History Main / ArtifactOfDeath

Keeps callin' me its master,but I feel just like its slave,\\

** Even one guy (Uzzah) who tried to prop it up when he noticed it was slipping out of the oxcart it was being transported in. For the record, he had it on an oxcart instead of having it carried by 4 priests like it was supposed to. If you're handling a holy artifact, you'd better damn well transport it in the prescribed fashion.

** Claims are often made nowadays that the historical ark was some sort of capacitor or otherwise was electrically charged, and therefore the smitings of non-priests who touched it were because they weren't wearing the holy (and electrically insular) robes of the priests. ''Series/MythBusters'' tested this. It is possible, with the technology of the time, for the ark to have been electrically charged. Historians just can't ''prove'' that it was (or indeed that the Ark materially existed at all). The relatively low power of the shock would be more 'startling' then 'divine smiting', though. (More like walking across a carpet in sneakers, and then touching a metal object than a BoltOfDivineRetribution, in other words.)

* The magic sword of Myth/NorseMythology, Tyrfing, from the poetic edda Hervarakivida, is said to be cursed in this way before being used by Angantyr. Each possessor of the blade found himself dying at the hands of he who would wield it next, as per the curse laid upon the blade by the dwarves.
* In Myth/PacificMythology, lava rocks and black sand are considered to be the children of Pele the Fire Goddess. As such, taking them away from where you found them is considered to be ''kidnapping them'', and will awaken Pele's MamaBear tendencies, bringing misfortune into your life until they are returned to their rightful place. Many such stones are returned to Hawaii after people who take them attribute them to whatever misfortunes have befallen them.

* Fellow [[Creator/MichaelMoorcock Eternal Champion]], Erekose, has the sword Kanajana. Kanajana is a sword that radiates deadly energies and it will kill almost any wielder that takes it out of its sheathe of special materials. Only a godlike being, (such as Erekose) can safely use this weapon - which causes [[OneHitKill a swift but agonizing death with even a scratch]].

* The Nilstone from ''Literature/TheChathrandVoyages'' is a lump of rock from the Underworld that can grant near-limitless magical power to any mortal who holds it - unless they fear death, in which case it will kill them almost instantly. In all of history, only one person was able to wield it naturally, and even she couldn't hold on for too long (her reincarnation, one of the main characters, thinks she could hold the Stone for about five minutes or so before the reaction set in). Other people have tried to find workarounds, such as the Scepter of Sathek (a less powerful ArtifactOfDoom that, among other things, insulates its wielder against the Nilstone's touch) and enchanted wine from the Underworld (which temporarily removes the drinker's fear of death).

* Stormbringer, in ''Literature/TheElricSaga'', is definitely this to its owner Elric - and to anyone else who stands too close, including his wife and best friends.

** An opal necklace seen in the second book has a placard claiming it has killed a dozen previous owners. In the sixth book it's [[CallBack seen it in action]].

* St Michael's Sword from Preston and Child's novel ''Literature/{{Riptide}}'' is a good example as well. Spoken of vaguely as a sort of Spanish Excalibur (though even older than the Spanish in origin), it's written in legend as having the power to kill anybody who looks at it. It's also the grand prize item in an extremely difficult to penetrate treasure hoard, buried in the depths of an extensively booby-trapped island and sporting a legendary curse to boot. The mysterious lethality of all this becomes clearer as the story progresses - [[spoiler:(the sword turns out to be made of extremely radioactive metal from a meteorite)]].
* One ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'' short featured a pen which caused the posessor to absently pick it up and write out a terrible death for themselves, only to find it coming true, apart from them being the only ones to see it, even if others may hear it (it was found after a grisly murder during which neighbours reported hearing a train rushed through the house, though none was apparent, ie. no huge holes in the house, but a living room covered in red paint that was once a man). Our Heroes manage to find the shutdown magic, which the creator seemed to have forgotten (leading to a trail of death as the thing kept on killing after the murder for which it was created) in time to stop a character being eaten by a shark on dry land.

