Lucifer

Lucifer, also known as The Devil, Light Bringer, and Satan, is the second of the four Archangels created by God. He is also a fallen archangel, and the first fallen angel. He is a recurring character, was the main antagonist of Season 5, and the secondary antagonist of Season 7 and Season 11. He is the original ruler of Hell and the creator of demons, seen by them as a father figure and their god. As the second-born archangel, he is the younger brother of Michael, and older brother of Raphael, and Gabriel.

According to Gabriel, Lucifer was God's favorite celestial, but when God asked for all angels to bow down to humanity, Lucifer refused both out of jealousy and wounded pride over being commanded to bow to what he saw as a broken, flawed, and murderous species and no longer feeling he was God's favorite creation. This was caused by the Mark of Cain corrupting him to having jealousy towards humanity. He waged a war against God but was eventually cast out of Heaven by God, and banished to Hell by Michael. All of Azazel's actions were motivated with the goal of eventually releasing Lucifer from his cage in Hell.

Like all other Angels, Lucifer must have the permission of a strong enough human to use as his vessel, as he can not forcefully possess a person. Being an archangel, Lucifer possesses much more power than any normal angel and also every demon and species of monsters, most of whom deify him. But his power causes regular vessels to decay and required to drink vast amounts of demon blood or possess either his true vessel (Sam Winchester) or an alternate more stable vessel (Castiel).

Eventually, he was finally freed and allowed to roam the Earth when the final seal (the death of Lilith) was broken by Sam. Freed from his cage, he took action to bring about the Apocalypse and cleanse the Earth (aka "The last perfect handiwork of God") of human beings (the flawed creation). Even after Lucifer was able to possess Sam Winchester, his true vessel, Sam's love for his brother Dean allowed Sam to regain control of his body, and seal himself, Lucifer, Michael, and Adam Milligan back in Lucifer's Cage.

After the release of the Darkness about five years later, the cage was damaged and Lucifer (whilst he still couldn't leave it) began reaching out to Sam to get him to return to Hell and release Lucifer so he could destroy the Darkness and return to the world, working with Rowena to achieve his return. Though Sam refused, Castiel said "yes" and Lucifer returned to the world in Castiel's body.

Origins

 * "You know why God cast me down? Because I loved him. More than anything. And then, God created...you. The little...hairless apes. And then he asked all of us to bow down before you—to love you more than him. And I said 'Father...I can't.' I said, 'These humans beings...are flawed, murderous.' And for that...God had Michael cast me into Hell. Now tell me, does the punishment fit the crime? Especially when I was right? Look at what six billion of you have done to this thing. And how many of you blame me for it."
 * —Lucifer to Dean, about why he was cast down from Heaven

Lucifer was the second archangel that God created and was raised by his brother Michael. Lucifer was at one time the favorite of God's angels, and his name translates to "Light bringer." It was stated that he once had a strong relationship with God and was fiercely loyal and devoted to him. Before life and even the Earth existed, Lucifer fought a war with God and the other archangels against God's older sister, the Darkness. When they won by sealing The Darkness away, God created the Mark of Cain as the lock on the Darkness' prison and gave it to Lucifer, His most trusted lieutenant to protect. However, the Mark's power corrupted Lucifer and caused him to foster jealousy.

When God created mankind and commanded that his angels honor humans by bowing to them and loving them even more than God himself, Lucifer refused to do so. Being full of pride and jealous of God's love, Lucifer refused to bow to a creature that he considered lesser than himself and God, whom Lucifer loved too much to being able to devote himself for the, as he says, imperfect humans. Deciding to wage a war against God, Lucifer approached his older brother, the archangel Michael, hoping his elder sibling would stand by his side during the rebellion. Michael rejected him and, at his father's orders, a war begun in Heaven. After Lucifer lost the war, God cast him out of Heaven, and he fell to Earth. Sometime before he fell, he somehow came into possession of the angel tablet, which can only be read by prophets and the angel Metatron.

Once on Earth, Lucifer created crypts and hid various items (including the angel tablet) in them. As his rage against humans grew, Lucifer eventually approached the Garden of Eden and convinced Gadreel, God's most trusted angel, to let him into the Garden. It's unknown how Lucifer convinced him but it is implied that Gadreel was unaware of Lucifer's true intentions. Once in the Garden, Lucifer twisted the minds of the humans, causing them to partake of the Forbidden Fruit (the Quince). Some time before or after this, Lucifer corrupted Lilith into a demon. Because of his actions, God created Hell and had Michael cast Lucifer into it. Being now corrupt, this got humanity expelled from the Garden. Lucifer at some point managed to manipulate Abel (the second son of Adam and Eve) into listening to him rather than God. In fear for his brother's soul, Cain made a deal with Lucifer asking for Abel to ascend to Heaven in exchange for Cain going to Hell, but Lucifer only agreed if Cain was the one who killed him. Cain agreed, and Lucifer passed the Mark of Cain onto him. The Mark eventually changed Cain into a powerful demon who personally created and trained the Knights of Hell, an elite order of demons hand-picked by Lucifer himself out of the very first demons.

Lucifer's prison, a chained cage in a dark void with powerful lightning bolts around it, was designed so that he could never leave or escape it on his own, and it was then further locked with over 600 powerful seals. Any 66 of those 600 seals would have to be broken by an outside being in order to free Lucifer. The seals served to bind Lucifer's power and to keep him from escaping his new prison in Hell. Of the 66 seals required to free Lucifer, only 2 of them are required in a specific order. The first seal is quoted by Alastair as, "And it is written, that the first seal shall be broken when a righteous man sheds blood in Hell. As he breaks, so shall it break." The final seal is quoted by Ruby as "And it is written, that the first demon shall be the last seal." Aside from those two seals, any other 64 of the remaining seals will suffice. Lucifer became associated with, and was often referred to by, the name "Satan." The word "Satan" literally means "The Adversary" or "The Accuser". Despite being sealed away, he was still considered the ruler of Hell and the lord of all demons.

Azazel's special children
During his long imprisonment within the confines of his cage in Hell, Lucifer was served by his many demons, one of the most prominent being his confidant, the Yellow-Eyed Demon known as Azazel. None of them had truly seen Lucifer, as he was locked away in a special part of Hell, that had only one entrance kept locked by the 66 seals; this left the vast majority of demons without hope that they would ever find Lucifer and return him to power, save for Azazel, who eventually escaped to Earth in search of a way to free Lucifer from Hell.

In 1972, years after years of searching, Azazel discovered the location of Lucifer's prison in one of the most ironic of places: a convent. He possessed the body of the chief priest of the church, St. Mary's Convent, in Ilchester, Maryland, and pretended to carry out the priest's current mass, with an audience of eight 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 and positioned one atop the altar.



After the church was left a bloody mess, Azazel, still possessing the priest's body, spoke directly to Lucifer himself, who in turn spoke through the body of a nun. Azazel stated his great relief to hear Lucifer's voice once again after so many ages. Lucifer commended Azazel's unshakable faith in him and stated that he had done well to find him. Azazel then requested knowledge of what was binding Lucifer in Hell and how he could help Lucifer break free and rise once more. Lucifer then told Azazel that Lilith was the only one who could break the seals which bound him to Hell.

Revealing that Lilith 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 endgame throughout the series has been the release of Lucifer from Hell. With Lucifer's location now confirmed and knowing what he had to do in order to release him, Azazel departed his meeting with Lucifer with great hope and a plan in mind to fulfill Lucifer's release from Hell.

The release of Lilith
Armed with the knowledge of the 66 seals, Azazel crafted a plan to break the final seal by finding the prophesied 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 at the right time. 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 would ordinarily be 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, feeding them demon blood and activating/creating their psychic powers. 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 release Lucifer from Hell.

