I seem to have a vague memory of "coughing" being associated with heroes and/or use of powers. Examples that spring to mind are Nathan with his handkerchief in the first couple of episodes, and Claire being told by her mother that as a baby there was something wrong with her: "You had a cough." (Of course, now that we know that the Haitian has been wiping Mrs. Bennett's mind for years, she may have no idea what she's talking about!)

But weren't there a couple of other examples of *coughing* specifically being connected to people with powers? That's what I was thinking of as soon as I noticed Peter coughing.

I assumed that the splitting headache Peter talked about was a result of being around Matt, who's apparently been suffering with a headache for a while. Peter's empathetic connection, again, allows him to experience other people's way of experiencing the world.

Finally, was it Peter or someone else who also had a very brief nosebleed a couple of episodes ago? Again, this memory is vague. But when Matt's nose started bleeding, I immediately thought, "This happened to another hero recently."

I'm irritated at my poor memory tonight! Normally I have a good memory for details.

If anybody can help fill in the gaps for me, I'd appreciate it. I'm just wondering if there are any hypotheses we can form from the recurrent "cough" theme.

I think you may be on too something. I've noticed that Sylar says something like "you are not right" to one of the heroes. It seems a disease of some sort is associated with having superpowers.

P.S. Charlie also had a tumor thing if I remeber right

Maybe the powers have draw backs. ie Hiro loses control of power when under emotional stress(can't stop time to save people nikki kills, wants to save Charlie but goes to far back, teleports into the past when he kisses charlie). Peter starts coughing after being near Claire, HRG, Matt, Haitian... maybe he gets physically sick when absorbing to many powers.

I dunno...I was wondering if it had anything to do with Ted, really...not sure how...but Peter sure looked rather sick. I was wondering if he was getting sick from Ted's radioactivity...and then had that empathic vision...like he dreamt of Nathan's flying episodes from Nathan's POV...Perhaps that vision was of Ted, not Peter, as everyone assumes..

That's what I think. Peter was in Ted's Dream.

Yeah we dont know that Ted wasnt in that building or anywhere nearby. I know he was taken by the Feds, but there is no definate push in either way. I still think it has to do with the Haitian. something about his power and the 'static' sounds makes me wonder if he is just some kind of 'black hole' for the powers of the heroes when they are within his range. not that he absorbs them, but obviously negates them. He could be so powerfully negating the powers that too much time around hime could result in a sickness.

Remember he was in that station for a long time as far as we know, and Peter was there a lot longer than we were lead on to. That was a lot of time he was around.

that's something that has gotten me thinking since the "six months ago" epsidoe

Prof. Suresh said it like a desease and that he was trying to make it so that nobody else had to go through what his daughter went though. If that is the case the prof. was trying to correct the part of the powers that are eventually kill them. This is possibly what was happening to Charlie? Right now maybe Mohinder, since he studied under his father and wants to continue his research, found something from his sister that could stablize this problem so that they could currect the ailment. We do not know what she died of, for all we know it could have also been an overdose of power/powers.

36/1

a not too rare theme in comics is that the mutations that gives the special abilities can cause acclerate cellular degeneration in a somewhat cancerous fashion.

as for Charlie she had an aneurysm which may not be related to her abilities particularly since it seems she never even began to realize her potential

As for Peter I think his major headache is due to being so close to Sylar. Peter has only been exposed to abilities on an individual basis. Sylar is like a being in a room full of them. Might have caused an overload in Peter.

Peter's headache was because he was close to Matt and Matt has issues with headaches.

We have seen the cough issue with other characters as well as I recall. The reason I thought that it was related to Claire is because it started when Claire showed up and I recall her mother mentioning a cough that really worried them when she was younger.

I Don't Think that the Haitian negates the power after all Nathan Flew away with the Haitian Nearby. There must be some explanation for him blocking some and not others.

