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Kills
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As Drizzt observes the stangely-armored figure approaching him, he can’t help but think there is something a bit, well, off, about his opponent.
Is he wearing a dressing gown?
Because, sure enough, the being striding toward the great drow warrior has a rather raggedy sartorial appearance, as if it was a good idea to put a bathrobe over spiked armor.
Only as it comes closer does Drizzt realize with horror that it isn’t a robe draped over those spikes, but what were clearly the remains of a middle-aged, slightly out-of-shape human.
Ouch, he thinks, hoping to get nominated for the Understatement I the Year Award.
Then the being disappears.
Before Drizzt can even allow his protesting mind to figure out what kind of magic this shiny monstosity possesses, a low growl has him spinning about, his bracers allowing his scimitars to whirl around him faster than any mortal being should be able to do.
“I have no intention of becoming a Drizzt suit,” he says as his blades deflect the spikes that are aiming directly for his heart.
Without a word, the being blinks out of existence again.
“I’m not really sure this I going to turn out so well,” he mutters. Guenhwyvar just meows–because, you know, she’s a big cat.
Another growling warning from her, though, and Icingdeath and Twinkle flash about, a blur of razor sharp blades connecting with the pointed arguments the being was making in favor of Drizzt’s demise.
“‘Pointed arguments,’” Regis groaned from off to the side. “I thought only I got to make bad jokes.”
And, despite himself, Drizzt smiles at the halfling’s comments, because it gave him an idea…
“Wulfgar! Toss me Aegis-Fang!”
“Get your own magical hammer,” the giant human shouts back. “This isn’t my fight.”
“Dammit–I’m sorry I stole Cattie-Brie from you,” Drizzt yells, spinning to catch another deadly poke from the teleporting creature. “Now throw me the hammer!”
“Fine!” and he throws it to Drizzt. Dropping Icingdeath, Drizzt reaches to grab it, only to watch it fly back to Wulfgar’s hands.
“Haha!” the barbarian laughs. “No, seriously…” and he throws the hammer back to Drizzt. In midflight, Drizzt is forced to spin once again, and with only Twinkle in his hands, he’s not fast enough to prevent a spike getting through his parries. Luckily his mithril armor catches most of the being’s cruel embrace, but it still knocks the breath from him. Aegis-Fang lands on the ground next to him.
“Get up!” Wulfgar encourages.
Regis, who’s been thumbing through a strange tome the entire time, calls out “So it appears this thing is called ‘The Shrike.’ It’s pretty much unstoppable.”
“Thanks,” Drizzt mutters to his friends, and drops to the ground in a purposeful roll, letting go of Twinkle and popping up with the massive hammer in his hands.
And then falling down again.
“Lolth! This thing is heavy!”
Wulfgar just rolls his eyes at Bruenor, the dwarf wondering why they keep sending the relatively gentle elf to fight all these people anyway. “Get up, laddy,” the dwarf says.
Grunting, the drow stands up, hammer in both hands. He looks around–no Shrike. But he knows that won’t last, and having experienced a number of its attacks already, he sets Aegis-Fang in motion, his bracers adding speed to a weapon that would normally be too unwieldy in his hands.
CLANG!
The Shrike looks down at where the hammer hit it–and Drizzt is pleased to see a few of the spikes are now bent downwards.
With renewed vigor, he goes about rendering the monster-robot martially impotent, flattening the Shrike’s weaponry with the massive, mystical sledge.
When he’s done, the Shrike just stands there. Drizzt isn’t sure, but he thinks the Shrike is about to cry. Before he can find out, it blinks out of time and space again.
Everyone just stands around, waiting…
And waiting…
And waiting…
“I don’t think he’s coming back,” Regis says.
“I think you’re right,” Drizzt says.
“I think we won,” Bruenor adds.
“We?” Drizzt asks.
Bruenor shrugs.
“Can I have my hammer back?”
Predicted Winner: Drizzt Do’Urden (pretty much by himself this time)
(The Shrike is a character from Dan Simmon’s Hyperion series; Drizzt Do’Urden is a character from Wizard of the Coast’s Forgotten Realms series, as written by R.A. Salvatore)
It’s not like the Shrike is unbeatable. It’s just unbeatable by Drizzt. I’d say that the Shrike MIGHT be beaten by Cthulhu (who’s losing to Jaime right now, and that’s almost equally idiotic as Shrike losing to Drizzt), Shrike MIGHT be beaten by Aslan, MIGHT be beaten by some very, very, very powerful wizard (like maybe Raistlin)… hell, I’d say it might even be beaten by Arthur Dent – because of the entire improbability concept – but it CAN’T be beaten by Drizzt.