Azazel finally learned of a way to release Lilith from Hell, by means of a portal connecting the Earth to Hell called a Devil's Gate. After discovering the Devil's Gate to be protected by numerous backups including a one hundred mile Devils Trap set in place by the legendary Samuel Colt and that the key to the gate was the 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 Colt had set in place around the Devil's Gate and open the gate itself once the key had been located.

Season 3
The demon Casey claims that demons have a belief system just like humans, but while humans believe in God as a higher power, demons view Lucifer in the same regard. Casey tells Dean Winchester that Lucifer was once an angel, and that his name means "light-bringer." Casey also states that no demon has ever actually seen Lucifer.

The breaking of the 66 Seals
Dean is dragged into Hell by Lilith's Hellhounds at the end of the third season - this is due to the bargain with the Crossroad Demon to revive Sam in exchange for his soul. Dean spent four months of Earth time in Hell (around 40 years in Hell time) and for the first thirty of those forty years, the chief executioner of Hell, Alastair tortured Dean daily and offered to stop his torture if Dean himself would torture other souls trapped in Hell. Dean refused the offer each time; however, after thirty years of pain and misery, Dean began to crack and finally could take no more, and so he accepted Alastair's offer, getting out of his own torture and taking up torturing other souls for a total of ten years.

Dean did not know that this was the first seal that bound Lucifer in Hell, and that as long as the true first seal remained intact, the others could not be broken. This had been Lilith and Alastair's plan all along: to force Dean, a righteous man, to crack under torture and begin torturing other souls to spare himself from further torment. From the moment Dean first began torturing souls under Alastair's tutelage, the first seal binding Lucifer was at last broken, enabling Lilith and several hundred demons now on Earth to begin breaking others in order to release Lucifer from his prison.

The fourth season of the series chronicles the efforts of Lucifer's demon minions to break the other seals. The seals operated as locks on a door. Some of these included the Rising of the Witnesses, the summoning of Samhain, and the sacrifice of two Reapers under the Solstice moon. Although there were over six hundred seals in place, only sixty-six needed to be broken in order for Lucifer to escape his prison. There was also a stipulation in the initiating and ending of the process of breaking the seals: The first seal and the final seal had to both be satisfied regardless of what other seals were broken. The first seal, which had to be satisfied before the others could then be broken, was the cracking of a righteous man in Hell. Dean broke this seal unknowingly during his imprisonment in Hell, he is rescued soon after, before he is recruited, along with his brother Sam, to fight against Lilith's forces to save the other seals from being broken. As it was nearly impossible to know which seals Lilith would choose to target, it was also next to impossible to stop her from breaking others. However, the Seraph Zachariah implied that because the Archangels, or "Senior Management", wanted the seals to be broken, allowed the seals to be broken under the guise of trying to stop them to avoid rebellion in Heaven.

Sam was also slowly turned into a demon-blood addict by the demon Ruby as she prepared him to fulfill his own secret role in Lucifer's release: carrying out the execution of Lilith and becoming strong enough to take his place as Lucifer's vessel. Finally, near the end of the fourth season, only the true final seal remained: the death of Lilith herself. Lilith had planned out the breaking of the seals, and once sixty-five of them were broken, she prepared to play her own personal role in Lucifer's release, to die in order to ensure the release of her creator and the coming of the Apocalypse.

The rise of Lucifer
By this point, Dean had been rescued from Hell by the angel Castiel, who had hoped to rescue Dean before he gave into his torture in order to prevent the first seal from being broken, and Sam had honed his demonic powers with the help of Ruby, who had been preparing Sam to be able to battle and kill Lilith (convincing him that this would prevent the final seal from being broken and as an act of revenge for Lilith sending Dean to Hell in the first place). What Ruby did not confide to Sam or his brother, however, was that the truth was just the opposite: Lilith must die, as her death was the final seal necessary to be broken in order to fully release Lucifer, something Lilith herself already knew and was willing to undertake.

By the time Dean realized this and escaped confinement by the angels (who wished to confront the demons and Lucifer in the Apocalypse so as to ultimately defeat them and bring about paradise on Earth), he was too late to warn Sam that killing Lilith would, in fact, ensure Lucifer's release rather than prevent it. Sam was torn for a moment between listening to Dean's cries to stop and Ruby's screams for him to kill Lilith, but when Lilith mocked him, that overrode all else. Sam killed Lilith with his powers, and Ruby then goaded him for having in fact caused the Apocalypse rather than having stopped it, revealing she had been working with Lilith the entire time and that Lucifer himself had foretold that only Sam could kill Lilith. Dean killed Ruby with her own demon-killing knife, but the Winchester brothers watched together in horror as Lilith's blood revealed the mouth of Lucifer's Cage, which began to open, allowing the Devil himself to rise out of his prison.

As the gate to Hell fully opened and Lucifer's true angelic essence began to ascend out of the cage to Earth, the brothers attempted to flee, only to have the chapel's doors slam shut and lock. Seeing that running was futile, they turned and watched in horror as the portal opened and the Devil's piercing true angelic voice rang through the church. Though they fell to the ground in pain, they were teleported onto a plane passing over Ilchester at that moment, from which they watched as Lucifer's essence shot up into the sky from where St. Mary's Convent stood, blowing it apart. This signaled the beginning of the Apocalypse.

Preparations for the Apocalypse
Now free, Lucifer set out to find a vessel, someone Lucifer could take control of in order to walk the Earth. Lucifer's chosen vessel turned out to be a lonely man named Nick, whose wife and baby were killed by an intruder who broke into their home one night. Lucifer began to manipulate Nick, making him start to see things in his sleep, like mass amounts of blood dripping out of his dead child's crib, hearing his dead child crying through a baby monitor, and making his child's swing move without apparent cause. "You people misunderstand me. You call me "Satan" and "Devil" but...do you know my crime? I loved God too much. And for that he betrayed me -- punished me. Just as he's punished you. After all, how could God stand ideally by while that man broke into your home and butchered your family in their beds? There are only two rational answers, Nick -- either, he's sadistic...or he simply doesn't care."

- Lucifer

Lucifer then appeared in Nick's dream again, taking the form of his dead wife to communicate with him. Lucifer explained to Nick that he needed his permission to take over his body, but Nick refused. Lucifer then told Nick some of his origins, such as how he loved God "too much" and felt that though God created them that He should not be allowed to "toy" with them. He went on to further manipulate Nick, explaining that God didn't do anything to stop the death of his family, making Him either sadistic or meaning that He simply didn't care. Lucifer then tempted Nick, saying that it was God's fault that his family died and that if he allowed him to take over his body, he would make sure justice is served. Nick agreed, and in a burst of bright light, Lucifer took over his vessel, regaining much of his former strength and full corporeal form. "Sam...my heart breaks for you. The weight on your shoulders: what you've done, what you still have to do, it is more than anyone could bear. If there was some other way...but there isn't. I will never lie to you, I will never trick you but you will say yes to me."

- Lucifer

Some days after that, Lucifer appeared to Sam in the form of his deceased girlfriend Jessica Moore, telling him that no matter how many times he runs away he will always be part of the supernatural, people that get close to him will get killed, that there is no hope for him. The next night he appeared to Sam as Jessica once again but when Sam said there was hope for him, Lucifer dropped the masquerade and appeared in Nick's form and told Sam that Nick was simply a "plan B" because Sam is his true vessel. Lucifer states that he will never lie or trick Sam into saying Yes, but he will do so willingly, before disappearing. "I know you won't. I know you won't say yes to Michael, either. And I know you won't kill Sam. Whatever you do, you will always end up here. Whatever choices you make, whatever details you alter, we will always end up—here. I win. So, I win."

