User:Climby21023/Empathy

Empathy
Claire, Sylar, and Peter appear on Lydia's back.
Held by:	Savannah Lucas (deceased), Lydia, Syn Anders, Curandera
Ability to:	Feel the emotions, thoughts, hopes, desires, and dream of others

Empathy is the ability to feel the emotions, thoughts, hopes, desires, and dreams of others..

Characters

• Savannah Lucas is chronologically the first character to have this ability.
• Syn Anders possesses this ability.
• Curandera also possesses this ability. (Lizards)
• Lydia also demonstrates this ability. (Orientation)

Limits

Curandera

The Curandera is limited of her ability. She can only senses and feels people's emotions, but not capable of alter it. Although she can't alter people's feelings, she can use her ability to induce placebo effect to heal the patients.

Lydia

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.

Example

• 
  An illustrative diagram of Syn's ability.
• 
  The Curandera feels Maya's pain...
• 
  and fear. (Lizards)
• 
  Danko appears as a tattoo on Lydia's back, and she says his name.
  (Orientation)
• 
  Lydia knows Hiro's name and information about him when a tattoo of him appears on her back.
  (Orientation)
• 
  Noah appears on Lydia's back, angering Samuel.
  (Acceptance)
• 
  On Lydia's back, images of Charlie...
• 
  ...Noah...
• 
  ...Claire...
• 
  ...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)

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.