History Main / DismantledMacGuffin

** However, [[spoiler:the Soul Stone]] 'can' be considered a true [[spoiler:MacGuffin]] because it was collected because you GottaCatchThemAll rather than sought for its own unique abilities.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': The six Infinity Stones that have been introduced throughout the movies are exceptionally powerful artifacts when used individuals. And when placed in the Infinity Gauntlet, they can allow their user to perform great feats such as [[spoiler:erasing half of all life in the universe with a snap of their fingers, as Thanos does in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'']]. This would make the Stones appear to not function exactly as a [[spoiler:MacGuffin]] because [[spoiler: their powers were used]].
** However, [[spoiler:the Soul Stone]] can be considered a true MacGuffin because it was collected because you GottaCatchThemAll rather than sought for its own unique abilities.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': The six Infinity Stones that have been introduced throughout the movies are exceptionally powerful on their own, but when all of them are placed in the Infinity Gauntlet, they allow the user to erase half of all life in the universe with a snap of their fingers. [[spoiler:In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', Thanos does exactly this, and ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' revealed that he destroyed them to prevent anyone undoing his actions; the Avengers are forced to travel through time and gather past versions of the Stones to assemble a new gauntlet and undo the Snap]].
** It could be argued that most of the Stones aren't examples of a MacGuffin because [[spoiler:their powers were actually sought out to be used in one MCU film or another]]. However, [[spoiler:the Soul Stone "can" be considered a true MacGuffin because it was collected because you GottaCatchThemAll rather than sought for its own unique abilities]].

* In one story from ''ComicBook/{{Topolino}}'', Indiana Goofs (Goofy's cosuin who is a adventurer and treasure hunter)is searching for Magical Sandals made by Merlin's mother in law for Lancelot. Since they were too small for the knight, sandals were stored away in a chest and hidden. Indiana and a group of criminals finds the sandals location and fight over the chest. Finally the leader of criminals gets his hands on the chest. He opens it only to find ash and strings. Sandals,magical or not are made of leather and very unlikely to survive the test of time. Indiana Goofs even Lampshades this.

** It could be argued that most of the Stones aren't examples of a MacGuffin because [[spoiler:their powers were actually sought out to be used in one MCU film or another]]. However, [[spoiler:the Soul Stone can be considered a true MacGuffin because it was collected because you GottaCatchThemAll rather than sought for its own unique abilities]].

** It could be argued that the Stones don't count as MacGuffins because [[spoiler:their powers were used]]. However, [[spoiler:the Soul Stone is the only Stone in the MCU that comes closest to a MacGuffin because it was collected because you Gotta Catch 'Em All rather than sought for its own unique abilities]].

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': The six Infinity Stones that have been introduced throughout the movies are exceptionally powerful on their own, but when all of them are placed in the Infinity Gauntlet, they allow the user to erase half of all life in the universe with a snap of their fingers. [[spoiler:In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', Thanos does exactly this, and ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' revealed that he destroyed them to prevent anyone undoing his actions; the Avengers are forced to travel through time and gather past versions of the Stones to assemble a new gauntlet and undo the Snap. It could be argued that the Stones don't count as MacGuffins because their power was used. The Soul Stone is the only Stone in the MCU that comes closest to a MacGuffin because it was collected because you Gotta Catch 'Em All rather than sought for its own unique abilities.]]

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': The six Infinity Stones that have been introduced throughout the movies are exceptionally powerful on their own, but when all of them are placed in the Infinity Gauntlet, they allow the user to erase half of all life in the universe with a snap of their fingers. [[spoiler:In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', Thanos does exactly this, and ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' revealed that he destroyed them to prevent anyone undoing his actions; the Avengers are forced to travel through time and gather past versions of the Stones to assemble a new gauntlet and undo the Snap.]]

* A number of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episodes revolved around re-assembling some piece of phlebotinum scattered throughout the galaxy. The most notable are ''Gambit'', which involves finding the components for an ancient Vulcan weapon, and ''The Chase'', revolving around a search for a secret message hidden within the genomes of life forms from dozens of different planets.

* The Mask of Ultimate Power in ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}: Journey to One''.

* In the first ''Anime/SailorMoon'' anime (but not the manga or Anime/SailorMoonCrystal), the Silver Crystal split into the the seven Rainbow Crystals after Queen Serenity used it to send her daughter and the Sailor Senshi and Prince Endymion's souls to Earth for reincarnation. The Rainbow Crystals had to be found by those wishing to reassemble them into the Silver Crystal -- with the Sailor Senshi, Tuxedo Mask, and the villainous Dark Kingdom all after it. Each crystal was contained within the body of a normal human who (unbeknownst to them) was a really a reincarnation of the "Seven Great [[MonsterOfTheWeek Youma]]".

