Suvudu Cage Match! 2011 Bracket
Cage Match 2011 is back with a vengeance! With Rand al Thor declared the big winner in last year’s Championship, it’s time for a new champion to arise. So we have a whole new slew of science fiction and fantasy heroes–and villains–ready to raise their swords… or wands… or claws… you get the picture.
David and Joe share the big reveal. Who do you think will make it past the round of 32?
VOTING BEGINS MARCH 7 at 11AM EST.
Check out the first match here
@johthohar
I would not say I am tired of the WoT fan specifically but for fans who vote blindly and illogically. I may be a FanBoy but I am an “informed” FanBoy and I am informed on whom I vote for. Hell, let’s vote for Jacob Black to appease all the crazy Twilight girl fans if we are going to be that silly. Perrin is not powerful and there is no way he should even get pass the second round. Perrin is part of a a great series but there has to be some measure of reality and logic. How could Perrin defeat Quick or Paul? At least you admit that he would not beat Quick. You show some common sense. ” Just because it isn’t that dark, gritty fatalistic fantasy that’s so popular these days doesn’t make it unworthy of praise. That being said, it’s true. Even with ta’veren influence Quick would beat Perrin hands down. Anyone who can escape the wrath of a god like Shadowthrone twice is pretty badass.” I agree with all that you said at the end of your post.
@Shadow’s Bane
If you think this is just a popularity contest then you should be even more silly and vote like a silly, misinformed Twilight girl for Jacob Black. Ahaaaa, ahaaaaa,
@mujtaba
Three jeers for Perrin!
It all begins tomorrow . . .
I’m psyched. I can barely wait.
I hope that more people will approach these decisions logically, instead of just voting for whatever character they like best. Fanboying it drains much of the fun, intelligent, imaginative part to these cage matches away. There was too much of that last year, with Jaime defeating Cthulhu and such.
I, for one, will vote Vin just because Sanderson’s exceptional job with WoT and I know a lot others who would do the same(as long as she stays out of Perrins way).
I also agree with those who say this is a popularity contest. Even Suvudu would agree. That’s the only way to justify Quick Ben’s and few others’ presence. Why would Quick even think of fighting Jon or Perrin or Ninefingers if it’s otherwise?
@PerrinIsWeak.
lol Dude…Silly Twilight fan Girl….that quite an insult….But dude no matter how much powerful the character is…The Character with most votes win….that is what is meant by A Popularity contest….If u still insist that Suvudu Cage Matches are not Populatity contest …then u r the one Behaving like a Silly Little Twight Fan Girl.
Any one will vote for the character one likes or the character one has read about…instead of voting for some random character…that bloody human logic.
@resh
Of couse every WoT fan will also vote for vin…coz of BS works in WoT.
@AHEM
You are exactly right. Fanboying takes a lot of fun out of the fights and people think it should be a popularity contest. If that is the case then the Twilight girls would go crazy and bombard Jacob Black with votes. That would be sweet justice for the WoT Fanboys to have a taste of their own medicine!
So let me get this staight. The “Cage Matches” between fictional characters, should be aproached in a logical and itelligent way?
I mean c’mon. get off you high horses here people. Cage matches are nothing but irrevernt fun. Every person here is a fanboy or girl. The fools running around saying I dont like WOT I hope it loses and anyone who votes for it is just a fanboy. Its pathetic that some of you think the only reasons for voting for a character is a statistical breakdown of powers.
This is all make believe, not an actual competition or even a rough fight to the death it a cage match of fictional fantasy and sci-fi characters, try not to take it to seriously
……dude if u r considering Powerful character should be the winner then Rand Won Fair in Last cage match,…..He was in the second most powerful character i.e after Aslan….u should be critizing aSoIaF fans….not us….that’s just stupidity.
What Trench said… Don’t take it too seriously, it’s all in fun. If you’re honestly voting based on logic and skill then where’s the fun in it? I think the idea of say, Jaime beating Cthulhu is hilarious. Sure, if it was completely logical Cthulhu would probably destroy everybody since he’s pretty much a god, isn’t he? I don’t read Lovecraft.
