Lilith (Supernatural)

Lilith is a fictional character on The CW Television Network's drama and horror television series Supernatural. The series' writers conceptualized her as a dangerous new adversary for series protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester to face, introducing her to stabilize the story arc in the third season by giving demons a new leader in the wake of the death of the villainous Azazel and maintaining her as the primary antagonist until the conclusion of the fourth season. During the third season, Lilith tries to kill Sam and Dean, ordering for their deaths at the hands of her minions. Early in the fourth season it is revealed that her goal is to free her maker, the fallen angel Lucifer, from his imprisonment in Hell. The protagonists' attempts to thwart her plan is the main plot of that season.

As a "destroyer of children and seducer of men", the character initially possesses little girls but is later depicted as possessing young women in attempt by the writers to avoid showing violence towards children on-screen. The character received generally favorable reviews from critics, particularly for her role in "No Rest for the Wicked".

In season 15, Lilith is resurrected by God from The Empty.

According to series creator Eric Kripke, the archangel Lucifer "twisted and mutilated" the human Lilith's soul into the first demon "to prove a point to God...that human souls were...inferior to God and the angels". Having been freed from Hell in the second season finale "All Hell Breaks Loose: Part Two", Lilith debuts in the final moments of the third season episode "Jus in Bello" as the current leader of an army of demons also unleashed from Hell; the first half of the season had established that after the death of the army general and previous series antagonist Azazel created a power vacuum, leading to power struggles between demonic factions, which is resolved when Lilith ultimately emerges as the victor. In her "Jus in Bello" appearance, she searches a police station for the series protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester, brothers who hunt supernatural creatures. Having just missed them, she proceeds to torture everyone in the station for nearly an hour after destroying the station in a massive explosion. The Winchesters' demonic ally Ruby explains that Lilith sees Sam as a rival, as he has demonic abilities and was intended—but unwilling—to lead Azazel's demon army. Lilith orders Sam's death in order to secure her position as the army's general, even tricking the thief Bela Talbot into making a failed attempt on Sam's life with the promise of releasing Bela from her Faustian deal, only to go back on her word and let Bela get dragged into Hell.

With Dean having also sold his soul as part of a Faustian deal—one he made to save Sam's life—the brothers spend part of the season searching for the entity that holds the contract to Dean's soul and eventually learn from Bela that the demon in question is Lilith, who holds the contracts to all deals. In the third season finale "No Rest for the Wicked", the Winchesters track her down in New Harmony, Indiana, where she is holding a family hostage in the guise of their daughter (Sierra McCormick). Before Sam and Dean can attack her, Lilith secretly takes over Ruby's host body (Katie Cassidy) in order to catch the brothers off-guard. She has a hellhound kill Dean and bring his soul to Hell to be tortured by Hell's chief torturer Alastair as part of her plan to begin breaking the 66 mystical seals keeping Lucifer imprisoned in Hell. Lilith then tries to kill Sam as well by blasting him with destructive white energy, only to find that she is powerless against him. Horrified, she escapes before he can retaliate with Ruby's demon-killing knife.

Throughout the fourth season, Lilith orchestrates the attacks by the forces of Hell on the 66 seals. They are opposed by angels, who resurrect Dean to assist them. Lilith eventually finds out that her death is the final seal that needs to be broken to free Lucifer. Reluctant to sacrifice herself, Lilith proposes a deal to Sam in "The Monster at the End of This Book": she will stop breaking the seals in exchange for his and Dean's lives. He rejects the deal and tries to kill her instead. She quickly overpowers him, but is forced to flee before she can do anymore when Dean tricks an archangel into coming to the location. In the season finale "Lucifer Rising", Sam kills Lilith under the impression that her death will prevent the final seal from breaking, and in doing so inadvertently breaks the final seal, releasing Lucifer.

In the fifteenth season, Lilith is resurrected by God from the Empty where demons and angels go after death. Possessing a young woman named Ashley Monroe, Lilith poses as the witness of a werewolf attack to get close to the Winchesters as part of God's plan, putting Dean to sleep and purposefully allowing herself to be captured by the monsters. Lilith's deception is revealed when she trips and is impaled on a set of deer antlers, but she is unable to kill Sam and Dean due to it not being part of God's plan. Having sacrificed herself to release Lucifer and begin the Apocalypse, Lilith is shown to be bitter and vengeful over her sacrifice being in vain and claims that Sam was only able to kill her because Lilith allowed him to do so. Lilith reveals that God intends for Sam and Dean to kill each other and destroys the Equalizer, the gun God created to kill the Nephilim Jack with and which Sam had used to wound him. Lilith then departs after promising to see Sam and Dean again. She later attempts to take the recently-escaped Michael to God, but the archangel refuses. When Lilith continues to insist, Michael smites Lilith who vanishes in a flash of white light, once again killing her.