[OB] Kaladin's evolution

[Windseeker]

First he rescues the people he feels responsible for(Enrolling to save tien and later on Bridge four), then he gets over his dislike of Lighteyes and saves not only Dalinar, but also Adolin. Later on, his perspective shifts and stops Elhokar's assassination, which bestowed an aura of maturity upon him that I really hope it would last. However, in Oathbringer he not only fails "To save the ones he can" by freezing up in the palace and letting all those people get massacred(Including Elhokar, who he was prepared to die for in WoR but now he just lets Moash casually walk in and run him through), but he's convinced by Syl that, "It's okay to let others save you."

What's his journey supposed to accomplish? Though I understand the direction in which Brandon wants to take him(To be more forgiving with himself and accept his limits instead of being an idealist), I can't help but disapprove with the means employed here. I didn't really enjoy his depression in WoR, but at least he redeemed himself by standing up for what he considered an enemy at the time(Elhokar). Yet in Oathbringer he lets all of his friends down because of an existential crisis? Wasn't he supposed to learn something from past experiences so far? He hasn't even been to Damnation to get his soul flayed, yet he's as broken as a Herald :(

[Guest]

He froze at the fight (google: Combat Stress Reaction) and beat himself up over it, because Elhokar died and Kholinar fell.

I don't think, that means he 'let his friends down' and I think his depressive episode is justified. He'll always be more prone to it.

[Andy92]

Honestly, I was glad Brandon went with this approach for Kaladin's character. Because too many times in fantasy novels, you have this almost infallible chosen one who, despite some struggles from time to time, always saves the day. As tough as it was to read about Kaladin's failures in Oathbringer, I think it's a more realistic circumstance. 

The fact of the matter is that one person can't always save the day every. single. time. A lot of the characters in Stormlight Archive live lives that are full of failures, but they press on anyways. That's the hope I'm glad to see the series bring to its forefront. 

His story wasn't always fun to read about in Oathbringer. I don't like seeing one of my favorite characters struggle so much. But it's realistic. He has seven more books to progress throughout. A character that brushes off struggles and always saves the day eventually becomes a boring character if that nature persists throughout a ten book series. 

[Windseeker]

3 hours ago, Andy92 said:

Honestly, I was glad Brandon went with this approach for Kaladin's character. Because too many times in fantasy novels, you have this almost infallible chosen one who, despite some struggles from time to time, always saves the day. As tough as it was to read about Kaladin's failures in Oathbringer, I think it's a more realistic circumstance. 

The fact of the matter is that one person can't always save the day every. single. time. A lot of the characters in Stormlight Archive live lives that are full of failures, but they press on anyways. That's the hope I'm glad to see the series bring to its forefront. 

His story wasn't always fun to read about in Oathbringer. I don't like seeing one of my favorite characters struggle so much. But it's realistic. He has seven more books to progress throughout. A character that brushes off struggles and always saves the day eventually becomes a boring character if that nature persists throughout a ten book series. 

Kaladin is hardly infallible. If anything, he has a lot of unresolved issues he needs to attend, and his stubborness--or worse, ignorance--in the face of those only makes matters all the more difficult for him. I guess I'd like him more if he didn't have this very strange sense of pride to him. It always breaks my heart a little when he ignores sensible advice from Syl, who clearly wants to help, but throws that aside in favor of self-pity. Not to mention that he has the tendency to take over the leadership like he did in the palace, which impeded the retreat of his squad by trying to get everybody to stop. Like...what was he thinking? The bridgemen took a while before they started to listen to him, and suddenly he expects everybody to do as he bids in an instant?

I'm happy that he's flawed; hardships is what I love to read about, given that my other favorite book series is "A Song of Ice and Fire." I completely understand that a character's growth is a long and arduous process, but with Kaladin, it feels like the payoff is often insufficient. I want him to make mistakes, but what irks me is that his mistakes keep happening over the same reason, over and over again.

Let's consider another example. Let's assume that Kaladin grits his teeth, cuts through the Parshmen that used to be his friends, runs Moash through and saves Elhokar temporarily. An archer--or a fused, or somebody else--still manages to kill Elhokar, so Kaladin still failed his task, per se. However, I would have felt mega proud of him, for at least he tried. He did his best with what has been given, and stuck to his ideals of protecting those who can't protect themselves. He could anguish over the lives he took, and the choices he made, later. But at least he would have done something instead of nothing.

