Ruby

Ruby is a black-eyed demon who proves instrumental in releasing Lucifer from his cage and starting the Apocalypse through her manipulation of Sam Winchester. She owns a special knife that can kill demons (though at the cost of their meatsuits' lives) which later ends up in the Winchesters' arsenal.

History

Around the time of the Black Plague in Europe in 1350, Ruby is a human who sells her soul to the demon who would later possess Tammi Benton. In exchange, the demon teaches her witchcraft. Ruby goes to Hell and eventually becomes a demon herself after centuries of torture. She also adopts the demon faith and becomes a worshipper of Lucifer.

Ruby is meant to serve as a member of the army of demons Azazel has released from the Devil's Gate in Wyoming. However, when Azazel is killed by Dean Winchester, she is tasked with a secret undercover operation by Lilith (the new leader of the demon army) instead, one that pits her against her fellow soldiers: when 65 of the 66 Seals have been broken, Ruby has to get Sam Winchester to kill Lilith in order to break the last seal and free Lucifer.

Ruby secures an ancient demon-killing knife of the Kurds with which to defend herself and her charge from other demons, and begins following Sam and killing demons who try to kill him and neutralize him as a competitor for leadership of the army. She initially presents herself as a fellow hunter, but soon discloses her true identity as a demon to Sam when he presses her for the truth. She gets him to stay his hand when she tells him that she can help him save Dean from the deal he made with a crossroads demon. Ruby insists that she is helping them and fighting on the side of humans against her own kind because she remembers how being human felt. However, Dean largely regards her and her apparent helpfulness with suspicion. When she begins manipulating Sam into tapping into his latent demonic powers, given to him by Azazel, he recognizes it as proof of her evil intentions and turns against her completely.

While Dean is in Hell, Ruby seduces Sam at his lowest point. She convinces him to go after Lilith instead of keep up his efforts to bring Dean back, and trains him to practice with his powers and enhance them by drinking her blood, getting him powerful enough to exorcise demons by thought. When she comes save him from a trap set by Lilith's minions even after he threatened to kill her if she interfered, she finally earns his trust. After Castiel brings Dean back from Hell, Sam keeps much of his relationship with Ruby a secret and they continue working together to kill Lilith behind Dean's back and against his wishes. Ruby eventually gets Sam addicted to her blood, which deepens the fall-out between the brothers when Dean finds out and tries to kill Ruby to stop her from hurting and manipulating Sam, only for Sam to continue to defend her. In the ensuing fight, Sam picks Ruby over Dean.

Once 65 of the seals have been broken, Ruby leads Sam to St. Mary's Convent to kill Lilith and prevents Dean from telling Sam that Lilith's death is the last seal. Once Sam finally succeeds in killing Lilith, Ruby reveals her duplicity to him and is killed by Dean with her own knife while Sam holds her in place from behind.

Characteristics

Ruby has black eyes (irises and sclera). Her true face is not shown, but Dean is appalled at the sight of it and describes her as "one ugly broad." Anna has a similar visceral reaction, even screaming and retreating at the sight of Ruby. In stark contrast to her hideous true form, Ruby tends to possess beautiful young women to use as her meatsuits. She has a great deal of knowledge about witchcraft and spell-work, having been an extraordinarily talented witch when she was human. Her presence causes failure in automobiles and electrical lights. Ruby:

Powers and abilities

• Can teleport.
• Can possess humans. Ruby can do this regardless of the state of her host body, even if the human in question is not even alive anymore.
• Has superhuman durability.
• Is telekinetic.

Weaknesses

• Can be killed by the Colt, angels, and her own knife.
• Is vulnerable to devil's traps.
• Cannot enter Bobby's panic room due to its defenses against demons.

Episodes

2.22 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part Two

Ruby is later revealed to be among the hundred or more demons seen escaping Hell through the open Devil's Gate in this episode; like the other demons, she appears as demon smoke.

3.01 The Magnificent Seven

Ruby first appears on the scene with an unnamed young blonde as her meatsuit.

