History Main / CursedItem

* One could consider radioactive contamination to be this, turning otherwise normal-seeming and functional objects into something deadly, with no way to tell without special instruments. [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets Russian soldiers]] operating within the [[ForbiddenZone Exclusion Zone]] of UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} during the early phase of the 2022 invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} looted normal-looking silverware and anything else of apparent value, which combined with their other TooDumbToLive shenanigans there, led to their units being taken out of commission for radiation treatment upon their withdrawal to UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}} when the Kyiv offensive failed.

* Many items in ''VideoGame/CrueltySquad'' can be considered this in one way of [[BodyHorror another]]; such as golem armor that makes you a tank with powerful fists but unable to use conventional weaponry. A biosuit that similarly protects ''and'' lets you use weapons... but cuts your visibility by 80% and makes potentially helpful NPC's terrified of you. Then there is the "Zippy3000"; an extremely rare joke weapon that has a 33% chance of shooting a powerful shot, misfiring, or backfiring; killing the player instantly. On a more literal level there is the "Cursed Torch" which upon use [[spoiler: instantly puts you in the true hardest difficulty: "Hope Eradicated"]].

** Many items in ''VideoGame/CrueltySquad'' can be considered this in one way of [[BodyHorror another]]; such as golem armor that makes you a tank with powerful fists but unable to use conventional weaponry. A biosuit that similarly protects ''and'' lets you use weapons... but cuts your visibility by 80% and makes potentially helpful NPC's terrified of you. Then there is the "Zippy3000"; an extremely rare joke weapon that has a 33% chance of shooting a powerful shot, misfiring, or backfiring; killing the player instantly. On a more literal level there is the "Cursed Torch" which upon use [[spoiler: instantly puts you in the true hardest difficulty: "Hope Eradicated"]].

** The Toxic Orb and the Flame Orb are strange items that place a status condition on the Pokémon holding them. Though negative, this can be useful when the Pokémon has an item-swapping move or the move [[DisabilitySuperpower Facade]], which does more damage when the user is affected by a status condition. Abilities come in play here as well: Toxic Orb can be helpful for Pokémon with abilities like Toxic Boost (raises attack power when poisoned), Quick Feet (raises Speed when hit by a status condition), or Poison Heal (ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin), and in the case of Flame Orb, it is usually given to Pokémon with the Guts ability, so that they will receive a boost to Attack instead of a drop when burnt (Toxic Orb's damage increases over time, making Flame Orb more practical in use with Guts than Toxic Orb, outside of cases where Flame Orb cannot be used, such as for [[PlayingWithFire Flareon]]).

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'': According to a support conversation between Dussel and Cormag, Valter had grabbed Dussel's cursed lance that turned him into an AxeCrazy person as he is in the present. While the cursed lance doesn't appear in the game, it does exist as a unique item in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'' for Valter, granting +2 in Attack and Speed as well as accelerates Special trigger at the cost of taking 4 damage after combat.
** Actually, most ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' titles have a cursed weapon lying around somewhere. The most infamous is the Devil's Axe, the most powerful axe in many of the games. It grants eight times the regular weapon experience, too — but it has a 21% chance of injuring the wielder instead of the foe. Thankfully, this chance can be reduced if your character has high Luck, but since the cap is 20, it's always a chance.
*** In the Archanea series of games, the titular shield itself is cursed, bringing misfortune on whoever wields it (or even keeps it in storage in some cases).

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' had a special cursed weapon that was only cursed until you left the dungeon you found it in. A special golden claw weapon could be found in an extra path of the pyramid. The claw is an ArtifactOfAttraction, and while it is in your inventory, just about every step you take will lead to an encounter.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' introduces a staple of the series, the double-edged sword. It's actually quite good, but is technically cursed (gets the music and everything) that it inflicts a percentage of the damage it causes to monsters to its wielder. Despite this, people just equip it to a high HP meatshield and go to town.

* Near the beginning of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', Lina sells a magic dagger to a curio shop. The dagger curses whoever draws it into a BerserkerRage. When the shop keeper drew the dagger, he begins attacking Lina and Gourry, who are forced to knock him out to stop the curse.

