Ma'lak Box
Name | Ma'lak Box |
Manufacturer | Dean Winchester |
Powers | Traps angels and archangels |
Location/Owners | Men of Letters Bunker (Destroyed) |
Episodes | 14.11 Damaged Goods 14.12 Prophet and Loss 14.19 Jack in the Box |
It's a Ma'lak Box. Secured and warded. Once inside... nothing gets out, not even an archangel. Especially an archangel.
A Ma'lak Box is a mortsafe decorated with Enochian warding sigils designed to imprison even the most powerful celestial beings, namely archangels. While there is lore on the Ma'lak Box, they are apparently impossible to build without the proper instructions and warding magic. Billie, the incarnation of Death, carries all of Death's knowledge, including how to properly construct a Ma'lak Box.
Contents
Episodes
14.11 Damaged Goods
After receiving instructions from Billie, Dean heads to Hibbing, Minnesota, to visit with Mary at Donna's cabin, taking a few of the Bunker's books along with him. When Mary leaves to get groceries, Dean begins constructing the Ma'lak Box with scrap metal found in the shed. When Mary discovers what Dean has been building, she tells him that all three Winchesters will talk about what he is doing, warning him that she'll tell Sam if he doesn't.
With Mary's ultimatum in place, Dean brings Sam to Donna's shed where he reveals the Ma'lak Box to Sam in its complete form. Sam is surprised at first, having believed that Ma'lak Boxes were impossible to build, before questioning Dean's intent to be buried alive with Michael for eternity. Dean corrects Sam, and tells him being buried alive is not safe enough; he plans to pay hush money to charter a boat and have the box dumped in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He also explains how Billie gave him the instructions to design one to keep Michael from destroying their world.
Sam's anger that his brother would do this to himself and leave without telling him leads Dean to reveal that Sam's the only one that could've talked him out of it. Steadfast in his resolve, Dean tells Sam he can either help him or let him do it alone. Begrudgingly, Sam shakes his head and tells Dean "Alright."
14.12 Prophet and Loss
Dean has a nightmare of what it will be like for him in the Ma'lak Box at the bottom of the ocean; as his phone eventually dies as Sam tries calling him, leaving him in complete darkness screaming for "Sammy." He wakes to find his finger nails broken and bloody from scratching at the wall near his bed.
Towing the Mal'ak Box in a trailer behind the Impala, Sam and Dean continue their journey to the west coast to go through with Dean's plan, but they start working a case involving Tony Alvarez, the prophet next in line after Donatello Redfield. After Sam persuades Dean to renege on his plan and believe in his family, he tells Sam to trap Michael when the time comes if they cannot find another way to exorcize Michael and destroy him.
14.14 Ouroboros
As Dean struggles to hold Michael captive in his mind, he warns Castiel that they might get to the point where they have to implement his plan with the Ma'lak Box. Later, after escaping from Dean's mind and taking Rowena as his vessel, Michael displays knowledge of the plan and taunts Dean for not using the box when he had the chance. Dean declares that they can still do it and orders Sam to get the handcuffs, but Michael disables the Winchesters and Castiel and begins torturing them. Dean's plan with the Ma'lak Box is put to rest once and for all when Jack Kline uses Enochian magic to exorcise and kill Michael at the cost of his soul, ending the need to trap him.14.19 Jack in the Box
After Jack burns off his soul to kill Michael, he becomes dangerous, accidentally killing Mary. He gets tricked by Dumah into helping her solidify her power grab over Heaven, killing unbelievers and creating new angels at her direction. Dean proposes to Sam that the only way to stop Jack is to lock him in the Ma'lak Box. Sam reluctantly agrees and prays to Jack, pretending they have found a way to restore his soul and that they just want to put Jack in the box temporarily to keep his powers from hurting anyone. Jack returns to the Bunker and takes the Winchesters at their word, entering the box voluntarily. Once in the box, Jack's subconscious hallucination of Lucifer makes him realize the Winchesters don't have a plan to fix him and intend to hold him prisoner, and he uses his powers to blast the box apart and escape.
14.20 Moriah
After Jack escapes and destroys the Ma'lak Box, Castiel wonders aloud how Jack could escape, if the box is meant to hold an archangel. Sam replies that Jack isn't an archangel, implying that the warding wasn't designed to hold a Nephilim as powerful as Jack. It's also suggested that Jack might've "leveled up" somehow. Castiel scolds the brothers for attempting to lock Jack away in the box, but Dean replies that he wanted to kill Jack rather than imprison him.
After Chuck returns, he gives them the Equalizer, a gun that can kill anything at the cost of killing the shooter along with the target. Dean convinces himself that it's the only way to stop Jack, but Castiel wants to save the nephilim, referencing Billie's plan to lock Dean and Michael in the Ma'lak Box as proof that there's always another way. Eventually, when Dean can't bring himself to kill Jack, Sam realizes that Chuck has been manipulating their lives as part of a sick story, forcing it to end with Dean killing Jack at the cost of his life.
15.09 The Trap
In the Butch and Sundance ending, its revealed that after Castiel took on the Mark of Cain to trap Chuck, Dean was forced to trap his best friend in a Ma'lak Box and bury it after Castiel went crazy at some point between April 17, 2020 and January 6, 2021.
This alternate timeline is erased when Sam loses hope, Chuck heals their wounds from the Equalizer, and destroys the binding spell.
15.13 Destiny's Child
As Jack's soul is restored, one of the memories he experiences is of breaking out of the Ma'lak Box in the Bunker's dungeon.
Trivia
- Ma'lak is the Semitic word for "angel."