Warning: Our Game of Madness articles will include content from the five currently released A Song of Ice and Fire books and seasons 1-5 of HBO's adaptation Game of Thrones. Some material from A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons has not been covered in the show yet, but may be in season 6. If you aren't caught up with the books and/or show, read on with care.
The Regional Finals
After two rounds of action, the field of 48 has been slashed and smashed down to just 12. We started our contest with 6 regions, each with 8 fighters that were paired up for one vs one trial by combat style fights. Today, we will crown the champion of each region, deciding who will have a spot in our finals. If you didn't catch the first two rounds or need a refresher on how the matches played out, take some time before moving on to round three (Revisit round one, round two). If you'd rather get right to the action, our final 12 are:
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The North
Jon Umber
Qhorin Halfhand
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The West
Jaime Lannister
Sandor Clegane
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The Islands
Victarion Greyjoy
Brienne of Tarth
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The East
Robert Baratheon
Bronn
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The South
Arthur Dayne
Gerold Hightower
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The Far East
Barristan Selmy
Jon Connington
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Some who fall today will be warriors more than worthy of our finals but only six can stake their claims. Let the madness continue...
The North
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3. Jon Umber vs 4. Qhorin Halfhand
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Strength vs speed settles our North region and the two fighters possess these in spades. The Greatjon is one of the strongest living men, maybe only surpassed by the Mountain Gregor Clegane. Qhorin’s technical prowess is unmatched in the North and the Halfhand stacks up well against the best in any region. This is truly a match worthy of our finals yet only one can move on.
The Greatjon Umber is, to put it simply, a poor man’s Clegane. Not as strong as Gregor but not as agile as Sandor, though being a poor man’s Clegane is no insult. Most brutes are seen as dumb and the Umbers certainly aren’t seen as a house full of cunning but they have been a longstanding presence in the North and there’s no way to say with certainty that Jon Umber is your typical oafish brute. He fights with fury and pure strength but not necessarily a reckless abandon. We also know that even when outmatched, like taking on eight men at the Red Wedding, he’s a nightmare to take down. Keep in mind, Jon Umber is said to be taller than Hodor who stands in at a whopping 7 feet tall. That combined with his massive great sword and bulky frame makes the Greatjon a scary foe to face for any fighter.
But speed and skill have toppled strength before and if there's a fighter in the North that shines in those categories, it's Qhorin Halfhand. The best example of this we have in the series so far is when Oberyn Martell took on the Mountain Gregor Clegane. The difference being the reach advantage Oberyn had with his spear, allowing him to stay at a distance and control the pace of the fight. The Halfhand will have to get well within Jon Umber's range if he's to deal any damage. Despite the respect Qhorin gets and the reputation he's seemingly more than earned in the series, it's hard to give him this match because of the unknowns. What we know for sure doesn't equal what we know of the Greatjon and it will take quite a few strikes to topple Jon Umber whereas one good strike from Jon's great sword could end the Halfhand in a hurry. Chances are the Greatjon would get that one blow in before Qhorin can slice him up.
Champion of the North: The Greatjon Umber
The West
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1. Jaime Lannister vs 3. Sandor Clegane
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Jaime starts this fight with the advantage in speed and technique. Barristan Selmy, one of the best around -and someone who cares little and less for the Kingslayer- talks about Jaime's natural skills with a sword and how few he sees with that kind of potential. The world views him as a prodigy and even George RR Martin said he's one of the best to ever live. How can the Hound pull this off?
Sandor's advantage comes from his size and strength. So here we are again, skill vs strength. No one would claim Jaime is the stronger fighter here but perhaps the difference between the two isn't all that big. When the Kingslayer is being escorted back to King's Landing by Brienne of Tarth, the two come to blows and Jaime fares pretty well all things considered. He was malnourished and weakened from a year of captivity, and his wrists were bound together, yet he still gives Brienne a run for her money. Brienne is strong, this is well known, and she later recalls just how strong Jaime was in that fight despite what he had been through. Jaime putting up a fight in that scenario says a lot for how strong and skilled he was in his prime. The Kingslayer isn't as strong as the Hound, but he's still pretty strong and that cuts into Sandor's best advantage.
