Among the characters we have been introduced to in the show, who is best qualified to train or mentor Peter at this time? Why?

Creator

I've had this answer for the second half of season two: Angela. She knows so much about specials because of he experience, I bet more than Claude. She knows her son and is not afraid to push him to his full potential. That Out of Time, scene shows it. "You must!" She has so much experience and knowledge, 30 years of it, I'd love to see her using it to help people and not just keeping it locked away. I think a lot of the other Heroes could benefit from what she has to offer. It would also be great that after seeing her son as weak and finally seeing he was the potential of being so powerful -- Angela teaching him how to harness that would be a a great full circle. You need someone who will kick you ****** when they train you, take no excuses: I think Angela fits that bill. And unlike HRG has had intimate relationships and close corners with specials. She has the most knowledge to over. Next to Bob, but I can't see him being a trainer at all. Too self involved. And look how Elle turned out.

Visitor27,

At the very least, she (Angela) could teach him how to use her godsend and co-ordinate the training with those HEB's within her circle of influence (trusted friends) to instruct him in the use of other powers, including their own (even as Bob pushed Matt to a more advance level of telepathic capability).

Creator

I'd love that too. Her secrets working for her family, not against them. I think she thinks her secrets protect her family when they in fact hurt them.

As I mentioned on another topic, I think that it would work best if the HEB's could only absorb a fixed number of powers. And, after reaching this number of powers they evolved into a synergy of their accumulated powers unable to absorb or donate (through empathic mimicry) their new synergized godsend. [NOTE: this would work for Sylar too.]

Then to have Peter trained by another ascended (matured/synthesized) empath would be very cool. He (Peter) would be much less annoying to the viewers as well! He would become a whole being, capable of using his new synergized, 'fixed' godsends in combination.

There is time for the writers to still do this. It might save the series.

Creator

I'm the complete opposite!

I think both Peter and Sylar should be able to absorb as many powers as they can. And then it's a question of them learning to control them and staying sane.

Peter is pretty much immortal now, after meeting Adam. At some point he is going to have some sort of God complex, no matter how empathic his nature. But I hope he doesn't go the Adam route and learns to deal with his powers in a Peter-way.

Peter's trainer should be future_Mohinder.
As Mrs Googly said, Peter will get a God complex soon and any other SG will not have the credibility of a simple mortal like you and I (well, you anyhow) to present the relevant issues (respect, honesty, helping the common good and old ladies across the road).

Mohinder is well positioned because he's the only non-SG with the right knowledge of evolved humans but doesn't have an agenda like say, HRG. Why future_Mohinder? Because present_Mohinder is such a gullible jerk he'd get run over helping old ladies across the road.

LMAO

I concur.

Why not HRG? He dosen't have abillites exect the abillity to be a *You know the drill*

I had suggested Mohinder first season as a suitable mentor. Presently, he's off looking for a brain. I still think that the series would greatly benefit from having a limit to Peter's powers and having him ascend. He'd be way cool!...dumb hot?! Anyway, you get my drift. He'd be a multi-powered, stable, extremely capable HEB.

He was an evolving immortal before he met Adam. His neice Claire is a RCR HEB like Adam.

Creator

I guess we've long since dumped Chandra's hypothesis that SG's are evolutionarily more advanced as it seems most that we know are related and there's an indication they're all related to Adam. If this it the case then to what is Peter ascending?

My contention is that rather than becoming a supreme SG, he is a consequence of having too many powers, like an animal that becomes albino and accumulates disease genes because of inbreeding. Peter is the lab rat of Heroes. Live hard, die young, eat pellets.

FutureMuggles,

Adam refers to other HEB's that he has met and outlived [see GN 66]. One that could bend steel in their bare hands and another that control the elements. I think this strongly suggest that there were others, unrelated HEB's, with whom Adam co-existed. If this is so, then he is not the father of all HEB's.

Now, since Peter is special even among SG's, it is conceivable that at some point in his powers acquisition, he might reach a 'saturation point' and experience a change, a metamorphosis and ascend safely to the next level of being-ness. Doing so could resolve some of the issues we are presently experiencing and will continue to experience if Peter continues to absorb godsends ad infinitum. After a time, one would think that this process would result in irreparable damage [a power overload] and eventually,unfortunately...death.

