/lit/ - Literature

Sohrab vs his Dad

>>16922461
I just looked that up, holy shit it's dark. Also strangely familiar. Are there any other works in history that have mirrored it?

>>16922441
Ahab v moby d

>>16922441
Bazarov V Pavel because of how pathetic it all turns out to be

>>16922441
Great books dont necessarily have good duels. Drizzt Dourden books have great sword fights.

Also Master of Go by Kawabata

>>16922441
The correct answer is obviously the duel between Wolodyjowski and Kmicic in The Deluge, which was also adapted into the greatest duel in cinematic history:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljExTEPNFnM

>>16922441
Belano and that critic in The Savage Detectives

>>16922901
>the greatest duel in cinematic history

>>16922441
Rabbit vs Duck

>>16922901

>greatest duel in cinematic history

I've seen better fake swordplay at renfests tbqh.

My vote for best duel in cinematic history probably goes to the spear duel in the Hidden Fortress. The two dudes actually know enough completely real spear-fighting technique to make a convincing go of it, albeit with the requisite cinematic embellishments.

>>16922987
>>16922901
https://vimeo.com/7051676

>>16922441
Moran vs Some guy asking questions

>>16922441
Roland vs Olivier in La Légende des Siècles, no contest. They fight for a few days until one of their swords break. IN order to waste no time fetching a new one, they decide to uproot two trees and continue the duel fighting with tree trunks

>>16922901
>manlet winning swordfight, ever
Haha nope

>>16922964
>>16922987
To be fair, the swordfighting is purposefully exaggerated, but the actors here were actually fighting with real swords. In fact, one of the actors was almost killed when he messed up the choreography (and was almost decapitated as a result).

Pechorin vs. Grushnitsky but only after you've read the part about the dead horse

>>16923069

Meh. What really seals it for me is the nearly total absence of footwork from >>16922901

Whatever the director thought they were trying to do, they really failed at depicting a sword fight.

It's Anakin and Obi Wan obviously but in truth it's Aeneas and Turnus

Alexander Archway vs Gaul is probably the best duel in modern fiction. Long story short, Archway is being artificially aged and grows older as the fight continues whereas Gaul grows younger.
I won’t spoil the ending but its heart-wrenching stuff

>>16922461
Based. One of my favorites
>>16923157
>I won’t even dream of the corpses you left behind! I won’t!

>>16923082
this

>>16923116
Ah well, to each his own.

>>16923157

Sounds interesting. Can I get a source?

In return, a duel that outlives the universe. The prose might not make it up to /lit/ standards, but the scope and scale are ambitious.

>>16923207

yep

Harry Potter vs Voldemorte

>>16922441
True patricians know that most kino duel in literature is the duel between Pechorin and Grushnitsky in A Hero of Our Time.

>>16923227

if you want to talk about wizard duels, I've got a doozy for you

>>16922901
>>16922987
>>16923235
Pechorin's Duel also happens to be the greatest duel in cinematic history as well.

>>16922441
A duel so kino the author himself later died in it a second time.

>>16922441
A rather upside down example, the Ball and the Cross, a Chesterton novella, is about a duel between a devout Christian and an atheist militant that keeps getting interrupted and keeps getting greater significance with each interruption.

>>16923256

Pretty fucking based yeah

The Old Man vs. Seven of Spades

Rassendyl vs Rupert of Hanzau in "The Prisoner of Zenda."

>>16922441
Don Quixote vs _________

>>16923343
the lion

>>16923227
If we're talking wizard fights, allow me to introduce you to Better Harry Potter

>>16923349
the dragon

>>16923373
the decameron

>>16923384
Uend Meill

>>16922441
The knife fight in Cities of the Plain was ok

>>16923457

you don't believe that and neither does anyone else.

That one where Drizzt fights for like 60 pages

>>16923481
It was the highlight of the book at least, certainly one of his worse efforts tho, I'll agree with that

>>16923493

I think the pond was the highlight of the book, for me.

Achilles vs Hector

>>16923273
Sounds like Les Mis

>>16922441
>not knowing it's Stavrogin v Gaganov
ngmi

>>16922901
>>16923256
That's not the duel from Rob Roy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERmM5l2ceoY

Honorable mention goes to Kurosawa (>>16922987 , >>16922997 ) and the classic Errol Flynn/Basil Rathbone duels (Rathbone being an Olympic level fencer).

>>16922901
The characters made this one perfect. Kmita's pride at the start and his descent into hopelessness and frustration was great. I wish I could find the whole movie with subtitles, but I can only fight the first part.
As far as the choreography goes, >>16922987 is it really that far off how a cossack would fight with a sabre? It's closer to what I expect than a german instructor's fighting would look. Kmita was not a trained swordsman after all, he was little more than a bandit with a big ego at that point in the story.

>>16922901
It looks and feels dated, but it's all right. The only personally annoying thing was how each combatant mostly swung around their opponent, but that's common in movie duels.

>>16922987
>>16923069
It may be the most realistic duel. Considering the losing opponent is clearly less skilled and flails a bit, both fighters look like they're attacking with the intent to cut. They're not standing too far away from each other and they both aim for their opponent, things you typically don't see in movie duels. However, "greatest duel" carries with it more than verisimilitude and technical proficiency, so a less competent duel may still play better due to emotion, story telling beats, etc.

>>16923064

>manlet winning swordfight, ever
>hahaha nope

That reminds me of a famous duel from England in about 1600. There was this dwarf (maybe a court dwarf) and someone insulted him and he said right let's have a duel. To even things up they agreed to fight it on horseback. Mr Dwarf shot the other guy dead.