Maybe the Hound can draw from his experiences and gain the upper hand in that regard. How often would a highborn like Jaime Lannister get his hands dirty anyways? Well, quite a bit actually. We know Jaime held off the Smiling Knight, the Mountain of his youth, and was knighted by the legendary Sword of the Morning Arthur Dayne for his efforts. During the War of the Five Kings, Jaime cut through numerous northern soldiers on his way to Robb Stark once he realized the Young Wolf had won the Battle in the Whispering Wood. The people who witnessed the event believe Robb to be rather lucky to have survived, Jaime seemed unstoppable.
It seems as though the Hound's advantages over Jaime don't seem as significant upon a closer look and the times we see the Hound in action are a mixed bag, to say the least. He does defeat Beric Dondarrion but his fear of fire and the flaming sword of his opponent make the match much closer than it had any right to be. If the fire hadn't weakened Beric's blade, the Hound's story may have ended then and there. He suffers a big loss later in the series (HBO's adaptation) against Brienne. He holds his own in an incredibly brutal fight despite the injury he suffered before the match began. Fire also gets the best of Sandor in the Battle of Blackwater, where he chooses to stop fighting and to flee the city.
This is a tough match to call and Jaime would not have an easy time if he were to cross swords with Sandor Clegane but the series has shown us multiple times that Sandor struggles to overcome adversity. He may enter this fight with confidence, but when Jaime proves his worth it'll be a completely different fight. Where strength won out in the North, speed and skill decide the West.
Champion of the West: Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer
The Islands
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2. Victarion Greyjoy vs 5. Brienne of Tarth
Brienne has a habit of getting into these types of dirty, brutal fights. In the show, it was against the Hound Sandor Clegane. In the novels, she was outnumbered twice by outlaws, winning one and needing to be saved in the other after giving it her best effort. Now, in our Game of Madness, Brienne faces the fearsome Victarion Greyjoy in a battle of iron wills. A matchup between two fighters hard to stand against and even harder to take down.
Victarion is essentially a walking tank and taking on multiple foes at once barely phases him. His axe will give Brienne the advantage in reach but his large shield and thick plate armor should let him get close. Without Oathkeeper, her Valyrian steel longsword, Brienne will be slower to attack than we’ve seen so far and will have a harder time breaching the Iron Captain's defenses. Her biggest strengths, however, are her defense and stamina. Her oak shield is heavy and durable, if the Maid of Tarth is to win this fight, she needs to make Victarion play by her rules. The longer the match goes on, the more tired Vic becomes, the better Brienne's chances are of winning. She just needs to make sure she has enough gas left in the tank to finish off the Iron Captain when the opportunity presents itself.
Brienne will gain the upper hand in this fight from the beginning for reasons not related to combat. The Ironborn do not view women as fighters and their sexism is a way of life. The Iron Captain will not take Brienne seriously and he’ll fall behind because of it. Brienne has been trained since her youth to take advantage of men like Victarion. The longer Brienne stands, the more embarrased Victarion gets, the more reckless he gets. His strength and armor give him a chance at coming back but the longer the fight goes, the better the odds are that Brienne wins as Vic grows more and more careless. The early advantage, Victarion’s increasingly brutish fighting style, and Brienne’s excellent stamina and defense all add up to a trip to the finals for the maid of Tarth.
Champion of the Islands: Brienne of Tarth
The East
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1. Robert Baratheon vs 2. Bronn
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Bronn would never agree to this fight. Much like he refused to defend Tyrion against the Mountain, Bronn would know that the realistic odds of him beating the Usurper are slim and the risk isn’t worth the reward. In our contest though, the sellsword has no choice but to stand and fight.
