Line #49 Main/MundaneMacGuffinPerson


1	A LivingMacGuffin sought after for some mundane ability or quality they have. In terms of traits, they are usually "desirable" or "questable" for any of a hundred reasons. Common ones include: [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman great beauty]], [[IncorruptiblePurePureness great goodness]], kindness and [[LoveInterest loving or being loved by the hero]], [[RoyalBlood being royalty]], [[AncientKeeper knowing the answer to an urgent problem]], etc. Alternately, they may carry the negative trait of having [[KickTheDog kicked the hero's dog]] at one point, and so they want to find them (or a way close to them) for {{revenge}}.
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3	People who are sought after due to their status go under HostageMacGuffin. People with some a supernatural trait like a BarrierMaiden are examples of MacGuffinSuperPerson, while ones who were originally literally objects go under MacGuffinTurnedHuman.
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6	!!Examples:
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11	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
12	* From ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'': Trish Una is the recently discovered illegitimate daughter of the local mafia boss. All of the boss's enemies want to capture and/or kill her, so she ends up under the protection of the heroes, thus driving most of the plot.
13	* Princess Charlotte from ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' while being one of the kindest and sweetest people in the story, is only sought after for her position as being the sole heir to the throne of Midland, a kingdom that everyone wants for some reason.
14	* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'': Due to Kaguya's [[KingmakerScenario position in her family]], her personal maid Hayasaka has a wealth of blackmail material on all three of her older brothers. [[spoiler:The youngest of the three, Un'yo, ends up targeting her during the Class Trip arc for this reason, since she had chosen to retire and was no longer under Kaguya's protection.]]
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17	[[folder:Comic Books]]
18	* Ramona Flowers in the ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' books: the protagonist must go through several obstacles to be with her, but we are shown very little about the relationship, or even Ramona Flowers herself, except that [[InformedAbility we are assured of her awesomeness]].
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21	[[folder:Fan Works]]
22	* In ''Fanfic/FearNoEvil'', a ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfic, Izuku is kidnapped by the Humarise cult because he is one of the few Quirkless children. Humarise fetishizes and worships Quirkless people, but especially children because they are seen as "pure." Izuku is forcibly smuggled out of Japan due to his genetics being closer to pre-Quirked era people which the cult is hoping to replicate and weaponize in their genetically engineered plague.
23	* ''Fanfic/WhiteSheepRWBY'': [[spoiler:Yang Xiao-Long]] gets captured by Atlas because they had been told that she was mind-controlled by the Grimm. They were ''not'' informed that she was [[spoiler:the fiance of the Crown Prince of the Grimm]], and he is willing to wipe Atlas off the map to get her back.
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26	[[folder:Film]]
27	* Roxanne from ''WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie'' is the reason Max is traveling. He wants to show off to her at a place opposed to his father's destination.
28	* ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' is centered entirely around Willard's mission to travel to the compound of an insane colonel and to kill him. He becomes even more determined to find and confront the colonel as he learns more about him from previous military reports.
29	* Kee in ''Film/ChildrenOfMen''. She's the first woman to get pregnant in almost 20 years. The main characters have to try to keep her (and the baby) alive and out of the wrong hands.
30	* Jen in ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'' is the governor's daughter and her parents scour the earth for her after Lo [[LoveAtFirstPunch "kidnaps" her]].
31	* ''Film/{{Elysium}}'': Max becomes one when [[spoiler:all the security coding for Elysium gets uploaded into his brain, coding that would basically let the user do anything they want. Spider and co. want the information to disable the Elysium security systems and make everyone on Earth register as a citizen, Delacourt wants it to overthrow Elysium's current leadership, and Kruger wants it to take over Elysium and do... unpleasant things.]]
32	* Doug from ''Film/TheHangover'', who is given all the characterization of a very NiceGuy to both his friends and brother in law. So much so that you can honestly believe these guys ''would'' shake down all of Las Vegas to find him.
33	* In ''Film/KillBill'', finding Bill so she could kill him is the entire focus of the Bride's RoaringRampageOfRevenge... well, that and revenging herself on the people who could lead her to him.
34	* Aaron from ''Film/MeanGirls'' is Cady's crush and she ruins Regina's reputation just for a chance to be with him. Once they end up together, he disappears from the story.
35	* The plot of ''Film/PoeticJustice'' has four friends go on a road-trip from Los Angeles to Oakland, California to visit Lucky's cousin, Kalil. [[spoiler: They find out he's been shot and killed once they arrive.]]
36	* Private Ryan in ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''; the search for him in the warzone is the plot.
