Warrior without Equal: Your favorite fighter from a book?

Remove all ads!

The skilled warrior is a reliable staple of most fantasy books. From Aragorn to Zak'nefein, these fighters rely on their physical prowess to get them through danger. Who is your favorite fighting character from a book? Artemis Entreri? Sandor Clegane? Rand al'Thor? Below are a few of the more well known warriors.

Aragorn son of Arathorn is not only a master swordsman but a King among Men. His many journeys through Middle Earth take him from one dangerous situation to the next for almost 60 years. Few could survive such a harsh life, but the blood of Numenor, like the blood of the warrior, runs true in him.

Drizzt Do'Urden is a Drow, a dark elf from the depths of the earth. Drizzt never inherited the legacy of cruelty and evil from his wicked race, but his swordsmanship equaled and even surpassed the vicious drow. Wielding two scimitars, he has almost never been defeated in single combat or otherwise.

Garet Jax, the Weapons Master, has been fighting nearly his whole life. With any weapon, be it sword, staff, or even bare hands, he is a force to be reckoned with. He has never met a man or beast that could best him and strives to find the perfect opponent.

Lan Mandragoran is another crownless king and his prowess with the sword is undisputed. He is never afraid to risk his life and almost seems to have a deathwish. Stern and unyielding, Lan's discipline and cold bloodedness has carried him to victory from many fights.

 

It's kind of a toss-up between Aragorn and Lan for me. It would be interesting to see those have a sparring match. I think that Aragorn has the most skill though (he's lived almost twice as long as Lan) but Lan has or rather had other advantages to being Moiraine Damodred's Warder (did I spell her last name right?) But as characters I like them both for different reasons.

 

Mine would be Waylander from the David Gemmel book of the same name. (I wasn't sure if I had to choose from you're list) Hes an asassin with a double winged crossbow

 

I'd have to add Durendal from David Duncan's Tales of the Kings Blades. Duncan describe some of his moves in great detail ...

Lan is wonderful, when I first started reading that series (before Jordan killed it) I loved to read about him in combat.

Tolkien's writing style is so different from that of modern fantasy that I never had the impression that Aragorn was a brilliant swordsman. I know he held his own in battle. My impression was that he was a leader who could rally the troops around him and lead to victory.

 

Helm Hammerhand, ninth King of the Riddermark (yes, a real king ) would be my favourite. Like a snow troll stalking the winter-night, grim and fell, slaying his foes with his bare hands. Even in death he stood upright, and the Dunlendings (his enemies) still dared not go near him.

 

Even though I am not all that fond of Gemmel's writings I must say that the grizzled old warrior named Druss is one aweinspiring fighter, wouldnt be surprised if he kicked many of the other dudes butts.
I really like Sandor Clegane and Jaime Lannister in Martins books as well, The Hound for his great strenght and skill in raw fighting without for that sake being oberhuman as many other fighters in books are and Jaime for being the epitome of chivalry in his own way and the perfected knight, even if he is dumb as a dolt He isnt overhuman either but still more or less unbeatable in combat, well atleast until he lost his hand.

Edit: Lan is pretty cool as well, he reminds me of the 'Man without a name' whom Clint Eastwood played in Sergio Leones western movies. But he is a bit too good to be human in my eyes =)

[ October 23, 2002, 18:54: Message edited by: joacqin ]

 

Durendal, his protecter (wolf?), would have to be my favorite from Tales of king Blades.

Nothing comes close to the sword fights in those books.

 

I like the bulgy forefront berserker fighters so my favorites would be Druss the legend, Wulfgar from FR, Caramon from DL, and Kaz the Minotaur from DL.

I also like the honorable knight guy( i.e. Sturm Brightblade DL, Luthien from Crimson Shadows, Huma DL)

And the weaponmasters are fun when they aren't sickeningly overpowered like Drizzt (I liked Zaknafien better.)
On those lines who can resist a tortured soul? (Artemis Entreri; Kelemvor(a werepanther) from FR)

Sorry about all the Dragonlance references, but they were my first fantasy novels, and I've been reading the Forgotten Realms books because they seem like all I can find at the bookstores, I've been looking for more of Gemmel's books.

 

Hard to pick one, there are so many!