* The cursed medal from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', which prevents you from opening your bag until you have them specially removed, but greatly increases enemy material drops in exchange.
** The One-Hit Obliterator in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'''s DLC does exactly what the title says -- you can one-hit most enemies in the game with it, but in exchange, you can only use this effect twice before it needs a cooldown. The one-hit part [[OneHitPointWonder applies to you as well]]. Interestingly, this is a trial for Link, as the monks want to see how good he is with this kind of limitation.

* Common in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. Curses can range from inconvenient, like the Medallion of Thought Projection (a [[{{Telepathy}} mind-reading]] amulet that came out backwards); to debilitating, like the Backbiter Spear (which sometimes attacks its owner); to downright lethal, like the Necklace of Strangulation. They're sometimes made with malicious intent and sometimes the result of a MagicMisfire in the ItemCrafting process.

A subtrope of {{Curse}}s in general. Often the EvilTwin of ClingyMacguffin. Compare PoisonMushroom.

[[IThoughtItMeant If you came here expecting]] an article about a TowerDefense game with a VillainProtagonist, please see ''Videogame/CursedTreasure''.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* [[https://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/rpc-391 RPC-391]] from the ''Wiki/RPCAuthority'' is a cursed gold chain necklace that tightens its chain around the neck of whomever wears it.

* ''Fanfic/HangingTenSaga'': In ‘’Tiny Terrors, Evil Idols, and Surfer-Secrets’’, Reef finds a Haita Totem by the waterfalls, thinking it would give him good luck. Far the opposite, it has given him nothing but bad luck and refused to heed the warnings of The Kahuna until he realised it was true and had to send it back where he found it before it gets worse.

[[folder:Gamebooks]]
* These turn up in quite a few different ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' books, where picking up a cursed item will permanently reduce one of your stats (usually Skill).
[[/folder]]

** Under an optional rule for inadvertent curses, a magically enchanted item can potentially develop a curse if the creator's KarmaMeter degrades during the ItemCrafting process, or even if they indulge their [[SevenDeadlySins Vice]] in that time.

* One could consider radioactive contamination to be this, turning otherwise normal-seeming and functional objects into something deadly, with no way to tell without special instruments. UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets operating within the [[ForbiddenZone Exclusion Zone]] of [[UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} Chernobyl]] in 2022 looted normal-looking silverware and anything else of apparent value, which combined with their other TooDumbToLive shenanigans there, led to their units being taken out of commission for radiation treatment upon their withdrawal to Belarus.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'' features a cursed item as part of the story, a magic necklace that allows its wearer to turn whatever they [[TheMagicTouch touch to gold]]. However, after wearing it for some time, the wearer becomes a gold statue themself.

After a hard encounter spent hack-and-slashing some goblins, you rummage through their loot and find a [[SchmuckBait suspiciously ornate-looking treasure chest]]. And what should be inside but a [[ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable Slashmaster +15 sword]]? That's a whole +1 better than your precious Slashmaster +14! Eager to try out your new find, you toss aside your old sword and hoist the new one over your head. Suddenly, like the divine voice of the gods, a lightning bolt crackles down out of the clear sky and strikes you. No, it doesn't give you new powers - [[BoltOfDivineRetribution it just really, really hurts]]. And it doesn't stop. It seems every time you lift this magnificent new sword above chest height, you invite a painful shock, anytime, anywhere - even in the depths of a dungeon surrounded by rock a mile beneath the surface. Also, you can't drop it. ''Ever.'' Especially not to pick up another sword that ''won't'' shock you any time you try to raise it.

Looks like you should've gotten that sword identified before you equipped it - it's clearly a [[TitleDrop Cursed Item]]!

Cursed items also rarely if ever betray any outward sign of their cursed nature. In tabletop [=RPGs=] and video games, [[UnknownItemIdentification identifying]] items will often reveal any curses, though particularly nasty curses may resist identification (or even outright misidentify themselves as different, beneficial effects). Getting rid of cursed items can also be tricky, as they often become [[StuckItems impossible to remove or drop]] once the curse takes hold - unless there's a [[ReligionIsMagic priest or some holy water]] handy to break the curse (which often breaks the item as well).

