Death

Death is the final of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to physically appear on the show. Of all the riders, he is the only one to whom the text in lore gives a name.

Background
His existence is hinted at by Alastair when he performs one of the rituals to break the 66 Seals. He claims an "old friend" loaned him the weapon, and "he doesn't really ride a pale horse, but he does have three amigos". Death does not make a physical appearance in "Abandon All Hope...", but his presence was released from its prison in this episode. Lucifer released Death with his ritual. After the ritual is complete, viewers get what is apparently Death's point of view as he rises from the ground in front of Lucifer, who responds, "O hello, Death".

Death is considered the father of all reapers. A great number of them gathered in the town where Lucifer was going to release Death in order to serve him. To date he is the only Horseman who has knowingly served both sides. In the past he served Heaven during the time of the Great Flood and now he serves Lucifer in the Apocalypse, though the latter situation is revealed to merely be due to a binding spell Lucifer has cast upon him (and possibly his three brothers as well).

Normally Death is kept locked and chained in a magical coffin 600 feet under the Earth as his power is apparently too dangerous to allow him to roam freely. Heaven only released him when God had something major planned such has the Great Flood, or as Bobby Singer put it "The last time they hauled him up, Noah was building a boat!".

Appearance
In recent promotional pictures, he is revealed to be played by Julian Richings. Unlike his Reaper offspring, Death is dressed in a dark business suit, as opposed to mortician wear which the reapers are clothed in. He also carries a steel tipped cane and is indeed very thin like Bobby's wife described (his clothing appears to hang off him somewhat). He also appears to have overly large pupils that expand like the sockets of a skull depending upon his mood. His ring is pure silver and has a white stone set in it.

Personality
Due to his advanced age, Death is completely detached from the rest of the world. He even compares Dean to a bacterium. He cares little for major events of the here and now like the Apocalypse, and despite his coerced involvement by Lucifer, only pays the events vague interest, resulting in his preference to wander off from his assigned targets. Unlike the Angels or Lucifer, Death considers the Winchesters and their involvement in the Apocalypse to be highly insignificant in the grand scheme of things. However, unlike his younger siblings, Death is shown to have a more civil and calm manner when dealing with the Winchesters. Rather than attack Dean during their encounter, he instead invites the Winchester to join him at the table to discuss the Apocalypse. Death also claims to be an acquaintance of God Himself, stating that the two both share a similar advanced age to one another and that neither of them can remember which is older any more. In his statement that one day he will also reap God, Death implies that this is nothing personal toward God, but a natural event which must inevitably occur.

Despite being callous at times Death has a respect for the natural order of the universe. He explains to Dean that there are times when it's difficullt but in the end Death is Death and breaking the order in even the smallest way causes untold chaos.

While he may not hate Dean and Sam, Death feels that the pair are an affront to the natural order due to their constant resurrections. Death himself does not normally resurrect people (most likely because of the zombie condition) though he can make exceptions. Unlike the other Horsemen, Death has a level of respect for humans or, more specifically, the human soul. Death tells Dean that the Human soul is stronger than anyone knows and that it can suffer much but it cannot be broken. However, Death is mum as to why the souls seem to be so important.

Abandon All Hope...
Death is the main topic during "Abandon All Hope...", as Lucifer is going to summon him. Because of this, numerous Reapers gather, ready to take his orders when he appears. Lucifer claims while he is releasing Death that the requirements for the summoning are very demanding, and he also appears to have some degree of respect for the Horseman. This is revealed in later episodes that this is due to Lucifer possibly being less powerful and younger than Death.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
In "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", Death arrives in Bobby's hometown and proceeds to revive the dead in the local cemetery. While still unseen, his presence is heralded by fierce lighting storms. As revealed by Bobby's wife, he appears before her to tell her a message to Bobby: The entire incident was organized to attack Bobby, as he is one of the few remaining elements keeping Sam from saying "yes" to be Lucifer's vessel.

Those who are revived by Death appear normal at first, but after five days, the revived devolve into a stereotypical zombie behavior, developing a craving for human flesh after a high fever.

