History Main / RedSkyTakeWarning

* Happens in the ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' anime whenever we see UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga's hideout, complete with DramaticThunder.

* In Franchise/TheDCU, they have red skies, which includes the clouds, whenever there is a major reality-threatening crisis. This was lampshaded in ''Joker: Last Laugh'', when the Joker, during his vast campaign against all of humanity, complained that he didn't warrant having anti-matter waves and red skies. In ''DC Universe'' #0, the prologue to ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', this was explained by "the Bleed" (the space between universes and "life-blood" of the Multiverse) seeping through into the material universes due to damage to the structure of the cosmos.

* The final sequence of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' has this, as Ezio travels through Spain to face his nemesis.

* The final battle in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has this... though it might only be the burning city of [[spoiler:Denerim.]]

* The final battle in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion1'' against King Boo (and Mecha Bowser) takes place among orange/red flame-like clouds on the floating rooftop of the mansion.
* The level ''Boogie Mansion'' in ''VideoGame/WarioLandShakeIt'' has a background of ominous purple trees and clouds.

* The Wii version of a ''VideoGame/ABoyAndHisBlob'': In the first boss level, the sky is an orange-red hue. The sky also turns red during fights against a final boss and normal again when it is defeated.
* The second half of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. However, it's because of the pollution that has reached the sky due to the cataclysm making it impossible to see anything but red, and it's more of a reddish-orange, though if pollution were to ever get ''that'' bad, it would certainly be enough to take warning.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', Esthar's sky turns red and monster-infested resulting from the Lunar Cry triggered by the Lunatic Pandora.
* In ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', the skies over most of Paragon City are a glowing blue because of the War Walls - leftover [[HandWave Hand Waves]] for why you couldn't freely run from one zone to another except in designated spots. Slightly varied in other areas, and in the Rogue Isles and Praetoria, the areas of the two expansions. But, when certain conditions are met (specifically a Halloween event that pops up semi-randomly after a certain quest is completed any time of the year) [[ZombieApocalypse zombies invade]] one of the zones. Guess what color the sky becomes?
* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', the sky turns green and all water turns to blood during the Dark Hour.

* In the days before the servers were shut down to remake the game from scratch, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' had the artificial moon, Dalamud, slowly fall towards the earth. By the final days, Dalamud was glowing a bright red while the sky turned into an unnatural mixture of yellow and gray.
** During the climactic parts of the ''Endwalker'' expansion, various skies turn red [[spoiler: during the attempted End Days caused by a corrupted Meteion]], complete with what look to be meteor showers.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* The DarkWorld of ''VisualNovel/ElevenEyes'' is signified by a red sky and a [[WeirdMoon black moon]] that, besides its color, is immensely huge and hanging over the city.
* [[spoiler:After society collapses and the world is reduced to war, chaos, and despair,]] the skies in ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' are almost perpetually red.
* ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'': The total lunar eclipse seen in several endings [[spoiler:is actually Earth circa 2074, as viewed from the Moon. Thanks to the fires and destruction caused by the Radical-6 pandemic and the antimatter explosions, the atmosphere was shrouded in dust and ash, plunging the world into a nuclear winter that lasted seven years and killed millions of plants, animals and humans. By 2036, things began to clear up a little, but even decades later, Earth is still largely a wasteland and has so much pollution in the atmosphere that the planet looks red from space.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "Lost Smurf", a shifting multicolored sky portends a danger that only Grandpa Smurf knew about -- a mysterious haunted castle that has taken Nanny Smurf away when she went after him.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': In addition to the sky turning red when the Blood Moon is approaching the sky's zenith like in ''Breath of the Wild'', the game also shows the sky turning red when a cluster of Gloom Hands is sighted. During this state, Link's health is unable to recover from the effect of MaximumHPReduction caused by the Gloom. The sky goes back to normal when Link manages to escape the Hands; but if he defeats them all, Phantom Ganon will appear and the sky will continue glowing red; in this case, it'll be necessary to defeat the boss in order to finally put an end to the redness. The Blood Moon also appear in a couple cutscenes, one when [[spoiler: Ganondorf takes the Secret Stone,]] one when [[spoiler: he uses it to conjure an army of monsters,]] and one when [[spoiler: a disguised Phantom Ganon appears at Hyrule Castle.]] Then, finally, the Blood Moon and red sky reappear one last time [[spoiler: when Link goes in for the kill against the Demon Dragon.]]

