Sylar

Template:Heroes character box Gabriel Gray, commonly known by his assumed name of Sylar, is a fictional character and an antagonist on the NBC drama Heroes. He is a superpowered serial killer who targets other superhumans. He is portrayed by Zachary Quinto.

Character history

First kills

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Gabriel Gray appeared clearly for the first time in the episode "Six Months Ago".

Gabriel Gray is a second-generation watchmaker from Queens, New York who always hoped to be "special" but was disappointed to have followed his father into watchmaking. He has always lived an uneventful life up to and including the point where he began restoring time pieces himself at the family business, Gray & Sons. His mother has an interest in snow globes from across the country.

When he is approached by Chandra Suresh and told that he might have special powers, Gabriel is quite hopeful that his theories are correct; however, none of Chandra's tests indicate that Gabriel has any sort of abnormal properties whatsoever. Growing doubtful, Chandra decides to move on to the next person on his list, which angers the distraught Gabriel.

In an attempt to validate his hopes and prove that he is special, Gabriel uses information from Chandra's notes to find the name and address of Brian Davis, another possible subject on Chandra's list. He contacts Davis, asking him to visit his store and introduces himself as "Sylar", a pseudonym derived from the brand of watch that he is working on at the time. Gabriel then identifies Davis as a telekinetic.

Gabriel states that Davis is "broken". Unlike Gabriel, who desperately wants to be special, Davis fears his power, asking if Sylar could get rid of it. Claiming that he could "fix" Davis, Gabriel brutally murders him, acknowledging a previous statement by Chandra that the source of the abilities "is in the brain." He returns to Chandra's apartment the next day, this time demonstrating telekinetic abilities with greater control than Davis. Thoroughly impressed, Chandra continues on with his research with "Sylar".

Sylar, being Chandra's first recorded study, is dubbed "Patient Zero", though sometime over the course of six months the study is terminated, as the two have a falling out. In a taped phone conversation discovered by Chandra's son Mohinder, Sylar states that Chandra "made [him] this way," and refers to a mysterious "uncontrollable hunger" that he now experiences. Chandra wants nothing to do with Sylar at this point. A vision Mohinder experiences in "Seven Minutes to Midnight" shows Sylar killing Chandra in the latter's taxicab. Chandra's death is what originally brought Mohinder to New York City.

Roaming the country

Eventually, Sylar becomes a serial killer, using Chandra's list to track down victims across the United States. This leads FBI agent Audrey Hanson to become obsessed with capturing him. Three months after taking on his serial killer persona, Sylar leads Hanson on a chase through the streets of Chicago, following another one of his murders. Hanson chases him into the subways. He gives his cap and trench coat to an innocent elderly man, which causes the agent to mistake the man for Sylar. After shooting the man, she realizes her mistake, and the unbearable guilt from her error intensifies her drive to hunt him down.

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Sylar's appearance was initially obscured, as in "One Giant Leap".

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 supposedly 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.

Texas kills

Sylar continues to use Chandra's list, leading him to Texas in "Seven Minutes to Midnight". Sylar entered a diner where Hiro Nakamura and Ando Masahashi were being served by a young waitress named Charlie Andrews. Charlie Andrews possessed a superhuman memorization ability, which Sylar learned from watching her from the shadows. When Charlie went to the diner's storeroom, Sylar murdered her in his standard fashion. Sylar then took her brain, despite there being a blood clot in it.

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 Bennet'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 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 hurling 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.

Capture

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Mr. Bennet observes Sylar in a cell at Primatech.

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. Mr. 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, as she believes him to be too dangerous to be kept alive for any reason. 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. In "Godsend," Sylar is seen lying helpless on the floor of his cell after being injected with powerful 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. Nevertheless, 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?"

