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rhodos application
PLAYER INFORMATION
Name: Neko
Age: 18+
Contact: columba @ plurk
Timezone: EST
Other characters: n/a
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Castiel
Canon: Supernatural
Canon point: Season 9, Episode 6 "Heaven Can't Wait", after Dean leaves.
Age: 4.5 Billion
History: On the wikia
Suitability: Castiel has been a soldier since time immemorial, has fought all breed of monster and mythical creature, raised Dean from Hell itself, and has been through his own proverbial hell time and time again. His source material makes Rhodos a very solid fit for him, seeing as SPN itself is already heavily horror inspired, and Castiel, being a (former) angel, takes much of his lore from religious mythology.
Is this a re-app? n/a
Inventory:
• His angel blade; a silver, tri-edge dagger with the ability to kill most monsters and mythical creatures, including angels.
• A sleeping bag.
• A wallet with the remains of his last paycheck in it.
Powers, abilities and/or inhuman traits:
Normally, Cas has all manner of powers, but because I'm taking him from a point in canon in which he's been stripped of his powers and made mortal, the only angelic ability he has left is that he's able to occasionally tune into angel radio. There's really no point to regaining this as a power, since there are no angels in Rhodos for him to hear.
MANIFESTATION
Character flaws/traumas:
Low self-esteem— The flaw that perhaps underpins all of Castiel's other flaws, Cas' lack of self-worth is deeply engrained. Angels are made with a single purpose in mind: To serve their God. Beyond this end, they have no use. They aren't even fashioned able to naturally feel human emotion, and although they can learn, it's discouraged through punishment that includes both torture and threat of death. They're treated as little more than objects, so it stands to reason that they would struggle to see themselves as actualized individuals. But this is only the foundation of Castiel's low self-esteem.
Initially, Castiel seems to be a very prideful person. And this is true, to a degree. When he's confident in his mission from God, and believes he has God’s love, he’s very confident in himself. Unfortunately, after the civil war in Heaven, he comes to realize that he is not one of God's favored, and that his confidence had no foundation. His attempts to better Heaven, end in disaster because of his choices. He causes massive amounts of destruction, killing thousands of his own kind, and ultimately leaves Heaven in an even worse state than what it began in. This, coupled with his betrayal of his friends during this time, causes a complete collapse in his self-esteem. He begins to hate himself deeply for the mistakes he made.
Self-destructive behavior— From here on, Castiel attempts both to make penance and to punish himself in equal measure.
Castiel has always been rather casual with his own life— he actually dies twice before the events of the civil war in Season 6, once at the end of Season 4 and again at the end of Season 5. He appears to be both nearly fearless and terribly reckless, and in the beginning, before his greater flaws are revealed, this seems like it could almost be seen as a positive trait. He obviously has a great capacity for selflessness. But his selflessness, like his confidence, is twisted. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that it, too, is born from self-destructive thinking.
After the civil war ends as a result of his devastating actions, he begins on a long downward spiral. He breaks his own mind to fix Sam's; he traps himself in Purgatory, believing he belongs there; later, after being rescued against his will, he warns Dean that if he sees the aftermath of what he's done to Heaven that he will likely kill himself; he later attempts to shut all the angels away in Heaven knowing that they'll execute him once he's also trapped there with them. (This trend also continues far into the future. In fact, Castiel's final death is a self-sacrifice he makes as a result of a situation that he hid from his friends in order to not be a "burden".)
This leads directly to his current canon point, because instead of successfully shutting Heaven's gates, as he had planned to do, he's tricked by another angel: Metatron. Metatron lies, manipulates, and takes advantage of Castiel, stripping him of his grace and using it in a spell in order to cast all the angels to Earth.
Abuse and victimization— The last paragraph of the above is a prime example of in which ways Castiel is used by the angels. But one of the most egregious examples happens earlier in the same season, in one of many instances of his personal autonomy being ripped away from him.
When Castiel is rescued from Purgatory, it's the angels who pull him free. But they only do so in order to use him as a sort of sleeper agent, brainwashing him and manipulating his memory to have him carry out tasks he never would otherwise. This includes spying on Sam and Dean, killing other angels, and even becomes as extreme as them creating an artificial scenario in which he is forced to kill Dean repeatedly, thousands of times, in order to "program" him for the real thing later, in an attempt to break his attachment.
