History Main / ClingyMacGuffin

* ''ComicBook/IronMan'': A villainous example occurs in ''ComicBook/IronMan2012'' with the Mandarin and his alien rings, which give him a variety of fantastic powers. The rings are attuned to him and cannot be taken from him by force. A partial subversion comes from the fact that the Mandarin can voluntarily lend his rings to his [[{{Mooks}} minions]], although if they're knocked out or killed the ring automatically comes back to him. If the Mandarin himself loses consciousness, all the rings automatically reappear on his fingers, which left his {{Mooks}} powerless to stop the Stark employees they had kidnapped from escaping on one occasion after Iron Man knocked out their boss.

* Jaime Reyes became the third ''ComicBook/BlueBeetle'' when the Scarab the original used (but didn't properly activate) bonded to his spine. Now if it's removed, he gets a gaping back wound if he's ''lucky'', and dies instantly if not.
* ComicBook/ConanTheBarbarian once came into possession of the Ring of Molub, an artifact connected to an ancient, NighInvulnerable demon of the same name. The demon will relentlessly pursue and slaughter the bearer of ring, which can only be disposed of by passing it on to someone without their knowledge, condemning that poor bastard to an extremely horrific death. Conan gets rid of it by slipping it on the finger of that story's BigBad... and then breaking his hand for good measure.
* The current ComicBook/CrimsonAvenger is a woman who bought a pair of Colt handguns to exact revenge on a murderer who escaped justice. The guns are cursed, and bonded permanently to her hands. They also lack triggers and never need to be reloaded, apparently firing by themselves and using her as a "host", to bring about vengeance on those who go unpunished for their crimes. She gets an "assignment" by reliving the death of the killer's victim, then involuntarily teleports to the killer's location. One time she tried to kill herself instead, but the guns render her immortal.
* The Tallus, futuristic-looking wristband used to guide the ComicBook/{{Exiles}}, cannot be removed from its wearer's wrist. If, for instance, you cut off the current wearer's ''arm'', it will just reappear on the other arm.
* Shows up in ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' on occasion. When Hal Jordan was given a Blue Lantern ring, he was unable to remove it without hoping for something. In a Green Lantern cameo on ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Kyle Rayner couldn't remove his lantern ring even when he tried. And speaking of Kyle, when he had the original power of Ion, he modified his ring to become exactly this because of all the times people tried to take his ring.
* A villainous example occurs in the ''ComicBook/IronMan'' comics with the Mandarin and his alien rings, which give him a variety of fantastic powers. The rings are attuned to him and cannot be taken from him by force. A partial subversion comes from the fact that the Mandarin can voluntarily lend his rings to his [[{{Mooks}} minions]], although if they're knocked out or killed the ring automatically comes back to him. If the Mandarin himself loses consciousness, all the rings automatically reappear on his fingers, which left his {{Mooks}} powerless to stop the Stark employees they had kidnapped from escaping on one occasion after Iron Man knocked out their boss.
* The quantum bands that come with the job of Protector of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, once put on, don't come off again until the death of their wearer. As a result, ComicBook/{{Quasar}} gets killed once precisely because the BigBad of that story arc is after the bands and discovers that the bands can't even be removed from his wrists after ''cutting off his lower arms''. (He does eventually get better.)
* There's a ComicBook/{{Mickey Mouse|ComicUniverse}} comic that combines this trope with MundaneUtility. Mickey receives a cursed miniature sculpture that is so ugly that no-one wants to keep it, but it will remain with the person who found it until they can find someone else to voluntarily accept it. At the end he is still unable to get rid of it, and finds a cave filled with thousands of identical copies of the object. After thinking for a bit, he makes them into keychain holders and starts a booming business selling them, as whoever buys one will never lose their keys again.
* One of these features prominently in one of the issues of the Spanish comic ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'', titled "The Warlock": a magical note, enchanted to kill anyone who reads it. The title characters subsequently try to remove it by the most varied means, chucking it into the bin, shredding it, burying it, tying it to a rock and throwing it to the sea, and ''hitting it with a full discharge of a flamethrower''. And yet the note manages to never be actually harmed due to some kind of karmic immunity that causes people around it to suffer instead. They do manage to get rid of it. How? [[LaserGuidedKarma They send it back to the guy that commissioned the warlock to send the note to the Super]].
* The ComicBook/StarBrand of ''ComicBook/TheNewUniverse'', an energy source that can do anything the user wants to. However, even if you do find a way to get rid of it, a piece of it will still live on in you and recharge itself.

