Line #28 MacGuffin/Literature


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9	* Eric Flint made up a [=MacGuffin=] for his book ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' (he originally thought he was only going to write one book, not a series) called an [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Assiti Shard]] that transports a spherical area through time and space to an AlternateUniverse. Flint openly states that he made the things up so that he'd have an easy way to create various AlternateHistory and ScienceFiction books.
10	* ''Literature/TheAfterward'': The godsgem, a jewel that the seven godlings made which could banish the evil Old God from the world. When his followers recalled him, it had to be found for this purpose again by the heroes called the seven companions going on a quest.
11	* Played around with to hell and back in ''Literature/AllTheWrongQuestions'' with the mysterious figurine of the Bombinating Beast, a legendary sea creature. Moxie openly tells Lemony that the statue is worthless junk; she's happy to hand it over to anyone who asks for it, and is openly bemused that people would go to the trouble of stealing it. In traditional MacGuffin style, nobody knows what it does, it's mainly important only because the villain Hangfire wants it, and this drives the antagonism between Ellington (who wants to give it to him) and Lemony (who doesn't). In the final book, [[spoiler: this is subverted -- the statue is in fact a flute used to summon and control the Bombinating Beast, and it's ''Lemony'' that uses it to kill Hangfire]]. A much straighter MacGuffin example is in the third installment: a library book that may or may not contain pertinent information to the town's destruction is passed around, but it's inevitably useless, as the book ends up destroyed before anyone can finish reading it.
12	* Several over the course of the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' series, including the Pemalite crystal, the Anti-Morphing Ray, and the Pemalite ship.
13	%%* In some of the ''Mysteries'' books in ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'' series.
14	* In the ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' novel ''Wolves on the Border'', the first joint mission between the Wolf's Dragoons and the Ryuken is a raid on the Archernar Proving Grounds. The objective? McGuffin's prototype.
15	* ''Literature/BlackDuck'': A torn $50 bill that the main character finds on a dead body turns out to be the sign that the bearer is the owner of a large shipment of rum, which will be given to him no questions asked.
16	* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/BlackWidowers'':
17	** "Sunset on the Water" had the out of print books.
18	** "The Lucky Piece" had a lucky coin.
19	** "The Alibi" had "the data", and the government agent explains that the details of "the data" are unimportant, but still secret.
20	** "{{Literature/Northwestward}}": Mr Pennyworth is carrying the most valuable part of Mr Wayne’s ''{{Comicbook/Batman}}'' memorabilia in a single suitcase. Although he doesn’t lose it, he does have a couple of close calls.
21	* ''Blade of the Guillotine'', from the ''[[Literature/TimeMachineSeries Time Machine]]'' gamebook series, is one of the few books in the series which is directly about finding a specific object ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affair_of_the_Diamond_Necklace Marie Antoinette's diamond necklace.]])
22	* ''Literature/{{Brotherband}}'' has the Andomal. Nobody knows what it is, but it is jealously guarded by the Skandians. Its name is Skandian for "thing".
23	* Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov's vast fortune in ''Literature/TheBrothersKaramazov'' is said to ''exist'', but even the narrator casts aspersions as to how much money he really has, if any. The sons' owed inheritance is the [=MacGuffin=] which gets the plot moving in the beginning, but it is only brought up past the middle of the book in passing.
24	* The trunk that Falkland closes in the very first chapter of ''Literature/CalebWilliams'', and which Caleb finally opens in Vol. II, seems so important that the play adaptation of this novel was titled ''The Iron Chest.'' But in fact Caleb never sees what’s inside the trunk. Its contents are never revealed, and aren’t important to the plot.
25	* ''Literature/CatsVsRobots'': Book 1, "This Is War", has the Singularity Chip, which both the Great Feline Empire and the Great Robot Federation want. The reason being that, for cats, it can extend their lives indefinitely, while for robots, it means their batteries never need to recharge.
26	* Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries:
27	** The first ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' book, ''The Lightning Thief'', is about recovering Zeus' stolen Master Bolt. In theory, the fact that it is missing makes Zeus and the Olympians in general significantly more vulnerable until it is returned. In practice, it is returned to him and it's absence is irrelevant beyond initiating the plot.