Worse still, Castiel learns only after he's escaped their clutches that this is not a situation unfamiliar to him. Naomi, the angel responsible for his brainwashing, tells Castiel he has been troubling them for a long time, and heavily implies that his memories have been altered continually throughout the course of human history, if not longer.
Ultimately, Castiel comes to harbor a deep resentment toward the angels (in particular, Naomi and Metatron) for their treatment. But because he feels he owes them, and because he feels a responsibility toward Heaven because of what he is, he cannot pause in his attempts to make penance, which increases those same feelings of helplessness.
Conditional worth— All of the above compounds into a destructive need for Castiel to affirm his worth through his own idea of his objective usefulness as a person, rather than by finding internal self-worth. This causes him to go to extremes when taking responsibility for a situation, even if the responsibility doesn’t lie fully with him. This also leads to him being used, even by his own friends, who then unintentionally confirm his feelings.
There’s no better example of this than when Dean kicks a newly human Castiel out of the bunker with no explanation. Dean has his reasons for doing it, but Castiel isn’t made aware of them until far later, and in the meantime is left to believe that without his powers his friends simply find him too much trouble to have around.
Not long after, he gets a job at a gas station convenience store. He finds some solace in being able to do this much, and in fact, he takes his job very seriously. But when Dean comes around for a hunt, he’s once again reminded of his relative uselessness.
In the end, he's driven to leave and attempt to help the angels even without his powers, despite the danger it poses to him. This results in Castiel being put in a difficult situation, in which he ultimately kills and steals another angel's power in order to continue on as he was before. He views himself as an abomination for doing so, and perhaps more importantly, he knows that stealing another angel's powers will ultimately result in his death, once that borrowed power runs out.
But in order to be useful, this is a sacrifice he’s willing to make.
Learned Helplessness— There is an "alternate" version of Castiel that exists in a timeline that splits off early during the apocalypse in Season 5. This is notable because the Castiel of this timeline has been mortal for almost five years, and we see the toll it takes on him. He deals with the oncoming end of the world by turning to alcohol, drugs and sex, judiciously self-medicating his fear and depression. In his own words, he is generally always stoned. He sees himself as useless despite the skills he's learned, and here, too, seems to have very little in the way of confidence.
The "original" Castiel isn't likely to deal with his fear in exactly the same ways, but it's the best example of just how far down he can spiral when he's left helpless in a violent world. Being mortal is a difficult thing for him, because it's not simply a matter of physical strength or ability.
I mentioned before that angels aren't made with the capacity for human emotion, but that it's something that they have to learn over time. The thing is, when an angel is made mortal, they're implied to be instantly opened to the full range of human emotion. During the episode Castiel is being taken from, for example, he struggles with feeling fear when Dean wishes to include him on a dangerous hunt. He hesitates when he wouldn't have before, and despite feeling ashamed, ultimately backs out of joining Dean as a result.
His pain and fear are crippling, and it plays on the other side of his desire to be useful: When he feels useless, he also feels worthless. With the "alternate" version of Castiel, this ultimately results in his decision to give up both on himself and on the world, carelessly indulging in all of his vices in order to keep his despair at bay. With the "original" Castiel, this causes him to choose eventual death over remaining human and living out life as a mortal.
Naturally, when one experiences repeated failures to better their own situation, they eventually lose hope and stop trying. In his own way, this is exactly what Castiel does— He gives up on himself.
Manifestation name: (The) Many Eyed One
Character trait(s) the Manifestation reflects: Castiel's Manifestation is a reflection of his feelings of self-hatred, worthlessness and hopelessness.
His self-hatred warps the way he sees himself and the world around him, blinding him to the truth, a trait symbolized by his manifestation's hollow eyes. Its feeble physical appearance is a reflection of his feelings of weakness and uselessness. The blades protruding from its body are a reflection of his self-hatred and his desire to punish himself for the sake of enacting his penance. Its destroyed skull is a manifestation of his fear toward his own actions and the way his actions have been manipulated by others; more specifically, Naomi's brainwashing/torture included inserting drills/needles into his eyes and head, and the damage to its skull recounts this fear.
Overall, Castiel's Manifestation is a warped mirror image of both himself and the many, many angels whose deaths he's responsible for.
Description:
The Many Eyed One is a feeble-looking, elongated humanoid figure with spindly limbs and burnt, desiccated flesh. It's clearly not quite human— there are six extra appendages sprouting from its back, which look almost like sickles. On closer inspection, it's clear that they're elongated wing arms, completely bald of feathers.
