History Main / MacGuffinDeliveryService

* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'':

* The ending of ''VideoGame/WarioLandSuperMarioLand3'' sees Wario finally uncovering the Princess Peach statue underneath Syrup Castle, only for [[spoiler:Mario to fly in with his helicopter and airlift the statue away]].

* In ''FilmBulletToBeijing'', Harry Palmer is told by his contact Louis that one component of a deadly biological weapon will be on the bullet train to Beijing. When the train is nearly at its destination, Harry discovers that the vial is [[spoiler:in the doll that Louis's grandson gave him before he began]].

* In ''Bullet to Beijing'', Harry Palmer is told by his contact Louis that one component of a deadly biological weapon will be on the bullet train to Beijing. When the train is nearly at its destination, Harry discovers that the vial is [[spoiler:in the doll that Louis's grandson gave him before he began]].

* The second season of ''{{WesternAnimation/Amphibia}}'' involves the girls visiting three ancient temples to recharge the Calamity Box to get home -- only for [[spoiler:Sasha and Grime]] to steal the box afterward. In a variation, their actual objective was using the opportunity to stage a coup against [[TheGoodKing King Andrias]]; getting the fully-powered Box in the process was merely a side benefit. [[spoiler:Played straight with [[BitchInSheepsClothing Andrias himself]], who pointed them towards the temples in the first place. He manipulates Anne into giving him the Box, only to reveal that it's the key to Newtopia's LostTechnology, which he intends on using to become a DimensionalConqueror]].

* The villain in ''League of Light: Dark Omens'' tricked the main character into spending most of the game retrieving the special key needed to open the throne room where the Dark Lord's body had been sealed by the hero who last defeated him.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' Ganondorf pulls one, when [[spoiler:he storms into the Temple of Time just as Link has gotten all of the Spiritual Stones, played the Song of Time on the Ocarina of Time, and grabbed the Master Sword. Turns out that Ganondorf had been following Link the whole time so the kid could do all the dirty work and the 'pure of heart' junk for him.]] After the TimeSkip, he does it ''again''. [[spoiler:This time the Macguffins are the Triforce pieces of Wisdom and Courage that Zelda and Link possess. He captures Zelda the moment she removes her disguise and challenges Link to rescue her.]]
** And in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', Zant does the same thing [[spoiler:by taking the assembled Fused Shadow pieces that Link and Midna collected.]]
** Veran's MDS in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Ages]]'' backfires badly. Learning that the Western Woods hide [[KryptoniteFactor Mystery Seeds that can harm her]], she has the Queen Ambi offer a reward for the one who will find them. She somehow [[VillainBall fails to realize]] that a) there's another Mystery Seeds tree in Labrynna b) seeds regrow on the same tree after a while. Instead, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Link gets bombs that allow him to enter the second dungeon]].
* A variation occurs in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga''. The brothers are racing to find the legendary Chuckola Reserve soda to cure Queen Bean, but the self-proclaimed "shadow thief" Popple also wants to get his hands on it. At one point in the forest, the Bros. have to use their new Hammer techniques to get three Chuckola fruits to pass a guardian. Once the Bros. get all three, the guardian lets them pass... at which point Popple and Co. come out of the bushes, enthused about how, since they couldn't get through the gate, their plan to wait for someone else to come and open it worked! The Bros. are not amused.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', a mission on [[spoiler: the Asari homeworld of Thessia]] has [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard]] activate the [[spoiler: Prothean VI in their temple]] only to [[spoiler: lose the fight against Cerberus assassin Kai Leng, and have it taken away by him.]]

* In ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge'', Guybrush spends more than half the game collecting four map pieces to the legendary treasure of Big Whoop, only for the two bad guys [=LeChuck=] and Largo (who twiddled their thumbs the whole time whilst Guybrush was out retrieving the map pieces) snatch it off the cartographer he leaves it with.
* In the ''Aftermath'' expansion for ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'', [[spoiler:Shang Tsung warns Liu Kang that without Kronika's Crown, the Hourglass will break and history will cease to exist. He volunteers to recover it, with Fujin and Nightwolf as elected chaperones to keep an eye on Shang Tsung, because... well, he's [[ManipulativeBastard Shang Tsung]]. The delivery boy, ironically enough, is Shang Tsung himself, who Liu Kang distorted history around using what limited control he had of the Hourglass to enable his victory based on what Liu Kang knew of his behavior. How well this works out for the Champion of Mortal Kombat is for the player to decide.]]
* This is [[spoiler:the entire plot]] of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception'''s Konquest mode.
* There is a ''VideoGame/NancyDrew'' game where you discover that the Aztec stone pillar is hollow and contains an important artifact. When you open it, the villain immediately appears, takes the artifact, and shuts you inside the pillar (from whence you have to escape). There's no option of, say, just telling people that the pillar opens.
* This was used on the NES ''VideoGame/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.
* This happens in ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' -- partly. Having retrieved the Fox Rods from [[spoiler:inside the Water Dragon]], Amaterasu then proceeds to hand them over to Rao, [[spoiler:who then turns out to be Ninetails in disguise]].
* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' has a double example. When you fight TheDragon who has the last of the PlotCoupons, he tells you that he was just waiting for you to bring the rest to him. After you've collected them all and go up against the BigBad, he tells you that he gave the final PlotCoupon to TheDragon knowing you'd defeat him, so that you'd bring all the PlotCoupons to the final area.
** And if, by chance, TheDragon managed to beat them, the BigBad would also be able to get to the final area. It was set up so that [[XanatosGambit whatever the outcome, he'd still win]].
** At least the heroes had a [[JustifiedTrope good reason]] to ''collect'' the Crystal Stars rather than just play KeepAway with some of them; the enchantment sealing the Thousand-Year Door was weakening. If the heroes had refused to use the Stars to open the Door, it would eventually have opened of its own accord. And even if the heroes wouldn't be ''opening'' the Door, they would still need the Crystal Stars to re-seal it. The weakening enchantment ends up being a ''plot point''; the heroes only opened the door themselves because they were tricked into thinking that the villains had entered ahead of them.
** And then in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', [[spoiler:[[TheDragon Dimentio]] did not care about Count Bleck's plan. He wanted the [[ArtifactOfDoom Chaos Heart]] all for himself]]. But to do this, he needed the power of the [[HeartBeatDown Pure Hearts]] to counter him, so he let you do all that work for him.

** In the first game 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.
** This happened again in ''Risky's Revenge''. After Shantae beats Risky to the Magic Seals, Risky changes tactics and [[spoiler:kidnaps Mimic instead. This puts Shantae in a HostageForMacGuffin situation and]] forces her to hand over all the Magic Seals.
** In ''Shantae and the Pirate's Curse'', Risky invokes this as part of her BatmanGambit, [[spoiler:ordering Shantae to collect all 20 Dark Magic before she confronts the Pirate Master, expecting the (former) half-genie to end up handing it over to the him after they had secretly reverted back to Light Magic, giving her a surprise EleventhHourSuperpower to beat the Pirate Master with]].
** In ''Half-Genie Hero'', Risky surrenders the blueprints to Mimic's Dynamo after a (relatively) easy early boss fight against her. [[spoiler:Truth be told, Risky had tampered with the blueprints so that the device meant to protect Scuttle Town would instead be used to corrupt the magic of the Genie Realm. She comes to collect once the device is fully functional, revealing that Shantae had just spent eighty percent of the entire game assembling Risky's MacGuffin for her.]]

* The second season of ''{{WesternAnimation/Amphibia}}'' involves the girls visiting three ancient temples to recharge the Calamity Box to get home -- only for [[spoiler:Sasha and Grime]] to steal the box afterward. In a variation, their real objective was using the opportunity to overthrow [[TheGoodKing King Andrias]]; getting the fully-powered Box in the process was merely a side benefit. [[spoiler:Played straight with [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Andrias himself]], who informed them about the temples in the first place. He manipulates Anne into giving him the Box, only to reveal that it's the key to Newtopia's LostTechnology, which he intends on using to become a DimensionalConqueror]].

** All the odder, then, that the show's ''third'' episode explicitly had Valmont's QuirkyMinibossSquad discuss and defy the trope:
-->"Listen, new guy. We don't know what power this ox talisman has. Chan might come busting out of there fifty feet tall with laser eyes."

-->'''Blank:''' I'm here for the princess, Skärva. Don't try any funny business. I collected the Eggs of Power, and the Lunchmeat of the Gods, and everything else you hid in your dungeons. I'm ready for whatever you're planning!
-->'''Skärva:''' Oh, good! I've been meaning to do my groceries. Thanks for the help, old ''friend''.
-->'''Blank:''' W-what?
* Subverted with lampshade in the webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'', the "[[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic_plus/series.php?view=archive&chapter=18183&name=narbonic_plus Crystal of Marinia]]" story arc.

-->-- ''LetsPlay/{{Sips}}'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAjOv_7zo6k&feature=youtu.be&t=19m21s Sips Plays Skyrim - Part 37 - Intense Wizardry,]] ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

** In ''Dead Beat'', the villains are all looking for both the Word of Kemmler, and a book to summon TheErlking. Harry is the first to find both, and ends up summoning the Erlking himself to keep the villains from using him...at which point said villains show up, club him over the head, and take both. Notably, Harry at least has the foresight to speed read and memorize the Word of Kemmler as soon as he gets it just in case.

* ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons'' centers around the Rod of Savrille, a magical staff that can control Red Dragons. The Empress wants it after the Council of Mages votes to confiscate her staff of Gold Dragon control, so that she still has a way to stand up to TheArchmage [[BigBad Profion]], and Profion wants it because he's a psychotic, power-hungry lunatic and the ability to control dragons would probably help his ambitions. From there, it's a race between the good guys and the bad guys to get the Rod and deliver it to their patron first.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has an interesting version of this during the Lich King encounter: [[spoiler: After getting him to 10%, he instantly kills the entire raid and reveals his plan to let Fordring assemble the world's greatest warriors (the players), kill them, and resurrect them to form an unstoppable army. The entire fight against him was just a test, to see if they were worthy. Unfortunately for the Lich King, Fording manages to break free from his prison and destroys Frostmourne, reviving the raid and allowing them to finish the Lich King off.]]

* ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons'', as if it weren't enough of a ClicheStorm already.

** Isaac and company manage to do it ''again'' atop Venus Lighthouse, when they [[HostageForMacGuffin try to barter for Sheba's release]] and [[ExactWords fail miserably.]] [[spoiler:Except it turned out that Saturos and Menardi were {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s trying to ''save'' the world, and the Wise One had given Isaac incomplete information.]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' Ganondorf pulls one, when [[spoiler:he storms into the Temple of Time just as Link has gotten all of the Spiritual Stones, played the Song of Time on the Ocarina of Time, and grabbed the Master Sword. Turns out that Ganondorf had been following Link the whole time so the kid could do all the dirty work and the 'pure of heart' junk for him.]] After the TimeSkip, he does it ''again''. [[spoiler:This time the Macguffins are the Triforce pieces of Wisdom and Courage that Zelda and Link possess. He captures Zelda the moment she removes her disguise and challenges Link to rescue her.]]
** And in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', Zant does the same thing [[spoiler:by taking the Fused Shadow pieces that Link and Midna have just spent the last forever collecting.]]
** Veran's MDS in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfAges Oracle of Ages]]'' backfires badly. Learning that the Western Woods hide [[KryptoniteFactor Mystery Seeds that can harm her]], she has the Queen Ambi offer a reward for the one who will find them. She somehow [[VillainBall fails to realize]] that a) there's another Mystery Seeds tree in Labrynna b) seeds regrow on the same tree after a while. Instead, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Link gets bombs that allow him to enter the second dungeon]].

* A variation occurs in [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]. The brothers are racing to find the legendary Chuckola Reserve soda to cure Queen Bean, but the self-proclaimed "shadow thief" Popple also wants to get his hands on it. At one point in the forest, the Bros. have to use their new Hammer techniques to get three Chuckola fruits to pass a guardian. Once the Bros. get all three, the guardian lets them pass... at which point Popple and Co. come out of the bushes, enthused about how, since they couldn't get through the gate, their plan to wait for someone else to come and open it worked! The Bros. are not amused.

* ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'': Henry goes on a bunch of [[FetchQuest fetch quests]] for [[spoiler: "Alice]], in which he retrieves the parts needed for [[spoiler: her machines. This allows her to ready them to turn Boris BrainwashedAndCrazy]].

** An interesting variant happens in the season four where the heroes and villains race to collect the masks that contain the spirits of [[BigBad Tarakudo]]'s generals. [[spoiler:In the end, it does not matter which faction collects all the mask as long as they are collected together, making this FailureIsTheOnlyOption as far as preventing Tarakudo from rising again is concerned]].

* A variation in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}''. [[BigBad Jafar]] specifically recruits Aladdin to retreive the lamp from the Cave of Wonders, promising all its other treasures in return. But after he snatches the lamp, he double-crosses Aladdin, tries to kill him, and then shoves him back into the collapsing cave. Later, it is shown that during the chaos, Aladdin's monkey stole the lamp back from Jafar before they were shoved in, and Aladdin manages to summon the Genie from it. The use of this trope is one of the things taken from the Persian folktale the cartoon is based on.

* In ''Film/TheFifthElement'', Leeloo fights off a squad of Mangalores to retrieve a case of AppliedPhlebotinum stones, only for Zorg to take it from her at gunpoint. [[spoiler:Subverted when the case turns out to be empty; the stones are actually in the body of the Diva Plavalaguna, who takes a bullet during the shootout and reveals their location to Korben as she's dying]].
* In ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'', Film/JamesBond and Melina salvage the ATAC after being attacked by some of Kristatos's mooks, only to surface and find Kristatos and his other mooks, having killed their crew.
* In ''Film/LaraCroftTombRaiderTheCradleOfLife'', 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.
* ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons'', as if it weren't enough of a ClicheStorm already.
* In ''Bullet to Beijing'', Harry Palmer is told by his contact Louis that one component of a deadly biological weapon will be on the bullet train to Beijing. When the train is nearly at its destination, Harry discovers that the vial is [[spoiler:in the doll that Louis's grandson gave him before he began]].
* Both ''Film/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]].
* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' opens with a combination of this and MacguffinEscortMission, with Duke and Ripcord leading the convoy to transport the nanomite missiles.

* 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 ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[spoiler: Thanos becomes aware that the heroes have traveled back in time to collect the stones before he does. He decides to just wait for the Avengers to gather them all up and then attack them to take the stones for himself. Yet in the end, at the critical moment, this is turned against him, because Tony manages to swipe the stones off his gauntlet after he had finally collected every stone and use a nanite imitation of the Infinity Glove to do a Snap of his own]].

* The plot of the Literature/DeptfordMice prequel ''Thomas'' is basically one huge example of this trope. [[spoiler: The difference being, the chessmasters behind the good guys actually ''intend'' the bad guys to get hold of the MacGuffin, because they've left it hallowed and thus useless for resurrecting the monster.]]
* In Creator/DanAbnett's Literature/GauntsGhosts novel ''First & Only'', the villains originally try force and [[RansackedRoom searching his room]] to find something in Gaunt's possession, but eventually decide to try this.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** In ''Dead Beat'', the villains are all looking for both the Word of Kemmler, and a book to summon TheErlking. Harry is the first to find both, and ends up summoning the Erlking himself to keep the villains from using him...at which point said villains show up, club him over the head, and take both. Notably, Harry at least has the foresight to speed read and memorize the Word of Kemmler as soon as he gets it just in case.
** Harry actually ''[[RefugeInAudacity suggests this to the villain]]'' in ''Small Favor'', offering to bring the [[SoulJar coins]] holding Nicodemus's defeated allies ''and'' one of the holy swords used by his nemeses. This was the only reason Harry could come up with for Nicodemus to not just take his prisoner and run. (He tried the coins first and threw in the sword when it was clear that wasn't enough.) [[spoiler:He ends up double-crossing Nicodemus, no shock, and absconds with the sword and the prisoner, but is pickpocketed of the coins during the fight.]]
* In ''[[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians 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.]]
* Inverted in ''Literature/TheAffix'' when [[spoiler:the Gable twins]] bring the jewel back to Matt, following a disastrous NoodleIncident that convinced them it definitely did not want their company.
** And then in ''Literature/TheWellOfMoments'', Maxwell and Jasmine are both pawns on opposite ends of such a ploy. Knowing Jasmine will need the Well and its current owner is no easy target, her anonymous tipster gives Maxwell just enough info since he's both foolish and surprisingly competent enough to steal it himself, and tells Jasmine where to be so she can follow and steal the Well from ''him''. When Jasmine finally discovers who helped her and why, she's greatly amused.
* In ''Literature/TheMagicians'', Quentin ends up not only unwittingly summoning the Beast into Ember's Tomb - a location he'd been magically barred from entering - but also bringing him one of the magical buttons he'd been hunting for all along. As it turns out, Quentin and Co have been dancing to the Beast's tune ever since they arrived in Fillory.

* Subverted on ''Series/BlakesSeven'': The crew of a prison ship find an abandoned space ship in the middle of nowhere and decide to have a few of the convicts go on first to find booby traps. The convicts are the heroes and they take the ship as their own.
* In ''Series/TinMan'', Azkadelia has spent years unsuccessfully searching for the Emerald of the Eclipse, which she needs to bring her plan to plunge the O.Z. into eternal darkness to fruition. Enter DG and friends, who decide that they have to find the Emerald to stop her. Not one of them suggests that they can foil Azkadelia's plot by just sitting down and twiddling their thumbs until the eclipse has passed.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Earthdawn}}'' adventure ''Terror in the Skies". The Tome of Banishment is a collection of rituals that can send Horrors back to their own plane of existence. A Horror tricks the player characters into retrieving it, then steals it from them. If the {{PC}}s can regain it, they can use one of the rituals to banish the Horror.

* ''Franchise/TombRaider''
** In the original ''VideoGame/TombRaider'', Lara inadvertently helps Natla reclaim her original Scion piece, and also the other two.
** Same in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderII'', ''VideoGame/TombRaiderIII'', ''VideoGame/TombRaiderTheLastRevelation''-- 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 III'', 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.]]
** The theme continues in the 2013 reboot and its sequels. Lara's antagonists seem to have worked out a pretty good system by now:\\
1. Make Lara believe you are after Artefact X.\\
2. Watch as Lara solves all the puzzles and traps protecting Artefact X.\\
3. Waltz in and take Artefact X by force.\\
It's a wonder they bother using dynamite to enter tombs at all.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' uses the Chaos Emeralds this way, with Eggman just following everyone around and snatching the Emeralds from them at the most opportune moments.
** Erazor Djinn too in ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheSecretRings''. And he almost killed Sonic, too!

*** This trope is ''almost'' inverted during gameplay, when Cecil and Co. hatch a plan to storm the BigBad's stronghold to get the crystals that they've obtained over the course of the game. Unfortunately, it turns out that the first step our heroes take into the Crystal Room is onto a trap door - even if [[GameplayAndStorySegregation everyone has the 'Float' status]].

