Lift – Stormlight Archive Character Biography & Information

Lift is a unique character in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive series, as a Knight Radiant in the Edgedancer Order as well as a person altered by the Shard Cultivation. Like her fellow Radiant Shallan, Lift is something of a controversial character in the fandom. While some readers love her spunky attitude and bad jokes, others find her childish behavior intolerable — Kate Reading’s gleefully obnoxious portrayal of the character in the audiobooks may have something to do with some people’s negative attitudes towards Lift.

In this article, we’ll summarize the key events of Lift’s life, discuss her powers as a Knight Radiant, and describe her personality and appearance.

Biography

WARNING: This section contains major spoilers for all published Stormlight Archive books, including Wind and Truth.

Early Life

• Grew up in the city of Rall Elorim (The City of Shadows), in the country of Iri. May have learned to be a thief while still young in Rall Elorim.
• At some point, loses her mother, although Lift either does not know or does not want to remember what happened to her mother.
• Left Rall Elorim when she was still young.
• Visits the Nightwatcher to ask for a boon, but meets Cultivation instead. Lift asked Cultivation not to change, but we don’t know what Cultivation took in exchange. Cultivation gives Lift the ability to turn food into Investiture.
• Because she has been touched by Cultivation, a cultivationspren organization known as The Ring sent the cultivationspren Wyndle to bond with Lift, making her an Edgedancer.
• Ends up in Marabethia, where she is hunted by “Darkness” (the Herald Nale), who seeks to kill Surgebinders in a misguided attempt at preventing the Desolation.
• Flees Marabethia and heads to Azimir, the capital of Azir, where she becomes part of a thieving crew.

Burgeoning Powers (Words of Radiance)

• Sneaks into the Bronze Palace with a thieving crew. Nale appears in the palace with paperwork for her arrest and execution, and nearly captures her, but Lift is able to escape. However, her fellow thief Gawx is killed, and she comes back to save him, swearing the Second Ideal and then healing him with the Surge of Regrowth.
• Is captured by Nale because she saves Gawx, but because Lift heals Gawx, the viziers call it a “miracle” and Gawx is immediately made the new Prime of Azimir. He pardons her for her crimes, forcing Nale to let her go.
• Becomes close with Gawx, who goes by Yanagawn after he is made Prime.

Pancakes & Darkness (Edgedancer)

• Feels uncomfortable with how people were getting to know her in Azimir, and so Lift leaves, going to Yeddaw. She claims she’s going to the city to its 10 different kinds of pancakes the city, but it’s likely she is chasing after Darkness (Nale).
• Goes to an orphanage in Yeddaw to get food and meets the Stump, the women who runs the orphanage (who Lift later discovers is a fellow Radiant). She also meets an old man sitting outside of the orphanage, who tells her how she can trade spheres to the Stump in exchange for a bed in the orphanage.
• Sees Nale murder a potential Surgerbinder, and follows him in order to learn his plans, discovering that he is hunting yet another Surgebinder.
• Goes to the Grand Indicium, where the city’s records are, and searches for any information on the Surgebinder Nale is looking for.
• Encounters Szeth and Nightblood — Szeth tells Lift who Nale is looking for: the man who she has been speaking to outside of the orphanage.
• Finds the old man, discovering that he has killed Nale’s minions, and that he is a Sleepless, hundreds of cremlings that can take the shape of a person. While talking with him, Lift realizes it’s actually the Stump who Nale is looking for.
• Goes to protect the Stump, but the woman is stabbed by Nale. Lift battles Nale, swearing the Third Ideal and manifesting Wyndle as a Shardweapon. She shows Nale the Everstorm, and convinces him that his quest to stop the Desolation is pointless.
• Heals the Stump, then leaves the city, heading back to Azimir.

Visions & Thaylen Field (Oathbringer)

• Enters a vision Dalinar shares with Yanagawn, and tells her friend not to trust Dalinar. Lift then takes Yanagawn from the vision early.
• Speaks to Dalinar in a subsequent vision he has, and decides to trust him enough to visit Urithiru.
• Goes to Urithiru with Yanagawn.
• Travels to Thaylen City. After the information Taravangian leaked reaches the coalition, the Azish ships leave the city, but Lift escapes her guard and returns to help defend the city from Odium’s forces.
• Is ordered by Dalinar to secure the Honor’s Drop, a huge, perfect gemstone that the Fused have stolen from the royal vault of Thaylen City. She attempts to do so alongside Szeth, who draws Nightblood and is nearly consumed by the sword. She uses the Surge of Regrowth to heal him, but is almost consumed herself — Dalinar opening the Perpendicularity gives her enough Stormlight to satisfy Nightblood (who falls asleep). With Szeth, Lift secures the gemstone and enters The Thrill gives it to Dalinar (who then uses it to trap the Unmade).

