces him to give up the boy's soul. They want to get more from him, but Castiel releases him because he owes him his life. Sam uses an Enochian ritual to summon Balthazar, in "Appointment in Samarra". Sam asks him if there is any way to keep a soul out of its body. Balthazar informs him of a ritual that involves him defiling his vessel, his reason for helping Sam being that he would find it useful to have Sam in his debt. He tells Sam that he would need the blood of his father (that needn't come from the "father of your blood"), prompting Sam to try to kill Bobby before he is subdued, Dean and Death managing to recover Sam's soul. Balthazar transports Sam and Dean to an alternate universe, in "The French Mistake", to evade the angelic hit man Virgil and gives them a key which he claims opens where the weapons he stole from Heaven are stored. This is revealed to have been a ploy by Balthazar and Castiel to allow the latter to retrieve the weapons from their true location while Raphael was distracted. A suspicious alias used by Bathazar in 1912 leads to the brothers summoning Balthazar in "My Heart Will Go On". Balthazar claims he had saved the Titanic simply because he detested the movie and subsequent eponymous song. However, upon confrontation with Fate, Atropos reveals she knows Balthazar is working for Castiel; the saving of the Titanic was to provide additional souls to fund their side in the civil war. Castiel pulls out of the plan to kill Atropos once she threatens the Winchesters, stopping Balthazar from killing her. When the Winchesters reveal that Castiel is in league with Crowley, in "Let It Bleed", Balthazar agrees to assist the brothers and act as a double agent. He then transports Sam and Dean to where Lisa and Ben are being held captive. In "The Man Who Knew too Much", Balthazar begins to have second thoughts about betraying Castiel, but ultimately continues to assist the brothers. He informs Dean and Bobby of where the ritual to open the gate to Purgatory will take place. Castiel summons Balthazar and reveals that he is aware of his actions, Balthazar is then killed by Castiel.

Bartholomew

An angel portrayed by Adam J. Harrington who after the fall of the angels began gathering other angels into a faction to retake and rule Heaven. Bartholomew is described as being a protege of Naomi and in I'm No Angel, uses Internet preacher Reverend Buddy Boyle to find vessels for other angels. Wanting revenge for the expulsion of the angels, Bartholomew sends his followers after Castiel and when he wards himself against angelic detection, rogue Reapers. In Holy Terror, Bartholomew has shifted to using Buddy Boyle to target select groups rather than the whole world so he can control who will become a vessel, wanting only his followers to gain vessels. After some of Bartholomew's angels are slaughtered by angels under the command of anarchist Malachi, Bartholomew refuses a meeting with him and starts an angelic civil war between his and Malachi's factions. In Captives, Bartholomew has begun destroying all other factions, including peaceful ones as he sees them threats to his power and his men capture Castiel. Bartholomew is pleased by this, having apparently put aside his previous resentment as he is an old friend and ally of Castiel. Bartholomew invites Castiel to join him, having turned all of his human followers into vessels and using their resources to track Metatron when he appears on Earth. Bartholomew believes with Castiel on his side he can unite all of the angels under his command and retake Heaven, but Castiel refuses to help when he tortures an innocent angel. When Castiel refuses to kill the angel, Bartholomew attacks him, but Castiel overpowers him. Though Castiel has Bartholomew at his mercy, he refuses to kill him as he wants no more angel deaths and lets him go. Bartholomew refuses to stop however and draws a second angel sword and attacks Castiel while his back is turned. With no other choice, Castiel kills Bartholomew in self-defense with his own sword. Afterwards, several of his followers decide to follow Castiel, having seen a different way in Castiel's refusal to kill him and desire for no more bloodshed.

Castiel

Main article: Castiel (Supernatural)

Gabriel

Gabriel (also referred to as The Trickster and Loki) 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 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. When Sam considers killing him regardless, the Trickster starts sending him and Dean to the next day. Dean once again dies however, and there is no loop to revive him this time. 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: 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. However the Trickster gives Sam what he wants, lamenting 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 are a part of variations of real TV shows. Eventually, Dean (with help from 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, reveals that he is in fact the archangel Gabriel and tells them the reason he trapped them is because he wanted both of them to say yes to becoming Michael's and Lucifer's vessels so the Apocalypse can finally end, as he cannot handle seeing the fighting between his brothers anymore. Gabriel tells them they were always meant to fight each other because the lives of the brothers mirror 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.

Gabriel returns in "Hammer of the Gods", attending the summit of pagan gods under the guise of Loki; however, he intends to rescue the brothers as their plan to lure Lucifer would easily fail, and Lucifer would slaughter them all. As he intends to prevent Kali, an old flame, from suffering a bloody fate, he tries to get them out; but he tells them he cannot rescue the pagan's hostages as it would be too difficult. However, later he is forced to comply; the rescue attempt results in the brothers' capture once again. Kali (who is keeping the brothers from leaving as their spilled blood binds them to her) reveals she, along with the other gods, knew of his identity for a while. Kali takes his sword and stabs him with it apparently killing him, but Gabriel appears to Dean and reveals the sword was a fake and suggests Dean should seduce Kali so they can escape. Lucifer shows up at the hotel, slaughtering most of the gods. Gabriel is then forced to step in, allowing Kali and the brothers to leave. Gabriel confronts his brother about loyalties and their past, but ultimately fails and is killed by his own blade. He later reveals, through a modified porn movie, Lucifer can be recaptured in his previous prison, with the four rings of the Horsemen.

Gabriel returns in "Meta Fiction" where he reviles to Castiel that he has been in Heaven since he 'died'. However, when Heaven kicked all the angels out, Gabriel was forced to go on the run from Metatron. He tells Castiel that Metatron was using the Horn of Gabriel to trap and kill the angels and that he needs Castiel to help him fight. When the two are running, they stop at a gas station where they realize that some of Metatron's loyal subjects were following them. Gabriel offers to fight them off because he still has some of his Archangel mojo left but then Castiel realizes that the whole situation was an illusion. Castiel then asks if Gabriel is really still alive, but all Gabriel does for an answer is raise his eyebrows before disappearing. Metatron says later that Gabriel played out his part well.

Gadreel

An angel portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett and Jared Padalecki who answers Dean's prayer for someone to save Sam. Gadreel was once God's most trusted angel, assigned to guard the Garden of Eden but disgraced when the Serpent got in. Gadreel was locked up in Heaven's deepest dungeon but was released when he, along with all angels, fell to Earth.

Wanting to make up for his past, Gadreel takes on the identity and personality of an angel named Ezekiel who died in the Fall who is the opposite of who he is. Unlike the angel that shows up first, Gadreel is truly willing to help and is nearly killed before Dean saves him for his trouble. Castiel recognizes the name Ezekiel when Dean mentions him, saying Ezekiel is a good soldier and someone who could help. Gadreel convinces Dean to let him try, but Sam is very weak and Gadreel is not much better from falling to Earth.

When two more angels show up, Dean defends Gadreel and Sam, but Gadreel fails to heal him. Gadreel proposes a solution: if he possesses Sam, he could heal him from the inside while recuperating from his own injuries. After Dean learns that Sam is close to giving up, he agrees and Gadreel takes on Dean's form in Sam's mind to get him to say Yes. Gadreel's original vessel is left at the hospital, with no memory of what happened, while Gadreel tells Dean that he will let Sam keep control of his body, as he works in the background, but that its best that Sam not know he is there. If he is rejected, especially in his weakened state, Sam could eject him and then die.

Gadreel and Dean decide to erase the whole thing from Sam's memory, and Gadreel lets Sam take control, none the wiser. Later, when Sam is knocked out and in danger of being killed by three demons, Gadreel takes control and displays his wings to distract them then kills them with Ruby's knife. His appearance saves Dean as well.

Abaddon flees when she realizes an angel is nearby. Gadreel explains what he did to Dean, telling him he used the knife rather than his powers so Dean could explain away the demons' deaths to Sam. After discussing Dean's guilt that demons are still loose in the world, Gadreel once again returns control to Sam who believes that when he was knocked out, Dean took out the demons.

Gadreel later takes control again to tell Dean that he is slowly but successfully healing Sam and that an angel faction is taking on vessels and actively searching for Castiel for revenge. Some time afterward, Dean calls on him to locate Castiel by searching for Reapers hunting for him. After Castiel is killed by one such Reaper, Gadreel resurrects him, but later warns Dean that Castiel must leave. Gadreel explains that it is too dangerous for Castiel to be around as angels are searching for him and the group can't survive a full incursion. Gadreel is so worried that he tells Dean he will leave Sam and flee if Castiel stays. As this would condemn Sam to death, Dean has no choice but to tell Castiel to go.

After Charlie is killed, Dean calls on Gadreel to save her. Gadreel explains that he can't keep using his powers as it weakens him and he is only back to half-strength, meaning he will have to stay in Sam longer than either of them would like. He tells Dean he can either bring Charlie back or help with the Wicked Witch and Dean chooses to have him bring Charlie back. Gadreel resurrects Charlie and Dean explains it away as both Sam and Charlie being knocked out by the Witch. Charlie later discovers the truth about her death, but agrees to keep it a secret.

After Sam is mortally wounded by Chef Leo, Gadreel takes control for a moment and heals Sam's wound, but also erases all memory of it, leaving Sam confused when Leo demands to know how he healed. He later warns Dean against telling Sam the truth in "Rock and a Hard Place". When Castiel turns up on a case in "Holy Terror," Gadreel once more forces Dean to send him away, but meets with Metatron who is aware of his true nature and offers him a chance to "redeem" himself by becoming his lieutenant. Gadreel eventually agrees and on Metatron's orders, murders Kevin Tran and steals the tablets, despite Dean's attempts to tell Sam the truth and get him to expel Gadreel.

In "Road Trip" Gadreel is sent by Metatron to kill his guard and former torturer Thaddeus and his friend Abner after dropping off the tablets, using the Impala to get around. He is eventually captured by Dean and Castiel and they and Crowley set to work on expelling him. While they are able to bring out his "factory settings" so that he tells them who he is, Gadreel proves resistant to their efforts to bring forth Sam's mind. Finally, Crowley possesses Sam who Gadreel has trapped in a fantasy world and shows him the truth. Gadreel and Sam fight briefly before Sam finally expels him. Gadreel returns to his original vessel who allows Gadreel to possess him once again.

In "Meta Fiction", Gadreel is using the Horn of Gabriel to summon angels and offer them the chance to join Metatron and return to Heaven. If they refuse, he kills them. After collecting more ingredients for the spell, Gadreel is captured by Sam and Dean, who interrogate him. Dean tortures Gadreel, who tries to push Dean to kill him, but while he beats Gadreel badly, he refrains from killing him as he knows he and Sam need Gadreel. After Metatron learns of Gadreel's capture, he makes Sam and Dean trade him for Castiel. They try to use the opportunity to trap Metatron, but he proves too powerful and easily overpowers them, taking Gadreel and leaving them alone.

Later, Gadreel confirms that the portal to Heaven is safe and asks if Metatron planned his capture. Metatron denies it, telling him that unplanned things happen sometimes and that's what makes a story so interesting. In "King of the Damned", Gadreel has been working hard to unite all of the angels under Metatron, killing Malachi, one of the other major faction leaders besides Castiel.

After realizing that he has a spy in his ranks, Castiel approaches Gadreel to work for him. Before they can get far in their discussions, Castiel and the angel with him come under attack by angels working for Metatron. Gadreel flees. He later meets with Castiel again to assure him that he had nothing to do with the attack as he believes that there has to be honor even in war. Castiel insists that this means that Metatron has no honor and asks Gadreel to switch sides. Gadreel points out that this would be infringing upon his own honor, breaking away from a cause he has dedicated himself to, but Castiel tells him it is the wrong cause and that he should consider becoming Castiel's spy to even the odds.

In "Stairway To Heaven," Gadreel walks in on Metatron trying on a trenchcoat similar to Castiel's and accompanies him to a meeting with the angel Tyrus who controls the largest independent faction of angels. Tyrus refuses to join them so Metatron signals Gadreel to kill him, but Tyrus warns them that his faction will just join Castiel if he is killed. After they lose a round of bowling to Tyrus, Gadreel and Metatron go to leave only for the angel Constantine to arrive and kill himself in an explosion that kills Tyrus. Gadreel shields Metatron from the explosion and while he survives, he is injured though he quickly recovers.

After Metatron gets Castiel's angels to change sides, Gadreel is furious as the angels who became suicide bombers were angels serving Metatron that Gadreel himself had recruited. Metatron hadn't told Gadreel he planned to have them blow themselves up to discredit Castiel and Gadreel isn't happy with it. Metatron's actions disgust Gadreel so much, he travels to the Bunker to offer the Winchesters and Castiel his help in stopping Metatron, telling them the truth about the suicide bombers and asking for a second chance to make up for his mistakes. Dean apparently agrees and shakes hands with Gadreel, but then slashes him across the chest with the First Blade, seriously wounding Gadreel before Sam and Castiel restrain him.

In "Do You Believe In Miracles?", fearing for his life, Gadreel flees the bunker but doesn't get far, collapsing. Sam and Castiel find him and Castiel heals his wound despite Gadreel telling him not to due to Castiel's weakened grace. A grateful Gadreel reveals that Metatron's plan is to turn humanity to worshiping him. Returning to the bunker where Sam and Castiel have locked up Dean, Gadreel is stunned to learn that Dean had attacked him with the First Blade, telling them that Dean and the First Blade could be their best chance at killing Metatron. Gadreel reveals that the source of Metatron's incredible power is the angel tablet, that he has somehow tapped into its power to gain God-like power for himself. Gadreel suggests sneaking into Heaven and breaking Metatron's connection to the tablet, so he will be a regular angel again and Dean can kill him.

As Sam goes after Dean and Metatron, Gadreel and Castiel travel to the portal to Heaven where Castiel has Gadreel pretend that Castiel is his prisoner so they can sneak in and search for the tablet. It seems to work, but instead of being taken to Metatron's office, Castiel and Gadreel are tricked into Heaven's dungeon where they are imprisoned. Castiel and Gadreel try to convince the angel Hannah to help them to no avail with her refusing to help Gadreel as she is convinced he only cares about himself. Gadreel finally admits that that is true, that after his imprisonment, all he cared about was redeeming himself above all else no matter the cost, to the point that he forgot the angels' true mission: protect humanity at all costs, even above themselves.

Hoping that someday his name will be remembered as one of the many angels who gave Heaven a second chance, rather than as the angel that let the Serpent into the Garden of Eden, Gadreel reveals that he has carved the sigil that the suicide bombers used to create an explosion into his chest. Gadreel orders Hannah and Castiel to get to safety before Gadreel stabs himself with a sharp piece of rock from the dungeon, killing himself in a massive explosion that frees Castiel and convinces Hannah that he was telling the truth. Gadreel's sacrifice allows Castiel to defeat Metatron and start the process of restoring Heaven.

Lucifer

Lucifer, portrayed by Mark Pellegrino and Jared Padalecki, is the second oldest archangel, the first fallen angel, in the fifth season of the series. From his prison in hell, he orchestrated events not only seen in seasons one through four, but decades prior, to eventually lead to his release by breaking the 66 seals. In the episode Sin City, he was described as the 'father' and 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 views demons with contempt and only sees them as his cannon fodder and will destroy them once he has eliminated humanity.

In the episode The End, he states his fall was the result of refusing God's decree to love humans more than him. As a result, God had Michael cast him into hell. Ruby also reveals in When the Levee Breaks in defiance to God, he turned Lilith into the first demon. Both Death and Gabriel have compared Lucifer's hatred of humans to "one big temper tantrum!" because God favored humans over him, his most beloved angel. Lucifer does not like how humans have changed the planet from its original state, and hopes to purify it. He is also very critical of humans, mostly in how they blame him for their own mistakes, wrongdoings, flaws and failures. Creator Eric Kripke has jokingly compared him to a "raging psychotic" version of environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr., with "unlimited power".

Due to his angelic and spiritual nature, Lucifer needs a human vessel in order to interact directly with the physical 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 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. By Abandon All Hope... it is shown Nick's body, being a temporary vessel and not his "true" vessel, is incapable of containing Lucifer's immense power and is beginning to wear down; revealed in Two Minutes to Midnight he has to consume gallons of demon blood to keep his vessel from combusting. He forms a ritual to summon Death and when the Winchesters, Harvelles and Castiel arrive, he traps Castiel in holy oil, and sends Meg after the others. After being ambushed by the brothers he is shot with the Colt but survives; he then reveals his status as one of five things in creation immune to the Colt; while the brothers escape with Castiel's help, he manages to summon Death and bind him under his control.

During a convention of pagan gods in Hammer of the Gods, Lucifer is made aware of the brothers' location by Mercury, who betrays the rest of them. Slaughtering all the gods, he approaches the brothers and is stalled by Kali until Gabriel arrives. Gabriel provides safe passage for Kali and the brothers, and confronts Lucifer about his ultimate reason for rebellion, claiming that he rebelled not because he recognized that humans were flawed, but because he was no longer their father's favorite son. Lucifer questions Gabriel's loyalties, who states through his experiences with humans, despite their flaws, strive to do their best. Ultimately, Lucifer kills Gabriel with his own sword when Gabriel's attempt to catch Lucifer off-guard with a duplicate fails, but he is clearly distraught over this.

Having acquired all four rings of the Horseman (which can trap Lucifer back in his prison), Sam and Dean enter Lucifer's hideout, planning to trap him when Sam agrees to be his vessel; this completely fails, as Lucifer is too powerful to fight. Lucifer brings forward four demons, who had been part of Azazel's surveillance of Sam since his youth and kills them all in a way of "letting off steam" and acquiring Sam's trust. Following that, he confronts Michael in a graveyard, attempting to convince him not to fight, reasoning there was no real purpose; Michael refuses. Dean interrupts, while Castiel dissipates Michael, an act Lucifer took unkindly to, and kills him. He starts to pummel Dean and when Bobby attempts to use the Colt to stop him he is killed as well. However, Sam then sees a toy army man in an ashtray of the Impala, a remnant from his youth, and regains control. Sam reopens the hole, and jumps in, taking Michael with him.

