# Fantasy Character Death Match!



## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

OK...we've got some general threads going on Aes Seda v. Jedi, or Potter v. Jedi. Time for a fantasy character death match. I'll start the match tomorrow, but right now I need nominations for characters that should be part of the contest. Please give your recommendation, as well as the work they are from. Right now I have:

Quick Ben (Malazan Books, Steven Erikson)
Harry Potter (Harry Potter Books, JK Rowling)
Darth Vader (Star Wars series, George Lucas)
Rand (Wheel of Time series, Robert Jordan)
Elric of Melnibone (Elric series, Michael Moorcock)
Conan the Barbarian (Conan stories, Robert E. Howard)
Gandalf (Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien)
Logen Ninefingers (First Law series, Joe Abercrombie)

Initial pairings will be random. Who should I add to the list? I'd like to stick with one character per series, so we don't have a bunch of Wheel of Time characters, or a bunch of Malazan characters, many of whom would be quite well-suited for the death match.


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## Sheilawisz (May 18, 2012)

I suggest Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter, not Harry himself. Gandalf must be part of the contest, and instead of Darth Vader, why not Mace Windu??


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

I might put in Dumbledore instead of Potter. Vader was stronger in the Force than Windu, and I think would be able to beat him. Vader usually shows up in the top two or three of Sith, whereas Windu doesn't make the top 5 (he's number six in the list I saw) of good Jedi.


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

I'm also adding Puss In Boots, since I just watched that and he has the power of "cute eyes."


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## Elder the Dwarf (May 18, 2012)

Hmm...

I would add either Waylander or Druss (or Skilganon) from Gemmel's Drenai series (preferably Waylander)
Possibly Drizz't (Legacy of the Drow, etc. R.A. Salvatore)
Raistlin (Dragonlance, Weiss and Hickman)
Kelsier (Mistborn, Sanderson)

EDIT: Although it hardly seems fair to match completely normal people (like Logen Ninefingers) with jedi, etc.  What does The Bloody Nine do when Vader's lightsaber slices straight through his sword?


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## Sheilawisz (May 18, 2012)

Then include Anakin Skywalker instead of Vader, since Vader's powers were diminished because of the massive damage suffered by his body... Another suggestion would be Edward Elric from the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist, and why not Edward Cullen from Twilight??


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

Elder:  

Great recommendations. I think I'll go with Waylander, though Waylander v. Druss...hmmm...tough.
Drizz't definitely goes in, as does Raistlin. I don't know Kelsier. He's pretty tough?


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

Sheila: True, Anakin was stronger before the injury. I will change to the pre-Vader version. I'll have to think about the other two


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

OK list so far:

Quick Ben (Malazan Books, Steven Erikson)
Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter Books, JK Rowling)
Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars series, George Lucas)
Rand (Wheel of Time series, Robert Jordan)
Elric of Melnibone (Elric series, Michael Moorcock)
Conan the Barbarian (Conan stories, Robert E. Howard)
Gandalf (Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien)
Logen Ninefingers (First Law series, Joe Abercrombie)
Waylander (David Gemmell series)
Puss in Boots (Shrek and his own movies)
Drizz't do'Urden (Dark elf books, RA Salvatore)
Raistlin Majere (Dragonlance books, Weiss and Hickman)
Gotrek Gurnisson (Gotrek and Felix books, William King & Nathan Long)
Edward Cullen (Twilight, Stephanie Meyer)

Need at least six more.


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## Elder the Dwarf (May 18, 2012)

Steerpike said:


> Elder:
> 
> Great recommendations. I think I'll go with Waylander, though Waylander v. Druss...hmmm...tough.
> Drizz't definitely goes in, as does Raistlin. I don't know Kelsier. He's pretty tough?



On Waylander/Druss: It would be an awesome fight but I think Waylander's skill set is more useful in these circumstances.  More versatile, and he's just a straight killer.  Still, wouldn't want to take Druss on.


On Kelsier: yeah, although it would be really hard to project his skill set into these fights.  Still, I think he belongs.  Also, you might want to check out Mistborn.  I'm usually a fan of more traditional fantasy, but I thought it was pretty awesome.


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## Elder the Dwarf (May 18, 2012)

If this ends up in a poll, why do I have a feeling Eddie Cullen gets destroyed in the first round?


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

You're making me want to read _Legend_ again!

I've been meaning to read _Mistborn_. I liked Elantris a lot. Not sure why I haven't moved to the other books.

I'll add Kelsier to the list!


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

Elder the Dwarf said:


> If this ends up in a poll, why do I have a feeling Eddie Cullen gets destroyed in the first round?



LOL Yeah. Could be worse, it could be Bella.

I'm going to set up brackets, and then each round people can vote on who they think will win the match-up in each bracket


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## Elder the Dwarf (May 18, 2012)

I'm really enjoying this.  Surprised I can't think of more though.

EDIT: Also, I don't see how Drizz't wouldn't win.  No matter how hard you tried to kill him off, Wizards of the Coast wouldn't allow it.  They would just bring him back.  If nothing else, all the others are going to die of old age first


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

Elder the Dwarf said:


> I'm really enjoying this.  Surprised I can't think of more though.