The Capture of Urithiru (Rhythm of War)

• Participates in the mission to evacuate Hearthstone via the Fourth Bridge, helping Kaladin fight the Fused by disabling a suppressor fabrial.
• Is living in the air vents of Urithiru when the Fused invade the tower and suppress the Radiants’ powers. Lift is Invested enough that she remains awake, but she is unable to use the Surge of Adhesion and has to struggle to make Regrowth work.
• Follows a battle between two Aviar, and heals the one that has been injured. It then leads her to a man who has been stabbed to death (likely a Feruchemist). Mraize captures her while she is inspecting the body.
• Is freed by Venli, after which Lift wants to flee. Venli convinces Lift to stay and help heal Kaladin, who has been pulled into some kind of nightmarish vision by Odium. Lift “heals” Kaladin, pulling him from the vision, and also heals Teft, who was sick.
• Goes with Teft to the room in Urithiru where the Radiants are being held, with the intention of using her powers to wake them. However, Moash cuts off her legs and kills Teft, and Lift was captured.
• Makes a recovery after Navani bonds the sibling, most likely healing herself with the Light from the tower.

Contest of Champions (Wind and Truth)

• Pretends to be Navani, with a Lightweaving disguise from Wit, after Navani and Dalinar disappear into the Spiritual Realm.
• Rescues Vasher from an aluminum-lined cell inside Urithiru, where he was being held captive by the Terris woman Axindweth (who was trying to get Vasher’s Breaths). Lift defeats Axindweth, who is a Feruchemist, during the rescue.
• Accepts Vasher’s offer to train her.

Physical Appearance

Lift is around 15 years old. Being from the Reshi Isles, and has her people’s tan skin, rounded features, and straight black hair that she wears long (down to her waist). She is short, under five feet tall, with a thin, wiry build. She originally had brown eyes, but her eyes have become paler and clearer, possibly because of what Cultivation has done to her, or because she summons Wyndle as a Shardweapon, or some combination of the two.

Personality, Strengths & Weaknesses

Lift behaves very childishly, in part because she’s a teenager, but also because she wants to remain a child forever (hence her asking Cultivation to stop her from changing). She doesn’t want to change because she doesn’t believe her mother is dead, and is afraid that if her mom looks for her, she won’t be able to recognize Lift if she has grown up and changed.

Part of Lift’s child-like behavior involves being irreverent and teasing people, especially her spren Wyndle. She enjoys using words people don’t understand, and prefers that people don’t get too comfortable with her. She doesn’t like the idea of people relying on her, and often moves on from a place if people are starting to become familiar with her. Lift has stated that she can’t be responsible, because she is “a starvin’ street urchin”. She has trouble making decisions, preferring to decide what her next move is in the moment, going somewhere simply because she thinks of it or because she hasn’t been there before.

However, Lift does care about people, and she’s actually very good at it — we see her selflessness on display when she returns to heal Gawx, risking being recaptured by Nale in order to save a boy she wasn’t particularly close to at the time. The kindness she shows Gavinor also demonstrates a surprising amount of empathy. As an Edgedancer, Lift has sworn to remember those who have been forgotten, and to listen to those who have been ignored — she does both of these things throughout the books.

Lift enjoys stealing things, and she’s very good at it. However, she doesn’t steal the kinds of things people usual steal, like valuables. Instead, Lift prefers to steal food — she sees the thieving as a fun challenge, and she also needs to eat a lot of food to power her abilities (the fact that she’s a teenager probably contributes to her constant need for food). Lift is very clever, and good at getting into places where she doesn’t belong — it seems likely she was good at it before she had Radiant powers, and after she became an Edgedancer she only got better at it.

Lift is illiterate. While being unable to read or write doesn’t affect her day-to-day life too much, it’s definitely a weakness. However, it’s one she shares with every Alethi man besides Dalinar, so at least she’s in good company.

