Lift efficiency

[Windborn_bolder]

Lift makes lifelight from food, lifelight can be used to speed up plant growth. Can she use this effect to multiply her supply of lifelight

[ChillPenguin]

I think we know that the Cosmere follows conservation laws, meaning investiture is conserved as energy is for us. Brandon hasn’t said if entropy is involved or if Lift gets 100% from anything she digests or just the calories. Either way, I would guess it would be neutral at best. If she got stormlight/warlight/towerlight she could launder that into lifelight by growing food with those. 

[AltonicKeys he/him]

On 5/3/2025 at 7:59 PM, Windborn_bolder said:

Lift makes lifelight from food, lifelight can be used to speed up plant growth. Can she use this effect to multiply her supply of lifelight

53 minutes ago, ChillPenguin said:

I think we know that the Cosmere follows conservation laws, meaning investiture is conserved as energy is for us. Brandon hasn’t said if entropy is involved or if Lift gets 100% from anything she digests or just the calories. Either way, I would guess it would be neutral at best. If she got stormlight/warlight/towerlight she could launder that into lifelight by growing food with those. 

I think at most, the process would end up being net-negative. Keep in mind that while Lift is pumping Progression into a plant, she's not going to be able to eat the whole plant. A lot of the growth will be going into the stem, the branches, the roots, the flowers, etc. If she's growing something like berries, that's a very small portion of food she can convert into Light. Even if she's growing a bigger plant, like a root, say carrots, she can't, or won't, eat the extra roots and the leaves. Even an on-world food like a lavish polyp has roots and a husk that can't be eaten. So whatever she's eating, it's probably not enough to be self-sustainable.

And I guess if she were to somehow farm animals to eat, there'd still be bones and hair and organs and such that are inedible.

[Riino He/Him]

6 hours ago, AltonicKeys said:

I think at most, the process would end up being net-negative. Keep in mind that while Lift is pumping Progression into a plant, she's not going to be able to eat the whole plant. A lot of the growth will be going into the stem, the branches, the roots, the flowers, etc. If she's growing something like berries, that's a very small portion of food she can convert into Light. Even if she's growing a bigger plant, like a root, say carrots, she can't, or won't, eat the extra roots and the leaves. Even an on-world food like a lavish polyp has roots and a husk that can't be eaten. So whatever she's eating, it's probably not enough to be self-sustainable.

And I guess if she were to somehow farm animals to eat, there'd still be bones and hair and organs and such that are inedible.

Entering Lift arc, where she goes farming and starts trying to grow a super food that is heavily invested and has a small profile. She uses towerlight to grow a lot of these plants and then just takes these with her wherever she goes and has a super investiture bank on her.

[ChillPenguin]

22 hours ago, Riino said:

Entering Lift arc, where she goes farming and starts trying to grow a super food that is heavily invested and has a small profile. She uses towerlight to grow a lot of these plants and then just takes these with her wherever she goes and has a super investiture bank on her.

Yes this ^^^ 100% this is how Lift will be effective in the back half. Using science to make advancements isn’t really her thing though so she’s going to need some help. Maybe Navani will wake up and help her?

Of course Lift is going to build a reputation like Vasher did and life will get very dangerous for her. Word will get around fast that there’s a radiant that can function without storm light. 

[Riino He/Him]

13 minutes ago, ChillPenguin said:

Yes this ^^^ 100% this is how Lift will be effective in the back half. Using science to make advancements isn’t really her thing though so she’s going to need some help. Maybe Navani will wake up and help her?

Of course Lift is going to build a reputation like Vasher did and life will get very dangerous for her. Word will get around fast that there’s a radiant that can function without storm light. 

Or Zahel himself could help her, being like a surrogate uncle and all. 

[ParaTulip fae/faer (declines as she/her)]

It would be pretty in line with Lift's whole deal to invent canned soda. First, it's really quick calories to gulp down a bunch of sugar water. Second, considering the weirdness which is aluminum and investiture movement, she might be able to cram towerlight into the can while at Urithuru and then carry it around.

Also, I can't really figure what kinds of soda most characters would be up for, but I feel like Jasnah would be the sort to just drink club soda without the sweetener.

