Azazel

Azazel is the main enemy for the first two seasons of the TV series Supernatural. He was the one that killed both the mother of Sam and Dean Winchester and Sam's fiancee Jessica Moore.

Azazel has several children of his own, notably his daughter, the demon who possessed Meg Masters, an antagonist in the first season who was exorcised and sent back to Hell by Sam Winchester. These "children" are demons that he loves very much as he asks Dean why he thinks it's ok for humans to have families but not for demons, and he tortures Dean for killing one of his "children" (Tom) who was beating Sam bloody in a back alley after the Winchester brothers save their father in Devil's Trap. The only thing he seems to fear is the Colt, a special gun which can kill anything. He spent the first season trying to obtain this weapon. At the beginning of the second season, he procures it from John Winchester, along with John's life and soul, in exchange for saving the life of John's son, Dean.

Sam and Dean think, for a time, that Azazel's attacks follow a set pattern. The attack would occur on the "gifted" child's six-month birthday, would originate in the child's nursery, and the mother of the child would die by being pinned to the ceiling, bleeding from the stomach, where she would burst into flames. These deaths were result of him fulfilling deals made 10 years prior. Azazel stated he simply needed permission to do something. As long as he was not interrupted, no one would be hurt.

This was the case with Sam and his mother Mary Winchester, and with Max Miller and his mother. Mary had made the deal ten years prior to save John's life and end her career as a Hunter. The demon said she was his favorite. However, the pattern is broken when Sam's girlfriend Jessica is killed (Azazel claimed she was holding Sam back from honing his skills), and in "Simon Said" with the case of Andy Gallagher and his twin brother Ansem Weems, who were both adopted. Andy's adoptive mother was killed on his six-month birthday, but Ansem's was not. It is likely Ansem's adoptive mother did not interrupt Azazel during his visit.

The full scope of his powers is unknown. He mostly appears by possessing the bodies of others, and is only identifiable when he presents yellow eyes. He seems to possess telekinetic and pyrokinetic powers, which he uses elaborately to kill his primary victims. When not in possession of a body, he can exist as a black smoke, and at one point manages to dodge a bullet from Sam by teleporting. He holds considerable influence and power, he even at one point possesses a reaper and saves Dean's life. Unlike other demons on the show, he appears to be immune to exorcisms, holy water, and most other forms of defense against demons.

In "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1", Azazel appears to Sam in a dream. In this twisted dream, the demon informs Sam that he is in a contest against all the other "special children" like him. Azazel then notes that Sam is his favorite, so he shows Sam a vision of the night that he visited him. It is shown that Azazel bleeds into the child's mouth, as sort of a ritual. Azazel also shows that Sam's mother, Mary, recognizes him and was only killed because she was at the "wrong place at the wrong time". Series creator Eric Kripke has stated that her relation to Azazel was supposed to be addressed in the third season, but was pushed back to the fourth season due to the writer's strike.[1]

Azazel's last appearance chronologically is in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2", where he approaches Jake in a dream to tell him what to do now that he is the last survivor. He threatens Jake's family, and the soldier listens. When Jake is asked by Azazel to do something for him, Jake is given the Colt and immediately points it at him. Feigning fear, Azazel shrugs off the Colt pointed at him and says that Jake would rather have health and wealth than to shoot him. He promises security for his family as well, causing Jake to lower the weapon. With Azazel's promises, Jake is coerced into entering the Devil's Trap and into using the Colt as a key to open a gate to hell. The rush of demons from the gate breaks open the Devil's Trap, allowing Azazel to enter. He then appears behind Dean, who attempts to shoot him with the Colt. However, Azazel telekinetically grabs it from him and forcefully throws Dean onto the ground, telling him how thankful he is to Dean that he revived Sam since he liked him better than Jake. He also informs Dean that whatever Dean brought back is possibly not "100% pure Sammy", which Dean thinks has some plausability as Sam had killed Jake in coldblood without a second thought, something Sam would have never done before. He then aims the Colt at Dean and prepares to kill him, but the spirit of John, who escaped through the gate, appears and grabs him from behind, pulling him out of his human host. Azazel escapes from John's grasp and returns to his body, but Dean already has the Colt by then and shoots him in the heart, killing him. Dean then triumphantly stands over the demon's "body", recognizing his and Sam's victory over the thing which has given their family so much death and heartache. However, with the release of hundreds of demons, the Winchester brothers accept the fact that they have more work to do and more demons to hunt down and kill, some possibly worse than Azazel.

