The Contestants |
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The Breakdown |
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Note: Unfortunately, at the time this needed to go up, we hadn’t received a strong enough Perrin story that we thought would do the character justice. If between now and Sunday you put one in the comments section that blows us away, we’ll gladly add it to the official write-ups.
Until then, congratulations to D.I. Waisanen for the great story!
How you think the fight will go: Jon Snow
By D.I. Waisanen
With a gasp, Jon Snow came back to life.
Immediately, his hand went to his neck, touching the unbroken skin, and for just one moment he thought that everything had been a dream . . . and then he felt it: the gaping wound, the mark of where his own sword had sliced through skin and sinew and bone. Yet even as he touched it, it sealed close, healed completely.
The memory came back to him like a cruel nightmare: the dark-haired girl, the Beautiful Destroyer, reaching down to pick up Longclaw where it had fallen–like a trophy of victory–right before she turned back to where Jon lay, broken and helpless.
Killed by my own weapon, Jon thought grimly. Was this it? Was he dead now? He looked to the west, and couldn’t place where he was; he saw the Wall and King’s Landing and his father’s ancient castle, saw day and night and midday and everything in between all at once, the entire world displayed in a brilliant panorama. It was beautiful, unreal . . . but the girl had been as well, and she had slain him.
Jon found Longclaw again sheathed on his body, as if some watchful deity had returned it to him in death. For all the good it did me, he thought. The sword had been worthless against the girl who had defeated him, had not been able to touch her.
Jon stood. “Ghost!” he called.
A moment passed, and then the familiar shape of the direwolf came into sight, no sign of his wounds remaining, his form hazy and indistinct. The direwolf solidified, becoming whole and real once more. Jon touched the white fur, felt its reality beneath his fingers. Even through death, he remained by Jon’s side.
What happened?
Jon looked to the east and saw another land spread out, entirely different from his own. From the path of that world, Jon saw a man coming towards him. Perhaps he can tell me something of what’s going on. Jon went forward, into the strange world, Ghost following.
The man was big, heavily muscled. When he got close enough, what Jon saw put ice in his heart. He remembered, then, that only moments ago he had found himself returning to life with mortal injuries healing. By the old gods . . .
The man looked as if he had just risen from his own death. His body had been badly burned and charred black, as if he had been struck by some fearsome hellfire conjured by a wizard right out of the stories. And as Jon watched, the man’s burns vanished and his flesh healed, restored to life and health. He was older than Jon by several years, and behind him came three wolves, following him as Ghost followed Jon.
“Greetings, wolfbrother,” the man called, his eyes blazing gold. As he spoke, Jon felt a strange resonance from Ghost, a moment of understanding that passed between the man and the wolves. It was like a collective thought that spread between all of them: from the man to his wolves through his connection to them, and to Ghost–and to Jon through his bond with Ghost–the connection was complete. And now he knew that this man’s name was Perrin, who spoke once more. “I wish there was some other way, but our paths have been chosen for us.”
“What’s going on?” Jon said.
Perrin hesitated. “I don’t really understand it myself. It was the ones who arranged this.” He paused. “Rand told me . . .”
Jon listened, scarcely able to believe what he was hearing. Dark gods who snatched people from different worlds and forced them to fight to the death for no reason other than entertainment. Battles with sorcerers, half-men, warriors with more strength and grace than ten should have, and mice that walked on two legs like sers. Jon realized, then, what this endless nightmare was. The time he had first encountered the skinchanger with his projectile weapons, the moment that the dark-haired girl had cleaved off his head–they were all part of it.
To fight, and die, and then be brought back to life, only to fight again.
“I don’t wish to kill you, but neither of us has a choice,” Perrin said. “We can only hope that death will not be final the second time, either.” He sighed, the sigh of a man who had resigned himself to his fate.
There was suddenly a weapon in Perrin’s hand, a fearsome war hammer beside which even King Robert’s would have looked a child’s toy. It was a weapon of great power, forged of a material that was as Valyrian steel was to a sword . . . maybe even greater. Jon had no choice but to draw Longclaw.
Nimble feet carried the two warriors forward, wolves leaped through the air to engage each other, and the battle began.
Perrin’s first swing came with deadly force and power, and Jon barely managed to duck the massive hammer. He struck back with Longclaw, but Perrin was quicker than he looked–startlingly fast for a man so big–and the blow was deflected off the side of his hammer. Another blow came in and glanced off Jon’s arm, leaving a smarting pain and a place where a massive bruise would mark him later.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jon glimpsed Ghost engaged with Perrin’s wolves. They outnumbered him, but Ghost was twice their size. He tackled down one of the wolves, hamstringing and tossing the weaker animal aside. Ghost could take care of himself.
Jon, however, had to fight with every ounce of his skill, every bit of experience he had gained on the Wall, striking as quick as a shadowcat and nimbly evading the blows of the war hammer. Yet Perrin was his more than up to the task, a force of strength and focused rage before which a lesser man would have been broken in moments. They fought back and forth, back and forth, and with every step, the world around them changed. One moment they were on a plain, the next in a city, and the next on the summit of a mountain.
Jon disengaged, prepared to strike again, but then the world suddenly became a vast wasteland, the uneven ground beneath his feet nearly tripping air, the breeze so stiflingly hot that it stunned him. Perrin moved in swiftly, the war hammer ripping through the air.
Jon’s reflexes snapped to attention and he just barely evaded the blow. The hammer clipped his leg, drawing pain, and in the heat of combat and the drive of the moment, Jon got an idea.
Jon pretended to stagger, as if the blow had seriously injured his leg. Perrin came in for the death blow, drawn to the momentary opening, and Jon let him come. At the last moment, he sidestepped the blow, and counterattacked.
Jon saw Perrin’s eyes widen with surprise as he glimpsed Longclaw coming in to deliver a stab that would end the fight, and for one moment Jon thought he had won.
But the blade met empty air.
