The quote is from several sources, however John Lydgate's Troy Book c. 1492, is the first appearance of "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb" in English.
Basically the actual quote is stating that an action, decision or promise made by choice is thicker than that of one forced by biology. Family is forced, friends and comrades are chosen.
The claim of the reversed original quote only emerged in the 1990s and has little evidence behind it
, while many sources can be found using the usual meaning of "Blood is thicker then water" (Wikipedia's quote of the Troy Book on its page on the proverb is very different from the claim in BlackSunNocturne's post, incidentally), so it's probably false and "Blood is thicker then water" really does mean what the trope page uses it to mean.
I just removed Thor and Loki in The Avengers as an example because they're *not* blood relatives and therefore avoid this trope. I suppose you could make an argument for them if you say that this trope covers *all* relatives, adopted and otherwise, but I think the whole point of it is the privileging of *blood* relatives over everyone else.
For the record:
- The Avengers: Thor's attitude toward his Ax-Crazy brother Loki is a mixture of anger, disappointment, and protectiveness. He discourages the other heroes from taking custody of Loki so he can settle his score with himself, yet every time keeps trying to get Loki to turn back toward good again, even after Loki drops him 30,000 feet in a steel cage. Thor's attitude is even more impressive considering Loki is a Frost Giant runt that Odin raised as his own and they're not even related, or even the same species. Thor doesn't give a damn and says as much to Loki, but for Loki himself it's a major sticking point.
Thor: Have care how you speak! Loki may be beyond reason... but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother.
- Of course, he does a little bit of a verbal backpedal a moment later.
Natasha: He killed 80 people in two days.
Thor: ...He's adopted.
- Of course, he does a little bit of a verbal backpedal a moment later.
Does nobody think that the title of this trope is incredibly confusing until you see the context? I vote for a better name.
Don't really HAVE a better name, but anything would be.
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I don't think so. "Blood is thicker than water" is a moderately well known proverb.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
I hate to be "That Guy", but I am: The stock phrase "Blood is thicker then water" is not the full phrase and means the complete opposite of the real phrase. The full phrase is "Blood of the covenant is thicker then water of the womb", implying that loyalties to friends are more important than blood ties. However, since this wiki is about how the phrase is used in popular culture, I'm not editing the main page, I'm tucking this here for anyone curious.
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