Maybe it's just me, but it feels like him abandoning his duties to his squad is an unforgivable sin. It's like his first, most sacred of goals(The one that is shown in the very first chapter featuring Kaladin in "Way of Kings", to protect those under his responsibility) didn't matter in the face of that one moment of indecision. That's what frustrates me. The one thing he repeats to himself over and over is the one he can't fulfill.....

[Starla]

@Windseeker I don't think he made a conscious choice to abandon his duties in the palace. As @SLNC noted above, he had a combat stress response, which is a real problem that soldiers face in battle when their mind cannot compute what is happening around them. See this from Wikipedia (full article here):

Quote

Combat stress reaction (CSR) is a term used within the military to describe acute behavioral disorganization seen by medical personnel as a direct result of the trauma of war. Also known as "combat fatigue" or "battle neurosis", it has some overlap with the diagnosis of acute stress reaction used in civilian psychiatry. It is historically linked to shell shock and can sometimes precurse post-traumatic stress disorder.

Combat stress reaction is an acute reaction that includes a range of behaviors resulting from the stress of battle that decrease the combatant's fighting efficiency. The most common symptoms are fatigue, slower reaction times, indecision, disconnection from one's surroundings, and the inability to prioritize. Combat stress reaction is generally short-term and should not be confused with acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other long-term disorders attributable to combat stress, although any of these may commence as a combat stress reaction. The US Army uses the term/acronym COSR (Combat Stress Reaction) in official medical reports. This term can be applied to any stress reaction in the military unit environment. Many reactions look like symptoms of mental illness (such as panic, extreme anxiety, depression, and hallucinations), but they are only transient reactions to the traumatic stress of combat and the cumulative stresses of military operations.

His mind could not handle his friends suddenly killing each other, so he had an automatic shut down. It is a realistic response to an awful situation. It might be disappointing that he didn't swoop in and save the day at the last minute, but the story will get boring and repetitive if the same thing keeps happening over and over. Also, just because he had some setbacks in this book, doesn't mean he won't make forward progress in the future. I think he's set up nicely to make forward progress with his fourth ideal and the singer/human dilemma in the next book. 

 

[Mulk]

even if it's not CSR, as a long time depression sufferer sometimes your mind just locks up and you just can't.  You even self sabotage at times.  It sucks.  You get told (as people have said about Kaladin) all manner of things about how disappointed others are in you, why can't you just do this, you've betrayed us, etc etc etc.  And you agree with it. And you hate yourself.  But you can't move forward...

sigh. I hate depression.

[Awesomness]

 I don't think he failed his friends in Alethkar, he froze because he cannot save them all, he is no mindless thug that kills the ones he's pointed against. He is empathic. He was terrified when he realized he could kill (in a flashback). He is terrified again when he is confronted to the fact that he may have to kill people he wants to protect. 

Even though, he soon regained focus and moved forward. He is still struggling with his depression, but we see him more mature, and relaying more in his friends, instead of trying to do everything by himself.

I think Kaladin´s entire arc will revolve around Lirins words about growing calluses, standing up for what is right,  not trying to stop the storm by blowing harder.

I've read many opinions about Kaladin being the cliched superhero who always saves the day. In OB Brandon wrote him in a different light and now people complains he failed and didn't save the day... Seriously?

I know depressive people like Kaladin are usually frustrating (from an outside view), but they are fighting their own war.

[Dreamstorm]

I may be in the minority, but I connected with him so much more in OB. His scenes in WoK and WoR when he saves the day (Tower, Duel, Szeth battle, even the little things like making Bridge 4 magically the best troop of soldiers ever), while absolutely awesome to read, made it a little hard to relate to him. Yeah, he sometimes made mistakes and people died, but it always ended up working out. When he came out the chasms, Dalinar says something like, “This man is a hero. Again.” which I always saw as a little eye-rolly (likely bc I do audio, and it was said a little that way on audio.) Even Dalinar is annoyed he’s always saving the day, lol. After OB, he seems a little more human, a little less just the hero. It was beautiful to see him be saved by others. Syl comforting him when he couldn’t say the fourth oath was incredibly touching. These kind of moments turned me from someone who found his parts always thrilling into a character who I was really invested in his development. 

He very much has his flaws (and always has), but those always seemed a bit more of a side show - well, we need him to have something negative so it’s not too annoying he always saves the day. I think we got much more depth in OB, as much as it wasn’t as exciting to read. 

