History Main / MacGuffinDeliveryService

* In ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', "Monkey Fist Strikes" has Kim go through numerous death traps to retrieve a monkey idol in what may have been a ShoutOut to Indiana Jones, but that night, a ninja creeps into the camp and stole it. Of course, the ninja did turn out to be the masquerading villain all along.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', Aggreggor does this to Ben and co. After disabling each and everyone of the booby traps of the temple where the MacGuffin lies, Aggregor simply steals it from under the heroes' noses when they are too bussy dealing with a DescendingCeiling.

-> ''"[[GenreSavvy We don't want anyone to just like sort of all of a sudden turn up and be like 'Ho ho ho, travelers, thanks for getting the Staff of Magnus for me I'll be taking that'.]] And then we have to like chase him to the end of the Earth and like get the staff back we just want to like- aw shit! *Estormo shows up and tries to do just that*

-> ''"It will eventually turn out that, for a minimum of the first 60% of the game, you were manipulated by the forces of evil into doing their sinister bidding for them. In extreme cases this may go as high as 90%. The clear implication is that it would have been better to not get involved in the first place."''
-->-- '''TheGrandListOfConsoleRolePlayingGameCliches, [[http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html #168]]'''

* TadWilliams' trilogy ''MemorySorrowAndThorn'' turns out to be a giant KansasCityShuffle: the [[DreamingOfThingsToCome prophetic dreams]] many of the protagonists have are [[PropheticFallacy actually sent by the villain]], in order to get them to [[MacGuffinDeliveryService bring the three titular swords together]].

* In ''KamikazeKaitouJeanne'', in both the anime and the manga version, [[spoiler: the titular character spends a good part of the story unknowingly working for the devil]].

* This happens to the titular protagonist of ''{{Shantae}}'' after obtaining the last Elemental Stone. That genie that [[PaperThinDisguise looks suspiciously like]] the BigBad who seemed to know everything about the Stones and would stop at nothing to help you get the last one? You shouldn't have been so surprised when you exited the dungeon only to be tackled and robbed by her.

* In ''{{Summoner}}'', you spend the first [[spoiler:third of the game]] gathering up the four Rings of Summoning so that you can turn yourself into an invincible warrior by using the Forge of Urath on your ringed hand. [[spoiler:As it turns out, all that does is burn off your hand, release four demigodly demons trapped within the rings, and allow your traitorous girlfriend to sell you off to TheEmpire. All thanks to your mentor, who was possessed by the most powerful of the demons]]. Now you need to [[spoiler:beg the Khosani for four new rings, and imprison all four demons again]]. NiceJobBreakingItHero.

* In {{monster rancher}} the good guys have the magic stone which they have to keep moo from getting so he doesn't cause the end of the world as we know it. It isn't until the near the end when lilim attacks holy, grabs the stone gives it a long kiss and leaves and the good guys don't ever get it back.

** In ''[[VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves Among Thieves]]'', Drake wouldn't even be involved except the bad guys keep sending him to fetch stuff. Flynn "helps" Drake steal the first treasure map, waits for him to decipher it, then strands him for the cops. He spends ''three months'' in a Turkish prison for his trouble. When he gets out, he goes chasing after the bad guys to steal back the treasure. The bad guys are so stupid that he finds another map in less than three minutes - and the bad guys take it from him and try to kill him. He escapes and finds a ''third'' map - and they try to kill him '''again'''. When they catch him again after he finds another clue, they've figured out that they need him to finally get to the MacGuffin, and offer him a SadisticChoice - and try to kill him again once he helps them again.
*** At one point the BigBad gets pissed at Flynn's performance, pointing out that Drake has been one step ahead of them most of the time. He even wonders if he should have just hired Drake in the first place.

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', Lloyd and his friends end up playing this role during [[spoiler:the Journey of Salvation]], when they end up powering the MacGuffin ([[spoiler:[[MacGuffinGirl Colette]]]]) and unwittingly hand it right over to TheDragon (luckily, [[EnemyMine Yuan]] intervenes). They end up doing ''the exact same thing again'' when [[spoiler:they cure Colette's crystallization sickness only to ill-advisedly attack the BigBad's lair, who was of course expecting them and instantly recaptures Colette.]]

* In ''[[Film/LaraCroftTombRaider Tomb Raider II: The Cradle of Life]]'', Lara goes through all the trouble of locating the elusive Pandora's Box and finding it, for the BigBad to show up at just the right moment to seize it.

* Both ''NationalTreasure'' movies involve the BigBad luring Benjamin Gates into some treasure hunt filled with riddles, letting him do the hard work in solving them and leading the villain to the treasure. Gates is [[JumpedAtTheCall all too willing]].

* In the original ''VideoGame/TombRaider'', Lara inadvertently helps Natla reclaim her original Scion piece, and also the other two.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Klonoa}} 2'', Klonoa has retrieved three [[CosmicKeystone Elements]] and hands them over to wise man Baguji. As it turns out, the villain, Leorina, was dressed as Baguji and can now proceed to cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

-> ''"It will eventually turn out that, for a minimum of the first sixty percent of the game you were manipulated by the forces of evil into doing their sinister bidding for them. In extreme cases this may go as high as 90%. The clear implication is that it would have been better to not get involved in the first place."''

