History Main / BloodMagic

* ''Literature/ThirdTimeLuckyAndOtherStoresOfTheMostPowerfulWizardInTheWorld'': Magdelene crafts a TrackingSpell Zayd can use to find Joah in the Netherworld by using the bond of their shared father's blood. It appears like a red line stretching away before him.

* TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse features the Court of Blood and its various blood mage vampires. Blood magic involves the manipulation of peoples blood in order to fuel your power. Or you can use your own blood, which is more painful to you but you don't have to kill anyone. Notable blood magic practitioners in the game outside the Court include Franz Vogel, the Crimson Conductor (whose baton leads to a really bad time for the Argent Adept), Lifeline (who ironically enough starts messing with the stuff ''after'' his HeelFaceTurn), and Hermetic (a blood magic alchemist whose "bloodstone" eventually gives him a horrible experience).

* Many forms of BlackMagic in the ''TabletopGame/IronKingdoms'' at least dabble with the use of blood as a source of power, but the setting's resident kings are the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent skorne]], a race of [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent hobgoblin-like]] savage humanoids who are the setting's resident HordesFromTheEast. Their entire culture is based around the practicing of a form of BloodMagic, which they venerate in lieu of religion. The skorne version is fed as much by ''pain'' as it is by blood, though, so its practitioners are also skilled torturers, which is one of the reasons why the skorne are a race of {{Combat Sadomasochist}}s.
* In ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'', 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.
* An obscure spell in ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' lets a caster use their own blood and [[CastFromHitPoints Strength]] in lieu of costly material components, which allows for such oddities as fueling powerful {{Summoning Ritual}}s and raising the dead with a generous helping of the red stuff rather than shelling out a fortune in gold and rare gems.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{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.
* One issue of the ''[[TabletopGame/{{Rifts}} Rifter]]'' featured a school of blood magic. The mages were covered in cuts from using their own blood. They could take others' blood, but it had to be fresh enough, so there was a spell to render a vessel full of blood capable of preserving its contents. Other spells ranged from a simple, distracting [[Literature/TheTellTaleHeart heartbeat]] sound effect, through ''causing someones blood to eat their tissues from inside them'', to creating a blood golem.
* Rune magic is dangerous to use in ''TabletopGame/SavageWorlds: [[WeirdHistoricalWar Weird War II]]'', causing backlashes which can cause the rune mage to die or be permanently brain-damaged. The ability of rune magic to turn people into thralls is useful here, as they can give the mage power (they don't track power points) and even absorb backlashes. This is going to kill the thralls, though due to the Final Solution they have plenty of people to enthrall and no rodents' posteriors to issue, as the magic is evil and only ever used by the Nazis. The process is usually referred to as blood magic and therefore it is more common to call the mages blood mages.

* In ''Literature/Overlord2012'', [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Shalltear Bloodfallen]] gathers the blood of her victims into an orb that hovers above her. She can use the blood as a substitute to mana, or she can [[BloodBath bathe herself in it]] to [[TheBerserker drastically increase her strength at the cost of becoming uncontrollable]].

* In Justin Dew's ''Literature/TheAetherCycle'' Blood Magic is used to create Stephen's wand and his Pentacle.
* In Creator/DevonMonk's ''Literature/AllieBeckstrom'' novels:
** In ''Literature/MagicToTheBone'', used by Cody's captors.
** In ''Literature/MagicInTheBlood'', a villain steals some of Allie's, which seriously worries her.
* ''Literature/APoisonDarkAndDrowning'': This book introduces a spell that can dispel {{Glamour}}s. By taking a thread and wetting it in blood, one says the incantation and swipes at the glamour with the stave, slicing through it. [[TheProtagonist Henrietta]] makes use of it to dispel the glamour around Ralph Strangewayes' house.

* The Dark Ones’ tunnels in ''Literature/{{Murderess}}'' open when the person entering spills blood, either his own or someone else’s (or even an animal’s), on a stone slab next to the entrance.

* In ''Literature/{{Overlord|2012}}'', [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Shalltear Bloodfallen]] gathers the blood of her victims into an orb that hovers above her. She can use the blood as a substitute to mana, or she can [[BloodBath bathe herself in it]] to [[TheBerserker drastically increase her strength at the cost of becoming uncontrollable]].

** A specific ''version'' of it can be found in "''The Immortals''" quartet. As proved with Cloud and Brokefang, any animal that ''ingests'' Daine's blood becomes ''very'' special and more like humans in thought.

* ''TabletopGame/CriticalRoleTaldoreiCampaignSetting'': The Blood Cleric [[PrestigeClass sub-class]] is centered around manipulating the forces that control one's body and connects it to the soul. These clerics can channel divinity to control the blood within creatures and force them to make attacks against allies or use samples of the blood of a creature to learn their location or even take control of their senses for a short time.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}: Reloaded'' the Whateley Blood edge allows you to spill your own blood in order to gain "[[{{Mana}} power points]]".

