Archangels

Archangels are fierce. They're absolute. They're Heaven's most terrifying weapon.

-Nathaniel about Archangels

Archangels are primordial angels, being looked at as Heaven's most fearsome wrath.They were the first and strongest class of angels to be created, making them one of God's first creations. They were created in this order: Michael, Lucifer, Raphael, and Gabriel. Michael is the mightiest and the most loyal archangel, Lucifer was the most prideful and avaricious, Raphael was the most ruthless and imperious, while Gabriel was the most mischievous and deceptive.

The angel Metatron was also considered to be an archangel by other angels until he revealed that he was simply a regular angel who was chosen to be the Scribe of God.

Early History
The archangels were the four chief angelic creations of God. They were created in this explicit order: Michael, Lucifer, Raphael and Gabriel. The archangels acted as siblings, and distinctively interacted with themselves and their father.

At some point after their creation, they and God went into war with the Darkness and together, while they couldn't destroy it, they succeeded in binding it. God then created a mark, later to be called The Mark of Cain, that would serve as both lock and key for the Darkness, which he gave to his most beloved son and most trusted lieutenant, Lucifer. After the banishing of the Darkness and helping create Heaven, Michael personally raised his younger brother Lucifer, and accordingly, Lucifer took care of Gabriel, and showed him different tricks.

Following the imprisonment of the Leviathans in Purgatory and creation of mankind, God asked all his children to kneel before them. Although the other three archangels complied, Lucifer refused, and led a rebellion trying to overthrow God because when he was trusted with the Mark, it corrupted Lucifer and drove him to be jealous of humanity. Therefore, Michael, on God's command, defeated Lucifer and banished his brother out of Heaven and into Hell. During the turmoil, Gabriel escaped to Earth to avoid taking sides while Raphael chose to side with God and Michael.

After God's departure from Heaven, the archangels, according to Metatron, ferociously whined, cried, and wailed. Whilst they wanted their father back, over time, however, they began to shift their attention into ruling the Universe in his absence. Although immensely powerful themselves, to rule the universe they needed the Word of God. However, Metatron, the Scribe of God, predicted the archangels' decision, and proceeded to leave Heaven to protect the tablets and himself. Lucifer, however, was able to take possession of the Angel Tablet sometime after and had it placed in one of his crypts. The archangels were also believed to have killed Lucifer's elite order of demons, the Knights of Hell by everyone who knew of them. However, unknown to everyone, the truth was that the leader of the Knights, Cain, killed all but Abaddon himself instead of the archangels. According to Cain, only Abaddon knew the truth though Nathaniel somehow later found out.

Characteristics
According to Nathaniel, they are known in Heaven as absolute, precise and wrathful creatures, as he has called them, "The most fearsome wrath of Heaven". Like all angels, their true forms are very intense, and have proven not only harmful but also fatal to humans, though Nathaniel also claimed that special humans can see their true forms. Their presence on Earth outside a vessel is often visualized as a blinding, pure white light, and their arrival can cause minor tremors, as shown by Lucifer when the Chapel shook as he escaped the Cage. Their true voice also emits a piercing sound, which has proven to be excruciatingly painful to humans. During a subsequent appearance, Raphael caused the entire Eastern Sea Board to experience a black out and generated strong winds and heavy rainstorms. Shortly before his defeat, Lucifer's presence caused the temperature to drop drastically in Detroit.

Before his fall, Lucifer was God's most beloved angel; he was considered beautiful, and was well respected in Heaven.

Archangels view themselves as the highest authority over all of creation since God's departure from Heaven. As leaders in Heaven, Michael and Raphael commanded the Host of Heaven, issuing orders to the "Senior Management" who were responsible for deploying angels to Earth. They did not share all their plans, especially their intention to allow Lucifer to be freed, to avoid rebellion in the lower ranks. Most of them showed little respect while interacting with humans, although Gabriel eventually confessed his appreciation of humanity even believing humans to be better than them.

The relationships between archangels and their true vessels can be complex. Holding an archangel is psychologically damaging to a human; Raphael's vessel Dominic Harrison was left a drooling, catatonic mess after possession. Lucifer's continued presence in Ben, an alternate vessel, causes the human's body to breakdown, as evidenced by burn-like marks, scarring and tears on his skin. Lucifer's vessels can be strengthened with demon blood to better survive the ordeal; Emmanuel later commented that Lucifer was drinking gallons of blood to keep his body intact. However, when Lucifer transferred to Mark, Ben would die. Despite his contempt and hatred for humanity as a whole, Lucifer showed some sympathy towards Ben, and towards Mark Cooley, his true vessel. Michael, though condescendingly, was willing to explain his position to Nathan Sadler while occupying his father, and promised not to leave Nathan a "drooling mess" after his service and even promised to restore Jack Sadler, whom he was possessing, to "better than new", which he later did. This implies that, possibly because of their deep contempt for humanity, archangels leave their vessels in a dilapidated state not as a consequence of possession, but out of sheer spite.

Death revealed that it was the archangels that fought off and entrapped the Darkness that existed before God created the universe. God and Lucifer both later stated that it took the four archangels to weaken the Darkness enough for God to lock him away and even then God could barely do it.

In general, all archangels appear to be more powerful than any existing demon. The first demon Lilith fled when faced with Raphael coming after her. At full power, Lucifer was feared by the Prince of Hell Asmodeus, but was no match for him with his grace diminished. After Gabriel recovered from his torture by Asmodeus, the Prince of Hell proved to be no match for the weakest archangel who effortlessly killed him.

According to Nathaniel, angels cannot heal the injuries of an archangel. This extends to Seraphim such as Nathaniel as well as regular angels.