Niki Sanders - Psycho or Superhero

Since the introduction to the character Niki Sanders, I have wondered what the nature of her abilities were. At first it seemed her abilities were more akin to schizophrenia than super powers. One moment she would be in danger and the next, the danger would be past and her memory of what had transpired would be gone. As the episodes progressed we began to catch glimpses of that other persona, a persona completely lacking in morals or restraint. Completely ruthless and viscious in it’s actions. Scenes for future episode show her throw a full sized man around as if he were a toy. This made me think of Bruce Banner and his alternate perona the Hulk. Hulk was possessed of great strength, but lacked the discipline of Banner. I doubt this is the direction that they are taking with her, but the parallels are interesting. The scenes also depict her talking with her alter through the mirror, which is very interesting. They’ve always shown her reflection acting in an odd manner, as if possesing it’s own will. I’m looking forward to see how they progress with this.
One other point is that she has the odd tattoo that has appeared as a sign through out the series. In talking with a friend of mine, he forwarded the idea that the tattoo is representative of the organization that the Horned rimmed glasses man works for and that at some point she may have been held by them. He also wonders which persona is really her true one. I wonder too.

October 30th, 2006 at 9:00 am
I *think* the tattoo is a pattern that was seen in the code that Mohinder found on his deceased father’s laptop…so I think it’s a sign to connect the heroes with each other. Just a thought.
Polly
October 30th, 2006 at 9:02 am
I remember seeing there as well. I’m not sure that Papa Suresh and the Horned Rimmed Glasses Man weren’t working together at some point though. I suspect that they somehow created/triggered the mysterious Sylar.
October 30th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
The symbol, so far, seems to be used by an “organization” that has something to do with super-humans. The fact that Papa S had it may mean he worked for them. I don’t think the symbol is a good thing. So far the symbol has mostly been on/around the bad folks, or it shows up when something bad is about to happen to someone. The guy who works for HRG wears a necklace with that symbol. I’m pretty sure it isn’t a “good guy” kind of thing.
October 30th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
It’s all pretty convoluted. hopefully a few more peices will fall into place tonight.
October 30th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
TV Squad was mentioning an article that placed Niki as one of the worst characters of the new TV season. I can’t find it now. BUt, I swear it was there.
Aaron.
October 30th, 2006 at 7:35 pm
Here is the post that references the article:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/10/20/the-best-and-worst-new-characters/
It says she was voted most boring female character. good find!
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