RR:
> > I've never been happy with the "stated stakes"
> argument in a combat
> - you're
> > not (usually) fighting to wound, or to capture, or
> to drive away - if
> > you've got swords out, you're going for a kill.
> Period, End of statement
Bryan:
> Wow, we sure differ here. I forget the exact
> number, but didn't they
> find in the first world war that only something like
> 10% of soldiers
> would deliberately shoot and kill an enemy?
> I suspect that the same applies to blades.
To some extent the urge to kill will be higher in melee - the adrenaline kicks in when someone's waving a sharp bit of metal in your direction. But I do know that George Silver, a master of the sword writing in 1699, gave his manual of swordsmanship the title of "Paradoxes of Defence". He saw the objective as survival, not as killing. Rule 1: on no account allow your opponent to strike you. Rule 2: whenever possible, endeavour to strike your opponent. He then goes into a considerable amount of detail as to how to best achieve this, but the basic concept is emphasized throughout.
Remember that the berserkers, the ones whose desire to kill was stronger than their desire to live, were rare, and feared.
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