History Characters / SupernaturalCastiel

!Castiel

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* BodyHorror: During Season 7 [[spoiler:the souls of Purgatory (and the Leviathans) trying to escape cause Castiel's vessel to wear down quickly, and at one point horrifically try to break free.]]

** In Season 8 [[spoiler:He does this to Dean in Purgatory, running away so that the Leviathan after Cas will only target Cas himself at the cost of risking Dean will think he's in distress or has outright chickened out and abandoned him.]]

** Towards the end of Season 15 [[spoiler:he does it ''again'' in an unusual way in "Despair". When Billie is about to kill both him and Dean, he tells Dean the Empty will take him away at his most happiest moment, and that comes with him admitting to his love for Dean, which causes the Empty to appear and take both him and Billie away, although he is said to have been revived offscreen later.]]

* NoBiologicalSex: All angels in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' are sexless beings, but this is especially evident in Castiel more than the others. Castiel is known to Sam and Dean as male because his current vessel, Jimmy Novak, is male, but in [[Recap/SupernaturalS04E20TheRapture season 4]] Castiel uses Claire Novak as an emergency temporary vessel and [[Recap/SupernaturalS12E10LilySunderHasSomeRegrets the episode Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets]] shows Castiel utilizing a long-term female vessel.

** For a more specific example, many of Castiel's scenes in seasons 4-5 were repurposed off of another character, Anna, who earlier in production ''was'' Dean's [[LastGirlWins long-term love interest]] while Castiel was to be a MauveShirt. As a result, he receives a lot of the development originally written for a proper love interest, just with the overtly romantic aspects stripped out.

* TheOphelia: In season 7 [[spoiler:Castiel goes mad after he absorbs Sam's Lucifer-tainted memories, and has the same vaguely mystical air around him as usual.]]

* RestorationOfSanity: In season 7, Castiel goes insane after [[spoiler:transferring Sam's memories of his time with Cage onto himself]], but thanks to what is likely his angelic nature, as well as [[spoiler:his time spent in purgatory]], Castiel is back to relative normalcy by the beginning of season 8.

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* CannotKeepASecret: Although he gets much better at it as the series continues, initially Castiel was horrible at keeping secrets simply because, as an angel, he did not understand the need for duplicity.
** When Sam's soul is returned, he loses his memory of what happened while he was soulless. In order to preserve the mental wall in Sam's head, Dean decides not to tell Sam what happened and Bobby reluctantly agrees. Sam gets around this by calling down Cas and simply saying that he already knew what happened and just needed Cas to fill in the details, which Cas innocently does. Later, Sam approaches Dean with the information, admitting he got it from Cas.
-->'''Dean''': Cas. Friggin' child.
** When Cas is [[spoiler:secretly helping Sam work on the Book of the Damned to help Dean, Dean picks up Sam's phone when Castiel calls him.]] Castiel is utterly unable to improvise and actually makes Dean suspicious.
* CannotTellALie: While Cas has gotten better at keeping secrets, he's never really been able to grasp the concept of explicitly lying.

* TookALevelInCheerfulness: After his nervous breakdown and catatonia in Season 7, he emerges as a CloudCuckoolander who babbles about evolution and bees as well as makes jokes. He shrinks from conflict, but he has a very positive outlook and even smiles.

* PapaWolf: In Season 10, Castiel starts trying to connect with his vessel's daughter, Claire, feeling guilty for taking her father away, and he quickly develops a fatherly protectiveness toward her.

* HonoraryTrueCompanion: Despite [[BreakoutCharacter his increasing importance]] through the show, he's still not allowed to permanantly join Sam and Dean on their hunts because of [[StoryBreakerPower his powers that would ruin]] the MonsterOfTheWeek episodes so the writers have to make excuses to have him OutOfFocus for most of the season.

* BelligerentSexualTension: With Meg.

