Flaying Alive: Difference between revisions
m
→Religion, Folklore, and Mythology
(→Western Animation: clean up) |
|||
(15 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|I will flay the skin from your flesh and the flesh from your bones and scrape your bones dry. And still you will not have suffered enough.
|Greven il-Vec|[[Magic: The Gathering]] (Hatred flavor text)}}
We as humans like our skin to be intact. It protects everything inside the body from various diseases, and contains a great quantity of nerve endings — meaning that to have it forcibly removed is excruciatingly painful, and being stripped of enough of it will lead to a horribly slow death. As a result, flaying is the signature method of [[Cold
▲We as humans like our skin to be intact. It protects everything inside the body from various diseases, and contains a great quantity of nerve endings — meaning that to have it forcibly removed is excruciatingly painful, and being stripped of enough of it will lead to a horribly slow death. As a result, flaying is the signature method of [[Cold Blooded Torture]] for some of the nastiest [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]].
Scalping is a form of this that was particularly prevalent in [[Injun Country]]. In real life it was probably more common to take the scalp from a dead foe than from a living one, as their main purpose was to turn in for bounty (more portable than the whole skin.) But there were certainly some documented cases of people surviving a scalping.
Line 13 ⟶ 12:
And if you feel the need for a bit of [[Soundtrack Dissonance]], sing the title to the tune of [[The Bee Gees]]' ''Stayin' Alive''.
{{examples
* Taken [[Up to Eleven]] in the ''seinen'' manga ''[[Burning Hell]]''. One of the two villain protagonists is a Korean military medic turned serial killer who has this as his ''modus operandi'', priding himself from his ability of keeping his victims alive through the whole process. When sent to a remote island as a punishment, he made a waxhouse-like garden out of the posed and preserved bodies of all the other convicts sent there. Then he tops that when it turns out he can do the same using a sword instead of a scalpel — an over-the-top variation of a [[Clean Cut]] that blows his opponent's whole skin clean off his body.▼
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* An episode of ''[[Ghost in
▲* Taken [[Up to Eleven]] in the seinen manga ''Burning Hell''. One of the two villain protagonists is a Korean military medic turned serial killer who has this as his modus operandi, priding himself from his ability of keeping his victims alive through the whole process. When sent to a remote island as a punishment, he made a waxhouse-like garden out of the posed and preserved bodies of all the other convicts sent there. Then he tops that when it turns out he can do the same using a sword instead of a scalpel — an over-the-top variation of a [[Clean Cut]] that blows his opponent's whole skin clean off his body.
* In the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' manga, Dark Marik uses the Millennium Rod knife to skin his father, removing the sacred tattoos from his back, then kill him. The father, however, had been stabbing Rishid with red-hot knives just before this, so no one should feel too sorry for him...▼
▲* An episode of ''[[Ghost in The Shell Stand Alone Complex]]'' features a serial killer who removes the skin of women in the shape of a T-shirt. {{spoiler|It turns out he was one among many who were ordered to use the technique as a strategic terror weapon. Batou found the unfortunate survivors, and wasn't very happy...}}
* In ''[[
▲* In the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' manga, Dark Marik uses the Millennium Rod knife to skin his father, removing the sacred tattoos from his back, then kill him. The father, however, had been stabbing Rishid with red-hot knives just before this, so no one should feel too sorry for him...
▲* In ''[[Soul Eater (Manga)|Soul Eater]]'', Shinigami skinned Asura alive and ''made a bag out of it to be his prison''.
* The fate of Tito in ''[[Anatolia Story]]''.
