Characters of Supernatural - Demons - Crowley

Crowley

A high-ranking Crossroads demon (portrayed by Mark Sheppard), he is said to be only second to Lilith. Originally a Scotsman named Fergus MacLeod, he became a demon sometime after his death during the 17th century. He is first mentioned by Becky, who informs the brothers Crowley, not Lilith, took the Colt from Bela. He first appears during "Abandon All Hope" sealing a deal with the executive of a failing bank to bail it out. While being tracked by Castiel, who locates his angel-protected mansion. The brothers break in with the help of Jo, but are captured by Crowley's henchmen and fail to trap him in a Devil's Trap. However, he uses the Colt and kills his two underlings, informing the brothers he too wants Lucifer dead and spreads information about the Colt for them to find it. He realizes that after Lucifer is done destroying humanity he would eradicate demons. He gives the Colt to the brothers, and disappears, knowing he would be hunted for betraying Lucifer.

Later appearing during "The Devil You Know", he comes to the brothers as the Colt failed; having been tracking them through a magical coin, he overhears their plan to trap Lucifer with the Horsemen rings. Being on the run from demons, he offers his assistance in tracking the last two Horsemen, through their handler Brady. Sending Dean to lure Brady downstairs, they capture him. Unable to initially break Brady, Crowley goes to a known demon nest and massacres them; leaving one alive to spread the word Brady had turned against Lucifer. While successful, the demons also plant a similar tracking coin and locate their position. A hell-hound is sent after Brady, and Crowley brings his own (bigger) hellhound which battles the other and allows the brothers and two demons to escape. Brady, now a fugitive, provides the position of the Horseman Pestilence. Crowley then appears to Bobby, offering him a deal; his soul (which he will return once Lucifer is imprisoned), for Death's location.

He returns after the brothers and Castiel secure Pestilence; he admits that he wanted Bobby's soul to prevent the brothers from killing him after they stop Lucifer but restores Bobby's legs as goodwill. He reveals the final game plan for Lucifer; the promised swine flu vaccine, shipping out nationwide, is in fact the Croatoan virus, intent on infecting the country. While Castiel, Sam and Bobby take out a premature exportation, Dean and Crowley attempt to locate Death, finding him in a pizzeria.

After the demise of Lucifer, Bobby calls upon Crowley to secure the return of his soul but Crowley refuses, allowing Bobby to have ten years of life before he takes his soul. Since the downfall of Lucifer, the demons now look upon Crowley as their leader becoming The King of Hell, though Crowley finds their pragmatism and self-serving ways frustrating. Bobby, after many days of research, calls upon Crowley again, but this time with a better plan; having summoned the ghost of Crowley's son, who, hating his father as his father hated him, quickly revealed the location of Crowley's burial grounds. With Crowley held in a Devil's Trap, Dean and Sam hold the bones hostage and Crowley is forced to relieve Bobby of his contract. At the climax of "Family Matters" Crowley returns with a squad of demons, including one possessing Christian Campbell, to recapture the Alpha Vampire. He reveals that he resurrected Sam and Samuel Campbell as an investment for locating Purgatory, though he left Sam's soul in the cage as a bargaining chip. His claim about Sam's resurrection is later revealed to be false, having been orchestrated by Castiel for Dean, but he was unable to restore his soul. He later returns to Sam and Dean in the next episode, raising awareness to them of a possible Alpha Werewolf. He is later believed to have been killed by Castiel after revealing he cannot retrieve Sam's soul from the pit.

At the end of "Mommy Dearest", it is revealed that Crowley is still alive and continuing to carry out his previous torture experiments in order to find Purgatory, which contains many powerful souls. Furthermore, he is seen to be working with Castiel.

In "The Man Who Would Be King", it is revealed through flashback that Crowley approached Castiel, following the Apocalypse being averted, with a proposal that they join forces to locate Purgatory, in order to plunder it for the souls there. Crowley offers that will split the souls 50/50. He seals the deal by giving Castiel 50,000 souls from Hell. In present time, Crowley is angry that Castiel did not stop the Winchesters killing Eve, who was their key to locating Purgatory. Crowley argues that Sam and Dean should be killed, but Castiel forbids it.

When Sam, Dean and Bobby get a lead on a demon close to Crowley, Castiel kills him and the demons with him. Crowley sends more demons after Sam, Dean and Bobby but Castiel kills them. When Castiel's betrayal is revealed, the Winchesters trap Castiel in a ring of Holy Oil fire and demand the truth. Crowley sends a horde of demons, and the boys and Bobby are forced to flee. Crowley arrives and releases Castiel.

