#angel construct

I'm a little surprise no one is talking about how the angels we have seen so far were not actively seeking out Castiel, or each other, or hell, even answers. These angels just assumed the lives of their vessels. Farmer angel was plowing the fields and looking over the crops, the family man angel was sitting down to breakfast with his vessel's wife and kids, Hael was in the back seat of a car, indicating she was probably with her vessel's parents or friends... Ezekiel was the only one who was traveling somewhere, though we don't know where. So what of the other 3 angels? Is it simply that not enough time has past for them to contemplate what they need to do? Are they all waiting on something or someone and had planned to quietly keep low until that someone or something appeared? Assuming the life of their vessel? Is this an Angel OS default setting (like safe mode)? Or a decision?

I'm sure we'll see many different angels that are doing many different things this season, some of which be the result of their "programming" and some which will be the result of their "decisions". Will grace decay in imperfectly harmonized vessels become a predominate problem among them? Have others implemented uninfomed consent on their vessels as Ezekiel has done to Sam? Will any of them come to love and value humanity as Castiel has? Will they continue to lose their powers as Castiel did in season 5 (a result of prolonged absence from the Host)?

I can't wait you guys. Just... season divine.

As a quick note, this is not very well structured by my standards. I mostly wrote this since I haven’t seen anyone else address it 8/4/13 edit: I just found andythanfiction’s meta on aspects of this which is here . My thoughts ramble a bit. After the SDCC 2013 spoilers that Cas will experience sex in some way it had been weighting somewhat on my mind, so I thought I’d throw this out there. If anything this piece illustrates just how much we don’t know and how there are many interpretations of Cas’ sexuality that are valid. Here goes.

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Muscle memory (and the organ transplant re-memory phenomenon) has long been something that has intrigued me. In this meta I would like to discuss how it may affect angels in vessels. Does it have an influence on things like sexuality? An angel’s personality? Pop culture knowledge? Where does the line between angel and vessel lie? And how can you tell?

Basic knowledge of how I view angel construct is helpful, but I don’t think necessary to read this. The short version is that I believe angel construct includes a soul that is exposed through grace decay over time and that only thorough its exposure do angels experience true free will and emotions.

"When we demons possess a human, we invade all of them, their – uh – their muscles, their bones, their brains. I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t the same for angels." - The Demon Viggo to Samandriel 8.10

I can’t help but wonder either. As Samandriel is tortured by demons the text indicates that angelic possession definitely encompasses the brain, but the rest is unclear. Since demonic possession is a mockery of angelic possession by ignoring the request for permission to share the skin, it would stand to reason that “Yes" this is the case.

"Just relax, Castiel. Let your vessel do what you know deep down is the right thing." - Naomi to Castiel 8.17

We know of two clear times that Castiel has been “reprogrammed". One is in season four, the other is in season eight. There is a key difference between the two, one was done with a vessel, one without. Castiel’s reprogramming solely through his angelic body in season four does not last long. He is able to “throw it" and chose to rebel two episodes later (which arguably translates to maybe 2-3 weeks in canon). There is no clear indication as to the exact nature of Cas’ reprogramming in season four. This is not the case in season eight. The angel Naomi “conditions" Cas to kill Dean in an extended effort over several months to destroy his “weakness" (his inability to put Heaven’s wishes in front of Dean Winchester’s well being) - not only through Cas’ angelic construct, but his vessel construct as well.

We are drawn to this phenomenon of muscle memory in the episode prior with the character Prometheus. He fights like a trained warrior despite having no knowledge of fighting due to memory loss. There is even a text reference to Jason Bourne from the movie The Bourne Identity where another amnesiac showcases skilled “reactionary" fighting skills despite memory loss. These fighting skills are the result of years of muscle memory that prevails even in the absence of brain memory. For Cas in season eight, this “muscle memory" training amounts to conditioning him within his vessel for months to kill Dean upwards of over a thousand times. This programming is ultimately unsuccessful (in the sense that Cas doesn’t actually strike the final blow), but not in the sense that Cas fails to start the dance, proving that while muscle memory is strong (and yes, affects angels), will is ultimately stronger.

