Molly Walker
Molly Walker, portrayed by Adair Tishler (original series) and Francesca Eastwood (Reborn), is a fictional character on the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes. She possesses the power to locate anyone just by thinking about them. She kills herself when Noah tried to save her.
Molly Walker | |
---|---|
Heroes character | |
First appearance | "Don't Look Back" |
Last appearance | N/A |
Portrayed by | Adair Tishler (Heroes) & Francesca Eastwood (Heroes Reborn) |
In-universe information | |
Alias | Ujala Zoe |
Ability | Clairvoyance |
Character appearances
Genesis
Molly Walker is a little girl whose parents were murdered by Sylar, who also stole her father's power of freezing. She is discovered hiding at the crime scene by Matt Parkman's telepathy. Parkman later rescues her from an abduction attempt by Sylar.
Later it is revealed that she is the Company's "Walker Tracking System", which exploits her ability to locate anyone in the world by mere thought.[1] Her powers were inhibited by the same neuro-degrading virus that killed Shanti Suresh, and are restored when Mohinder Suresh cured the virus using antibodies found in his own blood. Mohinder later protects Molly from Bennet, who planned to kill her and disable the tracking system in order to protect Claire. Matt Parkman, with whom Molly seems to have a strong connection, promises that she will not be harmed. He only agreed to help Bennet because he misunderstood that the "Walker Tracking System" was a technological device.
Generations
Matt later starts protecting Molly with the help of Mohinder.[2] Molly mentions that there is one person far worse than even Sylar (the nightmare man) whom she is afraid to locate: when she thinks about him, he can see her.[3] Because of that, she suffers from nightmares. When Matt uses his powers to listen in on one of the dreams, he hears a man's voice telling Molly that he can see her. He finds out later in "The Kindness of Strangers" that the voice inside of Molly's head is his father's. Matt asks Molly to find him and she gives Matt a complete address and apartment number. Matt's father retaliates by telepathically knocking her out and forcing her into an induced nightmare where she stays trapped inside her own mind.
In "Out of Time", Molly is rescued by Matt when he confronts his father within his nightmare world. Matt reveals to his father his ability to manipulate the same dreams he can and traps him within his very own nightmare, and he and Molly escape from the nightmare world.
In the end of "Truth & Consequences", Sylar and Maya have arrived at Mohinder's apartment where Molly was staying; he calls Mohinder and tells him to come over to help Maya and him in exchange for Molly.
In "Powerless", after a confrontation between Sylar and Mohinder, Maya learns who Sylar really is, and activates her power, which also affects Molly. Sylar convinces her to stop on behalf of her. Once in Reed Street Laboratory, while being held as hostages by Sylar, Molly offers to find Maya's brother, but she cannot because he is nowhere to be found, concluding he is already dead. After Maya is revived with Claire's blood, Elle Bishop enters the place and makes Sylar flee, saving Molly, Mohinder and Maya from him.
Villains
In "The Second Coming", Mohinder mentions to Maya Herrera that he dropped Molly off at an airport, having sent her to India to live with his mother.[4]
It was intended for Molly to make another appearance, Arthur Petrelli having used his telepathy on Mohinder to find her. Arthur was to steal her ability, eventually using it to locate Claire and Hiro in the past. Though the scene was filmed, it was cut because it seemed too "disturbing".[5][6]
Fugitives
In the graphic novel "Rebellion, Part 6: Lost And Found", she seems to be going by the name Ujala (light) and living quiet and peacefully in India together with grandma Suresh, but the 'Rebel' team arrives and asks her to come with them and help finding missing posthumans. After being convinced by Mrs. Suresh, she guides 'Rebel' to Pittsburgh, where they find a train transporting sedated posthumans. Once inside, they manage to free Claude and Lee, but Micah and Abigail got trapped while Molly stayed hidden, so she can help them later. Once the train starts moving, West and Sparrow managed to stop it by derailing it, allowing Molly to free everyone trapped in the train. Micah asks Molly to find West and Sparrow, but instead she finally found the location of Monica.
