Who is the best fictional swordsman of all time?

[Zannah]

The sword's magical, but she's not. And the swords magic only works after you hit someone and drew blood, so it pretty much counts.

 

[jurnag12]

al'Lan Mandrogoran from the Wheel of Time. A swordsman so good that he takes on a bloke who had hundreds of years of practice himself along with being in the top 5 of most powerful magic-users on the planet.

And win.

 

[ecoho]

well kenshin did beat him so........yeah hes a great swordsman but not as good.

Yeah...because he was using the ultimate technique while Hiko wasn't, and that was the point. If Hiko really wanted to kill Kenshin, he would have used the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki. The difference between them is illustrated when Hiko teaches Kenshin the Kuzu Ryu Sen.

but he did and kenshin's was stronger I went and rewatched the episode kenshins ultimate technique was strong then his masters or at least faster.

Well go watch it again, my friend. Or here, allow me:


At 2:26, you see the 9 sword strike that is the Kuzu Ryu Sen, that's the technique that Hiko uses against Kenshin. After teaching Kenshin the Kuzu Ryu Sen and beating him in a dual in which they both use it on each other, Hiko explains that the only technique that can surpass his Kuzu Ryu Sen would be the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki (which is a sword-draw technique while the Kuzu Ryu Sen is a charging technique). By using his Kuzu Ryu Sen against Kenshin after saying he fully intends to kill him, it forces Kenshin to walk the line between life and death grab hold of the all-powerful Will to Live, thus enabling him to use the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki (which is the only technique faster than the Kuzu Ryu Sen).

He then goes on to explain that this is how it's always been, how the student finally masters the Hiten Mitsurugi style: by surpassing his master's Kuzu Ryu Sen with the only technique that's faster: the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki.

If they both use the same technique, Hiko will always win...as he explains after they use the Kuzu Ryu Sen against one another. They move at the same speed, but Hiko outclasses Kenshin in strength by far.

no he says that should they both use Kuzu Ryu Sen he would win and that its his best technique, when he explains all that to kenshin he figures out that his best technique batujutsu would be the only answer at which point he straddles the line between life and death in order to create his own Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki which is different for each successor and thus the Hiten Mitsurugi style stays strong.

in other words the two have different ultimate techniques that while different rank about the same in effectiveness with kenshin's being much faster but with less force and his master having more force but is a lot slower.

....I own the DVDs man so I just plopped in the episode.

 

[Six Ways]

Obviously Guybrush Threepwood.

 

[Demonio Penguino]

You know, this does go against the rules, but....
http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/548637903651108582/C728730457892A203BA1ACB3779FE5FC8A14F22D/506x284.resizedimage
RULES OF NATURE!
And they run when the sun comes up,
With their lives on the line!
(ALIIIIIVE!)
For a whiiiiiile,
(NO CHOIIIICE!)
Gotta follow the LAWS OF THE WIIIIIIIIIILD!

 

[dragonswarrior]

Shit, I know it's kinda obscure but over three pages of thread and no one names Brys Beddict, youngest of the Beddict brothers yet? I am dissapoint.

Also, this thread is over. Brys kicks all'y'all asses.

Spoiler: MAJOR spoilers for book 5 of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

He is a completely ordinary human, no magic, no extra species abilities, nothing. He wields an ordinary longsword. But he is so skilled he's able to go toe to toe with minor gods. At the end of the book he single handidly defeats an opponent who is A. one of the greatest swordspeople in the world at that point and B. literally cannot be killed. Brys does this by slicing every one of his opponents major tendons in the battle. And he does it so fast that no one else in the room was able to do shit about it, not Brys' allies or the other guys. *will never be able to porperly convey how badass that moment was to anyone who hasn't read MBotF*

 

[RJ 17]

no he says that should they both use Kuzu Ryu Sen he would win and that its his best technique, when he explains all that to kenshin he figures out that his best technique batujutsu would be the only answer at which point he straddles the line between life and death in order to create his own Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki which is different for each successor and thus the Hiten Mitsurugi style stays strong.

in other words the two have different ultimate techniques that while different rank about the same in effectiveness with kenshin's being much faster but with less force and his master having more force but is a lot slower.