Now let’s take a look at previous examples of muscle memory.

"It’s my vessel— Jimmy. His, uh, appetite for red meat has been touched by Famine’s effect" - Castiel to Dean 5.14

This is an example of when a vessel’s desires can override an angel’s ability to use it. Under the effect of Famine Castiel is unable to attack Famine and instead is profoundly effected by his vessel’s desire for the taste of food. It is unclear whether this is a direct result of the vessel’s desires or the soul’s (the machine or the power source), but since Cas says, “It’s my vessel" I’m more inclined to believe it’s just that. When Jimmy Novak’s “accustomed to eating lots of red meat" meatsuit went months without food, in the face of Famine, it’s the vessel’s desire, not the soul of Jimmy Novak which performed the override on Castiel’s will. Compared to season 8, Castiel is not able in this instance to “throw it off". Jimmy Novak had been arguably eating meat for decades, which I imagine is a little harder to override in a loss of agency than a couple of months of conditioning to kill someone. Now, granted, eating the meat wasn’t Cas himself putting Dean’s life directly in danger per se, as opposed to Cas himself beating the hell out of Dean, but it certainly was adding to the possibility of it when Cas’ inaction resulted in demons attacking the Winchesters.

The next instance we have of muscle memory overriding an angel’s use of it is more subjective and debatable.

It occurs when Cas watches porn and gets a boner (and I only use this as an example because of what happens later in this episode that layers onto this). It’s worth noting here that Jimmy Novak is most likely heterosexual (being that he is religious and has a family, though even this isn’t a guarantee, only a very likely guess). This means his meatsuit is “conditioned" to experience arousal from heterosexual stimuli like the porn that Cas is watching, which is most likely of the heterosexual variety based on pronouns. From here we get into a grayer area. Does a human’s sexuality lie in their soul’s desires or their meatsuit’s? I’m more inclined to say it’s the soul’s desires that “conditions" the skin, but it could be argued the other way easily enough I suppose. No matter how we slice it, muscle memory is in play (the character Willow in Buffy had a similar instance of this in the episode “Tabula Rasa").

Now, angels are inherently sexless. We know this because Dean has called them “junkless" on multiple occasions without any correction by them. Whether they perceive gender amongst themselves in this case is irrelevant. We are just talking about sex organs in this instance. So how does angelic possession account for this? If there is any part of the human body that conceivably runs on “muscle memory auto-pilot" for angels the sex organs would be it since there is no angelic body construct equivalent to supply in that area for the possession process.

This is also the first time sexuality is associated with Cas in the text. We all know that he started to have sex at the request of Dean but didn’t get anywhere in “Free to be you and me". Within said episode there is no indication of any actually physical arousal on Cas’ part, only social awkwardness and a lack of knowledge concerning what is “appropriate conversation" during sexual encounters, a point that also carries into this episode.

In "Caged Heat" Cas, in heterosexually oriented skin, sees heterosexual porn and his body responds. With only this as evidence, it can be argued either way whether or not this is all Cas’ responses or his skin’s “auto-pilot" responses. But later, when he and the Wincesters are trapped with Meg, the text pushes us a bit further one way than the other. When Meg kisses Castiel (and likely gropes him) he at first only looks at her expressionless, then he turns her, pushes her against the wall and kisses her quite passionately, but it’s his reaction afterwards that gives the most insight. Cas looks at Dean rather confused, shaking his head like he isn’t quite sure what happened. "I learned that from the pizza man," Cas tells them, despite getting Jimmy’s sexual memory download which would most certainly include kissing. This says that Cas’ response here is most likely a direct result of the visual stimuli and subsequent physical turn on he experienced earlier.

DEAN: “Well, she’s smart, I’ll give her that. I was gonna kill her, too. [to Cas] ’Course, I’d have given you an hour with her first."

