RoyalBeeMage he/him Posted September 2, 2024 Posted September 2, 2024 Who is the most powerful radiant that we have seen? Not counting bondsmiths as they are kind of op anyway. like kaladin in a highstorm is unstoppable but so is shallan in shadesmar it would seem 1
Lord Spirit he/him Posted September 3, 2024 Posted September 3, 2024 I think Kaladin would easily defeat Shallan. He’s the best fighter of the restored radiants. However, Nale has bonded a spren, so technically him. 1
Acolyte of Radiance Posted September 3, 2024 Posted September 3, 2024 Kaladin wins,Jasnah may be stronger then nale by account of soulcasting.
alder24 Posted September 3, 2024 Posted September 3, 2024 11 hours ago, RoyalBeeMage said: Who is the most powerful radiant that we have seen? Not counting bondsmiths as they are kind of op anyway. like kaladin in a highstorm is unstoppable but so is shallan in shadesmar it would seem Jasnah of course. Nobody can compete with the queen! She has much more experience in using her powers and she reached the 4th Ideal first (not counting Shallan and Testament). But if Nale counts, then Nale wins - he has both his bond and his Honorblade, which increase his power and he has 7000 years of experience in fighting that none of the current Radiants can ever match.
teknopathetic he/him Posted September 3, 2024 Posted September 3, 2024 I think it depends on what kind of fight. A duel in a stadium? Kaladin. A declared blood feud where the attack could come at any moment. Shallan. 4
Master Silver Posted September 3, 2024 Posted September 3, 2024 17 minutes ago, teknopathetic said: I think it depends on what kind of fight. A duel in a stadium? Kaladin. A declared blood feud where the attack could come at any moment. Shallan. I agree with that completely. In a duel, Kaladin wins. Honestly, I think Words of Radiance showed that Kaladin has an edge even over Dalinar, when it is plate, blade, and lashings. So best Duelists/warrior/killer, Heralds.... gap...Kaladin>Szeth>Blackthorn>Adolin>Dalinar. If this were who would you want to withstand a seige, I think Jasenah. Soul casting for the win. If it is who do you want to be an assassin, Shallan. Best general for a pitched battle, Dalinar>Adolin>Kaladin>Jasenah. Best monarch.. Jasenah>Dalinar>Adolin (even though he is unhappy)>Kaladin. Best leader Dalinar or Kaladin it keeps flip-flopping. 1
LewsTherinTelescope Posted September 4, 2024 Posted September 4, 2024 Almost certainly Nale, but setting him aside probably Szeth. His command of his Surges in the prologue is greater than we've seen Kaladin display even now, and he's trained with all ten so he should have a good baseline skill in Division already. Remember, he didn't lose to Kaladin, he gave up. Well, okay, now Kaladin has Shardplate which gives him a huge edge, and so does Jasnah. So actually those two are probably the most dangerous. But if Szeth reaches the Fourth then I'd give him first place again. 1
alder24 Posted September 4, 2024 Posted September 4, 2024 10 hours ago, LewsTherinTelescope said: Almost certainly Nale, but setting him aside probably Szeth. His command of his Surges in the prologue is greater than we've seen Kaladin display even now, and he's trained with all ten so he should have a good baseline skill in Division already. Remember, he didn't lose to Kaladin, he gave up. I have to disagree. Even before Szeth gave up, Kaladin was winning. He was scoring hits on Szeth, surprising him constantly - Kal clearly had the upper hand in that fight. Szeth is obviously dangerous even without Nightblood, but against Kaladin Szeth will lose again. 1
LewsTherinTelescope Posted September 4, 2024 Posted September 4, 2024 7 minutes ago, alder24 said: Even before Szeth gave up, Kaladin was winning. He was scoring hits on Szeth, surprising him constantly - Kal clearly had the upper hand in that fight. Didn't a lot of that come down to Syl being able to change shape while an Honorblade can't + being able to heal any hits he took while Szeth had to avoid them all? I might need to look over the scene again more closely, though, it's been a while since I first read it. 1
alder24 Posted September 4, 2024 Posted September 4, 2024 1 minute ago, LewsTherinTelescope said: Didn't a lot of that come down to Syl being able to change shape while an Honorblade can't + being able to heal any hits he took while Szeth had to avoid them all? I might need to look over the scene again more closely, though, it's been a while since I first read it. Some of this, yes, but Kaladin was just naturally better with his skills than Szeth was, despites Szeth's years of experience. The skies had always belonged to Kal, winds were his, Szeth was a trespasser there. Szeth won't win with Kaladin up in the air. 1
