Nightwatcher's boon and curse

[Ianricks58 he/him]

Do we know if Nightwatcher tells the person receiving a boon what the curse she places on them is going to be?

[Ari he/him]

3 hours ago, Ianricks58 said:

Do we know if Nightwatcher tells the person receiving a boon what the curse she places on them is going to be?

We definitely know they don't know about the nature of their curse in advance, just that there will be one. We haven't met anyone who definitely doesn't know their curse, but that may be because so many of them just figured it out for themselves.

[Argel he/him]

3 hours ago, Ari said:

We haven't met anyone who definitely doesn't know their curse

Lift does not seem to be aware of the details of her boon/curse.

Lift Novella sample chapter spoilers

Spoiler

She thought she would never grow old, but it looks like she may just never mature mentally. Her first period is implicitly mentioned in the novella sample chapter and she mentions that's not how the wish was supposed to work.

 

Edited August 9, 2016 by Argel

[Ari he/him]

I've read the sample chapter. Lift only talks about her Blessing so far, not her curse. She possibly doesn't know her curse, but it's not definite at this point.

[Argel he/him]

True. Just that if the Nightwatcher doesn't explain how the boon is implemented, I doubt the curse is explained in detail. 

[Ianricks58 he/him]

I appreciate the replies.  I wasn't sure if the Nightwatcher would have told the person what curse she is going to give before the boon is given to help him/her understand the true value of the boon given.

If this was the case, and Dalinar did know about the curse before he received his boon, it makes the boon he asked for all that more important.

[Yata he/him]

Actually I think it never said that the Memory-loss is the curse, it may be the boon and we don't know yet his curse

[Jofwu he/him]

I've actually always assumed that Dalinar's memory loss was his boon and that we don't know the curse. Just recently discovered that this apparently isn't the usual interpretation.

When Dalinar explains his memory loss he never sounds very bitter about it. There's no sense of, "I can't believe that darn Nightwatcher stole precious memories of my beloved wife!" Yeah, he obviously can't be super attached to her without the memories, but he IS aware of what was taken from him. Maybe that's just because it's been a number of years and he's gotten over it, but I don't think so. I don't feel like the lack of memories suddenly makes you apathetic to the fact that you were happily married for many years. You don't have to know what you're missing in order to be mad at someone who stole from you. No, I think he was so heartbroken after her death that he sought out the Nightwatcher to numb his pain. The Nightwatcher's method of erasing all memories and the ability to hear the name is likely a bit more extreme than Dalinar expected (and maybe wanted)... This explains when he says things like, "Was not losing all memory of his wife enough?" But I do feel like his memory loss was the boon.

I don't have any guesses as to what the curse would be. For a while I wondered if perhaps Renarin's condition was related, because Dalinar seems to give Renarin a hard look (and laments to himself) when he first talks about his visit (with Renarin and Navani present). But I don't think the timing works out right for that theory.

[Argel he/him]

We know Dalinar curses the Nightwatcher for the lost memories. I think you make your wish and take your chances. Seems pretty clear it is not a fully known process, and I seriously doubt how the boon or bane are implemented is explained to the one making the wish. 

Wasn't there one person that ended up seeing everything upside down afterwards? I think that wish went well and he lived with the boon. On the the other hand, Dalinar and Lift's results do not match their expectations. 

If details are explained to the wisher, they must be in some legal-ese type format that many have a hard time comprehending.