History Main / LovesOnlyGold

* Auric Goldfinger in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' is obsessed with gold. In many respects, Gert Frobe's portrayal of Goldfinger has become the TropeCodifier for this type of character and the movie's theme song is the TropeNamer. He has his henchman Oddjob paint the bodies of his dead female victims gold as a calling card, and he carries a [[CoolGun gold Colt Official Police]] as his personal weapon. Despite the undeniable sexual element of painting dead, naked people gold, there's no indication Goldfinger has sex with them as he does in the novel. His EvilPlan, Operation Grand Slam, involves attempting to destroy Fort Knox's gold (and irradiate what would be left) to increase the value of his own already inestimable supply.

* Auric Goldfinger in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' is obsessed with gold. In many respects, Gert Frobe's portrayal of Goldfinger has become the TropeCodifier for this type of character and the movie's theme song is the TropeNamer. He has his henchman Oddjob paint the bodies of his dead female victims gold as a calling card, and he carries a [[CoolGun gold Colt Official Police]] as his personal weapon. Despite the undeniable sexual element of painting dead, naked people gold, there's no indication Goldfinger has sex with them as he does in the novel. His EvilPlan, Operation Grand Slam, involves attempting to irradiate Fort Knox's gold to ruin it and increase the value of his own already inestimable supply.

* There are plenty of people in RealLife who think fiat currency [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics will cause the world economy to collapse]] and therefore invest in as much gold as they can.

* Marsha, Queen of Diamonds in ''Series/{{Batman}}'' is a crafty seductive villainess who thought diamonds were a girl's best friend.

* British Army Captain William "Billy" Boone in the ''Film/TheJungleBook''. He leads a mutiny against his fiancée Kitty Brydon's father to kidnap her and force Mowgli to take him and his men to the lost monkey city so he can get his hands on the fabled gold there. He doesn't care about a single one of the men he loses along the way (except maybe Wilkins). Upon actually arriving at the city, he very quickly proves he loves the treasure more than Kitty. Ignoring Mowgli's warnings that the treasure "only brings death," Boone helps himself to the treasure, and is promptly attacked by Kaa, who knocks him into a moat. The backpack full of gold he's wearing drags him down to his watery doom.

* Like his namesake, ''ComicBook/IronMan'' foe Mordecai Midas is obsesses with gold. His obsession continues even after he transformed into a LivingStatue of gold.

* The greedy pirates in ''Disney/TreasurePlanet''. At least a few of them die trying to get [[PosthumousCharacter Captain Flint]]'s gold. Flint himself qualifies, considering that upon amassing all the gold he could, he just hoarded it on the title Treasure Planet, and appears to have effectively just sat in it until he died (rather like One-Eyed Willie in ''Film/TheGoonies''.

* George "Mac" [=McHale=] in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' is established early on as a particularly greedy individual. When the main characters are fleeing Akator at the end, Mac stuffs every last one of his pockets with coins and jewels from the aliens' treasure trove, meaning that the dimensional vortex (to which gold is magnetic) sucks him in along with the Soviets while the other good guys get away. Not really a KarmicDeath, as we don't know where Mac (or the Soviets for that matter) ''die'' by being pulled through the portal, but his insistence on burdening himself with so much loot instead of thinking of his own survival definitely contributes to being, at least, stuck in another dimension.
* A few characters in ''[[Film/TheMummy1999 The Mummy]]'':
** Beni Gabor is the worst of them all. There's no shortage of greedy characters in the movie, but Beni alone is ''so'' greedy that his love of gold and treasure negates any positive traits he has. When confronted by Imhotep, he initially only works for him because he's afraid of the guy, which is understandable... but then come the promises of great riches, after which Beni becomes Imhotep's YesMan and ProfessionalButtKisser, serving him willingly instead of out of fear, and his cooperation leads to several people's deaths. At the end, when he has a chance to escape Hamunaptra before anyone else (even the good guys), he chooses to remain behind and [[SkewedPriorities stuff sacks full of treasure]]. As a result, he passes up the one chance he had to get away, and ends up [[DeathByMaterialism dying]] after being shut inside with the scarabs.
** Warden Gad Hassan is certainly portrayed as greedy, only commuting Rick's death sentence after learning from Evie that the American knows the way to Hamunaptra with its vast riches, and on the condition that he come along. His gold obsession is downplayed, and is really only used as a plot device to get him to release Rick. Other than this, his greed only comes up again once they're actually ''at'' Hamunaptra and he gets GoldFever really badly, [[NeverSplitTheParty wandering away from the others]] and getting himself killed.
** And finally there's Evie Carnahan's LovableCoward brother Jonathan. He, too, is obsessed with treasure, but he is able to prioritize things far better than Beni, ignoring the mountains of treasure both coming into and fleeing from the pyramid when he, Rick and Ardeth Bey come to rescue Evie. In ''Film/TheMummyReturns'', though, he does almost get himself killed retrieving a giant diamond-encrusted pyramid topper.
--->'''Rick:''' It's not worth your life!\\
'''Jonathan:''' Yes it is! Yes it is!

