Jimmy Novak

"Heaven, Hell? None of that matters, the only thing that's important to me is you and Claire."

- Jimmy to Amelia

James "Jimmy" Novak (July 10, 1973 - 2009) was a powerful vessel and the true vessel of Castiel. A very devout Christian, he prayed for years to assist The Lord. He was obliterated by Raphael when Castiel rebelled against Heaven by helping Dean escape. Castiel was then resurrected by God to continue to serve Heaven and the Winchesters while Jimmy Novak's soul was then allowed to move onto its final resting place, Heaven. However, when Lucifer obliterated a powerless then human Castiel, God once again brought back Jimmy's vessel with Castiel again possessing his former body.

From The Devil in the Details to We Happy Few, Jimmy's body was possessed by both Castiel and Lucifer. Jimmy once again showed his strength as a vessel by not outwardly deteriorating despite Castiel stating Lucifer's presence was burning Jimmy out like it did Nick. After Amara expelled Lucifer from Jimmy's body, he was once again only possessed by Castiel.

Following Castiel's death in All Along the Watchtower, the Winchesters gave Castiel a Hunter's Funeral, resulting in Jimmy's body being burned. It was later restored by the Cosmic Entity in The Big Empty when Castiel forced the being to resurrect him.

Early life
Jimmy Novak was an average person, born on July 10, 1973. He would pray before he and his family ate dinner (which he was strict about). His interactions with Castiel began one day when he fell asleep in front of the TV and it began to show static. Jimmy notices and goes to turn it off, but it does not respond. Upon hearing an ear piercing noise, he collapses on the floor.

Jimmy could now hear Castiel's voice, and Castiel asks Jimmy to prove his faith and stick his hand in a pot of boiling water. Jimmy complies and is amazed by the fact that his hand is fine. His wife, Amelia, walks in on him with his hand in the pot and panics. Jimmy tries to reassure her, by telling her Castiel told him that no harm would come, but she is not convinced.

Later on, she tries to get him to take pills, due to her belief that Jimmy is hallucinating. Jimmy refuses, telling her he's not crazy. Jimmy tells her that Castiel chose him, she inquired if it was Castiel the angel. Jimmy tells her that he has talked to Castiel a number of times. He asks Amelia about her belief in God and Angels, and why it would be so hard to believe that they are talking to him. Amelia retorts by saying that he sells Ad times on AM radio, Jimmy interrupted her by telling her that Castiel says that he is special because it is in his blood. When she asks what that means, Jimmy says he doesn't know but tells her that Castiel told him that God had chosen him for a higher purpose. Jimmy pulls her to the couch and tells Amelia that this is a blessing, that this is the best thing to ever happen to him. Amelia reminds him that his family is the best thing to happen to him. Amelia ends the conversation by telling Jimmy if he doesn't get help, she is going to take Claire to her mother's house in the morning.

With no other option, Jimmy prepares to leave. On his way out he grabs his trench coat. Standing in front of his house, he calls to Castiel. He tells the angel that he wants to help and mentions his family (Only Jimmy is heard speaking). Jimmy asks Castiel to talk to him, and then Castiel likely proposes possessing him. Jimmy asks Castiel to promise to keep his family safe. He then says "Yes". Castiel then possesses Jimmy's body. Castiel leaves, now possessing Jimmy's body.

Season 4
. After a big battle, Castiel is thrown from Jimmy's body. Jimmy wakes up and sees two men (Sam and Dean Winchester) in front of him calling him Cass. Jimmy responds by saying, "Not Castiel." Later on, Sam and Dean get him something to eat and are fascinated to see "Castiel", or at least someone who looks like him, eat. They ask Jimmy what it was like to have an angel inside of him. Jimmy answers it's like being chained to a comet. They also ask him what happened to Cass, and Jimmy tells them he has no idea. He just woke up and was himself again. Jimmy asks if he can go back to his family, but Sam tells him no.

After Sam and Dean talk, they tell Jimmy he needs to stay with them awhile; for protection. He is confused by this. They continue to tell him that demons are after him, which shocks Jimmy. Jimmy tells Sam and Dean that he doesn't know anything, but Sam responds that the demons don't care, they'll still want Jimmy. So they put Jimmy on lockdown in their motel room. But when Sam steps out (and Dean is asleep), Jimmy escapes and jumps on a bus back home.

When he arrives there, he sees his family and is hit with the memory of when he was last here. He goes and rings the doorbell, and Amelia opens the door. She is shocked to see him, and tells Jimmy they stopped looking for him. Once inside his own home, he asks if he can see Claire, but Amelia refuses. To convince his wife, he lies to her telling her that he was in a mental institution the whole time getting better. She is unsure what to do, but Jimmy convinces her to try again.

