Grave Eclipse
The Grave Eclipse is a phenomenon that is critical to the progression of the plot in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. It initiates once Eclipse Tower, currently sealed under Belinsk, is activated and raised from the ground.
Background
The Grave Eclipse is a phenomenon brought about by the Eclipse Tower located underneath present-day Belinsk. While the event takes the appearance of a normal solar eclipse in which Sol takes a precise position behind Luna in the sky and a giant, circular field of shadow is cast down on the world below, it is unnatural in that Eclipse Tower forces this to happen once raised from behind Belinsk. The tower somehow remotely causes the rising sun to halt its course and assume a stationary position behind the moon, which itself becomes stationary, coming across as a total solar eclipse centered directly on Eclipse Tower's position on the ground. For this to happen, it is apparently necessary that the moon be in the right position in the skies above Weyard to begin with.
This allows the tower to "absorb the light of Sol" by unknown mechanisms designed by the ancient Jenei Adepts of Weyard's distant past, which in turn causes the structure to emit a semispherical dome of dark energy that steadily grows until it encompasses the entirety of the shadowed region. It is said that the tower was a product of the ancients' efforts to achieve mastery over the worldly fundaments of darkness and light after having mastered the four great elements, but that what they created was far too destructively successful for anyone's good.
The scholar Kraden speculates on the following: Because this miasma of darkness matches the pervasive darkness of the world's furthest depths, the especially wretched monsters that are directly sustained by said darkness in said depths are allowed to emerge from their usual haunts and appear above ground without having to fear the painful, draining effects of light. This, of course, will result in the massacring of anyone unlucky enough to be caught up within the eclipse's perimeter. It is also implied that the Grave Eclipse will eventually lead to Eclipse Tower storing so much light energy that it will release that energy all at once in what is sure to be a cataclysmic burst of destruction.
Though the ancients had sealed Eclipse Tower under the ground after they had originally suffered the cataclysmic fallout it entailed, they had designed the structure so that it could be raised back up under certain conditions. They had apparently decided that the tower should be made available again if the four ancient Elemental Clans are able to put aside their tribalism and work together to resume the ancients' experimental pursuits. The method they had left behind to test whether this is the case is that the Belinsk Ruins, in which Eclipse Tower is stored as "Luna Tower," can only be navigated by using Psynergy of all four base elements.
Furthermore, the Alchemy Dynamo in Belinsk Ruins that is responsible for sealing the tower can only be activated by being "fed" a Magma Orb — a portable source of condensed power that can only be found inside the gigantic Mountain Roc that slumbers in Talon Peak in the mountains east of Belinsk.
In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
Thirty years after the Golden Sun event, Matthew and his friends are manipulated by the duo of Blados and Chalis into completing objectives that will allow the Eclipse to occur. Eventually, they are tricked into retrieving a Magma Orb from within the Mountain Roc, stating that the Sanan royal Hou Ju would die at the hands of the Morgal beastmen if they did not. Though the Adepts are reluctant to obey, Hou Ju's brother Ryu Kou steals the Magma Orb and travels to the Belinsk Ruins with the goal of saving his sister. The Adepts follow and the ruins eventually force the Adepts to the Alchemy Dynamo. At the Alchemy Dynamo, Blados and Chalis arrive with Arcanus to distract Matthew and co. while Arcanus manipulates Ryu Kou into placing the orb onto the pedestal, thereby triggering the Grave Eclipse.
Almost every city under the Eclipse's shadow suffers some sort of devastation as a result of the Eclipse-empowered monsters. Some cities, such as Belinsk and Kaocho, are shown to have high death tolls. However, three cities in the affected region, Harapa, Passaj, and Ayuthay, are able to come through the Eclipse mostly unscathed. Passaj's Alchemy Forge creates a fortress around the city that prevents monsters from coming in, while the people of Ayuthay hide in the underground portion of their city. The people of Harapa are saved thanks to the water-driven lights of their town, as well as the town's tough walls.
During their travels to end the Eclipse, the Adepts that Eclipse Tower can be prematurely deactivated only by use of the Apollo Lens, a machine located at the Apollo Sanctum. The lens can only be activated by use of three orbs: the Blue Orb, Red Orb, and Yellow Orb. In addition, the Adepts must find the Umbra Gear, a set of gear designed to protect people from the intense light of Apollo Sanctum. Matthew and co. eventually make their way to the sanctum, place all three orbs in their pedestals, and reactivate the lens. After the final battle, they use the lens to deactivate Eclipse Tower, thus putting an end to the eclipse.
Arcanus seems to want the Apollo Lens reactivated and used to end the eclipse, despite having a hand in starting it, though the reason why is unclear. Also after the final battle, when Matthew attempts to climb up to the lens, he warns him not to keep trying, and after a couple lines, nothing is heard from him for the rest of the game.
Enemies
While the Grave Eclipse is taking place, certain enemies can appear within the boundaries of its perimeter:
- Enemies associated with the Grave Eclipse
Trivia
- Battles set within the Grave Eclipse use different music than normal battles.
