Sylar
Template:Heroes character box Gabriel Gray, commonly known by his assumed surname of Sylar, is a fictional character on the NBC drama Heroes. He is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans. He is portrayed by Zachary Quinto.
Character history
Gabriel Gray was a second generation watchmaker who always despised his occupation. He had always lived an uneventful life up to and including the point where he began fixing watches himself at the family business, Gray and Sons. When he was approached by Chandra Suresh and told that he might have special powers, Gabriel was quite hopeful that his theories were correct. However, none of Chandra's tests indicated that Gabriel had any sort of abnormal properties whatsoever. Growing doubtful, Chandra decided to move on to the next person on his list, which angered the distraught Gabriel. In an attempt to validate his hopes and prove that he was special, Gabriel used information from Chandra's notes with the name and address of Brian Davis, another possible subject on Chandra's list. He contacted Davis, asking him to visit his store and introduced himself as "Sylar," a pseudonym derived from the brand of watch that he was working on at the time. Gabriel then identified Davis as a telekinetic. Just as he was able to detect inconsistencies and defects in watches and time pieces, Gabriel sensed the genetic difference between Davis and a normal human, stating that he was "broken." Unlike Gabriel, who desperately wanted to be special, Davis feared his power, asking if he could be rid of it. Claiming that he could "fix" Davis, Gabriel brutally murdered him, acknowledging a previous statement by Chandra that "it is in the brain." He returned to Chandra's apartment the next day, this time demonstrating extreme telekinetic abilities beyond those exhibited by Davis. Thoroughly impressed, Chandra continued on with his research with "Sylar."
Sylar, being Chandra's very first recorded study, was dubbed "Patient Zero," though sometime over the course of six months the study ceased, as the two had a falling out. In a taped phone conversation discovered by Mohinder Suresh, Sylar states that Chandra "made [him] this way," and referred to a mysterious "uncontrollable hunger" that he now experiences. Chandra wanted nothing to do with Sylar at this point. A vision Chandra's son, Mohinder, experienced in "Seven Minutes to Midnight" showed Sylar killing Chandra in the latter's taxicab. Chandra's death was what originally brought Mohinder to New York.
Eventually, Sylar became a notorious serial killer, leading FBI agent Audrey Hanson to become obsessed with capturing him. Three months after taking on his serial killer persona, Sylar led Hanson on a chase through the streets of Chicago, following another one of his murders. Hanson chased him into the subways. He gave his cap and trench coat to an innocent elderly man, which caused the agent to mistake the man for Sylar. After shooting the man, she realized her mistake, and the unbearable guilt from her error intensified her drive to hunt him down.[1]
In "Don't Look Back," Agent Hanson investigated a double homicide where a married couple with a child were murdered. The woman was pinned horizontally to the staircase and the male, James Walker, was frozen solid in mid-pose with his brain removed. Telepathic police officer Matt Parkman found their unharmed daughter, Molly, hiding in the house, and learned the name "Sylar" from Hanson. The two began working together to catch their suspect.
In the following episode, Sylar infiltrated the FBI's Los Angeles office and attempted to kidnap the murdered couple's daughter, Molly. Parkman and Hansen stopped him and gave chase. When Audrey pulled her gun, Sylar used his powers to force her back against a wall and make her point her weapon to her own head. Matt arrived and shot at Sylar, but when Matt checked on Audrey, Sylar stood up and the bullets which hit him fell to the ground. As the two law-enforcement officers looked back, Sylar disappeared upward.
Meanwhile, Mohinder and Eden McCain broke into Sylar's apartment in New York. The apartment had no photographs but plenty of books on philosophy and a copy of Chandra's book, Activating Evolution. A secret room also contained a map similar to those used by the Sureshes, but with many more connections and papers linked to it. Nathan Petrelli was identified on one of the links, and in an adjoining room, the wall was covered in scrawls, some seemingly written in blood. Most of the messages amounted to variations on the phrase "Forgive me, father, for I have sinned." When Mohinder fetched police officers to show them the apartment, it had already been cleaned out.
In "Seven Minutes to Midnight," Sylar entered a diner where Hiro Nakamura and Ando Masahashi were being served by a young waitress named Charlie. The waitress, who had recently developed a superhuman memorization ability, was later found murdered in the diner's storeroom with her brain removed.
A stylized image of Sylar was found on a painting in Isaac Mendez's apartment. When Peter Petrelli finished the painting, the man was standing over the mutilated body of a cheerleader. After his stop at the diner, Sylar traveled to Claire's high school to murder the one he believed to be a superhealing cheerleader. In the school's gym, Sylar attacked Claire and her classmate Jackie Wilcox, but concentrated his attack on Jackie, due to a news article which reported that Jackie had saved a man from a fire. Sylar merely hurled Claire, with crushing force, against a nearby wall. As Sylar brutally attacked Jackie, Claire healed from the attack and saw Sylar cut open Jackie's skull with no physical contact. When Sylar realized he had the wrong girl, he turned to pursue Claire. As she made her escape, Sylar used his powers to attack Peter, who had run into Claire in the hallway, by hurtling locker doors at him. His pursuit ended on top of the school, where he and Peter struggled, causing both of them to fall off. Sylar escaped alive, but was later apprehended by Eden McCain and the Haitian. Eden used her persuasive abilities to prevent Sylar from attacking her and the Haitian put him to sleep.