And Cthulhu can’t be beaten by Jaime, you… you… arghhh… may Martin postpone his new book for next ten years!!
Damn… I don’t think I could wait that much.
If everyone just votes the invincibles out of the bracket, then that’s just as bad as the invincibles running roughshod over the competition. imho
51/48?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!
Wow, these results really can change in a hurry. Makes me feel less worried about last night’s Shrike surge. In any case, I think Ged could beat the Shrike, if they both hang on.
there are people on the jaime vs. cthuhlu who are actually writing scenarios on both side of the fight, fairly plausoble ones for both, yet this side has devolved into deus ex machina must always win vs deus ex machina is a stupid cop out and needs eliminating.
i say they meet in the cage companions enter on one side, the shrike enters the other and asks if anyone has seen his towel as the babel fish has transfered auther dents personallity into the shrike (a la deaths head) thus confused the companions leave to continue their surge for bruenors lost homeland, angry arthur “shrike” dent continues to the next stage while searching for that missing rabbit skin satchel with his towel and other belongings
Good elf is dead elf!
sciense fiction vs fantasy = blaster vs sword
What?
Oh go out for a few drinks and the world loses there freaking minds. Please explain to me how that little elf with the fast sword could do anything to the shrike. 1st and foremost his sword more than likely could not penetrate the shrikes armor and if it could the shrike whow could slow time around the elf so much that he would look like he was standing still, and slice hime to little pieces. The shrike crushes your stupid little elf so and you know it. I dont want to here not crap about the astral plane either because the strike can move to any point in space at any time. even the technocore who do not exist on our level of reality are not free of the Shrike. give it up. You are all sane human beings. The shrike has 1000000000 hitpoints and does 10d10 damage with every attack wich is about 10000000 each turn. YOU CANT WIN. REALISTICLY? Then again this crap is not realistic is it.
i dont know much about shrike, but Guenwhyvar could take shrike back to her plane im not sure how that affects time, and then there is Drizzts racial powers with the cloaking and levitation if were going with the underdark parts, or i dont know, a random dweomer he found. then theres his mitrhil armour, and his enchanted shirt that he got in the hunters blades trilogy, that and he could *borrow* khazid’hea from cattie brie, or does he still have the mini crossbow with the oil of impact bolts that he could shoot? i have to say i want drizzt to win cos hes so awsome, but shrikes time travelling would win unless guenwhyvars plane stops time travel. or just plane mucks about with it
C’moooooon Drizzt! You’ve got violet eyes, a goddess’ and an author’s favour – pull some Sueperpower out of your inexplicably ebony troglodite arse and get rid of the boring apocalypse in a can!
*campy cheerleading*
You guys need to think outside the box, there is no automatic winner in any of these fights because no matter how you think of it there is always a way someone can pull out a win, just takes creativity from an author’s standpoint.
it’s not about realistic or not and if you think someone should auto-win then you don’t understand good writing.
Simply this is a popularity contest, which is what it’s supposed to be. It’s also very entertaining. So people who say it starting to suck because they are close-minded shouldn’t comment. Drizzt or Shrike can win there is no auto-winner. You’ve got deity’s who can intervene and you’ve got time travel oh well. no definite 100% victor.
We must always remember, Drizzt doesn’t know how to lose! If the fight become desperate he becomes the Hunter, who has his speed, reflexes, and senses increased to a super human level. He would be able to sense where the Shrike would appear for unexplained reasons, his senses while he is the Hunter make no sense as they are so advanced. Maybe it is Loth preventing him from dying since he causes so much Chaos, and she is the god of chaos so she would obviously support him, if secretly. It could be his god supporting him, since she has been shown to honor him more then once. Also we cannot forget that he now carries Taulmaril, which shoots arrows fast and powerful as lightning, and can penetrate almost anything imaginable, and there are an unlimited supply of these arrows. While in the hunter he would be able to predict where the Shrike would appear and have an arrow fired from his bow and hitting it just as it appeared. Plus if he got Khazid’hea back from the moonwood elves (he lent to them so they could study it) he would be able to quite easily cut the Shrike to pieces, seeing as how this sword can cut through ANYTHING. All in all while this would almost certainly be his hardest fight ever, and he would likely have permanent injuries for the rest of his life. He would be able to win against the Shrike.