Two Minutes to Midnight
Death appears fully in "Two Minutes to Midnight", where he is shown to drive what appears to be a white 1959 Cadillac Series 62 coupe with the license plate "BUH*BYE". He walks through a street filled with people. A man who is not looking where he is going, rudely shoves past him, and Death turns to look at the man while brushing the side of his coat where the man touched him. He then continues walking as the man falls down dead onto the ground.

Death arrives in Chicago, Illinois to start a large storm chain that will trigger massive global weather events and mass death in the process - killing millions. Death, unlike his brothers, appears to have a habit of wandering off from his assigned area to the annoyance of Lucifer, who only allows it because of Death's usefulness and to keep his three brothers in line. (it is also later suggested that this is rather in fact due to Lucifer has only a limited amount of power over Death given him by his spell - Death is in fact, far more powerful than Lucifer).

Dean and Crowley track him to a pizzeria were Dean attempts to sneak up on him with Death's scythe (used by Alaistar to kill two reapers). However, the scythe begins to burn hot in Death's presence forcing Dean to drop it, alerting the Horseman to his presence. Rather than act hostile like his siblings, the Horseman thanks him for returning the Scythe before asking Dean to join him at the table. Death reveals that he has been waiting for a while to talk with Dean. Dean inquires if Death intends to kill him, causing Death to remark Dean's "...inflated sense of importance." Death reveals that he is the eldest of the Horsemen and that he is possibly older than God, though as Death states "...neither of us can remember anymore." Death also tells Dean that one day he will reap God, showing Dean how in over his head he truly is.

Dean asks what Death wants if not his soul; Death answers simply "The leash around my neck off" before going on to explain that he never agreed to work for Lucifer and that he - and possibly the other Horsemen as well - is bound to Lucifer by a spell. He goes on to explain that he has power beyond that Dean can ever understand and Lucifer, whom he describes as "a bratty child", is using him like a simple weapon, creating massive disasters and raising the dead. This indicates that Death, like his children, has some care for the natural order of things and Lucifer's genocide against Humanity is upsetting things. He goes on to explain the binding spell prevents him from going to Dean so he simply had to wait for Dean to catch up.

Dean then asks what he wants him to do and Death says first to take the bullets out of Lucifer's gun. He then willingly takes off his ring indicating that unlike his brothers he can possibly survive without it or they don't become catatonic if they willingly remove their rings. He tells Dean he is inclined to give him the ring if certain conditions are met. He tells Dean not to worry about Chicago, as he likes the pizza, so he will stop the storm. His conditions are that Dean must do everything in his power to assure that the Devil is put back in his cell. While Sam will be the one to bring the Devil back to the cage, Dean is the one who must imprison him even if it means killing Sam by letting him jump into the cage. Dean reluctantly agrees while Death warns him to hold true to his word by saying he can't cheat Death, he then gives Dean the instructions on how operate the rings that combine to form a key-like device.

Later, Dean and Bobby discuss the plan and while Dean is skeptical, Bobby says that Death probably has a larger view of things than they do and they should have more faith in Sam.

Season 6
In "Appointment In Samarra", Dean seeks out Death, as he figures he is powerful enough to lift Sam's soul from Lucifer's cage. He requests that he bring both Sam and their half-brother Adam out of the cage, but Death limits him to pick only one. When Dean chooses Sam, Death states that he will get Sam's soul back and set up a "wall" blocking out the memories in Hell, as he would certainly suffer with the memories. He wagers Dean that will be his prize if he agrees to something: he asks for Dean to find his ring, and put it on to become Death for one day. Before Death can explain why he wants Dean to take his place for a day, Dean revives from his dying state.

Death later approaches Dean after he has clearly lost the wager. Dean returns the ring, and Death acknowledges that Dean's learned something out of his experience. He tells him that he got a hard look behind the curtain, being the one to clean up everybody's messes. The horseman hints that this is the reason why he doesn't make much exceptions with death, as this could disrupt the natural order and start a chain reaction of disasters. Death then leaves to Hell to fetch Sam's soul out of Lucifer's cage, and returns in Bobby's panic room to restore the soul to Sam's body, despite Sam's pleads for him not to.

