(SPN) Castiel: Angel or Man?

Please do read about exactly why I’m hooked on the show Supernatural (SPN) in this previous post, and get a sense of why this study of one of my favourite characters ever on television even came about. Castiel has an amazingly complex and brilliantly structured character arc, and while I wrote this about two years ago now, I’m still as invested in where his journey will land him and still hope as fervently that it lands him somewhere good. The final episode of this series airs on May 18th, on CW.

Fair warning: major plot spoilers, in-depth character analysis and a long-ass read ahead.

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Why would an angel be willing to fall? It’s a fair enough question and one that Supernatural has been exploring for over a decade. 

Why would an angel choose to become human? This question is even more complex, and one that the narrative has striven to answer through the character journey of Castiel, even going so far as to, at the beginning of S9, having another character challenge Castiel to make a choice: are you an angel, or are you a man? This moment is remarkable in how it allowed the conflict of Castiel’s identity to be expressed through dialogue for the first time.

Not only is this internal conflict – angel or man? – the basis for Castiel’s individual arc, but it has also provided the internal and external motivator for the lessons thrown at him by the narrative. Lessons meant to help him come to terms with his conflicted identity and allow him the self-insight to finally answer the question honestly.

My stance is this: The point of Castiel’s journey, as built through the narrative of Supernatural, isn’t for him to learn how to feel comfortable as an angel – it’s to learn that he isn’t comfortable as an angel and never has been. The point of his journey is for him to equip himself with learned lessons so that he can finally answer the questions Who am I? and Who do I want to be? and instead of balking at the mere insinuation, actually and finally show that he feels comfortable with the honest answer being: man.

In the coming pages I’ll explore the main reasons for why I feel this way and present my argument for why the narrative has continuously brought lessons in Castiel’s path tied to teaching him how to open up to and finally recognise his true identity, bringing him to a point of self-liberation (catharsis), which will move him towards the reward at the end of his arduous journey: inner balance  through self-actualisation.

I’ll begin with the ending.

Four Scenarios

If I was to compare Castiel to a human equivalent, I’d have to draw a correlation between his journey and a story about a person leaving a close-knit community that they’ve grown up in and learned everything from (like the Amish, though I dislike stereotyping) to try and live in the outside world. This in order to make up their mind about where they feel they truly belong. 

If not taking death into account as an option – since this is a parallel for Castiel and he’s already died, and died, and died – here are four ways that this person’s journey could pay off for an audience:

1. The person is shown to live in the outside world, experiencing new things and learning valuable lessons that grow them, so that, when they return to their childhood community and their family, they’re the same, but different, and can bring new knowledge with them that will have a positive influence on their tradition-based society.
2. The person is shown to live in the outside world, experiencing new things and learning valuable lessons that grow them in such a way that they decide they don’t want to return to the community, but they still feel the ties of those old traditions and so they choose a life of service and helping strangers in the outside world, while still adhering to traditional ways and keeping their traditional dress and outward appearance intact.
3. The person is shown to live in the outside world, experiencing new things and learning valuable lessons that grow them in such a way that they decide they don’t want to return to the community, but they still feel the ties to those old traditions and so they choose a life of service and helping strangers in the outside world; however, they decide on changing their appearance, adopting the clothes and many of the new traditions of the outside world.
4. The person is shown to live in the outside world, experiencing new things and learning valuable lessons that grow them in such a way that they decide they don’t want to return to the community, that they want to break with the old traditions completely and start afresh, still choosing a life of service and helping strangers in the outside world, not because this is linked to the old traditions, but because it’s linked to who this person has always been, no matter the ideals of their family, and changing their appearance and adopting the traditions and ways of the outside world – after a whole lot of soul-searching and inner debating and fear is dealt with – doesn’t even seem hard once the choice has been made: the outside world was beckoning all along, this is where this person is meant to belong.

Each of these scenarios are – or have, at some point been – viable for Castiel.

• Scenario 1: This took place in S6, when he went back to Heaven to try and teach the angels about free will and realised it was like teaching poetry to fish. In S10/S11, through Hannah learning about human emotion and compassion, this scenario is drawn into a somewhat round circle as her influence, once she returns to Heaven, has a positive effect on the, up until then, overtly fascist connotations of the Heavenly regime.
• Scenario 2: This is pretty much Castiel in a nutshell, stuck between worlds, between loyalties, one foot in either place. 
• Scenario 3: This would be viable should the narrative ask Castiel to remain a fallen angel, having him undeniably choose a life on Earth as he enters the final leg of his journey. To demonstrate this choice would take a show of rebellion so great that he truly turns his back on the teachings of Heaven, standing by the Winchesters in the final epic battle. That said, this scenario carries no actual catharsis with it as he has continuously made the choice to put the Winchesters before Heaven throughout his decade-long character journey, and the fact that scenario 2 has remained viable is what has caused the narrative to throw a series of terrible blows to his individual arc, in order for him to finally realise why he’s felt so adrift and out of place: he’s not in his true form, because his true form was always that of a human man. 
• Scenario 4: The narrative is pushing for this to be the final leg of Castiel’s character progression, because Supernatural explores character journeys of deeply needed self-actualisation through self-liberation, and facing down some long held beliefs breeding fear and insecurity in all of the main characters. Castiel’s individual arc is reflective and supportive of the themes of freedom of choice, of learning how to be true to yourself and letting go of what you have been taught – or have taught yourself – to think and feel, in the same way that Sam and Dean Winchester’s individual arcs reflect and support these core ideals of the Supernatural narrative.