Azazel's ultimate goal, what he called his "end game" was something more than just unleashing a demon army and finding one of his children to lead it. He, however, had managed to cover his tracks well enough to leave even angels guessing at the nature of that end game.[2]

His "end game" was revealed in Season's 4 'Lucifer's Rising'. Azazel found the location of the final seal to free Lucifer.He possesses a priest and murders the nuns in the convent. Lucifer speaks to him through the body of a nun and tells him how to set him free. That he must first free Lillith, whom at this point is locked away in hell, and then find a special child to kill Lilith for the final seal to be broken (this is implied to be the reason why Azazel had Jake open the gate to hell) He also reveals in this episode that he is completely loyal to Lucifer, refering to him as his father (Lucifer also refers to him as his son). Whether he was really Lucifer's child or just that he was a faithful follower is unknown

The full scope of his powers is unknown. He mostly appears by possessing the bodies of others, and is only identifiable when he presents yellow eyes. He seems to possess telekinetic and pyrokinetic powers, which he uses elaborately to kill his primary victims. When not in possession of a body, he can exist as a black smoke, and at one point manages to dodge a bullet from Sam by teleporting. He holds considerable influence and power, he even at one point possesses a reaper and saves Dean's life. Unlike other demons on the show, he appears to be immune to exorcisms, holy water, and most other forms of defense against demons.

It was confirmed on July 10, 2010 that Frederic Lehne will be returning to portray Azazel once again for at least one episode of Season 6, in the opening episode. Whether he will merely appear as a flashback, in a time travel appearance, or if he has somehow been resurrected is still unknown, but given that Mitch Pileggi, who portrays Samuel Campbell (last seen possessed by Azazel before his death), has also been confirmed to reappear, it appears that Azazel may have a large role to play in Season 6.

Family
Lucifer (Father)

Demons (Brothers and sisters)

The Demon who possessed Meg Masters (Daughter)

Tom the Demon Dean killed using the colt (Son)

End Game
During his long imprisonment within the confines of Hell, Lucifer was served by his many demons, one of the most prominent being the Yellow-Eyed Demon, Azazel. Azazel, who was not bound by the limiting effects of the 66 Seals and thus could retain his power and full strength outside Hell, eventually escaped to Earth in search of a way to free Lucifer from Hell. In 1972, after escaping from Hell and into the world, Azazel possessed the body of the chief priest of a prominent church, St. Mary’s Convent in Ilchester, Maryland, and pretended to carry out the priest’s current mass, with an audience of nuns in attendance. Eventually, the priest’s words began to speak of a different father, Lucifer, and the priest was then revealed to be Azazel, who then proceeded to slaughter the nuns who screamed in terror as they were horrifically massacred. After they were dead and the church was left a bloody mess, Azazel (still possessing the priest’s body) spoke directly to Lucifer himself (who spoke through the body of a nun), calling him his “father” and Lucifer in turn calling Azazel his “son” (though it remains unknown if they were speaking literally or in merely symbolic terms). Azazel requested knowledge of what was binding Lucifer in Hell and how he can help Lucifer break free. Lucifer revealed that the final Seal that was keeping him within the confines of Hell is the death of Lilith, one of the first demons he crafted after his fall from Heaven and transformation into his present state. Revealing that Lililth would have to be freed from Hell and then sacrificed by a special child with psychic powers strong enough to perform the deed, Lucifer entreated Azazel to devise a way to break this Seal and set him free. It is here that Azazel is revealed to be ultimately loyal to Lucifer and that his end game all along throughout the series has been the release of Lucifer from Hell, though his end game was kept well hidden enough by the release of a demon army many years later that even the angels of Heaven were left guessing what his ultimate goal had been after his death.

Armed with knowledge of the 66 Seals and the final Seal of all, Azazel crafted a plan to break the final Seal by finding the prophesized “special child” that would be strong enough to kill Lilith when the time came. He also devised a plot to break Lilith out of Hell so the deed could be performed when the time was right. In search of the special child spoken of by Lucifer himself, Azazel began to search far and wide for parents sure to bear children with certain psychic abilities if properly activated. To this end, Azazel would typically blackmail the parents of the child in question by means of quid pro quo into allowing him to visit the child in question upon the night of their six-month birthday (as he was unable to enter without their permission). What Azazel did not reveal to the parents however was that he would bleed into the mouth of the child in question, feeding them demon blood and activating their psychic powers within. He did this with many children, knowing that one day he would have to determine which would be powerful enough in the end to kill Lilith and fulfill the release of Lucifer from Hell. Under the guise of searching for the leader of a demon army he would release from Hell as a secret cover for his true goal, Azazel covered his tracks well so as to not be discovered by the angels of Heaven and have his plan exposed. Azazel also finally learned of a way to release Lilith from Hell, by means of a portal connecting the Earth to the realm of Hell called the Devil’s Gate. After discovering the Devil’s Gate to be protected by numerous protections set in place by the legendary Samuel Colt and that the key to the Gate itself was a gun created by Colt himself, Azazel began to also search for this key and found another use for the special child he sought: to pass through the barriers Samuel Colt had set in place around the Gate and open the Gate itself once the key had been located.

