Archangels/Synopsis

Early life
"You think you created the archangels to bring light? No. You made them to create lesser beings; to make you large, to make you lord! It was ego! You wanted to be big!"

- The Darkness The archangels were the four chief angelic creations of God. They were created in this explicit order: Michael, Lucifer, Raphael and Gabriel. The archangels acted as siblings, and distinctively interacted with themselves and their father.

At some point after their creation, they and God went into war with the Darkness and together, while they couldn't destroy it, they succeeded in binding it. God then created a mark, later to be called The Mark of Cain, that would serve as both lock and key for the Darkness, which he gave to his most beloved son and most trusted lieutenant, Lucifer. After the banishing of the Darkness and helping create Heaven, Michael personally raised his younger brother Lucifer, and accordingly, Lucifer took care of Gabriel, and showed him different tricks.

Following the imprisonment of the Leviathans in Purgatory and creation of mankind, God asked all his children to kneel before them. Although the other three archangels complied, Lucifer refused, and led a rebellion trying to overthrow God because when he was trusted with the Mark, it corrupted Lucifer and drove him to be jealous of humanity. Therefore, Michael, on God's command, defeated Lucifer and banished his brother out of Heaven and into Hell. During the turmoil, Gabriel escaped to Earth to avoid taking sides while Raphael chose to side with God and Michael.

After God's departure from Heaven, the archangels, according to Metatron, ferociously whined, cried, and wailed. Whilst they wanted their father back, over time, however, they began to shift their attention into ruling the Universe in his absence. Although immensely powerful themselves, to rule the universe they needed the Word of God. However, Metatron, the Scribe of God, predicted the archangels' decision, and proceeded to leave Heaven to protect the tablets and himself. Lucifer, however, was able to take possession of the Angel Tablet sometime after and had it placed in one of his crypts. The archangels were also believed to have killed Lucifer's elite order of demons, the Knights of Hell by everyone who knew of them. However, unknown to everyone, the truth was that the leader of the Knights, Cain, killed all but Abaddon himself instead of the archangels. According to Cain, only Abaddon knew the truth though Crowley somehow later found out.

Present Life
For millions of years, Lucifer was imprisoned in Hell's depths, Michael and Raphael remained in Heaven under the guise of being God's representatives, and Gabriel lived amongst the humans and the pagan deities under a false identity.

Raphael was entrusted with watching over the new prophet Chuck Shurley (who unknown to him was really his father disguised) and killed Castiel once he rebelled against Heaven and tried to foil Michael's plans.

Eventually, Dean Winchester broke the first seal in Hell, setting the first stage of The Apocalypse. With this done, the angels were sent to Earth to stop the seals from being broken. However, Michael wanted the seals to be broke to battle his brother and defeat him as destined. Very soon, the final seal to Lucifer's cage which was the death of Lilith broken by Sam Winchester and Lucifer was freed which was the first sign of the The Apocalypse.

Readying for battle, Michael sent several angels led by Zachariah to get his true vessel Dean Winchester to prepare for the battle but his efforts were foiled, due to the latter's refusal and the efforts of Castiel who was resurrected by God. Likewise, Lucifer himself made contact with his true vessel Sam Winchester but similar to his brother, Sam refused to give his consent.

Castiel soon confronted and trapped his brother Raphael to demand God's location but was told he was dead by the latter. Castiel refused to believe this and left Raphael trapped though the latter escaped sometime later.

Not caring which side wins in the war but only wanting the fight to end, Gabriel lured the Winchesters to him and attempted to get them to give their consent to fight. His attempts had failed and his identity was exposed by them and his own brother Castiel.

Very soon, an impatient Michael made one last attempt to get Dean's consent but failed in his efforts were unsuccessful. Having little options, Michael settled on using a substitute vessel in the form of Adam Milligan, the half-brother of his and Lucifer's true vessel.

