Castiel/Abilities and Weaknesses

Original Abilities
Since his first appearance, Castiel has possessed astounding abilities and is one of the most powerful supernatural beings the Winchester brothers have ever met. Castiel has shown to possess all the powers of regular angels – including entering human dreams, smiting demons, telekinesis, teleporting and transporting others and himself through time. Uriel seemed so sure of Castiel's powers that he felt confident that if Castiel joined him and his fellow rebels, they would be powerful enough to challenge Heaven and free Lucifer from his Cage. Even Anna Milton, despite having once been Castiel's superior, chose not to dare directly confront him after Castiel appointed himself as the Winchesters' guardian (Though this may have been because she did not want to hurt him or was most likely due to the fact that he had an angel blade on him and threatened her with it, or both). Instead, she went back through time in an attempt to ensure that Sam and Dean are never born. Even when not at full strength and when weakened by being cut off from Heaven, Castiel was apparently quite powerful by even angel standards and was shown to be a very capable fighter, as he was able to take on and defeat several, at least over half a dozen, of his angelic siblings by himself when he was fighting to prevent the Apocalypse.

These were Castiel's powers as a common angel. Some of this power depended on his link to Heaven.


 * Angelic Possession – As a spiritual being, like all angels, Castiel needs to use and possess a human vessel to physically interact while on Earth. As an angel, he requires the vessel's permission.
 * Astral Projection – Castiel is able to partially project his true form while inside his vessel, which appeared at the end of the Season 4 episode Lazarus Rising as shadows of his feathery wings on his back to show Dean proof that he was in fact what he claimed.
 * Chronokinesis – Although he has said it isn't easy and is difficult, even with the powers of Heaven at his disposal, Castiel can travel forward and backward in time, and he can take passengers.
 * Dream Walking – Castiel appeared in Dean's dream to deliver him a message.
 * Healing – Castiel can instantly heal the wounds and diseases of humans. Castiel has saved and healed both Sam and Dean many times from their wounds. As a fallen angel, he was not able to heal.
 * Immortality – Castiel, as an angel, like all celestial beings, doesn't age over time and is immune to disease. He never tires, and does not need to eat, sleep, drink, or breathe to sustain himself or even his vessel.
 * Regeneration - As an angel, there are very few things able to kill Castiel as he has shown to be impervious to most forms of harm. He possesses accelerated healing abilities that allow him to heal wounds that would kill a human in seconds, if not instantly. He is unharmed by extreme temperatures. In "Lazarus Rising", he absorbed several shotgun blasts directly to the chest. He even withstood the full force of the Demon-Killing Knife and simply pulled it out of his shoulder before dropping it to the ground. He is immune to all ailments and is immortal, able to fully heal from any non-supernatural wound regardless of its fatality.
 * Angel_blade.jpgSmiting – Castiel possesses the ability to kill or exorcise a demon simply by touching his palm to the forehead of its host. He is able to kill lower-level demons and other beings like monsters with a simple touch. When this happens, a strong white light appears from the eyes and mouth of the victim and burns them from the inside out. This ability does not work on demons stronger than Castiel as Alastair proved to possess complete immunity from such an attack. Lost when he became a fallen angel as it came from Heaven, but regained a more powerful version after second resurrection.
 * Resurrection – Castiel brought Dean back from dead. He lost the ability when he became a Fallen Angel as it came from Heaven.
 * Sedation – Castiel can cause instant unconsciousness in humans by tapping them or simply placing two fingers on their forehead.
 * Pyrokinesis – Castiel displays the ability to burn through ropes binding him.
 * Punch-uriel.gifSuper Strength – As an angel, Castiel is physically much stronger than humans, spirits, monsters, lesser angels, and most demons. Though he typically seems to attempt to avoid fighting, he is a very formidable physical opponent when need be, and is unstoppable when facing mortal beings. He proved capable of overpowering common angels and humans with ease, and he once beat Dean to nearly a bloody pulp. Although incredibly strong in his own right, an angel such as [[Uriel]] or a high-level demon such as Alastair had superior levels of super strength. As Uriel exhibited superhuman strength when battling two demons in the episode Heaven and Hell, Castiel most likely possesses such physical power as well. Also his strength has been seen in numerous episodes, and he is shown be quite strong. In the episode On The Head Of A Pin Castiel was able to send Uriel flying through a wall. However, he was no threat to archangels.
