History Main / HeartOfTheMatter

->''"The heart is a symbol or it is nothing. Now take away the symbol and what do you have? It’s a fistful muscle of no more aesthetic interest than a bladder."''

* In the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]] [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "The Devil's Heart" a piece of the Guardian of Forever resurfaces in the mid 24th century. Known by many names the ''Heart'' was part of the history of a number of diverse cultures throughout the galaxy and was legendary for the powers it gave the person holding the ''Heart''. It's reappearance touched off a deadly race among all the races looking to get the ''Heart'' back before the Captain Picard determined the stone was trying to reach a wormhole to travel to another galaxy so it could find a planet in that galaxy to plant itself on and grow into another Guardian. Picard saw to it that the ''Heart'' fulfilled its destiny and traveled through the wormhole.

* ''VideoGame/RemnantsOfIsolation'': There's something called the Heart of the Castle, that allows the castle that the game takes place in, to keep running. [[spoiler:It's Celesta.]] [[spoiler:It generates magic. Something though impossible, for a living being to do.]]

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* The villain of ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' wanted to summon the Chaos Heart, which powered a universe-destroying rift known as the Void while making its summoner practically invincible.

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[[quoteright:310:[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mmq_296_heart_of_ramos.png]]]]

[[quoteright:200:[[ComicBook/{{WITCH}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hok.png]]]]

Though nothing prevents one from having this title, the item in question doesn't have to be an ''actual'' heart; any item will work so long as they bear the necessary title indicating their literal or psychological importance to what they're the heart of: [[PowerCrystal power crystals]] are common, particularly the pulsing variety for added effect, but whether a heart is magical, technological, or [[{{Magitek}} both]] does not matter.

* On the other side of the spectrum, we have The Starheart, the source of power for Alan Scott, the golden age ''Franchise/GreenLantern''.

* Played with in ''Film/Mother2017''...kind of. The most significant object throughout the movie is the jewel in His study, which he recovered from a house fire, but in which He also places all His faith and creative power. At the end of the movie, it's revealed that [[spoiler:this is a heart from his previous wife, as he takes the heart from mother at the end of the film to start over.]]

* ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'': [[PunnyName '''Draconian Measures''']] introduces the Heart of Dracart, named for the dark wizard who developed the magic spell that corrupted good dragon eggs into evil draconians. It's being used by [[GeneralRipper General Miranda]] to keep their OneGenderRace from going extinct by turning a single draconian into thirty. Unfortunately the clones created from the artifact are, as Kang puts it, dunderheads so bereft of any of the original's attributes they can't even activate their death curses, in addition to having severely limited lifespans.

** The Heart of Vecna is a minor artifact from ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' that granted enhanced dark magical powers.
* Judges Guild adventure ''Dark Tower''. The Heart of Law is a magical GlowingGem that exemplifies the LawfulGood CharacterAlignment. Its primary purposes are to destroy all Evil and convert Chaotic and Neutral beings to Good.

* ''VideoGame/SpyroAttackOfTheRhynocs'': Similar to the ''Kingdom Hearts'' example above, this game consists of several lands each with their own Heart. Each Heart of the Land is an object that is both emblematic and vital to the operations of each land and obtaining them to defeat the BigBad forms the core of the game. While they're all different objects, each Heart also incorporates, well, heart imagery on them.

* The new ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' recently revealed the existence of the Heart of Etheria, a piece of [[AbusivePrecursors First One's]] tech at the center of the planet designed to focus Etheria's natural magic into a devastating super weapon.

* The most obvious example from ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' is the Heart of Kandrakar, the artifact that empowers the titular heroines' elemental abilities. Loss of access to the Heart greatly decreases their magical powers. Also present in the series, and possessing similar powers, are;

* In the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' In the [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]] [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "The Devil's Heart" a piece of the Guardian of Forever resurfaces in the mid 24th century. Known by many names the ''Heart'' was part of the history of a number of diverse cultures throughout the galaxy and was legendary for the powers it gave the person holding the ''Heart''. It's reappearance touched off a deadly race among all the races looking to get the ''Heart'' back before the Captain Picard determined it was trying to reach a wormhole to travel to another galaxy, and saw to it that the ''Heart'' fulfilled its destiny.

Important items in fiction, whether they be a MacGuffin, an ArtifactOfPower, a specific location, or even a living being, have a habit of having a title incorporating the imagery of a heart. This is often an easy way to indicate something is especially powerful or at the very least important, given how historically, and biologically, the heart has always been seen as one of the most (if not the most) vital components in the human body. Thus an item similarly named can immediately assumed to be similarily inherently vital, often functioning as the driving power source without which that cool SuperWeapon, impenetrable force shield, or unstoppable power is rendered inert and inoperable, or even completely destroyed.

Real life examples usually have a strong cultural significance to them.

For other heart symbolisms, see HeartSymbol, HeartsAreHealth and CardiovascularLove.

* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfWonderWoman2016'': The Heart of Baetylus is a chunk of the power source of the "Titan" which once tried to destroy all life on earth. It is a twisted powerful evil thing which wants to rejoin with the Titan it was chipped from.

* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': The Heart of Atlantis is mentioned in the Shepherd's Journal, and is speculated to be some sort of power source. It turns out to be [[spoiler:a living crystal that is keeping the entire island and its inhabitants alive after centuries beneath the bottom of the ocean. Rourke plans to take it and sell it above ground, not only dooming the Atlanteans but also risking it falling into the wrong hands and causing mass devastation; it was the King trying to harness it as a weapon that caused Atlantis to sink in the first place. ]]

* ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'': [[PunnyName '''Draconian Measures''']] introduces the Heart of Dracart, named for the dark wizard who developed the magic spell that corrupted good dragon eggs into evil draconians. It's being used by [[GeneralRipper General Miranda]] to keep their OneGenderRace from going extinct by turning a single draconian into thirty. Unfortunately the clones created from the artifact are, as Kang puts it, dunderheads so berefet of any of the original's attributes they can't even activate their death curses, in addition to having severely limited lifespans.

