• Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!

How To Kill An "Unkillable" Race

ShadeZ

Maester
And what if attacking the walls also killed them? i.e. any action except killing one results in all 3 instantly dying.
The demidur would do nothing and all three would die. They have strange logic but its technically not evil to do nothing when you can't help, murder is evil though and they wouldnt trust this random saw entity to let the two go unhurt. It is kind of like the whole psychology question, your on a bridge there is a train about to pass below, 5 people are on the tracks and a fat guy is on the bridge with you, if you push the fat guy in the way of the train it will stop it and save the people but obviously that is murder. Which is entering the realms of WAY TOO philosophic for me lol.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
If I invent a race that is unkillable then it's unkillable. If it can be killed in some way, no matter how obscure, then it's not unkillable.

If the characters in my story believe a creature cannot be killed, then I have an interesting story question. Why do they believe this? How does this belief drive their actions and what consequences might those actions have? The actual mechanics of the killing become secondary.

I'm not sure I'd ever have a character believe that. I can readily imagine Joe Peasant believe that he personally cannot kill a giant or a dragon or such like. But that no one ever anywhere could kill it? Seems unlikely. Also, sort of deflating in story terms, since the character would at that point just give up. There's no point in trying to kill a tornado. It doesn't even make sense. But it does make sense to hope and pray that somewhere there might be a brave knight in armor who might kill the dragon.
 
What about some sort of magical psychological warfare? For example, some sort of spell or magical material that attacks their minds, making them eventually go insane to the point of committing evil acts. Could create an interesting mystery in the story, and would be a less obvious/more inventive way to defeat them. Can't defeat them in open combat, so subterfuge feels like a good way to go.
 

angelleaping

Dreamer
If I invent a race that is unkillable then it's unkillable. If it can be killed in some way, no matter how obscure, then it's not unkillable.

If the characters in my story believe a creature cannot be killed, then I have an interesting story question. Why do they believe this? How does this belief drive their actions and what consequences might those actions have? The actual mechanics of the killing become secondary.

I'm not sure I'd ever have a character believe that. I can readily imagine Joe Peasant believe that he personally cannot kill a giant or a dragon or such like. But that no one ever anywhere could kill it? Seems unlikely. Also, sort of deflating in story terms, since the character would at that point just give up. There's no point in trying to kill a tornado. It doesn't even make sense. But it does make sense to hope and pray that somewhere there might be a brave knight in armor who might kill the dragon.
 

angelleaping

Dreamer
In my science fiction fantasy, "Einstein's Compass a YA Time Traveler Adventure", there is a Draconian dragon doppelganger who is invincible except
for fire. Raka chases young Albert Einstein through the story to steal his supernatural compass. In the first chapter, there is a foreshadowing
of how Raka is vulnerable to fire. I will not tell you how the fire kills the evil dragon. But the end of the story reads like a thriller.
 

ShadeZ

Maester
So given this race's design it makes sense that something totally ordinary would kill this being since the more magical, dragonic, or powerful something is the more their own power level increases to match it. Not unlike how vampires seem invincible apart from a stake. This also has a number of strange quirks.
 

Gurkhal

Auror
Heyo,

So I have a species I am working on called the demidur. They have all the usual stuff supernatural speed, reflexes ect in addition to that they are allegedly an 'invincible' or 'unkillable' race. At one point a male demidur mentions he could stab himself in the heart and it would do nothing. He also mentions that an enemy could slit his neck and he would bleed out but it would by no means be lethal or even harmful to him as he is an enchanted race (the opposite though 'created' similarly would be a 'cursed race' like a vampire) so blood and functioning organs aren't needed just recommended where a blood race (humans, elves, dwarves, giants) can't survive without them. However, this race can be killed but it would be under a very extreme or unconventional means similar to how you can cut a vampire's head off and it will regenerate but if you stab it with say a common wooden pencil in the heart it dies. Any ideas?

Maybe the trick isn't to kill him, but do away with him in a way that's about as bad? If he's kicked into a crack in the earth down to magma it might not matter that he won't die. He will suffer eternally and be constantly regenerating and so get no where as he is destroyed as fast as he comes back. Same with burrowing him beneath a hundred thousand tons of mountain and more.

Placing him in a situation from where he can never come back is as good, or worse for him, than to kill outright.

EDITED: Or rather he may come back in a such a distant future that it won't have any impact on the story.
 

KaeSeven7

Dreamer
Maybe they could kill each other?
I don't know, the first thing that came to mind when reading this thread was that maybe they are unkillable by SOME races. If there was a way to convince, control or distract them, their immense strengths and skills could be used against each other? Could make for some epic first battle scenes, especially if this is discovered by accident.
 

Vaporo

Inkling
So, I know that this is an old thread and I'm sure that you've already solved this problem, but a thought popped into my head today.

Perhaps they can be killed if they voluntarily give up their own life. With that in mind, maybe someone could exploit their natural goody two-shoesness and make them sacrifice themselves. For example, your villain conjures a deadly magical storm and sends it in the direction of a nearby city. There is a spell that can dissipate the storm, but it requires a willing being to sacrifice their own life. One of your demidur, without even a second thought, immediately casts the spell and offers themself up as a sacrifice.
 
Top