In "Rebellion, Part 7: The Liberation Of Saint Joan", Micah aggressively tries to make Molly talk, but she cries telling him how selfish he is for using everyone just to find Monica because she knows he will leave her aside. Finally, Molly reveals Micah her location but with the warning that Sylar will be close enough to kill him. Without hesitation, Micah leads the "Rebellion" team to Washington D.C., leaving the safety of Molly to Claude.
Redemption
In the graphic novel "Second Chances", Mohinder asks Molly to find Mira once he returned India; Molly finds her being held hostage by someone interested in Mohinder's research. Molly depicts herself to be more mature now ("I've grown up since you saw me last.").
Webisode: Dark Matters, Part 5
One of the files that Quentin downloads from Renautas is titled "Walker System."
Heroes Reborn
In "Odessa", under the alias "Zoe," Molly enters the Hotel Dean and watches as Francis continues his winning streak at Craps. After speaking briefly with another woman, Molly approaches Francis and acts as his lucky charm, continuously blowing on his dice until the two decide to cash out and leave. In his room, Molly secretly grabs a knife and comments that Francis appears to be too dumb to have a system to be cheating and as such must be an evo. Molly throws the knife at him, forcing him to out himself as a telekinetic evo. Molly demands his winnings in exchange for her silence, but is instead attacked and dragged into the hallway where Francis chokes her. A hotel guest intervenes and Molly is able to escape with Taylor.
Later that night Molly and Taylor get a drink at a bar and discuss Molly's needs for money. Stating that some bad people are after her, Taylor offers to cut her a check as she is a "trust fund baby". Taylor secretly drugs Molly and brings her back to the Francis's room, revealing the two are partners and that they know her true identity. Francis calls an unknown number and informs them that they have Molly Walker.
In "Under The Mask", Molly is being prepped to board a plane by Taylor and Francis as she frantically attempts to persuade them to release her. She is then dragged onboard and tranquilized as Francis is left behind. While onboard Molly talks to Taylor about how Renautas has picked up where Primatech left off and are collecting people with powers. She also lets Taylor know that Francis will either be killed or experimented on in order to figure out how to turn his power into a "freaking app."
At Renautas Headquarters Molly is saved by Quentin Frady and Noah Bennet, who had just discovered that he was with Molly on June 13. Molly refuses to escape with Noah, stating that there is too much at risk before attempting to flee on her own. Molly is then captured by M. F. Harris and is taken to a lab and connected to E.P.I.C, a system that utilises her ability to locate other evolved humans.
In "The Needs of The Many", upon being found by Noah, Quentin and Taylor, Molly informs them that E.P.I.C has no off switch. As Noah examines her, Molly steals his gun and tells him that he should never have found her. Noah says he just wants to help her and Molly tells him people having been telling her that her entire life, but instead just want to use her for her powers and that he should know better than anyone. Molly then tells him that she was in the hospital when his daughter died. Crying, Molly says that they all knew what was at stake and all agreed to do whatever was necessary to keep "them" safe. Putting the gun to her head Molly tearfully says that she was strong and never gave Erica the location she was looking for. Noah asks Molly what she is talking about and she refuses to explain, as she believes Noah would not "go back" if he knew the truth.
Molly tells the group that despite not being strong enough to stop Erica, she would not help her kill seven billion people. Molly tells Noah to forget the past and save the future before she sacrifices herself to stop E.P.I.C, successfully shutting down its global tracking.
In "June 13 - Part 1", Mohinder runs into an excited Molly at the Odessa Peace Summit. Growing suspicious of Erica Kravid after Angela Petrelli's warnings and his inability to reach his team in the Arctic, Mohinder gives Molly a copy of his research to keep safe in case something happens to him though he doesn't tell her that. After the bombing, Molly finds Caspar Abraham and an injured Noah and helps Caspar get Noah to the hospital. Noah asks her to look for Claire, but she can't find her, leaving her worried. She and Caspar take off to find Claire while Noah gets distracted by the sight of his own future self and follows him instead.