A few episodes back Prof. Suresh was discussing their powers as mutations, and how mutations can become cancerous, and other disorders. Charlie had brain problems, Matt has a nose bleed and bad headaches which could also be neurological, but I don't think Peter's headaches were because of this specifically. I think it was from the feedback given off by Matt when Matt was trying to read Peter's thoughts & Peter picking up on that "wave"

Peter had another empathy dream in the beginning of the episode, right? With Sylar.

Well, Sylar's a pretty sick dude. As someone pointed out, it's a bit like being in a room full of powers. I wouldn't be surprised if he's getting sick because of overload.

His cough is new and important so I don't think it's as simple as a cancerous things that's been building. It's very tied to recent events and becomes so bad that he collapses by the end of the episode; the beginning and ending of that episode are linked. It's definitely because he encountered Sylar, and maybe even a little bit of something to do with Ted.

people cough when they are sick.

The cough is just related to Claire, she had the same problems growing up as a kid according to her mom- check out the episode when Claire's "real" parents visit.

A list of Heroes with known other problems:

Matt (Dyslexia)
Nikki (Schizphrenia)
Charlie (Blood Clot)
Isaac (Drug Addiction)
Claire (Coughing)
Bryan ("Something is broken")

Also, possibly:

Sylar (Insanity)
Peter (Depression)

And unaccounted:

Hiro
Nathan
Haitian
Eden
D.L.
Micah.
Ted
Indian Dreamwalker Boy

Claire's power may have corrected any physiological defect early on, before it had time to manifest - perhaps coughing was the onset of a lung problem that was corrected by her burgeoning ability.

people die when they cough.



at least in the 555 area code.



usually.

Didn't she have a brain aneurysm? and where were her powers located?


May be thats one of the ways she saves the world by transmuting something to save the heroes from the problems in the genetics.


Wins thread period.

Peter is not depressed. It was a lie told by Nathan to cover up the reason Peter jumped off the building. Peter was testing his powers when he jumped but got hurt when Nathan couldn't hold him.

Nathan tried to explain the accident away to the public by lying that Peter was attempting suicide. Nathan figured the public would be more sympathetic to a depressed person commiting suicide than to a seemingly crazy person who says he can fly.

I just watched the scene again where Claire's mother talks about Claire's sickness. The main emphasis of the conversation was her parents thought she may have a chromosomal problems.

Chromosomal problems are usually things like Down Syndrome or mental retardation.

As Claire continues to question her mother about what was wrong with her, the mother implies that nothing was really that wrong with her. As Claire continues to pressure her mother for anything that was wrong, her mother says "you had a cough," but her tone was as if this was a very minor problem, not even worth mentioning. It seemed like it was said to appease Claire.

I'm not quite sure how a chromosomal problem would be expressed as a cough. Perhaps Claire's chromosomes were changing and eventually her power kicked in to get rid of her cough (I tend to think the cough is more related to her getting a cold). It really seemed like the cough wasn't much of anything from the tone of Claire's mom's voice. It certainly wasn't the full-blown sickness Peter is currently experiencing. I believe if Claire was that sick, the mother would have mentioned it much earlier in the conversation without Claire's probing.

elketerbentzadik: I agree with you. I think the cough has more to do with Sylar. I'm not quite sure if it's power/insanity overload or if it's something that Sylar is consciously doing to Peter.

I'm still not convinced that the visit from Sylar as Nathan was just a dream. Sylar/Nathan seemed to have an agenda to shake Peter's confidence in his powers. It very much echoed Sylar telling Peter that he didn't know what actual power really is after the struggle in Homecoming. I need to rewatch Homecoming again to see what they said to each other. I may just be echoing what I heard in another thread about Homecoming.

My inclination is that Peter is sick because he came into contact with Sylar.

Sylar was once a healthy, normal person ( according to Suresh's tests ) but he's not any more.

He has been taking "infusions" ( HRG's words ) that alter his DNA in an effort to "activate evolution" and gain the powers of the heroes he murders.

When Chandra Suresh describes the genetic anomalies he's tracking he says that some of them are harmless, some of them can result in "special" powers and that most of them are harmful, cancers and diseases which can wipe out a species.