They have dinner, but his family soon notices changes in Jimmy. Like how he doesn't say a prayer before eating anymore. Then a demon comes (disguised as his friend), and Jimmy attacks. His wife is horrified by this. Jimmy tries to get his family to safety, but they escape. It is quickly revealed to them their friend was a demon. When the man's demon-possessed wife attacks him, Amelia rushes to Jimmy's aid. Luckily, Sam and Dean show up and save them.

Now that they have escaped, Jimmy is forced to separate from his family for their safety. Jimmy asks the boys how long this will be, and Sam answers forever. Jimmy is saddened by this but sees Sam's point. So Jimmy talks with Amelia who apologizes for doubting him before he tells her he has to leave, saying that he'll "see" them again.

Amelia tells him that she doesn't want him to go but Jimmy tells her it's okay, and that this is for their own safety. He finishes it off by saying that Sam and Dean are going to get them a car, and he wants her to take Claire somewhere safe. Then he gets into the Impala and leaves with Sam and Dean.

While Jimmy is sleeping, Sam gets a call from "Amelia" and gives it to Jimmy. Jimmy realizes that "Amelia" isn't Amelia and they head to her location. The demons want Jimmy to come alone, so the Winchesters make a plan to secretly follow Jimmy in.

Jimmy asks for a moment and goes off on his own. Jimmy begins to yell at Castiel for not protecting his family, and not keeping his promises. When Jimmy gets no word from Castiel, he heads into the building.

Once in the building, he sees his "wife" and his daughter tied to a chair. Jimmy demands their release. The demon also reveals she knew that Jimmy would bring Sam and Dean. Two demons bring Sam and Dean out. "Amelia" pulls out a gun and shoots Jimmy. Just as Claire is about to be killed, "Claire" breaks free and destroys the demon. Castiel is possessing Claire to help save the day. Following Castiel's lead, Sam and Dean break free.

Once the battle is over, Castiel walks over to Jimmy who is slowly dying, due to the gunshot wound. Castiel reassures Jimmy about his previous promise to protect Jimmy's family and comforts him over his oncoming death, by telling Jimmy he is going to a better place, and that his work is done. Jimmy is concerned for his daughter Castiel is possessing. Realizing she won't have a life with Castiel possessing her, Jimmy begs Castiel to take him instead. Castiel warns him of the consequences, but Jimmy is determined to let his daughter be free. With that Castiel leaves Claire's body and goes back into Jimmy's.

Season 5
In Sympathy for the Devil, it's revealed by Chuck that Castiel and Jimmy were blown up by Raphael. God later resurrects Castiel, and presumably Jimmy also, as in My Bloody Valentine, when Famine hits town, Jimmy's hunger for red meat influences Castiel to go on a hamburger binge.

In Swan Song, Castiel is again killed by Lucifer and Jimmy's body is once more blown up. Minutes later, Castiel is resurrected by God once more as a Seraphim, still in Jimmy's body. Jimmy most certainly does not return, and he ascends to Heaven.

Season 6
In The Man Who Knew Too Much, an empowered Castiel kills Raphael in the same manner the latter first killed him. This act avenged both Castiel and Jimmy's first death.

Season 7
Jimmy, once again is not truly seen, but during the course of the episode, Meet the New Boss Jimmy's body is shown to be on the edge of exploding because of being under the weight of all the souls and the Leviathans (which were released from Purgatory and absorbed by Castiel). At the end of the episode after Castiel sends all the souls back into Purgatory, the leviathans (which held on inside) take over and nearly kill Dean and Bobby, but because of Jimmy being on the edge of exploding, they instead retreat into the lake where they leave Jimmy's body and make their way into the water supply pipes. Jimmy's body implodes when the Leviathans leave him.

All that is found of Castiel and Jimmy is the trenchcoat. In Hello Cruel World, Castiel was presumed deceased; but in The Born-Again Identity it is revealed Castiel has been resurrected again by God and he is restored in Jimmy's body.

Season 9
Castiel has become human, but he remains in Jimmy, using his body as his own. One angel wanted to possess Castiel herself because Jimmy's body was a strong vessel and hers could barely contain her, but Castiel managed to prevent this double-possession by killing the angel. Castiel later abandons Jimmy's trenchcoat, apparently for good, after it gets bloody and he can't afford to wash it and buy food. Castiel dies again in I'm No Angel but is resurrected once again. Later, while he is apparently unable to reclaim Jimmy's trenchcoat, Castiel shows his fondness for Jimmy's piece of clothing by getting a new one to replace the one he discarded.