* MyGreatestFailure: Of all his arguably biggger mistakes and failures, Castiel thinks failing to protect Jimmy Novak and his family as his greatest one.

* NervesOfSteel: He is an angel after all, and tends to approach difficult situations with the same detached affectations as always.

* OnlySaneEmployee: In Season 6, he's the only angel [[spoiler:making an effort to prevent Gabriel from restarting the Apocalypse on Earth]]. To another angel in "The Third Man":

* UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns: The Japanese version has him use the formal and detached "watashi" as a sign of his aloof demeanor in contrast to his host Jimmy, who uses the more informal and boyish "boku".

* LackOfEmpathy: Castiel may be one of the few angels with a sense of ethics and he might tend to be portrayed as a {{Woobie}} (especially in fandom), but the fact that he's an angel first and foremost means that he doesn't have the kind of empathy allowed to humans. This allows him to think little of killing children, wiping out entire towns, and murdering his own kin.

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: It took him a long time--and constant exposure to the Winchesters--to get sarcasm.

* NotQuiteDead: For most of Season 7, [[spoiler:he was assumed dead by other characters, although he had actually been brought back (again), this time with [[AmnesiacDissonance amnesia]]. Dean stumbles into him in "The Born-Again Identity" and Castiel eventually remembers who he is.]]

* GutturalGrowler: Castiel is fairly growly, although this is on purpose; actor Misha Collins felt that as Castiel's natural voice shatters windows and makes people's ears bleed, his voice in his human vessel should be rather tough-sounding. Jimmy's voice is pretty much Misha's normal speaking voice, which sounds, well, normal. In the character's first appearances at the start of Season 4, his voice is much cleaner and only sounds slightly deeper and growlier than Misha's normal voice (as he hadn't decided exactly how to do it yet.)
** Misha Collins has also made no secret that doing Castiel's voice is absolute hell on his throat.

* {{Adorkable}}: Prior to pulling Dean out of Hell, Castiel never had much cause to go amongst humans, and it shows in his interactions with the other characters, especially when he first started appearing on the show. He initially had a hard time understanding sarcasm, along with the most basic of human traditions, and has a habit of doing his signature QuizzicialTilt whenever he comes across something that manages to confuse him yet again.

* BadassInCharge: Castiel was captain of a Garrison.

** When Castiel's angelic abilities dwindle to nothing during his estrangement from Heaven in Season 5, he switches to knives, guns and the odd Molotov cocktail to get the job done.]]
** He spends part of Season 9 [[spoiler:as fully human]]. That doesn't stop him from cutting his hand open with a rose's thorns while threatened by an angel to try and angel-banish the enemy.

-->'''Castiel:''' ''*eating*'' These make me very happy.

-->'''Castiel:''' ''*still eating*'' I lost count, but it's in the low hundreds.
* BigEntrance: Castiel's first scene. All the lights start flickering and bursting, the roof starts rattling, and the barn door breaks open, and Castiel casually strolls in amidst the howling wind and sparks.

* BirdsOfAFeather: With Sam. The two have very similar journeys, have a lot in common and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero have made very similar mistakes]] which have caused serious chaos and destruction. Both Castiel and Sam have [[DrunkWithPower let power and pride get the best of them]] to the point where [[spoiler:it destroyed their relationships with others and caused them to [[FaceHeelTurn go to the dark side]].]] Not to mention that, arguably, Sam and Castiel tend to be the large part of the MythArc in the series. In Season 9, Castiel even acknowledges to Sam himself that they share a lot in common and have similarities.

** He then does it ''again'', [[spoiler:letting Dean believe they'll get out of Purgatory together only to stay at the last possible moment, because he knows if he'll tell Dean he doesn't intend to come along, Dean will refuse to get out until he comes around. This particular stunt does its job of getting Dean to safety and back on Earth, but it screws Dean up so much, his brain fabricates fake memories to rationalize the event as himself failing to save Cas, or Cas giving up and his grip slipping.]]
** Towards the end of Season 15 [[spoiler:he does it ''again'' in an unusual way in "Despair". When Billie is on the warpath about to kill both him and Dean, he tells Dean the Empty will take him away at his most happiest moment, and that comes with him admitting to his love for Dean, which causes the Empty to appear and take both him and Billie away, although he is said to have been revived offscreen later.]]

