Why did Lift go to the Nightwatcher? [Edgedancer Spoilers]

[Lirin's hand]

So we know that Lift asked "not to change" of the Nightwatcher.  In her mind that would mean never growing up but apparently the Nightwatcher interpreted that differently.  She is definitely physically still aging and growing.  She can now see into or is permanently pulled partially into the Cognitive Realm.  She can physically touch her spren when he is not in shard form (can she touch other spren as well, or only Wyndle?).  She can metabolize food directly into Stormlight.  There are several other interesting things about her now as well.  But these are all post-Nightwatcher things (or are they?  was she already on the KR path before going to the Nightwatcher?  How long ago did she bond Wyndle vs how long ago he was following her?).

My question is: Why did she go to the Nightwatcher?  
What is it about change that frightened her?  Does change inevitably lead to negative effects?  Is it related to mental attitude? perception? physical (health)? 
She never mentions her father, all the blurbs are about her and her mother.  Her mother got sick and things changed.  Who ran away, was it Lift or her father?  Or someone else entirely (all the people her mother had helped)?  What change is she trying to avoid, about herself or others?  Was she trying to avoid responsibility by never growing up?  Or was she trying to avoid guilt by staying always a child?  She is constantly changing everything around herself by traveling so she is not afraid of many forms of change.  She does mention the "change of expectations" several times, including why she left the palace.  So does she not want to change herself or is she looking for insulation from how others interact with her?

A lot of her memories just make the "why" question more interesting to me.  Sometimes I feel like she is avoiding something she did/should have done by staying a child, other times that she is avoiding the inevitable change of future, other times that she doesn't want others to change around her.  OK, can't quite articulate what I have rambling around in my head on this so am going to stop for now.

Why do you think she went to the Nightwatcher?

[What's a Seawolf?]

Could be something as simple as her mother's dying (or close to dying) words were something about 'how all things change' and 'you have to be able to adapt etc.'  To which, after her mothers death, Lift responded with anger and tried to keep herself from changing.

Maybe Lift thought the Nightwatcher would be able to do something to help her mother or bring her back.  We don't know much of the lore that surrounds the Nightwatcher, I can see how some cultures would ascribe abilities to the NW beyond what she can actually do.  And as Lift approached, she realized/was told that it was too late for her mother, leading again to a 'things change' type of realization/discussion.

Those seem a little simple though.  Since Lift is supposed to be a major back 5 book character, I'm assuming it's more complicated.  Though then again, Lift was very young when she visited.

Very out there theory:  Lift's reasons for visiting were very simple, but the Nightwatcher/Cultivation engineered the entire situation which caused Lift to visit (mother dying etc.) because Cultivation/Nightwatcher foresaw the need for someone with Lift's new found abilities, and knew Lift would be the right person to give them too.  (I mean come on, how much of a curse is her actual curse?  Granted there is still A LOT we don't know.)  This could result in a very interesting future Lift arc where she starts hating and even planning to attack Cultivation/Nightwatcher in addition to whoever the big bad is.

[Eki]

11 hours ago, Lirin's hand said:

was she already on the KR path before going to the Nightwatcher?

One of the reasons Wyndle gives as to why the Ring chose Lift was that she had been blessed by their Mother, so I assume no bonding started until after. I guess they could have watched her before then, but...

[KidWayne he/him]

I thought it had to do with Lift's distaste for change. After the initial trauma of losing her mother, she experienced world-shattering changes. The loss of a parent is always a very traumatic event for a child, but children cope with trauma differently than adults. Children lack the experience to develop a personal system for explaining the world around them. So kids don't grow bitter, depressed, apathetic, or despondent like adults (see Kaladin for an example of this adult version of a response to trauma). Instead, kids process traumatic events much like they learn not to touch fire; that is, they respond with avoidance, fear, and distrust. 

So, back to Lift... When Lift lost her mom, things changed for her and she had to adapt to life as an orphan. Lift explains this in Edgedancer; she talks about not knowing what to do with herself when she doesn't have to hunt, steal, or fight to obtain food. So, after adapting to life as an orphan, Lift had experienced enough change and insecurity to last a lifetime. She likely associated this kind of uncomfortable change with growing older. Since she was a 10 year old girl at the time, experiencing puberty without having a mother around to explain menstruation probably reinforced this association of bad changes coming with age. Therefore, when she had an opportunity to visit the Nightwatcher and have a wish granted, Lift asked not to change anymore and her association of change with aging caused her to believe that this would make her stop aging as well.

[Lirin's hand]

42 minutes ago, KidWayne said:

Since she was a 10 year old girl at the time, experiencing puberty without having a mother around to explain menstruation probably reinforced this association of bad changes coming with age. 

This part, though, happened after visiting the NW.  It was what got her thinking that maybe the NW had cheated her, iirc right around the same time she notes that she's growing taller.

