Claire will keep Peter from exploding, and thereby save the world. The Haitian can't do that, since Peter would only absorb his power. Only Claire can.

Of course Peter's vision doesn't have to be literal, but the reality of it is. Something happened to him when he confronted Sylar, something making his power grow. He can access powers from a distance, now. What if he can access all the powers, all over the world simultaneously?

That would make one hell of an exploding man, if you ask me.

Bennett is a man obsessed with Order, I think. Everything has to be neat and manageable. He even keeps ordering the mindwiping of his family in order to keep everything neat. So, yes, Sylar was correct, they are alike.

And we got to see Bennet speak to his boss, whoever that is. The Haitian can speak, and he has a secret agenda as well. Who hasn't?

Is Sylar or Peter the Dragon Hiro must kill, or is there another? Both Sylar and Peter will just keep growing more and more powerful. And what happens when Peter absorbs (if he hasn't already) Niki's brutal (second?) ID? And he has already accessed Sylar's power. And...

They do seem to be heading towards a Phoenix kind-of story here.

Six weeks, now, of speculation and longing. I can live with it. Good things come to those who wait.

in his vision though, it showed claire suprised and saying how sorry she was and then running away

Yes, in his vision, she failed. Perhaps because her mind had been wiped or some other reason. The future keeps changing. Every new vision changes it.

Or perhaps her only task is to delay the explosion, until Nathan could fly his brother away. But will that be enough to save the world?

Peter may be powerful enough to blow the Earth in half.

Was future Hiro lying to Peter, for instance?

By that logic anything is possible and nothing is as it seems. No conclusions can be drawn whatsoever. Constants must exist in the "vision" to validate proposed plot-points.

I don't think Peter could absorb Jessica...

I think Nikki isn't so much special and psychologically disturbed...

Classic case of MPD. But maybe..

Who says Hiro is gonna face a Dragon? We see a dinosaur. Hiro travels through time. He's already speculated that that might happen.


I don't see how Claire could stop Peter exploding.

Whether or not Peter can absorb Jess, he can absorb super strength. I suspect that if Jess isn't purely psychological, the power isn't having her, but having the ability to save a loved-one in such a form.

Absorbing Radioactive Man while Jessised WOULD cause that sort of explosion though (Jess is always angry, Radioactive Man powers up when angry)

I've had that theory that Claire was going to stop the explosion for a long time.

we have a couple theories about the events past/yet to come:

1)nobody is mentioning that perhaps no one succeeded in "save the cheerleader... save the world." if the prophecy (Isaac's painting) actually had come true, Peter would have died. However, claire came back, thus transferring her power of regeneration to him and he lived. We all know that. However, if Claire hadn't come back Peter would have died - meaning that he wouldn't be there to cause the explosion and destroy the world. Perhaps he was supposed to die.

2) - this one may be a little more far-fetched. Obviously Peter's power is the ability to absorb the power of others. In the clip he is there with all the other heroes. Now that I think about it this is nuts since they all seem to know what is going to happen - but maybe the presence of all the other heroes is too much for Peter to handle and he will explode.

Just come things to chew on.

Or perhaps he can absorb all the powers in the world...
Future Hiro probably knew that Claire would return.

?To slay the Dragon? is an old adage for killing a great evil or threat.

Peter absorbs skills as well as powers. In Isaac's presence he could paint, even though he earlier could hardly draw.

Hopefully there will be no constants...

I think HRG's boss is that mobster in Vegas whose name keeps popping up. I'm totally flaking on his name at the moment.

What if his boss is Chandra Suresh?

Do we really know that? Couldn't be equally plausible that Mr. EE-sock's painting showed Peter at the instant he landed on the ground (i.e., he's immobile, not dead). Of course, if all of Mr. EE-sock's paintings always came true, then there's not much hope of preventing the explosion.

T-48 days until we have more answers.

Linderman... and that thought has crossed my mind as well

Claire better not prevent anyone from exploding. The show has been pretty cool so far with respect to avoiding time paradoxes and invalidating the HEROS ability to see into the future. They have cleverly (or quite predictably depending on your opinion) steered us into thinking that the out come of an event meant one thing when in fact in meant another.

