Public Domain Artifact: Difference between revisions
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'''Writer A:''' ''Brilliant! You've got a gift, my friend!'' }}
Thus goes the apparent thought process of using the
This is not to say that such items can't be included in a perfectly entertaining and even unique plot, but its variations certainly do crop up frequently, in almost every
It can be a weapon, a [[MacGuffin]], or hell, maybe both if it's a [[Artifact of Doom|mystical doomsday device]]. Sometimes the trope crops up as [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]] (seen often, for example, in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''), sometimes it's a mystical object, and occasionally it's [[Magitek|both]]. Sometimes startling revelations are to be had about the object, sometimes it's straight out of the legends, heck, maybe it's even reconstructed from the original's spare parts. Regardless of its distinguishing features in the story, though, what makes a
There's honestly no telling how long this one has been around; while nowadays it's often used to avoid copyright infringement, it's been around much longer than the patent office. Many ancient authors (and many moderns, as well) used these to evoke the mythos attached to them. If an author puts a supposedly mythical sword in their work, it needs to be supported, but when you hear "Excalibur," it doesn't take any explanation to understand how important it is. See the example of Durandal below, Sword Hector... Then Roland... Then reforged to Ogier the Dane. Later authors name-dropped former heroes to make their mystical artifacts even mystical-er, making this [[Older Than Feudalism]].
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=== The Magic Lamp/Bottle ===
[[Genie in a Bottle|The Magic Lamp/Bottle]]
==== [[Anime and Manga]] ====
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* [[Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan|Excalibolg]] is said to be a portmanteau of Excalibur and Caladbolg.
* In ''[[Fate/stay night]]'', Servant {{spoiler|Saber's}} primary weapon is Excalibur, {{spoiler|[[Samus Is a Girl|as she is actually King Arthur]].}} It can even be used as a [[Wave Motion Gun]].
** It's shown quite early in the story that Servant Lancer uses the cursed spear Gae Bolg, immediately revealing his true
* In ''[[Saint Seiya]]'', the Capricorn Saints are said to have the power of Excalibur in their arms and legs, therefore being able to use them as [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]s. It's regarded as pretty much the most powerful weapon in the entire series.
* This is subverted in ''[[Tears to Tiara]]'', where the Sword in the Stone that [[King Arthur|Arthur]] draws is named Danwyn. [[Genius Bonus|Cleverly enough]], Danwyn takes its name from Owain Danwyn, a Welsh Prince who is a strong candidate for the identity of the "real life" [[King Arthur]].
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==== [[Literature]] ====
* ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series is set [[After the End]] of a parallel Earth, where "Arthur Eld" is the semi-mythical forebearer of a caste of knightly gunslingers, and who wielded a sword named Excalibur that he retrieved from a pyramid. Roland wields a pair of antique six-shooters said to have been forged from the shattered remnants of
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', the holy sword ''Amoracchius'' is actually Excalibur. For added symbolic power (which is a real force in the setting) it has one of the Nails from the True Cross worked into the hilt.
* Unsurprisingly, Excalibur puts in an appearance in Peter David's ''Knight Life'' trilogy (King Arthur in the modern world). Its origin and nature turn out a bit more ... complicated than usual. {{spoiler|The sword itself has no magic; the horn of the Unicorn King, concealed in the hilt, is a different story.}}
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==== [[Western Animation]] ====
* ''[[Filmation's Ghostbusters|Filmations Ghostbusters]]'' features Excalibur, conflating it yet again with the Sword in the Stone. Here, it's used to set up a [[Stable Time Loop]] in the stone
=== Durandal ===
=== Literature ===
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=== Other Swords ===
Less frequently, you will see other legendary Western swords such as Cortana (which actually exists as part of the Regalia of Great Britain), or Joyeuse. They do show up in ''[[Castlevania]]: Symphony Of The Night'' and all the portable 2D Castlevanias that follow it. You can find a huge amount of named armor, swords and
==== [[Anime and Manga]] ====
* ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' does this to ridiculous extremes, what with [[All Myths Are True|all myths being true]], so not only were there Excalibur, Caliburn, Durandal, and Gram (and plausibly, everything else), there's also that minor event known as the Holy Grail
** Taking it even further than that is the character [[The Epic of Gilgamesh|Gilgamesh]], whose ability is basically that he owns the originals of [[Superpower Lottery|every]]
** Of course, Gilgamesh himself is a [[Public Domain Character]].
* The Knight Leader from ''[[To Aru Majutsu no Index]]'' uses Hrunting, which he reanalyzed and recreated in order to create new spells based on its creation. The Curtana also makes an appearance as a sword that can grant the blessing of [[Archangel Michael]] to the people within England. However, the sword that the Queen possesses is only a replica, and holds a mere 20% of the original's power.
