Clingy MacGuffin: Difference between revisions

[[File:clingymcguffin 3652.jpg|link=The Mummy Trilogy|frame|Poor kid has to spend the rest of the series finding another [[MacGuffin]] just to get rid of this one! ]]

 

 

[[Applied Phlebotinum]] with one specific quirk: you cannot get rid of it. It cannot be removed, lost, given away, buried, thrown in the ocean, blown up, or separated from the owner in any way. It's usually not intelligent or sentient, but is nonetheless bound to you, for better or worse, till death do you part.

 

If the [[MacGuffin]] is a piece of clothing, it's a [[Clingy Costume]]. Compare [[Loyal Phlebotinum]], which can be physically separated from the owner but still only works for its [[Chosen One]].

 

{{examples}}

* Bakura's Millennium Ring in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! (manga)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' [[Up to Eleven]] in the Manga, where the ring {{spoiler|[http://www.mangareader.net/285-20525-12/yu-gi-oh/chapter-50.html embedded itself into Bakura's chest.]}} [[Bowdlerise|This didn't make it into the Anime.]]

* Manjyome's Ojama spirit monsters in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]''.

* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': Kaijinbou forges [[Evil Weapon|Toukijin]] but cannot get rid of it. It [[Demonic Possession|controls]] his will, driving him to hunt Inu-Yasha and eventually (accidentally) killing Kaijinbou through sheer force of power. Death doesn't separate them, Toukjin just animates Kaijinbou's body and keeps going. In the end, Inu-Yasha has to hack off the smith's wrist to separate them, which allows the dead body to disintegrate, leaving Toukijin behind. When Sesshoumaru touches Toukijin, his will is so powerful it instantly defeats Toukijin's power, turning Toukijin into a [[Loyal Phlebotinum]] instead.

 

* ''Pierino e il burattino'' (''Peter and the Puppet'', an Italian comic, by Antonio Rubino, 1919) used this trope as subject. Obsessively. Although defining the puppet as [[Applied Phlebotinum]] can be excessive: it has no apparent property or power, but it comes always back to its unwilling beholder.

* One of these features prominently in one of the issues of the Spanish comic ''[[Mortadelo Y Filemon]]'', titled "The Warlock": a magical note, enchanted to kill anyone who reads it. The titular characters subsequently try to remove it by the most varied means, chucking it into the bin, triturating it, burying it, tying it to a rock and throwing it to the sea, and ''hitting it with a full discharge of a flamethrower''. And yet the note manages to never be actually harmed due to some kind of karmic immunity that causes people around it to suffer instead.

* The Star Brand of ''[[The New Universe]]'', an energy source that can do anything the user wants to. However, even if you do find a way to get rid of it, a piece of it will still live on in you and recharge itself.

 

* Loki's Mask from ''[[The Mask (film)|The Mask]]'' (the Jim Carrey movie) falls into this category: when Stanley tries to throw it out the window, it boomerangs right back to where he picked it up from. It also functions in a [[Hostage for McGuffin]] scenario, although this is subverted by the fact that ''Stanley himself'' is the hostage, trying to save his own life.

* In ''[[Click]]'', the "Universal Remote Control" given to the main character. In one sequence, the character tries to rid himself of the device, but it returns in a variety of hilarious ways.

* The bracelet-gun in ''[[Cowboys and Aliens (film)|Cowboys and Aliens]]''. Later subverted when it turns out {{spoiler|he just didn't know where the button was to release the catch}}.

 

* The young adult novel ''[[The Eyes of Kid Midas]]'' features a pair of sunglasses that allow the wearer to change reality any way he wants... but the glasses cannot be removed.

* The short story "The Zahir" by [[Jorge Luis Borges]] involves a variant on this trope. The title object is cursed, causing anyone who sees it to become gradually unable to think of anything else. The main character succeeds in getting rid of the zahir itself, but is unable to get it out of his head.

* ''[[Discworld]]''

** The Luggage and Rincewind in many of the books, which can follow its owner to nonmagical worlds and the end of time itself. The Luggage is made of sapient pearwood, a rare wood that grows in high-magic areas. ''Anything'' made of sapient pearwood gains virtual immunity to magic and the ability to follow its owner anywhere in the multiverse, which is why a traveling chest made of sapient pearwood is said to be more valuable than anything and everything that said chest could possibly contain. And given that it's also a [[Bag of Holding]], that can be quite a lot of stuff.