Roaming again

In "Distractions", Sylar uses his telekinesis to attack Mr. Bennet, and then traps him in the room in which Bennet had imprisoned him. After stealing Mr. Bennet's driver's license to learn the location of his house, he travels there. Under the disguise of a Primatech employee making a delivery for Mr. Bennet, he fools Mrs. Bennet for a while. However, Sylar's strange interest in Claire eventually causes Mrs. Bennet to see through his deception. He then uses his telekinesis to attack her, after telling her of his murderous intentions in regards to Claire. As he moves in to finish her off, Mr. Bennet and the Haitian run into the house. Mr. Bennet shoots Sylar multiple times. Nonetheless, Sylar quickly escapes. Though the Haitian chases after him, Sylar has already vanished.

While on the run once more, the bullet wounds annoy Sylar. He notes that things would be easier if he had Claire Bennet's healing factor. To go "North" and out of "Podunk, Texas," Sylar hitches a ride with a semi-truck driver. After realizing the driver is really heading West, Sylar kills him and hijacks the delivery truck. Police eventually follow Sylar, but he easily escapes them by using his powers to put ice on the road and then jump/fly out of the truck as it crashes over the embankment. Sylar also notes that he is down to the last person he can remember from Chandra's list. Thus, he ends up at the home of this person, and the events of "Run!" begin.

Zane Taylor was expecting Mohinder Suresh to visit him when Sylar comes to his door. Mistaking Sylar for Mohinder, Zane lets him into his house and quickly demonstrates his liquefaction ability to him. Sylar kills Zane and takes his ability, just before the real Mohinder arrives. When Mohinder enters, Sylar identifies himself as Zane Taylor, showing Mohinder his new ability when prompted. Mohinder then asks for a DNA sample to continue his research. Sylar covertly gives him a sample from Zane's corpse, in lieu of his own. In the end, Sylar, seeing Mohinder as a way to find more victims, suggests accompanying Mohinder on his mission to find the other "unique people," saying he could help convince them since he has an ability himself. Mohinder happily agrees.

In "Unexpected", Sylar and Mohinder locate a woman named Dale, who possesses incredibly enhanced hearing, able to hear rain coming from forty miles away, or to hear the changes in someone's heartbeat. Sylar demonstrates his new liquefaction ability, and she agrees to let Mohinder run some tests. Later that night, Sylar returns to Dale's shop, kills her, and takes her ability. The next day, Sylar finds her enhanced hearing hard to control, as he experiences excruciating pain at the slightest noise. Mohinder finds Dale's body, but Sylar convinces him not to phone the police, telling him they'd look too suspicious. Mohinder agrees, and says he'll phone them once they're on the road again.

Exposed

By the time of the events of "Parasite", Mohinder, unbeknownst to Sylar, has discovered his true identity, after finding a news article on the internet about Zane Taylor's death. Mohinder drugs Sylar, and restrains him to a chair, hooking up an I.V. with curare, which renders him unable to access his abilities. Mohinder prepares to shoot Sylar, but stops when Sylar tells him that Mohinder's father confided in him and trusted him more than his son. Mohinder proceeds to take a sample of Sylar's spinal fluid. Through this sample, Mohinder apparently finds the key to being able to locate other unique people (to "make a new list," as Mohinder puts it). He then attempts to kill Sylar, who had secretly shut off the I.V. via telekinesis. Sylar telekinetically stops the bullet Mohinder fires at him, and then asks Mohinder for his list. Later on, Peter arrives at Mohinder's apartment, finding him pinned to the ceiling through Sylar's telekinetic abilities, bleeding. Sylar then emerges from the darkness and pins Peter to the wall, saying that he would like to see how Peter's power works. He then grabs Peter and begins to slice his skull in the same manner he has all his victims, just as the episode ends.

