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Battle doesn't need a purpose; the battle is its own purpose. You don't ask why a plague spreads or a field burns. Don't ask why I fight. — Black Knight , Magic The Gathering
"By God I love it, I love it more than my life."
—George S. Patton
Fighting is everything to the Blood Knight. He lives for it. He might deliberately disadvantage himself in order to make fights last longer, and loves to reveal that he is not left-handed. It's not so much winning or losing, morality, the motives of his allies, or even the glory, that drives this guy so much as the opportunity for a good fight.
He can be heroic or villainous. If heroic, he will frequently be The Big Guy in an ensemble, the character most likely to solve his problems by force of arms, and he might make the less violent members of the crew a little nervous, especially if he goes off on a hair trigger. If villainous, he has a good chance of being a Worthy Opponent, since he doesn't want to defeat the heroes, necessarily, just fight them. He might effect a Heel Face Turn if he can find someone tough enough to beat him, or simply drop everything to pursue and obsess over his foe. Personality-wise, he can be on the "burn, fight, kill!" level, or, if he's a little more sophisticated, he might have aspects of the Warrior Poet or the Warrior Therapist. He might be a normal, jocular guy when he's not brawling, or he might take the fight so seriously that he blocks out everything else. In some cases, the Blood Knight fights because he's looking for a way to die with meaning.
A common version found in Eastern fiction is the Wandering Martial Artist, who travels around the world/country looking for strong opponents to test his skills against. Luckily, this might be coupled with love of only specific fights such as duels, meaning he is not otherwise a particularly violent man.
If there's a whole society of guys like him, you've got a Proud Warrior Race. If the character likes the 'killing' part more than the 'fighting' part, they're a Psycho For Hire. The Egomaniac Hunter also thrives on aimless violent thrill and loves a worthy quarry instead of opponent. If a character is in it for the challenge rather than just the fight, then we've got a Spirited Competitor. The Blood Knight's love of combat may be platonic, or it may have sexual undertones.
Named for the Magic The Gathering card Blood Knight. (No, this trope has nothing to do with the Blood Elf Paladins from World Of Warcraft—although some of those Blood Knights do arguably fit the profile.) Red cards often take this philosophy in Magic. The page quote is from an "ancestor" card to the Blood Knight, because the Blood Knight card itself isn't really a quote and the Black Knight quote is better.
Sub Trope of In Harms Way. Sister Trope to Combat Sadomasochist, The Real Man and Boisterous Bruiser. Compare Cavalier Competitor. May be from a Martyrdom Culture.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Kenpachi Zaraki from Bleach exemplifies this trope. He explicitly tells Ichigo during their battle that fighting is the only reason he has for living, deliberately allows himself to be injured and wears an eyepatch that drains his own power (removing it only if his opponent proves himself strong enough to be worthy) in order to keep battles going, and joins up with the good guys' faction later in the Soul Society arc basically just so he'll have a chance to fight Ichigo again. All the members of his unit also have this trait to a greater or lesser degree, with a smattering of personal loyalty to Zaraki to round out their personalities.
- His role in the movies consists of pretty much this: Appearing, cackling like he's just won the lottery, and proceeding to run around hacking things to pieces. Seriously, in movie two he charges at the Big Bad of the film after he goes A God Am I/One Winged Angel on the Soul Society, only to be taken out in one shot by him and get a tower created out of nothing by said villain built atop of him. And then he goes crazy, lifts the tower up up, and cuts it vertically in half after his eyepatch falls off. Face it, the guy's insane, and in a good way.
- Rinse and repeat in the third movie. Just replace getting crushed by a tower with getting encased in solid spirit particles.
- Later on, Grimmjow and, to a lesser extent, Nnoitra qualify as well.
- Nnoitra confides in Nell that he only felt alive in the midst of battle. He also takes this to another extreme, seeing being refused a fight for whatever reason to be an unforgivable insult. At least he extends this hatred for being pitied to others, attacking them no matter what state they may have been in or how many other fights they'd just had.
- It's worth noting that Kenpachi and Nnoitra end up fighting each other, perhaps inevitably, and Nnoitra gets owned. Hard. Thus proving who is the bloodiest knight of the two.
- From the same series, the entire 11th Division under Kenpachi's command.
- Kurodo Akabane from GetBackers, who takes only Transporter assignments that can provide him with amusement and entertainment through the conflict that inevitably ensues.
- Most of the characters in Samurai Deeper Kyo, but notably the titular character.
- The Fuhrer, from the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, only appears to want to fight a strong opponent for the sake of fighting without a purpose, rather than genuinely believing in the cause given to him.
- Yu Yu Hakusho's Yusuke Urameshi. Not to mention Jin and Chu, who are equally fight-happy (unless it's a cute girl for Chu, at least) Of course, Jin, Chu, and Yusuke quickly become best buddies.
- Yomi used to be like this; raiding fortresses and ransacking villages for the sheer hell of it. The only problem was that his actions pissed off his Magnificent Bastard partner, Yoko Kurama. Eventually, Yomi pissed Kurama off enough that Kurama decided to cure Yomi of his Blood Knight tendencies in the worst possible way. It works, and Yomi becomes a cold, ruthless and absolutely great Magnificent Bastard who rules a third of the Demon World.
- Akagi doesn't just live for fighting, he would gladly die for a good fight, and believes that death is the essence of fighting. Only replace "fighting" with "mahjong".
- Kotaro from Negima is a self-admitted example...mostly because, as he admits, fighting is really the only thing he knows. Once he does a Heel Face Turn this is turned more into a love of testing his strength, while fighting for his friends.
- In this respect, as in many others, Kotaro is a Generation Xerox of Negi's father's rival, Jack Rakan. When Rakan dies, his last words are to tell his killer that it was fun, and he should really learn to enjoy this sort of thing more.
- The series also has a much darker version of this in his former partner Tsukuyomi who gets her fix from killing innocent or taking on the strongest women she can find. As of now, she's pretty much the only antagonist in the series with no redeeming virtues or Freudian Excuse.
- Akamatsu once made a point through Anti Villain Wilhelm about the advantage of being blood-thirsty and fight-happy because there simply isn't any logical reason to do so otherwise; if one can't fight all-out, then there's no reason to fight at all.
- It can be argued that nearly every single character in Vinland Saga is a Blood Knight to one degree or another. After all, they are Vikings.
- Thorkell the Tall takes the cake though, as his entire reason for choosing a side was who would provide the better fight. And when he sees an even better fight, he changes sides immediately.
- Gantz's Kaze is a perfect example for the Eastern 'wandering warrior.' Also Izumi doesn't fight to revive someone or be freed, he only feels alive when fighting/hunting.
- Mari from the second Rebuild Of Evangelion movie.
- A good case can be made for Asuka in the series, too.
- Mugen in Samurai Champloo frequently ditches his companions to go out and challenge the various tough guys he hears about on the journey. A handful of the antagonists also have this trait, particularly Shouryuu, the renegade, psychotic samurai whose goal is to get everyone to realize what a great fighter he is by hunting down, challenging, and killing all the best fighters in the region.
- Mugen's companion Jin could be seen as a tamer version of the trope. While he doesn't actively seek out enemies with such regularity, when they meet in the first episode he's happy to go along with Mugen's "let's fight to the death because we can" idea, and shows every intention of finishing that fight once their current mission is completed.
- However, this does seem to be quite in character (at least, in film and anime) for all rogue samurai and medieval sellswords.
- Similar to Mugen is Revy from Black Lagoon, as they both have almost the exact same personality (though Mugen may be slightly more nihilistic). Revy is a Heroic Sociopath who gleefully indulges in the carnage that she finds herself in, often sporting a Slasher Smile and becomes obsessed with an enemy if they are shown to be particularly deadly or skilled.
- And Balalaika as well, who combines her bloodthirstiness with a bit of poise. Even the aforementioned Revy considers her to be a hyper-violent maniac.
