Hades Cup Review: Naminé vs. Gilgamesh

In this category I do not believe there is much ambiguity, as Gilgamesh controlled both the physical and social flow of this fight. His mercy and challenges each respectively determined when combat truly happened. Naminé was largely on the defensive, which makes sense giving the roleplaying context of the fight. Gilgamesh also dealt the most damage in the purely numerical sense and utilized his abilities to deal with injury. 

First of all id like to say that this is yet another battle this is hard to judge, which is a good thing! Honestly when this tournament started (aroudish when I first joined the site) I kind of just assumed they’d all be rock-um-smack-em brawls to the death, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, it’s been threads like this that have challenged that assumption. The addition of a metanarrative in this battle, through Naminés internal struggle with her imposter syndrome and finding out what first looked like something fun that some of her friends liked, to actually be a really stressful and kinna horrifying experience, gave a sense of continuity that makes it more then the sum of its parts. Gilgamesh added another piece to this by proving to be more then just an antagonist and jester, but someone who challenges Naminé to overcome herself. Kudos to Malach for showing us all another side of Gilga while still keeping him in character. Naminé also demonstrated great skill in her shifting portrayal of Naminé abilities, managing to juggle not only her central struggle but also the other people she assumed the form of. This whole thread dripped with style, but my vote on S n’ S goes to Naminé
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I was and quite torn on this section. Both writers collaborated well and showed a great degree of class in taking the hits logical for their character to receive (special shout out to Nams here who took a pretty gnarly silencing attack and took the time to tie it in thematically to a previous thread), and describing their attacks with enough leeway room for their opponents. Nammers did an amazing job portraying not only the visual nature of Naminés abilities, but also the more intangible qualities that made the shapeshifting more believable. However for this section I’ve finally decided to give it to Gilgamesh on virtue of sportsmanship. It would’ve been pretty easy to justify just starting the pain train on a depressed Naminé immediately (and was even entreated to do so) and take advantage of her silenced state to bring this match to a pretty swift and unambiguous conclusion in his favor. However, Malach decided to put narrative and RP first and played along to make a far more interesting story then if things had just immediately turned to walloping. That is why my W n’ Sp vote goes to Gilgamesh.

In terms of shear brute force I believe Gilgamesh wins in terms of damage output. Each strike was an acceptable amount of damage without too much overkill. Gilgamesh did not begin the fight too heavy hitting until the proper time was necessary. His ability to switch between his different swords left little room for a weakness and showcased his combat prowess. Namine remained on the defensive for a large portion of the fight and the types of strikes given were more or less taps in the grand scheme of things. Though her moves were highly skilled, the swordsman Gilgamesh worked around the battlefield seamlessly.

Hands down I believe Namine wins this one for her quick adaptability of her surroundings and her opponent. Even though she was clearly outmatched in terms of Physical power, she used her enemies confident attitude against him to make up her combat weaknesses. Having the large variety of skills while in the form of Sally and Mulan (allowing her body to fall into separate pieces as Sally; to both scare her opponent and give her a bigger presence in battle; and Mulan's four elemental strike to counteract the onslaught Gilgamesh was giving her) that quick thinking allowed her to pick herself up multiple times without worrying about what to do next. Strike after strike it seemed like she immediately had a plan of action.

This one was by far the hardest to think of a winner about. In terms of Sportsmanship I believe Gilgamesh hit it on the nail considering in the beginning he saw how distressed Namine was and would not attack her until she was ready. In any other circumstances an opponent would strike their foe down, but he didn't. He allowed her to mentally prepare herself for the battle to come and once it did he was a gentleman. When Namine lost her abilities and she played off his ego he readily accepted the consequences and relished in the limelight.

Although I believe this, Namine's description of each transformation and battle sequence had me sitting on the edge of my seat as I read through the posts. I loved how elements of her pervious battle still weighed heavy on her and influenced most of her actions. Gilgamesh was very entertaining in his dialogue but, Namine really created a beautiful scene with each post and worked through her combat weaknesses in unique ways. Sally's candy corn was by far my favorite part. Each transformation and move were described in such meticulous detail that I had no problem actively visualizing all of it unfold.