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| 3 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 6 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1652217113086561400 |
| 7 | %% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 10 | [[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mag_egg5.png]]]] |
| 11 | |
| 12 | ->'''Number 9 Man:''' But -- and this is the great secret of our age -- we believe [[SpaceWhale the Encyclopod]] left an egg behind.\ |
| 13 | '''Fry:''' Is it edible?\ |
| 14 | '''Number 9 Man:''' We're not gonna eat it! Not unless we find a second one. |
| 15 | -->-- ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', "[[Recap/FuturamaM4IntoTheWildGreenYonder Into The Wild Green Yonder]]" |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Sometimes, an episode of a series may involve a character discovering an egg of some sort which later hatches. Occasionally, the protagonists may save the egg from a terrible fate: either from being smashed or from [[EatenTheMacGuffin being something or someone's lunch]]. The egg eventually hatches and the character gains a PetBabyWildAnimal. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Usually the baby is a SidekickCreatureNuisance (though it may actually be a gargantuan creature with the mind of a small annoying one) [[ObliviousAdoption that thinks the first person (usually the discoverer) it sees is its "mama"]]. Usually, the baby may be far too much for the character to handle and they have to somehow find its real parents. A common variant has the egg hatching into something evil. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | The trope can get even more unusual when the resulting offspring ends up taking on the characteristics of the hatcher, rather than who actually contributed to the genetics. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | If the plot revolves around [[DisappearedDad the unknown origin]] or result of [[PregnancyTropes a different kind of egg]], it may be WhosYourDaddy. Technically speaking, this is basically what happens in ''any'' mammalian or internally fertilised species, where legions of sperm race each other to get to the ovum. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | A frequent cartoon scenario has a TalkingAnimal, or more often a SpeechImpairedAnimal, is trying to keep an egg warm without being interrupted or losing the egg in a offbeat chase scene. When the egg hatches, this often results in the (usually male) babysitter being referred to as Mommy. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Compare EggSitting, where the egg is just a stand-in for a baby. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | Despite the trope name, the egg itself does not necessarily need to be a MacGuffin. The trope's name is a silly {{pun}} on Egg [=McMuffin=], the [[UsefulNotes/{{McDonalds}} [=McDonald's=]]] breakfast sandwich. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | ---- |
| 32 | !!Examples: |
| 33 | |
| 34 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 35 | |
| 36 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 37 | * The egg that Skuld's angel Noble Scarlet hatches from in ''Manga/AhMyGoddess''. |
| 38 | * In ''Franchise/{{Digimon}},'' digi-eggs are the beginning ''and'' end of a Digimon's life cycle, with a Digimon reverting to egg form after "[[DeathIsCheap death]]." (There are exceptions to this, such as [[Anime/DigimonTamers season three]], which began the trend of new seasons being AU and thus had different rules, and [[spoiler:[[Anime/DigimonDataSquad season five]], in which rebirth was automatic again... making it all the more horrible when the villainous Kurata creates a means of corrupting a Digimon's data so it can't ever be reborn.]] Once, Seraphimon, a ''god/king'' to the [[Anime/DigimonFrontier season four]] version of the Digital World, had to be toted around by Bokomon, who had it strapped to his stomach and ''acted pregnant for well over ten episodes'' until Seraphimon hatched as Patamon. And then proceeds to refer to Bokomon as his "[[{{Pun}} papa-mon]]". No reference or mention is made of the fact that Bokomon could, if he wanted to, become TheManBehindTheMan ruling 1/3 of the digital world. |
| 39 | * In the short film ''Anime/EigaTamagotchiHimitsuNoOtodokeDaiSakusen'', the item that Mametchi and friends have to deliver to the Gotchi King is a giant egg that's getting ready to hatch. |
| 40 | * Episode 20 of ''Manga/FairyTail'' is a flashback centered around Natsu and Lisanna taking care of a mysterious egg that dropped out of the sky. It hatches into a certain flying blue kitty. |
| 41 | * In the Diamond is Unbreakable story arc of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', Koichi's stand Echoes actually takes the form of an egg when he first gains it. Later, when he needs its power, it hatches into its first effective form. |
| 42 | * Played with in the ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'' anime, where the giant steel bird Dynablade lays an egg that later disappears, with fragments of its shell around. The other characters suspect that Kirby has eaten the egg, and [[MamaBear Dynablade ain't happy...]] |
