Theory talk:Sylar

Eating Brains confirmation?

I wasn't there and I don't have a direct link to it, but a post I saw at another board states that on January 20, 2007 that Kring confessed that the writing team is also trying to come up with a believable way to show onscreen how Sylar absorbs other hero powers and have confessed to stating that he does eat at least part of the brains at Wizard Universe a Comic-Con like event. --Snow Leapord 16:05, 18 October 2007 (EDT)

When Claire asked Sylar if he was going to eat her brain, he replied, "Claire, that's disgusting." ebrown2112 07:02, 15 December 2008 (EST)

Sylar Has Eidetic Memory confirmation?

I can't recall and don't have the Season 1 DVD set yet. But didn't Hiro go back in time to save Charlie? Instead of being killed by Sylar she ended up dying from a blood clot or something? BEcause I keep seeing references to Sylar having the Eidetic Memory ability, but can't recall if he actually acquired that or if it was an alternate timeline.
--MishBaker 17:31, 8 November 2007 (CST)

• See Road Kill. --DocM 18:36, 8 November 2007 (EST)
• That was actually the whole point of the Charlie storyline--that Hiro can't go back and change history as easily as one might think. In the end, Charlie is still dead and Sylar still has her power. He learned how to drive the Northeast Brewing Company truck after barely looking at the manual. See this image. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 18:44, 8 November 2007 (EST)
• When I saw the episode originally I was under the impression that the sole purpose for Hiro going back was to save Charlie and he learned that it isn't always that easy. Sure he couldn't change the fact that she was going to die, only HOW she died. But at the same time, a side effect of his travels, was that Sylar didn't get Charlie's power (which Hiro really didn't comprehend at the time anyway), instead she died of the blood clot. So if she died of a blood clot then how would Sylar have her ability? I'll have to check the timeline on the Roadkill GN but it could have taken place during Hiro's time with Charlie. If that's the case then it would have happened, but differently, since he wouldn't have had Charlies power. --Mish 12:54, 9 November 2007 (EST)
• Ok. The Road Kill GN came out in Feb. The episode "Six Months Ago" was in November. So if the GN is to be believed, Sylar indeed has the ability from Charlie.
  • Yeah, way Hiro was going to save Charlie was by making sure she wasn't at the diner when Sylar came around. After he disappeared, she probably didn't want to go to Japan alone, so she would have stuck around.--Leshia 13:43, 9 November 2007 (EST)
  • Incidentally, among the images shown in the little "flash-forward" at the end of Six Months Ago after Hiro teleports back (during Mohinder's closing monologue) is one of Charlie gettin' sliced again.--Hardvice (talk) 15:28, 9 November 2007 (EST)
  • I really need those Season 1 DVD's.....--Mish 16:30, 9 November 2007 (EST)
    • If it helps push you over the edge on a purchase decision, IMO they're worth it just for the special features. The original cut of the pilot and the 900,000 deleted scenes (well, ok, not 900k, but a lot) are excellent. And you should be able to find them for fairly cheap if you dig around the Internet a bit.--Hardvice (talk) 17:27, 9 November 2007 (EST)
      • Oh no. It's not matter of IF...it's a matter of WHEN! --Mish 17:35, 9 November 2007 (EST)

Candice's Power

Since invisible people can see other invisible people (for example), I think it's possible that Sylar has absorbed Candice's power; he just can't see the illusions himself... R'win 21:38, 9 November 2007 (EST)

• That's just silly. --Mish 02:45, 11 November 2007 (EST)
• Sylar didn't have his powers when he killed Candice.

Sylar is the second seasons 'bomb'

Peter travels to a future where people are dying because of a Virus. I'm unsure if it explicitly states that it was the Shanti Virus, but either way it can be theorized that Sylar kills and takes Maya's power and becomes a outlet for a more dangerous strand of disease as caused by Sylar's new power and his, possible, more refined use of such. Volume 2 of this season will involve the Heroes trying to stop Sylar, having already prevented the Shanti Virus from killing everyone, through Claire.

What do people think?

• Its very similar to an idea i was thinking on. How many days has it been since Sylar escaped? As it took Peter five days to regain his powers after using the 'hatian' (forgive my spelling) pills while held captive. Now we already know, or are told, Peter is the most powerful of them all, so perhaps we could give it a couple extra days until the effects wear off. If this is truth, then he can in theory , accomplish the above. He wants mohinder in this series so if his in ability to do his 'thing' is caused by something else he can gain access to the second vial of the cure, held in the box shown in Mohinders hands. Thus allowing Sylar to regain his abilities. The fight for this last vial, im assuming he cures Niki before heading to molly, will be shown alongside the battle for the shantie vial, adding to the tension in the episode, which , if any, will be released, the shantie Virus or Moya's ability.---Helios

Adam's son

Ok, I don't want to edit war, it's pointless, but the Sylar is Adam's son theory has too many holes in it, and considering what's to come, it makes no sense to keep it. Intuitive Empath - Talk - Contributions 09:55, 1 February 2009 (EST)

Crazy Harry Fletcher Theories

Jack Sarmy 07:52, 3 February 2009 (EST)Yeah, compared to some theories on this site that is quite sane. I've seen theories about Mr. Muggles being Uluru or a telepath for God's sake, along with many relations theories and that one is crazy enough to be banned from the site?

