Ichor

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This article is about the mythological term. For the modern meaning, see Bile.

In Greek mythology, ichor (pronounced /ˈaɪkər/ or /ˈɪkər/; Greek ἰχώρ) is the ethereal fluid that is the Greek gods' blood, sometimes said to have been present in ambrosia or nectar.^{[citation needed]} When a god was injured and bled, the ichor made his or her blood poisonous to mortals.^{[citation needed]}

In pathology, an antiquated term for a watery discharge from a wound or ulcer with an unpleasant or fetid (offensive) smell.^[1]

H. P. Lovecraft often used ichor in his descriptions of other-worldly creatures, most prominently in his nightmarish detail of the remains of Wilbur Whateley, in "The Dunwich Horror".

The term ichor is often misused in fantasy contexts by authors trying to find a different word for "blood" or "ooze", to the point that it has become cliché. Author Ursula LeGuin, in "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie", calls the term "the infallible touchstone of the seventh-rate."^[2]

Ichor has also been used in science fiction as an alien substitute for blood, as in Garth Nix's book Shade's Children. Additionally, in the Dragonriders of Pern novel series, Anne McCaffrey refers to the blood of the alien (but genetically enhanced by humans) Pernese dragons as ichor.