- Not to mention Hansel and Gretel, who make the previous two look well adjusted and really emphasize the whole 'Blood' part of the trope.
- Cyberdramon of Digimon Tamers. Just to drive the point home, his catchphrase is "Are you my enemy?" and his Image Song is "Dead or Dead". For a guy with multiple personalities, he seems to have his priorities sorted out.
- Depending on how you view his character, Hellsing’s Alucard is either a bloodthirsty killing machine who relishes his existence as an unliving weapon, or a bored immortal who fights everything he can in hopes of finding someone who can kill him once and for all. Or both. In any case, he’s always looking for a new challenge and becomes obviously upset when an opponent doesn’t live up to his expectations.
- The Major, from the manga version is an completely unambiguous example of this. He even makes a kind of speech about it.
- With the "Hellsing: Ultimate" anime, it's in animation now, too. And his rant about how much he loves war is at least 5 minutes long, and ends with him and his subordinates shouting "War" in German.
- The Fire Civilization from Duel Masters is, essentially, an copy of Red from Magic The Gathering, so it's no surprise that this is basically the attitude you get from its cards.
- The "Nanaya" side of Shiki Tohno shows this. His assassination skills are meant for non-humans only, but he really loves his job. Whenever he physically manifests, he is always depicted as a Badass murderous sociopath, although technically that's the manifestation of Shiki's fear of his "Nanaya" side rather than the personality itself, so its exaggerated.
- Kiri Nanaya, Shiki's father, showed this trope once. In his first meeting with a young Kouma Kishima, he blinded one eye, but did not kill him because he knew someday he would give Kiri the fight of his life. The last fight of his life, as it turned out.
- Roronoa Zoro of One Piece is a good example to this, too. Basically, during his normal day, he does nothing but drink, sleep, and get lost when he's going around anywhere. Then someone wielding a sword pops out and... magic! Zoro becomes super energetic, draws his three (3!!) swords and starts to happily swing them. Which usually results into his enemy being sliced up pretty well. He often says he loves the fights; he can be really cruel; and, after all, his dream is to become the world's best swordman (but, okay, that's to fulfill a promise to his long dead childhood friend).
- And there's Dracule Mihawk.
- Even Dragon Ball Z's Goku fell into this trope occasionally, such as when he asked Krillin not to kill the genocidal Vegeta as he tried to escape Earth because he wanted to fight Vegeta again. For reference, Vegeta had in the previous few hours killed three of Goku's friends, destroyed the Dragonballs, beat Goku's son Gohan into unconsciousness, attempted to destroy Earth, and crushed nearly all of Goku's bones south of his neck. In the end, he went as far as training the reincarnation of the most destructive being in the Universe just so he could fight him again.
- I suppose that it's pointless to point out that he technically didn't kill anyone in that battle; all the deaths were from Nappa.
- The English dub added a Woolseyism here, with Goku asking Krillin to let Vegeta go because there was a chance he'd become their friend the same way Piccolo did. It worked.
- Vegeta himself got even worse at one point, declining to fight (and possibly exterminate) the major villain of the arc merely because it wouldn't be a challenge to him. When said villain went and got a power boost, Vegeta was glad to fight —and promptly got his butt handed to him.
- The latter of the first two examples isn't really a big deal, because said reincarnation had none of the original's evil. And Goku wasn't just training Uub so he could fight him. Goku wanted the kid to be his successor, since his own son Gohan, while being more than powerful enough, just didn't like fighting.
- It should be noted however, that Goku has exhibited this trait none-the-less, in Dragonball by letting Piccolo Junior live for the sake of fighting him again, and once more in the Early Portion of Dragonball Z by letting Vegeta live for the sake of fighting him again. While he did revive Kid Buu as an incarnation of goodness, it does technically count into this category as keeping a previous villain alive for the sake of fighting him, as Goku admits that more than becoming his successor, he wanted to fight Uub above all else.
- Goku did have a pretty good reason for not killing piccolo, namely that it would also kill their reset button
- In the Piccolo Junior saga, he also refused to let anyone help him just for the sake of the fight, even though him losing would mean evil world domination.
- That was part of it, but it was also mentioned by Kami-sama, who was much stronger than the non-Goku/Piccolo fighters present, that Piccolo Jr., even at the dregs of his power and heavily injured, was too fast for anyone but Goku to keep up with, which would mean that joining in the fight would basically be asking him to kill them — while possibly distracting Goku at a crucial moment when he tries to protect them.
- All pure-blooded Saiyans are like this except maybe Vegeta's younger brother. When King Kai told Goku the somewhat modified history of the Saiyans, he even pointed out that all of them loved to fight more than anything else.
- A few Gundam characters could be mentioned, as famous Char Aznable and Wing's Zechs Merquise are dedicated warriors, finding there only true purpose in battle. Even better examples are G's Domon and Master Asia, though they don't seek to kill their opponents, their main prupose to live is to fight and therefore show their feelings.
- Gym Ghinginham from Turn A Gundam IS this trope. In Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden, he even blatantly admits it
- The brutal Ali Al-Saachez of Gundam 00 is one of the absolute examples of this trope. He has no qualms against admitting that all he lives for is war, and fears the day that men like him will no longer be necessary. During his final battle with Lockon Stratos, he is asked why he carried out a series of bombings in Ireland some years ago. His response? "Because I'm a mercenary, it's what I do!''
- Guts from Berserk sometimes has a reason to fight, but most times he does it just because he enjoys it, good guys or bad guys be damned. To make it even more obvious, he gets a Slasher Smile every time he is about to go into combat. The same series has Nosferatu Zodd, who loved combat so much he became a demon in order to continue raising the stakes.
- Hakufu from Ikkitousen is another example; in a series full of You Cant Fight Fate and Serious Business replays of Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, she's an Idiot Heroine who only wants to beat her opponents bloody in a nice, friendly way.
- Lancer in Fate Stay Night embodies this trope. He has no interest in the Holy Grail, only in beating the crap out of the other heroes in a good fight. Unfortunately, his Master does not share his Blood Knight tendencies, so there are only few moments he can fight on his fullest and enjoy the hell outta the fight.
- And in the same series, Assassin. Only interested in sparring with other Servants. His drawback is that he is stuck on only one place and can't move freely. So he had to wait for the other Servants to come at him.
- Non-military example: Gaoh from Eyeshield 21 is Large And In Charge (literally the biggest person on the entire cast) and so tough he has to wear a titanium mouthpiece because he'll chew through anything weaker. Doesn't feel any need to hold back his incredible strength because he expects his opponents to give it their all as well. Despite that, and the fact that he's caused several career-ending injuries, he's actually a pretty decent guy.
- Gaoh's also shown a good deal of respect for individuals simply because they were willing to face him head on, even if they had no strength to provide him a challenge. Sena managed to do this when he moved towards Gaoh (and risking horrible injury) rather than another player who while they wouldn't have hurt Sena would have very likely taken the ball due to that players skills.
- In fact, when Banba prevents him from crushing the quarter back for the first time in his career, he pays silent tribute to him. When an idiot in the crowd jeers at Banba for 'being weak', Gaou demands he turn himself in for punishment. IF he didn't, he'd just destroy the entire audience so as not to miss him! Luckily Riku defused the situation.
- Gaou also won't break the rules, a fact the Kid used to try and beat him, by using his Quick Draw to throw the ball just before Gaou got to him, since if he wasn't holding the ball, Gou wouldn't attack him. He did this despite knowing if he messed up once, he was finished, a point emphasized by the fact that when Gaou's pinky brushed him, leaving a large and nasty looking bruise. Sadly he did become 0.1 seconds late as Gou's speed improved due to 'battle lust', resulting in him being crushed.
- Kirihara Akaya from The Prince Of Tennis takes this as far as the refs are willing to go. In the anime, he gets a bit nicer and less violent, but in the manga he stays just as psychotic... if even more so. It doesn't help that his team condones that, to some degree.
