The Hero's Journey
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Hero's Journey |
| Creator: | LeFey |
| Date(s): | 2001? |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | multi |
| Topic: | writing fanfiction, X-Files |
| External Links: | online here; WebCite |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Hero's Journey is an essay by LeFey.
"This was originally written for Whereabouts Unknown. It describes my journey to Krycek, before I began writing slash."
Excerpts
I have had a Krycek epiphany. There have been other moments when, magically, a new clarity of perception occurs and life changes. The Outer Limits episode The Architects of Fear taught me that love transcends the vanities of appearance.Years later, Larry Bird narrowed his eyes after a particularly humiliating defeat by the Houston Rockets in the NBA finals and showed me what tenacity meant. My Mantra ever since: Narrow your eyes and don’t let Houston beat you.
Last spring I had one of those perfect, unexpected moments and Krycek altered my fantasy life, forever.
I have watched The X-Files since year one, becoming a regular viewer with the episode Miracle Man. It had all the elements that draw me to The X-Files: humor, character driven stories and a speculative spirituality. I am a student of mythology and Joseph Campbell. I believe that ordinary life is really bigger than life if you only look at it in a mythological context. Long before the creation of the mythology arcs individual X-Files episodes had moments of mythic proportions. And … Yes … I’ll admit I found David Duchovny tragically gorgeous.
I came very late to an appreciation of Alex Krycek. We’ll call it appreciation for now. I was too involved with the pregnancy watch, wondering how long 1013 could hide the obviously pregnant Anderson and what they would say to convince us that Scully suddenly liked baggy clothes. Because of this, I saw Krycek as a plot device. I was not surprised when he was revealed to be Cancer Man’s operative. In drama there is conflict and in the X-Files that conflict is a conspiracy.
And then the truly unexpected happened.Time slowed as Alex crossed the room towards Marita. In seconds, exposition was made unnecessary by a few swift movements. Questions and fears about what he would do when he reached her rose and were answered in a heartbeat. A history of conspiracy, intimacy and supremacy was created as he touched her. Alex Krycek was transformed, as no else had been on this show, into a powerful, elemental, sexual being.
I was, quite literally, on the edge of my seat. Sitting forward I let out a long held breath and was lost in the climax of the moment. I was reduced to a litany of one-syllable exclamations as I waited for the show to return
from commercial. I was transfixed and transformed from a fan to a Phile.
I need to make an acknowledgement. I am fully aware that what happened to me was the work of Nicholas Lea. At every turn, the complexity that is Alex Krycek is due to Lea’s savvy as an actor. He may be self-effacing in interviews but he knows exactly how to showcase himself. The staging of the scenes with Marita was his idea. As that smile attests, he is familiar with all the emotional buttons and how to push them.After Patient X I spent hours on the net trying to find out what would happen next, gleaning biographical information about Nick Lea and satisfying my new found hunger for anything Krycek. During my search I discovered fanfiction, slash and amazing things about myself.
I am immersed and enjoying the whole Escher world of X-Files websites and slash fiction. There was a time when I didn’t contemplate the background, whereabouts and the feral beauty of Alex Krycek. But he gave me that moment and now I am on my own journey.