True to its medieval-themed form, TaleWorlds added executions to Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, a feature that was absent in its predecessor, Warband. Deciding to execute an enemy will enact a cutscene where your character stands over the enemy with their ax raised. Set to deliver the final stroke.
Whether your reasons are justice for an unforgivable crime or sending a message to the rest of Calradia that facing you in battle is a grave mistake, executing a noble will send ripples through the world.
The following explains how to make execute lords in Bannerlord and how you can expect the world of Calradia to react afterward.
How to Execute Lords & Prisoners in Bannerlord
Before you can bring out the executioner’s ax and send your enemies on their way, first, you must defeat them in battle, and select ‘you’re my prisoner now in the ensuing dialog choice instead of letting them go. Find the captured lord under the’ Prisoners’ tab in the ‘party’ menu (the P key by default).
You’ll see the captured lord among any enemies you’ve captured. Clicking his or her icon will bring up a sub-menu underneath with two icons: one is a yellow speech bubble that enables conversation; the other is a red skull that allows execution.
Selecting the red skull will open a cinematic where your character holds an ax over the kneeling and bound lord. After That is one additional button that reads ‘Execute Him’ (or ‘Her’), with several warnings about what will happen if you proceed. This is the proverbial moment of truth.
Also, your last chance to stay the execution and take the lord or lady back into your prisoner’s list. You should click the button here, your character will begin his or her downward swing before the screen fades to black at the last moment, where the execution is heard (but not seen).
That is how you execute your prisoners in Bannerlord
What Happens When You Execute a Lord in Bannerlord?
The prompts in the execution screen clearly indicate what happens when you execute lords in Bannerlord. The results are always as follows:
- You will receive a negative reputation hit with literally every faction in the game, including your own. The negative relation impact will vary according to how close the lord was with the respective groups. Obviously, members of his/her family will go down by 60-100 points, indicating that they will become your sworn enemies. Also, will likely never forgive the offense. Members of factions that have no stake in the character’s life will still be offended by the fact someone was so bold as to execute another of their station. So you’ll see negative impacts that range from -20 relation to -50 if the lords were friends with the deceased. Even members of your own faction will lose 10 to 20 relations. Even if you’re at war, as it is presumed your bloodthirstiness was sanctioned. Essentially, everyone in the world of Calradia will like you a lot less the moment you start beheading nobles. The residual effects are felt way beyond the moment, however. Executed lords equal shifts in power among their families and factions. As unlikely candidates assume roles of power too early, randomly generated lords step in to take their places, and often, entire legacies are destroyed.
- Your character’s traits are greatly affected by executing lords and ladies. Some characters who have traits such as ‘Merciful’ and ‘Honorable’ will lose these attributes. Others will gain such traits as ‘Cruel’ and ‘Devious’. This indicates that everyone in the world of Bannerlord expects you to treat imprisoned nobility with due respect. And, that killing them in your care violates an unspoken oath of mercy against defeated foes.
The aftermath is generally a world where you’ll have to work a lot harder to get people to trust you. Executing multiple lords will commit you to a path of isolationism and war. There’s no wrong or right to this approach. But, it does limit your capability to be at least partly diplomatic between battles.
Still, it’s worth at least one playthrough to commit to taking no prisoners just to see what happens. It will definitely up the challenge of the game as your character embarks on a life on the run as a feared warmonger.