Peter's death...obvious that saving Claire would put him in proximity to her powers.

Waitress death...could not be stopped..should not be stopped. I hope the painter dies as he did in Hiros trip to the future (or that the appearance of his death can be somehow explained as I don't recall him being present in Peter's dream)

If not they we will learn their powers are faulty. (i.e. The painter can't really predict, Hiro can't really transport into the real future, and Peter's dreams are sometimes just dreams)

In the spirit of lost and the Sapranos where anything goes and characters die I hope the creators of the show use the premise that they have established to date that the future events they feed us are immenent...but "salvageable" via our Heros super powers.

Future Hiro said "save the cheerleader save the world"...not save the cheerleader save 10 square blocks of Manhattan

Well, Issac's painting showed Peter on the ground bleeding with his eyes open. Technically that happened. Issac paints single moments in time. The characters are assuming things about his paintings not completely understanding what leads up to the moment in the painting and what comes immediately after it.

I think that Issac's painting he did when Bennet had him drugged by Eden to get information out of him is Peter. It looks like a man exploding and Peter's dream has him exploding. I don't think that we are dealing with the same explosion. I think that Peter is going to go under a transformation of sorts.

yeah...agree^^ we can't take all literally. And well, in the "dream" Claire didn't save Peter. In fact she look him with a disapointed look and runs aways. On other hand , still I don't see a power in Nikki. She have maybe superstreng but the other half is her dead sister, not really and alter ego. Peter only have Nathan for why we know so..

I like this theory. A lot. I've always found it weird that Future Hiro is from a timeline where he has witnessed something bad happening ("Save the cheerleader, save the world" -Hiro. "From what?" - Peter. "Everything."). But, if he is from a future timeline where the bad thing happens, and we know he cannot change the past, then what exactly is the meeting on the subway between Future Hiro and Peter supposed to accomplish?

Previously, I had it in my mind that Future Hiro knew that he was playing a role in getting Peter to do that which would keep an *alternative* future from occuring. For instance, Hiro once travels to a future that we know does not happen - at least not exactly the way he saw it. The police he arrest him call Ando, and Ando says Hiro's been gone for five weeks. Yet, that never happened, by virtue of Hiro "changing the future" by inviting Ando on his journey. Perhaps, Hiro at some point travels into the future - one of several possible ones - learns of a catastrophic event that could have been avoided had Peter "saved the cheerleader, saved the world" and then returns. That's one possibility.

The other possibility is what you propose. Peter was supposed to die. Hiro sent him on a suicide mission, because he knew Peter was a good person and would have sacrificed himself for Claire. Maybe, Hiro was even sent by Future Peter to do this - Future Hiro and Future Peter seem close, at least based on what Future Hiro says that Future Peter has said about the loneliness he used to feel, etc. But, the problem with this theory is this: Hiro (and therefore presumably Future Hiro) knows he cannot change the past. He can change the future, but there is only one past. So, why would he attempt to have Peter die at the homecoming, when he knows good and well that he cannot change the past?

So I like this theory, but I think that it needs to somehow deal with that problem I just noted.

He's there. It's Isaac who grabs Simone from behind when she starts to run toward Peter.

(Right? Anybody got a screencap or anything?)

doode, what!?!?

why make things more complicated? obviously your mind can't handle simplicity.
how, in gods name will claire keep peter from exploding?
she doesn't stop other people from doing things, she REGENERATES! how does the ability to heal ones self stop someone ( or yourself) from spontaniously combusting?

where in the hell do you get the idea that peter's power is now stronger from meeting sylar?
and just so yo know.. being able to spontaniously produce radiation from your body to a lets say "atomic bomb" level, is plenty explosive enough to not have to write a more complicated reason for someone to explode.
it's simple. ted, is a human nuclear reactor. peter is a power sponge.
peter meets ted, ted meets peter. ted's power meets peter.

ted, having a knowledge of his power has at least an ability to control his emotions and therefor somewhat control his power.

peter, having no knowledge that he is now a nuclear reactor gets angry for some reason ( most likely his brother)

and poof, there you have it. new york.. meet hiroshima.

have a nice F'ing day.



now on to my next total flame of your crazy interpitation..

