History Literature / TheDarkIsRising

** A number of wonderfully subtle examples of this occur in ''Silver on the Tree'' regarding the true identity of [[spoiler:Mrs. Rowlands]]. [[spoiler:She]] is present when Will, Bran, and the Drews speak of going to Carn March Arthur, which explains how the Dark knew to send the ''afanc'' after Jane; when the polecats chase the Drews down out of the mountains, only to disappear when they reach the safety of [[spoiler:Mrs. Rowlands' arms]], who supposedly doesn't see them, they were likely driving the children right to [[spoiler:her]]; [[spoiler:her]] presence at the harbor may explain how the Drews got sent back in time; and it's right when Jane thinks of [[spoiler:her]] that the ''afanc'' succeeds in breaking through her calming thoughts to attack her mind again. But the most subversive bit of all comes when looking back to ''The Grey King'' and the story of how Bran's mother first came to the valley: the first person Owen Davies told all about her was [[spoiler:Mrs. Rowlands]]...and who does he find back at his house immediately after this but Caradog Prichard, who even then was an instrument of the Dark? And who would have a had better motive to possibly get Bran and his mother killed, or at least forced to go back to [[spoiler:their own time]], than [[spoiler:a Great Lord of the Dark]]?

** Again from the same book, Cafall's [[spoiler:very name, to students of [[Myth/KingArthur Arturiana]]]]

* FaceHeelTurn: Hawkin/the Walker, twice. In the past he is tempted by Maggie Barnes into joining the Dark because of Merriman's seeming lack of concern for how he would have been destroyed had a slip been made while removing the Book of Gramarye from its magical hiding place, and it is this which allows the Dark to make in-roads into the strongholds of the Light. After being discovered and cursed to follow TheSlowPath, he has the chance to make amends and redeem himself after giving the Sign of Bronze to Will...but the Black Rider tempts him with power and so he betrays the Light again (specifically by trying to help invite the Dark into Greythorne Manor, and later aid in the kidnapping and HostageSituation with Mary).

** The Withers siblings in ''Over Sea, Under Stone''. While their MostDefinitelyNotAVillain cred is established by their beautiful yacht (Simon [[ContrivedCoincidence just so happens]] to love sailing), [[LightIsNotGood pristine white clothes]] and [[StepfordSmiler gleaming smiles]], and Polly's [[EvilIsSexy loveliness]], for most of the book they come off as either genuinely nice, bumbling people or at worst {{Punch Clock Villain}}s who really are just following orders but otherwise wouldn't hurt a fly. The scene where they dance with Barney at the festival is genuinely fun, if a bit sinister at times. But when Polly tries to take the map and the children feign ignorance, she shows her vicious nature in a truly startling and disturbing moment... and at the climax of the book during the fight for the grail, the masks come off permanently.

%%* TheConstant: Hawkin -> the Walker.

-->'''Merriman:''' I have known him to use many different names at many different times. He changes. [[ParanoiaFuel There is no knowing what he will look like...]]

%%* FaceHeelTurn: Hawkin/the Walker, twice.
%%* TheFaceless: Most of the Riders of the Dark are this.

* MassiveNumberedSiblings: The Stanton family. Will has eight siblings--Stephen, subject of Will's BigBrotherWorship; [[DeadpanSnarker Max]]; [[CoolBigSis Gwen]]; the PolarOppositeTwins Robin and Paul (the former is TheBigGuy and a BoisterousBruiser but actually [[RealMenWearPink loves music and singing]] while the latter is TheQuietOne and TheStoic); [[TeamMom Barbara]]; Mary, who is at times TheScrappy or at least a more grown-up version of the AnnoyingYoungerSibling; and James, FunPersonified and with whom Will has SiblingRivalry. They even have a Dead Older Brother, Tom.

* PsychopathicManChild: The Greenwitch is portrayed as one of these; she has childish and simplistic goals (to be left alone, to be given attention and love, and to have a secret all her own which she will cling to against all reason), she has great power but also childish qualities (specifically, a tendency to throw temper tantrums), and due to being a creature of the Wild Magic she operates under ValuesDissonance in regards to what is considered acceptable behavior and what is cruel or savage. She comes across as limited in intellect and knowledge, and thus innocent of understanding what her powers and nature can do to mortals. The result is a being that inspires sympathy even as she's also incredibly disturbing and creepy.

