Cosmic Keystone: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[caption-width-right:320:[-In a realm beyond sight<br />The sky shines gold, not blue<br />There, the Triforce's might<br />Makes mortal dreams come true.-] ]]

{{quote|"Who designed this campaign setting? Why would you include four points of such catastrophic weakness that tampering with any of them results in the destruction of the global ecosystem? It makes no sense! A kind and loving creator would never have done this, and a cruel one would simply have made the air out of acid. And it wouldn't have evolved on its own, as there's no advantage to living in a world poised on the brink of annihilation!"|'''Red Mage''', ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'', "[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/02/28/episode-390-a-deal-with-the-devil/ A Deal with the Devil]"}}

 

== Anime & Manga ==

** When Ash meets one of the Frontier Brains, him and the others tell the Brain how impressive it is that he caught Articuno (although he didn't), showing that, at the very least, one CAN catch the birds as long as they aren't from the three islands. Either that, or Ash suffered from amnesia after that movie.

** One could make a very valid argument that except for the first, none of the movies obey the continuity of the show. The first movie had a lot of setup in the show, and is partially based on a plotline from the game, so it has to be canon. Plus it would get around the "how can Ash keep saving the world and yet nobody knows who he is" question.

*** One could make an argument, if it hadn't been Jossed by [[Word of God]] many, many times.

* In ''[[Dogma]]'', the cosmic keystone isn't an object, but a concept: God is Infallible. If God is ever proven wrong, existence would end. The movie's plot involves stopping two angels from doing that, by using [[You Fail Religious Studies Forever|Hollywood Catholic Dogma]] to end their banishment on earth.

* ''[[The Fifth Element]]'' didn't ''just'' have cosmic keystones, but a living [[Informed Ability|"perfect" human]], the titular Fifth Element, was the focus and trigger for the only weapon that could fend off the elemental, perfect evil that wanted to destroy the world.

* ''[[The Golden Child]]'' is a living cosmic keystone, keeping the forces of evil from devouring the world through his [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness]] alone.

 

 

* The <s>Holy Grail</s> Lightstone is the [[Cosmic Keystone]] of the ''[[Ea Cycle]]''. One would think something with that level of potential for abuse would have been guarded better.

* The ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series has ''The Book of Night with Moon'', a book which describes the entirety of existence and which must be read from periodically by wizards in order to remind Reality what it's supposed to be like. It's indestructible and can't be used by the [[Big Bad]], but simply keeping it out of the hands of the good guys for long enough will result in reality slowly unraveling.

** Interestingly, Jordan plays with this trope as the seals are gradually weakening (and outright breaking in some cases) without any outside influence. This is generally put down to The Dark One breaking free of his prison, because the seals are the focus of the magic that's doing the actual imprisoning, so although they're invincible normally, as the magic gets damaged so do they.

* The Orb of Aldur and the Sardion in the [[Belgariad]] and the Malloreon are stones which embody the conflicting destinies of the universe and bestow godlike power on anyone they allow to hold them.

* The Ruby Sunstone was said to be something like this for ''[[Dintopia]]'' in 'First Flight'; it would maintain a balance as long as it stayed in its place at Highnest, but trouble would ensure if it was removed. However, it may have simply been a legend or First Flight may not completely fit into the other books' canon, as the Sunstone was lost, then stolen briefly by Lee Crabb, then dropped into the sea during the final battle where Arthur and Will, helped by the Skybax,Northies and Giganotosaurs, managed to stop him.

 

== Religion and Mythology ==

** Interestingly, Revelation 5-6 and 8:1 speak of a scroll that is believed by scholars to be the title deed to the Earth. Now to whom could it belong? {{spoiler|[[Captain Obvious|It's Jesus.]]}}

* In [[Greek Mythology]], anyone who burns the entrails of the Ophiotaurus would gain the power to defeat the gods.

** ...How would anyone know the difference?

*** [[Bait and Switch Comparison|One would be a burning hellish landscape where ice and fire reign and the people are eternally tormented, while the other is hell.]]

* {{spoiler|The Heart of the Island}} in ''[[Lost]]''.

 

*** Later games reveal that {{spoiler|Kain killing himself would have doomed Nosgoth anyway. As the last true vampire, Kain's existence is connected to the Pillars since they were originally created by the vampires prior to their corruption. This makes ''Kain himself'' a [[Cosmic Keystone]].}}

* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series has many of these.

*** And there's a second full set of eight on the Moon. Using both sets together is what enabled the [[Big Bad]] to send the [[Humongous Mecha|Giant of Bab-il]] down to the world in order to raze it.

*** According to the Esper legend, the Warring Triad came to realize the horror they had brought upon the world, and voluntarily sealed themselves away. However, the raw magic that emanates from them is so powerful, they ''need'' to be sealed in a precise alignment to nullify each other, and prevent their mere existence from causing further damage.

** In ''Ocarina of Time'', Ganondorf makes a grab for the Triforce (whole) and it shatters: Power is given to Ganondorf, Wisdom goes to Zelda, and Courage goes to Link. The ''real'' Ganondorf has been with Power in almost every other game (''A Link to the Past'' is a notable exception since the Triforce is actually all in one place for once), while Link is often on quests to retrieve Courage and Zelda almost always has Wisdom innately (with the original game being exception for both).