* In ''[[
* Just one of the many horrors visited upon {{spoiler|Griffith}} in ''[[Berserk]]'' during {{spoiler|his year's worth of [[Cold
** Also used in the Retribution arc to a priest of the Holy See.
* [[Exaggerated Trope|Exaggerated]] in ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)|Preacher]]''. The Saint of Killers is so full of pure hate that when he dies and goes to Hell, his mere presence freezes everything in its wake. So the Devil attempts to flay the hatred out of him, whipping him on the back until there's nothing but bone left. {{spoiler|It doesn't work}}.▼
▲== Card Games ==
* ''[[Magic the Gathering (Tabletop Game)|Magic the Gathering]]'': The Machine Orthodoxy, New Phyrexia's white-aligned faction, is especially fond of doing this to friend and foe alike. The flavor text of [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=218070 Inquisitor Exarch] illustrates it best.▼
{{quote|''"Skin is the prison of the blessed and the stronghold of the heretic."''|''Argent Etchings, plate 64, passage 17''}}▼
▲* [[Exaggerated Trope|Exaggerated]] in ''[[Preacher]]''. The Saint of Killers is so full of pure hate that when he dies and goes to Hell, his mere presence freezes everything in its wake. So the Devil attempts to flay the hatred out of him, whipping him on the back until there's nothing but bone left. {{spoiler|It doesn't work}}.
** Also, shortly before his death, the Preacher came across a group of bandits celebrating mass murder, the leader of which having just scalped a live man.
* ''[[Hack
* Done by Freddy to Stephanie in ''[[Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash]]: The Nightmare Warriors''. [[All Just a Dream|Thankfully, she dreaming when it happens.]].
* Happens off-panel in the [[Graphic Novel]] ''[[Joker]]'' to a crime lord who tests [[The Joker]]'s patience just a ''little'' bit too much...
▲== Fan Fiction ==
▲* [[Cupcakes]]. Poor, poor [[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|Rainbow Dash.]]
* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4622121/1/So So]''; leave it to [[Bleach]] to have [[Complete Monster|Mayuri]] operate on Ulquiorra, ''awake'', done just to see what makes Arrancars tick.
== Films ==
* The male hero of the horror movie ''[[Timber Falls]]'' received quite the nasty whipping for being disobedient to the villains, leaving him with brutal gashes all over his back.
* In the ''[[Silent Hill (
* ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]''. During an interrogation, this is used as a threat.
{{quote|
* The [[Torture Porn]] horror flick ''[[
* In 1934's ''[[The Black Cat]]'' Dr. Vitus Werdegast ([[Bela Lugosi]]) does this to architect Hjalmar Poelzig ([[Boris Karloff]]) with very good reason.
{{quote|
** The film is (just) pre-[[Hays Code]], but the scene is all [[Shadow Discretion Shot
* Happens quite a bit in the various ''[[
* Leatherface almost completely skins a still barely living man with an electric carving knife in ''[[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2]]'', and in ''The Beginning'' he flays Dean's arm with a knife (apparently [[For the Evulz]]) before running him through with a chainsaw.
* Both ''[[
* The final onscreen victim in ''Return to [[Sleepaway Camp]]'' is killed this way, and its meant to be a callback to his earlier shown hobby of skinning frogs.
* In ''[[Saw|Saw 4]]'', one of Jigsaw's victims is trapped in a device designed to slowly scalp her by pulling her hair.
* Happens to one of Dr. Furano's mooks in the opening of ''[[
* [[Predator
* The [[Imperial Japan|Imperial Japanese Army]] does this to a significant character in [[Zhang Yimou]]'s first film, ''[[Red Sorghum]]''. This is done to remind about the brutality of the [[Second Sino
* ''[[Train]]'' opens with this happening to a guy, though unlike the rest of the film's victims, he is mercifully unconscious.
* In ''[[Dagon]]'' the local drunk, Eqezuiel, has his face peeled off with a sharp blade by inhuman captors (who have the same thing planned for the hero).
== Literature ==
* This is a tradition of House Bolton in ''[[
* In [[Iain M Banks|Iain M. Banks']] ''[[The Culture/Use of Weapons|Use of Weapons]]'', the villain {{spoiler|and protagonist}} Elethiomel was fond of this. "The first messenger we personally sent came back without his skin!"
* Various characters in ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' suffer this fate. In the second book, two graduates of the [[Wizarding School]], who have been lifelong friends for [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|hundreds of years]], are informed that one of them will be forcibly conscripted into the service of [[Satan|the Keeper]], and will have to flay his friend alive as part of his initiation.