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=== Stonehenge ===
Stonehenge is a real place (and it's not the only such circle in Britain, either), but it gets ascribed all sorts of mystic powers in fiction.<ref>Of the many theories of its purpose, on of the most widely believed is that it was used to tell what time of year it is. That's right, it's a ''calendar''! To be honest, keeping track of the seasons was incredibly important in the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural ones.</ref>
==== [[Anime and Manga]] ====
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==== [[Western Animation]] ====
* ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire|Atlantis the Lost Empire]]'' accidentally subverted this trope. The heroes are able to find [[Atlantis]] because they got their hands on both the Shepherd's Journal (a road map to the place) and a linguist who was able to actually read it. In the DVD voice-overs, the creators mentioned several responses from viewers congratulating them for actually using the Shepherd's Journal for extra authenticity. Ironically, the legend of the Shepherd's Journal begins and ends with Disney's ''Atlantis''
* Name-checked in ''[[DuckTales]]: The Treasure of the Lost Lamp'' in the form of Genie's account of its destruction: it was ''the'' resort getaway of its time until [[Big Bad|Merlock]] couldn't get a reservation. The rest is history.
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==== Literature ====
* In ''[[Percy Jackson & the Olympians|The Last Olympian]]'', Prometheus gives Percy the urn of Pandora and tells him that if he opens it, he will free Hope and so surrender. It turns out to be a [[Clingy MacGuffin]]
==== [[Live Action Television]] ====
* Pandora's Box also showed up in a last season episode of ''[[Charmed]]'', with a superpowered Guardian ([[Viewers are Morons|named "Hope"]]) who was to protect it so that demons (or anyone really) would not be able to open it and release the ills within. Naturally said Guardian knew nothing about all this and had to go through a (relatively short) [[How Do I Shot Web?]] bit before she could save the world. Interestingly, since the Box had already been opened long ago to originally release its contents, doing so now merely intensified the bad traits of
* Pandora's Box is in ''[[Warehouse 13]]''.
** "Empty, of course."
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=== The Treasures of Amaterasu ===
[[
Asian media, especially in Japan, has the Treasures of Amaterasu, aka the "Imperial Regalia of Japan": the sword ''Kusanagi no Tsurugi'', also known as ''Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi'', the mirror ''Yata no Kagami'', and the necklace ''Yasakani no Magatama''. All three actually exist, and are stored in three different temples. However, they have never been shown in public and some may be copies of lost or stolen originals. Interestingly, the Kusanagi is rarely actually depicted in the straight, double-edged, longsword-like style and bronze composition it probably should be, [[Every Japanese Sword Is a Katana|but often as]] a [[Katanas Are Just Better|katana]]. The Magatama is often represented by its [http://cabekeriting04.blogspot.com/2008/03/magatama.html signature comma-shaped beads] rather than the whole necklace. The Kusanagi was found in the tail of the [[Orochi]] after its death.
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* ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]'' postulates that Ama No Murakumo is actually ''two'' swords. And a [[Humongous Mecha]], for an even count.
* Orochimaru of ''[[Naruto]]'' somehow has the Kusanagi (which the dub calls "The Grass Long Sword" and it literally means "Grass-cutting Sword") and stores it ''in his throat'' of all places, presumably because he is indirectly named after the legendary serpent Orochi, in whose body the Kusanagi supposedly originated. Though it's a katana in the manga, it is shown accurately as a straight blade in the anime, but also possesses the ability to extend and glows for some reason. {{spoiler|The Mirror is held by a spirit that Itachi creates with a [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]] that deflects all attacks... and ends up killing him}}. The Sage of the Six Paths wears a necklace that looks the Magatama, though it doesn't appear to be of any significance.