[Andy92]

1 hour ago, Windseeker said:

It's like his first, most sacred of goals(The one that is shown in the very first chapter featuring Kaladin in "Way of Kings", to protect those under his responsibility) didn't matter in the face of that one moment of indecision. That's what frustrates me. The one thing he repeats to himself over and over is the one he can't fulfill.....

He protected countless bridgemen throughout tWoK, he saved the day at The Tower, he saved Elhokar from attacks by Szeth as well as Moash, and he saved Dalinar at Narak by defeating Szeth. 

I don't think he's failed to fulfill his duty very often. 

I can understand your points about how Kaladin can be self-loathing at times. But I disagree that he's a failure at fulfilling his main goal. He had a moment of weakness that cost him dearly. But that doesn't mean that moment in the palace will define his character forever. 

[Windseeker]

Wow, you people are amazing at dissecting a character's psyche and explaining what happened 'behind the scenes' so to speak. Thank you all for contributing so far! I think the reason I found the part where he freezes is a two-fold matter:

1) Everything just happened incredibly fast. One moment, our team is surrounded, and the next, people start dropping dead. It's brutally realistic and portrayed the helplessness of Kaladin very well, which I guess is what made me wish for him to intervene so much.

2) Given what Kaladin has been through, I assumed he grew a thicker skin over time. He did discover ways to cope with his problems(Most recent being his burning desire to get out of Shadesmar to protect Dalinar), so I guess I expected him to be less vulnerable to the horrors of combat.

3) Actually there's a third point, now that I think of it. Given how quickly he bonded with the Wall Guard, I believed he'll prioritize them over the Parshmen(Even Kaladin admits that it felt unfair to have these people accept him so quickly when it took months to convince the bridgemen to get out of their sorry state).

Anyway, I suppose that's the beauty of a book. Everybody interprets things differently, so it's very neat to have you folks contribute with your opinions on this matter and paint these other, different pictures in lavish detail that I can totally understand and appreciate.

Also, on the matter of Kaladin's scars, do you believe the reasons they don't heal are tied to his fourth/fifth ideal? Sort of like Dalinar's own painful past that allowed him to become a new man in the end?

Edited December 1, 2017 by Windseeker

[FuzzyWordsmith]

2 hours ago, Windseeker said:

Let's consider another example. Let's assume that Kaladin grits his teeth, cuts through the Parshmen that used to be his friends, runs Moash through and saves Elhokar temporarily. An archer--or a fused, or somebody else--still manages to kill Elhokar, so Kaladin still failed his task, per se. However, I would have felt mega proud of him, for at least he tried. He did his best with what has been given, and stuck to his ideals of protecting those who can't protect themselves. He could anguish over the lives he took, and the choices he made, later. But at least he would have done something instead of nothing.

So, I bolded the bit in your post that I think is the source of your problem. You seem to want Kaladin to fail and be infallible at the same time. What happened in the book is that Kaladin is only human, and it shows. The problem with the scenario I bolded in your post is that in that scenario, it's not Kaladin's fault that he fails. It would be a failure, technically, but not because he failed. That situation seems no different to me than if he had just saved everyone with no problems.

[Windseeker]

1 hour ago, FuzzyWordsmith said:

So, I bolded the bit in your post that I think is the source of your problem. You seem to want Kaladin to fail and be infallible at the same time. What happened in the book is that Kaladin is only human, and it shows. The problem with the scenario I bolded in your post is that in that scenario, it's not Kaladin's fault that he fails. It would be a failure, technically, but not because he failed. That situation seems no different to me than if he had just saved everyone with no problems.

I don't want him to fail and be infallible at the same time. When I wrote that post, what I meant by it is that, even though the outcome was the same in my example(Elhokar and a bunch of other people dying), Kaladin attempting to save through more than a plea would have felt better than him remaining idle throughout that ordeal. And I completely agree that he's only human(Especially when Oathbringer is aimed at forgiving/accepting oneself with all the good and bad that comes with the package).

I realize that there are many sensible, in-depth explanations that detail the cause of his hesitation, but like I said in the post above, I sorta expected him to have grown a thicker skin given all that he's been through so far.

[FuzzyWordsmith]

1 minute ago, Windseeker said:

I realize that there are many sensible, in-depth explanations that detail the cause of his hesitation, but like I said in the post above, I sorta expected him to have grown a thicker skin given all that he's been through so far.

So, here's the thing. A thick skin is one thing, but imagine that two people you love are killing each other, and the only way to stop it is to kill one or the other. Growing a thick enough skin for THAT to not phase you stretches the bounds of human capability. And it's not exactly him remaining idle. It's him going into shock. Those are two very different things, and to say he's just remaining idle seems a bit dismissive to me.

