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 Cain, after Lucifer ordered him to make more demons. As such, Knights are among the oldest and most powerful of their kind with only Lilith predating them. The order of Knights was built and led by Cain, the first Knight. 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 them. In 1863, Cain slaughtered all Knights but Abaddon, though the extermination was originally attributed to the archangels. Until Abaddon appeared in the year 2013, it was believed that all the Knights were dead. After Dean Winchester killed Abaddon in 2014, the retired Cain became the only Knight left.

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.

Currently, there are no active Knights of Hell. 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.

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 made 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, in "Sacrifice", 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 among other demons and has fewer weaknesses than most demons do. The powers of the Knights of Hell seems to vary as Cain is far more powerful than Abaddon and all the other Knights he slaughtered.


 * 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 Demon-killing knife (though the knife does cause them pain and slow them down temporarily, with the exception of Cain, who showed absolutely no pain when being stabbed). They are also more resilient to holy fire than standard demons.
 * Super strength - Knights of Hell have inhuman physical strength which allows them to slash a man's throat open with one stroke of their fingernails, or to quickly and brutally thrust a hand into his abdomen, wounding him enough to kill him.
 * Telekinesis - Knights of Hell can move objects and people with their minds. They can use this power to throw 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 its 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 it wants to see, rather than having to shift through all of a human's memories.
 * Immortality - Having been created by Lucifer prior to his imprisonment in his cage, 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; an infuriated Abaddon caused thunder and lightning by screaming. Cain's mere arrival, on the other hand, caused gusts of wind.
 * Super stamina - Knights of Hell do not require food, water, or sleep to maintain themselves.
 * Terrakinesis - A Knight of Hell 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 its host and send it 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 (possibly) - A Knight of Hell has the ability to kill lesser demons with a touch, similar to angels. However, the light this emits is reddish rather than pure white. However, this ability may be unique to just Cain, as we have never seen Abaddon use this ability, rather, she has killed other demons using an angel blade.
 * Power Negation (possibly) - A Knight of Hell can also prevent lesser demons from speaking or using their powers (including teleportation). However, this ability may be unique to just Cain, as we have yet to see Abaddon use this ability on other demons.
 * 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.
 * The First Blade - The First Blade is the only known weapon that can kill a Knight. This was shown when Cain slaughtered the other Knights with it and when Dean Winchester killed Abaddon with it.
 * Archangels - It is implied that archangels can kill the Knights of Hell, as they were believed to be responsible for the destruction of the Knights though with a weapon. When Abaddon learned that Sam and Dean had brought along an angel as back-up, she quickly fled the area, which implies that battling even a common angel is a challenge for Knights.
 * 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 - A Knight of Hell finds holy fire extremely painful, to the point that Abaddon abandoned her host and fled when it became engulfed in holy fire. However, holy fire does not kill Knights and they are more resistant to it than common demons are, as they retain the ability to move their vessels' bodies when it is burning with holy fire, unlike other demons.
 * Holy water - Contact with holy water causes a Knight 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.
 * Angel blade - It is implied 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.
 * Death's scythe- Can kill anything.

Known Knights of Hell

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

Trivia

 * Despite the Knights' power and age, one of them only had black-eyes, which are often seen from weaker, younger demons.
 * Abaddon and Cain are the only named Knights of Hell. They are also the last of their kind.
 * Before it was confirmed by Cain that all other Knights beside himself and Abaddon were dead, it was speculated that other high class demons such as Alastair (due to his high resistance to the demon knife) and Azazel (due to being resistant to most demonic defences) were also Knights. However, this is disproved as Cain confirms killing all Knights excluding Abaddon.
 * Its been shown that when a Knight is killed by The First Blade, rather than glowing gold briefly like other demons, they emit a massive red light that looks and acts similar to Cain's smiting ability.

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