* In the original ''VideoGame/StarFox/Starwing'', the first level Corneria is different for each difficulty setting/route. On the third and hardest one, the normally blue sky is replaced with an ominous red one, presumably from the sunset (or sunrise, as the 'normal' boss has a "cameo" as a set of parts being carried around), and the level has hiked up the difficulty.

* To quote Legolas from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers''

** Also subverted in ''The Return of the King'' (book only) when, after the Ring is destroyed, Sauron rises as a vast anthropomorphic cloud of dark smoke from the Dark Tower and appears to threaten the armies of Gondor -- only to be swept away, impotent, by the wind from the West. Happens again in a very similar manner to Saruman at the end.

Subtrope of PortentOfDoom. See also DeathFromAbove and CosmicFlaw. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] RedEyesTakeWarning though it can elicit a similar reaction. Related to RedSkiesCrossover (when the source of the red skies is someone else's problem.). If the sky is supposed to be red, then it's an AlienSky.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' has the sky turn red during the fight with Lysandre.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' has the sky turn a bloody red every few days on the stroke of midnight, when Calamity Ganon uses his power to revive all the monsters you killed. The event is called a "[[BadMoonRising Blood Moon]]" because the moon turns blood red, and in the 15 in-game minutes (15 real-life seconds) before midnight the sky starts becoming filled with red sparks as a warning to the player.

* The sky briefly turns red when Asura is released in ''Manga/SoulEater'', and later on when Arachne uses him to increase the spread of insanity throughout the world. Appropriately, the only 'blue sky' left is in the [[BiggerOnTheInside Death Room]]. Once Asura is defeated, the sky immediately returns to normal.

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' is a fan of red skies in the last third or so of the games. The third episode of the original game, Inferno, set in Hell itself, has a fittingly blood-red sky. The fourth episode, Thy Flesh Consumed, has a mostly sunset-yellow sky tinged with red. In ''VideoGame/DoomII'' it goes further, displaying nightmarish mirages of bones and skulls fused together, and in ''The Plutonia Experiment'' of ''VideoGame/FinalDoom'' (where the sky is blood red as early as [=MAP12=]), the skybox seems to be made of meat or muscle strings. In a few levels of ''VideoGame/Doom64'', the sky is taken over by bright red fire.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': In addition to the sky turning red when the Blood Moon is approaching the sky's zenith like in ''Breath of the Wild'', the game also shows the sky turning red when a cluster of Gloom Hands is sighted. During this state, Link's health is unable to recover from the effect of MaximumHPReduction caused by the Gloom. The sky goes back to normal when Link manages to escape the Hands; but if he defeats them all, Phantom Ganon will appear and the sky will continue glowing red; in this case, it'll be necessary to defeat the boss in order to finally put an end to the redness.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'': Giygas is not really a cloud per se, but he is red and vaporous.

* ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'': In ''Literature/HereticsOfDune'' the sky of the planet Tleilax (home of the Tleilaxu masters, Face Dancers, Axolotl tanks, and a multitude of other dangerous and/or morally questionable things) is described as being an intense carnelian (a deep, reddish-brown) color.
* In ''Literature/FactionParadox'''s [[EldritchLocation the Eleven-Day Empire]] the sky's always blood-red, like something's burning beyond the horizon, forever and ever...

* Night time in ''Anime/{{Hellsing}}'' seems to always feature red skies.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}''

* In ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'', [[spoiler:during 2.0 Shinji causes the start of the Third Impact. Guess what the color of the sky is.]]

* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', when the demon bugs start appearing in Mushiyori ("Swarm" in the dub and "Swarm City" in the manga), the sky turns red.

