Djinn
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| Djinn | |
|---|---|
| Powers and Abilities |
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| Vulnerabilities |
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| Appearance | Humanoid with Henna tattoo-like markings adorning their bodies. |
| Episode(s) | 2.20 What Is and What Should Never Be 6.01 Exile on Main St. 6.10 Caged Heat 8.20 Pac-Man Fever 9.20 Bloodlines 14.05 Nightmare Logic 14.10 Nihilism |
Dean: You think these suckers can really grant wishes?
Sam: I don't know. I guess they're powerful enough. But not exactly like Barbara Eden in harem pants. I mean, djinn have been feeding off people for centuries. They're all over the Quran.– Sam and Dean Winchester, 2.20 What Is and What Should Never Be
History
Little is known of djinn history, their origins appear to come from the Middle East, as Castiel claimed to have battled with a pack guarding the Tree of Life in Syria and possibly technically becoming married to the djinn queen in exchange for receiving the fruit.
Characteristics
Djinn are humanoid creatures with tattooed skin that prefer to live in large ruins with a lot of places to hide, and appear to mostly be solitary and hermit like in nature.[1] Though family units of djinn appear to stick together. When djinn access their powers, their eyes will glow blue and their arms will be engulfed in a blue smokeless flame[1]and their tattoos move and extend down their arms.[2] They feed on human blood and can poison their victims with a touch. Their poison causes reality-altering hallucinations and can be used either to kill their victims quickly,[2] or to leave victims in a coma-like state while the djinn feeds on their blood over a long period of time.[1]
Djinn are best classified as genies and are able to read a person's mind to learn their deepest desires; however, the djinn do not truly grant wishes like the genies of lore. Instead, they send their victims into a fantasy universe where they believe their wish has been granted while the djinn can drink their blood slowly over the course of days. Time passes slowly enough in the fantasy universe that the djinn's victims will feel as if they're living an entire lifetime before their physical bodies die.[1]
There is a variant form, referred to as a "bastard off-shoot" by Dean Winchester, that possesses the same powers and weaknesses, but turns the victim's insides to "jelly" and feeds on fear rather than happiness. To this effect, they trap people in hallucinations of their worst nightmares rather than their happy dreams. Unlike regular djinn when they poison their victims, they leave behind a blue handprint.[3]
Powers and abilities
- Dreamwalking – Djinn can dreamwalk and influence a person's fantasy world.
- Poisonous touch – Their poison causes hallucinations that the djinn can control,[1] which in large doses can cause death.[2] Depending on the type of djinn, these hallucinations can either be a person's greatest fantasy, or worst nightmare.
- Telepathy – Djinn can read a person's mind to learn their deepest desires or worst fears.[1]
- Nightmare manifestations – Djinn's that have been enhanced by Michael have the ability to see a person's nightmare, and make it manifest in the physical world, where it is under the djinn's control.
- Shapeshifting – Certain djinn can employ a form of shapeshifting where they are able to disguise their full body markings and appear more human.
Weaknesses
- Angel blades – Are effective in killing a djinn.
- Extreme brain damage – Sam was able to kill a djinn by bashing its brains in.[2] Dean was able to kill another that had been enhanced by Michael in the same way.[4]
- Silver and lamb's blood – A silver knife dipped in lamb's blood can kill a djinn.[1]
Episodes
2.20 What Is and What Should Never Be
Dean and Sam are tracking a djinn, and when Sam tells Dean that, according to his research, they live in "ruins, usually –- the bigger, the better," Dean recalls a warehouse that he passed a while back and decides to investigate it on his own. In the warehouse, Dean finds the djinn but is overpowered and poisoned. After he is poisoned, he finds himself in a wish-verse based on his innermost desire for his mother not to have been killed when he was a child. In this alternate reality, Dean and Sam are not hunters, and so have not become close. Dean wants to believe that the djinn granted his wish, but becomes convinced that he is only dreaming. He wakes himself up by killing himself inside the vision, and when he returns to reality he is bound and weak. Sam is there trying to wake him, and starts to cut him down before being attacked by the djinn. Dean manages to break free and stab the djinn with a silver knife dipped in lamb’s blood, killing it.
6.01 Exile on Main St.
Djinn are hunting Dean and Sam and, unlike the djinn in 2.20 What Is and What Should Never Be, they are not "cave-dwelling hermits," but are able to pass as human. A djinn named Brigitta poses as a waitress and touches Dean's arm to infect him with her poison. Her touch makes Dean hallucinate his worst fears, including the return of Azazel. He seems on the verge of a panic attack when he is saved by Sam, who injects him with an antidote to the djinn's poison. Sam tells Dean that he was also poisoned by the djinn and that they both would have died without the antidote, which he got from their grandfather Samuel Campbell.
