Assistant
Director Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner is
an Assistant Director for the FBI.
Under his jurisdiction falls an investigative unit known as The X
Files, which consists of Agents Mulder and Scully. Since the were assigned to him, Skinner
had been their one ally, allowing them the freedom to investigate cases of
their choosing, when any other assistant director would shut down the X
Files.
In 1996, Walter
Skinner was was sent a notice for the dissolution of his marriage at his
wife’s request. He had been separated
from her for 8 months and refused to sign.
He said that it had waited 17 years and could wait one more
day. Depressed about what was
happening, he went to a bar where he met a young woman, who seemed to be of
some comfort as she felt completely alone as well. That night, they went to a hotel and
spent the night together, but something went wrong. Skinner woke up startled after seeing
the image of an old woman in his sleep, only to discover that the young
woman’s neck had been broken.
Skinner was taken into questioning as he refused to take a polygraph
test and the woman had no identification on her at all. After Scully examined the body, she
discovered that part of her spine and neck was crushed, most likely in a
vulnerable moment. Mulder managed
to identify the woman as Karina Sales, a legal secretary for a criminal
defence firm. Apparently she was
fired for also being a prostitute, working for one of the firms clients. When Scully switched off the examining
room lights, she noticed a residual phosphorescence around the woman’s
mouth and nose. After talking to
Karina’s boss, she explained that she had called, giving a clients credit
card details as he wanted some comfort.
The client’s name was Walter Skinner. The local police investigating released Skinner after
questioning him. Mulder and Scully
caught up with him asking some questions of their own like why there was a
dead prostitute in the morgue with his finger prints all over her. Skinner claimed that he was unaware she
was a prostitute. At that moment,
he spotted the old woman who he had seen in his dreams wearing a red coat
standing in the rain, but when he got their all he found was Sharon
Skinner, his wife. Skinner left,
leaving Mulder and Scully talking with his wife. Later that day, the two agents were asked to make themselves
available for a formal hearing to see if he is still capable of being an
Assistant Director. Scully came up
with a theory that Skinner was suffering from REM Sleep Behaviour
Disorder. Skinner happened to be
receiving treatment for the disorder.
He had been having recurring dreams in which he is confronted by an
old woman who speaks to him but he is unable to hear what she is saying. In the dream the woman also tried to
suffocate him. Mulder however
believed what they were dealing with was a being who watches over men and
sometimes if she gets too attached to a particular man is known to kill
other women competing for their affection.
While this was happening, Sharon paid a visit to Skinners, wanting
to make sure he was okay. She
wanted him to let her in, but he refused to do so. That night, Skinner woke up hearing a
shrieking old woman. Moments later
there was knock at the door as the police wanted to ask Skinner some
questions regarding an accident his wife was in. She was ran off the road by Skinners car, but the driver was
undetermined. At the police
station, Mulder asked Skinner about the old woman – he first saw her when
he had a near death experience in Vietnam.
After inhaling some illegal substances, he saw the old woman as his
body was dying. He claimed that she
carried him back to life. Hours
before Skinners hearing, Mulder cut off the airbag in Skinners car, running
it through an FBI lab in order to determine if Skinner was the on in the
drivers seat. After the analysis
was completed, the results showed that Skinner wasn’t driving his car when
his wife was run off the road. That
night, the woman who ran the prostitute business was killed. As Mulder and Scully were having a look
at the crime scene, they spotted Karina’s colleagues who identified the
impression from the air bag as the man who hired Karina for Skinner. Mulder knew that Skinner was being made
a pawn in order to shut down the X Files.
As he visited his unconscious wife, he told her that he will never
sign the divorce papers as he is only beginning to know himself and that he
never stopped loving her. As he
kissed her, her vital signs fluctuated and as he went to call for a doctor,
he saw the old woman instead of his wife.
Meanwhile, Mulder and Scully set up the man who was framing Skinner
using a colleague of Karina’s. The
man burst into the hotel room where the trap had been set and attacked
Scully along with Karina’s colleague.
