Nathan Petrelli
Nathan Petrelli
WiiildHorses
Portrayed By Adrian Pasdar
Gender Male
Date of Birth January 23rd, 1967
Age 40
Zodiac Sign Aquarius
Aliases Flying Man (Hiro), Nate (most people), Poohbear (Heidi), Nate Dogg (Jack)
Place of Birth New York City, NY, USA
Current Location New York City, NY, USA
Occupation Politician
Known Relatives Arthur Petrelli (father; deceased), Angela Petrelli (mother; still alive), Peter Petrelli (younger brother; immortalish), Hercules Petrelli (heir; in existence), MacGyver Petrelli (spare; in existence), Claire Bennet (daughter; also immortalish)
Significant Other Heidi Petrelli (wife; WORKIN' ON IT), Meredith Gordon (former fling; mother of Claire), Mara Damaris (…significant and other)
Known Abilities Flight
First Appearance Genesis

Vote Petrelli. He can fly.

History

So we have Nathan Petrelli, only child of Arthur and Angela Petrelli for the better part of his childhood. In terms of any competition between he and his younger brother, Peter, one could consider this a head start. It was no secret that Nathan would always be favored by Arthur, one of the best known defense lawyers in New York, if not America, and in turn, Nathan hero-worshiped his father to the best of his ability.

He had an expensive and outstanding education, always meeting the standards that were set for him to achieve. He joined the Navy, traveled the world, and came home to become a successful prosecution lawyer, with his eyes set for greater things. The world of politics was where he wanted to be - everyone wants to make a change for the better in the world, right? Nathan never bothered wasting his time on fantasy and ideals and set about becoming the shark he's now famous for being, for exactly that reason - to be a far more real kind of hero.

So it's ironic, in a sense, that Nathan discovered he had the ability to fly - possibly the cheesiest, most superhero comic book ability one could hope to obtain. It just went against Nathan's view on how the world should work - besides defying the laws of physics, how was one really meant to make a difference by zooming around, exactly? So he kept this one secret, barely even admitting to himself what he could do, for as long as he could.

Somewhere along the way, he married Heidi, and had two sons, Monty and Simon. This never changed, hindered, or even enhanced Nathan's ambition to enter politics, but they became a reason for success. But what really pushed him to run for congressman in the year 2006, was the death of his father. As everyone knows, Arthur Petrelli died of a heart attack. The truth was that he took his own life. Nathan never wanted to be that weak, as much as he loved his father, and was determined to be the success he's sure his father wanted him to be.

And then… can we say it's Peter's fault? Nathan certainly does. His younger brother walked into the campaign headquarters one day, and told Nathan he could fly. Ever since then, everything has gone wrong, so very wrong. When confronted with the threat of a nuclear bomb, and asked to allow it to happen and then be what America needs in these dark times, which would then one day lever him into presidency and make all his dreams come true… Nathan almost did it. He came close. Instead, he flew in, grabbed his brother (who happened to be the bomb in the end) and took him high into the sky, ending up becoming a hero in the most unlikely of ways.

Now, wasted from radiation burns and the uncertainty as to whether Peter is even alive, Nathan spends his time in his room, healing scars that will leave a mark for as long as he's alive. He's not convinced of his own heroism, but hey, he's catching up on a lot of daytime TV now.

Timeline

Current

July, 2007

  • 1st - All That Glitters Is Not Sequins. Jack's on security duty as Nathan and he walk from point A to point B. They discuss suits, diamonds, sequins, and a whole range of other very heterosexual things.
  • 5th - Peter's Busy. Returning to the city after working some political magic at a country club, Nathan finds that his car brakes have been tampered with - but not before he hits Peter with his car, and kills him. Peter gets better, though.
  • 6th - Simply An Accident. Nathan meets up with Heidi at Club DnA, coincidentally doing so also with a bunch of other people, recognisably Jack, Elena and Cass. Then all hell breaks loose. Or Elena does. Either way, he almost shags his wife on the bar and dipsmooches Cass so it could have been worse.
  • 6th - Who Does Nathan Have To Kill?. Aftermath of the Club DnA incident, between Heidi and Nathan.
  • 7th - Who Does Lachlan Have to Kill?. Apparently, Nathan. ROUND THREE, FIGHT. Nathan gets KO'd, and Lachlan gets arrested by Viola.
  • 8th - Killers In Their Sensitivities. Nathan meets with Mara for a few drinks, with the intent to discuss the situation with his wife's possible future killer. Things go awry when Mara's possible future killer chooses the moment to make his presence known.
  • 8th - Never Not. Follows directly after the prior event. After flying Mara to very relative safety, they share their moments and Nathan tells her about Heidi's situation, briefly, before flying home.
  • 10th - Far From Over. Nathan meets Jack, and they talk over the situation of John Carter. He's dead, people were hurt, and there's more to come.
  • 12th - Eight-by-Ten. Mara invites Nathan to her apartment to show him the message Gray has left her. During this visit, she receives another. Nathan instructs her to be a policewoman about it.
  • 14th - How Many Petrellis Does It Take To Change A Light?. Nathan goes to Peter's apartment to "help" him set up his new TV and DVD player, while discussing a few things that need to be discussed. Nathan also earns himself a belated 40th birthday present.

Abilities

Ah, the power of flight. This is a relatively straight forward power, the ability to propel oneself through the air via… a lot of scientific jargon that Nathan skimmed over perhaps twice. Nevertheless, here are some details regarding what he can and cannot do.