** [[spoiler: Implied to be back from the dead - again- in the finale when Bobby tells Dean, who's finally arrived in Heaven, that Jack did the [[ItMakesSenseInContext heavenly renovations]] with help from Cas.]]

** Also, whatever he feels for Meg. It's clear that Castiel definitely has an affection for Meg but he seems to have some sort of difficulty expressing whatever he feels for her. It could be because he is an angel and feelings aren't something that he is used to. Or it could be because he is an angel and Meg is a demon and he has a hard time coming to terms with having an affection for a demon, who is known to be an enemy to angels. (But most likely, he already has expressed the extent of his feelings for her: protection and "owing her".)

** When Sam's soul is returned, he loses his memory of what happened while he was soulless. In order to preserve the mental wall in Sam's head, Dean decides not to tell Sam what happened and Bobby reluctantly agrees. Sam gets around this by calling down Cas and simply saying that he already knew what happened and just needed Cas to fill in the details, which Cas innocently does. Later, Sam approaches Dean with the information admitting he got it from Cas.

* CharacterTics: He licks his lips quite often.

* ClothesMakeTheLegend: Castiel is known for his distinctive trenchcoat over a black suit, white dress shirt, and a loosened tie. A change of clothes is treated like OOCIsSeriousBusiness. Jimmy, Castiel's vessel, removes the trench coat. When Castiel loses his angelic powers, he completely changes clothes (as he is unable to use his angelic grace to keep the clothes automatically clean). When the clothes are back, so is Cas. Fans are so accustomed to Castiel's "uniform" that a change from a solid blue tie to a striped blue tie and back (Season 13 [[spoiler:when he returns from the empty]]) set off a debate in a fandom as to whether the current Cas was the "real" Castiel.

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: It took him a long time to get sarcasm.

* DyingDeclarationOfLove: In a twist, [[spoiler:confessing his love for Dean is what causes the Empty to kill him and Billie.]]

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Castiel gets a good one. He uses telekinesis (or possibly just the power of his presence) to break open the sealed door of the barn where Dean and Bobby are waiting, and then proceeds to walk slowly over the line of salt (which would keep a demon or normal spirit out) and past every single binding circle Bobby drew without breaking stride while Dean and Bobby repeatedly shoot him, the entire building is shaking and the overhead lights are exploding(the last two are direct results of his presence). Despite the chaos, he never flinches or even blinks, only seeming mildly curious about the sigils on the walls.

* FoeRomanceSubtext: Castiel obviously has an affection for Meg, and Meg openly admitted that she feels for Castiel like Sam does for Amelia's doomed feelings in Season 8.

* FourthDateMarriage: Cas undergoes a variation of this in Season 7, [[spoiler:where after nearly a year of being "dead," he turns up amnesiac, calling himself "Emmanuel" and suddenly married to a woman named Daphne. Needless to say, the [[PutOnABus marriage doesn't last long]].]]

* HumanityEnsues: or much of Season 9, [[spoiler:FCastiel was a human and exploring life as one.]]

** Crowley and Rowena both call him Feathers
** Arthur Ketch calls him Halo

* PermaStubble: Castiel. Justified in that he's [[OurAngelsAreDifferent an angel possessing a man]] and the body is either in stasis or Castiel maintains it the way it was when he took possession.

* PuppyDogEyes: Tends to make a wide-eyed and pleading expression, particularly when he's confused by something, from his very first appearance.