*** Which in turn explains his incessant desire to kill or otherwise "deal with" Link and Zelda, since the death of either will release their part of the Triforce, making it up for grabs -- exactly what Ganondorf wants.

* In ''[[Valkyrie Profile Silmeria|Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria]]'', the four worlds of the setting are each stabilized by one of the four treasures. Removing a treasure from its world causes that world to quickly become unstable and eventually cease existing.

* The four seals in ''[[Drakengard]]'' fill this role. Partially subverted in that {{spoiler|the world was created far differently from how it appears, and the seals hold back the true world by replacing it with one that is user-friendly}}.

* In ''[[Nox]]'', the player must find the Halberd of Horrendous, the Heart of Nox, the Weirdling, and finally The Orb.

* In ''[[Diablo|Diablo II]]'', the evil Baal tries to capture the Worldstone. He aims to corrupt it and turn the mortal world into a bastion of Hell. {{spoiler|He pretty much succeeds. Tyrael is forced to destroy the Worldstone to keep Sanctuary from becoming part of Hell. Fortunately, destroying the Worldstone removes the seal on humanity's true potential as [[Yin-Yang Bomb|angel-demon hybrids]] (Sanctuary itself was created through an angel-demon union). Unfortunately, it also makes humanity a target for the fanatically anti-demon angels.}}

* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]] IV: Oblivion'': Inverted in that the player goes around entering small hellish dimensions stealing their cosmic keystones in order to collapse them and prevent the demons within from attacking your world. Of course, the reason the demons are able to do open up the portals is because the Cosmic Keystone on your side (The Amulet of Kings) was stolen, and you need to get it back.

** ''[[The Elder Scrolls]] III: Morrowind'' features the heart of Lorkhan, who is also the creator of Mundus and Nirn, in which the TES series takes place. Additionally, after having powered the massive golem Numidium once, the golem breaks reality each time it is turned on.

** Oblivion revolves around three cosmic keystones: the Emperor's bloodline, the Amulet of Kings, and the Dragonfires. The Dragonfires maintain the barrier that separates Mundus from the {{spoiler|(other?)}} Daedric Realms as long as they remain lit. They were created through a bloodpact between the Emperor's ancestor and the leader of the Aedra, the dragon god Akatosh. Due to this, the fires only remain lit so long as the current Emperor is still alive; if the Emperor dies, another of the bloodline must relight the fires using the Amulet of Kings (which holds Akatosh's own blood) or else the barrier weakens and eventually vanishes. By the end of the main campaign {{spoiler|all three keystones are lost. Mehrunes Dagon shatters the barrier and enters Mundus, rendering the Dragonfires useless. Martin Septim, the last member of the Emperor's bloodline, shatters the Amulet of Kings and sacrifices himself to become an avatar of Akatosh in order to fight off the Daedra Prince of Destruction. Dagon is sent back to Oblivion, but the dragon avatar is mortally wounded as well and turns into a statue that replaces the Dragonfires}}.

* Averted/Inverted in ''[[Suikoden]]'', with it's 27 True Runes. The runes are major parts of the world, and at least one is required for the continued existence of it's domain (The Dragon Rune allows dragons to exist) and the destruction of the 5 True Elemental Runes is Not A Good Thing. In fact, it's implied (and the [[Big Bad]] of [[Suikoden III]]'s plan is predicated on this premise) that the destruction of any one of the True Runes would destroy the world. However, the Runes are rarely in danger as they have wills of their own and generally control their bearer FAR more than their bearers control them.

** ''[[Video Game Pokemon Diamond And Pearl]]''/''Platinum'' were even more centered around the trope, if that's even possible. There were even ''separate levels'' of Cosmic Keystones here: {{spoiler|the Lake Trio, when brought together, created the Red Chain. That in turn summoned Dialga or Palkia, who were cosmic lynchpins that could literally destroy and reform the universe. ''Platinum'' takes it a step further, with the temporospatial chaos created by Dialga and Palkia's presence summoning Giratina, who could also destroy the world. Presumably with a bigger bang. And, wouldn't you know, some lunatic had the fantastic idea to make the Red Chain and (try to) pull this Trope.}}

*** To be fair, it WAS incredibly difficult. Cyrus DID have to {{spoiler|catch the three spirits first, and since they are described as mirages, well, you can imagine how hard that was. He then had to rip the gems out of them while avoiding their curse (look at Uxie's open eyes, and your memory is wiped. Touch Mesprit, and lose all emotions (although Cyrus would actually like that). Harm Azelf and become petrified for all time) and craft them into a chain. And in Platinum, he then had to copy the chain. Even after dragging out [[Olympus Mons|Dialga/Palkia]], the pixies came and contained the god. In Platinum, he used both chains to drag out both deities, since he knew that the Pixies could contain one, but not both. However, Giratina, pissed about the fact that, if you destroy that world, you destroy his as well, came out and dragged Cyrus into his world. Giratina, in fact, ended up inverting the trope as Cyrus tried to trick the player into not going near Giratina by saying catching or defeating Giratina would end both worlds, when in fact it was the only way to repair the rift created. And the player can even RUN AWAY from Giratina to calm him down and repair the rift, showing how damn easy it is to undo the damage done}}. I would say that those are some DAMN well guarded Cosmic Key Stones.

