History Main / ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin

-->-- '''[[AlmostDeadGuy Oscar of Astoras]]''', ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI''

* ''Fanfic/{{Anyone}}'': Exploited; Izuku kicks off the plot by making All Might ''think'' he's been fatally injured -- using a combination of weakening, illusion, and ice quirks of people who were part of [[BenevolentConspiracy Anyone]] - and thus handoff One For All to the first person he can find, which Izuku makes sure is him, rather than let the quirk die with him. Much of the rest of the fic is All Might trying to find him and Izuku acting as a vigilante while trying not to be found.

* ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}'': A young cop responds to a robbery at a convenience store, only to find an old man bleeding to death, complaining about getting killed by some random kid with a gun, of all things. The old man tells the cop that he can see goodness in him, then passes on the Spirit of the Tiger before expiring. The cop goes on to become Tiger, a respected superhero in the city. Notable in that no one else knows this; unlike most heroes (who share their origin stories at the drop of a hat), Tiger has always been extremely tight-lipped about his past and the exact nature of his abilities.

* In ''Webcomic/TheNoob'', Ohforf (the titular “noob”) looks all set up for this as a high-level player reminisces about his achievements and how he is now in his final hours of his playing the game (the speech is a spoof of the FamousLastWords from ''Film/BladeRunner''). [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope But haha, no, that would just be too easy on the poor newbie]]. Besides, the reality of it being in an MMO would make it quite unlikely he could be anyone ''important''.]]

* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/MightyDucks'', a cool mask is used by the leader of the Commando Squad to see through the illusion powers of their mortal enemy, Dragonis. However, during a mission that goes wrong, Canard needs to pull a HeroicSacrifice to save his team, and gives his mask to his second in command Wild Wing, to carry on the mission.
-->Take it, you're team captain now.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' begins with Finn and Jake finding a very old Gnome Knight who was transformed into a frog and spent his life guarding a trio of magic beans, due to a prophecy that the fruit of one of the three beans would turn out to be pure evil. Finn agrees to take up the Gnome's tireless quest to guard the beans, allowing the Gnome to die, and Finn guards them... for about thirty seconds, until [[CuttingTheKnot he and Jake decide to just grow all the beans and destroy the evil that comes out]].

** The very same hammer is brought to you by the last survivor of a dwarven expedition (who himself is dying of sunstroke) in ''Literature/TempleOfTerror'' while you are pursuing an enemy. It is vital you stop for him, as the hammer is a vital component in defeating the BigBad once and for all.

* ''Fanfic/{{Anyone}}'': Exploited; Izuku kicks off the plot by making All Might think he's been fatally injured -- using a combination of weakening, illusion, and ice quirks of people who were part of [[BenevolentConspiracy Anyone]] - and thus handoff One For All to the first person he can find, which Izuku makes sure is him, rather than let the quirk die with him. Much of the rest of the fic is All Might trying to find him and Izuku acting as a vigilante while trying not to be found.

* Fanfic/{{Anyone}}: Exploited; Izuku kicks off the plot by making All Might think he's been fatally injured -- using a combination of weakening, illusion, and ice quirks of people who were part of Anyone - and thus handoff One For All to the first person he can find, which Izuku makes sure is him, rather than let the quirk die with him. Much of the rest of the fic is All Might trying to find him and Izuku acting as a vigilante while trying not to be found.

* In ''Literature/TheForestOfDoom'', the dwarf Bigleg tells your character to take a hammer to Gillibrand before dying from arrow wounds.

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[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/GreenLantern https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hal_jordan_is_chosen.png]]]]

* In ''Manga/SaintSeiya'', the dying Saint of Sagittarius hands baby Athena and the Golden Armor to Dr. Kido.

* The vaccine file in ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''. The file in question was a list of people who had received a vaccine for an otherwise incurable illness (the vaccine was rejected due to pressure from certain individuals and organizations who wanted to prevent their products from being rendered useless). [[spoiler: The current owner of the file tries to give it to Togusa after the building's attacked by TheDragon and his {{Mooks}}. Togusa tries to get him to escape with it instead (he's caught and shot, meaning the protagonists have to make do with a video of what Togusa saw).]]
* Happens from time to time on ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf,'' and usually it's Happosai who gets the MacGuffin.
* Kakashi in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' gets his Sharingan this way. Notable in that the Macguffin in question is actually a [[MagicalEye body part]]. [[spoiler:Also in the fact that the person who gave it to him [[DespairEventHorizon ended]] [[FaceHeelTurn up]] [[BigBad surviving]]...though it was a very long time before Kakashi found this out.]]

