The size and design of angel wings has changed several times throughout Supernatural’s 13 seasons. Most of the time these are mainly changes to the wing shadows which can easily be explained by shadows always being slightly distorted. Many things can distort the look of the wing shadows, the distance the angel is from a wall, the source of the light making the shadow, and the fact that angel’s never stand in front of a flat surface when displaying their wings. Another way that I rationalize the differences in the sizes and shapes of angel wings is that the angels are all unique individuals so it would make sense that they would come in all sorts of sizes like people.
One thing i have had trouble understanding is the anatomy of angel wings. In particular Castiel’s wings as seen in 12×23 and 13×01. This is what the bone structure looks like to me but that doesn’t really match up to the shape of the angel wing skeletons we have seen before. 12.23 suggested a similar shape to the shape seen in 13.01 but it’s really hard to see.
Here are Castiel’s wings from 10.18. Besides some differences in size they seem to look exactly the same as Gadreel’s damaged wings in 9×02, and Benjamin’s and Ishim’s damaged wings in 12.10.
So why do Castiel’s wings look so different in 12×23 and 13×01? What is exactly is going on with the bone structure of angel wings on Supernatural? This has been bothering me since May and I have a theory but it is in no way perfect. One thing to note is usually angel wing prints are painted but in 12×23, and 13×01 Cas is laying on top of sand. I think that is why the wings were added to the footage later so someone wouldn’t have to try to paint something on top of the sand. I think whoever added the wings in just happened to make them a little different, but lets give them the benefit of the doubt and try to figure this out.
This is the anatomy of a bird’s wing it is very similar to our arm. The previously seen damaged wings where we can clearly see the bones (including Castiel’s wings in 10×18) seem to match this bone structure.
Castiel’s wings in 13×01 do not match.
This has lead me to wonder if the first joint we see closest to Castiel’s body is a second shoulder. This would actually explain a lot of the anatomical problems with angel’s wings such as how high they can raise them and their shape. Which shouldn’t be possible if angel wings were exactly like a birds wings. @trisscar368Came to a very similar conclusion except that I don’t think the bone, between Castiel’s body and his humerus, is a scapula. I think it’s a coracoid. The coracoid plays a very important role in bird flight because it attaches a bird’s wings to their sternum. Similarly I am wondering if this is the bone that connects an angel’s vessel to their wings.
So if angels have a second “shoulder” just to operate their wings this would explain why Castiel doesn’t have to move when he shows off his wing shadows, why angels can raise their wings so far up when extended which would be impossible for a bird to do, and some strange things about the shape of angel wings. But how does this theory fit with what we have seen of angel wing bone structure before? It actually fits very nicely with Gadreel’s wings because you can actually see this second shoulder just behind Sam’s shoulder.
This implies that most of the time it’s hidden behind the angel’s vessel and we only see it here because of the angle. Also there is a lot about Castiel’s wings in 10.18 that suggests we may not be seeing everything. Shadows are very easy to distort which makes them pretty unreliable when trying to get a picture of anything. I made a trace of Castiel’s bone structure as seen in 10×18 and superimposed it on a scaled picture of Castiel’s wing shadows from 8×07
It didn’t really match up.
But if you think about it according to what we see in 13×01 as far as bone structure. The shape of wing shadows actually matches up a lot better.
I think part of the differences can be explained by the angel’s with damaged wings not fully bringing their wings all the way up. Maybe the fact that there is exposed bone makes this movement impossible. Also if the coracoid attaches an angel’s wings to their vessel maybe it isn’t always visible when an angel dies. I am wondering if this is the bridge between a vessel and an angel’s trueform, that the reason we didn’t see it before is because those angels like Ishim and Benjamin were not alone in their vessels. The reason the coracoid shows up on Castiel’s wings in 13×01 is because Castiel is literally more attached to his vessel seeing that it only belongs to him.
I know this theory isn’t perfect and I would love to have more input on what everyone thinks about this. I also understand that there probably wasn’t quite this much thought put into Castiel’s wings in 13×01.
I had to break this post down into parts. I don’t know how many parts but right now I am thinking about three.
I need jack to ask more about cas (to dean preferably). And I want him or Sam to tell dean how jack considers him his father, how he chose him.
I want to hear dean talking about cas. About how dorky or clueless or self-less and badass he was. About how many times he saved their asses, how cas saved him from perdition, how cas cared so much about jack to the point of risking his life.
Please, give me this!!!
When Jack goes to Sam and asks him, “Will you tell me about
Castiel?”, Sam gives him an unreadable look and only says: “I think you
should ask Dean.”
So Jack does, although he doesn’t understand why.
He finds Dean in the garage. The loud, black vehicle is turned on,
and he can feel the vibrations shaking deep in his chest before he even gets close.
The door on the driver’s side is open. Jack can see Dean in the vehicle, sitting with his head back against the
seat. He has one leg inside the car, the other leg stretched
out. His knee is faintly bouncing. Beneath the noise of the
engine, he can hear the sound of music playing from the radio.
Dean’s eyes are closed, and he doesn’t notice Jack standing in front of the open door.