  • Rocket Man, the ability to take off like a… well, a rocket. Without any visible momentum necessary, Nathan is able to basically leap into the sky at breakneck speed. A very handy way to get out of a dire situation.
  • Ludicrous Speed is exactly what it sounds like. Once airborne, Nathan can hit supersonic speeds - going past the speed of sound, in other words. This will create an impressive sonicboom. Not a stunt with much finesse, but rather effective all the same.
  • Whoosh! An effective way of describing Nathan's general flying capabilities. This encompasses swooping and landing, and generally takes a little more skill, successes determining how gracefully he achieves maneuver under this category.
  • Hovering sounds simple, but for Nathan, it's not a natural use of his power - he's more familiar with going very fast. The difficulty is set a little higher - he needs to roll a Great in order to do it with optimal control. Anything below is ineffective or he'll take off too quick or something along those lines. Whatever is comic and made of fail at the time.
  • Flying Under Influence is a recently developed stunt. It. Is just like it sounds. A Penalty is rolled along with this stunt in any flying circumstance if Nathan happens to be ver' drunk.
  • Cargo Jet. He's not one. Except when he is. Basically this is when Nathan is flying while carrying another person. The level of success determines how much the extra weight has affected his flying. If the person is both taller and heavier than him, I would likely roll this with a Penalty.
  • Fight or Flight? Let's select the latter. Something seen in canon that that can come in handy in certain situations. It is in essence aerodynamically getting the heck out of dodge without even thinking about it. He needs only to hit a Mediocre to take off - but in this event he won't have much choice over what direction he goes or how far, and he won't land so great. After that the level of success would determine the awesome of his flying. Anything below Mediocre would indicate that he might find himself about three feet in the air before falling back down again.
  • Ramming Speed! …the act of FLYING INTO SOMEONE to achieve PROFIT. Basically a tackle maneuver with adding flying. Success is determined by whether or not the victim achieves the same or outrolls me in a dodge roll.

Personality Profile and Zodiacs

According to the Myers Briggs personality test, Nathan is an ESTJ type personality. This stands for Extraverted Sensing Thinking Judging.

According to the Chinese Zodiac, Nathan is a Fire Horse!

According to the Western Zodiac, Nathan is an Aquarius!

Relationships

Quotes

  • Peter: "You didn't hear anything I said earlier today, did you?" Nathan: "What, about how you can 'fly'? Yeah, I'm going to pretend for both our sakes you didn't say anything like that." -Peter, Nathan (Genesis)
  • "I'm not a cargo jet, Parkman." (Fight or Flight)
  • "Most of what we are is what people expect us to be. I mean, if you take them away, nothing means anything." (.07%)
  • "I'm not in the business of asking people to lie to me, doc. Just for me." (On Bitter Politicians)
  • "But /they/ don't have superpowers. That's why it's not realistic." (...and Forever)
  • "Peter puts a lot of faith in people, and I play the devil's advocate. It's nothing personal." (Monopoly and Other Games)
  • "You're doing that thing. The female dichotomy thing." (When Nathan Met Adelheid)
  • Cass: "I promise, I won't take advantage of you in your drunken state." Nathan: "Well, that's good. Been told I'm easy." Cass: "But expensive, right? That's always the catch." Nathan: "Absolutely, I have standards." -Cass, Nathan (Misery Loves Company)
  • Nathan: "I don't even remember half of it. Shut my eyes and all I could see were sequins, days later." Jack: "Told you they'd call attention to my package when I danced." -Nathan, Jack (All That Glitters Is Not Sequins)
  • "…vote Petrelli." -After making out with Cass due to Elena's Induce Arousal stunt. (Simply An Accident)
  • "With Gray after Mara, my family in and out of danger, you and Peter— it's a war just keeping the people you care about alive, some days. Point is, I'm not going to be anyone special if the world around me goes to hell." (Far From Over)

Trivia

  • Nathan has some awful ties. For serious. One starts to feel drunk if stared at too long.
  • Suddenly shooting out of his car and leaving Heidi to crash was not actually how Nathan discovered he could fly. It was, however, a catalyst in actually trying to tame the ability, in as much secrecy as possible.
  • Nathan, as a rule, doesn't smoke. He also doesn't drink. Or, he generally avoids drinking, having had some issues with it in the past, although nowadays he's a little less stalwart. Nevermind. He's uh. Gotten back into the habit.
  • Grey hair count: three. Goddamnit, Damaris.
  • Nathan, in all his educated wisdom, can never get the hang of Monopoly. Or maybe his family is abnormally good at it. Either way, he's semi-convinced everyone cheats, and isn't above doing so in return. He usually picks the race car piece.
  • Nathan and his wild horses have excellent adventures.
  • Nathan does "The Superman" when he pees. No pictures please.
  • Phone No.: 283-6969. People who would be able to contact him: Peter, Heidi, Angela, Claire, Hiro, Noah, Jane, Bob, Mara, Jack, Gabrielle, Rianna, Elena, Elle, Drake and that liquor store uptown. As well as anyone looking for a good time.
  • Bonus Material: Wherein Nathan discovers Heidi's real name, about a decade ago: When Nathan Met Adelheid.

Soundtrack

Don't try to glean logic from these. It'll hurt. Click the collapsibles for lyric snippets.

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