Dismantled MacGuffin: Difference between revisions
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{{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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* The Cup Of Ankh in ''[[House of Anubis]]''. According to Fabian's book on Egyptian mythology, Amneris took the Cup and hid it inside the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen. Anubis was angered by this and split the Cup into seven pieces, preventing it's use. Rufus later explains that Anubis and Amneris reached an agreement whereby the Cup could be put together once every twenty five years at a certain hour, but only by a member of Amneris's bloodline.
* A number of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episodes revolved around re-assembling some piece of phlebotinum scattered throughout the galaxy. The most notable are ''Gambit'', which involves finding the components for an ancient Vulcan weapon, and ''The Chase'', revolving around a search for a secret message hidden within the genomes of life forms from dozens of different planets.
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' has the "Rod of Seven Parts" (originally known as the "[[Order Versus Chaos|Rod of Law]]", which shattered when used). Each piece has powers on its own, and can point in the direction of the next-longest piece. The more parts are combined, the more powers they grant. Oh, and once more than a couple parts are fitted together, [[Clingy MacGuffin|the owner/user ''can't let go of it.'']]
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* ''[[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]]—possibly without realizing it.
* ''[[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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