%%* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Hawkin.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Happens everywhere, whether through {{Foreshadowing}}, the fulfillment of prophecy, or the syncretization of Celtic, Arthurian, and Welsh mythology, but a particularly obvious example comes in Will's musings on how [[spoiler:Arthur]], Bran, and Herne the Hunter (who aside from being a TrueNeutral might as well be the spirit of the Light in its wildest, harshest form) are "all three one and the same". Also, it is likely no accident that the Sign of Fire which breaks the cold of winter (the death of the year) is given to Will from within a flower (spring/rebirth).

* SlapSlapKiss: Some of this comes through in how Jane treats Bran when they first meet, crossed with [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy]] on her part for him intruding on the [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything special relationship]] she had with Will in ''Greenwitch''. Considering the fact Will has a higher calling, that Bran [[DistractedByTheSexy seems to notice]] [[InformedAttractiveness Jane's attractiveness]], and that at the end even after the WistfulAmnesia Bran gives her a stone from the Lost Land (complete with a cute nickname), [[{{Shipping}} a case could be made]] that she and Bran may get together when they're grown up.

%%* PortalDoor

The series is based on the [[Myth/KingArthur Arthurian mythos]], and is written primarily for older children and young adults. The series is a high-fantasy affair, drawing much of its lore from the Myth/CelticMythology of Britain.

* CanineCompanion:
** Cafall to Bran.
** Rufus to Captain Toms (and for a time, the Drews).

* TheConstant: Hawkin -> the Walker.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt

* FaceHeelTurn: Hawkin/the Walker, twice.
* TheFaceless: Most of the Riders of the Dark are this.

* FiveManBand:
** TheHero: Will
** TheLancer: Bran
** TheSmartGuy: Simon
** TheBigGuy: Barney (while not physically large, he is the most boisterous and the one most likely to excitedly leap into adventure where the action is)
** TheChick: Jane
** With Merriman as TheMentor

* FunctionalMagic: Wild Magic and some Theurgy.

* HellishHorse
* [[strike:Horror]] [[HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday Evil Doesn't Settle For Simple Tuesday]]: The time of the Dark's first Rising in the series coincides with the twelve days of Christmas, while Will's coming into his powers as an Old One begins on his birthday, Midwinter Eve/Day. The second great Rising occurs at Midsummer. Justified because these times are said to be naturally ones of great magical power.

* TheMagicGoesAway

* PortalDoor

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Hawkin.

* YouCantFightFate

** [[BigFriendlyDog Rufus]], and Pen, Tip, and Cafall in ''The Grey King''.

* PropheciesRhymeAllTheTime: The prophecy at the top of this page goes on for another three verses of rhyming couplets, and there's another one introduced in the fourth book that's even longer. The second prophecy actually starts out with non-rhyming couplets, but falls right back into the rhyme scheme after the first verse.

** People apparently consider Bran one because he's [[EvilAlbino albino]].

* HeroicAlbino: Bran

** Bran as well, at least in book four when he reflects on how he was always hated and rejected for his TechnicolorEyes and being assumed an EvilAlbino. [[spoiler:In the end he gets his wish.]] It's not straightforward with Bran either, since he also has a kind of arrogance about being albino and therefore different and 'special'. Will picks up on this in book four and Jane in book five.

** Again from the same book, Cafall's [[spoiler:very name, to students of [[Myth/KingArthur Arturiana]]

* FantasticReligiousWeirdness: The relationship between the forces of the Light and the Dark, based on Celtic and Welsh mythology, and the Christianity of characters like Father Beaumont, is never reconciled. After Will and the Old Ones protect the church and the members of it from an invasion of the Dark, the priest tries to ascribe the powers of the Old Ones of the Light as miracles derived from the Christian God, who he says came first and created all of existence, and claims they won because the Signs are in the shape of a cross--"not of the Church, but a Christian cross nonetheless", implying it only had power because [[ArtisticLicenseReligion the cross has always and only been a Christian symbol]]. Farmer Dawson says Beaumont's a "brave fellow" but "this battle is not for his fighting. He is bound to think so, of course, being in his church," while Will calls the priest's theological assumptions "disturbed." He also thinks of saying something to correct the priest, but he doesn't say how he would have corrected him - did God come later? Does God even exist? Do the powers of the Old Ones come from a totally different source but the Christian God still exists? The text is about as purposefully vague as you can get in this part of the book. Merriman also later says that humanity can't "lie idly expecting the second coming of anybody now". On the other hand, none of the supernatural beings or deities in the story ever directly mention God either way, or where He might fit into their cosmology, and Will does think at one point that church is "where men give thought to matters of the Light and the Dark" and that [[SeekingSanctuary no harm can enter a church's walls]].

