The CW's Supernatural began life dealing mostly with monsters. Over the course of the first few seasons, Sam and Dean Winchester worked their way up the hunting food chain from run-of-the-mill beasts to bona fide demons, and eventually to a Prince of Hell who wanted to release Lucifer himself. Lucifer, aka Satan, the Adversary, the Father of Lies, or the Devil, made his first appearance at the very end of the fourth season, and was primarily portrayed by Mark Pellegrino from then on.
As you might expect, Lucifer has been a prominent antagonist in the series ever since, one of the most powerful enemies the Winchesters have (and they have quite a few). A s the tone of the show grew and changed over the course of the 14 seasons, fans saw Lucifer go from the baddest baddie in the game to merely another power player. Anytime a character's role in a series shifts, there is a chance their actions or motivations might not make sense, whether it's thanks to newly modified world-building contradicting earlier seasons or just lazy writing.
This list counts down all the ways Lucifer doesn't make sense as a character. The Devil has had all kinds of trials and tribulations during his time on the show, from his initial fight to destroy humanity to siring a child to fighting his brother from another dimension. There were bound to be inconsistencies, though remember that none of these entries mean that he's a badly written or badly acted character.
Here are 20 Things About Lucifer That Make No Sense.
He didn’t destroy Castiel’s vessel when he inhabited it
Supernatural is usually pretty good about not contradicting itself, but with so many episodes and so many superpowered entities, some areas were bound to be sketchier than others. One of these areas is the vessels for angels, the rules for which are about as constant as the weather.
Vessels supposedly burn out quickly, and this problem affects Lucifer several times in the series. Lucifer deals with his vessels Nick, Vince, and several others decaying thanks to his power, but the one exception to this is Castiel's vessel, Jimmy Novak. "Casifer" seems to suffer no ill effects, despite the fact that Lucifer has caused very other vessel he's ever possessed to decay and this one isn't even "perfect" for him.
Crowley magically makes Nick a permanent vessel
In general, angels and demons on Supernatural jump from host to host, necessitating the use of multiple actors to portray the same character. What happens when the writers and fans fall in love with one specific actor playing the character? Basically, that's what happened with Lucifer and Mark Pellegrino.
Instead of Lucifer simply moving to a new human vessel (an experiment that the writers tried with Vince Vincente, with mixed results), Supernatural had Crowley come up with an extremely convenient method for turning a temporary vessel into a permanent one. He used this on Nick, and suddenly Mark Pellegrino was in no danger of leaving the show. We're not complaining that this happened, but it breaks more than a few of the show's established rules.
Why didn't the archangel blade destroy Nick, too?
Supernatural's lucky 13th season found its climax in a pitched battle between two archangels: Michael (possessing Dean Winchester) and Lucifer (still possessing Nick, but supercharged with his son Jack's angelic Grace). The fight ended in a victory for Michael, as Dean stabbed Lucifer with an archangel blade.
Where a normal angel blade would have destroyed both the angel and the vessel, the archangel blade apparently works by a different set of rules. Michael's archangel blade only destroyed Lucifer, leaving Nick alive. The reasoning behind this was never really explained-- the blade clearly passed through Nick, so how did it not harm him? If the blade was "designed" to only destroy angels, why don't normal angel blades do the same thing?
He somehow changed Nick’s personality
When Lucifer was finally destroyed at the hands of Michael and Dean Winchester, it caused a number of unforeseen consequences. One of the big ones was Nick, Lucifer's vessel, being freed from Lucifer's control after the archangel blade eliminated Lucifer.
This seemed great until it became apparent that Nick's personality had changed. Nick's psyche was somehow scarred from hosting Lucifer, and he has become much more violent and prone to anger. The problem here is other vessels haven't really had this problem-- this mechanic of an angel affecting their host's minds even after leaving seems to have sprung out of thin air just so the Supernatural writers could give Nick a character arc.
VINCE VINCENTE
Any show that runs for a long time has to find ways to shake up the formula, and these attempts have hurt Supernatural more than they've helped it. One such example was Vince Vincente, an aging rocker that Lucifer chose to be his new vessel in Supernatural's 12th season.
There wasn't a ton of explanation why Lucifer would choose an over-the-hill rock star to be his new vessel, other than the writers clearly thought it would be fun to incorporate the classic themes of rock and roll's demonic influences into the show. Vince was an experiment that didn't really pan out, as fans never connected with the new direction or actor Rick Springfield as Lucifer. This was an angle nobody really wanted for Lucifer, and it never worked in the world of the show.
HE ISN'T GOD'S GREATEST ENEMY
Going by the Christian belief system, one would tend to think that God's greatest enemy is the Devil, Lucifer. Usually referred to as Satan, the Christian Devil is known as The Adversary or the Father of Lies. He is responsible for all of mankind's wickedness, and commands forces nearly as strong as God's.