* Happens in the ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' anime whenever we see UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga's hideout, complete with DramaticThunder.
* Happens in ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'' when [[spoiler:Aporia comes into existence.]]
* In the first episode of ''Anime/SaintSeiyaOmega'', the sky turns red right before [[BigBad Mars]] appears to kidnap [[BigGood Saori]].
* ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'': In ''Side: Future'', the sky is ''always'' red. [[spoiler:Might be justified, as it takes place AfterTheEnd.]]
* ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty'': When [[spoiler:Hiyori]] returns from the dead (more or less) she has been corrupted. When the main cast finds her, the sunny sky turns deep purple as she reveals how much she was changed. Justified, because she was given [[WeatherManipulation weather control powers]].
* The AfterlifeAntechamber where [[TheFerryMan Ai]] and her [[{{Youkai}} minions]] take their targets before ferrying them to Hell proper sometimes has this as a feature. In a few cases, it's the only visual difference between the AfterlifeAntechamber and the world of the living. The perpetual sunset in the realm where Ai resides also becomes this when she offers her [[DealWithTheDevil deal]] to a prospective client. [[spoiler:Michiru also gets a sunset world when she becomes a second Hell Girl, with the same red sky when she meets with clients.]]
* In ''Manga/RedRiver1995'', Yuuri asked Ramses to have the horse halt to look at the setting sun. She trembled at the eerie blood-red color of the sky and contemplated about the Japanese old saying "Twilight invite devils to rise," feeling anxious about the situation of Kail, Ursula and herself at the moment. Her hunch was right - back at the capital, Ursula was hanged on the background of the very same sunset, around the same time.

* In ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} story arc ''ComicBook/ManyHappyReturns'', a red sky was Linda's clue that their time was running out and the original Supergirl had to be sent back to Earth-One at once before TheMultiverse collapsed because Kara didn't fight the Anti-Monitor.

* ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' once put John Constantine in a twisted nightmare/facet of Hell sort of version of America, with a monotonous dull blood red sky. John is... less than thrilled.
* In the backstory of ''ComicBook/BlackHammer'', the skies turned red during [[BigBad Anti-God]]'s universe-threatening attack on Spiral City. [[spoiler:When the skies about Spiral City start turning red in the alternate reality created when the heroes left the farm, it's a clear sign to everyone involved that Anti-God is returning to finish what he started.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad '': During The Headless Horseman's entrance the sky turns burning red probably signaling danger.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'':
** {{Mordor}} is blanketed by a perpetual red cloud cover, at least in the movies. The air was said to be poisonous there, so it's a similar idea. In the original books, it's not clouds, but masses of smoke from Mount Doom. Sauron deliberately summoned it up to hide under it, covering his preparations for his attack on Gondor (but ''also'' making "spy" hobbits harder to detect, which actually worries him).
** Also subverted in ''The Return of the King'' (book only) when, after the Ring is destroyed, Sauron rises as a vast anthropomorphic cloud of dark smoke from the Dark Tower and appears to threaten the armies of Gondor -- only to be swept away, impotent, by the wind from the West. Happens again in a very similar manner to Saruman at the end.

* The World of Rod described in ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho'' has red sky over one of its continents, not the most dangerous or safe. Theories vary, up to "the sky here reflects sands of Red Desert under it". In the Heart of the World ''any'' changes of sky color upset people. In the era of clashing dozens of magical orders, the sky was painted constantly, and just from statistics of celestial hues it was clear which one's adepts are stronger. Even the Great Magister of the only surviving order and a great aestheticist dared not to play with this (after the threat of magic overuse was gone): people remembering the civil war are still around.

* ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'': In ''Literature/HereticsOfDune'' the sky of the planet Tleilax (home of the Tleilaxu masters, Face Dancers, Axolotl tanks, and a multitude of other dangerous and/or morally questionable things) is described as being an intense carnelian (a deep, reddish-brown) color.
* In the second ''Literature/WarriorCats'' book, the morning that [=WindClan=] arrives home, their medicine cat, Barkface, announces that the clouds are stained with blood, and the day will bring an unneccessary death. This comes true when Fireheart and Graystripe head home -- rather than taking the long way around [=RiverClan=] territory to get home like they're supposed to, they take a shortcut through it. A patrol spots them and starts a fight, and one of the [=RiverClan=] warriors dies when he falls into the gorge.

* In ''[[http://slimebeast.com/forum/stories/red-sky-at-night/msg703/#msg703 Red Sky at Night]]'' by Creator/Slimebeast, the sky is remarked to turn red at sunset at least twice throughout the story of a cruise gone terribly wrong. "Red sky at night, sailor's delight" is invoked at the first sunset, in which the survivors use a life raft to escape whatever is leaving people dead in the water. The 2nd sunset is [[spoiler:after Graham's last hopes are dashed upon finding what he thought was land to be a giant mass of corpses, and he [[AteHisGun eats his flare gun]]. The narrator is revealed to be the entity causing all the doom, whose final remark is the sky turning a beautiful scarlet]].
* Alluded to in [[Creator/ArthurMachen Arthur Machen's]] ''Novel of the White Powder''. Though it's implied to be nothing but an ordinary sunset, Francis Leicester cheerfully describing the sky as "as if the great city were burning in flames and [...] raining blood", while apparently considering fire and blood "a pleasant evening" is one of the first big signs that there's something seriously wrong with him. [[SlowTransformation It]] [[TheCorruption gets]] [[BodyHorror worse]].

