Niki/??? Sanders- theories and speculation (spoilers)

[ShadowMaat]

I know a lot of folks are playing around with the idea of Niki having a split personality, but A) that would be an un-Heroic real world explanation and B) Jessi really existed.

The pet theory I'm coddling at the moment is that both sisters had powers: Jessi had the ability to "project" herself into other people and projected herself into Niki shortly before dying... only to discover that Niki had a power, too: super-strength.

Of course, the problem with this is that if Jessi had the power to possess other people, why not simply possess Daddy Dearest and prevent him from hurting anyone? And how come Niki can't remember all the things her father did unless Jess had possessed her before?

I love poking holes in my own theories.

Incidentally, we do agree that Jessi was real, right? I mean, there was a gravestone and Dad had to go to jail for something (he was in jail, right?) and people can remember seeing her... so why is she now showing up inside Niki? Anyone have any workable theories about her? The more I think about it the more I think I am far, far off the mark.

[Cat_the_Alien]

Jessica was real, and now she's dead. (That's what I got from last week's episode, I haven't seen the one that's on right now.) I'm thinking Nikki's power might somehow be related to the dead... like she becomes a conduit for spirits with un-finished business? Either that, or its somehow related to being twins, which are genetically fascinating (and a theme in Heroes is genetics).

[Mefusta]

It's just a classic state of dissociative identity disorder. Let's look at what we know: Within Nikki there are two personalities; Nikki and 'Jessica'. The person we know as 'Jessica' is obviously dominant ego-state within Nikki's mind [given she was always aware of the split-personality] and is far more stronger-willed than Nikki has ever shown herself to be. Furthermore, it would weem that Nikki is only able to access her super-strength when 'Jessica' is in control.

This would fit with the way this alternate personality was born: With such a traumatic childhood, it's not hard to believe that Nikki would create another personality, a stronger personality, to deal with what she was experiencing. In fact, it's worth noting that traumatic childhoods are quite common in cases of DID. Moreover, since we may conclude that Nikki witnessed the death of her sister, it is possible that the newly-created ego-state would take on the mannerisms, indeed the very identity, of Jessica. Given that this personality was created to be a stronger-willed individual, this also lends to 'Jessica's' ability to control Nikki's super-strength. Finally, the memory-loss Nikki experiences when 'Jessica' is in control further supports this theory, with amnesia being one of the most recognisable elements of multiple personality disorder.

Now, while she may indentify herself as Jessica, unless the show is going to introduce the notion that Jessica had some crazy power to possess other people, we can safely conclude that Nikki's alternate ego-state is not the real Jessica. No ghosts, no possessions, just a serious mental disorder. Unless there's blatant evidence as to the real Jessica somehow having the ability to transcend the grave, DID seems to be the most appropriate explanation for Nikki's aberrant behaviour.


Edit: Here's the Wiki page on Dissociative Identity Disorder to show you i'm not talking out my arse here, however blatantly it may appear so.

[DEM]

I've heard this 'DID is not heroic' opinion a lot, and I still don't get it. NikiN's power isn't DID; her power is superstrength and DID is a disability (I think).

That said, I'm deliberately not thinking about a theory beyond that because, at the moment, I'm bummed out by the new thought that the writers are already making stuff up as they go along.

[Astrofighter]

im glad she finally stood up to jessica, whom doesnt actually care about micha shes showed that by tossing him into a rock pile

should be interesting to see what happens when she gets arrested and where that will lead, guessing jessica will take over and break her out of jail or something and she'll have to learn to control her

[silence]

i agree Jessica was real... i am basing that on reaction of their father.
big sister that took care of little sister type of thing, but she payed with her life..

and powers run deep in that family. (yeah, sue me George Lucas)

[eri-chan]

there was a character in the marvel verse... still dunno if she's around but her codename was M. initially m was made up of 2 twins and from that union, m had a myraid of powers that each the twins possessed. and one of the twins was autistic too... so there'd be times when m was autistic. then the real one eventually came along and stuff happened.

but yeah i kinda think jessica and niki are a bit like that. its not another personality like mpd but i think jessica is genuinely jessica inhabiting/merged with niki's body. or maybe what someone above mentioned, jessica jumped into niki's body before she died. or something like that...

anyway for more info on m... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M_%28comics%29

[classygirl]

I would have to agree with that theory of two sisters inhibiting one body. Niki is the sister who is alive. Jessica is the sister who died some horrible wrongful death. Her spirit inhibited her sister's body to help her fight kick ass. Heh. That's what I think happened.

