Talk:The Haitian

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[edit] Big speculation

If Sylar can negate powers to an extant, as he seemed to in Fallout, the Haitian may have been nullifying those negation powers in Homecoming. This would mean that the Haitian's nullifying powers are stronger than Sylar's, and explain why Eden's powers worked on Sylar in Homecoming. Only problem is that I fear this is big speculation. Ace Class Shadow; My talk. 07:45, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

It is. Eden willed Sylar not to attack then put him to sleep. The Haitian didn't seem to do anything. My guess would be that like the Voice in the Dune series, Sylar just figured out how to resist it. He's good at that sort of thing. The only powers he is confirmed capable of nullifying are mentally-oriented ones. – Someguy0830 (T | C) 07:59, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

So what happens if Peter meets the Haitian?--Syd Henderson 05:11, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

We will probably get to find out. Peter meeting Matt was weird enough...--Hypergeometric2F1(a,b,c,x) 05:13, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] His power description

Can we come to a consensus on what to list under his "superpower" description on his template other than "telepathy"? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hypergeometric2F1(a,b,c,x) (talkcontribs) 08:56, 5 December 2006 (UTC).

"One-way" telepathy? "Disruptive" telepathy? It's fine as just telepathy. – Someguy0830 (T | C) 09:22, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
I think Telepathy is a good description. He hasn't shown any mind-reading abilities, however, I think that at least memory-reading abilities are implied by the way he can selectively erase very specific things. The ability to read memories in real-time seems pretty close to mind-reading. The telepath-blocking ability may be passive because Mr. Bennet and the Haitian didn't seem to be aware Matt was watching them at Primatech Paper, and Matt was still blocked. --Stabbey 13:57, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

His ability to block/hinder the effects of other Heroes' power seems to be a form of Power negation. -Dr Haggis - Talk 00:37, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Possibly, but it's not a general power negation, Nathan was able to fly away. So far he's only been shown to inhibit mind reading or mind influencing powers. I'm sticking with Telepathy for the moment. --Stabbey 04:18, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
Didn't the Haitian negate Sylar's telekentic abilities also?--Hypergeometric2F1(a,b,c,x) 05:31, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
It's not clear if the Haitian was preventing Sylar from using his powers or if it was the construction of the room or something else entirely. In the last graphic novel, (spoiler) Bennet and the Haitian run into Sylar's cell immediately after he uses his powers to bring Eden through the glass, so Sylar was able to use his powers even with the Haitian nearby. Of course, it's not clear if the Haitian has to "turn on" his powers, either - we just don't know the exact nature or extent of his power negating ability. -Big Smooth 18:01, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
The Haitian's telepathic jamming seems to be a passive effect. He and Mr. Bennet didn't seem to be aware of Matt watching him outside of Primatech Paper. Given how cover-up happy and paranoid he is, I doubt Mr. Bennet wanted Matt to see him with the Haitian. --Stabbey 21:33, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
Just because he wasn't aware that Matt was there doesn't mean he wasn't deliberately using his "jamming" - he could have been generally inhibiting any powers in the vicinity. Nathan's escape could be due to his care in not revealing his powers - if Bennett and the Haitian believed that Nathan was unaware of his powers (and/or were unaware of what his powers were) then the Haitian might not have bothered to inhibit them, although this is pure speculation. Branfish 07:58, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

The Haitian has not exhibited the power of telepathy, which the Wikipedia article defines as "the communication of information from one mind to another by means other than the known perceptual senses". He can erase memories and can interfere with telepathy, but he has not demonstrated the ability to communicate with his mind. It is misleading to the reader to say that telepathy is his power. Primogen 21:39, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I replace "Telepathy" in the info box with "Memory removal" and "Telepathy interference", since these two descriptions better convey to the reader what powers the Haitian has actually demonstrated on the show. Primogen 21:50, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

