Lunacy

"Do you feel it, the moon's power?"

— Saïx, before unleashing his true nature, Kingdom Hearts II

The Moon does things to people. Makes women crazy, drives the lunatics wild, or maybe is the external power source for some supernatural powers. The full Moon might bring out the monster in someone, or a new Moon may bring the human out of a monster. It may be tied to illusions, metamorphoses and inconstancy, mirroring the Moon's constantly cycling phases. In general, the Moon is often a catalyst in magical things.

More mundane things are stealth on the night of a new Moon, or illumination on the night of a full Moon. A full Moon is associated with lycanthropy as the most common way to trigger the transformation (a trope that is somewhat Newer Than They Think), and lunar symbology is often strongly associated with werewolves even beyond the transformation. The duality of the Sun and Moon is also seen as mirroring the duality of men and women. From that, the Moon is usually a feminine symbol (this may be because both have monthly cycles).

The words "lunacy," "lunatic," and "loony" are derived from "Luna" because of the folk belief in the Moon as a cause of periodic insanity. When planning stealthy invasions, some characters will wait for the night of a new Moon when the sky is the darkest. Characters themed around the moon might have silver jewelry, and they may be introverted and mysterious. If the work is of East Asian origin, they may also have rabbit motifs.

See Bad Moon Rising for situations where the Moon itself is changed. See also Melancholy Moon for when used as a sad backdrop. The Power of the Sun is often used as a Foil to moon-based power, especially if there are Cosmic Motifs featured in the work. See also God of the Moon.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Akame ga Kill!: Enshin's Shamshir is a curved sword that can create aerial blades which can grow stronger depending on the lunar cycle. When it's a full moon is when its more powerful.
• Berserk:
  • Witch apprentice Schierke explains that the night of a full moon is the time at which people's minds are most susceptible to madness. This is a problem for Guts because he has an Enemy Within, the Beast of Darkness, which is always trying to drive him Ax-Crazy. Getting the Berserker Armor exacerbated this problem, because it amplifies its wearers negative emotions and gives the Beast of Darkness a conduit to make possessing Guts easier. So far there have been two times when Guts has fought while wearing the Berserker Armor on a night with a full moon: both times Guts was unable to resist the Beast, and Schierke was unable to enter his mind to free him because the moon made the Beast and the Armor too powerful.
  • Thankfully, it just so happens that a mysterious little boy with long, black hair appears to visit Casca and Guts on nights with a full moon. This supernatural child has the power to reach Guts even in his worst madness, and both times it was only with his help that Schierke managed to release Guts from the Beast's possession. In the Fantasia Arc, it turns out that this boy is none other than the child of Guts and Casca, whom Griffith used as the vessel for his reincarnation into the world. Whenever the moon is full, the Child temporarily gains the power to take over Griffith's body and use it to visit his parents.
• Bleach:
  • The name of Ichigo's Zanpakuto is Zangetsu which translates to "Slaying Moon" and in shikai form it can fire an energy blast in the form of a white crescent moon-shaped wave.
  • Ichigo's father Isshin has a Zanpakuto called Engetsu ("Scathing Moon"). He can also perform the Getsuga Tenshō ("Moon-Fang Heaven Piercer") attack just like his son.
  • One of Rukia's attacks is Some no mai, Tsukishiro which translates to "First Dance, White Moon". It creates a white circle that freezes anything within that space.
• Cardcaptor Sakura:
  • Syaoran develops a crush on Yukito, because Yukito is really Yue, and thus has a lot of moon-energy, and Syaoran draws energy from the moon himself. (Strangely, Kaho is another moon-energy-manipulator, and yet Syaoran doesn't develop any sort of attraction to her. In fact, he's afraid and suspicious of her.)
  • The Clow Cards are divided into two elemental super groups, either symbolized by either the Sun (Keroberos) or the Moon (Yue). The classic four elements are then divided under them (Fire and Earth under the Sun, Wind and Water under the Moon) and the other cards divided under the classical elements.
• A Certain Magical Index:
  • The Archangel Gabriel is strengthened by the Moon due to its elemental alignment. Both times it appears, the Moon is not up, so it solves this by casually and instantly causing nightfall and a full moon.
  • Since Acqua of the Back is empowered by Gabriel, he is also powered up by the moon. While he can't forcibly cause the Moon to appear like Gabriel, Acqua is able to be flexible with what constitutes as "moonlight." As long as a light source can just resemble a moon, such as an artificial moon on a viewing screen or even city lights filtering through a circular crater at night, he can receive a power boost. Presumably, Gabriel can do the same thing if by some miracle it can't force the Moon to appear.
• In The Devil is a Part-Timer!, the angel Sariel is powered up by the moon. He can power up even more by drawing the moon closer to Earth.
• Digimon:
  • Digimon Adventure: The full moon is featured in Gabumon's transformation sequences into WereGarurumon and MetalGarurumon.
  • Digimon Tamers: Renamon first digivolves into Kyuubimon on the night of a full moon. Like Gabumon above, her transformation sequences into her Ultimate and Mega forms feature a full moon.
  • Digimon Data Squad: MirageGaogamon has two moon-themed attacks — "Full Moon Blaster" in which he fires an energy blast from his chest and "Double Crescent Mirage" in which he fires crescent moon-shaped shock-waves from his hands. In Burst Mode, he wields a weapon that seems like a cross between a flail and scythe, invoking the image of a full moon and a crescent moon.
• Dragon Ball: Saiyans with tails on turn into giant monkeys by seeing the moon. In one of the few times that the author tries to rationalize anything in this manga, Vegeta explains that Saiyans absorb the special frequency of light caused by the full moon and a certain gland in their tails prompts their transformation. This also means that anything that can generate that same light can trigger the transformation. Gohan's transformation was triggered a second time (after Piccolo destroyed the moon to stop his first transformation) by Goku's original pod projecting an image of a full moon into the sky. Saiyans figured out how to create a Power Ball that could simulate full moonlight, which Vegeta used against Goku in their first battle after losing a Beam-O-War with him.
• Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest: The Moon Dragon God Selene has this as her Dragon Slayer Magic. She can create an artificial moon at will which she can teleport beings at will with and can forcibly turn day to night while using her powers. She molds lunar light into various forms such as beams, fire, blades, various constructs, explosions, and when she's serious she can make the actual moon grow in size, which could mean she's actually expanding its natural size, or she's drawing the moon closer to the planet.
• HeartCatch Pretty Cure!: Cure Moonlight. Although her Lunacy just makes her super strong without making her insane (she's in fact the most graceful fighter in the team), with side order of some Barrier Warrior capabilities.
• Inuyasha: Inverted. Inuyasha loses his demonic powers during the new moon.
• In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, after Enrico Pucci absorbs The Green Baby into his body, he leaves the Green Dolphin Prison to initiate the final process of awakening its power; by waiting for the new moon's arrival while being at a specific location. When cornered by the heroes, Pucci figures out he doesn't actually need the new moon; he only needs to recreate the gravitational conditions that the new moon brings, allowing him to obtain Made In Heaven.
• In Monster Musume, females of the monster races essentially go into heat during the full moon. This scares the hell out of our hero, not because he doesn't want to sleep with the girls (he does), but because he knows that having sex with a lamia/centaur/harpy that isn't holding back their strength would kill him.
• In Naruto, the demon Tanuki sealed inside of Gaara is at its most powerful at full moon, and it's easier for Gaara to transform into Shukaku. (Thus, at least pre-time-skip, Gaara arguably counts as a were-tanuki.)
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Vampires (or at least Evangeline, the only vampire we've actually met) grow stronger as the moon gets closer to full. It's subverted in that she gets more mileage out of people knowing this and thus being less prepared for what she can do when the moon's not full. We haven't actually seen her and a full moon together since learning about the connection. From her.
• In One Piece, Wanda talks about the full moon with the Straw Hats and how they're fortunate that the moon is covered by clouds during that night. The Mink Tribe gains a power up when they stare at a full moon, which causes them to transform into a form known as Sulong, making them much more powerful and faster. When Carrot demonstrated her Sulong form in Chapter 888, she also gained very long Mystical White Hair. While the Sulong form can make a Mink stronger, it can quickly drain their stamina and possibly make them die of exhaustion. However, Minks can revert back to normal by not looking at moonlight.
• Sailor Moon, whose powers are fueled by love, friendship, and the moon.
• Saki: Koromo Amae. While normally sweet and innocent, her aggression and strength go up while underneath a full moon. Way up.
• SPY×FAMILY: Inverted. Anya loses her ability to read minds on the day of a new moon.
• Witch Watch: Keigo being a "werewolf" doesn't make him become wolflike, but instead he has a more violent alternate personality that comes out whenever he sees a crescent moon. It doesn't have to be the actual thing; basically any picture or legible drawing of the symbol will have the same effect.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Serena uses a deck archetype called "Moonlight" ("Lunalight" in the dub), which has a theme of female dancer werebeasts. This trope truly kicks in with The Reveal that Serena's bracelet is actually the MacGuffin card "En Moon", which harnesses one of the four natural energies of the world (the moon obviously, with the other three being wind, birds and flowers), and is absolutely crucial in defeating Zarc.
• Zatch Bell!: Laila's spell theme is geared towards crescent moons.

