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Syndicate (The X-Files)
Encyclopedia
The Syndicate is a fictional "shadow government
" group featured in The X-Files
television show and feature film
created by Chris Carter
. They were also known as The Elders, The Consortium, and The Group. Because of their presiding over the cover-up of extraterrestrial life, they were the main force opposing the X-Files investigators, Fox Mulder
and Dana Scully
, in the series.
" in conspiracy theory
lore, the Syndicate comprised covertly allied, influential government officials and businessmen. The Syndicate, operating at the highest levels of power, concealed from the world a program by an unidentified extraterrestrial species to colonize and repopulate the planet, as well as their own plans and stake in that future, which they held to be inevitable.
To carry out murder, cover-ups, sabotage and other wetworks projects, the Syndicate used an unknown number of henchmen commonly referred to as the Men in Black
. The Men in Black were merciless protectors of the conspiracy whose true names, like the members of the Syndicate, were rarely if ever known. Many worked ostensibly for the DOD
, CIA
, NSA
, and other government agencies. Prominent Men in Black agents included X, Alex Krycek
, the Crew Cut Man, and Quiet Willy.
Most of their meetings were held in a clandestine club located on West 46th Street in New York City
, and did not involve Conrad Strughold. Meetings involving Strughold, who was unable to enter the United States
possibly because it would draw too much attention and his family background tied back to the Nazi-era, were held in London
. A possible front for the group, evidenced in the episode "Redux II
", was a biotechnology
firm called Roush. (In German
, rausch means "intoxication" and rauch means "smoke" but the name may simply have been a tribute to then-USA Today
TV critic Matt Roush, an influential early champion of The X-Files.) Roush facilities were used in some experiments involving the virus, as shown in the Season 6 premiere "The Beginning
". Also, according to Alvin Kurtzweil, when the takeover was to commence, which the Syndicate had originally set to occur about the year 2012, the Syndicate would have seized control by using the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA), which had the power to suspend constitutional government upon declaration of a national emergency.
, after the Roswell incident
, when German scientists were brought to the United States
to work on developing an alien-human hybrid. Alvin Kurtzweil recounted that when he and Bill Mulder were young men in the military, they were recruited for a project that they were told was concerned with biological warfare
. Deep Throat claimed that it began after Roswell, when an ultrasecret conference of power brokers in the United States
, the Soviet Union
, United Kingdom
, China
, France
, West Germany
, and East Germany, signed a treaty that if an alien spacecraft
crashed on Earth
and the extraterrestrial
s survived, the country that held them would be responsible for their immediate extermination.
The group that would become the Syndicate existed as early as 1952 as a secret group within the Department of State. Their activities included experimenting with xenotransplantation
, relocating ex-Nazi scientists to the United States after WWII, and covering up the black oil
discovered in the Piper Maru in 1953.
The members of the secretive group within the State Department officially broke off ties with the United States government in 1973. However, some of the members continued to work within the State Department. On October 13, the Syndicate formally forged their alliance with the alien colonists
at El Rico Air Force Base. The Cigarette Smoking Man
personally presented a folded American
flag to the aliens, symbolizing their surrender to a superior intergalactic force. The Syndicate was also commencing their work on the Project, which would see an immense effort in creating an alien/human
hybrid to serve the aliens as a slave race after colonization. To allow the Syndicate to develop the hybrid, they were provided an alien fetus
from which to extract DNA
and begin research. However, the aliens demanded in exchange samples of human DNA. Members of the Syndicate turned over their loved ones to the aliens as part of the exchange. The Cigarette Smoking Man handed over his wife, Cassandra Spender, and William Mulder reluctantly surrendered his daughter, Samantha
.
By March 22, 1992, the Syndicate had use of a vast warehouse in The Pentagon
where artifacts constituting evidence of alien existence were stored. The Cigarette Smoking Man added an implant
, recovered by Mulder and Scully on their first case together, to the items kept in this storage facility. As Mulder and Scully learned, other efforts to erase their findings were apparently made, including the disappearance of paperwork, such as a case file on Billy Miles, that the agents had filed with the District Attorney
's office in Raymon County, Oregon.
among the aliens that was fighting against their brethren and the colonization of Earth
. The first incident of rebel violence on Earth occurred in Kazakhstan
, where dozens of impending abductees
were found incinerated. Marita Covarrubias investigated the incident and quickly had it covered up. Shortly thereafter, many more abductees
were summoned to Skyland Mountain via their metallic tags. Again, the group was attacked and incinerated by the alien rebels. It was at this time that the rebels were more clearly identified as being faceless
, a telltale characteristic that set them apart as the rebel force.