In "June 13th - Part Two", Molly, Caspar and Noah are informed by a future Noah of Claire's death and the birth of her children who are prophecised to prevent Erica from destroying the world. Upon realising that Hiro Nakamura hasn't returned from the past, future Noah asks Molly to find him. Molly concentrates and is unable to locate Hiro exactly, rather she is able to locate traces of his abilities (teleportation and time travel), tracking them to Odessa. Molly then accompanies future Noah to find him. En route to Hiro's location Molly turns off a radio report blaming Mohinder for the attack on the Odessa summit. Molly says that Mohinder is innocent and future Noah agrees, revealing Erica set him up as a scapegoat. Molly tells Noah she believes he was right when he attempted to kill Erica. The two then discover that Hiro has lived the past fifteen years in Odessa, powerless. Confused, Molly asks how she was able to track his ability and Hiro reveals that Nathan can absorb powers. Later, future Noah instructs Molly to monitor Nathan and Malina from afar and warns her that Erica will soon begin hunting her for her abilities. Molly reaffirms her commitment to the cause, stating she would rather die than give the twins up. Molly shares a hug goodbye with Noah before she is teleported to Chennai, India to see Mohinder's mother.
Powers and abilities
Molly describes her power as the ability to "find people". By thinking of someone, Molly can psychically determine their exact location fairly quickly and can point out their location on a map. She also receives psychic visions of the person's surroundings. The full extent of her power and what it can locate, beyond people, has not been revealed; Adair Tishler stated in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that Molly's ability is to "find anyone or anything".[7] Those with telepathic powers, namely Maury Parkman, can detect and resist her attempts to locate them. Maury, dubbed the "Nightmare Man" by Molly because of this, can even affect Molly's mind if she attempts to track him. As seen in "Powerless", she can only find people who are alive, as she unsuccessfully tries to find Maya's dead brother.
Alternate futures
- Molly is referenced in the Heroes 360 experience in an email from the future Hiro Nakamura, in which he says he has found Molly Walker and is searching for "others" like her.
- In an alternate future of "Five Years Gone", Molly is mentioned to be under Mr. Bennet's care. She may have been killed by Sylar since the other people Bennet mentioned were, though the actual facts are inconclusive.
- In an alternate future of "I Am Become Death", Molly is living with Matt and his wife Daphne. She uses her power to locate the younger Peter Petrelli.
Character development and conception
In a December 2007 interview with World Balloon podcast, Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb stated that they originally brought Adair on the show with the idea that they would use her again later down the line, but not knowing exactly when. Then the idea came about in the writer's room to have the Company's tracking system be a physical person, the idea of Molly Walker and Adair Tishler came into the forefront. Jeph Loeb stated that he really hoped that Adair could act, because she did not have a speaking part in the first couple of episodes that she guest starred in, and that if Tishler could not act, then they were in for it. Fortunately, Loeb and Alexander both commented that Tishler did an excellent job, and she was brought on into a bigger role in season two, with the production staff considering promoting her to a series regular in the future.[8]
References
- Director: John Badham, Writer: Aron Eli Coleite (2007-05-07). "The Hard Part". Heroes. NBC.
- Director: Greg Beeman, Writer: Tim Kring (2007-09-24). "Four Months Later...". Heroes. NBC.
- Director: Allan Arkush, Writer: Tim Kring (2007-05-21). "How to Stop an Exploding Man". Heroes. NBC.
- "BEHIND THE ECLIPSE: Week 19". Comic Book Resources.
- "BEHIND THE ECLIPSE: Week 12". Comic Book Resources.
- "BEHIND THE ECLIPSE: Week 14". Comic Book Resources.
- "Adair Tishler: Chatting with the youngest Hero". ew.com.
- "Sound File" (=MP3). Cdn.libsyn.com. Retrieved 2017-07-15.