Tropescilloscope: MacGuffin

An object that, while not relevant to the main narrative, is frequently pursued throughout it. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Central Theme Auto Erotica Jitter Cam Reality Is Unrealistic Historical Villain Upgrade The Dog Bites Back The Cavalry Pragmatic Adaptation No Antagonist Irony This Is Gonna Suck Pretty in Mink Aside Glance It's Personal Destination Defenestration Eldritch Abomination Shut Up, Hannibal! Scenery Gorn Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Gainax Ending The Un-Reveal Mexican Standoff Take a Third Option Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Laughing Mad Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Fantasy Films Sassy Black Woman Retcon Left the Background Music On Animal Title Index Motor Mouth Armor-Piercing Question Revenge French Films Woman in White Bad Boss Psychopathic Manchild Gone Horribly Right The Cameo Faux Affably Evil Cool Car Almost Kiss Depraved Bisexual Have a Gay Old Time Dark Reprise Take That! Epic Fail All Girls Want Bad Boys Black Dude Dies First Insistent Terminology Bad "Bad Acting" Faking the Dead Yandere Star-Crossed Lovers Zombie Stories Flipping the Bird Offscreen Moment of Awesome Brainless Beauty Anachronic Order The Load Neck Lift Heel Realization Cat Scare As Long as It Sounds Foreign Lampshade Hanging Spiritual Successor The Stoner Christmas Movies Index Non-Indicative Name Fingore Big Bad Duumvirate Expy Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Foreshadowing Obviously Evil Cain and Abel Stealth Hi/Bye Serious Business Slashed Throat Unwitting Instigator of Doom Plucky Comic Relief Unusual Euphemism Ungrateful Bastard Same Language Dub Girl-on-Girl Is Hot All Just a Dream Vomit Indiscretion Shot Action Girl Love at First Sight As the Good Book Says... He Who Fights Monsters Fan Disservice Spell My Name with an "S" A Minor Kidroduction Bilingual Bonus Hope Spot Batman Gambit Canon Foreigner Bound and Gagged Villain Protagonist Film Noir Wham Line Badass in a Nice Suit Evil Is Petty Bald of Evil Spanner in the Works Bolivian Army Ending Honor Before Reason Artistic License – Biology In Name Only Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Hate Sink Spiteful Spit Storming the Castle Mr. Fanservice Deadpan Snarker Too Dumb to Live Bait-and-Switch No Name Given Sinister Minister Punch-Clock Villain Retired Badass Red Oni, Blue Oni Dying Moment of Awesome Training Montage Index of Film Westerns The Vamp An Arm and a Leg Ghost Fiction Setting Update Made of Explodium Sci-Fi Horror Immune to Bullets She Cleans Up Nicely Hair-Trigger Temper Country Matters Posthumous Character Downer Ending Double Entendre Only Known by Their Nickname Big Applesauce Artistic License – Gun Safety Credits Gag All for Nothing Sanity Slippage Fantastic Racism Pimped-Out Dress Intergenerational Friendship Back from the Dead Death of a Child Death by Adaptation The Bully Those Two Guys Roaring Rampage of Revenge Pragmatic Villainy Parental Substitute Fate Worse than Death Body Horror One Steve Limit Bunny-Ears Lawyer Loads and Loads of Characters All Men Are Perverts The Oner Eureka Moment Sealed Evil in a Can Heel–Face Turn Sir Swears-a-Lot And Starring Dramatic Gun Cock Blood Knight Guile Hero The Lancer Slasher Movie Dark and Troubled Past The Alcoholic What the Hell, Hero? Insane Troll Logic You Have Failed Me Determinator You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Would Hurt a Child Vitriolic Best Buds Villain Song '80s Hair Artistic License – History Poor Communication Kills Due to the Dead The Stinger Playing Gertrude Love Triangle Cat Fight German Films Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Asshole Victim Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Title Drop No OSHA Compliance Fat Bastard Last-Name Basis Moment Killer Bloody Hilarious Oh, Crap! Character Development Easily Forgiven Action Survivor Enemy Mine Hypocrite Early Installment Weirdness Crucified Hero Shot Parental Incest Would Hit a Girl Real Life Writes the Plot Informed Ability Actually Pretty Funny Stuff Blowing Up Politically Incorrect Villain Pyrrhic Victory Shower Scene Dwindling Party Idiot Ball No-Sell Even Evil Has Standards Badass Grandpa Fatal Family Photo Evil Sounds Deep Those Two Bad Guys Film Series Morality Pet The Mafia Determinator aka: The Determinator Beard of Evil An Axe to Grind Bland-Name Product Adaptation Expansion The Lost Lenore Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Even Evil Has Loved Ones Straight Gay Car