- Tachibana Kippei started out like this, but cleaned up after injuring and almost blinding his best friend.
- Also, the Higa players seem to enjoy injuring their rivals if they can. To be fair, it's done per instructions of their Sadist Teacher of a coach, but still...
- Unsure if Double Arts is an anime, but it is a manga. It has Sui, a female pureblood humanoid who follows the protagonist Kiri to fight the strong people who are after him. She has a slasher smile and an iron hula hoop to help as well. Oh yes, and she seems to run on canned cherries.
- Sechs from Battle Angel Alita: Last Order fits this trope. Her/his only reason for joining Alitas Team in the big ZOTT Tournament is to not miss any action which might make Alita stronger, to become stronger him/herself and to have to another fight to death with Alita after the tournament (Alita spared her/his life in their first battle). Sechs shows no interest in any political or personal events behind the ZOTT, unlike Alita who for example gets an Heroic BSOD after refusing to fight a team which stands in for children rights (which are unwanted in the dark future of that manga).
- Cain the Psychic Assassin from Cyborg 009. His Face Heel Turn and the murder of his ex-friend Nicholas (his "Abel") are prompted by both his loss of faith in the goodness of people and embracing his increasing blood lust. And saying so in front of Nicholas's grieving girlfriend and fellow psychic Lina was his perdition.
- Rurouni Kenshin has a few examples. The best example would be Sanosuke, who in the beginning of the series is a fighter for hire who determines his rate by how much he enjoyed the fight. After getting his ass handed to him by Kenshin, he decides to quit being a fighter for hire, but he still enjoys fighting. Then there's Shinomori Aoshi, who has a stone-cold desire for battle and to prove that he and his Quirky Miniboss Squad are the strongest around. Saitou has elements of this, as he wishes to conclude his fight with Kenshin from the Bakumatsu.
- "The only place... I feel at home... is in battle!" (Though to be fair, it's not so much that Chirico enjoys war, as he doesn't fit into normal society.)
- MD Geist fits this trope perfectly. He joined a group of freedom fighters who were trying to stop the military from releasing a horde of doomsday machines called the Death Force. After Geist kills all the bad guys, he releases the Death Force anyway so he'll still have something to fight!
- Kara No Kyoukai's Shiki is a fusion of this and Heroic Sociopath. She loves killing people who are worth killing, but dislikes killing those who won't effectively fight back, as well as fighting when its not to the death. At one point she laments something along the lines of: "I thought it would be fun to kill you, but it turns out that I simply dislike the fact that you exist, so I'll make this quick."
- Benares from the manga 3x3 Eyes is exactly this up to the point of leaving his master unprotected in the final battle just to join the bigger fight... Although the anime is to short to give him that much personality.
- Ju Ensuu from Hayate Cross Blade cares not for prestige or ranking, and is so obsessed with fighting her "same kind" Ayana that she throws all restrictions out the window when finally seeing the latter after a long wait. It takes some quick reflexes and two of the strongest people in school to hold her back.
- L from Death Note could be considered an example of this, as he only takes cases that seem like they'll be interesting.
- Let, the dragon dude from RaveMaster. He won't even use Shadow Stones.
- Rai-Dei the Blade fights Vash the Stampede to find "the knowledge known only by those who face death". However, when he does face his death the only thing he finds is terror.
- Most of the characters of Ranma 1/2 hit this trope to some degree or another at various times.
- In Hajime No Ippo, Ryuuhei Sawamura doesn't fight to win, he fights to torture his opponents. Only after his fight with Ippo does he start wanting to win.
- A good case can be made for Ryo Mashiba too. He might be slightly less blood-oriented, but still more than enough to qualify.
- Saint Seiya's had a couple of these, with both Cancer Deathmask and his 18th Century equivalent Manigoldo loving to fight and then kill opponents. However, the REALLY HARDCORE Blood Knight in Lost Canvas was Scorpio Kardia, who doesn't just want to kill his opponents, but wants them to suffer at every point along the way.
- Baki The Grappler has Yujiro Hanma who embodies this trope utterly. He once fought and beat the entire American Military in Vietnam as a teenager JUST for something to do, only to walk away disgusted when America surrendered to him. Unfortunately for him he is so far beyond the other characters in strength he belongs in a higher tier series and the mangaka has had to go GO VERY far to find a pontential worthy opponent in Pickle.
- In fact, the entire series (by now, it has more tnan 600 chapters) is about Baki powering up to beat Yujiro. And Baki was on roughly the same level as, say, the most famous karate master in the world, at the beginning.
- The Heroic Tribe in Heroic Age were a race of Kaiju who apparently had little desire to do anything else but fight each other. They annihilated entire star systems in their civil war, and by the time the Golden Tribe put a stop to their fighting, only five individuals of the species remained.
- Kisame from Naruto is a rare mix of this and Affably Evil: he may be polite, but he also has a great love of fighting and mutilating his opponents. When he was told that he needed to captured Naruto alive, he suggested cutting off his legs so he couldn't get away and would be easier to carry. While the databooks mention who characters want to fight, his entry says "anyone".
- Suigetsu of Sasuke's Team Snake/Hawk has shades of this, too, given that he initially intends to kill Sasuke if he gets the chance, complains when Sasuke tells him not to kill the prisoners that get in the way while searching for Jugo, and has the backstory of being a murder prodigy who liked hacking off people's limbs before he killed them. His general motivation for all this is about a hair away from For The Evulz.
- In the past, there was the entire Kaguya clan except Kimimaro. They all ended up dying out because they spontaneously decided to attack the Village Hidden in the Mist down to their last man (minus Kimimaro, who never joined in) without any strategy, just so they could kill people.
- Hisoka from Hunter X Hunter is a rather standout example of this- his sole purpose is to find the strongest opponents he can and either kill them or be killed by them, although he has a rather narrower focus than most- once he has selected his target, he'll patiently stalk them for years, if necessary, in order to get his fight. Even if he finds other strong opponents in that time period, he'll usually pass them over in favour of continuing to stalk his chosen target. Also has the distinction of raising up, and protecting to a certain degree, young fighters he thinks might give him a good fight in the future- he calls them 'unripe fruit', although there are hints of a, uhm, somewhat unhealthier interest in them as well.
- Maki from Air Master is not exactly bloodthirsty and prefers to just knock her opponents out cold, but she clearly fights for the thrill of it. So do most of her major competitors in Fukamichi Rankings.
- Assassin Ken Hidaka starts Weiss Kreuz as a genuinely nice guy, but eventually goes a little crazy and begins to enjoy killing people. At one point, after he's been decomissioned, he begs two of his friends to start assigning him missions again so that he can kill people with a clear conscience.
- Himeji in Himawari! loves fighting and things blowing up, even without an actual goal. She's on the side of the good guys, so she's reined in a little bit, but when investigating an explosion at the nearby boys' ninja school, she wishes she could've been there to see how the school blew up. Not to investigate the cause, just to see the wonderful explosion.
- Veyron of the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise. His introductory chapter in Force has him constantly laughing and generally enjoying himself as he trades blows with Tohma in a Church Shootout.
Comic Books
- Lady Shiva, from The DCU, has been both protagonist and antagonist depending on the storyline. The only constant to her character is that her life revolves around becoming and remaining the best martial artist she possibly can — and proving it over the unconscious or dead bodies of as many other "A-List" DC martial artists she can possibly pound on. Recently had a brief fling in trying to be a Mentor figure for Black Canary.
- For a more jolly and lovable version, see Obelix in the Asterix books. ("I do hope Asterix explains this to me later, I generally like to know why we're fighting," just before KO-ing an entire village of other Gauls in Asterix and the Cauldron.) In fact, most of the village act like this ("Hey, boys a fight!" "Come on, it'll be a change to fight each other!" leading to an all-village brawl in Asterix in Spain, which would eventually become a Running Gag).
