User:Climby21023/Empathy

Empathy
Claire, Sylar, and Peter appear on Lydia's back.
Originally held by:	Syn Anders, Curandera, Morgan Harvey, Savannah Lucas (deceased), Lydia
Absorbed by:	Sylar
Ability to:	Feel the emotions, thoughts, hopes, desires, and dream of others or alter people's emotions

Empathy is the ability to feel the emotions, thoughts, hopes, desires, and dreams of others or alter people's emotions in a close range.

Characters

• Savannah Lucas was chronologically the first character to have this ability.
• Syn Anders possesses this ability. (Heroes Evolutions)
• Curandera also possesses this ability. (Lizards)
• Lydia also demonstrates this ability. (Orientation)
• Morgan Harvey also has this ability. (Slow Burn)
• Sylar absorbs this ability from Lydia. (Let It Bleed)

Limits

Savannah Lucas

Savannah could alter people's emotions, but she can't sense it. She could induce different emotions in others, such as affection, annoyance, anxiety, apathy, belief, calmness, comtempt, depression, disappointment, embarrassment, envy, fear, gratitude, greed, grief, guilt, happiness, hatred, loneliness, loyalty, lust, patience, pride, regret, shame, shyness, sloth, worry, wrath.

Unlike Syn and Morgan, Savannah would not need physical contact to alter people's emotions. She was capable of alter people's emotions in a close range, approximately 10 yards.

Curandera

The Curandera 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.

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.

Sylar

Sylar manifests this ability after an intimate encounter with Lydia. Like her, he seems to be able to gather basic information about a person's wants and desires through touch (Let It Bleed). He also is able to create a "map" of tattoos on his skin, although he had some trouble at first.

Sylar uses this ability immediately after absorbing it by seeing through Lydia's façade and realizing the she simply wants to manipulate him. Later, after demanding Samuel to inject him with ink, he forms a tattoo of Claire Bennet on his arm, indicating that he did not truly want to be at the carnival. He seems to have some trouble creating a tattoo at first however, and was only able to make it lie still after being told by Samuel that he need not control it.

Example

Syn Anders

• 
  An illustrative diagram of Syn's ability.

The Curandera

• 
  The Curandera feels Maya's pain...
• 
  and fear.
  (Lizards)

Lydia

• 
  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)
• 
  Lydia could feel her boyfriend wanted to run from her and their unborn baby.
• 
  Lydia can feel her sister most desires a family. (The Painted Lady)
• 
  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)
• 
  Lydia finds out Danko was the one who took Arnold's son, and she finds out that Arnold's son is dead.
  (Bloodlines, Part 2)
• 
  Lydia approaches Sylar...
• 
  ...and seduces him...
• 
  ...allowing her to recall his memories...
• 
  ...and experience everything he has experienced.
  (Let It Bleed)

Sylar

• 
  Sylar catches Lydia in the act.
  (Let It Bleed)
• Samuel injects ink into Sylar's body...
  Samuel injects ink into Sylar's body...
• 
  ...which shapes into a tattoo of Claire Bennet.
  (Let It Bleed)

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."
• This ability has two different versions. One is to feel the emotions, thoughts, hopes, desires, and dreams of others. Two is to alter people's emotions only.
• After Savannah was killed by Samantha Zimmerman, Samantha inserted herself into Savannah's dead body, and she is still capable of using empathy and body insertion.

See Also

• For the ability to induce belief, see Belief induction
• 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 sense others' thoughts and emotions, see Telepathy.
• For more on Lydia's body art, see Lydia's tattoos.
• For the same abilities in episodes and Heroes Evolutions, see Empathy and Empathic manipulation.