heroes speculation: parents and powers
My bet this season?
West and Claire were switched at birth - Claire's actually Sark's kid, and West is Nathan's kid.
And by pure human error, they got switched at birth.
Matt's daddy's power kicks ass - and I totally called it in Chaos Theory but anyway...
What if the key to powers comes down to whether or not both parents are carriers of powers? I'm pretty sure that both Petrelli parents had powers, but I'm still a die-hard believer that Angela has some version of empathy - it could be a very base form and while she's developed it, she's also closed herself off to it, especially if she found herself reacting to Papa Petrelli's depression in ways she couldn't deal with. It would match with how emotionally controlled she is, and also explain some of why she's coming so badly undone right now - all these years expecting to lose Peter only to have Peter gain Claire's power (so he could survive) and yet, she lost him anyway.
Yeah, I'm probably wrong, what of it?
Either way, I feel ST vindicated over a parent and child having the same power, because, hah, I was right!
The idea that having two parents with powers and that that could change the power you get isn't that weird, one power might be able to change or, well, mutate the power you get from another parent - and your own emotional impact has the final word on how your genes mutate into your power, whatever it may be in the end.
One parent's power + another person's power = possibility of a new power + who you may be before that power is triggered = your own power.
And how young Claire and West actually are may help to alter how even themselves control the last aspect of that genetic lottery - Claire's body realizes how active it is, how often it gets strained or pulled, and realizes that it's being used even more the last little while as she gets more excited about becoming a cheerleader so it falls back on the base parental power, one that'll be perfect for the way she used her own body - regeneration.
West knowing the truth about his bloodline could explain his own obsession about Claire - wanting to screw with her head and destroy her life for "stealing" his... he could have been even younger than Claire when his power was brought out and it could have been brought out by pure panic - maybe he almost got hit by a car, fell out of a tree... could be anything, but he shows an extremely impressive amount of control, more than Claire or even Nathan so I really believe he's been using it for a while...
I find it fascinating that Claire's already fallen how many times this season when the killer that killed Kaito did it by launching himself off a roof with Kaito - it's clear that Claire's getting better at recovering every time she's hurt, so how fast would it be for a four hundred year old self-healer to get up and run off after falling off a roof?
We saw how long it took a young one (Exploding Man) but an old one, a real Elder?
This is the same roof where Kaito once gave a baby girl to HRG, isn't it?
Let's not even get into the tragedy and angst of Kaito being killed by Hiro's own hero while Hiro's in the past with that same person because, yeah, angst and a whole damn lot of it for our favorite little time bender....
I'm not buying the whole Nightmare Man killing off the other Elders thing, not yet - I think he may think that one of the others is doing it, so he went after Angela in the jail, and she clawed herself in some kind of vision he stuck her in - but it's actually the blonde samurai who's killing the Elders. I mean, look at him - Mr. Parkman hasn't been taking care of himself, looks like he's on the run... possibly from whoever is after his old friends?
I still think Nathan developed his flying ability because he was emotionally trying to escape the world he was born into - emotionally controlled, overly false, completely based in reality, socially controlling - the last thing a strong-willed young man like Nathan would have wanted growing up. Completely understandable that a person would want to escape that and find some kind of freedom. At the same time, it's pretty clear that Peter only ever would have developed empathy - I mean, look at this guy! No, I don't mean it like that but, seriously, it's such a base part of who he is emotionally, a part that he's never been ashamed of, so why wouldn't he develop the power he did?
I still think that Molly activated Matt's power - it's clear her power works on a level similar to the telepathy (why it's so easy for Mr. Parkman to see her, hurt her, screw with her head) and why he can see her when she looks for him at the same time, because they pretty much work on the same levels - Molly's a danger to him, especially if her power continues to develop, the way his own did and the way Matt's are probably going to develop. Molly needed someone, and she ended up getting close to a telepath - possibly triggered his power by pure need. Matt has the genetics of a telepath + a clairvoyant in hiding needs to be found = Matt's long dormant powers finally get triggered by another person's need, a person who happens to use her powers on the same base level.
Telepathy, a base power that could evolve into clairvoyance?
Niki would get superstrength, out of guilt of not being able to save Jessica - it would give her the ability to save anybody else, the strength to do it but not the emotional security to do it - it's pretty clear that emotionally, she's never recovered from losing her sister, so the part of her that is strong enough divides up into it's own personality - the Jessica personality, the one person that Niki has always believed is "truly strong," will truly protect her.
