Artifact of Doom: Difference between revisions

[[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> ]]

 

 

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]].

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[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.

** 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 [[C³|Cubex Cursedx Curious]], where the series revolves around the idea that a cursed item eventually becomes intelligent and [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|able to take human form]]. And being cursed is ''[[Dark Is Not Evil|just as]] [[Non-Malicious Monster|traumatic]] [[The Woobie|to them]]''.

 

 

* In 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.

* 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]].

* 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.

* ''[[Kult]]'' has rules for possessed or otherwise evil items. One example is a maching gun that, when picked up, causes the wielder to go on a murdeous rampage, shooting everything in sight, friend or foe.

 

== Theatre ==