| 43 | * Subverted in ''Anime/MaisonIkkoku'', where Yotsuya gives an egg to Godai with no explanation before leaving on a trip. The entire episode revolves around the rest of the cast dealing with the fallout resulting, some helpful, others not so much. In the end, [[spoiler:it is revealed Yotsuya had just found the egg that morning.]] |
| 44 | * ''Manga/NatsumesBookOfFriends'': Natsume takes care of a small egg found in a nest -- which hatches into a "dragon". At first, however, it appears to take the form of an extremely ''tiny'' version of whatever creature it sees first -- namely Natsume. |
| 45 | * ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': |
| 46 | ** Ash and his friends found and looked after an egg for a while which eventually hatched into a Togepi (that became the TeamPet for a while). This Togepi saw Misty as its mother. Perhaps slightly spoofed in that Ash was the one who found the egg, and is pissed that the Togepi didn't therefore attach to him. |
| 47 | ** Most of the cast members have received a Pokémon through this fashion. Ash received an egg with hatched into a Phanpy, and another one much later that hatched into a Scraggy, and then another one that hatched into a Noibat, and another that hatched into a Riolu. May received one that hatched into an Eevee, Brock received one that hatched into a Happiny, Dawn received one that hatched into a Cyndaquil, and Lillie received one that hatched into an Alolan Vulpix. This happens in the games quite a lot as well. |
| 48 | ** One could also consider the GS Ball to qualify in a way, but that's a case of AbortedArc. |
| 49 | * In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', Gold receives the Togepi egg, which at one point nearly gets eaten by a wild Gligar. Thankfully, it hatched into a KillerRabbit with a gambling problem and took the Gligar down itself. |
| 50 | * ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' has an aptly-titled episode -- "Nanami's Egg" -- in which Nanami believes she's laid an egg in her sleep and no one (except Utena) has the heart to tell her that it doesn't make sense. Nanami was already considered a character that straddled the CerebusSyndrome, with both serious duel episodes and comic relief episodes based around her haughtiness and animals abusing her, but the 27th episode manages to marry both comedy of the absurd and very touching character development. Its InsertSong is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSDSFaIvJwM "Hello, Baby."]]. |
| 51 | * ''Manga/ShugoChara'': The Embryo, and heck, the Heart's Eggs themselves, are there within order towards creating Dreams. |
| 52 | * ''Manga/XxxHolic'': |
| 53 | ** Watanuki is once given a magical egg as payment for a job. He is told that he just has to sleep with it and anything he wishes will come out. He uses it to hatch a little bird, Tampopo, that is immune to Himawari's bad luck curse to make her happy. |
| 54 | ** As it turns out, that was the same egg Sakura had to retrieve in ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' in Acid Tokyo as payment for a wish. |
| 55 | * In the opening arc of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Yusuke is given an egg that will feed off his spirit energy and hatch when he can come back to life. It is [[ChekhovsGun ignored completely]] when Yusuke is brought back to life for a different reason, and seems to be forgotten for another few arcs -- until the Dark Tournament, when Koenma reveals that it's ''finally'' ready to hatch. Instead of the huge, horrible beast the characters feared, it hatches into a little blue penguin-y thing. Keiko dubs it "Puu" and it becomes her pet. Then in the next arc, [[spoiler:Yusuke dies and reincarnates as a demon. Cue Puu growing into a huge demonic version of itself.]] |
| 56 | ** It is much different in the anime form - partway through, Yusuke finds out that his apartment has caught on fire due to his mom passing out with a lit cigarette. Keiko rushes in to save Yusuke's body, but is threatened with the flames. Yusuke is put in a FriendOrIdolDecision and decides to use the egg save her. This turns out to be a SecretTestOfCharacter and Koenma reveals that, oh yeah, the creature that hatched would have eaten your soul if hatched normally. Yusuke's selfless act, though, allows him to return to life. |
| 57 | [[/folder]] |
| 58 | |
| 59 | [[folder:Asian Animation]] |
| 60 | * ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': In the ''Great War in the Bizarre World'' story arc in Season 1, the bees in the Bizarre World guard a giant egg that they believe to be sacred since it is being used to keep the evil Dark Handsomey imprisoned; the bees go as far as to punish the goats by boiling them when Paddi touches it, not knowing its importance. Wolffy accidentally removes the seal on the egg, causing it to release Dark Handsomey. |
| 61 | [[/folder]] |
| 62 | |
| 63 | %%[[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 64 | %%* ''{{ComicBook/Amulet}}'': Dagno! |
| 65 | %%[[/folder]] |
| 66 | |
| 67 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 68 | * In ''ComicStrip/USAcres'', Orson the Pig took care of two abandoned eggs, from which hatched Booker and Sheldon. |
| 69 | [[/folder]] |
| 70 | |
