For most of us, bloody battles are only experienced passively from a theater seat or couch. Thank heavens for that. Those who create those scenes on screen do their best to make the wounds and blood lifelike. I’ve handled stage blood. It definitely has the viscosity and flow of the real deal. Special effects have come a long way from the chocolate syrup swirling down the shower drain in Psycho. But what that faux fluid doesn’t do, and the screen seldom shows, is the impact of that blood on the fight itself. Fighting a bloody opponent, even if that bloody opponent is you, can change things a bit. Writers, if your fight scene is landing hard in the red, scoot closer to the screen. This FightWrite® info will be bloody good.
Fighting a Bloody Opponent: Fighter Health
Bleeding
First things first, a great loss of blood will, of course, affect the health of the one bleeding. Most folks know that. Anything above a class one hemorrhage, fifteen percent total blood volume, will absolutely slow the movement and thought processes of the one bleeding. A lesser volume can also affect the bleeding fighter, but the effects of adrenaline may make it less noticeable or negate it all together.
On the note of adrenaline, one of its functions is to slow bleeding. A character who is injured while adrenaline is surging will bleed less than one who is attacked in the same manner while in a calm state. However, if either remain active after a wound that causes substantial bleeding, there is a greater risk of death. More than seventy percent of stabbing victims who remained active after the attack died within thirty minutes[1].
Breathing
A bloody nose can be a big problem for a fighter. A nose doesn’t simply bleed down the face. That blood may flow down the throat as well. That can cause uncontrollable coughing and sometimes retching. The time it takes to do either may be all that is needed to dispatch a bleeding combatant or flee from them. Blood flowing from the nose also forces a fighter to breathe through their mouth which can lower oxygen intake by as much as twenty percent[2].
Fighting a Bloodied Opponent: The Fight Itself
Changing Strategy
Bleeding can impact the strategy of the one bleeding. One example of this is sword fighting. Swords are primarily carried in the right hand which means the wielders right side is forward. If that fighter sustains a cut on the forehead that flows over that right side, they will have to look out of their left eye. To do that they will either have to turn their head, their body or switch hands. If they turn their head, they are giving greater exposure to their jugular. If they turn their whole body, they are opening up more targets on the torso. If they change hands they will be fighting from their non-dominant side and their prowess may suffer. And, depending upon the type of sword, changing hands may not even be possible. If my sword has a basket hilt fit for my right hand, I won’t be able to use it with left.
A bleeding wound can also be used to aid strategy. A fighter may repeatedly aim for the dominant side of their opponent in hopes to draw blood and force the opponent to change stance or grip. For example, a boxer may aim for one side of the face in hopes of opening a wound over the eye to limit their opponent’s field of vision on that side.
Compromising Technique
Fighting is physics and that physics generally relies on friction. There has to be enough friction between the feet and whatever they stand on to keep the feet in place and the body stable. When the surface below the feet gets wet, there is less friction. At best, that will result in the generation of less force in a fighter’s strikes. At worst, a fighter will slip. It is also more difficult to land a solid punch on a face so bloody the striker’s fist slips off. Holding on to a bloodied opponent is also very difficult and can make certain ground techniques a near impossibility.
Blood on the Weapon
If blood flows onto the handle of a weapon, it will affect the wielder’s ability to hold it firmly. Any weapon that requires a firm grip might rotate in a wet hand and reduce if not eliminate the weapon’s efficiency. As the blood coagulates, the weapon might be sticky in the hand and hinder the wielders’ ability to change their grip if need be.
Blood Spray
Spurting/spraying blood can also be an issue in the course of a fight and not for why you might think. This is fairly gross so I will handle it as gently as I can. Blood ejects from arteries of living humans and animals. I say living so that you don’t write a spray from a dead creature. No heart beat, no spray. When an artery ejects blood, it does so straight out. It doesn’t hook left or anything crazy. If the thing that caused the injury is right in front of that artery, it will be sprayed with blood. If that thing has eyes, blood can spray into those eyes and blind them for a bit rendering their skill set moot if just for a moment. It can also spray in their mouth which is mega gross.
Flowing blood creates issues and opportunities. Keep this in mind as you write. Imagine if your hand were slippery, could you hold the weapon the way your character should? How would standing in a puddle affect your ability to keep your balance? Also consider what opportunity that wetness could create. Would you be able to escape the grasp of a combatant because your arm or their hand couldn’t hold firmly? No matter what you write, be certain that the blood flowing serves the story. Blood in a fight scene should show the severity of the injury and the stakes of the fight not distract from the scene itself. When you take the reader away from the scene, you risk them walking away from your work. And that’s a fight you don’t want to lose.
Until the next round with FightWrite®, here’s a a UFC fight ranked as one of the bloodiest. So help me, I saw one worse. If you skip to about 15 min you can see the fighters can barely hold on to one another.
[1] Fight Write: How to Write Believable Fight Scenes
Hoch – Writer’s Digest Books – 2019
[2] Nose breathing vs Mouth breathing: Benefits, Sleep, Science
https://oxygenadvantage.com/science/nose-breathing-vs-mouth-breathing/
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