Jaime in the Suvudu Cage Match.

[Boaz]

You've probably seen GRRM post on his Not A Blog about Ser Jaime Lannister, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, being involved in a tournament of heroes, mages, dragons, and generally powerful characters from fantasy literature on Suvudu. Well out of 32 contestants, Jaime is in the final four.

He's already defeated Hermione Granger (I suppose Harry was not there to save her), Cthulhu (mayhaps Jaime caught him/it/whatever on a bad day), and Temeraire (add Dragonslayer next to Kingslayer). But now he's up against Kvothe the Bloodless, and the voting is not going well for Jaime. He's down six points in the polls...

Actually, I started reading The Name of the Wind today. This happens to be the book in which Kvothe stars as the hero. I'm halfway through... and I like it. I think if you liked Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy, then you either like The Name of the Wind or you might curse it as a knockoff.

You've only got until noon tomorrow... I dunno what the local time is for the Suvudu (Random House Publishing) website. Please help the Kingsl... err, Ser Jaime.

On a side note, all of the characters in the final four are in current series. Old favorites like Cthulhu, Conan, Aragorn, Gandalf, Elric, Aslan, Raistlin, Ender, and even Dumbledore have all gone down. I truly think this is due to people voting for what's hot, new, current... Rand al'Thor, Drizzt Do'Urden, Kvothe, and Jaime Lannister are all still awaiting further publication. Or is it just that internet voting is for kids... and they've never read Lovecraft, Moorcock, Howard, Heinlein, Card, Lewis, Tolkien, etc...? I mean seriously, who could stand against the Shrike, Aslan, or Cthulhu?

Or is true that Rand could splatter Gandalf and Dumbledore without breaking a sweat?

 

[viZion]

Well, yeah, if you're looking at pure magical power then Rand al'Thor could take out just about anyone including Gandalf and Dumbledore pretty easily. He's ridiculously powerful.

Note: I'm not intending this as a slight against any of your favorite characters or authors. Don't flame me for it .

 

[Lynon]

He needs around 460 votes with no reply to win this. Its not looking good. Where are the fanboys when you need them....

 

[Culhwch]

I've voted. I've quite enjoyed George's little descriptions of the bouts so far. Really, Kvothe had it coming to him...

 

[southron sword]

Ive read The Name of the Wind. Didnt like it. Lots of words with little action. I would have thought magicians would beat regular swordsmen, no matter how good Jaime is.

 

[Lynon]

Ive read The Name of the Wind. Didnt like it. Lots of words with little action. I would have thought magicians would beat regular swordsmen, no matter how good Jaime is.

Well, the guys over at suvudu got it kinda wrong and mixed everyone regardless of them being gods or simple warriors. This caused the voters to revolt somewhat and kick out all the "overpowered" characters. This led to some complaining that people weren't voting seriously e.g Jaime beating Cthulhu. So now it has descended into a popularity contest, with a few people actually voting based on who is the most powerful, many of whom are complaining of fanboyism and still trying to reason with people to put aside their preferences to vote seriously. This hasn't really worked, although recently people have started voting more seriously now that all Gods are out. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that altough you'd think a magician would beat a swordsman, it isn't really working that way due to what I would deem a mistake by the creators of the tournament.

Also, in other news: VOTE JAIME! (He's only 330 votes behind now)

 

[Boaz]

Of course this is pure fanboyism (to borrow a word from Lynon... Welcome, by the way!)... There is no way to have a public tournament among characters from diverse settings and completely unrelated worlds and expect anything less than a popularity contest. To achieve some level of supposed realism, you'd need to only allow experts or you'd have to limit the tourney to characters from one world. The second option was chosen for our own tournament years ago... Storm of Swords Tournament hosted by Wiggum. I only linked the main thread, but the matches ended up with their own threads so we could have polls.

(If you do read throuch all the threads, you'll find out why people sometimes refer to Ser Barristan Selmy as BFS... Barristan Freakin' Selmy was an epitaph devised by Aegon the Unworthy (my favorite poster) as his one true argument why Barristan should win any match... "He's Barristan Freakin' Selmy!")

Aslo, The Tower of the Hand is currently conducting an ASOIAF tournament as we speak... their Greatest of All Time Bracket currently has open voting for Rhaegar Targaryen vs. Brandon Stark and Areo Hotah vs. Garlan Tyrell.

On a final note.... Jaime is now up on Kvothe, 6,705 votes to 6,460 votes. It's up for grabs...

 

[Boneman]

NO!!!! Vote for Kvothe........!!!!

 

[Boaz]

Boneman, welcome to the GRRM forum. Your avatar looks like a shamble man, mayhaps?

 

[Boneman]

Thank you, Boaz! Are you a freemason? Not so much a shamble man, I saw those as more as akin to 'The Wicker man' type-figures. Only just started on Game of Thrones, m'self, so at some stage I might actually contribute... Doncha think GRRM looks like an older version of PR?

I can only vote for PR's character as he critiqued my own novel...

 

[Lynon]

Thanks for the welcome Boaz.