* Ebenezer Scrooge in Creator/CharlesDickens' ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' (and its [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol many, many adaptations]]) is a greedy, penny-pinching money lender who, being TheScrooge and all (''The'' Scrooge, in fact), refuses to spend his vast amounts of wealth, even on himself, let alone his poor employee Bob Cratchit. Fortunately, though, he soon learns the error of his miserly ways, and that there are things more important than money, like his fellow human beings, in one of literature's great redemption stories.

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* In the MarvelUniverse, Goldbug is a gold-obsessed thief who steals only gold. He even contracts radiation poisoning after inadvertently stealing a supply of irradiated gold.

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* ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember'': Johan van der Smut, better known as Goldmember, teams up with Dr. 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. He loves gold so much that he lost his genitals in a smelting accident (suggesting he took the "Love" part of the trope [[{{Squick}} too literally]]). He has subsequently replaced it with a golden metal one (which also soubles as a spare key to his tractor beam). Goldmember has a penchant for painting the penises of his male victims gold ("It's kinda my thing.") so that they mirror his own golden tallywacker.

-->'''Steranko''': [''grabbing desperately at falling coins''] No! My money! My gold!\\
'''Michael''': Time to cash it in, Steranko!\\
'''Steranko''': Not my gold! [''falls out''] Aahhhhh!

** Thrór during the prologue of ''[[Film/TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney An Unexpected Journey]]'' 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''': I will not part with a single coin! Not one piece of it!

-->'''The Master''': The town is lost! Save the gold!\\

'''The Master''': [''as some of the gold falls out of the boat''] My gold! My gold!\\
'''Alfrid''': We're carryin' too much weight! We need to dump something!\\
'''The Master''': Quite right, Alfrid. [''throws him into the water'']

-->'''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 disturbingly echoing Smaug later]]''] 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.

-->'''Rick''': It's not worth your life!\\
'''Jonathan''': Yes it is! Yes it is!

-->'''Boone''': [''as Kitty is escaping with Mowgli''] All right, then! Go! Go with your jungle boy! I got what I came for! I don't need you!

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* 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 him. Midas has to petition Dionysus to have his 'gift' removed.

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** Thrór during the prologue of ''[[Film/TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney An Unexpected Journey]]'' 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/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug The Desolation of Smaug]]'' 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 Thorin; his love of all the treasure in his stolen hoard is worth more to him than even the sadistic pleasure of seeing Thorin end up like his grandfather.

** And finally, there is Thorin 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 gets ''fierce'' GoldFever, 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.\\

* British Army Captain William "Billy" Boone in the ''Film/TheJungleBook''. He leads a mutiny against his fiancée Kitty Brydon's father to kidnap her and force Mowgli to take him and his men to the lost monkey city so he can get his hands on the fabled gold there. He doesn't care about a single one of the men he loses along the way (except maybe Wilkins). Upon actually arriving at the city, he very quickly proves he loves the treasure more than Kitty. Ignoring Mowgli's warnings that the treasure "only brings death," Boone helps himself to the treasure, and is promptly attacked by Kaa, who knocks him into a moat. The backpack full of gold he's wearing drags him down to his watery doom.

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** Smaug, 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.
** 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 (so, JerkassHasAPoint). 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.

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* The episode "The Midas Mix-Up" has ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussycats'' encounter a reclusive MadScientist who would threaten, "Unless I am paid half the gold in the world, I shall destroy all the gold in the world!" Midas has perfected a microbe mist that can dissolve gold, and plans to export the stuff disguised as spray cologne.

** In contrast, El Capitán from the five-part episode "Treasure of the Golden Suns" is ''so'' greedy for gold that even though he's a [[Really700YearsOld four-hundred year old]] (!) Spanish captain he has sustained himself over the years through sheer determination to survive thanks to GoldFever. He wants to raise a sunken ship containing an unfathomably wealthy hoard of treasure, and is willing to do anything to do it.

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* There are plenty of people in RealLife who think fiat currency [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics will cause the world economy to collapse]] and therefore invest in as much gold as they can.

* Drogoz the Greedy from ''VideoGames/{{Paladins}}'' is a DraconicHumanoid with a huge lust for gold, to the point that his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSsABauqAl0&index=14&list=PLfqXKYM_LlNxwc4oa3c-U-Qa8Xil6ONoG champion teaser]] has him taking out an enemy over a single gold coin.