* The Pistols in ''ComicBook/TheSixthGun'' bond to whoever picks them up after their previous owner dies. Anyone else gets burned by green fire.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan''. The alien symbiote-suit that does get forcefully removed (although not easily), and promptly sees about finding itself a more appreciative host (thereby becoming Venom and its offspring, Carnage and Toxin). Even having successfully removed this MacGuffin from his body, the Web-slinger still isn't free of it: year after year, host after host, it comes back to fight him. It also has a "crazy ex-girlfriend" thing going on, and several comics have stated that it would gladly go back to Peter if he accepted it, which means it's still trying to be even clingier.\\\
It's gotten worse in recent years. The symbiote messed with the physiology of its last two long-term hosts, making them literally unable to survive without it. This forced Mac Gargan to be locked back into an upgraded Scorpion suit, and nearly killed Flash Thompson when the suit possessed [[spoiler:the ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan]]. Numerous stories have seen Venom, Carnage or other symbiotes "permanently bonded" to their hosts such that they can never be removed again. Hell, it's noted in Venom's first appearance that this happened to Eddie Brock. [[{{Pun}} It never sticks.]]
* In "The Sliceman Cometh" in ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' #44, a French Revolutionary executioner who killed an innocent man at the request (and payment) of the victim's brother keeps trying to dispose of the head only to have it return to him in various plausible ways. Finally he decides to chop it to bits -- which is when the headless corpse shows up looking for it...
* Parodied in ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'', with the piece of sticking plaster from ''Recap/TintinTheCalculusAffair''. When Captain Haddock tosses it off, it sticks to someone else, who in turn shakes it off. And so it goes all over the bus, before coming to the Captain's cap. It then follows him aboard the plane, eventually makes its way to the cockpit (causing the pilots to momentarily lose control), lands on the Captain again by the end of the flight, is thrown away at the police station, only to return ''yet again on the captain's clothes'' in the hotel room!
* The ''ComicBook/{{Witchblade}}'' doesn't like attempts to remove it. When Mary tries to use bolt cutters on it in ''ComicBook/Switch2015'', it results in the bolt cutters being destroyed. Another girl who tries to use a car press to remove it has the car press ''shredded to pieces''.

* The One Ring from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' could perhaps be considered one of these: there's a moment, for example, in the first chapter of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', when, as Bilbo is preparing to leave the Shire, Gandalf persuades him to "stop possessing it, give it to Frodo", and Bilbo agrees, but as he walks out, Gandalf stops him: "You have still got the ring in your pocket." The Ring also attempts to compel its wearer to put it on when a Ringwraith gets near. However, at other points the trope is inverted, as it also has a tendency to slip off the bearer's finger unexpectedly, often when it is most needed; this is how it came to Bilbo after slipping off Gollum's finger. It also slipped off of Isildur's finger, revealing him to a band of orcs, thereby betraying him to his death.\\\
In the book it is noted that ''even if thrown into the sea'' it would eventually find its way back to civilization by compelling some fish to eat it, and if ''buried under a mountain'' it would gnaw on the minds of the person who knew its whereabouts. (And imagine having the willpower to throw even an ordinarily priceless item such as the diamond in ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'' into the sea.) Anyone sufficiently powerful to safeguard it would be tempted to claim it and become the new Ring lord, and it would try to slip away from anyone sufficiently weak to avoid temptation or ability to wield it -- and slip into the hands of someone who could.\\\
The film explained this fairly concisely. The ring cannot be destroyed, except for within Mount Doom. The Ring cannot be guarded, buried or lost again; it will always call out to the nearest person to possess it, and cannot be resisted for long. The Fellowship could not be avoided. However, its ultimate goal is always to return to its creator. Though no characters bring up the issue in advance, this all begs the question of why its psychic influence would allow someone to intentionally carry it to the volcano and throw it in, and in the end it turns out [[spoiler:destroying it on purpose is impossible, but it ''can'' be destroyed by accident. Frodo and Sam reach the necessary lava pit but cannot bring themselves to throw it in, despite their racial resistance to its power. Gollum shows up, steals the ring and, while celebrating his success, trips and falls into the lava. In the movie version he falls in when Frodo attacks him to take the ring back (for himself, not to destroy it).]]

