Top 10 Corrupting Artifacts

In my opinion, one of the greatest story tropes for evil spawning into a world is an ancient artifact being re-discovered and that particular item corrupts its user to the point of becoming the next great evil. I’ve always enjoyed the thought of an all powerful item that may seem worth it at the time, but will ultimately lead to the doom of everyone involved with it. With the return of Majora’s Mask on the Nintendo 3DS; I’ve decided to put these cursed items into a top 10 list. As per usual I have a few runners-up:

-The Crown of Flame (Hellboy)

-The Sands of Time (Prince of Persia)

-The Mask (The Mask)

Now without further delay, here is my top 10 corrupting artifacts.

10 -The Death Note (Death Note)

What happens when a shinigami, a death god, becomes bored and decides to ‘misplace’ his death journal in the human world? A journal that allows you to control who dies and how they die is probably one of the most terrifying powers released into the hands of one person. The morality of the person who uses it is probably already questionable at best but once they fully tap into the potential of the Death Note, they just might envision themselves as gods of a new world order.

9 -The Infinity Gauntlet (Marvel Comics)

The six infinity gems are ancient relics of the universe that literally represent aspects of the universe itself. Hold one gem and you can control that aspect of the universe. If you hold all six at once, you are the universe, shaping and molding it as only you see fit. No matter how pure hearted the wielder is, eventually the gems will change your perspective. Everything will just seem so small and meaningless in the wake of your awesome power to control all of reality…no, all of your reality.

8 -The Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter)

“There were once three brothers travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight”

If Death is congratulating you on besting him and offering you tokens for your victory, you best be wary of the gifts you receive. Death is a manipulator with a sense of irony, if Death feels that you have cheated him somehow, he’ll find a way to make you suffer before you die more than likely with the item you have sought after most. Even after the Deathly Hallows left the possession of the three brothers their winding road through history has lead many people who have sought them out to a bloody end.

7 -Orange Lantern (DC comics)

“Mine.”

The emotional spectrum is a vast power source that draws its energy from specific emotions with different colors matching different emotions. One of the worst ones to get a hold of is the orange lantern which represents the emotion of avarice. Those who dare to touch it perhaps even glance at it will be consumed by greed. Anything that person use to be now belongs to the orange lantern. There is only one orange lantern member and that is because sharing will never be allowed. All other members of the orange lantern corp. are the souls of those who have tried to take it for themselves and failed.

6 -Ice King’s Crown (Adventure Time)

 “…I see the visions always, whether or not I wear the crown. They tell me the secrets…the secrets of ice and snow…that the power of the crown will save me with its frost.”

Originally a Wish Crown created by the ice elemental, Urgence Evergreen, the crown’s original purpose was to grant Evergreen the power to eliminate an oncoming comet that was going to destroy all life. Unfortunately the crown ended up in the hands of Evergreen’s assistant, Gunter, who used the crown’s wish granting power to try and become a great wizard like his mentor. This wish granted Gunter great power of ice and snow, but sadly drove him insane, morphing him into a mad copy of his master. Thus whenever someone puts on the crown, they are now forced to relive Gunter’s horrible mistake.

5 -Sith Holocrons (Star Wars)

Those who stand on the Dark Side will not live on in the Force upon their death, thus the only way to pass on their knowledge is to leave recordings, known as holocrons. Jedi holocrons usually teach wisdom, Sith holocrons whisper only power. Sometimes just the promise of power is enough to corrupt even the purest of spirits. Most Sith seek out immortality, but ultimately only live on as recordings, leading other poor souls down the corrupted path they had once taken themselves.

4 -The Millennium Items (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

In ancient times of Egypt, the Shadow Games ruled the land. Mystics and sorcerers employed their arts to access the immense power of the Shadow Realm, which caused chaos throughout the lands. Eventually, control and access to the Shadow Realm was bound to seven golden artifacts known as Millennium Items. Now the Shadow Games can only be enacted by the wielders of these items. Beware the use of the Shadow Realm’s dark energies can corrupt any man….and the spirits that dwell within the items can corrupt even more so. 

3 -Majora’s Mask (Legend of Zelda)

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

The mask was said to originally be used by an ancient tribe in hexing rituals, other rumors suggest that it was forged from the last remaining will of a demon, either way the mask possesses a will of its own. It may allow users to wear it in order to get some bizarre sense of fun out of the twisted whims of its host’s body, but ultimately the mask is corrupting the user and forcing them towards acts of pure evil. No sane man would wish the moon to crash into the Earth, only the insane machinations of the mask would see something like that as a fun game.  

2 -Soul Edge (Soul Calibur)

“Transcending history and the world, a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold…”

After being bathed in the blood and hatred of countless individuals, this cursed blade eventually developed a demonic soul that took the name Inferno. Now whenever the blade is grasped, it drives its wielder completely insane, overriding their mind with its own demonic lust. The blade craves more blood, but even more so, it craves the souls of those its slain.

1 -The One Ring (Lord of the Rings)

“My precious…..”

If for a second you thought anything else might be at the top of this list, there is something severely wrong with you. The one ring was forged with the thought to rule over all of Middle Earth. Sauron placed much of his power into the ring, something that greatly enhanced his abilities, but made him almost entirely dependent on the ring for survival. The ring has a will of its own and will subtly enact its own plans. The ring’s greatest power is that it makes you want to possess it above any other wants or needs.  Whether corrupting users into wraiths or leading them to unfortunate ends, the one ring seems to have more control over its bearers than they do over it.