History Main / LovesOnlyGold

* Augustus Steranko in ''Film/IfLooksCouldKill'', who steals gold to make coins bearing his likeness. When escaping at the end, he loads his getaway helicopter with so much of it the thing will barely get more than thirty feet off the ground. Repeated entreaties by his right-woman Ilsa Grunt to throw the gold out are met with refusal. Forced to decide between her and the gold in order to make his helicopter lighter, Steranko throws ''her'' out. He dies when Michael Corben shoots at the copter, causing the gold to fall out. Letting go of the steering stick, Steranko falls out with the gold trying to save it, and dies when the now pilotless helicopter crashlands on him as a result.

'''Steranko''': Not my gold! [''falls out''] Aahhhhh!!!

* Augustus Steranko in ''Film/IfLooksCouldKill'', who steals gold to make coins bearing his likeness. When escaping at the end, he overloads his helicopter with so much gold it won't lift any higher than about thirty feet off the landing pad. His right-hand woman Ilsa Grunt suggests getting rid of the gold to lighten the load so they can escape. Forced to decide between her and the gold in order to make his helicopter lighter, Steranko throws ''her'' out. When Michael shoots the copter's underside and the gold starts to fall out, Steranko is so obsessed with trying to prevent losing his gold that he stops keeping his hands on the flying controls to grab at the falling coins. [[spoiler:He ends up falling out ''with'' it and getting [[HoistByHisOwnPetard buried alive]] in it, before the pilotless helicopter lands on him.]]

** Alfrid himself, despite his situational PragmaticVillainy described above where he wanted to throw the gold out of the Master's boat to escape Smaug, soon succumbs greed himself when he absconds with a goodly amount of gold coins he finds hidden in a smashed vase in Dale. [[spoiler:This ends up causing his KarmicDeath, as a coin falling out of his, eh, let's say "outfit" lands on the triggering mechanism for the catapult he's hiding in, sending him flying to his death.]] However, it's conceivable that he saw the coins as merely money he'd need to pay for things while on the lam after his big ScrewThisImOuttaHere moment, so he may not completely apply.

** Alfrid himself, despite his situational PragmaticVillainy described above where he wanted to throw the gold out of the Master's boat to escape Smaug, soon succumbs greed himself when he absconds with a goodly amount of gold coins he finds hidden in a smashed vase in Dale. [[spoiler:This ends up causing his KarmicDeath, as a coin falling out of his, eh, let's say "outfit" lands on the triggering mechanism for the catapult he's hiding in, sending him flying to his death.]] However, it's conceivable that he saw the coins as merely money he'd need to pay for things while on the lam after his big ScrewThisImOuttaHere moment, so he may not completely apply.
** And finally, there is Thorn Oakenshield. Much like his grandfather Thrór, the minute Smaug dies and he and his Company wind up in possession of the vast mountains of gold and jewels, he begins to jealously covet it, suspiciously thinking everyone, even his own kin, are out to steal it, the Arkenstone especially. Fortunately, he gradually is able to realize he is becoming just like his grandfather, and is able to shake off the "dragon sickness" and become a better person (er, dwarf).
-->'''Thorin''': [''examining the treasure hoard for the first time''] Gold. Gold beyond measure. Beyond sorrow and grief. Behold the great treasure hoard of Thrór.\\

-->'''Thorin''': [''[[IronicEcho echoing Smaug]]''] But the treasure in this mountain does not belong to the people of Lake-town. This gold is ours. And ours alone. On my life, I will not part with a single coin. Not one piece of it.

** Thorin Oakenshield, although to a lesser extent than Smaug. And certainly not as much as in the [[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies movie]]. And his obsession is mostly limited to the Arkenstone specifically, with his refusal to share the gold with the survivors of Lake-town being because they've allied with his enemy the Elvenking. That said, the people of Lake-town are those who are descended from the original survivors of Dale, so they have legitimate claims to at least a portion of the treasure, since not all of it belonged to Thrór; a lot of it was stolen from Dale, too. Thorin's refusal to give it to them to suggests he has grown too big for his britches after retaking Erebor. He comes around, though.

