It might be hard to believe that there was a time where Lucifer from Supernatural wasn’t as bad as he turned out. Being responsible for the apocalypse, numerous tragedies to Sam Winchester, and being the longest-running antagonist of the series, Lucifer has had his fair share of horrible acts to contribute.
Still, these things weren’t nearly as bad as they once were, with Lucifer being, if possible, a better person earlier than he was later. His fall from grace, and the relatively nicer personality of his in Season 5, has resulted in a number of aspects of his personality that became worse and worse.
He Became Obsessed With Power
Weirdly enough, despite being the devil, Lucifer had no interest in taking over Heaven or Hell in early seasons. His issue had been with being cast down to the cage by God, and the apocalypse had been his way of payback.
Near the end of his life, this changed as Lucifer decided he wanted absolute power. Making things is worse is the fact that he didn’t even know what he would do with this power, meaning he had spiraled completely out of control. Being devoid of direction, this Lucifer was pretty much pathetic since he wanted power just for powers' sake.
He Developed A Liking For Theatricality Over Substance
After having no set plan in what he wanted to do, Lucifer did a lot of nonsensical things. One of these was his affinity for theatricality, where he did weird stuff like dance around and amp on his intimidation techniques rather than actually do anything.
Opponents like Crowley and Asmodeus caught on to this, as they were able to locate Lucifer’s weakness without falling for his antics. The original Lucifer wouldn’t waste time in smiting such characters, but he ended up becoming too much of a show off for his own kid.
His Childish Antics Became Part Of His Personality
There are many similarities between Lucifer Morningstar and Supernatural’s Lucifer, one being their innate childishness. However, while Morningstar has developed into being more mature, the other one has devolved into being a manchild permanently.
While he’d made the occasional quip, those had been dark in nature intended to make others uncomfortable. After his return in Season 11, though, Lucifer began behaving irrationally to the point where he would have hissy fits and be totally like an angry little boy.
His Love For His Family Ebbed Away
The finale of the fifth season had made it clear that Lucifer did love Michael despite them engaging in a battle that would have destroyed the Earth. He also visibly wept when he killed Gabriel, claiming he loved his little brother.
Later on, none of this familial sentiment could be found. In fact, Lucifer was pretty gleeful about the idea of Michael suffering in the cage, while he had no problems with the Alternate Michael killing Gabriel right in front of his eyes. Before his death, Lucifer had clearly lost the one redeeming quality of familial love he’d had.
He Embraced The Corruption Of The Darkness
An explanation for Lucifer’s turn from being God’s favorite child to his first detractor arrived when it was revealed that hosting The Darkness’ mark on himself had corrupted him. However, Season 11 showed that, while it did make him worse, Lucifer actually embraced this corruption.
Going from God’s little angel to the monster he became, Lucifer’s possession of this mark only strengthened his maliciousness. So, even if he had started out as not-so-bad being, Lucifer certainly went into worse territory with his possession of the mark.
He Abandoned His Liking For Sam
Lucifer’s goal in Season 5 was always to take possession of his true vessel in Sam. And yet, he was never once antagonistic toward him, being cordial at all times. He also itted that he liked Sam due to their similarities and his unfortunate possession.
This all changed for the worse after they went to the cage as Lucifer would torture Sam, something he repeated mentally after Sam escaped the cage. It wasn’t just revenge either, with Lucifer itting how much he despised Sam in later seasons and taking pleasure in bringing harm to him.
He Stopped Being Honest
Even when he had bad intentions for someone in mind, the Season 5 Lucifer would let them know of it. He wasn’t a liar, he didn’t give false promises, and he prided on his honesty. Unfortunately, he let go of this quality as the seasons went by.
Upon his return in Season 11, Lucifer instantly lied about knowing how to kill The Darkness, following which his duplicity only grew by the episode. He would lie to the vessels he possessed, lie to his own son of his true nature, and be delighted with his dishonesty in general.
His Sadistic Pleasure Increased
There’s no definite evidence that Lucifer had preferred bloodshed and violence before his release from the cage. At that time, all the killings had been necessary for his release, and he wasn’t as entertained by it in Season 5 either.
His liking for inflicting pain got worse and worse over the years, starting from Season 7 where he loved torturing Sam into insanity. Afterward, he would restrain himself from killing off the protagonists when he could simply because he wanted to see them writhe in agony before he ended them. As seen when he killed Maggie and Rowena, he developed a sadistic pleasure in feeling their blood on his hands.
He Stopped Using His Intellect And Relied On His Powers
Despite being at the top ranking of angels ever created, Lucifer didn’t actually flaunt his powers around. Instead, he only used them as an intimidation technique until he really needed them. Later on, Lucifer wouldn’t go for a few minutes before snapping his fingers.
Gone were the cunning qualities he once possessed, which had allowed him to orchestrate the apocalypse and have Sam willingly agree to be his vessel. In its place, Lucifer relied solely on his powers, with his tendency to disintegrate his opponents costing him valuable services.
He Forgot About The Concept Of Forgiveness
Ultimately, it appears that Lucifer’s inability to forgive and ask for forgiveness is what led to his downfall. He was at peace in Season 11 when he accepted Chuck’s apology, following which Lucifer became a protagonist for a brief period.
However, when he figured that Chuck had abandoned him again, Lucifer went off the rails even more than before. He simultaneously lost the will to apologize for his actions as well, seeing as saying how sorry he was would’ve fixed his relationship with Jack.