They're pretty much like shapeshifters, really, but more into eatin' folk, and nothin' can kill 'em.
”
— Bobby Singer, on the Leviathans
The Leviathan(s), also called "Chompers", the Old Ones or sometimes Levis for short, were some of God's very first beasts, and thus pre-date angels, humans, and the soul itself. The beasts proved to be too hungry and destructive, so God created Purgatory and locked them inside. They were inadvertently released when Castiel opened Purgatory and absorbed all the souls inside in order to defeat Raphael.
Long before God created Angel and Man, he made the first beasts -- the Leviathans. I personally found them entertaining, but he was concerned they'd chomp the entire petri dish, so he locked them away. Why do you think he created Purgatory? To keep those clever, poisonous things out.
”
— Death
According to Death, Leviathans were among God's earliest creations. Unfortunately, the beasts proved to be too destructive, so God locked them away in Purgatory - which Death reveals as being specifically created to contain Leviathans. Death describes them as "clever" and "poisonous". He also says he personally found them "entertaining" but God was worried they might "chomp the entire petri dish." In addition, after locking the Leviathans up, God devised a means of killing the Leviathans should they ever escape Purgatory.
Based on remarks made by both Edgar and the Alpha Vampire in "There Will Be Blood", Leviathan are just as old as Eve and may even be related to her in some way. This is supported by the Alpha's claims that the Vampires originate from Leviathan - to which Edgar responds, "barely". Furthermore, when the Alpha points out that he is a son of Eve, Edgar replies that he knew Eve and that she was a "whore" and hardly one of their kind.
In general, Leviathan regard humans as little more than cattle and food. They do, however, have some respect for certain individuals, such as Charlie Bradbury and Kevin, who possess a certain "spark" that the Leviathans are unable to copy. Leviathan also consider Demons and monsters as even lower than humans, and ultimately intend to try to wipe them all out. Leviathan are also cannibalistic, eating other Leviathan for their failures (or just being annoyances). Their leader is known for his cruel punishment, known as "bibbing," in which he forces a Leviathan that failed him to eat itself.
Though chaotic, it is established that Leviathan have some sort of hierarchy, with several of them taking orders from their leader, Dick Roman. Under Roman's command, there are head Leviathan, like Edgar and Joyce, who in turn have authority over other Leviathan. Dick Roman orders several Leviathan to hunt down those in their group who have been feeding indiscriminately and to deal with the Winchesters and their allies. It seems that the higher-ranking Leviathan have an easier time controlling their hunger. In general, higher ranking Leviathan can easily keep the lower ranking ones under control. However, the lower ranking Leviathan are capable of disobeying and even turning against their superiors, as George did with Joyce in Out With The Old. Only Dick Roman himself seems to command absolute respect and loyalty from the Leviathan species as a whole. However, with Dick dead, the leviathan hierarchy is destroyed as they have no-one to turn to as Crowley points out they have only ever had one leader.
On Earth, they take like-serpent shape underwater. Once within a vessel, Leviathan are able to shapeshift without taking a new one. While in a host, they can dislocate the jaw and reveal a mouth full of large teeth and a forked tongue. They can also have particular tastes. For example, Chet liked to eat his victims with melted cheese sauce as "everything tastes better with cheese." Dick Roman sometimes had his meals barbequed. Leviathan are also capable of eating human food, such as hamburgers and salads, but they find it disgusting.
As seen on the episode Blood Brother, their true form in Purgatory looks like a ball of black goo, much like the blood of their injured vessels on Earth. In this form, they have incredible mobility, as they have shown the capability to fly and land anywhere with a noticeable force, before taking humanoid form. Although this form still possesses the powerful jaws, the leviathans may choose when to reveal them.
Powers & Abilities
“
You know, Leviathan can kill angels. There's a reason why my father locked them in Purgatory. They're the piranha that would eat the whole aquarium.
”
— Castiel
As God's first creations, Leviathans are powerful beasts, more powerful than most other creatures, and able to kill and/or eat just about everything else. It is notable that despite the Leviathans' status as older than angels and their ability to kill the celestials with relative ease, Leviathans have yet to show any form of magical or psychic abilities besides flight when in Purgatory. Leviathans are also capable of wiping out all demons, as claimed by Dick Roman--a claim that forced the demon Crowley to flee and organize his demons against the beasts.
