Theory:Samson Gray

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The following fan theories are about Samson Gray.

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Theories

Theory	Citations	Notes
Samson Gray has an ability to control animals.	None	+ Samson Gray's home was full of taxidermied animals, suggesting he has a close connection with them. - He's got the power of sedation, a thirst for killing and, as stated in 'Shades of Gray', he likes to keep his hands busy. This is more than enough reason.
Samson Gray has the power of animal mimicry.	None	+ When Luke asks the question about animals, the black bird looks at them from outside the car. - It could have reacted to the noise. + The taxidermied animals in his house could have been a weird irony thing. + It could also be an easy way to "acquire" animals to mimic, Animorphs-style.
Samson has acquired a clairvoyance ability similar to Molly's.	None	+ Samson implies that he has killed quite a few people with abilities, and he doesn't appear to have access to any list of potential victims like Sylar did. - He also appears to only have access to a select few powers, as opposed to Sylar's plethora of abilities. Perhaps his hunt for abilities was far less successful. - That would explain why he said he wanted to take Sylar's powers to do things over the right way.
Samson gave up Sylar because he had the hunger.	None	+ Samson may have realized his son would inherit an ability from him. + Perhaps Samson knew Gabriel's ability is the same as his, so he could not satiate his hunger. + Samson may have given up Sylar so he wouldn't be tempted to kill him. + Though Samson doesn't seem like the most honorable person in the world, he, like Sylar, may have had swings between evil and morality. • Killing a spouse right after selling a son doesn't denote "swings between evil and morality".
Samson has more abilities than we have been shown so far.	None	+ How would Samson know Sylar has agents following him and know he hadn't killed them, unless he was using some kind of power like telepathy or something? • Maybe he heard about the hunt on evolved humans. He may have understood it from Nathan's speech on TV (A Clear and Present Danger). • Maybe Luke contacted him and told him. • Sylar most likely told him. + Surely Samson does have more abilities, but he most definitely lost access to the most of them, as he claims. • He noted that "it's amazing how it comes back" after the hunger came over him again.
Samson will attempt to find Claire and take her power.	None	+ Samson was determined to get the ability of regeneration, and Sylar told him he took it from a cheerleader in California. • There's a lot of cheerleaders in California, finding one who can regenerate wouldn't be easy. + He also seemed to take powers in the same manner as Sylar, judging by how he approached Sylar with the knife. Just a little searching would lead him to the reports on Jackie's death, where he could gather all the clues he needed. - Jackie was murdered in Texas. Sylar never mentioned Texas when speaking with his father. + Samson could easily do a Google search for a cheerleader killed by having her head cut open. - Sylar didn't acquire the ability on that occasion, he got it in California. + Samson could kill some Company agents, take one of their laptops and find the files for people with regeneration. - Samson might think that the cheerleader didn't survive. + He did, however, know that Sylar would survive if he took the power. He could think the same thing about the cheerleader. - Samson is dying of cancer and does not seem to be in any condition to go on a cross-country cheerleader hunt. + He was well enough to flee his house and travel through multiple states to reach his shack in the woods when escaping from Danko's agents.
Samson killed his wife and gave Sylar away to protect Sylar from her.	None	+ It appeared as though she had no knowledge that he was giving him away, and when she argued, he quickly killed her as if to prevent her from using her power not yet known. - If she had an ability, Samson could have taken it then, but apparently he didn't. + No other reason exists to explain him killing her, he could have just driven away. - Samson had the hunger, he's like his son and said that Sylar "had to kill", and by extension he had to kill. + The hunger only drives one to kill evolved humans, usually. We have no evidence Sylar's mother possessed an ability. - Samson has the power of sedation. At the moment we don't know where he got it from, it could have been from her. • Samson may not be able to absorb abilities empathically.
Samson only temporarily killed his wife to stop her from getting Sylar.	None	+ She may have had a regeneration ability, and he knew she would heal, just as he knew Sylar would heal. - If she had a healing ability, Samson would've taken it. He clearly doesn't have it. - If she survived, she would easily find him, as she was there when Gabriel was sold to Martin and Virginia.
