Sword Fighting Prowess

[Comfortable Madness]

Maybe we have to give it to you and allow lightsabers to be classified as a sword but this is about skill with a sword. Yes, you're correct, upon first contact the duel would be over because  Jedi Windu's lightsaber would disarm his opponent but that has nothing to do with his ability as a swordsman. Which is what this discussion is about.

[Loud_G]

If we're discounting magic and magic swords then I'm still going to give this fight to anyone wielding a lightsaber. Mace Windu would demolish anyone else on this list simply because his sword (powered technologically, not magically) would disarm anyone else on the list in the very first clash.

Hey if Mace can use his lightsaber, then Rand can use his magic power-wrought blade. In that case the lightsaber would be no advantage and I STILL think Rand would win.

[Comfortable Madness]

Loud G, me and you are always on the same page in this matter....

[Faster Master St. Pastor]

Which means either you're right, or you're both wrong.

I don't know, personally Gaborn or Raj Ahten from the Runelords would probably be the best swordsmen.  With their endowments they would be virtually unstoppable, and neither of their swords were magical. 

Outside of fantasy though I personally know some pretty intense swordsmen, and I'm sure they could win against several fictional ones.

[darxbane]

Why is everyone so high up on Rand when he can't beat Lan?  He also lost to that Tairen dude who has his little rebel army outside of Tear.  Remember when the fog started killing people?  That's when Cadsuane slapped Rand for using balefire.  I would put Lan up there over Rand, unless it has to be the main character.  Anyway, I choose Duncan Macleod.  He would befriend Mace Windu and ask him for a lightsabre, and then he would be unstoppable! 

[Comfortable Madness]

He also lost to that Tairen dude who has his little rebel army outside of Tear

Hey wait a minute Rand was injured during the fight with Toram Riatin, who is a blademaster not just some Tairen dude.  I also believe that he has surpassed Lan in sword fighting abilities. Rand is obsessed with the use of the sword and has never stopped training at it. He pays the best swordsman in towns to battle groups of them at once. While Lan is a legendary swordsman in his own right if I were to place a bet on a duel between them I'm taken Rand.

[darxbane]

I know Toram is a blademaster, I just couldn't remember his name.  Besides, I would'nt take Rand now, he only has one hand!

[Comfortable Madness]

Good point. I like to forget that that ever happened. Although, a one-handed Rand is as good as most other two-handed swordsmen.

[Fellfrosch]

If we are really going to excise all magic and magic-esque technology from this scenario, then all swordsmen who traditionally rely on magic or technology will be too handicapped to go on. It's like the die-hard WoW players who use thirty custom hot keys--force them to play without them and they wouldn't know what to do or how to do it. The only reasonable winner in a contest that bans all magic is a swordfighter who has never relied on it to begin with, which leaves (arguably) none of the choices in this poll, and very few of the suggested alternatives. Wesley from the Princess Bride would count, Madmartigan would probably count, along with several of Aen's suggestions like John Carter, Conan, and Red Sonja.

[darxbane]

I would add Zatoichi to the mix.  He whooped a$$, and he was blind!

[Comfortable Madness]

I would just like to point out that Matrim Cauthon, from the WoT series(I may be a tad biased when it comes to this series), would beat any TWO of these people mentioned above, with the Ashendarei...

[darxbane]

And Indiana Jones could just shoot them.  Unfortunately, this is about sword fighting ability.  To respond to your point, though, Lan could take him.

[AvalonDreamer]

It'd just be mean of Rand to use Callandor or that fire blade thing he does sometimes, that and it would obliterate any resistance to his Dragony wonderfulness... He is by far the best swordsman out of the list and any mentioned thusfar.

Honestly, Mace Windu is cool, but Rand could whip him in a fight sooooo easily. Jedi train to use the force along with lightsabers (which have significantly different tactical implications that swords), and would get his colon stomped so fast in a no-powers fight against Rand.

I really think that Lan ought to be on the list if Aragorn is though, because the King of Malkier could totally slam him into the ground, probably without breaking a sweat. I mean seriously, Lan v. Aragorn, no contest, at all.

[Comfortable Madness]

To respond to your point, though, Lan could take him

Not a chance darxbane. Back when Mat beat Galad and Gawyn, Hammar tells all the warders in training that the best swordsman of all time lost once in his whole lifetime and that was to a farmer with a staff. Mat, by the way, is not just some farmer so Mat would win hands down.....

Avalon I agree with you 100%.

[darxbane]

You are missing the point of the lesson.  Galad and Gawyn understimated Mat.  They were taken by surprise, and were defeated before they could recover.  Plus Gawyn and Galad were not near the ability of Lan or Rand (although Galad is much closer now).  In New Spring, Lan takes on 6 people at once in a real fight and wins.  Rand has been unable to defeat 5 at once in practice, and I don't think Mat has faced that many at once. Oh, and Rand needed Moiraine's help to beat Ba'laal in book three.  He was getting whooped.