Sylar

Sylar
Portrayed by	Zachary Quinto
First appearance	One Giant Leap
In-story stats
Known abilities	Telekinesis, possibly others
Gender
Residence	Sylar's apartment
Occupation	unknown

Sylar is believed to be a serial killer who pins some victims to walls with household objects (and no signs of physical contact) and removes the brains of others. Chandra Suresh identified him as Patient Zero in his research.

Character History

Genesis

Mohinder Suresh finds a cassette tape in his late father's apartment, labelled "Sylar".

Don't Look Back

Sylar is stated to be a suspected serial killer. His suspected victims are sometimes seen with their heads sliced open horizontally at the center of their skull and their brain removed. Other victims are pinned to the wall with various household objects and no apparent signs of physical contact. Audrey Hanson, an FBI agent, investigates a murder scene she believes to have been the work of Sylar, and Matt Parkman uses his new powers to locate the victim's missing daughter, Molly Walker.

Sylar knew the late Chandra Suresh, before he died. Chandra told his son, Mohinder that he thought that Sylar was "Patient Zero". In a taped phone call between Chandra and Sylar, the latter alludes that the former "made him this way" and refers to a mysterious "uncontrollable hunger" he now has. Chandra wanted nothing to do with Sylar at this point.

When Hiro travels to the future to November 8 he visits Isaac Mendez in his home. Hiro finds Issac dead with his sawed off and his brain removed, in the same style as Molly Walker's father.

One Giant Leap

Mohinder and Eden visit an apartment believed to be Sylar's. When no one answers, Mohinder breaks in. Inside, Eden notes that Sylar has no photographs in the apartment but plenty of books on philosophy, as well as a copy of Chandra Suresh's book. Mohinder takes pictures of the apartment, including a picture of his father's book on a bureau, books on the shelves, and a book in a glass case. He stumbles upon a secret room behind the glass case. Inside is a map similar to one used by the Suresh's, but with many more connections and papers linked to several of them. Eden identifies Nathan Petrelli on one of the links. Mohinder finds another room in the secret area covered by vinyl tarps. Inside, the walls are covered in scrawls, possibly indicating that Sylar's mental state is unbalanced. Writings such as, "Forgive me. I have sinned," are written all over, some apparently in blood.

Meanwhile, a man believed to be Sylar attempts to abduct Molly, who is being held in a safe room in the Los Angeles FBI headquarters. Matt and Audrey stop him, with Matt protecting Molly and Audrey giving chase. When Audrey pulls her gun, the man somehow forces her backwards against a wall and makes her point her own weapon to her head. When Matt arrives, he shoots at the unknown man. However, when Matt turns to check on Audrey, the man stands back up and the bullets Matt had fired at him seem to fall to the ground. As Matt and Audrey look back, the man disappears.

Hiros

Sylar appears in a painting by Isaac Mendez which Peter Petrelli finishes. It reveals that Sylar will murder and remove Claire Bennet's brain if nothing is done to stop it.

Nothing to Hide

Audrey believes she's found another of Sylar's victims, Robert Fresco, but it turns out the victim was instead accidentally killed by Theodore Sprague.

Seven Minutes to Midnight

In Midland, TX, Hiro and Ando talk to a waitress, Charlie, in the Burnt Toast Diner. Meanwhile, sitting at a table is a man wearing a ballcap. He pulls a glass to his hand using his powers, revealing a broken analog watch reading 11:53.

When Charlie is discovered murdered, the top of her head sliced off, Sylar is nowhere to be found. When Hiro sees Charlie's body, he immediately recognizes the wound as identical to that suffered by Isaac in the future timeline.

At the Primatech Paper Co. warehouse that serves as his headquarters, Mr. Bennet reveals to Isaac Mendez that Sylar is a superpowered serial killer who is hunting and killing other individuals with powers, and confirms that the painting Peter Petrelli helped Isaac finish shows Claire, Bennet's own daughter, murdered by Sylar. He tells Isaac he needs him to paint where Sylar is so they can stop him before he kills Claire at her homecoming the next night.

In India, Mohinder Suresh has a strange dream. In it, he watches in horror as his father, Chandra Suresh, is murdered by a passenger in his cab. The man smashes through the partition and slams Chandra's head against the window. As he does so, he cracks the face of his watch, stopping it at 11:53.

Homecoming

At Union Wells High School, Peter checks out a trophy case with a banner calling Jackie their "hero". He notices a newspaper clipping of Jackie, in her cheerleader outfit, accepting an award for rescuing the man from the train wreck. Just then Claire runs into him. Peter asks Claire if she knows Jackie and she tells him she's a cheerleader. Claire asks if he's a reported and he replies that he's an alumni. Claire tells him that Jackie's actually not special. When Peter points out what Jackie supposedly did Claire just claims to be jealous and tells him that she's not winning any popularity contests. Peter tells her that things get better after high school. Peter walks outside and glances up seeing the clock and homecoming banner that's in the background of Isaac's paintings.

Another man is now looking at the newspaper clipping of Jackie's award for supposedly rescuing the man from the train wreck. On his hand is a broken watch , revealing it's Sylar.

