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Template:Heroes character box Gabriel Gray, more commonly known by his assumed name of Sylar, is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists on the NBC drama Heroes. Portrayed by Zachary Quinto, he is a super-powered serial killer who targets other superhumans in order to steal their powers. Sylar serves as the primary antagonist of the first season of the series.

Concept and creation

The original concept of Sylar was that he killed the victim, ate their brain, and "digested their power"; however, in order to avoid the potential silliness and zombie associations, they decided to deliberately make this fact vague in the series.

Prior to Quinto's first appearance in the episode "Seven Minutes to Midnight", the role of Sylar is played by stunt doubles, with the character's face being obscured by shadows. Sylar's voice during a telephone conversation is that of voice actor Maurice LaMarche.

Personality

Sylar was raised as the son of a watchmaker, but he always felt that he deserved more in life and that he was special. These desires and the "evolutionary imperative" to acquire new abilities are what drives him to kill the victims with powers. Taking the name Sylar from the brand of watch that he wears, he has shed all connections to his previous life as Gabriel Gray. He takes this to the point of becoming angry when called Gabriel with the exceptions of when he visited his mother and when he temporarily loses his powers. Quinto has said of his character, "The sad part is, he's initially well-intentioned. He wants to improve his life. He wants to make a difference. He wants to matter. Through the process of realizing how to do that, he gets blinded and loses himself in the pursuit of it and goes a little crazy—'a little' being an understatement."

Quinto has also stated that "He's definitely somebody that has been overcome by a hunger and overcome by a pursuit for power and for importance that did start a little more innocuously than it evolved into." When asked if he thought Sylar was irredeemable or not, Quinto responded, "I think there's a certain point at which you cross a line and it's sort of irrevocable.... I don't know what the writers have in mind, but it would probably be kind of a challenge at this point, you know?"

Character history

Genesis

Six months before the beginning of the series, Sylar is known as Gabriel Gray, a highly talented watch repairman. He encounters Chandra Suresh, who tells Gabriel that he may be an evolved human with superhuman powers. Gabriel, feeling a strong desire to be special and important, eagerly submits to testing. After being rejected by Suresh because he can not determine anything from the tests, he contacts another person on Suresh's list, Davis, discovers that he has the power of intuitive aptitude, and murders Davis for his telekinetic powers. After returning to Suresh, he becomes "Patient Zero", and continues to work with Suresh until Suresh realizes that Sylar is murdering the people that they meet. He kills Suresh soon after.

Sylar is first mentioned in the series as a mysterious serial killer sought out by the FBI, whose existence is completely speculative. Appearing as shadowy figure, he attempts to obtain Molly Walker's power after failing the first time, obtains the power of Charlie Andrews, and attempts to obtain Claire Bennet's regenerative abilities, but is stopped by Peter Petrelli. After being stopped, he is greatly injured and is captured by Eden McCain and the Haitian to be experimented on. After various experiments, Sylar manages to escape, but he is again repelled from an attempt to obtain Claire's power.

Remembering Suresh's list, Sylar makes his way to Zane Taylor, and by posing as the person Zane was expecting, Mohinder Suresh, he kills him and obtain his power. After Mohinder arrives, Sylar poses as Zane, and convinces Mohinder to take him to help convince other people with special abilities that Mohinder’s research is real. After meeting and obtaining enhanced hearing from a woman named Dale, Mohinder discovers Sylar's identity and manages to incapacitate him with drugs. After experimenting on Sylar to create a new list of people with special powers and attempting to kill him, Mohinder is captured. After Peter shows up and is temporarily killed by Sylar, Mohinder knocks him out, but ends up leaving Isaac Mendez's address on the ground.

After meeting Isaac, and being told that his fate is to die at the hands of the other heroes, he takes Isaac's power to paint the future. He soon finishes a painting depicting himself about to kill and absorb the power of the radioactive Ted Sprague, and believes himself to be the "exploding man". Believing that only those that "don't deserve" their powers are the ones that need to die, he doesn't want to kill innocent people. After attempting to confide in Mohinder, he returns home to his mother in the hope that she will tell him that it is fine not to be special and live as a normal watchmaker. She tells him that he can be anything, including the president, causing him to demonstrate his powers and accidentally injure her. This causes her to panic, which eventually leads to her death, and Sylar realizing that his path is correct.

