History Main / VillainBeatingArtifact

** Prince Arthas is told that, in order to defeat the dreadlord Mal'Ganis, he must find the legendary sword called Frostmourne. After finding it, Arthas confronts Mal'Ganis. Mal'Ganis laughs and tells him that he fell right into their trap, as the sword has not consumed Arthas's soul. However, while that is true, Arthas's true master is the Lich King, who appears to serve the Burning Legion but has his own goals. He commands Arthas to slay Mal'Ganis, which he does.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' has a twist on this trope. The only way to bring down the BigBad is to steal his dagger, [[spoiler: but then you become the villain yourself]].

* The Elements of Harmony in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', wielded by the "mane six", were needed to take down two villains: Nightmare Moon and Discord. Celestia suggested that they use it on [[spoiler:Queen Chrysalis, but they never get the chance to use it due to being captured before that can happen.]]

* ''{{Warcraft}} 3'': Not a specific weapon, but a [[TacticalRockPaperScissors damage type]]. [[PhysicalGod Divine armor]] is only affected by Chaos damage, which is mostly reserved for the LegionsOfHell or extremely strong monsters. In order to defeat the [[PhysicalGod otherwise invulnerable demigod Cenarius]], Grom Hellscream's orcs reactivate a demonic pact, allowing them to defeat him ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation by giving them Chaos damage]]).

* The sword Dragonslayer in ''Videogame/BreathOfFireIV'' is the only means of killing a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon]] (which are beings akin to gods in the game's setting). It is used in this capacity twice; in a failed attempt to assassinate [[GodEmperor Fou-Lu]] by [[spoiler:Soniel]], and [[spoiler:to MercyKill Elina when the extent of [[BodyHorror Yuna's experiments on her become known]].

* ''{{Series/Supernatural}}''

*** Non-lethal wounds or possibly menstrual blood depending...

** Also from Zelda, the Silver Arrows (at least in ''ALinkToThePast'').

** In ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames Link: Faces of Evil]]'', as shown in the page image, Ganon can only be defeated by throwing the Book of Koridai at him.
*** Happens again in ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames Zelda: Wand of Gamalon]]'', this time with the titular wand.

[[caption-width-right:349:Tired of putting up with Ganon's repeated crimes, Link threw the book at him.]]

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* [[DoubleSubversion Double subverted]] by ''[[Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy Mistborn: the Final Empire]]''. The magic system revolves around metals, of which ten are known to bestow powers. [[RebelLeader Kelsier]] spreads rumors of an Eleventh Metal that has the power to defeat the [[BigBad Lord Ruler]], but when Vin tries to use it, all it does is show her intangible images of who people used to be. [[spoiler: And then the second time she uses it, she realizes that the Lord Ruler isn't who everyone thought he was, uses this knowledge to relieve him of his ImmortalityInducer.]] NoImmortalInertia [[HilarityEnsues Ensues]].

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* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Doom 3]]'', the [[FinalBoss Cyberdemon]] can only be harmed by the Soul Cube.

* In the ''Videogame/GodOfWar'' series, the power contained within Pandora's Box is the only thing capable of killing a god. Kratos spends the first game trying to find and open the box so that he can defeat Ares. In ''God of War III'' he needs to open it again in order to defeat Zeus...[[spoiler:or so he's led to believe, as the box is, in fact, still empty since the last time he opened it.]]

** ''[[VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries'' Sonic and the Secret Rings]] had the World Rings, which Sonic uses to turn into Darkspine Sonic and defeat [[spoiler: Alf Layla wa-Layla, the OneWingedAngel form of Erazor Djinn]]. In ''Sonic and the Black Knight'', this happens in two forms: first using the Sacred Swords (Lancelot's Arondight, Gawain's Galatine, Percival's Laevatein, and Sonic's own Caliburn) in order to defeat King Arthur, and then [[spoiler:using Excalibur, a sword formed from all four swords combined, to become Excalibur Sonic and defeat the Dark Queen, the OneWingedAngel form of Merlina the Wizard.]]
** ''[[VideoGame/SonicRushSeries]]'' had Blaze using the Sol Emeralds to become Burning Blaze, while Sonic used the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic as usual.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' games have traditionally ended with Sonic (and sometimes whatever ally he has at the time) using the [[BonusStageCollectables Chaos Emeralds]] to go [[SuperMode super]], since the FinalBoss would be too powerful otherwise, and much of the time, they're out in space or otherwise flying, which Sonic can't do on his own. [[spoiler:Though, he does later prove he can take down Chaos, the former FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' without the Chaos Emeralds, or at least he has [[TookALevelInBadass grown much in strength]] since then.]]

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* Distilled down to its essence in ''VideoGame/{{Grow}} RPG'': in addition to the best sword and armor, you've got to have the special blue orb that knocks the BigBad's health meter down to where you can actually trade hits with it. (It may not be possible to reach the BigBad without it, though.)

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* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', Billy's gauntlet has the power to seal the Lich. [[spoiler: The Lich destroys it before Finn can use it against him, and Finn ends up using the [[PowerOfLove Power Of Liking Someone A Lot]] to destroy his physical form.]]

* The Elements of Harmony in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', wielded by the "mane six", were needed to take down two villains: Nightmare Moon and Discord. Celestia suggested that they use it on [[spoiler:the Changeling Queen, but they never get the chance to use it due to being captured before that can happen.]]

!Examples

* Distilled down to its essence in ''{{Grow}} RPG'': in addition to the best sword and armor, you've got to have the special blue orb that knocks the BigBad's health meter down to where you can actually trade hits with it. (It may not be possible to reach the BigBad without it, though.)

* ''{{Warcraft}} 3'': not a specific weapon, but a [[TacticalRockPaperScissors damage type]]. [[PhysicalGod Divine armor]] is only affected by Chaos damage, which is mostly reserved for the LegionsOfHell or extremely strong monsters. In order to defeat the [[PhysicalGod otherwise invulnerable demigod Cenarius]], Grom Hellscream's orcs reactivate a demonic pact, allowing them to defeat him([[GameplayAndStorySegregation by giving them Chaos damage]]).

* Distilled down to its essence in {{Grow}} RPG: in addition to the best sword and armor, you've got to have the special blue orb that knocks the BigBad's health meter down to where you can actually trade hits with it. (It may not be possible to reach the BigBad without it, though.)

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' games have traditionally ended with Sonic (and sometimes whatever ally he has at the time) using the ChaosEmeralds to go [[SuperMode super]], since the FinalBoss would be too powerful otherwise, and much of the time, they're out in space or otherwise flying, which Sonic can't do on his own. [[spoiler:Though, he does later prove he can take down Chaos, the former FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' without the Chaos Emeralds, or at least he has [[TookALevelInBadass grown much in strength]] since then.]]

* ''TheDreamstone'' is depicted this way, being the key to giving the heroes good dreams and protecting them from Zordrak's Argorribles giving them nightmares. Oddly however in a couple of instances the Dreamstone was stolen, [[AntiClimaxBoss the argorribles could be neutralized and scared away rather handily by alternate magic]], leaving wonder as to why the heroes and villains see it as so pivotal in the first place.