 * Supernatural Perception/Senses - Castiel can see things hidden to humans. He is capable of immediately discovering a person's identity or their prior medical status by simply smelling their remains, regardless of the condition of said remains. He is also capable of speaking to and understanding animals, as well as listen in on radio frequencies. Castiel's vision and hearing are at extreme superhuman levels; he was able to see a symbol on a person's heart that was so small Sam needed a microscopic lens to see it, he saw the true faces of demons from a far enough distance that Dean needed binoculars.
 * Telekinesis – Castiel has the ability to move objects and even people with his mind, imparting kinetic energy on matter with his mind. He used this to twist Ruby's Knife into Alastair's wound after having stabbed him it. He later uses this power to unscrew a bolt from a distance.
 * Telepathy – Castiel is able to read the minds of humans and other lower-level angels.
 * Voice Mimicry – Castiel once perfectly imitated Bobby Singer's voice.
 * Protective Charm – Castiel is able to protect someone from harm beforehand, as seen when he prevented his vessel, Jimmy Novak from burning his hand on a pot of boiling water when asked for a sign of faith.
 * Apporting – Castiel is able to teleport Dean to St. Mary's Convent from Chuck's house with a touch of his hand to his forehead, and later teleports him away from Zachariah to his side at a roadside.
 * Spell Casting – As an angel, Castiel has extensive knowledge of Enochian symbols and spells which he has used for a variety of effects. He could draw an Enochian Devil's Trap that could completely suppress and bound a demon as powerful as Alastair. He also knew of symbols that could banish or ward off angels. After his first resurrection, he branded Sam and Dean with a pattern of symbols that would conceal them from every angel in creation, even one as powerful as Lucifer. He later did the same to Adam. Castiel was also capable of casting various tracking spells.
 * Skilled Fighter – Castiel has also shown himself to be a skilled unarmed fighter, capable of temporarily holding off the white eyed demon Alastair, as well as fighting and holding his own against Uriel. This skill remained with him as he became a fallen angel or human. Later as a Seraph, Castiel held off two Leviathans with only his fists.
 * [[File:17-Supernatural-Season-Ten-Episode-Fourteen-SPN-S10E14-The-Executioners-Song-Castiel-Misha-Collins.jpg|thumb|260px|Castiel using his white light on Cain]]Holy White Light (granted by another angel's grace) – While possessing the grace of an unknown ranking angel, Castiel displayed this ability, using it to blast a door open and then again on [[Cain]]. However, being the very first Knight of Hell, the latter was so powerful the blast of light merely ruffled his hair.
 * Superhuman Intelligence – As an angel, Castiel possesses a superhuman level of intelligence. He explained the reason of his chronokinesis limits by partial differential equations, that shows that he has highly advanced understanding of mathematics, explicitly of mathematical calculus and differential geometry.
 * Basic Hunting Skills – Due to his time spent with the Winchesters, Castiel has displayed a basic level of hunting knowledge and skill such as using devil's traps to contain demons he captures and on a few occasions, using fake IDs convincingly enough to fool law enforcement in a similar manner to a hunter. However, the latter is a skill that takes him some time to master.

Seraph Abilities
After he was killed by Lucifer during the Apocalypse, God resurrected Castiel and endowed him with new and stronger powers, making him more powerful than before, as he said, "I do believe He brought me back. New and improved." Castiel reveals in "Blood Brother" that he's now a Seraph, a higher species of angel. Not only has he gained greatly enhanced powers – including healing, resurrection, teleporting, smiting, slight reality-warping, soul-reading, psychokinesis removal and chronokinesis – while retaining all previous ones, but now he is independent from Heaven and could function with his powers independently of Heaven. This means he retains his full powers and angelic grace despite being a Fallen Angel and cut off from Heaven.

