So, what do you guys think is up with the Compass? Does it only work for Peter? For HEBs?

My guess is that it works for all the "Specials."

a way to tell who is special and who isn't I'm guessing?

i think it only works with specials but i wanna know how.

I want to know how Danko got it and why a he put the key in his stomach ...ew.

I guess it only "works" when an evolved human holds it. But why did they need that one? Samuel threw an identical compass into his brothers grave at the beginning of "orientation"

I think that when a special touches it/makes it work... the dude from the Carnival with the compass tattoo can ID them. When the compass came back with knife guy it pointed him to Peter, Sylar (playing Nathan) and Claire.

Maybe they each have their own compass or something, and that one was Samuel's.

I guess another good question is what exactly does it point at? Or does it always just spin like that?

It didn't come back from the future, samuel was sent back into the past by the old guy to talk to Hiro. The other events at the carnival are taking place in the present

So..did Samuel wait 14 years to return to present time? Or am I just missing something.

Yep, and it pointed him to Peter... being the last special (other than Samuel and knife guy) to touch it.

The old guy is a time traveler (the knife guy said hiro was gonna replace him) so he probably brought samuel there, and then brought him back

I called it as soon as I saw it. I sensed a Dark Mark sort of thing going on.


For those of you not familiar, in Harry Potter Lord Voldemort has a tattoo (The Dark Mark) on his arm, and when he touches it all of the Death Eaters (Who have the same tattoo) get alerted via the Dark Mark glowing and stuff on their arm.

The composes must be linked to some central point, so as outlandish as it sounds, perhaps the tattoo on Samuel's arm? And when someone with abilities holds one, it leads them "Home", or to Samuel. Just like Voldy would lead the Death Eaters "Home".

But it also showed hiro and sylar, who were nowhere near the compass.

Hiro was a different tattoo-vision from the one he pinpointed after getting the compass back. I didn't think Sylar was a big stretch since he's playing Nathan. The familial reference still seems valid.

That wouldn't work, because it showed hiro, claire, and sylar. And none of them touched the compass. And when the knife guy told samuel about an empath he met, he was surprised. If he had known about peter, he wouldn't have been shocked

I dunno if you meant this as a reply to my post or not. I am not suggesting the compass has anything to do with telling the future. I am merely speculating on how I think it works and what purpose it serves.

I found the compass to be interesting. I'm sure in the next couple of episodes, they'll explain the meaning of it.

The Compass..., What do you think the compass 'points' to?

OK so the compass worked in Peter's hand but not HRG's.. what's up with the compass? Any Ideas?

probably just goes nuts around folks with the godsend.

Yeah, I thinkit's a way to determine if someone's 'special' or not, that what it looks like so far. Wonder how that works.

What seems to be a clue is the first scene. The compass in Samuel's hand is first pointing straight forward, away from him, and then he looks at it again, now pointing straight at him, then he throws it into the grave. The plot thickens.

Perhaps Danko is the reason why Joseph is dead? And Danko took the compass from Joseph? Just my guess...

I have nothing to base this on, so take it as you will, but for some reason, I was convinced that the compass showed it's holder where they needed to be. It went nuts when Peter held it because he needed to be with HRG and he was already next to him. Probably wrong but, meh, I thought it was an interesting theory.

Neat idea. But, personally, I think it just indicates specials. How it could do such a thing I cannot speculate.

p.s. just what does HEB mean?

highly evolved beings?

I also immediately thought that the compass is like a "abilities detector" and it was obvious why danko needed it.

What didn't made much sense was why didn't danko used it before?

Except if he did in the past but didn't needed it anymore after he got the job through nathan and had all the files that already pointed to the people with abilities.

Through the compass on samuels hand I also get the feeling that the normal compasses are connected on him.

The tattoos seem also to be his work and ability and not lydias.
Lydia is just formatting them in images for him to see her visions through her detection power.

Since its a compass it must be used to locate either something or someone.

It can only work for a special and the person probably has to have something in mind.

An interesting question would be if someone tries to use it to find Sylar where would it point? Would it lead to Sythan, Matt, or would it be unable to show a direction at all?

It could answer whether or not the Sylar who Matt sees is a figment of his imagination.

The thing that I noticed and I think probably all of you aswell is that its a broken compass that doesn't shows anywhere.

When someone without ability holds it, it doesn't point anywhere (like in Noahs case) while when someone with a ability does, it just turns in circles like crazy without pointing to a direction either.

HEB = acronym for Highly Evolved Being - essentially anyone with powers.

btw...

Heroes / 9th Wonders Acronym List


also, back on topic... the compass really wouldn't have done much for Danko... as if only HEB's can "use" the compass... it really wouldn't help Danko (or any "normal") to find any HEB's

When Samuel held one in the beginning it wasn't spinning but changed direction from the grave to himself. Hm, maybe it points to the person you are thinking about/is most emotionally connected to, and with Peter the empath it goes wild. Nah, too goofy.

