If you were immortal but was either torn in half, beheaded, burned, etc, would you still be living?

Question

im just really curious...
surely you would die from loss of blood, loss of nutrients, etc. but immortal literally means not able to die.

Answer 1

Immortal is not synonymous with invulnerable. It generally means you never grow old, although you can be wounded or killed by gross physical damage. Examples: 1. The Greek Gods were immortal, but could be wounded - Ares was wounded during the Trojan War. 2. The Norse Gods were immortal, but could grow old - they kept young by eating Idun's apples of youth, and they could be killed as many of them died during Ragnarok. 3. Tolkiens' Elves are immortal - the Lady Galadriel is probably well over two million years old, given estimates of the First Age, but they can be killed in battle. 4. The Immortals of Highlander cannot grow any older past the age they were when they met their first "death", and cannot die from drowning or from being burnt alive - altho it takes them a while to regenerate from it and the experience can drive them insane, any wound short of removing their head or another body part will heal and regenerate, although gross damage such as inflicted by dropping a two-ton slab on them would certainly crush their skull and destroy them. 5. Angelic (or demonic) immortality where the body is simply a convenient "set of clothes" that can be changed, shed, or done away with without causing the least bit of harm to the being itself, such as the spirit in "Fallen" - although there are spiritual means i.e. exorcism to bar a spirit from remanifesting in the material world. 6. The immortality in "Death Becomes Her" is more of a curse, in that any damage done to the body remains and eventually the body itself would fall apart. Even if you are beheaded you remain "tied" to your flesh, until finally, maybe, your brain jellifies from the passage of time and your spirit flies free. Not my idea of a fun time.

Answer 2

wow! i've always wondered that, but never really found the answer. in most cases, it depends on what group is doing the storytelling. some groups say that being immortal means not being able to die of old age, but in other cases you die. other groups say that immortal means you never get older. some other groups say that you can't die NO MATTER WHAT. it's a tricky subject to get involved in, so there's really no RIGHT answer, but if you look into mythology, you might be able to find the answer.

have you ever noticed though, that movies and books never have immortals beheaded or torn apart? i think it's because yet again, it's still too tricky of a subject to explain etc.

Answer 3

If you take "immortal" literally it does mean that you can't die.

But sometimes it is interpreted to mean that you won't die naturally of old age or disease, but you can be killed.

In your examples a true immortal who was beheaded would regenerate a head. I don't know what would happen if he was split in half. Unless it was exactly even, maybe the larger part would regenerate. Burning is usually terminal, even for immortals. So the only way to save the day is to say that immortals are fireproof

Answer 4

Sure. Remember that young guy that his dad made wings for him to fly with in the Greek mythology? He flew too near the sun, which melted the wax in his wings, he fell to earth and gave humans fire. Well, as punishment, he was chained on a mountain and a big bird came everyday to eat his liver. And after all the pain of having his liver torn out, another one grew back, so the bird could come back day after day, after day. So, loss of blood and nutrients is immaterial to a immortal. They just grow all that stuff back.

Answer 5

If u were immortal that wouldn't even be able happen. But if it could yes you'd still be alive because Immortalism is a curse and a blessing. You don't die but you will stay in pain. THat's why God did not make anyone immortal but himself and jesusu but that wasn't to benifit him it was to benifit us.

Answer 6

I'v always wondered that too... I guess you would magically put your self back together, like in the movies where the immortal person gets shot etc. the wound just heals on it's own... but that would be kinda creepy to have a new head grow...

Answer 7

Yes, you would still be living. That is why being immortal is a curse. Zues cursed someone with immortalism, and that person could not die no matter what. IMAGINE THAT!

Answer 8

only immortals are spirit beings like the angels. They leave the body and assume another. SO whats the big deal?

Answer 9

I imagine that if you were immortal, you would either not physically be able to be "torn in half, beheaded, burned, etc" or, if you were, you would be able to heal yourself.

Answer 10

I supposed youd be alive with a serious body malfunction and/or all you would be left with is a spirit that can never die. We define living as having a body but is that what living means? who knows?