28	** In ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', the Athena Parthenos. It is a major symbol of the feud between Roman and Greek Demigods, as the Romans hid the statue after conquering Greek cities. Unsurprisingly it's able to [[spoiler:restore peace to the two warring factions upon being returned]]. The only impact it's nature has on the plot is that the children of Athena subsequently caused every war between the two factions, as a result of Athena's anger at her statue having been stolen. Somewhat unusually for the trope, it's also a 40-ft tall ivory statue, so most of the plot around it (once it's found) is driven by how hard it is to move around.
29	* ''Literature/DancingAztecs'': The gold statue. Too bad no one has any clue which of the sixteen copies is the real one, leading to a GottaCatchThemAll plot.
30	* Franchise/TheDarkTower itself is one.
31	* In ''Literature/{{Dogsbody}}'', the protagonist is searching for a powerful artifact called the Zoi, which has been misappropriated and then lost, while other characters attempt to stop him. The search for the Zoi motivates the action, but the thing itself is never used in the story; the important thing is that the protagonist needs to find it, not the precise nature of what it is.
32	* In the web-novel ''Literature/{{Domina}}'', the toy box is one. It's a more advanced form of the already-powerful toy maker, allowing for easier and faster BioAugmentation. The aves (BirdPeople) stole it to get wings, and quite a few other cultures want it for their own purposes.
33	* The first two novels of the ''Literature/DrakeMaijstral'' series revolve around [=MacGuffins=]:
34	** In ''Literature/TheCrownJewels'', Drake is hired to steal what he is told is a small artifact of minor historical significance. He quickly learns that it is actually a device containing the frozen sperm of an Emperor![[note]] The Crown's ''family'' jewels, get it?[[/note]] Unfortunately, both the Imperialists, who want to recover it, and the anti-Imperialists, who want to destroy it, know Drake has it. Any action he takes--even none--is liable to leave him marked for death.
35	** ''Literature/HouseOfShards'' has the Eltdown Shard, a classic sort of [=MacGuffin=]. It is a fabulously beautiful gem with a long history of people willing to kill--or die--to possess it. Both Drake and his rival Geoff Fu George are determined to steal it.
36	* In Creator/MikhailAkhmanov's ''Literature/EarthShadow'', Dick Simon is sent by the civilized worlds to find out the fate of EarthThatWas, which was cut off from the PortalNetwork at the end of the Exodus. He spends most of the novel looking for the ''Poltava'', a top-of-the-line naval triplehulled cruiser, built shortly before the Exodus. He needs the ship's missiles to destroy a Lunar base that is the cause of the portal interference. He finally finds the derelict ship in a grotto under a mountain. Unfortunately, the missiles have all been used up. He ends up using a completely different (and easier) method of shutting down the transmitter. Had be done that from the start, the book would've been only ten pages long.
37	* Creator/DavidEddings intentionally included these in his books (since the books themselves were built on the premise of taking overused tropes and cliches and making them work), mainly the Orb of Aldur and Bhelliom, although both break the rules by being both plot-relevant and useful after they're claimed by the protagonists. [[Literature/{{Belgariad}} The Sardion]] is a more exact case: both the heroes and the villains need to reach it for the final confrontation, but even though it is supposed to be a counterpart to the Orb, it never does anything special (except occasionally charm people into moving it to another location, and that is never explicitly shown), and it's destroyed in the final confrontation.
38	* Rod Duncan's ''Literature/TheFallOfTheGaslitEmpire'' trilogy has two [=MacGuffin=]. The protagonist in the first book is hired to find a Duchess's brother who's gone missing while working on an invention that was a box. [[spoiler: Several parties are after the invention, though only one person among these parties has actually seen the box in action and he erroneously thinks it's an alchemical device that can transmute. Turns out the box is a crude but powerful chemical laser, and is gets turned over to one of the parties - the International Patent Office. The second [=MacGuffin=] is the Bulletcatcher's Handbook, specifically the version that protagonist inherits. The Handbook has evidence of the Patent Office's DarkSecret and they want it bad. The Handbook ends up irrevelant because the protagonist finds plenty of other evidence later and the Handbook even gets destroyed early on by the protagonist. Interestingly the box reappears in the final book and this time its laser function becomes important.]]
