List of MOTW characters

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On the 1993-2002 television series, The X-Files, there developed two main types of episodes. "Mytharc" episodes were recognized as the canon mythology of the series, comprising the central storyline concerning extraterrestrial life and a conspiracy to hide it. "MOTW" (Monster of the Week; also "MoW") came to denote the rest of the episodes in the season, and episodes of this type delt with all kinds of paranormal phenomenon, mutants, advanced and futuristic scientific technologies, science fiction, horror, and even comedic episodes that parodied these genres, other TV shows, and even The X-Files itself.

• Eugene Victor Tooms: Tooms appeared in the first MOTW episode, "Squeeze". He is a mutant, capable of stretching and contorting his body to an extent that would be unnatural for a normal human. Every 30 years, Tooms came out of hibernation in order to attain five human livers. In the episode "Tooms", Mulder tracked him to his nest underneath a shopping mall, and when he attacked Mulder, Tooms was crushed to death by an escalator. He is one of only three MOTW characters to star in more than one episode.

• Luther Lee Boggs: A serial killer from North Carolina whom Mulder's profile helped catch. He was to be executed via gas chamber, but received a stay of execution. Boggs soon developed an ability to channel spirits and demons. Mulder, however, did not believe Boggs had this ability, and thought Boggs was simply trying to use him and Scully to bargain for his life. Scully initially shared Mulder's view, however, Boggs managed to cause Scully to doubt this belief by appearing to her as Mulder, and her recently deceased father, and relating to her private information about her own life, and the case she was working on. The executive stay, however, was soon lifted and Boggs was summarily executed. Appeared in the episode "Beyond the Sea", and portrayed by Brad Dourif. The character was based off of the real-life serial killer, Henry Lee Lucas, and the tatoos "KISS" and "KILL" on Boggs' knuckles are an homage to the fictional serial killer, Reverend Harry Powell.

• Flukeman: Flukeman was introduced in the second season episode, "The Host". It is a tapeworm-like humanoid, who lived in sewers. Flukeman would bite a human and inject a small fluke, which would after a time, kill it's host. Mulder eventually found the creature in a sewer, and he seemingly killed it. At the end of the episode, however, Flukeman is seen still barely alive. The creature has a few references in later episodes, and apparently the Flukeman case is not a particular favorite of Scully's.

• Donald "Donnie" Pfaster: First appearing in the season 2 episode, "Irresistible", Donnie is a reclusive necrophiliac who murders prostitutes. Mulder and Scully are soon on the case, during which, Donnie follows and kidnaps Scully. Mulder manages to track him down and save Scully, who was relatively unharmed, but emotionally shaken by the experience. About 5 years later, in "Orison", Donnie, with the help of a prison reverand, escapes and goes after "the one who got away," Scully. He soon finds out where she lives and attacks Scully at her apartment. Mulder arrives later by chance, moments before Scully fatally shoots Donnie. He is the second of only three MOTW characters to star in two separate episodes.

• Dr. Blockhead & The Conundrum: A circus act duo consisting of a human blockhead and a carnival geek, Mulder and Scully meet the team during an investigation into circus related deaths. In addition to classic human blockhead acts, like being able to apparently drive nails into his chest and nasal cavity without killing himself, Dr. Blockhead trains with a variation of the Sun Dance, and is also an escape artist. According to him, he was born in Yemen, where he trained with yogis, fakirs, and swamis, and learned, among other things, how to draw his testicles up into his abdomen. In actuality, Dr. Blockhead's real name is Jeffrey Swaim, and he was born in Milwaukee. The Conundrum is a bald, jigsaw puzzle tattooed man, who sports only a loincloth and rarely speaks. He is a carnival geek, meaning that for his act, though also apparently in his spare time as well, he eats live and dead animals, rocks, light bulbs, battery cables, etc. He even eats the killer parasitic twin from the episode the pair appear in, "Humbug".