Samson's cancer is a side effect of his ability.	None	+ His ability, like Sylar's, can make him immensely if not overly powerful. Getting cancer as a side effect would be an interesting way to weaken him. - He is seen smoking, which a possible cause for the cancer. + Perhaps he took on smoking after he found out about the cancer, therefore he took it up knowing that he was going to die anyway. • Sylar may also be getting cancer from his abilities, but Claire's power is cancelling it out. • Ted had radioactive powers, radiation causes cancer, sure Sylar may be immune if he had that power, or regeneration nullify it, but Samson did not have regeneration and may have been exposed to radiation but did not get it to become immune to it. • None of Sylar's abilities have unwanted side effects other than the hunger from intuitive aptitude. • It's possible for Samson to have an ability with cancer as its side effect, but whatever it is, it's not intuitive aptitude.
Samson is Arthur's relative.	None	+ Intuitive aptitude and power absorption have similar byproducts. - Acquiring abilities in one of the applications of intuitive aptitude, not its main purpose. + Ability homology exists. - Ability homology doesn't always mean evolved human are related. + Arthur's declaration of being family with Sylar didn't cause lie detection to go off. - As stated before, lie detection's limits are unclear. + Though they have other way of finding out, Angela knew who Sylar's parents were. - Exactly not because they were related, but because they have private investigators and agents. - Angela's ability allows her to know almost everything. + Elle's shock at discovery over Sylar's heritage. - Elle was shocked when Arthur claimed he was Sylar's father. Samson was first mentioned in Volume Three finale, when Elle was already dead.
Sylar from the exposed future was actually Samson.	None	+ In the present Sylar claimed that he cannot change and that he has to be what he is - a killer. + The future Sylar bears some resemblance to Samson - their tempers are similar. + Samson has intuitive aptitude, so it could be him who Peter mimicked it from. - Samson wouldn't last much longer against his cancer. • There are many ways to heal cancer - Samson might absorb rapid cell regeneration, or someone might heal him, or shape shifting might remove the illness.
Samson Gray has cancer because he acquired space-time manipulation.	None	+ Hiro got a tumor and Arnold died of a tumor. It could be because of the ability. - Samson was heavily implied to have had cancer because he smoked too much. • He never stated that, but yes that could be. - Samson is on oxygen all the time, he has lung cancer, while Hiro has a tumor in his brain. + Arnold was on oxygen too. - Arnold's tubes weren't given much importance, meaning they're just there to show he's sick. - Hiro got his cancer because he started having people with him when he froze time. + Nothing suggests Samson didn't. - Nothing else suggests Samson has the ability. • Even though Arnold had they ability and a tumor, there's no confirmation he got the tumor because of the ability. It's perfectly possible for him to have developed a tumor because of his old age, getting weaker because his body is not as strong to use his ability as it used to because of the tumor. + Samuel kept saying to Hiro "just like you". - Both are time travelers who have tumors, and using their powers makes them weaker. It doesn't mean they both got a tumor because of the ability. + Samson has undisplayed abilities. - Samson talks about getting "real power, real authority" once he gets Sylar's healing ability. Space-time manipulation is a very powerful ability. It suggests that even though he had abilities, they weren't exceptionally powerful. He could have imprinting for all it's known. - Sure, telekinesis is not a powerful ability. To remove the cats from trees. + That's one the few seen abilities, and he wasn't particularly powerful with it either. - If Samson had space-time manipulation, he could just freeze time and open Sylar's skull. + He might not want to strain himself by using the ability. - If Samson had the ability, he would have never stopped acquiring abilities, because he'd be able to collect many more, much faster. + Nothing suggest that he didn't, there is almost nothing we know about Samson. - If Samson had done something like that, he wouldn't say "I'll do it right this time", saying that means he failed somewhere along the line. + On that note, saying "I'll do it right this time" could heavily imply that once he can regenerate he'll be well enough to literally "do it right this time" by traveling into the past and redoing all his past mistakes in gaining powers, with the added benefit of healing. + Or he might have lost the ability because he had the Shanti virus. - Only known cure for the virus was Mohinder's antibodies, and his antibodies with Claire's blood if it was a resistant strain, he wouldn't have any abilities left if he had had the virus. + Maybe all the members of Mohinder's family got the same antibodies, and like Sylar, he may got some abilities left because of empathy. - Mohinder explained to Molly that he had antibodies because he was born after Shanti, so he developed the antibodies she needed. Nothing about Samson suggests he knows or even suspects he can acquire abilities empathically. + Sylar got the same ability as Samson and they are acting similar, there is a chance that he can acquire abilities empathically. - Having the ability means he has the potential to, but it doesn't mean certainly can. Unless it is said he can do it, it shouldn't be assumed he can.