If she just doesn't want things to change, though, why does she travel?  Or, especially, why doesn't she go back to her heritage - the Reshi Isles.  Things there seem to be in a permanent stasis, much more so than the rest of Roshar.  No, I think there was a cataclysmic change in her life that was not 'just' the death of her mother.  I hear what you are saying about processing grief/trauma, but it just doesn't feel right to me.  I'm wondering if it was her mother that changed from her idealized image that we've seen so far, to something much less, something bitter or angry or hateful.

Her avoidance of change seems to be for her alone, as if her not changing can prevent something.  As you grow up you also have to take responsibility and that is the other way I'm leaning - that by not changing/growing up, she won't have to think about/acknowledge/take responsibility for something she did as a child.  Perhaps she abandoned her mother when she needed her most and as long as she is busy with everything as a street urchin she can't/won't have time to think about that.  She only has time to think about the good parts, because, "oh look at the time, I need to get some more food to be awesome!" whenever she stops to think.

[KidWayne he/him]

@Lirin's hand I don't agree that Lift's avoidance of change seems to be for her alone. She left Azir so that people wouldn't get to know her and expect things from her. She is obviously disturbed that Gaux has become an Emperor. She has embraced her lot in life as a street urchin, and (for her) that means not staying in any one place too long. Sticking around leads to recognition which is problematic for a kid who feeds herself primarily via theft. Also, developing lasting relationships is a scary concept to Lift because (like all people with trust issues), she associates relationships with the pain of loss and the chaos that followed her mother's death.

She doesn't go back to the Reshi Isles because (presumably) people there would recognize her. Although, you might be asking the right questions about why that is a bad thing for her. What made her leave in the first place? Did the Reshi treat her badly when she was newly orphaned? Does Reshi culture treat orphans older than 3 as adults and Lift is afraid of that kind of responsibility? Did the Reshi pity her to the point that she found life there to be insufferable? Perhaps she did do something in her homeland for which she doesn't want to face the consequences... Knowing Lift, she probably just ripped off everyone there was to steal from and boarded a passing merchant ship as it was departing in hopes of finding a meal onboard and developed a habit of moving from place to place afterwards to avoid punishment for stealing.  

Edited December 22, 2016 by KidWayne

[Eki]

Doesn't Lift say she's never been to the Reshi Isles? I'm pretty sure Wyndle even asks her about that.

She also said that things changing was fine, but she wasn't supposed to. It's one of her introspective moments in Edgedancer, but I don't remember exactly when.

[VirtuousTraveller he/him]

I think part of her curse is that she is mentally immature.  Likewise, I think she physically may not be developing at the same rate as other people:

Quote

“Is this about what happened to you?” Wyndle asked. “I don’t know a lot about humans, but I believe it was natural, disconcerting though it might appear. You aren’t wounded."

Lift shaded her eyes.  The wrong things were changing.  She was supposed to stay the same, and the world was supposed to change around her.

Edgedancer, Chapter 1

I'm pretty confident this is referring to her getting her first period, which is a sign of physical maturity.  This wasn't supposed to happen in Lift's mind, as she asked not to change at all.  I wonder if something has changed, and the change relates to the curse the Nightwatcher gave her.  Perhaps the development blocker is starting to disappear?

[Almira]

7 hours ago, VirtuousTraveller said:

I think part of her curse is that she is mentally immature.  Likewise, I think she physically may not be developing at the same rate as other people:

I'm pretty confident this is referring to her getting her first period, which is a sign of physical maturity.  This wasn't supposed to happen in Lift's mind, as she asked not to change at all.  I wonder if something has changed, and the change relates to the curse the Nightwatcher gave her.  Perhaps the development blocker is starting to disappear?

It sounds kind of the like the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder... 

[SpeakoftheDeval]

On 21/12/2016 at 8:09 PM, What's a Seawolf? said:

her mother's dying (or close to dying) words

A death rattle maybe? Her unique abilities could make certain forces see her as a weapon they need to create, whether that is Odium, the NW or both.

[Malkair]

Would it be too far out there to propose that Lift might possess some (Siah) Aimian blood? Perhaps being partly Aimian she was able to pass as human, yet retained the ability to ”change” her body, an ability she might not have been entirely able to control? Displaying such an ability in public might have gotten her mother killed, thus prompting her visit to the Nightwatcher, where she asked to have said ability removed. 

I imagine Aimians being able to change their bodies at will might indicate them having a greater than human presence in the cognitive realm (as has been theorized earlier due to their shadows).  Aimians fueling that ability through the conversion of food to stormlight doesn’t seem entirely impossible either. Consequently, Lift’s ability to interact with sprens and metabolize food to stormlight wouldn’t be a direct consequense of the boon granted to her by the Nightwatcher, but rather of her Aimian heritage synergizing with her Nahel bond.

I can't say I entirely believe this myself, but at least Lift’s boon literally being the removal of an ability to change does seem to fit her request better than miraculosly gaining other abilities. Judging by the other Aimians we’ve seen it might also explain her somewhat eccentric behavior.