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, Windseeker said:

I realize that there are many sensible, in-depth explanations that detail the cause of his hesitation, but like I said in the post above, I sorta expected him to have grown a thicker skin given all that he's been through so far.

This has nothing to do with 'thick skin'. This rust can happen to any soldier as an acute reaction to stress during combat.

Edited December 1, 2017 by SLNC

[Andy92]

4 hours ago, Windseeker said:

Also, on the matter of Kaladin's scars, do you believe the reasons they don't heal are tied to his fourth/fifth ideal?

It's an interesting thought. Kaladin does have some internal struggles that are holding him back up to this point. I think the way he views himself plays into that to some degree. The books seems to suggest that the 4th ideal for Windrunners is focused around realizing you will never be able to save every single person. It could be an ideal based around being willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. 

Kaladin still sees himself as he was in the past, at least to some degree. I think that's where most of his character growth can come from moving forward. He will have to learn to save those he can without beating himself up too much when he fails. 

[Ailvara]

I just wanted to add, how uplifting Kaladin's arc was for me personally. It shows how even a superhero can go from epic wins to fail without it necessary meaning that somewhere in the meantime he himself became a worse or weaker person. Fantastic contrast to Dalinar, one of them needs to acknowledge his responsibility for his failures to move forward, the other one needs to let it go. 

[mariapapadia]

15 hours ago, Windseeker said:

..

 

11 hours ago, Windseeker said:

 

 

8 hours ago, Windseeker said:

Also, on the matter of Kaladin's scars, do you believe the reasons they don't heal are tied to his fourth/fifth ideal? Sort of like Dalinar's own painful past that allowed him to become a new man in the end?

I know some already replied and I agree with what everyone said above. I just wanted to add a thing. We are shown from part 1 that Kaladin is going to have a dilemma to choose between what is right and what is expected of him. Given his 3rd ideal, with protecting the ones that can't protect themselves, who is to say who can't protect themselves ? What makes the Parshendi more worthy to protect than the humans or the humans more than the Parshendi? It's all a matter of perspective. Here is the dilemma that Kaladin encounters. Assuming you love both of your parents the same, if you were to choose between killing one knowing it will save the other, what would you do? Things are not always that black and white.

Through Kaladin, I think one of the things Brandon tries to accomplish is to show a realistic portrayal of depression. I don't know if you've ever had experience with that, but depression is not just something that goes away one day and never comes back. You will always have it in you and you will have a predisposition to it and relapses, but you have to keep going. It's not as easy as someone telling you to get over yourself and there, you are fixed. Kaladin has to learn and accept some things, that he won't always be able to save everyone and he will fail sometimes, but he has to push through it.

Edited December 1, 2017 by mariapapadia

[Awesomness]

52 minutes ago, Ailvara said:

I just wanted to add, how uplifting Kaladin's arc was for me personally.

Yes, I loved his arc too, and I think it was very smart from Brandon to make him meet the Singers and the Wall Guard, and then struggle with the fifth ideal. I am sure he already knows what the words will imply. 

@Windseeker I understand you anyway. When you get caught by the book and invested in the characters, and suddenly you have frustrating scenes like this one, you end up reading too fast to process everything. Or at least that is how I feel sometimes...

[Starla]

7 hours ago, Windseeker said:

I realize that there are many sensible, in-depth explanations that detail the cause of his hesitation, but like I said in the post above, I sorta expected him to have grown a thicker skin given all that he's been through so far.

I think the point of his whole arc through the first three books, including his surgeon training as a child, is that he hasn’t grown a thicker skin. Note this quote from Oathbringer Chapter 7:

Quote

“You’ve hardened,” Lirin said to Kaladin as he inspected the next patient’s foot. “I was worried you’d never grow calluses.” 

Kaladin didn’t reply. In truth, his calluses weren’t as deep as his father might have wanted.

I think his progression as a radiant, with his next ideal, does not involve him growing calluses, but rather, to continue to care without letting it destroy him. How do you fully embody empathy, compassion, and a deep respect for all life without being frozen by guilt and grief at every loss? It comes back to embracing your pain and forgiving yourself for the losses, similar to Dalinar’s realizations in this book. I don’t think he needs to become harder and grow a thicker skin, I think he needs to learn how to process the pain of the losses he feels.