Initially following his rescue from Purgatory, Castiel appeared weakened from his time in the monster realm as he is quickly drained from using his powers such as teleporting or killing a low-level demon. However, this seemed to be temporary as he later but quickly recovered his full seraph abilities. After Metatron took Castiel's grace, Castiel lost his angelic powers (excluding hearing angel radio and recognizing other angels) and was rendered human and powerless. Castiel has recently gotten what is left of his grace back and has stated he is back to full power, though he has broken wings, making him a Seraph again.

His Seraph abilities include:


 * Immortality – Castiel is immune to age and illness as well as most forms of physical harm on earth.
 * Tumblr mnsdkyWMHQ1qkmxp8o2 500.gifEnhanced Astral Projection – As a Seraph, Castiel's true visage is far more hazardous and far more terrifying to creatures such as humans, demons, and other earthly monsters. Castiel was able to combine this with the use of his white light even while in a weakened state to force the King of Hell Crowley to retreat.
 * Superhuman Stamina – Castiel never eats, drinks, breathes or sleeps since he has no biological need for it. However, he does eat and sleep, likely out of habit.
 * Invisibility – Castiel can become invisible to humans. He used this ability to spy on Dean living a normal life and again when trying to see how much Dean, Sam, and Bobby have learned about his and alliance with Crowley.
 * Advanced Mental Manipulation – By placing his hand on a person's forehead, Castiel is able to manipulate a person's mind, being able to create, erase or alter memories or simply alter their perception of events altogether. He easily tore down the mental dam inserted by Death on Sam that protected him from the memories of him being tortured in Lucifer's Cage. Though he was unable to cure Sam from the resulting madness it caused, he was able to transfer the mental damage from Sam to himself. He is also able to show a person the true version of their memories, not just the version they choose to remember. This is shown when he makes Dean see what really happened when he escaped Purgatory.
 * Advanced Dream Walking – He was able to enter Fred Jones' dream and took Sam with him.
 * Advanced Telepathy – By touching Rowena's forehead and concentrating, he was able to see her memory of Oskar.
 * Hypnotism - By touching his hand to a a Secret Service agent's forehead, Castiel was able to make him believe that there was no one in a motel room but Kelly Klein.
 * Mental Projection - Upon his return from Purgatory, Castiel attempted to reach out to Dean mentally, causing images of Castiel to appear on the side of the road and at a window. However, due to Castiel's weakened state, these images lasted too short a period of time for Dean to investigate them or be sure they were real.
 * Animal Communication – Castiel was able to communicate with a cat.
 * Advanced Pyrokinesis – Castiel can now no longer just create fire, but he can manipulate and extinguish it effectively. Castiel displayed this ability when he extinguished the circle of holy fire that trapped Balthazar.
 * Reality Warping – Castiel, in one instance, altered reality, by shaking a 'Sorry' board-game, and having everything instantly set up. He was later able to fill a vial with his blood just holding it tight in his hand and not making any cuts. Also he was able to change his appearance and clothes into his original one after returning from Purgatory, and he apported every hair and fiber of dirt off his face and coat.
 * A_whore_is_a_whore_is_a_whore_by_spn_castiel-d3fyhnk.gifEnhanced Superhuman Strength – Being a Seraph, Castiel has exhibited higher levels of physical strength than he did as a common angel. He is capable of overpowering humans, spirits, monsters, demons and even his angelic brethren with greater ease, as seen against Raphael's soldiers or against his former friend Rachel. He also once forced the demon [[Crowley]] against a wall, despite the latter's position as the King of Hell, and left an impression on the wall. In addition, he once again beat Dean to a bloody pulp. However, against the Archangels, such as seen with both Raphael and Lucifer, Castiel was inferior against them, as both had beaten him to a bloody pulp. Though he could still be outmatched by the Leviathans, Castiel proved capable of standing up against them. In Purgatory managed to hold off two Leviathans, overpower and ultimately incapacitate them with Dean's help. Castiel also proved to be strong enough to lift a 1-ton anvil with ease and was also able to rupture a stone wall just by merely touching it. Even in a weakened, injured and trapped state, he was able to overpower and kill Efram along with Jonah.