" And what happens when Peter absorbs (if he hasn't already) Niki's brutal (second?)"

hasn't already? WHAT SHOW ARE YOU WATCHING?
cuz it obviously ain;t this one. peter hasn't even met nikki.

oh wait , thats right. you think peter can now obsorb the powers of someone on the moon.


now, i'm sorry if i offend anyone ( including you) with this brutal attack. but people need to learn something about theories. don't tell everyone else it, until you have all the facts. too many people on this forum don't have clue. if you have missed an episode, watch it again online or on demand. or.. ASK PEOPLE WHAT HAPPENED before you post your ridiculous theories ... please.
it's almost like saying the moon is made of cheese without ever having been there.

Hiro and Isaac have similar powers, but it's important to keep them separate. Isaac seems to predict the actual future, which makes me think the bomb will go off. But Hiro's visits are to possible futures, not actual ones. For instance, when he goes into the future before, the police call Ando and Ando says Hiro's been missing for five weeks. THat appears to never happen. So it's a possible future, but a permanent past, that Hiro must reckon with. While Isaac is a prophet, and one cannot avoid his predictions - avoidance only turns out to be the thing causing the predicted event in the first place. In other words, that Isaac is present in the vision is not inconsistent with Hiros' previous trip to the future where Isaac is dead. That was a possible future, but it was changed once Hiro began his trip to America with Ando.

Now it's possible that this is not an actual future, either. There's elements to the vision that make it seem more like a dream, than a real vision. For instance, everyone is wearing a costume - even Matt is in his policeman's outfit, which I thought was weird. And the city is empty. And all the car doors are open - like they jumped up and ran. But where? And why? I wonder if Hiro hasn't teleported the entire block somewhere else.

[quote name='Chunk' date='Dec 5 2006, 04:41 PM' post='109090']
we have a couple theories about the events past/yet to come:

1)nobody is mentioning that perhaps no one succeeded in "save the cheerleader... save the world." if the prophecy (Isaac's painting) actually had come true, Peter would have died. However, claire came back, thus transferring her power of regeneration to him and he lived. We all know that. However, if Claire hadn't come back Peter would have died - meaning that he wouldn't be there to cause the explosion and destroy the world. Perhaps he was supposed to die.]


people have to look at things with the long set of glasses.

the world isn't going to be saved the next episode just becuase they saved clair last episode.

saveing claire, set in motion a chain of events that "COULD" save the world.

becuase subway hiro. lived in a future where the cheerleader ( claire) did not live. and the world went to ******.
sometime in the future, he must have figured out that everything started to goWAY wrong at that point in time. and that saving the cheerleader, made it possible to change the future. where as if she died, they simply would have no chance.
now that claire is alive. there are only twoways of looking at it.
one. our fate is sealed and no matter what we do to change it, it will happen a certain no matter what. ( garbage)
or two.. every choice we make creates a different timeline. therefor.. if claire died in subway hiro's past.. then the future of the world now that claire is alive, will be fundamentally different. and the same choices that hiro and theoothers faced in the other timeline will now present themselves differently or not at all.

Okay so if you think about it by saving Claire they prevent Sylar from getting the power to regenerate which would make him dern near indestructible. Peter would have probably been killed by Sylar and then Sylar would have had an easier way to take powers. Instead of killing them completely he would have a power that took the power for him and his trail would be lost. The police wouldn't be able to find him again. Eventually he would have gone through the list and gotten to the radioactive guy thus having the power to blow up the world or maybe just a big part of it.

The vision Peter had shows maybe that the radioactive guy actually does blow up. In the episode that took people six months in the past when everything started showed Peter's dream where he was in his brother's body and flying.

It could also be that Nathan kills the radioactive guy in cold blood and Peter was "connected" to him at that time and so he got his power. Nathan gets him too upset and he blows up.

Oh... and one last comment...
Peter's power is not power absorption or even so-called power mimicry . His ability is amazing empathy, which is why (among other things) people can warm up to him so quickly (such as Claire when meeting him as a stranger in the dark hallways of the high school). His dreams too are mainly empathic. Hence he dreams of his brother's car accident as it happens, he dreams of flying like his brother, his hospice patient dreams of Peter before he dies, he dreams of Peter and Sylar while in the prison, and so on. If he also has the ability to share the powers of others, and to dream intuitions of the future, both would be a side effect of the amazing empathy he has for others.

