Why is Lift important?

[asherketchem]

I just recently finished my first Cosmere read through and have been obsessively watching every WOB online. At some point I thought I remembered Brandon saying something along the lines of “Lift will play a bigger roll in the future of the cosmere.” I love Lify as a character but can’t for the life of me figure out what makes her so special! is there anyone who knows more about this?

[JustQuestin2004]

It's something to do with what Cultivation did to her. Brandon has said that Lift is something that shouldn't exist.

She metabolizes food into Lifelight, she has one foot in the Cognitive Realm which let's her see invisible Spren and touch them, and she doesn't seem to be suffering from a curse like Dalinar or Taravangian did.

Right now all we know is that she's really weird. Brandon has said that Book 6 is 'Lift's book' where things will get explained.

[Frustration]

Lift is a PoV character for the back five Stormlight books. I think she's the flashback character for book 5 or 8.

[SpinningSky]

14 hours ago, asherketchem said:

I just recently finished my first Cosmere read through and have been obsessively watching every WOB online. At some point I thought I remembered Brandon saying something along the lines of “Lift will play a bigger roll in the future of the cosmere.” I love Lify as a character but can’t for the life of me figure out what makes her so special! is there anyone who knows more about this?

For a theory I made I had to put together all of the Lift info I could find, if you wanna read my "notes" the link is in the signature

 

[+robardin]

On 1/15/2023 at 11:17 PM, JustQuestin2004 said:

It's something to do with what Cultivation did to her. Brandon has said that Lift is something that shouldn't exist.

She metabolizes food into Lifelight, she has one foot in the Cognitive Realm which let's her see invisible Spren and touch them, and she doesn't seem to be suffering from a curse like Dalinar or Taravangian did.

Right now all we know is that she's really weird. Brandon has said that Book 6 is 'Lift's book' where things will get explained.

I think Lift must have a curse to go with her boon - that's how the Old Magic appears to work. "That is how things are done", as Cultivation herself said.

Coming to request a "pruning" evidently is required in order for her, or for her proxy the Nightwatcher, to touch a person - providing the Intent, similar to a listener or singer having to "invite" a Fused's soul into themselves. The "a boon and a curse" pairing seems to be mechanical.

When the Nightwatcher handles it by proxy, the curse can come out seemingly random or disconnected to the boon ("here's some bolts of expensive cloth" / "now you see everything upside down"), because she's an unbonded spren. As Cultivation notes, she usually lets the NW "hold court" in the Valley, as "it helps her understand you".

But when Cultivation Herself comes out to do it, she has a REASON and a plan involving her foresight, and her larger goals or fears.

She can be more subtle, as when She does it (where the NW has not been known to bother), the curse may not have to be permanent, in balance with the boon being permanent or not, as with Dalinar (both wore off at the same time). However, as with the only other case of Cultivation's Pruning we see - Taravangian's - not only is her pruning highly strategic, it is also symmetrical. 

In Lift's case, we don't even really know what her request to Cultivation was. She herself remembers it to herself early on as asking "not to get older", and then later, when Wyndle asks her directly in Urithiru when she's grouchy about entering puberty, she says: "I asked not to change. When everything else is going wrong, I want to be the same. I want to stay me. Not become someone else."

That's her "best I can remember" phrasing, but we can assume (as does Wyndle) that the exact wording is quite relevant!

To me, her "boon" is her ability to see, and even to touch spren in the CR as if they were physical in the PR - climbing on the invisible "vines" Wyndle grows - and to be able to enter/exit visions in the CR or related "Godvision Bubble Universes" at will. These are unique and possibly borderline OP abilities that have surprised or baffled even Shards and Splinters.

And her "curse" is "having" to power this with Lifelight that parasitically feeds off of her own body's metabolism, putting her actual survival at risk to use her abilities. It's not that she can only do the "special stuff" with Lifelight, she is incapable of drawing in Stormlight to power ordinary Edgedancer Surgebinding like Abrasion or Progression.

So, how would that either the boon or the curse effectuate a request "not to change"? Coming from a Shard whose very Intent is to promote growth and change, no less?

And how might they be symmetrical? Thinking about that might yield some insight into what mechanism, or purpose, the "boon" really will have, for Cultivation's long game.

Edited January 18, 2023 by robardin

[dudethatsbutter]

On 1/15/2023 at 10:42 AM, asherketchem said:

I just recently finished my first Cosmere read through and have been obsessively watching every WOB online. At some point I thought I remembered Brandon saying something along the lines of “Lift will play a bigger roll in the future of the cosmere.” I love Lify as a character but can’t for the life of me figure out what makes her so special! is there anyone who knows more about this?

I would imagine it has to due with the fact that Lifelight fuels her Radiant powers, not Stormlight like every other Knight Radiant. This comes from her interaction with the Night Watcher but I feel like it has something to do with the Old Magic  that gets referenced sometimes.  But overall, nothing we can do except RAFO.