Haitian (Heroes)
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| The Haitian | |
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| First appearance | "One Giant Leap" |
| Portrayed by | Jimmy Jean-Louis |
| Information | |
| Ability | Mental manipulation, resulting in: |
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." Even his associates at Primatech call him this.
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[edit] Character overview
Wearing his father's necklace which displays a symbol seen throughout the series, the Haitian is an aloof character. His actual name has so far not been revealed; he is referred to almost exclusively as simply "the Haitian". He does not speak in any episode until "Fallout", and his associate Eden McCain expresses the belief that he is mute. He kisses his necklace before erasing Matt Parkman's memory, and expresses 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, as well as Matt Parkman in the alternate future.
[edit] Character history
The Haitian first discovers his ability to inhibit other powers as a child when he inadvertently stops his father's ability during an attack on their village.[1] When discovered by the Company in Haiti, he does not speak, and describes his powers with a drawing of himself pulling "worms" 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 Nathan 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 schoolmate of Claire's who attempted to rape her. 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 secretly defies Mr. Bennet's order to erase Claire's memories.
[edit] The Haitian speaks
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The Haitian finally speaks when encountering Claire Bennet. He tells her how he erased Zach and Lyle's memories, and asks her, "Can you 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 cannot do so because "that's not how [his] gift works." He also considers the superpowers he and Claire have to be "God's gift," and advises Claire to respect hers "accordingly".
"The Fix" reveals that the Haitian gave Claire special wind chimes to hang outside her 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". He claims not to 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, incidentally making her forget she allowed Claire to skip school that day.
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 he spoke on the phone in French and revealed they were instructed to head to Marseilles, France by way of New York. Desperate to see Peter Petrelli, Claire steals the Haitian's passport, preventing him from following Claire through the airport security checkpoint. Claire then goes to Peter Petrelli's apartment in New York, where she meets her biological grandmother Angela Petrelli. Much to Claire's surprise, the Haitian is there, and speaks to Angela in French. He has been secretly working to protect Claire on Angela's orders.
[edit] Alternate future
In "Five Years Gone", the future Haitian is working for the Department of Homeland Security, assisting Matt Parkman in the interrogation of people with superpowers, and the capture of the future Hiro Nakamura, where he proves to be useful as he can prohibit the usage of Hiro's powers to some extent. Eventually, the Haitian is killed by Mohinder Suresh, who injects him with a lethal fluid that was meant for the present-day Hiro Nakamura.
[edit] Season 2
In "Four Months Ago...", the Haitian handcuffs Peter in a shipping container, altering Peter's memories so that he can "start a new life" and escape the Company. He also gives Peter his Helix chain.
In "Lizards", Mohinder finds the Haitian in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, suffering from the same virus that attacked Molly Walker. Initially, he wishes Mohinder not to cure it, as he believes it is God's will that he die to atone for his past, but Mohinder convinces him that God sent Mohinder all the way from America to find him so the Haitian allows himself to be treated.
In "The Kindness of Strangers", the Haitian enters Mr. Bennet's home late at night when the rest of his family is asleep. The Haitian reveals to Bennet he got a lead on Isaac Mendez' missing paintings, and that they are in Odessa. When Bennet assumes his home town in Texas the Haitian directs him to the Odessa in Ukraine. Bennet wants to go find them. The Haitian points out that Ukraine is a long trip from California, where Bennet is currently living, and asks what he'll tell his family. Bennet simply answers "I'm sure I'll think of something".
In the next episode, the Haitian accompanies Noah on his quest to find answers in Ukraine where Noah uses the Haitian as a torture device to remove the memories of his mentor living there until he breaks down and tells Noah where he can find the paintings.
[edit] Loyalty
Although the Haitian works for Mr. Bennet and Primatech Paper, he ignored his orders to mind-wipe Claire. Even though he takes the memories of Matt Parkman and Ted Sprague, they still remember the Haitian himself, just not the event; victims without powers, like Sandra Bennet, Lyle Bennet, and Zach, exhibit no recollections of the Haitian, however. The Haitian is currently considered a rogue agent by Primatech Paper.
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." This person is revealed to be Claire's grandmother, Angela Petrelli, who is working with Mr. Linderman. It is also revealed that Angela Petrelli helped the Haitian at one point.
In the alternate future seen in "Five Years Gone", the Haitian is aligned with Matt Parkman in Homeland Security, and is taking orders from the person whom he believed to be President Nathan Petrelli.
In season two, he works with Mr. Bennet to bring down the Company. However, in the episodes "Four Months Ago..." he is seen in Bob's office where he suppresses Peter's abilities. He is also seen working for Bob again after the events of Season 2 in the graphic novel, "Donna's Big Date: Part 2."
[edit] Powers and abilities
The Haitian has the ability of mental manipulation which allows him to selectively erase the memories of others, a power he wields with a great deal of control. This ability was present when he was a boy, as demonstrated in the episode "Company Man".
Little is known about the process of how he erases memories. In the graphic novel "It Takes a Village, Pt. 1", the Haitian described the experience as ranging from being like "picking flowers just after a spring rain" to "reaching into the moist soil of freshly dug graves" with "grubs biting at your fingers". As a boy, the Haitian accidentally cleaned out the heads of nearby villagers, but it appears to require physical contact for more precise removal of memories by becoming "one with [the subject's] mind". 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 Brody does not remember his own name, while retaining basic functions such as general coordination and language skills. None of these victims immediately realize that their memories have been erased. They only become aware of the change if confronted with evidence of the missing memories.
The Haitian has stated that he cannot restore memories he has erased, as revealed in "Godsend". However, in "Four Months Ago..." Peter Petrelli displayed that certain heroes with the power of cellular regeneration can restore their own erased memories.
In the online graphic novel chapter "The Crossroads", Mohinder gives the Haitian instructions for locating Mr. Bennet, asking him if he needs to write it down during the exchange. The Haitian cryptically responds, "Memory is not an issue for me...".
The Haitian has also displayed the ability of power negation which enables him to dampen or completely cancel, for an undetermined amount of time, the powers of any superhuman in close proximity to him. He has an incredible degree of control over this power even to the point of allowing some in his vicinity to use powers and others not. This ability is not supreme, however, as various heroes have overcome it with great effort. How this aspect of the Haitian's powers works is currently unknown.
[edit] Character development and concept
In an interview on The Post Show on G4, Jimmy Jean-Louis stated that the Haitian was originally supposed to be from New Zealand, and that the character was going to be "The Kiwi." Kiwi is a colloquial term for the people of New Zealand. Jimmy Jean also stated that he auditioned three times for the role of D.L. Hawkins, which he did not get.
