History Main / MacguffinEscortMission

** ''CitySlickers''
** ''RedRiver''

* ''TheTransporter'' has the title character doing this as a job.

* The bible in ''TheBookOfEli''.
* The ''Big Fat Kill'' sequence in the anthology movie ''SinCity'' involves the transportation of a dead body to be properly disposed of. Later, it involves simply keeping the head out of the mob's clutches.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons''

-->'''Wizard:''' You must cast this rin- er... BAND into the fiery depths of mount... KILIMANJARO.
-->'''Sangwine:''' But... that's in Africa!
-->'''Wizard:''' DO IT!!!
-->--''How Not To Run A Comic'', [[http://hownottorunacomic.comicgenesis.com/d/19940707.html How Not To Introduce The Plot #7]]

!!Examples:

* ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'' largely revolves around [[spoiler:getting the plant to the scanner so the Axiom can return to Earth, while the autopilot tries to get rid of it]], though this only really becomes apparent in the second half of the film or so.

* ''TheDarkCrystal'', which borrowed heavily from ''LordOfTheRings''.

* ''TheLordOfTheRings'', which involves Frodo Baggins having to take [[ArtifactOfDoom the One Ring]], the source of [[BigBad Sauron's]] power, into the land of {{Mordor}} to cast it into the fires of Mount Doom to destroy it.

* Protecting the hyperdrive generator from Darth Maul in the game of ''StarWars: ThePhantomMenace''.

* The 2008 Vin Diesel cyberpunk movie ''BabylonAD'' (in ''Babylon Babies'', the book on which it's based, they just jump on the plane to Montreal, so the journey is less important).

While many MacGuffin stories are about finding or recovering it, this trope is about when it's in {{The Protagonist}}s' hands either from the beginning or by the end of the first act. The rest of the story involves getting it from one place to another.

Compare LiveActionEscortMission, only that involves people and could just be a few scenes, while this trope could include anything is one of the main points of the story.

* ''{{Wall-E}}'' largely revolves around [[spoiler:getting the plant to the scanner so the Axiom can return to Earth, while the autopilot tries to get rid of it]], though this only really becomes apparent in the second half of the film or so.

* ''{{Shadowrun}}''. In one published adventure, the runners had to deliver a large package to a specific location. They eventually discover that it contains an egg belonging to the dragon Masaru.

* ''{{EVE Online}}'' Device. This is a thing. It does stuff. Which leads to "All hail the Device! For it is a thing! And it does stuff! \o/" It is used in a multi-part mission to activate gate.

[[folder:Role Playing Games]]
* For the first half of ''VideoGame/GoldenSun: The Lost Age'', you're taking the [[CosmicKeystone Jupiter Star]] to the Jupiter Lighthouse in order to light it.
[[/folder]]

* Done occasionally in the ''LegendOfZelda'' series:
** In ''ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'', instead of [[GottaCatchEmAll collecting things like in the first game,]] Link has to take six mystic crystals to six monster-infested palaces and insert them into statuary.
** Most of the Force Gem sidequests in ''SpiritTracks'' involve transporting an item from one part of the kingdom to another, while avoiding thieves, vandals, monster attacks, and other problems along the way.

* For the first half of ''GoldenSun: The Lost Age'', you're taking the [[CosmicKeystone Jupiter Star]] to the Jupiter Lighthouse in order to light it.

* The ''Big Fat Kill'' sequence in the anthology movie ''SinCity'' involves the transportation of a dfead body to be properly disposed of. Later, it involves simply keeping the head out of the mob's clutches.

* The 2008 Vin Diesel cyberpunk movie ''BabylonA.D.'' (in ''Babylon Babies'', the book on which it's based, they just jump on the plane to Montreal, so the journey is less important).

* The 2008 Vin Diesel cyberpunk movie ''{{Babylon A.D.}}'' (in ''Babylon Babies'', the book on which it's based, they just jump on the plane to Montreal, so the journey is less important).

* The 2008 Vin Diesel cyberpunk movie ''Babylon A.D.'' (in ''Babylon Babies'', the book on which it's based, they just jump on the plane to Montreal, so the journey is less important).

* ''DyingEarth''. In the adventure ''[[http://www.dyingearth.com/violetcusps_files/Exasperating.zip The Exasperating Cadaver]]'', the {{PC}}'s must find a specific person and deliver a package containing...a dead body?

** [[TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]] is guilty as well. After the Castle Town Doctor proves to be useless to Prince Ralis, you must take him in an extremely flammable carriage from Castle Town to Kakariko Village, while beset by bokoblin archers who normally would not have been there. I find it hard to believe that a society with [[spoiler: [[AnachronismStew giant cannons and freaking bazookas]] ]] hasn't invented either a way of fireproofing something or a car.

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* ''TheTransporter''.

* ''TheLordOfTheRings''