Ruby

"On the bright side, I'll be there with you. That little fallen angel on your shoulder."

- Ruby to Sam Winchester.

Ruby was a black eyed demon devoted to Lucifer's return. After Azazel's death, she conspired with Lilith as to how they would free Lucifer from his cage: while Lilith broke the seals, Ruby protected the remaining "special child" Sam Winchester and prepared him to break the final seal and become host to Lucifer. This plan was known only to herself and Lilith, causing Ruby to be regarded as a traitor by Hell.

At first, Ruby formed an alliance with an uneasy Sam by promising to help him get his brother out of his crossroads deal, but the relationship between the two gradually deepened. She manipulated him into breaking the final seal by killing Lilith, but once her deceit was realized by the brothers, she was killed with her own knife.

Physical Appearance
Ruby's soul was apparently quite disfigured from centuries of torture in Hell. Dean and Anna both reacted with horror and disgust when they saw her true face, with Dean describing her as "one ugly broad". Ruby manifested as a cloud of thick black smoke without a human host. She preferred to possess young women. She wore black and other dark colors as well as narrow jeans, boots, and a leather jacket.

Personality
Ruby was aggressive, manipulative, and deceptive. She had a rather black sense of humor; for example, when Sam told her of how Azazel slaughtered eight nuns at St. Mary's Convent in 1972, she quipped, "What's black and white and red all over?" and smirked when Sam chastised her.

Ruby had strong religious faith in Lucifer, to the point that she spent two years on an undercover mission dedicated to freeing him which she eventually died on; because of this, she considered herself the best and most loyal of all his followers. She believed that he would "save" all demons. Once she freed him, she was visibly awed and ecstatic.

Ruby insisted that she was different from other demons in the sense that she remembered being human although she wished she didn't, and that these feelings compelled her to want to defend humanity; "Lucifer Rising" revealed that at least part of this was a lie but whether or not she did remember some part of her life as a human is unknown. Notably, she did not tell the Winchesters that she had once been human right away. Astaroth implied that Ruby did not want the brothers to know because she was "embarrassed," and Ruby did seem upset afterwards, though she quickly recovered. Once her origins were exposed, she began using her former humanity in her favor to paint herself as a demon who remembered and embraced her past.

Although Ruby sought to earn the Winchesters' trust by helping them and saving their lives if necessary, she did not always present herself as an accommodating ally. She frequently insulted or belittled the brothers, particularly Dean (requiring Sam to mediate between them). This came to a head in "No Rest for the Wicked": when Dean tricked her into a devil's trap and stole her knife, she finally lost her temper and screamed that she wished she could see him being tortured in Hell. Ruby confessed that she lived when the plague was 'big' and that Hell was not being able to remember who you used to be. She was also impatient and ill-tempered when her suggestions were not used, as seen when she simply left the brothers to fend for themselves against an onslaught of demons when they refused her plan.

After returning from Hell in Season 4, Ruby's personality seemed to soften as a result of her mentorship and romantic involvement with Sam. She appeared to grow genuinely fond of Sam, as she tried to comfort and reassure him with promises that he had done the right thing when she noticed how distressed he was by her betrayal in "Lucifer Rising", even though she no longer needed to pretend she was on his side. She was also shown to be shocked and hurt when he held her in place so Dean could kill her.

Ruby feared angels because she believed that they would smite her in an instant; upon learning that an angel had saved Dean from Hell, she spent less time around Sam because she didn't want to risk encountering Castiel. She was also unsettled by Castiel and Uriel's presence in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and the revelation that Anna was an angel in "Heaven and Hell". However, Ruby was even more frightened of Alastair, who called her "a devious, cowardly little slut". Regardless, she proved herself to be quite brave; she risked (and eventually lost) her life by allying with hunters who doubted her motives and were often willing to kill her, she made herself an outcast to be hunted by her own kind, and confronted both angels and Alastair multiple times despite her fears of them, even allowing herself to be captured and tortured by Alastair in "Heaven and Hell" for Sam's plan.

