MaGuffin.

A MaGuffin, which can also sometimes be spelt as McGuffin, 

i s a plot device that motivates the characters, and moves the story forwards, 

but has very little relevance to the story and is often forgot about by the audience. 

*not to be mistaken with an enigma.



"we have a name in the studio, and we call
it the MacGuffin.' It is the mechanical element
 that usually crops up in any story. In crook
stories it is always the necklace and in
spy stories it is always the papers."

-Alfred Hitchcock-