Anakin's Injuries

[Whitestar]

In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin suffers severe burn injuries on the lava planet Mustafar and manages to somehow survive long enough for Palpatine to rescue him. Now I know this is fantasy and so far, I've had no problem in suspending my disbelief, but that scene was really pushing it. The question is, could Anakin have survived his burn injuries on that lava planet in real life?

Whitestar

[Stravo]

In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin suffers severe burn injuries on the lava planet Mustafar and manages to somehow survive long enough for Palpatine to rescue him. Now I know this is fantasy and so far, I've had no problem in suspending my disbelief, but that scene was really pushing it. The question is, could Anakin have survived his burn injuries on that lava planet in real life?

Whitestar

Sort of a silly question isn't it?

Could Anakin see the future in real life? Could Anakin leap 15 meters straight up in real life? Could Anakin deflect high velocity rounds with a beam of coherent plasma in real life? Could Anakin close heavy metal doors just by gesturing to them? Could Anakin survive a plummet of several dozen meters and stop the free fall with one hand while holding on to two other humans dead weight with the other in real life?

Get the idea?

So let me get this straight - all those other feats you could suspend disbelief for but the immolation scene just took you right out of it huh?

[Deathstalker]

Not a chance in Hell. Ignoring the facts that the heat alone would have cooked a normal person that close to lava and Anakin suffered the loss of three limbs, he suffered third degree burns on at least half his body and suffered severe lung damage. I suppose there is always some small chance for survival, but it is very very doubtful.

[Elheru Aran]

If he survived, he would have extremely severe scar tissue damage across virtually his entire remaining body. This would more or less completely immobilize him due to the pain from simply moving his limbs about. Let alone the lung problems; he's effectively a hospital-bound case for the next year or so, if he survives all that in the first place...

[Whitestar]

In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin suffers severe burn injuries on the lava planet Mustafar and manages to somehow survive long enough for Palpatine to rescue him. Now I know this is fantasy and so far, I've had no problem in suspending my disbelief, but that scene was really pushing it. The question is, could Anakin have survived his burn injuries on that lava planet in real life?

Whitestar

Sort of a silly question isn't it?

Could Anakin see the future in real life? Could Anakin leap 15 meters straight up in real life? Could Anakin deflect high velocity rounds with a beam of coherent plasma in real life? Could Anakin close heavy metal doors just by gesturing to them? Could Anakin survive a plummet of several dozen meters and stop the free fall with one hand while holding on to two other humans dead weight with the other in real life?

Get the idea?

So let me get this straight - all those other feats you could suspend disbelief for but the immolation scene just took you right out of it huh?

I see your point, but yes, that scene really stretched it and I'm standing by that statement.


Whitestar

[Noble Ire]

I see your point, but yes, that scene really stretched it and I'm standing by that statement.

Why? He was a Sith Lord. Was your SoD streched when Obi-Wan stood on the slope easily, when the heat would have driven back or killed a normal man, as well? Your objection makes no sense.

[Ghost Rider]

In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin suffers severe burn injuries on the lava planet Mustafar and manages to somehow survive long enough for Palpatine to rescue him. Now I know this is fantasy and so far, I've had no problem in suspending my disbelief, but that scene was really pushing it. The question is, could Anakin have survived his burn injuries on that lava planet in real life?

Whitestar

This makes no fucking sense. You have no problem with Obi Wan or Anakin standing mere meter away from a violent lava flow through the latter half of the battle, but you have a problem with Anakin surviving on the hill.

Are you just fucking stupid or do you think that what Obi Wan and Anakin was standard normal human survivability?

[Master of Ossus]

A quick google search turns up some things about the survivability of burns.

A 17 year old, for instance, survived burns over 95% of his body, including 85+% skin loss, requiring less than one year in a hospital for the treatment. It, actually, wasn't even that expensive (coming it at under $150,000).

An attempt to quantify the chances of burn survival discovered three primary risk factors:

an age of 60 or older, serious injury to more than 40 percent of body surface and the presence of inhalation injury. Based on this information, the researchers developed a simple model for predicting the risk of death. Patients with none of the identified risk factors have a 0.3 chance of death; patients with one risk factor have a 3 percent chance of death; patients with two risk factors have a 33 percent chance of death; and patients with all three risk factors have an almost 90 percent chance of death. Each of the three risk factors had a similar impact on risk.

