History Main / MineralMacGuffin

* ''SailorMoon'' is absolutely flooded with both good and evil jewelry, the most famous being the Silver Crystal (which had to be assembled from 7 Rainbow Crystals in the anime). Most of the jewelry is, oddly, physically manifested aspects of the human soul. Any given person apparently has a friggin ''jewelry store'' in there somewhere.

[[SuperSmashBros http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ChaosEmerald.jpg]]
[[caption-width:250:[-[[SonicTheHedgehog Super Sonic]]: sponsored by [=DeBeers=].-] ]]

Every super powerful PlotCoupon has to be a diamond or gem of some sort. Bonus if it's been somehow shattered into easily re-assembled pieces. And you, our heroes, in all likelihood GottaCatchEmAll. If there are more than one gem, they'll usually be conveniently [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience Colour Coded]] by their ElementalPowers, although sometimes they're only different colors because [[RuleOfCool it looks cool]].

There's probably an entire subtrope one could write for plots in which it turns out the villain wants a jewel not for its monetary value, but because it's necessary to focus the beam of a giant frickin' laser.

** A bit of a separate case, as they're not used as the cannon's focus, but rather its [[GreenRocks power source]].

** The Elephant's Heart in "The Tower of the Elephant"

** The Null Chamber serves as ''zOMG'''s [[TheHub hub]]. It is filled with "Dark Crystals", which have the power to neutralize G'hi energy, allowing players to swap out and charge rings. In addition, the Null Chamber grants anyone who enters it a form of immortality. If you are killed in the field, you can release your lifeforce and reform at the Null Chamber. [[spoiler:ThisTroper had a FridgeLogic moment with this after defeating the endboss. All of the NPCs assume you've killed him. Yet whenever ''you'' die, you just come back to life in the Null Chamber. The Undersea Caverns that lead to Sealab X are literally ''filled with null crystals''.]]

* How has no-one thought to put ''PrincessTutu'' here? The entire freaking series is the titular princess gathering shards of [[spoiler:Mythos' heart]] (which conveniently look like shards of a jewel) then finding out that the last shard is [[spoiler:the jewel around her neck that helps her transform!]]

* Nobody has mentioned Dragon Ball yet. The fudge? Villains try to collect them to wish for nefarious things, heroes try to stop them (or find them for their own reasons, like resurrecting their friends) and they're an integral element of the show.

*** Aside from the tedious implausibility of killing a PlotArmored VillainSue, one might presume that killing a Time Lord isn't actually that hard. There are only a finite number of incarnations available to them, after all. And feeding someone into the Eye of Harmony or just plain old dropping them into a star is going to put a lengthy crimp on the activities of [[TheScrappy anyone whom the authors aren't infatuated with]].

* The titular stone from ''TheDarkCrystal'', as well as the shard that must be reunited with it.

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

* ''{{Legend of Zelda}}: Ocarina of Time'', with the Kokiri Emerald, Goron Ruby, and Zora Sapphire. In the Tingle game, rupees, the currency, may count.
** The [[TheLegendOfZeldaWindWaker Goddess Pearls]], the [[TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Pure Metals]]...
** The [[TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwordsAdventures Royal Jewels, Force]] [[TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Gems]]...
*** Don't forget Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, in which the entire point of the game is to get as many rupees as possible--including the big, shiny, square ones that act as the games dungeon counters.

* Nobody has mentioned Dragon Ball yet. The fudge? Villains try to collect them to wish for nefarious things, heroes try to stop them (or find them for their own reasons, like respecting their friends) and they're an integral element of the show.

** The Null Chamber serves as ''zOMG'''s [[TheHub hub]]. It is filled with "Dark Crystals", which have the power to neutralize G'hi energy, allowing players to swap out and charge rings. In addition, the Null Chamber grants anyone who enters it a form of immortality. If you are killed in the field, you can release your lifeforce and reform at the Null Chamber. [[spoiler:ThisTroper had a FridgeLogic moment with this after defeating the endboss. All of the NPCs assume you've killed him. Yet whenever ''you'' die, you just come back to life in the Null Chamber. The Undersea Caverns that lead to Sealab X are literally ''filled with null crystals''. SoYeah...]]

* The PC game ''[[JazzJackrabbit Jazz Jackrabbit 2]]'' had the titular character trying to get back the diamond from his fiancée's (the princess's) wedding ring--an ''enormous'' diamond the main villain was using to power his time machine so he could erase rabbits from history. Yeah.

Every super powerful PlotCoupon has to be a diamond or gem of some sort. Bonus if it's been somehow shattered into easily re-assembled pieces. And you, our heroes, in all likelihood GottaCatchEmAll. If there are more than one gem, they'll be conveniently [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience Colour Coded]] by their ElementalPowers.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Until the 20th century, gold had no practical utility. It was just a rare, shiny metal. Its rarity was the only thing driving its value; yet this was enough to cause a generation of pioneers to trample down the Old West and engage in bitter wars with the various Native American tribes who were living on deposits of it.
[[/folder]]

** A bit of a seperate case, as they're not used as the cannon's focus, but rather its [[GreenRocks power source]].

* * The "Blue Water" in the 1926 and 1938 adaptations of ''BeauGeste''.

* The "Blue Water" in ''BeauGeste'' (1924).