That aside, it's most notable features are the myriad of empty, wound-like eye-sockets covering its body; the many angel blades stabbed into its neck and chest; and its almost complete lack of a head, except for its lower jaw and the remains of some of its skull.
The upper area of its head is almost completely missing, seemingly due to some kind of trauma. The crater left in its wake is an unrecognizable mass of bloodied gore. The only recognizable structures are the structures associated with the lower jaw, ie. the lower mandible, its teeth, tongue, and the opening of its pharynx.
The eye-sockets covering its body are seemingly intact, including moving, blinking eyelids. It's only the eye itself that's missing. The eyes are continually leaking blood and clear, viscous fluid, and from afar look more like stab wounds than empty eyes.
The angel blades protruding from its body are not real angel blades and cannot be used as such, and their bright silver sheen is tarnished and rusting.
When "idling" or without a clear target, it either laughs or weeps in the sound of voices familiar to Castiel. The voices are heavily distorted, however, with an almost mechanical sound overlaying them, like a warped tape, or radio interference.
When attacking, The Many Eyed One lets out a screech that sounds very much like the whir of a drill or an angel crying out in pain.
potential edits - different head shape? maybe instead of having a head that's broken off, some kind of inhuman shape? look at sh monsters for inspo
Attacks and behavior:
"Idling", The Many Eyed One stumbles around awkwardly on two legs, its "wings" folded behind it, its arms held in close to its body at awkward, broken angles. It makes soft vocalizations which occasionally grow into wails of discontent, before it then removes one of the blades protruding from its body and stabs the blade back into itself at a slightly different position, momentarily pacified.
"Searching", When The Many Eyed One hears or senses Castiel, or sees Castiel and immediately loses his location, it will begin to search the immediate area. It's behavior is not much changed from its idling stage, but it displays an increase in speed and volume.
"Pursuit", When The Many Eyed One spots Castiel, it immediately makes chase. Rather than run on two feet, however, it drops to the ground and uses its arms, legs, and wing arms to propel itself, scurrying in an almost insectoid manner at incredibly high speeds. But although it's quick, it has no sense of self-preservation, and will beat its body off of obstacles in order to make the quickest path from point a to point b, which often results in it being slowed longer than if it were to maneuver around these obstacles. In fact, it seems to delight in harming itself by allowing the blades protruding from its body to snag on objects and tear into its flesh, or beat itself against doors, walls, or other barriers to drive them deeper in its attempt to reach Castiel.
However, once it loses direct line of sight for several minutes, it will give up fairly quickly and return to its searching and then idling phases.
"Attack", If the Many Eyed One catches Castiel, it will, at close range, attempt to wrap him in its limbs and crush him to death, or, at mid range, use it's long wing arms as stabbing and slicing tools. Despite its spindly appearance, it's physically powerful, and can easily cause major lacerations with a well-placed swipe.
It can be momentarily pacified by removing and stabbing one of the angel blades on its body back into its flesh, if one is caught by it, or stabbing it with Castiel's own angel blade. At close range, it will have more difficulty using its wing arms to damage, so it's actually more effective to either run entirely, or to engage it at very close range in brief bouts. It is also susceptible to other forms of damage, and can be knocked back with enough force, but it will become more aggressive as a result.
Castiel's manifestation will pursue him relentlessly, until something breaks eye-contact for long enough for it to "forget" it was chasing him.
Other individuals won't be pursued unless they have some attachment to Castiel. It will ignore strangers, and even shrink from violence directed at it without reason. However, if someone helps Castiel in front of it, it will turn on them too. It will always prioritize Castiel. However, it will pursue those who he cares for in place of him if he is not a possible target.
Path towards resolution: Several things first need to happen before Castiel can resolve his current Manifestation.
The easiest way for Castiel to combat his feelings of worthlessness would be to be able to make tangible, positive change to the world around him. Of course, this ultimately only encourages his belief that his worth is predicated on his usefulness, but in order to unlearn this behavior, he would need to be surrounded by people who are able to positively affirm him and who are close enough to him for it to take.
Beyond that, in order for Cas to overcome his self-hatred, he would have to come to the realization that he has done his best, and that he doesn't deserve to be treated the way that he has treated himself. This is... deeply ingrained, however. It would first be necessary to dismantle the ideas that the angels have put in his head. Possibly the best way to do this would be for outside sources to confirm his life here in Rhodos as a new start, which would allow him to begin to look at himself like a human person instead of just a solider of god, and perhaps begin to give himself some of the mercy he's able to give others.