Sylar slices deep into Peter's skull at the beginning of ".07%", attempting to claim his powers; however, Peter is able to use Claire's healing ability to close the wound before hurling Sylar across the room with his own telekinetic abilities, freeing Mohinder as a result. Sylar quickly recovers from the attack and prepares to battle Peter, who responds by becoming invisible. Sylar retaliates by lifting a large amount of shattered glass off the ground and flinging it in all directions, stabbing Peter in the back of the head and killing him. As Sylar moves in to take Peter's power, Mohinder crushes him against the wall with his charts, knocking him out. Sylar awakens later, finding Mohinder's list destroyed. He flies into a rage, only to find Isaac's address on the ground.

Isaac just finishes a painting of Sylar standing over his corpse as the killer arrives. Isaac tells Sylar that he has seen Sylar's future, and that he is doomed to die at the hands of the other heroes. Sylar demands to see those paintings, but Isaac says that he has already sent them for the others to find, and that his purpose is complete; he was destined to show the others how to kill Sylar. Sylar retaliates by impaling Isaac's wrists and ankles with paintbrushes. Isaac tells him that he can't fight the future, and Sylar kills him and takes his power. Sylar is later seen painting a picture of Nathan Petrelli standing in the White House. His painting is, however, far darker and more macabre than Isaac's, showing Nathan in a slightly demonic light; the colors of the painting are also distorted. It is later revealed in the episode "Five Years Gone" that this may, in fact, be a depiction of himself in the White House, posing as Nathan, using Candice's power of illusion.

Visions of death

As "The Hard Part" begins, Sylar finishes a new painting, showing himself about to kill Ted Sprague. Fearing that he is going to be the exploding man, he phones Suresh, telling him that he doesn't know why he'd want to do that. He tells him that he only killed people who "didn't deserve" their powers, and that he doesn't want to kill all those innocent people. Mohinder asks him to turn himself in while dialing 911. Sylar hears him dial and quickly hangs up. Sylar then calls his mother and asks if he can come over. He goes to clean himself up, dressing like he appeared in "Six Months Ago". As he goes to leave, he hears the heartbeats of Hiro and Ando, who had come looking for Isaac. Hiro teleports himself and Ando away just before Sylar finds them.

Sylar arrives at his mother's apartment, his mother expressing great joy and relief to see him. During their conversations, in which Sylar asks that his mom accept him as a "normal" watchmaker, and not wish for him to be special, it becomes apparent that his mother is the reason Sylar longs to be special. She even tells him that he could be president if he wanted, creating an eerie connection to "Five Years Gone". Sylar eventually demonstrates his powers to his mother, using a kitchen hose, his freezing powers, and telekinesis to turn her apartment into a "snow globe". However, he seems to become detached and unresponsive as he uses his powers, inadvertently injuring her.

After she hides from him in her room, Sylar pleads with her to come out, still in disbelief that he'd kill so many people. His mother attempts to leave the house and expects Sylar to be gone when she gets back. She declares that he is no longer her son, and wants him to give her real son back. While attempting to reason with her, she brandishes a pair of scissors, which she stabs herself with while struggling with Sylar. Hiro, having followed Sylar, freezes time at this moment and attempts to kill him, but loses his nerve and lets his concentration slip, allowing Sylar to block Hiro's sword. Sylar tries to goad Hiro into killing him, but resolves to kill Hiro after he can't do so. Sylar breaks Hiro's sword with his freezing powers, and Hiro teleports away before Sylar can kill him. Sylar is later seen painting the explosion in New York in blood, saying that his mother was right about him being able to become president.

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"Boom."

As "Landslide" begins, Sylar has tracked down Sprague, who is with Claire, Peter, Mr. Bennet and Matt Parkman. Sylar uses his enhanced hearing to learn that Ted, Peter, and Claire are heading to Nebraska and that Ted is wanted by the FBI, so he begins following them. Peter hears Sylar's thoughts as they move down the street, and the three of them duck into a building to hide. Sylar takes the time to contact the FBI and inform them of Ted's whereabouts, leading to his arrest shortly after he leaves the building. Audrey Hanson, who is leading the FBI team, thanks Sylar for the tip. He gives his name as Isaac Mendez before disappearing into the crowd. Later, Sylar attacks the van that is transferring Ted to Guantanamo Bay, using his telekinesis to flip it over. Still chained to the van, Ted is unable to fight back as Sylar moves in and kills him, taking his power. He is last seen atop a building, overlooking New York and testing his new ability. He then gives an eerie grin as he looks out on the city, and utters one word: "Boom".