In an instant, Perrin was moving again. Jon was forced to parry a blow, and the strike carried such force that it wrenched Jon’s entire arm and nearly tore Longclaw from his grip. Instead–using the momentum of his deflection–Jon whipped Longclaw towards Perrin’s head, but again it swung wide and Perrin was unharmed.
Jon stepped back, the leaden weight of fear entering his heart. It was as if every movement, every breath of wind, every twitch of a muscle somehow worked in concert, protecting his opponent. As if chance was being bent to defeat Jon.
As if fate itself was against him.
Ghost brought down the second wolf, but a moment later he was tussling with the third, blood staining his white fur.
Then Jon realized it. He flicked his gaze to the west, and again saw his home. Where he stood, he was in Perrin’s world, where some unseen force protected him, guided Jon’s blows to meet air, twisted chance in Perrin’s favor.
I can’t beat him here, Jon thought. He began stepping back, purposefully losing ground. Perrin pressed the advantage, as thougt he was pushing him back, but Jon was directing both of them towards the west.
“Ghost!” Jon called, and the white wolf tossed aside his opponent and leaped forward to aid him. Perrin saw the wolf coming and turned. Ghost stopped right before he reached the large man, as if something prevented him from attacking Perrin.
Jon had an opening, but he knew that any strike sent at Perrin would not find him–not here. He turned and ran back to his own world.
Perrin’s last wolf nearly stopped him, but Ghost tackled it down first, and then it was only Perrin himself behind Jon, rapidly gaining on him.
Jon ran on, and then he was in the north, surrounded by snow and dark forests. He turned, leveled his blade, ready to engage Perrin yet again. Please, let this work . . .
Perrin entered into Westeros, hammer raised and ready to battle again, but the moment his feet crossed the threshold, he stopped and froze, his face lighting up in surprise, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Perrin inhaled. “Light!” he called out, as everything changed, his world warping around him, the threads that had guided him snapping like strings.
Jon took in his expression, and he knew that his gambit had worked. Perrin had crossed the boundary into Westeros . . . into a place where he was ta’veren no longer.
Here, Perrin was as vulnerable as anyone else.
Longclaw struck out as Jon took advantage of the moment of surprise, and the point bit into Perrin’s shoulder. With a deft move perfected by years of practice and training, Jon snaked out his foot and tripped his opponent. Perrin fell to his knees, bleeding, gasping, his war hammer fallen aside.
Silent as death, Ghost killed the last wolf with a twist of his jaws.
Jon raised Longclaw, the point at Perrin’s throat.
Perrin coughed out, stanching his bleeding injury with one big hand. “You’ve won,” he said. “At least it will be over.”
He is as much an unwilling pawn of these cruel gods as myself, Jon thought.
Perrin drew himself up, braced himself, a man prepared to face death . . . again.
Slowly, Jon lowered his sword. He stepped back. “No,” he said. I do not know who these Soo Voo Doo gods are, but they are not my gods, not my father’s gods, not the old gods. “In this world, the only fate is that which men make for themselves.” He sheathed Longclaw.
Perrin rose and stepped away, back across the boundary, and the fallen wolves were suddenly with him, alive again.
The two faced each other as the place between worlds closed, Jon with Ghost beside him, Perrin with his wolves. Jon nodded once, solemnly, and Perrin nodded back, respect given between worthy foes. The battle was over.
Predicted Winner: It’s up to you!
NOTE: THIS MATCH ENDS ON SUNDAY, APRIL 10th, 2011, AT 5 PM, ET
Jon Snow is a character from the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin; Perrin Aybarra is a character from the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Jon Snow image courtesy of Michael Komarck. Perrin image courtesy of John Seamas Gallagher.
I couldn’t say which character I like better. I dunno; if I had to pick, I’d probably pick Jon. I like Perrin, but I like Jon more.
But I’m thinking Perrin would win this.
So wait… Jon Snow had all these mysterious powers when he fought Vin where he entered her head, but now is back to just his sword wielding self? Very inconsistent guys.
@iJoe – The Jon Snow-Vin writeup was extremely off in my opinion. Jon Snow’s skinchanging would probably never be able to affect Vin; there’s only been one instance of a skinchanger taking over a human, and that human was Hodor, a very simpleminded stableboy with a relatively strong bond to Bran, the skinchanger. I suppose not many people have tried, but Hodor’s intelligence is closer to that of an animal and I’d imagine it’d be very difficult, if not impossible, to take over an intelligent human that’s trying to kill you. Also, I think somebody from Suvudu wrote that, while this was written by a fan who presumably knows each character better than the Suvudu writer.
I think it would’ve ended after about five paragraphs; Vin would’ve simply impaled Jon with Longclaw, killed Ghost if necessary and walked away. A warg (but otherwise a normal man) with a metal sword in mail armor cannot touch a Mistborn fully prepared with metals.
As for this match, I love both characters, and they’re very evenly matched, so I’m going for logic here… I think it’s extremely difficult to tell who would win. It’s a classic matchup to be sure, one I’m glad happened… But I think Perrin would end up taking it at the end of a very close fight. Voted for Perrin.
I am supporting Jon in this fight.
Despite his previous wins I can never move past the fact that Perrin doesn’t won’t to fight – that’s a massive handicap for any warrior. Jon Snow doesn’t have that problem and I think that is the determining facture between these two for me.
I voted Perrin in this one because I think he’d have the advantage with his wolves… Truth be told I like Jon much more as a character (I hate Perrin with a passion) but 1 very large wolf would have a lot of trouble with a dozen smaller ones, and probably more than that. Wolves are very good at taking out bigger, stronger creatures with pack tactics, and I’d assume this would follow through against another wolf.
I agree with what is written here. Though as these always comedown to who do you like more and for me thats Jon I like those who win through skill thought and commitment verses special abilities. I to noticed the inconstancy.