Bronn could avoid Robert for a time, he may be able to find some openings to strike but it’ll take quite a few of those to take down the Demon of the Trident. Bronn may expect a sluggish fighter, considering Robert's size and his hefty warhammer, but Robert is known to be surprisingly fast and his ability to wield his massive weapon with one handed ease will catch the Lord of Stokeworth off guard. Bronn is lightly armored to maximize his advantage in speed, an advantage that won't be significant enough, which means a single blow from Robert’s warhammer would end the fight in a hurry. On the surface this fight is yet another speed vs strength showdown but one fighter possesses both and that settles the East.
Champion of the East: Robert Baratheon, the Usurper
The Far East
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1. Barristan Selmy vs 7. Jon Connington
It’s hard not to root for the Griff. There’s nothing sweeter than redemption, but in this series it seems most of those we root for in those regards are basically awful human beings. Theon Greyjoy, who turned his cloak on those closest to him and killed two innocent children. The Hound, another killer of children as well as many other innocents. Jaime Lannister, we could go on and on with his deeds. Jon Connington, on the other hand, is cut from a different cloth.
He hit rock bottom because he didn’t want to be labeled a murderer of innocents. Instead of burning the Stoney Sept, where an injured Robert Baratheon had fled to, he decided to search for the Usurper himself with the goal of defeating him in single combat. That never happened and Jon Con suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of the Bells. He was soon exiled by the Mad King Aerys Targaryen and to add insult to injury, Robert went on to slay the Griff’s closest friend Rhaegar on the Trident. Jon has been tormented by this ever since.
While it was a significant loss for the loyalists, Jon Connington fought fiercely at the Stoney Sept. He wounded Lord Tully and killed Jon Arryn’s heir Denys Arryn. When the battle was lost, he was able to escape the chaotic battle, an impressive feat given the fact that Robert's allies had come to his rescue and turned the battle into full out urban warfare. At the end of the day, however, if your best moment came in defeat, it's hard to say you could defeat an elite fighter.
Everything unfolded in the Griff’s favor to get him to this point but prime Barristan is too skilled and decorated to think Jon could win this match. It was a good run but the Griff finally falls.
Champion of the Far East: Barristan Selmy, The Bold
The South
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1. Arthur Dayne vs 3. Gerold Hightower
The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard that included Arthur Dayne, the White Bull Gerold Hightower, is one of the few people with a legitimate chance at taking down the Sword of the Morning. Though it’s only possible because prime Gerold is known as being a stronger swordsman than prime Jaime Lannister. What we know from the Tower of Joy doesn’t give us any insight into Gerold during his prime, that battle took place well beyond that even though the White Bull still fought fiercely.
Arthur Dayne’s advantages might not have been significant, but they were still advantages. He was most likely more skilled seeing as he earned the Sword of the Morning title and defeated the Smiling Knight with ease. He was most likely faster based on the size and stature of the two fighters. The only advantage Gerold most likely had was in strength but as we see plenty in the series, technical skills can easily make up for a difference in strength. These two fighters would essentially be on equal footing, both experienced knights and swordsmen through and through and Arthur would be without his sword Dawn, making the fight even tougher to call.
In the end, we don’t know enough about Gerold Hightower to say he could beat Arthur Dayne. We also don’t get the repeated gushing over his existence like we do with the Sword of the Morning to suggest he's one of the best to ever live. By comparison, the little we know of Arthur Dayne says so much more. Gerold Hightower is worthy of the finals, possibly even worthy of the final four, but drawing the Sword of the Morning ends his journey prematurely.
Champion of the South: Arthur Dayne, The Sword of the Morning
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And with that, we have set our finals. Jon Umber, Jaime Lannister, Brienne of Tarth, Robert Baratheon, Barristan Selmy, and Arthur Dayne head into the final part of our Game of Madness, all worthy of their spots and all battle tested from the first three rounds. Let us know in the comments below how you think the regional finals would play out and who you're betting on in the finals. Tomorrow, we'll continue to cut the field until only two remain, setting up the championship match.
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