Astaroth was a powerful demon who worked to condemn human souls to Hell by turning them into witches. She turned Renee Van Allen, Elizabeth Higgins, and Amanda Burns into witches, which resulted in several deaths, including the entire coven in question. The Winchesters' investigation led them to Astaroth and they ended up killing her.
Background
History
Astaroth was hundreds of years old. In the fourteenth century, she came into contact with a human whom she taught witchcraft to in exchange for the human's soul, which went to Hell and became another demon, named Ruby.
Astaroth herself later ended up in Hell. She managed to escape when a Devil's Gate was opened in "All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 2"; when talking about the escape later with Ruby, Astaroth described escaping Hell as "a bitch of a fight" and was impressed that her student had made it.
Astaroth was a devout follower of Lilith. In an attempt to please Lilith, Astaroth and her "friends" sought to hunt down and kill Sam Winchester in order to eliminate Lilith's "competition" for leadership of Hell.
Season 3
Astaroth secretly possessed Tammi Fenton in order to "break the ice" with Tammi's friends Amanda Burns, Elizabeth, and Renee Van Allen. She then brought the Book of Shadows into the women's book club, and tricked them into unwittingly selling her their souls in exchange for her improving their lives.
Amanda used witchcraft to kill her lover Paul's wife, and then tried to kill Paul himself, bringing Sam and Dean Winchester to investigate. Astaroth planted a hex-bag that killed Amanda in a way that appeared to be a suicide, and later cast a spell to kill Dean, although Ruby intervened to break the spell and save Dean.
When Sam deduced that Tammi was possessed, Astaroth briefly kept up her charade before dropping it and taunting him by claiming that his brother was already dead. Sam tried to shoot her with The Colt, but she telekinetically slowed and then stopped the bullet completely, making it fall to the floor without hitting her. She incapacitated him, killed an angry Renee out of annoyance, and taunted a horrified Elizabeth about having sold her soul without realizing it.
Astaroth started trying to kill Sam by crushing him to death. When Dean and Ruby arrived, Astaroth incapacitated Dean as well, but allowed Ruby to explain why she was there; Ruby claimed to have lured the Winchesters to Astaroth as a gift and that she wanted to serve Astaroth again. Astaroth appeared to consider Ruby's words for a moment, but then Ruby tried to kill her, leading Astaroth to brutally beat Ruby. She began to exorcise the younger demon, only to be caught off-guard by Elizabeth's spell, causing her to release Sam and Dean and kill Elizabeth. Her brief distraction allowed Dean to retrieve the Demon-killing knife, grab her from behind and stab her several times, killing her.[1]
Powers and abilities
Astaroth was an extremely old and powerful black-eyed demon. She overpowered Sam, Dean, and Ruby simultaneously with ease when they attacked her; however, when she was distracted by a spell Elizabeth performed, Dean managed to kill Astaroth when catching her by surprise.
- Spell Casting - Astaroth had extraordinary knowledge of witchcraft, which she taught to her pupils in exchange for their souls. She knew an exorcism which would send other demons back to Hell without affecting her, which she started to use on Ruby.
- Possession - Astaroth secretly used Tammi as her host in order to trick Tammi's friends into becoming witches.
- Reality Warping - Astaroth granted the wishes of the coven once they sold her their souls; this included getting Elizabeth's husband a promotion as well as having her win a trip to Hawaii, and improving Renee's pottery business.
- Advanced Telekinesis - Astaroth broke Renee's neck with a wave of her hand. She also pinned Sam and Dean to walls and held them incapacitated without effort while she concentrated on fighting Ruby, even beginning to psychically crush Sam to death at one point; however, she lost control of them when attacked by a spell that made her cough up pins. She also stopped a bullet from The Colt in mid-air, a feat no other supernatural being has been shown capable of (although the majority of demons are often caught by surprise).
- Super strength - Astaroth was much stronger than humans as well as fellow black-eyed demons, as shown when she easily overpowered Ruby during their fight.
- Invulnerability - Astaroth could not be killed or harmed by conventional means. When Elizabeth used a spell that inserted pins in Astaroth's throat/stomach, it did not even seriously wound Astaroth. However, it did distract and anger her.
- Biokinesis - Astaroth killed Elizabeth by telekinetically stopping her heart.
- Immortality - As a demon, Astaroth could potentially live forever. Although her exact age was not stated, she was older than Ruby, who was over seven hundred years old.
Weaknesses
As a powerful demon, Astaroth had few weaknesses.
- The Colt - As the Colt could kill all but five beings in existence, it could kill her. However, Astaroth managed to avoid being shot with it.
- Demon-killing knife - Despite being a very powerful demon, the knife was able to kill her.
- Angels - She can be smote by them.
- Angel Blade - An angel blade could kill her.
- The First Blade - The First Blade can kill any demon no matter how powerful they are.
- Death's Scythe - Can kill almost anything in existence.
- Primordial entities - Amara, God, Death and the Archangels can annihilate Astaroth effortlessly.
Trivia
- Although she was not named in the episode, Astaroth's name was revealed in the Supernatural Companion for Season 3.
- Astaroth was the second demon of lore to appear in the show; the first was Azazel.
- In lore, Astaroth is the demon of laziness, vanity and rationalization. It is also said that he grants power to magicians who summon and kneel before him.
Appearances
References
- ↑ Malleus Maleficarum