The Power of Blood: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}
{{quote|"For the [[Our Souls Are Different|soul]] of every sort of flesh is its blood by the soul in it. Consequently I said to the sons of Israel: 'You must not eat the blood of any sort of flesh, because the soul of every sort of flesh is its blood. Anyone eating it will be cut off.'" |'''[[God]]''', ''[[The Bible|Leviticus 17:14]]''}}
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Blood. Animals have it, humans have it, even [[Alien Blood|aliens have it.]] There's just something about the red liquid that flows through our veins that makes it seem important. Probably something to do with that whole..."keeping us alive" thing it does so well. As such, in fiction, it tends to have one or more of these properties.
* A) '''[[Blood Oath|Blood is binding]]''' -- Any [[Magically-Binding Contract|Magically Binding Contracts]] made in blood ''must'' be honored, on pain of death, even if the contract was only written in blood because you [[Couldn't Find a Pen]]. If you make a [[Blood Oath]], and swear that "if you break your word, may the earth drink your blood!", and break your word anyway, you may find yourself six feet under.
* B) '''[[Symbolic Blood|Blood is symbolic]]''' -- Blood may be used as a stand-in, or weaker form of souls, life force, what have you. Alternatively, other things may be used to symbolize ''it''. The latter applies to things like an android's oil being sprayed out like it's [[High-Pressure Blood]].
** For examples of the latter, see [[Alien Blood]] or [[Symbolic Blood]].
* [[A Worldwide Punomenon|AB]]) '''[[Blood Magic|Blood is magical]]''' -- Any spells that require [[Eye of Newt|blood as a reagent]] will probably be either extremely powerful, [[Black Magic]], or both. Since blood is basically [[Life Force]], [[Power Source|anything using it]] will work similarly to things [[Cast From HP]]. The blood of especially powerful or arcane creatures may even [[Body to Jewel|become gems]].
* O) Most importantly, '''[[Afraid of Blood|Blood is
Now, remember: Type AB Blood Power draws off of all the others, and all of them draw from Type O. Just be aware of the donor; may contain [[Bloody Hilarious|Bloody Hilarity]].
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== Type A ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* It's explicitly said in ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' that when Chrono [[Deal with the Devil|made a contract]] with {{spoiler|Mary Magdalene, his first contractor}}, that she had to give him some of her blood to complete it. It's implied (using vampire imagery) that this was also the case with his contract with Rosette.
* How forget ''[[Escaflowne]]''? the movie version took it [[Up to Eleven]]
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* In ''[[Naruto]]'', to summon animals one must first sign a summoning contract. It requires that the user must sign it in his/her name in their own blood followed by a fingerprints stamps in blood as well.
=== Film ===
* In the film ''Mongol'', young Temudgin makes a blood oath with Jamukha, who saved his life. This makes Jamukha the brother to Temudgin, and in the end, {{spoiler|Temudgin lets Jamukha go, even though he proves to be a threat in the future, saying that he's not sparing an enemy, he's freeing his brother.}}
* Being 'blood brothers' is part of many westerns
** McClintock
* Being deemed negro was an important plot point in ''[[Show Boat]]''. By sharing a drop of blood, the hero was now deemed negro and could marry his sweetheart without violating the miscegenation laws.
=== Literature ===
* [[Tortall Universe]] 'Trickster's Choice/Trickster's Queen'- an oath sworn in blood kills anyone who breaks it, with the blood boiling in their veins.
* Marie Brennan's ''Doppelganger'' duology features a blood-oath as a plot point in both books. If the oath is broken, the magically-sealed scar will bleed the Hunter ({{spoiler|or witch or Cousin in the second book}}) to death through one wrist. Unique in that the oath binds both parties to their word (presumably; the actual wording states that the contractor binds him/her''self'' to grant the contractee three boons without conditions, so magical compulsion may or may not extend to the contractor). Also a slight crossover with Type AB, as blood is used not only to bind the contractee, but as an elemental focus for shaping the complicated spell, and while it represents Fire in the blood-oath spell, it is "one of the rare foci that can serve for more than one."