....I own the DVDs man so I just plopped in the episode.

I own the DVD's as well, so you don't trump me in that regards.

The Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki is a sword-draw technique...it always has been and always will be. Go watch the episode when Kenshin uses it against Shishio and the technique's second - and far more destructive - strike is revealed. "Even if you avoid the fangs of the flying dragon, the winds that gust around it will immobilize you and cut you to shreds." Even more specifically, it cuts to Hiko at one point after the attack as he further explains: "The Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki is a battojutsu at super god-like speeds, and all battojutsu of the Hiten Mitsurugi style have two parts to prevent any surprises."

The entire point of the technique's second strike is what makes it a truly unavoidable technique. If you don't see it coming, you'll have no chance against it. If you know about it - as Shishio did - you can try to prevent it. It's too fast to dodge, so you have to try to block. By blocking you create the vacuum and vortex effect that allows the user to spin around and strike with obscene amounts of force.

You cannot be taught the Amakakeru Ryu no Hiromeki by having it used on you (which is how Hiko taught Kenshin all of the other techniques), your will to live must guide your actions and you discover it's form for yourself. "Think about the nature of the Kuzu Ryu Sen, and the form for the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki should become apparent." The Kuzu Ryu Sen lands 9 strikes in a single instant, yet it's a standard charge-attack. Battojutsu - sword draw techniques - strike faster than regular charging strikes (at least in the world of Kenshin...I don't know if that's true in real life ). Since the Kuzu Ryu Sen is too fast to dodge or block all nine strikes, the only chance to beat it is to strike before it lands. This is true for every apprentice of the Hiten Mitsurugi style that wants to learn the final technique.

To clarify what Hiko was meaning when he says "The Kuzu Ryu Sen is the attack I'm best at", what he's saying is that no one else's Kusu Ryu Sen could possibly surpass his because - as he explains - he has the weight necessary for a charging attack and the upper body strength necessary for a multi-strike attack. His Kuzu Ryu Sen is perfect, but as he says: "I never said that the Kuzu Ryu Sen was the ultimate technique, you just assumed it was."

Edit: Beyond all that there's the fact that in the anime story arc involving the Christians, Kenshin is up against another person who has mastered the Hiten Mitsurugi style. During their final clash, they both use the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki and they both use a sword-draw technique. Kenshin, however, has a completely pure heart and spirit while his opponent did not, thus Kenshin's proves superior.

 

[Fijiman]

Rules are meant to be broken !
Darth Vader FTW !

Otherwise , Samurai Jack . Best fictional samurai of all time imo .

I completely agree there. And thanks to you I now have a kickass new background for my phone.

 

[Thedark1owns]

al'Lan Mandrogoran from the Wheel of Time. A swordsman so good that he takes on a bloke who had hundreds of years of practice himself along with being in the top 5 of most powerful magic-users on the planet.

And win.

Thank you! I was beginning to lose faith in the Escapist community.

 

[ninja666]

I'd say Knight Artorias from Dark Souls. You don't see his true power when you meet him in the game, but consider this: When you fight him, he's near-dead, weakened, and corrupted by an evil force. Plus, he has his good hand broken, fights with his offhand (Artorias is left-handed. You can see it on the cover art portraying him. LINK [http://www.hkofferhouse.com/images/cover/ps3/Dark%20Souls%20-%20U.S%20Ver.%20%28PS3%29%20cover%20front%201.jpg]), and doesn't have a shield. Despite all that, he's still fuckin strong and kicks ass. Imagine how good he is without any of those handicaps.