Anyways… If the voting is done by logic, the matches are pretty much predetermined and it’s not fun at all. I think the far more interesting route is rallying behind your favorite characters and thinking up ways for them to pull off the unlikely win, not going you know, this character’s basically a demigod, he logically wins every time. Sure, Rand would logically destroy Gregor Clegane, but I wouldn’t have been too disappointed had Gregor won because that would’ve been arguably a more interesting read. Forget logic, just have fun, be a fanboy, this is basically a SFF fan website, is it not?
Well at least there are a few more women this time. But seriously, you guys do know that females do exist in sci-fi and fantasy, right? And most of the, are pretty bad ass.
Go Perrin!!!
I cant believe they Pug and Quick Ben have to fight in the round of 16. Quite possibly the best match in the whole bracket in the round of 16. Horseshit
Pug don’t stand a chance against Druss, in fact I wouldn’t be suprised if Druss wins the hole shebang.
I haven’t read the majority of the books listed here, so I don’t think it makes sense to try to do this in a “logical” fashion. I voting for the ones I’ve read and liked and voting against Jacob Black. That’s all there is to it, really.
See if you can guess my preferred challenger from my awful campaign slogan.
*ahem*
“She’s VIN it to WIN it!”
XD
Man, I am such a fanboy.
Yes, let’s get all SRS BSNS about a cage match contest which includes Tasslehoff Burrfoot and a freaking MOUSE.
My only regret is that Suvudu chose Perrin for the contest instead of Moiraine, Egwene, or Nynaeve.
@ Nathan
I’ve read all of David Gemmel’s Drenai Novels… I probably made at least one of his mortgage payments with all of his books that I bought… I was stunned for a week when he died a couple years back. Druss is a freaking awesome CHARCTER, and he is probably the most talented/skilled fighter in the field (that being, how well he fights with a weapon considering he has no innate magical or supernatural abilities and/or devices/insturments/weapons)… but in the end, he is still just a axe basher with no magical or supernatural abilites or items that would matter at all against Pug… Snaga is not going to protect him from what Pug will do… I’d far rather read a book about Druss than Pug any day of the week… but Druss would have no chance in a cage match against Pug unless he got to start off with his hand on him.
Jessemb…
I would vomit if I had to read about any of the WoT women in this cagematch… I’ve read enough about all of the browbeating and icy glares they constantly throw down to last me several lifetimes… If the last book had Rand getting treated the way these women always treat him, but this time he balefired them out of existence when they did it, I would bronze that book and make the centerpiece of my mantel arraingment…
Martin the Warrior is clearly going to win this. Nobody in the bracket can beat him.
I want to see Vin vs Lestat!
Wow… doesn’t seem like the fights have even started and already people are at each others throats. I’m just going to go sit in a corner and giggle my way through this.
I think they really need to seperate this into a magic users contest and a physical fighters contest (altho there are a few people that blur the line and you’d just have to make a decision on it, but it’d be clear that someone like Vin would fall into the physical category even if she can push and pull and etc.) I like Druss as much as the next Gemmell fan but what the heck is he really going to do against a master magician like Pug? Sure Pug would lose in a fistfight, duel, or pretty much any physical match but when you’ve got a massively powerful wizard vs. a warrior, the wizard is going to win barring some sort of “oh the warrior gets the jump on him!” baloney. I don’t think it’s really reasonable to expect any physical fighter to defeat any of the truly powerful magicians on the list (sorry but Allanon isn’t really that powerful so he doesn’t make that list). Rand al Thor won last time but it wasn’t on the basis of his sword fighting skills, formidable as they might be. And let’s face it, he’d get owned in a sword/axe fight against any number of people on this list including Druss (let alone Skilgannon, Decado, Bane, etc.)
I’m not too surprised they chose Perrin, really, its clear they won’t want a WoT character winning, so they chose one of the less powerful and less popular one, but Faile would have been a far better choice in that regard, if far harder to justify. Either way Perrin (probably) won’t win, he doesn’t have Rand’s fanbase.
