Any ideas? Its driving me crazy!

My first thought is that it "marks" people as belonging to Samuel, and that it can be used by Samuel to control his peons...morphing it into a fist to choke someone out, like Edgar.

Then again, Samuel had to inject Edgar to do that, so this idea is probably crap.

So far the compass works for empath's...

First thing that hit me about the compass was Captain Jack's compass in Pirates of the Carribean it was meant to be a guide for his life, help find a path.

Samuel seems to be looking for guidance or a way to keep his clan safe from something nastier than himself.

At one point in the episode I thought the compass on peter's arm (which I knew was going to be there from the promo) led him to the deaf girl, maybe channelling her playing (I swear he was pretty far away...) buuuut of course it apparently only appeared when he went to the collapsed home, so that's a load of rubbish.
For now I'll stick with dalbrin's theory, and say it's probably a symbol more than anything else, and simply by marking Peter/having the carnies have their own compasses he's showing they're part of him family...

I re watched the scene where the compass shows up on his arm and it looks like it spins really fast, then slows down like it was going to point somewhere(at the same time Samuel peeked his head around the truck) and then when he disappeared it spun quickly again. Maybe it only works when the Carnies (or people who are marked) are near each other. Once they are all together it slows down and finally shows them where to go, or bring the Carnival to next.. HOOO I think I got it!! If thats not the answer.. damn im good.

Ok, here'S what I think I understand for now:

1- The compasses are symbols of the Carnival;
2- Ink Compass turns, and seems to react to Samuel (We saw two Ink Compass: One on Samuel when he talks to Hiro, one on Peter at the end of this episode. In both case, Samuel was close). Wether Samuel consciously makes the Ink Compass turn or if they turn by themself is, for now, an unknown element. I'd go for him making them turn consciously with his power, thought.
3- The ''normal'' compass reacted to Peter. Wether they react only to empaths or to all specials might still be under debate, but I'd go for reacting to any special!
4- The ''normal'' compasses appear to be very important to the Carnival guys, so important that Danko would rather die than give the one he had to them.

I guess that's all we know from now! I've added a few speculations of my own, but we'll have to wait for more clues to figure it out!

The compass is the key to the entire season. It only works for those with abilities. Where it points to I am not sure yet. I think it is some kind of "moral" compass or some kind of guide through life.

After what Samuel said about all the HEBs being lead "home"- as in to the carnival- I think that's where it points. Possibly to Joseph (the brother- can't remember if that was the right name), but also possibly to Samuel.

It's also possible that it's a "test" of sorts- the person who can figure it out is the "destined" leader of the group?

I'm wondering why the one Samuel threw in Joseph's grave wasn't spinning when he held it. It could've been connected to Joseph. So, when he died, it no longer spun. Of course, it could also just be because Samuel knows how to use them.

I think they lead you to the nearest HEB that is why they are so important but i have been wrong before so i'll just watch

i thought the compass just tracks people with abilities.......

From the very begining, I knew the compass was going to be this season's symbol. And then, I assumed it pointed to the nearest evolved human... But now that I read some speculation around here, maybe I assumed wrongly.

What suprised me a lot was that Danko had one... Then, I thought "well, he probably took it from someone he captured while he worked in Building 26", but what I can't figure out is why did he have it inside his body! That surely means that he knew that the compass was important, and if the compass points to the nearest person with abilities, then it would have been very useful for him, for haunting them, but, if that was the case, then why put it inside your chest? I bet he wasn't going to open his chest every time he needed the compass...


Conclusion: My thoughts about the compass are a complete mess xD

It wasn't the compass inside his body...it was the key to the lockbox that the compass was in...

Oh, right, I'm sorry about that, I just got confused a little bit LOL

However, that's even more interesting, because he KNEW the compass was important, so he put it in a safe place, and ate the key, so no one could ever access to that compass.

And the question is... How did Edgar know that the key was in Danko's stomach?