Empathy

Empathy
Claire, Sylar, and Peter appear on Lydia's back.
Held by:	Lydia
Ability to:	Feel the emotions, thoughts, hopes, desires, and dream of others
Examples of empathy

Empathy is the ability to feel the emotions, thoughts, hopes, desires, and dreams of others. Lydia expresses this in the tattoos she possesses.

Characters

• Lydia is the only character known to have this ability. (Orientation)

Limits

Lydia appears to know the names of people painted on her back (Orientation). She was able to give out Danko and Hiro Nakamura's names after Samuel put ink onto her. It is unknown if it's the only way for her to tell names.

Fourteen years ago at the Sullivan Bros. Carnival, Lydia was said to use her ability (Stolen Fate). She saw a baby on fire in a crystal Edgar stole from a fortune teller, while Edgar saw elder versions of himself and Lydia kissing. The fortune teller claimed the crystal is "just a hunk of quartz" and "another prop"--however, she added that Lydia's power polluted it.

Lydia later reads Hiro, but tells him he needs to touch her for it to work. After reading his emotions, she has him take her back in time and he indicates that she actually caused him to do that somehow. Later, when Hiro has trouble returning them to the present, Lydia uses her ability to help him manage to teleport them back just in time.

Selected Examples

• 
  Danko appears as a tattoo on Lydia's back, and she says his name.
  (Orientation)
• 
  Noah appears on Lydia's back, angering Samuel.
  (Acceptance)
• 
  On Lydia's back, images of Charlie...
• 
  ...and Sylar form out of ink.
  (Once Upon a Time in Texas)
• 
  Hiro touches Lydia, allowing her to feel what he feels.
  (Thanksgiving)
• 
  Claire touches Lydia, whose back reveals Claire's greatest desire.
  (The Fifth Stage)
• 
  When Eric Doyle visits Lydia, a marionette tattoo forms on her back.
  (The Puppet Master)
• 
  Lydia uses her ability to find Arnold but she sees a much older man than she expected.
  (Bloodlines, Part 1)

Notes

• Samuel and Lydia often use their abilities together. Samuel places ink on Lydia's back, and seems to make the ink take shape in the form of a tattoo. Lydia then uses her ability to give information about the tattoo.
• According to NBC.com, Lydia "can sense the fears and desires of others".
• Dawn Olivieri said, "Lydia is an empath. Her power is kind of broad because unlike some of the other characters, she can do a multitude of things. She has pretty much full body tattoos on and the tattoos, when prompted by whatever it is inside of her, can pull up pictures of the future or things that are going to happen. The way that it's played out in the show is that they are things that need to be seen. Not always what you want to see, but things that need to be seen. I look at her like an oracle, like the girl with the magic ball that can kind of see whatever comes to her."

See Also

• For the ability to locate others, see clairvoyance.
• For the ability to mimic the powers of others through empathy, see empathic mimicry.
• For the ability to manipulate the emotions of others, see empathic manipulation.
• For the ability to sense others' thoughts and emotions, see telepathy.
• For more on Lydia's body art, see Lydia's tattoos.

Evolved Human Abilities edit
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