History Literature / TheDarkIsRising

* RealMenWearPink: John Rowlands, darkly-tanned, rough-skinned, sometimes shirtless, stoic and hardworking farmer and sheepherder...and he plays the harp. On the other hand, he is Welsh, after all.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', active magic destroys all post-[=WWII=] technology. [[MuggleWithADegreeInMagic Butters]] speculates that wizards project a sort of entropy field that in the current era manifests as glitches in electronics. Previously this field was responsible for legends of witches curdling milk or giving people warts.

* AlbinosAreFreaks: In ''The Grey King'', Bran Davies is an albino living in Wales. The people who live in the area are afraid of him because of his white hair, odd looking eyes and pale skin, and consider him to be a freak.

* FoulFox: In ''The Grey King" he title character is an extremely evil Lord of the Dark. His minions include the milgwn: huge grey foxes that do his bidding, including slaughtering sheep.

%%* HellishHorse

** Downplayed 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."
** Bran as well, at least in book four when he reflects on how he was always hated and rejected for his TechnicolorEyes and albino complexiond. [[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.

* LanguageOfMagic: The Old Speech

* LuckilyMyPowersWillProtectMe: Against certain forms of SympatheticMagic - in ''The Dark Is Rising'', Will points out that the Black Rider's [[IKnowYourTrueName attempted name magic]] against him couldn't have worked because Old Ones have no names, and the Rider retorts with the fact that the Lords of the Dark [[CastsNoShadow have no shadows]].

* 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 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.

* RansackedRoom: In ''Over Sea, Under Stone''

* TheSpock: The Light in general are this trope-as GoodIsNotNice (above) notes, they're so focused on the big picture they can't really be bothered with details like romance, empathy, or compassion.

%% * TimeStandsStill

* InTheBlood: Apparently, the influence of the Dark in Caradog Prichard's line is this, thanks to what we learn about his ancestor during the Drews' jaunt to the past. It's also possible that, as Merriman suggests, it's the Dark's vengeance for his maternal grandfather Caradog Lewis's having failed them by being found out.

The series is based on the [[Myth/ArthurianLegend 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.

* YouCantFightFate: Merriman knows that Hawkin will betray him as a result of risking Hawkin's life for the Light, but does not seem able to stop it at some earlier point in history.

%%* YouCantFightFate

* LowestCosmicDenominator: Generally speaking, things are ''just'' general enough to not quite correspond to any one particular belief system.

* LightIsGood: The Light, with the Lady being dressed in white or pale blue and often with a HolyHalo, many of the manifestations of the Light's powers being white or light-based, the sword Eirias being made of crystal, and the steed of Herne the Hunter being a white mare.

* TimeStandsStill

* PlaceOfPower: A number of these appear in the books, including places that are naturally magical (Kemare Head apparently, the hill where the ship and the Sign of Water is hidden, Bird Rock, Llyn Mwyngil, the midsummmer tree) and ones that are enchanted by the Old Ones or High Magic, either temporarily (the cottages in book three, the Grey House) or permanently (Huntercombe Manor, the Lost Land). The cottages, the Grey House, and Huntercombe Manor are also [[PlaceOfProtection Places of Protection]]. Of special note are the Old Ways, magical roads that exist even after physical roads vanish or change position atop them; they can be commanded to expel creatures of the Dark from them and prevent such creatures from passing over them.

* AMythologyIsTrue: Myth/CelticMythology, especially of the Welsh or Cornish variety. Except for one odd CrossoverCosmology example, the Greek sea goddess Tethys, who makes a random appearance in book three. Book three also contains a reference to the Egyptian deity of the afterlife Anubis, apparently associated in some way with the prophecies of the Dark. [[EveryoneHatesHades (Of course.)]]

* EurekaMoment:
** The Drews have a series of revelations while deciphering the map to the grail in ''Over Sea, Under Stone''.

* LinkedListClueMethodology:

** LightIsGood, however, ([[GoodIsNotNice though not nice]]) in the form of the Light, with the Lady being dressed in white or pale blue and often with a HolyHalo, many of the manifestations of the Light's powers being white or light-based, the sword Eirias being made of crystal, and the steed of Herne the Hunter being a white mare.

* KickTheDog: Something the Dark is very good at. What happens to Hawkin, Will's mother getting hurt and his sister kidnapped and subjected to MindRape, the death of Cafall, and [[spoiler:who Mrs. Rowlands turns out to be, coupled with how the Black Rider uses her to get John's cooperation]], all qualify.

* InTheBlood: Apparently, the influence of the Dark in Caradog Prichard's line is this, thanks to what we learn about his ancestor during the Drews' jaunt to the past.
** Either that or, as Merriman suggests, the Dark's vengeance for his maternal grandfather Caradog Lewis's having failed them by being found out.

* FantasticReligiousWeirdness: Despite some EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, there doesn't seem to be much relationship between the forces of the Light and the Dark, based on Celtic and Welsh mythology, and the Christianity of characters like Father Beaumont. 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? Merriman also later says that humanity can't "lie idly expecting the second coming of anybody now". 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]] -- but, well, it certainly is true that for a very long time, within the walls of a church was where most of humanity did their thinking about ethics, and the rule about harm entering a church could easily be one of the Old Laws.
** It may have been EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, but ''Over Sea, Under Stone'' implied that, historically, the Light had been associated with Christianity. It was noted that one of the symptoms of Arthurian Britain collapsing was that it was only in the non-conquered western parts of Britain were places where men worshipped God.

** Caradog Prichard and his entire extended family.
** Also the Black Rider.

** The Drews have a number of these when deciphering the map to the grail.

* CutAndPasteNote: The painter of the Dark actually leaves one on Captain Toms' door, warning him away from the Greenwitch if he wants his dog back alive. Yet another mark of him being a CardCarryingVillain with old-fashioned methods.
** They wonder if the note is more for the Drews' benefit, as they (or at least Barney) would think Toms a monster if he deliberately let the Dark kill his dog. Toms himself is an Old One, and probably wouldn't be swayed by such things.

* CreepyChild:
** Will, though only if one manages to catch him doing something magical. A point is made when the Drew children meet Will that he seems ''utterly'' mundane, boring, ordinary: just a cheerful English country boy. When he's in the role of an Old One, though, his DissonantSerenity and [[WiseBeyondTheirYears air of immortal wisdom]] get rather disturbing.

The books are ''Over Sea, Under Stone''; ''The Dark Is Rising''; ''Greenwitch''; ''The Grey King''; and ''Silver On the Tree''. While ''Over Sea, Under Stone'' was written first, ''The Dark Is Rising'' is most commonly read first.

*** 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.