| 71 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 72 | * ''Anime/AngelsEgg'': The plot centers on a girl who's determined to protect the egg she carries around. The movie's a MindScrew, so it's not clear what her motives are or what would hatch from the egg. [[spoiler:She fails in the end because the man accompanying her breaks it; not even his motives for doing so are explained.]] |
| 73 | * ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeDawnOfTheDinosaurs'' has Sid's scuffle over the egg of a baby T-Rex with the rest of the herd. |
| 74 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeIITheGreatValleyAdventure'' has an egg stolen from Ducky's family by egg-eating dinosaurs. Littlefoot and the group go after it and get it back only to find that the Swimmer egg is already back in the nest. They make a nest for the mystery egg and it hatched into Chomper, a baby Sharptooth. After initially being afraid of him, he later goes on to become a regular group member in the TV series. |
| 75 | * Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'', when Princess Fiona accidentally causes a mama bird to expire, leaving a nest of orphan eggs. Her solution? Fry them for breakfast. |
| 76 | [[/folder]] |
| 77 | |
| 78 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 79 | * John Hurt's character is this to the crew of the ''Nostromo'' in ''{{Film/Alien}}''. |
| 80 | * [[spoiler:Twinken]] the dream maker in ''Film/BarneysGreatAdventure''. |
| 81 | * ''Film/BuddhasPalm'' has a Macguffin in the form of a golden, magic egg that houses a powerful ''chi'' spirit. |
| 82 | * In the Eddie Murphy film ''Film/DrDolittle'', Dolittle's daughter Maya has an egg throughout the movie that she believes is a swan egg. At the end of the film, it hatches, and it turns out to be an alligator. |
| 83 | * The forged (and real) Fabergé egg in the first half of ''{{Film/Octopussy}}''. |
| 84 | * ''Film/MrDrakesDuck'' revolves around an egg full of uranium yolk after being laid by one of Mr. and Mrs. Drake's sixty ducks. HilarityEnsues once the British army is alerted and tries to remove the egg from the farm and look for the duck that laid it. |
| 85 | * In ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'', Princess Daisy is born from an egg that her mother left at a convent. In earlier drafts of the film, the egg was necessary alongside her pendant for Koopa to merge the dimensions. |
| 86 | [[/folder]] |
| 87 | |
| 88 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 89 | * In the third ''Literature/AvalonWebOfMagic'' book, "Cry of the Wolf", Ariadne accidentally gets transported to Aldenmore and finds herself protecting a seemingly sentient rock that the Dark Sorceress is after. The rock turns out to be a dragon egg. Dragons are one of the most powerful creatures in existence, explaining why the Dark Sorceress is seeking after it. |
| 90 | * In the ''Literature/{{Chrestomanci}}'' book ''The Pinhoe Egg'', the main character finds a [[spoiler:gryphon]] egg in an attic, and cares for it until it grows up. |
| 91 | * The ''[[Literature/DeptfordMice Deptford Histories]]'' book ''Thomas'' focuses on the heroes [[MacGuffinDeliveryService trying to prevent]] fragments of a jade egg from ending up in the hands of the enemy. If all the pieces are put together, the [[GodOfEvil evil serpent god Sarpedon]] will be reborn within it. |
| 92 | * ''{{Literature/Dragaera}}'': In ''Taltos'', young Vlad takes care of the jhereg egg that he'd obtained from its mother in ''Literature/{{Jhereg}}''. When Loiosh hatches, he calls Vlad "Mama", although he switches to "Boss" once he's grown some. |
| 93 | * Oliver Butterworth's 1956 book ''The Enormous Egg'', in which a chicken lays an anomalously large egg from which hatches a triceratops. (If you don't remember the book, perhaps you remember the 1968 [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311075/ TV special]] based on it.) |
| 94 | * Most of the plot of ''Literature/TheGoodTheBadAndTheMediochre'' revolves around Mediochre and his various acquaintances trying to keep a dragon's egg (which he names 'Glint') out of the hands of a smuggling syndicate. It is therefore a literal Egg {{MacGuffin}}. |
| 95 | * ''{{Literature/Gor}}'': In ''Nomads of Gor'' Tarl is tasked by the Priest-Kings to retrive the last egg of the Priest-Kings, the only female, to start their cycle anew. |
| 96 | * In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'', Hagrid gets ahold of a dragon egg, which hatches into Norwegian Ridgeback which Hagrid dubs Norbert. Little Norbert, with his vicious, fire-breathing ways, quickly becomes a liability (especially as keeping dragons is illegal), and he is dispatched to Romania, much to Hagrid's distress. |
| 97 | * ''Literature/HortonAndTheKwuggerbugAndMoreLostStories'': In "Marco Comes Late", Marco's story starts out with a mother bird laying an egg on his book while he's walking to school. He ends up standing still pondering what to do while an increasing number of creatures weigh in on whether he should continue to school or make sure the egg is safe at all costs. Eventually the egg hatches and the bird inside tells Marco to tell his teacher he was the reason for Marco being late. |
| 98 | * In the Creator/DrSeuss book (and ''Creator/BobClampett'' cartoon adaptation) ''Literature/HortonHatchesTheEgg'', an elephant takes on the task of hatching the egg of a irresponsible bird. The offspring ends up being a bird with the head of an elephant. |
