Difference between revisions of "Nightwatcher"

|image=Seeking Forgiveness by Jordi Rapture.jpg

|species=Spren

|titles=Mother of the World

|world=Roshar

|universe=[[Cosmere]]

}}

{{update|sa4}}

{{for|/Gallery|more images}}

 

 

== Origin ==

Called "child" by [[Cultivation]], it is likely that the Nightwatcher was created by [[Cultivation]] for a specific purpose from a different spren much like the [[Stormfather]] was by [[Honor]]. The Nightwatcher is implied to be one of three [[spren]] on [[Roshar]] that are [[Cognitive Shadow|shadows of a god]].{{book ref|sa3|111}}

 

 

== Attributes and Abilities ==

 

; Curse:

 

The curse, as well as the boon, is permanent. Through history many visitors have tried to get rid of their curse, but there are no known cases of success.{{book ref|sa3|24}}

;Dalinar Kholin

: [[Dalinar]] sought the Nightwatcher to end the pain he was feeling after accidentally causing the death of his wife, [[Evi Kholin]]. When he finally went to the Nightwatcher, he asks to be "forgiven", much to the confusion of the Nightwatcher. Eventually, [[Cultivation]] comes out and erases his memory of Evi. She describes it as "pruning" his memory, so he can grow and heal. She mentions that his memories will eventually return. He has no memory of killing her or anything involving her, although he is aware she existed. Additionally, when someone mentions her name, all that he hears is "[[Evi Kholin|''Shshshsh'']]". Dalinar keeps his request, boon, and curse very private, and very few people know of his visit to the Nightwatcher. Though Dalinar doesn't remember until just prior to the [[Battle of Thaylen Field]], his boon and curse were given to him by Cultivation, not the Nightwatcher. The memory came back gradually before Odium attempted to make Dalinar into his champion and failed.{{book ref|sa3|118}}

;Taravangian

: [[Taravangian]] claims to have asked the Nightwatcher for, "Capacity. Capacity to stop what was coming. The capacity to save humankind."{{book ref|wor|i|14}} As a result, Taravangian's level of intelligence varies from day to day. This enabled him to write the [[Diagram (literature)|Diagram]] on a day of particularly notable intelligence. He believes that his curse is a level of compassion inversely proportional to his intelligence; he feels little to no compassion on days of high intelligence, contrasted with days of low intelligence and great compassion "to feel pain for what he had done."{{book ref|wor|i|14}} On a day similar to the day he wrote the [[Diagram (literature)|Diagram]], he was cursed with low intelligence, but high emotion, which attracted one of the [[Shards]], [[Odium]], to him and Connected him to the Shard, allowing him to Ascend. As with Dalinar, Cultivation personally intervened when he asked for his boon.{{wob ref|13097}}

;Lift

: The precise wording of her request is unknown, but [[Lift]] believes that "she was supposed to stay the same, and the world was supposed to change around her."{{book ref|edgedancer|1}} Lift interprets this to mean that she shouldn't age, which does not appear to be the case. The boon and curse are unknown, but Lift's abilities to physically touch [[Wyndle]] and to digest food into [[Lifelight]] are apparently related to one or both of these.{{book ref|wor|i|9}} Wyndle supposes that she is partially stuck in the Cognitive Realm.{{book ref|edgedancer|4}}

;Av's father

: As his boon, Av's father received a heap of good cloth, which he sold to keep his family from starving during the lurnip famine.{{book ref|sa1|i|7}} As a curse, he sees the world upside down. He claims that his curse was worth it, and it just took some getting used to.

 

;Hoid