| Castiel | |
|---|---|
| Supernatural character | |
Castiel as portrayed by Misha Collins in the Supernatural TV series |
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| First appearance | "Lazarus Rising" |
| Created by | Eric Kripke |
| Portrayed by | Misha Collins |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Cas |
| Species | Angel |
Castiel is a fictional character portrayed by Misha Collins on the CW Television Network's American television series Supernatural. An angel, he first appears in the fourth season, and is used to introduce the theme of Christian mythology to the series.[1] In the series, Castiel brings Dean Winchester back from Hell, and helps Dean and his brother Sam in their battles with various demons and angels. As an angel, he possesses a number of superhuman abilities, including the ability to kill demons with his touch.[2] Initially, the character demonstrates little emotion, though his interactions with Dean have humanized him to a degree.
Unlike a stereotypical portrayal of television angels, Castiel does not help people, and is willing to kill innocents if needed. Collins originally read for the part of a demon, as series creator Eric Kripke did not want fans to find out that angels were being introduced to the series. Collins prepared for the role by reading the Book of Revelation, and based his portrayal on his younger brother. Critics and fans have responded favorably to the character. In response, the show's creators expanded his role in the series and have upgraded him to a star beside Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles in the fifth and sixth season.
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At the end of the third season of Supernatural, main character Dean Winchester is in Hell after being killed by the hellhounds of the demonic antagonist Lilith. In the season four premiere "Lazarus Rising", the angel Castiel is introduced. He has brought Dean back from Hell, resurrecting him. Because merely perceiving his actual form typically results in blindness,[3] he takes a human host–James "Jimmy" Novak,[4] a "devout man" who prayed for it–to communicate with Dean, and tells him that he has been brought back because God has work for him.[3] Lilith is breaking the 66 seals in order to free Lucifer, and Dean must stop her.[5]
Castiel continues to appear throughout the season, at one point sending Dean back in time and later tasking him and his brother Sam with stopping witches from breaking another seal.[6][7] He returns with fellow angel Uriel at the end of the episode "I Know What You Did Last Summer", seeking to kill Anna Milton, a fallen angel with the ability to "hear" the communications between angels.[8] In the following episode, "Heaven and Hell", Anna uses a mystical Enochian sigil to send the angels away, though they manage to track them down later. Once there, Castiel expresses regret at having to kill Anna. Before they can carry out their duty, however, they are confronted by the demon Alastair and two of his minions. A fight ensues, and Castiel is nearly defeated in the battle by Alastair. He is saved by Dean, and they in turn are rescued when Anna regains her powers. Although Uriel nearly vents his frustration on Dean, Castiel stops him, and the two leave.[9] Castiel later becomes suspicious of Uriel and confronts him in "On the Head of a Pin". Uriel admits he and certain other angels are now working together to free Lucifer, having grown weary of never hearing from God and jealous of His favoritism for humanity. He asks Castiel to join him, but Castiel refuses and attacks him. Uriel eventually overpowers Castiel, but is killed by Anna before he can strike the finishing blow.[10]
In "The Rapture", Castiel enters Dean's dreams and arranges a meeting to tell him something important. However, when Sam and Dean go to meet him, they instead find Jimmy, Castiel's host, who claims to have little memory of his life as a vessel. Anna theorizes Castiel must have angered his superiors, prompting him to be taken back to Heaven. When Jimmy is shot at the end of the episode trying to save his family from demons, Castiel returns, taking Jimmy's daughter as his new vessel. After the demons are killed, a dying Jimmy begs Castiel to take him back as a host so his daughter will not have to go through what he did, and the angel acquiesces. Dean then asks him what he needed to tell him, but Castiel coldly replies his loyalty is to Heaven, not to mankind or to him.[4] In "When the Levee Breaks", Castiel has Dean take the oath of allegiance to God and His angels, to which Dean agrees under the impression it will keep Sam safe. Later in the episode, Castiel releases Sam, who is on detox from Ruby's demon blood, from Bobby's Panic Room. When Anna confronts him about his actions, other angels appear and capture her.
