History Main / NoMacguffinNoWinner

** In Season 9's "Blood Diamonds", [[HowWeGotHere after a series of events]] lead up to Walker being critically wounded [[spoiler:and Trivette being killed]] by Victor Drake and his gang, Walker is cornered on the roof by Drake [[spoiler:who [[HeroicSacrifice guns him down and he falls to his death]]]], but rather than hand over the goods beforehand, Walker throws the diamonds off the roof. [[spoiler:It was luckily AllJustADream Alex was having, but in actuality, [[OrWasItADream Walker was on the case from her dream]].]]

** In Season 9's "Blood Diamonds", after a series of events lead up to Walker being critically wounded [[spoiler:and Trivette being killed]] by Victor Drake and his gang, Walker is cornered on the roof by Drake [[spoiler:who [[HeroicSacrifice guns him down and he falls to his death]]]], but rather than hand over the goods beforehand, Walker throws the diamonds off the roof. [[spoiler:It was luckily AllJustADream Alex was having, but in actuality, [[OrWasItADream Walker was on the case from her dream]].]]

** In the third season premiere, Jackie attempts to destroy the [=MacGuffins=] of the first season by firing a laser at them. [[DidntThinkThisThrough It only destroys the]] ''[[DidntThinkThisThrough physical]]'' [[DidntThinkThisThrough talismans]] -- [[HereWeGoAgain their powers seek out new hosts, setting the third season MacGuffin-hunt in motion]].

** In the third season premiere, Jackie attempts to destroy the [=MacGuffins=] of the first season by firing a laser at them. [[SimpleSolutionWontWork It only destroys the]] ''physical'' talismans -- their powers seek out new hosts, setting the third season Macguffin-hunt in motion.

'''Since this is frequently an EndingTrope, expect spoilers.'''

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': This was why Janeway destroyed the Caretaker's Array in the pilot episode "Caretaker", as it possessed unbelievable technology, including medical and holographic facilities. Even though the array was what brought ''Voyager'' into the Delta Quadrant, Janeway destroyed it to stop [[SpacePirates the Kazon]] from taking it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'': Near the end of the film, B.E.N. reveals that [[spoiler:Captain Flint had this attitude about his treasure. Flint didn't want anyone else to have it, even after he was long dead, so what does he do? He rigs the entire planet to explode if anyone ever found it.]]

* Invoked in ''Fanfic/VoyagesOfTheWildSeaHorse''. When she is the last one standing of their crew, and the villainous Commodore Nelson Royale is demanding she give him the [[PowerUpFood Devil Fruit]] he desires, [[spoiler:Shampoo]] ''eats it'' purely to spite him.

* ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'': In ''The Broken Ear'', it's revealed that what Alonzo and Ramon are after is not just the titular MacGuffin, an Arumbayan fetish, but a MineralMacGuffin stashed inside it. The villains finally get their hands on the real fetish on a ship heading back to Europe but are surprised by Tintin on the deck. The fetish drops from Alonzo's hands, breaks open and the diamond falls into the sea, followed after a brief struggle between the bodies of Tintin, Alonzo, and Ramon (of whom only the first emerges alive).

* In ''LightNovel/TheDeathMageWhoDoesntWantAFourthTime'' the Sauron Duchy, part of the Orbaume Kingdom, has been taken over by the neighboring empire. There's a resistance movement attempting to free the duchy, which is backed by the protagonist. He intends to reclaim the duchy for Orbaume and then be granted the rights to the area where the resistance is based as a reward. Unfortunately, after the empire gives up on the area, a new duke is instated that promptly rewards said land to his political allies, even though it technically doesn't really belong to him[[note]]It's governed by the Scylla, a race of women with the lower bodies of octopi, and this is recognized by the Orbaume government in a treaty.[[/note]] by declaring the resistance and Scylla to have all perished in combat. Angered but with no way to take the land short of declaring war, Vandalieu instead evacuates the resistance and Scylla to his own empire to the south to let the Sauron duchy have the land again... provided they can clear out the infinitely respawning undead he left there. Anyone who crosses the border into the former Scylla lands is never seen again. The more time goes by, the more scared the new duke becomes as he realizes he definitely pissed off someone he shouldn't have, he just doesn't know who.

