Theory:Claire Bennet

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The following fan theories are about Claire Bennet.

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Theories

Theory	Citations	Notes
Claire cannot age.	In Five Years Gone Claire does not look noticeably older than normal, despite being about 16 in 2006.	+ Aging is caused by tissue damage and degradation--if Claire's body heals all damage done to it she will presumably forever look the same as she does now. • Most likely, Claire did not look much older because the actress was not actually any older, and the makeup artists did the best they could. If this theory is true, Claire will most likely stop aging in about a decade, because right now she is still growing. - Peter looks slightly older in Five Years Gone despite having Claire's power, though as with Claire the time frame is too short to be certain. + This may be because unlike Claire, Peter does not possess regeneration as a core ability: it is only active for him either while Claire is nearby, or while he is consciously keeping it active. Likely, he would not find it necessary to keep it active constantly, and he may not have considered the anti-aging effects of the power. - Since Claire's power heals damage after it occurs, if it healed the effects of aging, it would reverse all of its effects, "resetting" Peter's age whenever he turned it on. It is very unlikely that he would go five years without activating regeneration. - Claire's power is akin to Wolverine's healing ability in X-Men: it heals physical damage and slows cellular decay but does not stop it. Claire does age. For her aging to stop, the rate of cellular decay would have to be stopped althogether, and thus would make her almost invulnerable and immortal. + The comparison to Wolverine actually implies that she will at least age extremely slowly, as Wolverine is currently over 120 years old in marvel continuity yet appears to be no older than 40 (at most) and has the physical abilities of 'a man in his prime'.on the Marvel Directory + This is also noted in Kensei; he looks in his 30's or 40's, but he is supposed to be about 87 years old. + Takezo Kensei also possesses the power of rapid cell regeneration. He is also said to be born in 1584. Given this, Kensei would be 87 by the time Hiro Nakamura arrives in feudal Japan, which is 1671. Even in 1671, Kensei does not look at all like an 87-year-old man. - If Claire couldn't age, she would look like a baby • From birth through late teens to early twenties a person is still growing thus there is no cellular degradation if there is no cellular degradation there is no need for her power to correct it, ere go she would age. + Claire doesn't exhibit regeneration (chronologically) until Six Months Ago + Takezo Kensei, who seems to possess the same regenerative ability as Claire, is confirmed to be alive and well after more than 300 years.
Claire's power shows a mythological theme in the inheritance of powers.	None.	+ Claire is the daughter of Nathan, whose gift is the power of Flight, and Meredith, whose gift is the power of Pyrokinesis. A mythological creature with both these attributes is the Phoenix, which also has the power of rebirth, not unlike Claire's rapid cell regeneration. - This theory does not seem to generalize to all evolved humans.
Claire will not die if Sylar cuts open her head, because her power of cell regeneration means that her cells grow back, even if they are brain cells.	None.	• In Don't Look Back, Claire is prevented from regenerating when foreign matter is present in her brain. + Since that wound healed when the stick was removed, it's clear she can regenerate at least some wounds to the brain. - However, the fact that the wound didn't heal until the stick was removed indicates that the brain is in some way essential to her power functioning. Removing her brain entirely might prevent her from healing just like the presence of the stick did. + ...unless the stick was impeding on the healing process, blocking the regeneration of the new brain. • It has been established that the brain is essential to any power. In the event Claire's brain is removed, it seems more likely that a new body would grow around the brain than that a new brain would grow in the body. • As shown with Kensei he was unable to heal the arrows in his chest and arm until they were removed, while the object that does the damage is still imbedded in the body the power cannot heal the wound. + Claire has her ears pierced and changes earrings; this would suggest two things a) a per prev comment, she cannot heal if the object remains embeded and b) she is able to heal around an object, leaving a hole in her body. - In Five Years Gone, Claire is presumably killed by Sylar and her ability taken. - In Truth and Consequences, Adam confirms that being shot or seriously injured in the brain would kill even a regenerative person. + How would he know...?
Takezo Kensei is Claire's ancestor.	None.	+ There have been many instances in the series where evolved humans are spawned from evolved humans, and both Claire and Takezo Kensei possess the power of rapid cell regeneration (Lizards). - Whilst having powers may be genetic, specific abilities, so far have not been passed through generations. Furthermore, Claire's biological parents possessed the abilities of flight and pyrokinesis, but Claire does not possess either of these abilities.
Claire's amputated toe will grow into another Claire.	None.	- Claire's toe has no brain, and her brain apparently is needed to start the regeneration. + Claire's blood/Adam Monroe's blood enables regeneration in other people without being attached to Claire or Adam's brain. The blood in the amputated toe could regenerate a whole new body. + The genetic material in Claire's toe might be the thing that starts the regeneration, as Claire doesnt seem to have to think to start the regenerating process. • Being as it is an entire body, it would take a considerable time to grow it. + It is unlikely that the toe would grow to a new Claire, but perhaps it would be possible if Claire was cut through the half.
Claire can't be affected by the virus, like other characters.	Mohinder discusses the use of Claire's blood with the virus with Bob. (Truth and Consequences)	+ The virus supposedly attack's the person's nerve's, but Claire's nerves would just regrow. + Claire's ability may require her brain, which the virus has not yet been shown to attack. - The virus has been shown to inhibit the abilities of superpowered individuals, so it is possible it may block Claire's healing ability. + The Company seem to believe that Claire's power can be used to cure the Neo-Shanti virus. + This may be because they know that Kensei can use his blood to heal others. - The Company also thought that Mohinder's blood could be used to cure their modified version of the virus, an assumption which turned out to be horribly incorrect. So their track record isn't very good with regard to these things. - Mohinder states that Claire's blood reinforced his antibodies to cure the strain, thus implying that her powers wouldn't be enough on their own. + That statement, however, is hard to reconcile with reality, since rapid cellular regeneration should have no business altering extracellular proteins in the bloodstream. Therefore it can be assumed that RCR has an improved immune system as a side effect. It could possibly work like this: Claire's leukocytes can, upon "attacking" a pathogen, detect the effectiveness of a particular antibody and produce an improved design if necessary. This would mean that they would eventually develop the "best" antibodies without any external help. The decision to use Mohinder's antibodies with Claire's blood could have simply served for shortening the time needed for success, as they were already "almost good enough" to defeat the virus.