Angels

**Angels** are an ancient race of celestial beings of light who serve as messengers of God, guardians of Creation, and soldiers in his eternal war against the denizens of Hell. Dedicated to the ideals of order, they are the opposite of Demons, and have fought against them since the dawn of Creation. They are responsible for maintaining the Heavens and guarding the souls of righteous mortals. They power Heaven and at full potential they are imbued with considerable divine power that allows them to better execute their roles as the supreme manifestations and embodiments of God's divine will, which is their highest ideal.

## Characteristics

### Physiology & Capabilities

As warriors of God and agents of fate, angels are extremely powerful beings in the supernatural world. They are superhuman beings superior to mortals in both power and intelligence. Their true spiritual forms or visages prove overwhelming to most mortals; however, some 'special' people can view their true visages without suffering lasting effects; demons also can't look at them in their true form without damaging their hosts. A key example of this: Pamela Barnes used her psychic powers to see the true form of Castiel and her eyes burned out as a result of her actions; human souls are able to see them in their true forms. Although not physically seen as they have no physical presence or being of their own, an angel's presence has been seen or manifested on earth as a brilliant white light (or a bluish luminous smoke if they have no wings). Respectively, angels in their true form do have large swan-like wings on their backs which can range in number anywhere from two to six.

When angels die after being stabbed by an angel blade, shadows of their wings are burned into the surface on which they are lying. The angel Zachariah at some point states to Dean Winchester that in his true form, he has six wings and four faces, one of which is reminiscent of a monstrous lion. He also explains that the reason that humans can't see an angel's wings while in a vessel is because their senses are limited or too dull to perceive them, though a young psychic later saw a pair of angelic wings seemingly made from heavenly fire.

An angel's true form also appear to be very large in height, as evidenced when Castiel states that his true form is "approximately the size of your Chrysler building". However, according to Castiel and Metatron, angels may actually just be waves and lights of pure energy, and how this fits in with their true form, is unknown. Lucifer's true form was so intense it obliterated an entire convent, and as Lucifer rose from the cage, Sam and Dean were able to see an immense white light flash from the perspective of an airplane overhead.

When a vessel is unavailable, Angels have been known to forge and inhabit a set of angelic armour in order to interact with mortal beings or engage in combat. When in this form, wounded angels have been shown to bleed "liquid light". This substance is not blood, but is instead a liquid manifestation of their Grace. The presence of said Grace allows them to go without the need for food or sleep, as it is their link to the Crystal Arch from which they draw their lifeforce.

A specific group of angelic beings known as Watchers were known to have taken the form of handsome men with white feathered wings on their back in order to seduce and procreate with the primitive human females of old. These are shown to be the only angels capable of reproduction without a vessel.

New angels are born from the Crystal Arch, though only during moments of perfect harmony in Heaven through a process called the Lightsong. The amount of angels the Lightsong can give birth to is infinite—it is a case of them embodying a set amount of God's power. If an angel is killed, a replacement angel will be created by the Arch, but such an angel is still a different individual from the one (s)he is replacing, though there have been rare instances of the exact same angel being reborn from the Arch following their death.

Some angels are not reborn through the Arch, as shown when Heaven was invaded during the End War, when the angelic causalities of the ensuing battle were sent to a primordial void known as the Empty, where they slumber for all eternity alongside other deceased immortals. When an angel is killed by another angel, they are sent to the Empty.

While able to be killed, angels are immortal beings and are not made of flesh and blood. Rather, angels are living manifestations of light and sound, and soar on wings of light itself. Their wings radiate energy, and under normal circumstances, any human weapon that strikes them will turn to ash.

Angels possess great strength far above that of a human, but some angels are stronger than others depending on their significance, their rank in the celestial chain of command, or simply their nature as an angel. An angel can willingly forsake their immortality and become mortal, and even retain their angelic powers, but such an act does not give an angel access to humanity's latent Nephalem abilities as their souls remain purely angelic, free of demonic ancestry.

While outside of a vessel, angels either appear to humans as a brilliant white light, or a bluish luminous smoke (depending if they have their wings or not). While within a vessel, angels only have their powers thanks to their Grace. Without it, they are just like humans and become subject to the process of life and death, as stated by Metatron when he removed Castiel's grace. Anna stated that removing it voluntarily is very painful, comparable to a human removing a kidney.

Unlike humans, because they lack physical bodies, angels do not reproduce while in their true forms, as reproduction is a purely physical process. Anna tells Oliver that one of the things that humans have that angels don't is sex. Dean even describes angels as "Ken dolls" meaning that the only way for them to have sex is to possess a human. Only while within a human vessel can angels mate with humans, resulting in the birth of a Nephilim, shockingly powerful angelic hybrids. It is also possible for an angel to mate with another if they are inhabiting a mortal vessel. The result of such a union is not a Nephilim, but a new type of mortal-born angel. Both of hybrid types are usually inferior to the Nephalem, the half-breed children of a union between an angel and a demon, a concept even angels find abhorrent and disgusting.

It is also shown that after a sufficient amount of torture, angels can be broken and their "operating system" be accessed. Angels have secret knowledge pre-programmed into their being that they aren't even aware of. The screams an angel makes when tortured sends out ripples that cause strange occurrences, such a glass bottle shattering or a bush lighting on fire.

When angels fall from Heaven, they appear like meteors to the human eye. Anna explained that when she told her story to the Winchesters, and it was demonstrated when all the angels fell from Heaven, due to Oliver's spell. However, being expelled from Heaven due to this spell, doesn't deny angels their Heavenly powers, although it burns off their wings, which denies them teleportation, and forces them to manifest as bluish luminous smoke.

Similar to demons, Angels possessing a vessel can change the eye colour of their vessel; in the case of Angels, they can cause the vessel's eyes to turn bright blue. Unlike demons however, Angels rarely do this so as not to draw attention to themselves and only do so in stressful or combat situations. Among Angels, the Archangel Lucifer is unique as his vessel's eyes glow red instead of blue.

## Society

Angel society is typified by a militant obsession with the righteousness of their cause and a fervent belief in the rule of law, order, and justice. The Codex Bellum (lit. Book of War/War Book) provides an immensely complex code of laws that rule every aspect of angel society, even strict regulations regarding what romantic relationships would be condoned and which would be condemned, though it was not unknown for Angels to bend or break these laws. For example, according to the Codex, only Angels that are much closer in military rank (e.g. a general and their second-in-command) are actually allowed to have a relationship. However, a relationship between a general and a much lower ranking soldier would be considered illegal. The Codex Bellum is said to be so strict and complex, that no non-Angel can possibly understand it, regardless of how wise they are.

Angel society is apparently technologically advanced, wielding laser technology and weaponry combined with magical creatures and spells for the sake of warfare and conquest. They can also utilize hover crafts and mystical weaponry specially carved and runed to do battle with demonic forces.

It is said that a "hero" by Angelic standards is one who places their duty above everything else and obeys the scriptures of the Codex Bellum no matter the situation as opposed to "doing the right thing". Ironically, dying for a cause that one strongly believes in is considered by Angels to be among the highest of honours one can achieve.

A conversation with Nathaniel reveals that "elder" Angels take on multiple names. For instance, Abaddon was also known as "Vovin". The reasons for this are unknown.