— A MacGuffin (a.k.a. McGuffin or maguffin) is a term for a motivating element in a story that is used to drive the plot. It serves no further purpose. It won't pop up again later, it won't explain the ending, it won't do anything except possibly distract you while you try to figure out its significance. In some cases, it won't even be shown.

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It is usually a mysterious package/artifact/superweapon that everyone in the story is chasing. To determine if a thing is a MacGuffin: • Is the nature of the item interchangeable? If it is an object of great value there is little difference between a diamond, priceless painting or exotic statue, the quest surrounding it would differ only trivially.

The plans surrounding its theft would be largely the same, the mission to transport it to a specific place would be largely the same, the investigation to locate it would be the same, etc. Imagine when reading the script, replace the name of the item and ask if the story is all that different.

• Is the nature of the item irrelevant to the plot? All MacGuffins have some extraordinary value, whether it be monetary, prestige, historical significance, supernatural power or forgotten knowledge. These things are often, but not always, explained in detail within the story so that the audience understands the desire. But these elements are not vital to build the plot, any usefulness from having the item is either nonexistent (often due to ) or relegated to the coda of the story and the plot and the desire for the item is over. If it passes both of these criteria, then congratulations - it's a MacGuffin!

Download Trainer Battle Realms Winter Of The Wolf. A common MacGuffin story setup can be summarized as 'Quickly! We must find X before they do!' A standard broader, being anything that motivates a character to get from point A to point B and beyond, which could be as simple as an invitation to the party; the invitation gets the plot going but is not the goal of the characters. Compare, which is an explanation of why the characters are getting into repeated adventures. The term was popularized by, who credited one of his screenwriters, Angus McPhail, with the creation of this concept and the name for it, citing a particular school-boy joke.

'Well then,' says the other, 'That's no MacGuffin'. Hitchcock and Angus McPhail were not the first to formulate this concept. Silent-film actress Pearl White starred in cliffhanger serials (most famously in the film ) in which the characters spent most of their screen time chasing each other for possession of a roll of film, or some other doodad. This device occurred so often in Pearl White's serial films that she routinely referred to the coveted object as a 'weenie', using the term precisely as Hitchcock would later use 'MacGuffin'.

In academic circles this is sometimes called the Golden Fleece, after the artifact from the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. The Fleece was first mentioned by the Greek poet Simonides, which makes this trope. Contrast, for when an object that isn't really a MacGuffin is mistaken for one.

If you want to start that your favourite series' most awesome magical thing isn't a MacGuffin, remember that. Having a MacGuffin is not necessarily bad writing, depending on how it's handled — concretely defining or giving a central role to the object of a chase can detract from a work, if the point is to focus on the characters. MacGuffin sub-tropes: •: When someone breaks the MacGuffin when he needed it. •: If the object itself is inherently irresistible.

•: Inversion of this trope — its most important attribute is that the person who has it wants to be rid of it. •: The MacGuffin is split into several parts and hidden in different places.

Are most often this type of MacGuffin. •: •: The first MacGuffin is given or found with zero effort, compared to subsequent ones. •: Taking a trip with no serious purpose. The reason for the trip may be a MacGuffin or may not.

•: The heroes have the MacGuffin. The Villain has a hostage and wants the MacGuffin. •: The hostage is the MacGuffin, the thing the heroes are searching for. •: A character has the MacGuffin. (S)he dies after giving the MacGuffin to another character (usually the heroes) and asking them to take care of it. •: An irrelevant object turns out to be useful in the end. •: A living being, free (or at least in no danger), who serves as the MacGuffin.

•: The MacGuffin is simply a large amount of cash. •: The good guys get the MacGuffin just in time for the bad guys to steal it from them. Bad guys win! (Temporarily.) •: The good guys get the MacGuffin early on. The rest of the story is about them transporting it somewhere else without losing it.

•: The monster that guards the MacGuffin. •: The MacGuffin isn't a thing or a person, it's a place. •: When multiple groups searching for the MacGuffin find it at the same time and a fight breaks out.

•: The Reveal that the MacGuffin they've been looking for has been with them all along, in the form of one of the characters. •: The MacGuffin is right there in the title of the work. •: The plot where the object that everyone is looking for turns out to have been transformed into a person. •: A MacGuffin that holds sentimental value to one or more characters. •: A gem, a jewel, or a rock of some type that holds great power, that is used as a MacGuffin. •: A sought after for some supernatural ability or quality they have. •: A MacGuffin that turns out to be worthless.

•: A sought after for some mundane ability or quality they have. •: Neither side has the MacGuffin in the end.

It's been destroyed, lost, or discovered to be fake. •: The heroes and villains reach the MacGuffin simultaneously, regardless of how much sense it makes timescale-wise. •: Older than the, and even more likely to be stolen. •: A common manifestation in video games, an item that the player must acquire to advance the plot, but serves no other gameplay purpose.

•: What the bad guys do when they suspect the good guys already have the MacGuffin. May also include ransacked luggage, tearing up the grounds, or even destroying a room or building. •: No one can seem to hold on to it for very long. •: The MacGuffin is a sound rather than a thing, or a thing that must be used to produce the sound.

•: The MacGuffin was a fake, or stolen before the thief got it. •: An otherwise unimportant item from the future that, if left in the past during time travel, will have. •: A MacGuffin is in two pieces and need to be put together for the plot to move forward. See also,,, and. As you might have guessed from the sheer number of, this is a very common in fiction. So common, in fact, that it on. Do not confuse with.

Please, don't. Also not to be confused with the tribe from, or anyone of Scottish descent. • The adventure 'The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues'.

The title Black Box. What it does is eventually revealed, in some versions of the adventure, but it's unlikely your player characters will live long enough to discover it. • The High Programmers variation also recommends throwing in some, side goals for the Ultraviolets to fight over so they can trade them to a NPC. • The 'Honor & Intrigue' system has a character attribute actually called. Taking it turns one of the items in your character's possession into a future MacGuffin.

• Referenced in, where the book uses the term ' to describe a Secret that has no function other than to be the thing everyone wants. For example, a vast hoard of precious metal that may or may not exist, and which is of little use anyway, because the world is coming to an end and there's nothing to buy with that wealth. • In, while much is made of Philoctetes' special bow (received from Herakles himself) the plot itself is not really concerned with its purpose as much as the choices the characters make because of and in spite of its importance. • In, the MacGuffin is a packet containing letters, photographs, jewelry etc.

That were sent to Alice Faulkner's late sister by a foreign gentleman who seduced and ruined her, and the villains want it out of the picture now that he wants to marry. The name of the gentleman is merely whispered inaudibly, and the sister's name is not revealed either. • The Project Orwell software in series 1 of, which is mysteriously absent from the second series. • has a jar of mayonnaise that has been transformed into one. • The Tower of Pimps, a stack of four gold blocks on an obsidian block pedestal, in 's, ' '.

Nothing fancy, just bragging rights material for whoever wins the challenge of the episode. • The dimensional transponder in which turns out to be In the third movie, the Glove of the Animator becomes one as well. • This trope was featured in Episode 2 of the TV Tropes podcast.