* All three routes of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' end without the Grail being used; in one it is destroyed by the end, [[AllThereInTheManual and in the other two it is destroyed later]]. In ''LightNovel/FateZero'', Emiya Kiritsugu ''could'' take it, but he realizes what it is and instead orders Saber to destroy it. When you look at the cast, though, you'll notice that several of the Masters and perhaps the majority of Servants don't actually care about the grail; several servants simply want a good fight or the chance to do something they were denied in life, and several masters joined for personal reasons either concerning the other masters (such as revenge or curiosity) or their ideals or for familial reasons. In Zouken Matou's case, he's been after the Grail for so long that he's [[MotiveDecay forgotten the entire reason he wanted it in the first place.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'':

* Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'': Lorule was ravaged by wars caused by people who wanted to get their hands on its Triforce for its wish-granting capabilities, until a past monarch decided to put an end to the violence by wishing for the Triforce to disappear. Unfortunately, the Triforce was Lorule's CosmicKeystone, and without it the land began to slowly wither and decay. The plot of the game is set in motion by [[spoiler:Princess Hilda, the current monarch of Lorule, sending Yuga into Hyrule to steal their Triforce to replace the lost one and save her world]].

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': Puss is attempting to reach the Wishing Star to regain his lost eight lives, Goldilocks wants to get a real family, while Jack Horner wants to [[BreadEggsMilkSquick gain control of all magic and conquer the world]]. In the end, [[spoiler:Puss accepts having only one life left, while Goldilocks comes to realize the Three Bears ''are'' her true family, and the two, together with Kitty, destroy the Wishing Star to prevent Jack Horner from making his wish]].

* This gets invoked in ''Anime/DragonBall'' twice with the titular Dragon Balls, but it doesn't work in any of them. In the middle of the Frieza saga, Vegeta orders Krillin to destroy the Dragon Ball in their possession, only for Guldo to use his powers to steal it before he can do so. In the Shadow Dragon saga in ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', Goku eats the 4-Star Dragon Ball to deny Syn Shenron the full extent of his powers... with some amusing shenanigans following, but at the end of all the villain gains possession of it anyway.

** Attempted by Luffy during the battle of the Baratie- He decides to sink the ship so the Krieg Pirates won't be able to steal it for their own use. The course of the battle prevented him from doing it, though.

* In ''Franchise/IndianaJones: Thunder in the Orient'', Indy and his allies in the Chinese resistance are racing the Japanese to find a set of scrolls said to contain the original account of the Buddha's teachings, written by the Buddha himself. Once they find the scrolls, however, [[spoiler: they crumble as soon as they are exposed to air, before anyone can read what they say.]]

* ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' -- Film/JamesBond chooses to chuck the stolen ATAC off a cliff to prevent the Russians from getting their hands on it, [[WeWinBecauseYouDidnt which was enough to accomplish Bond's mission]] (in fact, that was what was ''supposed'' to happen to it in the first place, but the operator drowned before he could hit the self-destruct). Gogol has just wasted a considerable amount of resources on something he hasn't acquired, as well as losing several operatives. The British still have lost a spy trawler, at least three agents, one Lotus Espirit, and the ATAC, but have denied the Russians the ability to turn their own missiles against them. Notably, Gogol apparently finds the whole thing rather amusing as well, especially after Bond invoked the trope:
-->'''Bond''': That's ''détente'', comrade. ''You'' don't have it; ''I'' don't have it.

** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' -- Although it's used to bring back Indy's dad, the HolyGrail ends up falling down a hole. Arguably, the former still gives Indy a slight lead in the points. Just in case [[DeathByMaterialism the aesop]] [[{{Anvilicious}} wasn't clear enough]], a Nazi tries reaching for the Grail while holding onto Indy's hand, desperate to claim the treasure. Inevitably, the Nazi slips and falls, sinking into a canyon.

* ''Literature/ArcOfAScythe'' has an interesting example which is about an entire organization rather than an item. [[spoiler: at the end of the series, after [[{{Sadist}} New Order]] and [[NecessarilyEvil Old Guard]] Scythes have been vying for control over the Scythedom for all three books, Faraday activates the Founding Scythes' failsafe which destroys all Scythe rings and removes their ability to kill people, instead having a disease kill a portion of the population on a regular basis.]]

* Used in the ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'' series to resolve the conflict over the Unholy Grail: [[spoiler: by using it to perform the Eucharist, Jude absolves it of its taint and it becomes an ordinary cup]]. Also used when John Taylor frees the quantum butterfly to stop powerful other-dimensional entities from messing up our world in their attempts to steal it.

