After its coinage by American ichthyologist David Starr Jordan, the phrase “Eclipse of Darwinism” was popularized in its modern sense by Julian Huxley. The term appears as the title of the third paragraph in the first chapter of Evolution: The Modern Synthesis (1942). This chapter explores how the “eclipse” narrative helped define the Modern Synthesis and shaped historiographical discourse, from Huxley’s initial framing to its various reinterpretations by the so-called architects of the synthesis. Despite differences in interpretation, and although the metaphor was rarely used explicitly, the narrative was frequently employed to characterize the period between the 1880s and the 1920s, often emphasizing common weaknesses. Pre-synthesis theories were typically portrayed as ideologically biased, overly simplistic, and monofactorial theoretical frameworks that failed to adhere to the principle of parsimony. At the same time, these were frequently regarded as “anti-Darwinian” views, reinforcing a polarized view of evolutionary thought.