User:El Sandifer/Heroes/Mythology

The television show Heroes (TV series)|Heroes includes a number of mysterious fictional elements that have been ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena. Tim Kring and the creators of the series refer to these fictional elements as part of the mythology of the series. Kring confirmed that although the show does have a unique mythology, he doesn't want to sink too deeply into it. Rather, Kring has used volumes to wrap-up ongoing plotlines, rather than carrying storylines over long periods of time, as in Lost (TV series)|Lost. As far as the overall mythology of the series, Kring said "we have talked about where the show goes up to five seasons." As far as the show's ending date, Kring has commented that, "This show doesn't posit an ending..." The show does not have a designated ending point and is "open-ended."

Superpowers
Ordinary People Discovering Extraordinary Abilities was the promotional-campaign for the series, before and after its debut. In an interview conducted by Lost producer Damon Lindelof, Kring states "...it's a show about characters dealing with extraordinary things happening to them. That is the central premise. So my sense is that if one can assume that dealing with their extraordinary abilities is something that these characters will always face, then their stories can bend and morph and evolve forever."

Within the series, it has been suggested that these superpowers derive from somewhere genetic or in the brain, however, in several interviews, Tim Kring has shied away from discussing the origins of the characters abilities. Although not the actual answer, Kring has given his own personal theory on powers, stating, "...my original theory was that we’re living in such a fucked-up world and things are so awful that Earth needed to populate itself with people who were going to do something about it." When asked in the same interview to give a direct answer, Kring responded, "I’m not going to give an answer to that because that becomes a really fun part of the show." When it came to the conception of these abilities, the character was designed first, and the ability second. The ability created for every character concept was designed around the character and not the other way around. The stories and plot are driven by the characters and their lives, not their super-human ability.

Some abilities have been shown to be able to extend to another person, such as phasing, teleportation, time travel, invisibility and cellular regeneration (through an extension of blood). These abilities have been shown to extend to other individuals who are not enhanced humans and those who do not have the ability of power mimicry/absorption. Other abilities such as flight and super strength have not been shown to be extendible. Clothing and personal items also extends in some abilities, such as phasing, invisibility and time travel.

Activating Evolution
Activating Evolution is a fictional book written by Chandra Suresh. It describes Chandra's discoveries and predictions about the emergence of humans evolved with special abilities. It has been read by or given to many of the characters within the series and is considered a source of information in regards to their abilities.

Prophetic paintings


Isaac Mendez is a fictional character from the American television show Heroes (TV series)|Heroes with the ability to paint future events during precognitive trances. Isaac's artwork, which appears on the show and its graphic novels, are shown to be accurate predictions of future events.

Comic book artist Tim Sale (artist)|Tim Sale creates drawings of the artwork on comic book paper approximately 11"x17" in size. His technique includes the use of watercolor painting|wash and charcoal pencil. Sale's drawings are usually black, gray, and white because he is colorblind, although a few paintings also have colors. Santiago Cabrera, who plays Isaac, influenced Sale to create some of the artwork in the style of Francisco Goya's Black Paintings. Dave Stewart then uses a computer to add coloring before the art is enlarged to the appropriate size. The Theatrical property|prop department then creates the artwork seen on the show based on the original art.

On March 7 2007, NBC announced that four of the artwork pieces would be autographed by Sale and sold in two auction charities a week apart. The proceeds will benefit the Epilepsy Foundation, a charity that promotes awareness and research to cure epilepsy. Cast member Greg Grunberg, who frequently helps fundraise for the foundation, will be assisting with the auction. The on-screen artwork and original drawings for "Exploding Man", "Eclipse", "Claire on the Stairs", and "Hiro and the T-Rex" will be autographed by Sale for the auction.

Tim Kring has gone on record stating, "Everyone painting we've had on Heroes has come true, but don't forget, sometimes the true meaning of a painting has been misinterpreted." Joe Pokaski and Aron Coliete have also stated that Isaac's paintings are not "absolute." Isaac Mendez paintings were first introduced in the pilot episode of the series. Tim Sale (artist) is an American Eisner Award-winning Comic book creator|comic book artist and is responsible for all the paintings shown on Heroes. Although Santiago Cabrera was written out of the series by the end of season one, Isaac's paintings still played an important role in season two. The concept of Isaac Mendez came when Tim Kring wanted to create a character with the ability of prophecy, but do it in a different way. The paintings of the show correlate with the idea of the comic book style series that Heroes is. Over 50 Tim Sale paintings have been presented in the series. Although most are credited to the character of Isaac Mendez. Peter Petrelli and Sylar have both been credited with paintings as well.

