Hell

"Hell is like, well, it's like hell. Even for demons. It's a prison, made of bone and flesh and blood and fear."

- Meg

Hell is the spiritual realm for punishment and pain of the afterlife. Human souls who are sent to Hell are tormented until their humanity is stripped away and they become demons. Hell is said to be so terrible that even the demons, with the exception of Alastair, hate it.

Appearance and Characteristics
Hell is described to be a place so bad that that even its own inhabitants despise it. Ruby described Hell as not being able to remember who you used to be. Her earthbound life existed during the 1600s and even with the plague erasing lives, she still desired the memory of the human she used to be. While possessing Sam, Meg described it as a prison of "flesh, and bone, and blood, and fear," that one of the reasons demons keep on returning to Earth is because they themselves do not want to suffer the tortures of Hell. While in his time in Hell, Dean is seen connected to "racks," long dark chains that look very similar to meat hooks, which are provided as extra torture, while demons such as Alastair use "razors" to torment souls further. It could be assumed that Hell, much like Heaven, is also a varying landscape. Only one demon, Alastair, so far has been described to enjoy Hell. Hell's appearance changed drastically in The Man Who Knew Too Much, becoming an endless queue, as souls started to enjoy torture. Then, in Taxi Driver, is seen to look like an actual prison.

Access and Location
Hell is a supernatural realm often pictured to be underneath the Earth. Whether this is true has not yet been proven. Rather, it does not seem to be fixed and could be accessed from different locations. One well known passageway between Earth and Hell is the Devil's Gate located in southern Wyoming. It was sealed by Samuel Colt with the use of a heavy door with a devil's trap lock, unlocked only by the Colt, and by placing a massive devil's trap consisting of five frontier churches connected to each other by pure iron railroads. This portal was capable of releasing demons who are normally unable to escape hell unaided, such as Lilith, or the souls of humans who were being tortured in Hell, such as John Winchester.

Lucifer's Cage is a special part of Hell designed solely for the purpose to keep the fallen archangel Lucifer incapacitated. It was located beneath St. Mary's Convent in Ilchester, Maryland. Another known way of entering the Cage is through the rings of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Angels are capable of forcing their way into Hell, as evidenced when they laid siege to the gates of Hell to save Dean. Fairies also claim that they know backdoors to Hell that not even angels know. This was never proven, though. Demons, regardless of their location on earth, are forced directly back into Hell once exorcised.

Rogue Reapers are able to secretly access Hell through a portal located in Purgatory that acts as a "backdoor." Any being can use this door both ways as long as they are aware of its location on both ends and have access to Purgatory.

Origin and Recent History
Hell was created by God as a prison for Lucifer as punishment for twisting the first human soul into a Demon, to spite God. God commanded Archangel Michael to throw Lucifer into the pit, where the fallen archangel became the ruler of Hell and converted every soul sent there into demons to serve him. Despite being the leader of hell, Lucifer was bound to his Cage. Instead, Lucifer selected his elite and loyal servants to act in his place. It has been hinted that Azazel had been Hell's viceroy in the absence of Lucifer up until his own death.

Lucifer eventually instructed Azazel with two tasks important in his plan to escape the Cage: Freeing Lilith from Hell, and raising a very special child strong enough to kill Lilith and break the final seal. Azazel succeeded in both tasks, though he was killed by Dean shortly after Lilith and hundreds of other demons escaped. However, Azazel also managed to secure a righteous man in Hell, when Dean sold his soul for the resurrection of Sam. After Azazel's death, Lilith assumed control of Hell.



Dean Winchester spent four months in Earth time in Hell, but he stated that time passed differently there, and for him it was more like forty years. This made 3 days on Earth roughly equivalent to a year in Hell. During this time, Dean was tortured mercilessly, being ripped apart and then put back together at the end of each day so that he could be torn apart again. At the end of every day, Alastair would offer Dean freedom from torture if he would start torturing souls himself. After thirty years of refusing this offer, Dean finally broke and started torturing other souls. This resulted in the first of the 66 Seals being broken.

When the Angels learned of what was happening, they laid siege to Hell to rescue Dean. Castiel personally pulled Dean out of Hell, and in doing this he left his mark on Dean's arm. However, by that time, the first Seal had already been broken. This set off a cascade of events that led to the apocalypse. During this time, new and more powerful creatures were unleashed from hell, in an attempt to outpower and overcome Heaven and its forces.



