Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-50.72.49.241-20130930130812/@comment-993964-20170512230604

Blademaster Jauffre wrote: Sports72Xtrm wrote: Struck down always means killed. There's no phrase where struck down means defeated. Otherwise, they would use the word "defeated". Or "knocked down". "He struck him down" means that someone hits someone so hard, they died.

"strike down v. 1. To cause someone or something to fall by a blow: Boxing experts are predicting that the champion will strike down the contender in the third round. I grabbed a wrench and struck the intruder down with a blow to the head. 2. To incapacitate or kill someone. Used chiefly in the passive: Hundreds of civilians were struck down during the first week of the war. Smokers need to realize that heart disease can strike them down in the prime of their lives. 3. To render something ineffective; cancel something: The committee struck down the proposal we've worked so hard on, so we'll have to start all over again. The Supreme Court determined that the law was unconstitutional and struck it down accordingly." -thefreedictionary

Aside from that -- the French definition(which, since it's an actual ingame language, is factual) states that "strike down" is un-lethal edition. Which is entirely plausible and possible. Ok but in a traditional Nordic duel, evidence points that it's a duel to the death. If it was a non-lethal duel, lethal weapons wouldn't be allowed. A fist fight or wooden swords would be used to promote safety. This is not the case in traditional Nord Duels. Daynas Valen's Notes details that Sigdis Gauldurson challenged Geirmund in a duel meaning to kill him. If Ulfric challenged Torygg to a duel, he would know his weapon of choice had lethal capabilities. And in Kjoric the White's case, strike down definition most likely means definitively "to kill".