Memory of Samson Gray's killing spree is partially responsible for Sylar's near-legendary infamy amongst the superpowered community.	Samuel Sullivan states that for years he's heard rumors about "Sylar! The most powerful one of all" despite Sylar only having been killing evolved humans for at most three years.	+ Given that Samson and Sylar both possess intuitive aptitude and telekinesis, it's likely they both leave behind the same sort of trail: dead bodies with their heads sliced open and their brains removed. It's possible that the rumors concerning Sylar have conflated Samson's kills with his own, making it seem like he's been much more active, for a much longer period if time, than is really the case. - In Don't Look Back, Elisa Thayer is skeptical about Sylar's existence. This suggests that FBI never heard of opened heads and removed brains before. + The idea of a telekinetic serial killer taking the powers of other "special" people by examining their brains would not be a sane mental leap for anyone who didn't already know about the existence of evolved humans. + Samson was going to use a knife to cut open Sylar's head. He may not be aware of the "cutting" aspect of telekinesis. A murder where someone's head was carved open with a hunting knife is much less suspicious than one where the incision cannot be linked to any known tool. + Samson may have tried to stay under the radar by making his murders seem "ordinary"; using a knife to remove the top of a victim's head rather than telekinesis would automatically make the deaths less odd. - Sylar's trail of death may be much larger than what's been explicitly seen on the show; i.e. the other names on the list he obtained from Elle, besides Sue Landers. - Since he specifically targeted evolved humans, Sylar's cross-country killing spree would have been of particular concern to the evolved human community. The several dozen kills he's credited with, out of a population that seems to be in the low hundreds, would be enough to make him a notorious threat. • David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam Killer", only murdered six people in his entire reign of terror. By the time Elisa got involved, Sylar was already up to his sixth or seventh. The number of bodies a killer leaves in his wake is less important than the amount of fear he produces (when it comes to notoriety).
Samson will be back in future episodes.	None	+ He's a character with a very powerful ability. - He's dying of cancer.
Samson is dead.	None	+ He had cancer and was last seen in December 2007, two years before the current episode, Thanksgiving 2009. - Heroes has a floating timeline at the moment. So there's still a chance he's still alive.
Samson is or killed Richard.	None	+ He resembles Samson. + Samson has telekenesis. - Richard is too old to be the father of Sylar who is about the same age as Peter or older. • If anything, he's too young. - There are many other telekinetics like Aviv, Brian Davis, Misha, Draph, Jack and the game operator, who could potentially be Richard. • Richard and Aviv look nothing alike, Aviv is also a different ethnicity. • Brian Davis had no control over his power, unlike Richard. • Draph's a teacher, no reason to resort to thievery. • Jack wasn't even born yet. • The game operator traveled with the Carnival. • It could have happened before the Carnival found him. + True, The G.O. could have been a thief before the carnival found and refined him.
Young Samson worked at Primatech, only knowing about the ability of intuitive aptitude and not about "the hunger". After reading Richard's file, he visited him and saw the "evolutionary imperative". After killing Richard, Samson started his killing spree.	None	+ We still don't know who Samson took TK from. + This would make it very similar to Sylar's story. + We don't know anything about Samson's killing spree. • It would be illogical for Samson to visit Richard, who had a dangerous ability, especially if he was unaware that he could take his ability. • He may have been assigned to visit him. + Claude mentioned empaths, since IA has a byproduct of empathy, he may have interpreted it as a reference to Samson. - Claude worked for Arthur whose power absorption is a different form of empathic mimicry. - Intuitive aptitude is not empathy, and there is no evidence that Samson knows about the byproduct. - If the Company knew where Richard was, Noah Bennet would have most likely gone after him. - The company always tried to avoid emotional situations. If they had sent Noah, it would have became too emotional for him.