* StraightMan: He takes the deadpan shtick to a whole new level because he usually has no clue what the joke is or even that there is one, which makes ''him'' come off just as hilarious as Dean. Highlighted by having Zachariah's Bizarro future version of him be mucho mellow.

* SugarAndIcePersonality: He begins the series very cold and aloof, switching between cuddly devotion to his siblings and an uptight seriousness made even more uncomfortable by his complete lack of social skills. While he still remains formal and professional, as he spends more time around the Winchesters and CharacterDevelopment kicks in, he learns to become more openly expressive to others too.

* UnkemptBeauty: The stubble, wind-blown hair, loose tie and hobo trenchcoat shouldn't be that attractive, but on Cas, it ''works'', so much so that he's right up there with Dean as the most fetishized character in the fandom.

%%* WhamLine:
%%** "I'm an angel of the Lord", though now ItWasHisSled.
%%** "I am your new God."

As an angel, [[InSeriesNickname Cas]] must occupy a human vessel in order to be safely perceptible to humans. His primary vessel is that of [[Characters/SupernaturalOtherHumans Jimmy Novak]], a devout Christian salesman from Illinois. In [[Recap/SupernaturalS04E20TheRapture "The Rapture" (S04, E20)]], he briefly occupies Jimmy’s young daughter Claire (before Jimmy offers himself as Cas’s vessel again in order to let Claire a normal life.)

* ActualPacifist: In late Season 7, due to his fear that he'll just [[spoiler:screw everything up]] again. He only very reluctantly agrees to help fight the Leviathans in the finale by ID'ing the real Dick Roman after an extended guilt trip from Dean. Come Season 8, Cas is back to his old self again... mostly.
* AffectionateNickname: Meg calls Castiel "Clarence," as in the angel Clarence Oddbody from ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife''. The Winchesters mostly refer to him as just "Cas."
* AmbiguousDisorder: Castiel has a lot of traits like literal-mindedness, limited interpersonal skills, rambling about his special interest in Creation, stimming, and NoSenseOfHumor, and neurodivergent tendencies like depression, PTSD, and suicidal ideation, some of which he attributes to not having spent much time on Earth, even though none of the other angels have any of his problems. Before the civil war, he seems to have been fairly well-liked and to have had a good relationship with his angelic siblings, so his quirkiness probably hasn't caused him any real problems. Ultimately, Cas is most likely just socially awkward, and it has nothing to do with him being an angel.
* AmbiguousInnocence: Castiel appears to be innocent, aloof and unaware of a lot of different things (especially regarding humanity, human life or customs), but he is actually a very strong warrior and incredibly badass. He is definitely capable of being very ruthless when he wants to be.
* AmbiguouslyBi: At first he appears to be asexual, but as the show goes on and he develops more of a personality, he becomes more comfortable about sex. He has a flirtatious relationship with Meg (who does most of the flirting) and sleeps with one woman, but with QuestionableConsent as, unbeknownst to Cas, the woman was secretly possessed by a reaper who was hunting him in his newly-human, very vulnerable state. He was briefly married to a woman named Daphne while amnesiac and believing himself to be a human, but it's unclear how far the relationship went, and he leaves her as soon as he recovers his memories. In the BadFuture his depowered self engages in drugs and orgies with female participants, though it's depicted as [[DrowningMySorrows an indulgence tied to his deteriorated mental wellbeing]]. Meanwhile, he and Dean also have HomoeroticSubtext and ShipTease that toes the line between RunningGag and genuine WillTheyOrWontThey, and in Season 15 he [[spoiler: confesses to having long been in love with Dean. Since Cas dies immediately after the confession and is never seen or heard from again, there's no indication as to whether his past relationships with women were genuine or merely an attempt to suppress his feelings for Dean.]]
* AmnesiacDissonance: Late in Season 7, [[spoiler:Dean finds Castiel, alive and well, though he now sees himself as a human named Emmanuel and married to a woman named Daphne. To make things worse, he remembers nothing of being an angel and the war he figured so prominently in.]]