| 99 | * ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' starts with Eragon finding a dragon egg and looking after it. |
| 100 | * Bruce Coville's ''Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher'' is {{Exactly What It Says On The Tin}}, with some life lessons thrown in. |
| 101 | * In the ''Literature/{{Leviathan}}'' trilogy, there is a very mysterious Egg Macguffin in the first book. [[spoiler:In Behemoth, the sequel, the egg hatches, and a SidekickCreatureNuisance is introduced in the form of Bovril. Bovril latches onto Alek and they become [[{{ABoyAndHisX}} A Boy and His Rapidly Learning Skunk Thing.]]]] |
| 102 | * The entire plot of ''Literature/MoribitoGuardianOfTheSpirit'' occurs because Prince Chagum is carrying the egg of a water spirit within his body, at first leading many people to believe that he's [[DemonicPossession possessed by a demon]]. The entire cast becomes very concerned both with making sure the egg hatches successfully (since there will be a horrific drought if it doesn't) and with making sure that Chagum isn't killed in the process, with much of the drama of the latter half of the series coming from the fact that the two goals may be mutually exclusive. |
| 103 | * Not an egg, but in ''Literature/PerdidoStreetStation'', Isaac rears a caterpillar-like larva to adulthood in a similar manner to this trope, mostly to see what it'll grow up to be. [[spoiler:This backfires spectacularly when the larva grows into a monstrous, mind-devouring slake moth.]] |
| 104 | * In ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', 'gunters (egg hunters), including the protagonist, devote their lives to finding a virtual Easter egg (an actual in-game egg) to inherit his fortune. |
| 105 | * ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'': The rock that Jenna finds in ''Magyk'' turns out to be one. |
| 106 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The Daenerys subplot in ''A Game of Thrones'' features three ''fossilized'' dragon eggs. [[spoiler: Once Dany figures out the meaning of her family's motto and its origins in Valyrian sorcery, it turns out her eggs are not so much dead as dormant -- which is why in the subsequent books she's called Daenerys the Unburnt, Mother of Dragons.]] |
| 107 | * ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'': In an alternate version of Earth where dragons exist, a French ship is captured by the British transporting a ship...forcing the captain to harness and bond with the dragon that comes out. Laurence and Temeraire have another one to deal with two books later in ''The Black Powder War''. |
| 108 | * In ''Literature/WingsOfFire'', the ''protagonists'' start out as this, with the prologue featuring the [[KnightTemplarParent guardians]] stealing the eggs from the various kingdoms and then raising them in a cave under a mountain to fulfill the prophecy. Unfortunately, one of the eggs and two of the guardians don't survive the journey. |
| 109 | [[/folder]] |
| 110 | |
| 111 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 112 | * In the ''Series/TheAquabatsSuperShow'' episode "Mysterious Egg!", Jimmy the Robot finds a giant egg and the team eagerly awaits its hatching with contrived [[ImagineSpot imagine spots]]. The egg hatches and the resulting chicken-thing wreaks havoc and runs off. Jimmy is torn between his attachment for the hatchling and protecting the rest of the band from it. |
| 113 | * In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Bad Eggs", the students are given an egg to take care of to show them the responsibilities of parenthood. The eggs hatch into some kind of prehistoric mind-controlling parasites. (Discovered when Xander cooks and tries to eat his.) |
| 114 | * In ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'', the last two living dinosaur eggs in the world are something both the heroes and villains devote a lot of energy to getting. Their true significance isn't revealed until the final arc. |
| 115 | * ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' has Nate and Zari chase after one in the 1930s in the aptly named season four episode "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Egg MacGuffin]]". |
| 116 | * ''Series/TheMandalorian'' |
| 117 | ** When Mando has to buy back his own ship from the Jawas, he has to go find "the egg" to trade. [[spoiler:This is ultimately subverted when you find out that they just like how the egg tastes; though evidently they like it enough to sell a ship in exchange.]] |
| 118 | ** In another episode, Mando takes a job escorting a frog-like alien and a big jar of her eggs back to her homeworld so her husband can fertilize them. Not only do they meet with trouble along the way that puts the eggs in danger, the Child keeps covertly snacking on them for a bit of BlackComedy. |
| 119 | * In ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'', Merlin and company go looking for a dragon egg in "Aithusa". |
| 120 | * In ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' season 3, Rita's brother Rito Revolto brings a number of eggs to his sister and brother-in-law as a wedding gift. After some prodding, it's revealed that they are Tenga warriors (the Tengu warriors from the 1995 film with a name change), with one egg being what ends up being the next MOTW. |
