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{{trope}}
[[File:
The [[Artifact of Death]] is an item that will eventually bring about the death of anyone who owns, uses, or comes to be associated with it, often in a [[Necro Non Sequitur|grisly]] and supernatural manner. It can take any shape, whether ancient, toy-like, or high tech. This [[Artifact of Doom|terrible item]] is often [[MacGuffin|foolishly sought by many]] for its "power"... which, of course,
▲The Artifact of Death is an item that will eventually bring about the death of anyone who owns, uses, or comes to be associated with it, often in a [[Necro Non Sequitur|grisly]] and supernatural manner. It can take any shape, whether ancient, toy-like, or high tech. This [[Artifact of Doom|terrible item]] is often [[MacGuffin|foolishly sought by many]] for its "power"... which, of course, [[Equivalent Exchange|always comes with a price]]: the life of the user. More often than not, it ''just'' takes, rather than both giving and taking, typically because it contains a terrible [[Curse]].
Though it has a lot of overlap with the [[Artifact of Doom]], the Artifact of Death doesn't actually need to have a corrupting influence or magical powers, it just has to kill whoever uses it. Also, the time taken to kill whoever uses it varies. In some stories, the Artifact will kill anyone who attempts to use it on the first try. Other stories will have the owner die in a set amount of time, after a set number of uses, or it may simply [[Power Degeneration|shave years off a user's lifespan]]. It can sometimes be an [[Amulet of Dependency]] as well.
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If an artifact is intended for the [[Chosen One]] and reserves its dangerous side effects only for ''other'' persons who try to use it, it's an instance of [[Only the Chosen May Wield]] (and/or possibly an [[Empathic Weapon]]).
If the [[Big Bad]] is a walking
{{deathtrope}}
{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* The Book of Darkness from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. It grants ultimate power to its master if they fill up all [[Number of the Beast|666 pages]] by draining the [[Mana|Linker Cores]] of other magical beings... and it does so by taking over its master and pushing their magical powers to the limit to [[Omnicidal Maniac|destroy everything in its path]], killing the master in the process. And if the master doesn't fill up the pages, they will still die as the Book feeds on their life force instead.
* The [[
** The last appears to derive from strictly psychological reasons, because the power to kill with impunity is huge and yet useless, but [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]], everybody starts to look like a nail, and the role of a killer comes to define you, and your ethics are perpetually in crisis...most people don't have Light's perfect narcissism, and kill themselves fairly quickly.
* ''[[
** When Yusuke jumped recklessly in in the middle of the wish-granting and told the mirror to take half of his life and half of Kurama's, so he didn't have to see Shiori broken up at the loss of her son, he managed to avert the normal ending.
*** Interestingly, it has a small soliloquy afterward where it appears that it dislikes being an [[Artifact of Doom]] and wishes more people were like Yusuke, so it didn't have such a depressing name.
* Zearth from ''[[Bokurano]]'': anyone who is chosen as its pilot will die as soon as they've done so once.
* The Anathema Scythe from ''[[Tetragrammaton Labyrinth]]''! It is even more cursed than several hope diamonds put together!
* The Imperium Silver Crystal from ''[[Sailor Moon]]'': Using its full power is fatally taxing. Usagi manages to get around this by borrowing power from her teammates, and in the first movie she actually does die from it, but recovers.
* The anime version of ''[[Black Butler (
* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' has the Lullaby, a flute that kills anyone who hears it except the player. It also contains a gigantic demon, which will come out if nobody plays it in a while.
