Theory:Arthur Petrelli

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The following fan theories are about Arthur Petrelli.

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Theories

Theory	Citations	Notes
Mr. Petrelli has a power related with probability.	None.	• He kept winning in the card games. (War Buddies, Part 2). - He could just be good at cards, and have a good poker face.
Mr. Petrelli has the power of immortality.	Angela Petrelli states that Mr. Petrelli thought he was invincible. (Don't Look Back)	+ Angela's comment suggests that he was in some way resistant to death, but as he is (most likely) dead, he was clearly not immune to injury. Perpetuity would explain both these facts. - Petrelli knew Linderman had the healing power, so any physical injury could always be healed. Perpetuity isn't necessary and is likely not the case, since he seems to have eventually died.
Mr. Petrelli has no powers	None	+ In War Buddies, Mr. Petrelli displays no powers. - The photo shown in The Kindness of Strangers showed Mr. Petrelli in the presence of a group of people, some of whom have displayed powers. - Linderman told Nathan that Mr. Petrelli had "great power". - It is repeatedly stated by Angela that Nathan and Peter are like their father in that they have delusions of grandeur, despite the fact that they have powers. Angela is clearly covering up the powers of her sons, and it would seem is doing the same with the powers of the father.
Mr. Petrelli is not dead, but in hiding from Mr. Linderman, possibly as a part of the Witness Protection Program. He faked a suicide, possibly with the help of Nathan to protect his wife and family and so not to be put into a position either against his son or against Mr. Linderman.	Peter did not sense his own father's passing, like Charles Deveaux's or Nathan's accident. Their mother stated that Nathan was the one who found his father dead.(Genesis, Six Months Ago).	• Since Peter's father supposedly committed suicide after Nathan's accident, he had already experienced his first vision. - This theory requires that nobody other than those in on the fake suicide had seen Mr. Petrelli's body or that they were somehow able to produce what appeared to be his body. - While Nathan tells Peter that their dad is dead from a heart attack, Angela Petrelli told Peter in the hospital not only that his father suffered delusions of grandeur and had committed suicide, but that he had attempted it several times before. If his death was faked, those previous attempts are no longer explained. + It could be that the previous attempts at suicide were genuine, and that they were exploited to add weight to the claim that he had committed suicide. - or that there never were previous attempts and Angela simply said there were to disuade her sons from taking a path she did not agree with.
Mr. Petrelli died and has become Uluru.	None	• Linderman tells Nathan that his father possessed great power. Angela Petrelli tells Peter that his father thought he was indestructible. It has been suggested that Uluru is indestructible.
Linderman orchestrated Mr. Petrelli's death to look like a suicide.	None.	• Linderman clearly has enough power to do such a thing, and he benefited from Mr. Petrelli's demise in that Nathan switched from being about to prosecute him to being a "candidate in his pocket." - It is implied that his father's death was one of the main motivations for Nathan to begin working with the FBI to bring Linderman down.
Mr. Petrelli was killed because he was about to reveal company secrets to the public.	None.	• Children with powers are sometimes placed with surrogate families until their powers manifest. It is possible that Mr. & Mrs. Petrelli were given Peter and Nathan and were told to raise them as their own until their powers manifested. Over this time, they had normal lives and grew to regard the Company agents as their parents, and in order to continue his protection of Peter and Nathan, Mr. Petrelli was prepared to go public. He was killed by the the Company to prevent this. Mrs. Petrelli's behavior toward Peter after his semi-failed attempt to fly also can therefore be interpreted as her desire to keep her "favorite" son from being exposed.
Mr. Petrelli did not have delusions of grandeur. His suicide was a way to make Linderman's healing power public.	Linderman has healing power. Mr. Petrelli decided to report the truth, but Linderman denies everything about his healing powers. Linderman states he might be delusional. (War Buddies, Part 5)	• Petrelli pushed Linderman going public about his healing power by committing suicide, forcing him to heal him. Previous attempts were covered up by the media and one time, Linderman just refused to heal him, thus indirectly killing. + Although Linderman said that Petrelli was delusional, it was clear that he wasn't (at that time). - It was stated by Angela Petrelli that Mr. Petrelli had major depressive disorder. She went on saying that this disorder can start from delusions of grandeur--thinking you're invincible or indestructible. (Don't Look Back) - Linderman claiming that Petrelli was delusional could have merely been a reference to Petrelli's illness.
Mr Petrelli faked his death, for the plans of the company to come to pass.	None.	+ It is possible as an old TV truth is that if there is no body they arent really dead, and it seems as though the writers have gone to great lengths to avoid mention of a grave or funeral service for Mr. Petrelli.
Mr. Petrelli is Mr. Bennet's biological father	Noah Bennet's father needed glasses. (Company Man) Mr. Petrelli needed glasses and apparently wore a horn-rimmed version. (The Kindness of Strangers)	+ All of Mr. Petrelli's sons (if you include Noah) are named after prominent Biblical characters. - A lot of Anglo Saxon Names appear in the bible, including Matthew, Thomas, Gabriel, and Daniel aka D.L.
Mr. Petrelli is not dead.	None	+ The show has gone on for some time since the announcement of his death with excruciating labor not to provide evidence that he's dead. There has been no reference to his body, his funeral, or his grave. Nobody is known to have seen him dead. When TV shows do that with characters it's only for one reason, to hold out the possibility of surprising the audience with the shocking news that the character is still alive.
Arthur's power is weather manipulation.	None.	+ During Bob's explanation to Nathan about the strong influence Adam has on people, he talks about a snowstorm that was for Nathan and could've easily been a tsunami, insinuating that Arthur was the creator of the snowstorm. + A newspaper clippings on the map reads "'Rain' Man Saves Town from Drought".
Arthur attempted to kill himself because Linderman could always heal him, but Linderman let him die.	None.	+ Linderman has the power of healing. Arthur thought he was invincible. Arthur could have theoretically been seeing how far he could push himself to the edge and have Linderman bring him back. It would explain his attempted suicides, and why he was meeting with Linderman on the night of his death.
Arthur Petrelli has the power of rapid cell regeneration.	Angela Petrelli states that Mr. Petrelli thought he was invincible. (Don't Look Back)	• Claire is unable to regenerate if the killing object is still inside of her. It is possible that Mr. Petrelli injured himself in such a way as to be unable to regenerate. Angela Petrelli seemed unknowing of this, as Claire was the one that had to pull the piece of glass out of Peter's head to revive him.