* LightIsNotGood: The White Rider, [[CaptainObvious robed and hooded in white]], representing the evil in beings totally "blinded by their shining ideas".

* AltumVidetur: Part of the writing on the map to the grail is in Latin. Jane even lampshades why it would be used, even as she also hits on the real reason (because a monk was the author).
-->'''Jane:''' The monks just always used it, that's all, it was one of their things. I suppose it's a religious-sounding kind of language.

**

* VictoryGuidedAmnesia

* ShoutOut: Simon alludes to ''Literature/GreatExpectations'' by calling his parents A.P.s, for Aged Parents. On having the abbreviation explained to him, Bran says, "Believe it or not, they teach Dickens in Welsh schools too."

** Gwion's music seems to have at least a calming effect if not also providing a protective barrier at times. But this only makes sense since he is [[{{Mabinogion}} Taliesin]].

* PlotMagnet: Barney, by virtue of being the youngest and (presumably) the most vulnerable of the Drew children. In the first book he is kidnapped and hypnotized by Hastings; in the third he is kidnapped by the painter, compelled to scry in the grail, and then given LaserGuidedAmnesia; and in the fifth book, he is kidnapped by the White Rider and taken back to the time of [[{{Mabinogion}} Owain Glyndwyr]], where he is almost executed as an English spy. To a lesser extent all the Drews are this in the last book, since the ''afanc'' targets Jane in order to obtain the Lady's prophecies from her, and later all three are sent back to an earlier time at the harbor by the Dark, thus necessitating Merriman coming to their rescue [[LoopholeAbuse so he could not join Will and Bran in the Lost Land]].

* AllJustADream[=/=]OrWasItADream: Jane's encounters with the Greenwitch are played as something the reader is never quite sure is real, all in her head, or a magical interaction, until she awakens with the lost scroll case, and at the end of the book when Mrs. Penhallow talks about the leaves and the smell of the sea filling her room.

* TheBlank[=/=]TheFaceless: Most of the Riders of the Dark are this.

* FantasticReligiousWeirdness[=/=]NoSuchThingAsWizardJesus: The relationship between the forces of the Light and the Dark, based on Celtic and Welsh mythology, and the Christianity of characters like Father Beaumont, is never reconciled. After Will and the Old Ones protect the church and the members of it from an invasion of the Dark, the priest tries to ascribe the powers of the Old Ones of the Light as miracles derived from the Christian God, who he says came first and created all of existence, and claims they won because the Signs are in the shape of a cross--"not of the Church, but a Christian cross nonetheless", implying it only had power because [[ArtisticLicenseReligion the cross has always and only been a Christian symbol]]. Farmer Dawson says Beaumont's a "brave fellow" but "this battle is not for his fighting. He is bound to think so, of course, being in his church," while Will calls the priest's theological assumptions "disturbed." He also thinks of saying something to correct the priest, but he doesn't say how he would have corrected him - did God come later? Does God even exist? Do the powers of the Old Ones come from a totally different source but the Christian God still exists? The text is about as purposefully vague as you can get in this part of the book. Merriman also later says that humanity can't "lie idly expecting the second coming of anybody now". On the other hand, none of the supernatural beings or deities in the story ever directly mention God either way, or where He might fit into their cosmology, and Will does think at one point that church is "where men give thought to matters of the Light and the Dark" and that [[SeekingSanctuary no harm can enter a church's walls]].

* MoreThanMindControl[=/=]DemonicPossession: How the Grey King first influences, then actually takes control of, Caradog Prichard as he gets more desperate to stop Will's quest.

* RapeAsBackstory[=/=]RapeAsDrama: Very strongly implied to be what would have happened had Owen Davies not arrived in time to save Bran's mother from Caradog Prichard.