After getting Lisa and Ben to safety, Dean and Sam act as bait for the djinn. Instead of coming for them directly, the djinn attack and poison Dean's neighbor Sid and his wife. Dean goes to try and save them, but finds them dead with their eyes white. It is unclear if they had time to hallucinate, or if the dose of poison was so high that they died instantly. While Dean checks on Sid and his wife, he is attacked by Brigitta and another djinn. Brigitta gives Dean a second, stronger dose of poison through her touch and tells him, "That's for our father," implying that the djinn Sam and Dean killed in 2.20 was her father, and the other two djinn with her are her brothers.
The djinn are eventually overpowered by Sam and Samuel, and, while Sam is in Sid's house rescuing Dean, Samuel and Christian Campbell kidnap Brigitta while the other two djinn are killed.
6.10 Caged Heat
Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Meg encounter the djinn Brigitta in Crowley's monster jail. She is chained in a cell and seems terrified. She begs them to free her, but they don't have time and have to leave her. Later, Crowley comes to her cell, and she backs away from him fearfully. She is spared further torture when Crowley must deal with the escaped Winchesters.
Before they leave, the Winchesters ask Castiel to kill all of the monsters in the prison and he agrees though it becomes unclear if he actually did as its revealed he was working with Crowley.
7.22 There Will Be Blood
Crowley reveals that Castiel did kill all of the monsters in his prison except the Alpha Vampire who escaped. This means Brigitta was killed.
8.20 Pac-Man Fever
No no no, not regular djinn. According to this, there's a bastard offshoot. Uh, their eyes light up blue, they pass as humans, all that regular jazz, except these leave their victims with jelly-like insides, and supposedly, when they poison their victims, they leave behind a blue handprint.
Jennifer O'Brien was an djinn offshoot whose species feeds off fear rather than happiness, and can easily blend in with humans. Her first kill draws attention, but she is able to eventually hide it by becoming the assistant of the coroner at the time and "accidentally" burning the body. Over the next nine years, she covers up her kills in the same way which she is able to easily do as the coroner, but when her son comes of age, he kills two people and the bodies draw the attention of Charlie Bradbury who warns Sam and Dean who investigate the case.
Sensing Charlie's fear when she pretends to be an FBI agent to investigate the case, Jennifer kidnaps her and plans to feed both herself and her son off of Charlie. Charlie is poisoned, but Sam and Dean track her down allowing Dean to kill Jennifer. Unable to wake Charlie up with the antidote, Dean enters Charlie's mind with African Dream Root while Sam confronts and kills Jennifer's son. Eventually Dean is able to save Charlie and snap her out of her fear-induced hallucination.
9.20 Bloodlines
Djinn are revealed to be one of the five monster families running Chicago, with South Side, Chicago as their territory. Julian Duval is shown having a meeting with a djinn in his home about the possibility of a retaliation from the shapeshifters over Sal Lassiter's death. The djinn tells Julian that Margo is not stupid, and will find out Julian had nothing to do with her brother's death. When Violet asks Julian why he is meeting with a djinn, he tells his sister that after Sal's death, Margo will be coming for him and there will be war, and the Duvals need the djinn on their side if they stand to fight.
13.16 Scoobynatural
Upon returning from Syria with fruit from the Tree of Life, Castiel recounts the tree being guarded by a pack of djinn, he kills most of the djinn and bargains with the rest. Castiel then reveals that he thinks that he is technically married to the djinn queen.
14.05 Nightmare Logic
14.10 Nihilism
A female djinn is one of the monsters to attack the Bunker in an attempt to rescue Michael, and is disintegrated by Jack along with her cohorts.
15.06 Golden Time
After discovering a series of strange deaths in the area he is vacationing, Castiel suspects that he is dealing with a djinn. The djinn proves to be the local sheriff who tries to shoot Castiel with no avail. Castiel is able to kill the djinn with several stabs of his angel blade and is inspired to return to helping people.
Djinn in Lore
More commonly known as a genie, djinn (or jinn) are supernatural creatures in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings which occupy a parallel world to that of mankind. Like humans, they can be good, evil, or neutrally benevolent.[5] According to the Qu'ran, the djinn were created by Allah from a smokeless fire.[6] The focus in Western culture has been on the djinn or genie's ability to grant wishes, which originated in the tales from the book One Thousand and One Nights.[7]
Trivia
- Mackenzie Gray portrayed the djinn in 2.20 What Is and What Should Never Be. While portraying the djinn, Gray was unable to remove the extensive henna tattoos that adorned his body through the course of his filming.
