Sorry if this has been started already, I didn't see it, so here we go!

It would be nice to make a list of what items were in the vault. Just like everything else with Heroes I am sure it could have some importance later.

From what I remember
1. A brain
2. A golden key(Ithink it was a key)
3. A Kris (dagger)

please add what you remember or think the importance of these things are.

In no particular order:

A preserved brain in a jar
A Trojan horse figurine
Three playing cards - Queens: Diamond, Spade and Heart
An empty stand - which held a vial of Strain 138 of the Shanti Virus
An empty vault display box
A golden key
A metal (silver looking) kris
A dark (black / grey) pyramid model

I'll take the seemingly obvious one. I think the gold key is a key that Bob turned to gold to prove to the others in the Company of his power and show his usefulness within the inner circle.

I think each item represents one of the members of the inner circle of the Company. What should we call them even? The Board of Directors?

I think they represent some of the powers of the founders. I beleive that every founder had a power. Here is my speculation:

Brain In Jar - Maury Parkman - Telepathy is all in the mind, but I don't know what they needed a brain for. Possibly to study and even see if he can manipulate a brain post-mortem... zombie brain!

Playing Cards - Arthur Petrelli - I think he has a luck related power that subtly manifested when he was in the war with Linderman. In the War Buddies GN there are a few hints towards it. Plus, his good friend Linderman started a casino right?

Golden Key - Robert 'Bob' Bishop - Maybe this is one of the first items he transmuted and holds sentimental value for him. Not sure why Adam would be interested in it, it looks too ornamental to actually be a key to use to open something. Maybe Adam tought he could sell it...

Metal Kris - Kaito Nakamura - Unsure what his ability may be, but I think it may be in relation to using weaponry of this sort. Remember how he asked Ando to get him his sword before Adam killed him? In the GN with Ando and Kimoko, those bikers looked pretty fearful of Kaito, I think he is the best candidate for it.

Virus Vial - Victoria Pratt - She was the creator of the disease. Maybe she could manipulate orgamisms on a very small scale? Maybe she could manipulate proteins or DNA (wait do viruses even have DNA? I should remember this from biology...) Seems like pretty advanced work for 30 years ago, unless her ability could have aided her.

Trojan Horse Figurine - ? - Maybe a power where someone could change appearance for the sake of gaining trust and enter an area. This could also be another analogy for Maury's power, he seems to bypass peoples minds quite easily even if they have a strong mind Angela who can put up a defense (well Matt could break through, I assume Maury could too).

Pyramid - ? - Well, a triangle based pyramid or tetrahedron is pretty much the most basic 3D shape there is, but I have no idea how this is relevant...

We know Daniel Linderman can heal others.

We assume Charles Deveaux has some form of a dreaming/astral type power.

We still have no idea about Angela Petrelli...

There is a founder named Carlos Mendez which is likely to be a relation to Isaac, possibly with a similar power, maybe explaining why Linderman has such an extensive gallery.

Then there are 3 other founders, 2 females and a male whose names I cannot recall.

We could also assume that one of the founders has a weather manipulating ability considering Bob showing the newspaper saying that it could have been a much worse event. I don't think any of the items really represents it.

I think that once we officially know the powers of the founders, then these items will make more sense. They still have a lot to answer for, hopefully more flashback episodes are coming.

why lock some of the seemingly innocent or sentimental items in vault. I can see Bob keeping the key in his personal safe, or something along those lines. But the virus was dangerous to the public and was being sought after by Adam. I guess what I am wondering is what is the potential need to have these items in a lock and gaurded vault in an underground facility?

Good question. Must they all be actually dangerous like a virus? Or can they simply have sentimental and/or symbolic value to The Company, as a whole, itself? I mean, a vault can be for both.

I think they all have literal meanings. The brain probably comes from a powerful person who died, possibly from the 12. The rest seem really random and strange, and who knows what they mean.

The key has more meaning than just something Bob turned to gold.

Like everyone else I'm intrigued with the contents of the vault. I'd imagine that the Company's vault contained very powerful and very potentially dangerous items (in the wrong hands). That's why they were locked away in a heavily guarded subterranean crypt.

And, like everyone else, I very interested in discovering what their significance is (what secrets they hold), almost as much as I am interested in finding out what the founders' (the prior generation) powers were.

Hopefully all will be revealed in "Villains", the next installment of "Heroes".

Creator

I'm really interested in the playing cards: Three Queens.

