MacGuffin
An object or goal that drives the plot forward but has little intrinsic importance; what matters is that the characters want it.
Last updatedA MacGuffin is a plot device, typically an object, that the characters desperately pursue but whose specific nature is irrelevant to the story's themes. The term was popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, who described it as "the thing the spies are after but the audience doesn't care." The MacGuffin's function is to motivate character action; its identity is almost interchangeable.
The briefcase in Pulp Fiction is a famous MacGuffin: its glowing contents are never identified because what matters is the characters' pursuit of it. The Maltese Falcon in Dashiell Hammett's novel drives the entire plot, but the statue itself is irrelevant; it could be any valuable object. The Infinity Stones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe function as MacGuffins that justify bringing characters together.
Not every important object is a MacGuffin. The One Ring in The Lord of the Rings is not a MacGuffin because its specific nature, its corrupting influence, and its connection to Sauron are essential to the story's themes. A MacGuffin's defining quality is interchangeability: if you could replace the object with something completely different and the story would work the same way, it is a MacGuffin.