Nightwatcher changes

[Jofwu]

Page: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Nightwatcher

As discussed on Discord last week, I changed the request/boon/curse table under ==Visitors==. There was a lot of speculation, and we really don't know enough at this point for such a table to be useful. I changed that section to be a list of known visitors along with known, pertinent information. It does still include some very light speculation perhaps? Does anyone feel that section needs a {{theory}} tag?

Also a few other changes.

Needs a few references that I haven't had time to look up.

 

[Oversleep]

Few more things:

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 [Taravangian] believes that his curse is a level of compassion inversely proportional to his intelligence;

Does he? I'm not disagreeing, I just don't remember whether he considers it his curse.

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The boon and curse are unknown, but Lift's abilities to physically touch Wyndle and to digest food into Stormlight are apparently related to one or both of these

Worth mentioning - of course, if I recall correctly - that Lift is closer to Cognitive than people usually are. That's why she can touch Wyndle; perhaps that's why she can metabolise into Stormlight as well.

[Jofwu]

Good questions.

2 hours ago, Oversleep said:

Does he? I'm not disagreeing, I just don't remember whether he considers it his curse.

My basis for this statement was this, from his interlude:

"Blessed with intelligence, cursed with compassion to feel pain for what he had done. They came inversely. Why couldn’t he have both at once? He did not think that in other people, intelligence and compassion were tied in such a way. The Nightwatcher’s motives behind her boons and curses were unfathomable."

2 hours ago, Oversleep said:

Worth mentioning - of course, if I recall correctly - that Lift is closer to Cognitive than people usually are. That's why she can touch Wyndle; perhaps that's why she can metabolise into Stormlight as well.

Is this WoB or just popular theory? I'm familiar and I agree, but don't think it's explicitly mentioned in the books?

[+Extesian]

1 hour ago, jofwu said:

Is this WoB or just popular theory? I'm familiar and I agree, but don't think it's explicitly mentioned in the books?

Chapter 3 Edgedancer

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LIFT wasn’t supposed to be able to touch Wyndle. The Voidbringer kept saying things like “I don’t have enough presence in this Realm, even with our bond” and “you must be stuck partially in the Cognitive

Regarding touching, not Stormlight of course 

 

My further comments

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The precise phrasing of the request does not appear to make a difference, however, since the Nightwatcher bestows a boon that she feels the supplicant deserves.

I'm not certain of this, that's a common in-world view, but based on this, I feel like the Nightwatcher at least sometimes attempts to give the person what they ask for.

Quote

Interview: Feb 17th, 2016

Calamity-Seattle

Question

[Note: This question was asked by a young boy sitting near the front.] So for the Stormlight Archive series–

Brandon Sanderson

The Stormlight Archive? How old are you? [audience laughter]

Question

Nine?

Brandon Sanderson

Nine? And you’re reading the Stormlight Archive? [loud cheering]

Question

So the character Lift, with her powers, why does she only have to eat food instead of sucking in stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

So Lift is a really weird one. She visited the Old Magic and asked something very strange, and the Old Magic didn’t know how to treat that, and so answered with something equally strange. So you will actually see what happened with Lift and things like that, but suffice it to say some really weird things are going on.

Source

 

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This might also explain why Wyndle, the spren bonded to Lift, calls the Nightwatcher his "mother" in much the same way that Sylphrena (an honorspren) calls the Stormfather her "father."

This seems to be uncertain (unless there's a later WoB)

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Another sketchy one on this list is regarding whether the spren call the nightwatcher Mother or if they're calling cultivation Mother. I don't think the text of the books actually implies either way, despite what I said. (Unless I'm forgetting something.) For those in the know, with the Nightwatcher being an analogue of the Stormfather, that implication is there--but I don't want to confirm it either way. You'll get more on the Nightwatcher and Cultivation, and their relationship, in the books

Source

 

Edited August 15, 2017 by Extesian
added comments

[Jofwu]

@Extesian, good pull on Lift's nature. I'll add that.

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I'm not certain of this, that's a common in-world view, but based on this, I feel like the Nightwatcher at least sometimes attempts to give the person what they ask for.

Yeah, I agree. I meant to stick a {{cite}} on that. Someone else is welcome to do so, or to delete it. Or to elaborate. I assume the author was trying to make the point that Nightwatcher isn't a classic genie figure. Where you have to be careful to get exactly what you want, or else she'll find a loophole.

17 hours ago, Extesian said:

This seems to be uncertain (unless there's a later WoB)

What are you saying is uncertain exactly? The point of the article was only to draw a comparison with the language Syl uses, to support the godspren idea. In the quote you provided, Brandon said there is an implication made here in support of the idea. (though it may be false) And on top of all that, it's in a section marked {{theory}}, so the uncertainty is okay.

[+Extesian]

No worries @jofwu. I've never done wiki stuff before. That last point was only that we don't know whether he was calling the Nightwatcher or Cultivation Mother, but yeah I missed the point