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Hello everyone! I have a very nit-picky observation/ question, so I thought about posting it on reddit, but at the same time, I thought maybe it's the right reason to sign up for this forum. Re-reading the Way of Kings I found something that bothered me even on my previous read, and that is the inconsistency surrounding Gavilar’s reputation as a swordsman and duelist, and his later loss of appetite for these activities. In the Way of Kings, but I’m reasonably sure that in the next two books as well, there are several mentions about Gavilar being a master swordsman, someone who like and engaged in dueling. On the other hand, we are told about 0 such duels, yet we are told on numerous occasions that Dalinar was the fighter and the duelist, while Gavilar was the leader. Presumably in their effort to conquer Kholinar and becoming Highprince, Gavilar did his fair share of fighting, we know almost nothing about these years, but we do see quite a few glimpses of the unification wars, yet at that point Gavilar is already transitioning more and more towards being only a political leader, and maybe a war-strategist, but certainly not a duelist. Few quotes: “It was said few men could rival Gavilar Kholin’s swordsmanship” – Szeth – Way of Kings- Prologue Not an exact quote “You didn’t duel a Highprince. It just wasn’t something that’s done” – Adolin – Way of Kings (There are also references in the series, that it wouldn’t be proper for a king or leader to duel someone below his station) Not an exact quote: “He started to refuse duels, you know… near the end” Elhokar to Dalinar – Way of Kings. (Sadeas has a similar comment also in Way of Kings. “Gavilar had been the leader, the momentum and the essence of their conquest, but Dalinar had been the warrior. Their opponents had surrendered to Gavilar’s rule, but the Blackthorn, he was the man who had scattered them, the one who had dueled their leaders and slain their best shardbearers” – Dalinar – Way of Kings” – Assault of the Tower plateau In the Dalinar flashbacks in Oathbringer, I clearly remember that when Tanalan (leader of the Rift) was challenged to a duel, it was obvious Dalinar would be the one taking him on, and then Tanalan asked what if he kills Dalinar? And the answer was “then Sadeas gets a crack at you”. So the option of Gavilar dueling an enemy leader, (Highprince and/or shardbearer) isn’t even entertained, and this was way back in the year 1141, towards the end of the unification wars, so towards the end of the period where we could reasonably expect Gavilar to engage in a duel. Elhokar wasn’t even born yet (only in 1147), not sure if Gavilar was already king, or just Hihgprince and the de facto leader of the Alethi, being the leader of the coalition poised to unite Alethkar. The second Rift uprising was in 1163, Gavilar stayed at home and sent Dalinar once again to deal with it. The timeline of the early wars is fuzzy, but we have at least the exact time for the Rift uprisings. Gavilar may have been a duelist in the early year, before Elhokar was born. But in the time Elhokar could remember, he was already king, and hasn’t been doing any in-person fighting on the battlefield in years. So, if he’s not challenging enemy shardbearers, who could he have dueled? It’s fairly clearly stated that challenging a Highprince was a very rare occurrence, challenging a King should be even more so by that logic. Maybe his closest allies could challenge him for friendly duels, but Dalinar and Sadeas certainly make no such remark; some of the other Highprinces maybe? Wouldn’t that be strange, a former enemy, whom he defeated in the unification wars, challenging him for a “friendly duel”. He could have dueled ardents for sport, I guess, but he would be the one challenging in those situations. All in all, I know this is a next level nitpick, but I think Gavilar couldn’t have possibly had many duels in the lifetime of his son, so it could be noticeable for Elhokar that his father lost his appetite for sword-fighting "near the end". What do you think? Am I missing something?
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Rules the Guild Wars Tournament and match ups below. The Tournament will be renewed every month to ensure that guilds don't earn the reputation of being the worst. The Guild War Tournament is a duel of Honor and Valor, no deaths will be occurring. There is another tournament going on at the same time. This is the Challenge of Champions Tournament. This tournament is to see who is the best at fighting, this will renew every month as well. To participate Challenge of Champions one will need to sign up here via quote. We high advise Rp when participating in any duel or tournament. Important Note: Separate RP Threads will be made and tagged with the name of GuildWars: GuildvGuild. Ex. GuildWars: DAvGB Rules: Guild Matchup:
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