Season 10
After Hannah has an encounter with her vessel Caroline's husband, Castiel tells her about Jimmy, saying that Jimmy was a good man who had a family but he was forced to take Jimmy away from them twice as the mission was the most important thing, more important than their vessels and the families. However, after Hannah left Caroline and returned to Heaven so that Caroline could go home, Castiel looked up Jimmy on the Internet to find that his family was still searching for him. In The Things We Left Behind, Castiel tracks down Claire and confirms that Jimmy is dead and has been since Raphael smote them. His soul is now in Heaven. Feeling remorse about what he did to Jimmy and his family, Castiel attempts to help Claire and even pretends to be Jimmy to try to get her out of a group home though it fails. In The Hunter Games, Claire is shown to blame Dean and Castiel for Jimmy's death and is cold to them, even trying to get two people to kill Dean to avenge Jimmy though she stops before she goes through with it.



In Angel Heart, after being kidnapped in 2013 while searching for him, Amelia is trapped in a dream state of her ideal Heaven, reuniting with Jimmy by the Grigori Tamiel as he feeds on her soul. When Castiel rescues her, Amelia recognizes that Jimmy is gone, but is still grateful for the rescue, unlike Claire who was angry since Jimmy was gone, saying that as long as Claire was safe, Castiel kept his promise to Jimmy. After Tamiel kills her, Amelia ends up in Jimmy's Heaven which is revealed to be their home. Amelia tells Jimmy how strong Claire has grown up to be and the two embrace. The fact that they can share a Heaven indicates that they are likely soul mates. Afterwards Claire is shown to have forgiven Dean and Castiel for their roles in Jimmy's death, possibly prompted by Dean telling her that Jimmy's sacrifice wasn't in vain as Castiel was able to use his body to save the world.

Season 11
In The Devil in the Details, Castiel consents to possession by Lucifer, resulting in Jimmy's body being occupied by both the Seraphim and the archangel at the same time.

In Hell's Angel, while discussing exorcising Lucifer from Castiel, Sam tells Dean that Jimmy is a strong vessel, strong enough to contain Castiel after everything he's been through. As a result, Sam suggests Jimmy's body is strong enough to contain Lucifer as well.

In We Happy Few, Castiel reveals that Lucifer's possession of him is slowly burning out both himself and Jimmy's body despite there being no outward signs of it. During the confrontation with Amara, Amara yanks Lucifer from Jimmy's body, leaving only Castiel inside of Jimmy once more.

In Alpha and Omega, Dean finds that Lucifer is gone from Jimmy and that Castiel is once again in full control of his body again. Castiel tells Dean that he doesn't know what happened to Lucifer after he was expelled from Jimmy's body.

Season 13
In Lost & Found, the Winchesters give Castiel a Hunter's Funeral by burning Jimmy's body.

In The Big Empty, Castiel manifests in Jimmy's form in the Empty with the Cosmic Entity mimicking Castiel and thus Jimmy to communicate with him.

After the entity resurrects Castiel, its shown that the entity has restored Jimmy's body to act as Castiel's vessel again as Castiel awakens on Earth in Jimmy's form.

In Exodus, Castiel meets an alternate Castiel who is also using Jimmy as his vessel. During their confrontation, Castiel kills both his alternate counterpart and Jimmy's.

During Let the Good Times Roll, after several years, Jimmy's second death was avenged when Dean killed Lucifer.

Season 14
In Gods and Monsters, Castiel tells Lucifer's former vessel Nick that he can relate to what Nick is going through due to his vessel Jimmy Novak. Castiel admits that Jimmy was fine with the possession, but is dead, causing Nick to call Castiel "a stone-cold body snatcher" that is no better than Lucifer himself. Before leaving the room, Castiel tells Nick that in all of his thousands of years of existence, what happened to Jimmy and his family is Castiel's biggest regret.

Personality
Jimmy was a devout man with a kind heart. He loved his wife and daughter deeply and was willing to make sacrifices in order to keep them safe. Jimmy was known to incorporate religious practices into his daily life such as insisting he and the family say prayers before their meals.

Because Jimmy was so religious, he was not terrified that an angel had begun speaking to him. His trust in Castiel led him to put his hand in boiling water after Castiel promised he would not be harmed. However, his wife Amelia did not share his belief in superstitions and immediately ordered him to seek help. Instead of doing as she asked, Jimmy offered himself to Castiel as a vessel, knowing it was for the greater good but not without extracting a promise that his family would be safe first, proving that despite choosing Castiel, Jimmy's top priorities were to his family.

