The Darkness

The Darkness/Amara
Seasons	10-11
Species	Primordial Being
Status	Extant
Title/Alias	Amara
Occupation	Supreme Evil
Affiliation	God (formerly) Dean Winchester Crowley (formerly)
Family	God (younger brother) Mike Schneider (biological father of Amara) † Janie Schneider (biological mother of Amara) † Archangels (nephews) Angels (nieces and nephews)
Portrayed by	Emily Swallow Gracyn Shinyei (child) Yasmeene Ball (preteen) Samantha Isler (teenager)

“	"He was so threatened by me, fearful that I would make a more perfect creation than he, so he exiled me. Virtually erased me. Passed on stories that I was a threat."	”
	— Amara in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

“	"I was the beginning, and I will be the end. I will be all that there is."	”
	— Amara in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

The Darkness is a primordial entity who has existed since before the beginning of time. After her brother God came into being, he created the Archangels to fight a terrible war against her. Not even the combined power of God and the Archangels could destroy it, so God succeeded only in sealing her away using the Mark of Cain as a lock and key. Whilst the Archangels battled her and thus knew of her existence, she is so ancient and mysterious that the Demons and even the Angels, except for Metatron, didn't believe she existed or was locked away. However, Metatron knew about her and who she was as he was God's scribe. Both Heaven and Hell thought it to be a "myth" or "scary bedtime story", told to keep others in line.

When Rowena used a spell from the Book of the Damned in order to free Dean Winchester of the Mark (which he gained from Cain to kill Abaddon and has been bearing it ever since), the Darkness was unleashed once again. While on Earth, The Darkness has taken the body of the human woman, Amara. She has also developed an affection for Dean.

History

"Before there was light, before there was God and the Archangels, there wasn't nothing. There was the Darkness, a horribly destructive, amoral force that was beaten back by God and his Archangels in a terrible war. God locked the Darkness away where it could do no harm, and he created a Mark that world serve as both lock and key, which he entrusted to his most valued lieutenant, Lucifer. But the Mark began to exert its own will, revealed itself as a curse, and began to corrupt. Lucifer became jealous of man. God banished Lucifer to Hell. Lucifer passed the Mark to Cain, who passed the Mark to you, the proverbial finger in the dike."

–Death, about the history of the Darkness

According to Death, the Darkness existed before the Universe, the light, and even God, her brother. This being is credited as a powerful, amoral, horribly destructive force. Some time after God and Death came into being, God created the four Archangels. With his newly created Archangels, God battled against The Darkness in a terrible war. Whilst even together they couldn't kill her, they managed to defeat the Darkness. God tricked her and eventually sealed her away with a mark that would later be called the Mark of Cain. He then gave the Mark to Lucifer, his favorite angel and most valued lieutenant, to guard and protect. And the Darkness had been locked away ever since. The Mark, however, showed itself to be a curse. It corrupted Lucifer, leading to a chain of events that would see Lucifer refuse to bow down before humans and be cast out of Heaven. Lucifer then transferred the Mark on to Cain who then, thousands of years later, passed it on to Dean Winchester.

Season 10

The Darkness unleashed

The Mark of Cain on the arm of Dean Winchester was eventually removed with the Mark of Cain Removal Spell by the witch Rowena. As Dean was the only living host of the mark remaining, the Darkness was unleashed once more. Immediately after she broke out of her prison, she rained down destruction and made a move to consume everything in her path. Her release caused such strong disturbances in Hell, that Lucifer's Cage was damaged as a side effect, which eventually allowed Lucifer to influence the outside world.

Season 11

“	We’re bound, Dean. We’ll always be bound. You helped me, I helped you. No matter where I am, who I am, we will always help each other.	”
	— Amara in Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire

The Mark of Cain on Amara's chest

Shortly after breaking out of her prison, she spared Sam and Dean's life and thanked Dean for freeing her. She mentioned that she already helped him and Dean helped her. Bound for eternity, they will always help each other. Michael or Lucifer recognized her release and both of them tried to warn the outside world. She temporarily assumed the form of an adult female human, but has since become one with a human baby, going by the name of Amara.