- Lucifer

Shortly after, Zachariah finds Dean and sends him five years into the future so that Dean can see the repercussions which will follow if he refuses to be Michael's vessel. In the year 2014, Dean travels with the older version of himself, and a group of other hunters, including Castiel, to Detroit to confront the Devil. In this future, Sam consented to serve as a vessel, and the world is ending. Future Dean tries to use the Colt on Lucifer, but the archangel snaps Future Dean's neck with his foot. Lucifer, wearing Sam in an all-white outfit, turns around and sees the Dean of the past and tells him that he does not want to destroy the world, but to rid it of imperfection. He insists that he was unfairly cast out though Dean doesn't fall for Lucifer's sob story. Lucifer also tells Dean that Sam will always consent to him in Detroit; no matter what they do, Sam will become his vessel and the two will always meet up in this position. Zachariah then retrieves Dean and he returns to his current year.

In Changing Channels, Gabriel reveals to Dean and Sam that they were, since the birth of humanity, destined to be the vessels of Michael and Lucifer respectively. While noting comparisons between the Winchester brothers and the two archangels, Gabriel states that their relationship mirrors Michael and Lucifer's. "I was a son. A brother, like you. A younger brother. And I had an older brother who I loved. Idolized, in fact. And one day, I went to him and I begged him to stand with me, and Michael...Michael turned on me. Called me a freak. A monster. And then he beat me down. All because I was different. Because I had a mind of my own. Tell me something Sam, any of this sound familiar?"

- Lucifer

After receiving the Colt, Sam, Dean, Castiel, Allen and Jo joined forces in order to kill the devil. It is shown that Nick's body is beginning to deteriorate, as he cannot properly contain Lucifer's angelic essence. Lucifer's physical angelic complexion proves overwhelming to a normal human vessel that is not their true, pre-destined vessel (like Sam is for Lucifer). True vessels give archangels a full corporeal body to manifest in while on Earth. Lucifer is in Carthage, Missouri on a mission to summon Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Sam and Dean plan to fight him and the demon Crowley gives them the Colt to kill him, believing that Lucifer intends to destroy the demon kind once humanity is gone.

Lucifer manages to trap Castiel inside a ring of Holy Oil, while his demons trap Sam, Dean, Jo, and Ellen. Lucifer speaks to Castiel, asking him whether he came with the Winchesters. Castiel lies that he came alone, but Lucifer is not fooled, though he admires the other angel's loyalty. Lucifer invites Castiel to join him, reasoning that, as two of Heaven's castoffs, they are on the same side and Heaven will hunt Castiel if they manage to defeat Lucifer. Castiel refuses. Meg approaches her father, asking what to do with the Winchesters, and Lucifer tells her to leave them be, and gives her a reassuring touch.



Lucifer begins conducting the ritual to free Death. The Winchesters locate him, and while Sam distracts him, Dean shoots him through the skull with the Colt. He crumples to the ground, but after a few moments he reawakens, and slowly gets to his feet, expressing his pain at being shot by the Colt. He punches Dean into a tree, and continues to work on the ritual. When Sam asks him about the missing townspeople, Lucifer reveals that the women and children are in the mass grave he has been filling in, and that all the men are possessed. He tries to convince Sam that it was necessary, and insists that Sam should understand what he is doing, as someone who has always been out of place in his own family. Lucifer completes the ritual by commanding the demons around him to sacrifice themselves. Castiel, who has managed to escape, takes Sam and Dean away. Lucifer sees, but does not interfere. He turns, and greets Death.

"You know I never understood you pagans. You're such petty little things. Always fighting. Always happy to sell out your own kind. No wonder you forfeited this planet to us. You are worse than humans. You're worse than demons and yet you claim to be Gods...and they call me prideful."

- Lucifer

Due to the ongoing apocalypse, a group of Pagan gods gather to discuss the Apocalypse threatening to destroy the Earth while holding the Winchesters captive. Lucifer is tipped off about their meeting by Mercury.

Upon arrival, Lucifer expresses his disgust with the pagan gods' lack of loyalty and obliterates at least eight of them in a bloody massacre until only Kali and the Winchesters remain. It is here that Gabriel intervenes on their behalf and sends them away before confronting his brother alone.

Gabriel tells Lucifer that he still loves him and that he is on nobody's side but humanity's. He tells Lucifer that he has no legitimate grievance and is merely jealous that humanity replaced him in the foremost of God's affections and that it is time for him to grow up. Gabriel wields his Archangel Blade against Lucifer (one of the few weapons that could truly kill him and his kind) which causes him to remain cautious during their exchange. Gabriel attempts to keep Lucifer distracted with a copy of himself while the real Gabriel tries to sneak up behind him and stab him. Lucifer sees through the charade, however, and turns his brother's own blade upon him, telling him that the trick he just tried to pull amounted to "amateur hocus pocus" and reminding Gabriel that he learned all of his tricks from him. After Gabriel died, Lucifer looks down upon his brother's corpse and lightly grieves for his brother's passing, openly weeping.

The Winchesters learn in a posthumous message from Gabriel, that they have no chance at all of killing Lucifer without his aid, though they can still trap him back in his cage in Hell if they can acquire the four rings of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Once they possess all of the rings, a plan is formed for Sam to consent to possession by Lucifer and then for him to jump into Lucifer's Cage with the Archangel in tow, a plan which Dean initially is resistant to but ultimately comes to accept the idea after realizing that Sam is now grown up and can make his own choices.

Defeat and re-imprisonment
During the final phases of the apocalypse, Lucifer is tracked to Detroit, Michigan. Having ingested gallons of Demon Blood, Sam finally consents to Lucifer's possession even though the Devil reveals he already knows of their plan to try to force him back into his Cage. Despite this, Sam goes forward with the plan in an agreed proposition with Lucifer: if Sam wins in their struggle for supremacy, he may jump in the hole and take Lucifer with him; but if Lucifer wins, he wins. Sam then says "Yes". The archangel quickly abandons his vessel to become one with Sam Winchester, knocking both out momentarily. This gives Dean the time he needs to open the cage before Sam seemingly recovers and walks toward the cage's mouth only to turn around and reveal that Lucifer is now in control of Sam's body. He closes the cage, takes the rings and vanishes.

Lucifer gathers several members of Azazel's demonic minions before him. Demon-possessed humans from Sam's past that secretly manipulated his entire life as they worked for Azazel just as Brady had done. The Devil decides to "take the gag off" and allow Sam to speak, telling him that he is his true family and that he should embrace their union. Hoping to appease Sam, Lucifer offers an olive branch to him by killing the demon-occupied people such as Sam's prom date, one of his former teachers, and all others present in revenge for their manipulation of Sam's life. Sam is only able to speak as his own reflection and finds himself outmatched by Lucifer.

The next day, Lucifer travels to Stull Cemetery outside Lawrence, Kansas, the place where he is fated to meet his older brother, Michael, who has since gained consent from Adam Milligan for their final confrontation. Lucifer tries to dissuade Michael from their battle and blames their current situation on God, suggesting that they may be able to just walk away. Although he strongly considers it, Michael, however, refuses to back down, stating that he must be a "good son" to their Father while chastising Lucifer for not taking any of the blame for what has happened. Michael calls him a monster. Despite telling Michael he'd like to see him try to kill him, Lucifer appears slightly hurt by his comment. Before either can make a move however, Dean Winchester arrives in the Impala and demands to speak to Sam. Lucifer tells him that his actions amount to a whole new level of stupid, even for Dean.

