History Main / TheExecutioner

->''"When I was young, every great king had an executioner. Not just to execute people, but also to execute their '''vision'''. But mainly to execute people."''

->''"When I was young, every great king had an executioner. Not just to execute people, but also to execute their vision. But mainly to execute people."''

->''"When I was young every great king had an executioner. Not just to execute people, but also to execute their ''vision.'' But mainly to execute people."''

* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero:'' One of the Eight Gentle Judges, Deathtanz Mantisk, works as an executioner for the judges. He's a pacifistic fellow who, despite being a menacing-looking SlayingMantis robot, values life highly and always wishes for his executions to be the result of a right and fair judgment.

* The 2005 Austrian film ''The Headsman'' (''The Shadow of the Sword'' for international viewing). Former army captain Martin, played by Creator/NikolajCosterWaldau, is given the role of the executioner (after marrying the daughter of the previous executioner) to dispatch religious dissidents in Tyrol at the height of the Protestant Reformation. When his childhood friend Georg, who became a monk, is suspected to be one, Martin is given a conflict to either dispatch him or to save his friendship.

An executioner is someone tasked with executing criminals sentenced to death by an official authority. In some cases they could also execute other [[CorporalPunishment corporal sentences]] such as whipping or chopping off limbs.

# '''Alienated''': Given their rapport with death, especially with death violently and voluntarily given, and even though they were nominally agents of justice, they were often shunned by the public. For this reason, they often appear masked.

* André Guillaume was a dynastic executioner, who died in 1690. He was quite an...interesting person (bordeline sociopathic or at the very least a hardened marginal mixted in with ConsumateProfessional). He was a rather immoral and arrogant man. He took his niece as a wife after the death of his first wife, with some suspecting he killed his first wife. (Talk about a CreepyUncle). It must be noted that incestuous marriage was the norm amongs dynastic executioners, do to being so ostracized they needed to resort to consanguinity in order to have a blood line. Also, during the execution of the Chevalier de Rohan, when it came time to hang the accomplices, he said to his assistants: "Pendez cela, c'est besogne pour vous." (Translation by me: "Hang that. It's work for you.") Make of that what you will. In short, quite a nice guy. That makes him fit both the "dynastic" and "aliennated" description, with being apathetic at best and sociopathic at worse.

Many sources attest the existence of Ance, executioner of Rochefort and Brest, (his real name was probably "Hans" but it was frenchified to "Ance") was known as an arrogant PrettyBoy and a complete sadistic nutcase with little to no redeeming qualities. He "punished" a convict for being too stoic by, instead of using the guillotine to kill him in one shot, dropped it several times, stopping before it cut the spinal cords. He did so four times before being satified. He placed chopped heads in perfect lines just to terrify the condemned. Oh, and he disgraced (What he did precisely is not said explicitly, but it probably was something along the lines of necrophile acts or an oddly sexualized dissection.) the decapitated corpse of a virgin girl (in an amphitheater, mind you), because she had refused his superior's sexual advances.

Many sources attest the existance of Ance (his real name was probably "Hans" but it was frenchified to "Ance") was known as a PrettyBoy and a complete sadistic nutcase with little to no redeaming qualities. He "punished" a convict for being too stoic by, instead of using the guillotine to kill him in one shot, dropped it several times, stopping before it cut the spinal cords. He did so four times before being satified. He placed chopped heads in perfect lines just to terrify the condamned. Oh, and he disgraced (What he did precicely is not said explicitely, but it probably was something along the lines of necrophile acts or an oddly sexualised dissection) the decapitated corpse of a virgin girl (in an amphitheatar, mind you), because she had refused his superior's sexual advances. Oh, and he also whored his wife to climb the new social echallons created by the Revolution.

Many sources attest the existance of Ance (his real name was probably "Hans" but it was frenchified to "Ance") was known as a PrettyBoy and a complete sadistic nutcase with little to no redeaming qualities qualities. He "punished" a convict for being too stoic by, instead of using the guillotine to kill him in one shot, dropped it several times, stopping before it cut the spinal cords. He did so four times before being satified. He placed chopped heads in perfect lines just to terrify the condamned. Oh, and he disgraced [[ILoveTheDead]] the decapitated corpse of a virgin girl, because she had refused his superior's sexual advances. Oh, and he also whored his wife to climb the new social echallons created by the Revolution.

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* Due to the infamy attached to the profession, some families of executioners were essentially forced into interbreeding (such as in France).

* André Guillaume was a dynastic executioner, who died in 1690. He was quite an...interesting person (bordeline sociopathic or at least a hardened marginal). He was a rather immoral and arrogant man. He took his niece as a wife after the death of his first wife, with some suspecting he killed his first wife. (Talk about a CreepyUncle). It must be noted that incestuous marriage was the norm amongs dynastic executioners, do to being so ostracized they needed to resort to consanguinity in order to have a blood line. Also, during the execution of the Chevalier de Rohan, when it came time to hang the accomplices, he said to his assistants: "Pendez cela, c'est besogne pour vous." (Translation by me: "Hang that. It's work for you.") Make of that what you will. In short, quite a nice guy. That makes him fit both the "dynastic" and "aliennated" description, with being apathetic at best and sociopathic at worse.

