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alt title(s): Agent Cooper The character who believes in almost anything, no matter how bizarre, and pursues it with abandon. Very mystic, seen as crazy, gullible and strangely usually right.
The antithesis of the Agent Scully, with whom they always are paired.
Somewhat Truth In Television, According to some psychologists, a person who believes in one conspiracy theory tends to believe in others; a person who does not believe in one conspiracy theory tends not to believe another.
The name, of course comes from Fox Mulder in The X Files. Depending on show preference, you might also call this an Agent Cooper (from Twin Peaks).
Examples:
- Haruhi Suzumiya manages a mix of Agent Mulder and Agent Scully. While on the outside she wildly pursues all manner of fantasies, her inner common sense prevents her from realizing the fantastic elements right beside her. When Kyon tries to spell everything out to her, he gets shut down, because this would be "too easy". Itsuki later theorizes that deep down inside she just wants to have fun with friends.
- "While on the outside she wildly pursues all manner of fantasies, her inner common sense prevents her from realizing the fantastic elements right beside her." That basically sums up Indiana Jones to a T. That's why he keeps disbelieving in the paranormal even after confronting it in repeated occasions.
- Except Indy isn't a Physical God. That's a major difference!
- Maniwa from Paranoia Agent is the Mulder to his partner Ikari's Scully, an open-minded, experimental detective who readily believes and accepts the true nature of the mysterious Shonen Bat while others deny it. Of course, this eventually turns him into an insane homeless person who thinks he's a superhero. The real Mulder never had to put up with that.
- Karin Sasamori from To Heart 2, the Mystery Club's President and only member until she forces Takaaki to join the club via blackmail when he trips over a sign and ends up landing on top of her, his hands on top of her chest.
- Maria is this to Battler's Agent Scully in Umineko No Naku Koro Ni.
- Kannagi Itsuki from Sora Wo Kakeru Shoujo.
- Peter Jackson gave us an example of this trope in The Frighteners. Special Agent Milton Dammers offers a view of what Mulder might be like if the next fifteen years were particularly unforgiving. Having spent almost two decades undercover in various cults without any therapy or deprogramming, Dammers is neurotic, paranoid, and absolutely insane. Perhaps not the best possible example since, though he knows SOMETHING supernatural is going on, he jumps to more than a few wrong conclusions before catching on.
- In other words, Milton Danners is Roschach (who was created before this movie, so he's the Ur Example).
- Conspiracy Brother in the movie Undercover Brother is one of these, though of the Dale Gribble variety: throughout the movie, he believes that he has uncovered numerous conspiracies by "THE MAN," to eliminate/subjugate/neutralize/etc black people throughout the world, conspiracies that are dismissed by his coworkers and are indeed false. The Dale Gribble part comes in regarding the crux of the movie: Not only does Conspiracy Brother miss the only legitimate conspiracy in the entire movie, putting brainwashing chemicals in fried chicken, but he actively furthers the scheme more than any of his coworkers who arrived at the truth long before he did.
- Danny Bennett, from Tom Holt's early works, a BBC journalist with a wide range of conspiracy theories, all tying to the ultimate power behind world history: The British Milk Marketing Board.
- Although he is slightly vindicated when he gets caught up with Montalban and the Lombard Bank in Flying Dutch
- Luna Lovegood of Harry Potter baffles her peers with her wacky theories and beliefs, on everything from mythical creatures with unlikely names (example: Crumple-Horned Snorkack) to conspiracy theories involving combinations of dark magic and gum disease. While she never proved the actual existence of any of these things, her quirky faith in people and creatures stood her in good stead through the series and she was shown to have uncanny insight. Her father, the editor of the wizarding tablod, "The Quibbler", is a strong influence on her and he is much, much stranger.
- Don Quixote, Muldering all over 17th century Spain, with his Agent Scully Sancho Panza right beside him. This is officially Older Than Steam.
- This troper seconds this literary ancestor. It is used in the "Call of Cthulhu" roleplaying game to name two distinct psychic mechanisms (aka psychosis) to save either the character's life or sanity as an effect of overexposure to CosmicHorrors: The Don Quixote, who sees the supernatural threat in every mundane object, and The Sancho Panza, who explains away every clearly supernatural event as just normal.
- Epiny Burvelle, Nevare Burvelle's cousin in Robin Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy, will believe in just about anything supernatural and is often ridiculed for it. Since these are fantasy books, it should come as no surprise that she's often right, though.
- Agent Fox Mulder, the trope namer.
- Detective (or Sargeant, depending on the season) Munch from Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. He espouses conspiracy theory constantly throughout the series, usually for delivery of a moral point or for simple comic relief. Portrayed by Richard Belzer.