If the MacGuffin is a piece of clothing, it's a ClingyCostume. If it's a living thing, it falls into TheCatCameBack. Compare LoyalPhlebotinum, which can be physically separated from the owner [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield but still only works]] for its [[TheChosenOne Chosen One]]. If the MacGuffin physically can be removed, but magically ensures that the owner won't ''want'' to, it's an ArtifactOfAttraction. Contrast SlipperyMacGuffin.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E126LivingDoll Living Doll]]", Erich Streator cannot rid himself of the doll Talky Tina no matter what he tries. He throws it in the trash and it reappears in his stepdaughter Christie's bed. He then attempts to destroy it using a vise, a blowtorch and a circular saw but [[MadeOfIndestructium it is completely undamaged]]. [[spoiler:Erich later trips over Tina on the stairs and falls to his death.]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E151TheEncounter The Encounter]]", Fenton tells Arthur Takamori that he took the samurai sword from a Japanese officer whom he was forced to kill on Okinawa in order to save his own life. He claims that it keeps turning up in spite of his numerous attempts to get rid of it over the years. It bears the inscription "The sword will avenge me." As soon as he picks it up, Arthur experiences a strange sensation and says "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. Why?" He later appears to be come under the supernatural influence of the sword and attacks Fenton with it. From this experience, Arthur realizes that Fenton killed the Japanese officer and took the sword after he had already surrendered. The former owner of the sword eventually has his vengeance when Fenton falls on it and is [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaled]].

* Similarly to the blinker stones below, the amulets from ''Webcomic/AgentsOfTheRealm'' always return to the MagicalGirl of their choosing, even if she gives it away. Good thing for Norah, [[BearsAreBadNews seeing what she got herself into]]...

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'':

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14073644/1/ The Echo Ranger]]'': The Echo Morpher seems to be one. Izuku goes to bed with the Echo Power Coin under his pillow. He wakes up wearing a watch he doesn't recognize. A watch with no clip, snaps, or other means to attach or detach it. So for in the story he has not tried (onscreen) to take it off, but has mentioned he couldn't revert it to Coin form.

* In ''Videogame/GodOfWarPS4'' [[spoiler:the Blades of Chaos are this for Kratos. Kratos has tried to get rid of them many times, but they always find their way back to him one way or another. Even tossing them into the ocean didn't work for long. This is why he has settled on keeping them hidden under his house. Like the ashes of his family grafted to his skin and the burn marks on his arms from the Blades' chains, the Blades themselves are a permanent reminder of his bloody past that he can never truly erase.]]