Asian Animation

• In Season 8 Episode 33 of Happy Heroes, Huo Haha mentions that he absorbs moonlight to power his magic, and thus his Endless Daytime spell weakens him considerably. Then he has it pointed out to him that the moon reflects the sun's light.

Card Games

• In Magic: The Gathering, magic associated with the Moon is usually either Red (chaos) or Blue (intellect). Depending on the setting, the local Moon might be of other colours, like White (order) and Black (ambition), such as in Kamigawa (where it is Blue and Black) and the Innistrad setting (where the Moon empowers both the local White church and the Green and Red werewolves, as well as a Blue Planeswalker, though she's from Kamigawa). The moon of Innistrad is a truly otherworldly thing, being a potent source of mana that can induce transformations. A shard of it was once used to create the Helvault, a nigh unbreakable prison for demons. The moon itself eventually becomes the prison for the Eldrazi Titan Emrakul.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! has Bujin Arasuda and Bujintei Tsukuyomi, as they are based off the Shinto God of the Moon, Tsukiyomi.

Comic Books

• Inverted in American Vampire. American Vampires like Skinner Sweet lose most of their strength on new moons.
• The DCU:
  • June Moone aka The Enchantress of Suicide Squad and Shadowpact fame is a sorceress with a tendency to turn evil when getting Drunk On Power.
  • In Shadowpact Issue 5, Ragman is attacked by Blue Moon, a magically-empowered Professional Killer whose powers depend on the phases of the moon. According to Enchantress, Blue Moon could have killed Ragman had she fought him during a full moon. This was also why Ragman failed to add her to his cloak of souls — due to the nature of Blue Moon's powers, she is fairly easy to defeat and throw in prison so technically she has already done her penance.
• Marvel Comics:
  • The Incredible Hulk: Inverted with the Grey Hulk, the first one, when Banner turned into the Hulk at night and became human in the day. Peter David took it as a new character, different to the regular green Hulk, and explained: the great enemy of the grey Hulk was the Sun, which turned him into Banner. As for the moon, it reflects a portion of sunlight, not enough to turn him into Banner, but to allow him to influence the Hulk. So, when the moon is full, he will be happy and cheerful. It is when the lunar phase is at new moon that the evil Grey Hulk is at his prime.
  • Immortal Hulk: "The night is his time." This version of the Hulk only comes out during the nighttime. However, later issues show he can be out and about during the daytime, but his control is weaker and Banner can reassert himself with more ease.
  • Moon Knight is a former special forces operative that met and became the Avatar of the Egyptian God of the Moon and Revenge. Or he is just bat shit crazy as he suffers from extreme multiple personality disorder at times. His ability to be a hero just makes up for how full blown bonkers he can become, as he actually cut the face off his arch enemy at one point. Turns out his power actually does come from a god of the moon. This allows him to manipulate Thor's Mjolnir since it's made of uru, which is revealed to be moon rock (specifically it is an ore from the first moon in existence).
  • Karla Sofen aka Moonstone. She gets her power from the Kree gravity stone which was found on the Earth's moon. An issue of Strikeforce lampshades this trope by saying she is also called Moonstone because of her lunacy. Said issue revealed she had been doing some kind of experiment on dead people in a hospital.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW): The Nightmare forces draw their power from the moon, and a full moon empowers them enough for one more chance at escaping.

Fairy Tales

• "The Buried Moon": The moon's light keeps all the monsters of the bog at bay.
• "The Nix in the Mill-Pond": After her husband is stolen by the nix, the wife performs a series of rituals every full moon that allow them to reunite. Then when the Sore Loser nixie forces them apart again, they find each other under the full moon.

Fan Works

• RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse: As you might expect, Princess Luna has power over the moon. She controls its rising and setting, and can merge with it to heal from otherwise mortal wounds.
• In brilliant lights will cease to burn, Izuku is aligned with moon magic, unlike his predecessor Sakura. Because of this, he tends to use Watery and Rain frequently.
• In Raindancer, Izuku's water-based Quirk is further enhanced under the moonlight, especially when a full moon is out. The downside is that the euphoric adrenaline rush he gets from this can put him on a Power High and potentially affect his behavior, warning others to yank him out of it if he starts acting weird.
• Supernaturals in Fur And Photography are all effected by the full moon, making them more feral and enslaved by their passions. Werewolves have it the worst, but they are still able to control themselves with practice.

Films — Animated

• In Epic (2013) the light of the moon at its highest point in a hundred years will cause the pod to bloom into Tara's successor. And lack of it will cause it to bloom into Mandrake's successor.
• In Turning Red, the light of the moon during a lunar eclipse allows access to the astral realm for anyone undergoing the red moon ritual.

Films — Live-Action

• Friday the 13th (1980): When the Sheriff gives Steve a lift to the Camp Crystal Lake, they start arguing about whether or not a full moon has an effect on crime rates.
• Haunted Mansion (2023): The ghost of Alistair Crump is said to become more powerful during the full moon. Correspondingly, he becomes visible rather than being invisible like he is during the rest of the film.

