Though Supernatural didn’t reveal Chuck Shurley’s identity as God until Season 11, hints about his true nature started popping up in Season 4.
Supernatural had a knack for doling out unexpected twists in its storylines, but the most massive mind-bending revelation was in Season 11 when it was revealed that the meek Chuck Shurley was God. However, looking back at the handful of times Chuck masqueraded as the Prophet of God in Seasons 4 and 5, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. There were many signs that Chuck was the Creator of the Universe.
God was first introduced in Season 4 as Chuck Shurley — AKA Carver Edlund, author of the Supernatural book series. Though Edlund’s books fell in line with the type of bizarre supernatural encounters the Winchester brothers were famous for, there was something eerily divine about Chuck’s ability to predict events before they happened. With so many signs peppered throughout Supernatural, it’s almost criminal that Sam and Dean didn’t figure out Chuck’s identity as God much sooner.
Chuck Was the Only Prophet Protected by an Archangel
Chuck knew Sam and Dean before he met them, and the fact that he was writing about current and upcoming events in their lives in exquisite detail was only one piece of the God puzzle. Kevin Tran — the first real prophet on Supernatural — never demonstrated the capability to prophetize or see current events as they happened. Neither Kevin nor Donatello knew the Winchester brothers at all before meeting them, and their abilities were strictly connected to translating the Angel and Demon tablets. Even the visions Donatello had about Amara, Jack and Asmodeus were only in bits and pieces.
The theory that whenever a prophet was in danger, an archangel appeared to protect them only came true with Chuck. The absence of an archangel on Donatello’s shoulder could be explained by circumstances at the time he became a prophet: all the angels had fallen and given up on fulfilling God’s will. But in Kevin Tran’s case, the angels were active — and no one came to rescue him when Crowley kidnapped him. It’s true that most of the archangels were either dead or in captivity at the time, but Supernatural’s favorite angel Castiel raced to protect Chuck when Dean had him at gunpoint, so surely there was an angel or two who could’ve helped Kevin.
Supernatural Revealed Chuck’s Divine Status in Season 4
In Season 4 of Supernatural, when Sam and Dean told Chuck that he was writing about events in their life that hadn’t happened yet, he replied “Obviously, I am God” with surprising conviction. Chuck went on to detail the kind of God he was. He claimed to be “a cruel, cruel capricious god” who had been toying with Dean and Sam for his “literary symmetry.” This matches his real identity, which he revealed later in the series — the tyrant who kills humans, unleashes monsters on the world just for fun and plotted to make Dean and Sam kill each other.
In Supernatural’s Season 5 finale, Chuck wrote the history of Dean’s “Baby,” revealing how it was created in 1967 and purchased by an alcoholic named Sal Moriarty. He went on to explain how the Chevrolet Impala came into John Winchester’s possession. Knowing the future is one thing, but to be aware of the exact details of an event that far in the past was too much even for a prophet.
Chuck was also seen awaiting a phone call from a woman called Mistress Magda, with Dean even asking if he was involved with some virgin hooker. This is a direct reference to Mary Magdalene, a woman Jesus was said to have been in love with. As Jesus is called the son of God, Chuck’s name-drop of Magda was another hint that he was always God. The most concrete proof that the Supernatural writers were teasing viewers with the possibility of Chuck being God was when he disappeared into thin air after seemingly wrapping up the Winchester brothers’ story. As fans now know, Dean narrates and appeared in The Winchesters, even though that series is a prequel.