* In ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'', after her ship crashes Nausicaa obtains [[spoiler:the control crystal for the God Soldier]] from a dying (important) passenger.

* In the ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode ''Sympathy for the Devil'', a dying bounty head gives Spike a ring and tell him that he's the only one who can save "him" now. Cue the crew spending the rest of the episode figuring out what the guy meant and what they're supposed to do with the ring.
** ''Gateway Shuffle'' starts off with this, with Faye finding a fatally wounded police officer drifting through space. He tells her to take a briefcase to the I.S.S.P, and tells her not to open it. She does neither, and the object in the briefcase is sought after by the antagonist of that episode. She manages to steal it back and pocket it, only for it to come back into play at the very end of the episode to ruin her plans.

* In ''Anime/MetalArmorDragonar'', the PowerTrio comes across a badly wounded man carrying the discs needed to activate the titular HumongousMecha. In a subversion, he begs them to give the discs to [[TheEmpire Giganos]], obviously not realizing that the boys are [[TheFederation Federation]] trainees.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has a rather interesting variation of this. The former Pirate King Gold Roger, well aware of his impending death due to disease, turns himself in. He then challenges everyone to find his MacGuffin and proclaims that whoever finds it can have it. The World Government had been about to execute him to make an example out of him to other would-be pirates, but his [[ThanatosGambit stunt]] singlehandedly created an Age of Piracy. Made even more interesting by the fact that nobody (well, at least nobody who's talking) knows for sure whether the titular "One Piece" treasure really exists, much less what it actually might be.
** Confirmed by [[spoiler:Whitebeard in his dying moments]] to actually exist but he doesn't say where or what.
* Although the characters are acquainted, the rest of the trope plays out as normal in ''Anime/AgnisPhilosophy''. Agni is apparently an acolyte in some sort of magic ritual. When they are attacked and their leader is shot, he passes on the smaller crystal that was part of the ritual to her as he lays dying.
* This happens in ''Manga/FushigiYuugiGenbuKaiden'', [[spoiler:when the dying [[OracularUrchin Anlu the Oracle]] gives her necklace to the Genbu Senshi. Originally it was used to aid Takiko on the search for her Celestial Warriors, but then it would later become one of the [[MacGuffin Shinzahos]] required to summon the beast gods, Suzaku and Seiryuu in the future.]]

* This tends to happen to [[Comicbook/UsagiYojimbo Usagi]] quite a bit. More often than not, it turns into a MacGuffinEscortMission.
* The somewhat-obscure Creator/MarvelComics hero The Torpedo (see ComicBook/RomSpaceKnight and ComicBook/NewWarriors) got his [[PowerArmor supercostume]] from the dying scientist who had made it for an evil organization but then changed his mind... while he was ''waiting for an elevator''. Then he just decided to ''[[TooDumbToLive put it on]]'' right then and there, which got him into a fight with Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}, who had been pursuing the scientist moments before!
* This is how John [=DiFool=] got [[ComicBook/MetabaronsUniverse The Incal]], via a dying Berg disguised as a mutant.

* Fanfic/{{Anyone}}: Exploited; Izuku kicks off the plot by making All Might think he's been fatally injured - using a combination of weakening, illusion, and ice quirks of people who were part of Anyone - and thus handoff One For All to the first person he can find, which Izuku makes sure is him, rather than let the quirk die with him. Much of the rest of the fic is All Might trying to find him and Izuku acting as a vigilante while trying not to be found.

* Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet''. Billy Bones is not a long-term lodger, but instead crashes his ship on the inn's doorstep and dies almost immediately on setting foot inside, with the pirates right behind. Before he dies, he opens the chest and shoves the treasure map into Jim's hands.

* This is how baby Roshan comes into the care of Manny and Sid in the first ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'' film, after his mother succumbs to injuries sustained from jumping into a river to escape the pack of saber-tooth tigers.

