Knights of Hell

"Knights of Hell are hand-picked by Lucifer himself. They are of the first-fallen, first-born demons."

- Henry Winchester A Knight of Hell is a unique breed of demon created by Lucifer and Cain and formerly led by the latter, himself a Knight. The Knights are thought to be among the oldest and most powerful of their kind. Their exact rank in the hierarchy of Hell is not stated; however, they appear to be figures of awe among most demons, and refuse to obey demons they consider inferior to themselves.

In 1863, Cain retired from his position, inciting backlash from the Knights, who tried to tempt him back into his old ways by kidnapping his human wife Colette. In revenge, Cain slaughtered all of them save himself and his former lover and subordinate Abaddon, who managed to escape. Until she appeared in the year 1958 and again in 2013, it was believed that all the Knights had been exterminated by archangels. While Abaddon, too, was ultimately killed in 2014, her killer (Dean Winchester) was transformed into yet another Knight by the Mark of Cain, unofficially continuing the Knights' bloody legacy. However, this was brief as Dean's brother cured him, leaving Cain the only Knight once more.

History
The Knights of Hell were created by Cain, after being hand picked by Lucifer. Cain personally built the order of Knights and trained them himself which means the rank itself must have been at least 180,000 years old. Cain was their commander, leading them as they committed atrocities on Earth. They are represented by a sigil in a pre-enochian language, further indicating that the idea alone of the Knights of Hell had very ancient roots. The said sigil has been found in St. Bonaventure Convent in 1958.



After Cain fell in love with Colette in 1863 CE, the Knights sought to reclaim their leader by kidnapping Colette, whom Abaddon then possessed. Cain killed most of the Knights with the First Blade in his rage, but Abaddon escaped whilst tricking him into killing Colette. His promise to Colette not to kill anymore kept him from gaining revenge on Abaddon, and he retired. The Men of Letters believed that the extermination had been performed by archangels, though the demons of Hell knew the truth.

That the extermination had become a "legend" by 1958 indicates that Abaddon had either not been active on Earth or, as Cain apparently did, she kept her presence on Earth secret from even the Men of Letters long enough for the Men of Letters to conclude that all the Knights of Hell had died. In 1958, however, Abaddon resurfaced to kill Father Max Thompson and put a stop to his attempts at "curing" demons. She also worked with other demons to steal souls from innocent people and turn them into demons. This was discovered by Henry Winchester and Josie Sands who attempted to stop them and succeeded but were unable to stop Abaddon. To stop her from killing Henry, Josie offered herself to Abaddon instead. Knowing that she could learn more of the Men of Letters Abaddon accepted and possessed her. She later learned much of them and slaughtered the Men of Letters, and travelled into the year 2013.

Abaddon attempted to take over rulership of Hell by killing the King, Crowley, until Dean killed her. Cain remains retired, though he does consent to help Crowley and Dean Winchester kill Abaddon by giving Dean his mark and allowing him to use the First Blade on Abaddon, should they be able to find it. He also requests Dean kill him when he's done with Abaddon as like Abaddon, the Blade is the only thing that can kill him. In a final confrontation with Dean, Abaddon was killed by him with the First Blade after the Mark of Cain granted him immunity to her powers and telekinesis. Later, when Dean attempted to kill Metatron, he was killed by him instead, and the Mark of Cain transformed him into a Knight. Dean was later cured by Sam, leaving Cain the only Knight left once more.

Characteristics
As a type of demon, Knights of Hell are evil spiritual entities that were created from human souls being stripped of their humanity. As a result of having been chosen by Lucifer himself, Knights of Hell are "very pure" and "very strong" demons. They are called the first demons, making them among the oldest of their kind; this would mean that they were made shortly after the creation of Lilith herself (the very first demon).

The King of Hell outranks the Knights of Hell and they are expected to serve him, but they may stage a coup if they disapprove of the current King. The Knights of Hell are higher-ranked than common demons and most likely Crossroad Demons. They usually command great respect from their fellow demons and have their own subordinates: Abaddon had at least one demon who served her in the past, and she had assembled a group of demons willing to turn on Crowley and help her become Queen of Hell who feared and served her until her death. Larry Ganem called Abaddon a "hired gun," which would indicate that they may be willing to work for other parties for a price. Alternatively it could mean they are simply subservial to higher demons.

