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After [[Lucifer]] was banished from [[Heaven]] for defying [[God]] due to his corruption from the [[Mark of Cain]], he twisted a human [[soul]] into the [[Lilith|first demon]]. After this, God sent [[Michael]] to imprison Lucifer in the Cage which was locked with 600 mystical seals.
In 1972, [[Azazel]] possessed a [[Father Lehne|priest]] at [[St. Mary's Convent]], and killed eight nuns in the chapel. This enabled him to speak to the imprisoned Lucifer, who used the [[The Nun|head nun]] as a conduit. Lucifer tells Azazel that Lilith is needed to break [[the 66 Seals]] that hold him captive in the Cage and that he needs to find a very "special child."<ref name="four22">[[4.22 Lucifer Rising]]</ref> This leads Azazel to recruit [[:Category:Special Children|select children]], including [[Sam Winchester]] and to set in motion events that subsequently lead to the breaking of the 66 Seals.
In 2008, after [[Dean]]'s return from [[Hell]], [[Castiel]] reveals that Lilith is trying to break the seals that lock the Cage in order to free Lucifer. Dean later learns that the first seal was broken when he was in Hell, and broke under torture and began torturing [[souls]] himself. Sam continues clandestine missions with [[Ruby]], developing his powers even though this involves drinking [[demon blood]], believing that killing Lilith will stop the Cage being opened. In 2009, Sam unknowingly releases Lucifer from the Cage by killing Lilith at [[St. Mary's Convent]]. Lilith is revealed to have been the last of the 66 Seals.
As Sam and Dean attempt to find a way to stop Lucifer and the impending [[Apocalypse]], [[Gabriel]] tells them that the [[Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse]] all own rings that together can reopen a portal to the Cage anywhere. After collecting all the rings, Sam comes up with a plan in which he will allow Lucifer to [[possess]] him, and then force him into the Cage. The initial attempt fails, but when Lucifer confronts Michael at [[Stull Cemetery]], Sam activates the rings and as the Cage opens, he manages to gain enough control to force himself (and Lucifer) into the Cage. [[Michael]] (in possession of [[Adam]]'s body) tries to stop him but is dragged into the Cage as well.
After the averted Apocalypse, [[Raphael]] tried to reopen the Cage to release Lucifer and Michael, to continue where the angel's plans lefy left off, but was ultimately unsuccessful due to Castiel leading a civil war in Heaven to stop him. During this time, Sam is subsequently rescued from the Cage by Castiel, but his soul remained trapped in the Cage being tortured by Lucifer and Michael. [[Death]] agrees to retrieve Sam's soul, and returns it to his body, setting up a temporary "wall" in Sam's mind to prevent the knowledge of the horrors that happened in the Cage from destroying him.
Following the release of [[the Darkness]], cries are heard coming from the Cage, and the demons speculate that Michael or Lucifer are trying to warn them about it. Sam also starts having flashbacks or visions of his torment in the Cage. When Sam finally journeys to Hell to confront Lucifer with [[Crowley]] and [[Rowena]], he learns that the impact of the Darkness' release had a massive effect on Hell, causing the Cage to become damaged. It was through those fissures Lucifer was able reach out and give Sam his visions of the Cage. Lucifer is eventually able to escape in [[11.10 The Devil in the Details]] by taking [[Castiel]] as his [[vessel]], leaving Michael, who had become catatonic due to his imprisonment, alone in the Cage.
In 2020, God opens every doorway in Hell to unleash the souls of the damned into the world, including Lucifer's Cage. Eventually, Michael is revealed to have maintained his sanity and escaped from the Cage alongside Adam when it was opened, leaving it empty.
==Characteristics==
===[[11.14 The Vessel]]===
Sam and Dean still believed that Lucifer is still in the cage until he reveals himself to be possessing Castiel.
===[[11.18 Hell's Angel]]===
Crowley offers to give Sam and Dean the [[Horn of Joshua]] in exchange for exorcising Lucifer from Castiel's vessel and sending him back to the cage, but Sam says that the cage is damn near impenetrable as it took Rowena and a spell from the ''Book of the Damned'' to summon him and inadvertently release him. Even though he tells the Winchesters that Rowena was killed and that she hid the book, Crowley is adamant in sending him back to the cage. They say that Lucifer may be their only hope in killing the Darkness if he has the Horn of Joshua.