Powerful Jaws - Leviathan possess massive, retractable jaws that are immensely strong and serves as their primary weapon and way to feed. Their jaws can rip open almost anything they bite into, including humans, angels, demons and various other creatures - even other Leviathan. Using this ability apparently signicantly alters the users face, such removing their eyes and nose to make room for their jaws.
Invulnerability - The only way for a hunter to kill a Leviathan is with a Bone Of Righteous Mortal Washed In the Three Bloods of Fallen. While use of witchcraft, Borax, decapitation or extreme physical force can disable them temporarily, they will recover from the damage in a matter of seconds to hours, depending on the extent of damage. More powerful Leviathans such as Dick and Edgar are less susceptible to Borax damage and can regenerate their wounds even quicker than others of their kind. Besides these methods, they are virtually indestructible.
Immortality - Being creatures older than souls and angels, the Leviathan are immortal, in a variety of senses, in that having an ageless lifespan, meaning they simply do not age, and can not be killed by but one mean, devised by God himself.
Possession - Leviathan are able to take over a human body, much like demons can. Many of them can possess a single host at once, as demonstrated with Castiel. However, the sheer mass amount of Leviathans in one host made it unstable and caused it to explode.
Shapeshifting - Leviathan are able to shapeshift to match anyone whose DNA they have access to. This also allows them to access their form's memories and skills. Unlike most other shapeshifters, they have the ability to mimic a human's specific clothing as well, making it even easier to impersonate people. They can also shapeshift into creatures of a different species such as vampires. However, it would seem they cannot copy Prophets seeing as how Dick Roman kept Kevin Tran alive to decode The Word of God rather than simply copying him and absorbing his memories. They are sometimes unable to copy a person's skills to their fullest as seen when Dick opted not to do so with Charlie. Leviathan are also unable to copy other Leviathans, as evidenced by the fact that Dick had to use a piece of the original Dick Roman to make his duplicates.
Super Strength - Leviathan are immensely stronger than humans and demons of all ranks. Leviathan are even stronger than middle and lesser angels. Edgar was able to casually kill two angels from Castiel's former garrison (in which Castiel held the title of "captain"). Much like demons and angels, the higher-ranking Leviathan are stronger than the lower-ranking Leviathan. They are even able to overpower seraphim as demonstrated with Castiel, although this was in Purgatory when a Leviathan got the jump on him. It is unknown if they are a challenge to archangels, though it is highly possible.
Super Intelligence - Leviathan were able to make a food additive that cured cancer, AIDS, and other human diseases that would make humans less desirable "cattle." They also produced other additives that would kill all other non-leviathan beasts, and that made humans compliant as well as one that killed people with undesirable traits (low body mass, hemophilia, high IQ). In addition, they were able to track the Winchesters' location with complex computer algorithms, something vampires, demons and even angels failed to do or be aware of, resulting in Bobby calling them a Mensa monster. Dick Roman was capable of accurately assessing an individual's skills and noted that his kind was not always capable of replicating a human's abilities to the full extent of their potential. Dick Roman was also well-versed in constructing terms and conditions to avoid any loopholes in making a deal with Crowley.
Super Stamina - Leviathan have unlimited stamina and never tire, however they do get hungry. However, the higher ranking leviathan like Dick Roman and Edgar have a better control of their hunger, allowing them to blend more easily in the society.
Super Speed- Leviathans can move at incredible speeds, displayed when two Leviathans eat a swimming team.
Enhanced Senses - Leviathan have far superior senses compared to humans. Edgar, for example, was able to tell that a small puddle of blood had come from Dean. Despite this, they are unable to see certain entities such as ghosts, but they can sense angels and demons.
Supernatural Concealment - At least one high ranking Leviathanmanaged to conceal his true form from other creatures with supernatural perception. This allowed the leviathan to take on two regular angels by surprise, before killing them with his poisoned blood.
"Leviathan beats Angel."
Venomous Blood - It is shown by Edgar that at least some Leviathan are able to instantly kill angels (and probably other creatures if not anything including themselves) by sticking their fists into their chests and injecting them with black Leviathan blood. Victims of this ability swell up grotesquely, their blood vessels darken, and black blood spews from their mouths as they die. Castiel's garrison were also slaughtered by the Leviathan.
Angelic Power Immunity - Edgar was capable of negating by an attempted counterattack by an angel, shortly before killing the angel. Strangely Castiel was unable to teleport in the presence of Leviathan because they were too close (although this was in Purgatory) even though he was earlier able to teleport into the presence of Dick Roman and another Leviathan. However, this immunity only seems to apply to powers like telekinesis as Castiel was able to use his super strength against Dick Roman.
