Hello, New Member; Last Clap Page?

[TIM0THY]

Hello,

 

I came here looking for information on the Last Clap. I can't quite remember how it was described by the weapons master, so I was looking to refresh my memory.

 

Thanks for any help,

 

Tim

[Guest]

Welcome! Have an upvote and a delicious cookie!

Basically, the Last Clap works like this:

Somebody tries to chop down at you with a Shardblade.

Now, because they are used to a Shardblade just easily cutting through anything and everything, they don't chop as hard as they would with a normal sword.

The person on the ground reaches up with both hands and "claps" them on both sides of the blade.

This stops the blade. Again, this would not work with a normal sword.

Does that answer your question?

[Queen Elsa Steelheart she/her]

Welcome to 17th Shard!

[vineyarddawg]

Welcome! But I wouldn't take that cookie...

[Voidus]

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Hope you enjoy your stay and cookie.

[TIM0THY]

Welcome! Have an upvote and a delicious cookie!

Basically, the Last Clap works like this:

Somebody tries to chop down at you with a Shardblade.

Now, because they are used to a Shardblade just easily cutting through anything and everything, they don't chop as hard as they would with a normal sword.

The person on the ground reaches up with both hands and "claps" them on both sides of the blade.

This stops the blade. Again, this would not work with a normal sword.

Does that answer your question?

 

 

Thanks for the reply. I was really hoping to find some quotes from the weapons master... can't remember his name...  Zyal?  I'm currently listening to the audiobook version of  Words of Radiance, so it's way too much work for me to try and go back and find the part where he explains to Kaladin what a Last Clap is. So I was hoping there would be a page in the Coppermind with some quotes from Zyal. I just finished listening to the scene that tells about Adolin's duel against four shardbearers and I wanted to refresh my memory regarding what Zyal told Kaladin about the maneuver. 

 

As long as we're on the subject, do you guys think that Kaladin intended to perform a Last Clap when he did, or do you think his action came out of desperation, without consideration for what he had already learned about the Last Clap?

[Blaze1616 he/him]

The weapons master's name is Zahel, though I do not know how the audiobook pronounces it. Do not search for him on Coppermind, though, because it is major spoilers if you plan on reading Brandon's other works, as the character is actually a "cameo."

 

If you would like I can post here which chapters Zahel is in so you don't have to search for it on the audiobook.

 

And didn't that scene involve Kaladin specifically thinking that he needed to use the Last Clap maneuver?

[TIM0THY]

Whoa- just saying his appearance is a cameo is a bit of a spoiler in itself. I haven't read all his other stuff. Just Elantris and the first two Mistborn books. But I plan to read them all. (Edit: with the exception of the WoT books. Probably won't be reading those.)

As to whether Kaladin had given any forethought to the Last Clap prior to performing it I was under the impression that he hadn't. But I was listening to this scene while driving to work, so it's quite possible I missed some key information. (I'm sure that happens a lot when I listen to audiobooks while driving.)

Edited February 18, 2015 by TIM0THY

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Whoa- just saying his appearance is a cameo is a bit of a spoiler in itself. I haven't read all his other stuff. Just Elantris and the first two Mistborn books. But I plan to read them all. (Edit: with the exception of the WoT books. Probably won't be reading those.)

 

I won't tell you which novel then. Honestly if you don't want to be spoiled I'd stop browsing this site and coppermind and really anything Sanderson related until you read the rest of them. Once you've read all the Cosmere related novels, if you didn't figure it out everyone loves telling people about it.

 

As for Kaladin, I might be wrong too, it's been a while since I read WoR (and I only read it once). I remember Kaladin thinking about it though when he does it.

 

Edit:

Zahel appears in the following Chapters: 16, 18, 25, 26, I-6, 35, 41, 44, 52, 55, 56, 57, 66, 68, 81, 82, and 86.

 

The arena battle occurs accross chapters 56 and 57.

 

Edit 2: I just read the scene where Kaladin catches the blade. He definitely does not think about it, he just does it.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Blaze1616

[Guest]

Found the quote that I think you're looking for.

...Kaladin jogged up to him. "I saw Dalinar Kholin, while unarmed and unarmored, catch a Shardblade in midair with the flats of his palms."

Zahel grunted. "Old Dalinar pulled off a lastclap, eh? Good for him."

"Can you teach me?"

"It's a stupid maneuver," Zahel said. "When it works, it's only because most Shardbearers learn to swing their weapons without as much force as they would a regular blade. And it doesn't usually work; it usually fails, and you're dead when it does. Better to focus your time practicing things that will actively help you."...

From Chapter 44 of Words of Radiance, "One Form of Justice"

[TIM0THY]

Great! Thanks Snoopy. I haven't finished listening to WoR yet. (I'm currently listening to the scene where Dalinor's visions are revealed to everyone at feast.) Will there be more information revealed about the lastclap in the remainder of the book?- why it works? what the screaming was? did Dalinor hear the screaming when he performed a lastclap? I'm not asking for answers to these questions from you guys, just wondering if there will be any forthcoming information in the book. 

 

And for what it's worth, the readers in the audiobook pronounce Zahel's name as Zai-al. There are actually quite a few name pronunciations that I found surprising once I started looking for information in the Coppermind. All the J's are pronounced as Y's, for instance, so Jasnah sounds like Yas-na and Jah Keved sounds like Yaka-ved. Those are just a couple that come to mind. Not that it means much, but I thought some of you might find it interesting.

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Great! Thanks Snoopy. I haven't finished listening to WoR yet. (I'm currently listening to the scene where Dalinor's visions are revealed to everyone at feast.) Will there be more information revealed about the lastclap in the remainder of the book? Not after the arena fight- why it works? revealed in the passage Snoopy quoted what the screaming was? This will be answered. did Dalinor hear the screaming when he performed a lastclap? This will be answered I'm not asking for answers to these questions from you guys, just wondering if there will be any forthcoming information in the book. 

 

Answers to whether you'll get answers are in bold after the questions within the quote box above.

 

 

And for what it's worth, the readers in the audiobook pronounce Zahel's name as Zai-al. There are actually quite a few name pronunciations that I found surprising once I started looking for information in the Coppermind. All the J's are pronounced as Y's, for instance, so Jasnah sounds like Yas-na and Jah Keved sounds like Yaka-ved. Those are just a couple that come to mind. Not that it means much, but I thought some of you might find it interesting.

 

Yeah, Brandon revealed that the J's sound like Y's in an interview/Q&A at some point. Pronunciation is interesting, even if I disagree with it from the standpoint of only reading the novels

Edited February 19, 2015 by Blaze1616

[TIM0THY]

Pronunciation of proper nouns in novels (particularly speculative fiction novels) is a funny thing. I once read a statement from Orson Scott Card where he discussed the odd pronunciation he had chosen in his Homecoming series. After explaining how he had intended the names to be pronounced he basically finished up by saying more or less, "But you can feel free to pronounce the names however you like, since you're the one reading the story."

[Voidus]

Even Brandon doesn't always pronounce his characters names properly, like in Mistborn for instance he pronounces names like any american would but they're all french sounding (So Vin is actually Vahn or something like that I think, Kelsier is Kel-syay)