Best and most overrated fighters

[Pod The Impaler]

There are lost of "unspoken" fighters who are quite skilled, Lothor Brune, Ser Richard Horpe, Bronn, Qorin Halfhand and so on.

I think I'd have to say people we actually hear of accomplishing great feats in battle are more impressive than, Gregor for instance, whose slowness and lack of grace are attrocious, and his only real skill is being able to wear an inhumanely well protective suit of armour and swing a massive sword in battle.

I agree. Brune and Bronn seem to earn their advancement through their skills. Horpe is Stannis' best soldier. Qhorin and Mance Rayder both seem to have been very dangerous warriors, despite the fact they are not likely to receive any acknowledgement.

[Jez Targaryen]

No mention of Sam 'Slayer' Tarlyyet? The dude can hit the archery target almost every time now!

[Leofrid]

The dragonknight anyone?

[Mal Malenkirk]

There was a thread a few weeks back about Arthur and Gerold Dayne. Basically, Gerold is regarded by almost everyone in Dorne as being an insanely deadly fighter that almost no man can match. Gerold's own opinion of Arthur is rather low, and that it was using Dawn that gave him a figurative edge over everyone in his time. While Gerold might not have Dawn, he probably has a really good sense of what that sword can do to make someone near invincible. Thus, Arthur Dayne as a swordsman without Dawn is probably quite overrated.

I find that unlikely.

The better you are, the less your equipment is crucial. It's always better to fight with a superior sword, obviously, and if two evenly matched fighters battle each other this could be the factor that tips the scale. But how much it improves performances is more marginal for the best fighters than for the mediocre ones.

Look at it this way:

Fighter A has trouble piercing armor with a castle forged blade but usually succeeds with magical ubersword X. The ubersword therefore makes him substantially more dangerous.

Fighter B is stronger and more skilled, as a result he has no trouble killing people left and right with common steel. Using magical uber sword X therefore doesn't make him a whole lot deadlier than he already is. You can only kill your enemies so much, you know. ;)

So Arthur Dayne's prowess can't have been depending all that much on Dawn. Or else somebody would have disarmed him and beaten the living shit out of him with his own sword.

[unitron]

What? No love for Syrio?

[Universal Sword Donor]

What? No love for Syrio?

Syrio is the equivalent of a bugatti in a destruction derby.

[Prince Lou of House Reed]

I wish we could have had more of Jaime actually fighting considering how much his skill is talked about in the series. We only get an account of the whispering wood where he tears shit up but in the end he does get captured and there's also his fight with Brienne where he loses although he was shackled and in poor health. I wish the show had a whispering wood scene and not Ned almost beating Jaime. I would have liked to see him kick someone's ass at least before losing his hand.

[Brynden Blackfish Jr.]

This question can be interpreted many different ways, but I would personally place Arthur Dayne, Barristan Selmy, and Jaime at the top of the list if we are talking about the best sword fighters. GRRM has actually said that a Dayne and Selmy matchup would be an equal one if Dayne didn't fight with Dawn, and Jaime said that Dayne was one of the greatest fighters he ever met. If we are talking about the best fighters in terms of strength and ferocity, I would place Robert Baratheon, Victarion, and Sandor Clegane at the top of the list. I think a major reason why Robert and Sandor in particular were such great warriors was because of the rage they carried.

I would say Ned is the most overrated fighter, specifically the HBO Ned. Ned was just an average swordfighter who happened to be an excellent military leader, and he even admitted his brother Brandon was a better fighter than he was. In the show, he gives Jaime an excellent fight, which might be part of the reason why people might think he was more skilled with a sword than he actually was.

[Ser Greenseer]

I think Ned gets pretty underrated in his fighting skills, he was described as competent which means good just not great but also not average either.

[Fred Dii]

At least Ned could someone´s head off with one blow. Maybe its because his sword Ice was so huge but i think he also had quite some strenght to even wield it right.

[Nictarion]

At least Ned could someone´s head off with one blow. Maybe its because his sword Ice was so huge but i think he also had quite some strenght to even wield it right.

Valyrian steel is much lighter.

[Dornishwoman's Husband]

I've also seen that show Ramsay is much better swordsman than his book counterpart. The best killers among the Ironborn (according to YarAsha) couldn't kill him even when he was half-naked.

Anyway, my own pick for the best swordsman in history of Westeros is young Barristan Selmy.

[Ashur]

Difficult to choose the better ones. This is my personal opinion, not based on facts, but on feelings:

The warrior himself:

Arthur Dayne: Likely the best of his time

Aegor Rios (Bittersteel): A monster of a fighter

Robert Baratheon: Wild, Strong, Resolute. He was born to fight.

Quentyn Ball (Fireball): Fierce, valiant and skilled.

Barristan Selmy: The Knight.

Gregor Clegane: overrated? not at all. Slow, but faster that you could expect, and freakin' strong.

Jaime Lannister: A natural talent.

