Best way to kill someone... painlessly?

[Boneman]

So, there's been a battle, and one man is seriously wounded, so has to be left behind. If he's caught by the enemy he'll reveal plans etc, so the group leader wants to kill him (it's okay, the wounded man accepts it) so given they have only knives and swords, what would be the kindest/least painful/quickest way to kill him? If I'm right, a blade to the heart will result in instantaneous death (massive cardiac trauma) but would a blade under the jaw into the brain be better? He is a friend, so although there's a necessity, they don't want to cause unnecessary suffering...

 

[RJM Corbet]

In Gladiator, when Maximus requests 'a soldier's death' he kneels down with bowed head, preparatory to being stabbed in the back of the neck with a sword, point down. Such a blow, if the aim was good, would sever the spine at the base of the skull, causing instant unconsciousness and rapid death?

 

[HareBrain]

I'd say heart. I'm not sure they'd have a good enough knowledge of the brain to know which bit it was necessary to hit (some people have shot themselves up through the jaw and survived). A blade penetrating might well not kill, and you wouldn't then want to have to wiggle it about to get the job done.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Or you could just lob the head off.




kidding...


I think most people would go for the heart. But I'm not sure the heart is actually instant death - death within seconds, sure; longer if the blade is left in. I don't think there is a 'nice' way to do it, is there? If you get the right spot, the brain would be instant, but with the heart, the person has to go through the shock process as their body shuts down.

 

[ctg]

A doctor asking the painless way?

I'd say poison is the best weapon, but the thing is we simply cannot know what is the least painful way as I think there's all sorts of things that can be thought as painful when one dies. Then again some say that when one goes away while they sleep, they won't suffer at all. And to do achieve that you could simply introduce carbon monoxide to the target and be sure that they kick the bucket while they're sleeping.

BUT...

...what I gather from your description, your man is harbouring a revenge, so is the painless way the way he wants to go down with?

 

[Boneman]

Thanks all - ctg reminds me I'm an osteopath, so I should know a way to snap the neck, like a hangman, I guess - but I always laugh at the films that do it so badly... No time for poison, but it now occurs to me he could be knocked out by a blow to the jaw and then (painlessly) stabbed. It's not revenge, if there was a way to save him without endangering others, he'd do it. I think I'll watch gladiator again, I'd forgotten that bit...

I thought you died instantly of a massive heart attack (a knife piercing it would count) but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Warren_Paul]

I thought you died instantly of a massive heart attack (a knife piercing it would count) but maybe I'm wrong.

A massive heart attack in itself sounds horrendously painful.


Snapping the neck would work, and probably be the least painful way too - if somebody in the group is capable of pulling it off. Beheading would have the same effect.

 

[prizzley]

Does it have to be painless? Since the victim is seriously wounded, he's presumably in considerable pain already. He may be in shock. You don't want him to suffer needlessly, but cutting an artery would finish him fairly quickly wouldn't it?

 

[ctg]

I agree. If your blade misses the heart, the target will definitely feel it and not only that, it's really messy, whereas snapping person neck is much faster and probably more pain free method, as you severe the "connection" to the rest of the body, leaving the brain to die slowly from asphyxiation. Remember that even if you go with decapitation, there are several stories of victims head still moving their eyes, opening their mouths after the blade had done the job.

You don't want him to suffer needlessly, but cutting an artery would finish him fairly quickly wouldn't it?

Three minutes of bleeding and pain in average sized man. So no.

PS. Boneman if you could do this "the least painless way of dying" with your characters, I think it could be really interesting dialogue for the readers to go through.

 

[RJM Corbet]

... Beheading would have the same effect.

Yes, but beheading with a sword is a specialist operation, which is why Henry 8th imported a specialist swordsman from France to do the job on one of his wives ... don't ask me which one. The axe wasn't always that accurate, either.

ctg: if you could do this "the least painless way of dying" with your characters, I think it could be really interesting dialogue for the readers to go through.

Nice one, ctg. (But out of his hearing, perhaps?)

 

[nubins]

I agree. If your blade misses the heart, the target will definitely feel it and not only that, it's really messy, whereas snapping person neck is much faster and probably more pain free method, as you severe the "connection" to the rest of the body, leaving the brain to die slowly from asphyxiation. Remember that even if you go with decapitation, there are several stories of victims head still moving their eyes, opening their mouths after the blade had done the job.

Three minutes of bleeding and pain in average sized man. So no.

PS. Boneman if you could do this "the least painless way of dying" with your characters, I think it could be really interesting dialogue for the readers to go through.

Cut the jugulars and its only seconds isnt it? Massive loss of blood pressure to the brain causes near instant blackout then death through oxygen deprevation.

That's why we get dizzyspells sometimes when we stand up - blood pressure hasnt had time to equalise and the sudden lowering of blood pressure in the brain causes you to dizzy, so a huge loss of blood pressure is going to knock you out.

 

[JoanDrake]

I agree. If your blade misses the heart, the target will definitely feel it and not only that, it's really messy, whereas snapping person neck is much faster and probably more pain free method, as you severe the "connection" to the rest of the body, leaving the brain to die slowly from asphyxiation. Remember that even if you go with decapitation, there are several stories of victims head still moving their eyes, opening their mouths after the blade had done the job.

