The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.

asoiaf series:“I promise.”  {Eddard & Lyanna Stark}

“I was with her when she died,” Ned reminded the king. “She wanted to come home, to rest beside Brandon and Father.” He could still hear her at times. Promise me , she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses.
Promise me, Ned. The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave his word, the fear had gone out of his sister’s eyes.

—-GoT, pg. 43

…You think my life is some precious thing to me? That I would trade my honour for a few more years of… of what?