Novel #30: String Theory; Hiro's 'final' e-mail
Today's new graphic novel gives us some insight into Future Hiro, his "timeline" in Isaac's loft, and the meaning behind "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World".
*Spoiler Warning* While many of the graphic novels simply expand the plot, this one contains what could be considered a big spoiler.
Btw, if you were looking for your screenname in last week's novel, and couldn't find it -- check out the hidden page in this novel. It has the complete image, without the text boxes.
Also: I'm not sure that this is the full solution to Hiro's recent blog post, but over at Hiro's blog Violet pointed out that today (4/24) is Charlie's birthday. E-mail to charliea@primatechpaper.com triggers this reply:
Hana,ETA: Thanks to Slyder for expanding on this result, by noting that Charlie loved crossword puzzles and her blood clot could be considered "death row."
This might be my final message to you. After many years, I finally
found the target time! October 4, 2006. The chain reaction that this
will cause should fix all that has gone wrong. Should being the
operative word. This is our only hope. It's ironic that Trunks wrote
those words on his time machine. I now know how he felt.
This rift is not a risk. It can't be. I've been working on it for
years to find the right moment. It's been a herculean effort. The
last five years have led up to this.
I can't believe it's finally over. I can save the world. Well, at
least in one timeline.
If I don't return, I have failed in my mission. Get rid of everything
in the loft. Clean it out. You, must continue. Keep hope alive and
may the world be a better place. Please.
For Charlie,
Hiro
29 comments:
I can't get to this novel? HELP!!!
If you can't get to the Flash version, maybe try the pdf version?
I don't know if it's a spoiler as much as it's an explaination into WHY Claire was so important to save. I'm sure this'll be shown in this weeks episode. Linderman having a power could also be considered a 'spoiler', too, which was revealed in the graphic novels weeks before we saw him use use his power on the show.
The spoiler is about Sylar, not Claire. I think, now that we have seen this, that it will not remain a spoiler for long. I also think that the events of the past will shift, and it is still very possible that it will be Peter after all. That's why saving the cheerleader didn't immediately save the world - there is another possible sequence of events that ends with the same results.
With that thought... there probably are an infinite set of sequences that end up with similar results.. I mean.. if Peter doesnt blow up.. who is to say someone doesnt shoot Ted, and he loses control and BOOM?
traku, your right, there are an infinite set of sequences. However, Future Hiro is still human, he can not comprehend the infinite possibilities, only the clear and direct sequences. This is also the best way to go about it, the more indirect he gets, the more possibilities for a widly different future.
For example, Hiro could simply go back and kill Sylar when he goes to kill Claire, but this could cause someone to not be murdered, such as Isaac, which could have a disastrous ripple effect. The most direct way was to save the cheerleader.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
If I was Hiro, I would actually KILL Claire....making sure to destroy the brain...Though the repercussions WILL be large....with Bennet and all.
Meh...time is confusing.
Wow that was awesome. I don't know if its important or anything but who is sparrow? I'm assuming its a she and also that she has powers though I am wondering what kind of powers.
I think that the fact that Syler would have been the exploding man in that particular alternate timeline is actually not hugely important. What I saw as really important (besides Sparrow), is 1) Linderman is at least partially wrong - blowing up NYC does not necessarily lead to a great future, and 2) we have our first true time paradox, which severs the characters of current Hiro from "Future Hiro".
Until now, it has been possible to assume that Future Hiro is simply a later incarnation of current Hiro. However, if that were the case, then the elder Hiro should not have been surprised by meeting the earlier incarnation -- he should remember the meeting from when he was the earlier incarnation of Hiro.
The paradox, then, is that "Current Hiro" cannot possibly develop into this particular "Future Hiro". The event split is almost certainly the moment that Claire is saved - or perhaps, to be technical, when Future Hiro planted the idea in Peter's mind.
Future Hiro is now interacting with an alternate universe from his own, a universe which (until/unless another splitting event occurs) will always contain two separate Hiros. One result: even if "Current Hiro" were to die in the next episode, "Future Hiro" would still be around, since he comes from a different timeline.
If this were (in the words of Chris Adams, creator of the time-travelling RPG Continuum) a real "Gemini incident", the meeting would now be in the younger Hiro's "Yet" - something that he -must- do in the future. The elder incarnation is simply resolving the paradox by doing whatever is fated to happen during that meeting.
In this case, it appears that this incident is NOT in the younger Hiro's "Yet" -- it will not be he who resolves the paradox later. That job was taken care of by the alternate-future Hiro.
wow. anybody else get lost in that? I mean I think I understand the gist of it I guess, but it's a little too technical for me. Got a simpler explanation?
Does anyone understand Charlie's letter? :P Cause I'm confused
As always, I suggest everybody read the comics.
Who's to say that to oppression of people with abilities isn't the better world Linderman dreams of? After all, we found out Monday that he's the one footing the bill for The Company. If Linderman controls Petrelli and Petrelli's in the Oval Office, then rather than have to rely on a super-secret organization that can't barge into the public sphere (as per Bennet) he's got a government-funded outfit that can operate in the full knowledge of the public.