'''As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

** TheArkOfTheCovenant, in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', 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. Arguably, it's less about ''anyone'' than anyone who tries to use the Ark ''with bad intent''. The ancient Israelites (at least within the movie 'verse) did use it to make armies invincible 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 extension the "Hebrew God whose Ark this is". Belloq and ThoseWackyNazis 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.

[[quoteright:330:[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MoxJet_8634.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:330:Go ahead, tap its power. It's free! And it won't [[EvilIsNotAToy hurt you]]. (You'll [[PowerAtAPrice do that yourself]].)]]

** ''Series/KamenRiderRevice'': The Revice Driver causes the user to start disappearing from photographs in ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''-esque fashion. The Demons Driver just straight-up devours you alive, unless you're so evil that it considers you a fellow demon.

* The amulet from ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'' [[PoweredByAForsakenChild kills whoever it chooses]] for the [[HumanSacrifice Rite of Forfeit]]. You'd think with a name like that, Red would be a ''little'' more cautious about agreeing to help with this Rite - after all, what exactly is a big enough forfeit to [[SealedEvilInACan seal a monster like Lares]]? Fortunately for him, Red is immune to it thanks to his Hybrid status.

* There's a cursed jewel on during the ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' scene on ''Ride/TheGreatMovieRide'' at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disney's Hollywood Studios]]. A bandit or gangster (depending on the ride) will attempt to steal it, which results in them getting roasted into a skeleton.

* St Michael's Sword from Preston and Child's novel ''Literature/{{Riptide}}'' is a good example as well. Spoken of vaguely as a sort of Spanish Excalibur (though even older than the Spanish in origin), it's written in legend as having the power to kill anybody who looks at it. It's also the grand prize item in an extremely difficult to penetrate treasure hoard, buried in the depths of an extensively booby-trapped island and sporting a legendary curse to boot. The mysterious lethality of all this becomes clearer as the story progresses (the sword turns out to be made of extremely radioactive metal from a meteorite).

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' has a machine relic from an ancient civilization capable of transferring life force [[EquivalentExchange equivalently]] between people, so while it was an Artifact Of Death ''and Life'', it still killed from overuse. It's [[{{Aesoptinum}} telling]] that its use in that civilization was as a form of capital punishment.
** Touching a seemingly-dormant Shadow vessel is instantly fatal to at least one human researcher. Although the bad guys do later manage to put a live human pilot in a Shadow ship, the pilot instantly goes insane and starts firing on everything in sight.
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' has the 3000-year-old Lion's Head Nebula Beacon, which the Cylons found and which began killing them. It was covered with a mucous substance that really was snot -- snot with a disease to which humans had evolved immunity but the Cylons hadn't. All the Cylons on the base star that picked up the beacon died, all because "someone forgot to wipe their nose", according to Adama.

** ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz'': The Faiz Driver and Kaixa Driver are deliberately designed to shorten the user's already-limited lifespan with every use, in a failed effort to curb their potential use by a PhlebotinumRebel. The Delta Driver, their SuperPrototype, doesn't have this flaw, but it has ''[[PsychoSerum other]]'' issues.

** Ironically, the true grail also acted, by proxy, as an artifact of death, because trying to take it from the temple activated a deadly self-destruct sequence, as Elsa found out. The grail itself didn’t kill her, but the temple’s collapse set up a dangerous TakeMyHand scenario where she was too tempted to reach for it, causing her to slip from Indy’s hold and fall to her death.

* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', nearly the entire contents of the Cave of Wonders, except for the lamp. When Abu can't keep his paws off the shiny, the entire cave collapses with intent to kill.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' and its expansion packs have [[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 pursue them) live. Four exceptions is a lot, but so many other characters ''do'' die... and the diamonds are the common element.

** ''Series/KamenRiderRevice'': The Revice Driver causes the user to start disappearing from photographs in ''Film/BackToTheFuture''-esque fashion. The Demons Driver just straight-up devours you alive, unless you're so evil that it considers you a fellow demon.

