| “ | "No doubt-endings are hard. But then again...Nothing really ever ends, does it?" | ” |
— Chuck
in Swan Song | ||
God, known to Sam and Dean Winchester as Chuck Shurley, is a powerful primordial being who created the universe, and nearly everything it contains. With Death's demise, the Darkness, his own sister, is the only entity rivaling his power.[1][2]
Biography
Early History
| “ | God was the light, I am the dark | ” |
— Amara
in O Brother, Where Art Thou? | ||
Before creation itself, God existed alongside his older sister, The Darkness. After some time, God decided to create The Universe, but to do so, he had to sacrifice and betray Amara. She also claimed that God was worried that her creations would turn out to be better than his.[3] Eventually, Death came into existence, and God then created the archangels, which helped him fight back the Darkness. Though all five of them couldn't defeat her, God then tricked her and sealed her away, using the Mark of Cain as her lock and key. He gave the Mark to his most trusted lieutenant, Lucifer, to guard. Sometime before or after the war, God had created the first beasts, the Leviathans, but he saw that the Leviathans would be a threat to his creations, so he locked them away in a monster realm known as Purgatory.[4] He created Heaven, where he and his archangels resided. He then created the classes of angels such as Seraphim, Grigori, normal Angels, Rit Zien, and Cherubim. He then selected Metatron to take down his word in various tablets. [5]
Soon after, God created the Earth, which was, according to Lucifer, "The last perfect handiwork of God", and then he created humans. According to Metatron, God personally assigned Gadreel to protect his cherished creations in the "garden". He then asked all the angels to bow down to humans and present more compassion toward them than to him.
After Lucifer's rebellion, that the archangel was too dangerous for his creations, God then had Michael cast Lucifer into Hell, creating Lucifer's Cage to hold him and making it impossible for the archangel to escape, save for the 66 Seals, rings of the four Horsemen, or a powerful witch such as Rowena. God then had Gadreel locked away in the dungeons of Heaven for his failure, and left Heaven.[6]
Season 4
Chuck writing the Winchester Gospel.
God returned to Earth, and disguised himself as a prophet named Chuck. In this form, he was the author of the not-so-popular series "Supernatural". Sam and Dean Winchester discover him when they are assumed to be LARPing (Live Action Role Playing), and discover that the series includes every detail of their lives up to when Dean goes to Hell. They then find out that Chuck is writing his next book and go to see him - when they introduce themselves as Sam and Dean, Chuck shuts the door on them. The Winchesters demand how Chuck knows about their lives, eventually convincing him when they tell him their last names, something he had never told anyone. Chuck then begins to apologize for what they've been through, believing himself to be a god who forced those things to happen to them; Dean and Sam eventually convince him otherwise, but are still unsure on how Chuck is tuned in to their lives. Chuck reveals that he had actually never stopped writing and just wrote himself into the story, and after getting a vision of Sam and Lilith, together, he calls the Winchesters and gives them the script of his latest unpublished book, which describes what he has seen of the upcoming Apocalypse.
Later, Sam calls Chuck to the motel to see if he knows about the demon blood, which Chuck confirms, telling Sam that the story looks like everything will rest on Sam's shoulders. After Dean's failed attempts to stop Chuck's story, he confronts Chuck about it, and ends up threatening him. Castiel appears, stopping him, and tells Dean that Chuck is a prophet of the Lord - Chuck admits to dreaming about it, but hadn't thought it was real. Later, Castiel reveals to Dean that all prophets have archangels tied to them, giving Dean the idea of bringing Chuck to their motel room to stop Lilith and Sam; when he does, Chuck's archangel, Raphael, descends to protect him, forcing Lilith to flee. After Sam and Dean leave, Chuck has a vision which he rushes to tell the boys but is stopped by Zachariah.[7]
Chuck finished his manuscript page of "Supernatural - Lucifer Rising", and is seen ordering some girls for the night on the phone. He hangs up when he sees Castiel and Dean popping into his house, and is shocked, as he hadn't foreseen what was happening. Dean looks over the story for Sam's location and discovers he's at St. Mary's Convent; Chuck tells them this is not what's supposed to happen and is told they're making it up as they go. Raphael then arrives, forcing Castiel to send Dean alone to stop Sam; as Castiel waits for the archangel to appear, Chuck puts his hand on Castiel's shoulder.[8]
Season 5
When Dean and Sam go to Chuck's house to find Castiel, Chuck attacks Sam with a plunger; he is amazed to see that Sam is alright, as in his last vision, Sam went "full on Vader" and his eyes turned black like a demon. Dean then asks Chuck where Castiel is, and the prophet tells them that the archangel destroyed him. While Dean and Sam are talking, Chuck interrupts them saying that he can hear the angels talk, and Zachariah and two other angels then teleport inside Chuck's home. Zachariah attempts to get Dean to come with them after explaining that they need to strike now before Lucifer finds his vessel, but Dean refuses and banishes the three angels using a blood seal.[9]
Chuck contacts Becky Rosen
Later, Chuck is seen speaking with Becky Rosen through a video web chat. He tells her that everything in his books is real and that he needs her to give Dean and Sam a message since he is being watched. When Becky finds the brothers, she tells them that Chuck's message is that he had a vision that Michael's sword is on Earth and that the angels lost it. Sam asks if Chuck knew where it was, but Becky says it's in a castle on top of a hill made up of 42 dogs, which made no sense to them. Dean later figured out that Chuck was referring to a business card his father had for Castle Storage in upstate New York on 42 Rover Hill. When Zachariah has them in a trap, God resurrects Castiel to help.