Creator

Creator, I believe that's true but I also believe that the powers are not evolving in the classical Chandra sense, i.e Mendelian wrinkly peas, genetic imprinting, epigenetics etc. In Heroes there is no classical incremental variation in phenotype (i.e. tall, less tall average, quite short, short, very short - no offense to shorties) on which a selection pressure can act. Furthermore, true gene sequence evolution takes place at a population level not on individuals.

The actual occurrance of SGs we are shown is far more aligned to a sporadic genetic mutation, which immediately encodes a power and is inherited as a full new power as appopsed to an ongoing change in a gene sequence, that at some point encodes a power. Or as somebody said in another thread, where are all the thousands of "not-quite SGs" who can only fly for a few seconds or generate only 10 Volts of electricity?

The fact that such apparent mutations have not contributed to true evolution means they must have been selected out or suppressed - now this gets interesting (finally, I hear you say). It means that whenever the mutation has arisen a family of SGs is generated, but they have not survived to spread the mutation further. So it seems every time this occurs SGs are destroyed by non-SGs - a typical "it's different, kill it" mentality with which humans have been living for millions of years, a part of our evolution, in fact, and it's obviously successful. Latest example of this would be the 5YG scenario where we see the beginning of the end of an SG generation.

The result of this cycle is either a continuation of the few SGs through the bad years to build up again later and then get decimated once again or acceptance of the SG phenotype by non-SGs and, assuming interbreeeding and the natural advantage of being SG now coming to the fore, everybody will be SG in 4-800 years. Let's see the episode 400YG!

Sorry Future Muggles, but I'd pick HRG over Mohnider. Everyone knows more then Mo, and I don't mean he's not smart, I just mean he really hasn't dealth with too many specials, except in a lab. He has no real experience watching people and learning over time. I mean I suspect Bob has a lot of research and knowlegde he's not sharing with Mo. The elders all seem to have kids with powers, I'd think even with out research just from years of seeing Bob could have figured out some science that Mo still doesn't really know from looking at DNA in a lab.

Peter needs someone with years of experience and someone who isn't afarid to make him work for it. And I think that's family.

FutureMuggles,

You are such a breath of fresh air! Plus, you leave me smiling (sometimes rolling !). Bless you! I enjoyed your response , appreciate your insights and agree with you generally. HEB's would necessarily be an endangered species as they would be seen (rightfully) as a threat ('the competition') to be eliminated. Man-gods (HEB's), whose occurrences represent anomalies (as you point out), run the very real risk once identified, of being hunted down and eliminated.

But, there would remain the possibility that several 'man-god' families would survive, cleverly 'hidden' among normals, giving rise to more than one source HEB genetic material to draw from. For the march toward acceptance will be difficult, nearly impossible one. Survival would require stealth. Certain HEB's, like Matt (from the GN 68) or Charlie (even Isaac), while extraordinary might still be palatable. Others like DL, Matt Parkman, Peter, Claire or Nathan,...not.

Thank you for sharing. Send more mushrooms!

Creator

Creator, fungally powered artists are only able to play if a stage is made ready and you, my friend, are the theater-maker, with topics of full of drama and originality as is befitting a creator. Wow, this batch is especially strong.

BTW agree with your last post 100%. But we're getting off topic so..


Visitor, I completely agree - that's why I said future_Mohinder should train Peter. In 5YG he looked quite competent and was still on the right side, sort of. But maybe one form 30YG would be better.

Thats more like it. 63 year old Mo would kick ******. lol.

FutureMuggles,

You make me laugh ! Thank you! Now, back to the topic at hand. FPeter would be ideal if it were not for all the additional powers he would inevitably bring (unless his godsends 'synergize'). For, who would know you better than your future self.

Otherwise, I think a team composed of F.Matt, F.Micah, F.Mohinder and F.Hiro might work well. He shares their 'gifts' (with the exception of F.Mohinder, that is...) and they could quickly help Peter achieve a semblance of mastery with his powers.