Before Michael can attempt to remove Dean from the scene, Castiel appears and hurls a molotov cocktail of holy oil at the elder archangel, banishing him. Lucifer, outraged over Castiel's actions, snaps his fingers and obliterates the angel. He then begins to beat Dean but is shot several times by Bobby Singer before he turns and telekinetically snaps Bobby's neck. Continuing his assault on Dean, the Archangel states that he will break every one of Dean's bones and make Sam feel it. Despite the brutal beating he takes, Dean does not resist and merely tells Sam that he will not leave him.

As Lucifer attacks Dean, he glances in the back of the Impala at an old army figure Sam had stuck in the ashtray as a child. The Archangel is then overwhelmed by all of Sam's happy memories of his life with Dean leading up to now, with his love for his brother finally breaking Lucifer's grip on Sam's body, allowing Sam to take control of the Devil at last. Sam tells Dean that everything is going to be alright and that he now has Lucifer under control before tossing the Horsemen's rings to the ground and reciting the incantation to open Lucifer's Cage. As Sam goes to the mouth of the pit to throw himself in, Michael reappears and demands a fight with Lucifer, stating that it is his destiny to do so.

Sam disregards this however and, with one last look at Dean, outstretches his arms and begins to fall backwards into the mouth of the cage. Michael attempts to stop him but only ends up being pulled down into the pit alongside his brother as the portal shuts behind them in a thunderous flash of white light, leaving behind only the red-hot rings of the Horsemen.

Season 6
Although Sam was brought back from the cage, albeit without his soul, Lucifer and Michael were still inside the cage. Castiel said that they were in the deepest corner of Hell and that they were probably torturing Sam's soul, having nothing else to do and blaming him for their imprisonment. Although they both were locked up, it is still possible to release the two of them. Raphael planned to break Michael and Lucifer free to continue God's plan. This led to a civil war in Heaven. Raphael's side wanted to continue the Apocalypse by setting Michael and Lucifer free, while Castiel's side wanted to prevent it from happening again. At the end of season six, Raphael's side loses the civil war as Castiel kills Raphael (and soon after his followers) after imbibing all the souls of Purgatory into his vessel (along with the Leviathans).

Season 7
Lucifer is still in the cage, but appears as a hallucination, due to Sam's memories of his time in Hell. This first happens with Sam in shortly after the Leviathans had been released, where Lucifer tells Sam that the world he has been in for the last year is not real and Sam is still in the cage. A new form of torture which Lucifer prides himself on as being his best yet.

Lucifer continues to taunt Sam on how this world isn't real. He points out that he made this world, because it was the most believable. Sam later confronts Lucifer and asks him why he doesn't end this dream world to which Lucifer responds by saying that he will only end it when Sam can no longer take it anymore. Lucifer later changes into Dean and tricks Sam into leaving Bobby's house.

Once at the destination, he reveals himself to prove he can control Sam's "dream". Although Lucifer is proven to be a hallucination when Dean explains to Sam how to tell the difference between hallucinations and reality. Despite being proven as a figment of Sam's imagination, Lucifer informs Sam that he's not going anywhere.

Lucifer is heard but not seen in The Girl Next Door and Defending Your Life.

In How To Win Friends And Influence Monsters, Sam and Bobby talk about how things are going. Bobby asks about Sam's mental state and Sam comments that he has it under control while touching his scar. Bobby doesn't believe this but lets it go.

In Death's Door, Sam is seen using his scar to keep Lucifer at bay while dealing with the state of Bobby Singer after being shot in the head by the Leviathan leader Dick Roman.



Lucifer returns in Repo Man, once again trying to tempt Sam into acknowledging his existence, thereby "letting him in" [to his head] again. He eventually succeeds after 'helping' Sam during the case. The episode ends with him once again gleefully tormenting Sam while Dean sleeps after a hard day's work.

Although not seen, he continued to torture Sam in Out With The Old causing him insomnia.



He again returns in The Born-Again Identity where his torture became so bad Sam was put in a mental institution. Lucifer continued to torture him, linking it to when they were in the pit, making him hallucinate maggots in his food, throwing fire crackers at him to keep him up. Eventually, it got too much, and Sam snapped, his mind was so broken that it couldn't be healed (reaching the point where all people that Sam saw was Lucifer). However, in a last act to redeem himself for his previous actions in The Man Who Knew Too Much and Meet The New Boss, Castiel transferred the hallucinations from Sam's mind to his own mind. Lucifer, uncaring about the change, just calmly said, "Hello brother" and presumably went on to torture Castiel as he did to Sam.

Castiel later reveals in Reading Is Fundamental that Lucifer's appearance to him was more of an "aftertaste" of Sam's experiences, which quickly wore off, eventually replaced by visions of everything Castiel had done wrong.

Season 8
In Goodbye Stranger, while Lucifer himself doesn't appear, it is revealed that he has a series of crypts that are buried around the world containing important things, including the angel tablet. Only those closest to him know their locations, including Azazel, so when Crowley went after the tablet, he tortured Meg for the locations as she knew from her time with Azazel. Eventually Dean and Castiel found the tablet in an angel-proofed box in one of his crypts.

Season 9
In Holy Terror, Lucifer's corruption of the Garden is revealed when Metatron confronts Gadreel about the matter and uses Gadreel's failure and his desire to atone for his mistakes, to get his assistance with his own plans.

In Road Trip, Dean, Castiel and Crowley captured Gadreel, who has possessed Sam, and learn that he was the one who allowed Lucifer into the Garden which greatly angers Castiel.

In First Born, Dean learns of Lucifer's involvement in Cain's killing of Abel from Cain himself as Lucifer was talking to Abel. In order to save his brother, Cain made a deal with Lucifer to take Abel's place in Hell in exchange for Abel getting into Heaven. Lucifer agreed if Cain killed his brother and gave him the Mark of Cain afterwards.

Season 10
In Brother's Keeper, after Dean summons Death to kill him due to the Mark's worsening influence on him, Death explains Lucifer's role in the war against the Darkness and how it was the Mark's power that corrupted Lucifer into being jealous of humanity. He tells Dean that if he wants to be rid of the Mark without unleashing the Darkness, he must pass it on as Lucifer did to Cain.

Season 11
In Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire, a demon tells Crowley that after the Darkness was released, there was an uproar from Lucifer's Cage, believing that Michael or Lucifer was trying to warn them.

In Baby, Sam believes he's having another vision, when Lucifer appears to him in the guise of a young John Winchester. "John" tells him, he's only here to deliver a message. That the Darkness is coming and only the boys could stop it. Sam insisted that there should be a way to stop the Darkness, but John only answered, "God helps those who help themselves." Sam asked "John" one last question before he woke up, "Who are you?"

In Our Little World, after Sam and Dean question Castiel about Metatron, Sam experiences a vision of Lucifer's Cage, which is seen for the first time from the outside. Two hands are seen to be grasping the wall of the cage, though it remains unclear who the hands belong to.

In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Sam has a vision of Lucifer touching him and feeling a sense of peace, causing Sam to believe that God wants him to go to Lucifer and get his help. With the help of Crowley and Rowena, Sam is able to summon Lucifer himself into a small cage in the depths of Hell where he is rendered powerless by warding from the Book of the Damned and holy fire. Lucifer manifests in the form of Nick and Sam explains the situation and his visions from God. Lucifer tells Sam that the visions mean that God needs his help to defeat the Darkness and he needs Sam to say "yes" again so he can get out and help. Lucifer insists that the visions are the Word of God and Sam needs to do what they say. Sam finally decides not to say yes, but the warding suddenly fails and Lucifer teleports Sam into the cage with him. Sam refuses to be afraid due to his visions, but Lucifer explains the truth: they didn't come from God, they came from Lucifer himself to draw Sam to him. The release of the Darkness damaged the Cage and it allowed Lucifer to reach out to Sam's mind and implant the visions. Lucifer tells Sam he's now trapped with him and taunts a terrified Sam by saying he was the hunter's only hope of escaping.



