So HRG said something to the effect that Sylar was crazy from so many mutations to his DNA.

I am still curious what people's theories are in regards to HOW Sylar takes on the super power from these people.

Can he alter his own DNA with his own power? I don't get it.

i don't think it's specifically DNA, but yes: he's altering himself to gain powers

his original power seems to be the ability to analyze and repair/upgrade complex systems*. he started with watches, but was able to apply that to biomechanical/electrochemical systems ... such as brains

so he analyzes a hero's brain, then upgrades his own to match. thus gaining their power

later, rinse, repeat





*very much like the power of a certain young hero, in fact ...

I was thrown off by this. Didn't they say the powers were in the brain last episode? Last episode it seemed that Sylar looked into their brains, found the group of neurons responsible and some how (his power?) replicated them in himself. Altering the structure of the brain should be easier then changing the DNA of every cell in the body.

Last night's espisode spcifically stated that Sylar is altering his DNA, which is what everything in the show has been leading up to since the first episode.

Changing the biomechanics of your brain as some people have sugguested Sylar is doing would not alter your DNA or give you the ability to alter your DNA.

Sylar is "activating evolution" and mutating his own DNA using the gentically anomalous brain matter of the "heroes" he's killing.

Suresh gave him the knowledge he needed ( about the power/soul/brain connection ) to figure it out.

He's a crafty guy who thinks he knows how things... tick... tick.. tick.

I don't think Sylar went crazy from taking on so many powers. If you remember his outburst with Chandra at the beginning, it's clear he was barking at the moon crazy to start wtih before he ever took on any additional powers.

Someone theorized that the powers seem to manifest in people who already have flaws (then again who doesn't?)

The exact line is, "...the infusion of so many alterations to your DNA has corrupted your mind..."

Sylar learns very easily how all things work. Deducting from this that he figures out how his own body works, down to the proteins and genetic markers in DNA, he can replicate the specific genetic markers present in any Metahuman's DNA and insert it into his own DNA, giving him their powers.

I think Sylar uses the word "Consume" when he has Eden and talking about taking her power of suggestion.

If blowing her brains out was enough to stop Sylar from getting her power, than why was Sylar able to get the TK ability from Brian Davis after he'd bashed his skull in? I'm pretty sure he hit him in the back of the head, wouldn't that cause enough trama to mess up the ability?

All he did was knock him out

he broke the back of his skull and killed him. But, the power lies in the middle of the brain, in the central cortex.

Do you think that part of Sylar's ability requires him to see something that is functioning in order to "figure it out"? That might explain why he could take on Brian's PK (having your skull cracked won't usually kill your brain right away) but probably not Eden's suggestive ability (putting a bullet through the middle of it just might).

and the line is from HRG who admittedly doesn't know *how* Sylar is doing what he does (hence the later "take you apart and see what makes you ... tick" line)

if Sylar only needed DNA, why is he stealing brains?

I am still very curious about the details behind Sylar's "consumption" of super powers.

Do you think the writers will give us that or leave it to our imagination?

Sylar doesn't need DNA. Or technically he would just need a Hero's blood, Semen, Hair, feces, etc. The Brain is the core of powers/soul. So by seeing where the power originates from his brain then changes the DNA. Cause DNA isn't doing anything until the brain says it can.

I think they will explain more in the future (I Hope). They know they've captured a wide audience with this. and not everyone is on message boards and familiar with comics to figure out stuff. So hopefully they make it clear towards the series end how Sylar does what he does. I'm very interested in his character.

If he was simply altering his own DNA to match that of those he came across 1) why would he need to cut their heads open? 2) why would he remove their brains?

He must need to physically do something with their brains. Otherwise, he would just look at people, figure out how their abilities work and steal them.

<----- C'mon, don't be afraid to think it. He's eating their brains.

Totally eating them.

As disgusting as that sounds, and as much as I REALLY hope that isn't the case, there are many native tribes that believe eating the heart of your enemy will give you their strength and courage.
This could possibly be just an extension of that, eating their brain, which is the base for the super-hero power changes, to gain their power..

Blech!

Given what Sylar is doing, he was "crazy" to begin with. Going around killing people so you can be special is pretty crazy. I thought he was eating the brains, but since the brains were in jars in his apartment, something was clearly left over. I'm not sure it was ever explained exactly how he is getting the powers, but I don't think getting the powers is making him crazy, although I don't think he has the stability to deal with the power he is getting, so perhaps each new power is making him

more crazy. But he was quite obviously pretty messed up to begin with given his interactions with Dr. Suresh (Chandra) and his chosen path. Crazy is as crazy does, hunh?

