Samhain

Samhain, also known as the origin of Halloween, is a powerful and special demon of Hell, who can only rise when summoned by two powerful witches through three blood sacrifices over three days, that last day on the final harvest, Halloween. Once Samhain has risen, he is able to raise ghosts, zombies, ghouls  and unleash them onto the Earth.

History
Samhain is an ancient demon who was worshiped as a god on Halloween by the ancient Celts. When he reigned on Earth on Halloween night, people kept their children in that night. They wore masks to hide from him, carved pumpkins to worship him, and left sweets at their doors to appease him. He was exorcised centuries ago by an unknown party. As he can only be summoned once every 600 years, he was trapped in Hell.

Samhain, once summoned by Tracy Davis and Don Harding on Halloween 2008, possesses the dead body of Don Harding. When he enters the body, the corpse's irises turn either grey or pale blue, while his pupils stay black and the remainder of his eyes stay white, marking him as a different kind of demon than any that has appeared on the show before. His unique eye color may mean that he is somewhere between the white eyed demons, such as Lilith, and the common black eyed demons. Samhain proceeded to kill Tracy and then go on a rampage, entering a mausoleum in a cemetery and releasing ghosts and zombies to kill Don's students. While Dean Winchester dealt with his monster minions, Sam Winchester faced him armed with the Demon-killing knife. While Samhain's White Light had no effect on Sam, he proved too powerful for Sam to beat with the knife and Sam was forced to use his psychic powers to exorcise Samhain. Samhain proved to be powerful enough to resist Sam's powers, but ultimately he was exorcised and sent back to Hell by Sam. However, while Samhain was exorcised, his rising broke one of the 66 Seals.

Personality
Samhain was shown to be cruel, and sadistic, he took pleasure in trapping his hosts students and summoning zombies to devour them, so much so, that he playfully rubbed his hand against the gate as he walked off. He however seemed more interested in simply creating and causing destruction, rather than running it, as rather than consolidating his efforts or powers, he simply passed through the area, causing destruction.

He also showed no loyalty, casually killing Tracy Davis, despite the witch being the one who loved and freed him. He was also shown to be treacherous, and cunning, and had a very violent and ferocious side to his personality. Although willing to use his powers to dispatch attackers, unlike most demons, he was also more than willing to enter physical combat, and try to catch and rip them apart limb from limb with his bare hands.

He was also shown to be quiet, and did not talk much, also when angry, he would start snarling like a wild animal.

Powers and abilities
Samhain is an incredibly powerful demon who displayed multiple rare abilities as well as abilities unique to himself. That his rise was one of the 66 Seals marks Samhain as a special demon; the only other demon who was a seal was Lilith. His rank in the hierarchy of Hell is unknown.


 * Immortality - Although Samhain's exact age was not stated, he is at least over six hundred years old and it is implied that he is thousands of years old. The fact that his rising was one of the 66 the seals to free Lucifer, indicates he was around by the time Lucifer's cage was created.
 * Summoning - According to Sam, Samhain has the ability to summon creatures. Sam also stated that the longer Samhain is free, the more dangerous monsters he would summon, until everything the Winchesters had ever fought would come to him; this would include ghosts, zombies, other demons, witches, monsters, deities, hellhounds, and conceivably more.
 * Samhainvssam.jpgWhite Light - Samhain has the power to emit a fiery blast of white light that could destroy anything in its path. He was one of only two demons known to have the ability.
 * Possession - Samhain used the corpse of one of his deceased witch followers as his vessel.
 * Invulnerability - Samhain cannot be killed by conventional methods; he did not die from possessing a body riddled with fatal gunshot wounds, nor did he seem hindered by these injures or even seem to find them inconvenient.
 * Immunity - Samhain is immune to iron, as he was able to close an iron gate and ran his hand over it as he walked away without getting burnt. He was also able to resist Sam's powers better than other demons. It's possible that he is also able to resist the Demon-Killing Knife, as he only seemed a little annoyed when Sam cut him with it.
 * Necromancy - Samhain has the power to summon ghosts and bend them to his will, as shown when he had one attack Dean.
 * Reanimation - Similarly, Samhain has the power to turn nearby corpses into zombies and bend them to his will, as shown when he had them attack a group of party-goers.
 * Super strength - Samhain was able to throw Sam across the crypt with great force and minimal effort. He was also able to effortlessly break Tracy's neck with his bare hands.

Harming, Misleading or Trapping

 * Exorcism - According to Sam, Samhain is susceptible to exorcisms, as he was said to have been exorcised centuries ago. Sam later used his powers to psychically exorcise Samhain.
 * Partial blindness - Unusually for a demon, Samhain's eyesight is impaired, causing him to see the world blurred. If humans are wearing monster masks and costumes, Samhain mistakes them for actual monsters and passes them by without attacking.
 * Demon-killing knife - It is implied that Samhain can be killed by the knife, since he made sure to get rid of it when Sam tried to kill him with it. At the least it can injure him, as he was cut by it and it flashed the light it makes when harming a demon, but showed little pain.
 * Angel Blade - Given Samhain's reaction to the demon-killing knife, an angel blade could likely at least hurt him if not kill him.

Banishing and Killing

 * The Colt - It can kill almost anything, therefore it could likely kill Samhain.
 * The First Blade - As the First Blade can kill any demon, it can kill Samhain.
 * Death's Scythe - It can kill anything.
 * Archangels - Archangels could effortlessly destroy Samhain. It's unknown how he would fare against regular angels however.
 * Sam Winchester - Samhain is vulnerable to Sam's demonic powers. Even when Sam was not drinking Demon Blood, he could use his powers to exorcise Samhain, albeit with immense difficulty for Sam (to the point that Sam got a headache and a nosebleed) and with Samhain almost fighting through it.

Appearances

 * Season 4
 * It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester

Trivia

 * Despite the students wearing costumes in the mausoleum, Samhain was able to see them, even though he couldn't see Sam or Dean properly when they were covered in blood. However, some of them were not wearing masks, which is identified as the key component for tricking him, possibly revealing their humanity to him.
 * In reality, Samhain is the Wiccan holiday on Halloween where the Wiccans celebrate their dead ancestors, loosely based upon an older Celtic holiday of similar name.
 * The ancient Gaelic holiday of Samhain, historically celebrated in Ireland and Scotland, actually fell on November 1st, not October 31st, and signaled the start of winter. It was one of the four main Gaelic holidays, each marking the beginning of a new season. The others were Imbolc (February 1st), Beltane (May 1st) and Lughnasa (August 1st). It was traditionally believed that on Samhain, otherworldly spirits would enter this world and blight all crops and green vegetation with their breath Link
 * The festival of Samhuinn is at the end of the year for the Celts, when the Otherworld and normal world were able to be crossed. It represented ending the year with darkness, and beginning the year not too long after, which corresponds with some characters thoughts and actions in this episode.
 * In this episode the name 'Samhain' was pronounced Sam-Hane, its correct pronunciation is Sow-ann
 * The Celtic festival of Samhuinn is celebrated in the myth the Kelpie, in which souls are brought back from the dead, supporting Samhain's powers.
 * In Bobby Singer's Guide to Hunting, Samhain was described as a Blue-eyed demon. On very close inspection, it can be spotted that his irises are a very pale blue or possible grey.
 * That Samhain's raising was one of the 66 Seals indicates that Samhain already existed by the time Lucifer had been trapped in his cage. The only other demons confirmed to have been made by that time were Lilith, Azazel, Cain and Abaddon.
 * Samhain's White Light ability was the second trait he shared with Lilith, the first one being part of the 600 seals.

Samhain