So what about his dream? I think it changes nothing. Before he had the dream the main candidates for the explosion were:

Ted (Theodore) - the Radiation guy

Sylar (Gabriel) - Mister Fix-it who happens to be a sociopath that has "fixed" himself new powers

Peter - the empath

After the dream the candidate list looks exactly the same. Now my suspicion is that Peter may be the one to potentially blow, but I wouldn't rule out that he was empathizing with Ted in his dream.. or maybe Sylar (but I doubt it). Either way, I am sure Ted and Sylar will play a role in the whole chain of events. The blow-up will be radioactive regardless if it is Ted, Sylar or Peter.

I think I agree much with the Reese. To add my own spin on things..

ON THE LIMITS OF ISAAC'S POWER

Isaac's power is prophetic intuition as far as we've seen, and if so then what he does see and draw could possibly be changed.

Even if that were not the case, what he paints is an artistic interpretation of what he sees (as is the case with all art) and so it is possible for his interpretation to be skewed, misleading or just plain wrong. It's like having multiple witnesses of the same crime who all remember the events somewhat differently.

The point is that his prophetic paintings are not infallible.

ON THE LIMITS OF HIRO'S TIME TRAVEL

As for Hiro, it does seem that he is unable to change his own personal past, but that he is free to act in his "present" time in ways that change the future for himself and others (just as we all are able to do). So his journeys into the future are always into the future that would have been had he not returned back to his present.

So how could he "change the past" by visiting Peter? By doing so he did risk a rift in the time line, but i suspect he dared to do so because he already had heard that he had done so. This is a time paradox, but realize that a "paradox" is only a seeming contradiction... not an actual one. And the idea of causal loops due to time travel is not a new one in science fiction. Hypothetically it would be possible even if unsettling... as it would hint of the notion of destiny in the universe.

And how could he safely try to change the past by visiting Charlie in the past? Because he had no knowledge of not already doing so in the past, and what he did in the past did not change his personal "present" timeline. In fact, he couldn't do anything that changed his own personal timeline, which is why he teleported back to the present time against his own will just before she kissed him and began her travels with him to Japan , which would have changed Hiro's personal timeline because she wouldn't have died.

WHAT IF I'M WRONG AND THE SHOW GOOFED?

Anyway depending on your theories on time travel, the show has already failed to perfectly avoid self-contradiction in Hiro's time travels. If so there are three logical explanations: (1) your theory of time travel is wrong and you need to figure out what rules come into play in the world of "Heroes", (2) you're misinterpreting the "facts" revealed in the show or (3) the television show isn't perfectly accurate so just lighten up and suspend disbelief for each hour-long episode!

Again: Claire saves Peter because they are close. Simple.

As Isaac said: "The future has already been changed, let's do so again".
And I like that fact. The future can and will be changed, which is a good thing. So far we ahve been shown that the past is far more difficult to change... which is also a good thing.

Future Hiro knew that Claire would coem back for Peter, thus saving him.

Peter's powers have obviously increased, and it happened right after his encounter with Sylar. You tell me, if that was a coincidence. Especially in light of his dream where Nathan changed into Sylar.

Yeah, I think Peter can read powers on the moon. The other theory I've heard, that he keeps what he has absorbed is also good, though. That means he has Nathan, Isaac, Hiro, Matt, Mohinder, Claire, and Sylar's powers, at the very least.

I was thinking the same thing, that Nathan could just scoop up whoever is the bomb and just fly high enough that the explosion does no harm. That would mean that Nathan would have to sacrifice himself. Maybe he is indestructable as well. He could have more than one power.

At the speed he is flying and the fairly hard landing (barefeet) it stands to reason he has tough skin. But not enough to protect himself against such a blast.

If the Petrelli brothers go out they do so in a blaze of glory.

