Blood-Splattered Warrior

"Hoooo! Looks like I might have to change my name to mr. Red! Ba ha ha ha ha ha!"

—Mr. Blank, Sam and Fuzzy

A Blood-Splattered Warrior is exactly that, a combatant drenched in blood. This is often used to show how insanely awesome the character is due to the implication that they either took multiple wounds yet stood their ground, or were drenched in their opponents' blood. Or both.

See its Sister Tropes, Blood-Splattered Innocents and Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress for innocents and brides, respectively. Expect Blood Knights, Sociopathic Heroes, and other combat lovers to be a Blood-Splattered Warrior. Related to Blood Is the New Black.

Examples of Blood-Splattered Warrior include:

Anime and Manga

• Occasionally shows up in Higurashi.
• Baccano!: Invoked. While engaged in killing, both Ladd Russo and Claire Stanfield love to cover themselves with the blood of their victims.
• Hellsing: Seras's entire outfit is stained red with blood after she awakens her true vampiric power.
  • During the war, Integra's white Badass Longcoat becomes splattered with blood.
• Various characters in Blood Plus
• This is usually the aftermath of one of Guts' battles in Berserk.

Literature

• Mentioned in Night Watch and Thud: After Sam Vimes goes through a bunch of enemies, he ends up covered in blood. In Night Watch (involving Time Travel), he tells Coates he's from another time (the future). Coates takes a look at the blood-covered guy in armor Dual-Wielding swords and asks "From how far back?" In Thud, the guards run at the sight of him.
• The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny: In The Guns of Avalon, after the climactic battle Corwin is soaked in blood. One of his colleagues tells him he's wounded. He tells them no, he's just tired; the blood is that of his brother. He didn't kill him, though, he got there just as the man was dying.
• Sharpe: Harper poses as a wounded French soldier to get the Chosen Men into a fort (the blood comes from pulling the rotten tooth that's been bothering him all episode). The unfortunate Frenchman who happens to be passing right when the signal is given and gets subjected to a huge man covered in blood leaping up, grabbing him and growling in his face looks like he needs new pants.

Video Games

• The intro for Dawn of War has this (though it's to be expected when the guy is wielding a chainsword).
  • This trope occurs in Warhammer 40000 Space Marine.
• A staple in the Dragon Age series: every prolonged fight leaves the melee warriors splattered in gratuitous blood, particularly visible in cutscenes that ensue.
  • Dragon Age Origins: During the city elf origin, there comes a point where a noble tells one of his men off for not noticing that you are drenched in the blood of his guards.
• Stryker's win pose in Mortal Kombat 9 (should the player not perform a Fatality) has him toss a grenade to his off-screen opponent, blowing up their body and covering his face with their blood.
  • By the time a typical fight ends in Mortal Kombat 9, you will typically be covered in blood—either your own, or your opponent's.
• Certain win conditions in Samurai Shodown 4 and 5 will leave the player character drenched and dripping with the opponent's blood.
• Dwarf Fortress: It is not uncommon, especially in adventure mode, to quickly become covered in blood. This is fortunate, since you may run out of water.
• The Dofus Sacrier class have their arms coated in blood. They then use the blood to attack their foes.
• Mount & Blade has this for both people who have sustained injuries or dealt them. After a battle, especially one where the player has a large bladed weapon as their primary equipment, there's a fine crimson layer on most player and horse models by that point.
• Due to the way Team Fortress 2 handles blood decals, they only appear on a player when they are shot by any projectile that isn't an explosive or fire-based, as well as melee attacks. It also has zero indication on actual healthiness because a medic could be healing that heavy, meaning he could look like he's covered in his own blood, yet has well over his normal allotment of 300 HP.
• God of War 3 even goes as far as to have an achievement/trophy for having had a given number of gallons of blood coating Kratos.
• Grunt in Mass Effect 3 after surviving a wave of rachni husks, provided you secured his loyalty in the previous game.

Western Animation

• Samurai Jack: but with oil instead of actual blood, because it's a kid's show.

Real Life

• Legend has it that the Austrian flag's creation is related to this. Duke Leopold V of Austria, after being soaked in blood from a battle, took off his belt, under which his clothes were still white. Appearently he liked that sight well enough to make it the Austrian flag.
• A subversion is the Genoan admiral at Lepanto. Unlike the Spaniards who were often religious fanatics, and the Venetians who had a chip on their shoulder from a recent atrocity in Cyprus the Genoans were happy enough to stay off to the side and snake as many prizes as they could out of the rumble rather like cowboys separating cattle from a herd. The Genoan admeral nonetheless ended up covered with gore, not so much because he was in the thick of the fighting but because a cannon shot had plastered the man next to him.