- Groo The Wanderer from the eponymous comic exhibits many of the characteristics: he will drop almost anything for a fray, and frequently chastises opponents who attempt to run away before he is finished slaying them.
- In the comic Gold Digger the Murder Fist branch of the Shun Leep style makes its users into Blood Knights by putting its users into a state of nirvana when in combat with a skilled foe, inevitably driving them towards the Psycho For Hire catagory as they cease to care to exercise the control to not kill on purpose while their skill continues to grow and grow from fighting powerful enemies.
- Depending On The Writer, The Punisher is sometimes like this. This quote from Welcome Back, Frank is a good example.
I caught a glimpse of heaven once... ...Then I was cast down. Back to a world of killers. Rapists. Psychos. Perverts. A brand new evil every minute, spewed out as fast as men can think them up. A world where pitching a criminal dwarf off a skyscraper to tell his fellow scum you're back is a sane and rational act. The angels thought it would be hell for me. (said "dwarf" hits the ground with a splat) But they were wrong. Welcome Back, Frank. Says New York City.
- Basically all the Dark Avengers (except Sentry, Moonstone, and maybe Marvel Boy). the rest of them just love to hunt and kill, or beat the everlovingshitoutof real heroes (Spider-man, Deadpool, Spider-woman, She-Hulk, etc)
- Wolverine is like this at least to some extent. The animalistic side of his psyche clearly does get pleasure from violence.
- In Usagi Yojimbo, Nakamura Koji is a swordfighter who goes around looking for worthy opponents to duel with. There are other such characters in the series too.
- The Midnighter from the Wildstorm series The Authority as he's about to destroy an entire city by ramming it with a 30 mile wide space ship aimed directly at the Villain of the Week:
"I love being me."
Film
- Stephen the Irish, in Braveheart, who seems more interested in killing Englishmen than winning wars or freedom.
- Patton:
General Omar N. Bradley: There's one big difference between you and me, George. I do this job because I've been trained to do it. You do it because you LOVE it.
Patton: I love it. God help me I do love it so. I love it more than my life.
- Colonel Hessler, the panzer commander in the 1965 film The Battle of the Bulge. For him life is to be spend in the turret of a tank, fighting until death takes you.
- Lt. Col. William Kilgore from Apocalypse Now defines this trope. Hell, his speech about his love of napalm
is was even quoted on this page.
- Emil Blonsky from the 2008 The Incredible Hulk: held off being promoted out of the battlefield, despite his aging body (looking forty-five when he's thirty-nine) for the sheer joy of being a "fighter", and when the opportunity to fight a foe as formidable as the Hulk arose, was willing to have himself transformed into a Super Soldier and even an outright abomination (no pun intended) to be able to have a "real fight".
- Brad Whitaker, chief villain of The Living Daylights is somewhat of a slight subversion: He's obsessed with warfare and weaponry, his house practically a museum full of the stuff, is the leader of a mercenary company, and calls himself a "soldier". However, he flunked out of West Point for cheating, and in general is really only bumming around in Tangier.
- The Horseman (pre-beheading) in Sleepy Hollow came to fight as a mercenary in America "for love of carnage".
Literature
- Lord Borel in the Chronicles of Amber, has as his main goal in life to outfight either Eric, Corwin, or Benedict, some of the other best swordsmen in that universe. Corwin shows him that it's not all about bladework.
- The "Warriors at the End of Time" in some of Michael Moorcock's fantasy novels (particularly The Dragon In The Sword) are said to be powerful soldiers who loved fighting for its own sake, and were then damned to fight on behalf of the Cosmic Balance for all eternity.
- A good example can be found in Homer's The Iliad, making this Older Than Dirt. While the rest of the gods are wagering on who would win the Trojan War (for example, Apollo and Aphrodite support Troy, while Hera and Athena fervently back Greece), Ares doesn't care who was doing the fighting, as long as there is fighting to be had; after all, he is the god of war.
- Keeping in step with the trope's title, Radha of Keld in Magic: the Gathering's Time Spiral card set and novels was intent on little other than fighting, at first spurning the world-saving efforts of Teferi and his companions...at least until he gave her the ability to kick even more ass than she could previously. She softens a bit as she grows to accept the necessity of helping Teferi, but she's always a hard-bitten warrior first and foremost. To wit:
- In several of the later Animorphs books she narrated, Rachel expressed fear that she might be slowly becoming like this.
- Too bad she pretty much WAS this soon after acquiring her grizzly bear form. Seriously. She and Zaraki up top would make a lovely couple.
- The Silastic Armourfiends of Striterax in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy took this to extremes since if one was locked in a room by himself he would eventually beat himself up just for something to do.
- David Eddings' Elenium and Tamuli trilogies had the Atan, a race who bred themselves as fighters— but did so a little too well, giving them hair-trigger violent reflexes, so that their society was plunged into endless war until they voluntarily pledged their entire race to slavery to the peaceful Tamuli, who as a result gained an unconquerable empire by default. Every Atan believes that they have to have a master to hold them back, or they go on killing sprees.
- The Nac Mac Feegle in the Discworld novels are clans of "pictsies" who live primarily for drinking, fighting, and stealing, preferably at the same time. Each clan also has a Gonagle or Warrior Poet, though in this case the poetry itself is a weapon of war.
- Taken to extreme when it's explained that a Feegle left all by himself may very well kick himself in the nose just to keep himself occupied.
- There's also the D'regs, a nomadic tribe from the desert regions of Klatch characterized by their love of fighting. It's said the D'reg word for "stranger" is the same as their word for "target".
- Their is one scene in Jingo where someone has a hard time translating the concept of "fighting for freedom", since in the D'reg language they are the same word.
- It's also mentioned that when the nations of Klatch and Hersheba drew an arbitrary border across the D'Regs home desert, they leapt on this new division of nationality as a wonderful excuse to start fighting each other, too.
- Several characters in A Song Of Ice And Fire see combat as an end to itself. Jaime Lannister hardly feels alive unless he's fighting. Strong Belwas, a former pit fighter, delights in showing off his prowess to the point that he always allows his opponents to get one slash in before he kills them.
- Mace Windu struggles with this in the Star Wars EU novel Shatterpoint. You don't get to be second-in-command of the Jedi Order by going to town on everyone with a lightsaber, and Windu loves the stability the Republic provides, but he likes fighting anyway. He develops the dangerous lightsaber style known as Vaapad as a way to channel this aggression for good purposes.
- Ninety-nine percent of the Drow race from R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt novels are Blood Knights. They are born, raised, and die (usually before anything close to the natural end of their 700+ year lifespan) in a perpetual power struggle featuring hundreds of noble houses. And ninety nine percent of them (with the exception of Drizzt, his father, and a couple others from other scenarios) live for it and enjoy every second of their blood-soaked lives. Even Drizzt is a blood knight to a certain, less evil extent: in one of the long introspective commentaries placed at the opening of each act, Drizzt comes to realize that he is a "creature of action": he can only be truly content if he has his swords strapped to his waist and is going somewhere, though this is more of a thirst for adventure than a true hunger for battle. He has, however, been known for bouts of berserker rage when the right buttons are pushed, similar to the way Kenshin of Rurouni Kenshin will become his vicious alter-ego the Battousai if pushed to the limit. Also similar to Kenshin, Drizzt's rage does not hinder his incredible focus in the slightest, and makes him hundreds of times more dangerous to even disciplined foes.
- Which is interesting, because the drow are generally portrayed elsewhere as attempting to achieve their goals through backstabbing and poison. If a drow is fighting their enemy in most of the fluff, it's because multiple attempts at arranging their deaths have failed.
- All the Brothers in J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series fit this trope. They're elite vampire warriors bred to protect the vampire race from vampire hunters and they love their job. All of them, but especially Zsadist, live for fighting and killing - until they meet a good woman because Love Redeems.