*** And then you get a double dose of it later on. [[spoiler: Cid]] taunts you by revealing his plan to travel to Giruvegan, but once you fight through all the baddies you find out that [[spoiler: he never bothered to turn up, and tricked you into travelling to Giruvegan so that you could retrieve the Treaty Blade for him]]. Which is bad enough already, except that...
*** At Giruvegan you discover that [[spoiler: the lost race who live there have been secretly manipulating one of your party members all along, and they give her the Treaty Blade so they can travel to Ridorina - which is where Cid is waiting for them to deliver the blade - because they want her to defeat him and use the blade to create an even more powerful McGuffin which will put the human race back in its place]]. So yeah, definitely one of the "90%" versions of this trope.
* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', to the point where it's a surprise to ''keep'' a Moon Crystal.
* This was used on the NES ''VideoGame/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.
* ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'' does this with the End Magnus. Except [[EvilOverlord Geldoblame]] himself [[UnwittingPawn is being manipulated]] by [[spoiler: [[NotSoHarmlessVillain Melodia]], [[TreacherousAdvisor Fadroh]], and Kalas]].
* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' has a double example. When you fight TheDragon who has the last of the PlotCoupons, he tells you that he was just waiting for you to bring the rest to him. After you've collected them all and go up against the BigBad, he tells you that he gave the final PlotCoupon to TheDragon knowing you'd defeat him, so that you'd bring all the PlotCoupons to the final area.
** And if, by chance, TheDragon managed to beat them, the BigBad would also be able to get to the final area. It was set up so that [[XanatosGambit whatever the outcome, he'd still win]].
** At least the heroes had a [[JustifiedTrope good reason]] to ''collect'' the Crystal Stars rather than just play KeepAway with some of them; the enchantment sealing the Thousand-Year Door was weakening. If the heroes had refused to use the Stars to open the Door, it would eventually have opened of its own accord. And even if the heroes wouldn't be ''opening'' the Door, they would still need the Crystal Stars to re-seal it. The weakening enchantment ends up being a ''plot point''; the heroes only opened the door themselves because they were tricked into thinking that the villains had entered ahead of them.
** And then in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', [[spoiler:[[TheDragon Dimentio]] did not care about Count Bleck's plan. He wanted the [[ArtifactOfDoom Chaos Heart]] all for himself]]. But to do this, he needed the power of the [[HeartBeatDown Pure Hearts]] to counter him, so he let you do all that work for him.
* Pulled off at the end of the VideoGame/TexMurphy installment ''The Pandora Directive.''
** Said MacGuffin is [[spoiler:an alien spaceship filled with AntiMatter]].

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' has a rare justified example, as the player brings the Wraithguard, a magical gauntlet required to handle the tools of Kagrenac, to [[BigBad Dagoth Ur's]] lair in order to sever his (and the Tribunal's) ties to the [[CosmicKeystone Heart of Lorkhan]], which is housed there. If the player were to be slain, Dagoth Ur would then have all the tools necessary to tap into the Heart once again. Justified, since the tools are needed to unbind the Heart and actually kill the PhysicalGod Dagoth Ur.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'':
*** One side quest is based around this trope. (It's even ''called'' "Nothing You Can Possess," in reference to the ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' quote.) A wealthy collector hires you to retrieve a particular carving from a [[TempleOfDoom ruin]]. Upon exiting the ruin, you're immediately accosted by a rival treasure hunter and his hired goons, demanding that you turn over the carving.
*** Something similar happens in the Mages Guild quest where you must retrieve a replacement amulet since the original was stolen. As soon as you grab it, you are confronted by the [[{{Gonk}} butt-ugly]] Nord whom [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo you knew did it all along]].
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
*** The page quote is from a {{Subversion}} that happens during the [[WizardingSchool College of Winterhold]] questline. Estormo, a Thalmor agent who is helping the questline’s main villain, ambushes you right after navigating the Labyrinthian ruin and obtaining the Staff of Magnus. In what might otherwise be a scripted cutscene, the game allows you to [[TalkToTheFist attack him at any time]], even during his introductory speech. And the best part is that the very staff he's trying to take from you is [[HoistByHisOwnPetard almost tailor-made to bring him down]]: it inflicts ManaDrain, and he's a [[SquishyWizard squishy]] [[WitchSpecies Altmer]] mage who both relies on and is vulnerable to magic. [[CurbstompBattle You can guess the result.]]
*** In the ''Dawnguard'' DLC, when storming Castle Volkihar you bring with you the key pieces of Harkon's plan, [[spoiler: Auriel's Bow and Serana.]] If the [[PlayerCharacter Dovahkiin]] were to be killed, Harkon would presumably enact his plan right then and there.

* There's a reason why the RPG cliche list calls this '[[VideoGame/ChronoCross Way to Go, Serge]]'. The [[UnwittingPawn plots Serge falls into]] in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' get so [[GambitPileup mixed up at times]], though, that fans dedicate whole documents on [=GameFAQs=] to just untangling and explaining them all.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'':
** In the first game 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.
** This happened again in ''Risky's Revenge''. After Shantae beats Risky to the Magic Seals, Risky changes tactics and [[spoiler:kidnaps Mimic instead. This puts Shantae in a HostageForMacGuffin situation and]] forces her to hand over all the Magic Seals.
** In ''Shantae and the Pirate's Curse'', Risky invokes this as part of her BatmanGambit, [[spoiler:ordering Shantae to collect all 20 Dark Magic before she confronts the Pirate Master, expecting the (former) half-genie to end up handing it over to the him after they had secretly reverted back to Light Magic, giving her a surprise EleventhHourSuperpower to beat the Pirate Master with]].
** In ''Half-Genie Hero'', Risky surrenders the blueprints to Mimic's Dynamo after a (relatively) easy early boss fight against her. [[spoiler:Truth be told, Risky had tampered with the blueprints so that the device meant to protect Scuttle Town would instead be used to corrupt the magic of the Genie Realm. She comes to collect once the device is fully functional, revealing that Shantae had just spent eighty percent of the entire game assembling Risky's MacGuffin for her.]]