As Mulder ran to Scully’s location, they heard gun shots. Upon entering the room, the found
Skinner who had shot the man saving Scully’s life.
After Mulder had
discovered what he believed was a corpse of an alien killed during the ice
age, which would prove everything he had been saying from the beginning, he
killed himself with a gunshot to the face.
As Scully left his apartment after confirming the body’s identity,
Skinner also stopped by asking her was it true. Considering the nature of Agent Mulders work, Skinner was
reluctant to believe his death – especially knowing that Scully identified
the body as his. He knew she would
do anything to protect him. As he
was about to let her go, he realised that if Mulder had in fact shot
himself in the face, it would be difficult, almost impossible, to identify
him by simply looking at him. When
he asked Scully how she identified him, she claimed that she had saw Mulder
earlier and those were the clothes he was wearing. Skinner instantly knew something wasn’t
right. At a panel which was assembled
in order to confirm the death of Agent Mulder, Scully announced that there was an insider in the FBI – Mulder
had discovered someone in the apartment above him spying on him. After examining the mans phone records,
Mulder discovered that he was regularly checking in with someone at the FBI
– after going through the FBI communications centre, she discovered that
the contact may have been Skinner, as he had the necessary executive branch
for the phone calls. What increased
her suspicions was the fact that she caught him snooping around her
hospital and that he had data proving that the man in Mulders apartment,
the man Scully identified as Mulder wasn’t Mulder at all. At the panel, she was ready to announce
Skinner as the insider when she collapsed as a result of her cancer. At the hospital, Skinner caught Mulder
coming to visit her, and even when Mulder attacked him, refused to arrest
Mulder. Since Mulder wasn’t dead,
he would be brought before the same panel Scully was to explain who killed
the man, an employee of the Department of Defence, who was in Mulders
apartment. At the panel, Skinner
feared he would be named as the insider, but to his surprise, Mulder named
Section Chief Blevins. Later, after
the panel, Skinner visited Scully at the hospital, only to find out that
her cancer was gone. His loyalty to
Mulder and Scully has never wavered.
Walter Skinner continually puts himself at risk and allows them a
unique freedom to investigate X Files.
They are more than just his subordinates, the are his friends.
Mulder and Scully
were briefly transferred off the X Files and assigned to Assistant Director
Kersh. While under Kersh’s command,
Skinner was taken into hospital with an unidentifiable illness from an
unknown origin. He had always been
a fan of boxing, and attended a club where he could compete against other
members. During one game, his
vision became blurred, causing him to lose the match. The next thing he knew he was in
hospital. After a brief
examination, Skinner was released, but the doctor advised that he go easy
on the boxing and ice the bruise on his ribs. That night, Skinner went to his office as he didn’t think it
would be safe for him to drive home.
Mulder immediately believed that it was an attack against The X
Files. Reluctantly, Skinner walked
Mulder and Scully through his day, explaining what he had done. He remembered a man grabbing his wrist
and asking him for the time. After
viewing the CCTV footage, Scully managed to identify the man as a renowned
physicist named Dr Orgell. They
immediately checked the records and discovered that he had signed in as a
visitor to Assistant Director Skinner.
Mulder and Skinner headed over to the physicists home to ask him
some questions while Scully went to the hospital Skinner was taken to in
order to examine the blood samples taken from him. Once inside the physicist’s house,
Skinner was jumped, knocking him to the floor as Mulder chased after one of
the men involved. Back in the
house, Skinners neck veins began swelling and causing a great deal of
pain. After checking the ID of the
one who attacked Skinner, they discovered he had diplomatic immunity. In the waste paper basket of Dr Orgell,
Mulder discovered a picture of him with a Senator. Meanwhile in the hospital, Scully discovered
that Skinners blood was filled with pure cotton. Under the microscope, she discovered microscopic machinery
which appeared to be multiplying.