It all comes down to this: no one can tell you who you are, you choose who to be.

The question of identity has always been prevalent in the Supernatural universe, and Castiel is the black marker drawn beneath this question, as his introduction into the narrative has everything to do with identity. 

His own, since he, until the very final scenes, remains an enigma to be solved throughout his first episode, but also symbolically, through his role as catalyst for Dean Winchester to be forced into unwanted self-examination: Castiel appearing in the narrative causes Dean to slowly grow aware of his own conflicted sense of identity.

The Character Setup

In the first episode of S4, Dean Winchester is brought back from Hell and the only evidence left behind of his mysterious saviour is the burn mark of a handprint on Dean’s left shoulder. The episode is all about Dean, Sam and friend Bobby hunting down this thing that pulled Dean out, because phenomena keep surrounding Dean that’s inexplicable and powerful. 

The question of Who/what did this? is immediately present – in other words, the question of Castiel’s identity takes centre stage even before we’ve so much as glimpsed him on screen. Couple this with the fact that the only lead the Winchesters have in their investigation is a handprint – which in and of itself is a very human source of individual identification – and there is a visual underlining of what Castiel’s true identity is, before we ever hear how he defines himself.

All of these initial question marks related to Castiel’s identity also beautifully set up for how the focus of his journey will mirror that of the brothers, and will entail an internal quest to realise his full potential and achieve self-actualisation.

The first exchange we ever have between Castiel and Dean Winchester puts this question of identity into dialogue, effectively cementing it:

DEAN: Who are you?

CASTIEL: I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.

DEAN: Who are you?

CASTIEL: Castiel.

DEAN: Yeah, I figured as much. I mean what are you?

CASTIEL: I’m an angel of the Lord.

In his first exchange with Dean, Castiel is questioned three times about his identity, and gives three different answers, simply put:

Who are you? — The one that saved you = Saviour/Shield

Who are you? — The one I consider myself = Self-perception/Identity

What are you? — Classification of Species = Angel

And in just one more episode we get one more definition added to this list:

DEAN: I thought angels were supposed to be guardians. Halos, fluffy wings. You know, Michael Landon – not dicks.

CASTIEL: Read the Bible. Angels are warriors of God. I’m a soldier.

In these brief two lines of dialogue we get Dean’s definition of who/what Castiel should be/appear as, what Dean rebelliously classifies him as (a dick angel), and Castiel’s rather formidable rebuttal of all of Dean’s definitions. In fact, Castiel’s own definition – that of the soldier – goes so far as to put this angel of the Lord and our protagonist on common ground, since Dean has repeatedly been referred to as a soldier, trained by his military father in survival strategy, hunting and imbued with all sorts of unhelpful coping mechanisms. (but that’s for a Dean-centric discussion)

So, right from the start, as formidable a creature as Castiel is, there are immediate reflections of Dean Winchester in him, a mirroring that serves to establish how Castiel – just like Dean – has always had a deeply conflicted sense of self, and is as much in need of serious self-examination as Dean is. 

With this in mind, as well as the setup outlined above of Castiel’s identity being questioned and answered, let’s take an even closer look at the correlations between Castiel and the Winchesters —> 

Based on how he answers Dean’s questioning, Castiel’s identity spectrum goes:

1. Saviour/Shield
2. Sense of Self (Revealed to be Conflicted)
3. Angel/Family
4. Soldier/Duty/Weapon

What is interesting to consider is how this spectrum patches onto this lovely catchphrase: 

Saving people, hunting things – the family business

Basing the brothers’ identity spectrum on this well-worn motto, their spectrum goes:

1. Saviours/Shields
2. Hunters/Weapons (Revealed to be Conflicted)
3. Human Beings/Family
4. Family Business/Duty

It’s an almost perfect match. 

The reason the Weapon marker is placed differently for Castiel and Dean can even be explained, as it’s a reflection of the fact that they are both conflicted in their sense of self.

What I wanted to highlight in this character setup is that Castiel’s identity is expressly stated as being tied to the fact that he is not human – he is an angel of the Lord, a soldier of Heaven. 

As the season progresses, however, both Dean’s perceptions of Castiel and Castiel’s outward portrayal of himself as nothing but a servant of Heaven begs questioning, creating a perfect mirror with Dean, as well as that black marker underlining for Dean and Sam’s portrayals: there is so much more than first meets the eye, and it doesn’t even take a whole lot of digging to find it.

So, where does Sam fit in? Well, let’s take a brief look at narrative structure and why Castiel’s mirroring with Dean has more sway over the course of Castiel’s individual arc than Castiel’s interactions with Sam.