This plan came to fruition many years later, beginning in 2007 after Azazel pitted many of the now grown-up special children against one another in a battle to the death to see which would ultimately prove strongest, as a means to see which would be best suited to perform the task of killing Lilith. After Jake Talley came out on top after stabbing Sam Winchester in the back, Azazel entrusted the Colt (acquired from John Winchester, along with his soul in hopes him being "The Righteous Man" who would end up breaking the first Seal) to Jake and instructed him to use it to open a crypt in an old cowboy graveyard in Wyoming (in truth the Devil’s Gate itself). Although Sam was resurrected by means of a bargain his brother Dean Winchester made with the Crossroads Demon and he and his allies headed Jake off at the graveyard, Jake was able to insert the Colt into the lock on the crypt and turn it like a key, causing the lock to begin to come open before he was shot mercilessly by Sam. With this, the Devil’s Gate was blasted open, releasing a demon army into the world to serve as a distraction while Lilith was also secretly released from Hell through the Gate as well through Azazel’s cunning. Although Azazel was killed by Dean using the Colt, Azazel’s plan was now set into motion and his plan remained shrouded in mystery to even the highest authority of Heaven. With Lilith now released from Hell and one special child remaining, tested and tried, the elements were now set in place for the final Seal binding Lucifer to be broken when the time was right. It would now take only a guiding hand to nurture the special child, Sam Winchester, to fulfill the task to which Azazel had truly planned for him: the killing of Lilith. In 2009, this also come to frution through the efforts of a demon named Ruby, who helped nurture Sam's darker persona and guided him toward his final confrontation with Lilith, goading him to kill her at the very place Azazel had spoken to Lucifer at so many years before, the now abandoned St. Mary's Cathedral. After Sam had killed Lilith, Ruby laughed in delight and revealed that Lucifer himself had predicted that Sam was the only one capable of killing Lilith and that now the deed was done, before being killed by Dean. With this, Azazel's plan of many long years had at last succeeded in its goal: releasing Lucifer from the constraints of Hell.

Names
Names this character is known by both in fandom and canon:
 * Azazel - Casey reveals his true name of the "Yellow-Eyed Demon" in "Sin City", the name is also mentioned in "In The Beginning"
 * The Demon (all Winchesters refer to it thus in Season 1)
 * The Yellow-Eyed Demon (Dean refers to it thus in Season 2)
 * Celine Demon (a nickname used by some fans)
 * In a draft script for "Everybody Loves a Clown", Dean refers to it as the Big Bad.

Powers and Abilities
As Lucifer's son and a Demon, Azazel is incorporeal and has the ability to possess living and other incorporeal creatures. Beginning with the second season, he takes on one primary host, possessing others when the need arises. While possessing his host, the body exhibits demonic abilities quite normal for a possessed person. These include, but are not limited to, inhuman durability and enhanced strength, speed, and stamina, healing factor, and immunity. He is extremely powerful than the average demon, as he is invulnerable to all the average defense used against demons. He has displayed supreme psychic ability as well, such as the time he pinned the Winchesters to a wall via telekinesis, or the time he entered Sam’s dreams. He also appears to have pyrokinetic and teleportain abilities, unlike most other demons. Like all demons, conventional weapons can't kill him. he also knows magical rituals and posses Knowledge about things.

Demon title
The Yellow-Eyed Demon

Season 1

 * "Pilot" appears as figure next to Sam's crib
 * "Scarecrow" Meg Masters communicates with him through the goblet of blood
 * "Nightmare" referred to by Max and Sam
 * "Shadow" Meg Masters communicates with him through the goblet of blood
 * "Salvation" appears as figure next to Rosie's crib
 * "Devil's Trap" possesses John Winchester

Season 2

 * "In My Time of Dying" appears to John Winchester as a janitor in the hospital basement. Possesses Tessa in order to revive Dean
 * "Croatoan" Duane Tanner communicates with him through the goblet of blood
 * "All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 1" appears in a dream to Sam
 * "All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 2" uses Jake Talley to enter the Devil's trap built by Samuel Colt. He is killed by Dean with the Colt, with some help from John Winchester

Season 4

 * "In The Beginning" possesses Samuel Campbell (Sam and Dean's grandfather) in 1973
 * "Lucifer Rising" possesses a priest in 1972 to speak with Lucifer

Season 6

 * "Exile on Main Street" Time Travel, Flashback or a Resurrection episode.

