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{{trope}}
[[File:Eye-of-Sauron-port cropped 7055.jpg|link=The Lord of the Rings|frame|Oooh, shiny! <ref>[[Our Lawyers Advised This Trope|WARNING: Tampering with the One Ring]] [[Side Effects Include|may result in]] [[Invisibility]], [[Evil Feels Good|rushes of euphoria]], [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|seeing the ghostly images of the]] [[Black Cloak|Nazgûl]], [[Hearing Voices|voices in your head that]] [[Sentient Phlebotinum|may or may not belong to the Ring]], [[Clingy MacGuffin|complete and utter]] [[Amulet of Dependency|dependence on the Ring]], [[This Is Your Brain on Evil|loss of clear thought]] [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|and sanity]], [[Artifact of Death|and eventual death]]. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Do not swallow.]]</ref> <small>Illustration: [http://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery/details.php?image_id=1885 John Howe]</small> ]]
{{quote|''"If [[A Nightmare on Elm Street|Freddy Krueger]] and [[Friday the 13th (film)|Jason Voorhees]] got married and had a baby, your ring would be the baby!"''
|'''Tristan''', ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series]]''}}
The '''Artifact of Doom''' is somewhat an unusual villain in that it is a (seemingly) inanimate object. Nevertheless, it's pure evil and is a threat of corrupting all to [[The Dark Side]]. It may also cause [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|Great Insanity]], not to mention [[Artifact of Death|death]] - or [[A Fate Worse Than Death|worse]].
This item has a palpable presence beyond merely being a device. Its threat is ever constant, whether [[Artifact of Death|destroying those it directly opposes]], or [[This Is Your Brain on Evil|consuming those who dare use it from within]] with [[Hearing Voices|dark whispers of power]]. Nonetheless, it is incapable of action on its own; its power lies in manipulating its user to act for it. Therein lies the irony: if people would just leave the thing alone, it would be harmless, but since [[Evil Feels Good]] some idiot will inevitably try it out and nearly doom us all.
There will be a conflict among the heroes, between those who say they should dare to [[Amplifier Artifact|use its power]] and resist or somehow purify the corrupting effects, and those feel it should be destroyed/sealed. The artifact will often make this conflict escalate to a [[Hate Plague]], with deadly consequences. This may even explicitly stated as one of its powers, in the case of the [[Artifact of Attraction]].
Still think it's worth the risk? Think you can handle it? After all, once you realize how evil it is, all you have to do is get rid of it or destroy it...
...
Often has [[An Aesop]] on how [[The Dark Side|power corrupts]] and [[Ludd Was Right|over-reliance on technology/magic is a bad thing]].
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{{examples}}
==Anime and Manga==
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': The Jewel of Four Souls, which was formed when a powerful miko locked her own soul into an endless battle with a multitude of demons in order to contain them after her death. Initially regarded as a [[Dismantled MacGuffin]], a single shard of the Jewel gives demons [[Amplifier Artifact|enormous power]]. Even those with good intentions are [[This Is Your Brain on Evil|inevitably corrupted]] by shard use. {{spoiler|Then it's revealed to have a [[Sentient Phlebotinum|malevolent will]] of its own, making it not only the [[Man Behind the Man|Man Behind The]] [[Big Bad]] but, in fact, the [[Ultimate Evil]].}}
** In a subversion, [[Evil Weapon|Tokijin]] is so powerful it [[Demonic Possession|possesses]] its own creator, [[Artifact of Death|kills him]] simply due to the sheer force of its own power, and then ''[[Clingy MacGuffin|continues to animate the corpse afterwards]]'' until Inuyasha hacks off the corpse's wrist to separate the sword from the body. Not even the story's [[Ultimate Blacksmith]] is capable of approaching it, causing the protagonists to warn [[Aloof Big Brother|Sesshoumaru]] that he'll be consumed by the sword if he touches it. Cue their absolute astonishment at Sesshoumaru's effortless victory over the sword's evil via willpower alone in a [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|Did You Just Punch Out the Artifact of Doom?]] moment.
* Beaten to death on ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!'' and ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'': Apparently, it's common practice to design cards so powerful they are too dangerous to actually be used. So they have to be locked up and kept out of the wrong hands, to give the protagonist and company something to fight for. And the millennium items around which the series is based.
** The Millenium Ring from the original series is the most notable example. While all of the Items (especially the Eye and the Rod) can be used for negative purposes, the Ring is the absolute worst, possessing the innocent Ryou Bakura and using him to trigger a plot that would have seen thousands of people dead, and history rewritten. Having the soul of a psychopathic [[Grave Robbing|tomb robber]] ''and'' a shard of a dark god's essence trapped inside of it will do that to an object.
** The Wicked God cards of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! R]]'' were considered too dangerous to even be ''printed'' by the people who created the aforementioned cards of doom. Naturally, ''someone'' decides to print and use them anyways. {{spoiler|Unsurprisingly, one of them brain-jacks him.}}
* The eponymous notebook from ''[[
** Ryuk mentions (in the very first episode) that the first human that picks up the Death Note will ultimately have their name written down by the Shinigami that dropped it. {{spoiler|And sure enough, following Light's ultimate defeat in the final episode, Ryuk makes good on his promise and writes Light's name into his personal Death Note making it the first, and last time, Ryuk uses his own notebook in the series and finally closing out the Kira case.}}.
* ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' features the Dark Spores. The good news: they make you faster and stronger, and provide genius intellect. The bad news: They turn you cold and sadistic. Worse news: their real purpose is to resurrect a [[Sealed Evil in
** PS: Don't play with the Beast Spirits in ''[[Digimon Frontier]],'' either. You can learn to control yourself while using 'em ''eventually'', but that's only after an episode or two of wrecking everything in sight. If you're not one of [[The Chosen One
*** Unless you happen to be [[The Chick]]. In that case, go nuts!
* In ''[[Berserk]]'', there are small magical items called Behelits. They look like eggs with human facial features scattered around them at random. When their possessor [[Despair Event Horizon|hits an emotional nadir]], the features rearrange into a screaming face, and the four members of the Godhand appear to [[Deal
** Plus, if you don't want to do it? Tough luck. {{spoiler|You're getting sucked into hell anyway.}}
*** The only example of that shown in the manga was the Count, who had already made the sacrifice and doomed himself before. Assuming you have never made the deal, you should be fine.
** There's also Guts' Berserker Armor, which removes a human being's natural limits by nulling pain and allows the user to keep fighting by temporarily mending broken bones, stitching together wounds, etc. It's very dangerous for the obvious reasons that your body has limits for a reason and bypassing them is bound to hurt you, but it also has the effect of bringing out the wearer's "inner beast" (in the Skull Knight's case, his familiar skull motif, in Guts' case, "The Beast", his [[Hell Hound]] evil side), turning him into a raging monster incapable of distinguishing friend from foe. After using it just once, Guts got a patch of white hair, became partially colorblind, and lost some of his sense of taste. Constant use of it might have reduced the Skull Knight to his current ghastly state.
* The Book of Darkness from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', which grants ultimate power to its user upon filling its [[Number of the Beast|666 pages]]. Oh, and it takes over said user once said pages are filled and goes on an [[Omnicidal Maniac|omnicidal rampage]] until it burns itself out [[Artifact of Death|together with said user]], whereupon it [[Back
** And if you're [[Genre Savvy]] enough to not use it, it will just eat your life force instead.
** The Book of Darkness is an interesting case, in that the only reason it's an Artifact of Doom is that it's malfunctioning. As it originally was, it was a harmless book meant to store knowledge of magic from all over the universe.
** Fans also like to joke that [[Magitek|Raising]] [[Empathic Weapon|Heart]] is one of these. Especially in doujins, she and Nanoha are prone to unleashing big pink beams of <s> death and destruction</s> love and friendship anytime, anywhere, on anybody.