Downfall
By 2009, the year of The Apocalypse, after the Winchesters were captured by Deities, Gabriel decided to aid Winchesters. Gabriel fought against his three siblings and their desire to fight each other to end everything as he knew humanity was better than the angels even if they were flawed. He was supposedly killed in a confrontation with Lucifer.

Making contact with Death, Dean and Sam are given the keys to Lucifer's cage which causes them to plan for Sam to give consent but take control of his body to throw Lucifer back into his prison. With this plan in mind, Sam tracks down Lucifer and 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". After a brief struggle of control, Lucifer then takes full hold of Sam's body and closes the cage, while taking the rings and vanishes from the area.

With his vessel, Lucifer travels to Stull Cemetery outside Lawrence, Kansas, the place where he is fated to meet his older brother, Michael for their final confrontation. After a few words, the two prepare for battle but before either can make a move however, Dean Winchester arrives in the Impala and demands to speak to Sam. His actions are met with anger by the two angels who want him to leave so they can have their showdown.

Before they 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 rebellious 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 attacked Dean, Sam managed to regain control of his body and using the cage's keys to open the cage. Michael tried to stop him but was grabbed by Sam which imprisons both Michael and Lucifer along with their vessels in Lucifer's Cage.

In the aftermath of their imprisonment, Castiel was resurrected and improved by God which allowed him to heal Dean and resurrect Bobby. Sam was later freed by Castiel though his soul was left behind, presumably tortured by the archangels in retaliation for his actions.

This act left Raphael as the only remaining Archangel and he took control over Heaven in Michael's place.

Two years later, Raphael acted as Heaven's leader and intended to release his brothers from the cage and restart the Apocalypse but his way of thinking was challenged by Castiel which resulted in a war of Heaven with the supporters of both Castiel and Raphael. Raphael was killed by an empowered Castiel.

Lucifer did not return to the surface until 2016, where he possessed Castiel and he became the only Archangel active and alive, his brother Michael said to having gone insane.

A threat from another reality and the Fate of Heaven
While Lucifer was in the parallel world, he encountered the counterpart of Michael who revealed that he killed his Lucifer and intended to the same to him which ignited a fight between the two. Michael easily defeated and captured Lucifer and reading his mind to see his world, which he made plans to invade by using the latter's grace and a prophet. They were successful in making a spell which opened a rift, though Lucifer used the rift's creation as a distraction to escape his captors and jumps through the rift, returning to his world. Michael was not amused by this act and ordered Kevin to find a way to create a new rift, so he could enter the other world.

Due to Michael's actions, he was weakened and was forced to make peace with his brother and old enemy Castiel as he warned him about Michael, whom he knew would not give up in invading their world. After they were captured by Asmodeus, the latter remarked if Lucifer was right that he'll definitely need Jack on his side.

After Lucifer escaped him, Asmodeus sent Arthur Ketch after him to kill him before he replenished his strength. While struggling in his weakened state, Lucifer made plans to regain his strength by taking the grace of other angels before he was confronted by Castiel, the Winchesters and Ketch but he escaped with the help of Anael. Ketch offered to be a double agent for the Winchesters, due to the threat of Michael.

Lucifer then took control of Heaven promising to build new angels if the others provided some of their grace to him so as to have strength. After Ketch returned to Asmodeus when failing in his task, the latter stated he had a means to kill Lucifer before the latter got to full strength and have something to deal with Michael if he invades.

The item was an archangel blade which Ketch revealed can only be used by an archangel but Asmodeus revealed he has just the thing to solve that problem which was a captive that turned out to be a disheveled but still living Gabriel.

Jack was imprisoned by Michael after he refused to open a rift for Michael to invade the main world. After Jack escaped with Mary Winchester, Michael dispatches Zachariah and a squad of angels to pursue them and bring Jack back to him. The young Nephilim was forced to deal with attacking angels and was successful in repelling them.

In the main universe, Castiel was forced to pry the ingredients from a corrupted Donatello for a spell that could open the rift to the Apocalypse World, he revealed they needed Archangel grace.

