Cigarette Smoking Man

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{{Xfiles character |image=Image:CSM015.JPG |name=Cigarette Smoking Man |affiliation=Department of Defense/Syndicate |start=Pilot |finish=The Truth |portrayed=William B. Davis }}

The Cigarette Smoking Man (abbreviated to CSM), is a fictional character played by William B. Davis on the 1993-2002 television series The X-Files. The Cigarette Smoking Man oversaw Scully's debriefing and disposed of her evidence in the show's Pilot episode, and eventually developed into the series' primary antagonist. The character is most commonly referred to by this name because he is almost always seen chain-smoking Morley Cigarettes, and also because many other villains on the show have no real names, only descriptions.

His silent presence in Skinner's office early on was always a warning that the shadowy government attempting to discredit Mulder is again keeping an eye on the nonconformist agent.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

On the surface, it may seem that CSM merely tries to hide information from Mulder and Scully, but there is much more to him. He is involved in the Syndicate, a shadow organization within the United States government that exists to hide from the public the fact that aliens are planning to colonize Earth. CSM often ruthlessly protects the secrets of the conspiracy, and served as the main antagonist to Mulder, who had an equally consuming devotion to the truth. Although his actions could generally be described as monstrous for the most part, his stated justification is a desire to prevent the alien colonisation for as long as possible, and he is at times shown working towards that goal, particularly in connection with developing a vaccine to protect people from the "black oil." (A parasitic agent which the aliens use to propogate themselves, via incubation with a human host, somewhat similar to the form used by Giger's xenomorphs in the Alien film series.) Therefore, the character can not be described as purely 'good' or 'bad'.

CSM had a strained relationship with the rest of the Syndicate throughout the show, and there is evidence to suggest that he was never actually a full member of the Group in the strict sense. It is likely that he was employed by the Syndicate to act as both a liason to the American government in such instances as were necessary, and as leader of the Men in Black, due to his formidable expertise as an assassin, his past with Bill Mulder and Deep Throat, and his past dealings with the government. If he was a full member, he was their most visible one, since the other members only rarely appeared in public.

Most of the other members, excepting perhaps Conrad Strughold, didn't seem predisposed to trust or like CSM, especially the Well-Manicured Man, who more than once expressed contempt for what he perceived as the CSM's degree of barbarity and inability. He was able to last both inside the Syndicate and outside it for as long as he did primarily due to a) the fact that he always ensured that he had too much valuable information to be expendable, b) his experience as an assassin, and c) his connections with elements of the extraterrestrial presence and others. Eventually, however, this internal struggle comes to a head later on in the show. CSM is also different from the other members in that most of the other members seemed to have some sort of functioning family relationships, where as CSM usually did not, and the members were also often shown living on large estates and enjoying high class entertainment, where as CSM was often shown living in a sparsely furnished, dark, small apartment, and drinking scotch, or beer, and smoking while watching old black and white movies.

During season 1, when not in the office of Section Chief Blevins, or Assisant Director Skinner, CSM was shown in an underground vault in the Pentagon, secreting evidence in a vast storehouse of classified materials. He had few lines during season 1, and so coupled with his ominous presence in corners and shadows, enabled his embodying the "dark hand" of conspiracy.

In season 2, he has Man in Black Alex Krycek spy on Mulder, and authorizes Scully's abduction. With help from Skinner, who had recently stood up to CSM for the first time, Mulder tracks him down to his apartment (presumably in the DC area). There, Mulder confronts CSM, whose first real dialogue has become one of his most famous moments in X-Files history, and established the nature of their relationship. In the finale, it is revealed that CSM and William Mulder were old colleagues, after he pays Mulder's father a visit. Not long after, CSM orders Krycek to execute William, presumably because he felt the disillusioned William had grown to be too great a liability to the security of "The Project".

Season 3 introduced the Syndicate onscreen for the first time. Almost immediately, it becomes apparent that CSM and the other members do not exactly trust one another, and CSM is shown to be somewhat still powerful, but on the fringe. In the finale, "Talitha Cumi", a rebel alien, Jeremiah Smith, is taken prisoner by CSM, and pending execution. During their conversations, Smith repeatedly unnerves CSM by morphing into people CSM in the past ordered the deaths of, and ultimately revealing to CSM that he is dying of lung cancer. He quickly bargains with Smith to have himself healed, and frees Smith. Also during this episode, the question of whether CSM is actually Mulder and/or Samantha's biological father is first presented when he is shown to have had a past relationship with Mulder's mother.

In season 4, the non canon episode, "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", presents a possible history to CSM. The Lone Gunmen, during some of their own investigations, discover some information concerning CSM, which they recount to Mulder and Scully. According to the episode, CSM was born on or around August 20, 1940, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He grew up an orphan, and in 1962, was stationed at the Center for Special Warfare in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, along with Bill Mulder. Around this time, he started to become heavily involved with the conspiracy, quickly rising through the ranks. In the episode, he is portayed as a failed writer and freelance assassin, with a long history in black operations and American intelligence. He was involved in training Cuban nationals in the Bay of Pigs, aided Dominican locals in the assassination of Rafael Trujillo, assassinated both John F. Kennedy (he fired from a storm drain) and Martin Luther King, fixed the Super Bowl to ensure that the Buffalo Bills would never win a championship, drugged the Soviet Union's goalie in the Miracle on Ice, and thinks nothing of insulting J. Edgar Hoover to his face or putting Saddam Hussein on hold.