Chuck with Dean in the future.
Chuck was also a part of Future Dean's army. He first appears asking past Dean about supplies, and then later when future and past Dean are in the same room discussing plans. As the group heads out to fight against Lucifer, Chuck tells past Dean to hoard toilet paper, as it'll come in handy when companies stop producing it.[10]
Chuck speaks at a Supernatural convention.
Becky stole Chuck's phone to trick Sam and Dean into coming to a Supernatural convention. There, Chuck is a guest speaker and answers question about his novel, much to Sam and Dean's displeasure. Chuck is also crushing on Becky, who at the moment is crushing on Sam. Chuck also reveals at the convention that "Supernatural" will start publishing again. Sam and Dean try talk Chuck out of it, and Chuck responds by telling them he makes his living by writing these stories. Then it just so happens that the hotel is really haunted and Sam and Dean work to get rid of it; while Sam and Dean work, Chuck distracts everyone in the main hall from the fact there is really ghosts in the hotel. When the hotel manager gets annoyed, he attempts to leave and breaks the line of salt, forcing Chuck to use the mic stand to disperse the ghost. This impresses Becky and later on in the episode she 'breaks it off' with Sam.[11]
Chuck disappears after completing the manuscript
Chuck narrated the story of the Winchesters' Impala; its history, and what it meant to Sam and Dean versus anyone else. Dean calls Chuck for the location of the final showdown of Lucifer and Michael, and despite the angels not wanting Chuck to see it, he tells Dean it'll be at noon in Stull Cemetery near Lawrence, Kansas. At the end of the episode, Chuck finishes his story and vanishes from his chair. Beforehand, as God, Chuck resurrected Castiel once again, upgrading him to the rank of Seraphim.[2]
Season 7
Chuck was mentioned by Dean, who initially forgot the prophet's name. Becky also mentions Chuck breaking up with her when trying to make Sam her lover.
After Castiel's death,[12] God resurrected him again though without his memories. Castiel speculated that this was a punishment for his actions rather than a reward like before.[4]
Season 8
After Kevin Tran became a prophet,[13] Sam asks what happened to Chuck, and Castiel admits that he is most likely dead; he wasn't able to find him or determine what happened to him, but there can only be one prophet at a time so Chuck must have died in order for Kevin to become a prophet. Charlie Bradbury later reveals that all of his books are now on the Internet.
Season 9
Becky Rosen was mentioned to have posted all of Chuck's unpublished works to the Internet as well as the published ones.
Metatron mentioned how he has read Chuck's books and threw a copy of Tall Tales into the fireplace. Although he found them distasteful, they gave him the idea to persuade Castiel to be the leader of the rebellious angels with the help of the archangel Gabriel. A copy of A Very Supernatural Christmas can also be seen on Metatron's desk.[14]
Season 10
Chuck returns.
Marie made a play based off of Chuck's books, which Calliope attacked. After the play, Chuck appeared at the theater claiming the ticket that Marie left for "the publisher." When asked by Marie what he thought of the play, despite its problems, he replied with a "Not bad."[15]
Castiel revealed that when God brought him back, he did not resurrect Jimmy Novak.[16]
Death revealed that before Creation, there was The Darkness, a "horribly destructive, amoral force" that God and his archangels went to war with. After they defeated the Darkness, God trapped it and created the Mark of Cain as the lock on its prison. As long as someone had the Mark, the Darkness would remain locked up. God gave the Mark to his trusted lieutenant, Lucifer, and it corrupted him into being jealous of humanity, forcing God to have Michael banish him into Hell.[1]
Season 11
| “ | God is a master strategist | ” |
— Lucifer
in O Brother, Where Art Thou? | ||
In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Amara tried to find her younger brother to settle their old score. To upset her brother, she killed some of his favorite creations, humans. She demands he show himself, and even tries to reach him through prayer which proves unsuccessful. She eventually met Dean since those killings caught his attention. The Darkness teleports herself and Dean away and explains that she has no problem with his brother's creation at all. She accuses him of spreading lies about her after she had been sealed away. Amara claims that her brother sealed her away because he feared that her creations might turn out to be better than his own.