CASTIEL: "Why would I want that?"

- 6.10

This could indicate that Castiel either A.) Doesn’t understand what Dean is suggesting (which doesn’t include a pop culture reference) or B.) That he himself doesn’t express a desire to have sex with her. Castiel’s comment in 8.17 that the pizza man was a good memory still doesn’t indicate which this is, only that sexual desire is a good memory for Cas. It does nothing to suggest the mechanics in which the experience came about.

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Switching gears from sexuality, let’s look at some other examples of muscle memory, specifically the episode "The Bourne-Again Identity".

Again, the title immediately calls to a man with memory loss with muscle memory at play.

Dean requests Cas tell him how he meets his wife Daphne. “Oh, it’s a…strange story. You may not like it," Cas tells him. This is a strange thing to say to someone you have no memory of. Who doesn’t like strange stories? Somehow, Cas knows that Dean may not like this story. "A few months ago, she was hiking by the river, and I wandered into her path, drenched and confused, and… unclothed. I had no memory. She said… God wanted her to find me." Now, let’s be honest, this story isn’t THAT strange, but there are two major points to it. Cas is found naked by a woman and apparently God wanted him to be found. Now, it could be either one of these that Cas thinks Dean would not like, knowing Dean’s “God is a douchebag" stance, and considering Dean’s reaction to meeting Daphne earlier. Dealer’s choice. One is through muscle memory, the other is a deduction based on Dean’s earlier reaction to his wife and subsequent question: "So, Daphne – is that, uh, your wife?" when he already knew the answer.

The entire scene where Cas smites the demons outside the mental hospital is a shining example of muscle memory, since Cas has no idea how to “smite" until he’s actually doing it. This highly physical (energy wise) act is what ultimately jars Castiel’s memory. It breaks through whatever barrier there was preventing his memories of being an angel from being remembered.

Another example of muscle memory that isn’t specifically related to angels comes early in season eight with “Heartache" and is based on the real life phenomenon of "memories, personalities, and cravings being passed through organ transplants". Now, throughout season eight there are no less than four very distinctive cases of muscle memory/re-memory showcased. Two of these are major plot points with angels (one with Cas specifically), concerning how they operate. The case with Cas marks the second (arguably third) time Cas acts under his vessel’s “pre-programming/re-programming" and not his own agency. This, I think, is why it is so important for season nine to explore every aspect of Cas’ human desires (especially sexual ones since his only real text sexual experience could have been the result of his meatsuit’s muscle memory and not any real desire from Cas himself).

How muscle memory affects angels is just one of many reasons why I have been so reluctant to head canon Cas’ self-perceived sexuality for myself. That, and the fact that Castiel himself seems to scoff at the human sexuality labeling system as we understand it. The text for me offers way too many interpretations without enough evidence to support one more than another, which is why so many Destiel shippers are nervous about how the show will address it. Because of this, many are likely (some already) going to be disappointed.

Things we know about Cas and sexuality:

He can experience sexual desire based on heterosexual stimuli and counts it as a good memory

He finds sex boring with no definite experience under his own agency to back such a thing up (whether he had sex with Daphne is very much up for debate considering how they touched one another in 7.17)

The thought of having sex with a stranger at the insistance of Dean makes him nervous

The complexities of language while engaging in sex confuse him. Saying “I love you" (which the 6.10 porn implies, but could very well be a conclusion Cas makes) while striking someone rear confuses (annoys?) him, despite the fact that he has surely over the course of thousands of years witnessed such behavior many times while humans engaged in sex. This does not necessarily mean he associates sex with love, but rather illustrates his lack of understanding (and labeling) of the complexity of human sexual encounters. “It’s very complex".

"I thought you’d gotten over trying to label me," to Dean’s question of “Are you a hippie?" in 5.04 further showcases Cas’ desire for simplicity in complex human social/sexual structures. (Please note I’m reluctant to include endverse!Cas in any discussions of Cas’ sexuality since that “timeline/projection" takes into account things any number of vast experiences for Cas that do not come to pass which may have influenced him sexually).

