Talk:Empathic mimicry

Great layout

I think this page looks really good. It's definitely a good layout for mimicry, and can be adapted easily if we decide to do any other pages. Fantastic move! - RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 16:03, 7 December 2006 (EST)

Examples

The points made in the list of examples about Mohinder's and Claude's comments are not really examples. But they are still on-show revelations about the nature of Peter's ability. Should they be moved to notes?--E rowe 23:27, 29 January 2007 (EST)

Not his power!

There is no way that Peter's power is Empathy! If he is an empath he would have felt great pain around people in pain, etc. Empathy is the ability to sense emotions on a psychic level, not mimic powers. Please consider changing it to Power Mimcry or Mimcry.--The Empath 23:53, 29 January 2007 (EST)

• Well, where did you get that definition of the power of empathy? Because, AFAIK, super powers don't exist in the real world. So the terms and definitions heroeswiki uses for them should match the terms and definitions from the show itself as much as possible. Do you have evidence from the show that his power is not empathy?--E rowe 23:56, 29 January 2007 (EST)
  • I think Empath is more of a description of a person with Peter's power than a description of the power itself. I agree that the power should be called Power Mimicry until we know exactly how the rest of it figures in. --Fcphantom 00:02, 30 January 2007 (EST)

I have done alot of research on comic book powers and the desrciption of empathy is like I said. Here is a link to a page that has all the comic book powers1. Read the one on Empathy and Power Mimicry. And yes, the evidence is that Peter himself stated that he mimics powers not that he can read emotions. FYI, Evidence of Empathy portrayed accurately on TV would be Charmed Season 3 episode "Primrose Empath" and most of Charmed Season 6.--The Empath 00:04, 30 January 2007 (EST)

• That wikipedia article on comic book powers and the Charmed episode both have nothing to do with Heroes. And we don't just have the label Claude used, we also have comments from people associated with the show off screen. I don't see anything wrong with using either label for now and having a redirect from the other one. But letting non-Heroes sources trump Heroes sources for defining elements of Heroes won't work.--E rowe 10:04, 30 January 2007 (EST)
  • I have a real problem calling Peter's power "empathy". Empathy is a character trait, not a superpower. If we want to include empathy in the title of his power, that's fine (maybe something like "emapathetic power mimicry"), but just calling it "empathy" is really misusing the term, in my opinion. - RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 11:03, 30 January 2007 (EST)
• Is there a reson why we can't assume that Claude was refering to Peter's wanting to save everyone as his "empathy" rather than his ability, of which Claude knows almost nothing (and thus would likely not try to define just yet)?- Yoshie (talk) 11:08, 30 January 2007 (EST)
  • I gathered that Claude already knows more about Peter's power than Peter does. His empath line wasn't the only clue to that. I agree that the word "empathy" by itself has a normal meaning that does not connote any kind of super power. But I think the normal canons of data should dictate how each of the powers is defined. One of the ways his power resembles the character trait of empathy is that, thus far it has been passively stimulated by those around him. This is something that the word "empathy" entails and the word "mimicry" does not. I do think a more precise term like "empathetic power mimicry" is a really good way to cover the bases too.