Powers and Abilities
Despite being a demon, Ruby more often relied upon on a combination of trickery, ambushing opponents, martial arts, and usage of the Demon-killing knife than on her supernatural powers. She had black eyes and was noted by Alastair to be "young" by demonic standards, marking Ruby as most likely an average, low-ranking demon. She was far outmatched by both high-ranking demons and low-ranking angels, and was extremely wary of both groups. Nevertheless, she demonstrated herself to be capable in evading and fending off the vengeful forces of Hell for two years, often on her own. When confronted by over thirty demons in "Jus In Bello", she held up her knife and challenged them by asking, "Who wants to stop me?"; they all let her pass unharmed. (Although it should be noted they may simply have been more interested in killing Sam and Dean than in capturing her, or simply wary of being killed by her knife.) Ruby's presence caused motel lights to flicker in "Malleus Maleficarum".


 * Teleportation - Ruby often disappeared from or suddenly appeared at one location. By "No Rest For The Wicked", Sam had learned a ritual with which he could summon her. After they started working together, she began driving an orange 1970 Mach-1 Mustang instead.
 * Super speed - The manner and rate at which Ruby was shown to attack the Seven Deadly Sins may indicate that she was moving at above-average speed.
 * Invulnerability - Ruby was immune to death from conventional means, such as massive blood loss from being tortured by Alastair in "Heaven and Hell", though she was barely able to walk afterward due to her injuries. Being shot in the chest by Bobby with the defective Colt in "Sin City" merely irritated her, not even notably hurting her or slowing her down. In "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Lucifer Rising", she entered hallowed ground, which Meg had noted in "Salvation" to be something "minor league" creatures couldn't do. Ruby was, however, susceptible to other standard defenses against demons, including devil's traps, salt, iron, and her own knife.
 * Magic - Ruby had immense knowledge of witchcraft and the supernatural, due to being a witch taught by Astaroth in her human life. Astaroth noted that Ruby had been "one of [her] best," indicating that Ruby had become a powerful witch under her tutelage. She was able to locate where angels were keeping Dean and saved Dean from Astaroth's spell. She also somehow escaped a devil's trap possibly through this method.
 * Electrokinesis - Ruby made The Impala slow down and then completely stop in front of her when she wanted to warn Sam in "Malleus Maleficarum".
 * Possession - Ruby manifested on Earth by possessing humans. "I Know What You Did Last Summer" revealed that, unlike most demons, she possessed humans without visually or audibly manifesting herself on the physical plane. It also revealed that she could possess a soulless, brain-dead vessel over an extended period of time without trouble.
 * Immortality - Ruby could potentially live indefinitely; she was over seven hundred years old when she was killed.
 * Super strength - When Ruby fought Sam and Dean in "No Rest for the Wicked", she punched Sam hard enough to knock him against a post and make him fall to the ground, stunned, and kicked Dean to land a short distance away and roll across the floor. She also grabbed Dean and pinned him against a wall in "No Rest For The Wicked" and "Metamorphosis", with him unable to get free until she let him go. However, Ruby was usually overpowered by even her fellow black-eyed demons in direct combat and she did not overpower Dean in "Metamorphosis" and "When The Levee Breaks", indicating that she was weaker than most demons and possibly only on par with Dean in terms of physical strength.
 * Regeneration - When in another vessel, Ruby commented that her brain-dead vessel was "rotting" without her possessing it, indicating that she was keeping the body from decomposing. She also cut her arms, and let Sam cut her, numerous times to let Sam feed off of her blood, yet her vessel remained unscarred, which may mean that Ruby was healing her vessel's wounds.
 * Super stamina - Ruby appeared to not need to sleep, or at least needed less sleep than humans do. Although she did not require food to survive, she enjoyed eating French fries and the like.
 * Telekinesis - Ruby used a hand gesture to shut and lock the doors of St. Mary's Convent on Dean in "Lucifer Rising".