* The greedy pirates in ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet''. At least a few of them die trying to get [[PosthumousCharacter Captain Flint]]'s gold. Flint himself qualifies, considering that upon amassing all the gold he could, he just hoarded it on the title Treasure Planet, and appears to have effectively just sat in it until he died (rather like One-Eyed Willie in ''Film/TheGoonies''.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/DuckTales http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/money_swim.jpg]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'':

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' two-part epiosde "Darkly Dawns the Duck," Taurus Bulba is obsessed with getting his hands on the Ram Rod, an [[ArtificialGravity anti-gravity beam]] [[WeaponOfMassDestruction weapon]]. After going through all the trouble of stealing it and learning the activation code, and ends up just using it to steal all the gold from the federal gold depository. He goes so far as to vow to "strip St. Canard clean, then hit every city in the country." Whether he meant gold specifically or just wealth in general is unclear. What ''is'' clear, though, that with [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot all the possibilities and potential]] of an anti-gravity gun, he's only interested in the Ram Rod as a means to accumulate lots and lots of gold.

* ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember'': Johan van der Smut, better known as Goldmember, teams up with Dr. 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. He loves gold so much that he lost his genitals in a smelting accident (suggesting he took the "Love" part of the trope [[{{Squick}} too literally]]). He has subsequently replaced it with a golden metal one (which doubles as the key to his tractor beam). Goldmember has a penchant for painting the penises of his male victims gold ("It's kinda my thing.") so that they mirror his own golden tallywacker.

* In ''Film/DocSavage'', Captain Seas murders Doc Savage's father in order to gain control of land in the Republic of Hidalgo, so he can mine its rich deposit of gold. However, he wants to control the gold flow to make money, as opposed to being interested in the gold for its own sake. On the other hand, Seas' ally in his endeavor is the even greedier CorruptBureaucrat [[ManChild Don Rubio Gorro]]. Gorro is ''so'' obsessed with gold that when dynamite is thrown into a lake of molten gold during the final battle results in an explosion sending the liquid metal into the air, Gorro rushes out to try and catch the raining droplets in his bare hands, and ends up dying be being covered in the liquid gold, which hardens, turning him into a [[TakenForGranite gold "statue."]]

* British Army Captain William "Billy" Boone in the ''Film/TheJungleBook''. He leads a mutiny against his fiancée Kitty Brydon's father to kidnap her and force Mowgli to take him and his men to the lost monkey city so he can his hands on the fabled gold there. He doesn't care about a single one of the men he loses along the way (except maybe Wilkins). Upon actually arriving at the city, he very quickly proves he loves the treasure more than Kitty. Ignoring Mowgli's warnings that the treasure "only brings death," Boone helps himself to the treasure, and is promptly attacked by Kaa, who knocks him into a moat. The backpack full of gold he's wearing drags him down to his watery doom.

** 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 "[[DisguisedInDrag 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.

** Smaug himself in the ''[[Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug The Desolation of Smaug]]'' 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.

** 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 gets ''fierce'' GoldFever, 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).

* ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember'': Johan van der Smut, better known as Goldmember, teams up with Dr. 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. He loves gold so much that he lost his genitals in a smelting accident (suggesting he took the "Love" part of the trope [[((Squick}} too literally]]). He has subsequently replaced it with a golden metal one (which doubles as the key to his tractor beam). Goldmember has a penchant for painting the penises of his male victims gold ("It's kinda my thing.") so that they mirror his own golden tallywacker.

* In ''WesternAnimation/JonnysGoldenQuest'', Dr. Zin gets GoldFever, and much of the plot is driven by his efforts to [[((Alchemy}} turn lead into gold]].

* CorruptCorporateExecutive and BigBad extraordinaire Louis Strack Jr. in the {{Novelization}} of ''Film/{{Darkman}}'' by Randall Boyll. In a subplot ultimately removed from the film and existing only in this book, Strack is obsessed with investing in South African krugerrands. When his father Louis Strack Sr. disagrees, insisting the Stracks are in construction and real estate, not gold, Strack Jr. [[SelfMadeOrphan has him killed]]. Near the end of the book, Strack takes the "Love" part of the trope to a literal level when he has a literal mountain of gold krugerrand coins piled onto his bed and [[{{Squick}} has sex with it]].

* Auric Goldfinger in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' is obsessed with gold, going so far as to have his lovers painted head to toe in gold so that he can make love to gold. 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.

* Auric Goldfinger in ''Literature/{{Goldfinger}}''. Goldfinger is obsessed with gold, going so far as to have yellow-bound erotic photographs, and have his lovers painted head to toe in gold so that he can make love to gold. He plots Operation: Grand Slam; a scheme to rob the US Bullion Depository at Fort Knox.

* Legendary pirate captain One-Eyed Willie loved gold and jewels and other treasure so much that instead of actually ''spending'' all the loot he and his crew stole, he shut himself (and his ship!) up in a cave. After apparently murdering all of his men, Willie appears to have just sat at the head of a big banquet table covered in gold until he died. At least this is how the Goonies find his skeleton.

* ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember'': Johan van der Smut, better known as Goldmember, loves gold so much that he 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.

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