"I Knew Someone Would Come" - Walter/Peter 'Link' Forshadowed?

[D-Roc]

I'll post this here rather than the episode 1 sub-forum, as it mostly relates to The Arrival -

I think we were given a major clue as to the mental link between Walter and Peter in Walter's very first words of the entire season. As Olivia enters his room at St. Claire's institution, Walter turns around and tells her: "I knew that someone would come" (or words to that effect). He must have known because Peter knew he was coming to see his father, right?

At the time I also thought there was more to this line, but I had nothing to go on other than my inclination - after The Arrival, however, it seems clear that this was a major clue which the writers had planted, alluding to the ability for Walter and Peter to communicate mentally. Obviously Walter is more adept at doing this - Peter hasn't trained himself to consciously tap into his fathers brain.

Another clue came in Ghost Network, when Walter, who was busy talking to Olivia on the phone, somehow 'knew' of Peter's encounter with the guy with the camera, and that he was in trouble. Of course, Walter may have seen the encounter in the reflection, as suggested in that the thread linked above, however I'm now almost certain that this was another occasion when the Walter and Peter 'mental link' was forshadowed.

If this is accurate, I think it's very cool that they gave us such an important in Walter's very first words.. ..Makes me wonder..what else is out there, waiting to be dug up..

[MystikPeril]

I agree! I think they have been foreshadowing this from the very beginning.

[Wondermind]

Very good posting D-Roc. I like how you pieced the theory together with time-lines and facts. I would also like to add in the fact that Walter also could have been very well speaking of the Observer. Afterall, they did meet before in the past, when the Observer saved Walter and Peter, and Walter knew that he or someone from his group/race would reappear again in the future.

[BadInfluence]

Does it seem to anyone else that Walter is holding back and/or putting up a front if you will? Could he be manipulating people to get what he wants and do what he wishes. I just get the impression that he doesnt give key information unless its beneficial to him. Maybe his memory isnt as bad as it appears. There was a scene in "The Arrival" that really made me think this way. When Olivia first noticed "September" in the photos and Peter came over to see what she saw she said "bald guy" and there was a quick shot of Walter who to me showed instant recognition but yet he kept it to himself until later.

[D-Roc]

Thanks for the input peeps!

MP - I wonder if there's any other 'clues' that will only be realised in later episodes?

WM, you make a strong point - since The Observer seems to be the hub of their link, it could well have been him who Walter 'knew' would come!

Hey BI, I think you make a good point - Walter is very manipulative (look at what he did to Astrid). There are moments when he just comes 'alive', it's almost as if he has a 'radar' which blasts into action whenever there's science to be applied or whenever he wants something.

One thing that might play out in the future is Walter's ability to be coerced against his will - if has this mental link with Peter and TO (and possibly others), then who knows what he could be made to do.

[silverdragon892003]

The forshadowing theory could very well be true, it's definitely not impossible - in all honesty, we'll never know if certain lines were written specifically for forshadowing unless they decide to tell us in an interview or Q&A, so all we have is speculation. I myself do believe that line and the many others were forshadowing.

But what I'm not sure about is the theory that Walter 'knew' someone would come for him just because Peter had made the decision to come for him. What makes me believe this is that, in the pilot, when Olivia went to get Peter and Walter after the ordeal with John, Peter told her that in one of Walter's more lucid moments, Walter told him that this was only the beginning. If Walter knew that this was only the beginning, he probably knew that before he was institutionalized and therefore knew someone would come for him eventually.

Also, when Walter was explaining how Peter 'knew' where the cylinder was, his exact words were: "ideas can be absorbed through osmosis, through proximity." Which means that in order for them to be able to exchange thoughts, for Walter to specifically know that someone was coming for him, they would have needed to be relatively close to one another in order for that exchange to happen. Just my thoughts on that theory . . .

But I'd still like to know more about the 'ideas being absorbed through osmosis' thing - that still doesn't make sense to me . Was Walter referring to just himself and Peter, or was he talking about humanity's ability to communicate overall? And if he was talking about just himself and Peter, why them, what is connecting their two minds - was it something Walter did to Peter when he was young (like an experiment - could be a hint at Peter's mysterious medical history) or was it simply that Peter knows his father well enough to figure out where Walter would hide something like the cylinder if given enough clues - like Walter being found traveling the median of I95 and the torture guy's leading question: "Were there any other hiding places your father used"???

I just hope that they elaborate more on Walter and Peter's 'telepathy.'

[nrust551]

I remember reading about a study wherein the researchers postulated that people could transfer ideas through proximity or close working relationships. I tried to find the study online but to no avail...
Also mentioned was the phenomena in close relationships akin to psychic tuning where it seems as though two close friends or two people in love think on the same wavelengths... they both have the same ideas or arrive at the same conclusions separately, etc.
I myself have had a personal experience with this.... My former girlfriend and I once had the same exact dream where we were both present, and could describe intimate details of the dream to each other. It was pretty freaky. While at the time we hypothesized that the dream may occur sometime in the future, that idea is now shot down because one person that played a role in the dream is now no longer with us. I don't necessarily believe in psychic powers or what have you, but both I and the girl have been described as being very "attune" to the parts of the world and people that remain "unseen and unobservable." Perhaps the moral then is, however, that parts of the subconcious may align themselves with those close to us, allowing information to be communicated in a way we don't yet understand.