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Artifact of Doom: Difference between revisions
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* Satirized in ''[[Nodwick]]'' by "This One Ring", which is a One Ring parody that inspired an epic ''[[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}}.
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* 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 as We Know It]] unless it was launched back into space to remove its effect on the collective psyche. {{spoiler|But when they did this, the story subverted its own premise, because the item saved the entire planet; it was picked up by an alien armada of doom, whose leader consequently decided attacking the Earth would be pointless, and decided not to bother.}} Perhaps a [[True Neutral]] equivalent of the default evil Artifact of Doom.
* 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 [[Green Lantern]] Corps rings could become an Artifact of Doom under the right circumstances. The Orange Lantern ring curses its owner with ever-lasting greed and hunger. The Red Lantern ring causes heart stoppage and uncontrollable rage, and you can't take it off without it killing you. The Black Rings bring the dead back as undead Black Lanterns that crave hearts.
* 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.
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* The {{spoiler|eponymous ship}} in ''[[Event Horizon]]''.
* The [[Public Domain Artifact|Spear/Lance]] in ''[[Constantine]]''
* 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]].
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* In William King's ''[[Warhammer 40000]] [[Space Wolf]]'' novel ''Grey Hunter'', Ragnor and other [[Space Marine|Space Marines]] encounter an artifact which makes vast promises to them. Ragnor only breaks free when it tells him he has to kneel to the Ruinous Power to get it. And the others don't break free on their own; he has to help them.
* May or may not be averted in [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]]' ''[[The Magicians Nephew]]'', as the inscription over the enchanted bell only ''claims'' it'll drive you mad if you refrain from striking it. Even if it couldn't really cause insanity, ringing the bell awakened Jadis and introduced evil to [[Narnia]], which is "doom" in a way.
* That [[Tome of Eldritch Lore|tome of ineffable horrors]], the ''Necronomicon'' originating in the works of [[H.P. Lovecraft|HP Lovecraft]], though this is largely the result of being heavily [[Flanderized]]; a major percentage of the Lovecraft's protagonists read the book without becoming more than mildly neurotic. Breakdowns only tend to happen when what they've learned from the book seems to coincide with their recent experiences.
* In [[China Mieville]]'s ''[[The Scar]]'', Silas steals a statue from the grindylow which grants him mysterious powers, yet has the unfortunate side effect of slowly turning him into a fish-person.
* 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 with Fire|fries people where they stand]]. It also makes his hair turn blue. Zandakar later abandons it as he find it too destructive, his brother Dmmitak uses the gauntlet and never takes it off, even when he has sex. The knife which {{spoiler|Vortka gives Zandakar}} is also an example of this.
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** 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 evil -- except being a sword, it has no real idea what evil ''is'', and as such continually goads its wielder to try and kill everyone in sight just to be on the safe side. Also a [[Deadpan Snarker]].
* The quintessential example is [[Ring of Power|The One Ring]] from [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. The Ring [[Amplifier Artifact|grants power proportional to that of the wielder]], so the effect on a mere [[Hobbits]] is minimal (it just helps them "disappear" and makes them live forever), but in the hands of an elven mage or a demigod like Gandalf, it's a [[Game Breaker|world-breaking]] artifact. The downside is: it contains the spirit of its maker, the Dark Lord Sauron (aka the Necromancer), so it will eventually corrupt anyone who wears it, or owns it, or even sees it. Also, it's virtually indestructible, and the quest to destroy it takes about three-quarters of the plot.
** 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.}})
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== Myths & Religion ==
* 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.
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** 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 ''[[Earthbound]]'' is very desirable, and emits an aura that causes anyone who gets near it to be consumed with greed. These factors allow it to play a prominent role in getting the [[Big Bad]] to rise to power.
* The web-based MMORPG Mojo Ave had the ultimate example of an [[Artifact of Doom]]: "The Skull of Tony Teulan", a usable item which has the effect of turning off the game. Not the game of the user who used it, the ''entire game for everyone''. Since there was no way to reverse the effect, it only got used once.
* The {{spoiler|Fuyuki Holy Grail}} in ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]'' and ''[[Fate/Zero]]'', after it became [[The Corruption|corrupted]] by {{spoiler|granting a wish to create the source of "All The World's Evil"}}.
* 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 (video game)|Dead Space]]''. {{spoiler|Subverted. It's actually a government-manufactured copy of the real one.}}
** {{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.}}
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* 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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* Spoofed in the second ''[[Fantasy Quest]]'' game with the Golden Cufflink of Fire. You never learn precisely what it does, and the villain who possesses it is a bit of a joke.
* ''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.
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* ''[[Homestuck]]'' has the Sburb Beta... sort of. It's [[Zig Zagged Trope|never really clear]] whether it is the cause of anything or not.
* 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 device -- maybe. [http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Issue3/ib069.html Caspian complains that no one knows what it does], and they are chiefly afraid of it because it comes from the Ancients.
* In ''[[Endstone]]'', the Banestone. The most powerful overstone, and it drives its rockers mad.
* In ''[[Consequences of Choice]]'' The Invisus is a powerful stone entrusted to the class of Necromancers by the demigods of death.
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* Lightsabers are treated like Artifacts of Doom in ''[[Three in The Afternoon]]'' -- especially in its sequel.
* Collecting and containing these is the whole point of the fictional ''[[SCP Foundation]]''. The SCP Foundation has dozens of these, given the classification "keter" from the Hebrew word "crown", which is used in Qabalah to describe the highest principle of the universe. The methods used to contain these things are... intricate.
* ''[[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 OCT]] is as old as time and holds every Story ever told in every World. It's on its way of becoming this due to a mistake one of its guardians made.
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[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
[[Category:Artifact of Doom]]
[[Category:Magic Items Index]]
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