The subject line is really all there is.

How the hell did Nathan survive?

If they have it so Nathan THREW Peter and flew away, I will
be so deflated. It just can't be that. I trust the Heroes writers,
there's something going on with that night in New York. I've read
the small spoiler for the title of Episode 8, so there's something
there.

Still ... they better not mess this part up.

So, in other words, they shouldn't use a reasonable explanation?

It can be that, it's good enough for me, I don't need a painfully elaborate answer as to how one of the best characters on the show survived.

eh, it's the obvious "answer" is what bothers me.

what begs the question is, was it even possible though? obviously Nathan threw/tossed/let go of Peter at high speeds in the upper atmosphere so he exploded "safely" away from others. But could Nathan fly away in time to not get a dose of radiation? I don't think they ever came out right and said he can fly at super sonic speeds or anything. Granted it does look like he can jet around pretty damn fast but a nuclear explosion is pretty big, even in the small megaton range.

i do like the "guilt" angle they got going for him but i had hoped they'd come up with something other than "he let go at the last second and flew away really fast"

I don't have a problem with that explanation. It's the only one that makes sense. Why would there have to be any other explanation? This is perfectly logical.

The only problem with it--and it's really more of a problem with last season's finale--is that they really made it seem like Nathan was sacrificing himself at the end of "How to Stop an Exploding Man." That was lame, so I'm glad they don't seem to be dealing with it at all. In fact, I like that they assume that we just assume Nathan let Peter go. This could give them a place to mess with our assumptions, but I think that's exactly what happened. And I hope they don't contradict it.

I didn't mean to sound pessimistic.

Like I said, I trust the writers. There is no way Nathan threw
Peter. Going up, they both knew Nathan wouldn't survive. They say
it. "I can't let you die." "And I can't let everyone else." Nathan
knew he would die, he was sacrificing himself.

And the only way to make sure an Exploding Man doesn't kill
millions of people when you have the ability to fly is - fly him up,
hold him in midair unless it's over. It's the only way to be sure.
Peter can't fly, so if you let him go, he falls to Earth.

Something else is amiss with Nathan.

That's actually the most reasonable explanation. Nathan can fly Mach 3 (faster than the speed of sound). That's faster than any atomic blast particles.

The other explanation left is that he's actually just like Peter, an Empath, and he actually absorbed some of Peter's power while he was up there with him. Or maybe the explosion altered his already mutated gene and impart some of Peter's power onto himself.

Maybe he's faster than the shockwave (if there was one, remember this was not an explosion but a radiation event) but he is not faster than the radiation. He probably would be burned pretty badly even if he was a mile or two away, unless he managed to put mountains or buildings in the way. The flash of him all burned was not really far fetched. Linderman could have healed him though...

Back on topic though, yeah, I think that's what happened. It's what I was yelling at Nate to do at the end of last season.

Where is proven/stated he does Mach 3?

I ask cause that kind of hinges on him getting away. If he can move at speeds way past the sound barrier and outrun such an explosion, yes it is a plausible explanation and Occam's Razor applies. However I don't recall anything in the series so far saying as such (graphic novels aside, not all fans read those).

The kind of ring "poof" he makes when he really hits his speed going, could simply be particles in the air. The first time he does it, he was clearly high enough in the sky to be near clouds. The burst of speed could have been him accelerating and causing the clouds to form a ring, similar to blowing a smoke ring. I don't think this qualifies as an indicator of Mach speeds however. Not to mention, where is the "sonic boom"? Assuming I remember my high school science well enough, breaking the sound barrier into Mach speeds creates a sonic boom. Nathan doesn't make one, or are we to assume his power just nullifies that?

I don't know to me it seemed pretty obvious that he flew him up as high as he could then at the last second he let him go to get away safely. At that height it would have taken a little while for him to hit the ground and come on we all saw how close he was to blowing when he took him up. As for the guilt part I am going to guess that he had it in his head Peter couldn't die since he had Claire's powers and when Peter didn't show up at all he figured he was wrong and hence the guilt.



Well only thing I can think of for this is in the episode from season one when he was pulled out of the hotel by Bennet and he flew he did create a sonic boom. I am not sure on the science of it, but perhaps he was to high to hear the boom of it or it was muffled by the sound of the blast Peter gave off.

I always thought that the "pop" sound when he flew away was the sonic boom...

Anyway, maybe Nathan got scared at the last minute and let Peter go, which might contribute to his guilt. Guess we'll find out in a flashback...

The dialogue at the end of last season definitly made it seem as though Nathan was sacrificing himself, but the seven people I watched the episode and I were all sitting here thinking "why is Nathan going to die? Just drop Peter!" I just can't believe that anything other than that happened. I can see why Nathan would be guilty, but I'd characterize it more as survivor's guilt than guilt for letting his brother die.

As for Nathan's speed, I don't know where the mach 3 figure came from, but I sure thought I heard a sonic boom when Nathan flew away from Bennet and the Haitian, so he's flying at at least mach 1. It's been a while since I've studied nuclear explosions, but I bet that mach 1 is definitely fast enough to get away from a nuclear event--the bombers that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan couldn't fly at nearly supersonic speeds but were definitely able to get away.

Well, the bombers that dropped the a-bombs were not only fairly high up from the point of explosion, but also had time while the bombs were dropping to get away.

The heat flash would get him for sure if he was in range. Look on youtube - there's a test video of a house, you've probably seen it, where the house bursts into flames instantly and then gets knocked over by the blast. I guess the question is, did he throw Peter with enough time to spare?

The beard makes me think he's incognito - did he lose the election? Does the OWI think he's dead?

