Mental manipulation
| Mental manipulation | |
|---|---|
 The Haitian erases Sandra's memories. | |
| Held by: | The Haitian |
| 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
- The Haitian is the only character known to have this ability.
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.
Interference with Abilities
The Haitian can interfere with at least some of the abilities of other evolved humans. This ability seems most effective against abilities that require active concentration (such as telepathy, persuasion, telekinesis, and space-time manipulation) and less effective against abilities that are passive or activate involuntarily (like regeneration, invisibility, and induced radioactivity). This ability does not require a line of sight and may not require awareness of the target; he inhibits Matt Parkman's telepathy in the parking lot of Primatech Paper Co. when he may not be aware of Matt's presence. Interference may even be a passive ability--one that is constantly active without concentration or effort--although he can apparently choose not to interfere with particular abilities.
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.
Abilities Affected
The Haitian's ability to block other special abilities does not seem to be equally effective against all other evolved human abilities. Why this ability is more effective at blocking some abilities than others is unclear.
Abilities known to be significantly affected include:
- Empathic mimicry
- Persuasion
- Space-time manipulation (in a possible future)
- Telepathy
- Bliss and horror
- Telekinesis
Abilities that have not been noticeably affected include:
- Flight
- Invisibility
- Induced radioactivity
- Luminescence (he was unconscious at the time)
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). In The Line, Noah explains to Ivan that the Haitian can remove specific memories, insinuating that this ability was previously unknown to Ivan.
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
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The Haitian makes Matt forget he was abducted.
(Collision) -
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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 we asked him to describe his ability, he drew a picture of himself pulling memories like little grub worms out of someone's head. I want to put it on the front of my fridge. When he's done, make sure you thank him for saving Sandra's life."
"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."
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.
- 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."
- 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). Ultimately, not enough evidence is available to draw a conclusion as to the full extent of the Haitian's powers.
- 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'."
- 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."
- It is unclear 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.
- 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 using his power of lightning (Four Months Ago...). Whether the Haitian was "blocking" Peter's empathic mimicry or the ability to create lightning is unknown.
See Also
- For other uses of memory, see memory (disambig).
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| Evolutions Abilities |
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