Prince of Spires
Istar
Thinking on this, It's a bit like a magician doing tricks (stick with me...). With many magician tricks, the actual trick is in plain sight if you know where to look. However, the magician skillfully redirects your attention to something else (there's a lot of hand-waving, talking and pointing). And this causes you to miss the actual magic part to only see the trick.
So it is with writing. You can have a lot of stuff happen, but the reader sees what you're pointing at. If you're paying a lot of attention to an injury, then that's what the reader is going to see. If you're glossing over it and focussing on something else, then that's what a reader is going to see / remember. As with a magic trick, the higher the skill, the more you can get away with.
What is important here, is that you are consistent in your tone and your consequences. As someone mentioned, if you have a dark, gritty Game of Thrones world, then readers will expect your injuries to matter. Though even there G.R.R. Martin only sometimes does this. Jamie Lanister most certainly suffers from losing a hand, but Tyrion losing his nose in battle matters a lot less. While if you're going for a much lighter or heroic tale, then you can get away with a lot and gloss over most injuries to your heroes.
So it is with writing. You can have a lot of stuff happen, but the reader sees what you're pointing at. If you're paying a lot of attention to an injury, then that's what the reader is going to see. If you're glossing over it and focussing on something else, then that's what a reader is going to see / remember. As with a magic trick, the higher the skill, the more you can get away with.
What is important here, is that you are consistent in your tone and your consequences. As someone mentioned, if you have a dark, gritty Game of Thrones world, then readers will expect your injuries to matter. Though even there G.R.R. Martin only sometimes does this. Jamie Lanister most certainly suffers from losing a hand, but Tyrion losing his nose in battle matters a lot less. While if you're going for a much lighter or heroic tale, then you can get away with a lot and gloss over most injuries to your heroes.