I’m 24, I practice fencing. My height is 198 cm, I usually fence against shorter opponents. They often manage to drive their smallsword into my belly. That’s why I’m curious: what would it be like to get wounded into the belly by a real smallsword? How lethal would it be? How painful? How would I react?

  • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Complete layman answer here, but I would imagine it would depend on several factors:

    • Depth of the wound.
    • Any angle, twist or lateral movement of the blade after contact.
    • Which organs/blood vessels got hit, if any.
    • Cleanliness of the blade prior to puncturing the skin.

    I suspect it’d be extremely painful regardless of the above!

    • GrabtharsHammer@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I think the cleanliness of the blade would be less relevant than the massive infection pouring from your pierced guts into the wound.

      • gregorum@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        yeah, almost nothing on the blade would matter compare to the filth already inside your intestines. just a speck of that leaking into your body cavity will cause sepsis, and would be fatal without elephantine doses of antibiotics. stabbed with a sword? you’ll be in the hospital for weeks, at least. oh, and that’s not even including the massive tissue damage and blood loss.

        plus, you’ll be lucky to be leaving with your entire intestine intact (you’ll likely be losing at least a few feet of it) and possibly pooping into a colostomy bag for the rest of your life.