Lift’s Abilty: Reverse Progression?

[Elsecaller_17.5]

I’ve been pondering our favorite little weirdo’s signature ability to metabolize food into Stormlight, and I think I figured it out. Let’s go.

(For the sake of simplicity I’ll refer to the process of eating, turning food into chemical energy, and turning chemical energy into kinetic energy as “normal” energy)

We have WoB that Lift’s ability works by metabolizing food into stormlight instead of “normal” energy. The important thing to realize though that this is what Progression does in reverse.  Progression takes stormlight and transforms it into “normal” energy in order to achieve the effect of either healing or growth. Once that connection is made we can draw a couple conclusions. Obviously it takes a massive amount of energy to heal injuries, an amount of “normal” energy that stormlight easily covers, however because of the law of conservation of energy the exchange rate for stormlight and “normal” energy is set in stone. This would indicate that Lift’s ability to turn “normal” energy into stormlight is not her boon, but her curse. It means she is working with drastically reduced amounts of stormlight.

What are your guy’s thoughts?

Edited July 9, 2019 by Truthwatcher_17.5

[Karger]

20 minutes ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said:

I’ve been pondering our favorite little weirdo’s signature ability to metabolize food into Stormlight, and I think I figured it out. Let’s go.

Im normal.  Its everyone else who is wired. 

 

21 minutes ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said:

Obviously it takes a massive amount of energy to heal injuries, an amount of “normal” energy that stormlight easily covers, however because of the law of conservation of energy the exchange rate for stormlight and “normal” energy is set in stone. This would indicate that Lift’s ability to turn “normal” energy into stormlight is not her boon, but her curse. It means she is working with drastically reduced amounts of stormlight.

 

I am of the opinion that Lift's ability to tern food into investiture is a side effect rather then a cause.  After all she was not yet bonded to Wyndle when she visited the Nightwatcher and it is fairly clear that she asked not to age.  I do not see how the boon and curse you describe would be practical without her already being bonded.

[Nnatel]

I might be wrong but I don't think healing uses so much Investiture and than the 'loss', as you called it, wouldn't be very big. (I'm not really convinced if it is a loss because she still is the only one who 'creates' Stormlight, so she ends up with more then anyone else). 

And to the second part - I'll add third version... As I believe she is the next case in which Cultivation intervened (because for what I know it is not confirmed) it would be logical for the boom and the curse to mix - just as they do in Dalinar's case. 

[Elsecaller_17.5]

22 minutes ago, Nnatel said:

I might be wrong but I don't think healing uses so much Investiture and than the 'loss', as you called it, wouldn't be very big.

Let me clarify, the large amount of energy to heal is the “normal” energy. How many calories would you have to eat to produce enough energy to heal a broken bone. I was trying to say that the stormlight is much more powerful and efficient than “normal” energy.

[Karger]

34 minutes ago, Nnatel said:

As I believe she is the next case in which Cultivation intervened (because for what I know it is not confirmed) it would be logical for the boom and the curse to mix - just as they do in Dalinar's case. 

If she is anything like her daughter sometimes they do and sometimes they don't

[Nnatel]

14 minutes ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said:

Let me clarify, the large amount of energy to heal is the “normal” energy. How many calories would you have to eat to produce enough energy to heal a broken bone. I was trying to say that the stormlight is much more powerful and efficient than “normal” energy.

Yeah, I must agree with you on that. But imagine you can eat any amount of calories you can find - Lift is definitely able to eat enough to heal herself. 

 

6 minutes ago, Karger said:

If she is anything like her daughter sometimes they do and sometimes they don't

Oh, I believed that Nightwatcher gives you a separate boom and curse every time. Oops. 

[Elsecaller_17.5]

1 minute ago, Nnatel said:

Yeah, I must agree with you on that. But imagine you can eat any amount of calories you can find - Lift is definitely able to eat enough to heal herself. 

Two things, one Lift doesn’t have enough foresight to eat a ton and build up fat stores when she’s going to need stormlight, in ED Wyndle gets after her for driving herself into the malnutrition zone. Two she can’t get stormlight instantly. If Kal runs out of stormlight big deal, he needs to breathe. Lift has to go find a snack, eat it, and wait for it to transfer (though admittedly we don’t know how long that takes).

[Elsecaller_17.5]

Maybe I’m reading into this too far but here’s a WoB

Questioner

Why does Lift need Stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

Lift went to see the Nightwatcher, and got a Blessing and a Curse in that she can metabolize food to turn into Stormlight, but she can't use regular Stormlight. And there is something else, as well.

