George R.R. Martin thinks Jaime Lannister would beat Aragorn in a fight, FYI
By Dan Selcke
"Who would beat who in a fight?"-type questions are a dime a dozen among fans of sci-fi and fantasy. Who would win in a wizard battle: Gandalf or Dumbledore? Could Captain Kirk take Captain Picard? There are epic rap battles with tens of millions of views dedicated to this kind of thing on YouTube. It will never die.
But it's rarer for the creator of one of the characters at odds to wear in. That's why a years-old clip of Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin answering a fan question is so fun: Who would win, the fan asks, in a battle between Martin's own creator Jaime Lannister — the deadly incest enthusiast played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau on the HBO show — and Aragorn son of Arathorn from The Lord of the Rings, the heir to Gondor played by Viggo Mortensen in Peter Jackson's movies?
Lest he be accused of favoritism, Martin first confirms that this battle is between Jaime and Aragorn when they're at the peak of their powers, meaning it happens before Jaime loses his sword hand, back when he's known as the best swordsman in all of Westeros. "I think Jaime would probably take Aragorn, especially if he was allowed to be armored," Martin said.
I'd never seen this clip, but it bubbled up on The Lord of the Rings subreddit recently and was tickled enough to share it. Naturally, folks on the LOTR subreddit don't agree with Martin, reasoning that however good a fighter Jaime is, Aragorn is decades older than him at the time of The Lord of the Rings, so he has experience on his side. "With all due respect G.R.R. Martin, Aragon would open-up Jaime balls to brains and see what Lannisters are made of!" reads the post title.
Of course, we can't know for sure who would win in a battle between these two, which is part of the point. These hypothetical battles are meant to keep fans talking forever. Given that this clip of Martin is years old and still gets brought up is proof enough that it's working.
Next. 10,000 Ships writer describes the shelved Game of Thrones prequel that might have been. 10,000 Ships writer describes the shelved Game of Thrones prequel that might have been. dark
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