In the locker room Jackie is pumping up the girls for the halftime show. Jackie confronts Claire telling her she thought she was grounded. Claire asks Jackie about her eye. Jackie tells Claire that she thinks Claire's a menace in general. She claims they used to be best friends and asks what happened to them. Claire tells her that she's gained some perspective and is tired of being someone she's not. Jackie claims that Claire's been trying to be like her since second grade, and Claire retorts that now Jackie's trying to be her. She tells Jackie that she knows it wasn't her that rescued the man from the train wreck because it was actually her. Jackie claims she's lying, but Claire tells her she has it on tape. Suddenly the lights in the locker room go out and a shadowy figure passes by. Mr. Bennet looks around the bleachers outside where Isaac painted Claire running from something. Claire and Jackie go to leave the locker room, but Claire tells her not to go that way. She grabs Jackie and pulls her through the locker room. Jackie protests and suddenly Sylar grabs her by the neck, pins her against a locker, and lifts her up in the air. Claire jumps on Sylar, but he throws her off and sends her flying into a wall. Jackie screams and both Mr. Bennet and Peter hear her and run inside to help. Sylar covers Jackie's mouth and puts his finger in the air near her forehead. Suddenly there's a slicing noise and Jackie's skull is sliced open spraying blood everywhere. Claire relocates her mangled limbs and gets up. Sylar sees her regenerating and drops Jackie. Claire runs out of the locker room and into Peter again. Sylar walks out into the hallway and Peter and Claire run away. Peter tells her to keep running and stops to face Sylar. Using telekinesis, Sylar rips the doors off of the hallway lockers and sends them flying towards Peter. Peter dodges a few of them and runs away with Sylar following. Mr. Bennet enters the locker room, sees Jackie's body on the floor and initially thinks it's Claire. Claire runs into the bleachers just as Isaac's painting originally showed. The shadowy figure chasing after her turns out to be Peter, who helps her up when she falls as she's climbing the stands. With Sylar in at the bottom of the stands, Peter tells Claire to run and find a lot of people as he believes Sylar doesn't want to be seen. Claire runs off and suddenly Peter looks up to find Sylar standing right in front of him. Sylar grabs Peter and they both fall off the bleachers and onto the pavement below. The clock turns to 8:12pm and Peter lays on the pavement in a pool of his own blood. Claire comes out and finds Peter laying on the ground. Peter coughs and sits up. He twists his mangled legs back into place and Claire notices the wounds on his head regenerate.

Sylar climbs a hill to escape. At the top of the hill, Eden is leaning against a tree. Upon seeing her he pauses momentarily before raising his hand. Using her power of suggestion, Eden tells Sylar that he doesn't want to hurt her and that they need to talk. She tells him to tell her all about himself, but first he needs to sleep. The Haitian surprises Sylar and covers his eyes. Quickly Sylar falls to the ground.

Powers

Sylar has the ability of Telekinesis

• In One Giant Leap, Sylar manipulates Audrey, forcing her back against a fence, then forcing her right hand to point her firearm at her head. She is attempting to hold back her right hand with her left hand.
• In Seven Minutes to Midnight, Sylar pulls a glass into his hand from across the table, presumably telekinetically.

Speculation: Unconfirmed information follows.

Sylar is suspected to have one or more of the following powers: telekinesis, cryokinesis, regeneration, super-jump, power absorbtion.

• In Don't Look Back, Molly's father is frozen solid while eating dinner, mid bite, with the top of his skull removed (Though it is possible that Molly's father had the cryokinesis power and was attempting to freeze Sylar when he died). Molly's mother is pinned to the staircase by silverware about 5 feet off the ground, and it is stated "It must have taken three guys to lift her up that high".

• After being hit by several of Matt's bullets, Sylar rises a minute later, almost "lifting" himself from the floor, seemingly unharmed. The sound of metal hitting to the floor is heard, as if Sylar was able to shield himself from the bullets.
• Sylar escapes by leaping up the wall (a reference to the title of the episode).

Trivia

• A photograph on NBC's Heroes site shows a birth announcement for a Paul E. Sylar, dated June 11, 1962. The announcement appears to be pinned next to the map in Chandra Suresh's Brooklyn apartment. However, the casting of 29 year-old Zachary Quinto seems contrary to this information. It's possible that the villain Sylar is not the Paul Sylar depicted (some fans have suggested he's his son), or it could simply be that the concept of the character has changed since the original announcement was designed.
• The apartment Sylar was using in "One Giant Leap" was number 613. The apartment Mohinder rents out in New York is apartment number 316. Each number is the other backwards. In Judaism, the number 613 corresponds to the number of "mitzvot[1]," or obligations, that a person is required to attempt in order to fulfill his covenant with G-d. This list was first compiled by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon in the 12th century C.E. Although a former altar boy, Sylar may be aware of this.

Fan Theories

• Sylar was a test subject of Chandra Suresh who manipulated his genes to give him all of the researched powers. This manipulation, however, has had a terrible side effect which causes his split personality (like Niki) to be extremely violent.
• Sylar might have every power the heroes have combined.
• The theory that Sylar is Peter has become so stale at 9th Wonders, the semi-official Heroes fansite, that it has inspired a drinking game: whenever someone brings it up, drink.
• Sylar is Mr. Linderman or works for him.
• Similarly to Peter, Sylar has the ability of absorption. However, Sylar has found a way to prolong the effects indefinitely, through Chandra Suresh's research. He knows that if he eats the brain of someone with abilities, he is able to control those abilities. This is the reason why the heroes must Save the Cheerleader. If they don't save Claire, then he will gain Rapid Regeneration and will become almost unstoppable.
• Chandra Suresh moved to the United States to further his research; He hooked up with Mr. Bennet to perform this research, which involved the testing of Sylar. Chandra and Mr. Bennet became divided over ethical approaches, and Sylar, without help or containment found that he could gain others' abilities if he ate their brains.

Notes

• In an interview, Tim Kring responded to the question "Are Sylar and Claire's father connected?" by saying "There is a connection between the two, which will become clear in later episodes."
• Kristin Veitch of E! indicates that Sylar's character "is the opposite of what you'd think it would be."