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Who are the 10 best swordsmen in the series?

Dimnara

By Dimnara,
in General (ASoIaF)

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sheriffkiller Sellsword

sheriffkiller

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I think this is the definitive list:

1. Ser Jaime "Kingslayer" Lannister

2. Sandor "The Hound" Clegane

3. Syrio Forel - a bit surprised by the great response he received in this thread but he certainly earns his spot, maybe has a shot for number, depending on future books.

4. Barriston "The Bold" Selmy - in his prime, he and Arthur Dayne would be an amazing match.

5. Garlan "The Gallant" Tyrell

6. Ser Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane

7. Khal Drogo - not a swordfighter persay but that thingy the dathraki use is close enough, even though if horses and leadership in battle counted, he would probably be number one.

8. Ser Bronn - My favorite character, so I had to put him on here. Truth be told he may be a bit overmatched against some of these guys ahead of him though. I do think the list has a bit of a drop off after number 7. Depending on who you ask.

9. Belwas "The Strong"

10. Qhorin Halfhand - Wish he stuck around longer because he might have been higher.

Robert was an amazing fighter but since there isn't info to talk of him, I couldn't put him on the list. I think that Loras and Brienne are overrated. Brienne is nice and all but she is still a girl, sorry feminists. Loras is more of a joust knight. I do think Jorah Maramont is underrated but still I couldn't quite put him in the top 10.

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TheDanish Sellsword

TheDanish

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If we're talking 1 on 1 fights...

1) Jaime Lannister (2 hands)

2) Sandor Clegane

3) Gregor Clegane

4) Syrio

6) Barristan

5) Strong Belwas

7) Garlan Tyrell

8) Loras Tyrell

9) Brienne

10) Bronn

Personally I think it's pretty clear that pre-maimed Jaime was the best living fighter in Westeros. The whole "he killed the king he swore to protect and Robert still wanted him for his Kingsguard" bit just highlights it.

Sandor and Gregor are established warriors. Beyond #3 I think it gets hazy, but I gave it my best. We really have no indication of the skill Syrio's opponents had, but he still managed to beat them with a wooden sword. Barristan similarly has no trouble kicking posterior with a walking cane. Strong Belwas by and large has the most 1v1 experience, though it's hard to compare full-plate knights with pit fighters. Garlan trains with multiple opponents, but he's obviously below Syrio since the former fights in full gear. Loras has been mentioned to be an excellent swordsman.

That leaves Bronn and Brienne. Both of them are extremely pragmatic fighters. Bronn uses dirty tricks whenever he can, while Brienne takes advantage of the fact that men almost always underestimate her. That may mean Brienne is always fighting opponents who aren't at their best. However, even Jaime was impressed with her skill and her control when they crossed swords (it's hard to fight someone in an exclusively defensive manner like she does).

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noshowjones Freerider

noshowjones

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A lot of people are throwing guys on the list who aren't swordsmen. Robert. Aero Hotah. Doran Martell. Etc. I don't think there is any way to really rank the swordsmen since none of them (to my recollection) have ever gone one-on-one with another renowned swordsman. The Hound fought his brother in AGoT, but by that description, they were just hammering away at each other using brute force as opposed to skill. The Hound fights Beric Dondarrion, but I don't recall anyone ever claiming that Dondarrion was or was not a great swordsman. Darkstar only cut up a child. The Halfhand only fought Jon Snow in a thrown fight. Barristan only kills a few lowly guys on his way out of KL (historically he did much more, but where is the base level for comparison). Bronn fights a knight that may or may not have been a good swordsman.

I guess the closest you could get is that Brienne won the melee to win a spot in Renly's king's guard (she beat Loras to do this, but was not using a sword at that point). Jaime, in shackles and weak from imprisonment, was able to fight her off for a good bit. I think that is the closest it gets to two great swordsman going at it... Didn't Ned kill Arthur Dayne? If so, that would be another one.