** Many ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' spells are blood-related, like Bladethirst, Bloodstars, Blood Lightning, Beltyn's Burning Blood and elven Blood Dragon, and there are less specific mentions of elven blood magic in novels. Lots of other spells introduced in FR, while not inherently blood-themed, need as a spell component any blood (Revenance, Nulathoe's Ninemen), blood of specific creatures (e.g. red dragon for Daltim's Proof Against Fire, dwarf for Semipermanency) or the caster's blood (Bone Javelin, Elminster's Evasion, Fellblade, Immunity to Undeath, Lich's Touch, Mummy Touch, Phezult's Sleep of Ages, wizardly version of Negative Plane Protection). Components of magical inks, elixirs, etc appearing in Realmslore include blood of various creatures more often than not.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', all [[{{Necromancer}} Necromancy]] spells require a sacrifice of blood as part of the casting. In most cases, this is nothing more than a token sacrifice, and ''The Black Treatise'', the Necromancy {{sourcebook}}, notes that necromancers [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything tend to keep bandages handy.]] For the most powerful rituals, though, more gruesome sacrifices are required; Necromancy is very much BlackMagic in the world of ''Exalted''.

** And, lest we forget; '''''[[CatchPhrase BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!]]''''' Khorne's followers really go nuts over this sort of stuff, although it's less about fueling magic than it is showing one' s devotion to Khorne and being rewarded with greater strength as a result.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Azazel's lackeys used a squicky blood fueled ritual to communicate with him. Brady does the same to communicate with his master, [[spoiler: Pestilence]].

** And in the fourth season finale, [[spoiler: it turns out the blood of the first demon, Lilith, must be spilled to complete a ritual to release Lucifer from Hell.]]
** And the Special Children got their powers from [[spoiler: Azazel bleeding into their mouths]].

** In Season 9 [[spoiler: Abaddon]]'s followers do some kind of cutting ritual to revive her.

* One of the spells granted to Naofumi in ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' by the [[EvilWeapon Wrath Shield]] is called "Blood Sacrifice". The spell violently pulls out much of Naofumi's own blood to summon a giant maw of fangs to bite down on and crush his victims to death.

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'' by Patricia Briggs, the heroes find a heap of dead bodies that have visibly been used for blood magic, having runes cut into the skin. They give them a proper burial by burning the corpses and singing prayers.

* ''Literature/TheSagaOfEgilSkallagrimsson'': When Egil suspects that the horn of ale offered to him by Atloy-Bard is poisoned, he cuts the palm of his hand, carves runes into the drinking-horn, and smears the runes with his own blood. The horn breaks and the ale spills. Seemingly the blood was needed to activate the power of the runes to magically expose the poison.

* Creator/MercedesLackey loves this concept, and blood mages are frequently villains in her books. In the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' books, at least, it's code for Life Energy, not the red stuff itself, and taking it from an unwilling target (via torture and murder) is ''exclusively'' villainous. Good-aligned Mages and Priests can give their lives willingly to boost a spell (especially a [[TakingYouWithMe Final Strike]]), and the fairly benign rituals that create an EmpathicLink between a ruler and their country involve mixing their blood with soil.

* Creator/MercedesLackey loves this concept, and blood mages are frequently villains in her books. In the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' 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 HeroicSacrifice stick, though.

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'', the [[UltimateBlacksmith Lady of the Forge]] asks for the blood of a god (in this case, Kratos) to complete the [[StormOfBlades Draupnir]] [[BladeOnAStick Spear]].

* In ''ComicBook/HexWives'', the witches' magic is based on blood. The more blood that is spilled, the more powerful the magic becomes. It doesn't matter who's blood- theirs, their enemy's, a farm animal's. Even squishing a cockroach provides a minor boost.

* In [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13256350/11/Harry-Potter-and-the-Scrambled-Sorting Harry Potter and the Scrambled Sorting]] Blood Magic is more symbolic in nature, a single drop giving a tremendous power boost to a simple 'Lumos' Spell. It does have specialised magic that can only be cast through Blood Magic, and even the boosted Lumos is utterly ilegal in Magical Britain.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Overlord|2012}}'', [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Shalltear Bloodfallen]] gathers the blood of her victims into an orb that hovers above her. She can use the blood as a substitute to mana, or she can [[BloodBath bathe herself in it]] to [[TheBerserker drastically increase her strength at the cost of becoming uncontrollable]].

May even overlap with TomeOfEldritchLore, which is often written in man's blood on parchment made of human flesh. Is often a cause for a SuperhumanTransfusion.

* In ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', a Sith's holocron could only be opened by spilling a large amount of blood from an intelligent creature on it, so much blood that it would not survive. The Jedi who finds it outwits the Holocron by pouring small amounts of their blood on it and three other people. Later, he notes that the Sith was so evil that he did not even come to this opportunity.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', Dr. Facilier turns Naveen into a frog as to have an easy means of extracting blood for a voodoo talisman that turns Naveen's BeleagueredAssistant Lawrence into a copy of the prince for his own ends.

* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}: Thaumatology'' codifies this: you have to spill enough blood to drain 20% of your HitPoints in order to get + 1 to casting. Unfortunately taking damage also makes it harder to cast a spell, so without the HighPainThreshold advantage there's not much point to it.

Often overlaps with BlackMagic, TheDarkArts and CastFromHitPoints. See also OurVampiresAreDifferent and BodyToJewel.