The following year, the rebels made their most daring - and most destructive - move. Outside of Washington, D.C.
, they attacked a train car, wherein a group of Syndicate doctor
s led by Eugene Openshaw were experimenting on Cassandra Spender - the first successful alien-human
hybrid. The rebels incinerated the doctors, but left Cassandra alive so that the Project would be revealed and subsequently destroyed. Indeed, one of the rebels killed the Second Elder and assumed his position at meetings of the Syndicate. However, the Cigarette Smoking Man
realized this and had the group cease meeting together.
The Smoking Man contacted his son, Jeffrey Spender
, and charged him with killing the rebel posing as the Second Elder with a gimlet weapon
. However, Spender failed to kill him, but Alex Krycek
was successful. Spender then realized the scope of the conspiracy being carried out by his father, and he pledged his support to Fox Mulder
. Having their hand forced by the rebels, the Syndicate retrieved Cassandra Spender and prepared to present her to the aliens so that colonization could begin. However, the rebels appeared instead and incinerated the entire group of gathered high-ranking Syndicate members, meaning the destruction of the Syndicate.
claimed that his group had "made entire cultures disappear".
In reality, the Cigarette Smoking Man continued working on the Project with a group of men who held a conference to discuss colonization in 1999. The Cigarette Smoking Man also continued working with his doctors, who were aware of the Syndicate's work to create a human-alien hybrids
and attempted to continue this work. The Cigarette Smoking Man is also seen, in "Biogenesis
", meeting with a group of men, some in military uniforms, who are speaking about some sort of disaster and "containment" of it. Presumably they are speaking about colonization, and this assembly of men may be part of the Cigarette Smoking Man's intentions, revealed in "Requiem", to try to rebuild the conspiracy.
In season eight
, Doctor
Lizzy Gill admitted to Mulder, Assistant Director
Walter Skinner
and Special agent
John Doggett
that, for the past ten years, she and her colleagues had been working to create a human-alien hybrid
. According to her, the work had originally been financed by a group of government men but had continued after their deaths. Gill's colleagues, by this time, included Doctors Parenti, Lev and Duffy Haskell, but they all had been killed recently by super soldier
Billy Miles.
With the Syndicate eliminated, the power vacuum
was eventually filled in season nine
by a new government-like organization. This organization included members such as the Toothpick Man, Gene Crane, and Knowle Rohrer, among others. All known members revealed to viewers in the series were super soldiers
, men with superhuman abilities - with the exception of Alex Krycek
, who was killed in "Existence
". During the season finale
, "The Truth
" this unnamed organization shuts down the X-Files office
at the Federal Bureau of Investigation
. Mulder was left on the run until all his criminal charges were lifted in 2008 (The X-Files: I Want to Believe
).
, and NSA
.
The Men in Black are analogous to the Alien Bounty Hunters employed by the Colonist
s. The Men in Black were, however, not as reliable as the bounty hunters and though sometimes they were used initially it took the more capable Alien Bounty Hunters to complete difficult tasks. The Syndicate would use the bounty hunters only when absolutely necessary because of an increased risk of exposure.
Shadow government (conspiracy)
The term shadow government besides its party political meaning can also refer to what is sometimes called "the secret government" or "the invisible government" , an idea based on the notion that real and actual political power does not reside with publicly elected representatives but with private...
" group featured in The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
television show and feature film
The X-Files (film)
The X-Files is a 1998 American science fiction-thriller film written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Rob Bowman. It is the first feature film based on The X-Files series created by Carter that revolves around a fictional FBI paranormal investigation unit called the X-Files...
created by Chris Carter
Chris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
. They were also known as The Elders, The Consortium, and The Group. Because of their presiding over the cover-up of extraterrestrial life, they were the main force opposing the X-Files investigators, Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
and Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
, in the series.
Goals and methods
An embodiment of the concept of the "shadow governmentShadow government (conspiracy)
The term shadow government besides its party political meaning can also refer to what is sometimes called "the secret government" or "the invisible government" , an idea based on the notion that real and actual political power does not reside with publicly elected representatives but with private...
" in conspiracy theory
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
lore, the Syndicate comprised covertly allied, influential government officials and businessmen. The Syndicate, operating at the highest levels of power, concealed from the world a program by an unidentified extraterrestrial species to colonize and repopulate the planet, as well as their own plans and stake in that future, which they held to be inevitable.
