Off with His Head: Difference between revisions

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* In the movie ''[[Johnny Mnemonic]]'', the assassin was told to come back with Johnny's head, as it contained a cybernetic brain implant which had important information in it.

* ''[[The Matrix]] Revolutions'' has Neo decapitating an Agent Smith-possessed bad guy with a jackhandle.

* Obviously, almost every single death in ''[[Sleepy Hollow]]''.

* Obviously, almost every single death in ''[[Sleepy Hollow (Film)|Sleepy Hollow]]''.

* In ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy 1999]]'', Rick O'Connell decapitates a mummy, and it falls "dead" after the head spins for a bit. Then he decapitates another, and it starts juggling with the head, only falling "dead" after Rick hits the head [[Painting the Fourth Wall|towards the camera]].

** In ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy Returns]]'', the only way to kill an Anubis Warrior is by taking off its head.

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* ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]''. The Green Knight dares anyone to chop his head off with his own battle axe. Sir Gawain chops off the Green Knight's head, only to have the Green Knight pick his own head up, and place it back upon his shoulders. One of the best-known stories of [[King Arthur]].

* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Gaunt's Ghosts]] novel ''First & Only'', this is how the Inquisitor Heldane deals with the doctor who objects to his coming into the infirmary; it is told from the POV of the doctor, who sees his own boots and only then realizes that he lost his head.

** In ''Traitor General'', Uexkull kills the local commander this way when [[You Have Failed Me|he fails]] to search for Gaunt and his men as a top priority.

** In ''Traitor General'', Uexkull kills the local commander this way when [[You Have Failed Me...|he fails]] to search for Gaunt and his men as a top priority.

** In ''Duty Calls'', [[Ciaphas Cain]] uses his [[Chainsaw Good|chainsword]] to decapitate a psyker cultist who was trying to assassinate him.

* [[Charles de Lint]]'s novel ''[http://www.amazon.com/Svaha-Charles-Lint/dp/0312876505/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234305187&sr=8-1 Svaha]'' has at least two scenes where characters {{spoiler|(one of them the [[Big Bad]])}} get decapitated in fairly gory detail.

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* Another favorite kind of death in Brandon Sanderson's ''Mistborn'' series, especially as the Steel Ministry loves to dual-wield obsidian axes. There are the mass executions in ''The Final Empire'', the first Steel Minister seen killed, and most brutally to the reader {{spoiler|Elend Venture, possibly intentionally on his part}} at the climax of ''Hero of Ages''.

** Another memorable example is Elend killing {{spoiler|his former best friend Jastes}} this way, the first person he ever kills.

* In the ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'' novel ''[[Grey Knights]]'', Justicar Tancred finishes off {{spoiler|the fallen Saint Evisser reanimated}} by lopping his head off.

* In the ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' novel ''[[Grey Knights]]'', Justicar Tancred finishes off {{spoiler|the fallen Saint Evisser reanimated}} by lopping his head off.

* Robert Olen Butler's book ''Severance'' consists entirely of vignettes presenting the imagined last thoughts of decapitation victims throughout history (including a few non-humans and the occasional fictional character). Very weird, quite fascinating.

* C'mon... You know what this trope is [[Alice in Wonderland|named after]]...

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== Tabletop Games ==

* Vorpal weapons from ''[[Dungeons ~~and~~ Dragons]]'' have this as their primary power, activating upon rolling a natural 20 on a D20 and then confirming the crit.

* Vorpal weapons from ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' have this as their primary power, activating upon rolling a natural 20 on a D20 and then confirming the crit.

* In ''[[New World of Darkness]]'', both vampires and werewolves are capable of regenerating lost body parts... except the head. Lobbing off the head ends their hunt for good.

* ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'' has the primarchs [[Night Lords|Konrad Curze]] and (possibly) Ferrus Manus meet their ends this way.

* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' has the primarchs [[Night Lords|Konrad Curze]] and (possibly) Ferrus Manus meet their ends this way.