Crowley kidnaps Ben and Lisa in "Let It Bleed", in an attempt to make Dean stand down. He and Castiel then kidnap Elanor Visyak and torture her for information on how to access Purgatory and take her blood, as she is a being from Purgatory and her blood is necessary for the ritual. Castiel then reneges on his deal with Crowley, refusing to give him the souls. The demon then forms an allegiance with Raphael, agreeing to open the gates of Purgatory for the angel in exchange for his safety. When their ritual fails and Castiel arrives, more powerful than ever after accessing the souls from Purgatory, Crowley is allowed to live - as Castiel has "plans for him".

Crowley is hiding away in an angel-proof trailer when Castiel finds him. As he braces for Castiel to kill him, Castiel tells Crowley that he needs the demon to go back to being the king of Hell for balance. With no other option, Crowley accepts. He is later summoned by Sam, Dean and Bobby, and they ask him about how to bind Death. He doesn't tell them due to his new boss, but secretly sends them the ritual. When the Leviathans are released into the world, Crowley attempts to strike an alliance with the leader, Dick Roman; however, Roman is dismissive and belligerent to Crowley's offer. Consequently, Crowley holds off any demons from attacking the Winchesters in an effort to have them defeat the Leviathans. When a Crossroads Demon is making deals and then having his minion Jackson kill the people to collect their souls early, Crowley arrives after the Winchesters kill Jackson and are about to kill the Crossroads Demon. Crowley makes a deal with them: he will release the people the demon made deals with in exchange for the demon, saying what he was doing goes against everything a Crossroads Demon stands for. The Winchesters agree and Crowley takes the demon away for punishment. Due to the Winchesters' lack of progress in stopping the Leviathans, he rescinds the truce and interferes with Dean's attempt to save Sam from his Lucifer-induced insomnia. According to the Meg Masters demon, Crowley is simply biding his time for all the other major threats to be gone so he can step up to be the next one.

In "There Will Be Blood," Sam and Dean summon Crowley after learning that in order to defeat the Leviathans, they need the blood of the Ruler of Fallen Humanity which is Crowley. Crowley agrees to give them his blood after learning the reason they need it, but demands they get the other ingredients they need for their weapon first as he's worried about the blood falling into the wrong hands and being used against him. Crowley reveals that the Alpha Vampire is still alive and they can get another of the ingredients from him and as he leaves, burns the location into the table. Dick Roman later summons Crowley into a Devil's Trap, telling him they have a lot to talk about, presumably so the Winchesters can't summon him and get his blood as Dick knows they need it. In "Survival of the Fittest," Dick offers Crowley Canada in exchange for him leaving everywhere else alone and giving the Winchesters the wrong blood. After coming up with a lengthy contract, Crowley agrees. He later travels to the cabin where Sam and Dean are staying and is shocked to see Castiel and the demon Meg there. However, after realizing that Castiel is now insane, he puts off his feud with him until he regains his mind and lets Meg stay as Castiel is fond of her and he's needed to defeat Dick Roman. Crowley gives Sam and Dean a vial of his real blood, explaining his deal with Dick to them and letting them know that Castiel could be a major help in defeating Dick. After Dean kills Dick and he and Castiel get dragged to Purgatory, Crowley shows up and kidnaps Kevin, telling Sam that what happened to Dean and Castiel can sometimes happen when using what Crowley refers to as "God weapons." Crowley now plans to take over from Dick as a major threat and informs Sam that with Dick dead, the Leviathans are now disorganized and he should focus on preventing the rise of a new leader. He also has an army of demons ready to attack the remaining Leviathans in the building now that Dick is dead and finish the job.