* ''[[Witchblade (
== Card Games ==▼
* ''[[Magic the Gathering]]''▼
** Unsurprisingly, a few cards are like this; the most straightforward example is probably [http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=4613 Jinxed Idol], which keeps dealing damage to the player who controls it until he or she sacrifices a creature to hand control of it to an opponent.▼
** Black magic has plenty of examples that do similar things, although they're not technically "artifacts". Graveborn Muse, for example, is a creature but basically functions like an enchantment or artifact that lets you draw extra cards at the cost of losing life -- and it's not optional so if you don't manage to kill your opponent using the extra cards, the Muse will kill you.▼
** Nevinyrral's Disk: upon use, destroys ALL creatures, artifacts and enchantments in play, including itself. Global armageddon at the push of a button.▼
** In a bit of [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|Gameplay and Art Segration]], one of the [http://www.gatheringmagic.com/mox-deck-box-deck-protectors-promotion/ artwork] of the Mox Jet depicted it as this. However, it's anything but in the game, as it's a free black mana source that you can play more than one of a turn. In the right decks, this is a [[Game Breaker]], and it was one of the first nine cards to be banned.▼
** ''Final Fortune'', while not being an artifact, has shades of this: It grants you an extra turn... at the end of which you will lose the game. Let's hope you win before that turn is over!▼
▲== Comics -- Books ==
* The Ghost Key from ''[[Locke and Key]]'' might fall under this trope. If you open a door with it and walk through, you die and turn into a ghost.
* The Ultimate Nullifier, seen in ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' and [[Marvel Comics]], can destroy anything, but in doing so destroys its wielder... ''unless'' they perfectly understand who they're nullifying and how they work.
* One of the Cosmic Cubes used in Marvel Comics slowly sucked the life force out of the user every time they used it. The Cosmic villian the Magus had several Cosmic Cubes and similar devices he had to keep locked away in a special machine because direct use would poison him.
* ''[[Superman]]'' villain Lex Luthor got cancer from his Kryptonite ring.
== Film ==
* In Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', nearly the entire contents of the Cave of Wonders, except for the lamp. When Abu can't keep his paws off the shiny, the entire cave collapses with intent to kill.▼
* In the 1981 cult classic ''[[Heavy Metal (
* ''[[Lone Wolf]]''▼
* The DCAU title ''[[Batman: The Animated Series
** The book ''The Caverns of Kalte'' "rewards" you with a big shiny jewel if you screw up a puzzle... which unholy radiation can ends up killing you if you are not warned in time and discard it.▼
* The Ark of the Covenant, in ''[[
** Another Doomstone appearing in ''The Darke Crusade'' has pretty much the same effect on its wielder, High Warlord Magnaarn. The Scepter of Nyras, on which it is mounted, is a powerful artifact allowing to control the armies of the fallen Darklords... but it is also turning him into an undead servant of the Doomstone itself.▼
** At least one of the false Grails from ''[[Indiana Jones and
** The Death Staff from ''The Legacy of Vashna'' is also a quite deadly artifact. Just touching it causes Lone Wolf to lose [[Hit Points]], and it drains some more every time it is used.▼
** Given their very evil origins (the Doomstones were created by Naar's most powerful servant [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Agarash the Damned]] and the Death Staff was forged by Naar himself) this makes perfect sense. The only ones who can use these things without any consequences are supernatural beings of pure evil such as the Darklords and the Deathlord of Ixia.▼
** The [[Big Bad]] of Book 7 avoided the lethal side effects of using a Doomstone by coupling it with one of the Lorestones in a [[Yin-Yang Bomb]].▼
▲* In Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney)|Aladdin]]'', nearly the entire contents of the Cave of Wonders, except for the lamp. When Abu can't keep his paws off the shiny, the entire cave collapses with intent to kill.
▲* In the 1981 cult classic ''[[Heavy Metal (Animation)|Heavy Metal]]'', the Loc-Nar is the embodiment of evil, and quickly corrupts and destroys everyone it touches -- only those who are incorruptibly pure of heart can resist it.
▲* The DCAU title ''[[Batman: The Animated Series (Animation)|The Batman]] [[Superman: The Animated Series (Animation)|Superman]] Movie: World's Finest'', a very rare, valuable green dragon statue is known to cause all its owners to die mysteriously. The statue is actually made out of Kryptonite, which, in the DCAU, can be deadly to humans ''if they're exposed to it over a long period of time.''
