The Apple of Discord

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Plot devices are meaningless when separated from their plot. If you don't have a trio of idiotically vain goddesses who will throw the world into chaos if provoked, then the apple is just a meaningless trinket.

In the novel and the movie, the Maltese Falcon was just a lead figurine. That didn't stop it from being one of the most famous plot-driving MacGuffins of the 20th century.

A golden apple with an inscription can drive a plot just as powerfully - and, sometimes, that's all you really need.