Lucifer, also known as the Devil and Satan, is the name of the supposed ultimate evil to be faced by Dean Winchester, his brother Sam Winchester, and all hunters at large. He is the ruler of the domain of Hell as well as the chief enemy of God and all his creation and his angels.
The entire fourth season of the series chronicles the efforts of Lucifer's associates to break the 66 Seals and release Lucifer himself from his long imprisonment to wreak havoc on the world and once more challenge God. By the end of the fourth season, the final seal (the death of Lilith) is broken by Sam, allowing Lucifer to finally return to his full strength once again and escape into the world.
History
Origins
The Fall of Lucifer, as seen in Paradise Lost.
Lucifer was once one of God's greatest Archangels; he was the brightest angel of all and in Latin, his name means "Morning Star", "Light-Bearer" and "Lightbringer". It was said that he once had a loving relationship with God and was fiercely loyal to Him. However, when God created mankind and asked His angels to honor them by bowing to them (as they were His greatest creation), Lucifer refused to do so, believing that he should not have to bow to a lesser creature than God. Eventually Lucifer's arrogance got the better of him, and his mind became warped into believing that he could outshine God Himself, as his faith in God had been shaken by God's request that he bow down to humans.
Lucifer staged a rebellion and attempted a coup of Heaven to overthrow God and take His place as the ruler of the universe. It is said that about a third of the Heavenly Host joined Lucifer and rallied to his cause, laying siege to Heaven and attempting to overthrow their Father. However, Lucifer and his followers discovered, to their cost, that God was not to be overthrown or blasphemed, and He sent the Archangel Michael, His most powerful angel and lieutenant, to defeat Lucifer and his minions, which he did without mercy, forever driving a wedge between the two brothers who were once inseparable.
Lucifer abandons his former identity and becomes the Devil, as seen in Paradise Lost.
When Lucifer refused to ask for forgiveness and reconcile with God, it was decided that he and his followers would pay a price for their rebellion: To be banished from Heaven henceforth and to be cast into a pit of molten fire, the realm of pain and suffering known as Hell. As Lucifer and his fellow rebels were thrown from Heaven and into this pit, the fire wreaked a horrible toll, burning and disfiguring them from their angelic forms to take on new grotesque appearances. Lucifer abandoned his former identity and became the ultimate antithesis to God Himself out of hatred for what he felt God had done to him, taking on the name "Satan" or more commonly known as the Devil, with the other exiled angels that had joined him becoming his demons. He then took over the realm where they had fallen, Hell, becoming its ruler and resolving himself to oppose God at every turn and work to make life on Earth miserable for the human race in retaliation for his failed relationship with God. As a sign of ill intent and blasphemy, Lucifer himself created the first of what would become many new demons born of him: Lilith, from whom many new demons would originate as well.
To make sure Lucifer could not cause total chaos and destruction for the human race or Heaven, a series of powerful seals were created to bind Lucifer in Hell so that he could not venture out of Hell uninhibited. The seals served to bind Lucifer's power and to keep him from escaping his new prison of Hell unchecked. It would only take 66 of these seals to be broken, however, for Lucifer to once more be able to venture forth from Hell at his full power and strength. As long as the 66 seals remained intact, Lucifer would be bound in Hell for eternity and be unable to initiate another war against God and His creations.
The Coming of Azazel
Azazel reveals himself to be possessing the body of the chief priest of St. Mary's Convent after discovering the convent's status as the gateway to Lucifer's prison.
During his long imprisonment within the confines of Hell, Lucifer was served by his many demons, one of the most prominent being his son, the Yellow-Eyed Demon known as Azazel. None of them had truly seen Lucifer in ages, as he was locked away in a special part of Hell that had only one entrance, which was kept locked by the 66 seals; this left the vast majority of demons without hope that they would ever find Lucifer and return him to power, save for one demon in particular: Azazel himself. Azazel, who was not bound by the limiting effects of the 66 seals and thus could retain his power and full strength outside of Hell, eventually escaped to Earth in search of a way to free Lucifer from Hell.