Ruby follows Sam and Bobby as they track down the Seven Deadly Sins. Sam senses somebody watching him, but she seemingly vanishes whenever he turns to see who it is. While Bobby, Dean, and Tamara are fighting off Sloth, Lust, and Wrath, the other demons (Pride, Gluttony, and Greed) target Sam. When Pride starts strangling Sam, Ruby steps in and attacks the demons with a knife, killing Gluttony and Greed on her own and killing Pride with Sam's help. Stunned, Sam asks who she is, but she only says that she's "the girl who just saved your ass." She tells Sam that she'll see him around and in the process reveals to Sam that she knows who he is. She walks away and has already disappeared by the time Sam goes to look for her.

3.02 The Kids Are Alright

Ruby drops in on Sam unexpectedly as he researches ways to save Dean's soul. She identifies herself as a fellow hunter and talks with Sam about his past and his destiny; this sets Sam on a path to research more about his mother, Mary Winchester. Disturbed to find out all of his mother's friends are dead, Sam demands to know exactly who Ruby is. Ruby reveals that she is a demon and claims that Sam fascinates her. Ruby tells Sam that she is in the pursuit of knowledge for her own ends and is "on his side." The episode ends with her offering Sam a deal - he works with her to find out more about his destiny and she helps him save Dean's soul from the crossroads demon.

3.03 Bad Day at Black Rock

Sam tells Dean about Ruby turning out to be a demon. Dean is angry that Sam didn't exorcise her as soon as he found out, but Sam defends his sparing her and admits that she offered to help him save Dean from his deal. Dean believes that Ruby is just lying to Sam and using his love for Dean against him, but Sam insists that they can use her to get information on the demons they are battling.

3.04 Sin City

Ruby comes to Bobby while he is working on the Colt. Bobby shoots her with it, but with no effect. Ruby offers to help Bobby make it work, and they succeed - Bobby brings the Colt to a hunt Dean and Sam are on and Sam kills two demons with it. Later, Ruby and Sam argue - Ruby threatens to take the Colt from Sam and give it to someone else who'll use it; Sam threatens Ruby with the Colt. They come to a truce again when Ruby reminds Sam that if he kills her, she can't help him save Dean's soul. She refers to herself as "the little fallen angel" on Sam's shoulder.

3.05 Bedtime Stories

When Sam threatens the crossroads demon with the Colt, the crossroads demon realizes that Ruby must have fixed it and comments disparagingly on the problems Ruby is causing her.

3.09 Malleus Maleficarum

Ruby warns Sam and Dean away from the town where they are investigating a coven of witches. She tells them a demon is present that will come after Sam. Dean tries to shoot her with the Colt, but Sam intervenes. When Dean is attacked by a force that causes him to bled internally, Ruby saves him with a witch's potion. When Tammi is about to kill Sam and Dean, Ruby appears and at first acts as if she is on Tammi's side, but then tries to kill Tammi with her knife. Tammi reveals Ruby was once a witch who sold her soul to her. After Dean manages to kill Tammi with Ruby's knife, she tells him all demons were originally human, but during their time in hell they lose all trace of their humanity, but she has retained some of hers and wants to help humans. Ruby reveals to Dean that she can't save him from hell, but that she needs his help to prepare Sam to fight the demons after he is gone.

3.12 Jus in Bello

While the boys are under siege from demons while in a police station, Ruby shows up, able to get in through a salt line damaged unwittingly by the deputy. She tells them that demons are from Lilith, Sam's demonic rival from "the west," and tries to convince Sam that the solution is a spell she knows that will "vaporize" all demons within radius - including herself. However the spell requires the sacrifice of a virgin. Nancy volunteers but Dean is vehemently against the plan, instead he convinces Sam that they need to just open the doors and fight off the hoard themselves. Exasperated, Ruby leaves. After the boys have escaped, seemingly victorious over the demons, Ruby turns up at their motel room and tells them to turn on the television, where they find out that everyone left in the police station was killed by Lilith.