Once he was freed from possession, Jimmy was left disturbed by his experience and was willing to abandon his duty as a vessel to go back to his family, against Sam and Dean's protests, who knew this would be dangerous. Jimmy's attempts to return home proved almost fatal when demons arrived and attacked his family. Realizing that he could only keep Amelia and Claire safe from a distance, Jimmy offered himself one more time to Castiel to act as a vessel, sparing Claire of the ordeal.

A powerful vessel
Castiel once said that aside from Jimmy's devout faith, he chose him as a vessel because there is something special about Jimmy's bloodline that allows him and others in his family to comfortably have an angel's presence inside them and suffer no ill-effects, such as with the archangels hollowing of their hosts, or Lucifer rotting his host.

Hael indicated that Jimmy is a particularly strong vessel, telling Castiel that "your vessel is strong" and that she wanted to possess him too because her own vessel was weak. When Castiel was promoted to Seraph and received an increase in power, Jimmy's body was presumably upgraded as well in order to better suit Castiel. However, Jimmy's body may simply be good enough to house a Seraph, and even an archangel, at the same time, as shown when Lucifer took possession of it.

While it was eventually stated that he was starting to burn out, it took Jimmy months for his dual possession by Castiel and Lucifer to have such an effect and it remained non-visible. After leaving Castiel and Jimmy, Lucifer once more started burning out his vessels quickly, with only Vince Vincente lasting any real period of time. However, he too started to burn out shortly, showing the strength of Jimmy as a vessel once more. Despite the fact that Lucifer's possession was stated to be burning Jimmy out, Castiel and Jimmy's body showed no ill effects following Lucifer's expulsion by the Darkness.

Only the millions of souls from Purgatory, along with a large number of Leviathans, were too much for this vessel and he started to degrade after some days. However, despite his body still existing as Castiel's vessel, Jimmy himself is dead, having been killed by Raphael (or Lucifer) and had not been brought back by God like Castiel. Sam also comments on Jimmy's strength as a vessel, pointing out in Hell's Angel that Jimmy's body has remained intact despite all that Castiel has suffered over the years while possessed by him.

Notably, in Apocalypse World, the alternate Castiel also chose Jimmy as his vessel. This is in counterpoint to all of the other angel counterparts seen, particularly Zachariah, who all chose different vessels from their Main Universe counterparts.

In Supernatural: War of the Sons, Jimmy and his family are listed on a scroll which reveals that the Novak family's bloodline is compatible with angelic vessels. The scroll, which lists all of an angel's potential vessels, lists Jimmy, Claire and Jimmy's father Gregory as potential vessels for Castiel.

Appearances

 * Season 4
 * Lazarus Rising
 * Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester 
 * In The Beginning 
 * It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester 
 * I Know What You Did Last Summer 
 * Heaven and Hell 
 * Death Takes A Holiday 
 * On The Head Of A Pin 
 * The Monster at the End of This Book 
 * The Rapture
 * When the Levee Breaks
 * Lucifer Rising
 * Season 10
 * The Things We Left Behind
 * The Hunter Games
 * Angel Heart
 * Season 14
 * Gods and Monsters

Trivia

 * Misha Collins claimed that Castiel would probably be able to expel Lucifer from his vessel if he wanted to, implying that this body was made his when God resurrected him.
 * Jimmy's body is the only vessel to be possessed by two angels at once. It's also the only body to be possessed by two angels and a demon all at the same time.
 * In Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets, it's revealed that Jimmy is not Castiel's first vessel. His previous vessel was an unnamed woman that Castiel was known to be using in 1901. It is unknown why Castiel stopped using this vessel as Ishim, Mirabel and Benjamin are shown to retain the same vessel they had in 1901.
 * In My Bloody Valentine, Castiel says that Jimmy's biggest craving is red meat. When his hunger is amplified by Famine, he craves White Castle hamburgers.
 * In Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets, Ishim expresses a preference for Castiel's previous vessel over Jimmy.
 * Jimmy's form appears to be Castiel's preferred form as he manifests in the guise of Jimmy in Heaven and in The Empty following his death.
 * Whenever Castiel is killed and Jimmy's body is destroyed in the process, whoever resurrects Castiel always restores Jimmy's body to be his vessel. God did this following Castiel's deaths in Lucifer Rising, Swan Song and Hello, Cruel World while the Cosmic Entity did this in The Big Empty.
 * While in The Empty after his death, Castiel continued to manifest in the form of Jimmy as seen in The Big Empty.
 * In Season 13, Jimmy's form is taken by four different characters, all of whom were villainous. They were the Cosmic Entity, Asmodeus, Alternate Zachariah, and Alternate Castiel in that exact order.