Humans infected by the Darkness

Following the Darkness' release, Sam begins searching for a cure for the people infected by her. His search led him to find that Holy Fire cures her victims, but as Amara the Darkness began displaying telekinesis, causing Jenna to call Dean back. Her grandmother called an exorcist who was actually Crowley and Dean finds the Mark of Cain on Amara's chest, causing him to realize she is the Darkness. Amara had consumed Jenna's soul and shortly afterward grew into a little girl. Amara left and later encountered Crowley who offered her people to feed off of.

Amara after she fed on Jenna Nickerson's soul

Crowley took Amara to his base on Earth where he assigned her a demonic 'nanny' and began educating her about what has happened since she was locked away. He was essentially spoiling her with literally whatever she asked for so as to assure her allegiance. Amara, for the most part, proved complacent and calm, asking Crowley many questions about the world God created while she was learning but expressed a slight fear of him. She even came to call Crowley "Uncle Crowley" despite the fact that she was eons older than him. All the while, however, she began to plot with a reflection of herself in a mirror behind Crowley's back.

Amara as a Preteen after she fed on Demon's souls

“	Good, Evil, Heaven, Hell, People, it all seems so unimportant	”
	— Amara in The Bad Seed

Amara is constantly hungry for souls to consume, which Crowley (at first) happily (and later reluctantly) facilitated by feeding her random demons in deceased vessels. Amara's appetite only grew to greater levels and eventually resulted in her consuming both of her demonic nannies and her taking on an older form, much to the concern of Crowley. When Crowley tried to dissuade her from consuming more demonic souls, she became angry and demanded to be fed.

Amara feeding on a human soul

Some time later and unbeknownst to Crowley, Amara left Hell to explore the Earth and observe the humans. Her travels eventually brought her to Fall River, Massachusetts where she came across the Lizzie Borden Hotel and Museum as well as the Lizzie Borden super-fan Len. After chatting with him briefly, Amara then devoured Len's soul, which subsequently extinguished his passion for Borden altogether and robbed him of his conscience. Amara then continued a spree of soul-devouring both in the hotel and in the surrounding area, resulting in a short series of gruesome axe murders by one of her victims which were initially believed the work of the ghost of Lizzie herself by the Winchesters, who had come to Fall River to investigate. The streak ended when Len saved the brothers by axing the real killer in the back while she had Sam at gunpoint and the Winchesters left Fall River to pursue Amara, but as they drove away, Amara emerged from out of a treeline, smiled and simply said "Thank you, Dean", evoking her earlier promise that Dean would always help her in the end.

Teenage Amara

Crowley became increasingly worried by Amara's voracious appetite as she continued to consume demons faster than they could be produced. Tired of her sneaking out to snack on human souls, Crowley subdued her in a display of power to curb her rebelliousness and worked out a shaky agreement with her to diet and be patient. Amara reluctantly agreed. While on her new regime, the Winchester brothers tracked her and Crowley to an abandoned insane asylum and busted in intent upon killing Amara. While Sam held Crowley's demons at bay, Dean marched into Amara's room with the demon knife and went to attack her but was stopped and pinned to a pillar by Crowley. Set on finally killing Dean and Sam once and for all, Crowley was ironically thwarted by Amara, who betrayed him by pinning him against a wall and torturing him into guaranteeing safe passage out for Dean. Amara then declared her alliance with Crowley over. Crowley had no choice but to comply and then fled. Amara released Dean and stood before him a knife in hand but try as he might, Dean could not raise a hand against her, in keeping with her vow that neither would ever hurt the other. Dean demanded to know her intentions, to which Amara simply replied that she was out to settle a score, the oldest score of all time. The Winchesters in vain tried to attack her simultaneously but Amara telekinetically flung them away and marched out of the asylum before vanishing. Later on, she was seen walking down a busy street admiring the human beings.

“	I was the beginning and I will be the end. I will be all that there is.	”
	— Amara in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Amara is enraged

In time, Amara, at last, gained the form she had originally taken upon her release and set about tracking down God so as to settle her score. Scouting across the globe, she attacked and slaughtered hundreds of humans in various religious sects both to learn about his universe's rules and in an effort to draw her brother out of hiding, but was visibly and violently frustrated each and every time as God continually failed to appear or intervene in any way. Eventually, her activities drew the attention of the Winchesters yet again, who were in the midst of preparing to visit Lucifer's Cage with Crowley and Rowena. Dean traveled to her last known location, a church, and sensed her presence through their bond.