* In the ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' episode [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E3MakingFriendsAndInfluencingPeople "Making Friends and Influencing People"]], SHIELD and HYDRA are racing to recruit/capture Donnie Gill, a [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals Gifted]] with the ability to [[AnIcePerson freeze people]]. At the end [[spoiler: Skye is [[ShootTheDog forced to shoot]] the [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] Donnie to save Hunter and May, [[NeverFoundTheBody apparently]] killing him, so neither side has him]].

* The resolution of the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "Master of the Djinni". Archenemies Scrooge and Glomgold discover a JackassGenie and compete for the rest of the episode over who is to be its master. [[spoiler: Glomgold wins the contest and immediately abuses his newfound power, but when [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor he fails to watch his choice of words around the genie]], he ends up stuck in the same predicament he wished Scrooge into, causing him to "wish he'd never found that blasted lamp." The episode resets, only this time, the Vault of Aladdin caves in, leaving the lamp [[AndIMustScream (and its occupant)]] buried for eternity.]]
** In another episode, "Pearl of Wisdom," Scrooge and the antagonist of the day, Sharkey, were fighting over the titular pearl when its effects activate - causing Sharkey to realize that he should give up the life of crime and Scrooge to realize that the pearl should be returned to its original owner. The natives that owned the pearl remarked because of its properties, this happens every time someone steals their treasure.

** In "Enter the Cat", Jackie - usually the first person to say ItBelongsInAMuseum - decides the [=MacGuffin=] is too dangerous even for that and smashes it. (Which turns out to be the right thing to do, since the statue breaking releases the cure to the cat transformation it inflicted on Jade and Valmont.)
** In the third season premiere, Jackie attempts to destroy the [=MacGuffins=] of the first season by firing a laser at them. [[SimpleSolutionWontWork It only destroys the]] ''physical'' talismans - their powers seek out new hosts, setting the third season Macguffin-hunt in motion.

'''Spock:''': It never would have reached a museum, Lieutenant. There was too much power in that one setting. If not the Kzinti, the Klingons or some other species would have tried to possess it.

** A halfway example is the prophecy in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]''. Though it is destroyed before either side [[SoundStone can listen to it]], Dumbledore [[IMadeCopies happens to have a backup]] by means of PensieveFlashback.

Since writers often want to avert an ending where TheBadGuyWins, this trope is perfect insurance against having an ending which is seen this way: The BigBad may be the obvious winner in terms of who kicked whose ass, and [[BittersweetEnding the hero may be suffering some kind of loss, which is really nothing to be happy about]]. But at least the villain is unsuccessful in that he hasn't made himself any richer or made any progress toward [[TakeOverTheWorld taking over the world]]. [[VillainsActHeroesReact Which was really the whole point anyway.]] In fact, [[PyrrhicVictory this "win" over the hero may have doomed his own plans]] now that the [=MacGuffin=] is gone.

* This gets invoked in ''Anime/DragonBall'' twice with the titular Dragon Balls, but it doesn't work in any of them. At the middle of the Frieza saga, Vegeta orders Krillin to destroy the Dragon Ball in their possession, only for Guldo to use his powers to steal it before he can do so. In the Shadow Dragon saga in ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', Goku eats the 4-Star Dragon Ball to deny Syn Shenron the full extent of his powers... with some amusing shenanigans following, but at the end of all the villain gains possession of it anyway.

* ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'': In ''The Broken Ear'', it's revealed that what Alonzo and Ramon are after is not just the titular MacGuffin, an Arumbayan fetish, but a MineralMacGuffin stashed inside it. The villains finally get their hands on the real fetish on a ship heading back to Europe, but are surprised by Tintin on the deck. The fetish drops from Alonzo's hands, breaks open and the diamond falls into the sea, followed after a brief struggle by the bodies of Tintin, Alonzo and Ramon (of whom only the first emerges alive).

* The kung-fu movie ''Film/HouseOfTraps'' has the prize located on the top of the titular house (actually a pagoda), an invaluable scroll, loaded with multiple {{Booby trap}}s and fatal pitfalls, and two opposing band of martial artists repeatedly fighting each other to claim it. The film ends with the scroll getting ripped to shreds by one of the heroes, who then decides to EatTheEvidence before killing himself to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.

