Kaladin's Reverse Lash

[atiummisting17]

We see Kaladin use the Reverse Lash to rip off the Pursuer's head after he reaches the fourth ideal in Rhythm of War.

Is this something he could've done before the fourth ideal, if he had practiced the Reverse Lash more? He starts using the ability in creative ways due to lacking the ability to use the Basic Lash for most of Rhythm of War, and don't really see anyone use it besides Kaladin in the first book.

I thought surges don't become more powerful as you make oaths, you just gain access to new ones and your Shardblade/Shardplate, plus becoming a better "container" for Stormlight.

Edited March 27, 2023 by atiummisting17

[NameIess]

15 minutes ago, atiummisting17 said:

We see Kaladin use the Reverse Lash to rip off the Pursuer's head after he reaches the fourth ideal in Rhythm of War.

Is this something he could've done before the fourth ideal, if he had practiced the Reverse Lash more? He starts using the ability in creative ways due to lacking the ability to use the Basic Lash for most of Rhythm of War, and don't really see anyone use it besides Kaladin in the first book.

I thought surges don't become more powerful as you make oaths, you just gain access to new ones and your Shardblade/Shardplate, plus becoming a better "container" for Stormlight.

Kaladin actually hadn’t achieved the Fourth Ideal before ripping off the Pursuer’s head, and we’d seen him do things that would require more power than that before, when he pulled hundreds of arrows to himself in tWoK, so I think it’s something that he could’ve done from the beginning with enough practice.

[Longshot97 he/him]

There's likely also the question of whether or not Kaladin would have used the Reverse Lashing in such a way. He did so in a fit of unthinking, bestial rage. Had he been more rational, he probably would have been horrified at the very thought.

[S. Stormy she/her]

2 hours ago, Longshot97 said:

There's likely also the question of whether or not Kaladin would have used the Reverse Lashing in such a way. He did so in a fit of unthinking, bestial rage. Had he been more rational, he probably would have been horrified at the very thought.

Yes, Kaladin isn't usually so... brutal. It's a horrifying death, and his eyes in that scene...

Terrifying.

[Quantus he/him]

11 hours ago, atiummisting17 said:

I thought surges don't become more powerful as you make oaths, you just gain access to new ones and your Shardblade/Shardplate, plus becoming a better "container" for Stormlight.

Not more powerful per say, but the Radiant does become more efficient with their use of Stormlight, which logically should make them capable of more dramatic top-end effects.  

That being said, with all the odd color things happening there, other factors where affecting Kaladin in that act, so it might not have been pure Radiant progression on display.