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List the top five ideas/concepts/etc you keep in mind while writing the character that you believe are essential to accurately depicting them.
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changehistory and thepainted_lady)
1) Above all things I try to remember that Sylar is brilliant. He figures things out. He analyzes in an instant, and he can see where the possibilities may lead. That’s why Future Peter in I am Become Death insisted that Peter get Sylar’s power. Of course knowing the “what ifs” doesn’t mean you’ll choose the right path, or that you’re free to adjust your destiny to begin with.
2) Gabriel’s childhood sucked. Virginia was neurotic as hell, and she passed on a lot of those behaviors to her son. He is a neat freak and anal retentive. Sylar is less so, but I really do see them as two separate people. I used to play him as DiD, and I still think that’s accurate although in several versions the line between Gabriel and Sylar has blurred. Between Virginia’s mental/emotional torture and Samson’s genetics the boy was doomed.
Sylar needs someone to need him. Gabriel grew up being Virginia’s one and only reason to live. He was the center of his world, and she was his. With Virginia dead he was ripe for the picking for Angela to manipulate him into thinking that he mattered to her. My Sylar while a strong, snarly bastard, always looks for someone to worship and be worshiped by.
3) The Company knew about Gabriel from the beginning. Even before they retconned the Elle bullshit in Villains and Chandra’s past in 1961, I have always felt that the Company knew what Gabriel could turn into. They had to know about Samson, and I do believe that his real mother was a Petrelli. Sylar’s lie detector didn’t go off when Arthur said they were family. It went off when he said he was his father. I think the Company made sure that Gabriel’s shop made just enough money to support him and Virginia, so that he was trapped right where they could find him.
4) Sylar believes in God. Gabriel was raised by a strict Catholic. In my primary RP version of Sylar he stopped killing after he killed a Priest. That traumatized him so much that he sought his redemption because of it. You can’t ignore the spiritual aspects of Gabriel’s upbringing. The closet of shame was filled with him begging for God to help him. Sylar was born because Gabriel couldn’t handle the guilt of what he’d done. Sylar sees himself in the Angel Gabriel’s role as God’s messenger.
5) He doesn’t need to kill, but he does it because he likes it. While Sylar believes in God, he is still the embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins. He is greedy. He covets. He was born of Envy. He lusts for power and attention. Angela was right when she said he was a child acting out. He will lash out in anger half of the time, but he’s more dangerous when he goes for a slow thought out revenge. Sylar can find your weaknesses, and he will exploit them to make you suffer. He does not suffer fools lightly.
(Shamelessly stolen from my friends
changehistory and thepainted_lady)1) Above all things I try to remember that Sylar is brilliant. He figures things out. He analyzes in an instant, and he can see where the possibilities may lead. That’s why Future Peter in I am Become Death insisted that Peter get Sylar’s power. Of course knowing the “what ifs” doesn’t mean you’ll choose the right path, or that you’re free to adjust your destiny to begin with.
2) Gabriel’s childhood sucked. Virginia was neurotic as hell, and she passed on a lot of those behaviors to her son. He is a neat freak and anal retentive. Sylar is less so, but I really do see them as two separate people. I used to play him as DiD, and I still think that’s accurate although in several versions the line between Gabriel and Sylar has blurred. Between Virginia’s mental/emotional torture and Samson’s genetics the boy was doomed.
Sylar needs someone to need him. Gabriel grew up being Virginia’s one and only reason to live. He was the center of his world, and she was his. With Virginia dead he was ripe for the picking for Angela to manipulate him into thinking that he mattered to her. My Sylar while a strong, snarly bastard, always looks for someone to worship and be worshiped by.
3) The Company knew about Gabriel from the beginning. Even before they retconned the Elle bullshit in Villains and Chandra’s past in 1961, I have always felt that the Company knew what Gabriel could turn into. They had to know about Samson, and I do believe that his real mother was a Petrelli. Sylar’s lie detector didn’t go off when Arthur said they were family. It went off when he said he was his father. I think the Company made sure that Gabriel’s shop made just enough money to support him and Virginia, so that he was trapped right where they could find him.
4) Sylar believes in God. Gabriel was raised by a strict Catholic. In my primary RP version of Sylar he stopped killing after he killed a Priest. That traumatized him so much that he sought his redemption because of it. You can’t ignore the spiritual aspects of Gabriel’s upbringing. The closet of shame was filled with him begging for God to help him. Sylar was born because Gabriel couldn’t handle the guilt of what he’d done. Sylar sees himself in the Angel Gabriel’s role as God’s messenger.
5) He doesn’t need to kill, but he does it because he likes it. While Sylar believes in God, he is still the embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins. He is greedy. He covets. He was born of Envy. He lusts for power and attention. Angela was right when she said he was a child acting out. He will lash out in anger half of the time, but he’s more dangerous when he goes for a slow thought out revenge. Sylar can find your weaknesses, and he will exploit them to make you suffer. He does not suffer fools lightly.
