It's also a perfect example of two potential applications of the archetype model. One assigns archetype roles to various characters and the other assigns pieces of the Hero's "psyche" to various characters, so that the people surrounding him can be viewed as reflections of himself and his inner doubts, desires, and strengths. Vogler refers to these as "Emanations of the Hero."

Hero - With due respect to Scully, her continuing role as a skeptic and scientific debunker leaves Mulder as the sole Hero in this show. He gathers Allies along the way, but the Quest is undeniably his. A Quixote hero whose genius borders on insanity at times and who is only saved by his reckless self-assurance.

Mentor - Multiple mentors are not uncommon in a complex Quest. Mulder receives the benefit of mentoring from Skinner, Scully, and such "passing" characters as Albert Hosteen.

Herald - Harbingers of change delivering new "Calls to Action" are also frequent in the X-Files. Scully functioned as a Herald in the beginning since her assignment to the X-Files heralded a change in the way Mulder pursued his Quest. Each episode naturally features its own Herald as different minor characters come on-stage to lure Mulder into a new phase of investigation, then disappear once that phase is complete.

Shadow - Mulder is physically Shadowed by CSM and the Syndicate. He is internally, emotionally Shadowed by his father, Bill Mulder, who seems to be all that Mulder dreads becoming -- burned out, bitter, and ineffectual. Defeated. This gives Mulder both an inner and outer Shadow to combat and adds enormously to the emotional complexity of the show.

Trickster - Comic relief is supplied characters like the Lone Gunmen. Unquestionably allies, but also Tricksters, challengers of the status quo. Other, minor characters have also supplied comic relief in various episodes.

Threshold Guardians - Allies of the Shadow that Mulder must defeat (or win to his cause) in order to move ahead with his Quest include the Alien Bounty Hunter, Marita, X, and Chief Blevins.

Skinner was a Threshold Guardian in his early appearances and, once won as an Ally, became a Mentor. Deep Throat and Senator Mathieson were agents of Shadow posing as Mentors, which qualify them to be identified as Threshold Guardians.

Allies - Under miscellaneous archetypes are the Allies that the Hero gathers during his journey. Kritschgau, Max Fenrig, and others.

Note that the American "buddy show" tradition usually casts one "buddy" as a Trickster-Hero figure, but that doesn't work for the X-Files.

On an episode level, to assign archetype roles, you'll need to evaluate each of the characters within the context of that particular episode/adventure. You might find that Scully is the Hero and the Mentors are the Lone Gument. In others, especially early episodes, Scully or at least Scully's skepticism, is the Threshold Guardian.

* Traditional interpretation usually assigns the Shapeshifter role to the femme (or, homme) fatale. The Shapeshifter appears as a woman (if the Hero is a man) or as a man (if the Hero is a woman), bringing additional issues of anima or animus into play. However, the blurring of sexual roles and identities in contemporary society (and eflected in the media) has opened the way to a less-structured interpretation, allowing same-sex characters to function easily in the traditional Shapeshifter roles. (This crossing of traditional boundaries introduces a type of subtext into some moves/television shows that allows a writer a great deal of interpretive freedom to explore emotional interaction in new ways.)

It's possible to view a Hero's Quest as an almost purely internal journey where the characters that surround the Hero each reflect some necessary portion of his psyche. Some are portions that he values, others are perceived weaknesses or inadequacies that he wants to overcome. The Hero gathers around him these "fragments" of himself and works to incorporate those he thinks of as "good" and to overcome, or accept, the others. A successful melding of all of these fragments produces a balanced, "whole" human being.

Hero: Mulder is the "Hero" of his Quest as we all are. In Freudian terms, the Hero is the "ego"; that part of the psyche that considered itself distinct from the rest of the human race.

Mentor: Assistant Director Skinner is the Mentor that Mulder will want to absorb into his own personality. Skinner has power, he has knowledge that Mulder needs or believes he needs in order to fulfill his Quest. (His position as Mulder's boss also makes him an ideal father figure that Mulder can use to replace the ineffectual father he is unable to respect.) Similarly, a character such as Albert Hosteen is a Mentor who possesses (or appears to possess) arcane knowledge of the type that Mulder craves and his firmly rooted system of beliefs is one that Mulder envies.

