Who is the best swordsman in fiction?

[Warachia]

Spoiler: Mod edit: Please use spoilers for large images!

[HEADING=2]Zoro from One Piece.[/HEADING]​

His power is so exaggerated that he can slice a solid metal cannonball the size of an apartment block in half and casually brush it off as a minor annoyance. He also does it while looking badass. Bascially, take all of the points that the OP gave for Kenshin Himura (change assassin to pirate hunter) and add the fact that he competantly uses three swords at once and can lift buildings.

Spoiler: That's right, buildings!

It is shown that Mihawk is stronger (Mihawk is the most powerful swordsman alive in that universe) But c'mon, Zoro will pass him out one day.

If he's worse than somebody else, then he isn't the best yet, not to mention I recall he has some problems with his swords not being able to cut through the skin of some people due to bullshit, I'd figure a main requirement is for the person to at least be able to cut their opponent.

I consider him the best in the sense that he will one day become the strongest, he has a dream to shoot for, unlike Mihawk (to my knowledge) and he is determined to reach his goal, that makes him the best in the sense that he is someone we want to see succeed and we know he will because of his raw determination. Mihawk may be stronger, but I still think Zoro is the best in that sense.

Also, he can cut plenty of people, he has downed a man whose body can turn into one big blade and he has sliced through plenty of enemies and marines, he can certainly cut what he wants.

Spoiler: For example, no problems here!

Spoiler: Slight spoilers...

Due to her (the one cut in half) logia power, she isn't dead, but Zoro basically demonstrated that if he used Haki (a force that can cut through Logia Devil Fruit) she would be dead.

EDIT:

Spoiler: Extra example!

I guess that's after I stopped, I gave up after those 5 assassins who could teleport, jump on air, and were nearly impervious to harm (thanks to their almost iron skin, even though zoro had previously cut through steel) showed up, occasionally I looked up a bit after that where I learned that if your entire body was turned to ash except your ankles, you'd still be fine, soap makes you impervious to physical attacks, poison can melt things, the main character forgot everything he could do (learning to smash a ship isn't impressive if you could do it in chapter 1, how the hell do you forget how to do that?) and the fire guy can't regenerate himself even though he could previously.

That series started out good, but went to shit fast after they reached the Grand Line.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

Generally I'm just a lurker, but I'm a fan of fantasy, so I know lots of powerful swordsmen and IMHO Dassem Ultor of the Malazan Book of the Fallen is the best swordsman.
Just a mortal, but capable of fighting a 300000 year old elf expy.
The number one of the Seguleh (an island full of warriors who consider three warriors a punitive army)
He was on a queeste to defeat the being who lead an army against death and then became Death.
All as a normal human being.

Damn, you took mine. I wasn't expecting anyone else to post someone from the Malazan series, but it's a pleasure to meet another fan.

Yeah, I second Dassem Ultor. I was considering Anomander Rake or Karsa Orlong, but Dassem's skill is on par with Rakes despite having lived for a significantly shorter time (Dassem's >100 years compared to Rakes hundreds of thousands), and Karsa, while definitely skilled, relies more on strength and size than finesse.

The Seguleh definitely deserve a mention, and I'd also like to throw in some of the Avowed from the Crimson Guard. Skinner is repeatedly stated to be on par with Dassem. Actually, in Return of the Crimson Guard

Spoiler

the main thing that seemed to be Skinner's downfall when facing Dassem was that he was too cocky with that blessed / enchanted armor of his. If he had been more level-headed, it's hard to say how the fight would have gone.

Also within the Crimson Guard, there're Iron Bars and Blues. The former is reputedly on par with Skinner, and they haven't met in quite a while, so it's hard to say how their skill levels compare now, and the latter is the Guard's best finesse-style swordsman. Now that I think about it, Shimmer is pretty impressive, too. Honestly, if I keep thinking of characters from the Malazan Book of the Fallen, I'll be here all day; I'd best stop now.

 

[Drizzitdude]

I'll nominate Drizzt Do'Urden, the Drow Ranger from the Forgotten Realms. (guy on the right)

Spoiler: Mod edit: Please use spoilers for large images!

He is a total OP badass. I think only one enemy in all of the novels can actually hold his own against him in a actual sword fight. Some assassin who's name I forget (the guy on the left). He duel wields scimitars, which I'm guessing (I know nothing about swords and swordfighting) is more difficult. He also has a panther as a partner. If I remember he doesn't even use magic, even though his race is quite famous for it.