Just... gah, can you imagine the possibilities?!
West and Claire were switched at birth - Claire's actually Sark's kid, and West is Nathan's kid.
And by pure human error, they got switched at birth.
Matt's daddy's power kicks ass - and I totally called it in Chaos Theory but anyway...
What if the key to powers comes down to whether or not both parents are carriers of powers? I'm pretty sure that both Petrelli parents had powers, but I'm still a die-hard believer that Angela has some version of empathy - it could be a very base form and while she's developed it, she's also closed herself off to it, especially if she found herself reacting to Papa Petrelli's depression in ways she couldn't deal with. It would match with how emotionally controlled she is, and also explain some of why she's coming so badly undone right now - all these years expecting to lose Peter only to have Peter gain Claire's power (so he could survive) and yet, she lost him anyway.
Yeah, I'm probably wrong, what of it?
Either way, I feel ST vindicated over a parent and child having the same power, because, hah, I was right!
The idea that having two parents with powers and that that could change the power you get isn't that weird, one power might be able to change or, well, mutate the power you get from another parent - and your own emotional impact has the final word on how your genes mutate into your power, whatever it may be in the end.
One parent's power + another person's power = possibility of a new power + who you may be before that power is triggered = your own power.
And how young Claire and West actually are may help to alter how even themselves control the last aspect of that genetic lottery - Claire's body realizes how active it is, how often it gets strained or pulled, and realizes that it's being used even more the last little while as she gets more excited about becoming a cheerleader so it falls back on the base parental power, one that'll be perfect for the way she used her own body - regeneration.
West knowing the truth about his bloodline could explain his own obsession about Claire - wanting to screw with her head and destroy her life for "stealing" his... he could have been even younger than Claire when his power was brought out and it could have been brought out by pure panic - maybe he almost got hit by a car, fell out of a tree... could be anything, but he shows an extremely impressive amount of control, more than Claire or even Nathan so I really believe he's been using it for a while...
I find it fascinating that Claire's already fallen how many times this season when the killer that killed Kaito did it by launching himself off a roof with Kaito - it's clear that Claire's getting better at recovering every time she's hurt, so how fast would it be for a four hundred year old self-healer to get up and run off after falling off a roof?
We saw how long it took a young one (Exploding Man) but an old one, a real Elder?
This is the same roof where Kaito once gave a baby girl to HRG, isn't it?
Let's not even get into the tragedy and angst of Kaito being killed by Hiro's own hero while Hiro's in the past with that same person because, yeah, angst and a whole damn lot of it for our favorite little time bender....
I'm not buying the whole Nightmare Man killing off the other Elders thing, not yet - I think he may think that one of the others is doing it, so he went after Angela in the jail, and she clawed herself in some kind of vision he stuck her in - but it's actually the blonde samurai who's killing the Elders. I mean, look at him - Mr. Parkman hasn't been taking care of himself, looks like he's on the run... possibly from whoever is after his old friends?
I still think Nathan developed his flying ability because he was emotionally trying to escape the world he was born into - emotionally controlled, overly false, completely based in reality, socially controlling - the last thing a strong-willed young man like Nathan would have wanted growing up. Completely understandable that a person would want to escape that and find some kind of freedom. At the same time, it's pretty clear that Peter only ever would have developed empathy - I mean, look at this guy! No, I don't mean it like that but, seriously, it's such a base part of who he is emotionally, a part that he's never been ashamed of, so why wouldn't he develop the power he did?
I still think that Molly activated Matt's power - it's clear her power works on a level similar to the telepathy (why it's so easy for Mr. Parkman to see her, hurt her, screw with her head) and why he can see her when she looks for him at the same time, because they pretty much work on the same levels - Molly's a danger to him, especially if her power continues to develop, the way his own did and the way Matt's are probably going to develop. Molly needed someone, and she ended up getting close to a telepath - possibly triggered his power by pure need. Matt has the genetics of a telepath + a clairvoyant in hiding needs to be found = Matt's long dormant powers finally get triggered by another person's need, a person who happens to use her powers on the same base level.
Telepathy, a base power that could evolve into clairvoyance?
Niki would get superstrength, out of guilt of not being able to save Jessica - it would give her the ability to save anybody else, the strength to do it but not the emotional security to do it - it's pretty clear that emotionally, she's never recovered from losing her sister, so the part of her that is strong enough divides up into it's own personality - the Jessica personality, the one person that Niki has always believed is "truly strong," will truly protect her.
Just... gah, can you imagine the possibilities?!