History Main / ArtifactOfDeath

* The Ark of the Covenant, in ''{{Raiders of the Lost Ark}}'', supposedly grants the owner great power, and may be used as a Radio to God. However, opening the ark releases the {{Wrath of God}}, and anyone who looks upon the spirits that are released dies an extremely gruesome death.

* The Life Orb of ''[=~Pokémon~=]'' fame gives a 1.3 power boost to attacks but costs 10 percent of your health every time you attack. Other moves, such as Healing Dance or Memento, do certain helpful things while the Pokémon faints.

* The Imperium Silver Crystal from ''Sailor Moon'': Using its full power is fatally taxing. Usagi manages to get around this by borrowing power from her teammates, and in the first movie she [[spoiler: actually does die from it, but [[IGotBetter recovers]].]]
* The anime {{Kuroshitsuji}} has the Shard of Hope.

* Lex Luthor got cancer from his Kryptonite ring.

* The DCAU title ''The Batman Superman Movie: World's Finest'', a very rare, valuable green dragon statue is known to cause all its owners to die mysteriously. [[spoiler: the statue is actually made out of Kryptonite, which, in the DCAU, can be deadly to humans ''if they're exposed to it over a long period of time.'']]

* [[CymbalBangingMonkey The toy monkey]] from the Stephen King story ''The Monkey'' kills whenever it claps its cymbals, as does the one from [[strike:rip-off]] homage ''{{Merlins Shop of Mystical Wonders}}''.

* The eponymous device carried by E.E.Smith's {{Lensmen}} is essentially benign, but is characterised by its tendency to kill anyone who touches it except when the Lensman who's matched to it is wearing it. ANYONE, whether they are actively attempting its theft/misuse or not. This is such a terrifying prospect that Virgil Samms specifically asks Mentor the Arisian what happens to it when he dies. (It disintegrates.)

* The infamous Tiki idol from the Hawaiian ''Brady Bunch'' episode.

* "The Glove of Myneghon" in ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'' might just qualify. Although the glove bestows great powers on the wearer, it can never be removed and seems to have said wearer at it mercy as well as giving her (Gwendolyn Post) the power to draw lightnings. Besides, if the wearer is right-handed and wears the glove on the right hand, I foresee some difficulties regarding trips to the loo.

* WorldOfWarcraft used to have a wearable cursed trinket as a quest item, until they removed the "wearable" part away in a patch. You were never supposed to actually wear it, simply deliver it to a questgiver, but if you did wear it, it would quickly sap away at your character's life (note that this part is clearly signified in the item description as part of its effects). Nevertheless, some people would pass up on the experience and actual (lackluster) rewards provided by the end of the chain and would choose not to complete it, keeping the ArtifactOfDeath instead because believe it or not, there are situations where quick death with no durability damage can be useful.
* GTAIV and its expansion packs has [[PlotCoupon the diamonds]]. Of everyone who comes into contact with the diamonds only the three protagonists (it is a videogame after all) and the random character (perhaps because he didn't actively persue them) lives. Four exceptions are alot but so many other characters do die and the diamonds are the common element.

* The [[spoiler:Black Marker]] and [[spoiler:Red Marker]] in ''DeadSpace'' both qualify as this trope, in that their presence causes severe hallucinations, mostly of [[spoiler:(deceased)]] friends or relatives. It's implied that the presence of a [[spoiler:Marker]] is too much for the human brain to handle, however, and most people who spend too much time near them end up committing suicide in a grisly fashion, whether that's because the [[spoiler:Marker]] commanded them to or not.

** No, if you're lucky, it leads to death and ascension to [[EldritchAbomination Daemon Prince.]]

** I think it might have been that the mirror took half of Yusuke's life and half of Kurama's life. So in effect, it did take a whole life, it just didn't kill anyone.

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

** Arguably, it's less about ANYONE than "anyone who opens/handles/misuses the Ark with bad intent." The ancient Israelites (at least within the movie 'verse) did use it to make armies invicible and topple kingdoms. The Ark leaves Indy and Marion unharmed less because the angels automatically kill than because Indy knows not to look--he respects the power of the Ark and by extention the "Hebrew God whose Ark this is". Belloq and the Nazis ape Jewish rituals (Even {{Lampshaded}} by one of the Nazi officers) and assume they only need to dress up and say the right words to make the magic box work. They don't die so much because they opened the Ark, but because they did so out of hubris. In the [[IndianaJonesandtheLastCrusade Last Crusade]] example below, Indy again manages to get through the Three Tests (of Penitence, Faith, and..spelling?) and choses the right Grail by understanding there's more to the {{MacGuffin}} than just a nifty prize. Donovan and Elsa, again with the hubris . . . don't.
** Also, at least one of the false Grails from ''The Last Crusade'' causes you to age rapidly till past the point of death, as Walt Donovan [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36WEn-9zs1U found out rather painfully]]. [[{{Understatement}} He chose...poorly.]]
* [[CymbalBangingMonkey The toy monkey]] from the Stephen King story ''The Monkey'' kills whenever it claps its cymbals, as does the one from [[strike:rip-off]] homage ''MerlinsShopOfMysticalWonders''.