 

[God'sFist]

Like can anybody deny this epic swordsman who takes on legions of robots, aliens and bounty hunters one right after the other allot of the time? Seriously he even fights himself once and still beats him. No one can defeat the great samurai who seeks to return to the past.

 

[Augustine]

By Jove, that would be Sir Harry Paget Flashman!
Unqualifiably,the greatest man the world has ever known. Warrior, gentleman, and a faithful servant of her majesty, the Queen. And of course, properly British, just as God intended.

 

[Fox12]

I'd say Knight Artorias from Dark Souls. You don't see his true power when you meet him in the game, but consider this: When you fight him, he's near-dead, weakened, and corrupted by an evil force. Plus, he has his good hand broken, fights with his offhand (Artorias is left-handed. You can see it on the cover art portraying him. LINK [http://www.hkofferhouse.com/images/cover/ps3/Dark%20Souls%20-%20U.S%20Ver.%20%28PS3%29%20cover%20front%201.jpg]), and doesn't have a shield. Despite all that, he's still fuckin strong and kicks ass. Imagine how good he is without any of those handicaps.

You could probably argue that for Gwen as well. Bare in mind your essentially just fighting his hollow, and compare the strength of other characters to their hollow forms. In his hayday he would have been fearsome. It's interesting that the game is as difficult as it is, and yet your essentially just fighting the weakest, most zombified forms of every enemy. They's probably curb stomp you any other day.

Although, these characters are essentially deities, so it makes sense that they'd be stronger than any human swordsman.

 

[barbzilla]

al'Lan Mandrogoran from the Wheel of Time. A swordsman so good that he takes on a bloke who had hundreds of years of practice himself along with being in the top 5 of most powerful magic-users on the planet.

And win.

Rand Al'thor out classes him by the end of the series though, and that is without using his magic. However, if we counted magic on top of it, Rand is basically Goku levels of powerful.

 

[Loonyyy]

I think they'd probably end up killing each other in the most bloody way possible.

I'm thinking that the Bloody-Nine ends up completely dismembered by the steels, but Gorst is horrendously injured by Logen's blade, which ends up somewhere in one of the joints of his armour and bleeds to death.

 

[Raesvelg]

Shit, I know it's kinda obscure but over three pages of thread and no one names Brys Beddict, youngest of the Beddict brothers yet? I am dissapoint.

Also, this thread is over. Brys kicks all'y'all asses.

Spoiler: MAJOR spoilers for book 5 of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

He is a completely ordinary human, no magic, no extra species abilities, nothing. He wields an ordinary longsword. But he is so skilled he's able to go toe to toe with minor gods. At the end of the book he single handidly defeats an opponent who is A. one of the greatest swordspeople in the world at that point and B. literally cannot be killed. Brys does this by slicing every one of his opponents major tendons in the battle. And he does it so fast that no one else in the room was able to do shit about it, not Brys' allies or the other guys. *will never be able to porperly convey how badass that moment was to anyone who hasn't read MBotF*

Psh. I'll see your Brys Beddict and raise you a Dassem Ultor.

Spoiler: More major Malazan spoilers

You know, the guy who was First Sword of the Malazan Empire, and ultimately becomes the First of the Seguleh?

 

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

al'Lan Mandrogoran from the Wheel of Time. A swordsman so good that he takes on a bloke who had hundreds of years of practice himself along with being in the top 5 of most powerful magic-users on the planet.

And win.

I already posted a different answer, but I didn't think of Lan. You're right, he's a supreme badass, and that duel was fricken sweet. Although, I will say that the WoT power rankings are a little out of whack, and I'm not sure I trust them. For example,

Spoiler

in the last battle, Gawyn takes on Demandred wearing 3 of those Seanchan rings, making him inhumanly fast and impossible to read. Demandred kicks his ass. But Gawyn is a blademaster of such a high level that he can defeat 2 other blademasters at the same time, one of which is clearly described as nearly as good as Lan himself. So how, exactly, is Lan so much better than a man who is actually almost on the same level, AND wearing magic superspeed rings?