I don't think so.
We don't know if it really is peter that is exploding. His dream could be from Teds perspective (just like Peters dream of Nathans car accident).
This show is not about stopping the nuclear explosion in NY.
The tagline was "Save the cheerleader - save the WORLD" not "Save the cheerleader - save NEW YORK".
Preventing the nuclear explosion is only the first step of the whole story. We know Claires ability is crucial at some point in the future to stop someone/something but it must be something worse than that.

Isaac was in Peter's dream. He was the one moving Simone away from Peter. And he was still clean shaven.

Claire in her unifrom, Matt in a cops unifoprm that Peter has never seen, Peter wearing Sylar's watch & coat (didn't notice it myself but posted on threads here), Dl, NIki & Micah, whom Peter has never seen, and present HIro. MOhineder with a smile greeting Peter from his cab? All strange and not to clear.

Seeing it from someone's elses eyes or prospective and picturing himself?

Oh, and maybe the dead guy in the apartment is Ted. He does look scruffy to.

You may be right, Grisan, you may not. My take on it is that she can calm his emotional state, and thereby keeping him from blowing up.

Just like the effect Cyclops had on the Phoenix btw

It was something dreamlike about the dream, yes...
But it wasn't fully a dream, but also a vision with some truth in it.

I think Peter may only be able to "hold" one power at a time. In his dream, he has Ted's power and can't control it. Clair is able to be close enough to him that he clones her power, and drops Ted's. Thus keeping himself from going critical. So she is needed.

Peter also seems to have some low grade future sight all on his own. But its not very clear for him. In some of his dreams, his brother was there to catch him. In some he was not. And he has never flown the way he saw it in his dream. So he can see the shape of the future, but not the details, at least so far.


Devin

Hiro and Isaac's powers are not similar in any way.

Isaac is in Peter's dream. He's the one holding Simone back.

The person Hiro finds dead on Isaac's floor isn't Isaac. Doesn't look anything like him.

I agree with the theory that if Peter meets Ted, it could be disastrous. Peter would not be introduced to the power gradually like Ted was. He might just literally blow his top at the drop of a dime.

Peter can access many powers simultaneously, and he may even keep them once he has accessed them once. He and Sylar are destined to face each other again.

Very good point. Peter seems to grasp powers instantly, but that doesn't mean he can control them.

I think that she will save the world the way the old professor thought: genetic. Her power, if studied, understood and applied in genetic medicine, would mean cure for all illnesses, including cancer. She is important as a scientific case study.




Humm... I didn't see him explode in the episode. Just a bright light and that's it. Isaac was even there, when he should be dead in his apartment at the moment of the explosion. Nothing happened so far indicating that this event was changed.

But assuming he will explode, maybe it's because he absorved someone's power and can't control it? Just because he can mimic other's powers, doesn't mean he can absorve their knowledge and experience with it.

Hmm...I'm going to throw two theories into the ring here, doesn't seem to have been mentioned before, and if they have i apologize.

1) The dream indicates that Peter will sacrifice himself one way or another to deal with the disaster. Strong Evidence: Simone trying to "help" Peter, Claire trying to help but unable to. Something that Peter's character would obviously do. Weak Evidence: Nathan seemingly serious and perhaps will fly peter away (part of the plan to avert disaster, peter absorbs whatever maybe be causing the disaster and nathan helps to fly it to safety). Hiro looking on and not helping (understanding his necessary sacrifice).


2) The dream is symbolic of the problem the heroes face trying to stop the disaster. At the moment, all the characters are fragmented and concerned with their own lives. However, they need to work together to stop the disaster, or else Peter won't be able to stop it himself. Strong Evidence: Simone's actions are similar to her actions previously trying to "protect" peter instead of helping. Isaac is preoccupied with Simone in the dream. Claire says sorry, perhaps meaning she doesn't think she can help because she is "just a cheerleader". DL, Nikki, Micah are preoccupied with their own family affaird. Matt is stuck in his ordinary law enforcement lifestyle. Nathan only cares about his campaign. Weak Evidence: Hiro and Ando are on the sidelines, as they have been in the fight against sylar and the bomb even though they are potentially the most powerful. Hiro is continually sidetracked.

