The Haitian
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| The Haitian | |
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| Portrayed by | Jimmy Jean-Louis |
| First appearance | One Giant Leap |
| Information | |
| Ability | Mental manipulation
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| Gender | Male |
The Haitian is a fictional character on the NBC television series Heroes, portrayed by Haitian actor Jimmy Jean-Louis. He is an associate of Mr. Bennet. Thus far, he has only been referred to on screen as "the Haitian"; his actual name remains unrevealed.
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[edit] Character overview
Wearing a necklace which displays a symbol seen throughout the series, the Haitian is an aloof character. His actual name has so far not been revealed on the show; he is referred to almost exclusively as simply "The Haitian". He did not speak in any episode until "Fallout," and his associate Eden McCain expressed the belief that he is mute. He kissed his necklace before erasing Matt Parkman's memory, and expressed a belief in God — specifically, a belief that superpowers are a gift from God, and should be respected. He is one of the few characters who sees his powers in a highly positive light. So far, his main alliances are with Mr. Bennet, Bennet's daughter, Claire, and Angela Petrelli.
[edit] Character history
A supposedly mute boy is discovered in Haiti, only able to describe his powers with a drawing of himself pulling memories out of people's heads. One of his earliest assignments is the first mind wipe of Sandra Bennet. ("Company Man"). He is next seen 14 years later, in a bar, by Matt Parkman in "One Giant Leap." Matt collapses soon afterwards. In "Collision," the Haitian is brought in to see a captive Parkman. On Bennet's orders, he uses his memory-related power to "go deep" with Parkman and then "wipe out" his memories of being kidnapped. Ted Sprague later reveals to Matt that he had seen the Haitian under similar circumstances. The episode "Six Months Ago" shows that the Haitian also had a hand in capturing Eden McCain, who went on to work with him and Bennet. The Haitian and Bennet attempt to kidnap Nathan Petrelli, but the man escapes by flying away.
Bennet's tasks for the Haitian are not limited to dealing with people possessing powers. In the episode "Hiros," the Haitian follows Bennet's order to "hollow out" Brody Mitchum, a rapist who attempted to force himself on Claire. After this encounter, Brody no longer recognizes even his own name.
The Haitian and Eden work together in "Homecoming" to capture Sylar. In "Fallout," Mr. Bennet orders the Haitian to erase the recent memories of Claire's friend, Zach, as well as her brother, Lyle, after Claire told her father that they both knew of her healing powers. Although the Haitian follows through with these orders, he defies the man's order to erase Claire's memories.
[edit] The Haitian speaks
He finally speaks when encountering Claire Bennet. He tells her about how he erased Zach and Lyle's memories, and asks her if she "can keep a secret." Two weeks later, in "Godsend," the Haitian and Claire meet at an old factory area. Claire asks if he can at least restore Zach's memories so she'll have someone to share her secret with, but he states that he can't do so because "that's not how [his] gift works." He also considers the superpowers he and Claire have to be "good," and advises Claire to respect hers "accordingly".
"The Fix" reveals that the Haitian gave Claire special wind chimes to hang around an out window if she needs to talk with him. The day after Claire does, they meet again at the same factory area. The Haitian asks if it's an emergency, but Claire just wants to know about her biological parents. The Haitian says that Claire's biological mother died in a fire, something Mr. Bennet told him at a time when he had "no reason to lie". The Haitian doesn't know anything about Claire's biological father and recommends that she let it go.
In the episode "Distractions", the Haitian accompanies Claire's adoptive father Mr. Bennet to his home in the pursuit of Sylar who escaped Primatech and locked Mr. Bennet in the cell he'd previously occupied. While Mr. Bennet tended to his wife, the Haitian chased the wounded Sylar outside, but soon returned having lost his trail. The Haitian then wiped Sandra Bennet's mind to make her forget ever having met Sylar, coincidentally making her forget she allowed Claire to skip school that day.
In "Unexpected", the Haitian and Mr. Bennet go to Isaac, who gives them the location of Claude and Peter. The Haitian accompanies Mr. Bennet to capture Claude, another hero, but their mission is halted when Mr. Bennet receives a call from Claire that Sandra has collapsed. Claude is rescued by Peter, but states that the reason he went into hiding was because of them, and stops helping Peter, leaving Peter to confront Isaac.