With Sam closing in on Lilith, Castiel and Zachariah imprison Dean within an idyllic waiting room, where he will be made comfortable until the time comes for him to play his role in stopping the Apocalypse. Dean refuses to remain idle, and continually requests to be able to see Sam, which is denied. Once Dean discovers the angels are allowing the Apocalypse to happen, he implores for Castiel to help him stop the final seal from being broken. Though Castiel refuses at first, he returns ready to help not long after. He takes Dean to see the prophet Chuck for information on Sam. Their presence does not fall in line with Chuck's Gospel, so the Archangel Raphael begins to descend. Castiel sends Dean to Sam, remaining behind to hold back the archangel and any others who might come.[11] He is subsequently killed, with his host's body being blown to pieces.[12]
However, Castiel later returns—still in Jimmy Novak's body—in the fifth season premiere, "Sympathy for the Devil", killing two fellow angels in order to save Sam and Dean. He is uncertain as to how he was resurrected, but alludes to Zachariah it may have been God's doing. After ordering Zachariah away, Castiel carves Enochian sigils into Sam and Dean's ribs to hide them from all angels, including Lucifer.[12] Castiel later returns to the brothers in "Good God Y'All!", and reveals his plans to find God. He borrows Dean's amulet, as it burns hot in God's presence, and departs.[13]
In "Abandon All Hope...", Castiel helps the Winchesters retrieve the Colt, and joins them on their hunt for Lucifer. However, he ventures off after discovering hundreds of Reapers are already in the town, hoping to discover what has called them there. He soon becomes imprisoned by Lucifer, who tries to tempt Castiel into joining him, pointing out they are both targets of Heaven, but Castiel refuses. He later manages to free himself, but finds he no longer has the power to kill demons. After Sam and Dean fail in their attempt to kill the Devil, Castiel teleports them to safety.[14] When the brothers are killed by vengeful hunters in "Dark Side of the Moon", Castiel—unable to return to Heaven—briefly communicates with them. He tasks them with finding the angel Joshua, who communicates directly with God. Although Joshua reveals God is alive, he claims He is apathetic to the Apocalypse; having saved the brothers and Castiel, God feels He has done enough. When relayed to Castiel, his hopes and faith are shattered,[15] leading him to drink heavily in the subsequent episode "99 Problems".[16]
In "Point of No Return," Castiel helps Sam to keep Dean from becoming Michael's vessel. He leaves after hearing a signal from the angels, and finds a resurrected Adam Milligan—Sam and Dean's half-brother who had been previously killed by ghouls. When Dean escapes and tries to contact the angels, Castiel finds him, and angrily attacks him for making Castiel's rebelling against Heaven worthless. Later, he carves a banishing sigil into his own chest and activates it in the presence of multiple angels in order to clear the way for Sam and Dean to attack Zachariah and save Adam. The effects of the sigil send him onto a fishing boat, now completely human. Despite his lack of power, he is able to defeat the Horseman Pestilence, and assists Bobby and Sam in preventing nationwide distribution of the Croatoan virus.[17] Lucifer kills Castiel in the fifth season finale, "Swan Song", for interfering in his destined confrontation with Michael. After Sam and Dean manage to prevent the Apocalypse, however, God resurrects Castiel as an angel once more, implied to be stronger than ever before. Believing Heaven to be in disarray now with Michael gone, he decides to return there to restore order.
A year after the Apocalypse, Castiel returns to Earth in "The Third Man" to get Sam and Dean's help to find the Staff of Moses, which, along with many other weapons of Heaven, has been stolen during the war. They soon discover that the angel Balthazar has stolen it and sold pieces of it to people in exchange for their souls. They confront Balthazar, but are interrupted by Raphael. Before Raphael is able to get his revenge against Castiel, Balthazar destroys Raphael's vessel and sends him back to Heaven. After trapping Balthazar within a ring of ignited holy oil and forcing him to restore the souls he has taken, Castiel sets him free, claiming his debt has been paid off.[18]
In, "Family Matters" Castiel returns to "diagnose" Sam by asking him several questions. Sam, still dizzy and unsure of what is going on after being knocked unconscious by Dean, reveals that he no longer sleeps and has become a better hunter. Castiel has an idea of what's wrong and decides to read Sam's soul by reaching inside him, and the truth is finally revealed: that Sam has no soul, and it was locked in the cage with Lucifer. Both Dean and Castiel are unsure whether Sam is still Sam without his soul, but they let Sam go and Castiel heals his wounds from being beaten by Dean.[19]
In "Caged Heat",[20] Sam tries to trick Castiel into coming to Earth to help the brothers get Sam's soul back. When he comes, Sam threatens Castiel saying that if he does not help, then he will hunt him down and kill him. Despite knowing Sam never could, he helps them. Later, while Sam and Dean are doing research, Castiel discovers porn on TV; when Dean asks why he was watching porn he replies, "It was there."
Castiel later discovers Sam and Dean are working with a demon named Meg, whom he refers to as an abomination. He dislikes her, but when they are trapped inside Crowley's hideout they kiss. When Crowley admits that he cannot get Sam's soul back, Castiel burns Crowley's human remains.