* Very much true in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''. Very galling as you know that the big bad is looking for the MacGuffin, and although you should by rights be able to torch him, his two little helpers and half his army (and in fact do exactly that later in the game) you cannot stop him from stealing the G.E.C.K. in a cutscene.
** Well, technically you can. In the brief period that you have the G.E.C.K., you can try to activate it. It then warns you that it will [[PressXToDie destroy everything in a several-mile radius]] for raw materials. You can then confirm that you want to activate it...
* In ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'' you spend the majority of the game reviving the desolate planet Earth, with the last piece revived being [[EvilGenius Beruga]] [[spoiler: who wants to wipe out the majority of what you just spent the first 75% of the game reviving and preserve the remainder as technologically-created zombies, according to the plans of [[BigBad Dark Gaia,]] for whom you've been unwittingly working the whole time.]] Oh, and did I mention that [[spoiler: Beruga was the one responsible for wiping out all life on the surface world in the first place?]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'', you spend the second act collecting [[spoiler: the Rebel leaders and organizing the Rebellion]] for [[ManipulativeBastard Vader]]. He then takes them all, revealing that [[spoiler: he never intended to use the Rebellion as a distraction so you could kill the Emperor, but just wanted to round up and destroy all opposition to the Empire.]]
** This then backfires in predictable fashion; the rebellion, having been organized together by the player, is suddenly a credible threat against the Empire rather than a bunch of scattered malcontents.
* This happens in ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' - partly. Having retreived the Fox Rods from [[spoiler:inside the Water Dragon]], Amaterasu then proceeds to hand them over to Rao, [[spoiler:who then turns out to be Ninetails in disguise]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{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.
* Happens right off the bat in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'', where Saturos and Menardi follow Isaac into Sol Sanctum to take the Elemental Stars as soon as you've retrieved them.
** Isaac and company manage to do it ''again'' atop Venus Lighthouse, when they [[HostageForMacGuffin try to barter for Sheba's release]] and [[ExactWords fail miserably.]] [[spoiler:Except it turned out that Saturos and Menardi were {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s trying to ''save'' the world, and the Wise One had given Isaac incomplete information.]]
** Happens ''yet again'' at the climax of the second game, when Felix and company reach the top of the final lighthouse only to learn that completing their mission will give [[spoiler:Alex]] the ultimate power of the [[TitleDrop Golden Sun]].
** And ''[[VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn Dark Dawn]]'' takes it to a ridiculous extent. Right from square one, the villains let slip that they're manipulating you. At one point, the BigBad even ''gives'' you a MacGuffin that you need to fulfill your (read: his) ambitions. Quite literally everything you do in the game with the sole exception of winning the final boss fight is exactly what the villains need you to do. And in fact ''even that'', and what you do after beating the final boss, is what [[spoiler:Alex]] wants you to do. The game is a rare instance of '''100%''' of the plot being a MacGuffinDeliveryService.
* Oddly enough, shows up in ''VideoGame/Bomberman64''. Altair is hyped up for the entire game to be the BigBad, except if you've gotten all of the Gold Cards. If you do that, instead of fleeing after you've beaten him, [[spoiler: Sirius, the guy who has been helping you out, showing up on almost every level and giving you hints, and dropping you the Remote Bomb powerup before every boss, flies in and kills him, then points out that the guys you've been fighting stole the superweapon from him, and you've been [[UnwittingPawn unwittingly helping him]] recover it.]] After that, all of the hint-givers in the previous levels tell you that you should die because it would be easier. [[spoiler: They aren't lying. The hidden final world is WAY harder than anything and everything that came before it.]]
** ''VideoGame/BombermanHero'' did this as well, after you've finally recovered all of the data disks, you hand them over to what you think is Princess Millian. It turns out to be Natia in disguise.
* Not played straight in ''VideoGame/{{Gun}}''. The protagonist retrieves something from a safe, but the bad guy who shows up to collect it doesn't bother to actually snatch the item before gloating about the situation. So the protagonist just tosses the thing back in the safe and slams the door.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Klonoa}} 2: Lunatea's Veil,'' 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.
** Might just have happened twice, considering that [[spoiler: It kinda seems like the King of Sorrow was the one behind everything in the first place.]]
* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/UnrealIITheAwakening'', where your LittleMissSnarker second-in-command repeatedly points out the stupidity of gathering all the pieces of an ArtifactOfDoom together in one place. Sadly, you fail to listen to her.
* ''VideoGame/EyeOfTheBeholder 3''. A mysterious figure sends you off to kill a lich. Once you finally manage, it turns out to have been a good lich (despite the fact that he, you know, tried to kill you) and the mysterious figure teleports in, gets an unnamed MacGuffin, reveals himself to be the evil dark god, and flees. The rest of the game is spent chasing him.

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot''
** In ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'', the goal of the game is to gather Crystals for Cortex so he can shield the planet from a planetary alignment. [[spoiler:Cortex's actual plans for them, of course, aren't as heroic as Crash's. Instead, he wants to use the crystals to power a massive mind control device.]]
** Lampshaded before the final battle in ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'':
--->'''Uka Uka''': You seem to have overlooked one small detail, you little orange delivery boy! Now that you have gathered all the Crystals, all ''we'' have to do... is '''TAKE THEM FROM YOU!'''
** And subverted by the fact that Crash wins those battles. It's even more grandiose in the HundredPercentCompletion boss fight, where Uka Uka gloats that he'll be able to achieve ''ultimate power'' with both the crystals and the gems.
--->'''Uka Uka''': Yes, it is true! The bandicoot has brought all of the crystals and all of the gems to me! '''Ultimate power is mine!''' The world as we know it is about to end!
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has an interesting version of this during the Lich King encounter: [[spoiler: After getting him to 10%, he instantly kills the entire raid and reveals his plan to let Fordring assemble the world's greatest warriors (the players), kill them, and resurrect them to form an unstoppable army. The entire fight against him was just a test, to see if they were worthy. Unfortunately for the Lich King, Fording manages to break free from his prison and destroys Frostmourne, reviving the raid and allowing them to finish the Lich King off.]]
** In ''Cataclysm'', you're helping the game's CaptainErsatz of Indiana Jones to search for a valuable artifact. This being a massive Indiana Jones reference, ''[[ForegoneConclusion of course]]'' his nemesis shows up to claim the artifact for himself. [[spoiler:Subverted when the artifact bites back a la ''Raiders'', thanks mainly to the timely intervention of famous explorer and archaeologist Brann Bronzebeard.]]

** 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 steal that one '''too''', then try to kill him '''again'''.
*** When they catch him again after he finds another clue, the BigBad has had ''enough'' of Flynn's mediocre 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 - so Drake is conscripted with a SadisticChoice... and they try to kill him again once he helps them again.

