The Man Who Passes The Sentence

"The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword."
--Ned Stark, Game of Thrones (season one, episode one)


In the first episode of Game of Thrones, a lord named Ned Stark is informed that a deserter has been apprehended in his territory.  Ned leaves his fortified home, travels to the captured deserter, and prepares to behead him.  After killing him, he walks over to one of his sons and asks if it is understood why he had to kill him.  The son says that it is because the man was a deserter, but Ned asks again if it is understood why he had to kill him.  Ned articulates his belief that whoever sentences another person to death should be the one to actually make the killing move.  His son Robb Stark also abides by this principle, passing a sentence on a murderer and executing him (season three, episode five)--even though the man had murdered captive Lannister children, Robb refused to overlook consistent justice.

Ned's words seem intended to force the seriousness of execution to the minds of those who would have others executed.  He takes no outward pleasure in carrying out what he thinks is justice, but he does resolutely live by his own values.  In the book A Game of Thrones (according to the Internet, as I have not read it), however, the quote is longer, containing additional sentences: “The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.  If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words.  And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.”

The book's version of Ned elaborates on this more, more powerfully conveying the heart of this stance.  When rulers are distant from the results of their commands, they might view executions flippantly, apathetically, or sadistically.  Ned's principle is supposed to highlight the gravity of taking a life--regardless of who that life belongs to.  It can be far easier to sentence someone to death from afar when one does not have to watch the death up close, and even watching can be far easier than actually administering the execution.  When people demand for death without realizing what exactly they call for, they can easily lose comprehension of what death is.  Death might then be viewed without solemnity.

Biblically, it is not the ruler of a nation who should always be executioner; in some cases it is the people as a whole (like with stoning).  And whether or not an executioner can firmly look into the eyes of a victim has nothing to do with whether or not that person deserves to die.  Still, Ned's emphasis on the gravity of killing, even killing for the sake of justice, is something that overlaps with Biblical ethics.  The termination of any human life is not something that should be demanded without awareness of the solemn nature of such a thing.  If undeserved, then a tragedy has occurred.  If deserved, then sadness over the moral condition of the offender is at least part of the Biblical response (Ezekiel 33:11).

Justice should be sobering even as it might bring a sense of elation.  Every legitimate execution is a reminder of the brokenness of present human life.