Comets have appeared in works of fiction since at least the 1830s. They primarily appear inscience fiction as literal objects, but also make occasional symbolical appearances in other genres. In keeping with their traditional cultural associations asomens, they often threaten destruction to Earth. This commonly comes in the form of loomingimpact events, and occasionally through more novel means such as affectingEarth's atmosphere in different ways. In other stories, humans seek out and visit comets for purposes of research orresource extraction. Comets are inhabited by various forms of life ranging frommicrobes tovampires in different depictions, and are themselves living beings in some stories.
Comets have been regarded as harbingers of doom since antiquity, which has influenced their depiction in fiction.[1][2][3] The rare early appearances were typically symbolical in nature, and this remains the case outside ofscience fiction.[4]: 106, 130 Comets have thus continued to play their traditional role asomens in modern works of fiction, particularlyfantasy such asE. R. Eddison's 1922 novelThe Worm Ouroboros and the 1998 novelA Clash of Kings inGeorge R. R. Martin'sA Song of Ice and Fire series.[4]: 112–113 [5] In the latter, different cultures and factions interpret the comet in wildly divergent and occasionally contradictory ways, making the comet "aRorschach test for the inhabitants ofthe world".[4]: 130–131 Outside of fantasy, the 1996–1999 television seriesMillennium features a comet that foreshadows a disease outbreak.[4]: 132 Ominous comets also appear in thetabletop game franchiseWarhammer and thevideo game seriesMyth.[4]: 135 [5]
Comets play three major roles in science fiction: as places to land on and explore, potential menaces to life on Earth, and resources to exploit.
The majority of works depicting comets belong to the science fiction genre, where in contrast to other genres comets are not usually used for symbolism but instead play a role as literal objects.[4]: 130 In these stories, they often cause death and destruction.[4]: 119 [5] Anearly science fiction example isEdgar Allan Poe's 1839 short story "The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion", wherein part of theEarth's atmosphere is lost to a comet, with catastrophic results.[1][2][4]: 114 [6]
Throughout the 1800s, the threat ofimpact events appeared in works ranging fromOliver Wendell Holmes Sr.'sc. 1833 poem "The Comet" toChauncey Thomas [Wikidata]'s 1891utopian novelThe Crystal Button; Or Adventures of Paul Prognosis in the Forty-Ninth Century.[1][2][6] InRobert Duncan Milne's 1882 short story duology "Into the Sun" and "Plucked from the Burning", society collapses when Earth undergoes a globalheat wave as a result of a comet striking theSun.[1][2][6][7] InCamille Flammarion's 1894 novelOmega: The Last Days of the World, scientists speculate on the various ways a comet impact could lead to humanity's extinction, though the event itself turns out to be survivable;[1][2][8] a loose film adaptation byAbel Gance calledEnd of the World was released in 1931.[1][9] InGeorge Griffith's 1897 short story "The Great Crellin Comet" (later expanded into the 1907 novelThe World Peril of 1910), humanity constructs cannons to fire at a comet heading for Earth in order to avert disaster.[2][10]
In the 1900s, a successive shift occurred wherein comets were largely replaced by other objects such asasteroids in threatening harm to Earth.[2] Nevertheless, the 1908Tunguska event—then speculated to have been caused by a comet—had a long-lasting influence on disaster stories,[5] and cometary impact events continued to appear in works likeJack Bechdolt's 1920 novelThe Torch, where one such event forms part of the backstory for the post-apocalyptic setting.[1][2] Conversely,Dennis Wheatley's 1939 novelSixty Days to Live depicts the lead-up to an expected catastrophic collision by a comet with Earth.[1][2][6] InTove Jansson's 1946Moomin novelComet in Moominland, a predicted impact instead turns out a near miss, but heat from the comet nevertheless results in a drought.[4]: 117–118 The 1977 novelLucifer's Hammer byLarry Niven andJerry Pournelle revolves around a highly destructive impact event and its aftermath;[1][5][6][11]: 78 astronomerAndrew Fraknoi describes it as being "among the first of the scientifically reasonable impact stories".[12] In the 1988 novelLand's End byJack Williamson andFrederik Pohl, a comet strike destroys the Earth'sozone layer, rendering the surface of the planet uninhabitable for humanity and forcing a migration beneath the oceans.[1][6][13]Stephen Baxter's 2002 novelEvolution portrays theextinction of the dinosaurs as the result of a comet impact creating theChicxulub crater.[1]
Besides striking the Earth directly, comets pose threats to humanity by colliding with theMoon inJack McDevitt's 1998 novelMoonfall, where the impact shatters the Moon;[2][11]: 78 andSusan Beth Pfeffer's 2010 novelThis World We Live In, where it alters theMoon's orbit, resulting in weather patterns on Earth being disrupted.[1][14] Other mechanisms by which comets cause calamities appear in works likeW. E. B. Du Bois's 1920 short story "The Comet", where toxic gases from the comet leave a black man and a white woman inNew York City as the only survivors;[6]George Weston [Wikidata]'s 1934 novelHis First Million Women, where all men except one are rendered infertile;[1]Robert S. Richardson's 1946 short story "The Blindness", where the passage ofHalley's Comet disrupts the ozone layer;[a][3][12] andMax Gunther's 1986 novelDoom Wind, where a close encounter with a comet creates immensely powerful winds.[1] A rare example of the opposite—positive effects arising from Earth encountering a comet—appears inH. G. Wells's 1906 novelIn the Days of the Comet: the gases in the comet's tail alter the atmosphere in a way that transforms human character for the better.[1][2][4]: 119 [6]
