Most Memorable Fight Scene in Fiction?

[Nate]

Yeah, it was (view spoiler)[when Stannis' fleet sails into Blackwater Bay and attacks King's Landing and then is repelled primarily by Tyrion's wildfire trap. As impressed as I was with what HBO managed to do with their budgetary restrictions the Blackwater of the novel was SO much scarier and more intense. (hide spoiler)]

[Jean]

I've only read Bk1 and I like the mantras the Fighting Master gives Arya, and the one-to-one fight scenes with Arya. They are emotionally satisfying as well as having people bashing each other :) The big battle is nice strategically too.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Nate wrote: "Yeah, it was [spoilers removed]"

That's why I did not assume when you guys said Blackwater that you meant that battle. That came across as quite mild in the tv series.

[Nate]

Oh man, mild??? That was the last thing I think they were going for. That's too bad you were unimpressed with it. I think every Cornwell fan has said this multiple times, but they really need to adapt his non-Sharpe stuff. I think there would be an initial market for the Arthur stuff and if they pulled it off to its fullest potential they could probably make some Saxon stuff after that.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I don't know what I was expecting with that battle in the tv series. I think perhaps I expect big battles in tv series' to last for longer? It seemed too quick and I think that was why it was forgettable.
All I remember well from that battle is (view spoiler)[ the super cool fire, Tyrion Lannister getting his face slashed open and wayyyy too many scenes with that whiney, annoying Joffrey. Oh and the cavalry coming at the last minute. (hide spoiler)]

I bet it was a gazillion times better in the book.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I imagine there must be some great battles or fights coming up (view spoiler)[ when the wildlings get over the wall..if they do...I assume they do...DON'T TELL ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (hide spoiler)]

[Nate]

Yeah, in the book (view spoiler)[there's a ton more people involved and you actually know/care who Davos and his kids are so you have a personal investment on both sides. Plus Tyrion actually gets his face horribly mutilated and loses his nose, he doesn't just receive that little pretty-boy scar. It's just more dramatic and involving. Obviously HBO can't do a translation of the book, but as far as an adaptation goes I think they did well. I know the wildfire scene was like their whole effects budget for the season. (hide spoiler)] And as far as season 3, I don't think you'll be disappointed. The book was thrilling cover-to-cover.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I hope you are right. I am so pumped for the new season. Only three more days. *squeee!* :]

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Joshua posted this in a thread in the era folders and I have moved it here as it pertains to the same article that kicked this thread off.

Joshua said:
Some of you may have seen this article on Huffington Post recently:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-...

Or you may have read this post a while back:

http://www.abebooks.com/books/adventu...

As an amateur fencer and all around lover of good sword fighting scenes. I am curious what other members would contribute to these sorts of lists.

[Joshua]

Terri wrote: "Joshua posted this in a thread in the era folders and I have moved it here as it pertains to the same article that kicked this thread off.

Joshua said:
Some of you may have seen this article on H..."

Thanks so much Terry. Since it looks like you guys more or less exhausted the first list, maybe the second link is of some interest.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

There are some great Classics in that list.

[Joshua]

I love the Prisoner of Zenda The Prisoner of Zenda and its modern spoof, Royal Flash Royal Flash

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I still haven't read Prisoner of Zenda.
One day. I think it is the idea of the fake country that I find offputting. Not that I reject the book because of it, only that it is at the bottom of my list because I enjoy reading about real countries and their histories in HF. :-)

[Mark]

Terri wrote: "After reading this article in the Huffington Post today, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-...
it inspired me to start this thread.

Mo..."

I do wonder if trying to recreate fight scenes for a book set in the mid-13th century by using a 15th century manual is really viable. Unfortunately the only "medieval" guides for sword fighting are quite late in the period by which time the nature of swords themselves were changing - moving away from the hack and slash style broadsword to weapons that do most of their damage with their point. So quite a different style. I've just started reading a preview of the Mongoliad, so will be interesting to see how the fight scenes work, but if they're based on a fencing manual I will be disappointed!

[Jason]

If I'm honest, Homer's frank, gritty and poetic descriptions of the one-on-one fights in the Iliad still resonate with me today as strongly as they did when I first read it as a kid of ten. Something about spearheads severing men's tongues 'at the root' and their 'eyes going dark' strikes such an emotive chord...