Season 7
Sam and Dean get the idea to bind Death to stop Castiel in Meet The New Boss. So they head to a house and summon Death (with some fast food as a gift). Death appears, but isn't too happy. He reprimands Dean for not following on his hint about "souls" he gave Dean last time. Dean asks Death to kill "God". Then Castiel shows up and the two exchange words. Death instantly does't like Castiel and tells Castiel that he isn't god and that hes harboring something else inside. Dean quickly demands that Death to kill Cas, but when he moves to do it, Castiel frees Death. When Castiel leaves, Death remains, and eventually tells them that Castiel took in something even older than God, that was in Purgatory. A Leviathan. Annoyed by Castiel, Death gives Dean another chance to fix his mess by telling Dean he needs to get Castiel to let the souls go back into Purgatory. Before he leaves, he tells Dean he will create another elipse so it is possible to open the door.

Quotes
"Life, death; chicken, egg; regardless, at the end, I'll reap him too." "God? You'll reap God?" "Yes, God will die too, Dean" - Death and Dean

"You have an inflated sense of your importance" - Death to Dean

"You know you can't cheat Death" - Death to Dean

"Nothing lasts forever. Well, I do." - Death to Dean

Family

 * Reapers (Kindred)
 * Famine (Brother)
 * Pestilence (Brother)
 * War (Brother)
 * God (Both have existed since the beginning of time)

Powers

 * Indestructible - Death himself, as a Horseman, cannot be physically destroyed. The other three riders require a colored ring that respectively channels their essential core abilities. In the case of Death, removing his ring removes only his ability to kill people and things. (which he usually can do by simply touching them).
 * Resurrection - Death has the power to bring or revive anyone and anything he wishes back to life. Death has admitted that on the contrary, he abides by a rule which seeminly strictly restricts him from bringing people back to life due to the ramifications of upsetting the natural order, although he made an exception for Sam's soul. In one instance, people he revived on Lucifer's command, eventually devolved into zombies.
 * Omnipotent - Death may be nigh omnipotent, being able to do or achieve impossible feats. Death tells Dean that he can reap God. He can manipulate and control the weather under Earth's atmosphere, create natural disasters that can kill millions of people instantly, and he was able to travel through Lucifer's Cage unaided and obtained Sam's soul successfully and returns to Earth almost instantly. In his ocuppation, he is capable of killing anyone or anything he wishes instantly.
 * Omniscience - Death may be nigh omniscient, as he possesses a wide knowledge on things like galaxies, planets, humans, souls, angels and archangels. Also, he's been physically present before the start of time itself alongside God.
 * Immortality - Death is not subjected to death and disease. He claims that he is as old or older than God, but neither can remember who is older. Compared to him, the galaxy is still "in its diapers".
 * Teleportation - Death can go anywhere he chooses in the universe; despite the fact that he can't be everywhere at once like God, he can move around the Earth and the Universe at incredible speeds using teleportation.

Flaws

 * It has been proven within the show itself that Death isn't omnipresent, as he can't be in two places at once.
 * Within the Natural order of things, Death under normal circumstances refuses to resurrect humans from the dead but he does so for Dean when he gets Sam's soul from Lucifer's Cage and returns it to Sam.
 * Death tells Dean that not even he can fully destroy or vanquish souls, as souls themselves can be damaged but are indestructible.
 * Death CAN be kept under control. God and/or Heaven were able to imprison him beneath Earth's surface for thousands of years. After raising him, Lucifer was able to bind Death to his presence and control his actions to a moderate degree.

Season 4

 * "Death Takes A Holiday" (mentioned by Alastair)

Season 5

 * "Abandon All Hope..." (unseen by audience)
 * "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" (mentioned by Bobby's wife)
 * "Two Minutes to Midnight"

Season 6

 * "Appointment In Samarra"

Season 7

 * Meet The New Boss

Trivia

 * Death's license plate reads "BUH BYE", which translates to "bye bye", an allusion to the power he wields over life and death.