In season eight, Crowley has discovered another Word of God tablet that will allow him to re-open the gates of Hell, but the Winchesters and Kevin have learned that the tablet also contains a ritual that would permanently seal the gates of Hell and cut off all demons from Earth. Although Crowley fails to recapture Kevin, he later manages to capture potential future prophets by torturing an angel named Samandriel who he has somehow captured, intending to kill Kevin and force the new prophet to translate the tablet for him. The return of Castiel from Purgatory allows the Winchesters to rescue the prophets, Castiel breaking the tablet in half so that he retains one part of it while Crowley flees with the other. Crowley is later summoned by the demon Viggor who he has set to torture Samandriel after Samandriel starts speaking in Enochian after the torture taps into his "operating system" and reverts him to "factory settings." Crowley personally takes over the torture, continuing even as the Winchesters and Castiel attack his base to rescue Samandriel. Just before the Winchesters break in, Samandriel reveals the existence of an angel Word of God tablet. Crowley flees with this knowledge as they enter, abandoning Viggor and Samandriel to the Winchesters. In "Goodbye Stranger," Crowley has been searching for the angel tablet in Lucifer's Crypts by torturing the locations out of Meg. After getting a call from a demon that Meg has been rescued by the Winchesters and Castiel and that everyone else is dead, Crowley kills the demon and goes after the crypt himself. Finding Sam and Meg, Crowley faces off against Meg who stays to buy Sam, Dean and Castiel the time they need. Crowley tries to convince Meg to turn on the Winchesters as they are trying to seal all demons in Hell and kill him, but she is sold on the idea as he will be dead and they fight. Crowley overpowers Meg, but they spot Sam and Dean escaping and realize that Castiel is in the wind with the tablet. Taunting him about this, Meg stabs Crowley in the shoulder with an angel sword. Enraged, Crowley stabs Meg with an angel sword of his own, killing her. Crowley checks the crypt where he meets with Naomi who it is indicated he had a sexual relationship with in the past. Naomi tells him that Castiel is doing what he is supposed to do: protect the angel tablet from all threats, apparently even if that means her. Crowley starts to offer her a deal, but Naomi disappears in the middle, annoying him as that's what he usually does. In "Taxi Driver," Crowley learns from one of his minions that rogue Reaper Ajay is taking Sam to Hell and interrogates him about it. After learning everything, Crowley kills Ajay with an angel sword so he can't bring Sam back. Putting everything together along with the fact that he apparently has the half of the demon tablet that is useless, Crowley realizes that Sam and Dean are trying to close the Gates of Hell and follows Dean to the 100-mile Wilderness in Maine where he blocks Bobby's soul from traveling to Heaven, intending to take it back to Hell. Crowley stops Sam and Dean from interfering, but Naomi steps in and scares him off before releasing Bobby to Heaven. Kevin Tran is shown later painting demon warding symbols on the inside of the boat he lives in, he hears Crowley in his head telling him he has found him. The windows explode inwards and Crowley tells Kevin he found him via torturing Linda Tran, Kevin's mother, and when she didn't break, taking the information from her phone after killing her. The Winchesters arrive later to the boat to find it devoid of Kevin and his research. In "The Great Escapist," Crowley has Kevin trapped in an illusion of Garth's houseboat and uses two demons pretending to be Sam and Dean to trick Kevin into translating his half of the demon tablet. After learning from the angel Ion where Castiel is, Crowley attacks the angels there, killing one with a gun loaded with bullets made of a melted-down angel sword and forces Naomi to retreat. Crowley shoots Castiel and retrieves the angel tablet from where he has realized it is: inside of Castiel, but leaves when he learns that Kevin has figured out the truth. Crowley confronts Kevin who refuses to reveal more than the fact that Crowley has no idea the power he could've gotten from the demon tablet. Not caring as he has the angel tablet and many deals in the works that will somehow get him power, Crowley strangles Kevin, but he is rescued by the angel Metatron who leaves Crowley's face burned. Unknown to him, Kevin took with him Crowley's half of the demon tablet. In "Clip Show," Crowley begins killing people that Sam and Dean have saved, using the Supernatural books to learn who they are in order to force Sam and Dean to surrender the tablet and give up the trials by threatening to undo all of the good they have done over the years. He also uses spells to do the job as he wants to keep his demons away from Sam and Dean in case they need one for the third trial. In "Sacrifice," Crowley goes on a date with Jody Mills and starts killing her when Sam and Dean contact him. He demands their surrender, an end to the trials and the demon tablet in exchange and they finally agree on the condition that he trade the angel tablet. Meeting at Bobby's old salvage yard, Crowley pulls out a long contract after they each show each other their tablet, but Dean demands to examine it first. Dean finds it satisfactory, but suddenly puts handcuffs on Crowley with a Devil's Trap painted on them, capturing him. Sam and Dean take Crowley to an abandoned church where Sam starts the ritual to cure him of being a demon as the third trial. After biting Sam, Crowley uses his blood to call for help and Abaddon shows up, but she wants to take over Hell herself and Crowley is helpless to stop her. Luckily, Sam manages to force Abaddon to flee and gets back to work. As time goes on, Crowley starts showing human emotion, saying he just wants to be loved and wondering how he can even begin to ask forgiveness. He willingly goes along with the cure, but before Sam can finish, Dean arrives and reveals completing the trial will kill Sam and gets him to stop. When Sam collapses, he and Dean leave Crowley, still bound by the Devil's Trap and Crowley watches as all the angels fall to Earth.

Read more about this topic:  Characters Of Supernatural, Demons

Famous quotes containing the word crowley:

    Paganism is wholesome because it faces the facts of life.
    —Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)

    To read a newspaper is to refrain from reading something worth while. The first discipline of education must therefore be to refuse resolutely to feed the mind with canned chatter.
    —Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)

    It sometimes strikes me that the whole of science is a piece of impudence; that nature can afford to ignore our impertinent interference. If our monkey mischief should ever reach the point of blowing up the earth by decomposing an atom, and even annihilated the sun himself, I cannot really suppose that the universe would turn a hair.
    —Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)