"dont take this the wrong way, but, i'd rather choke and die than fall without a fight"- forgot the band but those are words to live by (in any situation it applies to at least)

I so hate that Commander "B"-word in the intro. I wish Hadvarr would go upside her head with his clipboard.

May I ask how you know that? Own experiance or did you hear it from a friend?

There are actually people investigating the multiple ways of executions and dying. My post got its sources from a scientific magazine, which dedicated a special to it. I thought it was very interesting to be honest.

Yes, that would have worked nicely. What we have instead is a setup line for a Mel Brooks routine, or Monty Python. I can just see it, now:

CAPTAIN: (with a menacing, stereotypical snarl) Anybody else want to try running?

YOU: (raises hand) Sure, I'll try it, since you're going to kill me in two minutes, anyway. I mean, at least I'll get in a little exercise, and you know how they say sitting around all down will eventually kill you.

CAPTAIN: Are you trying to be funny?

YOU: No. I'm just trying to figure out how you plan to intimidate a person you're going to kill by threatening to kill them. I mean, if it were me, I'd come up with something more unpleasant than death, but what's more unpleasant than death? I ask you.

CAPTAIN: Well, uh...torture! Torture's more unpleasant than death.

YOU: Only if you have the resources to devote to it. Otherwise, it's just a shortcut to septimcemia.

CAPTAIN: (frowning) That in Valenwood?

SOLDIER: Yeah, Valenwood. My brother-in-law's from there.

ANOTHER SOLDIER: I thought your brother was from Hammerfell.

SOLDIER: No--well, his mother was from Hammerfell, but his father was a blacksmith in Valenwood. And their family name was Streptocosis. They were cousins to this guy, Harald Septicemia, otherwise called Harald The Infector, who was...

CAPTAIN: Are you two idiots going to keep up this routine all day? We have prisoners to threaten to kill!

YOU: What will you do when you finish threatening us, though?

CAPTAIN: (pause) Threaten you some more, until you get real scared. And then we'll kill you.

YOU: And if we don't get real scared...?

The thing practically writes itself.

A lot of people would try to run, but personally I would take the quick death from the headsman. If I am going to die I rather die standing.

Or a random dragon that comes and kills everyone so you can escape alive? I know I have a very active imagination.

He has the rest of his life, actually.

I laughed when I first heard that line. I always assumed he said it as a joke, using humor and bravado when facing the inevitable as his last act of defiance against the Imperials.

I had read that is most likely the nerves. That the head isn't really looking at their detached body and trying to speak.

Anyway, the expression "one for the road" came from guillitine executions. The condemed would have to walk from his cell to his execution and people would line the streets and give the guy shots of alcohol the whole way so by the time he was about to be killed he was so wasted he had little idea/care what was happening around him.

One could argue that trying to run away is to die standing, as in taking a stand against oppression. To accept and face your death it to admit defeat.

ha i thought the same thing...if that was me i would've ran in the oppisite direction as soon as the 1st man started running

average archers aren't that fast at drawing a follow up shot or accurate enough to hit a man zig zag running so in a real life situation the dovakin could've stood a good chance escaping that scenario

Would of run with the other guy at the same time, but ran quicker so i'd be in front of him. Chances are i'd get killed by the guards at the front of the gate.

Well I read... And don`t look if you`re squeamish.

I read that some people tested a couple of just beheaded men by sticking needles in their tongues and the beheaded men showed an expression of pain.

The.. expression of... I don't even know where to begin with that statement!

A man with his head completely cut from his shoulders wincing at a slight pinprick in his tongue??

In the context the legionaire says it - aloud and to everyone whislt looking around its a show of power and how she/they have you completley powerless, its basically bullying in a sense so its not an actual threat par'se


while i find that hard to beleive myself aswell its been scientificly proven that after your head has been cut-off in that manner for a split second your still ''alive'' and somewhat aware, to what extent they have no idea.


except for all the other guards and the archers on the walls, plus i'd imagine guards at the gates.....yourd have 0 chance, not that yourd have anything to loose anyway mind you, i know i'd try! haha.

Hey it was in a well established book about such things. I wouldn`t knock it too fast.

It's not proven that an instant beheading is an instant death (obviously can't really prove it). There are some who speculate that the brain still functions until it dies due to being deprived of oxygen. It's an interesting (albeit morbid) thought

Or you might be brought to your knees with a painful gut wound, the bleeding stopped with magic, then your body http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_wheel while illusion magic was used to enhance the fear you felt. Afterwords, you;d be left, crippled and bound, for the birds to peck at the soft bits of your flesh. And then you'd be healed with magic, and the process started again.
When you finally did die, your soul would be caught in a black soul gem and used to enchant one of those buckets you see in the small rooms of the imperial forts.

In pre-modern times, decapitation was a merciful killing.
In medival times, it was a luxury reserved for the rich, who had the privilidge of paying the executioner to use a sharp blade and not botch the job.
In Roman times, death by torture was the order of the day for thieves.
Imagine what culture with cheap magic and little in the way of moral restraint or modern sentiment would do.

and that's pretty much what counts.

as for the missing body vs pinprick.... shock could actually prevent you from getting much pain from losing your head...

Without lungs... making noise to tell people of your pain, or cry out, would be impossible.

I don't imagine it takes long.... and while passing in your sleep is probably the #1 preferable way to die (if you gotta die) as far as painlessness goes anyways, beheading is far faster, and less suffering than critical injuries that take up to hours to kill you.

Oh I'm not knocking it, it just sounds so weird! I've often read of heads surviving for short periods after being detached from their bodies. I'd have just thought that you'd be in so much pain from the actual beheading, you wouldn't really notice a needle in your tongue! But I'm not saying I don't believe you

Theres a video on youtube of a guy who beheads his lizard then pokes his eyes with a knife to prove its still alive. The video is only 59 secs long but someone commented than lizards could supposedly survive for 20min since a reptile brain requires less oxygen. I dont know how long a mammal can survive but at least its proven than for an argonian beheading would be horrible, slow and very painful.

Why would you even search for that?
Forget it, I don't wanna know

I searched "spectacled caiman" and found that months ago. They still havent removed the video despite being a case of animal cruelty. It seems like the people in youtube only care about getting more clicks.

That's disgusting... someone charge that frack with animal cruelty...

Ermm...these experiments were done long ago already. Bottom of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine.