Theory:Cloaking

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The following fan theories are about Cloaking.

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Theories

Theory	Citations	Notes
Teddy cloaked the carnival so the police would not be able to pursue Sylar.	The carnival is gone from the clearing after Sylar enters, leaving the police to stare at nothing.	+ Teddy and his ability are introduced the episode right after Sylar comes into the carnival. This could be a plot device to explain how Sylar got away. • It isn't known if cloaking can also hide sounds. - The police would no doubt have searched the area. A bunch of invisible objects would have been extremely suspicious. • Not without a doubt. They could have felt spooked when their subject seemed to vanish. And Sylar had already demonstrated to them that he was not like their usual perp. • It doesn't matter what a suspect can do; if a murderer is running for it, the police are duty-bound to chase after him. • They chased him into a gigantic clearing that appeared to be empty, anyone with eyes could tell he was nowhere near. - The last place he was seen was near the giant clearing. If the policemen had functional brains, they would have fanned out and begun a grid search (in case he had tried to hide in the forest). Since the clearing was apparently empty, they would have searched that first for clues as to where he may have gone. A large number of invisible objects and/or people would have been noticed very, very quickly. - Using an ability over such a large area would be exceedingly taxing for any evolved human. Also, Teddy would have had to maintain the cloaking effect until the police left (which could easily be hours). Unless Teddy is secretly one of the most powerful specials in the universe, he would be unconscious or dead after an hour or so. • His ability could naturally have a great scope, he's just making things hidden. • Claude Rains was able to maintain invisibility for years at a time with no visible strain. - His ability only affected himself and anyone he touched. That is a much smaller area to "cover" than the hundreds of cubic feet which Eddie would need to affect in order to make the carnival disappear. • Teddy's ability could naturally have a wide area of effect, allowing for a greater scope of hidden things. - Samuel could have asked Callum to make an illusory Carnival in the clearing; once Gabriel agreed to go with him, Callum could have created more illusions to hide their presence as they simply walked away on foot.
Cloaking can also be used to cover sounds, smells and the touch of an object, not just its visual appearance.	None	+ If Teddy covered the carnival, he would have had to also be able to mask the noises and smell of carnival food from outsiders. + It could be an ability extension to further differentiate it from invisibility. - Invisibility turns a person invisible, and can be extended to other subjects while its user is still invisible. Teddy made the trolley disappear, but he was still visible. - Hiding something from all five senses would make it nerve manipulation. + Not necessarily. Electric manipulation and electrical absorption can both be used to produce damaging electrical shocks. However, a special with electrical absorption cannot do so without first absorbing electricity from another source. - Which makes it different from electric manipulation. They can't generate electricity, just store it and channel it. + Yes, but if you see someone throw lightning from their hands, then you have no way of telling which of those two abilities are being exibited. + Cloaking could work by simply covering the object/person in a field which light bends around and from which nothing can exit.