Anakin suffered serious burn injuries to well over 40% of his body (that's one risk factor), and almost certainly suffered inhalation injuries (two), but he's nowhere near 60 and in very good shape. Even with modern medicine, he should have a chance of survival somewhere between 1/10 and 1/3. This assumes that Palpatine was able to find and then the medical teams could treat him fairly quickly, but the fact that Anakin is a Sith Lord could easily be the trump card for him.

If I were mythbusting, I'd have to say that Anakin's survival was plausible, and potentially even probable depending on the treatment available and the wild-card Sith abilities.

[Noble Ire]

If I were mythbusting, I'd have to say that Anakin's survival was plausible, and potentially even probable depending on the treatment available and the wild-card Sith abilities.

I'm not so sure. In Dark Lord, his noted internal injuries are very extensive, including mention of the fact that his lungs were almost completely burned away by the incident. I seriously doubt anyone but a powerful Force user with access to SW med tech could have survived that, at least not in any livable shape.

[Surlethe]

If Anakin were not a Sith, he would never have made it past the metal balcony/appendage thing's crash into the lava river, let alone jumping with lava less than a meter away on three sides. So, I'm going to have to go with "no" on this.

[Solauren]

Dude, Anakin's ear-drums where MELTED. Gas were searing his lungs and everywhere else. He had his skin and freaking nads burned off.

HELL NO he wouldn't have survived.

[Master of Ossus]

Dude, Anakin's ear-drums where MELTED. Gas were searing his lungs and everywhere else. He had his skin and freaking nads burned off.

HELL NO he wouldn't have survived.

The fact that eight year olds have survived similar injuries with modern medicine seems to dispute your finding. Note that the child in question received third degree burns to 99.9% of his total body surface area. Even in cases where over 98% of the skin has received third degree burns, survivability with modern medicine is possible.

The paper I linked to, above, also demonstrates that this case was not unique. Out of six patients with such injuries that were treated with modern medicine, half of them survived and the average recovery time was only about 4 months. Also note the conclusion of the paper:

In conclusion, paediatric burns in over 99% TSA present acceptable survival. [...]
Currently, all paediatric patients are candidates for survival following thermal injury.

[LordShaithis]

Yes, it should be pointed out in no uncertain terms: Just standing as close to the lava as Obi-Wan and Anakin were during their fight would kill them both in real life.

[Master of Ossus]

Yes, it should be pointed out in no uncertain terms: Just standing as close to the lava as Obi-Wan and Anakin were during their fight would kill them both in real life.

Does this thread isolate the fight from the injuries sustained, or is it asking the question of whether a normal person could have lived through combat that took him near the various lava flows seen in the film (presumably with some artificial means of making the prerequisite jumps and such)? I interpretted it as asking if a person could have survived such serious burn injuries, and there the answer is a resounding "yes" (ie. assume that Anakin's force abilities allow him to do everything he does until he gets cut up and burned. Now, substitute a normal person and determine if survival would be possible given the extent of the burns). If you ask whether or not a normal person could've done what Anakin did, then the answer is clearly that they would have been unable to do it.

[Lord Revan]

It might possible for person with same kind injuries as Anakin to survive, is probable is a whole another thing. As others have said, the internal damage was extensive.

[Surlethe]

I interpretted it as asking if a person could have survived such serious burn injuries, and there the answer is a resounding "yes" (ie. assume that Anakin's force abilities allow him to do everything he does until he gets cut up and burned. Now, substitute a normal person and determine if survival would be possible given the extent of the burns). If you ask whether or not a normal person could've done what Anakin did, then the answer is clearly that they would have been unable to do it.

Even under those conditions, he is still less than a meter away from the lava after being burned; if we take away his Jedi-ness, and presume him to be a normal person, then from what I understand of the nature of volcanic gas, I can't see him being able to breathe, and, as pointed out above, the proximity to the lava alone would kill him from the heat.

[LordShaithis]

My point isn't that a normal person couldn't survive Anakin's injuries. My point is that a normal person would have been reduced to a pile of smoking meat long before ever coming to that point, and that harping on Anakin's survival in particular as being unbelievable is thus sort of a silly objection.

[Doctor Doom]

The fact that eight year olds have survived similar injuries with modern medicine seems to dispute your finding. Note that the child in question received third degree burns to 99.9% of his total body surface area. Even in cases where over 98% of the skin has received third degree burns, survivability with modern medicine is possible.

Did this eight-year-old, or any of the other patients mentioned on that site, also happen to have three of his limbs cut off and be no more then a meter away from a lava flow?

The burns are one thing, but there are other factors involved in this situation ...

[Master of Ossus]

Did this eight-year-old, or any of the other patients mentioned on that site, also happen to have three of his limbs cut off and be no more then a meter away from a lava flow?