* Parodied multiple times in ''Creator/TakeshiKitano'''s ''Getting Any?'', where a dying gangster (it's the ''same gangster, dying multiple times'') comes up to the protagonist and gives him something (a gun, a car, etc.) and says "Guard this for me, will you?" HilarityEnsues.
* ''Film/{{Innerspace}}'': After being shot, a scientist uses the last of his strength to inject nearby passer-by Jack with the syringe containing the miniaturized submersible.
* ''Film/TheFifthElement'': Four of the Elements needed to save the galaxy are held by [[spoiler:Diva Plavalaguna (inside her body!) who hands them over to Dallas as she is dying]].
** The key that one of the aliens gives the monk in the pre-WWII prologue also serves as one.

* Billy Bones does this to Jim in ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland'' as well.
* ''Film/FoulPlay'': A dying agent slips Goldie Hawn a microfilm cassette in a pack of cigarettes, unbeknownst to her. The bad guys try to kill her for the microfilm she doesn't know she has. The microfilm is eventually [[spoiler:destroyed in a fire before anyone can view it.]]

* This is kinda-sorta the plot of ''Film/ShootEmUp'', with the baby as the McGuffin, handed off from the woman who's just given birth to it after she gets shot.
* In ''Film/{{The Net|1995}}'', Dale sends Angela a disk and later flies down in his Cessna to meet her. The bad guys mess with the radar, causing Dale to the crash his plane.
* In ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', Ugarte entrusts the letters of transit to Rick, only to be taken into custody and killed later that night.
* ''Film/{{The Maltese Falcon|1941}}'' hits the viewer hard with this trope. Everyone is after the titular bird (which is insanely valuable PirateBooty but has been covered in enamel to hide the value). For the first half of the movie the police (who don't know about the bird) suspect the main character of unrelated murders ([[spoiler:which were actually committed by the BigBad while looking for the bird]]). Then, about forty minutes into the film, the bird has only been discussed up until now and nobody knows where the thing actually is or who's hiding it. The body count is mounting and people start saying the bird might be cursed because of all of the people who get the bird die right afterward. Then [[spoiler:TheGhost]] suddenly bursts into the room, riddled with gunshots, carrying the bird, then dies at the protagonist's feet without any explanation. Now the main character not only has the statue that a bunch of violent people are after but also has ''yet another dead body'' to explain to the police, [[spoiler:this time of a guy he's been going around town asking people about]]. This plot is a weird case of ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin, PirateBooty, a possible ArtifactOfDoom, a sort of ArtifactOfAttraction (since the bird looks worthless), and a ClingyMacGuffin ([[spoiler:since he can't let anyone know about the bird]]) all at the same time. [[spoiler:The rest of the movie involves him trying to exonerate himself without letting anyone (especially the police, who would just decide he'd killed everyone with the bird as his motive) find out he has the statue.]]
* ''Film/MenWithBrooms'' has Donald Foley arranging to have his ashes placed in the last of the [[MineralMacGuffin Magellan Stones]], and his will is basically him [[ThanatosGambit guilt-tripping his old curling team]] into reuniting and trying to win the Golden Broom.
* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', while Elizabeth Swann is on Sao Feng's boat, they get attacked. Sao Feng gets stabbed by a giant piece of wood and [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest hands over a seemingly useless trinket]] which later turns out to be one of the Pieces of Eight needed for the meeting, and for [[spoiler: releasing Calypso from Tia Dalma]].

* In ''Film/CloakAndDagger'', the FBI agent who is gunned down gives Davey the ''Cloak & Dagger'' video game cartridge containing important national secrets just before dying.
* ''Film/ThePowerOfThePress'': The DA was about to hand over the folder anyway when he got shot. He still manages to hand it to Jane and tell her it has important evidence before croaking.
* ''Film/TheForceAwakens'': The movie begins with Lor San Tekka handing a data thing to Poe and saying "This will start to make things right." A minute later, as landing craft attack, he's telling Poe to run and seems resigned to his fate.
* ''Film/RogueOne'': In the epilogue, [[spoiler: a few rebel troopers aboard Admiral Raddus' flagship manage to obtain the recently-transferred Death Star plans and attempt to board the Tantive IV and escape. However, they are prevented from boarding the Tantive IV due to a faulty blast door, and soon Darth Vader arrives and begins slaughtering said rebels, with one screaming for the rebels on the other side of the door to help them. Once the lone rebel realizes he will be killed, he passes the Death Star plans through the little space, telling the rebel on the other side to take them, before he is killed by Darth Vader]].
* In ''Film/MenInBlack,'' a dying alien tells the heroes that they must "protect the galaxy on Orion's belt." This confuses them, since Orion's Belt is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion%27s_Belt three random stars]], not a galaxy. [[spoiler:Orion is the alien's ''cat,'' and whose collar has a bauble with [[BabyPlanet a tiny galaxy]] inside]].