In 1972, after escaping from Hell and traveling the world for years in search of the entrance to Lucifer's cage, Azazel discovered the location of Lucifer's prison to be in one of the most ironic of places: In a convent. He possessed the body of the chief priest of a prominent church, St. Mary's Convent in Ilchester, Maryland (the place where Lucifer could be released), and pretended to carry out the priest's current mass, with an audience of eight nuns in attendance. Eventually, the priest's words began to speak of a different father, Lucifer, and the priest was then revealed to be Azazel, who then proceeded to slaughter the nuns, who screamed in terror as they were horrifically disemboweled.
Azazel, possessing the priest, converses with Lucifer, speaking through the body of a nun, through the door of his cage.
After they were dead and the church was left a bloody mess, Azazel (still possessing the priest's body) spoke directly to Lucifer himself (who spoke through the body of a nun), calling him his "father" and Lucifer in turn calling Azazel his "son", and Azazel stated his great relief to hear Lucifer's voice once again after so many ages. Lucifer commended Azazel's unshakeable faith in him and stated that he had done well to find him. Azazel then requested knowledge of what was binding Lucifer in Hell and how he could help Lucifer break free and rise once more. Lucifer revealed that the final seal that was keeping him within the confines of Hell is the death of Lilith.
Revealing that Lilith would have to be freed from Hell and then sacrificed by a special child with psychic powers strong enough to perform the deed, Lucifer entreated Azazel to devise a way to break this seal and set him free. It is here that Azazel is revealed to be ultimately loyal to Lucifer and that his endgame all along throughout the series has been the release of Lucifer from Hell, though his plan was kept well-hidden enough by the release of a demon army many years later that even the angels were left guessing what his ultimate goal had been after his death. With Lucifer's location now confirmed and now knowing what he had to do in order to release him, Azazel departed his meeting with his father with great hope and an evil plan in mind to fulfill Lucifer's release from Hell.
The Release of Lilith
A statue of an imprisoned Lucifer.
Armed with knowledge of the 66 seals and the final Seal of them all, Azazel crafted a plan to break the final seal by finding the prophesized special child that would be strong enough to kill Lilith when the time came. He also devised a plot to break Lilith out of Hell so the deed could be performed when the time was right. In search of the special child spoken of by Lucifer himself, Azazel began to search far and wide for parents sure to bear children with certain psychic abilities if properly activated. To this end, Azazel would typically blackmail the parents of the child in question by means of quid pro quo into allowing him to visit the child in question upon the night of their six-month birthday (as he was unable to enter without their permission). What Azazel did not reveal to the parents, however, was that he would bleed into the mouth of the child in question, feeding them demon blood and activating their psychic powers. He did this with many children, knowing that one day he would have to determine which would be powerful enough in the end to kill Lilith and release Lucifer from Hell.
Under the guise of searching for the leader of a demon army he would release from Hell as a secret cover for his true goal, Azazel covered his tracks well so as to not be discovered by the angels and have his plan exposed. Azazel also finally learned of a way to release Lilith from Hell, by means of a portal connecting the Earth to Hell called the Devil's Gate. After discovering the Devil's Gate to be protected by numerous protections set in place by the legendary Samuel Colt and that the key to the gate itself was a gun created by Colt himself, Azazel began to also search for this key and found another use for the special child he sought: To pass through the barriers Colt had set in place around the Devil's Gate and open the gate itself once the key had been located.
Lilith escapes Hell through the Devil's Gate.
This plan came to fruition many years later in 2007 after Azazel pitted many of the now grown-up special children against one another in a battle to the death to see which would ultimately prove strongest, as a means to see which would be best suited to perform the task of killing Lilith. After Jake Talley came out on top after stabbing Sam Winchester in the back, Azazel entrusted the Colt (acquired from John Winchester) to Jake and instructed him to use it to open a crypt in an old cowboy graveyard in Wyoming (in truth the Devil's Gate itself). Although Sam was resurrected by means of a bargain his brother Dean Winchester made with the Crossroads Demon and he and his allies headed Jake off at the graveyard, Jake was able to insert the Colt into the lock on the crypt and turn it like a key, causing the lock to begin to come open before he was shot multiple times by Sam. With this, the Devil's Gate was blasted open, releasing a demon army into the world to serve as a distraction while Lilith was also secretly released from Hell through the gate as well through Azazel's cunning.
