CHARACTER
NAME: Nathan Petrelli
FANDOM: Heroes
TIMELINE PERIOD: post-S2 shot
BACKGROUND: Nathan was brought up as the typical alpha-male, spoiled rotten and preferred by his father as the better son in comparison to his younger brother by 13 years, Peter. His whole life, Nathan had a picture-perfect future planned out for him, not only by his parents, but by his own ideals, wishing to follow in his father's lawyer and Congressman footsteps, even serving in Bosnia and Serbia in the military service just like him. It hit him incredibly hard when his father committed suicide, and it only spurned him on even more so to continue to make him proud. Days prior to his suicide, he'd decided to talk to the DA about his father and the man he worked with, Linderman, trying to take down the organization they were involved in that had its hand in rather shady crimes. When some of the members of the organization caught wind of this, they proceeded to tail Nathan's car, containing both him and his wife, resulting in a car crash. During the crash, Nathan's body started floating out of the car while his wife crashed, leading to her paralysis from the waist down.

Previous to getting married, he ended up with a girl from 'the other side of the tracks,' Meredith, not having grown up with a silver spoon in her mouth, and when this little fling resulted in her unexpected pregnancy, they broke up, him not being the kind to really rely on in these sorts of situations. He'd provide money-- just like he did later, when his illegitimate daughter Clarie discovered Meredith in order to prevent a disaster in his campaign, but that is about as detached as he keeps himself.

In spite of being married with two kids, he remains closest to his brother Peter. This is also self-evident in how distant he is towards his wife and kids, even cheating on his wife at one point because she was crippled and he couldn't stand to look at her out of guilt and feeling like it was his fault. It wasn't until he was fully immersed in his campaign for congressman that he began to discover his ability to fly with the help of his brother, who first brought up the possibility of them possessing flight-capabilities. At first reluctant to admit that this could be a possibility, he does exercise it at one time to rescue a woman from a burning building without letting Peter know, and when Peter drops off a building in the hope of flying himself, Nathan is able to fly up to save him, later denying this to his brother. It takes him a while to come around.

At one point he is kidnapped by the Company and escapes by flying away, causing him to meet Hiro Nakamura, who saw him land. He continues to help his brother even when he starts talking about how he's going to explode, and helps several other Heroes along the way. When the November 8th bomb-date nears, he tells his mother that he is ready to take his role, continuing on to lead the city of New York through the tragedy while he ascends to the presidency, but in the end, he doesn't go through with it, instead jumping in to save his brother when he's about to explode from the radiation, too many abilities getting a hold of him, and he can't do anything. He flies them out, preventing the city from being destroyed, and let's him explode in the sky, taking a fair bit of radiation damage himself in the process.

Peter brings him to the hospital, flying him back the second he's healed himself, and ends up getting knocked out and leaving him there. Given that this tv show messes with timetravel a whole lot, another Peter at one point returns with Adam Monroe, who adds his blood to Nathan's IV bag. At this point, Nathan's already seen his face, and when he just recovers one day out of nowhere, he doesn't waste any time to look for Peter. The memory still haunts him, though, and when he doesn't find Peter, he believes himself responsible for Peter's death. From that point on, he takes to alcohol, grows a beard, loses his tenure and position as congressman and politician, loses his family, wife, kids, and shuts everyone out while he moves into Peter's old apartment and hoards his things to himself, showing just how attached Nathan was to Peter. His face, symbol of the loss of his brother, continues to haunt him severly, and it isn't until well after the event that he manages to pull himself together in the wake of horrible events, his mother being targeted by a supposed 'nightmare man.' Once again, Nathan takes on his role as a hero and helps out in the quest to stop the man murdering the original founding twelve heroes involved in the Company and in the making of a virus. When he discovers that Peter is alive and in league with a man supposedly trying to kill them all (Adam), he manages to talk to Peter and convince him to stop Adam from releasing the virus, inevitably leading to a nostalgic, albeit, shortlived reunion, when he then decides to call a press conference revealing his ability to fly to the world. Before he can do so, he is shot.

Overall, Nathan is a rather caustic, cold character, but he really truly does care about a few people, he just doesn't show it often. A self-evident example of this is his brother Peter, otherwise he would not have had such a strong reaction when he'd thought he died, or would not have swooped in to save the day and fly Peter off in order to save the city. Still, he has the mind of a politician, and will not shy away from saying the harsh truth or disappointing someone when he has to.


Played by Tam