Meanwhile, Sam meets Lucifer in Hell to ask him for help in their fight against the Darkness. Lucifer mentions that The Darkness is equal to God in raw power, but Amara lacks strategy and experience while he describes God as a master strategist.[3]
Personality
Two conflicting accounts of God's personality have been presented in the course of the show.
The first presents him as a benevolent being. He was described as an authoritarian and was gruff over his assembly of angels, but "eminently fair" and just a bit of a sexist, according to Metatron.[17] Metatron also claims that he personally made God laugh twice.[18] Despite unwilling to intervene more, God is not entirely indifferent; he saved Sam and Dean from Lucifer's presence, put them on a plane,[9] resurrected Castiel three separate times, purified Sam of the demon blood at the time, and granted both Sam and Dean salvation in Heaven in spite of everything they had done, which was, according to Joshua, "more than he's intervened in a long time".[19]
The other view presents God as both irresponsible and neglectful. He abandoned the leviathans in Purgatory rather than try to fix them or warn others of the danger they posed.[4] After the Fall, he abandoned Heaven and the angels leaving an ill-prepared Michael in charge. He had Lucifer locked in a cage, but did not prevent demons from walking the Earth and wreaking havoc. He does not see any major events as "his problem", including the Apocalypse.[19] Castiel came to view his constant resurrections as a form of cruel punishment. He created the Word of God tablets to help humanity, but left them lying around on Earth where anyone could get them, nearly preventing the weakness of the leviathans from being revealed. In season 9, Metatron claims that despite what the angels and the Winchesters were told, God didn't care about humans as much as believed; according to him, God doesn't even know the names of humans nor did he ever answer prayers. Eve and Raphael both thought God had abandoned his creations. Dean sums up his nature as being "another deadbeat dad with a bunch of excuses."[19] In order to create the world, God was even willing to sacrifice and imprison his older sister, the Darkness.[20] Amara stated that she thinks God feared that her creations might turn out to be better creations than his. Amara also claimed that he also spread lies about her after she was sealed away and allowed the formation of religions to appease his own ego.
Physical Appearance
God took the form of Chuck the prophet when he wanted to physically communicate to Sam and Dean
God's true visage has only been seen by few beings.[21] Amara has seen God,[1] as well as the Horseman Death, as they have existed alongside God since nearly the beginning of time.[2][4] Anna once mentioned that, out of all the Host of Heaven, only four of them have seen God. It is later revealed that Metatron has also seen God,[5] while writing down his Word, and Death has referred to conversations with God while talking to the Winchesters.[4] Metatron also hinted that the angel Gadreel, as God's most trusted angel, has seen God, as Metatron said, "You were God's most trusted. That's why he chose you to protect the garden." It was said that Dean's Amulet can detect God's presence[9]; however, Joshua thought otherwise, as he believed God can only be found if he wants to.[19] Often when God does intervene, it was done behind the scenes, without physical interaction.
When God wanted to physically communicate with Sam and Dean, he took the form of a prophet Chuck Shurley.[2]
Powers and Abilities
As one of the most powerful beings in the universe, God possesses incalculable supernatural power. His power and intelligence is superior even to his angels, as well as the rest of his creations.
- Nigh-Omnipotence - Being nigh-omnipotent, God is insanely powerful and can use every power to inconceivably high levels. As put by Lucifer, "No one makes Dad do anything." Even when Castiel was powered by 30-40+ million souls from Purgatory, Death claimed that he was still no God. The immensity of his power is shown by his ability to create multiple planes of existence, including Hell, Heaven, Purgatory and the whole physical universe with billions of galaxies. Castiel also said that God is "strong enough to take on Lucifer -- strong enough to stop the Apocalypse."[2][4][19] He was also able to fight off his older sister, The Darkness, with the help of his archangels.[1] The individual powers he showed include but are not limited to:
Heaven, one of his creations
- Reality Warping - His power is so great that reality shapes itself according to his will. By writing the Supernatural books, he decided the course of destiny, which Sam and Dean would later actually experience exactly as predicted in the books, for the most part.[7]
- Supernatural Concealment - While taking the form of Chuck, God was able to conceal himself from the Angels. He was also able to conceal himself from the necklace that apparently burns hot in his presence. It has also been shown that The Darkness cannot find him.
