#for example anna said angels cannot feel etc etc

[shallowseeker]

When sociologist Phil Obermiller taught me about “intragroup distinction,” that possibility seemed even more plausible. Despite its high-sounding tone, this sociological concept simply suggests that people who do not fit stereotypes popularly associated with their group find it easier to abandon the group rather than forge a more complete, inclusive and potentially constructive sense of self.

Mark Banker

[amwritingmeta]

Cas’ Deciding Moment in S13 (this is so Wild Spec)

Please, please, don’t read this if the idea of human!Cas in any way upsets you, okay? I’m not writing this post to anger or appall. This is entirely my own speculation regarding Cas’ arc this season, based in my own hopes for his character progression. I know how much we all love him, and I sincerely don’t want to get anyone in a slapping-faces-because-I-can’t-take-this-shit type of mood. You may slap me if you forego this plea and read this post and want to slap me. *perhaps this post is a ploy to get people to slap me* *shhhhh*

What I Hope Happens to Cas, in Some Narrative Shape or Form, in S13:

1. I hope we see, or it’s implied, that he’s faced with a choice in the Empty and that it’s his own choice to go back to Earth fully-fledged.

2. I hope this is the right choice made for the wrong reasons, meaning–

–to go fight a war –to raise Jack right –to protect the people he loves –Cas once more dresses himself as the weapon, believing, as ever, that his grace, his wings, his powers are the only things about him that will make him a force to be reckoned with –Cas still believing this is true makes returning fully-fledged a choice made for the wrong reasons –but it’s the right choice because Cas has to come back fully-fledged in order to finally gain perspective on what his grace, his wings, his powers really are, what they’ve always been: a yoke, something to hold him back and keep him in his place, a place he’s never chosen for himself, merely been duty bound to.

3. I hope, at some point this season, that fully-fledged, reset, BAMF Castiel is faced with this truth and that it’s delivered through a situational challenge–

–that situational challenge could be Cas being told to bow down to Heaven fully (a Heaven possibly under the new direction of the fanatical Michael, if he crosses over between worlds)  –in this situational challenge, Cas finds himself reminded of Naomi’s brainwashing, of her saying he came off the assembly line wrong, and finally he’ll begin to see his powers for what they really are: a weakness. –I hope that whatever the circumstances surrounding this situation is - hopefully one that is overtly dramatic and foreshadowed - they serve to lead Cas into doing what Anna did, that the circumstances lead to him cutting off his wings and choosing to become human, because he refuses to serve Heaven for another second.

(as he’s already in a vessel we’ll just forget about Anna falling from Heaven and being separated from her grace etc.) (I’d love for Cas’ humanity to be wholly an individual experience… but, again, not terribly fussed)

4. I hope human!Cas happens, and I hope he happens sooner than later, because to me it feels imperative to his character progression that he takes this leap and faces this oncoming war as a human.

This also makes sense to me where the narrative stakes are concerned –>

–> fully-fledged Cas poses a problem because he more or less negates the stakes (the brothers are never in peril of death when they can call out for Superman… sorry, for Cas and he appears) so to have him come back in order to guide Jack in how to open up the rift, for example, and have Cas with his angel mojo back, only to pull that safety rug out from under him in some way… oh it could be beautiful and so fitting for his individual arc.

5. It also gives me this immediate sense of balance because of the Battle of the Brothers angle, where - if we get human!Cas - Michael represents Heaven, Lucifer Hell and Cas Humanity, all three of these concepts knitted together in Jack, who is also the knitting point for TFW, while TFW - with human!Cas onboard - are completely equal for the first time ever (since there’s no cock blocker angel named Gadreel to put the power of Heaven in Sam).

But leaving that for another post.

6. I have a second scenario in mind, where Cas’ refusal to bow to Michael (because he’s powerful enough to do rip another angel’s wings off…) makes Michael do just that - tear off Cas’ wings - and tell him that if he loves man more than his family, he can live and die as a man.

Cas having the choice stripped off him, like it was stripped by Metatron, would serve as punishment for not learning his lessons and choosing to come back fully-fledged, his forced humanity enabling him to learn his final lessons so that he can reject an offer of his powers restored to him by the end of the series.

But I’d rather he makes the BAMF choice for himself now.