Literature

• Artemis Fowl: Demons have an exceptionally strong connection to the moon and by association, silver. Nº1 speculates at one point that it was believed demons were capable of levitating when under a full moon.
• Beware of Chicken: Main character Big D/Bi De uses the phases of the moon as the basis for his personal cultivating style and techniques, invoking the crescent moon to generate talons of light or the full moon to form a qi barrier. Unusually, Big D is a rooster.
• Discworld subverts the "full moon = magic" cliché: the effect of the full moon on werewolves is mentioned but rarely has much impact (though there is the humorous consequence of werewolves suffering from their "time of the month" — PLT, Pre-Lunar Tension). Instead, on Discworld, the most magical phase is a half moon, because it represents Liminal Time and the edge between light and darkness.
• In The Dresden Files, there are four types of werewolves, however only one is bound by the full moon: loup-garou. These are cursed people and it is generally inherited through the bloodline. The victim of the curse becomes an insanely powerful feral wolf who will kill anything that gets in its path from moonrise to either moonset or sunrise. A loup-garou can only be killed by silver that was inherited. No other type of attack will take one down, as it heals from any wound instantly and resists mind-altering magic.
• Drinking Midnight Wine by Simon R. Green features an Anthropomorphic Personification of the moon itself who is stark staring bonkers.
• Forest Kingdom: In book 1 (Blue Moon Rising), the world is plunged into chaos and darkness when the titular blue moon rises and a demon horde is unleashed.
• In From Russia with Love, Red Grant, SMERSH's Chief Executioner, has homicidal urges coinciding with the full moon; his SMERSH file categorizes him as a manic-depressive psychopath. In the intro of the novel, his wristwatch is described to show the phases of the moon.
• In "Iron Shadows in the Moon", Olivia deduces from her dream that the moonlight is restoring the Taken for Granite statues.
  "There is witchcraft in the moon," she shuddered. "He pointed at the moon; while the moon shines on them, they live. So I believe."
• In The Name of the Wind, when Elodin and Kvothe visit the Rookery, it's commented that the moon makes the patients worse. This may actually be true, since the moon seems to be linked to both their world and the Fae realm, and the insane may be seeing through a weak spot between worlds.
• Nightmare Hall: The killer in Dark Moon believes they gained special powers from the moon.
• The Night Watch (Series) averts it completely. Werevolves do suffer from periods of uncontrollable transformation and feral rage, but the timing depends on their biology and has nothing to do with the state of the moon.
• In The Otherworld, werewolves have to change approximately weekly, unless they want to have weird things happen like their hands turning into paws in the middle of a grocery store (or just changing spontaneous, with an associated loss of control). At one point the Alpha explains that while they do often change on the full moon, it has more to do with the added light being good for hunting than the phase the moon is in.
• In The Red Tent, the women menstruate like clockwork right around the new moon, unless they are pregnant or not of reproductive age. Jacob's wives (and eventually, Dinah) begin first, and the bondswomen and the wives of Jacob's sons typically start a day or two later. In Real Life, menstrual cycles usually don't synch up that much, nor are they always corollated with the moon's phases.
• Teddy London, by C.J. Henderson: In All Things Under the Moon, the villain explains that the moon doesn't trigger his transformations: "The moon does not make me into a monster. I did that to myself — a long time ago. The moon only makes the monster kill."
• Until We Meet Again: Cassandra and Lawrence discover late in the book that the full moon was what caused the anomaly that allowed them to see each other, and that it will close (possibly permanently) at the next full moon.
• In The Vampyre, a dead vampire will return to "life" if exposed to moonlight. The villain, Lord Ruthven, assures his resurrection by asking the Unwitting Pawn protagonist to Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie.
• Werenight revolves around that world's three moons going full at once, which triggers lycanthropic transformations in every single person who may remotely have the bloodline for it.
• "The Wife's Story", by by Ursula K. Le Guin, involves a transformation on moonless nights. It's made obvious early on that something even weirder than usual is going on. The narrator's a wolf, and the "monster" transforms into a human.
• Wings of Fire: NightWing dragons born on a moonlit night have either precognition or telepathy. Dragons born under twin moons get both.
• The Young Wizards series has a powerful Fictional Document called (on Earth) The Book of Night with Moon^note which is also the name of a book in the YW series, the writing of which can only be seen under moonlight.

Live-Action TV

• Castle: One episode focuses on two murders committed on the evening of the full moon; the beginning features a scene of utter chaos in the station house, with a whole load of lunatics and maniacs causing havoc in the squad room, and all the phones ringing off the hook... with Detective Beckett calmly sitting at her desk doing paperwork and Richard Castle happily sitting beside her with a bowl of popcorn watching the chaos.
• Charmed (1998): In "Once in a Blue Moon", when two Blue Moons occur in a year, weird things happen. Including The Charmed Ones turning into werewolves. And yes, it did coincide with "that time of the month".
• Chef! (1993): Downplayed during one episode. A wedding is set to occur on a full moon. Savannah predicts that the romantic atmosphere will clean up all the romantic loose ends. Ironically, everyone but her gets their wish.
• Come Back Mrs. Noah. Cunliffe appologises for being rude after the stress of being stuck on the space station starts to get to him. "I'm affected by the full moon, and it's not often I'm this close to it."
• H₂O: Just Add Water: The full moon has strange effects on mermaids, which is usually signaled by the girls becoming loopy, seeking water, and causing mischief that endangers The Masquerade. The girls are frustrated when they learn about this, because "we're mermaids, not werewolves".
• Kamen Rider Double's Luna Memory grants him the power of the Moon; officially it grants "the power of illusions", which manifests as Rubber Man powers for his Good Old Fisticuffs (Joker) and a staff(Metal), and Roboteching Beam Spam for his Handgun (Trigger)
• Land of the Lost (1991): A forthcoming eclipse of the Triple Moons in "Jungle Girl" causes unrest in the creatures of the world, including Tasha and Stink, leading them to attack the Porters and almost jump off a cliff to their deaths.
• Power Rangers:
  • Power Rangers Wild Force: On the night of the new moon, Zen-Aku loses his powers and becomes his human self again. However, he gets full moon power Inuyasha doesn't get. Basically, his power waxes and wanes with the moon's phases as a rule. (This also accounts for the traditional Strong as They Need to Be factor the show has. Invincible in his first and last battles; whenever one Ranger is a match for him, it must not be near full moon time!) When Merrick fully breaks Zen-Aku's control and becomes the Lunar Wolf Ranger, he retains the moon motif, and on one occasion, when the other Rangers lend him the powers of their primary Wild Zords, it turns the Predazord into a Blue Moon form, giving it a temporary paintjob and a giant energy beam finisher.
  • Power Rangers Mystic Force had Clare taking up her mother Niella's powers as the Gatekeeper, themed and powered by the moon. "Power of the shining moon... behold, the Gatekeeper!"
• Supernatural: Werewolves transform into their feral state on nights during the week leading up to the full moon (with the exception of Pureblood-type werewolves, who are unfazed by the lunar cycle). Making this trope feel a bit more eerie is that werewolves not only experience total memory blackout when they revert to normal, but that they actually need to fall asleep at night for the effect to kick in.
• Ultra Series have a couple:
  • Eleking, a monster originating in Ultraseven where it was killed early on, was resurrected six years later in Ultraman Taro, thanks to the monster's horns (left behind after its initial defeat) absorbing light from a full moon allowing it to revive at will. Ultraman Taro defeats the resurrected Eleking again, and this time he took the horns away from earth to prevent it from absorbing the moon's energy and returning to life.
  • Ultraman Dyna has a monster, Mozui, whose powers come from moonlight and reflections of the moon. It disappears into reflective surfaces by day and goes on a rampage in the presence of a full moon.