Although Azazel was killed by Dean using the Colt, Azazel's plan was now set into motion and his plan remained shrouded in mystery to even the highest authority of Heaven. With Lilith now released from Hell and one special child remaining, tested and tried, the elements were now set in place for the final seal binding Lucifer to be broken when the time was right. It would now take only a guiding hand to nurture the special child, Sam Winchester, to fulfill the task to which Azazel had truly planned for him: The killing of Lilith.
The Breaking of the 66 Seals
Lucifer, imprisoned in a special part of Hell as seen in Paradise Lost.
After Dean is dragged into Hell by Lilith's Hell Hounds at the end of the third season of the series (in fulfillment of his bargain with the Crossroads Demon to revive Sam in exchange for his soul), he is kept there in pain and suffering for forty years in Hell (four months on Earth). For the first thirty of those forty years, the demon Alastair tortured Dean daily and offered to let Dean off of his torture if he himself would torture other souls trapped in Hell. Each day Dean refused the offer; however, after thirty years of pain and misery, Dean began to crack and finally could take no more, and so he accepted Alastair's offer, getting out of his own torture and taking up torturing other souls for a total of ten years.
Little did Dean know however that this was the first seal that bound Lucifer in Hell, and that as long as the true first seal remained intact, the others could not be initiated for breaking. This had been Lilith and Alastair's plan all along: To force Dean (as a righteous man) to crack under torture and begin torturing other souls to spare himself from further torment. From the moment Dean first began torturing souls under Alastair's tutelage, the first seal binding Lucifer was at last broken, enabling Lilith and the vast multitude of demons now on Earth to begin breaking others in order to release Lucifer from his prison in Hell.
Alastair prepares to break one of the 66 seals.
The fourth season of the series chronicles the efforts of Lucifer's associates to break the other seals. The seals operated as locks on a door: Each had a single key that could open that particular seal and weaken the door on Lucifer's prison. Some examples of these included the Rising of the Witnesses, the summoning of Samhain, the sacrifice of two Reapers under the Solstice moon, the murder of seven angels by one of their own, etc. Although there were more than six hundred seals in place, no more than sixty-six were required to be broken in order for Lucifer to escape his prison. There was also a stipulation in the initiating and ending of the process of breaking the seals: The first seal and the final seal had to both be satisfied regardless of what other seals were broken. The first seal, which had to be satisfied before the others could then be broken, was the cracking of a righteous man in Hell. Dean broke this seal unknowingly during his imprisonment in Hell, and he is rescued soon after, before he is recruited, along with his brother Sam, to fight against Lilith's forces to save the other seals from being broken. As it was nearly impossible to know which Seals Lilith would choose to target, it was also nearly equally as impossible to stop her from breaking others.
Sam was also slowly but surely turned into a demon-blood addict by the demon Ruby, as she prepared him to fulfill his own secret role in Lucifer's release: Carrying out the execution of Lilith. Finally, near the end of the fourth season, only the true final seal remained: The death of Lilith herself. Lilith had planned out the breaking of the seals, and once sixty-five of them were broken, she prepared to play her own personal role in Lucifer's release, to die in order to ensure the release of her creator and the coming of the Apocalypse.
The Rising of Lucifer
Lilith's blood forms the portal that will allow Lucifer to rise out of Hell.
By this point, Dean had been rescued from Hell by the angel Castiel, who had hoped to rescue Dean before he gave into his torture in order to prevent the first seal from being broken, and Sam had greatly honed his demonic powers with the help of Ruby, who had been preparing Sam to be able to battle and kill Lilith under the assumption that this would prevent the final seal from being broken and as an act of revenge for Lilith sending Dean to Hell in the first place. What Ruby did not confide to Sam or his ever-suspicious brother, however, was that the truth was just the opposite: Lilith must die as her death was the final seal necessary to be broken in order to fully release Lucifer, something Lilith herself already knew and was willing to undertake.
The portal formed by Lilith's blood opens the door to Lucifer's Cage in Hell, allowing him to rise once more.