Castiel: Faith and Humanity

We have three main characters, but only one of them actually steers the narrative as a whole and because of this fact I will call him our protagonist: our protagonist is Dean. 

As such, the character journeys of Sam and Castiel both bend to Dean’s progression – Sam and Castiel’s arcs are like blue threads along Dean’s red one, Dean’s thread stitching through the entire narrative and Sam and Castiel’s threads creating the supporting pattern around it. Sam is an important addition to Castiel’s character growth (like introducing hugs and being a positive, supportive friend) but the individual arcs of Sam and Castiel are only ever affected by the other’s choices when their choices are put in relation to how they come to affect Dean.

Meaning that these three threads are equally important for the narrative as a whole – take one away and the narrative progression stagnates – but these three threads relate to one another and hold a bearing on one another to varying degree, the constant being that the progression of the red thread determines the pattern of the two blue ones, and the pattern of the two blue ones supports the progression of the red thread. This while the two blue threads work together, but don’t really inform the pattern-making of the other.

This is the foremost reason why there are two core relationships on Supernatural continually informing the course of the narrative: the relationship between Dean and Sam and that between Dean and Castiel. 

Sam and Castiel develop a bond of friendship and brotherhood that enrich both characters and is perhaps especially important for Castiel, as this bond of friendship, of family, absolutely is part of his education in what it means to be human, but none of Sam and Castiel’s interactions are definitive in the way that Castiel’s bond with Dean is.

There’s a straightforward reason for this. We find it in how Castiel and Dean narratively are stated to be each other’s catalysts for change through what they represent for each other:

• Dean represents Humanity to Castiel
• Castiel represents Faith to Dean

They are each other’s respective keys to either of them opening up to their true identities and choosing to move away from denying who they truly are. 

Sam’s key into his true identity lies entirely with his big brother finally recognising him as an adult and Dean showing Sam that his need of the codependency for a sense of self is easing up, which is happening at this very moment in S13, but that’s for another discussion.

Let’s dig a little deeper into the catalyst roles that Castiel and Dean represent for one another.

Bringer of Faith

In any narrative, character’s should be used to create challenges and conflict for each other, because these challenges and conflicts are what bring out a character’s true colours. 

Castiel is very quickly used as a positive mirror for Dean Winchester (while Sam is used as an opposite mirror) especially when it early on becomes clear how Castiel has been brought into the narrative to take on the central function of bringer of faith to a previously faithless protagonist.

This focusing on the question of faith for Dean begins with Dean, at the start of S4 – after learning that it was God who commanded he be saved from Hell – being filled up with the idea of Heaven, and all that power, believing in him, fighting for him, deeming him deserving enough to be saved from the Pit. But this faith is quickly revealed to be false, as Heaven’s real motivations for saving Dean become clear. 

There’s no surprise in this reveal, since putting your faith in a higher power has never been what the Supernatural narrative endorses. Usually this type of faith will get you into all sorts of problems and making deals with the Powers that Be is notoriously a very bad idea.

But the faith that Castiel brings with him is fundamentally not about having faith in God. In fact, it’s the opposite of putting your faith in a higher power.

Castiel represents the faith that Dean needs most – faith in himself and faith in good things happening to him. Dean needs this faith because these are the two cornerstones of trust that Dean  needs to lay down if he’s to come anywhere near self-actualisation.

How exactly does the narrative demonstrate that Castiel is the bringer of faith?

That this is Castiel’s central function is made clearer when we look at the narrative as a whole, and consider what happens to Dean’s faith every time Castiel leaves the narrative for a longer amount of time, because without Castiel there to offer support, to chide or challenge, or to fight alongside and for the brothers, Dean’s ever tentative faith in tomorrow – even his overwhelming belief in there being a victorious way out of their troubles – plummets. 

1. It happened in S5 when Castiel lost his faith in God, Dean almost ending up saying yes to being Michael’s vessel
2. It happened in S7 when Castiel was killed by the Leviathan and Dean spent half a season bottling the grief up, trying to convince himself – and Sam – that he could go on fighting as if all the loss wasn’t affecting him
3. It nearly happened in S11 when Castiel said yes to Lucifer, Dean shutting himself in the Bunker, focused on nothing but finding a solution – the search for a way to save Castiel expressly being Dean’s motivation throughout the episodes where Castiel is missing
4. It absolutely happened in S13, when Castiel’s death left Dean changed, beyond his own capability of letting go and moving on: he couldn’t just smile and fake it, the way he did in S7, because in S13, after the definitive way Castiel died, Dean stated his hopelessness in dialogue, saying he couldn’t believe in a damn thing.

Because his narrative source of faith was gone.

It’s a necessary use of the symbolism surrounding Castiel, because as the catalyst for change in our protagonist – the catalyst for Dean Winchester to finally begin to have faith in himself – Castiel missing from the narrative should take something necessary away from Dean’s progression towards self-actualisation. 

Why?

Because without his mirror to reflect himself in, Dean shouldn’t be able (or narratively allowed) to finally face his deepest fear and let go. His deepest fear is that of happiness – because good things don’t last, not for Dean Winchester – and facing down this fear has everything to do with his self-liberation, growing sense of self aside from how he lives to protect others, and learning to have faith in tomorrow, which will bring with it hope for the future. 

