a mess

Cas in my opinion, started as an antagonist, as the mirror image of Ruby. He was the one manipulating Dean, he opened the panic room to let Sam out, and he did exactly what heaven told him to do which made him interesting, and compelling. The fact that he chose to help Sam and Dean, to go against heaven's orders made him even more interesting because he defied everything he knew for them. He turned on his home, on everything he knew, because he realized humanity was worth it.

That's where my issues with his character started because why wasn't that implored more thoroughly? Why couldn't they show him change, show him become more merciful and human-like without reversing it each and every time? Why couldn’t they focus on Castiel hating how weak he'd become without making jokes or giving him his powers back?

The writers could have done so much more with his character but instead, they just repeated the same cycle over and over again; he gets weaker, he miraculously gets stronger, he wants to help which means he needs to become even stronger, he fucks up majorly, he gets punished for a minute, repeat.

That said, I think it's clear that Castiel’s downfall started quickly and didn't stop until he 'died'.

Like I said, at first he was a compelling character with depth and tons of potential but as soon as season six started he started decaying, slowly losing what made him interesting until he was nothing more than a husk that could be filled with a new personality every time his character became stale.

It's obvious the writers didn't know what to do with him after season five which is why they sent him on random quests; getting out of the way but still close enough in case Sam and Dean needed him for something. Even that could have worked though; he could have been a recurring character like Garth or even Bobby. They could have explained his absence so easily too; he's needed in heaven, rebuilding what was destroyed.

But that wasn't the case. Instead, they kept him around and made him into a fool that actively made things worse for the people around him. He didn't even take responsibility for most of the things he did, not even for the few I'm certain he did on purpose.

(I'm talking about things that happened after season five, before that his alliance was with heaven after all)

Let's start with him pulling Sam out of hell soulless. There is no way he didn’t notice Sam didn't have his soul, that he didn't notice Sam was acting different because if he didn't then that means he pulled him out and left without looking back. And honestly? That just makes it worse considering he would have left his injured and incredibly traumatized 'friend' in a field without letting anyone know or making sure he was okay. It would also mean that he didn't check in on him or Dean during the time Soulless Sam walked around.

That wouldn’t be a bad thing if they kept Castiel ambiguous if they made him care about them slowly, bit by bit, but they didn't. They presented him as a part of the team, as a friend, very early on but they didn't make him act like it. He constantly acted like a comrade who changes alliances as soon as someone stronger, someone better, showed up. That didn't just happen once either, it happened multiple times.

And of course, he wanted to be stronger to help but why did he always trust people he either barely knew or knew to be evil? He trusted Crowley, someone who wasn't trustworthy at all, over his so-called friends. That, of course, didn't end well. Not only did he free the Leviathans and became Godin his quest for power but he also destroyed Sam's hell wall. That led to dozens of deaths and almost killed one of his friends. And, instead of dealing with that whole situation the writers 'killed' him, erased his memory, and wrote him out of the show for a while. And when they decided they needed him back Castiel took Sam's hell trauma, making himself suffer. That would be a great way to show his growth if the writers and characters weren't pretending it never happened in the first place. The fact he broke Sam's wall is basically never mentioned again, instead, it's always about Castiel being insane (not to mention that said insanity gets used as comedy).

After that came Metatron, an angel he barely knew, if at all. Trusting him would be understandable if Castiel didn't already know that angels are just as untrustworthy as demons. He already had to deal with angels that were manipulating and conniving (Uriel, Michael, Naomi, etc.) so why did he decide to trust Metatron blindly? Why didn't he try to find out more about him or the trials Metatron wanted to perform? And why, after Naomi told him that the trials Sam was doing would kill him, did he decide to go see Metatron on his own? I also can't decide if I believe Castiel didn't know the trials would kill Sam upon completion or not. On the one hand, he could've said Naomi was lying due to her track record but on the other hand, it didn't seem like he cared about Sam's upcoming death all that much so who knows? In the end, it didn't matter anyway because Cas, once again, lost his powers, Sam survived (barely) and the angels fell.

And then there was Lucifer. Castiel helped free him the first time by opening the panic room, something that could be excused considering he was still on heaven's side then. Still, the fact it was never mentioned he did that by anyone just goes to show how little he cared for Sam. But, this is not about that, rather it's about him freeing Lucifer the second time.

Castiel knew Lucifer couldn't be trusted. He knew what he did to Sam in the cage, intimately considering that he had taken Sam's trauma earlier. He knew Sam was still traumatized. He knew how many people had died last time Lucifer was free. He knew all of that but still decided to let Lucifer possess the body that didn't even belong to him.

Sam had been in that cage with Lucifer, his abuser, for so much longer, saying "No" over and over again while he was terrified just for Castiel to say yes after a few minutes. Sam knew Lucifer was lying, that he was just saying what they wanted to hear but Castiel trusted him anyway. Not just that, he didn't even tell them about it. He let Lucifer walk around in their home, Sam's home, without saying anything. He didn’t warn them, he didn't leave and he didn't do anything to protect his 'friends'.

Then when Lucifer tried to kill Sam, after he had already shoved his hand into his soul, Castiel finally decided to stop him. But instead of kicking him out of his body he just left and continued to let Lucifer possess him because he thought he knew better. Because Lucifer might have tried to kill Sam but he would still help them and leave them be afterward. We all know that's not what happened, that people died, that people suffered and Jack got created. All because Castiel thought he knew Lucifer better than anyone else, than Sam who spent decades with him only a few years ago.

