#castiel is the catalyst

[souporsaladnatural]

underrated insane line of all time is when dean says

"I used to be able to just shake this stuff off, whatever it was. Might take me some time, but I always could. What cas did... I just cant I dont know why"

like girl WHAT

Why is this different. Why does he not UNDERSTAND why its different. I mean he's been betrayed. He's watched friends die. If its just that he's upset at the betrayal and subsequent death of a friend, why would he struggle to understand that? I mean surely if its that simple it'd be pretty fuckin obvious. So I ask again, why. Is. This. Different.

sera gamble i am in your walls with a gun to your head

[whyissupernaturaltrending]

August 23, 2023 - You thought the rogue translator chapter ended in 2020? Try again.

On November 24, 2020, the Spanish dub came out and the chaos it brought literally shut Tumblr down for a while [x]. All because of Dean's line "y yo a ti", which reciprocated Castiel's love confession.

Almost three years later, on August 19, 2023, a Tumblr user posted that she had managed to contact the Rougue Translator who had stated that whilst he didn't remember it completely, if the translation had had the line of reciprocation, it must've been in the script as he wouldn't have added it otherwise. The OP stated that she is still trying to track down the dub director [x] [x]. Whilst not otherwise confirmed and seemingly in opposition to previous information, this brought back the speculations and the memories from the insanity of November 2020 [x].

As the original post is a couple days old, it's possible that the news just hasn't spread until now. Alternatively, the catalyst for the trend could be completely unrelated - the landing of an Indian lunar probe on the Moon earlier today [x] [x]. This was naturally announced on Tumblr with the Destiel meme, and the result can be seen on the trending page [x] [x]. Even if this news didn't directly cause the trend, it definitely helped.

[destieltropecollection]

Destiel Trope Collection 2024 | Day 12: Fake Dating

When You're Lyin' Here in My Arms | @nickelkeep Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 7,240 Main Tags/Warnings: Modern AU, Idiots to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Everyone Thinks They're Together Summary: Cas' twin sibling Hannah is getting married. No big deal, right? But when the invite comes asking who his plus one is, well... Cas knows that it's not a good sign. In a panic, he asks his life-long best friend Dean to pretend to be his boyfriend. There's no way that can go wrong... Right?

A family affair | @milfdean4dilfcas Rating: Explicit Word Count: 7,332 Main Tags/Warnings: idiots in love, fake/pretend relationship, light angst, pining, Post-Episode AU: s15e18 Despair (Supernatural), the finale does not exist in this house, toddler jack kline, Parent Dean Winchester, Parent Castiel (Supernatural), Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester, Dom/sub Undertones, the smut is in the last chapter Summary: When the preschool director mistakes them for a couple, Dean and Cas decide to play along to avoid awkwardness. As they pretend to be a loving pair, they're forced to navigate the challenges of hiding their true feelings from each other. But as they fake romantic gestures and affection, the lines between reality and fantasy start to blur. Will their fake relationship become the catalyst for real feelings, or will it drive them further apart?

Welcome to Pit & Paradise | @seidenapfel Rating: Mature Word Count: 11,193 Main Tags/Warnings: Canon Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, The Empty deal never happened, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Case Fic, Idiots in Love, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Sharing a Bed, Coming Out, First Kiss, First Time, Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester Summary: When Claire calls, asking for help to hunt a shifter in an LGBT+ resort, Dean and Cas suddenly find themselves as husbands on their honeymoon. Forced to play a couple, Dean and Cas both have to face their hidden dreams and feelings. It’s all fake, or isn’t it?

The Exception to Every Rule | @mittensmorgul Rating: Mature Word Count: 58,784 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Actor Dean, Bodyguard Castiel, Stalking, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers, Sharing a Bed Summary: When Sam was accepted to Stanford, he finally convinced Dean to move to Los Angeles to pursue his acting dreams after sacrificing for four years to support Sam throughout high school. Dean never imagined landing the starring role in a Hollywood blockbuster film franchise, but in just two years he’d gone from obscurity on the Lawrence Community Theater stage to become one of the fastest rising stars in the country. He's adapting pretty well to this new life in the spotlight-- until one unhealthily obsessed fan prompts Dean’s agent to hire a specialist from Seraphim Security to watch over him. Enter Castiel, one of Seraphim’s newest “Angels,” and the only one available to take on Dean’s case a week before Christmas. With Dean’s life on the line, Castiel does his best to maintain a professional distance, but with every passing day they’re both finding themselves making more and more exceptions to their rules.