* ''Literature/TheMalteseFalcon'', for the same reason listed under ''Film''.

* Parodied in ''[[Literature/DiamondBrothers South by Southeast]]'' by Creator/AnthonyHorowitz, which itself is one big ShoutOut to political conspiracy thrillers. The MacGuffin's name even is . . . well.
* In the short story "Paladin of the Lost Hour", Gaspar is dying but needs to find a new, trustworthy guardian for a magical watch. Said watch holds the last hour of the Universe, in which anything can happen, but when it completes, the end of everything. If he dies without passing it on, the watch will begin to tick.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' is more a case of BequeathedPower, as Elfangor gives the main human characters the power to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting morph]] into any animal they touch. Except [[spoiler:the device that gives the power was not destroyed with the rest of Elfangor's ship, and becomes an important plot point later on]]. Also see below for the TV series.
* In ''Literature/GreenRider'', Karigan comes upon a mortally wounded Rider in the forest and is given a two-part [=MacGuffin=]: the message he was supposed to deliver, and his Rider brooch (which, as she later finds out, comes with magical powers).
* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' has a pretty revelatory one towards the end. [[spoiler:Snape, whose [[DoubleAgent loyalties]] were a matter of some debate, has his throat ripped out by [[BigBad Voldemort's]] pet snake Nagini, but lives just long enough to give Harry a jarful of memories that reveal Snape's back story, motive, status as TheAtoner, and also that [[TheChessmaster Dumbledore's]] plan hinges on Harry [[HeroicSacrifice willingly giving himself up to Voldemort]].]] Ack.
* "Somebody Else's Magic", one of Creator/MarionZimmerBradley's Literature/{{Lythande}} stories, begins with Lythande comforting a dying woman, and getting stuck with the task of returning a magical artifact to the woman's people. (Lythande isn't very enthusiastic about this, but it [[ClingyMacGuffin won't leave her alone until she does]]...)
* At the beginning of ''Literature/WyrdSisters'', the crown prince and crown of the recently murdered king are given to the three witches by a royal servant who dies just as he stumbles in. The witches try to get both off their hands ASAP.
--> '''Magrat''' (shivering in the cold of the open moor): What is there to be afraid of out here?\\
'''Granny''' (with considerable satisfaction): Us.

* Alther Mella in ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'' passes over the Akhu Amulet to Marcia Overstrand before dying.

* ''Twice'', in quick succession, in Creator/AgathaChristie's 1959 novel ''Literature/CatAmongThePigeons''. A prince who suspects (correctly) that he's about to be assassinated entrusts his faithful servant with one last mission: smuggle some hotly-contested jewels out of the country for him. The servant concludes (also correctly) that the jewels will also make ''him'' a target for assassination, so he hides them in his visiting sister's luggage.
** Also happens at the beginning of ''The Secret Adversary'', in which an agent on the ill-fated ''Lusitania'' passes a package to a female passenger in a lifeboat shortly before the ship sinks.
* [[spoiler: Subverted]] in Dan Brown's ''Literature/DigitalFortress''. As he's dying, Ensei Tankado holds out his ring to a stranger, the chase of which drives the plot. [[spoiler: The trick is that the MacGuffin Tankado was actually trying to hold out was his gesture of three fingers - the number 3 is the failsafe code for the titular virus.]]
* In the chapter about drug dealers in ''Freakonomics'', a grad student named Sudhir Venkatesh unwittingly got a firsthand look at the operations of a Chicago gang. When the FBI were hot on their trail, the gang's second-in-command, Booty, told Sudhir that he (Booty) probably didn't have long to live because the gang suspected him of having ratted them out, and asked Sudhir to take some of his notebooks and try to do some good for future generations with them. The notebooks turned out to be the gang's equivalent of accounting ledgers, and the entire premise of the chapter was based on what they contained.
* In ''Literature/EmpireStar'' by Creator/SamuelRDelany, Comet Jo is out wandering the hills near his home when he encounters a crashed ship and a dying man who hands him a strange crystal, and begs, with his last breath, for Jo to get the message to Empire Star.

