Pffft, Mr Universe. You have noticed that her right hand sword is now nearly to the arm.
Dresden Files had a long speech about exactly this topic. Yea, found it.
Here's something a lot of people don't know: being choked unconscious hurts.
There's this horrible, crushing pain on your neck, followed by an almost instant surge of terrible pressure that feels like it's going to blow your head to tiny pieces from the inside. That's the blood that's being trapped in your brain. The pain surges and ebbs in time with your heartbeat, which is probably racing.
It doesn't matter if you're a waifish supermodel or a steroid-popping professional wrestler, because it isn't an issue of strength or willpower?it's simple physiology. If you're human and you need to breathe, you're going down. A properly applied choke will take you from feisty to unconscious in four or five seconds.
Of course, if the choker wants to make the victim hurt more, they can be sloppy about the choke, make it take longer.
I'll let you guess which the skinwalker preferred.
Basically, even if you're super strong, squeezing a neck isn't the easiest thing to do.
I think this warden is one of these people with a pet theory. The thing is, social Darwinism is a load of crap. At this point, she's just making a load of rationalizations.
Supposedly, Bern was only strong if she had "
moral adaptability" and was "
willing to get her hands dirty." Next supposedly, Polly made a bad choice by making her sacrifice for her, and
she had no chance of winning. Okay, so what about that theory, hmmmm?
In this last chapter, while keeping her principles, she's managed to defeat two people just by blocking. She's screwed up his sword when supposedly it was "
over" for her. And she cut his arm off like nothing. Warden, meanwhile, has been consistently wrong so far but still manages to spew out cynical garbage, and act like it's the truth.
There will always be people who feel its their duty to "educate" the "dreamers" of the world about "reality." (In fact, this was the whole plot of Tomorrowland) Maybe you don't know reality as well as you think you do?
Maybe "that's the way things are" or maybe things are that way because people don't work together to fix things. Maybe because people don't do anything to help people who are struggling that we all have to struggle and fight and compete with other in this world? Warden is okay (helped her with the swords and getting into the match), but if she dropped this nonsense, she could be
part of the solution as to making this place decent. People pay their dues, are willing to entertain, the audience gets their entertainment, but this place doesn't need to be the hellhole that it is.
Also, the author apparently doesn't understand medicine. Heart wounds are not automatically fatal.
http://www.cracked.com/article_19698_7-deadly-things-you-wont-believe-most-people-survive.htmlYou Have a 1 in 3 Chance of Surviving Getting Stabbed in the Heart33% survival rate is good odds.
Compare that to gut wounds.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650313Kidney wounds can cause rather quick unconsciousness (in a few seconds, and death within the minute), because they mess with blood pressure and cause anaphylactic shock, and that's just one organ there. To say nothing of blood loss.
Thrashing around, as she's likely to do while choking, she'd probably hit his arm by accident (the other sword is already touching him). I have no idea how she figures things are already over. There's still life in her and all she has to do is whack his arm, while her opponent is bleeding to death.