Michael's Decline | Supernatural character study

How the archangel Michael views Adam Milligan and Castiel on the TV show Supernatural.
💬 Subtitles available.
🚨 Spoiler warning for seasons 4-15.

By betraying God, Michael turned his back on the life he knew and everything he used to define himself with. Adam was his guide in this new existence. But then Adam was torn away, leaving the archangel with nothing but the shattered ruins of who he used to be, alone, confused, and without purpose.

On the show, he got killed soon after that in a desperate relapse to reclaim who he thought he was. In my fanfic "Empty Earth", that's not what happens next for Michael. However, what does happen took me entirely by surprise when I wrote it. Maybe I dove a little too deeply into his head, because it turns out he must be harboring a deep-seated hatred against my own favorite character, who makes the perfect scapegoat when Michael's grief is too strong to handle and turns into rage instead.

This is not an anti-Cas video. I love Castiel and he means more to me than I can say. This is merely what I consider to be Michael's point of view. Making this video helped me bridge the gap to the interlude I have written for Michael. I've come to realize that Michael has never seen any of the positive aspects of Castiel's personality that make me love this character. Instead, the interactions he got on the show were cold, unempathetic, and outright hateful in a way that was very un-Cas-like to me, especially in season 15.

The prayer in 15x08 was the only thing that resonated with me as in-character for Cas, but then the episode seemed to suggest it was only a deceit to lure Michael into a trap and ruthlessly imprison and shackle someone who has just escaped a decade of imprisonment inside a Hell cage. And all of that after deconstructing the core aspects of his personality and throwing insults at him, instead of just offering to show him the truth in a kinder way. Hm. I am VERY confused by all of this. But I'm trying to work with what the canon has given me.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/311...

Music:
Both songs from the original book soundtrack "Kaladin" (Stormlight Archive novels)

first song:
🎵 "Tien" by The Black Piper, Abby Khalek & Caleb Blood
   • Tien  
second song:
🎵 "16 Seconds Pre-Death" by The Black Piper
   • 16 Seconds Pre-Death  


📺 Episodes featured (ordered by season):
04x19 Jump the Shark
05x10 Abandon All Hope...
05x18 Point of No Return
05x22 Swan Song
06x18 Frontierland
06x20 The Man Who Would Be King
06x22 The Man Who Knew Too Much
07x01 Meet the New Boss
08x23 Sacrifice
11x06 Our Little World
14x01 Stranger in a Strange Land
15x08 Our Father, Who Aren't in Heaven
15x19 Inherit the Earth

📺 Episodes featured (in order of appearance):
0:00 15x19 "all-caring God"
0:06 15x08 Cas praying to Michael
0:11 14x01 Michael's wings
0:12 15x08 "God lied to me"
0:20 15x19 cross
0:23 15x08 "Does it hurt to ask the question?"
0:28 04x19 "The Dad Adam knew wasn't real"
0:30 15x08 "Your father is not who you knew"
0:38 04x19 "He's a Winchester. He's already cursed"
0:43 15x08 "I will help you"
0:49 15x19 "Tell me what you need me to do"
0:51 04x19 "Whatever's hunting Adam"
0:54 15x08 "We all have the same enemy - God himself"
1:02 15x08 Cas's prayer + 15x19 cross
1:05 15x08 "What was done to the Darkness"
1:11 15x19 "I took your side"
1:18 15x08 "usher in Paradise"
1:24 15x19 "I took refuge here"
1:29 15x08 "Paradise is boring"
1:34 15x19 church
1:36 15x08 "I gave everything"
1:40 04x19 "And Adam?"
1:42 15x19 "And Adam?"
1:43 15x08 "You'll be my guide"
1:46 15x19 "Gone."
1:52 15x08 "I'm alone"
1:56 15x19 "Exterminated by my father"
2:00 04x19 "What makes Adam so special?"
2:01 15x08 "I loved him"
2:16 04x19 "Adam deserves the same"
2:18 15x08
3:02 05x22 Cas sets Michael on fire
3:05 15x08 "You helped send me to Hell" + 11x06 the cage
3:16 07x01 Purgatory ritual + 15x08 voice-over
3:21 07x01 Purgatory ritual + 6x20 voice-over
3:24 07x01 field of dead angels
3:25 08x23 the Fall + 6x20 "to be the next Lucifer"
3:29 08x23 the Fall + 5x10 Lucifer
3:32 08x23 the Fall + 6x20 Crowley
3:36 11x06 Cas with bloody hand
3:38 05x18 banishing sigil + 6x22 "I'm your new God"
3:43 06x22 Cas kills Balthazar
3:51 05x18 Cas twirling angel blade
3:52 06x18 Cas kills Rachel+11x06 hand+15x08 voice-over
4:06 15x08 Cas and Michael fighting
4:18 15x08 Dean "payback"
4:25 15x08 "You had an entire oak tree shoved up your ass"

🎥 Actors featured (in order of appearance):
Jake Abel --------------- Adam Milligan + Michael
Misha Collins --------- Castiel
Jensen Ackles ------- Dean Winchester + AU Michael
Jared Padalecki ----- Sam Winchester
Alexander Calvert -- Jack Kline (doesn't say anything, but he's the person with a white jacket in the church scene)
Mark Pellegrino ----- Lucifer
Mark Sheppard ----- Crowley
Sebastian Roché --- Balthazar
Sonya Salomaa ------Rachel