History Main / LoyalPhlebotinum

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Mythender}}'', it is impossible to permanently separate a Myth or Mythender from their Weapons, and nor can they be destroyed by anyone else while the Myth or Mythender lives (though [[{{Synchronization}} harming the Weapon harms the Myth or Mythender too,}} so it's a two-way street).

** The ''original'' Green Lantern's (Alan Scott's) ring put a really nasty spin on this: if worn by someone with malevolent intent, it would '''kill them'''.

:: Ultimately, this is how he gets back the other watch -- he claims the Wanda-watch to be much more powerful, tricking Vicki into switching them only for her to find out she can't use it before suffering from a large amount of AmusingInjuries.
* By all appearances, the Omnitrix in the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' series: It doesn't work for Vilgax when he steals it in an episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Alien Force]]'', and after it gets {{Ret Con}}ned to being easy to remove from its host, Azmuth is reluctantly resigned to letting Ben keep it. It can only be that he knows that the watch chose Ben and won't work, at least as well, for anyone else. He originally intended it for [[MissedTheCall Ben's grandfather Max]], but there's no rule saying an EmpathicWeapon's choice in owner can't conflict with its creator's choice. Furthermore, human DNA is not all that different from one another (a plot point in an ''Omniverse'' episode), which is probably why Ben (and, in some alternate timelines, Gwen) can use a device keyed to their grandfather's DNA pretty well.

* ''Series/Stagirl2020'': The Cosmic Staff will only work for the one it chooses. It also really doesn't like people attacking that person, as a couple of high school football players learn the hard way when they insist on fighting Courtney.

* Hope that its loyalty will shift under the rules of YouKillItYouBoughtIt (no guarantee).

* {{Mons}}, {{Cool Pet}}s, {{Ridiculously Human Robot}}s, and other {{Attack Animal}}s who only allow a master worthy of owning such a creature to tame them.

* In the Creator/AGDInteractive ''VideoGame/KingsQuestII'' FanRemake, Neptune's trident is stolen by the evil Sharkees, and King Graham is promised the Water Gem in exchange for getting it back. Sneaking into the Sharkee Palace, Graham comes across the Sharkee King trying intensely to the trident to work, but to no avail, as it is enchanted to only obey people of noble blood and good will. The Sharkee King also knows of this enchantment and it angers him, as he, being the ruler of the Sharkees has the "noble blood" part covered, and since he obviously has the ''[[ComicallyMissingThePoint greatest]]'' will of all underwater creatures, wielding the trident should be a cinch for him. As Graham steals it back, he has no problems with using it for his own protection as he is a king after all and has a good will.

** Wizard's staffs, most notably in ''Discworld/EqualRites'', and ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}'' (where the Sourcerer's staff bites another wizard who touches it).

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': This is the primary reason brought up against trying to use the One Ring as a weapon against Sauron: the Ring is loyal to Sauron only. It does allow its current Bearer to access some of its powers, but it always seems to mysteriously fail or "slip off" at inopportune moments, making it a dangerous thing to rely on. It is implied that a powerful enough being might be able to ''force'' the Ring to work for them, but this is never attempted (too risky if it fails... and arguably even more risky [[TheCorruption if it succeeds]]).

* PlayedWith in ''Literature/{{Everworld}}''--[[Myth/KingArthur Galahad]]'s sword, later taken up by [[HeroicWannabe David]], can seemingly be wielded by anyone, but it won't attack Myth/{{Merlin}}, who made it for Galahad in the first place. When David tries it just swings himself around in circles and makes him look ridiculous.

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has Mjolnir, as per usual - that said, so far, it's had three wielders other than Thor [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments (even if, in Steve's case, they were completely oblivious to the significance and used it as a doorstop)]], and the narration implies that anyone can be Worthy, if they work at it (as the third wielder, [[spoiler: Maddie]], does).

* In ''WesternAnimation/HerselfTheElf'', If anyone but Herself tries to use her wand, it won't work for a year and a day.