A Crash Course in Computer Safety | @debatchery Rating: Explicit Word Count: 85,269 Main Tags/Warnings: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Slow Burn, CIA!Cas, nerd!Dean Summary: On the day of his 29th birthday, Dean receives an email from his old nemesis: Michael Milton, the guy who got him kicked out of college and stole his girlfriend. The email contains encoded images with top secret CIA/NSA intelligence – and now their only copy is in Dean’s brain. Both agencies send their best operatives – Castiel Novak and Victor Henriksen respectively – to handle their accidental asset and protect the invaluable data in his head. To justify their sudden appearance in Dean’s life, they adopt covers: Victor as Dean’s new co-worker and neighbor, Cas as his new boyfriend. Needless to say, Dean’s brother and his girlfriend are thrilled to see him in a relationship they believe to be real. Clearly, there’s no way this could go wrong. (NBC’s Chuck AU).

[unhinged-jackles]

Rewatching 4x18: The Monster at the End of This Book and it is absolutely fucking insane with the context of season 15.

Like first of all, the title. It's the episode where Chuck is introduced and we all know now how he is God and was the final big bad the boys had to defeat. I know it's a bit iffy if it was always planned for Chuck to be God but coincidence or not, what a lovely parallel.

But more than anything else, throughout the entire episode Dean is desperately trying to break free of the narrative, of Chuck's visions. Sam doesn't give a flying fuck but that's a whole different can of worms.

The only thing that allows Dean to do that is Castiel. Cas chooses free will when he chooses to tell Dean that archangels are tied to prophets in order to help him help Sam. When Dean goes to get Chuck, Chuck says,

"What are you doing here? I didn't write this."

Which takes place only a couple of scenes after Cas tells Dean that a prophet's visions can't be changed.

"As he has seen it, so it shall come to pass."

Castiel defied the word of a God with one single decision.

Cas choosing free will is the catalyst, and will always continue to be. Look at what Chuck said to Castiel in 15x17: Unity,

"You know what every other version of you did after 'gripping him tight and raising him from perdition?' They did what they were told. But not you. Not the 'one off the line with a crack in his chassis.'"

Cas has always been the one thing that Chuck couldn't control, even from the moment we first met Chuck way back in season 4, and that fact alone makes me fucking feral.

[thevioletcaptain]

Day two of the @spnficrecfest is all about kink!

Given that Dean has several established kinks in canon, I've decided to list one fic for each! Which kinks in particular? I'm talking cowboys, tentacles, satiny panties, doctors, and being dominated by his partners -- whether that means being slapped around, or just being given some sexy rules to follow.

Some of these fics are set in the canon universe and some are AU, but all of them feature or explore some aspect of one of Dean's canonically established kinks. Enjoy!

boy leave your boots by the bed by an_ardent_rain Explicit | 9.8k | 🤠

I've had this fic on my to-read list since it was published last September, and I'm so mad at myself for leaving it so long. It's post-canon, set in the open-world Heaven 2.0 that Jack and Cas made, and Dean's cowboy kink not only features heavily throughout, it also serves a catalyst for change in Dean and Cas' relationship. It's hot and sweet in equal measure, and just a really beautifully written fic.

Dean and Castiel's Lagoon of Love by almaasi Explicit | 12.5k | 🐙

This one is described by the author as "Tentacle Porn For People Who Don't Usually Enjoy Tentacle Porn." While I can't speak to how true that might be, this enjoyer of tentacles had a great time. Set in an alternate canon where Cas remained human, the fic opens with Team Free Will arriving back at the bunker after a witch turned Cas into an octopus from the waist down. Dean's desire to have him act out the story of "Sweet Princess Asuka Meets the Tentacles of Pleasure" cannot be repressed, and Cas is more than willing to play along. Just normal boy bestie things!

Satin and Sawdust by Ltleflrt Explicit | 159k | 🩲

If you haven't already read Satin and Sawdust, let this be the day you check it out -- and if you have already read it, here's a sign that it's time to read it again. For the uninitiated, this AU is a rare treat in which Cas is the one having a sexuality crisis, all thanks to his neighbor (and handyman) Dean, whose low-riding waistband and extensive collection of lacy underwear is rapidly driving him out of his mind. It's been a while since I read this fic, but I was just thinking of it earlier this week, so it's definitely time to dive back in. (Side note, the fact that I can't change the color of the underwear emoji is an attack on my freedom of expression or whatever.)

Gimme the News by robotsnchicks Explicit | 1.9k | 🥼

This AU oneshot leans into Dean's medical kink, as he goes to see Doctor!Cas about a potentially "lost" sex toy, and requests a thorough examination. It's tightly written, packing plenty into 1,960 words, and also has some really great characterization -- from Dean's blend of humor and horniness to Cas' exasperation... and horniness. If you're worried about potential dubcon, check the author's end notes for some spoilers left out of the main fic tags :)

dying to let you know by bisexualsage Explicit | 4.7k | 🙇‍♂️

One of my absolute favorite things is when authors use kink as a vehicle for character exploration, and this established relationship post-canon ficlet delivers -- digging into why both Dean and Cas enjoy the dynamics they've found themselves playing out in the bedroom. This fic does have a dash of daddy kink, so beware of that if it's a squick!

