In the paranormal and some works of science fiction and fantasy, empathy is described as a paranormal or psychic ability to sense the emotions of others, as opposed to telepathy, which allows one to perceive thoughts as well. A person who has that ability is also called an "empath" or "telempath" in this context. Occasionally these empaths are also able to project their own emotions, or to affect the emotions of others. As a result, empath is a term coming into common usage to refer to a person with a feeling expanded sensitivity or clairsentience.

Examples of empaths in fiction

Examples from television and motion pictures include the character Deanna Troi (who, being half-Betazoid, is empathic, rather than telepathic) from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the demon Lorne of the American television show Angel. In Superman (Pre-Crisis), Lex Luthor's younger sister Lena Thorul is also an empath. One of Teen Titans character Raven's powers includes empathy. Also, in the Marvel Universe, the mutant Empath has, as his name suggests, empathic abilities, both to sense and manipulate emotions. In the NBC television series Heroes, the character Peter Petrelli is revealed to be an "empath", possessing the ability to absorb and use the power's of other heroes, even when they are not present, simply by recalling the way he felt when he was near them. Also on Smallville The Character Chloe Sullivan has the power of Empathy described as the ability to heal others by taking on their pains and making it her own .

Additionally, in Charmed, Prue (temporarily) and Phoebe Halliwell become empaths, in addition to a race of empathic magical creatures. In the Charmed universe, magical powers are said to be tied to the user's emotions. Due to this concept, the empath Phoebe Halliwell is able to not only feel the emotions of others, but also to tap into them in order to control and channel a magical being's powers. Charmed also displays empathy as a way of strengthening a being's own magical powers. Finally, in the series finale, Forever Charmed, Phoebe discovers that she is able to conjure her future-husband Coop simply due to the strong emotional bond they share. This may be as a result of her empathic power and/or her psychic, clairvoyant abilities.

The character Vincent in the TV series Beauty and the Beast is constantly empathically connected with his love, Catherine, and is considered by many fans to have at least a partial empathic sensing of others around him, fading with distance. In the movie Equilibrium, members of the Grammaton Clergy claim to be able to feel someone's feelings, sometimes before the other person is even aware of their own feelings.

Also, in the television series, Scout's Safari, Scout is a young girl living in Africa who has the empathic ability to feel the emotions and thoughts of animal. She uses this ability to help the animals and help humans understand them.

In printed fiction, several characters in Anne McCaffrey's novel To Ride Pegasus and its sequels are telempathic, empaths who are also able to broadcast chosen emotions. The character Flinx from Alan Dean Foster's ongoing "Flinx and Pip" series is telempathic as well. In the Heralds of Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey, a prominent American fantasy writer, characters are imbued with different abilities, including empathy, most notably the Queen's Own Herald, Talia. Octavia Butler's classic science fiction novel Parable of the Sower also features a character who is an empath. In Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn Chronicles, some characters have the ability to project their own emotions and to 'feel' the emotions of others around them. In the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, a vampire character named Jasper has a strong ability to feel any emotion in anybody and change the emotions of the people around him. He often uses this power to calm others in hostile situations.

The book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (on which the film Blade Runner was based) directly explores a number of issues surrounding empathy and the emotions, most notably a test which distinguishes humans from androids ("replicants") based on involuntary empathic reactions; it also tells of a religion based on collective experience and empathy for animals, as well as the 'mood organ' (a device which arouses any chosen emotion). Empathy and lack thereof are the major themes of several other Dick's novels, including Dr. Bloodmoney and Martian Time-Slip.

In the Pokémon manga series Pokémon Adventures, the characters Yellow, Lance/Wataru, and Giovanni/Sasaki have empathic powers towards Pokémon creatures. Empaths and empathy also play a part in many other Japanese manga. Some examples are Hisoka Kurosaki from Descendants of Darkness, Camus Pfalzgraf von Silvaner Lüneburg from Meine Liebe, and Quatre Raberba Winner from Gundam Wing.

Rose Rosetree describes how an empath learns to explore her empathic talent and to use it more efficiently in her novel The Roar of the Huntids..

In several anime, characters have much empathetic capabilities. In Naruto, Naruto is able to empathize with most of the characters, including Gaara and Sasuke, due to his childhood loneliness. In Gundam Wing, Heero Yuy is noted by Quatre to be able to empathize with most colonists because he had been orphaned and oppressed by war.

In the pen and paper role-playing game Rifts, empathy is a psychic ability used to "feel" or "read" the emotions of others. The super psychic ability "empathic transmission" enables the psychic to affect the emotions of others, with negative or positive results. For example, the psychic can force his victim to feel extreme sorrow, or extreme joy.

In the war tactics game Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and its sequel Radiant Dawn the three heron characters Leanne, Reyson ,and Rafael are all empathic along with the second games cover character Micaiah. Leanne is the only Heron to exhibit her empathic ability (when she reads the emotions of Lady Lucia and Queen Elincia) but it is mentioned that her two brothers share her ability. Micaiah only exhibits her power when she reads tho emotions of Empress (apostle) Sanaki and deduces her thoughts (through ingenuity).

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Examples of empaths in fiction

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