History:
One of the four Archangels, Gabriel lives in Heaven until Michael and Lucifer’s constant fighting over the creation of humanity causes him to seek refuge on Earth. He takes an unnamed vessel and hides as a trickster, embracing the lifestyle of a demi-god and meting out ‘just desserts’ to those he felt deserved punishment. During his time on Earth he becomes a friend to some the real pagan gods he encounters; they know him as Loki.

He first encounters Dean and Sam Winchester in his guise as the Trickster. He antagonizes them from afar during their investigation, and survives their attempt on his life. A year later the Trickster traps them both in a time loop where Dean dies every Tuesday in different ways; he is trying to teach Sam that Dean cannot be saved from his deal, and to show him that Dean is his weakness, and his enemies will use this to manipulate him.

It is nearly two years later that Gabriel traps the brothers in an alternate reality made of TV shows, so that they will “learn to play their roles”; he insists that they fulfill their destinies as the Vessels for Michael and Lucifer. Sam and Dean start to suspect that the Trickster is more than he appears to be, and when they trap him in a ring of burning Holy Oil, Gabriel reveals himself. He claims that he does not support either Michael or Lucifer, and that he only wants the fighting to end.

Later he sides with the Winchesters and confronts Lucifer. His older brother stabs him with his own Archangel Killing Sword, but he is able to leave a message for Sam and Dean on how to use the rings of Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to open Lucifer’s Cage in order to capture him.

Personality:
As the Trickster, Gabriel behaved in a mischievous manner, enjoying his games. He embraced a hedonistic lifestyle, including the “sweet tooth” for which that type of demi-god was known. Even after revealing himself to be an angel, he still used misdirection to achieve his goals and to protect himself. He is often sarcastic. Gabriel’s manner is the most human of any of the angels, perhaps because of his long sojourn on earth, and he has an appreciation of what humans can achieve.

Nothing is known of his Vessel, though the pagan gods’ familiarity with it indicates Gabriel has possessed him for a long time, possibly centuries.

Powers and Abilities
Gabriel can:
– Teleport himself and others to any location, and can also banish or imprison lesser angels.
– See glimpses of the future.
– Create illusions, including copies of himself.
– Transform objects into something else, and transform the appearance of his vessel.
– Alter reality to create time loops/pocket universes; he also can choose who is aware of what is happening.
– Revive the dead.
– Harm other archangels

Weaknesses
– Holy Fire can bind Gabriel to a fixed location.
– An Archangel Blade can kill Gabriel.
– Other Archangels can harm Gabriel.
– It is possible to bind Gabriel with magical spells, as the goddess Kali did by using blood magic.
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The Archangel Gabriel is called the Angel of the Annunciation because it was he who informed Mary that she had found favor with the Lord and that she would conceive in her womb the Son of God.
The lilies Gabriel carries symbolize the purity of Mary.
The Archangel Gabriel also announced to Zacharias that he would have a son born to him who would be John the Baptist.
It was the Archangel Gabriel who inspired Joan of Arc to go to the aid of the King of France.
There is a tradition that Gabriel is the Angel of Birth. It is said that he carefully spends the nine months of the pregnancy watching over each unborn child and instructing that child on the necessary knowledge of Heaven that is an inherent part of all people. Just before birth, though, Gabriel touches each baby on the upper lip to make the child unable to remember
all of the information about Heaven until the child returns to the spiritual state at death.The sign of Gabriel’s Touch is the cleft just below the nose.
The Archangel Gabriel
Gabriel is the Governor of Eden, the ruler of the Cherubim.
He is one of the two angels mentioned by name in the Old Testament, along with Michael.
Gabriel is the Angel of the Resurrection and the Angel of Mercy.
He rules the first heaven, which is the heaven closest to humankind.
Gabriel appeared to Daniel to explain his vision of the fight between the ram and the he-goat (the oracle of the Persians being overthrown by the Greeks). He appeared again to Daniel to tell him of the coming of a messiah.
In Jewish legend, it was Gabriel who dealt death and destruction to the sinful cities of Sodom and Gommorah.
According to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 95b) it was Gabriel who destroyed the armies of Sennacherib “with a sharpened scythe which had been ready since Creation.”
In the Talmud it is also written that Gabriel prevented Queen Vashti from appearing naked before King Ahasuerus and his guests in order to bring about the election of Esther in her place.
Cabalists identify Gabriel as “the man clothed in linen”.
In Daniel 10-11, this man clothed in linen is helped by Michael.
Gabriel is the preceptor angel of Joseph.
In more recent times, Gabriel is named as the angel who visited Father George Rapp, leader of the 2nd Advent community in New Harmony, Indiana, and left a footprint on a limestone slab preserved in the yard of the Maclure-Owen residence in that city.
The poet Longfellow, in his ‘The Golden Legend’, makes Gabriel the angel of the moon who brings man the gift of hope.