Final Showdown

In "How to Stop an Exploding Man", Sylar paints a picture of himself facing off against Peter Petrelli in battle. Sylar is later confronted by an impatient Ando, and manages to easily incapacitate him. However, before Sylar can finish Ando off, Hiro appears and uses his powers to save Ando and teleport the two of them back to their office cubicles in Japan.

Ultimately, Sylar confronts the Heroes in Kirby Plaza, starting with Peter Petrelli and Mr. Bennet, who have tracked him there using Molly's powers. Sylar tosses Mr. Bennet against a wall with his telekinesis, seriously injuring him. Sylar and Peter then face off, but Sylar immobilizes Peter before he can even make a move. Matt suddenly appears and fires four shots at Sylar, but Sylar stops the bullets in midair and redirects them back at Matt, seriously injuring him. The remaining Heroes arrive just as Sylar is about to bash Peter's skull in using a parking meter. Niki grabs the meter and strikes Sylar with it, knocking him to the ground. Peter then begins beating on Sylar with his fists, his punches now enhanced by Niki's super strength, only to realize in horror that his hands have begun glowing with radiation, indicating that he is the bomb after all. Sylar mocks his nemesis, saying that Peter turned out to be the villain, which makes Sylar the hero after all. However, before Sylar can do anything else, Hiro materializes before him and stabs him in the chest with Ando's sword. Just before his (apparent) death, Sylar uses his powers one last time to toss Hiro against a building, forcing him to teleport away. Sylar then collapses to the ground, visions of his past crimes flashing before his eyes.

In the epilogue, it is shown that Sylar's body is missing after the final battle, a trail of blood leading from where he collapsed to a nearby open sewer manhole. A cockroach is seen crawling down into the sewer, possibly implying that the cockroach is Sylar.

Alternate future

The graphic novel "String Theory" revealed that, in the original future timeline of the series, before Hiro attempted to alter it, Sylar was believed to be the "exploding man" who decimated New York. To stop him, Hiro attempted to kill him, but in this timeline, Sylar possessed Claire Bennet's power of regeneration, and survived. The explosion which destroyed much of New York was not prevented. Over the ensuing five years, strict laws for the control and registration of powered individuals came into effect, and Hiro dedicated himself to protecting those who could not protect themselves. In addition, he mapped out the events that had culminated in Sylar's explosion, and, identifying the key factor, used his powers to travel back in time five years, and contacted present-day Peter Petrelli. He delivered a cryptic message - "save the cheerleader, save the world." Hiro reasoned that if Peter saved Claire from Sylar, he would not acquire her healing powers, and thus could be killed before he exploded. Returning to his time, Hiro was surprised to find, on the surface, his world appeared no different. This, however, was not truly the case - his actions had indeed altered his future, but not for the better.

"Five Years Gone" reveals the new timeline that Hiro's actions have created, when the present day Hiro inadvertently travels into the future and sees it for himself. Thanks to "future Hiro's" warning, Peter was able to prevent Sylar from acquiring Claire's powers. However, due to present-day Hiro's absence from the timeline, he had not been present to kill Sylar. Although the world at large believes that Sylar was the exploding man, and is now dead, in truth, it was Peter Petrelli who uncontrollably ravaged New York. This fact was concealed by his brother, Nathan, now President of the United States, who blamed Sylar to protect him. Unbeknownst to anyone, however, Sylar still lives - having killed both Nathan and Candice Wilmer. He has used the latter's illusion-casting ability to become Nathan, and consequently the President.