3.16 No Rest for the Wicked

In an last attempt to save Dean from his deal, Sam summons Ruby. She tells him that he contains the power necessary to defeat Lilith, but Dean intervenes and in the ensuing struggle traps her beneath a devil's trap and steals Ruby's knife. Ruby escapes and tracks the boys to the house where Lilith is tormenting a family. On entering the house they find the little girl Lilith was possessing is human again. Sam turns to Ruby for help again, but she says it is too late to save Dean. As the hellhounds come for Dean, the boys barricade themselves in a room. Dean, who is able to see the true face of demons, realizes that the body possessed by Ruby now contains Lilith. Lilith says she has sent Ruby "far, far away." After Lilith leaves Ruby's host body, the latter falls to the floor beside Dean, lifeless.

4.01 Lazarus Rising

Ruby takes the comatose body of a brain-dead Jane Doe to get closer to Sam.

Dean and Bobby find Ruby with Sam in his motel room but don't recognize her, as she is now possessing a different girl. She pretends not to recognize them either, first acting as though they are delivering a pizza she ordered and then asking if Sam and Dean are "together" after Sam pulls Dean into a hug. She gets dressed and leaves after telling Sam to call her; when he calls her Kathy to keep Dean and Bobby from finding out who she is, she feigns disappointment and "corrects" him, saying that her name is Kristy. The state of Sam and Ruby's dress (or lack thereof) and the bra Dean finds left behind in the room hints that they have started up a sexual relationship while Dean was gone. However, Sam lies to Dean by telling him that Ruby hasn't come back since Dean's death. Ruby turns up again at the diner where Sam discovers a number of dead demons and one blinded survivor. After Sam exorcises the survivor through sheer concentration, Ruby walks up to him and comments that he is getting more adept at using his psychic powers. She tells him that she has no idea what's going on with the other demons nor with Dean's miraculous return. She rejects his suggestion that a demon pulled Dean out of Hell, telling him that no demon—not even Lilith—is powerful enough to pull a soul from Hell and return it to its body so easily; it must be something she has never seen before. Ruby asks if Sam is going to tell Dean about what they've been doing. She is unimpressed with his reply when he says he just needs time, and warns him that Dean will find out soon and he'll be angry if Sam doesn't tell him himself. Although she personally dislikes Dean, she acknowledges how important the brothers' bond is to Sam and suggests that she step back so that she doesn't get in-between them. Sam, however, insists that they keep going, even though he still isn't completely certain of Ruby's trustworthiness.

4.02 Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester

Ruby appears to Sam when he is off on his own to get Dean food. Since the previous episode, she has heard rumors that Dean was saved by an angel. She asks Sam if that's true. He thinks so, and Ruby suddenly decides to leave. Sam stops her and asks what's wrong and she explains that angels will kill her just for being a demon, even though she's helping them in the war against Lilith. She tells Sam that she doesn't know much else about angels; she's never met one and she's never wanted to, seeing as how she's terrified of them. Ruby warns Sam to watch out and then takes her leave.

4.03 In the Beginning

Ruby appears briefly at the beginning of the episode when she drives up to Sam and Dean's motel room at night and lets Sam into her car for a secret rendezvous while Dean is asleep. She asks if he is ready, which he confirms.

4.04 Metamorphosis

Dean finds Sam with Ruby, and witnesses him exorcising a demon. Ruby attacks Dean, but Sam warns her off, and she leaves to take the now unpossessed human to a hospital.

Ruby, fresh out of Hell, temporarily possesses a secretary.

4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer

In flashbacks set after 3.16 No Rest for the Wicked but before 4.01 Lazarus Rising, Ruby, now possessing a secretary, is shown meeting Sam again for the first time since Dean's death. She and another demon overpower him when he walks into his motel room, drunk. She reclaims her knife from Sam and tells him that she had been in a particularly "nasty" part of Hell before Lilith released her on the condition that she find and kill Sam. Ruby goes back on her deal by killing the demon with her instead. Frustrated by Sam's unresponsive behavior, she describes how she has been tortured by an angry Lilith for helping him and all the risks and sacrifices she has made just to get back to him. However, he is unmoved; once she admits she can't save Dean's soul from Hell, he orders her to get out of the woman she is possessing and leave him alone. She depossesses the secretary, but then possesses a coma patient—a Jane Doe whose soul has already left her body and crossed-over—who has just been taken off life-support and returns to Sam in this more acceptable meatsuit.