Personally I’ll onyl vote for characters I know, but I won’t vote for a clear loser (Perrin vs any (non Harry-Potter) magic user, he just doesn’t stand a chance
I like the picks, but come on, Suvudu, when is Anasurimbor Kellhus going to get some love?
I am looking forward to the match-ups and seeing who makes it to the top of the heap, but I’m kind of disappointed in the roster. Only four women, out of 30 combatants? And only 7 female authors? Come on, I think we can do a little better than that.
For those of you that think Perrin has no power. Per Brandon Sanderson’s Blog:
“Perrin is an extremely skilled fighter whose very nature (being ta’veren) causes probability to warp around him and bring to him the things and people he needs at the moments he needs them. He has a power-forged hammer, the allegiance of tens of thousands of trained soldiers, and the ability to call upon hundreds of wolves if he really needed to. He is a berserker on the battlefield, and has the power to move in the world of dreams, where he has near-absolute control of his surroundings. He is guarded by Aiel warriors and two powerful Asha’man who can wield the One Power that made Rand such a force in the previous tournament.”
http://brandonsanderson.com/blog/967/Suvudu-Cage-Matches
For me, it’s not so much that I think it should be a popularity contest; rather, it’s that I don’t see how it can be anything other than a popularity contest. I don’t mean each match should be decided by book sales figures; I mean that of course everyone’s just going to vote for the character he/she thinks is cooler in any given match. Imagining how these fights might go can be a fun and creative exercise, sure, but you can’t act as though you can crunch the (usually nonexistent) numbers on these widely disparate characters and come up with a serious, meaningful result. It’s all about what the voter imagines to be more dramatic and awesome. That’s all it really can be about. And that imagination is bound to be driven by what works and characters the voter likes best. “Fanboyism” isn’t the cancer here; it’s the body.
To those not a fan of Perrin’s chances…
I ask this. Does he stand there like a buffoon not utilizing his greatest strength? Or does he attack in the world of dreams?
I don’t see many people in that entire bracket who would hold up against Perrin in Tel’aran’rhiod.
Vin vs. Lestat is my pick, I’m going with Vin to win it all, with the idea of an unlimited supply of atium. Atium wins.
I also suspect that the more even nature of the matchups this year will alleviate some of the fanboyism… some people vote for an extreme underdog just to keep an extreme favorite away from their favorite character… Arthur Dent was one of the weakest characters the cage match has seen, and he aquited himself pretty well…
If Faile were in it she’s probably have as much chance as Martin or Tasselhoff.
EVERYBODY hates Faile (bar a few, including myself). Perrin is a great choice because he’s generally liked, but there are a lot of people who don’t like him or didn’t like him for a period of time… He’s not as universally liked, so he’s got a chance but he’s not a guaranteed win. If they chose, say, Mat or Moiraine or somebody they’d destroy like Rand did. If they’re gonna put a WoT woman in, if they want a challenge they should put in Egwene. She’s not universally loved.
I would love to see Vin vs Paul in the finals. That would be crazy awesome.
I confess that I am a WOT fan boy (also ASOIAF one). I gotta say Perrin ain’t gonna make it past Paul. If Paul can get out of the first round (and I think he pounds Allanon flat) then he cannot be stopped until the final four. I mean really! Dude has got sandworms. Sandworms>Wolves anyday
I don’t know what you guys are talking about. Katniss is OBVIOUSLY going to take this. She’s arguably one of the most real, badass people.
I’m sorry people. Perrin or Vin is going to win. I honestly see this being Vin VS Perrin at the end. The WoT series is to close to conclusion and Sanderson has become to popular of an author for it not to happen imo. I see all this argueing that people should vote on skill and power, but all these contests have ever been is a popularity contest.
Until the last match, then its like…really how can they expect us to suspend disbelief at this point and think X could beat Y? Then maybe, MAYBE will it be voted on by skill, power or whatever and not popularity.
Meh it cut me off early for some reason.
To finish, because the series is almost over its going to drive the fans out of the woodworks, both for WoT as a series and for Sanderson himself.