--> [The hero] shall find the forest’s heart.

* The villains of ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' seek the eponymous "Kingdom Hearts", a source of ultimate power, but they don't know what it actually is. It turns out to be [[spoiler:the heart of all worlds.]] On a smaller scale, each in-game world also has their own heart, and locking these away to protect them from evil forms the main plot of the first game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'': Typically one of the first tasks you have to perform as you rebuild your empire is recover the Tower Heart, a conduit of immense power that powers the dark tower and various other evil artifacts. The second time the forces of good mess with it, the Tower Heart releases enough power to cause a cataclysm that devastates the world and (indirectly) leads to the anti-magic crusade of the Glorious Empire.
* ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'' features the Skull Heart, an ArtifactOfDoom the corrupts its user into a murderous, undead necromancer bent on causing the destruction of the world.

* The villain of ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' wanted to summon the Chaos Heart, which powered a universe destroying rift known as the Void while making its summoner practically invincible.

* ''VideoGame/SpyroAttackOfTheRhynocs'': Similar to the ''Kingdom Hearts'' example above, this game consists of several lands each with their own Heart. Each Heart of the Land is an object that is both emblematic and vital to the operations of each land, and obtaining them to defeat the BigBad forms the core of the game. While they're all different objects, each Heart also incorporates, well, heart imagery on them.

** One two-part episode had its own Heart of Darkness, this one a fist sized jewel that housed the collected souls of a race of snakemen,"The Ancient Enemies of Man," who could possess anyone who held it. Their plan was to snuff out the sun and kill off humanity. Even shattering the gem didn't stop them, merely allowing them to possess ANYONE touched by one of the shards. Exposure to sunlight was the only thing that could drive the spirits out of their victim's body.

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' featured a Shen Gon Wu called The Heart of Jong. In addition to being able bring mundane objects to life (most notably an army of snowmen), it will also, WhenThePlanetsAlign, draw multiple other Shen Gon Wu to it to create the monster Mala Mala Jong, who possesses the power of any Wu it incorporates. Removal of the Heart ends the monster's threat.

Not the be confused with TheHeart, which tends to be about someone who keeps the peace on their team of friends, though one could argue that TheHeart gets its name exactly because without them, the group would cease to function. Also not to be confused with the [[Music/{{Eagles}} Don Henley]] song "The Heart of the Matter", which is about (as repeated in that song) forgiveness.

* The Heart of Dimballa from ''Film/ChildsPlay'' was the voodoo artifact that allowed Charles Lee Ray to transfer his soul into the killer doll he's best known for (and later his girlfriend Tiffany). It's also his only way to transfer out of the doll and into another human's body.

* ''ComicBook/Witchblade'': A villainous example, the Heart Necrobi is the collective consciousness of the predatory Necrobi species. If it survived the final extermination of their species is unknown.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''ComicBook/WitchbladeAnimated'': The Heart of Darkness is an artifact that allows a person to control the current Darkness wielder absolutely. [[spoiler: But there's a catch, a curse was placed on the Heart and if someone uses it, they'll be transformed into a Darkling for all eternity, forced to serve the power they sought to control.]]

[[folder:Film - Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': The Heart of Atlantis is mentioned in the Shepherd's Journal, and is speculated to be some sort of power source. It turns out to be [[spoiler: a living crystal that is keeping the entire island and its inhabitants alive after centuries beneath the bottom of the ocean. Rourke plans to take it and sell it above ground, not only dooming the Atlanteans but also risking it falling into the wrong hands and causing mass devastation; it was the King trying to harness it as a weapon that caused Atlantis to sink in the first place. ]]
* The Heart of Te Fiti from ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'' holds the power of creation within it, allowing its namesake to create the islands populating her world. Small wonder everyone wants it. [[spoiler: Its loss also transformed the normally kind and sweet goddess into the fearsome demoness Te Ka.]]

* A geographical example in ''WesternAnimation/RayaAndTheLastDragon'', the Land of Heart. Raya herself bears the title of [[AncientOrderOfProtectors Princess of Heart]], despite the fact she is not royalty. The Land of Heart also guards [[spoiler: the Dragon Gem until a dispute between the tribes of Kumandra shatters the gem and releases the Druun.]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

* The villains of ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' seek the eponymous "Kingdom Hearts", a source of ultimate power, but they don't know what it actually is. It turns out to be [[spoiler: the heart of all worlds.]] On a smaller scale, each in-game world also has their own heart, and locking these away to protect them from evil forms the main plot of the first game.

* In ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'', the Clockwerk Heart is the focal point of one of the gang's heists. It is held by ArcVillain Rajan, who is using one half to dramatically accelerate his [[FantasticDrug spice]] production while the other half sits on his staff allowing him ShockAndAwe powers. Played with in that, while the Clockwerk Heart is necessary to rebuild the [[FeatheredFiend giant owl,]] the hate chip is Clockwerk's actual power source [[spoiler: and without it the formerly pristine heart decays to scrap.]]

* ''VideoGame/RemnantsOfIsolation'': There's something called the Heart of the Castle, that allows the castle that the game takes place in, to keep running. [[spoiler: It's Celesta.]] [[spoiler: It generates magic. Something though impossible, for a living being to do.]]