Blood Magic: Difference between revisions

[[File:hellboy blood magic 2716.jpg|link=Hellboy (film)|frame|[[Bad Boss|You really should have seen this coming.]]]]

 

 

 

Some blood may be indicated to be more powerful than others. Common types are human blood, the [[Royal Blood|blood of royalty]], the blood of a special line, a child's blood, or [[Virgin Sacrifice|virgin's blood]]. Sometimes only a single person's blood has power, and any other blood is powerless.

This trope is [[Older Than Feudalism]], with blood and sacrifice being powerful magic in some of the oldest tales. A very old Greek [[Curse]] was for a witch to run three times around the house she wished to curse while menstruating. Especially potent if it was her first period. In more recent works it is frequently the alternative to [[Necromancy]] as the "evil magic".

 

 

Frequently a part of any ritualistic [[Blood Bath]]. When it's the blood itself doing the damage, you have [[Bloody Murder]]. When the magic is used to extend the user's lifespan, it's [[Life Drinker]].

 

May even overlap with [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]], which is often written in man's blood on parchment made of human flesh. Is often a cause for a [[Superhuman Transfusion]].

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Princess Tutu]]'', Fakir revives Mytho's [[Cool Sword]] by cutting his hand, and pouring the blood from the wound into a fountain, and reciting a spell [[Gratuitous German|in German]] while dipping the blade into the bloody water. The various applications of Raven's Blood (like [[Face Heel Turn|turning Mytho evil]]) might apply here, as well.

* Some of ''[[Naruto]]'''s [[Summoning Ritual]]s use this.

* Some of the magic in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' works like this. At one point, Negi bites his thumb hard enough for blood to pour out, then creates magic circles for The Thousand Bolts (the ultimate lighting incantation) and pulverizes a mountain sized rock. Blood of powerful mages also seems to carry a certain amount of energy in it if Evangeline is to be believed. ''If.''

 

* In ''[[The Sandman|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}}). The spell is repeated with blood from a cut palm in ''Death: Time of Your Life.''

* 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.

* This is how Atrocitus created the Central Power Battery for his [[Green Lantern|Red Lantern Corps]]. In addition, he is capable of scrying through arcane blood rites.

* [[Conan the Barbarian]] once battled a witch who used a particularly nasty curse triggered by blood. Only a single drop of spilled blood was necessary to cause her victims to age rapidly and die within seconds, leaving behind a withered corpse. The only protection against the curse were magic talismans owned by three brothers who were the witch's enemies.

 

 

* In ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'', Dr Facilier turns Naveen into a frog as to have an easy means of extracting blood for a voodoo talisman that turns Naveen's [[Beleaguered Assistant]] Lawrence into a copy of the prince for his own ends.

* In the first ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'', Will's blood was needed to break the curse on Barbossa's crew. A blood sacrifice was required from every cursed pirate, but they had cast Will's father overboard before learning this, so Will's blood, as the closest living relative, was used as a suitable substitute. {{spoiler|Once Jack cursed himself, he also added his blood to lift the curse "at the opportune moment".}}

* In ''[[Silent Hill (film)|Silent Hill]]'' Christabella unintentionally invokes this trope when she stabs {{spoiler|Rose}} in the chest. The blood gushing from the wound destroys the church, allowing {{spoiler|Alessa}} to enter. Then all hell breaks loose.

* In ''[[Blade]]'', it's of little surprise that the ancient vampire artifact runs off of blood. Blade is strapped into a huge bloodletting device that causes his blood to fill up all the magical symbols below him, rather similar to the picture above.

* The page image comes from the first ''[[Hellboy (film)|Hellboy]]'' film; Ilsa and Kroenen kill their guide in order to resurrect [[Big Bad|Rasputin]].

 

== Literature ==

** In the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' books, at least, it's the sort powered by death, not the red stuff itself, and gathering it from anyone else is ''exclusively'' villainous. Good-aligned Mages and Priests occasionally use their ''own'' death energies to really make a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] stick, though.

* In ''[[Stardust (novel)|Stardust]]'', the witches use the hearts of living stars to prolong their youth as a form of blood magic.

** Unicorn blood is so potent that drinking it can preserve the life of a somebody who is already dying, but the act of taking it is said to curse the killer with a "half-life".

** This is further refined to just needing the octogram, ''two'' small bits of wood and a fresh egg.

*** Of course, most wizards go all-out with the magical foci anyway, because if you're not going to [[Rule of Cool|fill up your ceremony with arcane gibberish and dribbly candles]], why did you even become a wizard in the first place?