[Nick]

As someone who has been indoctrinated as a martial artist my whole life, one-on-one fight scenes really bother me in books (and films for that matter!). I'm so sick of reading of someone kneeing the other fighter in the balls or punching them in teeth, where in reality, if they ever got close enough to do that, they'd have been stabbed / cut.

Cornwell seems to get them right though.

My favourite author ever is the pseudonymous K.J Parker - they write really in-depth about fencing and duels. It feels very natural and authentic. It's fantasy, but not your usual sword and sorcery kind.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Jason wrote: "Something about spearheads severing men's tongues 'at the root' and their 'eyes going dark' strikes such an emotive chord... ..."

haha. now there are some images that will cling to a child's memory forever. :)

[Bryn]

The other night I read my new battle #1. The Battle of Kadesh, book IV chapter 9 of Ancient Evenings. He draws heavily on the Iliad and Old Testamenty stuff; the writing has a driving rhythm, like them chariots, and is a total song.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I can't remember if I mentioned it earlier this year. I meant to. I have to put down the battle scenes in Robyn Young's Insurrection as one of the most memorable fight scenes for me.

They were awesomely done.

[Dennis]

The duel between the Mountain and the Red Viper.

[Mark]

Nick wrote: "My favourite author ever is the pseudonymous K.J Parker - they write really in-depth about fencing and duels. It feels very natural and authentic. It's fantasy, but not your usual sword and sorcery kind. "

I keep meaning to read more by K. J. Parker - I've read a novel and a short by him/her and enjoyed it - and yes I do remember the fight scenes being good. I think the author must have some experience of fencing. Kind of hard to classify - I'd say fantasy, but there's no magical elements, the settings are close to historical, but different - probably similar to Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay - so you could say historical fantasy, but I don't like that term for this kind of book that's based on a historical setting, but isn't actually historical - but that's another discussion!!

[Dawn]

Dennis wrote: "The duel between the Mountain and the Red Viper."

Is that George R.R. Martin?? It's been awhile since I've read those.

[Dawn]

Mark wrote: "but I don't like that term for this kind of book that's based on a historical setting, but isn't actually historical - but that's another discussion!!..."

That it is and one we've talked about at length in the Historical Fantasy thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
It's how the thread started actually, so if you read the beginning you'll find I absolutely agree with you!! :)

[Mark]

Dawn wrote: "Dennis wrote: "The duel between the Mountain and the Red Viper."

Is that George R.R. Martin?? It's been awhile since I've read those."
I believe it is - I can't remember much about it either, but remember the character names - so will have to go back and take another look.

[Mark]

Dawn wrote: "That it is and one we've talked about at length in the Historical Fantasy thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
It's how the thread started actually, so if you read the beginning you'll find I absolutely agree with you!! :) "
Thanks Dawn - I'll take a look at the thread!

[Dawn]

Reposted

Tim wrote: "Who do folk think writes the best fight scenes? Bernard Cornwell is generally regarded as the god of set-piece battles but what about those scenes of hand to hand combat between one or two individuals? As this is fiction not movies we can't see the blades flashing so who do you think writes them so that they are genuinely exciting and not just "he hit her, she hit him back,"?
To start the ball rolling I'm going to say Giles Kristian is good in my opinion, though better in his civil war book than the bloodeye series. What does everyone else think?"

[Jane]

I would put into contention the final battle at Claudius' Temple in Hero of Rome / Douglas Jackson

[[deleted user]]

Steven Pressfield. Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae.

[[deleted user]]

My most memorable fight scene? Yeesh, this is hard. I would have to say it's basically The Red Knight. That entire book is one long, gritty siege.

[Doubledf99.99]

Derek wrote: "Steven Pressfield. Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae."

I second that..

[Saul]

I'll go for Tim Willocks "The Twelve Children of Paris" as it's nothing but a bloodbath--well written bloodbath, but a bloodbath nonetheless.

Honourable mention goes to:
Anthony Riches
John Wilcox
Edward Marston
Ben Kane
Iain Gale
Adrian Goldsworth
Allan Mallinson

[Nate]

More slaying than The Religion, Saul? Impressive.