Glad I could give you some form of amusement. I think we all forget that’s what this is about sometimes
I love running through these comments myself.
For everyone still voting for Drizzt with some argument, I think you may be forgetting the small detail of “manipulating time”.
Example: “Boy, I don’t like that sharp, pointy object flying in my general direction, I think I’ll bounce time just a bit so I can remove that arm before it starts swinging at me!”
Speed, swordsmanship, and all the skill in the world is kinda hard to match when it all means nothing against a shifting flow of time.
Then again, with Big Squiddy and Sir Impalesalot gone from the competition, with Aslan being popped out of existence… well this competition may get more interesting after this round, even if somewhat unrealistic in the results.
(P.S. Drizzt still dies. Just sayin’)
Exactly!!!
Isn’t it nearly impossible to correctly compare one characters abilities to another characters abilities when they live in completely different realities?
The Shrike lives in a universe that has it’s rules. Drizzt lives in a universe that has a different set of rules.
How can an honest comparison be made? There simply is no basis for a comparison. How do we know that magic as it is known in the DnD universe doesn’t completely incapacitate the Shrike? We don’t, magic doesn’t exist in the Hyperion Universe. And if it did, it’s simply not comparable to magic in the DnD universe. Inversely, how do we know if DnD forms of magic reflect off the Shrike and kill everything else instantly, we don’t. Could you argue that it does? Sure, why not, this is all speculation anyways.
My point is there is no way to truly justify your argument(for the Shrike or Drizzt), other than what you feel might occur.
The only fights in these matches that can probably be given an honest comparison are those characters that come from the same books (e.g. Aragorn and Gandalf, Hermione and Dumbledore). And those are fairly easy to determine.
So that being said, I say vote for who you like. If you are a fanboy of some character, then vote for them, go for it, who cares. I voted for the Shrike, cause it’s cool. Just as I voted for Jaime Lannister because he is a heck’uva lot more interesting than Cthulhu.
Anyone else find it amusing that the Shrike’s match-ups have been so unpredictable? Good job staying in character!
Yeah, you know, I have to agree with Jasonkc25. Putting these characters up against each other is ridiculous. That stated, even the outcome has some lore points. First, Drizzt is a little under 80, not 200+, second, he can lift Aegis-fang with general ease. Now I’m not using these facts to prove any point, I just thought they merited saying.
From what I can see, this Shrike-kill-everything-machine would annihilate all the Companions of the Hall. But honestly, this is more a popularity contest than anything. If it weren’t, if it were as serious a discussion as some people on this thread seem to think it is, why not just say “Superman and Goku show up with Palpatine, Lucifer, and Galactus…” you get where I’m going with this. Seems a bit ridiculous to take it seriously.
Having over a mile and a half to walk home and nothing more pleasant to think on, I was inspired to try this writing-out-a-scenario lark…hopefully to short and amusing effect. This assumes Drizz is on his own and that the Shrike is ‘caged’ to the dimension/area of space/time being fought in (which it must be for there to be a fight at all). It is also very silly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Drizzt looked up at 10″+ of razor-edged killing machine. Eons ago, in some first forest, his distant ancestors would have laid their pointy ears back as their eyes went this wide, and produced a very similar sound:
“meep.”
They would also have done what he did next: finding a branching structure suddenly nearby as talons flashed for his side, instinct took over. Drizzt flashed up the Shrike’s surface like a squirrel.
The Hunter remembered this.
Blades into chink in shell. Disembowel. Kill.
-but there were no chinks, no heinous plates or dragon scales, just more pointy bits. The Hunter snarled, dodging lethal sweeps that seemed almost lazy in the heat of battle and attempting a stab at the thing’s eyes before swinging down over its shoulder, twisting in the midair instant between footholds to avoid losing a quartet of ribs. Something told him never to fully break contact with the creature – working on instinct, the Hunter pushed with his fingertips, sheathing one blade then the other as his handholds switched then flattening himself gracefully into the space between large spikes on the Shrike’s back. The Hunter’s ears tried to flatten themselves at the sound of razorwire against mail, but the small spikes were little inconvenience through a warrior’s clothes and focus. Frustrated by its opponent‘s lack of any killable surfaces, the Hunter left Drizzt braced against large spines whilst the humanoid construct flailed and bucked around the way all humanoids with an itch in that spot have done since the dawn of time.
Oh my Goddess, Drizzt thought, it’s going to-
He braced himself harder as the world lurched and the ground rushed up to meet him.
