Prophet

A prophet is an occupation among particular humans. A prophet's purpose is to be God's voice on Earth. Castiel refers to them as "mouthpieces and conduits for the inspired word."

Overview


According to Castiel, they are selected primarily by high-ranking angels or archangels. They speak of events to come, on instruction from Heaven. Archangels are tied to prophets, acting as their protectors when the need arises - each prophet has an archangel "tethered to them." Any presence of danger will cause intervention from his or her archangel. However, by the time Kevin Tran is revealed as a prophet, the archangels Michael and Lucifer are trapped in the Cage and Gabriel and Raphael are dead. Some powerful beings like Zachariah can implant prophecy, whether it be false or true, into a prophet's mind, as he demonstrated on Chuck Shurley.

Castiel claimed that Leah is not a prophet because he has every prophet's name seared into his brain, and it is later shown that this is inherent in all angels when Crowley tortured Samandriel in order to gain information concerning the names of the current prophets. According to Castiel, only one prophet may be active at a time. When the active prophet dies, another one is awakened and replaces the previous prophet. The entire line of succession of prophets up to the future is known to all angels, with their names have been written by Metatron; however, they do not know the names of prophets that have yet to be born.

To date, Kevin Tran never showed the capability to prophesize or to see events currently taking place. His abilities were limited to deciphering the Word of God. Whether this indicates that different prophets have different functions, or that the ability of prophets has since changed the moment the Apocalypse was averted is yet to be explained.

Metatron, who later planned on taking charge of Heaven, ended the prophet line, ensuring no new prophet would be called upon Kevin Tran's death. This is undone by the time the Darkness arrives, as a new prophet named Donatello awakes. In Good Intentions, Castiel confirms that once again if a Prophet dies, a new Prophet will be called.

Known Prophets

 * Luke - He wrote a number of books of the New Testament known as the Gospel of St. Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.
 * Kevin Tran - Kevin 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.
 * Donatello Redfield - Donatello was the most recent Prophet, turned when his town was affected by Amara's fog. He helped in the operation to save Lucifer, as he was capable of sensing the Darkness. Amara later consumed his soul to locate her brother but he remained alive and retained at least some of his Prophet abilities. He was rendered essentially braindead by Castiel.
 * Alternate Kevin Tran - Prophet ally of Michael in an alternate universe.

Prophets in the current generation
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 Samandriel for their names and has them kidnapped by his demons. Dennis is injured by Crowley in a fit of pique and Krista is killed too, 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.

In Season 9's episode, Road Trip, Metatron mentions that he "flipped a switch in Heaven" and that there will be no more prophets after Kevin Tran.

By the time of Season 11, the prophet line is resumed since one that Crowley missed became a Prophet after being hit by The Darkness' Fog. Even after losing his soul to the Darkness, he appeared to retain his status as a Prophet and continued to possess some if not all of his Prophet abilities.

False Prophets

 * Chuck Shurley: Also known by the pseudonym Carver Edlund, and later revealed to be God, Chuck is an author of the marginalized book series Supernatural. After confronting him about his seemingly omniscient knowledge of their escapades, it was revealed by Castiel that Chuck was a Prophet of the Lord, and his works will become new gospels. He was protected by the archangel Raphael. In Don't Call Me Shurley, it was revealed to Metatron that Chuck was in fact God, and thus never a prophet to begin with.
 * Whore of Babylon: Pretended to be the prophet Leah Gideon to earn the trust of the townspeople and trick them into the condemning their souls. She was exposed when Sam, Dean and Castiel realize she is, in fact, the Whore of Babylon in disguise. The real Leah is deceased. Dean eventually kills her.

Powers and Abilities

 * Precognition - Prophet's can see parts or glimpses of the future, but never the whole picture.
 * Decoding and fixing the Word of God - As a Prophet, Kevin could both read and repair the Word of God tablets. Donatello Redfield also possessed the ability to read the tablets though he appeared to have a harder time at it than Kevin.
 * Spell Casting - Kevin was capable of casting the demon bomb spell to escape.
 * Localization - After becoming a Prophet, Donatello could sense powerful beings and find their locations. He was able to use this ability to track the Darkness, Jack and Asmodeus.
 * Super senses - Donatello is able to sense Primordial Entities, Angelic Entities and Demons. In season 11, Donatello was able to sense God when heading to the Men of Letters Bunker. He was also able to sense the intense "waves of power" coming off of the nephilim Jack and that they were not toxic or dark. He also sensed Jack's birth. He could also sense Asmodeus when he was in close proximity to Jack.

Appearances

 * Season 4
 * The Monster at the End of This Book
 * 99 Problems
 * Season 7
 * Reading Is Fundamental
 * There Will Be Blood
 * Survival of the Fittest
 * Season 8
 * We Need To Talk About Kevin
 * What's Up, Tiger Mommy?
 * A Little Slice of Kevin
 * Torn and Frayed
 * Trial and Error
 * Taxi Driver
 * The Great Escapist
 * Sacrifice
 * Season 9
 * Devil May Care
 * Dog Dean Afternoon
 * Heaven Can't Wait
 * Holy Terror
 * Captives
 * Season 11
 * All in the Family
 * We Happy Few
 * Season 13
 * The Rising Son
 * War of the Worlds
 * Devil's Bargain

Trivia

 * So far, all of Prophets of God are human, with the exception of false prophets.
 * The Archangel Gabriel is often referred to in real world lore as God's messenger, which is a similar role to prophets who act as God's mouthpiece.
 * Both on-screen prophets have physically interacted and spoke directly with God, something rare among creation.