Solar eclipses in fiction

Written works

Novels

• Le Pays des Fourrures by Jules Verne. Scientists witness a solar eclipse north of the Arctic Circle in the summer of 1860.
• King Solomon's Mines by Henry Rider Haggard.
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain. The protagonist predicts a solar eclipse in 528 CE.
• Pharaoh by Bolesław Prus. A historical novel with a solar eclipse c. 1085 BCE predicted by the priest Menes.
• The Secret Mountain by Enid Blyton. A group of children and their guardian, captives of a sun-worshipping African tribe, escape by threatening to kill the sun, having prior knowledge of an imminent solar eclipse.
• ' by Sterling Hayden. Depicts a solar eclipse of the titular year, viewed from the South Pacific.
• Nightfall by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg. Based on Asimov's 1941 short story of the same name.
• El Eclipse by Augusto Monterroso. Short story in which a Spanish missionary is captured by Mayans and tries to use his knowledge of a solar eclipse to scare them into releasing him. They sacrifice him anyway, already having calculated the infinite dates of upcoming eclipses.
• Gerald's Game and Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King.
• Illegal Alien by Robert J. Sawyer. Aliens visit Earth and observe a total solar eclipse. Their scientist host speculates that Earth may be the only planet in the entire universe whose moon covers its sun perfectly. Although it is not explicitly stated in the novel, Sawyer has noted that the eclipse was the historical eclipse of August 11, 1999, which allows the reader to ascertain the time the novel takes place.
• Eclipse of the Sun by Phil Whitaker. Set in India and has at its center a dramatic attempt to organize a public viewing of the solar eclipse of October 24, 1995.
• Solar Eclipse by John Farris.
• Sunwing by Kenneth Oppel.
• The Eclipse of the Century by Jan Mark.
• ' by Frank Lauria and David Twohy.
• Eclipse and Shroud by John Banville. Interlinked novels set against the backdrop of a solar eclipse.
• Eclipse, by Erin Hunter. Part of the Warriors series; the solar eclipse occurs during the battle between all the clans, foretold by a strange cat by the name of "Sol".
• Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan.
• The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan.
• Every Soul A Star by Wendy Mass.
• A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.
• Jade Dragon Mountain by Elsa Hart,. A historical mystery centered around a solar eclipse in early Qing Dynasty China.
• The Eclipse by Willer de Oliveira.
• Trade winds to Meluhha by Vasant Davé. A historical novel where the unique total lunar eclipse and total solar eclipse in Babylon in May 2138 BC set off a young Mesopotamian's adventures in the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.

  Films

Television

• An episode of the 1980s science fiction comedy/drama The Edison Twins, where the twin siblings foil a bank robbery attempt at a major city bank while employees are focusing on the solar eclipse.
• In the fourth arc of the Sailor Moon manga series by Naoko Takeuchi and the fourth season of its anime adaptation, two eclipses grant power to the group of antagonists known as 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 activates 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", deals 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 with whom she views it.
• 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 of and homage to Mark Twain's novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
• In an episode of Darkwing Duck, the titular 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".
• Sineskwela
• The opening credits of ' 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 is observed by several strangers around the world. Similar eclipses occur in 1671, 2007, and on June 13, 2014. The eclipse has an effect on people's abilities.
• In the 2007 ' episode, "", 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. The plan fails because Azula, the princess of the Fire Nation, learns 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 ' episode "Sunblock |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.
• In 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 can only be performed during a total solar eclipse. Robert Frobisher-Smythe, who is central to the series' backstory, has been cursed by Anubis in this manner. As an eclipse approaches, an attempt is made to re-awaken Robert. One of the people who performs the ceremony, Caroline Denby, is impure of heart and causes Robert to be re-awoken evil.
• Episode 61 "" in the anime series ' empowered stone fragments are activated by the eclipse's umbra.
• In the sixth season of The Vampire Diaries, from episode 2, "Yellow Ledbetter", to episode 15, "Let Her Go", an eclipse is present in the missing dimension in 1994 where Damon and Bonnie are trapped.

  Other

• Album covers showing a solar eclipse include:
• *The 1972 Tangerine Dream album, Zeit
• *The 2000 Kitaro album Ancient
• 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. 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 features a solar eclipse when Andy and his dog, Whiskey, are walking in the park.
• In the game ', 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.
• In ' and , the Zombies maps Der Riese and The Giant feature a solar eclipse.
• The Japanese visual novels Virtue's Last Reward and 12Riven: the Psi-climinal of Integral both use a solar eclipse as an important plot element.
• The Japanese Berserk manga features an eclipse.
• Love and Rockets features a solar eclipse in Palomar at the beginning of Gilbert Hernandez's "Heartbreak Soup", during which a pair of fraternal twins 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 , eclipses play an important role, as it is usually during those events that Bruce Wayne jumps through time.