If Dean was able (or allowed) to have such faith without Castiel present in the narrative, Castiel’s reason for being in the narrative, and the reason for Castiel’s individual arc and his journey, would be negated.

A Profound Bond

There is an expressly stated bond between Castiel and Dean that runs deeper than Castiel’s friendship with Sam. This bond is understandable since Castiel rescued Dean from Hell and  considers Dean his charge, his responsibility, which flows into his conviction that the reason he’s been put on Earth is to protect the Winchesters.

We learn by the end of S7, through the angel Hester, that this conviction is wrong and that Castiel is not returning to Earth by order of Heaven. Instead, Castiel is misinterpreting and misrepresenting to himself the real reason for this bond prevailing and it’s small wonder since the real reason is a subconscious one.

Looking at the profound bond as a symbolic exposition of Castiel’s internal need, and his continued returning to Earth as being fuelled by a subconscious longing to be where he simply cannot admit to himself he wants to belong, this bond then becomes an underlining for how Castiel, from the beginning of S4, feels profoundly bonded with the idea of Humanity.

And the representative of Humanity in Castiel’s arc is —> Dean Winchester.

It’s not until the beginning of S8 that Dean is expressly linked to the word humanity in dialogue, but this fact is driven to a point by the end of S9, when Metatron declares Castiel to be in love with humanity and later mocks him for his entire purpose revolving around saving one human.

The reason Castiel so desperately needs to save Dean, however, could easily be tied to how Dean becomes, at this symbolical level, an embodiment of the possibility and hope of the internal need  actually being met, an internal need that Castiel carries with him and defends and is profoundly bonded with at a subconscious level, because Castiel’s true identity is calling out for him to recognise it and choose a human life on Earth. 

This is the reason for why he does indeed choose Earth and the Winchesters again and again, putting them above Heaven (and why, when he doesn’t choose to put the Winchesters first, bad things happen). Castiel keeps coming back, even when he’s making up excuses to himself for why, trying to pretend, up until end of S7, that this is what his orders have always been.

Here’s the clearest narrative demonstrator of this as actual fact:

By the end of S9, when Castiel learns that Dean – aka Humanity – has been killed by Metatron, all Castiel can think to do is, for the first time since S4, subjugate himself once more to Heaven. He goes back to taking orders, hunting down other angels who wish nothing more than to be left alone and live out their existence on Earth, inspired by the experience of choice and free will. Castiel goes against every single lesson that the narrative has kept ramming home for the past five seasons. Why?

Because his narrative source of Humanity is gone.

His profound tie to Earth, and the motor driving his character progression towards choosing to stay on Earth as a human, has been taken from him, and without it he loses awareness, loses the mirror meant to challenge and push him into opening his eyes to who he truly wants to be. It leaves him floundering and suddenly brings him back to square one, because it’s simpler. 

He doesn’t stay there for long, however, because, of course, Dean’s not actually dead – he’s a demon. And once Castiel intercedes and helps Sam turn Dean back into a human, Castiel’s strengthened ties to Heaven immediately begin to weaken again.

What, on the whole, makes this narrative a thing of beauty is exactly these moments and how balanced the mirror between Castiel and Dean is. Castiel supports Dean’s character progression, pushes it and even informs it, while Dean has always done the exact same for Castiel. 

This is one of the strongest hints for why the narrative so expressly has put Castiel on this particular journey, because it has brought him, finally, to the point where he is not merely observing humanity, he is getting to know and love humanity through a deepened sense of understanding, forming an emotional connection that has everything to do with his own evolution.

Castiel as the bringer of faith not only goes through a journey where he loses his faith in everything he thought was true, but just as Sam and Dean, he goes through a journey meant to teach him where he should have been putting his faith all along: in himself. 

Turning Points: Punishment and Reward

Every character worth their salt is going through an evolution. It’s the reason for their character journey – for the audience to get to watch them progress from point A to point Z – and as they reach catharsis, the audience are allowed to experience a sense of release through their completed journey. This is the basis for why story telling is compelling, and how to keep any story compellingly addictive: the ambiguity of how and when catharsis will be reached keeps the audience yearning to experience that release with, and through, the characters involved.

A narrative punishment is always a nudge in the right direction, brought on by how a character is resisting learning the lesson set out for them, the lesson that’s meant to change them, which is the whole reason for the necessity of their journey. 

A punishment is implemented to underscore a wrong choice, one that either keeps the character static, or reinforces how they’re clinging to old beliefs, even as they’re evolving. 

A punishment is a reward in disguise, meant to help the character and provide their journey with forward motion, and continually setting the character up for situations where they might finally learn their lesson and move onto the next, until they reach the journey’s end goal, which typically is completely different from where the character pictured themselves ending up. This, in turn, proving the ultimate blessing: their view of themselves and the world has changed and evolved thanks to the challenges they’ve faced down and learned from.

Challenges in the form of obstacles push the character into choices, but when those choices lead them down the wrong path, the narrative will have to step in, to teach the character that in order to reach the end of their journey, they have to show that they’re able to change, no matter how reluctantly they may submit to the inevitability of them reaching catharsis.

