Angels

Angels
Seasons	4, 5
Species	Children and Servants of God

Angels are a race of supernatural beings from the television series Supernatural. They are extremely powerful beings that were created by God. They were created before humans. But although both were created by God, angels are very different from humans.

Characterization

Angels are so powerful that other beings can't look upon their true forms without consequences. If a human or even a demon sees an angel's true form their eyes will actually burn out of their head. This happened to Pamela Barnes when she used her psychic powers to see the true form of Castiel. Although no angel's true form has been shown, it has been implied that angels do actually have wings. In "Lazarus Rising", Castiel displays his two wings through his shadow. When Angels die after being stabbed by an angel blade, shadows of their wings are burned into the surface on which they are lying, as seen in the opening of "On the Head of a Pin" when Castiel finds a female angel dead on a street, and again when Anna kills Uriel and when Zachariah and Gabriel were killed. Also, in "Dark Side of the Moon", Zachariah tells Dean and Sam that in his true form he has six wings and four faces, one of them being that of a lion. It's possible that the number of wings an angel possess represents their rank or power since Castiel was shown to have two wings, while Zachariah, his superior, says that he has six.

Anna Milton describes angels as being emotionless, not permitted to have feelings or free will. She even goes on to compare angels to statues in the sense that they're both cold and have no choice. Despite being an angel herself, this description that Anna gave to Dean has been proven wrong, or frequently violated. Castiel has shown loyalty to the Winchester brothers and regret when he was ordered to kill Anna. Gabriel has shown anger and love towards his brothers, Michael and Lucifer, in "Changing Channels". In "Dark Side of the Moon", Zachariah shows signs of anger and pride. In "My Bloody Valentine", cupids are shown to be very cheerful and love giving hugs. To be more accurate, it's not that angels are incapable of human emotions, rather the majority of them choose not to show emotion as emotions are considered doorways to doubt, and they are not permitted to display emotions for the same reasons.

Angels consider themselves family to one another, referring to each other as brothers and sisters. The angels also refer to God as their father. Even though God is their father, the majority of the angel population has never actually met God or seen his true face. According to Anna Milton, only four angels have actually met God and seen his true face. These four are the archangels.

Unlike humans, angels do not reproduce. Anna tells Dean that one of the things that humans have that angels don't is sex. Dean even describes angels as "Ken dolls" meaning that the only way for them to have sex is to possess a human.

Archangels

Archangels are the highest rank and strongest angels in existence. They are absolute and fierce and considered Heaven's most powerful weapons. Archangels can easily outmatch regular angels. Raphael was able to easily obliterate Castiel and Michael was able to kill Anna Milton by just placing his hand upon her. It seems that every prophet has an archangel protecting them. Castiel told Dean that whenever a prophet's life is threatened or even if the prophet is in the presence of a dangerous and powerful being, that prophet's archangel will appear and completely destroy the threat. In "Hammer of the Gods, it was shown that archangels are far superior in strength compared to Pagan gods when Lucifer took on several Pagan gods at the same time and easily killed every one of them (except for Kali, who was saved by Gabriel). So far there are only four known archangels in existence and only three of them are currently alive. According to Anna Milton, there are four angels that have ever actually seen God and it is believed that the four archangels are those angels.

Fallen Angels

There are two types of angels that considered fallen angels. The first category of fallen angels are angels that disobeyed the will of God and refused to bow down to humanity. These angels were led by Lucifer, but eventually cast out of Heaven and thrown into Hell by the Archangel Michael. It is believed that many of these fallen angels (such as Azazel) were changed into powerful demons.

The second category of fallen angels are angels that have voluntarily left Heaven of their own free will. Instead of being thrown into Hell, these angels fall to Earth. When they "fall" to Earth, the angels can either possess a human keeping their powers or remove their grace, the source of an angel's power, and become human. It is possible for the fallen angels that became human to regain their grace and reclaim angelic powers once again. Although these angels willingly left Heaven and weren't forced out, they are still considered traitors among their brothers and sisters in Heaven.

All fallen angels are either permanently exiled from Heaven or wanted captured or killed. Due to being separated from Heaven, fallen angels are less powerful than they would be if they were connected to Heaven. The exception to this might be archangels. Both Lucifer, who was forcibly cast out of Heaven, and Gabriel, who willingly left Heaven, seemed to retain a huge amount of power regardless of the fact they were both cut off from Heaven.

