A Theory!
Spoilers for who Claire's daddy is, just in case there's anyone who doesn't know yet.
So, you know how people have been sort of jokingly saying that maybe Peter was adopted or switched at birth or something? I was telling a friend those things, and she said something that made me think back over past episodes, and now I have a new theory. And it even has some actual "evidence" to support it! It's probably totally wrong, but I sure like it. Esp. since it makes Paire possible again! :-)
I think Peter and Sylar are twins who were separated at an early age!
For one thing, Peter was always supposed to be a twin. Org. he was going to be the twin brother of Nathan, true, but still. Having twin brothers was an idea that Kring had in the beginning, we know that much for sure. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that he might want to revisit that idea.
As far as the "Peter being adopted" thing goes, we have seen a few things that could be taken as clues. Peter's father apparently never liked/supported him as much as he did Nathan, which could be a sign of him favoring his biological son. Meanwhile, his mom seemed to overcompensate by favoring Peter, which can happen when one child is adopted.
And Peter and Sylar sure do have similar features/coloring! If I didn't know better, I would think that Sylar was a Petrelli! He certainly looks more like one than Claire does! ;-P
Not to mention, their powers and personalities seem to exactly mirror each other! One good, one evil. One can take on extra powers by feeling strongly about someone and being able to empathically link to them and see how their mind works, the other takes powers by being scientific and logical and dissecting their brain to see how their mind works. Both believe in a greater destiny, and their place in it. Both could potentially become the most powerful person on the planet.
Sylar did say he felt like his parents "weren't his parents" once. Back when he was talking to Mohinder's dad, he said that he wanted to wake up and discover that his life wasn't really his life, etc. He felt like he didn't belong there. Well, I say maybe he didn't!
Maybe Sylar and Peter are really the twin sons of some other people who had powers. It makes sense, since there is a precedent set on the show for it to travel through families, as evidenced by DL/Niki/Micah and Nathan/Meredith/Claire. Maybe Claire's adopted dad tried to "catch" the parents, and they ended up dying. So the boys were split up, and sent to different families, never knowing the truth. And if, as many people suspect, Linderman is the one pulling HRG's strings, it would make even more sense. It would even explain why one of them got sent to the Petrelli family, since Linderman obviously had Mr. Petrelli in his back pocket. And that would also help explain some of Mr. Petrelli's hostility towards Peter, if he felt like Peter had been forced upon him by the man who had him under his thumb. (Thanks to ladybozi for some help ironing the Linderman connection out.)
And it makes sense why Peter still doesn't know. His family lied to him about how his "adopted" father died because they feared him taking it too hard, so why wouldn't they think the same thing about this? Especially now, after all the craziness of the past few episodes. They would want to keep it from him, for fear of what he might do.
Plus, and this is the big one IMHO, Peter had a vision/dream where Nathan came to see him in jail and then TURNED INTO SYLAR!!! Foreshadowing, perhaps? Showing us that his brother is not who he thinks he is? Peter's dreams always seem to have at least a small bit of truth to them, after all. He dreamt of the car accident before it happened; he dreamt of Claude before he ever met him, and he dreamt of becoming the bomb. So why wouldn't the Nathan/Sylar dream mean something, too?
And also, it was pointed out by moonlitpines that when Peter and Sylar fell from the building in "Homecoming," the way they were laying there with their legs entwined could be symbolic of the familial connection between them. I mean, they spent a heck of a lot of time on that shot for it to just be random, you know? And building on that, I noticed that their upper halves were apart, symbolizing how they are branching away from each other, one going dark while the other fights to stay good.
And finally, karathephantom checked on IMDB, and while they haven't told us Sylar's age on the show, Zachary Quinto and Milo Ventimiglia ARE the same age, so that seems like a good sign.
Please discuss. Am I totally nuts, or could there really be something to this? :-)
ETA: I did a little editing, to add in some stuff from comments that helps to enhance the theory. I gave credit to the people who helped me think of this stuff, of course. *g* Thanks, guys!