 * Smiting.jpgAdvanced Smiting – Castiel's angelic killing touch became much more powerful after his resurrection. He could instantly kill several demons with great ease by using this ability. He was also capable of killing various monsters using this ability such as creatures even in Purgatory. He tried to smite a Leviathan in Purgatory, but he was unable to due to negation of his powers. It is unknown if he could've smote a Leviathan when his powers were not blocked.
 * Advanced Healing – Castiel has displayed the ability to not only heal any wound, but can also cure people of both physical and psychological diseases. He was able to cure Charlie Bradbury of her carpal tunnel while simultaneously healing a bullet wound, though he suggested she still wear a wrist brace at night. Castiel was also able to regrow cutt-of limbs as he did with Kevin's finger. On one occasion while healing a gunshot wound his hand glowed though he usually heals without any visible sign besides the injury healing, but the bullet was stuck inside that man's body. There are some things even he can't heal. According to Castiel, Sam is damaged on the subatomic level from his trials and it is beyond his power to fix that. Despite his fully restored powers, Castiel was unable to heal the damage a Grigori did to Amelia Novak, something that stunned him as he'd never encountered that problem before. He was later able to heal Ishim of a deep angel blade wound. While the healing left Castiel weakened, Ishim felt better than he had in a millennia afterwards.
 * Regeneration – Like any celestial being, Castiel has accelerated healing abilities. He can instantaneously regenerate from injuries caused by earth-based weapons. However, he takes somewhat longer to heal damages caused by Angelic Weaponry. When shot by a bullet made by melting and repurposing an Angel Blade, once he removed the bullet, he immediately regenerated.
 * Advanced Biokinesis - Castiel was able to cure Dean in order to prevent him to become a Jefferson Starship.
 * Vessel Locking – Castiel has displayed the ability to grab a demon's smoke form and force it back into its body to smite it.
 * Proficient Torturer – Castiel was shown to be skilled at the art of torture, as seen when he tortured one of Eve's Jefferson Starships into giving him information in a matter of minutes, despite having his powers blocked by the mother of all and on another occasion, when he tortured Dr. Visyak (who had previously resisted Crowley's attempts at the same) into giving him the spell to open Purgatory.
 * Soul Reading/Channeling – By pushing his hand into a person's chest, Castiel can determine the presence and condition of a person's soul, and if the soul was branded by a deal. He can also siphon energy from or completely absorb a soul to recharge and enhance his powers. The process is extremely painful and delicate, having been noted by Castiel as putting one's hand into a nuclear reactor and causing the person to explode should anything go wrong. Castiel displayed this ability to see that a boy had sold his soul to Balthazar and again to see how damaged Sam's soul was after it had been tortured in Lucifer's Cage. He used it to search Sam's body and later informed Dean that Sam's soul wasn't there. Castiel displayed this ability to strengthen himself with 50,000 souls from Hell and again when he absorbed all the 30-40 million souls of Purgatory to evolve into a mutated angel.
 * Leviathan Perception – Due to having been used as a vessel for the Leviathans, Castiel can see past their vessels and shape-shifting abilities and correctly identify them. This ability allowed him to identify the real Dick Roman, so he and Dean could kill him. While in Purgatory, Castiel was able to sense the presence of two nearby Leviathans before they could attack the group while Dean and Benny were completely unaware of them and later sensed two more approaching as he and Dean neared the escape portal.
 * Casvscrowley.jpgAdvanced Holy White Light – When Castiel became a Seraph, his holy white light became stronger and more glorious. Even while weakened by his time in Purgatory threatening to use this power against the King of Hell [[Crowley]] along with displaying his wings caused Crowley to retreat.
 * Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant – Though his fighting skills remain unchanged, his enhanced level of strength made Castiel a highly skilled combatant, as he is able to disarm many beings with Angelic weaponry and then use that weapon to kill them. He has proven capable of fighting his lesser angelic brethren with ease. This skill remained with him as he became a fallen Seraph or even human. Castiel even held off two Leviathans with only his fists.