Radiant Powers

Lift is an Edgedancer, an order of Knights Radiant with a philosophy of remembrance. Edgedancers strive to remember people, even their enemies, and especially ordinary people — those that would otherwise be forgotten. Lift has sworn the Third Ideal, so she has the ability to summon her spren Wyndle as a Shardblade.

Lift’s Shardblade is perhaps better referred to as a Shardweapon, or even a Shardobject — Lift doesn’t like using a sword or hurting people, and so when she has summoned Wyndle, it’s been as a rod, without a sharp edge (except for when she made him into a fork to eat pancakes).

Due to the Shard of Cultivation having altered Lift, she possesses some unique abilities. She can physically contact her Radiant spren Wyndle, which lets her use Wyndle to climb objects that would otherwise be too steep, or to use him as a hand or foot hold in precarious situations — generally, Spren do not have substance in the Physical Realm. She can also produce Investiture by eating food — it appears that she creates Lifelight, rather than Stormlight, when doing this. Lift can still breathe in and use Stormlight like any other Radiant, in addition to being able to use her self-produced Lifelight.

As an Edgedancer, Lift has access to two Surges:

• Abrasion – Lift can use Stormlight to alter the friction on herself or a surface she contacts, able to make it virtually frictionless or increase how much friction the object has. This allows her to slide around at high speeds, and lets her grip things much better than normal.
• Progression – By infusing an organic object with Stormlight, Lift can cause it to rapidly grow, in a directed fashion. This Surge can also be used to heal people, so long as the injury is recent enough that the person doesn’t view the injury as a part of themself.

There are five Ideals, or Oaths, that an Edgedancer can swear. Swearing each oath grants the Radiant more power(s) and abilities. Lift has sworn three Oaths thus far:

• First Ideal – Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.
  • Grants some access to the surges and Stormlight
• Second Ideal – I will remember those who have been forgotten.
  • Grants greater access to the surge of Progression and Stormlight — sworn by Lift before healing Gawx in the Azish palace
• Third Ideal – I will listen to those who have been ignored.
  • Allows the Knight to summon their spren as a Shardblade — Lift swears this Ideal as she prepares to battle Nale in Yeddaw.
• Fourth Ideal – Unknown
  • Likely grants the Knight access to Shardplate.
• Fifth Ideal – Unknown

Relationships

Lift tends to be a loner, happy to be near people but preferring not to get too close to them emotionally. Still, she does have a few relationships.

Wyndle is the cultivationspren Lift has bonded, their Radiant Nahel bond giving her the powers of an Edgedancer. Their relationship did not get off to a smooth start, with Lift constantly teasing and insulting her spren, calling him a Voidbringer and hiding things from him. He tolerated her behavior, and eventually she grew to appreciate Wyndle (although she still hasn’t learned to care about many of the facts he tries to share regarding Radiant powers and the theory behind them). She eventually recognizes that Wyndle is very tolerant of her abuse and obnoxious behavior, and even thanks him for it. She has also shown Wyndle the secret handshake that Lift and Gavinor share.

Yanagawn was a fellow thief who was with Lift when she snuck into the Azish royal palace. She saved his life with her Radiant powers, and they have been close ever since. Lift often accompanies Yanagawn places, and helps him deal with his newfound responsibilities as Prime. She lived in the palace with him for a time, but left because she felt stifled by the people there who wanted to do things for her and teach her to read and write. Yanagawn trusts Lift, perhaps more than any of this other advisors.

Lift has been spending a lot of time with Gavinor, son of the late King Elhokar. It’s likely Lift feels some kinship with Gav, as they’ve both lost their parents, and she is also honoring her Edgedancer Oaths by spending time with a boy who often feels he has been forgotten by family. Lift has made a point of actively befriending Gav, and is sensitive to the boy’s trauma. She has taught him a secret handshake.

Lift seems to respect Dalinar more than she does any other authority figures, although it took her a few interactions to warm up to him — after she sees the way he speaks to Odium, Lift begins to trust Dalinar. Dalinar treats Lift like all the other Radiants, despite her childish behavior. She often hides near the meetings Dalinar has with Navani, Jasnah, and Wit — wishing she was included.

Gift, son of Rock, has a crush on Lift and leaves out food for Lift to “steal”, including one basket with a love note in it. Lift is avoiding the boy for now, but it’s possible that if she accepts she is growing up, she may change her mind.

We hope this biography of Lift had what you were looking for. If it didn’t, or if you want to discuss the character, drop us a line in the comments!

Art at top of article by pijiyumi