▲* The Ark of the Covenant, in ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark (Film)|Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'', supposedly grants the owner great power, and may be used as a Radio to God. However, opening the ark releases the Wrath of God, and anyone who looks upon the spirits that are released dies an extremely gruesome death. Arguably, it's less about ANYONE than "anyone who opens/handles/misuses the Ark with bad intent." The ancient Israelites (at least within the movie 'verse) did use it to make armies invicible and topple kingdoms. The Ark leaves Indy and Marion unharmed less because the angels automatically kill than because Indy knows not to look -- he respects the power of the Ark and by extention the "Hebrew God whose Ark this is". Belloq and the Nazis ape Jewish rituals (even [[Lampshaded]] by one of the Nazi officers) and assume they only need to dress up and say the right words to make the magic box work. They don't die so much because they opened the Ark, but because they did so out of hubris.
▲** At least one of the false Grails from ''[[Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (Film)|Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade]]'' causes you to suffer [[Rapid Aging]] till past the point of death, as Walt Donovan [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36WEn-9zs1U found out rather painfully].
▲{{quote| "He chose... poorly."}}
** As with the Ark of the Covenant, Indy manages to get through the Three Tests (of Penitence, Faith, and... spelling?) and choses the right Grail by understanding there's more to the [[MacGuffin]] than just a nifty prize. Donovan and Elsa, again with the hubris... don't.
* [[Cymbal
* The Cursed Videotape from ''[[The Ring]]'' has been imitated so many times it could be a trope in itself. Anyone who watches the seemingly mundane video tape dies within seven days, unless they copy the tape and show it to someone else, akin to a video chain letter. This is an example of an artifact of death that actually seems mundane and benign.
* The protagonists in the little-known sci-fi film ''[[
* In 2009's ''Night Train'', it's said that anyone who looks inside the box will be dead by sunrise, and the movie's [[Kill'Em All|body count]] bears this out. The box contains [[Something for Everyone]]
* In ''[[The Grudge]]'', an entire house is this trope.
== Literature ==
* Several from the ''[[Harry Potter (
** The Elder Wand is an extremely powerful wand, but only in the hands of its rightful owner. Incidentally, one can become a wand's rightful owner by defeating its current owner, so for most of its existence its owners came to sticky ends, as so many people assumed that 'defeat' actually meant [[You Kill It, You Bought It|'murder']]. Credulous types like Xenophilius Lovegood believe it has a curse placed on it by Death, but skeptics like Hermione think it just attracts attention. The truth is probably somewhere in between.
** The Peverell ring is cursed by Voldemort to rapidly kill anyone who owns it. Dumbledore very nearly succumbs to the curse, and only survives thanks to quick thinking by Professor Snape. He still believes that it will probably kill him within a year.
** An opal necklace seen in the second book has a placard claiming it has killed a dozen previous owners. In the sixth book we [[Call Back|see it in action]].
* ''[[Redwall]]'''s Tears of All Oceans (six large pink pearls kept in a velvet-lined shell case) seem to have this effect despite the existence of actual magic in the books being dubious. The evil Emperor Ublaz is so desperate to have the pearls that he has an entire tribe slaughtered to get them, then the corsairs who picked them up fight among themselves, resulting in at least one death. During the obligatory riddle-based treasure hunt to find them when they're planted in the Abbey, the search leads to the death of an Abbeydweller. Not to mention Ublaz himself, after getting the pearls for his crown ends up getting killed [[The Dog Bites Back|by a Snake he had previously cowed]].
* The monkey's paw in ''The Monkey's Paw''. It will grant you three wishes. Your third wish will be for death.
