Question: Maury objects quite heavily at the idea of Arthur giving the order to murder his son, Matt. Why is this? In season 2, Maury is shown to use his telepathy on Matt in a harmful way, not to mention the fact he abandoned him when he was quite young.
Question: I don't get it. How can an eclipse stop evolved humans from accessing their abilities?
Chosen answer: As of season three it has not been explained. The characters gained powers after the solar eclipse of the first episode and temporarily lost them during "The Eclipse". It could be some form of cosmological radiation, Hiro and Ando make Superman analogies (who only has special powers because of Earth's yellow sun), Suresh believes it may be coincidental, or it might possibly be related to the catalyst, or it could be influenced by an as yet unseen character.
One of Us, One of Them - S3-E3
Question: Can't The German use his power to simply rip off the door of the vault instead of opening it via the combination?
Chosen answer: The German's powers could be limited in ways of heaviness of the metal he is manipulating. Meaning the door could be too heavy for him to rip off.
Question: What's Arthur Petrelli's motivation for wanting to create a formula that gives people powers?
Chosen answer: He feels that powered people are superior to normal humans (much like Magneto from the X-Men franchises) but is aware that the powered people are still a tiny minority and thus are easy to persecute. He also has a similar hunger for powers like Sylar - the more people who have powers, the more there are for him to take.
Question: How exactly does Arthur Petrelli's ability of Power absorption work? How does he take powers and integrate them? Is there any chance of returning the stolen power/s to the original recipient? Also, after he absorbs an ability, what affect does it have on the person who's had their ability absorbed? Does the original recipient have any chance of regaining his/her original power?
Chosen answer: No explanation is ever given as to precisely how the process works. The subject is rendered powerless. If Arthur had the ability to return the ability if he wished to, it's certainly not shown in the show and it seems unlikely that he would have been interested in doing so. Later events suggest that the stolen power is not actually completely gone, as Peter Petrelli was able to use the power-serum to partially restore his own absorption ability, and Hiro's power is eventually partly revived by the infant Matt Parkman, suggesting that, in both cases, some vestiges of their original ability was still present.
Question: What was Arthur Petrelli doing all that time he was lying in bed hooked to a respirator? Making plans of some sort?
Chosen answer: Basically, yes. Using others to further his agenda and ultimately restore his health and allow him to establish a powerbase.
One of Us, One of Them - S3-E3
Question: Why exactly did Angela Petrelli present Bridget Bailey to Sylar? What could Angela possibly gain from Sylar killing and absorbing her power of Clairsentience? Also, why did Bridget just stand there? Surely, working for The Company, she knows who Sylar is?
Chosen answer: Angela intends to turn Sylar into an asset to the company. By allowing him to take Bridget's power, Angela's hoping to create a bond of trust between them. If it doesn't work, then the Company's not lost an agent with an effective combat power, nor have they given Sylar a power that could make him any more dangerous. If it does work, they trade an agent with a minor ability for a new agent of extraordinary power who still has that same ability, so they've lost nothing. As for poor Bridget, yes, she probably does know who Sylar is, but she could hardly anticipate that Angela would bring her, a loyal agent, down to the holding cells to "feed" her to a serial killer. We never see her after Angela says that she's there to feed Sylar - for all we know, she did try to run, but didn't even make it out of the door before Sylar got her.
Question: When Arthur steals Adam's power, why does he crumble to dust?
Chosen answer: Adam is hundreds of years old, and has been kept alive only through his regenerative powers. When that is taken away from him, the years catch up on him, and his body ages so rapidly that he is instantly mummified and crumbles to dust.
Question: What exactly IS 'The Catalyst'? Are there any theories?
Chosen answer: It's never explained. There are probably many fan theories, but none can currently be considered to hold any weight. With the catalyst lost when Arthur died (something confirmed by the writers), it is unlikely that the concept will be revisited at any point and thus the exact nature of the catalyst must remain a mystery.
Question: Why did Arthur Petrelli steal Peter's powers? Was it because he simply wanted them, to add to his collection as it were, or because he saw him as a threat?
Chosen answer: Both, really. Peter is undoubtedly powerful enough to cause a serious problem, so nullifying him makes sense on a tactical level. It's also understandable that a power thief like Arthur could hardly resist the temptation to obtain so many new powers in one go when he's used to stealing them one at a time.
Question: If Adam Monroe hadn't have had his power absorbed by Arthur Petrelli and subsequently died, would he have died anyway by the time of the eclipse?
Chosen answer: Probably not - he survived through earlier eclipses unscathed. The eclipse appears to negate powers, but doesn't appear to actually remove them, as they all return once the eclipse finished. Arthur's ability, on the other hand, forcibly strips powers away from people, which is something of a different thing. Adam can apparently survive a temporary negation, but having his ability removed completely resulted in his death.
Chosen answer: There's something of a difference between Maury using his powers against Matt to take him out of the equation and actually killing him. Maury is prepared to work against his son if necessary, but doesn't want to see him dead.
Tailkinker ★