Early life
Ruby began life as a human who was alive during the peak of the Black Death, which took place from 1348 to 1350. She might have lost loved ones during this time, as she comforted Sam in a flashback in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" by saying that she knew how it felt to lose someone.

Ruby became a witch by selling her soul to Astaroth. Their interaction in "Malleus Maleficarum" hints that they were in a sexual relationship with one another. As a result of her deal, Ruby's soul went to Hell after she died, where she was tortured to the point that she lost most of her humanity and became a demon herself.

All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 2
Ruby was among the demons who escaped Hell when Jake Talley opened the devil's gate in Wyoming.

The Magnificent Seven
Ruby began following Sam, meeting him face-to-face when she defended him and killed demons Pride, Gluttony, and Greed with a knife. When Sam asked who she was, she quipped "I'm the girl who just saved your ass" and departed.

The Kids Are Alright
When she met up with Sam again, she claimed that she was a hunter, revealed that she knows about Azazel's "special children", and encouraged Sam so he'd learn that his mother's friends and relatives were all killed by Azazel. Sam later confronted her about how she knew so much and she was forced to reveal to him her identity as a demon. He immediately prepared to fight with her but she managed to talk him down by promising to help him break Dean's deal.

Sin City
When Bobby Singer was trying to restore the Colt's power after Dean used its last bullet on Azazel, Ruby arrived and baited him into shooting her with the defective gun; she was irritated when the gunshot "smarted a little" and ruined her shirt. She helped him fix the Colt and he later brought it to Sam, who killed two demons with it to protect Dean. While Ruby was pleased by this display of Sam's new ruthlessness in his mission to save his brother, she became irritated when he questioned her motives in helping them, and threatened to take the Colt from him and help someone else. Sam pointed the gun at her but did not shoot when she reminded him that she could help him save Dean. She told him that they were in a war and that it wouldn't be easy - there would be "collateral damage" and he would have to resist his gentle nature - but that she'd be there for him.

Malleus Maleficarum
Ruby tried to warn the Winchesters off when they investigated a witch coven that was being empowered and controlled by Astaroth. Ruby feared that Sam would be killed, but he and Dean ignored her warnings. Dean sensed that Ruby was evil and tried to kill her with the Colt, but Sam interfered and she fled. She later saved Dean when she force-fed him a potion that broke the spell Astaroth had cast to kill him. She tried to earn Astaroth's trust by claiming that she'd led Sam and Dean to her and that she wanted to serve her again, but Astaroth realized her treachery when Ruby tried to kill her: she beat Ruby down while revealing her origins as a human to the shocked brothers, then tried to exorcise her. However, Elizabeth distracted Astaroth, who was then killed by Dean.

Later on, Ruby and Dean had a heart-to-heart in which she confirmed that he too would eventually become a demon (which became one of his deepest fears). She admitted to him that she had lied to Sam so that he'd listen to her; she could not save Dean from Hell, but she wanted his help in preparing Sam for fighting Lilith once Dean died. She claimed that the reason why she was helping them was because, unlike other demons, she remembered how it felt to be human.

Jus In Bello
Ruby's newfound truce with Dean broke when, after learning that the Colt had been stolen (by Bela Talbot) she suggested that they kill the virginal Nancy Fitzgerald to use her heart in a spell that would kill the demons laying siege to the police station Sam, Dean, and other people were hiding in; this spell would also have killed Ruby. Despite her and Nancy's willingness to sacrifice themselves, Dean vehemently refused her offer. After he gained the support of Sam, who was more open to the idea, Ruby gave up in disgust and left. The brothers escaped by using a mass-exorcism, but Lilith had killed everyone in the station after they left. Ruby angrily lectured them on not going with her plan, gave them hex bags to hide them from Lilith, and left.