Mulder paid a visit to the Senators home asking him about something
called SR819. The Senator asked
Mulder to leave, stating the he wants to save lives, but he cannot save
Skinners. While this was happening,
Skinner spent his time following the man they were forced to release who
then attempted to shoot him once he was spotted. As Skinner began a search for the man in the middle of a car
park, his vision became blurred again, but as the man stepped out of hiding
to kill Skinner, someone hit him with a car. Skinner then collapsed.
While Scully was studying the machines in his blood system, she
noticed that what they were doing was creating damns in the blood system,
in essence, it was creating a heart attack. Moments later, a nurse rushed in telling them that Skinner
was on his way in via ambulance.
Scully arrived at the operating room just in time to stop the
doctors from cutting off his arms, which they believed was the only way to
save him. Mulder ransacked Skinners
office, discovering a letter which stated that Skinner was involved in a
check of a bill related to new technological development – SR819. He headed to the hospital to tell Sully
what he had found, and as they were talking, Skinners cell phone rang. On the other end was a computer
generated voice. However was responsible
knew Skinner was in the hospital.
As Scully continued her search for a cure, Mulder checked the
corridors around Skinners room. He
spotted a suspicious looking character who ran at the sight of him. The man made it into the car park and
escaped. Luckily, Mulder managed to
secure the vehicle which he had used, and an FBI forensics team discovered
some sort of clay which was filled with a substance which only found in old
buildings, such as old power plants.
Scully suggested to Skinner that he undergo a procedure which
involves filtering the blood.
Skinner agreed, apologising to Scully as he believed that his life
had been meaningless and that their quest should have been his. Afterwards, he realised that he had seen
the man responsible on several occasions including when Orgell first
approached him in the FBI building.
Checking out old buildings, Mulder discovered the Senator who
confirmed that SR819 was nano technology.
Technology which the world believed was only theoretical. In the hospital, Skinner died on the
table, but then miraculously he returned to life moments later. Three weeks later, whatever Skinner was
infected with was confirmed as dormant.
After a meeting with Mulder and Scully, Skinner was approached by
the man responsible in the car park – Alex Krychek who told Skinner that he
would know what everything had been about in good time.
When Mulder was
contacted by Billy Miles, a boy who had previously experienced alien
abduction, Skinner was also contacted by Alex Krychek, who had just been
released from a Penal Colony in Tunisia.
Skinner was well aware that Krychek couldn’t be trusted, and he knew
what Mulders reaction to him would be.
Skinner stood outside Mulders office asking about Oregon and the
evaluation which was being performed on The X Files department. Mulder tried to get Skinner to stay away,
as his career was in jeopardy by supporting The X Files. Luckily, the FBI Board of Directors
still believed that Walter Skinner make a contribution to the Bureau. He also tells Mulder that even if he
found a UFO, and have an alien shake hands with the President, this
evaluation would still occur – Skinner believed that the Directors simply
didn’t like Mulder. When Skinner
entered the office, he was followed by Krychek and Marita Cabarubious. A
woman who once worked for The Cigarette Smoking Man. Skinner managed to prevent Mulder from
attacking Krychek. After a meeting,
Skinner headed to Oregon with Mulder while Scully stayed with the Lone
Gunmen, and Alex and Marita stopped the Smoking Man once and for all. In Oregon, Mulder and Skinner utilized
the FBI budget in acquiring some equipment which would assist in their
discovery of the UFO which had crashed in the forest. Skinner laid out dozens of lasers which
spread through the woods until they hit the point concealing the UFO – the
light would simply end in mid air.
Mulder discovered the UFO and was drawn in, coming face to face with
all the abductees from Oregon and the Alien Bounty Hunter. Moments later, the UFO emerged from its
cloaking field and left the planet.
Skinner watched as one of his closest friends left the solar
system. Later, he returned to the
hospital to tell Scully what had happened.
There, he blamed himself for what happened, but Scully needed him – she
explained that she considered him a close friend and needed his friendship
now more than ever – she was pregnant.
Skinner vowed that he wouldn’t tell anyone about the child and that
he would do everything in his power to find Mulder.
