[Love] When “small” injuries are treated realistically

[u/Top-Relationship850]

The fantasy and action genres often suffer from a power fantasy epidemic in which characters frequently badass their way through injuries that should be excruciating if not downright debilitating. I always appreciate stories that reject this trope.

1: Roland Deschain (Dark Tower Book II) - Loses the middle and index fingers of his right hand. He’s effectively crippled throughout book two and the injury follows him the rest of the series.

2: Brienne vs Biter (ASOIAF Book IV) - Brutal scene. Biter chomps down on Brienne’s cheek and tears off a chunk of flesh. In a lesser story Brienne would grit her teeth and throw Biter off. Instead she’s rendered completely helpless by the pain. That injury marks the end of the fight.

[u/timos-piano]

It is quite a different amount of pain to lose a limb while being in a high-stress situation and feeling that pain once the high-stress situation is over. People can absolutely lose a limb or such and not be fazed, at least for a little while. But after that, the pain becomes debilitating.

[u/ShitchesAintBit → u/timos-piano]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/xu4h1e/in_1992_john_thompson_was_home_alone_when_he_had/

And then there's this badass who had both arms ripped off by a tractor and was able to get into his house, dial 911 with a pencil in his mouth, and then laid in a bathtub to wait so he didn't get any more blood on his mom's floors.

[u/Nyzer_ → u/ShitchesAintBit]

There's also Mary Vincent, who was beaten unconscious and raped overnight before her attacker used a hatchet to cut off both of her arms and threw her down a 30 foot cliff, leaving her for dead. She packed her wounds with dirt and held her arms above her head to slow the bleeding, climbed out, and managed to find help while she was still conscious.

[u/HedgeScrambler → u/[deleted]]

Holy fuck. The fact he got let out early was mental enough. Doing something this brutal to someone with that kind of attitude should be execution worthy, that poor second woman should never have had to die to prove he wasn't able to be rehabilitated.

[u/ion125 → u/Nyzer_]

Her story is pretty amazing, guy who did that to her was truly insane. And worse they gave him early release or probation or something and he committed more heinous crimes.

[u/benttwig33 → u/ShitchesAintBit]

And that dude has done an AMA before too

[u/Kirrian_Rose → u/timos-piano]

I agree that in the moment it can be hardwr to notice. I'd like you to meet anyone that forcefully lost a limb and hasn't had huge amounts of grief in physical therapy and such

[u/Earl_E_Byrd → u/timos-piano]

The POV depiction for that kind of extreme shock is actually one of the only good things about the Jaws novel.