Haitian (Heroes)
Template:Heroes character box The Haitian is a fictional character on the NBC television series Heroes, portrayed by Haitian actor Jimmy Jean-Louis. He is an associate of Mr. Bennet. Thus far, he has only been referred to on screen as "the Haitian." Even his associates at Primatech call him this. His actual name has not been revealed.
Character overview
Wearing his father's necklace which displays a symbol seen throughout the series, the Haitian is an aloof character. His actual name has so far not been revealed; he is referred to almost exclusively as simply "the Haitian". He did not speak in any episode until "Fallout", and his associate Eden McCain expressed the belief that he is mute. He kissed his necklace before erasing Matt Parkman's memory, and expressed a belief in God — specifically, a belief that superpowers are a gift from God, and should be respected. He is one of the few characters who sees his powers in a highly positive light. So far, his main alliances are with Mr. Bennet, Bennet's daughter, Claire, and Angela Petrelli.
Character history
The Haitian first discovered his ability to inhibit other powers as a child when he inadvertently stops his father's ability during an attack on their village.[1] When discovered by the Company in Haiti, he does not speak, and describes his powers with a drawing of himself pulling "worms" out of people's heads. One of his earliest assignments is the first mind wipe of Sandra Bennet ("Company Man"). He is next seen 14 years later in a bar by Matt Parkman in "One Giant Leap". Matt collapses soon afterwards. In "Collision", the Haitian is brought in to see a captive Parkman. On Bennet's orders, he uses his memory-related power to "go deep" with Parkman and then "wipe out" his memories of being kidnapped. Ted Sprague later reveals to Matt that he had seen the Haitian under similar circumstances. The episode "Six Months Ago" shows that the Haitian also had a hand in capturing Eden McCain, who went on to work with him and Bennet. The Haitian and Bennet attempt to kidnap Nathan Petrelli, but Nathan escapes by flying away.
Bennet's tasks for the Haitian are not limited to dealing with people possessing powers. In the episode "Hiros", the Haitian follows Bennet's order to "hollow out" Brody Mitchum, a schoolmate and boyfriend of Claire's who attempted to rape her. After this encounter, Brody no longer recognizes even his own name.
The Haitian and Eden work together in "Homecoming" to capture Sylar. In "Fallout", Mr. Bennet orders the Haitian to erase the recent memories of Claire's friend, Zach, as well as her brother, Lyle, after Claire told her father that they both knew of her healing powers. Although the Haitian follows through with these orders, he defies Mr. Bennet's order to erase Claire's memories.
The Haitian speaks
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The Haitian finally speaks when encountering Claire Bennet. He tells her how he erased Zach and Lyle's memories, and asks her if she "can keep a secret." Two weeks later, in "Godsend", the Haitian and Claire meet at an old factory area. Claire asks if he can at least restore Zach's memories so she'll have someone to share her secret with, but he states that he cannot do so because "that's not how [his] gift works." He also considers the superpowers he and Claire have to be "good," and advises Claire to respect hers "accordingly".
"The Fix" reveals that the Haitian gave Claire special wind chimes to hang outside her window if she needs to talk with him. The day after Claire does, they meet again at the same factory area. The Haitian asks if it's an emergency, but Claire just wants to know about her biological parents. The Haitian says that Claire's biological mother died in a fire, something Mr. Bennet told him at a time when he had "no reason to lie". He claims not to know anything about Claire's biological father and recommends that she let it go.
In the episode "Distractions", the Haitian accompanies Claire's adoptive father Mr. Bennet to his home in the pursuit of Sylar who escaped Primatech and locked Mr. Bennet in the cell he'd previously occupied. While Mr. Bennet tended to his wife, the Haitian chased the wounded Sylar outside, but soon returned having lost his trail. The Haitian then wiped Sandra Bennet's mind to make her forget ever having met Sylar, coincidentally making her forget she allowed Claire to skip school that day.
In "Company Man", after Matt reveals to Mr. Bennet that the Haitian can speak, Mr. Bennet confronts the Haitian about his ability and why he did not erase Claire's memory. Afterwards, the Haitian helps Bennet rescue his family from Ted Sprague. When Bennet is ordered by his superior to bring Claire in to the company, Bennet turns her over to the Haitian. He then asks the Haitian to shoot him in the stomach and wipe his mind of anything that could lead the company to Claire.
In "Parasite", the Haitian tells Claire that they must leave the country. At a gas stop he spoke on the phone in French and revealed they were instructed to head to Marseille, France by way of New York. Desperate to see Peter Petrelli, Claire steals the Haitian's passport, preventing him from following Claire through the airport security checkpoint. Claire then goes to Peter Petrelli's apartment in New York, where she meets her biological grandmother Angela Petrelli. Much to Claire's surprise, the Haitian is there, and speaks to Angela in French. He has been secretly working to protect Claire on Angela's orders.