“Will you tell me about Castiel?” he asks, for the second
time that day.
Dean opens one green eye and stares at him. Jack looks back, because he has learned the importance of eye contact if he wants to show that something is important to him.
Finally, Dean straightens up and jerks a thumb to the
passenger seat. “Get in.”
Jack rounds the car, opening the passenger door and
sliding into the bench seat. He shuts the door and waits, straight-backed,
hands on his knees, while Dean turns down the radio.
“What d’you wanna know?” Dean asks gruffly.
“Everything. Anything,” Jack says sincerely. “I don’t remember everything about my mother clearly, but I remember that sometimes she felt very alone, or felt very afraid. They were very strong feelings, strong enough that I could feel them too. But those feelings lessened, when Castiel was around.”
Dean makes a sound – a strange, choked kind of laughter –
but he leans back against the seat again. He’s quiet
for a few moments, and then he starts to talk.
And he talks, and he talks. And Jack listens.
___
Dean tells Jack about Sam dying, and making a deal with a demon to save him. Jack is surprised, and thinks that he doesn’t know very much about these two men after all, these men who brought him to their home and speak of Castiel with such affection and wistfulness in their voices.
Dean tells Jack about the forty years he spent in Hell, and it’s painful to listen to. Jack doesn’t particularly like hearing about this part, but he listens because he wants to hear about Castiel saving Dean from Hell and using Jimmy Novak as a vessel and helping stop the apocalypse.
Deans tells him about Castiel fighting a war in Heaven, and working with Crowley. Dean tells him about Castiel walking into the lake, and
returning as Emmanuel. Dean tells him about Castiel being tricked by Metatron, and the
angels falling from Heaven. Dean tells him about Castiel being possessed by
Lucifer, and meeting God and His sister.
Dean tells him about all of these things – an overview of Castiel’s history with the brothers, the good and the bad. The obvious cornerstones and momentous events of Castiel’s life.
But these are the things that everyone would know about Castiel, and Jack is more interested in the other things that Dean tells him – the small things, the tiny details filling in the cracks like
grains of sand. These are the words that Jack soaks up, leaning slightly
towards Dean to catch every word, hands gripping his knees a little tighter.
About how Castiel learned to doubt and ask questions. About the shadows of Castiel’s wings. About the ugly trenchcoat and backwards tie that Castiel would never give up, because they had been part of Jimmy’s sacrifice. About how Castiel loved PB&J, at least for a while.
About the haunted look in Castiel’s eyes whenever he talked about Heaven. About the exasperated tone Castiel would
use when Dean or Sam would do something particularly stupid. About the subtle smile that would grow at the corners of Castiel’s mouth sometimes, when he was amused but pretending not to be, hidden unless you knew where to look.
Dean barely glances at Jack as he talks. Instead, he stares out the windshield with distant eyes, as if seeing something other than the garage of the Bunker. He gestures as he talks, lively hand movements to accentuate points in his stories. It’s the most that Dean has ever talked to Jack, and the longest he has ever gone without casting one of those secret, guarded looks in Jack’s direction, as if waiting for the moment that Jack will attack them – looks that Jack knows he isn’t supposed to see. But now, it’s as if Dean has almost forgotten he’s there, and is simply talking to himself. He hardly looks at Jack at all.
Once, while describing the process of teaching Castiel something called ‘knock knock jokes’, Dean even smiles – nothing more than a quick flash of teeth under faraway eyes. It’s not even aimed in Jack’s direction, but it startles him, because it’s the first time he’s ever seen Dean smile, and it looks so out of place that it almost seems wrong. Sam smiles, sometimes. But Dean doesn’t smile, at least not around him.
But Jack listens, and as he listens, he thinks he understands.
When Jack thinks about his mother, there is an painful feeling, an empty, aching sensation – almost like being hungry, except the
feeling is in his chest, not his stomach. He might not have met her, but he had known her, and her absence is like he was born with a piece of himself already missing. He does not entirely feel whole. This is the same feeling he can see reflected in Dean’s eyes now, and it’s almost startling to realize that he is not alone in this.
Jack and Dean are not so different, he realzes, despite what Dean might think. Jack and Dean share something, and it’s called ‘loss’.
Dean has finally stopped talking, words sinking one by one under the rumble of the Impala until they stop coming at all.
“You miss him,” Jack says, when it’s obvious that Dean isn’t going to say anymore. It’s not a question.
The answer is not immediate. It comes quietly, hushed, like footsteps in the dark.
“…yes.”
“You loved him,” Jack says.
“Yes,” Dean whispers.
With a slow movement, Jack reaches out and teaches Dean on
the shoulder, brief and light. A small connection, an acknowledgment.
“I am sorry,” Jack whispers, “for your loss.”
Dean nods. And then he lowers his head,
puts one hand over his eyes, and does something else that Jack never knew Dean could do: he cries.
I love how gentle Dean is when he knows Sam is emotionally vulnerable.
1.19
I am emotionally compromised by this, especially if Jared is right and the brothers experience role reversal at the start of 13. If there are more Sam/Jess vs Dean/Cas parallels, I might not survive.
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