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Oct 05, 2009 00:17

Character Name: Castiel
Series: Supernatural
Timeline: Most recent episode
Canon Resource Link: 1 2 3 4
Character Background: Castiel is an angel created by the Christian god over 2000 years ago. He is the angel of Thursday, travelers and those who are experiencing change in their lives. However, he has never had interaction with humans until he is given Dean Winchester as his charge and he rescues him from hell. He must take a vessel (re: possess some "poor bastard") in order to communicate with Dean, as his true voice and face wounds those who are not chosen to see/hear them. Castiel proceeds to mentor Dean and foil him, even, as he shadows and tries to guide him. His tasks include getting Dean to stop his brother Sam from using his demon-given powers and giving into the dark side, helping him stop Lilith the demon from breaking the 66 seals that bring on the apocalypse and to guide him as the only one who can stop the apocalypse once it begins.

The relationship Castiel develops with the Winchester crew is shaky at first, as is to be expected of any newbies. It might be said that it is more so shaky because of Castiel's almost alien scrutinization of them; they confuse and amaze him because they were made by his Father. He doesn't share the point of view of some of the other angels that humans are below them - hairless monkeys - and therefore aren't worth saving. We're shown this devotion to his faith in God many times over, through his words and actions which usually amount to Castiel blinding himself with his own faith. In one instance, he and his brother Uriel have been commanded to obey Dean's choice in the matter of saving an entire town of people to stop one of the seals to be broken. He seems concerned only with carrying out the order given to him by his Father, though he does reveal that he'd hoped Dean would make the choice not to destroy the town. Castiel does have his own opinions and feelings, he simply chooses not to acknowledge them when he thinks he is carrying out God's plans. When he is instructed to find a fallen angel, Anna, he expresses regret for the first time; about having to kill her and at having to threaten Sam in order to force Dean to comply with handing her over.

Castiel's growing uncertainty in the matter of his tasks is shown again when he captures a high ranking demon, Alistair, and has to resort to making Dean torture him to retrieve information about angelic murders. Anna, the fallen angel who had regained her angelic powers in the previous arc, uses the moment to try to help him understand that while he may be getting orders, they certainly weren't from God. It is later revealed that the angel killings had been carried out by Castiel's brother, Uriel, who was trying to recruit angels to Lucifer's side. As Uriel is about to kill Castiel when he refuses to join him, Anna saves him by killing Uriel with the Sword of Lucifer - the sword he'd been using to kill the others.

In another little fit of disobedience, Castiel answers a prayer from Dean, who is lost about how to help Sam stay away from Lilith's thrall. Castiel arrives, they talk about what to do, and he finally conspicuously mentions that bringing the prophet Chuck into the same room as Lilith will require an archangel to come down from heaven to protect him. Two episodes later, Castiel approaches Dean in a dream, hurried and scared, saying that they needed urgently to speak. When Dean arrives at the agreed meeting place, there are signs of a battle; the building is in tatters and Castiel's vessel, Jimmy Novak wakes up as himself. Castiel has been forcibly returned to heaven for mysterious reasons. It's inferred that here Castiel was reprimanded, possibly tortured, for his disobedience. At the end of the episode, when Castiel returns to his vessel, Dean asks him what the original message had been. Castiel refuses to tell him, only saying very firmly that he serves no one but God. As a display of his new found loyalty, Castiel convinces Dean to lock Sam up to detox from his demon blood habit and then turns around and releases Sam (so that he'll run from Dean to Ruby and continue his own plan to kill Lilith). When Anna confronts him about it, in something of a trap she's ambushed by other angels and dragged back to heaven. Castiel says nothing, but I infer some remorse for the deed.

In the final episode of season 4, Castiel helps his superior, Zachariah, hold Dean captive in order to make Sam's path to killing Lilith easier so that the apocalypse will start. After a great deal of waffling on Castiel's part and begging on Dean's, Castiel banishes Zachariah for moments so that he and Dean can get away to stop Sam from killing Lilith, which is the final of the 66 seals. They arrive at the prophet's house, an archangel not far behind. Castiel sacrifices himself in order to hold off the archangel as long as he can to give Dean more time to escape.

In the first episode of season 5 we learn that Castiel was decimated. The prophet even has a tooth from Castiel's vessel in his hair. Seriously, it was like Campbell's Chunky Castiel up in that house. Fortunately, though, a miraculous and as-yet unknown force resurrected him completely. While Zachariah is torturing the brothers to convince Dean to be the angel Michael's vessel (and with angel henchman in tow) Castiel bamfs (teleports) in and uses his opportunity of surprise (and the Sword of Lucifer) to kill all of the angel henchmen and strike enough fear into Zachariah to force him to fix the brothers. Zachariah bamfs out directly after, and Castiel carves some Enochian sigils into the brother's rib cages to hide them from all angels, including himself.

Season 5 is giving us more 3D Castiel. Whereas before he was very stiff in his role, now Castiel's beginning to be able to loosen up some. The second episode shows Castiel desperate to find God, who is apparently missing. It requires that he use Dean's amulet and when Dean rebukes his request, Castiel becomes very angry. He expresses to Dean that he threw away everything to help him: his connection to heaven, he killed his brothers and still Dean failed.

In the most recent episode, we jump 5 years into the future, where Cas has lost all of his divine power and turned into a Gaius Baltar joint-smoking, free loving Love Guru. I'm...thinking of using this as a basis for his mirror!verse, possibly.

Abilities/Special Powers: Castiel is an angel, which comes with a grab bag of fun abilities. He is able to enter and pull a soul from Hell and restore the body to completely new (ie, all scars removed and the body "rehymenated" in Dean's terms) but leaving behind a scar in the place he grabbed the person from Hell. It takes immense power and creates what might be described as a sonic blast from the radius of the site of resurrection. He is unable to be killed except for by the force of another angel - any damage done to the vessel he inhabits can be easily healed. Through the use of his fingers to the forehead, he can exorcise demons from a body and render humans unconscious, accompanied by the undertone of whispering what might be some sort of chant. His true form and voice are harmful to humans that haven't been chosen to see/hear him - his face can burn human eyes from the head and his voice is high pitched like reverb and will shatter glass. Castiel can transport himself, in his vessel, anywhere by simply vanishing and appearing at will, accompanied by the sound of wings fluttering. His presence is often signaled by the surge of electricity in the area - radios, televisions, light bulbs, etc, will turn on to noise and even blow. When he is questioned by Dean about being an angel, he was able to expand his wings so that only their shadow projected behind him. Angels have been shown to be able to move through time, create alternate realities, enter human dreams and mimic voices. In a recent episode, Castiel etched a sigil onto the Winchester brothers' ribcage to protect them from being found by all angels simply by touching their sternums.
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