Crowley (Supernatural)

"My Name is Crowley and I run Hell."

- Crowley

Crowley is supporting character turned main character and a antagonist turned anti-hero on the CW television series Supernatural.Crowley is played by Mark A.Sheppard. Crowley is a demon that sold-out Lucifer to Hunters, Dean and Sam Winchester as well as Castiel, an angel. Crowley disliked the notion of being subject to Lucifer's whims and viewed other demons as cowering whimpering supplicants, for pledging ther loyalty to Lucifer once he arrived on Earth. As the keeper of demonic pacts Crowley always looked for any oppertuunity he found and saw that Lucifer not only thought little of his demons but also that if Lucifer was gone there would be a rather nice power vaccume to fill; This lead Crowley to attempt to help the Winchesters defeat Lucifer by giving them valuble information, contacts and supplies for their show-down with the devil. Crowley goes from inside-man to the series' main antagonist as the "King of Hell" once Lucifer was defeated. Crowley, ever the deal turner is always willing to talk a situation out and is willing to align himself with Sam and Dean whenever possible. Crowley's time as an inside contact is consigned to seasons 4 and 5, his role as the main antagonist was mainly filled in season 6, in season 7 Crowley steps aside to stay out of the way of far more dangerous and psychotic players than he but returns to an antagnostic role by season 8, which ends with him being exorcised. After his exorcism, Crowley is given back his humanity, much as he tries to igore it and slowly starts to seek redemption.

Dean has locked Crowley in the trunk of the Impala. He decides to go to Crowley for help when it seems like no one can save Sam, but Crowley defiantly refuses to answer with a knock if he's still alive at first. He eventually does, but Dean is interrupted by an angel wanting Castiel for revenge before he can ask anything of Crowley.

Dean reveals that he has Crowley held captive in the Impala's trunk rather than having killed him, believing that they could use him. Locking Crowley in the dungeon of the Men of Letters base, Sam and Dean demand the location of all the demons on Earth and then leave Crowley to sit in the dark and reflect while they go do other things. Crowley reflects on nearly being turned human and taunts Kevin when he hears him in the next room. Crowley taunts Kevin into beating him with the tools in the room then claims that Kevin's mother is still alive and that he will lead Kevin to her if he frees him. He also claims that the Winchesters don't care about Kevin and will use him and then replace him if something happens to him. While Kevin is unsure of whether or not Crowley is telling the truth, he ultimately doesn't release him. When Sam and Dean return, Crowley reveals the name of two demons on Earth and offers a deal for his help: they each have something the other wants and in exchange for Sam and Dean helping him with things he wants, he will give them what they want. He gave them the two names from the enjoyment he got out of tormenting Kevin and Dean has Sam check on the names Crowley gave them to see if he was telling the truth.

Sam gives Crowley a pen and paper for more demon names, but Crowley refuses unless he can stretch his legs. Sam just leaves the paper and pen with Crowley and leaves. When the Wicked Witch of the West escapes, she finds Crowley and he has her write what she wants on the paper. When she writes "key," Crowley tells her that the Winchesters keep the keys in the kitchen. When Sam and Dean find him, he agrees to tell them what the Witch wanted in exchange for being allowed to stretch his legs. Sam releases him from the collar keeping him in his chair, but he stalls so Dean shoots him. Crowley shows them the paper and tells them what he told the Witch. Sam and Dean then leave him alone. After the Wicked Witch is killed, Sam secures him to his chair again and puts a pen and paper in front of Crowley again. When Crowley tries to get more out of him, Sam leaves without ever saying a word, leaving the paper for Crowley. Annoyed, Crowley mutters "bollocks."

Kevin tells Sam there is some smudging on the tablet, as if the scribe does not want anyone to read it. He and Sam cannot translate it. Sam suggests they get Crowley to translate Crowley can read the tablet, but refuses. When Sam tries to reason with him, Crowley crumples the paper up and throws it in Sam’s face. Sam threatens to give Crowley up to Abaddon. Crowley asks for one phone call. Crowley proves that he can read the translation. Sam decides to let Crowley have one phone call. Kevin says letting the King of Hell and Abaddon communicate with each other is a terrible idea. The phone call involves drawing blood. When Sam starts to do it, Crowley demands Kevin’s blood. He says he has had enough of Sam’s blood, he wants something fresh. After some coaxing, Kevin agrees. He fills a syringe with his blood. With the blood bubbling in a bowl, Crowley contacts Hell. When he says he is their King, he is put on hold. Crowley reaches Abaddon. Abaddon gleefully tells Crowley that she has doubled his projections by voiding his contracts and bringing more souls to Hell. She insults Crowley and tells him she will soon replace him. Crowley yells that you cannot rule Hell with chaos, and she will burn. “I can’t wait,” she snarls. Crowley passes the bowl back to Sam. Crowley asks for the transcripts, saying that he keeps his promises. Crowley reads the transcripts, and gives them the bad news: the angel spell is irreversible. When Sam is washing out the bowl of blood, he notices something amiss with the set of syringes. Opening it, he finds one gone. Crowley palmed one of the syringes. Heading to Crowley, he sees Crowley injecting himself with Kevin’s blood and leaning back, sighing with relief.

