Decapitation Required: Difference between revisions

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* In ''[[The Twelve Kingdoms]]'' beheading is one of the certain ways to kill an immortal (the others being cutting the body in two and use of special enchanted weapons), and is shown to be the preferred method in execution.

* Subverted hard with Hidan from ''[[Naruto]]''. Azuma ''thinks'' it'll work and succeeds, but all it does is piss Hidan off. {{spoiler|Shikamaru later blows him up to the point where the only part left is his head. Hidan cusses him out.}}

* In the French series Zorn and Dirna, Death is trappped in a magical mirror, and now every single living creature is fated to [[Age Without Youth|age forever]], unless the spinal column is severed, in which case the dead one's soul goes into the killer's. [[And I Must Scream|It is specifically mentioned that butchers have adapted by developping the skill of removing meat from an animal without cutting the spine.]]

 

* ''[[The Mummy Returns]]'': The only way to kill an Anubis Warrior is by cutting off its head.

* In addition to the page quote, ''[[X Men Origins: Wolverine|X Men Origins Wolverine]]'' uses this {{spoiler|on Weapon XI.}} This is shown in the movie as being the only way to kill anyone with a [[Healing Factor]]. {{spoiler|It doesn't work, in this case.}}

* [[Losing Your Head|Horribly]] subverted in ''[[The Thing (film)|The Thing]]''.

 

* A specific remedy for vampires.

** In fact, it's a very popular folkloric cure for practically any kind of monster and, as a sort of bonus, works just as well on humans.

* The weakness of Medusa, the gorgon. While her two sisters were immortal, Medusa had a mortal neck covered in metallic scales which could be severed, killing her.

 

* [[Playing with a Trope|Played with]] in [[Mistborn]]. [[Big Bad|The Lord Ruler]] is [[A God Am I|lauded as an immortal god]], and it's common knowledge that "decapitation only irritates him," so nobody ever tries this. It's also [[Rasputinian Death|one of the many things he claims to have survived]] in a [[Badass Boast]] while fighting the heroes. However, {{spoiler|the source of his agelessness, once revealed, makes one wonder if this was actually true}}, and according to [[Word of God]] [[Invoked Trope|it was a]] [[Genre Savvy|big fat lie]].

** In Brandon Sanderson's earlier work, ''[[Elantris]]'', Elantrians are most reliably killed by beheading. Anything less will simply leave an unhealing, eternally-hurting wound. Burning also works.

* The [[Stock Ness Monster|Brollachian]] from ''[[Shadow Keep]]'' is a part ogre part octopus brute that feels no pain and can regenerate missing limbs and chunks of flesh. However, [[The Smart Guy|Maryld]] stated that he can be slain if beheaded, but the heroes never get the chance of trying this on it.

 

* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'': It's stated that characters with a [[Healing Factor]] can't survive decapitation, although it's never actually shown. The more commonly referenced means of taking one down is by shooting or stabbing [[Achilles' Heel|a very specific point in their brain]], but that only works temporarily; if the object is removed, they will still heal. Not so, allegedly, for full decapitation.

* On ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', this is how the "unkillable" Leviathans are finally defeated. [[Losing Your Head|It still doesn't actually kill them]] but it incapacitates them until their heads crawl back over to their bodies, a problem solved by simply putting the head in a box.

* Decapitation is one of the few ways to kill a vampire in ''[[Buffy]]''. They instantly turn to dust once their head isn't attached to their body. ''[[Angel]]'' brings up another caveat; vampires have a [[Healing Factor]] but their brain won't heal from some injuries, meaning they could be left brain-damaged for all eternity if something happened to it. This is mentioned, but [[Informed Attribute|it never comes up in the actual story.]]

 

* Subverted in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|DnD]]''; Vorpal weapons instantly decapitate enemies on a critical hit, but some enemies either don't have heads to remove, or aren't inconvenienced by it.

** Specifically, the latter includes monsters with regeneration (though Ogre Mages need to reattach their heads within ten minutes), most Constructs, and Undead (save for vampires).