1. sereda008

    sereda008 Member

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    What happens if you force a knife into someones forhead?

    Discussion in 'Research' started by sereda008, Nov 23, 2010.

    I am at this point where the main character kills a temporary annoyance. He drives a military knife into his forehead.

    What I need to know is what will happen? Will his vision fade first, would he still be conscious? Would he scream? Would he die in a horrible way?

    Any answer would be appreciated, thanks.
     
  2. runback22

    runback22 New Member

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    I dont think any of us have any first hand experience with that. At least, i hope not. Anyways, I imagine that it would be an instant kill. No screams, no fading vision. The instant that blade hits the brain it would be lights out. I guess you want to describe it from the victims POV. If he is a temporary minor annoyance, why bother?
     
  3. sereda008

    sereda008 Member

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    Yes, I imagine that few people would have the experience. But anyone with knowledge of the head would be able to answer the question.

    At first I thought that it would be an instant kill, but then I remembered sin city and decided to make sure.
     
  4. Elgaisma

    Elgaisma Contributor Contributor

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    The temple or eye socket would be better targets - is your assailant very strong? The forehead would require a considerable amount of force to penetrate the brain and the victim is more likely to survive.

    I only ever dealt in bone but I don't understand why someone would attack a forehead when the eye is going to just as available.
     
  5. sereda008

    sereda008 Member

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    Interesting idea but unfortunately he hit the temple with his knife. There is no way to rewrite the past:). He was very strong and he forced the knife into the skull. There was really no time to chose a better place to hit.
     
  6. Noya Desherbanté

    Noya Desherbanté New Member

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    I love questions like this... at least, I love researching them when they come up in my own work! :-D

    All I can say is that I would think, realistically, it would indeed be 'lights out' upon the knife going through the brain, and this would work on paper (your reader's not going to jump up and cry, 'he'd never!'). The Telegraph, however, disagrees with me:

    [​IMG]

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/3110306/X-ray-shows-knife-embedded-in-head-of-teenage-boy.html

    It would be of more use if the article was longer, but I'm sure finding more details of the case would be pretty easy. Just goes to show, anything can happen... quite a plot twist, too, if your victim either walks away or reappears later on... ;)
     
  7. Elgaisma

    Elgaisma Contributor Contributor

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    The victim of this kind attack can survive for quite a long time afterwards. It will be painful and it depends where in the brain the person is hit.
     
  8. flanneryohello

    flanneryohello New Member

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    Uh...you do realize that as a writer, you absolutely can rewrite the past, right? I'm not saying you necessarily should, in this instance, but I found this comment really strange. Rewriting and revision are both essential for any writer.
     
    1 person likes this.
  9. TerraIncognita

    TerraIncognita Aggressively Nice Person Contributor

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    This is definitely an interesting question. I can say I'm really not sure. It depends on where in the brain. I've heard about people surviving this sort of injury and even going into a state where they don't feel it! (shock perhaps?) The human body is just plain weird.. now spinal cords I know more about. :p
     
  10. sereda008

    sereda008 Member

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    God, thanks! This would leave me with an enemy ressurected which even I thought would die. He shall fall into a coma, and then manage to survive and return.
    Thanks for the help.
     
  11. Zebadiah

    Zebadiah New Member

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    you should also note that even though once could survive, one might not fully recover. brain damage can bring out some strange symptoms. through the forehead would be hitting the frontal lobe which affects problem solving skills and so on.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage
    a guy who survived having a metal crowbar or something being run through his head, damaging his frontal lobe. friends said he was no longer the same person. perhaps more extreme than a knife, but it's just a matter of luck in terms of what parts of the brain are hit i guess.
     
  12. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    This would also be my issue with the idea. The forehead would be a daunting target to penetrate by hand with a knife. The rear of the orbital socket is much more... vulnerable.
     