[Kirath]

It's not uncommom for siblings especially twins to be connected through or have similar powers. Its possible their latent abilities allowed a part of Jessica to live on inside of Nikki and with their powers awakening Jessica is "waking up". she using times of stress or times when Nikki is unconscious to take over Nikki's body not unlike a goauld. Micah is a pretty smart kid. i think if she was just mentally unstable he would be able it figure out but he responds to and talks about her as if Jessica is a completey different person. his own powers may allow him to sense the differnce between them.

[ShadowMaat]

So does this mean Micah has two mommies?

[MarshAngel]

I've heard this 'DID is not heroic' opinion a lot, and I still don't get it. NikiN's power isn't DID; her power is superstrength and DID is a disability (I think).

That said, I'm deliberately not thinking about a theory beyond that because, at the moment, I'm bummed out by the new thought that the writers are already making stuff up as they go along.

I think what's meant is that Niki does, in fact, have superstrength but she has had no reason to use it or even be aware of having it because Jessica takes care of all the big problems in her life. Niki is just a mentally ill person who happened to develop abilities, bound to happen as there is an overabundance of mentally ill people out there.

I think, even if Jessica turns out to be inhabiting Niki's body, they don't have separate abilities. If evolution is the basis then the powers are of the body and Jessica is simply using Niki's own gift.

It's also clear that this has been happening for a long time and yet Niki has only recently become aware of it and I'm curious why that is? Why now? and now that she is aware of it, is she going to fight her own battles or let Jess do the dirty work?

[silence]

It's also clear that this has been happening for a long time and yet Niki has only recently become aware of it and I'm curious why that is? Why now? and now that she is aware of it, is she going to fight her own battles or let Jess do the dirty work?

I think last ep was about her getting control back... and i think she will. DL and Micah scenes point to that direction. I think breaking point was when she pushed Micah...

I also think kid played at that, that he knew Jessica will push him and that only way to get his mom back is to show to her that Jessica is danger to Micah also, so give her reason to fight Jessica.

[Doze]

I look at Niki/ Jessica being the same as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde from ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’. Both will work for good if they can get something out of it.

[jds1982]

It's just a classic state of dissociative identity disorder. Let's look at what we know: Within Nikki there are two personalities; Nikki and 'Jessica'. The person we know as 'Jessica' is obviously dominant ego-state within Nikki's mind [given she was always aware of the split-personality] and is far more stronger-willed than Nikki has ever shown herself to be. Furthermore, it would weem that Nikki is only able to access her super-strength when 'Jessica' is in control.

This would fit with the way this alternate personality was born: With such a traumatic childhood, it's not hard to believe that Nikki would create another personality, a stronger personality, to deal with what she was experiencing. In fact, it's worth noting that traumatic childhoods are quite common in cases of DID. Moreover, since we may conclude that Nikki witnessed the death of her sister, it is possible that the newly-created ego-state would take on the mannerisms, indeed the very identity, of Jessica. Given that this personality was created to be a stronger-willed individual, this also lends to 'Jessica's' ability to control Nikki's super-strength. Finally, the memory-loss Nikki experiences when 'Jessica' is in control further supports this theory, with amnesia being one of the most recognisable elements of multiple personality disorder.

Now, while she may indentify herself as Jessica, unless the show is going to introduce the notion that Jessica had some crazy power to possess other people, we can safely conclude that Nikki's alternate ego-state is not the real Jessica. No ghosts, no possessions, just a serious mental disorder. Unless there's blatant evidence as to the real Jessica somehow having the ability to transcend the grave, DID seems to be the most appropriate explanation for Nikki's aberrant behaviour.


Edit: Here's the Wiki page on Dissociative Identity Disorder to show you i'm not talking out my arse here, however blatantly it may appear so.

I think you hit the nail on the head there. We have seen absolutely no evidence that "Jessica" had the power to posses people, now while that certainly doesn't mean she didn't, it seems like a much simpler and more likely explanation that Niki simply has DID. She has all the symptoms of DID and a history that corellates well with others who have multiples.

[Xanderic]

1) I think Jessica was real. Else what is 6 feet under Jessica Sanders' gravestone? As such, I don't think Jessica is DID.

2) I think Jessica will be able to come out of Niki again and will be able to break out of jail. DL's name will somehow be cleared but it's highly unlikely that Jessica is going to change anytime soon.

3) Jessica has the RNA symbol. Either being dormant in Niki has matured her power or HRG somehow captured her.

4) I'm pretty sure Niki is Micah's mother. I'd be freaked if I had a mother like Jessica. Micah's like Niki, passive not agressive.

5) I think Niki wasn't aware of Jessica when she was a child. Jessica managed to keep herself "hidden" from Niki so that Niki could have a normal childhood.

6) I'm not sure if both sisters have powers. But Jessica has Superstrength in every sense of the word. I mean, physically, and psychologically. She has more strength than Niki and therefore can take over her body whenever Niki was weak.