Music

• "Moonlight On Vermont", from Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, describes moonlight driving people insane. The Good Captain warns that this madness can strike anyone, and indeed, it seems everyone has gone mad: members of high society members give up their comforts, a man goes on a pistol-shooting rampage, and even an elephant and escapes its zoo, all because of the moon.
• In Emilie Autumn's "Girls! Girls! Girls!", the host of a Bedlam House freakshow explains that women are predisposed to insanity because of the link between "lunacy" and ovulating by the cycle of the moon.
• Disturbed's "The Animal".
  For the beast is coming to life
  Taking form in the glimmer of this tainted moonlight
  Death approaches on this night
• "Moon Crazy", on the Blue Öyster Cult's 1979 album Mirrors.
  Moon crazy, summer madness! Let the light shine on (and on, and on) - till the fever is gone!
• Mecano: A rather famous song, "Hijo de la Luna" ("Son of the Moon" in Spanish) tells the story of a gypsy girl who in exchange for her first-born son, the moon will grant her a husband. When the son is born, he is an albino kid: the husband confronts his wife about it and kills her in the process, abandoning the child in the mountains. The audience is told that that the moon is full when the child is in a good mood, and wanes to make him a cradle if he cries.
• Tears for Fears:
  • The band did a cover version of Robert Wyatt's "Sea Song" which served as the B-Side to "I Believe (A Soulful Re-Recording)". Roland Orzabal is deeply fascinated by astrology, so it's no surprise that he's drawn to the lunar, nighttime and sea imagery, as all three are the domain of Cancer, Curt Smith's zodiac sign. Orzabal firmly believes that Smith's moodiness stems from the latter's Cancerian nature because their emotions, like the tides, are controlled by the moon, just as the "transformations" of the narrator's Love Interest are dependent on the lunar phases.
  • While Smith isn't preoccupied with astrology like Orzabal is, he reluctantly agrees that his changeable temperament and even the shape of his face are governed by the moon.◊
    Interviewer: So what sign are you?
    Smith: I'm a Cancerian.
    Interviewer: Ah! So that means you're moody. And emotional and secretive and sentimental, and you've got a face that looks like the moon!
    Smith: Yeah, I'm all those things. I'm a typical Cancerian, unfortunately.
  • Depending on how literal you wish to interpret the lyrics of "Call Me Mellow", either the woman goes crazy in the presence of the moon, or she's an actual werewolf.
    Last time I saw her, she was howling at the moon
    Roaming the forest, lupine and rabid
    Woah, is she wild?
    But then she knows it's like a curse
    
    And though it's gravity that drags down my balloon
    She stays in orbit way after midnight
• That 1 Guy's "The Moon is Disgusting" uses this as a connecting thread in its slightly ominous nonsense.
  Look up to the moon
  Whistle up a tune
  Keep it to yourself for now, this ain't no lie
  Everybody knows
  But nobody says
  Right between the devil and the deep blue sky
• This is the theme of Robert Wyatt's "Sea Song", which even includes the word "lunacy" near the end.
  You'll be different in the spring
  I know, you're a seasonal beast
  Like the starfish that drift in with the tide
  With the tide
  So until your blood runs
  To meet the next full moon
  Your madness fits in nicely with my own
  With my own
  Your lunacy fits neatly with my own
  My very own
  We're not alone

Religion

• Many lunar deities, of course are powerful, perhaps because of the associations with insanity. Selene fought against the Typhon, an evil monster, to the point of scarring his freaking throat — not to mention Artemis, her late Antiquity identification, who was infamous for her violence. Máni battles nightly against wolves. Khonsu is so violent that many invocations are about him killing the enemies of the pharaoh. Sin is basically one of the greatest authorities among the gods, above Shamash the Sun.

Tabletop Games

• Bleak World has werewolves, obviously, but it also has the Host of Moon. The Host of Moon is the Token Good Teammate for the Hosts, a race of Eldritch Abomination that empower witches, unlike most hosts, the moon gives power to witches who have consensual sex. For comparison the other hosts demand that you: eat corpses of the fresh dead, Kill It with Fire, conduct Human Sacrifice, or kill republicans and industrialists.
• Changeling: The Lost gets in on it too. There's a Contract that Changelings can forge with the moon that revolves around madness; from sensing it with a glance to inducing it in whole crowds of people at once. And if you're a Darkling of the Moonborn kith, you have a spiritual connection to the moon that lets you drive people insane with a touch. Of course, you get zapped with a lesser version of that madness yourself when you use it.
• Dungeons & Dragons:
  • Forgotten Realms: Used with the lunar goddess Selûne — the oldest deity in existence (barring her evil twin), and extremely difficult to get a handle on in regards to her actual portfolio, which changes like the moon. She's specifically the goddess of lycanthropes and women, but also encompasses divination, travelling, questing, tolerance, female spellcasters...
  • In Dragonlance, arcane magic is governed by the three moons Solinari, Lunitari, and Nuitari (and the deities of the same names). Solinari is silver, Lunitari is red and Nuitari is black. The last governs evil magic, and is, for obvious reasons, really hard to see.
  • Spelljammer introduced moon dragons, whose coloration mimics lunar phases over a 28-day cycle, which affects not just a moon dragon's appearance, but also their stats and Character Alignment. When entirely black, a moon dragon is Chaotic Evil and fights at full power, but when half-and-half it's Neutral Evil and at half-power, while a wholly white moon dragon is Lawful Evil but only at a quarter of its full strength — though the glow from a fully-white moon dragon can cause lycanthropes to involuntarily change shape.
  • 3rd Edition has a monster called moon rats. They are perfectly ordinary rats most of the time, but when exposed to moonlight they become stronger and more intelligent, with the most pronounced effects during full moons. Moon rats are also evil, organized, able to remember events of past months, and patient enough to plan and execute sinister plots that will require dozens of lunar cycles to come to fruition.
  • The Vistani and their "Giomorgo" (half-non-Vistani human) offspring in Ravenloft suffer from a condition called "Moon Madness", which makes them extremely emotional and erratic during the three nights of the full moon. Both races are unable to recover hit points or memorize spells on these nights and take penalties due to sleep deprivation during the day until they get a full 8 hours of rest, and these are the unavoidable penalties. Depending on edition and race, they may also behave like wild animals during the night of the full moon, or literally go insane for the night, to represent how overwhelmed they are by the moon's magic.
• Exalted:
  • Luna, the goddess of the moon, is an eternally changing shapeshifter of a myriad shapes always flowing into one another and ever-shifting moods and whims. This is specifically evident in how her chosen, the Lunar Exalted, regard her. Like all Exalted, Lunars accrue Limit if they go against their guiding Virtues; however, they also gain Limit whenever the full moon's in the sky. Instead of realizing there may be some external reason for their occasional crazy rampages, they just ascribe it to Luna being chaotic like that.
  • The Lunars themselves are characterized by their shapeshifting — they all have their original shape, that of their totem animal and a hybrid battle form, plus those of whatever other creatures they consumed. As in Werewolf, a Lunar's role is linked to a phase of the moon; here, however, it's chosen by the Lunar, as they lost the inherent assignation of Caste when the Lunars as a whole fled into the Wyld after the Usurpation. Those that aren't marked are the Casteless, whose Caste abilities shift with the moon and bear the risk of becoming Chimerae. The other three positions are Full Moon (warriors), Changing Moon (tricksters and diplomats), and No Moon (sorcerers and scholars); there used to be five Castes, but again, the Wyld screwed with that.
• Pathfinder has two different deities closely associated with moons. One is Acavna, an old Azlanti goddess of protection who sacrificed herself to protect Golarion from the worst of Earthfall. The other is Groteus, a massive moon with the features of a skull that hands over the Boneyard in the afterlife, slowly descending to shatter the Boneyard and trigger the end of all things.
  • Most of Pathfinder's many werecreatures have the usual relationship with the full moon, but the insectoid entothropes reverse it, changing under the new moon instead.
• RuneQuest has Lunes, which are basically "Moon Elementals". Their touch causes madness. Then there's the Lunar Empire, with their Red Moon, who worship the Moon Goddess. Unlike most examples, though, the Goddess and the Empire are both completely evil.
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse makes it clear that the Garou's Rage — the anger and fury that makes them capable of superhuman acts in combat and has probably resulted in a few of their greatest mistakes over the millennia — is a gift from Luna. Those who pissed her off, like the Nuwisha (werecoyotes), don't get the same benefit.
• Werewolf: The Forsaken:
  • Luna, the mother of all werewolves, gets similar treatment. "Ever-Shifting Luna" is a more polite way of saying "Bitch crazy." For instance, she has spirits, known as the Lunes, who oversee each of the auspices and dispense wisdom to the Forsaken. The reason no werewolves ever try to make one a pack totem is because continued exposure to them can drive a werewolf insane.
  • Then there's what the moon phase does for werewolves. Like in the predecessor game, a werewolf's phase of the moon (the one they were born under in the old game, the one they first change under in the new game) determines their basic role in werewolf society. Full moons are warriors, gibbous moons are bards and prophets, half moons are judges, crescent moons are shamans, and new moons are tricksters and rogues.

