Gabriel "Sylar" Gray

Registry of the Evolved Database

File #10 Sep 2008 01:48

Name Gabriel Gray Aliases Sylar
Status Unregistered Evolved Ability Intuitive Aptitude
Gender Male Race/Eth. Caucasian
Birthdate June 2 Age 31
Height 6'1" Build Athletic
Eyes Brown Hair Dark brown
Residence Many places
Employment None
Parents Samson Gray
Natalie Gray
Martin Gray (adoptive)
Virginia Gray (adoptive)
Siblings N/A
Marital Status Unmarried Children N/A
First Seen Impossibilities Last Seen Midnight, Part IV
Profile

A fugitive, a terrorist, a serial killer; Gabriel "Sylar" Gray is and was many things. He stands with the Remnant of the Vanguard. He has allies. He has enemies. These are purely incidental and change rapidly.

He also has clones. More than you know about.

Gabriel "Sylar" Gray
portrayed by
Zachary Quinto

Appendices

In-Game History

His choice to remain in New York City led to him being recruited by the Vanguard's New York cell, overseen by their leader, Kazimir Volken. He was promised a buffet of Evolved and eventual world-domination, and Sylar chose to run with them for as long as they remained in line with what he wanted. When he came to uncover the truth about what Volken desired of him (to train him, feed him abilities, and eventually possess him to rule the world instead), Sylar was among those disillusioned Vanguard to turn on their leader. His initial attack was a failure, becoming possessed by Kazimir earlier than fate intended, but released when the combined efforts of Phoenix and the remains of the ex-Vanguard came together one fateful day to vanquish the Vanguard once and for all.

In the chaos of the battle, Sylar was injured and like many, thrown into the river upon the Narrows bridge collapse. The next few months would be ones of confusion, when Sylar was picked up off the shores of Staten Island, his memory erased and conned into fighting in the Evolved cage-match pit known as the Pancratium. Those he made a few reconnections with people he'd known, Sylar largely spent his time rebuilding a new kind of life under the name 'Tavisha', given to him by one of the Pancratium associates. When he was arrested in April 2009, Sylar's memories were returned to him in transit to Moab Penitentiary thanks to the telepathic interrogation he underwent.

He brought down the plane, and returned to New York City. He started going by Gabriel.

The time spent after that mostly amounted to hiding, save for instance of assisting Phoenix in breaking out some of their people from Moab, the same ones who had been arrested during the Vanguard battle. This was more or less successful, in that it was also a disaster - an ability gone wild sent all of them to all corners of the world, as well as different time periods. Gabriel was fortunate enough to only wind up in Africa.

Shortly after that, his powers were stipped away during a "chance" meeting, and transferred to Peter Petrelli whose powers, in turn, were transferred to Gillian Childs, whose ability of power augmentation was, of course, given to Gabriel to complete the circle. This lead to an eventual confrontation at Pinehearst, wherein he was tricked into believing he could be helped and instead found himself battling the power thief Arthur Petrelli. He escaped it moderately unscathed, but with many of his powers gone as well.

Upon the return of the time travelers, new information, some gathered and some inferred, has shifted his perception on who he's supposed to run with, trust, or otherwise have connections with. For reasons both obvious and not, his affair with Gillian was broken off, not so long before Gabriel then attempted to assist Teo Laudani with his own possession problem by joining in. It did not go as planned.

What does?


Evolved Human Ability

This is the passive ability that allows Sylar to automatically understand how things work. These things range from the mechanical through to the anatomical, and never really switches off, although it can focus in on something and take over Sylar's concentration for the duration of time it takes for him to learn what he's evaluating. It first manifested as the ability to see, automatically, how the complex designs of watches made them run, and enable him to recreate them, fix them, etc. Later, this ability would manifest into the power to see how the human brain functioned, and how Evolved abilities work, then allowing him to psychically adapt his own self to replicate what he saw in others.

This ability to learn and understand is a double-edged sword in that it comes with the desire to learn and understand. The more complex, the better - and very little is more complex than the human brain. It becomes an addiction that makes him see red until this hunger is sated, and knowledge (and therefore, power) is attained. It compromises his ability to judge and moralise the situation, a watch becoming interchangeable with a human skull.

There is a mysterious other side to this ability. Rather than the analytical intuiting of systems, Sylar is also able to learn how things (or people, in this case) work through an emotional connection. By understanding the psychology and emotional makeup of a person, he can also understand how their ability works. This might also be why he has such a knack for mimicking people's personalities too, as well as a very dubious and only very occasional defense against mental Evolved attacks.