Check under the cut for links to all of the rec lists I make for this fest! I'll update with new links as I post them :)

Day One - Purgatory Era Day Two - Dean's Canon Kinks Day Three - Long Fics Day Four - Alternate Universes Day Five - Rare Pairs Day Six - Case Fics Day Seven - Tropes Day Eight - Gen Fics Day Nine - Vintage Fics Day Ten - Coda Fics Day Eleven - Mystery List

[its-alittleobsessed]

Castiel’s death as a catalyst for deans progressive gayness.

[lol-jackles]

Usually, one wonders what you think are the best episodes of SPN. Instead I wanted to ask you what do you think are the worst episodes. Thank you.

Easy, the worst episode is 10x09, introduction of a character that NOBODY asked for, Claire Novak. Even worse, they wasted the mid-season finale on her, a character that NOBODY asked for. No surprise that showrunner Jeremy Carver was tote on board because Claire was his creation in season 4, meaning he would get paid residuals every time his character shows up on screen.

This youtuber's reaction sums up my anti-Claire Novack feeling even though Kathryn is playing a different character: “I swear to God this girl through the entire movie makes me feel like placing my forehead against her forehead and having my forehead absorb her brain for the empty calories because it’s not like she’s using it anyways.”

The other worst episode was 6x20, “The Man Who Would Be King”, a Castiel centric episode that should be taught in screenwriting class on the wrong way of using flashbacks to retcon and salvage a character instead of adding to the plot.

There should be only one reason for flashbacks, the character has a backstory that matters to the main plot and moves the plot.  Even then, it’s not a good enough reason for flashback to be worthwhile unless it has enough information to be important.  After that, the flashback must be a plot catalyst for a plot revelation that jumps the character’s arc into higher gear than ever before.

Now did any of Cas’s flashbacks do that in Supernatural?  Be honest now, this is a safe space. NO IT DIDN’T. The episode was literally telling the audience that Cas is a swell guy through Cas’s narration.  Worse, his backstory was used for padding instead of progression because it wasn’t integral to the narrative.  None of Cas’s flashback offer new information other than making look Cas worse, like confirming that he took Sam out of the Cage and despite knowing something was wrong with Sam, took no further action to rectify the situation.

Most of the appeal of Cas’s story is the subtext.  The moment TMWWBK brought his backstory into the clear light of dramatized narrative, it cease to be subtext and instead it became blatant and on the nose.  It lost more than half its power.   Cas’s main story was sacrificed to a needless exploration of a backstory that could have been revealed with more power and precision without the flashbacks.  Flashbacks should be earned, just as any plot development is earned.

Writers need to always ask if the fun of dramatizing the backstory is worth the subtlety and mystery they lose in the main story.  Edlund turned Castiel into a charisma-vacuum character.

I think Misha and Edlund knew the main audience will turn against Cas when he breaks Sam’s mind in the finale two episodes later and why they (or maybe just Misha) campaigned hard to have a Cas-centric episode before the finale to excuse explain Cas’s actions.  Except I don’t think it worked since most Cas stans don’t refer to TMWWBK to defend Cas.

ETA: correction on the episode number for 10x09

[casdeanism]

I’ve been thinking about MOC Dean realising his feelings for Cas.

Or well, he doesn’t realise them. But he feels it. Every time he sees that angel the emotions in him get a bit more overwhelming and it’s irritating because granted MOC Dean is a lot more incapable of understanding his emotions than normal Dean would be. So, these emotions find their natural catalyst: anger and violence. It’s all he feels when he beats Castiel and almost kills him, this blind rage, burning hot and all consuming. The Mark is happy about this outlet but deep inside he knows that when the angel pleads with him, he can’t kill him. So he doesn’t. It’s when he’s cured of the MOC that he realises all these built up emotions in that time are love, that he’s in love with his best friend and it’s during this time that they truly came to show. It’s also at the same time that he realises he can never let Cas know about his feelings. Dean thinks about the times he has hurt his best friend in the past few months alone, thinks about the disappointment in Castiel’s eyes when he saw the Mark on his arm. He thinks about how he made his friend beg, and how amidst all that begging he could see some resigned acceptance to his fate, as if Dean killing Cas is what the angel thought would happen all along. His love is destructive, so he keeps quiet. He protects his best friend. So imagine the irony when multiple years later, after having gone through more hardships than any of them ever thought they could still go through, his very best friend tells him that he is in love with him as well, but his love is now used as something to save and heal. It’s the very thing Dean’s feelings could never do for Cas. And he doesn’t forgive himself for that.

[fandom-hoarder]

AND ANOTHER THING when it comes to Sam always being held responsible for the seals:

When Dean is taken back to 1973, and he's on the way over to steal the Colt, Cas gives him a cryptic warning: (the page isn't letting me copy/paste, so no ID sorry)

Dean has to choose between saving other people or saving his family, and because he chooses his family, he dooms them. 👀👀👀👀

It's all of their combined choices -- most of which are based on supernatural manipulation -- that let Lucifer out.