Powers

Angels are extremely powerful beings with a wide range of abilities. It should be noted that archangels have all the abilities of a normal angel but they are enhanced to a higher degree. Along with the abilities of a normal angel, archangels seem to have abilities that normal angels do not possess. Also, the strength of an angel's abilities is dependent on their connection to Heaven. When angels are disconnected from Heaven, their abilities become weaker and weaker as time of separation between themselves and Heaven grows, archangels might be an exception to this though. The following angelic abilities have been displayed throughout the series:

• Teleportation (displayed by all angels) - Angels have the ability to teleport anywhere in the world as long as the area is not protected by Enochian sigils. Whenever they teleport, the sound of wing flapping can be heard. They also have the ability to teleport others with them. Angels can also teleport others to a location without actually having to go to the location themselves. Anna Milton also suggested that angels may have the ability to teleport anywhere throughout the universe since she said that she would scatter Sam's cells across the universe to prevent Lucifer from bringing him back to life

• Telekinesis (displayed by all angels) - Angels have the ability to move objects with their mind. Their telekinesis is powerful enough to throw beings across a room, break a human's neck, or pin them to a wall. It seems angelic telekinesis can be refined to a point where angels can unscrew several screws of a pipe, which was displayed by Castiel. Castiel also showed that he mastered his telekinesis to a such a high degree that he was able to engrave Enochian sigils into the ribs of the Winchester brothers without breaking their flesh

• Angelic Possession (displayed by all angels) - Like demons, angels have the ability to possess human beings. But unlike demons, angels must have the permission of humans to possess them. Also, an angel does not pick any random human to possess, the human must have a special bloodline so that the angel's true potential can be reached. For example, for the Archangel Michael to reach his full potential, he must possess a human that is a descendant of Cain and Abel. It's been shown by Lucifer that when an angel possesses a random human, the angel is not as powerful as he or she could be and the angel's presence causes the human vessel to start to decay

• Super Strength (displayed by all angels) - Angels enhance the physical strength of their human vessels to the point that they are able to punch another being through a brick wall. When a normal human is struck by an angel, the power of the first strike is usually enough to cause the human to bleed

• Killing Touch (displayed by Castiel & Uriel) - Angels have the ability kill demons by placing their hand upon their forehead. This ability is limited with lower ranked angels. Extremely powerful demons are immune to this power when a lower ranked angel like Castiel was unable to kill Alastair, a white-eyed demon

• Induced Sedation (displayed by Castiel & Michael) - Angels have the ability to make humans go unconscious by placing two fingers upon their forheads

• Invulnerability (displayed by all angels) - Angels enhance the endurance to physical pain and the immunity systems of their human vessels. Angels are unaffected by all diseases. Although angels can become drunk but it takes extremely large amount of alcohol, an amount that would kill a normal human being. An example of enhanced endurance to physical pain is when Uriel was completely unfazed when Castiel punched him through a brick wall

• Voice Mimicry (displayed by both Castiel and Anna) - Angels have the ability to sound like any human they choose as shown when Castiel perfectly mimicked Bobby Singer's voice, and also when Anna mimicked John Winchester´s employer.

• Healing (displayed by all angels) - Angels have the ability to heal any wound that a person possesses. When angels are disconnected from Heaven, this is one of first powers they lose as shown by Castiel's defection from Heaven

• Healing Factor (displayed by all angels) - Angels enhance the regenerative abilities of their human vessels so that any damage that comes to their hosts' bodies is undone

• Resurrection (displayed by Castiel, Zachariah, Joshua, & Michael) - Angels have the ability to bring back to life anyone they choose, regardless if the person's soul is in Heaven or Hell. Though if the person's soul is in Hell, an angel must go into Hell and retrieve the soul. If the resurrected person had their body cremated, angels can recreate the body. When an angel resurrects a human, all the scars the body previously had will be gone but an imprint of the angel's hand will be on the body. It seems that this ability does have its limitations, it seems that for an angel to recreate the body of a person, the angel must know the whereabouts of every cell of the person

• Time Manipulation (displayed by all angels) - Angels have the ability to go back and forward through time. They also have the ability to time travel with others. According to Castiel, this is one of their most powerful abilites and is extremely hard to accomplish even when connected to Heaven and when disconnected from Heaven it's nearly impossible. This ability seems to be less difficult for archangels. Also, an angel's ability of time manipulation extends to the angel stopping the aging process of his or her host. As soon as an angel possesses a human, the body of the human vessel completely stops aging so that when the angel leaves their human host, their body is in the same condition as it was when the angel possessed the human

