Empathy was the supernatural ability to sense the emotions of other beings. With this, empaths could gain information about the people they read, detecting current emotions, thoughts,[1] emotional stages,[2] goals,[3] and even the presence of a soul.[4]
Unlike telepathy,[5] the ability to sense the thoughts of others, vampires were not immune to be read by empaths.[6][2]
Examples
Vampires
- Drusilla could easily feel others' emotions in conjunction with her other psychic abilities.[1]
- Marcus could sense that Angel had been in love by looking at his bare chest.[2]
Demons
- The Judge used empathy before incinerating any being with feelings,[6] leaving immune only the most wicked and depraved.[7]
- Vengeance demons used empathy to find their wronged person, feeling their pain.[8][9] They also could sense a person's soul.[4]
- Empath demons, as their name indicated, could sense the emotions of other beings.[10]
- The Deathwok Clan could sense others' auras and primarily used this for hunting, while Lorne instead read auras while others sang.[11]
- The Guardian of the Word could sense that Angel was a vampire.[12]
- The Old One Illyria could sense people's emotions, as well as distinguish humans from vampires,[13] and even sense arousal.[14]
- Courtesan demons such as Morgan could detect the emotions of those they served or were bonded with.[3]
Humans
- The Kalderash elder woman could sense Angel's pain or lack thereof.[6]
- Tara Maclay had the ability to read auras, allowing her to sense that Buffy Summers had suffered a body switching.[15]
- Agnes Bellfleur had the ability to read auras.[16]
- Willow Rosenberg gained the power of empathy when she sucked the magical energy of the Devon coven from Rupert Giles. This allowed her to feel the pain experienced by the rest of humanity.[17]
Others
- Madame Dorion[18] and the goddess Glorificus[19] had the capacity to distinguish humans from vampires.
- Sundrop, as a fairy, was able to describe the "negative energy" of anger turns an aura "blood red."[20]
Appearances
References
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