Fantasy Character Death Match Round 3

[Steerpike]

It's on!

Only four matches remaining. Go here to make your picks: Fantasy Character Death Match - CHALLONGE!

Use this thread to lobby if you wish.

 

[Philip Overby]

I hate to say this, but these quarter-finals make me hurt inside.

It looks like from the early votes that Gandalf and Rand will be one semi-final, and Anakin Skywalker and Harry Dresden will be the other.

Please, please (did I say please?) vote for Harry Dresden the rest of the way. He's an awesome character that maybe many don't know much about. He's a wizard private-eye for Pete's sake!

I'm running on the ABR ticket. "Anyone But Rand." Seriously, this dude wins too many tournaments. Let someone else win for once. I'll even take Gandalf over him.

 

[Steerpike]

Yeah, I feel you. As I've said in other threads, I think Elric and the Lady were arguably the strongest in their brackets. Too bad more people aren't familiar with them.

I'll vote Gandalf over Rand if it comes down to that match-up. Just because you don't necessarily see everything Gandalf can do doesn't mean he is not strong. When he first comes back as Gandalf the White, doesn't he tell Aragorn et al. that he's become the most powerful thing they're likely to encounter in middle earth? Something like that, at any rate. At the very least he gained a few levels killing the Balrog.

 

[Steerpike]

Ok, looking at the results...now wait a minute...

Beowulf beats the Lady from the Black Company books, but now is losing to Dresden? Seriously? The Lady could kill 100 Harry Dresdens with a batting of her eye and not even have to get out of her chair. So if Beowulf can beat her, he ought to beat Dresden to an unrecognizable pulp.

EDIT: it might be fun to do a fighter-only match of this sort, which has been suggested. We could also do one between books (either novels generally, or fantasy novels).

 

[Ankari]

I don't understand all the Rand hate. The only person that had a chance at killing him was Elric. Even Quick Ben really didn't have a chance.

It would have been cool to have Rand Al' Thor vs Lews Therin Telamon. I would suspect that Rand would still win, which would solidify that people are voting on the name and not on the actual fight*.

I think what needs to be done is to break these duels into closely related skill sets as someone mentioned with the warrior deathmatch. Rand, Elric, Quick Ben, Anomander Rake, The Lady, Gandalf, Icarium**, Some ultra powerful Jedi, Harry Potter, etc. That would be a real treat.

*As Lews Therin is vastly more skilled in the One Power than Rand.

**What can I say, Steven Erickson likes to create very powerful characters.

 

[Steerpike]

Ankari - I think the Lady could take down Rand as well. Elric certainly could.

If we had a fighter only death match, would it be fair to put Karsa Oolong in it (I mean, he took out multiple hounds of shadow like they were nothing)?

 

[Ankari]

Yes. Karsa Olong Vs Hercules would be the best duel. I fear that Karsa would lose as I have the impression not many Mythic Scribers read the Malazan series.

And to you point of Elric, I think it would be too close to tell. I don't know too much of Elric, but his sword seemed to have conspired against him at any opportunity. Perhaps the sword would have seized the chance in such an epic battle.

 

[Steerpike]

Ankari:

The sword's destiny is intertwined with Elric's. It doesn't really conspire against him, at least not until the end (though in the interim he killed friends and loved ones that he didn't want to kill). Elric may be the only person in the first death match who has taken out bona fide gods. In the stories, he is not only heir to a powerful sorcerous legacy, buy he's the Eternal Champion, with aspects reflected on all plains of existence. Gods come to his aid more than once, and though he would shed himself of his sword and his legacy if he could, he's pretty bad ass.

But what do you think of The Lady? I felt like she was in the top one or two.

I think you're right that Karsa Oolong would lose just because most people aren't familiar with him. Though in a straight fight, with no magical powers being brought to bear, I can't think of a fantasy character who I'd bet on against him.

 

[Ankari]

The Lady was extremely powerful. I would definitely put her after Elric (from what I've read of him) and Rand. Her vitality makes her a force to be reckoned with, but she loses some of her power when she switched sides. I would have to definitely put her in the top 4 with Quick Ben and The Lady fighting it out for third place.

 

[Steerpike]

She did lose some of her power when she changed allegiances. I'm thinking of each of the characters at their strongest. Waylander in his prime, The Lady at the height of her power, Elric at his peak, and so on. These make for interesting match ups. Of course, the power disparity in the various worlds make it hard to do an accurate comparison. For all we know, Gandalf could destroy anyone on the list, but we never witness first-hand that kind of power.

Maybe we should have had Tom Bombadil on there

 

[Elder the Dwarf]

Ankari:

The sword's destiny is intertwined with Elric's. It doesn't really conspire against him, at least not until the end (though in the interim he killed friends and loved ones that he didn't want to kill). Elric may be the only person in the first death match who has taken out bona fide gods.

Raistlin had a god beat in the Legends trilogy- and I think he lost in the first round. So don't get too upset about Elric losing, especially since Raistlin is better known (I would think) and therefore would be expected to go further.

 

[Elder the Dwarf]

She did lose some of her power when she changed allegiances. I'm thinking of each of the characters at their strongest. Waylander in his prime, The Lady at the height of her power, Elric at his peak, and so on. These make for interesting match ups. Of course, the power disparity in the various worlds make it hard to do an accurate comparison. For all we know, Gandalf could destroy anyone on the list, but we never witness first-hand that kind of power.

Maybe we should have had Tom Bombadil on there

...and this was my one problem with this kind of bracket. Still, it has been fun.

 

[Caged Maiden]

If I could. I'd kill Tom.

 

[Steerpike]

If I could. I'd kill Tom.

Come merry dol, derry dol, that would not be nice

*capers about*

 

[Caged Maiden]

<- something snaps in her mind, the silly ditty playing over and over.

 

[Philip Overby]

I don't understand all the Rand hate.

I don't necessarily hate Rand, it's just that I was pretty invested in the Suvudu (I think they're called Suvudu Cage Match) tournament that they did. Rand pretty much annihilated everyone and it was just annoying. I mean Cthulu was in the tournament. Really? Rand beats Cthulu?

To be fair Quick Ben won one of those tournaments also. But then the braid pulling-girl from Wheel of Time I think won the last one. Which again, is annoying.

EDIT: It would be awesome to do a fighter only tournament. That way none of these pesky powers get in the way. Just magic swords!

 

[Caged Maiden]

<- wants a magic sword.

 

[Sheilawisz]

@Anihow: I want a Magic sword too!!

Well, I already voted in this third round and I am curious to see which characters will make it to the great final... my favourite is Gandalf!! Just because Tolkien did not describe everything that Gandalf can do, does not mean that he is not powerful =)

Who knows, maybe Gandalf could have nuked Mordor with a storm of green lightning, but there was something that prevented him from doing such things??

Also, I don't understand all the dislike against that Rand character, why is that? Sorry, I have never read those books.