Fu The Ace Shown Their Work Guns Akimbo Naïve Newcomer Belligerent Sexual Tension Death by Sex Jump Scare Reckless Gun Usage Manic Pixie Dream Girl Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Bi the Way Did Not Get the Girl Death by Irony Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Blood from the Mouth Adults Are Useless The Smart Guy Up to Eleven Dull Surprise Decoy Protagonist Famous Last Words Romantic False Lead Badass Normal She's Got Legs Closed Circle What Happened to the Mouse? The Smurfette Principle Daddy's Girl Happily Married Death Glare Shout-Out Crazy Jealous Guy Expository Hairstyle Change Artistic License – Physics Defiant to the End Fake Shemp Shirtless Scene Extremely Short Timespan Mind Screw Heterosexual Life-Partners Evil-Detecting Dog The Hero Dies Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Disappeared Dad Video Credits Tranquil Fury Adapted Out Greater-Scope Villain Diabolus ex Machina Light Is Not Good Jerkass Has a Point Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Nothing Is Scarier Mistaken for Gay Cool Shades Monumental Damage Establishing Character Moment Historical Hero Upgrade Leave the Camera Running Time Skip Sexy Discretion Shot I Need a Freaking Drink One-Man Army Overly Long Gag Police Brutality Berserk Button Fainting Implacable Man Karmic Death Evil Cannot Comprehend Good A God Am I Artistic License – Military True Companions Captain Obvious Sacrificial Lion Dirty Coward More Dakka All There in the Script Affectionate Parody Overprotective Dad Parental Neglect Not Quite Dead Dirty Cop Bottomless Magazines Works Set in World War II The '60s Our Vampires Are Different Black Best Friend Darker and Edgier Beta Couple Line-of-Sight Name Took a Level in Badass Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Covers Always Lie Knife Nut Small Name, Big Ego Gory Discretion Shot Darkest Hour Taking the Bullet Sole Survivor Documentary Suspiciously Specific Denial Damsel in Distress Adaptation Distillation Black Comedy Rape Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies N-Word Privileges Casting Gag Wicked Cultured Actor Allusion The Brute As You Know Wrong Genre Savvy Mad Scientist Daylight Horror Ass Shove Dissonant Serenity Genre Shift Needs Wiki Magic Love Hell Is That Noise Cool Guns No Ending War Is Hell Running Gag Arranged Marriage Hong Kong Films Rule of Cool Loophole Abuse Product Placement In the Back folderlabel MacGuffin Worthy Opponent Aluminum Christmas Trees Ambiguous Ending Undying Loyalty Offscreen Teleportation I'm a Humanitarian Make It Look Like an Accident Ship Tease Brother–Sister Incest Evil Is Hammy Ambiguously Gay Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Bloodier and Gorier Based on a True Story Hero Antagonist Jerk with a Heart of Gold Karma Houdini Half the Man He Used to Be Novelization Race Lift I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Henpecked Husband The Chick Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! In Medias Res Stylistic Suck Domestic Abuse Exact Words Accidental Murder Crapsack World Twist Ending Wretched Hive Cool Old Guy Dual Wielding The Great Depression Leitmotif An Aesop Super Strength Badass Boast Improbable Aiming Skills Animal Motifs Deus ex Machina Black and Gray Morality Ascended Extra Arch-Enemy Evil Brit Meaningful Echo Animated Credits Opening Obstructive Bureaucrat Adaptational Attractiveness "Shaggy Dog" Story Curse Cut Short Canadian Movies Call-Forward Anachronism Stew Book-Ends Fiery Redhead Bowdlerise Disguised in Drag Wham Shot Mystery and Detective Films Cool Old Lady Fanservice Creative Closing Credits Final Girl Military and Warfare Films Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Action Genre Gender Flip Market-Based Title Drives Like Crazy Race Against the Clock Composite Character Kids Are Cruel 20 Minutes into the Future Arc Words "The Reason You Suck" Speech Camera Abuse It's All About Me Cowboy Cop Kick the Dog Big Eater Cassandra Truth Unresolved Sexual Tension Scenery Porn Anyone Can Die Self-Deprecation Ripped from the Headlines Major Injury Underreaction Disney Villain Death Everyone Has Standards Breaking the Fourth Wall Heroes Want Redheads Call-Back Spared by the Adaptation Smoking Is Cool Laser-Guided Karma Silent Movie Bavarian Fire Drill Japanese Films Creepy Child Interrupted Suicide Toplessness from the Back The Place Abusive Parents Catapult Nightmare Captain Ersatz And the Adventure Continues Freudian Excuse Dropped a Bridge on Him Mercy Kill Police are Useless Biopic Unusually