- In Alan Dean Foster's The Damned novels, all of humanity were Blood Knights. It turns out that the humans only fought each other because they lacked an external enemy to fight. When such an enemy presented itself...
- Kage in Gav Thorpe's Warhammer 40000 The Last Chancers. At the end of 13th Legion, he receives a pardon, resolves to stay in the forces outside the penal legion, and shortly thereafter loses it by brawling. In Kill Team, he is told that he used up his last chance and will never be pardoned again, and he can cope, realizing that he would have ended up fighting again.
- Ralan Bek from Raymond Feist's Dark War trilogy. Of course, since it turns out he is really the Dasati God of War.
- In Dragaera, this is the hat of the Dzur house, along with being Proud Warrior Race Guys. In the novel Dzur, the psychology of the House is discussed to the effect that while they love fighting in general, they will do what is right when no one else is (but not until then). Dzur characters vary from Boisterous Bruiser Tazendra to Telnan, who is The Ditz, but still embraces the philosophy, to Sethra Lavode, a Four Star Badass Lady Of War older than some geography and as powerful as a lot of gods.
- Richard the Lionhearted in Ivanhoe. Friar Tuck too.
Live Action TV
Mythology
Professional Wrestling
- WWE wrestler Finlay has attained tweener status, being between face and heel, for the sole reason that he'll simply beat up anybody he comes across for kicks, not particularly caring whether they're "good guys" or "bad guys". His Catch Phrase just about sums it all up: "My name is Finlay, and I love to fight!"
- CHIKARA's Eddie Kingston turned into this after his Face Heel Turn in 2007, declaring his desire for a "warrior's death" and pledging to take all of his hatred and misery stemming from an industry that he felt didn't respect him out on anyone who got in his way.
Tabletop Games
- Both the Warhammer and the Warhammer 40000 universe features several species and factions who exhibit this trope to varying degrees, prime among whom are the Orcs/Orks, who were literally bred for war and will gleefully fight anything, themselves included, if there's a good fight to be had from it. Worshippers of Khorne qualify partially - but their main interest is spilling blood and spreading death and mayhem in Khorne's name, not in the quality of the battle. After all, "Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows, as long as it flows" — they've been known to kill themselves if they run out of other victims to kill.
- The appropriately named Skulltaker, the highest ranking of Khorne's lesser daemons is this trope personified. His sole reason of existance is to look for the greatest warriors and fight them in hand-to-hand combat. If he wins (and he usually does) he'll rip the foe's head off and attach the skull into his cloak.
- On the subject of Khorne, Kharn The Betrayer is driven solely by his hunger for violence. Whilst most of his behaviour is a Psycho Not For Hire he will ignore other prey if he spots an opponent that could live long enough to fight back.
- Despite all that, he's really a pretty fun guy to be around.
- Somewhat subverted with the Blood Pact who figure out the "Khorne doesn't care how you kill as long as you kill" part, as a result they use snipers, stealth tactics, ambushes, cover and don't charge people with a knives when they have a gun.
- Vampires of the appropriately-named Blood Dragon bloodline in Warhammer also exhibit this tendency, as does every Dwarf Troll Slayer, although the latter's case is not a question of thrills: Seeking out the biggest and meanest foe you can think of and fighting it is essentially the Dwarfs' form of honorable suicide.
- There is a group of them actually called the Blood Knights.
- Just emphasising the Orc point, the warlord Grimgor Ironhide (arguably the hardest Orc ever) had a fantastic example of this in the Storm of Chaos campaign. After losing in battle to Big Bad Archaon's second in command (the wonderfully named Crom the Conqueror), Grimgor killed every goblin in his army (because they "slowed him down") and then went hunting for Archaon himself. After finding him in the midst of the siege of Middenheim, Grimgor challenged Archaon, fought him, defeated him, headbutted him for good measure, announced "Orcs are da best", then promptly left the battlefield. He'd proved his point, ko'ing the biggest bad around in doing so, and now he was bored again.
- This is actually considered a bit of a Wall Banger by Warhammer fans, seeing as how Grimgor is usually so bloodthirsty, his model is sculpted holding a severed head. By all rights, Orc players should have been able to convert it to holding Archaon's.
- A similar 40K example is Ghazhkull Thrakka (arguably the hardest Ork ever) who, after finally beating his nemesis Commissar Yarrick, let him go because, according to him, "Good enemies iz hard ta find, and an Ork needs enemies like he needs food ta eat and grog ta drink." Specifically, he was planning a second invasion of Armageddon, the planet they first clashed on, wanted to make sure the Imperium would be able to put up a good fight, and knew Yarrick would give him one.
- Hell he pretty much told the Imperium wend he was going to invade just so they can get ready.
- And while we're on Orks, let's not forget Warboss Tuska. He led his Waaaaagh! into the Eye of Terror, destroying everything in his path, until he finally met his match on the planet of the Blood Prince. Beaten by said Prince, who "destroyed their minds with a gesture. With his final act, Tuska reached up between the creature's legs with his power klaw and made a gesture of his own. The best part? Tuska&Boyz are ressurected every day to fight again. Quoth Tuska: "Told yer I knew where da best fightin' woz."
- Eldar Aspect Warriors. Actually... Eldar themselves, pretty much. It's the only reason they're still hanging around in the galaxy.
- While the Imperium's soldiers are generally better described as Church Militant, the fact the many in-universe statements and preaches seem to consider warring against their enemies to be a way of worshipping the God Emperor, it can get kind of confused at times.
- Several examples can be found in Dungeons And Dragons
- The Elves of the Valaes Tairn in the Eberron setting.
- The Battleragers in the Forgotten Realms setting are dwarves enamoured with battle. While they also protect their home clanholds, the fight is what they desire most, and they run towards it with a fervent glee that give even drow pause.
- Garagos and Tempus in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
- Garagos the Reaver is the divine exemplar of Blood Knightdom. He's a multi-armed bloodsoaked berserker who even makes the other gods nervous.
- Tempus is much more sensible honorable war-god who likes fearless berserkers and isn't shy about bloodletting, say, from horizon to horizon but avoids excessive destruction of resources or lives (which can be used better, that is for the next battle) and generally advertises war as the most heroic pastime possible. He does not considers those who oppose his dogma as real adversaries worthy of conflict, though. Tempus supposedly spared his weaker rival's life because should Garagos die, dominion over Destruction goes to another god, most likely himself (he resents it) or already quite powerful Talos (that would be big trouble). On the other hand, he preferred to invest power into ascension of the goddess of strategy (who now serves her "father") instead of taking this portfolio for himself.
- It is likely that Dragonborn in 4th Edition may be subject to this trope as well given their proclivity for combat and perfectionism.
- Already happened in my game, Kala the Radiant is known for her eternal quest to find an enemy that her allies WON'T interfere in a duel with, and only serves Bahamut because he points her towards big bads.
- If an Orc is given a motivation in D&D, he'll probably be a Blood Knight (as opposed to Hobgoblins, who are Proud Warrior Race Guys).
- The Adamantine Arrows of Mage The Awakening believe that reality expresses itself most profoundly through conflict (Existence is War) and so believe that conflict is the most viable path to enlightenment. They thus seek to become the ultimate warriors by honing their minds, bodies and souls (The Supernal is the Self) and training themselves in as many methods of combat as possible (Adaptability is Strength), then engaging in as much conflict as possible. However, they also believe that conflict is meaningless unless the warrior is fighting for an individual, office, organisation, or cause (Service is Mastery) and adopts some manner of code of honour (Enlightenment is Honour). The Arrow Sourcebook notes that in virtually every war in history, their were Arrows fighting for both sides, and even includes an example of character who fought on both sides of the Vietnam War.
- Werewolf The Forsaken has the Blood Talons, who consider the "hunter" aspect of a werewolf's existence the most important part. Almost all of their rituals involve someone's ass being kicked. Their extra part of the Oath of the Moon forbids them from surrendering in a fight unless they would make the offer to their opponent in similar circumstances.