Lucifer returns in season seven as part of Sam's hallucinations, caused by the memories of his time in the cage. Lucifer tells Sam that the world he has been in for the last year is not real and Sam is still in the cage, a new form of torture which Lucifer prides himself on as being his best yet. Sam confronts Lucifer and asks him why he doesn't end this dream world to which Lucifer responds by saying that he will only end it when Sam can't take it anymore. Lucifer later changes into Dean and tricks Sam into leaving Bobby's house. Once at the destination, he reveals himself to prove he can control Sam's "dream", although Lucifer is proven to be a hallucination when Dean tells Sam how to figure out what is real. Despite being proven to be a hallucination, he informs Sam that he's not going anywhere. Lucifer tortures Sam by depriving him of sleep by repeatedly waking him up and later making food look like maggots in an attempt to kill him. Although Sam initially manages to ignore the hallucination, it becomes worse when Sam acknowledges Lucifer's advice when trying to get information about Dean's whereabouts, giving the hallucination additional strength. Castiel, found to be alive, tries to rebuild Sam's mental wall, but fails as it's completely gone. In order to save Sam and atone for what he's done, Castiel transfers the problem to himself, leaving him haunted by Lucifer and stuck in a mental hospital. In "Reading is Fundamental," when Castiel comes out of his catatonic state, Sam asks him about seeing Lucifer. Castiel explains that he did at first, but Lucifer eventually disappeared. Castiel believes that Lucifer was simply a projection of Sam's own torment from his time in Hell and that projection disappeared as the torment was no longer in Sam's mind.

In the season eight episode "Goodbye Stranger," its revealed that Lucifer had a series of crypts around the United States and possibly the world containing his most precious artifacts. The locations were only known to Lucifer himself and his most trusted followers, such as Azazel. Among the items in his crypts, in an angel-proofed box, was the angel Word of God tablet. Eventually Sam, Dean and Castiel locate the right crypt with the help of Meg who knows from her time with Azazel and get the angel tablet.

A 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.

Metatron

Metatron (Curtis Armstrong) is the angel who wrote the Word of God tablets. According to the demon tablet, he is an Archangel, but Metatron himself claims to be an angel from the secretarial division who was enlisted by God to write the tablets before he left Heaven. When God left and the Archangels decided to take over everything, Metatron left Heaven and hid on Earth, cutting himself off completely to protect himself and the tablets as he rightly assumed that the Archangels would need him to fulfil their plans. On Earth, Metatron lived among a Native American tribe known as The Two Rivers who he gave immortality in exchange for stories and books. Metatron became enamored by human stories and even though he read as much as an angel is capable of, he hasn't been able to read every story written during the past few millennia he has spent on Earth.

Sam and Dean first learn of Metatron when they uncover the Leviathan Word of God tablet and Castiel reveals Metatron wrote them. At the time, Dean considers looking for him for help with the Leviathans. Later, Kevin Tran finds a personal note Metatron left on the demon tablet revealing that there is a compendium of tablets. While trying to find the third trial to close Hell, Sam and Dean track down Metatron and confront him. Metatron initially refuses to help, but after they reveal the story of Kevin Tran, Metatron rescues him from Crowley and heals him. Metatron now knows what is going on in Heaven and the world and agrees to help and along with Kevin, reveals the third trial: curing a demon. He also suggests to Dean that closing Hell may not be the best idea, telling him he needs to consider the impact it will have on the world. Metatron later approaches Castiel to seek his help in dealing with the problems in Heaven. Heaven has degenerated into all out war between various factions and Metatron wants to seal it up. As the Scribe of God, he knows the three trials without the angel tablet, but wants Castiel to do them. The two set out to complete the first trial which is to kill a Nephilim and cut out their heart. Though Castiel hesitates, when the Nephilim overpowers both himself and Metatron, he kills her from behind while she is distracted with Metatron. In "Sacrifice," Metatron reveals that the second trial is to get the bow of a Cupid and as he works with Castiel to get it, he is captured by Naomi. Metatron recognizes Naomi as the angel that was supposed to "debrief" him for the Archangels after God left, in reality to get his secrets from his mind. Suspicious of why Metatron has suddenly come out of hiding, Naomi tortures him for information and is shocked to learn that he actually intends to expel all angels from Heaven except himself as revenge for his own expulsion. Naomi rushes off to warn Dean and Castiel, but while she is gone, Metatron breaks free and kills Naomi when she returns. He captures Castiel and takes his Grace as the final component needed for his spell then sends him to Earth to live a human life after asking Castiel to find him and tell him about it when he one day dies. Metatron's plan works and all angels are expelled from Heaven. Sam and Dean learn in "Heaven Can't Wait" that Metatron designed the spell to be irreversible and there is apparently no way to put the angels back in Heaven.

Metatron eventually reappears on Earth in the episode "Holy Terror" during the struggle of the various angel factions to wrest control and decide the best course to retake and re-enter Heaven. In that time, he convinces Gadreel to join him in the refashioning of the angels' purpose in existence, resulting in Kevin Tran's death and Gadreel's taking full control of Sam's body. In "Road Trip," he employs Gadreel as his assassin, sending him to kill angel guard Thaddeus and Gadreel's friend Abner, presumably as a further test of his loyalty. He is also annoyed by Gadreel not killing Dean and questioning his orders. Metatron waits for Gadreel to return from killing Abner in a bar for hours with Gadreel's former vessel and is surprised when Gadreel suddenly appears in his natural form and repossesses his old vessel. Realizing that Sam has expelled Gadreel, an amused Metatron asks if Gadreel had Winchester troubles.

Michael

Michael is the oldest and most powerful Archangel, featured in the fifth season of Supernatural. In the premiere of the fifth season Zachariah reveals the angels' plan is for Michael to use Dean as his vessel and kill Lucifer once and for all. However, Dean needs to give his consent to be the vessel. Michael refers to Lucifer as his younger brother and when Lucifer refused God's command to bow before humanity, he turned to Michael for support, but was refused. On God's command, Michael cast Lucifer into Hell. Michael first appears when Sam, Dean and Castiel have traveled back to 1978 to stop Anna from killing John and Mary in order to prevent Sam's birth, and thus his use as Lucifer's vessel. When the angels develop a new plan to lure Dean into consenting in "Point of No Return", the angels bring back Adam, John Winchester's third son, under the pretense that he can be Michael's new vessel, but this is merely a ruse to get Dean to say yes. Zachariah tortures Sam and Adam until Dean consents. Zachariah then summons Michael from Heaven, but Dean changes his mind, kills Zachariah and attempts to escape. Adam is inadvertently locked inside while Michael descends, and the room and Adam disappear. In "Two Minutes to Midnight", Castiel confirmed that now Michael is taking Adam as his vessel. During the episode "Swan Song", Michael appears with Adam as his vessel in order to fight Lucifer, but gets interrupted by Dean, Bobby and Castiel, who delay him by sending him away with holy fire. In a couple of minutes he returns to see Sam, who has taken control over Lucifer, ready to jump in the pit, and tries to stop him, claiming his destiny is to fight his brother. As Sam denies, Michael makes a final desperate effort to hold him, but is swept along by Sam and they fall into the abyss together. Castiel believes that he and Lucifer tortured Sam's soul in the cage until it was removed by Death.

Anna Milton

Main article: Anna Milton

Naomi

Naomi, portrayed by Amanda Tapping, is a mysterious angel who commands a garrison in an area of Heaven previously unknown to Castiel. She was responsible for rescuing Castiel from Purgatory; although it took several angels to do so, and many of them died in the effort. He was subsequently returned to the Winchesters. She has since revealed that she has the ability to call him to her to 'check in' about the Winchesters' current progress in the search for the Word of God tablet and erase his memory of these check-ins after the fact. When Castiel chooses to return to Heaven to make up for his previous actions, Naomi forbids him from doing so, though she seems sympathetic to his desire to make up for his mistakes. Naomi tells Castiel that by following orders he is making up for what he has done and asks him what he wants to do when he is unsure of what to do next. This causes him to consider his options fully for the first time. Naomi later sends Castiel to rescue Samandriel after getting a distress call from him, but after learning that he has revealed the existence of the angel Word of God tablet, she orders Castiel to kill Samandriel which he has no choice but to do. Naomi calls Castiel a hero for it and reveals that the existence of that tablet is something that any angel, including herself would die to protect as it could cause great harm if it falls into demon hands. She then has Castiel bring Samandriel's vessel back to Heaven so she can determine just how much he broke, but draws the Winchesters' suspicions that Castiel is being controlled in the process. Castiel also remembers her having him tied down to a chair and approaching his eye with a mysterious instrument while he screams.

In "Goodbye Stranger," Naomi has apparently indoctrinated Castiel completely to her control as he is now completely ruthless and has killed thousands of Dean copies for her to prove it. Naomi sends him to get the angel tablet before Crowley can and has him lie to the Winchesters about what he is doing and kill a demon before she can tell them the truth. Though she allows Meg to remain alive, Naomi orders Castiel to kill Dean once he retrieves the tablet. However, Castiel manages to fight her control and pick up the angel tablet which breaks her connection with Castiel and her control over him. After Castiel disappears with the tablet, Naomi meets with Crowley who its indicated she has had a sexual relationship with and she tells him that Castiel is doing what he is meant to do: protect the tablet, even if it means protecting it from her. She refuses the offer of a deal from Crowley and is later shown getting a report on how the angels have failed to locate Castiel and the tablet.

In "Taxi Driver," Naomi appears to Dean at Garth's houseboat and tries to convince him that she is on his side. Naomi claims that she was just meeting with Castiel periodically and that he misinterpreted her orders and tried to kill Dean as a result of mental instability. Dean doesn't trust her, but she tells him that Sam was traveling to Hell through Purgatory before leaving. Later, when Crowley prevents Sam from releasing Bobby's soul into Heaven, Naomi intervenes to stop him. He tries to convince her not to, claiming they will seal up both Hell and Heaven, but Naomi tells him that she hopes he gets locked up and she will figure out the rest before trying to smite him when he calls her a bureaucrat. Crowley flees and Naomi frees Bobby from Crowley's trap, letting him go to Heaven and tells Sam and Dean she wants the same thing they do: Hell sealed.

In "The Great Escapist," Naomi and her angels manage to capture Castiel and interrogate him about the location of the angel tablet. Naomi reveals that Castiel has taken part in many atrocities, but she has wiped the memory of them from him. Before Naomi can do much, Crowley shows up with a gun that can kill angels and she is forced to flee when he fires at her.

Metatron reveals that she is just one of many faction leaders in "Clip Show," not the ruler of Heaven as previously believed.

In "Sacrifice," Naomi captures Metatron and tortures him to learn what he is up to. Horrified by what it is, Naomi rushes to Earth to warn Dean and Castiel: Metatron is not trying to close the gates of Heaven, he is trying to permanently expel all angels in revenge for his own expulsion. Naomi expresses remorse for her actions and that of the other angels, saying that angels are meant to protect humanity and they have lost sight of that somewhere along the way. She warns Dean that if Sam completes the trials, he will die and offers to hear Castiel out if he truly wishes to return to Heaven. Naomi leaves and when Kevin can't confirm her story with the angel tablet, Castiel refuses to believe her, though Dean does. Castiel travels to Naomi's office in Heaven only to find that Metatron has killed her by impaling her in the head with her own torture spike. Metatron confirms that Naomi was telling the truth.

Raphael

Raphael is the archangel assigned to protecting Chuck Shurley. Raphael appears to protect Chuck twice, in "The Monster at the End of the Book", when he is in the presence of Lilith, and in "Lucifer Rising", where he kills Castiel as he and Dean attempt to prevent Lucifer's rise. He is summoned and subsequently trapped by Dean and a resurrected Castiel in the fifth season episode "Free to Be Me and You", but refuses to cooperate when they demand to know the location of God, only saying that he believes that God is dead. Dean and Castiel leave Raphael trapped despite his threat to hunt Castiel down when he escapes. In this episode, Raphael appears for the first time in a bodily vessel and is played by actor Demore Barnes, who reprises the role in "The Third Man" and "The Man Who Would Be King". Following the prevention of the Apocalypse, Raphael and his supporters are at war with Castiel and his followers over Castiel's opposition to Raphael's plan to free Lucifer and Michael to restart the Apocalypse. He makes his second on-screen appearance in the sixth season episode "The Third Man", in which he and his soldiers are in close pursuit of Castiel. Raphael is overpowers Castiel and is about to kill him when Balthazar intervenes and irrevocably destroys Raphael's vessel with one of Heaven's weapons, saving Castiel's life. Raphael is forced to search for a new vessel, eventually possessing a woman played by Lanette Ware. In "The French Mistake", he sends the angel hitman Virgil after Castiel's allies, including the Winchesters. Balthazar transports the brothers to an alternate universe with a key to where Heaven's weapons are stored and Virgil follows. This is revealed to have been a ploy by Balthazar and Castiel, allowing the latter time to retrieve the weapons. Now equipped with the weapons, Castiel forces Raphael to flee when the latter is poised to kill a returned Sam and Dean. Flashbacks in "The Man Who Would Be King" depicts the background to Raphael's war with Castiel; Raphael believed that the Apocalypse was destined to happen and informed Castiel of his intention to release Lucifer and Michael from the cage, giving Castiel the ultimatum to submit or die. Having forged a deal with the demon Crowley, Castiel attacked Raphael and declared war in Heaven. In the season six finale, "The Man Who Knew Too Much", Castiel reneges on his deal with Crowley, who turns to Raphael. Crowley agrees to open Purgatory for Raphael in exchange for his safety. However their ritual fails whilst Castiel opens Purgatory for himself. Castiel appears, now more powerful than ever, and obliterates Raphael with a snap of his fingers.

Reapers

The Reapers in Supernatural are numerous, in contrast with the lone Grim Reaper of mythology, answering only to Death. Reapers are lower angels who serve the horseman Death. They are seen in various episodes throughout the series, coming to fetch the soul of a person when they are nearing their death. Rogue Reapers take souls and mortals in and out of Hell and Heaven for a price. One, named Ajay, aids Sam in getting into Hell through Purgatory, but is killed by Crowley with an angel sword before he can retrieve him. More rogue Reapers are hired by the angel Bartholomew to hunt Castiel after he successfully wards himself from angelic detection. One follows Sam and Dean but is captured by them. After telling them what he knows after being tortured for information, Dean kills him with an angel sword. Another one possesses a woman named April to get close to Castiel, having sex with him then torturing him with his own angel sword. However, Sam and Dean arrive after finding her thanks to Ezekiel. The Reaper kills Castiel and then flings Sam and Dean around, but is killed by Dean with an angel sword while she is distracted with Sam.

Samandriel

Samandriel, aka "Alfie", portrayed by Tyler Johnston, is an angel who seems to hold humanity in higher regard than most angels and appears to hold Castiel in great regard as well. He appears at Plutus' auction in "What's Up, Tiger Mommy?" to bid for the demon Word of God tablet, taking the vessel of a young man named Alfie. He asks Dean about Castiel and is noticeably saddened that Castiel didn't make it out of Purgatory. Samandriel indicates that he supports Castiel and tells Dean that he thinks Castiel's problem is he has too much heart. Samandriel bids for the Word of God, but loses. After Mrs. Tran wins by bidding her soul, Samandriel approaches her to offer angelic protection to Kevin, but she refuses which he respects. In "A Little Slice of Kevin," Samandriel has been captured by Crowley who tortures him for the names of all future Prophets with an angel sword. Samandriel breaks under the torture and tells him all the names, but Crowley is not satisfied until Samandriel reveals that the next generation of Prophets haven't been born yet and thus there are no more. Crowley stops the torture without urgency and orders Samandriel put "on ice" for future torture, believing he can get more out of him. In "Torn and Frayed," Samandriel manages to push a spike out of his head that is blocking his connection to the other angels and sends a distress signal to Naomi. However, the demon Viggor discovers him and replaces the spike and starts torturing him again using headgear that puts a lot of spikes into Samandriel's head. The spikes cause Samandriel to revert to "factory settings" and he starts speaking in Enochian, in his distress speaking through a bush that catches fire. Viggor summons Crowley who tortures Samandriel personally to see what he can get from him when he's at "factory settings." As Sam, Dean and Castiel launch a rescue, Samandriel starts talking about the Word of God tablets and just before they manage to break into the room, Samandriel reveals that there is an angel tablet. As Sam and Dean kill Viggor and another demon, Castiel removes the headgear from Samandriel, returning him to normal and takes him outside. Fearful of what he has revealed, Samandriel begs Castiel not to take him back to Heaven and warns Castiel that "they" are controlling them both. Before Samandriel can elaborate, Naomi orders Castiel to kill him for being a traitor. With no other choice, Castiel stabs Samandriel with his angel sword, killing him. Naomi has Castiel take Samandriel's body to Heaven so she can determine just how much he broke and explains that he is a traitor as he revealed the existence of the angel tablet which any angel would die to protect as it could cause great harm if it fell into demon hands.

Tessa

Tessa is a reaper who guides the deceased to the afterlife. She is portrayed by Lindsey McKeon. Following the car accident in the first season finale, Dean is critically wounded and his soul leaves his body. Dean attempts to save other souls and defends himself from a reaper. The reaper then returns in the form of Tessa, posing as a coma patient. Tessa attempts to convince Dean to move on but, as he considers this, Azazel intervenes as part of his deal with John Winchester and possesses Tessa to restore Dean to life. Dean remembers none of it. The Winchesters encounter Tessa in the season four episode "Death Takes a Holiday", when a reaper is kidnapped and people in a small town stop dying. Tessa arrives to continue the work (restoring Dean's memories of her with a kiss) and assists the brothers in their investigation until she is kidnapped by Alastair, as part of a ritual to break a seal. She agrees not to reap any souls until its over and is captured by Alastair. Dean and Sam end up trapped in spirit form, but manage to use their ghostly abilities to break the trap holding her and she frees them. Castiel captures Alastair before he can try again. She later approaches Dean to help her get a young boy named Cole to move on, which he does before she warns him that bad things are coming. In "Appointment in Samarra", Dean summons Tessa during an out of body experience and asks her to call Death. Although she refuses, Death arrives on his own accord. Subsequently, Tessa guides Dean in his role as Death for 24 hours as part of a wager made with the Horseman in order to retrieve Sam's soul. Tessa returns in "Stairway to Heaven" where she is a part of Castiel's faction to retake Heaven. She has grown depressed over the fact that she can no longer ferry souls to Heaven due to it being closed and that she can hear their cries for help and is brainwashed by Metatron into acting as a suicide bomber for him, supposedly under Castiel's instruction in order to unite all the angels under his command. Tessa is found and captured by Dean before she can do this and her "bomb" is defused. Dean questions Tessa who, under her brainwashing, insists she is doing it for Castiel. When Dean pulls the First Blade on her, Tessa commits suicide by impaling herself on the Blade while Dean is holding it, thanking him at the same time. Her method of suicide makes it appear that Dean murdered her and helps turn Castiel's followers against him.

