History Main / CometOfDoom

Before people had telescopes, comets were frightening objects of awe and wonder that seemed to appear out of nowhere, blazed brightly in the sky, then vanished as quickly as they came. For thousands (and perhaps tens of thousands) of years, they were seen as bad omens, and pronounced the deaths of kings or the coming of a horrible disaster. The "[[TheStarsAreGoingOut falling stars]]" mentioned in the tale of Gilgamesh and the Book of Revelation were likely references to comets or meteor showers, which could make this OlderThanDirt.

[[OlderThanDirt Before people had telescopes]], comets were frightening objects of awe and wonder that seemed to appear out of nowhere, blazed brightly in the sky, then vanished as quickly as they came. For thousands (and perhaps tens of thousands) of years, they were seen as bad omens, and pronounced the deaths of kings or the coming of a horrible disaster. The "[[TheStarsAreGoingOut falling stars]]" mentioned in the tales of Gilgamesh or the Book of Revelation were likely references to comets or meteor showers.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E3SilverNemesis Silver Nemesis]]" there is a comet with a period of 25 years that, according to the Doctor, really does bring misfortune: it's actually an alien superweapon that somehow (ahem) wound up in a solar orbit. He cites the the two World Wars and the assassination of JFK as the results of the last three times it came near Earth.

* In ''A Clash of Kings'', a comet appears in the sky over Westeros, and is taken as any number of omens, both good and ill.

* In the Alliances expansion for Magic: The Gathering, General Varchild saw a comet which she believed meant that she was to conquer the barbarian tribes as a part of a manifest destiny for her people. So she took her army and began the slaughter.

* This happened at least once in ''XiaolinShowdown''. A comet accompanies a mysterious event that could quite easily cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* Sozin's Comet from ''[=~Avatar: The Last Airbender~=]'': Its arrival meant a major power boost for the already powerful Firebenders and near certain doom for the Earth Kingdom (Which [[OmnicidalManiac Fire Lord Ozai]] planned to literally burn to the ground using the comet boost)

* ''{{Lifeforce}}''. The arrival of Halley's Comet foretells doom for London, as it contains an alien spaceship that carried space vampires. The movie mentions that the appearance of Halley's Comet has been considered a warning of disaster for centuries, possibly because seeing it meant the alien ship within was near enough to allow the vampires to reach Earth and feed.

* ''SuperMarioGalaxy'' has the Prankster comets.

* ''DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E3SilverNemesis Silver Nemesis]]" there is a comet with a period of 25 years that, according to the Doctor, really does bring misfortune: it's actually an alien superweapon that somehow (ahem) wound up in a solar orbit. He cites the the two World Wars and the assassination of JFK as the results of the last three times it came near Earth.

* MarkTwain was born on November 30th, 1835, 20 days after the passing of Halley's Comet on November 10th. He had stated that he came in with Halley's Comet and would go out with Halley's Comet. Twain passed away on April 21st, 1910, the day after Halley's Comet passed.

* ''Lifeforce''. The arrival of Halley's Comet foretells doom for London, as it contains an alien spaceship that carried space vampires. The movie mentions that the appearance of Halley's Comet has been considered a warning of disaster for centuries, possibly because seeing it meant the alien ship within was near enough to allow the vampires to reach Earth and feed.
* ''Night of the Comet''. A comet's trail sweeps across the Earth, reducing [[ApocalypseHow almost the entire human race to reddish dust]].

Be that as it may, comets remain cool, and they are still used in media as the first, last and only suitable omen for truly world shaking events. Such as said comet [[ColonyDrop coming straight at you]]. When they're not killing you, perhaps they're [[MagicMeteor giving you powers.]] And if all else fails, they're always a good [[ThunderboltIron source of iron]].

* Arguably the Red Star in ''DragonRidersOfPern''. Its orbit drags it through in Oort cloud in the solar system, displacing frozen organisms that upon entering Pern's atmosphere become the organisms known as Threads. They eat any organic material they can. Crops, wood, grass, flesh, fungi...
* In one ''{{Animorphs}}'' book the characters have traveled to the time of the dinosaurs and see a comet in the sky. Cassie mentions that humans used to believe that comets were a bad omen, and Ax says that Andalites had a similar superstition. Of course, said comet turns out to be the meteor that killed the dinosaurs.

* ''Night of the Comet''. A comet's trail sweeps across the Earth, reducing almost the entire human race to reddish dust.

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Manga and Anime ]]

* In ''{{Space Carrier Blue Noah}}'', the aliens rain down surveillance cameras disguised as meteors onto planet Earth, to scope out whether the planet is worth invading.

[[folder: Mythology ]]

* In a rare example of a comet being a ''good'' omen, some scholars believe that the [[TheBible Star of Bethlehem]] was one.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* A comet was seen in the sky shortly after the death of Julius Caesar. Rather than being seen as a bad omen, the comet was believed to be proof that Julius Caesar had ascended to godhood after his murder.
--> "On the very days of my Games a comet was visible for seven days in the northern part of the sky. It was rising about an hour before sunset, and was a bright star visible from all lands." -- Caesar Augustus
* Tacitus mentions two comet sightings during the reign of the Emperor Nero. Nero was apparently so concerned about each of these two comet sightings (in the years 60 and 66 AD, respectively), thinking that they were omens foretelling the sudden end of his reign, that he had most of the Roman nobility massacred as a means to forstall assassination.
** Just as an interesting aside, the comet in 66 AD was Halley's Comet.
* Months prior to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, Halley's Comet appeared in the sky. The Bayeax Tapestry records not only the appearance of the comet over the battle, but King Harold II of England being informed of the appearance of this ill-omen.
* In 1996, amateur astronomer Chuck Shramek announced that he had found a "Saturn-like object" following the Hale-Bopp comet (closer examination, however, proved that no such object existed). Unfortunately, UFO enthusiasts everywhere latched on to the supposed "fact" that there was an alien spacecraft following the comet. Among the people who got sucked into this fantasy were the members of the Heaven's Gate cult, who chose the appearance of the comet as a signal for their mass suicide. They claimed they were "leaving their earthly bodies behind to travel to the spaceship" that was supposedly following the comet.