Uninteresting Sight Age Lift Re-Cut Shoot the Shaggy Dog Red Right Hand Unreliable Narrator Broken Bird Deliberately Monochrome Villainous Breakdown Bond One-Liner Face–Heel Turn Nice Guy Better to Die than Be Killed Only in It for the Money Only One Name Rousing Speech Television Movie Index Blatant Lies Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Beware the Nice Ones Impaled with Extreme Prejudice "Awesome McCool" Name Artistic License – Law Big Damn Heroes Vampire Fiction Word of God Despair Event Horizon Comically Missing the Point Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Protagonist Title As Himself Red Herring Accidental Misnaming Psychological Thriller The Remake The Mole Epic Movie Demonic Possession Award-Bait Song Big-Bad Ensemble Visual Pun Bloodless Carnage Tagline Match Cut Butt-Monkey Friend to All Children Manchild Redemption Equals Death World of Ham Action Prologue Flashback You Killed My Father B-Movie Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Male Gaze Artistic License – Geography Adaptational Heroism Tap on the Head Not So Above It All Large Ham Took a Level in Jerkass Dramedy Getting Crap Past the Radar Beauty Is Never Tarnished Reasonable Authority Figure Villain Opening Scene Coming-of-Age Story Frame-Up Dark Is Not Evil Badass Bookworm Papa Wolf Meet Cute Shell-Shocked Veteran Recycled IN SPACE! Kick the Son of a Bitch Pet the Dog Blackmail The Dragon Sadistic Choice Kill 'em All Rape as Drama Red Eyes, Take Warning From Bad to Worse Eye Scream Narrator "Well Done, Son!" Guy Not Using the "Z" Word The Starscream Real Life Annoying Younger Sibling Chekhov's Gunman Off-into-the-Distance Ending A.I. Is a Crapshoot Alliterative Name Sports Stories Leaning on the Fourth Wall Five-Man Band Rewatch Bonus Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Dirty Old Man Cold-Blooded Torture Continuity Nod Fire-Forged Friends There Is No Kill Like Overkill Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Adaptational Villainy Fatal Flaw Never Trust a Trailer Meaningful Name Anti-Villain Suddenly SHOUTING! Room Full of Crazy Killed Mid-Sentence Homage Adaptation Name Change Token Minority My Beloved Smother Failed a Spot Check Big Brother Instinct Broken Aesop Broken Pedestal Very Loosely Based on a True Story Soundtrack Dissonance Ironic Echo Be Careful What You Wish For Ambiguous Disorder Meaningful Background Event I Have Your Wife Rasputinian Death The Ghost Bullying a Dragon Australian Movies Distracted by the Sexy Show Within a Show Good Is Not Nice Femme Fatale Male Frontal Nudity Reality Has No Subtitles What You Are in the Dark Author Avatar Silence Is Golden No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Pre-Mortem One-Liner Our Zombies Are Different Driven to Suicide The Hero Malevolent Masked Men Does This Remind You of Anything? It Will Never Catch On Superhero Bar Brawl Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Reality Ensues Mighty Whitey The Big Guy Extreme Doormat Mama Bear The Quiet One Obfuscating Stupidity Bring My Brown Pants For the Evulz Card-Carrying Villain Early-Bird Cameo Four-Temperament Ensemble Shipper on Deck Brick Joke Together in Death Villain with Good Publicity Missing Mom Big Bad Off with His Head! Random Events Plot Pretty Little Headshots Your Cheating Heart Advertised Extra Fourth Date Marriage Truth in Television Eyepatch of Power Vacation Films Drill Sergeant Nasty Taking You with Me My Greatest Failure Public Domain Feature Films Older Than They Look Smug Snake Only a Flesh Wound Science Fiction Films Camp Gay Screw the Rules, I Have Money! The End... Or Is It? Tempting Fate Psycho for Hire Betty and Veronica Not Even Bothering with the Accent Danny Peary Cult Movies List Ugly Guy, Hot Wife After the End Green-Eyed Monster Not So Different Victoria's Secret Compartment Alpha Bitch Contrived Coincidence Grey and Gray Morality O.O.C. Is Serious Business Men Are the Expendable Gender Maybe Ever After Here We Go Again! Slasher Smile Ms. Fanservice Gorn Translation Convention The Ditz Hollywood Law Becoming the Mask Curb-Stomp Battle I Just Shot Marvin in the Face It Can Think Throwing Your Sword Always Works Cloudcuckoolander Never Found the Body Babies Ever After Italian Films Whole Plot Reference Awesome, but Impractical The Sociopath Stepford Smiler Scare Chord The X of Y Well-Intentioned Extremist Russian Films Rule of Funny Cruel and Unusual Death The Musical The '70s Those Wacky Nazis The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Totally Radical Celebrity Paradox