Just For Fun: The Five Greatest Swordsmen of Fantasy

The Five Greatest Swordsmen in Fantasy

 

This is a frequently passed around meme on the lists I'm on. Sometimes it's sparked by someone just asking the question of "Who's the best swordsman in all fantasy?", or it's from some website making a list purporting to list said best swordslingers.

 

But it seems, invariably, that not only don't I agree with their top pick, I don't even agree with ANY of their candidates.

 

So I figured I might as well make my own list.

 

Some ground rules: I will nominate only one candidate from any given fictional universe. Given what I see on other lists, I will also include particular powers or abilities the character has that apply to their sword-based combat but not, say, their ability to cast spells or otherwise use abilities not relevant to sword combat. This isn't about the baddest-ass motherf***er in the universe; it's about the baddest-ass swordfighters in the universe. I will include both written and media universes, since both sides have some excellent candidates.

 

I'm also leaving anyone from my universes off the list, partly because very few people (relatively speaking ) have read any of my books, and partly because MY greatest swordsman has only been seen in legend and from oblique views; we won't see him actually demonstrate his skill until one particular story is written. This also eliminates any obvious prejudice on my part.

 

On to the list!

 

• Benedict of Amber (The Chronicles of Amber, Roger Zelazny). Full stop. There is but one True City, and it is named Amber. All other cities – all other universes – are but Shadows of Amber. Its true children, the Amberites, are all immortal, stronger than human, tougher, faster, able to heal better… and are also gifted with the power of the Pattern that allows them to walk in Shadow and, if they are so inclined, bend the Shadow to their will. They have contested for the Throne of Amber for time untold, although none have unseated Oberon, their father. But even Oberon might have feared Benedict, had Benedict been inclined to take the throne.

  "I fear Benedict. He is the Master of Arms for Amber. Can you conceive of a millennium? A thousand years? Several of them? Can you understand a man who, for almost every day of a lifetime like that, has spent some time dwelling with weapons, tactics, strategy? All that there is of military science thunders in his head. He has often journeyed from shadow to shadow, witnessing variation after variation on the same battle, with but slightly altered circumstances, in order to test his theories of warfare…" – Corwin of Amber.

  It should be noted that the speaker, Corwin, is a man who fought his way up hundreds and hundreds of steps, taking on uncounted numbers of men, in an attack on Amber that nearly succeeded. And he wasn't as good as Bleys, his partner. And neither of them thought they were even VAGUELY good enough to take on Benedict of Amber. No one in all reality is. He can prepare by challenging a thousand versions of you to variations of combat, taking a hundred or a thousand years to do so, if necessary. He is stronger and faster and tougher than anyone would think. And he has the power of a Prince of Amber, which is to say, he can bend the world to his will if he must. Benedict of Amber: the greatest swordsman in the worlds.

• Rorona Zoro (One Piece, Eiichiro Oda): Some might say I should choose Zoro's sensei, Dracule "Hawk Eyes" Mihawk, instead, and I wouldn't argue them… but I'm not sure that even Mihawk has done some of the things Zoro has without using Haki.
  First of all, we'll start by the fact that Zoro uses one of the most ludicrous swordfighting styles ever portrayed: Santoryu, or "Three Sword Style", in which Zoro wields one sword in each hand… and one in his mouth. Do not try this at home, kids, you'll break your teeth or your jaw. But ridiculous or not, Zoro has demonstrated time and time again that he has absolutely supernal skill with his weapons, striking things more powerfully, more precisely, more quickly than anyone would believe. Before he learned to wield Haki (basically the One Piece equivalent of Ki), he was able to swing so hard and precise that he could send what amounted to air knives flying out and striking like cannon shells. He has matched other sword masters of his world one-on-one, taken on almost uncountable adversaries, and survives horrific injuries without slowing down. Now trained in the use of Haki with his swords, Zoro has literally carved a mountain into successively smaller pieces as he sought out a being who could hide within earth and stone. He seeks to become the greatest swordsman in the world; he may well have achieved it.
• Jack (Samurai Jack, Genndy Tartakovsky and Cartoon Network): Trained to defeat an immortal, nigh-indestructible demonlord named Aku, Jack became one of the greatest wielders of a sword ever imagined. He has defeated countless men, demons, constructs, and monsters, and survived everything from being run through the chest to falling from orbit. Jack has an unbreakable will, unmatched skill, and a sword forged by multiple gods to aid him in defeating something that would otherwise be unkillable. There is a reason that Aku sought to exile him to a distant time in which Aku would have vastly greater power… and why Aku still feared him.
• Garet Jax (The Wishsong of Shannara, Terry Brooks): Garet Jax, the Weapons Master. Lacking the superhuman attributes of our prior three candidates, Garet Jax makes up for it with demonstrated superhuman skill. He is, apparently, purely a human being, but he takes on dozens of human opponents, monsters of any size, and defeats them all with a calm certainty of purpose that leaves one feeling that he has yet to be challenged. In the end, he dies after defeating a Jachyra – a creature that grows stronger with pain – with nothing but sword skill, when such a creature frightened and matched Allanon, the immortal Druid. Garet Jax has truly earned his title of the Weapons Master.
• Goemon (Lupin the Third, Monkey Punch): Goemon, too, is apparently an ordinary human, but one of mindboggling skill. Among many other feats, he once cut an entire suit of burning clothes from a man in a single stroke, without the strike even touching the man's skin. As another example, when Lupin and the others were up against an aircraft armored with effectively unbreakable armor (made from the same material as Goemon's sword, which is otherwise unique), Goemon was dropped from a smaller plane to then proceed down the aircraft, cutting along it in a single stroke, then be caught by the smaller plane and brought up, to be dropped again, repeating the process five times or more so that he could repeatedly cut it in the exact same spot, controlling his sword-stroke to micrometric precision while free-falling from a biplane onto a moving aircraft. Goemon's skill with a sword is nothing short of awe-inspiring, and he, like Garet, deserves a place on this list despite lacking the world-shaking power of the others.

 

There are other great candidates that one might put forth that are often left out of these lists; Ingold Inglorion, from Barbara Hambly's The Time of the Dark and sequels; D'Arbignal, from Jeff Getzin's King of Bryanae and others in the Bryanae series, self-proclaimed "Greatest Swordsman in the World" who appears, despite his clownish ways, to be fully equal to that title; Gart, from Stephen Donaldson's Mordant's Need dualogy who, even crippled, is more than the equal of Artegall, the best swordsman of the opposing side; Erza from Fairy Tail; and on and on. Make your own list, if mine doesn't work for you!