Video Games
- Karel from Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword is a wandering, half-crazed swordsman whose only goal is to seek out the most powerful fighters on the continent and cut them into tiny little pieces. He joins the protagonists only because he's curious as to whether they'll become stronger (with the implication that he'll kill them if he likes what he sees), killed his parents, threatens to kill both his younger sister Karla and his apprentice Guy if they ever grow strong enough to make for a decent fight, and bribes Dart the pirate for gossip about the toughest fighters in the land, only to discover he's already beaten them all. This characterization actually came about as a result of Karel's appearance in the previous game, Sword of Seals (which follows Blazing Sword chronologically). The designers wanted the young Karel to contrast the saintly Warrior Poet personality he sported in the latter game as much as possible. It's implied that he was mellowed by the death of Karla to illness during the timeskip between the two games — he finally found an opponent he couldn't defeat with strength alone.
- He more or less flat-out states this with his dying words. "Death cannot be bested with a sword... My skills are not yet honed to such a level. I should take my leave of this battle."
- This trope is frequently used by other characters in the series (mostly Fighters and Myrmidons), to a lesser degree. Karel's future brother-in-law Bartre, also from Blazing Sword, plays the trope mostly for comedy. His daughter Fir also uses it, although she's a little more stable than both her father and her uncle. Other examples include Marisa the Crimson Flash from Sacred Stones, Stefan from Path of Radiance, and several boss characters.
- Karla seemed to be a much less extreme version than her brother, and somewhat less than Barte or Fir. While she isn't totally obsessed with killing like Karel is, she HAS dedicated her life to swordsmanship and seems to get some enjoyment out of fighting.
- Notably Ashnard, the Big Bad of Path of Radiance who combines this with a Darwinist. Having no war to fight in, he starts one all by himself, and dies laughing and crying out for more.
- Also Ashnard's girlfriend Almedha, who wanted war just as much as Ashnard did before the birth of their son.
- Another example from Sacred Stones is Valter, who wants to kill Eirika and Ephraim solely for the thrill of fighting them. However, he focuses on Eirika quite a lot.
- In one of the numerous mods for Medieval II Total War, amongst other new factions, you can play as the Principality of Wallachia. Yes, the same Wallachia that the infamous Vlad Tepes came from. And while you can turn any faction into an Evil Army of Blood Knights, Wallachia is almost this by default. Their peasants, the supposed Cannon Fodder, wield axes, have unusually high morale, and may charge without orders. Their discription also notes "they have a taste for fighting". The most awesome peasants in the game.
- An unusually calm version of this trope is Ryu from Street Fighter. He'll only fight those who are willing, and (save for the "Evil Ryu" arc) conducts each fight respectfully and never to the death. Nonetheless, he's not in the tournament for the glory, just the next fight. The flip side of the coin is Akuma, who seems to exist only to fight and grow stronger, and will explore Dangerous Forbidden Techniques, kill his opponents, and generally do anything he can do in order to fight and gain power. The similarities in their motivations serves as a source of dramatic tension between them, as Ryu shows a considerable level of angst over whether he'll eventually end up like Akuma.
- There is at least one adaptation, Ryu Final, where Ryu and Akuma's path are explored down to their final destination and outcome. It is first implied, then explicitly stated, that the path of the True Martial artist is a journey of self-betterment, with each fight (hopefully) making both warriors learn and grow as people, and where the ultimate outcome is to realize the futility of the fight, next to nurturing and protecting the next generations to come. More particularly, Akuma's search for power and willing submission to the Satsui no Hadou is done entirely for the benefit of Ryu, so the latter would have the guidance needed to overcome it.
- Vigoro from Skies Of Arcadia combines this trope with the Handsome Lech — men are for fighting, women are for loving, and the strongest man gets to be with the sexiest woman.
- Canderous from Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic is a perfect example of this trope. (He does eventually decide he needs some kind of cause to fight for, but doesn't seem to care very much what that cause is.) In fact, most of the Mandalorians seem to be that way.
- The premise of Warriors Orochi is that Orochi is a Blood Knight who abducted the characters from the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors series to test his personal might and that of his army against them... some of his opposition including other Blood Knights.
- Dante from Devil May Cry is a bit of a Blood Knight, but at least everything he kills deserves to die, him being a demon hunter. Unlike some Blood Knights, Dante is not obsessed with fighting; he doesn't go out and kill for fun, but fighting is such a part of his life that he makes it fun. In fact, the point of the combat isn't to kill the enemy so much as to kill them stylishly, which he demonstrates constantly in cutscenes.
Dante:"So bring it on! I love this. This is what I live for. And I'm absolutely CRAZY about it!"
- Rugal Berstein, Gato and Shen Woo from The King Of Fighters.
- Kratos from the God Of War series delves into this at varying times in his life. It definitely applies in his backstory in the first game, as well as the interim between the first and second. During the games he seems to have a definite cause he's fighting for, but between them, he's more than happy to just go out and kill whatever the gods point him at.
- Arguably, the average player of God of War fits the trope. At least to this editor's knowledge, everyone who played the games did so in order to enjoy the fighting for its own sake.
- Both Yuber and Luca Blight from the Suikoden series are arguable examples (arguable in that while they both love battling strong opponents, they love torturing and killing everyone else more).
- Zegai in Suikoden V is a more straight example of this.
- Kelgar Ironfist from Neverwinter Nights 2 loves nothing more than beating the crap out of things, and seeks to join the Monks of the Even-Handed so he can beat even more crap out of things. Try to explain to him that Monks Don't Work That Way and he'll completely miss the point.
- Interestingly, if/when he actually earns membership in the monk order, he becomes far less of a Blood Knight. So much so that in the Expansion Pack, Storms Of Zehir, he is actually the stewart of Crossroad Keep, and refuses to join you in fighting bad guys because he knows he has a more important duty.
- Volf is one of the Four Greater Fiends the hero must slay in Ninja Gaiden II. He takes the form of a massive, four-armed werewolf with tribal tattoos and a massive scythe, and commands an army of lycanthropic demons. He is also obsessed with causing violent injury to fleshy things. The scene that introduces him shows him sitting on a throne watching as an army of his demons rips a (strangely out-of-place) gladiator to shreds, and then, with the simple comment, "This bores me," annihilates half of his own subordinates with razor wind out of sheer boredom. Following this, he tells his army to go out and find him a worthy adversary, essentially planning to sacrifice his entire army of werewolves to see if anyone can make it to him. Ryu just happens to fit that particular bill, killing Volf and taking his scythe after ripping through his entire werewolf army. However, Volf's battle lust doesn't stop there. In the final level of the game, Volf attacks Ryu in the Underworld after Ryu enters to prevent the revival of the Archfiend. Naturally, he is subsequently slaughtered, for good this time, but talk about persistence.
- The Channel 4 News Team in the browser-based MMO Urban Dead. They're usually rather polite to other survivors though, focusing on zombies, and are responsible for many of the notable survivor victories in the game, so they may count as Proud Warrior Race Guys instead.
- Many PKer groups have this as their schtick as well.
- Don't forget the zombies. Nearly every social zombie player group can sum up their tactics as "Go find the nearest large group of survivors and start the party," the only divisions being what is considered fair play on the 'finding-survivors' part. Mass zombie movements ("tours") are almost the same as an Ork Waaagh in intent, tactics, and the habit of leaving a lot of new zombies in their wake. And they seem very pleased at their worthy foes when a mall or important building manages to outlast a zombie seige, honoring it by making sure it's a major stop on the next "tour".
- Mitsurugi from Soul Calibur. While he initially seeks Soul Edge in the hopes that the sword will make him powerful enough to defeat a rifle, he ends up strong enough to do so anyway, so he just keeps fighting for the sake of fighting. Even in his Soul Calibur IV ending, when offered the option to absorb the power of the Big Bad, he ignores it, because he says: "I don't need it."