SAMPLES
One and two
Name: Neko
Age: 18+
Contact: columba @ plurk
Timezone: EST
Other characters: n/a
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Castiel
Canon: Supernatural
Canon point: Season 9, Episode 6 "Heaven Can't Wait", after Dean leaves.
Age: 4.5 Billion
History: On the wikia
Suitability: Castiel has been a soldier since time immemorial, has fought all breed of monster and mythical creature, raised Dean from Hell itself, and has been through his own proverbial hell time and time again. His source material makes Rhodos a very solid fit for him, seeing as SPN itself is already heavily horror inspired, and Castiel, being a (former) angel, takes much of his lore from religious mythology.
Is this a re-app? n/a
Inventory:
• His angel blade; a silver, tri-edge dagger with the ability to kill most monsters and mythical creatures, including angels.
• A sleeping bag.
• A wallet with the remains of his last paycheck in it.
Powers, abilities and/or inhuman traits:
Normally, Cas has all manner of powers, but because I'm taking him from a point in canon in which he's been stripped of his powers and made mortal, the only angelic ability he has left is that he's able to occasionally tune into angel radio. There's really no point to regaining this as a power, since there are no angels in Rhodos for him to hear.
MANIFESTATION
Character flaws/traumas:
Low self-esteem— The flaw that perhaps underpins all of Castiel's other flaws, Cas' lack of self-worth is deeply engrained. Angels are made with a single purpose in mind: To serve their God. Beyond this end, they have no use. They aren't even fashioned able to naturally feel human emotion, and although they can learn, it's discouraged through punishment that includes both torture and threat of death. They're treated as little more than objects, so it stands to reason that they would struggle to see themselves as actualized individuals. But this is only the foundation of Castiel's low self-esteem.
Initially, Castiel seems to be a very prideful person. And this is true, to a degree. When he's confident in his mission from God, and believes he has God’s love, he’s very confident in himself. Unfortunately, after the civil war in Heaven, he comes to realize that he is not one of God's favored, and that his confidence had no foundation. His attempts to better Heaven, end in disaster because of his choices. He causes massive amounts of destruction, killing thousands of his own kind, and ultimately leaves Heaven in an even worse state than what it began in. This, coupled with his betrayal of his friends during this time, causes a complete collapse in his self-esteem. He begins to hate himself deeply for the mistakes he made.
Self-destructive behavior— From here on, Castiel attempts both to make penance and to punish himself in equal measure.
Castiel has always been rather casual with his own life— he actually dies twice before the events of the civil war in Season 6, once at the end of Season 4 and again at the end of Season 5. He appears to be both nearly fearless and terribly reckless, and in the beginning, before his greater flaws are revealed, this seems like it could almost be seen as a positive trait. He obviously has a great capacity for selflessness. But his selflessness, like his confidence, is twisted. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that it, too, is born from self-destructive thinking.
After the civil war ends as a result of his devastating actions, he begins on a long downward spiral. He breaks his own mind to fix Sam's; he traps himself in Purgatory, believing he belongs there; later, after being rescued against his will, he warns Dean that if he sees the aftermath of what he's done to Heaven that he will likely kill himself; he later attempts to shut all the angels away in Heaven knowing that they'll execute him once he's also trapped there with them. (This trend also continues far into the future. In fact, Castiel's final death is a self-sacrifice he makes as a result of a situation that he hid from his friends in order to not be a "burden".)
This leads directly to his current canon point, because instead of successfully shutting Heaven's gates, as he had planned to do, he's tricked by another angel: Metatron. Metatron lies, manipulates, and takes advantage of Castiel, stripping him of his grace and using it in a spell in order to cast all the angels to Earth.
Abuse and victimization— The last paragraph of the above is a prime example of in which ways Castiel is used by the angels. But one of the most egregious examples happens earlier in the same season, in one of many instances of his personal autonomy being ripped away from him.
When Castiel is rescued from Purgatory, it's the angels who pull him free. But they only do so in order to use him as a sort of sleeper agent, brainwashing him and manipulating his memory to have him carry out tasks he never would otherwise. This includes spying on Sam and Dean, killing other angels, and even becomes as extreme as them creating an artificial scenario in which he is forced to kill Dean repeatedly, thousands of times, in order to "program" him for the real thing later, in an attempt to break his attachment.
Worse still, Castiel learns only after he's escaped their clutches that this is not a situation unfamiliar to him. Naomi, the angel responsible for his brainwashing, tells Castiel he has been troubling them for a long time, and heavily implies that his memories have been altered continually throughout the course of human history, if not longer.