* ''[[Wild Arms]]'' has the Tear Drop - a crystal with a link to the guardians and should not be in the wrong hands. There's also the Ray Line, a sort of underground conduit linking the guardians' powers. When the villains manage to damage it, the forces of nature go out of whack, wreaking havoc.

** And this makes more sense if you take into consideration [[Blind Idiot Translation]]: Ray Line = ''[[Ley Line]]''. Indeed, it was translated as Leyline in the [[Video Game Remake|remake]].

* In ''[[Vagrant Story]]'', the city you fight in is the [[Cosmic Keystone]]. Yes, drawing on its power irrevocably damns your soul, and sometimes you can't even stop yourself from using it. Yes, it also unravels that pesky [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]] (''OR DOES IT?''). And yes, everyone and their grandmother has designs on the bloody place, including that [[Corrupt Church]]. All to the point where you don't know who might have the right idea up. Until the end, where it becomes a case of who's the last man standing.

** Said [[Cosmic Keystone]], named 'The Gran Grimoire', is the source of all magical energy in the world. And, in the Final Fantasy games that tie in with Vagrant Story, normally manifests as a book that created, and is holding together, the entire world.

* The [[Infocom]] [[Interactive Fiction]] game ''Spellbreaker'' has its protagonist traveling the world in search of its Cosmic Keystones, which in a borderline subversion manifest as featureless white cubes that are utterly indistinguishable from one another (but can be written on to differentiate them; this was considered a neat feature when the game first came out). {{spoiler|It turns out that this is all part of a [[Xanatos Gambit]] executed by the protagonist's evil magical doppelganger: you've been playing [[MacGuffin Delivery Service]] for him all along, and once you unwittingly bring all the cubes to him, he magically paralyzes you and uses the cubes to build a tesseract - a ''hyper''cube - at the center of which is the Cube of Magic. Once he enters the hypercube, reality will reconfigure itself around him - essentially [[A God Am I|turning him into a god]] - but the protagonist can use his [[Heroic Resolve]] to shake off the doppelganger's spell just in time to replace the Cube of Magic with something nonmagical, erasing your evil twin from existence... [[The Magic Goes Away|as well as magic,]] unfortunately.}}

* The Seven Seals in ''[[Darksiders]]'' are essentially a countdown to Armageddon. Breaking the Seventh is the signal for everybody to engage in the massive cosmic winner-take-all power struggle that is the Endwar, with the Horsemen ready to clean up the mess when everything is resolved.

* The Stone-Like in ''[[Radiant Silvergun]]'' and ''[[Ikaruga]]''.

* ''[[Nie R]]'' has {{spoiler|The Shadowlord, the supposed [[Big Bad]] of the game. He's the reason that the Shades, AKA the unrelapsed souls of humanity haven't all gone insane and turned into monsters. Unfortunately, by killing him, Nier ends up dooming humanity to extinction.}}

 

 

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[Emergency Exit]]'' the main cast was assigned to collect "artifacts" in order to save someone's world from destruction, but it turns out to be a flat out lie and now nobody seems to know what they are for. It is shown that each artifact has a minor power, but implied that they do something far more spectacular when put together (hence an alternative collective name for them, "The Puzzle").

* In ''[[City of Reality]]'', the Aura Stones appear to be this for the various [[Alternate Universe|Alternate Universes]]. Each world has a master stone which allows its particular "reality" to exist, and removing or destroying this stone may have catastrophic consequences.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* [[Magi Nation]] has the eleven Dream Stones. {{spoiler|Actually, there's twelve; the Core has one, too.}} If they are brought together, they form the Core Glyph, which can seal [[Big Bad|Agram]] away for good. However, if Agram and the Shadow Magi get them, Agram can break free of the Core.

** Albeit only if it was done in the Axis of Time, a kind of convergence of history existing outside of time. Plus, being in the Axis increases the psychics' powers, such that all of them gathered together collectively overpowered Apocalypse. So somewhat more stable than most [[Cosmic Keystones]].

** Although one of them was smart enough to {{spoiler|heal someone in exchange for them becoming [[Soul Jar|a backup spirit]].}}

*** In essence, the spirits took mortal form as a way of maintaining the balance of the cycles of the world. The destruction of one puts the other out of balance, in a manner which would destroy the world's cycles disastrously.

** The Avatar Spirit, the source of the Avatar's power, is the spirit of the world itself. If the Avatar dies while in the Avatar State, the Avatar Spirit dies with them. Exactly what this would do to the rest of the world is never specified, but surely it would be a very bad thing.

* One episode of ''[[Futurama]]'' featured a box containing the universe. Played for laughs, as even with warnings that it had to be treated as dearly as life itself, the box is shaken to listen for anything rattling inside (causing a small earthquake) and sat on (stretching out the picture horizontally).

 

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