Theory:Claire Bennet

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The following fan theories are about Claire Bennet.

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Theories

Theory	Citations	Notes
Claire cannot age.	In Five Years Gone Claire does not look noticeably older than normal, despite being about 16 in 2006.	+ Aging is caused by tissue damage and degradation - if Claire's body heals all damage done to it she will presumably forever look the same as she does now. • Most likely, Claire did not look much older because the actress was not actually any older, and the makeup artists did the best they could. If this theory is true, Claire will most likely stop aging in about a decade, because right now she is still growing. - Peter looks slightly older in Five Years Gone despite having Claire's power, though as with Claire the time frame is too short to be certain. + This may be because unlike Claire, Peter does not possess regeneration as a core ability: it is only active for him either while Claire is nearby, or while he is consciously keeping it active. Likely, he would not find it necessary to keep it active constantly, and he may not have considered the anti-aging effects of the power. - Since Claire's power heals damage after it occurs, if it healed the effects of aging, it would reverse all of its effects, "resetting" Peter's age whenever he turned it on. It is very unlikely that he would go five years without activating regeneration. + Peter exploded, killed millions of people, and changed after this. This could be why he looks older: he stopped being innocent and became a serious man. - Claire's power is akin to Wolverine's healing ability in X-Men: it heals physical damage and slows cellular decay but does not stop it. Claire does age. For her aging to stop, the rate of cellular decay would have to be stopped altogether, and thus would make her almost invulnerable and immortal. + The comparison to Wolverine actually implies that she will at least age extremely slowly, as Wolverine is currently over 120 years old in marvel continuity yet appears to be no older than 40 (at most) and has the physical abilities of 'a man in his prime'. (Wolverine on the Marvel Directory) + This is also noted in Adam; he looks in his 30's or 40's, but he is supposed to be about 87 years old. + Adam Monroe also possesses the power of rapid cell regeneration. He is also said to be born in 1584. Given this, Kensei would be 87 by the time Hiro Nakamura arrives in feudal Japan, which is 1671. Even in 1671, Kensei does not look at all like an 87-year-old man. - If Claire couldn't age, she would look like a baby • From birth through late teens to early twenties a person is still growing thus there is no cellular degradation if there is no cellular degradation there is no need for her power to correct it, ere go she would age. + Claire doesn't exhibit regeneration (chronologically) until Six Months Ago + Claire hasn't aged, she just grows up. + Takezo Kensei, who seems to possess the same regenerative ability as Claire, is confirmed to be alive and well after more than 300 years. Logically speaking, she would age until she was an adult (as Adam obviously did), as her body is not degrading; it is merely growing. Once she reaches the point when her body would naturally begin to degrade, she should cease physically aging. It is also worth noting that the aging process ceases after a certain amount of regeneration has occurred; Adam was hundreds of years old and thus used his powers countless times; Claire has only been using them since the events of Six Months Ago.
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.
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). - Whilst having powers may be genetic, specific abilities, so far have not been passed through generations. Furthermore, Claire's biological parents possessed the abilities of flight and pyrokinesis, but Claire does not possess either of these abilities. + Adam had two sons with his Italian wife, Maria. Claire's biological father's last name, Petrelli, is Italian.
Claire's amputated toe will grow into another Claire.	None.	- Claire's toe has no brain, and her brain apparently is needed to start the regeneration. + Claire's blood/Adam Monroe's blood enables regeneration in other people without being attached to Claire or Adam's brain. The blood in the amputated toe could regenerate a whole new body. + The genetic material in Claire's toe might be the thing that starts the regeneration, as Claire doesn't seem to have to think to start the regenerating process. • Being as it is an entire body, it would take a considerable time to grow it. + It is unlikely that the toe would grow to a new Claire, but perhaps it would be possible if Claire was cut in half.
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. + The Company seem to believe that Claire's power can be used to cure the Neo-Shanti virus. + This may be because they know that Kensei can use his blood to heal others. - The Company also thought that Mohinder's blood could be used to cure their modified version of the virus, an assumption which turned out to be horribly incorrect. So their track record isn't very good with regard to these things. - 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 can die if her head is cut off or her brain has an object lodged into it and not removed. Her powers can not work.	Angela's vision in The Butterfly Effect seems to suggest that beheading Claire would kill her.	+ In Truth & Consequences, Adam and Victoria both say that shooting Adam in the head would result in his permanent death. + In Powerless, Angela tells Matt that to stop Adam they need to put a bullet through his head. - In The Second Coming, Sylar tells Claire that he couldn't kill her even if he wanted to, and that she can never die. - In One of Us, One of Them, Sylar tells Noah that his daughter can't die, and Angela tells him that he knows he couldn't kill Sylar. - Noah, Claire, and Peter have all been dealt serious head wound with an object lodged inside their brain, and all have come back to life. + According to a response in Sept. 30, 2008 Behind the Eclipse CBR Q&A, Claire can be killed by decapitation.
Claire is a primary villain for Season 3	In the promo for One of Us, One of Them, Claire says to Peter Petrelli in a sinister voice that she wants him "to feel the pain of every last death" and then stabs him, which follows the announcer's claim that "good will become evil."	+ Claire has a nasty attitude towards Peter in the trailer for Season 3, and has somewhat altered her appearance, choosing slightly more scandalous clothing and dying her hair brown. + In the Season 3 premiere, The Second Coming, Claire fires a gun at Future Peter in an attempt to kill him. - When Peter returned to the present and shot Nathan the future in which all evolved humans are hunted down was changed. + The encounter with Sylar has scarred her emotionally and mentally - She admitted to Meredith that she wants to hurt him for what he has done. So now in the future, She will become evil, she will hunt down every evolved human to hurt them, regardless of them being good or evil.
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.	- She may be able to feel something burning, but her brain does not register it as pain.