They could still have him grappling with it, with the enormity of it, but also show him embracing his new existence even more than he did in the previous human!Cas arc.

7. I love the idea of all this tying into Dean’s freak-out in 12x20, where he did not see Cas looking back at him. The way I see it, the guy he did see was Castiel, which was why he was so utterly freaked: all that growth reduced to nothingness and Cas, his Cas, gone. Dean saw this BAMF Angel of the Lord, who was reliably unreliable and came and went as he pleased, who was such an overwhelming, startling, breathtaking presence that Dean tried - and most often than not failed - to bring him down to Earth as his Cas was burned away. (wrong of course - all wrong wrong wrong) (but it’s an intriguing thread that they might be playing with here)

So, yeah, I think we’re getting Castiel back not only because it’s important he goes through this final stage before his transformation can actually be complete and his choice to become human feels fully informed by the shit-fest that is Heaven, but because Cas returning as BAMF Warrior of Heaven on a mission to protect Jack is going to throw Dean off completely. 

I mean, Dean won’t know what the fuck to do, right?

He’ll be so ecstatic to have Cas back and alive, and he IS Cas… and still, he isn’t. I can’t wait to see what they do with it!! It’s a remarkably effective way to slow the love story down, now that Dean is poised for self-examination and real fucking growth. If Cas had come back human then, yeah, the way that they’re truly going balls out with Destiel this season means it simply would not have worked. But if Cas is fully-fledged and becomes human by episode… idk, timelines are so fucking hard, but say by 13x12… 

Oh my God, the brain delights if we get that slow build between human!Cas and Dean. Like super slow. Like the human!Cas arc and all the innuendo and flirtation was like a blitz view of what they could be like if both were feeling somewhat on equal footing. 

And do you know what else it might mean, if this wild speculation is even in the ballpark of what is up ahead for Cas and Dean?

It might mean that they are building the love story from scratch, tying it back to the beginning for more callbacks than in 12x19, more callbacks that aren’t just spot-it-if-you-know-it, but that actually draws on that old amazingly taut chemistry between these two men, who are so alike and equally stubborn and omfg it could be glorious. Thelma and Louise moments, PLEASE, give us loads of Thelma and Louise moments. Awkward!Dean is my sweet cherry pie!! (and yours too I bet) (if you like sweet cherry) They would do this to ease the GA into the very real realness of how these two men are meant to be together.

I’ve said all this before, many many times, but I’ll say it again and again because goddamnit if this isn’t where this is headed. *hat-eatage*

Here’s what I see: 

I see them pushing Dean’s character progression so that, once Cas comes back, Dean is ready to relate to him differently. The fact that Cas has had a reset should, absolutely, give Dean pause, and Cas pause, too, but my hope is that Dean is way too far gone now to even start back peddling. He’s in love with Cas and he has, by some miracle, gotten Cas back, so Dean will try to, awkwardly, show his feelings. Dean wants to show this angel that he matters to him. And it’ll be tentative as all fuck, and it’ll be scary, too, but Dean won’t back down because, damnit, he lost Cas once and he cannot do it again.

((The strain on Dean of fully-fledged Cas fluttering in and out, though. Oh man. And will Cas start out with ties to Heaven again, or purely Jack?? What about that smiley angel who stood by his dead body on that table? What’s her play?? Will Cas’ possible ties to Heaven grow and solidify as the episodes roll by? Oh so much fun!! They can have so much fun with this!!))

I see them reliving Cas and Dean’s greatest hits, putting them face to face in long silent stares and Sam somewhere nearby clearing his throat. While Jack observes them, entranced and fascinated. And of course there’ll be head butting and I really really want protective!Dean, wether Cas is an angel or not, because Cas has died - every time except for one - as an angel, so his powers don’t exactly mean he’s invulnerable and the last time he damn near died for good so Cas can just stay behind him, thanks very much. Ohhhhh. PLEASE PLEASE. We want it! We all want it!!

