Theory:Tracy Strauss

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The following fan theories are about Tracy Strauss.

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Theories

Theory	Citations	Notes
Niki, Tracy, Barbara, and possibly others are experiments created by the Linderman operated Company through the Pinehearst Company. Each of the children created were given powers through use of the formula that Kaito entrusted to Hiro to protect.	Linderman claims to Niki that he has been guiding her entire life. (The Hard Part) Angela claims to Tracy that the Company gave her and her sisters powers. (One of Us, One of Them)	+ Niki and Tracy have different abilities. + Tracy worked with Pinehearst. - Linderman's company and Pinehearst seem to be rivals. - The catalyst was absent from 1991 to 2007. Pinehearst probably didn't exist until after Arthur's death in 2006.
The "Tracy" in Angela's dream is not really Tracy but Barbara.	None	+ Dr. Zimmerman mistook Tracy for Barbara. (One of Us, One of Them) + The woman in Angela's dreams was not wearing Tracy's signature pearls, which so far, we haven't seen Tracy without. - She has stopped wearing the pearls. • At the time of Angela's dream, Tracy was still wearing the pearls. • The scene in question was created for Season Two and it is unknown if Tracy was an established character at that time. • Tim Kring has stated that he had outlined plots for up to Season 5. They may have already had Barbara planned and thus written into a dream sequence. + Tracy was horrified that she murdered the reporter (Butterfly Effect and I Am Become Death) and only appeared to even want to kill in self-defense (Cold Snap) + No one in Angela's dream seemed to be frozen. + Angela had another dream where Tracy was murdered beside Nathan and Peter, who were both on Angela's side at the time. (Angels and Monsters)
Tracy can survive cold environments.	None	+ Since her ability is freezing things, she may also be able to survive a cold environment without needing warm clothing on. + Meredith is able to survive hot environments due to her ability. (One of Us, One of Them) + Her hand was not cold after freezing Nathan's drink. (I Am Become Death) • She may need to be continuously freezing something in order to not get cold.
Niki's, Tracy's and Barbara's biological parents are Company founders.	None	+ Many of the main characters are descended from Company founders. Linderman revealed that he had been manipulating Niki and D.L. for most of their lives in order for them to have a child like Micah. Arthur and Maury appear to be manipulating Nathan and Tracy into being together. + Angela told Nathan that because he had DNA primed for abilities due to having evolved human parents, they felt safe giving him the formula (One of Us). This suggests they may have tried the formula on "unprimed" DNA, and that if it were unsuccessful with unprimed DNA they would insure the parentage of their experiments was that of evolved humans. Perhaps even taking some DNA from founders.
Tracy, Barbara and Niki aren't actually triplets, but clones of the original.	None	- If that was so, it wouldn't explain how two of them have vastly different powers, considering powers have roots in blood chemistry, and that triplets have the same DNA. • Being triplets does not explain this either, then. • Identical triplets don't have identical DNA just very similar DNA. • No, they do have identical DNA. They come from the same fertilized egg (zygote). • Genetic mutations happen before the identical twins separate, (1 to 4 days after the fertilization) and it may cause their DNAs to be slightly different. • It is unclear whether or not the body can hold only one power per DNA code. Some characters have shown natural tendencies for multiple powers, such as Matt's telepathy and precognition and Mohinder's synthetic transformation (which included a variety of super abilities). + Dr. Zimmerman said that he created Tracy. (One of Us, One of Them) - He may not have meant that he literally created Tracy herself; he may have just meant he created the person that she is, i.e., a person with an ability. He may have just given her the ability to freeze.
Tracy's ability has always been controlling water, including freezing and mimicking it.	She is able to turn into water. (An Invisible Thread)	+ The ability would account for all the effects related to Tracy's ability so far. - If Tracy had water mimicry or water manipulation before Cold Snap she would be able to escape from Building 26. + Maybe she didn't manifest all parts of her ability previous to being shot. The adrenaline could have activated the dormant parts of her power. - Tracy often froze objects that had no water.
