So Suvudu’s Cage Match 2010 has finally concluded. (Suvudu is the Del Rey and Spectra site; the cage matches are between a series of fantasy character pairings.)
Rand al’Thor (of Jordan’s Wheel of Time) has emerged as the ultimate champion. A lot of authors have been rooting for their characters throughout the progress of the cage matches, but what I enjoyed the most was Brandon Sanderson’s breakdown of how the battle should have ended. In his narrative, balefire erases Suvudu and all the defeated characters come back.
My favorite quote, out of the ensuing chaos:
Harry Dresden decides this is really all too much work, and wanders off to get himself something to drink. He gets beaten up seventeen times on his way, but saves two orphanages.
And the ending:
And at that point, the great Cthulhu himself awakens, and his terrible, alien nature drives everyone irrevocably insane.
Rand wins by default, since he was already insane, and Cthulhu showing up doesn’t really change him at all.