Soul-Enhanced Abilities
In order to fight the war against Raphael, Castiel made a deal with Crowley for a loan of 50,000 souls, which enhanced his powers and allowed him to launch the first strike against the Archangel; though he was still grossly outclassed by more powerful creatures such as his older brother Raphael and Eve. After absorbing the millions of souls from Purgatory (including a large number of Leviathans), Castiel was endowed with god-like abilities that made him both highly dangerous and unstable due to the power intoxicating him and clouding his judgment. During this time, his power exceeded that of the Archangel Raphael and he was confident enough to challenge Death, although Death simply dismissed him as a mutated angel and found him as insignificant as everyone else, implying he couldn't actually challenge him and it was just arrogance (though it was never explained if it was indeed possible for Castiel to defeat him or not or if it was Death who was being arrogant due to him being immensely powerful and having existed for so long).

His new powers took a serious toll on his vessel, as it started to melt as a result of him being unable to contain that much power in his physical form. Death had also referred to him as a mutated angel, which was noted by the lack of the common sound of wings flapping when he teleported from place to place and he did not even bleed at all like usual as shown when Sam stabbed him; implying that his true form, or spirit, was significantly altered.

After absorbing millions of souls from Purgatory, he became so powerful that he was able to overpower an Archangel easily, his powers included:
 * Lower Tier Nigh-Omnipotence – After absorbing souls in Purgatory, Castiel became one of the most powerful beings in the universe, as the souls endowed him with unspeakable power, allowing him to do almost anything he wished. He effortlessly obliterated the archangel Raphael with a snap of his fingers and later killed thousands of angels who were Raphael's followers in Heaven. He could also kill humans with a single thought or word; such as when he said to a hypocritical church preacher, "He who lies in my name shall choke on his own false tongue," causing the preacher to literally choke on his own tongue. As well as perform miracles like making the blind see, curing an entire colony of lepers, exploding a publishing house, causing lightning to burn down a motivational enlightenment center, smiting Madison square garden, killing 200 religious leaders, changing a church window to his image, scorching a seat, causing a man to sit down hard enough to break the seat, turning off Crowley's TV in his presence and unbound Death with a snap of his fingers. Castiel even told Crowley of his initial intention to eliminate Hell, an entire spiritual realm. However, Death was mostly unconcerned by Castiel's newfound powers and openly mocked him, saying he was no God, but instead calling him a "mutated angel." Also, despite his new-found power, Castiel was willing to keep Michael and Lucifer sealed within the Cage.
 * Whitelightcastiel.jpgHighly Advanced Holy White Light – Castiel was able to emit a powerful white light from the palm of his hand in a similar fashion to that of an Archangel. He used this power to temporarily banish [[Raphael]].
 * Highly Advanced Power Negation – He was capable of neutralizing the power of other creatures, including an Archangel's powers. This rendered Raphael helpless.
 * Raphael implosion.gif]]Molecular Combustion – With a snap of his fingers, Castiel was able to render Raphael down to his component molecules, killing him in an explosion of blood and gore.
 * Spell Negation – With a simple snap of his fingers, Castiel was able to break the powerful spell that Sam, Dean and Bobby had cast to bind Death, something even the latter was unable to do, although the fact that he was bound was probably at least partially responsible for this.
 * Highly Advanced Smiting – When Castiel absorbed all the souls in Purgatory he smote Madison square garden and all angels who were in Raphael's side.
 * Nigh-Invincibility – Due to his massive absorption of the Purgatory souls, Castiel became immune to nearly any form of harm as seen when he was unfazed from being stabbed in the back by an angel blade. After turning into a mutated angel, he was no longer vulnerable to angelic blades or any other angelic weaknesses. Enochian signs were then useless against him as seen when he tracked down and cornered Crowley in his sigil-covered trailer. However, Death and God were still more powerful than him. He was also vulnerable to the mass of souls and Leviathans inside him, which, according to multiple individuals, would eventually cause Castiel's human vessel to explode due to his inability to properly contain so many souls and control all of that power.
 * Immunity – Castiel became immune to nearly any form of harm as seen when he was unfazed from being stabbed in the back by an angel blade. Enochian signs were now useless against him as seen when he tracked down and cornered Crowley in his sigil-covered trailer.