To carry out murder, cover-ups, sabotage and other wetworks projects, the Syndicate used an unknown number of henchmen commonly referred to as the Men in Black
Men in Black (The X-Files)
In The X-Files television show, the Men in Black refer, unofficially, to a group of enforcers employed by the Syndicate to execute assassinations, cover ups and other covert operations. It is implied that most, if not all, of them are former members of special operations units...
. The Men in Black were merciless protectors of the conspiracy whose true names, like the members of the Syndicate, were rarely if ever known. Many worked ostensibly for the DOD
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
, CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
, NSA
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
, and other government agencies. Prominent Men in Black agents included X, Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek is a fictional character in the long-running American science fiction show, The X-Files portrayed by Nicholas Lea. Initially introduced in the second season as a partner for main character Fox Mulder in the absence of his previous partner, Dana Scully, Krycek grew to become one of the...
, the Crew Cut Man, and Quiet Willy.
Most of their meetings were held in a clandestine club located on West 46th Street in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and did not involve Conrad Strughold. Meetings involving Strughold, who was unable to enter the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
possibly because it would draw too much attention and his family background tied back to the Nazi-era, were held in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. A possible front for the group, evidenced in the episode "Redux II
Redux (The X-Files)
"Redux" is the collective name for the 98th and 99th episodes of the science fiction television series The X-Files. Part 1 first aired on November 2 and Part 2 aired on November 9, 1997 on Fox in the United States and Canada. Both episodes subsequently aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The...
", was a biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
firm called Roush. (In German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, rausch means "intoxication" and rauch means "smoke" but the name may simply have been a tribute to then-USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
TV critic Matt Roush, an influential early champion of The X-Files.) Roush facilities were used in some experiments involving the virus, as shown in the Season 6 premiere "The Beginning
The Beginning (The X-Files)
"The Beginning" is the first episode of the sixth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. "The Beginning", which was the first episode of the series to be filmed in Los Angeles, features an alien loose in the Phoenix, Arizona area....
". Also, according to Alvin Kurtzweil, when the takeover was to commence, which the Syndicate had originally set to occur about the year 2012, the Syndicate would have seized control by using the Federal Emergency Management Agency
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...
(FEMA), which had the power to suspend constitutional government upon declaration of a national emergency.
Early Years
The Syndicate was formed at the end of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, after the Roswell incident
Roswell UFO incident
The Roswell UFO Incident was the recovery of an object that crashed in the general vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico, in June or July 1947, allegedly an extra-terrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants. Since the late 1970s the incident has been the subject of intense controversy and of...
, when German scientists were brought to the United States
Operation Paperclip
Operation Paperclip was the Office of Strategic Services program used to recruit the scientists of Nazi Germany for employment by the United States in the aftermath of World War II...
to work on developing an alien-human hybrid. Alvin Kurtzweil recounted that when he and Bill Mulder were young men in the military, they were recruited for a project that they were told was concerned with biological warfare
Biological warfare
Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
. Deep Throat claimed that it began after Roswell, when an ultrasecret conference of power brokers in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, and East Germany, signed a treaty that if an alien spacecraft
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
crashed on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
and the extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
s survived, the country that held them would be responsible for their immediate extermination.
The group that would become the Syndicate existed as early as 1952 as a secret group within the Department of State. Their activities included experimenting with xenotransplantation
Xenotransplantation
Xenotransplantation , is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another. Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenografts or xenotransplants...
, relocating ex-Nazi scientists to the United States after WWII, and covering up the black oil
Black Oil
Black Oil may refer to:* Black Oil , an alien virus in the X-Files episode The Colonist* a sunflower variety...
discovered in the Piper Maru in 1953.