Sylar kills Claire, and then goes through with his plan to kill all the other "special people". After giving a speech in the ruins of New York, Sylar is contacted by Matt Parkman, who tells him that Peter is holding them back from apprehending both the Past and Future Hiro. Sylar quickly takes flight and arrives at the building, grabbing Peter through a door with D.L.'s phasing ability. Sylar then reveals himself to Peter, and the two begin to battle: Peter generates fire with his hands, while Sylar surrounds his with ice. Their battle rages out of sight while Mohinder bars a door against the effects, allowing Hiro and Ando return to the present.

Powers, abilities and skills

Original power

When Sylar first meets Chandra Suresh six months prior to the series' starting point, he describes having intuitive aptitude, the ability of knowing 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 was able to discern any problems, with any given watch, almost instantly. Upon meeting Brian Davis and learning of his telekinetic abilities, Sylar promised to "fix" what Davis perceived as a problem and killed him, taking his telekinetic powers for himself. Thanks to this power, Sylar is now one of the most powerful characters on the show, rivaled only by Hiro Nakamura and Peter Petrelli.

Acquired powers

Bennet mentions that Sylar's powers are a product of using foreign DNA to alter his own. An interview with Bryan Fuller expands on this point, explaining that the general idea they had was that "[Sylar] kills people and he eats their brains and he, like, digests their power"; however, in order to avoid the potential silliness and zombie associations, they decided to deliberately make this fact vague in the series. Various episodes hint at it but don't outright state it; for example, in "Parasite", Sylar loses his composure when demanding the list of heroes Mohinder is compiling, saying, "Give me that damn list! So I can ... sink my teeth in!" In "The Hard Part", Molly Walker, who witnessed her parents die at Sylar's hands, is more direct about this fact. When Mohinder says that they're going to stop Sylar, she claims that the Bogeyman (referring to Sylar) "sees into your soul and then he eats your brain." Series' creator Tim Kring has confirmed that exactly how Sylar steals abilities through his victims' brains will be revealed early in the second season.

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, seen when he flings Claire Bennet several feet horizontally into a wall with enough force to break her arm and severely lacerate her face. 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.

Aside from telekinesis, Sylar has at least ten other abilities at his disposal, including freezing abilities, eidetic memory, and melting solid objects through molecular manipulation (to name a few). His known (current) abilities are listed with the murders he has committed.

As mentioned in the graphic novel "String Theory", Future Hiro listed Sylar as being the original exploding man. Hiro's attempt to stop Sylar failed because Sylar had Claire's regenerative ability. Since Hiro had since prevented Claire's death, Sylar no longer had her power. As shown in "Five Years Gone", Peter became the exploding man instead, while Sylar continued obtaining other abilities. Among those displayed are Candice Wilmer's power of illusion, Nathan Petrelli's flight, Claire Bennet's regeneration (which he failed to obtain originally, but acquired during the episode), and D.L. Hawkins' power of phasing.

