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memphishero

Anyone notice the similarities here?

Sylar has the ability to diagnose broken things/people,
Micah repairs broken payphone and attempts to disassemble laptop.

Sylar absorbs others' abilities by killing (uses powers for evil),
Peter absorbs others' abilities by proximity (uses powers for good).

Knowing that Micah and Peter are both alive in the "6 months ago" story arc, it is impossible that Sylar has gained their powers by killing.

What do you think?

-MemphisHero

meltedface · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 8:16 pm Post subject:

In a lot of primitive cultures, and even a few modern ones, it's a belief that by the eating of your enemies, you gain their strength. Sylar's abilities most likely play on this idea. as far as is being able to "diagnose", we'll just have to wait and see..

BYD · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 8:29 pm Post subject:

I agree that Peter and Sylar have some similarities. They both feel that are supposed to do "more" than what they had been doing, an untapped potential. They both embrace their ability. the biggest difference that I see is their attitude toward life in general. Peter wants to help others. He is nurse for hospice patients. Sylar has an enormous need to be "special". His goal is simply to promote himself above the common man, whereas Peter wants to help the common man.

Erden · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:00 pm Post subject:

I do not believe that SYlar gains his abilities by just killing them, that is just an effect of how he gets it. I think it's via eating their brain because the brains are gone. Hopefully not because that is just disgusting but oh well...

meltedface · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:06 pm Post subject:

Ooh. Nice catch on the morality between Peter & Sylar. I would have never thought that those two would have been foils for one another. Peter and Nathan, sure, but I guess I didn't place that one.

meltedface · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:09 pm Post subject:

Hercules67 · Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:27 am Post subject:

Psychokinesis

Does anyone feel like there seems to be alot of similiarities between sylar and peter. Sylar was a mild mannered nobody who wanted to be special and when he got the chance he went all out for it and got obsessed with feeling important. Peter on the other hand hasn't amounted to much, but the difference is that he has devoted his life to giving, as a hospice nurse, and then when he finds out he can save the world, he goes all out for it.

I think there's some sub-text to this, like both peter's and sylar's powers are similiar, but how the characters each manifested their abilites and their use of it are so different. Not to sound corny but it's the Harry potter-voldemort thing, ultimate good versus ultimate evil, but u start to see that the line between the 2 gets so blurred, that either could have crossed over to the other side....

Actually, peter and syalr kinda look a tad similiar, on first impression u wouldn't see either as the ultimate hero or villan, but they become those roles... Food for thought, this may be the sawyer vs jack complex from lost...

HornRimmedGlasses · Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 5:28 am Post subject:

Well, first of all, we assume he is consuming the brains somehow due to a few reasons.

-He doesn't need to carry brains or brainmatter around to use the powers.
-There's no real point to removing the brain if you just want to kill someone.
-The professor in "6 Months Ago" stated that the brain controls everything, and that even the soul may reside there (alluding to the point that their powers come from the brain)
-Gabriel Sylar goes on a rant of the evolution process referring to animals having to feed on others involuntarily. That it is wrong to have weak links stay alive, "Why spiders eat their young, they don't want to but have to."
-Sylar did not gain telekinesis until after killing the man (his name eludes me at the moment) and then putting on his work glasses (the getting to work mood).

Protagonist · Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 5:46 am Post subject:

The ethical parallels between Gabriel (Sylar) and Peter is fascinating. Note that Gabriel and Peter are both biblical names. Gabriel is the archangel of destruction/death (or the left hand of God). Peter is first among the disciples (or the right hand of Jesus).

Micah and Sylar also pose an interesting parallel because we have not yet seen much of how Micah goes through his power. The map with the links and Chandra's acceptance of Gabriel's telekinesis while he suspected another telekinetic lived in New York seems to hint that Chandra did not think that there was one of every type in the world. I do not believe that Sylar had to gain his power from Micah or Peter.

A real question would be whether Gabriel has strong power or a minor power. He evidently has a power that allows him to see things that need fixing. Is this what allows him to gain powers from others? But is this so minor that it did not show up on the tests (there were more tests forthcoming though)?

BYD · Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:10 am Post subject:

Also interesting is that Nathan is on the partial list of Chandra's that we have seen, but Peter is not. One would think that if Peter were on his list that he would be immediately above or below Nathan. I mention this as a similarity between Peter and Sylar as Chandra's tests did not register Sylar as a hero, making both of them difficult to ID as Heroes.

BYD · Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:19 am Post subject:

merging with similar thread.

Machiavelli

Briceus2000 · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:29 pm Post subject:

Also, another interesting contrast between the two I just thought of:

Sylar was from a dull, ordinary, blue collar, working family; as such, he always strove to rise above it.

Peter =, however, is from quite the opposite, a high powered, interesting (if ethically suspect), rich and advantaged; and he strives to subvert it.

As such, we can see that what they are, essentially, are opposite methods of achieving the same end.

They can both take on others powers, and both are very intuitive. However:

-Sylar is intuitive with regards to how things are put together, how they work, eg: watches
-Peter is intuitive with people, with emotions, eg: the dream about his brothers car crash

-Sylar takes powers by seeing how they work and emulating them intellectually
-Peter takes powers by empathizing with the powers holder, and emulating them emotionally

-Sylar despises his father for abiding by the rules (work for money, honest, blue collar) and thus being condemned to mediocrity, so he rebels against it by working for evil.
-Peter resents his father for being so morally corrupt, and thus obtaining wealth, power and influence, so he rebels against it by working for good.

As such, they are, indeed, two sides of the same coin.