39	* In the Literature/FederationOfTheHub story "The Searcher", the protagonists are trying to ensure an alien artefact doesn't fall into the wrong hands (including a criminal gang who want to sell it, and an alien who wants the device back and is prepared to kill anyone in the way). The device actually has a function (it's a navigation beacon) but isn't used for that purpose within the story.
40	* Averted in ''Literature/FoundationSeries'' by Creator/IsaacAsimov. The Prime Radiant is vital to the Second Foundation. The First Speaker explains that there is only one of it, it is irreplaceable, and they cannot operate without it. It is also easily portable. Nothing happens to it.
41	* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/GloryRoad'' contains a classic example: the Egg of the Phoenix, which must be recovered by the hero Oscar after having been stolen from the Empress of Fifty Universes. It has a function, but that function is irrelevant to the rescue plot, and only becomes important in the third part of the story by virtue of its {{Deconstruction}} of the StandardHeroReward.
42	* "Literature/GreybackInBlue": Faye hires Joe to procure a stuffed animal monkey that was given to her by a human that was kind to her. She wouldn't go for it herself because there's an entire conspiracy of telepathic animals that want the monkey too. [[spoiler:The monkey is actually a container for a rare element that the Pilgrims possessing many of the animals in Empire City use to reproduce.]]
43	* The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything in ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. Ultimately, we know the answer, which is 42, but we never really find out the Question, unless it really is "What number do you get when you multiply six by seven?" It fits the trope because all it is is something the Mice want to know, and as we never really discover the answer, it doesn't actually do anything.
44	* In ''Literature/HollowChocolateBunniesOfTheApocalypse'' by Creator/RobertRankin, the main characters find and use a vital object called 'The Maguffin'.
45	* Creator/AnthonyHorowitz parodied ''Film/{{The Maltese Falcon\|1941}}'' and ''Film/NorthByNorthWest'' in the first and third books in his ''Literature/DiamondBrothers'' series, ''Literature/TheFalconsMalteser'', and ''South by South East'', the latter of which had the plot kicked off by a character called [=MacGuffin=].
46	* The IncitingIncident of "Literature/ImogensEpicDay" is when Imogen receives a vase containing the inert Glory Bloom from an unusual delivery man. The Glory Bloom is allegedly the first flower to bloom and grants anyone who brings it to life with the Waters of Life ultimate power.
47	* ''Literature/{{Inkmistress}}'': About midway through the story, Asra's told about the Fatestone, which permits the [[BloodMagic bloodscribes like her]] to use this ability without [[CastFromLifespan taking years off their own life]]. She sets out to find it, hoping to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. The king had been having people look into the Fatestone before, since it supposedly also can give eternal life, ordering his researcher killed in fear it might be taken by her.
48	* The ''entire universe'' of intelligent life revolves around a [=MacGuffin=] in Creator/WilliamSleator's ''Literature/InterstellarPig'', and then [[ZigzaggingTrope inverts it]]. First, it's about an object you need to be holding by the end of a boardgame to win it, with the [=MacGuffin=] in question called the Piggy. Then, it turns out the Piggy is for real, and everyone is trying to get ahold of it so [[NoMacGuffinNoWinner their species won't be vaporized by the end of the game]]. [[spoiler:Once they've held it for a while, though, the [[LivingMacGuffin Piggy tells them]] that if they don't pawn it off on some other species soon, the Piggy will blow a hole in the universe and kill whoever has it. The trope is folded back on itself ''again'', as the human in the game gives the Piggy to some carnivorous fungi, and watches the departing spaceship leaving Earth carefully to see if it will make awesome fireworks.]] [[EpilepticTrees It doesn't.]]
49	* In Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''[[Literature/SpiralArm The January Dancer]]'', the harper claims that the object of TheQuest is not important; what mattered was Jason and Medea, not the Golden Fleece. The scarred man objects: had he gone after the Tin Whistle or the Aluminum Coffeepot, the failure would have been different.
