Theory:Peter's scar

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The following fan theories are about Peter's scar.

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Theories

Theory	Citations	Notes
The scarred Peter never met Claire Bennet nor saved her, and therefore does not have her powers. The scar is not from the explosion but rather from the battle in which the explosion took place.	Peter never mentions the cheerleader. (Five Years Gone)	+ Sylar indicates he waited a long time to get ahold of Claire before he took her brain. + He is never shown healing himself. + If Hiro had to go back in time to tell Peter to save her, it's likely that he never even met her in the future. - The future in Five Years Gone is not the one that Future Hiro originally came from, as he already travelled in time to give Peter the message. Thus, Future Peter did save the cheerleader and gain the ability of rapid cell regeneration. - As mentioned in the article, the writers have said "Peter can regenerate".
Peter will no longer get the scar.	None.	+ Future Hiro changed the future by going back and telling Peter about saving Claire which only changed the future of that timeline and not his, creating an alternate dimension, kind of like Future Trunks in DBZ. + It's possible that Peter received the scar in the timeline in which Claire was not saved, and will not receive the scar in this timeline since damage healed with Claire's power seems to leave no scar. • This would create a causality paradox for Future Hiro: he'd have no reason to return to the past to warn Peter. • It hasn't been shown how Heroes deals with paradoxes as a result of time travel. • Peter got the scar in a version of the future where he could not regenerate, in an "ideal" future (without the Sylar problem) Peter would have no scar, but in Five Years Gone, Hiro visited a mixture of different possible futures, where Claire is still alive (for a while) and Peter still has he scar. - Present-day Hiro believes he cannot change the past because he was unable to save Charlie from her death. If he is correct, then Future Hiro may have come from a future in which Claire was already saved. Alternately, because Hiro knows that his past self returned, and knows what he told Peter, he may go back in time at some point in the future to ensure that the timeline is not compromised. This would not involve a paradox, but would be an example of an Ontological Paradox; but as such a paradox involves no inherent contradiction, it would still result in a consistent timeline. - In the future, Future Peter has a scar, despite Future Hiro traveling back in time and Peter saving Claire. • He may have decided to keep the scar for sentimental reasons, for example if he obtained it while trying to defend Nathan (or Micah, if he'd already encountered Niki). • Peter has trouble with his abilites, especially as of late; perhaps he loses control (or lost control in the other timeline) and fails(/failed) to regenerate--or maybe he gets the Shanti virus and loses his abilities. - In Villains, future Peter still has the scar, although he can hide it with a new illusion-casting ability.
Hiro will try to kill Peter to stop him from exploding, giving him the scar.	None.	Hiro's sword may be able to leave a lasting mark on Peter. • There's nothing special about the sword physically; it is only important to Hiro as a symbol for being a hero.
Peter will get the scar from Hiro.	None	+ Peter will meet Candice, where he gets her power. For some reason, he takes the form of Sylar. Hiro sees Peter, and, thinking it's Sylar, slices Peter across the face. Because it is a special sword, Claire's power can't fully heal Peter. • There's nothing special about the sword physically; it is only important to Hiro as a symbol for being a hero. - Future Hiro tells present-day Hiro that he tried to kill Sylar, but the wound regenerated. + Peter's scar is the shape of a line, just the shape a sword slash would leave. + Peter is working with Adam. This could be enough to make Hiro try to kill Peter. perhaps Adam tries to heal Peter, but not before Hiro Kills Adam, then leaves. Not knowing that Adam brought Peter back to life. + Same theory but I believe that since Present Peter can not use two powers at once, and at the moment Hiro has time stopped, Hiro will slash him and he will not be able to heal. The reason for the electricity may be that, he can only put it in his hand, not shoot it in frozen time. - Peter has been shown to use more than one power at once; in Unexpected, for example, he uses telekinesis to defend himself from Claude, while both are using their invisibility ability. • Peter might not get the scar at all, as history has been changed.