* In 2009's ''Night Train'', it's said that anyone who looks inside the box will be dead by sunrise, and the movie's [[KillEmAll body count]] bears this out. The box contains SomethingForEveryone-- depending on the viewer, it can appear as diamonds, gold, or anything else valuable enough to make the viewer willing to lie, cheat, steal, and kill to keep it for themselves. Even the characters who overcome their greed and realize it's an ArtifactOfDoom end up fighting (and dying) over it as a result of their desire to destroy it.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''{{Bionicle}}'': the Ignika, Mask of Life. One of its purposes is a reset button for the Matoran Universe - by taking away all the life in the universe should there be things like a never ending chaotic conflict.

* In [[MetroidPrime Metroid Prime]] 3: Corruption. After your suit has been corrupted by Dark Samus, you run the risk of becoming fully corrupt and turning into Dark Samus (thereby resulting in a [[GameOver Game Over]]) whenever you enter Hyper mode. This can be averted, however, by exiting Hyper Mode before the corruption starts, or by firing rapidly to prevent the phason overload.
* The [[spoiler:Black Marker]] and [[spoiler:Red Marker]] in DeadSpace both qualify as this trope, in that their presence causes severe hallucinations, mostly of [[spoiler:(deceased)]] friends or relatives. It's implied that the presence of a [[spoiler:Marker]] is too much for the human brain to handle, however, and most people who spend too much time near them end up committing suicide in a grisly fashion, whether that's because the [[spoiler:Marker]] commanded them to or not.

* ''HappyTreeFriends'' takes this trope [[CrossesTheLineTwice to its logical conclusion]] in the short "Treasure These Idol Moments". The idol in the page picture can kill off any RidiculouslyCuteCritter in ''seconds''.

** Nevynnyral's Disk: upon use, destroys ALL creatures, artifacts and lands in play, including itself. Global armageddon at the push of a button.

** Also, if you use it, your life will suck. It's guaranteed.

** If you're actually playing ''{{FATAL}}'', instant death is a fairly tempting prospect.

* Vasher from ''{{Warbreaker}}'' actually makes use of one of these in his combat strategy. His sword, [[ArtifactOfDoom Nightblood]], will automatically try to kill anyone (well technically anyone evil, but the thing has a rather broad definition of "evil") who draws it- so Vasher just chucks the sword at his opponents and waits for one of them to pick it up. After that... well, things get a little ''messy''... (Vasher himself is safe, because he both knows better than to try and draw Nightblood unless he absolutely has to and he was actually a close friend of its creator and learned many of her secrets.)
** To elaborate, Nightblood tempts people to try and draw it and unless the temptee is pure of heart, they'll pick up the sword. At that point, Nightblood tries to get them to kill other people or kills them.

** Also you can choose to gain {{Shinigami}} eyes so you can see the name and remaining lifespan of any person, which makes it much easier to write their name in the ''DeathNote'', but at the cost of half your remaining life.

** The Death Staff from ''The Legacy of Vashna'' is also a quite deadly artefact. Just touching it causes Lone Wolf to lose HitPoints, and it drains some more every time it is used.

* In [[MetroidPrime Metroid Prime]] 3: Corruption. After your suit has been corrputed by Dark Samus, you run the risk of becoming fully corrupt and turning into Dark Samus (thereby resulting in a [[GameOver Game Over]]) whenever you enter Hyper mode. This can be averted, however, by exiting Hyper Mode before the corruption starts, or by firing rapidly to prevent the phason overload.

[[caption-width-right:330:Go ahead, tap its power. It won't [[EvilIsNotAToy hurt you.]] You'll [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil do that yourself]].]]

[[DeathNote http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Death_Note___How_to_use_it_by_ShoushinNoKarera2.png]]

* The toy monkey from the Stephen King story ''The Monkey'' kills whenever it claps its cymbals, as does the one from [[strike:rip-off]] homage ''MerlinsShopOfMysticalWonders''.