Alex Krycek

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Character
Name: Alex Krycek
Occupation: FBI Agent/double agent/mercenary
Relationships: Affair with Marita
Fandom: X-Files
Other: One-armed
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Alex Krycek was a reoccurring character on the FOX television show The X-Files. He was first introduced as an FBI agent in Sleepless when he became Fox Mulder's new partner. In that same episode, Krycek was revealed to be working for the Syndicate and over the course of the series would switch alliances several times over. He's most likely dead as Skinner shot him several times in Existence and he later appeared to Mulder as a ghost in The Truth, but as Chris Carter has said many times, no one ever dies on The X-Files.

Fannish Engagement with the Character

Quite possibly the original little black dress of fandom, Krycek and his chameleon-like versatility make him a favorite of shippers and slashers alike. Most often paired with Mulder, Scully, Skinner, or Marita, Krycek can also be found in many crossovers, sometimes even having sex with his fellow little black dresses.

Because of his sneaky, underhanded ways (and Howard Gordon, who claims Krycek means "rat" in Eastern Europe), Krycek is referred to as "Ratboy" by his fans. RATales and RatB-K are two mailing lists dedicated to fanfic and discussion about Alex Krycek. AlexK-H-C-orD (link) is a mailing list focusing on hurt/comfort fan fiction featuring Krycek.

Fanon About the Character

Krycek has ties to Russia and spent some time there after he lost his arm in Terma. He can speak fluent Russian and once told Mulder his parents were "Cold War immigrants." For all these reasons, Krycek is often written as Russian or of Russian descent.

Wombat wrote a tongue-in-cheek meta essay cataloguing Krycek's various fanonical character interpretations in the style of a nature catalogue of the facts and habits of various species of animals, called The Spotter's Guide to the Common Krycek

Fan Comments

[There] seems to be an almost overwhelming urge in fandom to redeem (and by redeem I don't mean simply make the baddie not entirely evil, I mean turn them into simply misunderstood good guys) baddies [...] with very few exceptions, the Krycek stories I've read have been very much on the Skippy side of things--and unless some of my friends are keeping quiet (which would be a miracle!), all of my friends who like Krycek are Skippy fans. Well, I should emend [sic] that: all of my friends who started out liking Krycek seem to have either become Skippy fans or are so fed up with the Krycek Is Too A Nice Guy stories/attitudes that they're getting to (or have got to) the point where Krycek is persona non grata.

[...]

I admit, I've been edging too far to the other extreme, because I *like* baddies and I really hate this whitewashing, sanitising fluffy-slipperhood I see being stuck on perfectly good baddies. Obviously, there are exceptions to the unremittingly good/bad extremes of Krycek and every other fictional character... but it's this turning everyone

into tapioca pudding that gets on my nerves. Especially when you have someone who makes such a *good* baddie as Krycek does.[1]

Pairings

Fanfiction Archives

Notable Fic

Mailing Lists

Meta/Further Reading

Zines

External links

  1. ^ comment at Virgule-L, quoted anonymously with permission (Jul 14, 1997)