Appearance
What a Knight of Hell looks like in its true form is unknown, but given descriptions of other demons' true faces, it is likely grotesque. On Earth, its true form manifests as a cloud of black smoke. A Knight of Hell may possess a human in order to interact with the physical world and its inhabitants. Most of the time, its host will not look any different than it how it did before she was possessed, but her eyes may change colors on occasion (such as when the Knight of Hell is extremely angry or wanting to intimidate its enemies) to reveal her possession. They have the completely black eyes typical of most demons. Certain other beings, such as other demons, can perceive a Knight of Hell's true form even when it is in a host, but ordinary humans are limited in the sense that they can only perceive its vessel or, if the Knight is not in a vessel, its smoke form. They were depicted as skeletal creatures wearing a horned helm in the notes of Tara.

Powers and abilities
A Knight of Hell is a particularly strong type of demon; in fact, Crowley indicated that a single Knight of Hell is more dangerous than a group of ordinary demons. A Knight of Hell has powers that are rare and even unheard of among other demons, and demonstrates fewer weaknesses than most other demons do.

The power levels of the individual Knights of Hell seems to vary within the order, as Cain appears to have been far more powerful than Abaddon, even without the First Blade. This difference in power most likely owes a great deal to the Mark of Cain, as it empowers even humans who bear the Mark to the point that they are able to overpower and kill non-Marked Knights, with the Knights lacking the power necessary to fight back.


 * Possession - Knights of Hell possess human bodies and take control of them, using them as their hosts on Earth. Notably, they can be inside two humans at once by inserting a portion of their essences into a second human while the majority of the Knights' essences remain in control of the first. However, each time this happened, it only took place for several moments before the Knight in question exited the second human and returned to her original host, leaving it unclear if Knights of Hell can possess two humans at once over a long period of time or if they can only perform split possessions temporarily.
 * Biokinesis - A Knight of Hell is capable of making humans bleed profusely from their eyes, resulting in permanent blindness.
 * Immunity - Unlike most demons, Knights of Hell are immune to exorcism rites, churches, and the worst effects of the demon-killing knife. They are also more resilient to holy fire than lesser demons, as they retain the ability to move their hosts' bodies when it is burning with holy fire, unlike other demons.
 * Super strength - Knights of Hell have inhuman physical strength. Abaddon killed two men with her bare hands; one by slashing his throat open with one stroke of her fingernails, and the other by quickly and brutally thrusting a hand into his abdomen to fatally damage his vital organs, wounding him enough to kill him soon after. Dean was able to casually knock Crowley (the King of Hell) about to toy with him.
 * Telekinesis - Knights of Hell can move objects and people with their minds. They can use this power to throw human adults through only a hand gesture.
 * Invulnerability - Knights of Hell are little affected by damage dealt to their hosts, even injuries as severe as being stabbed, gunshot wounds, decapitation, and dismemberment. They may not be as tuned in to physical sensations as humans are, as Abaddon did not even notice that her hands were missing until Dean pointed it out to her.
 * Telepathy - By blowing a portion of her essence into a human, a Knight of Hell has the ability to access that human's memories to see and hear what that human had seen and heard. The Knight appears to be able to instantly identify and access specific memories she wants to see, rather than having to shift through all of a human's memories.
 * Immortality - Having been handpicked by Lucifer prior to his imprisonment in his cage, the majority of Knights of Hell are around two hundred thousand years old. They will not die of old age; unless killed, they will live on indefinitely.
 * Weather manipulation - A Knight of Hell is capable of causing weather phenomena. For example, an infuriated Abaddon caused thunder and lightning by screaming, and Cain's arrival caused gusts of wind.
 * Super stamina - Knights of Hell do not require food, water, or sleep to maintain themselves.
 * Terrakinesis - Knight of Hells can cause ground tremors. Abaddon used this power to split the ground of a church before she had even physically arrived there. Cain's mere arrival caused local tremors.
 * Flight - When outside of their hosts, Knights of Hell can fly or hover above the ground.
 * Tactile Exorcism - A Knight of Hell can expel another demon from her host and send her back to Hell simply by grabbing the demon's host by the neck.
 * Teleportation - Knights of Hell can disappear from one location and reappear in another instantaneously.
 * Smiting - Like angels, a Knight of Hell has the ability to kill lesser demons with a touch. It is likely that only Cain (or possibly demons who bear the Mark of Cain in general) possesses this power, as Abaddon was shown using an angel blade to slay enemy demons rather than use this power.
 * Power Negation - A Knight of Hell can prevent lesser demons from speaking or using their powers (including teleportation). Again, this ability may be unique to Cain alone or more generally to Knights branded with the Mark of Cain, as Abaddon resorted to shooting Crowley with a devil trap bullet instead of negating his powers.
 * Apporting - A Knight of Hell can transport objects and people to different locations by touch.