No Rest For The Wicked
Against Dean's wishes, Sam summoned Ruby for her help in saving Dean from Hell as his brother's deadline grew close. She told him that he could save his brother by developing the demonic abilities Azazel had given him, which had gone dormant upon the demon's death. However, Dean had predicted his brother's actions and drawn up a devil's trap, which he used to capture her and steal her knife after a brief but vicious fight. She was enraged and screamed that she wished she could see him getting tortured in Hell. She managed to escape the trap and showed up to apprehend him, demanding her knife back, but was forced to flee with the brothers when a horde of demons attacked. While the group was separated, Lilith exorcised Ruby and sent her back to Hell while she temporarily possessed Ruby's host body.

In Between Relationship
Ruby was released from Hell, claiming that Lilith had ordered her to kill Sam to prove her loyalty. She was accompanied by another demon, whom she killed in front of Sam to show him that she remained his ally. However, he rejected her help once she admitted that she couldn't rescue Dean from Hell, and demanded she disinhabit the secretary whose body she had taken over. She satisfied him by possessing the body of "Jane Doe", a woman who had recently died in a coma and whose soul had already passed on.

With Sam now more open to her advice due to his grief and her apparent trustworthiness, Ruby suggested that he avenge Dean's death by killing Lilith with his psychic powers. Although he wanted to go after Lilith immediately, she persuaded him to train with his abilities first, then saved his life when he walked into a trap. During this time, Ruby stopped him from drinking alcohol heavily, started a sexual relationship with him at his lowest point, and became his hunting partner in Dean's stead. She possibly began feeding him her blood to enhance his powers.

Lazarus Rising
Dean, resurrected by an angel, tracked Sam down to the motel room his brother shared with Ruby. To keep her identity and relationship with Sam hidden, she pretended that she didn't know Dean and even teased Sam by asking if the brothers were lovers when they embraced. When Sam went to a diner alone and exorcised a demon with his mind, she came to him, complimenting him on how rapidly his powers were advancing. She admitted that she didn't know why demons were so panicked or how Dean could have been resurrected. She asked Sam if he was going to tell Dean about her and decided to tone down her involvement with Sam so that he wouldn't have to lie to his brother.

Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester
Ruby discovered that Dean was saved by angels. She demanded confirmation from Sam; once she got it, her decision to lay low solidified because she feared that angels would smite her even if she was being helpful to him, despite Sam's protests.

In The Beginning
Sam leaves a sleeping Dean to secretly rendezvous with Ruby.

Metamorphosis
Dean learned about Ruby and the development of Sam's powers, when he spied on them interrogating a demon about Lilith's whereabouts; when he confronted them, Ruby greeted him with a smile. He tried to kill her once he realized who she was; she fought back but let him go on Sam's orders, despite her rage at Dean. She took the exorcised demon's host to the hospital while the brothers confronted each other. However, she continued to meet up with Sam in private without Dean's knowledge.

I Know What You Did Last Summer
Ruby learned that demons were pursuing an escape mental patient, Anna Milton, with orders to capture her alive, and passed word onto the Winchesters; Sam agreed to look into it and they eventually tracked Anna down. Ruby hastily arrived to warn the group that "heavy-hitter" Alastair was part of the hunt for Anna and he was following the Winchesters, but he arrived before they could leave. While Sam and Dean distracted him in a fight, Ruby snuck Anna out, hiding with her in a cabin; this won her Anna's trust. Meanwhile, at a motel as the Winchesters patched up their wounds from having escaped from Alastair, Sam explained to Dean that Ruby saved his life while Dean was in Hell, which was why he trusted her; learning this caused Dean to also develop some respect for Ruby.

Leaving her current host at the cabin with Anna, Ruby went to Sam and Dean's motel; she possessed a maid in order to covertly pass on the cabin's location and warn them that they were being watched by demons, then returned to Anna and repossessed Jane Doe. When the Winchesters joined them, Dean awkwardly thanked an unimpressed Ruby for taking care of Sam in his absence. She learned that the brothers had lost her knife to Alastair when she and the brothers prepared to defend Anna from an oncoming threat: angels Castiel and Uriel, who demanded that Anna be given to them to be killed. Uriel was disgusted by Ruby's presence and incapacitated her.