Here’s an overview of the major choices that have created turning points in Castiel’s arc:

• S4 – goes against his established fear of becoming an abomination, a fallen angel, chooses to follow Dean and falls from grace – does the right thing for the right reasons – dies/resurrected

• S5 – loses his faith in God; sees that Michael’s plans for the Apocalypse must be stopped, helps the Winchesters – does the right thing for the right reasons – dies/resurrected

• S6 – tries to teach free will to his angelic kin; swallows human souls in order to gain enough power to defeat the fanatical archangel Raphael in a Heavenly civil war: becomes the new God – does the wrong thing for the right reasons

• S7 – smites angels and human sinners as the new God, realises he needs help; puts the souls back in Purgatory, overcome by Leviathan – does the right thing for the right reasons – dies/resurrected; helps save Sam, takes Sam’s illness into himself, becomes a pacifist, doesn’t want to fight anymore, but when forgiven by Dean chooses to go with him and fight Dick Roman – does the right thing for the right reasons – dies/sent to Purgatory

• S8 – chooses to stay behind in Purgatory to atone – does the wrong thing for the right reasons – brought out by Naomi to spy on the Winchesters; is brainwashed by Heaven, but breaks the connection; takes the angel tablet to protect it, but loses it – does the wrong thing for the right reasons – takes on trials to seal the gates of Heaven, but is fooled – does the wrong thing for the right reasons – loses his grace/becomes human

• S9 – learns things about what it means to be human, refuses to stay out of the fight even though he’s scared, gets captured, chooses to steal grace and power up to be ready for the war and be of service to the Winchesters – does the wrong thing for the right reasons – kills fallen angel Bartholomew to stop the brewing angelic war on Earth, becomes leader of his own faction of angels, refuses to kill Dean when prompted to and loses his army to Heaven – does the right thing for the right reasons – finds his way into Heaven to stop Big Bad Metatron, doesn’t kill him though Metatron boasts about having killed Dean – does the right thing for the right reasons

• S10 – under the orders of Heaven again, hunting down rogue fallen angels, some of whom are fighting for the choice to keep their free will and stay on Earth – does the wrong thing for the wrong reasons; aids Sam in locating Dean, then goes behind Dean’s back with Sam in order to cure Dean of the Mark of Cain and save his life – does the wrong thing for the right reasons – cursed by Rowena

• S11 – asks Heaven for help to get rid of the curse before he hurts someone, is tortured instead – goes to the Bunker, is saved by Sam and Dean; tries to understand the part he’s playing, is told twice that his role is to be the expendable soldier, believes it and decides to aid the fight by saying yes to becoming Lucifer’s vessel, without informing the Winchesters – does the right thing for the wrong reasons – too far gone to save himself, is saved by Amara

• S12 – is self-destructive, using himself solely as a weapon, against Lucifer and when killing Billie to protect the Winchesters – does the right thing for the wrong reasons – goes against Heaven’s orders to kill Kelly Kline and Lucifer’s unborn child, acts the shield and protects them instead – does the right thing for the right reasons – dies

• S13 – wakes up in the Empty and uses tactics to get himself out of there and back to Earth; gets captured by Asmodeus and uses tactics to get himself out of there and back to the Winchesters; dresses himself as the weapon because he’s set on protecting Jack, as well as the world, from a number of growing threats – nothing else matters – is doing the right thing for the wrong reasons (again)

There is a pattern here: whenever Cas chooses Heaven, putting his old ideals based entirely in a sense of blind duty above the new lessons of free will and choice that the narrative wants him to learn, based solely in that compassion he’s always carried with him, something terrible and necessary happens to him.

Refuse to learn —> get put in a situation that may serve to finally teach you the lesson.

When I say the character refuses, I don’t mean an active refusal. It’s a subconscious misunderstanding and confusion, an inability to see the lesson for what it is and take it to heart – this approach to a character journey is typical and often necessary to create a sense of movement toward something, rather than a static observation. (A static observation of life can be wonderful too, but that’s not how the Supernatural narrative is built.)

There are a few instances that stand out to me in relation to Castiel’s inability to learn. 

To be honest, all of the turning points more or less do, because this narrative is that intricate, but rather than picking ten years worth of character progression apart, let me settle on a few examples:

• S6 – Choosing to return to Heaven at the end of S5, trying to change Heaven with what he’s learned of free will and ending up breaking it instead, shows a lesson only half-learned, because Castiel wasn’t put in a position to learn about free will for the sake of Heaven – he was put in this position for the sake of himself, and until he actually gives himself permission to choose for himself by letting go of those old ideals, he won’t be able to do anything about the way Heaven is run. His punishment for not learning the lesson and trying to implement the scraps he has learned results in disaster – one that will fuel his self-doubt in every necessary way for his character progression.

• S8 – After a season of displaying how he simply cannot learn the lesson and ask himself what he wants for himself, going so far as to ready himself to close the gates of Heaven behind him, never to leave there again, the narrative provides a situation where he has his grace forcibly taken from him and he’s shoved into human form.

