#I wrote this because I saw Castiel charging at Michael with the angel cuffs with no plan

[kerryweaverlesbian]

No offense to people who interpret Cas as a great tactician. but I dont think that's true. Certainly not past Godstiel at the very least. He acts decisively but often reactively. His time 'leading' the angels on Earth he was clearly a figurehead for Hannah to actually get shit done. He takes command because no one else will not because he is good at it. He ruled those angels with fear - Hannah insists that only Castiel is allowed to "punish" angels, and then she tells him he should "punish" Dean by murdering him as proof of his devotion to the cause - and even before that with the civil war, none of even his closest allies knew his real plans and he kept pretending he was off with the Winchesters to meet with Crowley, so most of them resented his friends, his plan was just to amass personal power until he can brute force destroy Raphael, which is almost always his plan.

Whenever literally any character suggests to Cas "we should take any sort of action towards solving this problem" even if they are DEEPLY untrustworthy and Cas KNOWS this, he will take them up on it. Crowley. Metatron. Lucifer. Many, many more smaller characters who change Castiel's course of action over pretty much a single conversation as long as they don't actively murder someone right in front of him.

This is a writing convenience for plot to happen. As is Castiel's "I need to leave immediately to solve this problem offscreen 👋 ", but they both happen so frequently that it is unassailably part of his core character. Castiel believes firmly that he should be able to solve this stuff on his own, and he can't, and if he was good at tactics he would rely on the strengths and expertise of his team members. But he doesn't.

This isn't a diss on Cas, I think it's a charming character trait to run headfirst into the fray with no plan because he knows that not taking action when you know something bad is happening is Wrong, but he's often at a loss as to what the Right action would be, so when someone makes a suggestion he's like yes!! Action!!! Good!!!!

(PS Hannah was the ONLY angel to successfully stabilise Heaven's factions as a ruler. Because she rocks. Cast Hannah as your tactics guy and Castiel as her puppet ruler whom she easily (and earnestly) manipulates towards good causes. Cas is a...I was going to say good moral compass but I also don't think that's true. He's an okay moral compass that sometimes wildly spins around to point at south west instead of north. He is a good moral compass for angels, at least. Baby's first moral compass.)