In "Fallout," Sylar is confined in a small cell which supposedly prevents him from using his powers. During his imprisonment, Sylar becomes infuriated when Mr. Bennet repeatedly refers to him as Gabriel, insisting that his name is really Sylar after repeated uses of his former name. Bennet informs him that he'll be taken apart and studied, comparing the act to the watches Sylar once repaired. Before this can happen, however, Eden visits Sylar and attempts to use her powers to make him commit suicide with a gun she brought along. However, before she can give him the gun he telekinetically drags her through the glass wall of his cell. While he informs her that her power will help him immensely, she points the gun to her own head and fires, killing herself and preventing Sylar from acquiring her power.
Bennet and the Haitian then rush into the cell and subdue him with a tranquilizer gun.[2] In "Godsend," Sylar is later seen lying helpless on the floor of his cell after being injected with strange drugs used to help make special abilities manifest. The doctor in charge of him, Hank, states that Sylar has been tested to the brink of death, saying Sylar had been given enough drugs to kill an elephant, and still fails to display any power besides telekinesis.
In "The Fix," the tests on Sylar seem to be fatal, as he dies despite Hank's best efforts. However, after Hank reports this to Bennet and removes his restraints, Sylar revives (possibly having faked his condition) and murders Hank. When Bennet arrives to check on Sylar, he finds Hank's body in Sylar's place and Sylar standing calmly behind him. Sylar simply asks Bennet, "How's Claire?"
Powers and abilities
When Sylar first meets Chandra Suresh six months prior to the series' starting point, he describes having the ability to "know when things are broken, and how to fix them." This ability to see and manipulate patterns within complex systems made him an expert watchmaker, as he could discern any problems with any given watch almost instantly. Upon meeting Brian Davis and learning of his telekinetic abilities, he was able to see the genetic difference in Davis. He promised to "fix" what Davis perceived as a problem and killed him.
After killing Davis, Sylar acquired his telekinetic powers. Bennet mentions that Sylar's powers are a product of using foreign DNA to alter his own, but the mechanism behind this change remains unshown in the television series. According to an interview with Heroes writer Bryan Fuller, one explanation was considered, though avoided. "[Sylar] kills people and eats their brains and [...] digests their powers," but this wasn't stated in the series because it seemed "silly" and zombie-like.[3] Bennet confirms that Sylar has gained multiple powers in this manner, but the full extent of his abilities remains unknown. Multiple tests by one of Bennet's doctors can only confirm his telekinetic abilities. The freezing abilities referenced in "Don't Look Back" and Charlie Andrews' eidetic memory have been confirmed.[4]
In the six months since he acquired telekinesis, Sylar has become far more proficient than Brian Davis was when he demonstrated his abilities to Sylar. Sylar was able to fling Claire Bennet several feet horizontally into a wall with enough force to break her arm and severely lacerate her face, yet he has enough control over his power to smoothly cut open the skulls of his victims. Despite the number of powers he has at his disposal, Sylar is shown almost exclusively using telekinesis. When tested by Bennet's associate, Hank, Sylar shows no overt signs of any power besides telekinesis.
In "Distractions," Sylar began using a low, raspy voice when talking to Mrs. Bennett similar to the one Eden McCain used when utilizing her powers of persuasion; it is unclear now whether Sylar was actually able to steal her power, or if she indeed prevented him from taking it by killing herself in a previous episode.
Killings
Sylar has committed several murders, with the usual end result being the removal of the victims' brains. Sylar tends to target people with powers of their own in order to take their abilities. Still, he has not hesitated to attack others when he deems it necessary.
People whose deaths have been linked to Sylar and their powers (if any) are listed in chronological order below.
| Character | Power | Episode or graphic novel | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Davis | Telekinesis | "Six Months Ago" | |
| Unnamed male[1] | Unknown | Turning Point | Murdered in Chicago. |
| Chandra Suresh | None | "Seven Minutes to Midnight" | |
| Mr. & Mrs. James Walker | Unknown | "Don't Look Back" | Only James Walker's brain was removed, and his body was found frozen. Later, Sylar unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap the Walkers' daughter from FBI custody. |
| Unnamed FBI agent | None | "One Giant Leap" | |
| Charlie Andrews | Eidetic memory | "Seven Minutes to Midnight" | |
| Jackie Wilcox | None | "Homecoming" | |
| Eden McCain | Persuasion | "Fallout" | She committed gun suicide to prevent Sylar from stealing her power. |
| Hank | None | "The Fix" |
- During "Don't Look Back," Hiro Nakamura traveled to an alternate future. There, he found Isaac Mendez dead, killed in the same manner as Sylar's victims.
- During "Nothing to Hide," Audrey Hanson states eight murders are linked to Sylar, which would exclude murders done after the killing of the unnamed FBI agent.
Name
Gabriel Gray took the surname "Sylar" six months before most of the series' events. He got the name from a brand of watch that he had been working on. Since then, "Sylar" does not even want to be referred to by his given name, angrily proclaiming that his name is indeed Sylar after repeated uses of his original name by Bennet. A picture of a news clipping on the NBC website has a birth announcement for a "Paul E. Sylar," born June 11, 1962.[5] This clipping is posted to the left of the map in Chandra Suresh's New York apartment, but does not appear in any of the televised episodes.
References
- ^ a b Zatta, Christopher (w), Roslan, Mark (i). "Turning Point" Heroes, vol. 1, no. 10 (November 27, 2006). Aspen MLT, Inc..
- ^ Chambliss, Andrew (w), Kotzebue, Travis, Mucah Gunnell (p), Steigrwald, Peter (i). "Fathers & Daughters" Heroes, vol. 1, no. 11 (December 4, 2006). Aspen MLT, Inc..
- ^ Interview with Bryan Fuller, Co-Executive Producer/Writer. Retrieved 13 Jan 2007.
- ^ "behind the Eclipse: Heroes Week Twelve". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2007-01-25.
- ^ "Heroes - Photos". NBC.com. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