Heaven and Hell
Ruby was saved from destruction when Anna banished the angels with a sigil she drew in her own blood. Dean helped Ruby stand up and checked on Anna while Ruby checked on Sam. She and the Winchesters placed Anna inside the demon-proofed panic room at Bobby's house for safe-keeping. For added security, Ruby gave them hex-bags that hid them from both demons and angels. When Anna remembered that she was an angel, Ruby figured out that demons were after Anna because they wanted to interrogate her for information on what the angels were planning.

Ruby believed that their situation was hopeless and that they would all be killed by either the angels or demons. She apologized to Sam for getting him involved, but he dismissed her worries, saying they would survive. He refused to start drinking her blood again to "tone up" his abilities despite her efforts to convince him otherwise. She went with Sam, Dean, and Anna to retrieve Anna's grace, only to find it missing.

Ruby's words to Sam about getting between Heaven and Hell gave him the idea of bringing both sides together to fight each other. To fulfill her part in his plan, she went to a crossroads and burnt her hex-bag, exposing her location to Alastair despite her fear of him. He denounced her for protecting an angel. Though she offered to give him Anna in exchange for the safety of herself and the Winchesters, he tortured her with her own knife instead. She refused to tell him but instead led him to Anna, where he and his underlings fought Castiel and Uriel, who had been lured there by Dean. After Anna reclaimed her grace from Uriel, Alastair's body was destroyed and the other demons were killed, leaving Ruby's knife behind. Castiel and Uriel also left. Sam asked if Ruby was okay and she responded, "Not so much." Dean asked why she took so long, leading her to retort, "Sorry I'm late with the demon delivery. I was only being tortured."

Criss Angel Is A Douchebag
While Sam was alone in his and Dean's motel room, Ruby confronted him and accused him of wasting time with minor hunts, as Lilith has already broken over half of the seals. In response to his pointing out that he doesn't know where the seals are or how to stop them from being broken, Ruby told him that he needed to go after Lilith herself to protect the rest of the seals. She again tried to convince him to continue drinking her blood in order to kill Lilith, but he refused, prompting her to leave in anger. After the Winchesters solve the case, a conversation Sam has with his brother (in which Dean says that he doesn't foresee a happy future for either of them), Sam agreed to rejoin Ruby in the hunt for Lilith, stating that he doesn't want to still be hunting when he is old.

Sex and Violence
When Dean was alone in the hotel room, he dialed the last number on Sam's phone out of suspicion of Sam's secrets--Ruby answered, and he immediately hung up.

On The Head Of A Pin
Ruby arranged for a meeting between herself and the Winchesters in order to pursue a lead on Lilith; however, Castiel and Uriel abducted Dean to participate in a captured Alastair's torture and interrogation. Although Ruby was reluctant to get involved with angelic matters again and believed that Dean interrogating Alastair was a good thing, Sam urged her to help him find his brother, saying that Dean was not who he used to be and wouldn't be able to get answers out of Alastair. She located Dean using a spell and finally succeeded in getting Sam to feed on her blood again after weeks, reassuring him that it was "okay" to ease his doubts.

The Rapture
Ruby had stopped contacting Sam for three weeks. At that point he was addicted to her blood, and eventually became desperate enough to drink from another demon in front of his shocked brother, accidentally exposing the secret to his growing powers.

When the Levee Breaks
Sam was locked in Bobby's panic room to undergo a long and painful detox by Dean and Bobby, but was secretly released by Castiel. Ruby and Sam met up at the honeymoon suite of a motel. When asked, she said that she didn't know how he escaped the panic room but was happy that he had. She also expressed sympathy for his pain and surprise at Dean's actions, saying that the deterioration of Sam and Dean's relationship was "sad". She explained that she had not contacted Sam because she had been investigating Lilith. He fed on Ruby's blood and it was implied they had sex.