Urban Legends

• It was once a common urban legend that people behave more rowdily under the full Moon, that people go crazy, that more crimes are committed, and that more people get hurt and go to the hospital. Many pseudoscientific explanations were proposed to account for these supposed phenomena. Perhaps the rumors arose from the fact that, before the days of widespread, outdoor illumination like gas lights or street lights, outdoor activity that took place after dark, such as travel or parties, was always reserved for nights with a full Moon — the more active people are, the more opportunities would naturally arise for trouble. As it turns out, none of it is true; studies have failed to find any correlation between the phase of the Moon and human behavior. Even people involved in these jobs (police, ER docs, etc.) will think it's true, but it's just that they notice the crazy more during the full Moon, not that there actually is more crazy.
• The practice of Lunaception. Under this practice, humans had a menstrual cycle that was ''perfectly'' synched to the moon's phases before the advent of artificial lighting, therefore artificial lighting is responsible (or among the things responsible) for menstrual irregularities and infertility. To combat this, couples who are trying to conceive using this method will sleep in complete darkness (lights off, set bedtime, light-blocking curtains) except for right around the full moon, when a small nightlight (or opening the curtains) is permitted. (Couples trying to conceive should have sex during this time.) In time, this will supposedly reset the woman's menstrual cycle to synch with the moon's phases, so she will ovulate with the full moon and (unless she gets pregnant) menstruate with the new moon. The practice can allegedly also be used to prevent pregnancy, by abstaining from sex during the week of the full moon. However, it is considered pseudoscience; none of these claims have been proven or verified in a scientific setting.