On March 19, 2007, Clifton Mallery and Amnau Karam Eele, artist and writers for the NBC series Crossing Jordan, filed suit against NBC and Tim Kring claiming that the idea for an artist who can paint the future was stolen from a short story, painting and short film that they had produced. The lawsuit is centered around the character of Isaac Mendez. NBC called the suit without merit and defended their case. On December 11, 2007, the New York Law Journal reported on Mallery v. NBC Universal, quoting from Southern District Judge Denise Cote's opinion that "the line between mere 'ideas' and protected 'expression' is 'famously difficult to fix precisely'", and stating that Heroes was not close to infringing.

9th Wonders
9th Wonders! is a metafictional Comic book|comic-book series in the NBC drama Heroes (TV series)|Heroes and is written, illustrated, and self-published in the series by Isaac Mendez. In reality, Tim Sale (artist)|Tim Sale is the illustrator. In some instances, it has been confirmed that the stories that take place in 9th Wonders! are a direct reflection of Mendez's own precognitive visions. Whether or not Mendez has always been aware of this is unknown.

The Company and The Company founders
For more information, see The Company

The Company was first introduced in season one of the series as a fictional covert international organization whose primary purpose is to identify, monitor and study those individuals with special genetically derived superhuman abilities. In season one, Noah Bennet and Primatech Paper Co. were the face of the Company. It was later revealed that Bennet took orders from Thompson, who in turn, took orders from Daniel Linderman|Mr. Linderman. In season one, the ongoing story-arc of the New York City explosion, was derived and plotted out by the Company and some of its founders; most notably Mr. Linderman and Angela Petrelli. In season one, Hiro Nakamura made it his destiny to stop New York from exploding. In retrospect, unbeknownst to Hiro at the time, his father, Kaito Nakamura, was also a founder within the Company, although he and Charles Deveaux, another Company founder, did not support the plans for the New York explosion.

It was revealed in season two, that Adam Monroe founded the Company with 12 other founders. A photo of the group was later shown, revealing who the 12 were, including List of characters in Heroes#Arthur Petrelli|Arthur Petrelli (father of Peter Petrelli|Peter and Nathan Petrelli and husband of Angela Petrelli), Angela Petrelli, List of minor Heroes characters with special abilities#Maury Parkman|Maury Parkman (father of Matt Parkman), List of characters in Heroes#Victoria Pratt|Victoria Pratt, who experimented and mutated the Shanti Virus, Adam Monroe (Takezo Kensei), and Bob Bishop, who is currently heading operations for the Company. Seven of the eighteen main cast members from seasons 1 and 2, are fictionally related to one or more of the founders. The four remaining founders, Paula Gramble, Suzanne Amman, Harry Fletcher, and Carlos Mendez, have yet to appear within the series, except in photographs. Kring has confirmed that these characters have been cast by the same actors in the photograph, and will eventually appear in the series.

Adam Monroe, also known as the legendary warrior Takezo Kensei, was the one who brought the Company founders together, and has attempted to kill several of the founders in an act of revenge, after he was locked up for trying to release a deadly strain of the Shanti Virus. He has only been confirmed to have killed two founders; Kaito Nakamura and Victoria Pratt with attempts on Bob Bishop and Angela Petrelli. At the end of Volume 2, Bob Bishop was still heading the Company, however, 9 of the 12 founders are confirmed dead. Bob, Mr. Linderman and Maury are the only founders with confirmed abilities, while Angela and Kaito have been confirmed to have abilities by the producers, although they have not been revealed within the series.

The Shanti Virus
The Shanti virus is a fictional life-threatening disease, first introduced in season one, which attacks the blood cells. Its first victim was Shanti Suresh, Mohinder Suresh's sister. Other victims of the virus include Molly Walker and The Haitian. Sylar and Niki Sanders also had the virus, but it was shown in the series that they were injected with it, through a series of circumstances. One of its side effects is that it prevents evolved humans who have the disease from using their abilities and ultimately ends in their death. There are several variants and mutated versions of the virus; most created to the credit of the Company. Strain 138 is the most dangerous, as it also affects unevolved humans, and was the central plot for Volume 2, when Peter saw a future where 93% of the world's population had died from the release of the Strain. The spread of the Shanti virus is shown in detail in graphic novel Quarantine.

