sam got out of lucifer's cage by crowley.
how did sam get out of lucifer's cage?
crowley
in "oh brother where art thou?" and "the devil in the details", sam travels into hell to speak to lucifer, directed by what he believes to be visions from god. manifesting in the form of nick, lucifer is summoned into a smaller cage in hell where he tells sam he can defeat the darkness, but needs sam to be his vessel again. after the warding suddenly fails, lucifer teleports sam into the cage and reveals that he sent the visions to sam after the darkness' release damaged his cage and is working with rowena. lucifer shows sam several memories, explaining that while sam once had the strength to do what needed to be done, he lost that after dean went to purgatory. sam accepts that lucifer is telling the truth, but refuses to agree to possession again as he knows no matter who wins, lucifer or the darkness, humanity is doomed. lucifer engages sam, dean and castiel in battle, proving to be more than a match for all three together. after lucifer confirms he can defeat the darkness, castiel agrees to possession by him. at that same moment, rowena completes a spell that apparently banishes lucifer back to his cage. after the winchesters leave, lucifer possessing castiel reveals himself to rowena and crowley and kills rowena so she can't send him back to the cage.
list of angels in supernatural
lucifer returns in season seven as part of sam's hallucinations, caused by the memories of his time in the cage. lucifer tells sam that the world he has been in for the last year is not real and sam is still in the cage, a new form of torture which lucifer prides himself on as being his best yet. sam confronts lucifer and asks him why he doesn't end this dream world to which lucifer responds by saying that he will only end it when sam can't take it anymore. lucifer later changes into dean and tricks sam into leaving bobby's house. once at the destination, he reveals himself to prove he can control sam's "dream", although lucifer is proven to be a hallucination when dean tells sam how to figure out what is real. despite being proven to be a hallucination, he informs sam that he's not going anywhere. lucifer tortures sam by depriving him of sleep by repeatedly waking him up and later making food look like maggots in an attempt to kill him. although sam initially manages to ignore the hallucination, it becomes worse when sam acknowledges lucifer's advice when trying to get information about dean's whereabouts, giving the hallucination additional strength. castiel, found to be alive, tries to rebuild sam's mental wall, but fails as it's completely gone. in order to save sam and atone for what he's done, castiel transfers the problem to himself, leaving him haunted by lucifer and stuck in a mental hospital. in "reading is fundamental," when castiel comes out of his catatonic state, sam asks him about seeing lucifer. castiel explains that he did at first, but lucifer eventually disappeared. castiel believes that lucifer was simply a projection of sam's own torment from his time in hell and that projection disappeared as the torment was no longer in sam's mind.
list of angels in supernatural