Looks like things are going EXACTLY how Linderman plans them to be 5 years in the future.
Will,
Given that Linderman is a "special" himself, and described to Nathan how he saw his band of specials as doing good in the world, I'd think it unlikely that he would consider the wholesale oppression of specials to be part of his vision of a better world.
Remember also that he wanted Nathan Petrelli to bring the world together afterwards -- and having a "special" be the leader and mascot of the New World Order does not seem consistent here either.
Now, I'm not saying that you're wrong, Will; merely that the evidence we have so far does not point to that conclusion, IMO.
Anonymous the First,
Put simply, "Future Hiro" comes from a totally different timeline (essentially, an alternate universe) than "current Hiro", and thus is a completely different person. They are *not* the same person at different stages, which most of us had naturally assumed to this point. "Current Hiro" can die, and "Future Hiro" would go on.
The evidence for this was subtle, but in my mind, very convincing: Future Hiro was shocked and surprised to see Current Hiro. If they were really the same person, then Future Hiro would NOT have been surprised -- he would have "remembered" the encounter from the other end. There was other evidence as well, but this was the most important.
(Yes, Hiro could have had a trip to the Haitian in the meantime, but honestly, that doesn't seem too likely, does it? For one thing, Hiro and the Haitian appear to be on the same side, though probably neither knows that yet.)
Dave,
If Linderman's goal is all goodwill to the specials, why's he funding an organization that finds, tags, tracks, and often kills specials? Given that such IS, in fact, his current business, and that he's pushing so hard to have someone who owes him as the leader of the free world, I'd say one could pretty logically draw that conclusion from the evidence we've been given thus far. Not necessarily saying that I'm right, merely that the evidence can, in fact, quite logically point to that conclusion.
Not that this show ever finds itself bound to what people expect to happen ;-)
Will,
I think you might be reading a bit too much into what I said -- I merely suggested that the evidence does not support the idea that oppressing specials is his actual end-goal.
I'm not saying that fuzzy-happyness towards specials is his goal either.
Nor am I saying that he might not consider some oppression of specials to be an acceptable cost of obtaining his real goal. He has clearly established that he sees individuals, even large groups, of innocent people to be expendable -- if they might get in the way of his actual mission.
It may well be that his overall goal is actually unrelated to the "specials" at all -- he may well consider "specials" to be people who simply have greater ability to aid or hinder his plan. But he is smart enough to know that he cannot ignore specials; some are powerful means to bring his plans to fruition, and others are probably the greatest potential threats to the plan.
As of now, I don't even have a theory as to what his real plan might be. It could just be to increase his own wealth and power, but somehow, that does not "feel" right.
I think he is probably the good guy in his own mind; and he knows that most others (who do not understand), would not consider his methods acceptable -- so they have to be kept secret. But then, Hitler thought he was the "good guy" in his own mind, too.
What is it that Hiro wants to change on October 4, 2006?
Maybe I should watch 'One giant leap' again.
To max
I think that was the day Claire would have gotten killed had Peter not been there
I absolutely loved the Trunks reference, I have to say. It definately helps you understand the way the alternate timeline reference, too, if you know anything about Dragonball Z.
sorry nope. But I understand the whole timeline thing. However I don't think I agree with Dave's theory. Hiro is capable of changing timelines and effecting the current time within the same universe. If this were not true, when Hiro got back from trying to save Charlie "Six months ago" He would not have come back to the same Ando. He changed the past and proof of this was the picture of Charlie at her birthday party. Before Hiro went back it had just her and afterward it had him in it, and Ando was aware of the change.
And so Future Hiro would not have remembered this because he changed the past by telling Peter Petrelli to "save the Cheerleader save the world". This somehow lead to Hiro going five years in the future(accidentatlly probably), which he had previously not decided to do.
I just looked at my post and I'm not sure that it will make since to anyone else but me. LOL. oh well. guess that's your problem.
that's not so nice :(
lol
sorry. But I don't want to try to explain any more cause It would probably just sound even more garbled. Also I don't know if it even makes sense to ME now!
lol
ghost22,
Re: Ando, you make an interesting point - though I am not sure how you know that this is the same Ando and not an extremely similar, parallel one. In any event, I will personally hold off on further theorizing until I find out why elder Hiro was so surprised by the meeting - perhaps we'll find out in an ep or two.
I thought he was suprised because he had just gone back to tell peter to save the cheerleader and now he comes back to the future to see that NYC is still blown up and now his past self and Ando are in his loft. (READ THE COMIC)
dave,
I think it's the same Ando because he recognized the picture had changed. Though it could have been a different Ando and he was just shocked that Hiro was in the picture in the first place.
yikes, I think last nights ep ("Five Years Gone") explains why this may truly be Hiro's final message.
Sparrow is on the List.
That is to say her name was on the list that Mohinder cracked in (I think) Seven Minutes to Midnight. In the screen grab I saw, er, somewhere, it's on the right hand side, about half way up.
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