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Smallfolkperson Sellsword

Smallfolkperson

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1. Jaime Lannister - he states that he could beat anyone else.

2. Oberyn Martell - would have beaten Gregor Clegane, if he had not lost it at the end

3. Gregor Clegane - he's massive

4. Garlan Tyrell - fights 3 knights at once, and wins

5. Syrio Forel - beat a lot off guardsmen with a wooden sword

6. Sandor Clegane - big, fast, and strong

7. Barristan Selmy - old, but still beats the leader of a group of mercenaries with a staff

8. Strong Belwas - has never lost a fight

9. Victarion Greyjoy - described as strong, tough, skilled, and fearless

10. Brienne - won a tournament, beat Jaime Lannister (although he was weak after a year of being locked up.)

Honorable mention: Khal Drogo

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Timur Khal Hedge Knight

Timur Khal

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also, wasn't there an old Kingsguardmen that supposedly could beat all the other Kingsguard with one hand while taking a piss with the other? With the sword named Dawn (DarkStars bro?)? I can't quite remember the specifics of course, I might be getting a few things mixed up.

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Été Council Member

Été

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also, wasn't there an old Kingsguardmen that supposedly could beat all the other Kingsguard with one hand while taking a piss with the other? With the sword named Dawn (DarkStars bro?)? I can't quite remember the specifics of course, I might be getting a few things mixed up.

That would be Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. But he's dead at the start of the series so no cigar ;)

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Shane the Llama Squire

Shane the Llama

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1. The Hound- He combines great skill and technique with some of Gregor's size and strength. He is probably the most balanced swordsman, as he combines strength and speed. The Hound also doesn't hesitate to use the environment to his advantage, as demonstrated in the bar fight with Gregor's men.

2. The Kinglsayer- His skill may equal or even surpass that of the Hound, but he simply doesn't have the strength or endurance Sandor is blessed with.

3. Syrio Forel- He is faster than anyone else on this list. Also, his waterdancer style may throw off Westerosi opponents, giving him a slight edge.

4. Garlan Tyrell- This may seem like an unsual choice, as Garlan has no fight scenes. Even so, the fact that he can defeat 4 opponents at once is indicative of his skill. It may seem strange to rate him more highly than characters we've "seen" fight, but I simply cannot imagine Bronn, for exammple, defeating 4 men at once in a fair fight.

5. Bronn- Bronn is not as skilled as some who placed below him on my list, but he beats them out due to his willingness to tailor his fighting style to his opponent. However, I do think Tyrion overestimates his abilities when comparing his skill to Jaime's.

6. The Mountain That Rides- Gregor is not particularly gifted with a sword, but he is nearly 8 feet tall. This one advantage of his (along with the reach his size affords him) more than makes up for his deficiencies in speed and intelligence.

7. Barristan the Bold- Selmy is a great fighter, but he lacks the endurance to win a fight that he cannot end early.

8. The King Beyond the Wall- I've seen Jon Snow come up on several lists, but I'm not sure how he can be included without Mance Rayder. Mance only has one fight scene, but it makes his skill quite clear. He defeats Jon with ease, and that alone makes him one of the best.

9. Strong Belwas- Belwas' survival of the fighting pits is proof of his capacity to deal out death with a blade. He fights without armor, which reduces his ranking, but he still came out on top every time he fought in the pits.

10. Quorin Halfhand- The Halfhand is one of the few truly great Northern swordsmen in A Song of Ice and Fire. His fight with Jon is the true show of his skill. He is defeated by Jon only with the aid of Ghost, and even then, Quorin may have been going easy on Jon to some extent.

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house stark and baratheon Sellsword

house stark and baratheon

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1- barristan.. even though he is old he can still fight

2- ned stark.. everyone will wonder why he is 2nd but i think he was on of the greatest just didnt show it

3- jamie lannister

4- syrio forel

5- the hound

6- garlan tyrell.. did i get his name right?