Video Games

• APICO: During the full moon, Honeycore resonates more strongly, charging Bobbee's Honeycore-powered machines faster. The Lunar Bee also only comes out during this phase.
• Bayonetta: Umbra Witches are at their strongest under the effects of a full moon. The titular character, for instance, is able to Gravity Screw on walls and ceilings, running, jumping, and attacking on them as if she was on normal horizontal ground.
• Bloodborne: The Moon plays an intricate part in the game's lore and themes, usually tying in with the themes of blood and the beginnings, endings and repeating of cycles there-in. After the player kills Rom, the Vacuouse Spider, the blood moon descends, empowering the supernatural phenomena that plagues Yharnam and driving those already unstable at the beginning to fits of madness. This is best demonstrated with Sister Adella, who goes completely insane and tries to kill the player after killing Arianna for want of her blood, or for Arianna who suffers labor pains and then gives birth to immaculate Lovecraft slug-freak-baby. Also, the moon has a god in it.
• Bravely Second has Fort-Lune, which is a planetary defense base on the Moon. Its inhabitants are "Ba'al Busters", trained to fight Eldritch Abominations, and party member Magnolia Arch is one of them.
• In Chrono Cross, Harle, the harlequin minion of villain Lynx, is revealed late in the game to be the Dark Moon Dragon, created by the other six Dragons to be a servant of the Dragon God. She was created secretly so that she could release the seal on the other six Dragons and they would be able to merge once more into the Dragon God and unleash havoc on humans once again. She is eventually abandoned by them, as she did not merge with the other dragons. She's even named Tsukuyomi in the Japanese version, after the Japanese God of the Moon. Her special attacks are all moon-based.
• Crescent Prism: The phases of the moon affect the abilities of both Lunita and enemies. Lunita and many enemies have Astra skills that can change the current phase of the moon, and the Prism Stones can grant such Astra skills to anyone who wields them.
• Densetsu no Stafy 4: The Mon Amour Stone—and, by proxy, Degil—grows in power the fuller the moon is. By the time Starfy and co. reach Degil, the moon is completely full and she is at her strongest.
• Dota 2 features two Moon-based heroes; Mirana the Princess of the Moon and Luna the Moon Rider, they also play the Red Oni, Blue Oni on both aspects of the Moon, Mirana plays the more calmer and soothing elements of the Moon, and her skills are more utility-based and even a global invisibility to her whole team. Luna plays more on the more psychotic and ruthless aspects of the Moon, being a Blood Knight whose skill set are more based on how much damage she can dish out.
• In The Elder Scrolls series, this is actually averted for were-creatures. While many in-universe believe the disease has connections to Nirn's twin moons, this is not the case. Depending on the exact form of lycanthropy present in the infected, they may transform nightly, monthly, or voluntarily at any time.
• In Fate/Grand Order, Caligula's insanity is stated to be due to the affections of the moon as afflicted by the goddess Diana. His Noble Phantasm "Flucticulus Diana" lets him spread his madness among others and involves summoning a moon to curse them. Ironically in the Lostbelt Saga, Lostbelt Artemis's, the Greek counterpart of Diana, efforts to invoke this on Caligula end up curing him of his insanity and making her think this tactic is useless on Proper Human History Servants. His Noble Phantasm is also able to counteract Lostbelt Aphrodite's madness spell as well.
• Fear & Hunger: Termina: The affliction that has struck Prehevil was caused by the moon god, Rher. Those residing in the city have become "moonscorched", mutating their appearance and driving them insane. As time passes, the train's passengers will also become moonscorched, transforming them into powerful, deadly monsters unless the player intervenes. By night 3, all of the passengers save for the player's party members have been transformed.
• Final Fantasy:
  • In Final Fantasy VIII, the Lunar Cry not only drops a torrent of monsters onto the earth from the moon, it also changes terrestrial animals into monsters.
  • In Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, the phase of the moon affects the strength of various commands. For instance, when the moon is full, Physical attacks are weakened, while Black Magic is stronger and White Magic is unchanged.
  • Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood has a notable endgame boss with a moon motif: Tsukuyomi, a primal summoned by Yotsuyu crossing the Despair Event Horizon and going on a small-scale Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum. Her body is half abalaster white and half obsidian black to represent the full and new moon, and one of her attacks divides the battlefield in half, black and white, with the player's lunar phase status increasing towards one color or the other the longer they stand on one side, potentially killing them if they don't switch sides.
• In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, it's mentioned that beastmen become more aggressive at the full moon, which is why the public execution of prisoners will be at the full-moon festival — it keeps them from fighting each other.
• Killer7: There are some shots of the moon quivering and pulsating to an ominous soundtrack whenever a chapter starts or a file is loaded. While the moon inserts are never formally addressed, they form a sort of analogy with the Heaven Smiles.
• Kingdom Hearts II: The Dragon Saïx. He uses the ominous Kingdom Hearts floating over The World That Never Was as the focus of his powers, turning him from The Stoic into The Berserker and turbocharging his attacks with a glowing blue energy. The aforementioned MacGuffin is, for all intents and purposes, the moon of The World That Never Was; the theme of the world is entitled Sacred Moon, the city is draped in eternal night with the only light source being Kingdom Hearts.
• Kingdom Hearts III: Re𝄌Mind:
  • Saïx is shown to be able to use his moon powers outside of battle to create blue-tinted holograms.
  • In the final battle, Replica Armored Xehanort's desperation attack is to conjure several moon-like orbs and have them periodically rain meteors down on the battlefield.
• League of Legends has Diana, the Scorn of the Moon. She's a melee assassin whose abilities revolve around using moonlight to attack her foes, making her the opposite of the sun-powered Leona. While she is a dark character, her goal is more tragic: for discovering the long-hidden secret moon cult of the Lunari, the sun-worshiping Solari almost executed her before she was endowed with her lunar powers and killed them.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: The moon, for some reason, has an influence on the whereabouts of the Ghost Ship. There is even a map illustrating the islands the ship visits according to the lunar phase.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: The Blood Moon, said to be the time when Calamity Ganon's powers reach its peak, will turn bigger and red, a reddish-purple miasma will envelop the land, any monsters Link's fighting will be healed, and defeated monsters will come back to life.
• The first game of Mega Man Star Force has optional boss Wolf Woods, whose boss fight has clouds blocking the full moon in the background. Occasionally, the clouds will move back and expose Wolf Woods to the moon, changing him into his stronger and faster Berserk Form until the clouds cover the moon again. The third game doesn't have this feature at all when the boss makes his return.
• In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, during the Tanker chapter Sergei Gurlukovich notices that the moon is pale as death in the rainstorm and gets a feeling that the mission is going to end badly. He's right and ends up dying.
• Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent: In the sequel, Nelson discovers the work of a scientist who "proved" that penumbral eclipses cause insanity.
• Ōkami:
  • Yumigami is a rabbit god who gives you the power of Crescent, allowing you to raise the Moon at will. It's not that useful in combat, but being able to control the day/night cycle is handy in gameplay, since certain story events happen only at night.
  • There are Mr. and Mrs. Cutter, two crow tengu who disguise themselves as human. Mrs. Cutter specifically says that during the full moon their kind gets too excited for them to move outside without exposing themselves.
  • Yami, the final boss is meant to represent the cold and lifeless moon in contrast to Amaterasu, the sun goddess.
• Pokémon:
  • There is a move called "Moonlight" that restores HP based on the weather, and in the games they debuted in, the time of day. In later games, it works identically to its counterpart, "Morning Sun," which results of a Dub-Induced Plot Hole due to the clear skies field effect being translated as strong sunlight - Moonlight restores the most health when the sun is shining.
  • A good number of Pokémon evolve only at night, several of which having some kind of moon-related reason or theming beyond it. Eevee's Dark-type evolution Umbreon is a Moon Rabbit-esque creature which the Pokédex said notes as evolving through the light of the moon, Rockruff becomes its more vicious and bipedal werewolf-inspired evolution as opposed to a more standard quadruped if it evolves at night^note (which in its debut generation occurs specifically only in Moon and Ultra Moon), and Frosmoth's evolution from Snom at night may be a somewhat literal take on the name of the real-world moon moth.
    • Even if not evolving at night, several Pokémon are described as being more active or powerful at nighttime, but none embody this more than Lunatone, which according to the Pokédex is known to brim with power specifically under the full moon and is mentioned in the Pokédex to be theorized as having connections to the lunar phases.
  • There's also the Moon Stone, a magical rock that allows a miscellaneous and loosely moon-themed grouping of Pokémon to evolve. Only one of them, Clefairy, has any concrete connections to the moon, being a species said to have come from the moon and being consistently found during nighttime. Among the other Moon Stone-evolving families, two have rabbit-like traits, with Jigglypuff - a Pokémon suspiciously similar to Clefairy - becoming the rabbit-eared Wigglytuff, and the spiky rabbit-like Nidoran lines reach their final forms with it, becoming kaiju-like monstrosities in accordance with the Rule of Cool. ^note The other two Moon Stone users, Skitty and Munna, have less immediate or defined moon links than the rest, with Skitty merely having a crescent-shaped face and evolving into the nocturnal Delcatty and Munna being a dream-eating Pokémon with a name likely incorporating moon or luna.