Ruby tells Sam that she heard Lilith planning something "apocalyptic-big" in Hell and offers to teach him everything she knows—including how to use his powers—so that he can take revenge on Lilith, but only if he promises to be both patient and sober; he readily accepts. He is unsuccessful at first in exorcising demons, and becomes even more despairing. Ruby tells him that she remembers how it feels to lose a loved one and that the pain of losing Dean will get better with time, then seduces him. Soon afterward, Sam finds omens that he believes will lead him to Lilith. Ruby tries to stop him, warning him that Lilith will kill him instead of the other way around and telling him that this isn't what Dean would want, but he threatens to kill her own knife to stop her from interfering anymore. Sam walks into a trap and is attacked by two of Lilith's minions. Luckily, Ruby has followed him there and she rescues him by killing one demon with her knife. She is overpowered by the second demon, who taunts her about the torments she will go through once she's taken back to Hell. Much to Ruby's surprise, Sam saves her by successfully using his powers for the first time in exorcising the second demon.

Ruby slips into Sam and Dean's motel room in the form of a maid to pass on critical information.

In the present, Ruby informs Sam and Dean that a woman called Anna Milton is being pursued by demons. Once they find her, she returns to tell them that they have to go immediately because a powerful demon (Alastair) has followed them, but her arguing with Dean delays them until it is too late to flee. She tells Sam to use his powers to exorcise Alastair right away before he kills them all, and is horrified when they have no effect. While Dean fights Alastair, Ruby takes Anna and the two of them vanish, causing Dean to suspect that she used them to find Anna and then kidnapped her for nefarious purposes. Sam doesn't believe it and Dean asks him why he trusts her, leading Sam to explain how she helped him while Dean was in Hell. After he finishes, Ruby turns up in person, possessing a maid at the motel where Sam and Dean are, to convey the address Anna is as well as a warning that demons are closing in on them. She then leaves and rejoins Anna, possessing the Jane Doe once more. Ruby receives a hesitant thank-you from Dean (for keeping Sam safe while he was dead) with ill grace. Believing that more demons are on their way for Anna, Ruby is annoyed when she realizes that Sam and Dean lost her knife to Alastair, only for her irritation to turn into shock and fear when they are confronted by Castiel and Uriel instead. Uriel shows intense disgust at Ruby's presence, confirming her fear that angels wouldn't care that she is on their side.

4.10 Heaven and Hell

After Anna repels Uriel and Castiel; Sam, Dean, Ruby and Anna take refuge at Bobby's place. Pamela Barnes arrives and helps Anna remember that she was an angel who chose to be human. They travel to Kentucky searching for Anna's grace, only to find it gone. Anna then receives a message that unless Dean hands her over to the angels, they will send Dean back to Hell.

Ruby goes to a crossroads and reveals herself to Alastair. She offers to give up Anna, if Alastair will let her and the Winchesters go. He captures and tortures her with her own knife. She won't reveal Anna's location verbally, but she will take him there.

Ruby takes Alastair to where Anna and the boys are and the demons and angels attack each other. Anna get's her grace back from Uriel. During the process, Alastair disappears. Uriel and Castiel leave, and we find out that Ruby was part of Sam's plan to bring the demons and angels together to get them to fight each other.

4.12 Criss Angel Is a Douchebag

Ruby accuses Sam of wasting time - thirty-four of the seals have been broken. Sam says that he doesn't know where the seals are or how to stop them from being broken. Ruby counters that he needs to go after the source of the problem - Lilith. Sam refuses and Ruby leaves. Later, Sam has a conversation with Dean in which Dean says he doesn't see that he and Sam could have a happy future. This leads Sam to rejoining Ruby and the hunt for Lilith.

4.14 Sex and Violence

Ruby does not appear physically, but Dean redials the last number on Sam's phone and her voice is heard first greeting Sam, then asking if he's there when "Sam" doesn't answer her. Dean hangs up without saying anything. Earlier in the episode, Sam was discussing a lack of demonic omens with Ruby on the phone, ending with both promising to keep looking and Sam telling her would be calling her soon.