7-bronn

8- loras tyrell

9- jorah mormont.. may be giving him more credit then he deserves

10- jory cassel.. not enough people seem to think he was any good

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Bourne Noble

Bourne

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1- barristan.. even though he is old he can still fight

2- ned stark.. everyone will wonder why he is 2nd but i think he was on of the greatest just didnt show it

Martin has said that Ned is just a little above average swordsman. He doesn't belong on this list at all and definitely not 2nd.

But as to my list, this is a really tough question. There is so much different criteria that goes into this. Do you mean who is the most talented swordsman or who would win in a fight with a sword? Because that's very different. We have no reason to believe that Gregor is anything more than an above-average swordsman but he could still kill anyone in Westeros because of his size. So I'm just going to make the list as the most technically skilled swordsmen.

1. Jaime Lannister- We are routinely told how amazing Jaime is. Knighted at fifteen (by Ser Arthur Dayne no less) and then directly into the Kingsguard. Brienne says no man in Westeros could beat him if he was healthy. Jaime himself says he could beat the Hound or the Mountain (admittedly, he's biased). I think the most telling thing is that 15 years after killing the King, an act everyone hates him for, he's still alive. No one will mess with him. Although I'm also very biased.

2. Barristan Selmy- Were introduced to him as the greatest living knight. And Martin himself said that if Selmy and Dayne fought with equal equipment (Dayne can't have Dawn), it'd be a tossup. That's good enough for me.

3. Sandor Clegane- I think he's slightly less talented than the above two, but would probably beat them in a fight more times than not, due to his size. The telling story about the Hounds skill is when he fights Gregor at the tourney. Gregor repeatedly tries to kill Sandor, but the Hound is only fighting defensively (paraphrase "The Mountain repeatedly aimed for his brothers helm, but the hound never swung at Gregors bare head"). Fighting with purely defensive moves, against a trained knight, of Gregors size no less, is pretty impressive.

Honestly after those three I think you can't really make a list. At a certain point you can only get so good and it all depends on match ups and just the luck of that day. Even among those top three you'd probably get close to a 50/50 split every time they fought. However I think the next tier of swordsman (in no particular order) would be : Garlan Tyrell, Bronn, Mance Rayder, Darkstar and Maybe Ser Loras.

Also people will probably be pissed I omitted Gregor and Syrio. I think Gregor is probably the best warrior is Westeros, but we're never told he's a particularly skilled swordsman, just a huge brute who overpowers all his opponents. I'm sure he's well above average, but if he were normal sized he wouldn't be anywhere near the top. As for Syrio, his bravosi fighting style is completely different. You can't compare his skill the the Westerosi style. Its apples to oranges.

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The Oncoming Storm Noble

The Oncoming Storm

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Ser Arthur Dayne pwns all!

Ok, present:

1 Barristan Selmy

2 Jaime (with two hands)

3 Mance Rayder

4 Sandor Clegane

5 Beric Dondarrion

6 Gregor Clegane

7 Victarion Greyjoy (well, technically not swordsman, but he pwns)

8 Brienne of Tarth

9 Donal Noye (killing a giant when he only had one hand? This guy is a BAMF)

10 Jorah Mormont

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Kuya Elz Commoner

Kuya Elz

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My pick

10th = Jamie Lannister (at his prime) = Because he's plain good, nuff said

9th = Syrio Forrell = coz waterdancing blows almost everything

8th = Sandor Clegane = he beat Dondarrion, he beat almost anybody, and he loves his sword

7th = Mance Rayder = He's the best in the wall, even better than Jon Snow or the Halfhand

6th = Brandon Stark = Ned and his daddy said he was the better swordsman

5th = Belwas = How do you let a guy cut you first and win?

4th = Barristan Selmy = this guy is almost unkillable even though so old...\

3rd = Arthur Dayne = Possibly one of the most famous and best in Westeros (but seriously, I dunno who's better, him or Selmy)

2nd = Daemon Blackfyre = He's the warrior himself!! He defeated 3 legends in 1 day

1st = Azor Ahai = because he's epic and killed all the Others

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