Fortunately the large spikes were harder than any known metal and of a size to impale a hefty man; they sank into the ground a bit, but the distribution of weight over a humanoid form held the Shrike suspended like a fakir on a bed of nails, elf safely cradled between its theoretical shoulderblades. The Shrike rolled, bucked, drummed its heels and tried to dislocate its joints enough to get at the curled Drizzt, still grimly braced and hanging on. The drow caught his breath as the Shrike stood again, then blinked as he found himself facing…another Shrike. Drizzt instinctively leant up and snatched at a cloth – no, a towel – caught on his Shrike’s shoulder, and flung it at the other’s face. His instinct was correct: the thing, built on human lines, depended on sight and reached to free its eyes…shredding the towel into a hopeless, tangling blizzard of threads.
“Hey!” Drizzt cried, just about grasping what was going on as his Shrike’s shoulder clanged off the other’s struggling elbow. “That’s not possible! You can’t shift planes and cross timestreams after this fight to arrive during the fight, because if you didn’t shift during this fight – taking me with you – the fight won’t end for me to be off you so you can travel to whilst I was on you to get me off…and if there were more than one of you before this moment in Time on this plane you’d have arrived before the fight so I’d never be on you, having been picked off by the you that arrived before the you that made the mistake-” Drizzt panted a bit, “-who nonetheless had to exist for this situation to exist and exist in a singular state to make the mistake…therefore I submit that there is only one of you and my head hurts.”
The other Shrike vanished in a puff of logic.
Drizzt tensed, but the Shrike under him seemed to have stopped moving entirely. After a anxious pause, Drizzt carefully bounced up to the thing’s head on the flats of the spikes and peered into its eyes, which now shone with a blue tint where before they had been deep as blood.
‘CRITICAL PARADOX ERROR/PARADOXICAL CRITIC ERROR,’ stated a voice from nowhere, almost giving Drizzt a heart attack. ‘HEADMAN CUE SIX ACTIVATED: SHRIKE IN SAFE MODE.’
Well, that sounded hopeful. Drizzt looked down at the ground. His logical brain told him it was an easy jump away. His logical brain said he’d climbed up there somehow and therefore there had to be a way down. Instinct, however, had done most of the fighting, and his heart was still beating hard. If he’d had a tail, it would still have been fluffed.
“Heeelp,” he wailed, all confidence to jump down from the branching, spiky construct fled with the urge to fight. “Heeeeelp…”
His friends gathered round the feet of the defeated monstrosity.
“Oh, not again,” said Wulfgar.
“He was born under a rock,” Regis pointed out, and sighed. “I’ll go get the fire brigade.”
I agree to what your are saying to a point, I think you can still make an honest comparison based on what you know and what you have seen. Although the two characters come from separate fictitious universes, the creators of those characters and their knowledge base come from the same universe. Therefore you have some basis on where to start. For instance you know what a sword can do. You know the type of damage a man wielding a sword can do. although magic is in and of itself not of this world the effects that magic cause are typically things that we can grasp and understand. In addition to this in any good book about magic their are typically laws and rules that govern it.
The same can be said for scifi. The things that happen in many scifi books are so fantastical and do not take into account real science. Many people might even call those things magic because the abilities and the effects are so out of place from what we see in the physical world. However the effects that they cause can be easily understood.
Let us assume that the elf who is essentially a very fast small man with a magic sword were to square off against an advanced robot who is made of spikes and blades. Let us assume for the sake of argument that the magic sword is able to damage the Robot, giving the man a small chance of success. I do mean small because you are talking about a machine that is bigger faster and stronger. The only way for this man to win is to completely and totaly slice the robot to bits or incapacitate it in some way. The only way for the Shrike to win is to do the same. The question is physically, who has the easiest job.
The Shrike would clearly have the easiest task because he is bigger stronger and faster and knows where to strike to incapacitate the elf.( The elf is essentially a humanoid that can be decapatated, heart pulled out, intrails ripped out so on and so forth) By the same token the elf does not know where to strike and even if he did he would have to bypass the armor protecting the Shrike. Assuming that he could is one thing, assuming that he could do so easily is a totaly different matter. If the elfs magic sword were to hit a shield would it totaly slice through the shield cutting the arm off of the person wielding the shield. Possible but not probable. In addition to this you are talking about the shrike. and advanced robot, wich is more than likely made of advanced alloys. Cant we make stronger more durable metals in the 20th century as compared to what we made back in the 13th century or 3000 bc. So I have no doubt that this Shrike would be made of metal much more stronger than anything we could produce. In addition to this assuming that he could do slice through the shrike with his magic sword is one thing assuming that he could do so easily is another. So he must find a weakness, most likely the head. A head that he could not easily reach because the shrike stands 3 meters tall. He must slice the shrikes head off. more than likely with one blow. Its hard to believe he would get another shot. and he must do that after being slowed to a snails pace. Not just improbable. totally unbelievable. There is not that much suspension of belief in the world.