* ''[[Goosebumps]]''

** Slappy the recurring [[Demonic Dummy]] and his one-shot equally evil peer, Mr. Wood.

* Another Tolkien example, from ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', is the Silmarils and the Necklace of the Dwarves (which was built around one of the Silmarils). Morgoth is unable to part with the Silmarils even though their holy light burns him, and later Beren is unable to throw away the Necklace when he is told to, instead giving it to Luthien to wear.

* Played with in [[Gene Wolfe]]'s ''[[Book of the New Sun]]'' series, which takes place billions of years in the future. The hero, Severian, believes that the tiny claw shaped piece of [[Lost Technology]] called the Claw of the Conciliator that he had been carrying with him for a while was destroyed in an artillery bombardment. However, he later pricks himself on a bush and finds that the thorn is the Claw. However, later he discovers that {{spoiler|he had actually subconsciously created a new Claw using a psychic link to some [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]] that he did not know he had. He later goes back in time and gives the new Claw to the same religious order that he got the old one from, creating a [[Time Paradox]]. During the same time trip he acquires his link to [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]] from [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]], giving his younger self the power to create the Claw.}}

* In ''[[Wicked (novel)|Wicked]]'', when Elphaba finally confronts Dorothy, she demands Nessarose's silver slippers, which Dorothy is wearing. Unfortunately, Dorothy finds that the slippers won't come off her feet, much to her and Elphaba's mutual frustration. Dorothy [[lampshade]]s this trope by stating that she's been trying to get the slippers off for days... [[Too Much Information|and now her socks are so sweaty that "it's not to be believed."]]

* In [[David Eddings]]' ''[[The Belgariad]]'', Princess Ce'Nedra is given a magical amulet by Belgarath, Polgara, and Garion that once belonged to Garion's ultimate grandmother. Once accepted and donned willingly, it cannot be removed by anything short of the wearer's death. Being the [[Alpha Bitch]] as well as a [[Tsundere]], Ce'Nedra at first bursts into tears thinking they are giving her a symbol of enslavement, but later discovers that the amulet gives her unique powers of perception.

* The Device of Time Journeying in Weis and Hickman's ''[[Dragonlance]]'' novels stays with the person to whom it is given.

* [[Robert Westall]]'s ''[[The Cats of Seroster]]'' features a knife that conveys immortality on its owner and if you try to discard it will come back to you or bring you back to it. The only way to get rid of it is to trick someone else into taking it.

* [[E. E. "Doc" Smith]]'s Lens is this after a fashion. Yes, those who acquire it do so deliberately and in full knowledge of the cost, and the thing is not ''intrinsically'' troublesome, but earning it elevates one to a rank that carries grave responsibilities for all its wearers; promotion to the elite ("Unattached" status) carries a 90% mortality rate (and the survivors are mostly artificial parts); and you '''can't ever give the thing away''' because it'll kill anyone who comes into more than fleeting contact with it. Come the final battle against the Eddorians, even Lensmen long since retired are required to do their bit.

 

* Many objects in sci-fi/horror anthology shows fall into the evil stalker category: the "Talky Tina" doll and the guitar in ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'', the Curious Camera in ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark?]]''...

* The magic car that Sabrina bought without her aunts' permission in ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]''.

* In ''[[The Invisible Man (TV series)|The Invisible Man]]'', an artificial gland that allows a person to become invisible is implanted into a convict named Darrien Fawkes. The only person who can remove it is killed by the series [[Big Bad]], who wants control of the gland.

 

* The title doll in Jonathan Coulton's "[http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/Creepy%20Doll Creepy Doll]{{Dead link}}".

* Musical example: "[[The Cat Came Back]]" ... the very next day ... The cat came back ... they thought he was a goner, but the cat came back ... he just wouldn't stay away!

* in ''Vicki Vomit'''s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj59W57hV80 "Wohin mit Oma's Leiche"] he can't get rid of his dead grandmother.