This would make sense. If Danko assumed that it would point to all specials, but couldn't get it to work, he'd still want it to see if he could get it to work eventually.


Also, compasses point to magnetic north right? As Samuel is Geokinetic, another thing about the compasses pointing towards hims is that perhaps he can do something with his power that makes them point in his direction wherever they are?

I remember in one of the graphic novels it was hinted at that Noah did have a special ability with his vision until he went on the track of a person the company wanted locked up and there was a giant flash that made him have to start wearing glasses after it hurt his vision. So, in theory, it should have spun for him as well, unless hurting his eyes actually literally took his evolved status away from his DNA.

i know which GN you're talking about, but I think Noah just had really good eyesight, not like a superpower but just a human trait. i don't think he ever had or will have a power. which is why he's awesome.

I agree that the compass only works for powered people, but there's got to be more to it than it, or else it's not really worth killing over.

I agree. I think he just had great vision, though I did wonder at first whether or not it he was an HEB. But I think it's pretty unlikely the company wouldn't recognize an ability, even if it is simply a super-acute version of a normal human sensory function. The company was staffed by plenty of specials, after all! And if they had in fact recognized it as an ability, it would have violated the 'one of us, one of them' rule. As much as they loved protocol, it seems unlikely they would allow that. So it seems pretty likely Noah was just plain human.

Normal human vision is 20/20, of course. Maybe he had 20/10 vision, which is "the maximum acuity of the human eye without visual aids" according to Wikipedia. The fact that it's humanly possible to see things twice as clearly as the average human is pretty impressive in and of itself. It need not be an evolved ability!

As for the topic of the OP, I think the compass can seek out specials. And on top of that, it seems to me that it only works for specials as well. (Maybe Danko didn't know this when he stole it? Maybe he thought he could use it to hunt down Tracy?) I think it was simply spinning wildly when Peter held it because he wasn't seeking anyone. I could be totally wrong of course. I'm looking forward to seeing just what the compass really does.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it looked to me like Samuel wasn't the only one holding a compass at the funeral.

The last eyetest I had gave me a result of 128%.
When I asked if we could test further, the doctor said that this is the highest she can test cause she had no smaller objects available for the eye test.

Would that mean that I'm one of these 20/10 you mentioned?
I know I can read signs and small letter from great distances and I'm definately not "evolved"

Yeah..not so much. In that GN it was hinted that he had exceptional, not super-human, eyesight.

I think it finds Claude....No.

Oh well.

I would think so. My eyes have been measured at 20/10. Its not all a good thing tho.

My question is..is this supposed to be a 'magic compass'?

What mechanical thing can test for genetic mutation?

Now...I don't mind it interacting with Geoboy there...earth, magnetic north, whatever...I can squeeze that into a vague logic.

But Peter? I'd even go along with it, if he'd somehow gotten Geoboy's power...but with the 'one power at a time' thing, that's not a possibility.

I agree,MagnificoG, Samuel didn't appear to be the only one with a compass. I thought this was because everyone from the "family" had their own compass.

I think that Danko having the compass/key is somehow tied into the reason he hates specials so much. Because of whatever may have happened resulting in him acquiring them. As I recall, Noah has asked him this a few times, with no answer.

..just a wild guess

wait in the beggining samuel was controlling the earth to cover the grave, but then he starts doing crazy cupcakes with the ink. so what power does he have? or is he an empath?
remember that he was choking the super speed guy with the ink, and it didnt seem as though it was Nadia doing it. she acts like a sort of canvas to the visions...

what i found to be most interesting was when samuel told his dead brother to "find his way home" and then threw the compass in there with him. i think there's a lot more to it than just an HEB detector.

I thought that was interesting also. The compass I bet will be the main item that is of importance during this new arc. I have to also mention that I loved that opening speech what Samuel made during the first episode.

Remember all those items locked up in that vault at the end of S2? Maybe the compass is a similar "magic item"? (not from the vault, but similar.)

Also, regarding the compass and "finding a way home", maybe it didn't move for Noah because he no has no "home" since his family broke up. Maybe it moved like crazy with Peter because his "home" is out saving people all over the place as an EMT?

Just thoughts

He has either TK or multiple abilities but I think it is rather TK only.

If he were a empath he would just borrow arnolds time travel instead of asking him to send him back and since he isn't a empath and the show lets only empaths having multiple abilities he obviously has TK cause it fits when it comes to moving the dirt and the ink(chocking included).

Nadia is a usual empath that can sense and feel people (what a real empath also actually is and not what they call an empath in the show) but her ability seems to be a mix of mollys and angelas abilities(without the dreaming included).

Samuel uses the ink to form her visions on her body so he can see what she sees.
It would have been of course easier just to tell him but I think he is doing it this way to have the confirmation and the images of the people he needs to get in touch with(recognize them).

I think it should point to something, but since peter didn't know how to use the compass it went wild.

I guess we'll know tonight.