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Granny:''' I ain't been vampired, ''you'' been Weatherwaxed!}}}}

* In the ''Dragonlord'' series by Joanne Bertin, blood magic is frequently employed by the antagonists. In ''The Last Dragonlord'', the [[Big Bad]] uses the lives of prostitutes to charge a magical artifact. He then sacrifices a member of a specific bloodline in order to attempt to enslave one of the titular dragonlords. In ''The Dragon and the Phoenix'', the blood of the high priest is used to bind a dragon, and the magic of the dragon is used in turn to imprison and harness the power of the phoenix.

** In ''Red Fury'', the blood in the Bloodfiends gives them [[Genetic Memory|memories of those whose blood they drank]], driving them crazy, [[Split Personality]] style—and with a fierce desire to drink more blood, worsening the problem. Rafen, fighting one, can clearly [[Was Once a Man|recognize the source of its blood]], and [[Dying as Yourself|dying]], it might have said, "Brother."

* [[Tamora Pierce]] makes use of this both in ''[[Circle of Magic]]'' and the ''[[Tortall Universe]]''. However, it is made abundantly clear that the only approved use of blood magic is when the mage uses his or her ''own'' blood.

* In [[Stephen King]]'s ''On Writing'', he describes some symbolic associations of blood with life and death, sin and redemption (through sacrifice), and how they're used in ''[[Carrie]]'' as a parallel to the titular psychic's emerging powers and rampage.

* Malkar and Vey Coruscant in ''[[Doctrine of Labyrinths]]'' are accomplished practitioners. They have been using this to keep themselves young and vital for who knows how many years. One of Vey's many epithets is "Queen Blood."

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In ''[[Friday the 13th: The Series]]'', almost every single one of the cursed items must be powered by a death to derive their benefits.

 

* In [[The Bible]], the Passover where the Angel of Death came to kill the firstborn children of Egypt, and the Jews painted their doors with lamb blood so the angel would know not to kill ''those'' firstborn children.

* The mythical account of Shaka Zulu. In exchange of limitless power, Shaka is said to enter a pact with the witch doctor Issanoussi, who demands the death of Shaka's pregnant fiancee Noliwe—and this turns out to be just the down-payment for "blood medicine"

** A common story from the German and Dutch North Sea coast is, that in the past people made live sacrifices when building dykes against floods. Burying a dog alive under the new dyke would work, but a human child was considered preferable. The important part was, that a living thing had to be given to the spirits.

 

 

* In the ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', all vampires gain their abilities obviously from consumed blood. However, a few [[Splat|clans]] take this one step further by developing a blood-based system of sorcery stronger than the hedge magic any human can learn but weaker than the Sphere Magick of Mages. The most well-known practitioners of blood magic are Clan Tremere, whose original members were Mages in life.

** ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' carries this on with various forms of Blood Sorcery, the two most predominant being Cruac (a humanity-stifling, ritualistic art practiced by the Circle of the Crone) and Theban Sorcery (a series of "miracles" that [[Equivalent Exchange|require appropriate sacrifice]], practiced by the Lancea Sanctum).

** Expanded in the supplement "Street Magic". Adepts can benefit from blood magic, with at least one of the new metamagics revolving around ''cannibalism.''

* ''[[Earthdawn]]''. Blood charms are used to seal Blood Oaths and gain magical benefits.

** In earlier editions, a magic user used his own blood as an ingredient in creating a homonculous, possibly inspired by the Sinbad example.

** One of the material components for the Cacodemon spell (which summoned a powerful demon) was a bowl of mammal blood, preferably human.

** ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' has a lot of spells using the caster's or the target's blood, including some necromancy (Lich's Touch, Speak with Dead, Repel Undead, Fellblade, Immunity to Undeath), contingency (Elminster's Evasion) and battle spells. Bone Javelin creates a fairly long-range [[Flying Weapon]] that returns to the caster after each "shot" and waits for the next order. Bloodstars makes from magical force and drops of the caster's blood 7 flying spiky things that not only cut whoever commanded, but can be ordered to ''explode'' if they draw blood, and are completely harmless to the caster either way. In one novel Elminster used "flying blades", which animates a bunch of pointy metal things and makes them fly around the caster and stab anyone on the way - each object requires a drop of the caster's blood to be included and de-animates when it draws blood. The most spectacular is Blood Dragon, an elf-only spell that creates a nearly unstoppable construct that withers flesh with mere touch, is dead set on attacking the target, ignoring everyone else (though still harming if happens to contact them); it [[Taking You with Me|requires the caster's death]] to animate. Also, some inks for spell scrolls include a drop of the maker's blood.