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', the three Ancient Weapons could count. Constructed in the Void Century, they are the stated reason why the World Government tries to hunt down and kill anyone with knowledge of that era:
** The first, sought by Crocodile in the Alabaster Arc and CP9 during the Water 7 arc, is '''Pluton''', a battleship of some sort with enough raw power to sink an entire island in one shot, at least according to [[Arc Villain| Crocodile]]. While it's current location is unknown, an even worse example of this Trope might be the blueprints. They were preserved in case someone had to build a weapon to counter the original Pluton, but someone must have overlooked another possibility - someone might use them to build a ''fleet'' of them. Franky eventually eliminated this possibility by burning the blueprints, but the original Pluton is still out there somewhere...
** The second is '''Poseidon'''. This was originally a power obtained by a mermaid who made a deal with someone named Joy Boy {{spoiler| (later revealed to be Luffy himself [[Reincarnation| in a previous life]])}} and was passed down to her heirs. It allows the current heir to communicate and command the Sea Kings, effectively giving said heir an army of powerful [[Sea Monster]]s under her command. Shirahoshi is the current heir, and while it seems she can only use the power subconsciously, it has to date given her little but grief from villains like [[Sky Pirates| Vander Decken IX]] and [[Axe Crazy| Caribou.]]
** '''Uranus''' is the third weapon; unlike the other two, nothing is known about it thus far. This hasn't stopped [[Epileptic Trees| fans from making conjecture]], of course; given that it's named after the Greek God of the Heavens, it might be some sort of airship or even spaceship. One thing that is agreed on, however, is that it is likely very dangerous.
* The Mesoamerican stone mask from ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' is the main cause for most events of the series, especially the bad ones, due to its ability to turn the wearer into a vampire when splashed with blood. Later, the Stand Arrows fill a similar role.
* ''[[Ann Cassandra]]'': the [[Mask of Power|Cassandra Mask]]. The mask's power lets its user warp the future to cause more disasters {{spoiler|in exchange for becoming the mask's puppet and eventually dying. The mask then compels the nearest person to pick it up and use it.}}
* The Dark Bring in ''[[Rave Master]]'', which grant the user different powers while slowly corrupting them. Special mention goes to the Sinclaire, which are especially corruptive.
* ''[[
* The philosopher stones in [[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]], which is forged with thousands of human souls, and can be used to ignore the rules of alchemy. Most people in FMA who possess one use it to commit mass genocide, or to possess people.
* [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]] has the "Lance of Longinus", a long, pronged artifact which grants its wielder (who has to be absolutely GIGANTIC to use it, by the way) absolute godly power. It plays a crucial role in both the Second and Third Impacts. The Lance is interesting in that it is not sentient, nor is its wielder{{spoiler|, Adam,}} [[True Neutral|truly "evil"]], it is only an
** [[All There in the Manual|Classified Information]] suggests that the Lance actually ''is'' sentient, and comes in a set with {{spoiler|a Seed of Life (i.e. both Adam and Lilith had one, but Lilith lost hers)}}. It exists as the ultimate security device, but only does anything if {{spoiler|something goes ''horribly'' wrong (such as two Seeds landing on the same planet)}}.
* [[Nabari no Ou]] - The "Book of the Knowledge of All Living Things" is essentially this though it doesn't necessarily corrupt the holder himself.
* [[Da Capo]] - the Giant Sakura Tree, though it is explicitly stated that it only fulfills one's fervently wished for desires, for some reason, it always end up working towards unimaginably evil ends (In the second season, it defeats the [[Power of Love]]). May be linked to its tendency to fulfill unconscious wishes even when this goes against the conscious desires of the user.
** Sakura states in the second season that the tree's purpose of granting wishes may be inherently damaging as it disrupts the struggle wish is central to human life, thereby disrupting the process of human life itself. Essentially, since people don't know what they want granting it to them will inevitably go awry.
* This is the entire point of [[
== Comic Books ==
* From the [[Marvel Universe]],
** The Darkhold is a [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]] penned by Chthon (an Elder God turned demon lord) to serve as a foothold in Earth's dimension after his banishment from it. Anyone who uses it risks becoming enslaved to Chthon's purposes.
** The Ultimate Nullifier is a mysterious device that has been described as "the universe's most devastating weapon." By simply touching a button on the palm-sized gizmo, one being of the user's choice is erased from existence, but if the user possesses near-godlike concentration, knowledge, and willpower, they will meet the same fate. This is the one thing [[Galactus]] seems to fear, not that Galactus himself is hesitant to use it, as he did to Annihilus - that means the Nullifier can destroy the literal embodiment of Destruction! It is eventually revealed that what the Nullifier ''actually'' does when used is obliterate the entire multiverse, and then rebuild it, only without the target. It is truly not something to be trifled with.
* Satirized in ''[[Nodwick]]'' by "This One Ring", which is a One Ring parody that inspired an epic ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''-esque plot based on ''hype'' alone. It has no actual powers, but only [[Deadpan Snarker|Nodwick]] [[Only Sane Man|realizes this and no-one else believes him]].
** By the end of the story, history repeats itself when Nodwick bribes off the story's Gollum-equivalent with "this one rock". Yeah, it's just a rock. Cut to the [[Distant Finale]]...
** The print comic also features a straight example in the Gauntlet of Supremacy. It renders its wielder immune to harm, fires powerful energy blasts, and gives the wielder [[Charm Person|dominion over all living beings near them]]. Unfortunately, it was forged by a [[God of Evil]] and a God of War working together, and drives its wielder to conquer the world and kill anyone who opposes them. Only said [[God of Evil]] can control it.
* In the DCU, the Heart of Darkness is a black crystal that can grant its host fearsome mystical powers. The cost? Said host {{spoiler|almost}} always becomes a flesh puppet to the evil spirit within the diamond, often referred to as "Eclipso".
** The only time Eclipso was ever contained, the captor used special tattoos all over his body to turn himself into a living prison. Unfortunately, those were {{spoiler|broken by an accidental slice from his lover Nemesis, and the freed Eclipso ended up killing both of them}}.
* The Tactigon from ''Avengers: The Initiative'' might go here. It's a shapeshifting alien weapon that can become whatever its host wants or needs. It's choosy, too; it won't work for just anybody, but it has an unfortunate tendency to pick hosts that are... troubled. Its first known host was a suicidal girl who at least tried to use the Tactigon for good, but its second host was out and out [[Ax Crazy]].
** The Tactigon actually appears to be some sort of subversion, as [[What the Hell, Hero?|The Avengers stole it from its first host]] and kept (unsuccessfully) trying to graft it onto various people until [[Hoist
* Although it's more of a [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]] in the ''[[Evil Dead]]'' movies, the Necronomicon develops into this in the comic book ''Army of Darkness'' spinoff, possessing a malevolent sentience, corrupting the people who stumble upon it for its own purposes, and generally trying its best to get rid of the hero once and for all. Oddly enough, as the comic books developed the Necronomicon into an Artifact of Doom, its Tome of Eldritch Lore traits seemed to diminish accordingly: more often than not, the comic book version of the Necronomicon simply uses its powers as it or its owner sees fit, with no spell recitation involved. This might've been a [[Pragmatic Adaptation]] for the comic book's episodic format, since very few people in the ''Evil Dead'' universe are qualified to translate and read the book's [[Black Speech|ancient language]] aloud.
* The title artifact of ''[[The Mask (
* The [[Bizarre Alien Biology|alien costumes/symbiotes]] of ''[[Spider-Man]]'', with an added [[Body Horror]] bonus.