Lucifer in Supernatural is substantially weaker than the biblical Satan. Lucifer isn't even the most powerful archangel on the show, and he certainly can't claim to be God's nemesis. There are cosmic forces much stronger than Lucifer, and God seems much more perturbed by the rise of His big sister Amara than his estranged son, Lucifer. The Archangel Michael might consider Lucifer his greatest enemy, but God mostly ignores him.
He doesn’t actually care about demons
Lucifer wasn't imprisoned for questioning God's new creation, humanity; that merely got him cast out of heaven. It was only afterward that Lucifer committed his greatest crime: twisting a human soul and creating the first demon, Lilith. In some way, this makes every demon a kind of descendant of Lucifer. So you'd think he'd treat them better.
Demons are Lucifer's most widespread creation; his greatest impact on the world. But time and time again, Lucifer is shown to not really care whether his demons survive. Lucifer treats demons just as callously as he treats humans, never thinking of them as his kin, despite many demons seeing him as their true leader.
His family drama
One thing you'll constantly hear from Lucifer on Supernatural is that he was cast out of heaven because he essentially loved his family too much. He chose to forsake humanity in favor of his father, God, and his angelic brothers, so why isn't Lucifer a better person to his own family?
By his own admission, Lucifer should care more about his family than anything else in the universe. Except he threw a cosmic temper tantrum when his father wouldn't let him destroy humanity, he fought and tried to destroy two of his archangel brothers, and he spends most of his time interacting with his son Jack attempting to manipulate the young Nephilim. Lucifer supposedly did his evil deeds in the name of family, but he's a terrible family member.
He mistreats other angels
In the world of Supernatural, Lucifer was initially kicked out of heaven because he objected to God's latest creation: human beings. He argued that they were violent, deceitful, and clearly beneath him and his angelic brethren. If Lucifer thinks so highly of angels, why is he so comfortable with hurting them?
Over the course of the series, Lucifer destroys many angels. Even if you get past his disagreements with his archangel brothers and God, Lucifer preys upon the lesser angels. It's clear that Lucifer only values those who serve and praise him, but at this point he should probably stop talking about how he thinks angels are better than humans, because he doesn't treat them any better.
The extremely convenient ritual
During season 12, Lucifer gets a new vessel named Vince Vincente. Unfortunately, the new body starts decaying much faster than his old one, and so he goes to the witch Rowena to magically heal it. She betrays Lucifer, speeds up his aging, and sends him to the bottom of the ocean. He is then immediately brought back by a group of young Satanists who perform a ritual with one of his feathers.
This whole sequence was fairly confusing-- why did the writers want Lucifer to get banished one episode, only to bring him back almost immediately? Why did the satanists choose that moment-- just when it was convenient for Lucifer-- to summon the Devil? If using one of his feathers could heal his vessel, why didn't Lucifer just seek it out instead of going to Rowena? None of these questions are answered.
He teamed up with the Winchesters
If there is one thing Supernatural fans know about Lucifer, it's that he doesn't much care for Sam and Dean Winchester. The Winchester brothers have a long, tangled, and violent history with the Adversary, so it was something of a surprise to see them join forces to take on Amara, also known as The Darkness.
At first glance, it was nice that everybody put aside their differences to face this all-encompassing threat, but when you look deeper it just doesn't make sense for Lucifer. He has, before all else, made it clear that he doesn't forget his grudges, and certainly doesn't think humans are worthy of his forgiveness. It's hard to believe he'd actually put past gripes aside to ally with an enemy as persistent as the Winchesters.
Why did Lucifer destroy all those pagan gods?
Lucifer doesn't like most things that exist in the universe. He hates humans, derides demons, and destroys angels. He seems to hold a special place in his heart for pagan gods-- a place of pure disgust. He attacks and destroys a host of them in season five before his brother Gabriel intervenes to save Kali and the Winchesters.
Lucifer does all this seemingly out of pure spite, as there isn't much reason for him to be there in the first place. Yes, he wants to destroy the Winchesters, but it is made abundantly clear that the gods can't even challenge him, so he really shouldn't care what they do. The whole sequence is designed to make Lucifer seem powerful, but Supernatural could have cut the scene out entirely and the plot would have been largely unaffected.
HIS SON WAS MORE POWERFUL THAN HIM
After many seasons of angel-related shenanigans, Supernatural fans were treated to a shake-up of the formula in season 12 with the introduction of Jack. Lucifer's son, Jack is a Nephilim; the product of a union between an angel and a human. Thanks to an extremely arbitrary rule, Jack was more powerful than Lucifer himself.