I feel like I should clarify my stance: If this was simply Jon vs Perrin, mono a mono, no wolves, no ta’veren, and no Tel’aran’hiod Perrin would lose, Jon is simply a better fighter. However, this contest is really thrown off by the number of wolves Perrin brings with him. He doesn’t need Dumais Wells amount, but even a handful could probably take on Ghost and then turn their attention to Jon.
That being said, very nice write-up! I liked it more than most of the official Suvudu ones.
Come on Jon Snow!
@Knight Commander
Perrin may not like fighting, but once he has determined to fight, he fights to win. There’s no holding back at that point, and he often enters into a battle frenzy. He just prefers to win without the fighting.
The point is, that the wolves are not controlled by Perrin. They can decide to fight for him or not. If they see, that it’s a battle between one “pack” and Perrin, I could imagine, that they will keep themself out. Even when the other pack is silence.
So it would be warrior against warrior. I would bet on Jon, but with Ta’Veren and animal senses it would be really close.
Personally I think Perrin would win. I really like both characters but in an all out battle it would have to be Perrin.
Either way the story was great!
Perrin for the win.
With or without ta’veren, he’s a great fighter with ultra-keen senses… Not mentioning his formidable (Blacksmith) strength.
I like the fact it’s fighter vs fighter though. Magic truly skews the fights.
It’s really no contest. A boy against a man really. Perrin wouldn’t ever hurt this guy unless he was bad but if it came to it, Perrin would knock some sense into the guy.
I’m going to back Perrin on this one. I prefer Snow as a character (although I really like both!), but Perrin is the better fighter. He has far more actual combat experience, plus is much stronger. His hammer too… Well, it’s very interesting (re-read TOM, and really look at what happens to the hammer while Perrin’s fighting). I do think, however, that this would be close. But Perrin would come out on top.
Nevertheless, a very solid write-up! Well done, well done indeed. I really liked the imagery of them flipping between worlds throughout the fight.
Okay, guys. Jon Snow is clearly the more powerful combatant in this one (wow, did it feel weird to type that…)
Look, I know. Wolf guy against wolf guy, right? Not…really. See, Perrin can try to summon wolves, but it’s not like wolves just happen to follow five feet behind him wherever he goes. He’d probably have to hold Jon off for at least 5 minutes before wolfy support arrived, and that’s being generous. Ghost, on the other hand, actually does trail Jon by a few feet.
Now let’s look at their skill levels. Perrin is a big guy, I know, and that makes a difference. But let’s face it: he’s been fighting for all of…what? A year? Two? He didn’t grow up with it, and had only sporadic formal training. Jon Snow had a master-at-arms from the moment he could walk. Like *cough* REAL medieval warriors, he was trained from a young age, which makes a real difference in how well the skills are internalized. Perrin started learning to fight when he was already a grown man.
Finally, Jon Snow is probably wearing armor. Perrin’s hammer is going to make that armor less useful than it would be against, say, a sword, but it’s still going to be another advantage.
Jon, 3. Perrin, 0.
The only saving grace I can see is if we bring in the ta’veren crap. But whatever fans like to claim, it doesn’t work that way. No, it really doesn’t. Chance is manipulated, true. But it’s random for the most part. Rand causes good and bad when he walks into a city. Events circle around him, but they don’t ensure his victory or keep him from getting hurt. Perrin, as a less powerful ta’veren, has even less claim to fame. Let me reiterate: there is absolutely no textual support that Perrin’s status as ta’veren can give him an auto-win in a sword duel with a more skilled, experienced opponent, better protected…with a wolf the size of a pony lurking right behind him.
I’m sorry, I like both of these people, but I say Perrin. Dunno says that it is no contest to Jon because of the training and whatnot, but I have to disagree with the bottom 2 reasons.
Skill levels. While Jon has had formal training for his entire life, Perrin has had the real world training. He has fought against the Aiel, which in the WoT world, are the most skilled fighters behind the Wardens. Not only that, but he fought them multiple times and won.
The armor bit holds no bearing to a Power-wrought weapon. That’s part of why the Aes Sedai stopped making them. They were too powerful. The armor would end up weighting Jon down. Perrin’s hammer would break bones easily with Perrin’s strength.
Another thing, Ghost might not even fight. He is still a wolf, albeit, a very big wolf. I’m not saying he wouldn’t, just that he might choose to let the better fighter win instead of ripping into Perrin’s back.
In the end, it’s a toss up. I’m not saying because of Ta’veren or anything. Skill against skill, weapon against weapon, it would be a toss up.
WOW! The WoT fans are in front by HEAPS! I’m surprised…yep, really surprised.
Normally I would say Perrin would win against Jon, but this story was just so epic that I’m voting for Jon. Bloody awesome.
Barring the ridiculous fact that Perrin is not in the finals…. This would be an even fight. All around. Jon’s battle training over time and speed is negated by Perrin’s strength, heightened senses, and real world experience. The wolf’s balance each other, but only if Perrin has access to a small pack. If he could pull multiple packs, the direwolf is going down. Just sayin. Tipping points in Perrin’s favor: 1) Taveren effect…no need to explain. 2: Battle Rage….no need to explain that either. 3) The big damn hammer….is the wild card….but it is a big frakkin hammer….
Oh, and if Perrin knew the wolves at all and that direwolf killed one of em…..you can bet that it won’t be walkin away from this fight, no way no how
I think Perrin has this match, ta’veren or no. The writeup portrays his ta’veren ism way too strongly; It usually has more to do with people bending to their will and events playing out unexpectedly than swords that can’t hit them.
I can only think of a single instance in the books where that was explicitly the case, and that was Mat Cauthan when he was escaping from tar valon. Rand can attest to the fact that swords can and do hit ta’veren too.
This writeup sort of disappointed me. What I would have liked to see (and expected) was a warg v wolfbrother matchup. Neither of those aspects played a part in this.
PS; I do have to say I love both series, so its not as though I am being biased. I just think Perrin has more abilities, is stronger, and has a better weapon. Jon happens to be my favorite ASoIaF char though… I just would like to see the warg-wolftelepath play out more…. though I can understand that two different magic systems is probably really hard to write.