Uriel

Main article: Uriel (Supernatural)

Zachariah

Main article: Zachariah (Supernatural)

Demons

Demons in the series are generally portrayed as cruel and sadistic, often taking pleasure in causing humans pain. They are also, as series creator Eric Kripke deems them, "erudite and sophisticated". While the "tyrant" Azazel commanded the demons in the first two seasons, demons as a whole became the villains of the third season. At times their culture has been compared to normal humans, with the third-season episode "Sin City" introducing their religious side. They believe in their own higher power—Lucifer. Though many demons came to lose faith, they followed the fallen angel upon his release from Hell in the fifth season.

Inspirations for these types of demons have come from numerous sources, such as the devil-on-your-shoulder concept used in the episode "Sin City". The writers often try to base the demons off of actual aspects of history, as is done in "Malleus Maleficarum" by having the demon Tammi turn a group of women into witches. An encyclopedia on demons is used for research, with Binsfield's Classification of Demons inspiring "The Magnificent Seven"'s storyline of seven demons being the physical embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins.

The writers originally intended for demons to not rely on human hosts, but rather exist "halfway between spirits and corporeal creatures". However, the demon featured in "Phantom Traveler" demonstrated the ability to possess people—this quality and its other characteristics were chosen without foresight solely to fit with the episode's storyline—and the writers opted to maintain it as an element of all demons. Kripke feels this added an interesting aspect to the storylines, as the viewers "never quite know who the bad guy is". Another source of debate for the writers stemmed from the demons' eye color, which is based on a demon's place in the hierarchy. The writers prefer to limit unique colors to only the "big, big, bad guys". Writer Sera Gamble noted, "If every time we had a demon that was powerful we gave them a different eye color, pretty soon it'd be like, 'The Chartreuse-Eyed Demon is coming for us!'" During production of the second season, Kripke viewed the horror film I Walked with a Zombie, and found one of the creatures having all-white eyes to be "really disturbing". The writers considered changing the eye color of regular demons to white, but eventually decided against it. However, Kripke later used the idea when Lilith and other high-level demons were introduced.

A demon in the first season episode "Phantom Traveler". The appearance of demons has since evolved throughout the series.

The appearance of demons' true forms have become more complex as the series has progressed. Originally depicted as small, thin streams of black smoke, they now appear as large, thick smoke clouds. When in large groups, the clouds have electricity pulsing throughout them. The visual effects department based the demons' shape off of that of a snake, giving it a "predatorial" and "intelligent" look. Visual effects supervisor Ivan Hayden finds demon smoke to be one of the hardest visual effects in the series.

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. Most often their eyes can appear black as a sign of possession, with some variations being red, yellow, or white. Demons are revealed to be human souls who have been corrupted by their time in Hell. Salting and burning the bones of the human body demons had while they were human can kill a demon. Other methods of killing include the Colt gun, Ruby's demon-killing knife, angel powers, an angel sword and the First Blade.

Abaddon

Primarily portrayed by actress Alaina Huffman, Abaddon is described as the last remaining Knight of Hell, a class of incredibly powerful demons who were among the first of their kind. As such, Abaddon is too strong to be affected by exorcisms or to be killed by Ruby's knife. Over the years, she has acquired a reputation of being a "hired gun." She is introduced in the eighth season episode "As Time Goes By", in which she is sent to destroy the Men of Letters organization in 1958 and sets off in dogged pursuit of Sam and Dean's grandfather, Henry, who has escaped with the key to the Men of Letters' bunker. Wanting to break into the bunker to gain access to the powerful supernatural spells and artifacts inside for her own use, Abaddon follows Henry through time to the present, where she hunts him and his grandsons throughout the episode. Eventually, she takes Sam hostage to force Dean to turn over Henry and the key, but reneges on her deal to let Sam and Dean go after Dean trades her Henry and the key. In the confrontation that follows, Abaddon mortally wounds Henry, but not before he shoots her in the head with a bullet engraved with a devil's trap that binds her powers and also binds her to her now-paralyzed host body. Sam and Dean then cut her up and bury her in cement to forever entomb her. In "Clip Show", needing a demon to cure to do the third trial to close the gates of Hell, Sam and Dean sew Abaddon back together to use her, but do not reattach her hands nor remove the bullet. Abaddon reveals that she had been sent to kill the priest who found a way to cure demons and had found out about the Men of Letters and her host, Josie Sands, from him when torturing him, which ultimately resulted in her possessing Josie and attacking the Men of Letters. While Sam and Dean take a phone call from Crowley outside, Abaddon frees herself and escapes by controlling one of her severed hands and using it to reach into her mouth and pull the bullet out of her skull. She returns in the following episode, the season finale "Sacrifice", arriving in response to Crowley's distress call. However, furious that Crowley is now the King of Hell, she attacks him rather than help him, and declares her intention of taking over herself, only to be driven away when Sam sets her ablaze in holy fire.

Abaddon appears in the ninth season; her objectives are now to find and kill Crowley and to become the Queen of Hell. She briefly succeeds in tracking Crowley down in "Road Trip", but her minions hesitate to attack him when she orders them to. She is about to attack him herself when he announces that rather than fight each other, they will be fighting for the loyalty of demons, and vanishes. With Crowley being largely absent from Hell and having been deeply affected by the incomplete demon cure forced on him by the Winchesters, the intimidating Abaddon ends up winning the nearly unanimous support of other demons. In "First Born", Crowley and Dean go to her maker, teacher, and former lover, Cain, to get his Mark and the First Blade from him—the Blade, when wielded by someone bearing the Mark of Cain, is stated to be the only weapon capable of killing Abaddon—and Cain reveals that Abaddon, after failing to persuade him to rejoin her, had tricked him into murdering his beloved human wife Colette; as he is unable to seek revenge directly due to a promise he had made to Colette, he gives Dean the Mark so that Dean can kill Abaddon once Crowley finds the Blade. "Mother's Little Helper" reveals that Abaddon's history with the Men of Letters goes back further than previously thought, as Abaddon had been confronted by Henry and Josie when stealing people's souls at a convent sometime before her slaughter of the Men of Letters. She intended to possess Henry to spy on the Men of Letters before destroying them, but accepted Josie's offer and possessed her instead, all without Henry's knowledge. In the present, Abaddon has given the order for her minions to begin stealing souls again in order to build an army of demons loyal only to her, a revelation which strengthens the Winchesters' determination to stop her as soon as possible. In attempt to eliminate all threats posed to her and her rule, Abaddon concocts a plan to kill Crowley and the Winchesters and to destroy the First Blade, by first bringing Crowley's human son Gavin forward in time and tortures him until Crowley finally agrees to help her set up a trap for Sam and Dean. She has him send the Winchesters to retrieve the First Blade and then lead them to her so that she can destroy them all at once, though Crowley manages to subtly warn Dean of the trap. Although unaware of the double-cross, Abaddon incapacitates Crowley by shooting him with a devil's trap bullet in order to keep him from interfering in the upcoming fight, planning to kill him and his son once she has killed the Winchesters. She is slain by Dean wielding the First Blade when the Mark grants Dean new powers that enable him to overcome her attacks. Following Abaddon's death, all demons go back to following Crowley. Despite this, some demons remain loyal to her and outraged at Dean killing her, try to ambush him in "Black" only to be easily killed themselves.

Alastair

Main article: Alastair (Supernatural)

Azazel

Main article: Azazel (Supernatural)

Cain

Cain (portrayed by Timothy Omundson) is one of the first demons and is the biblical Cain. He killed his brother Abel with the First Blade to guarantee Abel a place in Heaven after he started dealing with Lucifer and took his place in Hell becoming one of Hell's most powerful and feared demons. Cain created the Knights of Hell, but fell in love with a human woman named Colette and abandoned his ways for her. When the Knights kidnapped Colette, Cain slaughtered them in revenge, accidentally killing Colette while trying to kill Abaddon. At Colette's request, Cain retired and tossed the First Blade into the ocean, eventually becoming a bee keeper in Missouri. Eventually, Dean and Crowley tracked him down while looking for the First Blade to kill Abaddon, but Cain refused to reveal its location, letting in a bunch of demons to watch how Dean fights. After visiting Colette's grave to tell her he is returning to his old ways and ask for her forgiveness for it, Cain reveals the truth about killing his brother and his relationship with Abaddon and offers Dean the Mark of Cain, the source of the Blade's power, having watched him fight to see if he was worthy of it. Cain tries to warn Dean of a terrible cost associated with the Mark, but Dean takes it anyway and Cain reveals the Blade's location. As an army of demons arrives, Cain asks Dean to return and kill him after killing Abaddon then teleports him and Crowley to safety while he takes on the entire army himself. When Abaddon is killed by Dean, Cain becomes the last Knight of Hell as a result. After Dean is killed by Metatron, Crowley reveals the true story of how Cain became a demon: horrified at what the Mark was turning him into, Cain turned the First Blade on himself and committed suicide. However, the Mark refused to let him go and resurrected him as a demon. Due to his demonic nature, he was able to survive not having to kill which would've caused the Mark to make him progressively sicker and eventually kill him otherwise. Dean suffers the same ill effects and transformation into a demon, presumably the consequences Cain was trying to warn him about.

Christian Campbell

Christian Campbell, portrayed by Corin Nemec, is a hunter, and a third cousin related to Sam and Dean's mother's side of the family. He is introduced to Dean along with the other Campbells in "Exile on Main Street" and helps Samuel trap the female Djinn. He is present in the compound in "Two and a Half Men", and it is agreed that he and his wife will raise the baby Shapeshifter despite Dean's objections. However, the Alpha Shapeshifter arrives, overpowers the hunters and takes back the baby. In "Family Matters", Christian discovers Dean investigating Samuel and the two exchange threats. Later, his neck is snapped by the Alpha Vampire. It is then revealed that he has been possessed by a demon for some time and he and others overpower and remove the Alpha. Christian is working at Crowley's prison in "Caged Heat" and tortures the Lucifer loyalist Meg for information. However, she refuses to divulge and Christian is killed from behind by Dean using Ruby's knife.

The Crossroads Demon

A specific crossroads demon recurred throughout the second and third seasons of the series, possessing only young, beautiful women as her host. Actresses Christie Laing and Jeannette Sousa first portray her in "Crossroad Blues". Laing plays the demon in flashbacks depicting musician Robert Johnson selling his soul to learn to play the guitar, while Sousa portrays the demon in the present. The latter is summoned by Dean in an attempt to rescue a man from a demonic pact previously made. She rejects Dean's plea, instead taunting him about his father's suffering in Hell. Dean tricks her into walking into a Devil's Trap, and frees her in exchange for releasing the man from his contract. The demon returns again in the second season finale "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2", now in possession of a woman portrayed by Ona Grauer. She resurrects Sam in exchange for collecting Dean's soul in one year.

She makes her final appearance in "Bedtime Stories", now portrayed by Sandra McCoy. Following Dean's death, Sam summons her and demands she break her deal with Dean in exchange for her life. She claims to not hold the contract, being just an employee with a boss to answer to. A frustrated Sam kills the demon with the mystical Colt gun. McCoy was dating actor Jared Padalecki at that time after having worked with him on the 2005 film Cry Wolf. She previously auditioned for several love interests of the brothers, but believed that production had waited until the "perfect role" arrived before casting her due to their relationship.

Crowley

A high-ranking Crossroads demon (portrayed by Mark Sheppard), he is said to be only second to Lilith. Originally a Scotsman named Fergus MacLeod, he became a demon sometime after his death during the 17th century. He is first mentioned by Becky, who informs the brothers, Crowley, not Lilith, took the Colt from Bela. He first appears during "Abandon All Hope" sealing a deal with the executive of a failing bank to bail it out. While being tracked by Castiel, who locates his angel-protected mansion. The brothers break in with the help of Jo, but are captured by Crowley's henchmen and fail to trap him in a Devil's Trap. However, he uses the Colt and kills his two underlings, informing the brothers he too wants Lucifer dead and spreads information about the Colt for them to find it. He realizes that after Lucifer is done destroying humanity he would eradicate demons. He gives the Colt to the brothers, and disappears, knowing he would be hunted for betraying Lucifer.

Later appearing during "The Devil You Know", he comes to the brothers as the Colt failed; having been tracking them through a magical coin, he overhears their plan to trap Lucifer with the Horsemen rings. Being on the run from demons, he offers his assistance in tracking the last two Horsemen, through their handler Brady. Sending Dean to lure Brady downstairs, they capture him. Unable to initially break Brady, Crowley goes to a known demon nest and massacres them; leaving one alive to spread the word Brady had turned against Lucifer. While successful, the demons also plant a similar tracking coin and locate their position. A hell-hound is sent after Brady, and Crowley brings his own (bigger) hellhound which battles the other and allows the brothers and two demons to escape. Brady, now a fugitive, provides the position of the Horseman Pestilence. Crowley then appears to Bobby, offering him a deal; his soul (which he will return once Lucifer is imprisoned), for Death's location.

He returns after the brothers and Castiel secure Pestilence; he admits that he wanted Bobby's soul to prevent the brothers from killing him after they stop Lucifer but restores Bobby's legs as goodwill. He reveals the final game plan for Lucifer; the promised swine flu vaccine, shipping out nationwide, is in fact the Croatoan virus, intent on infecting the country. While Castiel, Sam and Bobby take out a premature exportation, Dean and Crowley attempt to locate Death, finding him in a pizzeria.

After the demise of Lucifer, Bobby calls upon Crowley to secure the return of his soul but Crowley refuses, allowing Bobby to have ten years of life before he takes his soul. Since the downfall of Lucifer, the demons now look upon Crowley as their leader becoming The King of Hell, though Crowley finds their pragmatism and self-serving ways frustrating. Bobby, after many days of research, calls upon Crowley again, but this time with a better plan; having summoned the ghost of Crowley's son, who, hating his father as his father hated him, quickly revealed the location of Crowley's burial grounds. With Crowley held in a Devil's Trap, Dean and Sam hold the bones hostage and Crowley is forced to relieve Bobby of his contract. At the climax of "Family Matters" Crowley returns with a squad of demons, including one possessing Christian Campbell, to recapture the Alpha Vampire. He reveals that he resurrected Sam and Samuel Campbell as an investment for locating Purgatory, though he left Sam's soul in the cage as a bargaining chip. His claim about Sam's resurrection is later revealed to be false, having been orchestrated by Castiel for Dean, but he was unable to restore his soul. He later returns to Sam and Dean in the next episode, raising awareness to them of a possible Alpha Werewolf. He is later believed to have been killed by Castiel after revealing he cannot retrieve Sam's soul from the pit.

At the end of "Mommy Dearest", it is revealed that Crowley is still alive and continuing to carry out his previous torture experiments in order to find Purgatory, which contains many powerful souls. Furthermore, he is seen to be working with Castiel.

In "The Man Who Would Be King", it is revealed through flashback that Crowley approached Castiel, following the Apocalypse being averted, with a proposal that they join forces to locate Purgatory, in order to plunder it for the souls there. Crowley offers that will split the souls 50/50. He seals the deal by giving Castiel 50,000 souls from Hell. In present time, Crowley is angry that Castiel did not stop the Winchesters killing Eve, who was their key to locating Purgatory. Crowley argues that Sam and Dean should be killed, but Castiel forbids it.

When Sam, Dean and Bobby get a lead on a demon close to Crowley, Castiel kills him and the demons with him. Crowley sends more demons after Sam, Dean and Bobby but Castiel kills them. When Castiel's betrayal is revealed, the Winchesters trap Castiel in a ring of Holy Oil fire and demand the truth. Crowley sends a horde of demons, and the boys and Bobby are forced to flee. Crowley arrives and releases Castiel.

Crowley kidnaps Ben and Lisa in "Let It Bleed", in an attempt to make Dean stand down. He and Castiel then kidnap Elanor Visyak and torture her for information on how to access Purgatory and take her blood, as she is a being from Purgatory and her blood is necessary for the ritual. Castiel then reneges on his deal with Crowley, refusing to give him the souls. The demon then forms an allegiance with Raphael, agreeing to open the gates of Purgatory for the angel in exchange for his safety. When their ritual fails and Castiel arrives, more powerful than ever after accessing the souls from Purgatory, Crowley is allowed to live - as Castiel has "plans for him".

Crowley is hiding away in an angel-proof trailer when Castiel finds him. As he braces for Castiel to kill him, Castiel tells Crowley that he needs the demon to go back to being the king of Hell for balance. With no other option, Crowley accepts. He is later summoned by Sam, Dean and Bobby, and they ask him about how to bind Death. He doesn't tell them due to his new boss, but secretly sends them the ritual. When the Leviathans are released into the world, Crowley attempts to strike an alliance with the leader, Dick Roman; however, Roman is dismissive and belligerent to Crowley's offer. Consequently, Crowley holds off any demons from attacking the Winchesters in an effort to have them defeat the Leviathans. When a Crossroads Demon is making deals and then having his minion Jackson kill the people to collect their souls early, Crowley arrives after the Winchesters kill Jackson and are about to kill the Crossroads Demon. Crowley makes a deal with them: he will release the people the demon made deals with in exchange for the demon, saying what he was doing goes against everything a Crossroads Demon stands for. The Winchesters agree and Crowley takes the demon away for punishment. Due to the Winchesters' lack of progress in stopping the Leviathans, he rescinds the truce and interferes with Dean's attempt to save Sam from his Lucifer-induced insomnia. According to the Meg Masters demon, Crowley is simply biding his time for all the other major threats to be gone so he can step up to be the next one.

