Azazel

Azazel is a yellow-eyed demon, one of the Generals of Hell commanding the demon armies of Hell, and seemingly the only one still active by 2007. Azazel planned to bring his army of black-eyed demons forth from Hell to unleash upon the world in preparation for the Apocalypse. The demon Casey described him as a "tyrant" who nevertheless held the demon army together; without him, the army's disciplined nature dissolved into chaos and power struggles. He referred to two black-eyed demons in particular as his "children" - Meg and Tom.

Azazel became integral in Lucifer's plans to escape from his prison. Azazel kept faith in Lucifer (whom he referred to as his "Daddy" and "Padre") even after other demons gave up on his return, and continued to search for him for years, eventually discovering the site where Lucifer's Cage opened and how to contact him through it. On Lucifer's instructions, he created the Special Children. It is during this mission that he encounters Mary Campbell. After killing her parents and her fiancé John Winchester, he makes a deal with her that if she'll allow him entry to her home in ten years time, he'll bring John back to life. On the night Azazel visited Sam's nursery, he killed Mary Winchester when she discovered him, and set fire to the Winchester home. These actions caused John Winchester to pursue Azazel for the rest of his life, and Sam and Dean's lives were forever altered.

On November, 2nd 1983, the Yellow-Eyed Demon appears by Sam's crib. Mary Winchester sees him but assumes he is her husband and he lets her go, pretending to be so. However, Mary realizes John is asleep downstairs and returns to Sam's nursery, where the Yellow-Eyed Demon pins her to the ceiling, slices open her stomach. and sets her on fire. John witnesses her death, but the Yellow-Eyed Demon himself is gone by that time. John, Sam and Dean escape the house as it goes up in flames and John begins a quest for vengeance on the Yellow-Eyed Demon that draws him into the supernatural world.

Twenty-two years exactly after Mary's death, Sam's girlfriend Jessica Moore dies in the same way, apparently killed by the Yellow-Eyed Demon, driving Sam back into hunting in order to get revenge for her death.

In Home, after Sam gets a vision of a woman being attacked in their old home, he and Dean return to Lawrence, believing that the Yellow-Eyed Demon may be behind what is going on. Talking to psychic Missouri Mosely, Sam and Dean learn that she's not sure what killed their mother, just that it was powerful and evil. She also learns that what's attacking the house now is not the Yellow-Eyed Demon, but a poltergeist.

In Scarecrow, John Winchester contacts his sons and lets them know that what killed their mother was a demon, and that he is hunting it. John, however, refuses to let them join in the hunt, telling them that it is too dangerous.

After encountering Sam, the demon Meg contacts Azazel through the goblet of blood. The conversation is as follows:
"It makes no sense. I could've stopped Sam. Hell, I could've taken them both. Why let them go? (She pauses, seemingly listening to someone the audience cannot hear.) Yes. (She pauses again.) Yes. (She pauses one more time.) Yes, father."

In Nightmare, while talking with Max Miller, Sam learns that the Yellow-Eyed Demon killed Max's mother the same way he killed Mary, and realizes that they and their powers are somehow connected because of it.

In Shadow, after following Meg to a warehouse, Sam finds her having a conversation with someone through the goblet of blood:
"I don't think you should come. (...) Because the brothers, they're in town, I didn't know that- (...) Yes, sir. (...) Yes, I'll be here-waiting for you."

Sam and Dean realize that all the people who have been killed by the daevas have been people from Lawrence, Kansas and come to believe that it means that the Yellow-Eyed Demon is behind it and is in town. They call their father to let him know, but when they go after Meg, they learn that it was never the Yellow-Eyed Demon; it was just a trick to lure them and their father in so she could kill him. Sam and Dean manage to escape. After reuniting with their father, they learn that he is hunting the Yellow-Eyed Demon and trying to find a way to kill him, not just send him back to Hell. The trap the Yellow-Eyed Demon and Meg set up nearly works, but the three Winchesters ultimately escape.

In Dead Man's Blood, John enlists Sam and Dean's help in tracking down a gun known as the Colt and eventually reveals why: the gun is said to be able to kill anything and he believes it to be the key to finally killing the Yellow-Eyed Demon.

In Salvation, knowing the Winchesters have the Colt now, the Yellow-Eyed Demon sends Meg to kill their friends in order to draw them out and force them to give up the gun. Meanwhile, Sam, Dean, and John begin hunting for the Yellow-Eyed Demon together. John reveals that until about a year before, there had been no sign of the Yellow-Eyed Demon since he killed the families 22 years before. Now he has resurfaced and started going after families with infants on the night of the kid's six month birthday like he did with Sam. John has discovered demonic omens that appear in a town for the week leading up to the Yellow-Eyed Demon's appearance, and that these omens also appeared leading up to the deaths of Mary and Jessica. The signs point to him next appearing in Salvation, Iowa, so the Winchesters head there to find and kill him.

In Salvation, Sam locates the Yellow-Eyed Demon's next victims, the Holts, through a vision he gets. In the vision, the Yellow-Eyed Demon kills Rose Holt's mother Monica Holt. While John goes off to trade a fake gun to Meg and Tom to prevent more of the Winchesters' friends dying, Sam and Dean lie in wait outside the Holt house waiting for the Yellow-Eyed Demon to arrive. Finally, he does; just like in Sam's vision, he starts to pin Monica to the ceiling and kill her, when Sam bursts in and fires the Colt at him. The Yellow-Eyed Demon seemingly vanishes and the bullet misses. The demon still sets the house on fire, but Sam, Dean, and the family get out safely. Afterward, they see the Yellow-Eyed Demon watching them from the burning nursery window. Sam wants to go after him again, but Dean stops him, as the house is burning down and it's too dangerous; the Yellow-Eyed Demon soon disappears.

In Devil's Trap, the Yellow-Eyed Demon sends Meg to get the Colt from Sam and Dean, but she is exorcised with the help of Bobby Singer. With two of his demons holding John Winchester captive, the Yellow-Eyed Demon possesses the hunter in case Sam and Dean manage to rescue him, so he can get access to the Colt. Sam and Dean do rescue "John"; the Yellow-Eyed Demon is able to successfully pretend to be him, as he is immune to the holy water Sam tests him with. During the escape, the demon Tom attacks Sam and Dean kills him with the Colt in front of the Yellow-Eyed Demon.

At the secluded cabin Sam and Dean take "John" to, the Yellow-Eyed Demon keeps up the act, pretending that John is proud of what Dean did and then staging an attack on the cabin and asking for the Colt to defend them. However, Dean realizes that John would be pissed, not proud, that he used a bullet and that John is possessed. The Yellow-Eyed Demon tries to get Sam to help him, but Sam sides with Dean. The Yellow-Eyed Demon overpowers them both when Dean hesitates to shoot, pinning them both to the wall. The Yellow-Eyed Demon taunts Sam to use his psychic powers to break free and grab the Colt, but he can't. He plans to kill Dean for his own version of "justice", angry about Dean's having killed Tom and under the impression that Dean had also exorcised Meg, who were his "boy" and "daughter", respectively. Sam demands to know why - why kill Mom and Jess? "Because they got in the way.... In the way of plans for you, Sammy, and all the children like you." He taunts Dean, that the family doesn't need Dean, that Sam is John's favorite and that John doesn't have much concern for Dean. Dean taunts the Yellow-Eyed Demon, and he starts to tear Dean apart with his mind. Dean begs Dad not to kill him, and John manages to regain control for a moment, freeing Sam, who confronts Azazel with The Colt. The Yellow-Eyed Demon quickly reminds Sam that if he shoots him, he will kill John, too; Sam shoots him in the leg instead, wounding but not killing both the Yellow-Eyed Demon and John. Weakened, the Yellow-Eyed Demon again loses control to John, who urges Sam to kill him and the demon while he can still keep the demon inside. However, Sam hesitates too long and the Yellow-Eyed Demon soon manages to escape both John's body and the Winchesters, sinking through the cabin floor as demon smoke.

In My Time of Dying, with Dean dying from the wounds the Yellow-Eyed Demon gave him and the injuries sustained in a car crash caused by a demon-possessed trucker, John summons the Yellow-Eyed Demon, apparently to get revenge on him for what he did. The Yellow-Eyed Demon, possessing a hospital janitor, tries to trick John into leaving, but John knows it's him and points the Colt at him. Prepared for John to try to take revenge, the Yellow-Eyed Demon has brought along two other demons possessing hospital staff, but John reveals that he wants to make a deal instead. John offers the Yellow-Eyed Demon the Colt and its last bullet in exchange for the Yellow-Eyed Demon to save Dean's life. The Yellow-Eyed Demon is surprised that John is willing to make a deal with him. Although the Yellow-Eyed Demon wants Dean dead for what he has done to his children, he doesn't believe that Dean is a threat to him, and so considers the deal, as he wants the Colt badly. He asks if John knows what he has planned for Sam and John confirms it. The demon guesses that Sam himself doesn't know, and John's reaction confirms it. The Yellow-Eyed Demon decides to accept the deal, but tells John that first he has to "sweeten the pot" with something the Yellow-Eyed Demon wants just as much, if not more than, the Colt. John agrees on the condition that he gets to see that Dean is all right with his own eyes, as he doesn't trust that the Yellow-Eyed Demon would fulfill his part of the deal. As he is unable to save Dean's life on his own power, the Yellow-Eyed Demon has to possess the hospital reaper, Tessa, and use her powers to heal Dean's injuries and erase Dean's memories of his out-of-body experience. After seeing that Dean is all right, and passing on a warning to Dean in one last attempt to stop the Yellow-Eyed Demon's plans, John hands the Colt over to the demon. John's dead body, the last part of the deal, is later found by Sam.