Amara meets Dean

After meeting up with Dean, Amara teleported Dean and herself to the countryside and engaged him in conversation. She attempted to explain her actions by criticizing God and his universe due to his detachment from his beloved creations, the pain they endured, and his apparent need to be worshiped and loved by all. She claimed that, if she were allowed her way, there would be no pain, no sorrow, no rules, just bliss. Her words had no effect on Dean who stubbornly accused her of seeking to become the new 'God', to which Amara replied that God was the light, and she was the dark. She also revealed she was once all that there was, and she sought to reestablish that state. Dean attempted to stab her with a silver knife but the blade shattered upon the impact. Completely unfazed by the attack, Amara derided Dean's efforts to resist and closed in on him as if to consume his soul, but instead kissed him passionately, declaring that their bond was unbreakable and that in the end, she and Dean would be together and become one.

Before Dean could reply, a small group of angels appeared out of nowhere and attacked Amara but she butchered them with ease. The entire angelic population in Heaven then took aim at her from the heavens, combined all their power as one and prepared to open fire on Amara in a last ditch effort to destroy her with a single ferocious celestial blast. Amara exchanged one last pained look with Dean before teleporting him away to safety as she prepared to meet the angelic attack head-on.

The Darkness reintegrates itself

Dean meets with Castiel in order to check if the combined angel smite took the Darkness down. The power of the blast caused some kind of supernatural fallout and Dean is unable to proceed closer to the impact area. Castiel eventually meets with the angel Ambriel who was sent by heaven to verify if Amara was killed. The whole area is clouded in Darkness and they decide to team up and search the area. Ambriel eventually found her lying unconsciously on the ground. As she comes closer and touches Amara, the Darkness woke up. Alarmed by his partner's scream Castiel watched in shock as the Darkness consumed Ambriel's grace. Amara merges with the Darkness around her and is amused as Castiel threatens to stab her with his angel blade. Easily overpowering Castiel, she decided to spare his life since he isn't even worth the effort to consume his essence. She sends him back to Billie to deliver the message: "I am coming"

Personality

Due to her long imprisonment, The Darkness has yet to learn many things about God's creations. She expressed confusion regarding the question why he created the world in which people suffer and die. She even believes that her brother "screwed up" by creating this world while claiming that he tricked and imprisoned her for the sake of his own ego. She said that she wants to settle an old score ("the oldest score"), showing that she is still very upset about her younger brother. The Darkness is also shown to be impatient and easily angered when she is not given what she desires immediately, in keeping with her (then) current form of a spoiled young girl. However, she is also able to recognize human emotions and can influence them in a positive manner; one of the humans who lost her soul to her described her as a goddess afterward and felt generally better.

She also seems to have developed an affection towards Dean Winchester for setting her free and Dean seems to somewhat return this as he had opportunities to attack her, but couldn't. Now an adult, her affection seems to have developed into full romantic affection towards Dean as shown when, rather than consuming his soul, she passionately kissed him. Dean, in turn, has admitted that he feels something for Amara and is frightened by it. Lucifer has claimed that, unlike God, whom he describes as "a master strategist", Amara is prone to tantrums and lacks experience.

Both Lucifer and Amara have alluded to her long-term plans, but with different connotations. Whereas she told Dean her purpose is to become all that there is and remake the universe into a blissful state (although she refused to reveal any more details), Lucifer was frightened by her plan, saying the Apocalypse would be a better alternative. Lucifer has also claimed she was "determined to take over everything" before her imprisonment.

Powers & Abilities

Being imprisoned and bound for billions of years has weakened the Darkness almost completely, but she is quickly healing and regaining her powers by absorbing human and demon souls, and even the grace of an angel. She already healed enough to withstand a combined, simultaneous smite from every Angel in Heaven.

• Amortality - The Darkness is amortal, the precursor to immortality; she cannot die because she was never truly alive to begin with. The Darkness predates everything in existence. As Dean tried to stab her with a knife, it only caused the knife to break into dozens of pieces but had no effect on her. Even the combined power of all the angels caused her no harm.