** ''[[VideoGame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd A Thief's End]]'' is notable because ''[[InvertedTrope Nate's]]'' pulling this - '''repeatedly.''' Though he himself found the first piece of the LinkedListClueMethodology years before, it was a dead end; long broken, the next clue missing. However, as the originator of the clues intended many to follow the list, there were multiple clues; Nate's rival locates one at an auction and tries to purchase it legitimately, Nate steals it right out from under him. And despite the rival having spent years and millions of dollars investigating the general location of the next clue, Nate is not only able to find it, he's able to get ''ahead'' of his rival -- grab the clue without any of his foes noticing, then set off the CollapsingLair and leave them with ''nothing.'' His rival is stuck blindly searching ''an entire city'' in vain while Nate quietly searches out the next clue, driving the rival to attempt HostageForMacGuffin -- key word being ''attempt.'' At this point the rival basically says "fuck subtlety" and just swarms Nate's general location with mercenaries. By the time he catches up with Nate, he doesn't even ''care'' about the treasure anymore, he just wants him dead out of sheer frustration. His {{Dragon}} just grabs some treasure that's laying around and says ScrewThisImOuttaHere
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' Ganondorf pulls one, when [[spoiler:he storms into the Temple of Time just as Link has gotten all of the Spiritual Stones, played the Song of Time on the Ocarina of Time, and grabbed the Master Sword. Turns out that Ganondorf had been following Link the whole time so the kid could do all the dirty work and the 'pure of heart' junk for him.]] After the TimeSkip, he does it ''again''. [[spoiler:This time the Macguffins are the Triforce pieces of Wisdom and Courage that Zelda and Link possess. He captures Zelda the moment she removes her disguise and challenges Link to rescue her.]]
** And in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', Zant does the same thing [[spoiler:by taking the Fused Shadow pieces that Link and Midna have just spent the last forever collecting.]]
** Veran's MDS in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfAges Oracle of Ages]]'' backfires badly. Learning that the Western Woods hide [[KryptoniteFactor Mystery Seeds that can harm her]], she has the Queen Ambi offer a reward for the one who will find them. She somehow [[VillainBall fails to realize]] that a) there's another Mystery Seeds tree in Labrynna b) seeds regrow on the same tree after a while. Instead, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Link gets bombs that allow him to enter the second dungeon]].
* In ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge'', Guybrush spends more than half the game collecting four map pieces to the legendary treasure of Big Whoop, only for the two bad guys [=LeChuck=] and Largo (who twiddled their thumbs the whole time whilst Guybrush was out retrieving the map pieces) snatch it off the cartographer he leaves it with.
* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'' has the end-of-second-act plot twist where [[spoiler:Andrew Ryan shows that the player was being mind-controlled into doing Atlas' bidding through the whole game, and commits suicide-by-player (by ordering the player to kill him), after which the player pilfers Ryan's body and delivers the Genetic Key to Atlas, who reveals himself as Frank Fontaine, Ryan's biggest rival]].
* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' uses a variant of this, where [[spoiler:Raziel [[UnwittingPawn plays right into the Hylden's hands]] by resurrecting the ancient vampire Janos Audron for the Hylden Lord to use as a host, and even murders Kain, the Scion of Balance, in the process. Take your pick on which is the proper MacGuffin: The Heart of Darkness, which had been used to resurrect Kain, or Janos himself.]]
* Pulled off in the last game of ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'', "Milky Way Wishes." The sun and moon begin to fight, throwing Popstar's day-night cycles out of balance. Marx, an adorable jester, tells Kirby that in order to make peace between the sun and the moon, he must ask the wish-granting comet Nova, who can only be summoned once he collects the power from all the neighboring planets. [[spoiler:This was all Marx's plan. He was the one who tricked the sun and moon into fighting, knowing that Kirby would try to solve the problem by doing all the dirty work for him and summoning Nova. Once Kirby does summon Nova, Marx knocks him aside before he can make a wish, then wishes to control Popstar.]]
** And then in ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamland'', [[spoiler: Magolor pulls nearly the ''exact'' same scheme.]] Fool me once...
** This is pulled off even earlier in ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'', where Kirby is happily collecting the pieces of the Star Rod which King [=DeDeDe=] has broken apart. [[spoiler: Nightmare, the BigBad, had been attempting to take over the Dream Land by spreading his nightmares on the Fountain of Dreams, and breaking up the Star Rod was the only way to seal its power. Whoops. Subverted in that Kirby then uses the Star Rod to destroy Nightmare.]]
* A variation occurs in [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]. The brothers are racing to find the legendary Chuckola Reserve soda to cure Queen Bean, but the self-proclaimed "shadow thief" Popple also wants to get his hands on it. At one point in the forest, the Bros. have to use their new Hammer techniques to get three Chuckola fruits to pass a guardian. Once the Bros. get all three, the guardian lets them pass... at which point Popple and Co. come out of the bushes, enthused about how, since they couldn't get through the gate, their plan to wait for someone else to come and open it worked! The Bros. are not amused.
* There's a minor attempted example in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII: Shadows of Amn'' in Firkraag's lair, where some tomb raiders try to trick you into doing their dirty work and then kill you. Of course, it doesn't work.
** In the main plot, you end up delivering a very important Macguffin to the BigBad without realizing it until it's too late: [[spoiler:your own divine soul.]] It stops being a Macguffin the moment you lose it, since the power it grants the BigBad is made all too obvious. Worse, the ''loss'' of it grants you new and terrifying powers [[spoiler:since your soul was the only thing keeping the essence of Murder at bay.]]
* 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: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.]]
* ''VideoGame/DeadIsland'' has you doing this for a whopping 96% of the game (as noted by the fact that when you get betrayed by [[spoiler: the mysterious voice]], your main plot progress is at 96%.) Since you're immune from zombification for some reason, [[spoiler: the voice]] guides you to all sorts of venues before finally guiding you to a lab where scientists are working on a zombie antidote. When it's complete, [[spoiler: the voice]] tells you to meet him on a prison island where you have to do some favors for prisoners before getting access to him. Once you finally meet [[spoiler: he hits you with sleeping gas, steals the antidote, and calls in an order to nuke the island.]]
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', a mission on [[spoiler: the Asari homeworld of Thessia]] has [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard]] activate the [[spoiler: Prothean VI in their temple]] only to [[spoiler: lose the fight against Cerberus assassin Kai Leng, and have it taken away by him.]]
* Hero-tricking-villain example in ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 6'': in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTwbxqiOxEo Raven's ending]], he waits for Dragunov to capture the body of [[TrueFinalBoss Azazel]] before flying in and grabbing the dark-energy McGuffin from Azazel's body. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvnvBk2t5Dk Dragunov's own ending]] has the exact same thing, except that [[SomebodySetUpUsTheBomb the orb is a bomb]].
* This happens between two villains in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''. In the prequel, [[BigBad Master Xehanort]] tells [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]] about the other worlds and the seven Princesses of Heart in exchange for a favor. Cut to the first game in the series: after ten years, Maleficent has managed to hunt down the Princesses and get them in one place. Xehanort swans back onto the scene and takes over, with the added sting that he's changed bodies twice in the meantime and might not even remember their meeting.
* In ''Videogame/DarkParables: The Red Riding Hood Sisters'', the Wolf Queen needs Moon Essence, which is sealed inside the shrine of the [[FantasyPantheon 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.
** It happens again in the next game in the series, ''Jack and the Sky Kingdom.'' Jack (as in "Jack and the Beanstalk") once raided the floating Sky Kingdom in search of treasure, but only managed to take away one item. As it happens, the absence of this item is the only reason the BigBad hasn't enacted his plan to destroy the world. Naturally, the detective happens to have it in her inventory when she visits the place.
* Happens in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', with the titular Fire Emblem being the [=MacGuffin=] in question. [[spoiler:Subverted in that the MacGuffin was sabotaged in secret, with some of the gems that gave the Emblem its power being switched out for forgeries before it was brought into danger; the one who unwillingly performed the "delivery" had an idea of the risk involved in keeping the Emblem, even if not the complete picture. This sabotage is not revealed to the player until Validar attempts to use the Emblem for his evil purpose. Additionally, the MacGuffin is taken back by the heroes after defeating Validar.]]
* The villain in ''League of Light: Dark Omens'' tricked the main character into spending most of the game retrieving the special key needed to open the throne room where the Dark Lord's body had been sealed by the hero who last defeated him.
* In ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' ''III: The Shadow of Death'', Gem and Crag Hack are tricked by the villain into gathering seemingly minor artifacts for [[BlatantLies ostensibly benign purposes.]] The moment the villain gets the artifacts, [[TheCakeIsALie he ditches them without paying them the promised rewards]]. The villain's own campaign gives players the chance to play with these artifact sets, and [[InfinityPlusOneSword it becomes clear why the villain wanted them so badly]].
* ''VideoGame/DMCDevilMayCry'' actually [[InvertedTrope inverts]] this. When Kat gets kidnapped, Dante goes on a mission to kidnap Mundus's mistress (who is pregnant with his child.) Once that's over with, they agree to a hostage exchange. In the middle of the exchange, Vergil shoots and kills the mistress and the child while saving Kat, and gets clean away with Dante's help. To top it off, the time that Kat spent kidnapped proves instrumental to finding Mundus's security systems and overriding them.

* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', the evil witch Maghda takes the expedient route of not only seizing the final piece of the sword you need to restore the Stranger's memory at Wortham before you can get at it, but assaulting New Tristram with her Dark Coven and capturing your friends who have the other two pieces.
** And of course, the giant SoulJar you've been carrying around to devour the hordes of demons you slaughtered is stolen by [[spoiler:Adria]], which is then injected into a new host, causing all the trapped demons to fuse into [[TitleDrop the third incarnation of Diablo]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', [[spoiler: Flowey waits until you defeat Asgore before finishing him off himself and absorbing the human souls in order to become [[OneWingedAngel Photoshop Flowey]] and regain his ability to SAVE.]] And to top off, [[spoiler: he manages to do it AGAIN after you defeat him the first time by waiting until you reach the climax of the True Pacifist Ending to not only steal the human souls, but also the souls of your friends who've gathered there.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DarkChronicle'', when Max and Monica go to confront [[BigBad Emperor Griffon]], he takes the opportunity to steal their [[CosmicKeystone Atlamillia]].
* Happens to Indy again ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis''. ThoseWackyNazis wait around for Indy to collect the three stone disks needed to enter Atlantis, then stick him up in Crete and take the stones. [[spoiler: Then when Indy gets into Atlantis they wait around for him to activate the God Machine and hold him at gunpoint while they use it.]]
* Happens a fair few times in ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld.''
** During the mission to Solomon Island, players spend the penultimate chapter trying to break into the [[AbandonedMine Blue Ridge Mine]] before [[StarterVillain Freddy Beaumont]] can get there. It's not until you've shut down the last barrier that you discover that Beaumont couldn't actually get into the place on his own, and you've essentially left the door unlocked for him to merrily stroll through.
** In Issue #7, players team up with a mysterious Russian agent representing the Council of Venice in an attempt to track down [[McGuffinSuperPerson Emma Smith]], the resident [[LittleMissAlmighty all-powerful little girl]]. After a long and frustrating journey through monster-infested forests, abandoned Soviet bunkers, the snowy Carpathian Mountains, and into the bowels of the Nursery itself, you ''finally'' find Emma unconscious but alive... only for the Russian to stab you in the back with a syringe. Turns out she's the BigBad and you just led her to the one thing she needed for her EvilPlan.
** The finale of Issue #11 features you facing down [[spoiler: Lilith]] and deciding to hear her out before you make up her mind on what to do with her - while also fending of the Black Signal's numerous bodies when they attack her. And then it turns out that the Black Signal didn't have a hope of winning, and was just hoping to keep [[spoiler: Lilith]] preoccupied until reinforcements could arrive. And you've just spent the last few minutes ''talking to her,'' meaning the blame lies firmly at your feet when the Nephilim swoop in.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone}}'', the League of Explorers collects all three pieces of Staff of Origination, combine them into one only for Rafaam to steal it.
* In ''VideoGame/TheRiddleOfMasterLu'', [[spoiler: Albert von Seltsam]] is revealed to be a villain who's been after the game's main McGuffin all along (in order to TakeOverTheWorld or... something), when at the last moment he shows up to ask for it at gunpoint right after you've solved the final riddle to obtain it.
* In the ''Aftermath'' expansion for ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'', [[spoiler:Shang Tsung warns Liu Kang that without Kronika's Crown, the Hourglass will break and history will cease to exist. He volunteers to recover it, with Fujin and Nightwolf as elected chaperones to keep an eye on Shang Tsung, because... well, he's [[ManipulativeBastard Shang Tsung]]. The delivery boy, ironically enough, is Shang Tsung himself, who Liu Kang distorted history around using what limited control he had of the Hourglass to enable his victory based on what Liu Kang knew of his behavior. How well this works out for the Champion of Mortal Kombat is for the player to decide.]]

* ''Webcomic/DeviantUniverse'': The heroes had to do this with pieces of A.I. being Pixel in the Freedom War story. The villains did the same with the Omega Keys in the Omega Rising story.

* In ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'', Magnus, Merle, and Taako are ostensibly collecting the [[ArtifactOfDoom Grand]] [[MacGuffin Relics]] because they're weapons of mass destruction that need to be kept out of the hands of the public. In reality, they're furthering the completely unrelated goals of two other individuals: [[spoiler:[[WellIntentionedExtremist Lucretia]], who wants to recombine them into the Light of Creation and use it to create a barrier that, while protecting the world from destruction by [[EldritchAbomination the Hunger]], will ultimately destroy the world anyway by cutting it off from the other planes of existence, and the aforementioned Hunger, which wants to absorb the Light of Creation into itself to gain more power but cannot detect it unless all of its pieces are put together.]]