* A clever (probably originally Italian) ''[[Donald Duck]]'' story centered around a mysterious item from outer space that did absolutely nothing, but was still more an Artifact of Doom than a [[MacGuffin]]. It was so absolutely and completely useless anything done with it was automatically a waste of time and amounted to nothing. It was in the possession of Scrooge McDuck first, so he naturally tried to make money out of it, but his every attempt merely broke even, until he managed to sell it to Rockerduck (at zero profit). As time went on, the sheer uselessness of the item made it hold a peculiar fascination to people, and news of it apparently spread globally. Everyone was in fact so affected by the uselessness that they began to turn apathetic and think nothing was worth doing because it was useless, or were inspired to start doing completely useless things themselves. A researcher then came to the conclusion that the item could cause [[The End of the World
* The Winslowe in ''[[Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire]]'' is something of a subversion in that it is alive, slightly mobile, slightly intelligent {{spoiler|(actually ''quite'' intelligent)}}, and to all appearances not the least bit malevolent or proactive in any way. That doesn't change the fact that any time it pops up, half the known universe goes violently crazy with avarice to possess it, because they're convinced it is the most important object/being in all of Creation.
* Any of the various [[
* The Star Brand from ''[[The New Universe]]'' is exactly like this. A limitless power only held back by one's imagination, it can only be used by living things. The first time someone tried to place it into a inanimate object to get rid of the power, it initiated the White Event, the world's biggest [[Superpower Lottery]]. The second time, it ''[[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|vaporized]] [[Pittsburgh]]!'' Even worse, even if you do get rid of it, you're keeping a portion of the power that will recharge itself back to full. It's so dangerous that, when the New Universe Earth was transported to the mainstream Marvel Universe, the Living Tribunal erected an impenetrable barrier so it won't contaminate the rest of the universe with its power.
== Fan Works ==
* Kyle in ''[[Becka Rangers Nemo Thunder
* In ''[[
* ''[[
== Film ==
* The Loc-Nar in ''[[Heavy Metal (animation)|Heavy Metal]]''.
* The poisoned apple from [[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White]] and the Seven Dwarves.
*
*
* The
* The infamous videotape in ''[[The Ring]]''. Watch the innocuous, unlabeled tape, and she will hunt you down and kill you, unless you pass the curse to someone else by making a copy of the tape and sending it to that person.
* The Lamont Configuration in ''[[Hellraiser]]''.
* Sith Holocrons in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Expanded Universe]]. Not exactly in the movies, though, except as harmless fan-service atrezzo.
* The gun from ''Juice''. The moment Bishop uses it, he is unable to stop using it even on his friends.
* The {{spoiler|eponymous ship}} in ''[[Event Horizon]]''.
* The [[Public Domain Artifact|Spear/Lance]] in ''[[
* The Coke Bottle, from ''[[The Gods Must Be Crazy]]''. Although it's just a normal, ordinary soda bottle, its effect on the tribe causes so much trouble that they decide it's an evil thing, which must be thrown off the edge of the Earth.
* The button in ''[[Drag Me to Hell]]''.
* The "Key" with the blood of [[Jesus Christ]] in it from [[Demon Knight]].
* The cellar in ''[[The Cabin in
* The eponymous [[Fictional Video Game]] in ''[[Brainscan]]''. Every death the player inflicts on characters in the game will occur in reality, and the Trickster - a personification of the game itself - tempts and goads the user into continuing the game.
* Any videotape holding Sadako's soul in ''[[The Ring]]'' can be this.
* ''[[Death Bed: The Bed That Eats]]''; despite being regarded as a cheesy B-movie, the eponymous bed has an interesting backstory. A demon falls in love with a human woman, and creates a bed that they use to consummate their love. But she is killed in the process, and his tears of grief fall on the bed, turning it into a monster that preys on humans once every hundred years.
== Literature ==
* In the John Silke series of ''Death Dealer'' books ( which are based on the painting by Frank Frazetta) the main character is given a helmet possessed by the god of death, which makes him a nigh-invincible warrior. on the flip side, it will put Gath (the name given to the death dealer) through slowly increasing discomfort, pain, and finally torture. the helmet can only be removed by an innocent young woman and final love interest named Robin Lakehair.
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Warhammer
* The first two books in Lloyd Alexander's ''[[Chronicles of Prydain]]'' series had the Black Cauldron, based on a Welsh myth, used by [[Big Bad]] Arawn to create his army of the undead. (The Fates imply that the Cauldron once had other, more benign uses, but Arawn ruined the thing while he was "renting" it.) To destroy it, [[Someone Has to Die]], and it can apparently corrupt former good guys who covet its powers. The [[Disney Animated Canon]] made a very loose adaptation simply titled ''[[The Black Cauldron]]''.
* The Lifestone plays this role in ''[[The Riftwar Cycle]]''.
* Somewhat subverted in ''[[The Culture|Excession]]'' by [[Iain Banks|Iain M. Banks]], in which the titular Excession is an object which ''does absolutely nothing'', but almost causes a galaxy-spanning war over who gets to say they own it.
* The Piggy from [[William Sleator]]'s ''[[
* In Steven Brust's ''[[Dragaera]]'' books, Morganti weapons have a cold, low-level intelligence that hungers to consume souls. The blades are so awful that they even unsettle their bearer. However, the most powerful Morganti weapons are called Great Weapons, and have a more developed intelligence that can be controlled, leading to a symbiotic relationship.
* The Blackened Denarii from ''[[The Dresden Files]]''. Just ''touching'' a coin is enough to invite the fallen angel bound to it into your mind, where they will toy with your perceptions, offer you power, and eventually try to turn you into their flesh puppet.
** Mordite (a.k.a. "deathstone") is worse. Any entity short of an [[Eldritch Abomination]] will suffer [[Critical Existence Failure]] simply by being near it.
* An example by Ramsey Campbell is the ''Messa/Massa di Requiem per Shuggay'', a morbid opera designed not only to [[Brown Note|drive its audience mad]], but [[The End of the World
* The malevolent play script titled ''[[The King in Yellow]]'', from the collection of short stories of the same name by [[Robert W. Chambers
* The Illearth Stone from the ''[[Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]'' is pure evil and extremely powerful. Even shards cut from it are potent magic items that can corrupt people. Additionally, if the Illearth Stone or a shard of it is in one place for long, its evil anti-nature aura will kill off all the plants in a large radius around it.
* The grail in [[Teresa Edgerton]]'s ''[[Celydonn|The Grail and the Ring]]'' became this because it was corrupted when its powers were first revealed. [[Subverted Trope]] in that the object can be redeemed, and doing this is a necessary step to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]].
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** Things like this also turn up in his [[Nightside]] novels, but in weirder forms (e.g. the Speaking Gun).
* In P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'', the Ivory Knife and the Book Bound in Pale Leather are this and yet not, in that they're given to the Kencyr by their God, and will be used by the three avatars of God, the Tyr-ridan. The Ivory Knife is the "very tooth of death", a pinprick from which is fatal, which rots and kills anything it touches. Heroine Jame keeps it in her boot sheath for the longest time.
* Horicruxes in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' franchise. Simply creating one requires the user to murder another human, and Voldemort is the only dark wizard to ever craft more than one. (None other ever dared do so.)]] Crafting one allows an evil wizard to place part of his soul within the Horicrux, enabling him to live forever so long as the Horicrux remains intact. Well, sort of; depends on [[Came Back Wrong|how you define "life"]], seeing as the user becomes a horrid abomination, a dark parody of life.
* The short story ''[[The Monkey's Paw]]'' by W.W. Jacobs. The monkey's paw grants the user's wishes, [[Be Careful What You Wish For|but at a tremendous price]]. "''It had a spell put on it by an old fakir, a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow.''" The thing was created purely to cause suffering. It's pure evil.
* ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' has a ''city'' that acts like this. Shadar Logoth will quickly corrupt anyone who stays too long. This isn't much of a problem when you consider that people who enter will quickly get killed by Mashadar, an evil cloud that hangs over the city. {{spoiler|Mat Cauthon}} picks up a dagger on his stay there, and this acts the same way. He quickly succumbs to hating people, and is nearly killed by the taint of the dagger before he is finally separated and healed of the taint. However, Rand eventually finds a way to use the city against the [[Big Bad]] without being corrupted by it, namely by {{spoiler|making its power and the city's cancel each other out, albeit with the side effect of erasing the city and several kilometers of earth beneath it from existence.}}
* [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' depicts two of a set of [[Numerological Motif|thirteen]] Artifacts Of
* In William King's ''[[Warhammer
* May or may not be averted in [[
* That [[Tome of Eldritch Lore|tome of ineffable horrors]], the ''Necronomicon'' originating in the works of [[H.P. Lovecraft
* In [[China Mieville]]'s ''[[
* The gauntlet in Karen Miller's ''[[Godspeaker Trilogy]]'' which is made from a [[Power Crystal]] and fashioned by Hekat for her son Zandakar. It [[Stuff Blowing Up|destroys buildings]] and [[Kill It
* Stormbringer, the black blade, in ''[[The Elric Saga]]'' novels, {{spoiler|forces Elric to kill everyone he loves}}, brings about [[The End of the World
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** [[Terry Pratchett]] created a device called the Gonne in ''[[Men at Arms]]'', one of the few times he's been [[Anvilicious]], due to [[Values Dissonance]]: anyone ([[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|almost]]) who so much as picks up the Gonne will think it "talks" to them; they begin to consider killing someone immediately. On the Disc, sometimes just being powerful or unique is enough to make something borderline magical, and the Gonne was both. What the Gonne feared most, though, was not destruction but ''replication''.
** In ''[[Soul Music (novel)|Soul Music]]'', a primordial guitar bought at a [[The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday|little mystical shop]] takes control of an aspiring musician and his band mates. The guitar isn't exactly evil, but it is selfish, destructive, and intent on making sure "The Band With Rocks In" dies young and goes out in a blaze of glory, whether they want to or not, in order to popularize its type of music.
* Crenshinibon, the Crystal Shard, in R.A. Salvatore's ''[[The Icewind Dale Trilogy|Icewind Dale Trilogy]]'', is considered by many readers to be an homage to One Ring (if not an outright ripoff).
* The Horcruxes in ''[[Harry Potter (
** Not exactly doomy but definitely addictive is the Mirror of Erised in the first Harry Potter book. It shows you your greatest desire, but it is just an illusion. (In the movie Harry is show sitting transfixed in front of it like he's watching TV.)
** The Elder Wand {{spoiler|prior to coming into the possession of Dumbledore and later Harry}} would also qualify. Probably the Resurrection Stone as well, though to a lesser degree.
* Brandon Sanderson's ''[[Warbreaker]]'' features Nightblood, a sentient sword created for the purpose of slaying
* The quintessential example is [[Ring of Power|The One Ring]] from [[
** The ''palantíri'', also from ''The Lord of the Rings'', are functionally dooming at the time of the story, because Sauron got hold of one and used it to psychically attack anyone who uses the others. (Victims include {{spoiler|Saruman, Denethor, Pippin, and possibly Aragorn.}})
** The Silmarils (of ''[[
* In ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]'', the portrait itself. Dorian cannot age and stays young forever thanks to its power, but the painting turns more horrible and wretched with each evil act that Dorian performs, as a physical manifestation of his tainted soul. Dorian is drawn to and repulsed by it. By the end of the book, he has the painting locked in his attic, afraid to even look at it. In a fit of conscience, he decides to destroy it, unable to bear to look at his aged and wicked face from the canvas. {{spoiler|He stabs it, but in doing so, actually kills himself.}} While the portrait isn't actually evil, it reflects the evil in Dorian.
* The board games ''[[Jumanji]]'' and ''[[Zathura]]'', while not inherently evil or malevolent, still often rain down misfortune and disaster on the players in the form of lions, [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game|homicidal big game hunters]], meteor showers, and invading aliens, depending on which game you're playing. In both games, the only way to get rid of them is to finish the game (assuming it hasn't killed you first). However, even if the heroes do manage to finish and dispose of the game, more often than not it will just worm its way into the hands of another group of unfortunate saps.
* In the ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' book ''Midnight Tides'', Rhulad Sengar's cursed sword (which he only grabbed to keep an enemy force from stealing it) grants him superhuman (super-Tiste?) strength and combat ability to match the greatest swordsman. And it even allows him to resurrect, as long as the sword remains in his hand, leaving him even
* The cricket ball {{spoiler|hyperspace junction bomb}} created by Hactar in ''[[Hitchhikers Guide|Life, the Universe, and Everything]]''.
* ''The Bottle Imp'' has shades of this, in the [[
* The demon bench end, from the story of the same name from ''Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror'' does this. It seems to do a combination of driving its owner mad and worming its way into their mind so they commit acts such as murder. It seems that one of the first acts it makes them do is the murder of the previous owner. Oh, and [[Clingy MacGuffin|you can't give it away, throw it away and quite possibly you can't destroy it, or at least not by conventional means]].
* In [[Matthew Reilly]]'s ''Six Sacred Stones'' and ''The Five Greatest Warriors'', the sixth pillar gives the reward of "Power"; the ability to reshape the world according to its possessor's wishes. It also puts them through the ultimate version of [[This Is Your Brain
* In [[Robert E. Howard
* ''[[The Neverending Story (
* The killer camera in ''[[Goosebumps]]: Say Cheese and Die!'' , which destroys or causes harm to persons or objects [[Spooky Photographs|that it takes pictures of]].
* In ''[[Shadows of the Apt]]'', the box. Scyla gets quite creeped out by its effect on her. The [[Living Shadow]] doesn't help.
* [[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]: The [[Cool Ship|Nautilus]] is this for Captain Nemo: at the State of technology in 1869, a submarine could destroy any ship and then escape unpunished. By using it as a [[Weapon of Mass Destruction]], Nemo discovers that [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]. Nemo last act in the book is {{spoiler|direct the Nautilus to a Giant Whirpool, dooming himself and his crew.)}}.
* Questing Stones are reputed to be this in ''[[
* In [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''[[Spiral Arm
* The [[Forgotten Realms]] novel ''[[The Crystal Shard]]'' (notable for being the first novel featuring the drow hero Drizzt Do'Urden) revolves around a potent artifact called Crenshinibon. Anyone in possession of this gem can create a magic tower called Crystal-Tirith. While the tower and crystal require sunlight to function, they make the user invulnerable and immortal, and capable of enslaving the minds of those around it, including the bearer of Crenshinibon, who would be constantly teased and tempted into performing more evil acts. In the wrong hands, this device could let a villain [[Take Over the World]] very quickly.
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Friday the 13th: The Series]]'' ([[In Name Only|no relation]] to the [[Friday the 13th (
* They have a strange habit of being in Sunnydale in ''[[
* In ''[[
** Also worth noting: {{spoiler|The law firm exists to do business with evil. If they just plain stop helping evil with it, and instead try to use it only as a weapon for good, the business will fail, and another law firm, beyond their control, will pop up to replace it.}}
* [[Power Rangers]] examples:
** In ''[[Power Rangers Wild Force]],'' the mask of Zen-Aku resulted in Merrick going [[Ax Crazy]] and having to be [[Sealed Evil in a Can|locked away]] three thousand years ago, to be awakened by the villains to menace the Rangers in the present. By this point, he'd been so overwritten by Zen-Aku's personality that the result was an [[Enigmatic Minion]] version of Zen-Aku who didn't know what those pesky human tendencies were about and why a couple memories didn't seem to fit. Eventually, they're separated, and Merrick becomes the [[Sixth Ranger]] of the modern team. And [[Odd Couple|Merrick and ZA are getting along much better now]], as we learn at [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue|season's end]].
** ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'' also has the fifth Dino Gem. Thanks to Mesogog's meddling, it's more powerful than the others, but turns you into [[Jekyll and Hyde]], with the Hyde side eventually sticking. Eventually fixed, but once no longer evil, [[Good Is Dumb|the White Ranger is no stronger than the other Rangers]] that he'd been handily beating up until now.
** Way back in ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'', Rita armed the [[Brainwashed and Crazy|mind-controlled]] Tommy with the Sword of Darkness. The sword itself was not a corrupting influence; rather, its power was used to sustain Rita's spell. The sword's ''[[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger|Zyuranger]]'' counterpart, the Sword of Hellfreide, drove the wielder crazy. (Or, in Burai's case, crazi''er'')
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'': The Sword of Kahless appears to have the same effect on Worf and Kor, though this perception was unintended by the writers. As Kor mentions at one stage (whilst using the famous sword as a spit to cook his dinner), it's just a sword, not a holy relic. Nevertheless Worf and Kor each believe that their role in finding the long-lost bat'leth means they're destined to rule the Klingon Empire (Worf did become Chancellor and head of the Klingon Empire, albeit for a few minutes). After nearly killing each other they realize the sword will cause more problems than it will solve, and so they [[The World Is Not Ready|set it adrift in space]].
* ''[[Masters of Horror]]: John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns'': Some guy, desperately in need to pay off his debts, goes in search for a long-lost film called ''La Fin absolue du monde'' on behalf of a private collector. Only shown publicly during its premiere (which resulted in a massacre), everyone that came into contact with it was either driven homicidally insane or committed suicide after watching it.
* A weekly
* In ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', the sarcophagus is a device that creates eternal youth, and can even bring people back to life, but it's credited as the main reason the Goa'uld are as evil as they are. The Tok'ra don't use it, because "it steals the soul." In the episode "Need", Daniel Jackson got addicted to it, and eventually got to the point where he just didn't care about anybody else (which was really remarkable for him, at the time).
* Parodied on ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]'': [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juFTWhyC_Lc "Flowers for Wendy"] (purchased from [[The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday|the conveniently located street vendor who wasn't there yesterday]]) and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKZWZeo8Id8&feature=related "The Red Hat of Pat Ferrick"].
* Parodied in the ''[[Ripping Yarns]]'' episode "The Curse of the Claw."
* The Objects in ''[[The Lost Room]]'' have the potential to be these, but they ''can'' also been used for good. The worst ones, though, are ''very'' dangerous, such as the Deck of Cards, which [[Brown Note|subjects you to terrible visions]], and there's at least one combination of Objects with the ability to cause something unspeakably awful.
* The Book of Pure Evil from the Canadian series ''[[Todd and
== Music ==
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* "Dissolve," by [[Jonathan Coulton]], seems to be about one of these, but the lyrics are a little vague.
== Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myth and Legend ==
* Andvari's ring in [[Norse Mythology]], from the tale of Otter's ransom, isn't really magical, except in so much as it kills anyone who has it and is told they have it (though this last part is rather inconsistently applied). The ring in the Edda ''does'' have one magical power, that of increasing gold. While not a clear-cut example of this trope, it inspired at least one more famous example.
* The Ring of Gyges, a metaphor for corruption in Plato's [[The Republic]]. This ring merely turns the bearer invisible, as the One Ring had in [[The Hobbit]], but Plato argued that the temptations the ring presents would ultimately corrupt anyone who chose to use it. Inevitably, theft, murder, and betrayal would follow, as these were the easiest and most obvious uses of the ring. Ultimately, the use of the ring proves so addictive that its bearer cannot part with it, and can thing of nothing else but his jealousy of keeping it.
* The Sword of Kullervo in [[The Kalevala]], which in the end talks to Kullervo and is willing to help him committing suicide, enjoying drinking his guilty blood as well as it has drunk many an innocent blood.
* In a Polish fairy tale, the fern flower will grant any wish, as long as it's only for yourself and you never share the benefits with anyone. If you are charitable even once, everything you wished for is taken back, and the flower disappears.
* The Ark of the Covenant has shades of this, even outside [[Raiders of the Lost Ark
== Tabletop Games ==
* Crop up with depressing regularity in both ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer
** Blackstone fortresses qualify, but [[Up to Eleven|is it a surprise that the artifact in question is a spaceship?]]
** On a slightly less grand scale than the Blackstone Fortresses, there are a number of brand new ones introduced in the ''[[Warhammer
* The Sword of Khaine (also an [[Evil Weapon]]) in ''Warhammer Fantasy'' was wielded by the Elven God of War Khaine. To drive back the first incursion of Chaos, the first Elven king picked up the sword, and after defeating the [[Big Bad]] but not destroying it, it gradually turned him evil causing a sundering between the elf factions (one being led by his illegitimate son) and a civil war that continues to this day. The Dark Elves led by his son are still trying to reclaim the sword where it lies on its altar, which would give them to defeat the High Elves and possibly any further Chaos Incursions - it's possibly the most powerful weapon in Warhammer.
** The Crown of Sorcery (more accurately called the Crown of Nagash) grants whoever puts it on tremendous magical powers, but also allows part of the spirit of Nagash the Supreme Necromancer to speak to them. It influenced the creation of at least one culture devoted to necromancy before it was locked away.
* ''[[
** Oh yeah, and both of the above artifacts ''will'' eventually result in you being absorbed into [[Evil Sorcerer|their original owner]].
** And there's a story about
** Another Artifact of Doom associated with Vecna is the ''[[Evil Weapon| Sword of Kas]]'', a weapon he made and gave to his second-in-command, Kas the Bloody Handed. Kas turned against him, and the resulting battle between the armies of the two evil beings killed both of them, leaving only the Sword and Vecna's Hand and Eye behind. Both were [[Not Quite Dead]], of course; Vecna, as stated, became a demigod, while Kas became a very powerful vampire. The Sword of Kas is said to be a potent weapon for anyone who would oppose Vecna, but it is incredibly evil, and a hero who tries to use it for this purpose risks turning into a bloody, merciless warlord like Kas himself. The sword is also the only way to permanently destroy the hand and eye of Vecna.
** Evil-aligned artifacts in ''Dungeons & Dragons'' generally act like this; the ''Book of Vile Darkness'' [[Sourcebook]] lists some, and is named after a particular example.
** 4e has taken this to its logical extreme with the Heart of the Abyss; a shard of [[Made of Evil|pure evil]]. [[Satan|Asmodeus]] stole a ''sliver'' off the shard, crafted it into a rod, and used it to [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|kill the strongest of the gods]]. The [[Evil Versus Evil|Blood]] [[Forever War|War]] fought between the [[Lawful Evil|devils]] and [[Chaotic Evil|demons]] was spawned by this; Asmodeus wants the rest of the shard for himself, and the demons want the piece he stole back.
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* ''[[Exalted]]'' gives us The Broken-Winged Crane, the ultimate [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]] in the setting. Just reading it requires the unfortunate bastard in question to make a high-difficulty Willpower roll; if they fail, they pick up a form of insanity involving obsession over the tome and its contents. Its many-storied lore paints its various copies as imperfect reflections of the true tome that will come into existence at the dawn of a new dark age of Creation. {{spoiler|In reality, the "true" copy is the book the Scarlet Empress wrote to try and wrest immortality from the Yozis. [[And Now You Must Marry Me|That]] [[Mind Rape|did not]] [[Brainwashed and Crazy|go well]].}}
* Every artifact in [[Houses of the Blooded]]. It's written into the rules: they can give you great power, but once a season, the Narrator can cause you to automatically fail a roll by saying [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|"DOOOOOOOM!"]] A good Narrator will do this at the worst possible time.