* The two ''VideoGame/{{Aura}}'' games, ''Fate of the Ages'' and ''The Sacred Rings'' involve several enchanted artifacts that form part of a control mechanism for the teleporters that the Keepers clan use to colonize other worlds. The protagonist, Umang was sent by the Keepers to collect and assemble these artifacts before the [[BigBad evil Durad]] or the bloodthirsty Shadow Legion [[spoiler: controlling him]] did. [[spoiler: Strangely, at the end of the second game, though, after getting rid of the Shadow Legion, [[InvertedTrope he took out his crowbar and ''destroyed'' the very thing he spent the first game putting together]], and continued on like nothing happened. There was a third sequel meant to explain what was to become of Umang later on, but it is currently in DevelopmentHell.]]

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* The Trident of Ankohl in ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'' needs to be assembled in order to defeat Poseidon.

* The [[{{BFS}} Sulevin Blade]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' falls under this trope. Its recovery isn't central to the plot - it's a completely optional sidequest - but if the Inquisitor travels to the Cradle of Sulevin and gathers all the fragments of the lost blade, it can be reforged into one of the best two-handed swords in the entire franchise.
* ''VideoGame/ChesterCheetahTooCoolToFool'' has Chester's motorcycle, whose pieces you have to collect throughout the game.
* ''VideoGame/TwoWorlds'': The key to Aziraal's tomb, which is split into five pieces scattered across the kingdom.
* The runes Arle gathers up in ''Minna de'' ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' are actually parts of a whole tablet that Dark Prince shattered to lead her on. What does the finished product put together? ''A hot springs ticket.'' Arle is thoroughly unamused and tosses it away, to the prince's displeasure.
* ''VideoGame/HauntedHouse'': The plot is that you are traveling through a mansion trying to find pieces of a magical urn that belongs to the town while avoiding the ghost of the mansion's previous owner, along with spiders and a bat. The pieces of the urn must be collected to reassemble it.
* ''Incredible Dracula 6: The Ice Kingdom'' involves collecting the five pieces of the mirror the Ice Queen was [[SealedEvilInACan formerly imprisoned in]] so she can be re-imprisoned.
* Much of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' revolves around hunting down Star Maps, which together reveal the location of the Star Forge.
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'', Ethan is looking for his daughter, Rosemary, in a mysterious European village and learns some way in [[spoiler:that this is what happened to her. The lords of the village chopped her into pieces for their mistress' ritual and he needs to seek them out to find the rest of her.]]
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', the Trident of Ankhol, which was split into three pieces, then scattered across the Eastern Sea. It is a SwordOfPlotAdvancement because it's the only way to remove a certain BeefGate boss' invincibility.
* The goal of ''VideoGame/SabreWulf'' is to collect four pieces of a broken amulet, which are found randomly in four different areas in the maze-like jungle.
* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersPirates'': Some {{Treasure Map}}s are obtained one quarter at a time through purchase, loot, or sidequests. {{Downplayed|Trope}} in that the treasures are present in the game world from the beginning, so the player can sometimes get lucky and [[SequenceBreaking follow an incomplete map to the destination]].
* ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesShreddersRevenge'' has the parts for Krang's robot body, which are used to power various machines installed by the Foot Clan, so that his plan can progress. [[spoiler:After it's reassembled and destroyed, Krang reveals that this was nothing more than a diversion, as his ''actual'' plan involved the Foot remodelling the Statue of Liberty into a new body for him to use.]]
* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' has, well, ''the'' [[ArtifactTitle Elden Ring]], a mystical RingOfPower that is the source of power for the [[WorldTree Erdtree]], bestowed unto [[GodEmperor Queen Marika]] by the [[CosmicEntity Greater Will]]. For some unknown reason, Queen Marika shattered the Elden Ring and vanished, leaving the Lands Between in a succession crisis between many demigods vying for control of the Great Runes, pieces of the Elden Ring. Now, all that remains of the once majestic Empire is a broken land beset by a bloody ForeverWar that even the Greater Will has abandoned... until the Tarnished are summoned.
* In ''VideoGame/LaStatuetteMauditeDeLOncleErnest'', the player must reassemble the Eye of Shiva, which was divided into three pieces.

* The [[CosmicKeystone wish-granting artifact]], the "Magicant", in ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure''. It was created by [[TricksterGod The Lady of Fate and Fortune]] with the intent that man would abuse its power and did this for her own amusement. Then Makala and the other gods destroyed it, but since artifacts created by gods aren't so easily destroyed it was broken apart and [[GottaCatchEmAll scattered across the plane of Manjulias.]]

* Most of the plot (such as it is) in the original Xbox game ''VideoGame/BloodWake'' involves you locating and assembling the pieces of the "Shield of Four Souls". Possibly partially averted/subverted in that you find the first piece or two without really knowing what they are, let alone what the assembled thing does.
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'':
** The first game's ExcusePlot has the [[PlayerCharacter Vault Hunters]] assembling the four [[spoiler: actually, three]] pieces of the Vault Key before the Vault is closed off for another 200 years.
** The ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' DLC ''Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty'' has Captain Blade's compass, split into four pieces to prevent anyone from finding his lost treasure. Scarlett already has one piece and knows where the other three are; you just have to do the hard work of collecting them for her.
** ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'' has the Gortys Project, although in this case it's not dismantled so much as it is "We built all the pieces in separate labs all over [[DeathWorld Pandora]] and were ''going'' to assemble it, but then this crazy psycho bitch out for {{Revenge}} killed us all, and now [[CallToAdventure YOU]] have to do all the legwork."

