# Non-fatal stab wound



## skip.knox (Dec 9, 2017)

OK, medical team, here's one for you.

I have a secondary character who is going to die from the sting of a creature ... well, just picture a giant scorpion. Bigger than a human. 

The stinger is therefore going to be fairly large, though I can make it slim--I'm thinking it goes from a knife point thickening to the width of two or three fingers. 

The character dies from the poison, but I bring him back magically. I'm still left with that wound, though. I can't very well have the stinger puncture the heart--such a blow would obliterate it. 

I'm looking for a place on the body where the stinger hits such that the wound could be plenty nasty but recoverable. The character is struck from behind. The butt would probably be best, though that has comic overtones I don't want. Upper thigh? Is any place on the back feasible? The shoulder blade would shatter, so that's no good.

I'm not going to make a big deal of it; I just don't want to do something stupid like have him stabbed in the head.


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## Heliotrope (Dec 9, 2017)

Lol. Stung in the ass.

Ok, so I don't have medical experience, but I was on Search and Rescue for a number of years, and we had to be trained in some crazy first aid. What I'm going to compare this too is the time we came across a dude who had been dirt biking and got thrown from his bike and impaled on a tree branch. The tree branch was a broken branch, so it had a sharp, narrow point, but thickened to about three fingers like you described. It was his upper thigh muscle, and it missed his formal artery, so he didn't bleed as much as one would think. There was a lot of blood, but not a deadly amount of blood. He did fracture the bone, but again, it missed doing damage to the main artery, which was pretty crazy.

It these sorts of situations the "intrusion" of whatever it is sometimes acts like a "plug" that prevents any serious bleeding out, so when we find people in these sorts of scenarios it is best to leave the thing in until they can get to actual medical help. We had to use backpacker's saws to saw the branch off on the other side of his leg, and then we stretchered him out lying semi prone. I'm pretty sure the surgeons were taking splinters out for hours after he was finally taken in to emergency.

If I were to try to write this in a fantasy setting, I would think infection would be the biggest issue.


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## TheKillerBs (Dec 9, 2017)

The traps from above? Depends on how long the stinger is, though... if it’s long enough it’ll get to the lung


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## skip.knox (Dec 9, 2017)

Yeah, there are just too many vital organs between shoulder and hip. That's why I was thinking lower. Thanks, Heliotrope, for the anecdote. I'm definitely going with the thigh. There's no need to be detailed--not when fighting a tarrasque!

I hear you about infection. Has to be one of the biggest unspoken handwaviums in all fantasy literature. Fortunately, I have this powerful magic staff handy, so we'll get him fixed right up. After all, if it can bring someone back from the dead, it can tidy up the wound!


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## Insolent Lad (Dec 10, 2017)

If the stinger exists primarily to inject poison there would be no need for a deep penetration. Just breaking the skin might be enough to kill.


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## Heliotrope (Dec 10, 2017)

*femoral... lol. Not formal. Oh man. Christmas rum.

I read this very interesting article not too long ago about how scientist recently discovered a book with recipes in it for different salves used in ancient times. Once salve, made out of wine, garlic, leeks and oxgall was found in studies to be quite effective in killing staph bacteria. Almost as effective as modern antibiotics.

Getting Medieval on Bacteria: Ancient Books May Point to New Antibiotics

I'm not big on holistic medicine or naturalpathic medicine, but this at leasts points to there being some effective treatments that might work in a fantasy setting.


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## Malik (Dec 10, 2017)

Outside of the thigh. Front or back. Plenty of meat there on a fit person (especially if they ride horses all day or spend a lot of time in armor or carrying packs, as so many fantasy characters do) and low risk of a bleed-out. 

If you consult a chart, look to the rectus femoris  ("Damn right it wrecked his femoris!") or vastus lateralis in front; posterior would be the semitendinosus.


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## skip.knox (Dec 10, 2017)

>"Damn right it wrecked his femoris!"
*snort*

And "vastus lateralis" sounds like Tool's latest release.

>semitendinosus
Even though the sound of it is really quite atrocious?

Seriously thanks One and All. All my heroes are going to get thigh wounds; no more shoulder wounds!


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## Malik (Dec 11, 2017)

Yay! Leg wounds for everyone! 

I have a scene in Book II where a character dies from an arrow to the shoulder. So sick of the "arrow to the shoulder"/"just winged him" cliche.


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## Insolent Lad (Dec 11, 2017)

I just put a spear through the thigh of a secondary character in my WIP. He _is_ going to limp the rest of his life.


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## Ankari (Dec 11, 2017)

Malik said:


> Yay! Leg wounds for everyone!
> 
> I have a scene in Book II where a character dies from an arrow to the shoulder. So sick of the "arrow to the shoulder"/"just winged him" cliche.



This is one of the things I hated about the _Punisher _Netflix series. I pointed this out in my recent Mythic Scribes article. The guy gets shoulder wounds like other people sneezes.


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## skip.knox (Dec 11, 2017)

Here's the thing about wounds. Why is the character wounded in the first place? Is it just to show off some splatter? Is it a cheap trick to raise tension?  Or is there a story need for it? If so, then let the character be truly wounded. And if you're going to heal the character with magic, let there be a story reason for this as well. 

Otherwise, it's just set decoration.


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## Heliotrope (Dec 11, 2017)

But I think we can all agree watching Inigo Montoya get stabbed in both shoulders and still go after the six fingered man with blood running down his puffy sleeved tunic was pretty sweet...


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## Russ (Dec 11, 2017)

I unfortunately know tons about wounds.  While I understand your concern about the torso you can stick the stinger in their if  you like.  People suffer injuries in that area of the body that are monstrously bad (and have for centuries) and survived them.  People have had an iron rod driven through their head and survived.  

Personally I think  you have lots of credible options available.

But the butt would be funny.


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## pmmg (Dec 11, 2017)

I had cut one of my fingers once with a pocket knife, and to this day a portion of it has no feeling at all. Must have gotten a nerve. I do sometimes wonder about this when I see heroes take one to the shoulder or some other injury. I wonder if they should have similar nerve damage.

However, in fiction, while it may not be realistic, I think there is great leeway (perhaps setup by all the other not quite accurate depictions of other authors) as to wounds acquired and damage result. Arms and shoulder would seem a natural target as they would tend to be up where the blades are falling. I think shoulders are a safe fictional place to put a wound and not have it impact the whole of the story too much (unless of course, you want it too). If I get someone hit in the leg, I would think the immediate effect of that would be slower movement, which, while not necessarily permanent, could impact a scene or the larger tale in a way I would not really want.

As for realism, sure its true there are places that it would be better to be hit in than others, but people have survived some crazy stuff, and not survived a whole lot of not so crazy stuff. So, I think it could all fall into the category of plausible if I want to write it that way. Well, reasonably so...


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