It is common for people to put aside pain to function in the moment. Note Adolin’s “grieve later” comment and all of Shallan’s “don’t think about it” defense mechanisms. That works for them, but I don’t think this will work for Kaladin. He is a deeply caring person who feels everything, and he simply cannot turn away from suffering and death. It is not in his nature. Rather than trying to push aside his pain and grief, he needs a “you can’t have my pain” moment, and fully embrace it without letting it consume him.

I have a sense that his future growth will move away from killing, rather than choosing sides and becoming more tough. If you follow his internal thought processes and discussions with Lirin and Syl through the three books, there is an ongoing motif of should you kill to protect, and who is truly the enemy when everyone is trying to survive. We know that his father is a total pacifist and has had a huge influence on Kaladin. Is it possible to proceed in the current conflict without a blanket "kill all the enemies" mentality? Can you stand your ground and find solutions that are not all killing and mass destruction? I think he's a good character to explore these ideas, and the groundwork has been laid with his healing background and the notion of "do no harm."

[Mulk]

Thicker skin...I wish.  I moved to Houston when I was 12.  Kids weren't as nice there as where I was from and it cases it got bad.  I've been dealing with depression since I was 13 and I'm past 40 so you can do the math.  This was hard to post, and I almost didn't post it but I think it's instructive to hear from someone who has what Kaladin has to see what it's like.  You probably know someone like this, going by the odds. And it won't look exactly like this but there are commonalities.

For me the typical cycle looks something like this.  Good things are happening for a while, I'm trying my best, and then something bad happens.  Something not my fault.  Sometimes not even happening to me but it affects me.  A spiral starts. I start to believe I can't ever make it. I can't overcome.  It will never be better than it is right now. And then I make a mistake.  Something that is my fault.  And it gets worse, until I believe I deserve the bad, and I start doing wrong or failing to do right and feed the cycle.

The hell of it is, I know exactly what I'm doing, and I can't stop.  The part of me in control no longer believes I should have what good I have.  I look okay, even mostly act okay, but when your back is turned I tend to do things calculated to cause me pain or make it harder on me because I deserve it.  The only real way up for me is love and compassion from friends and family who give it even when I'm at my worst.  Like, you don't dig your own way out of depression. You need a ladder - a lot of times that's a therapist, but even if a therapist is part of it you need people close to you. I think that's why Rock needed to save Kaladin - why others had to come through and he had to fail.  I can't even reach out at my worst.  I can't tell people I'm hurting.  I can't succeed when I'm hurting.  I need someone to save me sometimes. I hate it, so very much.  But it's reality - I need friends who call/text/message me just because. They are like my final line of defense.  Kaladin has those things in Syl and in Bridge 4 now, so I don't worry much about him ever wanting to kill himself (or at least following through on it) but he won't be immune to spiraling down and locking up, no matter how good it gets.

That's as far as I'm going to go down this track for now.  For me, Kaladin is incredibly real. In a way, he's me.  I can't be disappointed in him - this is what I do myself. I fail and it isn't always my fault that I fail, but I blame myself, do harm (not physical in my case) to myself, hate who I am at times...it's like Brandon interviewed me and squeezed every drop out of me that has to do with depression and wrote it onto the page in words far better than I could ever use.

 

[mariapapadia]

@Ookla the Mulkfather I am so sorry you are going trough this and thank you for  sharing your story!  That will give people a better idea of how depression it actually is. I think a lot of people have this idea, that depressive people are just weak or they enjoy self pity and once something good happens and you re on a good path, you can never relapse. That's what my ignorant 18 years old self used to think. So much has changed from then and fortunately or unfortunately I got to learn more about this.

Also, this is a bit offtopic for the thread, but for whoever is interested in these sort of things, there is this "depression game" that's quite interactive and helps you understand a bit better how some people think or work. http://www.depressionquest.com/dqfinal.html It's quite a draining experience, but interesting nonetheless!

[Lord Spiral]

As for Kaladin's scars not healing, it is a matter of Identity. His view of "Kaladin" is something along the lines of the guy who failed to protect and save his brother, and his friends. The person who keeps failing to save the people important to him. The person people look to to save them and help them but who will always fail them. The slave brands were literally his punishment for not being good enough to protect those he was in a position to protect. The Kaladin before his branding truly believed he could help. He accepted that he would lose some but that he could at least save others. After the branding he is constantly trying to save everyone and failing because this is impossible.

His sense of Identity was so strong that it even overwrote Shallan's Identity filled illussion. Not wanting to be healed is one thing. But to not even accept pretending that those brands and what they represent to him weren't a part of him is something else entirely.