* ''VideoGame/MusaicBox'': Each music sheet is in parts which have to be found. Sometimes they're on items which themselves have to be reassembled, like a broken vinyl record and a musical orchestra.
* Cap'n Hawk's treasure map in ''VideoGame/UltimaVI'' is split into nine parts. Somewhat subverted in that it's possible to [[SequenceBreaking skip the entire quest]]--possibly without realizing it.
* The [[{{Precursors}} Xel'naga]] artifacts in ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}} II'' count, since they form a [[spoiler: LostSuperweapon]] when combined.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', the [[{{Lampshading}} Holy MacGuffin]] is hidden; in order to locate it, you have to first find the Staff of Ed, which is of course split into 3 pieces, located in entirely unrelated parts of the Kingdom.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Darkstone}}'', an artifact called the Time Orb was split into seven Crystals of Virtue, which must be collected by the PlayerCharacter in order to reassemble the Time Orb to save the world.
* Every single item in the ''VideoGame/DarkParables'' games, and other similar games from the same developer, is broken into fragments that must be assembled by solving [[HiddenObjectGame hidden object]] puzzles.
* Occurs in the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis ''VideoGame/{{Ghostbusters 1990}}'' game. Four Boss Ghosts hold the pieces of a stone tablet. The fifth holds a red gem that, when placed in the center of the tablet, causes a gigantic hole to open right in the middle of New York City. The final boss holds a blue gem that, when placed in the center of the tablet, undoes the damage.
* Much of the first act of ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' has you seeking out the three pieces of a powerful sword that was wielded by the Stranger you found in the impact zone of the Fallen Star, while fighting off the efforts of an evil coven to do the same. [[spoiler:The sword in question is ''El'druin'', the sword of Tyrael, who has become mortal because he's had enough of the Angiris Council's inaction regarding the demons and wants to give humanity a chance]].
** Later on in the game, [[spoiler:you have to recover the parts of the body of Zoltan Kulle, an EvilSorcerer who was decapitated and dismembered by his fellow Horadrim, so that he can be resurrected to lead you to his creation, the Black Soulstone, which you need to seal Belial and Azmodan, the last Lords of Hell. Being that Zoltan Kulle is an evil and treacherous bastard, you ultimately have to kill him again]].

* The Dragon Amulet in ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire''; reassembling it is the main goal for much of the game, and it is shared by the heroes and the villains. In Dirge, this also applies to the side quest for the Tome of Release, which you need to put to rest or banish the ghosts of the soldiers who died in the siege.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', [[spoiler: the Crucible]] can be considered a variation of this, with the plans discovered in the Prothean archives on Mars. It is later revealed that [[spoiler: the device has been built and the plans improved upon by countless civilisations over ''millions'' of years, but was never actually ''finished'' until now...]]
* ''Frogger's Adventure 2: The Lost Wand'' involves collecting all the pieces of the title object so that the balance of magic can be restored and random events like a remote turning into a bouquet of flowers will stop happening.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemNewMysteryOfTheEmblem'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' have the Shield of Seals, with five spheres scattered all over the world, needed to defeat the BigBad.
* In ''Demon Sword'', the titular sword is only dagger-length at the start of the game, but its missing pieces are added as you progress in the game.
* ''Dreamscapes: The Sandman'' features a broken dreamcatcher which, once reassembled, somehow prevents the title villain from taking over the body of the {{Damsel in Distress}}.
* ''VideoGame/{{Misao}}'': The eponymous character's corpse, which is scattered in six pieces around the school. Finding all of them is the only way to end her curse.
* The title object in ''Forgotten Books: The Enchanted Crown''.

