Star-Killing: Difference between revisions

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So you've got a star. Main sequence type, more or less middle of its life-cycle, nothing special. Probably has an inhabited planet or two orbiting it. Of course, the Evil ([[Recycled in Space|Space!]]) [[Evil Empire|Empire]] wants the people on the planet(s) dead. They ''could'' just carpet bomb the planet or maybe [[Earthshattering Kaboom|even blow it up]], but instead they decide to go for broke. When a faction or character goes [[Star-Killing]] they go about ending a star's life in any of a variety of ways that dooms all life in the system to a Class X-2 [[Apocalypse How]].

On the "soft" end of the scale, the sun may have the equivalent of food coloring added, changing the visible spectrum (and radiation) it emits, killing or weakening all life and/or sentients. This is the equivalent of changing Earth's sun from [[The Power of the Sun|power granting yellow]] to [[Kryptonite Factor|kryptonite green]] for [[Superman]].

Next up is poisoning the sun such that it ages several billion years, depleting its hydrogen content and making it a cold dwarf star; or making it impossible for it to conduct hydrogen fusion, resulting in an atypical supernova. Of course, the bad guys might somehow apply enough firepower to literally blow up the sun (or cause it to go nova). Lastly, they might somehow collapse it into a [[Black Hole|singularity]] (again, atypical for the mass of many suns) or simply ''shoot'' the singularity into the star and have it get eaten from the inside out.

Interestingly, whatever means are used to kill the star might not harm any other stellar body it's aimed at. This is especially true for the "fusion-stopping" type poisons. If this poisoning takes long enough, the heroes may be able to apply an [[Magic Antidote]], administer life-saving [[Solar CPR]], or use an ''extremely'' powerful [[World-Healing Wave]] on the star. See also [[Unrealistic Black Hole]].

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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In ''[[Gall Force]]'', a [[Lensman Arms Race]] results in the "system destroyer", which can trigger a supernova.

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* In ''[[Green Lantern]]'', the Sun-Eater was killing Earth's sun, Hal Jordan does a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] that saves it and restores the damage. In the process, it shone green for a day.

* In ''[[All-Star Superman]]:'' Solaris the Tyrant Sun turns the sun red in order to strip Superman of his powers. Later, the sun turns blue and it's revealed that Solaris ''poisoned'' the sun. Superman {{spoiler|seemingly sacrifices himself}} in order to fix the sun.

* An early issue of Marvel's ''Epic Illustrated'' includes a story about an attempt to tap energy directly from the core of the Earth's sun. This goes horribly wrong, causing the sun to go nova.

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== [[Literature]] ==

* [[Larry Niven]] short story "The Fourth Profession". The Monks are a species of alien traders who travel from star to star. Normally they travel using light sails pushed by launching lasers built by intelligent races in the systems they visit. If there's no intelligent race in a system or the race refuses to build a launching laser for them, they use a device on their ship to make the system's star go nova and use that for propulsion.

* The [[wikipedia:Sun Crusher#Sun Crusher|SunCrusher]] from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]].

* In ''For White Hill'' by Joe Haldeman hostile aliens make Earth's sun go nova. The plot is about making a memorial for Earth.

* Because [[Science Marches On]], modern fanfiction for ''[[The Night Land]]'' generally treats the death of the sun in the [[Backstory]] as artificial instead of natural.

* In the ''Galactic Center'' series by [[Gregory Benford]] it is implied that the mechs are the cause behind a number of recent novas.

* In the [[Alastair Reynolds|Revelation Space]] books, the [[Big Bad|Inhibitors]] "sing" Delta Pavonis apart in order to destroy the local human colony: having already wiped out one species native to the system millennia ago, they're determined to do the job for good this time. It's also offhandedly mentioned that they know of fifteen different ways to destroy a dwarf star.

** Not only do they kill the star, but they {{spoiler|turn it into a [[Awesome but Impractical|huge Flamethrower]] }}

* A novel by Barrington J. Bayley included a weapon which worked by eliminating all of the electrons in a star, thereby rendering fusion impossible. A star hit by the weapon would lose 1/1400 of its mass and instantly go out.

* The [[Star Trek Expanded Universe]] novel trilogy ''The Q Continuum'' suggests the supernova that destroyed the homeworld of the Tkon Empire (as seen in the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|TNG]]'' episode "The Last Outpost") was caused by an omnipotent being that Q unleashed. This would answer the question of why a technologically advanced civilization with the power to move entire star systems could have been taken by surprise by a supernova.

* The Ascendants in the ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine relaunch]]'' have a weapon capable of destroying stars, as seen in ''Worlds of Deep Space Nine: The Dominion''.

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* In the final Lensman novel of [[E. E. "Doc" Smith]], "Children of the Lens", the sun of the Ploor system is destroyed by firing a planet from another universe whose intrinsic velocity is always faster than light into the star.