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Outside of literature, impact events—both by comets and other objects such as asteroids—appeared only infrequently for most of the 1900s; the impact ofComet Shoemaker–Levy 9 onJupiter in 1994 was followed by a sharp increase in depictions of such events across film, television, and video games.[11]: 79–82 Weaponized comets appear in the 1985Doctor Who serial "Attack of the Cybermen" and the 1998 episode "Little Girl Lost" ofSuperman: The Animated Series, in both of which the villains redirect comets towards Earth.[4]: 131 The theme of averting disaster by intercepting an approaching comet appears in the 1990 video gameDamocles, the 1998 filmDeep Impact, and the 2021 filmDon't Look Up—the last of which uses it as a vehicle forsatire, where humanity's inept handling of the situation serves as an allegory for real-world efforts to combatclimate change.[1][15] A different type of disaster appears in the 1984 filmNight of the Comet, where the passage of a comet triggers azombie apocalypse.[1][4]: 131
Besides comets coming to Earth, they are also visited by humans in some stories.[1][3][6] These concepts are combined inJules Verne's 1877 novelHector Servadac (English title:Off on a Comet), where a cometary encounter with Earth results in a number of humans traversing theSolar System with the comet.[1][6] More intentional visits to comets appear inArthur C. Clarke's 1960 short story "Into the Comet", where humans exploring a comet end up stranded there as a result of a technological malfunction;[3][6]Hal Clement's 1960 short story "Sunspot", where a comet is repurposed as a space station for studying the Sun at close range;[2][3] and the 1971 short story "West Wind, Falling" byGregory Benford andGordon Eklund, where a comet is used as a means of transportation.[2][16]Ray Bradbury's 1968 radio playLeviathan 99 adapts the story ofHerman Melville's 1851 novelMoby-Dick to space, with a comet standing in for the chased whale.[1][6] InDuncan Lunan's 1972 short story "The Comet, the Cairn, and the Capsule", an expedition to a comet discovers that there arespace probes on it that have been left byaliens.[3] On the fantastical side, the 1907 short story "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" byMark Twain—who was born around the appearance ofHalley's Comet in 1835 and correctly predicted that he would die around the time of its next appearance in 1910—sees a comet used as a vehicle toheaven.[1][4]: 121–122 [5]
Several stories depict theextraction of resources, mainly water, from comets.[6] Such cometary water is used forterraforming Mars inFrederik Pohl's 1992 novelMining the Oort;[1][3][6][12][17] Pohl had earlier touched upon the comet mining theme in the 1980 novelBeyond the Blue Event Horizon (part of hisHeechee series), whereintelligent aliens systematically harvest theCHON elements (carbon,hydrogen,oxygen, andnitrogen) necessary for life from comets.[1][3] A spaceship that intercepts comets in theOort cloud and steers them towards theinner Solar System for further processing appears inAlastair Reynolds's 2005 novelPushing Ice.[1][4]: 124–125 [5][6][12] Theterraforming concept is combined with the impact motif in the 1984 novelDouble Planet byMarcus Chown andJohn Gribbin, where a comet heading for Earth is diverted to instead strike the Moon and thus create a rudimentary lunar atmosphere,[1][2][3][12][18] and the 1989anime filmVenus Wars, where a comet strike onVenus makes for a thinner atmosphere and a higher level of humidity, providing the necessary conditions for furtherterraforming of the planet.[19]
An early example of life on a comet appears inHumphry Davy's 1830 novelConsolations in Travel.[2] Comets inhabited by various kinds of lifeforms appear in several stories published inscience fiction magazines during thepulp era of science fiction: the titular creatures inFestus Pragnell [Wikidata]'s 1933 short story "Men of the Dark Comet" are sentient plants,Archibald Low's 1934 novelAdrift in the Stratosphere featurestelepathic humans on a comet withEarth-like conditions, andJack Williamson's 1936 novelThe Cometeers depicts an invasion of theSolar System byinvisible vampiricenergy-based organisms who arrive by comet.[6][20][21][22] Thevampire motif reappeared decades later in the 1985 filmLifeforce, this time withpsychic powers.[1] The 1986 novelHeart of the Comet byGregory Benford andDavid Brin depicts an expedition toHalley's Comet that discovers a complexecosphere includingmicrobial life there.[1][3][6][12][23] The 1987 video gameJesus: Dreadful Bio-Monster also reveals Halley's comet to be an abode of life.[4]: 134 Stephen Baxter's 1993 short story "The Sun-People" features an exotic cometary lifeform that incorporatesliquid helium into its biology in the remote reaches of theKuiper belt.[2][12] When not home to native lifeforms, comets may also besettled, as inPoul Anderson's 1994 novelThe Stars Are Also Fire.[2]
Comets themselves are alive in some works.[3][6][17] Halley's Comet appears inanthropomorphized thinking form inRobert S. Richardson's 1946 short story "The Blindness" andFred Hoyle's 1985 novelComet Halley;[3][12][24] it is outrightpersonified inDiana Wynne Jones' 2007 novelThe Game.[1] Besides being applied to Halley, the concept also appears in Richardson's 1967 short story "The Red Euphoric Bands".[3] InArthur C. Clarke's 1975 novelImperial Earth, a character speculates that comets may be the remains of deceased exotic lifeforms, whileKen MacLeod's 2000 short story "The Oort Crowd" suggests that they are in factdeities.[6][17]
Prior to the twentieth century, comets appeared rather sparingly in literature, and tended to be used symbolically.
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