** Thorin Oakenshield, although to a lesser extent than Smaug. And certainly not as much as in the [[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies movie]]. And his obsession is mostly limited to the Arkenstone specifically, with his refusal to share the gold with the survivors of Lake-town being because they've allied with his enemy the Elvenking. That said, both the Mirkwood elves and those who descended from the original survivors of Dale have legitimate claims to at least a portion of the treasure, since not all of it belonged to Thrór; a lot of it was stolen from other places (Dale in particular). Thorin's refusal to give them what they have a rightful claim to suggests he has grown too big for his britches after retaking Erebor. He comes around, though.

* Smaug in ''Literature/TheHobbit'', who destroys the dwarf kingdom of Erebor and the human city of Dale to obtain the famous hoard of King Thrór. He has no practical use for it, being a dragon and all, having it just to have it, and flying into a [[RantInducingSlight murderous rage]] and [[DisproportionateRetribution attacking]] the nearby human settlement of Lake-town (all that remains of Dale) because Bilbo stole a gold cup in order to prove his prowess as a burglar to Thorin. Creator/JRRTolkien describes Smaug as experiencing what basically amounts to "rich people's anger" at the loss of this one single solitary item from the treasure hoard.

* Smaug in ''Literature/TheHobbit'', who destroys the dwarf kingdom of Erebor and the human city of Dale to obtain the famous hoard of King Thrór. He has no practical use for it, being a dragon and all, having it just to have it, and flying into a murderous rage and attacking the nearby human settlement of Lake-town (all that remains of Dale) because Bilbo stole a gold cup in order to prove his prowess as a burglar to Thorin. Creator/JRRTolkien describes Smaug as experiencing what basically amounts to "rich people's anger" at the loss of this one single solitary item from the treasure hoard.

* Augustus Steranko in ''Film/IfLooksCouldKill''. When escaping at the end, he overloads his helicopter with so much gold it won't lift any higher than about thirty feet off the landing pad. His right-hand woman Ilsa Grunt suggests getting rid of the gold to lighten the load so they can escape. Forced to decide between her and the gold in order to make his helicopter lighter, Steranko throws ''her'' out. When Michael shoots the copter's underside and the gold starts to fall out, Steranko is so obsessed with trying to prevent losing his gold that he stops keeping his hands on the flying controls to grab at the falling coins. [[spoiler:He ends up falling out ''with'' it and getting [[HoistByHisOwnPetard buried alive]] in it, before the pilotless helicopter lands on him.]]

* Augustus Steranko in ''Film/IfLooksCouldKill''. When escaping at the end, he overloads his helicopter with so much gold it won't lift any higher than about thirty feet off the landing pad. His right-hand woman Ilsa Grunt suggests getting rid of the gold to lighten the load so they can escape. Forced to decide between her and the gold in order to make his helicopter lighter, Steranko throws ''her'' out. When Michael shoots the copter's underside and the gold starts to fall out, Steranko tries to stop this even if it means falling off the helicopter himself (or keeping his hands on the controls). [[spoiler:He ends up falling out ''with'' it and getting [[HoistByHisOwnPetard buried alive]] in it, before the pilotless helicopter lands on him.]]

* Steranko in ''Film/IfLooksCouldKill'', who swindles European countries out of their gold make into coins bearing his likeness. When escaping at the end, he overloads his helicopter with so much gold it won't lift any higher than about thirty feet off the landing pad. Ilsa suggests getting rid of the gold to lighten the load so they can escape. Forced to decide between her and the gold in order to make his helicopter lighter, Steranko throws ''her'' out. When Michael shoots the copter's underside and the gold starts to fall out, Steranko tries to stop this even if it means falling off the helicopter himself (or keeping his hands on the controls). [[spoiler:He ends up falling out ''with'' it and getting [[HoistByHisOwnPetard buried alive]] in it, before the pilotless helicopter lands on him.]]