=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
* In both ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' and ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'', Vampires is highly addictive to both vampires and mortals. The eponymous Blood Bond is formed when someone drinks three times from the same Vampire within a period of time, and forms such an intensely emotional and psychological bond in the drinker that it becomes difficult for them to willfully do anything which could cause even distress or disappointment in the host vampire.
* [[Warhammer
=== Theatre ===
* Two words: [[Deal with the Devil|Doctor Faustus]].
* Averted in ''[[Damn Yankees]]'', where [[Louis Cypher|Applegate]] laughs at the idea of having Joe sign his name in blood to the [[Deal with the Devil|contract]].
* ''[[Show Boat]]'', as described above.
=== Web Comics ===
* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' only Gwynn can use [[Tome of Eldritch Lore|the Book of E-Ville]] to cast spells because her name has appeared on the inside cover written in blood. Right above instructions to, if lost, drop in any mailbox to return it to the rightful owner.
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20130730153916/http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3 Satan wants the forms and waiver filled out in blood, of course.]
=== Web Original ===
* ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' example: [[Eldritch Abomination|Carmilla]] and [[The Fair Folk|Fey]] made a blood pact that was so powerful it gave them some of the other's traits. Carmilla now has Fey's body (including [[Pointy Ears]]) and hair, and Fey got some of Carmilla's mental capacity.
== Type B ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', Ed and Al use drops of their blood to stand in for "information of the soul" when trying to bring back their mother from the dead using alchemy.
** Philosopher's Stones also [[States of Phlebotinum|comes in various forms]]. Solid, liquid, they're all blood red.
=== Tabletop Games ===
* In an extension to the ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' example above, the Kuei-Jin, the Asian equivalent to Vampires, live on life-force. The weaker ones drink blood simply because that's the easiest way to get at somebody's life-force. The stronger ones can straight-up [[Your Soul Is Mine|eat your soul.]]
=== Literature ===
* In the ''[[Sword of Shadows]]'' series, blood is sacred to [[Proud Warrior Race|the Sull]], who bleed themselves as a form of offering to their gods. Obviously, most Sull become ''very'' skilled at letting blood with minimum pain and without hitting anything important.
== Type AB ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* In ''[[Tower of God]]'', King Zahard transfers power to Zahard's princesses, his adopted daughters, by his blood.
* In ''[[Princess Tutu]]'', Drosselmeyer wrote a story in his own blood {{spoiler|to control the town where the anime takes place}}.
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* In [[Rumiko Takahashi]]'s ''[[Mermaid Saga]]'', mermaid flesh can, if you're ([[Who Wants to Live Forever?|un]])lucky enough to survive eating it without becoming a [[The Corruption|Lost Soul]], turn you immortal. But in the "Mermaid Forest" story, all that Sawa has is a flask of mermaid blood to heal [[Incurable Cough of Death|her sister's illness]]. It made Towa immortal, but deformed her arm like a Lost Soul's, and now she regularly replaces it with arms cut from the fresh corpses of young women.
** [[Shout-Out|Referenced]] in ''[[Hell Teacher Nube]]''. Here, flesh from the (still living) mermaid Hayame has a 100% success rate, and her blood can instantly heal ''any'' injury no matter how grave, without conferring immortality. It does have the side effect of making the recipient into a moron for a short while, seeing as it comes from [[The Ditz|Hayame]], after all.
* One of the Contractors in ''[[Darker
=== Comic Books ===
* In ''[[The Sandman|A Game Of You]]'', menstrual blood is used to power a spell to send the characters to the land of the dead and come back alive ( {{spoiler|mostly}}). In ''The Time Of Your Life'', the same spell is powered from blood from Foxglove's hand.
