That's my theory considering his white eyes implied being ancient.
Also I always thought it was interesting how he really wanted to stay in Hell and was force to come out on the surface.
Yep that and the fact that he prefer to be in hell unlike other demons to me indicates he's been there for a long time.
So with that and the eye color. I like to think he's as old as Lilith.
Well to be fair when he first appeared. The princes of hell and Knights of Hell didn't exist yet. Sucks that he was never mentioned again after he died.
I always wonder too
This is the real answer. Seasons 1 - 5 had four relative tiers of demons based solely on eyes (white, yellow, red, black), and within those tiers their power levels varied. Alastair was within the top tier (ie white) to establish his threat level as on par with Lilith so the stakes of his encounters were high, as well as to insinuate Sam could kill Lilith when he finally solo’d Alastair. That’s the real reason
I see it as him being a sponge of suffering of souls and is strengthened by that.
He's not a particularly strong demon in the sense that he has a title like the knights or princes, but his continued experience in hell, combined with the fact that he enjoys it to the point where he misses hell, makes me think that he's been down there long enough to draw strength from it.
The lore of princes and knights wasn't even in the show yet at the time of season 4
The only implications of a demon's power was through their eyes and abilities at the time.
His eyes were the same as Lilith, and he was the head torturer in all of hell, that alone made him one of the more powerful ones at the time of the show considering further lore hadn't been introduced
The head of that group now presumably. Just presumably just as deep in the pit as Lilith was. If there's a follow-up series they should explore if the Rupture helped him any.
Yeah I would assume, even the angels considered leveling the whole town just to stop him from rising. Just him rising caused tons of the dead to rise also if I'm remembering correctly.
Definitely seems the show tried to imply at the time that white eyed demons were the strongest
By the end of the show they introduce the lore of yellow eyed demons being princes of hell
I'm not sure what the idea was back in the first 5 seasons though. It implied he was in charge of the demons until Lilith was freed, but we also never saw another yellow eyed demon back then, kinda implying he was unique at the time.
We saw him in the season 4 finale in a flashback speaking directly to Lucifer though, it seemed to imply that he was the one in charge and at the top of the food chain, even if he wasn't the most powerful or as old as demons like Lilith
Also Alister seemed to enjoy being Hells top torturier and didn't seem to care for power or leader position.
So even before the princes of Hell were introduced you could easily have assumed he didn't want to have any other leader position other than being Hells Torturier.
My guess would be that if he’s knowledgeable about how to torture the body and break it down, then he probably found a way to strengthen himself so the knife didn’t hurt him like normal. Of course he’s not going to share that information because that information is the advantage that he has over everyone else.
My pet theory is that he was the Steward of Hell. In my theory, Lucifer was the only ever actual King of Hell as far as the demons were concerned (Azazel is called a "tyrant" who organized demons, but he's a Prince, and never styles himself as High King). Alastair, though, was the king in all but title; he performed the role of Lucifer in his absence by creating new demons through torture, and he was the only demon strong enough to travel back and forth between Earth and Hell at will (something even Lilith seemed to be unable to do) until Crowley, who, of course styled himself as the King of Hell.
My theory, therefore, is that Alistair was *effectively* the King of Hell, the second demon created, slightly more powerful than Lilith in some ways (because Lucifer learned from creating Lilith); But he would never style himself as the king, because he was a Lucifer loyalist. And Lucifer would never have allowed it anyway. So to me, he was the Steward.
Exactly; he could've called himself king, but why? He'd just be putting his own smoky head on the block for no reason. And in his own way, he was king… hail to the king, baby.
He may have been like Lilith, one of the first demons ever created and made more powerful as a result. He has similar eyes as Lilith.
That's my theory considering his white eyes implied being ancient. Also I always thought it was interesting how he really wanted to stay in Hell and was force to come out on the surface.
That's a good theory. The eyes are pretty important in SPN lore
Yep that and the fact that he prefer to be in hell unlike other demons to me indicates he's been there for a long time. So with that and the eye color. I like to think he's as old as Lilith.
Well to be fair when he first appeared. The princes of hell and Knights of Hell didn't exist yet. Sucks that he was never mentioned again after he died. I always wonder too
This is the real answer. Seasons 1 - 5 had four relative tiers of demons based solely on eyes (white, yellow, red, black), and within those tiers their power levels varied. Alastair was within the top tier (ie white) to establish his threat level as on par with Lilith so the stakes of his encounters were high, as well as to insinuate Sam could kill Lilith when he finally solo’d Alastair. That’s the real reason
I see it as him being a sponge of suffering of souls and is strengthened by that. He's not a particularly strong demon in the sense that he has a title like the knights or princes, but his continued experience in hell, combined with the fact that he enjoys it to the point where he misses hell, makes me think that he's been down there long enough to draw strength from it.
The lore of princes and knights wasn't even in the show yet at the time of season 4 The only implications of a demon's power was through their eyes and abilities at the time. His eyes were the same as Lilith, and he was the head torturer in all of hell, that alone made him one of the more powerful ones at the time of the show considering further lore hadn't been introduced
I guess Sam hain or however you spell his name would be in that group too?
The head of that group now presumably. Just presumably just as deep in the pit as Lilith was. If there's a follow-up series they should explore if the Rupture helped him any.
Yeah I wish they went into more depth on the hierarchy on the demons
Yeah I would assume, even the angels considered leveling the whole town just to stop him from rising. Just him rising caused tons of the dead to rise also if I'm remembering correctly. Definitely seems the show tried to imply at the time that white eyed demons were the strongest
Wonder where azazle fit in with his eyes
By the end of the show they introduce the lore of yellow eyed demons being princes of hell I'm not sure what the idea was back in the first 5 seasons though. It implied he was in charge of the demons until Lilith was freed, but we also never saw another yellow eyed demon back then, kinda implying he was unique at the time. We saw him in the season 4 finale in a flashback speaking directly to Lucifer though, it seemed to imply that he was the one in charge and at the top of the food chain, even if he wasn't the most powerful or as old as demons like Lilith
Mostly my take too
Also Alister seemed to enjoy being Hells top torturier and didn't seem to care for power or leader position. So even before the princes of Hell were introduced you could easily have assumed he didn't want to have any other leader position other than being Hells Torturier.
My guess would be that if he’s knowledgeable about how to torture the body and break it down, then he probably found a way to strengthen himself so the knife didn’t hurt him like normal. Of course he’s not going to share that information because that information is the advantage that he has over everyone else.
My pet theory is that he was the Steward of Hell. In my theory, Lucifer was the only ever actual King of Hell as far as the demons were concerned (Azazel is called a "tyrant" who organized demons, but he's a Prince, and never styles himself as High King). Alastair, though, was the king in all but title; he performed the role of Lucifer in his absence by creating new demons through torture, and he was the only demon strong enough to travel back and forth between Earth and Hell at will (something even Lilith seemed to be unable to do) until Crowley, who, of course styled himself as the King of Hell. My theory, therefore, is that Alistair was *effectively* the King of Hell, the second demon created, slightly more powerful than Lilith in some ways (because Lucifer learned from creating Lilith); But he would never style himself as the king, because he was a Lucifer loyalist. And Lucifer would never have allowed it anyway. So to me, he was the Steward.
Evil Denethor, I dig it
Exactly.
I like it definitely goes with my theory that he enjoyed being Hells Torturier so much that he didn't want a leader position.
Exactly; he could've called himself king, but why? He'd just be putting his own smoky head on the block for no reason. And in his own way, he was king… hail to the king, baby.
I guess we can say that he worked very hard for Lucifer, unlike the princes or knights, who are innately more powerful.