* In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', all three treasures became the primary weapons of Sailor Uranus ("Space Sword", based on the Kusanagi), Sailor Neptune (the Mirror), and Sailor Pluto (the necklace, or the jewel from it at any rate, which became the Garnet Orb on her staff). The items are so powerful in combination
* In the ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' series, two of Orb's great weapons are named after the mystical weapons: the space battleship ''Kusanagi'' and the anti-beam reflecting armor ''Yata no Kagami''.
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==== [[Video Games]] ====
* The Regalia are especially popular in Japanese video games, also forming the second set of [[Plot Coupon
* In ''[[Dark Cloud|Dark Cloud 2]]'', you can equip Monica with the Ame-No-Murakumo. The game hints at the idea it might be a fake.
* Though the artifacts themselves don't appear, certain characters from ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' are named for them: Kyo Kusanagi, and Iori Yagami (former clan name: Yasakani). Chizuru Kagura is not named for her artifact, but has been shown to be a vessel for the Yata Mirror.
* As you would expect for a game starring Amaterasu, ''[[Ōkami|Okami]]'' features the three relics as your three weapon
** More interesting still, the first and final swords you receive are won by defeating Orochi. And the two most powerful Rosaries look like ''Yasakani no Magatama''.
** Also note, this is one of the rare examples where ''all'' the blades are double-edged straight swords (albeit a lot larger and wider than average) that match the "ancient (read:pre-katana) Japan" aesthetic.
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==== [[Film]] ====
* The first ''[[Highlander]]'' film. Ramirez's
{{quote|'''Ramirez:''' Macleod, I was born 3,947 years ago. In that time, I've had three wives. The last was Shakiko, a Japanese princess, in 543 A.D. Her father, Masamune, a genius, made this for me. It is the only one of its kind. Like she was. [[Mayfly-December Romance|When Shakiko died, I was shattered.]] [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|I would spare you that pain.]]}}
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=== Five Impossible Tasks ===
In [[wikipedia:The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter|Kaguya-Hime, the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter]] the title character is approached by princely suitors and she provides them with five [[Impossible Task
==== [[Anime and Manga]] ====
* ''[[Inuyasha|Inu Yasha]]'' wears a robe made from the pelt of the fire-rat. Not only is it fire-proof but humans (Kagome) have actually survived the lack of oxygen and extreme temperatures while donning it and immersed in flames.
** In one of [[The Movie
==== Literature ====
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* In ''The Forever King'' by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy, the Grail is a cup fashioned out of a stone that fell from the heavens, many years before the birth of Christ. Its association with Jesus is only coincidental, and He is not the source of its powers (nor, though the villain initially smugly assumes so, is it the source of His).
* Spoofed in ''Grailblazers'' by [[Tom Holt]], where the Grail is a bowl that was used at the Last Supper, which was miraculously transformed into Tupperware.
* Inverted in the second ''[[Nightside]]'' book by [[Simon R. Green]] with the [[MacGuffin]] being the ''Unholy''
** No, it wasn't the same cup. {{spoiler|It did ''stop'' being Unholy at the end of the novel, when it's used to perform a communion ceremony, but after that it's just a regular antique cup.}}
* This comes up in Peter David's ''Knight Life'' trilogy - the Grail is still in the keeping of Percival, the knight tasked with finding it. {{spoiler|Turns out it's magical from catching the blood of the Unicorn King, back when Merlin was a young man. It became linked up with Jesus when he drank from it.}}
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=== Fragments of the True Cross ===
Fragments of the True
==== [[Anime and Manga]] ====
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==== [[Literature]] ====
* Variation on the nails legend: in Piers Anthony's [[Incarnations of Immortality]] series, reference is made to how the nails were fashioned. When the time came for Jesus to be crucified, the Roman soldiers needed to have nails made, but no one would make them once they found out who was to be crucified with them. After several fruitless attempts, [[Idiot Ball|the Roman soldiers finally wised up]] and didn't tell the next forger who the nails were
** It does bring up the question of why the Roman judicial court wouldn't have entire bushels full of nails already, given how common crucifixion was. (Although most crucifixions were done with rope, nails weren't that uncommon.) Or why they didn't simply buy or commandeer some from a construction project, given how Herod had been upgrading Jerusalem's infrastructure for years.