Improbable Weapon User Foregone Conclusion Bond Villain Stupidity Madness Mantra La Résistance Dressing as the Enemy Lighter and Softer Adult Fear Creator Cameo Knight Templar Cluster F-Bomb Historical-Domain Character Improvised Weapon Anti-Hero Humiliation Conga Thriller Gilligan Cut The Faceless Disproportionate Retribution timeperiod Agony of the Feet Bury Your Gays Death Seeker Does Not Like Shoes Attempted Rape A Father to His Men Earn Your Happy Ending Mood Whiplash Riddle for the Ages Dramatic Irony Never My Fault Ax-Crazy I Did What I Had to Do Heroic Sacrifice Mythology Gag Adorkable The '50s Crazy-Prepared Evil vs. Evil Plot Hole Foil Music Stories Dogged Nice Guy Insult Backfire Only Sane Man Outrun the Fireball Film Noir Index Put on a Bus Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Horror Films Jerkass Groin Attack Break the Haughty Suspiciously Similar Substitute Important Haircut Face Death with Dignity The '90s Dark Action Girl Costume Porn Didn't Think This Through Logo Joke For Want of a Nail The Bad Guy Wins BFG The Chessmaster Manipulative Bastard Hero of Another Story How We Got Here Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Mr. Exposition Fish out of Water Get Out! Serial Killer Department of Redundancy Department Eiffel Tower Effect Once More, with Clarity! Dies Wide Open Romantic Comedy Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue And I Must Scream He Knows Too Much Sequel Escalation Exactly What It Says on the Tin Abhorrent Admirer Intrepid Reporter Hollywood Darkness Stock Footage Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Genre Throwback A Date with Rosie Palms NO INDOOR VOICE Rated M for Manly Paper-Thin Disguise Amusing Injuries British Films Slap-Slap-Kiss Dutch Angle Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Break the Cutie The Casanova Evil Plan Peek-a-Boo Corpse Red Shirt Every Car Is a Pinto No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Grievous Bottley Harm Boom, Headshot! Noodle Incident Wounded Gazelle Gambit Defrosting Ice Queen Evil Counterpart Funny Foreigner Martial Arts Movie The Alleged Car Naked People Are Funny Manly Tears Double-Meaning Title Hypocritical Humor Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Trailers Always Spoil Brutal Honesty Retirony Nice Hat Drowning My Sorrows Precision F-Strike Drugs Are Bad Parental Abandonment The Film of the Book Neck Snap Adaptation Dye-Job Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass The '80s Historical In-Joke Punny Name Married to the Job Big "NO!" Authority Equals Asskicking Fun with Acronyms Amoral Attorney Antagonist Title Humans Are Bastards Black Comedy Made of Iron Facial Horror Skewed Priorities Disney Death Apocalypse How Heroic BSoD Bare Your Midriff Deliberate Values Dissonance Fanservice Extra Big Fancy House No Celebrities Were Harmed Ominous Latin Chanting Sequel Hook Lock and Load Montage Instant Death Bullet Properly Paranoid Chiaroscuro Gold Digger Corrupt Corporate Executive Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday One-Word Title Mundane Made Awesome Conspicuous CG Villain Ball Bitch in Sheep's Clothing My God, What Have I Done? Adaptational Badass Handicapped Badass Horror Comedy Scary Black Man Air-Vent Passageway Freeze-Frame Bonus Eagleland Alas, Poor Villain The Stoic Funny Background Event Say My Name Mugging the Monster Empathic Environment Not What It Looks Like Combat Pragmatist Stealth Pun Affably Evil Demoted to Extra Vomit Discretion Shot All There in the Manual Genre Savvy The Dreaded Chewing the Scenery Pay Evil unto Evil Gratuitous English Author Appeal Dumb Blonde Evil Laugh Not So Stoic Badass Longcoat The Atoner Kubrick Stare Jerk Jock Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Developing Doomed Characters Unspoken Plan Guarantee Imagine Spot The Power of Love Bittersweet Ending Rule of Symbolism Stalker with a Crush Anguished Declaration of Love Man on Fire Refuge in Audacity Corpsing Hoist by His Own Petard Rule of Three The Reveal May–December Romance Really Gets Around The Voiceless From Nobody to Nightmare Let's Get Dangerous! Deal with the Devil You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Your Head A-Splode Mooks Hidden Depths Chekhov's Skill Children Are Innocent Hooker with a Heart of Gold Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Rich Bitch Redshirt Army Framing Device Deconstruction Soft Glass Names to Run Away from Really Fast Kill It with Fire Woman Scorned Calling the Old Man Out Catch-Phrase Chekhov's Gun Chase Scene