I do believe that once Kalladin is ready for the 4th ideal or maybe even the fifth depending on how much time progresses he will have reached a point where he can accept the failure and move on. The current theory is that the 4th and 5th ideals will be based on leadership rather than protecting and a part if that I think will be coming to terms with responsibility.

 

I'm getting more interested in The Lopen. Just how long was he a one-armed Herdazian? His sense of Identity must be rock solid to regrow the arm. He seems to think he isn't broken like the others. But he's either some level of insane (which counts) or hiding some super tragic past. (Could there be some truth to this King of Herdaz idea of his?)

[Calderis]

As someone with moderate to severe depression myself, Kaladin has always been pretty spot on. The rationalization of disliking/hating things to fit the mood you're in because being sad/angry/annoyed at everything doesn't need a reason but you can't accept that there isn't one. 

His battles with "The Wretch" and the overwhelming apathy/numbness that can consume you and all your motivation... 

And freezing under high stress. Your mind shutting down and being completely unable to process what's happening... And then blaming yourself for it later. Remembering it all in little vivid flashes amidst blank spaces. 

Yeah. I understand that people who don't have to deal with this crem can't understand, and get frustrated. They get frustrated with us in real life too. 

It's spot on. 

Edited December 2, 2017 by Ookla, the Incalculable

[straits]

I'd like to chime in and agree with most of the responses here. We as the readers have the privilege of a top-down and third person view of the situation, which could make us harsher when judging the characters' failures in their context (Kaladin's depression, Shallan's depression and destructive coping mechanisms, Dalinar's past, etc.).

On 12/1/2017 at 1:11 PM, mariapapadia said:

Through Kaladin, I think one of the things Brandon tries to accomplish is to show a realistic portrayal of depression. I don't know if you've ever had experience with that, but depression is not just something that goes away one day and never comes back. You will always have it in you and you will have a predisposition to it and relapses, but you have to keep going. It's not as easy as someone telling you to get over yourself and there, you are fixed. Kaladin has to learn and accept some things, that he won't always be able to save everyone and he will fail sometimes, but he has to push through it.

I agree with this. He has a lucid view of his own depressive episodes, shown by how he describes the difficulty in looking past his dark mood, even as he acknowledges that things may improve in the future, as they have before. I was excited to read how close he was to uttering the Fourth Ideal, but his inability to do it made perfect sense in the context of his character growth in OB.

The repeated theme for his character arc is the calluses he'd been growing as he saw good people from both sides of the conflict die senselessly, and a friend of his kill Elhokar. And here "calluses" do not mean the supernatural ability to shrug off PTSD or the horrors of war, but to accept that things are not black and white, and that he can't save everyone - something he still hasn't done.

On 12/1/2017 at 2:17 PM, Starla said:

I have a sense that his future growth will move away from killing, rather than choosing sides and becoming more tough. If you follow his internal thought processes and discussions with Lirin and Syl through the three books, there is an ongoing motif of should you kill to protect, and who is truly the enemy when everyone is trying to survive. We know that his father is a total pacifist and has had a huge influence on Kaladin. Is it possible to proceed in the current conflict without a blanket "kill all the enemies" mentality? Can you stand your ground and find solutions that are not all killing and mass destruction? I think he's a good character to explore these ideas, and the groundwork has been laid with his healing background and the notion of "do no harm."

This is the core of his identity as a Radiant, as it has been shown in WoK and stressed in WoR. His Windrunner powers leave him when he acts against his oaths with Syl, and even his combat prowess is diminished when he fights against his moral compass (attempted Elhokar assassination).

The most impressive deeds by Kaladin in OB had nothing to do with bravely charging into the enemy ranks and laying waste to them. His character-defining moments were primarily about helping people and saving lives. The help he provided escaped parshmen as they struggled to survive in a world they'd forgotten. The way he pushed back a small part of the highstorm with the help of windspren, just to save human refugees. And of course slamming into and deflecting a boulder thrown by a stone monster towards his comrades in Kholinar. 

 

[MoS03]

Depression is insidious. On your happiest day, it's like a miniature anchor on your heart. You can't escape it.

In the palace, I saw a Kaladin who couldn't kill either side, as it would have meant killing people he had taken responsibility for, no matter his actions.  I wasn't disappointed, I was actually just surprised. I saw his freeze the moment he recognized the Parshmen who walked in. It fits, and it made sense. Still a bit surprising, but Kaladin's reaction to it was not.