Solar eclipses in fiction

This is a list of fictional stories in which solar eclipses feature as an important plot element. Mere passing mentions are not listed.

Written works

This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Films

There is a body of films featuring solar eclipses. Compared to other astronomical events featured in films, such as full moons and asteroid strikes, solar eclipses are less commonly seen. When they have featured in films, they often drive the plot and have a portentous presence.^[2] NPR's Glen Weldon said that films use eclipses "to signal to audiences that the normal rules have temporarily lifted, and things are about to get weird." The first film to feature a solar eclipse was the 1907 silent film The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon, which featured a solar eclipse as a fantastical consummation between the sun and the moon.^[3] Eclipses have been seen as bad omens throughout history and filmmakers leverage that belief "as visual cues or key plot points", according to The Oregonian's Amy Wang.^[4] The most accurate depiction of a solar eclipse in film is seen in the 1961 religious epic film Barabbas, which included film of an actual solar eclipse during a crucifixion scene.^[5]

Television

• An episode of the 1980s science-fiction comedy/drama The Edison Twins when the twin siblings foiled a bank robbery attempt in a major city bank when employees are focusing on the solar eclipse.
• Sailor Moon: In season four, two eclipses grant power to the villainous Dead Moon (Circus).
• Heroes features eclipses prominently within the continuity and symbolism of the show. The title card and logo, for example, both feature an eclipse. An eclipse occurs in the pilot episode, "Genesis," described as a "global event" and commonly understood to be the catalyst that activated the characters' abilities. Another eclipse appears in the first episode of season two, during which Hiro Nakamura teleports to 1671 feudal Japan. The two-part season three episode, "The Eclipse" deal with the consequences of a third eclipse which removes all the characters' abilities as well as the unknown connection between eclipses and evolved humans.
• The Recess episode, "Outcast Ashley," partly revolves around Gretchen's attempts to view the solar eclipse occurring that afternoon, and whom she views it with.
• In one of his cartoons, Bugs Bunny accidentally travels through time to the Middle Ages. While there, he tricks everyone into believing that he has put out the sun with a spell. This was a parody/homage to Mark Twain's novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
• In an episode of Darkwing Duck, the title character accidentally travels to the Middle Ages and is about to be executed as a warlock when he remembers that his execution is timed exactly with an eclipse. He threatens everyone that he will black out the sun unless released and begins to speak gibberish, pretending to put a spell on the sun. However, he has misread the date of the solar eclipse by one day, and stands on the gallows for 24 hours, continuing the gibberish until the eclipse happens.
• In the 1993 first season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, evil witch Rita Repulsa causes a solar eclipse to drain the Megazord's power in the five-part episode, "Green With Evil."
• The opening credits of Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001) feature a CGI-generated solar eclipse.
• The 2001 TNT miniseries The Mists of Avalon features a solar eclipse during the death of Viviane, suggesting the Mother Goddess' grief at the event.
• In the 2001-4 Samurai Jack animated series, Aku is able to escape the tree he is sealed in due to an eclipse.
• In Heroes, on October 1, 2006, a solar eclipse occurs and is observed by several strangers around the world. Similar eclipses occur in 1671, 2007, and on June 13, 2014. The eclipse has been shown to have an effect on people's abilities.
• In the 2007 Avatar: the Last Airbender episode, "The Day of Black Sun Part 2: The Eclipse", Aang and his allies plan for the day of the invasion of the Fire Nation capital on the day a solar eclipse would occur, leaving the firebenders without firebending for about 8 minutes. The plan was expected to end the war. The plan fails because Azula, the princess of the Fire Nation, learned of the upcoming invasion beforehand.
• The 2007 Sci-Fi channel miniseries Tin Man is centered on a "double eclipse" which will give power to one of the two princesses of the O.Z.
• The CSI: Miami episode "Sunblock" features a murder in which the killer struck during a solar eclipse due to an allergy to the sun.
• The final two episodes of Berserk, "The Great Eclipse" and "Time of Eternity," take place during a solar eclipse, which in the series universe happens only once every 216 years and marks the birth of a new member of the Godhand. During these episodes, Griffith, once the leader of the Band of the Hawk, betrays and sacrifices his men in order to become the fifth member of the Godhand, Femto.
• The Mad Men episode "Seven Twenty Three" features the solar eclipse that occurred in July 1963.
• The final three episodes of Raven the Island. An eclipse allows the warriors to enter Nevar's fortress.
• In the third season of House of Anubis, a ceremony to re-awaken someone cursed by Anubis to sleep for eternity could only be performed during a total solar eclipse. Robert Frobisher-Smythe, who was central to the series' back story, had been cursed by Anubis in this manner. As an eclipse approached, an attempt was made to re-awaken Robert. One of the people who performed the ceremony, Caroline Denby, was impure of heart and caused Robert to be re-awoken evil.
• Episode 61 "He Who Would Swallow God" in the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood empowered stone fragments are activated by the eclipse's umbra.
• In the sixth season of The Vampire Diaries, episode 4, Black Hole Sun, an eclipse presence in the missing dimension in 1994 when Damon and Bonnie are trapped.

Other

A solar eclipse on the cover of Tangerine Dream's 1972 album Zeit.

• Album covers showing a solar eclipse include:
  • The 1972 Tangerine Dream album, Zeit
  • The 2000 Kitaro album Ancient
• , left unfinished at his death in 1887, completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov, and first performed in 1890): in the "Prologue" to Borodin's opera Prince Igor, a solar eclipse takes place to general consternation, causing two soldiers, Skula and Yeroshka, to desert Prince Igor.
• Prisoners of the Sun (The Adventures of Tintin comic album by Hergé). Tintin uses a prediction of a solar eclipse to gain favor with the Quechua people who are about to kill him.
• The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game The Darkness includes a solar eclipse in the final chapter.
• The PlayStation game Heart of Darkness (game) features a solar eclipse when Andy and his dog, Whiskey, are walking in the park.
• In the game Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, the story begins with a total solar eclipse in the year 2035 where is supposed to be sealed Dracula's castle.
• The game Terraria features a solar eclipse as a rare event that causes monsters inspired by popular horror fiction and films to attack the player.
• The Japanese visual novels Virtue's Last Reward and 12Riven ―the Ψcliminal of integral― both use a solar eclipse as an important plot element.
• The Japanese Berserk manga features an eclipse.
• Love and Rockets (comics) features a solar eclipse in Palomar at the beginning of Gilbert Hernandez's "Heartbreak Soup", during which a pair of fraternal twins (Israel & Aurora) are playing and Aurora disappears. This affects the storyline of not only Gilbert's stories going forward but sheds light on a major character in Jaime's work as well.
• In the graphic novel Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, eclipses play an important role, as it is usually during those events that Bruce Wayne jumps through time.

References