Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:
Objects like these are called MacGuffins . They are designed to move a plot along somehow, giving reasons for characters to go from one place to another, often times being mysterious. A MacGuffin (a.k.a. McGuffin or maguffin) is a term for a motivating element in a story that is used to drive the plot. It serves no further purpose. It won't pop up again later, it won't explain the ending, it won't do anything except possibly distract you while you try to figure out its significance. In some cases, it won't even be shown. It is usually a mysterious package/artifact/superweapon that everyone in the story is chasing. This movie had 4(!!) of them like a bad 'fetch quest' in a game. The dagger...
Full answer by DrMrstheMonarch: https://movies.stackexchange.com/a/105832 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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