[ShatteredDiamond She/Her]

Lift was musing about this in Edgedancer and asked Wyndle if she could grow plants and eat those but he said something like "the rules of the cosmere would make it almost certain that it would take more stormlight to grow the plants than eating them would give you"

butchered the quote but anyway

[AltonicKeys he/him]

1 hour ago, ShatteredDiamond said:

Lift was musing about this in Edgedancer and asked Wyndle if she could grow plants and eat those but he said something like "the rules of the cosmere would make it almost certain that it would take more stormlight to grow the plants than eating them would give you"

butchered the quote but anyway

Yeah, that's what I thought too. Even if she can eat the whole plant, it'll probably give less light than what she put in. Could be because some light is lost somewhere along the process, from either entropy or inefficiency? That, and/or her body doesn't convert the entire thing into light, setting the rest aside as normal food to be digested? Otherwise she'd starve, I guess.

...

Instead of studying for my geography test, I did some light digging, here's a bunch of WOBs

Spoiler

A long one on metabolism:

Spoiler

Argent

Does Lift turn food into Investiture directly or is it similar to the metals on--

Brandon Sanderson

Similar to the metals.

Argent

So like a gate?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Argent

Okay, that's good to know.

Brandon Sanderson

She can metabolize-- She can draw-- It's not actually the food, it's-- It's not like the metals, not exactly. It's not-- What she can do is she can metabolize into Investiture instead of sugar. Does that make sense?

Argent

Yeah.

Brandon Sanderson

We metabolize food into sugar. She can metabolize it into Investiture. Does that make sense?

Argent

That makes a lot of sense. So if she eats--

Brandon Sanderson

She's got to have a blood sugar spike.

Argent

So if she eats like a cake it will give her more Investiture--

Brandon Sanderson

Faster. It will give her faster.

Argent

Whereas if she eats a vegetable...

Brandon Sanderson

Vegetable... More calories is going to equal more. But the better comparison would be a sausage and bread. Because bread is a fast blood sugar spike and the sausage is not. And that's how I'm working in my head. It's kind of a magical version of a blood sugar spike and I have it happen to her faster than it could happen. Like normally you eat a piece of bread and your blood sugar spikes in a half hour, it's going to go faster for Lift.

Argent

Hers is like five minutes.

Brandon Sanderson

Hers is like five minutes, but a sausage would be slower.

Firefight Chicago signing (Feb. 20, 2015)

Another on metabolism:

Spoiler

Questioner

If Lift ate something that had like, gold leaf on it, 'cause some foods like-- She would be turning that gold leaf into Investiture or Stormlight, right?

Brandon Sanderson

If it is giving-- So the gold leaf would probably pass through her system.

Questioner

So she wouldn't be...

Brandon Sanderson

Mmhmm, yes, that things that she eats that she can metabolize, she can turn into Stormlight.

JordanCon 2016 (April 23, 2016)

Something about nutrients

Spoiler

Shadowglass0

If someone used Hemalurgy to give Lift from Words of Radiance the ability to use Bendalloy Feruchemy, could she convert the nutrition she gets out of Feruchemy into stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

Theoretically possible, I suppose.

/r/books AMA 2015 (May 29, 2015)

Similarities to allomancy

Spoiler

Questioner

Is there any relationship between the Lift’s ability to eat food and create Stormlight [Lifelight] and Scadrians’ ability to eat metal and burn it?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 (Dec. 5, 2024)

 

So! Based on all this, here's the main takeaway:

Lift can only convert what she can digest. The amount of light is proportional to how many nutrients she's getting out of it. The rate of light conversion is proportional to how fast she can metabolize the food. If she eats something indigestible, like gum, no light will be made. A vegetable will be converted slower, but will yield more light, and a fruit will be faster, but make less light.
But based on that last WoB, the food and its associated nutrients are only a gateway, a key to Cultivation's lifelight. The investiture does not come from Lift herself.

So I guess still, eating a plant won't give you all of its associated investiture, because you can't really process fiber. That just goes back out the system, so the light spend growing that has been wasted.

Edited May 7, 2025 by AltonicKeys