By the time Dean realized this truth and escaped confinement by the angels (who wished to confront the demons and Lucifer in the Apocalypse so as to ultimately defeat them and bring about Heaven on Earth), he was too late to warn Sam that killing Lilith would, in fact, ensure Lucifer's release rather than prevent it after learning that Sam had gone to the now-abandoned St. Mary's Convent to confront Lilith. Sam was torn for a moment between listening to Dean's cries and Ruby's screams for him to kill Lilith, but when Lilith mocked him, that overrode all else. Sam killed Lilith with his powers, and Ruby then goaded him for having in fact caused the Apocalypse rather than having stopped it, revealing she had been working with Lilith the entire time and that Lucifer himself had foretold that only Sam could kill Lilith and thus ensure his release from Hell. Dean killed Ruby with her own demon-killing knife, but the Winchester brothers watched together in horror as Lilith's blood revealed the mouth of Lucifer's Cage, which began to open, allowing the Devil himself to rise out of his prison. As the gate to Hell fully opened and Lucifer's true angelic essence began to ascend out of the cage to the Earth, the brothers attempted to flee, only to have the chapel's doors slam shut and lock. Seeing that running was futile, they turned and watched in horror as the portal fully opened and the Devil's piercing true angelic voice rang through the structure. Though they fell to the ground thinking themselves finished, God personally intervened to save the brothers from Lucifer's rising by teleporting them onto a plane passing over Ilchester at that moment, from which the watched as Lucifer's essence shot up into the sky from where St. Mary's Convent stood (blowing it apart), heralding the beginning of the Apocalypse.
Preparations for the Apocalypse
Lucifer rises out of his cage in Hell as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse loom beyond.
Now free, Lucifer set out to find a vessel, a person Lucifer could take control of in order to walk the Earth. Lucifer's chosen vessel turned out to be a lonely man named Nick, whose wife and baby were killed by an intruder who broke into their home one night. Lucifer began to manipulate and mentally torture Nick, making him start to see things in his sleep, like mass amounts of blood dripping out of his dead child's crib, hearing his dead child crying through a baby monitor, and making his child's swing move without apparent cause. Lucifer then appeared in Nick's dream again, taking the form of his dead wife to communicate with him. Lucifer explained to Nick that he needed his permission to take over his body, but Nick refused. Lucifer then told Nick some of his origins, such as how he loved God "too much" and felt that though God created them that he should not be allowed to "toy" with them. He went on to further manipulate Nick, explaining that God didn't do anything to stop the death of his family, making him either sadistic or meaning that he simply didn't care. Lucifer then tempted Nick, saying that it was God's fault that his family died and that if he allowed him to take over his body, he would make sure justice is served. Nick agreed, and in a burst of bright light, Lucifer took over his vessel, regaining much of his former strength and full corporeal form.
In "Free to Be You and Me", it was revealed that Sam is Lucifer's true vessel, and that the vessel he now occupies is only an improvisation. Later, in "Abandon All Hope...", it was revealed that Nick's body is beginning to deteriorate and that Nick cannot contain Lucifer's presence forever as he is not his true vessel. Lucifer's status as an Archangel, as presumably is the case with all Archangels, apparently is overwhelming to a human vessel that is not his true, pre-destined vessel, meaning that only Sam, his true vessel, can provide him with a corporeal body that will allow him to have his full strength at his command once more and that will not deteriorate with the passing of time. The fact that his improvisational vessel is "wearing thin" means that Lucifer will likely be placing a greater focus on finding Sam and somehow obtaining his consent to inhabit his body, in a similar way that the angels seek to obtain Dean's consent to allow the Archangel Michael into his body as he is Michael's true vessel.
The Archangel Gabriel notes the irony of the Winchester brothers' statuses as the vessels of Michael and Lucifer in "Changing Channels", drawing strong comparisons between their relationship with their father and each other as opposed to the relationship between Michael and Lucifer with God, their Father, and with one another.
Lucifer slaughters the pagan gods in disgust and anger.