* The Shining Trapezohedron from [[H.P. Lovecraft
* Vasher from ''[[Warbreaker]]'' actually makes use of one of these in his combat strategy. His sword, Nightblood, is an [[Empathic Weapon]] that telepathically tempts nearby people into drawing it. It is also an [[Artifact of Doom]] that makes its wielder murder a bunch of his friends and then kill himself. Vasher doesn't actually use it as a sword; he throws it into a group of enemies, sheath and all, and waits for them to fall for the [[Schmuck Bait]].
* The Traitor's Sword or Sword of Straw, in Amanda Hemingway's book. It's been passed down from King to King, but can be safely wielded only by the one destined... The problem is that ''many'' people have taken the chance that they are the one destined. It doesn't invariably kill the wielder, but may cause them to kill someone else!
* St Michael's Sword from Preston and Child's novel ''[[
* The eponymous device carried by E.E.Smith's ''[[Lensmen]]'' is essentially benign, but is characterised by its tendency to kill anyone who touches it except when the Lensman who's matched to it is wearing it.
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[
* The 2004 ''[[Battlestar Galactica
* The infamous Tiki idol from the Hawaiian ''[[Brady Bunch]]'' episode.
** ... which was brought back (and referenced as such) in an eighth-season episode of ''[[Scrubs]]''.
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' has the rabbit's foot, which gives fantastic luck to whoever touches
* "The Glove of Myneghon" in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' might just qualify. Although the glove bestows great powers on the wearer, it can never be removed and seems to have said wearer at its mercy as well as giving her (Gwendolyn Post) the power to draw lightnings. Besides, if the wearer is right-handed and wears the glove on the right hand, I foresee some difficulties regarding trips to the loo.<ref>(Well, maybe not for lefties)</ref>
* 'La Fin Absolue du Monde' in the ''[[Masters of Horror]]'' episode "Cigarette Burns". Pretty much anyone involved in the production of this film-within-a-film died because of it, as do people who try to go look for it.
== Music ==
* The Arizona Sword, from the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xohmUNBvtvQ song of the same name] by [[Leslie Fish]], turned on and killed its only known owner, and after it vanishes immediately afterwards, it gains a reputation for killing any wielder who is too foolish or too power-hungry.
== Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myth and Legend ==
* The [
* [
* Supposedly the Spear of Destiny makes one invincible in battle. However, if lost, the former owner will quickly meet his end.
* The Ark of the Covenant in [[
** Claims are often made nowadays that the historical ark was some sort of capacitor or otherwise was electrically charged, and therefore the smitings of non-priests who touched it were because they weren't wearing the holy (and electrically insular) robes of the priests. These are likely apocryphal, supposing a far greater knowledge of electricity than existed at the time.
*** ''[[
* [[Older Than Dirt]]: ''Princess Ahura: The Magic Book'' is a New Kingdom Egyptian story (c. 1100 BCE) about prince Naneferkaptah, who covets the magical Book of Thoth, buried in the river in six nested boxes and guarded by snakes and scorpions. He digs it out, kills the guardians, and obtains vast magical power, but the offended gods promptly cause the death of Naneferkaptah, his sister/wife Ahura, and their son.
== Tabletop Games ==
▲=== Card Games ===
▲** Unsurprisingly, a few cards are like this; the most straightforward example is probably [
▲** Black magic has plenty of examples that do similar things, although they're not technically "artifacts". Graveborn Muse, for example, is a creature but basically functions like an enchantment or artifact that lets you draw extra cards at the cost of losing
▲** Nevinyrral's Disk: upon use, destroys ALL creatures, artifacts and enchantments in play, including itself. Global armageddon at the push of a button.
▲** In a bit of [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|Gameplay and Art Segration]], one of the [http://www.gatheringmagic.com/mox-deck-box-deck-protectors-promotion/ artwork] of the Mox Jet depicted it as this. However, it's anything but in the game, as it's a free black mana source that you can play more than one of a turn. In the right decks, this is a [[Game Breaker]], and it was one of the first nine cards to be banned.
