An Empath is an elf with the ability to sense the emotions of others as if they were their own. Most Empaths require physical contact to sense their emotions, but more skilled individuals are able to sense emotions in the atmosphere. Sensing the emotion is instantaneous for Empaths, however, their training involves learning to leave the emotions alone, as well as translating these emotions.
Capabilities[]
Lie-Detection[]
Empaths are often able to detect whether someone is lying due to their guilt. Councillor Oralie often judges whether people of trial are telling the truth, such as during Sophie's first tribunal in Keeper of the Lost Cities, where she senses Sophie was "confused... but not lying."[1] However, an Empath's senses can be deceived by stronger emotions such as love or disdain. This is how Lady Gisela was able to lie to Lord Cassius and Keefe for years despite both being strong Empaths.
Emotion-Shifting[]
Keefe is able to send a "blue breeze" into Sophie's mind to calm her down when he is enhanced.[2] This has occurred when Keefe calmed Sophie when she attempted to inflict on King Dimitar in Nightfall. After taking off Sophie's gloves and crush cuffs, Keefe was able to "[sync] into [her] emotional center" and intuitively know how to shift Sophie's emotions towards a different path, as he could more clearly read how they might be affected.
Physical Contact[]
While most Empaths require physical contact to detect and interpret emotions, powerful Empaths or particularly strong emotions are able to be detected without physical touch. As Sophie's emotions are stronger than most due to her tweaked genetics and human upbringing, most Empaths can feel some of her emotions without physical contact. Similar to how a Telepath can detect human thoughts without blocking, most Empaths can sense human emotions, as they are more pronounced than others. Empathy is not blocked by force fields, unlike many other special abilities. Councillor Oralie is able to detect Gethen's desperation for information about the Peace Summit through a force field in Lodestar.
Detecting Empaths' Lies[]
When any Empath lies, their heart skips three beats out of guilt, fear and apprehension, and is instinctive and unavoidable. This is how Sophie manages to catch Councillor Oralie lying about not being her biological mother in Legacy.
Numbness[]
According to Keefe, as every emotion is intense for an Empath, there is a risk that an Empath's mind may shut down naturally when experiencing extreme levels of emotion, which is described as going "numb".[3] A regular person's rush of anger feels equivalent to extreme excitement or euphoria for an Empath, which releases adrenaline, an elevated heart rate or bursts of shivers. The difference is only noticeable when the Empath questions why they are feeling those emotions. A numb Empath is not able to distinguish between these feelings, and their emotions remain consistent. Keefe speculates this happened to Vespera, who lost her guilt, while she carried out her experiments.
Known Empaths[]
Quotes[]
“My empathy mentor warned me when she saw how strong my empathy was - that there's a risk that comes with feeling too much and not having the right training. Our mind's natural reaction is to shut down when things get too intense - but everything is intense for an Empath. So if you're not careful, you can end up going . . . numb. You'll still feel what other's feel. But you won't feel anything yourself. And it can mess you up, since emotions overlap when you don't know all the thoughts are memories that triggered them. So, like, the rush that comes with anger? It's actually not that different than what I feel when someone's super giddy - in its basest essence, at least. They both give a burst of adrenaline. They both make the heart race and cause shivers. You only notice the bigger differences when you take the time to figure out why you're feeling it.”
References[]
- ↑ Councillor Oralie to Councillor Emery, Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities, page 306, Google Books
- ↑ Narration, Book 6: Nightfall, page 346, hardcover
- ↑ Keefe to Sophie, Book 6: Nightfall, pages 667-668, Google Books