Weald Comics

It is fascinating/horrifying how easily sharp blades can go through flesh – and with the right tools and technique, through bone.I don’t think using a small axe to suddenly and accurately cleave off two fingers cleanly from a hand reaching towards you would be an likely scenario – I suspect the hand would sustain a gross amount of damage. BUT in this case, we are dealing with a stone-cold, super-strong, fingers-outstretched-slightly-more-so-than-normal draugr. So if you really didn’t want to actually hurt your (undead) brother and hoped for a swing-and-a-miss, just to ward him off…who knows what might have happened!

In all three other iterations, the dragur never reached out, the brother never attacked, and the dragur actually LEFT a sword behind! The family sword!! For his brother!!! (To try to sway him into opening the door). Version 4 draugr is waaaaay smarter than that – sure, he’ll keep pounding his fists against the corpse door, but no way he’s just going to give up a sword. Those things can do serious damage in the right hands! You have to be careful who you leave them to.