Creator

Creator, your Team_future or something like it would certainly be a reasonable training consortium. But now that we have trained Peter to be a controlled and balnced man-god, another, perhaps more pertinant question arises; what is he good for?

Are we trying to help Peter to help us or just to keep him from destroying us? Because if it's the latter then we can dispense with Team_future and, as Angela said, put a bullet through his brain.

FutureMuggles,

Put that gun down and put those mushrooms down too! "Team_future", I like it. We need a controlled and balanced Peter to rise to the occasion, especially now with the pending arrival of so many powerful and deadly villains, the inevitable re-emergence of Adam, etc. It would be great if he learned how to use all his powers and had knowledge of what powers he possesses. I just want a capable, confident Peter, sooner than later.

Creator

I know this thread is a bit old, but I just found it...


I have to go with Mohinder first of all, and disagree that "everyone knows more than him". Though he wouldn't be so much a mentor, per se, but a source of knowledge into Peter's absorbed powers. That is, Mohinder can potentially tell Peter the powers of who he's been in contact with...

Other than that, I guess a Future version of himself would be the most ideal. But I don't like just pulling someone out from the future (or the past) as that would be too easy. Peter could bring anyone back from the future, it seems like somewhat of a cop-out to me.

I think one of the important ones would be Noah. While he doesn't have a power, he knows a LOT about them and how to deal with them because of his experience... even without any powers.

I see Claude in the same vein, in that while he does have a power, it's not an offensive power and I think he's still capable of training Peter simply because of his experience and knowledge. On top of that, he's had experience with at least one empath before.

I'd also say The Haitian because of his experience in directly dealing with them, his mastery of his own power and he seems to know how to fight (alongside his power).

I'd say Adam would be ideal if it weren't for the pesky being evil thing. I think the same would apply to any of the "older generation" that seem to be evil.

I guess what would be most ideal is to be able to talk with the people he's absorbed the power from themselves and see them in action.

prander,

Great post...well crafted,,,well thought out. I agree, Mohinder would be an excellent choice of mentors for Peter in as much as he could help Pete better understand his base power. He could also share with him information concerning the powers of some of Peter's donors, information that would allow him to realize what gifts he may have. Noah could assist in this way as well.

Hiro could help him master their shared godsend, as could Matt. Why, even Angela could be of some assistance I'm sure, especially if she too had known another empath before Peter...

Creator

I don't think Peter will want another trainer, even if he needs one.

Claude pretty much taught him the basics of accessing his powers, and Peter does not seem to be struggling with them any more. And Claude ran out on him, which makes me think Peter will not be looking for another mentor any time soon.

In fact, I would quite like to see it go the other way with Peter almost looking down on the other Heroes because he can do what they can. The only ones he won't be able to do that with his Mr Bennet, Mohinder and Sylar.

Of course, if he meets Maya he will need help controlling her power. So I nominate Maya as Peter's trainer. She can be his Alejandro.

If Arthur lives, he'd make an awesome mentor for Peter. Plus, his tutelage would help to heal their personal relationship. Additionally, I would not be surprised to see either Arthur or Grey Sr. emerge from the Company lock-ups next season.

Creator

I would hope that Peter's experiences with Adam will lead him to be much more cautious when it comes to the next person he trusts with any Company associations.

At least first ask them why they're in the Vaults.

MrsGoogly,

Great point! Thank you. With that in mind, I believe that Peter should develop his telepathic/verbal persuasion gifts so that he need not be concerned about knowing the true motives of anyone that he allows into his life. To 'simply' ask them why they were imprisoned would be an invitation for them to mislead or bend the truth (like in Adam's case). Using his power of verbal or mental persuasion he could command them to reveal their truth. This would be better for him and the world.

Creator

I think the best person to train Peter in the use of his powers is himself. Why?

Because he has all of Sylar's abilities, including his original power of intuitive comprehension.

Sylar's own power allows him to understand and master the powers he's stolen at an alarmingly faster rate than the original owner. After stealing Ted Sprague's power, he was well on his way to mastering it within a few hours later. If Peter taps into this ability, he can develop full control over his other powers.

