Mulder is considered to be a maverick FBI agent. He has a background in profiling and violent crimes that makes him valuable but he became acquainted with the X-Files cases and has now become a problem for the top brass. When she was 8 and he was 12, Mulder's sister Samantha disappeared from their home and has been missing since. He was the only one home with her at the time and at first he didn't remember anything of the incident. Following disjointed memories of that night he finally went in for regression hypnosis and now believes her to have been abducted by alien forces. He saw a bright light as she was taken and remembers being unable to move. This is the reason for his interest in the X-Files which are unexplained, unsolved cases otherwise unclassified.

Scully's background is in the sciences; physics and medicine. She went to med school then interned in forensic pathology and was recruited by the FBI. She attended and taught at Quantico where she was noticed by Mulder's superiors and assigned to work on the X-Files as his partner. Their hope was that as a scientific thinker, she would be able to evaluate and hopefully debunk his work thereby effecting a shutdown of the X-Files. Mulder is the believer and Scully is the skeptic, but she is not to be manipulated by the top brass and found herself persuaded by Mulder that some truths were to be found in the X-Files. It is obvious to her that Mulder is not a maverick to be shutdown but rather a good agent and partner. Basically, the plan of the top brass failed miserably when they threw the two together as partners.

The X-Files themselves are cases that defy normal classification. They run from missing persons to violent crimes. They might involve UFO's and possible alien abductions but are much deeper than this in content. The basic plots of the show are Monster of the Week episodes and Conspiracy/Mytharc episodes. The MOTW episodes are considered stand-alone episodes and range from vampires and werewolves to genetic mutants to paranormal phenomenon. The Conspiracy/Mytharc episodes are a continuing backstory that started in the first season and has become more complex and convoluted as the seasons progressed.

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Mulder

As previously noted, Agent Mulder believes that his sister was abducted by alien forces while he was paralyzed and that his memory was altered to facilitate his repression of the incident. He believes that there is some conspiracy involving an alliance between extraterrestrial and rogue government organizations explaining alien abductions and an increasingly longer list of activities. Because of his abilities at profiling in the behavioral section, he earned the nickname Spooky which has now taken on a less than favorable meaning among other agents. He is an exceptional talent in the bureau but his renegade nature and obsession with the X-Files has made him a problem.

Scully

Agent Scully is a well-respected forensic pathologist in the FBI who was considered to be on the fast track in the bureau. Having been assigned to the X-Files to "spy" on Mulder, she has now taken on some of the taint of his reputation. She did not become the turncoat that the top brass hoped for and has in fact, become invaluable to Agent Mulder as an alternate opinion and voice of reason on their cases. His leaps of logic and willing belief is nicely offset by her skepticism and view of their cases through the lens of science. Since joining the X-Files division, Scully has suffered personally for that involvement. She has been "abducted" under mysterious circumstances, after which she was returned on the brink of death. She survived this incident, but in addition, her sister was killed in what was a case of mistaken identity during a probable murder attempt on Scully.

Assistant Director Skinner

This character wasn't introduced until the last few episodes of season one, so he was not the one who assigned Scully to the X-Files. He is now their direct superior. At first he seemed to be like all the other top brass in wanting to shutdown the X-Files and make life difficult for Mulder and Scully. It has since become obvious that he is trying to work within the frame of his position to help them. But he has strict ideas about how far he can go and finds himself in tough positions, not wanting to step over that line. His apparent concern and help toward the agents has increased over the years and he has been instrumental in keeping the X-Files open and their lives protected. In one instance where Mulder was going to resign, he told Mulder of his time in Viet Nam and an out of body, near death experience that he had at the time. He said that he was afraid to look beyond that experience but that Mulder was not, and therefore, his resignation was unacceptable.

The Cigarette Smoking Man

This guy has been called CSM, the Smoking Man, Cancer Man, and in a very early episode was listed in the credits as a CIA agent. We really don't know who he is but he appears to be involved in the conspiracy very deeply. He was present when Scully was originally assigned to the X-Files but he usually stays in the shadows or sits quietly in a room wielding power but saying nothing and simply smoking his cigarettes. In fact, CSM did not utter a word until one of the final episodes of season one. Since then he has become more of a character on the show instead of a spook. He wields incredible power over Skinner and seems to be able to shutdown any investigation that Mulder and Scully are interested in pursuing. Since season one, we have discovered that he is part of an international consortium who are involved in dealings with extraterrestrials. He worked with Mulder's father and Deep Throat in the past.

Bill Mulder

Mulder's dad worked for the State Department, but that is all that Mulder used to know about him. He has since discovered that his father was once a compatriot of CSM's and one of Mulder's informants, Deep Throat. Apparently, his father was part of some project that rogue elements of the government were collaborating on with other countries and alien forces. It is now thought that Samantha might have been "abducted" to force his silence when he became disenchanted with the project. Following her disappearance, his family life became a shambles and he alienated himself from both his wife and his son, eventually divorcing. He began drinking and had no relationship with his son until his guilt overwhelmed him and he called Mulder to his house one night to confess his involvement. Before he got a chance to tell Mulder exactly what that involvement was, he was murdered.