[[caption-width-right:330:Go ahead, tap its power. It's free! And it won't [[EvilIsNotAToy hurt you.]] (You'll [[PowerAtAPrice do that yourself]].)]]

** In short, the moral of both movies is probably, "Don't take things that belong to someone else, ''especially'' things with powers bestowed by the will of God himself". Of course, as obvious as that should be, the villains in the movies [[GenreBlind clearly didn't know better]]. The other moral could be "NoManShouldHaveThisPower if it channels the power of God".

** In a bit of [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Gameplay and Art Segregation]], one [[http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/446 artwork]] for the [[PowerCrystal Mox]] [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=383020 Jet]] depicted it as this. However, it's anything but in the game, as it's a free black mana source that you can play more than one of a turn. In the right decks, this is a GameBreaker, and it was one of the first nine cards to be banned (with four others using the exact same design as Mox Jet, but used for a different color of mana).

** Unsurprisingly, a few cards are like this; the most straightforward example is probably [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=4613 Jinxed Idol]], which keeps dealing damage to the player who controls it until they sacrifice a creature to hand control of it to an opponent.
** Black magic has plenty of examples that do similar things, although they're not technically "artifacts". Graveborn Muse, for example, is a creature but basically functions like an enchantment or artifact that lets you draw extra cards at the cost of losing life -- and it's not optional so if you don't manage to kill your opponent using the extra cards, the Muse will kill you.
** Nevinyrral's Disk: upon use, destroys ALL creatures, artifacts and enchantments in play, including itself. Global Armageddon at the push of a button.
** In a bit of [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Gameplay and Art Segregation]], one [[http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/446 artwork]] for the [[PowerCrystal Mox Jet]] depicted it as this. However, it's anything but in the game, as it's a free black mana source that you can play more than one of a turn. In the right decks, this is a GameBreaker, and it was one of the first nine cards to be banned (with four others using the exact same design as Mox Jet, but used for a different color of mana).

** In a bit of [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Gameplay and Art Segregation]], one of the [[http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/446 artwork]] of the Mox Jet (used for the Trope Illustration) depicted it as this. However, it's anything but in the game, as it's a free black mana source that you can play more than one of a turn. In the right decks, this is a GameBreaker, and it was one of the first nine cards to be banned (with four others using the exact same design as Mox Jet, but used for a different color of mana).

