Favorite single combat scenes

[Calibandar]

What are your favorite scenes of single combat?

I have a couple of favorites to start this off with:

* Hector vs Achilles from The Iliad or modern Iliad retellings

* Rodrigo Belmonte vs Ammar Ibn Khairan from Lions of Al-Rassan

* Fingolfin vs Morgoth from the Silmarillion

* Gil-Galad and Elendil vs Sauron

* Finrod vs Sauron ( a duel of minds)

* Gandalf vs the Balrog of Morgoth from LoTR

* Gandalf vs The Witch King at the Gates of Minas Tirith ( even though it never came to blows)

* Connavar from Gemmell's Rigante against various opponents

* Several of Anasurimbor Kellhus' fights in the Prince of Nothing books, usually against multiple opponents though.

* Red Viper vs Gregor Clegane

* The Jousting tournament in Game of Thrones and various jousting tournaments related to us from the Westeros past ( Rhaegar, Sword of the Morning, Barristan)

* Rhaegar Targaryen vs Robert Baratheon ( truly iconic)

* Ned and friends vs the three Kingsguards at Tower of Joy ( again multiple opponents)

* Arthur vs Mordred in Arthurian Legends and modern retellings.

* Cuchullain the Hound of Ulster, in various confrontations.

* Diarmuid vs Uathach from Fionavar

* Galadan Wolflord vs Cavall, also from Fionavar.

The idea is to show some scenes which are really good or memorable between individual fighters rather than large scale battles.

[Koth]

The only one that sticks out in my mind is the one between the Red Viper and Gregor Clegane.

[Big Brother]

* Red Viper vs Gregor Clegane

[Jaxom 1974]

F'lar vs. T'ron

[Krafus]

Jaime Lannister vs Brienne of Tarth. The only time, AFAIK, that we've had a swordfight described by GRRM from the POV of one of the setting's top warriors.

Drizzt Do'Urden vs Dantrag Baenre. I know D&D novels and R.A. Salvatore aren't favorites here, but that one has always stood out for me. Drizzt managed to analyze Dantrag's style and find its weakness, and exploited it.

Oberyn Martell vs Gregor Clegane. Another example of one warrior finding and using an effective strategy against the other. Pity the Red Viper got overconfident once he had Gregor down...

Inigo Montoya vs Dread Pirate Roberts. Still IMHO the single best swordfight ever seen in a movie. All the more impressive because the actors actually did the fight themselves instead of switching to stunt doubles.

[saint777]

Martin has got several from ASOIAF:

Bronn vs. Sir Vardis

Sandor Clegane vs. Dondarion

Red Viper vs. Gregor

Erikson has a few from Malazan:

Rallick Nom vs. Councilman

Kallor vs. Whiskeyjack

Aptorian Demon vs. Kenrhy'll Demon

Karsa vs. The Demon in Morvala Keep

[Kuwa Slayne]

Beowulf vs. Grendel

Beowulf vs. Grendel's mother

Beowulf vs. the Dragon

Sir Gawain vs. the Green Knight (simply for comedic purposes)

The Red Viper vs. Gregor Clegane

Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Keith David in the film "They Live"

Mad Martigan vs. General Kael "Willow"

I'm sure there is plenty more that I just can't think of right now.

[Ebenstone]

I believe the Inigo Montoya/Dread Pirate Roberts is #1.

I think, for all the flaws of the second trilogy, the Obi-Wan/ Anakin as Darth Vader duel at the end of Sith was riveting and intense.

Luke/ Vader both times were pretty amazing.

And come on the Black Knight vs. Arthur in Monty Python & the Holy Grail..."Tis but a flesh wound."

I have a book upstairs about stage fighting upstairs I am not going to get right now that has the top ten. I can't think of any "literature" ones only cinematic ones....I guess you could say the fight at the beginning of Cyrano De Beregerac.

[Oorag]

Cinema is a completely different subject for me, and all the ASOIAF stuff is a given. Here's the rest of the stuff that come to mind:

Brawne Lamia versus assassin - Hyperion

Raul Endymion versus Rhamadath Nemes - Rise of Endymion

The Bloodguard versus the Sandgorgon - The One Tree

Thomas Covenant versus Lord Foul - White Gold Weilder

Mat Cauthon versus the Gholam - A Crown of Swords

Brotherhood of the Peach Blossoms versus Lu Bu - Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Diomedes versus the Gods - The Iliad

Hiro Protagonist versus Raven - Snow Crash

Molly Millions versus yakuza assassin - "Johnny Mnemonic"

[nobodymN]

Forgive, I'm running out the door, so just one right now -

Luke/ Vader both times were pretty amazing.

Give John Williams an assist on that as well!

I know this is a SF/F forum but I have always admired Clavell in Shogun depicting Mariko leading Toranaga's men out Osaka:

Wait," Mariko ordered. ashen, she stepped out of her palanquin and put her sunshade aside and picked up Yoshinaka's sword, unsheathed it and walked forward alone.

"You know who I am. Please get out of my way."

"I am am Kojima Harutom, 6th legion, Captain. Please excuse me, you may not pass Lady, The Gray said with pride.