I must disagree. Where does this perception come from that armor made you slow and stupid? The weight was distributed very effectively, and Snow would be trained to move in it. It wouldn’t slow him down, not noticeably. His opponent is already a lot heavier than he is. That said, the hammer WOULD break bones…just not as easily. Power-forged weapons are strong, but essentially the only attributes listed for the swords are as follows: they’re nigh-indestructible, and they…uh. Actually, “nigh-indestructible” pretty much sums it up. They’re always keener than a razor (except if it’s a Mjolnir-esque hammer), and they never need maintenance, but they don’t have offensive capabilities in and of themselves. It depends on the strength of the man wielding it. Now Perrin’s strong, no argument here. I’m just saying that if Jon Snow’s wearing a padded gambeson and armor over it, he’s going to be able to turn glancing blows without fatal impact. Perrin can’t say the same. There’s a lot of him to hit, and it’s protected by a single layer of wool at best.
On skill level: yep, the Aiel are the badasses, all right. And if a man who was barely trained even to hold his weapon correctly can beat up on them, how good can they be? Yeah, yeah, I know…it’s just down to Jordan (rest his soul) being allergic to research, but we have to compare these guys somehow, and in real life, there was a reason that trained, professional soldiers dominated battlefields: because neural pathways had been laid down since childhood for war, and that training worked: they were always going to be better than a farmer or artisan who was just handed a weapon and shoved into combat when he was already grown. Medieval people did not invest vast amounts of money and patience in training a child from the age of seven because he could totally do the same thing by just fighting in a few melees when he was twenty. It didn’t work that way.
Perrin all the way in this one. Jon may have training but Perrin has fought and surrvived many battles. Training Vs. Experience, experience wins 9 out of 10 . The only thing that works in Jon’s favor is ghost. I feel Perrin would lose to Ghost, but its unfair if Perrin has no wolves at his dispossal. So a small pack of wolves could hold Ghost off long enough for Perrin to finish Jon, but then Ghost would kill Perrin. But the fight is Jon v Perrin, not Jon & Ghost Vs. Perrin.
Perrin would kick jon snows a**.
listen i’m a big G.R.R Martin fan, i’d even say he’s a better writer than jordan was. But Martin isn’t afraid to kill off his main characters by the bucket load cause its realism not \fanboyism\.
Oh, in regards to ta’veren effects. if Perrin’s Ta’veren nature came into play, it would only cause him to find some magic whistle that puts Dire Wolves to sleep, while walking to the match. His Ta’veren twistings work so that he finds what he needs before he needs it or even knows he needs it.
those who think Jon snow would take this have been reading to many match-ups and not enough GRR Martin. Jon snow is a cool character but he is by no means the \warrior god\ that he’s being made out to be. Perrin is bigger, stronger, has keener senses and has fought and killed much tougher warriors than Jon snow.
The thing is that Perrin does have formal training and thats with the Two rivers longbow, and his actually pretty damn good with the thing.
Though he doesn’t use his bow that much after books 3 and 4.
Just a friendly reminder.
But if he doesn’t use the bow, Snow would likely win as a sword is much more dextrous weapon than a hammer at skilled hands.
As far as wolves go, Perrin can only summon wolves if they are nearby. If the match took place somewhere where wolves arent very close, he wouldnt be able to call them to his aid. Jon, meanwhile, would almost be guranteed to be with Jon.
As far as actual ability, I thik Jon would be the quicker and better warrior with his blade.
Jon all the way.
@ Dunno, Perrin’s hammer is not just a generic power-wrought weapon like the rest that survived. After the Breaking nearly all the surviving power-wrought weapons were destroyed, the only ones that escaped this destruction where the generic “keeps an edge” ones. Perrin’s hammer has a magic of its own, you do NOT want to be hit by it, just a glancing blow will burn your skin off on contact.
In a sword against a hammer fight its who gets the first blow, really. one hit with that hammer and Perrin’s strength and Jon will likely have a broken arm if he tries holding onto his sowrd, and if he doesn’t hes not going to have a sword anymore. If perrin hits his armor it will partially spread the impact, but Perrin is very strong and is using a massive hammer, the blow would likely be like getting hit with a bullet with kevlar on, it won’t kill you, but you aren’t going to be moving for a minute or two.
Also, Robert Jordan’s research was actually far more accurate than most in terms of how an actual fight would take place, Perrin somehow being as good as he is with no real training can simply be stocked up to his ta’veren effect causing him to learn far more quickly than he should.
And they are correct, Perrin can be hit with weapons, every last one will probably not be fatal, but his Ta’verenism doesn’t protect him in a fight directly, it causes him to find what he needs to be protected beforehand without knowing it. That is part of the reason why you can assume he will have wolves with him, its just how his power works.
Mat Cauthon’s inability to be hit is due to his power of unstoppable Deus Ex Machina, he has the power of chance, and it is not completely caused by his ta’veren nature, but rather there is something else that plays a role.
I voted for Jon because I think Perrin’s wolves will back of when they see Ghost. It’s in their nature, they follow the strongest wolf, to them Ghost is a definite pack leader…
@Yocxl
As much as I hate to say it, Vin should have won easily in that tournament. However, in this, since Perrin is a wolf in all but body, Jon could use his warg abilities. Also, I think that Perrin’s wolves – and maybe Ghost – would stay out of the fight, because this is basically two wolves fighting for dominance of the pack.
This match is Perrin’s but only if WOT fans get up and make themselves heard. In a head to head fight, I think the characters are very closely matched. My feeling about the wolves on both sides is that all would simply nod in respect, then retreat to the sidelines and allow the humans to do their thing. I am much more familiar with Perrin than Jon Snow due to the fact that that I am a 15+ reread veteran of the WOT series and have not read anything by George R. R. Martin in quite a few years. Hmm. Must do some research. Anyway, good luck to all in the final and semi-final matches! Remember, this hypothetical event was designed and implemented as an instrument of entertainment. It’s fun. So let’s not get too far overboard with our tempers and try to avoid the petty little side battles that have plagued the Cage Match from it’s inception. Those are not fun. I voted for Perrin because I am a WOT junkie to the bone! WOT Junkies unite! Tai’shar Manetheren!
