After the last poll, I had another thought:
What would be the most interesting fight between the evil characters in the Shannara series?
I came up with an answer. Maybe not the answer but a very good answer anyway. If the Ilse Witch (not the good Grianne but the evil) and the Reaper were pitted against one another—thrown into the Four Lands at the same time and told to find and kill the other—how would that play out? Who would win? How would they win?
So that’s my question to you today: the Ilse Witch vs. the Reaper.
Vote and comment below your thoughts!
Happy Friday!
29 responses to “Poll: Ilse Witch vs. the Reaper”
The reaper is a “subordinate” of the Dagda Mor. The Dagda Mor can be no more powerful than Tael Riverine. The Ilse Witch beats Tael Riverine at the end of Witch Wraith. Therefore the Ilse witch would walk all over the Reaper. A more even contest might be Tael Riverine vs Dagda Mor?
The Dagda Mor feared the Reaper, was wary of it, according to Elfstones. Because power did not keep it in check. The Reaper served the Dagda Mor out of “whim” and not “fear” or “respect.” So I wouldn’t be so quick to say that the Reaper wasn’t stronger than the Dagda Mor. The Reaper simply had no desire to rule.
Don’t Fear the Reaper… 😉
Yup. Reaper. He would wait till Grianne’s guard was down. He detects and homes in on magic users. (But simple Wil killed him) Wil was lucky.
And yes, Shawn is right. Not only would the Reaper kill the Ilse Witch, he would kill the Dagda Mor.
who would win? Ilse witch. Why would she win? The reaper commands fear. And justifiably so… my favorite villain btw. Ilse Witch commands legions. You cannot defeat her, you can”t get to her without alerting the horde. I get the question was 1v1 but seriously…a singleminded killing machine vs a methodical leader of evil combined with the power of the wishsong? GMAFB
I go for the Reaper because “Find and Kill” is its PRIMARY goal. It was CREATED for that single and singular purpose. Make the contest anything even slightly nuanced and that advantage fades, but “find and kill” puts this FIRMLY in the Reaper’s territory.
The Reaper is very one-dimensional… Murder! The Isle Witch, with the Wishsong, has multi-dimensional use of the magic! In the end, Isle Witch would find a way to use that multi aspect to win out.Love the Reaper… one of my absolute favs, but he would lose to the Isle Witch… I mean, he lost to Will did he not??
I had to go with the Ilse Witch. While both characters possess a focused tenacity, the Reaper is more instinctive, re-active, 2-dimensional, not readily accustomed to the unorthodox. The Reaper is fueled by the hunt, and will capitalize on the fear of it’s intended prey by keeping it off balance with the unrelenting pursuit. The Isle Witch is much more accustomed to thinking outside of the box. She is analytical, and will test for strength and weakness in order to gain the greatest measure of understanding about her quarry. Accounting for these differences, the Isle Witch would use the almost single-minded nature of the Reaper’s need for the hunt against him. She would entice the reaper, playing mostly to it’s predatory instinct to kill. Using evasion to emulate the attempts of ordinary prey and possibly the Wishsong to project a glamour of fear. These aspects would only further drive the primeval instinctive nature of the Reaper. This form of beguilement would almost certainly enrapture her target to such utterly complete enthrallment, that The Reaper would be dead whilst still engulfed in the instinctive emotion and adreline of the consuming moment.
This is a very good and well thought out reply. It almost makes me want to switch my vote from the Reaper to the Ilse Witch. Instead I will stick with my choice and argue the case of the Reaper for the purpose of this debate.
First of all, the Reaper is a relentless hunter. In this category, he would find The Ilse Witch before she found him. The Ilse Witch is human which means she would have to rest or sleep at some point. And make no mistake, she would be the hunted. Not the hunter. Advantage Reaper.
Number two is that the Ilse Witch does not have the Elfstones. When Wil defeated the Reaper it was only because the Stones told him where its weakness was. Without that knowledge it would be very difficult to defeat. Plus the Reaper adapts to challenges. When facing Wil and the power of the Elfstones it changed tactics and seemed to disappear, etc. So when facing the Ilse Witch it would react out of more than just instinct. No advantage but not a disadvantage either.