Keep them together! Please. If it’s made sweet and irresistible and undeniable, the GA will be as enamoured with them as the rest of us have always been. And if they’re not - FUCK THEM. My God, Dean and Cas deserve this. They both deserve to be happy!! Together! But the deciding moment will be when Cas decides, for himself, to become human, and the beauty of the above setup is that even if we see Dean trying to show Cas how he feels, fully-fledged and utterly graced Cas will not be able to relate to Dean’s flirtation (I mean, hell, even very humanised Cas in S12 still squinted at Mandy flirting with him in the absolutely most audacious manner one can flirt with another person) and the love story won’t kick off before Cas is human.

And once he is human, well, then there’s the fear as an obstacle to overcome because, all of a sudden, the thought of a future together will seem very real. And possibly probably very, very, very scary. :P *crossing fingers and toes*

I so see positive endgame, my peeps. All the way!!

[wordsfromafangirl]

Supernatural’s Angels

I have been theorizing about angels. How have we seen them work in Supernatural? First of all, we know they need permission to possess a vessel. They have the ability to bury their human counterpart in some kind of dream-like state. They have the ability to “gank” the human soul within if they so choose. It’s been mentioned that some angels are not so kind to their human hosts, already destroying them once they have said yes, which would seem to negate the need to ask for permission, but I would think that’s just a luck of the draw, I suppose? It would also seem as if Jimmy was not shielded from what happened to him when Cas first possessed him. He explained to Sam and Dean how it felt being shot, stabbed and I think there was something about it feeling like a thousand suns burning inside of you. (??) We’ve also seen that some human souls cannot accept the angel even if they say yes. So not all humans can be a vessel for an angel. We also see permission be negated through archangels like how Sam having struggled against Lucifer and Gadreel then now Dean struggling against Michael.

Exhibit A: Anna.

She ripped her grace from within and fell to Earth. She was then born into a human family, hidden from Heaven it would seem until the seals were breaking. We see that apparently she’s always had a connection to Heaven through angel radio driving the human Anna to the brink. However, that’s the angel breaking to the surface without her grace? Right? Or did I miss that? I thought she was regaining memory before she got her grace back, thus making the grace a part of the angel that only supplies them powers. The healing, the strength etc. It’s been insinuated that if an angel falls from Heaven (except in Lucifer’s case apparently, he was fallen but not without Heaven’s power, did they trick him into the cage, yes, but he never became human until that one time partially...ugh whatever) but I digress. It’s been insinuated that angels will be disconnected from Heaven, especially if they fall entirely (see Cas in The End 5x04). I think Anna only put herself on “mute” if you will. Though, it begs the question if Anna had lived as a human, no grace, no Heaven, would she have molded a soul? Giving her access to Heaven or is she still property to the Empty? She plucked out her grace, it created life (a tree), then plummeted herself to Earth and ended up reborn to a human family. This means that grace and the angel are separate? If the angel so chooses? There are weapons that can trap the angel entirely, holy fire and the egg later on (now destroyed), and it also seems the only weapon that can put them down is the Angel Blade. Therefore, the blade destroys an angel entirely.  Or a strong enough demon like Alastair, who almost overpowered Cas in 4x16 until Sam showed up.

For me, it always seemed like a separate thing. There is the grace and a mind of the angel. And if an angel stays human long enough I would like to think it can mold a soul thus gaining access to Heaven like a human.