There was no question that Jack was powerful, but the idea that he would become more powerful than Lucifer made for an odd dynamic. Firstly, Nephilims appear to be more powerful than their angelic parents for no real reason. Secondly, it makes Lucifer much less intimidating when his baby boy could easily fry him.
HE ELIMINATED MAGGIE
Lucifer gets up to a lot of mischief in the tumultuous 12th and 13th seasons of Supernatural, most of it centering on his newborn Nephilim son, Jack. Lucifer spends a lot of time and energy trying to win Jack's love and convince Jack he's a good person, deep down. Here's a pro tip, though: if you want your kid to love you, maybe don't destroy their friends!
Jack's friend Maggie caught Lucifer while he was snooping around, and he responded by destroying her at the molecular level. Brushing aside the immorality of the act, Lucifer isn't so dumb that he wouldn't realize that this was a bad move. He didn't even make much of an effort to cover it up, and it obviously had a negative affect on his relationship with Jack.
He conceives his son for no reason
We're happy that Jack became a part of Supernatural, as he was a refreshing breath of fresh air compared to the same main cast we've seen for season after season. That doesn't mean his conception made any sense, however. Lucifer seems to do it on a whim while possessing the body of Jefferson Rooney.
Lucifer gets into bed with Rooney's wife Kelly, who says that she thinks Rooney would be a good father. Lucifer takes it like she's talking to him, and the rest is history. Lucifer doesn't seem overly attached to Kelly or Jefferson, he just kind of decides to conceive a Nephilim who will one day become more powerful than an archangel. What are his reasons-- that aren't a transparent attempt by the writers to jumpstart a future plotline?
God and Michael should have just destroyed him
At the beginning of the series, Lucifer is trapped in a cage in Hell, bound there by 600 seals, meant to stay there for all eternity. This is an extremely harsh punishment (understandable, given Lucifer's crimes), but it doesn't actually make any sense. God and Michael were the ones who imprisoned Lucifer, and they should have just destroyed him instead.
Life in prison doesn't really work as a punishment when the thing you're imprisoning can literally live forever. Since we now know that it doesn't take that much effort to destroy an archangel, it's clear that if God and Michael really wanted to make Lucifer never returned, they would have just bumped him off.
Why does Lucifer even need a vessel?
Several angels have, over the course of Supernatural, referenced the fact that they have a "true form" they only show to other angels. This true form would destroy any human that saw it, necessitating the use of vessels while the angels are on Earth, so that they don't draw attention to themselves and don't hurt anybody.
That explanation works for most angels, but Lucifer is different because he actively hates humans. Therefore, all his trouble to find a vessel that holds up feels kind of pointless-- why doesn't he just manifest his true form on Earth? It's not like he cares if he fries some humans, and he usually isn't the most subtle guy around, either. Think about it this way: if he hadn't bothered with a vessel, he could have destroyed Dean Winchester ages ago without breaking a sweat.
HOW DID GABRIEL FOOL HIM?
Gabriel the archangel has had a twisty history on Supernatural. He's been a trickster pagan deity, an archangel, a demon's prisoner, and deceased, but one of the biggest moments in his time on the show came in his first confrontation with his brother Lucifer, which seemingly ended with Gabriel slain.
Only that wasn't true, as the show later revealed tthat Gabriel had merely been an illusion. This means Gabriel was able to create a decoy so convincing that it fooled even the Father of Lies. Lucifer says in that same episode why this is so unlikely, as he's the older brother, so Gabriel learned all these tricks from him. But the writers and fans wanted Gabriel back, so we all got this extremely implausible reveal.
His Apocalyptic fight with Michael
The fifth season of Supernatural found the Winchester brothers working to prevent a catastrophe: two archangels fighting on Earth. All the characters assure us that if that fight took place, half the planet would be leveled from the sheer amount of power on display. If that were true, Lucifer and his archangel brothers would have destroyed the planet several times over by now, as they've fought each other several times since.
None of these later battles lived up to the hype we heard in that fifth season. Archangel battles have a few more fireworks than regular angel battles, but they still seem to basically amount to one person stabbing another person with an angel blade. Even when Michael fights a supercharged Lucifer in season 13, they don't destroy the building they're in, much less the world.
He's a brat with daddy issues
Angels on Supernatural are hyped up a lot, because they've lived for thousands of years and supposedly have awe-inspiring powers. Apparently all that immortality and power don't create much personality, as Lucifer can basically be boiled down to one sentence: he's a brat with daddy issues.
The show itself has brought this up many times, explicitly stating that Lucifer's fall from heaven is the result of a big temper tantrum. In all his time on the show, Lucifer never grew past this characterization, as you can attribute pretty much all of his actions to his selfish, childish, vindictive nature. Lucifer was billed as the most profound evil in the universe in the early seasons, and instead we got an angry brat.
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What else doesn't make sense about Lucifer in Supernatural? Let us know in the comments!'