The only chance the elf would have is to use some powerful magical spell or device and hope that its effect took hold before the Shrike realized it was a threat.
The Shrike would be able to dodge those arrows as easily as he dodged lasers in the book Hyperion. The shrike would slow time around Drizzt so much that it would appear to the shrike as if he Drizzt were not moving and the lightling arrows were moving in slow motion. THe shike would then vivasection Drizzt.
If Drizzt god gave him the abilities that Fedman Kassaud had when he defeated the shrike then I believe that Drizzt could win. Fedman Kassuad a member of FORCE, and its greatest warrior, was given a special force field suit that allowed him to control time just like the Shrike and gave him some protection from the shrikes attacks. Fedman Kassaud could move threw time and slow it down and speed it up just like the Shrike, and it offered him some but not total protection against the Shrike. If Drizzt had that ability. perhaps a magical version of that ability then he could fight with the shrike on almost even terms. He would then need every weapon at its disposal, to give him a chance at winning the fight. I suspect that the confrontation would kill him either way because the Shrike aint no joke.
I’m all for Drizzt. Yes, yes the Shrike should “obviously” win. But that means Cthulhu should “obviously” win, and the final battle should “obviously” be between the Shrike and Cthulhu. Bah, I say! Where’s the fun in pitting gods against each other? Where’s the surprise? I will be voting against all the big dogs from now on.
In the previous Shrike battle, I voted Dent, simply because impossible opponents are the only kind he can beat (Hermione, on the other hand, would’ve slaughtered Dent). In contrast, Drizzt is a more normal kind of hero – sure, he takes out big nasties, and he succeeds where it’s unlikely… but he never outright stops obeying the laws of the universe he’s written in. The Shrike works perfectly well within those rules, and easily takes him down.
Shrike won’t necessarily win against, say, Ged, who has his own version of universe-bending power. So, people who just want to make sure the Shrike doesn’t go farther: DON’T PANIC.
FK, you may not have to vote against the big dogs, seems like most of them are going down. Aslan/Kvothe is still neck-and-neck, and I’m not counting Cthulhu out just yet, but The Shrike just lost by 13 votes out of almost 18k.
Just a 13 vote margin? That is an epic battle. It may be nothing compared to the ensuing battle over the recount. How will we handle the chads?
The horror.
I love this game!
YES! My other favorite character Jaime Lannister is doing well against Squidward. Dare I hop a Jaime and Drizzt Final?
Unbelievable. The Shrike is an intergalatic, time-warping, invulnerable killing machine.
Drizzt is an elf with a sun allergy.
I want a recount.
I agree. This, actually, is a pretty terrible write up. First, the “Lloth, this thing is heavy!” line; whomever wrote this line obviously hasn’t read very far into the series, or at least read it in a VERY long time. In previous battles Wulfgar and the gang just stepped in too help, why not now? As well, the dialogue is just terrible, and sounds like it was written by a 13 year old fanboy. Honestly, I was really excited when I was turned on to this tournament, but, and no offense to all of the people that have worked so hard to make this possible, it’s a pretty big disappointment from where I’m sitting :\
Thanks! Make sure to read the next one.
Change the Drizzt picture, please. I’m pretty sure the current one was drawn by a left handed 12-year-old who read the first chapter of the last book. Close enough anyways.
http://i41.tinypic.com/dr8nf8.png
Man, this is hysterical…it is actually worse than the old Spiderman vs Superman arugments.
And with that…
My dad can beat up your dad
Hee hee. Oh, happy day. The evil, time-hopping, highest-seeded, super-robot of malevolence, destruction, and absolute terror…goes down to the most adorably sweet-hearted elf ever dreamed up.
This is just so absurd it somehow pleases me. Ha ha! Yes, why not? Drizzt ftw! Drizzt versus Jaime finale! Ha ha haaaa…why, if enough people view this (and the numbers are rising, it seems!) we may even get a Drizzt/Jaime bromance on the fanfic sites before the end of April!
lawlz. I love it.