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: His relationship with Meg. It is very apparent that Castiel holds some sort of affection for Meg, despite the fact that he is an angel and she is a demon and angels and demons are supposed to be enemies.

* BadassAdorable: Castiel is rather quirky, socially awkward and has poor social skills. All of these traits contribute to Castiel's adorableness. But at the same time, he is very powerful and can kick major ass if you cross him.

* BeardOfSorrow: Starts wearing one in Season 8 [[spoiler:while in Purgatory]]. He shaves it back down to his PermaStubble after [[spoiler:getting out]].

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:For his actions in Season 6 and going off the deep end as God after he regains his memories midway through Season 7. In Season 8, it turns out he ''let'' himself stay sealed in Purgatory as penance for all he's done.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: His reaction in Season 7. He falls into a [[spoiler:(insanity-induced)]] HeroicBSOD until Dean [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan shakes him out of it]] long enough to fix some of his mistakes. By Season 8, it seems he is suffering from an extended version of this.

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: He is still in his vessel, alongside Lucifer.]]

* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:A WellIntentionedExtremist during his brief FaceHeelTurn until [[AGodAmI power corrupted him]].]]

* AmnesiacDissonance: [[spoiler:Late in Season 7, Dean finds Castiel, alive and well, though he now sees himself as a human named Emmanuel and married to a woman named Daphne. To make things worse, he remembers nothing of being an angel and the war he figured so prominently in.]]

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: At the end of "Swan Song."

* BadassBeard: Grows a beard while he's [[spoiler:in Purgatory.]]
* BadassBookworm: Admittedly, the audience (and Dean and Bobby) know from the very start that he's pretty damn badass, but to anyone who doesn't know who (and what) he is, he's an innocuous guy in a trenchcoat with a lot of esoteric knowledge and poor social skills. Don't piss off the nerd angel.

** [[spoiler:When Castiel's angelic abilities dwindle to nothing during his estrangement from Heaven in Season 5, he switches to knives, guns and the odd Molotov cocktail to get the job done.]]
** [[spoiler:He spends part of Season 9 as fully human. That doesn't stop him from cutting his hand open with a rose's thorns while threatened by an angel to try and angel-banish the enemy.]]

* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:''He's'' one of the {{Big Bad}}s of Season 6 and was set up to be the main villain for Season 7, although he [[HeelRealization comes to his senses]] in Season 7. Castiel was brainwashed into betraying the Winchesters again in Season 8.]]

* BigBadEnsemble: [[spoiler:With Raphael and Crowley in Season 6. Raphael intends on restarting the Apocalypse, while Castiel plans on stopping him. What makes him a BigBad though, is that he is willing to work with Crowley to obtain the souls of Purgatory. He goes back on his deal with Crowley and manages to outwit both him and Raphael and take the souls for himself, resulting in Crowley fleeing, and him killing Raphael]].

* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:The souls of Purgatory (and the Leviathans) trying to escape cause Castiel's vessel to wear down quickly, and at one point horrifically try to break free.]]
* BodySurf: Castiel uses Jimmy Novak's body as a vessel.

** [[spoiler:Does this to Dean in Purgatory, running away so that the Leviathan after Cas will only target Cas himself at the cost of risking Dean will think he's in distress or has outright chickened out and abandoned him.]]
** [[spoiler:He then does it ''again'', letting Dean believe they'll get out of Purgatory together only to stay at the last possible moment, because he knows if he'll tell Dean he doesn't intend to come along, Dean will refuse to get out until he comes around. This particular stunt does its job of getting Dean to safety and back on Earth, but it screws Dean up so much, his brain fabricates fake memories to rationalize the event as himself failing to save Cas, or Cas giving up and his grip slipping.]]
** [[spoiler: He does it ''again'' in an unusual way, when Billie is on the warpath about to kill both him and Dean, he tells Dean the Empty will take him away at his most happiest moment, and that comes with him admitting to his (long-awaited and shipped by the fandom) Love for Dean, his admission causes the Empty to appear and take both him and Billie away, it has not been confirmed whether he is dead, but the next episode proves Billie is.]]
* BreakoutCharacter: Castiel was only supposed to appear in a few episodes and then another character was to take his place as Dean's angel guide. However, general consensus decided he'd become the EnsembleDarkHorse. Even though he'd only gotten less than 40 minutes of screen-time at that point, the episode "On the Head of a Pin" (4.16) featured him heavily and 4.20 ("The Rapture") centered on his vessel, Jimmy. In Season 5, Creator/MishaCollins (Castiel's actor) was promoted to regular status.

