| “ | My plans for you, Sammy. You... and all the children like you. | ” |
Special Children refers to children to whom Azazel fed his blood when they were babies, having snuck into their homes after making a deal with their parents.
The result was that the blood caused the children to develop supernatural abilities in them so they could serve as generals in Lucifer's army against humanity and God. These abilities could be strengthened by the consumption of demon blood.
Around Season 2, Azazel wanted to test these children to find who would be the strongest, so he put them in an abandoned town called Cold Oak and told them only one could survive. This eventually triggered a competition amongst the Children. Azazel led everyone to believe that he wanted a leader for his demon army.
However, as it was later revealed, the endgame was bigger than just leading a demon army. Azazel chose the children because they were all potential vessels for Lucifer. The strongest one would be chosen to contain Lucifer throughout the Apocalypse. Sam Winchester was the sole survivor and so, despite his greatest efforts, was taken over by Lucifer both as a result of being a Special Child and also because of his predetermined destiny as Lucifer's true vessel.
History
In 1972, the Prince of Hell Azazel slaughtered a church of nuns and contacted Lucifer. The Archangel told Azazel to free him from his cage, Lilith was needed to be freed from her imprisonment since she was needed to break the 66 Seals holding Lucifer captive, and also tasks him with finding the strongest "special child". [1]
Obeying Lucifer's command, Azazel began making demonic pacts with young individuals - specifically young women - in exchange for a wish: that he would be allowed to enter their homes exactly ten years from when they made the bargain. He promised that no harm would come to them as long as they did not interfere with his business. Azazel found Mary Campbell and killed her parents along with her boyfriend John Winchester. Azazel made a deal with her that he resurrect John if she let him enter house in ten years, she complied and the deal was made.[2]
Before the events of the Pilot, Azazel snuck into the Winchester's home to feed Sam Winchester demon blood. This was because of the deal Mary Winchester made with Azazel many years before to bring her as of then boyfriend John Winchester back to life. However, Mary walked in on Azazel feeding Sam his blood and tried to stop him, but Azazel telekinetically pinned her to the ceiling and burned her alive. John walked in just in time to save Sam, but was too late to see who or what killed Mary.
Much later, the Special Children would gain several demonic powers as they aged but some were ostracized for their powers while the others used to get revenge on those who wrong them. Azazel went onto hold the Special Children Competition and brought many of the special children to him and had them fight to the death. Azazel led everyone to believe that he wanted a leader for his demon army. Many of the Special Children used their abilities in the fights and most were killed, with Jake Talley being the sole survivor after he killed Sam and Azazel tasked Jake with using The Colt and open the Devil's Gate.
Meanwhile, Sam's brother Dean Winchester made a deal with a Crossroad Demon and brought Sam back to life. The Winchesters gathered allies to stop Jake but he succeeded in opening the gate though not before he lost his life to Sam. The creator of the special children Azazel would lose his own life at Dean's hand but his mission was completed and Lilith was freed. Sam was the only Special Child left and he was also destined to be the true vessel of Lucifer.
After Lilith killed Dean, she sent her servant Ruby to pretend to side with Sam and get him addicted to demon blood and teach him to master his powers to host Lucifer.
List of Known Special Children
- Sam Winchester
- Max Miller (deceased, commited suicide)
- Andrew Gallagher (deceased, killed by an Acheri controlled by Ava Wilson)
- Ansem Weems (deceased, killed by Andrew Gallagher)
- Ava Wilson (deceased, killed by Jake Talley)
- Jake Talley (deceased, killed by Sam Winchester)
- Lily Baker (deceased, killed by an Acheri controlled by Ava Wilson)
- Scott Carey (deceased, killed by Gordon Walker)
- Rosie Holt (prevented)
Powers and Abilities
| “ | If you just quit your hand-wringing and open yourself up, you have no idea what you can do. | ” |
| “ | See, that Ava girl was right. Once you give into it, there's all sorts of Jedi mind tricks you can learn. | ” |
Being fed by Azazel himself, Special Children were very powerful and possessed powers that could be used on humans and demons. They could enhance their abilities by either giving into their demonic abilities, or by drinking demon blood. However, consuming demon blood only seemed to increase their demon-related abilities, such as exorcism and demon smiting.
- Immunity - Special Children were completely immune to demonic powers when they drank enough demon blood. Alastair was not able to throw away Sam as he did with Dean. Also a special child, cannot affect another one with powers such as mind controlling.
- Precognition - Sam and Ava were able to see into the distant future and people who were in danger.
- Telekinesis - Max and Sam were able to move objects with their minds.
- Mind Control - Andrew, Ansem and Jake were able to control the minds of normal humans.
- Demonic Control - Ava was able to control an Acheri to do her bidding.
- Super Strength - Jake was able to lift a Jeep and easily snap Ava's neck. He overpowered Sam without effort.
- Biokinesis - Lily was able to stop people's heart after physical contact.
- Electrokinesis - Scott was able to shock a cat by touching it.
- Exorcism - Sam was able to expel a demon from its host and send it back to Hell simply by raising his hand. While using his abilities under the influence of Famine's hunger, Sam was able to exorcise five demons from within the Horseman himself.
- Demon Smiting - Sam was able to kill every type of demon with his mind, even the oldest one. However his powers weren't tested against a Knight of Hell or a Prince of Hell and killing Lilith required him to drink an entire demon worth of demon blood and more from Ruby which exhausted his powers completely afterwards.