Herald: The Call to Action is delivered by the Herald, the challenge is issued. This is the part of Mulder that pushes him on to complete his Quest. In each of the minor characters who come to Mulder with a problem, he sees himself in his search for Allies to help him find his missing sister, Samantha.

Shadow: As I said earlier, Mulder is shadowed within himself by his fear of failure. Bill Mulder, his father, represents the portrait of failure that Mulder fears. CSM, an old-time Ally of Mulder's father and a sharer in the secret knowledge, is Mulder's fear of who his father would be if he were not so ineffectual. Thus, Mulder is Shadowed both by his father's inaction, and fear of his father taking action with the knowledge that his own action or inaction might have unforeseen, fatal consequences.

Shapeshifter: In its original interpretation, the Shapeshifter was most often portrayed in psychological terms as the "energy of the animus and anima." These terms from Jungian psychology are the names, respectively, of the "male element in the female unconscious [and the corresponding] ... female element in the male unconscious." Both sets of characteristics are needed for a balanced personality and a Shapeshifter character is frequently a member of the opposite sex upon whom the Hero projects his vision of the "ideal" opposite or partner. (This is why men always fell for the femme fatale in those old movies. The woman projected a quality that attracted the men, that the men felt completed them.) The obvious anima Shapeshifter projection in the X-Files is Scully. She is Mulder's opposite, and yet his complement.

Trickster: I see the Lone Gunmen fulfilling this role. They reflect Mulder's "geek" side, including his less-than-perfect social skills. Mulder seeks to cover up his insecurities and inadequacies with jokes and dry humor. He deflects the scorn and disbelief of his co-workers by clowning around and accepting the role of "Spooky" that has been assigned to him, even while his "technical skills" (mirrored by the Lone Gunmen's computer skills) are unquestioned. He clings to this side of his personality, yet cannot escape knowing that this "rebel" he harbors is outside the norm, and sometimes works as much against him as for him.

An interesting essay in itself might be written about the part of Mulder's psyche represented by Frohicke, the only "Emanation" that has the courage to make passes at Scully.

Threshold Guardian: As stepping stones to the completion of the Quest, these are the "inner demons" that Mulder faces in his struggle to achieve a balanced, integrated psyche. There is the Alien Bounty Hunter whose Shapeshifter abilities probably mirror Mulder's own buried worries about his genetic makeup. There is X -- the " unknown" part of Mulder's personality. It has knowledge, but refuses to share it with Mulder's conscious mind, doling out bits of information like an unreliable memory.

It's always dangerous to replace half of the team in a traditional "buddy" show. Certainly, it can't be done without damaging the original dynamic that fans of the show are accustomed to. On the surface, the X-Files appears to be such a show.

However, Agent Scully* has never been allowed to develop as a mature partner in the somewhat murky structure of the show's mythology. Her original role as a "doubting Thomas" is a thankless one for any character trapped in a long-running show--the more she clings to her skepticism in the face of overwhelming (albeit largely circumstantial) evidence to the contrary, the weaker the character becomes. Add to that the tendency of the writers to use her skepticism as a plot device to move along otherwise improbably events, and you have an anomalous character without the grounding to be a believable Hero.

This weakness, combined with Agent Mulder's undeniable central role on the show makes is seem unlikely that replacing the Mulder character with yet another skeptic in the role of Scully's new partner will prove successful. It's too late for re-introducing Scully in the role of the "True Believer," and forcing her into that mold in a blindly stubborn loyalty to Mulder makes the ground underneath her feet even shakier. Only Mulder's stubborn insistence on Believing, against all odds, has kept the show afloat until now.

Next season's ploy of keeping Mulder "in the wings" as an off-stage focus for Scully's determination and the show's mythology is a transient gimmick, at best. The most the producers can hope for is to use the current audience base to launch a new, and very different show under the same name.

*The frustrating part, for me, is that the Scully character was originally a very large part of what made the show attractive. I mean...Season One, Episode One, we get this pretty, petite female who goes out with her partner to face the bad guys. She gets into trouble and instead of curling up in a corner and whining for help, she jumps out and kicks ass in the most astounding manner. Whodathunkit? American television giving us a believable strong female character without making her strident or crude? It was an epiphany.

As the years went on, I became less enthralled with Scully's character when the writers/producers fell back on using her presumed "female weakness" to force the men working with her into compromises to protect her. Without the character's knowledge, or her consent, her partner and her boss combined to relegate her to the traditional subordinate position.