Amara can easily annihilate angels

• Nigh-Omnipotence - Being nigh-omnipotent, the Darkness is immeasurably powerful. Castiel describes The Darkness' power level as near infinite and even she describes herself as mightier than God himself. In fact, she is so powerful that he couldn't defeat her without the archangels - their combined power was only enough to seal her away, by tricking her first. Even the Horseman Death was willing to make sure the Mark of Cain, the lock on the Darkness, wasn't broken. Considering the force it took just to fight it back and imprison it, the Darkness is the most powerful evil force in the Supernatural universe. Even Lucifer himself answered that, in terms of raw power at least, she is equal to God.
• Omnipresence (formerly) - According to herself, The Darkness was once all there was. She announced that she will one day reestablish that state. When Sam was talking with Lucifer in Hell, he said that she was possibly "everywhere on Earth". Shortly after the Host of Heaven unleashed and immense blast on her, part of her essence was split from her main body and the whole area was clouded in darkness.
• Cosmic Awareness - Although she is still learning about the Universe that God made while she was locked away, she was immediately able to speak the English language.
• Reality Warping - While she conversed with Dean, her smoke form was still expanding, causing immense winds. However, they were completely unaffected by them, indicating that she has tremendous control over the physical Universe. Her power was evident when she turned a water fountain into blood.
• Flight - The Darkness, while disembodied, can fly in a similar manner to demons and angels without a vessel.
• Indestructibility - Being amortal, the Darkness is the only conscious thing that will exist forever.
• Invulnerability - Considering her ability to stand against God and his archangels, the Darkness has immense resilience to physical and supernatural attacks.
• Weather Manipulation - As The Darkness expanded on Earth, it caused powerful winds. She also created a deadly storm with her mind that burned people to charred skeletons.
• Apporting - She was able to teleport Dean out of his car without a word. Later, she apported him from a city to the countryside and back.
• Telekinesis - In the form of Amara, the Darkness displayed telekinesis. She also forced an angel to kill himself with his angel blade.

Amara feeding on a demon.

• Soul and Grace Consumption - After she was released into the earth, the Darkness started devouring human souls in order to heal and restore her former power. In her human form, she ate Deputy Jenna Nickerson's soul which made her grow into a little girl and later a preteen girl. She has since consumed many souls and on one occasion, she said to a woman that she wants to be like her, shortly before consuming her soul. It's revealed that she can also consume the grace of angels, as she consumed Ambriel's grace.
• Corrupting Affect - The Darkness' presence is a corrupting force to whatever it comes in contact with. The Mark of Cain corrupted anyone who wore it, turning them into a killer. When released, those who came in contact with the pure form of the Darkness turned into a meaningless killer. Reaper Billie told Sam that he was "unclean in the biblical sense" from being infected by a Rabid.
• Empathy - The Darkness can feel and influence the emotions of humans.
• Super Strength - The Darkness was easily able to throw a grown man with enough force to kill him. The Darkness also blocked an attack from Castiel with ease and threw him several feet away with barely touching him.
• Smiting - Just by raising her hand, the Darkness was able to kill an angel with a similar effect to an angel blade.

Weaknesses

The Darkness is beyond destruction as it is truly immortal; however, it has weaknesses, and is possible to seal away, but there is no weapon or force of nature that can kill it.

• High-Tier Entities - The combined strength of God and the archangels was strong enough to bind the Darkness and seal it with a lock.
• The Mark of Cain - The Mark of Cain was the "lock" to the prison that held the Darkness back. As long as one person bore the Mark, the Darkness would remain sealed. With its removal, the Darkness was set free once more.
• (minimal) Combined/Mass-Smite - Even though the Darkness is not at full power, the combined power of all of the angels was barely able to hurt her.
• The Hand of God (possibly) - The Hand of God is an object that has been touched by God and contains some of his power. It has the potential to harm her to some degree.