Not to throw a wrench into everybody’s fangeekery, but where are the women? I mean, seriously: out of 30 contestants, we’ve only got four female contenders, and at least two of them are under the age of 18, so technically still girls. Katniss Everdeen is awesome, but are the Mighty and August Suvudu Overseers so strapped for women that they’re pitting a 16-year-old girl against the masters of the ages?
I’ve seen a couple comments raising (and dismissing) WoT females, but there are a lot of tough, smart, interesting women in fantasy who deserve to have their chance in the ring. If you want to go classic, why not Morgaine (C.J. Cherryh’s Morgaine Cycle), Lauren Olamina (Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Talents), or just Eowyn (LoTR)? If you’re looking for something more recent, The Crow Girls (Charles de Lint), Cimorene (Patricia Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles), or Mara (Raymond Feist & Janny Wurts Empire trilogy) are all strong candidates. In the young woman category, there’s Sabriel (Garth Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy), Arya Stark or Daenerys Targaryen (George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire), or Aerin Dragon-Killer (Robin McKinley’s Hero and the Crown).
This isn’t a complete list by any stretch of the imagination…just some quick ideas. The point is, you don’t have to be a semi-immortal god-king with shoulders the width of the Ephel Duath to know what to do in a fight.
It is dawn on the cool spring day of the Suvudu tourney. All around the field, confident champions of their respective lands are sharpening swords and preparing magics for the upcoming trial, of which there can be only one victor. And each contestant knows absolutely that they are the one who will prevail.
It all falls silent as the Druid known as Allanon falls to his knees. The contestants are aware the presence of a mighty Being has joined them. Instinctively they know this Being to be Terry Brooks, Creator and Lord of Allanon’s home world.
Allanon begins to offer praises to his creator, for surely he cannot fail with such power on his side! He is stopped short, however, when he senses another presence enter the field. All instantly know this Being as Robert Jordan, and Perrin falls on his face in rapture.
Other Creators make their presence known now. The one known as Stephen R. Donaldson has arrived, as well as the mighty GRRM. The air seems ready to ignite from the sheer power of the gods known as Erickson, Herbert, and Weis-N-Hickman as they join the field.
Soon all of the Gods have come. Save one. Eru Iluvatar, known in some realities as Tolkien, joins the field last. His grace and power are immeasurable, so much so that the other creators themselves bow to him, for he is their father, and is Lord Of The Rings.
Tolkien speaks with mighty voice “You are all of my bloodline, and I shall not allow this butchery to commence.” Tolkien then takes the cowering Gollum in his mighty hand, and holds the pitiful creature up high. “The day shall belong to Smeagol, for his torment and suffering have inspired you all.”
Allanon and Pug(milamber) are in my opinion the two most powerful characters on the list. Though if put on this bracket Dr. Manhattan from watchmen would destroy them all.
Ok, so I’ve not read many of the ooks and most would consider me a WoT fanboy here, lol. No worries, I’d also say that about everyone else in here. To everyone who has mentioned that Character X vs. Character Y would be a better matchup, you are right… and you have no idea what these bracketology systems do. Let’s face it, bracket match-ups are always Strongest vs. Weakest and then 2nd vs. 2nd-to-last and so on. In this matchup, I personally think Pug would wipe the floor unless written otherwise, but I’m not the one writing this so I really have nothing to say about it. It’s fun, it’s cute, but it does nothing to the series or the characters… if they die here, they are not dead in their individual stories… live in the fun.
Still wondering how pug will ever beat paul, in my eyes the strongest contestant. My hope is quick Ben, also a more powerfull wizard then pug, especially if you have read the crippled god. But I think that Steven Erikson is to complex to have enough followers. so it probebly will be jon snow vs Perrin aybarra. Last Year was a big joke with Jamie Lannister in the final( I understand that many people like the series but come on there is not one character in ASOIAF that should reach the second round let stand the final. So it;s only a popularity contest, real power doesn’t matter. a shame but he what else do you expect.
