Soul

A soul is a person's or monster's eternal essence, that persists and exists after death has occurred. In the natural order, souls are transported to the afterlife by Reapers under the instruction of Death. The reaper Tessa refuses to tell Dean, on more than one occasion, where she takes the souls. Known destinations of souls are Heaven, Hell and Purgatory.



In Supernatural, a soul separate from its body is visualized as a blinding white light. Both Death and Famine own a black case that can house human souls, securing them until they can manage the contained souls.

Its Uses
Crossroad Demons w ere the first to show the use of souls. In exchange for a soul, they would grant humans any desire they wish. Once the exchange was completed, the crossroad demons give the person ten years before they come to collect. It can be as little as one year (Dean's deal) to as large as twenty-five years (Becky's possible deal). Either way the demon has to collect and send the soul to hell.

Death and Fairies know whether someone has a soul by just looking at the individual. However, Angels must first perform a painful procedure where the angel reaches into the human's stomach (Bobby called it a "soulonoscopy"), indicating that souls are tangible. Death being able to physically handle souls also substantiates this premise. Archangels like Michael and Lucifer can abuse them in their true form without using a Vessel.

Both Angels and Demons can use souls to gain more power. Castiel used Bobby Singer's soul to heal himself, he also used the power of 50,000 souls to blast Raphael, effectively starting the civil war in Heaven. When Castiel opens a portal to Purgatory using a ritual, he absorbed the souls of every monster there and the power he gained from them was enough to easily overwhelm and kill Raphael. The souls from purgatory also made Castiel immune to the deadly effects of an Angelic Blade. With his own power drastically augmented, Castiel claims the title of God.

Effects On Humans
When Castiel rescues Sam from Lucifer's Cage his soul remains trapped in the cage until Death retrieves it for him. Without his soul Sam feels no empathy, guilt or compassion. While he continues to have physical needs for food, drink and sex, he doesn't sleep and has a high tolerance for pain.

Souls can also affect a person mentally. Because of Sam's soul being in the cage for so long, Castiel tells Dean it could make Sam a drooling mess if he gets his soul back. In order for Sam to survive his soul's return, Death erects "a wall" in Sam's head to help him survive.