Alex Krycek - Character Arc

Character Arc

Krycek is a Russian-American, the son of Cold War immigrants, who makes his first appearance in the season two episode "Sleepless", where Krycek, a young FBI Special agent is assigned as a temporary investigation partner to Fox Mulder. Krycek proceeds to work with Mulder and attempts to gain his trust.

However, it later becomes evident that Krycek is actually an undercover agent working for the Smoking Man. Krycek plays an important part in several events that are harmful to Mulder and Dana Scully: he assists in Scully's abduction, and murders Mulder's father, William "Bill" Mulder. Krycek also assaults Assistant Director Walter Skinner and acquires a secret tape from him which reveals a US government coverup regarding alien visits to Earth. After a botched attempt on Scully results in the death of her sister, the Cigarette Smoking Man attempts to kill Krycek with a car bomb, but Krycek escapes. Krycek is later found to have been selling the secrets from the encrypted MJ files. Under the influence of the Black Oil, Krycek returns the tape to the Smoking Man, in return for knowledge of the location of an alien ship. The Black Oil-controlled Krycek goes to the ship, which has been moved to an abandoned missile silo in North Dakota. The Black Oil extracts itself from Krycek, leaving him locked indefinitely in the silo with the ship.

Krycek is next found during an FBI raid, and taken into custody by Mulder and Scully. They learn that Krycek was recruited by an extremist militia group on a salvage hunt from the silo in North Dakota, and he informs the agents they must track the source of an extraterrestrial rock, brought to America by a foreign diplomat, to a gulag in Russia. The hunt leads Krycek and Mulder to Tunguska, where they are held captive until Krycek maneuvers his own release. Mulder attempts his own escape, taking an unconscious Krycek with him. When he awakes, Krycek separates into the woods only to encounter a strange group of Russians - all of whom have missing left arms. The men amputate Krycek's arm as well, to keep him from being used in Black Oil experiments. Eventually, Krycek graduates into a more powerful role within this group. He uses any knowledge he has to gain leverage with the Syndicate. He even has had romantic ties to their secretary, Marita Covarrubias (who apparently was using Krycek for her own means in assisting Mulder). Due to this double-crossing, Krycek is temporarily held captive by the Well Manicured Man. Krycek later appears to Mulder as a friendly messenger to tell him that a war has begun, and that Mulder must "resist or serve".

Later in the series, Krycek can be seen switching sides as it suits him, occasionally helping Mulder, Cigarette Smoking Man and other people. He attempted to blackmail Skinner with infectious nanotechnology, but ended up being thrown into a Tunisian prison by the Cigarette Smoking Man. In the season seven finale, "Requiem", Krycek tries and fails to kill the now wheelchair-using Cigarette Smoking Man by pushing him down a flight of stairs. Later, when Mulder was abducted by aliens and returned in a death-like state, Krycek attempts to again blackmail Skinner, with the means to save Mulder's life. Skinner refuses, and Krycek has a violent confrontation with John Doggett before escaping. In the season eight finale, "Existence", Krycek is shot between the eyes and killed by Skinner, during an unsuccessful attempt to kill Mulder. Krycek's ghost briefly showed up to help Mulder escape a military base in the series finale.