Flight - In their true form in Purgatory, Leviathans have shown the ability to fly and land anywhere with extreme speed and force. In this state, they appear as meteors composed of a thick, black ooze.
Vulnerabilities
Bone Of Righteous Mortal Washed In the Three Bloods of Fallen: According to The Word of God, the bone of a righteous mortal (as good and light as the Leviathan are hungry and dark) washed in the three bloods of the fallen (a Fallen Angel, a Demon, and an Alpha) is the only way to kill the Leviathan. When fatally stabbed with this weapon, the Leviathan will bleed black blood, then start generating ripple-like pulses through the air, then finally explode in a shower of black goo. It is also implied by Crowley that this weapon, once used to kill a Leviathan, can drag anyone in the immediate vicinity to Purgatory.
Chet stunned by Don
Witchcraft: While it's unknown if witchcraft can kill a Leviathan it has be shown that it can incapacitate them temporarily. It should be noted that this was done by a very powerful witch, Don Stark, who stunned the low-mid ranking Leviathan Chet unconscious with ease and in a blink. The spell he improvised lasted for days, leaving the Leviathan in a very weak, helpless state which might be evident due to their lack of defense against magical means. Don advised the brothers to drop the Leviathan down a bottomless pit.
Decapitation: By removing a Leviathan's head, the Leviathan is rendered unable to act. However, the head must be kept at a significant distance from the rest of the body, or it will eventually reattach itself.
Ghosts: Leviathan can be overpowered by ghosts, as seen when the ghost of Bobby attacks Dick Roman. Leviathan are unable to see ghosts as this could imply that they lack such supernatural senses. However, ghosts cannot hurt Leviathans as both recovered quickly from Bobby's attack with no damage.
Borax: Borax is extremely caustic to Leviathan, weakening them and eating their flesh much like Holy Water does to demons, giving hunters and other beings enough time to decapitate them. The Leviathan boss, Dick Roman is able to endure the chemical's effects much better to the point of almost enjoying the experience.
Cannibalism: Leviathan suffer from a constant hunger, which can lead them to making mistakes, such as becoming distracted or revealing their true form. Leviathan are also a cannibalistic species; one of the currently known methods to permanently destroy a Leviathan is for one to eat another, or for one to eat itself (a punishment known as "bibbing").
Season 7
When Castiel cracked open Purgatory and imbibed the souls found in there, he also unknowingly absorbed the Leviathan. After some time, they began manifesting in him and asked him to let them out.
Due to their uncontainable power, Castiel's vessel began deteriorating, until he could no longer hold it together. Coming to Sam and Dean for help, he, with the help of Dean and Bobby, opened the door to Purgatory again and hurled the souls back in. Shortly after Castiel had got rid of the souls and his body was repaired, he realized the Leviathan were still inside him. Unable to hold up against them, he finally succumbed and the Leviathan surfaced, telling Dean that Castiel was now "gone". Relishing their new-found freedom, they inform Dean that now they are going to have fun.
However, they are soon forced to leave Castiel's body due to the vessel being unable to handle them. So, using Castiel, they head to a water reservoir and, using the water, spread to the population, taking new vessels, thus possessing multiple people. They then break into two distinct groups; those who can control their hunger and proceed to observe the human world and those who act careless in their feeding and thus draw attention.
Two Leviathan meet in a park to discuss the current situation. The Leviathan possessing Edgar reveals to the Leviathan in the girl's body that he is here because the leader heard about the careless feeding of some of the others and is angry that it has drawn human attention. He tells her to get the Leviathan in the area in line because their leader "hates bad news".
They realize they can't leave Sam, Dean and Bobby alone, and decide to get rid of them. This leads to Edgar burning Bobby's house down and attacking Sam and Dean. Sam and Dean manage to get away and Leviathan set their feelers out. They begin tracking the Winchesters, flagging their credit cards. Chet manages to catch up with Sam and Dean, but is stunned by Don Stark. Sam and Dean put the body in the Impala.
Later, two Leviathan impersonate Sam and Dean and go on a bloody rampage; turning the brothers into public enemies and to draw them out of hiding. Thanks to Bobby discovering the Leviathans' weakness to Borax, they are able to deal with their dopplegangers and again convince the world they are dead. The Leviathan disguised as an FBI agent comes to collect the bodies, but the sheriff lies to them. The Leviathan returns later and eats the Sheriff and his daughter.
