Skip to main content

game of thrones - Who are the 3 men who would have a chance against Jaime Lannister in a sword fight?


In Game of Thrones season 2, episode 8, "The Prince of Winterfell" , Jaime Lannister says to Brienne:



There are three men in the kingdoms who might have a chance against me [in a sword fight]




Who are those three people?





I don't believe this quote, or any variation, appears in the books. There was this quote from A Storm of Swords when he is fighting Brienne:



She is stronger than I am.


The realization chilled him. Robert had been stronger than him, to be sure. The White Bull Gerold Hightower as well, in his heyday, and Ser Arthur Dayne. Amongst the living, Greatjon Umber was stronger, Strongboar of Crakehall most likely, both Cleganes for a certainty. The Mountain’s strength was like nothing human. It did not matter. With speed and skill, Jaime could beat them all.



So in the books it suggest that Jaime can beat anyone, though he is only referring to people of great strength, not necessarily of great skill (somebody such as Barristan Selmy, who is not considered to be exceptionally strong but is exceptionally skillful, may be able to beat him).



Is there any canon evidence to suggest who these three people may be?


I won't accept any purely speculative answers. However if there is no direct canon quote answering the question (which I believe to be the case) I will consider answers that are strongly inferred from canonical sources (such as a canon quote saying X is the greatest fighter in the kingdom, for example).



Answer



I'm going to have to agree with the answer they gave when this question was posed on the Movies & TV: there's no way to tell. Jaime never says who the three men are, and without the benefit of his internal monologue, we'll never know for sure. The only person Jaime had ever fought at this point in the show is Ned, who is already dead.


But if we had to make a guess based on the books, I can think of a few possibilities. It's possible the screenwriter had based the line off of the section you quoted above. Of the four men who are stronger than Jaime AND currently alive, three have been depicted in the show: Greatjon Umber and the Cleganes.


Another possibility is that there are three people who are confirmed in the books to have beaten Jaime Lannister in a tourney match: Loras Tyrell on Joffrey's nameday, Jorah Mormount after the Greyjoy Rebellion, and Sandor Clegane in celebration of Ned being named Hand of the King. The only problem with this interpretation is that Mormount is not "in the kingdoms."


Another interpretation might be that Jaime is thinking of people who have beaten him, broadly speaking. In that case, Jorah Mormount could be replaced with Robb Stark, who outsmarted and captured him earlier in the war.


I guess it's worth noting that any way you slice it, Sandor Clegane makes the cut. Good for him!


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...