Gabriel is shown to be kept in Lucifer's old cage in the throne room of Crowley's old lair. Arthur witnesses Gabriel, who now sports a fearful and nervous personality, having some of his grace extracted by Asmodeus who injects himself with it to power up. Gabriel witnesses the interactions between Arthur and Asmodeus and appears terrified at Asmodeus' beating of Arthur.

After this, Arthur goes against Asmodeus and liberates the captive Gabriel who was unwilling but forced to escape with the man. Arthur brought Gabriel back to the Men of Letters bunker where he showed him to Sam and Dean who were shocked at his survival. They then used the nervous Gabriel's grace for a ritual. Gabriel cringes away in fear until Arthur soothes him and instead supplies the Winchesters with some of the grace Asmodeus had already extracted.

Later, Sam cuts the stitches holding Gabriel's mouth shut and asks Gabriel what happened to him. Before Gabriel can respond, Dean interrupts with the intention to travel to Apocalypse World immediately. Once the rift is open, Dean entrusts Gabriel into Sam's hands as he and Arthur pass through, leaving Sam and Gabriel alone in the bunker.



Sam and Castiel are able to learn how Gabriel is still alive as he writes on the walls of his room of how he faked his own death during the Apocalypse to abscond from his responsibilities but was eventually captured and sold to Asmodeus. The two work to try to fix Gabriel who, in his traumatized state, is initially unresponsive to anything. After Asmodeus invades the bunker, Gabriel recovers and kills the last Prince of Hell. He then absconds from his responsibilities once more and takes off again.

Castiel returns to Heaven where he attempts to seek out the aid of the angels in finding Gabriel who he reveals is alive, to their surprise. He also states he needs them to help in the conflict of the invading Michael of the parallel world. Castiel discovers that Lucifer has absconded from his duties as Ruler of Heaven and Naomi, believed dead since the Fall of the Angels, is in charge. Naomi explains that there are less than a dozen angels left alive and as a result, Heaven is running out of power. Without Gabriel returning to Heaven to stabilize it, the remaining angels will soon burn out and Heaven will crumble, releasing the billions upon billions of souls upon the Earth. Castiel agrees to help the angels find Gabriel in hopes that, along with helping to defeat Michael, he will return to Heaven to help with the situation there.

Sam and Dean track Gabriel with Rowena MacLeod's help but the latter sensed the spell and went to them. After a conflict with two Deities, he revealed his intention of hunting down and killing the deity Loki who sold him to Asmodeus and decided to get his revenge for the suffering he endured. As he is weakened and wounded, the Winchesters tend to him and offered him help but only if he will help them in their endeavors and he begrudgingly agreed.

Tracking down Loki and his sons at a motel, Gabriel and the Winchesters kill Sleipnir and his men. Loki confronted Gabriel in the hallway outside and noted that Gabriel didn't have the sword designed to kill him. Gabriel claimed that he "wanted to do this one old school" and tossed away the sword he was holding. Loki telekinetically flung Gabriel against a wall and began viciously kicking him and mocked Gabriel's inability to keep one promise and then have the audacity to ask Loki for help again. Loki continued his attack, demanding to know if Gabriel thought that he and his sons deserved to die for Gabriel's spinelessness. As Loki grabbed Gabriel again, Dean slid him the correct sword and Gabriel pinned Loki to the wall, holding the sword against his chest. Helpless to stop Gabriel, Loki mocked Gabriel for needing someone to save him again and called Gabriel a joke and a failure that stood for nothing and would eventually die for nothing. Telling Loki "you first," Gabriel drove the sword through Loki's heart, killing him.

After killing Loki, Gabriel thanked the brothers for their help even though he knew they weren't keen on it. Gabriel then decided help them in defeating Michael, as they question his change in mind which he states is because he promised. Gabriel told them he has decided to move on from his past as a Trickster now that he had his revenge and they accept his change. Sam speaks to Gabriel and asked how he really felt as he replied that he felt good about it. Though in truth, Gabriel really felt empty and believed he had nothing more to do and decided to help.