As much as i love Jon Snow… there is no way he would defeat Perrin. Jons one direwolf would be killed by a pack (or maybe 3 packs depending on how many happen to be near) of wolves that Perrin calls and Perrin would snap Jon Snow in half.
@Bonnie
Make themselves heard? We all know what you WoT fans did in your last match, we have no false idea that we can win this one fairly – if you want third place so bad just take it. I have better things to do then vote constantly.
Jon could beat Perrin on any day of the week and twice on Sundays!
I can’t let Perrin stand without any support while Jon gets a write-up, so here’s my version of events:
This is my last battle, Perrin thought.
Perrin couldn’t begin to guess the insane rules by which this world-traversing tournament ran, but Rand had said that he had faced five opponents before it had ended, and beaten every one of them. This man, little more than a boy, would be Perrin’s last challenge.
Every world he’d gone to and every new threat he’d faced had brought something different. His brothers had had no trouble dispatching the halfman, and the bizarrely sentient mouse had been little threat, but the desert man with the glowing eyes had nearly killed him, and would have, if Rand hadn’t intervened. But when he’d faced the last one, the strange channeler . . .
Perrin shivered.
He had fallen, and yet he was recalled to life once more to fight again. He wasn’t sure if he was relieved, or horrified by the realization that not even death could release him from the grip of this insane series of battles.
One more, he told himself. I must kill or be killed one more time, and then it will end.
Perrin was accompanied by several of his brothers, but his opponent had not come alone, either. An albino wolf stalked behind him, the biggest wolf that Perrin had ever seen.
Almost unconsciously, Perrin reached out to the wolf, and he felt his nature. He was Ghost, and yet his name was more than that. He was silent death and battle and soundless loyalty at the side of this man, he was the red-eyed outcast who had been cut off from others from the moment he was born. He was the phantom invisible against the snow in winter.
Brother, Perrin said, I do not wish to fight you. Go, let us leave this battlefield without a fight.
For a moment he thought he had convinced the wolf, but then something stopped him, a bond of loyalty that was reinforced by something that went deeper, a connection that Perrin sensed was very much like his own abilities.
Perrin realized then, with sadness, that this confrontation could only end in defeat for one or both of them. Reaching out, he called to the others, beyond the battle. Young Bull needs help.
Jon Snow seemed ready to fight him, standing in the stance of a practiced swordsman, with a sword in his hand. Is that power-wrought? Perrin wondered, but then his thoughts were cut off as something cut through the connection of the wolves.
To Perrin’s side, one of the wolves that ran with him suddenly turned and attacked another. The startled target wolf yipped in surprise as he was brought down, teeth biting into his neck. The other other wolves fell upon the traitor in an instant, bringing him down, but then the albino Ghost joined the fray.
Jon Snow’s eyes had been closed, but they came open again when the wolf that had attacked died.
He controlled him, Perrin realized. Somehow, this boy could not only speak with wolves, but send his mind into them. He had set one of the wolves that ran with Perrin against his brothers.
Perrin’s rage exploded, driven on by vengeance for brothers fallen, wolves twisted to the will of this bastard mix of wolfspeaking, dreamwalking, and compulsion. The battlelust took him, and an instant later his hammer was moving.
Jon Snow raised his blade in time to block the blow, but the strength of Perrin’s strike threw him off balance, though the blade did not shatter. Perrin’s following strike caught Jon on the shoulder, and he fell to his knees. Moving quickly, he rolled away from the blow that should have killed him and his deft fingers somehow managed to find his sword again.
They faced each other across several feet. Blood had been drawn and lives lost, and while Perrin would have avoided this fight if he could have, he no longer would have walked away even if he could have. I’ll give these Soo Voo Doo gods the battle they want.
Over the hills, summoned by Perrin’s call, came a multitude of wolves poured into the area, more than he had summoned at once since Dumai’s Wells. Jon Snow saw them come, and now the scent of fear filled the air around him.
Perrin lifted his hammer, and advanced forward.
Ghost fought on, but he was buried under numbers, pulled down. He didn’t make a sound as Perrin’s wolves overwhelmed him. Jon Snow, too, fought on, but a wolf leaped up and bit into his sword arm, and he fell with a cry.
Perrin admired their courage, and it was a shame about the wolf Ghost, but he had no mercy in mind, not for this skinchanging stealer of bodies.
This one is mine, he told the wolves, and most of them pulled away, two of them still holding Jon Snow out by the arms like some grotesque puppet. Perrin raised his hammer, putting all of his strength behind it, and shattered the warg’s body in a single, massive blow.
A gateway suddenly opened, and for one moment Perrin thought he was about to face yet another battle, but then Rand appeared.
“Perrin,” he said. “I thought I’d find you here.” He looked down at Jon Snow’s mangled remains. “I was planning to help, but it looks like you’ve taken care of it yourself.”
Rand explained, then, how he had learned of this place from a man named Kvothe, one of the only others to survive these deadly games. Apparently, if a contestant lost against his fourth opponent, he was taken to a place between worlds and brought back to life to fight again against another, and the winner could walk away. Or something like that.
“At least you’re alive,” Rand said. “After your battle with that dark-skinned Dreadlord, I’d thought you were lost for sure, but then I came to look for you here, and it seems you’ve handled yourself. Let’s go, quickly, while the dark gods who arranged this are distracted.”
“Distracted?” Perrin asked.
Rand nodded. “Apparently, they’re occupied watching the man who killed you fight someone else. It must be important, because it’s taking all of their attention. We might not get another chance; I need you for the Last Battle, yet.”