Vulnerabilities
A Knight of Hell is subject to some of the weaknesses that most demons have.


 * Demon-killing knife - Although the knife cannot kill a Knight of Hell, it may be able to temporarily incapacitate one: it caused Abaddon enough pain to bring her to her knees. However, Cain was completely immune to the knife.
 * Angels (possibly) - It was rumored that archangels had been responsible for killing off (most of) the Knights of Hell. Even the Men of Letters believed it to be true, showing that the Men of Letters believed archangels capable of destroying Knights. Crowley claimed that the archangels had used a special weapon to kill the Knights, which might indicate that even the archangels were not able to directly destroy the Knights, but as Crowley was later revealed to be lying to manipulate Dean into taking on the Mark of Cain, his claim is highly suspect. It is possible that even lesser angels are capable of at least harming a Knight, as when Abaddon learned that Sam and Dean had brought along an angel as back-up, she immediately retreated. Dean was later overpowered by a restored Castiel, however, he was in the middle of being cured and was thus likely weaker at the time.
 * Devil's trap - A Knight of Hell can be stripped of its powers if placed in a devil's trap. The trap has much the same effect if it is placed on or inside of the Knight's host instead, with the additional effect of severely restricting the Knight's ability to move.
 * Holy fire - While holy fire cannot kill Knights of Hell and they are more resistant to it than lesser demons are, they still find it to be extremely painful, to the point that Abaddon abandoned her host and fled when it became engulfed in holy fire.
 * Holy water - Contact with holy water causes Knights of Hell to react as if burned. It was used to great effect on Abaddon, causing her to stagger backward and cover her face in pain for a short period of time without attacking her targets; Dean was similarly incapacitated despite additionally bearing the powerful Mark of Cain. Cain's vulnerability to holy water is yet untested.
 * Angel blade - It is likely that an angel blade can hurt a Knight of Hell just as the demon knife can, given that Abaddon took care to disarm Dean of his when he confronted her with it.
 * The First Blade - The First Blade, when powered by the Mark of Cain, is the only known weapon that can kill a Knight. This was proven when Cain slaughtered the other Knights with it and when Dean killed Abaddon with it.
 * Demon Curing Ritual - A Knight can be turned human using the ritual.
 * Purified Blood - An essential part of the ritual to turn a demon human. It hurts a Knight more than other demons, but they retain demonic mannerisms longer than other demons as well despite it turning them more human.

Known Knights of Hell

 * Abaddon (deceased)
 * Cain
 * Dean Winchester (cured)

Trivia

 * Ironically, despite the power and status that the Knights commanded, at least two of them (Abaddon and Dean) were black-eyed, which usually denote low- to mid-tier demons.
 * Before it was confirmed by Cain that he had killed all other Knights (at the time) excluding himself and Abaddon, it was speculated by fans that other high-class demons, e.g. Alastair (due to his high resistance to the demon-killing knife), had also been Knights.
 * The number of Knights that existed before Cain's slaughter is unknown. As Cain referred to having slain "the Knights of Hell," there were at least two yet-to-be-named Knights who participated in Colette's kidnapping alongside Abaddon and were killed by Cain in retribution in 1863. Its indicated there were several however, as Cain called it a "demonic order."
 * When a Knight of Hell is killed by the First Blade, they emit a massive red light that resembles the visual effects of Cain's smiting ability, rather than the brief flashes light seen with most other demon deaths.
 * As shown anyone killed possessing the Mark of Cain will return as a demon, who as a result of the Mark are immune to anything including Ruby's knife, and it is implied by Cain that the user of the Mark cannot use the blade on themselves. This would mean a demon with the Mark is completely immortal (unless they are killed by someone whom they have transferred the Mark to).
 * Although Knights can be cured by the Demon Curing Ritual, they, or at least ones with the Mark of Cain, still retain demonic mannerisms longer than other demons do, including the King of Hell Crowley. This indicates they have a stronger resistance to the ritual but not complete immunity as it does work.

Season 8

 * As Time Goes By
 * Clip Show
 * Sacrifice

Season 9

 * Devil May Care
 * Heaven Can't Wait 
 * Road Trip
 * First Born
 * Mother's Little Helper
 * King of the Damned
 * Do You Believe In Miracles?

Season 10

 * Black
 * Reichenbach
 * Soul Survivor