So, you know how people have been sort of jokingly saying that maybe Peter was adopted or switched at birth or something? I was telling a friend those things, and she said something that made me think back over past episodes, and now I have a new theory. And it even has some actual "evidence" to support it! It's probably totally wrong, but I sure like it. Esp. since it makes Paire possible again! :-)
I think Peter and Sylar are twins who were separated at an early age!
For one thing, Peter was always supposed to be a twin. Org. he was going to be the twin brother of Nathan, true, but still. Having twin brothers was an idea that Kring had in the beginning, we know that much for sure. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that he might want to revisit that idea.
As far as the "Peter being adopted" thing goes, we have seen a few things that could be taken as clues. Peter's father apparently never liked/supported him as much as he did Nathan, which could be a sign of him favoring his biological son. Meanwhile, his mom seemed to overcompensate by favoring Peter, which can happen when one child is adopted.
And Peter and Sylar sure do have similar features/coloring! If I didn't know better, I would think that Sylar was a Petrelli! He certainly looks more like one than Claire does! ;-P
Not to mention, their powers and personalities seem to exactly mirror each other! One good, one evil. One can take on extra powers by feeling strongly about someone and being able to empathically link to them and see how their mind works, the other takes powers by being scientific and logical and dissecting their brain to see how their mind works. Both believe in a greater destiny, and their place in it. Both could potentially become the most powerful person on the planet.
Sylar did say he felt like his parents "weren't his parents" once. Back when he was talking to Mohinder's dad, he said that he wanted to wake up and discover that his life wasn't really his life, etc. He felt like he didn't belong there. Well, I say maybe he didn't!
Maybe Sylar and Peter are really the twin sons of some other people who had powers. It makes sense, since there is a precedent set on the show for it to travel through families, as evidenced by DL/Niki/Micah and Nathan/Meredith/Claire. Maybe Claire's adopted dad tried to "catch" the parents, and they ended up dying. So the boys were split up, and sent to different families, never knowing the truth. And if, as many people suspect, Linderman is the one pulling HRG's strings, it would make even more sense. It would even explain why one of them got sent to the Petrelli family, since Linderman obviously had Mr. Petrelli in his back pocket. And that would also help explain some of Mr. Petrelli's hostility towards Peter, if he felt like Peter had been forced upon him by the man who had him under his thumb. (Thanks to ladybozi for some help ironing the Linderman connection out.)
And it makes sense why Peter still doesn't know. His family lied to him about how his "adopted" father died because they feared him taking it too hard, so why wouldn't they think the same thing about this? Especially now, after all the craziness of the past few episodes. They would want to keep it from him, for fear of what he might do.
Plus, and this is the big one IMHO, Peter had a vision/dream where Nathan came to see him in jail and then TURNED INTO SYLAR!!! Foreshadowing, perhaps? Showing us that his brother is not who he thinks he is? Peter's dreams always seem to have at least a small bit of truth to them, after all. He dreamt of the car accident before it happened; he dreamt of Claude before he ever met him, and he dreamt of becoming the bomb. So why wouldn't the Nathan/Sylar dream mean something, too?
And also, it was pointed out by moonlitpines that when Peter and Sylar fell from the building in "Homecoming," the way they were laying there with their legs entwined could be symbolic of the familial connection between them. I mean, they spent a heck of a lot of time on that shot for it to just be random, you know? And building on that, I noticed that their upper halves were apart, symbolizing how they are branching away from each other, one going dark while the other fights to stay good.
And finally, karathephantom checked on IMDB, and while they haven't told us Sylar's age on the show, Zachary Quinto and Milo Ventimiglia ARE the same age, so that seems like a good sign.
Please discuss. Am I totally nuts, or could there really be something to this? :-)
ETA: I did a little editing, to add in some stuff from comments that helps to enhance the theory. I gave credit to the people who helped me think of this stuff, of course. *g* Thanks, guys!