In Everybody Loves a Clown, Sam and Dean have John's research on the Yellow-Eyed Demon, including the omens that appear when he is active, which is what John had used to track the demon. They lend these notes to Ash to use in tracking the Yellow-Eyed Demon. By the end of the episode, Ash has finished setting up a tracking system that will alert them if it detects signs of activity from the Yellow-Eyed Demon anywhere in the country.

In Simon Said, when confronting his recently discovered twin brother Weber, Andy Gallagher learns that Weber found out about his existence from "the man with the yellow eyes" in his dreams and that he had told Weber that he had big plans for them. After everything is over, Sam and Dean learn from Ash that Weber's mother didn't die in a house fire like Sam. This means that not all of the Yellow-Eyed Demon's Special Children can be tracked due to this unexpected discrepancy.

Dean learns from a crossroads demon of his father's deal with the Yellow-Eyed Demon in Crossroads Blues. It is revealed that John had had to sell the Yellow-Eyed his life and soul in addition to the Colt and its last original bullet to keep Dean from dying. As a result of the deal and his death, John's soul is now in Hell and suffering enormously at the hands of demons.

In Croatoan, to test Sam's immunity to the Croatoan virus, the Yellow-Eyed Demon has the town of River Grove, Oregon infected with the disease; Duane Tanner is possessed by a demon in order to keep an eye on the progress of the outbreak. Sam and Dean come to town after Sam gets a vision of Dean killing Duane. Sam is eventually infected by Nurse Pamela, but proves immune. The infected townspeople mysteriously disappear along with all traces of the virus, having been apparently cleaned up by demons after Sam proved immune. In order to report on the progress, Duane slits Sarge's throat and uses the goblet of blood to communicate with the Yellow-Eyed Demon:
"It's over, you'll be pleased. I don't think any more tests are necessary. (beat) The Winchester boy, definitely immune, as expected. (pause) Yes, of course. Nothing left behind."

Scott Carey, a young man with psychic powers in Hunted, has pictures of yellow eyes papering his closet. He reveals to a psychiatrist that a yellow-eyed man has been haunting his dreams and saying that there is a war coming; people like Scott will be soldiers in the coming war. Sam - who has begun looking for answers after finding out that John told Dean he will have to save Sam from becoming evil or kill him in order to foil the Yellow-Eyed Demon's plan - and another psychic named Ava Wilson learn of Scott's revelations from a recording of the session. Meanwhile, hunter Gordon Walker learns from a demon he tortured and exorcised about special people becoming soldiers in the coming war, fighting for the demons. Gordon thus begins hunting psychic kids to prevent this, killing Scott and trying to kill Sam and Ava. After Gordon is defeated, Sam and Dean check on Ava, only to find her missing, her fiancé dead, and sulfur at the window, indicating that either the Yellow-Eyed Demon or one of his minions has taken her.

After learning that a demon (Meg) is possessing Sam in Born Under a Bad Sign, Dean believes she is doing so under the Yellow-Eyed Demon's orders, but she reveals that she doesn't care about his plans anymore and only wants revenge for her exorcism.

In All Hell Breaks Loose Part 1, the Yellow-Eyed Demon has been kidnapping all of the Special Children over a series of months and dumping them in Cold Oak, South Dakota to fight to the death. Eventually he kidnaps Sam, Jake Talley, Andy Gallagher and Lily at the same time and leaves them to have their fight while Ava Wilson, the only survivor of the previous groups of children, is there waiting.