Jaime is now 400 votes up with only 2 hours to go; pretty good. Also, looking at the number of votes cast for Jaime and Rand, Jaime has around 1600 more this round. Of course there were many more voters in Jaime's match and many people who voted for one of the other contestants in the semi or for both Jaime and Rand or will have to reassign their vote for the final (as you can't vote for both). But I find it nice to think that Jaime has more supporters. Jaime's chances could be scuppered by vengeful Kvothe fans, but I suppose many could also back his conquerer. I guess I had better cast my vote and hope for the best. I get the feeling that we're gonna here a lot about Rand calling forth Balefire.

Please ignore all of the above (Except for the thanks at the beginning), if by some chance Kvothe makes it through instead of Jaime.

 

[Eulalia]

Well, I voted for Jaime! Does that make me a fan"boy"?

Maybe voting for Jaime, against all odds, belongs in the "you know you're obsessed when" thread.

 

[IlliferThePenniless]

Boaz-

I'd love to think what you thought of In The Name of the Wind when you're finished. I've read it twice and I'm quite conflicted about it. Obviously I didn't hate it, but the more I think about it the more it just feels like an enormously long prologue... Either way, I'm looking forward to the next one. Because I needed more unfinished series in my life. Clearly.

 

[Boaz]

The real point I've been obtusely making (or is that too, subtley making?) is that Jaime wins because his story is currently in production... and not just in print. Jaime is soon coming to TV. But then so is Kahlen Ahmnell, the Mother Confessor of the Sword of Truth series... and I think she got bumped in the first round of the Suvudu tourney. If this tourney took place six years ago, and I'm sure there were a few online tourneys, then I'm confident the Harry Potter and Aragorn met in the finals due to the popularity of their characters in print and film.

Sorry, the real point is that this (posting, sharing obsessed jokes, taking a few minutes of your day to escape) won't last forever. The GRRM forum here has more activity than either Tolkien's or Rowling's forums and it has more activity than Asimov, King, Jordan, Gaiman, Hobb, Heinlein, McCaffrey, Wurts, and all the others (excepting Tolkien and Rowling) combined. After A Dream of Spring, the seventh book, is published this will all go away... And Jaime will never will another tournament.

<sniff>

By the way did you read Patrick Rothfuss' (Kvothe's creator) and GRRM's takes on this duel? They were both great.

[If you don't mind spoilers, then highlight the missing text below.]

In PR's version, Jaime never even meets Kvothe, but is instead defeated by Bast, Kvothe's student/servant! And in Martin's version, Tyrion and Cersei tag along... and Tyrion stabs Bast in the back! Too funny.

Anyway, Jaime won and will now face Rand al'Thor for the title. I can't believe I'm into this like a twelve year old fanbuy. I'm forty-three for pete's sake... Mayhaps it's because my own Jayhawks got knocked out of the real tourney in the second round...

Edit: Illifer, I'm enjoying it in spite of my predjudices against teenage heroes. I saw something on the jacket (I think) that told me that the trilogy was three days... that put me off for a while, so I browsed the shelves a bit more... but in the end I bought it. The story telling aspect hearkens toward Odysseus recounting his adventures or the pilgrims of Hyperion telling their Decameron-esque tales. I also love the fact that there has not been one mention of prophecy regarding Kvothe... whew! And yes, it is a prologue... yet I'm counting on Rothfuss to deliver the goods at the end. In that respect, I feel towards this story (I'm so new that I don't know the name of the series) like I feel towards ASOIAF; there's a very good story teller (GRRM) telling a grand story... a long, long story... yet the characters are so authentic, the plots so engrossing, and the themes so applicable that I continue to give my consent to the story teller to stretch out the tale... to take his time... to make it as grand as he wants, because he's earned my trust... I fully expect him to unify... to cement... to entwine... hmmmm, none of these are what I mean... to conjoin the characters, plot, and themes into a satisfying (happily ever after, or not) culmination and celebration of the story... mayhaps marry is the verb I wanted. I dunno, I'm just a poster, not an author.

 

[Ursa major]

I think the verb you're seeking may be "weave", Boaz.

And your take on what helps to make good storytelling - trust in the storyteller - is very useful comment/insight and may provide a focus for our thinking in the Aspiring Writers forum, where we've been discussing this very issue. (You may be surprised to learn that we've come to no final conclusions, allthough we've been circling the issue for a while. )



(Oh, and take what Boneman when he talks about Patrick "Bone Idol" Rothfuss** with a pinch of salt, as he's just a tad biased. Not that we're in any way envious. Oh no! )




** - His series is The Kingkiller Chronicle, I believe (which ought to have a part for Jaime).

 

[Boaz]

Kingkiller Chronicle? Hmmmm... that seems like a spoiler to me. I've gotten nary a whiff of that two-thirds through the first book... but then I miss a lot... that's why I come here. I need to learn what I've missed.

 

[IlliferThePenniless]

I think the only mention of dead kings comes fairly early in the book, when one of the visiting caravan guards recognizes the man pouring his ale as the legendary Kvothe. The interloper says something to the effect of "I was there the night you killed him. They say no one can mend the street where he fell"

I've always assumed the 'he' in question was the titular dead monarch. But I could definitely be wrong...

 

[Boaz]

Of course, now that you mention it... My only excuse is that I'm inobservant.

 

[Ursa major]

Perhaps I should have misled you and called it The Chinchilla Chronicles.









(Or would you have smelt a rat?)

 

[chairface]

(Or would you have smelt a rat?)

You are shameless.