Powers Granted by Lucifer's son
While briefly empowered by Lucifer's son, a powerful Nephilim, Castiel displayed a few powerful abilities during this period. Castiel only possessed these powers while holding hands with the child's mother and lost them once the connection was broken.
 * Enhanced Super Strength - During this period, Castiel became strong enough to effortlessly restrain the Prince of Hell Dagon who had easily beaten him in a fight when he was relying on only his Seraphim abilities.
 * Power Negation - During this period, Castiel was able to render the Prince of Hell Dagon completely powerless.
 * Enhanced Pyrokinesis - During this period, Castiel was able to burn the Prince of Hell Dagon to ashes, killing her, a feat not previously seen performed by any other character.

Former Powers
After the Fall, Castiel lost all of his powers. Even when he gained his original grace, his powers weren't completely restored.
 * Advanced Chronokinesis – As a seraph, Castiel can not only travel through time, but can now send people back through time and bring them back without having to physically be there with them. However, the further back he sends someone, the harder it is to retrieve them. This was evidenced by the time he sent Sam and Dean to the 1800s, he could only send them for 24 hours or else he would be unable to bring them back and they would be lost to them.


 * Teleportation - Castiel possesses the ability to transport himself and others to any location as long as the area is not protected by enochian sigils, traveling from one place to another instantly. Like with all angels, whenever he uses this power, this is accompanied with the sound of wings flapping and a sudden rush of air can be heard. But he can Teleport without hearing sound of flapping wings or a rush of air when teleporting short distances. He can take humans with him, though Dean says when Castiel teleports him somewhere he wasn't able to poop for a week. Unfortunately he lost this ability after the Fall.

Weaknesses
Even though Castiel is arguably the longest lasting angel in the series and is also one of the strongest and most powerful supernatural beings to appear in the series, he still has weaknesses inherited in all angels.
 * Angel banishing sigil - As an angel and seraph, Castiel can be banished by the sigil.
 * Holy Fire - Like all angels, Castiel can be trapped by holy fire.
 * Angel Blade - Castiel could be killed by an angel blade.
 * Angel Blade Bullets - These bullets can significantly harm Castiel and potentially kill him.
 * Higher Demons- As a regular angel, he was overpowered Alastair. As a wingless Seraph, he was beaten by two Princes of Hell.
 * Primordial Entities – The Darkness, God, and Death could annihilate Castiel effortlessly.
 * Archangels - Archangels could kill and overpower Castiel effortlessly.
 * Eve - Eve was able to render Castiel completely powerless through her mere presence in a town.
 * Leviathans – Leviathans were able to kill Castiel. They could also negate his powers and overpower him.
 * Grace Removal - When Metatron removed his grace, Castiel gained a soul and became a human.
 * Mortality (formerly) – While human, Castiel was susceptible to human mortality and all that came with it.
 * Magic - Rowena was able to restrain Castiel by a spell and and curse him.
 * Diminishing Grace (formerly) - Without his original grace and using stolen grace, Castiel weakened periodically and would've died in the end before he regained his original grace..
 * Enochian Brass Knuckles - Ms. Watt used this weapon against Castiel in order to weaken and overpower him.
 * Lance of Michael - A weapon created by Michael to slowly kill Lucifer. It nearly poisoned Castiel to death before being broken by Crowley.