• Reality Warping (displayed by Gabriel & Zachariah) - Angels have the ability to create anything out of thin air. While Zachariah showed that he was able to create advanced stages of diseases within a person, Gabriel has shown the ability to create living beings and imaginary realities out of nothing

• Telepathy (displayed by Anna, Uriel & Castiel) - Angels have the ability to communicate using their minds. This ability allows angels to enter the dreams of a person as well

• Memory Manipulation (displayed by Zachariah & Michael) - Angels have the ability to take away and restore a human's memories. Angels can also implant fake memories into a human as well. Zachariah showed that angels can take away all the memories of a human making him or her forget his or her entire life

• Immortality (displayed by all angels) - Although angels can die, they are essentially immortal due to the fact that disease nor time can kill them

The following powers have been displayed by only archangels:

• Pyrokinesis (displayed by Michael & Castiel) - Michael has shown the ability to kill another angel by setting her ablaze from the inside

• Cryokinesis (displayed by Lucifer) - Lucifer has shown the ability to freeze objects with his breath

• Electrokinesis (displayed by Raphael) - When Raphael first appeared before Dean and Castiel surges of electricity were coming out of his back

• Molecular Combustion (displayed by Lucifer) - With a snap of his fingers, Lucifer was able to speed up Casitel's molecules to the point where it caused him to explode

• Weather Manipulation (displayed by Lucifer, Michael & Raphael) - When all three of these archangels arrived on Earth, they disrupted the normal weather patterns of the area they arrived in

• Holy White Light (displayed by Michael & Raphael) - This ability looks very similar to Lilith's demonic white energy blast, but is far more powerful. Raphael used this ability to make Castiel explode into several small pieces

Weaknesses

Angels are very hard to kill. The methods that are used to hurt or kill demons will not affect them at all. In "On the Head of a Pin", Uriel states that the only thing that can kill an angel is another angel. Although there are not many known, there are methods to stop or kill an angel:

Blood seal

• Blood Sigil - If a person places his or her hand upon this blood seal that is placed upon a solid surface then all angels in the immediate area will be banished away. An angel can activate this seal as well. If an angel activates the seal then the angel who activates the seal will not be banished along with the other angels in the area. The blood seal can also be place upon a person's body. If an angel activates the seal this way, he or she will be banished along with the other angels

Castiel having the exorcism chant used on him

• Exorcism Chant - There is an exorcism chant to expel angels from their human vessels. It seems that the chant is not well known as only one demon, Alastair, has ever used it

Circle of holy fire trapping the Archangel Gabriel

• Holy Fire - The best way to trap an angel is to place them within a circle of burning holy oil. The angel will not be able to leave the circle. It should be noted that a circle of holy fire is not the equivalent to a devil's trap. When in the circle, the angel still has use of their abilities and are able to move, they merely choose not to leave the circle out fear of touching the holy fire. If an angel touches holy fire then not only will the human vessel be destroyed and die, the angel will be killed as well. Michael however is resistant to the holy fire and couldn't be killed by it. Most likely as he's the most powerful Archangel of all.

Castiel killing an angel with an angelic blade

Uriel's body after being killed by an angelic blade

• Angelic Blade - An angel can be killed by stabbing him or her with an angelic blade. It seems that the angel must be stabbed in a vital area of the human body, such as the head, heart, neck, or stomach. When an angel is stabbed by an angelic blade, a burst of bright, white light is released and angel wings are burned on the surface underneath the body of the angel's human vessel
  • Archangel Blade - Archangels seem to have their own angelic blades that are more powerful than normal angelic blades. It seems that a archangel blade is capable of killing both normal angels and archangels as shown when Lucifer killed Gabriel with his own blade

• Demon-Killing Knife - Can only harm normal angels, but can't kill them.

• Colt (Possibly) - Castiel believed that the Colt was the only thing that could possibly kill Lucifer. Although, a shot to the head failed to kill Lucifer, it can still be implied that the Colt is capable of killing normal angels, such as Castiel himself

Known Angels

Angels

• Castiel
• Uriel (Note: Uriel is a known biblical Archangel, but is not such in the show for an unexplained reason)
• Anna Milton
• Joshua
• Balthazar

Seraphim

• Zachariah

Cherubim

• Cupid

Archangels

• Michael
• Gabriel
• Raphael

Fallen Angels

• Lucifer (Fallen Archangel)
• Azazel (Possible Fallen Angel)
• Anna (Previously)