- In his backstory, it's revealed that Mitsurugi used to deliberately offer his services to vastly outnumbered armies so that he could fight as many foes as possible.
- Haohmaru from Samurai Shodown, who, just like Mitsurugi, is just on the scene looking for a good fight. Almost everyone he encounters, especially bosses, will get this kind of response from him: "Hey, you gotta be strong, huh? All right, this is gonna be a good fight!"
- Quake III Arena states that the gods, wanting entertainment, have put you and these others in the arena, and even made you all immortal so that even death would not release you from endless fighting.
- Bass of Mega Man leans this way. He's largely unconcerned with his creator's (Dr. Wily's) goals and fears, and in the arcade games and Mega Man & Bass, he'll stand against Wily if Wily annoys him enough. His primary goal is simply proving he's the strongest robot around.
- Zero of the Mega Man X and Mega Man Zero series is another example. It also makes him a Punch Clock Hero, in part...
- Plenty of Mavericks and hostile Reploids that you fight say they were looking forward to fighting the protagonists. Even when the world is ending all around them. Magma Dragoon from the fourth game is the best example, as he caused the plot of the game, and resulting deaths of millions, just to fight the protagonists.
- Axl from the same series is equal parts this and Tagalong Kid. When asked why he fights, his most common answer is that he enjoys it. The fact that he's fighting for justice is largely a fringe bonus.
- Travis Touchdown of No More Heroes is a very rare protagonist example, which is an odd contrast to his Otaku nature and love of all things Moe. He seems to be devoid of any actual morality, and for most of the game his only drive is "being the best", no matter how many people he kills along the way. Mind you, for most players this is fine by them.
- He seems to have an aversion to killing women. Though perhaps he just hates to see some good lechery-fodder go to waste.
- Sword Dancers in the Tales Series are like this. They only exist to fight (but not kill, unless they're fighting for Emil Castaginer) strong opponents.
- Adell from the Disgaea series qualifies as well. He's more of the cheerful sort that only kills when he has to though (though his chief target certainly deserves it).
- Super Hero Aurum from Disgaea 3 spent 200 hundred years raising an Overlord just so he would have a worthy opponent to fight.
- Priere seems to have turned into this in her more recent appearances.
- Black Whirlwind from Jade Empire probably counts.
- Red Arremer, also known as Red Blaze or Firebrand, in Gargoyle'sQuest and Demon'sCrest.
- The only wish of Meta Knight is to become stronger and fight a worthy opponent.
- A light case of this: As of Undefined Fantastic Object, Sanae appears to be enjoying "youkai extermination" - which is merely beating youkai in danmaku battles, and not truly "exterminating" anything - as she progresses towards the "treasure ship." Some see it as sadism that ruins her "good girl" image, when really, she's just having fun fighting.
- Touhou is flooded with this. It is pretty much the only reason for the bosses of the first two to four stages to even be fighting the heroines. In the fighting games, it's the only reason anyone but the Big Bad fights.
- Cody Travers from Final Fight became this when he appeared in Street Fighter, the backstory explaining that after beating Belger, he just kept fighting until he was jailed, breaking out whenever he gets bored. During his storyline, he plainly tells his old friend Guy that he doesn't consider himself a hero, just a dude who only feels complete when he's kicking ass, though his ending does imply that he still has some heroic spirit in him.
- Big Boss, protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 3 and Portable Ops and antagonist of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2, originally founded Outer Heaven because he only ever felt truly alive when he was in battle, and wanted to create his own independent nation of endless conflict.
- Boomerang from Wild Arms 1 is a good example. Pretty much the only thing he cares about is finding a worthy foe to fight, and is only helping the villains because he believes that'll lead him to the fight he seeks. Not even Hell itself can stop his pursuit of the ultimate battle. The same could argueablly be said for his wolf companion, Lucied.
- Ubel in Battalion Wars, somewhat. He serves Xylvania at least partly for the....entertainment value. Interestingly, he does support both Kaiser Vlad and Ingrid as a dim but loyal little brother figure, whose main ambition is to be "governator", rather than a kaiser himself.
- Aran Ryan from the Wii version of Punch-Out!!. He even hits himself between rounds.
"Fightin's like breathin', Mac!"
"Keep hittin' me. I love it."
- Xenogears's Id is a fine example of this. He fight because being a split personality of Fei, the hero, created as a means to endure serious abuse he is literally incapable of connecting with others in any other way. At one point the heroes drop their Cool Ship the Yggdrasil atop his Humongous Mecha. Moments later, the Yggdrasil cracks in two, rising off the sands...
"That was interesting. But dropping a battleship on me is cheating. Take it back..."
- Captain Falcon's theme song in F-Zero GX seems to be from the point of view of a blood knight that idolizes Captain Falcon.
- Minsc from Baldurs Gate, sort of.
"Swords, not words!"
- Garland, the Tin Tyrant from Final Fantasy I, is given a more philosophical take of this characterisation in Dissidia: Final Fantasy; he believes that all existence is a repetition of "the cycle of battle", and that all attempts to bring peace to the world are futile.
- Pit Lords of the Burning Legion in World Of Warcraft fit this trope. They are hulking demons that exist only to fight and destroy. They revel in combat and don't even particularly mind dying if they get killed in battle and take as many enemies as possible with them. Brutallus, a boss in the Sunwell Plateue has some apropriate quotes:
"Beat or be beaten! Such is the way of the Legion!"
"Another day, another glorious battle!"
(on death) "Now this gets interesting..."
- On a related note, the Legion of Blood Elf Paladins are actually called "Blood Knights".
- All Pokemon. Their main purpose is battling.
- The Darkspawn in the Dragon Age: Origins are an entire race who care about nothing but fighting against anything they can find until there is nothing more to fight, and can turn against each other if no other options are present. Usually this means that they aren't actually organized enough to do anything but relatively small raids, but when united under an Archdemon's will...
- Morrigan and Demitri from Darkstalkers.
Web Comics
Web Original
- Due to Character Derailment, Vesa Turunen of Survival Of The Fittest version two shows signs of this in his death scene, even believing that his death at the hands of Damien Carter-Madison was honourable enough to make up for his past mistakes and allow him to get into Valhalla. Version three character Adam Reeves, while mostly a Darwinist Jerk Jock, also has a few Blood Knight tendencies, as while he enjoys tormenting his weaker classmates and pushing them around he enjoys fighting the ones brave enough to push back even more.
- In the Whateley Universe stories, there's Counterpoint. He's a power mimic, among other powers, so whatever you've got, he's got too (within limits). He's regarded around campus as pretty psycho, since all he wants to do is find worthy opponents and fight them. If he loses, he comes back and tries again. And again. And... He isn't interested in killing people, just beating them.
- Now it looks like Counterpoint might be the avatar (or something) of the Greek god Ares, so that actually makes sense.
- SCP-076-2 seems to see combat as the only worthwhile pursuit in life, and agreed to work with the Foundation instead of slaughtering them because he realized it could provide him with more dangerous creatures to fight.
- Strong Bad's anime alter ego, Stinkoman, is a good example of a (comedic, and not very bloody) Blood Knight; he's always "looking for a challenge."
Western Animation
Real Life
- Lobsters. Yes, lobsters.
- Lobsters? Please Elaborate.
- American lobsters live alone. When they meet (for reasons other than mating), they determine who is stronger. If one is clearly stronger, the weaker will be permitted to flee. Otherwise, they go thru a ritual of conflict, that starts with whipping their antenna at each other, and ends with going for the kill with the claws. At any time, a lobster is allowed to retreat. The loser will recognize the winner for a week (assuming he survived), and flee.
- Female lobsters with eggs don't worry about the rituals, and just go for the kill.