Appearances

• Season 10
  • Brother's Keeper

• Season 11
  • Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire
  • Form and Void
  • The Bad Seed
  • Thin Lizzie
  • Our Little World
  • O Brother, Where Art Thou?
  • The Devil is in the Details
  • Into the Mystic (mentioned only)

Trivia

• The Darkness is similar to many terms and entities found in many creation myths.
  • The terrible battle between God and the Darkness seems to fit with the first day of creation in Genesis.
  • Chaos/Nun in Greek/Egyptian mythology, which predated everything and created or from which the gods came from.
  • Erebus and Nyx/Nox in Greco-Roman Mythology, Erebus being the male primordial embodiment of darkness, and Nyx/Nox being the female primordial embodiment of night/darkness.
  • Amatsu-Mikaboshi in Japanese Shinto Mythology, was originally a Shinto god of the Pole Star and the primordial chaos.
  • Ginnungagap from the Norse Creation Myth, was a primordial void.
• The name Amara occurs in many cultures and is ascribed a variety of meanings: "eternal" (German), "unfading" (Greek), "immortal" (Sanskrit) and "bitter" (Latin). In Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia, the word amara(h) means "anger" or "run amok". In Ethiopian legends, Amara is the name for paradise.
• The Darkness's release was felt by both Michael and Lucifer from within the Cage, marking the first time since their imprisonment that both archangels have attempted to communicate with the outside world.
• After Anna, she is the second being in the series to gain a physical form by being born a human, but the circumstances of this birth are unclear.
• She is the true source of where the Knights of Hell come from, channeled through the Mark of Cain.
• Since she was sealed by and bound to the Mark of Cain, she is the true source of The First Blade's power.
• The Darkness is the fifth entity that was sealed away and later unleashed, the first being a huge number of demons, the second being Lucifer himself, third being Death and the fourth being the Leviathans.
• Like previous major antagonists (Lucifer and Leviathans), The Darkness was sealed by God and released as either an unknown or unintended consequence by the series protagonists (Dean, Sam and Castiel) in their efforts to beat other antagonists or solve a major problem at the time, such as Lilith, Raphael, and The Mark of Cain.
• After Famine and Crocotta, The Darkness is the third being in the series to consume or absorb human souls and demons for nourishment. However, unlike them, it seems her consumption of souls is also her effort to make individuals that she likes a part of her and assimilate their traits into herself rather than simple nourishment.
  • In addition to souls, she also consumes angelic grace and memories (possibly entire angels), which makes her the first being to feed on humans, demons and angels.
• The Darkness is very similar to King Sombra from the My Little Pony series:
  • The Darkness and King Sombra ruled the world millennia ago and used dark magic to enforce it
  • Both were imprisoned by the protagonists of the series
  • Both have command over the force of darkness
  • Both appear as black smoke when disembodied
  • Both inspire so much fear in their respective worlds that many protagonists believe it to be a "scary bedtime story"
  • They are also the most feared and powerful antagonists in their respective universes
  • Both names mean "Darkness" - Sombra is Latin for darkness
• Its release set off alarms in Heaven and Hell (and likely Purgatory) that, according to angels and demons, hadn't gone off in 'ever'.
• As of Baby, monsters are now becoming aware of the Darkness' existence, and that it is coming. Some are now building armies to make a stand and buy more time to survive. Now humans, angels, demons, monsters, and even witches know of the Darkness' release and are very scared of it.
• The Darkness also shares a lot of similarities with the Great Darkness from Hellblazer/Constantine, which was a major inspiration for Kripke and Supernatural. They are named similarly and both existed before God created light and was released as a form of an engulfing blanket of thick smoke.
• The Darkness shares traits with the First Evil from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. Both are the original evil to exist, both predate the Universe and will exist long after it, both are ancient forces that are not killable, and both are feared by all in existence in their series as the ultimate all-powerful evil force.
• There are similarities between The Darkness and Lucifer's characters:
  • They both are God's close relative
    • Lucifer - God's second son after Michael (although he is a creation of God)
    • The Darkness - God's older sister
  • They both have been sealed away by God
    • Lucifer in the Cage
    • The Darkness by the Mark
  • They both feel betrayed by God
    • Lucifer - jealous and angry that humanity replaced him as God's most loved creation.
    • The Darkness - angry that her brother tricked and locked her away and created religion as a propaganda to portray her as a villain.
  • They both, as well as Michael, believe they are bound to the Winchester brothers by fate
    • Lucifer and Michael believe it is Sam and Dean's destiny to be their vessels
    • The Darkness feels it is destiny that Dean released her and they will become one
• Being God's sister and only kin makes her his only direct relative, unlike all other beings in the series that are only indirectly related to him, due to being his creations.
• Despite being his older sister, Amara is no more capable of finding God than anyone else could.

See also

• God
• Death
• Mark of Cain