Is Ser Arthur Dayne considered the best sword fighter in Westeros history?

[Red Rahloo Connington]

1 hour ago, kleevedge said:

ya that was a joust not a melee. I thought we were comparing swordsmen?

This is the only time we hear of them interacting at a martial level; thhats why I bring it up. The two were rivals and GRRM does have a recuring theme of making one rival better on horse and the other with sword (Jon and Rob), so Daemon may very well be more skilled than baelor with a sword. I just like to throw Baelor in there with him as an honroable mention.

[BlueNightzx]

Barristan selmy did more impressive feats than Arthur dayne in my opinion, and he survived the battle of the trident, wich not even rhaegar, who bested arthur dayne in some tournaments if i'm not mistaken did, i think arthur dayne was the perfect image of the "true knight in shining armor" noble, martial and honorable, and of course, dawn was a huge plus to his mythos,

i also would like to add that i believe arthur fighting style was more "elegant" flashy and unique, for dawn and such, i believe he put more of a show (not that i've any proof, just my belief from what characters  said of him)

for what we saw of Barristan, he is  an EXTREMELY pragmatic fight, he mastered his senses and technique, his fight in dance of dragons remembers me of a Samurai fight, something from a kurosawa movie, a experienced fighter, calmly studying his opponent, waiting for a single chance to end the fight with one blow.

put toe to toe, i would put my money on selmy over arthur or Daemon blackfyre.

Overall, for what I've seen, i would put Selmy, arthur dayne and Daemon blackfyre as contenders for the title

close seconds would be Jaime, the dragon knight, breakspear, the hound (maybe prime Robert? he was a monster in the trident)

technically i believe jaime would be equal to selmy and arthur, but jaime has no wisdom in battle, not enough experience and age, he overestimates his prowess and position and downs play his opponents, as seen in his battle as a commander agains robb, and in his fight against brienne, i think he was still some 10 years before his prime, but since he lost his sword hand we will never know.

i think all the targaryens were a bit overrated, the small folk saw them as almost gods, with their silvery god hair, anything a targaryen did was seemed as exceptional, Robert baratheon didn't have not even half the fame or status of Rhaegar as a warrior (was robert even knighted? i don't remember) and the killed him all the same.

and i think Selmy suffers the same "lack of marketing" he is from a small noble house, he does not carry a legendary sword, his appearance is quite ordinary and he was not a close confidant of dragon princes.

[Lion of the West]

I'd put both Arthur Dayne and Barristan Selmy leages over Jamie Lannister who only appears good in the absence of other top tier fighters to face him down. We know that both Arthur and Barristan had vastly better sense of morality than Jamie and that they fought with honour, as opposed to Jamie.

[HexMachina]

19 minutes ago, Blue Falcon said:

I'd put both Arthur Dayne and Barristan Selmy leages over Jamie Lannister who only appears good in the absence of other top tier fighters to face him down. We know that both Arthur and Barristan had vastly better sense of morality than Jamie and that they fought with honour, as opposed to Jamie.

Ok i have to ask now, is this some “bit” you are doing because you are miffed over the whole good/evil Houses thing discussed in the other thread?

[Lion of the West]

1 minute ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Ok i have to ask now, is this some “bit” you are doing because you are miffed over the whole good/evil Houses thing discussed in the other thread?

No. I am trying to see the story that GRRM presents me and not what I want it to be about. It will be a time of adjustment for me to a new viewpoint that harmonize with the actual story and not my own ideas of what the story should be about.

[Corvinus85]

It's pretentious to call Arthur Dayne the best swordsman in the history of Westeros. The best of his generation in Westeros? Yeah, I'd go with that, but as Lord Varys mentioned, each generation has it's share of amazing fighters that are difficult to compare against each other. 

While not Westerosi, but having lived there, I bet Sandoq the Shadow would wipe the floor with Dayne, if he fought with the Valryian steel arakh and great shield he used to defend the bridge to Maegor's Holdfast. And that's just one, among hundreds of potential other challengers.