* Happens in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars''. Rattrap, at great risk, dives to the sunken ''Axalon'' to retrieve the Sentinel control module - only for the Predacons to blast him and swipe it when he gets to the surface. It changes hands a couple more times before the episode ends, but the ending isn't happy.

* 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 busy dealing with a DescendingCeiling.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'', [[BigBad Obake]] schemes to give Hiro the idea to build a working energy amplifier so he can steal it for his big plan.
* A rare case of the heroes doing such in ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone''.
** In two cases, the Urpneys are sent by Zordrak to collect a supernatural artefact that will empower his ability to send nightmares. In both cases the Urpneys succeed, after which the heroes neutralise and steal it from them so they can get rid of it. Zigzagged since both instances were a last ditch effort after the heroes failed to collect it before the Urpneys did.
** Also utilised indirectly in "The Nightmare Stone" when Urpgor steals the title stone to sabotage Zordrak's [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness intention to make him redundant]]. The heroes accidentally knock out Urpgor, but notice he has the stone so decide to not to question it and just take the golden opportunity.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', [[spoiler: Aku disguises himself as a woman warrior named Ikra to travel with Jack and find a jewel which can transport Jack to the past. Of course, Aku doesn’t want the jewel for his own- he’s the embodiment of evil and has enough power as it is- his intent is to destroy the jewel to stop Jack from using it for his own purposes. Tragically, he succeeds, and promptly gloats at Jack for his stupidity before escaping.]]
* In the four-part pilot episode for ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'', after failing to beat the Ninjas to the first three Golden Weapons, Samukai hatches a plan to steal them from the Ninjas while they’re asleep. It works like a charm.

* In ''Manga/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]].

* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyIV'':
** When after the final dark crystal in the sealed cave, and after fighting the incredibly annoying Demon Wall, Kain reaffirms his status of hypnosis and makes off with the crystal, bringing it back to Golbez. Keep in mind that the Sealed Cave is riddled with instant death-dealing Trapdoors, powerful monsters, and ThatOneBoss, so maybe Golbez [[spoiler:and Zemus, who's controlling him]] had it in his best interest to let Cecil do the dirty work for him rather than pour in minions or do it himself.
** This trope is ''almost'' inverted during gameplay, when Cecil and Co. hatch a plan to storm the BigBad's stronghold to get the crystals that they've obtained over the course of the game. Unfortunately, it turns out that the first step our heroes take into the Crystal Room is onto a trap door - even if [[GameplayAndStorySegregation everyone has the 'Float' status]].
** And ''VideoGame/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.

* Happens ''twice'' in ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVII'' with the Black Materia. Justified the first time because A. AVALANCHE couldn't leave the Black Materia where it was because Sephiroth's mooks [[WeHaveReserves could just trip all the Temple's traps at minimal cost]] and B. AVALANCHE had no idea that Sephiroth [[ManchurianAgent had more than a few hooks in Cloud's mind]]...

* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXII'' the empire improvises one of these. It turns out that [[spoiler: Vossler]], who joins your party on the way to the Tomb of Raithwall, was actually a traitor who told the empire about your plans to recover the Dawn Shard. So when you exit the Tomb you are met with a fleet of airships and Judge Ghis, forcing you to hand over the Dawn Shard that you just spent the last three hours of gameplay fighting to get.
** And then you get a double dose of it later on. [[spoiler: Cid]] taunts you by revealing his plan to travel to Giruvegan, but once you fight through all the baddies you find out that [[spoiler: he never bothered to turn up, and tricked you into travelling to Giruvegan so that you could retrieve the Treaty Blade for him]]. Which is bad enough already, except that...
*** At Giruvegan you discover that [[spoiler: the lost race who live there have been secretly manipulating one of your party members all along, and they give her the Treaty Blade so they can travel to Ridorina - which is where Cid is waiting for them to deliver the blade - because they want her to defeat him and use the blade to create an even more powerful McGuffin which will put the human race back in its place]]. So yeah, definitely one of the "90%" versions of this trope.

* Happens ''twice'' in ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVII'' with the Black Materia.
** Justified the first time because A. AVALANCH couldn't leave the Black Materia where it was because Sephiroth's mooks [[WeHaveReserves could just trip all the Temple's traps at minimal cost]] and B. AVALANCH had no idea that Sephiroth [[ManchurianAgent had more than a few hooks in Cloud's mind]]...

* There's a reason why the RPG cliche list calls this '[[VideoGame/ChronoCross Way to Go, Serge]]'. The [[UnwittingPawn the plots Serge falls into]] in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' get so [[GambitPileup mixed up at times]], though, that fans dedicate whole documents on [=GameFAQs=] to just untangling and explaining them all.

* Oddly enough, shows up in ''VideoGame/BomberMan64''. Altair is hyped up for the entire game to be the BigBad, except if you've gotten all of the Gold Cards. If you do that, instead of fleeing after you've beaten him, [[spoiler: Sirius, the guy who has been helping you out, showing up on almost every level and giving you hints, and dropping you the Remote Bomb powerup before every boss, flies in and kills him, then points out that the guys you've been fighting stole the superweapon from him, and you've been [[UnwittingPawn unwittingly helping him]] recover it.]] After that, all of the hint-givers in the previous levels tell you that you should die because it would be easier. [[spoiler: They aren't lying. The hidden final world is WAY harder than anything and everything that came before it.]]

* In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[spoiler: Thanos becomes aware that the heroes have traveled back in time to collect the stones before he does. He decides to just wait for the Avengers to gather them all up and then attack them to take the stones for himself.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}''
** This happens to the titular protagonist in the first game 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 fact, this happens to Shantae so often that in ''Shantae and the Pirate's Curse'', Risky actually invokes this as part of her BatmanGambit, [[spoiler:ordering Shantae to collect all 20 Dark Magic before she confronts the Pirate Master, expecting Shantae to end up handing it over to the him after they had secretly reverted back to Light Magic, giving her a surprise EleventhHourSuperpower to beat the Pirate Master with]].
** In ''Half-Genie Hero'', Risky surrenders the blueprints to Mimic's Dynamo after a (relatively) easy early boss fight against her. [[spoiler:Truth be told, Risky had tampered with the blueprints so that the device meant to protect Scuttle Town would instead be used to corrupt the magic of the Genie Realm, which she comes to collect once the device is fully functional; basically, Shantae spends eighty percent of the entire game assembling Risky's macguffin for her.]]