I think its safe to say Sylar isn’t a true psychopath. He has feelings and somehow his actions are based on a goal. I like how they have sylar seesawing between serial killer and human.

Like sylar goes through incredible lengths to find his father. Will see sylar have the same sort of goal to save Elle? I can totally see Sylar in a arc similar to H.G. Well’s The Time Machine, where he tries to change time, but can’t control it. Because really his father is gonna tell him nothing in the grand scheme. Finding his father is all about not being loved. Love is the key to happiness and sylar has shown he can truly love (unlike a real psychopath e.g. his son noah). And he's angry at his father for killing his mother.


While materialistic things like gaining new powers and being special had satisfied Sylar in the past, I can’t see him being satisfied by a non-ending treasure hunt of treasures that are useless (honestly it doesn’t matter that he can turn things to goo). We saw that the hunger isn’t as strong, he just plain kills people now and he definitely lacks of enthusiasm toward gaining new powers.

Do you think he would turn back to elle? Will we see Elle again? I mean sylar was obsessed with her .I mean he killed her, but, he killed her when he got his powers back , perhaps out of fear that he couldn’t change when he had them. So he was really saving elle by killing her instead of ruining Elle’s life by dragging her into his mess. If sylar was planning to kill Elle and he found out someone else had killed her first, it would have destroyed him.


Will Sylar simply just

I agree. Ever since that one episode where he goes to his mom's house in season 1, I knew he wasn't a psycopath.
All he wants is a family. Maybe if he's given an opportunity, he'll take it and be good again!
I thought he was so adorable in the future with Noah.. maybe we'll see THAT Sylar again!

I think you accidentally a whole thought there.

I don't think he'll ever be completely good, but that's just me.

I always felt ALL characters were better when they were grey instead of black or white but it seems that the writers have sent Sylar back to the all-black evil villain category again.

Can't help but to wonder why so many fans hated a conflicted, morally grey Sylar capable of being both a villain and hero. But this is what the path the writers have decided to embark upon no doubt to please some fans. I think the all-evil Sylar is getting old and Heroes will become stale.

Will he just what?


He needs a hug and a knife so he can kill who ever gives him a hug.


He's evil.

Can he ever be wholly good? Of course not. But his motives are sloppy and pass back and forth over the lines of what is bad and what is helpful. It all depends on where you are standing in relation to him.

He needs a hug of doooom Where's a Petrelli when you need one?

And Sylar has been more gray than black in this volume imo...at least I identified with him wanting to find his father, and he did save luke, and there were a couple instances where he opted not to kill someone.

Must... resist.. slash.. joke... GAH!

It looked that way for the first few episodes but they seem to have switched gears. Sylar is once again a killing machine, going out with the task forces rounding up his own kind - many of whom we have seen killed. All this just to be "special" is pretty shallow, and pure evil serial killer format. I would have accepted Sylar as grey in his desire to destroy HRG. His motivations are understandable, but grey. But his joining to kill innocent specials puts him back into the pure black category again.

I think Sylar is afraid of falling in love...either that or he doesnt trust anyone!
I mean, he killed his mother(there was a struggle, but imo he did it), He killed Candice(who only wanted to take care of him...and who saved his life) and he killed Elle(which was a rather...heartless move)

I think he has crossed the line of 'evil' and entered the point of no return...
Though, he didnt kill Micah or Claire when he had the chance...which may go to show he is still somewhat human.

And lets face it...

^nuff said.

Maya was in love with him and he shot her. Difference of course is that she's alive after he told Mo to give her the blood. So she’s very lucky in that regard.

I don’t think he’s a psychopath either, I think he has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. So he can feel love and other powerful emotions but he has no empathy for others. Man just needs to hear he’s special and important, like Micah said.

The "Sylar" persona is born from a lack of love. The less that he believes in humanity and love (finding out Angela was not his mother and just manipulating him; finding out that Elle knew about his parentage all along) the more he becomes Sylar. Gabriel on the other hand, does not exist without love. Love is something that this character despratly wants. He wants to feel it, but he wants it in return. Love is a two way street in his mind. Now, I would like to see him develop as a character and change his perspective a bit, but that all depends on what direction the writers want to take the character, as any real development here would have to depend on internal characterization.