While Sam is asleep, the Yellow-Eyed Demon, back in the body of the janitor from the hospital, comes to him in his dreams to speak to him. The demon reveals that there are other generations of Special Children and that he has set up the death match as he only needs one of the children to survive. He explains that he already has his army and just needs one of the children to be the leader. He is talking to Sam because he wants Sam, his "favorite," to be that leader, as he thinks that Sam has the traits that would make him a good leader (namely, intelligence, skills, and training). Sam swears to kill Yellow Eyes, who indulgently encourages him to keep trying once he wakes up and wins the contest. The demon tells Sam that he killed Jessica to push Sam back into hunting to keep honing his "gifts", and that he killed Mary only because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Feeling "charitable," the Yellow-Eyed Demon shows Sam what really happened the night that Mary died: Yellow Eyes dripped demon blood into baby Sam's mouth, and Mary had interrupted them, so he killed her. To Sam's surprise, Mary recognized the Yellow-Eyed Demon in the nursery before he killed her, but the present version of the demon doesn't explain why. He uses his powers to make Sam wake up from the dream they are in so that Sam doesn't have to see Mary die.

After everyone else is killed, Jake reveals that the Yellow-Eyed Demon came to him in his sleep, too, and that the demon will only let one of them go or else kill them both. Jake kills Sam in order to escape himself so that he can find and kill the Yellow-Eyed Demon to avenge all of the Special Children.

In All Hell Breaks Loose Part 2, as Jake Talley is the last surviving Special Child, the Yellow-Eyed Demon comes to him in his dreams to get him to do what he wants, though he admits that Jake isn't the child he had expected or even wanted to win. Jake threatens to kill the demon, but he tells Jake that that is not easy to do and that others have tried. The Yellow-Eyed Demon tells Jake that he has a "laundry list" of things he wants Jake to do for him, and threatens Jake's family to make Jake comply. Needing Jake to open the devil's gate in Wyoming to release his demon army, the Yellow-Eyed Demon meets him in person at the edge of the giant devil's trap as he can't cross it. He gives Jake directions to the cemetery where the Gate is and the key to it: The Colt. When the Yellow-Eyed Demon reveals that The Colt can kill him, Jake is about to shoot him with it; the demon only mockingly pretends to be afraid before convincing Jake to do what he wants, with promises of luxury and power. Jake becomes corrupted by his powers and his eyes gleam yellow at one point, further demonstrating his connection to the Yellow-Eyed Demon.

After the gate is opened, demons break the 100 mile devil's trap surrounding the cemetery and Yellow Eyes is at last able to enter the cemetery himself. There, he confronts Dean, who is armed with The Colt. The Yellow-Eyed Demon easily disarms Dean and pins him to a headstone and pins the resurrected Sam to a tree. He taunts Dean about his deal, thanking him for bringing Sam back into play so that the demon can use Sam instead of Jake, and mocking Dean's willingness to sacrifice himself for his family. Relishing the kind-hearted Sam's cold-blooded murder of Jake, the Yellow-Eyed Demon cryptically hints that what came back wasn't "100% pure Sam". As the demon prepares to kill Dean with The Colt, the spirit of John Winchester escapes Hell through the devil's gate and pulls the demon from the body he is possessing. The demon fends off the attack from John's ghost, but when he reenters his body and goes to attack John, he realizes that Dean has retrieved The Colt. Dean shoots the Yellow-Eyed Demon in the heart with The Colt, killing him.

With the Yellow-Eyed Demon's death, John's ghost finds his peace and crosses over after sharing a moment with his sons. Dean and Sam stand over the body the Yellow-Eyed Demon had died in, both a little taken aback at having finally fulfilled the mission their father had raised them for. While Sam doesn't know what to say, Dean does, proclaiming, "That was for our mom, you son of a bitch."

In The Kids Are Alright, Ruby reveals that all of Mary Winchester's friends have been killed, presumably by the Yellow-Eyed Demon or demons working for him for an unknown reason. Sam checks this out and finds it to be true.

In Sin City, while trapped in a basement with Dean, the demon Casey tells him the Yellow-Eyed Demon's name was Azazel, and that he had been a "tyrant" in charge of the demon army he had Jake release. She explains that, with Azazel dead and Sam not taking up leadership of the army like Azazel had wanted, anarchy is breaking loose among the demons.

In In the Beginning, after being sent back to 1973 by Castiel, Dean learns that a demon is making deals with people for various things in exchange for permission to enter their houses in ten years. He realizes that it is Azazel, as the demon is described as having yellow eyes. In response, Dean goes after the Colt to kill Azazel in that time period in order to save his family and everyone Azazel will kill.

