So, lately I've seen many old battle threads of GOT characters being revived in the Battles board. I think that many people don't understand many fundamentals of the world of GOT, and I would like to discuss some of the names that come up often, and conclude with my list of top 10 fighters in the show. Yes, in the show, excluding the books. Of course this list is just my opinion, but it is based off analysis of many fights, statements, feats etc. A few things that I would like to establish right off the bat, though:
- Pain tolerance IS NOT A THING. Not in battle, that is. Any human being would ignore any injury that isn't life-threatening and/or crippling in a fight, or at any other situation of life-or-death for that matter. It's called "adrenaline".
- Game of Thrones characters are supposed to showcase, at their core, realistic human abilities. Any character that displays physical traits that are above human capability by real-world standards, is indeed superhuman as far as those stats are concerned.
- "Fodder", in turn, is a false term to use here. It's not comics, where any unnamed character exists for the sole purpose of dying or otherwise getting beaten by a certain hero or villain. If a GOT character can beat 2 nameless swordsmen at the same time, it's as impressive as if a real-world fighter beats 2 fighters at the same time.
- Choreography is not a factor in live-action fights. You can't have a human actor portray inhuman speed/skill and still have his opponent/s portray decent skill at the same time.
- There are many occasions where lore and reputation can speak volumes of a character's skill and prowess. A character with better on-screen feats isn't necessarily a better fighter.
So read on if you will, but be ready for some walls of text so long that they could keep the White Walkers away.
Candidates for the top 10 fighters list:
1. Jon Snow:
2. Robb Stark:
3. Jaime Lannister:
4. Oberyn Martell:
5. Brienne of Tarth:
6. Sandor Clegane:
7. Gregor Clegane:
8. Khal Drogo:
9. Bronn:
10. Syrio Forel:
11. Baristan Selmy:
12. Daario Naharis:
13. Grey Worm:
14. Jorah Mormont:
15. Arthur Dayne:
16. Eddard Stark:
17. Robert Baratheon:
Honorable mentions:
1. Mance Rayder:
While not displaying any fighting prowess in the show, The King Beyond the Wall has to be good enough to impress the chiefs of the Wildling clans and unite them under a single cause. In the books, he also easily overpowers Jon Snow, when disguised as Rattleshirt (Lord of Bones) by Melisandre's magic.
2. Jaqen H'ghar:
Not much that needs to be said. Jaqen is a Faceless Man, maybe even the Many-Faced God himself (if one such exists). He's a killer, but more of an assassin than a warrior. We don't know much about his actual fighting skills, but it's totally safe to assume that he is very good, surely more so than The Waif and Arya combined. In the books, there's one time when he actually does fight, and beats a few (I forgot the exact number) Lannister soldiers to a pulp simultaneously, when helping Arya and her friends escape from Harrenhal.
3. Loras Tyrell:
Loras is supposedly a pretty good knight, but lacks evidence as to just how good. All we know is that he reached the finals of the tourney held by Renly at Storm's End, at which he lost to Brienne. He did make her work for it a tiny bit though. The legitimacy of him reaching the finals is pretty questionable, actually. The king is his lover and the queen his sister... the dude had connections. We also know that Loras played a big part in the Battle of the Blackwater, where the forces of House Tyrell appeared out of the blue and attacked Stannis's army from the rear, finally defeating them. However we don't know just how well Loras himself performed. In the books, the Tyrell forces are led by a knight wearing the late Renly's suit of armor, and is thought by Stannis's men to be Renly's ghost seeking revenge. The "ghost" kills Ser Guyard Morrigen - commander of Stannis's vanguard - in single combat. It is later revealed that the "ghost" was actually Ser Garlan Tyrell - older brother to Loras and Margaery, who doesn't appear in the show. Garlan is stated to be the best swordsman in House Tyrell (whilst Loras is the best jouster), and whenever he's training, he spars against three knights simultaneously. If I were to make a top 10 fighters list for the books, Garlan would have easily earned a very respectable ranking in it.
4. Areo Hotah:
Hotah is the captain of the guard to Prince Doran Martell of Dorne. That big black guy with the long-axe. In the books, he has very minimal showings but is referred to as an excellent fighter with many years of experience. In the show, all we know is that he thinks that Jaime in his prime would be a good match for him, but not much more than that.
5. Yoren:
Yes, Yoren. That pretty random Night's Watch guy who was sent to King's Landing to get some fresh troops for the Wall, and was also tasked to escort Arya back to the north. He has one fight in the show, in which he is facing a large group of Lannister soldiers. When one of them shoots him in the shoulder with a crossbow, he kills him, then goes on and kills some more before being overwhelmed and killed. I counted 4 kills, might be more. It's actually a showing that could rival many of those by any of the 17 candidates mentioned above. I actually considered including in the original candidates list. But, he is a very minor character that has but one showing and no reputation. He was also backed by a few fellow Night's Watch men, which takes a tiny bit away from the feat, although not THAT much. I'm still a bit torn on this, but even if I were to put Yoren as a candidate, I wouldn't put him in the top 10 anyways.
6. Qhorin Halfhand:
If we're already on the topic of Night's Watch men... Qhorin Halfhand was the most notorious one of his time. A ranger whose face any Wildling knew, feared and hated. Other than that, all we have on him is the scene where he fought Jon Snow and died, but it was made clear that he let Jon win so he could earn the Wildlings' trust. He had Jon on the back foot the whole time before he let himself be disarmed and killed.
7. Brynden Tully:
Brynden Tully, AKA The Blackfish, is the uncle of Catelyn Stark and Edmure Tully. He used to be a legendary knight, earning great renown in the War of the Ninepenny Kings, though we don't know exactly what he did to earn it. He is pretty good with a bow, but other than that we don't know much of his actual prowess. We know that he died fighting when Edmure surrendered Riverrun to the Freys and the Lannisters, but we don't know if he took anyone with him. Probably not, because it is never mentioned (and it would have been a pretty crucial detail to tell if it did happen), and he himself stated that he hadn't had a swordfight in years so he would probably make a fool of himself, never mind the fact that he's pretty old (at least 60 I think, maybe more). In earlier events, Jaime said that he thinks that he can beat The Blackfish even with his left hand due to his old age, and Bronn told him that his money's on Brynden. However, we don't know which of them should be taken seriously (if any).
Notable names from the books that are excluded from the show and could have made the list:
- Ser Garlan Tyrell - second son of Lord Mace Tyrell. Regarded as the greatest knight of House Tyrell, and has the feats to prove it.
- Strong Belwas - a former pit-fighter who has earned great renown. He uses an Arakh and fights unarmored, and claims to have never lost a fight.
- Victarion Greyjoy - brother to Balon and Euron Greyjoy and captain of the Iron Fleet. He's an experienced reaver, very savage and strong.
Finally - the top 10 fighters list:
The logic behind this list isn't ranking the strongest, quickest, most martially skilled or most experienced fighters out of the 17 candidates that I analyzed above. The list was established by trying to predict the outcome of a fight between any possible duo out of those 17 fighters, fighting in their prime and using their best gear. Under different circumstances, such as fighting unarmored or fighting from horseback, it could be different.
Hope you enjoyed and thanks for the read!
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