This makes a lot of sense
"Sylar" is like a character Gabriel made up, and even though Sylar can't love, deep down inside Gabriel can.
As much as I love bamf sylar, I think in the end he should stick with Gabriel

I honestly think that's how Sylar's going to die, but leave room for Quinto to remain. (All theory here, nothing spoilery.)

I can see Sylar being buried, even destroyed, by Gabriel because of all this crap going on in his head.

i was thinking about a season finale where sylar finally succumbs to a mental struggle inside him, then matt helps him by entering his mind and somehow astrally projects it for claire, peter, nathan, and the others to see. then in the struggle it is shown that gabriel and sylar,the 2 personalities, are fighting, full of tk blows, electricity, sonic booms etc. sylar beats gabriel badly because he's weak, but gabriel desperately wants to have sylar out and regain his humanity, saying that he's sick of killing people and such. then matt helps him, and together they destroy sylar.

sylar is a serial killer he isn't see sawing between that and anything else,it's too late even if he becomes mother theresa in the future . i mean some one who goes on a tri state (gratuitous cadillac hitmen reference)killing spree becomes a serial killer by virtue of their efforts.
sylar needs to go away.

i think it would be fun if sylar caught some sort of virus that made him lost control of his powers and he would just start making all of these weird noises and he would say "that was donald duck". hopefully he would even lose control of his healing ability and maybe he could grow some extra arms or something.

I agree. The duality of the character makes him more complex and interesting then a killing machine. For example, he starts to enjoy shapeshifting but then remoses that he can't enjoy being himself.

Sweetdreamer has a good point. Depriving Gabriel of unconditional love and trust brought out the Sylar in him. Had he been given sincere attention and affection, he might have become a much better person. Of course then we’d have no Sylar to drool over (so we’d just fog up Gabriel’s glasses instead ^^)

No surprise that Sylar hasn’t got any serious love interest. He said to Luke that “emotions make you sloppy” so he probably cuts any sentiment out of himself so he can continue killing without feeling conscience or remorse. If anything, Sylar uses love as a weapon. He used it to exploit people like Maya and Candice. In “Invisible Thread” his twisted flirting with Claire creeped me out. Though I hope he wasn’t be honest in suggesting an alliance. I got the impression Sylar just wanted to scare and hurt Claire more than “mate” with her.

If he ever did find someone he really liked, it could accelerate into an unhealthy relationship. Sylar has plenty of charisma and control to keep someone in his grasp but he wouldn’t consent or have sympathy for another person's desires. Sylar puts himself first before everyone else.



Just to see, I found the following list from Wikipedia describing charactertistics of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_...nality_disorder

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. Has a grandiose sense of self-importance
2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
3. Believes that he or she is "special" and can only be understood by, or should associate with, people (or institutions) who are also "special" or of high status.
4. Requires excessive admiration
5. Has a sense of entitlement
6. Is interpersonally exploitative
7. Lacks empathy
8. Is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her
9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

Any of these sound like Sylar?

Sylar is human. Humans need love. Therefore, Sylar needs love.

On on a more involved note, I don't believe a romantic relationship is what he needs right now. Romance always spells complications, and Sylar is complicated enough right now. He definately needs to become more stable first...which means that someone like Elle is also out of the picture (unless you have a completely stable Elle...)

What I think Sylar needs is someone who isn't afraid of him and can stand up to him, but knows enough to not set him off. This person would also have to be someone he could respect, which means it can't be a kid (sorry, Micah). This person would have to be emotionally stable and mature, and would need to be tactful. It can't be comeone who hates him, obviously (Claire...); it has to be someone who is determined to help him. 'Users' should keep out of it. Someone who needs his help (in protection or learning to control their ability) would be an added bonus, I think (for the whole responsibility thing). Romance can get involved after that. Who knows? Maybe, with enough REAL love, we'll get to see Gabriel again. I'd certainly like to.

So...

Any applicants?

Sylar needs to die. 'Nuff said

*Eyes the line of Sarmy girls out the door* You had to ask...

I think Sylar is beyond redemption after 3 seasons of murder but his "Gabriel" persona peeps out from time to time for interest. A pity since he has so much potential and conscience. Elle had unstable attributes as well but if she and Gabriel met under different circumstances, I think their relationship could've been better.