Dean reluctantly enlists Crowley's help to help Sam expel Gadreel from his body. Crowley agrees to help on the condition of his release which a reluctant Dean agrees to. Despite Crowley's best efforts, he is unable to separate Sam's brain from Gadreel's grace so he comes up with a more desperate plan: if he possesses Sam, he can enter his mind and communicate with him and let him know what's going on. Out of options, Dean agrees and Crowley possesses Sam. Finding Sam trapped in a fantasy world where he believes he is working on a hunt with Dean, Crowley tries to convince Sam of the truth and succeeds by shooting him which has no effect on Sam as they are not in the real world. Crowley explains Sam's possession by Gadreel, describing him in unflattering terms before being beaten up by the angel. With Crowley's encouragement, Sam overpowers Gadreel and finally expels him. Keeping his word, Crowley returns to his usual vessel before Sam wakes up, but Abaddon arrives with two demons to try to kill him. Crowley tells the Winchesters and Castiel to leave while he deals with Abaddon, but while Dean agrees and grants him his freedom, he warns Crowley that next time they meet, he will kill him. Calmly confronting Abaddon, Crowley tells her that they will now war for the hearts of demons to see who will rule Hell and tells the demon minions to spread the word of his return before disappearing.

Looking for the First Blade, the only weapon that can kill Abaddon, Crowley approaches Dean for help, revealing that the only demon who knew about the Blade was captured by John Winchester before Crowley could get to him. Following a clue in John Winchester's Journal, Dean and Crowley travel to John's Lock-Up where they find a file on an old case John worked with a hunter named Tara where he interrogated and exorcised the demon who did mention the Blade. Finding Tara, she recognizes Crowley as a demon and initially refuses to help until she is told about Abaddon. After Tara reveals that the last ingredient of a locator spell for the Blade is the essence of Kraken, Crowley takes off to get it. With the spell, Dean and Crowley are able to track the Blade to Missouri. Arriving at the location the spell indicated, Crowley is terrified to find Cain who silences him and keeps him from fleeing. Cain reveals that he created the Knights of Hell and slaughtered them which Crowley knew and didn't tell Dean, but refuses to give them the Blade. Four demons arrive to attack and Crowley kills one with an angel blade while Dean kills the rest. As an army of demons arrive, Cain agrees to help, revealing that Abaddon murdered his wife. He gives Dean the Mark of Cain, the source of the Blade's power and tells them that the Blade itself is in the ocean. Cain teleports Crowley and Dean outside as he takes on the demon army and they flee. Dean realizes that Crowley was actually using him all along, having known the truth about the Blade and Cain the whole time. Crowley confirms it, saying that while Cain wouldn't help him, he knew he'd help Dean. While Dean threatens to kill Crowley once they have dealt with Abaddon, the two are forced to work together for the time being as Crowley is the only one who can find and retrieve the Blade.

Crowley has grown addicted to human blood and relies on a demon named Lola to get it, not knowing that she is betraying his secrets to Abaddon. After discovering her betrayal and killing her, Crowley calls in Sam and Dean who force him to detox from the blood. Crowley reveals that he tracked the Blade down from where it was retrieved from the bottom of the Marianas Trench years earlier and helps Sam and Dean find who it was sold to by possessing the man sent to meet with them briefly. Sam and Dean learn that a man going by Magnus got the Blade and realize he was one of the Men of Letters. Crowley reveals that Magnus was a rogue member who he had been trying to track down but lost track of. Sam and Dean learn that Magnus was once the Men's spellmaster and manage to convince him to let them into his lair, but Crowley is left behind. After Sam is sent back without Dean when Magnus decides to add Dean to his "collection," Sam and Crowley work together to get inside his lair. Once inside, though he is powerless, Crowley avoids capture and frees Dean, allowing him to kill Magnus with the First Blade. However, knowing Sam and Dean will likely betray and try to kill him, Crowley steals the Blade from them until such time that they track down Abaddon and use it to kill her.

