Well, we're in off season again. Lots of speculation in the book & show threads respectively. We had a brief discussion in another thread. I don't think anyone would really have to explain their choice using any spoilers but if there is a known fight upcoming in the books between 1 or more characters against each other, can we avoid using that as an example? TIA What say you guys? EDIT: All fighters are in good health and conditions. Also in their primes (kinda hurts Jon Snow as I think we're just now seeing him come to form) and with their best known weapon(s).
I really feel like people aren't understanding that Jon is a beast. Show Jon is anyway. I would vote D but other than killing Rhaegar I can't recall to much emphasis on Roberts hammer skillz. I could just be drawing a blank.
I'm shocked that A isn't getting more love. Dayne is regarded by many characters as the greatest swordsman who ever lived. Show version of Jon Snow is a savage. Sandor Clegane is also a beast, he crosses swords with Gregor at the Tourney of the Hand and holds his ground.
Selmy and Dayne are nearly equal with the difference said to have been Dayne's sword "Dawn" Any of the three from D destroy Jon Snow I think Robert would most likely be favored against the Hound. I tend to think Robert is probably as bad as just about anyone else during his life, but Dayne and Selmy are all timers with Jaime perhaps being a step below but even Selmy holds his talents in extremely high regard even though he hates him. Any of those three look a bit like Oberyn vs. Mountain minus the stupidity in a fight with Robert, IMO.
Robert was a one man wrecking machine in his prime. He smashed a dynasty with his war hammer one handed. He was as big as the Hound and much stronger, faster and just all around fuck storm when fighting.
Chose D. Barristan and Jaime are top tier swordsmen and Robert would destroy all the other brawlers including the mountain.
robert during his prime was like a 6'8 300lb wrecking ball of testosterone, muscle, and rage would like to see him vs mountain
This may be true right now and may be true always but I'm fairly confident that no one knows Jon's true prime yet.
I kinda figured that would be the case but from a show watchers perspective, I thought Bronn may be better than Daario. We've seen Daario squabble a bit but nothing really 1v1 against anyone of relevance. edit: I meant adding Daario to team C. They'd have 4
The actor who played Robert wasn't very big, which was a complaint from a lot of book readers, but all of the Baratheon brothers are huge in the books. I think it's said that Robert stood almost 7 feet tall with his antler helmet on.
Daario was such a badass fighter in the pits that he won his freedom. Bronn is a good sellsword, but Daario is way more battle hardened.
Also depends on what kind of fight we're talking about. Bronn and Viper values go way up if we're talking guerrilla style.
So I think it's D by a landslide. Let's do this, here's 12 of the top 15-20 in the series off the top of my head: Top pure swords 1)Dayne 2)Selmy 2B)Jaime 4)Rhaegar Top big fuckers 1)Mountain 2)Robert 3)Hound 4)Belwas Top all around fighters 1) Daemon Blackfyre 2) Aemon the Dragonknight 3) Gerald Hightower 4) Oberyn Ok, so team em up; A) Dayne, Hound, Oberyn B) Rhaegar, Belwas, Daemon C) Barriston, Robert, Hightower D) Jaime, Mountain, Dragonknight No idea which one to choose.
What? The most impressive thing he ever did was stand toe to toe with Jamie for a few minutes but Jaime was toying with him. The tower of joy was 3 v 7, Ned barely survived, he didn't make anyone his bitch. Cretan Stark is probably the only Stark you could think about adding but all we know about him is that the Dragonknight said he was the finest swordsman he ever fought.
You start with making a SHOW argument here, "What? The most impressive thing he ever did was stand toe to toe with Jamie for a few minutes but Jaime was toying with him". Then immediately switch to BOOK argument the rest of the way, "the tower of joy was 3 v 7, Ned barely survived, he didn't make anyone his bitch." Pick your poison, man. I can do the opposite bait n switch of your argument just as easily... In the books, Ned didn't fight Jaime, he got his leg broken by his horse before anything could happen. Tower of Joy in the show was 2v6. Gerald bested one of Ned's lackeys and then was very obviously in a 1v1 combat vs Ned and it last about 2 swings before Ned throated him. All I'm saying is... maybe Ned is better than everyone thinks, but we do know he isn't close to elite like Dayne or anyone like that.