Trivia

 * It is implied (though not confirmed) that Azazel is the true son of Lucifer due to the numerous times Azazel refers to Lucifer by such names as "Father," "Daddy," "Padre," etc in Lucifer Rising, as well as Lucifer's referral to Azazel with the word "son." Conversely however, these terms all fit in very well with the idea that Lucifer is the demon's version of God, as God's acolytes and servants all call him Father.
 * Azazel was sent to a desert by Raphael this was his punishment for his fall and disobedience to God. This was briefly mentioned in "Lucifer Rising".
 * Azazel has been confirmed to be involved in the sixth season of the series somehow, as Frederic Lehne has been confirmed to return to the show to portray him once again. Whether this is to be a flashback, time-travel appearance, or he has been resurrected or faked his death somehow has not yet been confirmed.

Theory
With the confirmation that Frederic Lehne will be returning to the show to portray Azazel once again in Season 6, rumors have abound as to what further role the Yellow-Eyed Demon could play beyond his successful scheme to release the Devil himself from Hell that came to pass in the previous seasons. With Lucifer thrown back into his cage in Hell and the Apocalypse having been averted, one would initially think that Azazel wouldn not have any further role to play beyond all the careful planning he laid out decades before to ensure the events of the previous seasons would come to pass. However, it is now apparent that there is more to Azazel's presence in the series than meets the eye.

An often-overlooked bit of information many tend to forget is a comment that Lucifer makes about the Colt in "Abandon All Hope...", which reveals that there are five kinds of beings in all creation that the Colt cannot kill (though it can "hurt like Hell"), he being one of those beings. One could assume that all Archangels (one of which is Lucifer) compose one of those five categories. One can also assume that the Horsemen (confirmed to be incapable of being killed) compose another category, with deities such as God and the pagan gods composing another. While three categories would seemingly be accounted for here, it begs the question of what the other two categories could be.

As many well know, Azazel is shot and supposedly killed by a bullet from the Colt in "All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 2". Though the bullet hits him and crackles like it does most times, he does not die instantly as the vampire Luther did, but rather a few moments passed before the Demon collapsed and seemingly died. Seeing that the Colt has a similar effect when fired on Lucifer in Season 5 (crackling and causing the being to collapse), the Devil gets up moments later, revealing the gun has no effect on him beyond it causing him some momentary discomfort. Going back to Lucifer's subsequent statement, it would be interesting if it turns out that Azazel is amongst those in one of the other two categories referred to by Lucifer and that he possibly faked his death the whole time following that, remaining in the background the entire time while his "father" was released and ran amok.

It is also interesting to note that viewers have never seen another demon with yellow eyes as Azazel possesses. While viewers see at least two white-eyed demons (Lilith and Alastair), numerous black-eyed demons (Meg for instance), and even red-eyed demons (Crossroads Demons), Azazel is unique in the fact that he is the only demon seen so far that possesses yellow eyes. It is possible that like Angels, Demons also have a system of power, with the color of their eyes indicating their status. As with the case of Archangels (who are seemingly one of the categories immune to the Colt) amongst the Host of Heaven, so too may there be an equivalent to Archangels amongst the Demons of Hell. If Azazel is the kind of Demon that is of equivalent status to an Archangel in Hell's hierarchy, this would explain why he may be one of the few demons that could be immune to the Colt's effects.

As to what the Demon's true goal was in releasing Lucifer (initially largely thought to have been out of loyalty since the release of "Lucifer Rising"), the Demon's return to the show throws this topic up in the air. Azazel's true status is also not entirely clear at present, with it merely being confirmed that Lehne will return to portray him in some capacity in at least the opening episode of Season 6. If the Demon is indeed alive and returned to be the overarching villain once again for Season 6, some of the possibilities mentioned above could account for how his return could be possible. A flashback sequence would seem unlikely to some as archive footage would cover a flashback and thus not necessitate Lehne's return to the show for more filming. This however does not rule out a flashback like that seen in "Lucifer Rising", where a previously unknown part of the Demon's actions was revealed. Lehne's imminent return as Azazel however has raised hopes amongst fans that Azazel may well be alive and restored to his status as the overarching villain of the present time, as it was in Seasons 1 and 2.