Yeah. I felt that way when I came up with the initial list. Then you guys started adding some and I was like /facepalm. Should have thought of that!


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## Elder the Dwarf (May 18, 2012)

Yeah.  I forgot about this when I was responding to you earlier, but I just went back and read Waylander while I was waiting for the rest of the First Law Trilogy to get to my house.  I might reread Legend again when I finish Before They Are Hanged, The Last Argument of Kings, The Well of Ascension, and The Way of Kings, which make up my current reading queue.


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## Sheilawisz (May 18, 2012)

It would make little difference if you choose Edward Cullen or Bella for the Death Matches, they stand no chance anyway =)


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## Elder the Dwarf (May 18, 2012)

(Thinking: oooh I'm gonna get so much s*** for this...)*tentatively* I mean I guess we could throw eragon in there...

Someone from Chronicles of Narnia?  I never read them all so someone else could throw somebody out there.  Would Aslan count?  He's kinda like supposed to be god though right?

If you want to go old school could we throw in Hector or Achilles?  Beowulf?  Certainly both stories had fantastical elements.


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

Ok, I added Eragon, and I picked one of the mythical figures (Beowulf, since he's my favorite). I also added Harry Dresden. Just need a couple more at this point.

I thought about Aslan, but thought the same thing you did - if he's supposed to be 'god' it seemed like it wouldn't work too well.


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## Mindfire (May 18, 2012)

Steerpike said:


> I might put in Dumbledore instead of Potter. Vader was stronger in the Force than Windu, and I think would be able to beat him. Vader usually shows up in the top two or three of Sith, whereas Windu doesn't make the top 5 (he's number six in the list I saw) of good Jedi.



I would say use Yoda, Luke, Or Palpatine instead of Vader. Vader was powerful, but after he turned into a Cyborg, he lost a lot of that power.

I'd add the following:

Gaius Octavian aka Gaius Tavarus Magnus (Lord Wolverine the Great) from the Codex Alera books by Jim Butcher. He was born a muggle, but grew up to become easily the most powerful furycrafter in the entire history of Alera, plus because he grew up lacking magical powers, he learned to think in very clever and unconventional ways, which was the source of his many victories.

A young adult-aged Percy Jackson from the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus books by Rick Riordan. He's a greek demigod son of Poseidon with power over water, sea animals, horses, and pretty much anything else governed by Poseidon. His track record includes defeating various monsters, gods, and even titans. I think he's easily a match for Harry Potter. He might even be able to shrug off something like Avada Kedavra if he still has the Curse of Achilles.

Carter and Sadie Kane from Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles working as a tag-team. They're young and inexperienced magicians, yes, but they're also extremely talented and powerful because of their ability to host two major Egyptian gods: Horus and Isis, and call on the cat warrior goddess Bast for help.

And while we're at it, why don't we add characters like Eragon and Edward Cullen so we can watch them die and laugh.


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## Mindfire (May 18, 2012)

Steerpike said:


> Ok, I added Eragon, and I picked one of the mythical figures (Beowulf, since he's my favorite). I also added Harry Dresden. Just need a couple more at this point.
> 
> I thought about Aslan, but thought the same thing you did - if he's supposed to be 'god' it seemed like it wouldn't work too well.



Yeah, Aslan pretty much _*is*_ God. If you're going to add him you might as well add Eru Illuvatar. But seing as they're _technically_ the same person, that would be redundant.

You COULD add the White Witch however!

And while we're at it, let's add:

-Either *Adult *Avatar Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender *OR *Fire Lord Ozai
-Lion-O with the Sword of Omens and Gauntlet from ThunderCats 2011


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

Ok, Mindfire...I put most of those in. Thank you!

And I also added River, from Firefly/Serenity 

I'll see if there are other suggestions, and then we'll get this thing moving!

EDIT: I just put Buffy in as well.


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## Mindfire (May 18, 2012)

Just thought of a couple more. Dustfinger from the Inkworld Trilogy *post-resurrection.* After he comes back from death he gains greater powers that take pyromancy to a whole new level, able to create animals from fire and control it like a living, breathing thing. (Incidentally, he inspired my soulfire magic system.) I'd also like to suggest Mortimer Folchart aka "The Bluejay" from that same series. He's not exactly a wizard, but he does have the power to summon things and characters from any book simply by reading it aloud. And if he's inside a book's fictional universe then he can subtly alter reality by reading aloud also.


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## Mindfire (May 18, 2012)

Where's the "Master List" btw?


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

OK, here is the current list:

Quick Ben
Anakin Skywalker
Albus Dumbledore
Rand
Elric of Melnibone
Conan the Barbarian
Gandalf
Logen Ninefingers
Puss in Boots
Waylander
Drizz't
Raistlin
Edward Cullen
Gotrek Gurnisson
Kelsier
Eragon
Beowulf
Harry Dresden
White Witch (Narnia)
Percy Jackson
River Tam (Firefly)
Carter & Sadie Kane
Lord Wolverine the Great
Avatar Aang
Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Dustfinger (Inkworld)
Smaug (the Hobbit)
Alice (Resident Evil)

EDIT: New contestants - The Lady (Black Company)
                                   Sethra Lavode (Steven Brust books)

Going to call it soon and start the contest!