Most certainly Drizzt Do' Urden, this guy is completely capable of dual wielding two razor sharp scimitars with pinpoint accuracy and using each one as an individually as an extension of his arm at once. Think about that, he can use each sword in complete separation of the other without even thinking about it with more skill and precision than a swordsman using a single blade. The way his skill is described is essentially the pinnacle of what anyone dual wielding could ever hope to possibly achieve. He is just so far on another level that I honestly don't think any other person could ever hope to compete with him without some sort of magical/scientific aid. Every fancy dual wielding trick you have ever seen or thought of this guy knows the flaws of, almost every other swordsman using any similar type of style is completely restricted by the inability to process the information capable of using two weapons at once completely free of the other and Drizzt simply does not have that problem.

 

[Nouw]

snip

Not rude at all, this is interesting stuff. You've gotta use that knowledge somehow right?

Well it's kiiiiiiiiind of important in Fate/Stay Night though it's revealed in the pilot of Fate/Zero so I guess you're right.

You should read the visual novel if you have any patience for it, it's really good and the remake will only cover the second best scenario (scenario in this case being a "retelling" of the story where things happen differently).

This happens when you watch the prequel first .

I am aware there are three routes and wasn't aware they announced which one they'd follow. Mind telling me in a spoiler tag which one it'll be? Not that I'd spoil myself by reading up on the scenario >_>

 

[God'sFist]

Umbra, yes that sword from Morrowind and Oblivion, my reasoning is because it has personality of it's own and might control who ever uses it. When wielded it defeated every foe it faced. main reason I said this because I got ninja'd like 3 times. but my others were Samurai Jack and Jin or hell since he wasn't technically named let's throw the Scotsman up there. He is the only one in the whole world to actually fight Jack and hold his own, not only that but he actually saved Jack at one point.

Spoiler

this guy

 

[irok]

Hmmmmmmm, this is actually proving difficult, ok , for mien I vote for Kenpachi from bleach , in a world where everyone elses swords turn into dragons and shoot lasers kenpachi's style is fuck all that noise, my sword is a sword, im going to wear an eyepatch with a life sucking parasite in it , wear bells so you can tell where I am and while im an exceptionally good two handed swordsman ima use just one hand, my bad hand. And so his biggest fight of the series ends immediately once he uses two hands and kills his opponent in a single blow.

 

[thiosk]

He's one of the greatest swordsmen in the sector, if not segmentum.
He's a pretty all around great guy

Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium

 

[The_Darkness]

Generally I'm just a lurker, but I'm a fan of fantasy, so I know lots of powerful swordsmen and IMHO Dassem Ultor of the Malazan Book of the Fallen is the best swordsman.
Just a mortal, but capable of fighting a 300000 year old elf expy.
The number one of the Seguleh (an island full of warriors who consider three warriors a punitive army)
He was on a queeste to defeat the being who lead an army against death and then became Death.
All as a normal human being.

Damn, you took mine. I wasn't expecting anyone else to post someone from the Malazan series, but it's a pleasure to meet another fan.

Yeah, I second Dassem Ultor. I was considering Anomander Rake or Karsa Orlong, but Dassem's skill is on par with Rakes despite having lived for a significantly shorter time (Dassem's >100 years compared to Rakes hundreds of thousands), and Karsa, while definitely skilled, relies more on strength and size than finesse.

The Seguleh definitely deserve a mention, and I'd also like to throw in some of the Avowed from the Crimson Guard. Skinner is repeatedly stated to be on par with Dassem. Actually, in Return of the Crimson Guard

Spoiler

the main thing that seemed to be Skinner's downfall when facing Dassem was that he was too cocky with that blessed / enchanted armor of his. If he had been more level-headed, it's hard to say how the fight would have gone.

Also within the Crimson Guard, there're Iron Bars and Blues. The former is reputedly on par with Skinner, and they haven't met in quite a while, so it's hard to say how their skill levels compare now, and the latter is the Guard's best finesse-style swordsman. Now that I think about it, Shimmer is pretty impressive, too. Honestly, if I keep thinking of characters from the Malazan Book of the Fallen, I'll be here all day; I'd best stop now.

Wow, three Malazan fans in one thread. What, is it Christmas already?

And I know you both passed over him for good reasons, but I just can't fault Anomander Rake. Dassem may have almost fought him to a stand-still, but Anomander arguably still won that fight. (Arguably... I mean, he achieved what he was aiming for, didn't he?) So I think the First Son of Darkness would give anyone else in this thread a serious run for their money.

However, I'm going to give an honourable mention to Brys Beddict for the duel at the end of Midnight Tides. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone with that level of ridiculous finesse.

Of course there's also Icarium unleashed, but that's more a case of unconstrainable rage than any specific skill...

