The Mystery of Baxil

[Through the Living Potato He/Him]

So in a WoK interlude, we meet Baxil, who works for Shalash as she goes around scratching herself out of artwork. At the end of his interlude, this happens: 

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Baxil said nothing further. The Old Magic, he thought. It could change me. I will go looking for it.

He says he wants to be more useful, to have courage, then later asks to know the right thing to do.

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“I was thinking I’d make myself more useful,” Baxil said. “Ask for courage, you know?”

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If the Prime Kadasix could provide, he thought, it would be very nice if I could know the right thing to do. Thank you.

Then, in WaT, we get another interlude featuring Baxil, where he meets Axies the Collecter. In this conversation we get a lot of information about him so I’ll just put it all here.

Spoiler

Not a soul saw him. These days, people could only see Baxil if they were looking for him. And he could only touch them if they were trying to kill him.
 

“Master Crimson,” he said.

“You don’t know the half of it, Ulak,” Baxil said, tipping him a few spheres, which became real as he dropped them. 

“I have painspren, yes, of course,” Axies said. “I’ve had them for millennia, Crimson Memory.

He held his hand out over the tea, feeling the heat of the steam, and … imagined. … With this many people thinking about it, savoring it, complaining about it … Baxil could taste it, and remember what it had been like to drink. During a time that seemed so distant, yet so familiar all at once. Before his blessing, and before his curse. Today, a great number of people thinking about the same thing let him feel the bitter tea on his tongue as he sat with his hand over the cup.
 

Red wraps prepared in the most special of ways, as Baxil needed. The key to his survival.

 He was not a spren, but they did find him fascinating.

So he’s called “Crimson Memory,” appears to be a form of Cognitive shadow, has visited the Nightwatcher got a boon and curse from the Nightwatcher, needs special bandages to survive, and can’t hurt anyone unless they’re trying to kill him. Alright. 

Questions:

1. What’s his boon? What’s his curse? I’d assume it’s the reliance on bandages, or inability to hurt people, but who knows with the Nightwatcher?

2. How strong is the Nightwatcher? If she can turn someone into a CS, what are her limits? 

3. What did he ask for? This seems to be the most important question, as it sets the tone for the boon and curse.

Well, I hope someone smarter than me can answer some of these questions.

[Frustration]

41 minutes ago, Through the Living Potato said:

 

1. What’s his boon? What’s his curse? I’d assume it’s the reliance on bandages, or inability to hurt people, but who knows with the Nightwatcher?

I feel like his boon was people can only see him if they're looking for him, and his curse is that he can only touch people who are trying to kill him. It's impossible to say for certain, but the way it was phrased in the book makes me think that.

41 minutes ago, Through the Living Potato said:

2. How strong is the Nightwatcher? If she can turn someone into a CS, what are her limits? 

Unclear, but given what the Sibling can do, her upper limits are extreme

42 minutes ago, Through the Living Potato said:

3. What did he ask for? This seems to be the most important question, as it sets the tone for the boon and curse.

Well typically people ask for their boon, though they might get something a little different than what they asked for.

[PanLin they/he]

14 hours ago, Through the Living Potato said:

1. What’s his boon? What’s his curse?

I had a slightly different interpretation of this—considering how he previously said he'd like courage, and then the ability to know what to do, I think he asked for something along the lines of "I want to understand how the people around me think, so I don't have to fear surprises or worry about doing the wrong thing". Following that, I think he received:

• Boon: a Connection to the cognitive aspects of those around him (eg: tasting the tea that everyone around him is drinking)
• Curse: an extremely weak physical presence, to the point where people can only sense him under specific conditions (visible while being sought, corporeal while being hurt, etc)

 

14 hours ago, Through the Living Potato said:

I’d assume it’s the reliance on bandages

Honestly, I think this is a side effect, something that Baxil has learned minimises the effects of his curse, or maybe prevents him from something like losing his sense of Identity (depends on the nature of his transformation into a cognitive shadow).

[mordtirith]

18 hours ago, Through the Living Potato said:

2. How strong is the Nightwatcher? If she can turn someone into a CS, what are her limits? 

The real question is, did he even meet her? Or is Baxil the 4th Agent of Cultivation, set on a mission as of yet unknown, probably even to himself, like Dalinar and Taravangian had no idea of the extent of what she wanted from them until much later?

I don't doubt the Nightwatcher could make a CS, given what we've seen the Sibling and the Stormfather do, but Baxil's boon and curse seem so far removed from the usual.

What we usually see in Nightwatcher deals are sometimes slightly oblique ways of granting the boons, and what honestly feel like almost pranks as curses. "You want to feed your family through a drought? Here, have these nice linens to sell for cash. Also now you see upside down lol."

To me, Baxil's torment and extreme changes sound a lot more like Dalinar's lost memories, or Taravangian's agonizing intelligence/emotion shifts, or Lift's metabolism changing entirely.

[Elite01]

One thing I think is worth noting is it doesn’t really matter what he asked for. The nightwatcher can give a boon and curse regardless of what they asked for. Some of the early books have tall tales of people trying to think of the perfect wording and I think Sigzil says that’s not how it works.

the boons we see on screen do have some connection to their question but it’s possible that this is unrelated to his request for more courage 

[Nitpicking]

I wonder if Brandon has seen the Pulse movies, in which red tape can trap or exclude ghosts.