[Frostlander]

I don't know if this is the boon, the curse, or a blending of the two, but we know Lift asked either not to change, to stay the same, or not to get older. It seems like she might have said one of the first two, thinking that physical maturity was included. One passage that stood out as almost a throwaway line was this:

Quote

“The only thing I’ve ever known how to do was hunt food,” Lift whispered. “What’s that, mistress?” It had been hard, at first. Feeding herself. Over time, she’d figured out the tricks. She’d gotten good at it. But once you weren’t hungry all the time, what did you do? How did you know?

Sanderson, Brandon (2016-11-22). Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection (p. 603). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 

 

What if Nightwatcher interpreted Lift's ability to steal food, her hungriness, and her fear of not having to search for food as something that could fall under "not changing"? By metabolizing Stormlight and always hunting for food, even if her life became more comfortable, Lift would, in a sense, not change. 

[maxal she/her]

I always understood Lift didn't want to grow up to become an adult because adults have to be accountable for their actions. Adults cannot leisure all day without a care. Adults cannot be allowed to just steal when they are hungry because if all adults were like Lift, there wouldn't be anything or anyone to steal from. The world would go bad. As a child, she is allowed to have no care in the world, no responsibilities, but as an adult, it wouldn't work.

My take is she merely didn't want anyone putting their expectations, by it real or societal, onto her, because then she'd have to become someone and as long as she doesn't who that someone is, she doesn't want it. It probably has to do with her mother dying as she said she was nothing more but a useless, selfish kid who failed to take care of her, so after her death, she seek to remain as carefree as ever as once she cares, she opens up herself to being hurt.

[theuntaintedchild he/him]

On ‎12‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 10:15 AM, VirtuousTraveller said:

I think part of her curse is that she is mentally immature.  Likewise, I think she physically may not be developing at the same rate as other people

So you're saying her curse is arrested development.
*Ron Howards voice* It was. Not such a bad thing really.

 

Edited January 12, 2017 by theuntaintedchild

[Andy92]

I'm kind of starting to think her boon is the ability to eat so many pancakes without passing out...

[cultivationspren]

I take a slightly different view of her boon and curse.  The idea that the nightwatcher may be Cultivation herself leads me to think that Lift's request not to change has actually been granted as her curse.  She is probably growing somewhat, but the idea of never changing - not only to most people, but to the actual god of growing things would probably be looked at as a pretty negative thing.  

The other things that she has been given - the ability to convert food into stormlight and the ability to touch spren both seem far more like boons than curses, but she didn't ask for those things and I am curious as to how those two attributes could possibly be construed as negative.  Her ability to generate her own stormlight, for example, is the only thing that saved her in WOR when darkness was going to kill her. 

[FiveLate]

On 8/10/2017 at 7:35 AM, cultivationspren said:

 

The other things that she has been given - the ability to convert food into stormlight and the ability to touch spren both seem far more like boons than curses, but she didn't ask for those things and I am curious as to how those two attributes could possibly be construed as negative.  Her ability to generate her own stormlight, for example, is the only thing that saved her in WOR when darkness was going to kill her. 

But it seems she cannot suck in stormlight in its natural form, which might be part of the bane.  She never has spheres on her person, but passes through gem lit areas without affecting them...not conclusive, but indicative.

[The One Who Connects he/him]

On 8/14/2017 at 3:20 AM, FiveLate said:

But it seems she cannot suck in stormlight in its natural form, which might be part of the bane.  She never has spheres on her person, but passes through gem lit areas without affecting them...not conclusive, but indicative.

Unless we have WoB, I think it's her not knowing that she can do it. It's probably a skill that takes a little bit of practice to get down, or at least knowing that she can(perception).

[Hyarmenatan]

I think there was a WoB stating that Lift cannot use gems for Stormlight. She can only digest food to get Awesomeness. 

Can't find that WoB now. 

[The One Who Connects he/him]

On 11/7/2017 at 4:33 AM, Hyarmenatan said:

I think there was a WoB stating that Lift cannot use gems for Stormlight. She can only digest food to get Awesomeness. 

Can't find that WoB now. 

So there is.

Quote

Laryyl

I asked Sanderson if she could get Stormlight from spheres like normal or if it's just from food for her.

Brandon Sanderson

I was totally expecting a RAFO but he told me she can only get it from food.

Laryyl

I also asked which it was related to her boon or her curse.

Brandon Sanderson

Which he did RAFO.

It's not on the theoryland question-set for that signing, nor is it in the Events and Signing topic for that signing. It's in a theory thread about Lift of all places.

[Contessa she/her]

On November 6, 2017 at 9:22 PM, The One Who Connects said:

Unless we have WoB, I think it's her not knowing that she can do it. It's probably a skill that takes a little bit of practice to get down, or at least knowing that she can(perception).

That WoB makes sense, because she does know that Surgebinders are able to suck in stormlight from spheres. Wyndle is always talking about how amazing it is that she can metabolize food into stormlight, and her knowledge of the more generic way of getting it is what leads her to realizes that Stump is a Surgebinder.