Also, Peter DOES NOT have to see someone use their abilities in order to recall them later on. He never met D.L. Hawkins, much less knew of his phasing ability. Yet he copied his power (along with Micah Sanders, Molly Walker, and all of Sylar's abilities up to that point) to escape from the Company's cell.

I would personally love for Peter to be able to work his powers out for himself, especially after the disappointments of both Claude and Adam as teachers. He should become more self-reliant, and more more distrustful of others.

But from what you say above, it seems that Sylar would be a good teacher for Peter! As you say, Sylar gains control over stolen powers very quickly, and as Peter has Sylar's IA he should be able to do that too!

Helix,

Peter, I believe, has accessed his IA and is using it now. He has not used Molly's, Micah's or all of Sylar's powers.

MrsGoogly,

The Big Bad Wolf (Sylar) would not be a good mentor for Little Red Riding Hood (Peter)!

Creator

I quite agree... which is why I think Mohinder would be the best "trainer". Peter must meet up with him to be aware of the powers he's absorbed and retained.

True, but at the same time, we know he's absorbed and retained more powers that he hasn't mimicked, yet. Take Eden's vocal persuasion power, for example, we've yet to see him mimic that one. So we know that just because he's absorbed and retained a power, it doesn't necessarily mean he'll be aware of it and/or mimic it. And if he doesn't mimic it or isn't told that he's absorbed and retained it, how would he be aware of it? We don't know the nature of the powers he's absorbed and retained, and the nature of them in regards to empathic power absorbers / retainers / mimics, so I'd say that it's just as much speculation, at least from what we've seen in the story to this point, to assume that he would become aware of them merely because he's already absorbed and retained them. Granted, I think it's safe to say that he could mimic some of them without being aware of them, however that works, but I don't think it's safe to say that he could mimic all of them... without someone making him aware of them.

Not only that, but as Creator said, Mohinder could teach him about the biological, genetic, etc. components and the overall base power.

I can see a great storyline developing if they can somehow get Peter and Sylar to work together (and not kill each other in the process) and Peter sees just how good Sylar is at using his stolen powers. Sylar can teach Peter alot.

I think that would be cool. Present a "greater enemy" scenario in which these two must team up to stop it.

prander,

Impressive!

Creator

Creator,

I didn't mean that he used Micah's, Molly's or any of Sylar's other abilities to escape from the Company. I just meant that Peter's copied their powers but he hasn't manifested them yet.

Also, when and how did Peter utilize Sylar's IA?

Helix83,

I agree that it is most likely that Peter has absorbed all of the afore mention powers. We are in accord.

I believe that as of the most recent finale (Powerless), Peter clearly resists Matt's attempt at mental domination by demonstrating an immediate 'understanding' of what Matt is attempting to do and a new level of mastery over that 'gift'; then again during the vault scene where he destroys the vile viral vial of Shanti #138, he demonstrates an understanding and control that he had not previously shown, doing so with such mastery, control and confidence that he is clearly reminiscent of Sylar's level of mastery and control. Something has changed! I believe his new command of his powers points to his IA finally 'kicking in'.

Creator

Interesting, I'd never really thought about those like that.

But couldn't they just be examples of him "evolving" with his power, in general? I mean, he could, for example, make himself and other people invisible not long after he absorbed it from Claude.

prander,

When did Peter make someone else invisible?! With Claude, Peter had an advantage he had not enjoyed before. He had a master of his newly absorbed 'gift' training him. It still took some effort for Peter to develop command over his invisibility. You do remember Claude rescuing Peter with invisibility so that he would escape detection? This came after Peter was aware that he had the power, but before he had mastered it's use. Sylar, with IA, would have mastered invisibility almost immediately.

Surely, Peter is evolving. I believe his IA is facilitating his most recent evolution. We'll be better able to judge this (my belief) during the upcoming season.

Creator

He made Claire invisible while holding on to her when they ran away from the FBI to keep from getting arrested like Ted.

It was in "Landslide," when the FBI (Audrey) came to arrest Ted in New York. Peter turned himself and Claire invisible and left the scene.