• S9 – To me, one of the most telling mini-arcs of Castiel’s entire journey is the one when he’s human. He’s so lost at first, but finds his feet, trying to find purpose in the mundane, especially since his mortality has left him suddenly aware and afraid of dying, all of this while this arc shows us that he is, for better or worse, the shield. Meaning he needs to help, and he chooses to reinsert himself into the Team Free Will dynamic. 

• When he learns that Sam is still hurt after the trials, and further discovers that the angel Dean is relying on to heal Sam is a fraud, and taking into account all the tribulations between the fallen angels now walking the Earth – because of choices Castiel made – he decides to kill an angel and steal his grace, regaining the powers he’s always believed he needs in order to truly make a difference, dressing himself as the weapon once more. 

• However, there’s both good and bad here: Sam needed Castiel’s angelic powers in order to survive, and Castiel underlines in this season how tired he is of fighting, of killing his kin. He actively uses the shield side to himself in order to intervene and stop the brewing war, though he has to act the weapon and kill Bartholomew out of self-preservation as much as intervention. 

• The bad is that once again Castiel sacrifices himself for the greater good. He doesn’t swallow that grace for the sake of his own happiness, or because it was what he wanted and needed. He swallowed it to be ready for the war, to heal Sam, to get his powers back and feel as though he had a set purpose again, a purpose entirely tied to how he allows his grace to define him and how he believes his only value lies in his ability to weaponise himself.

• Swallowing the stolen grace is a huge regression for Castiel’s arc, and the narrative underlines this by how he’s now in for a world of hurt moving forward. 

• S10 – Cas is passive in this season, firstly back to taking orders from Heaven, which is a huge red flag, and secondly taking the backseat where the Winchesters are concerned, allowing Sam free reign when it comes to how best to save Dean’s life. This passivity ends with a complete loss of agency as he’s hit with Rowena’s violent attack dog spell – a complete underlining  of how Castiel  keeps being put in, and is putting himself in a role he doesn’t actually want for himself – and comes face to face with his very deepest fear: powerlessness.

• S11 – This powerlessness isn’t something he can save himself from, it’s broken by Sam and Dean’s intervention, which, of course, makes the scarring it leaves behind that much worse and breeds an anger at not knowing how to take back control, the confusion stemming from Castiel’s loyalties still being torn between the past, the present and the future. Sick of having his strings pulled he also begins to believe that pulling his strings is the only use anyone has for him and he accepts it as truth: he’s expendable. This launches him into a depression spiral that has him saying yes to becoming Lucifer’s vessel —

• S12 – — and carries on during S12 as he, in the first episode, acts as Dean and Mary’s attack dog. He’s now stepping right into the role that has scarred him the most: the weapon. The belief that this is his purpose is so ingrained in him that he can’t get himself out of it, until he’s granted a miracle in the form of the Devil’s unborn child. 

As we can see, there are these enormous turning points in his emotional evolution, all of which come with a punishment or a reward. Here’s an overview over the most significant ones:

• Punishments: losing his faith; losing his agency twice through Naomi and Rowena; losing his grace; depression; angel death
• Rewards: Dean finding him in 7×17, restoring his memory and allowing him to begin his atonement arc; being sent to Purgatory, which focuses that atonement arc; being woken in the Empty thanks to Jack; faith and agency restored 

The narrative doesn’t ever put a character through more than they can handle, and recognises the need for not only shoves, but pushes of encouragement as well. 

The unborn baby Jack may have influenced Castiel by bringing him back into the fold of Heaven and making S12 Castiel echo S4 Castiel’s belief in Paradise, but Jack, in his innocence, only provided the narrative with the ultimate setup for why Castiel needed to die an angel death. 

He had to be reborn. 

He had to shed his depression – the only reason for why he so willingly believed in the idea of Paradise this late in the game – so that he, now in S13, can begin to move away from evaluating himself on the basis of what others think of him and what others tell him he is, but also so that he can open his eyes to what truly makes him powerful: his tenacity, his bravery, his strategic mind, his loyalty and, more than anything, his deep capacity for compassion and love, because his yearning to feel fully has always been his foremost motivator, his ability to care, to want to help, has always been the basis for his true purpose. 

Journey’s End: Self-Actualisation through Self-Liberation 

Self-liberation: Recognising irrational thinking patterns caused by unrealistic demands placed on the self and defusing these harmful irrational beliefs in order to lead a happy, healthy life.

Self-actualisation: Living creatively and fully using your potentials, driven by a desire for self-fulfilment, feeling finally yourself, safe, free from anxiety, accepted and loved.

A character (or a human being) cannot reach self-actualisation without first opening up to and embracing the fact that they cannot control everything, they are not responsible for everything and that, in order to gain perspective on any given situation, they have to be able to put themselves first and ask themselves: what do I want? Once they’ve answered what they want, they can then move into thinking of others as selflessly as they ever have.

What I mean to say is that Dean, Sam and Castiel cannot move towards self-actualisation without first reaching catharsis through liberating themselves from old ideals and hangups and baggage. They have to dare to open up to the mere idea of wanting things for themselves, in order to explore the concept and finally learn what it is they want. When you know what you want, you know what you stand for, and then you’ll begin to understand who it is you truly are.