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
at El Rico Air Force Base. The Cigarette Smoking Man
Cigarette Smoking Man
The Smoking Man is a fictional character and the antagonist on the American science fiction television series The X-Files. He serves as the arch-nemesis of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder. Although his name is revealed to purportedly be C.G.B...
personally presented a folded American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
flag to the aliens, symbolizing their surrender to a superior intergalactic force. The Syndicate was also commencing their work on the Project, which would see an immense effort in creating an alien/human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
hybrid to serve the aliens as a slave race after colonization. To allow the Syndicate to develop the hybrid, they were provided an alien fetus
Fetus
A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate after the embryonic stage and before birth.In humans, the fetal stage of prenatal development starts at the beginning of the 11th week in gestational age, which is the 9th week after fertilization.-Etymology and spelling variations:The...
from which to extract DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
and begin research. However, the aliens demanded in exchange samples of human DNA. Members of the Syndicate turned over their loved ones to the aliens as part of the exchange. The Cigarette Smoking Man handed over his wife, Cassandra Spender, and William Mulder reluctantly surrendered his daughter, Samantha
Samantha Mulder
Samantha Ann Mulder is a fictional character in the television series The X-Files. She is the sister of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder and the daughter of Teena and Bill Mulder. As a child, Samantha was abducted, ostensibly by aliens, and was never recovered...
.
By March 22, 1992, the Syndicate had use of a vast warehouse in The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
where artifacts constituting evidence of alien existence were stored. The Cigarette Smoking Man added an implant
Alien implants
Alien implants is a term used in Ufology to describe a physical object placed in someone's body after they have been abducted by aliens. Claimed abilities of the implants range from telepresence to mind control to biotelemetry...
, recovered by Mulder and Scully on their first case together, to the items kept in this storage facility. As Mulder and Scully learned, other efforts to erase their findings were apparently made, including the disappearance of paperwork, such as a case file on Billy Miles, that the agents had filed with the District Attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
's office in Raymon County, Oregon.
Destruction
In 1998, the Syndicate learned of a rebel factionColonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
among the aliens that was fighting against their brethren and the colonization of Earth
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
. The first incident of rebel violence on Earth occurred in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, where dozens of impending abductees
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
were found incinerated. Marita Covarrubias investigated the incident and quickly had it covered up. Shortly thereafter, many more abductees
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
were summoned to Skyland Mountain via their metallic tags. Again, the group was attacked and incinerated by the alien rebels. It was at this time that the rebels were more clearly identified as being faceless
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
, a telltale characteristic that set them apart as the rebel force.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, they attacked a train car, wherein a group of Syndicate doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s led by Eugene Openshaw were experimenting on Cassandra Spender - the first successful alien-human
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
hybrid. The rebels incinerated the doctors, but left Cassandra alive so that the Project would be revealed and subsequently destroyed. Indeed, one of the rebels killed the Second Elder and assumed his position at meetings of the Syndicate. However, the Cigarette Smoking Man
Cigarette Smoking Man
The Smoking Man is a fictional character and the antagonist on the American science fiction television series The X-Files. He serves as the arch-nemesis of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder. Although his name is revealed to purportedly be C.G.B...
realized this and had the group cease meeting together.
The Smoking Man contacted his son, Jeffrey Spender
Jeffrey Spender
FBI Special agent Jeffrey Frank Spender is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence. Spender was in control of the X-Files office after Fox Mulder's and Dana Scully's...
, and charged him with killing the rebel posing as the Second Elder with a gimlet weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
. However, Spender failed to kill him, but Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek is a fictional character in the long-running American science fiction show, The X-Files portrayed by Nicholas Lea. Initially introduced in the second season as a partner for main character Fox Mulder in the absence of his previous partner, Dana Scully, Krycek grew to become one of the...
was successful. Spender then realized the scope of the conspiracy being carried out by his father, and he pledged his support to Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
. Having their hand forced by the rebels, the Syndicate retrieved Cassandra Spender and prepared to present her to the aliens so that colonization could begin. However, the rebels appeared instead and incinerated the entire group of gathered high-ranking Syndicate members, meaning the destruction of the Syndicate.
Legacy
Later in 1999, Scully asked Mulder what more he could possibly hope to do or to find, after having done and uncovered so much, such as exposing the secrets of a conspiracy of men who had been doing human experiments but were all now dead. Mulder's reply was that he still hoped to find his sister. Later on, Mulder dreamt of the Syndicate, in which an illusory version of the Cigarette Smoking ManCigarette Smoking Man
The Smoking Man is a fictional character and the antagonist on the American science fiction television series The X-Files. He serves as the arch-nemesis of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder. Although his name is revealed to purportedly be C.G.B...
claimed that his group had "made entire cultures disappear".
In reality, the Cigarette Smoking Man continued working on the Project with a group of men who held a conference to discuss colonization in 1999. The Cigarette Smoking Man also continued working with his doctors, who were aware of the Syndicate's work to create a human-alien hybrids
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
and attempted to continue this work. The Cigarette Smoking Man is also seen, in "Biogenesis
Biogenesis
Biogenesis is the law that living things come only from other living things, e.g. a spider lays eggs, which develop into spiders. It may also refer to biochemical processes of production in living organisms.-Spontaneous generation:...