All these things wouldn't be that bad if they hadn't made Castiel up to be family, if they had treated him like Crowley or Rowena but they didn't. They wanted Castiel to be part of Team Free Will. Still, they made him do so many things Sam and Dean shouldn't have forgiven him for, things that made him Naive and stupid. They should've killed him or had him be a once-a-season character instead of making him into what he was at the end and I am sure they would have if it weren't for some fans loudly begging for him to stay.

But what did it get them? A character that repeats the same mistakes every time he doesn't have anything to do, a character that wouldn’t even be around if the writers had stayed consistent regarding Dean’s character. Because let's be real: Sam suffered from Castiel’s actions the most, either directly or indirectly, and Dean should've killed or at least abandoned him for it.

That brings me to my next topic: the relationships between Castiel and the people around him.

Let's start with Sam and Castiel’s relationship. We all know it started with Castiel calling Sam an abomination while Sam was starry-eyed due to finally meeting an angel, a being he had believed in for years at that point. Him seeing Sam like that could have been the start of a compelling and impactful story. The writers could have built the relationship between them slowly, making Castiel’s view change from 'walking sin' to the good and kind-hearted person he was. Castiel could have questioned Heaven's ways because of Sam, because he was told The Boy with the demon blood was evil even though Sam always tried to do the right thing.

They could have built upon that, they could have shown how the two of them helped each other but they didn't. Instead, Castiel said Sam was a friend but acted like he didn't care about him at all. He didn't think he should be saved, he didn't care when he was soulless, he ignored his prayers, he destroyed his hell wall and so much more.

We all know why: because the writers and some of the fans decided Dean was better, that his relationship with Castiel would be more interesting. That decision, to me, was the noose that slowly took the air away from Castiel’s character and the confession scene was what kicked the chair out from under his feet.

I know that might sound harsh but I truly believe it to be true.

Dean and Cas were never friends, never family. At first, Dean hated Cas, thought he deserved to die because he wasn't human, because he was a monster and every monster deserves to die in Dean’s mind. Then they were coworkers, working to stop the apocalypse they both helped start and later to stop Lucifer. That's it. You could argue that they might’ve been friends after that but only out of convenience. Dean was the human Castiel latched onto at the beginning, he raised him from perdition and then he was his mission. Castiel was the friend that could help Dean with everything, every time he needed help and he was the friend that couldn’t die. Castiel didn't choose Dean, Heaven did and Dean tolerated Cas because it was convenient.

Not to mention that Dean constantly treated Castiel like trash, like he never stopped thinking of him as a monster but the writers still forced them to be friends. Dean made fun of him losing his powers, got angry at him when Castiel was too busy to come as soon as Dean called him and he abandoned him when Castiel needed him. Castiel didn't even stick up for himself, he just continued to run after Dean like an abused dog that still loved its owner. And just like the dog Castiel deserved better.

Every relationship that came after he met the Winchesters traced back to them as well. He met most of the people he knew through the Winchesters and the few relationships that were created without them were destroyed by them. It's like Castiel wasn't allowed to exist outside the Winchesters, like his pure essence was tied to them no matter what.

He never freed himself, and never tried to be someone else; he just continued to be Dean’s property. Dean was the one he spent the most time with, the one he was seeking out, the one he cared about the most. He stayed at Dean’s side through everything, only having other relationships when it furthered the narrative, losing them as soon as the story they were needed for ended. He didn't get much screentime with Jack either, because even that was given to Dean, the person who hated Jack from the moment he was created.

But still, Castiel liked Dean better than Sam, even though Sam treated him way better in comparison.

That isn't to say that he deserved Sam's kindness because he didn't. Not just because he acted like Sam was beneath him, not just because he did everything in his power to make Sam's life worse but because he didn't even apologize.

He never told anyone that he opened the panic room, not even when Dean practically disowned Sam for starting the apocalypse; something all three of them did. He didn't defend Sam when Dean blamed him for everything that went wrong and he, just like Dean, acted as if he'd always known about Lillith being the last seal.

He either purposefully rescued Sam without his soul or just ignored his injured and traumatized 'friend' while he went on his quest for power. He later destroyed Sam's hell wall, the only thing keeping him sane, to keep Dean away from him. That once again, shows that he barely saw Sam as his own person instead he was an extension of Dean; a prop.

He practically didn't care when Naomi told him Sam would die if he finished the Trials, he repeatedly kept things from the Winchesters, he went off the rails multiple times and most importantly he freed Lucifer. He freed Sam's abuser and kept it from him, and then when Lucifer started doing what he always did, Castiel made it everyone's problem. He acted like it wasn't just his fault that Lucifer was freed and he gaslit Sam into thinking it was his duty to help. And don't get me started on his monologue; telling Sam that "he was used by Lucifer too" AS IF IT WASN'T HIS OWN CHOICE. He acted lik3 h3 knew what Sam went through even though Sam had been tortured and sexually assaulted while Castiel sat around watching TV. (Sam should've punched him for that honestly)

So no, Castiel wouldn't deserve Sam's friendship but Sam would still be the better choice. But he chose Dean. He hopped from Noami to Dean, back to Naomi, and right back to Dean. In the process, he lost every bit of his character that made him so compelling until he was nothing more than 'the angel hanging around the Winchesters'.

Seeing what became of his character I can't help but wish that they killed him off. His death was set up so often, they could have just let him stay dead but no, they brought him back time and time again; diluting his character with each resurrection. They didn't give him proper, compelling storylines, they didn't develop his character in any interesting way and they certainly didn't let him exist outside of Sam and Dean. Instead, he got a bad confession of his love to Dean, something that wasn’t set up or fair to his character.

(As you can see I got a bit mad halfway through)