Originally posted by juggermanYeah if you discount that time he fought Jaime to a standstill and was visibly causing him to struggle near the end of their duel before he was stabbed from behind. Or if you discount the fact that Jaime himself shows respect for Ned's chronicled skills as a warrior and seems curious and eager to test himself against him earlier that season. Or if you discount that Barristan Selmy himself believes that a duel between the two of him during Robert's rebellion (when both men were near their prime) would have been a fearsome contest despite Ned's humble downplaying of his own abilities.
Neither was Ned.
Ned is of a similar tier to Jaime Lannister, which puts him laughably above Loras Tyrell, who is a limp-wristed loser.
Originally posted by NemeBro
1. Yeah if you discount that time he fought Jaime to a standstill and was visibly causing him to struggle near the end of their duel before he was stabbed from behind.2. Or if you discount the fact that Jaime himself shows respect for Ned's chronicled skills as a warrior and seems curious and eager to test himself against him earlier that season.
3. Or if you discount that Barristan Selmy himself believes that a duel between the two of him during Robert's rebellion (when both men were near their prime) would have been a fearsome contest despite Ned's humble downplaying of his own abilities.
4. Ned is of a similar tier to Jaime Lannister, which puts him laughably above Loras Tyrell, who is a limp-wristed loser.
1. Jaime was handicapped in that fight. He wanted to take Ned alive to make sure his brother survived whereas Ned was likely going for the kill after Jaime killed Jory and all his men that were with him. And even still Jaime still looked better than Ned
2. I didn't see any respect. In fact he took care to disrespect Ned on multiple occasions. Eager to test Ned's mettle? Yes he was. But curiosity doesn't point to them being equals.
3. Selmy was being nice. And we all know Ned had a tendency of being honest and up front so I'd take his word over Selmy's. Also Ned killed Dane, the greatest swordsman around. Knowing that and not knowing how it happened would indeed make other people see you in a higher light. We have no reason to believe Selmy ever actually saw Ned fight as we know Jaime didn't.
4. Ned is below Jaime and Loras likely is as well. I want to put Loras above Ned because of Ned being much older and likely out of practice more so than Loras but not enough is known
Originally posted by Josh_Alexander
When was Ned losing? It seemed all the opposite to me.
Again Jamie was not trying to kill Ned and Ned was(in all likelihood) trying to kill Jamie. Even still, Jaime was enjoying the fight. So much so that he struck the man that ended it early. Had it continued, Jamie would have won barring some nonsense of course
Originally posted by juggerman
Again Jamie was not trying to kill Ned and Ned was(in all likelihood) trying to kill Jamie. Even still, Jaime was enjoying the fight. So much so that he struck the man that ended it early. Had it continued, Jamie would have won barring some nonsense of course
Ned was never trying to kill Jaime.
Even so, Jaime and Ned had a tied fight.
That proved that Ned isnt to be underestimated.
One thing to note is that Ned Stark doesn't participate in knightly tournaments whereas Loras is very highly ranked in the tournaments. Ned said he prefers not to show his enemies his true skill.
The problem is, there hasn't been war for years, so does that mean Ned hasn't been in a proper fight, or even a match, in years?