* The nails are used as the ultimate weakness to defeat Satan in ''[[Magnus]]''.
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=== The Shroud of Turin ===
The Shroud of Turin, unsurprisingly, has also appeared at least a time or two in fiction of recent years, usually with the implication that it has enormous mystical power. Test results that date it to the late [[Middle Ages]] are [[Rule of Cool|generally ignored]]. Similarly, there's Veronica's
==== [[Anime and Manga]] ====
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=== The Lance of Longinus ===
The Lance of Longinus / Spear of Destiny / Holy Lance / Spear of Longinus / Spear of Christ / Holy Spear: The spear which supposedly pierced Jesus' side during the crucifixion, reputed to have all kinds of crazy powers ranging from healing to the ability to destroy the whole world in one shot. Three known items are sometimes claimed to be the Holy Lance; One resides in the Vatican, one in the Hofburg Museum in Vienna (having been moved from Nuremberg during the Napoleonic Wars) and one in Krakow, Poland. The Catholic Church has made no statements as to the authenticity of any of
==== [[Comics]] ====
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==== [[Literature]] ====
* ''American Desert'' by Percival Everett actually has a reason for including this specific
* One of supporting characters in mighty postmodernist Russian [[Urban Fantasy]] novel ''Look Into the Monsters' Eyes'', a Soviet paratrooper turned Belarussian partisan, turned American marine, turned Mossad operative, turned Argentinian gaucho was at one point of his turbulent life one of the aforementioned marines tasked with finding the Lance. It's also alleged that he was ''the very same'' marine who is ''Wolfenstein'''s protagonist. Yes, the book is ''that'' weird, but otherwise excellent.
* The Spear plays an important part in the plot of [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''Parsifal'', which also features the Holy Grail.
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==== [[Real Life]] ====
* The Vienna lance is said to have inspired a vision of destiny in a young [[Adolf Hitler]], and when Austria was annexed he had the lance removed to
** Rumor/urban myth states that a team of American commandos took the Lance out of Germany in 1945 and that it's currently stored in the Pentagon.
** A one-shot story in British comic 2000AD expands on this by having the spear then removed from the Pentagon and taken to Cape Canaveral - The story ends with a splash panel of the spear as the upright in the US flag left on the moon by Apollo 11.
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=== The Ark of the Covenant ===
From the Old Testament, there's the Ark of the
==== [[Tabletop Games]] ====
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* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter]]'', this is used on various spirits.
* In [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''[[Operation Chaos]]'', the genie came from such a bottle.
* In the ''[[The Bartimaeus Trilogy]]'' prequel we see Solomon use it to summon and control thousands of demons, ''[[Cast From Lifespan|though at a price
== Norse ==
=== Mjöllnir, Gungir and other weapons ===
Any weapon ever used or made by a
Mjollnir is actually spelled/pronounced "Mjöllnir". The sound ö is usually unpronounceable to native English speakers. It's somewhat similar to the "heu" in French (like heure). "Myol'neer" (with short o) is pretty close, though. Speak the word heard or girl (the 3: sound) and you will be pretty close.
Occasionally you will see
Ragnarok is also a common name for swords in RPGs, and there's also Lævateinn, the [[Flaming Sword]] of Surtr.
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=== Other ===
* Nowadays we have U.F.Os, Area 51 and [[The Greys]], which seem to qualify as the latest
** Or, as the quote from ''Angels of Light and Darkness'' states, half of what they say was owned by [[Godwin's Law|Hitler]].
* ''[[Fables]]'' seems to be extremely fond of this
** The fountain of youth is used in the first story; it is what keeps all the fables ageless for hundreds of years, they drink its water during a yearly ceremony.
* There are some artifacts which are associated with Santa, but occasionally show up without him. Usually his bag (ascribed mystical properties of producing whatever is desired) and his sleigh (or some other fantastic method of transportation).
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