Ultimately, Castiel comes to harbor a deep resentment toward the angels (in particular, Naomi and Metatron) for their treatment. But because he feels he owes them, and because he feels a responsibility toward Heaven because of what he is, he cannot pause in his attempts to make penance, which increases those same feelings of helplessness.
Conditional worth— All of the above compounds into a destructive need for Castiel to affirm his worth through his own idea of his objective usefulness as a person, rather than by finding internal self-worth. This causes him to go to extremes when taking responsibility for a situation, even if the responsibility doesn’t lie fully with him. This also leads to him being used, even by his own friends, who then unintentionally confirm his feelings.
There’s no better example of this than when Dean kicks a newly human Castiel out of the bunker with no explanation. Dean has his reasons for doing it, but Castiel isn’t made aware of them until far later, and in the meantime is left to believe that without his powers his friends simply find him too much trouble to have around.
Not long after, he gets a job at a gas station convenience store. He finds some solace in being able to do this much, and in fact, he takes his job very seriously. But when Dean comes around for a hunt, he’s once again reminded of his relative uselessness.
In the end, he's driven to leave and attempt to help the angels even without his powers, despite the danger it poses to him. This results in Castiel being put in a difficult situation, in which he ultimately kills and steals another angel's power in order to continue on as he was before. He views himself as an abomination for doing so, and perhaps more importantly, he knows that stealing another angel's powers will ultimately result in his death, once that borrowed power runs out.
But in order to be useful, this is a sacrifice he’s willing to make.
Learned Helplessness— There is an "alternate" version of Castiel that exists in a timeline that splits off early during the apocalypse in Season 5. This is notable because the Castiel of this timeline has been mortal for almost five years, and we see the toll it takes on him. He deals with the oncoming end of the world by turning to alcohol, drugs and sex, judiciously self-medicating his fear and depression. In his own words, he is generally always stoned. He sees himself as useless despite the skills he's learned, and here, too, seems to have very little in the way of confidence.
The "original" Castiel isn't likely to deal with his fear in exactly the same ways, but it's the best example of just how far down he can spiral when he's left helpless in a violent world. Being mortal is a difficult thing for him, because it's not simply a matter of physical strength or ability.
I mentioned before that angels aren't made with the capacity for human emotion, but that it's something that they have to learn over time. The thing is, when an angel is made mortal, they're implied to be instantly opened to the full range of human emotion. During the episode Castiel is being taken from, for example, he struggles with feeling fear when Dean wishes to include him on a dangerous hunt. He hesitates when he wouldn't have before, and despite feeling ashamed, ultimately backs out of joining Dean as a result.
His pain and fear are crippling, and it plays on the other side of his desire to be useful: When he feels useless, he also feels worthless. With the "alternate" version of Castiel, this ultimately results in his decision to give up both on himself and on the world, carelessly indulging in all of his vices in order to keep his despair at bay. With the "original" Castiel, this causes him to choose eventual death over remaining human and living out life as a mortal.
Naturally, when one experiences repeated failures to better their own situation, they eventually lose hope and stop trying. In his own way, this is exactly what Castiel does— He gives up on himself.
Manifestation name: (The) Many Eyed One
Character trait(s) the Manifestation reflects: Castiel's Manifestation is a reflection of his feelings of self-hatred, worthlessness and hopelessness.
His self-hatred warps the way he sees himself and the world around him, blinding him to the truth, a trait symbolized by his manifestation's hollow eyes. Its feeble physical appearance is a reflection of his feelings of weakness and uselessness. The blades protruding from its body are a reflection of his self-hatred and his desire to punish himself for the sake of enacting his penance. Its destroyed skull is a manifestation of his fear toward his own actions and the way his actions have been manipulated by others; more specifically, Naomi's brainwashing/torture included inserting drills/needles into his eyes and head, and the damage to its skull recounts this fear.
Overall, Castiel's Manifestation is a warped mirror image of both himself and the many, many angels whose deaths he's responsible for.
Description:
The Many Eyed One is a feeble-looking, elongated humanoid figure with spindly limbs and burnt, desiccated flesh. It's clearly not quite human— there are six extra appendages sprouting from its back, which look almost like sickles. On closer inspection, it's clear that they're elongated wing arms, completely bald of feathers.