* Near the beginning of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' Lina sells a magic dagger to a curio shop. The dagger curses whoever draws it into a BerserkerRage. When the shop keeper drew the dagger, he begins attacking Lina and Gourry who are forced to knock him out to stop the curse.

* The ring Plagg gives Prince Adrien in ''Fanfic/PrinceCharming''. Every night, if Adrien is wearing the ring he will transform into a cat-human hybrid and be stripped of his [[BlessedWithSuck blessing of brainwashing anyone he meets into an adoring slave]] until the sun rises again. Notably, since Adrien ''wants'' to be cursed (as it's the only way of removing his blessing), the ring is ''not'' a ClingyMacGuffin: Adrien can choose not to wear it if he doesn't want to be a werecat for the night.

* In ''Literature/TheElricSaga'', Creator/MichaelMoorcock has his doomed hero Elric dependent on hard-to-obtain alchemical preparations to maintain his strength and vitality against his debilitating sickness. Then Elric discovers Stormbringer -- The Black Sword which does away with the need for drugs. But this comes at an awful price; every time Stormbringer kills, it sucks the soul-energy from the victim to obliterate them and sustain Elric. And the sword isn't fussy about ''who'' it kills: one by one Elric's closest friends and lovers die to keep him alive. The sword is also a corrupting influence on Elric's soul.

* The Creator/LarryNiven story "Not Long Before the End" features a magic sword named Glirendree which is extremely powerful, but cursed to (ultimately) destroy its wielder. The wielder at the time of the story doesn't seem too dismayed when he finds out about the curse. It's possible he thinks the person who told him about the curse was lying, or he may honestly consider death after a year or so of living like a conquering king a fair trade. It's definitely the "clingy" type, as he's already tried to put it down and been unable to. [[spoiler: That's because it's not really a sword, it's a demon in the shape of a sword, and it's got its fangs into his hand.]]

* In ''TabletopGame/SalvageHiddenTreasures'', Some of the more valuable treasures you can find have... unfortunate side effects :
** Blackbeard's Treasure doubles the income of every other players at the start of their turns.

* A number of ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' equip spell cards function like this, such as [[https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Flint Flint]], [[https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Mask_of_the_Accursed Mask of the Accursed]], and the rather debilitating [[https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Darkworld_Shackles Darkworld Shackles]], all of which do nasty things like preventing an equipped monster from attacking, reducing their stats, or damaging their controller. The idea of course is to equip them onto your opponent's monsters rather than your own.

* In Music/RichardWagner's ''[[Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung Ring of the Nibelung]]'' opera tetralogy, the dwarf Alberich curses the ring he made out of the magical Rhine-gold before surrendering it along with other treasures the gods Loge and Wotan force him to give to giants Fasolt and Fafner as payment for building Walhall. The {{curse}} immediately takes effect as Fafner murders Fasolt to take the ring and riches for himself. Then, years later, Siegfried slays Fafner (who turned himself into a dragon), takes the ring and ends up betrayed and killed himself.

* In ''VideoGame/AzureDreams'' some of the weapons and armor you can find are cursed lowering their effectiveness. These curses can be removed making the equipment more usable.

