The X-Files: What Happened To Samantha Mulder

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Chris Carter’s sci-fi television series The X-Files stars David Duchovny as FBI special agent Fox Mulder on the search for his missing sister, Samantha, with the help of fellow agent Dana Katherine Scully (Gillian Anderson). While the series has various plots and story lines, what happened to Samantha Mulder is the primary objective of the original nine season run of the show. Despite this fact, the explanation behind her disappearance becomes increasingly complex and somewhat confusing with each additional plot. Here is the explanation to what exactly happened to Samantha Mulder.

In the beginning of the series, Fox Mulder is introduced as a conspiracy theorist who has been given the nickname “Spooky Mulder” for his seemingly senseless infatuation with the paranormal. As season 1 progresses, it is revealed that his purpose behind dedicating his life to the unsolved “X Files” cases is to locate his younger sister Samantha. Mulder distinctly remembers witnessing her alien abduction when they were children. With the help of the paranormal phenomena detailed in the X Files, he believes he may be able to find her. As the series progresses, he continues to fail in his attempts but, ultimately, her fate is revealed by season 7, episode 11, “Closure”.

There are numerous twists and turns that lead to the discovery that Samantha Mulder is indeed deceased, years before Mulder joined the FBI. It was not the most satisfying ending, but it gave Mulder the closure he needed to continue on with the X Files without holding onto senseless hope that his sister was still alive. With clones, medical testing, and kidnapping, Samantha Mulder’s story line developed into a muddled mess, but with close attention to detail to one specific episode, what really happened to her can be explained.

Samantha Mulder’s Fate Explained


Despite believing that Samantha was abducted by aliens, it is revealed that their father made a deal with aliens to allow them to take her. In 1973, the Syndicate was formed and requested a child from the Mulder family. Initially, their father chose Fox, but the Cigarette Smoking Man intercepted and forced the aliens to take Samantha. When Mulder discovers her diary with the help of a medium, it details the experimentation she was forced to undergo until she was not considered valuable anymore. At that point, Samantha was sent to live at the April Air Force Base in California where the Cigarette Smoking Man continued to conduct various tests on her.

By the age of 14, Samantha escaped the facility. After a brief stay in the hospital where she did not reveal any information about herself, Samantha vanished into thin air and was never heard from again. She was consumed in a spiritual intervention by beings referred to as “Walk-ins.” Their purpose is to rescue children who are doomed to live with constant pain and suffering. When Samantha’s location was discovered by her captors, the Walk-ins rescued her by turning her into starlight energy and giving her a painless death. In season 7, episode 11, “Closure”, Mulder finally accepts that his sister is gone and they're both free.

Throughout The X-Files various beings pose as Samantha to trick special agent Mulder. It is not until “Closure” that her true fate is revealed, which debunks any other theory about what happened to Samantha. She was abducted by aliens, but has been deceased since the Walk-ins turned her into starlight. Mulder’s lengthy search for his sister in the first seven seasons of The X-Files was not in vain because, at the end of the day, he found peace with the help of the Walk-ins.