History Main / LostSuperweapon

-->-- ''GoodOmens''

Almost no matter what your level of military tech- javelin, arquebus, [[TheTerminator phased plasma rifle in the 40 Watt range]], quantum black hole, whatever - it's nowhere near as good as it was in your [[TheyDontMakeThemLikeTheyUsedTo great-great-granddad's day]]. In those days, men were real men, women were real women, and hideously powerful destructive forces were... better than this modern muck, with [[PowerGlows glowing]] [[InstantRunes runes]] on. This could be despite the [[SuperweaponSurprise apparent primitive nature]] of the society at the time. More rationally, it could also be [[AndManGrewProud the cause]] of the primitive nature of the society immediately following...

** FMS might be nice, shiny and theoretically operational by just a playgroup, but there are also some surviving Directional Titans it was designed to kinda "replace". One is currently an [[Bioshock underwater city]] and another a giant freaking flying mountain. Estimated matter survival time around each of those deployed in combat: 1 tick.

Almost no matter what your level of military tech- javelin, arquebus, [[TheTerminator phased plasma rifle in the 40 Watt range]], quantum black hole, whatever - it's nowhere near as good as it was in your [[TheyDon'tMakeThemLikeTheyUsedTo great-great-granddad's day]]. In those days, men were real men, women were real women, and hideously powerful destructive forces were... better than this modern muck, with [[PowerGlows glowing]] [[InstantRunes runes]] on. This could be despite the [[SuperweaponSurprise apparent primitive nature]] of the society at the time. More rationally, it could also be [[AndManGrewProud the cause]] of the primitive nature of the society immediately following...

Almost no matter what your level of military tech- javelin, arquebus, [[TheTerminator phased plasma rifle in the 40 Watt range]], quantum black hole, whatever - it's nowhere near as good as it was in your great-great-granddad's day. In those days, men were real men, women were real women, and hideously powerful destructive forces were... better than this modern muck, with [[PowerGlows glowing]] [[InstantRunes runes]] on. This could be despite the [[SuperweaponSurprise apparent primitive nature]] of the society at the time. More rationally, it could also be [[AndManGrewProud the cause]] of the primitive nature of the society immediately following...

* This trope practically litters ''{{Exalted}}'', with two major examples being the Five-Metal Shrike (a sentient warship from the First Age that is hinted to still soar the skies of Creation) and the Realm Defense Grid (an old superweapon which only one person has ever been able to master since the days the Solars ruled... and they ended up making that person Empress of the most powerful nation in the world once she was done with it).

* In ''MadMax: Beyond Thunderdome'', Max wants to intimidate one of the tribal teenagers into staying in the camp. He snatches a decorated ceremonial spear from another tribe member, strips off its decorations, extracts the rifle that the ScavengerWorld kids had unwittingly used as a spear-shaft, and fires a warning shot. Not as ancient or as "super" as most examples of this trope, but it fits.

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* ''OnePiece'' has, as part of its MythArc, the existence of several super weapons that are apparently incredibly powerful battle ships. They are so rare, powerful, and difficult to obtain that one villain tries to conquer an entire country ''just to facilitate finding one.''

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See also: {{MacGuffin}}, ArtifactOfDoom and LostTechnology. Compare FlingALightIntoTheFuture.

* Remember the Gaia Temples in SonicUnleashed? The ones built centuries ago to house (and if needed restore) the power of the Chaos Emeralds? Well, apparently, [[spoiler:Light Gaia/Chip can summon them to form the Gaia Colossus, the one integral component (aside from the power of the emeralds) needed to tame [[EldritchAbomination Dark Gaia]] and prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]
* In [[StarCraft Starcraft II]], protagonists [[TheHero Jim Raynor]] and [[TheLancer Tychus Findlay]] are hired to recover several seemingly benign-well, relatively benign-[[ThePrecursors precursor]] artifacts for an interested party. As it turns out, the five artifacts are actually the [[spoiler: [[DismantledMacGuffin parts]] of device capable of killing all the zerg an entire region of the planet Char, and curing [[TheVirus zerg infestation]]]]

* In one ''{{Paranoia}}'' mission, the PCs discover long-forgotten antimatter bomb capable of destroying the entire Complex, and have to keep it away from fanatics who would actually detonate it.

* ''OnePiece'' has, as part of it's MythArc, the existence of several super weapons that are apparently incredibly powerful battle ships. They are so rare, powerful, and difficult to obtain that one villain tries to conquer an entire country ''just to facilitate finding one.''

Almost no matter what your level of military tech- javelin, arquebus, [[TheTerminator phased plasma rifle]], quantum black hole, whatever - it's nowhere near as good as it was in your great-great-granddad's day. In those days, men were real men, women were real women, and hideously powerful destructive forces were... better than this modern muck, with [[PowerGlows glowing]] [[InstantRunes runes]] on. This could be despite the [[SuperweaponSurprise apparent primitive nature]] of the society at the time. More rationally, it could also be [[AndManGrewProud the cause]] of the primitive nature of the society immediately following...

In any event, unlike its cousins the AncestralWeapon and ForgottenSuperweapon, the LostSuperweapon is {{Lost}}, and not just down the back of the sofa with some loose change and badly crumpled hidden back issues of [[TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy ''Playbeing'']]. (For the latter, see SuperweaponSurprise.)

In any event, unlike its cousins the AncestralWeapon and ForgottenSuperweapon, the LostSuperweapon is {{Lost}}, and not just down the back of the sofa with some loose change and badly crumpled hidden back issues of [[TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy ''Playbeing'']]. (For the latter, see SuperweaponSurprise.)

Lost Superweapons are generally a type of PlotCoupon and found in fantasy novels and video games.

* Remember the Gaia Temples in SonicUnleashed? The ones built centuries ago to house (and if needed restore) the power of the Chaos Emeralds? Well, apparerntly, [[spoiler:Light Gaia/Chip can summon them to form the Gaia Colossus, the one integral component (aside from the power of the emeralds) needed to tame [[EldritchAbomination Dark Gaia]] and prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]

*In Starcraft II, protagonists [[TheHero Jim Raynor]] and [[TheLancer Tychus Findlay]] are hired to recover several seemingly benign-well, relatively benign-[[ThePrecursors precursor]] artifacts for an interested party. As it turns out, the five artifacts are actually the [[spoiler: [[DismantledMacGuffin parts]] of device capable of killing all the zerg an entire region of the planet Char, and curing [[TheVirus zerg infestation]]]]