History Main / TotalEclipseOfThePlot

* ''Film/{{Barabbas}}'' represents Jesus' crucifixion darkness with a total solar eclipse, which shakes Barabbas to his core. This was the actual solar eclipse of February 15, 1961.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov:
** "Literature/Nightfall1941": Lagash is a world with [[AlienSky six suns]], whose inhabitants have never known darkness of any kind, as there is always [[EndlessDaytime at least one sun visible at any given moment]]. When a once-in-2049-years eclipse occurs and plunges their world in darkness, [[CosmicHorrorStory the vast majority go completely bonkers]].
** ''Literature/Nightfall1990'', co-written with Creator/RobertSilverberg: Its setting is a world with ''6 suns'', whose inhabitants have never known darkness of any kind, as there is always at least one sun visible at any given moment. Characters use 'godlights' in their rooms to keep them lit even while they sleep, and subjecting anyone to darkness causes a severe psychological reaction. When a once-in-2049-years eclipse occurs and plunges their world in darkness, the vast majority go completely bonkers.

* In ''Animation/MoonCastleTheSpaceAdventure'', the Bitter Gourd King plans to turn the moon bitter. He waits for a lunar eclipse to do so since that's the moon's weakest moment.

** In the 12th 'Pokémon'' movie, ''Anime/PokemonArceusAndTheJewelOfLife'', Damos was supposed to return the Jewel of Life to [[{{God}} Arceus]] on the date of the next eclipse. [[spoiler:He didn't. It does get returned, though]].

* Eclipses have been plot-relevant events in the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series:
** Dracula is apparently [[KilledOffForReal killed off for the final time]] in 1999 due to/during an eclipse.
** Another eclipse, set in Japan in 2035, sets the plot of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'' in motion: as Dracula's Castle is sealed within the eclipse (not in the moon, but ''[[MindScrew in the eclipse itself]]!'') it is only during an eclipse that it's actually possible to reach the castle.
* At the climax of ''VideoGame/TheDarkness'', a solar eclipse covers the city in darkness, not only allowing you to access your darkness-based powers in the middle of the day, but also apparently supercharging them. The eclipse is unrealistically long, but at least had the good grace to start slow - it actually takes several minutes from the point where it starts to show, and until the eclipse becomes complete.
* The classic platformer ''VideoGame/HeartOfDarkness'' kicks off the plot with a solar eclipse, which opens a portal into a dark dimension, allowing evil entities to reach through and kidnap... the boy hero's dog. Good thing he had an interdimensional spaceship and a home-made plasma-cannon stashed in his treehouse...
* Two-thirds of the way through ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'', [[spoiler:a piece of forbidden ([[ButThouMust but unavoidable]]) {{Magitek}} triggers the Grave Eclipse, an event that covers half of Angara in shadows where superpowered monsters roam freely, and AnyoneCanDie, even the resident BadassNormal. Your goal for the last part of the game is to dispel the unnatural Eclipse]].

* In ''VideoGame/SonicRiders'', a solar eclipse opens a chasm in the sands and creates the Dark Desert racetrack. The eclipse will last however long it takes for the race to finish.
* In ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV Super Street Fighter IV]]'', there is a selectable stage that places the fighters in Africa during a solar eclipse, however, the Eclipse comes, lasts for a few moments, and then passes as the fighters toss Hadoukens and Shoryukens at each other. And is only there to [[SceneryPorn look pretty]].
* The climax of ''[[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Embodiment of Scarlet Devil]]'' has Reimu facing off against [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Remilia Scarlet]] on the night of the Scarlet Moon, a lunar eclipse that has turned the full moon blood-red, when Remilia's power is at its peak.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Infernal}}'', there's a special once-a-millennium kind of eclipse which is the only time that God isn't watching what happens on Earth. One of the villains is an angel who want to use this window of opportunity to "correct" TheEvilsOfFreeWill, brainwashing humanity into being good while the Creator isn't looking.
* In ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara: Samurai Heroes'', the Battle of Sekigahara, which is generally the climatic battle of many characters' storylines, is represented by an eclipse. This is because the leaders of the Tokugawa and the Ishida armies, Ieyasu and Mitsunari, are represented by the [[ThePowerOfTheSun sun]] and the [[{{Lunacy}} moon]] in-game.
* In ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'', Ryu is told of a prophecy of a demon being unleashed when the "black moon" shines. Near the game's end, after defeating the BigBad, a lunar eclipse occurs during the cutscene. Cue the FinalBoss.
* In the SNES classic ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', the climax of the side-quest to [[spoiler:bring Crono back to life]] happens during a solar eclipse: the team returns to the exact moment of the event -- frozen in time -- [[spoiler:exchange a life-like replica for the real Crono, and bring the latter back into the time stream]].
** Metaphorically played straight, as [[spoiler:bringing the ''main character'' back to life]] is a ''side''-quest, and irrelevant to the over-arching plot.
* It's not explicitly remarked on, but as you begin succeeding at missions into the eponymous structure in ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'', the Hamlet sky turns blood-red, and an eclipse is clearly visible in it.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', Skoll, [[spoiler:[[OmnicidalManiac Hans']] [[EvilMakesYouMonstrous Heartless]]]], blocks out all light in [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Arendelle]] using a ball of darkness if it means destroying the world.
* ''VideoGame/KlonoaDoorToPhantomile'': There is a level where eclipses happen every several seconds outside, and when enemies are exposed to it, they become unbeatable - Klonoa can't use his Wind Ring to pick them up.

