History Main / RustproofBlood

* In the ''Literature/MerryGentry'' series, certain Redcaps (see Folklore above), usually the most powerful ones, have the [[AWizardDidIt magical ability]] to keep the blood on their hats from drying out and rusting.
* Averted in Nick O'Donohoe's ''The Magic and the Healing''. The BigBad's fascination with washing her hands with blood moves her to kill a lot of things, because the blood never stays fresh and red for very long.
* Averted in the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series. The robe of the Emperor of the East is described as the red of freshly spilled blood. The uniforms of his soldiers is described as the reddish brown of dried blood. The soldiers joke that this is so that you can't tell whether or not they've gotten blood on them, thus reducing laundry bills (It may even be the truth).
* {{Averted}} in ''Literature/TheLostYearsOfMerlin,'' where a desert region called the Rusted Plains are repeatedly compared to dried blood.
* Averted in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain''. The sword Dyrnwyn's scabbard is black from dried blood.
* Averted in ''[[Literature/SherlockHolmes A Study in Scarlet]]''. Holmes discovers a method of detecting haemoglobin through a chemical re-agent and is overjoyed because it now gives people an infallible test for bloodstains.
-->"Criminal cases are continually hinging upon that one point. A man is suspected of a crime months perhaps after it has been committed. His linen or clothes are examined, and brownish stains discovered upon them. Are they blood stains, or mud stains, or rust stains, or fruit stains, or what are they? That is a question which has puzzled many an expert, and why? Because there was no reliable test. Now we have the Sherlock Holmes' test, and there will no longer be any difficulty."

* In ''Film/TheBrothersBloom'', the visual difference between real blood and stage blood clues a character that they're being conned.

* Averted in ''Film/TheWolfman2010'': the dried blood we see on Lawrence ranges from rust coloured to almost [[BlackBlood black]] in some instances.

* ''Film/KnivesOut'': The spot of blood on [[spoiler:Marta]]'s shoe remains visibly red for several days after Harlan's death, even though it should have turned brown. This is clearly a case of director Creator/RianJohnson invoking ArtisticLicense, as he was also the director of ''The Brothers Bloom'' (see example above) and knows blood turns brown.

[[TheCoconutEffect Blood is always red]]. ''[[AlienBlood Human]]'' blood, anyway. This is true even though blood fairly quickly curdles and scabs to a brownish color when exposed to air (because of the oxidation of the iron in the blood; hence the word "Rust" in the trope name), to the point that chocolate syrup is often recommended to fake scabs. Even literary description of the stains, if they are not shown, must specifically say that the stains are of blood in order to be understood. This is probably done as a bit of visual shorthand, to let the audience (and other characters) know that the stains in question are actually blood, as opposed to other things that stain brown, such as mud, chocolate or [[BringMyBrownPants feces.]]

* Averted in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': [[spoiler:Chloe's BloodSplatteredWeddingDress]] turns black in the next episode.

%%* ''Series/LawAndOrder''

* ''Series/TheWire'' falls into this trope, despite being otherwise brutally realistic. Not a drop of blood turns brown, despite the fact that the show frequently shows the murder, the investigation, and how much time has passed in between when the blood should have turned brown.

* In ''[[Series/UnsereMuetterUnsereVaeter Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter]]'' SS-Sturmbannführer Hiemer's face is splattered with blood when he shoots a Jewish child in the head, and several scenes later he still has bright red stains on his neck.

* In ''[[Series/DeVloekVanManegePegasus De Vloek van Manege Pegasus]]'', the message supposedly written on the wall in blood remains bright red for days. It is later revealed to actually be red paint.
* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': Mac Taylor's 333 Stalker sends him a 30 yr old bloody T-shirt. While it's not blood red, its certainly not rusty enough for its age.
* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', the day after the Red Wedding, the servants are scrubbing the blood off the floor, still red, still liquid.
* On ''Series/DesperateHousewives'', a blood stain discovered under a carpet from a murder several months before is still red and able to be [[HandWave Hand Waved]] in-universe as being a wine stain.

* The protagonist of ''Webcomic/EternalKnights'' wears what appears to be bright red war paint while in costume as her superhero alter ego, Artemis. This "paint" is actually the blood of her dead lover, Étienne. Who died in ''1014 AD''.

A similar error is to have fresh blood dilute when washed from red to a pinkish color. Due to the composition of blood (mostly red cells floating in plasma) diluting it with water actually turns it ''yellow''.

* ''Franchise/SilentHill'' plays with this trope, where sometimes you must question if the walls are covered in rust or dried blood... as well as the fact that some monsters bleed blood that looks almost brown.

* Lampshaded in an episode of ''Series/{{Millennium}}''. Two people working on a slasher movie were fooling around with bags of fake blood shortly before they were murdered. This caused the crime to appear much more violent than it actually was. As Frank Black arrives at the scene he soon tastes some of the blood (to the puzzlement and revulsion of others present) and comments that it is fake blood, which he already figured out since real blood turns brown as it dries.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: The Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Army History Museum) in Vienna houses in a display case the uniform that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was wearing when he was assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914. Complete with bloodstains, which have bleached white over the years. This is because of the light, as the color red fades over the years due exposure to sunlight.

* Example from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime''. The bloodstains on the Shadow Temple's torture equipment look bright and fresh -- although this could just be an apparition, what with it being inside a magic temple and all... Or, to up the ante on the NightmareFuel quotient of that place, it really ''could'' have been fresh... There ''is'' a timeline where Link was killed in his quest. And this ''is'' a magic room dedicated to torture. He could be hallucinating what's left of him from that timeline. The 3DS remake makes them more brown, though.

* ''Anime/AngelBeats'', pictured. Otonashi's shirt is still sopping wet with bright red blood after he recovers from being stabbed in the chest in the clinic. Even with the HealingFactor, some of it ought to have dried. Or, you know, reabsorb into his body, since that happens at a different point soon after.