After Dean calls him and then hangs up, Crowley tracks him down at a bar and tries to convince him to embrace the Mark of Cain and the killer instinct that comes with it, but Dean refuses. While Crowley is using the bathroom, Dean stops a hunter from going after him and confronts Crowley as he believes Crowley was shooting up again with human blood. Crowley doesn't deny it but believes Dean is hunting Abaddon so badly so that he can touch the First Blade again and get the rush it gives him. Dean denies it, telling him he's focused on killing Abaddon and can't worry about the consequences of using the Blade though Crowley is unconvinced. Crowley agrees to bring Dean the Blade when he finds Abaddon, but meets with the "hunter", Jake, that was supposedly after him. Its revealed that Jake is actually a demon working for Crowley who he used to test Dean to see if Dean would save him. Crowley is pleased, stating that he knew Dean would as they're "besties" and that Dean is "ready."

Abaddon pulls Crowley's son Gavin to the present to use his lingering humanity and affection for his son against him to force him to help her kill the Winchesters. After Abaddon causes Gavin great pain, Fergus agrees and informs Sam and Dean of where to find the First Blade, calling off a hellhound guarding it. He then tells them where to find him and that he has found Abaddon, but tells Dean "Poughkeepsie," the code word Dean taught him that means "drop everything and run" to warn him of the trap. To keep Crowley from interfering, Abaddon shoots him in the shoulder with a bullet engraved with a devil's trap, binding his powers and trapping him, the way the Winchesters and their grandfather initially defeated her. When Dean arrives, Crowley tells him Abaddon is close then warns him with his eyes of an attacking demon. Dean kills the demon and faces off against Abaddon while Crowley watches immobile. As Crowley watches, Dean displays immunity to Abaddon's powers and telekinesis, allowing him to gain the upper hand and kill Abaddon. Afterwards, Crowley uses a knife to dig out the bullet, annoyed that Sam and Dean won't help him. Sam informs him that they are letting him live and he should be happy with that. Crowley is amused to find out that Dean didn't tell Sam he'd warned them it was a trap and is upset that Sam and Dean insist on sending Gavin back to his own time as Fergus doesn't want him to die. Pretending to say goodbye to his son, Crowley teleports him to a park where he tells him of his fate and that he should build a new life in the present after telling him the truth about the ship-wreck.

Crowley is relaxed and and being treated to by one of his female demons, having finally taken back his post as king of hell, but he is soon summoned by Dean who demands to know more about the Mark of Cain which Crowley reveals is beginning to make him act like a demon. With Castiel and Sam absent tracking down a wounded Gadreel, who Dean almost killed from anger minutes earlier, Crowley and Dean team up to track down Metatron. Crowley eventually finds a lead on him but once Sam catches up with Dean he is told to get lost and does so. After Metatron manages to kill Dean, Sam works a ritual to summon Crowley but he shows up on his own will next to Dean's corpse and shows signs of sorrow and regret for Dean taking the mark, revealing that Cain also accepted death but that the mark brought him back as a demon. Crowley then places the First Blade in Dean's hands and encourages him to feel its power as he awakens a demon...

''“Who do you think you’re talking to here? Does the Tin Man have a sheet-metal willy? Of course I lied.” -Crowley to Dean, Black''

Crowley is with the "new Dean" at a bar called The Black Spur. After Dean has sex with a waitress named Ann Marie, Crowley walks in on the two of them in his bed, and is upset with them for "soiling" his room. Later, Dean and Crowley play foosball with two people at the bar. They lose, and Dean blames Crowley for interrupting him while playing. When Dean almost kills a man that was harassing Ann Marie outside the bar, Crowley is seen watching the whole fight silently. When looking through the phone of an Abaddon loyalist by the name of Neely, Sam discovers a text that had alerted the demon of Dean's presence and whereabouts. When Sam calls the number, Crowley answers, revealing that he has been sending the "Abaddon loyalists" after Dean the whole time. Sam promises Crowley that he will save his brother or die trying. Crowley tells Sam that he is jealous of the fact that Crowley and Dean are best friends now, and that his brother is not just possessed, but has been twisted into a demon by the Mark of Cain. Sam tracks Crowley using the phone number in the text message, which Crowley had anticipated. Back at the Black Spur, Crowley tells Dean about Sam and that they have to leave immediately, but Dean doesn't agree. Crowley urges Dean to be his second-in-command, and tells him that they could rule Hell together and be unstoppable. When Dean still refuses, he tells Dean the truth, admitting that the "Abaddon loyalists" were sent by Crowley. He knew Dean would make quick work of them, and that Dean needed to "feed" the Mark of Cain by fulfilling his new-found lust for killing. Crowley then tells Dean that he must decide if he really wants to rule Hell with him or not.