 

[sXeth]

His own style (Was trained by Lan, the Aiel and I want to say others but I can't think of any one else at the moment)

He has Lews Therin (who with Demandred "Turned the tame sport of swords into a killing art", and lived over a hundred years practicing) in his head (and learns subconciously from him, outright stated in terms of Saidin use, implied with some other stuff), sort of a magic thing.

Demandred actually could get some points in WoT terms too, its hilarious when they go attack him with the anti-Power necklaces, and he just starts wrecking guys with normal swordplay.

 

[RandV80]

Generally I'm just a lurker, but I'm a fan of fantasy, so I know lots of powerful swordsmen and IMHO Dassem Ultor of the Malazan Book of the Fallen is the best swordsman.
Just a mortal, but capable of fighting a 300000 year old elf expy.
The number one of the Seguleh (an island full of warriors who consider three warriors a punitive army)
He was on a queeste to defeat the being who lead an army against death and then became Death.
All as a normal human being.

Ah that's what I was forgetting, the Malazan series. Though I was thinking of Karsa Orlong, who's gotta be the biggest BAMF in the series, but since technically he's not human I guess Dassem can claim the title. Never really liked the latter as much since he was never developed as a character but rather just someone that was already there, already established as an ultimate ass kicker.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

snip

Ah, how could I forget about Brys Beddict? I'm actually reading The Crippled God right now, so I'm surprised that he wasn't on my mind.

Come to think of it, I'd like to throw Onos T'oolan into this contest as well. The First Sword of a people that cursed themselves with immortality for the sake of a punitive war has surly had plenty of time to train.

If only the question had been "who is the best spearman?" That would be much easier to answer

 

[Nouw]

Well, the anime is going to be called

Spoiler

Heaven's Feel

so there's the route right there in the title.

Honestly it's the only one left untouched by that abomination that was the DEEN anime and probably the... uh... most Urobuchian of the three. Without spoiling anything, I can only say that very bad things keep happening all the time. I can't wait.

Don't spoil yourself, though. Seeing what happens first-hand is half the fun.

So DEEN covered two? Interesting.

I don't mind bad things happening, part of the appeal of Fate/Zero was its unwillingness to compromise and pull punches. Just give me more great characters and character interactions and I'll be happy. Giving Sabre some kind of proper ending to her character couldn't hurt either.[sub]Fucking Fate/Zero ending *grumble.*[/sub]

Considering how dark Fate/Zero could get, particularly towards the end of the second season, perhaps this would make the most sense to adapt tonal-wise.

 

[ZtH]

I second Rand in the Rand vs Lan fight, while Lan is more deadly early in the series Rand soon eclipses his capabilities even just with the sword. Also it's worth mentioning that Rand can combine swordplay with martial arts since he has shown that he can kill with his fists almost as quickly.

As a troll pick that no one has mentioned what about Rance from the games of the same name? Don't look it up it's NSFW, but if there is a girl on the other side of the fight he is unstoppable.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

I can't believe I forgot about Cohen the Barbarian until I noticed someone else mentioning him in passing.

Spoiler: He can prove his skill through one simple bit of evidence.

He can prove his skill through one simple bit of evidence.

He's still not dead.

Spoiler: You're all looking in the wrong genre.

Not only is Lucius the Eternal the best swordsman in the galaxy, but, even if you do manage to kill him [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheating], he simply takes over your body and continues on his orgasmic killing spree in the name of Slaanesh.

I was waiting for this. Too much anime bullshit, not enough sci-fi bullshit.

Well, someone already mentioned Lelith Hesperax, and she's WS 9 versus Lucius' WS 7, soooooo... She's quantitatively better.

Unless I'm missing an update and he became WS 10 at some point.

 

[freakonaleash]

Corvo from dishonored is pretty beast.

 

[Azkar Almsivi]

No one Mary Sue can be the most powerful. Each Mary Sue will always be more powerful then the last Mary Sue.

I vote for masked town guard #402, now there is a true hero/heroine we can get behind!

 

[Mr Companion]

Guts from Berserk.

Spoiler: Mod edit: Please use spoilers for large images!

He's pretty much got the whole 'super human without any magical BS' thing down.
-Unless you count the Cursed Armor, but even without that he's taken down GODS.

You know the bit where guts gets shot by one crossbow and its a huge deal? What if more guys with crossbows had shown up instead of everybody bum rushing hum in a provenly futile manner. Anybody with a ranged weapon could kill Guts. Also we never actually see him in full motion so its hard to know how effective his fighting style would be in a duel.

I mean most swordsmen counter arrows with shields, armor cover or simply not standing stock still in the open without any protection. Guts should really invest in at least chain mail or something.