4.16 On the Head of a Pin

Sam and Dean are heading to meet Ruby, who has some leads on Lilith, when Castiel and Uriel kidnap Dean so he can interrogate Alastair. When Ruby arrives, she is displeased with the prospect of getting involved with angels again, especially because she sees no reason for them to interfere with Dean interrogating Alastair when it seems that Sam is only concerned about Dean's psychological well-being. After he reveals that his real problem with it is that Dean wouldn't be strong enough to get the necessary information from Alastair, however, Ruby goes along with it and casts a spell to locate Dean. She reassures Sam that he can have "it" and that it's okay, kissing him before she cuts her inner-arm open with a knife from her ankle sheath and has him drink her blood—the source of his growing powers and abilities. While Sam is too busy feeding to look at her expression, Ruby smirks to herself, still petting his hair and telling him that it's okay.

4.20 The Rapture

Sam calls Ruby, desperate for more demon blood but she doesn't answer his calls.

4.21 When the Levee Breaks

Ruby meets up with Sam after he escapes from Bobby's panic room. After letting him feed on her, Ruby tells Sam there are only two or three seals left to be broken. She says only "Lucifer's first" can break the final seal - and that is Lilith. This renews Sam's desire to kill Lilith. She says she has a lead on a demon close to Lilith who is nearby. As they prepare to leave, Dean arrives and tries to kill Ruby, but Sam stops him. Ruby leaves as the brothers start to argue.

4.22 Lucifer Rising

Ruby meets her demise when Dean kills her using her own knife.

Following the events of the preceding episode, Ruby makes a clumsy attempt to comfort Sam by telling him that Dean was wrong to say what he said and that they will fix their relationship after Sam and Ruby kill Lilith. She is uneasy when Sam shrugs her words off and tells her that there is no future for him anymore, but Sam again stops her attempts to reassure him and insists that they concentrate on killing Lilith as quickly as possible. Ruby takes him to the demon possessing Cindy McClellan and helps him capture her. The demon reveals that Lilith will be at St. Mary's Convent at midnight the following day and begs for death, but Ruby stops Sam from killing the other demon, as Ruby says that they need her alive to harvest her blood for Sam to drink (in addition to Ruby's own blood) so that he will become powerful enough to kill Lilith. When the demon relinquishes control to her meatsuit (or at least pretends to) and makes Sam hesitant to go through with it, Ruby tries to persuade Sam to do it anyway, but it is only when Sam listens to a hurtful voicemail left by Dean and altered by Zachariah (or possibly Ruby herself) that he agrees to it at the last minute. Ruby cracks a smile behind Sam's back when she hears the voicemail being played, but quickly masks it with her usual business-like demeanor so that Sam doesn't catch on. With his permission, she bleeds Cindy McClellan dry, kills both her and the demon, and supplies Sam with all the blood she drained from Cindy, off-screen.

Ruby accompanies Sam as he kills Lilith's minions and then confronts Lilith herself. When Dean arrives, Ruby smirks at him and telekinetically locks him out to prevent him from interfering. When Dean starts to get through to Sam with his yells, Ruby screams at Sam to hurry up and kill Lilith, which he eventually does. At first, Ruby is stunned that Sam actually managed to kill Lilith, then grows jubilant because—as she reveals to an appalled Sam—Lilith's death was the last seal and they have just set Lucifer free. She explains that she has secretly been working for Lilith all along to free Lucifer (something only Lilith herself knew), and basks in her success after all that she has gone through in bringing this about, declaring herself the best, most loyal demon. Her exuberance fades when Sam tries to kill her for her treachery with his powers. Sam accuses her of "poisoning" him with demon blood, but she tells Sam that the choices he has made all year have been all him; she only laid out the possibilities and he chose the "right" way each time. She tries to convince Sam that Lucifer's freedom is a good thing and they will be rewarded. She also starts to tell Sam why he was the only one who could bring this about but is interrupted when Dean finally breaks in and charges towards her. Ruby turns to confront him, taunting him that it's too late, only to get caught off-guard when Sam grabs her from behind and holds her in place as Dean stabs her with her own knife. She chokes in pain as a vengeful Dean twists the knife and continues stabbing her, prolonging her agony before he finally removes the knife and she dies.