Castiel tells him in the beginning of the ep that time is fluid and can be bent. But this also has the connotation that the timeline will flow no matter what. The same thing will happen. So maybe Dean was always a part of this, because time is fluid to angels. Maybe they had to use him as a catalyst, because they couldn't allow demons to know angels were involved in this plan. Because it's a Heaven plan all along.

[quietwingsinthesky]

your investement in the Castiel/Raphael au got me invested, tell me more

Okay, okay, okay so. To understand my thought process on this, you must understand that the thing that peeved me off the most about spn’s writing and what I think did the greatest disservice to Castiel’s character, is that there are no angel characters who really reoccur over a couple seasons. (Ideally, to me, some of them would have stuck around the whole time but eh, pipe dream.) Or, hell, not even reoccurring but fuck, why does Cas never mention anyone? Yes, he gets scenes where he’s sad about his siblings/his species being destroyed as a whole, but as an audience, him putting a face to that, or many, and mourning them specifically? That would have done a lot.

So, okay, I am perpetually upset at spn tossing out all its interesting angel stuff and by the end, them basically being kill on sight monsters with zero nuance and Cas being ‘the exception’ to that, the one who was ‘too broken to be an angel anyway’.

This is why Raphael should survive the Godstiel arc. Not even that they don’t die, I do think Cas should kill them. I just think they should be brought back with him, too. Leave it ambiguous who brought them back, because of course they won’t believe it was God, God is dead, but who else could it be? Cas with the remnants of his Godstiel powers?

But to have them cohabitating together without knowing what they’ve done to each other… Like, if you thought Dean was jarred by walking in to see Cas married to a random lady, imagine him getting to that house and seeing Raphael. Seeing Raphael & Cas exchanging inside jokes, talking about how they picked names for each other when they couldn’t remember their own, and just being generally affectionate. (Also, personally, for me? Raphael being like v explicitly genderless, that not being something that goes away when they think they’re human, and Dean just having to Deal With That with his whole gender issues thing.)

And then the fucking devastation of that being torn down when they remember who they are. That they’ve been at each other’s throats for years. That the whole reason so much awful shit happened is because neither of them would back down, neither of them could, and it was Heaven and their siblings that paid the cost no matter how much they both originally intended to protect them.

And for Raphael to still stay with Castiel when they see him absorb the Cage trauma off of Sam like… gosh… the double whammy of them maybe seeing too much of Lucifer in him for a moment, corrupted by the Mark and his time in Hell and someone Raphael could never have healed but why wouldn’t they take the brunt of the guilt for failing… and then also like. This is Castiel. He is the biggest thorn in their side Ever. But he needs help. And the only other person offering to stay with him when he needs it most is a demon. (Some of its got to be a bit of a pride thing. You think Raphael is going to leave their brother to be nursed by a demon?? Absolutely not.)

It’s the lingering affection of their amnesia. The looming anger of their past. The guilt that weighs on them both for how far their war went and how much damage they can’t undo.

And if they make it through this, things would obv change a whole lot. For one… Raphael purgatory jailbreak anyone? Alsjfhflshkf I’m joking but also like. God, the image of Raphael saving Cas from Purgatory (and maybe just Cas, too, because they still don’t even like Dean alsjfjksjfk sorry bud it’s alright you get to have gay vampire sex). Purgatory, the catalyst for how bad shit got. And Cas is trying to hide there and be punished but also, in a way, hide from having to face what he did, having to look heaven and other angels in the eyes. Raphael stomping in there, slaughtering a fuckton of Leviathan trying to get a bite of Cas, and dragging him out kicking and screaming like! ‘No! You don’t get to wallow! We made this mess! If I have to live with it, you have to live with it!’

Anyway, I also wrote a little ficlet for their hospital time as a proof of concept? I think it came out okay. If you’d like to see.

The bed at the hospital is only built for one person.

It’s such a small detail to focus on, but for the past few months, Raphael has slept with Castiel next to them, back to back like they were expecting an attack even while they were unconscious. Now, Castiel has a bed that only he fits in, and Raphael does not sleep.

It was a bad day. They pass their hand over Castiel’s forehead and feel the tremble that upsets his vessel, the sweat cooling on his brow. He doesn’t scream, but he hasn’t, not for some time. He stews in silence. He tells Raphael what he sees or hears, though sometimes all he gives them is a description of the room itself, like he’s not sure if even that’s real and he needs them to confirm it. He trusts them to help him construct his reality. 

Raphael is a doctor who is more used to losing patients than to saving them. A mechanic who never manages to iron out the last few problems before the car swerves off the road. An archangel who could not hold Heaven together.

