The Darkness (Supernatural)

The Darkness is an antagonistic force in the Supernatural universe, first appearing in the Season 10 finale "Brother's Keeper" and serving as the main antagonist of Season 11.

When incarnated in human form, it is played by Emily Swallow (as a grown woman) and Gracyn Shinyei (as a prepubescent girl).

History
The Darkness is an ancient, primordial force that existed before God came into being. Sometime in the far past, God, along with His Archangels, battled the Darkness before locking it away using what would later become the Mark of Cain, which he entrusted to Lucifer. However, Lucifer became corrupted by the mark as the Darkness began to assert its influence upon him, leading the Archangel to rebel against God's command to bow down to humanity. After Lucifer was banished from Heaven, he later transferred the mark to Cain who, many centuries later, passed it to Dean Winchester.

The Darkness could only remain imprisoned if the Mark of Cain was passed to another person. Thus, the removal of the Mark of Cain from Dean, caused by a spell cast by Rowena at Sam Winchester's behest, had the unfortunate consequence of unleashing the Darkness upon Earth. Once freed, the Darkness grew to gigantic size and descended upon the Winchester brothers as they tried to flee in the Impala.

In the Season 11 premiere "Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire," Dean remembers encountering the Darkness in the form of a human woman. The Darkness tells Dean that they are bound to one another and will help one another, revealing she has the Mark of Cain, before Dean regains consciousness in a field, separated from Sam for a brief time.

Later, while driving, Dean and Sam come across a couple of men with black veins, and they find Deputy Jenna Nickerson, who's injured. They take Jenna to the hospital, where they meet Mike Schneider, a man who's contracted the Darkness from one of the infectees. Mike asks the Winchesters and Jenna to take his baby daughter; after he succumbs to the disease, he confronts Dean and Jenna and asks for his daughter back. As he dies, Mike says the baby's name is "Amara." In the final scene, while Jenna is changing Amara's diapers, she notices the Mark of Cain on the infant.

In "Form and Void," Dean drops Jenna and Amara off at Jenna's grandmother's house. A few hours later, Amara displays telekinesis, which she uses to throw letter blocks onto the wall to spell out the words "Feed me." While her grandmother, believing Amara to be possessed by the Devil, calls a priest, Jenna calls Dean, who speeds back to the house. After Dean arrives, he's stunned to see that the priest that Jenna's grandmother called is Crowley. Dean and Crowley step outside for a tense discussion, and Crowley tells Dean that he senses something dark and ancient in Amara.

While Dean and Crowley are talking, Jenna goes to check on Amara, who proceeds to consume her soul. Moments later, after Jenna kills her grandmother before being killed by Crowley after she attacks Dean, Amara suddenly ages into prepubescence and flees while Dean and Crowley are fighting. By the episode's end, Amara is found by Crowley, who offers her a family to consume; she accepts his offer with a smile.

Powers and Abilities

 * Immortality: According to Death, the Darkness predates everything, including God Himself. It is an ageless and invulnerable force that can never die, and was never truly alive to begin with.
 * Nigh-Omnipotence: While its full powers are unknown, it managed to battle against God and the Archangels for an unknown amount of time, and Death was willing to make sure the Mark of Cain wasn't broken. Considering the force it took just to fight it back and imprison it, the Darkness is the most powerful evil force in the Supernatural universe.
 * Flight: The Darkness, while disembodied, can fly in a similar manner to demons and angels without a vessel.
 * Invulnerability: Considering its ability to stand against God and His Archangels, the Darkness can be assumed to have an immense resilience for physical and supernatural attacks that likely constitutes invincibility.
 * Soul Consumption: The Darkness can suck the souls out of living beings to feed itself.

Weaknesses

 * High-Tier Entities: God, with the combined strength of the Archangels, was strong enough to bind the Darkness and seal it with a lock.
 * The Mark of Cain was the "lock" to the prison that held the Darkness back. As long as one person bore the Mark, the Darkness would remain sealed. With its removal, the Darkness was set free once more.

Trivia

 * The Darkness is similar to many terms and entities found in many creation myths.
 * Chaos in Greek/Egyptian mythology, which predated everything and created or was from the gods or the gods themselves once came from it.
 * From the quote in the Bible's Book of Genesis "And God said let there be light."
 * The Darkness, in the idea of it being the embodiment of what came before creation, is similar to DC Comics' Great Evil Beast, created by Alan Moore in the pages of Swamp Thing.

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