", meeting with a group of men, some in military uniforms, who are speaking about some sort of disaster and "containment" of it. Presumably they are speaking about colonization, and this assembly of men may be part of the Cigarette Smoking Man's intentions, revealed in "Requiem", to try to rebuild the conspiracy.
In season eight
The X-Files (season 8)
The eighth season of The X-Files commenced airing in the United States on November 5, 2000, concluded on May 20, 2001, and consisted of twenty-one episodes. The X-Files is an American serial science fiction-horror-thriller television series. Season eight took place after Fox Mulder's alien...
, Doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
Lizzy Gill admitted to Mulder, Assistant Director
Assistant director
The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...
Walter Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
and Special agent
Special agent
Special agent is usually the title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government. An agent is a worker for any federal agency, and a secret agent is one who works for an intelligence agency....
John Doggett
John Doggett
FBI Special agent John Jay Doggett is a fictional character in the American Fox television series The X-Files, a science fiction show about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of alien existence...
that, for the past ten years, she and her colleagues had been working to create a human-alien hybrid
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
. According to her, the work had originally been financed by a group of government men but had continued after their deaths. Gill's colleagues, by this time, included Doctors Parenti, Lev and Duffy Haskell, but they all had been killed recently by super soldier
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
Billy Miles.
With the Syndicate eliminated, the power vacuum
Power vacuum
A power vacuum is, in its broadest sense, an expression for a condition that exists when someone has lost control of something and no one has replaced them. It is usually used to refer to a political situation that can occur when a government has no identifiable central authority...
was eventually filled in season nine
The X-Files (season 9)
The ninth season of The X-Files commenced airing in the United States on November 11, 2001, concluded on May 19, 2002, and consists of twenty episodes. The X-Files is an American serial science fiction-horror-thriller television series. Season nine took place after Fox Mulder's leave after the...
by a new government-like organization. This organization included members such as the Toothpick Man, Gene Crane, and Knowle Rohrer, among others. All known members revealed to viewers in the series were super soldiers
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
, men with superhuman abilities - with the exception of Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek
Alex Krycek is a fictional character in the long-running American science fiction show, The X-Files portrayed by Nicholas Lea. Initially introduced in the second season as a partner for main character Fox Mulder in the absence of his previous partner, Dana Scully, Krycek grew to become one of the...
, who was killed in "Existence
Existence (The X-Files)
"Existence " is the 181st episode and the eighth season finale of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States on May 20, 2001 on Fox, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom. It was written by executive producer Chris Carter, and directed by...
". During the season finale
Season finale
A season finale is the final episode of a season of a television program...
, "The Truth
The Truth (The X-Files)
"The Truth" is the collective name for the 201st and 202nd, and final, episodes of the science fiction television series The X-Files. They first aired in the United States on May 19, 2002 on Fox in the United States and Canada. "The Truth" subsequently aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It...
" this unnamed organization shuts down the X-Files office
X-file
On the television series The X-Files, an X-File is a fictional case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The files constitute an unassigned project outside the Bureau mainstream that is more or less concerned with unexplained phenomena. -First X-Files:The very...
at the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
. Mulder was left on the run until all his criminal charges were lifted in 2008 (The X-Files: I Want to Believe
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a 2008 science fiction-thriller directed by Chris Carter and written by both Carter and Frank Spotnitz. It is the second feature film based on The X-Files franchise created by Carter, following the 1998 film...
).
Men in Black
The Men in Black refers, unofficially, to a group of enforcers employed by the Syndicate to take care of the dirty work of the conspiracy. Most of them were ex-military, highly trained and loyal hitmen, who worked, as a front, in government agencies such as the FBI, DODUnited States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
, and NSA
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
.
The Men in Black are analogous to the Alien Bounty Hunters employed by the Colonist
Colonist (The X-Files)
The Colonists are an extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television show, The X-Files, as well as the first X-Files feature film. The mystery revolving around their identity and purpose is revealed across the course of the series...
s. The Men in Black were, however, not as reliable as the bounty hunters and though sometimes they were used initially it took the more capable Alien Bounty Hunters to complete difficult tasks. The Syndicate would use the bounty hunters only when absolutely necessary because of an increased risk of exposure.