Lucifer drowns his sorrows in a bar and laments that he only wants his son before he is surprised to see Gabriel who disguised himself as he served Lucifer a magical spiked drink before he reveals himself and Lucifer is surprised to see him alive. Lucifer tries to punch Gabriel but he is too weakened to do so. Rowena then helps in binding and capturing Lucifer. Gabriel is confused to hear Lucifer beg for death, though knocks him out. Lucifer is used to power the rift until the others find Mary and Jack, Gabriel joins them in the journey to Apocalypse World. During this time, Gabriel is told by Castiel of Heaven's state and how it may need him to maintain its state. He is reluctant since he once abandoned it.

Back in the prime world, Lucifer works on breaking his bonds and taunting Rowena who retaliates by revealing that Jack is in Apocalypse World. Finally, Lucifer angrily breaks free and attacks Rowena who magically repels him, inadvertently sending Lucifer through the rift into Apocalypse World.

The group come across humans who they save from vampires and are told that Jack and Mary are at a camp which is where they are headed and there is a shortcut but vampires are there, Gabriel wanted to avoid it but Castiel tells him it is the best way. Traveling through a tunnel, they deal with swarms of vampires where they lose Floyd and Sam.

Meanwhile, Lucifer was confronted by some of Michael's forces and consumed their grace to fuel himself. He discovered the tunnel and resurrected Sam, deciding to use him as a present for Jack who he wanted to make a good impression on.

Very soon, the others find an area with warding which halts Castiel until Gabriel gets rid of it before they are found by armed humans led by Mary who takes them to the camp and they find Jack. When Jack becomes distraught at Sam's fate and asks why they didn't revive him, Gabriel tells his nephew that they aren't strong enough to resurrect Sam before the latter arrives with Lucifer. Lucifer greets his son as Dean has him stay away while ordering Gabriel to kill Lucifer who states he can help them fight Michael. He allows Dean to place Supernatural Handcuffs on him as he is escorted through camp and fulfills his desire to speak to his son. Lucifer described the other archangels and pointed him out to Gabriel who warned Jack not to trust Lucifer.

After saving some humans, the group decide to evacuate through the Rift to prime earth with Gabriel and Lucifer helping. The plan is nearly stopped by the arriving Michael whose appearance shocks the Winchesters and Gabriel at finally seeing him. Wanting revenge for his humiliation, Lucifer attacked him and blasted Michael before he was tossed aside by him and the latter advanced on the rift until he spotted Gabriel who he was shocked to see.

Deciding to make up for his past of running away, Gabriel stood his ground and attacked Michael who effortlessly killed him. Weakened, Lucifer tries to follow the Winchesters through but is tossed to the ground by Sam and left behind with Michael as the rift closes. An infuriated Michael puts his sights on Lucifer.

Alone with Michael and Gabriel's corpse, Lucifer offers a deal to Michael where he will help Michael reach the Main Universe. Once they arrive, Michael will be able to take over the universe while Lucifer gets Jack back. As a gesture of his sincerity, Lucifer provides Michael with the ritual to reopen the rift.

Lucifer and Michael arrive in the Main Universe where Lucifer works to entice his son into leaving the Earth and Michael attempts to kill the Winchesters and Castiel. During a confrontation at the bunker, Michael is severely injured by Jack before Lucifer's arrival leads to the revelation of his own deeds. With Jack turning against him, Lucifer steals Jack's grace, rendering Lucifer super-charged. Lucifer teleports away with Jack and Sam who hangs on for the ride.

With Lucifer poised to destroy the universe and remake it in his own image, Dean offers Michael a deal where he will become Michael's vessel to battle Lucifer, in effect becoming the Michael Sword. In return, Michael will allow Dean to retain control of his body while Michael powers him for the fight. With a common enemy in Lucifer, Michael agrees to the deal and Dean becomes his vessel. Dean battles Lucifer in an abandoned church, using several of Michael's powers to fight. In his super-charged state, Lucifer proves to be too strong for the Michael-powered Dean and attempts to smite him. Sam is able to toss Dean an archangel blade as Lucifer tries to smite Dean, allowing Dean to kill Lucifer by stabbing him in the heart with the archangel blade.