What did Jaime ever do to become thought of as "elite"? Is his legacy all hearsay? Has he ever actually beaten anyone of any merit? Show depicts him fighting Ned in the street, he didn't win or lose. Show depicts him fighting Brienne (but she couldn't kill him) when he was cuffed and worn down, he didn't win or lose. We know he was knighted at 15 and Selmy/Dayne thought highly of his skills but what has he actually done to make him elite?
won his first tourney melee at 13 while still a squire. then after saving Sumner Crakehalls life and fighting the Smiling Knight while helping defeat the Kingswood Brotherhood, he was knighted by Arthur Dayne on the battlefield.
His record is kind of short because he joined the Kingsguard at such a young age, and the Mad King kept Jaime close to him at all times. His fame as a swordsman comes from a few things- 1) He won a tournament melee at the age of 13. In Westeros, the tournaments are a huge deal, the winners/participants gaining fame similar to athletes. A melee is a solid measure of swordsmanship, and to win one at 13 was unheard of. 2) At 15, he holds his own against The Smiling Knight in single combat. The Smiling Knight was said (By Jaime) to have been similar to Gregor Clegane in how feared he was in his day. After this, he is knighted (at 15 remember) and trains with Hightower, Barristan Selmy, and Arthur Dayne. 3) Barristan Selmy, essentially as good a swordsman as there has ever been, says in the books that Jaime is "The best natural swordsman he ever saw." That's pretty high praise. - He holds his own in chains, and having been malnourished and caged for a year, against Brienne. IIRC, she's in full armor and he basically has his way with her until fatigue stops him. - As for Ned, it's commonly thought that he was toying with Ned. You have to remember the circumstances, killing Ned would have ensured Tyrion's death, so it's not like Jaime could slay him in the streets of Kings Landing.
Wouldn't loras be up there, too? I thought he came off as soft in the show, but he was always a top tier swordsman in my mind from the books.
I think that was the quote commonly used about him, he was a great "tournament knight" mostly jousting but he wouldn't survive in an actual fight. I mean, Brienne kicked his ass during Renlys tournament didn't she?
He kicked her ass until she tackled him or some shit lol. He's pretty young and she's a beastly bitch. She's so overpowered on the show- Flat out destroying The Hound was too much for me.
Quick note: Smiling Knight was half the Mountain's size but twice as bloodthirsty/crazy. Not sure how that translate into skill but I'm pretty Dayne was the one who killed him so at least he went down by the best.
my favorite thing about the Smiling Knight is that as he was fighting Dayne, his sword broke on Dawn and Dayne paused the fight and allowed the Smiling Knight to get a new one. the Smiling Knight said it was Dawn he wanted and Dayne replied then he shall have it and killed him with it in round two.
P sure he was damn good. He fought with Dayne for a long time and it was his sword that broke not him. Dayne let him get a new a sword and he took him out round 2.
He gave a pretty solid account of himself- His sword broke against Dawn, and Arthur Dayne permitted him to take another sword (the Aerys Kingsguard is the best collection of characters in the series for me, so awesome)... That's where we get the famous exchange: SK: "The sword I want is yours" Arthur Dayne: "Then, you shall have it, Ser"
See these two are tricky. You're right on both accounts. Just as you said he couldn't kill Ned; the same is said with Brienne v Jaime. She couldn't kill him.
I was going to post this when I read the posts above. Then I got to the bottom and you already did it :(
It's easily D I think. Obviously we don't know what jon's prime is yet, but as of now: Selmy < Dayne Robert >> The Hound Jaime >> Jon To echo others, Robert was an absolute monster pre-kingship. IIRC there was a quote in AFFC about Rhaegar being "a match" for Dayne and could at least compete with him. Robert destroyed him.
Are you sure Robert destroyed him? I always thought that was a relatively close fight. Rhaegar did at least wound him severely enough to keep Robert from marching on Kings Landing.
Yeah that was probably hyperbole. Still he beat the guy that could keep up with Dayne. If I were doing power rankings, Robert and Selmy would be tied for #2 and they're on the same team.
Couple of things- That quote about Rhaegar came from Cersei, who was completely obsessed with and in love with Rhaegar. She is still bitter about not being married to him, IIRC. So, I think she's biased by two things: An infatuation with him AND because she saw how good he was as a jouster, and his reputation for being a fantastic tournament jouster was well known. He apparently did hold his own against Robert; however, Robert had to cut threw basically an army to get to him and Rhaegar was fresh by the time they met. Either way, he accounted himself well but was destroyed by a monster full of rage and fueled by a desire for what he perceived to be vengeance. All that said, he's not in the same league as Jaime, Selmy, and Dayne... Frankly, Selmy and Dayne are probably in their own tier 1 league.