Sylar has turned himself into a walking genetic anomaly. Sure, it's given him fantastic powers. But who knows what it's done to him inside. We know it's made his mental illness even worse. And although he isn't exhibiting any outward symptoms of "sickness" his twisted genetics can't possibly be "healthy."

He's sick, in many ways. And it's unclear what sort of threat he, as a living, breathing genetic anomaly, poses to mankind.

For a hero like Peter who leeches powers from other hereos and who apparently builds empathic bonds with people, coming into contact with someone, or something, like Sylar, who is mentally ill, and a genetically twisted freak of nature, not just a "hero," could prove especially dangerous.

I think his sudden sickness, Sylar's "dream visitation" to Peter in his jail cell, and Peter's final apocalytpic "dream vision" ( which was accompanied by the distinct sound of clockworks by the way ) are all symptons of his coming into contact with "patient zero," Gabriel "Sylar" Gray.




The only thing "broken" about Brian the TK guy was that he had powers, powers that Sylar had coveted but which nature had denied him, and didn't want them. Sylar saying "you're broken" was like a "normal" person saying "dude, you're crazy," only using a "watchmaker metaphor." There was nothing wrong with Brian.

One thing I noticed re-watching the episode tonight that I thought was sort of ominous but humorus was that when Nathan/Sylar walks into the cell he says to Peter "I drop everything to fix it." That was Sylar talking, not Nathan. There's definitely something "spooky" going on.

I totally agree. This is exactly what I thought also.

I know that, but his Mum also told him that his father suicided due to a genetic disorder that produced delusions of grandeur. Now, in Peter's case, he really is destined for great things, so it's hard to know for sure. But he still may of inherited the disorder from his father. That's why I put it under possibilites.

The mom said that the father was depressed and that caused him to take his life. She said nothing about the father having super powers. Mental problems can cause illusions of grandeur. If you are tring to connect powers with problems, this isn't the best arguement.

Also, it still isn't clear exactly how Pete's dad died. At first it was a heart attack, then the mom said she lied and it was suicide. Linderman could have also killed the dad. The Petrelli's don't have the most honest family.

Now that we know that Mrs. Bennett has been mind-wiped repeatedly, it may be that she doesn't actually know what was wrong with Claire at all. She may have only a vague memory of "something wrong" in Claire's childhood, but the details are gone.

I think I agree with you, though. The connection between Claire's cough and Peter's does seem increasingly tenuous upon further thought.

Perhaps Peter picked up one of Sylar's ingested powers. Perhaps mildly prophetic dreams was one of the abilities another hero had before Sylar killed them, and for the time being, Peter has that ability as well.

The only problem I have with this theory is that everyone is reacting to Peter and not Ted. If you watch Simone, she even shouts out his name.

One person, I forgot where, pointed out that in one of the commercials they play the scene where Peter explodes backwards so that he's containing all the power. Maybe something like this will occur?

A new coughing report. I've been rewatching all the episodes so that I can see if there are any hidden occurences of the symbol - what some people call the 'S', I call the 'f' and what we know to either be a half DNA or RNA strand.

Anyway, if episode 5 "HIROS" when Peter is in Isaac's studio putting all the pictures into a comic book page layout Isaac coughs just like Peter coughed in "FALLOUT". Could be attributed to him having taken heroin.

temporal

Or, more likely, that he is in heroin withdrawal. Don't know about heroin, but codeine is a powerful cough suppressant.

I think that Peter is just having an over load of powers, closely related to what Sylar is going through, by all or the changes he undergone, but not a result of interacting with Sylar specifically.

If you think about it, Peter was around Sylar and all of his powers, Claire, Nathan, Matt, even the Haitian was in the police station. He has absorbed at least 6 abilities in a very short amount of time (this is assuming Sylar has only two powers, it could be even more).

I'm just thinking it is some sort of overload for Peter, he doesn't really understand how his power works for absorbing/mimicing(sp?) one power, let alone multiple powers so close to eachother.