In "There Will Be Blood," Sam and Dean summon Crowley after learning that in order to defeat the Leviathans, they need the blood of the Ruler of Fallen Humanity which is Crowley. Crowley agrees to give them his blood after learning the reason they need it, but demands they get the other ingredients they need for their weapon first as he's worried about the blood falling into the wrong hands and being used against him. Crowley reveals that the Alpha Vampire is still alive and they can get another of the ingredients from him and as he leaves, burns the location into the table. Dick Roman later summons Crowley into a Devil's Trap, telling him they have a lot to talk about, presumably so the Winchesters can't summon him and get his blood as Dick knows they need it. In "Survival of the Fittest," Dick offers Crowley Canada in exchange for him leaving everywhere else alone and giving the Winchesters the wrong blood. After coming up with a lengthy contract, Crowley agrees. He later travels to the cabin where Sam and Dean are staying and is shocked to see Castiel and the demon Meg there. However, after realizing that Castiel is now insane, he puts off his feud with him until he regains his mind and lets Meg stay as Castiel is fond of her and he's needed to defeat Dick Roman. Crowley gives Sam and Dean a vial of his real blood, explaining his deal with Dick to them and letting them know that Castiel could be a major help in defeating Dick. After Dean kills Dick and he and Castiel get dragged to Purgatory, Crowley shows up and kidnaps Kevin, telling Sam that what happened to Dean and Castiel can sometimes happen when using what Crowley refers to as "God weapons." Crowley now plans to take over from Dick as a major threat and informs Sam that with Dick dead, the Leviathans are now disorganized and he should focus on preventing the rise of a new leader. He also has an army of demons ready to attack the remaining Leviathans in the building now that Dick is dead and finish the job.

In season eight, Crowley has discovered another Word of God tablet that will allow him to re-open the gates of Hell, but the Winchesters and Kevin have learned that the tablet also contains a ritual that would permanently seal the gates of Hell and cut off all demons from Earth. Although Crowley fails to recapture Kevin, he later manages to capture potential future prophets by torturing an angel named Samandriel who he has somehow captured, intending to kill Kevin and force the new prophet to translate the tablet for him. The return of Castiel from Purgatory allows the Winchesters to rescue the prophets, Castiel breaking the tablet in half so that he retains one part of it while Crowley flees with the other. Crowley is later summoned by the demon Viggor who he has set to torture Samandriel after Samandriel starts speaking in Enochian after the torture taps into his "operating system" and reverts him to "factory settings." Crowley personally takes over the torture, continuing even as the Winchesters and Castiel attack his base to rescue Samandriel. Just before the Winchesters break in, Samandriel reveals the existence of an angel Word of God tablet. Crowley flees with this knowledge as they enter, abandoning Viggor and Samandriel to the Winchesters. In "Goodbye Stranger," Crowley has been searching for the angel tablet in Lucifer's Crypts by torturing the locations out of Meg. After getting a call from a demon that Meg has been rescued by the Winchesters and Castiel and that everyone else is dead, Crowley kills the demon and goes after the crypt himself. Finding Sam and Meg, Crowley faces off against Meg who stays to buy Sam, Dean and Castiel the time they need. Crowley tries to convince Meg to turn on the Winchesters as they are trying to seal all demons in Hell and kill him, but she is sold on the idea as he will be dead and they fight. Crowley overpowers Meg, but they spot Sam and Dean escaping and realize that Castiel is in the wind with the tablet. Taunting him about this, Meg stabs Crowley in the shoulder with an angel sword. Enraged, Crowley stabs Meg with an angel sword of his own, killing her. Crowley checks the crypt where he meets with Naomi who it is indicated he had a sexual relationship with in the past. Naomi tells him that Castiel is doing what he is supposed to do: protect the angel tablet from all threats, apparently even if that means her. Crowley starts to offer her a deal, but Naomi disappears in the middle, annoying him as that's what he usually does. In "Taxi Driver," Crowley learns from one of his minions that rogue Reaper Ajay is taking Sam to Hell and interrogates him about it. After learning everything, Crowley kills Ajay with an angel sword so he can't bring Sam back. Putting everything together along with the fact that he apparently has the half of the demon tablet that is useless, Crowley realizes that Sam and Dean are trying to close the Gates of Hell and follows Dean to the 100-mile Wilderness in Maine where he blocks Bobby's soul from traveling to Heaven, intending to take it back to Hell. Crowley stops Sam and Dean from interfering, but Naomi steps in and scares him off before releasing Bobby to Heaven. Kevin Tran is shown later painting demon warding symbols on the inside of the boat he lives in, he hears Crowley in his head telling him he has found him. The windows explode inwards and Crowley tells Kevin he found him via torturing Linda Tran, Kevin's mother, and when she didn't break, taking the information from her phone after killing her. The Winchesters arrive later to the boat to find it devoid of Kevin and his research. In "The Great Escapist," Crowley has Kevin trapped in an illusion of Garth's houseboat and uses two demons pretending to be Sam and Dean to trick Kevin into translating his half of the demon tablet. After learning from the angel Ion where Castiel is, Crowley attacks the angels there, killing one with a gun loaded with bullets made of a melted-down angel sword and forces Naomi to retreat. Crowley shoots Castiel and retrieves the angel tablet from where he has realized it is: inside of Castiel, but leaves when he learns that Kevin has figured out the truth. Crowley confronts Kevin who refuses to reveal more than the fact that Crowley has no idea the power he could've gotten from the demon tablet. Not caring as he has the angel tablet and many deals in the works that will somehow get him power, Crowley strangles Kevin, but he is rescued by the angel Metatron who leaves Crowley's face burned. Unknown to him, Kevin took with him Crowley's half of the demon tablet. In "Clip Show," Crowley begins killing people that Sam and Dean have saved, using the Supernatural books to learn who they are in order to force Sam and Dean to surrender the tablet and give up the trials by threatening to undo all of the good they have done over the years. He also uses spells to do the job as he wants to keep his demons away from Sam and Dean in case they need one for the third trial. In "Sacrifice," Crowley goes on a date with Jody Mills and starts killing her when Sam and Dean contact him. He demands their surrender, an end to the trials and the demon tablet in exchange and they finally agree on the condition that he trade the angel tablet. Meeting at Bobby's old salvage yard, Crowley pulls out a long contract after they each show each other their tablet, but Dean demands to examine it first. Dean finds it satisfactory, but suddenly puts handcuffs on Crowley with a Devil's Trap painted on them, capturing him. Sam and Dean take Crowley to an abandoned church where Sam starts the ritual to cure him of being a demon as the third trial. After biting Sam, Crowley uses his blood to call for help and Abaddon shows up, but she wants to take over Hell herself and Crowley is helpless to stop her. Luckily, Sam manages to force Abaddon to flee and gets back to work. As time goes on, Crowley starts showing human emotion, saying he just wants to be loved and wondering how he can even begin to ask forgiveness. He willingly goes along with the cure, but before Sam can finish, Dean arrives and reveals completing the trial will kill Sam and gets him to stop. When Sam collapses, he and Dean leave Crowley, still bound by the Devil's Trap and Crowley watches as all the angels fall to Earth.

In "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here," Dean has imprisoned Crowley in the Impala's trunk for safe keeping. When he's desperate to save Sam, he decides to turn to Crowley for help, asking him to knock on the trunk to say he's still alive. Crowley doesn't at first, but eventually does. However, before Dean can do any more, he's interrupted by a hostile angel. In "Devil May Care," a captive Crowley is imprisoned in the Men of Letters' bunker's basement where Sam and Dean demand the names of all the demons on Earth and lock him away in the dark when he refuses. When Kevin enters the next room, Crowley taunts him, causing Kevin to beat him with a sledgehammer. Crowley then claims that he never killed Kevin's mother and that he will lead Kevin to her if he frees him, saying also that the Winchesters are just using him. Kevin doesn't release him and when Sam and Dean return, Crowley gives them the names of two demons and offers a deal for the rest: if the Winchesters help him with what he wants, he will give them everything they want. He also tells them about Kevin and Sam goes to check on the names while Dean goes to stop Kevin from leaving. In "Slumber Party," Sam and Dean try to get more demon names out of him to no avail. He is later approached by the Wicked Witch of the West for information on the location of the Key to Oz and he tells her to look in the kitchen, later telling Sam and Dean this in exchange for being allowed to stretch his legs. After the threat is over, Sam ties him up again and leaves him a paper and crayon to give them more names. In "Heaven Can't Wait," needing help translating Elamite cuneiform, Sam and Kevin approach Crowley who agrees on the condition he be allowed to call Abaddon first. After proving he can read the writing, Crowley calls Abaddon and is outraged to learn that she is going back on all his deals and collecting the souls early, warning her that Hell won't work in such a chaotic state. After Abaddon hangs up, Crowley keeps up his end of the deal and tells Sam and Kevin that the writing says the spell is irreversible. He is later seen injecting himself with Kevin's blood for an unknown reason. In "Road Trip," desperate to separate Sam from the angel Gadreel who is possessing him so Sam can expel him, Dean makes a deal with Crowley: help save Sam and he'll give him his freedom. Despite Crowley's best efforts, he is unable to separate Sam and Gadreel so he possesses Sam himself, allowing him to appear in Sam's mind and communicate with him. Crowley convinces Sam of the truth and helps him expel Gadreel at which time Crowley returns to his usual body. Abaddon arrives to kill him and Crowley stays behind to buy Sam, Dean and Castiel time to escape. Crowley confronts Abaddon, telling her that he will fight her for control of Hell and telling her demons to tell other demons about it and his return before disappearing. Crowley enlists Dean's help in "First Born" to locate the First Blade, the only weapon that can kill Abaddon. Dean reluctantly works with Crowley and they track down Cain, the creator of the blade. Cain is able to easily incapacitate Crowley and refuses to give them the weapon. When demons attack, Crowley kills one while Dean kills the other, secretly using Dean to get the blade as Cain would never give it to him. Crowley also doesn't reveal that it was actually Cain who killed the Knights. Cain gives Dean the Mark of Cain and the location of the blade before sending Dean and Crowley to safety while he takes on a demon army. Dean realizes that Crowley used him and promises to kill him when he's done with Abaddon, but for the time being Dean is forced to work with Crowley as he is the only one who can locate the First Blade which is at the bottom of the ocean. In "Blade Runners," Crowley has gotten addicted to human blood and is betrayed by the demon supplying him to Abaddon, causing him to call in Sam and Dean. Sam and Dean force him to sober up then join him in the search for the First Blade which was found in the Marianas Trench by an unmanned submarine before Crowley could get to it and passed among various owners since then. Working together, the three track the Blade to a former Man of Letters calling himself Magnus. When Sam and Dean get captured, Crowley frees Dean who kills Magnus with the Blade, but Crowley takes it from them, knowing they will likely want to use it on him. Crowley agrees to give them the Blade when they have found Abaddon and disappears. In "Mother's Little Helper," Crowley approaches Dean after he calls him and hangs up, trying to get him to embrace his violent side that the First Blade brings out. Dean refuses and while Crowley is in the bathroom, saves him from being attacked by a young hunter named Jake. Dean accuses Crowley of shooting up more human blood which he doesn't deny, but its revealed that the ambush by Jake was a test as Jake was actually a demon who was working for Crowley. Crowley is pleased by the outcome and declares that Dean is now "ready." In "King of the Damned," Crowley's war with Abaddon is going badly as even his most loyal lieutenants betray him to her. Abaddon brings Crowley's son Gavin forward in time to use as leverage against Crowley, torturing him to the point that Crowley's new human emotions won't let it go on anymore. Crowley agrees to Abaddon's offer to destroy the Winchesters then go back to fighting each other. Crowley gives Sam and Dean the location of the First Blade, claiming to have found Abaddon and bonds with his son, giving him the ability to read which he previously lacked. After calling off a hellhound so the Winchesters can get the First Blade, Crowley tells them where to find him but uses the code word "Poughkeepsie" to warn Dean its a trap. Not wanting Crowley to interfere in the coming fight, Abaddon incapacitates him with a devil's trap bullet, telling him she will kill him and his son once the Winchesters are gone. When Dean arrives, Crowley warns him of an ambush by another demon and helplessly watches as Dean and Abaddon battle it out. After Dean manages to kill Abaddon thanks to the power of the Mark of Cain, the Winchesters spare Crowley who is annoyed when they don't help him dig the bullet out of his shoulder and amused to realize that Dean lied to Sam. When the Winchesters insist on returning Gavin to his own time despite his destiny to die soon afterwards, Crowley's human emotions get the better of him and he takes him away to start a new life. In "Do You Believe in Miracles?", with Abaddon dead, Crowley has reclaimed full rule of Hell and is summoned by Dean to free him from the Bunker's dungeon and help track down Metatron. Crowley also explains that the Mark will affect him badly the less he kills until he dies as a consequence of its power and that Cain survived as he's a demon. Eventually Dean sends Crowley away after Sam agrees to help him and after Dean is killed by Metatron, Sam attempts to summon Crowley to make a deal to bring him back, not knowing Crowley is already in the Bunker. Crowley speaks to Dean's corpse, telling him of how Cain also didn't want to be burdened by the Mark and killed himself to avoid becoming a monster but the Mark wouldn't let him go. Crowley, telling Dean he didn't expect this to happen, places the First Blade in Dean's hand and encourages him to open his eyes and embrace a new type of life. Following Crowley's instructions, Dean comes back to life as a demon.

Lilith

Main article: Lilith (Supernatural)

Meg Masters

Main article: Meg Masters

Ruby

Main article: Ruby (Supernatural)

Hunters

Hunters are men and women who spend their lives hunting supernatural creatures and attempting to save those affected by these creatures. Most appear to have had some kind of negative encounter with the supernatural (for example a relative being killed by demons, a spouse being possessed by a demon, or a sibling being turned by a vampire), which prompts them to become hunters. While hunters, by their nature, operate 'off-the-grid' (typically hunters support themselves via credit card fraud, although some have been shown to have actual jobs, such as the Singer Salvage Yard), there are, nevertheless, hunter communities that meet and interact with each other to exchange information and stories; the Harvelle Roadhouse was one such location until it was burnt down. Typically, hunters find cases by consulting newspapers to track down information about suspicious deaths in certain areas. Some cases come about thanks to contact with people they knew before becoming hunters or contact with people they helped during previous hunts who turn to them for their expertise. Some hunters are shown to have particular targets, such as Sam and Dean's initial hunts in the show's first two seasons focusing on tracking the Yellow Eyed Demon who killed Dean and Sam's parents, or Gordon Walker 'specializing' in hunting vampires.

Charlie Bradbury

Charlie (played by Felicia Day) first crosses paths with Sam and Dean when working as an I.T. expert at Richard Roman Enterprises. She is initially reluctant to get involved in the supernatural world by helping the Winchesters, but becomes a more reliable ally in her second episode and has decided to become a hunter herself by her fourth episode. She quickly a friend and even a surrogate little sister to the Winchesters. By the end of "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo", it is revealed that her real name is not Charlie Bradbury but merely one of her aliases, and that she has had to go into hiding before. "Pac-Man Fever" delves into her past and it is indicated that "Charlie's" true surname is Middleton.

Charlie's first appearance is in the season seven episode "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo", where Dick Roman asks her to decrypt Frank Devereaux's hard drive. Once she succeeds, she starts reading files describing the Leviathans and their activities, including their connection to Dick Roman. Although she doesn't believe it at first, she realizes the truth when she witnesses a leviathan eat her supervisor and shapeshift to replace him—something Dick explains they cannot do to Charlie, as she possesses a rare "spark" that can't be perfectly replicated. Sam and Dean recruit a terrified Charlie to retrieve Frank's hard drive to protect the information there, as well as to break into Dick's office and hack his emails to gain information for their side. She does so, which alerts Sam and Dean to a secret package meant for Dick which they then steal (the package is later revealed to hold the secret to defeating the leviathan). She is nearly killed when Dick realizes her duplicity, but is saved by Bobby's ghost holding the leviathan off—breaking Charlie's arm in the process—whilst Sam and Dean arrive and rescue her. She leaves after telling Sam and Dean not to contact her again.

Charlie reappears in the season eight episode "LARP and the Real Girl". Now under a different alias, she is the queen of one of four kingdoms of the LARPing game of Moondoor. When two of her "subjects" are killed, it draws Sam and Dean's attention and they head to Moondoor. Charlie's initial reaction is to flee and start a new life again, fearing that she will once more become a target for monsters. After learning why Sam and Dean are there, she agrees to help them investigate the deaths and other mysterious injuries that have happened. Charlie is eventually captured by a good fairy named Gilda who has kidnapped her on her master's orders. Charlie is instantly smitten with Gilda. Dean, Sam and Gerry eventually find Charlie with help from the "prisoner", only to find that she is making out with Gilda. It is revealed that Gerry is Gilda's master; he has unrequited feelings for Charlie and has bought a spellbook with which to control Gilda and force her to kill other players as part of a scheme to make Charlie fall in love with him. Charlie eventually destroys the book to set Gilda free and render Gerry powerless. Afterward, she and Gilda share a goodbye kiss before Gilda returns to her world with Gerry to have Gerry punished. Charlie decides to stop running and changing her identity and to stay and make a life for once. She tells Sam and Dean to call her if they ever need her help again. The three of them participate in a mock battle between their group and the other LARPers, which Charlie's side wins. Charlie's backstory is explored when she returns in "Pac-Man Fever" to give Sam and Dean a case. After she proves to be an excellent shot, Dean takes her as his (temporary) partner instead of Sam, who has become increasingly ill from the trials. Charlie is eventually captured by the creature they are hunting, a type of djinn, who poisons Charlie and places her in a nightmare from which she won't wake up from. In her nightmare, she is trapped in a video game she stole as a kid, recreated, and gave out for free, and where she must endlessly protect her hospitalized mother from super-soldier vampires. It is revealed that her parents had been involved in a car accident when driving over to pick Charlie up from a sleepover, resulting in her father dying and her mother rendered brain-dead. Charlie has been paying for the care of her mother, whom she refuses to let go due to her feelings of guilt over the accident. When Dean takes a potion to enter her nightmare himself to save her, he convinces Charlie that she must let her mother go in order to move on. She then wakes up and in the episode's last scene, takes Dean's advice by having her mother taken off of life-support after reading The Hobbit aloud to her like her mother did to Charlie as a little girl.

Charlie is called in by the Winchesters for help in the ninth season episode "Slumber Party" in order to reconfigure an ancient computer at the Men of Letters' bunker. A childhood fan of L. Frank Baum's Oz books, Charlie is excited when the real Dorothy is found in the bunker. The group works together to try to find a way to defeat The Wicked Witch of the West. Charlie dies to protect Dean from the Witch, but he has Gadreel bring her back to life and tells her that she had only been knocked out, though she learns the truth anyway from Dorothy; Charlie later agrees to keep her death and subsequent resurrection a secret from Sam so long as Dean agrees to one day explain what had really happened. Charlie and Dorothy eventually devise a way to kill the Witch, but are attacked by Sam and Dean, who are both possessed by the Witch. While Dorothy holds the brothers off, Charlie finds and kills the Witch by stabbing in the head with Oz's famous ruby slippers before the Witch can let her army in through a portal to Oz. When Dorothy extends an offer to Charlie to come with her to Oz, Charlie jumps at the prospect of finally getting the kind of magic and adventure she wants. After bidding their goodbyes to the brothers, Charlie and Dorothy cross over to Oz, leaving Sam and Dean to speculate if and when they will come back.