In the aftermath of Lucifer's death, the Winchesters and Jack celebrate only to have Michael suddenly go back on his deal with Dean. Michael seizes full control of Dean's body and departs, loose upon the Main Universe in his true vessel.

Lurking Danger
Three weeks after the demise of Lucifer, Michael wandered the Earth and asked several people (including humans, angels, and demons) of what they desired most but was disappointed to find nothing of interest. Michael soon captured a vampire, he believed with it that he found someone who knew what they desired as it wanted to eat.

Michael abducted several vampires and decided to cure them of their weaknesses though it resulted in many deaths and escapes. Eventually, he is able to successfully cure them of their weakness and decides put his plan in building a monster army into action. Michael lures a female werewolf to him after overpowering her, he forces her to summon her pack leader for meeting. After he reveals his archangel status to them, he negotiates a deal with the intent of improving the monster race as he views the monster race as pure since they only kill for survival. He also assures them that angels nor demons would be hindrance to his plans of wiping out humanity and he has found a way to help overcome their weaknesses. Michael prepared a few of his enhanced monster for a trap he set for Sam, Mary, and Bobby. Much later for unknown reasons, Michael leaves Dean's body and his whereabouts are unknown.

During The Scar, it is revealed that before Michael left Dean's body, he sought after Alternate Kaia and assured offered to form an alliance, but she refused and attacked him instead. Although the Archangel defeated Kaia and tossed her aside she managed to use Michael's arrogant mistake of not immediately dispatching her to trip him, regain her spear and wounded him in the arm before escaping. The wound is still visible in form of a scar that prominently stands out on Dean's skin. The spear seemed to be another weapon that can harm an archangel and Michael sends his monsters to obtain it.

It was mentioned in Nightmare Logic, that Michael has planted dozens of his enhanced monsters in quiet places so as to draw out hunters and kill them. One monster confused Dean for Michael until the latter informed him this was not the case but told Dean there were several monsters around. After killing the monster, Dean and Sam spread the word to other hunters of Michael's plans and his monsters so they will be better prepared.

In The Spear, Michael takes possession of an unnamed woman, and plans to start his plan of using grace-enhanced monsters to start his world domination. He is also able to take control of Dean once again. Michael reveals he left a "backdoor" open in order to repossess Dean, and only left so he could crush Dean's spirit and make Dean less resistant next time he possessed him. He then unleashes his monster army onto the city.

During Nihilism, Michael taunts Team Free Will but is captured by them. Michael is not fazed as he has his monsters to aid him but they are teleported to the Bunker by Billie. Sam and Castiel enter Dean's mind in order to help him expel Michael, and it is revealed that Michael has put Dean inside his own subconscious with the intent of keeping him content as so Dean cannot revoke his consent. However, Dean sees through the illusion and fights off Michael. When learning expelling him could have backlash on him, he instead locks Michael inside a room within his subconscious, acting as a "cage" for Michael and rendering him trapped in Dean's mind. Michael is shown struggling to break free while Dean tries to maintain control of himself.

In Ouroboros, Dean is knocked unconscious and Michael is able to escape his mind. However, instead of retaking possession of his true vessel, Michael seeks out an alternative vessel, Rowena MacLeod, who, with the centuries of using Magic, would make a robust vessel for him to use. Michael goes to her with the intention of killing Dean, Sam and Castiel so nobody can interfere with his plans again. Michael threatens Rowena with killing the ones she cares about, and reluctantly, Rowena accepts, and she becomes possessed by Michael. He begins a killing spree and tortures his enemies for humiliating him. However, this is short-lived as Jack is able to exorcise Michael from Rowena's body, where he incinerates Michael's vessel-less form and absorbs his grace, killing Michael and restoring Jack's powers.