* ''Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation'': In the finale Ethan invoke this to challenge the BigBad in order to stop a time bomb strapped to Benji. Ethan reveals that he memorized the bank account codes the big bad seeks (and destroyed the digital copy) and thus is the only one who knows the code he want and if he detonates the bomb with Hunt at point-blank range as he is now, he'll never be able to finance his operations. The BigBad shuts off the bomb at the last second and orders Ethan to meet him face to face, thus falling in Ethan's trap.

* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides'', the Fountain of Youth is coveted by Blackbeard, (captain) Jack Sparrow's pirates, and the Spanish. During the finale, the latter outgun the former two [[spoiler:and proceed to blow up the fountain, [[TheFundamentalist proclaiming that only God has the power to prolong life]]. Then they leave, though fortunately there's a tiny trickle left.]]

* The Buddy-cop action film ''Film/YesMadam'' revolves around the two CowboyCop protagonists being forced to work with a trio of petty thieves to retrive a valuable microfilm from a mob boss, ending with a lengthy climax which has the microfilm getting burnt into plastic driplets.

* ''Literature/ArcOfAScythe'' has a interesting example which is about an entire organization rather than an item. [[spoiler: at the end of the series, after [[{{Sadist}} New Order]] and [[NecessarilyEvil Old Guard]] Scythes have been vying for control over the Scythedom for all three books, Faraday activates the Founding Scythes' failsafe which destroys all Scythe rings and removes their ability to kill people, instead having a disease kill a portion of the population on a regular basis.]]
* Used in the ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'' novel ''Time Trap'', where Toa Vakama threatens to destroy the [[TimeMaster Kanohi Vahi]] to keep [[BigBad Makuta]] from taking it. In this case though, it was more of an example of No MacGuffin, No Universe, because destroying the Vahi would cause a TimeCrash that would essentially doom the entire Matoran universe [[spoiler:and possibly reality outside of Mata Nui's [[HumongousMecha body]]]] to hell. This marks one of the few times Makuta was ''legitimately'' forced to admit defeat, with no backup plans in place to give him an edge.

* Taken to its full cruelty potential in ''The Paul Street Boys'', where two boy groups are fighting over the [[SeriousBusiness ownership of an empty building site that they use as a playground]]. The conflict gets completely out of hand, and in the climax a fever-stricken Ernő Nemecsek, the plucky underdog of his team, [[HeroicSacrifice shows up to protect the playground at the cost of his life]]. When the boys return to the site, they learn that engineers have started building an apartment building on it.

* In the ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' episode [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E3MakingFriendsAndInfluencingPeople "Making Friends and Influencing People"]], SHIELD and HYDRA are racing to recruit/capture Donnie Gill, a [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals Gifted]] with the ability to [[AnIcePerson freeze people]]. In the end [[spoiler: Skye is [[ShootTheDog forced to shoot]] the [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] Donnie to save Hunter and May, [[NeverFoundTheBody apparently]] killing him, so neither side has him]].

* Subverted in ''Series/BlakesSeven'' where these events end up demoralizing our heroes more than the sociopathic BigBad Servalan. For instance in "Volcano", the Liberator tries to use the planet Obsidian as a base. Servalan wants the planet for the same reason, so sends in an invasion fleet, and the inhabitants activate a DoomsdayDevice [[IDieFree rather than submit]]. It's pointed out that Servalan doesn't care because that only means no-one else can have that planet either.
* In the Mexican sitcom ''Series/ElChapulinColorado'', after Chapulín defeats the bad guy who wants to possess the wig made from Samson's hair, it gets chopped up by the maid working for the archeologist that summoned him. Chapulín says that [[NoManShouldHaveThisPower destroying the wig and discarding it is only way to keep it away from anyone who would like to abuse the wig's ability]] to provide its wearer SuperStrength and NighInvulnerability, although the archeologist laments the artifact's destruction as a great loss to academia.

** The Doctor spends the entirety of Season 16 on a mission for the White Guardian, searching for a device of unimaginable power called the Key to Time. At the finale, the Black Guardian tries to trick the Doctor into giving it to him by impersonating the White Guardian, so the Doctor scatters it around the universe one more without the White Guardian so much as seeing it. (Although it's possible that the White Guardian didn't need to be in possession of the Key in order to use its powers.)