The leader of the Leviathans as business man Dick Roman.
Elsewhere Crowley meets with the leader of the Leviathan who is impersonating businessman Dick Roman. Crowley attempts to secure an alliance with the Leviathan but Roman sees through Crowley and tells him he would rather "swim through hot garbage than shake hands with a bottom feeding mutation like you." The creature explains that it sees demons as lesser than humans, whose only use is a food supply. Roman tells Crowley not to bother him again and warns him that, if not currently occupied with other matters, the Leviathan would wipe demonkind out in a heartbeat.
It is later revealed that the Leviathan are lacing hamburgers sold at restaurants with a chemical that turns humans into complacent, overweight drones, ready for the slaughter. Dick Roman, however, shuts down this project when a small number of humans are turned into cannibalistic creatures.
Later, while investigating cursed objects in Portland Oregon, Dean and Sam discover that Leviathan realtor Joyce and her assistant George, are acquiring properties from local owners, and killing those who refuse to sell. In the confrontation that follows, Sam and Dean decapitate Joyce with help from George who plans to eat her in order to kill her. Afterwards, George reveals that the Leviathans are planning on building a research facility, in order to find a cure for cancer. "We're only here to help".
The ghost of Bobby later reveals to Sam and Dean that the Leviathan aren't here to hunt humans, but to harvest them as cattle - hence explaining their desire to "cure" humans of diseases. Sam and Dean enlist the help of hacker Charlie Bradbury to infiltrate Dick Roman's headquarters, and they are able to intercept a package which turns out to be a stone tablet.
The Word of God reveals the secret to stopping the Leviathans.
When Dean cracked the stone containing the tablet the Winchesters stole from Dick Roman, Kevin Tran was awakened as a prophet of the lord. Sam and Dean enlist Kevin to decipher the tablet, which is revealed to be one of the Words of God, and a "emergency note" concerning the Leviathan. It states that the Leviathan can be killed with the Bone Of Righteous Mortal Washed In the Three Bloods of Fallen. Castiel provides some of his blood, as he is a fallen angel. Dick Roman discovers the identity of the prophet Kevin Tran and that he has the power to read the Word of God. He orders Edgar to capture the prophet, which he does by posing as a detective and questioning Kevin's mother. As chance would have it, two angels deliver Kevin to his mother and directly into Edgar's hands. Edgar easily kills the angels and takes Kevin, proving that his kin is stronger than the latter.
The Leviathan purchase SUCROCORP and begin lacing the high fructose corn syrup additives in processed foods with their DNA-altering chemicals. The Leviathans are able to quickly spread the additive and humanity starts to become mindless just as they originally planned. Dick also does a series of interviews promoting himself and his plans with SucroCorp.
After capturing Kevin Tran, and reading the tablet translation, Dick Roman sends Edgar to kill the Alpha Vampire and get his blood. Edgar travels to the Alpha's hideaway and the two discuss the Leviathan and vampire relationship. The Alpha worries about the death of other vampires, especialy after Sam and Dean told him that the Leviathans are purposfully making the food poisonous to them. Edgar states "mankind is a limited resource" and reveals the Leviathans intent to wipe out any other monster with a taste for human flesh. However, Sam and Dean break in and Sam decapitates Edgar. Edgar's visit has the opposite intended effect: now knowing that the Leviathans have betrayed him and owing Sam and Dean his life, the Alpha gives them the blood they need without a fight.
In the Season 7 finale Survival of the Fittest, the Leviathan expand their plans to not only fatten and harvest the human population, but to also exterminate those humans with undesirable qualities (people who are too thin, too smart, or have hemophilia). They intend to do this through a dairy cream engineered to kill only people with low body mass. However, these plans are foiled when Dean and Sam Winchester break into SUCROCORP, and Dean stabs Dick Roman with their weapon, killing the Leviathan leader, though Dean and Castiel are transported to Purgatory in the process.
After the death of their leader, the Leviathans are left confused and disorganized which, according to Crowley, is because Dick is the only leader they ever had from creation. With Dick dead, the Leviathans are little more than ordinary monsters. Crowley informs Sam that they have to keep them from reorganizing and that he has an army of demons outside SucroCorp ready to dispatch all the remaning Leviathans inside. As Crowley puts it, they've become "just another monster" that's hard - but not impossible - to kill.
