Self-Actualization is a mysterious trait that everyone in the universe has, whether they are mortal or immortal. It deals in how a soul perceives oneself and that perception manifests in reality.
In the case of mortals, the most common form of Self-Actualization is in where they spend their afterlife. No matter how much they refuse to admit it or even don't realize it, committing sin brings them guilt, and that guilt makes them send themselves down to hell for the punishment they subconsciously believe they deserve.
For angels, it’s more prominent; since an angel's physical and spiritual being are one, how an Angel sees themselves will Self-Actualize on their physical body. This is why each Angel has a unique divine superpower that correlates to their personality, and why angels cannot impregnate mortals unless they can see that mortal as the parent of their child. This trait can be a powerful strength or a crippling weakness, depending on how the Angel sees themselves, this ability also gave them the ability to get new powers like Rory.
In season 6, they look deeper as this trait links to their subconscious as well. That explains how some weird changes occur unexpectedly for the characters.
Known instances[]
Lucifer[]
- Gained his devil face is by viewing himself as a monster. Even God admits that the devil face is how Lucifer sees himself deep down.
- His vulnerability around Chloe demonstrates how he feels around her:
- He is still invulnerable in the Pilot as he just met her and he hadn't developed his emotional feelings towards her yet.
- At near proximity, Lucifer is vulnerable that he can take any damage.
- When they are closer relationship, it takes being much further away in order to be invulnerable again.
- After they had a fight, it would take Lucifer to exit the building in order to be invulnerable again.
- As Lucifer feels secure with his relationship with Chloe, he became fully invulnerable.
- He made himself vulnerable once again when he gets shot in the leg by Rory, proving that he loves his daughter and that his conscious and subconscious are finally acting in concert.
- Losing his devil face and gaining his angel wings in Season 3. Even after he chops them off, they keep coming back. This is after he saved the Goddess and decides to tell the truth to Chloe. All because he feels better about himself than he ever had before.
- Gained his Devil face after he killed Marcus in A Devil of My Word. Recognized he was a monster deep down for enjoying the murder.
- Gained Devil wings and full devil form in Season 4 due to his self-hatred and how he behaved more wickedly through his actions. After Chloe fully accepts him even in this form, Lucifer returns to normal and loses his devil form.
- Losing control of his mojo without invoking it when he was transforming into his full Devil form.
- Temporarily lost his mojo, which transfers to Chloe, though it only works on him in Our Mojo.
- His desire to share everything of himself with her. They had just had sex, cementing their feelings, meaning Lucifer feels that there was no need to hold back anything about himself.
- Made himself able to reproduce with Chloe due to desiring a child himself, in conjunction with Chloe possessing Amenadiel's pendant and gaining invulnerability.
- Unable to open up his wings in Save the Devil, Save the World due to realizing it's not his calling to be Sovereign of Heaven.
Amenadiel[]
- Losing his powers and his wings at the start of Season 2 and remain so until the near end of Season 3.
- Felt unworthy of his angelic status for his misdeeds.
- Temporarily regained his time stopping powers at the end of Season 2 so as to be able to save Linda Martin's life.
- While he regained his angelic status, he no longer has the power to slow down time as he grown fond of humanity and that ability would make him distant from them.
- Completely stopped time in Spoiler Alert due to his fear for his child, Charlie, who was revealed to be mortal by Michael.
Charlotte Richards[]
- Due to her hidden guilt of setting fugitives free even though she knows that they deserved to be locked away, she was sent to Hell on her first death.
- Accepted her death and was able to be taken to Heaven by Amenadiel.
Dan Espinoza[]
- Felt guilty for being unable to be there for Trixie and was sent to hell.
- Possibly also guilt over his betrayal of Lucifer which he quickly resolved during his time as a ghost.
- Made peace with his absence in Trixie's life and ascended to Heaven.
Aurora Morningstar[]
- Loved and respected her mother's pursuit of justice, gaining red wings with precision blades for feathers.
- Desires to see her father to give him a piece of her mind. Time travelled back to her conception and set up a time loop.
- Almost gave herself a devil face by trying to kill Vincent Le Mec for attempting to murder her father. Almost similar to what Lucifer did at the Season 3 finale. Lucifer managed to convince her not to give in and as a result, her devil face has never been fully developed.
- Went back to her time after realizing that she was the one who asked him to be absent in her life to preserve the time loop she created and to never change who she is or everything they've accomplished following her arrival, making peace with herself and her father.
Other examples:[]
- Demons don't have souls, but Maze was able to develop one, proving that demons self actualize like angels. It's from her connections to people she bonded with that allowed her to grow one inside her body.
- Michael gained a crooked posture and broken wing because of how he sees himself as broken in comparison to Lucifer.
- God had lost control of his powers after Michael made him think that he has when God doesn't actually have any issues.
- Charlie appears to be mortal while he's just an infant and it wasn't until his second birthday where he sprouts out his own wings.
- Cain managed to get rid of his curse by being selfless for the first time and deep down, he feels that he does deserve to be free from his mark.
Trivia[]
- This trait has been a mystery for the characters until the end of Season 3 where Amenadiel figures out how self-actualization works after Charlotte Richards first inspired the theory.
- During that time, many characters believed that God is the one who made those weird changes.
- During "Devil Is as Devil Does", Chloe contemplates this; wondering if police work has a meaningful point, considering souls are sent to Heaven and Hell upon death, though Ella points out that despite people eventually getting what they deserve, they still had to look out for each other to keep people safe.