Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Supernatural season 12
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The Supernatural season 12 finale may have killed off a whole slew of major characters, but the two-parter also introduced someone new to Sam and Dean's world. 'Who We Are' and 'All Along The Watchtower' started off by dealing with the British Men of Letters - the snooty, monster-hunting threat that has been hovering around since the start of the season. When these monster-killers from across the pond starting taking out every American hunter, Sam (Jared Padalecki) led a contingent of hunters against their headquarters, slaughtering everyone inside. Meanwhile Dean (Jensen Ackles) helped to reverse his mother's brainwashing at their hands, a scene that ended with Mary Winchester (Samantha Smith) putting a well-deserved bullet in the brain of Arthur Ketch (David Haydn-Jones).
With the Men of Letters off the table, Sam and Dean then had to deal with the imminent birth of Lucifer's (Mark Pellegrino) son. In a shocking final battle, both Crowley (Mark Sheppard) and Castiel (Misha Collins) bit the dust, and Lucifer and Mary were exiled to an alternate universe. In the final moments of the episode, Sam heads inside to look for Kelly (Courtney Ford) and her baby - only to find Jack crouched in a corner, fully grown, with glowing golden eyes.
The History of Nephilim On Supernatural
Jack is a particularly interesting Nephilim - he's the son of Lucifer. He has the potential to be incredibly, world-destroyingly powerful... but he's not the first angel/human hybrid to pop up on the show.
Nephilim have been mentioned a few times on the show, although not in a huge amount of detail. It has been revealed that in the past God intervened to remove Nephilim from Earth, and that the birth of a Nephilim is one of the highest crimes in heaven. The penalty for an angel who fathers a Nephilim is death, due to the huge amount of power that these hybrids have. One Nephilim did live to adulthood in the series, though: Jane (Linda Tomassone). In season 8, Metatron (Curtis Armstrong) managed to convince Castiel that he needed the heart of a Nephilim to close the gates of Heaven, and led Cas to Jane. Castiel killed her with an angel blade, inadvertently expelling the angels from Heaven.
Jane had some angel-like abilities, but wasn't able to show her true power before she died. However, we do know that all Nephilim have extraordinary power, coming from the combination of enokian magic (from their angelic parent) and a human soul (from their human parent). Because of this combination, Nephilim are more powerful than the angels that sire them, but their strength is in proportion to that of their parents. Jack, as the son of an archangel (Lucifer) will presumably be one of the most powerful beings in existence, with all the powers of Lucifer amplified by his human soul.
Castiel's Vision Vs. Dagon's Assumptions
This extreme power explains why everyone was trying to control Kelly during her short pregnancy. The Winchesters wanted to prevent any being with this amount of power from being born, Dagon (Ali Ahn) wanted to harness that power to rule alongside Lucifer and his child, and Castiel wanted to protect the child, believing it could be good.
While Dagon was holding Kelly, she revealed that Kelly would die giving birth to her child. Dagon firmly believed that Jack would be evil, bringing destruction and chaos, and ruling alongside Lucifer. She refuted Kelly's belief that the child loved her and saved her from suicide, claiming that he only saved the vessel that he needed to use to be born. However, when Castiel rescued Kelly from Dagon, he did it with the help of the baby. A golden power flowed from Kelly's hand to Castiel, making his eyes glow gold and giving him the power to blast Dagon out of existence. This also gave Castiel a vision, one of Jack as a force for good, creating a world without pain or suffering, a paradise on Earth.
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Golden Eye(s)
Dagon was right about one thing: Kelly died during childbirth. However, nobody knows whether Dagon or Castiel will be correct about the future of this newest, most powerful Nephilim. There are lots of signs that point toward a being of unimaginable power, but good intention so far.
- He saved Kelly. He healed and resurrected his mother when she was carrying him. Yes, she died during childbirth, but this wasn't the devouring destruction Dagon promised. It appeared more that she was simply incapable of giving birth to a being like this and surviving.
- He chose Castiel as a protector. He actively chose to leave a Prince of Hell and go with an angel - perhaps because he wanted better care for his mother, perhaps because he recognizes Cas as an angelic being like himself, but he chose to help Castiel.
- He killed Dagon. It was the baby's power that allowed Castiel to smith Dagon - and in terms of good vs. evil, siding with an angel to kill a powerful demon is pretty straightforward.
However, all this can also be explained as self-protection. Jack needed to survive to be born. He needed Kelly to be cared for and protected. On the other side of the equation, Jack is incredibly powerful, and power corrupts. He is the son of Lucifer himself. He killed his mother while being born. There's a lot on either side, and his eyes aren't much help either. Angels have silver/blue glowing eyes when they use their powers, demons have red/yellow eyes (Lucifer's are red). Jack's eyes are golden - he is something entirely new.
Two Men And A Baby
As well as being an entirely new kind of power on the show, Jack is currently alone with Sam and Dean. The finale killed off Crowley and Castiel, Dagon is gone, Lucifer and Mary Winchester are in an alternate dimension, the Men of Letters are destroyed in the US, and God has gone on a soul-searching trip with the Darkness. The season ended with Sam nervously approaching Jack, and although he has a fully-grown body, he will probably need some help navigating the world - will Sam and Dean be the ones to try and raise (and restrain) the Nephilim? Originally they wanted to destroy him, but they have no way of overpowering him now (especially with the Colt destroyed and Rowena dead). Will they try and help him, or will he disappear, to become the big bad of season 13, causing destruction as he comes into his power.
The final question, of course, is whether Castiel's vision was true, or if it was planted by Jack to make Cas protect him. Or, is a world without suffering not all it's cracked up to be? The show needs some evil to fight, so could this be a chance to see Sam and Dean battling an evil that appears to be good at the beginning? We'll have to wait until season 13 starts this fall to find out.