 

* The story of the ring that returns to the owner (and often carries with it a bad omen) is [[Older Than Feudalism]]. It goes back to Ancient Greece, but appears in folklore in many variations: The oldest version is probably the story of Polykrates, tyrant of Samos, as recounted in ''[[The Histories]]'' by Herodotus of Halicarnassus (5th century BCE). Polykrates threw a precious ring into the sea as sacrifice to the gods, because his friend, the pharaoh Amasis, was afraid that Polykrates' legendary luck might anger the gods and they would destroy him. A few days later, a fisherman caught a beautiful fish and brought it to his king as a gift. When the fish was cooked and cut open, Polykrates' ring was found in its belly. A bad omen, since this meant that the gods had rejected the sacrifice. The German poet Friedrich Schiller based his poem "The Ring of Polykrates" on Herodotus.

** In Schiller's poem, the [[Genre Savvy]] friend immediately packs his bags and leaves, because somebody with that good luck is bound to get Karma Backlash soon.

** Also happens in a tale told about [[wikipedia:Saint Mungo|Saint Mungo]]—in this case, the ring clears a queen of infidelity. The fish and ring are on the Glasgow city coat of arms.

** [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|The Brothers Grimm]] used a slightly different version of the trope in the fairy tale "The White Snake", only this time the lost ring belonged to an unnamed queen and was found in the belly of a duck.

{{quote|'''Granny:''' You know what they say about women who wear red boots.

'''Nanny:''' Just as long as they also say they have dry feet. }}

* Karna from ''[[Mahabharata]]'' with his father's gift "kavach kundal". He ended up having to cut the thing off his body.

 

* A mild example occurs in ''[[The Dark Crystal]]''. Jen throws the Crystal Shard away into a dark swamp at night. That should be one very lost shard. But the next morning there it is, far less than a stone's throw away from where the heroes have slept.

 

* In the ''Suspense'' episode "The Pasteboard Box", a man murders his twin brother in order to [[Twin Switch|take his place]], dismembers the body to dispose of it more easily—and then just can't get rid of the pasteboard box containing the head. {{spoiler|Until the end, when the police show up to arrest the other twin for murdering his secretary. He tries to prove his true identity by showing them his brother's head, and opens the pasteboard box to find that he did manage to get rid of the head after all, and ''this'' box only contains the fishbowl he ordered earlier.}}

 

 

* The obscure fantasy game ''Dragon Warriors'' featured Vallandar's swords in the first adventure. Vallandar was the universe's King Arthur-equivalent who would return to his kingdom at the end of the world, and anyone who took one of the swords (they were just standing there) would have it with them forever so that they could join him. Bury it in the woods, drop it in an ocean, and a few days later it would return to your inventory. These were good swords though, and would even become magical if the player played his cards right.

* Many cursed items in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' do this:

* ''[[Geist: The Sin Eaters]]'': Each Sin-Eater has a Keystone Memento, an object that exists partially in Twilight and represents the Bargain they struck with their [[Our Ghosts Are Different|geist]]. It can never be taken from the Sin-Eater, and if it is, it just disappears and reappears the next time they call on it.

 

* The Soul Reaver of ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'', as his "symbiotic weapon", becomes forever inseparable from [[Supporting Protagonist]] Raziel once he obtains it—more so in ''Defiance'', where it serves as the only weapon he and Kain ever wield.

* "The Thing That Your Aunt Gave You That You Don't Know What It Is", in the old [[Infocom]] text adventure version of ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game)|The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'', can be briefly thrown away, but will always return automatically to your inventory. Even if you've [[Time Travel|time travelled]] or [[Fantastic Voyage|shrunk yourself and entered your own brain]]. It's mentioned in-game that you've been trying to get rid of it for years. But it's a good thing it always comes back, since it's also a {{spoiler|[[Bag of Holding]]}}.

* The Pyrite Parrot of Petaluma? in ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]]'', which survives being molten and keeps coming back to Guybrush Threepwood.

* In ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'', collecting the Stop N Swop items will cause them to stay in your inventory forever. You cannot get rid of them, even if you delete your save file. You can, however, get rid of them if you are playing the XBLA version of the game.

