Tropescilloscope: MacGuffin

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

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