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Faceless alien

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The rebels are the only beings, besides humans, that are not infected with an alien virus known as "black oil". (TXF: "The Truth") This concept is only ever implied in The X-Files, most explicitly by Marita Covarrubias in "The Truth". However, such a possibility was supported by Frank Spotnitz when he stated, "The idea is that the black oil [...] was here on Earth, it's been all over the planet, or all over the galaxy, rather. And it infected virtually every life form that there is in the galaxy, except for we on Earth, the humans, and the faceless rebels." ("One Son" audio commentary) The alien rebels avoid infection with the colonizing virus through self-disfigurement. (TXF: "The Truth") They bear facial scarrings, the results of self-mutilation done in order to protect themselves agai

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The rebels are the only beings, besides humans, that are not infected with an alien virus known as "black oil". (TXF: "The Truth") This concept is only ever implied in The X-Files, most explicitly by Marita Covarrubias in "The Truth". However, such a possibility was supported by Frank Spotnitz when he stated, "The idea is that the black oil [...] was here on Earth, it's been all over the planet, or all over the galaxy, rather. And it infected virtually every life form that there is in the galaxy, except for we on Earth, the humans, and the faceless rebels." ("One Son" audio commentary) The alien rebels avoid infection with the colonizing virus through self-disfigurement. (TXF: "The Truth") They bear facial scarrings, the results of self-mutilation done in order to protect themselves against infection by the virus. (TXF: "The Red and the Black") When the first of these aliens appears in The X-Files, the corresponding scripted version of the scene describes the alien's face as having "no eyes, no nose and no mouth -- all these covered by scarred, cauterized skin." In common with Alien Bounty Hunters, the rebels are capable of shape-shifting, can be killed by a piercing blow to the back of their head using a gimlet weapon and each of their bodies contains a frothing green substance that liquefies the alien's body upon death. (TXF: "Two Fathers", "One Son") Unlike the bounty hunters, however, the green substance inside them is not toxic to humans. (TXF: "Two Fathers") Although the faceless aliens and the bounty hunters are only loosely connected in the series, John Shiban commented, "The faceless aliens [...] are the bounty hunters basically." (The X-Files Mythology, Volume 2 - Black Oil; "Threads of the Mythology: Black Oil") Furthermore, Frank Spotnitz explained that the rebels "are bounty hunters who have sealed up their eyes, nose and mouth, and they were not infected so they're the same race of alien, if you will, as the bounty hunters but they have protected themselves from infection." (The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 - Colonization; "Threads of the Mythology: Colonization") Given this connection, it seems probable that the reason the green substance inside the alien rebels is not toxic to humans, while the corresponding substance within bounty hunters does have toxic effects, is that the rebels are missing the "black oil" virus from the substance within them. An alien rebel may also be destroyed by being incinerated by an overflying UFO. (TXF: "The Red and the Black") For more information regarding another possible way in which an alien rebel might be killed, due to their involvement with a UFO, see the UFOs section below. The alien rebels are skilled at impersonating humans, capable of not only assuming a person's physical appearance but also the individual's voice, although the aliens' pro-resistance ideologies are prone to give them away. A facially disguised rebel can be returned to its scarred appearance by either ripping its mask away or by the alien choosing to shape-shift back to their disfigured countenance. (TXF: "Two Fathers", "One Son") The faceless aliens are known to employ group tactics upon attacking, in which case they surround their victims, en masse. (TXF: "The Red and the Black", "One Son")