50	* In some of the ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster'' stories of Creator/PGWodehouse, a silver tea-set creamer, hideously forged in the shape of a cow, becomes the focus of a on-going multi-cornered power-struggle. In other stories, the French chef Anatole is deployed as a LivingMacGuffin.
51	* ''The Impossible Virgin'' in the ''Literature/ModestyBlaise'' series: A dying man tells Dr Giles Pennyfeather a secret that the villains will do anything to learn. Beyond the villains' determination to obtain it, the precise nature of the secret (the location of a valuable patch of unexploited mineral wealth in a remote part of Africa) has no effect on the plot; the one villain who learns the secret gets to trade on the fact that he has the [=MacGuffin=] now, but dies before he has a chance to actually ''do'' anything with it, and in the end the heroes decide it's best just to let it lie undisturbed.
52	* The King's Ruby in ''[[Literature/TheMoomins Finn Family Moomintroll]]''. The Groke is after Thingumy and Bob because they stole it from her, and the Magician (translated as "the Hobgoblin") has been searching the whole solar system for it all his life. It doesn't actually do anything aside from looking almost supernaturally nice.
53	* ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments''; a cup, a sword and a mirror.
54	* In Creator/StephanieBurgis's ''[[Literature/KatIncorrigible A Most Improper Magick]]'', the missing will, which Sir Neville carries about with him. When Mr. Collingwood guesses he's tortured with guilt for hiding it and claiming all their mother's estate, Kat points out that doesn't sound like Sir Neville. [[spoiler:it was actually to keep it hidden until he could find a way to break the magic preserving it.]]
55	* The latter half of ''Literature/TheMouseThatRoared'' is mostly concerned with the diplomatic fallout of the MicroMonarchy of Grand Fenwick not merely winning a war with the United States but obtaining an advanced thermonuclear weapon. Fortunately for the world, no actual nuclear fallout ensues.
56	* ''Literature/TheNameJar'': When [[TheProtagonist Unhei]] tells the kids in her new class she hasn't chosen a name (out of fear that they would make fun of her real name), they give her a jar of name suggestions the next day. The number of names grows as the jar fills up, giving Unhei more options to choose from. [[spoiler:Joey steals the jar near the end, and Unhei tells all the kids her real name and how it's pronounced, which they accept wholeheartedly.]]
57	* In Kazuo Ishiguro's ''Literature/NeverLetMeGo'', the tape of Judy Bridgewater's ''Songs After Dark'' is one, but lampshaded to the point of disrupting the plot: "I stood there quite still, looking at the plastic case, unsure whether or not I was delighted. For a second, it even felt like a mistake. The tape had been the perfect excuse for all this fun, and now it turned up, we'd have to stop."
58	* The Weather Wizard in the ''Literature/NightfallSeries''. The plot is set in motion because the Resistance seeks to destroy it, but it never appears in the first book.
59	* Frequent in the ''Literature/PhilipMarlowe'' novels, what with them being a major TropeCodifier of the [[HardBoiledDetective hard-boiled genre.]]
60	** ''Literature/TheHighWindow'' has Marlowe tracking down the Brasher Dubloon, a legendary coin worth a fortune that leaves a trail of dead thieves behind it; come the ending, it turns out [[DevilInPlainSight a minor character]] sold it for a new start with a clean slate, but it's unimportant considering Marlowe uncovers a framing and a few murders in the process.
61	** ''Literature/TheLongGoodbye'' has Marlowe's drinking buddy, Terry Lennox, fleeing the country and paying Marlowe with a $5000 bill. Marlowe, believing he hasn't earned the sum of cash, spends the entire plot refusing to spend it. [[spoiler:Its only significant uses are: to involve Marlowe in the second case; and so Marlowe can pay it back to Lennox, giving them an excuse to meet up again in the conclusion.]]
62	* ''Please Don't Tell My Parents'' series:
63	** In ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImQueenOfTheDead'', the Mortizoar is officially an AmplifierArtifact that can greatly augment necromantic powers. In practice, it exists for [[{{Necromancer}} Avery Special]] to fight with [[OurLichesAreDifferent Francis]] and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Eris T. Crate]] over it so the other two don't get it.
64	** Namechecked in ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImAGiantMonster'' by Marcia in reference to the Heart of Vermiel, though the Heart is an active entity in the story.
