The Killing of an Undead?

[Sol]

So if removing the head kills undead... What about the Headless Horseman?

I assumed the Horseman was a spirit bound into a suit of armour. If not, he has . . . green fire for a head. Yeah. Works.

[Sodanlaulu]

Undead in general exist in so many fictional aspects that it's literally impossible to unite all of them in a set of defined "rules". That being said, I've so far thought of the following ways of 'eliminating' an undead:

1. Holy water.
2. Crucifix.
3. Prayers, rituals, chants, voodoo, you name it.
4. Fire, or some form of holy/blessed fire, including of magical origin.
5. Sunlight or daylight, or some form of "holy light" (it could destroy them, burn them, or simply inanimate them).
6. Potions, poisons, herbs, garlic, or something along those lines.
7. Proper funeral ritual, burial, or something to calm or satisfy the spirit - although that usually applies to the "haunting" type of undead, i.e. spectres.
8. Powerful purging magic, or a form of strong arcane magic to disbound whatever had animated them.
9. Mirrors or silver.
10. Destruction of the body. Skeleton types of undead are usually fragile (unless wearing armour) and the bones can be broken or dispatched. Zombie or ghoul types complicate things, as it's difficult to determine whether the body is considered non-functional. What appears to be the most popular concept is that the zombie feels no pain and will not react to stabbing and slicing wounds, but once taken enough serious beating, either the animating force fades away, or is simply insufficient to carry the scattered or damaged remnants. Vampire or death knight types are even more complicated... often one will wonder whether they are truly dead or simply have undergone something that has drastically altered the way they live. You need to get creative here. And last, the wraith or ghost type. They usually are incorporeal and impervious to normal weapons, but magical or enchanted weapons can harm them just like living creatures. Either that, or pure magic. Or they aren't really incorporeal and once they take a good bashing, they dissolve or degrade to ectoplasm.
11. The removal or destruction of the source that animates them. It could be an artifact like a hourglass that they wear and needs to be removed, or an orb locked in a deep tower basement that needs to be destroyed, or a necromancer that needs to be silenced, killed, interrupted, or robbed. Again, get creative.
12. Beheading, or the removal of the heart, eyes (or magical eyes), or some other part. Rarely the brain because it's usually rotten or completely gone (skeletons), so it appears they don't require it.

Well I can't think of anymore right now, I'm not sure how many of those really apply to Warcraft, in particular to the Scourge and the Forsaken. You'll need to... yes, that's right, get creative. x')

[BountyHunter]

Pretty much the ways you can kill an undead in WoW is to either. . .

Purge them with the Holy Light.

Damage their Spirit to the point they cannot contain themselves in the unliving shell.

Or, remove the head!

This being said, undead are much more fragile and can be cut up a lot easier so, removing its limbs give the same affect and leaves them helpless.

Edit: Also! Be sure to check the dates on the posts. Thread necro is not wanted.

[Sodanlaulu]

Necro...

First of all, no forum rule says necro is forbidden. Moreover, it is not considered necro if you actively contribute to the discussion. Hell, I was interested in that as well! So, create a new thread? Ooooh, then this would have followed:

"<link to old topic> Use the search function next time, blah-blah, thread closed."

It's a damn closed loop! D:



Yeah, sorry about ranting u.u

[Krilari]

Granted there are no rules no necroing a thread,

But there are on things such as respect.

Please, just keep calm the next time.

Thank you!