Immortal Platypus Posted September 4, 2024 Posted September 4, 2024 17 minutes ago, alder24 said: Some of this, yes, but Kaladin was just naturally better with his skills than Szeth was, despites Szeth's years of experience. The skies had always belonged to Kal, winds were his, Szeth was a trespasser there. Szeth won't win with Kaladin up in the air. Wasn't part of it also that Szeth burns much more stormlight? Also, Full Lashings, and to an extent, Reverse Lashings, are very rarely useful when fighting in the air like that, whereas Division could be very useful. If/when Szeth learns more of Division (like the lightning Stormform used), I think he'd have a much better chance. 1
therunner he/him Posted September 4, 2024 Posted September 4, 2024 (edited) 24 minutes ago, alder24 said: Some of this, yes, but Kaladin was just naturally better with his skills than Szeth was, despites Szeth's years of experience. The skies had always belonged to Kal, winds were his, Szeth was a trespasser there. Szeth won't win with Kaladin up in the air. While Kaladin does seem to be naturally better Windrunner than Szeth (unsurprising, considering Szeth ends up Skybreaker), I don't think we should discount the very simple fact that this was Szeth at the very end of months long mental breakdown. Poor man was utterly mentally broken, and on some level wanted to lose (as his PoV chapters in TWoK clearly show). So I would not be so quick as to say Szeth simply won't win in air against Kaladin, especially now that he is healing somewhat and would not fight with inferior version of the same surges. As to original thread question, I'd bet on Kaladin still in PR, and quite likely in CR as well, he is simply better combatant. Though Shallan is far more useful in CR than he is. Edited September 4, 2024 by therunner 1
alder24 Posted September 4, 2024 Posted September 4, 2024 8 minutes ago, Immortal Platypus said: Wasn't part of it also that Szeth burns much more stormlight? They were fighting in a Highstorm, Stormlight wasn't really the issue here. 5 minutes ago, therunner said: While Kaladin does seem to be naturally better Windrunner than Szeth (unsurprising, considering Szeth ends up Skybreaker), I don't think we should discount the very simple fact that this was Szeth at the very end of months long mental breakdown. Poor man was utterly mentally broken, and on some level wanted to lose (as his PoV chapters in TWoK clearly show). So I would not be so quick as to say Szeth simply won't win in air against Kaladin, especially now that he is healing somewhat and would not fight with inferior version of the same surges. That's true. Sane Szeth might be able to defeat Kaladin. However, Szeth is not there yet. He's still mentally unstable, he still hates himself, he still hears voices of those he killed. As Szeth is right now, I doubt he would be able to win against Kaladin.
therunner he/him Posted September 4, 2024 Posted September 4, 2024 4 minutes ago, alder24 said: That's true. Sane Szeth might be able to defeat Kaladin. However, Szeth is not there yet. He's still mentally unstable, he still hates himself, he still hears voices of those he killed. As Szeth is right now, I doubt he would be able to win against Kaladin. Fair, not to mention that Szeth currently lacks Plate, putting him at rather significant disadvantage even if he was mentally doing well. I wonder what this discussion will look like after we finish the full book. 1
BinarySecond Posted September 4, 2024 Posted September 4, 2024 (edited) Kaladin in most circumstances. You can't fight the wind. Edited September 4, 2024 by BinarySecond spelling
Immortal Platypus Posted September 5, 2024 Posted September 5, 2024 On 9/4/2024 at 6:58 AM, alder24 said: They were fighting in a Highstorm, Stormlight wasn't really the issue here. oh shoot, I thought I edited that to say that the Honorblade had more limitations. Szeth couldn't heal from Shardblade wounds, his Blade couldn't change shape, he used more Stormlight (but that's not important), etc. I think that would have an impact. At this point, I still think Kaladin would beat Szeth, especially with Plate, but near the end of WaT, that could definitely change. 1
Master Silver Posted September 5, 2024 Posted September 5, 2024 So in terms of experience, Kaladin was much newer to his powers than Szeth. Neither one of them had fought another surge binder. I do believe Szeth could heal so long as the "soul" of the limb was not severed by the Sylbalde. This is a couple years later. Szeth has more experience and a Knight Radiant of the third ideal. Both have more experience in fighting surge binders. But I think it is safe to say Kaladin has improved more, has a deeper bond with his spren, and as others have said is just more naturally gifted, especially in the air. If this was hand to hand, Szeth wins, but you can't really disarm a Radiant, at least not in the type of duel we are talking about. Not only that, but the story seems to imply that Kaladin was better and remains one of the few that can put Szeth down if necessary.
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