Mental manipulation

Mental manipulation
	; The Haitian erases Sandra's memories.
Originally held by:	The Haitian,; Anna
Absorbed by:	Peter Petrelli (future),; Arthur Petrelli
Ability to:	Manipulate others' minds
	Examples of mental manipulation

Mental manipulation is the ability to manipulate others' minds, causing them to lose memories or preventing them from using special powers.

Characters

Confirmed

The Haitian is known to natively have this ability.
Arthur Petrelli has stolen this ability.
Anna is also known to have this ability.

Unconfirmed

Future Peter claims to have absorbed this ability from an unspecified source, confessing to Claire that he has made her "forget" things. (Resistance).

Limits

Thus far, the Haitian's ability has been shown to do two things: Interfere with the abilities of other evolved humans, and affect human memory.

Anna's ability has not yet been shown to interfere with other evolved human's abilities, or affect memory. Her ability has only been shown to shut down the upper brain functions of those around her. However, much like the Haitian did to the others in his village (It Takes a Village, Part 2), Anna used her ability on her family, and destroyed them mentally. According to Dr. Suresh, her ability has been known to affect and disorient sensory perception, motor commands, language skills, and even conscious thought (chapter 2 of Operation Bad Blood).

Arthur Petrelli has used this ability to erase Hiro's memories. Due to Ando's interruption and his own curiosity about an eclipse's painting, he didn't erase all of Hiro's mind, but he managed to erase most of mind, leaving him with only the memories he had up to the age of ten. (Villains)

Interference with Abilities

The Haitian can interfere with at least some of the abilities of other evolved humans. Whether or not this interference is equally effective against all abilities is yet unknown.

Interference seems to be a largely passive ability, affecting all evolved humans in range without concentration or effort, even if the Haitian is unaware of their presence. He can, however, choose not to interfere with the abilities of particular evolved humans that he knows about. Also, his power does not operate when he is unconscious (One of Us, One of Them).

The Haitian's interference is not insurmountable; while Matt gets nothing but "static" when he tries to read the Haitian's mind, he can sometimes pick up a word or two from Noah Bennet in spite of the Haitian's interference. Nevertheless, any ability that requires concentration is drastically limited within an unspecified radius of the Haitian.

It is unknown as to whether Anna can use her ability to suppress other evolved humans' abilities.

Abilities Affected

The following abilities have been shown to be blocked by the Haitian's mental manipulation:

Bliss and horror (It Takes a Village)
Empathic mimicry (Four Months Ago...)
Enhanced strength (The Sting of Injustice)
Persuasion (Six Months Ago)
Rapid cell regeneration (I Am Become Death)
Sound manipulation (The Sting of Injustice)
Space-time manipulation (One of Us, One of Them)
Super speed (One of Us, One of Them)
Telekinesis (Four Months Ago...)
Telepathy (One Giant Leap)

Effects on Human Memory

The Haitian can induce a person to recall a set of related memories (It Takes a Village, Part 4). He can also selectively remove memories of specific events or periods of time. While he apparently needs to touch the subject to remove memories in a controlled manner, he has shown that he can seriously damage the memories of numerous people without physical contact (It Takes a Village, Part 2).

Erasing memories has harmful side effects. It has been associated with headaches and blackouts, as in the cases of Matt Parkman, Theodore Sprague, and Sandra Bennet. Multiple memory erasures appear to be especially harmful to the subject. The Haitian has erased portions of Sandra Bennet's memory "many times" (Fallout), and Sandra has since developed a subdural hemorrhage in the part of her brain that controls memory (Unexpected). Symptoms include headaches, facial tics, fainting spells, and intermittent amnesia so severe that she sometimes does not even recognize her dog or her daughter (Run!).

The Haitian cannot restore a memory that he has deleted (Godsend, It Takes a Village, Part 4), and he has not demonstrated any ability to create false memories.

According to the Haitian, his own mental/emotional state affects the potency of his ability (It Takes a Village, Part 4).

While extremely rare, it is possible to "heal" from the Haitian's memory erasure. After the Haitian had erased Peter's memory, Adam encouraged him to use his healing ability to recover the affected memories, suggesting that the brain is damaged. (Four Months Ago...). Sanjog was also capable of restoring Piper's memory by manipulating her dreams (Different and the Same).