He is infamously “utterly indifferent to sexual orientation". This could mean as a human labeling system (again), as a human concept, or concerning him, himself. It could mean all these things or a few. Take your pick.

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That’s it really. Which isn’t a lot. He could be asexual homoromantic, heterosexual biromantic, a bisexual demisexual, the list could literally go on and on here. This is why I’ve always kept an open mind and hope others can too. There just isn’t enough evidence to call anything in anyway. The fact that his one experience with sexual desire is a good memory for him (I really don’t think Naomi was “controlling" him to say this either) and that he has a love of Dean are really the only things that we can say are certain.

Consider this meta defilerwyrm’s fault… I sure do. Until now this is a topic I’ve left in my head for obvious reasons as I’m clearly not a physics major by any stretch of the imagination, nor do I pretend to be. A read of his angel construct meta here is also recommended as my own meta and understanding of the matter is so closely tied to his own. In this meta I’d like to discuss how souls and grace function as energy sources for their respective species, what “feeds” each body’s conversion process and how the two processes work together in the “vessel construct”.

Energy and mass can be neither created nor destroyed, only converted…

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The first question we must ask ourselves is this: “When God designed “The System” did he create the maximum total number of souls over the course of the existence of the universe at its conception (in an energy/matter balance) or did he instead create the equation to their creation?”

Basically, is a soul “given” to a human by the “system” at their conception or is the soul “converted from matter” as a component of the universe’s construct?

For Supernatural, I believe it is the latter. When a human is created from DNA programming from two humans part of the conception creation process involves some of the mass from the genetic code of both participants being converted into energy, creating a new soul. The soul then functions as a self-charging rechargeable battery, able to maintain itself over time via our body’s energy conversion mechanics (eating food). This type of fusion-like power source allows the soul to power both itself and its encasing, until the energy conversion system (our “meatsuit”) breaks down through natural process of organic decay and cell decomposition over time (aging). It would seem that the opposite is true for angels. An angel’s battery “decays” (like fission) while their body does not and can not while it houses grace as it is (as defilerwyrm says) a photon-bearing conglomeration of EM wavelengths that is designed to house a fission reactor and is therefore unaffected by such a reaction.

In my meta series “Grace in the Machine” I concluded that angels had a “locked soul” within their construct to account for the shadow of emotion they feel. For all intents and purposes (in the world of Supernatural) the soul is the “true key” (as it were) to free will. The design of the universe (which I call “The Tapestry of the System” in all my meta) dictates free will must exist or the universe can not, as a result of this God created free will for angels then “locked it” (or wrapped it if you prefer) within grace as an “override” to create obedience to his will. In my meta series I discussed how it was God’s ultimate design that angels develop (or rather unveiled) free will over the course of their existence by way of grace/soul “barrier” decay over time. I theorized that the longer grace is “infused” into human flesh the more the “barrier” between grace and soul decays. I think angelic possession absolutely works to further this process.

Since human bodies decay, once an angel “syncs” with a vessel their “power source” is then subject to human body mechanics. The grace “decay process” can best be described using Quantum Theory, where it can be compared to how radioactive material decays seemingly randomly, though constantly over time, (a process that ultimately traces to the long ago effects of supernova, further illustrating the dichotomy of the fission/fusion angel/human construct). Since grace itself is somehow nonparticulate energy infused with “the will of God” basic physics laws themselves will only take us so far…

