[quote=@Gisk]
I gotta ask who killed his family? Vigilantes, I guess it must be, the US government wouldn't impale people, they'd use lethal injection or the electric chair. 
[/quote]

[@Gisk]
The order was killed at the peak of the midieval ages, back when executions were pretty brutal. His immediate family were killed in the Salem witch trials by drowning them. (good ol tying a rock to their feet.)