** Echoed in Season Five, when Cordelia's visions pass on to Angel.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "The Forge," Archer meets a Vulcan who then gets struck by sand lightning. Before dying, the Vulcan mind-melds with Archer--transferring the ''katra'' of Surak.

* ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'': Regent Jane (aka Pete's mom, aka [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Captain Janeway]]) is given a bracelet by a fellow regent who was trapped by the rubble of the building they were trying to escape. It makes her "The Guardian" of Warehouse 13 and helps them "keep control" of it - details deliberately sketchy at this point.

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', Governor-General Dorr gives Lloyd and his friends a gate pass just before he succumbs to a [[BackStab back stab]] given to him by [[TheMole Kilia]]. This is the only way the protagonists can get to Asgard, as the gate passes are being sold at [[ShockinglyExpensiveBill 100,000,000 gald per person.]]
* ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoon'' begins like this, only it's not a MacGuffin: it's a ''dragon'', and its rider is shot and killed while fighting the [[BigBad Dark Dragon]].
* This is how you get the kinesis module in ''VideoGame/DeadSpace''. A blinded, mortally-wounded woman manages to hang on long enough, alone in a monster infected GhostShip, to give Isaac a necessary tool for solving the various puzzles he'll be presented with later.

** Subverted [[spoiler:when the rings turns out to be completely unnecessary for anything more than selling it back to its owner for a petty sum. With the game's heavy Lord of the Rings references, this is likely intentional]]
* If you didn't pick up the Arm Cannon Power up in ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' when Zero Dies at the hands of Vile he gives X his Arm Cannon which then becomes the Arm Cannon Upgrade.
** A more fitting example would be at (nearly) the opposite end of the series, ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' where the {{Mentor}} who had originally become [[MyHeroZero Zero]] is mortally wounded by the BigBad and his [[TheDragon Dragons]]. His last action is to give Vent or Aile his Model Z.
* [[PursuedProtagonist Ted]] hands his [[ArtifactOfDoom Soul Eater True Rune]] to [[TheHero Tir]] in ''VideoGame/SuikodenI'', and the rest is history.

* ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' starts out with one. Roger was napping on the job and avoided the brutal Sarien invasion of the Arcada. He ducks into a laboratory, where the dying head scientist gives him the code to a cartridge containing plans to self-destruct the Star Generator, and for Xenon to rebuild the device in order to save their dying sun.

* If the dream of being a hero counts as a sort of [=McGuffin=], then Zack and Cloud play this out in the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' prequel ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''.
** More appropriately is the Buster Sword, handed down from Angeal to Zack after [[spoiler:Zack is forced to kill his mentor.]] And then from Zack to Cloud when [[DoomedByCanon Zack]] [[ItWasHisSled is killed by Shinra]]. Cloud so far has not passed the buster sword on to anyone else
* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' starts this way. The player encounters a dying knight who gives the player the Estus Flask, the key out of the Undead Asylum and the quest to ring the twin Bells of Awakening.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' has Sigurd receive his Holy Weapon, Tyrfing, this way.
* ''VideoGame/JeanneDArc'' opens with an anime Joan of Arc and her sidekick finding a dying man on horseback, carrying two very weird things: an extravagant gold bracer, and a giant purple frog. They proceed to kick ass against the Englishmen who now ally with a demon army. Unfortunately, they don't realize the real potential of these artifacts until one of them is doomed (and eventually executed) and the other is too far away to save her.
* ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' has the main character in the Labyrinth trying to escape. [[spoiler:Dr. Booster]] gets teleported in and suffers a big fall. When you talk to them, they give you an item to proceed further into the Labyrinth. [[spoiler:Dedicated players will find that the jump is possible without the item and will cause Dr. Booster to reserve his energy to live and give you the item at a later time, after improving it even more. People that play towards the end of the game will find a journal of Dr. Booster that details his wished to make the item, as long as ''he lives long enough''.]]
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOutbreak'', Raymond the cop notices a gasoline tanker truck just before he's attacked by a zombie. He yells for the player(s) to unleash the gas from the truck and use it to set the zombies on fire, dropping a cigarette lighter in the process.
* In ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', Michael Edwards is perfectly healthy but suspects that the Ancients are going to kill him not long after he gives his MacGuffin to Edward Roivas.
* The plot of ''Heiwaboke Crisis'' is kickstarted when a man who accidentally released SealedEvilInACan (and was mortally wounded while escaping) staggers up to your chosen character and hands her a Mysterious Orb and a Book of Spirits.
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': In The Frozen Throne expansion's Horde campaign, a dying orc gives the player character, Rexxar, a report meant for the orc warchief, Thrall. This brings Rexxar to the orc capital of Orgrimmar, but otherwise has little to do with the overall plot of the campaign.
* The "Face-Tailor" story in ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'' starts this way, with an NPC you've seen once before clutching a mysterious flint idol in his hands as he dies... but DeathIsCheap in the Neath, and instead of taking the thing you can just wait for him to come back in the hopes of getting some answers. This option is risky, of course, as his killer is likely sticking around, and you'll need to be Shadowy enough to ensure your own safety.
* Played with in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2''. [[spoiler: Arthur, realising that he is not going to survive, give his iconic hat and satchel to John Marston.]] Whilst the hat never gets seen again after 2, the satchel goes on to star in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', providing John with a semi-plausible place to keep his mountain of items. [[spoiler: It gets re-MacGuffin'ed to Jack off screen in the epilogue, thus making it one of the few things to survive both games.]]