They are not someone Castiel should put his faith in. They haven’t earned it, but they are here. That’s more than can be said for a lot of beings, including his beloved Winchesters. Raphael stayed. 

It’s what they know.

Castiel’s hand shoots up and grabs their wrist. They still, the tips of their fingers just barely behind his hairline. He squeezes their wrist, once, twice, and his eyes open. His breathing is disordered. He’s not looking at them.

He called them Lucifer twice, once afraid and once exhausted. Then, later, Anna, three times. Balthazar, five. Uriel, eight. He always figures out that they aren’t his ghosts in the end and apologizes.

“Raphael,” he calls them tonight, or not exactly because his vessel’s vocal cords strain into Enochian. He only dips from their holy tongue to speak to their demonic guard dog, since she doesn’t understand the language and reacts to the sound of it like the grinding of metal. With Raphael, he remains an angel. It’s almost like he’s making up for the months they spent thinking they were humans. Every conversation they had circling things they couldn’t remember and didn’t have the words for. 

In a kinder world, they would have had more time to remain in ignorant bliss, but this is the way of things. Knowledge destroys. It casts them out. It locks them up.

The walls aren’t really the thing keeping Castiel in here.

“You would have made a better God than me,” Castiel says. Raphael’s mouth twists, and they aren’t sure if it’s disgust or humility.

“Or made the same mistakes.” Castiel tilts his head to look at them. He does not look at the eyes of vessels anymore. He forgets that human courtesy. He peers at souls with open curiosity. The center of Raphael’s grace sits at the base of their throat. Without thinking, their other hand follows his gaze to touch the divot of their collarbone, blocked by the high-necked sweater they’re wearing. They still feel cold, even now that they know there is something holy burning within them. 

“No, you would have been a better God,” he repeats himself. “You would have controlled the leviathans, and you would have… You would have created an end that justified the means.” He squeezes their wrist again. “Paradise.” It's been a very long time since they let themselves think of that. Long before Heaven's civil war even started, with doubts borne by Michael's failure to secure Dean's consent. 

“As many angels would have ended up dead.” Raphael may be blunt about their own failings here and not face judgment. The two of them are a pair of collapsed lungs. What stones does Castiel have to throw that wouldn’t shatter his house first?

“But the rest…” Castiel’s gaze drifts and snaps back. “You would all be happy.” He’s not including himself in that category. Raphael notices and does not argue for their ability to show mercy. “You would have accomplished something.” That lingers under all of Castiel’s guilt, empowers it, because for all that he feels he failed, he’s upset by the fact that even his failure hasn’t gotten them anywhere. No one’s death won him anything, not even his own. He’s still alone, and none of their siblings ever came any closer to understanding freedom. 

Except one, and they don’t want the knowledge. It tastes like burnt coffee, and Raphael doesn’t pull that from any vessel’s memory. They have held a mug in their hands, let the liquid roll over their tastebuds, swallowed it down despite the grimace on their face. They remember Castiel smiling at them as he accepted that he shouldn’t touch the coffee machine anymore. Only, he still answered to a false name then, identity wholly unmade into someone who could love Raphael, who could be treated as an equal and a companion in turn.

“We’d be at peace,” Raphael says and tries not to let Castiel hear the bitterness in their voice.

”What did it look like?” Castiel asks, and then he changes it, so minutely that it shouldn’t matter, but it does. “For you, what did Paradise look like?”

There are a lot of answers that Raphael could give him. If he were not Castiel, if he were still the stranger who shared a life with them, they would tell him everything.

But he is Castiel. They’re not allowed to forget that again.

”I don’t know,” they lie. “All that mattered was getting there.” Castiel tenses under them suddenly, eyes flicking away. His grip crushes. “What?”

”Wounds,” he says, quickly, points at a bare wall. He looks back at them. Raphael stares long and hard at where he pointed so that he knows they take the truth they give him seriously. It’s only a wall.

”No,” they tell him, “don’t look at that. You aren’t seeing it right.” Castiel’s relieved. He relaxes again.

”What were we talking about?” he grasps for the topic.

”Paradise.”

”Yes.” Castiel breathes in, eyes shutting, and he smiles. When he opens his eyes again, it’s like he’s forgotten the momentary disruption completely. “Can I guess what it would be like? You can tell me how wrong I get it.” Raphael lets their fingers drift through his hair again, simple preening that calms them.

”There’s no harm in it.” Or plenty, but it’s the wrong place, wrong time, wrong angel, for any of Castiel’s words to have an effect. Castiel thinks. His voice buzzes at the back of his throat, a single note lost from its chord.

”A coral reef,” he settles on, “where everyone has their niche and their role to play, and they help something beautiful grow around them. And it’s alive. All of it is alive.” Castiel has not let go of their wrist this whole time. He was a clingy fledgling, too. Of course Raphael remembers. They remember watching over all of their little siblings, the role that should have been shared between them and Gabriel eventually falling onto only their shoulders.

