Jimmy Novak
| |
| Name | Jimmy Novak |
| Actor | Misha Collins |
| Dates | Possessed mid-2008 - still being used as a vessel |
| Location | Pontiac, Illinois (formerly); currently has no fixed address |
| Occupation | Sales provider for AM radio Vessel |
| Episode(s) | 4.20 The Rapture |
Castiel, you son of a bitch! You promised me my family would be okay. You promised you were gonna take care of them. I gave you everything you asked me to give. I gave you more. This is the thanks I get? This is what you do? This is your Heaven? Help me, please. You promised, Cas. Just help me... Typical.
– Jimmy Novak, 4.20 The Rapture
Jimmy Novak is Castiel's vessel.
Contents
History
A devout Christian before his possession , he is married to Amelia, and has a daughter named Claire. Prior to giving Castiel permission to inhabit his body, he sold "ad time for AM radio." The suitability of Jimmy being able to host an angel is said to be in his blood. He is able to process and understand the angel's real voice, and he hears the angel speak on multiple occasions before his possession. On one occasion, Castiel asks him to prove his faith by plunging his arm into boiling water. Jimmy is unharmed, and reveals his interactions with Castiel to his wife. She does not believe that he has been contacted by an angel and begs him to get psychiatric help. She gives him an ultimatum: either he receives treatment, or she will take their daughter and leave.
The Vessel of Castiel
Sam: You remember anything about being possessed? Anything at all?
Jimmy: Yeah, bits and pieces. I mean, angel inside of you, it's kinda like being chained to a comet.– Sam and Jimmy, 4.20 The Rapture
Faced with this situation, Jimmy dresses in a suit and trenchcoat and stands in front of his house. He prays, and Castiel answers. Jimmy agrees to act as a vessel, provided that his family is protected. Castiel descends, possessing him. Jimmy becomes a vessel not long before Dean is resurrected. Almost a year later, he is released when Castiel is recalled to Heaven for "re-indoctrination" after concern from his superiors that he is becoming disobedient and too close to Dean.4.20 The Rapture Sam and Dean find Jimmy in a ruined warehouse after Castiel's forced removal. In conversation, Jimmy reveals that his experience as a vessel was unpleasant, and that he is anxious to go back to his old life. The brothers attempt to prevent Jimmy from returning to his family, on the grounds that demons would be interested in him as a former vessel, but Jimmy escapes their custody. He returns home and tells his wife that he has been in a psychiatric hospital, and his family is all that matters to him.
Castiel (in Claire's body): I want to make sure you understand. You won't die or age. If this last year was painful for you, picture a hundred, a thousand more like it.
Jimmy: It doesn't matter. You take me. Just take me.– Castiel and Jimmy, 4.20 The Rapture
Demons eventually track Jimmy down at the house, but he and his family are saved by Sam and Dean. Jimmy agrees to be separated from his family, but it is too late: his wife was possessed during the struggle at the house. She orders Jimmy to surrender himself at a warehouse. Before entering, Jimmy yells at the sky, directing his tirade at Castiel. He accuses the angel of breaking the promise to protect his family, and of taking everything Jimmy offered (and more) without any form of repayment. Jimmy, Sam and Dean are captured, and Jimmy is shot by his possessed wife. They are saved by Castiel, who has taken Jimmy's daughter Claire as a vessel. Jimmy, near death, begs to be allowed to act as a vessel again to spare his daughter. Castiel agrees, and re-enters Jimmy.
Castiel and Jimmy Destroyed
I've been shot, and stabbed, and healed, and my body has been dragged all over the Earth. By some miracle I'm out, and I am done. I've given enough, okay?
– Jimmy Novak, 4.20 The Rapture
Jimmy's body is destroyed by Raphael when he kills Castiel at the end of 4.22 Lucifer Rising following Castiel's rebellion against Heaven. What happened to Jimmy was unknown at the time. However, when God resurrects Castiel from the dead in 5.01 Sympathy for the Devil, he returns in Jimmy's body, where it appears Jimmy's essence is still alive and present in the vessel, as Jimmy's taste for red meat affects Castiel during the events of 5.14 My Bloody Valentine. Castiel devours hundreds of burgers when Famine amplifies Jimmy's craving. Castiel and Jimmy were destroyed a second time in 5.22 Swan Song, when Lucifer causes them to explode in retaliation for Castiel's assault on Michael.
God resurrects Castiel from the dead a second time, and he again appears in Jimmy's form. Jimmy's presence in the body has not been established following this second return. However, in the episode 5.21 Two Minutes to Midnight Castiel tells Dean over the phone that the doctors believed he was brain dead, so it is possible that he died and Castiel is merely possessing his body, an equally plausible possibility is that an angel's brain activity cannot be read by an EEG machine, though these conclusions are as yet unverified. At Salute to Supernatural Vancouver 2011, Misha said that he believes that Jimmy is still "locked" in Castiel as of the end of season six.
Castiel is again presumably destroyed after taking in the Leviathan souls, however his death is not seen and it possible he survived the Leviathans exiting his body, leaving him an amnesiac rather than being killed and resurrected. He is rescued by Daphne Allen who finds him wandering naked and confused, they soon marry, and he undertakes work as a healer until he is found by Dean and regains his memories. After spending over a year in Purgatory with Dean and Benny, followed by his period being unwillingly used by Naomi, Castiel is stripped of his grace by renegade angel Metatron and returned to Earth as a human. Unlike Anna who removed her grace while in her angelic form, and was able to be reborn in a human body, Castiel's grace was removed while he was still inhabiting a vessel, leaving him the dominant personality/mind in control of the body. Until it is addressed within the show, it is safe to assume that Jimmy Novak is still trapped in his body.
Trivia
- In the spin-off novel Supernatural: War of the Sons, Dean and Sam discover a scroll that lists the bloodlines of all angelic vessels, which states that Jimmy and Claire are of the line of Ishmael, and Jimmy's father was named Gregory.
- The name Jimmy Novak may be referencing Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak who starred together in the Hitchcock movie Vertigo, which is about a woman who is not whom she appears to be. There is also a real Jimmy Novak who is a Chicago radio host who used to run a segment called "4:20 Hit of the Day."
Jimmy Novak in Fandom
- Community for Jimmy Novak on LJ
- Jimmy Big Bang writing challenge on LJ
