Kylar, Cale, Mr. Wednesday or a handful of others could easily have taken out Rahl.

Granny only got this far because of how much people like the character, though. Not because it made sense.

The one we like best will be kept on the site permanently, with the writer getting full credit.

If you want to start submitting, just start placing your write-ups in the comments of this post:

http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2012/04/cage-match-2012-final-four-recap.html

Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

@Samuel
Well, it’s true that Kylar gets killed a lot after he bonds the Black Ka’kari. However, a lot of that can be tied to Kylar simply making errors in judgment due to a lack of understanding of how his Talent or the Ka’kari worked. In The Way of Shadows, before he bonded the Black, it was established that Kylar was one of the best assassins of the era (here I’m using assassin as different from wetboy, which it is). Frankly, he only manages to ever be killed by magic wielders, the ones that do have the enhancements (the exception being when he allows himself to be killed at the beginning of Beyond the Shadows). And those character flaws humanize Kylar in a way you rarely to never see an assassin character humanized… all too often they’re rather one-dimensional, especially when it comes to their trade. That’s why I like him… because he is a complex character that is extremely good at what he does, even if his lack of magic training and incomprehension of what he’d become forced him to make faulty assumptions and errors in judgment for a while. I really got into the character’s head, and I found a lot there. Same with other characters from the novels. And that’s why I’m a fan of the story, and the writing style of Mr. Weeks that helped me get into them.

Of course, I don’t expect everyone’s experience to be the same, and I don’t mean to tell you that you must feel the same way. You just asked, so I thought I’d try to explain why I personally am a fan.

And I have to question theAKpal’s comprehension of the Night Angel novels… first and foremost because of the glaring misspelling of Kylar’s name. Seriously, it’s with an “a” and not an “e,” why are so many people making that mistake with it referenced in the info at the top of the page? Not to mention even if Kylar knew he would lose, he would never, EVER give up a fight knowing what it costs for him to invoke his immortality. Seriously, after facing down a goddess and an army of the damned, I don’t think Granny is so far beyond that that it would make Kylar surrender in his own mind. Oh, and finally is the mistakes regarding the ability of Iures, the Staff of Law, which would by its very nature never be an instrument for its wielder to make a mistake due to lack of control.

And one thing I’ve never really seen addressed… if Headology is magic that turns perception into reality, than shouldn’t the Ka’kari simply be able to absorb or negate it? The Black can and has acted of its own will to protect Kylar in the past.

Oh, and I know the fight has been decided already, but no one ever points out that Kylar has wielded Curoch before… and if he were to prepare for a multidimensional death match involving a potential battle against Rake to protect his very reality, I can imagine he’d get his hands on it again one way or another. Curoch to the heart would be beyond what even Granny should be able to handle. After all, two of the defining properties of the Sword of Power, the Sunderer, is that it sunders magic itself… and no wound inflicted by Curoch can be healed by magic. Though for cross-reality matches where laws of reality clash, this becomes a debatable issue. Of course, if Granny’s abilities make her beyond Curoch because of the nature of her world’s magic, there’s no reason the converse can’t be argued that the Night Angel can’t be beyond the influence of Granny’s magic. Just saying, it’s something to think about.

All I’ve ever wanted to do was give people who seem dead set one way or another, or who display incomplete knowledge about, is give them something to really consider.

I particularly liked how gate mages in that novel were almost always practical jokers. Because that’s exactly what I would want to do as a gate mage. Imagine the fun you could have with the gun from Portal playing a GTA or Saints Row game!

Am I the only one who just doesn’t get all the Night Angel hype?

Sorry, I thought I saw an earlier post where someone said it was spelled wrong with the ‘e’. I didn’t remember for sure and was too lazy to look it up (I must’ve remembered it dyslexically). I’m aware of the artifact (i.e., I know which one does what). I figured someone would give me some heck for it. My logic was that since he’s never really had much control over the magic, a 1000x increase doesn’t make him all that much better at it. It was more for the fact that the artifact allowed him access to the Talent in the first place that I was going with. The magnitude of the power employed was his own, as his incredible potential is mentioned in the novels. With regard to what his death would cost, with the black ka’kari ‘gone home to mommy’, he wouldn’t be resurrected, ergo no death of a friend.

Thanks for the commenting, anyways. I appreciate all constructive feedback, even if it is to tell me it isn’t good (although you didn’t say that). At least I could understand what you said, unlike blade’s master’s rambling diatribe.

@Wazza
Wow, rude much? Where do you get off calling someone you’ve never met a tool? I also bet that you don’t even know anything about him. Granted, neither do I – but it seems to be wrong to just label someone like that without a reason.

@theAKpal
You misspelled Kylar’s name. (Sorry, but it’s just a pet peeve of mine.) Also, I think you’ve gotten your magical artifacts mixed up… *SPOILERS* Retribution is really Iures, the Staff of Law, whose power is to give a its wielder a thousand times more magical control. As such, doesn’t make much sense for Kylar to make a mistake because of a lack of control. And he would never give up knowing what his death would cost. Never, ever again, no matter what he faced. But my issue is only with the logic. Your write-up is still better than the original.