| “ | Before God created angel and man, He created the first beasts--the Leviathans. I personally found them entertaining, but He was concerned they'd chomp the entire petri dish, so He locked them away. Why do you think God created Purgatory? To keep those poisonous, clever things out. | „ |
| ~ Death, to the Winchesters and Bobby Singer, "Meet the New Boss" (Season 7, episode 1 |
The Leviathan (also referred to as "Leviathans," "Levis," or "chompers") are the main antagonists of Season 7 of the television series Supernatural.
History
They were created by God long before He created angels and humans. However, God became concerned that the Leviathan would "chomp the entire petri dish" (as Death put it while revealing their existence to the Winchesters and Bobby Singer), so He locked them away in Purgatory, which He created for the express purpose of imprisoning the Leviathan.
Thousands of years later, Castiel opened Purgatory and absorbed all the souls that resided in that realm to increase his power and become the new God; by doing this, he also absorbed the Leviathan, who began taking control of his body. With the help of the Winchesters and Bobby, Castiel returned all the souls he absorbed back to Purgatory; unfortunately, some of the Leviathans managed to remain inside him and quickly seized control of his vessel.
When Castiel's body was unable to contain them, the Leviathans made their way to a nearby reservoir, where they left Castiel's body and proceeded to possess numerous people, including Dick Roman, Edgar, and Annie (who later assumed Dr. Gaines' form).
In the episode "Out with the Old," a Leviathan named George stated to Dean and Sam that they (the Leviathans) were "here to help" and intended to develop a cure for cancer. In "The Girl with the Dungeons & Dragons Tattoo," Bobby confirmed that the Leviathan was setting out to cure cancer and other illnesses, but only to turn humans into the perfect food for themselves.
Following Dick Roman's death, Crowley commented that the Leviathans are now just other monsters, albeit a hard-to-kill one.
Characteristic
Based on remarks made by both Edgar and the Alpha Vampire in "There Will Be Blood", Leviathan are just as old as Eve and are related to her in some way. This is supported by the Alpha's claims that the Vampires, who are Eve's children, originate from Leviathan - to which Edgar responds, "barely". Furthermore, when the Alpha points out that he is a son of Eve, Edgar replies that he knew Eve and that she was a "mutt", implying that Eve may be a Leviathan hybrid or mutation. Edgar, however, expressed scorn to both Eve, whom he claimed to know and described as a whore, and her monster creations. Leviathan despise all other species and enjoy flaunting their superiority over their enemies. In general, Leviathan regard humans as little more than cattle and food. They also consider seven billion to be a limited resource demonstrating the masses they intend to consume. They do, however, have some respect for certain individuals, such as Charlie Bradbury and Kevin, who possess a certain "spark" that the Leviathans are unable to copy. Their leader seems to admire these individuals for their ingenuity and progress, as well as their history of warfare and violence. Despite this, even Dick views this as "cute" and considers them all as food. Leviathan also consider Demons to be lower than humans and garbage and would kill them all simply on principle if they weren't preoccupied with other things to do. They also despise the monster races sired by Eve, viewing them as mutts who are using up their food supply, to the extent where they genetically engineer their human complacency drug so that it poisons every monster as a side effect. Leviathan are also cannibalistic, eating other Leviathan for their failures (or just being annoyances). Their leader is known for his cruel punishment, known as "bibbing," in which he forces a Leviathan that failed him to eat itself. In general, Leviathan believe every other species to be inferior to them and consider themselves invincible, believing it impossible for humans, demons or angels to kill them. Because they are able to kill practically all other species, they consider themselves the top of the food chain and fear nothing but their Leviathan superiors.
Though chaotic, it is established that Leviathan have some sort of hierarchy, with several of them taking orders from their leader, Dick Roman. Under Roman's command, there are head Leviathan, like Edgar and Joyce, who in turn have authority over other Leviathan. Dick Roman orders several Leviathan to hunt down those in their group who have been feeding indiscriminately and to deal with the Winchesters and their allies. Their hierarchy seems to operate entirely through strength and fear, as Dick talks about clawing his way to the top, and George doesn't even attempt to challenge his superior on his own and fears her greatly. In general, the Leviathans in authority have an easy time keeping the rest of them under control. They show no real loyalty for each other and will betray their superiors if it is in their best interests and obey their superiors out of fear rather than loyalty. George disobeyed and even turned against his superior, Joyce, in Out With The Old. Only Dick Roman himself seems to command absolute respect and loyalty from the Leviathan species as a whole and is feared by all of his subordinates (as he bibs or eats any who disobey or fail him). However, with Dick dead, the leviathan hierarchy is destroyed as they have no-one to turn to as Crowley points out they have only ever had one leader. Without Dick, the Leviathan resort to acting like regular monsters, although Crowley warns Sam that the remaining Leviathan may try to regroup unless Sam and other hunters prevent them from doing so.
On Earth, they take serpent-like shape underwater. Once within a vessel, Leviathan are able to shapeshift without taking a new one (provided they can acquire DNA). They seem to change their hosts biological structure, as they replace the vessels blood with their black goo. While in a host, they can dislocate the jaw and reveal a mouth full of large teeth and a forked tongue. While they can devour almost anything, they seem to prefer humans to all others. They can also have particular tastes. For example, Chet liked to eat his victims with melted cheese sauce as "everything tastes better with cheese." Dick Roman sometimes had his meals barbequed. Leviathan are also capable of eating human food, such as hamburgers and salads, but they find it disgusting. At least some of them enjoy the taste of other Leviathan, as before consuming his subordinate Dick questioned "Why would I waste a perfectly good meal?"
As seen on the episode Blood Brother, their true form in Purgatory, as perceived by humans, looks like a ball of black goo, much like the substance of their injured vessels on Earth. In this form, they have incredible mobility, as they have shown the capability to fly and land anywhere with a noticeable force, before taking humanoid form. Although this form still possesses the powerful jaws, the leviathans may choose when to reveal them. It should be noted that this may only be how they can manifest in front of human like entities, like angels manifesting in vessels in front of humans, as they were originally created long before humans. Their original form has never been described before they were locked in Purgatory.
Characters possessed by Leviathans
- Castiel, first possessed, which later made him recognize every single Leviathan no matter what kind of their disguise are.
- Dick Roman, leader
- Edgar, second in command
- Annie (Turned into Dr. Gaines)
- Dr. Gaines (executed via "bibbing")
- Chet
- George
- Joyce Bickleebee
- Victor
- Agent Valentine
- Susan
- Pete
- Royce
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