Gold Makes Everything Shiny

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Ariel, the 24 karat mermaid.


Because gold was so valuable throughout history (and since its heaviness and softness made it not good for much else until recently), it has been primarily used for decoration. Whether it's for jewelry, gold lamé, gold plating, or even making something entirely out of gold, it's a good way to make something pretty.

Of course this is Truth in Television, but fiction will take it further. The limitations of gold as a material are often ignored. Armor and weapons made of gold will be no heavier or softer than steel or iron. Lamé will move as if it was silk. This can be Artistic License just as often as it's Did Not Do the Research.

And of course buying something like this is a good way to show Conspicuous Consumption. Having loads of things like this is common for a Fiction 500 character. Heck, even if gold is Worthless Yellow Rocks, that still means the writers could have gold put everywhere.

A Super-Trope to Gold Tooth.

Compare Gold (useful notes), Gem-Encrusted, Pretty in Mink, Fluffy Fashion Feathers, City of Gold, Bling Bling Bang, Bling of War, Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry, Everything's Better with Sparkles.

Examples of Gold Makes Everything Shiny include:


Anime and Manga


Film


Literature

  • A Song of Ice and Fire has the Lannister family, who coat everything with gold - platemail, horse armor, even swords.
  • In Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian story "The Tower of the Elephant", the tower has a gold door.
  • In the Dream of the Rood, the tree out of which Christ's cross was made is alternately sparkling with gold and gems and streaming with blood.
  • Martel of The Elenium liberally decorated his armor with gold, thanks to the wealth he acquired as a mercenary. This came back to haunt him when the added weight wore him down faster than Sparhawk in a duel, leading to his death.
  • Dorrie the Witch once got a gold cauldron as a reward for capturing a notorious evil witch.
  • A short story, title not recalled, had a very spoiled princess who wanted her wedding dress to be of pure gold, yet as lightweight as fine cloth. The expert goldsmiths said it wasn't possible, and her father responded with Off with His Head threats. A wandering mage named Gamelyn intervened, promising he could produce such a thing. He had the goldsmiths pound gold dust into a dress of cambric linen. Then he burned away the cambric, leaving the gold, which, thanks to his magic, melted just enough to become fine gold cloth. And then Her Royal Spoiledness got greedier....


Live-Action TV

  • Inverted in Deep Space Nine, where gold pressed latinum is just to give something to hold the Unobtanium, not that the gold actually made it prettier, as replicators made it Worthless Yellow Rocks.
  • Power Rangers Samurai introduces us to The Gold Ranger, with light reflecting off the golden parts of his suit that it becomes all but blinding. Emily's first reaction is "He's so sparkly..."


Mythology and Religion

  • The fable of King Midas seemed to be against this trope, but the actual Aesop was actually Be Careful What You Wish For, and being against Greed.
  • The mythical city of El Dorado.
  • Eastern Orthodox churches' interiors are designed to look mostly golden (sanctuary, chandelliers, etc), sometimes using actual gilding. Prayers wrtten in Bysanthia are also pretty interesting though: one refers to Virgin Mary as a gilded doorknob. Although it would seem as a failed attempt at insult, it's supposed to be poetic and two metaphors are here: Jesus Christ is the door, and gilding back in their days was supposed to be incredibly beautiful; nowadays, gilding household appliances is just poor taste.


Toys


Video Games

  • Golden armor shows up as items in some Final Fantasy games.
  • Some Castlevania games use gold weapons.
  • There are gilded sets of armour in RuneScape. This is not as extreme an example as sets of armour made out solid gold, though - decorating armour with gold was not common practice, but there is historical precedent for it.
  • Subverted in Minecraft: Sure, you can make a sword out of that gold you just mined. It'll be roughly as effective as one made of wood and break about as quickly. On the other hand, using iron...
  • Moody dwarves in Dwarf Fortress can make artifact gold armor or weapons (the only other way to get gold weapons requires modding the game files); despite being artifacts, they will perform rather poorly (except for blunt weapons, which will be significantly more effective due to their increased mass).
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time had the Gold Gauntlets, which were the strongest levels of items that let Link lift stuff normally too heavy for him.
  • You can buy very expensive gold equipment in some shops in Breath of Fire. This equipment is a total waste of money, being very heavy and not too effective.

Web Original

  • Old-Timey Strong Bad in "That A Ghost" has the line, "I'll be marching around in gold pants in no time!"


Western Animation


Real Life

  • Coronation robes are often gold lamé, whether on its own or with an ermine lining.
    • The latter was common for Russian royalty.
    • And in medieval and Renaissance Europe, sumptuary laws dictate that only kings (and queens) are allowed to wear cloth of gold—garments made from gold thread.
  • Ever seen the Palace of Versailles? Some rooms don't seem to have a square inch without the stuff. And, yes, that includes mattresses.
    • When the kings of France went insane of the bling bling, they started out by getting furniture made of solid silver, but little later sanity returned (relatively speaking), and gilded wood became the norm.
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