* This is attempted by the heroes before the FinalBoss battle in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'', with them getting Peach and Starlow to destroy the Dream Stone to stop Bowser using it. [[spoiler:It fails. Bowser just sucks up the remains with his vacuum ability and gets RealityWarper powers anyway]].

* All three routes of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' end without the Grail being used; in one it is destroyed by the end, [[AllThereInTheManual and in the other two it is destroyed later]]. In ''LightNovel/FateZero'', Emiya Kiritsugu ''could'' take it, but he realizes what it is and instead orders Saber to destroy it. When you look at the cast, though, you'll notice that several of the Masters and perhaps the majority of Servants don't actually care about the grail; several servants simply want a good fight or the chance to do something they were denied in life, and several masters joined for personal reasons either concerning the other masters (such as revenge or curiosity) or their ideals, or for familial reasons. In Zouken Matou's case, he's been after the Grail for so long that he's [[MotiveDecay forgotten the entire reason he wanted it in the first place.]]

** In another episode, "Pearl of Wisdom," Scrooge and the antagonist of the day, Sharkey, were fighting over the titular pearl when its effects activate - causing Sharkey to realize that he should give up the life of crime and Scrooge to realize that the pearl should be returned to its original owner. The natives that owned the pearl remarked because of it's properties, this happens every time someone steals their treasure.

** In "Enter the Cat", Jackie - usually the first person to say ItBelongsInAMuseum - decides the [=MacGuffin=] is too dangerous even for that, and smashes it. (Which turns out to be the right thing to do, since the statue breaking releases the cure to the cat transformation it inflicted on Jade and Valmont.)

* In the conclusion of the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "A Knight of Shadows", J'onn destroys the MacGuffin because "the price was too great" to give in to temptation to use it or hand it over to the episode's BigBad.

* This is how ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunesRabbitsRun'' ''seems'' to end, with the {{Invisibility}} formula everyone's been looking for allegedly destroyed. Then WesternAnimation/BugsBunny admits to Lola that he saved some of it for himself and has been using it all along....
* The ''WesternAnimation/PixarShorts'' cartoon ''WesternAnimation/OneManBand'' focuses on two different one-man band musicians in a town square competing for the coin of a little girl to get her tip. They end up being so aggressive and spiteful in their showmanship that she loses the coin, angrily demands a violin to do a solo that earns her a whole bag of coins. The girl then pulls out two coins from the bag, offering them up for a one-for-each tip... and flips them both up into the very tall fountain behind them, denying both of the the musicians the tip for their immature behavior.

* The threat of doing this [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Shi_Bi happened in China in 283 BC]], making this trope OlderThanFeudalism. In the mid-8th century BCE, Bian He of Chu discovered an unworked piece of valuable jade. When the jade was cut and polished into a ritual jade disk, it was recognized as a priceless treasure and became an object of contention among two kings of the Warring States. However, the jade disk eventually ended up getting stolen, and neither side recovered it before it was carved into a statue.

* A rule in all ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' novels which involve an STC[[labelnote:Explanation]]'''S'''tandard '''T'''emplate '''C'''onstruct, a data storage device containing complete, detailed instructions on how to make a particular device, anywhere from an extremely complicated machine to something as simple as a knife. Because of mankind's loss of scientific and technological knowledge after the [[LostTechnology Dark Age of Technology]], a single functioning STC is worth more than entire ''planets'' to the Adeptus Mechanicus.[[/labelnote]]

* The threat of doing this [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Shi_Bi happened in China in 283 BC]], making this trope OlderThanFeudalism. In the mid-8th century BCE, Bian He of Chu discovered an unworked piece of valuable jade. When the jade was cut and polished into a ritual jade disk, it was recognized as a priceless treasure and became an object of contention among two kings of the Warring States. However, the jade disk eventually ended up getting stolen, and neither side recovered it before it was melted into a statue.

* [[SaltTheEarth Scorched earth tactics]] when a military force is retreating work on this principle. Everything useful in the surroundings is either taken or destroyed in an effort to starve the advancing opposing force of supplies. Famously used by the Russians[=/=]Soviets when they know winter is coming. Mother Russia is vast and its winters are killer. Both Napoleon ''and'' Hitler found that out the hard way when the advance of both of their armies into Russia was halted and eventually pushed back, each time by a fierce Russian winter after the Soviets had already stripped away everything their aggressor might use.