* [[spoiler:BuryYourGays: The only way that he can save Dean in 15x18 is to admit that he loves him, the Empty killing him during his one moment of pure happiness.]]

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: [[spoiler:Taking on Sam's insanity turns him into this when he wakes up from his catatonia. For example, he occasionally asks people to "pull his finger" and tries to play a game of Sorry! while having a serious conversation with Dean. Getting transported to Purgatory seems to have restored his mind somewhat.]]

* TheCorruption: [[spoiler:In the finale of Season 6, Castiel has turned evil and absorbs the souls of Purgatory into himself upon which [[AGodAmI he declares himself the new God]]. In the first episode of Season 7, he goes around killing corrupt and wicked people on a massive scale to prove his "godhood," but it eventually turns out that he's also hosting Leviathans, far older, nastier entities who are corrupting him. His body slowly degrades and mutates, and he gets temporarily taken over to perform indiscriminate massacres, ending with being totally under the Leviathans' control after he loses the souls. His body goes through a meltdown under the strain, and the Leviathans escape out into the world.]]

* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler:By about Season 8, Castiel's been feeling so much guilt over what he's done that he's grown into this. He even willingly stayed behind in Purgatory because of his guilt.]]

* DisappearedDad: Arguably ''the'' biggest reason for [[spoiler:his eventual descent]].

* DramaticShattering: This is what happens when Castiel ends up using his true voice.
* DrivenToMadness: [[spoiler:Since Castiel was the one who broke Sam's Hell-wall in the first place, he winds up deciding to save Sam's life and mind by absorbing the hunter's insanity into himself. It's bad enough to drive Castiel (an angel, mind you) into a catatonic stupor for several episodes and render him a babbling [[TheOphelia Ophelia-esque]] mess for several more. When Dean reunites with Castiel in Purgatory, he asks if his friend is still crazy, which Castiel admits he doesn't even know anymore, since most insane people believe they're sane.]]
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: [[spoiler:At the end of Season 6 and the beginning of Season 7, this has happened to Castiel after he absorbed all the souls in Purgatory to gain the power to prevent Raphael from restarting the Apocalypse. After proclaiming himself a new god, he threatens his friends' lives, goes out for some DisproportionateRevenge, and then accidentally releases the Leviathans, ancient, un-killable [[EldritchAbomination monsters]], on the world.]]
* DyingDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler: In a twist, confessing his love for Dean is what causes the Empty to kill him and Billie.]]

%%* EmotionsVsStoicism: He struggles with this.

* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Multiple characters including but not limited to Uriel, Balthazar, Crowley, Metatron, and Ishim have commented on Cas' love for Dean. [[spoiler: As it turns out, they were right. Cas confesses his feelings for Dean in Season 15.]]

* FightingFromTheInside: [[spoiler:Manages to fight off and break free of Naomi's control in "Goodbye Stranger."]]

* FoeRomanceSubtext: Castiel obviously has an affection for Meg, and Meg openly admitted that she feels for Castiel like Sam does for Amelia-doomed feelings-in Season 8.