* ShroudedInMyth[=/=]HistoricalInJoke: Lampshaded by Will when he, Bran, and the Drews visit Carn March Arthur.

* PsychopathicManChild: The Greenwitch is portrayed as one of these, specifically a cross of versions B, C, and E--she has childish and simplistic goals (to be left alone, to be given attention and love, and to have a secret all her own which she will cling to against all reason), she has great power but also childish qualities (specifically, a tendency to throw temper tantrums), and due to being a creature of the Wild Magic she most certainly operates under ValuesDissonance in regards to what is considered acceptable behavior and what is cruel or savage. She comes across as limited in intellect and knowledge, and thus innocent of understanding what her powers and nature can do to mortals. The result is a being that inspires sympathy even as she's also incredibly disturbing and creepy.

->''When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back;''
->''Three from the circle, three from the track;''
->''Wood, bronze, iron, water, fire, stone;''
->''Five will return, and one go alone.''

-->'''Jane''': The monks just always used it, that's all, it was one of their things. I suppose it's a religious-sounding kind of language.

--> ''"And where the Midsummer Tree grows tall, by Pendragon's sword the Dark shall fall."''

-->'''Merriman''': I have known him to use many different names at many different times. He changes. [[ParanoiaFuel There is no knowing what he will look like...]]

--->'''Barney''': Oh, well. Don't drop it in the harbour, that's all.

** From ''The Grey King'':
-->'''John Rowlands''': I would take the one human being over all the principle, all the time. ''[[spoiler:And that's exactly what he does, when he rules in favor of Bran staying in the present.]]''

-->'''John''': Those men who know anything about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun. At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else. You are like fanatics. Your masters, at any rate. [[PureIsNotGood At the center of the Light there is a cold white flame, just as at the center of the Dark there is a great black pit bottomless as the Universe]].
-->'''Will''': For us, there is only the destiny. Like a job to be done. We are here simply to save the world from the Dark. Make no mistake, John, the Dark is rising, and will take the world to itself very soon if nothing stands in its way. And if that should happen, then there would be no question ever, for anyone, either of warm charity or of cold absolute good, because nothing would exist in the world or in the hearts of men except that bottomless black pit. The charity and the mercy and the humanitarianism are for you, they are the only things by which men are able to exist together in peace. But in this hard case that we the Light are in, confronting the Dark, we can make no use of them. We are fighting a war. We are fighting for life or death--not for our life, remember, since we cannot die. For yours. [[TheNeedsOfTheMany Sometimes, in this sort of war, it is not possible to pause, to smooth the way for one human being, because even that one small thing could mean an end of the world for all the rest]].

* HypocriticalHumor: Perhaps this is only to be expected in a British series starring mostly British characters. The last book alone has two prominent examples, very close together. First Will chides his sister Barbara for being "shamefully naked" in a sunsuit, when he's wearing only a pair of shorts himself. Then there's this exchange from the Welsh mountaintop:
-->'''Jane''': Have some chocolate before it melts. And don't tell me it's bad for our teeth, Simon, because I know it is.
-->'''Simon''', ''grinning'': 'Course it is. Utter disaster. Where's mine?

-->''And the singing began''.
-->''It was wordless; it came in the wind; it was a thin, high, cold whine with no definable tune or pattern. It came from a long way off, and it was not pleasant to hear. But it held him transfixed, turning his thoughts away from their proper direction, turning them away from everything except contemplation of whatever happened to be closest at hand. [snip] As he listened to the singing, he saw a twig on a low branch of the beech close to his head that seemed for no reason so totally enthralling that he could do nothing but gaze at it, as if it contained the whole world. He stared for so long, his eyes moving very gradually along the tiny twig and back again, that he felt as if several months had passed, while the high, strange singing went on and on in the sky from its distant beginnings. And then suddenly it stopped, and he was left standing dazed with his nose almost touching a very ordinary beech twig''.
-->''He knew then that the Dark had its own way of putting even an Old One outside Time for a space, if they needed a space for their own magic''.

-->''"--off, the lot of 'ee," he snapped; they had never heard the word he used, but the tone was unmistakable, and Simon went hot with resentment and clenched his fists to lunge forward.''

