Xavier Zellman

**“***I plan ahead, Susan. I had a feeling in my gut and my gut's never wrong...***”**
―Dr. Xavier Zellman ~ *The Cat Lady*, Chapter 2 - "Second First Breath"

## Dr. Xavier Zellman

### Aliases

Doctor X
The First Parasite

### Siblings

Dr. Frank Zellman
Dr. Yvonne Zellman

### *Actor*

***Klemens Koehring***

**Dr. Xavier Zellman** (also spelled **Dr. Xavier Zelmann**), known better as **Doctor X**, is the first Parasites in *The Cat Lady*. A doctor and psychiatrist, Doctor X initially presents himself as calm and supporting towards Susan Ashworth, getting her to open up about her depression and the recent events at Cedar Lake Hospital. However, he becomes increasingly invasive with his questions and more manipulative towards Susan, culminating in the reveal of his true nature.

## Biography

Doctor X had two siblings, his older brother Dr. Frank "Z" Zellman and younger sister Dr. Yvonne "Y" Zellman. Next to nothing is known about Yvonne, other than she followed her brothers into the medical field. Frank, on the other hand, is a major character in *Downfall: Redux* (along with the original *Downfall*. Though portrayed as a morally dubious and disturbed doctor, Doctor Z is shown to be nothing like his psychopathic brother, displaying more empathetic qualities compared to Doctor X.

Doctor X worked at Cedar Lake Hospital, eventually becoming one of the leading members of the staff. He was known to be corrupt and seedy amongst the staff, despite his cool and collected demeanor. He once had an affair with a girl at the hospital named Linda, whom he got pregnant and was subsequently bribed and sent away from the hospital.

It should be noted that in *The Cat Lady*, the family name is spelled Zelmann, meanwhile in *Downfall: Redux* it's spelled Zellman.

### *The Cat Lady*

Doctor X first meets Susan at Cedar Lake Hospital, informing her that she was prescribed the wrong medication, which subsequently led to her experiencing vividly disturbing hallucinations.

Much later, Doctor X meets with Susan in his office, and talks to her about her life, her depression, and her motivations for "attempting" to kill herself. Susan gradually opens up to him more, while also reminiscing about the events that transpired in the hospital, including how the nurse Liz jumped off the roof to kill herself. However, Doctor X becomes more uncomfortable and disturbing in his line of questioning, and has a shift in character when Liz is mentioned. He calmly insists to Susan that Liz is perfectly fine, and tells Susan to come visit her with him.

Susan tries to leave Doctor X's office, but finds that he locked his door, and he tells her that he had a feeling that she was different. Doctor X apologizes to Susan about the hard life she has had, and that there is no coming back from her experiences. He notes how he likes her green eyes and "sleek cheekbones. Doctor X tells Susan that he was planning to let her go until she mentioned Liz, and proceeds to stab her to death with a scalpel.

After leaving the Other World, Susan wakes up in a body bag, surrounded by the corpses of previous victims, all of them women. She determines that the Queen was telling her the truth about making her immortal, and she escapes the room she's in. Susan finds herself in an underground lair, full of Doctor X's "works of art," which are grotesque parodies of famous artwork made out of female corpses. Susan then escapes the facility, either by killing Doctor X and saving the woman (canon), or avoiding him entirely and fleeing his lair.

## Behind the Scenes

Dr. Xavier Zellman is voiced by Klemens Koehring, who has most notably played the role of John "Poe" Pope in *Dark Nights with Poe and Munro*.

## Appearances

* *The Cat Lady*
	+ Chapter 1 - "House in the Woods" (Mentioned)
	+ Chapter 2 - "Second First Breath"
	+ Chapter 3 - "River" (Mentioned)
* *Downfall: Redux* (Mentioned)