The burns are one thing, but there are other factors involved in this situation ...

Obviously, but the case in question makes it pretty clear that even the most incredibly severe thermal damage can be survived, given only modern medicine. I don't immediately see how having limbs severed in such a way that they are not bleeding and pose little or no risk for infection would compromise survivability to a large degree, and while being cooked within a meter or so of flowing lava isn't going to be too good for you (and assuming that the poison gas is not an issue, since we know from TPM that Jedi can survive for extended periods of time immersed in such fumes without injury and thus that they would not have necessarily caused additional physical damage to Anakin), even severe thermal injuries like the burns that Anakin sustained are survivable, albeit in rare (but not unique) circumstances.

We don't actually know how long Anakin was roasting by the lava, but it doesn't seem like that much time passed (maybe 15 minutes or at the outside a half hour). Even given such lengthy exposure to high heat (and keep in mind that he was still conscious, which is obviously super-human, and that he was trying to escape the lava and pull himself to a safer position), I would still have to rate his injuries as being survivable, even if given a person in such condition you would not expect them to survive.

[Surlethe]

Did this eight-year-old, or any of the other patients mentioned on that site, also happen to have three of his limbs cut off and be no more then a meter away from a lava flow?

The best thing that happened to Anakin at the end of the Mustafar fight was the fact lightsabres cauterize wounds as they make them.

[Whitestar]

This makes no fucking sense. You have no problem with Obi Wan or Anakin standing mere meter away from a violent lava flow through the latter half of the battle, but you have a problem with Anakin surviving on the hill.

Are you just fucking stupid or do you think that what Obi Wan and Anakin was standard normal human survivability?

First of all, no, I'm not intelligently challenged, but you apparently are when you display foul language on this (or any) forum. Second of all, I won't step down to your level. I'm treating you with proper respect and I expect to be treated in the same fashion. If you want to disagree with me on something, fine. But do so in a civilized manner. And lastly, kindly refrain from such vulgarity in the future.


Whitestar

[Noble Ire]

This makes no fucking sense. You have no problem with Obi Wan or Anakin standing mere meter away from a violent lava flow through the latter half of the battle, but you have a problem with Anakin surviving on the hill.

Are you just fucking stupid or do you think that what Obi Wan and Anakin was standard normal human survivability?

First of all, no, I'm not intelligently challenged, but you apparently are when you display foul language on this (or any) forum. Second of all, I won't step down to your level. I'm treating you with proper respect and I expect to be treated in the same fashion. If you want to disagree with me on something, fine. But do so in a civilized manner. And lastly, kindly refrain from such vulgarity in the future.


Whitestar

Read the board rules, specifically PR4, DR4, and DR7.

Link

I'm still waiting for a reasoned answer.

[Whitestar]

I'm still waiting for a reasoned answer.

Could you repeat the question?


Whitestar

[Ghost Rider]

This makes no fucking sense. You have no problem with Obi Wan or Anakin standing mere meter away from a violent lava flow through the latter half of the battle, but you have a problem with Anakin surviving on the hill.

Are you just fucking stupid or do you think that what Obi Wan and Anakin was standard normal human survivability?

First of all, no, I'm not intelligently challenged, but you apparently are when you display foul language on this (or any) forum. Second of all, I won't step down to your level. I'm treating you with proper respect and I expect to be treated in the same fashion. If you want to disagree with me on something, fine. But do so in a civilized manner. And lastly, kindly refrain from such vulgarity in the future.


Whitestar

One, thank you for the attacking the poster, and not the point. Good job retard. I pointed out that you obviously have no problem with the rest but have a problem that Anakin can survive this enviroment without ANY INJURY. Let's see how long a man survives near an active lava flow.

I'll treat you with respect when you don't make such an asinine assumption that something as small as him burning is somehow breaking the suspension of disbelief but that they were fighting next to an ACTIVE and VIOLENT lava flow but getting burned is just too much to handle.

And three, you're obviously challenged if you didn't read the goddamn rules and grasp them in some capacity.

So finally answer the goddamn point you idiot. How do you resolve they can fight in an active lava flow area of only the height of less then a meter is perfectly acceptable in your disbelief but him surviving the burns was pushing it too far.

[Ghost Rider]

I'm still waiting for a reasoned answer.

Could you repeat the question?


Whitestar

This one

Why? He was a Sith Lord. Was your SoD streched when Obi-Wan stood on the slope easily, when the heat would have driven back or killed a normal man, as well? Your objection makes no sense.

The first one after your second post.