History Main / EggMacGuffin

* ''Manga/NatsumeYuujinchou'': Natsume takes care of a small egg found in a nest -- which hatches into a "dragon". At first, however, it appears to take the form of an extremely ''tiny'' version of whatever creature it sees first -- namely Natsume. It is possibly the [[http://media.photobucket.com/image/natsume%20yuujin%20chou%20tama-chan/looniekat/Natsume%20Yuujin-cho/snapshot20090128191748.jpg cutest thing to ever exist in anime.]]

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', a Quest Chain in the Badlands results in you stealing a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Black Dragon]] Egg. You end up purifying it, creating the only known uncorrupted Black Dragon Egg in the entire World. Naturally, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Deathwing]] wants it destroyed [[spoiler:and he thinks he has succeeded when he kills Rhea. She was GenreSavvy enough to have a Fake with her instead of the real thing, ensuring her sacrifice wasn't in vain. In the final patch of the expansion, the egg hatches into [[JerkAss Wrathion]], who proves that the Black Dragons are fairly nasty, corrupted or not.]]

* The plot of ''SagaFrontier2'' revolves around a magical egg that causes grief for a family of adventurers and influences the history of the world.

* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' has a relationship with a Cat and a Turtle which resulted in an egg that contained four children: One of them looking like Heifer (a Steer).

* In Creator'DataEast's ''Pinball/JurassicPark'', cracking open dinosaur eggs award various bonuses.

* In the ''Literature/{{Leviathan}}'' trilogy, there is a veeeeeeery mysterious EggMacGuffin in the first book. [[spoiler:In Behemoth, the sequel, the egg hatches, and a SmallAnnoyingCreature is introduced in the form of Bovril. Bovril latches onto Alek and they become [[{{ABoyAndHisX}} A Boy and His Rapidly Learning Skunk Thing.]]]]

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}},'' when Princess Fiona accidentally causes a mama bird to expire, leaving a nest of orphan eggs. Her solution? [[spoiler:Fry them for breakfast]].

* The entire plot of ''Anime/SeireiNoMoribito'' occurs because Prince Chagum is carrying the egg of a water spirit within his body, at first leading many people to believe that he's [[DemonicPossession possessed by a demon]]. The entire cast becomes very concerned both with making sure the egg hatches successfully (since there will be a horrific drought if it doesn't) and with making sure that Chagum isn't killed in the process, with much of the drama of the latter half of the series coming from the fact that the two goals may be mutually exclusive.

* The Behelits of the ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' take on the shape of an egg with human facial features strewn all over it. There are two egg-grades of Behelits: the normal brown-grade Behelits that give you [[EldritchAbomination average evil nutrition]], and then the red-grade Behelits that give you ''humongous'' [[DemonLordsAndArchDevils God-like evil nutrition]] (and hence, this grade is also known as, "The Egg of the Conqueror/King"). And don't forget, these are also [[ClingyMacGuffin Clingy MacGuffins]], as they always find their way back to their master when the time is right. So, they ain't going rotten anytime soon.

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* In ''ComicStrip/USAcres'', Orson the Pig took care of two abandoned eggs, from which hatched Booker and Sheldon.

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* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' has a relationship with a Cat and a Turtle which resulted in an egg that contained three children: One of them looking like Heifer (a Steer).

* A classic cartoon example has DaffyDuck looking after his own egg. It's a rare setting that has him married. His wife goes out and tells him rather sternly to be responsible for a change and don't let anything happen to Junior. After a while he gets bored and starts playing with the egg. He does a little stage magic and vanishes it. The third time he does that, the egg doesn't come back. Daffy gets hauled into divorce court for the egg's disappearance, and after playing the suspense for all it's worth, he manages to bring the egg back in perfect condition.

* A subversion from AvatarTheLastAirbender. When the episode "The Fire Bending Masters" had a large golden egg feature, many fans speculated that it would hatch into a dragon and be crucial to the plot. It didn't.

* In NetHack if an egg hatches while in your inventory, the resulting monster may become your pet. Not all eggs you find hatch though.

* A subversion from AvatarTheLastAirbender. When the episode "The Fire Bending Masters" had a large golden egg feature, many fans speculated that it would hatch into a dragon and be crucial to the plot. It didn't.

* Technically speaking, the same thing happens in ''[[{{Temeraire}} His Majesty's Dragon]]''. Laurence and Temeraire have another one to deal with two books later in ''The Black Powder War''.

* ''{{Literature/Temeraire}}'' begins with this. In an alternate version of Earth where dragons exist, a French ship is captured by the British transporting a ship...forcing the captain to harness and bond with the dragon that comes out.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' involves Terry keeping track of an egg-shaped simulation of a baby that he needs to take care of for a grade.

* In ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'', Watanuki is once given a magical egg as payment for a job. He is told that he just has to sleep with it and anything he wishes will come out. He uses it to hatch a little bird, Tampopo, that is immune to Himawari's bad luck curse to make her happy.

* ''{{ComicBook/Amulet}}'': Dagno!

* ''WesternAnimation/IceAge III: Dawn of the Dinosaurs''.

* The whole plot of ''Anime/AngelsEgg''.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' has the Yoshi eggs. Bowser has sealed Yoshi inside an egg. In several levels, Mario (or Luigi) can rescue Yoshi, who becomes the PowerUpMount. Meanwhile, the seven Koopalings have kidnapped seven Yoshi eggs. Mario can recover the eggs from the Koopalings' castles, but they do not hatch until the end credits, when they become baby Yoshis.

* The Phoenix egg in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Dragon Quest". It plays a pivotal role in the climax of the episode [[spoiler:when Spike decides to stand up to the teenage dragons rather than smash the helpless egg and decides that Twilight and the other ponies are his real family.]] In the last minute of the episode [[spoiler:it hatches. Spike adopts the phoenix chick as his pet and names it Pee Wee.]]

* In the Creator/DrSeuss book (and ''BobClampett'' cartoon adaptation) ''Horton Hatches the Egg'', an elephant takes on the task of hatching the egg of a irresponsible bird. The offspring ends up being a bird with the head of an elephant.

If the plot revolves around [[DisappearedDad the unknown origin]] or result of [[PregnancyTropes a different kind of egg]], it may be WhosYourDaddy

* Bruce Coville's ''Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher'' is {{ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin}}, with some life lessons thrown in.

* ''{{Literature/Temeraire}}'' begins with this. In an alternate version of Earth where dragons exist, a French ship is captured by the British transporting a ship...forcing the captain to harness and bond with the dragon that comes out.

* In ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Chariots of the Dogs'', the chicken was the McGuffin to answer an old mariachi's philosophical obsession. A rooster to be specific, who was left at the beginning of time where he promptly laid an egg. No one was more surprised about that than the rooster. This left forever unanswerable the question of "which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

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* Literature/Temeraire begins with this. In an alternate version of Earth where dragons exist, a French ship is captured by the British transporting a ship...forcing the captain to harness and bond with the dragon that comes out.

* Two of them in ''{{VideoGame/Bastion}}''; they're minor, and don't really have much to do with the plot on their own, but they're largely unimportant aside from spawning a couple of pets at your home base (which are themselves largely cosmetic) and your companions will have remarks to make about them.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Bart Simpson has to do this, after accidentally killing the mommy bird. Except that when they hatched they turned out to be lizards. Apparently the female lizard eats the bird eggs and lays its own eggs in their place. The baby lizards then eat the bird.

* An episode of the ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'' episode "The Koopa Shuffle" uses this.