▲** ''Final Fortune'', while not being an artifact, has shades of this: It grants you an extra turn... at the end of which you will lose the game. Let's hope you win before that turn is over!
===
▲* ''[[Lone Wolf]]''
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' has many of these, called "cursed magical items", such as the hand and eye of Vecna, especially if used together.▼
▲** The book ''The Caverns of Kalte'' "rewards" you with a big shiny jewel if you screw up a puzzle... which unholy radiation can ends up killing you if you are not warned in time and discard it.
** ... and which led to the common joke about the Head of Vecna. To use the Hand, you must first cut off your own hand and attach the Hand to the stump. To use the Eye, you must put out your own eye. The Head of Vecna would have been a sort of ''[[Too Dumb to Live|instant]]'' [[Artifact of Death]]▼
▲** Another Doomstone appearing in ''The Darke Crusade'' has pretty much the same effect on its wielder, High Warlord Magnaarn. The Scepter of Nyras, on which it is mounted, is a powerful artifact allowing to control the armies of the fallen Darklords... but it is also turning him into an undead servant of the Doomstone itself.
** The AD&D 2nd edition rules gave a chance of accidentally creating one of these ''anytime'' a character crafts some magical item.▼
▲** The Death Staff from ''The Legacy of Vashna'' is also a quite deadly artifact. Just touching it causes Lone Wolf to lose [[Hit Points]], and it drains some more every time it is used.
* Most daemon weapons in ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' tend to lead to their owner's death eventually. That is, if they're lucky... But if they're ''very'' lucky, it leads to death and ascension to [[Eldritch Abomination|Daemon Prince.]]▼
▲** Given their very evil origins (the Doomstones were created by Naar's most powerful servant [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Agarash the Damned]] and the Death Staff was forged by Naar himself) this makes perfect sense. The only ones who can use these things without any consequences are supernatural beings of pure evil such as the Darklords and the Deathlord of Ixia.
** The [[Heroic RROD|Spear of Ulthanash]] is a specifically mentioned example; it was once considered too dangerous to use because it binds itself to the user and slowly drains his soul, until [[Godzilla Threshold|the Tyranids attacked the Craftworld where it was sealed away]] and Yriel had to take the Spear from stasis to kill the central beast of the [[Hive Mind]] and drive the Tyranids from his home.▼
▲** The [[Big Bad]] of Book 7 avoided the lethal side effects of using a Doomstone by coupling it with one of the Lorestones in a [[Yin-Yang Bomb]].
* The [[Infinity+1 Sword|Sword of Khaine]] in ''[[Warhammer]]'' is an immensely powerful weapon forged at the beginning of time by the elvish smith god. Unfortunately, it tends to bring doom and madness on anyone who wields it, most notably the man whose son started the great elvish civil war of eons past.▼
* The ''[[Champions]] Universe'' of superheroes had the Juggernaut suit of power armour which can turn any ordinary schlub into someone able to throw down with the strongest superhumans on Earth. However it's powered by a tiny but improperly shielded nuclear reactor so you'll be dead in a matter of months after starting to use it. ▼
=== Tabletop RPG ===
* Many of the more powerful (almost exclusively evil) artifacts in ''[[Warhammer]] Fantasy Battle'' fall into this trope. Especially Skaven -- not only can their normal "wonder weapons" decimate their own troops, but the magic items can cause madness, burn the skin off their arms, turn them into gibbering spawn or even suck them into hell. This doesn't stop them [[Rule of Funny|being used extensively]]. Well, when your army has an explicit rule called [[We Have Reserves|Life Is Cheap]] (a.k.a. "coratteral damage"), you should think about what gadgets you strap yourself into.▼
▲* ''[[Dungeons
▲** ... and which led to the
▲** The AD&D 2nd edition rules gave a chance of accidentally creating one of these ''
▲* The ''[[Champions]] Universe'' of superheroes had the Juggernaut suit of power armour which can turn any ordinary schlub into someone able to throw down with the strongest superhumans on Earth. However it's powered by a tiny but improperly shielded nuclear reactor so you'll be dead in a matter of months after starting to use it.
