Arachne

Arachnes are supernatural creatures who have abilities similar to those of spiders. They appear as "monsters of the week" in "Unforgiven".

History
Arachnes were last seen in Crete, two thousand years ago, before one turned up in Bristol Rhode Island. There it began attacking thirty-year old men; Sam and Samuel, hunted it, along with the help of local sheriff Roy Dobbs, however, following Sam's plan, he was captured, but the two managed to track it back to its lair, where after a fight, Sam managed to kill it.

However, it had already infected its victims; thinking they were dying, Sam shot them all seeing it as an act of mercy, in his soulless state, and then burned the bodies, but by this point they were no longer human, so they survived, and once Sam was gone, they ran.

However, Roy returned, hell-bent on revenge; he started taking out girls Sam had something with, and sent him the coordinates, to lure him to him, but as Sam had lost his memory when he regained his soul, he didn't understand until it was too late.

Roy captured both Sam and Dean, at his old house; there he pondered whether to kill or convert Sam, however, Dean managed to break free, and in the struggle, Roy's wife freed Sam, who managed to kill Roy.

Characteristics
An arachne is a creature that can create strong webs, just like real spiders can do, so they can trap their victims with ease. In addition, they are also capable of changing humans of the opposite sex with an infecting bite into arachnes, so they can breed. Arachnes can even kill humans with poisoning through their bites. It is implied that they feed upon human flesh, but this has not been confirmed. Their vision is also like that of the actual spiders, with the image split into several of the same image.

Appearance
They bear some physical resemblance to spiders, such as their white eyes with large sky-blue irises and black pupils, and their skin. However, they can appear like normal humans as seen in "Unforgiven".

Powers and abilities
Their powers resemble the abilities of a spider.


 * Super strength - Arachne have incredible physical strength, they are able to throw a fully grown man across a room with no difficulty.
 * Enhanced agility- Able to move with incredible flexibility
 * Superhuman Speed - Able to move faster than any human
 * Webbing creation - Like real spiders, they can spin strong webbing in which they capture their victims.
 * Enhanced Durability - Arachne are invulnerable to bullets or fire, meaning they can't be killed by either of those weapons.
 * Venom - Arachne venom is lethal, like spiders they pass it through bites, but it can also be used to change humans of the opposite sex to the Arachne in question, into an arachne.

Weaknesses

 * Beheading - Arachnes can only be killed by having their heads removed.

Mythology
In Greco-Roman mythology, Arachne was a great mortal weaver who boasted that her skill was greater than that of Minerva, the Latin parallel of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts. Arachne refused to acknowledge that her knowledge came, in part at least, from the goddess. The offended goddess set a contest between the two weavers. According to Ovid, the goddess was so envious of the magnificent tapestry and the mortal weaver's success, and perhaps offended by the girl's choice of subjects (the loves and transgressions of the gods), that she destroyed the tapestry and loom and slashed the girl's face. “Not even Pallas nor blue-fevered Envy \ Could damn Arachne's work. \ The brown haired goddess Raged at the girl's success, struck through her loom, Tore down the scenes of wayward joys in heaven.″Ultimately, the goddess turned Arachne into a spider. Arachne simply means "spider" (ἀράχνη) in Greek.

In Ovid's telling, Athena took pity on Arachne. Sprinkling her with the juices of aconite, Athena loosened the rope, which became a spider web, causing Arachne to lose her hair, her ears and nose, metamorphosing into a spider. "So you shall live to swing, to live now and forever, Even to the last hanging creature of your kind." Ovid suggests Athena's action was as much spiteful as it was compassionate.

The story suggests that the origin of weaving lay in imitation of spiders and that it was considered to have been perfected first in Asia Minor. She wanted to beat the almighty Athena in a weaving contest.