* ''WesternAnimation/CastlevaniaNocturne'': Erzsebet causes a solar eclipse to enact her evil plan in the finale, which allows vampires and night creatures to walk in the day.

* ''WesternAnimation/CastlevaniaNocturne'': In the penultimate episode of Season 1, [[BigBad Countess Erzsebet Báthory]] fulfills her self-proclaimed status as the [[DarkMessiah Vampire Messiah]] by magically blocking out the sun, creating a [[TheNightThatNeverEnds perpetual night]] so that vampires can TakeOverTheWorld.

* ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack: TheSeries'' had shadow aliens attempt to lock the moon in position for an eternal eclipse. [[ArtisticLicenseSpace Astronomy failing aside]], they at least made a normal eclipse only last a few minutes.

* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' parodied the scene in ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' in a TimeTravel episode. Darkwing attempts to use foreknowledge of an eclipse to terrify the locals by pretending to block out the sun, but the eclipse he's predicting doesn't occur until the day ''after'' he makes the threat, and so ends up stalling for 24 hours until his "magic" pays off.

** In season 3, a natural solar eclipse, the Day of Black Sun, is exploited by our heroes and their allies to attempt a surgical strike on the Fire Nation capital. Unfortunately, it only lasts about eight minutes and Fire Lord Ozai simply hides, along with a fleet of newly developed airships, until it's over. Most of the invasion force are captured or forced to flee as a result, though it's later shown that King Bumi was able to single-handedly expel the Fire Nation occupation force from his city on the other side of the planet during the eclipse.

-->-- '''[[Music/{{Mastodon}} Brann Dailor]]''', unaware of an incoming SugarApocalypse, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr9_e4ySRYA Deathbound Music Video]]''

-->'''Moon:''' Ooh, you've just been [[{{Pun}} mooned!]]\\

* In ''Series/TeenWolf'' a lunar eclipse takes away all werewolves powers in the affected area. This is a crucial plot point allowing [[spoiler:the BigBad of the season, an evil druid, to attempt to kill the ''other'' big bad of the season, an incredibly powerful alpha werewolf]].

--->'''Homer:''' Sorry, Dad, I thought the dragon would't cough the moon back up.\\

** In the first season finale the Fire Nation Admiral Zhao causes an artificial lunar eclipse by killing the Moon Spirit's mortal form, leaving the Northern Water Tribe unable to defend themselves. However, the Ocean Spirit proves to be [[{{Kaiju}} very]] ticked off by the Fire Nation killing its mate, and while it's wiping out the Fire Nation fleet, the Moon is revived through princess Yue's sacrifice, ending the eclipse.
** In season 3 a natural solar eclipse, the Day of Black Sun, is exploited by our heroes and their allies to attempt a surgical strike on the Fire Nation capital. Unfortunately, it only lasts about eight minutes and Fire Lord Ozai simply hides, along with a fleet of newly developed airships, until it's over. Most of the invasion force are captured or forced to flee as a result, though it's later shown that King Bumi was able to single-handedly expel the Fire Nation occupation force from his city on the other side of the planet during the eclipse.

** In the first season finale the Fire Nation Admiral Zhao causes an artificial lunar eclipse by killing the Moon Spirit's mortal form, leaving the Northern Water Tribe unable to defend themselves. However the Ocean Spirit proves to be [[{{Kaiju}} very]] ticked off by the Fire Nation killing its mate and while its wiping out the Fire fleet the Moon is revived through princess Yue's sacrifice, ending the eclipse.

* Literature/TheBible: Three of Literature/{{the Four Gospels}} relate that when Jesus died on the cross, a darkness fell on Jerusalem that lasted from noon to "the ninth hour" (three in the afternoon). Of the three evangelists who mention the three-hour darkness, Luke is the only one who seems to imagine it as an eclipse ("the sun's light failed"), whereas Mark and Matthew only say that "darkness fell over all the land" (or possibly, "the entire world"). Solar eclipses generally last a few minutes (as opposed to hours), and also the Gospels say that Jesus was crucified around the time of Passover, which occurs only at the full moon, when solar eclipses cannot occur.

* Literature/TheBible: Three of Literature/{{the Four Gospels}} relate that when Jesus died on the cross, a darkness fell on Jerusalem that lasted from noon to "the ninth hour" (three in the afternoon). Of the three evangelists that mention the three-hour darkness, Luke is the only one who seems to imagine it as an eclipse ("the sun's light failed"), whereas Mark and Matthew only say that "darkness fell over all the land" (or possibly, "the entire world"). Solar eclipses generally last a few minutes (as opposed to hours), and also the Gospels say that Jesus was crucified around the time of Passover, which occurs only at the full moon, when solar eclipses cannot occur.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':