- Existing on the edge between mythology and history, the legendary Viking Berserkers struck fear in the hearts of all Europe during the Viking Age. Historians have put forth several different theories to explain the rage that seized these warriors on the battlefield, but ultimately, all that is known is that they would rush into battle with little-to-no armor, ignore wounds that would cripple an ordinary man, and strike down anything and anyone who got in their way. Contemporary accounts state that even their allies gave them a wide berth, for The Berserker did not distinguish too well between friend and foe. According to their beliefs, a Berserker who fell in battle gained automatic access to the Warrior's Heaven of Valhalla (where they'd get to fight forever without dying, a Blood Knight's true paradise), and so they fought, not for plunder or honor — but simply for the fight itself, and for the eventual warrior's death...
- This might also be motivated by the fact that they believed dying ANYWHERE outside of the battlefield resulted in a Fate Worse than Death: being really, really bored for all eternity.
- Spartans in both Real Life and fiction were stereotyped for basing their entire lives on the Blood Knight concept. In reality, they were damn good at fighting, yes, but even they considered the loss of life. On several occasions, they did refrain from fighting to prevent the deaths of their own soldiers. Spartans coldly emphasized efficiency and teamwork, not Homeric Blood Knightery. At Platea there was a man who had survived Thermopylae. "Naturally" his fellow countrymen were not pleased with him— they considered it cowardice. Anyway this man ran ahead and threw himself on the Persians. The Spartans then judged that he had retrieved his honor but he was not the best man of the day. They gave that honour to a man who had stood patiently in the shield wall as he was told to.
- But of course, that's just myth. There's plenty of recorded instances where Spartans fled the battlefield, and yet not at all considered cowards by their countrymen and women. Top example to mind is the Battle of Leuctra, where the Theban Sacred Band annihilated the Spartiates, and routed the survivors of the near 700 or so. They were welcomed back home without any hint of cowardice. By this time, it should be noted, Thebes was the new Sparta in terms of political power, and Sparta was a relic of its former self.
- Special note here: Sparta in the 6th Century BC is not quite the same as Sparta in the 5th Century BC, and is not quite the same as the 4th Century BC. It is interesting to note that during the Peloponnesian War (around 4th Century BC) Sparta has become a lot more progressive- good example would be that they had a navy during the second half of the Peloponnesian War- something that a Spartan in the first half of the war, let alone a Spartan in the 6th or 5th Century BC, would not even dream of, since the concept of navial combat was relatively new to the Greeks when compared with the traditional hoplite/phalanx combat (one had its footing of a hundred years tops, starting with the Greco-Persian War, while the other is one that they had been doing for hundreds, if not thousands of years).
- Another point I'd like to add is that the Spartan "war culture" is not targetted at "conquering other city-states", but to "keep their (Helot) slaves under control" (Before the Helos were freed by the Thebans after the Battle of Leuctra, Sparta was, officially, at war with the Helos, meaning that any Helos found not to be working in the fields were "free game"). Sending out soldiers is not something that Sparta liked to do before the Peloponnesian War as that means that there are less soldiers at home keeping their slaves in line. The Helot slaves were the life-line of Sparta: without them Sparta would be very different from the one that we perceive today (which is exactly what happened after the Battle of Leuctra: once the Helots were freed, Sparta could not longer maintain the focus on military prowess: the Spartan men had to spend time in farming, etc, apart from training, and was reduced to a 2nd grade city-state, which degraded into one simply did not matter anymore in Greek politics- it was not a concern to Philip II of Macedon when Sparta refused to acknowledge Macedon as the leader of the Greeks).
- Speaking of ancient times, I believe the Theban Sacred Band fit into this role. They were 300 of the absolute best soldiers ever, trained for nothing but war, and were essentially the Spartiates of their day, solidifying their reputation further after defeating the Spartiates HEAD ON at the Battle of Leuctra. What may shock modern people: they were all homosexual. 150 homosexual couples. It was believed that a man would fight better if he were fighting alongside his lover.
- World War II general George Patton was said to have possessed a love of war that contributed heavily to his famously hardnosed personality. Fittingly, he would die in a car accident four months after the end of World War 2. (See the exchange in the Film section)
- "An entire world at war and I'm left out of it?! God will not permit this to happen! I'm going to be allowed to fulfill my destiny!" He actually said this, or at least paraphrased.
- If you believe the accounts,the "factions" of Ireland that were common in the latter half of the nineteenth century were a pleasurable variation on this trope. The closest fictional example to the attitude behind it would be the frequent Fight Clubbing between the Gauls from Asterix's village. The reasons were frequently trivial or nonexistent; they fought for the fun of it and if someone died,well,as long as it was a fair fight,it wasn't meant in malice. Sticks and stones were the Weapon Of Choice,women and children could 'join in' and the larger brawls were prearranged for meetings such as fairs. From the article:
A challenge to fight was often less a reflection of animosity than an invitation to engage in a convivial form of recreation.
- If the accounts of samurai are to be believed from Kamakura and Muromachi-era Japan, many samurai could have been considered Blood Knights. It was custom at the start of battle for samurai to advance toward the enemy without any larger battle plan, shout their names and seek a worthy opponent, then decapitate them and move on to the next. All samurai were paid according to their head count. (This of course encouraged samurai to poach kills off already-dead foes killed by non-samurai, which itself lead to the interesting practice of head-viewings)
- Subverted during the Mongol invasions, when the Mongols, not knowing of this tradition, moved to attack as normal, forcing the Japanese to abandon it when fighting the Mongols.
- Miyamoto Musashi had an entire philosophy built around this. He won his first duel at age 13, and at 16 traveled Japan searching for skilled opponents and defeating them with wooden swords. He was never defeated.
- Musou Gonnosuke Katsuyoshi of joujutsu fame was said to have defeated Musashi.
- While this may be apocryphal, there is a story that Frederick the Great turned into this during battle, deliberately cutting himself and working himself into a frenzy.
- Theodore Roosevelt had elements of this at times. He spent most of his pre-presidential career clamoring for a war to fight in, and explained once that he didn't start any wars as president because the idea of being cooped up in the white house rather than on the front lines during a war was unthinkable. He spent most of World War I begging Woodrow Wilson for permission to form a volunteer regiment and get sent over to Europe.
- He also referred to his one genuine experience in battle, San Juan Hill, as "the greatest day of my life", and, when he was dying, expressed regret that he didn't die in battle.
- And of course he demoted himself so he can fight in the front lines during the Spanish American War
- Walter Cowan, Royal Navy. Commanded a battleship at Jutland, and loved war so much he spent his leave periods in the trenches on the Western Front. When the Armistice was signed, he cried. Retired as a Rear Admiral. In WW 2, despite being well over age (he was in his seventies), he joined the British Army in Africa and fought against the Italians. Captured when trying to SINGLE-HANDEDLY ASSAULT A TANK WITH HIS REVOLVER, he was repatriated by his enemies as an act of mercy (because of his age) and immediately tried to join the Commandos.
- Jack Churchill was an allied commander during WWII and volunteered for commando duty. He carried a claymore into every battle and is credited with capturing 42 Germans and a mortar squad using only his sword. He was finally captured by Germans after the rest of his squad was killed by a mortar shell. The Germans cautiously approached him as he played "Will ye no come back again?" on his bagpipes, which he also carried into every battle. He was sent to a concentration camp which he promptly escaped. He was soon recaptured and sent to another concentration camp which he also escaped. He finally made it back to Britain to find that the war had ended. He was quoted as saying, "If it wasn't for those damn Yanks, we could have kept the war going another 10 years!"
- General George S. Patton [1]. He expressed a bizarre fascination with warfare from a young age, gleefully volunteered for any combat assignment offered to him and quite literally loved warfare, despite being badly wounded as a tank commander in WWI. In between the world wars he and his friend [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] spent their free time driving around in a civilian car with guns hoping bandits would try and rob them. Although he believed that he had been reincarnated repeatedly so he could fight and die again, his odd world view made him one of the Allies best generals.
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