History Main / ConvenientEclipse

* Subverted in ''Shadow of Earth''. Where a modern day American woman is trapped in a 'the Spanish took over all of the Americas and never developed beyond feudalism' parallel universe. The main character is annoyed about the lack of handy eclipses. Luckily being a natural blonde gets her a relatively good deal anyway.
* In the Creator/GeneWolfe novel ''[[Literature/BookOfTheNewSun Urth of the New Sun]]'' a convenient eclipse saves the protagonist Severian's life from attack by Aztecs, but this is a subversion because [[spoiler:it was probably caused deliberately by time-traveling aliens who are looking out for him.]]

* Subverted in the short story by Augusto Monterroso ''El Eclipse''. Fray Bartolomé Arrazola tries to do this when he is about to be sacrificed by Mayans, unfortunately for him their astronomers already predicted all Solar ''and Lunar'' eclipses

* The French libertin scholar Gabriel Naudé mentions the "prophecy" of solar eclipses as a way to feign supernatural abilities and thereby awe the gullible masses. His "Apology for all the great men who have been wrongly accused of magic" (1625) sets out to prove that historical figures like Pythagoras, Socrates, Solomon or even Merlin simply possesed bright minds and a superior knowledge of astronomy and the laws of nature and used this to their advantage. The (heretical, and thus unspoken) implication being of course that the miracles described in the Bible were clever impostures as well (Naudé was a secret atheist who for most of his life just happened to be working as a librarian for high-ranking cardinals).

* 1960's ''Series/Batman1966'' episode "The Cat and the Fiddle". Batman and Robin are tied under giant magnifying glasses so they'll be broiled to death by concentrated sunlight. An eclipse gives the time to move one of the glasses so it burns through their bonds and frees them.

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* A solar eclipse occured on [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_January_22,_1879 January 22, 1879]] during a battle in the Anglo Zulu War. At 2:29 PM there was a solar eclipse, and according to legend, this motivated the Zulus, who claimed that it was a sign that they would prevail. The conflict was named the Battle of Isandlwana, the Zulu name for the battle translates as "the day of the dead moon".

* Yet another real life example: Christopher Columbus was stranded in Jamaica in 1504 and declared that if the natives wouldn't help him and his crew, he would destroy the moon! Of course, he had the equivalent of the Farmer's Almanac tucked away in his cloak, much like the Connecticut Yankee.

* Another real life example that deserves mention: When the Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortés reached the Aztec Empire, they took him to be a god, thanks to many circumstances and prophecies. The Aztec believed that the god, Quetzalcoatl, was a pale, bearded god that had left by the Atlantic coast and would return the same year that Cortes arrived. This coincidence proved rather fatal for the Aztec, who didn't try to kill Cortes until he was too powerful.
** Conversations recorded between Cortés and Montezuma seem to indicate that Montezuma recognized Cortés as another mortal human. It's possible that him or one of his successors fabricated the story as a way of taking full credit for the conquest of the Aztec Empire, conveniently ignoring the fact that the Spaniards had far superior technology.

* The French libertin scholar Gabriel Naudé mentions the "prophecy" of solar eclipses as a way to feign supernatural abilities and thereby awe the gullible masses. His "Apologie for all the great men who have been wrongly accused of magic" (1625) sets out to prove that historical figures like Pythagoras, Socrates, Solomon or even Merlin simply possesed bright minds and a superior knowledge of astronomy and the laws of nature and used this to their advantage. The (heretical, and thus unspoken) implication being that the miracles described in the Bible were clever impostures as well - Naudé was a secret atheist who for most of his life just happened to be working as a librarian for high-ranking cardinals.

+ The French libertin scholar Gabriel Naudé mentions the "prophecy" of solar eclipses as a way to feign supernatural abilities and thereby awe the gullible masses. His "Apologie for all the great men who have been wrongly accused of magic" (1625) sets out to prove that historical figures like Pythagoras, Socrates, Solomon or even Merlin simply possesed bright minds and a superior knowledge of astronomy and the laws of nature and used this to their advantage. The (heretical, and thus unspoken) implication being that the miracles described in the Bible were clever impostures as well - Naudé was a secret atheist who for most of his life just happened to be working as a librarian for high-ranking cardinals.

-->''WesternAnimation/DonkeyKongCountry'', "Kong Fu"

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' plays a lesser version where the eclipse comes in a few ''months''.
** And is also portrayed FAR more accurately than in most media, the full Eclipse itself lasting only a few minutes.
** There's also a villainous inversion with the imminent arrival of Sozin's Comet creating a deadline of less than a year for the entire plot (otherwise Aang would have the option to take his time mastering all the elements and facing the Fire Lord only when he was completely ready)

* ''{{Franchise/Tintin}}'' used a Convenient Eclipse in "Prisoners of the Sun": when held prisoner by a surviving group of Incas and pending execution by sun-lit pyre, Tintin claims the date of the eclipse is Captain Haddock's birthday, causing the Inca priest to schedule their execution for that day. During the day itself, Tintin fakes being able to command the sun and the Incas let them go. It's a ''little'' more believable than many examples of this trope, as the Inca leader tells Tintin that he must die within a month, but can choose which time for the execution (being a full month, the chance that an eclipse actually ''would'' occur in that time period is a little higher). Also, Tintin found a newspaper that had astronomical tables printed in it. Good thing they didn't give him the sports section. Creator/{{Herge}} himself admitted that since the Incas were solar worshippers and skilled astronomers who knew about eclipses, it's doubtful they would have been fooled by such a trick in real life.
* Parodied in the Creator/DonRosa comic story "The Once and Future Duck", where DonaldDuck is about to be executed by (the historical) King Arthur, and he orders his nephews to wow Arthur by predicting an eclipse. After protesting [[ThisIsReality "That only works in old movies and comic books, Unca Donald!"]], they reply "You have two options: get them to pack up camp and move to Madagascar, or stay here and convince them to delay the execution for 237 years!" Don is instead saved from execution when Gyro beeps the horn on his truck and scares the whole camp silly.

