I never said what I would pick. Why are you trying to inject real-world politics into this thread? You did the same thing with your Geneva Convention post.

Grabbing an hostage with your hands tied would be highly unsuccessful. Even if , by chance, you were quick enough to avoid the soldiers and grab her, they`d just rush you and grab you anyway. You could threaten to strangle her- It takes a long time to strangle someone and again the soldiers would be all over you.

Then they`d probably torture you slowly and she would probably take special enjoying in it.

What would I do? It`s really hard in a situation like that if no dragon conveniently came along.

I guess I`d run, but in the opposite direction, past the cart behind me and use it as cover while dodgy zig-zag. then, if I got that far that I wasn`t archered, i`d zip between the houses and just keep running until I can get some space and free my hands and\or hide. But that would only be the start because the whole area would be on alert. My plan would be to scale that wall and get out to the trees as quickly as possible.

I know that. But if that's the reason he's complaining, why does he say "He doesn't have all day?"

Seriously. He DOES have all day. He has all the time in the world.

The whole imprisoning method seems pretty fragile in the intro, if we'd assume your character or some of the other prisoners has some experience in magic (Which they didn't, as they were just typical stormcloak soldiers). It must not be that difficult to, for example, burn the bindings or something, unless it is absolutely necessary for magic users to have their hands free to cast spells?

For more information and reasoning on the OP, see: Babi Yar.

Dying to a headsmans axe is actually much less painful than slowly dying to an arrow in the back.

Why trying to delay our own death, by wasting time, while being scared to death by your execution. You better end it as fast as possible.

And if they don't execute Ulfric right away, it is to increase his waiting time, thus increasing fear factor, and to make him see all his friend being executed before him without him being able to do anythings.

It's psychological, and often does work. It may be that the fear of dying RIGHT NOW overrides the logical thought that you are going to die anyway, or it may be that the desire to survive, even for just a few more minutes is over-powering. Let's face it, you ARE going to die, anyway, so how much does it matter exactly when? Is there really a huge difference between a few minutes and a few years? NOBODY cheats death forever.

Plus, let's not forget: your character actually DID survive- would they if they had run like Lokir? Might Lokir have survived if he'd waited his turn at the block instead of running? Possibly- several people did make it out of Helgen, after all.

Funny thing about the execution scenario is the stormcloak that says "I dont have all day" and interupt the prayer speech.

If he had waited for the priest to finnish he wouldve survived due to Alduin being on the way.

On topic: She was just intimidating people to avoid wasting more arrows.

The fact that player character is pretty cool about being killed, and being caught in the first place might be used in roleplaying aspect - he/she had a vision to be captured, and later on a strange feeling just before the execution - dragonborn knew that Alduin would show up.

It doesn't matter if Erlick gets killed first or last, I rather be wondering why they are execute him in Helgen - a middle of nowhere village - even if it was main imperial operation base, he should be brought to Solitude.
This is a great example of writing a story from the end to start - first you design the dungeon and create character creation menu, add a stupidly test (not moral choice) some exposition and then write how we get it...

unless you think said runaway is going to alert other enemies to the fact you just took their leader and don't want to fight your way through legions to bring 'em back...

but yah, that woulda been the time to run

This reminds me of this scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIaORknS1Dk

The thing I don't get is why you don't just burn the rope tied to your hands off. Every race has that spell in the beginning of the game.

Cause you need to throw your hands in front of you as part of casting

No you don't the flames are burning wile you have the spell equipped

In Morrowind, slaves' hands are bound with these magical cuffs that drain all your magicka so you can't regen any. Maybe your hands weren't so much tied, as bound with something similar to those slave bracers?

I find execution by guillotine\ax where you are decapitated as one of the wosrt kinds of way to die.

From books i`ve read it can be pretty grisly. For instance, in the old days, nobles would PAY their executioners to do a good job so that it was not a foul up. It is said when Lady Jane Grey in England was executed the ax man fouled up and he had to chop twice while she was still alive!

Also, i`ve heard you`re still alive for as long as up to 30 seconds in some cases.

So I`d rather run and be arrowed, myself.

Nope again, Just simple ropes. And all the Stormcloaks freed themselves and got weapons seconds after the dragon attack lol.

Would have made much more sense to run while we were still on the wagon. If the 4 of us split up those 2 drivers could not have caught all of us, even with our hands tied.

If you notice there`s a sentry horseman behind and infront of our little convoy. Those horses would`ve made it harder to escape.

It's the old "Face death like a man" thing
As opposed to "Die like a dog running away"

To be beheaded is actually one of the more humane ways to be executed. That's why the guillotine was created - to optimize the process and make it as easy and painless as possible.

If it goes wrong then yeah it's painful, but the same is true for any kind of death - and with an arrow there's not much of a margin for error.

Lol, sure. It's more fun to get pierced in your lungs or stomach by an arrow, and have it fill up with blood, and your belly with either air or - even worse - acid from your stomach so you can digest yourself slowly. I've read it can take about 20 minutes before you die due to a hole in the stomach, and it's the most painful death you can have. Nah, give me the chopping block. Bad executioners may need up to three times, but at least it won't take longer than 2 minutes. Besides, it also beats drowning to death. I've almost drowned once, and it literally felt like my lungs were on fire. Not something I want to experience again, I assure you.

on-topic: About executing Ulfric after your character: I agree it's quite nonsensical. They've got their big prize, so why not immediately get it over with? They'd managed to kill him if they would've started with him! But no, let's first execute a minor stormcloak soldier and a nameless person in raggs. Makes perfect sense.

I know they saw execution as Humane that`s why they did it to nobility and royalty mostly.

But they never studied it much and I don`t like idea of being decapitated and see my self staring around separated from my body- AND still in pain. Yes, you can still feel pain- er alledgedly.

I`d rather die slowly from an arrow in the gut and choking on my own blood!

I remember reading in a book about a german ww2 pilot who was captured after his plane crashed I am not funny. The guy was a high ranking officer and had a prize on his head so he was likely to be executed. He was tied and put in a car to be sent to moscow or the gulags. During the travel he jumped off the truck, despite being injured from the plane crash and in clothes not suitable for winter. He managed to reach his base but had one foot amputated, yet suvived the war. Theres a saying: "He who loses hope is already dead" . I always think about that story when i play the intro. Anyways, its just a game and the intro is still pretty cool.