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[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* In the ''DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure module ''X2 Castle Amber'', the appearance of a blazing red comet over Averoigne causes an NPC to become a deadly monster.
* In the ''{{Shadowrun}}'' supplements ''The Year of the Comet'' and ''Wake of the Comet'', the passing of Halley's Comet in 2061 greatly increased the magic level on Earth, which caused SURGE (Sudden Recessive Gene Expression) mutations in (meta)humans, animals and plants, the re-appearance of the dragon Ghostwalker and natural disasters in the Asia that brought down the Japanese Empire.
* The presence of a twin-tailed comet is often seen as an omen to the people of [[{{Warhammer}} The Empire]], due to the legend that their founder Sigmar's birth was heralded by it's appearance. This is not always seen as a ''good'' omen, however, especially to the city of Mordhiem, which was ''hit'' by one.
* In the Alliances expansion for Magic: The Gathering, General Varchild saw a comet which she believed meant that she was to conquer the barbarian tribes as a part of a manifest destiny for her people. So she took her army and began the slaughter.

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----

->''"Threatening the world with Famine, Plague and War: To Princes, Death! To Kingdoms, many Crosses; To all Estates, inevitable Losses! To Herdsmen, Rot; to Plowmen, hapless Seasons; To Sailors, Storms, To Cities, Civil Treasons!"''
-->-- '''''De cometis''''' by John Gadbury, London, 1665

->''"When beggars die there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes."''\\
-- '''Calpurnia''', ''JuliusCaesar'' by WilliamShakespeare

->''"Threatening the world with Famine, Plague and War: To Princes, Death! To Kingdoms, many Crosses; To all Estates, inevitable Losses! To Herdsmen, Rot; to Plowmen, hapless Seasons; To Sailors, Storms, To Cities, Civil Treasons!"''\\
-- ''De cometis'' by John Gadbury, London, 1665

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* Arguably the Red Star in ''DragonRidersOfPern''. Its orbit drags it through in Oort cloud in the solar system, displacing frozen organisms that upon entering Pern's atmosphere become the organisms known as Threads. They eat any organic material they can. Crops, wood, grass, flesh, fungi...
* In one ''{{Animorphs}}'' book the characters have traveled to the time of the dinosaurs and see a comet in the sky. Cassie mentions that humans used to believe that comets were a bad omen, and Ax says that Andalites had a similar superstition. Of course, said comet turns out to be the meteor that killed the dinosaurs.

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* The presence of a twin-tailed comet is often seen as an omen to the people of [[{{Warhammer}} The Empire]], due to the legend that their founder Sigmar's birth was heralded by it's appearance. This is not always seen as a ''good'' omen, however, especially to the city of Mordhiem, which was ''hit'' by one.

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* In the ''CallOfCthulhu'' PC adventure game ''Shadow of the Comet'', the passing of Halley's Comet coincides with [[EldritchAbomination some truly creepy stuff going down]].

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'''As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

* In the Alliances expansion for Magic: The Gathering, General Jarkeld saw a comet which she believed meant that she was to conquer the barbarian tribes as a part of a manifest destiny for her people. So she took her army and began the slaughter.

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* Happens at least one time in ''TheFairlyOddparents''. Of course, Timmy has wished for there to be no noise, and he cannot wish away the comet. Until he figures out that he can use charades ([[ChekovsGun conveniently played in the early part of the episode]]) to wish for sound.

* Sozin's Comet from ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Its arrival meant a major power boost for the already powerful Firebenders and near certain doom for the Earth Kingdom (Which [[OmnicidalManiac Fire Lord Ozai]] planned to literally burn to the ground using the comet boost)

-->''"When beggars die there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes."''\\

-->''"Threatening the world with Famine, Plague and War: To Princes, Death! To Kingdoms, many Crosses; To all Estates, inevitable Losses! To Herdsmen, Rot; to Plowmen, hapless Seasons; To Sailors, Storms, To Cities, Civil Treasons!"''\\

* In [[LarryNiven Larry Niven's]] novel ''LucifersHammer'', pieces of a comet slam into the Earth and destroy civilization.
* As the page quote reveals, a comet appears in the sky after the assassination of Julius Caesar, in [[WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare's]] play of the same name.

* In one {{Animorphs}} book the characters have traveled to the time of the dinosaurs and see a comet in the sky. Cassie mentions that humans used to believe that comets were a bad omen, and Ax says that Andalites had a similar superstition. Of course, said comet turns out to be the meteor that killed the dinosaurs.

* In ''ShadowTheHedgehog'', there is the Black Comet. Not an actual comet, however, but a meteoroid that serves as the vessel of [[BigBad Black Doom]] and his army. Black Doom uses the Chaos Emeralds to teleport it into the atmosphere and start sucking energy out of the planet. Fortunately, it turns out that the space colony A.R.K.'s [[KillSat Eclipse Cannon]] was created to [[CrowningMoment/SonicTheHedgehog blow the Black Comet to smithereens. After Shadow teleports it back out into space.]]

Be that as it may, comets remain cool, and they are still used in media as the first, last and only suitable omen for truly world shaking events. Such as said comet [[ColonyDrop coming straight at you]]. When they're not killing you, perhaps they're [[MagicMeteor giving you powers.]]