[[folder:Real Life]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Diamond The Hope Diamond]] has been claimed (and exaggerated) to be this.
* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atuk Atuk]]'', a purported cursed movie script that "kills" everyone that reads it or signs to play one of its parts. The claimed victims are comedians Creator/JohnBelushi, Creator/SamKinison, Creator/JohnCandy, Creator/ChrisFarley and Creator/PhilHartman, and writer Michael O'Donoghue.
* There was once an [[UsefulNotes/{{Airships}} airship]] called the R-101. Devised as a part of the British "Imperial Airship Scheme," the contract pitted two competing designs against one another- the [[CoolAirship exemplary Vickers-built R-100]], and [[TheAllegedCar the government-built R-101.]] The materials, design, and capabilities of the R-101 were woefully inadequate in comparison to the R-100. More consideration was given to the incredibly spacious, opulent (and heavy) ocean liner-like interior than airworthiness, to the point where the airship had to be lengthened so that it would have enough lift to fly- making it the largest airship in the world. Eager to get a lead on its rival, the government pulled strings to have flight and safety testing rushed through or neglected so that it could make a maiden voyage to India. [[TemptingFate Despite being warned of a vicious storm ahead,]] the captain decided to plunge straight into it. The R-101 never made it to India. The shoddy, rotting nose fabric was torn open by the storm, damaging the gas cells underneath, which caused the ship to crash into the ground, where her [[MadeOfExplodium Hydrogen]] [[StuffBlowingUp exploded in a massive fireball]] that took the lives of all but eight of the people aboard... Afterwards, the [[ArtifactOfDoom Duraluminum]] wreckage of the R-101 was collected. It was reforged into an airship, one of unprecedented size and exquisite luxury... called UsefulNotes/TheHindenburg.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busby%27s_stoop_chair Busby's Chair]] is an oak chair that was supposedly cursed by an 18th-century murderer named Thomas Busby, with everyone who sits in it dying of bad luck or freak accidents within days or even hours. It eventually ended up in a nearby pub, where during World War II several Canadian airmen who sat in it died during relatively safe missions, and in 1967 two Royal Air Force pilots crashed into a tree and died after sitting in it. A few years later a cleaner died of a brain tumor after just bumping into it, and in 1978 the chair was donated to the Thirsk Museum and suspended from the ceiling [[SealedEvilInACan to end its reign of terror]].
* Almost 80 years after her death, Marie Curie's journals are ''still'' too radioactive to be handled without protective gear.
* One of the products of the Manhattan Project was a fourteen-pound sphere of plutonium that was originally intended for a third atom bomb had Japan not surrendered when it did. Afterwards, the core was used in criticality experiments. After accidents in which the sphere fatally irradiated two scientists, it earned the nickname the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core "Demon core"]] and was responsible for an end to all hands-on criticality experiments. The core itself was to be installed into a bomb and destroyed in a test five weeks after the second accident, but the criticality accidents left it so radioactive that the tests kept being delayed until it was finally just melted down and reincorporated into other cores.
* According to legend, when Creator/JamesDean introduced himself to Creator/AlecGuinness in Hollywood and invited him to take a look at his new Porsche Spyder, nicknamed ''Little Bastard'', Guinness thought the car looked "sinister" and warned him that "you will be found dead in it by this time next week". Dean was killed in the Spyder exactly seven days later. Also according to legend, when pieces of ''Little Bastard'' were sold for scrap and put in other cars, every single one of them had accidents that killed or maimed people.
* Although debatably not an artifact in the sense that it was not intentionally created, the so-called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corium_(nuclear_reactor)#Chernobyl_accident Elephant's Foot]] could be considered this. After it was initially formed it was arguably ''the most dangerous object on Earth,'' being so radioactive that anyone looking at it with the naked eye would have received a lethal dose in seconds (the person who took [[https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/chernobyl/id/233/ this photo]] of the Foot reportedly died shortly afterwards) and it killed the first robotic vehicle sent in to inspect it. Although its radioactivity has decreased substantially since 1986, standing next to it for five minutes will still kill you.
** The firemen who initially responded to Chernobyl were so badly irradiated that their clothing, discarded in the basement of the abandoned Pripyat hospital, makes that room the most radioactive spot in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone besides the Elepant's Foot. Thirty years on from the disaster, the clothing was still emitting over 600 roentgen per hour, enough that exposure just to them alone, just for a few minutes, would be enough to significantly increase the chances of getting cancer.
*** Although most people are aware of the Elephant's Foot, and some are aware of the clothes mentioned above, there's a third, incredibly dangerous artifact that most don't know about... [[https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/the-claw-of-chernobyl-most-dangerous-thing-in-the-exclusion-zone/news-story/533246f01b396bd8deb106c315aecf61 the Claw]], a mechanical claw that was used to move radioactive material off the roof of the Chernobyl power station. When its work was completed, the claw itself was so radioactive and so dangerous to approach that it was dumped in a remote and hard-to-reach part of the surrounding forests in the hopes that people would never be able to find it, much less go near it.
* Some books are supposedly popular with murderers, such as ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment'', ''Literature/TheDayOfTheJackal'', and specially ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye''. Fans of the latter include Mark David Chapman, Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hickley Jr, Sirhan Sirhan and Robert John Bardo. Some conspiracy theorists actually believe that ''The Catcher in the Rye'' was created as part of the CIA's MK Ultra program to brainwash people and make them kill.
* According to the magazine ''Magazine/ForteanTimes'', the clothes and personal possessions of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, have brought misfortune to those who have bought or otherwise acquired them. FT has accumulated quite a few examples of this:
** At least two American entrepreneurs who intended to tour Diana exhibitions around the USA, centred on the clothes and her personal style, have become ruinously bankrupt. One, Kate [=McEnroe=], even lost her main job as a TV executive amid allegations of financial embezzlement and misrepresentation. Maureen R. Dunkel, a similarly motivated entrepreneur, crashed owing over $1,500,000.
** Diana dresses:
*** Caterer Tomasso Butti paid $120,000 for Diana dresses, with the hope of opening a chain of Diana-themed eateries. He is now bankrupt and legal proceedings drag on.
*** One buyer of a Diana dress died suddenly a year later.
*** One man bought a Diana dress for $240,000 - which had already passed through the hands of [=McEnroe=], Dunkel, Butti and others - as "a surprise for his wife." Let us hope she appreciated the gift.
** The nominated charity, the Diana Trust, was embroiled in a long and mutually ruinous lawsuit with the noticeably mercenary Franklin Mint, who were producing Diana tat for money and even though their business flourished in the wake of her death, had reneged on a promise to donate to the charity. The charity suffered big losses, and the bad publicity nearly killed the Franklin Mint. Franklin Mint had paid $150,000 for a particular dress, so as to have exclusive use of it for their Diana dolls.
** Diana's former butler, Mr Borrell, appears to have become a recluse surrounded by his memories and mementos of her. To be fair, that likely has more to do with how people reacted to Diana's death than any of the objects he possesses associated with her.
** And of course, there is the meltdown suffered by Egyptian multimillionaire Mohammed-Al-Fayed (who lost his son in the crash) who in his grief blamed the deaths on a British establishment conspiracy, and still does today. The fact a drunken or otherwise intoxicated driver in his employment might have been the cause of death is something he vehemently denies.
[[/folder]]