His power hasn't really been described in the show, so I can't say for sure. However, his powers seem to be based around the disruption of higher brain functions (explaining why he is able to erase memories and prevent Mind Reading and Persuasion). Other than the powers of Eden, Matt, and Sylar (Fallout, when he tried to resist Eden's Persuasion), there is no sign of a general negation power (Nathan could still fly, and though he has had contact with Claire, her power has not been needed while he was nearby). This would also explain his memory erasing powers (able to block or erase the thoughts which would likely be the foremost thoughts in the minds of his victims, such as Matt and Sprague's imprisonment by Bennet and the Haitian himself). However, the ability to selectively erase memories and thoughts (in the webcomic after Fallout, Bennet tells him to 'leave the guilt') also suggests some level of recognition of mental function tying into his power. Due to his comfort with his power, it is also a possibility that he has, like Claude, had his power for years. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.95.226.116 (talk) 22:30, 30 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] "oddly enough"

"However oddly enough, when the Haitian, accompied by Mr. Bennet, attempt to capture Nathan Petrelli from a hotel, Petrelli is able to fly away, appearing to have his powers fully intact." - this appears twice in the article. Maybe he has to be close enough to the victim to nullify his/hers power. Maybe Petrelli surprised them and got out of range before The Haitian could do anything. There's no indication that Bennet knows everyone's speciffic abilities. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.106.116.66 (talk) 00:04, 7 December 2006 (UTC).

There's no indication that the Haitian could block Nathan's ability even if he knew about it. We've only seem him blopck telepathic and mind control attempts so far. Besides, Power Negation and Memory Erasure seem to be two distinct abilities, Mr. Benent's dialogue indicated they've only met people who had one ability do far. --Stabbey 21:33, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
He blocked Peter's mimicry powers (and/or Claire's powers) so that he was unable to duplicate Claire's healing factor when they were in jail. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.28.111.204 (talk) 11:45, 11 December 2006 (UTC).
It's more likely that Peter's illness was caused by an overdose of powers. He was near Claire, Matt and Nathan in a close space of time. I presumed that was the cause, not anything about healing powers reversing, especially since he's been away from Claire between his "death" and seeing her in prison, and he doesn't keep powers permanently. Jacobshaven3 11:52, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
Actually as was just revealed in episode 14 he does in fact permanently retain those powers that he encounters (Peter, i mean) - one of my friends even went so far as to say the "Peter is like a better version of Sylar given that he doesn't have to kill anyone to absorb their power". Anyway this is about the Haitian; shouldn't there be a section on possible side-effects of the overuse of his memory erasure on a single person? Sandra Bennet is now suffering neurological complaints and rolling, increasing memory loss that's causing her to forget more things, faster- and it's already been revealed that the Haitian has used his powers more than a few times on her - "Many, many times" by his own admission, and even Mr. Bennet saying "...help you forget again" indicates that this has been done over and over and over again, possibly many multitudes more than we have seen. So I think the deleterious effects of his powers should be added as well. 61.69.209.180 16:18, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pretends to be mute.

Should we mention that he pretended to be mute. When Eden was trying to get Mr.Bennet to kill Sylar she mentions that "he would tell you to if he could speak" while looking at the hatian, and then he speaks to Calra. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 4.157.5.206 (talk) 18:39, 10 December 2006 (UTC).

We should add that the Haitian doesn't speak until near the end of "Fallout" and that Eden believes him to be mute. We don't know if he was intentionally deceiving anyone, though. Primogen 19:05, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Interference of mental-based superpowers

I've removed that as being original research. For the time being, all we know is that he can interfere with powers. However, we do not know if this is only mental based powers, or superpowers in general. Being specific like that and saying that he can block mental powers only is wrong because no one has said that yet. dposse 21:18, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

