Can enemies surrender in Skyrim?

jthwilliams

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Sep 10, 2009
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So I?ve noticed while playing that every now and then you?ll be fighting a human bad guy like a bandit and just before you kill them, they go into cripple mode and shout something like mercy or I surrender, or something like that. Now, I have been toting Lydia around as my human saddle donkey and even if I stopped attacking that blood thirsty barbarian doesn?t like anyone who attacks her thane and kills them anyway. So I have never had the chance to check this out. My question is if you beat a bandit down to the point that they bend over and cry mercy, will they actually give up and run away if you leave them alone or is it just a ploy so they can catch their breath before trying to slaughter you again? Also if the former are there any benefits for letting them give up?
 

BloatedGuppy

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Feb 3, 2010
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Yes, they can surrender.
Yes, they will run away sometimes, even without you hitting them, if you're demonstrably too powerful.

Whether or not there's any benefit to this, or whether they won't just turn around and attack you once they heal up again, is unclear, as I just run them down and ruthlessly murder them regardless.
 

The Harkinator

Did something happen?
Jun 2, 2010
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No, if you leave them alone then they can attack you again, but if you're fighting multiple enemies it helps if one of them backs out for a bit. No benefits for letting them go.

Your followers also do this if they're on low enough health. So it helps keep them alive as the enemy usually disengages them and attacks you.

EDIT: Well, they can surrender and run away, but they attack you again if they're close enough
 

jthwilliams

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Sep 10, 2009
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well, in that case I'll kill them so that I can add their amor and weapons to my characty. The societty for the extinction of dragons. We collect all goods and resell them with the help of local murchants and then use the money for health potions and weapons used to hunt down and kill dragons. All donations are welcome, even your cheap hide armor and iron dagger.
 

gigastrike

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Jul 13, 2008
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Never happened to me. They just beg for mercy and attack me again as soon as their health regenerates back out of the danger zone.
 

DanielBrown

Dangerzone!
Dec 3, 2010
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I often let them be when they cry for mercy to check this, but every time they've just gotten back up and started attacking me again. Seems like a pointless feature tbh.
 

Jedamethis

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Jul 24, 2009
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Never noticed that. I guess having your throat slit from behind doesn't really give you a chance to surrender...
 

Kpt._Rob

Travelling Mushishi
Apr 22, 2009
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The only experiment I had with the NPC's surrendering came during my massacre and subsequent hauling of all the dead bodies of the peoples of Falkreath into a big pile. My goal had been to teach the guard who made a sarcastic comment along the lines of "let me guess, someone stole your sweetroll," a lesson about why he shouldn't make sarcastic sweetroll based comments about me. Primarily because it would set off my argonian warrior, decked out in full dragonplate armor and carrying a fully imrpoved deadric axe around, and he would kill everyone and make a big pile of bodies.

Unfortunately for my plan, I found that Falkreath was home to two characters who must've been important to the plot, because no matter how many times I murdered them, they kept coming back at me, despite the fact that I was having no problem one hitting them. Eventually I decided to just take them out with fisticuffs, and realized that if I didn't finish them off they would run off screaming about how they surrendered. After this tactic bought me a longer period of time during which to stack the naked bodies of my fallen victims, I had begun to think that they'd just run off into the wilderness, never to be seen again. Unfortunately that was not the case, as in the fullness of time they would return, having somehow forgotten how I beat them within an inch of their life the last time, while they picked away measly portions of my health which almost instantly were regenerated.

So, my guess is that the bandits who surrender would not prove to be too much more intelligent. Chances are that while they might run away for a while, they'd be back in no time for a second helping of foot in their asses.
 

XMark

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Jan 25, 2010
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I've found that if you sheathe your weapons, they sometimes stop attacking you.
 

JET1971

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Apr 7, 2011
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I think its a random run away or catch a breather and return for more punishment. sometimes they will actualy give up and run away and hide other times they will just come back for more. I think the chances for run and hide are based on how fast you beat the snot out of them and how many fiends they have. the more friends and the slower the beating the less likely they will run off, 1 or 2 and a quick spanking and more likely they will. then you have what type of enemy you slap around that increases or decreses the chance of a case of cowardice. bandits and other low level you have a greater chance where the higher level versions theres a lesser chance. in all cases if the health meter gets high enough they will attack again though.
 

SidingWithTheEnemy

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Sep 29, 2011
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DanielBrown said:
I often let them be when they cry for mercy to check this, but every time they've just gotten back up and started attacking me again. Seems like a pointless feature tbh.
What? Pointless?
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
This is the best part...

My Orc Mage is just missing the important automatic taunts:

"Hahaha, who are you going to loot now that you'r burning and begging for mercy..."
"Oooooh, did somebody stole your Sweetroll?"
"And now young Skywalker Skyrimer, you will die..." Force Lighting Dualcast Spark...
 

Bruenin

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Nov 9, 2011
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jthwilliams said:
So I?ve noticed while playing that every now and then you?ll be fighting a human bad guy like a bandit and just before you kill them, they go into cripple mode and shout something like mercy or I surrender, or something like that. Now, I have been toting Lydia around as my human saddle donkey and even if I stopped attacking that blood thirsty barbarian doesn?t like anyone who attacks her thane and kills them anyway. So I have never had the chance to check this out. My question is if you beat a bandit down to the point that they bend over and cry mercy, will they actually give up and run away if you leave them alone or is it just a ploy so they can catch their breath before trying to slaughter you again? Also if the former are there any benefits for letting them give up?
don't do it... I was fighting this tough bugger. He went down and while I was trying to heal up and restore my magic, he hopped back up at full health and made me drain the rest of my potions taking him down.
 

Buleet

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Feb 21, 2010
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Well,Bandits are tricky people.
And mildly retarded seeing how they will stab their best buddy in the face over an argument of an emerald you dropped in the room(Yes they actually do that)So they proberbly think:
if i can get on his mercyfull side he won't kill me.
Then i stab him in the back through that dragon-plate!

The life expectancy is about 3 days for a bandit.
Unless they come from mistwatch.I hate the dickcrabs there.
 

Dorian6

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Apr 3, 2009
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I've never actually had anyone surrender.

They always fall to their knees and say "you're too strong" or "I dare not oppose you" and run away, but then they just regroup and attack me again.
 

DustyDrB

Made of ticky tacky
Jan 19, 2010
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They only do that in the brawls for me. In normal combat, they'll say they surrender. But then they'll get up and swing at me again, even if I sheathe my weapon. And I really would have let them live, but they're soooo confident that they can take me down from 80 yards away with a hammer while they only have a sliver of health and I'm chilling at full health with my bow ready to fire while carrying enough poison to provide the plot to the next Batman movie.
 

Denim Knight

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Nov 19, 2011
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Every time I let them get up they just turn around and attack me just to get another fireball in the face, but I do try to let run.......sometimes the temptation to fireball them as they are running is too tempting though.