- Conjuration - He created leviathans, angels, humans, as well as Earth, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.
- Apporting - God is able to teleport anyone anywhere he wants in all of creation. For instance, he teleported Dean and Sam out of Lucifer's presence, and onto an airplane.[9]
- Resurrection - God can bring anyone or anything back to life. Due to his lack of interaction or intervention, however, he does not do this often.
- Power Granting - When God resurrected Castiel for the second time, he granted him greater powers and promoted him to the rank of a Seraph. Through merely touching some objects he created the Hands of God, which are powerful enough to at least harm an archangel with a single blow.
- Healing - God possesses the ability to heal any type of ailment. He displays this power by cleansing Sam of the demon blood that he consumed.
- Memory Manipulation - When he resurrected Castiel the third time, he suppressed his memories, albeit temporarily.
- Nigh-Omniscience - Existing for billions of years, God possesses immaculate wisdom and understanding about the universe he made. Joshua once told the Winchesters that, "He knows already -- everything you want to tell him."[19]However, God does not know everything, as Death stated neither one knew who was older. Additionally, Metatron said that he didn't know the names of many of the humans he created.[18] It was also stated by Lucifer that God is a master of strategy, and it's known that he managed to outsmart his older sister - The Darkness - by tricking her into the Mark of Cain. He was also shown to be able to hide from her.
- Immortality - God, as being one of the first supernatural entities to exist, is immortal. Age, as well as any disease and weapon, are powerless against him. However, Death stated he can die, and he would reap God at the end of time. With Death's destruction, the only one who might have the power to kill him is The Darkness.[2][1]
Confirmed Creations
God created the universe and nearly everything that resides in it. These include:
- Archangels: The first and greatest of all celestial beings.
- Mark of Cain: The lock and the key of The Darkness' prison, as well as the very first curse
- The Universe: Some time after God imprisoned the Darkness, God created The Universe.
- Heaven: God's divine domain, for noble and righteous souls, as well as angels.
- Leviathans: The first and most rancorous beasts.
- Purgatory: God's prison for monsters, specifically the Leviathans.
- Angels: Collectively all celestials under this title that aren't archangels. The soldiers of God.
- Earth: God's very last masterpiece, according to Lucifer.
- Humans: God's most beloved creations.
- Souls: When God created humans he gave them a spiritual essence or a soul.
- The Word of God: God ordered Metatron to write Angel, Leviathan and Demon tablets as instructions for his creations.
- Hell: God's prison for evil souls, demons, and Lucifer.
- Lucifer's Cage: God's prison specifically for Lucifer.
Weaknesses
Even though God is arguably one of the two most powerful supernatural beings to exist in the entire Universe, even he has weaknesses of his own.
- The Darkness - Being his older sister and a being equal to him in power, Amara can most likely kill God. She even describes herself as being mightier than God. This is even further supported when Death mentioned that God needed the aid of his archangels to fight in a terrible war against the Darkness. [1]
- Death (possibly) - As the bringer of death and possibly another being that rivals him, Death might be able to injure, if not kill God. He even claimed he would be the one who will reap God at the end of time.
Physical Appearances
- Season 4 (masquerading as Chuck)
- Season 5 (masquerading as Chuck)
Notes
- Chuck hints at being a "cruel, capricious god" in his first encounter with the Winchester Brothers but Dean tells him that he is not a god.
- Of the four times Castiel has died, God himself has resurrected him three times, first from being killed by Raphael, then Lucifer, and then the Leviathans.
- Three of the greatest antagonists in the show - Michael, Lucifer and Metatron - have all seen God face-to-face, and have all been previously loyal followers.
- God has a name which demons hate, Christo.
- In Road Trip it is revealed that God left Heaven due to Gadreel failing in his task to protect the Garden of Eden from evil.
- It is implied by Joshua that God will return to Heaven eventually. However, no one knows when, if at all, he will do so.
- Although God's appearances since his introduction in season 4 have been scarce, he has been mentioned many times, by several characters, since the beginning of the series.
See Also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Brother's Keeper
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Swan Song
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 O Brother, Where Art Thou?
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Survival of the Fittest
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Great Escapist
- ↑ Road Trip
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Monster at the End of This Book
- ↑ Lucifer Rising
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Sympathy for the Devil
- ↑ The End
- ↑ The Real Ghostbusters
- ↑ Hello, Cruel World
- ↑ Reading Is Fundamental
- ↑ Meta Fiction
- ↑ Fan Fiction
- ↑ The Things We Left Behind
- ↑ Clip Show
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Do You Believe In Miracles?
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 Dark Side of the Moon
- ↑ Our Little World
- ↑ Heaven and Hell