* ''Dark*Matter'' in [[d20 Modern]] version has "Blood Magic" [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/article/20060921b&page=2 feat] that allows to cast a spell by taking damage instead of using up a spell-slot.

* In ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'', practitioners of ''maho'' fuel their spells by spilling blood, often their own. The explanation given is that ''kansen'', malevolent spirits, are attracted to the caster by this act and will then exert their influence over the world in accordance with the mahotsukai's wishes.

* In ''[[Deadlands]]: Reloaded'' the Whateley Blood edge allows you to spill your own blood in order to gain "[[Mana|power points]]".

** A character with Advance Shape Shifting can use their own blood to create creatures which have some of their powers. These creatures are [[NPC]] and not under the creator's control.

** A character with Shape Shifting and Conjuration can create items out of their own blood. A character with Advance Shape Shifting and Conjuration can create items out of ''other people's'' blood.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Clive Barker's Jericho]]'' has Wilhelmina "Billie" Church, a powerful blood mage. Her blood magic and abilities play a very important part in the game's story, and her spells can bind enemies and set them on fire.

** The Sumerian Demons Inanna and Ninlil also rely on blood magic (referred to as sanguimancy ingame). While Inanna uses the blood of Innocent people bound to torture wheels, Ninlil has herself locked within an Iron Maiden to spill as much of her own blood as possible.

** In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', according to the background warlock's life tap ability (convert health to mana) works exactly like this (they sacrifice their own blood to gain mana), using it to summon most of their demonic pets, empowering their weapons or, curiously enough, a number of beneficial effects like summoning party members or Healthstones which can be consumed like a potion.

** ''Warcraft III'' introduced Blood Mages, but despite the name they ''don't'' practice any of this; most of their spells are fire-based. Lampshaded by one you meet in the Blasted Lands, who says Blood Mages "eat normal food like normal people."

* In The Elder Scrolls V ''[[Skyrim]]'' {{spoiler|The only way to open the old Blades headquarters in Skyrim is with the blood of a dragonborn.}}

* ''[[Dragon Age]]'':

** What's important about Blood Magic is that it is pure life force, and can thus provide plenty of energy. And it isn't limited to Mages, either. Anybody can learn how to tap into it, even a warrior (exemplified by the Reaver, who uses a different path, but one which still uses the power inherent in blood as energy). Since it was originally taught by an Old God (demons are the only ones who still remember it in most cases, however), it may not even be evil. The Soldier's Peak DLC introduced Avernus, who had worked out how to change blood as the fuel source for the Taint. And then there are the Chantry Templars, who gain their abilities from the energies within lyrium (apparently - that it is possible to wield what is essentially Templar-created magic without using lyrium might speak to some other source), all without being Mages. While the Fade is probably the easiest source to learn how to use (and the one with the least reliance on an outside source to power one's spells), it's definitely not the only source. Indeed, it might be that ''anybody'' could learn how to use magic, as long as they were willing to use something else as fuel.

** The state religion of the Chantry demands that all persons with magical abilities have to permanently join the Circle of Magi and be confined to their towers where they are constantly monitored by templars who are to slay them at the first sign that demons have possessed their bodies. Every mage who tries to escape from the Circle of Magi or refuses to join is treated as being potentially possessed and killed. Since blood magic is not officially sanctioned by the Chantry, blood mages share the same fate as all other apostates.

* Taken to the extreme by Vladimir the Crimson Reaper, a [[Whatevermancy|"hemomancer"]] in ''[[League of Legends]]''. Not only are all his abilities blood-related (including draining the blood out of his opponents and into him and briefly turning into a near-invulnerable pool of blood) but he fights with an orb of blood which hovers in his hands that he shoots at his opponents.

* Taken to another extreme in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', in which human sacrifice is used on a titanic scale {{spoiler|by Lucavi, inciting a war with hundreds of thousands of casualties to spill enough blood to raise the [[Big Bad]] Altima.}}

* Shao Kahn created Skarlet out of blood collected from various battlefields in the newest ''[[Mortal Kombat]]''.

* According to [[Cute Witch|Marisa]], Remilia Scarlet from ''[[Touhou]]'' utilises this for a few spellcards. [[Running Gag|Blood is amazing!]]

 

== Web Comics ==

* Timmy from ''[[Parallel Dementia]]'' can use blood magic.

* In ''[[Familiar Ground]]'', how they know that Toad's wizard is evil.

 

== Web Original ==

* Fey has used this in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' against a dark mage who was trying to enslave her.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]'' a drop of Jake's blood is used to restore the Dark Dragon's full strength.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Magic and Powers]]

[[Category:Bloody Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]