In The Devil in the Details, it is revealed Lucifer entered Rowena's dreams seeking her help with a plan to bring Sam into the cage, promising to make her his queen in exchange.

In the present, Lucifer shows Sam a memory of Sam as a teenager when he was a hero and then when he was with Amelia Richardson, saying that Sam had gone soft after Dean went to Purgatory. Lucifer tells Sam that the Sam who had defeated Lucifer and returned him to the Cage would not have allowed Dean to talk him out of boarding up Hell. Lucifer attempts to get Sam to say "yes" again as Lucifer insists he's the only one who can beat the Darkness with Gabriel and Raphael dead and Michael having gone insane. Sam refuses, knowing that whoever wins between Lucifer and Amara, the world loses. Lucifer starts to beat on Sam when Castiel and Dean arrive to stop them. Lucifer teleports the two into the cage and Sam, Dean and Castiel fight Lucifer to buy Rowena time to send him back to the Cage.



As Rowena is about to, Castiel asks if Lucifer can really beat the Darkness and when he confirms he can, Castiel says "yes". Lucifer possesses Castiel which anchors him and keeps him from returning to the Cage. Lucifer poses as Castiel until Sam and Dean are gone and then returns to Hell where he reveals himself to Crowley and Rowena. After making sure Rowena is the only one who can open the Cage, Lucifer snaps her neck and then takes a seat across from Crowley.

On Earth, Lucifer arrives at a park. He feeds the ducks in the pond before sitting down and admiring the humans around him. An angel however, spots him and Lucifer decides to take a nature walk. Although he tries to talk the angel into trusting he is here to stop the Darkness, the angel refuses and makes a move to kill him. Lucifer snaps his fingers, instantly killing the angel.

Lucifer goes to the Bunker in search for a spell that can summon the Darkness. Dean finds him but still believes he is Castiel, and Lucifer plays along. Dean confesses he is drawn to the Darkness in ways he cannot resist and that it scares him. Lucifer reassures him that it's alright.

In The Vessel, Lucifer has regained control over Hell and now has Crowley as his "dog". After having a bunch of weapons brought to him from his crypts, Lucifer admits that defeating the Darkness was more of a "team effort" than he let on and he can't defeat her alone. As Lucifer taunts Crowley, he gets a call from the Winchesters and is shocked to learn of their discovery of a Hand of God. Lucifer agrees to bring Dean back in time to the USS Bluefin to retrieve the Hand of God, but is kept outside the ship by warding.

Lucifer returns to the bunker soaking wet and works with Sam to find a spell to remove the warding. Sam locates such a spell, but it requires the power of an archangel. Lucifer begins preparing the spell while Sam offers to allow "Castiel" to use his soul to increase "his" power so it will work. Lucifer reveals himself to Sam, seeing that he no longer has a use for him and begins to draw power from Sam's soul while planning to use it to destroy him and make it look like an accident. Before he can kill Sam, Castiel manages to regain control but informs Sam that he can't eject Lucifer as it's taking all of his strength to keep Lucifer from killing Sam. Castiel also informs Sam that they need Lucifer as Castiel can no longer time travel.

As Delphine Seydoux unleashes the power of the Hand of God, the warding is destroyed and Lucifer returns Dean to the present as the Bluefin is obliterated. Sam reveals Lucifer's true identity to Dean and Lucifer throws Dean across the bunker. Lucifer attempts to use the Hand of God, but finds its power depleted. As Lucifer stalks towards Dean, Sam manages to banish him from the bunker.

A week later, Lucifer is ordering the demons to locate a Hand of God. He orders Simmons to pretend to side with Crowley so the former King would lead them somewhere useful, which turns out to be a secret lockup. Lucifer follows them to the location. Once there, he reveals to Crowley that his plan was to rid Crowley of his last inch of defiance. He promises to do bad things to Crowley while he moves to take the Rod of Aaron, a Hand of God.

However, Crowley tricked them into thinking the rod was inside a case but he had, in reality, stashed it nearby and proceeds to strike Lucifer with it, sending him tumbling a few feet away. Crowley absorbs the rod's power and prepares to blast Lucifer with it, but Simmons shields Lucifer and dies. Lucifer is knocked back by the sheer force of the blast, but with Crowley having depleted the rod, Lucifer regains the upper hand and punches Crowley, sending him over a pile of books. When Lucifer leans over, the demon is gone.

After sending his demons on a worldwide search for Crowley, Lucifer enters Heaven, where he meets and kills Jofiel. He gathers the rest of the angels to talk them into trusting his aide in the coming battle with the Darkness, citing again that he was right about how bad humans were. The angels eventually agree to listen to his command, but an attack from the Darkness disturbs everyone in Heaven.

Later on, Dean summons Lucifer to a church with the promise of giving him the Horn of Joshua. Sam summons a ring of holy fire around the archangel once he arrives, and use an angel suppressing sigil to get Castiel to talk to them. Lucifer proves too powerful for the sigils to work. Crowley, who has now sided with the Winchesters, decides to enter Castiel's body to speak with the angel himself.

Unfortunately, Castiel has lost most interest in the war, allowing Lucifer (in the form of Nick) to approach Crowley and attack him. Just as Lucifer is about to suffocate Crowley up against a wall, Sam and Dean respond to a distress call and exorcise Crowley, thus saving his life. Lucifer takes back control of the vessel and approaches the brothers, since the wardings have worn off. He is interrupted in his torturing of Sam and Dean when Amara bursts in, looking for Rowena, who had been assisting the brothers. Having taken the Horn of Joshua, Lucifer attacks Amara with it. The weapon, combined with Lucifer's powers proves too weak to even harm The Darkness. Amara brings Lucifer towards her and takes him elsewhere, for a "nice long chat".

Amara tells a bloodied Lucifer that she is going to use "God's favorite, his first son" as bait, and proceeds to torture the archangel, brushing aside his suggestion that they could work together against God. Lucifer begins screaming in agony.

Personality
"I was a son. A brother, like you. A younger brother. And I had an older brother who I loved. Idolized, in fact. And one day, I went to him and I begged him to stand with me, and Michael...Michael turned on me. Called me a freak. A monster. And then he beat me down. All because I was different. Because I had a mind of my own."

- Lucifer's sense of betrayal

Lucifer was once the most beautiful and beloved archangel in all of existence. God loved Lucifer the most of all his angels. Because of his elevated status among the other angels, Lucifer was very proud. When humanity was created, due to the Mark of Cain corrupting him into jealousy, he was unwilling to accept that he was no longer God's favorite. When God commanded all those of Heaven to love his new creation more than himself, Lucifer refused. Lucifer pleaded: "Father, I can't. These human beings are flawed. Murderous!" Lucifer continued his disobedience, asking Michael to stand by his side in his rebellion against God's orders. Michael refused Lucifer's request, and under God's command, Michael cast Lucifer into Hell. When Lucifer returned to Heaven, he listed the Salem witch trials, Nazi Germany, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 9/11 attacks as proof of mankind's unworthiness.

