What's with Y'shtola's vision?

[LitheSuxman]

I'm confused as to whether she is completely blind but able to sense aetherial flow of all forms of matters or is she half blind and has limited vision.

In ShB, right after the 3rd LW battle she asked Urianger to describe the sky to her in the most Urianger-way. But then in the cave she is able to tell the murals are from certain era, when asked she says it's the peculiarity of the paint used gives it away.

What is with her vision?

[SannaR]

She is blind. She uses her own aether to help her see things. Everything is made up of aether. It's why Matoya tells her that it'll kill her one day. Though so far the devs haven't shown what kind of toll it's been taking on her. She probably just wanted Urianger to give a poetic version of what the night sky looked like on the 1st. These types of questions are best suited for the Lore section of the forum. I do believe there was/is a thread that talks about this topic in that section.

[Mimilu]

From my understanding, she can see using a technique that allows her to see the aether everything is made out of. Maybe the different paints on the wall had variations in their aetheric composition she could differentiate where as the sky was only a vision/illusion?

[Adeacia]

She is blind. She uses her own aether to help her see things. Everything is made up of aether. It's why Matoya tells her that it'll kill her one day. Though so far the devs haven't shown what kind of toll it's been taking on her. She probably just wanted Urianger to give a poetic version of what the night sky looked like on the 1st. These types of questions are best suited for the Lore section of the forum. I do believe there was/is a thread that talks about this topic in that section.

This here. Also, though Matoya did say that, there was no timeline given. It could simply mean she'll leave 5 years less then the average lifespan of her kind. It's not something that actually has to be directly addressed in the story itself.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

She is blind in that her eyes no longer see light. She is able to use her own life force to perceive aether, which allows her to see somewhat.

[LitheSuxman]

From my understanding, she can see using a technique that allows her to see the aether everything is made out of. Maybe the different paints on the wall had variations in their aetheric composition she could differentiate where as the sky was only a vision/illusion?

This! Perhaps the way aetherflow works is like wavelength, the paint on the wall stands out from the wall while the sky is just a flat broad emptiness.

[StriderShinryu]

I tend to think of it as something almost like echo-location. Maybe not in terms of specific mechanics but more in terms of it's general function. She can expend aether to "see" but it's not like she's using aether to power regular vision so even when she is using her aether to see, she's not only not "seeing" normally but there are limits to what she can "see." Hence why she asked Urianger to describe the sky to her. She either can can perceive it but knows that what she's "seeing" is not what an actual sky looks like, or maybe she can't even "see" the sky at all with her ability and just sort of "sees" it as a blank void.

That's my head canon anyway.

[Kolsykol]

Though so far the devs haven't shown what kind of toll it's been taking on her.

In fairness not much time has really passed.

I forget sometimes myself because of how many expansions there have been but in-game it has not actually been that long.

[Shougun]

For Warcraft players, she's got demon hunter vision (Illidan). :P

I dont mind her being all sorts of neat, I just hope she doesn't get to deus ex lifestream herself out of situations in EW. At least without some sort of more real consequence (like maybe she goes full stop blind). People don't have to die for the story to be fun, just that last time we had her scare I wasn't shocked because I just assumed she had 200 yalm thick plot armor and that ended being correct. If it happens again I'm just going to laugh.

[Cabalabob]

I like to think of it like Neo in the matrix where he could see everything as code. If you think of it like that it all makes more sense. She can “see” the different paints on the murals (based on how it appears in the code) but she can’t see things as beautiful like the return of the night sky, it’s all just 1’s and 0’s to her which is why she wanted the beauty described to her.