During the first mytharc fifth season episodes, the Elder has decided that CSM is no longer useful, and orders MIB operative Quiet Willy to eliminate him. While in his apartment, CSM was ruminating over a photograph of Mulder and Samantha when he was shot in the chest through his window. During this episode he also helps Mulder find a cure for Scully's cancer (which she learned about in season 4), and deceives him with a meeting with a Samantha clone, all in order to have Mulder join him, which Mulder turns down. Later on in the season, CSM reappears, hiding in a remote area of Quebec. Most likely, he managed to survive the attempt with help from an alien such as a Jeremiah Smith or an Alien Bounty Hunter. At the end of the season, The Syndicate, needing his talents again, reluctantly welcomes CSM back into the group.

In the sixth season's full disclosure two-parter ("Two Fathers"/"One Son"), his name is revealed to be C. G. B. Spender, though this is very likely to be an alias. He was formerly married to Cassandra Spender, with whom he had a son, Jeffrey. Diana Fowley is revealed to be a subordinate of his, and together, they escape the annihilation of the Syndicate. In the episode, his confidence in Jeffrey, whom CSM hoped would become greater than Mulder, wanes, and he confronts his son and apparently kills him. The episodes also presented further evidence suggesting CSM is Mulder's father.

With the Syndicate dismantled, CSM still managed to keep the conspiracy going, and was presumably now free to operate as he wished. About a year after, however, his cancer resurfaced, and he became wheelchair-bound and had a trachea hole, though this in no way lessened his chain-smoking. At the end of the 7th season, after carrying out an operation at the behest of CSM, Krycek turns on him, and seemingly kills CSM, throwing him down a flight of stairs.

For about two years, CSM was presumed dead. During this time, Mulder was abducted, found and then disappeared on his own, Scully eventually left the X-Files division and had a child, William, and a new conspiracy, the New Syndicate, surfaced. In the episode "William", it is learned that CSM's attempted murder of Jeffrey Spender failed, but he was then consequently subjected to experiments at the orders of CSM, which left Jeffrey horribly scarred. In the two-part series finale, "The Truth", it is revealed that he is Fox's biological father. In the same episode, Mulder and Scully travel through remote New Mexico, and reach a pueblo where a "wise man" reputedly lives. It is in fact CSM. He is shown to be in the same condition as when he disappeared, but has degenerated further and is now quite unkempt, has a shock of long white hair, and is living a primitive life in hiding from the New Syndicate. He reveals to Mulder and Scully all he has left to tell, and shortly after is finally killed, shot by a black helicopter rocket.

His known subordinates have included Marita Covarrubias, Scott Blevins, Alex Krycek, X, Crew Cut Man, The Gray Haired Man, Luis Cardinal, and Black Haired Man.

Contents

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Trivia

  • CSM has a lighter with the inscription, "TRUST NO ONE".
  • He is a good water skier. This is not as unusual as one might expect: Bill Davis is a former national champion water skier himself.
  • Bill Davis appeared in the first season episode, "Young at Heart". Though the character he portrayed could have been CSM, in the credits the character is listed as "CIA Man".
  • Because Bill Davis felt it would add more realism to CSM, he at first smoked real cigarettes. However, he had not smoked since the 1970's, and found that he might slowly be developing an addiction, and so immediately switched to herbal cigarettes, which he smoked for the rest of the show.
  • Among CSM's many names, pseudonyms, and epithets, are: Smoking Man, as he was initially credited, Cigarette Man, Cancer Man, as he was first called by Mulder and the preferred name of CSM by some X-Files fans, Black-lunged Son of a Bitch and Old Smoky, names Mulder later prefers, and Mr. Hunt and Raul Bloodworth, names used by CSM himself. C.G.B. Spender is also possibly another pseudonym.
  • CSM speaks German. He is also shown in a couple of episodes ("The Field Where I Died", and "Triangle") to have been a Nazi in his past life.
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Memorable Quotes by the Cigarette Smoking Man