* The Gong of Wonder in ''[[VideoGame/VirtualVillagers Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children]]''
* ''VideoGame/{{Strife}}'' has The Sigil, some assembly required. Acquiring the pieces as part of general actions against TheOrder drive the plot, and it serves as a weapon with different abilities according to how many pieces the player has.
* Pretty much what drives most, if not all of the ''[[VideoGame/{{Rhem}} RHEM]]'' games.
* ''VideoGame/PetalCrash'' has the seven Sacred Blossoms, which have been scattered across the land and found by various individuals, have to be gathered and brought back to the Royal Garden to make their wishes come true.
* The two ''VideoGame/{{Aura}}'' games, ''Fate of the Ages'' and ''The Sacred Rings'' involve several enchanted artifacts that form part of a control mechanism for the teleporters that the Keepers clan use to colonize other worlds. The protagonist, Umang was sent by the Keepers to collect and assemble these artifacts before the [[BigBad evil Durad]] or the bloodthirsty Shadow Legion [[spoiler: controlling him]] did. [[spoiler: Strangely, at the end of the second game, though, after getting rid of the Shadow Legion, [[InvertedTrope he took out his crowbar and ''destroyed'' the very thing he spent the first game putting together]], and continued on like nothing happened. There was a third sequel meant to explain what was to become of Umang later on, but it is currently in DevelopmentHell.]]
* In the parallel world in ''VideoGame/LighthouseTheDarkBeing'', a group of Priests built six pieces of a "Particle-ionizing vacuum cannon", the only thing that can capture and incapacitate the titular [[BigBad Dark Being]]. The Priests were en route to put the gun together, but they died with one of the parts on board when their ship sank, so [[ItsUpToYou naturally you have to find and assemble the gun yourself]].
* Done intentionally in ''VideoGame/DarkFall'' by George Crabtree. The piece of vellum containing the 12 symbols designed to re-trap the titular [[BigBad Dark Fall creature]], was cut into individual pieces and scattered within the hotel, some of them given with instructions to the guests and staff staying there. Other pieces were destroyed by the creature, but there are ways to recover them.
* In ''VideoGame/StarshipTitanic'', the [[SpaceshipGirl ship's central AI, Titania]], was sabotaged in a scuttling plan, and without her being functional, the ship was put in a very unstable state, hence why it crashed into your house in the first place. One of the saboteurs hid her components around the ship before it took off, often hidden in very obscure spots.
* In the remake of ''[[VideoGame/ShadowWarrior2013 Shadow Warrior]]'', the Nobitsura Kage is a legendary weapon that can kill demons and even Ancients. As Hoji explains to you upon obtaining it, there are three swords that go by the name, each carrying a piece of the original weapon. Only by reassembling it does it take on its full power.
* In ''VideoGame/ConanHyborianAge'', the quest's goal is initially to explore a dungeon to find a sword crafted in a superior metal. Said sword being found broken in two (the part with the handle and the lower part of the blade is usable as a dagger), the last objective is to reforge it at Whiterun's Skyforge, either as a one-handed sword or a greatsword.
* ''VideoGame/TheWhiteChamber'': You find several dismembered body parts over the course of the game, assembled into a single corpse in an effort to find out what happened on the station. [[spoiler:Try to SequenceBreak [[JumpScare and the corpse manifests its disapproval]].]]
* The basic premise in ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves''. [[BigBad Clockwerk]] is still dead from events of the first game, but his pieces have been acquired by various criminals across the globe, and the gang needs to retrieve them before someone gets the [[SealedEvilInACan bright idea]] to try to put them back together.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' have Star Chips (used to form Launch Stars) and Silver Stars (used to form Power Stars).
** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series:
*** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'' has the Beanstar Cackletta is looking for.
*** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'' does this with the Cobalt Star [[spoiler: and crosses it with SealedEvilInACan]].
*** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'' has the Miracle Cure, which is the only thing that can cure the blorbs. They sure do love this trope.
*** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'' has the player assemble the Ultibed, with the pieces scattered across Pi'illo Island.
** ''VideoGame/MarioPartyDS'': During the ending of Story Mode, the Star Fragments are revealed to be [[spoiler:components of a magical Nintendo DS that has a game called Triangle Twisters embedded to it]].

* Inverted in ''Anime/GoLion'' (the basis for the first part of ''Anime/{{Voltron}}''): a space goddess dismantles [=GoLion=] / Voltron because he/it was too arrogant.[[note]]The Voltron version portrays her as being Honerva / Witch Haggar in disguise who had lured him into a trap.[[/note]] The five heroes[[note]]Who are not space explorers as the Voltron version suggests, but rather students at a space adademy on Earth before they were captured by the Galra Empire.[[/note]] spend much of the pilot trying bring back [=GoLion=] / Voltron in order to fight the Galra Empire.

* ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet in the Marvel Universe is a device that grants the wielder control over... everything. It requires six gems plus the gauntlet itself. Thanos at one point gained it, but it was wrested from him by Adam Warlock. However, the Living Tribunal deemed that he was unworthy of wielding it, so Warlock formed the Infinity Watch, and gave five of the six gems to each of the other five members, keeping the Soul Gem for himself. Later, even this proves ineffective, and the Tribunal forbids the six gems from ''ever'' being used together. Most recently, [[Characters/MarvelComicsTheIlluminati The Illuminati]] (a secret council of the six most powerful figures in the world) have each taken and hidden a gem to prevent the Gauntlet from being reassembled. [[spoiler:Captain America and the Illuminati later used them in an attempt to stop the Incursions in the Time Runs Out story arc, but the Gauntlet and stones were destroyed. They were eventually reformed in the new universe, but after Gamora assembled the Gauntlet to try and use it against her father, Adam Warlock used the Soul Stone to grant the other Stones a form of sentience and they dispersed across the universe to find new guardians]].

* ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'' revolves partly around the two superhero teams competing to find magical artifacts from their two universes. This turns out to be a trick by the Grandmaster; once all the artifacts are in one place, he uses them to imprison the evil Krona.
* ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'': The Cosmic Cube fragments (more specifically of Kobik, a sentient cube who had actually transformed [[spoiler: [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]]]] into a sleeper agent of the terrorist organization HYDRA via CosmicRetcon). Hawkeye assembles a strike force of Ant-Man, Hercules, Mockingbird, and Quicksilver to find them with the hope of returning [[spoiler: Steve]] to himself. Meanwhile, [[spoiler: Steve]] sends out Helmut Zemo to collect the shards for HYDRA. This leads to conflict with those who found the shards -- so far, T'Challa, Namor, and Ultron -- throughout the event.