If he did find someone to bond with then it'd have to be a person detached from his victims i.e. he couldn't have murdered their family or loved ones or else that grudge would be in the way. And yes, it'd have to be someone solid and stable who could look him in the face. I think he'd do a double take to meet smeone who doesn't show fear or anger towards him. Sylar hasn't been given trust or respect so he doesn't know how to respond to it.

And again, you're right because he doesn't respect kids. Micah showed more sense and insight than Sylar and I think that scared him--the kid knew better than him--and so he chased Micah out.

People aren't pure psychos if they have shown traits like love. Sylar loves his mother deeply and he has sympathy (not killing Micah.

He also was shown in the future to be Gabriel and good. The fact that we saw Gabriel stable with a son means Sylar needs love and could be stable with it.

Mental problems can always be corrected based on the situation.

And the fact that Sylar has murdered doesn`t make him incapable of redemption. People ask for redemption for things like stealing millions of dollars and have found it. Why can`t a murderer?

Surely those cases where murder doesn't get life sentences like for younger individuals means that there is room for redemption.

First off: YES. If anyone was ever in need of love it is Gabriel Gray/Sylar.

Think about it:
1/ his real father kills his mother and sells (!!!!!) him to a man who abandonshim and leaves him with quite frankly a crazy woman
2/ he's used and abused and basically programmed into a killer, by Elle and Benett. Honestly Noah Benett needs to get off his high horse, he's done far worde than Sylar.
3/ he's manipulated by Angela and Arthur and called a monster, eventhough he saved Peter's life.

In fact, I think Peter was probably the one person who treated him decently for a while, perhaps the only one who believes in the force of good enough to truly give Sylar a chance. Well, unfortunately the writers blew that one up, by having him kill Nathan.
Think about it, he does not kill Micah, eventhough he must have wanted that ability pretty bad. He doesn't kill Peter, (ok Sylar can be goal oriented, and he didn't need Peter, so he's no angel).

The interesting part about this character has always been that he could go both ways. Acidentally so could Peter (future Peter isn't exactly a nice human being is he?).

THe writers could go both ways but the first one is almost never done on TV so that one's in here for fun.

1/Being on the good side doesn't always mean you're a good person. Sylar seems to end up in the center of things almost acidentally while he's trying to achieve something entirely different. THerefore I beg of the writers stop pushing him as the big villain, he isn't and it's starting to annoy viewers. Just treat him like Peter or Claire or any other character.

2/ he is the big bad and viewers will disappointed

Your word always makes your statement above false.

If someone is having a mental instability due to stress that is one thing, revealing the stress could be helpful.

If a different someone has a mental condition many times removing the situations that bring on the problems could help but not always.

There are even some people that will not respond no matter what is done to help them, be it change in situation, medication, many years of therapy, etc.

But to answer the original question; yes everyone needs love, some just don't know how to respond to it properly.

Sylar might want someone to love him, but I doubt if he wants to love anyone. Every time he's given his heart, or given his trust he has been betrayed i.e. Elle, Virginia, Angela, even Luke.

Having been so long a pawn to fulfill the needs of others, Sylar rebels and rejects anyone who "uses" him --Virginia, Angela, Arthur, Elle--Sylar longs to fulfill his own needs. No longer just a lust for powers (abilities) but political power, authority and sexual desire but all on his terms.

Trust also being an issue for him its one of the reasons, it occurs to me he's interested in Clair. Not because he can trust her not to attempt to kill him, but because he pretty much knows her. Her background, family and, what skeletons are in her closet ; what she will or will not do as a person.

Sylar doesn't think it impossible for Clair to come to love him, yet he doesn't make a pretense of having any feelings for her beyond lust. He certainly doesn't care if he hurts her and regards her as something like a self healing doll he can slam against a wall when upset. Just another "toy" to play with like Maya? Speaking of whom, according to Dania Ramirez, loved Sylar. See how he valued that. Not at all. Though I guess you could argue, Maya was using him too, but that was mutual, they both wanted to get to Suresh to be cured.

Aside rejecting love from women, he has rejected love and friendship even when its most deeply wanted and needed from two fatherless boys--Micah and Luke. Luke because "he used" him for a joyride" of which Sylar was aware and didn't seem to mind so much until his "recovered" memory. Then turned on Luke because he painted a rosier picture than that memory revealed of his father.

Micah also had an agenda, sort of, but an ennobling one--for Sylar to shapeshift into Nathan to persuade the President to stop hunting Specials. Yet Sylar dies for Micah and rescues Luke. Why? Out of loneliness and a sense of connection to each boy.