In "Hammer of the Gods", several of the other gods of the supernatural realm gather to discuss the Apocalypse threatening to destroy the Earth while holding the Winchesters captive, and Lucifer is tipped off about their meeting by Mercury. Upon arrival, Lucifer states his disgust with the pagan gods' lack of loyalty and easily obliterates each of them in a bloody massacre until only Kali and the Winchesters remain. It is here that Gabriel intervenes on their behalf and sends them away before confronting his brother alone. Gabriel tells Lucifer that he still loves him and that he is on nobody's side but Humanity's own. He tells Lucifer that he has no legitimate grievance and is merely jealous that Humanity replaced him in the foremost of God's affections and that it is time for him to grow up. Gabriel wields his own Archangel Blade against Lucifer (one of the few things that could truly kill him and his kind), causing him to remain cautious during their exchange. Gabriel attempts to keep Lucifer distracted with a copy of himself while the real Gabriel tries to sneak up behind him and stab him. Lucifer sees through the charade however and turns his brother's own blade upon him, telling him that the trick he just tried to pull amounted to "amateur hocus pocus" and reminding him that he learned all of his tricks from him (Lucifer). After Gabriel has died, Lucifer looks down upon his brother's corpse and lightly grieves for his brother's passing, openly weeping.
The Winchesters learn in a posthumous message from Gabriel that they have little to no chance at all of killing Lucifer without his aid, though they can still trap him back in his cage in Hell if they can acquire the four rings of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Once they possess all of the rings, a plan is formed for Sam to consent to possession by Lucifer and then for him to jump into Lucifer's Cage with the Archangel in tow, a plan which Dean initially is highly resistant to but ultimately comes to accept after realizing that Sam is now grown up and can make his own choices.
Defeat and Re-imprisonment
Lucifer's vessel begins to deteriorate.
In "Swan Song", Lucifer is tracked to Detroit, Michigan. Having drunk multiple gallons of Demon Blood, Sam finally consents to Lucifer's possession even though the Devil reveals he already knows of their plan to try to force him back into his cage. Despite this, Sam goes forward with the plan in an agreed proposition with Lucifer: if Sam wins in their struggle for supremacy, he may jump in the hole and take Lucifer with him; but if Lucifer wins, then, well, he wins. With Sam's affirmation of this, the Archangel quickly abandons his vessel to become one with Sam Winchester, knocking both out momentarily. This gives Dean the time he needs to open the cage before Sam seemingly recovers and walks toward the cage's mouth before turning around and revealing that Lucifer is now in control of Sam's body. He closes the cage, takes the rings and vanishes with Sam.
Lucifer gathers the remaining members of Azazel's original crew before him, these all being demon-possessed people from Sam's past that secretly manipulated his entire life as they worked for Azazel just as Brady had done. The Devil decides to remove the gag and allow Sam to speak, telling him that he (Lucifer) is his true family and that he should embrace their union. Hoping to appease Sam, Lucifer offers an olive branch to him by killing the demon-occupied people before him such as Sam's prom date, one of his former teachers, and all others present in vengeance for their manipulation of Sam's life. Sam is only able to speak as his own reflection and finds himself outmatched for dominance.
The next day, Lucifer travels to Stull Cemetery outside of Lawrence, Kansas, the place where he is fated to meet his brother Michael (who has since taken control of Adam Milligan) for their final confrontation. Lucifer tries to dissuade Michael from a fight and blames their current situation on God, asking that they be able to just walk away. Michael however refuses to back down, stating that he must be a "good son" to their Father while chastising Lucifer for not taking any of the blame for what has happened upon himself and calling him a monster. Before either can make a move however, Dean Winchester arrives in the Impala and demands to speak to Sam. Michael is put off by Dean's audacity and demands that he leave, stating that he has no place on the battlefield now. Before he can do anything else however, Castiel hurls a canister of burning Holy Oil at him, causing Michael to vanish for several minutes and allowing Dean time to try to reach Sam. Lucifer, outraged that Castiel would strike Michael, snaps his fingers and obliterates Castiel. He then begins to beat Dean but is shot several times by Bobby Singer before he turns and telekinetically snaps Bobby's neck. Continuing his assault on Dean, the Archangel states that he will break every one of Dean's bones and make Sam feel it. Despite the brutal beating he takes, Dean does not resist and merely tells Sam that he will not leave him.
Sam (Lucifer) and Adam (Michael) fall into Lucifer's Cage together.