(Because who could ask Michael to raise more little brothers. Who could ask him to lend Raphael a hand. Who could ask him to shoulder more than he would have to in the future. Who could ask him to be there in the present.)

Castiel is one of the few left who can still cling to them and the one they should yank their wrist from and abandon.

“Was I close?” Castiel asks. He trusts them.

Raphael passes their fingers through his hair again.

Death was peaceful. They don’t know who brought them back. Only that it wasn’t their Father. A different God, perhaps, one who knew how to feel regret, dragged them out of the only rest they’d ever known to drink bad coffee with him.

“Yes,” they lie, “that sounds beautiful. That would be Paradise.”

[roachingurcoach]

“So spare me your contempt Castiel, the self-hating Angel of Thursday. You know what every other version of you did after ‘gripping him tight and raising him from Perdition?’ They did what they were told. But not you. Not the one off the line with a crack in his chassis."

Chuck was a lying liar who lies, and here's why:

Apocalypse!verse Castiel was scarred and insane. You could argue that the scarring perhaps had something to do with his alternate Jimmy Novak, who was still his vessel, or maybe excessive battling in the war they were in the middle of (and all the wars that came before), but there is a very high possibility that his mental state and appearance were due to frequent 'reprogramming' (a.k.a. brainwashing involving extreme torture). In season eight, we are shown scenes of Naomi torturing Castiel in order to get him to comply with her commands with a device that is needle-shaped and drill-like, involving puncturing mainly the face and very close to the eyes. Apocalypse!verse Castiel's face and eyes are heavily scarred-- to me, this implies that he had to be 'reset' so many times that even his grace couldn't keep up with the healing needed on his vessel, and damaged his mind to the point of being unrecognizable as who we know of as Castiel. He fought to rebel and go against Heaven and Chuck's chosen narrative for his universe (though he likely didn't know about that) so many times that he lost his mind and his capability of performing free will through excessive torture.

Arguably, this Castiel didn't have a Dean, and therefore must have been compliant, because he had no catalyst to not do what he was told. While he didn't have a Dean to encourage him in this universe to rebel in the large way he did in the mainverse, we know that Castiel rebelled before, though those rebellions were smaller, and the 'corrections' made of him weren't escaped. Multiple times throughout the show, other angels derisively remark about Castiel's rebellious nature, even before we see them interacting with him regularly, and before he's committed multiple acts of rebellion on screen after meeting the Winchesters, mainly Dean. Further on, angels admit that Castiel has been brainwashed before (as seen when Castiel tells Dean he 'doesn't serve man, and certainly doesn't serve (him)' (paraphrased) after previously being friendly to Dean and assisting him, exhibiting a strange behavioral change after he returns from Heaven), also implying that his memories of said events have been wiped (he doesn't know he's being controlled by Naomi until the crypt scene in season eight, and considering he didn't know who she was when she was so familiar with him, his memory must have been altered). While some of these things may have been throwaway detailing, later down the line they were built upon, and grew to indicate that at heart, Castiel actively pushes to achieve free will and do what he believes is right.

Endverse!Castiel was still partially recognizable as our Castiel, and for what we had seen of him at that point in time, he behaved understandably for someone who spent most of his existence angelic and fully-powered with constant access to his trueform and a supply of grace: he drowned himself in various chemicals through sex and/or drugs in order to avoid focusing on his near-humanity and his powerlessness when he used to be able to perform feats no human could ever top, escape from fights without a scratch, and maybe even just communicate with other angels and his friends(?) in Heaven, who had by that point abandoned him for staying behind. With Dean. Who was even more of a dick to him, and Castiel still stayed by his side, even if they no longer got along.

In this universe, we also see Chuck, who could have been (and most likely was) included there as merely a familiar person, but in retrospect, one of his lines and his very presence can be taken to mean something else.

"Yeah. I don't think Cas is going anywhere." (Chuck Shurley to Past!Dean Winchester in The End)

This line is said with a smile on his face, and a kind of what, are you kidding? look at Dean. Partially because Dean should know where Castiel is, and partially because Castiel is. Not. Leaving. In the future, we know that Chuck is god, and very likely, that means he has been god for a good long time. This means he was present and 'managing' the Endverse, whose timeline was slightly ahead of past!Dean's universe (which we know is possible with Chuck making a claim about what every other Castiel did (in the past tense)).