  • Generation VI introduced the Fairy type, which was initially shown off with another Moon Rabbit-evocative Eevee evolution with Magical Girl influence named Sylveon, which was frequently shown using the move "Moonblast", a beam made by borrowing power from the moon and the strongest base power of all Fairy-Type moves. Additionally, the previously-mentioned "Moonlight" was changed to Fairy-type. These combined with the fact the aforementioned Clefairy and Jigglypuff families were given the type (with the former becoming pure Fairy) give the Fairy-type something of a lunar theme.
  • There are multiple legendary Pokémon associated with the moon: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl introduced the Lunar Pokémon Cresselia, a benevolent swan-like creature which extends its aurora during the quarter moon, brings pleasant dreams, and is viewed as the embodiment of the crescent moon with a color scheme evocative of the Chinese moon goddess Chang'e. Pokémon Sun and Moon introduces the Moone Pokémon Lunala as, appropriately, the mascot of Pokémon Moon, an enormous bat known in legend as "the beast that calls the moon" for its ability to draw in the daylight and even spread light from its own body to act as a full moon. Interestingly, both of them are Psychic-type.
  • On August 30-September 1, 2023, Pokémon Sleep held its first global event, Good Sleep Day. It happens for three days every month near the full moon: the day before it, the day during it, and the day after it. During this, Snorlax consumes the full moon's energy to significantly boost its Drowsy Power, while the encounter rate for the Cleffa line is increased.
• Sengoku Basara: Mitsunari has a moon theme going on in order to contrast with his nemesis Ieyasu. As an Iaijutsu Practitioner, his slashes make crescent shapes and a moon appears in both his Limit Break and his stage. The game often uses sun and moon imagery in order to symbolize the both and the final battle between them is represented as a solar eclipse.
• Shin Megami Tensei: The waxing and waning of the moon is a key gameplay feature in every game. In general, the fuller the moon is, the more damage your attacks do, the more likely an accident is to occur during fusion, and the crazier the monsters act. During a full moon they're practically drunk off those moonbeams, which makes for entertaining conversation, but also makes it harder to recruit them. There are also some abilities that are more or less effective depending on the phase of the moon. For pragmatic gameplay reasons, the moon cycles every couple of minutes rather than twenty nine days. Certain games have their own quirks:
  • In Persona 3, the moon's phases have a stronger effect on the world (and gameplay) of Persona 3 than in other Megaten games: during a Full Moon, Nyx's influence is so great it causes greater Shadows to manifest outside Tartarus, leading to special "extermination" missions (read: plot bosses) once every month. Full and New Moons also have an effect on the protagonist's psyche by affecting the Persona fusion processes. On the other hand, the game plays moon phases more realistically, not only taking roughly an entire in-game month for the moon to complete its cycle of phases but also using real lunar phase data from 2009 and 2010, the years that the game takes place.
  • There's a period of time in Shin Megami Tensei I where the main character would take damage during a full moon. This is because of his psychic link to the Heroine, whose reincarnated self is currently undergoing torture from a demon that has invaded her mind. The full moon makes him feel her pain. This is solved by rescuing her.
  • In Digital Devil Saga, there's a 50% chance during every new moon- excuse us, MIN Solar Noise that your characters will be cured of any ailments that they are suffering from. Also, the selling price of Cells is at its highest during MAX Solar Noise. In the sequel, Digital Devil Saga 2, there is a chance during 7/8 or MAX Solar Noise- sorry, Solar Data that you will enter battle in Berserk Form.
  • You can guarantee that you get the best items from Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne's Mystical Chests by opening them during a full moon. The drop rate of Gems is also highest at this point.
  • One Sub App in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, called "Lunatic", lets you speak to demons during the Full Moon (something otherwise impossible). Because they're drunk on the moonlight, they don't really know what they're saying, and will ask bizarre questions. You have a 50/50 chance of impressing them or pissing them off; impressing them can earn you rewards up to and including instantly recruiting them — this is one of the only two ways to recruit Dark demons without having to fuse them (The other being them joining on their own accord with yet another Sub App).
  • Hecate is a moon goddess, so in her appearance as a boss in Shin Megami Tensei II she is invulnerable as long as any part of the moon is visible — you have to wait until new moon to fight her.
• The Sims 3's Supernatural expansion introduced, among other things, lunar cycles. The time of the full moon is when werewolves transform, witches and fairies are at the peak of their power, and Sims randomly turn into zombies.
• Skies of Arcadia. There are six moons (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Purple, and Silver, plus a hinted-at lost Black one), all powering different types of magic, all dropping meteorites onto the land below which everyone then uses to power just about everything. And that's not even counting their plot-critical role.
• Smite, being based on various mythologies, includes two Mayan deities that drew power from the moon: Xbalanque (immortalized as the moon) and Awilix (the actual Moon Goddess). Note that in spite of the Chinese deity Chang'e being titled 'Faerie of the Moon', she didn't exactly use moon power in battle, but rather... dances.
• In Spirit Hunter: NG, it's rumoured that Tsukuyomi got its name — which comes from the Japanese god of the moon — from the fact that it can only be summoned when there's a moon out. When Akira and co. summon it, then run to the rooftop to escape it, the moon has turned blood red thanks to its influence.
• In Suikoden II, one of the 27 True Runes is the Moon Rune, which grants its wielder Immortality, at the cost of vampirism, of course. The original possessor of the Rune, Sierra Mikain, is said to be the oldest Vampire in existence. Scratch that, she IS the original vampire.
• Super Mario Odyssey: Unlike the Power Stars of most Mario games, Odyssey has Mario collect Power Moons to power the Odyssey and enable him to travel further distances including to the Moon itself. The Mushroom Kingdom still has Stars, but they're referred to as Moons as well.
• Touhou Project:
  • In Imperishable Night, if you reach the "true" moon, the Big Bad reveals that "pure" moonbeams can drive humans insane. In one of Remilia and Sakuya's endings, it drives all the non-human characters insane.
  • Reisen Udongein Inaba, one of the said Big Bad's servants, has the literal power to drive people crazy with nothing more than a glance. Ironically, and fortunately, she's one of the most sane characters in Gensokyo, although that's not saying a lot.
  • In the Extra Mode of that game, a convenient full moon turns Keine Kamishirasawa into her hakutaku form, making her enough of a challenge to serve as an extra stage midboss.
  • Remilia Scarlet's powers are at their strongest during the Scarlet Moon, setting the stage for the final showdown of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.
  • Patchouli Knowledge has access to moon as one of the 7 elements she uses.
  • Luna Child has the power to dampen sounds and create silence, and her power waxes when the moon is in the sky and wanes when it isn't.
  • In Cage In Lunatic Runagate, Yukari claims that the moon "gave birth to all youkai" by illuminating the night, and therefore creating the first shadows for humans to fear.
  • Mamizou Futatsuiwa's transformation powers are strongest on the night of a full moon.
  • Some of Rumia's spellcards are strongly related to the moon. Moon Sign: Moonlight Ray is implied to use the moon power to create lasers.
  • Kagerou Imaizumi is a werewolf capable of turning into an actual wolf when there's the full Moon. She also gets hairy, though.
  • As the Moon's Hell is one of the three domains that Hecatia rules over, Hecatia Lapislazuli and her minion Clownpiece possess spell cards where they harness the power of the moon... by literally summoning moons to smack the player with.
• In Tsukihime, power of vampires is dependent on the phase of the moon. On full moon, even regenerating from one's ankles up is possible. The reason for this is all vampires are descended from what is essentially the Anthropomorphic Personification of the moon: Crimson Moon Brunestud.
• Wizard101 has the moon school in Celestia. It's powers involve shape-shifting.
• In the World of Mana, Luna is the elemental spirit of the moon, representing metal, artifice, and celestial powers. This sets her up as the opposite of Dryad, the wood spirit.
  • Secret of Mana has Luna, whose Moon magic has many uses, from casting MP-stealing spells, berzerker like buffs, to shape-changing your foes.
  • Luna returns in Trials of Mana. Very few classes have access to any of Luna's spells, but Hawkeye's Wanderer class can cast all but one of them. The game also features the Duskmoon Forest, home to the werewolf-like Beastmen (including Kevin, who can gain access to the one Moon spell that Hawkeye can't cast) who transform and get stronger at night. Unsurprisingly, the Duskmoon Forest is where you eventually find Luna. The game also includes Dolan, the Benevodon of the Moon's power. He resembles a titanic werewolf-like creature, and can summon the moon to drain the party's health, cut their lives exactly in half, and grant himself the same berserker buffs as the party can cast.
  • In Sword of Mana, Luna's magic is associated with transformation, able turn a caster into a moogle-like creature to evade monsters that don't rely on smell at the cost of being unable to attack. She can also turn enemies into Wimps, small Blob Monsters that also can't attack. The exact form her offensive magic takes depends on the caster's weapon, but always gives off a golden light. If the caster wields an axe, the resulting Spread Shot arcs back at the edges in a crescent-like shape.