• Clyde Bruckman: The eponymous insurance salesman from season 3's "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose". Mr. Bruckman, an elder, cynical, sarcastic man, lives in Minnesota, and apart from his otherwise uneventful existence, has the psychic ability to forsee a person's death. This ability, much to his chagrin and disgust, only allows him to foretell deaths, and he doesn't understand how his foresight works and is sometimes unaware of when his visions pop up. Investigating a case of a serial killer who targets psychics, Mulder and Scully meet Bruckman after he discovers a corpse. During their conversations, Bruckman relates to Scully how he will die, and also hints that Mulder will pass on by way of "autoerotic asphyxiation." He was a big fan of The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly, and after their deaths in 1959, acquired his prognostication ability. He commits suicide at the end of the episode. Played by Peter Boyle, who won an Emmy Award for the role in 1996.

• Queequeg: A Pomeranian, Queequeg was given to Scully by Clyde Bruckman after he died (Bruckman had the dog for a short time after his neighbor died). Scully named him Queequeg, after a character from Moby Dick. She would wash Queequeg in her kitchen sink, sometimes using 'Die Flea! Die!', and since she didn't approve of kennels, took him places without one. After only a few months, Queequeg was unfortunately eaten by either an alligator, or a lake monster, during the course of an X-file case.

• Robert Patrick "Pusher" Modell: A self described ronin, Modell had a unique ability to alter perceptions and influence people, which he utilized to carry out hits. During the manhunt for Modell, Mulder stops Modell, though not before succumbing to his power and nearly killing himself and Scully. Modell reappears later on, and although he is actually out to stop another killer, he is shot by Skinner before this is learned, and is later killed by the person he was after. Appeared in "Pusher" and "Kitsunegari", making him the third of three MOTW characters to feature prominently in two different episodes.

• Jose Chung: An eccentric, skeptical writer, Chung was introduced in Season 3. In "Jose Chung's From Outer Space", he interviews Scully, attempting to make sense of a set of bizarre occurrences that took place in (fictional) Klass County, Washington. He is later killed by a Nostradamus fanatic, in the related series, Millennium.

• The Peacock Brothers: Edmund, George, and Sherman, are brothers from the Peacock clan, and live in 19th century conditions on a broken down farm in Home, Pennsylvania. Edmund is actually George and Sherman's brother and father. Incest has become so rampant in the Peacock clan that the remaining family members are severely physically deformed, and further reproduction has become difficult. Their mother, an amputee, is kept in the dark under a bed, on a kind of moving rack. During Mulder and Scully's investigation, a few local police officers are killed by the brothers. Mulder and Scully are eventually able to break into the booby-trapped Peacock home, where George and Sherman are killed during the confrontation. Edmund escapes with his mother, and both depart to keep the Peacock line going elsewhere. The notorious episode they appear in, "Home", has a viewer discretion warning, and is rated TV MA, unlike other episodes which are rated TV 14. "Home" was also kept out of syndication for three years after it's initial airing.

• Leonard Morris Betts: Real name Albert Tanner, Leonard was a Pittsburgh EMT, and a mutant. His body was internally riddled with cancer, but this was actually his normal state of being. Leonard's body, as a result, could regenerate any lost body part, even a new head. To sustain his ability, he had to bathe in providone iodine, as well as consume cancer, which he was able to obtain through his job. To keep his condition secret, Leonard was forced to kill any person who learned about it. During the X-file case on him, he attacked Scully, but was killed after she electrocuted him with a pair of defibrillators on full power. Before he attacked Scully, he told her "I'm sorry... but you've got something I need," quietly revealing to Scully that she had cancer. Portrayed by Paul McCrane, of ER fame.

• Edward H. "Eddie" Van Blundht, Jr.: A self-described "born loser", Eddie is an inconspicuous janitor, living in a small town in West Virginia. In "Small Potatoes", Mulder and Scully head there to investigate why 5 women within the past 3 months have given birth to babies with vestigial tails. They soon learn that Eddie is the father of all the babies, and that he was also born with a tail. However, a more surprising find to Mulder and Scully, is that Eddie's body is covered with striated muscle, which allows him to transform his appearance to that of virtually anyone (explaining how the women mistook Eddie for their husbands, or in one case, Mark Hamill). Using his ability, Eddie manages to impersonate Mulder, and heads back to D.C. with Scully. While there, he visits Scully with a bottle of wine, attempting to seduce her. The real Mulder eventually shows up, and promptly arrests Eddie, who was less than an inch from kissing Scully. Played by series writer/actor, Darin Morgan.