* The [[Big Bad]] of one of the [[Anita Blake]] novels does this to the Rafael, king of the wererats, in part because the villains couldn't control the rats without his participation, but mostly [[For the Evulz]]. He only survives because of the preternatural healing abilities of lycanthropes.
* In ''Polystom'', two deserters convicted of murdering an aristocrat are executed using a device called a "skin-frame": their skin is cut around their ankles and attached to hooks and they are forced to hang onto the frame until their arms tire and they let go.
* In ''[[The Wind
* The short story ''The Anatomy of Desire'' by John Theureux is about a man who was skinned and is still alive, and falls in love with a nurse at the hospital.
* This is a favored tactic of [[Evil Sorcerer|the Black Mages]] from the ''Mithgar'' books; their victims need to be in pain in order for the Mages to wrench the life essence needed to power their spells, and so most become adept [[Torture Technician
* [[Friday the
** He kills the sheriff this way in ''Friday the 13th: Hell Lake''.
* ''[[A Nightmare
* The [[Novelization]] of ''[[Escape
* In Boris Starling's ''Messiah'' the serial killer Silver Tongue flays a man named Bart Miller alive. The police later discover that {{spoiler|Silver Tongue is murdering men based on how the apostles died}} and Bart Miller was unlucky enough to {{spoiler|share his name with St. Bartholomew - who was flayed alive}}.
* In ''[[Heralds of Valdemar|The Black Gryphon]]'', the [[Big Bad]] Ma'ar had invented a spell that flayed whatever it hit. Most people to end up on the receiving end of it die of blood loss.
Line 83 ⟶ 73:
* In [[Vorkosigan Saga|Mirror Dance]] by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]], one of the tortures used by Baron Ryoval on {{spoiler|Mark Vorkosigan}} is spraying his skin with a chemical that slowly eats it away.
* In ''[[The Dresden Files|Turn Coat,]]'' Shagnasty the skinwalker {{spoiler|tortures Thomas by tearing off strips of his skin and wearing out his regenerative energy to make him hungry enough to feed on humans again.}} [[Complete Monster|For no other reason than to hurt Harry.]]
* In ''[[
* Used with great enthusiasm in the opening of the [[Night Lords]] book ''Blood Reaver''.
* In ''[[
== Live-Action TV ==
* The third season of ''[[Dexter]]'' featured a serial killer known as The Skinner, who liked to [[Exactly What It Says
* In one of the final episodes of ''[[
** [[Fan Nickname]]: ''Willow the Vampire Flayer''.
** [[Awesome McCoolname|You're owed a date with Willow for that one.]]
Line 96 ⟶ 85:
*** {{spoiler|Not just irony: since Willow accidentally set up the whole "she and the Scoobies can't see each other" just by convincing herself that she couldn't face them after what she did, did she accidentally create the whole Gnarl situation by convincing herself that she deserved to be punished for flaying Warren?}}
** Glory threatened to do this to Spike in Season 5 (''think I can do it all in one strip, like an apple?'') but doesn't make it very far.
* The Skin Taker in ''[[Candle Cove]]'' often threatened Pirate Percy and
* ''[[
** A deranged cult in the episode "The Tribe" does this to a group of university students, making sure to prolong the suffering of the victims for as long as possible.
** In "About Face" the villain cuts his first victim's face off while she's still alive. Earlier in the same episode, Reid mentions Rossi once helped put away a guy nicknamed "The Scarsdale Skinner."
* Reavers from ''[[
* ''[[The X
* Done very graphically in ''[[The River]]'', thanks to a really vengeful demon.
== Religion, Folklore, and Mythology ==
* The satyr Marsyas challenged [[Greek Mythology|Apollo]] to a music contest, flute against lyre. There are several versions (either Apollo made a new condition that made it impossible for Marsyas to keep up, like singing or playing the instrument upside-down; or the judge was Midas who declared Marsyas the winner), but both end in the same way: Apollo flays Marsyas alive.