Naturally, being cast out of Heaven enraged Lucifer, and he struck back by tempting and twisting the soul of a human woman, Lilith. After completely stripping her of her humanity, her soul was transformed into the very first demon. Because of this unforgivable blasphemy against God, Lucifer was further punished by being placed into an additional solitary imprisonment within Hell. He remained there in isolation for a millennium. Lucifer's long term goal was to eventually be freed from the Cage, eradicate humanity, and restore Earth to its original "untainted" glory. It is suggested that Lucifer only uses demons as servants and would eradicate all of them as well, because, despite them being his creations, he considers demons to be even less worthy than humans. Proof of this is shown when he casually kills dozens of them. However, he holds his greatest contempt for Pagan Gods, believing them to be petty, disloyal, and the lowest of all beings because they claim to be gods.

Lucifer claims that he never lies or even tricks, because he does not have to, as he has said, "I will never lie to you. I will never trick you." He promised both his vessels, Nick and Sam Winchester, that he would be honest with them. He also said that he sympathizes with his vessels, both of whom are victims like himself. He went to some lengths to get Sam's acceptance, sparing Dean Winchester's life on several occasions, and allowing Sam revenge against some of the demons that controlled his life. Despite this, Lucifer is largely manipulative and has been proven to mislead on occasion, suggesting that this was more of a ploy to gain trust, rather than an actual commitment, and he would bend this rule when it's to his advantage. Further more, Lucifer tries to gain sympathy from his opponents such as Dean by claiming that he is truly a victim and was justified in his actions.

Lucifer shows concern for his fellow angels, though it is the archangels he loves most. He captured Castiel and admired the angel's loyalty in refusing to reveal the presence of his friends. He invited Castiel to join him, and when Castiel refused, Lucifer respected his decision and offered him a chance to change his mind. Lucifer was remorseful when forced to kill Gabriel and disappointed when Michael berated him. When preparing to fight his older sibling in their pre-destined battle, Lucifer pleaded with Michael to "walk off the chessboard," but Michael remained determined to fulfill his destiny and serve God. Even so, when Castiel struck Michael with holy fire, Lucifer was outraged by the attack on his brother and obliterated Castiel.

Gabriel criticized Lucifer, describing his actions as "one great big temper tantrum." Death and Crowley both made similar observations, as they have both called him a bratty and petulant child with daddy issues. Lucifer is also arrogant and extremely vengeful, taking his betrayal and hatred out on the entire world without any remorse. Nonetheless, Lucifer sees himself as a tragic figure who was punished for being right. He refuses to accept any blame for his actions and suggests that God intentionally made Lucifer the way he is, asserting that "God wanted the Devil."

Lucifer is also highly cruel and barbaric to those who get in his way, and despite his claims of being the victim, he has no qualms about killing anyone who angers him, even if he has no true reason for killing them. For example, he barbarically massacred all the pagan gods (except for Kali, who was rescued and escaped), simply because they plotted against him, despite the fact that they posed no real threat to him and takes great pleasure in beating Dean for being "such a pain in (his) ass." He also slaughtered an entire town by sacrificing the women and children and then having his demons possess the men before killing them just to raise a Horseman.

Lucifer has a sense of humor equivalent to Gabriel and Balthazar, rare in many angels. He can be sarcastic and casually indifferent, usually a testament to his arrogance. This highlighted particularly in Sam's hallucinations of him, where he sees him as constantly shedding a snarky and wisecracking light on Sam's everyday actions. When reunited with Sam in Hell, Lucifer proves to have a comical side, going so far as to dance during a fight with his enemies.

Powers & Abilities
As an elder archangel, being the younger brother of Michael, who is the strongest archangel, Lucifer was the most favored angel of God, making Lucifer one of the most powerful supernatural beings to exist, possessing enormous supernatural power. However, he lost much power since he was at his peak. During this time, he had The Mark of Cain and was in possession of The Angel Tablet. Despite this, Lucifer is still described by Zachariah as powerful in ways that defy description. Because archangels are independent when cut off from Heaven, Lucifer maintains all his powers. The immensity of his power was further shown by how an improper human vessel, Nick, decayed greatly as a result of containing him and had to consume gallons of demon blood to maintain his form. Only few beings are more powerful than him, one of which is Michael, though he showed no fear when facing his older brother. Lucifer has an immaculate amount of power, below are listed the powers he has demonstrated in the show.


