History Main / MagneticPlotDevice

* The Stargate of ''Series/StargateSG1'' and everything else in the StargateVerse. Understanding the Stargate's potential for weirdness, the military installed the iris to limit what could come through.

* The ghost portal in ''DannyPhantom'' kept releasing ghosts into the human world, at which point Danny would have to deal with them. It's also the source of the FreakLabAccident that made Danny half-ghost.

* The One Ring in ''TheLordOfTheRings'', as the Nazgul are constantly searching for it and it calls out to servants of the Dark Lord to try and get back to his hand. Also the Silmarils in ''TheSilmarillion'' for more temporal reasons - everyone seems driven mad with the desire to possess them, meaning anyone who holds one can never rest easy. Even if he's [[BigBad Morgoth]].

* It is eventually revealed in ''DragonAgeII'' that [[CityOfAdventure Kirkwall]] is pretty much the DA-verse's [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Hellmouth]] - [[spoiler: the Veil between the physical world and the Fade is very thin and the city's history and evil supernatural influences conspire to make it the WretchedHive it is. Three super-powerful demons are imprisoned there; vast blood sacrifices were carried out when it was the hub of the Tevinter slave trade, leaving ''lakes of blood'' under the city; all the uber-demons, unholy rites, and suffering and death ripped the Veil wide open; and ever since then its history of violence, oppression, and demonic rites has just made the problem worse and worse. Oh, and Kirkwall or someplace very close to it is also where the magisters entered the Golden City, corrupting it (unless it was already corrupted, which it may have been) and bringing the darkspawn into the world....and one of the most powerful of these magisters-turned-darkspawn is sealed in stasis in the mountains nearby, where his dreams leak into the world, inspire creepy cults, and drive people mad.]] Not [[ArtifactOfDoom that]] [[FantasticRacism the]] [[MutantDraftBoard events]] [[ScaryDogmaticAliens of]] [[StuffBlowingUp the]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist game]] are likely to improve this situation.

* It is frequently said throughout the course of the LiadenUniverse series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller that "the Luck" moves strangely about Clan Korval—hence the clan is one great big CoincidenceMagnet. It is never explained ''why'' exactly this is so, but everyone who believes in "the Luck" seems to regard it as an immutable fact of life. Also, it is shown to be every bit as genetically heritable as the famed Clan Korval piloting ability, regardless of whether its inheritor is officially in the clan or not.

* The Brand of Sacrifice borne by Guts in ''{{Berserk}}'' draws demons to him like a lightning rod, making his life (and the life of his lover Casca, who also bears the Brand) a literal living Hell. The two of them are only alive because Guts is an unstoppable demonslaying {{Badass}}.

* The Stargate of ''Series/{{Stargate SG-1}}'' and everything else in the StargateVerse. Understanding the Stargate's potential for weirdness, the military installed the iris to limit what could come through.

* One of the many variations of Supergirl (written by PeterDavid) had her move to a small town. Naturally, crazed super villains followed. This was partly explained by a mystical river that ran underneath the town, it attracted oddness like deer to a salt lick.

* It is eventually revealed in ''DragonAgeII'' that [[CityOfAdventure Kirkwall]] is pretty much the DA-verse's [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Hellmouth]] - [[spoiler: the Veil between the physical world and the Fade is very thin and the city's history and evil supernatural influences conspire to make it the WretchedHive it is. Three super-powerful demons are imprisoned there; vast blood sacrifices were carried out when it was the hub of the Tevinter slave trade, leaving ''lakes of blood'' under the city; all the uber-demons, unholy rites, and suffering and death ripped the Veil wide open; and ever since then its history of violence, oppression, and demonic rites has just made the problem worse and worse. Oh, and Kirkwall or someplace very close to it is also where the magisters entered the Golden City, corrupting it (unless it was already corrupted, which it may have been) and bringing the darkspawn into the world....and one of the most powerful of these magisters-turned-darkspawn is sealed in stasis in the mountains nearby, where his dreams leak into the world, inspire creepy cults, and drive people mad.]] Not [[ArtifactOfDoom that]] [[FantasticRacism the]] [[MutantDraftBoard events]] [[ScaryDogmaticAliens of]] [[StuffBlowingUp the]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist game]] are likely to improve this situation.

* The main character himself in ''{{Bleach}}'', who attracts the demons he fights due to his exceptionally strong spiritual presence, as well as [[spoiler: Karakura City itself, which for whatever reason has an unusually high concentration of spiritual energy]].

-->-- ''{{Ghostbusters}}''

* The shattered Four Souls gem in ''InuYasha''. At least in the beginning, Inu-Yasha and Kagome are trying to collect the scattered shards of it... and running into a lot of [[BigBad monsters]] and [[MonsterOfTheWeek assorted beasties]] who are also trying to collect the shards.

* ''{{Ghostbusters}}'' actually made a plot point about how busy they were being related to an apartment building that attracted supernatural energy. This building was specifically designed as a dimensional portal to bring in Gozer the Gozerian, an ancient god not seen for the last 7,000 odd years.

* A perfect example is in Robert Jordan's ''WheelOfTime'' series in which the main characters are ta'veren. The ta'veren are people who inexplicably create outrageous coincidences and shape the world around them simply by existing.

* The Stargate of ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' and everything else in the StargateVerse. Understanding the Stargate's potential for weirdness, the military installed the iris to limit what could come through.

* On ''{{Lost}}'', it's the island itself.