| 121 | * In the ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': episode [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "The Egg"]], Mrs. Davis gets a chicken egg from her brother's farm. Mistakenly, he had given her an egg soon to hatch. Miss Brooks and friends try to safely hatch the egg, and keep Mr. Conklin from frightening the chick by flashing a photo as it emerges from its shell. |
| 122 | * In the ''Series/ShakeItUp'' episode "Heat it Up", Tinka (the comedic relief) enters an egg into a science fair that she genetically engineered. It hatches and proceeds to attack her. |
| 123 | * In the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Parturition" Neelix and Paris find a nest of repto-humanoids, one of which hatches, leading them to care for it until the mother returns. |
| 124 | * In season one of ''Series/UnderTheDome'', a glowing egg found inside a mini-dome is one of the plot drivers until it's dumped into the lake at the end of the season. At the start of season two, [[spoiler:that action wound up resurrecting a teen girl who'd been killed near the egg twenty years earlier]]. |
| 125 | [[/folder]] |
| 126 | |
| 127 | [[folder:Myths & Religion]] |
| 128 | * In Myth/PacificMythology, [[PlayingWithFire Pele]] carries an egg from her original home in Tahiti to the Hawaiian archipelago. The egg hatches out her fully-formed sister [[NaiveEverygirl Hi'iaka]]. |
| 129 | [[/folder]] |
| 130 | |
| 131 | [[folder:Pinballs]] |
| 132 | * In Creator/DataEast's ''Pinball/{{Jurassic Park|DataEast}}'', cracking open dinosaur eggs award various bonuses. |
| 133 | [[/folder]] |
| 134 | |
| 135 | [[folder:Puppet Shows]] |
| 136 | * An episode of ''Series/TheWubbulousWorldOfDrSeuss'' involves a girl named Megan and her friend Horton the Elephant trying to retrieve the priceless Zubble-Wump egg which was stolen by the Grinch. |
| 137 | [[/folder]] |
| 138 | |
| 139 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 140 | * In one of Vivian Stanshall's ''Sir Henry at Rawlinson End'' radio sessions (but not the LP or film versions) one of the stone balls on a gateway turns out to be a diplodocus egg and hatches -- much to the annoyance of Sir Henry, who thinks ''he'' should be the only dinosaur at Rawlinson End. |
| 141 | [[/folder]] |
| 142 | |
| 143 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 144 | * In the adventure game ''[=AmerZone=]'', your mission is to return a giant egg to its jungle of origin, conduct a tribal rite to prepare it for hatching, and then deliver it to its warm hatchling-ground near a volcano. |
| 145 | * The plot of ''VideoGame/AngryBirds'' revolves around three eggs, which are repeatedly stolen by the Bad Piggies. The birds highly value these eggs and fight hard to protect them. This is because they believe these eggs to be the only offspring of their species, as the birds themselves are quite rare.[[labelnote:*]]Indeed, only twelve are known throughout Piggy Island -- Red, the Blues (Jim, Jake, and Jay), Chuck, Bomb, Matilda, Hal, Terence, Bubbles, Stella, and Mighty Eagle[[/labelnote]] Meanwhile, ancient pig law decrees that only the King Pig is allowed to eat eggs. However, the latest pig to take the throne, Smooth Cheeks, has never eaten, much less tasted, any eggs in his life. He only inherited the throne from his father, King Mudbeard. His loyal subjects never suspected this, assuming he eats eggs because he's so fat. If Smooth Cheeks is ever found out, he would be dethroned. This secret drives him into an obsession in stealing the Angry Birds' eggs, usually through his minions. In the meantime, he has fake eggs prepared for egg-eating ceremonies. |
| 146 | * Two of them in ''{{VideoGame/Bastion}}''; they're minor and barely relevant to the plot, aside from spawning a couple of purely cosmetic pets in the Bastion, which will prompt some remarks from your companions. |
| 147 | * The whole plot of ''VideoGame/BillyHatcherAndTheGiantEgg'' revolves around hatching an egg by feeding it fruit. And then there's the eponymous Giant Egg, [[spoiler:which ''does'' get hatched by [[BigBad Dark Raven]]]]. |
| 148 | * In ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', one of the first key items Serge can obtain in Another World is a Draconian Egg. Near the endgame, he can take it to an incubator in Fort Dragonia, where it will hatch into Draggy, a [[LethalJokeCharacter rainbow-colored infant dragon]]. |
| 149 | * The Time Egg from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. Or, more accurately, the Time Egg '''[[TitleDrop is]]''' the Chrono Trigger. What's it do? Well, it ''stops'' time. You use it in a TrickedOutTime loop to [[spoiler: save Crono from his PlotlineDeath]]. |
| 150 | * ''VideoGame/DragonFable'' starts out with the hero recovering the Black Dragon Box, which contained a dragon egg. After several quests involving the egg and its fate, it eventually hatches into the dragon that you use for titan battles. |
| 151 | * The [[spoiler:Sphere of Light]] in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' is actually the [[spoiler:Dragon Queen's final]] egg. |
