#26 “Lucifer Rising”
In the season 4 finale, it was revealed that Azazel was been working on a plan to free Lucifer for more than 35 years, thus rewriting the entire mythology of the series. Here we examine all of the parts of his plan while trying to understand his true motives.
#25 St. Mary’s Cathedral – 1972
In 1972, Azazel possessed a priest at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Maryland after learning that it was the location of Lucifer’s cage.
#24 Azazel and Lucifer
It was also revealed that Azazel is Lucifer’s son and that he plans on freeing his father.
#23 The Final Seal
By “whispering” through the cracks in his cage, Lucifer revealed that in order to be freed, the 66 Seals must be broken, but Lilith is the only one who can break the final Seal. However, Azazel points out that Lilith is trapped somewhere.
#22 The Special Children
To help free Lucifer, Azazel is told that he will need to find special children. These will help in the ultimate plan of freeing Lilith to allow her to break the final Seal.
#21 Making Deals
After Azazel learns what he must do, he goes around making deals with women like Mary Winchester to let them have access to their eventual children.
#20 Blood in the Mouth
As payment for the deal Mary Winchester made, Azazel visited babies like Sam and spilled some of his demon blood into their mouths. Now we know this was part of a long-term plan to prepare one of these special children for the task of killing Lilith.
#19 Killing Jessica
Sam tried to live his own life, but Azazel knew Sam was important to freeing and killing Lilith to help break the final Seal, so Azazel killed Sam’s girlfriend Jessica just like he did with Sam’s mom in order to bring him back into the world of hunting.
#18 Trying to Steal the Colt
Throughout the first season Azazel tried to steal the Colt, not just because it could kill him, but because it was the key to unlocking the gate to Hell Lilith was trapped under.
#17 John Goes to Hell
Azazel uses Dean’s death to strike a deal with John Winchester to send him to Hell to save Dean’s life. This accomplishes several goals. The first is getting the Colt, the second is inspiring Dean with the notion of sacrifice which will ultimately help send Sam over the edge.
#16 Failure to Break the First Seal
In addition, sending John to Hell was part of the plan to try and break the first Seal by having Alastair tempt John to torture innocent souls. However, this attempt failed.
#15 The Contest
To help find someone to open the Devil’s Gate, Azazel gathered his special children to pit them against one another. The second part of this contest was to figure out which special child would be strong enough to help him achieve the ultimate goal of killing Lilith.
#14 Opening the Devil’s Gate
Though Azazel claimed Sam was his favorite, Jake killed him, which turned out to be the best possible scenario. Jake then opened the Devil’s Gate using the Colt.
#13 Freeing Lilith
Finally Azazel achieved the first step in his plan to free his father by getting the Devil’s Gate to open and freeing the demons inside, including Lilith.
#12 Killing Sam
Sam’s death was beneficial because it helped make him more willing to go over to the dark side and do what it takes to win. It also allowed a deal to be made with Dean.
#11 Dean’s Deal
To bring Sam back to life, Dean agreed to make a deal to go to Hell in exchange for bringing his brother back to life. This may have been a part of Azazel’s plan because, if he knew the attempt to have John break the first Seal in Hell failed, this gave him another way to break the first Seal and further push Sam to the dark side by having him blame himself for Dean going to Hell.
#10 Dean Goes to Hell
After one year, Dean was sent to Hell, achieving the dual purpose of helping to break the first Seal and pushing Sam deeper into Ruby’s arms.
#9 The First Seal
While in Hell, Dean couldn’t do what his father did, agreeing to come down and torture souls rather than be tortured himself. Alastair later revealed this was the first Seal to be broken. It was conceivably set into motion when Azazel sent John to Hell, not only trying to break the first Seal, but also putting the notion of sacrificing your soul for your family into Dean’s head.
#8 Ruby
In addition to Lilith, Ruby was another demon released from the Devil’s Gate. She spent two seasons growing closer to Sam, desperately trying to convince him that she was on his side, helping him to defeat Lilith.
#7 Drinking Demon Blood
After gaining Sam’s trust following Dean’s death, Ruby convinces Sam to drink her demon blood to help him gain strength to defeat Lilith.
#6 Breaking the 66 Seals
Also during the fourth season, the angels inform Dean that Lilith is attempting to break the 66 Seals, individual goals that help to unlock the cage Lucifer is trapped in. Excluding the first Seal Dean broke in Hell and the final one in “Lucifer Rising,” Lilith and her minions successfully broke the other 64 Seals during season 4.
#5 The Final Seal
Ruby revealed to Sam that Lilith is the only one who can break the final Seal because she was the first demon Lucifer ever created, the original demon on Earth. This explains why Azazel went to so much trouble to free her. What Ruby didn’t tell Sam was that Lilith is the only one who can break it because her death is the final Seal.
#4 Ruby’s Lies
In the final episode, Ruby revealed that she was secretly working with Lilith all along. Her entire relationship with Sam was a way to earn his trust, get him to drink demon blood, and push him into killing Lilith.
#3 St. Mary’s Cathedral – Present
The final Seal can only be broken at a specific place on a specific night, and that place is the same place where Lucifer is trapped.
#2 Killing Lilith
Though Dean tries to stop him, Ruby has guided Sam along and in the final episode, Sam successfully used his demonic powers to kill Lilith and break the final Seal, mirroring the way his brother was unwittingly responsible for breaking the first Seal.
#1 Lucifer Rising
As the season 4 finale came to a close, Lilith’s blood formed a circle and
opened the cage Lucifer was trapped in. A bright white light shined up as Sam
and Dean looked on at Lucifer’s rising.This only happened because Azazel
made deals to collect special children and steal the Colt to open the Devil’s
Gate to free Lilith so she could break the Seals and die to free Lucifer. The
season 4 finale, in other words, completely changed the meaning of the entire
show’s mythology.
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