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

*OK, that's 30 contestants. We can always do another iteration later with new people if anyone was unfairly left out. I'll post the starting bracket in a new thread!*


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## Caged Maiden (May 18, 2012)

Can you imagine the offense it would cause if God didn't win?  We cannot afford to spark that debate.

Okay, can I make a suggestion?  I'm a big old fan of Final Fantasy, and I would suggest Vincent Valentine or Lulu (my two favorite characters, but I bet there's ones more suited to this challenge (Sephiroth, Rydia, Cloud Strife).

Anyways, I thought those characters kicked a whole lotta ass, and ought to be represented.

Pick Lulu, pick Lulu!


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## Caged Maiden (May 18, 2012)

Ghaa!!! I missed the cut by one minute!!


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

Heh. Well this bracket is done but I have a feeling the winner of this first bracket is going to have to face off against the winner of the next one, because we forgot a lot of good characters! I just can't fit any more in this one and make it work


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## Mindfire (May 18, 2012)

Interesting. After this tournament finishes I think we could have two more actually. One would cover the characters who didn't make it into this one, like Cloud and Lion-O. The other is kind of an idea that popped into my head after the Jedi vs Wizard thread. We could have a thread similar to this, except with characters invented by Mythic Scribes members. Except it would just be a discussion for fun and there wouldn't be any real "winner" necessarily.

Also, are there any "rules" for this contest? Will there be debate or a sort of "battle simulation" or will it just be decided by polls? I ask this because depending on the format, some attacks or powers might need to be ignored. E.g. Rand's balefire only destroys things that are part of "the pattern", so it wouldn't work on a character from another universe.


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## Philip Overby (May 18, 2012)

Map the Dragon, a regular poster before, tried to do something like this, but the tournament never finished (as they tend to do).  Just a recommendation.  If you're going to do a Death Match, just let it be decided by voting and not by anyone having to actually write scenes.

I'll vote, because I love these sort of things.  By the way, Suvudu does these as well and Rand won one of them simply because he's like a god or something.  I haven't read the Wheel of Time, but that's not really fair.  

I'll nominate some others:

Harry Dresden (Dresden Files)
Merlin (Arthurian legend)
Sandor Clegane (A Song of Ice and Fire Series)
Pug (Magician Apprentice)
The Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz)
Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher series)

Some thoughts!


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

Phil the Drill said:


> Map the Dragon, a regular poster before, tried to do something like this, but the tournament never finished (as they tend to do).  Just a recommendation.  If you're going to do a Death Match, just let it be decided by voting and not by anyone having to actually write scenes.
> 
> I'll vote, because I love these sort of things.  By the way, Suvudu does these as well and Rand won one of them simply because he's like a god or something.  I haven't read the Wheel of Time, but that's not really fair.
> 
> ...



Yeah, it's just pure voting. After this bracket, we may have to do another to pull in some of these great characters (I do have Dresden in there though!).


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> Also, are there any "rules" for this contest? Will there be debate or a sort of "battle simulation" or will it just be decided by polls? I ask this because depending on the format, some attacks or powers might need to be ignored. E.g. Rand's balefire only destroys things that are part of "the pattern", so it wouldn't work on a character from another universe.



I was just going to have everyone vote in the thread for each round. I won't want to set up an actual poll for each contest, because that would mean a lot of polls and threads in which to house them.


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## Mindfire (May 18, 2012)

Steerpike said:


> I was just going to have everyone vote in the thread for each round. I won't want to set up an actual poll for each contest, because that would mean a lot of polls and threads in which to house them.



Not necessarily. You could have one thread, but do the polls off-site. That would be simple, prevent spam, and it would keep the voting anonymous.


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

I thought about that, Mindfire. Then I thought it might be more fun, in a community sense, just to have people post their votes and talk about them etc. I don't know. If no one votes, I'll try to anonymous method


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## Mindfire (May 18, 2012)

Steerpike said:


> I thought about that, Mindfire. Then I thought it might be more fun, in a community sense, just to have people post their votes and talk about them etc. I don't know. If no one votes, I'll try to anonymous method



It would be interesting to have a discussion sidebar of course, but I think that the integrity of the poll itself is best served by allowing it to be anonymous. For the same reason that votes for public officials are anonymous.


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## Steerpike (May 18, 2012)

I set it up for voting at the place I formed the bracket. Take a look:

Fantasy Character Death Match - CHALLONGE!

Thing is, you need to create a free account. Though if people are willing to do it, we could do a number of these, one after another  Let me know what you think.


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## Mindfire (May 18, 2012)

Steerpike said:


> I set it up for voting at the place I formed the bracket. Take a look:
> 
> Fantasy Character Death Match - CHALLONGE!
> 
> Thing is, you need to create a free account. Though if people are willing to do it, we could do a number of these, one after another  Let me know what you think.



Nicely done!


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