Thanking the Light that he had an out that didn’t involve his permanent death, Perrin followed Rand through the gateway, leaving the broken body of Jon Snow behind.
Mm, I’d forgotten about the “sizzle” power. The exact line, I believe, was something like “Trollocs’ flesh sizzled and smoked where it struck”. More dramatic than I’d remembered it being, true, but not particularly an instant kill shot, even then. I’ve never claimed that a blow from the hammer wouldn’t be a problem. But armor WILL be an advantage if Perrin lands only a glancing blow. At least some of the impact will be absorbed by gambeson and steel, and Jon Snow is more likely to be left relatively unscathed than would be Perrin, getting tagged by a Valyrian longsword. If they dance around each other a bit, trading feints rather than going for the big kill shot and hoping they get there first, then Perrin’s going to start weakening from blood loss before Snow starts getting more than bruised.
On Robert Jordan’s research…ah. Jordan was good at portraying how a “real fight” would go down, eh? You’re basing this, of course, on your vast experience on the battlefields of medieval Europe, xD? All we really have are the texts and the weight of common sense, and that says that formal training is generally going to defeat a few years with intermittent fights going on. Fighting men had to work at their art like any other craftsmen: they didn’t simply hang around pining over their wives and then abruptly turn back into gods of war when threatened. That is the limit of my comment on Jordan’s research. I’m sorry, but if he wanted badass warriors, he should have written a badass warrior, not Sam Gamgee in the role of Thor the Thunderer, conveniently finding the Greater Path of Insta-Badass, or whatever unlikely crap Jordan implied to explain away how a man with no experience becomes a peak warrior in a couple of random conflicts.
Correction: Perrin CAN find chance helping him. It doesn’t always work that way. Nor have convenient wolves been present on a number of occasions where he’s been threatened. Again, look to Rand. He’s unquestionably a more powerful ta’veren than Perrin, but that didn’t stop him from getting stuffed in a box and tortured. Events did not conspire to bring a Get Out of Jail Free card to him at the crucial moment. He made decisions and he was stuck with them, regardless of the ta’veren manipulations.
Look, I said all this in post 1. Ta’veren or not, musclebound hulk or not, by any general rule that we can impose over both of them, Snow is more experienced and better trained. He’s better protected. He’s bonded to a huge wolf that by its description should be fully capable of ripping a man to pieces like he was made of toothpicks and tissue paper. Perrin has…ta’veren. Whatever exactly THAT means, since it mostly seems a plot device to explain away an overload of convenient coincidences.
Perrin opened his eyes with a start. Around him the world was dark, even to his enhanced eyes. He seemed to be in no immediate danger, and he felt dizzy, so he resolved to simply rest and think. Slowly, memories returned to him again. Pain at killing. Anger, at being forced to do so. And an all too familiar feeling of being forced to do what he must. He floated in that vast and empty void, and let thoughts consume him.
Light, the Last Battle might have begun already, and I’m stuck here in this… whatever it is.
This place had a familiar feeling to it. It felt almost like the wolf dream, except there were no wolves here, and anything Perrin tried to do within this dream – if that was what it was – was rebuffed. Perrin sent his mind out, just to be sure, but found nothing. Everything was black, as if there was nothing at all in existence except for him, his leather tunic, rough woven pants, and Mah’alleinir, his war-hammer
He remembered going to bed with Faile, and suddenly finding himself in this place, waiting for what felt like hours until someone, or something, changed the world around him, and forced him to fight random strangers.
Faile. His heart twisted in his chest. Has she noticed I am gone? Am I even gone?
As Perrin rested, thinking of Faile and the men he had been forced to kill – he assumed the mouse should be considered a man – a faint smell appeared. He opened his eyes, and saw that the world was beginning to take shape again. After a while, he could hear faint sounds. He tried to make out his surroundings, to prepare for the coming battle, but he couldn’t be certain. It was not a desert this time, at least. That had been tough. He had barely made it out alive, that time. And he wasn’t certain if he actually had made it out alive the last time either. In a way, that was a comfort. Maybe he hadn’t been forced to murder innocents after all.
With a start, Perrin realized where he was.
The Borderlands? Light! What was he doing here? Why this place?
He immediately sent out his mind again, and this time he found a small pack of forest wolves.
Young Bull needs help. I hunt a foe that I do not know.
The wolves began to run towards him, though he sensed they were upset. He did not inquire any further, and he doubted the wolves would tell him so soon after meeting, anyways.
Perrin wasn’t certain where in the Borderlands he was. He could just about see the Spine of the World to the east, so he assumed he was somewhere near Shienar. It was cold, and there was a slight sheet of snow outside the beaten path. It wasn’t winter yet, then. He still shook with cold. He began to walk down the road, as much for his unwillingness to wait for danger to find him as for warmth. With luck he could reach Shienar without incident. Perhaps there was an Aes Sedai there who could provide him with a Gateway back to the camp? His people needed him, and he needed Faile.
It didn’t take long until he saw the shape of a man walking down the path towards him. He also sensed something else. It was like a wolf, but not quite. Was this what had the wolves so upset?
Perrin cursed. I’m ta’veren. Am I not supposed to be lucky? He sighed. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, I guess.
As the man came closer, Perrin could make out some details. He wore black, likely leather, fur lined. This man was dressed for winter cold, unlike Perrin. His hair was curled like Perrin’s, but where his was brown, this man’s hair was black. To his back, Perrin could see the haft of a large sword. That reminded him of Aram. He cursed at himself. This is not the time to begin feeling sympathy, you woolheaded lummox. Perrin eased the hammer strapped to his back, and waited.
Eventually the man – a boy, really, some years younger than Perrin – came within speaking distance.
“Hello, stranger,” Perrin shouted.
“Well met,” was the reply.
“I take it you know why we are here, then?”
After a brief moment, the man replied.
“I do. Is there no way we can avoid bloodshed?”
“If you don’t know the way, then I don’t either. My name is Perrin Aybara. What is yours?”