5.01 Sympathy for the Devil

Ruby's corpse is briefly visible on the floor of St. Mary's Convent before Lucifer's light grows too bright to see anything else. Later, Sam reveals that Ruby had taught him how to make hex bags, which he and Dean use to hide themselves from angels and demons. He apologizes to Bobby for not listening to him and Dean about Ruby. When Meg appears in her new meatsuit, Dean initially assumes that she is Ruby returned before Meg encourages him to think further back. At the end of the episode, the rift Ruby caused between the brothers continues when Dean admits that, because of how Sam betrayed him in favor of Ruby, he doesn't feel that he can trust Sam anymore.

5.05 Fallen Idols

Sam reveals that one of the reasons he worked with Ruby was to get away from Dean because it made him feel strong and independent.

5.08 Changing Channels

When Gabriel places Sam and Dean in the Japanese game show, the question the show's host asks Sam is for the name of the demon he chose over his own brother. Sam doesn't understand the question because he doesn't speak Japanese and after he fails to answer in time, the host reveals that the answer was Ruby.

5.11 Sam, Interrupted

At the end of the episode, Sam admits that he used to blame Ruby for making him feel angry at everyone all the time, but now acknowledges that it's something wrong with him rather than something that she did to him.

5.18 Point of No Return

Dean references Ruby when telling Sam that he thinks Sam will give in to Lucifer, saying that it might be demon blood or "some other demon chick" that will corrupt Sam in the end.

5.20 The Devil You Know

Angry that Dean is willing to work with Crowley, Sam brings Ruby up and compares how he had trusted her to how he had trusted Brady. Right before Sam kills him, Brady taunts Sam about how he had always been so easily manipulated by demons like Ruby and suggests that it is because he is just like them, which Sam seems to dismiss.

6.15 The French Mistake

Sam and Dean initially mistake Genevieve Padalecki for Ruby before realizing that she is the actress who played Ruby in Season 4. When Dean first realizes that Sam's actor is married to Genevieve, he is upset with Sam for marrying "fake Ruby" and Sam gets flustered.

7.21 Reading Is Fundamental

When Hester catches Sam and Meg working together, she incorrectly assumes that they are lovers just as Sam and Ruby were; Hester even references Ruby, saying, "A demon whore and a Winchester. Again."

8.06 Southern Comfort

When Dean is under the influence of a spectre, he mentions several of Sam's bad choices over the years, such as working with Ruby and drinking her blood.

8.12 As Time Goes By

After her knife fails to kill Abaddon, Henry tells Sam and Dean that they would need an "ancient demon-killing knife of the Kurds" to kill a demon and asks where they got one when Dean shows him the knife. Dean tells him that it was from a demon, but doesn't elaborate on the Winchester history with Ruby.

8.23 Sacrifice

When Sam is trying to figure out what sins to confess to purify his blood, Dean again brings up Ruby to suggest that Sam should include everything he did in connection to her (including killing Lilith and letting Lucifer out) in his confessions. Sam becomes upset with his list of mistakes and the reminder of how he keeps letting Dean down.

Trivia

• Casting Side for Ruby from June, 2007. This is an early draft of the final scene from 3.04 Sin City between Ruby and Sam which was used to cast the role of Ruby.
• When Genevieve Cortese auditioned for the role of Ruby, the sides suggested it was to be waitress who would be a love interest for Sam. At Comic Con 2009, Kripke admitted he did this to stir up fans.

See also

• Demonology
• Ruby's Knife
• Ruby's Car

Ruby in Fandom

• Sam/Ruby
• Rubella
• Old Ruby
• New Ruby
• Geneveive Cortese community on LJ
• LJ community for Ruby
• LJ community for pairing Sam/Ruby
• LJ community for pairing Dean/Ruby
• Better the Devil You Know: Illustrated Meta on Ruby Through Season's 3 and 4
• witchesarewhores- Ruby RP Tumblr Blog
• Ruby RP Facebook
• Ruby RP Website
• Ruby RP Google Profile
• Ruby RP Quizilla Profile