She darted forward but her blow was contained. The Gray backed and stayed on the defensive though he could have killed her without effort. he retreated slowy down the avenue, she following, but he made her work for every foot. Hesitantly the column started after her. Again she tried to bring the Gray to battle, cutting thrusting, always attacking fiercely, but the samuraii slid away avoiding her blows, holding her off, not attacking, allowing her to exhaust herself. But he did so gravely, with dignity, giveing her every courtesy, giving her the honor that was her due. She attacked again but he parried the onslaught that would have overcome a lesser swordsman, and backed another pace. The perspiration streamed from her. A Brown started forward to help but his officer quitely ordered him to stop, knowing that no one could interfere. Samuraii from both sides waited for the signal, craving the release to kill.

In the crowd a child was hiding his eyes in his mothers skirts. Gently she pried him away and knelt. "Please watch my son," she murmured. "You are samuraii." Mariko knew she could not last much longer. She was panting now from her exertions and could feel the brooding malevolence surronding her. Then ahead and all around , Grays began to ease away from the walls and the noose around the column quickly tightened. A few Grays walked out to try to surrond her and she stopped advancing, knowing that she could too easily be trapped disarmed and captured, which would destroy everything at once. Now browns moved up to assist her and the rest took postions around the litters. The mood in the avenue was ominous now, every man commited, the sweet smell of blood in their nostrils. The column was strung out from the gateway and Mariko saw how easy it would be for the Grays to cut them all off if they wished and leave them stranded in the roadway. "Wait!", she called out. everyone stopped. She half bowed to her assailant, then, head high, turned her back on him and walked back to Kiri. "So...so sorry, but it is not possible to fight through these men at the moment," she said her chest heaving. "We...we must go back for a moment." Sweat was streaking her face as she went down the line of men. When she came to Kiyama, she stopped and bowed. "Those men have prevented me from obeying my liege lord. I cannot live with this shame, Sire. I will commit seppuku at sunset. I formally beg you to be my second." "No. You will not do this." Her eyes flashed and her voice rang fearlessly, "unless we are allowed to obey our Liege Lord, as is our right, I will commit seppuku at sunset!" She bowed and walked toward the gateway. Kiyama bowed to her and his men did likewise, then all in the avenue and on the battlements and at the windows, all bowed to her in homage. She went thru the the archway, across the forecourt into the garden. Her footseps took her to the secluded, rustic little cha-house, She went inside and, once alone, she wept silently for all the men who had died.

No Super Woman bullshit, but a scene that still displays a power of a woman in a combat scene (especially if you read he book and knew what she knew was at stake. For a pretty maindtresm author, I have to admt I have always found Mariko to be of the great female characters in recent fiction.

[Rakov]

A couple of film ones, not fiction, right off come to mind:

Bruce Lee v Chuck Norris in Way of the Dragon in the Colliseum in Rome!

Bond v Grant on the train in From Russia with Love - to this day one of the best pound for pound he-man knuckle fights in cinema, both actors genuinely burly men.

Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. ('Catfights', don't ya just love 'em! What is it about men and catfights? - Seinfeld.) Yeoh's character turning her weakness against the young blood into and advantage. Apologies ladies, it's just sexy seeing kung fu women kick a**!

In fact, anything that involves women fighting, mostly in tight-fitting costumes, preferably leather (the above fight is an exception that proves the rule!), kicking a**. (OMG, I'm a closet Yeard!)

[Galactus]

For tournaments, I think one of the prototypes is the tournamed as Ashby-de-la-Zouche in Ivanhoe. It's pretty much *THE* iconic tournament.

[Ran]

Lancelot vs. Curdardh in Kay's The Darkest Road. Nicely mythic.

From movies, the final duel in Rob Roy between Liam Neeson and Tim Roth.

[Barba]

I don't remember the characters names, but final battle in Guy Gavriel Kay's The lions of Al-Rassan is my favorite

[Werthead]

Interesting to see how they handle that scene in the movie.

[Ran]

Barba,

That's the one Calibandar cited in the first post -- Rodrigo Belmonte vs. Ammar ibn Khairan.

[Antonius Pius]

The Hound vs Lord Beric.

The Hound & Arya vs Polliver and the Tickler and the squire.

Polliver and the Tickler had driven the Hound into a corner behind a bench, and one of them had given him an ugly red gash on his upper thigh to go with his other wounds. Sandor was leaning against the wall, bleeding and breathing noisily. He looked as though he could barely stand, let alone fight. "Throw down the sword, and we'll take you back to Harrenhal," Polliver said.

"So Gregor can finish me himself?"

The Tickler said, "Maybe he'll give you to me."

"If you want me, come get me." Sandor pushed away from the wall and stood in a half-crouch behind the bench, his sword held across his body.

"You think we won't?" said Polliver. "You're drunk."

"Might be," said the Hound, "but you're dead."

Jaime vs Brienne

[Kissed_By_The_Sun]

there's only a handful that really stand out to me, mostly from asoiaf:

ASoIaF:

red viper V. Gregor Clegane

Hound V. Beric

and from Sienkiewicz's The Deluge

Kmicic v. Wolodyjowski

[Lord Qyburn]

Amber-Benedict vs. Corwin

It's really the writing rather than the fight itself. At one point Corwin saw an opening that would have allowed him to decapitate Benedict, but he neglected to take it because he was afraid Benedict's aeons of combat experience meant that a headless Benedict would kill him by reflex afterwards.

[Gildor]

The few that haven't been mentioned would be some of fights and scrapes that Fafrd and the Mouser get themselves into, there was a paticular one when they were fighting a magician person, it was in Adepts Gambit.

The others that stand out for purely visual and dramtic reasons is the fight with the poisonous flowers in The Shadow of the Torturer, plus the fight between Severian and the giant in the latter books, forgotten the exact one.