* Another parody happens in ''[[Lenore the Cute Little Dead Girl]]'', when she pricks her finger and spills a drop of blood on a doll. It turns out to be a vampire that was cursed to be an inanimate plaything, and her blood broke the curse. Unfortunately, he realizes he's still in a doll's body because the curse didn't break properly; she'd been embalmed.
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{{quote|'''Batman:''' ''A spell written in blood. For a mage like Zatanna, no enchantment is more powerful.''}}
=== Film ===
* ''[[The Golden Voyage of Sinbad]]''. The wizard Prince Koura uses his own blood to create a homunculus.
* Ryuhei Kitamura's ''[[Versus]]'' revolves around the "Blood of Resurrection," which the villain plans to use in the Forest of Resurrection to open some kind of a dark door and get "The Power." Zombies and reincarnated samurai are involved.
* The blood of those who took the coins from the Chest of Cortez is required to lift the curse in''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: The Curse of the Black Pearl''.
=== Literature ===
* Melisandre of ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' uses the blood of a king in a ritual to {{spoiler|1=cause the deaths of Robb Stark, Joffrey Baratheon, and Balon GreyJoy}}. [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|Possibly.]] The maegi Mirri Maz Duur also uses blood magic to {{spoiler|[[Empty Shell|"heal"]] Drogo}} and the favor is returned by Daenerys when she {{spoiler|burns the maegi alive as part of the magic to awaken her dragons.}}
** This was also part of the Targaryens' reasoning for their [[Incest Is Relative|rampant incest]].
* [[Mercedes Lackey]] loves this concept, and blood mages are frequently villains in her books. Combines with Type O, since the shedding of blood is
** There are also good people who use blood
* In ''[[Stardust (novel)|Stardust]]'', the witches use the hearts of living stars to prolong their youth as a form of blood magic.
* In ''[[
** Also, in ''[[
** And then there's unicorn blood. It will, according to Firenze, "keep you alive, even if you are at the brink of death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, so you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."
* ''[[Discworld]]'' parodies this with the Rite of Ashk'Ente, which summons Death - it's implied that this is supposed to require a human sacrifice, but magical refinements mean that it's now possible with only "4 cubic centimetres of mouse blood".
** In ''[[
{{quote|{{spoiler|I aten't been vampired. You've been Weatherwaxed.}}}}
* In the ''[[Book of Amber]]'' series, the mystic Pattern that created the universe was drawn in the blood of its creator. The discovery that the blood of his descendants could ''erase'' it drives part of the plot.
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** On the 'Night of Red Stars', the Canim ritualists cast a spell that puts acid mist clouds full of [[Eldritch Abomination|weird seemingly extradimensional tentacle monsters]] over a good part of the ''continent'', preventing the Alerans from flying (since they get eaten/dissolved if they try to go through the clouds). But this huge spell is said to cost ''millions'' of Canim lives.
* The Mosquito-kinden of ''[[Shadows of the Apt]]'' have a ''serious'' thing about blood, and huge quantities turn up in some prophecies.
* Also from ''[[Sword of Shadows]]'', it's possible for weaker sorcerers to enhance their powers by draining blood from a properly bound stronger sorcerer. [[Evil Overlord|Penthero Iss]] demonstrates both the binding and the bloodletting in [[Nightmare Fuel]] detail.
* In the ''[[Old Kingdom]]'' trilogy by Garth Nix, the power of the Charter that gives the King, Abhorsen, and Clayr their unique abilities is found [[In the Blood]] - as in, both genetically and literally. Charter Stones, which keep the magical Old Kingdom sustained, can be broken if a Charter Mage's blood is spilled on them (in death), and the [[Cosmic Keystone|Great Stones]] can only be broken by the blood of one of the Charter bloodlines (see above.) Finally, in ''Abhorsen,'' {{spoiler|Sam makes a sword to break apart the [[Eldritch Abomination]] by combining, among other ingredients, blood from carriers of all <s> three</s> four bloodlines.}}
* In one of Tamora Pierce's ''[[Circle of Magic]]'' books, Niko cuts his palm so that he can use his own blood to fuel a past-viewing spell, saying that mages will often use blood to make a spell more powerful. He then says some use their own, others use the blood of others - willing or not - and sternly warns the student listening to him not to use others.
