Throughout your war campaigns in Mount and Blade: Bannerlord you will face off against a variety of different NPCs. Due to the sandbox nature of the game you may find yourself creating many allies in the game or even grow to despise some certain NPCs. (Looking at you Caladog.)
After battling against an enemy lord it may happen that you knock them unconscious during the battle and are able to take them prisoner. But what do you do it you want to get rid of them entirely? Well, that’s were the option to execute lords comes in to play.
How to Execute Lords in Bannerlord
Before you are able to just start cutting heads off you are going to have to find the lord first. You can battle any enemy lord that you are currently at war with by approaching them and telling them you’d like to fight. IF you aren’t currently in a war with the lord’s faction, you can fight them anyway but this is seen as a declaration of war. Once you have fought (and defeated) them you have the option to take them prisoner in your party. Now you are able to decide whether to let them go, keep them imprisoned, or execute them straight away.
To execute a lord that you have imprisoned within your party follow these steps:
- Open up the Party menu. (Hotkey P)
- Find the desired lord in the Prisoners area under your army.
- Select their name and you will see two icons. Click the icon with the little red Skull and crossbones. (See image below) You will now be at a screen where you character is holding an axe next to the lord.
- Select the option on the bottom left which reads Execute Him.
- Enjoy your victory as you have one left enemy left in your way of conquering Calradia
One thing to be aware of before you go around executing prisoners is that you will lose a large amount of relation with anyone that is directly related to the character. This means all friends and allies of this character will lost a large amount of relation with you. You can see exactly which clans you will lose relation with by hovering over the Execute him/her button and holding the left ALT key. Here’s a reddit thread in which a player found out exactly what it means when you execute a lord.
Once you have pressed the button the lord will be immediately defeated. If they are the leader of a clan someone else in the clan will take over leadership until there is noone left. The clan will then cease to exist.
Executing Lords Straight From a Town/Castle
Do you have a fief full of enemy lords just waiting to be executed by you? Whilst there is no option for bulk executions you are able to execute them straight from the prisoner menu in a town as well. That way you don’t have to add them to your party, leave the town and start all over again. To do this:
- Enter your Castle/Town and select the option Go to the Keep
- Select the option Go to the Dungeon
- Now select the Manage Prisoners option
- Once you have the prisoners screen open, drag the lord you wish to execute over to your parties prisoner area
- You can now click on them in this screen and see the red icon for executing prisoners
This way you can select multiple prisoners to execute all at the same time without leaving this screen. The good thing about executing them from the fief is that they will have a harder time escaping a dungeon then they will if they have to just escape your party.
What Happens When a Whole Clan/Kingdom is Executed?
The idea of conquering through executing anyone else seems simple enough. If your goal is to rid Calradia of all lords then this is some good news for you! This is entirely possible within Mount and Blade: Bannerlord. I already discussed above what happens when you defeat an entire clan but what happens if you execute or defeat an entire kingdom worth of lords? What happens to the fiefs?
Well, if you manage to execute the leader of a kingdom the faction will select a new king through voting. If you manage to defeat every clan within a kingdom the fiefs will go randomly to another faction. Your character will not immediately take them over. If you manage to defeat every single lord and lady on the map through execution then you will simply take over every fief on the map for yourself. Total control! Calradia is united but at what cost?
