I was rewatching the episode today and something caught my eye during the Sylar and Angela scene. Did his empathy kick in while they were talking about why she needed him for the Company? There was just something there that seemed to me like he did. Call me crazy but during that moment there did seem to be a connection between the two. Did anyone else catch this or I am seeing things?

I didn't notice, but I'm curious about Sylar's empathy power. If he's not a Petrelli, how is it he can have IA and empathy or is it that his IA will let him gain a power slowly by observing the person, rather than their brain?

The only real explanation I can come up with for that is that Arthur used his power to give EA (from Peter) to Sylar, to try and make the "You're my son" lie believable, but I'm pretty sure the writers said it's just stealing powers, although I'm not 100% sure. I'd say the reason he doesn't get everyone's powers like Peter, is because Peter is such a classic good guy. He believes everyone in the world is worth saving (But he's willing to sacrifice someone, like his father, if he knows they're too powerful) so he's always absorbing powers, but Sylar hates everyone pretty much, so he has to actually bond with the person (IE, Elle) to gain their power.

Sylar has no empathy. He can however use his IA to aquire powers by touch if he bothers enough to try and understand how the other person "works". It was shown this way already.
However, he doesn't bother to do that because it very time consuming for him and because he would have to bond with every person he wants their power with. So he just kills, takes what he wants and go.

That's my guess. I think he has to understand a person's whole in order to copy the power. That's what he did with Elle. Whereas when he scalps people he just checks how the power itself works.



I don't think he really has empathy, it's a special use of his IA - at least I hope so. I don't like the idea of him having empathy, it destroys the ambivalence between him and Peter.



Edit: OK, I should read the whole thread before I answer - Reakon already came up with this.

Time to overanalyze Heroes everyone!

Firstly, no, I didn't notice anything of the sort when he confronted Angela.

Secondly, as we've seen in Heroes, powers tend to repeat themselves. There's been a conscious effort by the writers to show that people can often have the same powers, maybe to say that even when breaking the limits of human potential, there are still limits. Possibly there are only so many powers available to a person, and each mind unleashes a different power? before I get too off-topic...
I think Peter and Sylar have the same power, but their personalities allow it to manifest in different ways. Both have the ability to see how a power works, and unlock it within themselves. Powers themselves are triggered by adrenaline, as we've been told, and are emotional responses. Peter, as an empathic character, is able to tap into the emotions that trigger these responses, by relating to the people he's around and understanding their power. Sylar, sociopathic by nature, is not able to do this and is forced to go the biological route, identifying the brain's role in triggering the power via adrenaline. So when Sylar feels emotionally connected to someone, as with Elle, he is able to empathically use their power, but in his default state of sociopathy is forced to circumvent the psychological method for the scientific one, since he is unable to connect emotionally with others.
This also explains Peter and 'the hunger' earlier in the season. Empathically connecting with a sociopath can have serious consequences, as the better you understand a sociopath's reasoning, the more vulnerable to that logic you are yourself. That's true in real life, where people who try to understand that mindset typically face the psychological consequences that sociopaths deal with. So I would think 'the hunger' is the result of the power and a specific emotional response, not the power itself.

Well, yeah, there's my long-winded explanation.

Peter, as an empathic character, is able to tap into the emotions that trigger these responses, by relating to the people he's around and understanding their power.




But Peter at times doesnt even know he has certain powers. As with TK in the scene with Claude, or when he was found on the ship with the Electricity power... or even Ted's power when he was the bomb(the first time) he almost went nuclear.

Peter doesn't have to understand anything... His ability is like a sponge, you have a power, he gets it if he's near u.
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So... what ever happened with Angela's dream, where all the main villains killed all the main heroes... most or all of those villains are dead now... is there going to be any development of that, or am I missing something?

My point was that Peter's power is to be able to understand the ability. He does this by being able to connect to these people emotionally first and foremost, the emotions that trigger the powers. Understanding the power comes after (after Claude explained to Peter the nature of his power, this became much easier).
Both Sylar and Peter absorb powers like 'sponges' (IMO), and while Peter learns to use it based on the emotions of the person he got the power from, Sylar has to get into the brain to understand how to use it. The only time Sylar was able to unlock the powers emotionally was with a fellow sociopath.

This is all just speculation, of course, my way of adding depth to the characters and paralleling them.

The way I see it, the absorbing process of Peter's power does not have anything to do with empathy - the moment he's in reach of an ability, he already has it. The empathy part is the access to the absorbed abilities.

That's why in the beginning he could only use the powers when he was in interaction with the original bearer - because then there was an emotional connection. Later he learned, that he's also able to use the powers by recalling this emotional connection.

So Peter only needs empathy in order to control his mimicked powers, whereas Sylar needed it in order to copy the power in the first place. And the latter also fits the general "understanding how things work" stuff.

I agree where Peter is concerned, but I think Sylar absorbs powers in the same way. He already has the powers, like Peter, but being unable to understand the emotions that trigger them, he has to go the methodical and scientific route, going into the brain and seeing how it works.
It then makes sense that the one time he feels truly connected to someone, he is able to use that power without slicing into her head. And as I said, it helps that he and Elle are kindred spirits.

I think Peter and Sylars powers are very different. But they are different in only the way they acquire powers. Basically they are different powers with the same effect. Sylar, with IA, needs to seek out the power. He now has the ability to empathize to get it, which requires a lot of effort on his part, or he can just steal it with the whole cut your head open and look at your brain thing. Peter on the other hand needs to only walk by someone on the street and presto he has the power. He may not know he has the power but he does. Now to access this power he must discover it and learn how to use it. Where as Sylar knows all his powers right off the bat and can use them to full efficiency much faster because of his IA.

Just how I see it.

It doesnt' matter if he used empathy, he already has Angela's power, or rather he already has the precog abilities from 'mista issak'...

Nope, sorry, Sylar's ability to paint the future is gone for now.