Do we control our own destinies, or do outside forces limit our decision-making so much that we don’t have free will?
Historians address this issue, but instead of “destiny” and “free will,” they often use the word “agency.” The term “agency” (or “historical agency”) typically refers to a conscious decision to act and to deal with the consequences, intended or not, of one’s actions. But agency, as some historians have recently pointed out, assumes that nearly everyone, living or dead, has or had at least a fair amount of control over their lives—at least enough to resist even in hellish situations. But what if that assumption is wrong?
The X-Files writers found the subject of agency irresistible. Viewers can see this in episodes on free will/agency in the context of religion (especially Catholicism), different personalities (the “spooky” but irreligious Fox Mulder and the scientific but religious Dana Scully), and external pressures (the ruinous job of Fox’s father, Bill Mulder, a participant in the government-alien conspiracy, who may have been forced to allow the kidnapping of Fox’s sister to ensure his loyalty). In the 1996 season four episode, “The Field Where I Died,” however, The X-Files seemed prepared to deny the existence of agency altogether.
In the episode, Mulder and Scully participate in a raid against a Branch-Davidian-like cult, Temple of the Seven Stars, led by the charismatic Vernon Ephesian (portrayed by actor Michael Massee). Ephesian says he was present when the apostle prophesied what is now recorded in Revelations.
Mulder feels a special connection to one of Ephesian’s six wives, the emotionally fragile Melissa (played by actor Kristen Cloke). With him and Scully at the Temple, Melissa suddenly speaks in a Southern accent. The field where they stand was once the site of a victory by the Union Army, where Melissa “remembers” finding her dying Confederate paramour, whom she identifies with Mulder: “This is the field where I watched you die.” Mulder insists he be hypnotized, and he recalls his past lives.