- Co-Trope Namer Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks was as accepting as Mulder, but lived in a much weirder world. Possibly the weirdest world ever portrayed on television.
- John Locke from Lost is a good example of this, particularly when he believes he has to push a button every 108 minutes to save the world.
- Intrepid Reporter Carl Kolchak in the 1970's TV show Kolchak: The Night Stalker and related films. His Agent Scully was his editor Tony Vincenzo.
- Daniel Jackson of Stargate SG 1 is more than a little used to having his theories laughed at, but the real kick is that even though he is right, national security ensures that he can't prove it to anyone.
- Special Agent Paul Ballard from Dollhouse is so determined to find the Dollhouse that he actually gets kicked out of the FBI over his erratic behavior.
- Kate Lockley from Angel has an Agent Mulder attitude towards the paranormal world that Angel lives in. At one point, one of her fellow police officers compares her to Agent Scully, prompting Kate to try to explain why Mulder would be a better comparison. (This other officer knew little about The X Files; he mentioned Scully because all he knew was that "Scully's the chick.")
- Tiffany Tiger's Panda roommate, Yin, in the webcomic The Suburban Jungle, fits this fairly well. She's a font of crackpot conspiracy theories, and yet she manages to become a prisoner of 'The Village', abducted by aliens, and gains help from a dimension-hopping polar bear...
- Invader Zim is rife with Agent Mulders, ranging from the Swollen Eyeball organization who look to prove that mysteries and conspiracies are true, to clueless FBI crackpots (Count Cocoa Fang the cereal mascot being a real vampire) to disturbingly on-the-ball lice hunting countesses (there's a giant Alien-like lice queen who's responsible for lice infestations).
- Mr. Crocker of The Fairly Odd Parents is known for muttering insane theories to himself that climax in him doing a wild take and yelling "FAIRY GODPARENTS!" in a shrill voice at the top of his lungs. The scary part is that he's almost always right, and he still comes off as a raving loon to the viewer.
- The viewer may be smarter than you think: while he is usually right, only once in a blue moon (notably in the movie, when he somehow manages to activate a wish-granting muffin) does he get any evidence to support his ideas (and when he does it's promptly magically wiped out of his head), the vast majority of his fairy-chasing plans not only come to naught but result in severe punishment when he accidentally does unpleasant things to his employer, and he just keeps at it. And then there's the yelling (generally accompanied by anatomically frightening poses)...
- Interestingly, in one of the Time Travel Episodes, we learn that Cosmo and Wanda were his fairy godparents before they were Timmy's (they had surprisingly similar childhoods, including Vic, the babysitter) and he escaped the Mind Wipe of having them go away forever when they were revealed by writing a note to himself on the back of a device with which Timmy provided him through time travel, so he's not a crackpot after all.
- Dale Gribble of King of the Hill is a conspiracy theorist and generally a survivalist nutcase.
- There is so much more to be said on the subject of Dale Gribble. He uses his alias Rusty Shackleford for everything, often ordering pizzas. He is so devoted to conspiracy that figuring out the flaws in the "second shooter" theory of the Kennedy assassination turned his entire life around, turning him into a pro-government "good citizen" until Hank, against his better judgment, convinced him that not every conspiracy theory is necessarily false. All of this is expected though, considering his appearance was based on a combination of Robert Patrick and a composite sketch (mostly the horribly inaccurate one of the Unabomber).
- The Question in Justice League Unlimited. The guy believes that aglets have a sinister purpose, and that topically applied fluoride renders teeth visible by spy satellite. On the other hand, his prediction of Luthor's presidency and the Flash's death probably would have occurred if it hadn't been for his actions, directly or indirectly. (And he did nail it with his theory about Baskin Robbins' secret, hidden Flavor 32.)
- Martin Mystery really likes crazy theories about aliens and so forth, based mostly on comic books and B-movies. However, the fact that he and his sister, Dianna work for an organization dedicated to fighting aliens and so forth makes the theories much less crazy.
- Katara in Avatar The Last Airbender, with her brother Sokka as Agent Scully.
- The boy codenamed Akira at Super Hero School Whateley Academy in the webfiction Whateley Universe. He's actively pursuing ways to get himself into some sort of anime universe, and he's trying to drag his pals with him. He's decided that the main character Tennyo is actually Ryoko of Tenchi Muyo. (Okay, this would be a lot less believable if Tennyo didn't look a lot like Ryoko, have powers like Ryoko, and Tennyo's roommate hadn't played a practical joke to make it look like there was a real, live cabbit running around loose on campus...
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