If I remember correctly, Grianne had trouble with some of the creatures in the Forbidding. The Reaper was the most dangerous of all creatures there and was only controlled by being given demons to kill and a promise that it could kill elves and humans.
So I believe it would depend upon where when and how they encountered the other as to who would win. This would be something I would love to see!
Honestly I think this is a no-brainer. The Isle Witch. Just as easy as Brin learned the power of the Wishsong by shattering the entwined trees, the Isle Witch was trained to use it as a weapon from the moment the Morgwar kidnapped her. She could destroy the Reaper before it could even get close to her.
The hard part of answering this is that we never LEARNED anything about the Reaper, how it thought, how and what skills it utilized to hunt its prey, etc but the fact that it was resilient, implacable and deadly.
I think a more interesting one-on-one battle would be between the Reaper and the Morgawr…
On my wish list is to see the Reaper vs. the Jachyra. That would be epic.
The Reaper is strong, quick, big, and agile. The Ilse Witch is cunning, powerful and deceptive. As much as I’d like the Reaper to win, she’d be too much for him.
Isle Witch would use her mastery of the wishsong to rip the reaper to shreds, no contest. Example; lure him in with illusion, then rip him apart from inside out.
Isle Witch. For all we know she’s possibly still alive in the world of The Forbidding.
The reapers desire of survival would be enough to triumph over the Isle witch, too many underestimate his strength and abilities.
Unless Grianne has some elf stones, I don’t think she can win. It is a hard one though. The reaper was very resistant to the elfstones, but the wish song is a powerful magic derived from a need to use the stones. I voted reaper cause I like it more.
Without knowledge of the reapers weakness which is his face, Grianne would not be able to defeat him.
How ’bout either one of those against Garet Jax?
ANYONE against Garet Jax means “you lose”. He killed the frickin’ JACHYRA with nothing more than swords and badassery, something that supposedly gets STRONGER from being hurt.
I gotta go reaper only because he possesses basically unknown physical strength but also a huge resistance to magic. I see the reaper wearing down Grianne, because the wishsong takes a lot out of you, and forcing her to make a mistake. As it was already mentioned the reaper is adept at locating magic users so Grianne would find it difficult to use the element of surprise. I’ve gotta say I’d love to see this fight on Deadliest Warrior: Shannara Edition.
The Ilse Witch.
The Reaper is really, really good at killing, and can track its prey over impossible distances.
The Ilse Witch is no slouch in the killing department either, is cunning, and is a pretty capable hunter herself. AND she has the wishsong which she has spent her entire life practicing with and using as a weapon.
The only way the Reaper would stand a chance is if the Ilse Witch did not know he was coming *and* he somehow managed to sneak up on her (which is hard to do) and kill her right away.
It’s a coin toss each time.
I imagine it would depend on the environment and circumstances.
Even if the Ilse Witch couldn’t kill the Reaper by herself, the Morgawr would swoop in to finish the Reaper off.
2 on 1 man. Doing team-ups are we? Dagda Mor with his long, hot staff in hand, brings the heat down upon them!
The question as I understand it, is who wins if they are both thrown into the Four Lands at the same time and told to kill the other. In this case I would give the Reaper less than a 5% chance to win. The Ilse Witch, now knowing that the Reaper is there would have the advantage. Even though she does not have the Elf Stones her magic is so powerful and she has completely mastered it, well as well as you can anyway. I agree she sets the trap and easily kills the Reaper. I give some small chance to the Reaper only because there is some validity to the argument that the Reaper may be able to some how wear the Witch down. But I would go all in betting on the Ilse Witch.
I’d go with Ilse Witch, but that may be because I’m incredibly biased by the fact that her trilogy was my introduction to the series. The Wishsong is a very versatile tool, and I’m pretty positive she would find a way to kill the Reaper with it.
I think the Reaper could only win if the Isle Witch was coming to the end of her time, as per Allanon facing the Jachyra. At full strength both would prevail. The wishsong has the capability to rip anything apart. That said there is still an intriguing element of mystery and the unknown about the Reaper.
I love this topic and it’s made me realize we’re all nerds. In the words of Jim Carrey,” OOHO fiction can be fun!”