* The [[Satan|Lone Power]] of the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series can both cause a star to suddenly stop radiating light ([[A Wizard Did It|by presumably supernatural means]]), and also cause a star to go nova (by presumably more scientific means). This gives It one of Its [[I Have Many Names|many names]], "Star Snuffer".

* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|Life, the Universe, and Everything]]'' has at the heart of the plot a bomb that would cause every sun in the universe to go supernova at once, resulting in complete annihilation.

* In ''Down The Bright Way'' by [[Robert Reed]], the [[Humans Are Bastards|UnFound]] are wiped out [[All the Myriad Ways|on each separate Earth]] via star killing. Since the UnFound inhabit every planet, and thousands upon thousands of asteroids and comets in each Earth's solar system, making the sun burn away most of its mass in a miniature supernova becomes the most effective way to kill the UnFound.

* The aliens that live inside stars described in [[Frederik Pohl]]'s novel ''The World at the End of Time'' have the nasty habit of attacking each other causing the stars where they live to go nova {{spoiler|without any regards to the people that could live in the planets orbiting them, as occurred with the humans on Earth}}. However, it does not totally qualify since the affected stars "heal" after some millennia.

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'' it's implied {{spoiler|that the far future dying of our sun is caused by humanity's enemies.}}

** ''[[Babylon 5]]'' actually used this trope twice. During the Dilgar War, the [[The Federation|Earth Alliance]] helped the League of Nonaligned Worlds to beat back the Dilgar forces until they had all retreated to their home system. Then the sun went nova. [[Word of God]] says that there was ''no'' '''natural''' reason for their sun to do that when it did.

* There is the Hand Of Omega, from classic ''[[Doctor Who]]'' which is a remote stellar manipulator the Time Lords use to tinker with stars to make them do as they wish, in "Remembrance Of The Daleks" the Doctor uses it to {{spoiler|destroy the Skaro solar system}}. In New Who the Doctor uses the energy of a supernova to talk to Rose the first time she got dumped into another dimension, although he doesn't actually say he ''caused'' it.

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''. "[[Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?|Remember that time when you blew up a sun?]]" An oft-referred-to incident where the team basically just dropped an open Stargate (connected to some far-off world orbiting a [[Black Hole]]) into a star, causing a fatal instability and immediate supernova, in order to wipe out an incoming armada.

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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* ''[[Traveller]]''. The Darrian race has the Star Trigger: a device that can cause a star to give off solar flares which devastate planets and destroy all electronic devices. The flares are powerful enough to affect planets in nearby solar systems. It was discovered by accident, nearly destroying one of ''their'' home systems; they have since re-created it to use as a deterrent weapon of mass destruction. {{spoiler|Actually, they haven't - this is just a bluff.}}

* ''StarForce Alpha Centauri''. The Xenophobe race can cause stars to go nova, incinerating the planets in the system.

* ''[[Star Fleet Battles]]''. In one scenario a Sun Snake will approach and try to dive into a star. If it succeeds, the star will go nova.

* The C'tan star gods in ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' are [[Energy Beings]] that feed off elecromagnetic radiation released by stars. This apparently makes the star unstable, as it's implied that the deadly radition given off by the star of the Necrontyr homeworld was because of the C'tan living on it. However, if the star is eventually destroyed by the process, it takes a very long time (the Necrontyr lived with their deadly star for millenia), so it doesn't necessarily fully fit this trope.

== [[Video Games]] ==

* The indie 4X game, ''[[Star Ruler]]'' allows you to blow up stars (and anything else). It's possible to destroy a star using tens of thousands of tiny ships, or one ship that's comparable in size to the star itself. Destroying a star causes it to go supernova and quickly kill anything in the system, which usually includes your star-killer unless your shielding, armour and ship construction techs are high enough. Around a trillion health will do the trick.

* ''[[Galactic Civilizations]] II'' allows you to build a (painfully slow) ship that can detonate a star, and turn all planets around t into asteroid fields. Of course, it's a great example of [[Awesome but Impractical]]

* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', recruiting Tali has her investigating a sun which is dying too quickly to be natural and giving off harmful radiation. Her loyalty mission confirms that dark energy is reducing the mass of the star's interior, and no-one knows who or what is responsible. It screams foreshadowing, but became an [[Aborted Arc]] - nothing came of it in the third game.

* At the end of ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'', [[Big Bad|Bowser's]] sun, or his molten planet next to his sun (it is presented strangely), actually explodes shortly after he is defeated by Mario. The sun then causes the universe to implode, until it is recreated by the Lumas jumping into the black hole and sacrificing themselves.

** One level of ''[[Super Mario Bros 3]]'' actually involved killing the Sun with a Koopa shell!

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[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Star-Killing]]

[[Category:Apocalyptic Index]]