* André Guillaume was a dynastic executioner, who died in 1690. He was quite an...interesting person (bordeline sociopathic or at least a hardened marginal). He was a rather immoral and arrogant man. He took his niece as a wife after the death of his first wife, with some suspecting he killed his first wife. (Talk about a CreepyUncle). It must be noted that incestuous marriage was the norm amongs dynastic executioners, do to being so ostracized they needed to resort to consanguinity in order to have a blood line. Also, during the execution of the Chevalier de Rohan, when it came time to hang the accomplices, he said to his assistants: "Pendez cela, c'est besogne pour vous." (Translation by me: "Hang that. It's work for you.") Make of that what you will. In short, quite a nice guy.

# '''Alienated''': Given their rapport with death, especially with death violently and voluntarily given, and even though they were nominally agents of justice, they were often shunned by the public. For this reason, they ofter appear masked.

* The Rug Burn series "[[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaR-PbNOgKij4umPAXw0vucnhfk-1r8qs The Executioner]]", starring Creator/BrianPosehn, is about a medieval executioner who is flung to present day Southern California, and has to make a living by setting up his trade of dealing executions and assassinations by his trusty axe.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin Vasily Blokhin]] was the head NKVD executioner from 1926 to 1953, after Stalin's death. Some of his notorious executions include the Katyn massacre.

* In ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', Charles Henri-Sanson appears as an Assassin-class Servant for his reputation as an infamous executioner. He initially appears under the effects of Mad Enhancement, turning him into an AxCrazy madman who wishes to execute others so perfectly that they feel nothing but ecstasy when his blade cleaves through their neck. As a proper Servant, he's far more affable, if uptight, and prefers to use his knowledge for medical purposes and to slay his foes painlessly. He also has a certain amount of affection for [[Characters/FateGrandOrderRidersAToM Marie Antoinette]], who he executed in the story.
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' one of the majini is called the Executioner.His biography states that he executes anyone who rejects being implanted with the Las plagas parasite.

-->--'''Hela''', ''Film/ThorRagnarok''

If the executioner also carries out the task of judging the culprit personally, this is JudgeJuryAndExecutioner. If he acts without legal sanction then he's a VigilanteMan doing {{Vigilante Execution}}s. Executioners will also overlap with TortureTechnician and ExaltedTorturer, as in medieval Europe, executioners also dealt with torture. And despite the rare historical occurrence where executioners wore hoods, media will often depict wearing them as a shorthand. Will most likely wield [[AnAxeToGrind an axe]].

->''"When I was young very great king had an executioner. Not just to execute people, but also to execute their ''vision.'' But mainly to execute people."''

->''"Every great king had an executioner. Not just to execute people, but to also execute their ''vision.'' But mainly to execute people."''

-->'''Hela:''' Every great king had an executioner. Not just to execute people but to also execute their vision. But mainly to execute people. Still, it was a great honor. I was Odin's executioner. And now you shall be mine.

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* The representation of executioners wearing hoods supposedly comes from the execution of Charles I of Britain, as no one wanted to be identified as the regicide.
* In Main/JidaiGeki, executioners were grouped in the ''eta'' and the ''hinin'' along other professions which were deemed dirty and impure by Japanese society.
* In the Ottoman Empire, executioners, who were usually of Romani origin, were buried in unmarked graves inside separate graveyards.

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* Due to the infamy attached to the profession, some families of executioners were essentially forced into interbreeding (such as in France).
** The Sanson family gave executioners from 1688 to 1847.

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* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}'', Bean temporarily serves as an apprentice to the official executioner (who is himself a fairly comical, punch-clock version, of the Professional) and realizes she is a "natural" at killing and torturing people even when she doesn't real mean to. Nevertheless, she seriously struggled with the job due to the sheer lack of actual investigation to determine if the woman in question was guilty, to the point she couldn't bring herself to execute her.

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* ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'': [[KillerTeddyBear Monokuma]] is an example of a Psycopath Executioner. He is responsible for executing the students who have been found guilty of killing another student or that have broken his rules. He outright '''loves''' having the chance of executing someone.
** In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' he even tries to trick [[spoiler:the students with a made-up murder scene (by reusing the corpse of the mysterious 16th student)]] in order to frame [[spoiler:Kyoko Kirigiri]] and have her executed because she was a threat to [[BigBad the Mastermind]]'s plans. When that goes south because [[spoiler:[[TheProtagonist Makoto]]]] doesn't convict her of a murder she didn't commit, [[spoiler:Monokuma attempts to have him executed instead (But that also backfires).]]
** In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' he even executes [[spoiler:[[DecoyProtagonist Kaede Akamatsu]]]] for [[spoiler:the murder of Rantaro Amami, despite knowing very well that she was innocent all along]]. Granted it was [[spoiler:all a trap set by [[BigBad the Mastermind]], who killed Rantaro herself and fooled everyone, including Kaede, into thinking that she was the true killer]].

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* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': The Imperial garrison at the beginning of the game treats beheading a cartload of prisoners like a mildly unpleasant chore. The headsman himself gets no characterization, but the overseeing Captain testily orders the PlayerCharacter's execution [[MiscarriageOfJustice even though they're not on the list of condemned]].

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* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero:'' One of the Eight Gentle Judges, Deathtanz Mantisk, works as an executioner for the judges. He's a pacifistic fellow who, despite being a menacing-looking SlayingMantis robot, values life highly and always wishes for his executions to be the result of a right and fair judgment.

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* ''Manga/AkameGaKill'': Zanku the Beheader started as an Imperial executioner, and became a SerialKiller after going crazy from the guilt of killing so many people.

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