** Cursed items appear in many of the games. While there is no direct way to know if an item is cursed without equipping it, they are often described as having "an air of danger". These items tend to be very powerful for where they are found to entice the player to equip them. The drawback though is that someone wearing a cursed item often cannot attack in combat, and all items are of the StuckItems variety requiring a visit to the church to remove them.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' had a special cursed weapon that was only cursed until you left the dungeon you found it in. A special golden claw weapon could be found in an extra path of the pyramid. The claw is an ArtifactOfAttraction and while it is in your inventory just about every step you take will lead to an encounter.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' introduces a staple of the series, the doble-edged sword. It's actually quite good, but is technically cursed (gets the music and everything) that it inflicts a percentage of the damage it causes to monsters to its wielder. Despite this, people just equip it to a high HP meatshield and go to town.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'' features a cursed item as part of the story, a magic necklace that allows its wearer to turn whatever they [[TheMagicTouch touch to gold]]. However after wearing for some time the wearer becomes a gold statue themself.
* ''[[VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragonsChroniclesOfMystara Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara]]'' has the Cursed Blade, which causes you to take damage every time you attack with it, and the Cursed Blade 2, which causes you to fall asleep instead of attacking. If you attack with the Cursed Blade enough times, it will eventually turn into the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Sword of Legend]], but this will probably kill you at least two or three times before it happens. If the Cleric tries to pick up the Cursed Blade 2 enough times, it turns into the [[InfinityMinusOneSword Holy Avenger]], but as he can't use swords this makes it impossible to actually get the weapon in a single-player game.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' has the [[{{Pun}} Boots of Blinding Speed]], available as a side-quest reward, which do ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin - they massively boost your Speed, but also blind you. Naturally, most players discard them as a JokeItem, but with a little bit of magic resistance, the [[LethalJokeItem blindness can be overcome]].
** In ''[[Videogame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', the Staff of the Everscamp is one of the artifacts of Sheogorath, [[MadGod Daedric Prince of Madness]], and seems to exist for the sole purpose of {{Troll}}ing mortals. The staff's owner is constantly followed by four Scamps that give off a horrible smell, generally make the owner's life miserable, and can't be permanently killed. Furthermore, [[ClingyMacguffin the staff's owner feels a compulsion to keep it on their person at all times]], and can only get rid of it if another person willingly agrees to become the staff's owner or by leaving it at one of Sheogorath's shrines.

** Actually, most ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' titles have a cursed weapon lying around somewhere. The most infamous is the Devil's Axe, the most powerful axe in many of the games. It grants eight times the regular weapon experience, too- but it has a 21% chance of injuring the wielder instead of the foe. Thankfully, this chance can be reduced if your character has high Luck, but since the cap is 20, it's always a chance.

* [[Creator/InterplayEntertainment Interplay's]] Infinity Engine games, being based on ''Dungeons & Dragons'' had numerous cursed items. Interestingly, as the games all had a Lore skill that could be used to identify magic items and cursed items always required 100 Lore to identify, if you had a character with a reasonably high lore, any items they couldn't identify were almost always cursed.

* The cursed medal from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' which prevents you from opening your bag until you have them specially removed, but greatly increases enemy material drops in exchange.
** The One-Hit Obliterator in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'''s DLC does exactly what the title says -- you can one-hit most enemies in the game with it, but in exchange you can only use this effect twice before it needs a cooldown. The one-hit part [[OneHitPointWonder applies to you as well]]. Interestingly, this is a trial for Link as the monks want to see how good he is with this kind of limitation.
* ''VideoGame/LufiaAndTheFortressOfDoom'' has cursed equipment that can't be removed except by a special rare item or a priest. Once removed these will retain the curse, activating again if re-equipped.
* ''VideoGame/LufiaIIRiseOfTheSinistrals'' also has cursed equipment that can't be removed except by a special rare item or a priest. In this entry uncursed items will change completely to become new items.

* In ''VideoGame/NetHack'' any item in the game can be cursed, which alters it to actively hinder the player and cannot be removed once equipped. Items can be found cursed, or cursed through a number of means. There are also a number of methods to remove a cursed item. Of note is that a few cursed items can be useful if the player knows what they're doing with them; for example, the Scroll of Genocide will normally remove a certain type of monster from the game, but when cursed will instead ''summon'' up to six of the monster that you tried to destroy, which is a death sentence if you were trying to rid yourself of something nasty, but it's also the only way in the game to summon specific monsters, which can be useful if you want a certain loot drop.
* ''VideoGame/NuclearThrone'' has Cursed Weapons, which drop from Cursed Chests and can be more powerful than weapons that are normally obtainable at the current level. The catch is that they can't be removed from your inventory, except for swapping with another Cursed Weapon - if you happen to run out of ammo or see a better weapon you want, too bad. You can remove the curse in three ways: taking the Last Wish mutation, [[spoiler: getting a crown in a Crown Vault, or looping the game]]. [[spoiler: Getting a cursed weapon before the Crystal Caves in any loop and taking it there with you turns them into the Cursed Crystal Caves, which is full of cursed crystal enemies and has the only Large Cursed Weapon Chest in the game, which drops three Cursed Weapons from potentially further in the game than normal Cursed Chests.]]