Perhaps, and I'm not saying I necessarily don't think it's IA, but I also find it just as compelling that he could just be "evolving" along with his power. I think it could've been written either way.

Hopefully, yes. I would also like it to be his IA, so... we actually agree on something.

Thank you, ferajen and prander. And prander, we agree more often than not. And, even when we don't, you have always demonstrated a willingness to entertain my ideas, which I appreciate. Thank you again.

Creator

I can see that as a possible scenario.

But I can also see Angela manipulating both Peter and Sylar into working with each other.

I still hold out hope that Arthur is alive; and, having possibly known or known of the empath that Claude seems to have encountered prior to meeting Pete, that Arthur might be equipped to provide his son unique guidance and insights (especially if it turns out he has IA or some other great power).

Creator

I hope the writers are a bit more creative with Peter with regards to his powers. Surely after Claude and Adam he's going to want to stand on his own two feet a bit more?

But if he learns from Sylar, or he sees the consequences of being an empath from an older version, I could live with that. But he has to start finding things out for himself, and asking more questions!

MrsGoogly,

Peter will "...start finding things out for himself..." as his powers manifest, as he hones his skills practicing with his gifts and employs his IA. But, he could still gain much from a father's (or mentor's) guidance. BTW, Sylar is not the mentoring type. He can learn what not to be from his interactions with Sylar; nothing more.

And, while he's still in the 'absorbing' mode, interaction with another Empath (even a 'good' one) 'might be' very dangerous for Peter.

Creator

I think this is what I’m saying. Peter doesn’t need a mentor. But he might be curious as to how Sylar is so proficient with his powers – especially as Peter himself has all those powers. I certainly don’t see Sylar mentoring Peter, but I think they can learn a lot from each other.



And after trusting Adam so easily, I would hope Peter would be very suspicious about Arthur suddenly turning up alive and well, and treat any guidance with extreme scepticism.



I just think Peter is at a point where he is fed up being the anti-Sylar, the peak of evolution, the emotional underdog always in his brother’s shadow. He’s powerful and independent, and he should recognise that by striking out on his own for a bit.

MrsGoogly,

Peter, while he does not need a mentor, could still benefit from having the correct influence in his life at this time. His mom, his brother, Adam, Claude, even Mohinder, have all fallen short of being the one that could correctly guide and influence Peter. But, Arthur may be just what he needs. We (you and I) have already agreed that Peter should scan anyone entering his life to be certain of their motives. This applies to Arthur as well. I have not varied from this position.

Sylar needs to die!

Peter is no longer in his brother's shadow (I refer you to season two). And, for now, striking out on his own may be his only sensible option.

Creator

I do get what you're saying, Creator.

But I still think that Peter has already had too many influences in his life - his Dad (which he broke away from), his Mum, Nathan, Claude, Mohinder to a certain extent, and Adam. He needs to get out on his own - as Claude pretty much told him.

And Sylar is just a brilliant character! I am in no way suggesting that Peter and Sylar become friends in any way, but they must both be curious about each other: Sylar must wonder how Peter gets powers without killing, and Peter must wonder how Sylar becomes so quickly proficient in the use of his stolen powers.

With Nathan lying in a pool of blood, Peter is still very much beholden to him.

MrsGoogly,

Sylar is...magnificent! Sylar...is brilliant! Sylar...needs to die! Claude left Peter because he felt betrayed by him. Otherwise, I believe Peter would have completed his training with him. That aside, this topic is not about need, it is about who could best fill the role of mentor/teacher for Peter. I think Arthur might be interesting in this regard. Oh, and did I mention...Sylar needs to die?!

Creator

Sylar needs to die, but he could probably teach Peter more about handling his power than anyone else we've seen yet.

Remember when he was in jail and he dreamt Nathan came to free him, then turned into Sylar and said something like "you don't know what power is"

Apart from the dying bit, I agree with you!

Sylar is a cockroach, he's a survivor. And he's the anti-Peter. Heroes needs an anti-Peter, and more to the point Peter needs one if only as a warning of what he could become if he stops caring.

The Obi Wan thing has been done for Peter. They need to be more creative as to how he learns about his powers from now on rather than just giving him a mentor with all the answers.