In "Company Man", after Matt reveals to Mr. Bennet that the Haitian can speak, Mr. Bennet confronts the Haitian about his ability and why he did not erase Claire's memory. Afterwards, the Haitian helps Bennet rescue his family from Ted Sprague. When Bennet is ordered by his superior to bring Claire in to the company, Bennet turns her over to the Haitian. He then asks the Haitian to shoot him in the stomach and wipe his mind of anything that could lead the company to Claire.
In "Parasite", the Haitian tells Claire that they must leave the country. At a gas stop the Haitian spoke on the phone in French and revealed the couple was instructed to head to Marseille, France. Claire wants to see Peter Petrelli, but the Haitian would not let her. Desperate to see Peter, Claire steals the Haitian's passport, preventing him from following Claire on the plane. Claire then goes to Peter Petrelli's apartment in New York, where she meets her biological grandmother Angela Petrelli. The Haitian and Angela exchanged briefly in French, and much to Claire's surprise, the Haitian has been working with Angela to protect Claire for quite some time now.
[edit] Loyalty
Although The Haitian works for Mr. Bennet, he ignored his orders to mind-wipe Claire. Even though he takes the memories of Matt Parkman and Theodore Sprague, they still remember the Haitian. Victims without powers, like Sandra Bennet, Lyle Bennet and Zach, exhibit no recollections of the Haitian. In the episode "Company Man," when questioned by Mr. Bennet about to whom the Haitian answers, he alluded that his allegiance was to someone significant "in Claire's life." The Haitian is currently considered a rogue agent by Primatech Paper.
This person "in Claire's life," the Haitian's new employer, is Angela Petrelli, Claire's grandmother and mother of Peter and Nathan.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The Haitian has a powerful ability to erase the memories of others. Unlike most of the other heroes shown thus far, he also seems to be able to control his powers perfectly. Little is known about the process of how he erases memories, other than the fact that he initializes by clamping his hand over the face of the intended victim. In "Collision," The Haitian wipes out Matt Parkman's memory of the relatively short time of his capture. In "Hiros," The Haitian uses his power to "hollow out" Brody Mitchum's mind so extensively that he does not remember his own name while leaving his basic abilities such as general coordination and language skills intact. None of these victims immediately realize that their memories have been erased. They only realize that something is wrong if confronted with evidence of the missing memories. Also, the Haitian has stated that he cannot restore memories he has erased, as revealed in "Godsend."
It appears that the Haitian's powers are detrimental if used too much on a single subject. The Haitian admits in "Fallout" that he has erased the memories of Sandra Bennet, Claire's adoptive mother, many times. In the episode "Run!", Sandra sees a neurologist after complaining of headaches and memory loss, even temporarily failing to recognize her own daughter and dog. In "Unexpected", she collapses and is diagnosed with a subdural hematoma, which Claire and Mr. Bennet believe was caused by the Haitian's powers.
The Haitian can also disable or temporarily nullify some abilities. He has been shown to nullify the powers of Matt Parkman and Eden McCain. However, he seemed unable to do the same to Nathan ("Hiros") and Peter Petrelli ("Unexpected"). Both of them were able to use the power of flight to escape; Peter was also able to stop their stun-gun electrodes in mid-flight. This ability seems to be passive, as he once interfered with Parkman's powers despite being unaware of his presence. However, on another occasion Eden is able to use her persuasion power to make Sylar fall asleep (in "Homecoming") with the Haitian standing next to her. This ability does not always prevent the use of powers, but it severely impedes their effectiveness. With considerable effort, Parkman is able to use his powers to read single words from Bennet's mind through the interference in both "Collision" and "Fallout".
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Heroes characters
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| Main characters |
| Mr. Bennet • Claire Bennet • Simone Deveaux • D.L. Hawkins • Isaac Mendez • Hiro Nakamura • Matt Parkman • Nathan Petrelli • Peter Petrelli • Micah Sanders • Niki Sanders • Mohinder Suresh |
| Other characters |
| Claude • Hana Gitelman • The Haitian • Ando Masahashi • Eden McCain • Ted Sprague • Sylar |
