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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Endur" data-source="post: 1198241" data-attributes="member: 3346">Heroes accept surrenders.Batman puts the Joker in the insane asylum.  Superman puts Lex Luthor in prison.Both of them know that their enemies will most likely escape and create more evil in the future.Why do they send them to prison?  Because they are heroes.  And there is a chance, the smallest chance, that their enemies might be rehabillitated.Now, let's take this discussion out of the modern day superhero world and talk about the fantasy medieval world.Different fantasy worlds are quite different, but most are based on legends about medieval Europe.In medieval Europe, you could judge a lawbreaker you had captured.  Or you could send them to some authority that had the power to judge.But typically, if you defeated someone in battle, you didn't judge them at all.  Instead, you held them for ransom.  When the ransom was paid, you let them go.  Taking prisoners and releasing them had several impacts.  First, it made enemies more likely to surrender, which increased your chances of winning a fight.  Second, it made enemies more likely to accept your surrender, which increased your odds of living through a lost fight.  Third, it made you richer.  Fourth, it built your reputation far more than slaying an enemy ever could, which also made you richer.What about prisoners who have no wealth, freinds, or relatives to ransom them?  What did they do about those prisoners?  Indentured servitude (or slavery if you are not good aligned).  Well, your ransom would have been 100 gold.  But you don't have any gold or relatives.  If you work for us as a soldier or a farmhand or x for six months, your ransom will be considered paid.What about the enemy who you capture over and over again?  Well, you raise the ransom each time and you get richer and richer.Obviously, this would not apply to psychopathic killers, but to your average combatant, it works.</blockquote>

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