* Allison of ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'' is given a [[ArtifactOfDoom Key of Kings]] by Zoss, the Conquering King, effectively naming her as his successor. [[spoiler: There is speculation among the angels that the Key was intended for her boyfriend, Zaid, [[CoitusInterruptus who she was trying to have sex with at the time]], but Zoss seems to shoot this idea down--Allison was ''always'' meant to be his successor.]]

* In ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate'' [[spoiler: Jozk]] sends the Rose sisters to complete his task of delivering the [[spoiler: snathe of the Demon Scythe to Zeno]] after he is fatally injured.

* This carries over to ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' as well where Primus himself gave Optimus the Matrix before shutting down. [[spoiler: In season 3, a dying Optimus tries to pass the Matrix to Smokescreen. However, Smokescreen subverts this and instead uses an artifact to revive Optimus]].
* Lampshaded in ''WesternAnimation/StrokerAndHoop''. A dying karate instructor entrusts the handle of a magic sword to Stroker's son Keith and warns that reuniting the handle with the pieces of the blade would be disastrous. Stroker asks why, if it's such a big deal, the sword wasn't destroyed completely, even suggesting flushing it down the toilet or something. When the sword is reassembled, it's nothing more than an oversized flashlight. Hoop, who was fighting with the villain using the sword, noted that when the sword was broken and separated centuries ago, that people in ancient China would've seen that as amazing or terrifying.
* A dying Race Bannon gives a sample of a deadly bioweapon to Brock Samson and the Venture boys in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' episode "Ice Station- Impossible"
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' begins with Finn and Jake finding a very old Gnome Knight who was transformed into a frog and spent his life guarding a trio of magic beans, due to a prophecy that the fruit of one of the three beans would turn out to be pure evil. Finn agrees to take up the Gnome's tireless quest to guard the beans, allowing the Gnome to die, and Finn guards them... for about thirty seconds, until [[CuttingTheKnot he and Jake decide to just grow all the beans and destroy the evil that comes out]].
* In the pilot episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', Harry Tully, an associate of Warren [=McGinnis=], Terry's father, passes on an infodisk about a new mutagenic nerve gas that's being developed by Wayne-Powers, after being "accidentally" exposed to it. [[HeKnowsTooMuch After Warren gets killed for finding out about it]], Terry finds the same infodisk hidden in a picture, which he brings to the elderly Bruce Wayne.

* [[spoiler: Subverted]] in Dan Brown's ''Literatere/DigitalFortress''. As he's dying, Ensei Tankado holds out his ring to a stranger, the chase of which drives the plot. [[spoiler: The trick is that the MacGuffin Tankado was actually trying to hold out was his gesture of three fingers - the number 3 is the failsafe code for the titular virus.]]