I rhink you made a good move, dposse. Certain scenes in the show have implied that the Haitian interferes with Matt's telepathy, and the Matt character has observed that the Haitiain was nearby when his telepathy hasn't worked. Because of that, people have inferred that the reason that Mr. Bennet told Eden that "her powers won't work here" when she was first captured was because the Haitian was present. As for Sylar's psychokinesis during his captivity, people have assumed that the Haitian was preventing him from using it (although Bennet and the Haitian felt comfortable enough to leave the building while Sylar was in his cell, suggesting that they trusted that something else was keeping Sylar's powers in check). But neither the show nor any other source to my knowledge has ever stated directly that the Haitian can block powers. Primogen 21:47, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
Thank you, but i'm not saying that he can't block powers. I believe he can block powers, but i think saying that he blocks only "mental based" ones when there is no evidence one way to the other is wrong. Perhaps there is middle ground here, like we did with Micah? Or shall we wait until the second part of season one? dposse 00:44, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
I think he can block powers too, but I don't think any episode has direct evidence of this. Several episodes strongly implied he can block mental powers, but I don't know if it meets the standard of verifiability. I think we did directly see Micah using a power to affect the phone -- we just can't point to a source saying exactly what that power is. So, I'm not sure that we can say that the Haitian can block powers yet -- especially since Bennet told Sylar that he's never seen anyone before with more than one power. Primogen 05:16, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

I think that his ability to disrupt abilities and to erase memories is the same ability, I'm just struggling to find a good term to cover it. firstly, I don't think he does block abilities. So far the only things he's done is stop (partially) mind reading, and stop "persuasion", both abilities that effect more than one person. I think he can telepathically prevent someone from being affected by a power, like giving someone a mental shield. Thus why he couldn't stop Nathan (though it could be that he just wasn't expecting it to happen) or Sylar (If he could stop Sylar, why bother using Eden to catch him, HRG could have just gotten the haitian to stand near him and knock him out, or even before that, get the Haitian to bodyguard Claire. It's actually possible, that he can cloak parts of the mind, preventing susceptibility, and also erasing memories (by making a permanent cloak that the target couldn't sense), which would explain how he can do both. Though all of this is OR, any attempts to guess his powers is, so I thought I'd drop by another idea. Jacobshaven3 11:10, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

On further comment, we haven't actually seen him block someone using their power, we've merely seen him make a power uneffective. For example, when Matt was in the bar, he could hear everyone, except the Haitian, it wasn't that the Haitian block Matt using his power, he prevented his thoughts being detected.Jacobshaven3 11:26, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
After Matt unsuccessfully tried to read Claire's thoughts while she was being interviewed by Audrey, he said that he felt interference. The show then implied that the Haitian was causing the interference by showing his presence right after Matt makes the comment. I'm not sure that's direct enough to make any claims in the article, but if it is, the term I would use is "telepathy interference." Primogen 19:45, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
I think we should just leave it as "unspecified power negation" for now. Just like with Micah, until we get some definative proof either way, it should be catagorized as "unspecified power negation". dposse 20:19, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
The problem is that it is not power negation as evidenced by Nathan being able to fly away while in close proximity to the Haitian and even moreso that Matt can continue to use his telepathy, it simply can't read the thoughts and instead "hears" static. –– Lid(Talk) 13:35, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
We have the same problem with Micah. We know that he has Technopathy just by the definition of the word. However, until someone says that Micah can repair any technology because his power is only Technopathy and not something else, it's original research. It's the same thing here. We do not know that it is only "mental based" powers he can block. For now, it's better to leave it as "unspecified power negation". Like WP:V says, "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth." dposse 13:24, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if this is worth mentioning, but when Matt Parkman is being held by Bennett, the latter asks if the former is trying to read his thoughts, adding "not with my friend here", at which point the Haitian steps into the shot. I think this is the only clear statement that the Haitian can inhibit telepathy, and possibly worth noting in the article. With regards to whether or not he has two powers, the inhibition of telepathy (which is the only inhibition we can really be sure of) could be explained by him instantly erasing from Parkman's memories anything that he manages to glean from Bennett's or the Haitian's own mind. I don't think this is the case, I'm just demonstrating that it is possible to reconcile the two powers. Branfish 08:07, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, technically, no. "Instant erasure" would leave no room for what Matt has done. Ace Class Shadow; My talk. 17:38, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
I'm not being difficult, but that last sentence made no sense to me; could you rephrase it? Branfish 01:28, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
Not trying to be, anyway. Ha! My point was that if knowledge is erased from one mind's within minutes of learning it, Matt wouldn't be able to "grab" the names "Claire" and "Sylar" from Bennet or the Haitian; Matt would forget whatever he learned too fast to properly register it. Ace Class Shadow; My talk. 01:40, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
Well, whatever the Haitian's technique, it's clearly not perfect if Matt can get round it slightly, so I see no reason to assume that the technique I suggested would be any less fallible. It's irrelevent anyway, because I wasn't suggesting that that actually was what he did, I was just demonstrating that we have no real proof that he has more than one power, and so as yet no reason to disbelieve Mr. Bennet. Branfish 02:37, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Powers