Sylar doesn't want to be alone, yet he despises being "used". In the end, that is impossible situation to achieve. There is self-serving in every relationship. Even an infant "uses" its parents. Yes, we saw Sylar adapt remarkably well with Noah, but we don't know yet where that "future" belongs. And that's in a not at all necessarily going to happen future. And may have been discarded for good.

Even a dog "uses" its owner in a sense and maybe that's where Sylar should start. A kitty, a puppy, a gerbil, a pony and learn the benefits of symbiosis with another living thing then progress to humans.

omg sensible point.

Excellent point, he might start with comitting to cake, as he seems extremely fond of it

I think you're right in saying that there's always some using involved in any relationship. But even the most avid Sylar haters out there (I'm not one of them, I think he ranks in my top 3 of most interesting characters) would have to admit that Sylar (or rather Gabriel) has been abused more than most.

Angela and HRG to name but two, it didn't even occur to her to ask him for help. Everybosy sees him killing Elle as some ultimate proof that he's always been evil to the core, but that glosses over what Elle did to him, and the manipulating she was still doing (i.e. not telling him that Angela and Arthur weren't his real parents).

I think the move at S3 could be a good one. writers can still deal with the good/evil, nature vs. nurture dilemma, without having to pretend Sylar is some evil genius. I very seriously doubt he's trying to 'take over the wordl", pinky and the brain style.
He wants to president, yes, it's just an escalation of the wanting to be special from S1.
S1 in which he clearly was pretty cut up when he thought he was the villain of the piece. Sociopath stealing abilities certainly, destroying the world, not likely.

A bisexual ginea pig named "Freedom" could work.

I get the impression that Sylar is jealous of everyone else for what they have and what he was deprived of. Especially when it comes to family. He never grew up with good parental figures and so he turns everyone else on their families. Like telling Claire how her father Noah Bennet doesn't understand her. Or that Nathan's really a "bad boy". Or telling Mohinder that his father gave up on him.

He is a bit of a spoiled child who's going to break any toy that he can't have.

That's certainly part of it. He is very needy. My whole take on how Sylar related to Clair and Peter was out of jealousy. Clair in particular because she was at the center of two families and had this power he coveted on top of it.

This is why psychopaths continue to walk among us. We do not recognize them. Why? Because we expect a psychopath to be defined by certain "rules" which we attribute to a "reasonable human being". A psychopath is NOT a reasonable human being. Our rules do not apply.

Just because someone exhibits what we interpret as the ability to care or love, does not mean that they are truly feeling that emotion. MOST (if not ALL) psychopaths are very very very very very very good at mimicing feelings, even to the point that they convince themselves they are feeling them. Some have a fun game at it. I mean, they have to, this is how they are able to carry out their acts. Some are better at the playacting than we "normal" people are at being normal, living out fantasy family lives. This is why people are very shocked to find out that sweet Mr. Jones next door is a pedophile or that good looking Mr. Smith is a killer.

Sylar is the very DEFINITION of a psychopath. He is a pure, whole, through to the core psychopath. Why is it that people assume that a psychopath does not go through the motions of loving or caring? I will not get into all the sickness that makes up this subject on a forum that's for fun....lol...I feel bad enough even bringing this up. If anyone wants to know about psychopaths, read the book "Snakes in Suits" and you will be enlighted and terrified at the same time. If you require further reading (and are as fascinated with the subject as I am) read the book "Predators" by Dr. Anna Salter.

Sylar is a psychopath. That is why we love him. The struggles will be there, but he will always be evil. He will seek love and possibly even redemption, but he will always, always be who he is. And that is just fine with me

To tell you the truth, I feel that post was kind of judgmental. I do agree that Sylar is a sociopath, and is very probably irredeemable. However, there is another side to the equation.

When you get right down to it, Gabriel Gray is not Sylar.

Oh, yes, they’re the same person…in a way. Sylar is a persona that Gabriel took upon himself to try to cope with the sudden changes in his life, most notably the visible manifestation of an admittedly frightening ability. However, before you start judging him, you have to take another look at his background.