* ''ComicBook/BlackScience'': The forevermids of Tarana are powerful artifacts in themselves, but when combined become the omnimid. While it's never seen in action, everyone thinks it's pretty sweet.
* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': The League of Shadows sends assassins to collect all the bits of a map to [[TheShangriLa Nanda Parbat]] which are held by the creatively named "families of the map". Even a map doesn't help achieve their goals with usually unmappable location, as a pure and good heart is required for what they want from the place, which the fact that they were killing off the map holders in ''ComicBook/Robin1993'' #168 made fairly clear was beyond them.
* ''ComicBook/{{Monstress}}'': Key to the MythArc are the five pieces of a mask created by the ancient Shaman-Empress, which even in the reduced power of its fragments can commune with the imprisoned [[EldritchAbomination Old Gods]] [[spoiler: or free them from their prison]]. Just about every major faction is after the pieces for their own agendas.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Sojourn}}'', Arwyn and her allies are on TheQuest to find and reassemble to five segments of the golden arrow: the only artifact that can the undead overlord Mordath.

* In one story from Topolino, Indiana Goofs (Goofy's cosuin who is a adventurer and treasure hunter)is searching for Magical Sandals made by Merlin's mother in law for Lancelot. Since they were too small for the knight, sandals were stored away in a chest and hidden. Indiana and a group of criminals finds the sandals location and fight over the chest. Finally the leader of criminals gets his hands on the chest. He opens it only to find ash and strings. Sandals,magical or not are made of leather and very unlikely to survive the test of time. Indiana Goofs even Lampshades this.

* ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'': The Vasyn. It's a thirty-foot-tall vaguely DNA-ish pink granite statue that was broken into three pieces that were scattered across different universes. Restoring it will remove the curse on Ketafa that prevents the gods from seeing that continent. Guess what the four have to do in order to get home?
* ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone'': The Nine-part Key must be put together in order to breach the impregnable Black Tower.%%And the list of instructions on how to put it together.
* ''Fanfic/TheSweetieChroniclesFragments'': Twilight Sparkle gets TakenForGranite and is split into a series of crystals spread over TheMultiverse. Sweetie Belle must gather these crystals by traveling through various {{Alternate Universe}}s.
* ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'': The side-series ''7 Dreams/Nightmares'' makes use of this in Patch's story. The backstory reveals that the Paradise Estate ponies allowed the Rainbow of Light to be split up so that the separate pieces could be used to power a world-wide wish-granting spell meant to start a golden age, only for the draconnequi to sabotage it [[spoiler: in order to [[CosmicRetcon avert the G3 world]]]], with the resulting disaster sending the world back into TheDungAges. In the aftermath, Patch is tasked the quest of tracking the fragments down in order to restore the Rainbow. Unfortunately, all seven (there were originally seven, [[spoiler:Discord later destroyed the Element of Trust]]) have their own individual powers and most fell into the hooves of {{Evil Overlord}}s she has to take out.
%%* ''Fanfic/FallenKing'' has the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle.

* ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'': In Episode 13, the Meekrob data crystal leading to [[LostSuperweapon Project Domination]] is [[AccidentallyBrokeTheMacGuffin shattered]] during the fight over it, leaving both Dib's team and each of the Irken factions in possession of a piece. But it doesn't work unless its complete, so no one's going after the weapon any time soon. In Episode 16, [[spoiler:[[TheDragon Norlock]] is able to secretly steal the other teams' pieces, allowing Zim to reassemble the whole]].
* ''Fanfic/InfinityCrisis'': In the spin-off ''Of Kryptonians and Queens'', this trope applies to the Infinity Stones after Thanos's defeat. As explained in a flashback, [[spoiler:Strange and the Vision retain the Time and Mind Stones, but the Soul Stone's location is unknown as it disintegrated after Cyborg and Shuri 'hacked' it to restore the victims of Thanos's Snap, although they all guess that it will reform elsewhere. As for the Space, Reality and Power Stones, Captain America gave them to Supergirl, the Flash and Superman respectively, each hero hiding the Stone in their relevant universes to limit the chance of the Gauntlet being reassembled]].
* In ''Fanfic/TheOtherSideMemoriaeterna'', after the other half of the universe is killed by the Snap (''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''), one of Peter Parker's first major projects as the new head of Stark Enterprises and initially unofficial leader of the Avengers is to find a way to undo the Snap. After about a year of work, the surviving heroes have managed to find the near-microscopic fragments that are all that remains of the Infinity Stones, but have also determined that contact with those who previously had ties to certain stones- Peter Quill and Power, Jane Foster and Reality, Doctor Strange and Time, Wanda Maximoff and Mind, etc.- can subtly enhance the amount of power they gather as they regenerate, even if that method is still too slow for the heroes to want to rely on it. After [[spoiler:the time-displaced Stones accelerate the restoration of their counterparts, Peter and Wanda use Mind to reactivate the Vision while returning Time to Strange and asking the Guardians, the Asgardians and SHIELD/SWORD to deal with Power, Reality and Space while Spider-Man handles Soul]].