Season 8
In the Season 8 premiere We Need To Talk About Kevin, Dean proves to Sam that he is not a Leviathan among the other tests he performs and does the same to Sam. Later, after finding Kevin Tran and he shoots them with a squirt gun, Dean appears to assume it is Borax as he informs him as well that they are not Leviathans. All the Leviathans influence appears to be gone by this time one year later as people are no longer dumbed-down as they were before the assault on SucroCorp and Sam and Dean eat regular food without apparent worry or mention of the food additive.
A Leviathan taking humanoid form while in Purgatory.
In What's Up, Tiger Mommy?, Castiel reveals that he abandoned Dean in Purgatory as he feared that the more powerful monsters there, including the Leviathans that are still in Purgatory, would come after him and he didn't think Dean was safe. However, Dean doesn't care that the Leviathans may be after Castiel and convinces Castiel to work with him and Benny to get out.
In Blood Brother, while arguing with Dean and Benny, Castiel senses Leviathans nearby and the three run, but are attacked by two Leviathans. Dean decapitates one, but the other gets the drop on Castiel and nearly kills him before Benny decapitates it.
In A Little Slice of Kevin, Castiel reveals that the last thing he remembers in Purgatory before mysteriously escaping is Leviathans chasing him. In a flashback, as Dean and Castiel head for the portal out, two Leviathans appear and attack them. The Leviathans knock Dean down and fight Castiel, preventing him from using his powers on them. They overpower him, but Dean decapitates one from behind as its distracted and then decapitates the other one as Castiel holds its head in place.
Alternate Future
In his final moments in Time After Time, Chronos, the god of time, mentions to Sam and Dean that in their future, "black goo" (referring to the Leviathans) is everywhere; implying that in the future Chronos saw, the Leviathans took over and covered the whole Earth.
Known Leviathan
Castiel's Vessel is taken over by the Leviathans.
Dick Roman - the leader of the Leviathans
Edgar - Dick's second-in-command
Edgar
Dr. Gaines
Dr. Gaines
Chet
Chet
Leviathan as Dean
Leviathan as Sam
Leviathan as a sheriff officer
Agent Valente
Agent Valente
Susan
Joyce
Joyce
George
Leviathan as Pete
Victor
Royce
1/20
Castiel - (He initially hosted all the Leviathan, up until they disposed of him, each taking on new forms)
"Destruction of Leviathan". 1865 engraving by Gustave Doré
In the Judeo-Christian tradition a Leviathan is a giant sea monster, described in the Book of Job Source. The Talmud Baba Batra 75b states that the archangels Michael and Gabriel will be the ones who slay the Leviathan. Other legends say God will slay the beast. Source: Leviathan in Judaism. Death also refers to the Leviathans as "The Old Ones", a term used by H.P. Lovecraft in the Cthulhu mythos to describe ancient powerful alien beings who come to Earth. A race called the Old Ones also features in Stephen King's Dark Tower Series. In Binsfeld's Classification of Demons, Leviathan is the name of Envy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Trivia
According to the book "Supernatural: The Official Companion, Season 7", Leviathans are primordial creatures of the sea that evolved to possess other animals so they could live on the land.
Castiel and others refer to the Leviathan species as Leviathan (singular), while Death, Sam and Dean usually refer to the species as Leviathans (plural).
They are the first beings to appear in more than 10 episodes during their inaugural season.
While the name Leviathan comes from Job 41, the creatures have more in common with Kabbalahistic stories. Genesis 1 mentions the creation of man and woman before discussing Adam and Eve. Some Jewish texts suggest a race of intelligent beings were created before humans. It goes on to suggest that these beings were so terrible that God destroyed them, but that their spirits lived on as demons.
The Leviathan are unusual in that they are the only creatures (besides Lilith), to possess another creature which is using a vessel, because they possess Castiel while he is in possession of Jimmy Novak.
They were referred to as "The Old Ones" by Death. This may be a reference to the ancient creatures described by H.P. Lovecraft, who had previously created a portal to Purgatory, where the Leviathan were once imprisoned.
The Leviathans are sometimes referred to as "chompers" or "Levis" by other characters in the series.
Despite Leviathans not having souls, whatever comprises them as a being returns to Purgatory upon their death. (This was confirmed by Death, and shown with Dick Roman when he, according to Castiel, returned to Purgatory after Dean and Castiel killed him.)
Upon "riding Castiel into Paradise," the Leviathan essentially absorbed all of Castiel's memories of Heaven, and the one getting a DNA sample off Sam bears all of his "Cage-match scars" unphased.