The man looked uneasy.
“I am Jon Snow of Winterfell. Do you belong in this place?”
“I know of it, but I do not live here.”
The boy was stalling. Why? A man does not pick up a greatsword, without meaning to use it.
Suddenly, Perrin’s senses alerted him. He felt the odd not-quite-wolf nearby, and true enough a moment later he could smell the scent of alertness and wolf musk drifting from the woods by the road. Perrin tensed.
Startlingly fast, a gigantic white wolf leaped from the woods at Perrin. Had he not anticipated the attack, he might have lost his throat right then. Instead, Perrin bounded backwards, pulling free Mah’alleinir. He saw the man named Jon begin to run towards him, unsheathing his sword.
The gigantic wolf circled Perrin. He sent his mind out to the wolf, and withdrew immediately. The thing was almost human! Looking into it’s eyes, he could see the intelligence behind them. Perrin had a suspicion that Jon Snow was not the one behind the attempted ambush. The wolf lounged. Perrin hopped to the left, swinging his hammer towards the beast. He glanced it’s back, leaving a singe on the fur. You fool! Don’t let yourself be distracted.
The warm hammer felt good in his hands, staving off the cold in his body.
Jon Snow grew ever closer. Maybe half a minute longer, until he had to fight them both. He had to do something. Suddenly the forest gave way to a small pack of wolves. Perrin lightened. It was nowhere near the size of the white wolf, but Perrin had seen a pack of wolves take down a Fade. He knew what they could deal with. To them, this wolf smelled wrong. They would fight this wolf, if it took every single wolf in the pack to do so.
Perrin disengaged the wolf, leaving it to the pack. He turned, and narrowly managed to stop the downswing of the great sword with the head of his hammer.
Righting himself again, Perrin focused on Jon. He could see it was a man now, and not a boy. He wore a strong face, with dark gray eyes. His clothes were, as Perrin had suspected, black leather with fur trimmings. His sword was large enough to be wielded, but no so large as to be obstructive. Its edge looked almost too sharp, as if it was Power-wrought like his hammer, and he resolved not to test his theory. Behind him, he could hear wolves snarling and snapping their jaws. The smell of blood hung in the air. Likely, one of his wolves had perished to the monstrous giant. Perrin began to grow angry.
Jon Snow was quick, and his style of fighting was disciplined. This man had been bred for combat. An upward swing, followed by a tentative thrust nearly took a finger from Perrin, who had to use the metal shaft to deflect the advances. Perrin, waiting for an opportunity to decide the battle quickly, let the man test him, and used the time to reflect on the situation.
My eyes don’t seem to bother him at all. Or the fact he is surrounded by wolves. This man must have seen many things, for one so young. Light, who am I to speak of being young? I should have been working a forge back in Emond’s Field with Master Luhhan, not trying to save the world.
The lack of sounds behind him brought him out of his thoughts. Trying to look, while keeping an eye on Jon, made him trip on a stone. Perrin fell to his right, landing on his shoulder. Grunting, he quickly flipped around to see a great white bellow past him. Quickly glancing around, he saw the entire pack of wolves behind him dead. How could they have failed? Anger surged in Perrin, and he pushed himself up in time to meet the wolf walking towards him. The great wolf was too large for the other man to walk around him, and Perrin was content with letting it stay that way.
Letting himself be consumed by the wolf within, he roared, swinging his hammer back and forth at the wolf in front of him with all his might. The beast withdrew, but not fast enough to avoid Perrin’s downward slam. Crushing a paw, the beast howled in pain and tried to jump back, but stumbled when landing on its broken paw. Perrin launched himself at the monster, swinging the hammer around his head. Hitting its shoulder, the beast was thrown back to land in a heap at the side of the road.
“GHOST!”
The sound shook Perrin. He saw Jon run towards the giant wolf. Perrin didn’t run after. The wolf had several smaller gashes in its legs, from the wolf pack. He could see the mist from its breathing, but Perrin didn’t think the wolf could survive for long without tending.
Looking at Jon kneeling beside the wolf brought a pang of regret to Perrin. He was reminded of when he had seen Hopper die, when Slayer had thrown the wolf from the top of the White Tower, and Perrin had jumped after, grappling with Slayer, only to see him shoot Hopper through the back with an arrow. He lowered his hammer.
Jon Snow looked at Perrin with tear-filled eyes, likely expecting death to be approaching. Perrin kept still, maintaining control over himself.
“Why haven’t you killed me?”
“You’re not responsible. Not for any of this. Light, neither of us asked for this to happen.”
Jon Snow looked at Perrin for a long time. Perrin could smell the emotions as they were going through him. Confusion, anger, pain, but most of an overwhelming scent of sorrow. Perrin knew that he should finish the fight quickly.
Looking at his hammer, Jon finally spoke, in an unsteady voice.
“Do it. Finish the fight. It won’t be the first time I lose. I pray I wake up again this time too, with Ghost by my side.”
Mournfully, and with a heavy heart, Perrin heaved the hammer.
As the hammer fell, everything grew dark. His hammer struck only air. Confused, and relieved, he saw the world shift around him, shaking and revolving. Suddenly overcome by sleepiness, he collapsed and fell asleep.
The first thing he noticed when he awoke was the beautiful, herbal and honest scent that was Faile.
(The inner dialogue was meant to be in italics, but the comments don’t support that it seems. Sorry.)
I’m really surprised that this is going so one-sided in Perrin’s favor, despite the fan write-up going to Jon. I think Snow’s only hope now is Martin rallying his forces.
@AHEM – Sure, I can see the twitter now – Fans, our boy Jon is losing the battle! Head to Suvudu and vote! But make sure you do it several times. See your nearest WoT fan for the details.
@Direwolf Girl – That’s just slightly over the Twitter character count.
For the record, only a small group of WoT fans cheated last round. Obviously not enough for them to win. (It’s weird talking about WoT fans as ‘them’.) But I can understand why ASOIAF fans can’t be arsed for third place.