 * Lower Tier Nigh-Omnipotence - Being the second strongest archangel, Lucifer is unimaginably powerful. As only Michael, Death, the Darkness, and God can defeat him, Lucifer possesses a tremendous amount of power. He can very easily kill pagan deities. While still imprisoned in his damaged cage, he was even able to mentally reach from there to earth where he caused a bush to burn and appeared in Sam's dreams. While regular angels are severely weakened in the presence of enochian sigils and holy fire, he just erased them with his mind, while imprisoned inside it. He also claimed he could defeat the Darkness, however this proved to be a lie, even with one of the hands of God, the Horn of Joshua, Lucifer was not able to defeat Amara and he was quickly overpowered and captured by her.
 * Nigh-Omniscience - Lucifer has immense awareness of virtually everything, as Sam has said, "I'm sure he knows a buttload we don't". He possesses absolute wisdom and the potential to transcend all earthly things. He knows spells capable of binding the Horsemen to him, but he, according to Chuck, didn't know about the Impala. He also did not know how if there is was another person other than Rowena who knew how to open his cage or the spell she used.
 * Immortality - As an archangel, Lucifer has an infinitely long lifespan. He is among the first angels and already existed before the Universe itself, making him well over 13.8 billion years old. The excessive passing of time does not degrade his vessel, like with all celestial beings. His vessel is unaffected by diseases and toxins. He does not tire, and does not require food, water, oxygen, or sleep to sustain his vessel. On one occasion, Castiel clearly says about killing Lucifer, "It's foolish, it can't be done", and later calls the task "insane". However, an archangel blade can kill him, as can God, Amara and Death.
 * Angelic Possession - Like all angels Lucifer is required to use a vessel on Earth, as Zachariah emphasizes. And he needs the vessel's permission, as with all angels. Because of the immensity of his power, he must use a vessel descended from Cain or Abel, or it will begin to decay and eventually spontaneously combust and even then the vessel needs to be strengthened by drinking a significant volume of demon blood. However, he was able to possess Castiel's vessel for at least a short time without it exploding.
 * Invulnerability - Lucifer's vessel is impervious to damage and injury, except when harmed by an archangel blade, God, Amara and Death. Kali, the most powerful of the deities at the gathering of the pagan deities, tried to harm him with a pyrokinetic attack, but it had no effect and Lucifer simply smiled at her attempt at harming him, showing him to be unaffected by extreme temperatures. The Colt caused him initial pain, but he soon recovered, though it should be noted that his temporary vessel was decaying at the time.
 * Immunity - Lucifer is one of only five things in creation that the Colt cannot kill.
 * Superhuman Strength - As an elder archangel, Lucifer endows his vessel with immense strength, sufficient enough to having slaughtered ancient pagan deities, even the mightiest of pagan gods, with his bare hands with minor effort. As Gabriel predicted, Lucifer "turned them into finger paint." Lucifer went on a rampage during which he brutally ripped the other gods to shreds, beating them to death and tearing off their limbs through sheer force. He was able to knock down Kali with one punch and punched through Baldur's chest. This makes him among the strongest beings in all of existence. As the second oldest archangel, he's significantly stronger than any other supernatural beings: such as angels (except his older brother Michael), demons, spirits, humans, and monsters. He was also able to overpower his younger brother Gabriel, an archangel like him. Humans are powerless against him in terms of physical might; he once effortlessly threw Dean into the Impala with great force and literally beat him to a bloody pulp, nearly killing him. Although his archangel brethren are his equals, only Michael is his certain equal and possible superior in strength. Furthermore, he was able to single-handedly fight off Sam, Dean and Castiel with little effort (even though Castiel is a Seraph and was armed with a blade and Lucifer wasn't).
 * Super stamina - His vessel is unaffected by diseases and toxins. He does not tire, and does not require food, water, oxygen, or sleep to sustain his vessel.
 * Regeneration - If Lucifer's vessel receives any physical damage, the wound will completely heal instantaneously. When shot with the Colt, for example, the bullet hole healed in under a minute. Interestingly, the ability does not reverse the decay caused to Nick by Lucifer's power. Lucifer is unaffected by natural diseases and illnesses as well as to supernatural infections such as the croatoan virus. Lucifer was also able to heal Castiel's body of the injuries suffered in their fight.
 * Shapeshifting - Lucifer can change his form regardless of being inside a vessel or otherwise. Lucifer can change his shape into any person he wanted, similar to Gabriel's ability; it is possible that Lucifer once took the form of a Reaper to lure Castiel away.
 * Teleportation - Lucifer can travel anywhere instantly without occupying the space in between. However, when imprisoned in his cage, he cannot leave unless it is opened by an outside force.
 * Apporting - While he was unable to leave his cage in Limbo by himself, he was able to apport Sam inside it and later Dean and Castiel too.
 * Power Negation - Lucifer could prevent lesser supernatural creatures from using their powers, as Baldur and Kali were unable to teleport either themselves or the Winchesters when he arrived at the motel where they were hiding.
 * Telepathy - Lucifer had complete access to Sam's memories and thoughts while he possessed him.
 * Empathy - Lucifer could read the emotions of his vessel, and presumably humans who were not his vessel.
 * Telekinesis - Lucifer can impart kinetic energy on matter with his mind. He is extremely proficient, being able to rip pagan deities apart with this power.
 * Dream Walking - Lucifer has the ability to enter a person's dreams. Even without a human vessel, Lucifer was able to speak with Nick in his dreams while taking on the appearance of his deceased wife. He demonstrated this again when he spoke to Sam in his dreams while taking on the appearance of Jessica Moore. He was also able to show Sam his memories and enters Rowena's dreams while he was in his cage in Limbo.
 * Thermokinesis - Lucifer can alter temperatures to a drastic degree. His presence alone in Detroit caused incredible drops in temperature and he froze a pane of glass by merely breathing on it.
 * Supernatural Perception - Lucifer can perceive the true form of beings invisible to the human eye. Lucifer was able to see the true form of Death when he raised the Horseman out of his prison.
 * Weather Manipulation - When Lucifer was released, he altered the weather by creating severe winds and causing hurricanes and tornadoes across the world. He made the entire city of Detroit's temperature drop simply through his presence.
 * Biokinesis - Lucifer killed Castiel by snapping his fingers.
 * Reality Warping - Lucifer reminded Gabriel that he taught him everything he knew about using this power, when the latter tried to use it to kill him. While in Limbo, he was able to make a song play out of nowhere with a simple snap of his fingers.
 * Spell Casting - Lucifer was able to bind the Horsemen to his presence with a spell, controlling their actions to a moderate degree. He also performed a ritual sacrifice of demons to release Death from his coffin. He also knew how to ward angels from the Angel Tablet.
 * Resurrection - Lucifer can easily revive dead people. Raphael was under the impression that he is powerful enough to bring back deceased angels.
 * Terrakinesis - Lucifer could generate earthquakes through his mere presence on the earth; he was able to cause them at a colossal range, creating several across the whole world while he was in America.
 * Precognition - Lucifer could see and accurately predict the future, but he could not see the whole picture; he knew he would possess Sam in Detroit and told him the first time he met him.
 * Torturing - Lucifer is skilled in torture, both physical and spiritual. He tortured Lilith's spirit to the point where he turned her into the original demon. He also tortured Sam to the point where the mental damage would have killed him, if Castiel did not absorb the damage.
 * White Light -  He once captured Castiel by disabling him with a burst of white light.
 * Mental Projection - Despite being trapped in the cage, he could still communicate to beings on Earth, as he did with Azazel, though Azazel had to sacrifice several nuns for this to be achieved. After the Cage was damaged by the release of the Darkness, he was able to project visions into Sam's mind to draw him to the Cage. He also did this with Rowena, to get her to work for him.
 * Manifestation - Though lacking a vessel and without communicating in a dream, Lucifer was able to manifest before Sam, Crowley and Rowena in the form of the long-dead Nick.
 * Skilled Fighter - As the second oldest and second strongest archangel, Lucifer is a skilled fighter. He was able to casually fight Dean, Sam, and Castiel all at once, even while in his cage.
 * Implosion - As an archangel, Lucifer can kill lower angels with a snap of his fingers. Lucifer uses this to kill Castiel and an angel that attempts to kill him.
 * Angelic Vessel Possession - Lucifer can possess an angelic vessel wich is already in use, as he possessed Castiel in his vessel. To do that, he needed the vessel's permission. Castiel's vessel seems to handle the imense power of an archangel and the power of a seraphim without any physical damage.
 * Chronokinesis - Lucifer possesses the power to travel backwards and forwards in time.
 * Soul Channeling - Lucifer possesses the ability to draw power from a human's soul to boost his own powers.

Weaknesses
Even though Lucifer is incredibly powerful in his own right and despite being the second oldest archangel in creation, Lucifer has weaknesses of his own, but has fewer in comparison to his archangel brethren. As Lucifer was once the bearer of The Mark of Cain, he was truly next to indestructible. Only the Darkness would have been able to kill him, without removing the Mark first.

Harming, Misleading and Trapping

 * Enochian sigils - Lucifer cannot locate someone if they are warded by enochian sigils. Enochian sigils were also used to contain Lucifer in his cage in Limbo. However (with Rowena's assistance) he was able to transport Sam into the cage with him but not teleport out. Regular angels and Seraphs are weakened in the presence of such sigils but it is unknown to what degree they effect Lucifer. However, it is shown that sigils can affect Lucifer, as he was unable to board a submarine when it was heavily warded. Also, like common angels, enochian sigils can banish him from a location.
 * Lucifer's Cage - This cell can hold any angel, therefore including Lucifer, without any internal means of escape, as it was designed to bind Lucifer's power. However, once the Darkness was released, Lucifer "was able to reach out through the fissures" but not actually leave it.
 * The Colt - It can cause him pain and knock him down for a short time, but it can't kill Lucifer.
 * Angel Trap - He could be trapped by angel trap, at least in two occasions.
 * Holy Oil - Holy fire could banish Lucifer for a short time and cause him pain but as it did not kill Michael possibly it can't kill Lucifer too. When Lucifer was summoned to speak to Sam, holy fire was part of the warding but went down with the rest of it.
 * Angel Blades (possibly) - It is implied that angel blades can, at the very least, harm Lucifer as he was wary when Castiel threatened him with one and was sure to disarm him during their confrontation. However, due to Lucifer's superior strength, Castiel failed to even cut Lucifer.

Beings

 * Archangels - While lower angels are no match for him, Michael can overpower and defeat Lucifer due to being older, and therefore a more powerful Archangel. Raphael and Gabriel despite being weaker, could also harm if not kill Lucifer due to them also being Archangels.
 * Death - As literally the bringer of Death, he can kill Lucifer.
 * God - As the creator of Lucifer, God can kill Lucifer.
 * The Darkness - As a primordial force that predates God and Death, the Darkness can kill Lucifer.

