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- The following characters are angels of God appearing in the American television series Supernatural. Angels are portrayed as extremely powerful beings. Merely perceiving their true form - even psychically - typically results in blindness, as the appearance of their natural "visage" is overwhelming; it is capable of burning an individual's eyes from their sockets, although certain "special people" are able to withstand their true appearances and voices. Because their true appearances cannot be safely perceived by humans and because they are spirits with no physical being, they often take on humans as vessels in order to exist in and interact with the physical world, though only with the hosts' consent. Angels require a particular vessel to reach their full potential, people being "chosen" to be their hosts or "true vessels". Most angels are portrayed as emotionless authoritarian beings. A number have been shown to have disdain for humanity, whom they believe are flawed and inferior creations, though Lucifer is the only angel who refused to kneel before humans at God's command. All angels, fallen or not, consider themselves family, each being brothers and sisters and referring to God as their Father. However, most angels have not actually met or spoken to God. According to Anna Milton, only four angels have actually met God and seen his true face. This number later proves to be false, and six angels are said to have met him - Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Lucifer, Metatron and Gadreel. This increases to seven after Castiel meets him.The highest-ranking angels currently command the lesser-ranking, their former leader God having disappeared and left the angels to protect humanity in His place. Series creator Eric Kripke originally did not want angels to be featured in the series, believing God worked through hunters rather than angels. However, with so many demonic villains, he and the writers changed their minds when they realized that the show needed angels to create a "cosmic battle". As Kripke put it, "We had the empire, but we didn't really have the rebellion." They had always wanted to have a storyline with a few central characters but having massive battles in the background, comparable to Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, and the addition of angels allowed for this. Kripke has found that it has opened up many new storylines. (en)
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