As Lucifer goes to land another blow, he glances in the back of the Impala at an old army figure Sam had stuck in the ashtray as a child. The Archangel is then overwhelmed by all of Sam's happy memories of his life with Dean leading up to now, and his love for his brother finally breaks Lucifer's grip on Sam's body, allowing Sam to take control of the Devil at last. Sam tells Dean that everything is going to be all right and that he now has Lucifer under his control before tossing the Horsemen's rings to the ground and reciting the incantation to open Lucifer's Cage. As Sam goes to the mouth of the pit to throw himself in, Michael reappears and demands a fight to kill Lucifer, stating that it is his destiny to do so. Sam disregards this however and, with one last look at Dean, outstretches his arms and begins to fall backwards into the mouth of the cage. Michael attempts to stop him but only ends up being pulled down into the pit alongside his brother as the portal shuts behind them in a thunderous flash of white light, leaving behind only the red-hot rings of the Horsemen. Dean, after being healed by a rejuvenated Castiel (who also resurrects and heals Bobby as well after being restored himself by God), returns to the home of Lisa Braeden and sits down to dinner with her son and she as a light flickers outside her house and there, standing beneath the light and watching them, is Sam.
Servants
Lucifer's strongest demons:
Other servants:
Weapons:
Pestilence didn’t seem to work for Lucifer, although he did want to exterminate mankind. Death didn't work for Lucifer, but Lucifer cursed him, which allowed Lucifer to control Death's actions to a degree.
Family
- God (father)
- Michael, Raphael, Gabriel (archangel brethren)
- Other Angels (brothers and sisters)
- Demons (children)
- Sam Winchester (true vessel)
- Nick (temporary vessel)
Quotes
"I was a son; a brother, like you, a younger brother. And I had an older brother that I loved. Idolized, in fact, and one day I went to him and I begged him to stand with me. And Michael... Michael turned on me. Called me a freak, a monster and then he beat me down. All because I was different, because I had a mind of my own." - Lucifer to Sam in Abandon All Hope
"A fiddle of gold against your soul says I'm better than you..." - Lucifer to Sam in Swan Song
Abilities
Lucifer possess immense amounts of power, but he has yet to display all of them. He is extremely powerful and his power defies logic and explanations. His abilities include:
- Immortality
- Angelic possession
- Invulnerability - Lucifer is one of the five beings that cannot be killed by the Colt, although it can penetrate through his invulnerability. This might or might not include Death's scythe, which is said to kill anything.
- Healing factor - Although the Colt can penetrate through Lucifer's invulnerability, it cannot kill him, and his wound and scar are healed in a matter of seconds.
- Shapeshifting - Lucifer, disembodied, can alter his form, he loses this ability after fusing with a host.
- Teleportation - Lucifer can teleport with a sound of thunder.
- Superhuman Intelligence - Lucifer possess almost infinite knowledge of the universe; he was not tricked by Gabriel's illusion, and has shown magical knowledge in rituals in "Abandon All Hope..." when summoning Death, as well as knowledge in the four Horsemen rings despite Gabriel's claim that he was unaware.
- Weather manipulation - Lucifer's mere presence in "Good God, Y'All!" creates high-altitude winds. In "The End", when Lucifer appears before Dean, a storm erupts. This ability has been used by Raphael and recently by Michael.
- Telekinesis - Lucifer was capable of killing a god simply by the flinch of his hand eather by breaking their neck or making them explode.
- Spontaneous Combustion - Lucifer caused Castiel to explode simply by snapping his fingers.
- Cryokinesis - Lucifer has the ability to freeze objects with his breath.
- Super Strength It is said that, in a fair fight, only two creatures can defeat Lucifer; God and Michael. Gabriel states that when he failed and got killed by it (he used illusion tricks to get a chance, b
Appearances
Season 4
- "Lucifer Rising" for a brief moment through a nun; his presence when breaking out from his prison
Season 5
- "Sympathy for the Devil" appearing as Sarah, Nick's dead wife
- "Free to Be You and Me"
- "The End" possessing Sam in the year 2014
- "Abandon All Hope..."
- "Hammer of the Gods"
- "Swan Song" leaving Nick's body and then possessing Sam
Trivia
- It was announced on June 26, 2009 that Mark Pellegrino would be portraying Lucifer.