THREE COOL LITERARY DUELS NOT MENTIONED YET

>Father Zosima, Brothers Karamazov
This is the key moment from his wild youth (as he retells it). He gets into a duel in which he is mostly in the wrong. There was a thing called deloping where you fired into the ground to show you wanted to avoid bloodshed - but you generally did it first. Zosima goes one better. He lets the other guy fire at him (and miss) and THEN gives up his shot. He thereby shows that he wants to avoid hurting the other guy but he isn't doing it out of cowardice. This is the key when he suddenly turns into Kind Father Zosima.

>John Grady Cole vs. some filthy pimp (Cities of the Plain)
It's almost ridiculous coz of the long philosophical monologue that the villain indulges in while fighting. But mostly it's just sad coz JGC lets himself get cut to pieces. (Or sort of lets himself. Maybe he's just not very good at knight-fighting.)

>The contrasting German & French duels (A Tramp Abroad, by Mark Twain)
Awesome and hilarious by turns.

>>16922901
>>16922987
>>16922997
>>16923256
>>16924214
Come on now, it's time for us to admit that we know the greatest final duel in cinematic and literary history is this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZuDBJHUT-k

>>16922441
>kino
kill yourself you autistic /tv/edditor faggot.

>>16922901
>the greatest duel in cinematic history
>>16922987
>>16924214
>>16925720
Never watched Shaw Brothers

>>16923268
This, easily.

>>16924273
>As far as the choreography goes, is it really that far off how a cossack would fight with a sabre?

IIRC the cossacks were armed and trained as cavalry. On horseback, swinging a saber at a row of defenseless footsoldiers works great.
On foot, in a duel? It's a thrusting weapon. The wavy retard would've died on the first swing.

>>16924273
>I can only find the first part
Well then, today's your lucky day.
Here's part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myKjn8qMqr4
And here's Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xg6HYzFPTA&t=2722s

I'd argue that Part 1 is the far superior film (section?), mostly because Soviet censorship really did a number in their depiction of the Siege of Jasna Gora.

>>16926022
>The Wavy retard would've died on the first swing

Yeah, but Wolodyjowski isn't TRYING to kill Kmicic. He's just trying to humiliate him, and show him that he isn't as good a swordsman as he thinks he is. Hence why he doesn't take advantage of the (many) openings that Kmicic gives him.

anyone here read the duelists by Conrad? The movie was pretty good

>>16926764
Nope

>>16926764
yup, good taste my negroid

>>16922441
Paul Atreides vs Feyd-Rautha

bump

>>16922501
>Also strangely familiar.
Because it's a very common theme in Indo-European myths. For example, Cu Cuchulain kills his son in The Tain also.

Itt. Retards that don't know anything about polish saber duels.
You actually swing for the sword almost exactly like in the movie in order to pierce through the opponents guard. If you were to just try to hit his body while his guard was strong he could just swipe at your wrist, head, anything that stuck out.

>>16929743
>implying that anybody here would be willing to do research or interest themselves in something that isn't shitposting material

>>16922441
*tips fedora*

>>16924187
Turns out in Russia peak comedy and peak Nihilism coming together make peak kino, always

Diego Alatriste vs Gualterio Malatesta

Hal v Hotspur

>>16929743

I know enough HEMA and other stuff to know that polish saber as it is is practiced by HEMAfags is literally mcdojo shit.

>>16929743
In olympic fencing it is very easy to disengage in saber.

>>16929354
Fuck kind of culture did they have to spawn so many? Was father-son conflict that common back then?

>>16922441
Aischiles vs hector?

>>16923157
>>16923182
perhaps my googling skills are particularly awful today but I cannot find the story you are talking about. Please give the title of the book and author?

>>16933094

I'm curious, too. What is this from?

>>16922441
I propose Stavrogin's duel against Gaganov. He manages to drive him even crazier after reluctantly challenging him in the first place.

>>16925781
Take your fucking meds schizo

>>16932311
>>16922501
King David doesn't duel his son necessarily, but his son does lead a rebellion against him and dies in it
Father vs Son has been a dramatic conflict format for quite some time

>>16923069
>In fact, one of the actors was almost killed when he messed up the choreography (and was almost decapitated as a result).
No fucking way these sabres were sharpened anon.

>>16922668
This, but I wouldn't say it's pathetic. It's more like a realised camaraderie and mutual respect.

>>16922441
Hector v Achilles

>>16922901
>>16922987
Blocks your path

You high literature fags can posture all you like, but there's no duel like the climax of Princess Bride and deep inside you all know it.

>>16929743
>implying anyone that's not Polish or a professional fencer knows anything about Polish saber duelling

>>16935146
I know about Polish Saber Dueling and I'm Ukrainian

>>16935146
>>16935340
I heard the historical art is basically lost and it was recreated by HEMA enthusiasts on the basis of experimenting with what makes sense in a fight with this type of weapon.

>>16922441
and then the ubergropen fuher rides in and takes over. fucking based movie

>>16935395
I don't think that it was completely lost, but there couldn't have been many saber dueling enthusiasts who survived the clusterfuck that was 16th-18th century Poland.

>>16934416
HE SAID IT!!!

Shut the fuck up bitch.

>>16925720
>>16935082
You have to go back.

>>16922461
Do you know a good english translation of the shahnameh?

>>16922441
Rostam and Sohrab. I actually cried at the end.

>>16935448
Fuck, I meant the 17th century (though the Polish Golden Age arguably ended with Zygmunt III, who began his rule in the 16th century and started most of the policies that led to the Commonwealth's decline.)
The 17th Century really wasn't kind to the Commonwealth--you had Khmielnitsky, immediately followed by the Deluge, immediately followed by like, two Ottoman Invasions. No way the Commonwealth would survive for much longer.

>>16922441
This, for sure.

>>16935082
>not posting the actual best
anon...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBC5Z_bH74U