Cambion
He is the spawn of human and demon, but far more powerful than either. With one word he can destroy the entire host of Heaven!
– Castiel, 5.06 I Believe The Children Are Our Future
Cambions are the offspring of demons by human mothers. They are also known as Catagos (sp?) or the Antichrist. In 5.06 I Believe The Children Are Our Future, Castiel corrects the idea that the Antichrist is the son of Satan. The Bible, according to Castiel, is wrong, and the Anti-Christ is not the son of Lucifer, but demon spawn born of humans. This lineage makes them incredibly powerful and with Lucifer on the rise, they become more powerful, so powerful they are capable of "killing the Host of Heaven with one word". Because of this Castiel is insistent that Jesse Turner - a Cambion - must be killed.
The true extent of a Cambion's power is left unexplored following Jesse's departure. Castiel's warning may in fact be fabricated lies from his superiors to encourage the swift and prejudicial execution of any Cambion he might encounter (much like the false rumour that the Colt could kill Lucifer). If this is true, the Cambion is not as destructive as Castiel was led to believe. However, they are still evidently very powerful regardless. Cambions possess the following traits and abilities:
- They can transform fiction into reality, sometimes without even realising it.
- They can transform any object or person into something else (e.g. Jesse turned Castiel into a plastic action figure).
- They can command Demons to do whatever they desire, be it letting Sam and Dean go or vacating their vessel.
- They possess powerful telekinetic abilities and can create a minor earthquake just by clenching their fist.
- They can teleport themselves to anywhere on the planet and hide themselves from Angels and Demons alike.
- Their powers can cover several miles in an expanding circle of their location, creating a significant area of effect.
Note: The Cambion's abilities are rather similar to that of an Archangel. For example; Jesse's ability to bend the fabric of reality is akin to Gabriel's "tricks", a specific example being when Gabriel turned Sam into the Impala and when Jesse turned Castiel into an action figure. In Christian Lore, Fallen Angels shed their feathered wings and grew bat-like appendages to replace them, and the halos over their heads melted with horns growing in their place. They retained their abilities, albeit in a darker context. This in mind, the Cambion could be the opposite of an Archangel of the Lord.
According to the Malleus Maleficarum: Cambions are born from a union between a human male and a Succubus, or a human female and an Incubus. It is a still birth that shows no sign of life outside of being alive, meaning that the child has, for example, no pulse and no breath. This continues until the child is about seven years old, where it becomes increasingly difficult to differentiate one from a human. A cambion is usually devilishly cunning, and angelically beautiful, able to persuade even the most strong-hearted individual to do his or her bidding. Most cambions have evil tendencies due to their demon parent.
In the 1.01 Pilot, Sam and Dean find a motel room recently occupied by John Winchester, the walls plastered with his research. Amongst all the paper, is one article which talks about Cambion. Whether this is a co-incidence, or a deliberately placed reference remains to be seen.
Links
Wikipedia entry on Cambion
A famous cambion is Caliban from Shakespeare's "The Tempest".
The mage of the King Arthur stories, Merlin, is also often said to be half human and half demon, and was original intended to be the Antichrist.