Web Comics

• Champions of Far'aus: Potions of Lunacy can only be made when in the light of the full moon, and the potion itself causes people to hallucinate and go crazy.
• Charby the Vampirate: Werewolves transform and loose their sanity during the full moon, though it appears to last for at least three nights for some of them. Menulis discovers that he still looses his mind during the full moon even if he takes a potion to turn himself human, it just means that on top of having little control of himself he no longer has the strength and healing benefits of being a werewolf until the potion wears off.
• In Homestuck, the character Doc Scratch, who affects many events on Alternia, lives on one of Alternia's moons.
• Sinfest: One of the many running gags is "Aah! Full moon! I'm turning into [whatever the character is most afraid of becoming]." As with most of Sinfest's running gags, the precise results can vary wildly — for instance, a demoness turns into a housewife.
• Soul Symphony: The moon in Olivia's Soul World, where it is always night time, is the source of all energy and life. Supplies strange powers and mutations for Olivia's sidekick.
• This is discussed in Grrl Power, when Sydney gets to talk to a Werewolf. It's actually Confirmation Bias in action- people remember hearing that wolves (and werewolves) howl at the moon, and only remember or record/film the the times that it happens, ignoring all of the other times they howl at night.
• Subverted in this League of Super Redundant Heroes strip. Upon hearing that the moon is full, Laser Pony looks like he's going to freak out in some way... but it's just a coincidental sneeze.

Web Original

• Cracked: #5 of 5 Unrealistic Movie Cliches That Are Scientifically Accurate explains moon fear as the result of a rise in lion attacks on the first few days after the full moon once the lions have become hungrier.
• ＬＯＣＡＬ５８ is set in a world where there's something on or in the moon that's causing increasingly bizarre and destructive phenomena.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Waterbending is based on the Moon manipulating the tides. A Waterbender's abilities are at their peak when the moon is full, letting exceptionally powerful or skilled individuals use Bloodbending; conversely, Waterbending ceases to work at all when the moon spirit is killed during the first season finale.
  • By The Legend of Korra, the Sequel Series to ATLA, it's shown that a full moon is not required to pull off Bloodbending if the bender is powerful enough, as shown by Tarrlok, Yakone and Amon.
• Dexter's Laboratory: One episode has Dexter experiencing a bad day. Dee Dee convinces him that it's because of the zodiac — the Moon is blocking him from his constellation. He solves it by pushing the Moon... and accidentally causing it to fall into his city.
• In The Dragon Prince, the moon is one of the six original Primal Sources of magic, the others being the sun, the stars, the sky, the earth and the ocean. Lunar magic focuses on the understanding that appearances are deceiving and changeable even though they're all we can really know about the world, and on manipulating these appearances in order to alter and control how others perceive things. Moonshadow elves, such as Rayla, become more powerful and gain Visible Invisibility under the full moon, and moon mages can cast illusions so lifelike that they can fool even hearing, touch and taste.
• Futurama with the were-car. Even though the transformation had nothing to do with the moon, the were-cars howled/honked at it anyway.
• Jackie Chan Adventures: Out of the eight Demon Sorcerers who are each associated with an element of the Bagua from which their magic is derived, the Moon Demon Tso Lan possesses Gravity Master magic. Besides that, Tso Lan, between his Demon Portal's location halfway between Earth and the Moon and also his Evil Plan upon being freed, seems like he likes getting an excuse to spend more time hanging around Earth's Moon instead of on the planet. It's also worth noting, with Tso Lan's ability to remove the moon from orbit using his gravokinesis and wreck the Earth's entire ecosphere, he's arguably the most powerful out of all the eight demon siblings.
• In Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, Veruca has magic powers that get stronger with the presence of the moon. During her imprisonment, she was deprived of moonlight for fifteen years, weakening her magic.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Princess Luna is responsible for bringing out the night at dusk. A lot of her powers and those of her Superpowered Evil Side Nightmare Moon are based around lunacy: illusions, murderous madness, metamorphosis... however, her control over the moon is gradually deemphasized as the series goes on; while it's still referenced where relevant, far more focus is given to her Dream Walker abilities and her role as the guardian of Equestria's dream realm.
• Over the Garden Wall: Nighttime scenes in every episode feature a half-moon hanging in the sky, to symbolize how the Unknown is a place "in-between".
• The Owl House: Once a year, the Demon Realm's moon moves into a position that allows witches to channel its power to animate objects. This is usually used for cheap party tricks like animating dolls and such, but in "Hooty's Moving Hassle" Luz, Willow, and Gus unexpectedly animate the entire Owl House.
• Phineas and Ferb: In "The Doof Side of the Moon", Card-Carrying Villain Dr. Doofenshmirtz claims that although his own evil remains constant, the level of "background evil" waxes and wanes with the phases of the moon. Then it hits him why rotating the moon half way around has no effect on the lunar phases. And then reasons that he should have rotated the Sun instead.
• PJ Masks: Luna Girl, one of the original three nighttime villains, has the moon as her motif. Her powers increase exponentially if there is a harvest moon or if she gets her hands on a moon crystal, and as of season 2 she has a palace on the moon where she resides most of the time.
• In SilverHawks, the light of the Moonstar of Limbo transforms Mon*Star (already a pretty imposing guy) into an even more powerful armored monster. The series begins when a burst of light from the Moonstar gives Mon*Star the strength to escape his prison. In one episode, a small piece of the Moonstar broke off and Mon*Star carried it around with him. This vastly amplified his power until the heroes got rid of it.
• Spider-Man: The New Animated Series: Shikata, the Samurai Blood Knight mercenary ki-adept hired to kill Spider-Man, gained indefinitely-prolonged youth, Ki Manipulation and a Healing Factor by reflecting moonlight off her magic sword and onto her skin.
• Superjail! has an interesting variation: in the pilot episode, the Warden decides to order bunny suits for all of the inmates. The Twins screw up his order, of course, and half of the suits are wolf suits. The Warden decides to "congratulate" the Twins while they're working out in the prison yard with the inmates (who are now clad in either bunny suits or wolf suits). The Warden then proceeds to "start the big show" and raises the full moon in the sky. The prisoners in the wolf suits suddenly start foaming at the mouth and transform into actual werewolves.
• Tangled: The Series eventually introduces the Moonstone, the counterpart to the Sundrop Flower. To oppose the Sundrop's healing abilities, the Moonstone creates indestructible spikes and also has its own incantation about decay instead of healing. And of course, Cassandra becomes its host, just as Rapunzel is to the Sundrop, giving her glowing blue hair and corrupting her body.

Real Life

• On 27th October 2004, there was a total lunar eclipse that most of the United States were able to see in some way. That night, the Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 to complete a four-game sweep and win their first World Series since 1918, leading to mass celebrations in Boston.
• On June 15, 2011, there was a Blood moon combined with a total lunar eclipse — timed perfectly with riots in Vancouver when the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup to the Bruins in a 0-4 upset.
• Being caused by the moon (and the sun), the tides do vary by moon phase. However, tides have no measurable influence on human being and most domestic animals. There are a few (specifically marine) animals that time their breeding with the tides or the phase of the moon, though.
• There are quite a few animals that time things around the full moon, like elephants raiding crops less on the full moon, coral spawning on a full moon night, badgers being more aggressive and less receptive to mating, etc. There's no paranormal explanation, it's just that nocturnal animals who benefit from the cover of darkness are less likely to take risks and be active during a time of increased light. One famous example is actually an aversion. Contrary to popular belief, wolves don't howl at the moon. They howl to communicate with one another, tilt their heads back to let their howls carry further and happen to be active at night.

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