* Steranko in ''Film/IfLooksCouldKill'', to the point that Ilsa doesn't even has a chance when Steranko is forced to decide between her and the gold in order to make his helicopter lighter in order to escape, and when Corben shoots the chopper's underside and the gold starts to fall off, he tries to stop this even if it means falling off the chopper himself (or keeping his hands on the controls).

** Thrór during the prologue of ''Film/TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney'' is shown to have become obsessed with hoarding gold, jewels and other material wealth, the brilliant Arkenstone above all else. This is said to be a result of "dragon sickness," which drives one to obsessively hoard treasure instead of spending it. His hoarding so much of it in one spot as opposed to spending it makes it an target the dragon Smaug can't pass up, leading to the destruction of Erebor and the loss of the treasured Arkenstone.
** Smaug himself in the ''Film/TheDesolationOfSmaug'' is this writ large. If you thought Thrór was bad, Smaug is worse. He is willing to destroy two cities (Erebor and its neighbor, the human city Dale) and mutilate, massacre and displace thousands upon thousands of dwarves and humans in order to possess Thrór's famous hoard... after which all he does for decades and decades is, much like Thrór himself, keep it for the sole purpose of having it for no practical purpose (he does however seem to enjoy burying himself in it to sleep). He tells Bilbo he won't part with even a single ''cent'' of it, to the point where he won't even let Bilbo take the Arkenstone to give to Thorn; his love of all the treasure in his stolen hoard is worth more to him than even the sadistic pleasure of seeing Thorn end up like his grandfather.
** The Master in ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies'' chooses to save his gold rather than any of his subjects during Smaug's attack. When Alfrid realizes that it's weighing their ship down and suggests dumping it, the Master responds by throwing ''him'' out instead in a scene similar to ''Film/IfLooksCouldKill'' above.

* The Master in ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies'' chooses to save his gold rather than any of his subjects during Smaug's attack. When Alfrid realizes that it's weighing their ship down and suggests dumping it, the Master responds by throwing ''him'' out instead in a scene similar to ''Film/IfLooksCouldKill'' above.

* ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember'': Johan van der Smut, better known as Goldmember, is fascinated with gold and lost his genitals in a smelting accident. Goldmember teams up with Doctor Evil to conquer the world. They plan to use the tractor beam which Goldmember had created to drag a gold asteroid onto the polar ice field and cause a flood.

* ''WEsternAnimation/SecretSquirrel'': Secret Squirrel's archenemy Yellow Pinkie specialised in stealing gold.

* ''WesternAnimation/JamesBondJr'' has Goldfinger's daughter Goldie Finger, who shares her father's obsession with gold.

* ''WesternAnimation/JamesBondJr'' has Goldfinger's daughter Goldie Finger, who shares her father's obsession with gold.

* King Midas. In Greek mythology, Midas was a king of Phrygia, a region nowadays part of Turkey. Some of his subjects brought him a satyr they found in his vineyard. Midas recognised the satyr as Silenus, the companion of the god Dionysus, and ordered him set free. When Dionysus turned up to collect Silenus, he offered Midas whatever he wanted as a reward for treating Silenus with dignity. Midas asked for everything he touched to turn to gold. Dionysus asked Midas if he was sure before granting the wish. Midas was initially overjoyed with his gift. He began to realise that he was BlessedWithSuck when all of his food turned to gold as he tried to eat it. In some versions, he accidentally turns he daughter into a gold statue when she tries to comfort. Midas has to petition Dionysus to have his 'gift' removed.

* Minor Franchise/{{Batman}} foe Sterling Silversmith is obsessed with silver. All of his crimes are aimed at increasting his stock of it.

* Auric Goldfinger in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' (see Literature examples below). In the film, his plan is to increase the value of his own gold by irradiating the US gold reserve, rather than stealing it. In many respects, Gert Frobe's portrayal of Goldfinger has become the TropeCodifier for this type of character. And the film, via its theme song, is the TropeNamer.