* ''Fanfic/AlternateTailSeries'': The Gospel Key, which was split apart by Joseph Mcgarden into four equal pieces and given to four of his colleagues and students, is needed to summon the warrior goddess Brigid. Both Fairy Tail and Clan Garten race against each other to acquire the four pieces.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'': The eponymous Dark Crystal needs to be reunited with its missing shard to restore the [=UrRu=] and Skeksis to their natural state and make the world safe again.
* ''Film/CutthroatIsland'': The TreasureMap is one of those disassembled treasure maps that must be reassembled.
* ''Film/ThePhantom1943'': When the Lost City of Zoloz was abandoned and the population split into seven groups, each group took part of the map so that the city would remain lost until the groups reunited. As one of the characters remarks, that didn't work out so well; over the centuries, various bits of the map fell into the hands of outsiders, and at the beginning of the story Professor Davidson already has all of them except one.
* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'': The Nine Pieces of Eight turn out to be the missing ingredients in a spell to free Calypso.
* ''Film/UnderworldEvolution'': The vampire lord Viktor kept half the key to William's tomb sealed to his sternum; the other half is in Sonja's pendant.
* ''Film/TheNinthGate'': The main character is tasked with determining which of three versions of a TomeOfEldritchLore is authentic, i.e. capable of summoning the devil, as it's widely believed at least one is a forgery. It turns out [[spoiler: the 'correct' material is divided equally among all three books]].
* ''Film/LaraCroftTombRaider'': Lara Croft must find the two halves [[spoiler:and one fleck-sized fragment]] of the [[spoiler: All-Seeing Eye/triangle of light which will allow the user to time travel so that she may reunite with her dead father]].

* ''[[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague Justice League]]'': The three Mother Boxes Steppenwolf needs to assemble into the Unity to start turning the Earth into a hellish world like the one he comes from, Apokolips. A coalition of the Earth's forces separated them ages ago and (safe for the Amazons, who don't age) their descendants have kept them hidden ever since.
* ''Film/{{RIPD}}'': The Staff of Jericho was destroyed in 1500 BC. In the present, the deados are collecting the pieces to reassemble it and bring the dead back to Earth.

* ''Film/{{Crossworlds}}'': The BigBad is after an ancient artifact that will allow him to break down the barriers in TheMultiverse and allow him to merge all realities into one and conquer it. The artifact consists of a scepter (kept in a museum) and a crystal (left by the protagonist's late father and worn on his neck as a pendant). The goal of LaResistance is to keep at least one of the pieces (ideally, both) out of the BigBad's hands.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Episode VII: Film/TheForceAwakens'', the Resistance (an unofficial military group in the New Republic) and the First Order ([[TheRemnant the reorganized Galactic Empire]]) are all after a map leading to [[spoiler:the now-reclusive Luke Skywalker]]. Resistance pilot Poe Dameron retrieves the map, but it's eventually discovered that the map is incomplete; no known star systems are featured on it. Towards the end, the remaining section of the map is found inside [[spoiler:the shut-down R2-D2]].
* ''Film/{{Hellbound}}'': An ancient demon who was about to unleash HellOnEarth is stopped by King Richard the Lionheart who sealed him in a tomb and broke the demon's magical scepter into several pieces, which were then sent for safekeeping to Christian orders across Europe. After the demon awakens he spends decades tracking down the pieces to reignite his plan.

* In ''Literature/InSearchOfDorothy'', one piece of the Magic Shoes fell off on Dorothy's return to Earth, [[spoiler:meaning even when the Witch obtains the shoes she isn't fully unstoppable]].
* The first half of ''Literature/LaszloHadronAndTheWargodsTomb'' is concerned with tracking down three shards of a larger artifact of the long-gone Sagittarian Empire.

* The ''TabletopGame/DiscworldRoleplayingGame'' scenario "Full Court Press" has the characters get involved with the young not-quite-Duchess of a cider-producing region, who thinks that restoring the family's ancient cider-press will prove her right to rule. It was last seen in Ankh-Morpork and, inevitably, in pieces which are now scattered around the city.

* ''VideoGame/PAYDAY3'' does this with the heist Syntax Error - the drone data the crew's looking for is split across three servers, each in a separate server room. All three servers must be found and verified before the drone data can be secured and the crew can make their escape.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena'' has the Staff of Chaos, which was used by the BigBad to trap the rightful Emperor in [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds Oblivion]] while he usurped the throne. He split it into eight parts and spread them across the eight provinces of Tamriel. Naturally, the PlayerCharacter has to acquire them all, defeat the big bad, and then use it to restore the rightful Emperor to the throne.
* In the ''[[VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial E.T.]]'' video game for the Atari 2600, E.T.'s communication device is in 3 pieces scattered around the game board. When he finds them, he can call his spaceship. Then he has to be at the landing site when the ship arrives.