* ''[[FATAL]]'' is full of these. Any piece of magical armor you find has a 7% chance of having an effect that will kill you. And these are ''uncursed'' items. But if you're actually [[Fate Worse Than Death|playing]] ''[[FATAL]]'', instant death is a fairly tempting prospect.
=== War Games ===
▲* Most daemon weapons in ''[[Warhammer
▲** The [[Heroic RROD|Spear of Ulthanash]] is a specifically mentioned example; it was once considered too dangerous to use because it binds itself to the user and slowly drains his soul, until [[Godzilla Threshold|the Tyranids attacked the Craftworld where it was sealed away]] and Yriel had to take the Spear from stasis to kill the central beast of the [[Hive Mind]] and drive the Tyranids from his home.
* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'':
▲** The [[Infinity+1 Sword|Sword of Khaine]]
▲** Many of the more powerful (almost exclusively evil) artifacts in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] Fantasy Battle'' fall into this trope. Especially
== Toys ==
* ''[[Bionicle]]'': the Ignika, Mask of Life. One of its purposes is a reset button for the Matoran Universe... by taking away all the life in the universe should there be things like a never-ending chaotic conflict. And the more conflict in the universe, the shorter its countdown to death is.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Fate/stay
* In ''[[
* ''[[Castlevania]]''
** Oddly enough, the ''[[Ancestral Weapon|Vampire Killer]]'' in ''Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin''... to the Morris family. Though they're related to the Belmonts by blood, they aren't innately able to use the whip; the Lecarde family can perform a ritual to give them that power. Unfortunately, doing so causes the Vampire Killer to leech the soul from the wielder; overusing it causes them to sicken and die. Jonathan's father was killed by this. Jonathan himself is safe, because it takes more use than is covered in one game.
** In ''[[Order of Ecclesia]]'', Dominus. Its three forms when not combined all do damage to you, but when combined, everything (you included) dies. ''[[Aria of Sorrow]]'' and its sequel also have a soul that steadily drains your health while boosting attack power.
** ''Ecclesia'' also has an equip item that turns you into a [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]] in exchange for hefty stat boosts; [[Shmuck Bait|You'll probably die thanks to its effect plenty of times]].
* The Life Orb of ''[[
* ''[[Uncharted]]'': El Dorado is a giant golden statue which turns out to be a golden '''sarcophagus''' containing a dessicated
* ''[[Final Fantasy]]''
** One of the items you can find in some of the games is the Cursed Ring. Its effect varies from game to game, but VI and VII fit this trope.
*** VI puts you on the clock by Condemning you at the start of a
*** VII is similar. It gives whoever it's equipped to a good stat boost, but there are two major downsides to it: The first being that as soon as the battle starts, the person who it's equipped to has Death Sentence cast upon them, which kills them after 60 seconds have passed (unless you finish the fight before then), and the second being that once it's equipped, it's a physical nightmare to unequip unless you meet certain conditions. Tifa tends to make the most of the curse since two of her weapons get big power boosts when she's Condemned.
**** Also featured in ''[[Crisis Core]] - [[Final Fantasy VII]]''. It gives the stat boosts, but inflicts Curse upon the user which stops their DMW from spinning, preventing Limit Breaks and Level Ups.
** VI also has another "cursed" item, the Cursed Shield. It adds Condemn and a smorgasbord of bad status effects, and has terrible stats. But if it's used enough it'll become uncursed and transform into the Paladin Shield, a high-stat shield which is also one of the few ways to learn the Ultima spell.