Just as the neutrons and protons that constitute nuclei, as well as other particles that approach close enough to them, are governed by several interactions, so then is the decay of grace once it is channeled into a vessel (which I imagine happened early in human history, as God must have made the first humans compatible for wearing angels, as his later “designs in human genetic code” did not receive the same “angelic fitting elements”, hence the angels need to use cupids to ensure certain human genetic code lines cross and reproduce to keep their respective vessel lines going). While I’m not even going to try and theorize why decay was not an issue before humans were “ready” for possession (perhaps their nonparticulate energy form left their grace in a sort of “stasis” as they had not yet a need to “tap” into it for anything), it can be concluded that from the first moment angels were channeled into vessels the decay process began and has not be stopped. The continuous erosion of grace and further exposure of their soul has generated a need to try and rectify this effect (their sense of free will) by “hacking” their vessel-infused construct “code” in an effort to reverse this process. Season 8 shows us this is done by the angel Naomi under the previous direction of the archangels. It is important to note that since the archangels were designed with larger grace supplies, the “free will effect” has been minimal on them (with the exception of Gabriel which I will talk about later) thus their lack of understanding towards the process (the true will of God in the design of his system).

Comparatively, the decay process must somehow replicate radioactive decay results via a reduction of summed rest mass, once the released energy (the disintegration energy of grace) has escaped in some way (for example, an angel smites something or they use the energy to heal someone). Although decay energy is sometimes defined as associated with the difference between the mass of the parent nuclide products and the mass of the decay products, this is true only of rest mass measurements, where some energy has been removed from the product system . This is true because the decay energy must always carry mass with it, wherever it appears according to the formula E = mc2. The decay energy is initially released as the energy of emitted photons plus the kinetic energy of massive emitted particles (which is why grace appears visually as a bright light).

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Basically… the grace’s decay is the light we see when angels smite or heal. The “pure creation” Anna speaks of in 4.10 is in reality the decaying process at work, since energy conversion is essentially the most key aspect of “creation”. This also further enforces the idea that since an angel lacks mass and is instead photon-bearing conglomeration of EM wavelengths animated by grace, this process can only occur when the angel’s complete construct takes on “mass” (as in when they are in vessels).

Humans and angels: two distinctly different species, each governed by two different body constructs, power systems and energy conversion processes. For humans this power system exists as a singular system (the soul), but with angels the system exists as a binary one (one for their grace, one for their soul).

As I have theorized grace will eventually decay leaving behind a single soul power source, we can assume the angel’s body is already equipped to handle this conversion, this is why they can use a soul to “power themselves” upon depletion of their grace power reserves before they are left with only their own soul (like how Cas used Bobby’s soul in “Frontierland” to time travel the Winchesters home). This is similar to how an alarm clock has a back up 9V battery input, but uses AC/DC power from an outlet for its basic operation (a construct that can be fitted to use batteries itself). This would explain how angels lose “power” when “disconnected from the Heavenly Host”. It would seem that when angels are “plugged into the Heavenly Host” they are able to use human souls as power sources without having to use their grace as it were (in a practical application of Nikola Tesla’s infamous Colorado Springs experiments). What then provides the connection to the Heavenly “plug of power”? From what I can tell it’s their wings, which are governed under some special law of “grace wavelength” physics.

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It is here I’ll discuss how the falls and/or exiles of Cas, Anna, Gabriel, Lucifer and the angels of season 8 differ…

Cas in season 5 (and the angels in season 8):

(X)

The following is how Cas’ fall worked in season 5 (and it is how the fall of all angels in 8.23 will work in Season 9 if I had to guess). While Cas could still “teleport” in season 5, it is likely he didn’t have proper use of his wings (which never harmonize into a vessel during the possession process). This would also explain why the angel’s wings burned off in the season 8 finale. The Angel Tablet spell forced the wings to take on mass from the space around them, then expelled that mass as energy in some sort of change to their wavelength spectrum, effectively severing their connection to the Host. While I suspect the wavelength frequency of their wings allows for their secondary power connection to the Host, to lose this connection, however, does not hinder their ability to travel in their nonparticulate energy form (at least for Cas it didn't). Just like with Cas S5, the longer they stay “severed from the host” the more they must use their grace power source and the closer to human they will become. At the end of season 5 (approximately 8-9 months) Cas’ grace reserve was on empty, meaning the our season 8 angels have 1 season before the same thing happens to them (give or take). Once their grace is gone and their “power system” is forced into “soul power only” mode. They are effectively human. This is what happened to Cas in season 5. It is likely the body’s original soul and secondary angel soul would then be trapped together, each trying to pull on the body’s single power conversion system, resulting in a shorter life span for the meatsuit. This is the opposite effect of normal angelic possession since we know an angel’s grace suspends all aging processes in favor of grace decay. During possession, angels shift the cell decay process over to their power source, allowing them to maintain possession (in theory) for “thousands of years” (or as long as it takes for their grace to deplete itself) so long as they stay “connected” to the Heavenly Host.

