Blood and Gore — Tag Meaning
The canonical tag for explicitly visceral content: heavy bleeding, exposed wounds, and graphic bodily damage described in detail. It frequently accompanies the Graphic Depictions Of Violence archive warning and horror-leaning works.
What to Expect From "Blood and Gore" Fics
Anticipate detailed, potentially disturbing descriptions of bodily harm. Excluding this tag plus the violence archive warning filters out most graphic material.
How to find Blood and Gore fics on AO3
On AO3, click any tag to see every work that uses it, then refine with the "Filters" sidebar — combine it with your fandom or ship, set a rating, or exclude tags you don't want. See our AO3 filtering guide for the full walkthrough.
Browse "Blood and Gore" works on AO3Popular Fics Tagged "Blood and Gore"
Real examples from AO3's most-kudosed works:
no password, no poison
by sirihans
I Asked for a Monster and You Gave Me a Fairytale
by Anonymous
Auribus Teneo Lupum
by HyperLittleNori (Shiguresan)
Love They Haven't Thought Of Yet
by Anonymous
There is a light that never goes out [Well, the pleasure, the privilege is mine]
by The_Magic_Ace
Drops of Red on Parchement
by TheTenthSunrise
Related Tags
Gore
Warns of explicit, graphic depictions of blood, wounds, viscera, or bodily destruction. Authors use it alongside or beyond the archive's violence warning when the visceral detail itself is significant — common in horror fic and dark character studies.
Tag guide →
Body Horror
Horror rooted in the body itself becoming wrong — transformation, mutation, parasitism, flesh doing things flesh should not do. Fanfic writers use it for everything from monster AUs to psychic possession aftermath, and it signals discomfort that is existential as much as gross.
Tag guide →
Graphic Depictions Of Violence
One of AO3's four major Archive Warnings, selected during posting when a work contains detailed, on-page violence. Unlike freeform tags, this warning is part of the archive's required warning system and appears prominently on the work's blurb so readers see it before clicking through.
Tag guide →
Blood and Injury
The canonical AO3 pairing of blood with bodily harm, used when injuries are depicted with some vividness rather than mentioned in passing. It functions as a mid-level warning — more graphic than a scraped knee, less than gore — common in action, whump, and battle fic.
Tag guide →
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