Alastair (Supernatural)
Alastair is a demonic television character who features in Supernatural.
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Biography
Alistair was a demon one of the first and oldest of his kind that were ever created. While in Hell, he gained a reputation for cruelty and sadism, making him feared even by other demons. He also became one of the few demons who actually enjoyed life in Hell more than life on Earth. At some point in his career, he trained Azazel's 'daughter' Meg in the art of torture. Alastair last walked the Earth in Nazi-occupied Poland around 1943 during World War II. Given Alastair’s love for torture, it is possible he possessed a Nazi doctor and tortured Holocaust victims. Some time during John Winchester's imprisonment in Hell, Alastair took command in attempting to break him to abolish the first seal; however, John endured the torture for a century without breaking before escaping. He was noted to had encountered John's son Dean Winchester in Hell and resumed the same duty as before. In Hell, Alastair was assigned to torture Dean. He did so for 40 years, finally breaking him after 30. In doing so, the first of the 66 Seals was broken, setting the Apocalypse into motion.
Alastair resurfaces on Earth to try to capture Anna Milton and use her gift for their gain. During this time, he re-encountered his favorite student Dean who remembered him from Hell. Although his initial attempt was unsuccessful, he manages to get a hold of Ruby's magical knife. Later, he returns and strikes a deal with Ruby, who promises Anna for the safety of the Winchesters and herself. Alastair, after torturing Ruby, accepts. Unknowingly, however, he falls into a trap set by the Winchesters and is confronted by two angels, Castiel and Uriel. He and his demonic minions get into a fight with the angels, although his minions are easily killed, Alastair proves to be a stronger opponent, and casually knocks about Castiel, and during the battle, Anna regains her grace and lets loose of a blast of light that disintegrates Alastair's vessel.
He returned a short while later, possessing a new body. He was behind the abduction of a reaper in a small town. He encountered Sam and Dean and fought them, before escaping when Sam revealed that he's immune to his power. He gained a new vessel soon after and abducted a second reaper named Tessa who Dean knew. He planned to kill the two reapers on the night of the solstice moon to break another of the 66 Seals that needed to break in order to free Lucifer. Sam and Dean, in their astral forms, used their new ghost abilities to fight Alastair; however, he was able to trap them in an iron chain, mocking them about how they often did the same to spirits. However, through a combination of their new abilities, they managed to bring the chandelier down on him, breaking the ring and freeing Tessa. He failed, only being able to kill one reaper, and was confronted by Dean before being captured by the angels.
After seven angels were killed, Castiel recruited Dean to torture information out of Alastair. Alastair simply mocked the fact that his former protégé would be the one to try and break him. Alastair revealed that the first seal was originally going to be broken by John but he didn't break but states when Dean gave in and began torturing souls in Hell. This explained why the angels had rescued Dean from Hell. With some help from Uriel, Alastair managed to break free from the Devils Trap he was bound in through water dripping from a pipe and washing away a portion of the symbol.
He quickly beat up Dean before he fought and nearly banished Castiel to Heaven until Sam arrived and pinned Alastair against a wall using telekinesis. He tortured Alastair until the demon revealed that the demons were not behind the angel killings. Alastair then challenged Sam to exorcise him, but Sam, now being more advanced with his powers, simply used his abilities to kill Alastair in a similar fashion to what the Colt or Ruby's knife would do. It was later shown that Uriel was behind the angel killings. Dean eventually reveals to Sam that he learned the details of Alastair's death from Castiel saying that Castiel told him that Sam "ripped Alastair apart like it was nothing." However, Castiel was unaware of how Sam was fueling his powers to be able to kill Alastair in such a way. After Sam's powers fail him when confronting a minor demon due to his lack of demon blood recently, Dean is confused as Sam was able to kill Alastair but suddenly couldn't exorcise a minor demon. Alastair appears again as a hallucination to Sam during the latter's detoxing of demon blood. In this hallucination, Alastair is torturing Sam. After tricking Sam into killing Lilith and breaking the last seal, Ruby reveals that she is a deep-cover agent for Lilith. In this revelation, Ruby tells Sam that no one knew the truth of her allegiance except Lilith, specifically telling him that "not even Alastair knew, only Lilith."