Skills

Chameleon: Sylar has a knack for impersonation. Examples of this in the past has been when he was masquerading as Zane Taylor, a Primatech Paper employee, and more recently, as Mohinder Suresh (with the added help of shapeshifting, this time). He can easily take on made up personas or the personalities of existing people, a combination of acting and lying, and fool people into believing he is as he says he is.

Creepiness: …no, really. If you're able to make people uneasy around you not just because of what you can do, but just because of how you behave, it counts. Of course, what he can do is a help, but Sylar has a habit of making people nervous in even the most innocent of conversations - sometimes accidentally, but often on purpose. If everyone else is off balance, he has more control over the situation.

Endurance: He has an amazing pain tolerance at the best of times. When Sylar had his mind set on something, he will often strive to achieve it, even with a bullet hole or two to cope with. He is by no means invincible, and can feel pain just like any other human being, but he's capable of neglecting injury in favour of endurance beyond what might be considered normal.

Hand-to-Hand:ish. It takes years to become any kind of expert, which Sylar definitely did not have, but it doesn't take an awful lot of time to get a grip on some basics, right? Right? Well anyway, he learned some basics in fighting sans weapons during December/some of January when he spent some time learning from the best. Or at least, learning from Wu-Long. After that, his crash course in the Pancratium and the training that went with that would have helped to hone in some dirtier tactics, and while he relied on powers most of the time, actual powerless fighting was a factor. While anyone with actual martial experience could pretty easily take Sylar down, he will at least fare better than he would have several months ago and maybe even get some licks in while he's at it, or buy time to run away as necessary.

Marksmanship: This should be notably spiked up from it's previous setting, which was 'can hit things with handguns at point blank range'. Thanks, largely, to Vanguard, as Ethan made a point to train Sylar with various types of guns, and then during his time as a river pirate, he learned to man things like old fashioned machine guns and the like. What this means would be that while he might not be the greatest marksman (or even a great one, but better than he was before), not without further practice, he at least will by now know how to operate a wider array of weapons.


Timeline

November, 2009
When Where What Who
2nd Tell Me, Show You Eileen and Gabriel inquire as to each other's extracurricular activities. Eileen
9th The Girl Who Fell Through The Ice Gabriel helps Eileen with some Ferry thing idk idk. He gets a new power when he can't kill the rescuee out of politeness. Belinda, Cat, Eileen, Leonard, Peyton
9th Scavengers The harvesting.
10th Sleeping Dragons Eileen goes crazy, or something in her head makes her so. Eileen, Teo
10th Don't Nothing's more awkward than the morning after attempted murder. Eileen
16th Man Down Munin's down a well. The big dogs tear each other apart in response. Ethan, Raith, Teo

Relationships

Virginia Gray (Deceased)

The one constant in Gabriel's life, as inconsistent as she could be. There is no doubt that she loved him and with that love came rules, emotional claustrophobia, and plenty of guilt when he grew and came to the realisation that he would likely never aspire to be everything she wanted him to be. In many ways, Gabriel's need to be special and important is a manifestation of Virginia's need for him to be special and important, and she is the reason he could never be content with his existence even if he liked it and wanted to be.

He associates feelings of shame and regret with Virginia, putting her on a pedestal while simultaneously hating how low and sad and pathetic a person she turned out to be, while simultaneously resenting the fact she was only trying to push him to be more than what she could provide. It's a sad miscommunication between mother and son, both equally disturbed in their own way.

Her death was a similar paradox in that it was pure accident, and an accident he wanted to have happen. Gabriel misses her deeply and is glad she's gone; wishes she could see how powerful he is now and is glad that she can't see what he's become. May she rest in peace, somewhere that's green.


Trivia and Notes

Sylar taking his name from a watch mirrors one theory regarding the Zodiac Killer who killed several people in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 60s. One suspect was allegedly given a "Zodiac" brand watch that had the same logo (a crossed circle) that the killer used to sign his letters.

"Sylar" is a German surname that literally means "ropemaker", while Gabriel implies "hero of god".


Memorable Quotes

"You're like little sheep. And I'm the big, bad wolf." - Claire's mental manifestation of Sylar in Imagine.

"I've been told my people skills could use some work." - After brawling with Claude in New York's Full of Weirdos.

"She's very useful. I have the perfect assignment for her. Dying." - Before killing Madeline in Consummate Bitch.

"I couldn't use my apartment to clean up, I have a new roommate who wouldn't really understand my extracurricular activities. Why do you have a knife?" - After breaking into Zachery's apartment to clean his hands in Your Best Interest.

Sylar: "Do you think that if you woke up and everyone was dead, the world would seem a brighter place?" Zachery: "Until the smell." Sylar: "I hadn't thought of that." - A cheery discussion takes place in Something Said.

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