For starters, he never really had a father. Samson 'gave' him away and Martin walked out on him, so he didn’t really get the discipline that comes from a strong father figure. Added to that, he watched his biological mother get murdered (an episode that, even if forgotten, would still scar anybody), and Virginia, however much she cared for him, simply did not exhibit good parenting. She insisted that he was ‘special’ and constantly pressed him to do better, telling him that he could do anything that he wanted to. When he followed in Martin’s footsteps and became a watchmaker, he disappointed her—and himself (see Volume 1: Six Months Ago). In addition, when he attempted to get Virginia to tell him that he didn’t have to be special (The Hard Part), she obliviously continued to tell him that he “could even be president!” When he demonstrated his abilities, she panicked and rejected him—not something that someone who is already unstable needs. Put together with his innate insecurity, it is really no wonder that he went over the edge.

However, while Sylar is a pitiless killer, Gabriel is not, and he is not altogether lost. Examples can be seen throughout the series so far, including, but not limited to, the alternate future in I Am Become Death, his relationship with Elle, how he refrained from killing Martin in A Clear and Present Danger (even though he was obviously tempted to), and the way he saved Micah in I Am Sylar.

As I stated in my previous post, what Gabriel really needs, to break free from the Sylar persona, is someone who understands what he is going/has gone through and is willing to work hard to help him out. Actually, I think that Peter would actually be a good person for that, for several reasons. First is that he, also, did not have a great childhood, constantly standing on the sidelines and trudging along in Nathan’s shadow (not to say that I’m putting Nathan down; in fact, if anyone tries that, I can write up an argument for him, too). Second, Peter is a natural empath, able to connect with just about anyone over almost any issue. Third, he and Sylar/Gabriel have developed a level of respect for each other, and fourth, he, also, has had intuitive aptitude, so he understands the struggle with the Hunger extremely well. I believe Peter—if he could get over his own issues—would have the right type of love that Gabriel needs (and for those who might take that statement wrong, I’m referring to brotherly love).

So if you’re going to say that Sylar is evil, I won’t necessarily argue. However, I do ask that you keep the difference in mind, because Gabriel is not evil, and he can be redeemed, if anyone ever takes the time to try and help.

And sorry if I got a little heated, but I tend to get that way over this sort of issue.

I respectfully disagree. I agree with the conversation of the OP that like any human being he needs love and human contact, but Gabriel and Sylar are the same person. Sylar would not exist if Gabriel was right in the head which he clearly wasn't. Now there were contributing factors that made him that way, but to separate them as different entities is wrong. He does not have a multiple personality disorder like Niki/Jessica...Sylar is who Gabriel Gray chose to become.

This is exactly correct.

I am wondering just how many people posting on this thread truly are trained in knowing the traits of a sociopath. (I am, anyone else?)

The truly bizarre things that pop into one's head at 2 am PST after a glass of wine, has anyone besides me seen the Shakeaspeare play "Measure for Measure" or read it?

In it an evil Duke falls in lust with a beautiful nun and threatens to execute the nun's brother if she doesn't sleep with him. She refuses for a good long time but when it comes down to the choice, one night of odious ickiness that will have you trying to scrub the ick off for a life time or your brother's life?... Well, it is his life and he'll owe you--big time.

I think under a similar scenario--asteroids headed for earth, only Sylar with his TK can save us--or Sylar somehow has the whole Bennet family hanging over a cliff--or just HRG--would convince Clair to allow Sylar get his way with her.

But it would be very moustache twirling, Snidely whiplash of him--in short--cliched. Still it wouldn't be boring.

Had to edit for clarity

Rebel, I have to process your thoughts for a moment before I respond, but



I would REALLY love to use this line in my fanfic because it is absolutely perfect!

Again I'm pointing to Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I'm not a professional but after reading up about the disorder it just clicks into place for me. Especially Gabriel Gray as a "Shy Narcissist."


Rebel that just reminds me of Maya

Thats a very high compliment. Thank you. Its yours.



Y'know, I didn't make that connection. Good catch, Albion! You're right.

Thank you! I will give you credit.

Just skimmed through this topic. Basically, I tend to agree that if he could find family that truly loved him and truly wanted to help him- unlike Angela, who just wanted to use him- he could be not-quite-good. Maybe a darker gray than Noah, but not actually evil.

However, to quote one of my all time favorite movies, if they tried something like that:

"Think it'll work?"
"It'll take a miracle."

As much as I hate that they killed the character of Nathan off, this could prove interesting for Sylar's character. He has already proven he has a soft spot for kids (Luke/Micah) so if they have him interact with Simon and Monty who they will think is their father (unless they somehow see through it).