Waffles and Mt. Muggles are the exception to the rule, I'm not fond of that either, so I do my best to make sure they stay the only exceptions to the rule. Intuitive Empath - Talk - Contributions 11:12, 3 February 2009 (EST)

Edit war?

There a couple of theories here from season 1. Now I'm not looking for permission but I am going to remove them and don't want a back lash, so I'm gonna go ahead and see what happens.--Steelymcbeam 02:56, 25 February 2009 (EST)

• When were they disproven? (in response to your edit summary) - Josh (talk/contribs) 11:38, 25 February 2009 (EST)

Sylar's ability is not empathic mimicry

Ok Mike, here's why Sylar's ability can't be empathic mimicry. Sylar did use an empathy to get Elle's ability, but it certainly not empathic mimicry. Empathic mimcry as shown before by Peter allows the user to absorb abilities by merely standing next to the person, he's not even aware when it happens, like it was shown when he didn't notice he was invisible after meeting Calire, Sylar had to go through a very emotional moment in order to understand Elle, understand being the key word, and only when he understood her, he got her power. He was also able to get James Martin's shape shifting cause he understood how he felt, how he wanted to be someone else, and if Sylar did get Nathan's flight in An Invisible Thread, it would also make sense cause he used clairsentience in his belongings, collecting memories from them. His ability is to understand how things work, he usually understands how the brain works to get an ability, with Elle and James, he just understood her from another perspective. If Sylar had empathic mimicry he'd have Elle's ability since she stopped him from killing himself back in Villains, James' when he got to the club where James was posing as Danko. His understand Elle and James is merely another facet of his ability to understand how things work, another application of it. His empathy is not and has never been the same as Peter's, the only similarity between them is that emotions allow them to acquire other's abilities, and that's it. I'd say it's almost an homologous process, but still distinct processes and distinct abilities. Both insect and avian wings allow flight, but they're two different things. Intuitive Empath - Talk - Contributions 18:12, 5 May 2009 (EDT)

• • Empathic mimicry isn't always "automatic": Other Evolved humans had been within Peter Petrelli's proximity, exposing him to their abilities. However, Peter never exhibited these powers: Mental manipulation (from the Haitian in Unexpected), Clairvoyance (from Molly Walker in How to Stop an Exploding Man), Technopathy (from Micah Sanders in How to Stop an Exploding Man), Alchemy (from Bob Bishop in Four Months Ago...), Sound manipulation (from Jesse Murphy in One of Us, One of Them) and Mohinder's ability (from Mohinder Suresh in I Am Become Death). Sylar may just need concentration, because he's lost his "empathy". -- Mike the Man-child!
    • Now you're mixing things up. Empathic mimicry contains two processes, it absorbs an ability and it allows the user to access it later. BTE confirmed that in their first encounter, Peter absorbed all of Sylar's abilities, yet he only mimicked one, he was never aware of the other powers Sylar had, so since he still had to think of the person to use a power, when he thought of Sylar, the only power he could "call forth" so to speak was telekinesis. Similarly, Peter was never told who DL was, or that he had a power, but he was still able to use his ability, both pre and post Haitian memory wipe. Empathic mimicry passively absorbs all abilities it is exposed to unless the ability is being blocked by an ability, but can only access them through the thought or the emotion related to person Peter got an ability from, again, if he's not being blocked by another ability. Sylar can't have empathic mimicry cause he never automatically absorbed abilities, neither with the brain examination or with the understanding others feelings, there's no such thing as an empathic mimic needing to concentrate to absorb a power, if that was the case Peter wouldn't have been able to get flight from Nathan cause of the tension between them, the whole "my brother is delusional" talk in Nathan's campaign. In what concerns Sylar, empathy means understand how others feel, and understanding things is what his ability does, he got James Martin's shape shifting cause he understood his desire to be someone else, how James Martin felt, he couldn't care less about the person, he just understood how he felt and got his power based on that. Intuitive Empath - Talk - Contributions 17:34, 7 May 2009 (EDT)
• And since Sylar generally doesn't care about other people, directly examining the brain is the most effecient and preferred way for him. -Barbedknives (talk)22:06, 5 May 2009 (EDT)
  • Yes, he's only use conscious use of the empathy aspect of his ability confirmed so far (James Martin) shows us that he only uses empathy when it's more convenient. Intuitive Empath - Talk - Contributions 11:52, 6 May 2009 (EDT)
• I think Sylar has empathic mimicry, which leads me to think empathic mimicry actually involves empathy. Perhaps an aspect of empathic mimicry that Sylar has not discovered is the ability to automatically empathize with others by being around them. - Josh (talk/contribs) 23:56, 6 May 2009 (EDT)
  • No such thing as that, see my points with Nathan and DL above. Intuitive Empath - Talk - Contributions 17:34, 7 May 2009 (EDT)
    • The automatic empathy explains him effortlessly getting Nathan and D.L.'s abilities. - Josh (talk/contribs) 20:37, 7 May 2009 (EDT)
  • Not to mention the fact that the writers practically confirmed "empathic mimicry" was a valid name for what Sylar does:

• • “Since Sylar understands and seems to empathize with Luke, does that mean he would've acquired, or can acquire, his microwave powers through empathic mimicry?”

