Bloody Tropes

Blood is a crucial fluid for most living organisms. Therefore, it can be used in varied ways in media.

Compare Anatomy Agony, Vampire Tropes, Take These Tropes to Heart. Not to be confused with Violence Tropes, though they frequently overlap.

Oh, and has absolutely nothing to do with Did Not Do the Bloody Research nor the FPS videogame series created by Monolith Productions.

Tropes

• AB Negative: Medical Drama complicated by a rare blood type and thus requiring certain donor(s).
• Afraid of Blood: Hemophobia, the fear of seeing, losing, or even thinking of blood.
• Alien Blood: Blood of from an alien biology foreign to what humans are used to.
• Black Blood: Changing the color of blood from red to something else for censorship reasons.
• Blood Oath: Drawing your own blood to illustrate commitment to a vow.
• Blood Bath: Bathing in a significant volume of blood.
• Blood Brothers: Two or more people who aren't biologically related trade blood to symbolize kinship.
• Blood Countess: A rich, evil woman closely tied to or obsessed with blood.
• Blood from Every Orifice: Blood coming out of mouth, nose, ears and/or eyes simultaneously.
• Blood from the Mouth: Bleeding from the mouth, sometimes as a symptom of an Incurable Cough of Death or a Mortal Wound Reveal.
• Bloodier and Gorier: A Tone Shift increases the violence.
• Blood Iron: Metallic objects that are literally made from the iron in blood.
• Blood Is Squicker in Water: Blood diluting and spreading in water.
• Blood Is the New Black: An Ax-Crazy character covered in blood (not necessarily theirs) is an obvious danger.
• Bloodless Carnage: Severe violence does not spill blood when it reasonably should.
• Bloodlust: Affinity for blood and causing bleeding.
• Blood Magic: Blood has potential and/or significance in Functional Magic (possibly The Dark Arts).
• Blood-Splattered Innocents: Break the Cutie by splattering them with blood.
• Blood-Splattered Warrior: A combatant covered in blood from their conflict.
• Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: A wedding dress becomes stained with blood.
• Blood-Stained Letter: A written message is stained with blood.
• Bloodsucking Bats: All bats are vampire bats.
• Blood Transfusion Plot: A work whose plot involves a blood transfusion.
• Blood Upgrade: Bleeding from being hit (sometimes the First Blood) serves as a Berserk Button.
• Bloody Hallucinations of Guilt: Guilt over another's death has a character seeing blood where there isn't any.
• Bloody Handprint: A handprint made of blood.
• Bloody Hilarious: Comically over-the-top graphic violence.
• Bloody Horror: To make a scene scary or otherwise disturbing, just add blood.
• A Bloody Mess: An innocent substance — (almost) always red — is mistaken for blood.
• Bloody Murder: Blood is utilized as a weapon.
• Bloody Smile: A character smiles while their mouth and/or teeth are covered in blood.
• Bring My Red Jacket: Someone dressed like a Red Shirt will get the treatment of one.
• Couldn't Find a Pen: Using blood as a writing implement because you don't have an alternative (or don't care).
• Deadly Nosebleed: A nosebleed is the sign of an illness or fatal injury to the brain.
• Draw Sword, Draw Blood: If a weapon is pulled from its scabbard, you might as well use it before you put it away.
• Fertile Blood: Life arises from ground spilled with blood.
• First Blood: The fight turns serious once someone starts to bleed.
• First Period Panic: A girl becomes increasingly worried over getting her first period.
• Giant's Droplet, Human's Shower: A bead of blood from a giant can be a tidal wave for a tinier being
• Gorn: Gratuitous, over-the-top graphic violence.
• Heal It with Blood: Blood as a cure for ailment or injury.
• Hemo Erotic: Hemophilia, the fetishistic attraction or arousal from blood.
• High-Pressure Blood: Characters shoot geysers of blood from their wounds, even if it wouldn't make sense to do so.
• Kensington Gore: The use of a cheap yet believable fake blood used in film production.
• The Ketchup Test: A skeptical character does a taste test to determine whether something is A Bloody Mess or not.
• Killing for a Tissue Sample: A medical anomaly or supernatural curio needs to be killed in order to study its biology.
• Ludicrous Gibs: The tendency in video games for enemies to explode into bloody giblets everywhere when they die.
• Machine Blood: Mechanical Lifeforms have an analogue for blood, often oil or fuel.
• My Blood Runs Hot:
• Nosebleed: Bleeding from the nose as an involuntary reaction to arousal.
• Not His Blood: Blood on a character turns out to be somebody else's blood.
• Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: Someone bleeds far more than should be physically possible.
• Paint the Town Red: When people die violent deaths, their blood and guts get sprayed everywhere.
• Palm Bloodletting: When a character needs blood for something, they cuts their hand.
• Paper Cutting: Weapons grazing their targets, causing superficial wounds.
• Personality Blood Types: An Asian superstition that someone can determine another's personality by their blood type.
• Pink Mist: A quick, violent, and often fatal injury that blood splatter into a vapor.
• The Power of Blood: Blood is powerful, whether narratively or symbolically.
• Psychic Nosebleed: A nosebleed is the sign of exhaustion from Psychic Powers.
• Rain of Blood: It's raining blood, whether by Weird Weather or a violent demise.
• Rivers of Blood: A large body of blood acting like water.
• Royal Blood: Royal ancestry as a plot point.
• Rustproof Blood: Spilt blood does not oxidize or coagulate over time as it should.
• Spiked Blood: Drinking the blood of an intoxicated person passes on said intoxication.
• Squib: Small controlled explosive devices used to simulate gunshot wounds in
• Standard Bleeding Spots: Characters always bleed from the same spots regardless of injury type.
• Superhuman Transfusion: Transfusion of a superhuman's blood gives a Muggle recipient the same powers.
• Symbolic Blood: Non-blood substances are shown in a way that resembles blood.
• Tears of Blood: Crying something that isn't saltwater, normally blood.
• There Will Be Toilet Paper: Shaving cuts are always stanched with toilet paper.
• Thicker Than Water: Blood ties trump everything else.
• Trail of Blood: A wounded person leaves their own liquid Trail of Bread Crumbs behind them.
• Vampiric Draining: A creature sucks the vital force out of living things.
• Voluntary Vampire Victim: Someone consents to Vampiric Draining.
• Vein-o-Vision: Bizarre Alien Senses that give X-Ray Vision specialized for finding the circulatory system.
• Victory by First Blood: A fight is won by the one who made their opponent(s) bleed first.
• White Shirt of Death: A character dies in white clothing that visually contrasts with their bloody demise.