One strong, brave man vs. Ten Cowards. Who would win in a fight?

[BonsaiK]

I heard of a guy in my town many years ago who had seven people invade his house with melee weapons, some organised crime thing. He put them all in the hospital with his bare hands.

I also heard of a guy who once a year flies all around the world in a magic sleigh giving presents to good little boys and girls.

Come on man, you really believe that? What proof is there? Did you see it first hand, or was this just another story passed down from buddy to buddy, where the details get sketchier and sketchier and the body count goes up at each retelling?

It happened, in my town. It was a big deal. It was in the papers and on the news, there was a big media storm about it at the time (don't ask for internet news links, this happened in the early 90s). He was also known to a friend so on top of all the media information I was able to collect anecdotal evidence that this actually occured. Seven people DID invade his house with baseball bats, iron bars, etc and he DID put them all in hospital, with his bare hands. It's not actually that unbelievable when you think about the layout of the average house where every door is a choke point and it would be hard for even two or three people to actually get swings in at once let alone seven. Hell, even one person would struggle to swing a baseball bat effectively in a confined space like a doorway. Of course the guy didn't exactly emerge unscathed and he did have to go to hospital too to get some minor injuries fixed up but he DID emerge the victor. Then of course he was under investigation by the police, because seven people don't just break into your house with weapons because they want your DVD player (VCR in those days) and the loose change in your sock drawer.

There's a thing that happens with group psychology. If 40 people all want to kill you, and you can make it clear that you're a threat, then you're sending the message "you may kill me, but I'll take one of you with me". The group knows it can kill you very, very easily if they all hit you together, however if you can scare them enough, no-one wants to be that one person who happens to be the person you hit on the way down. This is why a group of cowards will sometimes lose to one brave person. One of the group steps up, gets stomped, and the rest go "oh crap I don't want to be next"...

 

[Simalacrum]

cowards ftw!

(I like to think so, cause chances are in such a situation I would be one of the cowards...)

 

[Lord of Maggots]

The strong man. Hed chase the cowards down and slap them like Nathan Explosion slapped around those two guys who tried to sell him watter instead of alcohol at that concert that one time hahaha. (Its my favorite beat down scene... only rivaled by when toki and pickles beat the CRAP out of murderface when he says "You belong in the trashhhhh" to pickles)

 

[The_Graff]

Depends...

Are the Cowards French?

oh snap!

 

[Vrex360]

So in other words:
One Sangheili versus ten Spartans?
(I kid really, though of course the Sangheili would win)

Well I think strength in numbers would play a prominent role, I don't really believe the Hollywood rules of one versus a hundred so I think if they all tackled him at once maybe they would do it. But of course if they were cowards odds are he could scare them off pretty easy so in truth I'm not sure.

 

[Cmwissy]

It would depend if the cowards adhere to http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MookChivalry

Snip

Agreed - From someone who has been stabbed guys - It fucking hurt; I didn't get back up and say 'I must fight on'


I lay there, screamed and tried to hold the wound.

 

[ottenni]

Its dark, the brave man goes boo and the cowards leg it, into a wall with a hugely comical effect. The brave man then laughs before making sweet love to all the cowards mothers. Just like in all true Hollywood stories.

 

[Cmwissy]

EDIT: doublepost - sorry.

 

[Beartrucci]

Spoiler: One strong, brave man.

Him against 10 Cowards? He would kick their ass.

And Batman is often in these situations and beats the shit out of the thugs and stuff he is fighting.

 

[Tiny116]

Strenght in numbers.
The cowards would be confident in their numbers and therefore would not flee and would easily beat the one person.

Unless the one person was Jakie chan or Arnie XD

But yeah the Cowards easily.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

So how cowardly are the cowards?
And they wield lightsabers right?
Are they cowards because they gang up on one guy and they use weapons while the one guy is unarmed?
Is the one guy Chuck Norris or mr. T or worse: Frieza?

[sup]For the answers, watch the next exiting episode of Dragonball Z![/sup]

 

[MetaKnight19]

How cowardly are the cowards in question?

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

I think there's a logical fallacy in this discussion, in that the cowards would obviously not attack that lone, strong, brave (and probably manly) man. So if they attack him, they are no longer cowards since they have obviously dared to commit an act of aggresion. Who is engaging who by the way? What makes one unarmed man attack ten armed men (assuming the cowards are indeed cowards and thus wouldn't want to initiate hostilities), and do they feel it is worth risking their lives over?

The lone brave man would probably win on account of the cowards not wanting to fight in the first place. Since they are cowards, they won't attack and as soon the brave man seems to be preparing to attack any one of them, they would logically break off, not wanting to get hurt.

 

[Random Argument Man]

The strong guy. The 10 cowards can't fight because they're cowards. They're too scared to fight.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

The one man would only win in some anime story.
In reality ten equally strong men are ten times as strong...
Unbeatable odds.

Also the fact that they get to cary swords and shit only helps them even more.

 

[CJ1145]

If the strong, brave man is Batman, definitely the one.

Otherwise, the ten cowards.

EDIT: Actually, wait, still the one man. Ever heard of Conservation of Ninjutsu?

 

[killgannon]

Speaking as a coward, in that situation I'd probably hang back and wait for an opening to attack with the lowest chance of repercussion, say when the brave man is attacking someone else and I can hit him from behind. The problem is if there was 10 of me we would all be thinking the same thing and running away from the brave man in a desperate attempt for self-preservation, waiting for the first coward to fall.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

In this scenario, actually quite hard to tell. 10 men wielding melee weapons and just as strong as one man, but you haven't told us any details of their training.

If the one brave man was well trained, he'd go straight for one of the cowards, who would likely not attack (coward and all), take his weapon, and start evening the odds. For every one person that went down, the coward's cowardlyness would increase, and the brave man could win.

If the cowards had fight training, no challenge, they win.

If they both have training, it comes down almost to luck. People don't find strength in numbers as often as you might think, and 10 cowards might actually be more likely to run in fear if attacked, because they all follow the others' example. If the brave guy just leaped straight into a fight, he would take on one coward, and the other nine might just hang back, or they might swarm in.

So it's hard to call.

 

[DoW Lowen]

Numbers win. Unless the man has leverage like a weapon or if the cowards were stupid enough to come at him one at a time, then the cowards.