* Just as in the comic version, in the Series/{{Arrowverse}}, red skies mean [[Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019 a crisis]] is coming!
-->'''Earth-66 Robin:''' "Holy crimson skies of death!"
* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', flashbacks in the episode "[[Recap/OnceUponATimeS1E8DesperateSouls Desperate Souls]]" show that the ongoing Ogre War in the Enchanted Forest has caused the horizon to turn blood-red, as if there was a perpetual unnatural sunset throughout the day. Rumple cites it as symbolizing all the child soldiers who have died during the war.

* [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Blood Red Skies"]] song by Music/JudasPriest.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uRwiWi0dvI "Red Skies"]] by Music/TheFixx.

* "Under The Red Sky" by Music/BobDylan.
* [[http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/381227 "Black Wing Butterfly"]] by Sekshun 8 is "Soaring through the dreadful red sky".

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQPOQtpDtu4 "Red Sky Morning"]] by Illusions of Grandeur is about the Siren warning of her powers.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} RED'' gets its name from The Time of the Red, a period following the end of the Fourth Corporate War in 2023. The particulate debris from all the conventional destruction, wildfires, orbital strikes and the nuclear destruction of Night City stained the skies red for two years, which eventually died down to brilliant red sunrises and sunsets for the next decade. While this came after the war, it signaled that a long period of reconstruction was on its way, and that [[VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077 more problems were on the horizon]].

* Upon starting the final battle against the titular GiantSpider in ''VideoGame/ChooChooCharles'' by placing his eggs into the artifact meant to destroy them, [[spoiler: Charles appears and absorbs the released energy to go OneWingedAngel]]. The sky turns a deep red in response to this and only turns back to normal after he's dead.
* The final battle in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has this... though it might only be the burning city of [[spoiler:Denerim.]]

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'':
*** In the Ganondorf-dominated future, Death Mountain is perpetually surrounded by a red ring of fire instead of clouds. Once the boss of Fire Temple is defeated, the fire goes away and is replaced by the standard cloud ring.
*** In the future, Castle Market Town and Ganondorf's tower are ''perpetually'' covered in brimstoney clouds and dark backgrounds.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', the horizon takes on a red hue on the night of the final day. In the 3DS remake, the entire sky on the final night is blood red, complete with clouds of dark swirling energy.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'': Vaati's EvilMakeover of Hyrule Castle includes turning the sky a vibrant shade of red red with black clouds everywhere, though it doesn't extend beyond the castle itself.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' has the sky turn a bloody red every few days on the stroke of midnight, when Calamity Ganon uses his power to revive all the monsters you killed. The event is called a "[[BadMoonRising Blood Moon]]" because the moon turns blood red, and in the 15 in-game minutes (15 real-life seconds) before midnight the sky starts becoming filled with red sparks as a warning to the player.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'': Giygas is not really a cloud per se, but he is red and vaporous.

* In ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'', repeated lightning strikes and the sky shifting to red clouds means an emission is in progress, and it's high time to find shelter if you want to avoid ([[PlotArmor almost]]) certain death, [[OurZombiesAreDifferent or worse]]. During the course of the emission, it's guaranteed that ''all the light in the Zone'' will turn a vivid blood red for a second or two.
* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'', Nod's superweapon (a beacon that calls a [[SlapOnTheWristNuke nuke]]) turns the sky red before it strikes.
* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'':
** This trope is the driving force behind ''VideoGame/TouhouKoumakyouTheEmbodimentOfScarletDevil'': a red mist has covered Gensokyo and is strong enough to block out the sun.
** ''VideoGame/TouhouHisoutenScarletWeatherRhapsody'' has red clouds show up at the same time as a series of bizarre weather events... and earthquakes.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'', the second time the [[PlanetKiller Alpha Strike]] is shown charging up at the end of the game, the sky is ominously red. However, that's because the scene takes place at sunrise, not due to anything about the Alpha Strike, since the first time we see it used, the sky is blue.
* When things really start going downhill in ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'', the skies take on a hellish red hue. The sky doesn't just change color...it ''shatters into thousands of pieces'' to reveal the red beneath the blue.