-->'''Bran''', ''in falsetto'': Oooh! A red rose, is it?
-->'''Will''': Get lost.
-->'''Bran''': Not so pretty as Jane, that one who threw it,
-->'''Will''': As who?
-->'''Bran''': Jane Drew. Don't you think she's pretty, then?
-->'''Will''': I suppose so, yes. I never thought about it.
-->'''Bran''': One good thing about you, you're uncomplicated.

--->'''Merriman''': If you prick us, we bleed, if you tickle us, we laugh--only, if you poison us, we do not die, and there are certain feelings and perceptions in us that are not in you.

-->'''Will''': If Arthur had ridden over every hollow called Arthur's Hoofprint, or sat on every rock called Arthur's Seat, or drunk from every spring called Arthur's Well, he'd have spent his whole life traveling 'round Britain without a stop.
-->'''Barney''': And so would the knights, to sit 'round every hill called King Arthur's Round Table.
-->(Of course then, Carn March Arthur and the ''afanc'' from the Bearded Lake [[AMythologyIsTrue turned out to be the genuine article]], not a fake legend at all.)

--->''Power from the [[TitleDrop green witch]], lost beneath the sea;\\
All shall find the light at last, [[TitleDrop silver on the tree]].''

* PropheciesRhymeAllTheTime: The prophecy at the top of this page goes on for another three verses of rhyming couplets, and there's another one introduced in the fourth book that's even longer.
** It's worth noting that the second prophecy actually starts out with non-rhyming couplets, but falls right back into the rhyme scheme after the first verse.

** Both invoked and averted with Will - as he puts it himself, when Merriman (Merlin) says that he must sometimes wish he was just an ordinary boy, "Sometimes - but not always."

* DeathByNewberyMedal: True to the trope, the only book in the series that wins an award is the one in which a dog is killed. The second book, which was nominated for the medal and made a Newbery Honor book, contains the death of Hawkin. To be fair, both of these deaths are highly significant and played dramatically without being overdone, there is much more to the books than the deaths in question, and these also happen to be the most powerful, well-written, mythical, and memorable of the books. ''The Grey King'' is Newbery bait in other ways as well. A large chunk is about Bran's identity crisis, trouble with his father and discovery of who he is, and [[spoiler: they put their relationship right at the end.]] This is also the book in which there's the most discussion of things like whether you should put the overall good before individual human beings. You can find similar themes in lots of other Newbery winners.

* BadPowersBadPeople: Averted. Merriman explicitly states those of the Dark, especially the great Lords, have the exact same powers as those of the Light, suggesting there is nothing inherently corruptive about them; all that differs is the [[ColdBloodedTorture purpose]] [[ForTheEvulz to which]] [[CruelMercy they put them]] and, sometimes, how they call upon them.
** Maybe yes, maybe no. Merriman also states that the Old Ones and the people of the Dark have "some small powers" in common. There certainly seem to be things that each side can do that the other can't really match.

* GenreSavvy: The Drews show moments of this, especially the boys, when theorizing what will happen if they tell their parents about the map, or try and explain to the authorities who stole the grail from the museum. The pre-video-game Drews have probably read loads of kids' adventure fiction, which the first book resembles more strongly than the rest. The Black Rider shows moments of this too, from making Jane think he was the vicar of Trewissick (and therefore [[GoodShepherd trustworthy]]) to deliberately sending the Drews back in time to make Merriman rescue them and miss his chance to enter the Lost Land, and pulling an IHaveYourWife on John Rowlands.

-->'''Barney''': Oh, well. Don't drop it in the harbour, that's all.
:: :

** Cooper has to do some juggling to make all the images come true. In ''The Dark is Rising'', there's a throwaway description of a boy a little older than Will with a "dark face" and "light-streaked dark hair". In ''Silver on the Tree'' Will sees a reflection of albino Bran with his face darkened by shadow and his hair wet so that it seems to be streaked dark and light. Cooper can't, however, get round having described Bran's "tawny" "owl" eyes in ''The Dark is Rising'' like this "...strange cat-like eyes, the pupils light-bordered but almost yellow within."

** Said shield is one of those which Will saw in the Great Hall in ''The Dark is Rising''.
** The point is that each of them withstands his or her test: Jane won't give the afanc the Lady's message, Barney keeps his mouth shut under threat of execution because he thinks Owain Glyndwyr may be from the Dark, Simon conquers his fear of water: "by a great effort, he kept from panic", Bran and Will accomplish their set tasks.