Why Lift is partially in the Cognitive Realm

[Trusk'our he/him]

I made a post recently about how it seems that shapeshifters in the Cosmere are able to change their age and appearance by having some kind of connection to the cognitive realm, and then by manipulating their cognitive aspect. So, could the reason why Lift was changed the way she was by the Nightwatcher be because that she now technically does have the ability to “stay the same”, but she simply doesn’t know how to use it?

[Sp00ks]

1 hour ago, Trusk'our said:

I made a post recently about how it seems that shapeshifters in the Cosmere are able to change their age and appearance by having some kind of connection to the cognitive realm, and then by manipulating their cognitive aspect. So, could the reason why Lift was changed the way she was by the Nightwatcher be because that she now technically does have the ability to “stay the same”, but she simply doesn’t know how to use it?

I mean, there's not a terribly large number of examples, but it always seemed to me like cognitive shadows aged to their "prime", then stopped. If Lift is partly in the cognitive realm, I'd imagine she'd abide by the same mechanics?

[+Oltux72 he/him]

4 hours ago, Sp00ks said:

I mean, there's not a terribly large number of examples, but it always seemed to me like cognitive shadows aged to their "prime", then stopped. If Lift is partly in the cognitive realm, I'd imagine she'd abide by the same mechanics?

I am afraid Oldmother in the Court of Gods is a direct counterexample.

[+Invocation]

1 hour ago, Oltux72 said:

I am afraid Oldmother in the Court of Gods is a direct counterexample.

It's the prime of life according to the person in question. Allmother is also stockier than most of the other Returned, presumably for similar reasons. If I had a guess, Allmother valued the mental side of things more than the physical, so her body aged to when her mind had the most information in it to match that.

[Trusk'our he/him]

22 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

I am afraid Oldmother in the Court of Gods is a direct counterexample.

I thought that Oldmother's more elderly appearance was simply due to the fact that she viewed herself as being more elderly, possibly because she was older when she returned.

[+Oltux72 he/him]

On 25.12.2021 at 8:58 PM, Trusk'our said:

I thought that Oldmother's more elderly appearance was simply due to the fact that she viewed herself as being more elderly, possibly because she was older when she returned.

Yes. Nut that tells us that they are shaped by their own wishes, not an external standard.

[Olmund]

This was the subject of my earlier topic:

I think there is some evidence to support the idea that cognitive shadows gravitate toward a "mature" form, (e.g., God Kings of Hallendren, Tien's connection-fueled spiritual apparition in RoW, etc.), despite having the potential to control the way they manifest in other ways. This could explain why Lift still ages despite being a cognitive shadow (or something akin to it), though it's certainly also possible that she is not a cognitive shadow and has some other connection to the cognitive realm.