One of the music staff commented, "Ah! And here are all the clues..."
The other music gal said, "Oooh...the 'winning hand.'"
And from Beeman's blog he calles Christin Rose "his queen."

So who was playing the winning hand and who has the missing card? My bet Angela's got the Queen of Clubs.

I'm hoping that vol. 3 will provide the answers to the items stored in the vault.

Creator

i mentioned this in the other thread but i think the brain is fpeter's brain from when he went to the past... and it has ALL the powers...

amolion,

That would be very interesting. But, how would future Peter ever have been overcome? And, if this is true, it would make quite the prize for Sylar! It could also be the brain of yet another powerful empath, other than Peter.

Creator

If the brain were Future Peter's, could Present Peter absorb the powers from it considering he was in the vault with it?

simple. from what i know about season 2, peter has got dumber, maybe, the older he gets the dumber he gets... so i recon that someone just said "peter, come lie on this table..."

...and i don't think that peter could absorb from a brain.

what i don't understand is, if they had this brain... and if it is powerful, why not just transplant it into someone and have linderman heal them?

amolion,

Perhaps the result (transplanting and healing) would be just too dangerous to imagine.

Creator

what... even for heroes?

Here's a thought- perhaps the key opens a door or something

But what would be kept even more securely than what was in the vault?

Perhaps the kris (dagger) is required to defeat one of our "Villains"!

Creator

Doesn't the dagger look similar to the one that 'St Joan' is holding in the comic picture? I think it might be..

FireLadyM,

Yes, it does. Which is why I suspect that it will be required to stop at least one of the villains. I think that the kris will possibly be given to Monica so that she might dispatch of the SG that escapes from the Company and returns to terrorize the Big Easy. And, in doing so, Monica will become St. Joan.

Creator

So do we think these items will tie into next season or will these be a teaser that they drag out for a season or two?

amolion,

I was thinking of the worst case scenario (wcs), where you might be thinking the best case scenario (bcs). If the brain belonged to a very powerful villain (wcs), then the transplanting and healing (the re-creation of this HEB) could prove disastrous. Whereas, if indeed this brain belonged to a very powerful hero HEB, then it could prove to be a glorious resurrection indeed!

Creator

no, worst case scenario would be that the brain belonged to jesus and he was the first special.

A shot in the dark: The brain belongs to Arthur Petrelli...And using Claire/Peter's blood, he is "rebuilt!".

maybe the company need the right body to put the brain in n' use claires blood to bring it back once its in the new body.

What if the brain is Pandora's Box? What if it has all the powers and was the brain of a powerful empath? Peter goes into the room, gets all those powers, to many for him to control. Mabye he goes nuts and they have to stop him, but ofcourse that's really freakin hard. Just a wild guess, don't think it'll happen though.

What if the Brain is Lindermans? Maybe they were saving it because that is how he died after D. L. phased thru his skull and played with his grey matter.

If it is true that these items represent something linked to or an example of the power of original 12 founders of The Company, then why wouldn't there be 12 objects? Did we miss any of them?

AmazingBob,

If the brain's godsend was still 'absorb-able' / 'sponge-able' by Peter, then he will have the power(s) now having been in close proximity to it. We may find that Peter has acquired some truly amazing new power as a result of gaining access to this Company 'trophy room' vault. I would like to think that possible.

Creator

the brain is probably that of someone who had great power and was very dangerous and unstable, which is why they don't do the transplant, because then whoever the brain went into would be the person that the brain was, not the person that they put the brain into. Which is why it's locked up so safe, to keep anyone from ever transplanting it.

But why would they keep the brain instead of destroy it? Same reason why there's still a few vials containing the smallpox virus in existence. An emergency weapon of (in the smallpox case) biological warfare.

Another thing to note is the empty vault box. Not only is it empty, but it's open, which would lead me to believe that Adam took whatever was in it. At least if it's going off of items significant to the founders, perhaps it was all of adam's rings that we saw him with in the GN?

spiderfrommars,

Excellent post! Thank you for advancing the topic. I really enjoyed the ideas you set out here. Very observant...very logical. Great work.

Creator

EXCELLENT POINT!

spiderfrommars,

The GN about Adam's wives does show Adam in his gravely prison holding the rings! Your comments really make a lot of sense; he has these items immediately after being teleported from the vault. Sure, he may have already had them with him when he entered the vault (around his neck or in a pocket?), but I doubt that. Plus, as you adeptly point out, there is an empty vessel in the vault from which Adam may have removed something of value to him.