* FourthDateMarriage: [[spoiler:Cas undergoes a variation of this in Season 7, where after nearly a year of being "dead," he turns up amnesiac, calling himself "Emmanuel" and suddenly married to a woman named Daphne. Needless to say, the [[PutOnABus marriage doesn't last long]].]]

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler:In the Season 6 finale, he absorbs all the souls of Purgatory and declares himself the new God. This lasts all of one episode.]]

* GoodPowersBadPeople: [[spoiler:Once he starts working with Crowley.]]

* TheHero: [[spoiler: Can arguably be considered this for Season 10, as the final episodes of Season 10 make it clear that Sam and Dean are the BigBadDuumvirate of the season in their quest to get rid of the Mark of Cain. Castiel is barely involved in that plot, until the final episodes, where he has a confrontation with Dean after he sees how much the Mark of Cain has influenced Dean. He's also the only member of the main cast of that season who seems to have any sense of morality.]]

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: [[spoiler:In Seasons 6 and 7, re-angelified Castiel has taken a particularly nasty route to this, starting with a DealWithTheDevil, moving on to murder and betrayal, and then JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope with murder and MindRape of friends even before diving into WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity.]]
* HollywoodNerd: In his first appearance, he seems more interested in reading Bobby's book than actually, you know, fighting off an armed Bobby and Dean. In-universe, one of his nicknames is "nerd angel."

* HotGod: [[spoiler:Only in the Season 7 premiere. Castiel is acting as God and makes numerous appearances around the globe. One female parishioner describes him:]]

* HumanityEnsues: [[spoiler:For much of Season 9, Castiel was a human and exploring life as one.]]

* IAmWho: As Emmanuel.

* InnocentBlueEyes: Castiel's eyes can become rather piercing when he is giving someone (mostly an enemy or an opponent) the DeathGlare.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: [[spoiler:All throughout Season 6, in regards to the War in Heaven. To the point that he's working with ''Crowley'' of all people, trying to avert a re-triggered Apocalypse. Desperate to defeat Raphael in the civil war in Heaven, Castiel begins performing many morally questionable acts, not the least of which is allying with Crowley, and rapidly skipping several shades of grey. This ultimately culminates in the season finale, where he jumps right into VillainProtagonist territory when he absorbs all the souls of Purgatory and [[AGodAmI declares himself the new God]].]]

* KneelBeforeZod: [[spoiler:In the Season 6 finale, Castiel proclaims himself the new God, and demands that the heroes bow and profess their love to him. Season 7 opens with Bobby [[AintTooProudToBeg getting down on his knees]] and asking if that's good enough or if he wants "the whole forehead-to-the-carpet thing?" Castiel promptly decides it's pointless, since they're only doing it out of fear, and leaves to spread the word of his godhood.]]

* KnightTemplar: [[spoiler:What he becomes in Season 6, in regards to the war in Heaven.]]

* LudicrousGibs: [[spoiler:He has an unfortunate habit of imploding in season finales (and then getting brought back by God). In the sixth season finale, however, he does this to a terrified Raphael instead -- [[KarmicDeath who had done it to Castiel himself two finales ago]].]]

* NeverMyFault: This is emphasized in Seasons 6 through 7.
* NervesOfSteel: He is an angel after all.

** [[spoiler:His gulping down all of Purgatory's inhabitants inadvertently unleashes the nigh-unstoppable, [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal]] Leviathans onto Earth, not realizing that God created [[HellHolePrison Purgatory]] [[SealedEvilInACan just to keep them from eating the rest of His kids]]. Oops. Castiel eventually makes up for this (sorta) by helping to kill the Leviathans' boss, effectively derailing their EvilPlan, but he continues to feel guilty for what he did in Seasons 6 and 7.]]
** [[spoiler:His desire to be TheAtoner is effectively manipulated by Metatron in banishing all the angels from Heaven in the Season 8 finale.]]
** [[spoiler: Feeling overwhelmed by Amara's power, Castiel agrees to let Lucifer use his vessel, freeing Lucifer from the cage.]]

* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: He's gotten better.

* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:For most of Season 7, he was assumed dead by other characters, although he had actually been brought back (again), this time with [[AmnesiacDissonance amnesia]]. Dean stumbles into him in "The Born-Again Identity" and Castiel eventually remembers who he is.]]
* OddCouple: With Meg, who is a demon.

* OnlySaneEmployee: In Season 6. To another angel in "The Third Man":

* TheOphelia: [[spoiler:Castiel after he absorbs Sam's Lucifer-tainted memories in Season 7.]]
* OppositesAttract: With Meg. Castiel is an angel and Meg is a demon.

%%* PermaStubble: It adds to his rugged sexiness.

%%* PuppyDogEyes: Which he's ''very'' good at.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Twice subverted. He sacrifices himself in the fourth season finale to try to help stop the Apocalypse when he'd been BrainwashedAndCrazy into helping bring it on, but is resurrected by God in the next episode. ''Then'' he absorbs Purgatory's souls and goes all AGodAmI at the end of the sixth season finale, slaughtering those he deems as evil or disloyal to him, and seemingly gets killed from within by Leviathans right after he has a HeelRealization, only for it to later be revealed that he survived.]] Actually subverted and played with quite a bit when you think about it. [[spoiler: Castiel's first death technically is a straight Redemption Equals Death moment; he redeemed himself by dying for Free Will, and God resurrected him because Dean and Sam would need him later. The second time God resurrects him as a reward for his death against Lucifer. The third time, however, God resurrects him as a punishment because Redemption Doesn't Equal Death and he wanted Castiel to live and deal with what he had done rather than dying and getting out of it.]]

* SlasherSmile: [[spoiler:Oh boy. Happens twice in the premiere of Season 7, once before he starts a massacre, then again to show that, yes, Castiel is pretty much gone. Though it's implied in that first case -- and outright stated in the second -- that it was the Leviathans doing the smiling.]]

** [[{{Fanon}} "Cas"]] or "Cass"? Fandom overwhelmingly prefers "Cas," but the production materials (scripts, episode subtitles, etc.) suggest that "Cass" is canonical.

* TheSpock: To Dean's [[TheKirk Kirk]] and Sam's [[TheMcCoy [=McCoy=]]].
* SpockSpeak: Most of the time, but he starts acting more human as he gets more CharacterDevelopment.
* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:To Crowley in Season 6.]]

* SugarAndIcePersonality: After CharacterDevelopment kicks in.

* TortureTechnician: [[spoiler:He mercilessly tortures one of Eve's hybrids (off-screen) in the episode "Mommy Dearest" without even having the use of his powers, and manages to extract the necessary information in all of about five seconds. Then, in the Season 6 finale, it's revealed that he tortured Eleanor Visyak to death, indicating that he's an even better "interrogator" than Crowley. It's also implied that he was involved in torturing the monsters taken prisoner by himself and Crowley for information on Purgatory's whereabouts in the same season. In the Season 8 episode "Goodbye Stranger," we actually get to see him in action torturing demons for the location of the angel tablet, and it's ''brutal''.]]

* TraumaInducedAmnesia: [[spoiler:Castiel becomes an amnesiac]] in Season 7.

** With Dean. Debatable since when -- some fans will say right since the very beginning, others since Season 6 or the end of Season 7, and others since Season 8. [[spoiler:As of 15x18, TheyDo. [[AmbiguousSituation Well,]] [[DyingDeclarationOfLove kind]] [[BuryYourGays of]].]]
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: [[spoiler:After absorbing the Purgatory souls and the Leviathans.]]

** [[spoiler:After the averted Apocalypse and the deaths/imprisonments of the Archangels, Castiel finds himself going from a foot soldier (though one in charge of other angels like Uriel) to the acting "sheriff of Heaven," though he is challenged by Raphael, the only remaining Archangel.]]