* ''TabletopGame/CyberpunkRED'' gets its name from The Time of the Red, a period following the end of the Fourth Corporate War in 2023. The particulate debris from all the conventional destruction, wildfires, orbital strikes and the nuclear destruction of Night City stained the skies red for two years, which eventually died down to brillaint red sunrises and sunsets for the next decade. While this came after the war, it signaled that a long period of reconstruction was on its way, and that [[VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077 more problems were on the horizon.]]

* ''TabletopGame/CyberpunkRED'' gets its name from The Time of the Red, a period following the Fourth Corporate War. The debris from all the conventional destruction, wildfires, orbital strikes and nuclear destruction of Night City stained the skies red for two years, which eventually died down to brillaint red sunrises and sunsets for the next decade. While this came after the war, it signaled that a long period of reconstruction was on its way, and that [[VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077 more problems were on the horizon.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad '': During The Headless Horseman's entrance the sky turns burning red probably signaling danger.

* ''WebOriginal/HamstersParadise'': Subverted. At certain times of day, the planets' [[BinarySuns second sun]] Beta is the only one visible in the sky and being a red dwarf, this caused the surface to be bathed in an ominous looking dim red light. It is no more dangerous than any other time of day and some animals have evolved to be more active at this time to exploit the relative safety, often gaining red coloration in the process so to better blend in.

* In ''Manga/RedRiver1995'', Yuuri asked Ramses to have the horse halt to look at the setting sun. She trembled at the eerie blood-red color of the sky and contemplated about the Japanese old saying “Twilight invite devils to rise”, feeling anxious about the situation of Kail, Ursula and herself at the moment. Her hunch was right - back at the capital, Ursula was hanged on the background of the very same sunset, around the same time.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E15PlanetOfTheDead Planet of the Dead]]" involves the characters being stranded on a desert planet [[spoiler:comprised entirely of the deconstructed bodies of an entire civilisation]] and encountering what, from a distance, looks like a gigantic sandstorm heading their way. This in itself would be bad enough, but as it turns out [[spoiler:it's ''not'' a storm, it's a living swarm of billions upon billions of stingray-like creatures that survive by completely deconstructing and using the energy of entire civilisations — as they have already done with this world.]]

* In ''VideoGame/Ashes2063'', the sky in the City after the [[PlayerCharacter Scavenger]] leaves the settlement of Michonne Circle is crimson red and full of lightning because of a radiation storm. It's not just for show – the radiation counter will keep increasing whenever you're out in the open, and the only ways to prevent poisoning is to duck inside a building or use a [[FantasticRadiationShielding Purge stim]].

* In ''Manga/RedRiver1995'', Yuuri asked Ramses to have the horse halt to look at the setting sun. She trembled at the eerie blood-red color of the sky and contemplated about the Japanese old saying “Twilight invite devils to rise”, feeling anxious about the situation of Kail, Ursula and herself at the moment. Her hunch was right - back at the capital, Ursula was hanged on the background of the very same sunset, around the same time.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E15PlanetOfTheDead Planet of the Dead]]" involves the characters being stranded on a desert planet [[spoiler:comprised entirely of the deconstructed bodies of an entire civilisation]] and encountering what, from a distance, looks like a gigantic sandstorm heading their way. This in itself would be bad enough, but as it turns out [[spoiler:it's ''not'' a storm, it's a living swarm of billions upon billions of stingray-like creatures that survive by completely deconstructing and using the energy of entire civilisations — as they have already done with this world.]]

* In ''VideoGame/Ashes2063'', the sky in the City after the [[PlayerCharacter Scavenger]] leaves the settlement of Michonne Circle is crimson red and full of lightning because of a radiation storm. It's not just for show – the radiation counter will keep increasing whenever you're out in the open, and the only ways to prevent poisoning is to duck inside a building or use a [[FantasticRadiationShielding Purge stim]].

** A variant occurs on the ARKS vessels whenever an urgent quest starts, as the vessels’ interiors will take on a red hue with warnings flashing all over the place.

* In ''Fear Nothing'' and ''Seize the Night'' by Creator/DeanKoontz, the world visited through the egg room in Fort Wyvern has a blood-red sky, fleshy black trees, and hellish {{puppeteer parasite}}s.

* Fully justified in the Sci-Fi Channel movie ''Film/DeathlandsHomewardBound'', as it's a sign the [[DeathWorld chem clouds]] are heavy. With [[HostileWeather acid rain]].