After absorbing the radioactive powers of Ted, Sylar paints a picture of himself facing off against Peter Petrelli at Kirby Plaza. Realizing Peter is part of his final destiny, Sylar prepares to hunt him down. Before he can leave, Ando Masahashi arrives to kill him, though he is easily dispatched. After discovering the comic depicting his death at the hands of Hiro Nakamura, Hiro appears and rescues Ando. Sylar sets off for Kirby Plaza to wait for Peter. After a struggle involving Sylar, Peter, Matt Parkman, and Niki Sanders, Peter begins the process of exploding, showing Sylar that he is not the exploding man. Soon after, Hiro arrives and stabs Sylar as the comic depicts, which causes him to collapse.

Generations

Sylar is rescued by Candice Wilmer, who uses her powers of illusion to make Sylar disappear. After undergoing eight surgeries, he eventually awakes and realizes that he cannot use his powers. Though Candice promises that they will come back eventually, he kills her and attempts to absorb her power in order to start over. After realizing that it also doesn't work, he attempts to leave, though he realizes that he is in the middle of a dense jungle in Mexico. After wandering for three days, he is rescued from the brink of death by the passing by Maya Herrera and Alejandro Herrera. He introduces himself using his real name, and eventually finds out that they are in search of Chandra Suresh to help control Maya's power. He tells them that he knows Suresh, and the he will take them to him.

He continues to travel with them, while Alejandro becomes more distrustful of Sylar, Maya becomes more trustful of him. After teaching Maya to control her powers, he convinces her that her brother hates her and that in her heart she wanted to see his fiancé dead. Convincing her to send Alejandro away, Sylar is eventually confronted by Alejandro, he kills him, but states that he would have let Alejandro go had he not come back. Soon after, Maya confesses her love for Gabriel, and they reach Mohinder's apartment. Sylar attempts to obtain a cure for his condition, now revealed to be the same strain of the Shanti Virus which Niki was infected with. He eventually gives up his ruse, and steals a vial of the cure.

Villains

At the start of Volume Three: "Villains", Sylar injects himself with the cure, healing his wounds and apparently regaining use of his powers. He tests out his telekinesis by summoning a can to his hand, remarking, "I'm back."

Powers, abilities and skills

When Sylar first meets Chandra Suresh six months prior to the series' starting point, he is described as having "intuitive aptitude", the ability to know how things work by looking at them. This ability to see and manipulate patterns within complex systems made him an expert at restoring time pieces. He is able to discern any problems, with any given watch, almost instantly. He later uses this ability to locate the source of the power in the brain of his victims, enabling him to steal their abilities. Mr. Bennet mentions that Sylar's powers are a product of using foreign DNA to alter his own. While the original concept was that Sylar ate the brains of his victims to absorb their powers, it was later changed, and it was left intentionally ambiguous as to how Sylar does so once he removes a victim's brain. When Tim Kring was asked if Sylar eats brains, he stated that "that's the popular speculation. There is a connection between the powers and the brain - and Sylar has found it."

Of all the powers Sylar has acquired, his most prominently displayed power is telekinesis, which was the first power he absorbed. Compared to the limited abilities Davis displayed, Sylar's skill with telekinesis is much more advanced. He can enhance his own strength with it, and he also has enough fine control to smoothly cut open the skulls of his victims. When tested by Bennet's associate, Hank, Sylar shows no overt signs of any power besides telekinesis. He has also shown the ability to reduce the temperature of matter, causing it to freeze; the eidetic memory of Charlene Andrews; Zane Taylor's liquification ability; Dale Smither's enhanced hearing, which makes his sense of hearing extremely sensitive until he adjusts to the new ability; Isaac Mendez's precognition in the form of painting; Ted Sprague's radiation manipulation.

Reception

Sylar was named one of the best new villains on TV by Entertainment Weekly.

References

1. ^ Joe and Jimmy (27-12-2007). "Interview with Bryan Fuller". Comics Podcast Network (Podcast). Retrieved 01-13. {{cite podcast}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
2. ^ "BuddyTV interview with Zachary Quinto". Retrieved 2007-05-02.
3. Rob Owen (2006-12-03). "TV Preview: Pittsburgh native Quinto is face of 'Heroes' villain". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
4. Jeff Jensen (2007-03-27). "Burning Questions". Entertainment Weekly. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
5. "Criminal Minds". EW.com. Retrieved 2007-05-02.

• Fictional characters from New York City
• Fictional characters with eidetic memory
• Fictional characters with mental illness
• Fictional characters with precognition
• Fictional Presidents of the United States
• Fictional serial killers
• Heroes characters
• Television supervillains