* The Trident of Ankohl in ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'' needs to be assembled in order to defeat Poseidon.
* Inverted in ''VideoGame/GrandiaII'': the evil god Valmar was split into several parts and the heroes travel the world to ''destroy'' his parts. [[spoiler:However, it turns out that by "killing" the parts, they were actually manipulated to collect them within Millenia/Elena, whom the BigBad than uses to fully resurrect Valmar.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Nox}}'' had the player reassemble the Staff of Oblivion, a GameBreaker weapon that was story-wise wielded by a single man to defeat an entire army of necromancers. The said man later disassembled the staff to prevent anyone from using it for evil deeds. It is a perfectly usable weapon (mostly for warrior, because two other classes are {{Squishy Wizard}}s) on every step of assembly, but in complete form it can clean entire screens of mooks. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome And you]] ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome do]]'' [[TheWarSequence right after obtaining it.]]
* ''VideoGame/SydneyHunterAndTheCurseOfTheMayan'': Kukulkan has broken apart the Mayan Calendar "Haab" and scattered it throughout the various temples in the pyramid. [[PlayerCharacter Sydney Hunter]] needs to get all the pieces and put Haab back together within five days, or else [[TimeStandsStill time stands still for all eternity]].
* Used repeatedly in the ''Franchise/TombRaider'' series. For instance, the original ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'' has Lara search for and reassemble the three pieces of the Scion, while ''VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend'' has Lara finding the different pieces of Excalibur and reassemble them.

* ''The Pandora Directive,'' the most ambitious entry in the ''VideoGame/TexMurphy'' series, featured one of these. The titular directive had to track down the pieces.

* Piles of ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games rely on this trope. Orbs, Crystals, Espers, Materia, if there's a Big Bad out there, it's virtually a guarantee that whatever MacGuffin you need to defeat it will be scattered across the entire planet (and sometimes more than one).
** The example that pulled this trope in the grandest scale was ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', wherein the dismantled MacGuffin happened to be [[spoiler:the entire planet, which was split into two to prevent the Interdimensional Rift from reforming. The villain seeks to merge the two planets back into one, and inevitably succeeds.]]
** An early mission in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' sees the Gullwings find a half sphere, only for it to be later stolen by rivals the Leblanc Syndicate. The Gullwings wonder why Leblanc wants that broken sphere, until they infiltrate Leblanc's HQ, where they find that the Syndicate has the ''other'' half.
* Many of the newer games in the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series use some variant of this trope. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'', you must [[BlindIdiotTranslation prossess]] Dracula's rib along with other body parts to resurrect and defeat Dracula once and for all.
* Most ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' games feature this.
** In ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'', Kirby must recover all seven pieces of the Star Rod in order to repower the Fountain of Dreams. [[spoiler:Turns out Dedede had to split it in order to seal the Nightmares in the fountain, and the Star Rod is the weapon capable of defeating their embodiment]].
** ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand2'' sets a rule of mandatorily getting all the MacGuffin items as Kirby has to find the seven rainbow tears [[spoiler:in order to assemble a Sword capable of defeating the TrueFinalBoss, Dark Matter. Not finding them locks you out of said battle and nets you the bad ending]].
** This happens again in ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3'', for Kirby and co. to make the 30 denizens (and guests, as well) of Pop Star happy in order for them to produce enough energy [[spoiler:to create a wand to fight [[TrueFinalBoss Dark Matter (again) and Zero]]. Only by gathering them and defeating all the other bosses you can access the final Boss level (and not to fight the other bosses again); otherwise you get the bad ending]].
** Once again with ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'', given [[RuleOfThree these three games are a trilogy]], with Kirby and co. helping Ribbon to gather all 72 pieces of the Fairy Crystal Trophy (a few obtained from Bosses, and the majority with the Copy Abilites) [[spoiler:in order to drive Miracle Matter out of the Fairy Queen's body and unlocking the final shortest level and this game's TrueFinalBoss: Zero Two, which is weak to the crystal weapon. Failing to do so gets you a rather '''creepy''' Bad ending]].
** This happens again in ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror'' with all eight Mirror Shards, in order to access the Final Bosses, and in ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' with all of the Lor Starcutter parts with the same purpose. Luckily, as these are won after every Boss Battle, you don't risk seeing a bad ending here.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In the ''WebAnimation/DingoDoodles'' "Fool's Gold" campaign Erina has a fragment of a crystal which grants her incredible magic power. Legend has it that the crystal belonged to an immensely powerful being which disappeared after the crystal shattered. [[spoiler:The crystal is the soul of the artificial god Xanu who has regained awareness due to the majority of the fragments being fused in Sips]].
[[/folder]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheDeep'', the Efemicrom is this in season one.
* Happens for almost no reason whatsoever in the five-episode series premiere of ''WesternAnimation/FilmationsGhostbusters''. The prop here is a uniquely-shaped stone tablet which reads: "Ghostbusters--the ones who find fathers and save the future." [[spoiler:It turns out the shape of the thing's the key to defeating Prime Evil--lock him in the mine vault, just like they did in the first episode.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' there are three Journals that each hold secrets of the paranormal and supernatural. When brought together they [[spoiler: prove to collectively contain the activation code for a dimensional portal machine.]]
* In the second ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' mini-series, Cobra tries to play God with a weapon called the Weather Dominator, which can control weather and rain tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, and other disasters on whole cities. The Joes' first attempt to stop them blows it into three pieces, which actually [[GaiasVengeance makes these disasters]] ''[[GaiasVengeance worse]]'' turning the story into a race between both factions in an attempt to recover and reassemble it.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' sees sorcerer Felix Faust blackmailing Wonder Woman into collecting three pieces of the key to Tartarus so Faust can set Hades free.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' this shows up in season 4, where the six keys to the chest given by the Tree of Harmony must be found to defeat the villain of the season finale. Although by the time the ponies realize this they have already found all but one of them. In season 7 this shows up again when they must assemble artifacts once owned by their precursors in order to undo their imprisonment in Limbo, although in this case this also frees a SealedEvilInACan.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpartakusAndTheSunBeneathTheSea:'' the entire series.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Dr. Venture has to find a portal his father created that has been split into four parts hidden across the globe.