Interestingly, HRG and Haitian are not in the dream, perhaps because they have nothing to do with averting the disaster much like the missing "ordinary" people (empty cars).

ANywho, dunno if this helped with all the speculation as its pretty offbeat. Maybe its a combination of 1) and 2)? The heroes are fragmented leading to their failure to stop the disaster, leading to Peter having to make the ultimate sacrifice? But what's the sylar garb got to do with it all? Hmm... probably all wrong...the different watch MUST mean something...gabriel said he was trying to fix that watch for years...maybe that's important later...

Dang it, Now i'm just rambling...

Mister Fate is right.. dude i read two topic already talking abou peter's explosion and everyone keep coming up with absolutly complicated and crazy theories.. when the truth is right in front of you!

like Mister Fate said.. it's TED! from the moment i watched the episode i thought that.. there is no how thinking other things..

Peter will absorve ted's power and for some reason will get angry and will blow.. period..

but i think they manage to stop the bomb (peter) so it won't happen.. the explosion.. but.. we'll only now when the show starts again.. so let's wait...

now only to confirm.. there's no other theory.. to me it's clear that peter absorvs ted's power..

My question here is this; when has TED shown that he can blow himself up on cue? He has gotten VERY angry before with his wife's death but there were NO marks on him. He blew a side of his house apart but nothing was wrong with him. So why is it everyone believes Peter blows himself up? Peter doesn't have to die if he absorbs Ted's powers. He can destroy everything around him and be unharmed. Ted escaped from police custody using his powers. Cars were blown up and fire was everywhere and I gurantee you, he was unharmed. NO I don't think he has super healing before anyone says that. I just mean that he is not affected by his radiation, therefore Peter will not be affected by it.

I think people are relying too much on what the characters in the show say as the truth when it is ALL just speculation. They throw stuff out there so they can swerve the other way. Hiro says he can't change the past so everyone believes that Hiro can't change the past. He BELIEVES he can't. So why does he come back from the future? Obvoiusly there are lots of other things to consider b/c we don't know the rest of the story or where it goes.

I personally believe that Peter's "exploding man" and the bomb that Hiro saw in the future, are two different things. I think the vision Peter had was himself "telling" himself that he has to get a hold of his powers or else. That's why all the other heroes were in the dream. To show what could happen if he doesn't know how to control and handle his powers. He ran into many heros that day in the jail and it was taking it's toll on him. He was looking sick and beat up all day. Didn't even get better when Claire came by.

So, back on topic with the title. I believe saving the cheerleader is NOT directly connected to the bomb in New York. Only thing that we have to go on is Isaac's painting and the "future" that Hiro went to. but the future Hiro went to, was what the world would have been like 5 weeks in the future IF HE WAS NOT AROUND. and a bomb still went off. Hence, saving or not saving the cheerleader has nothing to do with the bomb in New York. Only Hiro can do something about it. Not directly at the moment the bomb is going to go, but throughout his journey to stop it he is doing things that DIDN'T happen in the future he saw. So just by meeting up with Peter or Claire or ANY other hero (i.e. Isaac) he has changed that future already. Minor details or drastic ones, doesn't matter. It's ALL different then the future hiro went to.

Sorry for the longwinded post, work is boring today. Glad people are still around here though

I think that Nathan is going to fly him and Claire up and peter will explode and Peter will just not get hurt.

Nikki has super strenght so yeah Peter can absorb her abilities...

Save the Cheerleader THEN Save the World not
Save the Cheerleader AND Save the World

get over it!

I think you right becuase if you look on the clocks they don't mach up to the other clocks when hiro sees the expossion when he gose to the futer

nvm the watches wouldn't mach up cuz he probably didn't travel to the same time in the futer.

i hope you are right..

I was seeing the similarities between Phoenix/Peter in a sense that both were so powerful they werent allowed to live. Not that the people who cared abouth them wanted to kill them but that they were just to powerful. After all Mohinder did say that Peter might be the most important person on the list.

I believe that Peter's exploding is either because he overloads on power or he comes into contact with Ted. What I dont believe is that he would need Claire to survive exploding. After all Ted obviously used his power to some extent and was unharmed, he blew up half of his own house.