When negotiating with Meg to torture Sam's soul out of Crowley, Sam questions whether or not Meg has the skills to perform the task. Meg states that she apprenticed in Hell under Alastair like Dean did and asks if Dean thinks she can do it. Upon learning that Meg had learned torture from Alastair, Dean confirms her statement. While talking with Dean, the demon Belphegor mentions that he was able to watch Dean torture souls with Alastair and expresses appreciation for Dean's skill.
Overview
Personality and attributes
Alastair was cruel, even for a demon, especially in his sadism. The more pain he could deliver the happier he was, but not just physical pain—he was also effective in mental torture and stress. He viewed torture as an exquisite art and enjoyed being patient and relishing the moments where he tortured his victims. He also criticized Ruby, stating that young demons were always so impatient and willing to run into things. While torturing his victims, Alastair often talks to his victims in a calm, polite manner as they scream in pain. Even when he is being tortured by Dean, he retains this trait, spending the whole time offering Dean advice, commenting on Dean's technique or reminiscing about the days in Hell during which he apprenticed Dean in the art of torture.
As well as enjoying giving pain, Alastair enjoyed receiving it, which displayed his masochism. He seemed to enjoy being tortured almost as much as he enjoyed torturing others, mostly because he relished in watching his enemies fail to get anything out of him and enjoyed observing their frustration. Despite being "a black belt in torture" himself, even he had a threshold for the pain he could withstand. For these reasons, he was the first demon besides Belphegor who didn't just like Hell but liked it more than Earth, dismissing the Earth as an "arctic craphole" and several times expressing the wish to return down under, feeling completely at home when among the gruesome horrors in Hell. He described Hell as being less concrete than Earth, implying that torture down there was more gruesome and allowed him to get more creative.
Ultimately, Alastair could be seen as more of an artist than a politician who cares more about carving up people than he cares about the Apocalypse, only tolerating being sent to Earth because he gets a chance to aggravate the angels and because he is ordered to. He even explicitly states that he wishes to finish his duties on Earth as quickly as possible so he could return to his studies. As "the Grand Inquisitor Downstairs", Alastair is feared by almost all who know him, to the extent where demons fear him more than they fear angels. He did, however, seem to respect Lilith and shared her desire to bring the Apocalypse and watch the world burn. As she is his superior, he loyally obeys her orders and would never disobey her, even if it means he has to leave Hell to complete his mission. In spite of his loyalty, Lilith did not trust him with all her plans, as Ruby mentioned that Lilith only told her of the plans to act as a double agent.
He also held contempt for angels, referring to them as "sanctimonious, fanatical pricks" and compares them to cockroaches, and enjoyed hurting them, even more than he enjoyed humans, souls, and demons. He wished he knew how to kill them, rather than simply being able to send them back to Heaven. He was extremely confident and one of the few demons who did not flee in the presence of an angel, stating that he'd "take his chances" when challenged by two angels.
Alastair had a twisted sense of humor and never missed a chance to exploit something he considered funny or ironic. He believed that the fact his previous host's wife was still looking for him was "hilarious". Alastair also liked to break his enemies spirit such as when he told Dean that his father lasted 100 years on his rack without breaking while Dean broke in just 30 years and when he reveals to Dean that he was responsible for the destruction of the first seal. Despite being completely evil, Alastair did apparently form a twisted mentor-student bond with those he took under his wing in the field of torture, such as Dean.
Powers and abilities
Being a white-eyed demon, Alastair could not be killed and harmed by the conventional means which lesser demons are. He was immune to iron and able to walk on holy ground. Alastair proves to be absolutely immune to the Smiting of an angel empowered by the power of Heaven.
Within the hierarchy of Hell, he stood as one of Hell's Torturers that were demons specialized in torture.
Notes
- Alastair was created by Eric Kripke with the character being portrayed by various actors including Mark Rolston, Andrew Wheeler and Christopher Heyerdahl.
Appearances
- Supernatural:
External Links
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