Quote Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c View Post
But they aren't being assassinated for their political actions. The world is being blown up, not because they voted for it but because Himdall and Dvalin voted for it, some time after they recommended it to Dvalin. There are just too many jumps of activity and time.

Dying of exposure while delivering supplies: honorable, because they are delivering supplies. Stabbed in the back by political opponents' hired ninjas while in office due to your political activities (a la Shojo or Hinjo), honorable. Voting to tell Dvalin to end the world... as I say, might count as honorable for the council, but it very well might not, because the activity is over the moment Dvalin goes back. The council is not ongoing in their efforts to end the world.

Grey Wolf
Yeah, I always figured that the reason behind the death is what made it "honorable" or not.

A politician assassinated because of his political beliefs and/or actions while in office? Honorable death even if they're killed in their sleep because the reason for their death is tied up in their political works.

Death due to extreme cold while carrying desperately needed supplies to a town through a blizzard? Honorable, because the reason for their death(s) is tied up in the act of delivering the supplies.

Death via combat is simply the easiest (and therefore easiest to understand) way of dying honorably. There's less guesswork involved in knowing whether or not it was honorable, which I think is why it's the most common method of escaping Hel's clutches. But certainly there are other ways of dying honorably than just limiting it to combat.