The popular belief is that the signal for death was a 'thumb down', but historians suggest this may be an invention of Hollywood film makers. Some documentation advises that a 'thumbs up' sign was the signal for a sword to be thrust upwards into the vanquished gladiator's body, and that the actual signal for leniency was a waved handkerchief. The truth is, it may have varied according to the custom of the particular emperor in power at the time.