@Radmer van der Mei
I actually disagree that there aren’t ANY characters in ASOIAF that could stand on their own strength as opposed to just the power of the fans. Maybe that’s not exactly Jaime Lannister and Jon Snow, I fully admit. The character that most comes to mind for me is Melisandre. Not really a main character, but still powerful as all heck.
What is sad is that Beowulf the one and only Beowulf seems to be losing out to all of Martin’s Fan Boys. Snow is cool, but he by no means could rip the arm off a monster. lets get some logical thinking going.
and in that vein support martin!
@Gemini, Ok you’re right on that one and it’s also quite logic that ASOIAF had a contestant because it’s a well written and very populair fantasy serie. But my point is that there is no real contest because of the popularity of some characters and there fanbase.
oh, wow, tland and the pack…..
don’t forget, Goldeneyes has to make it to the last battle….so even if he was in trouble, the pattern would twist to keep him alive till then. This has been, and always shall be a pop contest. Deal.
BTW, who wants a CREATURE CAGE MATCH!???? It would have to include the worm from Dune…..Alien from Alien…..who/what else?
@tiltingwindward
I agree. It is total crap that they can’t come up with more than four female characters (and only 6 female authors) out of thirty. I think the next cage match should be all women, if only to show there are plenty of them around. In fact, I’ll give them a hand and start the list:
Firekeeper (Jane Lindskold, Firekeeper series)
Ophelia, Vivacia or Tintanglia (Robin Hobb, Liveship Traders)
Elphaba (Gregory Maguire, Wicked)
Ishbel Brunelle or Ravenna (Sara Douglass, Dark Glass Mountain)
Karis (Laurie J. Marks, Fire Logic/ Earth Logic)
Parrish Plessis (Marianne de Pierres, Parrish Plessis novels)
Shan Frankland (Karen Traviss, City of Pearl, etc.)
Honor Harrington (David Weber, Honor Harrington series)
Beka Rosselini-Metadi (Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald, Mageworlds)
Loup Garron (Jaqueline Carey, Santa Olivia)
Cordelia Naismith (Lois McMaster Bujold, Shards of Honor, etc)
Margaret Bain (Sherri S. Tepper, The Margarets)
Thursday Next (Jasper Fforde, Thursday Next novels)
Deenie (Karen Miller, The Reluctant Mage)
That is pulling books randomly off my bookshelf. And look, I also found lots of female authors, too!
Hell, a bunch of the book series already up there could have included female charries instead…
Aviendha (Wheel of Time)
Brienne of Tarth (A Song of Ice and Fire)
Tattersail (The Malazan Book of the Fallen)
Eowyn (The Lord of the Rings)
Minerva McGonagall (The Harry Potter Series)
Mariel of Redwall (The Redwall Series)
Also, I’m just saying…at SOME point, Luthien Tinuviel has to show up. She’s a single-handed argument against sexism in Tolkien’s works, and even judging by the little we know about her, she could conceivably give even Quick Ben or Allanon a run for his money.
@Jesterakaozman
I’m going to assume that these battles have no bearing on the universe that each character is drawn from and as such once this cage match an event that takes place outside the reality of all of these universes im going to assume that the characters would be placed back into their world safeand sound meaning being need at the last battle wont save Perrin, besides each and every one of these character has an important destiny in their world. Besides it’s not a battle of who’s destiny is more important its an actual battle where prowess of arms, tactics, and special abilities are the deciding factor.
Also the Dune Sand Worm would just about own everything.
man I would have loved to see the Dominator and/or any 1 of the 10 who were taken from The Black Company series included….oh well maybe next time!
I’d like to say that I’m extremely disappointed in this year’s bracket. All fanboys/girls aside, there are a lot of people who haven’t read the books for a lot of the characters and so they depend upon the stats and writeups from the Suvudu team… HOWEVER, the Suvudu team is constantly leaving out extremely important facts about characters and severely underrating them, thus giving extremely inaccurate writeups and swaying the decisions of the “unread” voters. So, as far as I’m concerned, the only matches I’m voting on anymore are the ones with Jon Snow in them. The bracket is screwed anyway so I might as well push my favorite to the top.