Wasn't there a detailed medical book in his apartment? I was thinking that Sylar perhaps did an operation on his brain after studying the brain of his victim, but this leads to even more problems. He'd have to operate on himself (unless he has an accomplice).

Perhaps he cloned a mini-Dr. Suresh to operate on him. He keeps him in a jar along with the other brains.

God it's just so hard to guess what his original power is. When he met the TK guy it was like he saw him through his magnifying glass and all the sudden it hit him, then he hit him..

That's the part I don't get. Sure he was good as a watchmaker, restoring timepieces. So he has good eyes to see all the small parts, excellent dexterity to be able to manipulate all those small parts, and good hearing because he could hear that Chandra's watch was off...

How all that translates to him rewriting his own DNA? Very hard to say.

I think the temper tantrum was a ruse to snatch the address of a person with "confirmed" powers. Watch the scene again and look how he takes the post-it note. Although it could be just the actor not being able to pull it off quite as casually.
Nah, I think this was a plan. Maybe it was quick thinking while he was already in a fit of rage, though.

I sort of took HRG's comment as fact told through his character, but sure, he could be making this stuff up by intuition. I don't see how Sylar can operate on himself, but I also don't see how his original power includes the DNA altering part...

He needs the genetic material from which the powers emanate.

Chandra Suresh told him that the power resides in the brain, in part of the brain that for lack of a better term is also "the soul."

That was the "eureka" moment he had right before he killed Brian the TK guy. He realized what the knowledge Suresh had unwittingly given him meant. He figured that if he could open up a watch and tinker with it ( this is symbolised in a quick flashback of Sylar working on a watch, looking through a magnifying glass ) that he could probably do the same thing with a brain. He shouted "he was right, it is in the brain" or something to that effect, aknowledging his debt to Suresh's knowledge. Then he konks Brian over the head with some quartz.

He needs the part of the brain that Suresh called "the soul." He could be extracting chemicals, or devouring some specific area of the brain. But he physically needs some part of the brain. He is using it, and whatever special genetic properties it contains, to "infuse" genetic anomalies into his own system, thus altering his DNA and "activating evolution," giving him the power he desires.

It's probably also making him very sick and turning him into a twisted freak from a genetic standpoint.



This is what I've been saying for months.



I don't think there were any brains in jars in Sylar's apartment. Just lots and lots of books. Some magnifying glasses. Some furniture with plastic on it. A spooky room with his map and research in it along with other knick-knacks and totems. And the even spookier room in the very back with the religious scrawlings all over the walls.



Nope.

When Brian informs him that he doesn't want the powers nature has given him Sylar likens him to a watch, calling him "broken" because he can't believe he wouldn't want a power that Sylar would ( quite literally ) kill for.

Just then you see a flashback of him working on a watch, wearing his glasses and looking through a magnifying glass for a split second. But it's a flashabck, not part of the scene. It's meant to signify his realization that if he can crack open a watch and f*** around with the parts that he can do the same to a human.

Just after this he exclaims that Suresh's theorizing about the powers and the brain is right, and that it's all fitting together.

Then he kills Brian.



He can't rewrite his DNA.

All he can do is aquire.

Through a lifetime of work he had aquired the knowledge and skill to make himself a world-class watchmaker.

This wasn't satisfactory to him. He wanted to be "special."

He obtained knowledge from Dr. Suresh that allowed him to figure out how to use his skills to aquire the powers that will make him special.

Even though he's "activated evolution" and gained these extraordinary powers he's still really just a watchmaker who figured out "how something ticks."

He's a tragic figure in a way.

But the alterations to his DNA have surely turned him into something that is sick, and dangerous.




He isn't.

It doesn't.

And I don't think he ever had an "original power" at all.

He was just a normal, healthy, if a little insane, guy who activated evolution and made himself "special."

His whole "I know how things tick" schtick may just be an extension of his egotistical, self-important personality and need to be "special."

He's probably very smart, and does indeed know how many things "tick."

But I'm not sure that was necessarily a "power."

As far as Sylar being driven crazy by what he's doing. I don't think it's that simple. He was clearly already mentally unbalanced before he ever killed Brian the TK guy. The fact that he killed Brian the TK guy is proof that he was already insane. However, we're all forgetting the whole matter of "the hunger." It's pretty clear that Sylar has become addicted to what he's doing. Whether "the hunger" is for the power, the killing, some by-product of the murders ( a high from the brain chemicals, the brains themselves, etc ), or just a new genetic compunction caused by all the alterations to his DNA I don't know. But it's obvious that his experiments on himself have turned him into something sick and twisted ( possibly a living genetic anomaly like the ones Suresh described whose purpose is to "wipe out a species" ) and made him far crazier than he once was.