Theory:Claire Bennet

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The following fan theories are about Claire Bennet.

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Theories

Theory	Citations	Notes
Claire's power shows a mythological theme in the inheritance of powers.	None	+ Claire is the daughter of Nathan, whose gift is the power of flight, and Meredith, whose gift is the power of pyrokinesis. A mythological creature with both these attributes is the phoenix, which also has the power of rebirth, not unlike Claire's rapid cell regeneration. - This theory does not seem to generalize to all evolved humans. + This doesn't have to be an element of the show's mythos, but merely a literary insertion unique to Claire's character. Indeed, The Second Coming seems to indicate Claire is unique even among the special. - Claire believes Sylar was referring to her being the catalyst. + She must have been wrong, as Claire is not the catalyst in the new timeline, but Sylar not saying this should change the present day. + Claire has survived two fires now via regeneration. This seems highly analogous to the Phoenix being 'reborn' from the flames.
Adam Monroe is Claire's ancestor.	None	+ There have been many instances in the series where evolved humans are spawned from evolved humans, and both Claire and Takezo Kensei possess the power of rapid cell regeneration (Lizards). + Adam had two sons with his Italian wife, Maria. Claire's biological father's last name, Petrelli, is Italian.
Claire can't be affected by the virus, like other characters.	Mohinder discusses the use of Claire's blood with the virus with Bob. (Truth and Consequences)	+ The virus supposedly attacks the person's nerves, but Claire's nerves would just regrow. + Claire's ability may require her brain, which the virus has not yet been shown to attack. - The virus has been shown to inhibit the abilities of superpowered individuals, so it is possible it may block Claire's healing ability. + Claire's blood can be used to cure the Neo-Shanti virus. - Mohinder states that Claire's blood reinforced his antibodies to cure the strain, thus implying that her powers wouldn't be enough on their own. + That statement, however, is hard to reconcile with reality, since rapid cellular regeneration should have no business altering extracellular proteins in the bloodstream. Therefore it can be assumed that RCR has an improved immune system as a side effect. It could possibly work like this: Claire's leukocytes can, upon "attacking" a pathogen, detect the effectiveness of a particular antibody and produce an improved design if necessary. This would mean that they would eventually develop the "best" antibodies without any external help. The decision to use Mohinder's antibodies with Claire's blood could have simply served for shortening the time needed for success, as they were already "almost good enough" to defeat the virus. - While her power would, uninhibited, be capable of repairing damage to any organs or tissues caused by a disease, it does not (necessarily) convey any improved ability of the body to detect or destroy pathogens. If the virus flies under the radar, so to speak, her body wouldn't know to fight it, and even if it was detected, she may not be able to naturally produce the proper antibodies. If the property which allows her blood to heal others is some sort of hormone, the virus could somehow block the production of the hormone (without actually damaging any cellular tissue), which would mean that the hormone in her blood could continue to work until "used up," at which point her power would seem to vanish. This could cause the damage done by the virus to be much slower to manifest, without constituting an immunity. Along with the full extent of cellular regeneration and any characteristics of the virus beyond its symptoms and the pool of potentially infected, Mohinder's antibodies (and how he has them) haven't been fully explained; if the term is a misnomer, which seems unlikely coming from a geneticist who one would expect to have more than a passing knowledge of biology, the "antibodies" could in fact be some sort of specialized cellular body.
Claire is unaffected by Maya's ability.	None	+ Claire can come back from death. - It's unknown if it affects the brain, in that case, Claire could die.
Claire's sudden inability to feel pain is a psychosomatic response to Sylar's attack on her.	Claire appears to feel her hands burn when touching the side of the heated container in One of Us, One of Them.	+ Elle's ability got mucked up after Sylar tried to rip off her head. - She may be able to feel something burning, but her brain does not register it as pain. - Pain is our brain's way of telling us that we have a wound. Seeing as Claire's ability allows her wounds to heal instantly, it's entirely possible that her ability evolved so that she no longer needs to feel pain. - Once the eclipse hits, and she loses her powers, she complains about pain. This seems to indicate that her ability was holding back pain. • At the time, her body (bereft of its super-powered immune system) was being overrun by countless viruses and bacteria, slowly killing her. That sounds like something that would be extremely painful.
In One of Us, One of Them, Meredith did not actually burn much of the oxygen in the container, and Claire's suffering was simply in her head.	Meredith asks Claire if she has ever heard of waterboarding, and tells her it's a method of torture where a person isn't drowning, but the body tells the mind it is, and they think they're going to die.	+ Claire does not appear to begin suffocating until Meredith mentions the air must be getting thin in the container, and seems to cease suffocating when Meredith stops emotionally 'pushing' her. - In a BTE interview, the Rule of Ted and the chemistry of combustion were cited as reasons that Meredith was not affected by the lack of oxygen in the container. + Combustion requires an oxidant to burn, and so some oxygen would have had to be left in the container. - It is possible that Meredith's fire doesn't need an oxidant, since it is an ability, and therefore may not be subject to the known chemical and physical laws. + Meredith never actually says the air is getting thin in the container; she says she imagines it is. + Claire tells Meredith to stop it, and to 'turn it off', suggesting that it is a psychosomatic effect rather than an actual physical one. - Claire may have simply meant for Meredith to turn off her power. + If Claire was truly suffocating, it's likely her speech would be affected, but it wasn't. + Adam survived buried alive for quite some time; thus, people with rapid cellular regeneration may not need oxygen. - Adam died in the coffin countless times, but repeatedly resurrected. + The Wall, when Claire and Noah are buried in the ground, Noah tells her that she won't run out of oxygen because her lungs would keep regenerating themselves.