| 152 | * Much of ''VideoGame/GuildWars2's'' second Living World Season as well as the ''Heart of Thorns'' expansion revolves around a McGuffin initially held by the Master of Peace, leader of the Zephyrites which turns out to be a crystal egg. In Season 3, the egg finally hatches into [[spoiler:the baby dragon Aurene, last child of [[BigGood Glint]]]]. |
| 153 | * In ''VideoGame/TheLastExpress'', Tyler Whitney got mixed up in a deal where he planned to sell a golden, jeweled egg for money and then using that money to give weapons to terrorists. Unfortunately, that egg was stolen around the time he was murdered. Since you are impersonating Tyler, you need to find the egg and make the two deals go through in order to prevent Tyler's creditors from dishing out consequences. And as it turns out [[spoiler: the egg, which can turn into a mechanical bird, is what killed Tyler, answering the big question of the game]]. |
| 154 | * ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': |
| 155 | ** The entire point of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'' is to collect the eight instruments and play them ''in front of a giant egg'' (belonging to the Wind Fish). |
| 156 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' has Link storm a fortress swarming with Gerudo pirates and an underwater pit full of [[SeaSerpents giant sea snakes]] to retrieve Lulu's stolen Zora eggs, which are necessary to gain access to the Great Bay Temple. |
| 157 | * She may be the most hardboiled and badass of Nintendo's protagonists, but in the closing of ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' even Samus Aran couldn't bring herself to exterminate the last Metroid, a mere baby that mistook her for its mother. She instead turned it over to scientists, proving to be both a good thing and bad thing when the Space Pirates steal it in the beginning of ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid''. |
| 158 | * In a weird example, there's the Hummingbird Egg / Egg of Light from ''{{VideoGame/Mother 3}}'', which appears to be more of a Fabergé egg than a real one. Apparently it's so important that Wess would implement a trap that would drop thieves into a watery pit just to protect it. [[spoiler: The egg doesn't actually do anything in the story, [[MemoryGambit but it's plot-important because it has all of the original memories of everyone who came from Earth]]. Since life on the islands turned out to be a true utopia, it might have been made when there were doubts about how well the plan was going to work.]] |
| 159 | * In ''VideoGame/NetHack'' if an egg hatches while in your inventory, the resulting monster may become your pet. Not all eggs you find hatch though. |
| 160 | * The plot of ''VideoGame/SaGaFrontier2'' revolves around a magical egg that causes grief for a family of adventurers and influences the history of the world. |
| 161 | * In ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Chariots of the Dogs'', the chicken was the McGuffin to answer an old mariachi's philosophical obsession. He's Sam and Max's TV Co-Star Mr. Featherly from the first season of the games, to be specific. He was somehow teleported to the beginning of time by their antics in the previous season. In order to rescue him and answer the Mariachi's question, you have to replace him with an egg from another time period. This leaves forever unanswerable, the question of "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" |
| 162 | * In ''Videogame/ShiningForceIII'' there is a hidden character that requires you to go through a lot of work to get, probably falls under GuideDamnIt territory. You first have buy some chicken food and lure a chicken to follow you. Later in the game you have to find a couple boiling an egg, buy the egg for 1000 gold, find the chicken your lured sitting in your HQ and then place the egg under the chicken and it'll instantly hatch. The creature will run off and then right near the end of the game you'll find the character "Penn" who turns out to be a JokeCharacter as he starts at level 1, unpromoted, when all your other characters are promoted at level ~15. |
| 163 | * The plot of ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'' revolves around the fact that the 150 dragon eggs have been stolen, and [[GottaCatchEmAll it's up to Spyro to recover them.]] Each of them hatches upon discovery, with many of the babies having their own unique animation. |
| 164 | * In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Melee'' there was a mission where you had to keep an egg from breaking. |
| 165 | * ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' |
| 166 | ** Bowser has sealed Yoshi inside an egg. In several levels, Mario (or Luigi) can rescue Yoshi, who becomes the PowerUpMount. Meanwhile, the seven Koopalings have kidnapped seven Yoshi eggs. Mario can recover the eggs from the Koopalings' castles, but they do not hatch until the end credits, when they become baby Yoshis. |
| 167 | ** Yoshi returns as a PowerUpMount in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'', and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2''. Mario only needs to find the egg; except in ''Sunshine'', Mario must bring the correct fruit to the egg. |
| 168 | ** The Egg [=MacGuffin=] in ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland DS'' is [[spoiler:one of the seven star children. It is baby Yoshi, who hatches during the end credits.]] |