Skinner never stopped searching
for Mulder – even when the events leading to Mulders disappearance were
called into question, he continued to work unofficially with the Lone
Gunmen, who were making progress in tracking what they believed was the UFO
Mulder was on. At the FBI, Scully
and Skinner were asked a series of questions relating to Mulders disappearance. Deputy Director Kersh demanded that
under no circumstances should aliens be mentioned at all. That night, Scully head to Mulders
apartment hoping to find some answers, but instead she fell asleep on his
bed. While she was sleeping,
Skinner contacted the Lone Gunmen, asking them if they could help him gain
some information relating to current UFO sightings. Skinner believed that Mulder was still
onboard the UFO and that if they could find it, they could find
Mulder. The next day, Skinner entered
the room with the task force in search of Agent Mulder and was questioned
about the removal of some files.
The pass card which was used to gain entry was that of Agent
Mulder. Agent Crane asked some
questions regarding to Mulder’s state of mind prior to his
disappearance. Skinner told him
that all Mulder was interested in was the truth. Kersh told Skinner that that was exactly what they were
after. Crane showed Skinner some
phone logs which showed that Skinner was in the FBI building until after ten
o’clock. While he was being
questioned, a tombstone was brought in which was engraved with Mulder’s
name on it. That evening, as Scully
sat gazing at the tombstone, Skinner told her that nothing was making any
sense when Doggett came over, claiming that he had found something. Apparently, Mulder’s medical condition
over the past year was deteriorating.
His condition had been deteriorating since his contact with the
alien artefact which was discovered in Africa. Doggett suggested that Mulder had taken one last chance to
prove that aliens exist before he died.
Skinner was disgusted at the idea and continued to claim that he saw
a UFO abduct Mulder. Scully quickly
realised what Skinner had said and requested that Doggett doesn’t report
what he had just said. Skinner then
had a meeting with at Scully’s apartment with her and the Lone Gunmen where
he showed her UFO activity since his abduction. He believed that if Mulder was on the space craft, then he
would be right over the Arizona desert.
Langly suggested that perhaps the aliens are looking for their next
abductee. Scully suddenly realised
that the aliens were removing evidence of their existence before it becomes
proof. Mulder hadn’t been removing
the computers, it was them. And
their next evidence was in the form of a boy – Gibson Praise, who Mulder
believed had active alien genes.
Scully and Skinner then headed to Arizona in hopes of finding
Gibson. According to a map of the
area, the place where the UFO was spotted in had virtually nothing in all
directions. At a service station,
Skinner discovered that there was a school nearby which Gibson may be
attending. As Doggett landed,
Scully and Skinner arrived at the school.
Doggett entered the building, and the principle told him that Gibson
was in his office. Doggett rushed
in only to discover that he had left through the window. He rushed back out of the office and
discovered Scully and Skinner on the scene. As the task force arrived, they began searching for Mulder,
who Doggett believed he found.
Skinner questioned Doggett on what had happened, Doggett explained
that it would be impossible for a man to fall from a cliff the size of the
one Doggett said he did and walk away.
Doggett then showed Skinner a set of track leading into the middle
of the desert. Scully knew exactly
what had happened – the Alien Bounty Hunter. As Doggett left, Skinner expressed his concern about what the
Bounty Hunter was capable of. When
they reached the school, Skinner spotted a young girl leaving and someone
following him. Skinner dealt with
whoever it was that was following them while Scully went after the
girl. She followed her to the
middle of the Arizona desert where she discovered Gibson Praise hiding
underground. Skinner believed that
Doggett was made “a pawn in a rigged game”, that he was set up to fail
before he made it to the directors chair.