I have two things to say. Since we don't know all of the Haitian's abilities yet, perhaps it would be better to list is powers as "Unknown Psychic Abilities, including memory removal and interference of telepathy and suggestion." The other thing I wanted to ask is, what other abilities does he have? Can he knock people out?It seems that even though Eden commanded Sylar to sleep in "Homecoming", he didn't fall until the Haitian grabbed him, suggesting that it was a combination of both his and Eden's powers to put him down. It's possible that he had a pad soaked with Chloroform or something in his hand when he knocked out Sylar. Still, if "Hiro's," Mr. Bennet told the Haitian to "put him down" when they tried to capture Nathan Petrelli. He also told the Haitian to "dig deep" when the captured Matt, suggesting that he is able to search his memories. Perhaps when he has physical contact with another person, he is able to mentally link with them and alter their minds in ways such as causing unconciousness and searching for and blocking off memories. I understand that this is speculation, but I feel it is at least worth considering and keeping in mind when viewing episodes, as it may help us understand his abilities. Briham 00:38, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

See Talk:The_Haitian#Interference_of_mental-based_superpowers. We know that he can remove memories, as he said himself during Fallout. We also know that he has some sort of power negation. What we do not know at this moment in time is if the power negation is for only "mental-based" abilites or for super powers in general. Until we get confirmation from in the show or from a writer of the show, everything is speculation, and speculation has no place on wikipedia. dposse 14:09, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
I know, I know. I said I realized it was speculation. I put it on the talk page because I wanted to point out the possibility of other powers. There seems to be so much focus on power negation that I wanted to make sure everyone kept in mind other abilities that may have been implied. Briham 15:00, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Question on Mental-Based Powers

I'm not sure if this has been pointed out or discussed. Is it definite that the mental powers belong to the Haitian? For all intensive purposes, both Bennett and the Haitian are around when this occurs, and the only time I remember seeing the Haitian alone is with Claire. I know Bennett says the Haitian is the one stopping Matt, but is there any instance where the Haitian stops this alone? Also, is it definite that Bennett is without powers? If I remember correctly, when he met with Sylar through the glass of the white room, he was alone and Sylar was unable to control him. If anyone can answer these, please do so as soon as possible, because it is bugging me. Ludichrisspeed 05:13, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Three words: One Giant Leap. The end, specifically. Ace Class Shadow; My talk. 08:26, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
Even better, in Six Months Ago, he manages to capture Eden, whose power of Persuasion would otherwise be quite effective in preventing capture —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.95.226.116 (talk) 22:38, 30 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Powers ARE God

My interpretation was that he thinks that the powers ARE God and not simply "from" a God. Can someone update the article with the correct quotation and reference? Thanks. 71.225.125.176 14:49, 23 January 2007 (UTC) --Stexe

[edit] Powers and abilities

I removed the speculation from the powers and abilities. Personally, I don't think that his mere presence negates powers, telepathic or otherwise.