Gwen Campbell

Gwen Campbell, portrayed by Jessica Heafey, is a hunter and third cousin related to Sam and Dean's mother's side of the family. When Sam re-enters Dean's life in "Exile on Main Street", he reveals that he has been back for a year and hunting with the Campbells, including Gwen. She and the others assist the brothers in defeating a Djinn. Gwen is present at the compound in "Two and a Half Men" when the brothers arrive with a baby Shapeshifter, and is overpowered, along with the others, when the Alpha Shapeshifter arrives. When hunting the Alpha Vampire in "Family Matters", she is ordered to stay behind and flush out any stragglers with Dean. She and Dean fight well together, and she covers for Dean when he disobeys orders. However, she sides with Samuel at the end of the episode when she holds the Winchesters at gunpoint, and follows him even when it is revealed that he has been working for Crowley. She is next seen in "...And Then There Were None", hunting with Samuel. While investigating a series of murders, they encounter Bobby, Rufus, Sam and Dean. Gwen tells Dean that she did not know that Samuel had betrayed them to Crowley. The creature responsible for the deaths—dubbed the Khan Worm—infects Dean, who kills Gwen.

Samuel Campbell

Samuel Campbell, portrayed by Mitch Pileggi, is the maternal grandfather of Sam and Dean Winchester and Sam Winchester's namesake. He and his wife Deanna are revealed to be hunters in the fourth season episode "In the Beginning", where Dean is transported back in time. Dean discovers that Samuel is being possessed by Azazel, and he dies when Azazel leaves his body.

In the sixth season premiere, it is revealed that Samuel was brought down from Heaven at the same time Sam was resurrected from Hell. While he claims to have no idea why he was brought back, he, Sam and the other surviving members of the Campbell family are shown to be capturing dangerous supernatural creatures behind Dean's back, instead of killing them.

Samuel, who knows the cure to vampirism, returns during a string of vampire attacks in Limestone, Illinois, after Dean has been turned into a vampire. Knowing that Sam knew about the cure, as well, he concludes that Sam wanted Dean inside the nest to locate the Alpha Vampire, though Sam denies it.

It is later revealed that Samuel was resurrected by Crowley, and working with him in an attempt to find the location of Purgatory—the afterlife for monsters—in exchange for his daughter's resurrection. After Samuel betrayed the Winchesters when they attempted to kill Crowley, claiming that Mary was the only family that mattered to him, Dean vows to kill his grandfather the next time they meet.

A case he worked during his year spent hunting with Sam is seen in the episode, "Unforgiven", during which Samuel was shown to be disturbed at soulless-Sam's actions, using one of their current allies as bait to trap a monster.

In "...And Then There Were None", Samuel and Gwen encounter Sam, Dean, Rufus, and Bobby as they all investigate the same case. Sam prevents Dean from killing Samuel, feeling that he may be of some use yet. Gwen reveals that she was unaware of Samuel's betrayal but is killed by Dean, who is possessed by the Khan worm. Samuel is unapologetic when confronted by the brothers, and it is subsequently revealed that he was possessed by the Khan worm and is shot dead by Sam. However, the Khan worm is not killed and uses his body to attack the group, but is driven out of Samuel when Bobby throws him against a live wire, electrocuting him and revealing the Khan worm's weakness.

Samuel Colt

Based on the historical gun maker of the same name, Samuel Colt is a hunter who lived in the 19th century and the creator of the Colt—a gun that can kill almost any supernatural being; Lucifer revealed that he is one of five supernatural beings immune to its powers. Colt also designed the locked door that keeps the portal to Hell known as the Devil's Gate from opening. The Devil's Gate and the Colt gun are linked together—the gun serves as the key to the gate, allowing it to be opened by inserting the Colt's muzzle into the key hole. Colt also built a railroad of iron, in the shape of a pentagram with a church at each of the points, around the devil's gate to further ensure that it was demon-proof. Colt was portrayed by Sam Hennings in the season six episode "Frontierland". Sam and Dean, when looking for a method of destroying Eve, come across Colt's journal which reveals that the hunter had killed a phoenix in 1861. As the ashes of a phoenix are needed to kill Eve, Castiel sends Sam and Dean back in time to retrieve them. Although Samuel is initially reluctant to assist Sam, he eventually gives him the Colt which Dean kills the phoenix with. When Sam and Dean are pulled back to the present day without the ashes, it is revealed that Colt sent a courier package 150 years ago containing the ashes, which arrives at Bobby's door. He was able to figure out how to use Sam's cell phone, which he left behind (and which Colt sent back to him), and learned the date and Bobby's address from it.

Garth Fitzgerald IV

Garth Fitzgerald IV, portrayed by DJ Qualls, is a hunter who generally works alone, although he has teamed up with the Winchester brothers on two occasions. Since Bobby's death and Sam and Dean's subsequent year-long absence, he has taken on Bobby's role as hunter coordinator, although he remains mobile where Bobby maintained a 'home base', carrying various cell phones around with him; he has even started wearing Bobby's hat and attempting to imitate Bobby's old phrases, although this has met with variable success. As part of this, he has started to track hunters via the GPS in their cell phones and assign them cases, something that creeps Sam out but Dean says is "very Bobby." Garth eventually disappears sometime after "Taxi Driver" and is found by Sam and Dean in "Sharp Teeth" where he reveals that he was turned into a werewolf on a hunt two months before his disappearance and hid it. Garth has joined a pack of werewolves that peacefully coexist with humans and married one named Bess. After Sam and Dean find him, he introduces them to the pack and tries to convince them that everything is fine, however, members of the pack worship Fenris and want to rule over humanity. To this end, they kidnap, Garth, Bess and Sam, planning to murder Garth and Bess and frame Sam and Dean to goad the pack into returning to their old beliefs and bring about Ragnarok. Before the plot can be carried out, Dean comes to their rescue and kills the three werewolves involved. In the aftermath, Garth, who is upset to learn of Kevin's death and blames himself as he wasn't there for him, offers to return to hunting using his new powers to help fight. However, Dean recognizes that not all of the werewolves were bad and tells Garth to stay with his new family where he has found happiness.

Ellen Harvelle

Main article: Ellen Harvelle

Jo Harvelle

Main article: Jo Harvelle

Sheriff Jody Mills

Jody, portrayed by Kim Rhodes, is the sheriff in Bobby's hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She originally had quite a hostile relationship with "town drunk" Bobby. However, when the town's deceased, including the sheriff's son and Bobby's wife, rise in "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", this changes her perspective on him. She attempts to prevent Sam and Dean from investigating, but when her son kills her husband she works with Sam to kill the remaining zombies. In "Weekend at Bobby's", Jody shows up with an FBI agent looking for Rufus Turner. She attempts to distract the agent and later in the episode extradites Rufus so he can escape custody and assist Bobby in retrieving his soul. Jody is recovering from an appendectomy in Sioux Falls General, in "Hello, Cruel World" when the Leviathans take control. She informs Bobby and he rescues her. Jody accidentally and unintentionally aids Bobby into discovering the one thing (Sodium Borax) that brings severe harm to the Leviathans in "Slash Fiction". She also starts developing an attraction towards Bobby. She later contacts the Winchesters in "Time After Time" to warn them about supernatural killings she's gotten wind of and teams up with Sam to bring Dean back to the present. She is referred to in "There Will Be Blood" when Sam and Dean give her number to a girl named Emily who was kidnapped by vampires twelve years before, telling her to call Jody if they don't come back and that Jody would take care of her. In "Sacrifice," Jody goes on a date with what she thinks is a man named Roderick, but is actually Crowley. He reminds her of her dead son and husband and she starts crying and goes into the bathroom to calm down. Crowley casts a spell to make her start choking on her own blood and uses her fast running out time to force Sam and Dean to agree to a deal: stop the trials and exchange the demon tablet for the angel tablet. Once they agree and surrender, Crowley lets Jody live. Jody returns in "Rock and a Hard Place" where she calls Sam and Dean about a bunch of mysterious disappearances of virgins in Hartford, South Dakota. She works the case with Sam and figures out that they are dealing with Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth. Jody helps Sam figure out where the kidnapped Dean is and when they need the blood of a virgin to kill Vesta, Jody punches one in the nose to get the blood when she refuses to help. During the confrontation with Vesta, Jody uses her knowledge of the goddess' true nature to catch her off guard and tries to kill her while she is distracted. Jody fails and is non-fatally wounded thanks to Sam, but kills Vesta from behind while she is distracted talking to Sam. Sam and Jody rescue Dean and the other surviving victims and Jody, who has her arm in a sling from her injury, thanks Sam and Dean before leaving. In "Alex Annie Alexis Ann," Jody saves a young woman named Alex from a vampire and calls Sam and Dean for help. Knowing there will be more vampires coming for Alex, Jody takes Alex to her family cabin to protect her while Sam and Dean hunt the nest. That night, Dean calls Jody to warn her about Alex and the fact that the nest are coming, but it is too late as the vampires arrive, having beaten the location out of Jody's deputy Frank. They knock Jody out and flee back to their nest in Nebraska. In the morning Sam and Dean return and warn Jody that Alex acts a lure for victims for the nest and that they intent to raid the nest and kill all the vampires, Alex included if needed. Jody insists on going with them and at the nest finds Alex who has been turned into a vampire. Jody is knocked out by the "mother" of the "family" of vampires, Celia, who tries to get Alex to feed on her. Jody, admitting that she sees Alex as a way to deal with her family's loss, realizes that Celia kidnapped Alex for similar reasons: she lost a daughter of her own and tried to replace her. Celia admits it, but tries to kill Jody. Jody is saved by Alex who injects Celia with dead man's blood. Telling Alex to turn away, Jody decapitates Celia and is joined by Sam and Dean who took care of the other vampires. As Alex didn't feed, Sam and Dean are able to cure her and Jody decides to take care of Alex as she has no family left. Jody promises to be there for Alex and offers understanding at Alex having lost her whole family, having gone through it herself, something Alex understands and acknowledges.

Bobby Singer

Main article: Bobby Singer

Rufus Turner

Rufus Turner, portrayed by Steven Williams, is semi-retired hunter who helped Bobby Singer when his wife, Karen Singer, was possessed by a demon. Rufus exorcised the demon and helped cover up Karen's death. It is Rufus who introduced Bobby to the world of the supernatural, and they hunted together for many years until a hunt went wrong in Omaha, Nebraska, and someone important to Rufus died. They became estranged after this. Fifteen years later, Rufus responds to Bobby's request for information on Bela Talbot and helps Dean locate her in "Time Is On My Side." He returns to active hunting after Lucifer rises and the Apocalypse begins.

Rufus is introduced in the third season episode "Time Is on My Side" when Bobby, who has not heard from Rufus in about 15 years, receives a phone call in which Rufus alerts him to the whereabouts of Bela Talbot. Dean visits Rufus, even though Sam opposes the idea of hunting for Bela, as they have only a couple of weeks until Dean's deal runs out. Rufus presents Dean with a manila folder on Bela, which gives Dean new and interesting details from her past.

Rufus appears off-screen in "When the Levee Breaks", when he calls Bobby with news of more of the 66 Seals being broken.

In "Good God Y'All", Rufus heads to a town he thinks is under attack from demons, based on omens of a polluted river and a falling star. He calls Ellen, Jo, and Bobby for help. When Sam and Dean arrive, he and Jo have been separated from Ellen. Jo and Rufus capture Sam, thinking he is possessed. Later, Ellen and Dean are able to help break the spell War has over them. Bobby talks on the phone to Rufus about omens that may indicate the appearance of Death, in "The Devil You Know".

In "Weekend at Bobby's", Rufus arrives at Singer Salvage Yard to dispose of the body of an apparently dead Okami. Bobby assists him and helps him evade capture by the FBI. However, the Okami is revealed to still be alive and is subsequently dispatched by Bobby. Afterward, Rufus uses his contacts to uncover information on Crowley's life as a human and later steals a signet ring from a museum which once belonged to Crowley's son as part of Bobby's attempt to regain his soul from the demon. Rufus investigates the same case as the Winchesters and Bobby, in "...And Then There Were None". The group later encounters Samuel and Gwen Campbell, and discover that the monster is a new breed created by Eve, the "Khan Worm." After Gwen and Samuel are killed, Rufus is stabbed by a possessed Bobby. As cremation is not undertaken in the Jewish tradition, Rufus is buried in a Jewish cemetery rather than given a Hunter's funeral pyre. Bobby pours some of Rufus' favorite drink—Johnnie Walker Blue Label—on the grave before taking a drink himself.

After becoming comatose from being shot in the head by Dick Roman, Bobby relives various memories of Sam, Dean, Karen, his family, and Rufus. Remembering Rufus has a traumatic effect on Bobby, and he reveals to Rufus that he is just a memory appearing in Bobby's comatose mind. While initially disbelieving, Rufus accompanies Bobby in a quest through the past in which Bobby confronts his worst memories to momentarily recover from his gunshot wound.

Gordon Walker

Gordon Walker, portrayed by Sterling K. Brown, is a vampire hunter whose methods often put him at odds with the Winchester brothers. Gordon focuses on eliminating the supernatural simply because it isn't human, where the Winchesters—particularly as the series develops—are more willing to tolerate supernatural entities that are not actively killing humans. Gordon takes pleasure in considering himself a killer who freely resorts to torture, where Sam and Dean regard themselves as Hunters who only kill when they must and do nothing to their enemies that the situation doesn't force upon them.

When Gordon 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 who had taken his sister. He killed the vampire, and 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. Ellen described him as a skilled hunter in the sense that Hannibal Lecter is a good psychiatrist, being good at his job but dangerous to everyone else around him.

Gordon is introduced in the episode "Bloodlust", meeting up with Sam and Dean while hunting a nest of vampires. At first, Dean bonds with Gordon, but Gordon proves himself to be bloodthirsty and sadistic as he tortures one of the captured vampires, even though he knows these particular vampires feed off cattle blood and do not kill humans. After Gordon tries to force one of the vampires to drink Sam's blood while torturing her with dead man's blood, Dean, seeing the vampire resist the urge, ends up beating Gordon in a fight and leaves Gordon 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- another of the 'special children'- and then tracks Sam down and tries to kill him, convinced that Sam and those like him are 'traitors' to humanity. However, Dean intervenes, and, after a scuffle, Gordon knocks Dean out, ties him up, and uses him as bait to catch Sam in a booby trap of 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, based on an anonymous tip from Sam, and find his 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, convinced that Sam was involved in the opening of the Devil's Trap regardless of Bobby's claims that Sam was actually trying to stop it. 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 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 razor wire.

According to series creator Eric Kripke, Gordon was originally going to learn about the hunter 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.

Dean Winchester

Main article: Dean Winchester

John Winchester

Main article: John Winchester (Supernatural)

Mary Winchester

Mary Winchester (née Campbell) regularly portrayed by Samantha Smith but depicted by Amy Gumenick in the time-travel episodes "In the Beginning" and "The Song Remains the Same", is the wife of John Winchester and mother of Sam and Dean. She was born in 1954. Her parents, Samuel and Deanna Campbell, were hunters, and she was raised into a life of hunting. Dean, 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 (a non-hunter unaware of Mary's hunter lifestyle), 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, leaving the life of a hunter, and giving birth to Dean and Sam.

In the pilot episode, it is revealed that six months after Sam's birth in 1983, Mary was awakened by sounds of him crying in his crib. She discovered 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 2007-08 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 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 in the years since her death, although the reasons for this are never explained.

It is revealed in "Dark Side of the Moon" that Mary, like her husband John and fellow Hunters Ellen and Jo Harvelle, cannot be found in Heaven or Hell, making their current whereabouts unknown.

Sam Winchester

Main article: Sam Winchester

Other humans

Ash

Ash, portrayed by Chad Lindberg, is a mullet-wearing computer genius, who works and lives at Harvelle's Roadhouse 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 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 Ash's corpse (identified by his distinctive watch) in the rubble.

Series creator Eric Kripke stated that Ash's 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." This comes to fruition in the fifth season episode "Dark Side of the Moon", in which Sam and Dean meet Ash in Heaven. Enjoying the afterlife more than his actual life, and having discovered means to infiltrate other people's Heavens and tap into the angel's communications, Ash helps the brothers hide from Zachariah.

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. In "Dark Side of the Moon", the Winchester brothers encounter Pamela in Heaven, who is happy residing in her own private paradise.

Ben Braeden

Ben Braeden is the son of Lisa Braeden, a woman Dean once spent a weekend with in August 1999, portrayed by Nicholas Elia. Lisa and Ben live in Cicero, Indiana. Though Dean suspects he is Ben's biological father, Lisa confirms that this is not so.

Dean drops in to visit Lisa in "The Kids Are Alright", while investigating a case. This is also Ben's 8th birthday. Dean meets Ben and is struck by his familiar rock-music loving, girl ogling ways, but Lisa assures Dean that he is not Ben's father. Later Dean helps Ben out in an encounter with some bullies. Although his advice, to "kick the kid in the nuts," does not get Lisa's approval, Ben hugs Dean in thanks. Later Ben is one of the children taken by a mother Changeling, and one of her offspring imitates Ben and starts feeding on Lisa. Dean and Sam rescue all the children and kill the head Changeling, destroying the imitation Ben. Dean is impressed by Ben's cool headed behavior during the rescue, having put Ben in charge of helping the other children out a window.

When Dean returns to Lisa after the showdown in Stull Cemetery, in "Swan Song", Ben is seen at the dinner table.

Dean lives with Lisa and Ben for a year, but after an attack he insists they move and is conflicted by his desire to remain with his new family, his desire to hunt and the fear that he is raising Ben as his father raised him. Eventually, Lisa lets him go in "Two and a Half Men". Dean talks to Ben on the phone in "The Third Man". After believing he is about to die after having been turned into a vampire in "Live Free or Twi-Hard", Dean returns to say goodbye. However, he struggles to control his vampiric urges and shoves Ben and flees. Ben tricks Dean into returning once more in "Mannequin 3: The Reckoning"; however, he fails to reconcile with Lisa and Dean explains to Ben that he fears that if he stayed around, Ben would end up like him. Ben is still upset and accuses Dean of abandoning his family. Ben and Lisa are kidnapped by the demon Crowley, in "Let It Bleed", in an attempt to force Dean to stand down. After they are rescued, Dean asks Castiel to wipe his and his mother's memories of him.