He attempted to explain this to him and told him that the only thing
he could do to find Mulder is to listen to Scully, but if he puts anything
about alien bounty hunters in a report, Kersh will ruin him. Moments later, Doggett went on the radio
with an agent who said he was with Scully in the dorm room just as she came
back from the desert. She
immediately knew what was going on – the Bounty Hunter had assumed her
identity. He attacked the agent who
was with her just as the real Scully burst in the door, chasing the Bounty
Hunter. Unfortunately, the Bounty
Hunter eluded her grasp taking the form of Agent Crane. She knew that whoever the Bounty Hunter
was now was in the dorm room. As
the agent whom the Bounty Hunter attacked was carried into an ambulance,
Scully got in her car causing Skinner to rush over. He ordered her out of the car, and as
she did so, she pointed her weapon at him.
Skinner instantly pulled his own weapon on her. She believed he was the Bounty Hunter
and visa versa. Skinner took a
gamble and lowered his weapon, telling her that he knows her secret which no
one else knows – her pregnancy.
Scully demanded that he tells her, as that would prove that he is in
fact Skinner. He turned around, and
as she got closer, Skinner spun around, taking her gun from her – he
doesn’t like pointing guns at pregnant woman any more than he likes them
pointing guns at him. He handed her
gun back telling her that its gone too far, but Scully believed the
opposite – it hasn’t gone far enough.
Skinner tried to explain that she had told him that Mulder didn’t
want him to ruin his career for him, but Scully was ruining hers even as
they spoke. She told him she cant
take the chance that she’ll never see him again and that Gibson was their
best chance at getting Mulder back.
Reluctantly, Skinner agreed and they headed out to Gibson’s location
together. But when they arrived,
Gibson was gone. After looking around,
the found him staring at the sky, claiming he could hear Mulder’s thoughts
and that he was in the desert.
Skinner then lifted Gibson and took him to the hospital to get
proper treatment for his leg while Scully stayed in the desert, hoping to
find Mulder. At the hospital,
Skinner stood watching over the boy until he awoke with his friend standing
in the doorway – The Alien Bounty Hunter.
Skinner was attacked and dragged through the ceiling panels. The Bounty Hunter took on the form of
Skinner, who then asked for Scully’s help in protecting the boy. As Scully walked through the door, she
noticed Gibson’s reflection shaking his head telling her no. The Bounty Hunter attacked her, and then
went after Gibson and Scully shot him in the back of the neck killing
him. Skinner made a full recovery
and was back at work in no time.
As Scully entered the final
stages of her pregnancy, Skinner investigated the death of Duffy Hascal, a
man who had come to The X Files claiming that his wife had given birth to
an alien baby. What peaked his
interest was the fact that Hascals head had been decapitated in a way which
could not be explained. What was
almost as interesting as how he was killed was where – an illegal medical
facility dedicated to human cloning.
After sifting through the records discovered at the scene, Skinner
discovered that Hascal was monitoring Scully’s pregnancy. As Mulder and Doggett arrived, Skinner
demanded to know about Scully’s baby, in particular, who the father
is. Mulder refused to tell him –
the fathers identity is Scully’s business.
What Skinner did say was that he had his suspicions about his
identity – he believed Mulder was the father. After exposing Lizzie, Scully’s baby nurse as an associate of
Hascals, Mulder and Scully were attacked by Billy Miles, who was now an
alien replicant. Luckily, Alex
Krychek showed up, saving them. The
headed to the FBI building where the knew they would be safe, at least for
a short time. Once there, Skinner
done everything he could helping Scully to escape with Agent Monica Rayes
when Billy Miles once again attacked.
He was after Scully’s child.
Krychek explained that the alien replicants like Billy Miles feared
the child’s implications – a child born from a barren womb. The miracle of its birth proved that
there was a higher power – something greater than themselves. However, Skinner continually protested
Krycheks involvement. As Scully
gave birth in the ‘safety’ of
Democrat Springs – the birth place of John Doggett, Doggett hunted
Knoel Roare, a replicant while Mulder watched Krychek. However, Krychekl managed to get the
better of Mulder, and prepared to shot him when Skinner stopped him. A wounded Krychek encouraged Skinner to
kill Mulder, unable to do that, Skinner killed Alex Krychek.
Skinner has proven time and time
again that he is an asset to not only the FBI, but to The X Files as
well.
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