* ''[[
* The [https://web.archive.org/web/20090114022748/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?id=31801 Mirari] twists and corrupts those who seek its power in the post-Invasion world of Dominaria in the ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' storyline. However, this a subversion; it's revealed in the end that it was only meant to be a probe, but ended up spilling magical power into the world, the power inevitably corrupting the bearer.
** Also, within the card game exists the "Door to Nothingness" artifact. Its ability costs a ridiculous amount of mana, but when activated, your opponent ''loses the entire game''. (Just make sure they don't [[Hoist by His Own Petard|redirect the target]].)
** [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=227302 Worldslayer]. "Whenever equipped creature [i.e. creature wielding the sword] deals combat damage to a player, destroy all permanents other than Worldslayer."
* The Black Scrolls in the ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' [[Collectible Card Game]] and tabletop RPG are immensely powerful magical scrolls that corrupt any who study them. In fact ''anything'' (including people, places and objects) that has enough of the [[The Corruption|Shadowlands Taint]] does so, and various artifacts bear the Taint. These include the Bloodswords and the Anvil of Despair, just to name two.
=== Gamebooks ===
* The ''[[Lone Wolf]]'' gamebooks: in addition to the evil armies, [[Evil Overlord|demonic Evil Overlords]], various [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Sealed Evils in Cans]], and [[Everything Trying to Kill You|hostile wildlife and environments]], Lone Wolf runs into several Artifacts of Doom. The Darklord weapons and the Death Staff are examples of evil weapons that have gameplay penalties when used in battle. Story-wise, the worst artifacts are the [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|Doomstones]]. The Doomstones are essentially crystallized [[Black Magic]] created by a powerful demon that eventually corrupts and kills anyone who uses them that isn't ''already'' a being of pure evil. Meaning that the strongest antagonists can use them with impunity; but Lone Wolf collapses as soon as he gets ''near'' one.
** The Doomstone of Darke featured in Book 16 ''The Darke Crusade'' deserves a special mention here. {{spoiler|In the end, it turns out to be the REAL [[Big Bad]] of the book, having made the [[Disc One Final Boss]] its frail, near-undead puppet.}}
** A rather weird example is the Moonstone, a GOOD Artifact of Doom: crops grow better, children are born healthier, summers are longer... but it threatens to destroy the natural equilibrium of Magnamund.
== Theatre ==
* The Ring of the Nibelungs from [[Richard Wagner]]'s [[The Ring of the Nibelung
== Theme Parks ==
* There are a few in the attractions at [[Disney Theme Parks]]. A notable one is in the ''[[Indiana Jones]]'' sequence of ''The Great Movie Ride'', where a real life Cast Member plays the role of the poor fool who tries to take it.
== Toys ==
* The Ignika in ''[[Bionicle]]''. On top of that, it was made exactly like the One Ring.
** The nui stone may also count as this.
== Video Games ==
* {{spoiler|The Apple, aka one of the [[Lost Technology|Pieces of Eden]]}} from the ''[[
** Also reportedly observed by Ezio at the beginning of ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
** Other Pieces are even worse. The Shroud tries to get people to use it to heal themselves or others with a [[Compelling Voice]], but it is either actively malevolent or just very, very broken. The results range from [[Body Horror]] to [[Came Back Wrong]]. Occasionally, it will actually heal someone.
** Subverted since the true purpose of the Pieces of Eden (at least seen in the games) {{spoiler|is to avert global destruction in the near future.}}
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*** {{spoiler|[[Light Is Not Good]]. Considering that [[Soul Calibur]] was created from a piece of Soul Edge, we probably should've seen this one coming...}}
*** Confirmed in ''[[Soul Calibur]] V'': {{spoiler|Soul Calibur has an avatar named Elysium living within it (just as Soul Edge has Inferno) who seeks this "eternal utopia", and [[A Form You Are Comfortable With|takes the form of Sophitia]] to trick Patroklos into doing its bidding}}.
* In ''[[Betrayal
* In ''[[Ultima IV]]'', one can acquire an item called the "Skull of Mondain" (the villain of the very first ''[[Ultima I|Ultima]]'') that can instantly destroy your enemies. However, it also destroys your [[Karma Meter]], to the point of making the game [[Unwinnable]]. Particularly sneaky, since the notion of a [[Karma Meter]] was new at the time.
** [[Ultima VII]] brings us the Black Blade, a sword forged to devour souls and slay the unslayable, a demon bound within and cursed to never leave the Avatar's hand. [[They Wasted
* This is a recurring theme in ''[[
** In the Human campaign, the runesword [[Meaningful Name|Frostmourne]] (a clear <s>knockoff of</s> [[Homage]] to [[Elric]]'s Stormbringer) curses Arthas.
** In the Orc campaign, the blood of the Pit Lord Mannoroth corrupts Grom Hellscream and his band, turning them into Chaos Orcs.
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* The [[Obviously Evil]] [[Power Glows|glowy red lyrium idol]] in [[Dragon Age 2]], that {{spoiler|[[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|drives anyone who handles it for an extended period stark raving mad]]}}.
** Also to some degree the Eluvian, though it was originally a perfectly normal artifact before the Darkspawn got to it.
* The ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
*** The Mirror of Twilight from the same game turns demure, unassuming Yeta into the crazy ice-monster Blizzeta.
{{quote|
* ''[[
* DarkChips, in the ''[[
** The OOParts in ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]'' aren't explicitly evil, but they do want to rebuild the tribe they are from, starting by taking over whoever possesses them.
** In the [[Alternate Continuity|other continuity]], ''[[Mega Man ZX]]'' gives us the original Biometal, Model W, {{spoiler|which is what remained of the [[Complete Monster]] of the [[Mega Man Zero
* ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' had the Black Materia whose only purpose (that was explained to the player at least) would bring a cataclysmic force against the planet and destroy it. On fear that Sephiroth would get through all of the traps and bosses and gain it for himself, the party of heroes decide to head in and retrieve it for themselves to keep it safe. {{spoiler|At that point, the [[Brainwashed and Crazy|indoctrination]] kicks in and [[MacGuffin Delivery Service|Cloud delivers the goods]].}}
* ''Every single'' one of the twenty-seven True Runes in the ''[[Suikoden]]'' series are Artifacts of Doom. They give their host a supernatural ability and [[Immortality|Type II (Undying) Immortality]]. However, each True Rune has a [[Evil Weapon|will of its own]]. In the ''worst'' case scenario, it will take [[Demonic Possession|control of your personality]], afflict you with a curse that ruins your life and/or eventually [[Body Horror|transform your body]] into a [[Eldritch Abomination]]. In the ''best'' case scenario, it will subtly encourage you to use its powers as much as possible to upset the natural balance of the world, leading to [[The End of the World
** A interesting example is the ''True Rune of Punishment'' from ''[[Suikoden IV]]'' By the time characters figure out what it is, the rune has killed EVERYONE who is seen using it. In an optional scene, the main character can overhear a discussion where other characters discuss who is going to get the rune next ''after it kills the main character!''
*** Subverted after gathering the 108 Stars {{spoiler|which requires forgiving Snowe, whose cowardice and mistakes in the beginning of the game led to the main character's exile and disgrace in the first place}}. The Rune of Punishment governs atonement ''and'' forgiveness, so this act shifts it into the "forgiveness" phase. The final attack granted by the Rune of Punishment actually ''heals'' the main character instead of [[Cast From HP|taking away his health]] like the earlier attacks. {{spoiler|He even avoids dying in the end.}}
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* The Terror Mask from the ''[[Splatterhouse]]'' series is a sentient, diabolic mask (roughly shaped like a grinning skull) that grants its wearer tremendous power. Its true goal is a [[Batman Gambit]] to ''take over Hell''.
