Dr. Frederick Walden is a supporting antagonist in Smallville, appearing in multiple episodes in the second season.
He is a world-renowned linguist hired by Lex Luthor to decipher a series of alien symbols within the Kawatche caves beneath Smallville. He was the main antagonist of the episode "Calling".
He was portrayed by Rob LaBelle, who also played Father Dominic Lehne in Supernatural.
Biography[]
Rush[]
Dr. Walden was a brilliant linguist and published a book entitled Deciphering the Mysteries of Hieroglyphics. Clark Kent used the book to study the etchings in the Kawatche Caves. Lex Luthor discovered Clark's copy of the book and hired Dr. Walden to translate the strange markings while giving Clark unlimited access to the caves.
Lex approached Walden who offered to pay him handsomely for his assistance in deciphering an alien language (later revealed to be Kryptonian) inscribed within a series of caves beneath Smallville. At first, the doctor was uninterested and Walden claimed he couldn't be swayed but changed his mind when Lex showed him photographs of the cave paintings. His curiosity piqued, Walden agreed to work for Luthor.
While Clark and Chloe Sullivan were at the caves, Lex and Dr. Walden appeared and said nobody was allowed in the caves, including Clark. The doctor reveals that his team found a nest of parasites behind one of the glyphs in the cave wall and destroyed the nest. Lex orders any live specimens to be sent to Cadmus Labs in Metropolis for testing.
Afterwards Lex got off the phone with Cadmus Labs and found out that the parasite could be alien in origin. He tells Dr. Walden that Clark will get unfettered access to the cave because he was sure Clark knew more about the cave than he was letting on. Walden accepted though he was still clearly aggravated by Lex's decision to allow Clark Kent unlimited access to the caves.
Rosetta[]
When Dr. Walden arrived at the Luthor Mansion, Lex questions his decisions regarding the caves, thinking Dr. Walden was cutting him out of the process. He said the State Preservation Society is objecting to Dr. Walden's intention to remove a section of the cave wall. He was on the verge of revoking LexCorp's custodianship of the caves but Lex believes his father is behind it.
Dr. Walden said he is on the verge of a major breakthrough and Lex gave him three days to show results before he fires him. Clark returned to the caves and put the key from his spacecraft into the identically-shaped impression in the cave wall. A burst of energy shoots through Clark, lifting him into the air. When the beam stops, Clark collapses.
Once again, Lex discovered Clark under unusual circumstances and shakes Clark awake, as he was disoriented. Dr. Walden appears and asked Clark how he got past the guard. When Clark left the caves, Dr. Walden told Lex that Clark surely knew more than he let on. Later Lex found Clark's crumpled drawings of Kryptonian symbols in the blanks for "father" and "mother," and shows it to Dr. Walden, who doubts that Clark could have deciphered the symbols. Lex showed him a photograph of the burned barn on the cover of the Smallville Torch but Dr. Walden said it's a hoax.
Lex insists that something happened to Clark and tells Dr. Walden to work with him, saying he might be the Rosetta Stone he needs to decipher the language. Dr. Walden returned to the caves and finds the key wedged sideways in the wall of the cave. He pried it out and also put it in the slot. Clark arrives to see a burst of energy throw Dr. Walden back and when he rushes over to revive him, he quickly pockets the key.
The resulting burst of energy short-circuited his cerebral cortex and put him in a coma. Dr. Walden is taken to the hospital completely catatonic, with cataracts over his eyes. Doctors declared him catatonic due to a sort of "information overload" and predicted that he would probably not recover. Dr. Walden was transferred to Belle Reve.
Calling[]
When Clark's ship began to broadcast a Kryptonian message, at which time Dr. Walden's brain functions normalized and he woke up. Also able to hear the message, he kept repeating the phrase "The day is coming." He continued to slowly improve, now walking around, muttering the same phrase over and over. His cataracts had faded over the course of a day.
He scribbled Kryptonian symbols all over the ceiling of his padded hospital room. When Dr. Marcus tells Lex that Dr. Walden should be sedated, Dr. Walden destroys the large glass window of his room with a blast of energy from his palm and runs away.
Lex discovers Kryptonian symbols written on the ceiling of his room and asks Clark if he knows what they mean. Clark reiterates that he can't read the symbols and Lex claims to believe him.
Dr. Walden returned to the cave. He is able to use a burst of energy from his palm to activate the circle of symbols on the cave wall. He appears to be gaining additional information from the experience. Clark went to the Kawatche Caves looking for Dr. Walden when Lionel Luthor shows up. He warned Lionel that Dr. Walden is dangerous and goes home to tell his parents that Lionel controls the caves.
Dr. Walden can read the symbols; and the symbols on the wall have changed. They now read, "The day is coming when the last son will begin his quest to rule the third planet". He discovered that the messages were for Clark and tried to expose Clark's alien origins to Lex.
Dr. Walden went to the mansion and announces that he has read the wall and the "last son" is Clark Kent. He tells them they have to kill Clark just before Dr. Marcus shoots him with a dart. On the way to the hospital, Dr. Walden comes out of sedation, shorts out the ambulance, and escapes to recover the Key at the Kent Farm.
The Key gave off a high-pitched whining sound and Clark returned to the farm and encountered Dr. Walden, still bent on destroying Clark. Dr. Walden blasts Clark through the barn wall with a beam of energy and holds him suspended until Clark uses his heat vision to burn his shoulder.
He super speeds away and Dr. Walden tries to catch him with the beam. He hits a gas tank, causing an explosion, which envelops him and burns him to death. Clark pries the key from his charred hand. Later, when Lionel examines Dr. Walden's body, he saw that the only part not burned beyond recognition is an outline in his palm, shaped like an octagon with symbols on it.
Lionel later used this imprint to create a duplicate key out of refined Kryptonite.