* MarvelUniverse: ComicBook/TheMightyThor's hammer can generally only be wielded by Thor. Anyone else trying to pick it up will find it impossibly heavy -- even the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk! [[CrossOver Or even]] Franchise/{{Superman}}. However, it's not '''completely''' exclusive, and on a handful of occasions, a worthy and properly-motivated hero (and [[WesternAnimation/UltimateAvengers one specific version]] of the aforementioned Hulk) has managed to pick it up and use it. This is (as one of the few things about him) fairly accurate to the myth.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'', his is true of Keyblades in general. They refuse to be used by anyone other than their chosen wielder (although on occasion they have permitted another Keyblade wielder to use them for brief periods of time, usually someone their own wielder trusts). If they are ever taken away from their wielder, they just teleport right back into his or her hands. This is why the villains never bother trying to steal a Keyblade, as they know it's a pointless exercise. The only exception was seen when Riku took the Keyblade from Sora: Sora was feeling very down and had lost the will to continue, [[EmpathicWeapon so the Keyblade abandoned him]]. When he later gets his drive back and confronts Riku again, the Keyblade returns to his hands immediately.

* In ''Manga/DGrayMan'', Innocence is so loyal it won't let anyone besides its unique accomodator wield it. If you try to force the synchronization nonetheless, it will leave you crippled, blind, or simply dead.

* The "Dragon Claw" ComicBook/RichardDragon was given by his sensei is an odd artifact, it only really does anything besides act as a focus for meditation if both it's wielder and the ''situation'' calls for it, which is when "something greater than human life is in peril".

* In ''Literature/{{Armor}}'', PoweredArmor suits are tailor-made to prevent them from horribly killing their wearers-if its joints don't match yours perfectly, it'll break whatever bones it has to to move, and its so tight that part of the training is showing a surgical record of a guy who tried to wear a cricifix in his suit, which got crushed into his sternum. As a side-effect, they can't be worn by anyone else. Even if someone is the correct user, if they've gotten too fat, it still sucks to wear.

** In ''Series/StargateSG1'', several pieces of Goa'uld technology will only work for someone with naqadah in the bloodstream -- namely Goa'uld, Tok'ra or [[PuppeteerParasite former hosts]]. This include the weapon hand-device, the healing hand-device, and quite likely the [[DeflectorShields personal shields]] and {{invisibility cloak}}s too, as they are never seen used by Jaffa. This aims essentially at enforcing the belief in the mystical powers of the Goa'uld, as they pass off those effects as divine magic.

* Bucephalus was said to only let Alexander the Great ride him. There's a story where Alexander is solely responsible for the creation of Bucephalus, and trained him so that he would only allow him to ride it. (And attached a golden horn to its forehead, just because he wanted a magical sort of horse.) Indeed, no-one could even approach the animal, let alone ride it -- until one fateful day, when King Philip lets his 3-year-old son, also named Alexander (different son from a different wife) to mount the horse. Alexander finds his half-brother riding his horse, and can barely hold in his rage. He decides he has to kill the horse now, because it had accepted another master. His father warns him that you can't be a good king with that kind of attitude (i.e. killing anyone and/or anything that doesn't go your way). Alexander ignores the advice, and there ''are'' consequences in the long run for him....

** Intelligent weapons greatly prefers to be wielded by characters of the same [[CharacterAlignment alignment]] as them or a close one, and can refuse to use their powers for people who don't agree with their goals. If someone of an ''opposite'' alignement picks up such a weapon, it will likely give the "painful zap" response, the amount of damage depending of the weapon's ego score.

* The Book of Shadows in ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' is repelled by evil. Effects vary from putting up a force field of some sort to simply sliding away if the wrong person tries to pick it up. Paige once had a boyfriend thumb through it to see if it would let him (which he picked up on pretty quickly despite not knowing about the protection). There are ways to get around this, such as taking control of the manor or stealing the Power of Three, but it at least tries to stay loyal to its rightful owners.

* {{Magic Wand}}s in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' universe. According to wand-maker Ollivander, "The wand chooses the wizard... And, of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand." YouKillItYouBoughtIt applies for the Elder Wand, [[spoiler:or at least that's the general understanding. Actually it's ''defeating'' that is strictly necessary. A nonlethal defeat works.]] The Elder Wand didn't work [[spoiler:for Voldemort because he killed Snape for the wand, but it was Draco that actually defeated Dumbledore]]. It worked for [[spoiler: Harry because Harry had defeated Draco after Draco defeated Dumbledore]], and [[spoiler:Snape wouldn't have been the Master of the Wand either way because he killed Dumbledore on his orders]]. This is also seen when Hermione tries to use [[spoiler:Bellatrix's]] wand after she stole it without defeating her first. Hermione can't make the wand work well for her and feels revulsion when she tries. She claims the wand feels too much like a piece of [[spoiler:Bellatrix]].