65	* Played with in A.L. Phillips's ''Literature/TheQuestOfTheUnaligned''. While the Prince's Crown that the titular Quest focuses on actually behaves as more of a PlotDevice, since its unique magical properties are responsible for the entire last third of the plot, almost nobody ''knows'' about its powers. Therefore, for most of the first half of the book, the Crown is treated as a MacGuffin, even though it really isn't.
66	* In ''Literature/TheScar'', the [[MeaningfulName magus]] [[IncrediblyLamePun fin]] is this for the pursuing grindylow... [[spoiler: or so Bellis thinks.]]
67	* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' features a mysterious sugar bowl (a.k.a. the [[FunWithAcronyms Vessel For Disaccharides]]) that everyone is looking for. In the last volume, [[spoiler:they don't find it. It is implied to possibly contain horseradish, which is a cure for [[ThePlague Medusoid Mycellium]] ]].
68	** The Baudelaire fortune.
69	** In the Netflix adaptation, the thing inside the Sugar Bowl that both sides of the V.F.D. schism want so badly, [[spoiler:[[MathematiciansAnswer is sugar]], a special kind made from a horseradish hybrid, that immunizes the body against the Medusoid Mycellium.]]
70	* The first-edition ''Literature/SevenPillarsOfWisdom'' and the Martian plaque function as these in the first and third books of ''Literature/VenusPrime''.
71	* In the ''Literature/{{Shadowleague}}'' books, there's the Heart of Myrial, and the Hierarch's ring is a borderline example after Gilarra loses it to the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Ak'Zahar]].
72	* The Saghred in Creator/LisaShearin's fantasy series: an evil stone of cataclysmic power accidentally bonded to the main character. Everyone is after it, but Raine just wants to get rid of it. Also an ArtifactOfDoom and a ClingyMacGuffin.
73	* {{Lampshaded}} in the David Bischoff novel ''Literature/StarFall'', in which the protagonist transfers bodies for a vacation. Unwittingly, he ends up with an illegally modified artificial body capable of all sorts of sci-fi/007 skullduggery, which any number of elements are after. The type of illegal artificial body he is inhabiting is called, you guessed it, a [=MacGuffin=].
74	* The Ghost Fleet in ''[[Literature/{{Uplift}} Startide Rising]]'' plays no larger role than to sic the whole galaxy on one damaged spaceship full of dolphins. Everyone, and I mean ''everyone'' wants to know where it is.
75	* ''Literature/SwansBraidAndOtherTalesOfTerizan'': Every story involves Terizan being contracted to steal something, which helps to spark the plot.
76	** In "Swan's Braid" she's ordered to prove herself by taking the titular item from Swan for entry into the ThievesGuild.
77	** "In Mysterious Ways" has Terazin is tasked with stealing the Eye of Keydi-azda by her superiors in the Thieves Guild, which is an object sacred for the deity Keydi-azda... from his temple. She agrees reluctantly.
78	** In "The Lions of Al'Kalamir" she's hired to get the Kalazmir royal regalia from a maze (though it may not be technically stealing).
79	** She is hired in "Sometimes, Just Because" to steal an object which will break a curse which causes hot weather from a wizard. [[spoiler:However, then it turns out she's after the wizard himself-who's been [[ForcedTransformation transformed into a doll]].]]
80	** "The Things Everyone Knows" sees her ordered to get information on a conspiracy against Oreen's government. She complains this isn't strictly stealing, but does it anyway.
81	* The oh-so-important crystal gravfield trap in ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy''. The Republic ostensibly needs one to shoot down the [[TheSiege cloaked asteroids Thrawn deployed above Coruscant]], and they wage a massive battle at the climax of the last book to steal one from TheEmpire... and it turns out they never really needed it in the first place.
82	* In Creator/RudyardKipling's ''The Three-Decker'', the tendency of wills to be {{MacGuffin}}s is tweaked:
83	-->''We'd stolen wills for ballast and a crew of missing heirs.''
84	* The silver Tiberius (a rare ancient Roman tribute coin) in [[Creator/ArthurMachen Arthur Machen's]] ''The Three Impostors'', and by extension, the man with the spectacles and the dark whiskers, who stole it from the titular impostors. The exact significance of the coin is never revealed.