Direwolf, WoT fans certainly did not cheat in our last battle, or at least it was only a few who did. You cannot hold all of us responsible for a few who manage to get around the rules (something i still haven’t managed, changing IP addresses didn’t let me vote again, so meh. (Laptop, I took it to a different internet connection for various reasons, and decided I might as well try to vote then just to see).
@ Dunno, Rand found all of those things happening to him for a simple reason: He needed them. The only way to get Rand into the condition he needed to be in before the last battle was for him to be broken first, and so that is exactly what the wheel did.
That was a tough one, and thats how these matches should be. Now roll on all posts that moan about fanboys and whatever else it is they all bitch about.
You say that WoT fanboyism is the reason for Rand and Perrin’s success, but Jamie and The Mountain both beat opponents whom they could not possibly have beaten, much more so than the WoT characters. In this fight I think Perrin would win, while his training is limited he was trained by Lan and Aiel and his battle experience is extensive including fighting Aiel, and Trollocs. On the other hand Jon really hasn’t fought anybody to the death, maybe a couple of skirmishes against wildlings but those are nothing compared to Aiel.
I had the same problem a lot of you had. I like Jon Snow better than I like Perrin (though I very much enjoy Perrin). However, I’m not sure I could see Snow winning the fight. Perrin could summon a lot of wolves where Snow has 1 direwolf. Perrin has a power wrought Hammer where Snow has a regular sword. Jon is more well trained, but Perrin has berserker capabilities and a lot more battle experience. Perrin can also sense how Jon Snow is feeling by the changes in his smell. I really didn’t want to vote for either of them, they’re very similar characters and I think they’d wind up being good friends if they met. Jon’s stand on the wall reminded me a bit of Perrin’s stand in the Emmonds Field. In any case if they did fight I think I’d have to give the edge to Perrin, so that’s how I voted.
It wasn’t only WoT fans cheating there folks. See Vin vs. Zed. See QB vs Perrin. I think the only group that didn’t have a huge cheating base was Jon.
I’ve voted my fair few times over the course of this cage match. It can be done and easily so. We WoT peeps learned it from the Vin peeps….
Nice write up Reechter!
Dunno, I would disagree. In life there are those exceptional people who have skills so vastly superior to others and pick things up so easily that they can beat men much more well trained than themselves. Hence a guy with very little technical ability (at the time) but a whole crapload of raw talent like Manny Pacquiao can beat one of the very best featherweights of his era future hall of famer Marco Antiono Barrera at the height of his career and make it look easy. Perrin’s fighting ability comes from his wolf like instincts and natural ability. Wolves do not need to be taught how to fight, they just know. Their superior physical attributes and sharper instincts make them much more dangerous than the average human in a one on one fight. It’s the same way with Perrin, as his soul is in a way part wolf. He also has a vast amount of battle experience having already fought in and commanded several major battles. Jon Snow has barely escaped a few skirmishes and managed to win 1 major battle with some timely help. He’s a boy and Perrin is a man. Experience, speed, skill and power are on Perrin’s side. Superior technical ability is on Snow’s side. If he were as skilled as Loras, he could probably win, because superior technique is a big advantage, but it doesn’t seem as if he’s reached that level of skill yet.
@NAB – Being a wolfbrother makes you a wolfbrother, not a wolf. He still thinks very differently from the wolves, he’s still an intelligent human being, and I seriously doubt it would work on him. Especially since it works better when there is a bond with the target. Trying to kill somebody pretty much indicates the opposite of a bond. And again, the only human that’s been taken over via skinchanging is Hodor, whose intelligence is about equal with some animals.
@Direwolf Girl – Cut the negativity. I seriously doubt WoT fans were the first to exploit the voting system and I seriously doubt they’re the last to. They’re certainly not the only ones. Just let it go.
I like both of these two as characters immensely, so I had a hard time deciding on who to vote for, but in the end, I chose Jon for a few reasons:
1: Ghost is almost constantly around Jon, Perrin’s wolves are not. in fact, Perrin has no wolves of his own, he asks wolves that are in the vicinity to help, and they don’t have to do so. I can’t remember when, but I know that there were times in WoT when the wolves didn’t come to Perrin’s aid. Even if the wolves do come, they would take some time getting there, and I’m not positive that they would fight ghost. Whenever Perrin enlists the wolves aid, he shows them exactly why the person or people they are going to fight need to die. Perrin doesn’t know Jon, and even if he did, I don’t think he could think up very much on why Jon needs to die.
2. I don’t think Perrin’s Ta’veren abilities would apply here, as this world (not necessarily Westeros, but the world of Suvudu) is outside of The Wheel, so The Wheel wouldn’t be able to spin things in Perrin’s favor. Even if it did, it wouldn’t strike Jon down where he stood, it would bend chance.
3. They’re not fighting in Tel’aran’rhiod. Pretty simple, in TAR, Perrin would tear Jon apart, but they’re not in TAR.
4. Training. Jon has been training to be a warrior since he was a boy. Perrin first picked up his axe 2 years ago. Perrin has more battle experience yes, but hasn’t really honed his skills outside of it other than the bow. If Perrin decides to shoot Jon down before he gets close, Perrin would easily win. This would go against Perrin’s character though, I don’t think he would shoot Jon until he knew Jon was an enemy. He also hasn’t used his bow in ages. Jon also has battle experience, and great instinct (as shown by his fight against the other in Castle Black). He fought Qhorin Halfhand (a great warrior) and held his own. Jon also has a firm grasp of strategy as shown by his defense of the wall. Perrin has this too, as shown by the defense of the Two Rivers.
That said, Perrin has a lot of things going for him. He has a far greater strength. He has an incredible weapon, and he has his battle rage and heightened senses.
Also, in regards to the weapon, I always felt that Perrin’s hammer burned the trolloc’s flesh because they were shadowspawn. I’m not convinced it would behave similarly against Jon or Ghost.