 

[ThePuzzldPirate]

On my phone so can't link but Nanashi or Luo-Lang from Sword of The Stranger gets my vote(even if they cheat a bit with the physics)

 

[DAAANtheMAAAN]

You know, this does go against the rules, but....
http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/548637903651108582/C728730457892A203BA1ACB3779FE5FC8A14F22D/506x284.resizedimage
RULES OF NATURE!
And they run when the sun comes up,
With their lives on the line!
(ALIIIIIVE!)
For a whiiiiiile,
(NO CHOIIIICE!)
Gotta follow the LAWS OF THE WIIIIIIIIIILD!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wanted to post Raiden. Cyborgs are against the rules, but there's something awesome to be said about a guy who can lop off a giant mech's 50 foot blade arm, pick it up and cut the mech into clean slices with the seeming effort of picking up a heavy sack of potatoes.

But hell with it, I'll vote for Professor Layton.

 

[ecoho]

no he says that should they both use Kuzu Ryu Sen he would win and that its his best technique, when he explains all that to kenshin he figures out that his best technique batujutsu would be the only answer at which point he straddles the line between life and death in order to create his own Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki which is different for each successor and thus the Hiten Mitsurugi style stays strong.

in other words the two have different ultimate techniques that while different rank about the same in effectiveness with kenshin's being much faster but with less force and his master having more force but is a lot slower.

....I own the DVDs man so I just plopped in the episode.

I own the DVD's as well, so you don't trump me in that regards.

The Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki is a sword-draw technique...it always has been and always will be. Go watch the episode when Kenshin uses it against Shishio and the technique's second - and far more destructive - strike is revealed. "Even if you avoid the fangs of the flying dragon, the winds that gust around it will immobilize you and cut you to shreds." Even more specifically, it cuts to Hiko at one point after the attack as he further explains: "The Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki is a battojutsu at super god-like speeds, and all battojutsu of the Hiten Mitsurugi style have two parts to prevent any surprises."

The entire point of the technique's second strike is what makes it a truly unavoidable technique. If you don't see it coming, you'll have no chance against it. If you know about it - as Shishio did - you can try to prevent it. It's too fast to dodge, so you have to try to block. By blocking you create the vacuum and vortex effect that allows the user to spin around and strike with obscene amounts of force.

You cannot be taught the Amakakeru Ryu no Hiromeki by having it used on you (which is how Hiko taught Kenshin all of the other techniques), your will to live must guide your actions and you discover it's form for yourself. "Think about the nature of the Kuzu Ryu Sen, and the form for the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki should become apparent." The Kuzu Ryu Sen lands 9 strikes in a single instant, yet it's a standard charge-attack. Battojutsu - sword draw techniques - strike faster than regular charging strikes (at least in the world of Kenshin...I don't know if that's true in real life ). Since the Kuzu Ryu Sen is too fast to dodge or block all nine strikes, the only chance to beat it is to strike before it lands. This is true for every apprentice of the Hiten Mitsurugi style that wants to learn the final technique.

To clarify what Hiko was meaning when he says "The Kuzu Ryu Sen is the attack I'm best at", what he's saying is that no one else's Kusu Ryu Sen could possibly surpass his because - as he explains - he has the weight necessary for a charging attack and the upper body strength necessary for a multi-strike attack. His Kuzu Ryu Sen is perfect, but as he says: "I never said that the Kuzu Ryu Sen was the ultimate technique, you just assumed it was."

Edit: Beyond all that there's the fact that in the anime story arc involving the Christians, Kenshin is up against another person who has mastered the Hiten Mitsurugi style. During their final clash, they both use the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki and they both use a sword-draw technique. Kenshin, however, has a completely pure heart and spirit while his opponent did not, thus Kenshin's proves superior.

let us agree theyre both the best cause they contradict themselves way too often in the anime