That aside, it's most notable features are the myriad of empty, wound-like eye-sockets covering its body; the many angel blades stabbed into its neck and chest; and its almost complete lack of a head, except for its lower jaw and the remains of some of its skull.
The upper area of its head is almost completely missing, seemingly due to some kind of trauma. The crater left in its wake is an unrecognizable mass of bloodied gore. The only recognizable structures are the structures associated with the lower jaw, ie. the lower mandible, its teeth, tongue, and the opening of its pharynx.
The eye-sockets covering its body are seemingly intact, including moving, blinking eyelids. It's only the eye itself that's missing. The eyes are continually leaking blood and clear, viscous fluid, and from afar look more like stab wounds than empty eyes.
The angel blades protruding from its body are not real angel blades and cannot be used as such, and their bright silver sheen is tarnished and rusting.
When "idling" or without a clear target, it either laughs or weeps in the sound of voices familiar to Castiel. The voices are heavily distorted, however, with an almost mechanical sound overlaying them, like a warped tape, or radio interference.
When attacking, The Many Eyed One lets out a screech that sounds very much like the whir of a drill or an angel crying out in pain.
potential edits - different head shape? maybe instead of having a head that's broken off, some kind of inhuman shape? look at sh monsters for inspo
Attacks and behavior:
"Idling", The Many Eyed One stumbles around awkwardly on two legs, its "wings" folded behind it, its arms held in close to its body at awkward, broken angles. It makes soft vocalizations which occasionally grow into wails of discontent, before it then removes one of the blades protruding from its body and stabs the blade back into itself at a slightly different position, momentarily pacified.
"Searching", When The Many Eyed One hears or senses Castiel, or sees Castiel and immediately loses his location, it will begin to search the immediate area. It's behavior is not much changed from its idling stage, but it displays an increase in speed and volume.
"Pursuit", When The Many Eyed One spots Castiel, it immediately makes chase. Rather than run on two feet, however, it drops to the ground and uses its arms, legs, and wing arms to propel itself, scurrying in an almost insectoid manner at incredibly high speeds. But although it's quick, it has no sense of self-preservation, and will beat its body off of obstacles in order to make the quickest path from point a to point b, which often results in it being slowed longer than if it were to maneuver around these obstacles. In fact, it seems to delight in harming itself by allowing the blades protruding from its body to snag on objects and tear into its flesh, or beat itself against doors, walls, or other barriers to drive them deeper in its attempt to reach Castiel.
However, once it loses direct line of sight for several minutes, it will give up fairly quickly and return to its searching and then idling phases.
"Attack", If the Many Eyed One catches Castiel, it will, at close range, attempt to wrap him in its limbs and crush him to death, or, at mid range, use it's long wing arms as stabbing and slicing tools. Despite its spindly appearance, it's physically powerful, and can easily cause major lacerations with a well-placed swipe.
It can be momentarily pacified by removing and stabbing one of the angel blades on its body back into its flesh, if one is caught by it, or stabbing it with Castiel's own angel blade. At close range, it will have more difficulty using its wing arms to damage, so it's actually more effective to either run entirely, or to engage it at very close range in brief bouts. It is also susceptible to other forms of damage, and can be knocked back with enough force, but it will become more aggressive as a result.
Castiel's manifestation will pursue him relentlessly, until something breaks eye-contact for long enough for it to "forget" it was chasing him.
Other individuals won't be pursued unless they have some attachment to Castiel. It will ignore strangers, and even shrink from violence directed at it without reason. However, if someone helps Castiel in front of it, it will turn on them too. It will always prioritize Castiel. However, it will pursue those who he cares for in place of him if he is not a possible target.
Path towards resolution: Several things first need to happen before Castiel can resolve his current Manifestation.
The easiest way for Castiel to combat his feelings of worthlessness would be to be able to make tangible, positive change to the world around him. Of course, this ultimately only encourages his belief that his worth is predicated on his usefulness, but in order to unlearn this behavior, he would need to be surrounded by people who are able to positively affirm him and who are close enough to him for it to take.
Beyond that, in order for Cas to overcome his self-hatred, he would have to come to the realization that he has done his best, and that he doesn't deserve to be treated the way that he has treated himself. This is... deeply ingrained, however. It would first be necessary to dismantle the ideas that the angels have put in his head. Possibly the best way to do this would be for outside sources to confirm his life here in Rhodos as a new start, which would allow him to begin to look at himself like a human person instead of just a solider of god, and perhaps begin to give himself some of the mercy he's able to give others.
SAMPLES
One and two