* In the ''[[Chzo Mythos]]'' series of games, there are quite a few Artifacts of Doom, the most obvious being {{spoiler|the cursed idol that innocently sits in a bell jar in the first game until the jar gets broken}}.
* The Rings in ''[[
** The Egg from ''[[
* The Silver Armlet from ''[[Beyond Oasis]]''
* In the game based on the manga of the same name, the Anubis Stand from ''[[
* Phazon from the ''[[Metroid]] Prime'' series. The Space Pirates (and, in the third game, {{spoiler|[[The Federation]]}}) seem to think it's just a nifty [[Applied Phlebotinum]] that gives them lots of power. It is, however, strongly implied that Phazon has its own sentience and desires to spread and corrupt everything.
** {{spoiler|[[The Federation]]}} knows about the corrupting effects of Phazon. {{spoiler|That's why they hire Samus to help them get rid of it all}}. They just like the extra power it gives in the short term.
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*** In [[The Elder Scrolls Novels]], Umbra is too much for even {{spoiler|Clavicus Vile, a ''Daedric Prince'', to handle. It steals a good chunk of his power before he manages to get rid of it.}}
** Speaking of corruption: There are a few more (mostly daedric) artifacts that could probably qualify for this rope. Such as the aptly named Skull of Corruption, which in Skyrim {{spoiler|steals dreams of people and gives them nightmares}} or Mehrunes Razor, though, admittedly, for most of the daedric artifacts it's actually only an 'air' of doom that is often also created by the way they are acquired, such as the Ring of Namira in Skyrim, for which {{spoiler|you have to lure a priest to a cave and eat him together with a coven of cannibals}}.
* The Mani Mani from ''[[
* The web-based MMORPG Mojo Ave had the ultimate example of an
* The {{spoiler|Fuyuki Holy Grail}} in ''[[Fate/stay
* The Geneforges and canisters in the ''Geneforge'' series. You ''will'' become violent and crazy if you use the Geneforge or too many canisters. [[Evil Feels Good|By the time you realize that, you won't care.]]
* Interestingly, according to a legend, the keyblades from ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' saved AND destroyed the world. Until now, we only saw the "save" part. The "destroy" part will probably be emphasized in ''Birth by Sleep''.
** Birth by Sleep revealed that a [http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Keyblade_War Keyblade War] happened before BBS happened.
* The Marker from ''[[Dead Space (
** {{spoiler|Doubly subverted in that it's not that the Marker itself is the Artifact of Doom. The Marker is, in fact, a sentient containment device for the [[Big Bad]] that spawns the Necromorphs.}} It's also what creates the titular [[Title Drop|"dead space"]]- {{spoiler|an energy field that repels the Necromorphs.}}
*** Even if it does {{spoiler|create the dead space that suppresses the Necromorphs}}, the Marker still makes people slowly go crazy, see their dead relatives, write strange messages on the wall in their own blood, and kill themselves.
*** In ''[[
* The Artifacts from ''[[Unreal II:
* The Celestial Stone in ''[[
* The Star Forge in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]''. Described as "an artifact of [[The Dark Side]]", it's a piece of [[Magitek]] that feeds off the evil impulses of those who use it. According to the sequel, {{spoiler|only a strong-willed individual can use it with anything approaching safety.}}
** At least Revan was a bit [[Genre Savvy]] about it, unlike Malak...
* In one installment of ''Curiosities of Lotus Asia'' (a series of [[All There in the Manual|side stories]] to [[
** Rinnosuke does eventually decide to destroy it and attempts to smash it with a mallet, only to have Yukari stick her hand through one of her gaps and catch the mallet, waggle a finger at Rinnosuke, and take the Game Boy, leaving Rinnosuke dumbstruck.
* ''[[Uninvited]]'' for the NES features a ruby that, if it is in your inventory, results in the player being possessed by a demon in about 60 turns. It serves no other purpose.
* The Demon Crown in ''[[
* ''[[Fallout 3]]'' gives us the ominous, Lovecraftian obelisk in the Dunwich Building's Virulent Underchambers. Not the cause of any doom so far, but it did drive [[Apocalyptic Log|Jaime]] pretty insane, and you do hear those "dark whispers of power" mentioned in the article description when around it. ''Point Lookout'' added the Krivbeknih (Necronomicon knock-off) into the mix, which you can destroy by pressing it against the obelisk, which absorbs the book and grows in power.
* The excavated [[Humongus Mecha|ATAC]] Zulwarn in ''[[Vanguard Bandits]]'' has the power to possess its rider's enemies; according to the worst ending, it can also grant immortality. Unfortunately, it also has a tendency to overwhelm its rider's mind and make them into megalomaniacs. {{spoiler|This happens to Puck in the Ruin Path ending.}} It's not clear whether [[Big Bad|Faulkner]] was possessed or was evil enough for Zulwarn's approval.
* ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deception]]'' introduced the Datusha Kris, Ashrah's weapon of choice. Originally said to purify its user with each evil slain, ''MK:Armageddon'' revealed it was a sentient-sword that manipulates (or even ''forces'') its user into becoming a [[Blood Knight]], apparently so it can use itself on slaughtering the Vampire race, of which the kris is its only "natural" enemy.
* The Artifact from ''[[Doom]] 3''. It was created by the forces of Hell to counter the Soul Cube the martians created to fight them, and to act as a key many years later, when humanity has colonized Mars. It gives the wielder the powers of super speed, [[One-Hit Kill|one hit kill]], super strength and invulnerability but it has to be fueled by human souls and as long as it's on the living world, Hell'll always have a way into the world and the only way to make sure that Hell wouldn't conquer Earth is to destroy The Artifact in Hell for good ... which {{spoiler|Betruger}} will not tolerate.
* The Shabby Doll from ''[[Silent Hill 4]]'', which causes unremovable hauntings if you put it in the item chest.
* {{spoiler|The Patriots}} in the ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' series are in fact {{spoiler|four computers built by the aging leader of a conspiracy who no longer trusted his co-conspirators to be completely loyal to the cause. Eventually they did no longer obey him, kept him as their prisoner, and went for full out world domination.}}
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* {{spoiler|The ARI}} from ''[[Heavy Rain]]'', since {{spoiler|it's highly addictive, and can eventually kill Norman Jayden, the character using it. If it does, his [[Cowboy Cop]] partner Blake puts it on, and he sees a digital version of Jayden standing over him, with a scary smirk on his face}}.
* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', there's a 37 million year-old dead [[Eldritch Abomination|Rea]][[Sapient Ship|per]]. It still indocrinates people.
{{quote|
** {{spoiler|Any Reaper tech is this to some degree.}}
* The Nox Nyctores from the ''[[
** It is arguable that Ragna isn't one to talk, though. Especially not considering the fact that his [[Red Right Hand]] is the titular Blaz Blue, an artifact of doom that, if he ever lost control over it, could spawn a monster with the potential to destroy what is left of the world.
* The Dark Star from ''[[
* All four of the Ancients' essences from ''[[Eternal Darkness]]''
* The Black Jewel from ''[[
* The Skull Heart from ''[[
* The [[Chaos Emeralds]] from the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series become this in the wrong hands; they've been revealed to be the power source for a BFG enormous cannon held within a space station, and said cannon can end the world when at full power.
* Spoofed in the second ''[[
* ''Department 42: The Mystery of the Nine'' involves the recovery of nine cursed artifacts with a limited intelligence that enabled them to escape the safekeeping of the titular agency and do various funky things to their unlucky possessors.
* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne]]'' has several. First and foremost, the Magatama - demonic parasites/symbiotes used as combination of armor and spellbook, capable of transforming humans into half-demons. This ability alone is enough to make them inscrutably dangeous, and considering the [[Satan|apparent]] [[Xanatos Gambit|maker]], this can't be a good thing. There are also several cursed items called Deathstones, slivers of misfortune and death, used in [[Fusion Dance|devil fusion]] to summon the Incarnations of Death as servants, and can only be found as you progress in the [[Hell|Labyrinth of Amala]].