* [[ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder Sparks]] in general in the ''GirlGenius'' universe are prone to having very weird stuff happen. Even more so if they happen to be of the Heterodyne family.

* In the early {{Discworld}} novels, Rincewind is a walking magnetic plot device due to being possessed by one of the most powerful spells in the world. He's rid of it at the end of the second book, after which... he's ''still'' a magnet for everything weird that TerryPratchett wants to throw at him. If it ain't broke...

* The Nexus in ''{{Charmed}}''.

* An ArtifactOfDoom or undefined {{MacGuffin}} that the hero is unwilling or [[ClingyMacguffin unable]] to get rid of.

* In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Jojo's Bizarre Adventure]]'', Stand users apparently attract other Stand users. How or why this happens is never explained.

* The [[TheSandman Endless]]:

* Throughout the ''{{Terminator}}'' franchise, John Connor is the Magnetic Plot Device for both himself and his mother, as well as his uncle and robot sister in [[TheSarahConnorChronicles the series]].

* A perfect example is in Robert Jordan's ''{{Wheel of Time}}'' series in which the main characters are ta'veren. The ta'veren are people who inexplicably create outrageous coincidences and shape the world around them simply by existing.

* The [[{{Hellgate}} Hellmouth]] of ''Series/{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}''. They only actually go into the Hellmouth in the first and last seasons, but everything in between is still blamed on it.

* {{The Lost Room}} All of the objects attract one another. One object-wielder eventually got tired of being targeted by collectors and gave his up willingly to the hero.

* ''{{Series/Merlin}}'''s two main characters are examples of this -- Arthur, being Crown Prince of Camelot, is the target of numerous assassination plots and is expected to go forth and smite various evil creatures with mighty smitage; Merlin is an incredibly powerful sorcerer, which in itself attracts some opposition.

* The actual ships in the various ''StarTrek'' series. It allowed them to find a PlanetOfHats and a NegativeSpaceWedgie.

** ''StarTrekEnterprise'' introduced the "Temporal Cold War" story arc to both stir things up with the ship and crew but also to make things a little more surprising for the audience because the show was a {{prequel}}. The fact it was a prequel and people in the future knew of their importance in history made them a target.

* The Starbrand of ''TheNewUniverse'' is a WeirdnessMagnet and a weirdness ''generator'' all in one, it's the MetaOrigin of [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Paranormals]]... And it [[ArtifactOfDoom blows up cities]] if you mishandle it.

** This sort of thing becomes really important in Mat Cauthon's development, once he becomes GenreSavvy. Since he's aware his presence skews probability, Mat takes bets on being able to do impossible things, and then does them-- such as when he throws a knife into a tiny block of wood in midair, a long distance away, while blindfolded.

* The Caves in the ''{{Quentaris}}'' series. They connect the CityOfAdventure to alternate universes, and are a large source of profit as well as danger as adventurers go questing for treasures or [[MonsterOfTheWeek random monsters]] come and attack the place.

* The anomalies in ''{{Primeval}}''.

* On ''{{Lost}}'', it's the island itself.

** Of course, said status mostly stopped during the third season, but enough weirdness had already happened for the third season to involve the return and development of earlier weirdness instead.

* ''{{Gargoyles}}'' has an inversion of this during the World Tour arc. According to Tom, the magical island of Avalon does not take you where you want to go, it sends you where you ''need'' to go. Thus Goliath, Eliza, Bronx, and Angela travel all over the world saving the day. At one point they are even sent right back to Avalon. Even when they finally return to New York, it's only because Avalon knew they would be needed there.

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* Immortals in the ''{{Highlander}}'' series are always drawn to each other because of the Quickening and [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne The Game]].

* In ''[[JojosBizarreAdventure Jojo's Bizarre Adventure]]'', Stand users apparently attract other Stand users. How or why this happens is never explained.

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->'''Peter Venkman:''' What? So they don't make them like they used to.\\
'''Ray Stantz:''' No, they never made them like this. The whole building is a huge super-conductive antenna that was designed and built expressly for the purpose of pulling in and concentrating spiritual turbulence. Your girlfriend, Pete, lives in the corner penthouse of spook central.

<<|NarrativeDevices|>>

* The [[{{Hellgate}} Hellmouth]] of ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}''. They only actually go into the Hellmouth in the first and last seasons, but everything in between is still blamed on it.

* Wolfram and Hart of ''{{Angel}}''. A multi-dimensional demonic law firm. The possibilities practically drip off of that sentence.

* The eponymous [[PlaceOfPower places of power]] of the game ''FengShui'', which are always being fought over by one faction or another.

* ''BeastWars'' had the presence of the Vok, aliens with some vested interest in the planet. The Maximals and Predacons stumbled upon a lot of ancient artifacts and called attention to themselves. This mostly provided a third party to mess around with things, including leaving around bizarre technology and including having a doomsday weapon that eventually led to the transmetal upgrades.

* A big criticism towards ''{{House}}'' is the number of medical mysteries that get thrown his way, mentioned at being about one a week. The show has made some remarks in that regard, giving most patients a unique set-up as well as doctors all around the region would send patients to House because he was just that good.

* The Rift in ''{{Torchwood}}'' - introduced in the 2005 series of ''Series/DoctorWho'', it became the focus of the first two seasons of the spin-off. It provides the team with all manner of time / space weirdness to deal with, and occasionally draws the Doctor back there when he uses rift energy to refuel the TARDIS.