* In ''Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt'' (and any similar guy-from-now-ends-up-in-medieval-times plot), the hero just happens to be around on the same day as a total eclipse, which he can use to his benefit. On any other day of the year, he would simply be run through.
** There's also the convenience of him happening to know the exact date and time of the eclipse and his execution being slated at the exact same time.

* ''{{Franchise/Tintin}}'' used a Convenient Eclipse in "Prisoners of the Sun": when held prisoner by a surviving group of Incas and pending execution by sun-lit pyre, Tintin claims the date of the eclipse is Captain Haddock's birthday, causing the Inca priest to schedule their execution for that day. During the day itself, Tintin fakes being able to command the sun and the Incas let them go. It's a ''little'' more believable than many examples of this trope, as the Inca leader tells Tintin that he must die within a month, but can choose which time for the execution (being a full month, the chance that an eclipse actually ''would'' occur in that time period is a little higher). Also, Tintin found a newspaper that had astronomical tables printed in it. Good thing they didn't give him the sports section. Creator/{{Herge}} himself admitted that since the Incas were solar worshippers and skilled astronomers, it's doubtful they would have been fooled by such a trick in real life.

* 1960's ''Series/{{Batman}}'' episode "The Cat and the Fiddle". Batman and Robin are tied under giant magnifying glasses so they'll be broiled to death by concentrated sunlight. An eclipse gives the time to move one of the glasses so it burns through their bonds and frees them.

[[quoteright:226:[[ComicBook.Tintin https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tintin_eclipse.png]]]]

* ''{{Franchise/Tintin}}'' used a Convenient Eclipse in "Prisoners of the Sun": when held prisoner by a surviving group of Incas and pending execution by sun-lit pyre, Tintin claims the date of the eclipse is Captain Haddock's birthday, causing the Inca priest to schedule their execution for that day. During the day itself, Tintin fakes being able to command the sun and the Incas let them go. It's a ''little'' more believable than many examples of this trope, as the Inca leader tells Tintin that he must die within a month, but can choose which time for the execution (being a full month, the chance that an eclipse actually ''would'' occur in that time period is a little higher). Also, Tintin found a newspaper that had astronomical tables printed in it. Good thing they didn't give him the sports section. Herge himself admitted that since the Incas were solar worshippers and skilled astronomers, it's doubtful they would have been fooled by such a trick in real life.

* ''{{Franchise/Tintin}}'' used a Convenient Eclipse in "Prisoners of the Sun": when held prisoner by a surviving group of Incas and pending execution by sun-lit pyre, Tintin claims the date of the eclipse is Captain Haddock's birthday, causing the Inca priest to schedule their execution for that day. During the day itself, Tintin fakes being able to command the sun and the Incas let them go. It's a ''little'' more believable than many examples of this trope, as the Inca leader tells Tintin that he must die within a month, but can choose which time for the execution (being a full month, the chance that an eclipse actually ''would'' occur in that time period is a little higher).
** Also, Tintin was given a newspaper that had astronomical tables printed in it. Good thing they didn't give him the sports section.

* The appropriately-named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Eclipse Battle of the Eclipse]], also known as the Battle of Halys, was called off due to a solar eclipse -- but ''not'' an unexpected one, as it had been (allegedly) predicted some time in advance by Thales of Miletus, the first eclipse ever so predicted. Incidentally, the fact that this battle was interrupted by an eclipse lets us determine its exact date (May 28, 585 BCE) despite the fact that calendars of the time weren't even remotely unified, making it the oldest event we can date to this level of precision.

* Another real life example that deserves mention: When the infamous Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortés reached the Aztec Empire, they took him to be a god, thanks to many circumstances and prophecies. The Aztec believed that the god, Quetzalcoatl, was a pale, bearded god that had left by the Atlantic coast and would return the same year that Cortes arrived. This coincidence proved rather fatal for the Aztec, who didn't try to kill Cortes until he was too powerful.
** Conversations recorded between Cortés and Moctezuma make it quite clear that Moctezuma recognized Cortés as another mortal human. It seems that him or one of his successors fabricated the story as a way of taking full credit for the conquest of the Aztec Empire; conveniently ignoring the fact that the Spaniards fought with over five times their number of Tlaxcaltec natives, fierce enemies of the Aztec.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold,'' the title character was born while his parents were living among the Green-Eyed People in San Lorenzo. When his mother was in labor, the local volcano started erupting; just as Arnold was born, it stopped. WordOfGod says that in ''[[GrandFinale The Jungle Movie]],'' the Green-Eyed People will consider Arnold a godlike figure because of this reason.

** And it was probably parodied there because it had already been played straight on that show's predecessor, ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales''. Scrooge [=McDuck=] went into a South American country on the deadline day to resign a lease on the company he owned there, but, like Darkwing, he found himself scheduled to be executed by the local dictator instead. His nephews, who had inadvertently caused this predicament by tricking Scrooge -- and through him, the entire world! -- into thinking it was the next day, consulted their [[GreatBigBookOfEverything super-exhaustive Junior Woodchucks Guidebook]] to try to fix things. And what do you know, a Convenient Eclipse was supposed to happen today! The boys showed the dictator the eclipse, thus correcting the date, and "Unca Scrooge" was not only free to go, but free to resign that lease.