| 169 | * Kinda subverted in ''VideoGame/AnUntitledStory'', as ''your character'' is an egg that runs around and does stuff (until [[spoiler:you hatch it]]). |
| 170 | * In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', a Quest Chain in the Badlands results in you stealing a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Black Dragon]] Egg. You end up purifying it, creating the only known uncorrupted Black Dragon Egg in the entire World. Naturally, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Deathwing]] wants it destroyed [[spoiler:and he thinks he has succeeded when he kills Rhea. She was smart enough to have a Fake with her instead of the real thing, ensuring her sacrifice wasn't in vain. In the final patch of the expansion, the egg hatches into [[JerkAss Wrathion]], who proves that the Black Dragons are fairly nasty, corrupted or not.]] |
| 171 | [[/folder]] |
| 172 | |
| 173 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 174 | * Webcomic/CosmicDash'': The pilot comic ''Egg [=MacGuffin=]'' involved transporting a holy giant egg towards a ritual site. [[spoiler:The ceremony involves cooking and eating said egg.]] |
| 175 | * A major plot point in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' is the Matriorb, the egg required to [[spoiler:hatch a Mother Grub and resurrect the troll species.]] |
| 176 | [[/folder]] |
| 177 | |
| 178 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 179 | * ''WebVideo/DreamSMP'': A villainous example; characters corrupted by [[AlienKudzu the Crimson]] are brainwashed into the Eggpire in order to spread its parasitic influence across the server, and continuously make plans to sacrifice anti-Eggpire server members' life forces to the Egg so that it hatches. This results in the Red Banquet, which is one such plan in Season 3 which is foiled by the Eggpire being OutGambitted, and ultimately renders the Crimson dormant. [[spoiler:This lasts until Season 4, when Crimson vines start spreading across the server again, and one final massacre [[TheBadGuyWins at the end of the season]] allows the Egg to hatch.]] |
| 180 | * The main conflict of ''Literature/ScrambledEgg'' revolves around a sorceress teaming up with a mountain troll to protect a giant egg that may contain a demon, an angel, or nothing useful at all, from the BigBadDuumvirate. [[spoiler:It turns out that yes, the egg ''does'' contain a creature, which the mountain troll mauls to death after realizing the creature will grow up and possibly destroy the world]]. |
| 181 | [[/folder]] |
| 182 | |
| 183 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 184 | * ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'', "The Egg": Jake has to take care of a griffin egg ready to hatch -- and loses it in a factory full of candied eggs. |
| 185 | * A subversion from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. When the episode "The Fire Bending Masters" had a large golden egg feature, many fans speculated that it would hatch into a dragon and be crucial to the plot. It didn't. |
| 186 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'' episode "Tale of the Mighty Knights", Tyrone and Uniqua are tasked with guarding the king's egg, which promptly rolls away. |
| 187 | * The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode "The Eggbaby" involves Terry keeping track of an egg-shaped simulation of a baby that he needs to take care of for a grade. |
| 188 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' episode "Three Men and a Booby", a booby bird loses an egg to an ''eggcentric'' collector. They retrieve the egg, but the booby is captured; part of the plot revolves around the guys caring for the egg (and later, the hatched booby) while Gadget builds a Trojan Easter basket... |
| 189 | * The ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}'' episode "The Poddleville Case" follows the Cybersquad trying to retrieve stolen "pods" that help power the city of Poddleville. The original 1999 pilot is an early version of this episode, and is mostly the same from its final 2002 version aside from the pods being referred to as "eggs". |
| 190 | * A classic cartoon example has WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck looking after his own egg. It's a rare setting that has him married. His wife goes out and tells him rather sternly to be responsible for a change and don't let anything happen to Junior. After a while he gets bored and starts playing with the egg. He does a little stage magic and vanishes it. The third time he does that, the egg doesn't come back. Daffy gets hauled into divorce court for the egg's disappearance, and after playing the suspense for all it's worth, he manages to bring the egg back in perfect condition. |
| 191 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'''s first three seasons revolves around a quest to return the titular prince's egg to the magical land of Xadia, in hopes that it will stop the oncoming war. [[spoiler: At the end of the first season, the egg hatches.]] He's actually not that annoying, being more like an puppy that gives [[ "zappy kisses" after Callum accidentally electrocutes him.]] |
| 192 | -->'''Rayla''': The sooner we return this egg, the sooner, maybe, this war can end. |