Knowing that he was/is god, and knowing that he liked to interfere when a 'story' didn't go the way he'd planned or wanted, Chuck's statement about Castiel not leaving and the expression on his face when he said so implies that he has tried to make Castiel leave, and every time, Castiel has found some way to thwart this, even unknowingly, and that Chuck has at this point resigned himself to his (yet another Castiel) not complying, even subconsciously, and has molded this world and Castiel in a way that he considers a compromise: he gets an ending where everyone dies in a way he sees fit. Both brothers are killed by Lucifer, and Castiel dies separately from his closest companions in battle for a borderline meaningless cause. Further reinforcement of Chuck having interfered with the Endverse and specifically Endverse!Castiel is when he tells Metatron (correct me if that's not who he says this to) that he doesn't even remember how many times he's reset or brought Castiel back, which indicates that Castiel has deviated from his written path many times before his more current ones in the main universe, and in all of Chuck's other universes with all of his other Castiels.

You may not agree with my takes on the validity or reality of the alternate worlds we were shown (e.g. the Endverse potentially being constructed fictionally by Zachariah in order to convince Dean to agree to being Michael's vessel), on characterizations of the AU!Castiels, or on when Chuck was god, but despite my potential inaccuracies, my various statements hold up as examples of Castiel being so very devoted to rebelling and/or staying with Dean Winchester that he required constant altering and monitoring in order to get him to stay in line and die when he was supposed to in Chuck's narrative in every single universe he exists.

Castiel rebelled in every universe, and in most of them, he was finally broken free because of Dean. They may not have won in those universes, but they were a thorn in Chuck's side that lead to his defeat* in the main universe.

*if you believe that Chuck didn't win in the mainverse.

[pidgeons-cliffbirds-love]

i saw someone complaining how people attribute castiel rebelion soley to dean and i feel the same way. in the bright session sam says that she didnt go on the road trip/other self discovery stuff just because of mark and that he was her "catalyst" i think it was the same. castiel rebelled because heaven was unjust and he truly love humanity. dean was his catalyst but not his sole reason.

[ao3feed-destiel-02]

The Catalyst of Everything

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/nQwiKuY by Sunkenfox Heaven was supposed to be a place of eternal peace, but when Dean Winchester arrives he learns that it’s far from what he imagined. Castiel had changed, and was no longer the angel who once loved Dean. Agreeing to become an angel, Dean fights to rekindle the love that had once been between them. But when angels start turning up dead, Dean is faced with something much worse than he ever imagined. Words: 16993, Chapters: 3/30, Language: English Fandoms: Supernatural (TV 2005) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: M/M Characters: Dean Winchester, Castiel (Supernatural), Sam Winchester, Eileen Leahy, Charlie Bradbury, Jack Kline, Claire Novak, Emma (Supernatural: Slice Girls), Lee Chambers, Garth Fitzgerald IV, Bess Myers, Benny Lafitte, Cassie Robinson, Original Child of Dean Winchester/Cassie Robinson, Stolas (Lesser Key of Solomon), Samandriel (Supernatural), Sister Jo (Supernatural), Rowena MacLeod, Arthur Ketch, Mick Davies, Donna Hanscum, Jody Mills, Bobby Singer (Supernatural), Mary Winchester, Michael (Supernatural), Adam Milligan, Gabriel (Supernatural), Amara (Supernatural) Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Heavy Angst, Minor Character Death, Post-Canon, Amnesiac Castiel (Supernatural), Amnesia, Angel Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester in Heaven, Past Cassie Robinson/Dean Winchester, Bisexual Dean Winchester, War, Canon-Typical Violence, Fix-It of Sorts, Angst with a Happy Ending, Soldier Castiel, Soldier Dean Winchester, Medic Dean Winchester, Slow Build, Jack Kline as God, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Graphic descriptions of war, Everyone Needs A Hug, Depressed Dean Winchester, Minor Original Character(s), Castiel and Dean Winchester Reunion in Heaven, Ruler of Hell Rowena MacLeod read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/nQwiKuY

[confusedkittensposts]

I also did not like the end of Supernatural because I did not think the end of Castiel's story was at all satisfying. I fully expected them to rescue him from the Empty. It did not even occur to me that they wouldn't. I disagreed with Misha that Cas's goodbye was noble or selfless. I thought it reduced him to a shell of a character who attributed all his goodness, all his bravery, all his growth, his entire personality and personhood to.. Dean. And that irked me (to coin a phrase.) Dean, imo, did not deserve that epic farewell speech. I did not recognise the man Cas described, the "most loving man" who "changed him" and made him "care about the whole world". I always thought Cas had more agency than that. Yes, he changed and evolved. But it wasn't (imo) because he met Dean. Dean might've been a catalyst (I'll allow that) but imo Cas changed and grew because of his own nature and his own rebellion and from learning from his own mistakes. And, tbh, I wanted DEAN to tell him that. (I STILL want Dean to tell him that. If there is a revival I want Dean to talk to Cas about that speech, thank him for it, sure, but also make Cas aware that it is NOT true. Cas grew into a loving almost human being because he IS a loving almost human being and probably always has been. I wanted him to give himself some credit for his journey. Not believe that it was all because he loved Dean. Cas, to me, was a character whose journey was more than his relationship with Dean. Much more. I LOVED his relationship with Jack, for instance. It annoyed me that he stated that he cared about Jack because Dean cared. That was bizarre and insulting, imo. That was. not. it.