Deep Throat

This was Mulder's first deep cover government informant during season one, so named because of the Watergate informant. He would mysteriously contact Mulder and appear to offer him clues and information that if followed and uncovered quickly enough, might lead Mulder to the Truth. He needed to protect himself, but he tried to lead Mulder in the direction of the conspiracy while preserving his own cover and position. He once told Mulder that he was one of only a few men who had actually killed an extraterrestrial. It became apparent that his attempts to steer Mulder toward the Truth were an attempt to right what he considered to be the wrongs of his past. By helping Mulder, he was attempting to appease his own guilt and bring to light the actions that he now found so abhorrent. In the season one finale, Deep Throat attempted to make a trade when Mulder's life was in danger and ended up being killed himself.

Mr. X

This was Deep Throat's successor. He became Mulder's informant against his will. It seems that he was an underling and associate of Deep Throat's and helped Mulder out as a favor to his friend and superior. But he acted against his will and had a deep sense of self-preservation. He once told Mulder that he wasn't going to let Mulder get him killed like he did Deep Throat...that Mulder was *his* tool. He also told Mulder that he used to be where Mulder is now but for Mulder to know what he knows would cost him too much and that he didn't think Mulder had the heart. He meant that the cost was high and terminal intensity was usually involved and that Mulder didn't have the stomach for the sort of wetwork that was often necessary. X's self-preservation served him well, but in the end he became too involved in helping Mulder and Scully and it cost him his life. He died in the season four premiere but before succumbing, he scrawled the letters SRSG on Mulder's threshold in his own blood.

Marita Covarrubias

This woman is supposed to be Mulder's new conduit to information. She claims to be the assistant to the Special Representative to the Secretary General...SRSG. He tracked her down to the UN building where she supplied him with a little information and a bit more hope. She doesn't seem really helpful or interested in Mulder although she claims an interest in his work. Compared to Deep Throat and X, she is a boring character who might have been thrown into the mix to easily provide a means of information to Mulder as well as to have a leggy blonde for Mulder and other testosterone driven viewers to enjoy. Her usenet moniker is Uniblonder.

Alex Krycek

Alex Krycek, also known on the Usenet as Ratboy, was first known to us as Agent Krycek, assigned as Mulder's partner when the X-Files were shut down and the two agents reassigned to other divisions. He seemed bent on ingratiating himself with Mulder but Mulder was hard pressed to like or trust him. He did finally appear to earn some of Mulder's trust just in time to become involved in the orchestration of Scully's disappearance. Following her abduction, Krycek disappeared and Mulder realized that he had been placed near Mulder by CSM and his cronies in order to keep Mulder on a leash. When it was apparent that Mulder wasn't controllable, they did the next best thing to break him which was to have Scully taken care of..."abducted". As soon as Mulder realized the truth, he reported to Skinner (who wasn't involved) and they discovered that Alex Krycek had disappeared. Krycek reappeared in seasons two and three and is thought to be responsible for the deaths of Bill Mulder and Scully's sister Melissa, who was killed in Scully's apartment in a case of mistaken identity.

The Lone Gunmen

Named after their newsletter, "The Lone Gunman", these three guys are conspiracy buffs and info hackers that help Mulder and Scully to access information from contacts and sources in diverse fields. Langly is the blonde one with glasses that looks a bit like Garth from Wayne's World. Byers is the guy in the suit that looks like a university professor. Frohike is the short guy with glasses and a penchant for wearing the most offensive clothes, like a furry vest right off the Monkees' TV show. Frohike has a crush on Scully. These guys are so paranoid they make Mulder look normal but they have been really helpful to both Mulder and Scully.

The Syndicate/The Consortium

This is really complex and confusing to people who have been watching the show the entire time. Usually, we refer to the group of bad guys running the project as the consortium but Chris Carter once referred to them in an article as the syndicate. Basically, we now know there is a group of old guys that sits around a room in New York and talks about keeping The Project going and how they will effect this without anyone finding out they are dealing with extraterrestrials. Apparently, this has been going on since WWII and aside from the American government's involvement, there is an international consortium of sorts that includes a multitude of countries. It has been implied that they are, or include, Majestic or MJ12 which is one of those groups of people and sets of files that the real government denies. There is one guy who seems to run the meetings who looks like an Italian gentleman and pronounces UFO...youfo. CSM is also a player in this room and at times seems to wield quite a bit of power. At other times, he seems to be called on the carpet making him apparently not the top dog in the room. The man who I believe is the main power, is known as the Well Manicured Man. WMM is a well dressed, polished man with an accent and impeccable manners. He has offered information to both Mulder and Scully seemingly to help them but probably to gain information and protect his own interests. He told Scully that he and his associates predict the future...and the best way to predict the future, is to invent it.

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