Stuff and Moonshine

The law of action-movie biology seems to be that heroes and villains can take far *more* damage than normal humans, while supporting characters can take far *less* (i.e. any minor guy who gets shot dies instantly without even a scream; a senior who trips and falls expires within a few minutes rather than going into a long slow decline which finally leads to their death three years later, etc.) At least Victorian novels tend to feature realistic chronic ill health.