Weapons

 * Angel Banishing Sigil - Like all angels, Lucifer can be banished with the sigil.
 * The First Blade - Powered by the Mark of Cain, and therefore The Darkness, The First Blade can kill Lucifer.
 * Death's Scythe - As the scythe was even able to kill Death, it can therefore kill Lucifer.
 * Archangel Blades - Archangel blades can harm and kill Lucifer.
 * Hand of God - The Hands of God contain enough power to at least hurt Lucifer through Crowley revealed it could kill him at full power. A hit by the Rod at very little power was kill a demon and at the same time able to physically hurt Lucifer. Later on, Crowley drained of its power in an attempt to kill Lucifer, but Simmons jumped in order to save Lucifer.

Quotes

 * "No one gives us the right...we take it."
 * "Sorry if it's a bit chilly. Most people think I burn hot. It's actually quite the opposite."
 * "A wrestling match inside your noggin? I like the idea. Just you and me, one round? No tricks. You win, you jump in the hole. I win...well then I win. What do you say, Sam? A fiddle of gold against your soul says I'm better than you."
 * "I've been waiting for you for a long long time. Come on, Sam. You have to admit, you can feel it, right? The exhilaration. And you know why that is? Because we are two halves made whole. M.F.E.O. Literally."
 * "You can't lie to me. I see it all. How hot you always felt. How out of place in that family of yours. And why shouldn't you have? They were foster care, at best! I'm your real family."
 * "All those times you ran away, you weren't running from them: you were running towards me."
 * "Think about it: Dad made everything, which means he made me who I am. God wanted the Devil!"
 * "We're going to kill each other. And for what? One of Dad's tests. And we don't even know the answer. We're brothers. Let's just walk off the chessboard."
 * "GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM!"
 * "Come on, Sam. Pay attention to me, I'm bored!"
 * "Snapping necks and cashing checks is what I do."
 * "Upper bunk? Lower bunk, or do you wanna share?"
 * "You really thought you could double cross me? Me?! You know I invented the double cross, like literally."
 * "If it makes you comfy, you could call me God."
 * "You know what they say? He who hesitates, disintegrates."

Appearances

 * Season 3
 * Sin City (mentioned only)
 * Season 4
 * Lucifer Rising  (Speaks through a nun, Incorporeal form)


 * Season 5
 * Sympathy for the Devil 
 * Free To Be You and Me
 * The End 
 * Abandon All Hope...
 * Hammer of the Gods
 * Swan Song


 * Season 6
 * The Man Who Would Be King (Flashbacks)


 * Season 7
 * Meet The New Boss (Sam's hallucination)
 * Hello, Cruel World (Sam's hallucination)
 * The Girl Next Door (Voice only)
 * Defending Your Life (Voice only)
 * Repo Man (Sam's hallucination)
 * The Born-Again Identity (Sam's and Castiel's hallucinations respectively)


 * Season 9
 * First Born (mentioned only)


 * Season 10
 * Fan Fiction (mentioned only)
 * The Executioner's Song (mentioned only)
 * Inside Man (mentioned only)
 * Brother's Keeper (mentioned only)


 * Season 11
 * Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire (mentioned only)
 * Baby (guise of John Winchester)
 * Our Little World (mentioned only)
 * O Brother, Where Art Thou?
 * The Devil in the Details
 * Into the Mystic
 * The Vessel
 * Beyond the Mat
 * Hell's Angel

Trivia

 * Being the boss of Azazel and Lilith, Lucifer is the overall bigger bad of Supernatural starting in season 1 to the end of season 4. He takes the stage as the main antagonist in season 5, comes back as a secondary antagonist in season 7 and also returns as the secondary antagonist in season 11.
 * Series creator Eric Kripke has jokingly compared him to a "raging psychotic" version of environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr., with "unlimited power". * A homage to John Milton's Paradise Lost, Lucifer will be portrayed as "gentle, almost sympathetic." Kripke further characterized him as a "Devil who has doubt" and "a lot of affection for God and the angels," and who "speaks really tenderly and gently and...doesn't lie."
 * Kripke reasoned, "He was essentially betrayed, so in some ways he can be viewed sympathetically ... if we can make the angels dicks, Lucifer can be sympathetic."
 * The way Lucifer killed Baldur is similar to the way, Albert Wesker killed Ozwell E. Spencer in the video game series Resident Evil, in both method and words delivered upon killing their respective victims.
 * Of all the archangels, Lucifer has appeared the most in the series.
 * So far in the series, Lucifer has used three vessels, Nick, Sam Winchester, and currently Castiel, the latter of which is an angel possessing an empty vessel.
 * Lucifer is the only archangel whose name doesn't end with "el" but end with "er." This is because Lucifer is the Latin calque of the Hebrew Heylel.
 * Before Season 5 it was believed that God was the one who locked him in his cage but it was then revealed in Season 5 that it was actually Michael who cast Lucifer into Hell on God's orders.
 * The Devil is known by many names throughout different faiths: Lucifer (Latin for " 'The Morning Star' or 'light bringer'"), The Devil, The Serpent, and Satan (Hebrew for "Adversary").
 * In different versions of Bible, they said Satan is formerly known as Samael and was the former commander-in-chief of the angels army before his fall from Heaven. Some versions said he was the older brother of Michael.
 * According to Mark Pellegrino in the Season 7 Companion Guide, Lucifer was probably more than just a hallucination and that he was possibly a psychic projection of Lucifer still stuck in The Cage.
 * Lucifer was named one of TV Guide's "Top 60 Villains of All Time"..
 * As with Gadreel, Lucifer is the most significant antagonist of the series. He is the one who brought about the chaos upon the universe, creation of demon kind, God leaving (alongside Gadreel's failure) and the Apocalypse. While Gadreel is the indirect catalyst for these events, Lucifer directly carried out these actions.
 * Lucifer is the first antagonist to be defeated by being re-sealed back in his original confinement while most other antagonists are killed in their inaugural season.
 * Lucifer's eyes glow reddish orange in O Brother Where Art Thou, making him the first Archangel to show a special eye color similar to how Castiel and other angels' eyes glow blue. Although it is unknown if this trait or color is unique to his eyes or it was simply a reflection from the flame warding around his cage, or if Lucifer made his eyes appear that way as a form of threat to scare his visitors.
 * In The Devil is in the Details, Lucifer made a reference to the show Lucifer that premieres on Fox of that year when he said that maybe he would move to LA and solve crimes.
 * Lucifer's mischievous behavior does not differ too much from Gabriel's; as siblings, they're said to have spent much time together, in Heaven, and Lucifer taught Gabriel how to do advanced reality-warping tricks. Their long-term convivence may have influenced Gabriel to act more like his olden brethen, too.
 * Lucifer won all physical fights he had on-screen as so in 11º season. He overpowered a pagan pantheon effortlessly, "killed" his brother, Gabriel, after seeing through his tricks, beat Dean while possessing Sam and, in the cage, took down Sam, Dean and Castiel at once. However, his "main fight" - which would be the rematch against Michael - didn't happened, as the Winchester interfered.
 * Lucifer is the first angel in the series to possess another angel in its vessel, instead of another human vessel, by possessing Castiel. The fact that Jimmy Novak no longer resides in his body may be why Lucifer could possess Castiel, as Cas, with his grace, is acting as a proxy for a human soul that must give permission to have its body possessed.
 * Lucifer has been overpowered twice by his vessels: both Sam and Castiel have briefly overpowered his control over them. However, while Sam had full control and could freely move around, Castiel stated he had to use all of his strength just to prevent Lucifer from killing Sam and was clearly struggling.
 * Lucifer is the first archangel who is known to have been banished by the angel banishing sigil.
 * Lucifer also is the first angel and archangel that trapped twice by using Angel Trap.