Of course the belgarion gang! Barak, Hettar, Mandorallen, and silk! larger than life fighters!

or Sparhawk and his gang for that matter!

carrot (terry Pratchet) is also a good fighter and a king. And what to think of Detrius (or whatever)

to move on Beowulf! no weapons needed! and of course thor! lets smash some giants please!

I never liked lan very much, but then again I don't like robert jordan's books anyway. Perhaps the only exceptions are matt and Perrin (he's cool!)

last and possibly least is Richard Rahl (terry Goodkind). A good fighter but a bit too much superman to my taste.

As for tolkien: I liked legolas and gimli far better (in fact I think their developing friendship is one of the best plots in the entire book) both great fighters and of great statue

 

The hints about Aragorn's prowess are subtle and few. In fact I'm only aware of two but they're good enough. One is when Gandalf says that "...even Aragorn...is not a match for all 9 riders...". It hints that Aragorn can hold his own against most of the Black Riders if pressed.
The second is when, after the battle of Gondor, it was stated that Aragorn did not take a single injury due to his skill. Added to the fact he must be near 70 years old, and I figure he's had enough time to learn some fancy swings.

I used to like Sparhawk quite a bit in that gemstone trilogy (ruby knight, emerald throne, etc) but nowadays I don't have any favorites. Rob the Young Wolf from the Song of Fire and Ice series was as close as any but, well, you Martin readers know. I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I'm going to look into this King's Blades series.

 

I love the George R.R. Martin series. The best fight I've ever read was between the "Mountain that Walks", Clegane and the "Viper" Prince of Dorn (I don't have the books and think I likely have the names wrong, Martin fans can help me out.)

The scene was the most spectacular fight I've read, and the Viper quickly became one of my all time favorite fighters -- "Say it!!!"

 

Laches ... very true ... I still can't believe the Red Viper lost!

 

The Mountain that Rides is not someone to be trifled with. He is supposedly HUGE thus the name and a very skilled fighter not to mention that he seems to be the only truly evil character in the books, him and Roose Bolton and they are on opposite sides! Thats the sort of stuff that makes you really like his books. Wasnt the Viper catelyns champion or something? I am having trouble placing him.

 

Tywin Lannisters champion, I believe was his name. The dwarf (that's not a mythical dwarf for anyone who hasn't read the book, that's a human dwarf.) Tywin (or maybe it was Tyrion?) is one of my all time favorite characters.

I was crushed after that fight, I actually had to go for a run.

 

Tyrion ...

... and I know that the Mountain is huge, but the Viper had the better strategy and had DONE it ... he just needed Gregor's confession and that's what did him in.

I wonder if the Mountain will survive into "Feast for the Crows"???

 

sorry if this is off topic, but these books sound really good. Does any one know the name of the first book in the series so I can see what its like?

 

"A Game of Thrones"

 

My favourite fighter from all the many books I've read has to be Elric of Melnibone. Melnibone is placed directly in the centre of the Young Kingdoms, a fantasy world created by Michael Moorcock. In my opinion, he is one of the greatest authors ever to write Fantasy material.

He is one of the few authors who writes about an evil character as the protagonist. Elric is a the Emperor of Melnibone, the greatest force in all of the Young Kingdoms. Elric's sword, Stormbringer, lends it's name to all the books of the series. The sword itself is a two-handed greatsword that was forged by the Gods to kill the Gods, and, when the time came, it would destroy the universe and re-make it.

Elric is a failure to his family, he was so pitifully weak he needed help to walk whilst growing up, many times his life was placed in danger by his relative, Yr'koon, but each plot failed, sometimes with divine intervention by the God Areoch or by pure bad luck.

The gaining of Stormbringer was a new start for the evil Elric, as the sword could suck the soul of whomever it touched. As it struck people it would drain their very essence, turning their mortal shells into mere piles of dust and bone. The more souls that Stormbringer gained: The more strength it lent to Elric. Yet the souls dissapated over time and Elric would become weak again, and so the tirade of killing began...

Elric is truly an amazing character, with a rich background and a persona that lends him and his author merit.

[ October 27, 2002, 13:52: Message edited by: Herf ]

 

Yes, and he's just one aspect of the greatest warrior in Moorcock's universe, the Eternal Champion.