Yes, it could be just this, but the writers have made a point of mentioning Clarie's cough. I don't recall Sylar coughing in the cell he's in but I haven't rewatched that whole episode yet. Mr Bennett mentions that all the changes Sylar has goen through by apparently manipulating his own DNA are having an impact on him. We don't quite know how though.
Discussion about the number of powers Sylar has was in another topic. I believe concensus maybe that Sylar has 5 abilities from the five people known to have had the tops of their heads removed (counting TK who got clobbered but eventually must have had the top of his head removed). We know of three manifestations of his powers one is assuming he is the one who froze the guy but some have said freezing someone can be done with TK if you stop or slow down to a near stop the molecules around somone. It was pointed out that Sylar made the electricity go out in the locker room. Was this TK?
I think this is probably the two camps of thought. Peter is experiencing some kind of "overload" from "empathizing" with so many people who have powers or the cough has something to do with having abilities. One newer thought was that all these people are part of an experiment that possibly has a side effect. The ones doing the experimenting (or testing) are only known by the symbol of the helix.

Remember Mr. Bennet's (HRG's) words to Matt when the Haitian and he captured him. I'm paraphrasing, 'We're not part of any organization with initials.' Hmmm...

temporal

well this cold n flu season is a bit... a real pain so maybe its just a bug passed around hhehehehe

i'm going with the power overload theory...as for the dream, Peter's been having prophetic dreams since the beginning, its just an extension of his emphatic powers...probably

That doesn't mean he wasn't depressed. His father was depressed and suicided. I'm sure his mother said it was hereditary.

why do people keep going on about claire's cough... she had a cough as a baby... so do most... it's not like she coughs now.

I'm not going to try to disprove a negative. Don't be silly.

We know for a fact that Nathan lied about Peter's mental state in the press conference to the public to explain Peter jumping off the building.

The mother has changed the facts about the father's death a couple of times to suit a situation. How do we know she was telling the truth about depression or anything else?

The mother told the "story" of the father being depressed and having illusions of grandeur right after Peter tried to tell the mom he had super powers. It seemed like the mom was trying to get Peter to discredit his own experience by scaring him into believing he may be mentally ill.

Now if you can prove (or actually believe) that Peter is depressed and that jumping off the building was because of him being suicidal, I have a piece of invisible real-estate to sell you for 1 million dollars. After you purchase it, you will only be able to see it in your imagination. Since, it's invisible, you just need to trust me that it's there.

papa petrelli was bipolar.

First time posting...go me...Anyway, i think Matt's nose bleed was caused more by him concentrating so hard to get through the haitans block of his powers. Also some one mentioned earlier that Nathan flew even though the Haitian was around, but he might have wanted him to get away, and there fore didn't block his power.

If they are all getting "Sick" wouldn't that mean they would eventually get better or even worse?

I have to believe that the cough is more than coincidence. I know, it's normal for babies to cough, and people cough for no big reason on a regular basis. But Claire's mother made a point of mentioning it (or rather, the writers made a point of her mentioning it) and now it's something gradually worsening in Peter (as much as anything can 'gradually worsen' in the span of 10 minutes of air-time).

I have no idea how it is going to factor in/play out, but I am certain that it will be important in some way.

Also, I think the headaches may have some significance, in that Matt started getting them after being abducted and released, and Peter started getting them at the police station after the altercation with Sylar but BEFORE Matt ever got near him. (That part, I think, disqualifies the sympathetic pain theory that he got his headache from being near Matt who also had a headache.)

My bets :

- he didn?t got enough of Claire?s powers, so he wasn't "fixed" properly. So he is coughing.
- because of it, he wont be able to control Ted?s power.
- The sword that hiro will get will be used in the usual way to stop the nuclear reaction : put it in the core of the reactor. Poor Peter.

It does not show how long Peter had a "Splitting headache" before Matt walked in the door. If it just had started it could have still been from Matt. Just depends on how long he was standing outside the door.

Also, Peter being a Nurse would not take medication for someone else with out knowing what it was.
He didn't even seem to look at it before taking the lid off.

I also think the coughing is important. We'll see in a week...