See, for our main characters, reaching their journey’s end, recognising their own internal need and reaching the internal goal of their evolution, is not about changing them, it’s about opening them up to who they’ve always been underneath all that baggage.

This story is not about them learning lessons that will teach them how to leave their core traits behind, it’s not about them hanging up the Weapon side to them and sitting behind a desk as the Shields. The Weapon is not synonymous with death and mayhem, nor is the Shield synonymous with passivity, rather these two are sides of the same coin, and what all of our main characters need, as already mentioned, is to find the balance between them.

They will always Protect and Serve, as it were, but they’ve also always striven to do more good than harm and it’s time this paid off for them. The only way they can reach that point, however, is through striking a balance as a team, and I would argue that they can only strike that balance if they’re all in the final leg of their journey.

This final leg is the part of their individual arc taking place after their act of self-liberation, as they’re digging deeper than they’ve ever had into gaining self-insight, moving (semi)consciously towards self-actualisation.

Dean is already in this final leg. I believe he moved into the final leg of his journey in 12×22, when the act of firing a grenade launcher (a grenade launcher that had been needing release for quite some time) into a concrete wall gave us a visual establishing of his self-liberation. 

His character progression has continued without pause ever since that moment and he’s taking strides in his self-reflection and with opening himself up to the fact that the mask he’s been wearing all of these years is nothing but a smokescreen, a lie he’s been telling himself in order to cope with all that pressure he’s been placing on his own two shoulders.

Sam is prone for his moment of self-liberation as well, but I won’t speculate on that here, because here there’s Castiel and landing back in the question: is he an angel, or is he a man?

As I’ve attempted to demonstrate through the narrative and character points that I’m basing this argument in, I’m hoping that there’s sufficient evidence for the statement to be made that Castiel’s grace is, and always has been, toxic. 

Throughout the narrative, Castiel’s ties to Heaven are what regress his character progression, over and over again, and not only are these ties to Heaven narratively linked to his grace through the shift he undergoes in S9 when he becomes an angel again, but they are narratively underlined to be a blocker, a hurdle, an internal obstacle in the shape of an emotional mask, created by a fear of going against the wishes of his father and his family and all the teachings of his upbringing that runs so deep that he’s never been able to see it – until Dean, and humanity, and this crazy roller-coaster ride he’s been on for a decade. 

Castiel’s grace isn’t merely a tie to Heaven, it’s linked to his poor self-image, to his low self-esteem, influenced wholly by the fact that he has, for so long, been treated as nothing but a weapon, even to the extent of him beginning to label himself as such, completely going against how he views himself in S4, telling Dean that he’s not “the hammer”. 

Castiel has time and again been shown to weaponise himself in order to be able to help, throwing himself in harms way, thinking what happens to him doesn’t matter, as long as he can secure a win. 

The absolutely most powerful way for Castiel to liberate himself – congruent with everything the narrative has been trying to teach him about what is the right direction for him to take – is to choose, for himself, to give up his grace and become human. 

This act of self-liberation will rid him of the powers that he’s always equated with his one way to be useful, and make it possible for him to prove to himself that he is more powerful as a human, secure in himself and in what he wants. That old self-assured attitude not being reliant on whether he has the power to smite a foe, but on the fact that – ninety-nine times out of a hundred – he can outsmart his adversary just as easily as go head-to-head with them.

The grace appears to muddle and contort the emotional receptors, no matter how humanised an angel may become. 

• This fact was clearly reflected in Anna’s arc, where she chose – out of survival instinct – to swallow her own grace again, and though she continued to rebel against Heaven, setting herself the mission to kill John and Mary Winchester, changing the past in order to stop the Apocalypse, was a decision made by a soldier devoid of compassion or actual foresight. It got her killed. 
• Hannah learned compassion through her human vessel and returned to Heaven with these lessons intact, choosing to remain a loyal servant and when, due to her compassionate nature, she tried to  to go against Heaven’s orders while Castiel was being tortured, this got her killed. 
• The narrative demonstrating, through very strong Castiel mirrors, exactly what these ties to Heaven result in – whether you go against them or try your best to conform to them. 
• By S13 we have Anael, who drains her grace in order to perform miracles and the less grace that remains, the more human she feels. Her dialogue underscores yet again how these remaining ties to Heaven will not allow her to be human, to feel fully, to be truly free – falling liberated her, but her grace is still there, intact, unless she chooses to fade it out of her and get a brief glimpse of what humanity truly is like.

Looking at Dean Winchester and Castiel and how their journeys mirror each other, the very mirror of their journey goals underlines how Castiel was always set up to choose Humanity over Heaven, man over angel, because his internal need is to learn how to dare let go of that mask of his, representative of emotional repression and self-doubt, and have actual faith in his own capabilities.

Visual Manifestation of Choice

Finally, I’m going to use a visual parallel to underline my argument against why Castiel remaining an angel while changing his appearance, and officially choosing to stay in the Bunker, and being an everyday part of Team Free Will, and fighting the good fight on Earth, simply is not enough to provide an actual emotional catharsis for the audience as well as for Castiel himself. This visual parallel will tie us back to number four of those Four Scenarios I previously supplied. 