As for Mach Whatever, I think it's plausible. I mean if his brother can level New York...

Well, first off I'm new here, so hi all. And I figured my first post might as well be about Nathan since he's my favorite character.

When it comes to how Nathan got away, I too don't like the idea of him just dropping Peter after what he said in that final scene last year. But Nathan letting go and flying off is the only plausible explanation in my mind. However, a way they could do it and not make Nathan look like a jerk would be if Peter basically begs Nathan to let him go. They're flying up into the air, they get to a certain height and Peter's basically like, "This is high enough, let me go." Nathan refuses, reminding him that he promised not to leave him, but Peter assures Nathan that he'll be alright, and continues to beg him to save himself. Nathan eventually relents and makes a break for it, convinced that Peter will indeed be okay and they're at a safe enough distance above. He takes off but still is injured pretty badly. Peter never comes back though, hence Nathan's guilt.

With that scenario I think it at least paints Nathan in the light that he had every intention of staying with Peter till the end, but it was Peter's wish for Nathan to at least try and save himself. There's a good 20 seconds or so in the finale that goes by in between Peter and Nathan taking off and then the explosion, I'd say that's enough time for a quick and dramatic dialogue scene while they're accelerating further into the air.

I was reading some Heroes website, and they came up with the thought that maybe Nathan can't fly. Think of Storm from X-Men, She doesn't 'fly' like you would normally think of it. She uses wind to move her body, so what if Nathan really just controls wind. He would be able to fly, and then when he get's high enough he'd be able to blow Peter in a different direction while he takes off in his. That would make the time issue less important.

I mainly think that Nathan should have some sort of radiation burns on himself from the flight up. I refuse to believe that Nathan flew Peter up to the sky without getting some sort of radiation burn. Peter was on the verge of a melt down. Also I'm guessing that burnt face Nathan saw in the bar was probably what Peter looked like before Nathan tossed him.

Maybe Peter forced Nathan to drop him. Using telekinesis alone, he could easily push Nathan away from him.

Peter was pretty distraught but if he knew he was about to kill his brother, he may have had instinct kick in to save him.

I haven't read every post but isn't it possible that since Hiro has changed the past that things might not have played out the same way as last year's finale. This could be a different timeline or it has been changed. Nathan won the election but I don't see him in office. It's only 4 months later, hardly time for him to become a drunk and be kicked out of congress. Maybe there was no explosion. Maybe Nathan can't fly and Peter isn't an empath. Also, I was under the impression that Sulu was going to have a power. Does he have to have a sword to defend himself?

I'm just glad that Nathan is still around... It'll be fun to see what happen while they were in the air that night. I have a few theories brewing, but I'll hold them for now.

i think his got cannon balls power from x men were he flyies and has a sheild to protect him self

have you watched series 1? you see the part where peter grabs claude and jumps over the building?

Did you not watch his acceptance speech?

We can come up with lots of theories as to how Nathan got away, but I want an explanation to the man in the mirror. Was it Nathan or Peter? My guess is it was Nathan after the explosion but before he was healed by Peter. What do you think?

The person in the mirror had long hair on the one side he had hair, leading me to believe it was Peter. I think it was the guilt ghost of his 'dead' brother following him.


Oh and my theory as to how Nathan survived: He's a ****** pimp

Nathan saw a scarred version of himself in the mirror.

Well I have a therory I'd like to share. I think Nathan tried to sacrifice himself, but Peter wouldn't let him. Once they got high enough in the atmosphere Peter pushed Nathan away (using Telekinesis, Super strength, whatever) and Nathan flew away. He watched as Peter started to fall or found the body afterwards and sees a horribly burned Peter (hense the reflection) and Peter wasn't regenerating. This could be the Haitian's ability, or possibly a new power. Or Peter really did die as he couldn't concentrate on his healing power. Either way, Nathan leaves Peter for dead and he starts healing or is ressurected. The Haitian takes his memories, gives him his necklace, and Peter is shipped off somewhere.

The mind wipe makes the most sense to me because if you think about it, Peter is probably more dangerous than Sylar and not many people would let him walk around when he can't control his power.

I think if Nathan did drop Peter, it wasn't on purpose. He just couldn't hold on anymore. I doubt I could hold on to something that was radioactive.

That's why he's so guilty. He wasn't strong enough to hold on.

First come on people, how can a thread like this exist..I mean its common sense how he survived. He surivived by doing the following:

1) Once getting high enough he pushed off Peter to escape the explosion.
2) Peter pushed Nathan off when high enough so he wouldn't kill his brother.

Now the question is why such actions were taken. Perhaps Nathan while seemingly wanting to sacrifice himself got scared in the end or maybe Peter told him to let go or maybe that was his intent from the beginning as he has always thought Peter be able to survive the explosion so he pushed off knowing his brother be safe never mind that the nuclear power is emitted from the body and not within making it so Peter would only need his regenerative powers to survive the fall. (Why people think its emitted from within is still beyond me lol)

Either way Nathan survived because before the explosion he was far from Peter. The whole scarred face thing was probably just a drunken hallucination based on the pain of what happen.

I don't think so. See, there's a reason they're not telling us what went down (well up) there in those final moments. And Nathan might have been able to outfly the blast, but he should have had radiation poisoning by the time he got Peter high enough. The scarred image in the mirror was his own and it could be his guilt cause Peter is missing- but what if it's more? What if there a cool explanation behind how Nathan survived and he has a different aspect to his power that he never discovered, or the radiation mutated his mutation somehow? They could have told us if it was as simple as Nathan dropping/leaving Peter or Peter shoving/begging him to leave. But they didn't show us and everyone is assuming Nathan just left him...