* The apostle Saint Bartholomew is said to have been martyred this way, flayed alive by an Armenian prince after the latter's brother, the king, converted to Christianity; and indeed, he is often represented in art as [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Last_judgement.jpg holding his own flayed skin]. This is, by the way, why many hospitals are named after him, he is the Patron Saint of Surgeons as a result.
== Tabletop Games ==
* The Dark Eldar of ''[[Warhammer
** Necron Flayed Ones have this as their signature ability. They use their long flensing knive-like talons to skin their victims and then they ''wear'' the skin as a terror tactic. It works. They also like burrowing out of the ground while wearing the skins of their new victims friends. Flayed Ones [[Crush! Kill! Destroy!|have no concept of 'torture']], however, and their victims tend to be quite dead by the time they go to work.
** Chaos is unique in that they have learned how to [[Human Resources|power
* In the ''[[
* In the ''[[Planescape]]'' setting of ''[[Dungeons
** Although to be fair to her, this is not a torture method but an execution one: Anyone whom the Lady's shadow falls on dies quite instantaneously (if painfully).
▲* ''[[Magic:
▲{{quote|''"Skin is the prison of the blessed and the stronghold of the heretic."''|''Argent Etchings, plate 64, passage 17''}}
== Videogames ==
* In ''[[
* A few fatalaties in the ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' series flay instead of directly kill. Unsurprisingly, they are among the cooler looking ones.
* The ''Lonesome Road'' expansion for ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' introduces the Marked Men, whose skin has been torn off by the vicious sandstorms constantly ravaging the Divide. Unfortunately the area's background radiation has also [[Our Ghouls Are Different|ghoulified]] them, prolonging both their lives and their suffering.
== Western Animation ==
* Some vengeful trees peel off chunks of Carl's skin in one episode of ''[[
* [[What Do You Mean
** In the same episode, Plankton flays ''himself''.
** In another
** The Krusty Crushers has a wrestler blow the skin of another one off.
* In "A Yard Too Far" from ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'', Ren, in a [[Zany Scheme]] to steal hog jowls from a windowsill, tears off Stimpy's skin. The camera pans away from Stimpy before his skin is pulled off... and after Ren pulls it off, [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|it pans back to Stimpy, who is now completely skinless]]. [[Serial Escalation|Skinless Stimpy shows up again later, reacting to his skin being mauled by the baboon.]]
* In an ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|Itchy and Scratchy]]'' [[Show Within a Show|episode]], Itchy nails Scratchy's feet to an escalator, which peels away his fur and skin, but doesn't kill him. Later on, the skinless cat is wearing his fur as if it were a coat, [[Butt Monkey|and then]] is beaten to death by anti-fur militants.
* During the ''[[Regular Show]]'' [[Halloween Episode]], {{spoiler|Muscle Man}} is dragged of by The Wizard. He returns a few moments later, ''
== Real Life ==
* Numerous historical figures practiced this, including [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Ivan the Terrible and Vlad the Impaler]].
* Non-torture usage: In cases of severe or extensive burns, doctors may have to perform what is called a debridement - that is, removing the dead skin so that healthy skin may regrow, by either scrubbing at or peeling the burns. The exposed dermis is likely to complain regardless.
** Removal of sections of skin is necessary in many plastic-surgery procedures, or when skin must be harvested from other areas to cover third-degree burns. In amputations, the surgeon may salvage skin from the amputated appendage to cover the stump.
* Happened to the Greek philosopher Hypatia who annoyed the Christians in her neighbourhood by being a pagan and female, who decided to drag her naked along the streets and ultimately skin her alive with sharp seashells or pieces of broken pottery, depending on the version.
* According to [[
* The Assyrians used to punish people by doing this to their ''[[Revenge
* Accidental flaying, as when someone's hair gets caught in machinery and [[Body Horror|their scalp is torn off]], is known as "de-gloving".
* Pierre Basile, a young crossbowman, managed to kill [[Richard the Lion Heart]] in 1199. Mercadier, Richard's mercenary captain and right-hand-man, was not particularly pleased to have his 15-year-old working relationship end this way. He retaliated by having Pierre flayed alive.
Line 149 ⟶ 136:
[[Category:A Tortured Index]]
[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
[[Category:
|