* ''Film/FoulPlay'': A dying agent slips Goldie Hawn a microfilm cassette in a pack of cigarettes, unbeknownst to her. The bad guys try to kill her for the microfilm she doesn't know she has. The microfilm is eventually[[spoiler:destroyed in a fire before anyone can view it.]]

* In the ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode Sympathy for the Devil, a dying bounty head gives Spike a ring and tell him that he's the only one who can save "him" now. Cue the crew spending the rest of the episode figuring out what the guy meant and what they're supposed to do with the ring.

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1321066690098120100

* This happens in ''Manga/FushigiYuugiGenbuKaiden'', [[spoiler: when the dying [[OracularUrchin Anlu the Oracle]] gives her necklace to the Genbu Senshi. Originally it was used to aid Takiko on the search for her Celestial Warriors, but then it would later become one of the [[MacGuffin Shinzahos]] required to summon the beast gods, Suzaku and Seiryuu in the future.]]

* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/MightyDucks'', A cool mask is used by the leader of the Commando Squad to see through the illusion powers of their mortal enemy, Dragonis. However, during a mission that goes wrong, Canard needs to pull a HeroicSacrifice to save his team, and gives his mask to his second in command Wild Wing, to carry on the mission.
--> "Take it, you're team captain now."

* In the Franchise/StarTrek novel [[Literature/StarTrekTheGenesisWave The Genesis Wave, book three]], an alien fleeing from the Romulans with a portable Genesis Device gives it to a Bajoran monk before dying. Using the Lomarian MindControl abilities, it convinces the monk it is actually Kai Opaka, and is bestowing upon him the "Orb of Life".

* Played with in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2''. [[spoiler: Arthur, realising that he is not going to survive, give his iconic hat and satchel to John Marston.]] Whilst the hat never gets seen again, the satchel goes on to star in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', providing John with a semi-plausible place to keep his mountain of items. [[spoiler: It gets re-MacGuffin'ed to Jack off screen in the epilogue, thus making it one of the few things to survive both games.]]

* Disney's ''Disney/TreasurePlanet''. Billy Bones is not a long-term lodger, but instead crashes his ship on the inn's doorstep and dies almost immediately on setting foot inside, with the pirates right behind. Before he dies, he opens the chest and shoves the treasure map into Jim's hands.

* In Disney's ''Disney/MightyDucks'', A cool mask is used by the leader of the Commando Squad to see through the illusion powers of their mortal enemy, Dragonis. However, during a mission that goes wrong, Canard needs to pull a HeroicSacrifice to save his team, and gives his mask to his second in command Wild Wing, to carry on the mission.

* At the beginning of ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'', the crown prince and crown of the recently murdered king are given to the three witches by a royal servant who dies just as he stumbles in. The witches try to get both off their hands ASAP.

* ''Film/TheMalteseFalcon'' hits the viewer hard with this trope. Everyone is after the titular bird (which is insanely valuable PirateBooty but has been covered in enamel to hide the value). For the first half of the movie the police (who don't know about the bird) suspect the main character of unrelated murders ([[spoiler:which were actually committed by the BigBad while looking for the bird]]). Then, about forty minutes into the film, the bird has only been discussed up until now and nobody knows where the thing actually is or who's hiding it. The body count is mounting and people start saying the bird might be cursed because of all of the people who get the bird die right afterward. Then [[spoiler:TheGhost]] suddenly bursts into the room, riddled with gunshots, carrying the bird, then dies at the protagonist's feet without any explanation. Now the main character not only has the statue that a bunch of violent people are after but also has ''yet another dead body'' to explain to the police, [[spoiler:this time of a guy he's been going around town asking people about]]. This plot is a weird case of ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin, PirateBooty, a possible ArtifactOfDoom, a sort of ArtifactOfAttraction (since the bird looks worthless), and a ClingyMacGuffin ([[spoiler:since he can't let anyone know about the bird]]) all at the same time. [[spoiler:The rest of the movie involves him trying to exonerate himself without letting anyone (especially the police, who would just decide he'd killed everyone with the bird as his motive) find out he has the statue.]]

* In ''Film/TheNet'', Dale sends Angela a disk and later flies down in his Cessna to meet her. The bad guys mess with the radar, causing Dale to the crash his plane.