===[[11.21 All in the Family]]===
Chuck tells Sam and Dean that he doesn't trust that Lucifer would help them against [[Amara]] because of his time imprisoned in the cage. Later, when Lucifer and Chuck agree to talk, Lucifer accuses him of throwing him into the cage because of what the Mark did to him, but Chuck says that he did what he had to do to keep mankind safe. When Chuck asks him what he would have done, Lucifer says it doesn't matter as he still forsook him, despite being his son.
===[[12.08 LOTUS]]===
After getting a [[hyperbolic pulse generatorHyperbolic Pulse Generator]] from [[Arthur Ketch]] of the [[British Men of Letters]], the Winchesters, [[Castiel]], [[Crowley]] and [[Rowena]] team up together to return [[Lucifer]] to his cage. Using [[President Jefferson Rooney]]/Lucifer's mistress [[Kelly Kline]], the group lures Lucifer to a motel where Sam uses the hyperbolic pulse generatorHyperbolic Pulse Generator, a device capable of expelling a [[demon]] from their [[vessel]]. The powerful pulse beats Lucifer back, as Rowena casts a spell to send Lucifer's essence back to the Cage. After exchanging words with Sam, Lucifer vacates the president's body, his essence swirls below the ceiling before going through a heating vent in the floor.
===[[12.14 The Raid13 Family Feud]]===Crowley reveals that he perverted Rowena's spell to send his essence back to his discarded vessel [[Nick]] rather than being sent back to the cage. Crowley had a dozen of his most loyal demons study the cage at the molecular level and replicate the material used in creating the chains that bind him.
===[[12.15 Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell]]===
When Lucifer escapes his chains and tries to kill Crowley, he reveals that he also had the runes and spellwork from the cage carved into every molecule of his vessel, allowing him to negate Lucifer's powers and effectively torture him.
===[[13.02 The Rising Son]]===
[[Drexel]] says that he and the demons have been searching for Lucifer, even checking the cage, and yielding no results.
===[[14.20 Moriah]]===
Castiel meets with a demon to visit the cage and study it, but she is uncooperative. When [[Chuck]] gives Sam and Dean [[The Equalizer]] to kill [[Jack]], Castiel suggests throwing him in the cage until they find a way to save Jack, but Dean, who is too stubborn to care, shoots down the idea.
===[[15.01 Back and to the Future]]===
[[Belphegor]] tells Dean that every door in Hell sprang open all at once when [[God]] started the end of the world. Dean realizes that this means Lucifer's Cage as well and asks about [[Michael]]. Belphegor tells Dean that the last he heard, Michael was still just sitting in the Cage, but suggests that if Michael got out he might hold a grudge against the Winchesters.
===[[15.08 Our Father, Who Aren't in Heaven]]===
After realizing that [[Michael]] might know something that could help them beat [[God]], the Winchesters and [[Castiel]] use one of [[Rowena]]'s spells to travel into Hell to talk to the [[archangel]] in the Cage. After interrupting a brawl between the three and several demons, Rowena, now the Queen of Hell, reminds them that the Cage is open and Michael could be anywhere in Hell or on Earth. However, Rowena has her demons search Hell for Michael when they impress upon her the urgency of the situation. The demons subsequently report back that Michael is gone, having escaped from both the Cage and Hell.
Following his escape, Michael continues to use [[Adam Milligan]], who he took out of the Cage with him, as Michael's [[vessel]] on Earth. During their years together in the Cage, Michael and Adam were able to reach an understanding since all they had was each other and now share control of Adam's body and even appear to have developed a friendship. After being captured by the Winchesters and Castiel, Michael is angry at Sam and Castiel for their roles in trapping him in the Cage and at Dean for abandoning Adam there while letting Lucifer free upon the world. Adam, while arguing with Michael, reminds the archangel that God abandoned Michael in the Cage as proof that they are right about God. Dean later apologizes to Adam for allowing Adam to get trapped in Lucifer's Cage, stating that Adam is a good man and didn't deserve that fate.
==See also==