Mentalist said:
The symbol turns up everywhere. He wears it as an adult as well.
http://www.heroespedia.com/The_Symbol
Thanks for the link. I didn't realize it had been used so much, although my wife had mentioned it once before when she saw it used in a certain scene.
Mentalist said:
Well, I assumed he was eating the brains or a least part of them. The powers seem to be localized to the brain since when Claire was dead with the tree branch sticking out of her head she couldn't regenerate until it was removed. And when Sylar was captured they had something drilled into his head to stop him using his powers as well. Maybe he has an ability that allows him to absorb the powers of others from the brain without eating them. The girl in the coffee shop who Hiro was in love with didn't have her brain removed by Sylar, he only took the top of her head off and was able to take her power anyway so that seems to point to him not having to eat brains or at least not all of them.
You're not the first person I've seen posit that theory. I never considered that, and really don't think that's the case.
When we were first presented with "Sylar's" origin, Gabriel was but a lowly watch repairer, and his original power allowed him to see how things worked, or know how they were "broken." Obviously, he used this ability to identify whatever it was that was different within the minds of other "Heroes." Being that he didn't have any other powers at the time, he is forced to kill his first victim (wasn't HE the telekinetic?) the old fashioned way, getting his hands dirty. And like a watch maker/repairer who must open up a watch to get to its inner workings, Sylar, too, needed to "open" his victims in order to access whatever it is about them that gives them these powers. HOW he actually GETS their powers, though, is a mystery. I suppose ingestion is a possibility...
Mentalist said:
Peter seemed at first to have the most punked power of all with only being able to have the same ability as those who were near him. Now we know that he is the strongest of all since he can collect powers like Sylar just by being near another hero and then learning how to use it.
And Peter's abilty is much more 'heroic,' being that he doesn't steal the lives of other characters when he nicks their powers.
They're both stacking up an impressive resume of powers, but I still think Peter's got the edge on Sylar with Claire's regeneration, Nathan's flight, Hiro's timebending abilities, Claude's invisibility, and Ned's explosive capabilities AND he can see into the future a la Isaac's powers. OH, and he can read the mind of others, via Matt Parkman. (Granted, Peter hasn't even begun to access most of these yet. And assuming he ever will be able to.)
***
And HRG sacrificing himself for Claire's survival/wellbeing, being mindwiped in order that he can NEVER reveal what he knows, has been of the most heroic moments so far. The reveals in the last episode were many, and we were rewarded with as many answers as we were with NEW questions.
I am consistently impressed by how much they can cram into a single hour considering the scope, breadth, mythology, and cast of this series.