Afterwards, she commented that his "appetite" had grown and reassured him that it meant he was now strong enough to kill Lilith, informing him that there were only about two seals left to be broken. Ruby explained that only Lilith could break the final seal as the first demon Lucifer made; however, she did not tell him that Lilith's death was the final seal. Not knowing this, Sam's desire to kill Lilith to stop her from breaking the last seal was renewed. Ruby and Sam prepared to capture Lilith's "chef", but Dean arrived and tried to kill Ruby. She fought him off long enough for Sam to intervene and help her to escape. Ruby fled the room while the brothers started to argue, resulting in a brutal fight in which Sam almost killed Dean, who then cut his ties with his brother.

Lucifer Rising

 * "And it is written that the first demon shall be the last seal." And you busted her open. Now guess who's coming to dinner.

Ruby tried to comfort Sam by saying that the brothers could fix their relationship after killing Lilith, but he regretfully disagreed. They kidnapped a nurse named Cindy McClellan who was possessed by Lilith's "chef", and interrogated her, learning that Lilith would be at a convent, built on the ground over Lucifer's cage, to break the final seal. Ruby stopped Sam from killing "Cindy" because she wanted him to drink the possessed nurse's blood in order to be more powerful; Lilith's chef, incensed, relinquishes her control over Cindy's body, causing the nurse to wake up and panic. Ruby was irritated by Sam's reluctance to bleed and kill Cindy. When he listened to the fake voice message "Dean" (actually Zachariah) left him, Sam grew resigned and gave her permission to kill Cindy, which pleased Ruby.

Ruby watched as Sam confronted and killed Lilith; when Dean arrived to stop him, having been told about the final seal and sent to stop Sam by Castiel, Ruby noticed his presence and telekinetically shut and locked the doors. After Lilith's death, Ruby finally confessed the truth of her own allegiance to a horrified Sam and promised him that Lucifer would reward her and Sam for their service. She expressed the hope that they would continue working together (suggesting that, despite her deceit, she truly cared for Sam).

While Ruby was still trying to soothe Sam, Dean burst in and stabbed her with her own knife while Sam held her in place, despite her telling Dean that it was too late. She dropped to the floor dead, but with her mission accomplished: Lucifer was freed from his cage.

Season 6
See: Genevieve Padalecki (character)

Trivia

 * Series creator Eric Kripke had intended from the beginning that Ruby would be evil.
 * Ruby was described incorrectly in press releases in order to preserve plot twists and/or tease the fans: before her third season introduction and the revelation of her demonic nature, she was described as a hunter more skilled than Sam or Dean, and described as a waitress named Kristy who was a love interest for Sam for Season 4.
 * Ruby's third season actress, Katie Cassidy, originally auditioned for the role of Bela Talbot. Ironically, Lauren Cohan, Bela's actress, had originally auditioned for the role of Ruby.
 * Cassidy was let go in Season 4 because of budgetary reasons. At first, the writers planned for Ruby to take on a new host every few episodes for Season 4. Genevieve Cortese played the first of what was expected to be many incarnations, but Kripke chose to keep her in the role because he was impressed by the depth she brought to Ruby.
 * Cortese married Sam's actor, Jared Padalecki.

Appearances

 * Season 2
 * All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 2 (Cameo)


 * Season 3
 * The Magnificent Seven
 * The Kids Are Alright
 * Bad Day at Black Rock (Mentioned only)
 * Sin City
 * Malleus Maleficarum
 * Jus In Bello
 * No Rest For The Wicked


 * Season 4
 * Lazarus Rising
 * Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester
 * In The Beginning
 * Metamorphosis
 * I Know What You Did Last Summer
 * Heaven and Hell
 * Criss Angel Is a Douchebag
 * Sex and Violence (Voice only)
 * On The Head Of A Pin
 * When the Levee Breaks
 * Lucifer Rising


 * Season 5
 * Sympathy for the Devil (Corpse)
 * The Devil You Know (Mentioned only)

Ruby
 * Season 6
 * The French Mistake (Alternative universe)