Alternate future
In "Five Years Gone", the future Haitian is working for the Department of Homeland Security, assisting Matt Parkman in the interrogation of people with superpowers, and the capture of the future Hiro Nakamura where he proves to be useful as he can prohibit the usage of Hiro's powers to some extent. Eventually, the Haitian is killed by Mohinder Suresh, who injected him with a lethal fluid that was meant for the present-day Hiro Nakamura.
Season 2
In "Lizards", Mohinder is sent to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in order to track down a person who has contracted the virus that Molly Walker had. The person with the virus is revealed to be the Haitian. Initially, he wishes Mohinder not to cure it, as he believes it is God's will that he die to atone for his past, but Mohinder convinces him that God sent Mohinder all the way from America to find him so the Haitian allows himself to be treated. He recovers and is sent to Mr. Bennet by Mohinder, who tricks the Company into believing that the Haitian wiped his memories. (though which he in fact did)
Loyalty
Although the Haitian works for Mr. Bennet and Primatech Paper, he ignored his orders to mind-wipe Claire. Even though he takes the memories of Matt Parkman and Ted Sprague, they still remember the Haitian himself, just not the event; victims without powers, like Sandra Bennet, Lyle Bennet, and Zach, exhibit no recollections of the Haitian, however. The Haitian is currently considered a rogue agent by Primatech Paper.
In the episode "Company Man," when questioned by Mr. Bennet about to whom the Haitian answers, he alluded that his allegiance was to someone significant "in Claire's life." This person is revealed to be Claire's grandmother, Angela Petrelli, who is working with Mr. Linderman.
In the possible future seen in "Five Years Gone", the Haitian is aligned with Matt Parkman in Homeland Security, and is taking orders from whom he believed to be President Nathan Petrelli.
Powers and abilities
The Haitian has the ability to selectively erase the memories of others, a power he wields with a great deal of control. This ability was present when he was a boy, as demonstrated in the episode "Company Man".
Little is known about the process of how he erases memories. In the graphic novel "It Takes a Village, Pt. 1", the Haitian described the experience as ranging from being like "picking flowers just after a spring rain" to "reaching into the moist soil of freshly dug graves" with "grubs biting at your fingers". As a boy, the Haitian accidentally cleaned out the heads of nearby villagers, but it appears to require physical contact for more precise removal of memories by becoming "one with [the subject's] mind". In "Collision", The Haitian wipes out Matt Parkman's memory of the relatively short time of his capture. In "Hiros," The Haitian uses his power to "hollow out" Brody Mitchum's mind so extensively that Brody does not remember his own name, while retaining basic functions such as general coordination and language skills. None of these victims immediately realize that their memories have been erased. They only become aware of the change if confronted with evidence of the missing memories.
The Haitian has stated that he cannot restore memories he has erased, as revealed in "Godsend". There is also evidence that suggests that the process can have an adverse physiological effect if repeatedly applied to an individual. The Haitian admits in "Fallout" that he has erased the memories of Sandra Bennet, Claire's adoptive mother, many times. Subsequently, in the episode "Run!", Sandra sees a neurologist after complaining of headaches and memory loss, even temporarily failing to recognize her own daughter and dog. In "Unexpected", she collapses and is diagnosed with a subdural hematoma, which Claire and Mr. Bennet believe is caused by the Haitian's powers, although this has never been confirmed. (Sandra Bennet struck her head on a bookshelf during the events of "Company Man." The Haitian, acting on Mr. Bennet's orders, later made her forget these events and presumably her injury; this would make if difficult to explain her symptoms and the subdural hematoma that caused them as a consequence of injury.)
The Haitian has also displayed the ability to negate the powers of other heroes within an unknown distance. He has an incredible degree of control over this power even to the point of allowing some in his vicinity to use powers and others not. This ability is not supreme, however, as various heroes have overcome it with great effort. How this aspect of the Haitian's powers works is currently unknown. His future self seems to be more proficient with this particular ability than the current Haitian, as even with the mastery that Peter Petrelli and Hiro Nakamura achieved with their abilities in the future, they still feared that their powers would be useless if they came within the general vicinity of the Haitian. However, in the episode "Hiros", Nathan Petrelli manages to fly away without any effort despite the Haitian's presence,
In the online graphic novel chapter "The Crossroads", while Mohinder is giving the Haitian instructions for locating Mr. Bennet, Mohinder asks him if he needs to write it down. The Haitian responds, "Memory is not an issue for me...".
