Religious Beliefs[]
Scully working as a medical doctor at the Catholic Our Lady of Sorrows Hospital.
Dana Scully is a skeptic who favours scientific methods but she also was raised a Catholic and could often be seen wearing a small golden cross around her neck, a Christmas gift from her mother at a young age. It would seem that Scully embraced Christianity as a youth but, in her own words, lost her faith "in a way" and "drifted from the church" as she became a scientist, influenced by the scientific community's materialistic views.
When Mulder discovered Scully's cross necklace in Duane Barry's car, he was surprised to see she wore it, considering her skeptical nature — (Ascension). Scully once spoke to a priest at a confessional, saying, "It has been six years since my last confession." The conversation indicates that Scully had to come full circle to find the truth, from faith to skepticism and back to faith. — (Revelations)
While fighting cancer, Scully refused spiritual guidance from Father McCue. When death seemed near, she broke down and asked the priest to minister to her faith — (Gethsemane, Redux, Redux II). She later attended church services at his church — (All Souls). A copy of the Holy Bible was in Scully's bedroom — (Orison). When phenomena relating to Christianity came up during Scully's investigations with Mulder, she was usually rather credulous while Mulder was typically the cynical one, often suspecting religious fraud.
It is unclear whether Scully fully believes in Catholicism or not and she repeatedly battled internally with this; she has regularly expressed scientific ideas that come in contradiction with the Christian faith and vice versa. Scully's faith and scientific rationalism often appear to run along two parallel courses, science being a matter of the head, faith a matter of the heart. Her position in 2008 as a medical doctor at the Catholic Our Lady of Sorrows Hospital in suggests she has found a way to reconcile the two. — (The X-Files: I Want to Believe)
- The occasional discrepancies in Scully's beliefs could be blamed on The X-Files episodes having many authors, each understanding the character in his own particular way.
Immortality[]
Clyde Bruckman telling Scully that she will not die.
There are hints given throughout the series that Scully may actually be immortal. The earliest known reference to this occurs in Season 3, during the episode "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose". Mulder and Scully investigate a man (Clyde Bruckman) who can predict how people are going to die. When Scully asks Bruckman how she is going to die, he smiles and replies, "You don't."
Scully's tattoo of an Ouroboros.
In the episode "Never Again", Scully got a tattoo of an Ouroboros. The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol symbolizing immortality and the cyclic nature of the Universe.
Alfred Fellig transferring his life-giving power to Scully, taking her place for death.
The immortality thread was again mentioned in "Tithonus". Scully investigated Alfred Fellig, a crime scene photographer who claimed to have the ability to predict when people would die. Fellig told Scully he saw Death come for him once but missed; it took someone else instead. As a result, he could not die. Scully was accidentally shot by her new temporary partner, but before she died, Fellig asked her to look away. Scully recovered fully, but Fellig died instead. Mulder suggested that Fellig took her place in death, which if true, suggests she is now immortal, as Fellig was. Fellig, at the time of his death, was approximately 200 years old, and his death was by his choice alone. Fellig's age can be extrapolated by using his reference to the Yellow Fever epidemic in New York City (1791-1799) as a child.
In another episode, "Monday", Scully and Mulder are repeatedly killed in an explosion but eventually survive because the day keeps replaying which allows them to change the events that take place leading up to their demise. The reason that is suggested in the episode for this ultimate deja vu is that what is supposed to happen by fate is not what has been observed, to include Mulder and Scully's death. The day finally continues only after Scully and Mulder survive the episode. This would suggest that Scully or Mulder had been fated to not die.
It was also hinted that Scully may have obtained her immortality from the chip that was implanted in her neck. The Cigarette Smoking Man took Scully to see the 118-year-old Marjorie Butters, who looked very healthy at such old age. Marjorie had the same chip implanted "En Ami". This is probably a direct result of the alien technology that was used to create an alien/human hybrid that would survive the black oil (known as Purity) in the impending global viral holocaust. However, Agent Scully could still be killed, as were many other women with the implant, but she would probably be resistant to the effects of age, disease, and harmful pathogens that most are not.
Common Sayings[]
In the course of the show, Scully frequently repeats herself, employing specific words and arguments, with minor variations, in commonly encountered situations.
To gain entrance to a restricted area: "I'm a medical doctor."
To undermine Mulder's theory: "Are you suggesting...?" or "There is no scientific explanation for..." or "There is no conclusive evidence..."
To explain a report filed with Skinner: "Sir, Agent Mulder believes..."
When calling Mulder on the phone: "Mulder, it's me."
When searching for her son William: "Where's my BABY!?"
When questioned: "I have seen things that I cannot deny."
Background Information[]
Scully's character received her surname in honor of Vin Scully, who is known primarily as the play-by-play voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. Her middle name, Katherine, is the first name of creator Chris Carter's mother. Although, his mother spelled it Catherine.
When Scully is first introduced in the script of the The X-Files pilot episode, she is established as being in her late 20s and is described as "intelligent, self-assured, with an unblushing sense of her own femininity." The scene, which was not included in the final version of the episode, is set in Quantico's FBI Academy and the script states that "Scully commands attention."
The surname "Scully" is Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Scolaidhe ‘descendant of the scholar’, from scolaidhe ‘scholar’.
In the episode Trials and Tribble-ations of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, while DS9 is under investigation by the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations an agent is called "Lucsly" which happens to be an anagram of "Scully", he is partnered with Agent "Dulmer", an anagram of "Mulder".