If indeed true, as Mr. Bennet said, that the characters can only have one power the answer is pretty obvious to me: telepathy. I guess you guys got into a whole argument with "unspecified power negation." That's just a by-product of his real power. Let's use Professor X for example:

  • mind wipes: Erased Magneto's memory (multiple times), the whole story of X-Men: Deadly Genesis, etc.
  • telepathic shielding: can shield his own thoughts and that of others. The Haitian's presence isn't interfering with Matt's and Eden's powers. In Matt's case shielding the thoughts of Mr. Bennet. Or in Eden's case, he's protecting his mind from her "suggestions."
  • mind reading: to erase specific parts of someones memories he would have to be able to "see" what he's erasing.
  • power negation: If he wants Professor X could just shut down the part of the brain that controls your powers. While the Haitian has yet to stop someone with non-mental abilities, I'm pretty sure he'd be able to stop the, uh, flying guy from fying.

"the communication of information from one mind to another by means other than the known perceptual senses" I think there's some sort of information exchange between minds because the Haitian can erase specific memories. --EXV // + @ 09:24, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] His name is...

Slim... errrr ummmmm "Claude" did I hear that right? Did Mr. Bennit say "Claude this will have to wait" or something to that effect? --Bushido Brown 03:08, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

  • I'd want to double-check against a recording of this, but my impression of what was said was that "Claude" was the name of the invisible dude, not the Haitian. Tabercil 03:54, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Mr. Bennet did say that. He was referring to someone else though. Claude is the Invisible Man. The Haitian remains unnamed. Valaqil 16:44, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

If I remember correctly after the phone call and after shooting Claude he said "Claude will have to wait" not "Claude this will have to wait" Toxic Ninja 21:27, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] AWI??

In the Loyalty article, it is stated "Although The Haitian works for Mr. Bennet and AWI..." So who or what is AWI? It's not mentioned in Bennet's profile nor on the Primatech article? -- (Mrja84 20:22, 27 February 2007 (UTC))
For those reasons, I removed the references. Until someone can give a reason to call it AWI, it should be left out of the article. 216.165.38.83 01:58, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
AWI is an abbreviation used at Heroes Wiki for the Agency Without Initials. It's a reference to when Mr. Bennet tells Matt that he doesn't work for an organization whose name uses initials. - fmmarianicolon | Talk 20:50, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How do people know he's Haitian?

Is it a plothole that people always seem to know he's Haitian, even when though there's no way for them to know that? I haven't scrutinized this or anything, but I feel like at least Parkman and Sprague have mentioned the Haitian without ever having heard him referred to as such? -VJ 00:19, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

They know him as the Haitian because hes black, simply put. Hell in company men in a flashback Thompson mentioned "We have a boy who can clear memories, we found him in Africa etc etc." Therefor hes African not Haitian. Show wise its probable they wanted to be politically correct to some degree and when Ted and Parkman were talking about seeing him Ted mentioned "he was... a Haitian" instead of saying "he was that big black dude" or "that nigger" or whatever else you want to say since even assuming a black guy is from Africa is racist now. 21:25, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Incorrect about the flashback--Thompson clearly says "There's a boy we discovered in Haiti..."

I could've SWORN he said they found him in africa. I can't even find the damn episode on youtube due to "copywrite" crap. Toxic Ninja 02:04, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Negation

I think the Haitian can cancel others powers out by using his memory wipe power, he can make a person to temporarly forget how to control there ability by being near them, but to make them forget perminitly he has touch them- Redspiderman 3/1

On the commentary for Company Men available online the writer and director admitted to playing fast and loose with the Haitian's abilities. I think no one can answer exactly what the negation does because even the writers don't seem to understand it.

[edit] The Mute Haitian

Has anyone else picked up on the play-on-words with this character? Initially he was mute, or known to be mute, and a Haitian. A Mute Haitian... which sounds a LOT like Mutation if you say it fast enough. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by MarkyMarc413 (talkcontribs) 04:32, 3 March 2007 (UTC).

Hehe..nice one.--Hypergeometric2F1(a,b,c,x) 16:27, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "The Haitian" or "the Haitian?"

All right, some people have been engaging in edit wars with me. Some summaries on NBC's website always capitalise "The" in his name, but some don't (like the recent one). So what is it? 24.83.211.180 01:31, 8 March 2007 (UTC)