* In the [[
* The Rune of Punishment of ''[[Suikoden IV]]'' is a decidedly powerful rune that grants powerful magics to the wielder. The possessor can generally destroy entire fleets of heavily-armed battleships with ease. But such attacks consume a tremendous amount of energy and can easily kill the wielder after using ONE of those blasts. Even worse, the rune itself is heavily hinted to be somewhat sentient, and will actually manipulate events in order to force the wielder to use the rune as such. In other words, if you're unlucky enough to gain command of this rune, you'd best make sure your will is up to date.
* ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3: Corruption''. After your suit has been corrupted by Dark Samus, you run the risk of becoming fully corrupt and turning into Dark Samus (thereby resulting in a [[Game Over]]) whenever you enter Hyper mode. This can be averted, however, by exiting Hyper Mode before the corruption starts, or by firing rapidly to prevent the Phazon overload.
** As a [[Genius Bonus]], the [[Apocalyptic Log|Space Pirate logs]] in the first Metroid Prime mention that Space Pirates exposed to Phazon began firing indiscriminately. The scientists mistook this for a symptom and euthanized the test subjects.
* The Black Marker, Red Marker and Golden Marker in ''[[Dead Space (
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' used to have a wearable cursed trinket as a quest item, until they removed the "wearable" part away in a patch. You were never supposed to actually wear it, simply deliver it to a questgiver, but if you did wear it, it would quickly sap away at your character's life (note that this part is clearly signified in the item description as part of its effects). Nevertheless, some people would pass up on the experience and actual (lackluster) rewards provided by the end of the chain and would choose not to complete it, keeping the
* ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' and its expansion packs have [[Plot Coupon|the diamonds]]. Of everyone who comes into contact with the diamonds only the three protagonists (it is a videogame after all) and the random character (perhaps because he didn't actively pursue them) lives. Four exceptions is a lot but so many other characters do die and the diamonds are the common element.
* The [[MacGuffin Title|eponymous]] Elysian Box from ''[[Professor Layton and
* The amulet from ''[[Solatorobo]]'' [[Powered
* While in-story it's an [[Empathic Weapon]] [[Artifact of Doom|of evil]], [[Soul Series|Soul Edge]] in-game is this for most characters in Soulcalibur II, whether its gradual over time or whenever you hit attack, though in some cases if you land a hit get an equal amount of health back. And everyone has their own version of this, even the guest characters.
* ''[[
* [[Nethack]] has the [[Exactly What It Says
== Web Comics
* In ''[[Beyond the Canopy]]'', it's strongly implied that the Remnant kills its anchor (a.k.a. the person who takes and uses it) after a few days. This is a problem because the protagonist, Glenn, is the current anchor.
* In ''[[Full Frontal Nerdity]]'' Dean [http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=539 complains] that everything [[Indiana Jones]] brings back is extremely harmful to those around and/or attracts attention of someone who doesn't mind murder if it helps this thing to change hands again.
* Every other person, place, or thing cataloged by the [[SCP Foundation (Wiki)|SCP Foundation]].▼
== Web Original ==
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Happy Tree Friends]]'' takes this trope [[Crosses the Line Twice|to its logical conclusion]] in the short "Treasure These Idol Moments". The idol found can kill off any [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]] in ''seconds''.
* Roger's golden turd, from ''[[
* The Broodwich of ''[[
* In ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]: the Series'', Mozenrath's gauntlet, which is the source of his power but is slowly killing him.
* The short cartoon ''Awfully Lucky'' has the Paradox Pearl, which grants its holder incredibly good
* Played with in ''[[Duckman|Duckman and Cornfed in Haunted Society Plumbers]]'' with a diamond called the [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Sharon Stone]].
{{quote|
'''Huntz''': ''Legend?'' I don't think so. Oh, I suppose you could find some peasant who would say the diamond is cursed...that its very presence can unleash the ''ghastly'' spirits of its former owners...all of whom '''died in unspeakable terror and agony, vowing to return to torment ANY WHO DARED TO POSSESS IT!!!'''
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Plot Device]]
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[[Category:Ancient Artifact]]
[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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