  13. Trilby

    Trilby Contributor Contributor

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    It would depend upon where and how deep it penetrated the brain.
    I can't think of his name, but the main actor in the 'Hello! Hello!' TV shows had a nasty head injury, I think he lost part of his brain, and he survived and lead a normal life apart from the scar on his temple there was no other evidence of the accident.
    It is up to you the author. Do you want him to survive? Do you want him to die? You're the author you can make it as serious as you want. Make it to fit your plot.
     
  14. SashaMerideth

    SashaMerideth New Member

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    Not a direct answer, but this is what you need.

    [​IMG]
     
  15. sereda008

    sereda008 Member

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    Irreversible brain damage? Perfect!:D

    Thanks for the replies, I just remembered that there was this man who was show with a bullet in the head, and he survived. Now he lives, if he is still alive, with a bullet in his brain.
     
  16. madhoca

    madhoca Contributor Contributor

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    My friend's father took a bullet in WW2 which went straight through his head, entering at a place near the temple and exiting through the top. The bullet had been fired from a considerable distance, so it was low velocity by the time it hit him.

    He recovered with no brain damage at all, although doctors had mend his skull with a small metal plate and he became blind in one eye. He told us that he had felt no pain, but he had blacked out for a couple of days and come to on a hospital ship.

    I also saw an xray of a man about four years ago. He was brought into casualty--conscious--after he fell off a ladder onto a spiked railing which firemen had to saw off, and he arrived with it still in with his head, a bit like the knife in the head xray. I think he survived with no great damage.
     
  17. Donal

    Donal New Member

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    With regards as to why the attacker chooses the forehead I would certainly address this. For example maybe he has the victim subdued and is able to extract the most pain this way. Maybe he is very arrogant, very strong and is capable of doing so, wanting to choose the forehead ahead of the eye socket to prove how strong he is.
     
  18. Newfable

    Newfable New Member

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    Agreed. While a lot of readers may say, "Cool!", a lot may question the validity of being able to drive a knife through the skull and into the brain. You may also have to explain how the stabee manages to survive. They may not know, but some kind of explanation, even if it's a small one, will do.

    Myself, I'd stay away from Wolverine styled explanations and theories. Unless of course, your story strays into the fantastic like X-Men tends to from time to time.
     
  19. sereda008

    sereda008 Member

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    The main character could not fully control himself under the influence of a demon/man, and he also felt renewed strength from some source. This may explain some things. HE probably did not have enough time to consider a better approach.
     
  20. Elgaisma

    Elgaisma Contributor Contributor

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    I think that is my problem - if he had used a club or baseball bat fair enough. But it would be a very unusual circumstance where the eye would not be as readily available as the forehead. When you look at most people the eyes are more prominent than the forehead, they are what as humans we tend to be drawn to first.
     
  21. sereda008

    sereda008 Member

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    I get your point, but the main character was like HIGH. All those forces around him made his mind unclear.
     
  22. Newfable

    Newfable New Member

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    Just a thought, but if you're going to have something as odd as a knife through the forehead, give it some weight; make it mean something. Can you transmutate the instance into a metaphor or a simile? Can you make it a symbol for the story, or a central theme?

    This is, of course, all assuming that it is, in fact, a pivotal point in the story. This thought of mine needs to be weighed in consideration with how the story and situation play themselves out.
     
  23. Tessie

    Tessie Contributor Contributor

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    :EEK: Sasha! Oh, my word!
     
  24. Islander

    Islander Contributor Contributor

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    If the wound is lethal depends on what parts of the brain are damaged. Generally, the outer layer (the cortex) controls higher functions, and is not as essential to life. The inner, older parts of the brain control things like breathing and heart beats. But I'm not an expert, so maybe there are wounds to the cortex which are lethal as well. Blows to the temple can be very dangerous.
     
  25. Midnight Pete

    Midnight Pete New Member

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    It wouldn't take much strength to penetrate the brain, since it's just soft tissue. It would take a lot of force to penetrate the skull, and probably a lot of speed. How do I know this? Let's just say I've watched a lot of CSI and Mythbusters.
     

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