Image:Csm2.jpg

  • "Killing Mulder risks turning one man's religion into a crusade." ("Ascension")
  • [To Alex Krycek] "You have no rights, only orders to be carried out. If you have a problem with that, we'll make other arrangements." ("Ascension")
  • "Don't try and threaten me, Mulder. I've watched presidents die." ("One Breath")
  • CSM: "I'm in the game because I believe what I am doing is right."
Mulder: "Right? Who are you to decide what's right?"
CSM: "Who are you? If people were to know the things I know, it would all fall apart. I told Skinner you shot the man in the hospital but I didn’t really believe it. And here you are with a gun to my head. I have more respect for you, Mulder. You’re becoming a player. You can kill me now, but you’ll never know the truth... [Mulder slowly releases the trigger] and that’s why I’ll win. ("One Breath")
  • "Nothing vanishes without a trace." ("Anasazi")
  • "You can't play poker if you don't have any cards, Mister Skinner. You ever wonder what it would be like to die in a plane crash? Or botulism? Even a heart attack's not uncommon for a man in your age. You think I'm bluffing?" ("Paper Clip")
  • "Men can never be free, because they're weak, corrupt, worthless and restless. The people believe in authority, they've grown tired of waiting for miracle or mystery. Science is their religion, no greater explanation exists for them. They must never believe any differently if the project is to go forward." ("Talitha Cumi")
  • "Anyone who can appease a man's conscience can take his freedom away from him." ("Talitha Cumi")
  • "The fiercest enemy is the man who has nothing left to lose." ("Herrenvolk")
  • [To Deep Throat] "How many historic events have only the two of us witnessed together, Ronald? How often did we make or change history? And our names can never grace any pages of record. No monument will ever bear our image. And yet once again, tonight, the course of human history will be set by two unknown men... standing in the shadows." ("Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man")
  • "Life... is like a box of chocolates. A cheap, thoughtless, perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for. Unreturnable, because all you get back is another box of chocolates. You're stuck with this undefinable whipped-mint crap that you mindlessly wolf down when there's nothing else left to eat. Sure, once in a while, there's a peanut butter cup, or an English toffee. But they're gone too fast, the taste is fleeting. So you end up with nothing but broken bits, filled with hardened jelly and teeth-shattering nuts, and if you're desperate enough to eat those, all you've got left... is an empty box... filled with useless, brown paper wrappers." ("Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man")
  • "I can kill you whenever I please... but not today." ("Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man")
  • "You can kill a man but you can't kill what he stands for. Not unless you first break his spirit. That's a beautiful thing to see." ("The Beginning")
  • "Treachery is the inevitable result of all affairs. Every man believes he has his own good reason." ("Two Fathers")
  • [To Mulder] "Only part of you is dying. The part that played the hero. You've suffered enough - for the X-Files, for your partner, for the world. You're not Christ, you're not Prince Hamlet - you're not even Ralph Nader." ("The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati")
  • Mulder: "How the hell did you get in here?"
CSM: "How does anything I do surprise you now? Aren't you expecting me to sprout vampire fangs?" ("The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati")
  • [His final words to Mulder and Scully] "My power comes from telling you. Seeing your powerlessness hearing it. They wanted to kill you, Fox. I protected you all these years... waiting for this moment... to see you broken. Afraid. Now you can die." ("The Truth")
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Cultural Influences

It is possible that the Valve Corporation were inspired by the Cigarette Smoking Man when they created the character of the G-Man for the computer game Half-Life, as these two characters are very similar. Another very similar character is Fifteen, of the Wingmakers mythology.

It is almost certain that all three of the abovementioned characters, including the CSM, were inspired by the Men in Black element of UFO lore. The CSM may also have been partially inspired by the real-life individual Vannevar Bush, as they look somewhat alike, (especially in photos of Bush as an old man) and also since Vannevar Bush was allegedly one of the members of MJ-12. Another possible influence comes from the real life Deep Throat, who beyond the obvious similarities in regards to their positions and dealings with the American government, also often drank scotch and smoked. Darth Vader is also a possible influence, given the Vader/Luke relationship that he and Mulder have throughout the series.

In the context of the X Files, just as the Syndicate were an archetypal representation of the shadow government depicted in numerous conspiracy theories, so the CSM was also a very pure manifestation of the American public's (and possibly the world's) archetypal perception of the American intelligence community.

In a short comic version of the ABC cartoon The Mighty Ducks, seen in an issue of Disney Adventures magazine, two agents named "Sculder" and "Mully" were sent to investigate a UFO sighting, accompanied by someone known as "Lollipop-Licking Man."

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Episodes Featuring the Cigarette Smoking Man

Image:Csm1.jpg The following is a list of X-Files episodes in which the CSM appears.

Season 1

  • The X-Files (Pilot)
  • Young at Heart
  • Tooms
  • The Erlenmeyer Flask

Season 2

  • Little Green Men
  • Sleepless
  • Ascension
  • One Breath
  • F. Emasculata
  • Anasazi

Season 3

  • The Blessing Way
  • Paper Clip
  • 731
  • Apocrypha
  • Avatar
  • Wetwired
  • Talitha Cumi

Season 4

  • Herrenvolk
  • Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man
  • Tunguska
  • Terma
  • Memento Mori
  • Zero Sum
  • Demons (flashbacks)

Season 5

  • Redux
  • Redux II
  • The Red and the Black
  • The End

The X-Files: The Movie

Season 6

  • The Beginning
  • Triangle
  • Two Fathers
  • One Son
  • Biogenesis

Season 7

  • The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati
  • Closure
  • En Ami
  • Requiem

Season 9

fr:L'homme à la cigarette it:L'uomo che fuma he:האיש המעשן fi:Tupakkamies

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