Lisa Braeden

Lisa Braeden, portrayed by Cindy Sampson, is a woman Dean spent a weekend with circa 1999. In the third season, Dean decides to revisit Lisa while he is investigating some suspicious deaths that took place nearby. He discovers she has an eight-year-old son named Ben, who shares Dean's cocky attitude and love of classic rock. Dean becomes suspicious Ben might be his child, though he is later assured by Lisa he is not. After Ben is kidnapped by a changeling who committed the murders, Lisa becomes aware of Sam and Dean's work. After Sam and Dean rescue Ben, Lisa indicates she'd like Dean to stay for a while, but he regretfully declines. In season five Dean goes to Lisa and tells her, when he is preparing to become Michael's vessel, whenever he pictures himself in a normal happy life, it's with Lisa and Ben. He warns her there will be danger coming but he will make sure she and Ben are protected. Lisa urges him to reconsider doing whatever he's planning on doing, and urges him to stay and have a beer. However, Dean refuses and leaves.

After Sam and Dean decide to go and confront Lucifer, Sam tells Dean he cannot try to save him, and he should go and live a normal life with Lisa. After Sam is locked in Lucifer's cage he keeps his promise to Sam arriving at Lisa's house. Sensing something has happened, Lisa comforts Dean as he breaks down in her arms. In the closing moments of the episode, Dean is having dinner with Lisa and Ben as Sam watches from outside. In the sixth season, she is shown living with Dean and takes Ben to stay with Bobby when Dean must go hunting again. After the local threat had passed, Dean moved them again, but had to return once Sam needed help with a string of shapeshifter attacks. Lisa admits that she knows he can no longer be always there for them, and lets him go, as long as he could return now and then to see them. This does not last; when Dean was turned to a vampire, believing he was to be killed, he went to see Lisa and Ben, but could not control his vampiric hunger and fled, but not before striking Ben. Lisa was furious and took off with Ben. Later, she called him while he was under the influence of Veritas, she was forced to admit that she was jealous of Sam because he had returned and she wanted to be the most important person in Dean's life. She is next seen in "Mannequin 3: The Reckoning", after Ben tricks Dean into returning. However, they fail to reconcile their differences. Crowley kidnaps Lisa and Ben in an attempt to force Dean to stand down in his pursuit of the demon and Castiel. Lisa is possessed by a demon and fatally wounded during the rescue attempt by Sam and Dean. Castiel heals Lisa and, at Dean's request, wipes her and Ben's memories of Dean. Dean later asks Sam to never mention Lisa or Ben to him again.

Frank Devereaux

Frank Devereaux, portrayed by Kevin R. McNally, is an expert in counterfeit documents and in avoiding government intelligence. He was first introduced in the sixth episode of the seventh season, "Slash Fiction". It's revealed in the eleventh episode, "Adventures In Babysitting", that when he was 26, his wife and two children were killed. Sometime after that, he met Bobby Singer, who once saved his life in Port Huron. Frank lives in a run-down, electronics filled house on a little traveled street. He describes himself as 'bi-polar with delusional ideation'.

Bobby sent the Winchester to see Frank when two Leviathans begun a series of killings throughout the country, masquerading as the brothers. When Sam and Dean entered Frank's house, and he was waiting in the dark with a shotgun. He was prepared to shoot them, but because he owes Bobby he agrees to help them. At first, Frank believes that Leviathan Sam and Leviathan Dean are clones created by the government. Frank advises that the boys go into hiding, maybe even move to Cuba, but Dean says they need to go "further off the grid, but keep us on the board" so they can hunt down the Leviathans. He tells them that they need to keep a lower profile, avoid security cameras, and to get rid of their rockstar aliases, which are too easy to track. He smashes Sam's laptop, gives him a new one, and demands $5000 for it. He then takes their pictures for new IDs as Tom and John Smith and gives them a map of the towns their Leviathan doppelgangers have hit so far.

In "Adventures in Babysitting", Dean gives to Frank the numbers "45489" which Bobby wrote on Sam's hand before he died, and also asked him to research Dick Roman. Having not heard from him over a month, Dean returns to Frank's house to find it deserted. Frank suddenly appears, confronts Dean, and they both have to shed some blood to prove to the other they are not a Leviathan. Frank states that he has moved all his equipment into an R.V., feeling he was being watched after he started investigating Dick Roman. At that time, Frank seemed too much paranoid with Leviathans, even thinking that Gwyneth Paltrow is one of them. He tells Dean he has found nothing on Bobby's numbers, but when he tried combinations with adding a sixth number, he discovered that they were coordinates to a field in Wisconsin, owned by Dick Roman. Frank and Dean travel to the area and disguise themselves as phone company workers. They discover surveillance covering the area and retreat to Frank's RV to monitor it. They discover Amanda Willer, an employee of Dick Roman, surveying the site for construction. As they began to spy the camp field, Frank challenges Dean about how he is dealing with himself on the whole situation, even telling Dean his dark past.

In the next episodes, Dean talks with Frank off-screen. In "Out with the Old", Frank talks with Dean by phone from his camper, updating Dean on the Leviathan activity worldwide. He has no record of their activity in Portland, Oregon, where Sam and Dean are currently working, but Leviathans are there all the same. Frank discovers this when Dean asks him to investigates a company behind an odd Realtor; and the company links back to Dick Roman. Sam and Dean set out to meet Frank at the end of the episode, but instead find his RV, filled with smashed electronics and blood. In "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo", it's revealed that Dick Roman took Frank's hard drive, which he gives to the IT expert Charlie to hack it. When Charlie tries to hack it, the defense system uses Frank's voice. After finally hacking it, an automatic e-mail sent to the brothers which states that if they are receiving it, it means that Frank is dead or worse. Frank has a GPS tracker on the drive and it hacks into Charlie's webcam so they know who's hacking it. While Charlie is successful, she finds out the truth about Dick Roman and the Leviathans from his files and later teams up with the Winchesters to erase the drive. Frank's final fate is still unknown, but he is presumably dead given all the blood and that Dick Roman had his hard drive.

FBI Agent Victor Henricksen

Victor Henricksen, played by Charles Malik Whitfield, is an FBI agent who had been after the Winchesters since the bank 'robbery' in "Nightshifter". He believes the Winchesters are serial killers responsible for the deaths they have tried to prevent in various towns. He continues to pursue them when, in "Jus in Bello", he finally captures them and holds them in a small town jail, waiting for the FBI to send a helicopter to transport them to a prison. But, the whole small town is possessed by demons and they crash the helicopter. Finally believing in the supernatural, Henricksen agrees to the Winchesters help him, the deputy and a jail worker keep the demons outside. Dean then comes up with a plan. They let all of the demons inside the jail and keep them there. They then play a recorded exorcism of Sam over the intercoms and all the demons are sent back to Hell. Henricksen decides to let the Winchesters go, telling them he will tell the FBI they were in the helicopter when it crashed. After the brothers leave, a little girl comes into the jail, looking for Sam and Dean. After she is told they are not here and is asked her name, she responds "Lilith". Lilith, as it is later learned, tortures everyone in the jail, later blowing it up. Henricksen makes another appearance in season four's "Are You There, God? It's Me...Dean Winchester". Lilith is breaking the 66 Seals to free Lucifer, and one of them is the Rising of the Witnesses. Sam, Dean, and Bobby meet the ghosts of people they could not save, including Henricksen, who tells them what happened after they left the jail at the end of "Jus in Bello". The ghosts terrorize the trio until they are put to rest.

Adam Milligan

Adam Milligan, portrayed by Jake Abel, is a boy in his late teens and John Winchester's youngest son. In contrast to Dean and Sam, who were raised as hunters, John spent time with Adam mainly to do the normal things that hunting didn't allow him to do with Dean and Sam, such as taking him to a baseball game or buying Adam his first beer when he was fifteen. Dean and Sam were never aware they had a half-brother until Adam called them in the fourth season episode "Jump the Shark". He needed their help since his mother went missing, and so the three brothers met for the first time. After telling Adam the truth about who they were, they taught him a few things about the life of a hunter. Sam realizes too late Adam is not Adam, but actually a ghoul who eats his victims and then takes on their form. Dean finds Adam's remains in a tomb, and after defeating the ghoul, they burn his body, a traditional way of destroying a hunter's body, as Dean felt like Adam died like a hunter. Almost a year later in fifth season episode "Point of No Return", Castiel witnesses the resurrection of Adam, who was brought back by Zachariah as part of Plan B; Dean refused to say yes to becoming Michael's vessel, so they took the next best thing, Adam. Although Dean and Sam try to gain Adam's trust and Castiel shields him from the other angels, Adam manages to tell Zachariah his whereabouts and he's taken away. He then discovers he was part of a trap to lure Dean to the angels so he would say yes. After Zachariah tortures Adam and Sam, Dean finally says yes and Michael is summoned by Zachariah. Dean kills Zachariah and escapes with Sam, but Adam disappears, fate unknown. Castiel later reveals Adam has been taken by Michael as his vessel. Adam returns in "Swan Song", now as Michael's vessel, to fight Lucifer. Dean, Bobby and Castiel soon interrupt Michael and Lucifer, throwing a molotov cocktail filled with holy fire at Michael, incinerating him and sending him away for the moment. When he returns to the battlefield, Sam takes back control of his body and opens the portal to Lucifer's prison, dragging Michael along as he falls in. In the sixth season episode "Appointment in Samarra", Dean chooses to rescue Sam over Adam when Death only agrees to retrieve one of them from Lucifer's Cage.

Jessica Moore

Jessica Lee Moore, portrayed by Adrianne Palicki, is Sam's girlfriend for two years as of the start of the series. Despite this, she is unaware of his family's strange occupation. Sam planned to ask her to marry him, but she is killed by a demon on Azazel's orders; it was revealed the demon that killed her was the friend who introduced her to Sam, in order to break Sam from his increasingly normal life. Her death then prompts Sam to join Dean on his quest to find their missing father and avenge her. In the days preceding her murder, Sam had received premonitions about it, which he ignored, believing them to be random nightmares. Afterwards, he feels much guilt he did nothing to prevent her murder. Her death is avenged when Sam kills Brady, the demon that killed her.

Prophets

Castiel refers to prophets as mouthpieces and conduits for the inspired word. Every prophet should have an Archangel "tethered to them." Any presence of danger will cause intervention from his or her Archangel, as when Raphael protects Chuck from the demon Lilith. By the time Kevin is revealed as a prophet, the archangels Gabriel and Raphael are dead, and the archangels Michael and Lucifer are trapped in the Cage. This makes it possible for Crowley to kidnap him. Castiel claims that Leah—who turns out to be the Whore of Babylon—is not a prophet because he knows every prophet's name. Later he reveals that all angels instinctively know the names of the prophets past, present, and future in the current generation. He also tells Sam and Dean that there cannot be more than one prophet at a time, so while Kevin is the prophet, Chuck is assumed dead and other living prophets are not active. There are seven prophets other than Kevin Tran in the current generation of prophets: Luigi Ponzi, Justin Hunt, Aaron Webber, Maria, Dennis Adams, Krista, and Sven. The next generation has not been born yet. Crowley tortures Samandiriel for their names and has them kidnapped by his demons. Dennis is injured by Crowley in a fit of pique and Krista is killed to demonstrate to Kevin how expendable they are to him, but the others are rescued by Sam, Dean, and Castiel. According to Sam, they have nothing in common: they are from different places and are all different ages. They are even of different religions. According to Metatron, along with having Gadreel murder Kevin Tran, he "flipped a switch" in Heaven so that there will be no more prophets.

Becky Rosen

Becky, portrayed by Emily Perkins is a fan of the "Supernatural" series of books. Her online name is samlicker81, and she is the webmistress of morethanbrothers.net. She writes Wincest fanfiction. Carver Edlund aka Chuck Shirley contacts her to get a message to Sam and Dean in "Sympathy for the Devil". It is obvious from her reaction to the boys that she is a Sam Girl, and fixates upon him much to his dismay.

Becky Rosen "borrows" Chuck Shurley's phone, pretending to be him, and texts Sam & Dean saying he's in a life or death situation in "The Real Ghostbusters". Sam and Dean rush over after driving all night only to find out that Becky has invited them to a Supernatural Convention for Chuck's books. When real ghosts start attacking people, Chuck has to step up and help keep everyone safe while Sam and Dean and two Supernatural fanboys, Demian and Barnes, fight the ghosts. His bravery impresses Becky who immediately abandons her pursuit of Sam for a relationship with Chuck. She also tells Sam that in the book which covers the events of "Time Is on My Side", Bela gave the Colt not to Lilith but to her right hand demon, and possibly lover, Crowley.

In "Season 7, Time for a Wedding!" a Crossroads Demon gives her a love potion to make Sam marry her, then betrays the demon when (as Sam warned her) he asks for her soul in exchange for making the effect permanent. According to her, Chuck broke up with her, which is presumably her reason for fixating on Sam again. During the battle at the end, she helps trap the demon, but his minion breaks him free. As the demon and his minion Jackson are about to kill the hunters, Becky retrieves Ruby's Knife and kills Jackson with it, allowing the Winchesters to overpower the Crossroads Demon whose deals are revoked by Crowley who is bemused when she recognizes him. Later, she and Sam get an annulment.

In "Slumber Party," it is revealed by Charlie Bradbury that Becky posted all of Chuck's unpublished manuscripts to the Internet. When asked if they know her, Sam quickly denies it.

Chuck Shurley

Chuck Shurley, also known by the pseudonym Carver Edlund, and portrayed by Rob Benedict, is an author of a marginalized book series Supernatural, which recounts everything 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 his works will become 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 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 cos-players destroys the ghosts. When the hotel manager leaves and breaks the salt line, he dissipates the ghost with an iron post, while unintentionally gaining the affections of Becky.

Periodically during "Swan Song", Chuck is narrating about the history of the Impala, his script having the same name as the episode. He informs Dean of the final battlefield between Michael and Lucifer, despite the angels wishing him not to know. At its conclusion, while ending the narration, Chuck smiles and disappears into thin air, leading some to question whether he is merely a prophet that is no longer needed or is actually God.

Bela Talbot

Main article: Bela Talbot

Kevin Tran

Kevin, portrayed by Osric Chau, is a Prophet of the Lord who is chosen to interpret the Word of God after Sam and Dean break it out of the slab of stone its trapped in. He is in advanced placement and is preparing for college when he is struck by lightning and chosen. Kevin is driven to drive his mother's car to the mental institution where Castiel is and where Sam and Dean have taken the Word. He steals the Word, but Sam and Meg catch him. Castiel reveals that Kevin is a Prophet and he's able to read the tablet which talks about the Leviathans and when it breaks, he is able to put it back together.

After two angels arrive to take him away and are driven away by Dean, they take him to Rufus' Cabin where they set him to work on translating the tablet. The angels return, but after Meg kills one to save Castiel, the others allow Kevin to finish the translation before taking him home. Kevin reunites with his mother, but they discover to their horror that the detective investigating his disappearance is the Leviathan Edgar in disguise. Edgar kills the two angels accompanying Kevin and takes him and his mother prisoner.

Dick Roman later uses Kevin's mother to force Kevin to translate the tablet for him. After the Leviathans bring in a girl named Polly, Kevin manages to escape the room he's trapped in and learns of Dick's plan to poison coffee creamers to kill all the skinny people in the world, but is captured by Dick's assistant Susan before he can escape. During Sam, Dean and Castiel's break-in of Sucrocorp, Sam finds and rescues Kevin who reveals Dick's new plan to him and insists they need to blow up Dick's laboratory.

In the lab, they find Dean and Castiel killing Dick and Kevin is shocked when Dean and Castiel disappear when Dick explodes. Kevin nervously tells Sam they have to leave because more Leviathans will be coming, but Crowley shows up and reveals he has it taken care of and kidnaps Kevin as a prize. It's later revealed that he wants Kevin in order to translate another Word of God tablet so he can learn how to open all the gates of Hell and release every demon in existence upon the world. Kevin tricks Crowley and escapes, going on the run for a year before Sam and Dean catch up to him. Kevin reveals that he has learned that it is possible to seal the gates of Hell forever and banish all demons from the Earth from the tablet and Sam and Dean decide to do so with his help.

However, Crowley catches up with them and although they escape thanks to Kevin's quick thinking, Crowley murders his girlfriend in revenge. Kevin later convinces Sam and Dean to take him to see his mom who is surrounded by demons. After they rescue her, Mrs. Tran joins them in closing the gates of Hell, but they find the tablet stolen and being sold at an auction. Kevin's mom wins the auction by bidding her soul, but Crowley possesses her and gets away with the tablet. In the struggle, Dean tries to kill Crowley even though he is possessing Kevin's mother and in doing so, loses Kevin's trust. This along with the fact that Crowley warned him that the Winchesters have a habit of using people up and disposing of them when they no longer need them, causes Kevin to flee with his mother.

He spends the next several episodes on the run from both Crowley and the Winchesters, but after his mother hires a witch to get the ingredients needed for the spell he used to kill the demons and escape, Crowley captures and tortures him to force him to translate the tablet. Sam, Dean and Castiel, who are alerted to his situation when Mrs. Tran calls them for help, arrive and rescue Kevin and get half of the tablet, but Crowley gets the other half and Kevin loses a finger, though Castiel is able to regrow it. They then call in Garth to look after the Trans and he takes them to his houseboat where Kevin works on translating the half of the tablet he has to no avail. Dean and Castiel later go to Kevin for help in preparing more demon bombs in order to rescue the angel Samandriel.