Tracy's water mimicry is a mutation of her base ability.	None	+ Her base ability probably wouldn't have allowed her to pull herself together again. • All abilities are thought to be mutations. - Tracy's ability could easily have always been a full control over the water spectrum, including the ability to turn into the various forms of water. • A mutation?
Tracy will act as an antihero in Volume 5.	She was seen in An Invisible Thread killing an Kent Harper, a former Building 26 agent.	+ Micah's words may have changed her personality. • Micah would change her for good, not for evil. + Tracy is not evil; killing Harper would be out of revenge; being evil is like Sylar killing for no reason, Tracy has a reason. - Sylar says he kills to get power, and has shown at times not to accept himself as a serial killer. - Tracy is at the very least morally gray; she can go either way depending on her motives. • To a certain extent so was Niki, but she pulled through because she had Micah. Maybe he will help Tracy too. • As far as Micah and other characters know, Tracy is dead. - Their paths will probably cross in Redemption; they already have now twice (One of Us, One of Them and Cold Snap).
Tracy can absorb water.	None	+ She might be able to turn herself bigger. - Absorbing water to enlarge oneself - this makes little to no sense. + If Tracy can turn her self into water, then absorbing more of it would increase her mass. • The question is if she could turn that water into extra mass once reverting to human form. - Mimicking water has nothing to do with increasing one's mass. • It does if in the process of reverting back to human form, one can use extra water as a way to gain extra mass, or to heal an injury, restore a lost limb, or something similar. • The one person known to have that ability merely gets younger, or appears to do so when absorbing water.
Tracy's ability can have a similar effect to shape shifting.	None	• It is unknown if she can revert to a different appearance from her water state.
Tracy will try to kill Rachel.	None	+ Tracy has a vendetta against people involved with the the capturing of evolved humans and she does not know Rachel's true loyalties. + Rachel was one of those who imprisoned Tracy. + Rachel was one of the agents of Building 26. + Although Rachel's goal later became to work with Rebel to protect evolved humans from Danko, Tracy might not believe it. Or it will not change her feeling about Rachel. - Rachel's ability makes her pretty hard to kill, especially with freezing. + Tracy developed her ability to the point she no longer needs to touch an onject, and she seems to freeze it momentarily. Even Rachel may not escape.
Tracy's ability can have a similar effect to rapid cell regeneration.	None	+ If Tracy is hurt, it might be possible for her to change into a watery state and then return to human form unscathed. - Donald Essex was hurt, turned into water and didn't come back. + Donald was hurt with a chemical, he avoided physical injury before. - Because he turned into water then. + There's no indication that he turned into water with active concentration, he seemed somewhat surprised when the spike went through him, even though he had been aware of his ability for years. • Mohinder calls it "fight or flight", the nervous system's ability to activate powers when an individual is in danger. - Donald Essex didn't technically heal any wounds, he just turned into water and thus avoided damage. + She is able to survive Edgar's knife slashes without damage by turning herself into water. Should she gain full control over this aspect of her power, she would be nigh-unkillable, like Claire. • Unless someone sprays her with whatever Danko sprayed on Donald Essex.
Tracy's ability mutated because she slushed into sewers.	None	+ Sewers are full of trash and goo. Who knows what stuff Tracy went through? - Tracy melted before she went to the sewers, it would have required her ability to change before going down the drains.
Tracy's freezing power is weaker than James Walker's freezing power.	None	+ Peter's natural power is stronger than his synthetic power. • We haven't seen the full potential of James Walker's freezing, but Tracy can do a lot more than Sylar had shown.
Tracy's freezing power has now evolved into water manipulation.	None	+ Tracy can do more than just freezing people by physical contact, she can now manipulate water to any extent. - Tracy can only control the water she becomes. - Abilities can become stronger, but they don't change into something else. + She controls the temperature of the water, also it could be a part of her ability.
Tracy's ability is somehow linked to the energy which specials produce.	None	+ Tracy's ability seems to begin malfunctioning when there are no evolved humans nearby. - Tracy's ability still malfunctioned for a while after meeting Claire. - Every time Tracy's ability malfunctioned, she overwhelmed with something.