* The Mask of Ultimate Power in ''BIONICLE: Journey to One''.
* When [[BigBad Demon Lord Shendu]] was originally [[SealedEvilInACan sealed]] as a [[TakenForGranite statue]] in the backstory of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', the wizard who cast the spell scattered also turned Shedu's powers into 12 individual stone talismens and scattered them around the world. [[TheSyndicate The Dark Hand]] are trying to find the talismens to bring Shendu back to full power, while the heroes are trying to stop them.
* Season 4 of ''WesternAnimation/CraigOfTheCreek'' introduces the King's Cube, a dismantled Rubik's Cube with the stickers on it forming a map to "the Heart of the Forest". Each of the twenty-six pieces (discounting cube's core) is located somewhere in the far side of the creek, or entrusted to one of the kids who leads the various cliques of the far side of the creek.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SonicPrime'', [[MineralMacGuffin the Paradox Prism]] was shattered, creating TheMultiverse and scattering its shards within each new dimension. Sonic is out to find the shards to undo the damage caused by the shattering.

* The [[{{Precursors}} Xel'naga]] artifacts in Starcraft II count, since they form a [[spoiler: LostSuperweapon]] when combined.

** This happens again in ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3'', for Kirby and co. to make the 30 denizens (and guests, as well) of Pop Star happy in order for them to produce enough energy [[spoiler:to create a wand to fight [[TrueFinalBoss Dark Matter (again) and Zero]]. Only by gathering them and defeating all the other bosses you can acces the final Boss level (and not to fight the other bosses again); otherwise you get the bad ending]].

** In ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'', Kirby must recover all seven pieces of the Star Rod in order to repower the Fountain of Dreams. [[spoiler:Turns out Dedede had to split it in order to seal the Nightmares in the fountain, and the Star Rod becomes is the weapon capable of defeating their embodiment]].

* ''Franchise/MonkeyIsland'':

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' has, well, ''the'' [[ArtifactTitle Elden Ring]], a mystical RingOfPower that is the source of power for the [[WorldTree Erdtree]], bestowed unto [[GodEmperor Queen Marika]] by the [[CosmicEntity Greater Will]]. For some unknown reason, Queen Marika shattered the Elden Ring ans vanished, leaving the Lands Between in a succession crisis between many demigods vying for control of the Great Runes, pieces of the Elden Ring. Now, all that remains of the once majestic Empire is a broken land beset by a bloody Forever War that even the Greater Will has abandoned... until the Tarnished are summoned.

* The Friendship Heart in ''WesternAnimation/PuppyInMyPocketAdventuresInPocketville''. Zull splits the jewel in two halves on accident when trying to fetch it for Eva, leading in Ava's disappearance and a TwoHalvesMakeAPlot situation. One of the halves ends up in Kate and Magic's possession while the other is being held captive by Eva. The protagonists will have to go on a quest to retrieve the missing half and bring Ava back to Pocketville.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

* ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'': Several early issues feature the Demons Three, three vaguely Lovecraftian ancient giant demons who are imprisoned at three separate locations under the Earth's surface. The demons' power was dependent upon three magical artifacts — a bell, a wheel and a jar -- which are separately useless but of great magical power when used together.

* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'': ''The Secret of the Unicorn'' has the parts of the coordinates of the location of the sunken ship, ''The Unicorn'', copied on three pieces of paper and each hidden in the mast of a model of the sailing ship. It's only at the end that Tintin realizes that you have to hold the papers together against a strong light to see the numbers properly.

* ''ComicBook/RasAlGhul'': The League of Shadows sends assassins to collect all the bits of a map to [[TheShangriLa Nanda Parbat]] which are held by the creatively named "families of the map". Even a map doesn't help achieve their goals with usually unmappable location, as a pure and good heart is required for what they want from the place, which the fact that they were killing off the map holders in ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'' #168 made fairly clear was beyond them.