* In ''Webcomic/FullFrontalNerdity'', Lewis has a cursed 20-sided die that is every gamer's nightmare; it always rolls a 1. The gamers give is a burial, [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=125 but it returns]]. They bury it again, this time under a statue of the Virgin Mary, with a bunch of garlic. It returns again. The characters decide to de-curse it by mixing it with some dice that are extra lucky -- they rolled every die in their gaming store and bought the ones that came up as 20 three consecutive times. But after doing this, ''all'' the dice start rolling 1s. ("[[TheVirus It's like we tried to cure a zombie by locking it in a room with normal people!]]") Then the other cursed dice vanish, and the number 1 starts appearing world wide -- sports all end up with a score of 1, clocks stop at 1:11, etc. The gamers decide that the only way to break the curse is to make rolling a 1 ''good''. Fortunately, Nelson had the foresight to buy a lottery ticket with all 1s, and won $1,111. They use this money to bribe Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast to temporarily change the rules of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' so that 1s are good (version 1.1.1 -- their word processor was cursed too). Lewis rolls the die in the hopes of getting a 1 and lightning strikes, destroying it.

* The Creator/JohnBellairs novel ''Literature/TheSpellOfTheSorcerersSkull'' features a miniature skull that can fit in a pants pocket... and returns there after the protagonist drops it into a lake.

* The title character of ''LightNovel/{{Gokudo}}'' planned to abuse his magic sword in a similar manner as in ''Series/DeadLast'', though his genie stops him before he can even try.

* In ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' the Legendary Weapons must always be on the Hero's person. Luckily for them, the Weapon's size and location on their body can be adjusted, so it's possible to use both hands for bathing and eating. They are also clingy in another way, as they will punish any Cardinal Hero for trying to use a Weapon that does not match their Weapon's nature.

* In a ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' OVA, Naga, on pure impulse, puts on a valuable bracelet made out of rare {{Orichalcum}}. Unfortunately, she discovers that she can't take it off. And what's more, a powerful superweapon became attracted to the bracelet and Naga and Lina got chased all over by this creature.

If the MacGuffin is a piece of clothing, it's a ClingyCostume. If it's a living thing, it falls into TheCatCameBack. Compare LoyalPhlebotinum, which can be physically separated from the owner [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield but still only works]] for its [[TheChosenOne Chosen One]]. Contrast SlipperyMacGuffin.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "The Gun", a gun dealer named Donald Finley (who is really an alien in disguise) sells a strange gun to Matthew Logan for $300. As soon as Matthew uses it to kill his wife Sandra for having him sent to prison for abusing her, the gun became fused to Matthew's hand and all attempts to remove it failed. The fusion process intensified every time that he used the gun as he was [[SlowTransformation slowly transforming]] into the ultimate killing machine. His father-in-law Cord van Owen is given an identical gun by Finley which likewise fuses itself to his skin after he fires it. However, it detaches itself when he refuses to kill Matthew in front of his son Ty, much to Finley's disappointment.

* Manjyome's Ojama spirit monsters in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX''.

* A benign example of this, similar to the Ring of Polycrates story, can be found in the miniseries ''Series/TheTenthKingdom''. Wolf purchases an engagement ring for Virginia, and after being rejected, he throws it into the lake. At the end of the story, Virginia ends up ordering the fish that ate the ring [[spoiler:and Wolf takes this chance to propose again, with greater success]].

** The English fairy tale "The Fish and the Ring" [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/english/fishring.html]] is named for its use of this trope: the baron is trying to forestall a SelfFulfillingProphecy by refusing to let his son live with his wife, a peasant girl, until [[EngagementChallenge she presents him with a ring]] he threw into the sea. She takes a job as a cook. He is served a dish containing fish -- and the ring. The girl had cooked it. He ceases to resist fate.

* In Creator/WinsorMccay 's "A Pilgrim's Progress by Mr. Bunion", a parody of Literature/PilgrimsProgress , the main character always tries to get rid of a suitcase (labeled 'Dull Care') only to get it returned to him in the last panel.

* One ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' short was actually about MickeyMouse having a hard time sleeping because of his new alarm clock's ticking noise. He always tries to get rid of it, but no matter how hard he tries, the clock will inevitably make its way back to his house.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':