Anyway. I could rant about this forever. If they do more SPN, I will watch it if Castiel is in it (and by that I mean every episode, main character. Not a cameo or a subplot.) I won't watch it if he isn't in it. And I will be pissed if he is not given the kind of story he deserves. Perhaps a post-death revelation that his existence had/has meaning beyond Dean Winchester. (I have less than zero faith in this happening.)

Imo, neither Dean nor Sam really evolved much as people the entire series. They didn't change or grow. They just got older. In the end Dean was still gung-ho kill-things eat-pie and Sam still wanted out. Castiel though? He EVOLVED. He was right about one thing in that goodbye speech. He changed. He grew. And I LOVED that. Narratively I found that beautiful. That in the end they had him (apparently sincerely) attribute all that personal growth to DEAN? (Who mostly, sorry Destiel stans, treated him like shit.) Pissed me off. And then him throwing himself under the bus/into the Empty to save Dean? Pissed me off. And then for Dean and Sam to not even bother to try and get him back? (Like Cas actually meant anything to them.) Made me legit angrier than I have ever been watching a tv show.

Hello hello

I don't think anyone but Jared Padalecki likes the supernatural finale (this is a joke, don't come at me)

I belive Castiel was in love with Dean and I like the fact that he got to confess his love, but just like you, I hate the way it was done.

But fit in place SPN pushed Cas in the larger narrative. He was not allowed to have anything outside the winchesters, Every one of his choices and decisions taken without the brothers was shown to be wrong, all his realationships were taken away, anyone sympathetic towards him was killed. The show allowed him to be right only in scarifysing himself for the Winchesters and the fact that a sacrifice was how his story ended in not a surprise

Also something people forget and should consider is Cas has a very abusive background, he spent a very long time being manipulated and forced represse (Even wincheters did nkot like him expresising emotions that weren't anger or loyalty o their behalf), his contact with other humans has been limited, I don't think has never seen healthy people of relationships. So him having some distorted view of his relationships and people around him isn't far fetched. I honestly have many many feelings about the scene based on context

For Misha that scene means a lot, and him seeing the confession scene as selfless and noble, to me, make sense as the person he is.

I will say though, Cas did not grow into an almost human being, he was an angel and he loved humans and humanity from the beginning; and he was still an angel just one free to love without the threat of Heaven taking them from him.

As for Wincheters not rescuing him, that never actually have done that, have they? This is one of the SPN's show and tell tricks, We are told the wincheters are hurt by Castiel's death and that they like him back, but we never actually see them making any concious effort for it. They don't look for loopholes, they don't make deals with entities that can really something, just send a prayer to a God they know will do nothing. Hell in season 10, They didn't try to save Cas when he was dying of borrowed grace, do you really think they would have spared efforts when he was dead?

While Dean telling Cas he should give the credit to himself sounds swwet, it will never happen on screen. Accpet it or not, That show is made by cowards and if Jackles is incharge of any revival, I think he has made his priotrities an prefernces very clear.

The problem with Supernatural is that they wanted flawed heros but did not want to accpet the fact their heros have flaws. All the problemativ aspects of slamondean are not seen as problmes and hence there is no way of change, which led to them doing the same song and dance for years.

And you are right,Cas had the best character growth in the show, like he from being this warrior with a hardned shell that was a fish out of water to a fan who has a smile only for his kids and then show took those relationships and gave them to Dean (and Sam)

I don't have hopes for a revival that will do Cas justice but I am always up on shot in Misha's backyard where he does mundane things wearing a trenchcoat and there are Cameos from Mark S, Alcal, Ruth, Rich, Seb, even Danneel

J2s contribution can be increasingly passive agressive voicemails and prayers at the start of every episode that let you know, salmondean broke the world and are trying to contact him

[butterflyslinky]

Ao3 wrapped 30, 6, 17 ✨💛

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year? That would have been in "Don't Call Me Angel"; I did not initially plan for Castiel fighting Dagon to be the catalyst for revealing her backstory. The outline had it be a fight between Castiel and Mary, but as the story went on, that no longer made sense and Dagon had been set up as the actual big bad of the story.

6. Favorite title you used? I have to give that one to "The Reaper's Apprentice," though I can't really explain why.

17. Your favorite character to write this year? It's gotta be a tie between flirty wine aunt Rowena in "Don't Shut Me Down" and manipulative femme fatale Dean in "Cinnamon Moonshine." Both of them were a lot of fun in different ways. Rowena is always hilarious, and letting her just hit on Sam without care was no exception. Meanwhile, I didn't expect Dean to be the mastermind behind the noir mystery I was writing, but in the end it was the only thing that made sense and made him a lot more engaging to write.