Murders/Victims

Sylar has committed several murders, the victims usually being others with powers of their own. In such cases, Sylar removes their brains. Despite targeting a specific group of people, Sylar has not hesitated to kill 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	Acquired Power	Episode or graphic novel	Notes
Brian Davis	Telekinesis	"Six Months Ago"
David	Unknown	"Turning Point"	Murdered in Chicago.
Chandra Suresh	None	"Seven Minutes to Midnight"	Seen in Mohinder's dream.
James Walker	Unknown	"Don't Look Back"	His corpse was found frozen. Later, Sylar unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap the Walkers' daughter, Molly, from FBI custody.
Mrs. Walker	None	"Don't Look Back"	Brain not removed.
Unnamed victim from Barstow	Unknown	"Don't Look Back"	Audrey Hanson mentions this death in "Don't Look Back". She says this person was killed in the same manner as the other special people that Sylar has killed.
Unnamed police officer	None	"One Giant Leap"	Shown frozen in an unaired scene of the episode.
Unnamed FBI agent	None	"One Giant Leap"
Charlie Andrews	Eidetic memory	"Seven Minutes to Midnight"
Jackie Wilcox	None	"Homecoming"	Mistaken for Claire Bennet.
Eden McCain	None (See note)	"Fallout"	In order to prevent Sylar from acquiring her power, Eden committed suicide by shooting herself in the head.
Hank	None	"The Fix"
Unnamed male trucker	None	"Road Kill"
Zane Taylor	Molecular manipulation	"Run!"	Sylar took on Taylor's identity.
Dale Smither	Enhanced hearing	"Unexpected"	This power is automatic, and thus made Sylar's sense of hearing extremely sensitive for several episodes. He has since adjusted.
Isaac Mendez	Precognition	".07%"	Isaac's death is seen in the future by Hiro in "Don't Look Back", and later painted by Isaac himself in "Parasite".
Virginia Gray	None	"The Hard Part"	Sylar accidentally stabbed his mother in the heart with a pair of scissors. He used her blood to create a picture of New York City blowing up.
Ted Sprague	Radiation manipulation	"Landslide"	Sylar informs the police of Ted's whereabouts and later attacks the transport van.
Unnamed police officer	None	"Landslide"

Personality

The episode "Six Months Ago" reveals that Sylar’s desire to be special and important drives him to kill the victims with powers. He has shed all connections to his previous life as Gabriel Gray and prefers to be called Sylar. The online comic book Road Kill reveals that Sylar now thinks of what he does as an evolutionary imperative to acquire new abilities; this was the reason he gave for his first murder in "Six Months Ago". Mr. Bennet believes the radical changes to his DNA may have driven the already unstable Gray insane.

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."

In another interview, Quinto 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? ... I think that that’s one of the really exciting things about this show is that they’re constantly coming up with surprising ideas and ideas that people would never expect, so I don’t think anything is out of the question, but I do think that he’s gone pretty far down a path that at this point might be a little difficult to back track."

In the episode "The Hard Part", Sylar's backstory is partially explored during a visit with his mother. Several times during the visit Sylar comments to his mother that he would be content simply fixing watches and wishes that his mother would not push him to be 'special'; that she see him as just 'normal'. We see that he is struggling with a desire to be special as instilled by his overbearing mother, while juggling regret at killing so many people. At the beginning of the episode, he feels remorse that he might kill a lot of "innocent people", but it is gone by the end of the episode.

Names and aliases

Gabriel Gray took the alias "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 want to be referred to by his given name, angrily proclaiming that his name is indeed Sylar after repeated uses of his real name by Mr. Bennet. A picture of a news clipping on the NBC website has a birth announcement for a "Paul E. Sylar," born June 11, 1962. 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. In "Landslide" he uses Isaac Mendez's name to call in a report that he has seen Ted Sprague. Sprague is then arrested by the FBI and later killed by Sylar.

Though not a master of disguise, Sylar has been able to fool some people by assuming alternate identities. Despite his merciless and sadistic nature, he can, for a brief time at least, be very charming and pleasant when he wants to be. He took on a southern accent and a Primatech Paper uniform to fool Mrs. Sandra Bennet.

Besides this, Sylar also tends to use assumed names and various dialects in an attempt to mask his true identity and intentions. He has used the alias "Drew O'Grady", which he had stolen from a newspaper headline. He allowed Zane Taylor to believe he was Mohinder Suresh, and later took on Taylor's identity to join forces with the real Suresh. In the alternate future depicted in "Five Years Gone", it is revealed that Sylar had been using Candice Wilmer's power of illusion to successfully masquerade as President of the United States, Nathan Petrelli. Template:Endspoiler

Trivia

• Sylar was named one of the best new villains on TV by Entertainment Weekly.
• Zachary Quinto started playing Sylar in "Seven Minutes to Midnight". The character was played by stunt doubles in the earlier episodes, and the voice of Sylar on the telephone conversation is that of voice actor Maurice LaMarche.