Possessing Dr. Brown, Azazel tells Liddy Walsh that her mother's cancer has metastasized, and starts to offer her a deal when a trio of hunters arrive and attack him; first, Samuel Campbell bursts in and shoots him. Azazel telekinetically disarms and then pins Samuel down, but when he goes to kill Samuel, he is next distracted by Mary Campbell, whose determination and ferocity get his appreciation. Finally, when Dean shows up with the Colt, Azazel, stunned by the Colt's sudden appearance, initially tries to use Mary as a human shield; when she escapes and Dean is about to shoot him, Azazel is forced to flee Dr. Brown's body to escape with his life. After Dean and Mary leave, Azazel returns to the room to possess Samuel, then interrogates Dean to see what he knows under the illusion of curiosity, learning that Dean is from the future and is Samuel's grandson through Mary.

When Dean reveals his plan to kill Azazel with the Colt, the demon reveals himself and incapacitates Dean before the latter can react. He explains that he is picking "ideal breeders" for his own "master race" and that "red tape" forces him to get the future parents' permission to enter their homes and feed their children demon blood in ten years. Having been impressed by her in their fight, he reveals that he has chosen Mary as one of these parents, calling her his "favorite". He can tell that Dean is not one of his psychic kids, but figures out that he has a sibling who is, and concludes that "it all worked out". To Dean's surprise, Azazel's endgame is much bigger than wanting one of the children to lead his demon army. Yet Azazel refuses to tell Dean what it is because he has figured out that Dean must have been sent by angels, and he doesn't want them to learn of his plan. Dean tells Azazel that he is the one who will kill him one day in the future. Enraged by the news, Azazel makes Samuel stab himself, fatally wounding him, just to spite Dean. He hears Deanna Campbell cry out at her husband's injury, and kills her by breaking her neck with his bare hands while she is trying to reach the Colt. He then leaves to go after Mary.

As John Winchester is about to propose to Mary, Azazel interrupts by bodily dragging Mary out of the car. When John tries to intervene to help Mary, Azazel breaks his neck to kill him as well. Azazel reveals to a shocked Mary that he, the demon from earlier, has killed her parents, too, and is now possessing her father's corpse. He offers Mary a deal: he'll resurrect John (but not her parents) if she gives him permission to enter her house in ten years, promising that if she doesn't interrupt him, no one will be harmed. Devastated and desperate to not be alone, Mary agrees. As Azazel seals the deal with a kiss, Dean arrives and tries to kill him with the Colt, but Azazel flees Samuel's body, leaving Samuel dead.

In the present, Castiel explains that Azazel covered his tracks well and that what Dean learned is all they know of his plans. The whole time travel experience was for Dean to learn what the angels knew about Azazel's plans, not to stop them.

In Yellow Fever, While Dean is succumbing to the ghost sickness, he briefly hallucinates Sam telling him that he wants him back in Hell and starting to strangle him. Sam's eyes turn yellow like Azazel's. Dean assumes that Sam is possessed, but Sam says that this is entirely him - or rather, what he is turning into. After Dean is cured of ghost sickness, he is about to tell Sam about his hallucinations when he suddenly sees Sam's eyes flicker yellow, and ends up lying to him instead.

In Lucifer Rising, in 1972 at St. Mary's Convent in Ilchester, Maryland, Azazel possesses a priest. As the priest starts to give mass, Azazel reveals that he has been searching for his father for years; after nearly giving up hope, he finally located the door to his father's Cage in the convent. He then slaughters all of the nuns in the convent and is able to speak to Lucifer through the body of one. Lucifer tells him that to free him, Azazel must free Lilith from Hell as she can break the 66 Seals. Azazel must also find a very special child.

Researching the convent after hearing that Lilith is going there to break the last seal, Sam finds out that the priest was arrested for the murders of the nuns. The priest had told everyone that he had been possessed by a demon, who was the one actually responsible for the murders, and that he remembered that the demon's name was Azazel. As it is too much to believe that it is coincidence, Sam and Ruby take Azazel's appearance at the convent in the past as a sign that Lilith will indeed break the seal there.

In The Devil You Know, while searching for Pestilence, with Crowley's help the Winchesters capture Brady; he's an old college friend of Sam's whom Azazel had possessed by a demon during Sam's sophomore year to keep an eye on him. Brady reveals that it was him and not Azazel who killed Jessica Moore in order to push Sam back into hunting, though he had done it on Azazel's orders.

In Swan Song, while possessing Sam, Lucifer brings in the demons Azazel has had watch over him for his entire life, including Sam's prom date and a teacher and a friend. Lucifer refers to them as "Azazel's gang", the demons he had been using to manipulate Sam his whole life. Lucifer proceeds to kill them to give Sam some revenge and to try to convince him over to his way of thinking.