Claire could be killed through the use of Bob's ability.	In the graphic novel The Golden Goose, Bob turns a human being into solid gold.	+ It is possible that if Claire's entire body was turned into gold her regeneration would be unable to change the molecular structure of her body back to normal. - Claire's regeneration would likely fight back against becoming gold. There would at least be a struggle, and Claire's ability might be stronger than Bob's ability. + Her tissues would've turned into something inorganic, can her ability affect inorganic matter? It'd be more effective if she managed to cut off the part of her body that was turned into gold and grow it again.
Claire has a talent for detecting danger that is not related to her ability.	She knows something isn't right at Homecoming.	+ She asks if she is in trouble for no logical reason in Cautionary Tales. She may have subconsciously known that something else was going on. • Female intuition? - No, because then Jackie would have known something was up at Homecoming too. + Claire has experienced things that make her prone to suspecting things and expecting the worse to happen.
Claire will become evil, decide that the world isn't worth the effort as it is, and try and make it into a world where evolved humans are looked at as gods so that she doesn't get told to hide anymore.	None	+ People always try to protect her despite her ability. This may cause her to want to show people that she can take care of herself. • She became darker in the exposed future, and when Peter asked what happened to her she replied that she'd learned to take care of herself. • This sounds strangely familiar...
Claire is slowly becoming like Adam and Elle.	None	+ She has become noticeably colder following Sylar's attack on her in The Second Coming. Adam became bitter and cold-hearted when Hiro betrayed him. + Noah has stated that if he surrendered Claire to the Company, she would have become like Elle. Elle gains sadistic pleasure by using her ability cruelly. - Claire's ability isn't an offensive one and it's a passive ability, even if she uses it on others (injects them with her blood), it would heal them, not harm them. Besides, Noah most definitely meant growing in the Company and being trained in its corrupted ways. + It was shown that it's possible for Claire to become colder, even use her ability in an offensive way, even if indirectly.
Claire can never become stronger.	None	+ Building muscle mass comes from damaging existing muscles and they grow back bigger. Claire would heal back to her "default" body state before new and bigger muscle could be grown. - Muscle mass doesn't come from anywhere, what happens is that by needing more energy, muscle cells build up more sarcoplasm, which in turn makes the cells bigger. Muscles appear to grow because all muscle cells get more sarcoplasm evenly. - Despite her ability, her body still can be damaged to be healed after that. So her muscles may still grow. - Because of her ability, she would grow muscles faster.
Claire would never fail a virginity test.	None	+ In human females, the hymen is a membrane, part of the vulva, which partially occludes the entrance to the vagina, and which stretches, or is sometimes torn, when the woman first engages in sexual intercourse. Claire would heal back to her "default" body state repairing her broken hymen, thus rendering her a virgin regardless of how many times she has intercourse. - Some women aren't even born with them.
Claire can never be tickled.	None	+ Ticklishness is caused by dead skin cells. Since Claire's cells can regenerate, they should never die. + Ticklishness is linked to pain response. Since Claire cannot feel pain since Sylar attacked her, she should have lost her ticklishness.
Claire will date Alex Woosley again in the future.	None	+ They kissed one another. - They kissed to avoid being found by Danko's team. + Claire missed Alex when he left. + Alex heavily implied his interest in Claire to Noah. - Claire said that even if they had met under other circumstances, she's not sure if she'd date him, as she'd see people she loved age and die because of her ability.
Claire was still alive and hidden in the original explosion future.	None	+ In The Second Coming Claire survived brain examination by Sylar. This implies she wouldn't die in Homecoming if Sylar had gotten to her. - Her power may not have evolved to that extent back then. + Claire's power evolved in a way she no longer feels pain. Its healing factor never changed. - Claire lost the ability to feel pain after Sylar's attack. It was not evolution. + Noah could hide Claire to hide that Claire actually wasn't killed by Sylar. The fact Sylar attacked her means that Claire has an ability, which is the secret Noah was keeping from the Company. If the Company found out Claire survived, they would take her anyway, so Noah might fake her death. - Future Hiro said before he went back in time, he stabbed Sylar, but he regenerated. + Which means Sylar did take Claire's power. It was never stated in the explosion future that Claire died. - Sylar normally opens the skull, rips out the brain, and then examines it. He only kept Claire's brain in her skull because of whatever he saw in her. If he had used his normal 'procedure' to scalp Claire at the Homecoming game, she would have died. + Actually, his statement of "I couldn't kill you even if I wanted to" implies that she would have survived the normal brain procedure. - The writers have said that she and Sylar can both die by decapitation. Presumably if Sylar had actually removed Claire's brain, she would not have survived. + Then Sylar should not have said "even if I wanted to", when mentioning how he can't kill her because that implies that he is physically unable to kill Claire even with taking her brains out. Besides, Adam Monroe survived an explosion, especially one originating near his exact position, which most likely would have blown his head off anyways. - Just because a character says something, it doesn't necessarily make it true. It isn't canon unless it is demonstrated on screen or confirmed by the writers. Of course, such things are subject to retcon.
Claire could come back to life if Matt Parkman Jr. reactivates her rapid cellular regeneration power.	None	+ Tommy Clark inherited power absorption from his grandfather, Arthur Petrelli. + Matt Jr. was able to restore Hiro Nakamura's powers after Arthur stole them. This suggests that Hiro's powers were simply deactivated rather than stolen; thus, Matt Jr. may be able to reactivate Claire's power as well. - Claire's body may have decayed past the point of no return. + Claire returned from death twice before. + Claire and her future counterpart both survived ground zero of a nuclear explosion. It seems likely she could recover from a simple seizure during childbirth. Indeed, she could probably recover from anything short of widespread dispersal of her component molecules.