The visual parallel is between Castiel and Rachel from comedy series Friends —>

• Our introduction to Rachel is the moment she rushes into the Central Perk Café wearing an enormous, bejewelled white wedding dress. She looks every bit the Princess that she’s been her whole life.
• She’s just made the choice to leave her old life behind, realising on her wedding day that she might not want to be the shoe she’s always been told she has to be, but that perhaps she wants to be a hat or a purse (she’s not entirely sure yet) (she’s only sure that she doesn’t want to be a shoe)
• In the first episode Rachel is out of the wedding dress and wearing regular clothes – the visual manifestation of her old life is gone
• But there is one more thing this narrative needs from her in order to truly state that she’s separating herself from her past self: an act of self-liberation that underlines how she is not going back on her choice
• Which comes when she cuts her credit cards
• During the rest of the series we watch her journey towards self-actualisation
• Through her found family she’s able to believe that this is where she belongs: I do belong here, I can belong here, I want to belong here; giving her independence, freedom and the strength to choose for herself, not allowing herself to be manipulated or for fear to tell her that she can’t make it on her own – she has support and she has growing faith in her own capabilities 

The Visual Parallel

• The wedding dress is the equivalent of Castiel’s trench coat, tie and suit
• The credit cards are the equivalent of Castiel’s grace

The audience are privy to Rachel’s move into catharsis thanks to how she sheds the wedding dress and then, satisfactorily, gives a visual manifestation of sticking with her choice through an act of self-liberation by (literally) cutting her ties with her old life.

See what I’m getting at? To make the choice land with the audience and offer them to partake of catharsis, Castiel should perform an act of self-liberation, which means giving up his grace. 

The final leg of his journey must move him towards self-actualisation with him in his true form, which is human, because how else is he to get to know himself? He needs to feel fully and experience humanity in all its shades if he’s to learn what that longing to be human truly means for him, this time with the difference to S9 being that he will be fully supported by his found family.

Meaning that he will find his independence and freedom, strengthened by being utterly accepted exactly as he is by the people he loves.

And he’ll face the battle of their lives in his true form, eliminating any doubt of whether he’s useful to the fight without his angelic powers: his grace was never what truly made him powerful to begin with, it was always that too big heart of his, the result of his innate humanity. He never weaponised himself in order to do harm, he only ever weaponised himself in order to protect.

Conclusion

In S9, during the brief stint that Castiel was human, he went from feeling utterly misplaced, to being pushed out of what could have been his safety net, asked to leave the Bunker by Dean, to finding a place for himself, a job, trying to be “normal”, but failing, and failing because he was never meant to lead an apple pie life.

He was always meant to hunt, to protect and defend.

What makes the human arc so significant to me is that, as an angel, Castiel showed, many times over, that not only were his choices informed by his default angel mode mentality, which is the equivalent of the trained soldier who truly believes emotions are dangerous and should not be allowed to rule you, but also that, rather than trusting in himself to make the right choice, he would ask for a higher power to step in and tell him what to do, hoping for someone else to give the order.

Because it’s easier to follow than to lead. 

This hesitation has informed many of Castiel’s more rash decisions, showing how he’s never had the faith in himself to take a step back, assess and consider what he would want to do, not what he believes he should do or has to do for the greater good.

As a human, Castiel was told by Dean that the fight wasn’t his anymore, that as a human Castiel should go live his life, but only a few episodes after this advice was given, Castiel was shown to have chosen for himself where he wanted to be, getting himself back in the game because he couldn’t ignore his core trait, which is to act as the shield and help where he can.

Castiel’s new self-image while human shows signs of being healthy and strengthening, and it only comes to an end because of circumstances beyond Castiel’s control, while his choice to steal another angel’s grace is rooted in his remaining inability to actually, truly believe in his own capabilities remaining intact as a human.

Abraham Maslow, who created the psychological revolution surrounding the idea of self-actualisation, said: “people have lower order needs that in general must be fulfilled before high order needs can be satisfied: ‘five sets of needs – physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization’.” [source: wikipedia/self-actualisation]

These five needs are an important underlining for the argument I’m making because, according to Maslow himself, one cannot reach self-actualisation without first reaching a sense of contentment within oneself. To feel healthy, safe, that one belongs and has a firm sense of self-esteem is imperative steps to be taken, and Castiel cannot achieve all of these things in his angelic form. The narrative has hit on this fact time and again.

Castiel has gone through a few highs and many utter lows on his journey, always wanting and striving to do the right thing for the right reasons, and more often than not failing, because he’s not understood that the right thing for the right reasons has to begin with him valuing himself as more than a means to an end. 

The right thing for the right reasons has to start with answering the questions Who am I? and Who do I want to be? and as I’ve tried to demonstrate with this argument, these questions cannot possibly be answered without Castiel reaching his point of self-liberation, which in turn is based in a single statement: Whoever I am to become, I know that who I am now is not who I want to be.