Peter will get the scar in the presence of the Haitian.	None.	+ The Haitian can suppress at least some powers, so if Peter was wounded in his presence and the scar formed, cell regeneration would not heal an existing scar. - The Haitian's power dampening is not absolute as Nathan was able to fly away in his presence. However, Nathan flying away was unexpected as before flying he looked as if he was going to tackle HRG and the Hatian. This would have suprised the Haitian, and maybe his power dampening requires some deal of concious effort. By the time he thought to use his power, Nathan could have flown out of the Hatian's range. - The Haitian appears to only be able to block mental powers, such as mind-reading and telekinesis. • The Haitian was able to block Hiro's and Daphne's powers, and their powers are not mental.
Peter's scar is the mirror image of a scar Linderman has.	None.	+ Linderman has a faint scar that is most visible when pausing episodes, most notably .07%. - The scar mirror images could be irrelevant, as the scar could be actor Malcolm McDowell's and not the character's. • Peter might not get the scar at all, as history has been changed.
The scar was just to show that Peter didn't have rapid cell regeneration in the dark future.	None.	- Peter did have rapid cell regeneration (he saved the cheerleader) in the dark future that Hiro and Ando travelled to - and he still had the scar.
An as-yet unseen character has an ability which can permanently disfigure people who can regenerate.	None.	• Currently there is no way for Peter to get a scar. + Angela's vision shows Knox easily ripping Claire's head off. Perhaps he is powerful enough to cause permanent damage to heroes with rapid cell regeneration.
An object being lodged in his face while he healed will cause the scar.	None.	+ If something prevents the skin from closing as it normally would, it may start to heal around the obstruction (much like pierced ears heal around an earring). - However, he can have cellular regeneration. This could mean that every cell "missing" from it's orginal place is re-made and put back in the proper place, therfore there would be no scar. For example, in .07%, when the share of glass is taken out of his brain, the brain fully heals, so surely the scar would have disappeared.
Peter will be attacked by a person with a sword. He will not remember Claire (Possibly because of The Haitian)	None.	- So he couldn't regenerate in .07%, because his brain was damaged and he couldn't even think. This is not the way Claire's power works.
The reason why Peter still has the scar, even if he has the cheerleader's ablity, is an emotional reason. What ever the reason is, it seems to have blocked the healing of this scar tissue.	None.	+ In the Dark Future, Peter seems to take on any request Hiro asks because of his guilt of the explosion, after 5 years Peter has not been able to forgive himself and seems to be guided by the emotions of guilt. + Within the real world there have been cases where people unable to heal from a wound because of emotional reasons or to have causd damage to their bodies because of an emotional reasons such as broken heart syndrome.
Peter's getting a scar is an inevitable event in any timeline.	Writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coleite said about Peter's scar, "First, it is not a mistake, Peter can regenerate, but he still has the scar. Secondly, we'll show you how later on in the series. We promise."	+ Future Peter as seen in The Second Coming and The Butterfly Effect has the scar, despite having saved New York City.
Peter, in the orginal dark future gains the scar before meeting Claire. Then, after he gains the regeneration ability, he gets the scar during some experiment once the heroes are announced to the general public.	During the alternate future at the start of season 3, Peter explicitly states that evolved humans were experimented on.	+ Peter could not scar as is, because his ability to regenerate would heal any wound, including removing the scars. This is shown when Sylar tries to take his power but leaves no scar on his forehead. It is possible, however, that at some point in the alternate future, Peter would be taken for experimentation and injected with something to cancel his powers, either temporarily or until they reverse it and give him his powers. In this case, his ability to regenerate would be gone and in an attempt to prove it, he is cut across his face by the person who is conducting the experiment. It may be symbolic in the future, as a way for the government (or whoever was doing the experimenting) to show other evolved humans that their powers can be taken from them. • When Peter agrees to stay with the Company, after nearly killing Nathan, he takes pills that cancel his powers. This is just evidence that something could be created to remove, cancel, or at least suspend powers.