They didn't call her "Blood and Steel" Gibril for nothing back in her gang days.
Iron enough to make a nail.
Something — whether it's a tool, a weapon, an accessory, etc. — can be made out of regular iron, of silver, of Thunderbolt Iron... this one's metal came from an unusual, yet completely real source.
Blood.
The blood of many advanced organisms contains iron. Theoretically, something could be made out of it. Of course, there is a good chance the source of that blood will die. Perhaps many will die. After all, there are only a few grams of iron in a person's blood.note As such, the item made in this way will likely be evil (as Blood Magic tends to be).
Related is the idea of quenching a newly forged blade in blood, possibly by stabbing it through a living body, which is said to give it a soul. This absolutely would not work in real life.
A variant of characters who manipulate/use blood as a weapon is one where they can create stuff (usually weapons) with the iron from the blood, whether it's theirs or from other people.
See also Thunderbolt Iron, Cold Iron, Blood Magic, Powered by a Forsaken Child. Sub-Trope of Human Resources.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Edward and Ling end up in a mysterious realm (which it turns out is Gluttony's stomach) consisting largely of an infinite sea of blood and fire. As they begin to starve, Ed uses his alchemy to transmute the iron of the blood to make a pot to boil his leather boot. When they encounter Envy, Ed also uses the same technique to make a sword for Ling.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind: Risotto's Stand, Metallica, is capable of manipulating iron, including the iron present in the blood of a person. Being a Mafia assassin, his methods aren't pleasant to watch; those unfortunate enough to be within Metallica's range will find themselves coughing out razor blades from their throats, and will discover all sorts of sharp, nasty objects protruding from their face and neck. Assuming blood loss doesn't kill them first, anyone unlucky enough to be subject to Metallica's power will eventually suffer a horrifyingly fast version of iron deficiency anemia and then asphyxiate, as the Stand robs enough iron from the victim's blood to prevent it from transporting oxygen, turning the blood yellow as it literally sucks every last atom it can out of the victim's blood, presumably destroying the hemoglobin and red blood cells and leaving only the blood plasma and other cells behind. Victims who somehow survive for long enough against this onslaught can also look forward to being bombarded by iron objects made from the surrounding environment, as Metallica is perfectly capable of manipulating iron in other natural sources as well, such as in rocks and the ground, and in other non-human organisms.
- Naruto: Long after its introduction, Zabuza's sword Kubikiribouchou is revealed to have the power to repair itself by drawing iron from the blood it spills. Having been recently broken to the point that more than half of the blade is missing, it only takes Edo Tensei Zabuza killing a few dozen people with it before the blade is restored to pristine condition.
Comic Books
- In Mythos X-Men, Magneto kills a trio of teenagers who killed a young mutant girl in various ways. He discusses that the amount of iron in a person's blood is only enough to fashion a small nail, but if a "Mutie" were capable of extracting that from a person's blood, it would be immediately fatal—which he then does to one of the teens.
Fan Works
- Implied in The Night Unfurls. Kyril's Saw Cleaver is referred to as "blood-forged iron" by the narration in Chapter 5, remastered version.
Film
- In X2: X-Men United, Magneto escapes his prison by ripping the iron out of a guard's blood and fashioning it into a couple of pellets. Most of it is an iron solution Mystique injected into the guy earlier, but some would have been his own.
Literature
- The Long Earth: Chemical iron, i.e., blood iron, is stated to be the only form of iron that can be taken across the Long Earth. Why is unknown, but it rather fits with the idea of normal iron disrupting the "magic" of stepping inherent to most other denizens of the Long Earth.
- In Making Money, there's a rumor that the blade of Lord Vetinari's (alleged) Sword Cane is made from the blood of a thousand men. Given that Vetinari is the pragmatic sort, it's unlikely to be true (so the one that ends up being made is a regular sword, but treated with chemicals and a bras brush to "create a sword that looked like it would leap for your throat of its own accord".) It's actually not even clear whether it actually contains a sword, or if it's just one of the many rumors surrounding him. It seems a reasonable enough conjecture that, in any case, it would be deadly enough in his hands as a stick.
- A Song of Ice and Fire: In the legend of Azor Ahai, he had to forge his legendary Flaming Sword, Lightbringer, three times. The first time he tried to temper it in water, the second in lion's blood, but both times it shattered. It was only successful when he drove it through the heart of his wife, Nissa Nissa. Her cry of ecstasy and anguish left a crack across the face of the moon, but her soul, strength, and courage all went into the sword.
- In the Whateley Universe, Bloodsteel, both due to the name and the description of something with a hell of a lot of bloodsteel
, meaning "far too many people died in the process" of its creation, implies that blood is a component. It is not quite clear what it actually is though.
- In The Wheel of Time, the process of creating blades for the Myrddraal includes stabbing someone with it, though it's not explicit whether this is to quench the blade.
Roleplay
- One Embers in the Dusk sidestory has Ophelia collecting her own blood for over a year in order to make an iron amulet.
Tabletop Games
- In The Gates of Hell, the archdevil Sammael carries a rapier made out of iron drawn from the blood of thousands of humanoid creatures. It suppresses the healing of anyone struck by it. Marks of the Dark Ministry are Blood Iron as well.
Video Games
- Azure Striker Gunvolt 2: Gibril's Septimal power, "Metallon", lets her manipulate metals. She usually uses blood as her source of iron, whether taken from draining people's blood or (when she's desperate enough) her own. When she Turns Red, she unleashes massive amounts of blood to use the iron against you... and keels over from the blood loss shortly thereafter.
- The Bloodborne DLC The Old Hunters adds a new weapon to the arsenal, a mace called Bloodletter. When switching it to its alternate mode, the wielder must plunge the sharp end into their own chest, drawing massive amounts of blood, which then forms into a new, much larger and much spikier mace head made apparently out of their blood iron (because of how blood magic works in this universe, this action only causes the character to lose a handful of HP).
- In Guilty Gear, Testament's scythe has a blade made of hardened blood iron.
- Skarlet from Mortal Kombat practices Blood Magic and during the pre-fight banter with other characters, is often shown fashioning blood into a knife or other type of blade.
- Skullgirls: Gae Bolga is one of Painwheel's two synthetic parasites and it takes the form of an amorphous ferrofluid and resides within Painwheel's bloodstream. With it, Painwheel is able to release sharp metallic needles from various regions of her body.
Web Original
- In the Reddit creepypasta Pig Iron, an eccentric master blacksmith is inspired by the idea of making "pig iron" (crude iron made from smelting iron ore in a blast furnace) from actual pigs. He makes a knife out of iron extracted from the blood of 100 pigs, and later a sword from the blood of 300 pigs, which turns out to be an Absurdly Sharp Blade that can slice through solid steel. He gets approached by a woman whose master (implied to be Satan himself) is requesting a sword made from the blood of humans instead.
Real Life
- Allegedly, in the 19th century, one chemist, or student of chemistry, attempted to make a ring out of his own blood's iron as a gift to his beloved. He died of anemia before it could be completed.
