The first angel to appear on Supernatural is Castiel and fans agree that he’s an exception to the laws that govern all angels, at least most of the time. He exhibits kindness, loyalty, frustration, and even empathy while the other angels pride themselves on having no feelings. They want to be above humans. They are soldiers on a mission, created by God for a specific purpose: to watch over Earth. And only to watch.
Though they’re not supposed to interfere, Season 4 and the apocalypse (the 1st one) arc shows plots and schemes by angels that are nothing but interference. They have an agenda and they expect humans to follow it. As if that’s not bad enough, they only get worse and worse from there.
Lethal And Confusing Without A Vessel
Castiel pulls Dean out of hell and he emerges from his grave completely intact (even though he died after being mauled by a hell hound) and with no idea what happened or how he got out. Without his vessel, Castiel couldn’t communicate with him, and the attempts to do so only bring up more questions.
Dean hears and feels a glass-shattering shriek at a convenience store and Pamela the psychic’s eyes are burned out by the mere image of Castiel in his pure light form. All they have to go on is the handprint burned into Dean’s shoulder, which doesn’t tell them if the entity that saved him is on their side or not.
They Don’t Take Care Of Their Vessels
At one point, Castiel leaves James Novak (a.k.a. Jimmy) and the vessel is left broken, hungry, and with everyone he loves believing he’s been insane for a year.
Demons have infiltrated his family and lived among them without any protection or them even knowing. Other angels imply that vessels are often left as shells with barely any part of the original host surviving. The vessels have to agree to the possession, but there’s a lot of evidence (especially Jimmy’s experience) showing that usually regret saying “yes.”
Their Rivalries Cost Everyone
In Season 4, Raphael and Zachariah have a bit of a rivalry going on. Uriel isn’t happy with Castiel’s lack of progress with his mission on earth. His own views lead to the deaths of others.
Raphael kills angels who go against them, including destroying their vessels. The apocalypse arc creates a situation that pits angel against angel and everybody loses, especially the people on earth, the people they were sent to watch over.
Lucifer’s Escape
The last seal to unlock Lucifer’s cage is the demon Lilith’s sacrifice. Sam grants her that after the demon Ruby deceives him into believing that killing Lilith is the only way to stop Lucifer’s escape. When the cage is unlocked, a grand beam of celestial light is shot into the sky, presumably Lucifer. This is the first hint of the Archangel’s power. Raphael is supposedly an archangel and so is Gabriel, whom Sam and Dean believe to be a trickster.
But none of them have the same power as the beam of light that is Lucifer. Until that point, the show made him out to be a demon when he was in fact one of the angels, the second “born” of the archangels more powerful than all but Michael. His escape changes everything for the angels as well as the apocalypse.
Push For The Apocalypse
After Lucifer is freed, the angels appear divided but according to Zachariah they’re right on track. The apocalypse has to happen, even if it decimates half the population or more. He interferes more than any angel thus far and even threatens Sam, Dean, and Bobby with painful terminal illnesses like stage three stomach cancer to get them to comply.
In the end, Sam does say “yes” to Lucifer but he’s able to gain control at the last minute and jump into the pit where he, Lucifer, and Michael along with long lost half brother Adam as a vessel are trapped in a cage, supposedly for eternity.
Continued Resentment Against Humans
Angels are meant to guard the souls in heaven. Although many of them obey their mandate like good soldiers, Uriel’s departure from mandate and Zachariah’s interference, among others, show that not all angels see humans as worth protecting. Lucifer was cast out after he refused to bow down to humans.
While other angels in heaven aren’t exactly lining up to follow him, the factions that form show a deep resentment that isn’t far off from his desire to end human existence. Those factions want human souls for their power and they’re willing to kill for them, to change history as Sebastian was doing when he stopped the Titanic from sinking, and even willing to kill other angels.
More Confusion After The Fall
Metatron’s spell casts all angels out of heaven. All of a sudden, thousands of angels were searching for their vessels and convincing unwitting humans into saying yes even though they weren’t ideal and would burn out quickly. They wreaked havoc on earth, including Gadriel tricking Sam into accepting possession which led to the death of Kevin Tran.
The different factions looking to gain more souls and more power risk human lives to get their angels into vessels and increase their numbers. The ultimate result is a war among the factions and a space for Metatron to attempt to be “the new god.”
Apocalypse World Angels
The angels in the alternate universe known as Apocalypse World, where Sam and Dean were never born and didn’t save the world, were stone cold soldiers that enjoyed torturing humans. They are led by the archangel Michael who, in this world, killed Lucifer when the apocalypse wasn’t averted. He subsequently killed real-world Gabriel and, after possessing Dean, Lucifer.
As the last archangel standing, he took over Dean’s mind and set out to create a better monster. He wanted a new army to help him gain power in that world. Thankfully, he was eventually killed by the Nephilim Jack, Lucifer’s biological son.
Powerful And Useless
As the population of angels diminishes, the ones that are left standing are extremely powerful. It comes down to Jack, the Nephilim who’s soul was burned off, and the real world Michael (hosted by Adam Milligan), along with a few other scattered beings. Michael and Adam share consciousness, unlike the Apocalypse world Michael.
He helps them open a rift when they need one but only after seeing proof that his father, God, had betrayed the human race. After that one action, Michael/Adam basically checks out and isn’t heard from. Jack is volatile since he’s soulless. In heaven, the angel Duma is one of the only ones left and it seems like heaven itself is deteriorating.
A Last Desperate Ploy To Survive
In heaven, Duma is so desperate to create new angels that she tries something she knows could be a disaster. The population of angels was so low that she felt she had no choice. She manipulates Jack into thinking that he’s doing good work by capturing humans to bring to heaven and injecting them with his archangel grace.
Sam prays to him and convinces him to come back to the bunker where they lock him away in a special box. Castiel kills Duma, marking virtually the end of the angels.