| 193 | * One episode of ''WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim'' has Psycrow using a magic orb which turns out, after Jim ends up sitting on it, to be an egg that promptly hatches. The entity inside the egg makes all sorts of vague promises about how it will help usher in a wonderful new age for the universe, [[RunningGag at which point a cow lands on its head for no reason]]. |
| 194 | * A ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode had Peter growing a beard, which a bird nested in. Due to the bird's endangered status, Peter has to put up with it until it leaves of its own accord (to get away from the music he was blaring to annoy it). He's elated until he discovers that it left behind three eggs, which he then has to care for until they hatch, becoming emotionally attached to them in the process. In the end, he has a hard time letting go when it's time for them to leave the nest/his beard. |
| 195 | * In ''{{WesternAnimation/Gargoyles}}'', [[spoiler:Princess Katherine and her friends]] have to take care of ''thirty-six'' Gargoyle eggs because their parents are all either dead or unavailable. [[spoiler:They do a good job in protecting them, though.]] |
| 196 | * ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': Season 3's episode ''The Invisible Mom'' has the cast trying to find the noble snake that inherited the power of the Snake talisman. It turns out that "The Talisman power of invisibility lies within the snake... ''within'' the egg." |
| 197 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'': The final series episode has the gang needing to work with the older dino kids who tend to bully them in order to move a nest of Sharptooth eggs farther from the Great Valley so the predators will be less of a threat. Some of the adults want the eggs destroyed. |
| 198 | * In ''WesternAnimation/MikeTheKnight'' - ''Journey to Dragon Mountain'', an egg that everyone believes to a be a jewel [[spoiler:hatches into the dragon Squirt's baby sister after he finds his DisappearedDad and MissingMom.]] |
| 199 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': |
| 200 | ** The Phoenix egg in the episode "Dragon Quest". It plays a pivotal role in the climax of the episode [[spoiler:when Spike decides to stand up to the teenage dragons rather than smash the helpless egg and decides that Twilight and the other ponies are his real family.]] In the last minute of the episode [[spoiler:it hatches. Spike adopts the phoenix chick as his pet and names it Pee Wee.]] |
| 201 | ** Speaking of eggs and Spike, in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" [[spoiler: Twilight Sparkle's test to enter the school for gifted unicorns was to hatch a dragon egg. After her first attempt failed miserably, Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom triggered her latent magic and she hatched Spike. Then her magic went out of control and HilarityEnsued.]] |
| 202 | * In ''WesternAnimation/PeterAndTheMagicEgg'', Mother Nature gives the animals an egg that contains something that'll save Peter. |
| 203 | * ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' has a relationship with a Cat and a Turtle which resulted in an egg that contained four children: One of them looking like Heffer (a steer). |
| 204 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E3BartTheMother Bart the Mother]]", Bart Simpson has to look after a nest of bird eggs, after accidentally killing the mommy bird. Except that when they hatched they turned out to be Bolivian tree lizards. Apparently the female lizard eats the bird eggs and lays its own eggs in their place. The baby lizards then eat the bird. |
| 205 | * An episode of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Super Mario World|1991}}'' episode "The Koopa Shuffle" uses this. The twist: it was Luigi, transformed into an egg by a Magikoopa. |
| 206 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' -- ''Art of the Ninja'', Robin keeps telling the Titans that they are looking for a well sought object called the "[=McGuffin=]" and never specifies what it is until the end when they discover [[spoiler: It's just an egg muffin]] which then [[spoiler: is revealed to be Beast Boy in disguise]] |
| 207 | -->'''Cyborg:'''All this for an [[TitleDrop egg McGuffin]]. |
| 208 | * The Dofus in ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}''. These dragon eggs are extremely valuable due to the incredible amount of Wakfu contained in them. |
| 209 | [[/folder]] |
| 210 | |
| 211 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 212 | * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brood_parasite Brood Parasites]]: |
| 213 | ** Some species of birds, such as cowbirds and a few cuckoo species, will lay eggs in other bird species' nests in order to "trick" the host mother into raising their offspring. Alternatively, the parasitic birds [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge may go so far as destroying the host nest]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brood_parasite#Mafia_hypothesis if the host ejects their egg]], which often looks conspicuously different from the host's eggs. |
| 214 | ** A few species of fish and insects also practice brood parasitism. |
| 215 | [[/folder]] |
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