Question about heroes?

Question

What do you think Sylers powers are exactly, and what do you think his mission is? It seems like he should have more than a point to his life than to kill everyone who has powers.

Answer 1

My humble guess is, based on that one episode, "Six Months Ago", where we saw a pre-Sylar Gabriel Grey, that his natural ability is to hear "what makes people tick". Basically, he senses it when things "go wrong" and it happens through his hearing (ordinary people sound normal, the ones with powers don't).

Of course, the show *never* makes it clear at all whether or not Sylar actually *has* a natural power, for all we know, the ticking he hears might well be a delusion. And the rest...?

He does *something* with the brain tissue of his victims to acquire their powers. My guess is, he does *not* eat them as he's a watch-maker who is smart enough to understand at least some basic science...so he knows the brain-stuff doesn't go in the tummy. My guess is, he somehow (either via a needle, telekinesis, whatever works) manages to *shoot up* his victim's brain tissue directly into his own spinal fluid.

And there are clues for this one. Most of the other Heroes, when they deliberately use their powers, they concentrate. When Sylar uses his telekinesis, he *moves* something (like a hand or arm), which indicates to me that the control is more spinal-level than brain level. Also, if you look carefully at Sylar's movements the *first* time he was in Mr. Bennett's cell, the stiff way he walked, the way he showed neck pain....

All classic signs of a low-yield meningitis infection, like what you'd expect if someone was *putting foreign tissue* into their spinal fluids. This also explains why he does *not*, apparently, have every power of every victim he kills....sometimes he just doesn't take the power, or doesn't have the time or tools with him to do so.

As for why he does what he does? If you listen to the narration of the show at all it makes some sense: Darwinian natural selection is seen as a Hand of Fate, or the will of God. Sylar sees himself as a one-man force of natural selection....the ones who die, deserve to because they weren't strong enough to fight him off. And in all honesty, he sees himself in this role because he came so close to being dismissed by the late Dr. Suresh (Chandra? Mohinder's dad...can't recall the first name, sorry) as being "ordinary". Gabriel Grey always wanted to be *special*, to have *his own* destiny, his own name, and not just be "another watchmaker in a family of watchmakers..."

Or, you could take the cynical view, just say he's crazy as a loon, and then some....and that he just sees the ones with *powers* as something *wrong* that needs to be *fixed*....not too far a view from Mr. Bennett's really, except for the means each one uses to those ends.

I hope this helps, and thanks for your time! ^_^

Answer 2

I think he acquires the powers of those he kills (by getting at their brain and figuring out how that person's individual powers work), so he's just out to get all the powers he can. Probably why keeping Claire alive was so key for the future... with her regeneration ability, he'd be even harder to stop.

Answer 3

Powers: Techno Mage, Telekenisis, Rapid Learning, Lasers from hands, and now matter liquification.

Mission: to be a God.

Answer 4

It's because he needs to kill them to get their powers. What will he do when he acquires ALL the powers? Rule the world I guess?

Answer 5

i concur, (cant say for sure about the powers part, that may subject to interpretation so its everyones guess)

Answer 6

I'm sorry, I thought you meant real heroes, like working moms or someone who is the first in their family to own a home. I didn't realize you were referring to the imaginary world of TV