* Some cross-over with Type A in the ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'' with blood-binders- Kencyr who have the inherent magical ability of creating a telepathic link with anyone who's exposed to their blood, a link that is so powerful that can endure past death. [[Our Vampires Are Different|Darkling Changers]] have a related ability of being able to take the form of anyone whose blood they've sampled. If a Changer tries to feed on a blood-binder, and the blood-binder's magic is stronger, then the Changer will be wracked by intense pain, the only known release form which is death.
=== Live Action TV ===
* Seeing as it provided the title quote it's not surprising that ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' has a few examples of this. The blood of a slayer apparently has mystical qualities, allowing Angel to survive Faith's poison, and granting the Master the strength to escape his prison in the first season. Dawn's blood was used by Glory to open the interdimensional portal.
* ''[[Angel]]'' also used this quite extensively. The Beast dripped blood onto the artifacts it had gathered as the final part of its ritual to blot out the sun. The blood of a virgin was used to expedite the birth of Jasmine. Lorne's blood was used in another ritual calling for the blood of a demon. And of course Hamilton's blood turned out to be full of the power of the Senior Partners. There are probably a lot more. Any show with vampires and magic is likely to feature a lot of this trope.
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Christmas Invasion", the Sycorax use samples of A Positive that they took out of a satellite to control everyone in the world of that blood type.
=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
* In the ''[[Shadowrun]]'' supplement ''Aztlan,'' mages can use [[Blood Magic]]: spilling a human's blood to enhance spellcasting and summon Blood Spirits. Extremely evil, restricted to Non Player Characters.
* ''[[Dungeons
** In-character folklore (well, [[The Rashomon|one version of it]]) of the default D&D pantheon holds that elves and orcs were born from the blood of their respective creator-deities, Corellon and Gruumsh, which got spattered across multiple worlds when their deities were fighting a death-duel (both survived, however).
* Common in the [[Ravenloft]] setting, both as a power-source for certain kinds of evil magic and as a means for vampires to bequeath temporary vigor and prolonged life to their mortal minions.
* ''[[Exalted]]'' uses this trope in several places. Lunar Exalted gain their myriad of [[Shapeshifting|forms to pick from]] by hunting the creatures they seek and drinking their heart's blood; Abyssal Exalts can recharge their power [[Our Vampires Are Different|by drinking blood]]; and several sorcerous (and all necromantic) rituals also require the sacrifice of blood in the process of casting. Sometimes [[Cast
* As mentioned above, both ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade|Vam]][[Vampire: The Requiem|pire]]'' games take full advantage of this subtrope. Once blood enters a vampire's body, it becomes something ''more'' than blood (often referred to by vampires as "Vitae").
* In ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'', "Bloodspeakers" practice a very evil type of magic, powered by blood that is usually (though not always) unwillingly donated by others, who typically don't survive the experience.
* In ''[[Rifts]]'' and the Palladium universe, blood sacrifices are common for most kinds of magic because P.P.E. doubles at the time of death. But the actual representatives of this trope are Blood Shamans, who cast grisly spells from their own blood with a bit of Casting from HP.
=== Video Games ===
* In the ''[[Dominions]]'' series, spells from most schools of magic are cast using "gems" which are basically elemental forces (fire, water, etc...) concentrated into portable form, and the casting prices of spells are listed in these gems. Instead of gems, however, one school of magic lists spell prices in blood. These prices are listed in increments of one ''blood slave'', each of which must be drained completely empty, with high-level spell costs running into the ''hundreds''.
* ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'' has the Blood Mage class type, which uses [[Cast
** "Reavers", a particularly dangerous type of warrior that become stronger through suffering and exhibit certain magical powers, are created by drinking the blood of dragons. There are entire cults that spring up around high dragons for this reason.
*** Grey Wardens themselves are created by drinking a special cocktail of darkspawn blood and lyrium, which makes them immune to the darkspawn taint {{spoiler|for a few decades, anyway}}. The Warden's Keep DLC also confirms that Grey Wardens can gain other abilities through their tainted blood.
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* In ''[[Ōkamiden|Okamiden]]'', the [[Big Bad]] Akuro must [[Blood Bath|bathe]] his [[Demonic Possession|vessel]] in blood to become perfect. {{spoiler|Specifically, Orochi's blood.}} Or, maybe he has to bathe himself. The game can't agree with itself on this point.
=== Web Comics ===
* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. Torg finds out that his [[Empathic Weapon|talking]] [[Cool Sword|sword]] [[Fluffy the Terrible|Chaz]] only has its mystical abilities to speak and kill damn near anything if it has fed on the blood of the innocent first, and so assumes it's an evil sword. Chaz clarifies that it is simply a weapon, and whether it does good or bad things is entirely up to the person using it.
=== Web Original ===
* In the Breeniverse series ''[[Lonelygirl15]]'' and ''[[Kate Modern]]'', infusions of Trait Positive blood can extend the human lifespan considerably. In ''[[LG15: the resistance|LG 15 The Resistance]]'', {{spoiler|Maggie's}} blood grants total immortality.
* Fey of the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' used the blood of Hekate to throw a ''major'' Sidhe curse on her: a three-fold return of all the evil Hekate had done, which (given just what we've seen) will be horrific.
=== Western Animation ===
* Two words: [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Blood Bending]]. [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?|Ya know, for kids]]!
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== Type O ==
=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===
* In ''[[Death Note]]'', [[Villain Protagonist]] Light Yagami kills people by writing their names in pages of a [[Artifact of Doom|supernatural notebook]]. For emergencies, he keeps a needle and scrap of Death Note paper in a secret compartment in his watch, which means that even in tense situations where he's under surveillance, he can murder people by discreetly writing their names in [[Couldn't Find a Pen|his own blood]].
=== [[Comic Books]] ===
* [[Spider-Man]] villain Carnage has an alien symbiote mixed into his bloodstream that allows him to shape his blood and use it as a weapon. This is sometimes played for a more horrific effect, particularly in [[Warren Ellis]] and [[Kyle Hotz]]'s [[Body Horror]] laden graphic novel "Mindbomb"
{{quote|'''Carnage''': My blood wants to kill you!}}
=== [[Literature]] ===
* ''[[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]]''.
* [[Harry Potter|Dolores Umbridge]] and her blood quill uses this, which clashes horribly with her otherwise [[Kawaiiko]] persona.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "[[Man Eaters of Zamboula|Shadows in Zamboula]]" Baal-pteor offers [[Human Sacrifice]] with a [[Neck Snap]], to save blood for the god.
=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''[[Warhammer
** For that matter, one could count anyone who worships Khorne, the GOD of Blood.
===
* In the climax of ''[[Ico]]'', we see the only blood in the game when {{spoiler|Ico's horns snap off}}. The sudden physical sign of violence after a game full of whacking nothing but intangible Smokemen is like a punch to the gut.
=== [[Web Comics]] ===
* In ''[[Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name]]'', Hanna's blood is apparently particularly disgusting, at least according to a vampire. He attributes this to his use of magic (before quickly changing the subject).
{{quote|Hanna: It must be because I use magic, it taints my blood, but ANYWAYS.}}
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Power Source]]
[[Category:The Power of Index]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
[[Category:Bloody Tropes]]
[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
▲[[Category:The Power of Blood]]
[[Category:Power]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Power of Blood, The}}
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