Plus Peter exploding is not set in stone because each character's actions change the future.

I've read some interesting (and perhaps overly scientific) theories on the nature of time travel and causality which may help to clear up some issues regarding Hiro's power.

The main problem lies in that there appears to be a contradiction: Future Hiro appears to have the ability to alter the past (the 'Save the cheerleader, save the world' scene) while Present Hiro does not (not being able to save Charlie). There are several possible explanations for this . . .

Theory 1: It has been hypothesised that if one were to build a time machine, it would be impossible to travel past the point when the time machine was built as this would cause a error in causality (ie I cannot have travelled back in time, if by doing so I somehow affect the nature of my own time travelling). After this original point, all time becomes fair game. Therefore, at the exact second Hiro first used his powers (presumably on the train he mentions in 'Genesis'), time becomes alterable. I have also read an interesting piece of fiction on time travel where the protagonist travels to the past but is invisible and unable to alter ANYTHING, so drops of rain are like bullets to him. Perhaps Hiro's own power (for the plot's sake) is more forgiving but still prevents any cause which would affect the aquisition of his power, eventually expelling him from the past to a point where time was alterable (we know this because one of the extras comments that Hiro was supposed to be in America with Ando).

Theory 2: This theory is much less interesting but more plausible in my opinion. It operates on the assumption that time is fixed. That is, there is an inoperable chain of events that will occur and even precognition just acts to insure this. When Hiro states that he couldn't save Charlie he was speaking of her brain condition, meaning that she would die either way. As for Future Hiro, it is possible that he comes from a future where the cheerleader was saved and everything happened as it should (Present Hiro already knows that this is the case, so it really isn't a big stretch). The problems here include (but are probably not limited to):

i) Hiro's teleportation. Was it accidental or triggered by the realisation that she was going to die anyway. This seems unrealistic because one would assume that he would still want to save her from Sylar, as it was pretty gruesome.

ii) The picture is a contradiction, Hiro clearly did change the past to some degree as we are shown the picture with Charlie alone and then with Hiro. If time is unalterable this is impossible. If, however, Theory 1 holds then it is possible that this was changable as it had no effect on him learning to affect time-space.

If anyone else has any additions or corrections, please post so that I can continue my pondering

if time were changable, future hiro would not exist. ie. if the cheerleader was not saved, and he returned to change this, he would have no reason to warn peter. therefore, the warning is to ensure what should happen actually happens.

i did have one thought. time is fixed, however, hiro has the ability to bend space/time and so in theory has the ability to alter events... but he should never do so as this would in theory rip open the fabric of time and in theory end existence.

hiro goes back 6 months, not realising that saving charlie would infact end time. despite the blood clot, he still wishes to save her from sylar, but as we know, she has to be killed by sylar. had hiro not teleported back to japan, he would have succeeded.

i am now under the impresssion that it was future hiro who teleported hiro to japan in an attempt to keep the timeline on track.

The problem with all the 'rift' theories is that they are based completely on pseudo-scientific conjecture. There is no reason to believe that existence would end if time were changed.

What Future Hiro may have meant by mentioning a rift is that he risks causing an outcome which is different from his own time (I'm assuming at this point that Theory 2 is correct). That is, the past which he is currently in may split from the past he knows, causing whatever unnamed danger that was previously prevented from happening.

Also, it is important to remember that Present, or even Future Hiro is not a metaphysical genius, able to grasp the complexities of time-space. In fact, he states that he was 'last in his class', indicating a lack of intellectual ability. All his knowledge of time-travel is derived from X-Men comics. Since the writers of the show have apparently attempted to avoid being an 'X-men' clone. (note the absence of aliens, gods, unrealistically advanced technology, spandex ) It is possible that either the Present or Future Hiro hasn't grasped the limitations of his power. For all we know, Future Hiro may be a liar or a villain or playing some sick joke. The point is, Future Hiro is not Present Hiro in terms of personality, is it unrealistic to believe that their motives are no longer the same?

I don't know if anyone mentioned this but what if future Hiro's message was based soley on a present misunderstading? That is for Peter save the cheerleader because Hiro himself couldn't save the cheerleader (even though the right cheerleader was saved).