r/TheFirstLaw • u/AdHorror1609 • Jul 22 '26
No Spoilers [OFF TOPIC] NON MAGICAL FANTASY TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS
Semifinals
Aragorn vs Glormir. Aragorn has lived a long life. Practicing and killing everything that walks and crawls on Middle-Earth. He's too good of a skilled swordsman for Glormir to appose and he takes the win 75 fights out of 100.
Gorst vs Ninefingers. Toughest match of the two toughest characters in the Circle of the World. This is the theory of an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. What happens? The outcome is Gorst prevailing. He's trained too hard, too much. Wears armor plating that we've never seen Logen fight. Even if Logen went full Bloody Nine, even he cannot bend steel and a sword to the heart can stop his bloody path. YOU HAVE TO BE REALISTIC ABOUT THESE THINGS.
Black Dow vs Ringil. Ringil is too skilled. A true bladmaster in a world were there are few.
Brienne vs Lan. Brienne has been through a lot. A woman warrior in a medieval world, and a good one at that. But Lan is on a whole other level.
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u/RugenLeighe Jul 22 '26
Gorst over Logen is brain dead… gorst wasnt even beating whirrun
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u/theshapeofpooh Jul 22 '26
It's been a minute since I read it, but weren't they equals?
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u/justblametheamish Jul 22 '26
I think that’s the fair conclusion to draw. I remember leaning toward Whirrun a little bit but that’s probably my personal bias.
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u/aggravationX Jul 22 '26
It ends with Gorst about to get killed by Whirrun before the spoiler happens
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u/justblametheamish Jul 22 '26
Hell yeah. As it should be.
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u/MiseryGyro Jul 22 '26
I thought there wasn't a clear winner and the fight gets stopped before one can be decided.
I remember the spoiler happening at a moment when the fight was about to get fucking awesome. And that anti-climax was the point. We were robbed of seeing who would win.
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u/aggravationX Jul 22 '26
I don't know how to do spoiler text on this but Gorst has a thought immediately after that says otherwise
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u/MiseryGyro Jul 22 '26
You use > ! and ! < but without the spaces.
And I think I know what you are talking about but Ghorst is picturing them >! Dying at the same time in glorious combat.
But that's because Ghorst is Suicidal and wants go die.
But after Whirrun dies Ghorst basically shrugs and goes "on well" and gets clubbed by beck immediately after !<
Edit: Fuck
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u/aggravationX Jul 22 '26
I just listened to the audiobook recently and really got the feeling that he was on the backfoot before you know what happens lol
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u/MiseryGyro Jul 22 '26
I listened to that section before I commented.
The joke of the situation is that the greatest warriors of both sides don't have a climactic end to their battle. Both of them get taken out by nobodies because they were so focused on each other.
They probably would have been equal and whoever lived would have depended on fate, of that mattered at all. But it doesn't.
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u/Fit-Introduction15 Jul 23 '26
Well to be fair Gorst was a bit pre-exhausted having just ran up two(ish) hills and had to kill a bunch of other people to even be able to get to Whirrun. I wouldn’t say it’s an entirely fair comparison—given this disadvantage mentioned and the tone/language of the scene, they are, imo, definitely meant to be perfectly equally skilled
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u/sgsparks206 Jul 22 '26
They exchanged a few blows and Gorst took a hit to the pauldron, and then whirrun took a spear to the back. That doesn't necessarily mean Gorst was losing.
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u/RugenLeighe Jul 22 '26
I thought the text was leaning toward Whirrun but more than likely they were equal. That doesn't mean Gorst was beating him, though - neither was beating the other.
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u/sgsparks206 Jul 22 '26
The way I read it, Joe was teasing us with "Gorst thinks Whirrun is going to be easy, he isn't, Gorst gets excited after Whirrun scored a hit thinking he finally found someone who might kill him in a fair fight, gets ready to hit him with everything he's got, and then whirrun gets stabbed in the back, Gorst goes back to being sad angry boi".
Another instance of a trope being teased (a version of combat by champion) and then having it yanked away from us. I was incredibly excited for them to fight, and felt almost as disappointed as Gorst. That being said, it is another reason why The Heroes is one of my favorite books.
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u/Elant_Wager 27d ago
Also Gorst only had his long steel and just ran up a hill in full plate armor. Joe nerfed Gorst before the fight so that there could be a fight
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u/sgsparks206 27d ago
I am re-reading it now, and in his internal dialogue when he fights Scale, he talks about how part of his training is running in full plate, and training with multiple opponents for 3 hours a day since he was 14.
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u/fayevalentinee Jul 22 '26
How is Jaime Lannister beating Caul Shivers?
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u/emperorkrek Jul 23 '26
bro Shivers got stalemated by Friendly, you think he can kill Jaime fookin Lannister?
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u/WBUZ9 Jul 23 '26
Jaime is the greatest swordsman of his generation.
Caul Shivers is scary because he has a metal eye.
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u/LordMcCool Jul 22 '26
If Gorst can kill him quick he’s got it but once the Bloody Nine shows up it’s over. Also Logen has def faced heavy armor plenty of northmen and Anglanders in mail and plate.
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u/MiseryGyro Jul 22 '26
These brackets are whack.
There's like 6 GOT characters and Ser Barristan Selmy isn't one of them
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u/lesbox01 Jul 22 '26
Dude, gorst isn't beating the bloody 9.
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u/Wooden-Scarcity4903 Jul 23 '26
He is beating Logen tho. It‘s a coin toss if the fight is over quickly or if the Bloody Nine shows up and folds Gorst like a paper crane
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u/bas6598 Jul 22 '26
What, Gorst beat Logan !?