• • Yes it does. - Josh (talk/contribs) 00:57, 7 May 2009 (EDT)
    • Again, as I already pointed out, Sylar's ability has an aspect which allows him to have an end effect like empathic mimicry, using it he can get powers through empathy, but since he doesn't automatically gets a power, it can't be empathic mimicry. Two to the third is eight, but so is four plus four, just because the results are the same doesn't mean the processes are. Intuitive Empath - Talk - Contributions 17:34, 7 May 2009 (EDT)
    • Well if that's true, it confirms what I've suspected for a long time. But people on this wiki take assignment trackers as gospel and generally don't accept speculation like this. I think that Sylar has developed empathic mimicry on his own. Think about it, he can change his DNA, right? Well maybe something like empathy cannot just be 'examined' but must be experienced for oneself. This experience could have impacted Sylar in a way that he unconsciously developed EM on his own using intuitive aptitude or not. I think the primary reason why he has trouble using it is that he is such a disturbed individual, so it is difficult if not impossible for him to access it. My two cents. -Barbedknives (talk)04:57, 7 May 2009 (EDT)
      • Nothing suggests that Sylar can write his DNA in a way to create a new ability, he can only see how people's brains work and change himself to account for that effect. Also, AT profiles have never given us wrong information, it may have given info we didn't like (such as the name for Doyle's ability), but it has never been wrong, and it has never been directly against any other source of information we have. Intuitive Empath - Talk - Contributions 17:34, 7 May 2009 (EDT)
• It's like, we SEE a phenomenon displayed; take for example Empathic mimicry. Then we SEE it again, pretty much exactly as described before. But since it doesn't meet up to the preconceived standards of confirmation people have in their heads, they can't accept it. It's the same with Matt and precognition: he does exactly what Issac does, but since it hasn't been 100% confirmed by 'name' people won't admit it. I guess it's trying to strive to be rational, but in doing so missing the point and being irrational.

A similar case happened with the Tracy/Barbara debacle. Despite the mountains of evidence in favor of Tracy being the water manipulater in the spoiler, there were still people who clung to the 'it hasn't been confirmed' mentality and blocked out such ideas and evidence.

The best example is how much people over complicate such things as naming conventions. It's as if people are trying to be as 'scientifically accurate' as possible when describing supernatural abilities, while in reality just come off as psuedoscientific jargon. This leads to many simple and effective suggestions being thrown out on a whim by a select few individuals, till the only names we have to choose from are outlandish and ridiculous. It's like come on people, get a grip. We're not scientists, the world isn't coming to an end because we don't perfectly describe a fictional occurence. This is why I'm no longer participating in ability naming discussions. People get into it waay too much and start giving retarded esoteric names while ignoring the decent and simple ones.

While I'm in a ranting mood, another thing that bothers me is that people here, especially when discussing topics that are speculative and gray in nature, tend to almost unilaterially press their biases and opinion off onto other users as fact. When enough people either cave into their bullying, or believe it themselves, 'consensus' is reached and they can continue to abuse their opinions. If the subject matter is vague and lacks much if any confirmation, than any discussion you have is your opinion versus theirs. but some people can't see that and can only accept complete agreeance as the definitive link to logic. Sure, 'their' logic. Bottom line: if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, well, it's probably Sylar's empathic mimicry/Matt Parkman has precognition/water girl is Tracy/Baby Matt's ability is toggling/Peter has all Sylar's abilities/etc. Lack of explicit confirmation shouldn't trump Occam's razor. That's not logical at all. :P -Barbedknives (talk)06:10, 7 May 2009 (EDT)

Err, the writers confirmed Matt used telepathy to access the procog mental plain, and the wounds on Peter's forehead (at the funeral scene) pretty much confirm he doesn't have Sylar's regeneration. - Josh (talk/contribs) 10:47, 7 May 2009 (EDT)

I'm not pressing bias and opinion as fact, I'm using concrete facts, both from the show and BTE interviews to invalidate a theory, never once in my arguments I said "I think" or "it may be because" or "it could be", I always give examples to illustrate my points. I agree with you that naming conventions aren't 100% effective, call me biased but I gave two simple and fitting names for abilities which have naming discussions on, but since people can't find a balance between accuracy and simplicity, they were refused by one person who didn't like them and tossed aside, even though there were explanations on why they were good names. I agree, it's a flawed system, but there will always be someone that doesn't agree with a name, names are chosen by the people who take part in the discussion, if we had consensus checks for abilities every time someone who didn't take part of a previous one said they didn't like the current name and said it was biased and all the things you said, believe me, the number of So-and-so's abilities would sky rocket. Intuitive Empath - Talk - Contributions 17:34, 7 May 2009 (EDT)