Love could change Sylar; temporarily at least. As long as that void is being fulfilled he will be a good boy, but once that is removed...

Examples to prove my point: When he was traveling with Mohinder he found a level of acceptance. Before he figured out who he was, Mo looked at him like he was the greatest thing since pie. But once that was taken away, the bad boy was back. When he thought he had a mother, brothers and a father, we saw that he can be good. It was a false sense of security, but he was oblivious to this. He thought they loved him; he had a dream of a life with Elle, but once the bottom fell out it was bad news for the world.

So yes, if Sylar had love and acceptance he could be as good a guy as Peter. But once he loses it, it's all over.

Agreed.
You can look back throughout his history and see it happen. It wasn't until after Chandra built him up to believe that he was one of the greatest things to walk the face of the earth, and after Chandra discarded him like a worn out shoe when he didn't show any signs of major power, that Gabriel crafted and released Sylar. (And yes, I do blame Chandra for helping create the monster. I also blame Mohinder for helping propagate him- since, on that road trip, Mohinder knew something was up with "Zane", but never made any attempt to figure it out. Gray is definitely responsible for his own actions, but the Sureshes helped him out. As did his own adopted mother and father, and his bio-father.)

I have to disagree. That would certainly hold true with what he's been getting so far, but honestly, he hasn't been getting much. If you put him with someone who really did care about him, and made their influence strong enough, that influence would remain even after that person or people was/were gone (provided they didn't betray him while going). The only difficulty is getting influence that is strong and lasting enough to help him, which would, admittedly, be difficult at this point, considering how everyone else on the show feels about him. He'd need someone new, out of the loop.

Of course, him being Nathan for a while might help a lot...

I disagree. Look at what happened when he lost Noah in the future. That was someone that did love him unconditionally. Once it was lost, he went completely crazy0 even worse than he had been before.

I think he could be a good guy so long as he had that love, but he would revert once it was gone.

I agree.

I think we saw that again and again over the last few seasons. He is still at war with himself. Also Oliver has said how "even Sylar, at heart, wants to be a hero."


I think he could be a good guy so long as he had that love, but he would revert

It was a heartbreaking scene, and it makes it hard for me to believe Clair was Noah's mother.

If Sylar raped her, she would have had an abortion, unless he had her locked up in a Castle somewhere while she incubated. Doesn't sound very realistic. And then suddenly he let her go?

Unless Sylar threatened to kill her family or said he would leave them alone if she came to live with him...still far fetched to me? Am I wrong in this?

You're forgetting that, at that point, Gabriel believed himself to be a Petrelli. I don't think Claire was the mom in that reality.

And I'm not convinced she'd have an abortion. I don't think we know enough about her to be sure about that. I know several victims who chose to carry the rapebaby to term and put it up for adoption.


Reason For Edit: I meant Gabriel. Not Noah. *headdesk*

True, we don't know for certain what Clair would do. But given how HRG and Clair reacted after that Jock attacked and killed Clair we might infer their respective reactions.

Clair crashed her car with herself in it to make sure the Jock would be hospitalized. And HRG was considering killing him but instead had the Haitian re-program him.

So I also can't imagine HRG would be too happy about Clair carrying Sylar's child. Also giving it up for adoption to create another possible Sylar could also possibly influence what Clair might do. If she was put in that situation.

Sylar might attempt a rape, but one way or another he'd be stopped--I would hope. He might have attempted to kiss Clair before the Petrelli bros. showed up, though we don't know. I still think he tossed her against the wall because of something she said or did. Though it would also be in character for him to use her to distract the Petrellis. So much for his "courting" Clair.

I agree

I don't think you're ever going to see the "adorable", loving Gabriel in "I am become death" & Noah again.

Once established as a scary murdering psycho people loved to hate Sylar. Warm & fuzzy Sylar appealed to far fewer fans.

Not based on the fanfics I've seen. If done right, and if the redemption arch had been allowed to run properly, it can be a good story.

You & I & Kristen Gray would love it, Synch, but I bet if posted as a separate thread the hate would flow like hot lava. Look at the reaction to Sylar in "the Villains" arc in this forum an elsewhere. I know it was handled poorly, but after, I don't know how many people are likely to be in into it.

But we'll see.