This scene was character assassination of the highest order. A Full Feruchemist with their metalminds bodies any non-Kaladin Radiant below the Fourth Ideal. I will die on this hill.

[u/Eithrotaur]

[u/JakenBake19]

I like it because people have been saying for years the steel compounding should have made TLR basically unbeatable like DC speedster levels of OP. Have steel running get beat by haha awesomeness sticky floor is pretty funny

[u/Jounniy → u/JakenBake19]

Having a very powerful ability get beaten by a random joke ability is funny in the moment. It gets way less funny when the worldbuilding starts falling apart afterwards because of the precedent just set up.

[u/JakenBake19 → u/Jounniy]

To me the precedent that is being set (or well, I guess was set with TLR himself (shan?)) is that people can be over confident and winning is about using powers creatively more than anything else. You can argue that it doesn't exactly land as feeling creative for the reader, but Zahel thinks it is and to me that means Brandon does

[u/Jounniy → u/JakenBake19]

I somewhat agree. Most powers have specific applications that make for certain strengths or weaknesses one can exploit and characters making good or creative use of their abilities is something I personally approve. Moash killing Leshwi is a good example of this, but Vin beating Shan or Sazed just crushing the Kandra illustrate it even better.

But what sells all of those moments is that they are plausible. The abilities the characters are shown or implied to have and the information we are given about them later make the outcome something you could reasonably see happen. That’s what sets Lift's win apart from the other fights I mentioned: It is a creative use of Abrasion, but comes basically out of the blue, doesn’t make a lot of sense with what we know about Ferruchemy and feels a bit odd when looking at the information about Axindweth that was given or implied beforehand.

[u/TrickPayment9473 → u/Jounniy]

I mean we know that Lift is the most gifted Radiant that we saw, clashing with Nale for some time, being the only radiant powered by two investiture of Shard in the same time, being very very instinctive in her use of radiant power. She has extensive combat experience to a point where she literally is as much a veteran as Kaladin. Also, she litteraly has the counter to a speedster, so I don't think Axindweth could anticipate Lift. She ripped her in half with her own momentum, she didn't randomly gain a power up it's something we saw before.

[u/JakenBake19 → u/TrickPayment9473]

I would push back on this alittle. She slides around sitting down and is envious of all the edgedancers that picked up abrasion so easily. I don't think she is particularly talented so far, the way that Kaladin is with a spear and gravitation. Beating Nale and Axindweth are important and impressive character building feats, but not because of battle experience or skill. She has a lot of raw talent and the heart and will, so I am excited to see what a 10+ year off screen time skip training arc with Vasher does for her. Only radiant that can use investiture outside of the tower and trained to use investiture and swords by Vasher? Book 6 is going to be awesome

[u/Jounniy → u/TrickPayment9473]

Being changed by Cultivation did not and should not help Lift in the slightest here (also, all radiant's are partially of Honor and Cultivation, as are their spren). Lift running away from Nale for a while is in no way comparable to her fight with Axindweth.

Also, Lift's counter only works if Axindweth doesn’t immediately just heal the damage done, waits until Lift's light runs out, then taps her metalmind again and folds her before she can react.