Dismantled MacGuffin: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|'''Professor:''' Obviously, I'll also leave that here with y... Leave... It's only logical, so that the device... So I'll leave it... Lea... I'll leav...
'''Professor:''' NO!!! ''I'm sorry, but the urge is too strong! I'll separate the punchcard into seven pieces and hide them deep within seven monster-infested dungeons distributed all over the country!!!'' Tell that to any group of people who might come asking for it...|[http://www.bmoviecomic.com/index.php?cid{{=}}398 The B-Movie Comic]}}
A common way to produce [[Plot Coupons]] of the '[[Gotta Catch Em All]]' variety is for the [[Precursors]] to split a powerful [[MacGuffin]] that was used to defeat the bad guy into three or more parts and, yes, distribute them across the world on a vague premise of it being "[[Holding Back the Phlebotinum|too dangerous to ever use again]]". Then, when the bad guy raises its head [[Exty Years From Now|Exty Years Later]] (and it always does), the heroes must set out to reassemble said [[MacGuffin]].
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If said artifact was disassembled because there was a good chance that evil would get their hands on it in the present, this overlaps with [[Fling a Light Into the Future]].
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== Anime and Manga ==
* The corpse parts in ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|Steel Ball Run]]'' scattered across America, which grant mysterious powers to those who hold them.
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* In ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', there is a rumor that the seven Dragon Balls used to be one big 28-star ball. [[Averted Trope|Turns out that Kami, the creator of the Dragon Balls, made them as seven separate MacGuffins in the first place.]]
* Same goes for the shards of the Shikon Jewel in ''[[Inuyasha]]''.
* In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' the Silver Crystal split into the the seven Rainbow Crystals after Queen Serenity used it to send her daughter and the Sailor Senshi and Prince Endymion's souls to Earth for reincarnation. The Rainbow Crystals had to be found by those wishing to reassemble them into the Silver
* Done in the second season of ''[[Sonic X]]'' by Super Sonic to prevent the Chaos Emeralds from being used for evil.
* Inverted in ''[[Voltron|Voltron: Defender of the Universe]]'': it is the bad guys who originally dismantle Voltron because he/it is too powerful for them, and the pilot is spent trying to get the robot to reassemble.
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* In the ''[[Black Trillium]]'' novel and its sequels, the [[Neglectful Precursors]] left behind the disassembled Scepter of Power which the three heroines have to reassemble to beat the [[Big Bad]].
* CIRCE from Timothy Zahn's Conqueror trilogy. [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] {{spoiler|in that CIRCE never actually existed.}}
* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' novel ''[http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Thornhold Thornhold]'' features
* The Krikkit Key in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|Life, The Universe and Everything]]''
* In a sense, Orannis the Destroyer in Garth Nix's ''Old Kingdom'' trilogy. "Broken in two and buried under hill, forever to lie there, wishing us ill."
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* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S1/E05 The Keys of Marinus|The Keys of Marinus]]'', the Doctor and companions are sent to collect the Keys (scattered throughout the planet Marinus) that control the Conscience Machine, which made everyone peaceful on the planet till it malfunctioned.
** "Last of the Time Lords" parodies the trope by revealing Martha's search for the four pieces of an anti-regeneration gun to be just a smokescreen for her real mission. She laughs at the Master for actually buying it. Apparently, the Doctor had never brought up...
** ...the [[Doctor Who/Recap/S16|Key to Time arc]], in which the titular device could stop time throughout the universe once its six parts were transmuted back into their original forms and reassembled.
** Inverted in "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End." The twenty-seven planets the Daleks needed weren't pieces in and of themselves; they ''stole'' those planets and formed an intricate superweapon with them.
* In the third season of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'', they broke the [[Mineral MacGuffin|Zeo Crystal]] into five pieces, and ''threw them into unstable time portals'', so the five pieces were literally scattered throughout space and time, their locations unknown even to the Rangers. Not such a good idea, as they ended up needing it again [[Power Rangers Zeo|less than a year later]].
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== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Dungeons
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Nox]]'' had the player reassemble the Staff of Oblivion, a [[Game Breaker]] weapon that was story-wise wielded by a single man to defeat an entire army of necromancers. The said man later disassembled the staff to prevent anyone from using it for evil deeds. It is a perfectly usable weapon (mostly for warrior, because two other classes are [[Squishy Wizard
* The original ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' game, ''Arena'', similarly had the Staff of Chaos, which was split and its parts spread across eight provinces of Tamriel.
* Inverted in ''[[Grandia II]]'': the [[Ultimate Evil|evil god Valmar]] was split into several parts and the heroes travel the world to ''destroy'' his parts. {{spoiler|However, it turns out that by "killing" the parts, they were actually manipulated to collect them within Millenia/Elena, whom the [[Big Bad]] than uses to fully resurrect Valmar.}}
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** ''Superstar Saga'' has the Beanstar Cackletta is looking for and ''Bowser's Inside Story'' has the Miracle Cure, which is the only thing that can cure the blorbs. They sure do love this trope.
* ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' and ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'' has Star Chips (used to form Launch Stars) and Silver Stars (used to form Power Stars).
* Cap'n Hawk's treasure map in ''[[Ultima VI]]'' is split into nine parts. Somewhat subverted in that it's possible to [[Sequence Breaking|skip the entire quest]]
* ''[[Luigi's Mansion|Luigi's Mansion 3]]'' combines this with [[Broken Bridge]]. The hotel has 15 floors, and most are only accessible via the elevator, but the ghosts have swiped all the elevator's buttons. Luigi thus has to hunt them all down; with each Boss defeated, Luigi gains a button, meaning each victory grants him access to a new floor.
* The [[The Precursors|Xel'naga]] artifacts in Starcraft II count, since they form a {{spoiler|[[Lost Superweapon]]}} when combined.
* [[World of Warcraft]] loves this trope with regards to it's Legendary Weapons. You have to collect numerous pieces of the weapon from raid bosses, ''then'' complete additional quests (for example, doing something unusual during boss fights). Sometimes you would also need a big pile of cash for buyable materials. And in the end you get yourself a nice, flashy weapon that will last you for a couple of content patches at most and end as a [[Bragging Rights Reward]] later.
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* Much of the first act of ''[[Diablo III]]'' has you seeking out the three pieces of a powerful sword that was wielded by the Stranger you found in the impact zone of the Fallen Star, while fighting off the efforts of an evil coven to do the same. {{spoiler|The sword in question is ''Eldruin'', the sword of Tyrael, who has become mortal because he's had enough of the Angiris Council's inaction regarding the demons and wants to give humanity a chance}}.
** Later on in the game, {{spoiler|you have to recover the parts of the body of Zoltan Kulle, an [[Evil Sorcerer]] who was decapitated and dismembered by his fellow Horadrim, so that he can be resurrected to lead you to his creation, the Black Soulstone, which you need to seal Belial and Azmodan, the last Lords of Hell. Being that Zoltan Kulle is an evil and treacherous bastard, you ultimately have to kill him again}}.
== Webcomics ==
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[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:MacGuffin]]
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