At the end of the episode Castiel explains to Sam and Dean that the celestial war is not going well for him and he would rather be on Earth with them, but leaves anyway to continue fighting. After acquiring the holy weapons from Balthazar in "The French Mistake"[21] Castiel suggests that he now has a military advantage in the war. Unfortunately, this advantage seems limited; he orders Balthazar in "My Heart Will Go On"[22] to save the Titanic, spawning 50 000 new souls to empower his side. However, Fate works to undo the impossible births and begins killing them. Once the brothers encounter the string of odd deaths Fate takes this opportunity to eliminate them due to their part of undoing the destined Apocalypse. This forces Castiel to concede the loss and resink the Titanic.
In "Mommy Dearest" it is discovered that there is a possibility Crowley may have faked his death and might still be alive; suggesting that perhaps Castiel had burned the wrong bones by mistake. By the end of the episode, Castiel leaves, saying that he will try to investigate further into Crowley's death to find out for sure. However, Castiel is, instead, seen with a very alive Crowley who states that he is "tired of cleaning up after [Castiel's] messes," implying that Castiel had full knowledge of burning the wrong bones and that both he and Crowley have some sort of agreement between them and/or may be working together as partners.
In "The Man Who Would Be King" it is found out that Castiel was the one who partially raised Sam from Hell, though due to the complication of the cage it was impossible to retrieve his soul, and that he has made a deal with Crowley in a desperate attempt to win the war.
In "The Man Who Knew Too Much", Castiel tricks Crowley and Raphael, eventually absorbing the souls from Purgatory. He demonstrates his new power by killing Raphael with a simple snap of his fingers. While talking to Dean, who unsuccessfully begs him to give up the power, Sam sneaks up behind them and attempts to kill him with an angelic blade by stabbing Castiel in the back, but it has no effect. Castiel removes the blade, explains that he is no longer an angel, declaring himself the new God. He then glances at the three hunters before delivering an ultimatum: to profess their own loyalty and love unto him, or be destroyed.
In "Meet the New Boss", Castiel begins exacting his new supremacy over the planet, working miracles and punishing religious hypocrites alike. However, he begins to struggle to contain the souls he has inside him, and his vessel begins to become damaged. Dean, Sam, and Bobby bind Death in an attempt to force him to kill Castiel, but Castiel releases the bind before Death can reap him. Death reveals that Castiel's struggles are because he absorbed Leviathans as well as souls when he opened the door to Purgatory, and that the Leviathans will eventually destroy him. Death then tells Dean he will create another eclipse so the door can be reopened, and when Castiel realizes he is indeed losing control of his power following a massacre, he seeks out the Winchesters for help. They successfully open the door, and the souls are sucked back into Purgatory. Once the portal is closed, Castiel's vessel recovers, and he seems to be his old self, but then he realizes the Leviathans were able to evade reentering Purgatory and are in fact still inside him. The Leviathans take control of the vessel, and claim that Castiel is dead.
In "Hello, Cruel World", having wasted most of its power by throwing around Dean and Bobby, the Leviathans begin to bleed and stagger around. Dean realizes that the beasts cannot remain within Castiel's body without destroying it. As a result, the Leviathans leave to disperse into the local water supply nearby, leaving behind only Castiel's trench coat.