Still, why would these items, Adam's wives wedding bands, have been kept in that vault room? What would make them so important to the Company? Any ideas?

Creator

Well, there have been a few theories I've been thinking about:

1) I believe could have come from, Matt Neuenberg, from "Chapter 70 - THE END OF HANA AND DRUCKER" the interactive novel. He has them trapped in his brain, and that is why Bob has such a keep interest in keeping his brain intact.

2) Gold Key, I believe has some impact, with Elle, from "Chapter 75 - A LESSON IN ELECTRICITY", where it implied that Benjamin Franklin actually retained the electricity when the key got zapped by the lightning. It could imply that Elle, happens, to be a direct descendant of the old man.

3) Kris, is obvious, from the 9th Wonder comic, with St. Joan, I can almost gauruntee that Monica will obtain either that Kris, or a similar one in the upcoming season - in defense against the Villians.

A Trojan horse figurine - I believe this references Sylar, or Bob. Odd huh? I know Bob, has been very manipulative, causing people to think one notion, but we all know he has an evil purpose, especially from a lot of things we've seen in the interactive novels - you recall when Bob was looking for Drucker initially, he used his powers to turn a guy into gold, because he wouldn't forfeit any information. Anyhow, if this isn't the case, I think during "Villians" Sylar may turn to "help" the good guys, just to go and try and steal all their powers in the end.

Three playing cards - Queens: Diamond, Spade and Heart - Definately, relates to Angela Petrelli or Nikki/Jessica. Moreso, Nikki/Jessica. The reason I state that is that it could reference the whole concept behind the multiple personalities. We assume she's dead from the last season explosion, when saving Monica -- but if you think about, we've seen what? three persona so far coming from her?

An empty vault display box - Could definately represent Claud, our invisible friend, whose hid from us this entire last season. I'm sure he's going to make a re-introduction this season, or even, as several people have indicated, that it could possibly have contained some old relic belonging to adam, ie. the rings.

A dark (black / grey) pyramid model - I'm totally baffled by this one.

I question how deeply we can read into frame-freezes from scenes. in all honesty, a fan-geek like me is going to spend days pouring over material looking for each clue, whereas an editor on-site has but hours. I can't bring myself to the point of saying Heroes doesnt make ANY canon mistakes, and I hope none of you can either. I think the various shots of the blank/open case were all meant to be of the the Virus and any discrepiencies were from over-obsessed fan-geeks. (I mean honestly... was the entirety of season two in Adam's mind NOT about the virus, but rather one of the other boxes which he opened first, hid, and THEN re-joined the "I am God" discussion with the virus clutched behind his back?)
it was an editing glitch. deal.

i think possibly the items could be for next seasons villians.

we are trying to figure out what they mean. but WHY would the company want to store these items? what use do they have being there? why would they want to keep them?

canadianprincess,

The level of protection afforded them would suggest that these items have great value. The fact that they were housed with the Shanti Virus #138 suggest that they may hold or represent great power or great danger. I believe (and hope!) that we will see them again, soon.

Creator

I hope Claude will be back soon.

I also was thinking that the vault held dangerous items that in the right hand could mean doom or an advantage. Example.

The Strain 138 was put into the vault after Adam tried to release it to kill millions. Maybe each item has the same for different people or some of the items could be the means at which you can capture someone.

The Brain could be from a person that it took the combined powers of the whole group to stop. I don't think Peter can take the powers from a brain that hasn't any brain activity but what if Sylar was to get access to it. He could study it and be the most powerful HEB until he meets up with Peter anyway.

The Trojan horse could be a device that somebody with the right power can be put into and would be not able to detect him.

The kris could be a special device like kriptonite is to superman. Maybe his skin could not be penitrated without that mineral or chemical from the kris.

Maybe one of the people in the jail can only be held by the Pyramid Model. Maybe he can turn into a gas and the device collects and confined him until they can take him someplace to nullify his power. Also I saw a movie where a pyramid, when touched by somebody with psychic power, was multiplied to a point of god status.

Now this can go both ways, from people that is part of the company or people that the company has gone against in the past.

PS. Wasn't there storage compartment in the vault so that thousands of items could be secured.

I really hope this brain is how we find out how Sylar gets his powers.

I envisage him breaking into the Vault, having not had lunch, and just downing the whole thing in one.

Creator

Honestly, this makes no sense