Three minutes of bleeding and pain in average sized man. So no.

PS. Boneman if you could do this "the least painless way of dying" with your characters, I think it could be really interesting dialogue for the readers to go through.

That's the famous story of Lavosier blinking, but I think it's apocryphal.

I have heard that if a hostage rescuer is reasonably sure that the hostage taker is about to kill the hostage he is instructed to shoot the victim just under the chin if he is aiming from the front; even if the captor has the gun cocked and aimed at the hostage's head with his finger on the trigger. This is because such an aiming will, if aimed well enough not to be deflected by the lower mandible, sever the medulla oblongota or brain stem, and this produces death so instantanously that not even reflexes have time to respond. The quickest death, then, would probably be from a stab directly into the back of the neck at the base of the skull. (Beheading, I don't think, would be nearly as effective. My understanding is that the neck is very much more resistant to being cut through than people think and that Dr Guillot's gruesome invention was meant to be a mercy by a man who had seen too many botched jobs)

OTOH, were I a modern medic with a kit, I would simply load all the morphine I had into a syringe and inject it into the carotid.

 

[RJM Corbet]

... shoot the victim just under the chin ...

Yes, that's how cops commit suicide. Under the chin. They say it's even better if you fill your mouth with water first, for some reason.

I know someone who tried to shoot himself in the heart; the bullet went skittering around inside him, and now he's in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

 

[ctg]

Cut the jugulars and its only seconds isnt it? Massive loss of blood pressure to the brain causes near instant blackout then death through oxygen deprevation.

People have known to survive such a cut and easiest way for me to prove it is to point you out in this "true story" movie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawless_%28film%29 , where the main character jugulars are cut and he's left to bleed out. Instead of giving up willingly he straight away clasped the two pieces together and survived. So it isn't instantaneous and certainly not a pain free way of going.

 

[The Judge]

I should know a way to snap the neck, like a hangman, I guess - but I always laugh at the films that do it so badly...

Not that I know how to do it properly, but I'd have thought it entailed getting behind the victim's neck, which would mean propping the dying guy up, which itself is likely to cause a lot of pain, I'd have thought.

No time for poison

I'm pretty sure commonly acquired poisons aren't painless, anyway, and some of them would be agonising.

it now occurs to me he could be knocked out by a blow to the jaw

Is that actually realistic? I've always thought it a Hollywood thing that isn't actually true. I don't watch boxing, but in real life they get punched quite a bit, don't they? And how many of them are actually knocked completely unconscious as opposed to being a bit dazed thereafter? I know they wear gloves so there's some protection, but nonetheless -- I thought the real damage came from the head rotation, not the blow itself. Isn't the jaw more likely to shatter, causing more pain? And anyone punching the guy could end up with broken hand bones if he's not careful, couldn't he?

I'd go with a sword thrust through the heart. It might not be the most painless, but it's quicker than most and efficient, and they're less likely to bungle it, I'd have thought.

A book I've just read has someone kiss a dying man in the second before he's mercy-killed, to give him something else to concentrate on, I imagine, as well as being a kind gesture. But the kisser-killer is female, so it might not work if your others are great hulking brutes...


NB RJM -- it was Anne. She only required a single stroke, but certainly other victims were hacked about, requiring two or three blows of the axe.

 

[Boneman]

Great suggestions, thanks so much... you've all obviously thought about killing people before. He's unable to fall on his own sword, or he'd do that. It's just that I'm thinking 'how would I kill a good friend to save him from worse?' I'd want to do it quickly to save him from pain, but being cruel to be kind may be the only option. I guess. Stilletto (thin bladed knife) in the ear? Straight into the brain - worked for Tolstoy... American mobster Abraham Reles was considered an expert at this, apparently.

No guns in my world, unfortunately. Actually, make that 'fortunately'...

 

[ctg]

Man, I'd say again that you should include this contemplation in the prose as it can really deepen the character and if you manage to get it down to dialogue, new and interesting things might appear.

But yeah, I agree, a blade in the ear, or just behind it (the soft spot) and you're guaranteed with a death. However, if things go overboard and prose becomes lengthy then just get over it. Quickly and efficiently. Chuck the poor geezer over the wall and don't worry if it hurts or not.

 

[Boneman]

Thanks ctg - I'm aiming for high tension, obviously, as time is tight and they might all die if they don't get out soon... undecided whether to have the intended victim as 'noble': "Kill me and go on" kind of thing, or if the others decide - might have to write two versions to see. Or... the leader does it for the greater good, and shocks the others. Ooh, that could work, and they'd come to see he did it painessly as a mercy. I do need to bring out the dark side of my 'nice-guy' leader

I love these threads - everyone's input stimulates so much more than you expect.

Thanks all!
.

 

[RJM Corbet]

... NB RJM -- it was Anne. She only required a single stroke, but certainly other victims were hacked about, requiring two or three blows of the axe.

Bolyn, or Cleves: or both?

 

[The Judge]

Boleyn! Cleves was intelligent enough (and ill-looking enough...) to stay alive.