* The [[Cthulhu Mythos|Nomicon]] of the [[Rance]] Series.
== Web Comics ==
* The Book of E-Ville from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. Or at least that's how most of the characters treat it. While it contains more than one spell for summoning world-destroying demons, it has yet to actually do much of anything malevolent aside from following Gwynn around.
* The motorcycle {{spoiler|containing the soul of an [[Omnicidal Maniac]], [[Evil Overlord]] [[Light Is Not Good|unicorn]] named [[Fluffy the Terrible|Sparklelord]]}} from ''[[
* In ''[[Goblins]]'', the Axe of Piridan is a major subversion: while Big-Ears intially senses a palpaple aura of evil around it, and we initially see it in the hands of a [[Complete Monster]], it's actually a ''Good'' weapon. The aura comes from the fact that it's a [[Restraining Bolt]] against a powerful demon, and it won't hurt a [[Knight in Shining Armor|Paladin]] unless the Paladin wants it too... which is unlikely at best.
** The Shield of Wonder is a straight example: it provides a random, usually very squicky, effect each time it blocks a weapon.
* The statue of Eris in ''[http://www.discordiacomic.com Discordia]'' behaves like this (for the few scenes before it is destroyed) because it [[Sealed Evil in
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* The "Holiday Spirit" serves as this in the webcomic ''[[Holiday Wars]]'' and is deeply coveted by the [[Easter Bunny]].
* The swords Grace and Éclat from ''[[The Adventures of Wiglaf and Mordred]]''.
* In ''[[Impure Blood]]'', the
* In ''[[Endstone]]'', the Banestone. The most powerful overstone, and it drives its rockers mad.
* In ''[[
== Web Original ==
* ''[[Open Blue]]'' plays with this trope. In its [[Low Fantasy|relatively non-magical]] present timeline (the v3 version, at least), the myriad of blessed weapons used by the [[Precursors]]' [[Praetorian Guard]] have become the stuff of legend, including nasty ones. While the weapons themselves aren't evil per se (a [[Player Character]] and descendant of said [[Praetorian Guard]] uses one with no side effects), their very existence has triggered a race between two rival empires to [[Gotta Catch Em All|collect more than what the other has]], presumably to use them as [[Weapon of Mass Destruction|WMD]]'s in an anticipated war.
* Lightsabers are treated like Artifacts of Doom in ''[[Three in The Afternoon]]''
* Collecting and containing these is the whole point of the fictional ''[[
* ''[[Tech Infantry]]'' has the magical sword Kuar, which grants you invisibility and increasing magical power, then sucks out our soul. There is also The Orb, a mystical artifact of untold power which is sought by the Caal.
* The {{spoiler|gyroids}} in ''[[The Terrible Secret of Animal Crossing]].''
* The Book of Stories in the eponymous [[The Book of Stories
* The Heart of Darkness in ''[[The Gungan Council]]'' corrupts Phylis Alince into rallying [[The Alliance]] in attacking the Sith en masse and nearly converts her to the dark side.
* [[Atop the Fourth Wall
* In the webisode, "Curses!", [[The League of STEAM]] have a cursed artifact appraised, in a curio shop that apparently specializes in [[Artifacts of Doom]].
== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[Pirates of Dark Water]]'', Dark Water itself can be hazardous to your health.
* In the 90s' ''Spider-Man'' [[Spider-Man:
* In the animated series based on ''[[Wild CATS]].'', the series [[MacGuffin]] that the heroes and villains are in a desperate race to find, the Orb, is an artifact left behind by the [[Precursors]] on Earth that can give anyone power on a cosmic scale. {{spoiler|It's also evil to the core, possibly more evil than the [[Big Bad]] himself}}. Guess the [[Precursors]] hid the thing on Earth for good reason.
* The Eye of Odin from ''[[
** This stands in contrast to the Phoenix Gate, which is a subversion. Though many groups in the setting desire it as readily-accessible time travel, it only allows the creation of a [[Stable Time Loop]]. [[Wild Mass Guessing|Fans have inferred]] this to mean something else is controlling the gate and its users.
* In one episode of ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'', an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] summons a golden flute with the power to destroy the world. He used [[The Lord of the Rings|The Ring Inscription]].
* Spoofed to epic levels on ''[[The Venture Brothers]]''. The ORB in is a small round device constructed by the greatest minds in history over hundreds of years, with the power to destroy the world. It is so feared that the Guild of Calamitous Intent, the OSI and the Venture Family each set up decades-spanning [[Batman Gambit
* The ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' episode "Armored and Dangerous" has the invincible armor of Kileem, a powerful warlord who was undefeated in battle generations ago. The Sultan, who puts on the armor in order to stop a minotaur threatening Agrabah, becomes invulnerable and immensely strong, but is possessed by the spirit of Kileem, who turns out to be an inflammable tyrant and warmonger, who not only plans to conquer the Seven Deserts and later the world but condemns Jasmine to death for resisting him. Aladdin stops him by tricking him into destroying the statue that is the source of Kileem's power, releasing the Sultan from his control and saving Jasmine.
* From ''[[
** To further prove the point, it also drove ''his [[Right-Hand Attack Dog|dog]]'' insane.
* Episode 16 of [[Scooby Doo Mystery Inc]] reveals that the reason the town may be doomed is that [[Big Bad|Professor Pericles]] is searching for the Cursed Treasure of Crystal Cove.
* The second episode of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' circles around an amulet with a bright green gem that causes the bearer to transform into the spirit of the Dragon of Aaragon when angry.
* The two-part episode of ''[[
* Horror's Hand from ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy|Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure]]''. This gauntlet with a demonic eye on the palm used to be a titan’s left hand, until he decided to channel all his fear into it and then cut it off, so he would be completely fearless warrior. (Not the best idea, seeing as he was left-handed.) The Hand now forces anyone who tries to claim it to confront their greatest fear, but if they succeed in doing so, the one who claims it becomes an embodiment of terror with unlimited power. Billy (or rather, a future version of him) claims at the end of the movie that he is from a [[Bad Future]] where Mandy claimed it and enslaved all of humanity in only two weeks.
== Real Life ==
* Many people believe that nuclear weapons are the real life version of this trope, since knowledge of nuclear weapons and the logic of [[Cold War|Mutually Assured Destruction]] is self-perpetuating. In a classic [[Catch-22]], it would take a [[Apocalypse How|civilization-ending]] event to put the nuclear genie back in the bottle (or in the best case, terminal global economic decline) and then it would become [[Sealed Evil in
* Two Manhattan Project physicists, [[wikipedia:Demon core|Henry K. Daghlian Jr. and Louis Slotin]], died from radiation poisoning in two separate criticality accidents in 1945 and 1946 involving the same plutonium bomb core assembly. Said device became known as the [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|"Demon Core"]].
* Some fundamentalist Christians seem to feel this way about practically any form of entertainment that is not perceived to be biblical ([[The New Rock and Roll|rock music]] and ''[[Dungeons
* A common joke in Hollywood is that [[Academy Award| the Oscar statuette is cursed]], and that winning it means the recipient's career is likely to go downhill. This would be funny if not for the fact that this happens to a ''lot'' of Oscar winners. To give two examples in recent history, [[Nicholas Cage]] has starred in a lot of garbage since winning Best Actor for ''[[Leaving Las Vegas]]''; [[Geena Davis]] won Best Supporting Actress for ''[[The Accidental Tourist]]'', but would later be known for ''[[Cutthroat Island]]'', one of the biggest [[Box Office Bomb]]s of all time.
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