Drizzt vs Jaime! Yes! This win by Drizztvs Shrike is reminiscent of the 1980 USA vs USSR Olympic Hockey Match. A commentator should be saying “Do you believe in Miracles?” I know I’m dating myself.
Middle school kids and their parents who like ASOFAI Will be voting for Jaime and Drizzt.
GRRM has been contributing entries to this. Maybe RA Salvatore will contribute a scenario
BTW, I have a plausible scenario. Lolth captures and rusts the Shrike in the Astral Plane. Why? As Jarlaxle says, Drizzt is Lolth’s most loved and favored Drow Elf. Lolth may even masquerade as Meilliki to suit her purposes.
Here’s the end of the scenario. Drizzt and Shrike flash out of existence. Regis,Bruenor, and Wulfgar wait an agonizing few seconds. Then…a rusted hunk of twisted metal appears wrapped in gooey strands. Next a platinum haired woman appears is cradling the severely injured Drizzt with tenderness. The three cannot see the woman’s face. Soft chanting is heard from her. Drizzt’s injuries disappear and he slowly gains consciousness. The woman turns around and they are not sure if they see a beautiful Drow female or Meilikki with a unicorn both illusions flash before them. “My Lady?”, one of them shouts. The platinum haired woman enigmatically smiles and disappears.
“The 4 armed thing…” says Drizzt,”I should not have survived..” Gouges that should have been fatal were fading aches. Nonetheless he is weary and sore. He remembered seeing a blinding light and feeling weightless and at peace.”must be Death..what have I been fighting?’
“You didn’t see the woman?” Wulfgar asks. Drizzt shakes his head.
“No matter. The next match is going to be a tough one. You best read up on this person called Ged, a powerful mage, He has no Crystal Shard but he is more powerful than any Magic User I’ve seen in our Realm.” Regis pipes in.
“This Ged defeated Aragorn, a skilled and honorable warrior.” Wulfgar says with sadness. “I salute his shade.”
So, the 4 are on to recover and develop a Strategy. Drizzt also understands he must make his own fortune the next time.
If Radamanth Nemes could not defeat the Shrike, and she was a “newer” version, there is simply no way for Drizzt with any number of allies to handle it. But alas, I do not have the temporal abilities of the Shrike to go back in time to vote in its favor!
My guess is that the Shrike probably isnt really dead, since anyone that dies in Drizzt’s world always seems to come back to life anyway.
Once again for all of you Hyperion illiterate people you could not strand The Shrike in the astral plane. He is able to move threw space and time and in different dimensions. Shrike could pull you out of the Astral plane. Kill you and then leave your dismembered corpse in the astral plane. It was silly to vote for Drizzt in this competition if you actually thought he could win in a physical confrontation. Maybe with powerful magic you could have destroyed the shrike but quit it with this Astral Plane foolishness
Wow hah hah I thought these cage matches were to see which characters had more fans…but here you are taking them way too seriously XP
I’d never even heard of the series. But thanks to this battle, I kind of want to read it now.
At the same time, Drizzit has more deus ex in his pockets than just about any character ever. The only other person who could defeat an immortal time traveling robot with nothing but a sword and deus ex would be Richard Rahl… if he ever got untied long enough to fight.
John -
Drizzt won here because he’s a well-loved character. However badassed, invincible and implacable a killing machine the Shrike may be, Drizzt is beloved. He won because his fans love him and wanted to see him win.
Read the books Homeland, Exile and Sojourn if you want to know why he’s so well loved. (There are a bunch of other Drizzt books out there, including the Icewind Dale trilogy that started it all, but those three I mentioned are by far the best.)
Drizzt is only slightly more popular than the Shrike it seems. He pulled it out of the hat at the 11th hour. Last time I checked though Hyperion won a Hugo award. It is one of my favorite books of all time. It is deep though. I wonder how deep Forgotten realm books are. I dont mind Drizzt winning I just wanted to here a plausible story as to how he could win. I must admit I have heard two now so I am satisfied. Originally all I heard was a bunch of Drizzt can do it, he just has to nonsense.
Perhaps the invincible and implausible time avatar of Deus Machina accidentally touched some magic or holy item on Drizzt and suffered a sudden BSOD.
Goodbye to the top seeded uber character through popularity power.
Ok Drizzt wears his bracers on his feet, Wulfgar is not upset about Cattibrie, Drizzt doesnt stand still when he fights the second his opponent dissapears darkness globe and slip into shadows. I Personally have never heard of other dude so im not going to make a judgement call on who would win.