Lyn Corbray: Quite underrated... what he did on the trident... wow.

Elite fighters:

Rhaegar: Maybe one of the best jousters ever, but I have the impression that he was a bit weaker as swordsman.

Loras Tyrell: Same as Rhaegar. Likely better jouster than swordman, altough he's likely very good with sword.

Jon Connington: Not sure, but he seems a super swordsman.

Simon Toyne: A terrific swordman, but as Barristan acknowledges in HBO's GoT: "he lacks stamina"

Sandor Clegane: Very skilled, tough and resolute.

Oberyn Martell: Uses a wide variety of weapons, and seemed lethal with all of them.

Brynden Tully: Probably very good.

Josmyn Peckledon: Kills three knights in the Blackwater. He was only 14, I think.

Darkstar: We don't know much about him, but it seems that the guy is "the most dangerous man in Dorne".

Brienne of Tarth: She beat Loras, amongst many others.

Daario Naharis: Lethal, unforgiving.

Allister Thorne: Not casual that he's in charge of teaching the boys how to fight at Castle Black.

Ned Stark: He uses a broadsword. Not everybody can cope with a weapon like that.

Competent Fighters:

Robb Stark: Valiant, Skilled.

Stannis Baratheon: If he needs to be a competent swordsman as a King, then he would had looked for it in the past. That's Stannis.

Jorah Mormont: Tactical, quiet, unforgiving.

Brynden Rivers (Bloodraven): Lethal archer, but likely a lot weaker with sword in hand.

Jory Cassel: Probably the best fighter in Winterfell, together with Ned Stark.

Asha Greyjoy: She's dangerous with or withouth sword.

Most of the kinsgguard: Boros Blount, Meryn Trant, etc.

[mdw4950]

im not as knowledgeable on a lot of the pre-agot fighters but from what ive read i always got the impression that the hound, jaime and selmy were basically a toss up for who the best was.

for overrated the first person that comes to mind is gregor. poison or not, oberyn wouldve killed him if he wasnt being an idiot and the hound had no problem standing toe to toe with him and trading blows. ned even thinks to himself how the hound was only fighting defensively and never actually tried to attack gregor. hes definitely the most feared fighter because he can kill anyone in one hit but that by no means makes him the best.

id have to say bronn is overrated too. much like gregor, hes a threat and one of the best but just doesnt cut it when compared to the top tier of fighters. hes an awesome character so i feel like some people give him more credit based on that.

ill throw syrio in there too just because we dont have enough information about him. obviously he was a great fighter but theres just not enough story to say he was just as good as say, jaime. he was named first sword of braavos by answering a riddle so we dont even have a back story of him fighting his way to the title. if hes not dead and really is a FM (like a lot of people hope for) theres also not a lot of information that says the FM are great face to face fighters - no pun intended.

drogo and belwas would have to be a toss up since its so hard to compare them to any of the other fighters. how skilled are the dothraki in singles combat, how skilled are the pit fighters belwas killed, would both fighters have armor or not and so on. you can go either way.

[Faydra]

Gregor is somehow underrated by the fandom. So is Joffrey, even though he fought with Robb well enough.

Arya's fighting powers are sometimes exaggerated. She's just unpredictable, not skilled at arms.

[Northbound3.0]

Cregan Stark and the Dragonknight are the best for me.

Overrated would be Bronn and The Greatjon. Perhaps you could throw in Ned; just because people try to make him in to something that he was not.

[Ser Greenseer]

Cregan Stark and the Dragonknight are the best for me.

Overrated would be Bronn and The Greatjon. Perhaps you could throw in Ned; just because people try to make him in to something that he was not.

How is the Greatjon overrated?

[Talleyrand]

Lyn Corbray: Quite underrated... what he did on the trident... wow.

He killed an already wounded knight, probably an achievement given who the knight was but not enough to put him in the top tier

Allister Thorne: Not casual that he's in charge of teaching the boys how to fight at Castle Black.

And he did a terrible job of it - Pyp doesn't even know how to properly hold a sword until Jon tell him and Endrew Tarth and Iron Emmet are both said to be doing a better job than him.

[Northbound3.0]

How is the Greatjon overrated?

The same way Ned is. People building him up in to something, that he is not. Don't get me wrong, the Greatjon is a fully capable fighter. He is big, strong and ravenous. But there are a good many number of fighters that the text suggests would be far better than he is.

[Ser Greenseer]

The same way Ned is. People building him up in to something, that he is not. Don't get me wrong, the Greatjon is a fully capable fighter. He is big, strong and ravenous. But there are a good many number of fighters that the text suggests would be far better than he is.

First off, I don't think Ned is overrated by the book community. In fact I think he is usually underrated a lot, and I think you are underrating the Greatjon right now. The Greatjon is probably the best fighter from the North and that is something a lot of people overlook and underestimate. There are not many people in the books that could face off against the Greatjon and live.