Kevin is now so focused on translating the tablet that he has somewhat let himself go and has a very disheveled appearance. He has also sent his own mother away so he can work in solitude, explaining to Dean that he can't enjoy the world he is trying to save until it is saved. Though he doesn't believe its possible to get the ingredients needed for the bomb as they are very rare, he gives them the list and Castiel is able to get them. It is shown in "Trial and Error" that Kevin lets himself go completely while he focuses on translating the tablet, believing that closing the gates of Hell will be the only way he can go back to a normal life. Eventually, after weeks of non-stop work, he cracks the instructions and calls Sam and Dean to let them know. Kevin learns that in order to close the gates, someone must complete three trials and recite an Enochian spell after each one. Kevin has only cracked the first trial which is to kill a hellhound and bathe in its blood. Despite Sam's advice to slow down, Kevin begins taking (and its indicated overdoing) stimulants to keep awake and eventually calls Sam and Dean to inform them that he has learned that a hellhound (which is naturally invisible) can be seen through an object scorched with Holy Fire such as a pair of glasses, giving them a way to see the hellhound so they can kill it. In "Taxi Driver," Kevin is under so much stress that he is hallucinating Crowley in his head and that Crowley is mentally torturing him. Panicked, he calls Sam and Dean and hides, but has also deciphered the second trial: Sam must rescue an innocent soul from Hell and release it into Heaven. After Sam leaves to rescue Bobby Singer's soul from Hell, Dean stays with Kevin, trying to calm him down. Kevin is so freaked out he hides in a closet and later hides his half of the tablet somewhere, believing it will take the pressure off of him. After Dean leaves, Kevin demon-proofs Garth's houseboat even more, but Crowley shows up and reveals he killed Kevin's mother and got his location from her smartphone. When Sam and Dean return they find the boat deserted. In "The Great Escapist," Kevin is trapped in an illusion of Garth's houseboat and is tricked into translating Crowley's half of the demon tablet by demons pretending to be Sam and Dean. At the same time, a prerecorded message Kevin prepared is sent to Sam and Dean with his notes on the tablet. While Sam and Dean aren't able to figure out the trial from them, they eventually lead them to Metatron, the angelic scribe who wrote the Word of God. Eventually Kevin realizes the truth as the demons are too polite and sends them into a trap. Crowley confronts him and Kevin refuses to reveal more than the fact that Crowley has no idea the power he could've gotten from his half of the demon tablet and that he won't break. Not caring as he has the angel tablet, Crowley strangles Kevin who is rescued by Metatron. Metatron takes Kevin back to the hotel where he lives and heals him and Kevin reveals that he has Crowley's half of the demon tablet with him. With that half of the tablet, Kevin has learned the third trial: cure a demon. Kevin is left confused as to who Metatron is when Metatron reveals knowledge of the third trial as well. After Sam and Dean pretend to make a deal with Crowley to stop him killing people they've saved, Kevin digs up the first half of the demon tablet and reunites the two halves, giving the tablet to Sam and Dean who send him to the Men of Letters bunker for safety. When Dean and Castiel need to know the third trial to close the gates of Heaven, they take the angel tablet to Kevin who is distraught as he believed that it would be over once he was done with the demon tablet, causing an angry Castiel to yell at him that he is a Prophet until he dies. After completing the second trial, Dean calls Kevin who tells him that while he has found trials on the angel tablet, he doesn't see anything that matches what they have done. When Naomi shows up to tell Dean and Castiel that Metatron is really trying to expel all angels from Heaven, Kevin listens, but is unable to confirm what she has said. He later tries to leave the bunker, but stops when alarms start going off, signaling the fall of all angels to Earth.

After the angels fall, Kevin is left trapped in the bunker as it locks down and he panics, nearly shooting Dean with a crossbow when he arrives. Kevin is not happy to see that the Winchesters have Crowley captive and have not killed him. Kevin is put to work trying to find a way to reverse Metatron's spell using the angel tablet. When Dean calls Kevin to get him to confirm their cover at a military base, Kevin is able to succeed by hacking into the person he is talking to's computer and blackmailing them. He later gets a call from Abaddon and passes on her message to Sam and Dean and at their request, looks through the archives for a way to kill a Knight of Hell. Crowley, who is in a dungeon in the next room, taunts Kevin, causing Kevin to beat him with a sledgehammer. Crowley then claims that he never killed Kevin's mother and will lead Kevin to her if he releases him and that the Winchesters are just using him. While Kevin doesn't release Crowley, he decides to leave and look for his mother but is stopped by Dean who convinces him that his mother is as good as dead even if she is still alive. Dean tells him that the Winchesters consider both him and Castiel to be family and would die to protect him if need be. Kevin aids Sam and Dean with finding a spell to communicate with animals and is later asked by Dean to find a way to suppress an angel. Kevin finds a way, but is murdered by Gadreel possessing Sam soon afterwards on Metatron's orders. Dean burns his body in a Hunter's Funeral afterwards and is devastated by and blames himself for Kevin's death. A month after his death, Kevin returns as a ghost, having been stuck in the veil between worlds due to Heaven being closed. Kevin asks Sam and Dean to rescue his mother who he has learned from another ghost named Candy is still alive. With Candy's help, Sam and Dean track down Linda who tearfully reunites with Kevin. Despite the risks, Linda decides to take the ring Kevin is attached to and look after him until he can enter Heaven. Kevin similarly wants to look after his mother now that he has her back. Kevin informs Sam that he doesn't blame him for his death, aware that it was really Gadreel and asks Sam and Dean to put aside their differences and start being brothers again before leaving.

Linda Tran

Linda is the Prophet Kevin's mother and is first heard when she calls him about a test he has to take. When Kevin disappears, Linda grows frantic and calls the police and is relieved when two angels return him to her. However, the detective she called in to help turns out to be the Leviathan Edgar and he kills the angels and captures her and her son. Linda is used as a hostage to force Kevin into translating the Word of God tablet for Dick Roman, but she is let go with a warning not to talk afterwards. A year later she still hasn't heard from Kevin and is unknown to her, surrounded by demons, keeping an eye on her and protecting her. At Kevin's insistence, the Winchesters rescue her and she joins them in their quest to close the gates of Hell forever. Linda proves to be strong-willed, withstanding getting an anti-possession tattoo easily while comforting Kevin (and also indicating to her son's surprise that its not her first tattoo) and later using her knowledge of tax law to intimidate a pawn shop owner into telling them what they need to know when nothing else works. At the auction, when all else fails, she bids her own soul to save Kevin, though she is warned that she will survive though she will wish she didn't. She refuses the offer of angelic protection for Kevin from Samandriel and is captured by Beau and Crowley who burn off her tattoo and Crowley possesses her to get the tablet. In the struggle that follows, Dean tries to kill her to kill Crowley and he flees her body, getting the tablet. Linda survives, but is left catatonic by the experience, though Sam and Dean believe she will recover due to her strong-willed nature. However, the incident shatters Kevin's faith in the Winchesters and he goes on the run with her. Some time later, Linda has recovered from her catatonia and looks for a way to strike back against Crowley by hiring a witch off of Craigslist to get the ingredients needed for the demon bomb. The witch brings enough ingredients for one bomb instead of all that Linda specified and betrays them to Crowley. Crowley leaves a demon behind to kill Linda as he leaves with Kevin, but Linda overpowers and captures the demon instead and calls Sam and Dean for help to rescue Kevin. She brings them the ingredients, Kevin's notes on how to build the bomb and the demon allowing them to locate Kevin and launch a rescue mission. While Linda wants to help, Sam handcuffs her to her steering wheel to keep her out of the way and out of danger. Kevin is rescued and Sam chides her for calling upon a witch for help. He and Dean call upon Garth to look after Linda and Kevin and he takes them to a houseboat he uses as a safe house. Kevin, wanting to work in solitude to translate the half of the tablet that Castiel retrieved, later sends Linda elsewhere, explaining to Dean that he can't enjoy the world he is trying to save until its saved. In "Trial and Error", Kevin reveals that while he sent Linda away, he still does talk to her on the phone, but all she does is cry. In "Taxi Driver", Crowley finds Kevin, claiming that he captured Linda and tortured her for Kevin's location. Crowley states that Linda did not break, so he killed her and got the location off of her smartphone. Later, in "Devil May Care," Crowley claims that he did not actually kill Linda and that she wishes that she was dead and promises to take Kevin to her if he releases him. Unsure whether to believe Crowley or not, Kevin doesn't free him, but decides to look for himself before being stopped by Dean who tells him that even if Linda is still alive, she is as good as dead. In "Captives," the ghost of Kevin returns to ask Sam and Dean to rescue Linda who he has learned is still alive from another ghost named Candy. With Candy's help, Sam and Dean track down Linda in a storage unit in Wichita, Kansas where she and Sam end up trapped together due to the demon Del who has been holding Linda captive and torturing her. Using her knowledge of electronics from helping Kevin with his school projects, Linda is able to get them out of the room they are trapped in and is devastated to learn of Kevin's death. After Del is captured, Sam and Dean let Linda kill him. At Linda's demand, they then take her to the bunker where Linda is reunited with the ghost of her son. Linda finds her husband's old ring, the object Kevin is attached to and decides to take him home with her despite the risks so she can look after him until he can enter Heaven.

Ed Zeddmore and Harry Spangler

Edd Zeddmore and Harry Spangler, portrayed by A.J. Buckley and Travis Wester, are self-proclaimed 'professional' paranormal investigators. They are originally known as the Hell Hounds and run a website called HellHoundsLair.com. They later adopt the name Ghostfacers, as part of the pilot for their reality television show. The Winchesters first encounter them in "Hell House", and use the duo and their website to help them defeat the monster of the week. At the end of the episode Sam pulls a prank on them by posing as a Hollywood producer on the phone. When they next encounter the brothers it is when the team of Ghostfacers attempt to catch paranormal footage in a haunted house the Winchesters are investigating in the episode "Ghostfacers". Their footage is destroyed by Sam and Dean. When Zachariah robs the brothers of their memories in "Its a Terrible Life", they refer to an instructional video on the Ghostfacers website. They have something of an antagonistic relationship with Sam and Dean and ironically believe the brothers to be amateur investigators. Ed, Harry and the rest of the team also star in the Ghostfacers web series, a spoof advertisement which is seen in "Hammer of the Gods". They were also used as plot devices, in the season nine episode "Thinman" Ed and Harry face a conflict similar to one Sam and Dean face, creating a parallel between the characters, at the end of that episode we see an end to the Ghostfacers after Ed invents the monster Thinman to keep Harry from leaving for a normal life.

Other supernatural beings

The Alpha Vampire

The Alpha Vampire, portrayed by Rick Worthy is the very first member of the vampire species. He was created by Eve and spread vampirisim afterwards. When Crowley starts a hunt for Alphas to locate Purgatory, he starts sending telepathic messages to his "children" to create as many new vampires as they can. Dean sees this message when he's briefly infected with vampirisim and the Campbells are able to use it to track him down and capture him. The Alpha is tortured, but eventually breaks free, killing Christian Campbell. After a fight, Christian, who is revealed to be possessed by a demon, gets up and injects him with dead man's blood, incapacitating him. Afterwards, Crowley arrives and takes him away. The Alpha is held with all the other captured monsters in Crowley's prison, but escapes before Castiel can kill him like he does the other Alphas and monsters in the prison. The Alpha makes a deal with the Leviathans to share humanity among both species with the Leviathan substance that makes humans more docile making it easier for vampires to feed. After several of his vampires die after feeding on infected humans, the Alpha flees to his retreat at an old monastery where Sam and Dean track him down. However, Emily, a young woman he'd held prisoner for twelve years, calls him to warn him that they're coming. The Alpha captures Sam and Dean who ask for his blood, explaining that the Leviathan substance was what killed his vampires and that he'd been betrayed. The Alpha refuses to listen and after hearing that Edgar has arrived, orders the hunters locked up. The Alpha confronts Edgar who confirms Sam and Dean's story, telling him that the Leviathans intend to use the fact that so many monsters feed on humans to wipe them out. When Edgar insults Eve, the Alpha attacks him, throwing Borax in his face, but Edgar overpowers him. Before Edgar can kill the Alpha, Sam and Dean, who broke free, attack and Sam decapitates Edgar. Grateful for their actions and understanding that they have a common enemy, the Alpha gives Sam and Dean his blood without a fight and allows them to take a young boy named Alan he has captured. As they leave, warning him not to keep Edgar's head too close to his body, the Alpha taunts them that they truly want to kill him instead of leaving it for another time and promises to "see you next season."

Chet

Chet (played by Sean Owen Roberts) is a Leviathan stationed at a credit card company. When a flagged alias that was registered by the Winchesters was used, Chet begins to hunt the Winchesters down, tracking them to their hotel room in Prosperity, Indiana. While he easily dominated the brothers, a witch that the Winchesters helped disabled Chet and allowed them to escape. Using copious amounts of chains, the brothers took Chet to Bobby Singers to determine his weakness.

While the brothers attempted to stop a pair of Leviathan doppelgangers, Bobby attempted to find a way to kill or hurt Chet. Nothing worked, until a Borax cleaning product used by Sheriff Jody Mills upstairs dripped from the ceiling; the chemical was significantly more painful and corrosive than anything else used, which Bobby affirmed to be the most effective countermeasure to Leviathans, in tandem with decapitation as long as the head was kept away from the body. Ultimately Bobby decapitated Chet who had at that time assumed Bobby's own form to taunt him and had Sheriff Jody Mills drop his head into a river while he encased Chet's body in concrete.

Death

Death, portrayed by Julian Richings, is an immensely powerful entity also called The Grim Reaper or the Pale Horseman. Unlike the other horsemen he is neither demon nor angel, and states he is "as old as God, maybe older."

In the climax of "Abandon All Hope", Lucifer performs a bloody ritual to raise Death, and to bind him to Lucifer's apocalyptic bidding. In "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", Death goes to Bobby's hometown of Sioux Falls and resurrects many deceased locals as undead; this include Bobby's wife. The revived at first appear and act normal, but soon take on feral states; this forces others to kill them in self-preservation. These events were an attempt to break Bobby, one of the few remaining influences keeping Sam from agreeing to be Lucifer's vessel. In "The Devil You Know", Bobby temporarily sells his soul to Crowley in order to locate Death. In "Two Minutes to Midnight" — Death's first corporeal appearance — Death arrives in Chicago to precipitate a storm which would kill 3 million. His vehicle is a pale white 1959 Cadillac. In a lengthy conversation with Dean, he reveals that this and other actions is the influence of Lucifer's binding spell, which Death wishes to break. He presents Dean with his ring, the final piece allowing the Winchesters to open Lucifer's cage and re-imprison Lucifer. "Two Minutes to Midnight" also introduces Death's taste for the typical, renowned, and often unhealthy local restaurant foods of the places he visits, which becomes something of a running gag.

Death appears again in "Appointment in Samarra", in which Dean attempts to convince him to retrieve Sam's soul from Lucifer's cage. Death agrees to do so if Dean performs Death's duties for an uninterrupted 24 hours. Although Dean fails, the Horseman still restores Sam's soul, regarding the Winchesters as "useful". He also forms a wall between Sam's active consciousness and the debilitating memories of his time in Lucifer's cage.

In season seven when Castiel proclaims himself God, the Winchesters summon and bind Death as part of a plan to stop Castiel; Death takes an instant dislike to him. He informs the angel that he is not God and that he is harboring something else within him, the Leviathans, that will soon break free. Castiel removes the Winchesters' bind and leaves. Death, of his own free will, creates another eclipse, giving the Winchesters and Castiel a chance to return the souls to Purgatory before they destroy his vessel. Castiel succeeds in sending the souls back, but the Leviathans manage to hold on and escape into the world.

In "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here," when Sam is dying, Death comes to reap him personally, intimating he considers it an honor. He also states that, he usually doesn't pass judgment, all Sam's actions were "well-played." Sam requests, and Death agrees, to make it so that Sam dies permanently, that no one and nothing can bring him back to life. Ezekiel, in Dean's form, interrupts them, however, and Death allows them to talk, saying that it's Sam's choice if he lives or dies. Sam chooses to live, ultimately, and Ezekiel possesses him in order to heal the damage the trials inflicted.

Dick Roman

Dick Roman (portrayed by James Patrick Stuart) is the Leviathan leader who takes on the form and life of businessman Dick Roman to spread his plans for humanity. He first appears in "Slash Fiction" where he sends two Leviathans to impersonate Sam and Dean to draw them out into the open and refuses an alliance with Crowley, stating that he sees demons as scum and threatens to wipe them out after he's done with humanity. In "How To Win Friends and Influence Monsters," Dick visits experiments by Doctor Gaines on dumbing down humanity which have drawn attention from the media as they are turning some of the people who ingest the food additive into "hyper-adrenalized cannibals." He captures Bobby and speaks to him about his plans for humanity and using him against the Winchesters. The Winchesters rescue Bobby, but as they escape, Dick shoots at them, hitting Bobby in the head and mortally wounding him. In "Death's Door," Dick appears outside the hospital Bobby is in to taunt Dean. Dean swears to kill him, but Dick is amused by his threats as he believes nothing can do that. After Bobby dies, Dean forms a vendetta against Dick and spends a great amount of time trying to hunt him down and figure out how to kill him to avenge Bobby. In "The Girl With the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo," Dick hires super-hacker Charlie Bradbury to decrypt Frank Deveraux's hard drive in order to find out more on the Winchesters. At the same time, Dick prepares for the arrival of a package containing the Leviathan Word of God tablet, the one thing in existence containing instructions on how to kill a Leviathan. Dick pressures Charlie to find information on the Winchesters once the hard drive is decrypted, displeased that there is nothing, unaware that Charlie already knows the truth about him and is working against him. Upon receiving word of the package arriving, Dick leaves Charlie alone to get it and is surprised when its a Borax bomb. After it goes off, Dick realizes Charlie betrayed him and orders the building locked down. Dick chases Charlie, but is held off by the ghost of Bobby, allowing her and the Winchesters to escape. In "Reading is Fundamental," Dick sends Edgar to get Prophet Kevin Tran in order to get him to translate the Word of God tablet. In the following episode, "There Will Be Blood," Dick blackmails Kevin into translating the tablet for him in exchange for his mother's release. To preempt the Winchesters getting his blood, Dick sends Edgar to kill the Alpha Vampire. When that fails, Dick summons Crowley into a Devil's Trap. In "Survival of the Fittest," Dick makes a deal with Crowley so he won't give the Winchesters his blood in exchange for Canada. However, Dick doesn't trust Crowley and has a bunch of other Leviathans take on his form to keep the Winchesters from being able to identify him. Dick meets with several other major Leviathan leaders, discussing their plans to use a new food additive to eliminate humans with undesirable traits for their "human herd." As he prepares the food additive with a Leviathan scientist, Dean and Castiel arrive and decapitate the other Leviathan. Dick is amused by their actions and believes that they don't have a viable weapon and can't tell that its really him. However, Dean points out the untrustworthiness of Crowley and that Castiel can tell the Leviathans apart. In the confrontation that follows, Dick throws Castiel across the room and is unharmed when Dean stabs him with the weapon, a bone. Dick taunts Dean about his failure, but while he's distracted, Castiel restrains him from behind and Dean stabs him through the neck with the real bone, killing him. When Dick dies, his essence returns to Purgatory and Dean and Castiel are dragged along with him. With Dick dead, the Leviathans lose their cohesion and fall apart, becoming little more than regular monsters that are hard to kill.

