Theory:9

The Number 9

Writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite have commented in a series of interviews titled Behind the Eclipse that fans of the series Heroes should be watching for the number nine (9) to have a significance in the show.

So far, the significance of nine has either been minimal or hidden. If you think you have a good theory about it, take a stab at it here.

Heroes as allegory for Hindu myth

I don't know where to post this, so I hope you'll excuse my edit. From the reading I've done both at university and in the four years since, it is clear to me that Heroes is a very specific type of allegory, and Five Years Gone only confirms this for me. A few terms to consider: Rama, Ravana, Navratras, Akashic Records, cosmic involution, Chakra. There are two moments in Five Years Gone which are absolutely convincing for me: first, the fact that Niki Sanders and Peter Petrelli are romantically involved, five years later; second, and most importantly, that when Sylar and Peter Petrelli meet in the hallway at the end of the episode, Sylar invokes Manipur Chakra and Peter Petrelli invokes Svadhistan Chakra to counter it.

On another random Heroes blog, I mentioned that it would be quite useful to attempt to categorize the heroes into sub-classes based on the elemental manifestations of their powers; I'll finish this edit by listing the six Chakras, into which each hero we've seen can be classified:

• Muladhara: earth element, associated with the number 56
• Manipur: water element, associated with the number 52
• Svadhistan: fire element, associated with the number 62
• Anhata: air element, associated with the number 54
• Visudhi: ether element (think Hana Gitelman, Micah), associated with the number 72, and
• Ajna: mind element (think Matt Parkman, The Haitian), associated with the number 64.

The numbers associated with the elements are said to be the number of cosmic 'rays' necessary to cause that element to invoke its cosmic involution. How many rays are there in total? 360. Like a circle. It's the universal sakti -- the number of creation.

Symbolic Meanings of the Number 9

The numerological significance of just about any number can apply to just about any situation, like a fortune cookie. Does the number 9 really have any more of a special application to Heroes than any other number?

Possible applications:

• In Hindu mythology, the 9 major celestial bodies are personified as the Navagraha, one of whom (the moon) is named "Chandra".
• Also in Hindu mythology, Vishnu, considered the supreme being by many, has had 9 avatars (incarnations). A tenth avatar is predicted.
• The number 9 is present in many Chinese myths. The Chinese Netherworld supposedly has nine rivers in a nine-headed dragon. Also, ancient Chinese believed that the sky consisted of nine parts, the earth had nine separate countries, and each of those countries had nine mountain ranges.
• In Pythagorean numerology, the number nine is significant for a number of reasons. First, it is the highest value assigned to a letter or date. Second, because of the method of adding digits used, nines can be "cast out": a number like 19 is reduced as followed: 1+9=10; 1+0=1. In other words, you can simply drop the nine and reach the same result quickly.
• In Greek mythology, there were 9 muses, responsible for creation of the arts by way of inspiration. They were the daughters of Zeus, king of the gods.
• In Egyptian mythology, the Ennead were a group of nine gods and goddesses. Before passing onto the afterlife, a person had to be judged as worthy by the Ennead.
• The world in Heroes is at the end of one era just before the dawn of another.
  • The number 9 is the last digit before the start of double-digit numbers (in base 10). This feature is the reason the number nine has certain unique mathematical properties, such as the digits of every multiple of 9 adding up to 9 or another multiple thereof.
  • In French the word neuf means both nine and new. In German, the words for nine and new are neun and neu, and in Spanish, nueve and nuevo.
  • It is very likely that the turning point between the two eras is the explosion, which is set to occur on November 8th. The next 'era' therefore would begin on November 9th. Also, the prefix to November is related to Latin words for both "nine" and "new".
• 3 is considered a lucky number, and 9 is 3 x 3, so the number 9 is even more potent.

Occurrences of the Number 9

9th Wonders! Comic Book

The most apparent episodic use of "9" is the comic book title, 9th Wonders! The title is a play on the original "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World". Many believe other sites built after the original Seven Wonders constitute an "Eighth Wonder"; it is plausible that evolved humans are the "Ninth Wonder".

The original Seven Wonders are the:

• Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon in Iraq, destroyed ~500 BC
• Statue of Zeus in Olympia, Greece, destroyed in AD 462
• Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, Turkey, destroyed in 401 BC
• Mausoleum (Tomb of King Maussollos) in Bodrum, Turkey, destroyed in AD 1522
• Colossus of Helios in Rhodes, Greece, destroyed in AD 654
• Lighthouse of Pharos in Alexandria, Egypt, destroyed in AD 1480

9 Evolved Humans

Obviously there are a lot more than 9 people on the show with powers. But there might be a main group of 9. The promotional image of the main characters includes 11 people, 9 of whom are known to have powers. These 11 people appear in Peter's vision.

• The nine with powers are: Peter Petrelli, Nathan Petrelli, Hiro Nakamura, D.L. Hawkins, Niki/Jessica Sanders, Micah Sanders, Isaac Mendez, Claire Bennet, and Matt Parkman.
• The two without powers are Simone Deveaux and Mohinder Suresh.
• Claude Rains appears later in a similar vision.

Miscellaneous Occurrences

• The date of the New York explosion is November 8, 2006 (11/8/2006). 1+1+8+2+0+0+6=18, 1+8=9.
• The suicide-bombed bus in Isaac's painting is number 009. When Isaac first tries to explain his ability to Simone he shows her the painting and says, "Look at the number."
• In Distractions, the license plate on Kaito's limousine is "NCC-1701". In addition to being the registry number of the USS Enterprise on Star Trek, the digits in the number 1701 add up to 9.
• In Distractions when Claire and Zach visit Claire's biological mother in Kermit, TX her trailer is said to be number 36, 3+6 = 9.
• According to its logo, Primatech Paper was founded in 1962. 1+9+6+2=18, 1+8=9
• In Unexpected Sylar and Mohinder are in rooms 22 and 23, respectively. 2+2+2+3=9. In front of these rooms they talk about the possibility of inhibiting people's superhuman abilities and about Chandra Suresh's murder.
• Primatech and Montecito are both 9 letters long.
• When Hiro teleports himself from the underground to New York,the time in the clock behind him is 11:43. 1+1+4+3=9

Memorable Quotes

"That being said, we did lots of research in crafting our stories - some of which came from Hindu and Indian mythology. Remember how we've said the number 9 is important? Has anyone looked into that yet? If you haven't, start digging. Maybe if we're nice, we'll give you some more hints on this for a Hannukah/Christmas/Kwanza present."

- Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite

"The name certainly means something - but in general we were just looking for an anthology title as cool as "Tales to Astonish" or "Amazing Fantasy". But the number 9 is pretty important in the grand scheme of things."

- Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite (in reference to the 9th Wonders! comic book title)

"Make sure you expand your mythology search to the subcontinent."

- Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite (in reference to a theory about the significance of the number 9 and the subcontinent India) [1]

External Links

• Interview #1 on ComicBookResources.com
• Interview #2 on ComicBookResources.com