History Main / BadLuckCharm

* A first season episode of ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' has a character nicknamed Jinxo, who is believed by many to be a walking BadLuckCharm. He worked on the construction of all five Babylon stations. The first three stations were blown up in terrorist attacks, and the fourth vanished mysteriously. He refuses to leave Babylon Five because he thinks that if he does, something bad will happen to it. Another character tells Jinxo that he's got it backwards: he should be called "Lucky" because he managed to escape unharmed from four separate dangerous incidents. Jinxo says that he never thought about it that way before, the other guy comments that no one ever does.

* The Doomful Diamond from an episode of [[Anime/AdventuresOfMiniGoddess The Adventures of Mini Goddesses]].

[[AC: {{Mythology}} and {{Religion}}]]
* Literature/TheBible: Whenever the [[MacGuffin Arc of the Covenant]] ended up in the hands of rival nations, bad things happened to them. Then when they try to give it back, [[DisproportionateRetribution more even worse bad things happen to them.]]
* [[KingArthur Sir Balyn]] removes a sword from a lady's scabbard. This sword ends up causing all kinds of horrible things to happen, eventually causing Balyn to [[spoiler: kill his brother Balan in battle]].

[[AC: {{Newspaper Comics}}]]
* In one ''HagarTheHorrible'' strip, Hagar asks Lucky Eddie how he bought the lucky penny he is carrying so cheaply. "It has a curse on it," he replies.

* Still another claims this about the JamesDean car.

* Legend has it that the Hope Diamond is a RealLife example of one of these.

* The ''Shin LupinIII'' episode "[[Recap/LupinIIIS2E107 A Wedding Ring is an Accursed Trap]]" has Lupin steal the notoriously cursed Hope Diamond to give to Fujiko as an engagement ring. Among other misadventures afterward, Lupin's car is completely destroyed, Fujiko becomes an old crone, and Zenigata suddenly becomes a much better shot when firing at Lupin's gang.

* Literature/TheBible: Whenever the [[MacGuffin Arc of the Covenant]] ended up in the hands of rival nations, bad things happened to them.

* An episode from ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.

* The pendant that Nagi's grandfather gives Hayate in ''HayateTheCombatButler'' adds more trouble for Hayate. Knowing the old man, it was probably deliberate. First hinted in the manga when Isumi exorcises some of the bad luck off the charm.

* Creator/JackVance's ''Literature/{{Lyonesse}}: TheGreenPearl'' features the eponymous item which will turn anyone who owns it to evil, until somebody else murders them to possess it. At one point the chain is broken when the owner is [[{{And I Must Scream}} rendered helpless]] by somebody who's only interested in punishing him, and the pearl is temporarily forgotten.

* Creator/JackVance's ''LyonesseTheGreenPearl'' features the eponymous item which will turn anyone who owns it to evil, until somebody else murders them to possess it. At one point the chain is broken when the owner is [[{{And I Must Scream}} rendered helpless]] by somebody who's only interested in punishing him, and the pearl is temporarily forgotten.

[[AC: VideoGames]]
* The Pariah dog from ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' is a living Bad Luck Charm. Having it in your party reduces your luck and gives you the 'jinxed' trait.

* JackVance's ''LyonesseTheGreenPearl'' features the eponymous item which will turn anyone who owns it to evil, until somebody else murders them to possess it. At one point the chain is broken when the owner is [[{{And I Must Scream}} rendered helpless]] by somebody who's only interested in punishing him, and the pearl is temporarily forgotten.

[[AC: VideoGames]]
* The Pariah dog from ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' is a living one of these.

* A first season episode of ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' has a character nicknamed Jinxo, who is believed by many to be a walking BadLuckCharm. He worked on the construction of all five Babylon stations. The first three stations were blown up in terrorist attacks, and the fourth vanished mysteriously. He refuses to leave Babylon Five because he thinks that if he does, something bad will happen to it. Another character tells Jinxo that he's got it backwards: he should be called "Lucky" because he managed to escape unharmed from four separate dangerous incidents. Jinxo says that he never thought about it that way before, the other guy comments that no one ever does.

* The Pariah dog from ''{{Fallout 2}}'' is a living one of these.

* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' had one of these in its St. Patrick's Day episode.

* A first season episode of ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]] has a character nicknamed Jinxo, who is believed by many to be a walking BadLuckCharm. He worked on the construction of all five Babylon stations. The first three stations were blown up in terrorist attacks, and the fourth vanished mysteriously. He refuses to leave Babylon Five because he thinks that if he does, something bad will happen to it. Another character tells Jinxo that he's got it backwards: he should be called "Lucky" because he managed to escape unharmed from four separate dangerous incidents. Jinxo says that he never thought about it that way before, the other guy comments that no one ever does.

There are items that are believed to give you good luck, then there's this, an item that is deemed to be unlucky, the complete opposite of a lucky charm. When this item is in the possession of one character, expect very bad things to happen, like slipping on a {{Banana Peel}}, getting stuck in a puddle of glue that's been spilled on the sidewalk, or a [[{{Beyond The Impossible}} plane suddenly runs out of gas and plummets to the ground right behind or in front of you]].

* The Doomful Diamond from an episode of [[AdventuresOfMiniGoddess The Adventures of Mini Goddesses]].

* A short on the ''What a Cartoon Show'' had a sleazy street-hustler guy trying to get an extremely valuable gem. The gem was cursed to give whoever owns it alternating extremely good and extremely bad luck, so the guy ends up suffering all sorts of calamities, and just barely lives through them, trying to get the gem to a museum offering a huge reward for it.

* In ''OnePiece'', the [[KatanasAreJustBetter Kitetsu class swords]] are extremely sharp but also [[EvilWeapon cursed]] and eventually lead the wielder to his tomb. [[BadassNormal So far, Zoro]] is the only one who has carried such a dangerous sword without ill effects, as his luck was stronger than the sword's curse. Note, this was probably a ShoutOut to the RealLife Muramasa swords, which have a similar fame.

* TheBible: Whenever the [[MacGuffin Arc of the Covenant]] ended up in the hands of rival nations, bad things happened to them.

* The ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "Bad Day at Black Rock" had the Winchester brothers find a lucky rabbit's foot talisman that gave the holder good luck until it left their person, at which point their luck would turn NecroNonSequitur-inducingly bad. The only way to avoid certain death was to destroy the amulet in a specific ritual.

** In an episode of ''{{Scrubs}}'', JD buys a pair of the tiki idols used on those Brady Bunch episodes for him and Turk when everyone takes a trip to the Bahamas. Even though, in-universe, they're just a prop, they appear to bring bad luck to the two.

* In a ''PhineasAndFerb'' episode, Candice finds a tiki charm which appears to give her bad luck, and keeps coming back when she tries to get rid of it. She interprets a locals advice to be "throw it into the volcano", but it turns out that there is a restaurant on top of the mountain, the "charm" is a "your table is ready" alert device.

* One episode of ''{{Supernatural}}'' had the Winchester brothers find a lucky rabbits foot talisman that gave the holder good luck, until it left their person at which point they would die from extremely bad luck. The only way to avoid certain death was to destroy the amulet in a specific ritual.