Edgar

Edgar (played by Benito Martinez) is the first Leviathan introduced in the series, taking the form of a demolitions expert and working under orders from "the Leader" - which will be later revealed to be Dick Roman - sent to lead in those feeding indiscriminately and to kill Sam, Dean and Bobby when they interfered on his plans. After observing the new system for feeding developed at Sioux Falls General, he torches Bobby's house and confronts the Winchesters, breaking Dean's leg and knocking Sam unconscious. Dean crushes him with a car from Bobby's scrapyard, but he is later revealed to have been unharmed and continues to pursue the Winchesters and Bobby.

After that, Edgar still worked underground under Dick's order, supervising Sucrocorp project. When the clay tablet that contained the Word of God was stolen by the Winchesters. Dick ordered Edgar to stop them, so he took the form of the detective Collins (played by Eric Floyd) and searched for Kevin Tran, the teenager prophet destined to keep the word. After two Angels return Kevin to his mother's house, Edgar easily kills the two. He later helps Dick force Kevin Tran to translate the Word of God for them and tries to kill the Alpha Vampire. However, Sam decapitates him while he's distracted and as a result of his betrayal, the Alpha gives Sam and Dean his blood for the weapon they are creating. Edgar is left to the Alpha with a warning to keep his head away from the rest of his body.

Eve

Eve, portrayed by Julia Maxwell and Samantha Smith, is also known as the "Mother of All". Eve was last on Earth 10,000 years ago. She is the original propagator of the majority of supernatural beings. She has been trapped in Purgatory, where the souls of the supernatural go. Eve is released from Purgatory in "Like a Virgin" by a sacrificial ritual. In "...And Then There Were None", Eve creates a being - referred to colloquially as the Khan Worm - that can enter a person's body through the ear and control their actions. She plants it inside a trucker, who goes on to kill his family. It then passes to one of his co-workers who kills 12 people. While investigating the murders, it infects Dean who kills his cousin Gwen, and then infects Samuel, and finally Bobby who kills Rufus while possessed. While possessing Bobby, it tells Dean and Sam that it was created by Eve, who intends for supernatural beings to take over the world. After acquiring the ashes of a Phoenix, said to be lethal to Eve, Sam, Dean, Bobby and Castiel take the fight to her in "Mommy Dearest". Eve reveals that her actions are purely a response to Crowley, still alive, and his capture and torture of her children. She speculates that he is after the souls in Purgatory, and claims that she was satisfied with the natural order of humans and monsters coexisting (with occasional bloodshed on both sides) until Crowley forced her hand. Eve dies after biting Dean, who had Phoenix ash in his blood, to which Crowley takes her body for autopsy. In "There Will Be Blood!," when the Leviathan Edgar is very dismissive towards the Alpha Vampire, he calls himself a "son of Eve," but Edgar calls the Alpha a "mutt" and Eve was "barely worth being called one of us." When Edgar calls Eve a whore, the Alpha Vampire is enraged and attacks him.

Famine

Famine is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, along with War, Pestilence and Death, portrayed by James Otis. He wears a silver ring. Famine has been weakened by advances in agriculture, and is wheelchair bound. Lucifer, therefore, has sent demons to serve his needs and strengthen him. Famine is insatiable, as he embodies hunger. He can consume both human souls and demons to nourish himself. Once Famine's strength is replenished, he will then be able to march across the lands with authority, as described by Castiel. Famine can amplify his victim’s inner urges, cravings and desires, making them ravenous. Famine can also perceive a person's soul and the wants it harbors by placing one hand on his or her chest. Sam, Dean and Castiel encounter Famine in "My Bloody Valentine". Although Castiel and Sam succumb to Famine's powers- Castiel devouring burgers based on his vessel's hunger for red meat while Sam succumbs to his old addiction to demon blood-, Dean is unaffected because he is "dead inside". Sam eventually defeats Famine by using his restored powers to attack the demons whose essences Famine had just consumed, allowing the Winchesters to take his ring. Brady later reveals that although Famine survived the encounter, he is severely weakened and the return of his ring would not help his condition.

Dr. Gaines

Dr. J. Gaines (played by Cameron Bancroft) is a Leviathan using the surgeon's form, although his original form was taken from a young girl named Annie. Under orders from Edgar, he killed the real Dr. Gaines and took his identity. Gaines is responsible setting up a system of feeding on patients at Sioux Falls General, thereby reining in the Leviathans' indiscriminate feeding. Gaines also appears to be the one responsible for conducting the experiments on Sucrocorp, modifying food to make humans docile, dumb and hungry. Gaines is "bibbed", a form of punishment where he was forced to eat himself alive in a bib under Richard Roman's orders, since his experiments attracted the attention of the media.

Benny Lafitte

Benny Lafitte (Ty Olsson) is a vampire who was a vampire pirate during his first lifetime until he met Andrea Kormos and fell in love with her, leaving his nest and stopping feeding on humans. He was eventually tracked down and killed by his nest mates and went to Purgatory where he spent around fifty years before Dean ended up there after killing Dick Roman. Benny saves Dean from another vampire and makes a deal with him: in exchange for Dean taking him with him, Benny will show him a portal out of Purgatory. Benny helps Dean find Castiel, warning him that traveling with an angel will get them killed, but Dean is insistent on all of them getting out. After Benny saves Castiel from Leviathans, he earns Dean's full trust and Dean carries him out of Purgatory in his arm. On Earth, Dean travels to Benny's grave and resurrects him. The two remain in touch, but stay separate until Benny goes after his nest for revenge and to protect himself from further attempts on his life. After Benny is injured, he calls Dean for help and together they take down the nest, with Benny killing his maker. However, Benny is reunited with Andrea who he learns was turned into a vampire instead of being killed. She helps him out, but to Benny's heartbreak, he learns that she has changed and wants to take over the pirating operation herself and Dean is forced to kill her to save Benny. Needing something to keep him on the straight and narrow, Benny moves to his hometown of Carencro, Louisiana where he meets and secretly looks out for his great-granddaughter Elizabeth. Rogue vampire Desmond tries to get Benny to join him, but Benny refuses and Desmond leaves a trail of bodies to try to get Benny to agree, drawing the attention of insane hunter Martin Creaser and Sam and Dean. Dean and Benny hunt down and kill Desmond, but Martin tries to kill Benny, using Elizabeth as a hostage. Benny is forced to kill him in self-defense and is left in a deteriorating situation worsened by the fact that Dean soon afterwards cuts off all contact. When Sam gets trapped in Purgatory, Dean goes to Benny for help, knowing he can get Sam out. Benny agrees, telling Dean he feels he no longer fits in on Earth. Dean kills Benny who saves Sam and Bobby Singer from vampires and leads them to the portal out. However Benny, who never intended to return to Earth, stays behind to hold off a group of vampires and allow Sam to escape. Benny is last seen fighting the vampires. Benny finally gains Sam's acceptance with this self-sacrifice and Dean buries his body instead of burning it in hopes of bringing him back one day.

Kate

Kate is a young college student in "Bitten" who later becomes a werewolf. Kate's boyfriend Michael got bitten by a pureblood werewolf and he, Kate and Michael's best friend Brian worked on figuring out what was happening to him while dealing with Sam and Dean who were in town hunting the werewolf that turned Michael. Things get worse for Michael and Kate when Michael kills a local bully and they prepare to flee before Brian reveals he identified the werewolf who turned Michael, one of their college professors and after getting the werewolf to turn him, sent Sam and Dean to him and they killed him. Brian insists the three are safe now and wants Kate to be with him instead of Michael as he loves her. Brian kills Michael and turns Kate who pretends to agree with his view of things and then rips him to shreds. Kate puts together the movie Brian was making and leaves it as proof for Sam and Dean that she and her friends weren't always monsters. Knowing from watching the hunters that she can control her nature and feed on animal hearts, Kate leaves a message at the end of the movie asking for a chance to do so which Sam and Dean give her after seeing the movie. In "Paper Moon," two years later, Kate once again comes to their attention due to a rash of werewolf attacks in Durham, Washington and they find her, apparently the culprit. Kate doesn't deny it and they nearly kill her before finding out there was another attack while she was with them. Kate escapes, but later appears to save them from the other werewolf who she identifies as her sister Tasha. Kate explains that she has kept her werewolf nature under control by feeding on animal hearts and using meditation and yoga, keeping a silver knife on her in case she loses control, but when she heard Tasha was dying from a car accident, she turned her to save her life. Tasha embraced her werewolf self unlike Kate and is the killer. Kate believes she can help Tasha become like her and is tricked by Sam and Dean into taking them to her. At the cabin Tasha is at, Dean handcuffs Kate to the Impala's steering wheel while she pleads for her sister's life. Kate eventually breaks free only to find that Tasha and two men she turned have overpowered Sam and Dean. Kate refuses to leave, but also refuses to kill Sam and Dean and embrace being a werewolf. Tasha refuses to change, saying she's strong now and was weak before and realizing she's lost her sister, Kate hugs Tasha one last time and then kills her with her knife. Kate flees before Sam and Dean can finish taking care of the other two werewolves, taking with her Tasha's matching bracelet. Kate later calls Sam and Dean who agree to let her go again if she can keep from feeding on humans. Kate agrees, but can't promise this time as she knows how easy it would be to lose control. She then walks off, alone once more.

Leviathans

Leviathans were first introduced as another primary "creation" of God—already including humans, angels, and demons—during the season premiere of Season 7. According to Death, the Leviathans were among God's earliest creations but were sealed in Purgatory because they were a threat to His other creations. Castiel accidentally absorbs them, along with the souls in Purgatory, during his attempted apotheosis, and the Leviathans free themselves. Once free, they organize a hierarchy with the Leviathan possessing the businessman Richard "Dick" Roman as the leader, though Crowley claims that this being has always been their leader.

The Leviathans are portrayed as virtually indestructible, voracious, and stronger than demons and low-level angels. They can shape-shift into humans, but to do so, they must use traces of their DNA. Leviathans not only replicate the corporeal form of a human, but also their memories and skills. They also have the ability to punch into an angel, killing it. Leviathans' weaknesses include magic, borax, and decapitation, though none of these are lethal. One way for a Leviathan to die is for it to be eaten by a Leviathan. They can commit suicide by eating themselves. Late in season seven, the characters find a tablet containing the "Word of God" that reveals a Leviathan can be killed by using "a bone of a righteous mortal washed in the blood of the three fallen." When this happens, the Leviathan liquefies and explodes.

In season seven, the Leviathans, led by Roman, plan to turn humankind into a farmed, Leviathan food source. They intend to do so through chemically decreasing their intelligence via food adulterants and curing their diseases, including cancer. The Winchesters put a stop to this during the season finale, with Dean and Castiel killing Roman, which, as a side consequence, sends them to Purgatory. Killing Roman, the only Leviathan leader that there has ever been, severely weakens the Leviathans, as they are now directionless. According to Crowley, they will now be regular monsters, albeit ones that are much harder to kill. The remaining Leviathans heavily involved in the plan for humanity are slaughtered by Crowley and his army in the confusion, but Crowley indicates that there are more. By season 8, all the Leviathans' influence appears to have disappeared from the Earth though there are apparently some still out there as its suggested in "Pac-Man Fever" that they are responsible for mysterious deaths.

Not all Leviathans may have escaped from Purgatory through Castiel, as four were seen there during Dean and Castiel's time in the realm, attacking them. Castiel indicates that there are even more and states that they are relentlessly hunting him. One of his last memories before escaping Purgatory is of Leviathans chasing him.

Pestilence

Pestilence, portrayed by Matt Frewer, is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, along with War, Famine and Death. He equates to the Green Horsemen, and wears an emerald-embedded ring. He can create and manipulate infestations, plagues, diseases and other sicknesses. Upon Lucifer's rise, Pestilence spreads Swine Flu on Earth. It is later revealed that the flu was spread in order to distribute the Croatoan Virus in the form of a 'vaccine'. Dean witnesses the effects of this when transported to the future by Zachariah- approximately 90% of the planet's population is infected. When the Winchesters track Pestilence, he is revealed to be vengeful for the defeat of War and Famine. Castiel defeats the Horseman by removing his ring and, with assistance from Crowley, the spread of the Croatoan Virus is prevented. The eventual fate of Pestilence is unknown, but it can be assumed that he survived his defeat, albeit much weakened.

Amy Pond

Portrayed by Emma Grabinsky as an adolescent and by Jewel Staite as an adult. Amy was a Kitsune who grew up traveling around with her mother. In 1998, they crossed paths with Sam Winchester in Lincoln, Nebraska. Amy killed her mother to protect Sam, with whom she had grown close. Amy re-encountered Sam years later. Sam tracked her down after she committed a series of murders. Amy then reveals that she had only committed the murders to strengthen her sick son Jacob. Given the circumstances, and their history, Sam agrees to let her go and makes Dean promise to do the same. However, Dean later returns and kills Amy. He spares her son, who vows revenge. Dean lies to Sam about Amy's fate but is plagued by guilt. The truth is eventually revealed and is a source of conflict between the brothers for a time.

Amy's name is a nod to the Doctor Who character of the same name.

Dick Roman

Dick Roman (played by James Patrick Stuart) is a billionaire businessman whose secret identity is that of the nameless leader of the leviathans. Shortly after they were unknowingly released by Castiel (Misha Collins), the leviathans infiltrated human society, with their leader murdering and impersonating the real Dick Roman. Dick is shown to have a hatred of demons that exceeds even his feelings about humanity, rejecting the demon Crowley's (Mark Sheppard) offer to join forces with him and telling the current leader of Hell that he might very well wipe his kind from the Earth. In "How to Make Friends and Influence Monsters", Dick visits an experimental facility run by a leviathan impersonation of one Dr. Gaines (Cameron Bancroft), disappointed by the newspaper articles stemming from the drugs used, and makes him eat himself. When his henchmen capture Bobby (Jim Beaver), Dick attempts to stop the Winchesters' rescue attempt, fatally wounding Bobby on their escape. Dick is later revealed to be after something from archaeological digs, and assigns Charlie (Felicia Day) to break Frank's (Kevin McNally) hard drive. Unknown to him, she cracks it, learns the truth about him and the rest of the Leviathans, and then teams up with the Winchesters to erase the drive and find out his plans. The Winchesters switch the item he was looking for with a Borax bomb that explodes in Dick's face. Realizing that Charlie betrayed him, he orders the building locked down and goes after her, but the Winchesters break in with the help of Bobby's ghost and Bobby holds Dick off long enough for Charlie and the Winchesters to escape. Dick has Edgar kidnap Kevin at the end of "Reading is Fundamental" and threatens Linda to get Kevin to translate the Word of God tablet in "There Will Be Blood". Dick correctly predicts that the Winchester brothers are planning to get the blood of the Alpha Vampire and of Crowley for the leviathan-killing bone described by the tablet; after sending Edgar on an ill-fated mission to kill the Alpha Vampire before the Winchesters can attain the alpha's blood, Dick summons and traps Crowley. Rather than kill the demon, however, Dick makes a deal with Crowley: in exchange for Crowley giving the Winchesters the wrong blood as part of a trap, the demons will get a free rein with humans in the world, excluding America, which is the place where the leviathans are currently targeting for its abundant food source. Foreseeing Crowley's betrayal, Dick also arranges for several decoys of himself positioned in Sucrocorp to fool the Winchesters into wasting the bone on a fake. However, Dean and Castiel ultimately find and confront Dick, whom Castiel is able to identify due to the brief time that the leviathans used him as their host. When the bone seemingly fails to work, Dick initially believes that he has won, only to find out that he himself has been tricked when Dean kills him with the real bone, sending him back to Purgatory. As an unintended consequence of using the bone, however, Dean and Castiel are pulled into Purgatory with him.

Eleanor Visyak

Portrayed by Kim Johnston Ulrich, Eleanor Visyak is a creature from Purgatory who is over 900 years old. She who was released from there on March 10, 1937 by a spell performed by H.P. Lovecraft. She possessed the body of his maid, Eleanor. She has been living as a professor of medieval studies at San Francisco University. She has a romantic past with Bobby Singer. In "Like a Virgin", at Bobby's suggestion, Dean visits Dr. Visyak to gain information about dragons and how to kill them. She has a dragon killing sword - the Sword of Brunswick (or Braunschweig) - in her basement, which is stuck in a large rock. Dean extracts it using plastic explosives, breaking the sword in the process. While visiting Westborough, the son of Eleanor, who saw his mother possessed by a creature from Purgatory in 1937, Bobby sees a photo of the woman and realizes that it is the woman he knows as Eleanor Visyak. He finds her in a cabin - one of her 'safe houses' - and tells her he knows who she really is. She confirms his suspicions, but denies that she killed H.P. Lovecraft. Bobby warns her that Castiel is looking for her. He asks for the information about how to open a door to Purgatory, but she refuses to tell him, and also rejects his offer of protection. As she leaves the cabin at the end of the episode, Castiel appears and takes her. A flashback of Sam's in the finale "The Man Who Knew Too Much" reveals that he, Bobby, and Dean found her, fatally wounded, in an alley. She recounts her tortured at the hands of Crowley and Castiel, and admits that she eventually gave in and revealed the spell to access to Purgatory, which involves the blood of a virgin and the blood of a creature from Purgatory. Eleanor dies before she can reveal where Crowley and Castiel are.

War

War, portrayed by Titus Welliver, is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, along with Famine, Pestilence and Death. He wears a pure gold ring, which is unique among the three rings belonging to his brothers as it lacks a gemstone. Upon Lucifer's arrival on Earth, War manifests and mimics the physical appearance of a man named Roger. War then begins his role in the apocalypse, spreading chaos and conflict. This is seen in the episode "Good God, Y'All", when the Horseman destroys the town of River Pass in Colorado by turning the residents against each other by faking demonic presence. He is eventually defeated and his ring stolen by the Winchesters, with assistance from Ellen, Jo and Rufus, when they cut off his finger. The demon Brady later reveals that War survived the encounter, but is now in a catatonic state.