Gabriel:

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Here we have an instance of an angel “hiding” but not being “severed” per se from the Heavenly Host (same thing with Balthazar here). It is unlikely the other archangels felt the desire to “cut him off” due to their wish for him to eventually return (though this isn’t explicitly stated anywhere). Regardless of this, grace decay would continue in his vessel… It is, however, worth noting that Gabriel (being an archangel and all) has an exponentially greater amount of grace in his “tank” compared to a lower ranking angel (like Anna or Cas), and therefore it would take longer to decay fully. He arguably demonstrates free will far better than his other archangel counterparts, making it a fair assumption that this is a direct result of his being “envesseled” for so long and experiencing the decaying process in a far more advanced capacity than the others.

Lucifer:

(X)

We are basically looking at the same kind of “forced fall” as Cas season 5 in this case, with one notable difference: Lucifer’s fall was without a vessel. Now, I don’t know who cut off Cas (probably an archangel), but we all know it was Michael for Lucifer. I would argue that Lucifer probably never took a human vessel given his dispise of humans, by proxy this means that Lucifer’s fall probably happened somewhere around the time of “fitting”. Because of this he would not have experienced the same grace decay effect as Cas, or the other angels. The process would have only began once he took Nick as a vessel. Now, since Nick was not a “proper fit” we see Lucifer has problems harmonizing on a molecular level with him and accessing his grace in season 5 (though this isn’t really commented on by anyone it is evident by seeing him dig manually for Death, travel without “teleporting”, using it only once his vessel begins to “wears thin” and so on…). Over time we also see the physical resemblance of radiation poisoning on the vessel, also reinforcing a fission-like radiation decay effect for grace when a “proper container” does not exist. It isn’t until he possesses the proper container (Sam) that he has “proper” access to his grace as evident when he smites Castiel. When Cas pulls Sam’s body out of the cage and unknowingly leaves behind his soul, it is likely Lucifer kept Sam’s soul in his secondary “soul power slot” until Death removed it.

Anna:

(X)

Anna’s fall is the only example we have of a fall made by choice while existing in photon-bearing conglomeration of EM wavelength form (celestial intent) since it happened in 1985 before angels took vessels again. Since Anna comments that her mother was incapable of conception, meaning “faulty” DNA incapable of carrying out the code to create a soul, and I believe angels already have souls, this fits. Anna force depleted her grace (think a forced-nuclear meltdown), forcing a collapse that exposed (or converted if you will) her soul, sending it to an available host, her mother. Under this type of fall, Anna also remembered her angel time vaguely. Since (as Cas puts it) human perception is limited, these “memories” were also. Only through therapy was she able to suppress those memories completely until Cas declaring “Dean Winchester is saved” on Angel Radio began her mental journey back to reclaiming those memories. Later when Anna reclaimed her grace, the resulting power infusion “incinerated” her human form as it was incompatible for possession, not being part of a vessel line. It is also likely her soul was unable to be re-absorbed into her grace which is why she could “call in a favor” and request her old body (obviously with the addition of vessel DNA coding) when we see her next. Under my “all angels have souls” theorizing she doesn’t need an additional soul’s permission in this construct because she is using her own as it were to satisfy the “permission” problem. She otherwise occupies an “empty vessel”. Given what happened to Castiel in season 5, I’d say he’s doing the same thing effective God putting him “back together”.

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Well, I think that’s it…?