The legend of Takezo Kensei
For more information, see Adam Monroe



Hiro Nakamura|Hiro mentions the legend of Takezo Kensei many times in season one, though little is actually related until he trains in kendo with Kaito Nakamura|his father in the episode "Landslide (Heroes)|Landslide". Previously, in "Godsend (Heroes)|Godsend" and "The Fix (Heroes)|The Fix", Hiro mentioned that the sword — which he was working to steal from Mr. Linderman — helped Kensei focus his power. He also said that his father used to tell him stories of Kensei, presumably including the many that Hiro tells Kensei in season two. When training with his father for his part in "saving the world" before the showdown with Sylar in New York, Hiro relates the story of "Kensei and the Dragon" and realizes that, if he wants to win, he must be strong enough to sacrifice himself.

In "Out of Time (Heroes)|Out of Time", it is revealed that Hiro Nakamura is the Takezo Kensei portrayed in legends, or rather the source behind the tales, having used his own knowledge of the stories to inspire the real Kensei to create the legends. The real Kensei becomes a villain after Yaeko falls for Hiro, and after Kensei's defeat she spreads Hiro's tale under Kensei's name.

In an interview with writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coliete it is revealed "the Kensei legend is, 'Absolute fiction inspired by the vague recollections of various swordsman legends (Including Miyamoto Musashi|Mr. Musashi)' by our own Michael Green."

Family connections
Throughout the series, family connections have been seen. On several occasions, parents possessing powers produce children who also possess a power. Together, Nathan Petrelli and List of Heroes characters with special abilities#Meredith Gordon|Meredith Gordon produced Claire Bennet. Although Nathan has the ability to fly, and Meredith has the ability to generate fire, Claire was born with the unrelated ability of cellular regeneration. The same can be said about D.L. Hawkins, Niki Sanders and their son Micah. The Heroes creative team has confirmed that, "similar powers do not mean a genetic link. We've seen that the existence of powers may be something passed on, but the powers themselves are a crapshoot of sorts." However, this was the case for father/son Maury and Matt Parkman, who have similar abilities in telepathy, with Bob even commenting that Matt can do the same things Maury can do. On the contrary, the creators have also responded, stating, "In genetics, nothing is guaranteed. A random mix of traits." This comment was made in response to a question asked about whether or not Nathan's sons would have guaranteed abilities since he does.

Recurring elements
There are several elements and symbols that appear repeatedly throughout the series: the helix, the scar, the eclipse, and the cockroach.

The "helix," as it is referred to by the writers, is a symbol that first appears in the episode "Don't Look Back". Writer and co-producer Aron Coleite has stated that it literally means "God sending great ability." The symbol frequently appears as a pattern formed by mundane objects, but it also recurs on certain plot-significant items and on several characters. In an interview within The Post Show on G4, Kring stated that the secret behind the meaning of the Helix was to be revealed in the first episode of Heroes: Origins, however, due to the Writer's Strike and Origins confirmed cancellation, Kring stated that the secret may have to be revealed down the line.

A scar consisting of two black parallel lines has been shown close to the neck of multiple super-powered characters. The scar is the mark left by the two-pronged needle of a pneumatic injection device, which, as revealed in a biography of Hana Gitelman in the Heroes 360 experience, injects a Radionuclide|radioisotope to allow tracking. A solar eclipse has been a recurring image in the series itself, and is also used as the series' logo (a :Image:Solar eclips 1999 6.jpg|photograph of the "Baily's beads" phenomenon). A terrestrial eclipse (an eclipse in which the Earth covers the Sun, as viewed from an observation point away from the Earth) is used in the series' title sequence. Cockroaches have also appeared and have been mentioned several times in the series, particularly in relation to the villain Sylar. In the pilot episode, Mohinder Suresh refers to the cockroach as a superior lifeform, stating "God must be a cockroach." Tim Kring has stated that the cockroach represents survival.