** Claims are often made nowadays that the historical ark was some sort of capacitor or otherwise was electrically charged, and therefore the smitings of non-priests who touched it were because they weren't wearing the holy (and electrically insular) robes of the priests. ''Series/MythBusters'' tested this. It is possible, with the technology of the time, for the ark to have been electrically charged. Historians just can't ''prove'' that it was. The relatively low power of the shock would be more 'startling' then 'divine smiting', though. (More like walking across a carpet in sneakers, and then touching a metal object than a BoltOfDivineRetribution, in other words.)

** Diana's former butler, Mr Borrell, appears to have become a recluse surrounded by his memories and mementos of her.

* 'La Fin Absolue du Monde' in the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode "Cigarette Burns." Pretty much anyone involved in the production of this film-within-a-film died because of it, as do people who try to go look for it. Somewhat appropriately, the title translates from French to "The Absolute End of the World."

** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'', Dominus. Its three forms when not combined all do damage to you, but when combined, everything (you included) dies. ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Aria of Sorrow]]'' and its sequel also have a soul that steadily drains your health while boosting attack power.

** Unsurprisingly, a few cards are like this; the most straightforward example is probably [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=4613 Jinxed Idol]], which keeps dealing damage to the player who controls it until he or she sacrifices a creature to hand control of it to an opponent.

* In episode Two of ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'', one of the nurses tells the doctors to strip the first repsonders of their uniforms, as their close proximity to the burning reactore core exposed them to huge amounts of radiation. When the nurse dumps her load of clothes in the basement, her hands show the first tell-tale signs of radiation sickness. During the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue at the end of episode Five, the text states that thirty years after the disater, the uniforms are still in the basement of the hospital, and are still dangerously radioactive.

* The Imperium Silver Crystal from ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': Using its full power is fatally taxing. Usagi manages to get around this by borrowing power from her teammates. However, she ''does'' die from it in the first season finale of the first [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]], but her last act is to hit the ResetButton. In the ''R movie'', she also does die from it, but recovers (there is a price paid, though).