[Feliks]

I'll vote for T.H. White's comic battle described in 'The Once and Future King'..showing how difficult and awkward it could be for two knights in full armor to joust.

[Saul]

Nate wrote: "More slaying than The Religion, Saul? Impressive."

Makes "The Religion" seem like a children's book

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Bumping this old thread back to life to say that having recently finished The Religion by Tim Willocks, the first major battle scene in this book is now one of my most memorable fight scenes in fiction.

Holy moly. What a battle. Matthias Tannhauser can kick some butt.

[Nate]

No disagreements here! Dude is a killing machine. I recently finished Iggulden's second Genghis book and loved the Badger Mouth sequence in it. So terrifying and brutal. Also, this is more historical fantasy but the almost entirety of Miles Cameron's The Red Knight deals with a long, savage siege and is pure awesome. Many readers here will be familiar with Cameron as Christian Cameron, who has published a number of historical novels.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Nate wrote: "No disagreements here! Dude is a killing machine. I recently finished Iggulden's second Genghis book and loved the Badger Mouth sequence in it. So terrifying and brutal. Also, this is more historic..."


So true. the Badger Mouth sequence is a memorable fight/battle scene for me also.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Below is a repost of Feliks' post, with the intentionally hostile and deliberately insulting crap taken out.

Feliks wrote: "Anyway to answer the OP's inquiry: I would say whole-heartedly that the most emotionally comprehensive and consuming hand-to-hand battle ever depicted in any fiction anywhere (and I have read a helluva lot of fiction) is found in none other than Charles Dickens' 'A Tale of Two Cities'. You can't ask for any better author to handle such a topic (seeing as how he handled every other human topic so well).

I'm referring to the ferocious confrontation between Madame DuFarge and Miss Pross at the climactic endpoint of the saga. No Bernard whats-his-name. No contrived Game-of-Thrones nonsense. This is Dickens. Real literature, not wannabe mass-market drivel. His characters are each with no martial training. They are simply driven by fury. And its raw. Most fights simply are this way: chaotic. Untrained. Hectic. Haphazard. ..."

[Feliks]

Whoops. I had a dim recollection haunting me all yesterday at work--I knew I had flamed off at someone but couldn't remember when or where. This must have been it. Posting while boozing again...bad, just bad. I usually go back and clean up my posts the next morning before they have time to fester; missed this one. No excuses. Execrable behavior on my part!

Still, I do love that duFarge/Pross battle. And I do hate the Arnie/Stallone/Willis/Stratham era we're in. Simply speakin' from an overabundance of passion.

I will be more alert next time and hold my tongue. Don't wanna disrespect this fine Goodreads group.

[Jerry]

I like to get some sort of vision of the fight in my mind when reading battle scenes. I thought the descriptions of Crecy and Calais inMaster Of War: The Blooding were both good. I enjoy Gordon Doherty's books as well, although sometimes his battle scenes appear confusing, at least to me, but Strategos - Born in the Borderlands I thought was pretty good. I fully agree with the "Badgers Mouth" and "Thermopylae" scenes mentioned, and with Tim Willocks book on the Siege of Malta (Sorry, but I can't remember the title - its that long since I read it. Was it "The Religion"?).

Must try Twelve Children of Paris at some point as well. But not because I am a particularly bloodthirsty individual - honest. It just shows how easy it is to forget a good author over time.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Feliks wrote: "Whoops. I had a dim recollection haunting me all yesterday at work--I knew I had flamed off at someone but couldn't remember when or where. This must have been it. Posting while boozing again...bad..."


Well that is damn fine of you, man. Thanks for that.
I enjoyed your thoughts on Dickens. Not so much your thoughts on people who do Martial Arts. Lol. ;)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Jerry wrote: "But not because I am a particularly bloodthirsty individual - honest..."

I understand what you mean. I am not bloodthirsty either. In fact I don't even care for battle books. What I like, is battle/fight scenes that 'fit' and contain the power to move you.

These violent times of hand to hand combat, or near combat, are sometimes hard to comprehend.
A great battle scene or fight scene transports you back in time and lets you see how it must have felt to be in the middle of it.

The Siege of Malta for example. Willocks was a master at showing the reader what it must have looked and felt like to be a part of those religious wars. And it was frightening.