When Sam pulled himself, Lucifer, Michael, and Adam into the Cage, ending the Apocalypse. Though it seemed Sam was trapped in Hell.

After the apocalypse was averted, Crowley fought for and assumed control of Hell and its inhabitants. In a flashback in The Man Who Would Be King, he changed Hell to a never-ending queue, where the souls find themselves sent right back at the end of the line once they reach the front of the queue. It was also revealed that it was Castiel who pulled Sam from the pit, but unintentionally forgot Sam's soul. By the time Death retrieved Sam's soul, it had spent a year in the cage being tortured by Lucifer. As a result, when reunited with his soul, Sam found himself plagued with memories from Hell.



After absorbing all the souls in Purgatory and declaring himself the new God, Castiel made plans to "downsize" Hell. He let Crowley keep his position as King of Hell, under the condition that he only took souls that Castiel allowed him to take. Castiel said he would have gotten rid of Hell entirely, but he needed it as a threat to use against his enemies, and also because he wanted to keep Michael and Lucifer imprisoned.

In recent times Crowley seems to have returned Hell to its former more terrifying and savage state. People in this version seem to be tortured constantly and are locked in their own room constantly hoping and praying to be saved. Using the backdoor from Purgatory, Sam is able to enter Hell and rescue Bobby Singer's soul from his prison there.

Hierarchy and Denizens
Alliances and affiliations in Hell exist but they tend not to last for long periods. Hell's hierarchy exists, but is not as rigid and controlled as Heaven's. Various positions and titles exist, such as "Grand Torturer" (Alastair) and "King of the Crossroads" (Crowley).

The most powerful demons often assume control of Hell. Before Lucifer could walk free, high-tiered demons acted in his behalf, such as Azazel and the white-eyed demons Alastair and Lilith. After the death of all three, and Lucifer's subsequent escape, Lucifer assumed direct control of the demons both in Hell and on Earth. Crowley usurped the throne after Lucifer was re-imprisoned, proclaiming himself as the King of Hell. Unlike Lilith and Azazel, Crowley had no intention of helping Lucifer, since he figured that Lucifer would destroy all demons once he destroyed humanity. For a time, Crowley met opposition from loyalists of Lucifer, who were led by Azazel's daughter. Crowley eventually surfaced as the victor and remained the undisputed king of hell.

It is unclear precisely what sort of crimes one has to commit during their life to have their soul damned to Hell. Murdering innocent people in God's name appears to be one such offense, as Castiel stated. . Murder of the innocent in significant quantities seems to also be such an offense, as Jeffery's demon stated he would go to Hell, for being a serial killer. Human souls can also be sent to Hell after making deals with Crossroads Demons or other demons. Hellhounds capture then kill the person when their time is up. In some special cases, the King of Hell can arrange for a rogue Reaper to divert a soul to Hell, as was the case with Bobby Singer.

Human souls are repeatedly tortured in hell. Once they reach their breaking point, they find themselves completely healed, only to suffer the torture once more. This goes on until they agree to torture other souls in their stead. After hundreds of years of hellish torture, humans soon forget what they once were and begin to transform into corrupted and twisted versions of themselves.

Hell also contains creatures such as Hellhounds, Daevas, and the Whore of Babylon.

Appearances

 * Season 2
 * All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 2 (Devil's Gate )
 * Season 3
 * No Rest For The Wicked
 * Season 4
 * Lazarus Rising
 * It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester (Flashback only)
 * Lucifer Rising (The Cage)
 * Season 5
 * Swan Song (The Cage)
 * Season 6
 * Unforgiven (Flashback only) 
 * The Man Who Would Be King (Flashback only) 
 * Season 7
 * Meet The New Boss (Flashback only)
 * Season 8
 * Taxi Driver

Trivia

 * Ironically, Hell is somehow shown at the end of half of the series' season finales. In All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 2, the Devil's Gate is opened. In No Rest For The Wicked, Dean is shown in Hell. In Lucifer Rising, Lucifer's Cage is opened. In Swan Song, Sam jumps in the Cage.