Castiel typically displays very little emotion and always exhibits an extremely somber disposition. Although it has been suggested angels possibly do not possess the ability to truly feel emotion, Castiel frequently exhibits what could be referred to as a friendly affection towards Dean.[9] This attachment and growing ability to feel even causes him to be "demoted", as his superiors fear emotions are clouding his judgment.[10] Throughout his appearances in the fourth season, he also seems to, at the very least, come close to expressing regret, hesitance, and anger several times, and has once quietly laughed at a joke Dean made in "It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester". Actor Misha Collins feels, through Dean, "[Castiel is] learning a little bit about humanity and re-learning something about [his] own humanity from that exposure. So...there’s a humanizing of Castiel going on."[23] Castiel begins having an internal struggle between what is right and what is wrong, and whether or not to obey orders from Heaven. Collins feels this is because interactions with Sam and Dean have made the angel "uncertain" and "more fragile". Collins believes Castiel envies Dean's decisiveness and desires to emulate him.[24] Having lost his connection to Heaven in the fifth season, Castiel's humanization seems to have quickened by the episode "Free to Be You and Me", as he appears extremely anxious while in a whorehouse, is visibly distraught when asking Dean for help, and refers to the Archangel Raphael as "my little bitch".[25]
Contrary to depictions of angels in popular culture, Castiel and his peers are not out helping people in need. Though he has a conscience and cares about humanity's welfare—he finds humans to be "works of art"[7]—Castiel is willing to kill innocents if the need arises. Speaking of his character, actor Misha Collins stated, "I think that these angels are at least loosely derived from some Biblical angel stories, and those angels are [very tough]. They just destroy. I picked up Revelations, and they destroy, they destroy, they destroy. There’s no mention of cherubs and harps or any of that."[23]
When Collins auditioned for the role, he read for the part of a demon, as series creator Eric Kripke did not want fans to know of the introduction of angels to the series. Once Collins got the part, the main direction Kripke gave him of the character was there is "an otherworldly quality to the character, and that he hasn't been up close with human beings. He's been watching human beings from a great distance for the last two thousand years, so angels haven't been on Earth mingling with human beings for the last two thousand years. So when [he is] interacting with human beings, there's a naive curiosity about their behavior. It's as if [he is] inspecting some sort of alien beings." As well, director Kim Manners wanted to see a "piousness" to Castiel.[26] Kripke based Castiel's appearance on the comic book character John Constantine.[27]
To prepare for the role, Collins read the Book of Revelation.[26] As well, Collins has said he somewhat based his character around his younger brother, who has something "angelic about him", as he "has this way of, very calmly, just staring into someone's eyes" making one feel "like he can get into your soul."[28] To avoid the biblically toned dialogue from sounding too "campy", Collins does his best to "play it as real as possible".[29] Because Castiel's true voice shattered windows in his premiere episode, Collins decided to use a "gruff, resonant voice" for the character.[30] However, when portraying the angel's host Jimmy Novak, he tried to create a distinction between the two characters, providing different physical and personality traits,[31] as well as using a "more boyish kind of sound" for Jimmy's voice.[30]
Speaking of the fifth season and Castiel's more frequent interactions with humans, Collins commented, "Obviously the big joke is that he doesn't understand human beings and how they behave. And there is something inherently funny in that, especially if he's the straight man." The actor noted he was a little hesitant at making the character into "the funny guy", and was apprehensive about some moments in the early episodes of the season. However, he believes the writers have found "the line", allowing for the jokes to be "more subtle" and "a little more believable".[32]
Critical response to the character has been extremely favorable. Castiel won the 2011 SpoilerTV Character Competition, beating The Vampire Diaries Damon Salvatore with 9581 votes. He and Dean Winchester also won the SpoilerTV Favorite TV Romantic Couple Competition with 4937 votes in the final round, despite their relationship not, as of season 7, being a canonical or official "romantic" relationship. The couple beat canonical heavyweight couples such as Monica and Chandler from Friends and Will and Emma from Glee. Castiel ranked ninth on TV.com's top ten list of best new supporting characters of 2008.[33] The staff and voters of TelevisionWithoutPity both agreed Castiel was the 2008–2009 Most Welcome New Character on television,[34] and BuddyTV's John Kubicek listed him as one of the ten "TV Characters Who Deserve Their Own Spin-Offs".[35] TV Squad ranked him as the top reason to watch the series, noting the "slightly awkward, frighteningly precise angel... has done an amazing job of selling the underlying menace and vengefulness of God's most heavenly creatures."[36]
Karla Peterson of The San Diego Union-Tribune described the concept of Castiel as "genius" and the actor Collins as "fabulous".[37] Deeming Castiel to be a "fascinating new element", Diana Steenbergen of IGN ranked Castiel fourth in her list of the "Ten Things We Love About Supernatural". She posited that Collins plays the role with "somber intensity", and "brings a sense of curiosity about humans to the character". The angel's interactions with Dean were "one of the highlights of the [fourth] season".[38] She especially praised Collins for his dual role as Castiel and the angel's host Jimmy Novak in the episode "The Rapture", and wrote, "It is a tribute to Collins's acting that the audience knows immediately that the person we are seeing is not Castiel."[39]
Fan response to the character has also been positive.[29][40][41][42] Collins believed the character would end up being just another role for him, and never expected such a reaction from the fans.[43] According to him, "The enthusiasm that I've been met with is something new and not something I'm really prepared for."[40] The character was originally intended for only a six-episode story arc,[41] but his role was rewritten to continue throughout the rest of the season.[28] Upon Supernatural's renewal for a fifth season, Collins was promoted to a series regular, something he believes to be mainly due to fan support.[43]
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