Selected Examples

The Haitian makes Matt forget he was abducted.
(Collision)
The Haitian blocks Sylar's powers, while Eden uses hers.
(Homecoming)
The Haitian blocks Eden's power of suggestion.
(Six Months Ago)
In 1992, the Haitian is called upon to erase Sandra Bennet's mind.
(Company Man)
To hide Claire, Mr. Bennet asks the Haitian to erase his memories.
(Company Man, Family Man)
Matt Parkman's memories fade.
(It Takes a Village, Part 1)
The Haitian leaves the villagers lifeless.
(It Takes a Village, Part 3)
The Haitian takes some of Ivan's memories.
(The Line)

Memorable Quotes

"Relax. Nothing's gonna happen to your wife because she's not gonna remember finding anything. There's a boy we discovered in Haiti."

"He can make her forget?"

"He's really something. He's mute. When I asked him to describe his ability, he drew a picture of himself pulling memories like little grub worms out of someone's head. I wanted to put it on the front of my fridge. When he's done, make sure you thank him for saving Sandra's life."

- Thompson, Mr. Bennet (Company Man)

"Memories, moments, hidden like jewels scattered in a muddy field. But I could find them. I could find them and show them to him, in all of their radiance."

- The Haitian (It Takes a Village, Part 4)

"Don't you need to write any of this down?"

"Memory is not an issue for me."

- Mohinder, The Haitian (Crossroads)

Notes

Though he is with a detained Nathan Petrelli, the Haitian is unable or unwilling to prevent Nathan from flying away. (Hiros)
Though he is only feet from Peter Petrelli and Claude Rains, the Haitian does not prevent them from being invisible. (Unexpected)
He never tries to stop Ted's radiation in Company Man. In the commentary for that episode, Bryan Fuller admits that they have "played fast and loose" with the Haitian's ability and says that they had considered including a line explaining that he cannot suppress Ted's ability.
The Haitian's power may have the ability to knock out individuals. After an encounter with the Haitian, Matt, Ted, Sylar, and Nathan were all subdued in some way or another. However, in each case, an alternate explanation was given. For instance, Mr. Bennet told Matt that he was drugged, and Sylar became unconscious when the Haitian grabbed him in Homecoming. It's not clear whether this event was related to his mental manipulation powers or was simply in response to Eden's suggestion to sleep.
In an interview, writer and co-producer Aron Coleite said in regards to the Haitian's powers, "I think that it’s more of an on-and-off thing. He has very good control of his ability. I think that he’s able to turn it on and off. You’ll find out that the Haitian has been using his ability for a while. He’s adept at using his ability."
Sylar has a flashback of Charlie and the Burnt Toast Diner (Road Kill). Artist Jason Badower theorized, "The graphic novel confirms Sylar has Charlie's memory... He was immune to the Haitian's 'Jedi Mind Tricks'." This leads to wonder if the Haitian ever tried to remove Sylar's memories. A preview for Godsend includes a shot of Sylar lying on the floor of his cell with Mr. Bennet saying, "He is to have no memory of Claire," but this line does not appear in any aired episode. Regardless, Sylar does not appear to have lost any memories.
In an interview, Joe Kelly discussed the Haitian's first manifestation of his power: "I figured that in his emotionally charged state, the Haitian's powers went 'off the charts' because he knew nothing about control. Since it had such terrible results for him, I think he'd instinctively be much more about control after that discovery."
The Mozaic file refers to "neurocognitive deficit" (The Fix), which could describe the effects of the Haitian's ability. However, it has not been confirmed as to whether or not the file was referring to the Haitian.
The Haitian was able to prevent Peter from recalling his abilities and memories (Four Months Ago...). It is unclear if the Haitian can block Peter's ability to absorb powers, or if he can only block the recalling of abilities Peter has absorbed.
In The Kill Squad, Sean Fallon is engaged in a fight with Brendan Lewis and states that they need a "nullifier", specifically mentioning the Haitian by name. This suggests that mental manipulation is effective against plant mimicry, though this is uncertain.
In Resistance, Future Peter says to Future Claire while disguising himself that he doesn't want to make her forget again. This implies that he has absorbed the Haitian's ability, and used it to erase incriminating memories of his alleged "terrorist" activities.

Mental manipulation

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