Exhibit B: Gabriel (an archangel turned Trickster) + other angels

He apparently went to a Russian shaman of sorts for this hiding trick, partially giving up some grace (but not his mind or how he thinks right?). He is still an archangel, but he made himself into a trickster. Was he still using archangel powers? Well, according to Cas in Changing Channels the whole TV land thing was way too powerful, so that must be archangel juice? However, suffice to say Gabriel has been detached from Heaven for far too long? He’s created a persona of the Trickster that as Sam said is into, “wine, women, song, so he wouldn’t want to see the world ended.” I just think there is a difference. Grace is just Heaven’s power, but there is a mind behind the angel because if there isn’t then how would an angel perceive trauma (Cas who also experienced much trauma)? Like for example, Gabriel after being tortured by Asmodeus. Certainly feeling weakened, though, he still had grace, but being physically and mentally abused. He suffered a trauma that again made him walk away from helping the Winchesters. Balthazar before Cas not in his right mind so cruelly ended him, is similar to Gabriel. Hiding out, still tapped into Heaven, turning angel radio on and off, eventually trying to help Cas with his plight in s6 and then the Winchesters, but he still had his own “little corner of the world mapped out” like Gabriel. Sick of Heaven’s shit and they just hid. Maybe not always hidden well. These two though did not decide to “fall” like Anna, therefore I don't think they’d ever have the chance to mold a human soul as she could. Think of Gadreel’s buddy who decided it was best to stick with that human family. He felt right in that body because he actually changed the father. The father was no longer a “bad” man, but he was something better due to the angel and the angel felt he was giving happiness to the mother and daughter. If he gives up his grace he becomes human. But does the personality that seems to be there go too? Anael also fits into this category as a Faith Healer still connected to Heaven by her grace, what does she become if she loses that grace? A human right? Michael insinuated that what she was feeling about her place in the world was human things. So as an angel she tries to comprehend human things, but the body/vessel is not human until the grace is gone. Grace can be taken and stored. Or it can be destroyed (an angel blade). Even Hannah explores what she perceives as human things through Cas. The show I think showing us that she may have developed some sort of angel-like affection towards Cas. But she never actually felt anything truly human until the husband of her vessel found his wife. She then decides to let her vessel go. We see Hannah later in a male vessel sort of saving Castiel from other angels. Hannah seems to treat the human souls gently. Possibly burying them in a dream, but I think the love of the original vessel was so strong it made her want to give back that love to the humans. 

Exhibit C: (totally didn’t intend this but cool) Castiel

We learn through Castiel that angels can be damaged by using “other angel’s grace.” Cas’s body or his mind was being torn apart the longer he used different grace to sustain himself. Then like a drug addict he simply ruined his human body. If Cas never stole grace he’d simply go on as Steve, right? Yes, the meat suit still looks like Jimmy Novak, but Castiel (what part of him?) experienced life like a human. A life he thought he understood, but no, he did not. He tells this to Dean. He cannot fathom it and so due to him most of the fallen angels Castiel unwittingly put on Earth, would not be able to fathom it as well, hence that whole plot with Ephram. He was feeling Castiel’s human pain. All of this makes me think, Cas’s mind or personality must still be connected to Heaven because as a strategist he saw fit to cloak himself with a tattoo? Reapers found him so easily and so did angels. How? They put him on Heaven’s most wanted list, angel or not? The advantage being he was in a perceived weakened state, being human and all? This also brings up another question, was Anna still on Heaven’s radar even as they allowed her to live as a human? Meaning no matter what they are still property of the Empty (hence human Cas does not mean a way for him to skirt the deal). Or can it?

I also must mention Naomi. It seemed her job along with a few others was to wrangle the masses. Or brainwash. She would tap into angel’s minds and tweak them to do Heaven’s will. Which is something I think looms over all the angels as they start to think of doubting orders from above? If they head towards doubt they must be punished (Cas was ripped back to Heaven in s4). Naomi is one of those angels that fixes the imperfections. The angels don't remember this happens to them but they can break the connection (Cas season 8). Some even defer entirely like Uriel and join Lucifer’s side but Uriel was not disconnected from Heaven’s power because of his deferment. This kinda insinuates angels can practice free will like a human, but if angel’s like Naomi continue to “fix the molds” then they cannot continue down that path of doubt unless you do like Anna. Rip the grace and become reborn. Castiel’s grace depleted in s5 ever so slowly, like taking a chisel to it. I don’t think until his decisions to help in Point of No Return 5x18 does Castiel truly begin his fall. We know that by the time Pestilence is on the scene, Castiel is losing his connection to Heaven. Though, he has just enough strength to cut off his finger from that point on we get the ever so awesome shot of Castiel with a shot gun (The Devil You Know 5x20). 

Okay, so I don't doubt that angels are still celestial energies (a ball of blue light, six lion heads whatever you picture) but I don't think grace = the angel. The angels that Cas stole from I think die because most often an angel blade is used to take the grace, the only weapon that can take the grace, I think. Nothing else makes the grace show within the vessel. But if the vessel is healed without the human soul, what happens? The angels that fell from Heaven when Metatron did his crap, did they fall with grace still intact (just no wings)? I think so. Cas did not. Metatron forced him to return as human. Anna chooses to fall without grace as well. It seems an angel can take over the body without grace? So are they separate, grace and the angel? But even then, if they are perceived as human are they still angel enough to be the Empty’s property?