* The dead fish in ''[[Space Quest]] 6''. It's confiscated twice from you. First, when you're captured by the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Mook]]s. When you teleport away, one of them throws it back to you ("Here's your fish!"). The second time is when you are capture by the security personnel on the ''DeepShip 86''. When you escape on a stolen shuttlecraft, a bunch of [[Star Wars|Imperial stormtroopers]] show up, one of which throws the fish into the shuttle's engine with the same words. Subverted in that the fish turns out to be quite useful in the end.

* In some ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' games, Link and Zelda are stated to have had parts of the triforce [[It Was with You All Along|with them all along]]. In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|Ocarina of time]]'', this forces Zelda to disguise herself as Sheik to stop the [[Big Bad]] from getting it, implying that there's no way to just remove it and hide it somewhere. In Link's case, this is implied to be the reason he's the one who has to go on the quest to save the world.

 

* The book of E-Ville in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', as illustrated by this [https://web.archive.org/web/20140327205536/http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=041219 comic]

* In ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'', Quentyn's sword "[[Wild Card]]" is indicated to be just such a [[MacGuffin]]—its efforts to get back to its holder increase in direct proportion to the distance it is from him and the level of danger he appears to be in at the time... and [https://web.archive.org/web/20120528221855/http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00191.html it's pretty unsubtle in how it tries to get there.]

* Blinker Stones from ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' are a rather benign variety. They can be retrieved from anywhere with a thought, even if you don't own the stone, though it's not clear whether one can be taken from its owner using this method.

* The Necklace of Septumet in the currently defunct comic ''For Your Eyes Only'' not only had a difficult to control ([[Hypno Trinket|and undesirable]], [[Chick Magnet|at least for the current wearer]]) power, but it ''transforms into a tattoo'' when put on, making it irremovable.

* The [http://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/163 artifacts] that give Sydney her powers in ''[[Grrl Power]]''. They cannot get more than a few metres [http://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/370 from her] or her [http://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/184 from them]. How [http://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/201 they react] seems to be based on the [[Rule of Drama]] or [[Rule of Funny]].

 

* The ''[[SCP Foundation]]'' object [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-050 SCP-050], which only switches owners if someone plays a good enough prank on its current owner.

* In one ''[[Rooster Teeth]]'' short, Geoff experiences this trope with a box he stole from the Devil in a dream—it was on his chest when he awoke, throwing it into a dumpster only causes it to leap back out, and in spite of leaving it at home that morning, it was sitting on his desk when he got to work.

* The Amulet of Cthon from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]''. Putting it on makes a person utterly invulnerable to attack from forces both mystical and scientific... and slowly causes the user to become obsessed with [[Eldritch Abomination|the Great Old Ones]], to the point that within a couple of years, the wearer is an utterly invulnerable cultist devoted to bringing the Old Ones back. And it won't come off until the wearer dies...

 

* The Omnitrix in ''[[Ben 10]]'' can't be removed without ''incredibly'' specialized equipment, skills, and technical knowledge—and a whole lotta pain. You could also kill the person wearing it or cut off the limb that the Omnitrix is attached to. Naturally, the [[Big Bad]] tries this but is thwarted by the good guys before he gets the chance to hack the boy's arm off. Oddly, in the [[What If]] episode where Gwen gets the Omnitrix, the [[Big Bad]] indicates that he ''could'' remove it a lot less painfully (though Gwen hadn't been wearing it nearly as long), but wants to hack it off anyway [[For the Evulz]].

* Subverted in the immediate sequel, ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]]''. The series finale reveals that Ben has learned how to remove the watch himself using a voice command and [[Override Command]], so it's not technically a Clingy MacGuffin anymore. {{spoiler|It gets destroyed before the episode ends, and it's currently unclear if his new Ultamatrix is clingy or not.}}

* The Green Shoes in the ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoon ''The Wearing of the Grin''.

 

* This can happen to people who wear the same ring for too long, such as a wedding band. Over time, a person's fingers can develop around the ring to the point where it becomes stuck and can't be removed without filing it off. It's common enough that specialist tools exist just for removing such rings.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Transformation Causes]]

[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]

[[Category:Fairy Tale Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]

[[Category:Magic Items Index]]