37	* Deconstructed in ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}''. Delilah is a prostitute who is attacked by one of her johns. A bounty is put on the cowboys who hurt her. She is seen as object of desire, a payday for unscrupulous bounty hunters and a martyr for women pretty much against her will. She is helpless as events spin out of control, all in her name. It is her face that is last seen as the movie ends because it is always been about her.
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40	[[folder:Literature]]
41	* In Jacqueline Lichtenberg's first ''Literature/SimeGen'' novel, ''House of Zeor'', she had to introduce complex biology and historical-political background. To support the worldbuilding, rather than pile a complicated plot on top of a complicated SF premise, she uses a simple MacGuffin plot: The Gen protagonist Hugh's girlfriend is kidnapped by Simes because she works for the Gen government in the department that prints money. (they want to flood the Gen economy with forged currency). We don't even meet her until the climax of the story, and she clearly serves only as devices to force Hugh to infiltrate Sime Territory. The real core of the novel is Hugh's developing relationship with Klyd, the Sime who helps with his mission.
42	* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
43	** Another male example is Edric Storm, King Robert's bastard son. Some people just want to protect him; his StrongFamilyResemblance to his father is considered evidence for [[spoiler:the illegitimacy of Cersei's children]]; and one faction wants to [[spoiler:burn him alive [[PoweredByAForsakenChild to bring a stone dragon to life]] and save the world]].
44	** [[spoiler:After the death of her older brother and the presumed deaths of her younger brothers]], Sansa Stark becomes this as several factions try and get their hands on her claim to Winterfell.
45	* Laura in ''{{Literature/Perfume}}''. She is the driving force of much of Grenouille's plot - by dint of nearing sexual maturity and smelling ''really'' nice. And that's about it. She has a larger role in the film version but in the book she does literally nothing except get moved from place to place, [[spoiler: and then get killed.]]
46	* In ''Literature/CookingWithWildGame'', a village of mostly-NobleSavage[=s=] adopts a chef who is ''really'' good at making money. Most villagers don't care about the latter, because they take great pride in living off the land, but one particular family is greedy enough to try kidnapping him. Cue awesome battle scene as the other villagers team up to free their golden goose.
47	* In ''Literature/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'', Kyousuke is targeted for his ''sanity''; specifically, [[TheImmune his ability to retain it]] despite [[EldritchAbomination the White Queen]]'s insanity-inducing aura. [[spoiler:There are other people with this ability, but they're either incredibly powerful or unknown to the world at large, so Kyousuke is the most vulnerable target.]] This makes him an excellent toy/social lodestar/minion for the Queen, so many of her cultists try to capture him to please her or lure her to their location. The fact that this has ''always'' ended badly in the past does not stop them.
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50	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
51	* In the ''Series/HumanTarget'' episode "Victoria", the ''Queen's'' daughter is targeted as she wants to drop her husband for an EMT, which would bring great shame to her family.
52	* In ''Series/ConnorUndercover'', Connor is given the responsibility of looking after the daughter of the (fictional) Cordoban president.
53	* ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' has Yui, who has been [[spoiler:DeadAllAlong and is]] actually the centerpiece of the Rider War, as the person who runs it is her KnightTemplarBigBrother is trying to rig in his favor [[spoiler:so that he may save her life]].
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56	[[folder:Video Games]]
57	* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' had Ashley, the president's daughter. Unlike most examples, the bad guys had a pretty good reason for picking her beyond the ransom. [[spoiler:They plan to infect her with Las Plagas parasite and send her back home to daddy.]]
58	* [[IAmNotShazam Princess Zelda]], most notably the original ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI''. She is usually [[BarrierMaiden the key]] to saving the world and is kidnapped by the BigBad in order to give him whatever power he needs for the game's plot. Traditionally, this is her segment of the Triforce, but not always. Zelda herself lampshades this in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'', saying that being a distressed damsel is a family tradition. While she's usually a MacGuffinSuperPerson, there are a handful of games that fit this trope as she's kidnapped for her beauty or status as a princess, not her magic powers.
59	* ''VideoGame/MagiaRecordPuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSideStory'' has Iroha Tamaki looking for the mysterious 'Ui' Tamaki, a girl that she is certain is her little sister, but Ui seems to have disappeared completely off of the face of the earth. [[RetGone Nobody can remember that Ui ever existed]], leading to Iroha eventually arriving in Kamihama city, eager to find her. [[spoiler:Ui's body and soul were separated into the former locked into Embryo Eve's necklace and the latter into the Li'l Kyubey wandering Kamihama. Act 1 ends with Ui's body and soul, as well as the two sisters, reunited.]]
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Context Main / MundaneMacGuffinPerson