** The Toxic Orb and the Flame Orb are strange items that place a status condition on the Pokemon holding them. Though negative, this can be useful, when the Pokemon has an item swapping move or the move [[DisabilitySuperpower Facade]], which does more damage when the user is affected by a status condition. Abilities come in play here as well: Toxic Orb can be helpful for Pokemon with abilities like Toxic Boost (raises attack power when poisoned), Quick Feet (raises Speed when hit by a status condition) or Poison Heal (ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin), and in case with Flame Orb, it is usually given to the Pokemon with Guts ability, so that they will receive boost to Attack instead of drop when burnt (Toxic Orb's damage increases over time, making Flame Orb more practical in use with Guts than Toxic Orb, outside of cases when Flame Orb cannot be used, such as for [[PlayingWithFire Flareon]]).
** The same (with the swapping part, too) can be said about Iron Ball, Ring Target, Sticky Barb or, in most cases, Black Sludge. Iron Ball makes the holder always go last (though it hits really hard and painful if thrown away with [[DefiantStoneThrow Fling]]), and Ring Target lets your opponent [[YouWillNotEvadeMe always be able to hit you]]. Sticky Barb damages the holder every turn (but it has the possibility to [[ClingyMcGuffin stick to an opponent]] if a contact move is made and the opponent is free of items), and Black Sludge does the same -- yet, when Black Sludge is held by [[PoisonousPerson Poison]]-types, [[ReviveKillsZombie it heals them instead]].
* In the DOS AdventureGame ''VideoGame/TheRiddleOfMasterLu'', you play as Robert Ripley, and pay for your traveling expenses by sending parcels back to his ''[[Franchise/RipleysBelieveItOrNot Believe It Or Not!]]'' exhibit in New York. One such item you can send, is the Romanov Emerald, a cursed russian crown jewel. Ripley is tasked with retrieving it from a castle to be rid of its curse, and [[ShmuckBait you have the option to send it.]] If you do so, you will be informed that the exhibit was shut down, and if you travel to New York after, you are arrested in a NonStandardGameOver. What the player is actually supposed to do, is give it to a villain, which leads to his demise via accident.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' the soul eater rune is also known as the cursed rune. [[spoiler:Its curse is that those who wear it will find the people who are closest to them will die.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SwordOfVermilion'' cursed items will act as StuckItems and can only be removed by visiting a church, further they prevent any spells from being cast while worn. Only three cursed items exist in the game Dark Swords, the Death Sword, and the Old Nick Armor.

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': On finding Frostmourne, Muradin realizes the blade is cursed and tries to leave. Arthas decides to take it anyway, ready to do anything to have his revenge, and it flies out and kills Muradin. Although in this case the sword wasn't so much cursed as it was a direct link to the Lich King's mind, allowing him to quickly turn over Arthas to the Undead.
* ''VideoGame/WildArms3'' has the corpse ring which [[StuckItems cannot be removed]] and reduces the health of your entire party to [[OneHitPointWonder one]]. The cursed is only removed once you escape the dungeon it is found in exposing the ring to sunlight.
* In ''VideoGame/WizardryTaleOfTheForsakenLand'' you can find cursed items while in the labyrinth initially as unidentified items. Vigger the shopkeeper is the only one who can remove a cursed item. These items often lower the stats of whoever equips them but some can still be useful.

* One could consider radioactive contamination to be this, turning otherwise normal seeming and functional objects into something deadly, with no way to tell without special instruments. UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets operating within the [[ForbiddenZone Exclusion Zone]] of [[UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} Chernobyl]] in 2022 looted normal looking silverware and anything else of apparent value, which combined with their other TooDumbToLive shenanigans there, led to their units being taken out of commission for radiation treatment upon their withdrawal to Belarus.

* [[https://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/rpc-391 RPC-391]] from the ''Wiki/RPCAuthority'' is a cursed gold chain necklace that tightens its chain around the neck of wwhomever wears it.

* [[http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/rpc-391 RPC-391]] from the ''Wiki/RPCAuthority'' is a cursed gold chain necklace that tightens its chain around the neck of wwhomever wears it.