85	* The Queen's diamond studs in ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers''.
86	** One of Simon Hawke's ''Literature/TimeWars'' books plays out around the plot of ''The Three Musketeers'', and the villain replaces the diamond studs with future-tech explosives, planning to detonate them in the Queen's court and thrown history off track -- thus making them a [=McGuffin=] for a different reason.
87	* In Creator/PoulAnderson's "Literature/TimePatrol", it's the chest of radioactive materials found in a Dark Ages tomb during UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain. They don't merely have to get it back, they have to get it back before it was buried.
88	* In Creator/JRRTolkien's books:
89	** The three Silmarils in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' act as [=MacGuffins=] for most of the plot. The Silmarils are not precisely [=MacGuffins=], because they demonstrate a few powers (such as piercing the barriers around Doriath and Valinor), but the characters desire the Silmarils only for their beauty. Wars ensue as many characters fight for possession of the Silmarils, never intending to invoke their powers.
90	** The Arkenstone in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' is a true [=MacGuffin=]; it does nothing except look pretty. It becomes the subject of a StolenMacGuffinReveal.
91	** The One Ring from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' (though commonly cited as an example) is explicitly NOT a [=MacGuffin=], as its power to corrupt anyone who comes near it is a major driver of the plot, and it is arguably an independent character in its own right. For one thing, [[spoiler: it got Boromir killed, and would have been impossible to destroy were it not for Gollum's intervention. ]]
92	* The plot of the classic satirical novel ''Literature/TheTwelveChairs'' by Ilf and Petrov revolves around a treasure hidden in a chair. [[spoiler: By the time the main characters find it, the treasure is long gone]]
93	* The painting "Moscow Asylum" in David Madsen's ''USSA'', for a while. The protagonist wants to find because it's valuable to the artist, and he wants some information from the artist. A bunch of goons who steal it from him only do so because they assume it has some more intrinsic value to case he working on.
94	* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': The Spectrum Key, which is split into six pieces located in hidden, guarded places. It's a powerful magical artifact that can open the [[HellGate Dark Gate]] and save the world, which the protagonists go on TheQuest for, which spurs the plot.
95	* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''Literature/WalkingOnGlass'' by Creator/IainBanks. At the end of Steven's story, Steven finds a box of [=McGuffin's=] Zen Brand matches, [[spoiler:on the back of which is written the answer to Quiss and Ajayi's riddle. Quiss and Ajayi have forfeited all future attempts to answer the riddle, because Quiss has destroyed the Game Table, but we know that their current attempt, earned by completing a game of "Tunnel", will be correct because Ajayi finds a copy of ''Walking on Glass'' in the remains of the Game Table.]]
96	* ''Literature/TempleMatthewReilly'' features an Incan idol which can power a DoomsdayDevice.
97	* In the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' novel ''[[Literature/ShiraCalpurnia Legacy]]'', it's Hoyyon Phrax's Rogue Trader charter, an ancient document which is desired by three separate parties for differing reasons who will stop at nothing to get their hands on it. Shira Calpurnia, for her part, is supposed to preside at the legal hearing to determine the charter's final fate.
98	* The All-Seeing Eye from ''Literature/WarrenTheThirteenth''. Everyone wants it for its legendary power, but none know for sure what it really is.
99	* The UsefulNotes/ColdWar thriller ''Literature/TheWidowOfDesire'' made a [[PrettyInMink Russian lynx coat]] one of these, because vital information was smuggled inside it.
100	* In the historical novel ''Literature/WingsOfDawn'': The cache of Druidic lore and treasure that can be used to prove the AncientConspiracy's existence. [[spoiler: Also the cache of books from the Orient that Thomas has, which both conspiracies are trying to get their hands on.]] %% This entry was added automatically by FELH2. In case the wording doesn't make sense, rewrite it as you like, remove this comment and tell this troper.
101	* In ''Literature/YeatsIsDead'' the [[spoiler:supposed James Hoyce manuscript]] fulfills this role being the driving force behind many murders.

Context MacGuffin / Literature