* In ''Videogame/DarkParables: The Red Riding Hood Sisters'', the Wolf Queen needs Moon Essence, which is sealed inside the shrine of the moon goddess. Only the Elder Sister, who leads the Red Riding Hood Sisters, can access this; however, in light of current circumstances, the detective is permitted to do so instead. So the Wolf Queen just waits while the detective does all the work, then takes the element.

* In ''CaptainAmerica Annual'' #13, the RedSkull is after Hitler's Strongbox. The Skull learns the strongbox is located in the castle of Albert Malik, the Communist who impersonated the Skull in the 1950s. The Skull, knowing that Captain America will not resist attempting to stop him, issues a challenge which contains the strongbox's location. Cap makes his way through Malik's booby-trapped dungeon to the vault. At which point the Skull comes up behind Cap, death ray in hand, and tells him "I must thank you for activating all the many defenses Malik devised to protect the true strongbox." When an angry Cap declares "So you didn't arrive here first! You maneuvered me into being your stalking horse!" the Skull responds "You should feel flattered. I had so much faith in you surviving Malik's death traps, I followed hard on your heels."

** Hilariously subverted in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. Indy goes to Berlin to get his father's Grail diary from a book burning. But after getting it back, he gets mixed up by a crowd and bumps into ''Adolf Hitler himself''. [[RefugeInAudacity Indy literally hands Hitler the book]] explaining everything about the Holy Grail, its location, and how to retrieve it safely. Hitler has absolutely no idea of the book's significance, and mistakes Indy for an autograph hunter, quickly signing the book before moving on.

* Averted in ''Chouja {{Reideen}}'', where the heroes are completely unaware of the {{MacGuffin}}s' existence until late in the series.

* This was used on the NES ''NinjaGaiden'' game: Ryu Hayabusa gained one of the two Demon Statues that would awaken Jashin, only to have to give them up to Jaquio who was holding Irene Lew hostage. He was then promptly dropped down a conveniently non-lethal pit for his trouble.

** The Orange Islands saga started with the heroes being sent by Professor Oak to Valencia Island to collect the mysterious GS Ball, and then taking it to Kurt the Pokéball expert in Azalea Town, in Johto.

** Same in ''Tomb Raider 2'', ''Tomb Raider 3'', ''Tomb Raider Revelatio-'' Okay, this happens a lot. Pretty much the basic plot of every game is Lara beating the villain to the treasure of the game, then ''somehow'' losing it to the baddie anyway and having to tackle a supernatural final boss.
** Zig-zagged in the case of ''Tomb Raider 3'', in that Lara collects the final four artifacts in the game for her employer, Dr. Willard. While his claimed intentions were that of merely archaeological curiosity, it turns out that he was using Lara to collect the artifacts to power up [[MadScientist an ancient laboratory of "accelerated evolution"]]. [[spoiler:Having seen the results of previous experiments, resulting in grotesque and vicious mutations of the human guinea pigs, Lara turns rogue and later kills Dr. Willard, getting the artifacts back.]]
* ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic Adventure]]'' uses the Chaos Emeralds this way.
** Erazor Djinn too in ''Sonic and the Secret Rings''. And he almost killed Sonic, too!

** And ''FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' has you doing the ''exact'' same thing, except at least this time it's mentioned that the villains ''might'' be able to get through the seal using brute force.

* ''BatenKaitos'' does this with the End Magnus.
** Except [[EvilOverlord Geldoblame]] himself [[UnwittingPawn is being manipulated]] by [[spoiler: [[NotSoHarmlessVillain Melodia]], [[TreacherousAdvisor Fadroh]], and Kalas]].

* ''TheLibrarian: Quest for the Spear.'' If the Sword of Destiny hasn't been found in all these years, why don't they assume it's safe where it is?

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' [[spoiler: the MacGuffin had been swapped for a fake]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', Aggreggor does this to Ben and co. After disabling each and everyone of the booby traps of the temple where the MacGuffin lies, Aggregor simply steals it from under the heroes' noses when they are too bussy dealing with a [[TheWallsAreClosingIn crushing ceiling]].

* ''Film/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympiansTheLightningThief'' invokes this. [[spoiler: Percy was used to carry the master bolt to Hades by Luke. After that, he delivers it to Zeus. Of course, some of the gods thought Percy was the original thief from the start, for no adequately explained reason.]]
* In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', Quill retrieves the Orb of Power at the start, then carries it around for half the movie, only to have it taken away from him by Ronan, the very villain that the heroes were trying to prevent from obtaining it. This happens as a result of [[spoiler:Drax, one of the heroes who has a vendetta against Ronan, drunk-dialling Ronan to finally meet him in battle (he loses).]]

* In ''The Lightning Thief'' [[spoiler: Percy is used by Luke and Ares in an attempt to deliver Zeus's master lightning bolt to Kronos. He then needs to deliver it to Zeus to prevent a war of the gods.]]

-> ''"It will eventually turn out that, for a minimum of the first sixty percent of the game you were manipulated by the forces of evil into doing their sinister bidding for the. In extreme cases this may go as high as 90%. The clear implication is that it would have been better to not get involved in the first place."''