He says that she can “eat” stormlight but can’t breathe it. And there’s something else. Aren’t all the effects whether from the Nightwatcher or Cultivation herself binary. Two and only two effects. That would indicate that yes to eating and no to breathing are one effect. An effect that I would argue is a curse. 

[Karger]

2 hours ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said:

Two things, one Lift doesn’t have enough foresight to eat a ton and build up fat stores when she’s going to need stormlight, in ED Wyndle gets after her for driving herself into the malnutrition zone.

Part of the problem is that she is a street urchin meaning she often can't.  Also she can't use fat stores for surgebinding.  Only food that has been consumed in the last few hours.

[Elsecaller_17.5]

39 minutes ago, Karger said:

Part of the problem is that she is a street urchin meaning she often can't.  

She is best friends with the Prime of Azir. She has all the food she wants.

41 minutes ago, Karger said:

Also she can't use fat stores for surgebinding.  Only food that has been consumed in the last few hours.

Wyndle would beg to differ. WoR, interlude 9, page 838

[Elsecaller_17.5]

@Karger regardless that doesn’t change the  fact that if I’m right about this energy transfer, than there’s no way she could match the amount of stormlight a normal Radiant can with a handful of emerald broams.

[Karger]

1 hour ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said:

page 838

FYI this is generally not useful unless you tell me the addition.  My copy for example has interlude 9 in the high 600 range.  It is also best to type the specific quote so that we know what you are referencing.  I now have toassume this is what you are referencing

Quote

"You've let yourself grow too thin," Wyndle said.  "Not good." You always use up the excess... Low body fat... That might be the problem. I don't know how this works!"

without objective proof.  This paragraph also does not mean she burns through fat.  It could just mean she is burning calories too quickly.

However if you read Edgedancer you get the clear quote from Lift herself

Quote

She did not use her awesomeness, which was running out anyway. She hadn't eaten since last night, and if she did not use the power it eventually vanished.  Took about half the day.

 

1 hour ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said:

 regardless that doesn’t change the  fact that if I’m right about this energy transfer, than there’s no way she could match the amount of stormlight a normal Radiant can with a handful of emerald broams.

This is often a disadvantage.  Emerald bromes are extremely rare costing the equivalent of thousands of dollars and during the weeping are hardly available at all.  Neither effect is directly a boon or curse because at the time of boon/curse receptiveness as she still had not yet visited the old magic.  It was this action that brought her to the attention of the ring in the first place.  This along with the fact that Lift initially believes she has been given what she asked for (halted aging) leads me to believe that her curse/boon were something else.  Finally we have WoB confirmation that Lift's curse is realated to her ability to acsess Cultivation's version of the surges.

 

At the Pixel Project event, you talked about a further extent of Cultivation's magic than just the boon and bane? Are there any people alive at the end of Oathbringer who are influenced by that magic?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, Lift. Well, I guess that's a boon, isn't it? Yes, there are. But nobody on screen that has Cultivation magic, other than boons or curses from the Nightwatcher. Yes, there is such a thing, no, there's no one else on screen. But what Lift does is a hint.

5 hours ago, Nnatel said:

And to the second part - I'll add third version... As I believe she is the next case in which Cultivation intervened (because for what I know it is not confirmed) it would be logical for the boom and the curse to mix - just as they do in Dalinar's case. 

Questioner

When Lift says to Dalinar that he smells like her, does she mean Cultivation or Nightwatcher?

Brandon Sanderson

[She] meant Nightwatcher, but Nightwatcher is kind of Cultivation, so, yeah.

 

 

[Elsecaller_17.5]

@Karger alright, I concede the point

[Karger]

2 minutes ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said:

 alright, I concede the point

Which point?

[Elsecaller_17.5]

. . . fat stores one

[Karger]

1 hour ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said:

. . . fat stores one

 

Edited July 10, 2019 by Karger

[Elsecaller_17.5]

I was going to come back and edit that to say and the weeping one. As for ones I won’t.

1) stormlight is a more efficient source of energy than food

2) gems are a more efficient means of transporting energy than a backpack full of food

3) no knight radiant is going to be denied access to food or stormlight as long as there in a stronghold for the KR. Lift will have food and Kaladin will have stormlight.

3.5) in a pinch it’s much easier to steal stormlight than food

Edited July 10, 2019 by Truthwatcher_17.5

[Karger]

56 minutes ago, Truthwatcher_17.5 said:

And a question for you, are you always so egotistical and rude?

It was a failed attempt at being humorous but if you find it offensive I will delete the post.

[Elsecaller_17.5]

@Karger all good, apologize accepted